Tag Archives: Ditto socks

YOP#6 Week 2

Posted on by Elka Bolhafner

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Today marks my eldest grandson’s 4th birthdate and tomorrow marks my youngest grandson’s 2nd birthdate so I spent most of today celebrating with family. But look I have things to report on my YOP list:

I finished a pair of socks. Plain boring socks out of Ditto yarn:

Ditto socks.

Ditto socks.

This is my favorite of the 3 pairs I have knit out of this yarn simply because of that red purple favorite color. I purchased all 3 colors at a long closed yarn shop and I believe the yarn has been discontinued since 2010 so deep stash for the win.

I also finished the first of my Kokkeluri mittens and cast on for the second. The mittens are warm and the yarn feels really nice but I am getting a bit of fuzz and it is prone to splitting. Still not sure if I am going to end up keeping the mittens but here ya go… part of my 7 skeins club bag yarns:

Kokkeluri WiP

Kokkeluri WiP

I have been working on these, of and on, for over a month now. Considering the patterns of the booklet were released to us club members weekly I guess it should have taken me much less time to finish them but at least my not feeling like knitting them has led to plenty of socks 🙂 Always a silver lining !

yarny days and knitterly evenings~

Elka

Ditto

Posted on by Elka Bolhafner
Ditto Socks

Ditto Socks

 

Last time I believe I mentioned I had cast on some easy peasy tv watching socks.  No pattern referenced.  Despite considering myself a non sock knitter I pretty much have the star toe and short rowed heel memorized by now and a decent idea of how many stitches to cast on using which needles to end up with something suitable for feet.  Done.

So why am I a  pretty monogamous knitter?  Well as soon as I got to the heel of the second sock I pulled out the next project totally ignoring the mitten which is in the exact same shape it was last week.  I am going to have to force myself to finish it or relegate it to the WIP aka will never be completed pile.  I happen to have 2 items in my WIP pile:

  • A sweater awaiting seeming for the past 5 + years.  Every once in a while I consider ripping it out but the actual seeming never crosses my mind.  I decided years ago that it wasn’t worth the bother.  Blackish mohair and all does not lend itself to seems. Or ripping for that matter.
  • A knit circularly sweater awaiting underarm seeming and ribbing at neckband I think. I haven’t looked at it in almost 6 years and decided I hated the fit but ugh hand dyed yarn so two balls alternated and I am sure a pain to rip again.

Perhaps I will work on my WIP pile after I finish inspecting winter woolies:

  • There is the shawl that needs repair.  Because I am trying to downsize my stash aka knit from stash aka slow stash I was hesitant to purchase a brand new hank of the yarn and hit up various places for a yard or two.  Mission success-I received an envelope with some yarn this week.
  • There is my Selbu Modern with a wee hole needing repair.
  • Reef, knitting finished May of 2004,  needs buttons and a repair.  I guess I could consider Reef a WIP since I never sewed on buttons for it and now the intended child is 17 and the next child in family is 13.  The grands are about the right age but boys and the button bands are on the wrong side.  The niece’s mum is allergic to wool and cashmere and alpaca and any other animal fiber.  Still I cannot consider something I have washed and folded up annually a WIP.

Oh and the lovely Strokkur which I knit up twice, or was it thrice, to body join only to find my gauge and shifted downward.  That needs knitting because honestly I want a sweater.  I don’t own a single hand knit sweater and I have been knitting over 40 years.  I am determined to change that situation.  Seriously.

So back to monogamy.  Here I am with a pile of things to finish, or take care of, or sobs reknit and all I am thinking of is what is next on the horizon. Because all those things, bless them, have been set aside while I moved onward ho.

At least I am blessed with a bounty of options.

yarny days and knitterly evenings.

Finit!!

Posted on by Elka Bolhafner
Stonington Shawl designed by Elizabeth Zimmermann

Stonington Shawl designed by Elizabeth Zimmermann

Stonington is done!  I love knitting this shawl and it is the second time I have done so.  In the exact same yarn to boot.  I don’t believe I stretched it as far as last time so it came out a bit smaller.  Last time it stood off of the blocking medium but this time was a gentle stretch.  My daughter said it is big enough to be a cover which a shawl is after all :smiles:

So I asked a woodworking friend if he could build a blocking frame for me and I was thinking of waiting a few months to see if he would build me one before blocking but then I was all nah stop procrastinating–just do a block and stop obsessing about perfection.  Too big to fit on my camera frame even tho I was standing on a stool.  Pictures:

 

corner pinned out quickly

corner pinned out quickly

I didn’t measure or anything like that just pinned as I saw fit.  Thankfully my coverlet does have a checkered pattern so I can generally keep things lined up.  For those of us without blocking boards or frames having a checkered sheet or coverlet is most helpful.  Even blocking wires can bow under pressure {all of mine are permanently curved by now} so having a line in the background to pin to is a necessity.

For a while I collected Doily pattern books.  The Burda magazines with Niebling patterns required a long trip to a particular yarn store that sometimes maybe might have the sought after edition.  Or there was ordering online for the special Kunstricken editions-sometimes from overseas.  Then I realized I had a strong preference for knitting geometric designs instead of organic florals.  Plus doily knitting requires making joins in cotton, linen or silk which is not my forte.  I am a spit splice kinda girl.

the center pattern

the center pattern

I love how it looks like getting lost in a maze.  Admittedly a simple maze but still.  LOVE.  I will try to get better shots once it is dried** but for now-finit!

And I am knitting on two projects.  Generally speaking I am a monogamous knitter.  Despite my KA, or maybe because of it, I find that knitting on one project helps me actually finish stuff.  First there is the nothing else to distract me factor and secondly if I finish this then I can cast on or knit with insert long list of stuff on my to do pile.  This is not to imply I don’t enjoy the process of knitting whatever I am working on but in this case Kokkeluri is not exactly floating my boat.  There are the pattern problems mentioned in last post that are slowing me down and the yarn, despite being dreamy, is also ever so slightly splitty.  I blame the loosely plied nature and the tighter gauge that doesn’t give the yarn room to relax.  My beloved gray aero and the gray yarn also are blending into each other.  That might be due to my poor eyesight.  I am still on the first mitten.  I have pictures of that as well.  The pretty leaves:

Kokkeluri leaves

Kokkeluri leaves

The flower looks like one of those trippy 60’s psychedelic pictures to me:

kapow!

kapow!

I am unable to take the picture from the opposite angle but to me it looks like something you would see in the batman tv show: kapow, right in the kisser.  It makes me smile even tho I doubt I would punch anybody in the face and they will get that coming at them.  And boy does this baby need blocking.  Sorry for the uneven knitting.  Not sure what is going on with this.  Anyways I am almost finished with the first mitten body-minus thumb and icord edging at base- and am not really tied to the chart anymore but the chart requires some attention and I cast on a mindless sock Friday night to go along with TV watching:

projects in the works

projects in the works

I finished the first sock over the weekend.  It is your basic 3/1 rib all the way down to star toe.  I did get adventurous and try garter for my short rowed heel.  I believe Lucy Neatby said something about making the garter portion wider than half the stitches but I took that class oh 10 some years ago and don’t quite remember.  I did my usual half of sock stitches and I love how bloopy it is.  I mean it just juts out there looking all squishy.

The yarn is Ditto purchased at a long ago closed shop and I decided I don’t like it.  I purchased 3 colors of this yarn all at once since the shades are just lovely.  However the socks I knit for my husband always feel gritty to me and the yarn, as I was knitting it up, felt the same, despite my not recalling that thought while knitting his up.  So I was going ugh after about an inch and all ready to rip and donate the yarn when my kidlet says I like socks.  My socks turned into Tyler socks right quick.

Speaking of yarn I also noticed while knitting Stonington that I wasn’t loving the yarn.  Not sure what is up with that.  I recall loving my last Stonington and purposefully bought the same yarn to recreate it. I hope I am not getting all yarn picky because I have quite a stash and it would be a waste.

Probably all a short lived ennui due to knitting the most beauterrific socks ever.

OK yarny days and knitterly evenings~ Elka

** edited to add dried shawl picture at top of post.