Countdown: 8 days

Can it be done?

I’ve got eight make that seven days to knit one sock. I have two separate medical-related appointments to accompany my mum on, which knocks out half a day each for recovery time. I also have to start thinking about packing for my holiday. Plus I’m also doing some last-minute sewing for my trip. So, here’s the question: Can I do it?

Oh, yeah. I finished the first sock. Did I mention that?

 

Unblocked and unworn and therefore looking like crap.

The second sock – using the cable needle as the waste yarn for the provisional cast on.

I’ll have all cast off/pattern/needle details once I’ve finished, so don’t ask at the moment!

I’m sorry about not responding to comments like I normally do. I’m now on the computer for about an hour a day because I just can’t justify the time.

Talking of which, I’m going to become a MacBook baby! I’ve been needing a replacement for the 4 kilograms of wasted space that is my current laptop and, having done research, I’ve decided to go over to “The White Side”… My brother says he’s going to disown me – hehe!

Any advice from Mac users will be greatly appreciated. I use mostly freeware/open source software at the moment, so I don’t anticipate any problems with moving over.

I was bored and so I decided to do a little test square in the Opal Rodeo Cotton yarn shown last time:

Messin’ around with yarn.

I went through all my stitch directories and couldn’t find anything that was simple, would bring out the best in the yarn and not disappear in the stripes and ragg colouring. I failed. I then remembered that someone had done the hard work for me. Thanks Rob!

Oh, and in response to comments from the last post – I wish I were going to Jamaica. For the World Cup final. Or semi-final. Or any cricket match. I am instead going to what is possibly the anti-Jamaica – the Highlands of Scotland. Och Ai! I’m fifth-generation Scottish, so I’m aloud to do that

Not that I’m obsessed with the cricket, but this is my desktop wallpaper. Come on Monty!

Right, I’m off to paint a bath panel (that’s not a euphemism, by the way) .

I don’t like cricket

Anyone ahead of me here?

Oh, no. I love it!

Crafting to come … firstly though …

What a start to the world cup! Ireland beating Pakistan on St. Patrick’s Day! Bangladesh beating their mighty neighbour, India. And England’s talisman, Andrew “Freddy” Flintoff, being fined and dropped from the team for “Pedalogate”. It turns out to be pretty serious, too. Wow.

EDIT: Bloody hell.  Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, has died.  Yeesh.  I just hope it was natural causes.   Anyway, on to other things.

Socks galore.

Progress has been made on my mum’s sock.

One day’s progress shown by the safety pins.

I had to rip back the leg patterning shown in the last post because it was too tight. I increase six stitches after the heel and then also increased the needle size part way up the leg. I’m a little further on now than this photo shows, but I’ve not quite finished the first one yet.

Yesterday’s status!

I’m about on schedule for finishing by my mum’s birthday (the 30th) assuming I can keep up about the same rate of knitting.

I’ve put a macro photo up of the leg patterning, but it’s massiiiiive, so only for broadband/cable users I think. You can see it here on my Flickr pages.

My Next Sock.

L-R: Opal Uni in “Dutch Orange” and purple and Rodeo Cotton in 1414 – catchy name!

The yarn came from KCG Trading and was ON SALE! You don’t have to be a Knitting and Crochet Guild Member to buy, and you can pay by PayPal.

The Rodeo Cotton will be coming with me on my holiday (two weeks to go – eep!) and I’ve already got a pattern in mind for the purple yarn.

Purchased at the same time were the coil-less safety pins shown above, plus some Addi Teddy Bear Needle Huggers:

Don’t they look just like Gummy Bears?

Needle Huggers – the vegetarian Gummy Bear Alternative!

Talking of vegetarian – does anyone know of a vegetarian or vegan recipe the uses olives (black or green). You may quote Delia or Marguerite, or any where online is fine. I got some to have on my wholewheat, handmade, pizza tonight, but I’m going to have a whole can and a whole jar left over! Thanks in advance.

You socksy thing!

Yay for insomnia, the cricket and my epistaxis! These things have come together beautifully to produce this:

Right side:

Wrong side (showing the floats):

Three-quarters of the way up the sock is the waste yarn for the afterthought heel (another technique I haven’t tried before).
I’m now up to the part with the lettering – a chance the designer gave us knitters to go “wild”. This is also the point in the sock where I stop showing pictures. I want to reveal the phrase/saying/pattern for both socks at the same time. It wont take a genius to work out what the lettering is likely to relate to (read my blog for five minutes, and you’d probably get it) but the effect will be greater if all is revealed at once!

Philosopher’s Wool Vest:

Hence forth to be known as the PWV (because I can’t be typing that out everytime I blog). I’ve been sketching what I’d like the finished vest/waistcoat to look like:

The kits don’t really come with a pattern, in the conventional sense. It’s much in the spirit of Elizabeth Zimmerman, where you make a swatch, measure yourself and then do a little maths. The “pattern” is written as a straight up ‘n’ down tube which is not going to work for me. This is where my annoying propensity for fiddling with patterns (and a love of maths problem-solving) comes in handy!
I have finally settled on the Trillium pattern and I’m going to use the background/foreground colours as they were packed in the kit (very useful little trick that – foreground colours at the top and background colours at the bottom of the bag) .

That’s all for – ta-ra!

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Technorati tags: yarn; knitting; Stranded KAL; Philosopher’s Wool; Iris Garden; socks

I’m so conventional

Top-down, double pointed needles, heel flap. What’s wrong with me?

This is the first of a pair of Simply Lovely Lace Socks from the Spring edition of Interweave Knits, for my mum, in Opal Cotton. My mum’s birthday in on the 30th of this month. Can I make it? I am, under my own rules, allowed to gift these at any point next Thursday, right up to 11:59pm. So, can I do it?

Mods: what have I changed? Well, the ribbing (1/1 to 3/3), the number of pattern repeats (I added one to make it fit), the twisted stitches (I made them plain) and the decrease in the lace (skpo to s2tog, k1, psso).

Click either picture (or both) to enlarge.

But apart from that, they are identical to the pattern.

I Do:

I’m on the home straight now. I’ve got erm … 3 and a bit repeats to go on the back, then I just need to block this sleeve and graft the backs together. Oh, and seam the sleeves. Don’t expect outdoor photos just yet though – it’s freeeeezing here at the moment. Hello Spring!

In homage to mamacate, randomness:

• Hillary Duff’s teeth scare me
• Waking up an hour sooner than normal because you’ve got a “feeling” about the cricket is not a good thing. Although 7 for 25 in 16 overs is a good thing!*
• I seem to have an unhealthly interest in the French-Canadian diver Alexandre Despatie**. Well, if you’re going to lust after a minute diver, it might as well be a world champion!

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* For the non-cricket-lovers (seriously, what’s wrong with you?) that is extremely good. That’s 7 wickets (good) for 25 runs (bad) in 16 overs (a miracle).
** He has his own website! I just googled to find pictures, but hey, cool!Technorati Tags: knitting; socks; opal; yarn; knitty; diving