Planning your knitting

Do you usually plan much ahead with your knitting? I normally don't, as I know myself and know that it wouldn't really hold. But now that I've started to be active at Ravelry's sock knitting groups (yes, it's no longer just Sock Knitters Anonymous, there's also Solid Socks and Cookie Crumbs KAL), I find that I have planned my sock knitting as far as July. I want to participate in as many prize drawings as possible since the prizes are sock yarn and who wouldn't want some new sock yarn? That has led me to calculate my knitting: what should I knit that will fill the requirements of as many sock knitting groups as possible. All the groups have different challenges for each month (well, the Cookie club doesn't, but it has many challenges in a three-month period) so one has to think about many different things when selecting a pattern. But it's all good fun. For April I have already planned to knit three pairs of socks and four for May. When you keep in mind that I don't only knit socks, you'll see that I plan to keep busy!

Just yesterday I started a new vintage jumper, this one's from the early 50's and found in Rita Taylor and Madeline Weston's book called Knit Vintage. I almost bought it back in London in January but my stinginess wouldn't let me. How happy was I when I found that I could get it from the library here at home! Now I have it and I'm knitting Bette top with keyhole neckline, a beautiful pattern with lace and picot edgings. My project will be the first on Ravelry. I'm using some fingering weight red cotton to knit with. I must say I am not really a huge fan of the yarn or cotton in general: it feels nice and soft and I'm sure it will be great for summer but my is the yarn splitty! It is driving me a little crazy though I am getting better and better at knitting with it. I have already finished one sleeve, you can see the lace pattern below. The front and back will have two lace panels exactly like the one on the sleeve, and the rest will be knits and purls just like on the sleeve. I don't have a picture to show on how it will look when finished but you'll get some idea and hopefully I will have some more to show you soon. By the way, I'm almost done with my Birch Point Hoodie!

50's jumper sleeve

Guess it's time to start welcoming the new season!

I'm writing now to share some of my recent work, a pair of socks and some more dyed yarn. This time, for March sockdown challenge, I knit socks for my boyfriend. The pattern is Aramis by Caoua Coffee, and the yarn cheap but workable Hjertegarn Sock Wool. He chose the pattern and yarn himself, and the result is good-looking and comfy, too, I'm told.

I also continued my Kool-aid dyeing experiences, this time dyeing another fingering weight skein in reds. I used two sachets black cherry, one strawberry and one blastin' berry cherry. I really hoped and thought that the color differences would have been deeper but it is quite pretty as it is. I think I may have kept it in the dye for too long (I had all the yarn in one big kettle) so the different reds mixed too much. Anyway, I also still had quite a bit of excess dye, so I dyed another skein, sport weight and about 80g of it. I tried dyeing dry this time and it worked well. I don't usually like pink too much, but this is actually quite nice. I'm calling it Pink roses.

Pink roses

Red fruits

I started knitting a spring-y cardigan for myself, from last year's Interweave knits spring issue. It's called Birch Point Hoodie, by Amanda Scheuzger, and it's quite lovely. I think it's going to be great but all the stockinette stitch is really killing me. But it just makes the lacy parts stand out more, right? Here is a sneak peek, enjoy!

Kool-aid dyeing

I came across dyeing yarn with Kool-aid earlier this week and was intrigued beyond belief. Of course I had to get my hands on that stuff and do my own dyeing experiments. We don't get Kool-aid in regular stores here in Finland, but it is sold in online yarn stores, as well as this one shop I found that sells everything American, ranging from Kool-aid to old cars. From there I bought my Kool-aid, eight sachets at first, to dye two 100g hanks of sock yarn.

My first Kool-aids!

When my Kool-aid arrived in the mail yesterday, I did a little dance and started winding my ball of white sock yarn into a big, loose hank. I used Novita tico tico which is now discontinued. That's too bad because it was a nice thin sock yarn for great money value! After my hank was tied in various places I put it to soak in warm water for half an hour. Then I prepared my dyes. I wanted to make a self striping yarn with three colors so I used two sachets of tropical punch for a nice bright red, one sachet pina pineapple for yellow and one of ice blue raspberry lemonade for blue. I took out three bowls of the same height and added warm water. In addition I took 3dl of boiling water and added 10g of citric acid, pouring 1dl in each of the bowls. This wouldn't really have been necessary since Kool-aid already has some citric acid in it, but I had some lying around so I decided to go ahead. Then I put my yarn in the bowls, 1/4th in two separate ones and the rest in the middle one (see the picture below). After that I added the Kool-aid, each color in its own bowl. I poured it from the sachet onto the yarn. This resulted in an uneven coloring as the parts of yarn that were on top absorbed much more of the dye than the parts underneath. 

Dyeing my yarn!

The yellow and the blue were exhausted very quickly (surprisingly quickly!) the water turning milky and all the dye absorbed into the yarn. The red took a while longer and I moved the hank around to get some color on the parts that hadn't absorbed any dye in between the different colors. These parts turned pink as there was not enough dye left to make them red. After all the color was exhausted, I squeezed most of the water out and put the hank on a baking pan to put it in the oven for the dye to set. I baked my yarn in 200°C for 10 minutes.

Baking yarn - interesting

After the yarn had cooled (it steamed quite vigorously coming out the oven) I washed it in warm water so that any excess dye would come out but none did. I guess that's good... Anyway, then I tried to dry it up as much as I could, using a towel to help me and after that put it to dry in the bathroom. It was still dripping so that was probably good. 

Drying my yarn in the bathroom

This morning the yarn was fully dry and I had a beautiful, colorful hank of sock yarn ready to be knit. I named the colorway parrot, I think it's quite descriptive of the yarn.

My first Kool-aid dyeing experience: a success!

I have already found the perfect pattern to knit from my first self-dyed yarn. It had to be something perfect, naturally, as this became pretty special yarn for me. The segments of each color are quite short so the yarn would definitely not work with any given pattern. The one I chose is Margaritaville by Adrienne Fong. And as it happens she is the designer of the month next month in Sock Knitters Anonymous, which is just perfect! Only trouble is I have to wait for 24 more days to cast on... But luckily I have other projects to work on, not the least of which more Kool-aid dyeing!

About Yarn, Socks and the Spring that Didn't Come

I did an inventory today. I'm pretty sure you could call it that. I took all of my yarn that is stashed away in various places and put it on our bed. Suddenly there was no more bed! Wow, I really hadn't realized how much yarn I actually have... I also added it on Ravelry, on my stash page. I'm pretty happy having finally done that, now I have pictures of all my pretty yarn and I can easily look at it. At first I thought it was a silly action and that I could never have the patience to use so much time as to put it all in there. But today I did! It's maybe partly because I read about dyeing yarn with Kool aid yesterday and ordered some and since then have just been waiting for it  to arrive. But sadly, things ordered from the other side of the country usually do not come knocking as soon as you'd wish. Anyways, as soon as it does arrive I am going to have so much fun! (I think) Here is 16.1 kg worth of yarn:

Here it is: all of my stash

I also finally finished my second pair of February's SKA sockdown challenge. The pattern I used was another free pattern by Caoua Coffee, Compline. I really love her pattern, they are beautiful, well-written and free! Actually, as soon as I finished Compline, I started on another of her designs, Aramis. These I am knitting from dark red yarn for my boyfriend. Yes, they are for SKA March challenge.

The reason it took me so long to finish Compline was that I was knitting a mohair lace scarf for my boyfriend's sister's 30th birthday. The pattern was the lovelier than lovely Travelling Roses Scarf by Leanne (To Knit is Divine). It's a good thing her favorite color is pink which I do not really like, because otherwise the temptation to keep the scarf for myself might just have been too much! Here is me modelling it anyways. We hadn't seen sun in a while so my eyes are not accustomed to it shining... And there was a snowstorm later that day. Bye bye spring, thanks for stopping by!

Book review: My Grandmother's Knitting

I came across Larissa Brown's My Grandmother's Knitting - Family Stories and Inspired Knits from Top Designers on Ravelry. I think it was Teva Durham's slouchy Minerva hat that mostly caught my eye and I decided to get the book from the library. And am I glad I did! The book is twofold: first there are the family stories, some by the designers featured in the book, some from other designers, and the founder of Ravelry is included, too! I loved reading the stories, they were so touching and made me think about my family's story and how knitting and other handicrafts relates to it. Reading the stories made me feel like part of a worldwide community that transcends time itself. It made me feel like I am connected to all the knitters that ever were and are. So a powerful book indeed. And there were so many great sentiments in the book, such that every knitter should hear sometimes to reassure as how great it is that we are able to knit, to create. It is a real gift to be able to knit, and there is nothing wrong with making time for it. It is pretty much the only aspect of life we are totally in control of, and it is important to do things in life you really love.

The second part of the book holds the designs from the top designers, some I had heard of, others not, but I truly loved seeing each of the patterns photographed beautifully. Included are for example Ysolda Teague, Chrissy Gardiner, Pam Allen, Wendy Bernard and Cookie A. My favorite design is the Minerva hat which is a kind of a milk maiden's bonnet. It is so cute and fun. I also love the vintage gloves by Robin Melanson.

In my family handicrafts have been very important. My mother's parents were both very able, my grandmother knit, sew, crocheted and wove with a handloom. My grandfather was good with wood and metal, he made a rocking chair and forged iron chains as a part of our regional dresses. I remember when I my grandmother taught me to single crochet and I would simply do that so that finally I had a single crochet chain going on for several meters! My mother is very good with the sewing machine, much better than me, and she also knits. She knit more when I was small, but she has started doing it more recently as well. When I was around seven-eight years old, she knit me a blue and grey sweater which I loved so much that I rarely took it off and wore it until it was full of holes. I really loved that sweater!

We also used to sew clothes for my barbies together when I was small. Well, she did most of the sewing whenever the result was acceptable but I was always so inspired by her work that I tried my hands with the sewing machine, too, sometimes with monstrous consequences and never really succeeding in making anything... When I had a dance in high school which is similar to prom but much more formal, we sew the dress together from dark red silk we had bought while living in China. I really learned a lot about sewing when doing that and have sewn a few dresses by myself since then. But knitting is still my main craft. I am not sure exactly why that is, I just started knitting before high school and even more during it and haven't stopped since then. I had knit before, as well, but nothing big, just mittens and tried my hands at socks but didn't really get into that. I had a subscription to a handicrafts magazine even when we were in China. I guess there was such a great pattern there that I just needed it. I was thirteen or fourteen, and bought yarn for it and started knitting it there in China, where you rarely needed a sweater, much less a thick one like the one I was knitting. I still have it, it's red, big, stockinette stitch sweater with a huge folding neckline. I haven't worn it in ages, it's really not something I would wear now, but it's where my knitting really started. After finishing that I continued knitting and haven't stopped. I think knitting is at least real close to the best thing in the world.

Sockdown February

Hi there!

Like I wrote before, I took part in Ravelry group Sock Knitter's Anonymous (SKA) monthly challenge, the sockdown, this February. It was good fun, the group is great and really unites sock knitters from around the world. I already finished my socks, well in advance, but there is just one problem: looking at all the great socks people have knit, I really want to cast on another pair! I already have one in mind, and I have yarn for it, too, so I just might have to give in to the urge... However, I am finishing something else now, so it will have to wait a few days. In the meantime, you can marvel at the finished pair: the pattern is Wandering Rose by Rhonda Johnson.

New Year's Resolutions

Here is my first finished object of 2013, a pair of socks for my mother. I'll give them to her on Saturday when I see her, so I don't yet know whether she likes them or not! I however are really pleased with them, and they were lots of fun to knit, too. All the cables were done without a cable needle which was a new experience for me, and worked out surprisingly well. The pattern is a free pattern, found in Ravelry, called Bly by Caoua Coffee. They have some other fantastic patterns as well and I'm sure to try some of them later!

Bly cably socks for my mum

Now for my resolutions. I have a few knitting-related goals some especially for this year, others in a more general way that apply pretty much whenever. I decided to write down here to ensure a better follow-through or something...

1. To not buy any more yarn before I have finished even some of my ever-growing stash. (I think this is a goal many knitters share and find ever so hard to achieve)

2. Finish at least some of my nine projects marked as "in progress" on Ravelry

3. Decide what to do (finish, frog...) with some of the six projects marked as "hibernating" on Ravelry.

4. Knit this beautiful long cardigan with bunnies in the colours shown, I have them already in my stash

This pile of yarn will be a cardigan

5. Knit Magic Mirror mittens by Kristel Nyberg. For these I also have yarn (below) and am dying to get started! When I saw that beautiful light green I just could not resist!

Spring must be coming!

6. Knit more socks. Not because I particularly need them but because I have bought so much sock yarn. I have yarn for at least five pairs so those really need to be knit up. Luckily I am not short of sock patterns either, I have browsed through Ravelry in search of free sock patterns and found so many I love. (And let's not forget that I own Cookie A.'s Knit.Sock.Love which still has so many patterns I have not yet knit.

7. Knit three berets I already have yarn for: Selbu Modern by Kate Gagnon Osborn in white and the awesome multicolour yarn below. The colourway is called ´bluebell´.

Bluebells :)

The second beret is from A Stitch in Time vol. 2, it's the Sunday Pictorial Beret by Susan Crawford. I'll knit in stripy, like some people have done, in red and white. I think the candy cane -look suits a beret beautifully. The last beret is River Tam (by Jessamyn Leib) that I am going to knit in deep green. The name of the beret is a reference to a character in the awesome TV-show, Firefly, in case you were wondering.

8. Knit the Echo Flower Shawl by Jenny Johnson Johnen. For this project I also already have yarn, that is Malabrigo Yarn Lace in colour ´sealing wax´. The yarn is so awesome and the pattern so beautiful I cannot believe I haven't knit this yet.

Malabrigo yarn lace in sealing wax

Well, I think that is quite enough goals for one year, don't you? If I can keep my promise on number one, the rest will probably happen pretty much by themselves. I love yarn, I am always tempted by new colours and brands but there is only so much room in a 39 square metre flat!

Me and my boyfriend were in London for five nights last week so I though it would be good to finish this mammoth post with a good old-fashioned London tourist shot. Enjoy!