June socks

I finished my June Personal Sock Club socks. Actually, I finished them before I started David's Urbanista, then promptly forgot all about them!

They're nice and squishy!

Specs:
Pattern: BFF socks by CookieA (Rav link)
Yarn: Mountain Colors Bearfoot in "Wildflower" from The Loopy Ewe
Needles: 2mm.
Mods: None!

I love this yarn! I did use it one other time, a few years ago, but I didn't hand wash the socks, so they felted. This time I'll be more careful. The wool/mohair/nylon combination is soft without being scratchy, and nice and warm!

So I got to start some new socks. On new needles - at knitting camp, Kylie had a new set of needles, Kollage Square DPNS. Square needles! She told me she'd got them on a recent trip to London, so when my sister-in-law asked if there was anything I wanted while she was in London, I placed an order, and got a set of my own.

So armed with this month's selection (The Plucky Knitter MCN Fingering - yum!), and the new needles, I began a new pair of socks.

The pattern I had chosen was "A Step Above", a pair of entrelac socks. I've never done entrelac before, but they were coming along wonderfully.

Then I decided (possibly for the first time ever) that this pattern would be better in a yarn with more variegation. So I pulled out my new CookieA book and picked a new pattern - Rick.

So far, so good.

Today's bear is a happy little guy.

In fact, his name is Happy Harry. Look at that face!

Very cute, but it was a total pain in the butt to make!

Urbanista

What a great knit Urbanista turned out to be! I cast on last Friday, June 18. I finished it on Saturday, June 19!

Doesn't it look great?! I didn't do much else on the Friday, so it wasn't super speedy, but it wasn't a long, drawn out project, either. And sometimes a two day project is exactly what I need.

In the end we went with the stockinette side out, it just looks neater, I think.

Specs:
Pattern: Urbanista from Knitty, Summer 2009, by Woolly Wormhead
Needles: 3.75mm Knitpicks Options
Yarn: Spotlight Basics 8ply Pure Wool
Mods: Apart from turning it inside out, none!

David's worn it every day this week, so I think this is a success!

Because he is the most appreciative recipient of my knitwear, I started a scarf for him this week, too.

It's just the Yarn Harlot's "One Row Handspun Scarf" in some Dream In Color Classy from The Loopy Ewe.

Two weeks ago, I finally caught a Wollmeise update, which contained Pfefferminz Prinz in the 100% Merino Superwash base. I have been trying to score this colourway for what seems like forever. I'd even come across updates in progress which didn't have this colour so I didn't buy anything. At All. Anyway, my beloved Pfefferminz Prinz showed up this week, and I'm not disappointed, it's gorgeous!

Marina asked to see the PP next to the Needlefood sock club shipment when it arrived. It hadn't occurred to me how to similar the colours were until Marina asked, but she's right!

The Needlefood yarn is lighter in colour, but definitely in the same colour family and they're both beautiful!

Today's bear is a little one, and is actually the first bear I ever made.

The ears are a little big, giving her a bit of a mouse-y appearance, but I'm still proud of her. It's a very easy pattern, there's no paw pads or anything, making it an ideal first bear. I still have the pattern somewhere, maybe I should give it another go!

Still cabling

The Cabled Hoodie has not been forgotten. It does get put down a lot, in favour of other knitting, but it's seen some action.

Not too far to go, and I'll be putting it down to start the sleeves. I worked on it a little at WWKIP day, and again while sitting at the Knitters Guild Stall at the craft fair. As a consequence, there are some errors.

There were some miscrossed cables that have been rectified. But those red circles are marking two missing bobbles. I thought about it for a while, but recreating bobbles from two or three rows above is too fiddly for my liking. (Is it even possible?) And I don't really want to rip it back, so I've decided to live with it. After all, I don't have to wear it, and Emily hasn't noticed it yet, so who am I to get all perfectionist about it?

Today's bear is a little Polar Bear. I'm betting that no-one is really surprised to see a Polar Bear pop up in the collection, huh?

Isn't he cute? Let me know if they're getting boring.

Intarsia

Seeing as David is such an awesome husband, and he hasn't had a new knit in a while, and he wore Em's Selbu Modern with such aplomb, he deserves a new colourwork hat of his own.

Last week the new Knitty came out, and while not much of it grabbed me, I liked Urbanista straight away. So I didn't waste any time, I went to Spotlight on Wednesday and dug through the mess that they call the yarn aisle and came up with three acceptable colours.

It's just Spotlight's own brand of 8ply (DK), but it's 100% wool, and not bad, especially seeing as it's only about $3 a ball. Of course, you have to deal with Spotlight to get it. For those of you who are not familiar with Spotlight, it's not unlike Michaels. Or Hobby Lobby. I can't remember which one it was that Jill took me to. It may even have been JoAnn's. At any rate, it's a craft store which generally sells all sorts of stuff, including lots of crap yarn, and the occasional good one. And every outlet I've ever been in is a mess. Stock in the aisles, bins full of all sorts of paraphenalia, no price tags, stuff put away in the wrong spot. You get the idea.

Anyway, I got the yarn, he likes the colours, so I've cast on.

This is the right side. (apologies for the blur)

But I think I like the "wrong" side better.

And I remember why I'm not a huge fan of intarsia.

Thankfully, it's only a hat!

And another bear.

This one is a "floppy" one. She has special joints so that her arms, legs and head flop about!

Socks

While I was computerless, I got my first shipment from the Needlefood Sock Club.

And it's fab!

Looks nice enough from the outside, doesn't it? It's even better all opened up.

Stitch markers, Bamboo DPNS, Soak sample, Freddo Frogs and yummy, yummy yarn!

The colour is called "Light through Ice" an the parcel had a water theme - Aquae soak, frogs, cute huh? And the needles were all picked with your preferences in mind. I'm loving this sock club, thank you, Michelle!!

In other sock news, I haven't blogged my sock of the month club yet. And they're almost done!

BFF socks, by CookieA, in Mountain Colors Bearfoot in "Wildflowers". I love Bearfoot, it's 60% wool, 25% mohair and 15% Nylon, and it's so lovely and squishy.

The socks are being presented by one of my teddies, as requested by missfee. I used to make teddies, and missfee has requested I show them, so here is the one that sits beside me when I'm at the computer. I'll show some more next time!

Knitting Weekend

What an awesome weekend. There was only one problem all weekend.

I forgot my camera on Saturday, and remembered it on Sunday, but forgot to check if the batteries were charged. They weren't. Bummer.

I didn't make it to the Inner City Guild meeting on Saturday morning, I was just too lazy. Instead, I slept in a little later, then wandered into the city in time for the WWKIP event.

And what a great event it was! Sally did a wonderful job of organising it, and we had wonderful company, including long missed international friends. Jussi moved back to New Zealand two and a half years ago, and has been sorely missed, but she tripped back over the ditch just to join us for the weekend.

In the end, there were 80 knitters knitting away. The food was great, although the venue was not prepared for us. Sally had warned them to expect 75. They prepared for 25. It took an hour to get a diet coke and my lunch. But it didn't put a damper on the afternoon.

Ailsa brought along my birthday present - and surprise, it was exactly what I wanted!!

Shetland lace p*rn. It contains yumminess like this:

And this

None of the patterns are charted, and it's all written in archaic Shetland knitting shorthand! Yay! There was also the Jamieson & Smith shadecard, which is completely droolworthy in it's own right.

I was a little undecided on which knitting to take with me, but I felt like doing lace, so on Friday night I started a new shawl, the Cap Shawl from Victorian Lace Today.

Taking it to WWKIP day may have been a mistake though. I only managed two rows, and I wasn't sure I'd got those right! When I got home, all was fine, but I'd had to put it aside and work on Em's cabled hoodie instead!

On Sunday I headed back into Darling Harbour so that Ailsa and I could man the Knitters Guild booth at the Craft Fair for the afternoon. There was time for a quick good bye to Jussi before she left. Thankfully, David had his camera handy!

She's promised not to leave it so long for her next visit!

So Ailsa and I headed into the craft show. We only had time for a quick look around before our shift started, but we figured we could look around during the quiet times in the afternoon.

Of which there were precisely none. We were flat out almost constantly from the time we arrived. But we had a great time! Lots of people came to talk about knitting, and to get some knitting tips. Members dropped by for a chat, and we helped out a few people with their knitting problems. We talked about knitting, and knitted almost non-stop for four hours.

I was working on the cabled hoodie, and that was probably a mistake again, because I managed some pretty major cable catastrophies. All has been repaired now, but the result of the whole afternoon was that I scored absolutely nothing from the Fair. Not a single yard of yarn was bought. No Habu, no Noro. No Bendigo, no nothing. Nada, zero, zilch. Considering the State Of the Stash, that's probably not a bad thing, but next year, we have pledged to take a morning shift so we can shop all afternoon!

It's back!

Finally, after more than 3 weeks, my computer is back, with a new DVD drive and a new heatsink fan. I hope I didn't rush them!

And now I don't have to share Emily's computer, with it's super crappy colour settings!

Finished project alert.

Picture cropped because of Mt Vesuvius on my chin!

It;s my pink hoodie, finally finished. I started this one back on April 10, and finished it on May 30. I decided to do this, because I thought that the nice thick yarn (16sts - 10cm) would knit up nice and quick. Apparently not!

Specs:
Pattern: Knitting Pure and Simple #244, Neck Down Hooded Tunic for Women.
Yarn: Cleckheaton Merino Supreme, now discontinued.
Needles: Knitpicks Options, 4mm & 5mm
Mods: A few. First off, I put in a cable down the sides and down the sleeves so that the endless stocking stitch wouldn't drive me insane.

I found this cable in one of my Japanese stitch pattern books. The other mod I made was to put some shaping in at the waist, so the garment wasn't shapeless. As it was a top down knit, I just kept trying it on to get the shaping right.

I'm happy with it! I think I got the shaping just right. The yarn was purchased at the ACS mill in Wangaratta last year, on our way down to Bendigo. I love the colour, and the yarn is nice enough to work with, but I can see why it was in the seconds bin - it was full of knots! I don't know what it's like in balls, although the balls were only around 85m, but I felt like I just kept finding knots. The yarn is superwash, so it can't be spit spliced, so there were a lot of ends to weave in.

It's a heavy jumper! It took two days to dry when I blocked it. I've already worn it, (my mum thought it was shop-bought!) and it's been washed and is drying again. This may be the part of this one that I like least!!

Big weekend coming up, I'm off to the Inner City Guild meeting in the morning, then knitting in public with the Sydney Knitters (and a few imports!) for Knit In Public Day, and on Sunday afternoon, Ailsa and I are manning the guild stand at the Craft Show - say hello if you're nearby!

Birthday!

Thank you for the birthday wishes! My birthday was on Sunday, and I'd hoped to post earlier, but the post is not co-operating.

David and Emily gave me some yarn for my birthday.

Isn't it beautiful? (And pink - who'd have guessed?!?)
It's going to be Eunny's Venezia. I've been playing with colours, and it's taken me weeks to finally decide on exactly which colours to use, but there's one more to come, which is why I was waiting for the post. Infortunately, it still has not arrived. The main colour I'm going to use for the trim is discontinued and I had to order it from somewhere else. It's a dark pink, and hopefully will work with the colours I've selected!

I'm not going to cast on immediately, because I've been promising Emily a cabled hoodie for about two years, and she's starting to get whiny about it. It's not like I haven't knit her anything in a while!
She's got a new hat, after all.

She's very shy about being in front of a camera as you can see! (Not!!)

Specs:
Pattern: Selbu Modern by Kate Gagnon. (Free pattern available here)
Needles: 2mm and 2.75mm Knitpicks circs
Yarn: One skein of Claudia Hand Painted Yarns Fingering in Peony and one skein of ShibuiKnits Sock in Grace, both purchased from eat.sleep.knit
Mods: None!

Em's happy with it, and I like it now that it's finished, but if I were to knit it again, I think I'd go for more contrast between the two colours. The pink in the "Grace" was a little too close to the "Peony". But it's a great pattern, and went reasonably quickly, especially once I was computerless. (Still computerless, btw. Two weeks now, and counting!)

So Emily's been doing quite well in the knitwear department lately. Someone else might feel left out, though.

He hasn't had anything new in a while!