Blogalogalog!

Just going through my photo album

Trying to decide which utterly stunning knitted object I’ll ramble at you about next ;-) Any preferences, anybody? Anything you can’t figure out what the hell I was thinking when I went and made it?
Meanwhile, have a podcast rec: Stash and Burn is put out by Jenny and Nicole, and frankly, it’s great. Funny, quirky, engaging, and fuuuuull of pepperyfibrey goodness, it’s very small and neat… no, wait, that’s a Finger of Fudge. But my point remains! Plus, it’s all about busting your stash (or trying to), which is something that I really need to get onboard with. So, if you’re not already doing so, you should go and sign up, and download those back-episodes too! Listen, laugh, and embrace your knitting fantasy life.

Purple Opal Magic Socks

Opal Magic Socks

Ahh, my first socks! Aren’t they fab? I don’t remember exactly why I decided to knit a pair of socks – whether it was just the next thing I wanted to try, or if I saw the yarn and fancied having a crack at it. I do know that my friend Char was with me, and she’s a sock knitter. So she definitely had some hand in the proceedings! *g*
Anyway, we were in the Battle Wool Shop (an L-ishYS) and with help from Char and the lovely ladies who work there, I picked out this yarn and a set of 2.5mm DPNs, and was given Sue Morgan’s Simple Sock Pattern pattern free with the purchase. I went for this because, well, there wasn’t a lot of sock yarn available – what there was was either completely plain, or the Opal or Regia self-striping. Or at least, I think so – there might have been some more expensive yarn there at the time, but I wasn’t looking for that – I wanted to go for something that would stand up to my novice sock-knitter efforts! Anyhow, I know they do have Lana Grossa and Trekking in the shop now as well as Opal and Regia, and I’m not 100% sure what else. If they have handpainted lines, it might live with the other expensive yarn on the other side of the shop, and I haven’t looked over there recently – too much temptation!
Opal Magic sock cuff But I digress. So there I was with my new sock making supplies…. but I can’t remember now if I cast on straight away or not. The picture on your right was taken in November 04, at any rate.
I knitted that first sock in fits and starts. The leg took quite a long time, though I was enjoying watching the pattern manifest itself. Then I blitzed the heel and foot gusset overnight in late December (pic below). The foot, again, took quite a while, and once I’d completed that toe, I have a feeling that the whole project hibernated for some time before I cast on for its pair.
Again, the second one was done in bits and pieces, but then in winter 05/06 I picked it up again and worked steadily until I was done! Whee!
More pictures are under the link!

Continue reading “Purple Opal Magic Socks”

A veritable meme

Oh dear, I’m sorry. I would say that you can see my posting quality plummet before your very eyes here, but it hasn’t been all that til now anyway. ;-)
However. Found via Lisa:

You Are a Life Blogger!
Your blog is the story of your life – a living diary.
If it happens, you blog it. And make it as entertaining as possible.

On the phone to Ally now. Hi Ally!!

Decision!

Having made the single-pair-of-hands realisation, I’ve just had a bright idea. I shall still keep working on Fetching in bits as I feel like it, but for the main part I’m going to focus on my previous FOs, and talk about those. Pretty much everything is from before I was using this for a knitting blog, so it’d be kind of cool to give them posts of their own.
Up first, My First Socks! (Probably. Unless I go for my first actual knitted things.)

[Listening to: Show 14 – The slow clothes mov – David Reidy – Sticks & String Podcast]

You know what?

I think I kind of underestimated how difficult it was going to be to knit and blog at the same time. Note to self for the future: I only have one pair of hands.
What was I thinking? *headdesk*
You know what else? I sent an email to the PoshKnitters list yesterday about my ‘thoning… and it hasn’t turned up in the group that I can see. Huh. I think I might try again. Hopefully everyone won’t end up getting the same thing twice. Because I am shameless in my quest for sponsors! Even when there is only… er… Wow, just over 6 hours to go. I think I had better send the mail again. You never know, after all, and the list mod said it was fine with her.
(And in case it works this time and anyone comes by – hi PoshKnitters! :-) )

[Listening to: Show 14 – The slow clothes mov – David Reidy – Sticks & String Podcast]

Forest Canopy

Forest Canopy pattern set-upI can’t quite remember if I’ve mentioned this here yet, but I have cast on my Forest Canopy Shawl. This isn’t the best photo – it wasn’t good light and for some reason I couldn’t get the focus. Maybe I should have zoomed in or something? Anyway! What you can see here is about half of the set-up section of the lace pattern. I’ve now completed the set-up section and I’m about to start the first body repeat.
Project stats:
Pattern: Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl by Susan Lawrence.
Yarn: Posh Yarn Eva 4-ply (55% silk, 45% cashmere) in Tuscany.
Needles: 4.5mm (bamboo straights for now, to change to a circular when it gets wider)
I’m actually kind of confused about this pattern. Not about the knitting of it as such – the pattern looks straightforward enough in terms of knitting the stitches. But it’s the construction of the shawl that’s stumping me. It’s not making sense in my head. You see, the pattern describes it as a “top-down” shawl. To me, the top of a shawl is the widest part, the edge that goes across the shoulders. Am I mistaken? Because the shawl starts out with… um… I’ve forgotten how many, but only a few stitches for the cast on, and then you increase from there. That would indicate to me that I’m knitting from the bottom point upwards.
I would have just assumed I’d got confused with what top-down meant. But. When you’ve knitted the desired number of pattern repeats, it then tells you to knit the border along the bottom edge and follow the directions to get the scalloped cast-off, etc etc. It doesn’t say anything about casting off the top edge and picking up along the bottom. Yet, if I’m starting with a pointy bit….. argh! Perhaps I’m missing something vital about the shape of the shawl because I haven’t yet started knitting the main pattern. I know I’m not knitting from a corner, either, because I’ve got the centre stitch right where it should be for knitting directly up or down.
Can anyone give me any clues? Anyone? Help?