Fresh Squeeze Socks

My first project knit with handspun yarn! Not my own handspun, because I'm not capable of doing that, but by Micki (thing4string on Ravelry). I first contacted her in early January, based on a hint I'd received from another Ravelry member, if she could spin some sock yarn to my specifications. The process started with me choosing the fiber (superwash merino) and her dying it based on my wishes. I felt a bit guilty for being so picky about the colors, but she was patient with me. And then she spun the fiber into beautiful 3-ply sock yarn.

When I first had the skein in my hands, I felt it was almost too special to knit with. However, common sense took over, and I convinced myself that the primary purpose of the yarn is to be knit, not adored. I wanted to go for a very simple pattern to give room for the colors, so I cast on a generic pair of stockinette stitch socks. It was interesting to see how the colors behaved when knit into fabric. The yarn is very evenly, professionally spun, with minimal variation in thickness.

In the photos you can also see my first metal sock blockers. I'd been dreaming of simple metal sock blockers for a while, and when I saw these in someone's pictures on Ravelry, I was eventually able to track them down to Webs (after my email inquiry from another store was never replied to) after a helpful hint.

The Ravelry project page

Color Affection

I anxiously waited for this pattern by Veera Välimäki to be released, and cast on almost immediately it was. It's no wonder hundreds of other people have done the same. It's a very cool, geometric pattern to show off various color combinations. My color selection is not the most exciting, but this is going to be a gift, and I will knit another one for myself with more saturated colors.

I'm not 100% sure if my yarn selection of Brooklyn Tweed Loft was ideal for this pattern. My main reason for choosing that yarn was that I happened to have several matching colors (the ones I used were called Blanket Fort, Fossil and Soot) of it available in the right yarn weight. Certainly it produced a lightweight shawl, but it almost looks worn out before it's even been used. It does have decent drape, but I think my yarn choice for the second Color Affection will be drapier and less fuzzy looking. Also, not sure if it was the yarn or what, but this time I ended up using signifigantly less yarn than I was supposed to, and also ended up with a smaller shawl than expected. I didn't think my gauge was that tight.

The Ravelry project page

Sherilyn

Finally a finished shawl that actually counts toward my official 12 Shawls in 2012 goal! Ysolda's new Sherilyn pattern from the Whimsical Little Knits 3 collection inspired me. It's a great pattern, and I think I want to knit this again some time. I made the larger size, using 563 meters of Malabrigo Sock, almost a hundred meters more than the pattern estimate. My gauge must have been off, because it also turned quite a bit larger than I expected, with a wingspan of 182 cm after blocking instead of the 147 cm listed in the pattern. It didn't feel like I was knitting a big shawl, and it was quite enjoyable all the way through. I definitely recommend this, and it certainly deserves to become just as popular as some of Ysolda's other shawl patterns. It's slightly more difficult than Ishbel or Damson, but once you get going, most of the stitch patterns are quite easy to memorize.

The Ravelry project page

Bláthnat

In the past few weeks I've been working on three different projects, and now they are all being finished within a few days of each other. This one is the January 2012 Mystery Sock at Sock Knitters Anonymous by Irish Girlie Knits Designs, which I've knit during four Sundays in January, on each of the days that one of the four clues was released. The nice thing about mystery socks is that when you only have a part of the pattern at a time, even a more complicated design doesn't feel overwhelming. This is only my second time completing a mystery project, and it was a nice experience. It was my first time working with madelinetosh tosh sock, which was also a pleasant experience. A soft, non-splitty yarn in a beautiful colorway called Duchess. I see a future for myself and more tosh sock.

The Ravelry project page

Delicious Knee Socks

Originally these socks were supposed to be my entry to the Solid Socks January KAL for a black, white or gray pair while, at the same time, using up some stash from 2007. However, as I was knitting the first sock I realized the black ONline Linie 3 Supersocke 100 was not going to be enough on its own, so I had to use another yarn for the ribbing, Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Solid in a colorway that has a brown tint. So, no official KAL entry this time, either, but I was glad to be able to use two yarns that previously hadn't particularly inspired me. Using up old stash gives me a satisfying feeling, even if any amount of yarn knit will likely be replaced by twice the amount of new yarn.

This was my second time officially using Laura Chau's Delicious Knee Socks pattern, even though I've used the basic stitch amounts as a guideline for some other knee socks I've knit. It's a very nice generic toe-up knee sock pattern that comes in various foot and calf sizes and two different heights: regular knee socks and an over the knee version. I will likely be using it in some form in the future, as well, possibly substituting the heel with something else. I knit these with 2.0 mm needles at a pretty tight gauge, but with the mostly stockinette stitch pattern, with just the one cable in the back, they didn't they too long to finish. Since these will be mostly worn over wool leggings, the hiking down problem with some knee socks shouldn't be an issue.

The Ravelry project page

Ishbel #3

This shawl was supposed to be my first entry to the 12 Shawls in 2012 knit-along on Ravelry, but it turns out it's 8 meters short of the required 250 meters of yarn used for qualifying shawls. Nevertheless, I'm quite satisfied with it. The yarn, CASSIOPEIA fingering weight singles by Pigeonroof Studios, is a great yarn for shawls. It has very nice drape, a beautiful sheen (possibly created by the small amount of silk in it), it's very soft to touch, and the colors are lovely. This particular colorway is called Black Violet, and I like it how there is subtle variation in color, but not too much to dominate over the pattern. I have ordered some of the laceweight equivalent to use on larger shawls, and I'm interested in seeing how those will turn out.

I'm still lacking an official entry to the 12 Shawls in 2012 challenge, and I'm anxious to have at least one by the end of January, so I see another smallish shawl in my near knitting future.

The Ravelry project page

Leaves of Grass

My first finished project of the year, Jared Flood's Leaves of Grass, is also one of my favorite shawls ever, although this does not count towards the official 12 shawls in 2012 challenge, because I started it in December. However, it was so enjoyable to knit that I don't regret starting it too early.

As I expected, it was very similar to Girasole in construction, all the way down to the knitted-on edging. As I also expected, the edging, which used up 20% of the total yarn, was my least favorite part of this project, but it was still more enjoyable than that of Bridgewater, and also, for some reason, a lot easier for me to memorize. For the majority of the edging I only needed to glance the chart every once in a while, in those moments of temporary amnesia when a part I'd repeated tens of times was suddenly escaped my consciousness. Overall the various charts used in it were easy to memorize row by row, so, for the circular rows, I only needed to check the chart at the beginning of each row, which in chart D meant only once in every 580 stitches. The stitch patterns are also very "logical" in the way that the previous row gives you plenty of clues what's going to happen next. All in all, I'd consider this easy as shawl patterns go. I really love knitting circular shawls, and I think there will be a few more coming this year. But I think whatever I'm knitting next will be sans knitted-on edging, though.

I used my trusted shawl yarn, Ohut Pirkkalanka by Pirkanmaan Kotityö Oy. I used the same yarn for both Girasoles, this time in purple. This shawl feels quite a bit stiffer than the Girasole I've been using for three years, which probably means it'll limber up over time. The stitch pattern would probably benefit from more aggressive blocking, since the bottom of the chart D part looks a bit bunched up, but I'm not sure I want the shawl any bigger. I did use 1368 meters of yarn, which is over a 100 meters more than the pattern estimate. Based on my previous experience I knew to expect this, though. I recommend for all those knitting this pattern to buy more yarn than the recommended amount. Someone on Ravelry is knitting this with the official pattern yarn LOFT, and instead of the 5 recommended skeins it looks like she'll need 7.

I definitely recommend this pattern, and I'm surprised there are so few projects so far on Ravelry, compared to many other Jared Flood shawl patterns. It's beautiful, easy and enjoyable. Definitely in the top three of the most beautiful shawls in the... room ;).

The Ravelry project page

Needle Giveaway Winners

The response to my previous post about the needle giveaway has been overwhelming! I think it has attracted the most traffic to my journal in its 3-year history, and certainly the amount of comments was unpreceded. Over a hundred people have expressed interest in one or more of the sets of needles available. To keep track of who wants what, I created an Excel spreadsheet, listing all the names of the interested people for each set. The most popular set turned out to be the KnitPro Symfonie Rose Interchangeable Set with over 50 "applicants". To determine the winner, for each set of needles separately, I used an online random number generator. The winner of each set is listed below. Some people asked to be considered in an order of preference for different sets, but that was not possible. Each person who was interested in a set of needles had equal chances of winning it. Now, I ask all the winners to contact me via email at ignorant.bliss@gmail.com, letting me know which address the needles should be sent to. I ask you to do this no later than Friday January 13th. I will reply with a confirmation to the email within 24 hours, so that you know I received your information for sure. If I don't hear from a winner by Friday next week, the set(s) in question will be randomly assigned to one of the other people who expressed interest.

The winners: 

Set #1 (KnitPro Symfonie Rose Interchangeable Needle Set): Ivy package mailed

Set #2 (Addi Lace Click Interchangeable Set): megan package mailed

Set #3 (KnitPro Nova Metal Interchangeable Set): ANDIGAL package mailed

Set #4 (Prym KnitPro Natural Interchangeable Needles): melanie package mailed

Set #5 (Addi Fixed Circular Needles): melanie package mailed

Set #6 (Addi Lace Fixed Circular Needles): Jessica package mailed

Set #7 (HiyaHiya Stainless Steel Fixed Circular Needles): fowlervilles deb package mailed

Set #8 (KnitPro Symfonie DPN Set): Isabel  package mailed  

For the record, I am not quitting knitting! I'm only giving away the needles I would not be using in the future. Since many of you asked, the needles I'm keeping include KnitPro Nova, Signature Needle Arts and DyakCraft DPNs and fixed circulars. I'm also expecting to receive some DyakCraft interchangeable needles in the coming months, but the wait on them is pretty long at the moment.

I hope all the winners enjoy their needles, and I hope the non-winners aren't too disappointed! There were so many of you that most were bound to not win anything, which is a bit sad. But this has been so much fun for me that I'd consider using the same kind of method for destashing yarn, for example, some time in the future.

New Year's Needle Giveaway

As of January 6th 8 am, this post has been closed for comments. The winners have been announced in a separate post.

In an effort to rid myself of some clutter, I'm going to give away a chunk of my knitting needles that I no longer (or never did) use. Those who are interested, leave a comment to this post, indicating which set(s) you are interested in, by Friday January 6th 8:00 am Eastern European Time. If there is more than one person interested in a particular set, the winner will be chosen randomly. After I've determined who gets what, I will make a separate post announcing the winners, and after that the winners can contact me with their information, an address to send the needles to. I will pay for shipping to anywhere in the world. There will be no cost to the winners (but if the package causes some customs duties in your country, those you will have to take care of yourself). Even the needles that are not really a set, like the fixed Addi circulars, will be given out in one batch (as numbered), not separately, to keep this somehow manageable.

1. KnitPro Symfonie Rose Interchangeable Needle Set

Wooden interchangeable circular needles in sizes 3.5-8.0 mm and cables to make 60 cm, 80 cm, 100 cm and 120 cm needle lengths. The cables are otherwise identical to regular KnitPro cables, but they are brown in color. The needles are made of the same wood as the regular KnitPro Symfonie needles, but colored as rosewood.



2. Addi Lace Click Interchangeable Set

Nickel-plated needles in sizes 3.5-8.0 mm and red cables to make 40 cm, 50 cm, 60 cm, 80cm and 100 cm needle lengths. A connector to join cables into longer ones. There is a noticeable bump at the join of the needle and cable that bothers me, but there are many people happy with their Addi Clicks, so I'm hoping these will be of use to someone.



3. KnitPro Nova Metal Interchangeable Set

Nickel-plated brass needles in sizes 3.0-6.0 mm and cables to make 60 cm, 80 cm and 100 cm needle lengths. Stops and cable keys included. (I think I originally bought the Starter Set with 3 needle sizes and added 3 more to it.)



4. Prym KnitPro Natural Interchangeable Needles

Prym needles that are identical to KnitPro Symfonie needles, the only difference is that the cable is black. The needle tips and cables are interchangeable with KnitPro ones. Needles in sizes 3.0-4.5 mm each in two different lengths. The shorter tips will make a 40 cm circular needle with the shortest cable, and the longer tips will make 60 cm, 80 cm and 100 cm needles with the longer cables.



5. Addi Fixed Circular Needles

The regular nickel-plated brass Addi circular needles which are marketed as "Turbo" in North America. Gold-colored cables. Size 2.0 mm in 40 cm, size 2.5 mm in lengths 40 cm, 60 cm and 100 cm, size 3.0 mm in length 40 cm, size 3.5 mm in lengths 40 cm and 60 cm, size 4.0 mm in lengths 40 cm, 60 cm and 80 cm, size 4.5 mm in lengths 40 cm and 60 cm, and size 5.0 in lengths 40 cm, 60 cm and 80 cm. The tips on these needles are too blunt for my taste, but they seem to have a lot of fans among other knitters.



6. Addi Lace Fixed Circular Needles

Brass needles with red cables in sizes 2.5 mm/ 80 cm, 3.5 mm/ 60 cm, 3.5 mm/ 80 cm, 4.0 mm/ 100 cm
One gold-plated needle in size 2.0 mm/ 100 cm



7. HiyaHiya Stainless Steel Fixed Circular Needles

Very lightweight stainless steel needles in sizes 2.0 mm, 2.25 mm, 2.5 mm and 2.75 mm in the 80 cm length. Used for Magic Looping socks, but the bump near the join bothers me when knitting at a tight gauge.



8. KnitPro Symfonie DPN Set

Wooden DPNs in sizes 2.5-5.0 mm in the 20 cm length.

Ribbed Hats

Some last minute Christmas knitting for my two brothers, improvised ribbed hats. The red one was knit with Cascade 220, the black one with Artesano Superwash Merino. Not a whole lot to say about knitting these, just thought I should post them for "closure".

The Ravelry project pages for the red and the black one.