Saturday, August 29, 2009

Ta Da - Rhiannon Socks Finished!

Rhiannon at Rest

I finally sprinted over the finish line with my Rhiannon Pair - with just a couple of inches of yarn to spare on the second sock; and 8 yards leftover on the first.
It was close - just 2 skeins @ 400 yds each of Yarn Pirate Merino Tencel in Icicle.
It's been a joy to knit with, the yarn, I mean, and softens up further when washed in Soak. The pattern was challenging, but the second so made more by the fact that I'd made modifications which I hadn't duly noted on my pattern, or I'd made notes and hadn't kept them fastidiously.

ok, ok, so I made a few mods to CookieA's original pattern-

1. First I replaced her purl pattern cuff, with regular cables, then, turned the cuff inside out. This resulted in me not needing to do a ribbing and an increase row, I just cast on the number of stitches needed for the cables and away I went. Remember, this is on the cuff, which is up at my calf, so it was snug anyway.

2. I used a slip stitch (eye of partridge) for the heel flap, instead of plain stockinette

3. At the toe, I skipped the purl row, and just blended the pattern into the toe. On the second sock, I ended the cables (row 16) before doing the toe, which gave it a more finished look.

More lovely sock pics:

At Length:
Rhiannons at Length

Toe Detail:
Rhiannon Toes 2

Toe to Toe:
Finished Rhiannons

Calf and Cuff Detail:
Calf and Cuff

Detail of the horshoe cable end, heel flap, and heel:
Sock 2 End Cable

Horshoes down the spine:
Horshoe Cable Spine

Relaxation at last:
Finished Rhiannon Pair

At knit night, I modelled the socks for the gals - now, just to find the right skirt, and shoes...

and an addendum from Sock Summit :

I met Cookie A at her Sock Innovation Class at Sock Summit 2009-
Sock Innovation Class with CookieA

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Post Sock Summit

Tried madly to knit the second rhiannon sock to bring the finished socks to the Sock Hop at Sock Summit. Sadly, I rounded the heel turn and re-did the gusset, but did not have 2 complete socks. I wore the one completed sock at the Sock Hop and it was suitably admired. As for the second sock, I'm on the foot, so nearing probably 80-85%completion. It's still very soft and lovable.

I've also started another project just two or three weeks ago when I was struggling with the gusset of rhiannon. It's Guinevere's Choice Tunic from Iris Schreier's Lacy Little Knits book. Instead of the yarn suggested (as always!), I am using Lorna's Laces Lion & Lamb in Gold Hill, and Loom in Essence Pomegranate silk-wool, and also a alight kidsilk-haze type yarn which is 70% silk and 30% mohair - very soft, and proving to provide a very light and airy fabric.

Guinevere's Choice Panel

The colour is more of a light pink, and gold hill combines the same light pink, with a light orange, olive, and gold colours -
Guinevere's Choice Tunic 1

Sock Summit was wonderful yet a bit overwhelming with the sheer amount of yarn for sale. Luckily, there were a few non-yarn booths to pique my interest - Jennie the Potter had mugs for sale with cute jumping sheep and balls of yarn, and Nancy Geddes had glass beads, glass pendants, and cute glass sock pendants for sale.

Nancy Geddes glass

I participated in the Guiness World Record breaking - 1600 knitters knitting with 2 straight needles continuously for 15 minutes, versus the recent Australian record of 256 knitters. Some pics from that:

Filing in:
Guiness World Record Breaking 1

The crowd goes wild:
Guiness World Record Breaking 9

They brought in local news coverage (KATU) and the mayor of Portland also attended.

More to come later...

black friday

I've updated the sale page with some key sales for Black Friday. I'm not doing a lot of yarn buying these days, so these are the on...