Tres Chic Veronique

Lately, all my posts have been proudly displaying an FO. Well, I felt like posting more than once a month, so this time, you'll get to see some WIPs!

I started making the Socks for Veronik from the sold out IK Holiday issue. I felt like I had no choice, really, since they are almost named after me, and since the designer, Mona Schmidt and my sister share a name! I lusted after the STR in the color Brick, after seeing it at Rhinebeck, but the line was way too long, so I purchased it online. I immediately noticed that the yarn *might* be a little on the thick side for this pattern, but trudged along nonetheless. You know what happened next, right?



Yes, the socks are too wide... Luckily, a little stash diving unearthed some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn in the Purl custom color Sunshine Stripe. Perfect!
Oh, and the sock blockers? I got some for Marie for the Spider's party, but you know, if you pay for shipping, you might as well get more items, right? Right. The eBay vendor Chappy's Mom was fantastic.

I've also been working on Olga's cover jacket from Sensual Knits. I'm using DB Cashmerino Aran in the discontinued and awesome color 609 (a rusty, glowing orange), and recalculating for my gauge. See? I really do like knitting math!
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Check out the serious waist shaping!

Labels: olga, sensual knits, socks for veronik

Two years ago (January of 2006, to be exact), Marie of Brooklyn Handspun had a dyeing party. Everyone was dyeing sock yarn (after all, that is Marie's specialty!), but I dyed 4 balls of Misti Alpaca Sport Weight (bought at Little Knits because it was cleverly listed as a good substitute for whatever yarn is used for Evelyn Clark's Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style).

This Thanksgiving, I finally cast on! As with most triangular shawls, the beginning went by quickly (especially with my size 6/4 mm Lace Addis), and then time stood still...
Since I only had 4 hand dyed balls, I wanted to use every last yard I could on this project. This can mean only one thing: doing a little knitting math! If you know me at all, you'll know that I looove doing knitting math. (Ask the Spiders. They know).
The Shetland Triangle has a leaf motif. After the 1st repeat, you've knitted one leaf on each side of the center axis, or 2 leaves total. After the 2nd repeat, you've added 2 leaves to each side, or 4 leaves for that repeat. That makes a total of 6 leaves. After the 3rd repeat, you add 3 leaves to each side, or 6 leaves, for a grand total of 12 leaves. This adds up pretty quickly: after 8 repeats, you have 72 leaves total, after 14 repeats you've got 210 leaves!
It was easy to see where I'd joined ball #2, 3 and 4, and calculate how many yards were used to knit a specific number of leaves. For ex, one ball (146 yds) makes 72 leaves.
146/72= 2.03 yds of yarn is required to make one leaf.
Two balls (146 yds x 2= 292 yds) can make 132 leaves.
292/132= 2.21 yds makes one leaf.
I extrapolated, and realized that I would have enough yarn to knit 14 repeats and the edging and bind off row.

My Shetland Triangle cannot believe that 2007 is almost over! (MoMA calendar).

I heart leaves! I used a centered doubled decrease instead of the left leaning decrease, because I like symmetry. (Slip 2 tog, just like for a k2tog, k1, pass the 2 slipped over).

I like to toss this shawl around my neck (scarf-like!) and pair it with a black sparkly beret. Incidentally, I realize I've become a walking advertisement for Marie, as she spun this black alpaca for me!

And now, I must plot what I can make from the book that I received from Katie at the Spider's Holiday Party! She also gave me some sparkling rose, but here's what happened to it, and here was my reaction upon opening this fantastic gift. Thanks Katie :)

Labels: shetland triangle

It's strange, once I had a good handle on knitting, the only things I wanted to knit were full garments: sweater and cardigans. I figured that once you've mastered the many steps involved in making a sweater with your own two hands, shouldn't you knit a bunch of them?
Today, there are so many patterns that I want to knit that I sometimes limit myself to smaller knitted items, like socks, mittens and scarves. Fortunately, there are enough smaller item patterns out there to keep me busy for a few years. (Did you see Kate Gilbert's leafy fair isle mittens, Wintergreen?)

This summer, my mom looked through my sock yarn stash , and selected some orange Artyarn Ultra Merino 4 and Mona Schmidt's Embossed Leaves socks pattern. (I knew this pattern was popular, but according to Ravelry, 695 knitters have made these socks. Damn). While knitting the first sock, my mind was racing ahead to how I could tweak this pattern. You know, to avoid Second Sock Syndrome? Now, this pattern is pretty close to perfect, so there's very little wiggle room. BUT! I developed an idea... In the original pattern, which is knitted from the cuff down to the toe, the leaves are pointing down. I decided to knit the second sock in the opposite direction, that is; from the toe up. It turns out that I'm not that clever, because now the pattern doesn't flow as well from the cuff into the lace pattern, and from the lace pattern into the toe... But I did learn to work a toe up gusset heel, based on the Widdershins pattern!

View of the toe-up gusset:

Head on view of the toe:

Patterns specs:
Yarn: Artyarns Ultra Merino 4, purchased on sale at the Point.
Needles: Crystal Palace US 1 needles, 8" length. After this pair of socks, I decided to try knitting with 6" long dpns. I poked myself way too many times with the longer ones.
Mods: I couldn't figure out how to work a matching toe for the toe-up sock, so I cast on provisionally, knit the whole sock, then picked up the live stitches and worked the 2nd toe in the same way as the first.

The scarf recipient has been wearing his scarf for a few weeks now, and I managed to sneak a little photoshoot on a sunny, cold day.



I am somewhat frustrated by the result. I thought I was *so* clever with my 3 flanking garter stitches, but a mere 3 stitches is not enough to prevent the dreaded Scarf Curl. I uncurled it for this photo, but do not be fooled... *sigh*
This scarf is super duper long, as long as the recipient is tall-- 6'1"! But Cashmerino s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-s. I'll let you know how big this ones gets by the end of winter.

Pattern specs:
Yarn: 6 balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in ... turquoise-ish blue?
Needles: Addi US 7, 24" long.
Cables: lifted from a stitch pattern book. They seem very similar to the cables in the Bubble Cable Dolman in this winter's IK. My finger's on the pulse!
Pattern design: improvised by me!