princessdeia

1. Provisional Cast On and Eyelet Row. 2. Picked Up Stitches. 3. Knitting the Picked Up Stitches.
4. Picot Edge. 5. Finished! 6. Party Rings.

I have cast on the second sock for sockapalooza, this time I was a little more relaxed and could take some photos of the picot edging. It is extremely un-nerving unpicking your casting on, then having to knit with three needles, however the results are worth it

This colourway is called Lilac Sun, however, I think the curves from the pattern look like Party Rings so I am renaming this shade Party Rings.

Also this weekend, I got this Magic Stripes Socks from Julia as part of  the Superfluous Sock Yarn Swap.

I have to admit it I love little swap like this, I love receiving a parcel (everyone loves post don’t they), I got some new yarn to create with. Even though, I didn’t manages to reduce my stash I did something far more impressive, I re-fell in love with some yarn from my stash.

Tags: Sockapalooza, Socks

1 Comment »

Laura tagged me about a week ago – and I am only just getting around to completing this meme.

Here are the rules:
“Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.”

My seven things:

1. I had LASEK eye surgery over Christmas, so now I proudly have 20/20 vision!
2. I can not sew, I look longingly at kits on the Subversive Cross Stitch or Sublime Stitching websites, and wish I could.
3. I grew my hair for my wedding, it is the longest it has been for nearly 18 years (and it still is pretty short).
4. I can’t drive, I have never had a lesson.
5. I don’t think I drink enough water and as hard as I try I can never drink 2 litres in a day.
6. I prefer baths to showers – very un environmentally friendly – but I love my baths.
7. I have loads of reward cards, I love collecting points and working out what I can buy with them – however, I only ever buy stuff with my Boots Advantage Card.

I think everyone has already done this meme, but if you haven’t consider yourself tagged!

Tags: meme

2 Comments »

Yarn: Double Top Cotton in Brown and Destiny Mohair in Petrol (both from Texere)
Pattern: Sweater with Mohair Stripes from Vintage Knits by Sarah Dallas, with major adjustments.
Needles: 4.5mm circular and straight.
Notes: Although the original pattern comes from Vintage Knits, I have changed it quite a lot, first off I used double knit cotton, and not 4 ply, therefore, I had to change the size needles and gauge.

I knitted the complete pattern on the round – so no end for seaming, this meant I could carry the main colour over the mohair – however it did still leave a lot of ends to weave in! Also because of the change in gauge, I did 8 rows on the main colour instead of 10.

Tags: Finished Project, Mohair Striped, Sweaters

3 Comments »

As I mentioned before, I have no idea about magic loop knitting, even though the Lacy Scallops (pdf) is meant to be done in this manner, I am attempting to knit them on DPN’s.

I had 24 stitches on each needle for the first 3 repeats – I used a stitch marker after the 12th stitch on needle 2, so I would know that the stitches on needle 1 and half of needle 2 related to needle one in the pattern.

Continuing in this manner – I decreased the six stitches and continued the pattern with 22 stitches on each needle and it seems to be working out just fine.

My pal had mentioned she didn’t like too long socks and tended to wear shorter ankle socks, so I decided to only do 5 repeats of the pattern.

When I reached the heel, I was torn between knitting a plain stocking stitch heel flap or knitting the fancy heel flap that the pattern calls for. After looking at the completed Lacy Scallop FO’s in Google - I decided to follow the pattern and I am really pleased with the result!

Tags: Sockapalooza, Socks

No Comments »

Yarn: Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Baltic Sea.
Pattern: Jaywalkers.
Needles: 2.25mm DPN (5 needles).
Notes: Nothing to add to my previous notes about this pattern!

These socks were made for my sister for the birthday this month, it is becoming a bit of a tradition for me to make her socks for her birthday!

Tags: Socks

2 Comments »

I have decided to go with the Lacy Scallop Socks for my Sockapalooza socks, my pal stated she didn’t make long socks as she had larger calves, so I thought this pattern would be better as the lace is stretchy rather than the Razor Shell which is more ridged (like with Jaywalkers). I also thought I would only do 5 repeats of the lace pattern to make socks shorter.

After, Indieknits pointed out Wednesday was a good telly night, I decided this would be the evening devoted to girly shows and knitting socks, I finished my sister’s Jaywalkers and cast on the Lacy Scallop. I have decided to make this socks on DPN’s rather than on two circular needles, as I have no idea about magic loop knitting! The picot edging took a little longer than I thought – and I ended up in a bit of a mess, knitting from two needles at once is extremely strange – but I am pleased with the results.

Rather than getting carried away with sock knitting last night, I thought I would devote some time to finishing of my older projects, the problem is I hate all those little jobs like weaving in ends, which is something I forgot when I decided to knit my mohair striped jumper. It took my about two months to finish the second sleeve in this sweater and now it has been sitting in my stash bag for over 3 months, waiting to me to weaving in the mohair ends - but I finally did it and the finished sweater is waiting to be blocked – let’s just hope it doesn’t have to wait another few months.

Tags: Mohair Striped, Socks, Sweaters

2 Comments »

I have been taking advantage of Rule 2.a in the guidelines for Knit from Your Stash and have ordered several hanks of Natural Dye Studio yarn. I first brought this yarn for my One Skein Secret Pal, last year and of course, I had to buy some for myself. However the yarn has sat in the drawer since the summer, when I signed up for Superfluous Sock Yarn Swap, I decided to send this yarn to my spoilee.

The thought of being separated from this yarn, drew my right back to eBay. My plan was to buy some yarn to make my sockapalooza sock, my pal is from America and loves colour, so I thought a hand dyed British socks would be perfect. The colour is Lilac Sun, as for the pattern, I am thinking something like Lacy Scallops (pdf) or Razor Shell (pdf).

Of course, I couldn’t bid on just one lot and ended up buying four different colours – and there was me thinking the Superfluous Sock Yarn Swap, was designed to help stash-bust not to encourage me to buy more yarn!

As I am knitting from my stash I have already decided what socks I am going to make. I am going to jump on the Cookie A bandwagon, the Lipstick (bright pink) is going to become Hedera, the Regency (pink/lilac )is going to become some Pomatomus and I guess if you are going to knit some Cookie A socks you have to make some Monkey socks which will be the Midnight Ice (blue/white).

To help encourage me to knit these socks, I have signed up to the Summer of Socks KAL, I doubt I will be able to knit four pairs of socks this summer – I am sure SSS will set in but you never know. I guess I should finish the my jaywalkers.

I am trying to convince myself that buying yarn from Knit Picks is benefiting numerous knitters therefore it doesn’t matter that I am breaking the rules of Knit from your Stash, I could place an order entirely of sock yarn – but I have been thinking about patterns I love, like Central Park Hoodie and Fetching and have been buying to make those projects.

Tags: Central Park Hoodie, Knit from your Stash, Knitscene, Sockapalooza, Socks, Summer of Socks, Sweaters

4 Comments »

We all know where is a magical place where socks disappear to in the washing machine, but I am now beginning  to think there is another place where stitch markers vanish too. Normally, my knitting jewellery is housed in a mint tin in my knitting bag, apart from those decorating my knitting.

However, recently my stitch markers have been disappearing, normally they are in pair (just like socks) however, when I looked in my mint tin this last all I could find were odd stitch markers.

Not to be beaten by the disappearing stitch markers, I decide to make some more! I had some beads lying around the house and a quick trip to Peter Jones over the weekend to get some wire and hey presto we have these beauties.

When I make socks, I like to use on “main” markers to mark the beginning/end of the round and two smaller markers added after the heel. I figure I will be knitting a lot of socks over the summer, I am planning on starting my sockapalooza socks this week, and I have been a little busy on eBay buying yarn.

I spent most of the weekend on the second jaywalker for my sister’s birthday, I was hoping to get a jump start on Second Sock Syndrome (SSS), I did feel myself starting to slack a little – but the way I see it – this is the forth sock I have been knitting over the last few weeks so , it’s more FSS.

Jaywalkers are the first socks I have knitted without stitch markers, in fact I find it a little wired using five needles… I was taught to knit socks with four needles.

I have just signed up to the Knit Picks UK trial, thanks Laura for the heads up!

Tags: Socks

3 Comments »

As we all know I love lists, and I also adore anything that will stop be from working on a Friday afternoon, so when I saw this knitting meme on Indieknits, I had to jump on the bandwagon.

Edit the list, bold for stuff you’ve done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you’re not planning on doing.

Afghan/Blanket
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Knitting in public

Tags: meme

1 Comment »

I signed up to Knit from your Stash at the beginning of the year in an attempt to clear some room, get more organised and cross some items of my “To Knit” list… However, since then I have not been knitting. I am still slowly working on my sister’s cardigan (it’s only been 8 months) but I haven’t even put a dent in my stash.

As it is my sister’s birthday this month, I thought I’d knit her another pair of birthday socks, like I did for my Mum. So as it stands my To Knit list is…

1. Grey Cardigan for my Sister – pattern made up.
2. Socks for my Sister – Jaywalkers.
3. Socks for my Sockapalooooza Pal
4. Shrug in Pure Silk.
5. Pullover (Adaption of Leftovers with sleeves) in purple yarn from my OSSP and Good Fortune Cotton.

I signed up to the Superfluous Sock Yarn Swap, however, when deciding what yarn to swap, I rediscovered The Natural Dye Studio, and have ended up ordering more sock yarn, and so my stash is growing!

Speaking of lists, I rediscovered 43things recently and I decided to try and read the previous six Harry Potter Books, before the release of the seventh book, according to The Leaky Cauldron, I have 73 days and counting down…

Of course, I can’t just have one list of things to do so far, I have 9.

Tags: Knit from your Stash, Sockapalooza, Socks

1 Comment »