Versailles Bookmark

Books make great gifts, but I like to personalize them a bit by including a handmade bookmark. Here's one I recently finished.

There are many very nice bookmark patterns already on the net, but I haven't yet found one that has lace patterning on both sides, so I thought I'd put this up here. It's a quick and easy way to introduce yourself to this type of knitting.
I apologize for the crappy pictures. I had to use the flash to get something without shadows, and the colour red continues to confound my cheap little Radio Shack camera.
This bookmark is knit length-ways and is self-fringing. The pattern kind of looks like leaves and kind of looks like rectangles, depending on your mood, I guess.


(Edit December 28, 2011:  Blogger has apparently decided that all my nicely numbered rows should actually appear as bullet points instead.  Blech.  There's a properly formatted copy of this pattern available for free on Ravelry.  I would recommend you download that instead.)

Versailles Bookmark (Versailles Pattern is from Barbara Walker's Second Treasury.)
Materials: I used Opera No. 20 Crochet Cotton and 1.75 mm needles. You can use whatever you want as long as the solid parts look kinda solid and the holes look kinda holey.
Using a provisional cast-on (this one works wonderfully!), cast on 68 stitches.
Set up row: K 7, place marker, K 54, place marker, K 7.

1. (RS) K 4, P 1 TBL, K 2, knit across to second marker, K 2, P 1 TBL, K 4.
2. (WS) K 4, K1 TBL, K2, knit across to second marker, K2, K1 TBL, K4.

Repeat R1, R2, then R1 - 6 rows in total, including the set-up row.
The outermost seven stitches on each end are border stitches and the portion between the markers will be knit in pattern. The format is four garter stitches, 1 reverse stockingnette twisted on every row, two garter stitches, marker, pattern, marker, 2 garter stitches, 1 reverse stockingette twisted on every row, four garter stitches. The reverse twisted stockinette stitches are important -- don't forget them.
The lace pattern is irregular. Don't bother trying to put markers between the repeats, because it won't work. When you reach the second marker, sometimes you'll be able to do a full repeat, but sometimes you'll have extra stitches left over or not enough for a full repeat. Just end before the second marker with the stitches indicated after the word "end".
There are a lot of P2tog-TBLs in here. I hate those. Instead, I used "Purl 1 and slip it back to the left needle, lift the second stitch on the left needle over the stitch just purled and off the needle, slip the stitch back to the right needle." If you wish, you can do that too, and I won't tell anyone.
Keeping the border in pattern, knit the lace between the markers.

1. (WS) Purl.
2. K2 * YO, SSK, K8 * end K2
3. K2 *YO, P2tog, P5, P2tog-TBL, YO, P1 * end K2
4. K4 * YO, SSK, K3, K2tog, YO, K3 *
5. K2, P2 * YO, P2tog, P1, P2tog-TBL, YO, P5 * end P3, K2
6. K6 * YO, Sl1-K2tog-PSSO, YO, K7 * end K5
7. K2 * P3, P2tog-TBL, YO * end K2
8. K3 * YO, SSK, K3 * end K1
9. K2, P1 * P2tog-TBL, YO, P3 * end P2, K2
10. K5 * YO, SSK, K3 * end K2
11. K1 * P2tog-TBL, YO, P3 * end P1, K2
12. K2 * YO, SSK, K3 * end K2
13. Same as Row 3
14. Same as Row 4
15. Same as Row 5
16. Same as Row 6
17. K2, P1 * P3, YO, P2tog * end K1
18. K5 * K2tog, YO, K3 * end K2
19. K2, P1 *YO, P2tog, P3 * end P2, K2
20. K3 * K2tog, YO, K3 * end K1
21. K2 * P3, YO, P2tog * end K2
22. K1 * K2tog, YO, K3 * end K3
23. Same as Row 3
24. Same as Row 4
25. Same as Row 5
26. Same as Row 6
27. Purl.

Starting with a RS row, knit six rows of garter stitch as at the beginning, keeping the border stitches in pattern.
Binding off, RS facing: K 4, P1-TBL, K1, * replace the last two stitches onto the left needle and knit them together through back loop, K1 * repeat until you reach the second reverse twisted stockingnette, P1-TBL, replace the last two stitches onto the left needle and knit them together through back loop. Cut the yarn, leaving a tail long enough to weave in. You are left with four stitches on the right needle and four on the left. Pull the needles out and just let those stitches hang there for the moment. Take the tail that you just cut and weave it in on the wrong side through the column of twisted stockinette. Pick up the stitches from the provisional cast-on and bind off in a similar fashion. (Depending on which cast-on you used and how you picked the stitches up, you could be on either the wrong side or the right side. Just be sure to twist the stitches that need twisting and not binding off the four outermost garter stitches on each end.)
Finishing: Unravel the four garter stitches on each end up to the twisted stitch. The twisted stitch will not unravel. Snip the far end of the loops so that each loop becomes two strands of fringe. Wet block, stretching it out so the pattern shows well and the ends and sides are straight. Smooth out the kinks in the fringe so it is straight. When dry, unpin and trim the fringe ends evenly.
That's it. If you knit this, I'd love to see a picture.

Boston and Back

Yup, I went to Massachusetts, and didn't even have to leave home -- my "souvenirs" from the Knitter's Virtual Vacation Swap arrived!


Angela somehow knew exactly what I would have picked out to bring back home with me! Coffee, tea, Yankee candles, a beaded snowflake, tour book and baked beans (baked in Canada, I might say! LOL) And she made that very cool bookmark with the Red Socks! She also made the stitch markers which unfortunately you can see very well in that picture, but they have sea-themed dangleys on them -- sweet! And of course she sent yarn.


Cape Cod, of course! Thank you so much, Angela -- everything was perfect! My mini-vacation was certainly a welcome break.

Of course, once I got back to real life, I was still faced with my Dugly-Uck socks. I was trying to keep the coloured stripe pattern flowing through the gusset while maintaining the stitch pattern, and I think I succeeded.



The problem was that once I switched the foot over to stockinette, the striped wonked out on me. There were several ways I could have done it, but I decided it would be easiest to just put the pattern stitch on the front of the leg and foot and keep the back and the sole plain. It worked!

Unfortunately, I think the reduced patterning doesn't really do justice to the stitch pattern. There isn't quite as much variation as I had when the pattern went around the entire sock. Look here for an excellent example of what this stitch pattern can do for you.

By using only three Cable Twist repeats, I was able to keep the stripes from zigzagging. There are "gentle bumps" caused by the slipped stitches, but it's still a stripe.

On one sock, the stripe got a bit wider just before the heel. I lay the blame for that squarely on the horror movie I was watching as I was knitting it.

I still think this is a weird colourway. To be fair, in the pattern that came with it, they suggested that if you didn't want stripes, you could alternate ends of yarn. I was only able to find one picture of finished socks using that technique. I think it's nicer than the stripes, but I'm too lazy for it. (To the extent that I reknit these socks what? three times? LOL!)

The Socks that Rock yarn certainly feels nice as you knit it, and it makes a thick fabric that should be soft and warm. I had to wash these before I took pictures because the yarn was re-knit so often that it looked a little uneven. They were taking forever to dry, given our recent patch of humidity. I checked the label and Blue Moon recommended the dryer. In they went, and out they came, looking great. Bonus!

I was able to play with the band heel a bit more. I originally thought that you couldn't really alter the sizing of it, but you can if you treat it more like a short-row heel than a heel flap. In other words, you can't just make a longer heel flap, but you can use more than half the stitches for the flap, which has the same result. I ended up using half of the stitches plus 4 extras, which gave me four extra rows in the heel flap. The fit is perfect on my high instep, and there is no gusset wonkiness.



Other things I learned while knitting these socks:

1. Knitting with yarn that doesn't particularly appeal to you can lead to Second Sock Syndrome. I really had to force myself, often unsuccessfully, to work on the second one.
2. Repeatedly telling yourself "It will grow on you" doesn't necessarily mean it will.

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!)

The Band Heel -- generically

ETA Aug. 26/07:
1. You can adjust the fit of this heel similarly to a short row heel. Just use more than half the stitches for the flap, and the length of the flap automatically gets longer.
2. A few people have asked me how this heel would work toe up. Simple answer: I don't know, because I don't usually go in that direction. If you figure it out, let me know. :-)

The Band Heel has a flap but no gusset. By doing some shaping inside the heel flap, once you've picked up your stitches you end up at the same stitch count you were at originally -- no decrease rounds required. This is good for those occasions when you're trying to match up a colour pattern and don't want the wonkiness that can occur while decreasing a gusset. It's called a Band Heel because you end up with a nice, little band at the back and bottom of your heel.




A few notes first:

• Step 1 is simple math. Do not fear the math. If push comes to shove, use the calculator on your computer, or ask your kids to help you.



• The heel is designed so that you end up with 8 stitches left after the turn, and the flap rows require a specific count in order to restore this to your original count. Do not modify the number of flap rows in Step 2 or it will not work.



• The patterns I've seen all call for Step 2 to be done in stockinette. I imagine, though, you could very easily carry a pattern through these rows. I would be a little leery, however, about heel stitch or Eye of Partridge because slip stitches have a condensed row gauge and may throw off the fit and stretch required for this heel. Feel free to experiment.



• I have modified Step 3 in two ways. The other patterns I've seen use SSK, and I've used SKP because when I did it with SSK, I got a jagged line instead of a smooth line. Your mileage may vary. As well, other patterns called for an inch worth of stitches between the decreases, and I changed it to 6 in order to match the decreases in Step 4. This gives a nice continuous shaping line.



• If you want to continue a colour progression smoothly, take note of where your yarn is in the colourway when you first turn and purl back. Then, when you are ready to once again knit the instep stitches, pull out a loop of yarn until you find that place again. Once you've knit a bit and are sure you're happy with it, snip the loop, tuck the ends inside and weave them in.



• Many people pick up and immediately decrease an extra stitch in the gusset corners to avoid holes. I can't imagine that this would drastically affect your colour progression, so if you want to do that, go ahead. However, to be completely pure with your stitch count, you can instead wrap the outermost stitch on either side of your instep when you first divide out your heel stitches and then knit the wraps in when you recommence the instep. This eliminates the hole, places any potential wonkiness on the heel flap, and is more in keeping with the spirit of this heel. (I do that for all my heels, and it works a charm.)



• When I picked up stitches along the flap the way I usually do, I got very big holes, likely caused because I did not have the benefit of the condensed row gauge from a slipped stitch heel flap. Picking up stitches the pretty way solved this problem.



• Enough with the notes; on with the heel.

The Band Heel, in four easy steps.

Step 1: The math.

C = Circumference stitches
H = Heel stitches (C/2)
F = Flap rows (H-16)/2
S = Side stitches (H-10)/2
T = Turning point (H-8)/2 + 2
P = Pick-ups (H-8)/2

Step 2: The flap.

R1: Sl 1, K to end
R2: Sl 1, P to end

Repeat these two rows a total of F times.

Step 3: Shaping the flap.

R1: Sl 1, K S-1, K2tog, K 6, SKP, K S
R2: Sl 1, P to end
R3: Sl 1, K S-2, K2tog, K 6, SKP, K S-1
R4: Sl 1, P to end
R5: Sl 1, K S-3, K2tog, K 6, SPK, K S-2
R6: Sl 1, P to end
R7: Sl 1, K S-4, K2tog, K 6, SKP, K S-3
R8: Sl 1, P to end

(Double check: Count the remaining stitches. It should be H-8.)

Step 4: The turn.

R1: Sl 1, K T, SSK, turn.
R2: Sl 1, P 6, P2tog, turn.
R3: Sl 1, K 6, SSK, turn.

Repeat R2 and R3 until 8 stitches remain.

Sl 1, K to end.

Pick up P stitches along side of flap (one in each slipped stitch). Knit across instep, and pick up P stitches along other side of flap. Knit 4.

You are now back at the beginning of your round, with a total of C stitches.

If you knit this heel, I'd be delighted to hear your feedback.

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.

Dugly-Ucks

I'd like to once again thank my very generous readers for their extremely kind comments about my socks over the last year or so. Several people have commented about how I *always* find such nice colours to knit, etc. I think you're really saying that our tastes coincide, and it's nice to be able to share with people who have similar likes. However, I assure you that I do not *always* find nice stuff. This was brought home to me the other evening when it cooled off a bit and I dug around in the sock yarn stash, looking for something to knit. As I was doing so, it occurred to me that while I do have some nice yarns, there are others that I keep passing over.

You know how sometimes you buy a yarn in a YS and you get it home and wonder what the heck you were thinking? I have some of those.

You know how sometimes you join a sock club and some of the colours they send just don't quite do it for you? I have some of those.

You know how sometimes you buy a yarn off the 'net, but when you get it the colours don't quite match what you thought you saw on your monitor? I have some of those too.

The first time it happened, I thought to myself, "Well, it's just an Ugly Duckling waiting for inspiration." The second time, "Aw, the Ugly Duckling has a nest mate -- that's nice; it won't be lonely." Eventually, the cute aspect of it wore off entirely and, in Criminy Jickets fashion, the Ugly Ducks began to be called Dugly-Ucks. Doesn't sound quite so cute. I'd be digging in the stash and, "Crap, there's that Damn Ugly Yuck again."

That's not a very charitable attitude, I know. I also fully realize that my Dugly-Uck could very well be someone else's favourite colours in the whole wide world, and that's a good thing. However, it also occurs to me that I could be using that yarn as a challenge to either try to make it into something I like, or, conversely, or perhaps perversely, to celebrate its Dugly-Uck-iness and make some blatantly Dugly-Uck socks.

In the cool of that evening, I cast on six new socks. I'm under no pressure to finish them by a certain time, and they'll be there when I feel like knitting on them. Some of them I quite like, and others, well, they're Dugly-Ucks. I'm not sure what I'll do with them yet, but I will do them, just because I felt guilty that they were being left behind.

I can't be the only knitter with a few skeletons in the stash closet. Anyone else have Dugly-Ucks? Want to take up the challenge and knit some Dugly-Uck socks? I think it would be interesting to see how different knitters handle something that takes a bit more inspiration than usual. It could be a great way to try out a new technique without "sacrificing" something you really like. I'd love to see other people's Dugly-Ucks and what they do with them. Brace yourselves, because eventually you're going to see mine.

(Disclaimer: This post is not intended to slam yarn companies, dyers or sock clubs. I definitely believe in, "Different strokes for different folks." )

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.