Friday, March 16, 2007

Yes pictures

It's a beautiful sunny day and Blogger has recovered, so as promised, pictures! The Shetland Triangle has been added to the project sidebar over on the right (some of those unfinished works are really embarrassing... I should do something about that). The wristwarmers are shown here, slightly overexposed, but I think we can all handle a little overexposure when it's such a nice day. If you look closely, you can see that there are buds on the daffodils!

Project specs:
Materials: Leftover Regia Silk from the socks and blue beads from Beadworks in Harvard Square.
Needles: US #1.5 bamboo double-points
Pattern: re-created from Saartje's picture.
Total time: a few days.
Opinion: They're wonderful. I don't know if it's the silk yarn or that I bought the right size beads, but these were easier to work with than the (fuzzy) alpaca I've used in the past; the beads slid nicely on the yarn and the finished product looks really good and feels great.

Pictures of the socks coming just as soon as I bestir myself to put new batteries in the camera...

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Thursday, March 15, 2007

No pictures

I was going to take pictures of my latest projects, the beaded wristwarmers and the Socks that Rock, but it's gray and cloudy, terrible picture weather.

Then I was going to post a slightly older picture of the Shetland Triangle shawl, which I started a couple weeks ago, just to post a picture, but Blogger isn't letting me post pictures right now!

So, um, I'm knitting the Rock & Weave Socks in the displayed color ("Fairgrounds") and loving it so far. (though thanks to Amy, I will be keeping a close eye on the fit as I knit the heel.) The silver wristwarmers with blue beads were a fun and super-fast project and look great, though (as usual) I want to re-do one of the seams. And I promise, there will be pictures once the clouds and the computer stop conspiring against me.

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Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Knitty!

The new Knitty is up! Quick favorites:

Isabella - so pretty and wearable I might even make it, despite its being knit in 100% cotton on #3 needles.

Queen of Cups and Clessidra - ooo, pretty socks! And Clessidra is even in my new fave sock yarn, Regia Silk.

Congrats to my friends and neighbors, Anne and Tara, on their well-reviewed book and new feature article, respectively! The pictures in Tara's article make me want to hit the Dakota Ridge trail this weekend. (Until I remember that I am huge and can barely walk two blocks without needing to sit down for a while.)

And something I neeeeeed, from the book reviews: Beads Knitting by Kotomi Hayashi. More pictures and details about the book here. I haven't put up a picture yet, but I'm about 70% finished with another pair of beaded wristlets made with the leftover silver sock yarn, and it's reminded me how much I adore beaded knitting, especially in easy little projects. So what if the book is entirely in Japanese? I can learn Japanese, right? And if not I can certainly re-create beading charts from the pictures.

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Thursday, March 01, 2007

Silver Silk Socks



Yarn: Regia Silk, color 091. 55% merino, 20% silk, 25% polyamide. One skein per sock with a bit left over.

Pattern: My basic toe-up, short-row heel-and-toe sock pattern with the 8-stitch "Oblique Openwork" pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks. I reversed the pattern for the second sock so the two socks would be symmetrical instead of identical, which required a little bit of pattern-tweaking. Knit on a #1 bamboo circular, Magic Loop technique.

Verdict: LOVE the yarn. Of course I don't know how it wears yet, but it feels terrific on my feet, and the polyamide should give it extra durability without detracting from the softness at all. The silk/merino blend is luxuriously soft but it's remarkably inexpensive. I'm definitely going to buy more; it's a great yarn to show off lacy patterned socks. (And it comes in a gorgeous rich burgundy color, too.) This pattern was, shall we say, rather slow to knit. It looks good, but next time I'm doing something with fewer slanting decreases. I think I also made the toes a bit too tapered for my weird squared-off feet, so I'm tweaking my toe-up pattern once more to make the short-row toe a little more blunt. I'm so happy these socks are finally done and I can wear them!

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