Usually I don’t name my socks. But this is the exception. Sergei Rachmaninoff was a composer of classical music. And the one that wrote the piece I spent some time knitting to indoors on a fine saturday afternoon, KIP’ing away. It’s not a great story, but I liked the name (russian and french names always make tongue tie itself into a know when I try to say them, it’s fun )

The special thing about them is that they are, in fact, my first pair of completly vegan socks! made in panda cotton. A yarn so lovely that I’m considering buying enough for 5 more pairs of socks…

For the rest of the details, check them out at ravelry.

As a ps. I’m not knitting as much as I used to these days, I don’t know why, I just dont. So these socks have been with me for a long time, and I’m still not finished with them.

Tags: kip, knitting in public, ravelry, socks, toe-up sock, vegan, yarn

I’ve been a slack knitter this holiday, partly because I decided to not do any christmas knitting this year. I love not having to knit anything, the only problem is that as a result I almost didn’t.

Except: A sweater, in the pattern Ester. Unfortunately I’m not really finished with it yet, it needs a few more inches around. And I forgot to take a picture of it in the hour of daylight we had today… oops.

During my reading for my second exam a couple of weeks ago I cast on some socks (the new knitty had just come out) and I needed some knitting breaks from the world. They are beautiful, but I don’t knit on them constantly, they are a bit too involved for that. It’s the Azure pattern. At first I tried to make them in some Opal Bamboo. a variegated green colour, but seeing as this is textured pattern made up out of increases and decreases (but not lace, genius!) it ate it up too such an extent that I frogged it and restarted in a single colored yarn.

The sock yarn I chose is Fabel, by Garnstudio. It’s a pretty good yarn, wool/nylon blend, much the same as Regia or Opal, but a little bit fatter and a lot cheaper here in Norway, as it’s not import.

The other thing I’m making is Quant. From the newest knitty as well. My first attempt at enterlac, a technique I haven’t really had the need to try. At first glance the pattern didn’t seem to appealing to me, but a knitting a friend made three(?) for christmas gifts, and said the pattern was pretty cool. So I gave it a try.

So far, so good. I had to go down one needle size to get gauge. Not that I really swatched, I just made the beginning and frogged back when it turned out an inche too big, without doing the I-cord again.
I’m a bit disappointed with the yarn though, Noro Kureyon has been raved about so much that I thought it would be… better? None has mentioned as I have seen that it’s not uniform, in the spinning department, it’s almost thick/thin, but not quite. More like the yarn I’m producing as a pretty novice spinner, than what I expected out of Noro.

PS. The fact that I pulled all this yarn out of my stash kinda worries me. 2007 apparently was the year of stashbuilding for me

Tags: christmas, norway, opal, socks, toe-up sock, yarn

As I talked about a couple of days ago I’m knitting Fetchings on the train, they have replaced the socks I’m usually making, I still feel a bit socked-out after this summer.

A few notes on the pair I’m making.

• 3.5mm needles,
• Bamboo by Idéna.
• I’m twisting the cables in the same direction on both, since I’m lazy like that.
• On the finished one I messed up the distance between two cable rows, oops.
• Lengthened the part after the tumb to 8 rows instead of 4 before cable twist
• The yarn is splitty, and has a gazillion plies.

I love them, even though they’re not going to be the warmest fetchings ever (in that respect, bamboo is a bad choice).

Tags: cables, knit, knitting in public, yarn

I recently bought this yarn, and I’m now trying to make some fetchings out of it.

I know it’s not the warmest yarn (bamboo) but I wanted to make something small at first just to test run it… So far, after casting on and just having made a couple of rounds, it feels like velvet. I love it!

One of the reasons I started it was a realization I had, that I hadn’t knit in public (KIP) in weeks! It’s amazing how much more complete I feel with a small project in my bag…

Tags: knit, knitting in public, yarn

All I’m knitting is socks.
But seriously….

Finished Bellatrix socks

pattern: Bellatrix from socktopia
Yarn: Superwash me-Sock by J.knits yarn
Needles: 2.25mm and 2mm (largest for ribbing)

I wrote up my own lace chart to make this, a good proof that I’m not able to follow written directions. The toe is kinda wonky as I decreased a bit too soon and to too few stitches. Knitting with a gauge this tight was a new experience for me, and that is probably why I messed up with those things. (bummer, but I like them. and those things get worn into shape)

Fuzzy feet that I dug out of my hibernating basket two days ago.

I hate working with 7mm needles, they’re huge! Like knitting with pencils.

And my in-bag on the go sock. Supposed to be vog on’s, but the yarn turned out to be self striping. My regular toe-up sock it is then.
Widdershins on 2.5mm needles.
The picture was taking after I frogged away my third miscalculation of the sock. I have no idea how I managed to mess it up that many times, but I did.

I’ll try to update with some of my n00b spinning soon, it’s fun