FO - Komet Socks

I neglected to even mention that I was working on these, but I finished a pair of Komet socks this week.



These are like no socks I've knit before.



Pattern: Komet Socks by Stephanie van der Linden, originally published on the Socken-Kreativ-Liste Yahoo Group, but now available free on Ravelry
Size: lady's size 9 with 9-inch foot circumference and 9.5-inch foot length
Yarn: Schachenmayr nomotta Regia Color 4-ply /4-fädig fingering weight, color 1900, 75% wool / 25% polyamide (nylon); I used less than 2 100-gram skeins
Needles: size 1.5 (2.5mm) Knit Picks nickel-plated DPNs
Modifications: Inverted pattern to toe-up, with short-row heel

Started: October 5, 2008
Finished: November 25, 2008



This isn't exactly a formal theory, but I think a knitter is either a lace person or a cable person. I would have considered myself firmly in the lace camp, as I gravitate toward open, flat patterns with simple repeats.



Then I got hooked on these socks, which have both cables and lace, and I couldn't decide which section I enjoyed more. Fortunately they were worked simultaneously, so I got to indulge in both. While I have cabled in the past, I didn't really love it the way I love lace, but this time the cables clicked for me. The maneuvers finally made sense, and I looked forward to the crossings, which thankfully only occurred every 14 rows.



By the time I got past the heel on the first sock, I'd memorized the pattern, and I really enjoyed working from memory. This was, though, one of my first times working a pattern purely from a chart, without writing it out for myself, and it went a lot more smoothly than I expected.



The yarn was delightful, as I've come to expect from Regia. I bought a lot of colors of this particular yarn from WEBS close-outs, and it's a truly fantastic go-to yarn. This color seemed an anomaly among my typical choices, in that it is so subdued, with such subtle variations within a gentle range of tones. It ended up being a perfect counterpoint to the architectural quality of the cables and lace pattern, providing visual interest and delicate movement without distracting at all from the stitching.

I hope it's not immodest to say I think these socks are beautiful.



I would definitely recommend this pattern. It was very intuitive, enjoyable, and I think the outcome is great. The fit on these socks is fabulous, and all in all I just couldn't be happier with them. It figures that I waited until the rainiest, darkest day of November to photograph them, but they are much nicer in person.

Now that I've gotten my (probably) last selfish project off the needles, I must concentrate in earnest on gift knitting for the rest of the year. I'll just have to admire my feet while I do it!

Knitting Experience (meme)

I saw this over on Gypsy Coins & Peacock Feathers and thought it was an interesting list.

Bold = Have already tried this
Italicized = Plan to try this
Unemphasized = Have no desire to try this

- Afghan
- I-cord
- Garter stitch
- Knitting with metal wire
- Shawl
- Stockinette Stitch
- Socks: Top-down
- Socks: Toe-up
- Knitting with camel yarn
- Mittens: Cuff-up
- Mittens: Tip down
- Hat
- Knitting with silk
- Moebius band knitting (I've done it accidentally)
- Participating in a KAL
- Sweater
- Drop stitch patterns
- Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
- Slip stitch patterns
- Knitting with banana fiber yarn
- Domino knitting (I had to look this up, but sure)
- Twisted stitch patterns
- Knitting with bamboo yarn
- Two end knitting (this one is weird)
- Charity knitting
- Knitting with soy yarn
- Cardigan
- Toy/doll clothing (does our dachshund count as a toy?)
- Knitting with circular needles
- Baby items
- Knitting with your own handspun (I have never spun, and I'm not sure I want to)
- Slippers
- Graffiti knitting
- Continental knitting (I'm really happy with English though)
- Designing knitted garments (patterns coming soon)
- Cable stitch patterns
- Lace patterns
- Publishing a knitting book
- Scarf
- Teaching a child to knit
- American/English knitting
- Knitting to make money
- Buttonholes
- Knitting with alpaca
- Fair Isle
- Norwegian knitting
- Dying with plant colors (it was awesome)
- Knitting items for a wedding
- Household items
- Knitting socks on two circulars
- Olympic knitting
- Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
- Knitting with dpn’s
- Holiday-related knitting
- Teaching a male how to knit
- Bobbles
- Knitting for a living
- Knitting with cotton
- Knitting smocking
- Dyeing yarn (need to do more of this)
- Steeks
- Knitting art (seems like I should)
- Fulling/felting
- Knitting with wool
- Textured knitting
- Kitchener BO
- Purses/bags
- Knitting with beads (I'm doing this soon!)
- Swatching
- Long tail CO
- Entrelac
- Knitting and purling backwards (will have to if I want to try entrelac again)
- Machine Knitting
- Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegated yarn
- Stuffed toys
- Knitting with cashmere
- Darning
- Jewelry
- Knitting with synthetic yarn
- Writing a pattern
- Gloves
- Intarsia
- Knitting with linen
- Knitting for preemies
- Tubular CO
- Freeform knitting
- Short rows
- Cuffs/fingerless mitts/armwarmers
- Pillows
- Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
- Rug
- Knitting on a loom (when I was a child)
- Thrummed knitting (honestly, I get irrationally creeped out).
- Knitting a gift
- Knitting for pets
- Shrug/bolero/poncho
- Knitting with dog/cat hair (maybe)
- Hair accessories
- Knitting in public
- Double knitting

It turns out I have a lot more experience than I might have thought, and I'm pretty open to trying new things. I'm looking forward to adding more techniques to my repertoire in my next few projects.

How about you?

Gift Knitting

This year I've decided to replace my usual flurry of selfish knitting with handmade Christmas gifts.

I've made a rather ambitious schedule for myself, and while this is mostly a to-do list, it may inspire you in your own gift-knitting as well:

- for DAD - slip-stitch socks, Cobblestone Pullover, finish Oiled Wool gloves from last year
- for MOM - Baby Cables and Big Ones Too, Odessa hat (yay shiny beads!)
- for my BROTHER - oiled wool Broad Street Mitts, finish his birthday hat
- for a FRIEND - matching hat and fingerless glove set

I may also be able to tack on:

- for my GRANDMOTHER - tabi socks
- for an AUNT - lace picture mats (may do something else instead)
- for our DACHSHUND - a custom-sized cabled dog sweater (kind of a gift for my mom)
- for our KITTIES - catnip-filled mice

For the rest of my family and friends, I think I'm going to go with batches of these cookies, which are insanely delicious, or some other baked treat.

What are your gift plans?

A Hat Saga

Much like the sock sagas of days gone by, I am not having an easy time coming up with a basic hat for my brother's birthday.

His request was simple. He sent me a photo of a hat he wanted, and we brainstormed. The original was wool, but he is a fishing boat captain, so I knew this hat would get damp and need to be washed frequently. We picked Cotton-Ease to make it machine washable, and I suggested gray, black and blue. I found a simple hat pattern online and thought I could whip it out in a few days for his birthday on November 3rd.




The first hat did indeed zip along (you must see where we're going with the "first" thing, right?). I figured out how to strand my knitting to make a diamond pattern that I thought was pretty spiffy.



The trouble was, the band of stranded stitches made this hat tight. Before blocking, it fit snugly on my head, and my brother has a much bigger head, with thick curly hair to boot.



I tried to maintain hope, soaking it and stretching it like crazy while it was wet, then periodically throughout blocking. Because there were so very many ends, I decided I'd have my brother try it on before I finished it completely, and as I feared, it was much too tight. It also seemed too long, so I made mental notes on modifications and resigned myself to knitting a second hat.



At his suggestion, I changed the pattern a bit, though I prefer the first. I moved up a needle size and knit it flat so that I could do proper intarsia, thinking it would all stretch uniformly. I resisted casting on extra stitches, as this pattern was supposed to fit a man's head and I was sure it was just the stranded bits making it too tight.



With many, many more ends to weave in, I stretched it around my brother's head before I even sewed it up, and it barely went all the way around. He looked at me grimly and said "Better get going on a third."

I am still hopeful that once it's seamed, it can stretch more than it did in that cursory fitting, but I worry that it's still going to be too small. I don't think I have enough gray yarn left and because I cut so many pieces for the intarsia bits, I don't think I can reuse hat #2's yarn.

Technique-wise, I have no idea what I would do differently besides casting on more stitches. I preferred stranding to intarsia, but I didn't exactly love either one.

Sigh. Good thing hats go quickly, right?

FO - Flower Basket Shawl

I thought I would barely eke out this shawl when I only had 20 days to knit it. Then I had a break-up and moved over 100 miles away, so I thought I'd never get it done.



Perseverance and a long train commute can do wonders.



Pattern: Flower Basket Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark, from Interweave Knits Fall 2004 and available for purchase from Fiber Trends (here on Ravelry)
Size: approximately 63-inch wide triangular shawl, 31.5-inch long at center point
Yarn: Colourmart Silk 32/120NM DK weight 8-ply, color moss green, 100% silk; I used about half my cone, totaling approximately 80 grams/2.8 oz or 328.6 yards/300.5 meters.
Needles: size 7 (4.5mm) Knit Picks Options nickel-plated circular needle
Modifications: Changed yarn weight, added two repeats of Lower Flower Basket chart

Started: October 5, 2008
Finished: October 24, 2008

I think even if I weren't driven to finish this shawl for an October 25 wedding, it would have gone pretty quickly.



The lace was intuitive and easy to memorize within rows. It still amazes me that such lovely shapes can be created with simple yarn-overs and decreases.



The pattern calls for holding lace-weight yarn double, but I decided I'd rather use a single strand of DK for neater lines. That gave me the opportunity to use this delicious silk, which made the whole project feel special.



I did get to wear it to the wedding, and I must thank my friends for unwittingly taking FO shots which I unscrupulously borrowed.



Note to self: learn how to wear shawls.



As you can see, the size is okay, but not quite as large as I would have liked. I thought part of it might have been issues with blocking, seeing as the only surface available the night before the wedding was my mattress, leaning against the wall in a hallway. I blocked it vertically, without measuring, trying to just stretch like mad, and I think I could have done a little better with that.



Still it was passable, and I am suitably charmed by turning a green blob in a sink into an adult-size shawl (or shawlette, whatever).



The yarn was as luminous and lovely as I thought it would be. It was a tad splitty, I suspect because it is actually a lot of very thin singles plied but not really spun together. I've never knit with pure silk before, so this might be a common experience, but it certainly wasn't enough to deter me.

The color is a fantastic, delicate spring green that makes me happy every time I see it. I think it is now listed as "pistaccio" on Colourmart's site (their spelling), but there are so many delectable shades of silk there you really can't go wrong.



The whole cone, of which I used about half, cost $20 including shipping, so I will definitely be able to make something else with it too. That's a pretty great value for such a special-feeling project.

I would enthusiastically recommend this pattern for beginner and experienced lace knitters alike. While I wish I'd made my shawl bigger, I am still happy with the finished project and look forward to many more lace shawls in my future.

Previous Entries on this Project:
- Lacemaking
- Another new home

Oh hi, I'm the one who lives here.

I have an interesting predicament where, for the first time since starting this blog, I have more knitting than blogging to show for myself.

My crazy long commute has been good for knitting progress, but bad because I leave before the sun and come home well after it's set. The days when I am home, it keeps raining (and even snowing!) which again, good for knitting, bad for photography.

I have at least one FO to show, one almost-FO, and quite a few new WIPs. Let's hope for some decent light because they are feeling unloved.

I also decided I was finally ready to knit for other people: socks and a Cobblestone Pullover for my Dad, an adorable sweater for my Mom, fingerless gloves for my brother, a Christmas gift for my best friend, socks for my grandmother, and a handful of other little things. I'd better get at it!