I am keen to improve my knitting skills and colour work always looks so lovely. These socks are from the Boost Your Knittingbook. I was intrigued by the idea of intarsia in the round.
It came together quite well – I am disappointed about the reverse side. Despite my best efforts there is a noticeable ‘join’. It is on the inside of your leg (when you are wearing the socks).
The issue of the join is that you are making one stitch out of two, so it is always going to have more yarn than a normal stitch and it just stands out.
I seem to have my system working now – the ‘double decker’ hoop (so I can work two handed) from here, and the magnifying light (which I bought from an electronic hobby store).
This is coming together nicely – although I am very slow. It’s about the process though and not the final product.
These stars appealed to me – decorations, present toppers, etc.
Stitching the Star
I found two layers of water soluble stabiliser worked best (hooped perpendicular to each other).
I used the same thread as both my top thread and my bobbin thread.
I have slowed my machine down to 500 spm. I am not sure if that is necessary, but everything just seems to work a lot better. At this speed it does take 70 minutes, but there are no colour changes.
These stars popped up on my Instagram feed and I was intrigued.
These are the instructions I am using – fabulous instructions. You do need to be reasonably precise with the folding otherwise the star looks a bit crap. Also, I bought thickish paper (120gsm), but I think it would be easier with normal paper (and if you can find something pretty so much the better).
My aim is to make several and use them as christmas decorations (maybe a garland).
I have been spending all of my craft time on Mr Sewwitty’s birthday sock – this is the first one and I still have a bit to go before the toe (I made him try it on today).
A knot in my yarn!
Annoyingly, the yarn had a knot in it – I cut the knot and weaved in both ends as I went, but still annoying.
This is just a plain sock – although it has a twisted rib and eye of partridge heel, so not completely plain.
I do love a knitting history/essay book and was very keen to get this one. After much stuffing around by amazon, I bought it from the book depository.
Over the course of a year, Esther Rutter – who grew up on a sheep farm in Suffolk, and learned to spin, weave and knit as a child – travels the length of the British Isles, to tell the story of wool’s long history here. She unearths fascinating histories of communities whose lives were shaped by wool, from the mill workers of the Border countries, to the English market towns built on profits of the wool trade, and the Highland communities cleared for sheep farming; and finds tradition and innovation intermingling in today’s knitwear industries. Along the way, she explores wool’s rich culture by knitting and crafting culturally significant garments from our history – among them gloves, a scarf, a baby blanket, socks and a fisherman’s jumper – reminding us of the value of craft and our intimate relationship with wool. This Golden Fleece is at once a meditation on the craft and history of knitting, and a fascinating exploration of wool’s influence on our landscape, history and culture.
This was a fabulous book – I enjoyed the combination of knitting (she knit a bikini!, history and travel). It is a bit like ‘Julie and Julia’ we follow Esther’s journey we she learns about knitting in various places and attempts to knit the ‘signature’ garment of that place.
I have started knitting the Heartgyle socks from Boost Your Knitting – the intarsia heart is going well, but the getting it to work in the round is not going so well (see below)
Back of Heartgyle sock
You can see where I have been doing the yarn overs and the turn. The instructions do say
You will see that the turn between right side and wrong side creates a small ridge in the work but it is not hugely obvious.
And they have an image and it’s true on their sock it isn’t very obvious. I can see that my later turns are better – more discreet if you like, but now I need to decide if I rip it back and start again. I am leaning towards ripping back.
There are some great tutorials on how to do this on You Tube – here.
I think the method is good it’s just my execution.
I have almost finished this year’s Christmas socks – I wanted to get going early to ensure they were finished in time.
The yarn is ‘Tinsel’ from Little Yellow Cat (on Etsy). It is a merino, bamboo and silk mix and feels fabulous. Strangely, when I made the skein into a ball it was in two pieces. One about 40g and the other about 60g, so the small one was not quite enough for one sock.
I have pretty much made up my own pattern, but I am using the SKYP stitch pattern from the SKYP socks.
I oiled my machine (a Janome 500e). I had been putting it off because it seemed a complicated business, but in the end it was fine. Just read the instructions and do one step at a time. And I am sure next time it will be even easier.
I was keen to use it after that. I have been wanting to make embroidered fabric – that I could then use on another project, so I decided now was the time. I used one motif from Graceful Embroidery (Dainty Vines collection) and I copied it and rotated it until I was happy with the layout (I used Embird).
Finished version
I am going to make a zipper pouch out of it – need to make fabric for the second side.
