hooked

The weather outside is frightful - dark and cold, windy and rainy - in dramatic contrast to this Wool-Eater blanket that I've started. When I signed up for the CAL I had a niggling concern that the crochet work may be too complicated for my limited skills. But after following the step-by-step instructions on Sarah London's website and comparing my work to the photographs, I'd say it's going fine. Remind me, how did we ever manage before the internet?

Following Sarah's instructions, I'm doing things I've never done with a crochet hook. The foundation rows for each colour are worked into the posts of the previous rows of stitches - I've seen that before but it still strikes me as unusual. The groups within the foundation rows are created as "Cluny" groups where a series of stitches are worked with each last loop accumulated on the hook until they're joined with one big stitch pulled through all the loops to finish it off. Never heard of that before. I've googled and perhaps the name comes from traditional Cluny Lace? One thing's for sure, it's addictive, this blanket pattern. I just can't wait to finish one colour and add the next. It's kinda fun doing something completely out of my usual comfort zone.

WIP Wednesday, Wool-Eater Wednesday

Today's the first day of the Wool-Eater Blanket CAL, and I'm ready! I've dug through my stash and pulled out every ball of brightly coloured acrylic for this blanket. At Mary Maxim last weekend my sister bought a few more colours to fill out my rainbow. Between now and next Wednesday I've committed to crocheting six rounds, and since the blanket is worked centre out, that doesn't sound too onerous. Fingers crossed that this turns out to be a good stash-busting project. My plan is to keep adding to the blanket until the yarn is gone. Certainly the pattern name "Wool-Eater" sounds promising from a stash-busting perspective, doesn't it?

In the meantime I've been working away at my first Whitby sock. During my train trip to work I turned the heel and started the eye-of-partridge heel flap. Through the afternoon and evening I worked away at the leg. Looks like there are just a couple of inches to knit before getting started on sock number two! This is my first time knitting Wollmeise and it's wonderful to knit; it's the least splitty yarn I've ever found. And gorgeous stitch definition. Wollmeise is also known for extremely generous yardage - seems like I'm going to need every yard of it, thanks to my huge feet.

That's my WIP Wednesday update! Click on the links at Tami's Amis to see more updates. I'm always amazed by the variety and creativity found through those links!

a red Chemo cap

cute, eh?

Last year I made a couple of chemo caps for Halos of Hope using some red sport weight bamboo yarn that was in my stash. The yarn was originally purchased for a shawl, but the intended recipient preferred a warm red to this colder candy apple red. After making two or three last year, I put the rest of the yarn aside; that was quite enough 1x1 rib for a while. But this year I'm determined to finish what I started so I've cast on and made one more red chemo cap. My kitchen scale tells me that there's enough red yarn left for one more. And if I make a striped version combining all my leftover bamboo scraps, there may be enough yarn for two hats.

The pattern is adapted from Marnie Maclean's Pismo hat pattern - basically a ribbed watch cap. I've reduced the number of stitches to 132 to compensate for the heavier yarn and sped up the crown decreases. This size fits my head nicely but I'll make the next one slightly smaller - I'd think after losing their hair chemo patients may need smaller hat sizes. Bamboo yarn strikes me as a very good choice as it's so soft and non-irritating. A newly exposed scalp can be very sensitive to the slightest itchiness in fibers, especially after chemotherapy I've read.

Using up scraps of yarn in my stash is part of the challenge with my plan to Surmount the Stash in 2012. Other than sock yarn and dishcloth cotton, scraps make up my stash. The second week of January begins today and I'm off to a good start.

Year of Projects - Whitby 02

heavily modified

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

After ripping out my first go round of this pattern I realized that I needed to modify the pattern to suit the yarn and the needles I had chosen. Typically on size 0 (2mm) needles I prefer about 70 stitches around the foot, but as written with larger needles and heavier yarn the pattern calls for 51 stitches. By adding purl stitches between the cables and the diamond pattern, and by widening the diamond pattern by two stitches I was able to make the chart across the foot 35 sts wide. That'll do.

As well the pattern is written for knitting the socks from the cuff down, but I've modified it to knit toe-up. After all, it's one of two skeins of Wollmeise that I own, so I want to make good use of every inch of it. When I was rewinding the yarn I wound the skein into two balls of exactly equal weight so I know exactly how much yarn I have for each sock as I go along. Hmm, I wonder what non-knitters use kitchen scales for?

The designer, Nancy Bush, introduces this sock pattern as based on the gansey patterns used in traditional fisherman's sweaters in Whitby which is located on England's east coast. And as I knit this sock I can't help but thinking ... yup, I'd like a sweater like this.

Chinese Waves Dishcloth

too mild to stay inside

My week finished up with one more dishcloth - this time using the pattern Chinese Waves Dishcloth. It's a very simple pattern exploiting slipped stitches to create a thick wavy textured fabric. After knitting it, I'll confess that I like it more than I thought I would. It's more textured than Grandma's Favourite Dishcloth and may be a bit more practical as a result. It'd make a very sumptuous facecloth as well.

little waves

My goal was to knit a couple of dishcloths each month to Surmount The Stash of dishcloth cotton. January's just seven days old and I've done four, so I think I'll give it a rest for a few weeks. Time to have a look at the rest of the yarn in my stash and make some plans for it. Yesterday, while checking out the posts in the Finished Object Friday meme, I came across a Crochet-Along for a Wool-Eater Blanket. And when I saw this Raveler's version I was sold on it. This looks to be the perfect use for the variety of bright worsted weight acrylics in my stash. My sister and I are yarn shopping this aft, so perhaps we can snag a couple more colours to fill out the rainbow that will be my blanket?

In the meantime I've cast on a chemo hat with some sport weight bamboo yarn. At a glance I'd guess that I have enough leftover yarn to make two hats. With little else on the needles, now's a good time to get them done. I'm really motivated to work through the stash at the moment and figure I'd better strike while the iron is hot. Chances are my enthusiasm will ebb as the year goes on. How are you doing with your crafting resolutions?

Finished Object Friday

mmmm

Now that my CoffeeMates socks are done I plan to wear them today. After trying them on once they immediately became my favourite socks - they're are so soft and lovely.

I've devised this simple ribbed toe-up sock with an after-thought heel figuring that was the best strategy to use the Katia Darling yarn to the most dramatic effect. I wanted to show off the long colour repeats without a busy pattern to distract. And an after-thought heel seemed like the best strategy to avoid breaking up the colours. Knitting toe-up, I used every last yard in the ball to make the socks as high on the calf as possible.

A couple of warnings though, if you come across Katia Darling at your LYS and consider purchasing it. The yarn is brush plied which makes it very soft, fuzzy and splitty. Really splitty. The eastern cast on to start these socks was a definite challenge with this yarn. And picking out a bind off proved impossible without scissors. Also there was a really poor splice without regard to colour continuity in each of the two balls I used. One fell a couple of inches above the heel and one a couple of inches past the toe - you can see the hard lines where the colour shifts suddenly in my photo, I think? Based on what I read in Ravelry I was lucky; others have found multiple splices in their yarn. Annoying! But even with all of that I can only repeat that now that these are done, these are my new favourite socks and that's all down to the yarn.

wonky

Yesterday I also finished another dishcloth - this one based on Rhonda White's Bobbles the Sheep cloth pattern. I made some modifications to the pattern to make it a bit smaller and to eliminate some of the stockinette field in which the sheep motif sits. But as you can see, my modifications weren't terribly successful. My dishcloth is not very square and my sheep sits a bit low in her field. Back to the drawing board! Don't expect to see another soon though. There's one more dishcloth on the needles to finish and then I think I'm dishclothed-out for the next while.

I'm heading over to Tami's Amis for some inspiration and entertainment. Take a few minutes to check out the variety of finishes!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday

big time bobbles

Yesterday I made a start on another dishcloth - this time Bobbles the Sheep Cloth from a pattern found here. I've knit this pattern before and have found that the bobbles make good little scrubbers. "You should only knit that kind" Gavin suggests. Our supply dishcloths are looking rather worse for the wear, so it's time to make some more. Hopefully I can knit up a couple of these before Friday. Looks like this first one is not going to knit up very square ... maybe omitting all those rows above and below the sheep motif wasn't the best idea?

a few inches up the leg

I've also been working away at my second Coffee Mates sock - just a simple toe-up ribbed pair of socks of my own devising. You may recall that after finishing the first sock I wasn't happy with the tightness of the bind off. That's been fixed. I spent about an hour with needlework scissors under strong lights cutting and picking up tiny little stitches. Painful but well worth it; the first sock is now refinished with Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. With any luck this pair will also be finished up this week, maybe in time for a Friday show and tell?

With the holidays over there are lots of crafters like me getting down to business with our works-in-progress. A New Year = new plans, new optimism and new energy. Have a look at the list at Tami's Amis to see all the great things being done!