KnitMe

Nothing is done

Knitting away and not getting done.

I have been working on the edging of Ice Fantasia for WEEKS now, and I'm just about 2/3 of the way done. You are supposed to knit 79 repeats of a 12-row pattern, and it takes longer than it sounds like it should. This is going to be a big shawl when it's blocked.

One of the cool things about this pattern is that the third chart, the mesh, is the same pattern as the second chart, except that she drops the plain wrong-side rows and condenses the chart so that every row is lace.

The yarn is prettier than these photos show, it's more silvery and not just flat grey.

This is my current sock project - it's Sottopassaggio by Yarnissima from the latest issue of Twist Collective. After these pictures were taken, I finished the first sock last night. (Pardon all the blurred pictures, I'm not sure what my problem was yesterday.)

The construction of this is clever - it seems to be based upon the Coriolis architecture from Cat Bordhi's last book, the twisted stitch panel moves across the instep and disappears behind the pattern coming up the side of the heel flap. As a result, it looks like one odd piece of work unless it has a foot in it.

The yarn is Hipknits 'Ophelia', I think in a color called Bluebell, that I got in a Ravelry swap. It has scant yardage for sock yarn, so I didn't try to push my luck and get a tall sock. I will knit the second one to the same length as this one, and then if I have yardage left, I'll see about making them both a little taller.

I couldn't stop myself from casting on for the Alpaka Tunic from the last issue of Interweave Knits. I had pretty much decided, after my swatching exercise, to use Valley Yarns Stockbridge, which was the same fiber blend and yardage as the yarn called for in the pattern, but it was plyed so it'd have some durability. Then, my LYS had a sale on Berroco Ultra Alpaca which made it the same price to buy that yarn there, as to order Stockbridge from WEBS. So I threw a little support to the LYS. This is a very pretty dark navy heathered color that is not captured in the photo. So far this is being an easy knit, which is a nice offset to that edging...

Knee socks

Yeah maybe I'm too old for the knee sock look, but I just finished a great pair and so too bad...

The pattern is Johanna by Julia Riede and you can get it via Ravelry. I used an entire 150 gram skein of Wollmeise wool/nylon in 'Gewitterhimmel', plus about 14 grams of extra that Kerry sent me from her skein. They fit extremely well and I think they may even stay up without alterations.

The key to this pattern's success, for me, was the ability to place the calf shaping in the right spot. I knitted the leg and tried it on until I was up to the place where the calf muscle starts to increase in size, then began to work the center back chart containing the increases. The shaping of the increases was a pretty good match for the shape of my leg, and when the increases were done I could rib until I hit the place I wanted the top of the sock to be.

These took awhile to make because I backtracked a few times to be sure I got a good result. I started in mid June and knit the entire foot and heel, then decided I didn't like the fit and ripped and went to size 0 needles. While I was at it, I calculated some numbers and used the master Riverbed architecture from the Cat Bordhi book to make the foot and heel because I knew I would get a good fit. Then, twice on the way up the leg I paused for clarifications from the designer to be sure how to properly transition from one section to the next. The first sock took 6 weeks to make, the second one just a month. It never felt like drudgery to knit these, for whatever reason - I was perfectly happy to work on them. Maybe it was the lace pattern - just short enough, just enough interest (moving stitches back and forth at the beginning of the row to keep the lace lined up). Maybe it was the yarn. Who knows. But I'm ready to make another pair of knee socks!

I don't know how the designer made a pair of these with just one skein of Smooshy. Maybe she is petite/not very tall. I thought for sure if she could do it with that, I could do it with one full skein of Wollmeise as I am not particularly tall myself, but I ran a wee tad short. If you want to make these, be sure you have plenty of yardage.

This is how I might wear them, come fall...