Sock Blank Tie-Dye

It started out with a sock blank knitted with the Addi express. Then came a big dye pot with water previously used to soak black beans. I used Epsom salts as mordant, knowing very well that I was going to get a light gray color thanks to a swatch I made sometime ago. The result was so ugly that I refused to even make a picture. So back to the dyepot, after a few rubber bands were involved, more bean water, and alum as a mordant. And this is what came out.

Not bad at all. Stripes will be more like flecks, since bands don't necessarily correcpond to rows:


Now onto the next problem: This is the second sock blank I dye, but I am afraid of knitting them up knowing that the color transition/banding will be disrupted when turning the heel. I've been searching for a way to prevent this that does not involve using a different yarn for the heel. This is what I found so far.

I remain unconvinced. I know it's hard to judge from a picture, but I have the feeling that this heel is too boxy. Then there is this pattern. If you look closely, the heel has increases, and then instead of a heel flap, a few more rounds, followed by heel decreases. While this looks like a very interesting construction, I cannot help but notice the crease on top of the foot when the sock is worn, so I will not even attempt to follow it. The increases are, however, very interesting, as they look like upside-down versions of decreases. Very symmetrical, and they are described in detail in this page. What if I combined both ideas (increases, boomerang short rows, then decreases) into a single heel?

Hybrid

Not long ago I made this shawl:


I never liked it. Not only was it very boring to knit, it also looked plain and tended to roll up. I wore it once and was uncomfortable with it, it did not work neither as a shawl nor as a scarf. So I ripped it and used the yarn for a new shawl that started out with the Belmondo pattern. After using up a little less than 2/3 of my yarn, I added the edging of the Lazy Katy pattern. Because it comes from two different patterns, I named it Hybrid. This is the result:

Surprisingly, it is a little bit larger than the original. It also looks far more interesting and it lies flat. I already wore it once over a dress and it stayed on my shoulders all night without a pin. Ripping that first shawl turned out to be a great idea.

Heat map

The spouse thought of the name and I think it's quite fitting, given the colors. The pattern is the Double Eyelet Rib Socks, by Wendy Johnson, modified to seven repeats around the foot instead of 8 (total 56 stitches instead of 64).


The yarn is something I bought in Germany many years ago, called Belday. It reminds me of a Regia colorway I once worked with, except that it has a bright red instead of orange, but otherwise the striping pattern is very similar, to the point that I am sure they were intentionally imitating Regia's colorway. Here's a picture without flash, but neither one of them captures the colors well.


Someone might wonder if 56 stitches are enough for an adult sock. They were just right for me and I have no complaints.

Sapphires

Again, some pattern I found in ravelry but never added to my favorites. I just knitted a few rows, memorized it and now I cannot remember what it is or how I came across it. It's a very easy honeycomb pattern, but I would not have come up with it on my own. Pity I cannot give due credit.

The socks are very pretty, thanks to the beautiful yarn from Rabbitworks. The colorway is called "Cryptic Notes".

Micro

I almost named this shawl "redemption" given the recent bad luck I've had with shawls. But this is just a small kiri, and Micro is what best describes it.


It's not for me, it's for my sister, who admired my Nano once. My sister is allergic to wool, so I had to use cotton. I'm using something called Basics, from the Italian brand lana grossa. It's shiny and soft and much better than your regular dishcloth cotton... but frankly, I prefer Mexican Sinfonia. It splits much less, and one 100g skein holds many more yards than a 50g skein, which is how they sell Basics. Plus Sinfonia is cheaper.


I only used two skeins of basics for this shawl. That meant hiding four ends. Cotton is not lace friendly when it comes to weaving in ends. If I had gone with Sinfonia, I could have finished this shawl with only one skein.


Live and learn...

Confetti

For some reason, I forgot to post this pair of socks here after posting them in Ravelry. Well, here they are:



It's a simple pattern, with lace ladders all around it. On the back of the sock the lace is made with purl stitches as an experiment. There isn't really much difference in the end result. The little holes and the splashes of color make me think of confetti, hence the name.

I seriously thought I should name them "transition socks", since I finished them as I was changing jobs. But the truth is, the job change is completely unrelated to the socks. It came about without me having any control in the process.

Long story short, I was told my contract was not going to be renewed, but before my contract was over I had found a different job. The new job is nothing to be excited about, but then, there is no such thing as a perfect job. I consider myself lucky to have avoided unemployment. I even managed to squeeze in a long weekend in a Mountain Lodge between jobs.


The yarn is called Admiral Flakes, by Schoppen Wolle. I loved it. It came with my swap socks from Estibaliz and it was a wonderful gift.

Haruni

There was once an incomplete shawl that ended up abandoned in a corner after running out of yarn. Several attempts were made to substitute with a similar yarn. None worked. But finally, I am pleased to announce that embroidery floss, split in half, worked out. It's only the final crochet row that ended up finished with floss, the rest is all kidsilk spray. Which is, by the way, a terrible yarn for this pattern. The two contrasting colors create splotches that blur the pretty leaf design. All in all, I loved the yarn and the pattern, but not the combination of both.

Slanted

Socks for the spouse, kindly modeled by him. Sometime ago in Ravelry I found something similar but forgot to save the link, so I recreated the pattern as best as I could. Made with Cascade Heritage.

They're Here!

They arrived last Saturday, but with the spouse taking until the last minute to file taxes I was unable to post pictures until today: In addition to my socks, Estibaliz included som Admiral Flakes yarn, stitch markers, needle point protectors, a row counter, a cute little purse, lip gloss and..... chocolate ladubugs! I love chocolate. They did not last long. As for the socks, they are warm and cozy and fit perfectly well. I only wish I knew what yarn it is, otherwise they are never going in the washer. I'm very happy with my socks. I wore them already and now they're soaking in Woolite.

Right on time

My swap socks were finished a week ago, then washed, blocked, and finally sent this Saturday to their destination. I hope their new owner likes them!

Monochrome Argyle

I finished today the spouse's socks, the ones that were originally on my needles. I finished them using my grandmother's needles which, unlike my addis, have a stiffer cable and the union between cable and needle is not as smooth. Anyway, picture time: Regarding the swap socks, this is the Rabbitworks yarn in the "Cryptic Notes" colorway. The camera does not do it justice. It combines several hues of deep blue. I look at it and think of sapphires. And this is how it looks when combined with "Revenge" using the Pinwheel pattern: I had to add a stitch, given that when knitting with two yarns you need an even number of stitches. Also, I refuse to make a pinwheel garter stitch toe. I know the garter stitch pinwheels are what give this pattern its name, but I personally find garter stitch toes very uncomfortable. This is the toe I prefer to wear, and so I used it for this pair of socks too.

Better than nothing

At least I am past the toes. Which isn't much, especially considering that I am going to rip the few rows I've knit after finishing the increases.



I am making Pinwheel Socks. I have made two pairs so far and feel confident enough with the pattern that I will not have to worry about screwing things up. I also wanted to try it with a single yarn, given that so far I have used this pattern to get rid of scraps.

It turns out that the real beauty of this pattern lies in the vertical stripes. Using only one yarn is creating a very boring pair of socks. Luckily, I have another skein of this Rabbitworks yarn, in a pretty blue colorway called "Cryptic Notes". I hope they work well together.

Shame

Last week I posted a picture of my sock swap yarn, wound up into two nice center pull balls. Have I made any progress? Why yes, I put the yarn in a baggie:




You might have noticed that there are no needles in the baggie. That's because the needles are currently in another baggie, holding another pair of socks I thought I would have finished by now:




Yes, I know, I should not procrastinate, after all there's a deadline. I am posting this to shame myself into hurrying up.

To hell with shawls

So, way back in October, I was working with a yarn that had glitter in it but was still very soft: Lanalux. I wanted to create an object of beauty and I chose the Sheri shawlette pattern, simply because it allows you to use up all the yarn with not much waste, since it is knitted sideways. I called this thing boredom because it requires a lot of boring stockinette.

Speaking of which, all that stockinette might have worked with another yarn, but my shawlette rolls at the edges even after wet blocking and steam blocking. I don't dare to use the iron because of the glitter. Don't let it fool you. It's lying flat against the sofa but in reality it rolls on itself without provocation.



In November I moved on to another shawl, something more challenging and without any stockinette: Haruni. I used two balls of kidsilk spray and finished the second to last row. Alas, there is not enough yarn to finish the last row. Kidsilk spray is, by the way, discontinued. So the future of my shawl is bleak.



After three failures in a row (I am counting the Garden View Shawlette as a failure) my knitting mojo dried up.

But I find myself itching again for the needles, so I joined a sock swap for Spanish speakers: Swapetines. I used to participate in that sock swap, stopped for a couple of years, but now feel like it's time to rejoin them. Today I split the skein into two pull out balls:



This is 75% superwash merino from Rabbitch, in a colorway she calls revenge. I had originally ordered a different colorway, but she had ran out of it. She reimbursed me, including shipping, and then sent me a skein in this colorway free of charge. Isn't she a nice lady?

The yarn is beautiful, though these days I find myself gravitating towards browns, grays and tans. When I learned that my swap victim likes bright colors I thought it was time to knit up this pretty yarn.