Socks on Rocks!

Here's a pair of boot-socks for me made in Regia Crazy Color 6 faedig, shade "Passion". Wheet whew! Who knew such passion could be found in thick socks?

The pattern is called Prism and is a slip-stitch pattern by Jaya Srikrishnan and is available as a free download on Ravelry or via this link over at Socknitters. The pattern is written for 4-ply so I had to do some adjustments and trial-and-error on that first leg.

One small modification: I continued slipping every third stitch on the heel flap although I didn't let the slipped stitches float, I purled them up the next row, whereas elsewhere on the pattern you stitch them up after three rows.

This was my first time knitting a sock on two circulars and it worked out pretty well apart from times when I wasn't paying close enough attention to which needle end I grabbed and ended up in contortions. I think next time I'm knitting a thicker sock I'll try the magic loop method. BTW I say thicker sock because I don't have any circs below, say 3mm.

Thanks for your kind comments on here and via email on my Simply Sausage lace socks in the last post. x K

Beautiful yarn

Now, it's not much that gets me over to the Far East but I was pleased to make an exception to go over and check out a trunk show of beautiful hand-painted and hand-spun yarns made by my friend Tigerlilith .
She has a web presence as well as the fact that some qualities and colourways are available from K1 yarns .

I selected some 2-ply laceweight, seen here in blue, or Aegean to be precise. It feels divine, being made from baby alpaca, silk and cashmere. DH was pawing it for ages when I showed him.
Next to that is some superwash merino 4-ply sock-yarn in Violets, which is a perfect name to encompass all the shades of purple in this one.
Sitting on top is my little "Emergency yarn" loyalty key-ring gift, he he.



Next up we have some more of the Merino Superwash 4-ply, this time in the special K1 colourway- predominantly damson with bottle green in places. I've always liked this one when I've seen it online so I took the plunge when I saw how lovely it was in the flesh as it were.
The last Old Maiden Aunt offering is a bamboo-merino blend in Neptune. I am always magnetically pulled towards this type of colour combo and the hand of the yarn is just yummy.

I hadn't been to the Edinburgh branch of K1 Yarns before, so while I was there I took the chance to pick up some of the Noro Kureyon sock yarn I'd been hearing about too.

If you fancy getting your hands on some Old Maiden Aunt yarns, some of the remaining items from the trunk show have been loaded to the web shop as above, so go on over and feast your eyes! x K

Adamas lace headscarf

Can I apologise now if the spacing on this post is weird, it's jumping about like a mad thing.

Hiya, knitting up a storm during the school holidays!
Here are the specs of my latest finished object, all being well I'll have some action shots in a couple of days' time.

So this is Miriam L. Felton's Adamas shawl pattern, done to headscarf size.

This is available as a Free Ravelry pdf download
You can get this as a free pattern on Mim Knits website as well, linky .

It's a lovely clear, well-written and charted neck-down triangular shawl, stop after as many repeats as you like, no fancy maths to make the border chart work. I did three repeats of the main chart.

My only small reservation is you knew this was coming, didn't you? ;-) that at the beginning you cast on five and start your increases from there. This is fine, but it just means you have a wee small section at the beginning where you don't get the garter ridges on the back neck (or in my case with the headscarf, front head). If you have ever knitted an Evelyn A Clark shawl design you will know what I mean. You start with k2 and do tricks with mirrors so that your wee garter ridges are consistent.

I made it with Patons 100% Cotton 4ply in shade #02708, Tomato. I enjoyed working with this yarn, it's a mercerised cotton and has a nice sheen, and it feels so much finer than Rowan 4ply cotton for example, which I used to make a Previous Headscarf . He he, very link happy tonight!

I weighed it when it was finished, and it was 33g so that means I must have used in the region of 100m to make it.

If you see some strings at the top, it's not unsecured ends, it's little I-cords I've done as straps. I've tried half a dozen times to spell tie-er, the thing you tie it on with, but I can't seem to spell it, any suggestions?

ETA: I used my new Addi Lace Needles in 3.25mm size which I bought from Outback Yarns which is the knitting department in the Gem Shop, King Street, Castle Douglas.

Loving the written patten, loving the way it knitted up, loving the yarn. Happy KEDkrafty.

Purchase sufficient yarn...

...as dyelots may vary.
You said it, sister!

A couple of years ago I bought three balls of the SWTC Oasis 100% Soysilk in HK Handknit Edinburgh as I fell in love with the colour.
I thought at the time it would make a nice Clapotis. Actually I still do, but don't laugh, at the time I thought Clapotis was too hard and I couldn't get my head round the pattern. (Thanks to Ravelry I now think Clapotis is a cake walk.)

Fast forward one year and Get Knitted are having a big sale on SWTC Oasis 100% Soysilk.
I say to myself, it's not going to become a Clapotis so I'll buy some more and then I'll have enough for a summer top. Now obviously I know that there will be subtle variations in the shade due to different dyelots of the same colour NAPA VALLEY.
So I receive my 8 balls of it in cheapy looking ball bands and feel a kind of disappointment with a vague feeling that the 3 balls I have in my stash (right down at the bottom, inaccessible) are much nicer. I think my memory is playing tricks with me, and try to shake off the feeling that if I had seen this batch in a shop I'd have walked on by.

So now we're up to the present time and I'm ready to make myself a summer top. I haul out the original lot and it is a DOZEN TIMES NICER than the second batch! My lingering sense of disappointment was right. The second batch (left)goes like this PURPLE>OLIVE>PURPLE>GOLD.
The first batch goes like this PURPLE>LILAC>GOLD>WHEAT>PEPPERMINT>OLIVE. The colour transition is much more subtle in my original balls and overall lighter and fresher.
Can you see the difference in the photos?
And in the first batch the yarn is about 1/2mm thinner, which may seem nothing, but in my massive 12 stitch swatches for your delectation, version one on the right is 1 1/2 stitches narrower.
Needless to say I'll work with more than one ball at once. Boo hoo, I wish they were all like batch one on the right. I thought I was safe enough because I'd seen the yarn IRL.
Take heed of my salutory tale!
x K

Showing signs of initial improvement

No, I've not been writing second-year French reports, I am celebrating the minor successes of everyday life.

I have finished the Sanquhar-inspired scarf and it is having a tepid bath as we speak.


I've been noticing that my colour-work is getting a little better, in fact as it flowed through my hands I could see clear improvements on the motif section of the second side compared to the first.

The first time round I was still concentrating so hard on learning to hold the two yarns in two hands that I wasn't taking the trouble to make sure things like tension etc were right, and ended up with an acceptable stab at it, but with the dark green stitches too loose and taking over, as seen in the first photo, where there are almost lines of dark green.


By the time I came to do those same sections on the second side, my work had become a lot more even and well-balanced, as seen in the second photo.


I'm not beating myself up about the first side, there's nothing up with it that some very assertive "teasing" and blocking and a few millenia won't solve, I'm just happy that with two like pieces to compare, I can see the progress.


If anyone has strong *symmetry issues* and they want to attempt something like this, they had better do two ends and graft in the middle as in my version the Vee of each stitch faces upward on one side and downward on the other, when worn on the neck.


All in the garden is not rosy, in spite of my "signs of initial improvement". I mis-placed a motif! I made a chequered box when it should've been a diamond box. And yes, I did notice it one inch afterwards, and yes, I did leave it in. Feel the freedom!


I answered this in the comment box of my last post, but just in case it got missed:


In my last post I made reference to Ravellers and my daring British spelling. Whenever I've seen that word written on Ravelry it has been spelt Ravelers, one l a l'americaine. If I were writing travel then travellers I would put two ls and I've extended this to Ravellers. Feel the freedom again!

Very optimistic selection of holiday pix !

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter to you and yours.

Here's our fireplace display to put you in the spirit.

Manly Ribbed Scarf

I've been tagged by TangledFrog and I'll need some time to think it over.
In the meantime I can show you some photos of a scarf I finished for J in January.
It has been finished for a couple of weeks but the weather has been a bit too wild to try to photograph it in the daylight. Even in these shots you can see it has been anchored down by some pretty hefty stones.
This was a nice easy knit and the colour-changes made it just interesting enough. 20 rows Twilleys Freedom Spirit, 18 Sirdar Peru, 16 Twilleys etc.
The whole middle third was done in the Twilleys 513 which is a variegated turquoise colour.
I don't think I'll be rushing to use the Sirdar Peru again, but I've continued to enjoy the Twilleys on this project.


In other news, I've been trying to do a major clear-out and tidy up. I've got lots of lovely things at home and I want to be able to reach them to enjoy them, so if I don't know it to be useful or believe it to be beautiful (includes sentimental appeal) it has to go. Five bin bags to charity this weekend and still plenty ahead to tackle.

Happy Knitting. x K

Ladies and gentlemen, the kit has landed!

Yes indeed, my Alice St*rmore kit has arrived, and lovely it is too!

Not the best photo in the world, but you get the picture. Lots of different sized skeins (so you get the perfect yardage or so you can't work out how much there is and reknit?) in lovely shades of Hebridean 2ply. Yes, t-w-o ply. For the girl who knits LACE in heavy DK and aran eg/ Kid Classic, Orkney Angora from time to time.

Some of the colours are quite vibrant, others more subdued, but if the FOs on Ravelry are anything to go by they sing out when put side by side.

The pattern in included with this one, but do check if you are ordering because some are not and you are expected to have access to the book. I also got a lovely gift card saying "I hope you enjoy knitting this my dear. Love J xxx" Seemed funny getting a note from him in someone else's handwriting!

It was all wrapped up in tissue paper in a strong box and then covered in sturdy brown paper. Giving you all the specs cos I've never had a posh kit before and I want to give you the full picture in case you're tempted to take the plunge. It all arrived in good time after ordering, but we were unsure if the order had gone through because the promised confirmation e-mail never appeared.

The pattern is the Flora waistcoat from the Alice St*rmore Classics page on Virtual Yarns (scroll down) and it's in the Mountain colourway. In the catalogue the waistcoat is shown in Glen and the jacket in Mountain, but I'm having the waistcoat in Mountain. Lovely as they both are, I do love my greens, plus when I went back there to get the links for you I see Glen is sold out now.

As it's knitted in the round in 2ply I have to cast on 395 stitches. When I start this I'm gonna need a lot of good vibes and encouragement to keep me going.


Making steady progress on the Duke's scarf, a variation on the Sanquhar pattern. Now it's time to do a long plain stretch in the light green, ideal knitting club knitting.

Talking of knitting club, have you been over to my pal Lynette's new blog Tangled Frog ? It's just off the ground but already she has lots of beautiful things to see.

Happy Knitting!

2008 Year of Colour!

After enjoying dabbling with lace for eighteen months or so, and dabbling with stocking stitch cardigans and jumpers for three thousand years I have decided to inject a little colour into my life and I have designated 2008 as The Year of Colour!

Now, I am not afraid of colour, working with it, wearing it...I embrace a spot of colour in an otherwise neutral outfit. Remember this ? Or how about this to name just a couple. But what I really mean is a bit of fair-isle/ stranded/ jacquard to stretch the skills and feast the eyes. I wouldn't rule out intarsia entirely, but it's not high up the priority list at the moment.


I have dipped my toes in the water before, for example, there are fair isle bands on Emmeline
and I worked the self- coloured meets self-striping in Fake Isle but I feel I'm ready to give it a go properly.

DH has promised to treat me to an Alice St*rmore kit for my Christmas (yes I know it's Jan 4th, give him a break if there are expensive knitting kits at stake) and I want to get my two-handed knitting skills up and running on something where the odd mis-shapen stitch (and I mean odd as in mutant, not as in occasional) or tension inconsistencies won't spoil the overall look or fit of a worn garment.

So here's the idea.
I'm taking the Duke's pattern from my Sanquhar gloves(Remember I bought those, I didn't make them) and magicking it into a tubular scarf to get the rhythm and improve my two-colour two-handed technique before *the* kit arrives. I can just about make it happen with the two-handed thing, but it's very inexpertly done at the mo. Or should I say, being positive, it will respond to practice.

I've done a provisional cast-on on my tube because I haven't decided yet whether to graft, three needle bind-off or even gather up the ends and thread the yarn tail through. I've got plenty of time yet to decide.

Just to be clear, I'm not ruling out lace and all that jazz in 2008, I'd just like to have a good crack at some colour projects. I blame Ravelry !