FO: Sign of Four Socks

Posted on April 24, 2014 by Rayna

So, a while back I mentioned that I have this weird habit of getting super obsessed with a pattern and needing to knit it right. now. Anne Hanson’s Sign of Four was another one of those patterns.

Someone posted a finished object shot of a pair of these on a forum I am part of on Ravelry and it was love at first sight. I had planned a pair of Anne’s Long John Socks for my dad, on her recommendation, but as soon as I saw these I was sunk. I had given Dad a pair of Anne’s Waffle Creams in blue for Christmas and he loved them so much, Mom told me each time they got out of the laundry, he had them on again the minute he could get his hands on them. Since he had requested brown socks (OMG, more brown socks!) I cast on. After all…there is really no better compliment, is there?

As I was knitting I was struck by the fact that the texture was definitely more puffy and “popcorn-ish” than the photos, an effect I was less than pleased with, but I soldiered on, figuring that once they were on his feet, it would not matter. It was an easily memorize-able pattern so it made for great travel knitting.

The first sock went off perfectly, so on the needles went the second, and everything went swimmingly…until I picked up my gusset stitches and went to knit the first stitch of the instep. And it was not the right stitch. The entire pattern had somehow gone one stitch off. One of the stitches has to move at the end of the leg, before the heel flap, and I am guessing in retrospect that I somehow managed to move the wrong one. I decided that, since I was on a bit of a deadline because they were coming to visit…I’d keep going. After all, it’s just texture! Plus, I knew I was the only person in the world who would ever notice (ok, maybe Anne herself might see the mistake!). Far as I can tell, no one else noticed.

Pre-blocked socks

Once they were done, I soaked them and rolled them in a towel to squeeze the water out, before laying them out to dry. As I placed them on the windowsill, I noticed something wonderful…the puffier texture I hadn’t loved was gone and the pattern I had loved in the FO shots had emerged. I could not have been more thrilled!

Socks in the park in Lindsay! (Thanks to Shireen for the photo!)

Dad loves these, too…and I will be knitting them again soon. He’ll still get his Long John Socks…those are next!

Pattern: Sign of Four (A Sock For Sherlock) by Anne Hanson

Yarn: SweetGeorgia Tough Love Sock in Espresso

Who Was It Made For? Dad

Were There Changes Made To The Pattern? Only in the sense that I made a slew of mistakes that luckily no one will notice.

Did I Learn Anything New? Yes…that I should check the pattern of the stitches on reserve for the instep before I start knitting the heel flap to make sure the configuration of the remaining stitches is correct.

Anything Else? Not that I recall.

Would I Make Another?: I already have it queued, for me this time, with a second skein of Tough Love Sock in a gorgeous blue green colourway called Deep Cove.

FO: Winter Birch

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Rayna

Occasionally, I will be surfing Ravelry or Twitter and I will come across a photo of a new (or not-so-new) pattern and the strangest thing happens. I become utterly and completely obsessed with the item in question and I have to knit it right. this. second.

So starts the story of how I ended up knitting a Winter Birch in a weekend.

Someone on my Twitter feed posted that they were having a KAL of the scarf and while I didn’t have the yarn required to participate, I did have a stunning silver-grey skein of Illimani Silky Baby Llama that I had picked up on a recent trip to a yarn shop in Kitchener. It was the right weight and the right size skein, and I was completely in love with the pattern so I cast on on a Friday evening.

It was ridiculously simple to memorize; I think I had it totally committed to memory by the end of the first repeat.

~Photo by Shireen Nadir

I found the repeats to be like potato chips…”just one more”. Within a couple of days, voila! A gorgeous and soft creation, just the right length for tucking into the front of a coat.

It was already pretty enough, but then my friend Shireen came over, armed with her camera, and took some lovely pics for me. Someday I am going to finish my Craftsy “Shoot It!” class, I swear!

~Photo by Shireen Nadir

I am extremely happy with how it turned out, and considering how quickly I was able to churn it out, the pattern is definitely going to stay at the top of my list for gifting possibilities.

Pattern: Winter Birch by Debbie Stone

Yarn: Illimani Silky Baby Llama in the ever-so-descriptive colourway “1804”

Who Was It Made For? Me? Not entirely sure if it will get gifted elsewhere.

Were There Changes Made To The Pattern? Only in the sense that I knit and knit until I was out of yarn and thus ended up with extra repeats.

Did I Learn Anything New? No

Anything Else? Not that I recall.

Would I Make Another?: I already have it queued for a skein of Handmaiden Great Big Sea.

FO: Reunion Cowl

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Rayna

Sometimes, a gal just needs mindless knitting. There are knit nights, lunch hours with a friend, airports and parent visits. These things all require knitting where I am not trying to remember where the cable crosses are, or how many knit stitches between the YOs and k2togs.

Enter, the Reunion Cowl. Utterly brainless knitting that can be done just about anywhere. And when it’s done with indigodragonfly MCN Lace (now known as MerGoat Lace), it’s pure pleasure to knit.

This is my second of these; the first was knit in a OOAK blue-green colourway in late 2012. But I was always wishing for a red one and Kim and Ron created this lovely colouway a few years back that just cried out to be my newest cowl.

MCN/MerGoat Lace in “Only The Exact Word Word I Used Was ‘Don’t'”

It took a while to knit up, mostly because it was my carry around knitting so I wasn’t entirely devoted to it. I love the way it turned out. Long enough to double up for extra warmth and wonderfully soft and squishy.

I made a couple of alterations, including knitting the first set of garter rounds as flat rows and doubling up the number of eyelet rows to add both visual and knitting interest.

I am sure this won’t be my last one of these. They are a nice change from plain-ish socks when I am looking for easy knitting.

Pattern: Reunion Cowl by Natalie Selles

Yarn: indigodragonfly MCN/MerGoat Lace in “Only The Exact Word Word I Used Was ‘Don’t'”

Who Was It Made For? Me

Were There Changes Made To The Pattern? Added extra eyelet rows to alleviate boredom, and knit the first garter section and seamed it to help avoid twisting my cast on and to avoid purling. I have an unnatural aversion to purling, especially when the rounds are some 300+ stitches long.

Did I Learn Anything New? No

Anything Else? Not that I recall.

Would I Make Another?: Likely!