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River

  

Oh yeah, she's done!

The results, though, I'm quite happy with.

Specs

Pattern River by Sharon Miller in Rowan 38
Yarn KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud 100% Baby Alpaca in Tidepool. Approx 350 yards.
Needles 5mm (US 8) Bryspun circs
Mods & Thoughts

• The needles -- I wanted to like them, I really did. The cord is amazing. I could sit and play with the cord, bending it this way and that. It's a great tactile experience. I even really like the way the needles feel in my hand. Their points are nice -- not too sharp, not too dull. But, I don't like their lack of weight. Would I use them again? Probably not.
• Number of repeats I did 14 or 15 repeats instead of 11. I could have done 1 or 2 more but I just wanted this thing to be over!
• Yarn This is very nice yarn, and for the price this is amazing yarn. It gets a tad fuzzy -- sorta like a mohair halo -- and is wonderfully soft.
• Blocking This was so quick to block! It went from a big puddle of yarn (pic on the left) to a lovely undulating lacy thing (pic on the right) in just a couple hours. The hardest part was finding a place to pin it out that had a fan and could be Isabella-free until it dried. In the end a spray bottle of water ensured the latter. poor Isabella

I sub'd a non-mohair yarn because I wanted to make something that I could wear everyday. I think I succeeded. In the pic above I'm wearing it with my denim jacket. I know you don't see the intricacies of the lace but I'm OK with that. I'm not a traditional lace-wearing sorta girl. I like knitting lace though, so this is a perfect compromise. I get to knit it and wear it.

I could have picked a color with more contrast (maybe one of the light blue shades?) but green is my favorite color.

I finished this thing just in time. This weekend is was windy and in the 30s, and my lacy alpaca scarf was just the ticket to keeping me warm without feeling like a bundled up kid during the first snow
storm of the season.

Read the full archives on this project

Jaywalker Socks

      

Specs

Pattern Jaywalker. 84 stitch sock at 9 spi (pattern recommended just under 8 spi but I liked the yarn better at 9).
Yarn Tess Super Socks in an unknown coloway (if I had to guess I'd say Confetti). Is it just me or does Tess not mark the hanks with the colorway?
Yardage I used 80 grams which translates to approximately 360 yards.
Needles 2-2.5mm/US 1 Addi Turbos

Mods

I made several small mods to the pattern.

• I used a tubular cast-on and did a 1x1 rib instead of a 2x2 rib at the top.
• I used 2 circs instead of DPNs. The pattern adjusted to the circs just fine, but you did need to think about where to split between the 2 circs. Because of the way the pattern increases and decreases you need to split the circs right where 2 increases occur. In order to do this and still have the pattern look right you also need to do the first increase at the end of needle 2 (so the increases are right next to each other). I don't know if I'm explaining this well, but leave a comment if this doesn't make sense. It's not critical that you split the needles this way, but if you don't you'll have to reshuffle stitches every 7 or 8 rows.
• Garter stitch short row heel. I didn't follow any pattern for this so I'm not sure I did this correctly. I wrapped all but 9 sts for the 84 stitch sock. When going to pickup the wraps I had to pickup the WS wraps differently. This surprised me at first since it's garter st. On the WS rows I lifted the wraps off of the stitch that it wrapped. So from right to left my left-hand needle had 2 wraps and then the stitch itself. Then I did a sssk (knitted all 3 together). This formed the best-looking RS. If anyone knows of a better way to pickup wraps on the WS of garter stitch please let me know!
• Once I finished the heel I needed to decrease a bit. So I added in a 3-stitch gusset. The first 3 rows after I finished the heel included the double decreases at the sides. After that I did a SSK or K2tog just like the pattern says.

Thoughts on the yarn

This yarn is a dream to knit with! I can't believe I've had Tess sock yarn in my stash for a year! It is very stretchy and with 20% nylon I expect it will hold up well. There was a considerable difference in softness once I washed them. I washed the first sock as soon as I was done and you could really tell which one had been washed. The yarn did lose some magenta color when washing but I only knew that because of the color of the water. The yarn itself remained vivid.

Mistake Rib Scarf

Pattern Mistake Rib: CO 23. Every Row: *K2 P2* to last 3 sts, K2 P1. Slip first stitch of each row knitwise.

Yarn Knit Picks Decadence 100% Superfine Alpaca in Winter Berry. 2 full hanks (242 yards) for scarf and approx 30 yards for fringe.

Needles 6mm/US 10. I started with my Boyes because I love knitting narrow items on my straights. But, the point of the needle combined with the loose spin of the yarn caused extra splitting. I switched out to Addi circs and it was better. Even still, the US 10s killed my hands and I took several days off before knitting the last portion of this scarf.

Size 71 inches long without fringe and 6 inches wide. In my opinion this is a perfect length for a scarf. It's longer than I usually do and I love it. The width will probably decrease 1-1.5 inches with wear if it's anything like my mistake rib scarf.

Zipo

Pattern Zipo from the All Seasons Cotton Collection
Yarn All Seasons Cotton in Slash (color 161) -- less than 13 balls
Mods I loosely followed the pattern. I used the slip stitch ribbing but knit the whole sweater in the round. I wanted to go in between two sizes so I modified the neck and shoulders to fit. I also used the Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns for a modified drop shoulder. I wanted a comfy and cozy fit, but not overly sloppy.

Sockapal2za

Yarn Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Lilac. 1-1/3 hanks

Pattern Waving Lace by Evelyn Clark in IK Spring 2004

Mods Toe-up

The pattern was very easy to modify to be toe-up.

CO 32 using figure 8 onto 2 circs. Knit one row.

Increase Row On each needle K1, inc 1, knit to within 1 stitch of edge, inc 1, K1.

After you have 52 sts (26 sts per needle), do an increase row followed by a plain row until there are 64 stitches total.

Knit 4 rows plain. I do this because I don't like the patterning to start that close to the toe. This is just my own personal preference.

Begin patterning Knit the wave pattern on one needle and knit the second needle plain. Knit this way until the sock is about 1.5 inches shorter than the foot.

Heel Do a short row heel until, keeping 16 sts unwrapped, and 8 sts wrapped on either side.

Begin Leg Continue knitting the pattern on one needle and st st on the other needle until you're at either a Row 1 or Row 11. Then knit the pattern across both needles.

Knit until the leg is the desired length. I knit 3.5 repeats.

Cuff I followed the scalloped edging chart, simply turning it upside down (knitting Row 14 first).

Cast off Cast off using your favorite stretchy cast off. I used EZ's sewn cast off.

Clapotis

pattern Clapotis by Kate Gilbert

yarn Silk Merino by Over the Rainbow Yarns. I love the yarn but like many other bloggers, I don't think the skein was as long as advertised -- resulting in a shorter than I'd like Clapotis.

Needles 4.5mm/US 7 Addi Turbos

Notes After a couple repeats I read a suggestion somewhere about purling the dropped stitches to avoid the need for all those stitch markers. Once I did this it moved a lot faster.

Sockapalooza Socks

all done!

These socks were such a pleasure to knit up! It's the first time I've knit a sock with cotton in it.

Yarn

Regia Cotton Surf. They come in big 100g balls and I have about 7 grams leftover. The yarn has about 40% wool in it which gives it a nice resiliency and stretch, but the cotton makes it lighter weight and less warm -- perfect for in between season wearings.

Matching the Stripes

I'm really happy with the way these stripes match. I wrote a bunch about how I did it here.

Washing the Sock

When I first knit the sock it had a ridge along the joins between the 2 circs (the opposite of ladders -- it was from pulling too tightly). I had never had that happen on wool socks before and I wasn't sure if it would relax. But it did! If you look at the pic it's completely gone.

Picot Edge Hem

Since I knit these toe-up I had to hem in the picots when they were done. My first try created too tight of a hem. I finally went with a Kitchnered hem. There's a great illustration in Montse Stanley's book on how to Kitchner a hem in place. It's similar to kitchnering garter stitch. I was S-L-O-W but it worked -- took about 1.5 hours per sock! And it's as stretchy as the rest of the sock.

I like the way this worked but I don't see many toe-up picot edged socks in my future. 3 hours on hems? Seriously.

Pattern

Just a regular old toe-up with short row heel. I used a figure 8 toe with no slip knot so I could go back and pull it tighter once I had knit a few inches. I made the sock 10% smaller in width than my sock pal's foot, and I reduced the leg by 8 stitches about an inch above the heel because it seemed too wide for sock legs. I did a basic YO K2tog picot edge, followed with 4 or 5 rows of stockinette, and then the Kitchner hem.

Paul's Grey House Socks

Specs

Pattern: No real pattern. Tubular cast on, an inch of 1x1 rib, 5 inches of 2x2 rib, plain stockinette for an inch, Japanese short-row heel and a basic toe with the last few decreases done every row.
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease
Gauge: 5.5 spi -- much tighter than what's specified. This makes a nice dense sock that's still cushy and warm.
Needles: 2 Addi Turbo 4 mm (US #6) Circulars

Hanging Vines Scarf

I am really happy with the way this turned out! Although the picture would have you think otherwise, all the edges do V out in a nice pattern.

Specs

Pattern - Heartstrings Hanging Vines Scarf with 2 center panel repeats (73 stitches total). I purchased the pattern at Elann.
Yarn - Schaefer Anne, less than 1 hank
Needles - Addi Natura 4.5 mm (US #7)
Finished Measurements - 20"x60". It should really be longer and a bit narrower but that's as long as my blocking board goes. I'm going to have to either get blocking wires or an inexpensive rug runner if I plan to make more of these.
Comments - The yarn was a dream to work with. It didn't split and even behaved well on the K3tog's. Blocking took all of a couple hours. I washed it with Eucalan (the water did get pink but no noticeable color was lost), pinned it on my blocking board and turned on the ceiling fan.

As I mentioned above, I will look into buying blocking wires if I get the lace knitting bug. And since I have 3 more hanks of Anne in my stash I think there's a good chance I'll be making more lace scarves!

Natalya Gauntlets

specs

• pattern: my own!.
• yarn: 2 balls of Classic Elite Lush in black
• needles: 2 4mm/US #8 Addi Turbos

comments

My first real pattern! I made these for Kelly for Christmas. They're really warm and really soft.