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It's been a while

since I finished something. I finished the twirly whirly in late August or early September. It's just a bit of fun, but Katie seems to appreciate it as a new thing to sit on.

It was satisfying to use wool that I had dyed, carded, blended and spun.

Then last night I finished a pair of socks. I used Koigu KPPM, which I love. These will count as one of my 10 in 2010 challenge because I had the wool in stash. I started a new job last month and am a commuter again, which means I'll be able to do some sock-knitting and get through some of the several kilos of sock yarn I have.

On the needles (actively, if you know what I mean) I have a pair of Leyburn socks, which I'm making out of Malabrigo sock yarn (Stonechat), and a shawl/scarf called Vlinder made out of gorgeous Shilasdair luxury 4-ply (it's cashmere, angora and lambswool).

Last weekend we took Peter down to Exeter for the start of his university course. I saw this lovely doorway in the cathedral close.

I don't know anything about it because we didn't have time to investigate, but aren't the repeating patterns knittable!

The plan

Plan

To knit a pair of hand-dyed, handspun socks.

Execution

1    Take some carded 'Kent lambswool' (possibly Romney?) fleece, divide into several portions and dye each a different colour using Landscape acid dyes.

2    Card each colour to loosen up the fibres after dyeing.

3    Subdivide the colours and combine on the carder to make blended colours. Each little sausage is blended 2 to 3 times - no more because there is a danger of over-processing the fibre, which produces neps (tangles). Also, I don't want the colours to be too homogenised.

Well, that's how far I've got so far. Next is the spinning!

Energised

There was a brief discussion on one of the Ravelry boards about whether it is a good thing to frog (rip back) unfinished projects that are hibernating. I had just frogged the two single socks that I mentioned before and I said I thought doing this releases creative energy. Well, I must have actually meant what I said!

Yellow socks: done and worn.

Red socks: done and on my feet as I type (but not with my feet).

New pair of socks in Trekking (plain, Dawn!): started.

Languishing scarf for Thomas in his old school colours: picked up, being knitted and due to be presented at Christmas (I am knitting this in secret).

Aran for my brother: sleeve nearly finished. I realise it won't be possible to finish this for Christmas (even if I hadn't picked up the husband scarf) and so I will present it with one completed sleeve and then I will be able to assess whether I have got all the measurements right.

'Pretty Thing' by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee: a Christmas present for one sister-in-law under way in cashmere that I dyed myself in the summer. I can't link to Ravelry just at the moment - it seems to be down - but the pattern is up there. It's a very pretty little lacy cowl and I'm loving knitting it.

 

Ideas for hats, tea cosies, gloves and mittens: circulating in my head but being resisted just for a little bit longer.

A bit of a sort-out

I've felt rather stale about my knitting because I'm committed to a long-term project (an aran jersey for my brother) and have so many partly knitted projects that I couldn't justify or even enjoy casting on anything new. I did some sorting and found two single socks that could be frogged and a pair of socks that had been virtually finished for many months. All that was wrong was that I had done a really bad job on grafting the toes. I soon had the grafting undone and done up again and here is an FO!

 

They are knitted in Oxford Kitchen Yarns sock yarn (citrus). I love the colour. I made up the leg pattern - it's just five stitches plain and one stitch of knit one row and purl the next (i.e. garter stitch). I like to do three stitches of garter stitch down the sides of my heel flaps. These socks were intended for my son, but now he's at university there's no way I'm letting him take them to the launderette! There's a lot of knitting in these socks - 2 mm needles and mansize feet. I'll see if my husband fancies yellow socks. He might just.

I have also picked up another pair of socks that have been hanging around for a long time. As you can see, there's not far to go now (on the second sock). These are Regia, and for me.

 

I'm now in the delightful position of being able to ponder my next sock project. I usually have a pair on the go. Now that I'm not commuting regularly they're taking a lot longer to knit, unfortunately.

I picked these out of my stash and have not decided which one to use:

 

From bottom left going clockwise, we have Sheldridge Farm Soft Touch in a gorgeous plum, Jojoland Melody in green and purple, and Trekking Maxima in ... well you can see the colours! I can't decide whether I want to do plain knitting and self-striping (Melody and Maxima) or a stitch pattern (Soft Touch). Or I could perhaps make another pair of Monkeys with the Maxima. Or perhaps I'll take another stash dive!