SAM3 - Final two

I managed to get two pairs of socks off the needles this month.

I've been working on the blue ones for what? Four months? Five months? I dunno. They've been sitting beside my desk and I would just pick them up and knit a few rounds every now and then. It's Regia No. F2025, a ragg yarn with two strands of dark blue and one each of light blue and beige.

The ribbing at the top is different because I tried to do a pattern, but it was totally obscurbed the the colours in the yarn. I gave up and went plain. I think they took so long because they were kind of boring but, in the end, I'll probably get a lot of wear out of them just because they are plain and boring. Funny how that works, eh.

On the other hand ...

... these ones just flew off the needles.

It's the Winter's End colourway in Ball and Skein. Totally yummy.

I loved watching the colours mingle and play.



I'm glad I've got some more of this in stash. She has some wonderful semi-solids and muted multis. Good stuff, indeed.

That's the end of SAM3. I won't be doing SAM4, because I have other things I want to do, including several UFOs that need to be Fd. Problem is, I just don't feel like doing them right now ... it's too hot and muggy. I tried to cast on some socks last night, but it just felt sticky. Maybe I need to go back to the cotton for a while.

Dishcloth Deluge

There ain't no way to glam this up, so I'm not even going to try. I was in W*lm*rt the other day and got caught up in the new-to-me colours of Bernat Handicrafter cotton. I went on a discloth spree. Since I've got nothing else, I'm going to share it with you. Aren't you lucky? :-)

Did you know they now make self-striping cotton?



If you want precision, you'll have to stripe it yourself, but it's not too bad. This is a colourway called Country. The pattern is, of course, the Ballband -- ubiquitous, not infamous -- and available lots of places but I used the one from here.

They also have a new colour series out that they call "Naturals." Here's a 4 Corners in Chocolate Ombre, a mix of dark brown, tan and white.



And a Garterlac in Earth Ombre - beige, brown and grey.



Here's something from the "How does that work?" department:


It's the Petal cloth in the Desert Rising colourway. I like the design and what it does for the colours, but I had a few problems with the pattern. As written, for sport weight yarn, it would have come out about the size of a coaster. Once I figured out how it worked, I enlarged it by (a) changing the cast-on to 155 stitches; (b) doing the first purl rows as 31 instead of 21; (c) changing the pattern from K 8, 7, 6... to K 13, 12, 11 .... ; and (d) picking up 14 instead of 9. The pick-up still gave me trouble. The pattern asks that you pick up and purl. I'm not really sure what that means exactly, and I think I did it four different ways. I'm not really happy with any of them. I should have dug out my Horst Schultz books, but I was too lazy. Maybe next time.

Still in the experimental but desert-type mood:



I remembered how much I loved Aija's beautiful adaptation for her Lizard Ridge afghan, so I had to give it a try in Country Brown Ombre. It didn't turn out too bad, and was actually a lot of fun to knit. When you just knit all the rows that don't have short rows, it's quick and easy, and flat instead of bumpy. Very cool.

Then, since I was still in the "How does that work?" department, I tried out that nifty little knitter's magic trick:


Checkerboard Illusions cloth, in green and cream.

By then, I was feeling a little silly and giddy, so I went with it:


Here's a fancy one for when the Queen comes to visit and wants to wash my dishes.

And even sillier:

The Skully cloth. I'm not much into pictures, but this was too cool to resist.

I think I've finally got all that out of my system and shall now return to my socks.

Sock meets butt

I'm generally a pretty stubborn guy, but man oh man oh man, these socks have been kicking my butt hard.

I wanted to do the Dream Twister Socks designed by the very talented Mona Schmidt, who also designed the popular Embossed Leaves socks published by IK in both the magazine and Favorite Socks. (The pattern is available as a freebie on her blog, and -- Oh! I see she's working on a new one too!!)

I loved the design when I first saw it. Down the sides of the sock are some lovely little wavy things.

And down the front and back is this cool medallion. It actually comes in groups of threes, and you can just see the start of the other two medallions at the bottom of the picture.

The problem? Well, first, it's slow slogging. Very, very slow. What you see above is the result of a week's knitting, and it's all my fault. I kept making silly mistakes, and found it impossible to fix them because of all the twisted stitches and cables. I was cabling without cable needle, and kept losing stitches. I had to re-start at least three times, each time having to do the ribbing all over again. Then I smartened up and put in a lifeline after the ribbing. Presto, bingo, no more mistakes. I decided to use a cable needle when I had to cable near the end of needle, becauses it was safer, and not use one in the middle because it was faster. Yeah, that works, but it's hard to keep track of whether you're going in front or behind the needle, because it's the opposite depending on whether you use a cable needle or not. Since my mind is like a seive right now, I had to look at the chart each and every single time to make sure I was doing it right. The pattern is over three charts, one of which has a different multiple. These ain't tv knitting, my friends.

I finally took some time to admire my work. I stretched it out to admire the design. That's when it kicked me the hardest.

I guess I should have used bigger needles. Maybe 2.5s instead of 2.25s? Sigh. I'll re-do them ... some day. But not now. Now I just want some soothing stockingnette ... round and round and round, with no thinking.

For my future reference, I played with the ribbing set-up so it would flow into the design:

* (K2, P2) x 3, (K2, P4) x 2, (K2, P2) x 3, repeat from *

(when ready to start charts, knit first stitch onto last needle and start with Stitch # 2.)

Because I know that somebody will ask, the yarn is the Smooshy that Allison sent me in the Tea Swap, Good Luck Jade colourway -- very nice stuff!

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.

SAM3 - June - done!

Many thanks to everyone who suggested various options for my mis-matched Spunky Pink Elephant yarn. You came up with a lot of really good ideas! Some of my favourites included the Stash Buster Spiral pattern, which has been on my to-do list for a while; going with dark leg and light heel and toe on one sock and light leg and dark heel and toe on another, which I may try some time because it sounds interesting; and mixing them up with another skein, possibly doing a stranded or mosaic pattern. Many of you suggested various forms of striping, either alternating several rounds or (gulp) alternating single rounds. I know that can be done, because Pat has done it with some Koigu, shown in the top entry here , and near as I can tell she's still quite sane. :-) But, it really sounds like more work than I'm prepared to do for a sock, so I took the other piece of advice that popped up quite often -- put it aside and use it for something else.

Instead, I decided to make some new black socks.

Or rather, some socks using my New Black yarn.

Spunky Eclectic fingering weight, all in one hank, and the colour is consistent throughout.

I admit, though, that I was quite surprised to see the taupey colour come out, because it wasn't at all evident in the hank. I guess it got over-powered by all that pink.

I like it! They look quite snazzy with my new runners. :-)

So, back to the Pink Elephant. I decided to knit them up a bit to see just how different they were. Turns out they were as different knit up as they were in the ball.

The pattern is Elvis the Elephant and a lot of fun. Although the pattern calls for the trunk to be knit up separately and then sewn to the head, I just made an extra increase round and carried on with the body instructions. These are each knit with one strand from each ball on 2.5 mm needles. And because they're babies, I figured they needed a mommy.

She's knit double-stranded, using one strand from each ball, on 5 mm needles. I left out the tusks on the babies and didn't bother with the mouth pieces.

I can now go make first post to the Knitted Toys KAL, which I joined eons ago but haven't knit any toys since then.

Knitters Tea Swap - parcel received!

My partner in the Knitters Tea Swap swap was Allison, of Simply Socks Yarn Company. How lucky could I get?!! I was very much looking forward to seeing what she was going to send, because she had sent me such a fantastic package in Yarn Ahoy. She didn't disappoint. :-)

Yummy! Ceylon Breakfast -- one of my favourites! And a great assortment of other teas to try. Some shortbread, some chocolate and a tea infuser. Perfect!

Oh, and what's that in the upper left? Might it be ... yarn?

Oh, yes, yarn indeed. A gorgeous hank of Smooshy sock yarn, hand painted by Dream in Color. Look at those colours! I've been drooling over this stuff since Allison first listed it, and I am so pleased that she decided to include it in the swap package.

Thanks so much, Allison -- you've certainly got me pegged!

Knitter's Virtual Vacation Swap Questionnaire

Yes, I am a swap-a-holic.

Knitter's Virtual Vacation Swap Questionnaire

1. If you could visit any state in the US, which would it be and why?

Massachusetts. Because I want to go to Boston. Lotsa history and lotsa yarn stores. Sounds perfect to me.

2. If you could visit any country in the world, other than your own, which would it be and why?

Australia, because there's sunshine and beaches. And wool No, New Zealand, because there's green galore and interesting landscapes. And wool. No, Spain. I dunno why, but I've always wanted to go to Spain. Is there wool in Spain?

3. Have you ever driven across several states/providence/countries?

Yes, I've driven across Canada.

4. Have you ever visited someplace you consider exotic? Where was it?

According to my dictionary, "exotic" can be defined thusly: of, pertaining to, or involving stripteasing: the exotic clubs where strippers are featured. I refuse to answer on the grounds that it may incriminate me.

5. What was your favorite "travel" vacation? Why?

It was a thwarted attempt to drive the Pacific Coast Highway from Vancouver to San Fransisco. I ended up spending too much time in Seattle and had to turn around and come back. Even though the ultimate goal was not achieved, it was such a relaxed and go-with-the-flow type of trip that I didn't mind one bit. But I'd still like to drive the Pacific Coast Highway some day.

6. Have you ever played tourist in your own home city/state (if international, country)? Explain.

Frequently. Since my early 20s, I've always lived away from family, so when they come to visit, I get to do the things that I wouldn't necessarily do as a local. It's fun!

7. Are you a museum visitor, beach comer or an amusement seeker?

Museums, yes. Beaches, yes. Bungee jumping, no.

8. What's your favorite type of yarn?

Something about sock yarn just makes my heart go pitter-patter.

9. What's your least favorite type of yarn?

Something about fun fur just makes my stomach churn.

10. What items do you like to knit/crochet?

Mostly socks. I have a limited attention span, so I don't have a good history with larger items.

11. What do you pack, knit/crochet wise when you go on vacation?

Socks.

12. What other crafts do you do/would like to do other than Knit/Crochet?

I used to do cross-stitch but haven't for quite some time. I don't really have time to get into much else.

13. Are you allergic to anything? (Yarn wise or treat wise)

Nope.

14. What is your favorite color? Least Favorite?

Favourite: bluegreenbrowngrey. Least favourite: yellow.

15. Sweet or Savory (Treat not personality)?

Either.

16. Anything else we are forgetting to ask that you think your partner desperately needs to know?

Desparately needs to know? I hope not.

Two quick things ....

Thing the first:

The amazing Abigail has another new dish cloth pattern -- the Pinwheel! Yet more fun with short rows. It's a quick and easy knit, and the pattern is clear and well written. And quick. Did I say that?



Thing the second:

I closed my eyes and reached into the stash to pull out some yarn for my June socks. This is what my hands touched first.

Recalling my last not-completely-satisfactory experience with Spunky sport in the same dye lot but two separate hanks, I quickly wound it into balls to get a better look at it.

Any quick thoughts?

SAM3 - May done!

Regia 4-ply Tweed in Colour No. 52.


It's totally smokin' in the Smokin' Socks pattern, designed by the amazingly creative Anne.

Knit as writ, in the 72-stitch version, except I put in a flap heel instead of a short-row, 'cause I wanted more of the pattern to show on the foot and when I do a short-row heel I have to use two-thirds of the stitches in order to make then fit. And also 'cause I'm sometimes ornery that way. The pattern could easily be adjusted to have the smoke rising in different directions on each foot, but I left them the same.

If I were the type to wax poetic, I'd go on and on about how the little tweedy bits float through the rising wafts ... I'll spare you that, though.

Except they are pretty darn cool.

Unstretched, on the right, the pattern just about looks like cables. On the blocker, on the left, it's a curling, spiralling rib that hugs the leg.

An easy-peasey pattern that I'm sure I'll do again. Thanks, Anne, for another great pattern!

In the Other News Department: From some of the comments in my last past, you'd think none of you had ever received a nail in the mail before.

Of course this was a special nail. Here's the flip side.

I'm just wondering what they replaced all the nails with ... Crazy Glue?

ISE4 - Scarf received!

Q: What's brown and blue and green all over?

Q: What's full of gorgeous little squares that go on forever?

Q: What's soft and warm and cushy-cuddley?

A: The fantastic garterlac Kureyon scarf that Kim sent me for the International Scarf Exchange!

In my semi-caffeinated state, I forgot to take a picture of the other goodies Kim sent. They included an extra skein of yarn so I can make a matching hat !!!, some yummy taffys, a mug and some coffee (which I should have drank so I wouldn't have forgotten - LOL!), some postcards and a fridge magnet ... and a nail and a yo-yo!! All very cool, and I am muchly pleased. Thanks so much, Kim! I hope the scarf you receive is as wonderful as the one you sent me.

ISE4 - Done!

It's been knit and purled, cat hair picked out of it, Eucalanized and blocked, and finally, after 510 cable crossings, the red cabled scarf is done!

What's that you say? You only see 205 255 (Ooops!) cable crossings? That would be because --

-- the other 205 255 are on the reverse side.

It's the Reversible Scarf from Melissa Leapman's Cables Untangled, 5 balls of Luxury Alpaca. My partner wanted a scarf that was at least five feet long, and after the first ball I had ... 11 inches. A quick trip the yarn store revealed that, since this was a gift and there was a deadline, no more of this yarn in this dye lot was to be had. Much gnashing of teeth ensued. In the end, it turned out to be just over six feet long. Thank you, stretchy alpaca and the magic of blocking!

Mods I made: The pattern calls for worsted weight alpaca, which I could not find, so I used DK weight. To make up the extra width, I added one pattern repeat.

Mods I wish I made: I should have added half a repeat. As it is, it's truly reversible; each side starts with a knit section and ends with a purl section. I think I would prefer to have either a knit section or a purl section on each side. You know, so each side is either framed with an inny or an outy. :-)

I enjoyed this project very much, and if I do say so myself, the alapaca feels absolutely wonderful. I'd love to make one for myself ... but not in red. That colour has been close to impossible to capture with my crappy camera. It's not scarlet, not pink, but red.





In the Other News Department, I've been tagged several times for the random things meme that has overtaken blog-land recently. Thanks for thinking of me, but I respectfully decline. I have one of these:

Continueing to continue

So, the red cables ... they continue.


About comments: That Lavendersheep, she's a smart one. It turns out that the new Blogger did NOT mess about with the ability to reply to comments and it actually works exactly the same as it did before. It also turns out that the new Blogger DID mess about with your settings. If your email address was public before, you've been reset to private. If you edit your profile and check off "show my email address," your email address will show up with the comment and restore reply-ability. Pass the word around, eh. I shall now return to my previous position: If there is no return address with the reply, that means you don't want one. If there is a return address, I'll use it. Thank you, Lavendersheep!

The red cables .... they continue to continue.



About the contest: About time I announced a winner, eh? Many of you correctly guessed that the knitted tube was a dying blank. Many of you suggested that it could be a neck or leg warmer for a giraffe, or a snake warmer, or a willy warmer. All cute ideas, but the one that made me laugh out loud was:

I’m rather certain “it” is a trunk warmer for a recently-widowed elephant. Such a comfort in trying times. Especially when one’s ankles tend not show off one’s socks to advantage.

Congratulations, blogless(?) Mike!

The red cables ... they continue to continue to continue.

You Can't Get There from Here: A Rant

I sat down the other night to start knitting my scarf for the ISE -- the one on which I had already spent four and a half hours stringing 1,680 beads onto a skinny little piece of string. It's from a kit purchased at my LYS. The yarn and the beads were packaged together with a pattern pamphlet entitled "6 Scarves and a Shawl." It's put out by a Canadian company, so I was quite happy to find something with local flavour.

Before I bought it, I opened up the package to see what the patterns were like, etc. Most of them had fringe on the ends, which I thought looked kind of ratty, but one of them, the Charlotte, had beaded tassels instead. I thought that was a nice touch and would be something a little different, so that's the one that I planned on making.

According to the pattern, you first make a tassel for each end, and then you just knit away on the scarf until you run out of beads or yarn, attach the tassels to the ends and you're done. Very cool. After a bit of futzing around to figure out how to get the beads to lay nicely in the knitting, I was well on my way.

For each tassel, you knit a small band 10 stitches wide, with beads. You then make two loops in each stitch, with 70 beads in each loop. These loops then dangle and jangle and are generally very snazzy.

Knitting, beading, tasselling, looping -- much fun ensued. Until I finished stitch number 8, at which point I casually remarked to myself, "Hmm, this tassel feels kind of, well, heavy." I looked over at my remaining beads and, not so casually, commenced to curse. Let's see: 8 stitches with two loops each is 16 loops, each with 70 beads, means I've used 1120 beads, plus the ones in the band. Two more loops to go just on this tassel, which is another 280 beads, so over 1,400 beads in this one tassel. That leaves less than ... 280 ... beads for the other tassel and the entire scarf.

I must have done something wrong. I re-read the directions. Nope, I did it right. I look again at the remaining beads. Nope, they didn't magically reproduce while I was doing the math. I curse some more. I flip through the pamphlet looking for clues. And I found one. Page 6 of the pamphlet has a materials list. Most of the patterns call for 100 grams of #6 beads. My friend Charlotte? She needs 50 grams of #6 beads and 50 grams of #10 beads. Nowhere in the pattern directions does it mention different sizes of beads.

Arrrrgggh

and also

grrrrrrrr.


Memo to Swallow Hill Creations Ltd.: If you package up a kit entitled "6 Scarves and a Shawl," you should include in the kit a note such as, "This kit contains the material required to make pattern A, B or C. If you wish to make patterns D, E, F or G, you will have to buy additional materials; please refer to materials list." If you were to do so, a gullible knitter would not purchase your kit and blithely attempt to make Pattern D. Also, upon a further and more careful perusal of your patterns, the second pattern in the booklet is Exactly the Same as the first pattern, but six stitches narrower. I don't think you can legitimately call that a separate pattern.

I do not have for you a picture of one humongous and heavy -- and rather expensive -- tassel. I ripped it so fast even my head spun. I again poured over the information I had for my swap partner. Even though she is in what I would consider to be a warmer climate, she has a lot of Very Nice wooly-type yarns. No evidence of lace or froufrou. Perhaps my first inclination of cuddly cables was in order after all. Enter Plan B.



In the Other News Department: The Knitters Tea Swap 3 -- go sign up!!

A Question: I've been hoping that Blogger would remedy the lack of return address on comments. It was there before, but in the new Blogger it isn't. It takes way too long to click around trying to find an address to reply, so I kind of gave up, but I like replying to comments. Are those of you who use Haloscan able to easily respond?