Thursday, September 25, 2014

Week 139 : New socks, a hat and sewing plans

This has been the first week of school holidays. We are taking a family holiday, within Australia, next week so the next post will be a fortnight in Week 141.


This last week I finished a hat for myself in Madtosh ASAP. The colour is Candlewick. Here is is modelled by my daughter with the assistance of her spaniel Toffee. My daughter is a shy model and wasn't really keen to be photographed today.



Very simple knit in the round on 9mm needles.




Socks are still being knitted.

I finished the Regia Landscape colours 'Storm' socks. here they are unblocked.




I have cast on the second sock of the Regia in the colour mix 'Persian Carpet'


Its very pretty and I am delighted the way the colour changes in the yarn sets up the pattern.  Its all I can do to put it aside.

I sorted though my cupboard and sorted sock yarn for the 'queue'. Especially for projects to take way with me next week.

Here are the skeins I've chosen.


From left to right: 


Above Shibui Staccato Sock in a teal, which was bought as part of a kit (with matched silk cloud yarn. I won't knit the shawl so I will use the sock and stash the lace weight)



I started two further socks.

The first was a Wollmese Pure in the colour Bluebelle. I bought three skeins of this in destash but decided it was a bit too vivid for a sweater project. Its been in stash for quite a while. I decided to wind one skein and see how it knit up.


Unfortunately I don't like the pooling. The not quite spiral, not quite level stripes are very off-putting. I've unravelled this and I think all three skeins will go to a weaving project one day in the future.



My next sock project is more successful.
Its for my daughter (so I reduced the stitch count, although I'm wondering if I reduced too much. I would like them to last more than a few months.) 


She picked the skein. Its the Sweet Georgia Snapdragon from the above selection. 


Its knitting up with pooling but she still likes it and its a fun mix of colour.



I didn't get to finish, but I cut some fabric for a summer dress. 


The fabric is a cotton-silk voile with a border print that I'll arrange to be at the hem.
I've cut Vogue V1351. I've made this dress before in Week 103, so I know my length adjustments.


I bought this very cute bracelet on Etsy. Its made from a recycled china teacup. I have a fondness for blue and white china and this was too pretty to ignore. 
The Etsy maker is 'StayGoldMaryRose' (I've linked her Etsy shop). Lots of very cute things!



My daughter is modelling this, it sits a little smaller on my adult wrist.



Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Week 138 : Still knitting socks

I finished the blue Schoppel -Wolle socks I started in week 135. A perfect fit for my ten year old boy who is about to go on school camp.

Here he is.



The yarn detail again :
Schoppel-Wolle Admiral R Druck in colour 1566 1641 wel / Variegated blues.

The pattern is The Sock Recipe otherwise known as a 'good plain sock' by Stephanie Pearl McPhee in her book Knitting Rules.


I cast on a new sock. This yarn is Regia Design Line Effects and the colour is Persian Carpet.
I am absolutely enchanted by the dyeing of the yarn which produces this 'fair isle' effect when I knit it up.


This sock is knitting quickly as I'm motivated to continue just a little bit more to see what happens with the pattern.


The school holidays are coming up however and I would like to finish at least one sweater. The closest one to finishing is the Plucky gradient yarn. Hopefully I'll be able to post that soon.






Monday, September 8, 2014

Week 137 : Finished NY Cape, new socks

I finally got to sewing buttonholes on my NY cape. It is now finished and ready for wearing!



I chose black leather buttons bought from All Buttons a couple of weeks ago. I used eight, four down the front and four (paired) holding the underarms together.




I am still knitting the second blue Schoppel Wolle yarn sock from my last post. I cast on a second pair in this Regia 'Design Line' sock yarn as well.

The colour is Landscape Storm by Kaffe Fassett.


I have three balls of this, but only need two for socks (when I bought this I wasn't a sock knitter and had a different plan for it). So I'm going to be left with a single ball which won't be enough for more socks. Perhaps fingerless gloves would be an option.