Sock yarn

Stained Glass Solids: colour is applied in layers, resulting in a yarn with highlights and shadows to complement stitch patterns instead of overpowering or obscuring them.

Swirls of subtle colour like on the surface of an oil slick.

All of the above are on ACHILLES, 4ply Superwash Australian Merino, and instock now at Jolly Jumbuck.

Ugggh

Yuck yuck yuck --- sums up how we've been feeling lately. I got M's gastro in a bad way so the past weekend hasn't been fun at all with the V&D and the heat on top of that. Roy managed to dodge it!

Feeling slightly more human today so will be catching up on emails (sorry guys) and then having an early night.

I blame Jane!

I blame Jane for my recent sleep deprivation -- and YES I love the Naive socks now, DPN's and all. I've been contantly thinking about these socks during the day with no way to work on them, and then wham M goes to bed and out with the socks! Knitting way way way into the night, I won't tell you exactly how late, but let's say roosters having crowing contests when you're just about to fall asleep is no fun at all!

Last night I kept saying just one more round, which then turned into just one more cable cross, which turned into "OWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!" as the super-sharp Knit Picks went under my left index nail right into the nailbed. I kept going, tired as I was (hence the carelessness), but holy moly the second poke in the same spot hurt like nothing else!

A few things; I prefer a tighter knit for socks than 2.75mm needles but by the time I decided this I was CBB to start over. Like climbing a mountain and going past the half way point. And, I didn't do the heel turning written in the pattern: "Say what?? yo??? Doesn't yo make holes?" So I abandoned that and fudged my own heel turning.

The pattern kicks your butt if you don't have a row counter as all the cables cross at different rows. I copied and pasted the pattern chart to make it a bit easier. Then I just wrote down each cable and on which rows it crosses in a list. The sheep row counter I got from the last Simply Knitting mag around my neck saved my bacon many times.

Three inches into the sock I abandoned the DPN cable needle (or it abandoned me under the bed) and came up with cabling without a cable needle for all except the 3/3L cables. Works great! Then I googled cabling without a cable needle and was pleased to see I was doing it "right" :)

I made only 2 repeats of the opening rib instead of 3, and only made the leg 6" instead of 8". The yarn is a bit busy for the socks, but it's OK.

I cast on late Tue night, it's now Thurs arvo, here is the sock so far:

(I've put a TV remote inside it to stretch it out a little bit and show off the cables). Last try-on it fit great.

I need to do some non-Naive knitting for a while but I don't know if I can until I reach the peak of the mountain! Thanks Jane :o)

Efficient...

... that I am not! Crazy, crazy I tells ya -- yes I am knitting socks on DPN's again. Why??? (I started out knitting socks on DPN's many years ago but have since convincingly switched to magic loop). At this point, I don't know, but the Naive socks keep calling my name so I casted on tonight for the Sock Knitters Anonymous November Sockdown (homegrown designers). Thanks Ann for the Knit Picks DPNs in 2.75mm (unfortunately not available either circular or DPN in Addi's).

Do I love it? No, not yet. The yarn is turning out a lot better than I had hoped though; I thought the striping would be a lot narrower, but it looks fine:

(And I should clarify at this point that I don't love it yet because of the DPN's, and not the pattern! The pattern rocks!)

I'm making the legs shorter than written because my yarn yardage is only 380m instead of 440yd as written. This yarn (ONline Cotton Beach Color 948) is gone at the supplier so I have to make do with one ball. Much as I love it, I just needed a break from TOFUtsies TOFUtsies TOFUtsies!

Let's hope I can finish these socks (ie. two socks not a single) in 2007...

BTW, congratulations Efficient on winning the 07 Melbourne Cup :)

Sox and Socks

This is my best friend Sox:

And these are the just-finished Jaywalker socks from the Woolaholics KAL (from way back in January!):

(Regia Ringel from my stash)
Knit 2 at a time, 2.5mm 100cm magic loop.
Mods: square toe.

A few Rainy Day socks :

(2 strands TOFUtsies on one 3.25mm 30cm circular)

The purple pair is mine, it's about 2 months old and continually worn, machine washed, dried, worn, washed, dried. Look how well it's wearing:
I love TOFUtsies!

Et voila!!

One Rainy Day sock:

(cast on late Fri night). I couldn't go to bed till this was done but will leave the Kitchener for tomorrow (along with one Jaywalker to be grafted also).

The only mod's I made was a slipped stitch heel flap for better wear.

I love the Rainy Day pattern for quickie sock fixes! I used two strands of TOFUtsies on one 30cm (3.25mm) Addi Turbo (with a second for heel flap and toe).

Will take pics of my first pair exactly like this (different colour) tomorrow -- that one's seen some tough usage and still looks super nice.

Ready to cast on second sock tomorrow. I hope they fit the intended recipient! ;)

Waffle Sunday

M and I are having a lovely day together. Sundays are usually daddy days but daddy's off racing his sports bike round and round and round a racetrack today. Fingers crossed for no broken bones this time ;)

We started off with waffles (M and dad's Sunday brekky) and I didn't too bad. Well little miss polished off a whole waffle by herself! A dob of icecream and honey does the trick. The chooks even got half a waffle from leftover batter. I'm not usually too keen on these but I had a little one for myself too.

Then we went for a little bike ride down to the river and my favourite one-way bridge. At least now M's helmet fits her, it was a little big for Rottnest early this year.

Off to mum's for dinner tonight so princess is having a nap and I get to post...

More yarn pr0n:

(Sebastian, Black Rainbow, Retro Prince, Black Rainbow)

These are some from Friday dye day, the rest aren't dry yet.

And some maiden eggs from the weekday girls! So cute and perfect strong shells; most of the time first eggs are a bit weak but not these! I think the cackleberry queens (Emily and Mabel) will have some competition from the new layers on the block! (oh and the roosters are enjoying their burgeoning maturity too sometimes too too much chook sex! We need to adopt out Saturday there's nothing worse than having two roosters to one yard!)

Phoebe love

Some recent addyetions:
(Clown Fish, Spring Zing, Splish Splash)

This new batch of Phoebe (8ply Pear Tree Merino) has reminded me of why I fell in love with the wool in the first place! Buttery, creamy, I haven't touched anything softer!

And some Rainbow Tweed:

All will make an instock appearance next week :)

Spring Zing for Ella

A custom Flirty Skirty for the new girl in Pip's life!

The wool (Aphrodite):
(that's about all I've got so far -- lots of knitting to do!)

Rainbow Bridge

I'm thrilled with how the Black Rainbow colourway has turned out on this Flirty Skirty:


Not happy with the lace part though, it will look so much more striking in solid black. So off to the frog pond for it! (I'm going to knit a new lace section and graft it on to the skirt)

I'll let the newsletter subscribers know when it's time to go live :)