New Year, New Socks.

... not that I've finished them yet!
But they're moving along nicely. I think I've hit my stride in knitting just your plain, basic socks. I grabbed this ball of yarn and needles to take with me to mum and dad's place on Boxing Day, after I did something not-quite-right after turning the heel on LeTissier's beaded cabled sock I'm (still) plugging away at. I might ask for a little assistance from the always lovely and talented Dianne when I'm back at KnitNight next week.

I'm a little disappointed to report that I'm nowhere near finished Lola-Frog's 2009 blanket... although to finish up to and including October (I think it was October, anyway!) is no mean feat in itself. As soon as I get one little poncho out of the way, I'll crank out another couple of squares, and block the three or four I've got sitting in my knitting bag, just waiting to be displayed!

Stashin'

Sock yarn, sock yarn, la la la la sock yarn!

Not that I'm knitting anywhere near the numbers of socks required to keep up with the amounts of yarn I'm stashing. *sigh*. But this stuff is different.These two are earmarked to be socks from Cookie A's 'Sock Innovation' book.They're Araucania Ranco Multi sock yarn, and I'm in love with the colourways. That's mostly the reason I bought them...

Lavender and Lilacs

The light was bad, but I just had to get some photos of the Cabled Beaded Sock as it is right now, alongside the lavender and lilacs in my Mum's garden, cause that's just where I feel the colours are from!
It's a lovely pattern to knit, and very well written (Thanks, Lynette!) by LeTissier designs in British Columbia, Canada. It's my first attempt at knitting anything other than plain socks, and I LOVE how these are turning out!

Sadly, I've put them aside in the last Wednesday in a big hurry... My little sister, Lucy, was turning 24 on the Saturday, and we'd arranged to take her out for dinner on Sunday night. I figured, as I bought the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, that if I got stuck into the pattern right away (Humanity, by Denise Lotter - Rav. link), I should be able to get a couple of fingerless mitts done quite easily by Sunday. Especially during a trip to and from Sydney on Saturday, which gave me an additional two knitting hours.

So, it was decided. I cast on Wednesday afternoon and got all the way up to the start of the thumb gusset by Thursday afternoon (couldn't work on it Wednesday night - we were with Lucy for dinner!), and I resolved to have the gusset done during KnitNight Thursday evening. Maybe even right up to the cast-off point.

The bottom fell out of the plan right around now. I may have not been reading the instructions correctly, maybe I was distracted by chatting with everyone at KnitNight... but I cocked up the gusset, big time. The increases were messy and disorganised, and after I'd ploughed through the gusset (delusional, I know), I found I had way too many stitches. I tried ripping it back, but couldn't get the needles back in where they should be.

And, fighting back the urge to cut the whole damned thing up into tiny, tiny pieces and feed it to the cat, I frogged the whole bloody thing. Dianne noticed I was muttering to myself a lot that night! I fished around in my bag and pulled out an old faithful standby: Fetchings. I cast on (again) and set to work. *sigh*

Here's Lola-Frog, all dressed up and ready to go visiting friends in Sydney on Saturday. Recognise the top?
Yeah, it's her 'Rainbow Dress', shortened to be a top since she's not walking yet. The yarn is that cotton that I dyed months ago for her - it didn't quite knit up into the big stripes I'd envisioned, but I like it nonetheless, and it suits her little yellow daks. If I could change anything, I'd alter the shoulders a bit for her, this is knit in the two year-old size since she's such a Gigantor, so the shoulders are pretty wide for her.
I think she's laughing at me and those damned fingerless mittens.

More on those next post.

What are you proudest of making?

I received a very thought-provoking email newsletter from 'Knitting Daily' a couple of weeks ago, entitled "What are you proudest of making?", and it piqued my inspiration for another blog post (can one 'pique one's inspiration', I wonder? Oh well, I'll say I can.)

So, what am I proudest of making?

1. Mohair cowl-neck jumper, also known as 'My First Jumper'. I had been knitting blanket squares for what seemed like forever, when Mum handed me a big bag from Victoria House with balls of Heirloom Picasso, needles and a Patons (or was it Cleckheaton? Maybe it was Cleckheaton.) pattern book, saying to me "Here. Now knit something useful!".

I discovered that with my ability to knit, purl, increase and decrease, I really could make myself something wearable. The colours are a dark rainbow of sorts, reminding me of an oil slick. I followed the pattern to the letter. The ribbing is riddled with errors, hidden mercifully within the fuzzy mohair; the seams are lumpy and awkward, as I had no idea about weaving pieces together; and the entire thing is enormous, as I was convinced that the best size to knit would be The Biggest. Because, after all, I could wear something that was too big, I couldn't wear something too small.

2. My First Socks; continuing the 'My Firsts' theme I have going here. There is something amazing about knitting your first pair of socks. Realising I could knit a tube using five needles was a revelation, and turning a heel to create a specially-placed dent in the tube was, well, mind-blowing. I credit Stephanie Pearl-McPhee with helping me make sense of it all, and showing me just how easy it really is. Plus, handknit socks really really impress knitting Muggles: "Oh, these? Just something I whipped up myself..."

3. My 'Raspberry Clapotis' and my 'Baby Mine': Firstly, 'Baby Mine'... I can knit lace? Yep. I can knit a seamless garment? Yep. A challenging and extremely rewarding knit - I loved it. It was this and my 'Raspberry Clapotis' that I believe helped my Mum (who taught me to knit) to see my knitting in a whole new way. When looking at the half-finished Clapotis on weekend, she commented that I seem to knit like I'm creating art. She has also mentioned that my Gran (her mum, who taught me to knit the second time) would be so proud to see my knitting. I'm instantly proud of anything I've made that can prompt a compliment from my mum.

4. WonderBoy's Weasley Sweater: The first knitting I've done where I've really thought about gauge, yarn substitution and the mathematics of size. It turned out reasonably successful, and I'm extremely proud of not just knitting what the pattern says.

And, in a preemptive listing on the 'Proud-O-Meter', I have a very warm feeling about Lola-Frog's 2009 blanket. Each month, I feel good about the squares I'm completing, and I'm so proud to think that she'll be have a tangible, huggable reminder of how I felt about her arrival.

Knitting speaks volumes, and I love that.

Embracing Toddlerhood

I am in the calm point of my day at the moment, and thank goodness for that because I am having such crappy thoughts about today that I felt just about ready to punt my firstborn out a window.

That's kind of why I'm not saying 'today is crappy' or that 'I'm having a crappy day', as it suggests that the day you experience is subjected on you, which is bollocks. You are the person in control of how you experience your time and perceive those experiences, so I certainly do not like to hand responsibility for my time over to some omniscient presence.

I feel really crappy about today because I am reacting to WonderBoy's (developmentally appropriate) toddler behaviour in such appalling ways, and I cannot begin to fathom why - especially since over the last few days I have been ultra patient with him and really enjoying time spent with him.

Today, ever since we got up, I'm losing my temper so much more easily and shouting when he does something wrong or silly, or just plain doesn't listen (all things he's supposed to be doing now - he is only two years eight months old), and that is sometimes the worst, because then you see what a hypocrite you're being when you're asking him to speak politely to you. Sigh.

I'm going to knit on Little One's duffel coat for awhile, then put my head down and practice my Calm Breathing. I'm going to focus on a few (there were a few) of the happier things we did today, and on how much I love the little bugger. Hopefully when he wakes up, I can behave like the mother he deserves.

All part of being in a family, isn't it?That's me, lying on the floor under the whole family. Or, I could give that statement a positive spin and uplifting attitude and say I'm being the foundations for my family.

Or, I could go for the correct option, which is: WonderBoy placed his amoeba-like representation of me there in a totally random and uncontrived manner because he is two years old (!)

In the meantime, here are the socks I finished last week...
As I've mentioned earlier, I'm happy with the way they've knit up, and they're even and comfortable... I just wish I knew the magic spell to really get those Jupiter stormclouds patterns swirling the way I'd envisaged all along...

Your expensive, or my expensive?

I'm motoring along on the sock, which is good. I have sock yarn on the brain at the moment though, which probably isn't terribly practical, as I really should be either finishing the Noro lace scarf I began back in September (?), or knitting more baby things - I have the rest of the 'Baby Mine' Socks That Rock mediumweight earmarked for a little hat (the 'Norwegian Sweet Baby Cap') to use up the lovely yarn and to have something nice to go with 'Baby Mine'. There are other patterns queued up to be started as well, including several I already have the yarn for... which, when used, would pave the way for more yarn purchases.

Logical, yes? Then why am I still dwelling on socks?

Yesterday, when I had the luxury of a browse through the yarn shelves at Lincraft without WonderBoy in tow, I bought a little something for Santa to deliver in my stocking this Christmas. I was *supposed* to be looking for interesting colour combinations in 100% wool, DK weight to use for a restart on the OpArt blanket but I just didn't feel it, y'know? Nothing was speaking to me.

I had trawled the shelves several times over, and I stopped to look right at the bottom, thinking I might see more colours. What I did find was Lincraft-branded self patterning sock yarn! I have been over those shelves many, many times and never, ever seen sock yarn. EVER. No price tag, around twelve skeins of only five colourways, and all just sitting there!

They aren't the most inspiring, amazing, write home about it colours, but they are attractive and will knit up nicely. I grabbed one of each, disregarding the fact that there was no price listed anywhere, and made my way to the checkout.

The lady attending the till saw how pleased I was, and in response to my saying I'd never seen sock yarn at Lincraft before, remarked "Well, we've always stocked this" (I didn't think you did, but I'm not going to argue over sock yarn), and added as she scanned each skein, "It's expensive, though".

'Oh crap', I thought on one half of my brain, as the other half said 'How expensive could it be? This in Lincraft'. I was informed that each skein was the princely sum of AU$12.95. As the second half of my brain said 'Nyah-nyah, nyah-nyah-nyah' to the chick at the till, the first half did some quick calculations and made the executive decision to ditch two skeins (don't worry, I'll get them next time - I don't think anyone will find them!).

What I found a little interesting was the personal interpretations of the word 'expensive'. When I told this lady that most to all of the sock yarn I've ever bought had been online, and I have paid upwards of AU$30 for a skein before (I didn't tell her it was Hand Maiden and was a cashmere blend, mind you), she looked at me with a half sympathetic ('you poor idiot'), half derisive ('you poor deluded idiot) look on her face as she asked for payment.

THEN, I got the "I'd never knit socks anyway, why would anyone want to do that" comment. I figured I had not met a kindred spirit, to quote the lovely Anne Shirley, so I thanked the lady and moved on.

And now all I want to do is knit more socks!

By the way, I did find two colours I really liked for OpArt this afternoon, a kind of grown-up lime green and a nice winey purple, but since they were Jo Sharp DK, priced at AU$7.50 per ball, and I knew I'd need a minimum of eight balls, and because Pete was with me... I knew it was 'too expensive'.

For me. Today, anyway.

Second Sock Syndrome and an Unhappy Beginning

I cast on Knitty's OpArt blanket a couple of weeks ago, and I'm not happy with it. Well, I'm not happy with my yarn and colour choices, actually. I just don't think the circus-type colours are going to have that cool 'OpArt' effect that the pattern is capable of...
Trouble is, I don't know if I really want to go with the black and white which, striking though it is, just doesn't quite say 'baby blanket' to me.

So, which colours??

Dark pink and light pink... what if it's a boy?
Dark and light blue... what if it's a girl?
Dark and light green... I'm warming towards this combination. knithole on Ravelry has gone with this combination, and I think it looks quite effective. As I've looked through the 95-odd OpArt projects, I've seen another few colour combinations that look good: This one, by Mav, uses blue and purple and looks really good. And this one, by chaoticcrafter, looks very cool with teal and burgundy.

I think I'll have to trawl a few shops and try to think creatively.

In the meantime, I've started the mate for this sock. It's Yarn Harlot's 'Plain Vanilla' sock pattern, in Regia Galaxy, colourway 'Jupiter Blau'. I originally started it on what seemed like incredibly small needles (close to 2mm, I think) and it took me till well past the ribbing and into the leg to realise just how small this sock was turning out (and how bloody long it was taking to knit!).

I frogged it a couple of weeks ago once I'd finished the Linen Baby Blanket and began again on 2.75mm needles, and it's knit up so much faster!

And so to sign off, I'm going to indulge in a couple of wedges of what my family calls "airport Toblerone" (the giant ones that they make - in my family, if you travel overseas, you bring an airport Toblerone back for each family member. It's what you do.) and then I shall get back to work on the second sock!

Swatches, swatches everywhere... and now I need a drink!

I'm trying (trying being the operative word here) to get on with the 'Elegant Drape Cardigan' from Creative Knitting. Tension has never before frustrated me like this! I did my yarn research and made sure that I matched weight, etc (I'm using Sublime Aran merino/silk/cashmere in the colour of 'Mole') and obediently set about with my tension square this afternoon.

I'm looking for 18 stitches per centimetre, using 5mm needles, and in the first attempt got 22-odd. Okay, so I upped the needles to 5.5mm and managed to get around 20 stitches per centimetre. Getting there. Third attempt, on 6mm needles got me 18. Finally.

Then I washed the swatch.

As my sister Lucy would say, 'Cheese and Rice'! The fabric stretched out to give me 16 stitches per centimetre, much to my chagrin. So, based on all the evidence before me in the form of three swatches, I began a fourth, back on the 5mm needles.

Today's lesson? Wash EVERY swatch, EVERY time. I feel a bit stupid having learned this lesson through trial and error even though I've read this rule something like a million times, but as I tried to explain to my family tonight:

"Yarrgh, knitting - she be a harsh mistress"

I mean, If I were a knitting pirate, I'd be saying stuff like that all the time.

In happier news, I completed My First Socks last night and wore them proudly everywhere today. I think I needed a badge that read, "I'm wearing hand-knit socks. Ask me how!"Here, you can see WonderBoy helping me model my lovely lolly-stripe socks. Incidentally, later today when I started swatching for the drape cardie, he came to me, picked up the skein of Sublime and rubbed it against his cheek, saying "ohhh... pretty yarn". I asked him what it felt like, and he replied "Shampoo".

Shampoo indeed. Bless his little (hand-knit!) socks!

I'm wearing a new hat.

But first, I managed to get the 'Hearts and Stars' blanket finished and blocked in time to take it up for darling Baby Ava (as WonderBoy insists on calling her) on Friday afternoon. Never thought it would take as long as it did to cast off in moss stitch. Yuck. But it's looking pretty good, yeah? The pattern called for 8-ply cotton, but I've gone with Shepherd 'Colour 4 Me' 100% Australian wool. It's washed beautifully, and it's very soft to the touch. And then the first of my first pair of socks. After several frogging issues, I've finally finished it... Now the My First Sock is complete, it's time for me to experience My First Bout of Second Sock Syndrome!
Second Sock Syndrome arrived promptly yesterday evening, when I pulled the skein of Rainbow Wools 'Popcorn' yarn from its carrybag, bought yesterday at the Robertson Woolcraft Festival... I cast on their lovely simple roll-brimmed hat pattern, and off I went.I knit in the car, all the way to and from visiting Ali and her husband, and their beautiful baby in Sydney, and I am pretty proud to say I finished it this afternoon. I've been wearing it ever since around seven this evening. I'm so pleased about how the colours worked out. There's no colour pooling at all, and having them all blend this way has almost made a whole new, subtle colour. I'm loving it something stupid.

Now I shall sing, and dance, and eat chocolate.

Who would have thought it?

Okay, so I've hit a major, major mental block.

I put it down to End of Term One. I'm packin' it, writing up children's dialogues, documenting project work and co-ordinating displays and generally sodding around. Plus, we're getting ready for the Department of Community Services Children's Services Regulations to come into effect at our Preschool, something which the school's never dealt with before and neither has our current director. So, my colleague and I are trying to help as much as we can, policy-writing and all that.

Meanwhile, my friend's baby was due yesterday and not only have I done merely three rows of stars and hearts out of the total five, I'm seriously thinking it'll look better with six rows total, leaving me halfway through.

Plus, the sock went to frogtown, express. Turns out the length of my feet cannot be measured accurately flat, and they are much longer than five inches. Aack!

Hello... paging Shortfeet? Mr Shortfeet? Hello?


Hello? No? Mr Shortfeet? No? Aw, damn...
Oh, man. Roll on school holidays. I'm itchin' to get the spinning wheel out.

More sock yarn, hurrah!

It's a happy day in our house.

WonderBoy, who has been really embracing toddlerhood and all it has to offer, tantrums-wise, turned two yesterday. Pete and I gave him quite Wiggly gifts this year, which makes the teacher in me sort of go 'eeerk!', but just looking at his face when he dances and jiggles around to their music... it just makes him so happy. And I think the Wiggles are cool too, so that helps a lot. Here he is with his 'Greg' doll and his tent...
Havin' a laugh with Daddy;


And blowing out the candle on his cake...

We're planning his party for the weekend with our families, so he'll have a ball there - he loves hanging out with everyone, and they all think he's great (as we all do).

But onto the great day I've been having. First of all, WonderBoy put up with an astonishing amount of being taken everywhere this morning as we bought groceries and other supplies ready for Sunday's shindig. Barely a complaint, in fact, which is pretty amazing.

Then, we get home late for lunch, and he's still in a fine mood. He goes down for a sleep, no worries at all, and I had the cat on my lap, purring for a couple of quiet hours where I listened to the most recent "Cast On" and turned the heel of my sock. Oh, and I had a message from a fellow Raveler, responding to my attempts to get a knitting group or Stitch N Bitch going in my local area. WonderBoy then wakes happily and is also happy to get in the car to pick Pete up from work, and I go out for drinks with colleagues for two hours.

Lovely stuff. Life is good!

And then, just to top it all off, my Regia 'Galaxy' arrives from Austin, Texas:
I couldn't believe Griffin Yarns. It's amazing, Kate sends you anything you order, and I quote:

"First-class shipping is free. You don't have to do anything special to get it, there's no minimum purchase. Just free shipping.

We ship all around the world. Whether you're in Austin or Australia, you qualify for our free shipping."

I sent Kate an email today to thank her. I still can't believe it that today there are still people out there like that, willing to put themselves out there just a bit to make things easier (and let's face it - very, very appealing) to customers. I'll be shopping with her again for sure.

Thanks again, Kate. You rock!

And in non-gnome related news

I'm thinking socks. Many, many socks.

I'm currently knitting the heel flap on the lolly-coloured Heirloom Jigsaw (I won't bore you with a photo - they are taking an agonisingly long time to knit as I'm trying to keep going with the 'hearts and stars' baby blanket, plus I really have to get a little teddybear vest cranking for Monday.

Let me explain. At Preschool, we have a little teddybear 'mascot' for each of the two classes, who goes home for a visit with each child and their family for a week. He comes with a journal where each child (with assistance from mum and dad) documents what Ted got up to at their place - who he met, where he went, et cetera. The children get right into it, and get very excited when it's their turn to take 'Travelling Ted' home with them. I am in the process of getting the journal and teddy ready for our youngest group, and he needs something to make him individual. The Ted for the older group has a wee handknit rainbow scarf, so I thought this Ted could do with a little vest. I'll post some pics when it's all done...

Back to socks.

Last week, I ordered some more sock yarn from Griffin Yarns - some Regia Galaxy, in three different colourways: Jupiter Blau, Jupiter India and Jupiter Wald, which knit up in the most fantastic swirls. The ad for the yarn in KnitSimple shows them like this:I can't wait to get stuck in! I'm thinking of knitting one pair for Pete to wear to work, but I can't decide which colourway to go with yet... I get this feeling they might not make it past my sock drawer...hmmmmmmmmm...

Socks and stumpy fingers

More on my current sock. Here we are at our current position (as of last night - I took it to Sydney today for an appointment and knit the rest of the pink stripe in the waiting room), presented in all it's sockular glory by my stumpy, stumpy phalanges...
The yarn is Heirloom Jigsaw 4-ply, which I bought from the lovely people at Ozeyarn for $AUS18.50.

And, Melinda - thanks for your kind compliments on the Baby Sleeping Bag. It was well received at the baby shower, too. Lots of questions on that nature of knitting in general these days, asking how long I'd been knitting for, and observations on how difficult it must be.

I used the usual responses I developed from comments made be the wise and knowing Yarn Harlot, saying, "Nah; if you can read, you can knit" and "Well, it was just garter stitch, so it wasn't very difficult". The second is not one that Stephanie Pearl-McPhee advocates making; in actual fact she believes that we knitters are too quick to tone down praise for our hard work. Maybe I should make a habit of saying "Gee, thanks for the kind words. What you hold in our hands is nine hundred and seventy eight hours of my life".

Still, either way it's lovely to receive compliments for my knitting. Or incredulous disbelief, which is what I got today whilst waiting for my appointment.

The receptionist came over to me, saying "Oh, you're knitting?" and then, after a slight pause, "With FIVE needles?!". I explained briefly about the nature of sock knitting, and she was pretty well just amazed with the idea of knitting a tube without a break in it. She said, "Not many people knit these days, do they?" I responded by saying somewhat jokingly that knitters had gone underground, highly informed and organised over the internet.

The discussion we had about the cost of knitting was the one that amused me the most, though - she commented that it must be very expensive to knit as a hobby. I acknowledged that although some beautiful handpainted yarns spun from superfine merinos, cashmere and silks can cost a fair bit, but you don't always knit with that sort of stuff. I pointed out that you could spend $300 on exquisite yarns to knit a garment that might cost $500 in a shop when it's produced commercially. Her response? "Well, I suppose I'm more practical".

Hehe... It's always a fun ride talking to non-knitters.

Muggles are spreading the word!

Whilst catching up on some discussion threads I haven't seen in awhile on Ravelry this afternoon, I came across a fabulous article posted in the Australian Knitter's Group by ozknitter. It is curtesy of yesterday's Wall Street Journal, and it's about what sounds like it would have been a fun competition, called Sock Wars. I would have loved to have been a part of this, and I hope that if another is arranged, maybe I'll be proficient enough in sock knitting to be able to have a real crack at it!

Here's the page; The Wall Street Journal's article on Sock Wars