Last Socks of the Season

While I was working on these during a record-cold Toronto February, I was joking that I just might get them done in time to wear them before it was too hot. Well, I finished them during a faculty meeting at the college; then the weather warmed  up, and it was just cool enough to wear them yesterday.

They're Thermal Textured Socks by Kelly Patla, available on Ravelry. I enjoyed them; they were my first time  trying a flap heel instead of a short-row one, and the pattern was tricky but not maddening. It's basically plain at the back, with a column of seed stitch on each side and broken ribbing across the front. Patla explains in detail how to do all these things; she gives a chart for the pattern, but I re-wrote it for myself as (K1 P1) x 4, K 16, (P1 K1) x 4 and so on.

I think they're made up in Spud & Chloë Stripey Fine, maybe in the Mint Chip (#7861) colour? I regret that I may only get to wear them a couple of times before summer kicks in. But they'll be something to look forward to in the fall.

Free Faux Argyle Toque Knitting Pattern

This is the one piece of knitting I did for Christmas this year, and I simply made up the pattern as I went along. After knitting, I felted it for extra warmth.

Difficulty level:

• Beginner to intermediate

You will need:

• 1 skein Noro Kureyon (I think this is colour #40) or equivalent yarn
• 1 set 16" cicular needles (4 mm or correct size to obtain gauge)
• 4 double-pointed needles (4 mm or correct size to obtain gauge)
• Row marker (can be a loop of contrasting yarn placed on needles.)
• Tapestry needle with large eye

Gauge:

• 17 stitches x 21 rows = 4" square

Abbreviations:

• K = Knit
• P = Purl
• K2Tog = Knit two stitches together

Directions:

• Cast 80 stitches onto circular needles. Insert row marker.
• Rows 1-12: Knit in the round
• Row 13: (P1 K9) Repeat to end of row.
• Row 14: (K1 P1 K7 P1) Repeat to end of row.
• Row 15: (K2 P1 K5 P1 K1) Repeat to end of row.
• Row 16: (K3 P1 K3 P1 K2) Repeat to end of row.
• Row 17: (K4 P1 K1 P1 K3) Repeat to end of row.
• Row 18: (K5 P1 K4) Repeat to end of row.
• Row 19: (K4 P3 K3) Repeat to end of row.
• Row 20: (K3 P5 K2) Repeat to end of row.
• Row 21: (K2 P7 K1) Repeat to end of row.
• Row 22: (K1 P9) Repeat to end of row.
• Row 23: Purl entire row.
• Row 24: (K1 P9) Repeat to end of row.
• Row 25: (K2 P7 K1) Repeat to end of row.
• Row 26: (K3 P5 K2) Repeat to end of row.
• Row 27: (K4 P3 K3) Repeat to end of row.
• Row 28: (K5 P1 K4) Repeat to end of row.
• Row 29: (K4 P1 K1 P1 K3) Repeat to end of row.
• Row 30: (K3 P1 K3 P1 K2) Repeat to end of row.
• Row 31: (K2 P1 K5 P1 K1) Repeat to end of row.
• Row 32: (K1 P1 K7 P1) Repeat to end of row.
• Row 33: (P1 K9) Repeat to end of row.
• Rows 34-45: Knit in the round
• Now, begin to decrease; switch to double-pointed needles when hat becomes too narrow to knit easily on circular needles.
• Row 46: (K2Tog K8) Repeat to end of row. (=72 stitches)
• Row 47: (K2Tog K7) Repeat to end of row. (=64 stitches)
• Row 48: (K2Tog K6) Repeat to end of row. (=56 stitches)
• Row 49: (K2Tog K5) Repeat to end of row. (=48 stitches)
• Row 50: (K2Tog K4) Repeat to end of row. (=40 stitches)
• Row 51: (K2Tog K3) Repeat to end of row. (=32 stitches)
• Row 52: (K2Tog K2) Repeat to end of row. (=24 stitches)
• Row 53: (K2Tog K1) Repeat to end of row. (=16 stitches)
• Row 54: (K2Tog) Repeat to end of row. (=8 stitches)

Break yarn, leaving at least a 15" tail. Slip remaining 8 stitches onto the tapestry needle and bind off the closing snugly, weaving the end of the thread in and out around the top two rows of knitting until it feels completely secure. Weave in any loose tails of thread.

This is what it looked like when I finished knitting it. I then washed it with a load of other laundry in cold water and dried it on low heat, also with a load of laundry, in order to felt it, stopping the cycle occasionally to make sure it didn't shrink too much. This step is optional, but Noro Kureyon felts nicely, and the hat will be warmer if it's felted.

Tardis Socks for a Whovian

These Tardis socks are slightly modified from a pattern by Gina Waters on Ravelry. I don't much enjoy colour work, but in this case I think it's worth it. And of course, they are bigger on the inside.

Spring Hat for Autumn

A neighbour of mine is moving away to Denmark, and she gave me some of her wool stash last week to lighten the moving load. A few days later, I found out that another neighbour's baby has been born. Actually, Autumn was born six months ago, but this has been such a difficult winter that we haven't seen most of our neighbours for months

In any case, knitting was clearly called for. This is the One for Two hat by Elena Troshina, posted free on Ravelry. It's so named because the design includes sizing for an adult as well as a baby. The yarn came without a label; all I know is it's synthetic, and may well have come from some Scandinavian source.

Suffice it to say that I found it way more challenging than I expected. I had to count just about every single stitch, and it's full of mistakes. I like to think the lace pattern is so complicated that no one will really notice. And anyway, the colours are very pretty, as just about everybody said who spotted me working on it.

Not Quite What I Expected... The Howl Cowl?

Okay, so a few weeks ago I posted a pattern for a cowl. It was supposed to be a Christmas present for my sister. Since I had a bit of wool left and nothing to do with it, after I posted the pattern, I went back to the original cowl and knitted a bit more, so it was several inches wider than before.

Did my sister like it? Well... she did find a use for it. Meet Paco, the cowl-wearin' boxer.

Christmas Knitting 2013

The Christmas knitting project continues. The tally so far: four hats, two cowls, a pair of wrist warmers and a pair of socks, plus a pair of convertible mitts that's not yet finished. The clock ticks...

It's at times like this that I always think of the story of the princess whose brother were turned into swans. She had to make a shirt for each one in order to turn them back into humans, but when the time came, she was a sleeve short, so her youngest brother retained a swan wing for the rest of his life.

I am nonetheless hopeful of getting the last part of the mittens done. I'm lining the mitt section of these with an extra fleece inner layer, which will I hope make them very toasty and cosy for my winter bike-riding sweetie. At least I know he'll appreciate it, although he may not fully understand the extent of my knitting devotion. I actually lost one of the socks I had already finished (during a fire alarm at the college... long story), and I figured there was nothing else to do but reknit it.

I may post some info about a few of these hats, as I used some excellent patterns from Ravelery... but for  now, I'm off to complete a host of other tasks.

Winter is Coming Cowl

This one's destined to be another Christmas present, but for the moment my mom is modelling it. Chain mail's chilly north of the Wall, but this stylish, soft wool cowl has a gentle feel on chapped cheeks. It's done in a seed stitch, and wraps twice around the neck; you can bring it up over your ears if you like.

I used one-and-a-quarter 100-gram skeins of Mirasol Ushya in Platinum Grey (colour #1701), which is 98% Merino and 2% Polyamide, and also helps support schools in Peru. (I think I have enough left over to make a hat to go with it.) The pattern, which I made up, is very easy; feel free to cast on more stitches, as long as the total is an uneven number, or to make it wider.

Winter Is Coming Cowl (free pattern)

• Using 6mm, 40-inch corded needles, loosely cast on 207 stitches.
• Join up, being careful not to twist the row.
• 1st round: K1, P1
• 2nd and following rounds: K every P stitch and vice versa.
• Round 32: Bind off loosely.

Girl's Cabled Tam with a Pom-Pom

As the yarn store clerk said to me earlier this week, the Christmas-present knitting season has begun. Since my family members don't read all my blog posts, I'm not too worried about posting a few things that will probably end up under the tree (if I don't break down and hand them out sooner).

I haven't done a lot of cabling, and I'm always surprised how much bang you get for relatively little fuss. This pattern comes from the Fall 2013 issue of KnitSimple magazine (page 30). The designer is Nitza Coto. In the magazine, it's shown in coral pink, and the suggested yarn is CHARLY by Filatura di Crosa, but I used Cascade's 100% Peruvian Highland Wool.

I added the pom-pom because it's for my 12-year-old niece and I seem to be operating under the delusion that she'll be attending a lot of skating parties with cocoa and Nutcracker premieres this winter. This was a very satisfying project that took me about four Downton Abbey episodes to knit, counting the fact that I misread the pattern and had to rip out about 15 rows of the cabling and redo it.

Technical point: in this pattern, M1 or "make one" means to wrap the yarn around the needle without knitting it. I normally would expect the abbreviation YO ("yarn over") for this move. Normally, I expect M1 to mean knitting into the front and back of a stitch, thereby increasing the count by one. In this pattern, they use KFB ("knit front & back") when they want you to do this. That's why I had to redo so many rows.

Streetknit Collects Knitting for Homeless Folks

It's quick, easy and inexpensive to knit a hat – or three – and there are people who need warm clothing on our cold winter nights. The Streetknit Project in Toronto connects the two sides of this potentially happy equation.

I was handed a skein of blue yarn at the Leslieville Farmers' Market earlier this year by a Streetknit volunteer. My task? Simply to knit something warm and drop it off at one of many participating yarn stores, like my local, the Purple Purl (1162 Queen East), the Knit Cafe (1050 Queen West), Lettuce Knit (86 Nassau) or Sew Be It Studio (2156 Yonge).

You may ask "why bother knitting when dollar stores are overflowing with cheap, warm hats and mitts?" Call me crazy, but I believe that the intention to help someone else makes its way into the garment. I even think that the act of knitting for someone else can be like a meditation or a prayer; I think it sends good vibes out into the universe. In any case, it can't hurt.

The Streetknit site has links to lots of easy free patterns for hats, scarves, mittens and (for the more ambitious) sweaters, as well as to similar organizations in other cities. (Knitting groups like this exist in many other  places beyond the links on the site, some of which have a different focus, like hats for premature babies or layettes for pregnant teens.)

I warn you, this can get addictive; I know of one Toronto woman who knits a hat every day for charity. I think I'll stop at two this year... but you never know; I have lots of yarn in my stash that's itching to be used.

Unbirthday Socks

I made these for a friend and mailed them as a surprise birthday-and-a-half present, six months after her real birthday. They're Spud and Chloe "Fine", 80% wool and 20% silk, and I used about a skein and a quarter, as she has rather long feet. Apparently she likes them.

Yellow Cotton Baby Sweater

This is a gift for Quinn, the new baby girl next door but one. As I believe I've mentioned before, I like to make baby clothes in other colours than pink or blue. I also tend to give slightly larger-than-needed sizes, knowing they'll be grown into. It's a terrible thing to spend the time and effort to knit something that never gets worn because it's outgrown before it's finished!

The pattern is "Homecoming Layette #615" by Dana Gibbons, published under the label; "Friends of Cabin Fever", which I bought as a paper copy at Purple Purl in Toronto. I really like the (Canadian) Cabin Fever patterns, because they tend to focus on producing a useful garment with the least fuss. The pattern (which is published on Ravelry and Patternfish) also includes a hat and blanket, but face it, I'm lazy (and I also ran out of yarn!)

I find it interesting to compare my version to the others posted on Ravelry; my very loose stitches give the lace section a very different look from other people's. I think I may like theirs better, but – ah well...

Nicey from Mochimochiland

This is Nicey. Note the halo and wings. Nicey has an evil twin called Naughty, who's red with black bits. Instead of a halo, Naughty has a pointy tail, and the "wings" perch on top of his or her head to become horns. I  intend to make the pair for my ten-year-old niece.

The most hilarious thing about Naughty and Nicey is that they're both attached to little knitted bands that slide up your arm, so you can walk around with one perched on each shoulder, presumably whispering merciful or malevolent advice.

If you have ever visited Mochomochiland, you may already have guessed that Naughty and Nicey come from the wonderful book Knitting Mochimochi by the very inventive Anna Hrachovec. It's the first of her publications, and – apart from the fact that I really like her playful aesthetic, I find it very inspiring. Once you've worked through a few of her patterns, it's not hard to see how one could use the same techniques to make up one's own designs. (I have some ideas involving fruit and vegetables...)

Other nice points: these are very quick to do, if a little fiddly, and don't take much yarn. Also, there's no need to use anything fancy; these are perfect for use with the cheapest of dollar-store or thrift-shop acrylic yarms. Even if the texture's squeaky and rough, the bouncy puffiness of stuffed, knitted spheres is deeply pleasurable.

Needlework Notes from Mackenzie House

Don't you long to have one of these to hold your knitting yarn? Last weekend my friend Mark and I visited Mackenzie House, a former home of the publisher and 1837 Rebellion leader William Lyon Mackenzie. Because of his newspaper publishing history, there's an antique printing shop in a rear addition to the home. This is used there (as you see) to hold a ball of twine, but apparently every knitter who goes through expresses a fervent wish to have one just like it. (In my case, it would go a long way towards solving the problem of cat attacks.

This "slipper chair"(a term for a low, armless upholstered chair) is one of the few original pieces of furniture in the house. It was needlepointed by Janet "Jennie" Mackenzie (1829-1906) sometime in the mid-19th century (the house has been restored to an 1860s appearance). She was a daughter of William Lyon Mackenzie who married Charles Lindsey, a newspaperman and biographer of Mackenzie.

I'm not crazy about the design myself, but I'm wondereing whether the colours might have been different when it was made 150 years ago. I'd like it better if the greens were less brown and drab... which perhaps they were. It shows a date palm and other tropical foliage; apparently Egypt was in vogue at the time. The pale blue background is worked with beads, which must have taken ages to do!

I do think the pleated green velvet edging is a clever workaround for getting the needlepoint to fit nicely over the curved edges of the seat. I'm pretty sure it would have been brighter back in the day. I wonder whether "Jennie" did the upholstery herself. It's held up very well!

Photo credit: Mark D'Aguilar

More Toe-up Socks

Here are a couple more examples of the same toe-up sock pattern that I wrote about a week or so ago. They were both presents for my mom.

The red socks, which are really warm, are made out of about a skein and a half of Brown Sheep Company's marvelous Lamb's Pride yarn, which is 85% wool and 15% mohair. I love it for its ability to felt. I'm not certain whether I used their Blue Blood Red or their Red Hot Passion.

I think the stripey pair mighty be Malabrigo sock yarn, but I can't recall. I used just one skein. Luckily, my mom's the kind of person who likes wearing multicoloured Dr. Seuss socks that don't match.

Mom and Daughter Socks

I made these for Christmas. The blue-grey pair were a present for my mom and the purplish pair were a treat for me. They're made out of a Canadian yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts Blue Label Fingering Weight, which is 80% superwash merino and 20% nylon, so they'll keep their shape.

I have a very loose tension (go figure), so I think I used 2 mm needles. The pattern is a basic toe-up sock with a short-row heel and toe that I've evolved over time, and a little bit of ribbing at the top. One 115 gram/4 ounce skein was enough for a pair, with a bit left over for darning or doll clothes or whatever. The pattern is posted on Ravelry; in this case, I cast on 32 stitches to start, so the socks are 64 stitches around. Mine use a knit 3, purl 1 rib, while my mom's are knit 2, purl 2.

They're very warm. My mom has already washed hers by hand in lukewarm water and reports they performed very well.

Beehive Baby Fashions Book No. 133

My friend Jeanne (@jaduperreault) was interested in knowing what pattern I used to make the tomato red knitted baby sweater I posted on January 15. It's from this little booklet I picked up somewhere or other, Patons Baby Fashions by Beehive Book No. 133. It contains knit or crochet patterns for about ten tops of various types, three bonnets, mitts, a poncho and two or three variations on booties. I see it's still available for a few dollars via various online sellers.

As I examine it, I see that it's a little bit more recent than I thought. It's undated, but one online seller gives the date as 1970, which seems right to me because of the comment "Even the baby must be up to date with a fringed poncho", a real giveaway for the early '70s.

I'm not crazy about most of the garments, apart from the rather sweet booties and hats, but I really like the pattern I used, which was the coat from the "Coat and Legging Set", pictured here (I simply couldn't see myself doing the leggings!)

I found it enjoyable, since it's not terrible challenging but has enough variety that it never got dull. An interesting little detail is that while you're knitting in the main colour across the bottom of the coat and the collar, you purl every fourth stitch; later you go back and work a cross-stitch in a contrasting wool over the purled stitches, which makes it hard to mess up the placement of the embellishments.

I see that I've made a little notation on the section that deals with neck shaping; probably not an error in the pattern, but more likely either because I didn't quite get what I was supposed to do, or because I was fudging something to allow me to graft two parts together on the needles rather than sewing them later, a trick I invariably employ if I can.

Tomato Red Knitted Baby Sweater

I don't need another blog, but I keep wishing I had a place to keep track of home and crafty thoughts. So there we go.

This is a baby sweater that I knitted in an Italian wool from a 1970s-vintage  pattern for the son of a cousin of mine. The contrasting yarn embellishments on the right side were not of course finished when I took this picture. I like making baby clothes that are neither pink nor blue, and I often go for cheesy but washable acrylic. In this case, however, I went for the good stuff.