I’ve been working on my first Baudelaire sock since I finished the Clapotis, and this is what it looked like as of the fifteenth. This is my first toe-up sock, and I kind of felt like I was knitting blindly. I was sure the foot would end up too short, but it turned out to be the perfect length. However, the increases on the toe and gusset are holey and just not as neat as they are on the top-down socks I’ve made. I knit a few rows of the leg after taking the photo, but the knitting seems really loose in places. As much as I love this pattern, I want to blame its toe-up nature. I’m used to having one little hole that I have to close up when I join the heel to the instep stitches to start the gusset, and right now this sock just looks sloppy to me. Eventually I’ll go back to it, and maybe if I keep going a bit it will look better. That’s what I’m telling myself, anyway. And, to be fair, the yarn (it’s Opal) is bugging me too. It’s overtwisted, and I’m pretty sure that isn’t my fault, because I didn’t rewind the ball and this isn’t a problem I usually have.
And I knit most of the foot while watching Firefly and Serenity on DVD, and working on it now just makes me sad that there isn’t any more of the show to see!
Anyway, I’ve gone back to working on the Swallowtail Shawl I started last month. The picture shows how much I did last month before I was distracted by the Clapotis; I’m about halfway through the budding lace pattern now. I sort of wish I had decided to make it in a slightly heavier yarn, because it turns out that I hate working with laceweight. I mean, the yarn itself – Alpaca with a Twist Fino – is gorgeous, but it’s so damn delicate. Plus, I’ve realized that when I “throw” the yarn when I knit, I completely drop the right needle. That makes things a little precarious, especially at the beginning of a row, and especially with the metal Knit Picks needles.
I actually invested in the Knit Picks Options set for this project, though, because I thought the needles’ pointy tips would help with the nupps (and I think that will turn out to be true). Plus, I figured investing in a set of interchangeables would be cheaper than continuing to buy each size individually, since I don’t have a huge variety of needles in my arsenal at this point. Although I’ve primarily been using wooden needles lately, and I don’t have another set of interchangeable needles to compare, I really like this set. The joins between the cables and tips are smooth and haven’t come loose (in fact, I haven’t disconnected the tips and cable that I used for my Clapotis because it was difficult to get them unscrewed, and I need to dig out the little key to help). The cable is thin and bendy, but still feels strong – it certainly held up to the rather heavy Clapotis. I’m still getting used to the slicker metal needles, but since wimpy laceweight yarn isn’t the norm for me, I don’t think that will be a big issue in the long run, and it will probably just serve to speed up my knitting.
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Tags: baudelaire socks, swallowtail shawl
Finished: Clapotis
Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert, Knitty Winter 2004
Yarn: Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Brown Berries (4 skeins)
Needles: US 8 Knit Picks Options 32″ circular
Modifications: Purled the to-be-dropped stitches instead of using stitch markers.
I was completely uninterested in this pattern for a full two years. Then it got chilly this month, and I realized the scarf I was wearing was one I made in the fall of 2004 and that it had definitely seen better days. Two and a half weeks after getting the yarn and starting the project, the weather seems to be warming up, but hopefully I’ll still be able to get some use out of this. It’s still pretty cold at the bus stop at 7:30 a.m., after all, regardless of the afternoon temperature.
While I really do like the finished product, the Malabrigo is more noteworthy than the pattern. I’d never used it before, and part of the reason I decided to make this project was an excuse to try the yarn. It is unbelievably soft, and the color is gorgeous. I ordered from Pureknits for the first time, just because they happened to have the colorway I wanted, and the yarn came unbelievably fast, despite the fact that they’re on the opposite coast. They also sent a sample of their bamboo yarn, which is softer than any of its counterparts that I’ve seen in yarn shops. I usually don’t get excited about online purchases, but I look forward to ordering from them again.
Anyway. I can’t say Clapotis was the most exciting pattern to knit. The twelve repeats for the straight section were gruelingly dull. Dropping the stitches helped keep me interested, but unfortunately the Malabrigo is so sticky that undoing the stitches was kind of time-consuming. I don’t mean to say it was a bad pattern at all; it was well-written and the bias construction was, well, more clever than anything else I’ve knit on the bias. Still, it’s not a project I’d want to make again – at least not in the full size – any time soon. This would perhaps be a good place to point out that I also have a naturally somber expression, to say the least, and my face in the picture above does not reflect how I feel about my Clapotis.
I still can’t really get over how lovely the yarn is. I just finished it today, and while the stitches are still pretty crisp-looking, the fabric already has a fuzzy halo to it. I imagine it must felt beautifully. I’d like to try their more solid colorways, too, since I’m generally not big on variegated yarn. A solid Clapotis just didn’t seem right to me, though.
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Tags: Clapotis
Finished: Log Cabin Socks
Pattern: Log Cabin Socks by Anne Woodbury, Handknit Holidays
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash, shade 823 (less than 2 full balls)
Needles: US 4 Brittany birch DPNs
Started these around the first of the year and finished them on the thirteenth. I made these for my mother’s birthday, and she says they fit. (They’re pictured on my feet, complete with tiny bits of blue lint.) I definitely like knitting socks with worsted-weight yarn, and there is something very satisfying about the cable pattern that prevented the second sock from getting dull. The only problem I had was operator error: when I got to the toe of the first sock, I had to rip back about twenty-five rows to fix a backwards cable.
I also really like the Cascade 220 Superwash, which seems much softer than its non-superwash counterpart. I made a scarf out of the latter last year that’s too itchy to wear, while I feel like I could actually have this yarn around my neck.
Eventually I’ll make another pair of these for myself, and probably with the same yarn.
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Tags: log cabin socks
Finished: “A Pair of Socks”
Pattern: A Pair of Socks (men’s version) by Ann Budd, Interweave Knits Subscriber-Only Online Pattern
Yarn: Dale of Norway Baby Ull. Can’t find the ball bands, so I’m not sure of the color. (2 balls)
Needles: US 2 and 2 1/2 Brittany birch DPNs
These socks were my dad’s Christmas present, and the pattern was one I fell back on after having difficulty (and a wee hissyfit) with the Father and Son Socks in the Fall ‘06 IK back around Thanksgiving. I managed to finish the second toe on Christmas Eve morning, and they fit perfectly.
The pattern wasn’t the most exciting, and ribbing in general isn’t really my favorite. However, the instructions were easy to follow, and I don’t have any complaints about the pattern. I may eventually make the women’s version of the pattern, which has a fancier rib stitch, but there are plenty of other sock patterns I want to do first.
I’m getting better at making neat short-rows on the heels, although I still haven’t mastered picking up heel stitches and reattaching the instep stitches without creating a small hole on one side of the foot. At least that’s easy to hide during finishing. I also really like the way the cuff is made by reversing the rib stitch a little way down the leg on these socks:
I’m not sure how well the Baby Ull will hold up, but it was the best choice at the yarn store when I was shopping. (I’m so glad a new shop has opened up in town since then; maybe together they will be a satisfactory yarn source.) At least it’s machine washable and the color matches my family’s golden retrievers, whose hair will surely cover these socks.
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Tags: pair of socks
Finished: Sienna Cardigan
I have been knitting off and on for five or so years now, but earlier this month I finally finished my first real sweater. I made a sweater vest last winter, but it didn’t have sleeves, so that doesn’t really count, in my mind.
Pattern: Sienna Cardigan by Ann E. Smith, Interweave Knits Fall 2006
Yarn: Knit Picks Andean Silk in Barn Red (~13 balls originally purchased for the Jolie Cardigan in Rowan’s Vintage Knits, which I decided I didn’t want to make after all.)
Needles: US 9 Brittany birch straight and US 9 Addi Turbo 24″ circular
Modifications: I changed the cuffs to a 2×2 rib, and I think the arms especially had fewer rows than required due to problems with gauge.
Well, it actually looks like a cardigan, which is the most important part. It’s a little larger than I had hoped and the ribbing tends to make me look particularly lumpy when it’s buttoned, but it does fit. I could have got away with knitting the smallest size, though.
I thought my gauge was on, but apparently not! My row gauge must have been especially off. There is less of the final, partial repeat of the fagot lace on the front than in the pattern pictures because the sweater was getting too long, and I also had to remove a row or two from the sleeves, which are also on the long side. I think another blocking may help with some of the fit issues, but I’m lazy and blocking just isn’t my favorite thing.
Anyway, I was pleased with the pattern overall. It was easy to follow, and all the stockinette stitch meant it went pretty quickly. I think this took about three weeks to finish. The button band and collar, which I thought would be most complicated, didn’t give me any trouble. The buttons I used are brown leather.
Set-in sleeves were also a new challenge, and the shoulder-seam area is a bit on the lumpy side. But, overall, it wasn’t a complete disaster.
I liked the Knit Picks yarn fairly well, enough that I’m using it for my next sweater, too. Of course, the price is obviously a big incentive. The only other yarn of theirs that I’ve used so far is Essential sock yarn, but I like that much less. Too scratchy, and socks require so little yarn that I don’t mind splurging for something more expensive.
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Tags: sienna cardigan
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