random threads

The weather has turned chillier here in North Carolina (28° F. overnight), so my thoughts have turned to what I will be knitting for Christmas gifts.  I have anywhere from 2 to 8 people for whom I might knit gifts for Christmas, mostly depending on how much I can accomplish.  I usually make at least one or two pairs of socks. I started on one of the pairs yesterday in Regia Stretch, which I have not used before.  It seems much like regular Regia when knitting, but the feel of the yarn and the resulting knit fabric is bit more stretchier than usual.  Fiber content is  70% wool, 23% nylon and 7% polyester.  I am using the color 85, which is blue, milk chocolate brown, grey and sage green.  Sorta a camouflage effect, yes? The sock design is toe-up, as usual, and I am planning some sort of 5 stitch cable on the leg. Just a 5×1 rib on the instep.  I’ll decide exactly what kind of cable once I get through the heel.

Second pair of socks will be knit from Regia Cotton Surf Color, in Mom-requested bright colors (”I have so much blue already” she said). Color is Strato 5414, orange, fuschia and navy in varying width stripes.  Sock pattern tbd.

Next I am thinking perhaps fingerless gloves or ribbed scarfs for the other people on my list. I had in mind using Berroco Ultra Alpaca for the fingerless gloves, and after some Ravelry-pattern-searching, I think I’ll try the Icicle Wristwarmers by KaraMichele Designs. If you aren’t on Ravelry, you can also see the pattern on her blog, StarMonkeybrass, here. I do think I’ll knit them a bit longer tho’ so they go a couple of inches more up the arm.  With the Ultra Alpaca having 215 yards per 100gm skein, longer should be no problem. I know Fetching (Knitty link here) is the most favorite fingerless-glove pattern around, but I’m looking for something with more cables, and I’m not one to follow the biggest trends on the net.  (I still have not knit any Jaywalkers or Pomotomi (Knitty link here) or whatever that Cookie A sock pattern is.)

The Noro Ribbed Scarf, you will recall, was one of my completed Ravolympics projects, knit in Noro Silk Garden. I have more Silk Garden stockpiled to make more scarfs, so that may happen, time permitting as well.

And yes, in the past month, I have been busy finishing up some socks. My parents came down from Michigan for a quick visit, so I had to quit procrastinating and finish up the socks I had planned to give to them.

For Mom, socks in Berroco Comfort Sock, which is 50% fine nylon, 50% fine acrylic, which means good for my anti-wool mom. The color is called Southland (colorway 1813), and the stitch pattern is Lacy Rib. I used my usual toe-up-two-at-a-time magic loop pattern, since these were samples of a pointier toe style for the May and June sock classes.

For Dad, I used Regia Mini Ringel in colorway 5339, browns/tans/grey even stripes. I used a stitch pattern from Charlene Schurch’s The Little Box of Socks called ‘Shadow Rib’ but used my usual toe-up pattern of my own design. Again, these were used as samples for turning the heel in sock class. I knit these on size 2.5 US (3.0 mm) needles, larger than what I typically use, and used 64 stitches per sock to make sure Dad had a loose fit on his ankles since he has developed swelling issues.

Lastly, I finished my luscious Annetrelac socks from Interweave Knits/Knitting Daily which are for ME! I used the specified yarn, Schaefer Yarn’s Anne, which is 60% superwash merino, 25% mohair, and 15% nylon. I enjoyed the pattern and the yarn muchly. I do want to do more Entrelac (Lady Eleanor is in my future), and once you get the ‘knitting backwards’ down, it is a lot more fun to knit. If you are looking for ‘how-to’s’ on knitting backwards, check out these links:

Knitting-and site

Knit Witch on Youtube (video)

Stream of Consciousness tutorial

Dr. Girlfriend Knits

It is Wednesday, after all, so how about an update on my current pile of WIPs?

In the sock category, I’ve been busy making new samples for my upcoming toe-up, magic loop sock class at Baskets of Yarn (starts on Saturday if you are local and interested). First we have Regia Kaffe Fasset Landscape ‘Storm’ (colorway 4251) in a Roman Rib stitch pattern courtesy of Charlene Schurch’s The Little Box of Socks. I do like the cushy nature of this stitch pattern, and it is quite easy to memorize. I’m about half-way to the heel on these. I’m doing them on 2.5 mm Addi needles, and 60 stitches for the sock, so the fit looks like it will be snug for me.

Next, we have Regia Canadian Colors in a nice brown/blue/tan stripe (colorway 4741, called Brasil–why, when this is Canadian colors, I don’t know. Go figure.) This stitch pattern is a variation of Waffle Rib, using k3, p2 and then every 4th row, all purls. I’m about 2/3rds of the way done with the foot now on these.

I almost have the Red Dwarf Socks (free pattern!) fromTurtlegirl76 completed, knit in brown with a bit of teal Fiesta Boomrang (called Morrocan), but I have held off finishing them so I can use them to demo theRussian bindoff I like to use in my toe-up socks on August 16th when the sock class meets for the second session. I just have maybe one more pattern repeat, an inch or inch-and-a-half of ribbing then the bind off. I do like the lacy stitch pattern on these.

I also have the Campfire Rib socks, which have been, a’hem, ‘resting’ for a while. About 40% of the foot done at this point. These are knit with Opal Cotton, which is 38% wool/32% polyamid/30% cotton and feels very nice for a cotton blend sock yarn. Much better than the Sockotta I knit with last year.

In the non-sock category, I have been working on my (gasp!) Chameleon Clapotis, which I started in September of 2007. I am nearing completing my second ball, still doing increases. Once I finish the second ball, I’ll decide if it is big enough to start the straight section. It is hard to estimate since none of the stitches are dropped yet, and it will get wider when they are dropped. I have a total of 14 balls of Karabella Chameleon, which is merino, silk and CASHMERE. It is lovely to knit with. Since this photo was taken, I have dropped using the stitch markers, reverting to a purl on the knit side/knit on the purl side to inicate the stitch-to-be-dropped. Works better for me, but the stitch markers (I made them) are very pretty, if I do say so myself!

I’m on a roll at present with finishing. On Saturday, I went to Knit-n-Sit-n-Listen at my LYS, listening to part 2 of Back on Blossom Street by Debbie Macomber, and worked exclusively on my Regia Bamboo toe-up socks for three hours. I got to within 2 or 3 rows of finishing and then headed off to see “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” at the movie theatre.

And last night I finished them off, again using the kitchener stitch bind off. As I said before, the fit is too loose on these for my taste, so I popped them in the washer on HOT and a run through the dryer–they seem a bit better, even tho’ the wool is superwash and the yarn is 45% bamboo.

What’s another wip when you already have so many? The class I wanted to sign up for at one of my LYS, Baskets of Yarn, was canceled (sit and knit and listen to the The Shop On Blossom Street), so I signed up for the Toe Up socks class to use my store credit. I want to do toe-ups but had not tackled it without this prodding. Turns out this was also magic loop technique on a single circular needle. Here’s my results so far:

The yarn is Regia Bamboo Color in color 1066 (blue, turquoise, fuschia and lime tweed. The Bamboo is soft and warm, and consists of 45% bamboo, 40% wool and 15% nylon. First time I’ve knit with a bamboo-based yarn, and I found it much nicer to knit with than the cotton Sockotta. However, the tweedy effect (I think from the bamboo content) obscures my stitch pattern:

The stitch pattern is Undulating Ribs by Ann Budd in Favorite Socks: 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave Press.
The design is hard to pick out, but additional pictures when more is knit may show the pattern better. The sock pattern itself is by the LYSO Betsey Macholz.

I’ll also mention the class included 6 hours of instruction (second session in two weeks), the two skeins of Regia Bamboo or Regia Cotton, and  a Size 3 Plymouth Speedway circular needle.  I.did.not.like.it.  The join was not smooth enough and the nylon cord coiled in my way all the time.  Once I got home I started over again on Addi Turbo’s  Size 2.  Still I think the yarn fabric is a bit loose, size 1’s would be better yet, but I’m not starting over again.