The lure of multi-colour sock yarn

Basic gusset heel socks in Studioloo Bootsie (elephantgirl)

I just finished these socks in my favourite basic sock pattern, gusset heel basic socks by Wendy Johnson. They were made from impulsively purchased Studioloo Bootsie (yarn spun and dyed by a local artist) in elephantgirl. I loved watching the colours materialize, although I did hope they would pool a little more organically. Admittedly, the stockinette got a little tedious, but I’m a dedicated sock knitter. There’s something very satisfying about wearing a handmade pair, especially in this unseasonably cold and wet weather.

Whenever I drop in to a yarn store without a specific project in mind, I’m inevitably drawn to yarn like this; there’s something irresistible about the skeins of soft, gorgeous, striped, multi-coloured sock yarn.  Nearly every impulse purchase in my stash is a single skein of sock yarn in several saturated hues.

The problem (other than the obvious cost): what to do with them?  When I buy them, I tell myself I will find a choose a challenging new sock pattern, but in reality, most textures look muddy in multi-coloured yarn.  There are some rare exceptions, like Cookie A’s fab wedge socks, but there’s only so many pairs of those I can make.  And so I have a number of flat socks and an even larger number of gorgeous, unused stashed skeins.  What are your favourite patterns for multi-coloured sock yarn? I’d love to hear your suggestions for this part of my stash!

Some of my sock stash: (left to right) Studioloo Bootsie in Birthday Cake, Cascade Heritage Paints in Wild Roses and stashed yarn of unknown origins

A finished sweater, just in time for spring?

We returned home this week to sleet, snow, and freezing rain, but at least I finished this hoodie (in Cascade Superwash Paints) to keep my son warm.  I’m so happy this improvised sweater turned out! I used this henley pattern from Knitting Pure and Simple, slightly changed the neckline to include a single button loop, replaced the ribbed cuffs with seed stitch and added a hood.

My son enjoying the first day of spring (?!?!?) in his new hoodie

My son frolicked around in all that icky snow, but I’m definitely ready for the spring promised by the calender today.  I hope the first day of spring finds you enjoying crocuses rather than slush!

Happy Spring!

Fraken-hoodie

Sometimes a single pattern just won’t do.  In this case, I loved the casual ease of the hoodie that I made last year for my niece and nephew. It looks great in the vibrant Cascade Superwash Paints, and both sweaters have gotten a lot of wear.  I wanted to make one for my son in the gorgeous blue colourway I spotted on my last trip to the LYS.  Unfortunately, it was a class pattern from my LYS, without much in the way of sizing variation.

My first two (size 18-24 month) raglan hoodies in two different colourways

I could have sat down and done the math to size this pattern up, but to be honest, sizing and fit are my weaknesses.  I’m really picky about how sweaters fit, but I cannot often muster the patience to rewrite every line of a pattern to fit the exact proportions of the recipient. In fact, it’s the reason I rarely make sweaters for myself. To make matters worse the original pattern just recommended different needle sizes and gauges for different sweater sizes.

Fortunately, I already had this Knitting Pure & Simple henley pattern.   When I made the size 2 henley over a year ago, I was really impressed with the proportions, which were perfect for my slim little guy.  All of their kid’s patterns contain detailed instructions for sizes from toddler to preteen. I love this pattern but I find it a little fussy for everyday preschool wear (especially since my son’s favourite outfits consist of t-shirts and sweatpants).

An old photo of my son in my first Knitting Pure and Simple top down henley

The solution was clear: fraken-pattern!  I used the sizing, gauge and stitch counts from the henley (this time in size 4), and the trims and details from the hoodie, with a few of my own touches added in there too.

Fraken-hoodie in progress, in Cascade Superwash Paints

Modifications:

1. The cuffs. The henley pattern called for ribbed sleeve and waist cuffs, knit on smaller needles. Instead I didn’t change needles and replaced the cuffs with a seed stitch border that sits flat, giving the sweater a more casual silhouette.
2. The neckline. I have never ever closed the neckline on a henley sweater or t-shirt, so I used the open neck with a 3 stitch wide seed stitch border from the hoodie pattern.  At the end, I’ll add a little i-chord and a single button, so that the neck can, on rare occasions, be pulled in tight against the wind.
3. 

   You can see the faux seam (in garter stitch) in the centre, above the green stitch marker

   The faux seams.  In Ann Budd’s excellent Top-Down Sweaters, she suggests adding a faux seam in top-down sweaters from the underarm to the waist.  They can be accomplished by purling or slipping a stitch under the arm, every second row.  This is my favourite knitting tip ever, it’s so easy and all seamless sweaters hang so much better with this little modification.

4. The hood.  The henley pattern calls for a ribbed collar; here I will just substitute in the hood instructions from the other pattern.

In a few days, we leave to visit my in-laws and soak up the sun in Florida, but I hope to finish this sweater first.  Maybe I’ll be able to snap a few photos of the finished product on my little guy. I think it’ll be perfect to keep him cozy on the plane…

Sunshine in mitten form

“Of course you knit those in February.  It’s like you tried to make sunshine in mitten form,” was my husband’s response upon seeing these mitred mittens, from Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Knitter’s Almanac. He is definitely on to something.  Winter still has us in its icy grips, but I am ready to bid adieu to slippery sidewalks, grey skies and slushy streets.  Fortunately this Noro Taiyo (#11) was leftover from my Paintbox Blanket, and it looks like spring.

I loved the way the Noro worked out on my previous experience with mitered knits (Zimmerman’s Baby Surprise jacket), so this pattern and the leftover yarn seemed like a perfect combo.  As I’ve written before her patterns are timeless, but often inscrutable.  These instructions are described by Zimmerman as “pithy,” and they certainly are.  The pattern also includes the nerve wracking instruction to cut a hole in the mitts, unravel a few stitches and knit the thumb.  I don’t have the nerve to take scissors to an otherwise completed piece of work. I was sure this was going to result in an unraveled sloppy mess.

Elizabeth Zimmerman’s mitred mitts in Noro Taiyo 11

Fortunately, it was ravelry to the rescue, many knitters had used Kathryn Ivy’s excellent set of instructions for a gusseted thumb to make these mitts.  The instructions are clear, and they result in a perfectly fit thumb, without any scissors.  The reccommended needle size (US 6) was way too big for me though, these were made on US 5.  The needle size is a little small for this yarn, but that’s perfect for mittens since the finished product is really quite dense, and I used nearly every yard! Now, until spring, I’ll have warm hands, that remind me sunny days are just around the corner…

Happy Valentine’s Day to … Me!

My pink Hedera socks in madelinetosh merino

This year, I’m stuck working late on Valentine’s Day (which is also my birthday!), so I decided to treat myself to a little gift: these holiday coloured-pink socks (Hederas free on Knitty and in Knit. Sock. Love).  Like many knitters, I often get caught up in working through a long list of Christmas and shower gifts and toddler sized sweaters are so fast and satisfying, I haven’t knit a sweater for myself in almost two years. When the last socks I knit for myself wore through earlier this month, I realized it was time to make something just for me.

So when I noticed the Knit. Sock. Love. knit-along on ravelry, I decided it was a perfect oppurtunity indulge.  I love how soft and cozy the madelinetosh merino is, even in this pretty, simple lace. I’m happy that they’ll be keeping me warm at work tonight.  And don’t worry, I have a little something for my long-suffering husband too,  I just didn’t knit it this year.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

All the Old Showstoppers (Part 1)

What keeps us coming back to the same patterns over and over again? Certainly, a familiar pattern is always faster and usually made with more technical proficiency, but there’s more to it than that.  A really great pattern demands to made over and over again.  Some patterns have that perfect mix of beauty, versatility, practicality and reliability that has you coming back to them again and again. These patterns are the ones that I love to make over and over again.

The worsted weight version in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino

Favourite hat:  I’ve written a few of my own hat patterns and tried countless others over the years, but the one I come back to again and again is the Dean Street Hat, which is available as a free ravelry download.  The pattern comes in chunky and worsted weight and every size from toddler to large headed adult, like me.  The texture has a nice density that keeps you warm. The cables are simple enough to knit swiftly but attractive enough to be special, and I’ve gotten countless compliments on the three that I’ve made.  All in all a classic.

My first Rocketry cardigan in Dream in Color Classy

Favourite baby sweater:  While my recent experience with Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Baby Sweater on Two Needles, had me second guessing this choice, Dream in Color’s Rocketry Baby Cardigan edged it out.  The advantage went to the Rocketry cardigan purely on the basis of it’s unisex appeal.  This adorable cardigan works well for boys and girls, and it’s a great stash buster.  The stripes keep the knitting interesting and make ensuring uniform sleeve length a breeze.  I’ve made it four times, twice in the suggested (but expensive) Dream in Color Classy, and twice in much more reasonable Lamb’s Pride wool.  It’s reliable and seamless, and works equally well as a six colour rainbow sweater and in simple three colour combinations (I’ve tried pink/white/black and red/navy/white).

Gusset heel toe up socks in unidentified stash yarn

Favourite socks: As a dedicated sock knitter this was a tough choice.  Lately, I’ve worn down the spine of Cookie A’s knit.sock.love and I was tempted to choose one of her innovative designs.  In the end, however, I went for simplicity: Wendy Johnson’s Gusset Heel Basic Socks, published in Socks from the Toe Up are fantastic.  The directions have an admirable clarity and they are perfect for showing off multicolour yarn or as a basis for your own experiments with texture.  The gusset heel is elegantly simple, providing lots of space for good fit across the top of the foot, without all of the slip stitch heel fuss.  I’ve had lots of knitters look at these and ask how I made such a clever heel, if only I could take the credit.

New Year’s Resolutions and New Year’s Knitting

My husband in my final holiday gift, Mona socks by Cookie A in madelinetosh merino

Now that I am finally done my holiday gifts, my mind has turned to the new year and new projects. As I set my intentions for 2013, one word came to mind: flexibility.   Physical flexibility to help my tattered knees through a new year of travel and adventure, but much more importantly mental and emotional flexibility to help me become a better parent, spouse, friend and family member.  This year, we hope to take our son on his first major trip (possibly to Iceland?) and I have a feeling that crossing the Atlantic (or part of it) with a toddler will tax my exisiting flexibility.

One of the traits I most admire in my husband, is his ability to abandon the long list of to dos and be in the moment with our son.  Maintaining a household with two working parents and one tiny person requires a lot of scheduling and managing, but in 2013, I resolve not to let the schedules and tasks prevent me from being present.  I resolve to let the little things slide, so that I have the energy and strength to do what’s most important.  Basically, I resolve to be more flexible.

Work begins on my legwarmers: yarn, Cables, Diamonds, Herringbone and a tricksy knitter pattern making book that my sister gave me for Christmas

I’ve taken this resolution to the yoga mat with me a lot this week, and that’s inspired my first project of 2013: leg warmers to make the trudge through the snow to the studio a little easier.  Legwarmers require minimal shaping, so they’re a great place to play with texture.  My parents bought me Cables, Diamonds and Herringbone for Christmas, and I’m experimenting with the lovely fisherman’s sweater textures to make my legwarmers in Cascade Superwash paints.  I can’t wait to get these finished and on my legs.  When I do, I’ll share pictures, and the pattern.

A few of my favourite (Christmas craft) things

A handmade ornament on our tree

I used to see Christmas as a much needed break from the grind of work or school, but having a child has fundamentally changed my feelings about the holidays.  Family traditions that I had not thought about since in years, are suddenly important again.  I want to make Christmas special again, and all of the old holiday rituals and traditions (and a few new ones) have taken on a new significance for me; they are now a source of joy for my son, and part of the heritage that we are passing on to him.  This is especially true this year, when at two and a half, he is starting to understand what is going on.

So with my newfound Christmas spirit, here is a list of my top five favourite holiday knitting (and other needlecraft) projects.

Smitten advent garland (photo taken from knitpicks.com)

5. Advent Calender.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get to this project this year, but next year, I will definitely be casting on an advent calender in the early fall.  I’ve yet to decide between these two patterns: Frankie Brown’s Advent Garland and Emily Ivey’s Smitten garland.  They both look fantastic.

4. Christmas tree skirt.  Ours was crocheted by one of my grandmothers, but there are lots of options on ravelry (including eight free knitting patterns), ranging from simple stockinette to cables and lace.  These are the types of objects that stay in families for decades, why not make it special?

My son’s stocking

3. Stocking.  I knit this stocking by Haley Waxberg, before my son’s first Christmas.  It’s basically a short row sock knit on big needles in bulky yarn.  Knitting a single favourite sock pattern on big needles is an easy way to go, but the possibilities are endless.

2. Gifts.  As I’ve rhapsodized before, there’s nothing like a handmade gift.  I like socks for adults and sweaters for kids, but there really is no wrong thing to make with love.

1. Ornaments.  Practically speaking, ornaments are really fast projects and excellent stash busters.  They make a perfect addition to an otherwise generic hostess or teacher gift of wine or a gift card.  In the past, I have attached these snowmen and poinsettas to gifts for almost everyone on my list.  There are over 600 free knitted ornament patterns available on ravelry (and a few dreidels too), so you are limited only by your imagination.  Most of the ornaments on our tree have a story to tell, from the tiny globe that we mark each year with last year’s travel, to baby’s first Christmas ornaments celebrating the births of my son, my husband and myself to the various knit, crocheted, sculpted and glued ornaments made by toddlers and grandparents over the years.  One of my grandfathers died when I was very young, and so my most vivid memories of him are actually of the stories that my mother would tell each year, while the ornaments were hung on the tree.  The history of our ornaments are the most important part of decorating the tree for me.

Season’s Greetings and Happy Knitting!

Fisherman socks and Canada’s Rock

Towards the end of One Week, on the beach in Tofino, a pair of German tourists tell Joshua Jackson’s character that he lives in a beautiful country.  On the one hand, it’s a little on the nose, but as Canadians sometimes we need European tourists to remind us of the total awesomeness of this country.  Too often, we look south or east for travel destinations, and miss the beauty, culture and adventure closer to home.

Chesterman beach in Tofino, BC

A few summers ago, in the spirit of patriotism and wanderlust, my husband and I decided to see both ends of the TransCanada highway.  Given our limited travel time and budget, we decided to fly to Newfoundland and drive across the province to St John’s in July, and to fly to Vancouver and drive to Tofino in August.

A carnivorous pitcher plant in Grosse Morne, Newfoundland’s provincial flower

Newfoundland has been on my mind this week, as I cast on these fisherman socks (my second last Christmas gift!).  My father’s favourite travel destination is Newfoundland, so it seems appropriate to make him a pair of fisherman socks to keep his feet warm on his twice daily dog walks (surprise, Dad!).

Newfoundland is a place of stark beauty and contradiction.  The landscape is harsh and cold, and the people are warm and friendly.  Many people in Newfoundland have been hard hit by the collapse of the fisheries in the 1990’s, and will tell you how happy they are to have found seasonal work in the tourism industry. However, their hardships have done nothing to diminish their spirits. Everything you have heard about friendly, open and easy going Newfoundlanders is true. They also have fantastic knitwear to keep them warm on their cold and beautiful rock in the North Atlantic, and I came home dreaming of creamy woolens, cables and gansey.

We started our trip camping in Grosse Morne and the landscape must be seen to be believed.  It was worth the total lack of groceries anywhere near by.

A lighthouse on the West coast of Newfoundland

The spectacular beach at the end of the Green Gardens trail in Grosse Morne

From Grosse Morne, we traveled east to St John’s. We missed a lot in Newfoundland’s north, including the Viking settlement at isolated L’anse Aux Meadows, but it’s always nice to have a reason to go back.  In St John’s, we walked the brightly coloured streets, got a sense of Newfoundland’s history at Signal Hill, and saw first hand the reason for Newfoundland’s hard partying reputation on George Street.

The brighty painted houses of St John’s

Puffin!

We also had one of the most spectacular travel experiences of my life in Bay Bulls.  My parents tipped us off the Colbert’s Puffin Tours.  A friendly former fisherman took us out in his fishing boat to tour a landscape that I cannot believe wasn’t covered in BBC’s Planet Earth.  I was awestruck and humbled by the beauty and power of nature, as we toured the bay, spotting puffins, terns and a humpback whale and calf.  I cannot wait to share this experience with my son, who I hope will one day be as transformed by it as I was.  It is impossible to see nature in this way, and not feel a desperate need not to protect it.

Humpback whale in Bay Bulls

We have no immediate plans to go back (writing this post has put Newfoundland on my summer shortlist though!).  For now I’ll have to content myself with fisherman socks and those PC holiday commercials!

Update (December 16):

Fisherman’s sock in Cascade Superwash Sport

I’ve finished the first fisherman’s sock.  The pattern was really small, but the 5 stitch repeat and the 1×1 ribbing made increasing the size a little tricky.  I cast on 46 sts, decreased to 45 sts in the first row below the cuff, worked a 22 sts heel flap and decreased down to 44 sts through the gusset (so that the top of the foot is 22 sts – 1 purl, 4 repeats of the pattern and 1 knit). It was a little twisted before blocking but warm, cozy and attractive on a foot!

How NOT to knit a hat

I often feel like I’m the only who has knitting projects flop, so I was relieved to read this blog post on frayed at the edges, about a project gone meh.  It turns out I’m not the only one who is sometimes disappointed by my projects… this weekend, I definitely suffered one such disappointments (or in this case, one such totally frustrating wastes of time).

This toque was supposed to save me time.  About a week ago, I realized that I had not allowed myself time to finish my ambitious holiday gift knitting (which, at the time included 6 pairs of light weight socks and a couple of toddler sweaters).  I flipped through my pattern library and rifled through my stash, hoping to find a lovely, faster gift that I could make with yarn I already have.

I landed on the Chunky Dean Street hat, which is available as a free ravelry download.  I’ve

My son in his chunky Dean Street hat, in Dream in Color Groovy

made the hat twice before, for myself and for my son, and I knew I could complete it quickly.  It’s warm and cuddly, and I had a gorgeous little ball of leftover Dream in Color Groovy in purple. I even had a touch of the Dream in Color in a complementary pink, if the purple didn’t make it.

Of course, I ran out of yarn, just before starting the crown decreases, so I went back, unravelled several rows of the hat and started to add pink stripes.  Everything seemed to be going well, and as we sat and watched a movie this weekend, I finished about half of the crown decreases before looking down at my ball of yarn.  I ran out of yarn 9 rows from the top.  At this point, I had to declare defeat.  Sure, I could have pulled out some random wool and completed the tip of the hat in a different colour, but this was a gift – it’s supposed to make the recipient feel special, not lead to awkward “Umm, gee, thanks. I love it?”s around the Christmas tree.

Fortunately, this clever little hat was there to help me out of a knitting jam. I had stashed the blue-green Dream in Color Classy years ago for a sweater I never made, so it also helped me fulfill my promise to my husband to work on those bins of yarn under the bed.  Now that I have a toddler, who outgrows shoes every 3 months, I rarely buy this wonderful $20/skein yarn, so knitting with it felt decadent.

The hat is based on an eighty stitch repeat, across eighty-one stitches, so the lines of purls twist becomingly around the hat.  I can’t wait to experiment with this idea (perhaps with some cables?) after I work through the rest of my holiday knitting.  Until then five gift projects down, four to go – next year, I’m starting in August!