Tag: knitting

This is going to be my last post for a couple of weeks. I realised this morning that, since I’ve been ill, somehow it’s gone from being three weeks to the exams (which is scary but manageable) to two weeks to the exams (which is frankly panic-inducing) without me managing any revision at all in that time. I am finally starting to feel better so revision has re-started but there’s lots left to do!

What I have managed to achieve in the past week is a new pair of socks. They’re soft, squishy, warm and terribly unflattering but will make wonderful bedsocks when winter rolls around again.

In my last sock-related post, I mentioned that I was sure I was going to run out of yarn and, as can be seen from the photo below, I did—just as I was starting the toe of the second sock.

I found a swatch for another project that I had used this yarn for and unravelled that … and still didn’t have enough yarn. I ended up unravelling one pattern repeat from the top of each sock, which gave me enough yarn to finish the toe and cast off the unravelled stitches on one sock … but not the other. I unravelled another couple of rows from the top of the second sock to make sure I had enough yarn to work a stretchy enough cast-off … and this is how much yarn I had left after casting off the unravelled top edge of the second sock:

It seems I like to live dangerously.

Lessons I should learn from this (but probably won’t):

1. Divide your yarn into two equal amounts before starting knitting socks. That way, you won’t be at the end of the second sock when you realise that you’re going to run out of yarn. If you don’t do this and you weigh your remaining yarn after you’ve knitted the first sock and it weighs less than the first sock, don’t just start knitting the second sock until you’ve worked out how you’re going to fix the fact that you don’t have enough yarn.
2. Check your gauge before you get too far. Don’t assume that because you have more yarn than is listed in the pattern requirements (340 yds to 285 yds) that it will be enough.
3. Actually, it might not even help if your gauge is right (I’ve just checked and mine is spot on) if the “wraps per inch” for your yarn is different to the yarn listed in the requirements. Check this if you can, but life is short and running out of yarn isn’t the worst thing that could happen.

I’ll see you on the other side of the exams!

Tomorrow was not better (but I went to work anyway). The two days after that were even worse and were mostly spent napping on the couch. When I wasn’t asleep, I was mostly watching Harry Potter films and knitting my bed socks.

The idea of knitting bed socks while actually ill is extremely amusing to me today; I blame the almost complete lack of human contact over the past couple of days. They are still delightfully soft and squishy and I’m absolutely certain that I’m going to run out of yarn before I finish the second one but I’m keeping knitting anyway.

Today, I’m finally starting to feel human* again. I made it out to the shops to buy food, I put on some laundry and even managed to summon up enough brain power to put the finishing touches on my newest shawl pattern, Celandine, and publish it.

There are more details and photographs on the Ravelry page (which should now be visible to non-Ravelry members). I promise to post lots more details about the shawl soon but, if you will excuse me, I really need to go for a nap now.

* Where human is defined as “able to achieve some small tasks and, only then, collapsing onto the couch”.

Warning — a certain amount of self-pity follows:

I was supposed to be studying today. Instead my day looked like this:

Lemsip for the awful cold that has reached the horrible hacking cough stage;

Dentinox for the unspeakable toothache that kept me up half the night but is still “non-localised pain” and so the dentist can’t do anything about it;

Soft, squishy knitting because sometimes that is just what you need.

Tomorrow will be better, right?

The knitting is the Bed Sock in Lemon Pattern Fancy Knit Stripe from Knitting Vintage Socks in Natural Dye Studio Darling sock yarn.

It’s now 23 days and 1 hour till the start of my next set of exams. This means that I have to stop reassuring myself that there is plenty of time (since there isn’t!) and get properly stuck in to my remaining revision.

This also means that I need something to knit that is challenging enough to distract my brain from thinking about exam-related stuff while also not being so difficult that my tired, stressed brain can’t cope.

So, far the Lesia loop by Robin Ulrich is proving ideal. It’s a straightforward lace pattern which needs just the right amount of attention to allow my brain to relax without getting bored.

I’m knitting it in Rowan Kidsilk Haze which is working up beautifully light and airy. The yarn is black but looks lighter in the photographs due to the amazing amount of sunshine that London is getting today.

The pattern, when finished, can be worn as a scarf, wrap, cowl or hood and I’m planning to wear it in the office over the summer when the air conditioning gets too cold.

Time for some lunch and a walk in the sunshine before I dive back into the books!

The bits and pieces of designing and re-knitting my own designs that I’ve been doing have started to feel a little bit like work recently. Since I already have enough things in my life that are actually work, I decided it might be time to take a little break and go back to knitting from other people’s designs for a little while.

First on the list is Simmer Dim (Ravelry link) by Gudrun Johnston. I love Gudrun’s shawl patterns. I knitted Aestlight last year (which I don’t seem to have blogged about before) from some Knitwitches cashmere and I wear it a lot. (I’m less keen on Gudrun’s jumper patterns – they look lovely but aren’t at all suited to my body shape.) I’m knitting this in the Fyberspates Nef lace that I bought at Knit Nation last year, which really is beautiful yarn. My hope is that between the simple, elegant pattern and the understated colour of the yarn, I’ll end up with another nice work-appropriate shawl. So far, so good!

… on a cloudy day.

It feels like London has been grey and overcast for months now but my current knitting is definitely helping to alleviate the winter blues. In fact, it’s so bright and cheerful that I don’t mind that I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve ripped out the swatch and re-started it (and, for once, I’m not being sarcastic). I’m working on a new design that I plan on submitting for publication so can’t say any more about what it’s going to be yet. However, I can tell you about the yarn.

The yarn is artesano 100% alpaca 4 ply that I bought in the Life Craft in Glasgow when Steven and I met up with Helen over Christmas. I love knitting with this yarn; it is beautifully soft (yet stands up well to repeated ripping out), the stitch definition is lovely and the colour is just amazing. So much so, that I always have a smile on my face when I pick it up to work with, even if it is to rip out the whole thing for the umpteenth time!