Year of Projects - from Denmark to Unst

gorgeous pattern, really!

Knitting on the Road: Canada • Canal du Midi • Conwy • Dalarna • Denmark • Friday Harbor • Hiiumaa • Huron Mountain • New England • The Road to Oslo • Santa Fe • Spey Valley • Christmas in Tallinn • Traveler's Stockings • Uinta Cabin • Unst • Whitby 

On the four hour drive to Ottawa yesterday, for an hour or so last night with my SIL, and on the four hour drive back from Ottawa today there was plenty of opportunity to knit. And I took full advantage.

My Denmark socks are done! The pattern is written for a heavier fingering weight than the Alpaca Sox yarn I decided upon so I knit them with a couple of extra repeats on size 0 dpns. The result? One of the most gorgeous pair of socks I've ever made. The pattern is very classic and very elegant and has more stretch than I would have imagined. I love those trademark Nancy Bush details like the Nupps that top the cable columns and the slim stockinette band on each side of the leg dividing the front and back of the sock. Awesome! Once again the photos in the book entirely fail to do this pattern justice. Now I only wish I had knit them in my own size instead of a smaller size for gift-giving ;)

Now, back to business. I've pulled this Pagewood Farms Aleksa yarn in the "Really Red" colourway from my stash for the next pair of socks. You won't mind if I skip ahead to Unst, will you? I'm in the mood for a lacey sock after all those cables!

Finished Object Friday

to refelt or not to refelt?

Is it finished? In the sense that I followed the instructions from start to end, it is. But the finished result leaves something to be desired - after three trips through the hot, heavily soiled cycle of my top loading washing machine the blue is only a smidge smaller -  and now I'm pondering my options. To refelt or not to refelt, that is the question.

Problem 1: The Sheep's Grey yarn has felted faster than the Midnight Blue yarn. Can this be fixed?

"Always test felt a swatch when using multiple colors, even within the same line of yarn. Different shades felt at different rates, as do different brands of yarns." advises Rob Matyska of Knitty. "If you notice, during the felting process, that a certain area isn't felting quite as fast as the rest of the surfaces, you can spot-felt by hand by rubbing and abusing that specific area."

Problem 2: The entire bag is massively wide. Unfelted the diameter was 19", after felting my diameter is 16-3/4" and my target finished diameter is 11-1/2 to 12". Is it possible to felt it that small? Please give me your two cents on this matter. I'm currently under the impression that felting at least 30% smaller should be do-able; thirty percent would put me at 13-1/4" diameter, which is a lot better than what I've got now!

"There is no "formula" for how a certain wool will felt." advise Kiki and Steve of LG Stitched. "It is impossible to determine the percentage of felting that will occur, but you can take careful notes to guide you in the future." 

For the next couple of days this project is going to sit in "time out" while I clear my head and get over my disappointment and frustration. And maybe on the weekend, I'll fill the sink with scalding hot water and tennis balls to see if I can hand felt it to the right proportions. As for today, I think I'll knit some more on my sock; at least it's behaving nicely.

Be sure to have a look at what's happening over at Tami's Amis. I'm going there now to get inspiration from some happy finishes!

work-in-progress Wednesday

almost a poinsettia

For the last couple of days I've been dividing my knitting time between socks for my Year of Projects and this knitted wine cozy. The poinsettia colourwork panel is my modification to the pattern - hopefully you'll be still be able to make it out after felting! I'd like to get this one finished and felted in the next few days. Just in case ... in case I can't felt it small enough to fit the bottle and need to knit another smaller version ... it could happen.

I was pretty lukewarm about this project when I started it, but it's growing on me. I particularly love this midnight blue yarn from Birggs and Little - feels like a very cold and clear winter night sky. My fingers are firmly crossed hoping that this works out how I'm envisioning it.

Progress around here has been at a snail's pace lately - life has been interfering with my knitting time. But over the next few days I'm going to have hours and hours of transit knitting time, so by next week I'll be way ahead. And for once I think I've limited myself to a reasonable number of Christmas projects. Maybe I'm finally getting older and wiser?

Check out Tami's Amis to see what everyone else has been up to!

an uncertain attempt

looks a bit big

It's not my first felting project - I made felted mitts several weeks ago - but I'm definitely a felting rookie. And as a result I'm completely lacking in confidence about how to predict sizing. I'm knitting this bottle cozy based loosely on a pattern from Patons using Briggs & Little Heritage from my stash in Midnight Blue and Sheep's Grey. Briggs is a very rustic, unprocessed wool and should felt beautifully. But I can't help but compare the size of the cozy I'm knitting to the bottle itself and wonder ... will it really felt small enough to fit? I guess we'll know the answer to that in a few days!

I decided to add a colourwork pattern to the cozy. I've opted for a kind of chunky border - after all, it should look a bit finer when it felts down to half it's size, right? For the main motif I've decided on a poinsettia. With this colour scheme a snowflake pattern probably would be more suitable, but the poinsettia jumped out at me, so a poinsettia it is.

The plan is to plough ahead with this, finish it, felt it and then decide whether I need to make another to adjusted dimensions. It doesn't take long to knit and I have enough yarn in my stash to knit several more if need be. The next one might be Sheep's Grey for the main colour and red for the contrast colour. That'd be more suitable for a Poinsettia, wouldn't it!

Year of Projects - Denmark Post 05

Finally some progress!

Knitting on the Road: Canada • Canal du Midi • Conwy • Dalarna • Denmark • Friday Harbor • Hiiumaa • Huron Mountain • New England • The Road to Oslo • Santa Fe • Spey Valley • Christmas in Tallinn • Traveler's Stockings • Uinta Cabin • Unst • Whitby 


Suddenly things are progressing; largely because my secret Christmas knitting project is done (yippee!). The first sock was finished last week and during the hockey game last night I knit about a third of the leg of the second sock. A big thank you to the Leafs for another lacklustre performance against a far superior team - the action on the ice did little to distract me from my knitting. At this rate the sock will be done in a just a few days, which will free up these needles for another Christmas knitting project.


Yesterday a friend and I headed west to do some Christmas shopping. Mostly I wanted to visit the Dutch store to buy some of the traditional Christmas treats from my childhood - cumin spiced cheese, licorice dropjes, ginger-spiced Speculaas cookies and marzipan-filled stollen. Mission accomplished ... except that we now seem to be eating treats all day and night instead of nutritious meals. Oh dear. And while out that way we dropped in at the Needle Emporium where I encountered a knitted sample of this cropped pullover in Debbie Bliss Riva. DANGER! For about a minute and a half I considered buying the yarn and pattern to make this for my sister for Christmas.  But wait, isn't it already December? Is this a good time to start something that big on a short deadline? NO!


One thing I have added to my Christmas knitting list is a felted wine bottle cosy. Pattern suggestions anyone? I hope to have that decided in the next couple of days so that I can pick up the yarn and make a start on it!

Not finished

one down, one to go!

Today's finished object Friday and there's not much finished around here. The mystery Christmas knitting project is almost finished. Just 35 rounds to go; about an hour and a half of knitting. I'll finish that up today and then block it tomorrow.

There is one finished Denmark sock, but I can't really call this project finished until there's a second one. That second sock is on the needles and has become top priority if only because I need these same needles for the next Christmas knitting project - Glorious Cabled Mitts. I can't wait to start them!

And happily the rest of our Christmas plans are starting to fall into place. Just a few more things to pick up and my shopping is done. With a bit of luck I may have most of it completed by the end of this weekend. Wouldn't that be nice? To coast into the holidays without any stress? It's a nice idea, but not likely. I tend to react to spare time by adding more to the to-do list. Let's just see if I can get through the next 24 days without promising to knit any sweaters!

work-in-progress Wednesday

Plan B

According to Plan A, I was to finish this secret Christmas knitting project today in order to pass the leftover yarn to a coworker for her secret Christmas knitting project. But perhaps it was somewhat unreasonable to estimate that I could knit a round every three minutes for 8-9 hours across two days while still eating, sleeping and holding down a full-time job? Unreasonable? Or delusional?

This morning - with an estimated 5 hours of knitting time left - it was time to go to Plan B. I still want to pass off the leftover yarn today, so the new plan involves calculating and rewinding the amount of yarn I need to complete my project with the help of a calculator and a kitchen scale. Now that five hours of knitting time can be spread across the next week or two. Much better!

Getting myself in over my head is pretty typical on my part. That's me - the queen of underestimation. I can't count how many times Gavin has had to rescue me from my grandiose plans. Not much chance he'd help me with the knitting, but he did suggest Plan B and for that I'm grateful. To hear him tell it, there was something in our vows about promising to listen to him and do as he says. Nope, don't remember that!

As always, check out the blog list at Tami's Amis. Maybe there are some crafters who are organized and on schedule with their Christmas crafting?!