Backlog of knitting.
Jan. 4th, 2009 10:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
castaliaI haven't posted about knitting in forever, so here are a bunch of things I've finished and haven't talked about, except to post them to Ravelry.
First up, some simple ribbed socks for my mother:
Pattern: International Sock of Doom
Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Sport in "silver sage"
Needles: US 4 (3.5mm)
Notes: Quick and easy. Love the yarn.
Next, some purple socks for myself. I ♥ purple.
Pattern: Catherine (free Ravelry download, must be a member of the site)
Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Sport in "violet"
Needles: US 4 (3.5mm)
Notes: Pattern was fun but ate up a lot of yarn. Had to adapt it for a sport weight yarn instead of fingering weight, but it turned out nicely. I love these socks.
My next socks were knitted in Montana with some awesome bamboo yarn I found up there. These are probably my best executed socks, simple yet pretty.
Pattern: Conwy by Nancy Bush
Yarn: S.R. Kertzer On Your Toes Bamboo
Needles: US 2 1/2 (3.0mm)
Notes: Easy mock-cable pattern, terrific yarn. Really the perfect summer weight yarn - the bamboo has a great sheen to it like silk without all that warmth, and holds its shape better than cotton. ♥
These next socks took me 8 months to finish, as I started them back in March, finished one sock, and delayed casting on for the second until the summer was over. I just couldn't handle the wool in such hot weather.
Pattern: Show-Off Stranded Socks (another free Ravelry download)
Yarn: My own hand-dyed yarn from natural undyed New Zealand superwash wool/nylon sock yarn bought locally. I used Wilton's icing dyes and had a ton of fun with it.
Notes: The pattern really shows off the yarn well, but I got tired of it quickly. Far too many yarnovers to hook and I had to scrap the heel construction in the pattern b/c I didn't like it. Still, these are happy and spring-like and I enjoy wearing them.
Now for something different: mittens!
Pattern: Pattern #16 from Charlene Schurch's Mostly Mittens
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in White, Black, Ivy, and Golden Heather
Needles: US 2 (2.75mm)
Notes: My first stranded colorwork. These were lots of fun to make and I learned to hold yarn in both hands at the same time. The construction is awesome - the book has one general set of instructions to make the mittens and then a bunch of charts, so you just pick what you want and insert that into the pattern. These are super warm and I love wearing them, especially in the early mornings. So far they've withstood scraping ice from my windshield without getting saturated and have kept my fingers nice and toasty.
These were so much fun that I've been doing a lot of colorwork lately. I had several skeins of yarn I didn't know what to do with and finally decided on some fingerless mitts:
Pattern: Endpaper Mitts by Eunny Jang
Yarn: Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino and Louet Gems fingering weight in cream.
Needles: US 0 (2.0mm) and US 2 (2.75mm)
Notes: These look complicated but were actually pretty easy. And fast. The thumb gore is very nicely constructed so the fit is quite comfortable, and it's nice to have the fingers free for typing, fiddling with keys, etc. They're sized quite small, though, so even with my tiny hands they needed aggressive blocking. I'd recommend at least the medium size for anyone with even slightly larger hands.
And finally, Christmas knitting. Mom requested some mittens, picked out the pattern, and chose what colors she wanted.
Pattern: Latvian mittens #1 (PDF file)
Yarn: Knit Picks Telemark in Drift, Bayberry, and Squirrel Heather
Needles: US 2 (2.75mm) and US 4 (3.5mm)
Notes: I'm pleased with these, but they were kind of a pain in the ass. Adapting the pattern, written for fingering weight yarn, into something for sport weight yarn was annoying. The first mitten I did followed the pattern and did the afterthought thumb, which I hated and mom hated. So I ripped it out and started over, this time adapting it so I could put a thumb gore in there. I used the same recipe as the Charlene Schurch mittens, with a simple checkerboard pattern. Figuring out the decreases at the top was a nightmare, as was mirroring the stupid thing for the other hand so the colorwork jogs would be on the palms of both mittens. I'm pleased she likes them, but damn, these were a pain.
Also a present for mom: knitted earrings. Yup, knitted earrings. The latest issue of Knitty has some awesome pattern ideas.
Pattern: Bijouterie
Materials: Silver artistic wire, "Blue Moon" beads, "Crystazzi" beads, and sterling silver findings.
Needles: US 2 (2.75mm)
Notes: Ow, ow, ow. These were hard. Hard on the fingers, hard to handle the wire after it had been coiled up on the spool, hard to fiddle with the beads. They're pretty and mom likes them, but ow. Knitting with wire is going to take some practice.
So, there we go. My year in knitting, pretty much. Am currently working on a beaded lace scarf and have about a million things in my queue that I'd like to start. I have enough yarn left over from the Endpaper mitts to make a matching tam, so that will be started as soon as I finish the scarf and free up the needles. Then who knows. Probably more socks. I seem to be addicted to the things.
First up, some simple ribbed socks for my mother:
Pattern: International Sock of Doom
Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Sport in "silver sage"
Needles: US 4 (3.5mm)
Notes: Quick and easy. Love the yarn.
Next, some purple socks for myself. I ♥ purple.
Pattern: Catherine (free Ravelry download, must be a member of the site)
Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Sport in "violet"
Needles: US 4 (3.5mm)
Notes: Pattern was fun but ate up a lot of yarn. Had to adapt it for a sport weight yarn instead of fingering weight, but it turned out nicely. I love these socks.
My next socks were knitted in Montana with some awesome bamboo yarn I found up there. These are probably my best executed socks, simple yet pretty.
Pattern: Conwy by Nancy Bush
Yarn: S.R. Kertzer On Your Toes Bamboo
Needles: US 2 1/2 (3.0mm)
Notes: Easy mock-cable pattern, terrific yarn. Really the perfect summer weight yarn - the bamboo has a great sheen to it like silk without all that warmth, and holds its shape better than cotton. ♥
These next socks took me 8 months to finish, as I started them back in March, finished one sock, and delayed casting on for the second until the summer was over. I just couldn't handle the wool in such hot weather.
Pattern: Show-Off Stranded Socks (another free Ravelry download)
Yarn: My own hand-dyed yarn from natural undyed New Zealand superwash wool/nylon sock yarn bought locally. I used Wilton's icing dyes and had a ton of fun with it.
Notes: The pattern really shows off the yarn well, but I got tired of it quickly. Far too many yarnovers to hook and I had to scrap the heel construction in the pattern b/c I didn't like it. Still, these are happy and spring-like and I enjoy wearing them.
Now for something different: mittens!
Pattern: Pattern #16 from Charlene Schurch's Mostly Mittens
Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in White, Black, Ivy, and Golden Heather
Needles: US 2 (2.75mm)
Notes: My first stranded colorwork. These were lots of fun to make and I learned to hold yarn in both hands at the same time. The construction is awesome - the book has one general set of instructions to make the mittens and then a bunch of charts, so you just pick what you want and insert that into the pattern. These are super warm and I love wearing them, especially in the early mornings. So far they've withstood scraping ice from my windshield without getting saturated and have kept my fingers nice and toasty.
These were so much fun that I've been doing a lot of colorwork lately. I had several skeins of yarn I didn't know what to do with and finally decided on some fingerless mitts:
Pattern: Endpaper Mitts by Eunny Jang
Yarn: Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino and Louet Gems fingering weight in cream.
Needles: US 0 (2.0mm) and US 2 (2.75mm)
Notes: These look complicated but were actually pretty easy. And fast. The thumb gore is very nicely constructed so the fit is quite comfortable, and it's nice to have the fingers free for typing, fiddling with keys, etc. They're sized quite small, though, so even with my tiny hands they needed aggressive blocking. I'd recommend at least the medium size for anyone with even slightly larger hands.
And finally, Christmas knitting. Mom requested some mittens, picked out the pattern, and chose what colors she wanted.
Pattern: Latvian mittens #1 (PDF file)
Yarn: Knit Picks Telemark in Drift, Bayberry, and Squirrel Heather
Needles: US 2 (2.75mm) and US 4 (3.5mm)
Notes: I'm pleased with these, but they were kind of a pain in the ass. Adapting the pattern, written for fingering weight yarn, into something for sport weight yarn was annoying. The first mitten I did followed the pattern and did the afterthought thumb, which I hated and mom hated. So I ripped it out and started over, this time adapting it so I could put a thumb gore in there. I used the same recipe as the Charlene Schurch mittens, with a simple checkerboard pattern. Figuring out the decreases at the top was a nightmare, as was mirroring the stupid thing for the other hand so the colorwork jogs would be on the palms of both mittens. I'm pleased she likes them, but damn, these were a pain.
Also a present for mom: knitted earrings. Yup, knitted earrings. The latest issue of Knitty has some awesome pattern ideas.
Pattern: Bijouterie
Materials: Silver artistic wire, "Blue Moon" beads, "Crystazzi" beads, and sterling silver findings.
Needles: US 2 (2.75mm)
Notes: Ow, ow, ow. These were hard. Hard on the fingers, hard to handle the wire after it had been coiled up on the spool, hard to fiddle with the beads. They're pretty and mom likes them, but ow. Knitting with wire is going to take some practice.
So, there we go. My year in knitting, pretty much. Am currently working on a beaded lace scarf and have about a million things in my queue that I'd like to start. I have enough yarn left over from the Endpaper mitts to make a matching tam, so that will be started as soon as I finish the scarf and free up the needles. Then who knows. Probably more socks. I seem to be addicted to the things.