52 pair plunge did you say? Yes. I’ve joined the 52 pair plunge. For those who aren’t familiar with this challenge, the idea is to knit 52 pairs of socks between June 1 and May 31st. Socks must have heels, toes and a cuff but can be any size (baby, toddler, or adult). There’s even a Ravelry group.

Nearly halfway through the month and we have a pair:

The pattern is called Cascading Leaves and it is a lovely. I really enjoyed knitting the pattern, although I wasn’t head over heels about the wool. The pattern is a cuff-down constructionwith an eight row lace repeat which is simple, intuitive and effective and I’m positive it would look amazing in a handdyed sock yarn.

The yarn I used was a Rico 4ply print (75% wool, 25% nylon) which is… functional. And cheap. They will make a lovely pair of socks, though. The yarn is very sturdy so they’ll be great for hiking and I won’t be overly concerned about getting them muddy, sweaty or dirty. This is actually a really good thing since I only wear handknit socks and training socks. (And if I could knit training socks, I probably would.)

And just to prove there is a pair:

Pattern: Cascading Leaves by Jeanie Townsend
Yarn: Rico 4ply print
Needles 2.25mm

And I even have enough left over to make a pair of toddler socks.

51 to go…

I have a little catch up to do… so let’s talk about the Pansi Socks. :)

The fibre was a handdyed merino that I had a few issues with whilst spinning, but I have to say I was so happy with the end result:

For whatever reason I just can’t get a decent photo of these socks, but I’m beyond chuffed with the socks themselves, although I think they’ll end up being bed socks in the long run. They are soft and squooshy and I love how they striped. They’ve sold me on making my own self striping sock yarn. :)

Speaking of spinning my own sock yarn, I’m planning to take this up as my Tour de Fleece project(s). There’s a Ravelry group for the Tour de Fleece and I’ve joined the Team Woolies. If you are interested in joining the challenge, do check out the group and join a team if you’d like.

Go Team Woolies! :)

I’d also like to thank everyone for the lovely comments on my Handspun Daisy cardigan. The mum loved it.

It’s finished and I’m delighted. I hope the mum to whom it will be gifted is just as happy. :)

I really like how this all came together, and I’m so happy that I decided to do this one seamlessly, it made such a difference in the finishing to only have to kitchener the hood and a couple stitches under each arm and weaving in a few ends.

In all, it didn’t take that long if I had been working on it religiously, but given the amount of spinning I’ve been doing that obviously wasn’t the case. It’s a great little pattern and I’d recommend it, especially if you aren’t sure that you have enough yarn for the hood. :)

Fibre: Superwash BFL custom dyed by Wildcraft
Yarn: 3ply worsted spun 14WPI, approximately heavy fingering weight
Pattern: Daisy by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee via Knitty (Ravel it!)
Size: Approximately 6 to 12 months (22.5” finished)
Needles: 3.5mm
Mods: made it seamless
My Ravelry project page for this item: Handspun Daisy

If I were to do it all over again, I’d love to do it on needles one size smaller, but I was so paranoid about running out of wool I didn’t. I got a lovely fabric with the 3.5mm which will drape nicely without being too airy.

I hope you like it Claire. :)

Okay, so not really. But it seemed fitting since I’m talking about Pansies and Daisies.

First, let me introduce you do the Pansi Socks:

I’m in love with them. I love how the yarn feels, I love how it feels knit up, and I love how it is striping. I’m so chuffed with these. They are just a basic 64 stitch top down sock with a heel flap, although I’m going to make a shorter leg than normal as I’m worried about running out of yarn. I can hear all the toe-up fanatics screaming from behind their monitors, but since my feet hate short row heels and I’ve never quite figured out how to do an extended heel flap on a toe up, although that’s mostly for lack of trying. I just want a quick pair of socks and I’m not wanting to mess with the math right now. Maybe some day I’ll figure it out.

Next up in the garden we have a Daisy in progress. I got up to the raglan decreases at the time of this photo, but I’m now just starting the hood. (I’ll admit so slight warps in the time-space continuum for sake decent light for a photo).

I even managed to find some buttons:

I had no idea it would be so hard to find some simple buttons that don’t look cheap. Okay, maybe I did but still haven’t admitted to it. Needless to say, I’m hoping to have Daisy off the needles today.

So, since Project Spectrum’s East theme breaks down into yellow, air, wood and spring, do you think Daisy would count for spring since it’s named after a spring flower?

I’m in the middle of a knitting emergency (among other things), but I finally remembered to take a photo of stuff! :)

A few months ago I requested a few custom dyed braids of superwash BFL in a gothy red colourway.

The idea was to spin it up into a 3ply yarn to make a baby cardigan for my husband’s work collegue as per my husband’s request.

The yarn was spun on my Kromski Symphony on 10:1 with a total of 450 metres. I love the look of 3ply, but sometimes I dislike it’s yarn eating capability. The fact that I spun it worsted and kept some back for some 2ply didn’t help.

I had originally intended to make a Cardigan for Merry (Rav link) with an option of a stand up collar instead of a hood, but soon into the knitting I realized that it wasn’t going to happen. There just wasn’t enough yarn.

I decided to go back to an old favourite, Daisy (Rav link) which is a basic raglan cardigan with a hood. Kinda like Cardigan for Merry but without the fancy turned hem and yarn eating cable. And I’m making progress.

In fact, I’m up to the armholes on the body and a sleeve and probably at the least photogenic part of the entire process. As for the pattern, I’ve modified the sleeves to be knit in the round and joined to the body at the underarm and the whole raglan area is being knit as one piece. Basically it cuts out having to seam the sleeve and up the raglan decreases and leaves me with only a couple of stitches to graft under each arm. In other words, barely any finishing, and that’s my kind of garment. :)

I’m hoping to get this done very soon as I was given some incorrect information as to the baby’s due date. I was under the impression that this baby was due in mid-July, however the baby is actually due in 3 weeks and I really would like to get it to her before she leaves on maternity leave.

Now to cast on the second sleeve.

As usual, there is a bit of emergency knitting happening Casa del SheepSpace, and as usual, it’s not for me. Let me introduce you to exhibit A:

A broken clog. My husband’s broken clog, in fact. The poor things did quite well for not being properly felted. Unfortunately, I couldn’t have felted them down anymore and still have them fit his feet, so slightly felted they remained. Until now. Now they are slightly broken, and since I prefer not having bits of clog strewn around the flat, and since I prefer a husband who isn’t looking sadly at the sole of his clog, let me introduce you to exhibit B:

New Lanark Aran wool. Love this stuff. I’ve made two jumpers out of New Lanark’s Donegal Silk blend which are loved so I thought I’d revisit their yarns for a felting project. The top ball is the Heathers in colourway Bramble and the bottom is their Naturals in Natural Black. I love the black. It’s sheepy. It even smells sheepy.

They are now on the needles and progress photos will follow as soon as I’ve got more than just black yarn on the needles. With any luck finished clog photos will appear, too. It would certainly make my husband happy to have clog with less ventilation. :)

… and on my feet. In fact, I’ve been wearing them for the last couple of hours and they feel quite lovely. Hopefully going down the needles size is going to do the trick.

Pattern: Basic 64 stitch top down sock with heel flap and gusset
Yarn: Tofutsies
Needles: 2.25mm

I wear a size 9UK and still have 54 gams leftover. I can make a second pair… once I see how these wear. :)

I have three days and one sock to go in order to finish my sock for the Sock-a-month KAL. I’ve finished a pair of sock every month since at least January of 2008 when I first joined the SAM KAL and would hate to miss out now.

My socks for this month are simple and they started with the best of intentions. I diligently cast on at the first of the month and was at the heel flap on the same day. Then they sat. And sat. And sat for over three weeks. I finally picked them up again knowing full well I needed them done by Thursday. I kitchenered the toe on the first sock yesterday and am now well into the ribbing of the second sock, and since they are summer socks with a short leg, it won’t be long before I hit the heel flap.

Pattern: Basic 64 stitch top down sock with heel flap and gusset
Yarn: Tofutsies by SWTC
Needles: 2.25mm

However, beyond the sock itself, I want to talk about the yarn today. Tofutsies by South West Trading Company is a well known and fairly popular yarn. It’s also a yarn that you either love or hate as many people find the it is very splitty. I haven’t had problems with splitting, although I rarely do so that is probably something to do with the way I knit. It is a slightly thinner sock yarn, or what I would call a light fingering. When I knit my first pair of Tofutsies socks using the Pomatomus (Ravel it) I looked at other Ravelers projects to see what needle size they used, and more often then not I found that 2.5mm was a popular size. As a tight knitter, I decided to follow the trend and back in September of 2008 I made my pomatomus.

Love the pattern. Hate these socks, although I didn’t realize it when they came off the needles. It’s not entirely the fault of the yarn, but rather the yarn and pattern combined. For now, lets deal with the yarn as I have a issues with the socks, which is evident in the photos if you look carefully. See the large holes in the lace?

See how stretched out the ribbing on the heel is?

These are the first signs I had used the wrong sized needle. After about six wearings I’m about ready to bin the socks. They are loose and by the end of the day I may as well wear bags on my feet. The yarn is also not wearing well. After a half dozen wearings you can see how the yarn is disintegrating.

I’ve never had a pair of sock wear like that. The socks have no bounce and the bottom has no stitch definition left. They’ve also stretched out. However, the yarn is so light and cool I am determined to make a nice pair of summer socks, but this time using smaller needles. The difference between 2.5mm and 2.25mm needles is minimal in terms of numbers, but in terms of making socks it makes all the difference. Every sock I’ve knit on 2.5mm needles has turned out disasterous in the end (usually bagging after wear and the yarn not wearing well), so I’m giving the Tofutsies another try, this time on the smaller needles. I’ll post an updated review after a bit of wearing.

As for the Pomatomus pattern, I do plan to knit that again, too. Next time I’ll use wool yarn and I’ll go back to my trusty 2.25mm needles. I really think that the lace pattern of the sock needs the tighter gauge to keep it’s shape and body… after all, it’s lace.

I’ve finished the eight repeats of the blossom chart as stated in the pattern, but I still have 62g (out of 100g) of my yarn left. Even though the edging of this shawl takes a surprising amount of yarn, I think I have enough to do a few more repeats. I’ve decided that I’ll knit the blossom pattern until I hit 50g or until it will reach from fingertip to fingertip, that way I’ll have a really lovely large shawl. Maybe another 3 repeats?

I’ve put a lifeline in just in case I’m wrong. ;)

My allergies have flared up and thus there is no lace knitting today…

… so we are knitting little people clothing! :)

I’ve currently working on a little spring cardi as D is in desperate need of one for daily playground excursions. I bought some Patons Washed Haze DK at Kemps in Sunderland for 49p a ball with the intention of making a little lace number for the little girl. After a failed attempt at another cardigan (mostly due to pattern errors and me not following my instincts) I cast on for the Eyelet Yoke Cardigan via Lion Brand.

It’s a nice little cardigan and very straight forward, which is probably for the best since I’m changing up a bunch of things including the gauge (I’m using a DK rather than an Aran) and knitting it seamlessly (since I usually don’t do seams I don’t need to). I’m about the attach the second sleeve into the body to work the yoke, so it is going quite quickly, too.

I’ve reworked all the number both for the stitches and the rows for a 25” finished chest, which is in between the 1 and 2 year old size. I want something loose enough to be comfortable but not oversized. With any luck she’ll be able to wear it next year, albeit with three-quarter sleeves.

I was a bit uncertain about the yarn, but for 49p a ball, I was willing to give it a chance. I’ve been pleasantly surprised. I had to go down a needle size to 3.75mm to get a nice fabric. Funnily enough it got me gauge as well, something that floors me as I’m a tight knitter and usually have to go up a needle size. However, the swatch grew slightly and came out exactly to the gauge on the ball band, and it has a nice hand and drape. It knits an awful lot like Rowan All Seasons Cotton, something that shouldn’t surprise me as the content and construction are almost identical, although I’m quite certain I already hear the Rowan fans sharpening their pitchforks for saying so. Conveniently it also comes in Aran weight and thus might be a good substitute for Lion Brand Cotton Ease which is hard to come by in the UK. It’s a shame I didn’t get the Aran since it would have meant a lot less pattern modifications.

So it goes.