Good news: a knitter from the Melbourne s’n’b list offered me her seat on a bus going to the Bendy show on Saturday. It’s been organised by the Box Hill Spinners and Weavers – a group I was thinking of checking out as they’re localish.

I’m excited!

THE SOCK CHALLENGE: matching patterns and yarn

I’ve picked three patterns and matched them up with sock yarn in my stash:

Sideways Sox Supreme from Socks Socks Socks, using the caramel-coloured Cocoon and leftover Knittery merino 4ply in chocolate. Since they use a sideways construction, these are definitely challenging. They’re knit on straights or a circular, but unfortunately I only have dpns in this size and I suspect they’re too short. Must put 2.75 bamboo circulars on my shopping list for Saturday.

Pros: sideways! Cons: don’t have the needles, and to do these first would be throwing myself in the deep end.

Simple Ribbed Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks, using Lisa Souza Sock! in mahogany. This pattern uses a toe and heel that I’ve never tried before. I considered the more fancy patterns in this book, but ultimately settled on one where the different construction would be the main focus. I have the needles and the sizing looks right for me, so I could start these now.

Pros: new construction technique, good warm up. Cons: er… none?

Mosaic Socks from Yarn issue #3 using Cocoon in purple and Knittery merino 4ply in passionfruit. When I saw this pattern I thought of the purple Cocoon and Lisa Souza mahogany togther, but once I started digging through the sock yarn stash I saw the passionfruit, put it next to the purple, and had one of those little moment of pure joy. The colours go together beautifully. Only trouble is, if I used the needle size and stitch count specified in this pattern I reckon I’ll be able to get both of my stupidly narrow feet into the one sock. So I will have to change the pattern. But only enough to make the socks fit.

Pros: beautifully matched yarn, interesting mosaic technique. Cons: must resize, toe-up and short row heel are familiar and non-challenging.

Hmm. Looks like I’ve answered my question. Simple Ribbed Socks first!

Announcing:

(I blame the post-flu doldrums for the awkward title.)

I am committing to:

Knit one sock pattern from:
a) Socks Socks Socks
b) Vintage Socks
c) Favorite Socks or an issue of Interweave Knits magazine
d) An issue of Yarn magazine
e) An issue of Vogue magazine
f) An issue of Knitty
g) An issue of Magknits

Knit at least one sock that:
a) Is knit sideways
b) Uses a toe and heel I haven’t tried before
c) Contains colourwork (fair isle, mosaic, etc)
d) Contains lace
e) Contains cables
f) Contains a textured stitch pattern
g) Uses non wool yarn

Ideally I will match up each method to each of the pattern sources and knit seven socks. I’ll set a flexible six month deadline, but I think the point of this challenge is to nudge myself into trying new techniques, not to knit socks faster. In fact, I’m expecting this to slow down my sock knitting.

Of course, I had to buy more yarn for this challenge, didn’t I? Five skeins of Lisa Souza Sock! are on their way to my door, in lovely solid colours of sage, blue sky, sapphire, deep periwinkle, and poiple.

But I’ve also made some lovely matches of yarn in my stash to three of the four patterns I’ve chosen. All I have to do now is decide which one to start first.

Yaaaay! I finally have cable rather than unreliable wireless internet in my workroom! At last I can post pics without having to take the laptop downstairs!

Yesterday I had a mild bout of vertigo. Enough to make me nauseaus and gluggy in the head, especially if I moved around. So, since I couldn’t knit or read or spend a lot of time on the computer because of my back, but couldn’t get off my backside because of the vertigo, that left me with nothing much to do but listen to podcasts.

After listening to the latest episode of Stash and Burn I was up to date on all my regulars, so I continued catching up on old episodes of podcasts I’d discovered in the last month or two. This meant I probably listened to a little too much Socks in the City. By the evening I was shopping for sock yarn on the internet.

Which was a bit frustrating, actually. I’ve never been all that enamoured with varigated sock yarn. I like stripes, but that wasn’t what I was hankering for. I wanted mostly solids. I wanted bright blues and greens and purples. I wanted what Fearless Fibres makes (but I can’t have, because they don’t ship internationally – how can they call themselves fearless, eh?).

I looked here, I looked there. I filled a shopping cart, then abandoned it. Then this morning, in the clear light of day dim light of a blustery rain storm, I remembered a few of my favourite sock yarn producers. Does Sunshine Yarns do solids? Yes! Does Sundara? Yes! Does Lisa Souza? Oh, yes baby yes!

Am I bothered at all that the sock yarn bin is full to bursting already, and that I only recently bought more sock yarn, in a solid colour?

Maybe.

But right now I’m bothered more that I have wonderful sock pattern books and I’m not knitting anything out of them. Admittedly, I bought The Twisted Sister Sock Workbook for the dyeing tips, but there are some interesting construction techniques in there I’d like to try. I’ve taken inspiration from Socks Socks Socks to make a few pairs, but never followed exact directions. All I’ve done so far with Knitting Vintage Socks is leaf through and admire. And now my favourite bookshop owner has a copy of Favorite Socks waiting for me.

I’m not challenging myself, sockwise. I’ve got my two reliable toe-up sock patterns, one with a short-row heel, one with a heel flap, written on the inside of my eyelids, and don’t vary from them no matter how much I sigh over my books or the latest sock pattern. I’ve used the excuse that the yarn in my stash is too busy for socks with stitch texture for too long. I’m stuck in a rut. I’m not stepping out of my sock knitting comfort zone. I’m should be thinking outside the sock knitting box.

Well it’s time that stopped. I’m going to knit socks top down. I’m going to knit them sideways. I’m going to try an afterthought heel. I’m going to knit a pair of socks from each of my books, following the pattern, and see if I learn anything new.

It’s time to bust out of the sock knitting box. I think I need a button.

But first, I need a cuppa.

(Yarn above is one of two colours left of the Cocoon in Spotlight. What happened? Did they just sell out and not replace it? Or did it sell badly and they decided not to restock it?)

I’ve finished reknitting the back of the Sunrise Circle jacket, and the raglan+front of the left front – but not the bit that folds over and becomes the underside of the front hem. Last night I cast on for the right front. On Saturday I bought some Paton’s Jet in a mid grey to use for the underside of hems if I need to. There was nothing even remotely like the blue yarn in the giant Bayswater Spotlight, but I reckon donyale’s suggestion of a contrasting colour will work fine.

But it sure knits up fast! Both pieces took only two evenings each to knit up, though I suppose that means the fronts will take three to four evenings each once I knit the arms. I’d be knitting them up faster, but my back has been playing up this last week so I’m pacing myself.

I’ve also skeined up some yarn for dyeing.

Anyone have any advice of dyeing camel yarn? I’m guessing it’s in the same fibre category as wool, so I can use Landscape dye. But I am a bit worried dyeing will take some of the softness away.

Yarn from frogged front+arm of Sunrise Circle jacket: 200g
Yarn from frogged back: 150g
Rest of yarn including swatch and reknit back: 150g
I need two front+arm pieces and one back: 550g
I have: 500g

You seeing the problem?

I have more than enough yarn according to the weight required in the pattern, but of course I’m using a thicker yarn so the length won’t be the same. Can I get more? Weeeeell… I got the yarn at the Australian Country Spinners mill, so it could be experimental or discontinued. I’ve checked the Cleckheaton, Patons, Shepherd and Panda websites and the only yarns that looks like it are 8ply, not 12ply. Doh!

I think I may be knitting the Sunrise Circle jacket with short sleeves.

The Sunrise Circle jacket pieces have been frogged…

… and I’ve restarted the back. I’ve worked out that while I’m using the stitch numbers for the smallest size, whenever the pattern mentions a length measurement in cm the size to follow is the third one.

The Ladylike Lace Gloves pattern, however, is full of mistakes. Once I’d encountered a row that said to sc across 36 st, which equalled 50 st, I knew something was up. I googled for errata, but as I amended the pattern I realised that half the corrections had already been made to the edition of Happy Hooker I had, and the other half didn’t make sense.

So I gave up on the directions and fudged it.

This morning I decided to order back issues of Crochet Today. I’d gone to the website and browsed through photos of projects in the back issues and thought ‘why not?’. So I entered in my address… or tried to. While the form does have Australia as an option under ‘country’, the only states you can select are US ones – or ‘other’. Well, once the parcel got to Australia I suppose the postcode would tell the posties which state I was in… but then I went searching for some information on international ordering and prices, and all it said was they would email me the price of my order. By then I’m thinking “clearly they don’t want to sell to os customers, so why should I trust them with my visa card number?”.

At this point I decided I just didn’t want the magazine THAT much.

Which makes me wish there was a Knitty.com style online crochet magazine. And realise just how great Knitty.com is.

I tried the basted-together back and side of the Sunrise Circle jacket last night.

It was a smidge too small. The sleeves were a bit short, and the body a tad snug. I figured it could be a few stitches and rows larger in all directions. So I had a look at the pattern and compared the numbers I came up with for adjusting the pattern to a 12ply yarn, and the numbers for the smallest size, and guess what?

The smallest size is a few stitches and rows larger.

So this morning I took the above photo to remind myself that it’s going to be worth frogging 2/3 of a garment and reknitting it. The tweedy blue yarn looks fantastic knitted up in the circular pattern. It’s so totally worth getting this one right. And I don’t have to do any math. I just have to follow the specs for the smallest size.

Last night I basted together the seams of the Sunrise Circle jacket pieces I’ve knit so far. Today I’m going to try them on and decide if I’ll have to frog and reknit all or one of the pieces… when it warms up enough that I can bear taking off my jumper. My workroom has a nice efficient reverse-cycle aircon/heater at one end, but tall windows down the other end, so I have this overall impression of heat flowing past me only to be sucked out through the glass.

I need blinds. Desperately.

This is the view outside my window right now:

In the meantime, I’m slogging away at some rather boring navy socks in the same ‘knit one row, k1 p1 the next’ rib pattern I used for the Lazy Rib Fingerless Mitts. The yarn is thin so I’m using 2 mm needles. At first I was going to make them for the beau, but then I realised how many stitches would be in each round. I’m finding them so boring, however, that I’m tempted to frog and find a more interesting pattern.

I’ve had an itch to crochet lately. Yesterday I went through my The Happy Hooker and Interweave Crochet issues and found three patterns that both inspired me and I had the yarn for. I started the Ladylike Lace Gloves from The Happy Hooker, and oh boy am I rusty on reading crochet patterns! I think there may be some frogging to do before it starts to look right.

Finally, I’ve got the itch to go to the Australian Sheep and Wool Show in two weeks. I’d like to check out drop spindles and wheels, and it seems good timing coming straight after I decided to finish KFYS. But I’m pretty sure the beau would rather I didn’t drag him along. Anyone else going?

It only took me six months, but here is my latest bit of spinning:

Affectionately dubbed ‘Cheese and Wine’. I have no idea what to make out of it, but as always I’m just chuffed to have made nice yarn. I’d like to be making nice yarn a bit faster than this, but that desire inevitably leads to thoughts about buying another spinning wheel.

I’m not sure Harvey and I are all that well suited, you see. I suspect it’s a bit like putting a beginner horse rider on a show jumper. He requires a skill, deftness of touch, and physical co-ordination I don’t yet have.

Harvey, you see, has a small wheel on which a large section – maybe a fifth or sixth – is a dead zone for the treadle shaft thingo (where if you stop or slow down it freezes in postion). I have to pedal faster than I want or need to get enough momentum to avoid this dead zone.

I realise this is probably my technique (or lack of it) rather than a fault with the wheel itself. But I can’t get it out of my head that a double treadle would be easier to learn on. Like when I learned to drive. I practised on an auto for several weeks so I could get the road rules, etc. right, then returned to a manual to get the hang of the clutch. It worked a treat.

Trouble is, I’m not 100% sure I like spinning enough to spend the money and spare the space for a second wheel. I like spinning. But do I like it enough?

I could just stick to knitting, which I know I like a LOT. Here’s my second pair of socks made out of leftovers:

Red Scrappy Socks. They were such a fast knit. Before I left for Katoomba I had a toe and a few cm of the first sock done. Four evening’s work was all it took to finish them. I might have been rushing a bit too much, though, because when I was sewing in ends I discovered a dropped stitch on the first one. A quick stitch fixed it, but I did wonder how I managed not to notice it for so long.

Now here’s a bigger quandry:

This is the Glamour Vest. Now, it’s supposed to have a front band and collar in one piece, that is about 6 cm wide. When planning this project I looked at ball of handspun and got excited about the match, but never questioned whether there’d be enough. Now that I think back to the size of the ball, I wonder to what extremes my ability to delude myself can go.

I’m a bit undecided now. I could leave it as it is, with just a trim of the handspun, and a vest that doesn’t meet at the front. Or I could remove the handspun (it was just a sample ball of something I found in the ACS mill shop, not anything I or a friend made) and do the collar in something else. I don’t have anything that leaps out as a good match. Oh – and I’m out of the black I made the body out of.

I will not:
* Buy yarns thinner than 8ply/dk (except sock yarn) unless I have a pattern for it that I WILL knit (ie. something small and delectable).
* Buy too little yarn. Sure, I could make a hat or mitts, but how many hats and mitts do I really need? If it’s not worth buying a whole jumper’s worth, don’t buy it.
* Buy yarn just because I was in a shop I hadn’t visited before and felt I had to buy something.
* Buy yarn just because I was at a show or fair and felt I had to buy something.
* Buy little odd balls of yarn just because I was in another country and felt I needed a souvenir. (See previous point about buying too little yarn.)
* Buy extra yarn I don’t have a planned project for when mail ordering.
* Buy yarn because it’s made of something wierd or innovative.
* Buy yarn just because it’s popular at the moment.
* Buy yarn just because it’s on sale.
* Look at the yarn bins in op shops.

I will:
* Accept gifted yarn gratefully.
* Continue to fondle my stash on a regular basis.
* Photograph my stash every six months and do a cull if necessary.
* Send old wips to the op shop if they no longer delight me. They might delight someone else.
* Love my leftovers. They’re the remains of stash I actually made something out of and mark stages in my knitterly development.
* Buy good reliable inexpensive yarn from locals like Bendy, Cleckheaton and Patons.
* Buy the yarn specified for Fantasy Projects unless it is immorally expensive, or I really do have a fabulous substitute.
* Be more courageous about making my own patterns.
* Use my own handspun so I’m motivated to spin more.