Finally summer is over!

After a long summer break I'm back on the needles and I've already finished some of my projects.

My BFF socks in periwinkle Shibui are finally done. Took me only 5 months.
And here is what I've learned from that: If you start something, keep on and finish it in a timely  fashion. Especially when fit is an issue. Because I stopped so often to work on other projects, the project dragged on and in the mean time, my gauge changed. Which is also due to getting comfortable with all those cables.
And this change in gauge resulted in very funny pooling patterns. The first sock started with beautiful helix striping and proceeded to pool when it came to the leg part and the necessary increases of the stitch count. The second sock had weird pooling on the foot, but gorgeous striping on the leg. Well.
And I also needed almost two whole skeins (97g). So remember: Cables are yarn hungry!

For my second finished project, I have also practised self-disciplin and used yarn from my stash instead of always buying new and made a pair of Jaywalkers out of a skein of Opals "Lasst Blumen sprechen". Since this too is a pooling/striping yarn and a very noisy one as that, it wasn't easy to find a suitable pattern. Most patterns shine due to their stitches, but add colours in the yarn and it quickly renders all those finely detailed stitches invisible. The only patterns that work with striping yarn besides stockinette and ribs are chevrons. And lo and behold the Jaywalker does it. And not only that, it needs heavy colouring. Uni coloured yarn would be just too boring here. Fancy that.
Since colourful yarn with long colour repeats often results in a very visible and annoying horizontal line break above the arch right over the heel, I tried an afterthought heel. And I love it. The fit is excellent. And the colour proceeds beautifully from the leg over to the foot part. Only to start pooling immediately because of the gauge change: The Jaywalker doesn't have a lot of give and the pattern actually draws the fabric in. So instead of my usual 60 sts with 3mm  needles, I had to increase to 68 after the cuff to compensate. Which wasted about 4'' of already committed effort, but since this is a very easy and fast knit it wasn't such a drama. But it shows again, that while an educated guess can give you a good starting point and oftentimes shows great results, you can't rely on it.

I've also taken up my Owl sweater in Malabrigo Rios in Ravelry Red again. But somehow it didn't work out. Some part of me was strangely reluctant. I worked most of one sleeve, which as my first ever sleeve with self-calculated decreases was actually quite well-fitting. But the rest of the sweater was rather, well, awful. The yoke style isn't so great for me, and I made far too many owls. Three or four less would have been way better. As it was, most of the sweater was far too roomy for me and I knew I would never wear it, so I made the sensible decision to frog. Maybe I'll try the owls again some time, they were rather cute, but not with this yarn, it did nothing for this pattern and the long body part in plain stockinette was not enough action for the yarn. It is capable of so much more.

My new umbrella swift

A few months ago, I first discovered the wonderful yarn store mylys, which is located in West-Hamburg.
They offer some of my favourite yarns including Malabrigo, Cascade, Schoppel and Zitron. And they also have a back room, in which one can wind the hanks into center-pull skeins. You have to do it yourself, but the usage is for free. Which is really great, since there are lots of knitters, who prefer to spend their money on new yarn instead. And nobody wants to knit from an unwound hank (If you don't know why, go and try it out...). And let me tell you something: a center-pull skein, that was wound with a yarn winder is veeeerrry handy. Unlike the traditional ball of yarn, with a center-pull you have easy access to either end of the yarn. And since it has a cylindrical shape, it won't roll away, no, it just sits exactly where you placed it. Imagine that!

I find the process of winding the yarn to be relaxing, it is something to do while watching telly. And so about half a year ago, I bought myself a yarn winder. With a crank. Super easy. And fast. And whatnot. Except for one tiny detail, I still had to hold the hank someplace, where it wouldn't get tangled while winding. So, like many others before me, I placed the hank around my knees, which works for awhile, but gets really tiring, because one mustn't operate the yarn winder too fast. And one needs to hold the yarn up and to guide it away from the knees, so that the yarn winder can pull it without yanking the whole hank though the air! Which happens if there is even a slight tangle. Or sometimes the yarn sticks together, it has something to do with the dye.

So, still a lot of problems. Which could be solved with just a bit of money... and so I ordered an umbrella swift, which arrived a few weeks ago and boy! This is amazing!

It is made out of wood and can be attached to the table. Very smooth handiwork. Good construction and overall a very good quality. The umbrella construction is nifty, so one can adjust the swift to the size of the hank since each manufacturer has his own idea of how long those hanks should be.
One still has problems if the yarn is tangled in itself, like the Malabrigo Arroyo (who wound that thing – it's a mess!) I wound with it Saturday evening. But the yarn as a whole is secure. And one has both hands free to unpick the tangles. And if you get interrupted, just leave everything where it is, it can't run away, now can it?

In summary: I should have gotten one ages ago!

My Katrina Sweater

And my second sweater is finished, too. The pattern is the Katrina Rib by Cookie A. The yarn is Malabrigo Arroyo in Borrajas.

I’m feeling a bit ambivalent about the yarn, though. It was a mess to wind into a skein, there are knots, a break, and some undyed spots. Skeins from the same dye lot vary, the second skein I used was darker than the first. The latter two points aren’t all that bad because the variegation in the yarn covers it up and keeps it interesting. On the other hand this yarn is sooo soft and squishy and non-scratchy and feels so very nice against the skin. The colour is amazing and it keeps together way better unlike Malabrigo Worsted, which starts to get fuzzy even while still on the needles. I love this yarn, but it still won’t get five stars from me because of the poor winding and the dyelot differences. And the fact, that a 100g-skein often weighs considerably less.

I found a mistake in the pattern, which can be found only in the bigger size L/XL. I’m very sure that this is not due to any mistakes I’ve made. I checked and rechecked and counted until I was blue in the face. It is definitely the pattern!
In round 57 it says right before the beginning of the travelling rib section to
…P3, K2, K2tog, move marker, K1…
This is impossible because at this point, there are only 3 knit sts before the marker. One stitch is missing!
I fixed this by going back all the way to round 49, where I added a purl stitch to the travelling section. Remember, this was the round in which that section originally did not get any increases. I didn’t rip it all out, I just dropped the neighbouring stitches and fixed it that way. Which was not all that easy, due to the k2tog in round 53. And the line of purl stitches cannot be seen, but it is there. And then it all fits.
As an alternative, I guess one could just forget the k2tog in round 57 and just k3 before the marker.

Otherwise the sweater is drop. dead. gorgeous.

My very first sweater

Jup, I've finally done it! I've knit my very first sweater. I've always thought that since sweaters were so big, it would be an endless project. But! Here I am, and it took me only ten days. Socks and shawls take me longer.

After having knit those for months on end, I decided to to something lighter, now that the sommer is approaching. And what do I do? A sweater! Well, at least it has shortish sleeves...

The pattern is the Candy Striped Raglan Sweater. I used Cascade 220 and Noro Silk Garden Lite. A few minor shaping issues, but hey! It's my first sweater! Ain't it great?

And now I'm planning the next one. The sweater bug has caught me. And my package from Wollmeise is on its way, too...

Gusset on top toe-up socks

Today I finished my very first own design. I've been searching for a pattern that featured a gusset on top of the foot, but the only ones I could find were written top-down. Gagh! So I wrote my own.

The yarn I used was Dibadu Funnies Smooth Merino in the colourway "Letzte Rose". Gauge is something you should figure out for yourself. I used 2,5mm (US 1,5) dpns, but you can use whatever you're comfortable with.

Basically, I used common toe-up elements: Judy's Magic Cast-On, Wedge Toe, stockinette on the foot, slip stitch heel, 2/2 ribbing on the leg and Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Cast-Off. Instructions for all of these techniques can be found elsewhere, so I won't bother describing them here.

The interesting part is the gusset on top of the foot. Basically it is like the 'normal' gusset: you start at the same length and you work the same amount of increases every other round. If you have knit socks before, you know the numbers, if not look them up! There are enough tables and charts around.

So here's the gusset:
Let's assume, that the beginning of the round is on the left side of the sock; the first stitch of the round would be the first stitch of the instep stitches. Place a marker in the very center of the instep. You can remove that marker after the gusset is finished.

Now we need a couple of parameters:
x = number of stitches used in the 'normal' rounds on the foot and leg
g = number of increases for the gusset
v = number of stitches between each increase and the marker; this number gets bigger with every increase; the starting value is x/4 -g; the bigger the starting value, the blunter the tip of the gusset

The numbers I used were x = 68, g = 14 and the starting value of v = 3 because I know that these numbers fit my feet. Adjust these numbers to your gauge or look them up in a table somewhere.

Round 1: Knit g stitches, make 1, knit v to marker, slip marker, knit v, make 1, knit g. Knit the sole stitches.
Round 2: Knit all of the stitches.

Repeat these two rounds until v = x/4 -1 (in my case 16) and you're done with the gusset.

A note about the pattern between the increases: 
I wrote instructions for plain stockinette. In the picture you can see, that I knit a 2/2 ribbing.  You can of course do whatever you want. To make the increases as invisible as possible, do a lifted increase and adjust it to your pattern.

Hot Sweaty Monkey Sox

Well, I've finished my Monkey Socks. Design by Cookie A. One of her most popular designs and that for a reason. The yarn is the wonderful Malabrigo Sock yarn in Ravelry Red. Lovely colour. I love red. I'll probably knit a couple more skeins in this colour.

The pattern is quite easy, a couple of increases and decreases, suitable for the long train ride to and from work. And after having finished them, I'm still not bored. And maybe I'll even knit another pair.

But I still don't get why these are called Monkey Socks. They look more like fishscales to me.

Getting back on the needles

Boy, RL's a bitch! I spent last Christmas getting weaker and weaker and had to have an emergency OP just before Sylvester. Sylvester at the hospital. Great! I'm still on sick leave, but I'm getting slowly better. I've recently picked up my knitting stuff again. 

So far, I've completed the first of the Hawaii socks, but I just can't bring myself to finish the second one. Even though it is about three quaters done already.

The Clapotis is well on its way, but currently hibernating, too.

Right now, I'm working on my Elm socks, a pattern by Cookie A. Published in The Knitter's Book of Socks by Clara Parkes. Great Book. 
The yarn I'm using is Zitron Trekking Sport in a lovely shade of muted middle blue.