Creation
On the seventh day, Jesh finished a sweater.
It’s currently blocking and I’m still considering what to do about a closure, but it certainly went faster than anticipated. So… now what do I do for the next two weeks? (Just kidding. I still have a million things left to do before Rhinebeck and two weeks is still nowhere near enough time.)
Now I need to go ice my wrists and cuddle some poor, neglected kittens.
Kitri
I cannot fathom ever being able to wear these socks; I suspect they’ll live out their lives in a nice tshadowbox, where they will be safe from the cruel world of shoes and sweat and dirt and carpets and cats1 that might chew on them at every opportunity. These socks are too pretty for that fate.
The pattern was a surprisingly straightforward knit! Not that you’d know by A) looking at it or B) how long it took me to do. But, really, thanks to the chatty instructions (which should come as no surprise to anyone who knows the designer) and easily memorized stitch patterns, I could’ve easily knit these within a week if I hadn’t had other interruptions and delays. There is one minor mistake in the pattern: row 9 of the three-quarter fan stitch should be worked per the written instructions, rather than the charted ones, and row 10 should have six stitches on each side of the fan, rather than five and seven. I believe all future kits will include this fix, though.
Pattern: Kitri by Lisa Grossman AKA the Tsock Tsarina
Yarn:Jennifer’s FlockSock by Holiday Yarns in Crimson Rioja
Needles: US0/2mm and US1.5/2.5mm
Mods: I changed a bunch of tiny things, some of which I would probably change again and some of which were stupid mistakes that I had to make more changes to fix. Change #1 was to knit only five fan repeats on the leg, because I don’t like my socks to be too long and I shorten most sock patterns just out of habit. But my doing this caused the ribbing to hit at a point where it was a little too loose, so the leg wasn’t staying on a snug as I like, so I had to rip out the ribbing and re-do it on US0 needles.
My second change was to switch the toe from a wedge toe (decreases every other round ’til the end) to a round toe (decreases every other round ’til half the stitches are gone, then decreases every round ’til the end.) So, I knit the patterned toe as instructed until round 12, at which point I decreased every round on the sole, and skipped rows 13, 14, 17, and 18 from the toe chart.
My last little modification was to replace the last row of the lace overlay with the grafting row, for a more seamless look. I worked the beaded picot as usual, but then slid the stitch back to the left needle, broke the yarn, and grafted, making sure to graft the beaded stitch purlwise.
On Ravelry here.
1: one of the cats in question—
Silly little thing is all over the place.
(Re)Finished
Turns out the two coats of oil took less time than expected; I had to spread it out over two days but each took just twenty minutes. And now I have a shiny, happy wheel!
If anyone with an antique wheel is reading this, I highly, highly recommend looking into refinishing if your wheel has a shellac coating. It is well worth the effort, and I think my wheel will run better for being clean.
While I was at it, I also finished up some other stuff; I whipped through the foot on my handspun Bex socks:
(Bex by Cookie A, US1.5/2.5mm circs, 400 yards of handspun 3-ply merino, on Ravelry here)
And spent a few hours on a simple but gorgeous cowl.
(Golden Tulip Cowl by Saccade Elyse, US10/6mm circs, one skein of Plymouth Mulberry Merino, on Ravelry here)
I also had the opportunity to put the lace overlay on the cuff of my first Kitri sock!
I gotta say that it’s one of the best things ever. I love doing knitted on lace borders like that anyway, but when it’s such a small size it’s just enough to be interesting, unlike on a shawl where you’re sick of it by the end. And the beads, although slightly fiddly at first, end up being a really fun way to spice up a simple lace pattern. I’ll start the second one soon and have full notes when I finish the pair!
Honeybee
What an awesome sweater—the perfect thing for the current weather, when it’s too cold to be in just a t-shirt but too warm for a long sleeved shirt or heavy cardigan. I suspect I’ll be wearing it constantly for the entire month.
I don’t want to say too much about the pattern, since it’s not released yet, but you’re all going to need to get a copy once it is available. The seamless set-in sleeves on this sweater are wonderfully clever and delightful to knit, and the best part is that they fit perfectly. I don’t think I ever want to sew in a sleeve cap again, not when I can get such beautiful, comfortable results this way. Already I’m planning to make another, mostly because fellow test knitter Andrea’s gorgeous green version has made me wish for a non-black one. I also think a slightly denser, long-sleeved version would be a perfect late fall/early winter sweater. Plus, since it used less than 300g of sock yarn for even the 45″ size, it’s a relatively inexpensive sweater! Worked up in many of the mainstream sock yarns, it would be less than $50, and in Knitpicks it would be less than $25. For the whole sweater. Really. How awesome is that?
What else can I say? I love this thing. :)
Pattern: Honeybee Cardigan by Laura Chau (pattern coming soon–watch her blog for it!)
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock, 3 skeins in Alcaucil
Needles: US3/3.25mm and US5/3.75mm Knitpicks Options Circulars
On Ravelry here.
Wheelspun
Every time I finish a skein of yarn I tell myself that I’m going to be more productive and spin more often and have more skeins to show for my efforts. And yet it never happens. I think at this point I just need to be satisfied with the fact that I can spin pretty, fairly even yarns… when I actually get around to it.
This one didn’t turn out precisely as I intended; I was hoping for the stripes to line up a little better and be more distinct. As it is, the striping should be rather Trekking-esque, tweedy and marled and shifting. It’s also fairly evident that this was my first yarn off of this wheel, but spinning it definitely helped me settle into the groove of spinning on an antique, figuring out the tricks and quirks of making it run smoothly. And, I totally crammed all four ounces of plied yarn onto that bobbin. So I win.
Three-ply merino sock yarn, 22wpi, 500yds in 4oz.
Oolong’s too busy chasing bugs around the house to notice that I have string.
Singles
Mmm, handspun goodness!
I’m really not sure why I don’t spin singles for laceweight more often—I like the look, I hate having to ply, and I have a bunch of small bumps of fiber that do well when spun like this. I think maybe a part of me is always worried about the strength of my singles, nevermind that a well spun and well finished single will probably hold up just fine in handknitting. I hope.
Fiber is 1.5oz of 70/15/15 merino/cashmere/silk from Redstone Yarns, spun on a 1oz spindle. 720 yards.
It is becoming clear that I’ll need to step up my game to compete with Team Suck Less, though, since it took me most of the week to finish this. Fortunately we have new kittens who have offered to, um, “help.” We’ll see how that goes.
Pillaiyar
Pillaiyar: Tamil for Ganesh; (literally) little or noble child
I have to say I think I’m really going to like knitting for this kid. Already I’m thinking of vests and sweaters and hats and socks and wondering if he’ll look good in green or if blue would be a better choice or maybe red will be his favorite color and maybe I should just knit everything in every color so he doesn’t have to choose.
Sheesh. He’s got me wrapped around his little finger from 3000 miles away.
I hope he likes his elephant. (Why yes, wild elephants can be found roaming the untamed hills of stash yarn with their giraffe friends.)
Pattern: Elijah by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Knitpicks Swish DK in Mist, a little more than one skein
Needles: US2.5/3mm Addi Turbos
Notes: Mine came out tiny! Instead of the recommended 6.5 sts/inch I got 8.5 sts/inch which made for a teeny elephant—he sits in my palm quite comfortably. Still, I think he’s a good size for a newborn to hold onto/play with/chew on, and I can make a bigger one as Kyan gets older. It’s a fairly quick knit, as well; I could’ve finished it in two days if not for the Great Elephant Yarn Shortage of ‘09, which slowed me up for a week.
On Ravelry here.
(PS it’s Caturday! Ewok’s still here. Still causing trouble. Still squeaking up a storm.)
Shun!!1!
Some of you who may know me from Ravelry (particularly from the Completely Pointless and Arbitrary Group group) may have noticed that I have a certain fondness for a certain image macro.
see more Lolcats and funny pictures
Cracks me up every time.
Anyway, I’ve managed to catch my very own shun giraffe, as seen here in his natural habitat—soft, rolling green hills of stash yarn.
The shun giraffe is usually a kind and gentle creature, but must be approached cautiously, for it may shun at any time.
Shun!!1! Shun the non-merino! Shuuuuuuuuuun!!!1!
(Er, that’s a scrap of alpaca fiber—strangely enough I couldn’t find any miniature ducks.)
Pattern: Little Giraffe by Christine Landry
Yarn: unidentified superwash fingering wt wool, yellow and brown
Needles: US0/2mm Addi Turbos
Notes: There are some better (more intricate and detailed) giraffe patterns out there, but this one was free and fast, and also has the benefit of being easily adjustable to any gauge, so my tiny giraffe is perfectly keychained sized. I shortened the legs and also kind of winged the head and the ears, as the original instructions were kind of strange. Please ignore my awfully wonky stranded knitting skills—it’s hard to strand on only 16 stitches in the round!
Find the shun giraffe here on Ravelry!
72 Hours
And you said it couldn’t be done!
Well, that’s not true. You never said that. I may have said that. Once. Twice. Half a dozen times while working the ever increasing rows that would not end. But can you blame me for doubting myself? As my dad so succinctly put it, it takes me two months to knit a single pair of socks. What in the world made me believe that I could knit a shawl in 72 hours?
Pattern: Hyrna Herborgar by Sigridur Halldorsdottir
Yarn: Yarn Chef Bouillabaisse in Sea Urchin, one skein
Needles: US6/4mm Addi Turbos
On Ravelry here.
First and third pictures courtesy of Cristi, whom I was so very pleased to meet for the very first time on Saturday. Second picture courtesy of Pam, whom I was so very pleased to get to see again. And look at how lovely they look together!
Spring Leaves
Pattern: Interlocking Leaves by Kelly Porpiglia
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Spring Tickle
Needles: US1.5/2.5mm Addi Turbos
On Ravelry here.
Notes: I have absolutely nothing to say about these socks. So have a kitten!
Ricky is one of two four week old foster kittens that came to live with us over the weekend. I’ve promised not to grow attached and want to keep either of them.
