What next?

Having put most everything else on hold, while finishing Robert’s hose and Aaron’s mending, and with those now completed, I’ve been casting about for a next project.  Lots of ideas, and I’ve made a start at several, but which one will “catch”?  Below you see balls/skeins of. . .

. . . pink      green      eggplant

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.blue-green

grey

red

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Pink:  wool/silk for a gansey sampler for possible Master Knitter level 3 project;
Green:  Koigu for next year’s Sock Madness, design due in September;
Eggplant:  swatching Louet Gems for sportweight kilt hose;
Blue-green:  scrap for a sock’s provisional cast-on;
Grey:  testing gauge of fingering doubled for kilt hose;
Red:  swatching Panda Silk for Baby Surprise Jacket, baby-cousin due in October.
Hmmmm.  An embarrassment of riches!

And which might make for good travel knitting? — I’m planning a trip in August.

(The notebooks contain my Master Knitter work for levels 1 and 2, and project journals.)

Btw, isn’t my little piper cute?  No, I didn’t make him myself; I bought him a few years ago at the Celtic Festival and now he “watches over” my knitting.

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Berroco Cabling Video

Another video to share, this one by Berroco on cable techniques used in their Nesselrode pullover (Booklet #288, Blackstone Tweed) and Tarte shell (free KnitBits pattern) — not just knits over knits on a purl background in this one.

Kilt Hose Mending Done!

I finished the mending I’ve been doing for Aaron Shaw.  (Hurray!)  His “back-up hose” are ready to mail back.

The workmanship on these, by Debra Gilding of D&D Natural Fiber Co., is awe-inspiring.

Would you believe you’re looking at a seam in the top sock?!

Here’s a summary of my own work on this second pair.

Heel #1, outside

Heel #1, inside

Toe #1, outside

Toe #1, inside

Heel #2, outside

This one nearly made me cry.  See the center part where the reconstructed stitches are looser than the others, making it pucker out?  Geez.  I had thought the first part was maybe too tight and changed needles, but then the middle got too loose and I went back to tighter on the last part.  Once it was all done and I saw that the difference was so visible. . . waah!  I found I was unwilling to undo the work to change it — too many tucked (and trimmed) ends; I’d probably have to undo more stitches to get the ends long enough to tuck in again.  Some of the joins of the new to the old fabric needed reinforcing (with nylon) as it is.

I’m hoping he’ll still be pleased that they’re sound and wearable again.

Heel #2, inside

Toe #2, outside

I varied the original techniques for this heel and this toe, trying to reduce the number of ends to tuck at the finish, like in Sock #1.  For Heel #2 I still unraveled old stitches to get sound ones to join onto and ends to tuck, but I didn’t use separated strands for each row of new stitches.  Toe #2 I did use separate new strands, but I didn’t unravel the old, I just overstitched several old stitches before beginning the patch.  This was fastest, I think.

Toe #2, inside

For a final treat, here’s my Little Miss Adorable-when-she-naps. 

Videos: Piping and Weaving

I spent most of yesterday wrestling with iMovie, YouTube, Facebook, and CyberDuck.  Here’s some of the fruit of that labor:  a short (31 seconds) video clip from Sunday’s Celtic Festival in which Robert Watt pipes while wearing his new kilt hose.  (He gave me permission to post this.  Thanks to Nanette Blanchard for requesting it.)

Follow this link to another interesting video I found from Knitting Daily TV:  Liz Gipson weaves on a rigid heddle loom (followed on that blog page by another video on weaving with knitting yarns.)  http://www.knittingdaily.com/blogs/daily/archive/2009/07/20/why-weave.aspx#v1

Comparing old and new Kilt Hose

This past week, I got to compare Robert Watt‘s well-loved and well-worn kilt hose to the new pair I was in the process of making for him.  Lots of measurements were taken.

The different stretchiness of the new ribs (purl vs seed) and the new yarn can be seen in the different widths of the 2 socks.

. . . Chloe has been finding the old socks *very* interesting, btw. . . .

Still, the piping went on. (Hooray!)  So while I had both these pairs in my possession, Robert had to play in his “back-up” hose.

There have been a few times in this process that I’ve had to do this:

and then this:

. . .

and then hold the mini-skein loops over a steaming kettle to de-kink them (amazing to watch!),

let cool, and knit on.

The Satakieli yarn held up quite well, even to this treatment.

His old pair were made with a worsted-weight yarn, and he wants his next pair also to be heavier than the first.  I’m considering several possibilities:  Satakieli held double, Louet Gems sportweight, Louet Gems worsted weight, and Guernsey sportweight wool.  All are worsted-spun 100% wool and tightly-plied, for smoothness and durability.  These qualities also make for excellent stitch-definition, should I decide to go into fancier textures.  Waiting to hear from him on color-preference, and then . . . we shop!

Found Another Interesting Video

I found this “suggested” video today and thought y’all might enjoy it:  “Knitwhits Tutorial — Siena Braided Trim”, also known as a Latvian Braid because it’s frequently used in traditional Latvian Mittens.  I used it in my first Sampler Scarf (see old post:  https://beautifulknitting.wordpress.com/2007/07/17/latvia-and-fair-isle-a-la-mt-mom/ ).

Kilt Hose Done -and- Celtic Festival Enjoyed

Mostly photos today, as I’ve been doing so much knitting (and so little sleeping) that I’m short on words.

Robert Watt appreciates his new Socks

Aaron's mended Hose -- match his Kilt

2 Wicked Tinkers: piper Aaron Shaw and wildman-drummer Keith Jones

My girls had a good time -- and butterflies.

Kilt Hose First Fitting

We had our first fitting on Friday — checking lengths and snugness.

Front

Back

They need about 1″ more height, but no more  (I had another pair of expert eyes to check for me — thanks Aaron).  The toes could use a bit more room, but they’ll be OK if I don’t have time to get to them before next weekend when Robert goes back to Ireland.  I think I’d make another pair a bit more roomy overall — my last pair (for myself) sagged in the legs and I didn’t want that to happen with these.

A Video by a New Master Knitter

Swatches, sweaters, and kitties — check it out!  (Fun, lipizzanknitter Leslie — thanks!)

Sock Mistake Caught and Fixed

I’ve finished with all the calf-increases on piper Robert‘s second sock — hurray!! Just the “work even” few inches and garter left to go.

Then the cuffs.

Or perhaps we’ll have the try-on first, then any alterations, and then the cuffs last of all.  Partly depends on *when* I finish the socks-proper, as I’m expecting Robert and all the other bagpipe instructors to arrive in town on Sunday, 12th July.  The following week, with all the lectures and concerts (I listen but don’t play, so I don’t take part in the classes), will be busy and exciting!

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The “mistake” of the title, you ask?

Examine the following close-up images:

You see the wide central V in the left photo?

Something’s missing.  What happened to the wide-narrow-wide rhythm?

I had forgotten to make a certain few of those new (increased) stitches purls instead of knits.  No wonder the central rib got so wide so soon — I knew something was amiss and finally realized what it was.  Boy, am I glad I caught it!

I dropped down just the offending 4, and corrected them.

Can you see the “extra” V now, that wasn’t there before?  And the 2 narrow ribs flanking it?

Phew!

Now, as for the cuffs. . .

My sampler is progressing. Different yarns, different stitch patterns, even some beading experiments along the way.  (This is for now and for later.)

I didn’t enjoy the first (purple) one, worked side-to-side.  Don’t know quite why. . . .

The top 2 are possibilities for the current pair:  “ploughed field” (yellow) and an arrowhead pattern of slanting ribs (olive).  Plus a few more I want to see before I make up my mind.

See how the stitch patterns affect the gauge:  all 3 top bands are worked over 60 stitches in different colors of same yarn on same needles, but the white lace bulges out while the yellow slip-stitch-psso section pulls in.  Ribs are in-between.