585

I stopped entering blog contests a while ago because I figured I’d done my fair share of winning when I first started blogging and it would only be fair to let other people have a chance, but for some reason, when Joan had a contest to guess the yardage in a skein of yarn she’d spun, the number 585 jumped right into my head.  I checked her comments and no one else had guessed that yet, which quite surprised me, because, you know, it was SO COMPLETELY OBVIOUS.   Before I had a chance to control myself, I’d entered.  Well, turns out I was wrong.  The correct answer was 576.  But, as luck would have it, I was less wrong than anyone else, so I WON!  Wanna see what she sent me?  Of course you do.

 

Mmmm, nummies!!  Cookies, Buffalo bars (Did you know Buffalos only have 330 calories per serving?  I didn’t.), sponge candy and some wonderful smelling soap so I can wash my sticky fingers after I munch. 

There might have also been some fibre.

Hmmmm, softies!! On the right is some beautifully heathered merino in the Cranberry colourway from Firefly Farm, and on the left?   It’s from Spirit Trail Fiberworks, Moon Shadows colourway, merino, silk and angora!!  Dudes!!

Thank you, Joan -- you do know how to spoil a guy!!  The moral for everyone else?  585 is a lucky number.  Remember that, mkay?

So, what have I been up to?  Well, knitting.  Still no socks – sock mojo continues to be a a no-go – but I did knit up some of my handspun into a shawl/scarf thingy.

The pattern is the uber-simple Boneyard Shawl by Stephen West, which I still managed to screw up, but whatever.  I figured a triangle shape would suit the light-to-dark shading in the stripes. 

The main feature of the pattern is lines of garter stitch every 12 rows.  I did them every 10, because it was easier and I felt like it.  I’m quite happy with the project, from start to finish, but turns out that I prefer the back side.  Sort of makes the garter ridges moot, but I think the colour changes are smoother.  Design element, down the tubes.  That’s just the way it goes sometimes.

  The wheel has been kept busy too.

This is some super fluffy and soft superwash BFL in the Trust Me colourway from CJ Kopek.  It’s part of a spin-a-long on Ravelry where we were given photos of the inspiration behind the colourway but not a picture of the actual fibre, which I think is kind of a fun idea.  The colours aren’t really me, so I wasn’t really worried about making a yarn for a specific purpose and instead gave myself permission to play.

Techy stuff:  Divided the fibre into four lengths.  Predrafted two of them together to mix and meld the colours, then did the same with the other two.  Held both lengths together as I drafted at the wheel.  This gave me a very mixed up and marled single.  I chained the single, chained the chain and then added plying twist.

End result, 75 yards, 9-ply double chained, 8 wpi.  I like it!  I think it will make a great Wonky.  I guess I should get started on that so I can actually use it this year, eh?

End note:  Anyone else using Windows Live Writer to write blog posts? Wow, so much easer.  My only complaint is that it won’t accept my defaults and I have to format each photo.  Even that’s just two clicks,though, and it’s much easier than all the dragging and dropping I had to do before.  So, does easier equal more frequent posts?  That remains to be seen.

Skinning the Cat

I'm surprised that so many of you jumped at the chance to win some Dugly-Uck yarn. Most of you picked up on the point that I missed as I was planning my sock -- when I changed over the foot to stockinette, the yarn usage per round changed sufficiently that the colour patterning changed.

Thanks to the good old Random Number Generator, Caren in N.H. gets herself a hank of ugly yarn to play with. I picked out this one:



It's from the Posh Yarn sock club and didn't come with a label, but it's supposed to be a cashmere blend of some sort. I hope the colours suit Caren more than they do me. Congratulations, Caren!

It seems that the desire for ugly yarn is so strong that some of you missed my asking that entries be emailed rather than commented. In your honours, I have decided to award another prize - a very special one - to another winner specifically from you. I went through the sock stash and picked out The Ugliest Yarn I could find. But then, because I'm a nice guy, I decided to lessen the blow by giving the winner a choice. Erica, pick one of the two pictured below, and it's yours! To protect the guilty, I'm not going to tell you what these yarns are - it'll be a surprise.





Amazingly enough, that was kind of hard to do. As I was photographing them, I couldn't help but wonder how they'd knit up. It's a sickness, and I got it bad.

So, skinning the cat, more than one way, etc. One way to get rid of Dugly-Uck yarn is to give it away, and another is to keep slogging at the one on the needles. I ripped back to the heel flap and knit the foot with slip stitches but no twists or ribs. (Thanks for the suggestion, Helen and Maaike!) Unfortunately, it wasn't enough to even out the pooling, and it changed the fit enough that it felt a bit tight. It looked basically the same as last time, only more annoying. RIP!

Enter Plan B. (Or is that C or D ... I've forgotten already.)

I was able to get this ....

... which I actually kind of like. Hmm. Unfortunately, that doesn't fit either. I'd have to go down about eight stitches, and then I'd lose the marbling. But I've thought of something else, so RIP! again and on to Plan C (or D or E or whatever it is.)

I must say that I'm having fun with this, and considering that this yarn has been knit and ripped several times, the STR is holding up quite well. I'm impressed so far. Well, except for the dog poop on the waterslide aspect of it. (Lovely analogy, Kristen -- thank you!)

A Virgin No Longer

Putting my money where my mouth is, I have embarked upon my quest to make a decent pair of socks from a yarn that doesn't particularly appeal to me.

The Yarn:



I have finally decided to try the Socks that Rock. It's the Rainforest Jasper colourway, light weight, the first selection from last year's sock club. It looks so innocent, this little hank of yarn, but it has earned my designation of a Dugly-Uck for two reasons.

First: I was disappointed when I received this because, despite STR's well-known reputation for flashing and pooling, my first exposure to it is a striping yarn. Even the Queen of the Cool Pool (see here and here) had troubles with this one -- scroll down on that second page to see what I mean. When you accept it for what it is, though, it does stripe quite nicely -- see here. Fine, no fun pooling action; stripes it shall be, and the very best stripes I can make.

Second: The more grievous problem, at least to my eyes, is with the colours. In the hank, they look quite nice, but when knit up , they seem to me to collect into the Very Unfortunate Combination of what appears to be Hospital Wall Green and Diarrhea Brown. I would note all of the selections from last year's club have made their way into Blue Moon's regular rotation -- except this one.

Trying to look on the positive side, though, the colours are not solid. There is a good variation and depth to both the greenish and the brownish. I decided to try to play that up a bit.

The Cuff:

One good way to highlight individual colour spots in a variegated yarn is with slipped stitches. They elongate and draw attention to themselves. The very clever Cable Twist sock pattern from Hello Yarn also lays them on a diagonal, which I think further enhances their effect. This pattern has been on my list of things to do for quite a while, so I was delighted to give it a try.



I think the pattern does a great job of adding little blips of individual colour without obscuring the stripes, while adding a bit of textural interest. I've changed it from a 7-stitch repeat to an 8-stitch repeat to fit my stitch count.



Note: I love working this pattern. It's easy and effective. You know how some people have knit 10 Pomatomus or 12 Monkeys? That's how much I like this pattern. You're likely to see a lot more of it here.

The Heel:

When I want to preserve a particular colour patterning, I generally do a short-row heel because once it's done you're back at your original stitch count and the patterning should continue. However, to fit my foot, I have to do it over two-thirds of the stitches, which leaves only one-third plain on the instep. When I want to maximize an instep pattern, I do a flap and gusset so I can have half of the stitches on the front worked in pattern. The problem with that is that the gusset will distort the colour runs in the yarn and you tend to get something weird going on. I resolved to find a way to get the best of both worlds.

The answer: The band heel. Several patterns on the net use this heel, and Nancy Bush describes one in Folk Socks, I believe. However, it has always seemed a little complicated and cumbersome. I spent a fair bit of time digging through the instructions and simplifying them, and have come up with something that I think works with all stitch counts. (More about that in another post.)

Its big advantage, though, is that you work a flap, shape it, turn the heel, pick up some stitches along the sides of the flap and Presto! you're back at your original stitch count with NO gusset. Any colour weirdness is only on the flap, which is fine by me. It turns out that it fits my foot wonderfully, and you do end up with this cute little band on your heel.



Very cool, indeed.

The Screeching Halt:

I'm back at my original stitch count and, after adjusting my yarn so it resumes at the proper place, both my colour pattern and stitch pattern should continue uninterrupted.

Unfortunately:

... my nice, neat stripes have gone wonky. Crap! I neglected to take into account one Very Important Element.

Here's a test to see if anyone has actually read this far without falling asleep. Do you know where I went wrong? If so, send me an email (address in the side bar) with your answer. I'll put all the correct answers in a hat, draw a name and send the winner a prize. What will the prize be? HA! I'll dig through my stash and send you some guaranteed Dugly-Uck yarn to play with. I dare you to enter!

This calls for drastic action!

Oh, and my thoughts about losing my STR virginity? I am surprised at how thick the fabric is. The yarn certainly feels nice while you're using it, and the socks should end up soft and cushy. Their durability can only be determined after a thorough road test. I'm still confused, though, as to how the light weight and the medium weight can knit up into the same gauge, at least according to the Blue Moon site. I guess I'll have to dig out some ugly medium weight to play with too.

Petting and Peeving

Petting

A little while ago, I was one of the winners in a contest that Nora held. The prize? Merino Cashmere Sock yarn which is "cheerfully handpainted" from The Knittery. Their yarn is so yummy that it was on back order for a short while, but it arrived this week. (Although it was indeed just a short while, one of the other winners has already finished a pair of socks with her prize.)

Anyway, mine is now sitting on my desk so I can look at it, and pet it. And pet it. And pet it.

It's gorgeous, and it feels wonderful. Thank you, Nora! The colour, by the way, is Moonlight.

While I was corresponding with Nora and making arrangements, she was amused to note that we Canadians, like Australians, spelled "colour" like ... well, colour. Nora, I hereby promise that I shall savour this glamourous yarn, endeavouring to honour this wonderful favour. Knitting these cool colours will surely help to calm the clamour of everyday life, providing harbour from everyday stresses. I will valourously and rigourously labour to maintain the soothing flavour and demeanour of your gift. In all candour, I hope my skills are sufficient to produce a pattern that truly reflects the vapourous quality and behaviour of Moonlight. Eventually. But first I want to pet it some more.

Peeving

I don't normally rag on people for things, much prefering to live and let live. However, several times this week I've run across something that has raised my rancour. (Ha! Found another one!) People: the word "infamous" does not mean "very famous." According to Webster's, it means "having an evil reputation." It can also be defined as detestable, or, legally, as deprived of certain rights as a citizen, as a consequence of conviction of certain offenses or pertaining to offenses involving such deprivation. More simply, according to the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary, it means "when someone or something is famous for something considered bad." If you want to be nice to someone, please don't call them "infamous." If you use that word, you are likely saying the opposite of what you intend. Please save it for Lee Harvey Oswald, or Marilyn Monroe, depending upon which conspiracy theory you follow. Thank you.

Private note to the legal-type people representing Marilyn's estate, her heirs, etc.: The reference above to Marilyn Monroe was a small attempt at humour. (Ha! Even another one!) I by no means believe that Marilyn was involved with UFOs, the Bermuda Triangle, or conspirators. I view her death, and that of RFK, as one of the great tragedies of our time. Thank you for your understanding.

Mail & Miscellaneous

My mail box has had another very good week.

Mail No. 1: I recently won a blog contest over at StarzAbove and look what she sent me!



Some wonderful roving! I don't spin, but I've always wanted to try thrumming, and this will be perfect. Some cookies! I love chocolate and mint together and have somehow already managed to scarf down half the box. And ..





Some sock yarn! I'm thinking it's hand-dyed, in a gorgeous slightly variegated mixture of subtle greens and browns. This will make some Very Handsome Socks! :-) The package was a most welcome break in busy week -- thank you so much, Starz!

Miscellaneous No. 1: Several people asked where I got the Apple Pie yarn that I used in my March socks . That, along with this ...





... came from Pick Up Sticks . No affiliation-yada yada-blah blah blah, but I must say that I have made, ummm, several purchases from Connie and have received excellent service every single time. I highly recommend her. On the yarn itself, several people mentioned that they have had a knot problem with it. I didn't have any knots, but just so's you know, m'kay?

Miscellaneous No. 2: Locals might be interested to know that another yarn store in Ottawa finally got some Koigu. I feel safe in sending you to Yarn Forward on Bank Street because ...

... I've already been there.

Miscellaneous No. 3: I finished stringing the beads for my ISE4 scarf.

That is 427 cm., which is 168 inches, which is 14 feet, of beads. There are 10 beads to an inch, so ... 1,680 beads. I now understand why people who work regularly with beads get a bead spinner. Onward!

Mail No. 2: Thanks very much to everyone who offered to trade me for their Monsoon STR yarn. Blogless Elizabeth, with whom I traded my previous club yarns, came through for me!

Me likes it! I likely won't do the Inside-Out pattern, but who knows. I'll let it marinate for a while.

Elizabeth also sent me something else, along with a note that said, "If you don't know what it is or how to use it, LMK!"

I don't really KNOW, but I do have some guesses. It's an open-ended knit tube, with the ends unfinished, 229 cms or 90 inches long, 12.7 cms or 5 inches across, so 25.4 cms or 10 inches around.

I love mysteries, and I love contests, so closing off the circle in this post, a Contest! Email me (address in the sidebar) your best guess -- I said best, which doesn't necessarily mean correct -- as to the use of this object, and in two weeks time I'll pick a winner and send them some sock yarn goodness!