random threads

Yes, I have finished several pairs of socks recently, and let several FO Fridays slide by without reporting on them. Time to remedy that situation today.

First, my beloved Rainbow Socks. I think these are my most-favorite socks I’ve ever knit.  You will recall these are knit from Knit Picks sock blanks that I dyed in a class with Sue at Baskets of Yarn. The fit is perfect, the colors glorious, and stitch pattern smooshy just the way I like it. What is not to like about these! Knit toe-up, two-at-a-time using my usual pattern. I finished these the Saturday afternoon of SAFF while I was knitting with the gals at Sue’s booth.

Next, I am working on adapting my pattern for toe-up socks to worsted weight yarn, from my usual fingering weight yarn of choice.  This is because I will be teaching knitting socks, two-at-a-time magic-loop-style at the March 2009 Baskets of Yarn Winter Retreat.  And in a 2 two-hour session format over a single weekend used for this class, Betsey and I agreed that the students would never get to the heel during the weekend if we didn’t use worsted-weight yarn or just knit a sample baby sock. I’m an advocate of getting a useful knitting project finished when taking classes, so boot-socks, house-socks (which I use a lot), here we come!

I have been testing out some yarns as candidates, and have two of my three possibilities now finished.  First up, the Tiger’s Eye Socks, knit in Berroco Geode. A lovely yarn, but not for socks, sorry.  It is a near-single in ply, and too thick and thin for my taste for socks.  Also that fuzziness, for which I am developing a real distaste.  The stitch pattern was a slipped-stitch rib.

So next, I moved onto to the Sunrise-Sunset Socks, knit in Jojoland’s Rhythm.  Much better with a twisted ply for socks.  The loooong color repeats make for some interesting color combinations.  I think if Betsey agrees on this yarn, we’ll limit it to the color choices that do not vary extemely (I knit m23, purple/orange/yellow, and I considered it NOT one of the extreme varations like m09 or m24.)

I used the Roman Rib stitch pattern again, which is one of my favorites. I had to rip back a few times to get the new sizing down when knitting with worsted weight, but I think I have it now.

I have another worsted-weight sock started in a third yarn, but I’ll save that one for another day.

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.

Yes, I’ve been a bit delinquent in my postings here at Random Threads. I went to SAFF (Southeastern Animal Fiber Fair) two weekends ago in Hendersonville/Fletcher NC, and have not quite recovered yet.  Too many fiber fumes, maybe?  Anyway, I had a great time, which I will detail here, but then had a busy end of the month at work, including one night where I didn’t leave work until midnight, then was on a phone call from home from 1am until I crashed at 5 am for 2 hours of sleep with the conference call still blaring in my ear.  Then the next night more issues until 11:30 pm (at least I was working at home that day). This past weekend, I tried to catch up on my sleep.  I’m still quite tired and my physical therapy twice a week is adding to the fatigue.  That ends after next week (Yay!)

So what did I do at SAFF? I arrived at about 2pm on Friday and since it was raining, I starting shopping!  I bought yarn from Brooks Farms (sock yarn for socks and a sock yarn for a mitered vest), plus more yarn for maybe another Clapotis (geez, I haven’t even finished the first one yet…).  I got a Strauch jumbo ball winder from Earth Guild of Asheville.

 
I visited my friend’s Sue’s booth (Clay Cat and Harvest Moon Handspun) and bought some more polymer clay earrings. I got some dangly earrings made of aluminum needles sliced into bits from Sassafrass Creations.

 

 
Friday night I attended the Ravelry meet up at the Holiday Inn, and we had about 20 or 25 attending and had a great time with door prizes too!
 

Saturday, I attended some of the sheep showing, visited the alpacas and did more shopping.
 
 
 
 
 

 
I bought sock yarn and shawl yarn in gradations from The Unique Sheep, called their Gradience Collection. I got 4 colors orange to burgunday in sock weight, Leili, (100 gms total weight)  and 6 skeins of Luxe (silk/merino) in aqua to blue colors in for a shawl. Yumm.

On Saturday, I also got a knitting bowl at KnitWitch. I have been using this for my two-at-a-time top up socks and I REALLY like this.  The bowl I got holds two balls of yarn–KnitWitch calls it a ‘fair-isle bowl”–but it is really a ’sock knitter’s bowl.’ On the current socks, I am pulling the yarn from the skeins on the outsides of the balls, and the bowl allows them to bounce around, twirl and tip over and around without rolling across the floor.  The yarn stays in the guides well, as long as the bowl is placed at about the same height as my knitting (on the arm of the sofa works forme).  I personally like this better than the ‘yarn bell’ concept that was also evident at SAFF from a couple ofvendors (bowl goes over yarn and yarn comes up through a hole).
 

 
 
 
 
Then I hung out with Sue, Diane, Margaret, Rebecca and Joy at Sue’s booth for Saturday afternoon knitting and chatting and people watching. Saturday, dinner at Sue’s in Brevard, and a rousing session of Bingo with all.
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Sunday I took two classes from Charlene Schurch on Sock Heels.  The first was different ways to fancy up your heel flaps, including using more than one color, garter stitch edges, eye of partridge heel and a fair isle heel.  Beth Parrot, her co-author of Martingale & Company-The Little Box Of Socks from Charleston, SC helped teach the classes since there were about 25 students in each class.

The second class was on different types of heels, and we did a ‘Cuban heel’ or a ‘Strong heel’, a short row heel and a garter stitch edged heel flap. Charlene brought many of the example socks from her two sock books with her (Beth had knit many of them), and it was fun to see them in person. I was also able to share my favorite pattern for a toe-up heel flap from Knot Another Hat with Charlene and Beth.

On Sunday, I did manage to squeeze in some shopping during lunchtime, at Miss Babs, where I picked up some sock yarn for 2 colored socks. Then, tired, worn-out and shopped-out, but happy, I piled all my stuff in the car and drove the 2.5 hours home, where my Cleo-cat needed some loving attention from her momma.

More SAFF photos on my Flickr account here.  As also, clicking on a photo here on the blog will open up a larger picture at Flickr.

Yeah, I know it is Friday, and Friday is when I’m supposed to blog about things I’ve Finished.  Well, nothing has been finished lately.  It’s all about work in progress.  Since I missed posting on WIP Wednesday, let’s just pretend today is Wednesday, and here is my latest new WIP.

I mentioned I’m going to teach my Toe-Up sock class, (Toe-Up, Two-at-a-Time) at the Winter Retreat held by my LYS, Baskets of Yarn in March at Applachian State in Boone, NC. Well, in this format, the class will be two two-hour sessions over a 3 day period.  Normally I teach this class in two sessions separated by two weeks.  That gives the students enough time to finish the toe and knit the foot and gusset so they come to class ready to learn how to turn the heel and knit the heel flap.  Then I do a demo on the stretchy bind off I use.

Well, at the retreat, the students won’t have that much spare time to knit two socks up to the heel in fingering weight yarn.  So Betsey suggested either have them knit a baby sock or a worsted weight sock plus they will get the pattern and yarn for knitting a pair out of fingering weight sock yarn. I decided a worsted-weight sock would be more useful for people–what if they don’t have a need for baby socks for friends or family?

So I am experimenting with some worsted weight yarns and tinkering with my basic toe-up pattern to determine the right stitch counts/pattern numbers etc.  My first sample socks are being knit with Berroco Geode, which is a new yarn from Berroco this fall,  It is 50% wool and 50% acrylic, and while it is listed as a ‘plied’ yarn, I’d say it is VERY loosely plied, such that it resembles a single ply yarn.  It is pretty fuzzy, and you know, I am really developing a dis-taste for fuzzy yarns.  I’ve had to frog several times and those hairs cling to each other, fighting the frogging.

I’m knitting these on size US 6 Addi Lace needles, and getting 5 stitches per inch (the gauge on the ball band, despite the recommended needle size being 7 to 9 US sizes.  If I were to use this yarn again, I’d go down at least a needle size to get a tighter gauge for socks.

I fear this yarn won’t wear well in a sock.  I do love the tweediness and the long color repeats of the yarn.  100 gms (2 balls) of this yarn will make 2 socks, snuggly fitting my size 9 ladies’ feet. So I think I’ll move onto my next yarn candidate for the worsted-weight socks, which is 100% wool and a usual plied yarn. More on that in the future.

For the stitch pattern in these socks, I did a slipped rib pattern with k3,p2 repeat row alternated with slip 1, k1, slip 1, p2 on every other row. It looks OK when spread out over a foot.  Can’t see it very well without the foot to stretch it out.

Here’s the link to my Ravelry project page:

Tiger’s Eye Socks

Still being worked on actively, my Rainbow Socks knit from hand-dyed by me sock blank, and the Two Musketeers Sweater–both front and back have been blocked, and dried (took about 3 days each!) so next step is to finish the shoulder seams with a 3-needle bindoff.  Also, I need to block the sleeves and sew on the neck band to the front/back so I can knit the center medallion.

Life is interesting here in Charlotte NC.  For the past two weeks, gasoline has been in short supply.  Last Wednesday the situation got quite bad, in that most all gas stations in the Charlotte area were completely out of gas.  Evidently the gas pipeline servicing Western North Carolina and Charlotte was damaged by Hurricane Ike, and with many refineries in the Gulf Coast not back operating yet due to the hurricanes, this region is hurting.  I only had 3/8ths of a tank of gas on Wednesday after work, so I started hunting for gas.  Of the 18 gas stations in the the Charlotte area I checked only 2 had any gas at all.  The first I saw had lines of 20 to 30 cars.  So I went a bit further afield, to Fort Mill SC, about 20 miles from my home. I found a traffic jam, and these days, a traffic jam is a gas station with gas!

I had to wait about 25 minutes (much better than the 1 to 2 hours or even overnight waiting some people have been doing!) in an orderly line to fill up my tank with my preferred mid-grade gas.  Two Fort Mill policemen were watching and directing traffic to the pumps.  Some gas stations have had fights break out as people are very frustrated.  The price I paid was normal (both SC and NC governers are pledging to prosecute any price-gougers) at $3.99/gallon.  Since then, I’ve been conserving my gas and limiting my driving. I worked from home today to save on gas. Plan to do the same tomorrow, except for a trip to the orthopedic clinic for an MRI of my aching knee.

The mayor and the governor tell us not to top off our tanks, only fill up when you are below 1/4 of a tank to avoid creating artificial demand, and that more supplies of gas will be coming this week.  Hopefully it will be better by mid- or end-of-the-week. Evidently shortages in Western NC mountains are adding to the demand on the Charlotte tank farm, and I hear Raleigh/Triangle area (which is served by a different pipeline) is getting shortages also. However, they are warning us that true normalcy will not return until Columbus Day (October 12th).

I did use the time in the gas line to knit more on my Rainbow socks.  Had to turn on the overhead light in the car as it was after 8pm and dark out.  I’ve turned the heel and starting on the leg now.

This week, I’ve been concentrating my knitting efforts on getting socks to the right stages so I can demonstrate turning the heel and binding off for my Toe Up, Two-at-a-Time class at Baskets of Yarn on October 4th and 18th. So, I have my Roman Rib socks all the way to the 1 inch of plain ribbing at the top, ready to be bound off. I do like this stitch pattern quite well. Easy to do and very cushy!

My Chain Rib socks in hot Regia Crazy Colors are now ready for the heel–the foot gusset is done. This stitch pattern is a bit different: every 4th row you knit in the stitch 3 rows below and drop all the subsequent stitches. It condenses the fabric, such that the sole of the foot is now longer than the top of the foot, even tho’ they have the same number of rows. I think it will fit and wear fine, tho’.
Next, I have been knitting a bit more on my dyed sock blank socks, which I am calling my Rainbow Socks.  This stitch pattern is an alternating 1×1 rib, which I don’t like as well as the Roman Rib. No cush-factor, and the 1×1 rib doesn’t pull in/stretch out very much in width. The colors are pretty and it is interesting to see how the flat color design is represented when knit circularly. First at the toe, there were a lot of green and purple stripes, and now it is mostly orange/yellow with a stripe of purple here or there. Next color section should transition into mostly blues and greens.

Lastly, I have started blocking the Two Musketeers sweater (Athos/Aramis by Norah Gaughan). I always get to this point in garment construction where I need an extra push to complete the garment because I am afraid my work will all be wasted due to poor fit. We’ll see. After soaking and spreading out to block it, the sweater front seems shorter in length and not quite as wide as I thought it would be. I did compare the width to a tank that fits me and the size looks good there, but I do believe I will regret not adding more length. Of course, if the linen/rayon yarn (Berroco Linen Jeans) droops the way cotton does, it may ‘grow’ in wearing to the length I want. Cleo is watching the blocking carefully for any unexpected movements. Smart girl, she knows not to sit on the knitting when it is damp! I removed the temptation from her today while it finishes drying while I am at work and she is unsupervised…

Oh, I had fun on Saturday and the results were spectacular, if I say so myself!  I took a class at Baskets of Yarn, my LYS, on Dying Sock Blanks from dyer/handspinner/polymer clay and all-around artist-extroidinaire Sue Dial.

If you aren’t familiar with sock blanks, they are a flat stockinette-knitted rectangle of fingering-weight sock yarn, which has been machine-knit up with two strands of the yarn at once.  They come in plain white, or some vendors sell already-dyed blanks if you don’t want to tackle the dying yourself.  Knit Picks has been carrying the undyed blanks for several months and has a tutorial on their website about dying them.  Conjoined Creations sells pre-dyed blanks to a variety of retailers, check to see if available near you or at an online store you frequent.  In the class on Saturday, we used undyed ‘Happy Choices’ from Plymouth Yarn, which is 90% superwash merino wool, 10% nylon. Plymouth is also selling pre-dyed blanks.

Sue brought six basic colors of pre-mixed acid dyes, and a ton of foam brushes.  The sock blanks were soaked for about 20-30 minutes in either plain water or in a mix of water and vinegar.  After squeezing most of the liquid out of our blanks, we then set to painting on our blanks, making sure the dye soaked through to the back side. After doing stripes, chevrons, checkerboards, color transitions, dots, and whatever we liked, each blank was wrapped in its plastic wrap, coiled up and placed in a steam bath for 30 minutes. I did an extra sock blank (2 were included in the class=2 pair of matching socks), so I have 3 pairs of socks-to-be in a chevron rainbow, a warm color stripe and a gradation from dark to medium to light blue to light to medium to dark green.

After leaving the steamed blanks still in their plastic cocoons overnight to cool thoroughly ensuring maximum dye absorption and color brightness, I washed them under cool water for a few minutes to make sure all unattached dye was washed out–almost all was absorbed in the yarn. Then they were hung on the fence in the 88 degree weather for a few hours to dry.

The advantage of having two strands of yarn dyed at the same time, means you will have matching socks, and you can knit directly from the blank (no need to re-wind the yarn into balls) two at a time, which, of course is my favorite way: two-at-a-time, toe-up.  I plan to start knitting the rainbow chevron patterned yarn first. Can’t wait to see how it looks different in the sock (but I am trying to finish up my Two Musketeers sweater first), so it may be a week or two before I have any results to show.

With the deadline of the Ravelympics looming over me, I have finished two WIPs in the WIP wrestling event.

First are my Boomerang Socks (Ravelry project link), which I started in November of 2007. The pattern is from Charlotte’s own Turtlegirl76, Christi, her Red Dwarf Socks (.pdf file). The yarn is Fiesta Boomerang, a worsted weight! in colorway Morrocan. I think it is almost a sport weight; it is so springy, so it can be knit tighter than worsted gauge.

The pattern has two different lacy patterns, one up the front, the other up the back of the foot (and yes, these socks are knit toe-up). The patterns are simple enough to memorize and include charts for the lace patterns and written instructions (Christi uses Knit Visualizer software to make her charts like I do).

The socks are a bit too long (often a problem first time I knit a pattern–I like a tight foot fit) so I should have started the heel perhaps 3/8 of an inch earlier than the pattern suggested. Otherwise they are soft and comfy socks!

I did modify the pattern slightly, by doing a 2×2 ribbed cuff for about 1.25 inches at the top of the leg instead of a garter cuff as called for in the pattern. I added 3 or 4 extra stitches before I started the ribbing to get the pattern to flow nicely out of the fish tail lace on the back of the leg and existing ribbing on the sides.

Second WIP wrestled to its back, was my dozen Silken Braided Catnip Mice (Ravelry project link), which I began in August of 2007. The pattern is Silken Braid Catnip Mouse (.pdf link) from Mare Joy Smith. Don’t ask me which color of Noro Silk Garden I used, it has been too long. I’m not sure I used only one color, but my notes indicate I got 12 mice out of a single skein. I had only to stuff with polyfil and catnip (of course!) , sew up the belly seams and add whiskers and tail ‘dangles’ on six of the mice to complete the WIP. The colors are wonderful, the braided design fun to knit, but unfortunately my two kitties don’t find the smell too appetizing. Maybe too much smell of wool counteracting the catnip smell? Oh well, pretty Christmas gifts for the kitties in the family…

and that is the case for my Kureyon Ziggies (Ravelry link). The pattern: Ziggy Socks in the Knitty Summer 2008 issue, designed by Meg Meredith. I started out using the recommended needle size of 1.5 (US, 2.5 mm), even tho’ as a loose knitter I usually go down a needle size for most published patterns. I knit the toe, and went, ‘hmm, awfully loose, I’d better use US 1’s (2.25 mm).’ So I switched needles shortly after starting the stranding. Stranding with two hands, one holding the yarn for picking, the other holding the yarn for throwing went pretty well. After the first inch or so I had a good rhythm and my tension was pretty consistent.

Then the colors started blending together. I don’t mind a little of that, the ‘disappearing stripes’ offer some variation/interest for your eye. However, this was getting a bit out of hand, pink on fuschia, so I skipped a bunch of pink on one skein to get to the red just before I started the heel that was knit in one color (no stranding). As I tried on the sock and it grew up on my high arch, I got worried about fit, and switched back to the US 1.5 needles. Definitely NO GIVE in this pattern due to the stranding. Meg discussed in her pattern how to add extra stitches–I probably should have done that. Hindsight is 20/20, isn’t it?

The pattern calls for a short-row heel, with a variation on picking up wraps from how I usually do it. So, in the interest in learning new techniques, and I had not done a short heel in a while, I followed the pattern. As you can see from the photo, the heel barely seems to fit. I think this is a case where I should not have done a short row heel with my high arch and no give in the yarn fabric. More hindsight.

So the Ziggy sock is set aside (in timeout, shall we say?) for a while. I’m doubting even the first sock will be finished by the end of the Ravelympics on Sunday. (Only 4 and a half days more to knit!) I’m focusing my knitting time on other projects. More on that tomorrow.

I did manage to cast on Friday during a break while working remotely at the car dealers…my Kureyon Sock Ziggies from Knitty’s Summer 2008 issue, Meg Meredith’s Ziggy Socks pattern. I’d previously wound my single skein of Kureyon color S102 into two mostly-equal cakes, and cast on using the Judy Becker Magic Cast on as taught by Cat Bordhi. I like Cat’s method because it does not result in twisted stitches, all stitches are mounted in the right direction.

Since Friday morning, I have been able to squeeze in a little knitting time on this sock (one-at-a-time knitting, I’m afraid!), so have a toe, and last night, I started on the stranding. More photos on Wednesday I hope.