knitting progress

Some knitting has taken place here between the piecing and patchworking sessions. The socks are finished, except for the grafting.

The Cynthia Blue No-Purl Scarf, aka the Corrugator Scarf (Rav link), continues slowly. It's my commuter knitting and therefore doesn't get much knitting time since I only commute one day per week. I did, however, knit some last night while watching Midsomer Murders; I needed something I could knit without following a graph or instructions.

The March Mystery 220 project hasn't proceeded past Clue 1. I must get onto it before it's time to cast on for April! Even though I know what the finished object is, I'm not entirely sure what it looks like. I skimmed past a photo on another blog (well done on completing yours, C.)

My sample for the entrelac workshop (part 2) I am teaching at the Blue Mountains group of the Knitters' Guild of NSW is finished. This one (unblocked) is in garter stitch but the foundation triangles are made the same way as they would be for stocking stitch, except this way has no purl stitches.

And... since I didn't show you my samples for the workshop I did last weekend (19th March), here are two unblocked examples of garter stitch entrelac (a la Brenda Horne).
 

 

FO Friday

In my post on 1st March I said I would come back with photos of finished objects. I also said on Wednesday that there were items in my knitting corner that were awaiting photography! DD visited on Wednesday so photos were taken and I have some goodies to show you.

Firstly, a hat knitted by DD - her first foray into slip stitch patterns; we are both very proud of her results.


As for me (specs on my Ravelry project pages if you want them; listed here in italics):


Lime Spider and Coconut Ice beanie
pattern: Fourth Grade Hat (Rav link)

I said the striping of the yarn looked like lime and pink coconut ice; DD said Lime Spider (or icecream soda) and Coconut Ice, hence the name.

This is an attempt at conventional entrelac - I'm not in a hurry to try this style of knitting again, it's slow and seems to use more yarn than a conventional beanie would. The hat designed by Abby Franquemont looks great, mine less so. Not quite sure why - perhaps the fact that it's knitted in a hand-dyed acrylic and therefore can't be blocked is part of the answer.

Why did I choose to knit this in my handpainted acrylic? I wanted to see what the shortish colour repeats would do in shorter rows of stocking (stockinette) stitch.

I also tried to modify the pattern because it was getting too big - my modifications were not as successful as I would have liked!

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Socks for Someone #1 - a fraternal pair
pattern from the ball band of Moda Vera Noir sock yarn

My first attempt, following the pattern exactly, gave big, baggy socks that were enormous on WM! I ripped the 3/4 finished sock out completely and started again.

I have never done this kind of heel before and was reasonably happy with it, except for the hole where the short rows of the heel joined the foot. If I knitted it again I would slip the first stitch of every row while knitting the heel gussett - it is so much easier to pick up stitches along the gussett if I do that!

These took so long - Second Sock Syndrome plus no record of modifications on the first sock = pain in the knitting needles! I am determined that in future I will knit two socks at the same time; I have enough dpns to do that!

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DD and I dyed 400m (200g) of yarn in this beautiful colourway. While I was winding it into a ball, I started singing "Sunshine Lollipops" so that became the name of the yarn!

Sunshine Lollipops Scarf pattern detail

Sunshine Lollipops scarf
pattern: Drop Stitch Scarf by Christine Vogel (Rav link)

I just love, love, love this pattern - so quick to knit, so bright and cheerful (well, in the yarn I chose and in the yarn on the Ravelry pattern page). How many other patterns give you an eight feet scarf (2.4 metres) in just three days?

I knitted this one in wool. I knitted till it was 1.8 metres long. I usually knit in acrylic and forgot the magic of blocking - voila! eight feet of scarf! I will definitely be knitting this pattern again!

And I'm in good company, more than 5,000 people have this in their projects list, and another 5,000+ in their queue!

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I had some yarn left over from the scarf so I knitted a hat:

Sunshine Lollipops beanie
pattern: Slip Stitch Stash Hat by Renee Rico

If I had not been using a slip stitch pattern, I may have had enough to knit a child size hat but I decided to incorporate some scrap yarn (as the pattern suggests).

The lower third of the hat contains only the Sunshine Lollipops yarn - variegated yarns make interesting slip stitch patterns without the need to join in new colours.

slip stitch pattern detail

crown detail (a slip stitch modification on the original design)

Socks!

Remember I was telling you the saga of the Supersocke Cotton socks, Versions 1 through 6? I had a few comments encouraging me to knit plain socks. I like plain; plain is good when knitting self-striping socks like these I prepared earlier!

So, I want to thank you, dear readers, for your input but I sometimes can seem a little perverse! I really wanted something to knit that was interesting but not too challenging. I am, after all, still recovering from Myrtle.

So, I found this pattern in Favorite Socks, which I got from my family for Christmas. Looking at it on the cover, did nothing for me but the picture inside seemed doable with my yarn. Only one way to find out, right? Bring on Version #7!




And this is how the pattern looks with my yarn [photo taken last Sunday before I went on R&R]. I like it. I know the subtleties of the waving lace pattern are lost but it's a lovely knit and I like the way way it works with my yarn. So forgive me, dear readers, for my perversity - hopefully by the time I return from R&R there will be at least one Waving Lace Supersocke to see!