Possessed to Knit

Kaleidoscope Wrap Completed

This wrap turned out differently than I had planned.  Even with a large, 13 oz ball of 2-ply handspun yarn, I did not have enough yardage to make the three lace squares.  I made the first square and cut the yarn and then weighed it and was stunned to see that it weighed 5 ounces.  If I had not cut the yarn, I would have ripped it out and knitted something else.

So I pressed on, starting the second square, weighing my swatch, wondering if two squares would be large enough to make a wrap.  I finally realized that I had enough yarn for half the square and could still make a wrap.  I knitted the triangle and shortened the garter edging a little as I was still running out of yarn and in the end has just over a yard remaining.  I decided to sew the pieces together as the optional wrap style of three squares in a row was now out of the question.  I presented it to Cathie, a member of my knitting group, and she was thrilled.  She will be moving to Oregon one of these days and the roving for this yarn is from Hanks in the Hood of Mt. Hood, Oregon.  This was a fun wrap to knit and it is always nice to knit with my handspun yarn.

Handspun Kaleidoscope Wrap

Here is one of the three squares for my Fiddlesticks Kaleidoscope Wrap.  I spun Hanks in the Hood batts in the Husky Sparkle colorway.  I started with four 3 oz batts and spun each batt onto one bobbin.  I then plied them into one 12 oz ball of 2-ply yarn which varies between 10 and 14 wpi.

This square is unblocked and measures 16.5" by 18" and will hopefully block close to the 21" square recommended in the pattern.  I used my size 8 Addi Lace Click needles which worked nicely as I easily changed the needle length as the square grew from the middle.  One square down, two to go! 

Wayward Sock

Here is my completed right sock from the February installment of the Cookie A sock club.  The yarn is Richness of Martens fingering (75% fine superwash merino/15% cashmere) by Alisha Goes Around in the Genevieve colorway.  This yarn is absolutely divine as is the pattern. I am using my 2.5 mm Addi Lace Turbo needles and though the leg fits fine, the foot feels a little big.  I should have used a smaller needle for the sole, but that really breaks up the knitting for me. 

I inadvertently did not check the updated version of the pattern and ended up unknitting 30 rounds so I could decrease 4 more sts after the heel (I should have checked on the number of sts for the toe before I reached the toe) which did improve the fit.  The toe is a bit square even after I moved one stitch from each edge over the corner stitches and I grafted the toe in the ribbing pattern.  It does look much nicer on and it is a lot of fun to knit.  We have already received our April yarn and patterns which is inspiring me to complete this lovely pair.

Cookie kindly includes two of her wonderful patterns to choose from, one more simple and the other more challenging.  Of course, I go for the more challenging patterns.  One modification I did make was to do an eye of partridge stitch heel instead of the ribbed heel as I prefer the look of the eye of partridge stitch.

Punk Rock Socks Completed

Here are my latest socks in Knit Picks Stroll Handpainted yarn in the Punky colorway.  I have found the Norwegian purl to tighten up my ribbing quite a bit so for these socks I used a 2.25 mm Addi Turbo 40" circular needle for all but the heels and toes where I went down to size 2.00 mm.  The slightly larger needle works well for 72 sts (my prefered sock stitch count) and the short row heel which is a bit smaller than a flap heel.

I knitted k2, p2 rib for 72 rounds followed by 20 rounds of stockinette, a short row heel down to 12 sts, and then 80 rounds to a traditional toe.  I have been finding holes in the toes of some of my handknit socks and hopefully, I will not have that problem with this pair of socks. 

Orchid Thief Socks Completed

Here are my completed Dragonfly socks in the Orchid Thief colorway.  For the sock on the left, I used my Chia Goo size 0 circular needles.  They are very nice and do not bend like my size 0 Addi Turbo circular needles.  The first sock was coming out a bit small, so I made a German-style flap heel with the eye-of-partridge stitch and garter stitch edges and it fits my right foot nicely.  For my larger left foot, I used my 2.25 mm purpleheart Darn Pretty Needle dpns.  These socks fit well, but they do bag a little where the ribbing goes into the heel flap.  In the future, I would consider working some plain stockinette (5 - 10 rounds) before starting the heel.  I enjoyed knitting with the Dragonfly sock yarn, it has a nice spring to it.

John's Cotton Habitat Hat Completed

Here is my completed cotton Habitat hat for John.  I had trouble selecting a pattern and a needle size.  I was almost to the crown decreases on Windschief and realized it was going to be too small.  Habitat's cables will cooridinate nicely with Dryad's cables.  I used my size 8 Addi Click Lace needles for the ribbing and changed to the size 9 tips for the body of the hat.  I worked Norwegian purls between the cables to even out the purl stitches.  I'm concerned about the pilling I noticed along the edge of the ribbing, but with cotton being such a short fiber, pilling is to be expected.  At least John will have a hat to go with his scarf and all before the end of winter.

Handspun Fair Isle Hat Completed

I have been having a lot of fun spindle spinning my Cormo/Possum roving.  I even plied it on my All-Day Lollipop spindle.  I used about two ounces of it with some handspun alpaca two-ply yarn to make this Fair Isle hat.  I casted on 84 sts and worked k1, p1 ribbing on size 7 Addi Turbo needles.  I changed needles to size 8 and worked two rounds plain before starting the Fair Isle pattern which I found in 1000 Great Knitting Motifs by Luise Roberts.  I minimized the jog which goes through the middle motif diagonally.  I worked two plain rounds after the motif and then decreased six 14 stitch sections every other round until the last few rows where I decreased every round.  This hat is about 19" around and it was a joy to knit with my spindle spun yarn. 

Wollmeise Schwammerl Socks Completed

Here is Al modeling his new Wollmeise Twin (80% wool/20 % nylon) socks in the Schwammerl (mushroom) colorway.  I used my 2.5 mm (size 1) Addi Turbo 40" circular needles and 72 sts for all but the short-row heels and toes where I used my 2.00 mm (size 0) Addi Turbo 40" circular needles.  The yarn colors puddled a lot, but Al doesn't mind as he likes the camouflage colors.  I have had issues with my 100% merino Wollmeise socks getting holes in the heels and toes and I am hopeful these Wollmeise Twin socks will last longer. 

Stepping Stone Socks Completed

Here are the Stepping Stone socks I knitted for my nephew, Joshua, who turns 7 years old on Sunday.  The yarn is Knit Picks Stroll Sport in the Hollyberry colorway, leftover from his mother's Twinflower and the same yarn (but different dye lot) from his Spiderman mittens and hat.  I thought I was using my 2.75 mm Darn Pretty dpns, but it turns out that they were size 2.50 mm dpns.   For the heels and toes, I used 2.25 mm dpns.  I always find myself inspired to knit Joshua something for his winter birthday as he really appreciates my knitting, even at his young age. 

Twinflower Completed

Here is my completed Twinflower for my sister, Teresa, as a slighlty late birthday present.  I selected Knit Picks Stroll Sport in the Holly Berry colorway because Teresa prefers machine washable yarns.  I used my size 5 (3.75 mm) Addi Lace fixed needles for the body and my size 4 (3.50 mm) Addi Lace fixed needles for the hem and the cabled neckband.  The set-in sleeves were a bit of a challenge, and Amy Herzog has a helpful blog about setting in sleeves here.  I also made a sample of a sewn hem and a knitted together hem, and the sewn hem looked much nicer.  I found some heel reinforcing yarn in a similar color at Fibre Space for sewing the hems down.   I will mail it tomorrow and I certainly look forward to hearing how it fits.