May 2009

I may have made this confession before here, as it is something I dwell on, but it still kind of astonishes me — I have never knit a pair of socks.

I have approached it, but never actually crossed that line in the yarn to knitting a pair of honest to goodness socks.  I knit a pair of slipper-socks once –Padded Footlets by Mary Snyder from Interweave Knits summer 2005 (no back issues available from Interweave) and Favorite Socks: 25 Timeless Designs from Interweave.

I gave the finished socks to my mother, so they are not available to photograph, but here is the picture from Interweave/Ravelry:

Mine are similar in colour, but I knit them using Sisu.  This is a lovely pattern, though I didn’t enjoy knitting the padded sole, I can see that it is an inherently good idea.  Sometimes when I visit my Mum lets me borrow them, and I kind of wish I had kept them.

But a real pair of socks never.

I guess I haven’t really understood the logic in knitting something that will get hidden in shoes.  I also am not in general a cold footed person.  I do however, really want to knit hosiery on my knitting machine.  That will almost be the most exciting thing ever (well, the most exciting knitting related thing), if I can ever get the thing to consistently work for me.  I like really short socks and socks at least long enough to come up to my knees — sock patterns are predominantly designed to come to mid calf.  This of course is a stupid observation because I design knitting patterns and could make whatever socks I want, whatever length I want, but I always come back to sweaters.

There are other things I have never knit — shrugs, blankets, pants, skirts, bags, pillows.  I guess I just like knitting sweaters and gloves.

These however:

Would really be worth cracking out the needles for.  They are by Mari Muinonen and published in the current issue of Vogue Knitting (spring/summer 2009), Ravelry link here.  I think I would make them a little longer and substitute a lace wieght yarn in a dark colour, like this.

A parting picture to muse on:

I have been a little preoccupied lately, so I will probably continue to be a bit sporadic in posting for some time longer, but I am trying to pull myself together. Nothing so very bad is happening, but it feels bad now — in the grand scheme of things it will all be fine.

And, today I came home to a very exciting surprise:

This would not be such a great surprise, though I do really like getting knitting magazines and reading material in general in the mail, but look at what is on page 28:

This is my first design published in a real live print magazine. I am so happy with the way in turned out.

Here is the next step towards my yarn from these batts I made:

I haven’t done any yarn with curls before. I am very excited about how it will turn out, but not ironically excited enough to ply it yet. Perhaps today will be the day.

Here is one of the pictures of my Tofino sweater from Knitting In the Sun: 32 Projects for Warm Weather by Kristi Porter:

As you can see Kristi has a taste for more tasteful colours than me. This one was in knit in Berroco Bonsai in Raku Brown (Ravelry link) and my original sample was knit in Phildar Phil’Bambou in red (Ravelry link), which is a lovely yarn, but it doesn’t have as much memory as the Bonsai.

I am very excited to get this sweater back in a year.

I have spent a great deal of wasted emotional energy feeling bad about not finishing various projects. It made me feel so liberated when I sent off this sweater to Kristina Wong and when I finished this shawl.

In case any of you are interested in similar release (to the first example, not the second — that kind is up to you), I just came across this art project by Rachael Matthews. You can also sign up to finish other people’s projects — imagine the good feeling of releasing them from crafty purgatory.

Here is her statement:

I love the idea of getting rid of UFOs — and contributing to the world of art. I first heard about Rachael Matthews in her profile in KnitKnit: Profiles + Projects from Knitting’s New Wave by Sabrina Gschwandtner, which really is s splendid book.

Knitting In the Sun: 32 Projects for Warm Weather by Kristi Porter will be released this weekend:

Excitingly, it includes my pattern “Tofino” (Ravelry link here)

I can’t wait to see the sample in Berroco Bonsai professionally photographed. My copy of the book should get here soon.

The Yarn Forward previews for issue 14, June 2009 are up here, including the pattern for my Forest Inspired Pullover (Ravelry link here):

Image copyright: St Range Photography

It is strange to see my pattern modeled by someone else. I remember Stefanie Japel mentioning feeling that way on her blog, and it is true — the first time it is definately odd, especially as I didn’t knit the sample.

Pictures of my personal version coming soon. . .

I was not able to get to my spinning yesterday as planned, instead I ran around and applied for jobs and cleaned.  Here are a few pictures of my sleepy and relaxed holiday of last week:

Real spring is so wonderful.  It is still coming here, but the weather is warm.

Sorry to be incommunicado for the last few days. I have been traveling again. Here is a bit of carding I did before I left:

Until now I haven’t done any carding with different colours and fibres which makes the glorious batts I really admire – perhaps I was lazy and perhaps I was scared and perhaps I just liked doing one thing for a while. This is the time I decided to take the plunge; here is the fibre I used:

Here is some carding in process:

And here is a bit of a close up of the batt and locks (I haven’t spun with locks yet either):

Pictures of what I did with them tomorrow.