Coconut ice socks

My daughter reminded me that after I finished the long plain grey wool socks (museum commission), I talked about needing COLOUR in my next project, and what happened to it?

I feel the same need now, after acres of grey stocking – lets face it, if only I had got it right first time I would have more than knitted the pair by now!

So this weekend, after knitting a respectable amount of grey stocking (I am ready to start the two-coloured knee section) I decided to think “colour”.

This is the “Almost Sock Hop” in Pink Cadillac which I managed to capture from Teyani over at Crown Mountain Farms. It was sold to me as a “slight second” because it wasn’t as tightly-spun as regular Sock Hop. This is hand-spun, hand-dyed superwash merino – oooh!

And let me tell you, this is lovely stuff! The first thing that struck me as I was winding it into a ball was the way the two colours of the ply played off against each other, to make a lovely blend from the palest pink through to the colour of a Pink Panther bar (remember them?) There are sections where it is a fleck of white against a pale sugar pink, like coconut ice. Every yard I wound conjured up another sweet-as-candy memory. Then it dawned on me that there was a distinctly sweet fragrance too…

Inhale that yarn! It is floral, definitely, like violets with perhaps a touch of lily of the valley and a peppery spice – very gentle and old-fashioned, and sweet, but not in a cloying, artificial “air freshener” sort of way. What it reminds me of most is Edinburgh Rock or “Amazing Grace” perfume, if you have ever had a sniff of that? Mmmm!

So, it looks good, it smells good… how does it knit up? Well I have to say that despite the occasionally “baggy” plying (which I was prepared for) it knits up really beautifully. I am using 2.75mm (US 2) needles (my blond Lantern Moon’s – more mmmm!) and the resulting fabric has a “deep and crisp and even” softness. The candy pinks are blending in and out in a very pleasing way.

I chose a very simple pattern, because I only have one skein of 220 yards, which I know will only be enough for little anklets. I want to make the most of the yards I have. It is the “Heel-less Sleeping Sock” from “Knitting Vintage Socks” which is knit as a simple tube all the way to the toe shaping – no turning of the heel – bizarre! The stitch pattern is very simple and easy to remember, so this is an eminently portable project. I am planning to wear these when I am doing the floorwork sections of my “NYC Ballet Workout” – for warm toes without fear of wearing them out! They are ballet pink, after all! And an incentive to do some exercise...

So if you happen to be in North East Scotland this week and see a crazy-looking woman on the bus with her nose stuck in a ball of yarn, occasionally nibbling at a bar of coconut ice, it will be me. My car is in for its MOT, and I don’t hold out much hope for it. I am going to need sweet bus-friendly projects for a while I think.

Destash and stitchmarkers

Thank you for the smiley faces for Cinderella! I am really looking forward to seeing the pattern "out there" and have other knitters try it out. I thinkthey would be lovely to knit for a winter wedding, maybe in ivory rather than charcoal, or in a really rich purple or even black for a more goth (-ic?) look.



My destash is underway over at ebay.co.uk. There are six lots of yarn, with an end date of Sunday4 March at 10am (approx) GMT. ETA: I cannot seem to make the link work... but if you search "sock wool yarn" and then look for the end date you should find them OK.


I also have some stitch markers for sale but might put them on etsy rather than ebay - what do you think?

Chillies and kitties so far, but there will soon be some skulls and butterflies and some busy bees. I thought I might do a mixed set of chillies and skulls and call them "Death by Chilli" - tee hee hee! I am also going to make some with a ring rather than a claw top, as they can be used on larger sized needles. Personally, I like the claw because it is easily moved mid-row, or can be used to mark an actual "stitch".

Profiles

One shows off the ribbon but my daughter's foot is smaller than mine so the heel looks a bit odd! the other has less ribbon but better foot!

One stocking down!

What a beautiful few days I had on Skye! There was sunshine, there was a hailstorm. There were climbs into wild landscapes and cosy evenings by the log fire knitting stockings.

And I finished the first Cinderella stocking!

So it can be done! All the trauma was worth it. The pattern now “works”, and is a rewarding knit, I think. Lots of variety to keep a knitter’s interest, over what could have been a long long over the knee knit. Lace, two-colour knitting, three stitch patterns, and all the usual socky architecture.

It took me a long time to get used to the back seam pattern and I have cropped my photo of the back to avoid showing you where - ahem! – I got it wrong! It is only a two-row repeat, but heaven help you (me) if you drop a stitch. I worked out how to pick it up, but it was a fiddle.

The other technical hitch I ran into was the undersole design – I completely forgot that although I was working in the round, the contrast yarn would not be going all the way round with me (duh!), so I devised a system of weaving it back to the right-hand end of the dpn with a darning needle. The same effect could be achieved by doing duplicate stitch embroidery, but I prefer to knit.

The completed pattern is with Robynn for tech editing. Bryony kindly looked over the heel shaping to ensure it made sense – thank you!

Robynn suggested using the Knitty template to write up the pattern. I tentatively graded it as “piquant”, but it might be verging on “extra-spicy”…? I have lost all sense of perspective on its difficulty level, having been immersed in the design since October and knitting and ripping for a month!

Next project? Well obviously I need to knit the second stocking, and I am really looking forward to it, just knitting and knowing that all I have to do is follow my instructions! But I think I will have a little break to finish the little Cindy socks I started while waiting for the yarn for Cinderella. Although I am a bit dissatisfied with them – I think the herringbone weave pattern is too “close” for a sock. I might rip them back and go for the Ripple Weave pattern (Vogue Knitting Fall 06) as originally planned for this yarn.

I am also having a destash via Ebay from this weekend onwards. Time to chuck out the chintz (or in my case, the factory-produced self-striping sock yarns which I really don’t like) and use the proceeds to buy things I really DO like – like more STR and Piece of Beauty! And I am going to be selling some hand-made stitch markers too, if you are interested! The fiery red chillies are my favourites, for extra-spicy knitting! More on this later in the week...

Cinderella in pictures

At last!

Progress to show in the Cinderella stockings. The top two pictures are modelled by my slender ten year old daughter - so please make several inches' worth of allowance for an adult leg. I couldn't be model and photographer - though I did try!

The lower two pictures show my "cross section" design method in action, and a close up of the herringbone lace on my chubby leg!

I wanted to take a picture of the back seam, but I couldn't persuade my son to try them on and my daughter's leg is too slim for the stitch pattern to show. No amount of gymnastics could allow me to photograph the back of my own leg!

The pattern is written up and is with Robynn for editing and checking. I am now knitting to my own instructions, which is a good double-check that it all makes sense!

I have also got some fabulous magenta velvet ribbon to thread through the garter eyelets - woo hoo!

I am off to the isle of Skye for a short holiday this coming weekend, so weather permitting (i.e. cold, wet, windy) I will have a finished stocking in a week or so - woo hoo!

Therapy

Just a quick post to share my relief that Cinderella has undergone regression therapy and is now enjoying a speedy recovery.

The new Cinders is a stronger, wiser woman. She recognised her faults and decided to change.

There will be pictures at the weekend. There will be a pattern for Robynn at Purlescence very very soon.

Just keep me away from the Get Knitted website! I feel an attack of "Friday fever" coming on... Ariann is calling me. (Cascade 220 in Veridian, 4007?) And they have new stocks of Fleece Artist sock yarn in Cosmic Dawn...

Thinking in the round

I am feeling sheepish. Baah!

After all my jubilations about cracking the code of my stitch pattern, I went home on Monday night and started ripping. Baah!

There was a lot of muttering and frowning.

More ripping on Tuesday night. Baah! and double baah!

Lots and lots of scribbling and counting.

I put it away at 10pm last night and settled down with a good book.

This morning I came to work (ssh! don't tell my boss!) and started drawing circles. 36 circles in total. I might take a photo later.

Every circle represented a different cross-section of my leg / the stocking. From 96 stitches, down to 62 across 9 pattern repeats vertically and reducing from 13 to 9 repeats horizontally, with a "seam allowance". My father was an engineering draughtsman and I think I must take after him. The only way I could "see" what had to happen was to make these drawings, and annotate them with my sums.

The problem is that my chosen stitch pattern was never designed to be knitted "in the round", so doesn't take kindly to being "halved" to allow for decreases down the leg. Nasty things happen when you attempt to "half" this pattern in the round: the fabric starts to get wider instead of narrower; the lacey bits start to bunch together at one side of the "joining point", like a spider's web, while the other side becomes a dense blanket of solid stockinette. It took me 6 inches of work to realise the full horror - which serves me right for getting cocky on the blog!

I hesitate to blow my trumpet again... but this time I am certain I know how to do this thing! Transcribing my diagrams, I have written out 9 x 12 rows, line by line, long-hand, with symbols for where to place the essential stitchmarkers. (Never EVER take your stitchmarkers out, children!) And used shockingly bright yellow highlighter pen at the points where the pattern needs to "step back" a full repeat at either side of the centre back, even though it looks like there is acres of leeway for decreases just over the other side of that stitchmarker... don't you believe it, girl! LEAVE that stitch maker ALONE!

This weekend I will write up the pattern for Robynn at Purlescence. Meantime, there will be lots of calm peaceful steady knitting, following my manuscript note by note, with no more creative improvisations around the theme. I have learned another lesson.

One skein down

The first 50g skein of charcoal grey has been knitted. I am now speeding down the calf towards Cinders' ankle.

I know the vagaries of the stitch pattern well enough now to feel ready to commit the design to paper / the screen. I just wonder how much detail I need to write up? I think only an experienced sock knitter would attempt these, so is it enough to describe the structure: the stitch patterns, how to do zigzag decreases down the back seam, and charts for the colourwork? Or do I need to write a row-by-row account of how I knitted them to fit me? Hmmm.

I have learned so much in this process. Silly things, like avoiding placing a closed-hoop stitchmarker in the middle of a "yarn over" (or it will be there forever. Duh.) Clever things, like how to do a zigzag eyelet decrease. And actually knitting something to fit, trying it on at regular intervals, rather than blindly following instructions and hoping for the best!

Have you seen the latest Purlescence competition? "What would Scheherazade knit?" I have some ideas, but I think I have enough on my plate. I need to finish the stockings, as there is talk of them being in an exhibition later in the year. Both of them. But at least the second one should be quick and easy, now that I know what I am doing.... *cue: gales of self-deprecating laughter*

Meantime I am itching to get to my "Lucy" STR... and my "Pink Cadillac" Almost Sock Hop... and my Buttermilk Hipknits cashmere... and my Ingrid's Blues Claudia Handpaint. Not to mention an appointment with a "Lead or Follow" scarf. And I almost forgot the "waiting" project - my Cindy sock in Piece of Beauty "Vintage Floral". Oops.

Linkmaker

"Lovely Home Items for Mum and Girl", my new Japanese pattern book. Other images below.

At school, my daughter does something called "Book Detectives". In a small group, each child is given a task relating to this week's reading book, so when they come together as a group they have a complete set of work to share: someone has done illustrations, someone has written about what might happen next, etc. This week my daughter was a "linkmaker". Her task was to write down something about other books / films / songs / images which this story brought to mind.

I find this happens a lot when I surf the Blogs. So having found the "Lead or Follow" scarf, and admitting I liked it because it reminded me of Cinders' stockings, today I spotted Ariann at Knitting Iris's blog. And again it is grey, with vertical stripes of laceiness lined up beside solid sections. I don't suppose I will ever get round to knitting it, but it has been noted.



Maybe it is because the weather is strangely warm for January in Scotland, but my thoughts have turned to summer sewing. A new Japanese pattern book has been purchased, and some Liberty fabric, some gingham, some watermelon-coloured linen and some crisp white cotton lace. And yesterday I received my first subscription copy of Marie-Claire Idees!