Spring Forward

I love being at home and actually having time to knit. I borrowed a few knitting books from the library the other day so I’m planning to knit a few items from them – the Log Cabin Socks (Ravelry link) from Handknit Holidays and the Reversible Cabled-Rib Shawl (Ravelry link) from Vogue Knitting American Collection. I’ve been wanting to knit a shawl of some sort for a while now but I don’t think I have the patience and I’m not committed enough either. There’s a reason why I’ve never finished a knitted sweater. I also have a case of second sock syndrome.

I did manage to complete this pair of socks but I had to force myself to complete the second one. The first one flew off the needles. The pattern is Spring Forward from Knitty and it is so easy considering the final product. Every other row is stockinette and the rest is just a few decreases and yarnovers. I didn’t think it could be so simple. I really like how they came out except one is a little smaller than the other. I haven’t blocked yet so maybe that will help even things out. The yarn is from Tanis Fiber Arts in the Mallard colourway and I absolutely love it. It’s made of 80% superwash merino, 20% nylon so it’s warm, soft, durable and so so so cosy! The colours are amazing as well. I’m definitely going to get more of this yarn.

The colour is more similar to real life in the ones with the coloured backgrounds.

 

Exam stress

I realise I’ve been neglecting the blog a little lately, namely because exams are getting the better of me so I don’t have time to knit. But they’ll all be over in a month! I have a week off so I started a new pair of socks – Charade by Sandra Park. I’ve just turned the heel and I had a little problem with it but I think it’s just me because I looked up the errata and it wasn’t mentioned but when it said purl 5, I had to purl 9 to get it to work out properly.

I’m using a self-striping yarn by Online and the colours are so bright and pretty! I have a feeling that I’m knitting too tight but I hope it will work out because I hate frogging.

 

I have the sock knitting craze

I seem to just want to knit socks at the moment. I’ve spent hours on Ravelry over the past few days just scouring the sock patterns and I’ve found a few that I want to try out. I can’t wait! I love wearing handmade socks. I think the next up is Charade from I May Be Knitting A Ranch House (what a great name for a blog, by the way).

I just finished a pair of worsted weight socks using the Cable Twist Sock pattern from Hello Yarn. I really liked the pattern and the socks are comfortable and fit well. I used some Easy Knit 100% Mercerised Wool from Wal-mart in Avo Green. I was really surprised with how soft this yarn was, considering it was from Wal-mart. I’m very impressed and I’d buy it again.

Anywho, onto the socks:

This was my first attempt using the magic  loop method and I can certainly see why so many people love it. I do prefer dpns but if I need to take some knitting while travelling, I would probably make a sock using magic loop. It’s easier to try the sock on, you don’t lose your needles and it’s better for travelling projects. It was a bit tricky to hold the needles in the right places at the beginning but I soon got used to it and it was fine.

 

A Cable Twist Sock

I haven’t had the chance to do much knitting lately as I’ve had way too much schoolwork but I’ve been dying to make some socks recently. I only had some cheap worsted-weight 100% mercerised wool, which I got from Wal-mart but it actually seems to be pretty nice. I picked out the Cable Twist Socks by Hello Yarn through a long session on Ravelry and cast on for them last night. The pattern seems quite interesting although you can see I didn’t get far before I realised I’d made a mistake but I am determined to finish the pair!

 

Lacy sock

For Christmas I got ‘Love to Knit’ by Bronwyn Lowenthal and I really like some of the patterns it has. They’re all really simple and pretty fashionable patterns and they’re geared towards younger knitters. The only problem that I’ve found with the book so far is that all the patterns are only given in one size, meaning you would have to alter the patterns if you aren’t the ‘right’ size. This is the first project I tried out of this book and I’ve already cast on for my second project (before casting on for the second sock, oops).

 I think this sock looks cute. It reminds me of the socks that I used to wear when I was really small. It’s supposed to have two buttons at the top to hold it closed but I haven’t gotten around to that yet, I haven’t even weaved the ends in. It is knit flat in one piece, with one seam going around the foot and up the side of the leg. This means that the pattern for each foot is different so the seam is on the outside of the leg. I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Fisherman and US size 2 (2.75mm) needles. The yarn suggested was a sport-weight yarn, such as Rowan Pure Wool DK so I thought that the sock might end up a bit bigger with the thicker yarn. I was wrong. It actually ended up smaller so now the sock is pretty tight.

I don’t know if I will cast on for the second sock but this project was fast and fun to knit. A sport-weight yarn would have been much better for this sock though.

 

Finished Jaywalkers!!!

Yay! I’ve finally finished my second Jaywalker to keep the other lonely sock company. They seem to have been on the needles for ages, not because I didn’t want to work on them, but because I left them at home while at school. Anyway, they are made of Lana Grossa Meilenweit Multiringel in colour 5030 (80% wool, 20% polyamide) and they are scrumptious. They’re warm and cosy and warm. Very warm. Do I even need to say the pattern is Jaywalkers from Magknits? I’m very happy with these socks, especially seeing as they’re my second pair. I completely understand why everyone is obsessed with them and I recommend them to one and all! Also, the striping miraculously matches…almost. If you examine this picture, you’ll notice that the stripes are really, really similar. Amazing. I couldn’t have planned it better.

 

Finished Jaywalker (note the singular)

I have finished my first ever Jaywalker and have already faithfully cast on for the second. It fits me perfectly and it’s so warm! I now completely understand why everyone loves Jaywalkers so much. On my first attempt I was knitting too tightly so I had to frog but second time around I got the tension perfect. Also, I love the way the colours come out!

The yarn is Lana Grossa Meilenweit Multiringel in 5030. The pattern is, of course, Jaywalkers by Magknits.

 

 

FOs! Finally!

Yay! I have finally finished a few of my projects even though it seems I never finish any of them. Anyway, onto the pictures…

This is the Short ‘n Sweet from The Happy Hooker and I made it using a 400g/14oz skein (approx 655m/710yds) of Bernat Handicrafter Cotton in Baby Blue (100% cotton) and I still have about half of it left. I made it exactly as the pattern said except I shortened the sleeves by four rows. I do like it but the cotton was cheap so it’s not that comfortable and it’s heavy. The whole thing took me about three days although I haven’t blocked it yet.If I made it again I’d use something much softer and lighter like acrylic – maybe Caron Simply Soft. Also, I’d use a stronger colour. All the best Short ‘n Sweets that I’ve seen posted on Craftster are in strong colours. Anyway, I recommend the pattern!

Next is my very first pair of socks. I didn’t have any fingering weight yarn so I used two skeins of Bernat Natural Blends Cashmere (65% acrylic, 30% nylon, 5% cashmere; 94m/103yds per 60g skein). I think they came out quite well and although they’re too bulky to wear with shoes, they’re really comfortable so I can wear them around the house. I used the Easy Worsted Socks pattern (pdf) and I’m very pleased with them although the ribbing is too loose so they refuse to stay up.

 

And last, but not least, my Saturday Market Bag using the alterations from Disdressed. I used Bernat Handicrafter Cotton (100% cotton; 73m/80yds per 50g skein) in Ivory and I think I used about one and a half skeins. The pattern is very easy and is a really fast knit so I definitely recommend it. The bag is wonderfully stretchy and fits loads in it!

 

New yarn, joy of joys!

A few days ago I received a package from Little Knits who are having a massive sale at the moment.

From the left: three balls of Cascade Fixation #5398, two balls of Regia Crazy Colour #5260, five balls of King Cole Big Value DK in Golden Mustard and one ball of Lana Grossa Meilenweiten Multiringel #5030.

I was kind of expecting a different colour for the King Cole but that’s what I get for ordering without a picture but I’m in love with everything else! Especially the Lana Grossa because I hadn’t realised that I’d ordered it so it was a nice surprise. I’ve already started on my first pair of Jaywalkers using it. Hopefully it will be enough for both socks.