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Saturday, May 28, 2011

Yarn: Team Sweden?

Armed with a supply of citric acid crystals that may last me for years (provided I don't take up canning or something), I dyed some more yarn the other day! The citric acid was brilliant - no horrible vinegar fumes.

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The base is 75% wool, 25% nylon, and it's not super duper soft, but did soften up after dyeing. It feels hard-wearing, so let's hope it is.

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I used Wiltons golden yellow and royal blue, and Eunny Jang's tutorial for creating self-striping yarns, so I'm excited to see how it knits up. I plan to do a "vanilla" sock for the first time in my life...

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Blue is darker than it appears in this picture, but the yellow is about right.

In my head I've been calling this Team Sweden, because the colours remind me of their national hockey team colours.

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Twisted slip rib - ur doin it rong

Chugging away at my Twisted socks, I idly glanced through the pattern, something I have not done since casting on. (Uh-oh)

The abbreviations list caught my eye--specifically "Slp." Slip stitch purlwise? But... that's what I've been doing all along, when instructed to Sl1!

I'm so used to following patterns that assign the abbreviation Sl to slip purlwise that I automatically started slipping my stitches this way on these socks. Completely missing the whole "twisted" part of this slip stitch rib. Whoops. In fact, there's a bit in the pattern notes that specifically says Sl means slip knitwise... but since I only looked at the pattern to see how many stitches to cast on, I didn't notice. My bad.

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What you see here is a regular, untwisted slip stitch rib, created by slipping the knit stitchs purlwise every other row. Pretty, but not what this pattern intended. I briefly considered leaving it and continuing in my nontwisty rib for the rest of the socks, since it looks okay. Ultimately, I think I like it better twisted, so I think I'll rip back and actually follow the pattern. (Deliberate disregard for pattern instructions is all fine and good, but since I chose this pattern because I liked it as written, I'm going to stick with it.) Sigh. Commence frogging!

Saturday, May 21, 2011

oh, interweave

I received the Interweave Knits Summer 2011 issue recently. This is the first I've received as part of a gift subscription. I wouldn't have subscribed for myself, since I tend to buy individual issues that appeal to me, but I'll see how a whole year of Interweave sits with me now.

I rarely find stuff I like in summer issues, since I'm a winter-weather knitter for the most part. However, since there are a few wool items and it is not entirely packed with tank tops, I thought there might be more for me. There are some interesting articles, so I'm not actually that disappointed with the thing, but I doubt I will end up knitting anything from this issue. Still...

Yanked from the Interweave website in flagrant defiance of copyright.
Sorry about that, guys!

I quite like the Dockside Cardigan, above, and it's even supposed to be wool. The sloppy, looseness of it makes me think I'd never use it, since I generally prefer more fitted garments.


The Cumulus Tee also intrigues me. I like the weird thing happening at the neckline / sleeves, and it looks comfy. If I didn't already have a billion other things queued up with a sense of immediacy, I'd consider making this. Maybe I will one day!

Friday, May 20, 2011

Hahaha. Mystery solved?

So remember this neither-success-nor-failure I showed the other day?

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Sock yarn that turned into bouclé when I hand-dyed it...

I realized that it's plied around elastic thread. Not sure how I didn't notice the stretchiness when I was winding it into a skein, but anyway. I'm still not entirely sure what happened, but maybe the elastic didn't do well in the nearly boiling water, or maybe my poking and prodding messed around with it.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

WIP: Twisted socks

I burned myself out on socks last year, making three pairs as Christmas gifts, and haven't knit any since. Needing a project that doesn't take too much concentration, I finally cast-on for some more.

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I dyed the yarn last year (apparently I like green), but have been hesitant to use it, since the base is the same as the yarn I dyed with easter egg dyes that faded horribly. If this fades similarly, I'll just dye it again, I think.

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The pattern is Twisted by Jodie Gordon Lucas from the Spring+Summer 2010 issue of Knitty.

Check out more WIPS at Tami's Amis!

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Return of the Wiltons

I went diving in my mom's yarn stash when I was home, and came up with some neat stuff. My mom isn't really a Knitter with a capital K (though she did teach me to knit back in the day), but she still has a stash, and lucky for me she is very generous with it.

I walked away with some weird sock yarn.

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Gedifra Fashion Trend Sportivo is apparently discontinued, and although I wasn't too keen on the colours of these skeins, I can always use sock yarn.

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Thinking this would be a fantastic candidate for overdyeing, I attempted my first hand dyeing since moving to Edinburgh, using some Leaf Green Wiltons icing colour.

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It turned green, as hoped, but I'm not sure this counts as a success for a few reasons. First, I had a hard to getting the dye to set and I have lingering fears it might just all wash out later. Secondly, the yarn was really loosely plied to begin with and seems to have unevenly unplied itself in the dye pot. It almost looked like a bouclé yarn when I took it out, so I'm not sure what happened. I tried weighting the skeins when I hung them to dry and that helped a bit, but I'm not really sure how it will knit up. Good thing I'm not heavily invested in this yarn. Has this happened to anyone, and how did you deal with it?

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So. A fun experiment that wasn't altogether a success or failure. I want to do some more dyeing soon, but I'll need a bigger pot and I may invest in some citric acid. (I say this every time since I hate the smell of vinegar, but I never get around to it.)

Monday, May 16, 2011

Yarn time

I alluded to acquisitions of the yarny variety on my trip home, and now I'll start rolling them out.

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This is my first ever purchase of Lorna's Laces yarn. I've wanted some for ages, but I don't frequent many places that carry it. (Other than on the internet). On a mini yarn-crawl with a friend of mine, this skein of Shepherd Sock in the Lakeview colourway jumped into my hands and wouldn't be put back.

I think it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. Haha. I love yarn, and I also love hyperbole, so there you go.

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Mmmmm yarn. I suspect this will sit in my stash looking pretty for a while before I figure out what to make with it, but I'm okay with that.

Friday, May 13, 2011

FO: Simple City shawl

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Pattern: Simple City by Eskimimi

Yarn: Zauberball in "Cranberries", from Stephcuddles

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Mods:
Almost nothing. I moved the KFB increases on the ruffle edges in one stitch because I didn't like how they looked when done at the very edge. This is practically inconsequential, though.

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Notes:
Appropriately, this was a simple project. The ruffle nearly drove me crazy and has made me wonder if attempting a Citron would send me over the edge entirely. Haha. Ten rows never took so long until I tried ruffles! Still, I love the result. The Zauberball is gorgeous, although it is a brighter red than I usually go for. Watching the stripes develop was super fun. I love how the bind-off row ended up being darker most of the way around.

The pattern isn't written with a garter tab cast-on, so if I make it again I'll probably add one. Doesn't really bother me, given how I'll wear it, but the top edge of the shawl has a bit of an indentation.

The finished shawl has a wingspan of about 1 m, and it wraps cozily around my neck bandit-style!

See more FOs at Tami's Amis

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

win

I recently won a giveaway at Ohdessa Knits.

Not only did I receive two awesome mitten patterns (Regal Mittens and Memento Mori Mittens), but I also won a kit to make some colourwork coffee sleeves.

Check out the adorable mini-skeins! So fun.

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I am especially excited about the Memento Mori mitts - skulls! Day of the Dead! I definitely want to use a yarn with long colour repeats for the background colour, like in the original. Hmmm.

Thanks for the generous giveaway, Ohdessa!

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

What I've been up to

I got back yesterday from a visit to my hometown across the pond.

It was great visiting family and roaming around my old haunts, showing my dude what the place looks like when it isn't covered in snow.

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When we left Edinburgh, spring was well underway, but Ottawa spring started while we were there, so I got to see the first flowers twice.

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And I dropped in on some friends.

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I also did some knitting and acquired some yarn - more on this another day!