I've been a bit on the poorly side recently, hence lots of knitting and very little of much else. Serves me right for eating something with Rape Seed Oil in it I suppose, but I didn't know, honest! I worked it out afterward, but a bit late then granted. Anyway, as a result I've been a bit on the dense side (no-one speak or utter a sound, I can say that but... ah, you get the idea).
The upshot of the poorly-induced craziness was this no shawl on needles. In my defence, the one I was going to knit next (Peacock Feathers Shawl by Dorothy Siemens) required more yarn than I had in the yarn that I wanted to knit it in! So, I have put it to one side and put the uber-fine Merino Fibre (-18 micron) next on my spinning pile. Sorted.
But what to knit in the meanwhile? I only have 2 items on my needles. I'm beginning to get twitchy! So. Whilst tucked up in bed the other night I was reading Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Around (Fibre porn, my favourite!) I came accross her Pi Are Squared Shawl pattern... I have the yarn I bought to make a dress with (before the whole dropping weight thing started). A lightbulb moment ensued... Well, I did need something to keep me going until I have spun sufficient yarn to knit the Peacock Feather.
And the photo? I looked out of the window to discover these two sharing the view. If you look carefully, you will notice that Matthew (the seated one) has his front paws on the lower patio, approx 18" from the top one, he sits like that a lot, fairly typical Borzoi actually.
And look What I have been doing? The is ithe first creation of Turkish Sock Month. I am really very pleased with it. (It is now finished, but as usual I'm about 3 days behind with my pictures!) Never Mind, this is proper proof that I'm doing pretty well with them I think! Th pattern is very easy and hasn't got upset when I started to fiddle with it. Which I did, because.... Normally, when knitting socks like this, the heel and toe are knitted in one solid colour, leaving the other to one side. Now, whilst this would probably make the knitters life easier, it does not make the wearers life less difficult. The double yarn fabric is beautifully thick and cuddly keeping the wearer fabulously warm. So why leave the heels and toes with a single yarn resulting in a thinner and therefore colder heel and toe? So I knitted them both in alternating bars of colour with a 3 row change. This hasn't upset the heel/toe working and has made it really easy to continue the heavy knitted fabric. Result!
I spent the better half of a week agreeing with Freyalyn. (The whole, I must have been out of my head to even try this particular colour combo, it will never work, it all looks the same colour, I must be mad!) that sort of thing.
And then I plucked up the courage and blocked it. Like what it said on the pattern. Wow! It worked. (OK, not particularly well blocked, granted. The little twist in the star in the middle will haunt me for a while yet). But it Worked! the colours suddenly separated and lo and behold it worked. The person I knitted it for was thrilled too so all round a qualified success. Yay!
Or more acurately Selbu, FairIsle or multi-strand knitted sock month. But somehow that really doesn't have the same ring to it. So Turkish Sock month it is, as at least one pair will be knitted with serious influences of the Turkish Tradition. But not so much to pointed toes. DH & #1Son don't like the pointed toes....
Scuse the fuzzy quality of the photograph, but I've had a bit of a day. Anyway, this is the handspun for the first pair to be C/O to the needles in the next couple of days. The purple on the right is BFL and Silk spun to nearly a DK, and theleft is BFL in natural spun to the same weight. (Freyalyn provided me with the purple fibre, so if you want any, this is where to go). The first pair are for #1Son, and at his request not quite Turkish in pattern, but drifting off with a scandinavian bent based on the Selbudeath Pattern (link for those of you with a Rav connection, the rest will have to be a little patient, not to worry, not long). But they will have the Turkish top on them (the fun bit) It will be interesting to see how the purple and cream contrasts with the pattern. I will be seeking advice for all these from my large stack of Anna Zilboorg patterns.
I expect you are wondering what these 2 pictures are for. Just a how contrasting colours can screw up lesson really before I progress. You see, oftern I cheat. No, really, I do. Especially if I am 2 strand knitting. 1 strand becomes the contrast and the other has the changes of colour in. And rather than fiddling about with several different colours I tend to cheat. sometime liike this with variagated sock yarn. On the face of it, it should work, but as you can see, it didn't and the pattern (yes, there really is a pattern in there) is lost. It has improved now I have swapped the yarns over and there will be pic's of finished tam (I'm hoping, probably in vain, that the yarns will bloom differently once washed!)
So, step one is to ensure that your contrasting yarns really do contrast. And are os similar weight.
Any questions?
