Sunshine Shimmer

The Shimmer Socks for Socktopia in April are done. Just in time, on the last day before May.


I really like this stitch pattern, and I've been getting some very nice comments on them while knitting them too.

I have no idea what yarn it is. I found it in my Grans yarn chest, it's probably 30 years old, and a nice wool blend. It was a kind of bland and boring light peachy colour. I had fun dyeing it with some pineapple KoolAid and the result was just perfect for this pattern and the Socktopia theme "Sunshine on my shoulders". The peachy colour is nearly the same colour as my skin (in winter) and the pineapple is a lovely sunny colour. (The resemblance to my skin colour can be seen well where the bind off and my legs match so nicely in the top picture.)

Since I'm no contortionist I will not give you a photo of me with my feet on my shoulders. I do however have this:


The colour is a bit off in this picture. You do, however, see that the nature of the stitch pattern used in these socks bias a lot. About 1/4 of a round on the leg. It does not matter in socks, and I think it even adds something good to these socks.

I have by no means been faithful to my sock knitting this month. I've made a Shedir beanie for hubby, and a pair of Denim drawstring pants for a friend who's having a boy in June.
The Shedir will have it's own post when I manage to talk Petter into a wearing the hat for a photo shoot outside in the nice and sunny spring weather. The pants have had an airing in my favourite tree at the moment. Wonder what I'll hang in that tree in August when the wild cherries are ripe. A woolen sweater maybe?





It's the 3-6 months size. I was able to make it with just 3 balls of Rowan Denim bougth for the project and then some leftovers I had for another pair I made was used for the last 6 rows of of the lining. So now I have a single ball of Rowan Denim. Anyone have any project suggestions?

Also, I started them Thursday and finished yesterday. I like it when things are finished fast:)

Spring

Outside in the sunshine all weekend: trimming the hedge, weeding a lot, hanging a new swing for DD, oiling the porch and the outside furniture, washing and waxing the car, putting bark in all the flower beds, and wondering if it's time to start pruning the roses, washing the clothes line, changing tyres, picking all the gravel and sand out of the winter tyres and putting our christmas tree through our chipper.

In the end I treated myself to some new, spring themed stitch markers. Now it's time for a cup of tea and some knitting.

Hope your week end was good too!

Guess what...

If I show you this old picture



And then I show you this new picture



You all know what happened. Right? Frogfest...

So I'll let you know that Chrystal Palace Merino Stripes does not frog as well as I wanted it to. And knit into a ruffle scarf, it looks more like a mangey poodle rolled in dust bunnies. There was no way I was going to give that to my friend Kris. So I sent her an e-mail that started out with the word "damn", closely followed by "I give up". And then a promice to knit her something much nicer than poodle fart out of that yarn.

To comfort myself I bought my first ball of Rowan Calmer today. I'm already 6 rows of ribbing into Shedir (Knitty brest awareness issue) for hubby. I told you I would find a better pattern for him than Lacecap. The LYS only had five colurs of Calmer, so I had to go with the only one I know we both like - black. The other four, in case you're wondering, was pink, beige, lilac and orangey red. He's just not that kind of guy.

I know a girl who likes pink though.



Yup, that's another Lacecap. Her wool one. We had to dig that out on Sunday. About an hour after I snapped that pic (in the Botanical Garden, Oslo), it was snowing. And then it kept snowing for the rest of the day.

The Sunshine Shimmer socks are coming along nicely. I've turned the heel and knit about an inch on both legs. One sock is tucked nicely into my bag and follows me to and from work.

Happy easter!

I have special easter socks!



I knit them last year. They were finished just before easter. The colours are very appropriate for this holiday I think. I don't wear them much at other times of the year.

I'm also working on the April Socktopia socks. "Sunshine on my shoulders" theme.



We're spending easter at home this year. Just relaxing (knitting for me) and doing a bit of gardening. We took a walk in the woods yesterday. Marie is very happy that spring means no need for wool hats, cotton is great!



That's Lacecap from Knitty. She loves it. Hubby asked me yesterday if I could knit him one too. I'll gladly knit him a beanie, but maybe not from this pattern. I'll dig up a lace free pattern.

Stash flash

Spring 2006, my stash looked like this:



That is all of it. There was nothing else. No random balls of yarn hideing in places you would not expect.

Then we moved Marie into the room we used to use as our office, and the office became significantly smaller. The stash had to move. It needed a bigger house anyway.



Let's just say there is not much room for more yarn. It's nearly full to the brim.



You want to see the yarn party I had when I emptied my stash chest, and then invited all the yarn that lives in strange places in my house too (see my profile)?



The top of that heap of yarn was knee high. I tried to find time to take proper photos of all of it, yarn type by yarn type, but I had no success in that department.

If you read this post and it is no longer April 2007 there might be new additions to the stash. You might be one of those people who like to look at yarn. You can take a look at various pictures of yarn in my Flickr set called Yarn.

Insert big smile here

I got a new great package from my Knittyboard Secret Pal.

Want to see what was inside? So much yummy stuff, both knit wise and gourmet wise...


(click to go to flickr and see the notes if you're curious about the yarn)

The falling leaves socks from my previous post are not going to be finished by today, so I will not be able to enter them into Socktopia in the "It aint easy being green" theme. The baby cardigan has been sucking up a lot of my knitting time, but I don't think I would have been able to finish the pair of socks if I had been faithful to that project anyway. 2mm needles and lace just makes sock knitting slower than I remembered. I have turned the heel though, and hope to finish the socks during easter. My SIL is waiting to receive them so she can get a couple of chances to wear them before summer.

I wound some yarn yesterday. I have some pale pink/peach unknown sockweight yarn (wool blend?) that I found in grannys yarn chest long ago. I dyed it with pineapple KoolAid last summer and have been waiting for the right pattern for it. It's going to be Shimmer Socks for "Sunshine on my shoulders"-socks for April Socktopia submission. And I think I will just do that one pair. I tried to go for three pairs now in March and that did not work out.

Look closely at that picture... Do you see there is something severely wrong with the back of that thing? Like the neck bind off is absolutely not correctly placed (in the middle) and one arm is quite a bit longer than the other! Do I need to say that WIP does not exist any more in that shape and form?

It now looks like this:



That's much better... And the knitting is so much more interesting than rows and rows of endless garter stitch in boring beige.

Also I'm very much hoping to get this done by the end of March.



It's going to be a pair of Falling Leave socks. At the moment it is one complete and one awaiting a heel turn.

Mum's little helper

No, she did not do all that. She did not find it that interesting.

Do you swatch like I do?

I knit a lot of socks and other small items, and for those I don't usually swatch. Some say this is now wise, but I have not had many gauge accidents so far. Not since I learned about gauge, anyway. I've learned to trust my instincts and knowledge about how I knit enough to be brave most of the time.

For bigger things, where gauge matters, I've learned to make the right preparations though. Last weekend was swatch weekend in the knitting corner of my living room. Out came yarn appropriate for a spring and summer sweater, pattern for said sweater, my set of Denise Interchangeables, measuring tape and a fair portion of patience.



Swatching, for me, goes something like this:

-Hmmm, how many stitches to cast on for a swatch?
-The pattern says 18 stithes in moss stitch per 10 cm. Cast on 40. 40 is a nice round number.
*I go to get some tea
-Wich needles do I pick first?
-That's harder. No real logic to this, is there... Pick the largest of the ones I think are in the ballpark of being right.
*Tea is ready to be drunk
*I cast on loosely and after about an inch or two, this happens
-Gah, seed stitch is kind of boring...
-Yes, but look how pretty it is! Look at the pattern picture. See how beautiful that sweater looks. Knit on, don't mind it's slower than garter or stockinette!
-But blimey, seed stitch is boring to knit! And there is that tiny pain in the left wrist already.
-Stop whining! KNIT ON!
-Shut up! ...I think fresh air is needed...

~Pause~

(sound of clicking needles)
-Pffffffft, stupid seed stitch! At least the sleeves are stockinette...
-Yes, but the pattern does not tell you to swatch stockinette does it? Knit that damn swatch, I say.
-I think this is long enough.
-Boloney, you need at least another inch.
(clickity, clackity, clickity, clackity and the occational sigh)

-Hey, that looks right. Do three rows of stockinette now, and then change to the other needles.
-Yay, does that mean I'm half done?
-Maybe, but smaller needles means more stitches to knit before the swatch is big enough to measure row gauge...
-Grrrrrrrrrrr....
(clickityclickityclickityclickityclickityclickitydamnclickityclickityclickity)

-Heyheyhey, I just bound off the swatch.
-Good, lets fondle it a little bit, then throw it in the washing machine.
-Yesssssss! Oooooo, this feels nice.
-And don't forget to measure it before washing now, OK? And remember where you write it all down this time, please.
-God, who do you think you are? My mom? You sure sound just like her.

*(laying down on laundry room floor, peeking into machine)
-Where is it? Do you see it in there?
-Yes. It's there, behind that sock and that pink sweater. Don't you see it?
-Ah yes, there it is. How long left of the program?
-I don't know. An hour maybe? Gawd, this floor is dusty! Someone should vacuum down here.
(repeat from * three times with 20 minute intervals)

-Howdsitlook? Huh? huh?
-It looks good. Calm down, no need to run to get the tape measure yet... Oh OK, go get it... Quick!
.
.
.
.
(next morning, swatch is dry)
-Feels a bit stiff, doesn't it?
-Maybe a bit. Must be one of the special quality of cotton. I'm not all that familiar with cotton.
-Hey, here's an idea; put the swatch inside your t-shirt and walk around with it for a while. Maybe that will soften it up a bit. It's kind of like wearing the sweater... Maybe?
-Mmmmm, are you sure this is not stupid? Whatever, give it here, I'll do it if that's what makes you happy.
(Guro walks around with swatch inside t-shirt all day)

-Ummmm, whatever happened to that swatch?
-Hang on a sec, here it is. Oh my, it feels much nicer now.
-Lets measure, give it here. I said give it here, no need for all that cheek rubbing. It's not like it's a face cloth or anything!
Wow, this thing has grown! But the gauge is just right on the smaller needles. This is great!
(high five)
-You know, we should treat ourselves to something. Want a glass of port to go with that smug smile?
-Sure. But stay away from the good stuff, we'll save that for when we have an entire sweater.
-Awwwww, but I thought....
-I said stay away. You'll thank me later! God, that swatch looks good...

(What, you think I'm mad now? You don't have conversations like that in your head? At least it's only in my head...)

Hey, magic laser socks...

Am I brilliant or what???? I have the skillzzz to knit socks that shoot out a lazer beam of warm spring sun!



You want to know who is really brilliant? The girl who made up the pattern for these socks!
It's the Rainy Day socks from MagKnits. The yarn is some PT5 Sport from a big cone I have, KoolAid dyed with strawberry if I remember correctly, and 3 mm needles. I've submitted the socks to Socktopia in the "Spring Fling" category because the colour remind me of tulips, and tulips are usually my big spring fling. One of my favourite flowers, tulips...

I really liked this pattern. It's easy to memorize the very neat lace stitch, and with the DK yarn and thick needles these socks nearly fly off the needles.