vanessarama.net

May I present… Sarek!

Pattern: S(p)ocks, by Wendy Johnson. Purchased from The Loopy Ewe.
Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Multi, in the ‘Irving Park’ colourway
Modifications: Turkish cast-on, gusset heel

I love these! I called them Sarek, because the red colours are so evocative of strong emotions - passion, anger - and reminded me of the episode of TNG where Sarek goes all emotional overload and has to mind-meld with Picard. The pattern and yarn melded well for this The pattern was a lot of fun to knit, too.

Here’s my first pair for the SSoS Challenge!

I have named them Jitterbugging at Dusk. They’re the On Your Toes socks from Interweave Knits Summer 2007, done in Colinette Jitterbug (’Dusk’ colourway) on 2.5 Addi circulars. I was amazed at how few stitches I needed with this yarn; normally I cast on 64 or 66 stitches for a 2.5mm needle, but I easily went down to 56 sts for these socks. It helps that the pattern is decently stretchy, of course. I modified the pattern to use Wendy Johnson’s gusset heel. I was also pleasantly surprised by the fact that I got a decently long cuff, despite the short yardage on Jitterbug. Would knit again

(Jitterbug reminds me very much of Socks that Rock Mediumweight - same kind of weight, texture, roundness of strand, twist and springiness).

I am now hard at work on two pairs, one in Lorna’s Laces and one in Stone Barn Fibers. I hope to get pics of these up soon!

Yes, the blog looks different. In my lameness, I tried stuffing around with my theme and somehow buggered up the sidebar so that the entire thing wouldn’t display, and I couldn’t get it back again. This is because I am lame at CSS and HTML. So this is a temporary blog till I work out a theme I like enough to stick to it, or until I manage to inveigle Emily into making it all pretty for me

Anyway, I am ready for the Southern Summer of Socks, which begins tomorrow! I cast off the Tofutsies socks this afternoon and have spent some time winding skeins into yarn-cakes and reading pattern books for inspiration. I took a photo of the sock yarn stash tonight, as proof of what I’m up against:

It shall decrease substantially over the summer! I’ve also added a new rule; if I purchase a new kind of sock yarn while the challenge is on, that yarn becomes part of the challenge. I think I’ll ease myself into it - I’ll be casting on in the morning on the train, so I’ll do something nice and easy like a plain toe-up in Colinette Jitterbug. The train is murder for casting on

After much thought (much! seriously!) I have come to a conclusion about my personal challenge for the SSoS. Rather than challenge myself to do a particular type of pattern or learn a new technique, I am challenging myself to knit at least one pair from every “flavour” of sock yarn in my stash.

That means that I have to knit one pair of socks using each of the following yarns:

• Dream in Color Smooshy
• Wollmeise Sockenwolle
• Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock
• Colinette Jitterbug
• Opal
• Trekking XXL
• Trekking Pro Natura
• Socks that Rock
• The Knittery merino cashmere
• The Knittery merino
• ‘Avalon’ by WhiteWillow (indie dyer)
• Yarnivorous (indie dyer)
• Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome
• Schaefer Anne

That should both keep me busy AND use up the stash The last in particular will be interesting because the only skein of Anne I have is kind of ugly. I ordered a skein of ‘Ingrid Bergman’ because it looked so pretty in the picture - mid-pink, soft pinky-lilac, soft peach and subtle tan-green. When I got it, it was dominated by BRIGHT, bright neon pink and an orange which would be nice if not paired with this pink. I was very disappointed. I may yet order another skein just so I can fulfil my challenge.

In the meantime, I have two-thirds of a sock to finish this weekend so I can start afresh on Monday. Needles, here I come!

I’ve signed up for the Southern Summer of Socks knitalong - specifically for those of us in the southern hemisphere, but all are welcome. It starts on October 1. At last I will get to knit sockses with the best of ‘em, and count my pairs!

I worked out last night that I have enough sock yarn stashed to knit at least 30 pairs of socks. At least 30 pairs. That’s not counting the yarn that is not specifically designated as sock yarn, but which I intend to knit socks with. I am busy thinking up my personal Sock Challenge to complete over the summer!
In order to do this, I must finish my current pair quickly to begin anew. The current socks are in Tofutsies, which I am finding is lovely to knit with on size 2.25mm - I only wish it came in solid, or darker, colours. I also need to come up with a reward for myself, which shall be some of the ‘Raven Series’ of colourways currently teasing us on the front page of Blue Moon Fiber Arts. I want more dark handpainted sock yarns so that I can get away with wearing them to work!
In non-sock news, a bunch of my lovely friends gave me a massive gift voucher from The Knittery for my birthday, which I have spent I got some DK silk/merino in charcoal, enough to make a fabulous cardigan/jacket for work; and I also got a skein of the silk/merino 2-ply in ‘Lime Delight’. Mmmm.

I’m back from the NT, and back at hard work already. We had a wonderful time! I intended to get Rohan to take a photo of me working on a sock at Uluru, just so I could caption it “Sock at the Rock”, but it was so hot out there I couldn’t bear to knit!

In non-travel news, there are a few family and health issues happening, so a bit of strain. I have only one finished object to report:

I have christened these socks ‘Blackeyes’, after the protagonist in the Dennis Potter miniseries, because they are very beautiful, and also because they are black and feature eyelets. The yarn is Smooshy Sock Yarn by Dream in Color, in the colourway ‘Black Parade’. This is a very subtle and delightful colourway. It’s black, but several shades of black; it ranges through charcoal, plain black, a very dark brownish black and a dark bluish-greenish-black. I think this would be a good colour for men, and for office wear. The pattern is Wendy Johnson’s Eyelet Rib Toe-Up Socks, available on the Loopy Ewe’s blog here (scroll down a bit). I modified it with Wendy’s gusset heel, rather than a heel flap.

More to show for the trip, and more knitting, soon, I hope.

Oh, and what do you do when you get no satisfaction from an indie dyer and seller? I ordered some hand-dyed sock yarn from The Knitting Ninja in early August; the site says to allow 1-2 weeks plus delivery time, but she is in Australia, so it shouldn’t take this long. I’ve tried to contact her via the contact form on her site and also via Ravelry, but had no reply - and from what I can see on a couple of other blogs and on Ravelry, I’m not the only one. Someone ordered theirs in June and they, and Paypal, both had no response. I don’t want to be a big meanie because it’s obvious something is going on there - maybe she’s sick, or away - but if so, there should be some notice on the website about it, because other people are also going to be ordering yarn and getting nothing for their moolah. And I just want the pretty, pretty yarn!

I’ve been slack, haven’t I? In my defense, I’ve been very busy at work. It’s good busy - I’m working on some stuff that’s very exciting - but it’s busy, and when I get home I don’t feel much like sitting in front of a computer any more. There have been various family and health related things happening, too.

The good news is that as of yesterday, I’m on leave. We’re going to the Northern Territory for ten days. The bad news is that 48 hours before I step on the plane, I’ve come down with a nasty cough and overall crappiness. This often happens when I get a holiday, most notably causing me to miss Bath in its entirety while we were in the UK. Bah, I say! I plan to spend the next few days taking it easy and getting lots of sleep, hopefully to kill the evil little bacterial bastards before the trip begins.

So, knitting. I have added to my stash a little, with orders from the Loopy Ewe. I’ve also tried to use the stash a bit.

Here’s the Babette blanket I’ve been making from leftovers, so far:

And again:

This is Babette Grand-mere. Made from 12-ply scraps, she’s the grandmother; there will be an 8-ply and a sock yarn version as well. Good mindless crochet.

Here are the latest actual knitting projects…

Pattern: Falling Leaves from Knitty
Yarn: Anne by Schaefer, colourway ‘Scottish Thistle’
Needles: Two 2mm circulars
Modifications: used Wendy’s no-pick-up gusset heel.
I love the way the colour variations in this yarn are distinct yet subtle. It doesn’t detract from the pattern at all.

Next up:

Pattern: Generic stocking stitch toe-up over 64 stitches
Yarn: Regia Bamboo
Needles: Two 2.5mm circulars

You will notice that these are very long, plain socks. I am hoping they’ll be good to wear under my hiking boots. Again I used Wendy’s heel.

And finally…

Emily has named these ‘Eviscerated Seaweed’, which kind of suits them

Pattern: Broad Spiral Ribbing from Charlene Schurch’s More Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle, in ‘Suzanne’ colourway
Needles: Two 2.25mm circulars

Yarn and pattern work well together.

Again, I used Wendy’s heel. I’ve found that it really works the best of all for my high instep, and I intend to use it as much as possible from now on.

And last but not least, the Horcrux socks!

Pattern: Horcrux Socks by Susan Lawrence, from the Six Sox Knitalong on Yahoo
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Sockittome in ‘River Run’ (from the Loopy Ewe)
Needles: Two 2.5mm circulars

This was a great, fun, easy pattern. The Sockittome yarn is very stretchy and the socks seemed to knit up really fast - I christened them ‘Greased Lightning’ because of that, and because of the lightning bolt. Here’s an in-progress shot showing the lightning bolt pattern:

I just love them The only problem is the heel - a horseshoe heel, it would be good for narrow heels but not as good for my wide heels. Ah well. I love them anyway

Well, I’m off to bed to sip Lemsip and try to get better before I have to go on holiday. Wish me luck!

It was a busy weekend. I headed off to the Bendigo Sheep & Wool Show with Lou on Saturday morning. After a brief stop at the Beechworth Bakery for breakfast, we found the showgrounds and entered the show, and were immediately swept into the throng of farmers, crafters and people out for a cheery morning. The sun shone brightly in the cool winter air; it was a beautiful day and I wish I’d taken photos.

Highlights for me were finally meeting Sarah Durrant, and hearing her enthusiasm about knitting, and (as always) the visit to the alpacas. With their bright eyes and cute faces, they’re so appealing, even if their plaintive cries do sound a little like stoned sheep

After the Show, we headed off to the Bendigo Woollen Mills factory shop. and especially to the famous bargain room. I picked up a couple of cones of 3-ply Classic in ‘Claret’ and ‘Sweet Pea’ - they’ll make great socks, and I should manage to squeeze two pairs from each cone. I also picked up some scraps in bright red and pumpkin orange 12-ply to incorporate into my latest no-brainer project - a Babette Blanket. Yes, it’s crochet - eeek!

I’m making my Babette Blanket from the scraps left over from Ben’s Magic Blanket. This is Ben’s Magic Blanket:

This was my major knitting project of last year, a special gift for a dear friend. The yarn is all 12-ply, most of it from Bendigo Woollen Mills but some from Nundle Woollen Mill and there are even a few scraps of Noro Kureyon in there. Ben wanted bright colours, and some of this is natural yarn dyed with Kool-Aid to achieve the requisite brightness. Every square is different. However, I have a lot of yarn left over, some in quite small scraps, and plenty from previous projects as well. Hence, the Babette! I’m actually making two of them - one in the 12-ply, and one in all my scraps of 8-ply. I’m hoping the 12-ply one will end up big enough to use as a spare blanket. I was going to do a sock yarn one as well, but given that the size of the blanket would be tiny, I’m debating that. I think I might make wee mini socks from my sock leftovers, as Christmas decorations for all my friends and colleagues, and incorporate any leftovers after that into yet more socks.

I also picked up some 10-ply in blue, to make one of those worsted weight American patterns I’m always wanting to make From the Bendy Show I got ‘Socks, Socks, Socks’ book and a couple of skeins of Colinette Jitterbug to try. It was so pretty! So I was fairly restrained

On our way back from the show we picked up Harry Potter 7, which I spent much of Sunday reading. Nope, no spoilers here. I feel a wee bit flat now it’s over

I have begun my first Bust Out of the Box sock - it’s in the Milanese Lace pattern from ‘More Sensational Knitted Socks’ and I’m doing it in the Brombeere Sockenwolle from Wollmeise. Pictures to come, when I’ve got a bit further along.

What a weekend! After getting various doctor’s tests done on Friday, I was so knackered I got virtually no knitting done. I did, however, score 16 balls of the now-discontinued Cleckheaton Angora Supreme from Clegs for $1.95 a ball. Bargain - and it’s aran weight, or close enough, so I’ll be able to make one of those lovely American patterns from it. I’m thinking Ariann from Chicknits. I’m also thinking that it’s about time I used up some of my garment-quantities of yarn and actually made some garments!

I also did some stash re-organising on Friday. You don’t want to know how much stash I have. Put it this way… I bought a unit from Ikea, which is six foot by six foot, just to house it… and it doesn’t all fit.

Yesterday was a winery trip for my dear friend Ben’s birthday - we were driven an hour and a half into the Yarra Valley and visited four wineries, beginning with Domaine Chandon. I did take some sock knitting, but needless to say not much got done! We rolled home yesterday evening, very merry and laden with bottles, and again I felt too tired to knit. Also… what do you do when knitting hurts? I have a tendency to occasionally “help” the retreating R-H needle back out of the loop with my left index finger; well, I’ve done this with sharp little sock needles a bit too often lately (especially when alcohol has been involved) and now I have a sore patch with split skin on my finger. I’ve got a band-aid on it, but that doesn’t help, and makes knitting awkward! I guess I must just learn to knit more carefully. And I’ve misplaced my 4.0 crochet hook so I can’t even work on my scrap Babette blanket! Bah humbug!

Next weekend I’m planning a trip to the Sheep and Wool Show in Bendigo with my dear friend Lou. We’re going to stop in at the Woollen Mills as well, of course; Lou hasn’t ever been there. I am looking forward to seeing her face when she gets in there We’ve done the show before, but it’s always good fun, and I love seeing the critters - especially the alpacas, and the baby sheepdog puppies rounding up ducks! They don’t just have fleece and wool - they have a variety of other stalls selling food and drink, spinning wheels and accessories, hand-turned woodcraft, etc. It should be a good day out!

A month or so back, I posted about my nasty cheap 2.25 mm circulars and my wishes that I could order some KnitPicks ones. Well, my wish was granted. Prestige Yarns carry KnitPicks 2.25mm circs. I ordered four. It astounds me how much knitting I can get done on the train with these. At the moment my train project is plain stockinette socks, and I get at least an inch of knitting done per trip. Two inches a day! That means I feel no guilt about leaving the using up of sock yarn to the train, and doing more work on other projects at home…

This is the beginnings of my Diamond Fantasy scarf in Colourmart cashmere/merino. It’s going beautifully; the pattern’s well-written and goes fairly quickly, and the colour is so lovely for winter. I always feel like knitting red things in winter.