I’ve decided to take part in the Ravelympics this year. My primary project is a pair of self-designed, knee-high colorwork socks. They’re being entered in three events: Nordic Colorwork Combined, Sock Hockey and Designer Original Dance.
I’ve been swatching ideas for this pair of scoks for a few weeks now. I had the chart for the main pattern and heel flap completed prior to the opening ceremonies, but hadn’t actually thought about the ribbing or how the decreases would work for the wider calf-area of the sock. I managed to swatch through those issues on Friday night and Saturday morning, and am now progressing my way down the leg of the sock.
I’m using the green (Lime) and purple (Mulberry) Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn that I got at Sock Summit. Jim doesn’t really like the color combination, but for some reason I love the super bright contrast of the two colors together. There’s no way this patterning will be lost in photographs. Plus for those of you who know me, wearing super-bright socks with my primarily black wardrobe is a pretty common thing since I became a knitter.
I’m concerned with my overall pace. At the rate I’m going, I don’t think I’ll finish both socks by the closing ceremonies. Being sick for the last few days hasn’t helped my progress, but I’ve got to find a way to step it up. I’m feeling a little better today, so perhaps I’ll spend the day sitting and kntting. I’d love to be all the way to the heel flap before I head off to bed tonight.
I’d like to do a wrap-up each month here on the blog on my progress on my ten for 10 goals.
- Knit a large square/rectangle shawl (like one from from Heirloom Knitting or Knitted Lace of Estonia)
No progress on this one. This is still the one that worries me most for 2010.
- Knit a sweater for me
I’ve been thinking about this one, and I’m leaning towards the Asymmetrical Cardigan from Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughan. I thought about challenging myself and knitting this sweater for the Ravelympics, but I’m now leaning towards one of the designer events.
- Knit a pair of colorwork socks
See the super secret swatching project listed “On my Needles” and the reference above to the designer Ravelypics event? That’s all I’m saying for now.
- Clean and prep the baby alpaca (cria) fleece I purchased (which will be much easier since I got combs and hand cards for Christmas)
- Spin the above mentioned fleece
I spent some time this past weekend testing out my new hand combs and cards. I think I need more practice with them before I tackle the fleece. I made a mess out of the commerical top that I tried to card, and I’m not sure it’s even spinnable anymore. Definitely not what I want to do with the lovely fleece.
- Spin at least an hour per week to improve my overall spinning technique and consistency
I didn’t spin an hour a week in January, but I did spin about 8 hours total in the month. I’d like to work towards spinning a little each week rather than in burst once or twice a month.
- Reduce the overall stash -I must knit/destash more than I purchase (by weight, since I want to include the fiber and yarn)
This one isn’t going so well. I’ve got another 8 ounces of roving coming to me that I ordered in January. All I used up in January was about 3 ounces of yarn for my Citron (which just finished blocking).
- Design and release at least 2 patterns
This is well underway and should easily be met this year. More details to come!
- Post more regularly to this blog
I managed to get in five posts in January. I’d still like to post more, but it’s a definite improvement over most of 2009.
- Attend my local knitting or spinning groups more often (which shouldn’t be hard – I hardly went at all in 2009)
I only made it once in January, but it’s a start. I am planning on attending tonight.
Overall, I feel that I made fairly good progress in January and have some fairly high hopes for what I can accomplish in February.
I finally knit my first pair of handspun socks. I finished knitting them in December, but I just finished up weaving in the ends and blocking them.
The yarn was spun from a Dicentra Designs 80% Merino / 20% Tussah Silk roving in the Margartiaville colorway that I received for my birthday. I started spinning it on Labor Day and finished the spinning in early November. The yarn is my first true 3-ply yarn. I managed to spin about 350 yards from the four ounces of roving.
The yarn had a lot of color changes, so I decided to keep it simple with a simple 60-stitch stockinette pattern. I used the Welsh Heel from Knitting Vintage Socks with an eye of partridge pattern on the heel flap. For the toe, I use a variation on the Flat Toe from Knitting Vintage Socks. The toe calls for decreasing four stitches every other row until there are 24 stitches remain and then finishing the toe. I prefer to continue decreasing four stitches every round until eight stitches remain. I then use kitchener stitch to finish the toe.
I haven’t worn the socks yet, but I’m excited about them because they are so soft.
Project: 60-stitch handspun socks
Designer: Me!
Yarn: Handspun Dicentra Designs Merino/Tussah Silk
Quantity: 350 yards
Color: Margaritaville
Needles: US1.5 (2.5mm)
Started: November 12, 2009
Completed: December 9, 2009
Happy New Year!
Over in the Stash and Burn Groupies Ravelry Group, CherryMakes started a thread about the idea of a Ten for 10 project. This isn’t the knit 10 of an item in the year kind of project that seems to be all over Ravelry. Instead, this was the idea that we could each set 10 goals for improving our own knitting, spinning or crochet skills in 2010. She posted details about her idea over on her blog in early December. I’ve been on board with the idea, but it took me a while to come up with my list.
I’ll admit, I took some liberties with my goals. For me, this wasn’t just about improving my skills or technique. I also wanted to improve my overall knitting and spinning experience. For me, the experience includes my interactions with other knitters and spinners. That social and community aspect is something that was lacking for me in 2009. I rarely posted to this blog. I pretty much stopped going to the local knitting and spinning groups this summer. I wasn’t even all that involved over in Ravelry.
I put my list of goals in the order of knitting, spinning, and then other (includes design, stash and community/social goals). I didn’t try to put them in any sort of priority order. My Ten for 10 are:
- Knit a large square/rectangle shawl (like one from from Heirloom Knitting or Knitted Lace of Estonia)
- Knit a sweater for me
- Knit a pair of colorwork socks
- Clean and prep the baby alpaca (cria) fleece I purchased (which will be much easier since I got combs and hand cards for Christmas)
- Spin the above mentioned fleece
- Spin at least an hour per week to improve my overall spinning technique and consistency
- Reduce the overall stash -I must knit/destash more than I purchase (by weight, since I want to include the fiber and yarn)
- Design and release at least 2 patterns
- Post more regularly to this blog
- Attend my local knitting or spinning groups more often (which shouldn’t be hard – I hardly went at all in 2009)
I want to use the blog to check in on this list once a month so I can keep track of how I’m doing. I don’t know if I’ll achieve the entire list, but I’m going to try (I can already see myself skipping the large shawl…).
I think I’m going to spend some time today inventorying the stash that isn’t in Ravelry (mostly fiber) so I can have a good sense of a true starting weight for #7.
Does anyone else have any goals for 2010? I’d love to hear about them. Leave me a comment or come join us over on Ravelry.
Back in May on Fiber Fun Day, I made some watermelon colored batts. I’d given these batts to my Mom as a Mother’s Day present with a promise that I would take them back, spin them and knit them into something for her.
I started spinning them back in July. I decided to do a simple two-ply yarn. I spun each batt as a single and plyed them together. I wasn’t aiming for any particular weight, and I ended up with approximately 275 yards of mostly aran weight yarn. Like all of my yarns so far, it suffers from some inconsistency in thickness.
After the yarn was spun and plied, I then faced the challenge of what to make. Mom and I had discussed making a “modern lace” wrap for her. She wasn’t into the idea of a traditional shawl. I spent some time wandering through handspun lace projects in Ravelry and stumbled upon this project. It was a heavier-weight Wisp modeled as a off-center wrap. Mom loves ponchos and the like, so I knew this was perfect for her.
For my project, I originally cast on more stitches than the pattern called for and had a wide (top-to-bottom) Wisp, but not enough yarn to give it length to fit around an adult. It would have fit like a glove instead of draping nicely. So, I ripped out all of the knitting. For the second attempt, I cast on fewer than the original a pattern and knit until I ran out of yarn. When I finished, I had less than two or three yards of yarn remaining.
The biggest challenge for this project was finding suitable buttons. We don’t have a great button supply locally. Since I didn’t shop for buttons until mid-December, and I wanted Mom to have this for Christmas, I had to settle for what I could find. I ended up with these shell buttons. I would have preferred to have 5 of them, but I could only find 4 in this size and color. I may continue to look for buttons and send Mom some new ones.
I heard from Mom on Christmas day and she was excited about the present. I don’t have any photos from her, so we’ll have to settle for a quick shot of me modeling it before shipping it off. In the end, the project ended up to be what I was looking for. It’s lace and open, but without the frilly, old-fashioned look that Mom was looking to avoid. I think this will work perfect to keep her warm in those air-conditioned Arizona buildings.
Pattern: Wisp
Designer: Cheryl Niamath
Source: Knitty, Summer 2007
Yarn: Handspun Wensleydale
Color: Watermelon
Needles: US 10 (6mm)
Started: October 7, 2009
Completed: October 24, 2009
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