August's Achievements

Although it is more than a month since my last post, I did manage to finish some projects last month.

Once again no dishcloths but one pair of socks made it off the needles and another pair didn't. The socks I started with the yarn shown in my last post met with a slight problem so their completion was delayed. They are still not completed but should be finished by the end of this month. I was asked about the yarn and it is Jawoll Magic by Lang yarns.

I finished the second pair of Wendy Johnson socks I cast on. The yarn is Jitterbug by Collinette and the pattern is Laurel from Toe-up Socks for Everybody.

A picture of the finished socks



and a close up.



I got my act together and finished the scarf from this yarn which I was a birthday present from a good (knitting) friend.



It was ripped back to a suitable length, so I cast off, leaving an end a bit longer than the width of the scarf. I then sewed this down the middle over the cast on end of the scarf to cover it up.



It really is a fun scarf and I have yarn left to add frills to something else.

I crocheted a few squares for Western Canada Odd Ball Blanket Society. Sometime I will have a post of all the strips and squares I have made this year.

Another pair of socks was started this month as there was a new mystery and I am test knitting a couple of patterns for a friend. My slow going patterns are still that.

On and Off The Needles in July

Yes it is a month since the last post. It wasn't my intention to make it exactly a month - it just turned out that way.

I had the misfortune to experience some very rude customer service which I was considering blogging about and that put all other blog thoughts on hold. Today I decided to post about knitting.

What didn't happen in July? No dishcloths. I have been disappointed with the mystery dishcloths from the Yahoo group just lately and as I don't have a vast amount of dishcloth cotton left, I took a break. Never fear, plenty of socks were knitted.

The socks blogged about here were finished on 1 July so count as July knitting.

The challenge in Sock Knitters Anonymous for July was:
Colorwork/Intarsia
Any sock designed by Wendy Johnson
Mystery Sock

The mystery sock was designed by Stephanie van der Linden and I even bought yarn specially for the project.



I finished the first sock in July but the second one is going very slowly.

The second sock I cast on was a pattern by Wendy Johnson from Socks From The Toe Up, a book I checked out from the library. This is another reason I have not blogged as it has taken a long time to get a decent photograph.



I had bought the yarn in December last year and had already tried one pattern which didn't work with the yarn so I am really pleased with how they turned out. As I was so disgusted with my ribbing on the last socks, with these socks I worked the knit stitches on the cuff through the back loop.

I finished these socks in July and as there is not a challenge in August, I cast on another Wendy Johnson pattern. This time from Toe Up Socks For Every Body, another book from the library. I am using yarn purchased on last year's yarn crawl.

Also completed in July were two squares crocheted for charity. I unpicked the scarf to the right length so all I have to do is sew the ends in.

I need to get a move on though to finish 3 socks by the end of the month.

Hub of Fashion

Hub of Fashion is the pattern I chose for June's challenge. The pattern is by Stephanie van der Linden from Around The World In Knitted Socks. This was the first sock I wanted to knit as soon as I saw this book. It fit in with three challenges from SKA:- Stephanie van der Linden designs, unusual construction and I finally got around to it in self-striping month.

The separate post for these socks is so that I can comment on the pattern and, hopefully, help others who wish to make it. I was concerned as many of the projects on Ravelry said the socks were too big. I didn't want to start knitting a sock that wasn't going to fit, on the other hand, these comments didn't make sense as Stephanie has designed many many sock patterns and I hadn't had any problems with the two designs of hers that I had knitted. Also, looking at the pictures in the book, the socks didn't appear to be baggy. Then reading a Raveler's comments about the socks being too big despite having a smaller stitch gauge, I realised why so many were having problems. This pattern is worked from side to side so the important gauge is the row gauge. I matched the row gauge, followed the pattern and my socks fit perfectly. The stitch gauge will make a difference to the length of the sock.

Row Gauge Is Important There I've put it in bold so no more complaining if your socks don't fit.

I changed the way I worked a couple of the techniques. I did not fancy a provisional cast on of 111 stitches including putting the stitches on a spare needle at the end for grafting. I worked a Turkish cast on over two circular needles and carried on knitting off one of them. The spare needles holding the "provisional" stitches was a size smaller to avoid any stretching of the stitches. This meant the stitches were ready when the sock was completed and the two sides had to be grafted.

The edge stitches are held to be used for toe and the cuff. Stephanie suggests using a length of waste yarn with one end bound with tape to hold the stitches. On the first sock I tried two different methods for holding the stitches. At one end I used Super Dental Floss and the other end I used locking stitch markers. The dental floss was a good way to hold the stitches but I had to be very careful not to tighten the held stitch when knitting the next row. I didn't have that problem with the stitch markers but with a number of stitches on each marker the edge gathered in. For the second sock I combined these two methods. An edge stitch was put onto the stitch marker and then floss threaded through. Every 5 stitches or so I took the marker out and left the stitches on the floss. This way stitches were not tightened up and the work was not gathered in.

The yarn is Sockenklecks Edition Tausendschön by Schoppel-Wolle, purchased during the South Calgary yarn crawl. This is a fun yarn knitted up into a long rib scarf and then dyed. You can tell that it was dyed after being knit as where there are colour changes, the stitches are made up of both colours. This looks fine in its original state but I have ended up with different colour stitches in odd places. The yarn was very easy to knit with. It unknitted easily and I didn't notice the curl when knitting but I certainly noticed it when I had ends to sew in especially as each sock had a side seam of 111 stitches that had to be grafted.

How the yarn looked in its original purchase and after being unwound.



The completed sock before being kitchenered.



And the completed pair of socks.



I love these socks. (Although I am disgusted with my ribbing, which won't show in wear, thank goodness.)

June's Achievements in Pictures

Here are the photos of the items I completed in June.

These socks were started at the end of March and finished at the beginning of June.



I used the other yarn hubby purchased in Finland. It is a thick sock yarn but I didn't want to make a plain sock so I was pleased when I found this pattern as it is Finnish. The pattern is for the leg and foot and lets you insert your own heel and toe. As the yarn is thick, I didn't want the standard heel flap and wasn't too sure about a short row heel. I opted for the type of heel used for this pattern and this pattern. I couldn't find anything on the internet to describe this heel so I used the two patterns as a starting point and ended up with this.


I am very pleased with how it came out and it is the right heel for thicker yarn.

The other old pair of socks finished were the pink socks shown at the end of this post. I didn't like the cast off as it was too loose plus I had yarn left and as they were knitted toe up I decided to lengthen them. I unpicked the cuff and knit another pattern repeat, worked the cuff and then cast off in the normal manner with a size larger needle. I still had yarn left but I wasn't going to unpick again. I didn't take another photo as there is not much difference from the original.

The other socks finished in June were the mystery sock, designed by Janel Laidman. The technique for May was texture other than ribbing and she certainly cam up with that for the leg of the sock. Also there are beads added. this is the first time I have knitted with beads that have been pre-thread onto the yarn. I used clear beads that were left over from a long ago crochet project.



The yarn is Aspen by Red Rocks Fiber Works, purchased on my trip to Denver. I loved working with this yarn. It has a "beaded" texture and feels really soft.

And then there were the obligatory dishcloths.

For this one I used yarn left over from another dishcloth Bernat Cotn'Corn. I hated it the first time and don't know why I kept it. So when I finished this cloth I threw away the left overs.



The next cloth was made from Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Denim. I wonder if it will fade.



I can't post a photo of the last project I completed in June as it is a gift and the recipient might read this blog!

June's Achievements

My goal for June was to finish all the small projects on the needles. How do I end up with so many unfinished projects?

There is the grab and go project. This is a super easy project to take anywhere because you don't really need to look at the pattern and it is small enough to tote. Unfortunately socks don't fit this category any more. Sometimes a project starts off in this category and then becomes too big to easily carry round or the pattern changes.

At the other end of the spectrum is the super concentrate pattern. Lace and colourwork can fall into this category. I don't usually classify a pattern as hard but the attention that is required. How much you have to look at the pattern and the knitting. These projects are on the go for ever as I can't do anything else while knitting them so I don't work on them very often.

Mystery patterns. If I start these on time and the "clue" is short, I have finished knitting before the next "clue". Obviously I am not going to not knit anything else while waiting for more rows.

Not sure about the pattern. I start a project and am not sure if I like it. Maybe the yarn and pattern do not go together or the size is not right. Rather than make a decision straight away I will let the project sit awhile before going back to it and making a decision. As above I have to knit something else while waiting.

Finishing. Most patterns, even the super easy require concentration at finishing. Exception being those where your last row is knit 2 together and thread cut yarn through the last stitch. So now I have to plan time to complete a project.

I am pleased with my achievements in June. I finished two old pairs of socks and the mystery sock started in May. I didn't finish the scarf as I am trying to decide if it is too long. I had reached a length I liked decided to add a few more rows just in case and before I knew it I had finished the ball of yarn.

Cast ons in June were an item made from this yarn (and finished in June); a pair of socks finished on 1 July; and a pair of socks made from the blue and orange yarn in this post. And two mystery dishcloths started and completed in June. Not too bad.

My goals for July? To cast on lots of socks as there is no SKA challenge in August!

Adventure on the High Seas

(OK so we live inland but it was a little bit of an adventure on water.)

Friday 1 July was Canada Day. The weather was very nice all weekend so Sunday we decided to go out on the lake. Hubby and I set out early afternoon in a canoe and rowed up the lake and back. We saw dark clouds coming in over the boathouse and hubby asked if I wanted to go in; not wanting to be the usual nervous nellie and not having had much of a work out I said no. Ha! this turned out to be not the time to change one's nature.

We were roughly in the middle of the lake when the wind started to kick up and we tried to turn the canoe around to head back but the wind really kicked up and we weren't getting anywhere battling the wind and the waves that were surprisingly large. Not that large but bigger than you would have expected on a community lake, almost white caps - large enough to nearly capsize us when we turned the canoe.

I was none too happy being in the middle of the lake at the mercy of the elements so we headed for the shore in the safest way which just so happened to be at the opposite end from the boat house. After hanging on to a (private) dock for a bit to see if the wind would die down, we beached the canoe. We could either portage it through gardens, abandon it and walk back to base, sit it out and hope we weren't in for a long storm.

There were two other boats out, a couple in a kayak who were at right angles to the wind and not far out so were able to return and a pedalo who were not far out but couldn't get back. (It's hard work pedaling those things on a normal day I'd hate to think what it would be like pedaling into the wind.) While we were at the private dock the motor boat set out and towed the pedalo back in. I knew there was little hope they would see us but I also knew I would have been far from happy if we had stayed in the middle of the lake waiting to be picked up.

We had started to carry the canoe so that we could put back in at a more sheltered spot and follow the shore back to the boathouse when a home owner called to us. She had just seen us and was concerned that we had been there a while. She said it happens all the time people getting stuck because of the wind and to just leave the canoe and she'd drive us back. We declined her offer of a lift as we were not far from the boathouse but we did thank her. (The houses on the shore are large and priced accordingly and we would have thought wouldn't have been happy to have the hoi polloi invading their back yard.)

All's well that ends well but the morale is that sometimes being a nervous nellie is a good thing.

Gradient Dying

Gradient dying is where yarn is dyed the same colour but in tones from light to dark. The tutorials I had seen for this involved adding yarn to the dye pot and gradually removing sections. This seemed very messy. I wondered what would happen if I used pots with different amounts of dye in them. I liked the pink that resulted from my first attempts with icing colours. So I bought some more Full O'Sheep to be dyed. Instead of winding into a hank, I divided it into four roughly equal balls in the hope that my end result would shade from light pink to dark pink. These were soaked in vinegar solution while I dissolved the dye in boiling water. Four pots with 1/8 teaspoon, 1/4 teaspoon, 1/2 teaspoon and 1 teaspoon Petal Pink icing colour.



One ball of yarn was placed in each pot, which I had placed in a casserole dish and then zapped in the microwave. This took a while. When I thought the water was clear I left the yarn to cool but when I went back to it the water had taken back the dye. In the end I left the yarn overnight gave it a final zap in the microwave the next morning and left it to cool. This seemed to do the trick.



I like the end result. You can see the section from the least amount of dye and the one with the most amount of dye but the middle two sections do not look much different from each other. I will try this again with a different yarn that is less fuzzy to see if that makes a difference.

The Sun's Out But I'm Still Dying

My first post with my dying attempts explained that it was something to do when it was raining. There was just one thing I didn't realise - dying is addictive. There were three more dying ideas I wanted to try - something to go with the bright colours from the first round of Kool-Aid dying, gradient dying and dying sock yarn. This post will show the results from the first and third of these.

Firstly I needed yarn. So off to Michael's and I bought a ball of Paton's Classic Wool and a ball of Stash Nation Full O' Sheep; the two yarns I had used in my initial attempts. But they didn't have any natural colour sock yarn and then I remembered I had yarn left over from these socks.

The sock yarn. I decided on striping yarn in three colours. Two Kool-Aid and one Wilton's icing so I soaked the yarn in vinegar solution. As Paton's Kroy comes in 50 gram balls I had two small balls left. I wound them together around two trusty chairs to make 1 hank. I should have made a note as I cannot remember how I decided how long to make the hank. After soaking the hank was laid out on cling film. I made up Orange Kool-Aid, Ice Blue (Raspberry Lemonade) Kool-Aid and Teal Wilton's in 1/4 cup of water.



Also I didn't squeeze all the water out of the yarn. This time I didn't want the spread of the colour to be decided by how much water I added after. I aimed for 1/3 of the yarn in each colour but it looks as if there was slightly less of the teal.



The yarn was wrapped in the cling film, put in a dish and microwaved until the water was clear.



The final result after the yarn has been split into two skeins.



While this was going on the Classic Wool was soaking in vinegar solution. What I had originally wanted was not what I ended up with but I am very happy with the end result.

Before soaking the wool had to be wound into a hank. The measurements were easy for this. I roughly measured my kitchen work top and placed the chairs slightly less than that distance apart. I chose Wilton's icing colours in black and copper. I wasn't sure how the black was going to come out as one blog said the colours broke like a bruise; as I did not want a variegated yarn I added a little of Wilton's brown. The dye mix was very green and you can see how green it is in this photo after I've added the dyes to the yarn - roughly half of the hank each. Those lines across? They're left over teal. I wondered how that would come out. Answer not at all.



This is how the yarn came out. Brown with green undertones.



A good example of how you cannot rely on the dye pot or the unheated yarn for your end result.

I Left My Cake Out In The Rain

After the Kool-Aid dying, I tried my hand at dying with icing dyes. This is another food safe practice. i.e You can use normal kitchen utensils etc and do not have to take any special precautions. The one difference between using food colourings and Kool-Aid is that you have to add acid; Kool-Aid contains citric acid.

This was the yarn I used.



Also 100% wool like the last time but this is marked as Peruvian wool and has more loft. In other words the yarn has a slight fuzz.

I bought a box of 4 colours labeled Pastel:- soft colours for soft yarn.



I used 1/8 teaspoon of each colour, dissolved in hot water. The extra step when using food colours is soaking in acid. The tutorials I found differed in the amount of time for soaking from as little as 20 minutes to as much as overnight. I think I ended up soaking the yarn (after winding into a hank) for a couple of hours. I used a 1 to 4 solution of white vinegar and water.

I had wound the yarn into a small hank, squeezed out most of the water and added the dyes. Here is a drawing to try to show how I added the colours. Basically I had the blue and green on the long sides with the hank roughly divided into two and the pink and orange on the short sides again with the hank divided in two. Think of the division as top and bottom.



The yarn was put into a casserole dish and some water added so that the dyes would spread.



This was placed in the microwave and heated for 2 minutes at a time with 2 minute breaks in between.This needed more "zaps" than the Kool-Aid and when it seemed very hot I left it for 5 minutes before reheating. Once all the dye had been taken up I left the yarn to cool before rinsing and hanging to dry.

This is how it turned out.





Although this is not the pastel, Easter shades I was envisioning when I bought the dye. This yarn is full of different colours and more interesting than my initial plan. I have tried to show all the colours in this photo although it is hard to get a close-up.



And the finished skein.

May Round Up

I posted one pair of socks that I completed at the end of May but I also completed a pair at the beginning of the month as well as the obligatory two dishcloths.

The socks I completed were the mystery from March. The pattern is Cadence Socks by Very Busy Monkey and can be found on Ravelry. The yarn is Fleece Artist Trail Socks and was a Christmas present from hubby.I love the colour.



I am not going to post a photo of the first dishcloth of the month. I was disappointed with the pattern and there is nothing special to show. I was late starting the second pattern of the month and realised it would be easy to work in many colours. A great way to use up oddments. I worked 10 rows in each colour.



I finished my second oldest project. (Although my oldest project was started the day before.) I started it on my trip to Texas last year as I wanted something simple that would take a while. The pattern is Citron from Knitty.com. The yarn is Zauberballe by Schoppel-Wolle. it is supposed to be a sock yarn and, although it does contain 25% nylon it felt too soft for socks.

This is a photo of Citron blocking. I don't have a good photo of it being worn as that would involve another member of this house taking a photo or wearing it, neither of which will have a good result.



A few things were cast on in May. Here is a photo of an item that didn't make it very far. Once again the yarn is sock yarn. I wanted something quick and easy to use the yarn by the end of the month so I wouldn't lose points in our challenge. When I knew this pattern wasn't going to work with the yarn I decided it was better to lose points than work madly on something I wasn't going to like.



Do you like that the Boychild had to be in the photo?

Two other items cast on in May were the mystery sock, of which I have one completed; and a scarf with yarn given to me for my birthday, that is nearly finished.

I have decided for June I need to finish all my little projects. So at the end of June all that should be on my needles is the long term lace project and anything I cast on in June. That shouldn't be too hard. I finished one pair of socks at the weekend, so I am left with the previously mentioned scarf, the second of a pair of socks that I was lengthening and the second of May's mystery socks.

Because The Designer Liked Them

Usually I do a monthly round up of the socks and dishcloths I have knitted the previous month but I wanted these socks to have their own post. Two simple reasons:- I love them and the designer said they were the prettiest she'd seen.

One of the challenges for May in the Sock Knitters Group on Ravelry was texture other than ribbing. I found a pattern that was created by one of the members of the group about a year ago and knew I had just the yarn for it. Just before our self-imposed yarn famine, I bought yarn from The Sanguine Gryphone. I purchased three different types, one of which being Skinny Bugga in Adonis Butterfly colourway.

The sock pattern is Quartzonite by RoseHiver. She does not have a blog but you can find her on Ravelry.



Oh and because the designer is from Montreal I had to name these socks after Patrick Roy.

Dying in the Rain

It rained most of last week, so on Friday I tried dying yarn for the first time. Actually, it was my first attempt at dying anything.

When I first got the book, Socks Socks Socks I was interested in the pair which had been made with yarn dyed in Kool_Aid. I kept this in the (very) back of my mind as something to try one day. My interest was rekindled when a local place was offering a class and when the class didn't pan out I decided to go ahead and try on my own. After all there are plenty of tutorials on the web.

I had purchased Kool-Aid when I saw it on sale, one packet of each flavour. But I needed yarn.



Now I was ready to go.

First the yarn had to be wound from a ball into a hank. This wasn't difficult with a chair and a willing helper.





After tying the yarn in a few places with cotton crochet thread, I soaked it in soapy water and rinsed and thought what colour(s) I wanted the yarn to become. Although it was my first attempt, I didn't want one colour, so I dived right in and went for three - Strawberry, Strawberry Kiwi and Grape.



I didn't use much water with the drink mix and I had squeezed most of the water out of the yarn so when I poured the mix onto the yarn it looked like this.



So after putting it in the microwave safe dish I added water which made the Kool-Aid spread through the yarn. The yarn was zapped in the microwave for two minutes with a two minute break in between. I think I did this three times and the water was clear.



Remember I'm doing this because the weather is horrible? I had to hang the hank in my bathroom to dry but I did put it outside on Saturday to finish off and to blow away some of the grape smell.



On Monday I rewound it into a bigger hank and skeined.




This wasn't my only adventure with dying. I also dyed some other wool with Wilton's icing colours. I loved the results of that which I will show another day.