Category: socks

  • things other people have said

    The Knitpicks circs? Friggin’ rock. Well…I will say that this opinion is currently limited to the 2 mm ‘classic’ circular. I’m not that hot on the interchangeables – too heavy, I don’t like having to screw on the tips (and some of them were really hard to get on; also, hard to grip due to slipperyness), and I found them too loud. Denise needles are nice and quiet.

    The point is really nice, though. I started this sock on Addis and switched to the Knitpicks, and that super pointy tip sure helps with the twists! It just gets right in there!

    They’re the “Traveler’s Stockings” from Knitting on the Road, in some superwash sock yarn I dyed, and I’m really liking it. I’m glad this chart ends after 35 rows, though – it’s a bit slow for me. I do like knitting stockinette socks – just round and round, little to no thinking involved. Needed a bit of a challenge, though, and I think these qualify.

    I’m done the body of Raspy (photo taken earlier in the day):

    I’ve started a sleeve. I think I’ll take out some rows here and there, but I don’t want them too end up too short!

    I’ve had itchy fingers lately (both figuratively and literally – damn eczema is flaring up a bit) and I want to cast on for a whole bunch of things at once. I think I just might…the other thing is that I want to buy yarn for projects I want to knit. Ha! Like I’m going to immediately cast on for all these things?

    The stash thing is kind of getting out of hand. So I’ve got a plan, I think a doable one – no yarn buying till the Kitchener-Waterloo Knitter’s Fair, where I can buy some stuff; then, no yarn buying till Rhinebeck. I have plenty to keep me busy!

    And just a quick aside in finishing of old projects – anyone have a recommendation of where I can buy some 8 mm mother of pearl beads to put on my Vintage Blue Cardigan? I want to go non-plastic on this one.

    ETA: Alexandra suggested and ebay seller and I’ve already bought some! Vintage round buttons with a shank for nine cents each. Can’t beat that! Thanks for all the suggestions.

  • oh, the carnage

    So I go outside this morning to water my plants, and what do I see?

    A knocked over container (carrots, but they weren’t doing so hot anyway), and a hole dug pretty much all the way down to the bottom of the squash pot:

    And then….the peppers. Oh, my precious, precious peppers!

    Darn rascals got ’em all. Dammit. At least there are flowers, so there can be more peppers. I guess I’ll have to put a cage around them! Argh!

    Anyway. In FO news, I have some new socks all done.

    Strange Little Mama socks
    Pattern: basic, on 64 sts, short row heel
    Yarn: Vesper sock yarn, Strange Little Mama
    Needles: Addi Turbo US0
    Finished: August 6, 2006

    They’re a really good fit, nice and snug. And the turbos were fine for a plain stockinette sock, although picking up the short row wraps kind of sucked. Now, though, I have some Knitpicks circs and they rock! More on that tomorrow.

  • loose bind offs and cashmere

    Item #1: Knitters that complain of too-tight bind offs at the tops of toe-up socks – where are you?

    That’s the first of the Sock Candy ankle socks (they’re actually higher than I expected – I weighed the skein as I went and knit right to 50%) and as you can see, there’s a bit of a problem. I wasn’t really trying to bind off loosely or anything, just with normal tension and in pattern (2×2 rib). Obviously I’m going to have to go back and do it again tighter! Maybe even go back to before the ribbing and decrease, since it does hit at a skinner place on the leg.

    Item #2: Cashmere. I spun cashmere, and lo, it was…difficult. Man was it hard.

    So slippery and short. I tried short draw – I don’t have much experience with it, and it’s too slow and too much effort. So many movements! I tried from the fold – okay, better than short draw, but I dunno.

    Finally have mostly settled on a sort-of long draw – I pinch the twist back with my right hand, draft back with my left hand and slide them along together as a unit, more or less. It’s rather thick and thin, but still – so soft. I have another 50 g to spin up, then it’s plying time.

    Unfortunately…there’s a bit of scurf in the fibre. It didn’t bother me at first, but I’m thinking it’s more gross as I’m going. It’s really not much, but still. (In case you don’t know what it is…it’s like goat dandruff/skin cells/ew.)

    Bonus spinning photo – the second skein of the colourway from last time – you can see how even though the top layer on the bobbin is fuschia, it’s blue underneath! This one has less fuschia, I think.