Finished this pair of socks last weekend – in September on my way to Lunenburg I stopped in Mahone Bay at the wool shop (Have A Yarn) and picked up some yarn for my neighbour Joan and two 50g balls of this purple yarn for myself. This pair is in the “gift” stash – waiting for an occasion to pass on to someone. I gave my friend Linda the blue pair I finished a couple of weeks ago.
Finished these the other day. I have to say I love working with that Opal – Sweet ‘n Spicy yarn – the resulting pattern is such a nice one. This pair is ladies size 7 12/ – 8. They are in my “to give away” pile – I have lots of blue socks – not tempted to keep these.
I do have to admit, however, this yellow pair made it from the give-away pile to my sock drawer last week, when I decided they matched the outfit I decided to wear that day!
During the summer I made a visit to my GP – he had on a lovely pink shirt – it looked wonderful on him. Having just finished the Sweet ‘n Spicy socks I made for myself, I thought a pair in the same colour would be great for him. I picked up the yarn, but had to wait to make the socks since I didn’t know his shoe size. A couple of weeks ago I happened to visit again and asked him for his shoe size. You can imagine the look I got. I explained why I was asking. Finished them last evening. In the end, although I did have a lovely pink/peach solid Sisu yarn for cuff, heels and toe, I decided to use a deep royal blue – I figured the socks would be somewhat less “pink” and he might actually wear them. I’ll take them to him the next time I make a visit to the clinic – but they’re given with a caveat – if he doesn’t wear them, he has to give them back! I don’t put that kind of time into knitting to have the socks just sit in a drawer!
I finished this pair of socks last evening – also made from the Opal, Sweet ‘n Spicy Yarn. These, I think, will go to my friend Linda – she’s happier with more subdued socks. These will fit into her wardrobe nicely.
I got a LOT of knitting done this past week – I found myself locked into watching the Criminal Minds Complete Marathon on Bravo (there were episodes from 2005 to 2013 running in order 24/7 for eight days!) – perfect to knit to. I finished the shawl and this pair of socks – both went faster than usual – the socks took the usual 25 hours, but the knitting time was concentrated, rather than spread out over two weeks!
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Not sure why I decided to undertake a second shawl – but I did. This one was made using sock weight (fingering) yarn. I used leftovers from a couple of pairs of socks – the colours blended surprisingly well, I used Sisu solids to blend with the variegated yarn and to create the light to dark effect.
The shawl went quite a bit faster than the original in lace weight yarn, because I was ending up with fewer stitches as the shawl grew longer. However, the neckline went wonky – for some reason the stitch increases at the beginning created a “hump” that made it impossible to wrap the shawl over my shoulder. I filled in part of the hump with leftovers from yet a third pair of socks so the shawl drapes a bit better. Because I used knit and purl rows, there is a definite right and wrong side to the shawl, but the edges also curl. I crocheted a border around the entire shawl to stabilize the edge.
Oh well, it will keep my shoulders warm.
It’s finally done! I thought this Colour Affection Shawl would never end – by the end rows had close to 600 stitches – it took at least a half hour to knit one row!
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I started it on June 27 2013 (it has been nearly 6 months since I started!) and knit quite a bit until the rows started getting long, and then boredom set in! It was all I could manage to knit a row or two in an evening – many evenings I didn’t even look at it. However, I learned a lot about “lace weight” knitting (which I’ve never done before): the yarn called for a 2.5 mm needle, part way through the first colour I switched to a 3.5 mm circular needle (I started with a 32 cm circular, had to switch to an 80 cm circular) – to get the size and loose affect I was after I should have used at least a 4.5 mm needle – that would have substantially reduced the number of stitches in those long rows at the end. I also would have used three somewhat more contrasting colours – the contrast between the aqua and white is minimal so you don’t really see the three colours. One last thing I discovered is the way I increased stitches made the neck edge of the shawl too tight – I will have to explore a different way of increasing stitches that produces a looser edge, maybe actually doing a YO (yarn over) which would produce an open space would work better – I’ll have to try a swatch to see if that works.
Nevertheless, I love the striping effect of the partial rows when the dark colour is added. I wanted to add more to the bottom edge, I still had a tiny bit of yarn left (maybe enough for 4 more rows) but I just couldn’t face knitting one more row.
The cast off has to be loose – I used a size 3.5mm crochet hook and did a single crochet knitting two stitches together – the tension on the edge turned out perfectly.
Yarn: I used Debbie Bliss Rialto Lace which I bought in my local yarn shop.
I finished the beret last evening. Here’s the pattern for it. I didn’t use the recommended Patons Classic Wool Worsted, I used Smart Double Knit (a wool yarn of approximately the same weight) using 4.5mm needles as the pattern suggested. However, using the number of stitches recommended (128 after the band) I could see I would end up with a toque rather than a beret, so although I was already into the decreases for the crown, I unravelled the hat back to the band and added a fifth repeat to the hat (170 stitches). I kept track of the repeats by using small plastic rings to indicate each repeat (I used a larger one to mark the beginning of the “row”).
I used the two-hand technique to knit the beret (one colour in my right hand, the other in my left), making sure to cross the yarns every three stitches or so (when the pattern called for 4 or more stitches in one colour). I knit the body of the hat on a short circular needle, did the decreases for the crown using double pointed needles as the round became smaller and smaller in diameter.
The first pair of Le Petit Prince socks were well received – Jim thought they were lovely. I haven’t heard from him so I’m assuming they fit him fine.
This is the second pair from Le Petit Prince (Opal Yarn) – they’ve turned out to be quite colourful. I’m tempted to put them in my sock drawer but it’s full to overflowing so this pair will go in the give away pile. And on to the next.
I’m also nearing the end of a winter beret to wear with the wine coloured jacket (it has no hood) and yesterday I started to crochet a wool poncho – made one 40 years ago and had it until this spring. I’d loaned it to a friend visiting from Ghana and it came back having been washed in a scented detergent. I tried everything to remove the scent and couldn’t get rid of it and couldn’t wear the poncho because it made me cough. So I sent it off to Value Village (the community clothing recycling shop). On Sunday, a friend handed me a bag of yarn (previously knit but unwound) to pass on but the bulk of that yarn was in a natural colour – perfect for a poncho. Still working on the lace-weight shawl – the rows are now so long I’m bored to death with it. It probably needs 12-14 rows in the third colour – that’s all, but each row is over 500 stitches and it’s all I can do to manage a single row at a time. It will get done, but who knows when.
Finished these a week ago – they’re for my massage therapist – his name has been on my sock list for quite a while, I finally got to these done for him. Subdued, I’d say – not too flashy. He’ll get them tomorrow when I go for my appointment along with some Christmas fruit cake. The yarn: Le Petit Prince (7765) by Opal (there are a number of brighter patterns in this collection)
I finished these socks from the Opal Yarn – Van Gogh Collection – a couple of weeks ago and took them to my sister in Toronto as a birthday gift. I forgot to take a picture! She sent me this photo of the socks this morning so I could post it. I love these yarns – they knit up easily – the pattern changing all the time so it never gets boring.
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