Gift Knitting

I've been working on a few gift projects lately.  My mom loves hand knit socks and I always make her a pair for Christmas.  This year, I decided to make her a pair of footies for her birthday.

Harpa Socks

This was a pattern available as a free Ravelry download.  It's called Harpa, and it was a pretty quick and simple knit.  The yarn was something that I dyed with Kool-Aid.

I made this infinity scarf for a friend who recently moved from the San Francisco area to Minneapolis.  The pattern is the Purl Ridge Scarf, designed by Stephen West.  It's an insanely simple pattern and I was able to get it done in a weekend.  The photo shows the scarf before blocking.

I used some Noro Cash Island that I had in my stash, adding a couple of pattern repeats because, as written, the scarf was narrower than I usually like.  The yarn is a soft blend of wool, cashmere, and nylon.  There's even enough yarn left over for me to make another scarf.

After finishing the cowl, I thought it might be nice to make something else for my friend.  I pulled some charcoal grey and red sock yarn from my stash and started in on this Graphic Kerchief.

Since I'm not sure whether I have enough of the grey yarn to complete the pattern, I may work the bottom border of the scarf in the red.  We'll see how it goes when I get to that point.

Once I finish this I really need to complete the Amy Pond scarf that's been going off and on for the past two years.

Color Inspiration

There are so many places to find inspiration for colorways when hand dyeing yarn - a favorite painting, a flower bed, even an emotion.  It can be fun and challenging to try to recreate a color palette literally, or one can simply use the inspiration as a jumping off point.

Here's an example of trying to create a literal interpretation of something from the natural world.

The challenge was to try to replicate the colors in a parrot feather (at least I believe it's from a parrot - if you know otherwise, please let me know!)

I had some hand spun (not by me) wool and some wool roving to work with.  Each was hand painted with Lanaset dyes and steamed to set the color.

The result is pretty close to the real thing, I think.

Sometimes my inspiration comes from pop culture or, more accurately, geek culture.

Anyone who knows me knows that I may just be a bit obsessed with Doctor Who.  The next two yarns pictured were inspired by that wonderful madman with a blue box.  My photos don't really do justice to this one:

All of Time and Space

It's a tonal blue, which I kettle dyed in five successive dye baths.  The blues vary from a pale sky to deep midnight.

The base yarn is Knit Picks Bare superwash fingering.  It's a nice, bouncy blend of 75% merino wool and 25% nylon.

The swatch pictured on the right was knit on US size 2 (2.75 mm) needles.

Here's another Who-themed colorway, inspired by Amy and Rory and their time on the TARDIS.  I love how the browns echo the tweed jacket worn by the Doctor during series 5 and 6.  

Come Along Ponds

Joss Whedon's Firefly was the inspiration for the next three yarns.  The first takes its name from the ship's mechanic, Kaylee.  Although she is perfectly happy to crawl around in the belly of the ship, wrench in hand and smudged with grease, she's a girly girl who likes frills and lace.

Kaylee

This was low immersion dyed.  The yarn was soaked in water with a bit of white vinegar and then put in a pot with just enough water to barely cover it.  The dye solutions were then poured over the yarn and the whole thing was heated to set the color.

I did a variation on this colorway, using the same colors and method, but doubling the intensity of the dye solution to get more saturation.  Not sure which one I like better.

  

Shiny

Lastly, here is another Firefly colorway.  "Captain Tightpants" is named in honor of Malcolm Reynolds, captain of the Serenity.  This was kettle dyed using Bare superwash fingering.  I'll have to check my notes, but I believe this was run through seven dye baths.

Captain Tightpants

Captain Tightpants reskeined

Sockapalooza!

There's nothing quite like a nice pair of hand knit socks.  They just feel so much better on the feet than their commercially manufactured counterparts.  They're also great knitting projects for so many reasons:

• They don't use much yarn, so you can splurge on something nice if your budget allows
• It's a small project that's easy to carry around with you
• Since it's a small project, it doesn't take months to complete
• Ever try to work on a cardigan or a blanket in the middle of summer?
• They're socks!

Here are a few that I've made lately, with the most recent project first.

These are from a Doctor Who-themed pattern called Bowties Are Cool and were designed by Mandie Harrington.

Bowties Are Cool.  So are fezzes

I had originally hand dyed some yarn for these, but the tonal changes got in the way of the teensy bow tie pattern so I opted for a couple of skeins of Premier Yarns Serenity Sock (on sale, natch).  The stitch repeat was easy to memorize, and was simple without being tedious.  I didn't do as many repeats as called for in the pattern and they're still a bit longer than I like, but they're really comfy and bow ties are cool! 


The next pair was made with some hand dyed yarn, which I wrote about here.  I made them for Pat, who dyed the yarn and promptly handed it off to me.  The pattern is Eunice, from Sock Innovation by Cookie A.  It was a challenging (in a good way) pattern, including a 7 stitch cable that had stitches going every which way, but I think the result is gorgeous.  I might just have to make a pair of these for myself at some point.

Eunice Socks for Pat

These were made for my mom.  She picked out the Malabrigo sock yarn in Rayon Vert.  I adore working with this yarn!  The pattern is another Ravelry download.  The designer is Kristi Geraci, and the pattern is called Belle Vitini.

Mom's Belle Vitini Socks

Finally, here is another pair of socks with a Doctor Who theme.  These are mine all mine.  Yay!

Don't Blink!

Raveler Maire Martin designed these Weeping Angel socks.  I made a couple of modifications, starting with a twisted rib for the cuff.  I also extended the feather pattern down the foot to the point where the toe decreases begin.  I really like how the toes echo the heel motif, which you can kind of see here: 

This pattern had an interesting heel construction, employing a series of increases rather than knitting a heel flap and then picking up stitches for the gusset.

I'm really pleased with this pair.  They're soft and comfortable, the color works with lots of my wardrobe, and the lace pattern is lovely. 

Best part?  They're DOCTOR WHO themed!

My preferred method for knitting socks is two at a time on two circulars (saves me from the dreaded second sock syndrome).  It seems I usually select top down patterns, although that's not a conscious decision. 

How do you like to knit your socks?

WIPs and FOs

As I'm trying to discipline myself to post more regularly, here are a few recent projects.

I picked up this gorgeous Malabrigo Sock yarn from the Twist: Yarns of Intrigue booth at the Southern California Handweavers' Guild Weaving and Fiber Festival a couple of years ago.

The colorway is Persia, and it's a soft, squooshy variegated yarn with colors that range from sidewalk grey, through several shades of blue, to black.

I finally used it to make a pair of gloves - and I have enough yarn left over to make something else!  The pattern is Julia Mueller's Knotty, which is available free on Ravelry. 

I made a second pair of gloves for my cousin:

These are made with Sensations Bamboo & Ewe, a wool, nylon, bamboo blend from Jo-Ann.

After gradient dyeing some Lion Brand Sock-Ease with food coloring,

I made a Glam Shells shawl.

This is actually my second Glam Shells.  The designer is Marisa Hernandez, and the pattern is also available as a Ravelry download.  I love this pattern.  It's mostly mindless knitting - perfect for TV or movie watching - but when it's blocked it becomes a light, lacy wrap perfect for a summer evening.

Dyeing for Some Color

It's been such a long time since I last posted, but I'm jumping back in.  Here's a bit of what I've been up to lately:

Gradient Dyed

Immersed in jars set in a water bath

Hand Painted

Most of the yarn dyeing I've done has been with food coloring, although the green and blue skeins in the third photo were dyed with Lanasets.

This next one was also done with Lanasets.  We mixed up a few bits of left over dye solutions at the end of the day and dunked in a couple of hanks of yarn.  I can't really capture the subtle tonal changes in this yarn with my crappy camera and poor photography skills, but the hues range from shades of slate blue to violet to black.  The yarn is a 50% merino, 25% bamboo, 25% nylon blend and it has a nice sheen.

I made a pair of Eunice socks, from Cookie A's Sock Innovation, with this yarn.  The book has some wonderful and challenging patterns from a very talented designer.  Unfortunately, the publisher really dropped the ball on the technical editing.  If you pick up the book (which I recommend because I love Cookie A's designs) be sure to download the errata from Interweave. 

This next yarn was dyed with Wilton's Icing Color.  It's the same base as the previous photo.

I enjoy dyeing yarn more than just about any other crafty project I've ever attempted.  It's kind of like alchemy - mad science meets sorcery.  It's so satisfying to have an idea in mind and seeing that idea become a reality, and also something magical about coming up with something completely unexpected.