in which i receive way more than i give

(did you know that the only way to keep a blog going is to actually update it? thus, even though i would prefer more and better pictures in this post, i am going to show you what i do have and we'll all just have to be happy with that.)

my days are a bit of a mess at the moment and it's already been two weeks since i received these gems in the mail:

last autumn i knit this sock for megan. and this is what i get in return! megan, ashley, and amy all put this little gem of a package together for me. delish soap, two beautiful, handmade pouches (to feed my uncontrollable pouch obsession), two hanks of madeline tosh sock yarn in the best, best colours, and of course this:


sweet megan knit me a sock! and what a beauty it is. the pattern is persephone's socks from oceanwind knits, and the yarn is from sundara. love. the fit is perfect (and a round toe! megan knows me), the knitting is perfect, the colour is perfect, and the pattern is perfect.

so, of course i have already started the second of the pair, and though my once-so-tight sock knitting gauge is royally effed up by a gazillion baby raglans, i am now at the heel. no picture as yet, but i promise i will finish it soon and tada! may socks for my pair-a-month project.

to conclude: i love knitbloggers, even though i suck at being one.

annoyed (1)

bah! i want to blog but there is no time to do it properly. then, for each week that passes without me writing anything, another extremely blogworthy thing happens. i have accumulated quite the backlog now.

soon. soon. for now, here's a pic from my trip to wales! to see amelia! and go to my first fiber festival!

i said i would

update! fabulous beth has now made the pattern for my gorgeous alpaca wrist warmers available on her blog! get it here.

*
all these raglans - yes, there is at least one more on the way - have cut radically into my sock knitting time. combined with a troublesome shoulder this made me worry about my grand a-pair-a-month plan.

however, i've now started getting ims (aooo) for my shoulder and a sort through the wip pile solved my sock deficiency. last october i started the fastest socks in the world. fortunately i just made the one sock back then, and so with only a few hour's work behind me i can now present to you my april socks:

specs
pattern: drops socks knitted sideways in garter stitch with eskimo (short and snappy, just the way i like it), middle size
yarn: take a wild guess. yep, eskimo. shade 10, four balls
needles: 6mm


this is a funny looking pair; not the most flattering sock in the world (accentuating my pointy toes / hiding any sign of narrow ankles) but quick, warm, and way more accessible than fingering weight sideways sock patterns, which for some reason i find endless and impossible to finish.

(a word of caution: if you plan to knit this in the largest size with eskimo yarn, i would get an extra ball of yarn - i used almost every last inch of wool.)

so, that's the socks taken care of. best get back to those raglans. the stripes are taking a brake so the current raglan is going to be a lovely, solid plum:


knitknitknitknit. this one needs to be finished by mid may.

spring is for stripes. and finishing.

if you take a look at my ravelry project page you'll notice that all my wips are 75% or more completed. as usual, i am slacking in the finishing department. so boring! however, i am making an effort now to actually finish some stuff and get pictures of them, so chances are april will be a good fo month. fingers crossed.

let's get straight to it - the two stripy nøstebarn raglans absolutely had to be finished last week for the birthdays of two of my favourite girls. here's the only pic i have of them together; it's meant to show the radical improvement blocking gave but i have to say the difference was more impressive in real life.

the yarn is a heavy laceweight, and with a gauge of 24sts to 10cm the fabric is airy and light. however, the stitches are horribly loose and pre blocking everything looks dreadful.

i had to finish my niece's red and orange raglan first, because her party was a few days earlier than the other one.


specs
pattern: rullegenser ("rolled hem pullover") from strikk til nøstebarn by kathrine gregersen, size 1 year
yarn: askeladen merino-lammeuld, shades 22 red and 83 orange, less than half a skein of each
needles: 2.5 and 3mm circs and dpns


the button band is crocheted. i found some transparent, orange buttons which worked really well, in my opinion.

if you are my friend on flickr you can se a modelled pic there; i didn't want to stick a picture of the cutest girl in the world on this blog in case you'd all try to kidnap her at the same time. yes, she really is that cute.

anyway, this sunday, a couple of hours before the second birthday party, i finished the pink and brown raglan for my best friend's five-year-old.


specs
pattern: rullegenser ("rolled hem pullover") from strikk til nøstebarn by kathrine gregersen, size 6 years
yarn: askeladen merino-lammeuld, half a skein of 311 mocha and about three quarters of a skein of 323 dusty pink
needles: 2.5 and 3mm

i was literally weaving in the last of a gazillibillitrillion ends on this one when something caught my eye. hmmmm, what's that?

i wish i could blame my possessed ikea lamp (which is going back to the store, btw - it's gone completely mental lately and does not listen when i talk to it), but the fact is that i'd already finished the left sleeve ages ago at that point.

can you see it?


it's so obvious it's screaming at me, but my lovely friends who've seen the disaster in real life assure me they would never have noticed if i hadn't told them.

i still consider both raglans a success as both the one-year-old and the five-year-old tasted them. is it any wonder i love these girls?

april fool's day is not until tuesday -

- so this story is 100% true.

it was a dark and stormy night. (yes, seriously.) this friday, around 10pm.

i was home alone. the husband was out with his mates and was not expected to return for several hours yet (3.30am, as it turned out).

i was knitting. knitknitknitknitknit - desperately trying to finish the second sleeve of yet another stripy nøstebarn raglan.

(it's for my best friend's daughter, whose birthday is next week. i am in a hurry, as you can see. it takes a lot longer to knit for five-year-olds than for one-year-olds. go figure.)

i was only a few centimeters away from finishing the sleeve, when suddenly the room went darker. i realised the lamp by the sofa was no longer working. strange. the lightbulb wasn't very old and anyway i hadn't heard that little pop you usually do when they burst.

so i switched the lamp back on. yep, worked fine.

for about five minutes. then darkness.

i switched it on again, somewhat uneasy now.

fifteen minutes or so passed. everything was fine, the sleeve was almost done - just a few more rounds to go. whew. i was getting a bit sick of knitting sleeves.

then, suddenly - you know it: the lamp went out again.

gah! i was annoyed. i couldn't see my knitting without it. i exclaimed - quite loudly - i need some light!

yep.

the lamp promptly switched itself back on.

i didn't sleep until the husband came home.

and it snowed again today. most appropriate.

why does easter have to be so early this year? easter is spring time, not snow and cold and brrr time. then again, i do have new socks to keep me warm.

specs
pattern: shaping knee socks
yarn: gjestal silja sock yarn, shade 338, 3.5 balls
needles: 2.5 and 3mm bamboo dpns


thus, my march socks are finished!

they really are very long. i could have shaved off a few centimeters easily. oh well, more stash yarn put to good use, i suppose.


despite the name, the round toe fits my pointy feet perfectly.


for some reason these were superquick to knit. a bit too quick at times, like when i spaced the increases four stitches apart on the second sock as opposed to two stitches apart on the first one.


fortunately the ribbed cuff folds over and hides that particular design feature.

however, the little unspun fluff thing near the ankle on the right sock marks the spot where i really should have cut the yarn. but, you know, i was in the zone and i didn't feel like weaving in more ends, so i just ignored it and now it will haunt me forever. mind you, i don't spend a lot of time staring at the back of my legs so i think i'll live.


aaaaand this last picture is the only one where the colour is accurate. ish. teal, baby!

in which i suck at all colourwork, even stripes.

it seems i picked the wrong week for my blog comeback. a lovely mix of parties, work madness, migraines, babysitting, and whatnot means i haven't even been able to thank all of you for your lovely comments. oops. not a good start.

let me distract you from my inadequacies with a picture of my current obsession:

the cutest niece in the world turns one in a few weeks and i am knitting her a raglan. the pattern is from the pattern book with the cutest knitwear models in the world, strikk til nøstebarn (ravelry link, but you can find the nøstebarn site here).

the yarn is danish, a 2-ply heavy laceweight merino that is lanolin-rich and woollywoollywolly. i'm knitting to a gauge of 24 st to 10cm, which makes for a thin fabric and horribly uneven stitches. gahhh.

it doesn't help that i totally suck at knitting stripes. my jogs are horrible. my ends are countless. my tension is bipolar. thank god my niece prolly will outgrow this thing within months.

a blogger returns, with an obsessive plan that just might work.

hello there! i missed you! are you all well?

so, i decided to try this blogging thing again. i have been posting fairly regularly on flickr and ravelry, but sometimes you just need to blabber on a bit, you know?

like about this new scheme i have - it's not very original, i'm afraid, i read about it on some other blog (can't remember which one, it was ages ago), but it seems like a good plan. here it is: i am going to make a pair of socks a month in 2008.

january - bartholomew's tantalizing socks

the plan was to maybe work through some of my sock yarn stash, but then i counted the hanks and, well, i'm not convinced the dent will even be noticeable at the end of the year. ooops. still, i have some nice yarns in my stash and i want to try out those that i haven't used before. also, the amount of sock patterns in my ravelry queue is getting rather silly.


february - spey valley

so far i am on schedule; the january pair was started last year but formalities like these are to be ignored. the march socks are halfway finished already - they are worked in silja sock yarn on 3mm needles and i'm using this kneehigh pattern.


march - teal kneehighs

i've just started the ribbing on the second kneehigh and i really hope i don't lose momentum. the first bit is a bit heavy on these - lots of stitches, lots of ribbing, then increases (which shouldn't be allowed in a sock, really). however, once you get to the decrease part it's all good.

so, that's me and my plan for you. i have been up to other things this year as well; in fact, i could prolly do a "hat a month" project too without major issues. if you like you can have a look in my 2008 gallery.

still to come on s t r i k k e r: obsessive non-finishing, obsessive stripy baby sweater knitting, and obsessive translation from a language i do not know. it's good to be back.

now with new text! i know!

yeah, it's me again, believe it or not. i'm struggling with blogging right now. so much, in fact, that i think a time-out is in order. i don't know, it's is just not happening for me right now, the blogging. i'll still update on flickr and ravelry, and i still read you all obsessively, but for now the blog will be quiet. eh, make that even quieter.

oh, i did add a twitter thingie in my sidebar so if i remember to update that one more than once a month you can follow me there as well.

anyway. i have been knitting like mad, really. first, for my birthday this year beth sent me some of her gorgeous handspun alpaca in this fantastic natural chocolate brown, and she also included a pattern for wrist warmers:

specs
pattern: beth's own wrist warmer pattern
yarn: beth's own handspun alpaca
needles: 4mm dpns

i haven't blocked them yet - i plan to give them a bath in soak - but once that's done these babies are coming to work with me. you will not believe how cold my office is. brrrrr. these will be perfect! thank you, dear beth!

secondly, more chocolate brown! i started anaïs, from norah gaughan's book:


the yarn is berroco's ultra alpaca light suggested in the pattern. lovely, lovely yarn. i really must try one of the heathered colours, and also the "normal" ultra alpaca.

i've finished all the knitting for this one, actually. i need to block the lace insert and sleeves before seaming. lazy, lazy.

finally, have you seen the new cat bordhi book? love it, love it, love it. i started a pair of bartholomew's tantalizing socks (ravelry link; most of you are prolly in already?) in the old merino/cashmere/nylon blend from the knittery. love that, too. i was very, very lucky with the striping on the cuff - every other row turned out grey and so this lovely pattern emerged:


it looks fantastic on the wrong side as well:


for some reason i got a real blister on my right thumb from knitting the first sock. very strange and something i've never had happen to me before. it was quite painful and i had to take a break after finishing the first sock. mmm single socks!

i've also knitted some toddler socks for xmas gifts, but there are no photos yet. the argyle socks for the husband are also close to being finished, if only the duplicate stitching would end! so. many. stitches. less than a week till xmas eve. oof.

now, i'm not sure when i'll be back, but in the mean time i wish you all a brilliant xmas / winter holiday of your choice and a fantastic new year. mwah!

mustard, grey - what else is new?

i honestly did try to get fo pics in warsaw (which was great, btw), but they all turned out blurry and so this morning i finally found myself at home, in the sunshine, with my camera. a rare combination.

specs
pattern: bloom by carol meldrum in rowan 36
yarn: rowan felted tweed in 141 whisper, 3 balls
needles: 4mm
mods: yes

as i've mentioned before i only had three balls of felted tweed. while this is the exact amount called for in the pattern, every bloom fo report i've ever seen mentioned that this is not enough. thus, i took every measure to make sure i didn't run out of yarn.

first, i did fewer shortrows in the shoulder section.


this worked out very well. i have rather narrow shoulders, and so a wider "flap" would have looked, well, flappy and silly. i only shortrowed to 21 st, not 33 as the pattern says.


then, when i finished the first half (both front and back are identical), i weighed it. 76 grams. remaining yarn: 74 grams. oops.

i ripped out the cast off edge, spliced the yarn and continued knitting. this means i only have one side seam. less seaming, more happiness, i say.

finally, i made the neck opening on the second half (ie the front) a bit lower by decreasing an additional 3 stitches as compared to the pattern. would it be enough? i honestly couldn't tell until i had only a couple of rows or to knit. very nerve-wrecking. but it worked!

i even had a few meters left over, which turned out to be a good thing.


the armholes turned out a bit loose, you see. i took the remaining yarn and did a row of single crochet (or whatever, stupid differing brit/us crochet terms) along the front of the armholes. there wasn't enough to go around the whole opening, but at least it helped a little.

so, that's bloom for you. i'm very happy with it, i must say. the shape and size is rather perfect for me. also, this was my first time knitting with felted tweed and i know now what the fuss is all about. lovely, lovely stuff, and i particularly love the look of the knitted fabric when it's used sideways as here.

in conclusion, they all lived happily ever after. the end.