Monthly Archives: February 2007

the dark side

First up, the love for socks is definitely back!

jitterbug'n

I just finished a pair of socks for the boyfriend’s brother (the fact that he is visiting town this weekend was probably a good motivating factor) – I got the second sock knit in 2 days! It’s not one of those huuuuge man socks, just a bit longer on both the cuff and foot than I do for myself. But, it is out of Lorna’s Laces on 2 mm. So I’m pretty proud of that. Photos to come.

The sock above is from the class on sock knitting I taught the last two weeks – the second week we did a short-row heel, so mine’s in the middle of the foot now. It’s Colinette Jitterbug, which despite it being quite thick, I’m knitting on 2 mm needles as well – and it’s still not really as tight a fabric as I’d like. The colours are awesome though, and it feels really lovely.

Today I went to that shiny, glitteriest of all stores, the bead store…Arton. I may have spent much more than I intended to. I did used to do a lot of beading when I was a kid, mainly a lot of daisy chains. I suppose I never really learned the “right” way with crimp beads and pliers and such, but my creations still turned out well! I’m embarking on a bit more of an ambitious project though…a multi-stranded, short-ish necklace out of mainly fiery red crystal and stone beads (with a few clear and gold thrown in) with a cool magnetic slide lock clasp and yes, crimp beads.

I have to go back tomorrow for the crimp beads, since I had no idea what I was doing when I was in the store and forgot a couple things. Like…proper cord. I did buy some, but it’s not quite right. So, tomorrow.

Stay tuned!

FO – “Cotton” raglan

It’s done! Finished in time to actually get worn a few times before winter’s over.

Organic Wool Raglan

Organic Wool Raglan
Pattern: Cotton Raglan from Melissa Leapman’s “Cables Untangled”
Yarn: O-wool in Oatmeal, 8 skeins – one a different dye lot
Needles: Denise US 8

Notes:
There’s an error in the chart for this pattern – the right and left twist stitches in each pattern row should be the same as for the first row in order to make the column of stitches look as in the photos.

I really like the sweater, but it’s a bit chunky-making, so no modelled photos today. It’s perhaps greatly the fault of the sleeves; they are too baggy at the upper arm for me, and it just makes the whole thing look big. I actually did kind of realize while I was knitting it that the sleeve looked a little wide, but I didn’t do anything about it…oh, well. It’s okay.

The raglan is also a bit long for me – could have been solved by binding off stitches at the beginning of the raglan shaping! Strangely, this pattern just has you start decreasing, so no underarm gusset. The neck was also really wide before I did the collar; could’ve been solved by doing more raglan decreases.

Instead of the cabled collar in the pattern, I just picked up (2 of every 3 stitches because I wanted the neck to be narrower) and knit some stockinette for a rollneck. It actually doesn’t roll enough when I’m wearing it! The stockinette just sort of flattens out.

cables closeup

The cable pattern is fun to work and easy to memorize. I cabled without a cable needle – I’d say that’s pretty imperative in a pattern with lots of twists!

It’s nice and toasty. And the organic wool is SUPER. I love it – lots of plies, feels sturdy but isn’t at all itchy. Great yardage and price, too! (If you want to order some for yourself, we’ve got lots at lettuce knit!)

Now, the new project of the week (along with some socks I’m trying to get done):

ladder lace shrug

A ladder lace shrug to wear with my hot black halter dress to rachel m’s wedding next weekend! I’m using super soft and luxe Sublime Merino Silk Aran (it’s black). Done the first sleeve, now motorin’ along the back.

P.S. I’ve added some more stuff to the destashing page, mostly sock yarn. Email me at cosmicpluto at cosmicpluto dot com to claim!