Going in circles

I've got this horrible feeling that no matter how quickly I knit, baby Oliver is still going to be too big for his sweater cardigan. 1 sleeve and 1 back are done, on to the second sleeve as I ponder zipper vs. button band.

Julia's scarf

My Project Spectrum project for April is done!

Project specs :
Pattern : My own design.

Yarn: Galway Highland Heather colour 1496

Needles: Brittany walnuts 5.25mm

Started : April 19, 2006
Finished : April 24, 2006

Here it is side by side with Dan's scarf.

Still life in car

The Donna is knitting up beautifully and is very soft. I didn't find a review on Wiseneedle so I'm hoping it will wear as well as advertised. I'll try and remember to ask the recipients how it wears after they've had it for a while. The Flame commented approvingly on the feel of the sleeve (swatch).

Inching along

Not much to show for a quiet Sunday of knitting.

The Julia scarf is almost done (just 1 more repeat!) and maybe we'll have pictures of blocking glory tomorrow.

I (re)started the pair of Conwy socks on 2.5mm needles and they shouldn't cut off circulation to my toes this time.

I worked on Pebbles a bit and managed to get about 20 rows done, so I'll take a picture when I get to the armholes.

I'm going to start the Digging sweater with some blue Donna from Miss Bea's Colours by Rowan this week as the change in weather has me thinking about hot weather knits!

WIPeout, the first

Done! I cannot believe how happy I am to have these socks done. I've been knitting on them since at least early February. The left sock took 4 tries to turn the heel (don't ask, I have no idea what kept going wrong) and the ribbed legs took WAY longer than normal. I guess it's because my Sockapaloooza socks spoilt me with their stockinette legs.

The WIP list has to keep decreasing as I have 2 friends with babies on the way and baby Oliver is getting bigger every day! With that in mind I have 3 sweaters from the Miss Bea books in the pipeline. Sidebar updates incoming.

Backtacking!

I'm so happy that I made it into Backtack3.


It'll be a wonderful re-introduction to sewing which has been sadly neglected for knitting and spinning over the past several months. I admit I'm quite intimidated by the extremely talented and creative people on the participant list. Here's hoping inspiration strikes and I come up with something worthy that fits within the guidelines for my softie.

D(y)elicious!

Blackberries and oranges, I'm hungry just thinking about it. Here are the two sock yarns wound together and some merino-angora-silk from the weekend behind it (acid-dyes again). Denise, I've been using the Ciba WashFast and I'm fairly happy with them.


Also delicious, Chocoatl in Yaletown. Try one of their chocolate drinks, The Flame and I enjoyed some on the way home tonight.

Dyeing Days

I was lucky enough to have yesterday off from MPOW and headed out to Lara's with a bag of frozen blackberries, some roving and some yarn. The plan was to do 2 natural dye pots (blackberry and alkanet for toning purples). What is it that they say about the plans of mice and men? We ended up doing 4 pots in all, with one pot being a rescue-pot.


As you can see, the alkanet came out a very unsatisfactory beige/grey/green. The iron modifier did not help matters and we are a long way from the attractive dark purple of our reference book. Cochineal has always been a reliable natural dyestuff for both of us and so we decide to use that as the over-dye.


Since we are not out of the kitchen yet, why not start a fourth pot? Madder seemed like just the colour lift we needed in the afternoon.


The results are much improved. Left to right, roving and sock yarn in blackberry (iron modifier). A beautiful, wearable orange on lovely soft corriedale. Iron-modified alkanet and cochineal gave a gorgeous black plum. I'll try and get pictures of the blackberry and alkanet/cochineal together. I think it will make beautiful socks.


Natural dyeing is completely different from my acid-dyeing on the weekend to fulfill a request for a rainbow and co-ordinating solids in merino-tencel for socks. It would be interesting to try and do something similar with natural dyes. Here are the combed rovings wound together to simulate the final yarn.


A truer representation of the colours.


Melanie, your merino is coming!

Sockapaloooza socks done!

Project specs : Toe-up socks
A combination of Priscilla Gibson-Roberts East-West Crew Socks from Ethnic Socks and Stockings (unshaped toes) and Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer's Basic Toe-to-Cuff Socks (numbers, gusset increases and heel)

Yarn: Regia Cotton Surf Provence colourway

Needles: Regia 2.5mm needles, the short ones. I really liked these and I'm finding it hard to switch back to my longer, 2.25mms.

Started: April 2nd, 2006
Finished: April 16th, 2006

I hope my sock pal likes them. I had a LOT of fun knitting them up. This striping pattern was particularly addictive and fast.

New directions

I've been doing more and more dyeing recently and I'm just loving it. Today I've got merino-tencel, tussah silk and merino-alpaca-silk soaking. I'm thinking rainbow with solids for the merino-tencel, blues/greens for the tussah and an orange-yellow run for the merino-alpaca-silk in honour of Project Spectrum.


As you can see there isn't much around me that is orange/yellow but I'm on the hunt now! The 2 balls of Galway on the left are for Julia's scarf. The Silk Garden just didn't seem like a good fit for her so I went back to my old stand-by. Now, to decide whether I should do the same pattern as Dan's scarf or come up with a new design.

Things that make me happy

My new shawl pin from Designs by Romi. The good press is true, the pin is beautifully finished and extremely light. I can't wait to see her upcoming hair and sweater sticks.


One of my spring planter boxes.


The sockapaloooza socks are nearly done, they are toe-up so I just have the leg to do on both. Pictures later tonight.

Diamond Fantasy Scarf

The perfect one skein wonder.


Project specs : Diamond Fantasy Scarf (or Shawl) by Sivia Harding

Yarn : Cherry Tree Hill Supersock in Wild Cherry.

Needles : 3.75mm addis

Started : March 24, 2006
Finished : March 30, 2006

A wonderful pattern that makes the best of handpainted yarns. I'd tried this yarn as a Flower Basket shawl, a Leaf Lace shawl and a Hyrna Hergobar with no success. The strong diagonals and openness of this pattern bring out the best in this colourway.