Rainbow Gamayun Bird Shawl

I have started knitting more shawls to get a feel for the type of patterns there are out there and how they are written/laid out/etc.  I enjoyed knitting this shawl because I enjoyed the combination of the pattern and the yarn.  I used the yarn that the author used because I loved the rainbow around the edge of the shawl.  it turned out nicely and I realized that I needed more blocking squares if I'm going to block more shawls.

I also just love all things rainbow!

A new obsession

So I have been obsessing over making my own stitch markers lately.  I use them a lot for lace and sometimes for sock knitting and love bright colors.  I saw some rainbow ones and HAD to have some.  So I found a supplier for colored jump rings.  I have a ton of beads of all kinds, so no problems there.  Then I spent the weekend gluing beads onto aluminum rings and sorting out rubber rings into pretty color combinations.  It was fun and I posted a number of them in my Fiberaddict Designs Etsy shop.  Here are a few pictures:

So pretty!  Now I can get back to my knitting!  Maybe.

All About LIfelines

I've learned a tough lesson recently about lifelines, specifically I mean life lines in your knitting.  I have been working on the LeStrange Cloak from the Unofficial Harry Potter knits book, using my own hand-spun dark brown llama lace weight yarn.  The body of the sweater is knitted bottom up with 4 repeats of a 42 row lace chart with lots of knit two and knit three togethers, single and double yarn overs.  It's beautiful lace, or it will be when I block it.   I was on the 1st repeat after the armhole separation, knitting all three sections at once, halfway through the 5th total repeat of that endless lace chart.

Then the unthinkable happened.  The cable on my 3.25mm fixed circular needle from KnitPicks pulled loose and came out and I didn't notice until I was through one side of the front and most of the back of the sweater.  Horrors!  I surveyed the damage and it was extensive.  I sent off a panicked note to KnitPicks who warrants their needles for life.  But getting another needle was the easy part.  I had a spare and although it had a slight imperfection that made it catch my stitches, I got it out and got to work.

Anyone who knits lace can tell you how hard it is to pick up stitches on a lace piece.  And I've done it many times before, but usually on socks or something smaller.  Problem 1:  the yarn is SO DARK.  It's hard to see.  Problem 2: It's only a two ply and very thin.  It also is fuzzy and tends to stick together a little bit.  ARGHHH!  Problem 3:  Oh the lace, all the stitches that twist and turn and are pulled into each other in a lovely lace design just go crazy when you release them from their bonds.  The yarn overs disappear, the knit togethers pull apart and then the piece opens up and loses it's shape.  Oh man...

I wish I had put in a life line....

Life lines in knitting are a fail safe measure, kind of like a safety belt when you drive.  If you have an accident, jump up suddenly, have a needle break or the cat decides to rearrange your knitting, the life line will get you up and going in less time than if you don't have one.  My interchangeable KnitPicks needles have a little hole to allow you to effortlessly string a life line while you are knitting, but I was using a fixed cable needle and I do admit I RARELY thread a life line even with the nice hole for it.  Or I never used to.  If there is no nice hole, you have to take a needle and some slick cotton thread, preferably a contrasting color, and thread it through each stitch on the needle.  Then you have to knit around it which is a bit of a pain unless it's fairly thin.  And don't put it through your stitch markers or you'll have bigger issues.  But it's worth it, oh yes.  And this is why:

I spent probably 8 hours, actual knitting hours, unknitting my piece, one stitch at a time until I found all the dropped stitches and backed out enough knitting that I was getting the consistent count on my lace repeats and then knitted it all back the way I had come.  I got back to my original place where the disaster occurred, 3 days later and then I ran a life line through it to save my place.  8 hours that I could have used toward knitting!  I could have been ready to knit the sleeves by now!

If you run a lifeline, you can just rip back taking minimal time to return to a state of having all stitches accounted for.  This saves at least half the time it takes to recover from a mistake.  Of course, the more lifelines you put in, the safer you are.  We'll see how many I use, but I am determined to turn over a new leaf and use lifelines in my knitting.  My knitting time is too precious to be used on ripping back, one stitch at a time.

I am now moving forward, hopefully wiser, again with lessons learned and I thought I'd share them with you all.  A picture of my knitting with it's lifeline inserted.  Happy Knitting!

Another Free Sock Pattern

I have been called a technical knitter by someone who is not at all.  A talented friend of mine says this about me and compared to her, I am a very technical knitter as she is very free-form and never rips out or redoes anything.   She just turns a mistake into a design element.

In some respects, she is right, I do like technical knitting and find it challenging.  I do have a tendency to rip out and re-knit until I get it right.  This can be hard on hand-spun yarn and also on the nerves.  Knitting is supposed to be relaxing, right???!!!  But I have taken this to a new level with my latest project.  I got a skein of hand dyed yarn on etsy from Wildethyme Art who had done a lovely rainbow yarn.  Here is the skein, on the left.

 My friend Cindy from work had gotten a skein and made Peds with it and I loved the way the colors arranged themselves on her footies.   Here is her version.

SO Coool!  She is a one at a time knitter and I am not, EVER.  I tend to have a weak spot for rainbow colored anything, especially yarn.  So I had to have it even though there was only 180 yards in it.   I bought some Koigu that matched it well enough to do toes and heels (above on left), and am keeping my fingers crossed.  So I started off making a pattern off Ravelry, can't remember the name of it now, but it was lace.  The picture is below.

  But the yarn didn't look right with it, or I didn't like it as well.  So I ripped it out and found a nice pattern that was just a simple knit and purl pattern called Hermione's Everyday Socks which looked kind of cool in the yarn and different than Cindy's.

But they seemed a little big around and I decided to make them a few stitches smaller.  So I ripped out yet again back down to the toes, and then some.  Then after I knitted the first row of rainbow yarn again I decided that I wanted to make my OWN pattern for socks, that I was tired of knitting other people's patterns all the time and I should make my own.  Plus I liked ribbed socks.  So I came up with a diagonal pattern that I thought might be cool.  Test knit?  Bah!  That's for sissies!  So I charted it up and off I went.

Well, it is looking OK so far.  However, the diagonal effect I wanted is totally eclipsed by the strong coloring of the yarn.  Doh!  But hey, it's OK, is ribbed and looks fine.  Just has a little surprise of lace in the purl valleys, and a left twist on the knit hills which sort of draws diagonal lines that you can't see.  I'll have to do it in a plain yarn to see what the effect is.  But I totally think I could write a pattern with it and will put it up on Ravelry when I get it done.  I'll offer it for free because my other free pattern was very popular and this is another not too tricky pattern and I like sharing.

Here is the new version so far.  At about the same place....

Better right?  Of course!  I am knitting from both ends of the ball of yarn and it makes them look a little different, but close enough for me.  When I get them on, the lace pattern might be more apparent, but then again, maybe not.  But it's been fun and I'm going to continue this version because I always have to have a sock pattern on the needles for travel knitting.  Plus it's easy to remember.  

I am on a mission to find a pattern that is fun to knit and also looks good in a strongly patterned yarn.  I get so bored with knit or plain ribbing.  I like a challenge!

New Sock Pattern Almost Ready

I'm designing a new pair of women's socks.  I love lace and cables, so I am using a pretty easy 4 row lace pattern that I added a cable to the rib.  I made one pair for a friend and am now making a pair for myself to validate the problem.  Here is Gloria in her new socks.

She loves them and I am sort of envious.  I might have to get another skein of Manos del Uruguay Alegria for myself.  I used a Sweet Tomato Heel designed by Cat Borhdi for this pair but will include a regular gusset and slip stitch heel with the pattern.  I made my first YouTube video for Judy Becker's Magic cast on that I use for all my socks.  I love her method and am grateful to Judy, Cat and all the other knitting pioneers that help me get better and more creative with my knitting and designing.  I will be offering this sock on Ravelry.   My sock pattern for my husband has 160 downloads which I thought was way cool.  He loves his socks.

Writing patterns is addictive and I will need to step away after this because it is so time consuming that I don't have time for regular knitting.  I have a sweater to finish and presents to knit for Christmas.  Not too soon to be thinking about presents.  I always start too late!

Free Men's Sock Pattern

I put up a new pattern today on Ravelry.  It's a free pattern for men's socks in a DK weight because my husband has very slender long feet and slender calves, and also needs very cushy socks.  So I designed this to fit his feet and slim calves.  Plus I wanted a pattern in a sport or DK yarn that would be a faster knit because his feet are so LONG!  Check it out for Free!  Download Now

My husband has long slender feet and slender ankles and calves.  He loves and wears the socks I make him and I finally decided I had to find a way to get the best fit for him.  He also needs cushy socks and so I determined I needed a DK weight or sport weight yarn pattern to get that extra cushiness and to make them go faster.  I didn’t find much out there in the way of patterns and as I have made many socks, I decided to design a pattern myself.

I am a fan of Cat Bordhi’s socks and have her wonderful e-book “Cat’s Sweet Tomato Heel Socks” which I highly recommend.  She has wonderful videos to compliment her e-book and I have made several of her patterns already.  I decided that I would use her sweet tomato heel for my husband’s socks.  But I am writing this pattern with a heel flap because I don’t want to step on her work or mislead anyone on how to do that wonderful adaptation.

I also use toe up construction almost exclusively now and knit two at a time magic loop.   Very Pink Knits has a nice tutorial about Magic Loop.   I find this the easiest way to get two socks the same and also get them done in a timely fashion.  You can of course knit them singly and from the top down but I recommend you try it my way.  I love having both socks be finished at once and look exactly the same.  I will give hints and links to videos with help and I am always available for questions. 

Feel free to try on the socks as you go to get the best fit.  I made my husband try them a lot before I decided how and where to put the increases and decreases.  If they don’t fit right, then they slip and aren’t as nice to wear.  I did put the ribbing in the instep but sometimes he gets confused about which one is right and which one is left so I might leave that out of the next pair.  

A Sweater Odyssey

I have this wonderful long black sweater that I bought somewhere and decided I\'d like to make one like it. I have not written a sweater pattern before but why not! It looked simple enough.

I had some brown lace yarn spun from a beautiful soft dark brown cloud llama and a big bag of the fiber so I decided to use that.

I knit the back flat out of stockinette with a new provisional cast on. Then I started on the sleeves. I decided to use a lace pattern as stockinette was too boring. I ripped the sleeves back 4 or 5 times to get the right size shape and pattern desired. Then I ran out of that ball of yarn around the elbows.

Next I ripped back the back piece to redo it in pattern. Hopefully I kept good notes on how I shaped it. More later as I knit an I\'ll add pictures.