October 2006 Archives

Pair #2 done!

Pattern: Simple stockinette for such a wildly-variegated, highly-contrasting yarn. Judy Becker's Magic Cast-on. Gusset and heel flap guidance from Judy Gibson's Generic Socks form. Sewn 1x1/tubular bind-off.
Yarn: Fleece Artist Merino Basic Socks (100% merino; 115g/4oz; 325m/355yd) in Cosmic Dawn (scroll down for colorway)
Needles: US2 dpns; bamboo

Nope, that isn't some Photoshop work. Those are a pair of socks from the same ball of yarn. I kid you not. I knit one sock from each end of the yarn, thinking to meet in the middle in case there wasn't enough. So I knit the first sock (the duller one) past the heel flap, rolled it around the yarn ball, then knit the second sock. When they were both at the same point, I unrolled the first and that was when my eyes bugged out.

Here's what I think happened: the yarn was layered on itself when it was dyed, and the colors didn't penetrate as far down to the bottom lengths as it did on top. Hence the varying saturation and intensity. It took me a while to accept it, but BF didn't mind. I guess this is the type of surprise and spontaneity you get with handpainted yarn! Makes you second guess a bit, doesn't it?

Curiosity got the better of me and I tried heel flaps. Judy Gibson's toe-up version is a trapezoidal flap, a tapering pyramid shape that I thought imitated the bottom of the human heel better than the rectangular flap. Incidentally, Denise Powell's toe-up sock tutorial has clear directions for the rectangular flap version (also known as the Reverse Dutch heel). I did a slip-stitch heel flap, which makes a good cusiony back that BF likes quite a bit.

Which leads me to my next sock project for him: flip-flop socks. I cringe at the sight of flip-flops and socks (so, so wrong), but BF is stubborn. I might as well make him look stylish, you know?

So there you have it, 2 pairs for Socktoberfest! I'll save the Koigu for the Norwegian/Colorwork KAL.

Speaking of the KAL, I'm thinking a December launch date, to last 4 months or so. If you're planning on doing colorwork of some kind, keep this in mind. More details to come from either me, Mary-Heather, and Andrea! (I should've made Eunny's Deep Vee Vest so at least I'd have a handle on steeking...)

Have a good week; happy Halloween; bye-bye Andrea; back on the 4th!

Pair #1 done!

Pattern: My own, also known as Cashmere Diamond, also known as Arlecchino. See project notes. Google and ye shall find Judy Becker's Magic Cast-on (in Knitty.com), short-row heel, sewn 1x1/tubular bind-off.
Yarn: Peruvian Collection Baby Cashmere (60% Baby Alpaca, 30% Merino Wool, 10% Cashmere; 100m/109yd; 25g/0.88oz) in #1960 Rose Heather; 2.4 balls (Yay, small feets.)
Needles: US1 dpns; bamboo

There are little details I like: the way the sock pattern starts at the toe with the moss stitch diamonds. The way the moss stitch diamonds wrap around the leg after the heel; the way they end the sock before the ribbing. Accidental details, no foreplanning. I could say I planned it, but why bother the pretension. Sometimes it just works out.

They're deliciously soft against my callused feet, which deserve pampering! Given the recent controversy regarding KFI's Debbie Bliss line and Cascade Yarn, I'm mindful of how much actual cashmere my yarn has. I like to think it's really 10% cashmere, it's super soft and super warm! Keeper, these. No no, make your own, you know who you are!

BF and I had just finalized our trip logistics (note: the camera is definitely coming with us) when we read this: Todd Skinner killed on Leaning Tower. Mr. Skinner was one of America's leading climbers; he perished in an accidental fall in Yosemite on Monday afternoon. This sport is unforgiving and brutal, especially in the subcategories of "big wall" (which was what Mr. Skinner was doing) and mountaineering. This incident, sadly, is not isolated, I can't emphasize enough how important safety checks and redundancies are. Climb hard, but climb safely.

P.S.: I have a doozy of a Sock Pair #2. Check back tomorrow.

With friends, basking in the sunlight, eating, knitting, spinning, and gabbing about everything under the sun. And of course, taking pictures. Once again, Julia hosted the gathering. There were Lori, Andrea, Mary-Heather and Kat. Francesca, spindler and knitter extraordinaire, and Shannon, with her gorgeous green Icarus-in-the-making, rounded out the group.

Can I just say it was good times?

Francesca's amazing knits in a cheery basket.

Julia's lovely handspun: Koigu-like and Manos-like. Our lovely hostess kept our drinks filled, organized the class picture and taught Shannon how to spin. She didn't stop long enough for me to take a good picture of her!

Another one for the toe-up brigade (yay): Shannon's tweedy socks.

Andrea's natural dyeing efforts: wool on the left, cotton on the right. Just. Gorgeous.

Mary-Heather snapping pictures; Lori and Kat. Mary-Heather and Kat were knitting projects for their book so I can't show you their knitting!

Finally, Lori, in balanced-handspun-heaven. Girl needs a Lendrum, let me just say.

All in all, a wonderful day!

Progress on BF's sock goes well. I may have a pair finished by the end of Socktober! I think it's the progression of colors that keeps me going. All that variegation can be hypnotic!

Of course, there was a bit of that annoying pooling/flashing/whateveryoucallit. You can obviously see the trail: it's a spiral progression as opposed to colors stuck in one area. At the very beginning it pooled in areas (turquoise on one side, magenta on the other), but I did something that changed the tempo and made it go spiral: I went down a needle size on one quarter turn. That's right: a change in needle size means a change in diameter. It means that with a smaller needle I'm using less yarn than usual on a set amount of stitches, so the flow of the colors is interrupted for a few stitches. It's not as drastic as switching two different balls on every turn, but it works for me in this case.

On a further note regarding variegation: BF and I decided not to go with any pattern, even simple rib. I had touched on cables, which BF nixed, of course, and in the end decided to let the colors take center stage. Too much can be a good thing!

I owe emails to a few people so I'm closing comments until I get to all of them! Have a happy (Rhinebeck) weekend.

Is my Italian right?

Trust me: this is a whole sock. The second one, which I'm already halfway done with, is just chugging along. I even cast on for BF's newest socks. Hello, progress!

The yarn is Elann's Peruvian Collection Baby Cashmere, which is a combination of alpaca, merino, and cashmere. Alpaca is supposed to be too drapey and unable to retain any shape, so I hope the combination of merino and cashmere will balance it out. It has such a pretty halo, too. I kept an eye on Sundara's socks, which used the same yarn. And I was quite happy when she posted an update on them. I don't mind halos, and having read that, I can securely go on knitting these.

And while there are several online tutorials for the tubular, 1x1, sewn bind off/cast-off, the one I always go to is this. It hasn't got the greatest pictures, but the directions are clear. I easily get into the purl, knit, knit, purl mode.

Blogworthy:
◊ Go visit Monica: she's having a baby!
◊ From Margene, an article on Dooce.
◊ Design 215's got a chart on the maximum-sized, high-resolution (300 dpi) photo you can get per megapixel. Note it's for high-resolution quality; for home printer quality you really only need 150 dpi.

The climbing: a bust. It was far away, it was raining, wet enough that we slipped and slid on the way to and from the crag, and the crag itself sucked. In fact, I slid about 10 feet from the bottom of the hill and instead of clambering up to the almost non-existent trail, just decided to let gravity take over and slid the rest of the way down. Bleh. Obviously no one had climbed there recently because there were birds' and bats' nests in the pockets, and "leaver" 'biners on 75% of the climbs. We actually drove home the same day in disgust and disappointment.

I've lived in tropical locales all my life: the Philippines, Nigeria, Southern California. Naturally, I'm in denial of winter. Hence, this:

Ingenue (thanks, Wendy!), designed by Lauren for Alchemy Yarns (of Transformation). It's a cleverly-knit empire waist top: first, knit the herringbone band, join it, then pick up stitches from both sides to create the bodice and then the bottom. Finish off with a crocheted picot edging. C'est belle, oui?

Because the stated yarn, Alchemy Silk Purse is out of my budget, I'm using Gedifra's Fiocco Oro, which BF's mom gave me earlier this year. It's a worsted cotton/polyester blend as opposed to a fingering/dk silk, but of course gauge can be easily recalculated. Fiocco Oro's variegation occurs in short lengths of 3", so the pooling is minimal. Now I'm not a big fan of blue, but lately I've gotten used to it. This, and Cara's handspun shawl is why. I just love the blues and greens, punctuated with teal and a pearly white, accompanied by a line of gold. BF's mom picks niiice colors.

The yarn itself is enough to drive you nuts because if you knit fast, you'll poke through it. Splitty it is. It's a length of multiple-ply matte cotton and a length of shiny woven polyester, both dyed together I suspect, lined up--lined up, not spun together--with a length of woven gold, and bound with a single ply of matte cotton. Frustrated at one point, I threw it across the room. That little burst must have taken it all out of me, because I finished the ball without any splitting. Huh. Knitters, do throw your yarn when you feel like it!

Knitworthy stuff:
◊ Lana Grossa's Linea Rossa patterns are very, very nice. And elegant. The yarn stores I visited in Germany carried a lot of Lana Grossa yarn. The pattern support is actually quite good. I wonder why this brand's other lines (other than their sock yarn, that is) isn't as widely featured in the U.S.
◊ Interweave Knits' Winter 2006 preview is up! My favorite is Kate's Equestrian Jacket, perfect in tweed. Thrummed mittens are a good thing too. A pair to take along on climbing trips, to supplement all the Gore-Tex and neoprene, may be a good thing.
◊ I suspect Jacquelyn Mitchard is a knitter. Writer of The Deep End of the Ocean and the newly released Cage of Stars, she's sprinkled bits of knitting in the books I've read. In her latest, I've found:

"We were an ordinary family, a little bit more Birkenstock-y than some (my mother knitting a sweater for everyone but the horse)...." (p. 12)

"I would watch Mama at the table, her hands busy with knitting sweaters and caps for Rafe for winter...." (p. 85)

"I got boxed CD sets and Gap jeans and two hand-knit mohair scarves from Sister Barken." (p. 139)

"The Sissinellis were the only family around us who weren't Mormons.... [t]hey were big rock climbers, with all the gear and helmets and junk." (pp. 21-22; okay, it's a climbing reference)

Plus, Miss Mitchard's book jacket photo shows her with a shawl (I suspect it's handknit) around her shoulders as she looks at her horses. Hm. Knitter? A friend's reading the same book and she's e-mailed Miss Mitchard to find out!

◊ Do you have certain patterns planned for [sock] yarns? Do you buy yarn and then choose a pattern? I buy sock yarn without thinking of patterns, just for the colors. I'm mad about colors, you see. I have lots of patterns in my head; I sketch a few designs, knit some swatches, make notes.... then I either knit it or forget it. More likely the latter, since climbing tends to get in the way!

◊ Does a certain sock yarn you have in your stash take you back to a certain event? The Lorna's Laces I took with me to Europe to make a batch of socks with. I remember knitting baby socks in Barcelona, Sitges, Las Almunias, all sorts of places. Dang, I want to go back.

Consider the diamond pattern, in knit, purl, and moss stitches, and in a knit-purl outline. Readjust to match my gauge of 29 sts and 40 rows on US1 double points. Readjust again, doubling rows, to prevent the squashiness that 40 rows per inch would force. Click images to enlarge.

Some experimentation in just diamonds.

A couple in argyle.

And finally, the pattern I selected. It is by no means an original design: it's just diamonds, which can be of any width or height. Mine is 7 stitches by 14 rows to accommodate my gauge and foot measurements. If you had graph paper, or Adobe Illustrator, or even Microsoft Office, you could make your own design. The yarn is so, so fine that I decided that cables would be too much. Lace would be as well. So, texture in knit and purl.

And my progress so far.

Just for fun, I'm calling this "pattern" Arlecchino, which is Italian for harlequin. Mine doesn't have the riotous colors of the costume worn by the harlequin, but it's the same lines. I'm already past the heel and should be done with it by the time we get back from points North (you know what I'm doing, don't you). Have a good weekend!

Tuesday's a happy day here: Sandy J told me that in my book meme that the book I was obsessing about is The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier. Thank you, Sandy! I will definitely get it! I also have Julia's, Kristin's, and Julia's picks; you know some of theirs will make it to my reading list eventually.

On to Tuesday's post, which was supposed to be last Monday's post, but I put up something else. I put so much effort into this, I might as well post it for posterity. Plus, waste not the pixels, right?

camera: such a useful tool. It makes me think about what it was like before digital, before film, even before glass, back to when landscapes and likenesses were captured over a period of weeks on canvas or paper, as opposed to the blink of an eye. People wrote or painted and those who read or saw their work could imagine what it was like at *that* particular moment. Otherwise, they saved mementoes: leaves and flowers pressed between the pages of a memorable book read during vacation, sand in a bottle, ribbon the same color as a magnificent ocean or spectacular sky.

In beautiful Utah desert miles away from St. George, BF sketched.

He tried to paint when we got home, but the colors--"too saturated", "too bleh", "too dark", "too light"--were elusive.

At Heindselmann's Too in the city, I purchased a single skein of Classic Elite's Fame in #1427 Stormy Sea, a colorway that matches the cyan blue skies, white sands, and grey limestone crags of our surroundings. I've matched it with 4 skeins already in my stash, #1402 Orange.

But, those colors are more than just orange. They're fiery sunsets, desert bushes, scratchy bark, and inquisitive birds. (Sometimes words are better than images, right?)

We're heading back later this month. We'll be bringing the camera, of course, but BF has decided to take along his watercolor pans and paper. I may knit. But then again I may just enjoy the view!

Lastly, rocks for our "climbing crag" collection. I'm more sentimental, looking for patterns or heart-shaped rocks; BF is more "Wow, check this out! This looks like it could've been a crimper on that climb, huh?" Taken only from BLM, and not park, land, for anyone who's curious.

Blogworthy:
◊ More bouldering! Sorry, I'm sounding like a broken record. This is Chris Sharma on Witness the Fitness, an unrated boulder problem. This was taken from Dosage Vol. 3, and not filmed by whoever put this up. This copyright issue: such a win-lose thing.
◊ Sendfest 2006, a bouldering comp. Girls climbing just as hard as the guys, yay.

Julia's tagged me for a meme:

◊ One book that changed your life:

Two that I can think of presently:Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, andThe Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

I remember reading Little Women back when I had read through all my Ladybird books, all my brother's Ladybird books, and everything else that had pictures in it. Then I borrowed my older sister's copy and read through it twice. The first time because it was *so* much more grownup than everything I'd ever read (at 7, it's a challenge) and it didn't have pictures, and the second time to understand the story. I went on to read Good Wives, Little Men, and Jo's Boys.

I read The Great Gatsby in high school and promptly fell in love with all of F. Scott Fitzgerald's work. He knew how to write about his particular slice of society in the 1920s. I've since read all his novels and short stories, as well as his wife Zelda's work.

◊ One book that you've read more than once:

How about a series? Or three? Or four? Frank Herbert's Dune series. The prequel series Prequel to Dune and Legends of Dune by Frank's son Brian, and Kevin J. Anderson. These are books that circulate constantly between me, my older brother, and my older sister, because we're avid fans. There is currently a 2-book sequel to the original 7-book series, which begins after Chapterhouse: Dune. Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune aim to complete the epic. While Mr. Herbert and Mr. Anderson are good writers, I doubt they can ever capture the tone, the spirit, and the timbre of Frank Herbert.

Additionally, Carl Sagan's Contact, C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia, and Nick Bantock's books. All of them. All visual feasts.

◊ One book you'd want on a desert island:

Ohhhhhh. That would be hard: one with humor, à la Gilligan's Island, or one with intensity, à la Castaway? For the former, a book of Roald Dahl's morbidly funny short stories; for the latter, Carlos Ruiz Zafón's The Shadow of the Wind.

◊ One book that made you laugh:

I'm not sure I've read any book that's made me laugh out loud; I've read books with humor in them. However, I'm seen the Sedaris siblings' names often enough that I'd like to try their books out.

◊ One book that made you cry:

Recently, Alice Hoffman's The Ice Queen.

◊ One book you wish had been written:

Well, Frank Herbert died before he could finish his Dune series, leaving short notes about what happened after Chapterhouse: Dune. Like I said before, I don't think Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson should mess with it. *So there!*

◊ One book you wish had never been written:

I can't target a specific book, mainly because I read the jacket notes before borrowing. I can't afford to have the negativity. I'll have to say anything obscene, with depradation, degradation, and self-conscious arrogance.

◊ One book you're currently reading:

From my 2006 book list, I'm almost done with Donna Leon's Blood from a Stone. Chris Ballard's The Butterfly Hunter, about unusual professions, is interesting.

◊ One book you've been meaning to read:

It's driving me crazy because I know what the book jacket looks like, but not the title and the author. The front is a black-and-white photo, digitally manipulated, of a man holding his coat open, but there is no man inside. It's supposed to be a good book about the end of the world and the souls in purgatory. Help me, librarians out there!

***Props to Sandy--it's The Brief History of the Dead by Kevin Brockmeier. Yay, happy happy dance!***

Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan.

◊ Some favorite books not on this list:

George Orwell's Animal Farm. Jack London's The Call of the Wild and White Fang. Dogs and loyalty, amen. John Robbins' Diet for a New America and The Food Revolution. Jon Krakauer's Into Thin Air, Eiger Dreams, Into the Wild, and Under the Banner of Heaven. Patricia Cornwell's Dr. Scarpetta novels. Enid Blyton's children's books. Peter Hoeg's Smilla's Sense of Snow. Edward Gorey's "children's" books, because he is just so strange. Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

I could go on and on but I'll stop now. You got me going, Julia! I'm passing this meme to whoever is in love with books and wants to answer them. Let me know who you are, I'd love to stop by and look at your lists!

I signed up for Lolly's Socktoberfest. I don't know why, actually; perhaps it's because I didn't have any set projects for the near future? This knitalong, it's huuuge, along the same lines of the Knitting Olympics. It's like being in an elevator packed well beyond capacity, but the ride may be a thrill. Or I may end up squashed and deflated.

Lolly's posed some questions:

◊ When did you start making socks? Did you teach yourself or were you taught by a friend or relative? or in a class? I started knitting socks last year, in late May or early June. I learned from an Interweave Knits project.

◊ What was your first pair? How have they held up over time? I made a pair of baby socks with wee cables running up the leg and gave them to our friends' baby daughter, who was about 6 months at the time. They fit. I imagine they must have held up.

◊ What would you have done differently? Nothing. It was a learning experience. I found I didn't like having to kitchener the toe box closed. It's rather fiddly, and I'm very clumsy with sharp (or sharpish) objects! Anyway, I'm all about toe-up, short-row heel, sewn bind-off.

◊ What yarns have you particularly enjoyed? I loved the Lorna's Lace's Sheperd Sport (colorway Somerset) of those first (and second, and third) pair of socks. I wasn't particularly in love with the Lane Borgosesia/Baruffa Aerobic I used for my first pair of adult socks, but the subtle heathering was beautiful. Zitron's Trekking XXL was soft and so elegantly variegated. I'd knit with Lorna's Laces and Zitron yarns again, but I want to try the others, naturally.

◊ Do you like to crochet your socks? Or knit them on DPNs, 2 circulars, or using the Magic Loop method? Mm. I knit, period. Clover bamboo double-points all the way, baby. However, I'd like to have a set of Holz & Stein US1s and US2s in both ebony and rosewood. One day.

◊ Which kind of heel do you prefer? Short-row. Both the standard and yarn-over variations.

◊ How many pairs have you made? Heh. Five. The trio of baby socks which was an Interweave Knits pattern; my self-designed toe-ups, Mirabella, combining lace and cables; and BF's monstrous toe-up socks with the bit of ribbing in the arch area.

I set a goal of 3 pairs, using 3 entirely new (to me) yarns. While I doubt I'll finish all three within a month, I should have, at the very least, one of each.

One pair will be in Koigu: wildly variegated berry colors tamed by an elegant mulberry shade. Now, for Fair Isle, or uneven striping with a bit of purled diamond texture?

Another, in pink yarn with some cashmere content for luxury. I already have a pattern for this: argyle-ish. On to swatching!

Finally, some Fleece Artist Basic Sock in Cosmic Dawn, described as "Black with magenta, tourquoise [sic] and gold", with a bit of grey. That turquoise is unreal, isn't it? Gifted by Mia last year and appropriated by the BF. I'm thinking very simple cables, maybe a 2- or 4-stitch variation with ribbing in between, because I want the striking colors to play out. And, BF likes them plain and simple, or low-profile. I'm quite shocked, actually, that he's willing to wear pink. I owe it all to you, Mia!

Thanks for all the Gnome compliments! For those asking for the pattern, you can try writing the magazine and requesting a copy, I'm sure the magazine will oblige. I cannot give it away, copyright and all that stuff.

Pomegranates, so pretty and just out of reach. (Thanks, Julia!)

Flowers just past their glory, but still brilliantly red.

Outtakes from the shawl photoshoot. Cara, barefoot. Julia snapping me, snapping her. Julia's gorgeous back, balancing 3 bags and a camera, *and* taking pictures. Cara sniffing flowers, ha ha! That was priceless. Have you seen her Pretty Woman moment?

The museum itself? Didn't even go in. Nope. Didn't knit either. We just talked and talked, had lunch, admired Cara's shawl (her own frickin' handspun) and Julia's handspun, and took photographs. When knitbloggers meet, sometimes there's already so much we know about their knitting and spinning that we end up talking about everything else.

Say cheese! You want bigger smiles?

KAL is no longer taking signups; please don't ask me for the pattern.

Pattern: Gnome by Alan Dart, a supplement in the November 2005 issue of Simply Knitting; size medium
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease (197 yards; 3 oz; 80% acrylic, 20% wool) in #620-099 Fisherman, #620-152 Oxford Grey and #620-102 Ranch Red; Fun Fur (60 yards; 1¾ oz; 100% polyester) in #320-100 White
Needles: US2 for body parts and hat, US9 for beard; metal straights
Finished height: 12.75" with hat tip straightened out

Check out the furry beard. The yarn was surprisingly soft and easy to knit with, but all the time I was thinking, "I'm knitting with this?!?!?!" I think the needle size was big as you can see the stitches, so gnome #2's (yes, #2) will be knit with a US8.

Two detestable thumbs. Cute but a pain to seam and stuff. Be forewarned.

Since I've got lots of leftovers (and a high tolerance for pain), I'll be making another. I'll be upsizing the needles by one, and knitting everything in the round. Nothing better than a challenge!

Blogworthy: Consider your impact on the planet. Try the Earth Day Footprint Quiz.