Monday, December 22, 2008

Family Matters

The Fam just got bigger by a count of 1 tiny wee girl named Juliet Claire

My niece Lindsay delivered her this morning - all 7 lbs 7 ozs of cuteness

My scratchy throat prevented me from visiting but I hope to see her soon. In the meantime I can only imagine those tiny fingers and toes. They tell me she looks like her sister Ainslie

Just in time for Christmas

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Clogs and socks and my short attention span

Andante is my sock of the month for December and is a bit of a departure from the usual complicated thirteen things at once designs I tend towards:


I guess with the busy-ness of the season and all, I wanted something that was a little easier to work on - not having to follow a chart seemed like a good route to go but I do get bored easily so this is 1 step up from a plain stocking stitch sock and boasts only 2 pattern rounds.

I have knitted a couple of socks in this now - not bloggable yet but I tried it out on a variegated yarn and a self striping one as well and am quite happy with how they both turned out.

There are many zig zag socks out there - I even have 2 myself (one is a lace version and one a modular stripes knitted one at at time) and this is my version. Easy. Peasy.

I am working on a few pairs of knitted clogs (Fiber Trends brilliant pattern) and am experiencing a few challenges - not with the pattern which is perfectly written - but rather with the operator .

The 1st try was in Noro Kureyon - colour 149 which is beiges - and knitted 1 to make sure it turned out well. I used the largest mens's size and it is LARGE - HUGE in fact. Felting has been a little les than successful - it felts but I can still see the stitch definition too well for my liking and it is still quite large. None of the men in my family have particularly large feet so I might have to donate these.

The other problem with the Kureyon ones is that so far I have used 3 balls - and even at my cost these are going to be one expensivo pair of slippers.

Pair 2 is Cascade 220 and my operator error has meant that one of them leans off to the side a bit. They felted beautifully and are perfect in every respect except for the rather acute angle of the cuff on one of them. They will be mine and are my "test" pair and that is my story to which I am sticking!

Pair 3 is also Cascade 220 and I just need to knit the 2nd sole on the 2nd one and felt them.

My short attention span comes into play here as I am not sure I can bear to make another pair. So maybe only 1 of my nieces gets slippers. I have other things on hand so will give them instead.

Happy Holidays to everyone in case I don't blog again before Christmakuh.

Friday, December 12, 2008

Patternfish landmark

Patternfish is almost at the 2,000 patterns mark

And Julia has written the descriptions and uploaded every single one of them

Applause applause applause

Congratulations Julia

Send her a bottle of champagne (and go buy some patterns!)