Work Socks, Spindles, Turbo Spindle

These are the spindles I have been practising with today in my beginner's spinning lesson I am giving myself with the help of Abby Franquemont's video 'Respect the Spindle'. She is a terrific teacher & I highly recommend this video to anyone interested in learning how to spin. 

The spindle on the left is the 'Turbo Spinner' which I purchased at the Woodstock Fleece Festival in Oct. 2009 in Woodstock, ON. The two on the right were made by my husband for me. The middle one is a top whorl & the one on the right is a bottom whorl. As you can see I haven't used that one yet. It has taken three sessions to get a good understanding and to make some progress that I am happy with. It is a great deal of fun.

Here is one only of my last pair of socks. Briggs & Little 'Durasport', a mix of wool & nylon. Short row heel & toe.  Still have one more to do, but alas I have cast on for a pair for my husband in Kroy Sock Yarn. It feels so nice to work with & I love my socks I made with it in the past. My other green & white will have to wait a little.

On the Needles

This is the newest sock project being done in Mary Maxim Gemtones brand sock yarn.
Wool & nylon.
2.25mm dpns with my newest accessory - the knitting  belt which I ordered from http://www.journeyman-leather.co.uk/ in Yorkshire, England. It works very nicely & the leather is really lovely.

With these socks I used a provisional cast on (that's new to me) and did a short row toe for the second time. For some reason I kept making the same mistake many times over.

I refused to give up & eventually I got it right. I am probably at the point with this method where I could do it now without the instructions. I am going to cast on another sock and see if I can get it right the first time 'round.

Both Green Socks Finished

These are interesting - shows me I have to practice the short row heel. I'm not completely satisfied with them, but now I can go back to working on the shawl.

The colours I wasn't happy with until my husband made a comment on the contrast between the two colours; one being so bright & the other so very dark. He liked the socks.

That was one of the key factors when I chose these two yarns. I was originally going to make striped from toe to the cuff, then changed my mind & decided to dial it back a little. Last night, when I was tired, I was completely dissatisfied with the colour, but now I don't find it quite so bad.

Think I will wear them to work tomorrow. On Your Toes sock yarn. wool & nylon. 2.50mm Addi circs along with my new spring steel short dpns.

Also pictured is my new knitting sheath. It was purchased from 'Agres on Etsy' along with some spring steel dpns in 9", 12" & 16" for knitting a couple of gansey sweaters. Right now it still feels clumsy when I use the knitting sheath, except every so often I get the motions right. It is supposed to take the stress from my wrist & use the strength in my upper arm muscles.

Unspectacular Socks

The top pic is the latest toe up project, sadly I only did one at a time this time. Why? Not really sure, but it made sense at the time. These were experimental. Tried a short row technique that I don't think I care too much for. The colours are not successful!!! Very unhappy with the combination.

I did part of the ribbing with my new set of needles I got for a knitting sheath I ordered from 'Agres on Etsy'. That's a technique that will take some practice for me to be good at.

Maybe they will look better when I get a good night's sleep. If not, then on to something else.

The bottom pic is a brighter photo of the shawl project.

Works in Progress

These are my two works in progress. Top is a sock project done toe up with short row heels & toes on 2.25mm dpns. The other is a 'Pie Are Square' shawl on 4.5mm using a 2 ply shetland wool. The socks are my 'take to work' project.

Thinking back to Nov. & Dec. 2009 Christmas

Thinking back to Nov. & Dec. 2009 Christmas knitting...

Everyone received 'Chebeague Fisherman's Mittens' from Robin Hansen's 'Favorite Mittens'.

Yup, that's right. 12 pairs of felted mittens!!!

I've been wearing mine every time I go out & I do find them warm & cozy. Next year I will try some patterned mitts, though I very much like making these.

Happy New Year to all!

I finished up 2009 by knitting up a pair of socks done in Briggs & Little Durasport, a blend of 80% wool & 20% nylon. The colour is a most beautiful shade of a dark green & an ivory colour for contrasting toes, heels, & some stripes.

I started these socks with the intention of doing them the Queen Kahuna way (Crazy Toes & Heels fame) then changed to a pattern from 'Folk Socks' by Nancy Bush then to inspiration from 'Simple Socks' by Priscilla A. Gibson-Roberts.

This means I did them toe up with the cast on by Mary Ann Beattie (aka Queen Kahuna), did the increases (incorrectly) then as I was knitting up the foot I was side tracked by 'Simple Socks' (which I was reading while I was knitting) before I did the heel.

'Simple Socks' is a book I got in 2009, I think, and since it was still early in my sock knitting learning curve when I got it, I put it away to concentrate on 'Crazy Toes & Heels' by Mary Ann Beattie.

Anyway, the idea of trying a short row heel interested me & I thought I would give it a try on these. So I did & the first one wasn't so great, so I tried again on the second sock (because I do 2 at a time) & it really pleased me. So then I went back to the first sock, took out the heel & did it over. This time it was good. I like this method - even if just for a change, but I wanted to learn something new.

I don't like doing things the same way all of the time - I need variety in everything. I started with Knit Picks circulars in 2.25mm & when I got to the heel I did one on circs & the other with dpn's.

As I was knitting, I was also reading the socknitter's list where someone introduced me to the 'Fibronacci sequence'. This is a method of planning pleasing stripes. Since I had planned on putting a stripe of ivory near the top of the cuff, I decided to include Fibonacci sequence stripes.

I'm going to wear them today!!!