New Socks!

A while back I had purchased two skeins of Knitpick's "Imagination" handpainted sock yarn in the (now discontinued) colourway, "Woodsmen". It was a mix of dark olives with the occasional streak of gold-- colours right up my alley! I was at a loss of what sock pattern to knit it up in for a while, though, because I usually like to knit socks with all sorts of crazy cabling and lace going on, and I knew that the colour shifts probably wouldn't make those kinds of patterns stand out very well.

So it sat in my stash....until one really cold winter day when I was possessed with the urge to KNIT MOAR WOOLY SOCKS to keep my perpetually cold feet warm. After poking around ravelry a bit I finally decided upon the ultra-famous (amongst sock knitters, at least) Jaywalker sock pattern by Grumperpina.

It was a super easy knit-- one of those patterns you can take pretty much everywhere and not worry about losing track while chatting with people or watching tv. All through the leg every other row combined two stitch increases and one center three stitch decrease per repeat to create this fun little chevron pattern. Something giving the sock a little visual interest without being overwhelmed by the handpainted yarn.

I did it in the smallest size because I have small feet, but while knitting the socks up I was thinking about how unisex the pattern is. For a really large-footed man I think it would be incredibly easy to adjust the stitch quantity to accomodate a much wider foot. So many socks are designed for the woman's foot in mind, and while that's really no problem when they're so frou-frou that 98% of the male population wouldn't be caught dead wearing them, I find the knitting pattern world is sorely lacking in some interesting looking sock patterns that include instructions for making them wide enough to fit a larger man's (or woman's!) foot. This sock pattern, however, is honestly simple enough to adjust the size, even if you don't consider yourself an "advanced" knitter in any way.

Although for the most part knitting this sock was a breeze, I did have a freakout moment when I reached the toe and it came time to graft the stitches closed.

I really passioned over this. Many times before while knitting through other patterns that required grafting, I'd pull out one of my ratty knitting manuals and study the stupid kitchener stitch chart. With the instructions within sight, I'd try my hardest to needle my way through the stitches, only to find that whatever I was doing wasn't freaking grafting. So...I'd rip it out and cheat with a three needle bind off. Yep. I was the knitter who'd rather knit a sock toe-up (I honestly don't get why people are so leery of toe-up socks, by the way) than kitchener stitch a toe closesd.

BUT. This time I decided it was time to grab the bull by the horns and just master that damned stitch already. Instead of using that stupid knitting manual I found a Godsend of a grafting tutorial on knitty.Using that tutorial just made everything click into place. It was...dare I say...easy???

Anyway, I'm not afraid of grafting any more (hooray!), which makes me feel really accomplished. Now onto the photos!

Here's a closeup of that magically seamless kitchener stitch toe.

Here are some more pictures of the socks on my feet. It really was such a pretty colourway.
Check out those chevrons. And my pale leg.

Well, that's it for now. Now I've got a tree I'm working on for my cousin Lisa, as well as a shawl from Nancy Bush's book, "Knitted Lace of Estonia". The tree is almost finished; I'll probably get to taking photos of it soon.

Later!

-Cat

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Hello, Again

Ahhh.

For the past few weeks/months/however long, I've been totally M.I.A. But since I've finished the last final exam of the semester today, I'm in a celebratory mood, and more than willing to share with everyone the torturous projects that I've been working on all semester!

This semester I've only taken one studio class-- portfolio production. For the non-art majors out there, this is when I produce a body of work that shows off my mad artistic skillz. Unfortunately, after spending a whole semester working on these babies, I still don't have any *finished* artwork to show for all my trouble. What I do have are:

1. Three completely finished hand-dyed textile backdrops.

2. Several hand-knit trees, made from hand-spun yarn, a few fence posts, and handknit sand dunes.

3. Alot of hand-spun yarn.

4. Four fabulous boxes that were made for me by a local carpenter.

The end result should be four shadowboxes. In other words, I have a lot of work to do during my winter break...and I STILL want to weave a few things for my family and make some kanzshi hair ornaments for Christmas AND knit and spin a few projects that aren't related at all to my senior projects, which frankly, I'm sick and tired of.

The whole thing feels like working backwards. When I make things, I'll usually dye some fiber a bunch of seemingly random colours. After the fiber is dyed, something about the colours will inspire me to card and spin it a certain way. The handspun yarn might then remind me of something else, like a flower, or a tree, or a spider, and from there I'll go and knit something from it.

What I've been doing right now is...making a sketch and doing everything so the finished project resembles the sketch in some way. Why did I do this? Because I didn't trust myself. I didn't think I would be able to create a coherent body of work on time using my random yet far more natural method of creating art. And now I'm behind on my deadlines and forcing my creativity in ways it doesn't want to go.

Also, if I were to do this all over again, I wouldn't have chosen such personal subject matter. With this current project, I'm creating little sceneries from my memory, and everything is symbolic. But everything just loses all meaning when I'm worrying about grades and time tables. Now I realize that it would have made much more sense if I focused much more on the technical aspect of art, like weaving or knitting structure. At least that's what I would recommend to someone who will soon be finding themselves in a similar position as I am right now.

ANYWAY, I don't have any pictures yet, but I'll be sure to take some the moment I finish with one of my projects.

It's so funny though. For a while, I felt like I no longer had an outlet that allowed me to unwind. Trying to knit, spin, or dye something that wasn't related to my senior art made me guilty. Eventually, I rediscovered makeup and baked copious amounts of exotic, old-timey pies.

That's right folks. Take away my art, and makeup and baking become my creative outlets.

And I don't plan on giving either up, even after I finish my senior projects and am able to work on whatever I want to. Because of this, I decided to make another blog (as if one wasn't enough): Miss Pink Eyes. It's named after a B-side of a band I was especially obsessive about in my teens and still listen to pretty often :)

I made that blog so I can share swatches of makeup and write about things that aren't really art or fiber related. I also made a second blog to keep this blog focused solely on arts and crafts, which is a huge part of who I am. Soooo...if anyone is interested, please do follow both! I know I find messing around with dyes and playing around with makeup quite similar, and I usually end up being just as crazy and sparkle-obsessed with my makeup as I am with my fiber.

Well, other than my senior art, I don't have to care any more about school until next January!Hopefully now I'll have time to show my face here and blab to my heart's content.

Adios.

-Cathryn Read more!

Choker in the Making

For the past year I've had a few skeins of (what I now believe to be extinct) Plymouth Royal Bamboo yarn in a deep crimson and silver. They sat there. I occasionally squished them, loving that bamboo silky feel. But nothing really came of it.

I knew I wanted to do something cable-y with them, but knew that cables alone wouldn't be enough. I wanted to pair the colours together somehow.

I then began thinking up a choker. It was to have a single rope-like cable in the center, in silver, bordered by the crimson. Which then lead me to how I was to achieve this effect. First I thought intarsia. But how would I do the crimson border? I then figured simple garter stitch, but knew that the natural drapeyness of bamboo would easily make it wonky, and the end result could look very sloppy.

Despite just learning how to crochet, I then settled upon crocheting a border. A single row of treble crochet would give a lovely trellis-like appearance for my cable-vine.

So I set to work. Simply doing a treble crochet right into the main piece would make little spikey parts where I would crochet a stitch, so I did a row of slip-stitched around the edges....and liked it. Alot.

Once again, I scrapped an old idea just to replace it with a new one, and here's my work in progress:



I know this sounds a bit dorky, but the silver yarn kind of reminds me of mithril. For those of you not familiar with J. R. R. Tolkien's work, it's the silvery metal highly esteemed by elves in the LOTR trilogy.

I plan on buttoning the piece together with a knit flower in the silver yarn, but I'm still trying to figure out how to make that work.

Off to tinker around some more...

-The Bloated Ewe Read more!

Finishing with my Drop Spindle and Second Sock Syndrome to the Enth Degree.

Well, I seem to have both good news and not-so-good news to share today.

To start of with the not-so-good....

Second Sock Syndrome has been forced upon me. Okay, so I bought a lovely skein of Colinette Jitterbug sock yarn in "Popsicle" a gorgeous colorway. 100 grams, typical sock yardage. Should definitely be enough for a typical sock pattern.

This is where I made a grave error.

Just because sock yarn weighs a certain amount doesn't mean it will give you average sock yardage.

Now I'm left with one whole sock and one almost whole sock without the tip of its toe.

Now the yarn was about 22 dollars. I'm not sure whether I should a) just suck it up and buy another skein, b) beg the LYS owner if I there might be any scrap yarn in the same colourway that's left over from one of her sock classes, or c) substitute the toe with some of my (not at all similar) regia sock yarn I have left over from the socks I made for my father.

I really don't feel like going with option c. So I'll probably try options a and b, starting with b first, despite its pathetic lameness.

Onto the good news: I'm finished with the navy and fuchsia I was spindling! It's a pretty nice-sized ball, definitely would be enough for a pair of handwarmers if knit as a single.

Though I still definitely want to ply it with my spindle...I think.

Ah. Decisions, decisions.

-Cat Read more!