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...

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: 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.

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!