While I've been busy thinking about play area redesigns and diving into my Kindle, I've been getting a little bit of knitting in as well.  John has been playing Mass Effect and I figured there was nothing more appropriate than working on a sweater for him, while he played a game that was entertaining me.

When last I talked about swatching for this project, I indicated that I was having problems getting gauge.  In the end, I just decided that to get the row gauge required, the fabric would be too stiff and would likely consume way too much yarn.  So I settled on the 4.00 mm needles that the designer suggested because even though I didn't get row gauge (fewer rows/inch than suggested), I had a fabric that I liked.  And,all things considered, I decided that having the right fabric was more important than adhering to a strict gauge measurement, especially since the general instructions for the half brioche stitch section work out to "knit straight for a certain number of inches".  I did end up knitting about a half an inch more to compensate for lost length when the fabric is stretched to gauge, but that was easy enough.

I enjoyed knitting the two color band a great deal.  And it was even more rewarding for me when John took a look at it and said "hey, I like that"  (translation: I might actually wear this sweater).  I'm also very pleased with the way the colors work against the main colorway that I selected.

Clearly, it needs to be blocked out a little bit.  Even once that happens, though, because the yarn is a a slubby yarn with a inconsistent "diameter" this pattern will still look a little more uneven than if I was working in a differently milled yarn.  But I think that the rusticity of the yarn adds a bit to the masculinity of the garment, makes it a little more comfy and casual, which fits well with John's aesthetic.

While I consider the issue of buttons (right now, it looks like it is going to be either all black or all red, since I didn't find any other buttons that I liked when I went out button shopping today) and finish sewing down the button hole band and edging the button holes in buttonhole stitch, I'm working on a second pair of socks for Z. 

The yarn is "Sensations" Bamboo and Ewe Pattern (I believe Sensations is the Joann "house brand"). The yarn is 55% wool, 30% nylon and 15% bamboo rayon.  The yarn has a nice hand, and I thought the colors were bright and cheery and perfect for a kid sock.  So far, I haven't identified any clear pattern repeat, so these socks are going to end up fraternal -- which I don't think will bother Ms. Z.

Pattern: The Keyboard Biologist's Basic Toe Up Sock*
Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks Stripes in "Mulberry Stripes"
Needles: 2.5 mm Darn Pretty DPs

On my last trip into Joann Fabrics, I took Ms. Z back into the yarn section.  While Joann's is not my usual locale for yarn shopping, lately I've been surprised to find some pretty decent yarn tucked in and amongst the acrylic.  In something that I took to be a show of remarkable education on Ms. Z's part, she ignored most of the fuzzy acrylic stuff and got very excited when we came to a patch of self-patterning sock yarn.  Since she had been good the entire trip to the store, and since the yarn was on sale, I told her that she could pick two skeins (all of the last batch of socks I made for her are now too small) and I would make her socks. 

The Kroy was the first skein she grabbed at.   The yarn is 75% wool, 25% nylon and is a little thicker than most sock yarn that I knit with (but not by much), so I cast on to US 1.5's instead of my usual 1's.  It's not completely obvious from the picture, but these socks are almost exactly identical twins.  It was nice to knit with, and I got a very nice, warm, thick fabric, perfect for baby feet.  At this point, Zosia just barely wears a size 7 child's shoe, so socks for her are still a quick knit -- especially in this yarn.  Because the yarn is a bit thicker, there's a bit less in a 50 g ball.  I'd estimate that this little pair of socks used up about 2/3rds of the skein. 

She was very excited after the first one was finished -- and then a bit disappointed that she didn't have two to try on.  So I cranked the second one out as fast as I could.  She got them on Thursday, and they've been on her feet more than they've been off since then.

I think the patterning in these socks  is quite nice -- almost wouldn't mind having a pair myself.  But the real proof will be in the washing and wearing to see how the yarn and the colors hold up. 

I've started on the second pair... baby socks seem to be like potato chips for me!

* Magic cast on, 8 stitches.  Increase 4 stitches every other row until 40 stitches around.  Short row heel down to 8 stitches, straight stockinette leg, about an inch of K2P2 ribbing for cuff.  Stretchy bind off.  

 

While a whole  lot of lucky knitters and spinners are heading off to Rhinebeck this weekend, I'll be staying here in Chicago and checking out a much smaller fiber show, YarnCon.  What YarnCon lacks in the presence of live sheep, it makes up for by being practically within walking distance of my house. But don't think that I won't be a little jealous of all those heading to NY -- though that jealousy will mostly be over getting to see fibery friends rather than getting to indulge in fibery consumerism.

In addition to YarnCon (which should be doubly fun, because I hope to be heading there with Julie), since the weather is likely to keep us indoors this weekend (what, I ask you, happened to the gentle entry of fall?) I suspect my needles will be in motion.  I cast on and got started with Elijah this afternoon, and last weekend, while heading out to our pumpkin patch experience I picked up my second Francie sock and made some headway on that project.  The other thing I did today was start to work out the design for my next pair of socks for John -- these socks are going to be my first foray into designing with twisted stitches, which I think will be just the perfect amount of patterning for the lovely cashmere blend Sophie's Toes.

In lieu of actual knitting photos, I have a few pictures from our trip to see the pumpkins.

I just loved the way those green squash looked with the pumpkins.  They were just the perfect sagey color contrast to the bright orange.  Definitely not a pair of colors I would have thought to put together, though!

And here is rare photo of me and Z -- riding a toddler sized train and both wearing our handknits. Z has on (and she actually requested to wear) her upsized "Baby Surprise" sweater and I spent the whole day cozy and warm in my cotton turtleneck and OWLS sweater (which I love).  The Owls are rapidly becoming one of my favorite go-to cold weather sweaters! 

Pattern: Sophie
Yarn: RYC Cashsoft Baby DK in "Cloud"
Needles: US2.5 (3 mm) bamboo double points

Labor Day weekend was a lovely one for me.  A nice weekend with my family and plenty of knitting time while the kiddo enjoyed time with her grandparents and a whole array of new toys and books.  I, of course, brought about 12 more projects than I could possibly work on. And the only projects that actually saw any new stitches added were the Dragon shawl and Sophie.

Sophie is a lovely little knit -- and doesn't take that long to work up if you're dedicated.  I finished almost all of her in Ann Arbor (and the only reason she didn't get finished on the ride home was because I got drawn into a game of Civilization Revolution on my iPhone -- and it's almost as addictive as the desktop version).  She's constructed out of RYC Cashsoft Baby DK in the colorway "Cloud" and stuffed with polyfill so that she's washable.

I really love that the toy is made as one unit, with additional body parts added by picking up and knitting stitches on existing parts.  So much nicer than knitting pieces individually and then trying to sew them together neatly.  One full ball got me the head, body, both arms, both legs and about 1/3 of the way through the first ear.  And I used a little bit from a second ball for the rest of the first ear and the second ear.  I'm thinking that after I finish all three toys, I'll probably have enough left overs to put together a patchwork animal for Z.  Who kept coming up to me and letting people know "Momma is knitting!" and "That's a bunny!"

I was much lighter on the stuffing than I have been in the past -- I wanted my Sophie to be soft and squishable and easy for little hands to grasp.  This also had the side-effect of not distorting any of the body shapes in  bizarre manner.  And I absolutely love the final resul. 

The thing I was most worried about with this project was the French knot eyes.  French knots and I, generally speaking, do not get a long.  But we worked together just find on this project.  Must be the good karma that comes from knitting for a baby.

Overall this pattern was easy to follow and the instructions, including the images guiding the picking up of stitches, were quite good.  I think Otto will be next.  But not before I cast on for Ms. Z's second Zebra Striper sleeve. Can't forget my own baby as I'm knitting for someone else's!

Dear L,

When you have a little brother (I know, I know, "little" is no longer an accurate adjective), you often wonder what he is going to do when he gets older.  Will he stop being annoying?  Will he ever wear another color besides black?  What career path will he pick?  Will he find a good person to spend his life with?  In the case of my brother, he did eventually stop being annoying (I think he was around 20 at the time), he did stop wearing black (and even surprised me by being open to striped hand-knit socks), he became a chemical engineer (of course, the engineering part was never in doubt, but he left us on the edge of our seats with the chemical part.... how many times did he take a stab at organic chemistry?) and he most certainly found a very special person to spend his life with.  I know that anyone who knew and cared about my brother was happy when you agreed to share his life.

Knitter that I am, I've always wanted to knit something special just for you as my way of saying that I'm glad you're part of our family.  Yes, I know I knit you the dragon scale socks (in honor of your love of dragons), but I while I loved designing them for you, somehow they've never seemed like quite enough. I know that at one point we sat down and discussed felted handbags.  My brother reminds me of the fact that I still have not produced a bag on a yearly basis (he's definitely looking out for you!), and while I wish I could make good on the promise, the right inspiration just hasn't hit me.  And if I can't get inspired, I have almost zero chance of accomplishing a fibery project. 

But this year has been such a big year for you -- in November you brought my beautiful nephew into the world, and you've had to face more than your fair share of challenges in his almost 6 months with us.  I wish we were closer (Houston is so far away) so that we could be there more often to help, and that Ms. Z and Mr. C could get to know each other as they grow up.  In lieu of being there, I like to think that this is the time when a hand knitted gift could be a bond, a reminder that somewhere in Chicago, there are people thinking about you and your family.  And thus began the start of my inspiration.

I hope you won't be disappointed that it's not a felted bag. I still have not found the mojo for that project.  I have always thought that your love of dragons is very symbolic of your personality: strong, powerful, wise, protective of those you care about, and not afraid to breathe a little fire every now and again when you need to get something done.  It is these dragons that have been the source of my inspiration for something special for you.

Today I started your Dragon of Happiness shawl.  The yarn is a delightful alpaca, silk blend (Alpaca with a Twist, Fino) that is soft and rich, the color is a deep raspberry burgundy (selected with a bit of consultation with my brother).  It will be knit on size 1 needles -- all 115,000+ stitches (there are 230 stitches on that needle in the picture and there are more than 500 rows).  When it is finished, it will probably be one of the magnum opi of my knitting career.

I have gone back and forth on whether I should keep it a surprise.  In the end, I decided that I could not.  I am sure some will think that I am going public just so that I can blog it (and there may be an ounce of truth in that), but the biggest reason is that by declaring my intentions publicly, I'm making a commitment to to you and the project.  I have no idea when it will be completed (it is a project that requires focus and not every day brings me the opportunity to apply myself that way).  I hope that you'll enjoy seeing it grow.  

Since today is Ms. Z's 21-month-iversary it seems only appropriate that she should make it into this post. She's in a wonderful developmental sweet spot right now where she is absolutely lovely to be with.  The kind of baby that makes you want to make things for her.  And so over the weekend, I discovered the kind of yarn that I can't imagine in my own wardrobe, but is just perfect for her: Regia Softy.  Happy soft fuzzy sock yarn that knits up a fabric almost as soft and fuzzy as her blankie. 

At first blush, this yarn looks a lot like standard Regia sock yarn, just with soft fuzzy bits.  However, it is much happier at on larger needles than you m ight expect.  These little socks were knit on 3 mm double points and were only 32 stitches around.  I  did two stripe repeats for each sock and I think I have at least one full repeat left on the skein.  I purchased a second skein in a different colorway, but this is the one she picked, so it's the one i started with.  And a perfect colorway for a slightly-belated Easter present, I think!

The texture of these socks reminds me of Muppets.  Soft, fuzzy, almost fleecy.  Ms. Z likes to pet them.  Heck, I like to pet them -- and the yarn, too, even if I wouldn't wear it on my feet.  These socks are the first pair of socks I've knit for her where I used my "adult" template that doesn't include any extra gathering in just above the heel.  She doesn't try to take her socks off any more and her little body is transitioning past the baby shaping into little person shaping. 


I had no problems convincing her to wear them, but, couldn't, for the life of me, get a decent picture (at least not in the time I had before work).  She loved them even if I couldn't capture that love well.  They aren't good for playing on slick surfaces, but they are great warm snuggies for quiet play.

There's a lot to be said for just jumping and trying things.  There's also a lot to be said for taking advantage of the wisdom collected into books by people with a better understanding of the subject.  For my second project, I took extensive advantage of the information in Liz Gipson's Weaving Made Easy -- a collection of projects all based around the rigid heddle loom and meant to help newbies like me get started and get excited about weaving.




First off, for anyone who is thinking about getting started with a rigid heddle loom, I highly recommend this book.  It is definitely not a bible to all things rigid heddle, but it has just enough information to get you off and running and to help you create a polished project.  And the projects, while simple are actually the sorts of things you would want to make for yourself.  She does a nice job of balancing the kinds of projects.  While there are a number of scarves, there are also pillow covers, a belt, placemats, a couple of bags, an obi, a table runner, felted coasters and even felted slippers.  Each project features a different kind of technique and helps the new weaver get their feet wet with regards to both the weaving process and terminology.  With a couple of exceptions, she also focuses on the kind of yarns that a lot of knitters are likely to have in their stash already, making this a doubly nice book for the knitter who is interested in learning to weave.

Make no mistake, I think the most difficult thing about weaving, for me, so far,  is the technical jargon that comes along with it.  I know the language of knitting and spinning, but weaving comes with a whole new set of terms.  Frankly, I can completely understand why this particualr fiber art may have more appeal to men* -- setting up a weaving project and working with loom equipment starts out feeling very technical, almost like you are embarking on some engineering project.  This book does a great job of de-mystifying the terminology.  It defines weaving terms well, and then uses them without overwhelming you with them so that you feel confident and excited about learning a new language rather than baffled by it all. 

Perhaps the only thing I would have liked to have had more of in this book was more discussion of how varying color in the warp and weft has an effect on patterning.  And, thus, that was I decided I wanted to explore more with my next project.

The project I decided to riff off of in the book was a pattern for a simple hounds' tooth check satchel.  It means warping the loom with two colors and weaving with two colors.  So the first thing on my agenda was to pick those two colors.  I knew that I wanted to work in wool for my next project, that I wanted a scarf I could enjoy and that I wanted two colors with fairly high contrast so that I could see clearly what the pattern I was creating looked like.

To find the yarn, I went stash diving (I'm really making an effort right now not to increase my stash as I learn to weave since I have plenty of "unintentioned" yarn to work with) into my Cascade 220 stash and came out with a skein of "Quattro" that falls into the "orange/pink/red" region of the spectrum and a heathery purple skein.  Ideally, the ends per inch (i.e. the number of warp (or vertical) threads per inch) should be about 1/2 the wpi of the yarn.  However, since I only have one heddle, and it's a 10 dent (epi) heddle, I didn't actually bother to do that calculation.  The reality is that the 8 dent heddle probably would have been more ideal for the Cascade since it's a worsted (some say light worsted) weight yarn, but sometimes a girl's gotta run with what she has.  I was hoping that since Cascade is on the light side of worsted that using the 10 dent heddle wouldn't result in a fabric that was too "boardy"**.

I decided that I wanted my scarf to be about 8" wide and 60" long*** -- and after doing the calculations for how much warp and weft I would need, it was clear that 2 skeins of Cascade 220 would have enough yardage for what I wanted to do as long as I used an equal amount of each color in the weft.

After that, I warped up the loom (while enjoying the afternoon with Julie) and got started.   

One thing I knew from the get-go was that I was not going to do 5 feet of hound's tooth check.  In addition to using this scarf as a project to focus on making my selvedges even, I wanted to use the scarf as a chance to see what patterns I could get from different numbers of picks (weft threads) of each color in combination.  I started with a header of all purple, followed by 4" of the hound's tooth (2 picks of orange followed by 2 picks of purple, etc.).  After that, I tried out a bunch of different combinations, all of about 4" and each separated by a section of the hound's tooth.

The picture above shows the header and the first bit of hounds's tooth.  Pretty neat, eh? I loved watching those first patterns grow.   It probably shouldn't be any surprised that I had that loom warped by Friday night and pretty much had a finished scarf by Sunday morning.  I've got quite a few detail pictures from my sampling, so I'm going to save the final reveal and pattern discussion for Monday to give myself more time to put together a nice post.

* This is not to say that I know what ratio of male to female weavers there are, just that I can understand why it is easier to find more male weavers than one might find male knitters or spinners.

** Of course, if I'd been paying more attention to the second book I bought (which I will talk about in the future) I would have realized that I could have just used 8 out of each 10 slots in my heddle to achieve the effect of having an 8 dent heddle... but sometimes it's hard to learn too many lessons in one project.

** I'll spare the gorey calculation details, but I ended up with 86 warp ends (42 orange, 44 purple) each at about 92" long.

There might be some that would argue that I was a little warped long before I ever got a loom, but today I'm going to share my first experience warping my Flip.   A wiser person than I might have waited for the nice books she ordered before getting started, but I just couldn't wait to get started, so I cracked open the little paper manual that comes with the Flip and got started.

One of the benefits of having been a newbie knitter when it comes to being a newbie weaver, is that you are bound to have some yarn in your stash that you don't really like, but, for some reason, you haven't bothered to give away or sell.  In my case, it happened to be 4 skeins of sport weight acrylic yarn (actually an acrylic/nylon blend) that I thought would make nice socks for John (because of the color) before I realized that acrylic socks would only result in John having sweaty cold feet.  While the yarn is not so good for socks, it seemed like good starter loom yarn because I figured the tensile strength would be good in a warp (warp yarn spends its time under a fair amount of tension), it was the right weight for my 10 dent heddle, I had enough in one skein to make a reasonably wide warp, and I thought that I would turn my manly colored yarn into a manly colored runner for John's night stand.

Warping, so far as I can tell, is time consuming and requires that you have some higher brain function available (by which I mean focus, not the ability to do integral calculus in your head), but is not hard.  One of the big contrasts between knitting and weaving is that getting started on a project takes a little bit more thinking and a lot more time preparing.  Casting on 300 stitches for a two color sweater in the round takes a lot less effort than getting a loom warped.  I did some basic back of the envelope calculations (assisted by the Flip manual) to know how many warp ends I could get out of one skein of my yarn and figured out where to start warping based on my estimated width.

Warping a loom takes one of two things: a warping board or a warping peg.  Both are the mechanisms by which you measure out a specific length thread to tie onto the loom to be your warp.  The reason to use one or the other seems to be related to both personal preference and how long you want your warp to be.  I suspect that the peg method would not work so well for very long warps.  But given that I do not have a warping board and I didn't really want a very long warp, I followed the instructions with the Flip to use the peg.  This involves mounting the peg the desired distance from your warp beam (the beam in the back of the loom) and then pulling loops of yarn through the slots in the heddle, alternating pulling the loops over and under the warp beam.  This method also saves you from having to tie the warp threads onto the warp beam, so I suspect that it not only saves you time, but also helps keep the tension on the warp more even.

The next step is to do something that, as a knitter, is pretty scary to me -- you pull the loops off the peg and cut right through them so that they go from being loops to warp threads.  To keep them from getting out of control, you tie the ends using an overhand knot.

After that, it's a simple of matter of winding the warp onto the warp beam (the beam in the back) separating each layer of warp threads with paper.  I opted for baking parchment paper because I had it available and it came in a roll -- making it easy to control the flow of paper.    As you roll the warp threads onto the warp beam, you have to stop now and again to pull tightly on the threads to make sure they are tightly wound onto the warp beam. 

You wind the warp on until you can undo the knot and still have enough yarn to tie the warp ends onto the cloth beam (the beam at the front of the loom).  Then you untie the not and get ready for the main event.

Using a hook that looks a lot like a latch hook for a rug or a thin crochet hook, you take one of the pair of ends in each slot in the heddle and thread it through the hole in the plastic piece next to it.  You get to do this until all the ends are individually in either on of the slots or one of the holes in the heddle -- this is what is going to make sure that you raise and lower alternate threads for the weaving.

The final step in the warping process is to tie the warp ends to the cloth beam.  This is easier than you might think, since you do it in groups of about 1" worth (10) of warp ends and then use a simple knot to tie the ends to the beam.  You start in the middle and then alternate back and forth to the right and left sides tying on groups of ends.  The knot used is adjustable so that you can adjust the tension on the warp ends as you go: if the tension isn't adjusted correctly, your final fabric will be wobbly.  After the tension is adjusted the way you want it to be, then you tie the ends in a bow knot (like the bow you use with shoelaces) so that it's easy to untie them after your project is done.

And that's pretty much it for warping.  Everything is tied on and you're pretty much good to go -- except for one thing: your warp ends aren't spread out evenly. (You can see how they're bunched into groups in the picture that shows them tied on).  To spread the warp ends out evenly, you need to weave a header.  At the end of the weaving, the header is removed, so it doesn't really matter what yarn you use for it, as long as it isn't too different in size from the yarn you are going to do your main weaving with.  I decided to use some of the yarn I was planning to use for the project since it was convenient.  And I like convenient.  Weaving on the header involves placing a few weft threads ("picks") onto the warp, and then beating them all down together.  I did a few more after that just to get the rhythm of using the heddle. 

And there it is, al ready to go, with the heddle in the neutral position.  As you might imagine, I didn't stop there, but I think I'll stop here and talk about the finished product in my next post.   It might take a while to get that warp set up, but getting to the finish line for a weaving project is amazingly quick compared to what it would take to knit a comparable sized length fabric (using appropriately sized needles -- I know that knitting goes fast when you use big yarn and tree trunks). 

The start-itis just keeps on acting up around my house.  This time, I'm going to blame Emily for mentioning that EZ's Baby Surprise Jacket pattern has an "Adult" version as well -- and that that version explains how to vary the jacket depending on size and yarn gauge.  I've wanted to knit Z a Surprise Jacket with a very particular handspun yarn that I have in my stash, but the pattern as written doesn't come with information for sizing it up or down (other than varying the yarn used), and since my yarn was DK weight (or less) I was pretty sure that the Baby pattern would result in a sweater too small for my kiddo.  The adult version, however, provides the details for sizing the pattern based on your gauge and the width of the sweater you need to make, so I ordered the leaflet from Schoolhouse Press and when it arrived I through all will power to the wind, found the yarn, made a gauge swatch and got to the business of taking care of the simple calculations needed to get started.

The yarn is a two-ply handspun made out of hand-dyed Corriedale roving in the colorway "Cotton Candy" from Crown Mountain Farms (note: I don't see this colorway on the website anymore -- if you wanted to see what it started out like, you can find it here).  This is the little garter-stitch swatch I made 5.5 sitches/inch on US 4 needles (selected because they were the smallest set available in my Harmony interchangeable set and I couldn't find a set of US 3 needles ).  I liked the fabric density and thought it would be good for a spring baby sweater, so I decided to roll with it.  You'll notice that it stripes, but that the color runs are pretty short.   Not ideal for  this pattern which really shows of stripes to their advantage, but this yarn has far too much yellow in it to be for any garment I would ever wear.

With the help of EZ's pattern recommendations I used the gauge and my final desired width of 12" (based on a 2T size jacket that I have for Z for the fall) to determine the number of stitches that I needed to start with.

In spite of the many stitches I had to cast on, this project is just whizzing by. I've finished the initial decreases and am now working on the increases after setting aside some stitches for the collar (or what I think is the collar, I have to admit that my orientation on this sweater is poor -- even with all the pictures out there).  The picture above is just before I started increasing again.

Even though there's no distinct striping pattern, I'm pleased with the way the fabric is turning out.  It's more or less random, but little bits of striping show up here and there.  I'm thinking that the Kureyon  and Silk Garden sock yarns might be nice made up into this pattern -- assuming that one was willing to consider completely unwashable yarns for a child.   In fact, though, this is the one place where I am making something completely impractical for Ms. Z -- this yarn is most definitely not superwash, and is definitely a light color.    I guess I'm just going to have to be prepared to do a little hand sweater washing when it's done.

With a baby daughter who is uncannily aware of owls, it is perhaps no surprise that I should be keeping my eyes out for sweaters featuring her favorite bird.  I received a couple of great suggestions through the comments on my blog, and that got me swimming through Ravelry and googling about for sweaters featuring owls.  Originally this quest was to find something for her.  But then I came upon a pattern, sized for an adult woman, that I simply couldn't resist:  o w l s by Kate Davies.

Kate has kindly made the pattern for this sweater freely available.  And the more times I looked at it, the more I knew I had to have it.  Knit in the round from the bottom up in aran weight yarn,with feminine shaping and a yoke of cabled owls.  A perfect winter sweater addition. Especially since I had the perfect yarn in my stash (a yarn purchased many moons ago on sale and which I just *had* to have -- but which I had no idea what I would do with) ready to roll.

This is Jamieson's Chunky Shetland in the colorway "Eider Duck".  It looks grey, but it has lovely flecks of red and blue that give it more depth than your average grey yarn.  Definitely owl-y, I think.

The only challenge was to swatch in the round.  Rather than truly knitting in the round, I knit square swatches and after each row, slid the swatch back to the left hand needle, drawing a length of unused yarn along the back so that all the rows were knit, as if I was knitting in the round. 

After knitting each swatch, I cut the yarn bridges in the back and soaked the swatch in water with a little Eucalan to make sure the yarn had a chance to do anything it might do upon making contact with water.  Then I let them dry flat.  The top swatch was knit on US 10 needles, the middle swatch was knit on US 10.5 needles and the bottom swatch was knit on US 11 needles*. Of course, with the top two swatches I got the right row gauge but my stitch gauge was too "narrow" and with the bottom swatch, I got the right stitch gauge (3.25 stitches/inch), but my row gauge is off by a bit (4.75 stitches/inch instead of 5).  If I was on my own, I would probably choose the tension of the second swatch (I think it's a little better for the long-term wear of the yarn), but the swatch on the US 11/8 mm needles is not all that bad, and the extra stretch/looseness in the fabric will probably be better for a sweater that is meant to be close fittting, but is also made out a yarn that while nice, is unlikely to work directly next to my skin.

By amazing chance, I not only have the circular needles I need, I also have the right sized double points as well (from my felting days) -- which is good, because I think I'm going to start with a sleeve, just to be sure that my gauge holds up in a larger piece -- since we all know how disingenuous swatches can be. 

Anyone else out there knitting the o w l s?  What yarns are you using? 

*As an aside... does anyone know why the US needle numbering system does not include a 7 mm needle?  A 10 is a 6 mm needle, a 10.5 is 6.5 mm and an 11 is 8 mm. 

I am making slow progress on several projects right now: the Rivolo Scarf, the Zebra Striper Sweater, my Silkie Socks, the Three-Ply Targhee Blanket squares.  And I even repaired the hole in John's second Mudslide sock.  As I was working on the first of my Silkie socks I had a moment of clarity where I realized that while I like all my complicated projects, I really just wanted something simple to knit.  Something I could knit on autopilot.  Something that I could get started on after going shopping in my stash.  Something unequivocally for me. 

For the answer to the first item, the best possibility seemed to be socks.  Just a pair of simple stockinette socks using my standard toe-up pattern.  For the yarn, I decided that I wanted to knit a pair of socks from yarn that was not 100% merino in composition so that I could (hopefully) count on many years of care-free wear.  Originally I was thinking of the skein of Austermann Step that I have in my stash, but then I discovered the ball of Schaefer Anne (in a colorway whose name I do not remember and could not identify from looking at the Schaefer website) that I had purchased to try out a pooling scarf pattern in a long ago IK -- only to discover that the way this particular skein was dyed was not conducive to getting it to pool the way the pattern was supposed to.  The yarn was already wound into a ball, ready to go.  And since Anne is a wool, mohair, nylon blend, I figured it would definitely create both durable and warm socks.

I started out this project on US Size 1 needles (2.25 mm) but the yarn was just too fine and the fabric seemed a bit to open, so I ripped it off those needles and cast on to size 0's  (2.0 mm).  It's been a long time size I've had a set of 0's in my hands, but they were the right needles for this yarn -- in fact, I bet I could have kit on 00's and also gotten acceptable fabric.  What I found interesting was that the final number of stitches after I increased was 64 -- which is what I usually get on larger needles -- so I'm getting a gauge of about 8 stitches/inch.

I can't say that I adore the pooling behavior of this yarn, but it also doesn't bother me a great deal either. The colors are very evocative of peacock feathers.  It has a high sheen (due to the mohair I am sure) and the sock fabric is soft and light weight.   About the only real complaint I have is that the stuff is prone to splitting -- especially on 2.0 mm needles with sharp tips (these are also Darn Pretty Needles  --  when I purchased them, I took advantage of the special pricing they had for a full set of sock sized needles).  But this is also not too suprising given the yarn's component fibers.

This has turned out to be exactly the project I needed.  Simple, colorful, quick and stashbusting.  A nice reminder that sometimes a project doesn't have to be complicated to be good for the soul.

On Saturday, about halfway through the afternoon, we already had about 6" of snow accumulation and the clouds above Chicago showed no sign of slowing down.  Going out to do anything in weather like this didn't have a lot of appeal, so we had a long, grey day to spend at home.  A good day to get caught up on house chores, like laundry, which resulted in the discovery of this:

Sad, sad socks my friends.  The sock on the right is the mate of the sock I repaired for John not too long ago (good thing I still have some Mudslide yarn left).  The sock on the left is one of the socks made out of my handspun "Hang on Sloopy".  Both earned a big sigh.  The second Mudslide sock I expected to have to repair sooner rather than later (the trip through the washer and dryer just must have been too much agitation for those weak fibers) but the handspun sock had had no obvious signs of such imminent hole-age.  I was contemplating which to take on first when John reminded me that part of the reason his socks get so much "love" is that he just doesn't have enough thick hand knit socks -- and that weather predictions for Thursday suggest that the temperatures might not break 0 F.

This left me to think about knitting priorities.  And whether I could give myself a little challenge to heat up what is likely to be a week of cold snowy weather.  I am always looking for man-friendly yarn to stash.  The good people at Blue Moon Fiber Arts have a nice line of colorways called the Raven Clan, which are essentially black yarns "enhanced" with colors as part of a color study.  What's really nice about these yarns is that they have beautiful color undertones to appeal to the knitter, but these undertones are subtle enough to appeal to the color-conservative male in my house.  This full-skein picture of the yarn gives you a good idea of how the color reads when you see it from a distance.

While this macro shot shows off the nice purple and olive undertones that show up when you look close or get the yarn into brighter light.  As man-friendly yarn goes, I think it's really stunning.  And the fact that it is Heavyweight STR meant that it would meet John's need to have another pair of warm thick socks for winter commuting.  The name of the colorway, by the way, is "Grawk"... so, naturally, I came up with a name for the project before I even really knew what they were going to be: "Socks that Grawk".