Fraternal Twins

On the right is the second sock I cast on last night. It's quite amusing to see how it looks so different from its sister. I expect the colours of each sock will be reverted soon so at the end they should at least look a bit related, though It won't bother me even if it doesn't.

This picture was taken this morning. Actually I've made a pretty good progress today (it also means I made NO progress for my TCP/IP assignment... urgh...). The afterthought heels have already been set up for both socks and am knitting both feet two-at-a-time. Hopefully they can be finished before it becomes too warm to wear woolly socks.

Another thing I want to share is... I am considering a trip to Pfaffenhofen this summer -- don't make me to say it. There is one and only one reason for knitters around the world to flock to this little Bavarian town. Although Loop (a yarn shop in Islington, London, in case you asked) does carry the yarn now, but going to the shop is another thing. It is sock knitters' Mecca. Plus Claudia will have a summer sale in August, which gives an additional economical incentive to materialize this idea!

DH can't go with me as he has to save his annual leaves for a tentative trip back to Oz later this year to visit in-laws. I honestly don't want to go alone nor do I want to rush a quick same-day return. I am now trying to lure my friend E who happens to have shown preliminary interest in Munich. Will see if we can make a short girls' trip to Munich. :)

WIP: My 1st Handspun Socks

In the last few weeks I tried to refrain myself from knitting. Knitting is too addictive and I get too many readings and assignments.

(I did allow myself to spin because I can't really overdo it. Thanks to RSI (!), spinning has become self-regulatory. My thumb starts complain by agonizing itself after at most an hour or two... groaning....)

But after a very frustrating day full of stress and tensions, I reckoned I need some "knit therapy". I had an unexplainable urge to do something soothing and fulfilling...



That's why I cast on a plain vanilla sock using SPIN014 last night. Full of thicks and thins, this yarn can't be the best candidate for my first pair of handspun socks. Indeed I first cast on a Chevron scarf with it. After knitting for about 20 rows, I still could't picture myself wearing these vibrant colours around my neck. It's simply not me! I frogged it and cast on 64 stitches again. The yarn is crying to be socks instead of a Chevron scarf.



Very uneven stitches. But who cares?

FO: Green Marlene Socks

Another FO off the needles in January!



My knitting goal for 2011 is to knit 12 pairs of socks (well, my real goal is to knit 20-24 pairs... but it may be too ambitious to voice out). The project information can be found at the bottom of this post. For more detailed (and boring) progress notes, click here.



In short, it's an enjoyable pattern. The lace pattern is easier than it looks. The only problem is its lack of elasticity. The twisted rib makes it not too stretchy. If I made this pattern again, I'd definitely cast on 4 or 8 more stitches to expand the lace panels and give more leg room.



Project name: Green Marlene
Pattern: Marlene by Cookie A (can be purchased at $4 on Vogue Knitting Online Store)
Started: 9 December 2010
Completed: 29 January 2011
Needle: US2 (2.75mm) Knitpick Symfonie.
Yarn: Wollmeise Sockenwolle 80/20 Twin
Colourway: WD Frosch (it means Frog in German)
How much? 0.54 skeins = 251.8m (275.4 yards)

FO: Wavy Water Slouchy Beret

I still haven't found any of my cable needles. But I've got a FO!

(I finally used another Addi Click tip as a cable needle! Works like a charm!)



After struggling for a while, I decided to make my friend a beret for her birthday. The pattern is Star Crossed Slouchy Beret which is available on Ravelry as a free pattern. The yarn I used was Fyberspates Scrumptious DK in colourway Water, a loosely spun single with 55% Merino and 45% Silk.

The colourway is a solid grey watery blue. The wavy cabling pattern in blue makes me think of Ocean and water waves. About the colour, you may notice a significant colour difference between the first photo and the other two. I don't understand neither. The first one should be showing the true colour because the camera had got its white balance adjusted (with a grey card) before taking that photo. Hence that blue should  be the real colour we can see under natural sunlight. But I don't know. Because I haven't had chance to see it under sunlight yet. What I've seen indoor (with tungsten lamp) is very close to what shown in the other two photos. But no matter what, it's a beautiful blue right?



The pattern is well written and the easy cable pattern is just perfect for a timid cable beginner like me. It went really quick and only took me about 5 hours from cast on till cast off! A true instant gratification.

But I still have made some stupid mistakes... I misread the pattern so I missed a knit row after cable row twice! But could not bring myself to care enough to frog and reknit. This yarn was difficult to frog and looked torn and old afterwards. I reckon my friend may not notice it as she doesn't knit.

I am not going to block it as I really don't want it to grow further. So basically it's ready to be sent now. But I am hesitating again. Gifting others my handknit really needs some courage. Hum...

Where are my cable needles?!

Bloody hell. Am I or am I not the only knitter in the world who is constantly losing her cable needles?

I don't really make cable often. I've only knit cable 2 or 3 times. How could I manage to lose 6 cable needles?!

Knitting for friends?

The other day, I talked about knitting for friends with my friend Cynthia, who's also an avid knitter/crocheter.

Cynth told me that sometimes she got a bit pissed when her friends didn't even bother to drop a line to let her know the gift has safely arrived. She only found out it arrived and stop worrying after weeks.

Yes. I think if I was her, I would be really pissed. Honestly if someone doesn't bother to say Thank You within a reasonable time frame, obviously he or she doesn't really care enough about the gift. In other word, they just don't give a damm shit to it, however much effort or time you spent on it.

In fact I think I'd be more than being pissed. If a good friend did that to me, I guess I could never treat her the same again.

Then I remember Lindsay, from whom I got my spinning wheel. She told me that she once hand dyed and spun two skeins of lovely rainbow yarn for a friend. One day she saw them in a charity shop. The other time she handspun for another friend some gorgeous yarn from a baby alpaca having the same name as her friend's. Unfortunately that friend didn't show much appreciation neither.

I am quite a selfish knitter. I have so far only knit for my parents, in-laws and one good friend who lives next door. Oh and I once knit a scarf for my knitting friend Kylie in a swap. But that's all. It's partly because I am not confident about my knitting. But more importantly, we have to admit that some people just can't see the value of handknit items.

One time an ex workmate of mine saw the photos of my handknit shawls and socks on Facebook, she left me a message: Hey, why are you knitting so much? You are not making enough money to buy new clothes?

Doh. I so wanted to tell her that the yarn used to make that pair of socks cost more than her socks from Polo Ralph Lauren.

But I didn't say anything. I sort of lost interest to enlighten her.

In the last few weeks, I have been thinking about this again. Since I was thinking about my crafty New Year Resolutions, this question comes to my mind:

Should I or should I not knit for others more this year?

The thing is, one of my very good friends has her birthday coming in early February. She doesn't knit but she's crafty too. She draws and she arranges flower and bouquet. I think she should be the type who appreciates a handknit present.

But what if she doesn't?

It's gonna hurt if she doesn't. It'll hurt my feeling and consequently hurt our friendship.

But if she's not the one I can knit for, I can't think of any friend who may take my handknits better.

Hum... it's a very difficult decision.

FO: Crocus Echo Flower Shawl

Drumroll please... My Echo Flower Shawl has been blocked and ready to go!



I used 0.85 skein of Wollmeise Twin in colourway Ballerina which I got from a "We're Different grab bag" earlier this year. I was a bit puzzled by the name of the colourway as Ballerina always makes me think of baby pink. To me, the purples make me think of the crocus I saw in spring.



No matter what, it's a very pretty and sophisticated colourway. Look at the subtle gradual colour changes. Isn't it lovely?



At first I thought I got plenty of yardage. After all a skein of Twin has at least 150g and 500 yards, it's a lot compared with other fingering yarn. So I planned to make a larger shawl by doing nine Echo Flower Repeats instead of seven specified by the pattern. To my surprise, this pattern is a real yarn eater -- bet it's the "3 into 9" increases taking up loads of yarn. After checking some project notes written by other ravellers, I realized I might run out of yarn if I did the 8th repeat, especially I was using larger needles (size 7, 4.5mm) than many others. I only did 7 repeats finally. Though the size turns out alright, it turns out I still have 23g leftover after binding off. Should have enough to do the 8th repeat.



It's a shame that I don't have time to take some better photos of it before letting it go. Tomorrow will be the last posting date for Christmas. I have to get it wrapped and packed tonight. Hope my MIL will like it.

Am feeling a bit fed up with shawls. Guess I should go back to my Lopi Sweater...

FO: Handspun Gherkin Hat

I finished it last night. No. It's not the Gherkin! 

It's a hat designed by Silja Devine. I first saw this hat in Spunky Eclectic group on Ravelry and instantly fell in love with this patten. It is simple but it looks very classic. The 4x4 rib also gives it a great deal of elasticity so it fits both DH's and my heads.

Haven't blocked it  yet so the stitches look a bit untidy. But who cares? I just wore it this afternoon to supermarket. It's sooooo warm. 

I used the chunky scrap yarn I spun up from some scrap fibre last week. The colourway is a mix of blues, dark green and natural brown. Quite a manly colour perfect for DH.

The pattern is easy and written very clearly. But I've made some modifications to accommodate my yarn choice:

(1)  my handspun is thicker than DK called for the pattern. So I cast on fewer stitches (only 72 instead of 144) and used bigger needles. I started with size 10 but didn't like the loose fabric. I ended up casting on with 9s before going further down to size 8 after about 10 rounds. Looks great.

(2) I started decreasing earlier because DH's head is smaller than an average man so the brim is shorter. The bonus of this mod is... I, with a bigger-than-average head, can also wear this head keeping the edge down without brim.

(3) I did a round of k2tog after the last round of k1p1 before cutting the yarn and threading it through the remaining stitches.



Sorry for the poor FO pic. Well... as a self portrait done in bathroom with a mirror, it isn't really that bad right? Will ask DH to pose for a better one and post it later!

FO: One-Row Scarf in Wisdom Blues

Hehe, remember I told you previously that I'd start my holiday knitting with something super easy? So here comes my first FO for Holiday Challenge.



2.6 balls of Wisdom Poems are used. I bought them from WEBS at deep discount last March when I was still studying in Chicago. What a shame that UK doesn't have anything like WEBS. Not even close!

The pattern is One-Row Handspun Scarf by Yarn Harlot. It's a truly clever pattern. With a very simple 4-stitch pattern (knit, knit, knit through back loop, yarn over), it creates a reversible scarf which is suitable for both men and women. This pattern is super easy and quick too. It took me about 2 hours to knit 30 grams. It means next time when I knit this scarf again, I can budget about 9 hours for it. Sounds sweet. In theory it can be done in two or three nights, which can definitely be a wonderful last minute gift.

By the way, it's not my first One-Row Handspun Scarf. I did knit one using my own handspun in early October but forgot to blog about it.

Next time I'll definitely blog about it when I knit this scarf again using my own handspun. What? Of course! Of course I'll knit this again! Where can I find another easy but lovely pattern to show off beautiful (and my not so beautiful) handspun yarn?

FO: Ivory Kidsilk Haze Ishbel

Just a few after-blocking pics of my third Ishbel.



Before gifting it to my friend, I shamelessly dressed up and posed for some FO pics. Yes. It's me! I took these photos with a manual-focused camera and a tripod.



I made a small Ishbel last year which was way too small. This time I knit a large stockinette with a small-sized lace. The size turns out to be just right for petite women like me and my friend (We're only about 5'3").

Despite its good size, the shawl is feather-light -- it's only 37 grams in weight. Only one and a half skein of Rowan Kidsilk Haze has been used.



Kidsilk Haze isn't the best yarn to knit with. No doubt. Honestly have you heard of anyone saying that they enjoyed knitting it or it's a dream to work with? No. I haven't..

It's so so so fuzzy and hairy. Very unforgiving. Next to impossible to frog - you have to be 100% sure it's really the pattern you want to do and you can do. I wasted half skein in an Estonian knitted lace shawl a while ago. Frog? Nah. It just tangled beyond imagination. Sob sob.



But who can deny Kidsilk Haze a dream to wear? It looks very very pretty. Elegant and luxurious. I bet these are the right adjectives. Every time when I wear something knit in Kidsilk Haze, I can hear Debussy -- usually Arabesque No.1, sometimes Reverie. I can almost imagine I was in Claude Monet's paintings.

The shawl has been gifted to my good friend Wings this afternoon. It's now on its way to Hong Kong. I hope Hong Kong is still warm enough that she can wear it in the two weddings she'll attend in the next two weeks.



Still got 1.5 skeins of Kidsilk Haze left in my stash. I seriously think I need to knit myself another one.

Holiday Knitting Challenge

This post is inspired by JD Knitter. I even shamelessly copy her title.. though my goal is nothing compared with hers.

Anyway, here's my first-ever Holiday Knitting Challenge:

(1) Two Scarves

(2)  Three Shawls/Shawlettes

(3) A pair of gloves (For DH. So I don't need to meet postal deadline)

(4) A Sweater (this one is for myself. And I plan to use Unspun Lopi held double or triple. Should be easy and fast I guess? So it's the last of the list. I can start it after mid December)

I still have about seven weeks left. It means,  have to finish one item every week, on average.

I'll start with something super easy. How easy? You'll see when I post my next FO pic. :)

But the most challenging part is...

I'LL KNIT THEM ALL FROM OF MY STASH.

YEAH. U HEAR ME. NO NEW YARN PURCHASE.

Time to dig out some old Cascade Ecological Wool...

FO: Köln Socks (with a hole... doh!)

Come to meet my very first pair of socks. Nah. It's actually not the first pair I finished but the first pair I cast on.



A pair of very simply vanilla socks. The yarn is ONline Supersocke 100 Sport Color. I bought it along with two more skeins of ONline Supersocke in Christmas Market in Cologne, Germany last December. I cast on right away on the very next day when we got back to London. However I got distracted after one and a half sock...

I was knitting another pair of socks (Cookie's A Angee with Wollmeise Twin, if you asked me) last week. Unfortunately there was some problem with the yarn -- Some breaks were found. I still can't confirm if it's really moth or not. But it's better be safe so I put it in freezer now. It forced me to put this project aside, at least for a while. Running out of project ideas, I dug this long lost pair out from store room after leaving them alone for ten months.

Anyway my Köln socks are here. I love to call it Köln because Cologne makes me think of the male perfume. And I love how my tongue rolls when pronouncing Köln.



I had been wearing them EVERYDAY. Yes. Literally everyday. I hand-washed and then tumble-dried them thrice. After seven days, the first hole appeared.

I don't know why. The yarn looks tough and rough so I didn't expect to see any hole so quickly. Maybe it's because I didn't trim my toe nails often enough? Or the new pair of leather loafers I wore last night got rough inseams tearing off the yarn? Or it's the wooden sock blockers with rough edges and spikes? Or it's simply because my gauge wasn't tight enough to make durable fabric?

I don't know. I really don't know.

I am sad. Of course I am!

But I know I love socks and I love knitting socks. This little hole shouldn't stop me from knitting more. After all, I can darn the socks right? I don't know how to do it yet but I am sure I can find some useful tutorials on Youtube.

Anyway next time I'll make sure my toe nails are well trimmed and I'll never wear any hand knitted socks with new shoes again.

FO: Flower Waltz Shawl

I finally got a finished handknit to show on this new blog!



The pattern is Crow Waltz Shawl by Juju Vail. I first saw it in Socktopod Knit Night few weeks ago. I usually love airier and lacier shawl but when I saw the one knitted by Lucy (aka Rosealare on Ravelry), I instantly fell in love with this textured shawl.



Juju named the shawl as Crow Waltz because it is a song from her favourite band. I call mine Flower Waltz Shawl because the colours I used made me think of Fuchsia, one of my favourite flowers. Plus I do love Flower Waltz from Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker very much!



I ordered 3 skeins of Old Maiden Alpaca Silk in Midnight, Bramble and Gothic. The shawl only requires two skeins but I wasn't sure if the colour combo could work out so I got three skeins to improve my chance. After winding up all three hanks, I found that Midnight and Bramble pretty similar so they may blend in too much. Therefore I picked Bramble and Gothic.



After I finished the edging, I found about half skein of Bramble has been used. Apparently I'd run out of yarn. I contacted Lilith of Old Maiden Aunt. She kindly reserved the last skein of Bramble of the same dye lot for me while I was waiting for her next update to grab more of other colourways. I really appreciate it!

I skipped one garter row before Picot binding and it turns out I didn't need to use the second skein of Bramble! I got about 6 inch of leftover! phew~ I am quite happy about it as it means I can use that skein of Bramble for another project. Maybe an Ishbel?



The pattern is very interesting. It uses slip stitches to imitate the distinct woven texture. I think I did the first few rows way too loose. next time I will try to get a tighter gauge.

The yarn was really a dream to work with. Very soft. It has the signature haze of Alpaca but not too fuzzy. I've ordered a few more skeins. Will try to make some scarves or shawlettes for Christmas pressies, though I somehow feel this yarn is toooooo lovely to give away and I might end up keeping ALL FOs.

DH is way too busy so I could only take a FO pic by myself indoor. My poor photos really can't do the shawl justice. I swear.

I blocked the shawl out using the blocking kit from Loop. I think it's one of my best investments in knitting so far -- honestly if I had to choose between this blocking kit and my Signature needles, I'd still pick this kit! It saves me lots of time and hassles!!! Guess I'll make more shawls as I no longer fear the pain of blocking!