Archive for May 2006

It’s about time!

Thursday, May 11, 2006

The “Two Socks at Once” Class Socks are done! It seemed forever. Four weekly classes plus one break in between. Then I caught the lace fever. Phew! They are done!

Pattern: no pattern
Method: two socks at once with magic loop
Needle: one Addi Turbo US #1, 47″
Yarn: Jawoll Color Superwash, color 820080

I really love this way of sock knitting. It sucked in the beginning. But you really do get used to it after a while. Definitely the most portable way to knit socks. Now I just have to find out how to adapt this method for patterns using DPNs. Possible?

I learned a new trick. During our last class Kathy showed us how to avoid creating little “peaks” at either end of the toe when doing the kitchener. Well, I didn’t get it. So I did a quick search on google and found this site:
http://www.az.com/~andrade/knit/socks.html

It’s not the same technique but the result is similar. Can you see the difference in the pictures below?

I won’t attempt to explain the technique. That would probably end in disaster. Just click on the above link and scroll down to “GRAFTING THE TOE AND FINISHING THE SOCK” to read about it.

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Posted in Knitting | 11 Comments »

Honeybee & Faggoting

Monday, May 8, 2006

Here’s my sample knit of the top border of “Violets by the River“. Again, done in sock yarn. I thoroughly enjoyed knitting this. It was just fascinating to see the design being formed by working different techniques. If this is just a tiny taste of lace knitting, I think I’m going to fall in love. All I can do at this point is to follow the instructions carefully. But I hope to one day understand how different stitches work together. Pattern designers are amazing people in deed!

I leave you with a picture of Ted’s (Knitterguy) “Violets by the River”. Click on the picture to get a better look. What a beautiful sight! *sigh* I just hope that my attempt will turn out half as good.

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Posted in Knitting | 12 Comments »

The Package! The Package!

Friday, May 5, 2006

It’s here! It’s here! The package from Gerald has arrived! What generous gifts! I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves first:

This is the yarn that Gerald generously gave me to knit for the Duulan Project. Wow! 3 Rowan Big Wool, 2 Lamb’s Pride Worsted, 2 Lopi and 3 Classic Elite and some yarn dyed by Gerald himself! I have never worked with these before. Not only will many in Mongolia receive gifts of warmth, I am going to have fun knitting with different yarn! Thanks Gerald!

His generosity doesn’t stop here. Oh no. Here come the surprises! 4 skeins of luxurious sock yarn! (Am I over using the exclamation mark?) Two Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Seaside. Two Wildfoote handpainted luxury sock yarn. Mmm… so soft and pretty. Just the colors I like! How did you know?

And that’s not all… Tucked in the package are two boxes of these:

PEEPS! I couldn’t stop giggling for the longest time! :-) A while ago Gerald did a post on Peeps. I had no clue what they were and was given a detailed introduction to these sweet little treats. Even special tips on how to “enhance” the enjoyment. *wink wink* Should I give them the special treatment? :-)

Thanks Gerald!

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Posted in Family & Friends, Knitting | 11 Comments »

Time Flies

Thursday, May 4, 2006

Tomorrow is the last day of sock class and I still have about 2 inches to knit on each sock. How did it get to this? I had two weeks and I thought it would be no problem. *sigh* Guess it’s sock knitting tonight.

“A Gathering of Lace” arrived today! I have been anxiously waiting for it since last week. What a book! I only leafed through it quickly but was really loving what I saw. So weird. Not too long ago I didn’t think I would ever do lace. But now I can’t wait to try all of it! The night before I laid in bed, head filled with lace knitting. Sleep woudn’t come. I knew I couldn’t wait for my order of yarn to arrive, so I started a trial run with the pattern I chose. You know, just to see how it is. Here’s the result. Can you guess the pattern?

Did you guess it? It’s “Violets by the River” Shawl. Sorry for the backlit picture. I thought the light would show the pattern better. Keep in mind that this was done with sock yarn instead of lace yarn. I didn’t bother to pin it down either. The picture is actually upside down. I was holding the piece by the tip of the triangle and letting the needle’s weight stretch the fabric a bit. But it really needed to stretch more to look proper. I think this is OK. I hope with the correct yarn it will be better.

The right edge of the fabric seems to be a bit loose. I wonder if this is normal? Will it be corrected through blocking? Actually, there will be border around the edges. Maybe it’s not too important.

I have not gotten a circular needle for the project yet. I am thinking Addi Turbo with the flexible cord, but I don’t know if I will like the super slippery needles. Maybe I will be better off getting Inox or Susan Bates. Any idea?

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Posted in Knitting | 6 Comments »

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