November 15th, 2009 § 0
Cool, huh?
These shoes are awesome. Know why? My biggest sister made them for me. They’re the first thing she ever knit using double-pointed needles. She used leftover yarn from Mommy’s “Fair Isle” Harris Tweed socks, and had the pattern memorized by the time she got to bootie #2.
Technical specs:
August 14th, 2009 § 0
and no knitting for the new mom, either. Seriously, I’ve spent maybe 20 minutes knitting in the last four weeks, and those non-consecutively. I have yet to master the fine art of knitting and breastfeeding at the same time. And since Charlie is hungry roughly 12 times a day, time for knitting is approximately 0.
So I spent my day dreaming about yarn. Really. Ravelry hosted a yarn dyeing competition in conjunction with Sock Summit (a convention for sock knitters), and the entries were phenomenal. I especially like Georgia Peach from Three Irish Girls. Yarnista has a great blog, too.
I browsed a couple of online vendors, and set up wishlists at The Loopy Ewe and Eat.Sleep.Knit.
I watched the first episode of a new knitting videocast by alcariel, formerly of Lime’N'Violet. She’s a nurse who lives somewhere near Omaha, NE, and just returned from Sock Summit.
NOTE: The audio is a bit choppy, but it’s a decent first effort.
And I ran across a tutorial on how to do Kitchener stitch, a necessary skill when grafting the toes of socks, and timely, because Kaity is working on her first pair of (Harry Potter themed, naturally) socks.
Almost time to go pick up the kids. I think I’ll take my knitting in the car.
July 2nd, 2009 § 0
The mods of the Makin’ Cookies ravelry group decided to take a small hiatus for June, so we’re starting the second pattern from Sock Innovation in July. Blog readers chose Louet Gems Sport in Teal for this project.
Option 2: Louet Gems - Teal
In celebration of my successful dissertation defense, I bought myself a yarn swift (a great deal from KnitPicks) to go with the ball winder I got for Mother’s Day.
Yarn swift in action
It makes quick work of winding skeins into center pull cakes, and Kaity is grateful to no longer be my yarn holder while trying to wind balls by hand.
All wound and ready to go!
I also purchased a handmade sock-knitting bag from Slipped Stitched Studios on Etsy. I had been using a drawstring plastic bag to carry my sock knitting around, but my needles kept poking through.
Not your grandma's knitting bag
Here’s the progress on Eunice, which I’m thinking will be a gift. The leg is a little short for my taste, but just right for another family member who had never had a pair of handknit socks.
Almost through one leg repeat
I’m liking the pattern so far, and the yarn has a tight twist making for great stitch definition. The only modification I’ve made is to go down a needle size (to 2.0 mm, US 0) because I’m using a slightly heavier weight yarn. I think these will be a quick knit, and maybe I can finish them before the baby makes her debut.
***
Other cool knitting, or why I don’t call myself a “fiber artist.”
June 26th, 2009 § 0
Kaity’s second square for Grandma’s Blanket is the Instant Plaid from Barbara Walker’s Learn-To-Knit-Afghan Book.
Instant Plaid
She’s really getting the hang of stranded knitting.
Technical specs:
Other cool knitting:
knit-a-blog
Earlier this month, Wired featured a story on Geek Art, with particular reference to the knit-a-blog, a project started in 2005 which:
put a blog at the center of its challenge. Each of the 20 or so participants had to create a knitted patch and then hand it over to the next participant. The receiver of the patch would have to photograph it and upload it to a blog called glittyknittykitty, where its progress would be tracked…The knit-a-blogathon also borrowed from the principles of open source programming. Participants could add, embellish or change patterns, but they had to build on the work of previous knitters. They also could not remove or alter any work already done. All the work would be the public domain and participants would have to agree to freely contribute in terms of time, ideas and yarn.
Open source knitting – awesome!
–Image credit: BildMuseet
May 30th, 2009 § 0
Socktopus is the latest addition to The Knitty Project. I’ve never made a knit toy before, and this was relatively simple (and quick).
Socktopus
It’s also a great way to use up scrap yarn. From the top left, there are pieces of:
And the main body is knit from some afghan square leftovers. I used more sock yarn for the face, and voila! Socktopus! And a great little gift for the baby.
Brain-eating socktopus
Technical specs:
After knitting eight very tiny short row heels, though, I think I’ll stick with heel flaps from now on. I had a hard time not getting holes along the edges of the heels, and the wrap and turn instructions in the pattern weren’t detailed enough if you’d never done that type of heel construction before (or only once, in my case). One more reason to be grateful to YouTube, and Cat Bordhi.
Next on my list is the OpArt baby blanket from the Fall 2008 issue of Knitty. I can’t wait to get started.
May 26th, 2009 § 0
With 50% of the vote, my next Knitty Project will be Socktopus. This is good, because not only is it relatively quick, but I was starting to feel a little guilty having knit nothing for the baby yet.
What Should I Knit - Knitty Winter 2008?
Total Voters: 8
Loading ...Coming up in June is the next Makin’ Cookies KAL, this time for Eunice:
Eunice by Cookie A.
Since the last poll was such fun, and I’ve picked my next project from the Fall 2008 issue of Knitty, I thought a different kind of poll was in order. I have a stash, you see. Several skeins of souvenir yarn that I’ve picked up here and there, plus swap gifts over the last year or so. I’ve chosen three options for Eunice, which do you prefer?
Option 1: Cascade Heritage Paints - Londonberry Colorway
Option 2: Louet Gems - Teal
Option 3: Zwerger Garn Opal Fantasie
Which yarn for Eunice?
Total Voters: 5
Loading ...May 25th, 2009 § 1
While working on my Monkey socks, I discovered that the designer, Cookie A, had a whole book about sock design in the works. Published in April, the first printing sold out quickly. Her patterns are very popular on Ravelry; the Monkey socks pattern has been knit over 9500 times.
The design section of the book is fantastic. Cookie prefers to knit her socks from the cuff down, using a flap construction for the heel, so she provides several cuff and heel pattern variations, as well as a handy chart for figuring out the heel turn (my favorite part of a sock). But more than covering basic sock anatomy, Sock Innovation: Knitting Techniques & Patterns for One-of-a-Kind Socks discusses the basics of good design, including placement, mirroring, and symmetry.
There’s also a section on charts, the difference between charts for flat knitting vs. knitting in the round and how to convert between them, common charting mistakes, and how to read them. A final section on stitch patterns, their effect on the knitted fabric, and how to combine stitch patterns to make one-of-a-kind socks completes the design portion of the book. Totally worth the cost right there.
The remainder is devoted to original designs from Cookie A. There are 15 in all, of varying degrees of complexity, which will definitely push the boundaries of your knitting knowledge.
With the publication of Sock Innovation, the Makin’ Cookies knit-along (KAL) group was established on Ravelry, where every month we knit one pattern from the book, in order. There is another KAL based on the book, where group member vote on two patterns for the month, one from the book and one from another source, but I like the structure of knowing what’s coming. I joined the Makin’ Cookies group at the beginning of the month, cast-on my first pair (Glynis) on May 4, and cast-off last night.
Glynis
Glynis is a charted lacy pattern. Having little experience with charts, I realized after getting to the gusset decreases on the first sock — essentially halfway done — that I was hopelessly lost trying to transition from the leg chart to the foot chart and had to rip the whole thing out. Why? Because I had read the leg chart both upside down and backwards (starting from the top left instead of the bottom right). Knitting charts are read completely opposite from the way you read normal text.
The pattern is not difficult, just an 8 round repeat with knit rounds every other row, but it does require a little concentration. Cookie, at least in this book, likes to include some interesting stitches (k3tog, kfbf and sssk in this case) in her patterns, which require both excellent fine motor skills and concentration. I had to tink several times after being distracted. And while I don’t think I would have chosen to knit this pattern on my own, I’m glad now that I did, as it’s a relatively gentle introduction to reading charts.
» Read the rest of this entry «
May 19th, 2009 § 1
Nana also made a blanket for the baby. I think she started knitting it shortly after Christmas, when she found out we were expecting. It’s gorgeous and soft, and Brandon’s decided the baby is coming home in it.
Nana's Baby Blanket
Technical specs:
Sunshine and rainbows blanket
What a wonderful welcome for our little one.
May 17th, 2009 § 0
Nana made some beautiful baby booties for the newest addition to the family. She had to learn how to use tiny double-pointed needles to make them, too. Next step: socks!
Baby booties
Technical specs:
by Claire Montgomerie
Too cute
May 3rd, 2009 § 0
I have quite a few skeins of handpainted sock yarn in my stash. I can’t resist the pretty colors, but they don’t always knit up the way you expect. Colors often flash and pool, causing odd patterns. The designers featured in Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn present 21 creative ways to overcome these problems.
Carol Sulcoski also has a section describing the properties of handpainted yarns, and the special considerations required when choosing patterns, including color value and the length of color repeats.
dkKnits Technicolor Dream Toes
The April theme for the Thrifty Knitters Sock Club was to knit a pair of socks from a book. So I pulled a handpainted skein from my stash, picked a pattern, and cast on. The yarn is dkKnits Technicolor Dream Toes, hand-dyed by an independent dyer on etsy. It was beautiful in the skein, and the pattern shows off the colors very well.
Potpourri socks
I modified the pattern a little, substituting a stockinette round for the double figure eight called for. While I agree with the designer that it’s a great technique for resetting the color repeat, the only pooling I noticed with my modification was when picking up stitches for the gusset, which I can live with.
Pattern detail
I was a little concerned about the picot cuff, having never done one before, but it was surprisingly easy and makes a nice decorative edge
Technical specs:
