Nearly there

Today has been a day of last minute stuff, getting this, sorting that, remembering those, and then laying all of it out and working out how to fit it sensibly into my borrowed suitcase. It is Friday, just after lunch, I leave mid morning tomorrow - final Destination Shetland! Which is really really exciting, except for the 38 hours and 50 minutes I'll be in transit. Living so far away is kind-a nice sometimes, a little distance is a good thing .. but then it is so far away. Of course attending an international hand knitting conference is worth all that economy class seating. And no .. I've not found the missing sock, so that project is totally on hold. The disappearance of the first knit sock is all very very strange.

So I have tickets, GBP, passport, my liquids and gels all in the little plastic baggie, and of course travel knitting. I've finished my presentation .. well as finished as it can be without continuing to polish it. I have all the images I need in place, and a few print outs which I'll read over and 'improve' the talk side of things before I present. I've also got company, on the trip Launa is coming with me, a local knitting guru so that is rather cool, and today it is a teacher only day so the cubs and I have a day together before I go. Of course they are too old and grown up for hanging out with Mum .. so are off playing in the living room.

I've packed my carry on, with little things that matter, two knitting projects, on in my favorite chicken knitting bag. I only had a wee bit of this fabric and managed to eek out 4 bags. Two even had chickens knitting chicken foot shapped socks ... which tickles my fancy somewhat. I've also put in a lace shawl knit by N, and my emergency knit tools, measuring tape, crochet hook, stitch markers.

Inside the chicken-knitting bag is my new project. I've had to be really strict with my self. I did decide to cast on all my projects before I left. Cat Mittens byJorid Linvik are fun and fast, so fast I had to stop myself knitting them completely before I left. I've changed the pattern a little, I love the twisted braids on some of the other mittens so added that to this one, a band at the cuff and another band above the cuff colour work. Looks like the sock yarn on 2.25mm needles with 60 stitches will be perfect for older cub. If I wanted to wear them myself I'd have to settle for a looser gauge or work with thicker yarn and larger needles. I can't wait until we leave NZ .. the longer plane flight will be perfect for settling into knit this.



My mindless knitting project is a home spun baby blanket with a little lace at the corners. So far it is plain between, and it might stay that way. Part of me is wondering if I can adapt the lace so it forms a grid ... but that might just be to hard for a mindless round and round project for when I'm tired. There is 700+ m of fingering weight handspun, 160grams, so it should make a decent sized blanket. My plan is to cast of with a garter stitch boarder inset with more of the lace panel. I am trying to keep it simple. My other project was to be Annis .. and I cast on and worked the first two rows but ... .it isn't going to be a knit to work while distracted ... so I'm leaving that until I'm back, sometimes what seems like a good idea in theory doesn't really work in practice, that is ok, I can adapt.

So to prevent me from knitting up all my travel knitting before I go I've reverted to the huge blanket project. This means there is progress .. only 5 squares to do! I'm on the home straight on this one, as I work around 2 squares a night ... so only a few more nights knitting and it will be done.

but I'm away in two sleeps ... and away for 13 days. I'm not taking the laptop, as I've no idea what sort of internet access I can find, and it just seems easier to use internet cafes to check into Ravelry and such. I probably won't post while away .. or if I do it will be short and picture-less. I'm back at work on the 13th September .... so expect the first return post then.

Until then
happy knitting ... wish me luck at least a little deep sleep on the plane .
na Stella

I've lost a sock ...

not in the washing machine, and not one of a pair, but a sock that I have knit. Worse is that is has gone AWAL whilst I'm knitting its mate. I have no idea where it is .. but I do have proof that it existed, proof that I did knit it and complete it. This is maddening, for I'm well aware of the lost sock syndrome, where once the laundry is washed, dried and folded there is a sock or two lonely and without a mate. But this is different, this sock should never have left the house, it should never have left the room, it should never have left the end of the sofa where I sit and knit and should be happily waiting for its mate in my work basket .. but it is not. Today I present the second sock ... without its pair, I repaired the cuffs of one of my favorite cardigans (Owls) and it was surprisingly straightforward, and I'm making plans.....travel knitting plans. It has been busy week, I was away Monday and Tuesday .. and teaching all day Wednesday, and out Thursday .. so the week flew by without a blog update.

I guess I need to advertise, my missing sock looks like this,

Lost - One sock, Theodora, purple, size ML, knit in Vintage Purls Sock, Sock Club edition Theodora. If found please return to me ....


Here is the second sock, nearly done and because the first is lost I can not finish this one. I keep a workbook, a knitting journal in which I write the important things, how many stitches, what size needles, any changes to the pattern .. but what I have not recorded is how long I knit the leg of the first sock before I worked the ribbing. Looking at the photos I guess I could estimate how many lace repeats there are .. but I'd rather line the two socks up and work out the length that way. I have no idea where the missing sock is, I meant to take it with me on a work trip to Wanganui on Monday, but when I got there I couldn't find it in my bag so assumed I had not packed it, When I returned home I realized I couldn't find it here either.... I have no idea where it could be. Are there sock fairies and gnomes? Do they take things sometimes? Can any one help?

I distracted myself by repairing the cuffs of Owls, one of my favorite cardigans. I knit this way back in January and February of 2009 so it has done well. The cuffs were worn so repairs were needed. Last post I wrote about repairs to elder cubs cuffs, but that was a top down gansey and seemed easier to plan the repair for. When I posted that Owls needed repairing I also posted I had none of the yarn left .. but M came to my rescue with a part ball of the same yarn. I had forgotten she has a cardigan in the same yarn - that made me happy and solved the what with problem and only left the how problem.

First I removed the cuffs from the cardigan. Because the sleeves were knit cuff up, I couldn't unravel them. Knitting only ravels one way .. the opposite way to the direction it is knit in.

So ... I snipped a thread one round past the ribbing and gently removed the yarn one stitch at a time. I was surprised to find that it hadn't felted enough to make pulling the thread difficult. I'm keeping these as spare yarn should I have to repeat this repair in a few years.


With the cuffs removed I picked up the stitches on 3.25mm needles and knit up new cuffs. The original cuffs has stretched somewhat larger than I liked. As part of this repair I had opportunity to work the replacement cuffs smaller. For the original I had used 48 stitches in 2x2 rib and increased for the cables by adding 12 extra stitches, this time I increased only two stitches and worked a P2, K2, P2, K4 rib. It was nice having details of the stitch count and needles sizes in my knitting workbook (why oh why didn't I record the same level of detail for the missing sock?). I used the original cuff to gauge how long to make the new cuffs, the same number of cable twists.

I think this worked quite well, the transition between the cuff up sleeve and the replacement sleeve down cuff seems smooth and not really noticeable. I wasn't quite sure what kind of cast off would be best, I wanted something durable and hopefully more durable than the previous edge.


In the end I chose my favorite cast off, i-cord, a two stitch i-cord cast off. I worked this on 4mm needles - the same as I used on the body of the cardigan.


The i-cord works well, it provides a clear edge, and seems to echo the rib and cables in scale.One of the reasons for selecting this edge finish was it was used to edge the front bands and the neck of the cardigan. The edge on the cuffs seems larger in scale .. but perhaps will settle a little with blocking and wear. I didn't want to pull it in, so worked the cast off on larger needles and loosely.


Now that my repairs are all done and Owls is in a fit state to travel to with me, I've been thinking about travel knitting. I'm away next weekend to the In the Loop 2 conference in Shetland ---- which is pretty exciting stuff, to have funding and be going to a 5 day conference all about hand knitting. I'll be away 2 weeks, so need knitting to keep my hands busy. This is plan one, Annis from Knitty Spring Summer, by Susanna IC. I'm planning to knit it in lace-weight 100% cashmere. I'm going to feel so special and luxuriant knitting this, and once the lace is done I should be able to just go back and forth easily. I might just cast on before I leave ... peace of mind as I count all those stitches and place stitch markers.


This is travel plan part two, the large yellow cake is hand spun fingering perennial. That I plan to knit into a center out baby blanket, just round and round .. perhaps a pi shawl in celebration of EZ's 100th? Or square with a mini lace cable up the corners between the increases ... I'm still planning and thinking about that so suggestions are welcome. The Orange is Road Cone, and was to be put with the green to knit Elder cub a pair of space invaders mittens, but I've been asked to trade .. and the green is vibrant enough on its own so I'll pair it with the navy-grey instead.


And part three of the plan involves these two skeins, which I think will make a neat pair of colour work mittens for smallest cub ..... probably out of my new book Selbuvotter or Cats by Jorid Linvik from the shop but the dogs are cute as well as are the fish and the Zebras and the frogs (how can one decide with offerings like that?), or Wintergreen by Kate Gilbert, or Deep in the Forest by Tuulia Salmela which are just really really cool. Bother all the things I want to knit are cool .. which makes deciding all the harder. And I need to take a sock to knit .... two weeks with no sock knitting seems just plain wrong, but what sock .. and what yarn? There are still decisions to make .....


take care
na Stella