and a good photo of them is still to come, but these socks are beautiful, a great pattern and surprisingly good yarn, a huge thank you for the nice comments on Toby's self made wristlet, his grin was so goofy when he read them today, so again thanks for encouraging him.
TodayI report that my test knit fish did not work out, so am still on the hunt for a background yarn to use amongst the sock left overs, and yet again I'm adding to my stash ..., plus I've got a new toy, and it is still in the box!
So Hedgerow is finished, both of the pair. I don't seem to suffer from the second sock syndrome, usually the second sock is quicker to knit than the first - as I am keen to wear them once I see the first one done. I do need to provide better photos, sock one was steam blocked, but sock two - well she is straight off the needles, so here appears a little crumpled. I knit sock one on metal dpns, and sock two on bamboo - after gentle ribbing from Tania
about not using the wooden ones I love. You see I love wood or bamboo needles, but had one of my Brittany dpns break in use only a few weeks after I got them. The company was great, I emailed about the breakage and they sent a whole set of 5 more, so now I have 9 in that size (2.25mm). But some how in my little simple mind, the break put me off using them, I would think "what if I broke another one?" Tania very gently reminded me again and again at knit-night that what did that matter, I had 9, so what if I broke another one or even three! After all I had 9.
What I want to see now once these socks are blocked is if the tension and so the size differs for me knitting on wood than steel? Any way, I used Ashford bamboo for the second sock, the Brittany are just a tad short to pick up a gusset comfortably with, Oh they work but there is a risk of the stitches falling off. And I loved this yarn, St Ives, a real cheapie available at my limited LYS, so much so I will probably buy another ball to add to the one I have left over and knit something else in it.
And my fish, in the last post I mentioned how I was going to knit a test fish in the cone of Merino yarn from Milton Mill to see if I could use it in the fish afgahn blanket. Short answer is no, the yarn is to big, which means the the fish was big. Now I am thinking of a Meg Swansan and Elizabeth Zimmerman sweater for that yarn, the Box-the-Compas Yoke sweater, in black with bands around the yoke fading thru grey to white, just like in the book. I went to the library, and took out a few books, and while much of the patterns in that book are very boxy and 80's that one appeals. So back to the fish - well the sock yarn fish represented here in green is much smaller than the Milton mill fish, which would cause ripples in the fish blanket if used. Of course in hind sight comparing wraps per inch would have told me that easily and much quicker. Duh!
While away, I stopped at Ashfords and picked up some sock yarn, Opal Lollypop, 2 x100g balls to make a second GFS for Poppy. The last one I knit when she was 4 going on 5 is now a very snug shrug, although the sleeves are still just long enough. I did knit a generous turn back ribbed cuff, and will do that again in any kids item. Any-who a new one is needed. This little top is a lot like knitting socks and quite handy to go over short and long sleeved tee shirts as well as pretty dresses.
So I did succumb to souvenir yarn, picking up 6 50g balls of unmarked Peruvian baby weight 4 ply alpaca at the Alpaca Centre in Geraldine. 3xBlack and 3xpale grey - I am thinking this might be better for the we call them pirates hate for Toby, leaving the pale blue and bone alpaca for moi. I have never knit Alpaca before, and now have 4 or 5 batches in stash, so hope I like it to knit with. Is that poor planning or optimistic planning?
Oh, and btw, I did also pick up a new hobby tool while I was away, an ashfords traveller spinning double drive wheel. I thought I was saving up for a new Pentax Camera to replace my 4 year old Minolta. But a few weeks ago a colleague brought his to work, and I hated it, absolutely hated it. Plus to get a lens as bright as my Minolta and macro/close ups as good - well it was going to be a large saving project. So it turns out I was instead saving for a spinning wheel. I had looked at buying one thru TradeMe, the nz version of e-bay - but they were mostly old, unbranded and came with no guarantee they would spin the fine stuff I like to knit. This was a case where as a newbie I needed the knowledge of an experienced spinner to go down the cheap path, being confident in selecting and using a vintage or older wheel with less refinement for beginners.
Still - I have some study to finish - so no hurry to get this out of the box, lets limit the distractions, to the usual family, knitting, working, shall we?
TodayI report that my test knit fish did not work out, so am still on the hunt for a background yarn to use amongst the sock left overs, and yet again I'm adding to my stash ..., plus I've got a new toy, and it is still in the box!
So Hedgerow is finished, both of the pair. I don't seem to suffer from the second sock syndrome, usually the second sock is quicker to knit than the first - as I am keen to wear them once I see the first one done. I do need to provide better photos, sock one was steam blocked, but sock two - well she is straight off the needles, so here appears a little crumpled. I knit sock one on metal dpns, and sock two on bamboo - after gentle ribbing from Tania
about not using the wooden ones I love. You see I love wood or bamboo needles, but had one of my Brittany dpns break in use only a few weeks after I got them. The company was great, I emailed about the breakage and they sent a whole set of 5 more, so now I have 9 in that size (2.25mm). But some how in my little simple mind, the break put me off using them, I would think "what if I broke another one?" Tania very gently reminded me again and again at knit-night that what did that matter, I had 9, so what if I broke another one or even three! After all I had 9.
What I want to see now once these socks are blocked is if the tension and so the size differs for me knitting on wood than steel? Any way, I used Ashford bamboo for the second sock, the Brittany are just a tad short to pick up a gusset comfortably with, Oh they work but there is a risk of the stitches falling off. And I loved this yarn, St Ives, a real cheapie available at my limited LYS, so much so I will probably buy another ball to add to the one I have left over and knit something else in it.
And my fish, in the last post I mentioned how I was going to knit a test fish in the cone of Merino yarn from Milton Mill to see if I could use it in the fish afgahn blanket. Short answer is no, the yarn is to big, which means the the fish was big. Now I am thinking of a Meg Swansan and Elizabeth Zimmerman sweater for that yarn, the Box-the-Compas Yoke sweater, in black with bands around the yoke fading thru grey to white, just like in the book. I went to the library, and took out a few books, and while much of the patterns in that book are very boxy and 80's that one appeals. So back to the fish - well the sock yarn fish represented here in green is much smaller than the Milton mill fish, which would cause ripples in the fish blanket if used. Of course in hind sight comparing wraps per inch would have told me that easily and much quicker. Duh!
While away, I stopped at Ashfords and picked up some sock yarn, Opal Lollypop, 2 x100g balls to make a second GFS for Poppy. The last one I knit when she was 4 going on 5 is now a very snug shrug, although the sleeves are still just long enough. I did knit a generous turn back ribbed cuff, and will do that again in any kids item. Any-who a new one is needed. This little top is a lot like knitting socks and quite handy to go over short and long sleeved tee shirts as well as pretty dresses.
So I did succumb to souvenir yarn, picking up 6 50g balls of unmarked Peruvian baby weight 4 ply alpaca at the Alpaca Centre in Geraldine. 3xBlack and 3xpale grey - I am thinking this might be better for the we call them pirates hate for Toby, leaving the pale blue and bone alpaca for moi. I have never knit Alpaca before, and now have 4 or 5 batches in stash, so hope I like it to knit with. Is that poor planning or optimistic planning?
Oh, and btw, I did also pick up a new hobby tool while I was away, an ashfords traveller spinning double drive wheel. I thought I was saving up for a new Pentax Camera to replace my 4 year old Minolta. But a few weeks ago a colleague brought his to work, and I hated it, absolutely hated it. Plus to get a lens as bright as my Minolta and macro/close ups as good - well it was going to be a large saving project. So it turns out I was instead saving for a spinning wheel. I had looked at buying one thru TradeMe, the nz version of e-bay - but they were mostly old, unbranded and came with no guarantee they would spin the fine stuff I like to knit. This was a case where as a newbie I needed the knowledge of an experienced spinner to go down the cheap path, being confident in selecting and using a vintage or older wheel with less refinement for beginners.
Still - I have some study to finish - so no hurry to get this out of the box, lets limit the distractions, to the usual family, knitting, working, shall we?
1 comment:
I'm still blown away whenever I see "Hedgerow socks" written anywhere. Yours are so beautiful, and I thank you for making them.
How do you manage to keep from tearing open that spinning wheel box? :)
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