Here they are at last:

And swapped over:

Pattern: Coriolis Socks from New Pathways For Sock Knitters.
Yarn: Fleece Artist Sea Wool.
Comments: I didn’t like the layout of the pattern, scattered in pieces throughout the book. Heels here, toes there, cast-ons and such somewhere else. Surely there could have been a little bit of repetition just to make actually knitting a sock a bit less annoying.

For some reason the stitches that twist around the socks are resistant to stretching on one sock. Not sure why. Maybe I just knit tigher the more I wanted to get the socks over and done with.

It’s the first time I used this yarn. I like it. It’s a little thicker than Patonyle, and has a nice tweedy effect to it.

–

In other news, the base square of the Musical Baby Blanket is finally done:

I ran out of black cotton during the border, so I ripped back and redid it in Paton’s Serenity bamboo/cotton. I have to say – nice yarn! Now I need to work out the best way to crochet the notes, decide on a tune, then start churning them out and sewing them down.

Swizzle is nearly done, too. I’ve finished the knitting (though the left front seems a little short so I’m worried I may have missed a pair of rows). Now there’s some side seams and ends to sew, and then a zipper to aquire and attach.

The Froot Loop socks are progressing slowly. I’m afraid that while the stitch pattern started off charming, after twelve repeats I’m over it already. I’m thinking of knitting the bottom half of the socks plain.

But I’ll wait a week or so before making that decision. There are things making me tired and a little fed up lately, and I might recover my enthusiasm once they’re past and gone.

Or it could just be that my attention has been stolen by the new shiny thing in my life: this morning Wondo rang to say my new loom has arrived. If all goes to plan, I’ll be picking it up this afternoon.

… and guess what? My pattern is in there!

Actually, I’m kidding. It’s not mine as in a pattern I wrote. But it’s a skirt design that’s been in my head for a couple of years now. I even test knit a beanie using the same sideways knit short row idea, which I called the Wedgie Beanie.

But some brilliant designer has come up with exactly the same idea – the Sidewinder Skirt. Which doesn’t bother me in the slightest – I’m delighted! Now I don’t have to go to all the work and math and frogging and reknitting of coming up with my own. It’s like having my own personal pattern designer!

Of the other patterns in Fall 2008 Knitty, I love Twist + Shout (though I’d eliminate the gap at the lower front – I never have understood why anyone would want a garment to look as if it was falling open around a bulge, even when it wasn’t), Camden (without the sleeve removability), Retrofit (doesn’t have to be for a man, does it?) and Opart (doesn’t have to be for a baby, does it?).

Hug, on the other hand, is way creepy. Especially in the pic with the baby. Shudder.

Lately I’ve been having silent conversations with myself that go along the lines of:

“Oooh, purty yarn arrived! Mine! All mine!”

“Yeah, but where you gonna put it? The stash is overflowing already.”

“Ummmm. I’ll knit/crochet/weave it straight away!”

“No, you’ll finish your WIPS.”

“Okaay, I’ll put it on display until I’ve made more room in the stash.”

“And in the meantime?”

“Okay. Okay. No more yarn purchases. Happy now?”

Which is usually followed by…

This particular batch of yarn is the result of buying up cotton yarns to ‘test out’ on the new loom, along with:

These, which I separated from the others because they aren’t machine-washable. In the store I kept telling myself I was going to weave tea-towels for Christmas gifts, but didn’t think to check the washing instructions of the yarn. But it kinda makes sense that the Cleckheaton Natural Cotton and Lion Brand Nature’s Choice Organic Cotton haven’t gone through any nasty treatments to make them machine-washable. And the Spotlight 4ply cotton? Probably just because it’s cheap.

The yarns I’m most excited about, however, are the Patons Washed Haze Aran and the Lion Cotton. The former not only because there’s finally a local brand cotton of a good gauge for washcloths, but I started remembering a whole lot of projects I’d liked but dismissed because they required aran weight cotton, like Topi, the Dovetail Pullover, the Modern Cabled Baby Bib, and the #19 Short Sleeve Cardigan (ravlink) from VK Spring/Summer 07.

The Moda Vera bamboo cotton was a surprise. It’s actually quite nice. I associate this brand with walls of novelty yarn, which I usually walk past as quickly as possible, but I think Spotlight had separated their yarn by fibre content this time and the yarn had a chance to catch my eye.

The Lion Cotton is the solution to my baby blanket yarn dilemmas, I hope. Not wanting to use wool because it can’t be bleached and babies might be allergic to it, or acrylic because it melts if it catches on fire, I’ve settled on Bendy Cotton even though it’s not fully machine washable and only comes in pastels. But the Lion Cotton is machine washable and comes in fantastic bright colours.

Speaking of baby blankets, I FINALLY crocheted the last row and started the border last night. Soon I’ll reach the fun part – the musical notes. Then I’ll have to sew them on…

I had a very crafty weekend. Saturday morning I hung out with the girls at s’n’b. Sunday I went to the Handweavers and Spinners Guild for a casual meet up. Got lots of weaving on the Manly Scarf done at both.

There was a weaver at the guild, and I was hoping she could name the method I’m using. She said it was ‘kind of like the opposite to pick-up sticks’. I decided that the opposite to a pick-up was a put-down, so ‘witty put-downs’ is what I’m calling it for now.

I also managed to spend money on non-yarn purchases:

Lots of back issues of Handwoven.

Linen warp ready for rag rug weaving, and a boat shuttle and bobbins. All I need now is a loom. According to Wondo, it has left New Zealand and is somewhere between there and here, or at Aussie customs. The anticipation, along with my work computer being at the shop, means I’m a wee bit twitchy right now. I think I need to do some nice, soothing weaving.

The postie has been kept busy lately, delivering things to our address. First there was half of my Bendy order:

Which I divided up into three sets of two colours, ready to continue with Swizzle.

Then there was an order from The Knittery:

Merino Cashmere Sock in ‘water lilies’, and Merino Chubby Sock in ‘passionfruit’, ‘rainforest’ and ‘smoke’.

I chose the rainforest and smoke Sock colours based on what I have in my wardrobe but not in my sock drawer, and passionfruit because I love that colourway. The water lilies somehow slipped in while I wasn’t looking…

Yesterday I had an appointment in the city, so I went magazine hunting. I found Yarn and IK in Borders, but no sign of Vogue Knitting. I’m beginning to think I’ll have to give up on VK.

And when I got home the rest of my order from Bendy was waiting – more Allegro. I now have enough for a jumper or cardigan. Just have to choose a pattern. In fact, that top-down fitted ‘sweater’ in Yarn looks like it might work with a wool yarn. Hmm.

On the weekend I looked over my placemats and asked myself how long it would take before I got over my dislike of sewing long enough to stitch leaves on them, then laughed at myself. And for ever thinking my embroidery skills would live up to my expectations anyway.

So I decided I liked them as they were – apart for one thing.

The first placemat came out too unrandomly random compared to the other ones. So I cut the knotted warp threads at one end and began pulling them out – which probably wouldn’t work if the warp hadn’t been smooth linen thread. I started from the outside edges and worked inward, which produced an interesting ruffled, looped fringe effect I might try to replicate another time:

After which I cut the weft into sections, warped up the loom again and wove the sections in a new order.

After I’d cut it off the loom and tied the ends, all the placemats had a soak, spin and dry on the blocking boards.

And then they were done.

Here’s an arty close up of the wonderful rustic colours and texture:

And in three-dee!

My new 4-shaft loom will arrive some time in the next week. I haven’t been this excited since I bought my car! I keep finding myself reading weaving zines and sites, and flicking through books when I should be working. Ironically, the activity I find most calming and settling is weaving. So I’m going to warp up for a simple tabby project.

The gift yarn and brown Bendy 3ply, to make a manly scarf.

Seems nothing I’m currently working on makes for pretty pictures. I picked up the Spiral Sock on Saturday night because I was tired after painting a deck and needed undemanding stocking stitch, then continued the next night because I was up to the heel and had recovered enough to want something more interesting to knit. But it definitely looks nicer on the foot than off:

The second sock will be interesting. I’ve reached the point with Cat’s instructions where I got fed up with the reliance on markers, which were always being moved around. I read through the instructions, which continued to involve a lot of flicking to different parts of the book, and when I thought I had the gist of it I all but abandoned the book and start winging it. Well, I had to wing it to a point, as the spirally bit met up with the back of the heel and I didn’t see any explanation for what to do if that happens. I hope I can remember what I did for the second sock!

This New Pathways book is going to have to be one I look at for conceptual inspiration, but nothing more. I’m finding the way the patterns are set out to be unnecessarily complex and annoying. But I don’t regret buying the book, as I have learned some interesting and useful things about sock construction.

(Wow, I wasn’t intending that to turn into a book review.)

I’m still crocheting away at the Musical Baby Blanket. Oh man, this is so mind-numbingly boring now. I should stop and make some musical notes to sew on later to remind myself this is going to be a cute finshed object, but that would delay finishing the base blanket and I SO want it over with! (Mind you, I think the recipient may be feeling a little bit the same way about the pregnancy.) I swear, after this I’m weaving baby blankets instead. Much. Faster.

On the more optimistic side, I bought this:

A book of lessons for the 4-shaft loom. And I don’t have a 4-shaft loom. Yet.

I have to confess, I didn’t realise it was a book of lessons, or that they were for the 4-shaft loom. I’d just seen so many recommendations for the book that when I was ordering some other books for work I decided I should get it too.

But it’s a little pointless without a 4-shaft loom. So should I finally go ahead and buy one?

I’ve been wanting to for nearly a year now to decide that. I even have projects lined up that require a bigger loom than my Knitters Loom. But I was making myself wait until I had lessons and could make absolutely sure I enjoyed weaving enough to justify both the cost and the space it’ll take up. And so I could pick the brains of the teacher on which loom to buy, or find one second hand through the guild.

But when I was free to attend lessons, there weren’t any. And when lessons were available they were at a time I can’t easily make. And all my internet searching has failed to come up with any brand of 4-shaft table loom available in Australia but Ashford’s. And the only second had looms I’ve seen up for sale are big floor looms.

I’m pretty sure I do enjoy weaving. I love my Knitters Loom. I find weaving soothing and meditative in the way that spinners say they find spinning (but I never did). I’m tired of waiting. So I’m going to buy the Ashford 4-shaft loom and teach myself to weave on it.

There. Decided.

And here’s more weaving inspiration:

A lovely, generous gift from Meagan at s’n’b. She says it doesn’t knit up all that nicely, so she thought of me and how I’ve said that yarns like that often work better woven. It’s soft and chunky. I’m thinking a manly scarf with a twisted fringe, with either chocolate or pale mocha warp.

Mmm. Chocolate…