Toe-Up Socks and Possible Knitting Adventures

There's a chapter of the Knitting Guild here in Lincoln, and although I've been going to one of their monthly Sit-and-Knit afternoons for probably a year off and on, I'd never made it to one of their 'actual meetings' until Saturday. They're doing several Knit-Alongs this year, and the first is for a Toe-Up sock. Well, I'd tried a toe-up pattern once, and although it worked okay, it wasn't as much fun to knit as the regular top-down variety. However, I was willing to try again, especially since there would be expert advice on which techniques really do work the best.

We're doing The Traveler, A Toe-Up House Sock with Traveling Cables by d-made.com.

It's a worsted-weight sock, which makes for quick results; very suitable for a knit-along. The photo below is my progress so far.
Traveler Sock Progress - Photo Link
We're supposed to do the heel next month at the meeting, so I will probably just do the second one up to this point, and then wait on both of them.

I should say that we didn't do the crochet-chain provisional cast-on called for in the pattern. Instead, we did a Figure-8 cast on, which worked well for me. I'd done the Turkish cast-on before, and it's quite similar, but this seems easier, or maybe I just don't remember the Turkish as well as I should.

I've also suddenly gotten the urge to knit a counterpane, or cotton coverlet. The photo below is something like what I'm thinking of. It shows 4 squares which total about 14" across, so there would be many more before I was done.
Megan's Counterpane
I'm planning to swatch a little bit to see if I really want to use tiny yarn (thread) and very fine needles, or if I want to use a larger yarn for faster results and a very different look (and a different pattern). I've thought about knitting one of these for years. Ever since reading an article in Piecework in about 1996, and would now need a pair for the twin beds in my guest room. So, not only a lot of work once, but twice. You can see why I'm a little hesitant at jumping right in.

I was wearing my Graceful Pullover yesterday, and have often thought the stitch pattern (Frost Flower) is so pretty that I should use it for something else. Well, maybe a coverlet would be a fine place.
Photo Link
The sweater is worsted, which is very pretty, and if I did the coverlet in worsted, it would go fairly fast, and I could do the main pattern once down the middle with cables and eyelets at the sides, or more probably twice down the top, with one or two of the sleeve cables in the center. Then for the 'fall' on each side I could either do another pattern repeat, or something much simpler. I would seam it at each edge of the top, and I can see putting ribbons through the eyelet rows (columns). Anyway, I need to finish the Verena sweater I'm knitting now before I begin anything major. I'm on the back collar now, so it will soon be done. I was going to make a matching skirt though, and I suppose I still can. We shall see.

It was a beautiful day here today, and I hope the weatherman is completely wrong about tomorrow, and they're saying it's going to be bitterly cold, with possible freezing rain, etc. I'm probably driving to Omaha tomorrow, so I'm hoping for another 45 degree day like today.

California (Fabric) Dreaming

Upper Newport Bay and the Back Bay are great bird-watching spots. It's so close we've been running over quite often, and spotted 2 Egrets and a Great Blue Heron only this evening, to say nothing of gulls and many smaller birds.

It's been so nice to hear all the ideas for where Lisa and I should go fabric shopping while I'm out here in California visiting her. Thank you all for thinking of us! We may not get everywhere we'd like to, but so far we've been to two fabric shops and one yarn shop. We are hoping to get to the Fashion District in LA, so I'll let you know if we make it.

The first fabric shop we hit was Button Boutique in Newport Beach (no website that I can find.) It's a very small place with gorgeous fabric of extremely high quality, and fantastic buttons, of course. There's a dressmaker on site, and the woman who runs the fabric part used to manage Left Bank Fabrics, which was a fantastic place also in Newport Beach. When they quit, she started doing this. I used to go to Left Bank way back when. It was rather famous, and for good reason. This lady knows her fabric.

Today we stopped at what is a home-dec fabric shop, but a really amazing one. It's called Home Fabrics and is in Lake Forest. I bought a few things there, but since they are being shipped, I can't show you yet. Lisa had told me we would go here before I came, since she knew I wanted to recover my kitchen chairs, and perhaps do a valance as well. They had the perfect thing. My kitchen is basically blue and white. I have dark blue countertops, white walls, dark blue with white pindot roman shades, and white cafe curtains. I used to have wallpaper with narrow blue lines and a fairly colorful bird border, but I recently changed it to plain white. Since I do have dark counters and oak cabinetry, I have white appliances to lighten things up, and thought white walls would be my best bet. I like them a lot, but now it's time for the chairs, etc.

The fabric we found is a gorgeous blue floral on white. It has more of a 'drawn' feeling to it than a lot of florals, and it was quite the bargain so I got enough for chairs, valance, perhaps an apron and placemats, etc.

That's all I was really looking for, but I found two other pieces that called my name as well. One is a dull gold satin with a sketchy blackish abstract print. I want to make a dressy dress from it. The other is really different. It's an unusually nice alligator vinyl on a knit backing. It's dark brown, and will become a purse.

We also went to the knitting night at Yarn Lady Friday night, and are planning to stop in again this coming Friday. They have a very nice group of ladies there, and there was even pie! How can we resist?

I finished another pair of hunting socks for my brother. I did the first sock on the plane, and the second one since. These are a 2-yarn blend like the last pair, except deep green for the plain yarn instead of navy, but with the same variegated sock yarn along with it. 3 pair should hold him for a while, but they're a great mindless project. perfect for travel knitting.

I'm posting from Pacific time, but my blog is set on Central time, so it's only about 10:15pm here right now. It's funny to see the time on the blogger site versus the time on the computer itself.

Hunting Socks & A Trip

Photo Link
Paton's Kroy Multi Sock Yarn and Premier Merit 100%Wool Worsted Yarn

I used the pattern for Heavy Socks from the Spin-Off Socks book to make two pairs of hunting socks for my brother. I had never thought of knitting socks for him, but I happened to ask him the other day if he thought his wife, my darling sister-in-law, might want some socks. She's always cold, and there's nothing nicer than wool socks if that's the case. He said he didn't know, but sadly said that he would like some. I felt terrible that I'd never even thought of it.

I've used the Socks book a lot, and all of the patterns in it have been good ones. This is a really fast knitting pattern. The hardest thing for me was that it calls for Bulky yarn, and I didn't really have anything suitable for a man's socks. The pair at the top is the second pair I made, and I like them best. I added a sock weight yarn to a worsted weight wool yarn for a prettier look. The pair below are a bulky yarn alone, and while they're okay, I find them a little thin for 'heavy' socks. He's planning to wear another pair under them with his boots for elk hunting in October.


Lion Brand Wool Ease Thick&Quick

The pattern calls for size 10 needles, but I'm using size 9, and you cast on 32 stitches, so you can see why they work up so quickly. Apparently a lot of people use leftover Lopi yarn for this pattern, but I've never knitted with Lopi, so no leftovers here.

I'm going to visit my sister for 2 weeks tomorrow, so I'm not sure if I'll be blogging. Maybe so, as she has lots of nice things planned. She's in Southern California, where Pearle and I used to spend the winters, so I'm looking forward to seeing how things have changed in 10 years or so, and to seeing some favorite places again. I have The Huntington and The Getty high on my list, along with the L.A. Arboretum and Descanso Gardens. Naturally we'll be heading for a few fabric and yarn shops as well. Her LYS is Yarn Lady in Laguna Hills, and I'm looking forward to it. I should say that when I was last there, the Getty Museum was only in Malibu, so it will be interesting to see the new one. Big plans, and I'm hoping we'll be able to do at least some of the things on my list, personal energy permitting. Perhaps we'll just end up doing a lot of basking in the sun instead. Either way, I'm looking forward to it.

Concertina Socks & A Dress in Progress

Photo Link

Here's the finished pair of Concertina Lace socks. They were done several days ago, and so are probably the fastest pair of socks I've ever made, because I've had plenty of time to just sit and knit. I think they're kind of cute, and they'll be fine this winter when it's cold.

My big thing right now is that I'm working on a dress. It's a re-make for me of a Marfy pattern (#1128) that I've made once before. You can see the pattern below. It's basically a really nice sheath dress, and I've thought it might be a TNT for me.



No pictures of the new version yet, but this time I'm doing it in a gorgeous and fairly beefy cotton matelasse (Valentino Atelier) print that was a very kind gift from a dear sewing friend. She'd made a skirt of it, and gave me what was left, which was a generous amount, and plenty to make the dress. I'm always amazed at how little fabric Marfy patterns take compared to the Big4. This was 60" fabric, and it took only one dress length, plus facings I think. I had planned to use self bias to turn the edges, but now I'm thinking of facing it, so we'll see. I'm doing it without the sleeves, and apparently (after the first try-on) without the collar. I'm going to do one of those trendy gathered/pleated necklines that just fold under. It's a print, so it's got plenty going on without a contrast collar. I found some jute-like ribbon that I'm hoping to incorporate somehow, possibly as a bow (big surprise there), but a flat one. I bought a longer zipper yesterday than is called for. It asks for a side zip, about 9" long, but it's a chore getting into and out of it, so I decided to throw caution to the wind and put in a 20". That should do the trick.

This is the first real garment project I've done for a long time, and I'm getting excited about it. It's nice to feel like sewing again.

More Socks & Changing My Mind

We all change our mind, and I think I change mine perhaps more often than most. The draped top I was working on finally got to the trying-on stage, and I've decided that the checked part has to go. It's just not me, and seems to be contributing the dowdy factor in this instance. I love what I ended up doing with the sleeves (a wrapped sleeve) and I think using the green knit for the whole thing will be so much better, and much more me. The checked fabric front seemed to be giving it an 'apron' look to it that just wouldn't go away, and was pretty bad. Now I'm wondering if I can just use the checked piece as a pattern for a new front. Probably it will work as a starting point, but the woven/knit differences will require some changes I'm sure. Oh well, I'm starting to like it at least. Now to go rip off the checked travesty.


Photo Link

I finished the first Concertina Lace sock yesterday, and it's very cute, although I think the stripes are kind of awful. I shouldn't buy variegated or painted sock yarn, as it always looks great in the skein, and almost always is deeply disappointing when knitted up. I'm just not a horizontally striped knit kind of person, at least not socks. I can see that this yarn gives a really cute faux-fair-isle effect, but still, not me, or at least not in this color combination, although I love the colors.

Draping a Top

Photo Link

I decided it would be interesting to try draping a top on my dressform. I see so many things that appear to be done without a pattern (probably not really, but you know what I mean) and although this quickly changed into something very different than what I'd originally had in mind, it's still been a fun project. The check is a crinkled woven, and the solid is a knit. I decided to just 'go for it' and have been cutting and pinning with abandon. I've been basting since I took the photo yesterday, but it will be awhile before I can actually try it on and get a feel for how it's going to look, since I still have some 'things' I'm wearing around me since the surgery. But, since it's on my form, it's probably going to be close enough to make the fit tweak-able.

I'm not sure I'm crazy about it, especially now that I've seen the photo. It definitely needs something at the neckline, which I had planned from the beginning. I wanted an asymmetric neckline, but I'm not sure about the angle of this. I will have to see. The sleeves are a definite experiment, and may change a lot before they're done. I have to get it basted before I can take it off the form though. I started it a couple weeks ago, and now I'm not able to do much on it at a time, as I still have no stamina whatsoever. That is the most annoying part of this whole thing.



I have been doing some knitting, and finished a pair of socks. I used Serenity Sock Yarn from JoAnn's, and the Lacy Arrow pattern from SpinOff's Socks book. I have used this pattern several times, (it's the center photo on the cover) and it always turns out nicely, and is interesting to knit. I have to say that I think it would be better in a solid color, or at least one not so wildly striped, but it's a fun yarn. I've started another pair in the Concertina Lace Socks
pattern by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer.


I'm up to the heel flap on the first one, and I have to say her heel method seems nice, but is kind of fiddly. It looks like it will be nice and cushy, though.

I want to thank you all for the very nice wishes and comments after my last post. I am attempting to find out what part of Sweden my ancestors are from. I am Swedish on both sides, and I know I used to hear about Malmö(?) as being a place in family history, but I never paid enough attention to know just what it had to do with things. There are relatives who've done extensive genealogy research though, and there's a big family reunion every August, so I may have to find out a few things this year. I do remember finding it very interesting several years ago when a sewer from Sweden posted some things on PatternReview, and her figure was almost exactly like mine. Aha! I thought. My alteration/figure problems aren't what I usually read about people dealing with, or at least not all of them at once, but she seemed to be doing all the things I have to do. Somehow, that seemed encouraging or something.

Skew Sock & Broken Glass

The day started out strangely. I've become a real coffee person, especially mocha with frothed milk, etc., and I happen to have a coffee maker with a frothing wand. I never used it until recently, but it's great. I usually use a smallish straight-sided glass for the milk, which works well. This morning, I made my coffee, frothed the milk, and put the glass in the sink after I poured the milk out of it. Then I unthinkingly ran water in the glass. The bottom of the glass immediately popped off.



I had forgotten what my Grandmother told us years ago. She told us that when handwashing crystal, especially very thin, delicate glassware, never put the glass into the hot water bottom first. Always put the side in first, so that the glass has room to expand and not crack. I had just proven that it also is true for non-delicate glass. It probably just takes more applications of the hot/cold cycle to break it. So, be careful, and don't do what I did.

A couple weeks ago I talked about an unusual sock pattern I've been knitting, and Claire S.asked if it was Skew from Knitty, and yes it was. I have a photo of the first sock, and I'm actually pretty close to done with the second one.



I used a not-wonderful yarn since I didn't know how it was going to go, and I needed a striping sock yarn which I didn't have. It's Bernat's Satin Sport, which is acrylic. I'm not sure how it's going to hold up, but it's nice to knit and kind of pretty, and okay for a test. I've already bought a nice sock yarn to try another pair. That's the plan anyway.



Finally, I had a really nice lunch at the National Gallery that was kind of a crackery-type base with feta, grilled asparagus, artichoke heart, etc., on caesar salad. I thought I could do something similar, and settled on lahvosh as a good choice for the base. I found a recipe and made some. It turned out really good, but it seems like a lot of work for something that doesn't last long. I've been experimenting around, and I've found that a flour tortilla toasted in the toaster oven works just as well, maybe better, as it's not quite so brittle. Anyway, here's the result of my lahvosh baking.



And thank you all for the very kind hair comments!

Fundamental Socks

From Knitting

These socks are not a thing of beauty, as I am the first to point out, but they are certainly well-made socks, and very warm, and perfect for wearing any old time, whereas I have a tendency to save my "good" handknitted socks for less hard wear. As I mentioned before, this pattern calls for Woolly Nylon thread as a reinforcement carry-along in the heel, sole and toe stitches. This is accomplished by knitting it along with the yarn in those places, but when knitting across the instep stitches, you knit with the yarn alone, adding the thread again when you get to the sole stitches again. This creates a ladder of thread inside the foot of the sock. I actually took some good photos of this, and I cannot tell you how annoyed I was when I tried to download them, and they all disappeared into cyberspace. By that time of course, I had cut off the ladder threads, and so couldn't re-take the photos. Some days.... The threads do not work their way out, and there's no need to secure them; just cut them off. This is mindless knitting at its best, too. It was about a 3-day project for the pair. One was half finished very pleasantly during the Rose Parade.

I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease for these, and one skein makes the pair.

Holiday Knitting

It's been a very busy Christmas season, and I've been getting a little knitting done while visiting, etc. I found 3/4 of a pair of socks that I went ahead and finished. You can see photos which show more detail on all of these by clicking here.



The pattern is Pat's Almost Serious Socks, which I got from Patternworks some time ago. It was free with a yarn purchase, and the original pair was my very first pair of socks. It has an easy lace pattern, and was meant to be done in a cotton yarn with gold and silver carrying thread for the heels and toes. This is a nice wool from Bergere de France, and for some reason I had done the first sock, and had the second one done about halfway down the heel flap, then stopped cold for about 5 years I think. Whatever. Anyway, it seems like sock time again, so I finished them, and then began a pair of quickies from an old favorite pattern called Fundamental Socks. It's in the Spin Off Socks book. It's just a plain ribbed sock done in a worsted weight yarn, but you put wooly nylon in the heel and sole. It's a nice technique which really adds to the durability of the socks. They were designed as work socks, and they are nice. Here's a picture of the cuff so far, with the Peep looking on.




I also did gauge swatches for the Bendigo Cabled Cardigan, and started it as well. Here's my progress on one side of the front, so far.



I like this pattern very much. It doesn't come with a chart, so I made my own after doing one full repeat with the written instructions. After that, and making the chart, it's almost memorized anyway. It's not a really complicated pattern, but interesting enough to make for good knitting, and I really like the color and the yarn itself.

I also have photos of the Fake-A-Gamo bag that is all knitted, and now just needs to be assembled. I haven't quite found the right lining for it, which is going to be important, as it will show through the fairly large holes in the pattern.



And here's a close up of the stitch pattern.



Hope you've all had a great holiday season, and a little down time to spend with family and friends. It's been very nice here, but today we are suddenly buried under snow, which makes a few last visits very difficult, if not impossible.