Rip It and some more

I had a wonderful idea for a new sock pattern.  At least in my mind, it was a wonderful idea.  In reality, I've ripped it out at least four times and re-charted it at least a dozen times.  Well, that maybe a wee lie about the charting.  I re-charted it at least six or seven times on paper, trying different stitch counts.  I've also lay awake at night charting it in my head.  At one time, I totally gave up and told myself to try a different design.  At least, I was able to go sleep after that!

The next morning, however, I decided to try the original idea one more try.  I sat down with a blank sheet of graph paper and charted it one more time.  All of a sudden, I saw the mistake I'd made in my first chart.  It was so obvious; yet, I hadn't seen it before.  Corrected the mistake and the chart looks right.  I started knitting and it looks right--like it looked in my head when I first envisioned it.  If it works, I'll post a picture soon.  The yarn is especially yummy--Pigeonroof Studios Siren 2 sock in a one of a kind color called Pomegranate and deserves an equally yummy design.

In an effort to reach more knitters, I've set up an Etsy shop.  Right now, you can purchase copies of Indigo Waves, Slipstream and the Basic Shaped Arch Socks pattern there.  I will be adding more patterns soon.  I also hope to use this shop to sell items such as felt and silk scarves.  Stay tuned!

In other news, I've been training for a cycling event which takes place on March 31.  It's an all women's ride called the Cinderella Classic and Challenge.  Last year, I rode the Classic, which is 65 miles.  I am aiming to ride the Challenge at 95 miles this year.  Most events like this are dominated by men so it is really quite a sight to see over 2,000 women riding together--well, kind of together since the large group breaks into smaller groups riding at different paces.  I'm feeling really great about my chances of having a good ride.  I'm hoping for good, meaning no rain, weather that day!

Pyroclastic, Revisited

I've been meaning to publish the pattern for Pyroclastic with the charts for the arch shaping since the copyright reverted back to me last year.  Well, I finally got around to it. The pattern is available in my Ravelry shop. 

I've clarified the reason for the marker placement.  If you have thought about knitting Pryoclastic but were confused by the written directions, this version should eliminate all doubts about what exactly is going on with the arch shaping.  I also added some other yarn suggestions. 

The sock in the photo is knit in Lorna's Laces Shepard Sock Solid Pond Blue, which is now available in 100 gram skeins.

New sock pattern

It has been a long time since I published a knitting pattern so this feels really great.

The new pattern is called Indigo Waves and is available for purchase on Ravelry. I used Siren 2 sock yarn from Pigeonroof Studios.  The color way is Indigo Ink.  It is a beautiful semi-solid showing dark blues at their best.

I have a few tricks up my sleeve for 2012 including an improved written pattern with charts for Pyroclastic.  Look for it soon in my Ravelry shop.

Not socks

I love the images I've seen of Sufi whirling. The cable in these mitts remind me of this movement. These started life as an idea for a sock that just didn't work. I couldn't let go of wanting to use this specific cable. I just couldn't figure out where else I could use it. So the unwearable socks languished hidden in a drawer for about six months. (And, I do mean socks; I had to knit a pair to prove to myself the design really didn't work.) I moved on and worked on other designs. One night while doing mental inventory of my designs, the idea of using the cable in fingerless mitts hit me.

I knit these out of A Verb For Keeping Warm Creating in Supernova on US #1/2.25 mm needles. They use less than a 100 gram skein of yarn and are fast to knit.

The only tricky bit is the cable. It is a ribbed cable over 11 stitches. An 11 stitch cable is a bit tight to work on the cross simply because of the number of stitches crossing one another. Because it is worked over an odd number of stitches some of the knit stitches become purls and some purls become knits. If you follow the directions, it works--you just need to forget what your brain tells is logical and trust that it works as written.

Dervish was test knit by members of the Free Pattern Testers Ravelry group. Michael Del Vicchio provided the technical editing. The pattern is available in my Ravelry shop.

Knitting from the stash

I went stash diving a month or so ago and re-discovered this Socks That Rock medium weight yarn in Mesa that I bought at Stitches West 2006. Socks That Rock was the buzz of the knitting blogosphere that year. This small company out of Oregon seemed to have come out of nowhere, was represented by The Fold at Rhinebeck 2005, and was suddenly the most sought after yarn in the world. And I had to have some.

I got to Stitches early Saturday morning and immediately headed for the Blue Moon booth. It was nearly empty--in that, there was very little yarn to be had. All of the light weight STR was sold out. There were a few skeins of medium and heavy weight STR left. There were plenty, relatvely speaking, of skeins of Seduction, a merino/tencel blend that wasn't named after types of rocks. I walked away with the Mesa STR and two skeins of Seduction--Prove It All Night, which became a Swallowtail shoulder shawl and Lucy in the Sky. Lucy in the Sky is still in my stash waiting to become something fabulous.


This yarn tried to be many things. In the end, it worked best as a variation on my Basic Shaped Arch Sock pattern. I used US #2 needles and cast on 56 stitches. The ribbing is a 1x1 twisted stitch rib. I mixed up the heel a bit by using eye of the partridge instead of a standard heel stitch. I love the way eye of the partridge looks with hand painted yarns that have a lot going on color-wise.


I also love the way the triangle that is formed by the gusset and the arch shaping really highlights the angles the yarn is going in. This was a fast sock to knit compared to the socks I usually knit on US #1 or #0. I really like the way they turned out. I think this will be my fall back pattern for all of the really colorful hand painted yarn in my stash.

A new addition to the collection

Please welcome Adrienne into my small, but growing, collection of sock patterns. I named these in honor of my friend Adrienne, who is fun, warm, giving, and a very important person at A Verb for Keeping Warm.

I used A Verb for Keeping Warm Annapurna for this in the color Vermilion. Adrienne features left and right twisted cables in the cuff that continue down the side of the leg and travel across the instep, mirroring the arch shaping. The yarn is a yummy blend of merino, cashmere and nylon. I knit these on US #2/2.75 mm needles.

I was inspired by the many variations I've seen of socks with clocks. Plus, I wanted a design that really allowed the yarn to be the star. I wanted to incorporate arch shaping since I like the way that shaped arch socks fit. It took me several attempts to get the cables integrated with overall design. Needless to say, these were ripped back to the heel flap numerous times (the yarn held up beautifully!) before the cables looked right to me.

While not a complicated sock to knit, you do have to keep track of quite a few stitch markers while shaping the arch and cables. I'm not a big fan of a ton of stitch markers but just didn't see how else to keep track of arch stitches that move as well as cables that travel. A bit of disclosure here: I typically knit my socks using 5 double-point needles and arrange my stitches so I don't have use so many stitch markers. If you choose to follow my lead, be sure to keep the markers for the arch shaping and the traveling cables on the instep.

This pattern has been test knit. Technical editing was provided by Michael Del Vicchio.

Weird, in a good way

I'm terrible, vain actually. Ever since the Winter 2009 issue of Knitty came out, I've been stalking the internet for comments about Pyroclastic. I can't help it--being published is really new to me. The best thing I've found: there is a geologist named C.C. Knitter who studied and wrote about pyroclastic flows!

Knitty

I can hardly believe it. Pyroclastic is in the Winter 2009 issue of Knitty. I never thought I would be published in Knitty a year ago. I don't think I can ever express my gratitude to everyone who encouraged me though the past year. Thank you!!!!

Pyroclastic was born at Sock Summit 2009. I started by charting the repeat and began knitting it in a class with Cookie A. The yarn I was working with was pretty but completely obscured the design. Cookie walked around the class to see what everyone was doing and to answer questions. When she got to me, she asked "Are you sure about that yarn?" My initial reaction was these are only for me and I need to use this yarn from my stash, which I only said in my mind. So I rooted around in the bag of sock yarn I had with me and found something much more suitable--A Verb for Keeping Warm Creating in a color called Bolinas (Pictures were not taken of it because it didn't seem as if it would photograph well; it's really pretty in person.)

I was really busy for the rest of Sock Summit and didn't really get back to my sock until the ride home. I was lucky enough to be ride sharing with Kathleen (KatDee on Ravelry) and Michael aka Wonder Mike. Michael and Kathleen drove the first 2/3's of the way home while I sat in the backseat working out the pattern placement for the heel and instep fueled by Voodoo Donuts. This was a bit tricky because I knew I wanted to have a shaped arch, which has less give that a straight forward foot and instep. You see, the shaped arch biases the fabric so you need a few more stitches than usual to get it on your foot. I was doing all of this on the needles because I couldn't find my notebook and only had the sheet of paperI'd charted the pattern repeat on, which was pretty scribbled on at this point.

Once home I finished the prototype, wrote out the directions, and knit it again in Lorna's Laces Shepard. Meanwhile, Kristine was busy knitting it out of the Burnt Embers colorway of AVFKW Creating. When we finished knitting our respective socks, I set about formatting the pattern in Knitty's style.

Kristine and Adrienne went to our local cemetery to take photos. Kristine did a bang up job of photography. Adrienne was our foot model. We had so many photos to choose from, it was difficult to decide which to submit to Knitty.

A few days later, I submitted the whole package to Knitty. Then the wait began. I tried really hard not to think about it. Every once in awhile, Kristine would ask if I'd heard anything. I started new designs. In October, I received an email from Amy Singer saying my pattern had been excepted. I was in a state of disbelief for about two days.

After that, it was a push to write the pattern for a second size since I was asked for at least one other size. Yes, this meant more math! I had to think about how the sock could be knitting using something other than my beloved dpns. I had to rewrite the pattern without reference to specfic needles. In my mind, I knit these socks on two circs and using magic loop. I had imaginary stitch markers that had to be tracked. I got stuck more than a few times with visioning what happens on magic loop. But in the end, I worked it out with great advise from my technical editor.

Then I waited some more and now it's really here. It's been a great experience and I want to do it again!



Photos in this post are copyright Kristine Vejar.

Back to the notebook

My last idea failed miserably once I got to the instep. I still like the basic idea; just needed to figure out a different way of execute it. I think this time I've got it right. I am finding that the more time I spend designing, the more I learn. In the beginning, I wanted every idea to work out perfectly the first time. Of course, the design process doesn't work that way. I have a few failures tucked away in my sock drawer as a result.

Now I am much more comfortable with ripping out and starting over again. I just don't quit because it didn't work out perfectly the first time. I've learned to fail and be alright with it.

A taste of something to come

The last six weeks or so I've been occupied with something that's not ready to show you yet as well as catching up on all of the knitting that got neglected when I started getting ready for Sock Summit. So I have been knitting and spinning; it just hasn't been blog worthy. During this time, my creative juices got a chance to recharge and I recently started working on a pattern idea I've had for a few months. The yarn is A Verb for Keeping Warm Annapurna, a yummy cashmere and merino blend. The color reminds me of raspberry sorbet.

Update on SS09 pattern give away

I've changed my mind about which pattern to give away at Sock Summit. Instead of the shaped arch sock, I will be giving away a choice between

Slipstream or

Caitlin's Lace Anklet.

Slipstream combines a lace panel and cables with a shaped arch. Caitlin's Lace is a simple allover lace pattern with an eye of the partridge heel. I will giving away up to 50 patterns total with the purchase of a skein of A Verb for Keeping Warm sock yarn.

Ella's Tea Socks

The pattern is now available on Ravelry. The sample is on display at A Verb For Keeping Warm--The Workshop. I love, love this yarn and the color--Thai Iced Tea. It's orange but it's not. What I mean is that it's not screaming Halloween orange. It's earthier.

Stitches West

This year I worked the A Verb for Keeping Warm booth on Saturday and Sunday. It was so wonderful meeting everyone who stopped into the booth. It was especially thrilling to talk to people about my sock patterns. I still can't believe that knitters like them.

What else can I say about Stitches. It is very different to experience this show working a booth compared to being just an attendee. I meet other vendors and designers, which won't have happened if I had been only an attendee. I saw a lot of people whom I only know about because of Ravelry. It is so nice to put not only a face but a real person to a familiar name.

Watching Kristine grow Verb for the past year has been so much fun and to be a part of it has been incredible. If not for Kristine, Adrienne and Kathleen, I won't have ever put one of my sock designs out there in the world. So thank you to the three of you for pushing me in one of the most exciting directions ever!

A new sock

I've been seriously bitten by the sock designing bug. Here is what I am currently cooking up:



I'm naming it Ella's Tea Socks. This is to honor both the colorway of the yarn and the person who came up with the colorway name. It is knit out of A Verb for Keeping Warm Creating: SW Merino yarn. The colorway is "Thai Iced Tea," which is a semi-solid color. I'm almost finished with the first sock, which I'm knitting to fit Kristine. Once the pattern has been test knitted from the written and charted pattern, it will be available for sale at A Verb for Keeping Warm as well as here and Ravelry.

Introducing Slipstream

Since the election, I've been busy. It all started with a conversation I had with Kristine about a sock I was knitting out of some handspun Pigeonroof Studio superwash merino. She wondered if I could use the basic shaping of the arch and put a pattern in it. I took her up on the challenge.

This is the sock that Kristine originally saw.



This is the challenge sock. It is called Slipstream.





Both patterns are for sale at A Verb for Keeping Warm's studio in Berkeley. And, until I figure out linking for so you can download the patterns directly, if you would like to purchase a PDF copy, shoot me an e-mail at unravelingmarloweATyahooDOTcom letting me know which pattern you are interested in and I will send you an e-mail telling you how to pay me via Paypal and email you a copy of the pattern.

A very busy November

This is what I've been up to this month.



My felt scarves will soon be available at the A Verb for Keeping Warm workshop in Berkeley. The sock is being knit from handspun from a Pigeonroof Studios roving. The sweater is Fylingdales from A Fine Fleece by Lisa Lloyd. The beret is my first attempt at making a handmade felt hat from my own felt. It's not perfect but it worked and I will be making more.

A weekend for making stuff

"I'm going home to make stuff" I said to Kristine of A Verb For Keeping Warm as I departed from Glimakra Weaving Studio yesterday, clutching the yarn I had just bought from her. Kristine, Brooke and Maia of Tactile Fiber Arts were participating in the Open Studio weekend at Maj-Britt Morbrand's studio. I bought 3 skeins of BFL from Kristine; two skeins of "The Best Blue" and one of "Northerner". Glimakra Weaving Studio isn't all that large and was stuffed to gills with wonderful fiber-y stuff. I wanted to stay and take it all in, but I had to go home and start making stuff.

As soon I got home, I wound one skein of "The Best Blue" into a ball and started to knit Clara Parks' Maine Morning Mitts. These are going to be a Christmas gift. This first one was knit while watching A Midsummer Night's Dream and part of Chocolat. Since I'm not knitting much in the way of Christmas gifts, the second one will be done in no time.

While I was working on the mitt, I poached some pears. I got these from one of the attorneys I work with. They have a wonderful flavor on their own, but I like poached pears. These are dead simple to make and make your house smell wonderfully spicy. First, make a simple syrup of 2 parts water to 1 part sugar. Throw in some cinnamon sticks, whole allspice and fresh ginger. Add the peeled and halved pears and cook over medium low heat until tender. Cool.

I also started the second twisted rib sock. After knitting the Maine Morning Mitt on a US 7 going down to a US 1 felt a bit weird. I normally knit on small needles and was surprised that I couldn't get my coordination right. So, I didn't get as much done on the second sock as I'd thought I would. But that is okay because these are for me and I'm in no rush to finish them.

I set today aside for spinning. I started spinning this merino/tencel up at the last pot luck Sunday spinning day at Maia's. I finished spinning 2 oz. today and will start on the second 2 oz. later this week. This fiber was one of my solar dyeing experiments from this summer. I love that the colors are softer than they would have been had I steam set the dye. I also started spinning the Targhee I bought in September. It is turning out a lovely oatmeal color. I've spun up 1 oz. and have 5 oz. left. I'm thinking of making a 3-ply for a hat.

Speaking of 3-ply, I made my first successful 3-ply late last week. I ended up with approximately 1.9 oz. and 190 yards. I dyed three separate pieces of merino top in three strengths of Jacquard Black using a low-water immersion technique. I'm going to use this to make another Purl Bee Beret.

Pizza

Yum, sort of homemade pizza. This pizza came into being with a lot of help from Trader Joe's. I used their pizza crust--in this case, garlic and herbs--their pesto and fresh mozzarella. And surprisingly, it came out quite tasty. It also made up for not having a refrigerator for two days, which pretty much put things to a stop in the kitchen.

Over the Thanksgiving weekend, I started this twisted rib sock using some Koigu from my stash. I really like this yarn, especially the color. Yet, I couldn't bring myself to knit with it because I'd used some of it to knit my former boyfriend a pair of socks. He wore them a few times and then they were lost to the infinite laundry pile he kept. I knit that man several pair of socks, which he said he really wanted, and which he proceeded to lose. So this yarn has some bittersweet memories associated with it. I don't even remember why I bought four skeins of this colorway.

The ribbing is from the pattern dictionary in the Vogue Knitting book. I was at my parents' when I started it and asked my mum for a stitch dictionary. And was told she doesn't have one. Mum has been knitting for over 50 years. How could it be possible that she doesn't have a stitch dictionary? Two days after I asked about this, she unearthed Mary Thomas's stitch dictionary. She had completely forgotten she had a copy. I don't understand how you can keep track of every issue of Vogue Knitting (going back to the sixties) and IK in your collection and not know that you own a stitch dictionary!

Not felting

For the last month or so, I feel as if I've done nothing other than make felt scarves. Which is not exactly true.

I finished my Thelonious socks. I think I would have finished them faster if I hadn't screwed up my stitch count a few times--mostly from losing yarn overs and other equally mind distracting things.

I finished spinning these singles from a Lorna's Laces roving I bought a few months ago. I also finished plying them but have yet to take a picture.

And I started spinning this up.

Felting Sunday

I've had this need to finish something other than socks this week. So I decided a little felting was in order. I had to set up a felting area where a bit of water spilled on the floor wouldn't matter. I have the perfect space in my dining area. I covered the floor, which is wood laminate, with a plastic drop cloth. An inexpensive solution that can just be rolled and thrown away when I am finished. I set up my handy dandy multi-purpose folding table. Cut a length of ridged shelf covering a bit longer than the table. Heated a stock pot of water. Found the bucket of homemade soap gel I use for felting; donned my denim apron and set to work.

I started with this--about 4 oz. of roving. One hank was merino and the other was merino/tencel. The colorways were similar and had been stewing in my fiber stash for a long time. I know that both of these came from Deep Color and had been dyed by Jen.

I proceeded to lay out lengths of roving shingle style for the first layer. This took all of about 15 minutes. Each bit of fiber is about a staple length. Next I laid out a second layer of shingles running cross-wise to the first layer. For the third layer, I laid out fiber more or less going in the same direction of the first layer. More or less, meaning I was much more random in placing the fiber so that there would be some "movement" in the finished felt.

The first stage of felting looks like this. I wetted the fiber sandwich I just created, lay a net bag over it, drizzled a bit of soap gel over it, and patted it. I kept on patting until I couldn't see any air pockets. I moved my net bag over to the next section and patted. Once I was sure that the fiber was wet all the way through, I started moving my hand in a circular motion to start the agitation process. I kept the net bag over the felt while doing this. I turned the piece over after I was pretty sure it was holding together. If you look closely at the photo, you can see the ridge marks from the plastic I used underneath. I continued rubbing the felt, making sure to work the edges so that they weren't all feathery. I kept doing this until I thought it looked done and could stand up to a bit of rough treatment like being rolled up and rolled around with pressure. I did this until the felt was "hard" enough. I rinsed it out under running hot water until all of the soap was out. Then give it the cold water shock treatment. I wrung it out, twisting hard.

About an hour and a half later, I had this. I'll be able to wear it tomorrow if it is dry. I then cleared up my work table and started another scarf. The second scarf was made out of a merino/tencel roving hand painted by Jen at Deep Color--again, fiber from the stash. Pictures to come.

Since last week, I finished the Flame Wave Socks. These are for my daughter's friend Emily. I thought I wouldn't have enough yarn to finish the toes so I used a multi-colored I bought especially for these.

After seeing Kristine's Pomatomus socks, I dyed this Henry's Attic Kona superwash sock yarn with alkanet and madder. While waiting for this to dry, I started Cookie A's Thelonious socks using the Fleece Artist Basic Merino Sock I bought at Knitty City in New York.

Oh, oh I spun some the Lorna's Laces superwash roving in Red Rover. No wonder I feel I can't get anything finished. I don't have the attention span to focus on just one thing.