At least something got finished in April

With all the rampant starting of projects (and willful ignoring of projects in progress - I'm looking at you River Run), I was sure I would end the month without any finished objects under my belt. Thankfully last week's 9 hours (cumulative) on the train to and from Scotland and a trip from London to Somerset yesterday meant that last night I grafted toe #2 of my April socks while getting all weepy watching Wills and Kate on the BBC1 highlights show last night*.

Pattern: Nornir by Caoua Coffee, the round 2 pattern for Sock Madness 5
Yarn: Woolcraft Superwash Sock Yarn, bought for cheap cheap cheap at my semi-local haberdashery in December
Needles: US 1.5/2.5 mm double points
Start/finish: 1 April - 29 April 2011
Gauge: I am steadfastly ignoring gauge in my socks this year because I'm largely knitting them for other people. These are for someone in the States, and if they don't fit the intended recipient, I'm sure they will find a happy home.
Comments/mods: No mods from the pattern, although I knitted the large (72 stitch) size instead of the smaller version. I guess I originally thought they would be for me, but the slipped stitch/ribbing pattern coupled with a slipped stitch sole makes for a fairly inelastic fabric. They might actually fit me, but they'd probably be a bit tight, so I didn't even try. Off they go for a present instead.

The pattern was very nicely laid out and clearly explained. The stitch patterns used do eat up a fair bit of yarn, and take some time. At least it seemed like it took a long time. The leg is 82 rounds long, but the stitch pattern compresses quite a bit, so they aren't very high.

The bad news: I'm in Somerset, 3+ hours from London, I will be here until Monday, and I don't have the May socks with me. Aaaaaaaaaaaargh!

* I was not terribly in to the whole Royal Wedding TM coverage by any stretch of the information, but was interested to see all the hoopla. Imagine my surprise when I found it all to be actually really wonderful - they were so sweet**, and I thought the whole ridiculous affair was fairly restrained as these things go***. Maybe that's a function of the Veddy British coverage that I watched - what was it like in the States?

** Must give huuuuuge kudos to Mrs. Wales, as the media circus has been unbelievable and I think she's nutso for having agreed to this whole thing in the first place. As an English friend pointed out to me, "Well, she must really love him." Amen.

*** My childhood memories of Charles and Diana's wedding includes a train the length of Westminster Abbey. That might be a wee bit exaggerated, but not as much as I'd like to think.

Stuck

I have found myself in a bit of a rut recently, hence the general blog silence. Sadly, this is not only a fibery rut, but also a major career rut that I'm trying to work out. There is more to be said on that, but I'm not quite at a point to lay down my thoughts on virtual paper, so it will have to wait. Instead, I will give you some images from our Easter weekend in Edinburgh.

We went hiking on Salisbury Crags in Holyrood Park.

 

Girls in gorse

We saw some interesting people on the Royal Mile.

 

Weirdest spinning outfit I've seen yet

I bought a bit of yarn,

and a new ring.

And I knit most of half a sock in three days.

Life goes on...

The perils of faithfulness

So, when last we had any knitting content on this here blog, I was gleefully starting my April socks after many evenings devoted to stranded colorwork, and bemoaning project monogamy.

Ehem. Starting those socks may have been a mistake. Because in the last week I've also cast on for a stashbusting "cat" bed and a new sweater design project. So much for being faithful!

The cat bed is actually for the SRD, who at his vet appointment today, tipped the scales at a whopping 3.13 kg, aka 6.9 lbs.

 

 Gratuitous cute puppy pic - he was looking at the treat in my hand.

This is kelp's Dotty Cat Bed. I'm using some random recycled grey merino, some leftover Karisma from IM's Aran, the last of the handspun pencil roving from the Northman Mittens and leftover Mountain Mohair from two incarnations of sweater. Excellent for getting rid of ~600 yds of yarn.

Socks are still singular, but are on to the gusset. I'm hoping to finish these in time for a May birthday. Hmmm.

I was about to start the last row before setting the armhole steeks on River Run last night when I realized I'd screwed up the stitch pattern at the beginning of the previous row. Grrrr....tink, tink, tink. After that I was too irritated to keep going on it, so I go the pattern going in the right order again and put it down to turn to this:

The prototype of my newest design. It doesn't look like it, but this is almost ten inches (of 12 needed) of ribbing. In a couple of inches, I get to switch to the lace pattern - yippee! This is going to be a cardigan with a deep scoop neck and elbow length sleeves (or a bit longer) - ribbing to just under the bust with vine lace on the bodice. The yarn is one of my favorites - Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool in a dark purple. The real life color is much darker then I'm able to get a picture of for some reason. This is a batch I bought in Houston at the Yarns 2 Ewe winter sale right before I started my year-long yarn diet, and is the old formula (65% wool, 35% silk - currently it's 45% wool, 35% silk, 20% nylon). I love this yarn - it's soft to work with, but has a slightly crunchy feel from the silk. And the drape is awesome. I'm hoping to get the lace going tonight, but I've got to get the River Run steeks set first - there's a lot of armhole to go on the March sweater! Not to mention sleeves...

So that the ridiculous number of  active projects I've got on my needles. What about you? Are you a mono- or poly-knitting type? Anyone have more then four active projects going?

Monogamy is boring

Project monogamy that is. I've been slogging away on the handspun sweater without a break for the last week plus, and I'm almost to the underarms. It's lovely, but I've had to tink back 300+ stitches several times because I used the wrong color a few rows back, and I'm getting a bit tired of it. Thank goodness it's April 1st and I can start my new socks!

Originally this yarn was slated for Vinnland socks, but when I pulled it out I decided that particular pattern really needed a solid color yarn. So I cast on for Nornir, the Round 2 pattern for Sock Madness 5 - it's working beautifully with the short color runs in this yarn (Woolcraft Superwash Sock Yarn).

I also had a fit of procrastination last week and finished spinning up the Little Barn tweedy fiber I started at the last Spin Night at the beginning of March.

 

It's actually a lot darker in real life - teal and navy and fuschia. The two big skeins are 562 yds of true 3 ply, fingering weight. The teensy skein is the remaining singles chain plied - I didn't both to measure the yardage, but it's probably somewhere in the range of 15-20 yds. Aka not much. This is not the softest yarn in the world, but it will be okay for mittens or something like that, somewhere down the road. Spun/plied at 15:1/12:1, drafting style was short forward draw from the fold.

I've also got a couple more sweater projects on the brain, so there's been much swatching going on.

This is the latest one. The plan is to knit up the prototype in the next month and write up that pattern for testers to finish by early June. I think it will be cute, but we'll see.

So, Month 3 is done - socks were finished, sweater was not, but I'm still plugging away. Hopefully it will be April's sweater.

March socks: Aquaphobia

I do not have aquaphobia. I do, however, have a lovely new pair of socks. And since my sock output so far in 2011 has been all for other people, these are mine! All mine!

Pattern: Aquaphobia by Crystal Smith
Yarn: Hill Country Yarns Sweet Feet in "Blueberry Wine", 400 yds/100 gr.
Needles: US 1/2.25 mm
Start/finish: 1 March - 20 March 2011
Gauge: 10 sts/11 rows per inch in stitch pattern, 8 sts/12 rows per inch in stockinette.
Comments/mods: This is a terrific pattern for breaking up variegated or handdyed yarns with lots of contrast. The slipped stitch pattern lets you break up any pooling (except around the gussets there on the foot), and makes a really nice cozy, thick, cushy fabric.

Sorry for craptastic night time photos - will replace ASAP

The designer included a two-stitch cable on either side of the instep to give a bit of extra stretch. This was a great feature, and the pattern, while written for a women's medium, easily fit around my US 10s. I might have had to make them a bit longer, but that wasn't a big deal.

Fast knit, great breaking up of colors, new socks. What's not to love?