Knit Meter

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

October

As it is nearing the end of November, it is about time I showed evidence of items completed in October.

I completed 5 things and this post will have photos of 3 of them. Photos of one will be in a separate post and I didn't take any photos of another. It was a test knit of a hat and as I was testing the pattern for accuracy and not gauge or size the hat does not fit an adult. I'm not really sure if it would fit a child either so it is sitting quietly waiting for me to make a decision.

The other 4 items were 2 pairs of socks, a neck warmer and a dishcloth.

One pair of socks which will have their own post were for the SKA October challenge of texture. The other pair were the September mystery which I started on 2 September and did not finish until 24 October. The challenge for September was yarn in the colour Chartreuse. I did not have any yarn that colour but wanted to knit the mystery so used yarn in my stash that was purchased in Denver last year. The yarn is Panda Silk, a 52% bamboo, 43% merino, 5% combed silk blend. This was not the ideal yarn for this pattern as neither the yarn nor the pattern have much give. In fact I could not even get one sock on when it was finished. After I had wet blocked them on sock blockers I was just able to get both socks on over smooth tights for the second photo. I then wet blocked them again but I am too scared to try them on.

I worked these two-at-a-time on one circular needle, although the heels were worked separately. The advantage of this method is that you don't have to take any notes. The disadvantage is that progress seems slow.




Another pattern started in September, finished in October, using yarn purchased in Denver, was a neck warmer. When I was in Denver I wanted to buy local yarns. As well as some locally dyed yarn I purchased some yarn from Bijou Basin Ranch. 50% Yak and 50% Como in a natural colour. I should have learned from the alpaca I bought at Stampede - it is hard to make natural colours look good when worked on their own. I tried two different scarf patterns one from a book and one I made up but in each case the yarn looked grey and dull.

On Ravelry I found a pattern for a lacy scarflette which I thought I would see how it worked with the yarn. The combination of lace and stocking stitch made the yarn look creamy and not dull. I had to buy buttons as I did not have enough of one colour in my stash and opted for colour rather than metal. The neck warmer can be worn with the buttons at the front or the side. You could even have the buttons at the back but I don't know why you would want to go to that trouble.




I added an extra set of pattern rows to use up all the yarn. The pattern was free on a blog. It was not hard but full of mistakes so you had to be able to read your knitting to make sure you were working the correct stitches.

Finally in October I made a dishcloth. Although I have not been knitting the dishcloths from the Yahoo group I have been looking at the patterns for each month. I liked the patterns in October and as I have many small amounts of cotton decided to knit one of the patterns in two different colours. This particular pattern was worked from corner to corner so I worked in one colour until all the increases were complete and then worked in the second colour for all the decreases. When it came off the needles it was a definite diamond shape so I soaked it and shaped it into a square for photos. I won't be worrying about its shape when I use it.




I started November with one sock that I cast on towards the end of October plus all the long term projects.

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