Happy New Year!

Well, it's a few days late, but hey the sentiment's there :)

A couple of days ago the first instalment of my Christmas present from NurdGrrl arrived: Elann.com's Sample Skeins, where you get a monthly mailing of just enough yarn to make a swatch from their new offerings.


Last night at DnD I knit up all but the sock yarn (which is, of course, the one I'm most likely to order):


I really like the drape of the pale green. It's Seta Lana, 50% silk, 50% wool. The tweed is nice too. Unfortunately they're single ply, as is the other heavier weight wool. I'm not one of these knitters who'll sacrifice a ton of durability for "ooooh so soooooft"; I really don't like the way a single ply yarn pills and wears. The sport weight at the top is a nice 3 ply, with good stitch definition; nice for something in the 24 st gauge range. I'll have to knit up the sock weight to see if I can get my usual 32 st gauge for my standard socks.

Speaking of standard socks, I'm starting a pair for Gavin's birthday (end of January). Now these, I *can* knit on the bus, with my eyes closed :) I'm using Regia's Tip & Top yarn, 41% wool, 34% cotton, 25% polyamide nylon.


I've got the toe and a little bit of the foot done for sock 1. I really like the Regia sock yarns; they're durable, they're all the same 30 st / 42 row gauge, and they have a huge range of colours.

I also like the Lang Jawoll sock yarns, especially the reinforcing yarn, but sadly these are being discontinued by Yarn Forward. I'll have to stop by and get a couple of pairs' worth before they go the way of the dodo.

I'm still working on the gauntlets; I've just about got the ring finger done for glove 1. I tend to work on those in the evening, while a web page is loading etc. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to reverse the directions for the left-hand glove or knit it right-handed instead of my usual left-handed. My right-handed gauge might be a bit off and I might have trouble with the cabling, which is why I'm hesitating to do it that way. We shall see.

It's Christmas Time!

Happy Holidays to one and all, wherever you may be. I hope that you and yours had / will have a wonderful time.

My mother-in-law (and also my father-in-law, but I doubt he had much to do with this one) gave me a new knitting bag she sewed herself.



It's got a pocket inside, and it closes with a loop over the button. It's nice and roomy too, although I'll have to eat my way through the Toblerone bars and other stocking stuffers currently filling it :)

Inside the bag was a ball of Lang Super Soxx sock yarn, *cheer*




It's a 75% superwash wool / 25% nylon mix so it should be durable, and it's in the gauge I like best for socks (30 sts / 10cm). I really like the colourway; it has a mix of a lot of autumnal colours in it.

Overall a good Christmas was had by one and all; I'm looking forward to New Year's and to the New Year!

Gauntlets and Dishcloth

Wow, the Christmas season has been busy. I haven't had much time for knitting, especially considering I really can't work on the bus to / from work. It's crowded, and I'm juggling a purse and a lunchbag...

I interrupted my work on the VK gloves to whip off a Garterlac dishcloth as a stocking stuffer for my mother-in-law. I love that pattern; it's interesting, great for striped dishcloth cotton, and uses up almost exactly one of the 42g balls of Bernat handicrafter cotton (worsted weight). I used my US7 needles from my Boye Needlemaster set, and worked a crochet edge and loop around it.



Here's an update on the gauntlets (still working on #1):



I'm adding extra length in the fingers - 2 rows in the thumb, and we'll see how much I need to add for the fingers. I may also need to add some for the hand length. (I have long hands.) I bought an extra set of #6 DPNs rather than have to juggle with stitch holders when I work on the fingers.

Sadly, I sent off my presents to my Mum and brother without getting photos of them. They're not likely to read my blog, but still I hesitated about posting them before Christmas, which is why I delayed (bad me! spanky!). My Mum is getting a modified Coronet, size large, with a slit up the back for her hair (she wears her hair up) made from 2 balls of Estelle 100% Silk in plum tweed. My brother is getting a pair of socks using my basic sock recipe, and Medium Stitch 7 from p.180 of Knitting Stitches by Mary Webb. I added purl stitches between the cable part and the rest to make a 19 stitch repeat. His socks are made from Lang Jawoll in a medium to light blue.

Wool-Tyme is discontinuing Estelle 100% Silk :( Yarn Forward used to but no longer carries it as well :( I wonder if the yarn itself is being discontinued by the mill; too bad, because it's great for people who are allergic to wool. I went to Wool-Tyme yesterday and bought 15 balls in a forest green tweed, which should be enough for the Sunrise Circle jacket by Kate Gilbert (Interweave Knits). I calculated 13.6 balls, so 15 should be enough. (Sorry for the slightly blurry image, but you get the idea.)



I'm not sure whether the 115 on the balls refers to the colour or to the dye lot; here's hoping there isn't a horrible change of colour between balls.

Finally, I ordered some Orenburg Lace (80% kid mohair, 20% silk laceweight) in the colour Midnight from Discontinued Brand Name Yarns, "handspun in Russia for your knitting pleasure" from Cherry Tree Hill. I think that it'll become a Swallowtail or some such :) It's hard to see because the yarn is so dark, but it's lovely, 50g worth. It's a black with glints of purple and brown.



Whee! More yarn! I'm trying very hard to NOT build up a stash, but when yarn appears that's just perfect for something I'd been thinking of making, AND is on sale, it's soooo hard to resist :)

Niebling 085/14: Better Photo

This is a quickie, just to put up a better shot of the Niebling doily 085/14:


It looks much better against the flat black of the cushion :)

My First Niebling

This is my first attempt at one of Herbert Niebling's lace patterns. I wanted to try something small and portable to have something to work on while visiting my mother, and to get used to the charting system. This is pattern 085/14 on p.9 of Burda's Alles aus Garn: Kunststricken / Folge 1, published in 1980. I used 1.5mm steel DPNs and DMC's "Spécial Dentelles" #80 crochet cotton, and it took just under 1 5g ball. (I was terrified that I'd have to join a new ball on the crochet edging!)

I'd finished this doily a few weeks ago, but hadn't got round to blocking it. I washed and pinned it out this afternoon (yes it's pinned on my ironing board *grin*), and gave it a good spray with the starch. Sorry for the glare from the flash, but this is the best photo I could get. I'll take another when it's dry, on something dark like a table.


If you've never heard of Niebling, he was a German designer in the first half of the 20th century, who designed many lovely doilies, tablecloths, etc. Burda owns the copyright to his patterns, and you can usually find old issues of Anna Burda magazine on Ebay if you do a search for Niebling. The patterns are in German, but they're charted. A lot of his pieces have lovely floral motifs.

I really enjoyed this work. It was challenging but not impossible. The chart symbols are a little different from what I'm used to but they make sense, and I used Babelfish to translate the notes for starting and finishing the pattern. I'd really like to find the time to do a full-sized tablecloth for our dining room... so many projects! so little time!

Welcome; VK cabled gloves

Hello! Welcome to my blog :) This is a first for me, although I've been reading other blogs for some time. I've also been knitting for a number of years, and I've worked on a variety of projects although I always seem to come back to socks and lace for some reason :)



This is my next project, cabled gloves from Vogue Knitting's 25th anniversary issue (Fall 2007). I've made tons of socks, but never gloves before now. I'm using the yarn called for in the pattern: Knit One Crochet Too's Ambrosia (70% baby alpaca, 20% silk, 10% cashmere), in colour 510 (Pale Moss), dye lot 221. It sounded so yummy that I had to order it, and it really is delicious feeling. I did have trouble ordering it from the U.S.; the only place I found that carries it AND that has online ordering doesn't normally ship to Canada. The ladies at Woodland Woolworks were very helpful, though.

I'm also trying out new needles. I ordered a set of 14 sizes of DPNs from Bambooneedlegirl on Ebay, 6" long, sizes 0 through 13 (U.S. sizes, fortunately they also have the mm sizes printed on the needles). As usual, I need one size larger needles than what the pattern calls for, in this case U.S. 5 (3.75mm) and 6 (4mm).

I don't know if I'll be able to work on this project on the bus. It's small, but juggling a cable needle can be fiddly, and I dread the thought of dropping a needle on a crowded bus. I may have to start a pair of socks to have something to work on. Much depends on how busy the bus to the new job is... We shall see.