Yarn Zealand

The other day I had a day on my own in Wellington. I took the train down and went to visit the weekend underground market. Kiwipurler had tipped me off that Helene of Happy Go Knitty would be there and I ought to go say hi. I am weak though, so a skein of the 100% BFL in the Forget Me Not color way came home with me. Whoops.

I figured out that the Wellington location of the Holland Road Yarn Company was nearby, so I headed over. At first I was just going to get wool wash. Ha! That would requite self control... and fewer yarn fumes. I skein of Ashford 12ply will become a hat that matches my wool coat. Knitsch isn't being dyed as regularly now, so when I saw these skeins of Mad Blood Stirreth, I couldn't say no.

Tash was in, so I was able to show her my Police Box Sox in person. Jenn let me try on her beautiful sweater. I was interested in knitting with the yarn it was made out of. (Anna Gratton's 4 ply) and have largely decided that the yarn is right for my future project.

Meanwhile, I made a decision on what to cast on next. The Stray Cat Socks in the Blue Moon color way seemed like the way to go. I might want more of the yarn and I thought I ought to test it out.

This also means that I finished my Yoga For Elephants socks. I'm so pleased! Just in time to warm my cold tootsies.

All The Socks

Awhile back I said something about casting on All The Socks when I was done knitting for the book. And so I have. 

These are the Leyburn pattern. I made a pair in 2011. The pattern is a good one, so I made another pair. This pair is out of some of the yarn I got last month while I was in New Zealand: Knitsch in the Odelay colorway. 

Immediately after blocking these socks, I wound up some of the yarn I got at this year's Stitches West. This is Blue Moon Fiber's Silkie Sock in the Mossley Manly colorway. I blame Alicia on Woolen Diversions. This colorway has shown up from time to time on her blog and I desired it.

The pattern is Vanilla Latte. The pattern is good, but I am a dummy. When I put in the toe, I couldn't figure out why I had 10 more stitches on the bottom than the top. The foot of the sock also seemed a bit loose. Eventually I determined that I chosen to randomly not decrease enough stitches in the gusset. Want to guess how many stitches I was off by.

If 10 stitches is your guess, you are right. The foot of this sock has since been ripped out and reknit. I'm on the second sock now. This is the number one reason I don't do socks 2-at-a-time. I don't need to mess up a two socks at the same time.

Is anyone else knitting socks at the moment? Have you had any dumb sock moments?

Cranking Out The Knits

It's been a crazy for the last week and a bit. Three days after getting back from New Zealand, I made a quick trip North to do the last two photoshoots. There are no behind the scenes pictures of it because we did the shoots back to back and everyone was pretty focused on getting them done. But I can say that my last two models were perfect. After coming back, I rested for a day or two before beginning to layout the book. And somewhere in there I managed to finish my Grace Cardigan.

Or, I'm going to call it done. After getting the buttons in, I had the misfortune of learning that the buttons will not stay in the button holes. I've been wearing it regardless and I probably wouldn't button it up anyways. Maybe I'll fix it one day. At least the sleeves fit now.

I had knit one of these socks to the heel while in New Zealand. I went absolutely nuts when I got back and cranked the remaining sock and a half out.

 

I modified these Sleepy Hollow socks to not have the weird bar of stockinette down the back center. This pair has leaves going around the entire leg. Other than my modifications to cut down on the stitch number, this pattern was perfect. It was easy to follow and reasonably relaxing for being socks that have patterning every round. The heel and gusset are knit at the same time, which was a first for me. I think I like that method better than picking up heel flap stitches. 

I briefly worked on another WIP I have, but couldn't wait any longer to cast on with some of the yarn I procured in New Zealand. This is Knitsch in the colorway Odelay. I'm making a second pair of Leyburns. The Leyburn pattern was the first sock pattern that gave me a pair of socks that fit. I liked the pattern quite a bit, so I thought I would revisit it. So far, so good.

The rest of this week will be dedicated to book layout. The goal is to have the patterns out to test knitters by Friday. I really hope I can get through it all.