Schaefer Anne

This is Schaefer Anne.

60% merino 25% mohair 15% nylon; 560 y/4 oz.

Like with so many hand paints, you never can tell (at least I can never tell) what its going to 'do' on the needles.

I've generally found that Anne likes to be knit on a 72 stitch sock, and hates a 54 stitch sock.

Still, I have always to wait until I knit it to know what's going to arrive.

Here it is knit into Large socks on the 72.

I was confident that I wouldn't get an awful pooling, and I am pleased with the result, but, from the skein, I had no idea the Cobalt Blue would dominate the sock. In the skein the blue looks to be on an equal footing (cheap pun) with the other colours.

You don't know what you get until you got it!

Lake Huron Sock

This is a new colour I dyed a few weeks ago. It is my own 75% wool 25% nylon, ~ 400 yd/100g.

The blues remind me of deep waters - maybe not as angry as an ocean, but as deep and volatile, perhaps, as Lake Huron.

I think the foamy sprays and whitecaps, and the dark tones of rogue waves are well represented in the shades of the dye.

The socks are Size Large, and were knit on the 72 needle cylinder.

Meanwhile at the farm:

Some of the girls are starting to show their preggers.

It's about 6 weeks until lambing begins, so the flock is entering their late gestation period. This last stretch is where most of foetal growth occurs, so they are now on a rising plane of nutrition (the sheep equivalent of pickles and ice cream ;o) )

The tricky part of late gestation is to feed enough so the lambs have good growth and a cover of body fat to stand them in good stead should they be born into a spring storm.

But on the other hand, overfeeding the ewes at this stage will result in lambs that are too big to be born easily.

Masked Marauder

This little guy has been doing damage in the barn lately.

It's not that they sh*t all over the place (I mean - it's a barn after all) but the little b*uggers start ripping apart expensive bags of minerals and feed supplements.

This fellow isn't very big. I have a feeling he may be one of a family.

I've been snow bound on the farm since Monday - the snow dumped by the last storm was too wet to blow and there were a couple of nasty big drifts formed on the driveway.

But there should be enough melted by tomorrow that I can get out, and Rocky Raccoon will be going for a little drive in the country to look for a new home.

(Note to self: Rocky Raccoon would be a good colourway for sock yarn.)

From Tibet to Italy

This is Lana Grossa Mega Boots Stretch colour # 717. Another yarn that is my favourite. Yikes, if I had to choose only one!

The yarn is 70% superwash wool 23% nylon and 7% polyester elite (stretchy).

I haven't knit with this colourway since last summer and I'm down to my last two balls ;o(

Make that, down to my last ball ;o( ;o(

This is a beautiful yarn. The purple is so-o-o-o-o royally rich, but without being bright and flashy. It's like 'old money' socks.

And the Everest Socks?
I walked away for a bit. I'm enjoying (sort of) the learning curve, but also need to experience success in regular doses! I'll climb Everest in time...

More Everest

Today: Snow at times heavy. Amount 10 to 15 cm. Wind southwest 50 km/h gusting to 70. High zero

%^((%$#$@#!!%">%$#$@#!!%/&*

I was in town this morning, and mused on the snowbanks still lining the streets.

By the time I got home:


Q$#E%^^^$@!!

Dirty Laundry

Doing up my post Easter laundry, I found myself wondering why the paparazzi weren't at church on the weekend to see what people were wearing.

I'm sure you were wondering what the Soxophone Player sported:


My Easter Line-up:
For Holy Thursday I wore my Opal Hundertwassers. This pair, like most of my socks, had a boo boo somewhere. I've had this pair for almost two years and I wear and wash them pretty much weekly, so they've been through the laundry about 100 times. They have held up remarkably well - and I'm tough on socks. As much as I whine about the knots and colour changes in Opal, the colours are great, fade very little, and hold up amazingly well. I wanted to wear a pair of 'Winners' for Thursday, so this was my choice.

Good Friday is a much more sombre occasion. Lots of praying; venerating the cross; listening to the Passion. So, as a form of penance, I wore the nasty Noro Socks that drove me around the bend with rough, splitting, snagging, hay infested yarn. (I admit they are considerably softer than when knit, but still my 'roughest' pair.)

For Saturday's Easter Vigil I needed energy. A three hour service wants all the help it can get to remain alive and excited. I chose my Eco-Socks for this mass. Lots of bits of bright colour to keep me 'up' and perhaps a very small contribution of 'for the world' by using up my scraps instead of sending them to the landfill.

And Easter Sunday? Being down to the three cantors for the two lengthy services, and being completely exhausted, I needed a little help from my friends, so instead of wearing socks that I knit myself, I leaned on Laurie and wore these:


And today at the Sock Machine:

Continuing Attempt #5 at the Everest Socks

In this picture, carrying on from yesterday, I've knit the square heel (Eye of Partridge stitch) and the Sl 1, K2 tog pattern of the bottom of the heel. You can see I was down to working on only 7 needles. Down through the cylinder you can see the flat that is the top of the foot.

From here, I placed 15 needles back on each side of the cylinder and picked up the side stitched of the heel flap bottom, and then started to Sl 1, K2 tog, K2, K2 tog and pick up the stitches from the side of the square heel flap.

I got a little confused (fancy that) along the way and baled on the sock.

But it was a good bale. Despite my confusion I figured out what was supposed to be happening and that I had made a mistake. Which is better than the WTF I ended with yesterday ;o)

The pic is from the bottom of the heel looking 'up'. I indeed turned the corner and the gusset began to form correctly.

But I thought I had finished with the pick up and K 2 tog of the heel stitches and started the pattern for joining the foot flap, thereby not completing the reduction of the gusset. I was several rows into so - bale.

An exacerbating factor - I'm working with a pattern for a 60 stitch sock, on 54 needles, and its hard to make adjustments (on the fly) when you haven't got a clue what you're doing!

Still, I'm enjoying the progress, however slow it is, and I'm glad I've been taking time off production knitting for a while to work at new skills.

And we all know what I'll be wearing Next Good Friday...

Hit the Wall

Happy Post Easter.

I survived another Easter season, musically, and I don't mind saying I'm trashed. The choir I'm in does three big services: Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and then a 3 hour mega-mass for Saturday Vigil, replete with brass band and a line up of 27 tunes. As a cantor I have some solo stuff mixed in there too.

Easter Sunday the choir is bagged so the cantors, three of us plus keyboard, do two Sunday services. These are huge services that attract throngs of part-timers, filling the adjoining hall in addition to the church proper.

I did a little knitting here and there during my week 'off'.

Here is a gaggle of mittens, all knit with my own Arctic Sky sock yarn, 75% wool 25% nylon.

I made so many because my head was in a fog and I kept making left hands! The thumb is knit off centre, and so is done on opposite side of the cylinder for the opposite hands. Good thing I had lots of wool from this new batch of hand dyed!

I hit the wall.

It was bound to happen sooner or later.

Note that this long flap is knit at the back of the machine - very foreign for me to work 'back there' as all my heels, toes (and thumbs) are worked at the front of the machine.

This flap is the TOP of the foot. Aye ca rumba!

It is also my 5th attempt at this sock, which I have now dubbed, the Everest Sock!

This is the remnants of Attempt #4. (Click for Larger)

Section A is the bottom of the leg, from the back of the sock. It was tube knit on all needles BEFORE taking half the needles out of work to knit the top-of-foot-flap, above.

Section B is ANOTHER FLAP - this one knit on the front needles. Remember, this photo is from the back of the sock, so this new flap is for a Square Heel.

What doesn't show so well, is that this flap is knit in Eye of the Partridge stitch, so is is basically double thick yarn. Each single row (size wise) of knitting is actually two rows: one pass with every other needle lifted out of work, then second pass with all needles in work. THEN, on row three the OPPOSITE every other needle is raised, and on row 4, all needles in work.

Section C in the photo is the bottom of the heel. It is triangular shaped, working from 28 down to 8 stitches. Check out the pattern. This is done by a Slip 1, knit 4, Knit 2 Together, knit rest of row. Then repeat from opposite direction, and so on.

To Slip 1 you simply raise a needle out of action.

To Knit 2 Together, you transfer one stitch onto its neighbouring needle. That leaves a needle with no stitch. So, you remove that needle. BUT you don't want a mock rib to show up, so you move ALL THE NEEDLES with their stitches still on them, out of the cylinder and shift along to fill in the space.

Yikes!

This is as far as I got before crashing and burning.

Now its just p*ssing me off!

And meanwhile at the farm

These are some of the ewe lambs who have come into the barn for their grain ration. They are almost 11 months old. It's a bit early to tell if they were successfully bred - 6 or 7 weeks until lambing is due to begin.

Don't Get In A Flap

But if you really must...

(click any for larger)
This is a way to knit a flap on your sock machine.

Raise needles as to do a heel, but notice that I've raised more than half, and that I've raised them 'off centre'.

Instead of raising a needle out of work with each pass like to decrease a heel, simply go back and forth without changing the needles.

Well. Simply is a relative term - the first stitch in each direction is a watch point to make sure the yarn catches the needle correctly.

And as the work grows, like a heel, attention is required to tension on the work!

When the flap is to desired length, cut the yarn, tie on scrap yarn, knit a few rows, cut the scrap and run the work off the needles.

Yes - Off the needles. Just like you're making a huge mistake, but this time its planned!

Then.... start to hang about half the stitches of each side of the flap back onto the empty needles.

See my red arrows - the first stitch on the flap goes onto the first needle that is still in work.

And then likewise, from side to side working up the flap until every needle has a stitch on it (and about half of the flap still doesn't).

Then - all needles down, tie the sock yarn back onto the work and motor on, doing x rows on all needles, then a toe and you're done.

What's the point?

The stitches rehung FROM THE SIDE of the flap form a gusset.

The stitches at the TOP of the flap get kitchenered.

The left over stitches from the sides of the flap get joined with a mattress stitch to close the side (of the thumb).

SOCKS FOR YOUR HANDS!


Readers may recall I am a cantor. And Easter is a crazy canting season, so I'll be OFF BLOG until next week.

DGB Confetti

This is DGB Confetti, colour # 06.008; 75% superwash wool 25% nylon, ~ 210 m/50g.

I am still in my purple theme. The purple in these socks is looking pretty blue on my monitor, but it is indeed a grapey purple.

And this is DGB Confetti colour # 05.003

I've got quite a stash of the Confetti, all bought online from Double Diamond Knits

I bought this a while back but haven't knit with it for a while.

It's one of the lower priced sock yarns but is still good quality yarn. At $4.75/50 grams (free delivery over $50, and no tax) this is very good value for bulking up your stash!

Visitors at the studio:

Two unique little visitors showed up at the studio today with Moe, E and E's boys. We had a great visit and the lads were very tolerant of the lengthy yarn-chat (and made friends with Jesse).

These cuties were knit by Moe. That's 'me' on the left, complete with toque made from my Arctic Sky sock yarn. And that's DW on the right.

Oops! I laid an egg...

Meilenweit colortweed

This is Lana Grossa's Meilenweit colortweed, colour # 1005. It is part of my 'Dutch Stash' - sock yarns I bought online from Astrid's.

It is 80% superwash, 20% nylon. It says 420m/100g but it knits as if a tad finer. Quite a nice feel, and one of the few commercial sock yarns I've got that tweaks up the wool content.

And that's a good thing ;o)

Here it is knit up YAL.

(Yet Another Large).

And here is a batch of handpaint, just finished steaming in the pickle pot.

The 'roll' has three skeins in it. Normally, I would have two such rolls in a batch, but this was using up leftover dye and I didn't even have enough for this one batch.

I watered the dye down to make it stretch. The blues, purples, and greys thinned nicely. The cranberry and plumb and avocado didn't, which was also fine - it just gave me a few lighter shades mixed with the darker.

You may remember these colours from a while back - my Arctic Sky series.

In the news this week:

The governor of New York was caught, thanks to a series of wire taps and covert investigations, having dallied with a lady of the evening.

The opposition pounced with unending protestations of the travesty, shame, deceit, and lawlessness of it all.

The premier of Saskatchewan let slip in a speech that he let his (unlicensed) 14 year old daughter drive the truck on a gravel road.

The opposition pounced with unending protestations of the travesty, shame, deceit, and lawlessness of it all.

Oy...

More Trekking

Here is another Trekking XXL purple theme - this one, colour # 109.

And here is how it knits up:

These are sized Large, and knit on the Verdun 47, 72 cylinder.

This has to be my favourite Trekking colourway. Lots of interest in the colour patterning and quite lively, yet understated enough for those who like their socks a little on the quieter side.

A perfect blue jeans colourway.

Sadly, I have only one more 100 g ball of this one in my stash ;o(

Here is the pickle pot back on the stove. You may recall that I use a 20 gallon stainless steel stock pot for 'regular' dye work such as solids and variegated, but I use the pickle pot to steam set my hand paints.

Today I used up some mixed dyes from previous projects - mainly because there were a few purply tones that suit my current theme. But also, to use up the leftovers so I can clean the bottles and mix up some new colours.

Jesse and I had another great hike today. You can see the tracks of the two comrades heading down the lane on last night's fresh snow.

The sky was SO blue today.

Nothing is more beautiful to me than a rich blue sky over a fresh snowfall.

I think when I'm done purple....I might just do blue!

Going Trekking

A nice day for a hike.

The sun shone all day. At least, until I got my snow shoes strapped on and headed down the lane.

Still, after being storm stayed for a few days it was nice to make a break for the back 40.

Strangely, I didn't see ANY tracks other than my own and Jesse's.

"There's gotta be a wabbit in here somewhere! "

On the Needles:

This is Trekking XXL Colour #78. A very deep, rich purple theme.

These are sized Large, and are knit on the Verdun 47, 72 cylinder.

You may have noticed I've been knitting mostly Large for the last while.

It's kind of like eating your vegetables first.

The Large take a little longer to knit and quite a bit longer to close the toes.

My inventory is low in all sizes but I thought I'd try to get a head start with this size.

AND, that is leaving my Legare 400, 54 cylinder freed up to 'play' with - this is where I'm fiddling about with lace, basket weave, and who knows what will come next.

Well, we all know what will come next.... more Large purple socks!

Sock Number One

The Basket Weave socks I shared with you last week were actually Socks Number 2 and 3.

Today, out of gut wrenching guilt, I will share Sock Number 1 in that project (otherwise known as Jesse's sock).

But first:

Here's where I went wrong. You can see that I am pulling a needle UNDER the three loops of the slipped stitches, instead of OVER.

Looking down inside the cylinder you can see the clear result.

If I were a real knitter maybe I would have picked up on that!

Here's how the sock presented, after washing, right side out. There is a bit of texture from the exercise, but most of it disappeared once I blocked the sock.

And here is the sock, inside out.

Something that might appeal to your Inner Basket, if you didn't snag your toes on it!

The irony - moving the needles under the triple strands of yarn was like 10 times the work of simply plopping it over the top into the slot.

Ah, the learning curve....

And on tap this week:

Before Donny Osmond was scrounging attention crumbs off the floor at ET - in fact even before he was singin' Rock n' Roll to Marie's Country, there was purple.

It was widely reported at the time that Donny simply wouldn't wear socks that weren't purple. Purple was his lucky colour. Purple was IN.

This week, its back....

We'll start out with 2 kinds of Lana Grossa Meilenweit (back left), 2 kinds of Trekking XXL, and 2 kinds of DGB Confetti (front row).

A Tisket, A Tasket

This pic is two more rows knit after last pic yesterday.

(Click any pic for larger)

The needles may look crazy - but note that each one still has a stitch on it!

And one more row knit:

What a wild ride!

Got this figured out yet?

The socks: Sized Medium, knit on my Legare 400, 54 cylinder. My own sock yarn, Cranberry, 75% wool 25% nylon; ~ 400y/100g.

The basket weave stitch is not for the faint of heart!

Reminds of of when I took Stained Glass lessons years ago - there was this huge fear obstacle standing in the way when it came to lesson #1 - snapping glass.

However! Once you jump off the cliff, the ride down is easy. (Hmmm, bad analogy!)

In actual fact, this pattern was LESS work than the Lace Swirl - partly because I was moving the entire needle with its stitch still on, instead of transferring stitches from needle to needle. So, fewer opportunities to actually drop a stitch.

This pattern required more head-patting and tummy-rubbing though, and so was, at least in the beginning, more intimidating.