Silk Shrug

O.K. I have to say this first: It's the second time in 13 years, that I killed our home phone. I forgot it outside, and it got drowned in a rain storm. I was amazed that it still kind of worked. I could dial out, but nobody could hear me. So I've got a brand new phone, which is almost as small as a cell phone, with lots of tricks. It's got a nicer ring tone as well. I choose some kind of Mozart piece. Now I don't want to pick it up right away, but listen to it, not like the last phone's ring, which was so annoying, that I could not get it to stop fast enough. The first phone I killed by the way, went into our pool. Why do electronics and water don't mix so well? ;o)


And now back to this posts main theme: Back in May I decided to send my DD Hannah a care package for her upcoming birthday in June. I collected many items of which I thought she would like. I also thought I should knit her something special, but small, because I didn't have that much time, considering the (none) speed of Canada Post etc.
I decided on the little silk shrug from "Lace Style". I liked the original in it's lovely blue color. Blue is not one of Hannah's favorite colors, so I ordered it in this burgundy:


Since it was for her birthday, it was supposed to be very special, that's why I ordered the original yarn used in the book. It's LaLana Phat Silk yarn. I've read about LaLana yarns, and was excited to be working with it soon. I did not care that it was on the expensive side, but had to swallow hard, when the shipping cost was US $ 16 for those two skeins (even though the real postage on the package was $ 3.81).
The day they package came I wound both skeins in yarn cakes and cast on. What a lovely, pleasurable knit it could have been, but as you can see in the following pictures the yarn was horrible. Thick and thin throughout the first yarn cake. I must admit I was seething, because usually I use yarn substitutes, and this was something special.

For the first time in my life I complained to the company. To my surprise I heard back the next day, which was a holiday in the US (can't remember which). I was offered to return the yarn in exchange for the same, but better quality. But I already had almost finished the shrug, and I was out of time. So I was offered to choose some yarn of my choice at no cost whatsoever to me.

It was customer service at it's best, and even though the shrug looked kind of pumpy, and not as wonderful as I thought it would, I was mollified.
I choose this lovely blue Phat Silk Fine. Still don't know what I'll knit with it. It has to be something special, because the yarn IS wonderful to work with.

One skein is 142yds.

The silk shrug pattern is by Pam Allen from "Lace Style". It's very well written (one size). It took 1 1/2 skeins to finish it. The second skein was fine, so the first one must have been the odd one out.

Unfortunately I don't think it was a success at all. I don't' think Hannah really liked it that much. It took her until now, to send me some pictures of her wearing it, and I had to ask repeatedly for it. I don't blame her, really, since it's hard to knit something for someone, if that someone didn't express total desire to get it in the first place. I LIKED it, which should have stopped me, because we don't have the same taste at all. :o)

There were also three fruit cozies in the care package, and it looks like Hannah liked those, because she sent me this picture as well. She's using them! Yeah! :o)

Geometric Scarf

The Geometric Scarf: originally made with three skeins (each skein is 176yds) of Koigu Premium Merino in pink (finished scarf 10" x 36", a little short for me), it had "decorative rose quartz beads" on each corner, and was blocked out, so the scarf was the same width throughout.

Mine, a tiny bit different: I liked the idea of the rose quartz beads, but when I thought about it, it seemed a bit dangerous to me. Imagine throwing one scarf end behind you, grazing everything within reach, and panging on your back. O.K. a little far fetched, but certainly possible. Besides, I don't have any suitable beads. So they are out. I don't even have enough yarn left for tassels. So for the time being I just leave it as is, but I will keep my eyes open for something I'd like to have tangling off the corners.

I also left ten stitches in the middle in stockinett stitch, just because.

I washed the scarf and kinda blocked it. This yarn is very pounce, it's like a rubber band, bounces back so easily, that I didn't even attempt to block them out.

And I have to say, I was quite wrong, in my assumption that one more ball of yarn (I used 4) would not make a difference in the overall length. Why did I think that?

Here are some more specifics about the geometric scarf:

pattern: from the book Vogue' Knitting Scarves, Vogue Knitting on the go! As seen here

pattern is on page 47

yarn: Corallina merino extra fine (made for Baby items, so soft and bouncy), one ball is 50g/187yds, color # 40, a beautiful grass green, machine washable 100% merino, I used 4 balls = 748yds

needles: 3.5mm

size after washing and lightly blocking: 6" x 74" (quite a bit longer than the original)

start-finish: July 28 - August 05

It was the most boring knit, but I like the beginning and the end of this scarf. It's probably the softest scarf I made so far, with zero itch factor. The only reason I finished it so quickly was, that I wanted to take pictures (very uninspired I might add), before my guys took my camera on vacation with them. So here it is, I even might knit another one someday, who knows?

Wet/Dry and Happy!

Last night we were watching Dr. Dolittle, the old one, with Rex Harrison. I was watching Sam, because he usually just sleeps somewhere in the room, but last night, he was in front of the TV, like a Sphinx, watching, occasionally barking, and during the songs, snoozing. It was fascinating to watch him. He LOVED it! Biko too, but she likes to watch TV most of the time, no matter what's on.

It's prime swimming time right now, and Biko does it as often as she can. She's so well now. I haven't heard her yelping in pain for quite some time now. She's recovered so nicely, it's wonderful! Biko fresh out of the pool. I like this picture, because Sam's got to be in it as well.

He's keeping a healthy distance from the pool. He's just heard the neighbours kids come out in the back yard. Here are some pictures of him playing tug-of-war with DS David.

I've finished the green scarf, one sockpixie sock, and two of my spinning projects. Just so you know what to look forward to. ;o)

I've already picked out my next spinning project, one where I'd like to knit with the yarn, as soon as it's done. BTW - I'm NOT spinning Sam's hair!

I better get going. We are having a thunder storm right now. I don't want to loose this post, just because we most likely will have a power outage in a few minutes, as always. So, bye for now.

4-ply

Sometimes it's nice to be able to write a post in advance, no matter when you'll want to post it. I'm writing this on Sunday evening. I've just finished plying, which took hours (way longer then I anticipated). I had two finished projects to ply, and the one I'm showing today is NOT one of them. I still have to wind them on the niddy noddy, set the twist and let it dry, but I'm not going to do that tonight.

I do have this finished yarn to show you: "Fresh" pencil roving purchased at Dyed in the wool handmade fiber: colorway "Fresh", pencil roving, merino/sea cell blend, 8oz
yarn: 4-ply, 12 WPI, 2 skeins, one is 296yds, the other is 90yds. My first 4-ply yarn, and it's fun! This is a very rounded yarn, and it looks like I have to do 4-plies to get a thicker yarn around here.

It should not have happened, but it did. I had singles left over on one bobbin, so I navajo plied the rest and got 48yds. I like the 4-ply much better.

This was my last of three different colorways of pencil roving I bought from Maggie.

Pencil roving is a little bit boring to spin, too ready made, but sometimes it's just what you want, just to sit down and start spinning, without a lot of preparation. This roving had to be split in half, and it comes apart pretty easy. Nevertheless, I'm somewhat impatient with certain things, and after the first try, which entangled me from head to toes, because I'd started to part it from both ends, my son saved me, and proofed to be perfect for this job. I don't know where he gets the patience to do something like that. I was ready to shred it all. He wound everything in tidy balls, so I just had to sit down and spin. Nice service! ;o)

I know, don't say it, there's orange in it! I really just needed some easy spinning to relax. But I promise, both of next couple of colorways will not be in any kind of orange shade!!!

I really don't want to bore you with bunny stories, but last night we all got very distressed. At around two o'clock in the morning, there was a bunny being killed by a cat. This darn thing didn't do a good job of it, and the whole neighbourhood had to listen to the poor bunny's cries. It happened right outside my bedroom window in the front yard. The dogs barked like mad, and eventually started to howl. I had to leave my bedroom to go somewhere else because I could not listen to it any longer. I'm sorry but something like that gets to me. I know it has to happen, but if so, please be quick about it!

I returned to my bed, after the dogs where silent for quite some time. I also sent my son to listen, if it was over. Ah, it's just horrible!

The good news was, as we went outside in the morning (this time it was the back yard), I saw a bunny hurrying from the pool house under our winter garden. So there are still some around.

The next picture is for Michelle: This is one grocery bag full of Sam hair. This came out after his bubble bath with the first brush through. I did it two more times, with the same result, and yes, he's still got enough left, in fact it's time for him to be brushed again. He doesn't like it very much.

Hm - no title today, can't think of anything ...

Do you remember my poppy buds, I showed you this spring? I have to show you these pictures before the next winter comes. Right around the time they bloomed, we had a lot of thunderstorms, mostly during the night. One morning I found these, pattered, but gorgeously orange poppies. It's a pity they are so short lived! One day they pop open, the next day they are gone, especially with rainy weather. Did you hear, that we had the wettest July in a long time this year?

Before I forget again, there are people who leave comments asking me stuff, and I would love to reply, but if I don't have an e-mail address or blog link, I can't do that! So if you wanted to know something, and haven't heard back from me, that's probably why.

I've been knitting on my green geometric scarf, but let me tell you, it's boring! It's beyond mindless knitting, only the beginning and end of this scarf need some attention, so that's why I broke down and cast on for some socks! Yeah, I can't help myself. I love knitting socks. I had no idea what they will be like. I just knew I'm going to make them toe-up because I'm not so sure about the yardage of the yarn. I'm almost to the heel now, and I surprised myself by making it into a simple variation of Cat Bordhi's "Spring Thaw" socks, which I've finished, but have yet to show you. I'm quite please how they turned out so far.

I've got this yarn here, at Sockpixie's store. I like her colorways, but the shipping costs are too high for my liking. So this will be a one time purchase for me. When I first saw this skein, I knew it would be pooling, and it did, but it's kind of nice. The yarn is merino/bamboo blend, first time I'm knitting with something like that. It has not much give, but it has a cool feeling, a little shine, and it's soft.

I have three !!! spinning projects in the works, and want to finish at least two of them until Thursday next week. That's the day when my camera goes on vacation to Australia, without me. I need to have something to show you, during it's 2 weeks absence. I better get back to my wheel and work on that fiber some more.

I think I'll make the green shawl my outside project, for when I get interrupted by Sam and Biko. He's taken to play tug-of-war with his remnant of red ball. I get the handle, he gets the rest, and you know how it goes. I haven't managed to take a picture while doing this, but he's so cute, and he gets frustrated, and whines, when he can't get the ball free. But it's hard for me to hold on to, because I'm laughing so hard! He's soooo strong!

Tilting Blocks Scarf

This scarf was so much fun to knit. And since so many asked about the pattern I hurried up even more. The only thing I did NOT like was, knitting with my Rosewood needles, I much prefer addi turbo's. This is a stitch pattern, I'm definitely going to use again. But - Noro yarns make it easy to look good. ;o)

So here it is:

pattern: titling blocks pattern from the book "A second treasury of knitting patterns" by Barbara Walker (red book), page 263; I saw a wonderful version on Jane's blog; also on this Scarf Style KAL blog you'll find several beautiful ones to look at, it's called Midwest Moonlight Scarf, if you google it, you'll get plenty of hits.

I found this stitch pattern in another very old Burda magazine as well. I'm sure it's easy to get one version or the other.

yarn: Noro Silk Garden, color # 239, 3 balls

needles: 4.5mm

size after blocking: 8" x 72"

start-finish: July 22-28

I'm already working on my next scarf. This one is called "Geometric Scarf" and can be found in the little booklet "Vogue Knitting Scarves". The original used only 3 skeins of Koigu, and it's only 36" long. I have 4 balls of the softest merino wool, with more yards each ball than Koigu has, but I doubt that it will get much longer. Still it's a wide scarf, and I don't like them floppy anyways.

About Rainbows And Hail ...

So far, I'm really happy with the summer weather. Except for a few days, where it was too hot for me, it's been great. We've had it all, sunshine, humidity, rain, storm, hail, and rainbows! In the picture above, there are two rainbows to see, below a closer look at the stronger one.

The other day we had hail. My son had to grab one of the icy missiles. He showed it to Sam who promptly took it from his hand, and crunched it with a wagging tail. I think he thinks, everything offered to him is eatable.

There will be no more bunny tales to tell. At first I thought I'd let you be in blissful ignorance, but I'm sure some of you wanted to have an update. The morning after I posted about them, we discovered, that the nest was empty - except for a little bloody piece of bunny. It must have been wild cats. I heard them fighting during that night, so they were near. What other animal could have done this? We had raccoons in our neighborhood, but I haven't seen nor heard any in a long time. Same goes for coyotes, too much development going on, which pushes them further north. Our backyard is fenced in with a 6 foot fence. There are only a few holes, where the bunnies can slip through. We DO have skunks around here as well. I was shocked at first of course, but that's nature. The wild cats don't have it easy themselves.

You can laugh if you want, but I've decided to start on my Christmas knitting. Even though I'm thinking of keeping this scarf for myself, and give my Noro striped scarf to my husband, since he liked it last winter. I'm using up some Noro Silk Garden for this one. I've been wanting to knit this stitch pattern for over two years now! Yeah, and finally I've decided, it's now or never. I like this tilting block pattern a lot. It's easy to memorize, and I think it looks good with this yarn.

Now, I'll go and enjoy this lovely summer day some more. Dogs will be happy too, because we're heading outside! ;o)

A Hint of Knitting Content, also ....

I promised you a dramatic story, which happened in my garden. So here it is. I was out the other day, in the backyard, when I saw, that one of my flower beds needed weeding. The stars, sun, and the moon were aligned right, so I grabbed the yard waste container, and rolled it up to my high bed, and started weeding. (just kidding, I just felt like it). The dogs were out with me, of course, but since they had just had their breakfast, I just let them do whatever they wanted.
Sam wanted to play with me, that's why he was standing right next to me, yapping, and yabbing until his spittle flew (foaming mouth etc.). I ignored him, which is not easy. I wanted to be done with the weeding before the sun came out behind the clouds. Biko was grazing along the fence line. I could see her out of the corner of my eyes.

A little while later, I was making good progress, I noticed, that the yapping had stopped beside me. You know how it is: NO sound, and NO sign of the two meant trouble! (like little kids). I turned around and yelled for them. I couldn't see all places of our backyard, they could be anywhere, and my all time favorite fear, one of the gates could be open, and they could be GONE!
I started to the most likely escape route, when Sam came towards me, ears back, the guiltiest face I've ever seen on him. Something was tangling in his mouth, and it was squealing! Of course I knew right away, what he's got there. I told him he was a bad boy as he came up to me, and put down ever so gently what was in his mouth. It was a baby bunny, naked, helpless, blind - screaming murder!
Meanwhile I could see Biko still digging at the nest they found in one of my other flower beds. I yelled at her to stop at once, and she too, looked very guilty, jumped aside, and looked at me, as if I had ruined her day.
I took a towel, picked up the still screaming baby bunny, looked it over, didn't see any wounds, to my relieve, and went to the nest. Biko had done a good job in digging it out. There was dried grass everywhere, and the hole in the ground was bare. I pushed back the bedding, put the baby bunny on it, it was still protesting loudly, and put some bedding over it.

For the next couple of days, I looked at the nest, but did not disturb it, to see if there was movement of any sign of life. I saw big fat flies, and thought the worst, but then there was a faint movement under the grass. So, now I took some pictures (over several days), and when I saw them on my computer, I was baffled! There was obviously more than one bunny in there! But how? I did not see another baby bunny, when I put the nest back together, but there must have been a second one somewhere. They are the same size.click to see big

Anyhow, now I'm not sure, if there are two or even three bunnies in there. They must be the toughest bunnies on the block to live through this. They grow so much every day, they huddle together. At first their heads wobbled, but now they are stronger, they have fur, the ears are grown. I'm guarding them, looking after them every day. The dogs watch me, because as soon as I let my guard down, and turn around, they start to creep up in the nest's direction. It's a magnetic point for them.
I can only shake my head in mother bunny's choice of where to place her nest. It's in one of my flower beds, right beside the house , right beside the wooden steps, which lead down from where we go outside, several times a day, WITH TWO DOGS! What was she thinking?

This story as a happy ending too, for now. We use another door to get outside right now, but it's not as convenient as the other.

click to see big

Since this IS a knitting blog, here's the knitting content:

Hetty from the Netherlands sent me this picture. These Ladies are learning how to knit toe-up socks using my Smoking Hot Socks pattern! :o) I hope it went well, ladies! And many greetings to you! :o)

All oranged out ...

355yds Norwegian, navajo plied, 4oz

538yds Norwegian/South African Fine, ~ 6oz, 3-ply2 strands Norwegian, and 1 strand orange South African Fine. Look how the extra orange tones down the other colors.

190yds South African Fine, 3.5oz, navajo plied, once again I was going for a little thicker yarn.

I'm almost done with spinning all the fiber I've dyed back in April. I needed to take a break from the color orange, so I'm spinning "Mist" lilac/purple merino/bamboo for the moment, before I go back to finish off the last of South African Fine.

This merino/bamboo needs to be spun fine, and fast (whorl). It's very slippery, and feels like butter in your/my hands. It's the best time to dye fiber or yarn right now. I'm really tempted, but I think I'll keep my natural fiber just that for the moment. I think I have enough dyed fiber in my stash to last me until next summer. I'll work on that, which is quite sensible of me, don't you think? :o)

There's some drama developing in our garden, of which I will report about soon. I'm hoping to get at least ONE picture to tell the tale. :o)

About Robins, and Cheekadee's ...no knitting whatsoever!

The other day, Biko was outside, on the balcony, by herself. She's got access to the house, whenever she feels too hot, or thirsty, but rarely comes in by herself.

I was doing something or other inside, when I heard a thump. Of course I had to investigate at once.

When I stepped out on the balcony, Biko was standing over a bird, sniffing it. As soon as the bird moved, she took off, and ran to the other side of the balcony, where I joined her. We both are scared of birds, it seems. The bird must have flown against the window, and fallen on her, because it was on a matt, where Biko's sleeping on most of the time.

We watched it for a minute, and I saw that it was wobbly, but alive. I took Biko inside, to not stress out the bird, which was a Robin, any more.

I looked out through the window, from time to time, to see how Robin was doing. At first, the wings where spread out, and it was lying on the side. As time past, it was shaking it's head, but stood on its feet, later it sat there, wings tucked in, and not shaking anything anymore. But it was still sitting there, doing nothing much. Must have had a bummer headache. O.K. I know nothing about birds.

Next time I was looking outside, I couldn't see it anymore. That's when I opened the door again, to check if it was really gone. Yep, nothing left, but a splash of bird poop. I was very glad it got away.

Yesterday late afternoon, it was hot and humid, like all get out, I was feeling cold, from the A/C and went out on the balcony to warm up; dogs followed me out. That's when I saw the sunshine, illuminating a spot in the yews, which happened to be a bird's nest. I knew the bush housed several birds, because I saw them coming and going, and sometimes fighting. It was always a lot going on in there.
I got my camera, poor thing, that was just a job, it was not meant for, but I'm glad I got the pictures I did. (I wish I had a better camera.)

I imagine the Robin on the balcony was one of the parents, this little fellow almost lost. Can you see the big, orange opening, waiting to be stuffed? There's only one baby Robin in the nest, as far as I could make out.

After feeding the little one, Robin just sat there, on the edge of the nest, bill open, taking a break. There was also this little fella, taking a sun bath on the sun screen: I think it's a Cheekadee. It ruffled it's feathers, and spread them out. Not only we humans are bothered by the heat, or did this bird enjoy it?

We did give the dogs a bubble bath. We all got wet to the skin. Sam was not amused, but in the end I think he liked it. Now, today will be a major "brush the dogs" day. Sam seemed like he's doubled in size over night. He really got "poofed", and now I need more than two hands to hold him still, and brush him. He must be itching like crazy, but he's so white, and good smelling now.

Biko didn't poof as much, her coat is different, but she too, smells good now, but for how long?

Rambling ...

Even when your children are grown up, as a mother you will always worry. Sometimes you worry, that something might happen, than you worry, when something happens, and you will worry what will happen in the future. Sometimes that's exhausting.

Worry paralyzes me. I can't do anything, or if I do something, I'm so restless doing it, that it's no fun at all. The last few weeks were like that for me, but now it's looking up. So I've been spinning a little. Some of my own dyed fiber, and I can tell you that I'm sick of orange right now.


During my restlessness, I've been casting on and ripping out. Yarn cakes were the result. Nothing was speaking to me. I DO have wonderful yarn, but it's not what I want right now. The top yarn cake is from Sockpixie, a sock yarn, merino/bamboo blend in lovely colores. I only wound it, did not even try to knit it. The middle yarn is Uru lace yarn, which I've got from Sabine. I LOVE the color, but knitting with real lace yarn is something I have to get used to. I started a lace scarf, ripped it out, and started another one. I've got about 7" of it. The bottom yarn is Wollmeise for the "Frattello" socks from Yarnissima. I started that one too, it was so very big, I had to rip it out, and have to think about it some more.

The truth is, I'm bored with what I've got on my needles. There's the crochet star blanket, made with mercerized cotton. There's the "Bliss" blanket, made with the same mercerized cotton, knit entrelac, and the colores are so intensive, I have to take a break after every few rectangles, or I would go nuts. I still like it all, but will be glad when I'm done with knitting with mercerized cotton.

Kirsten made me aware of my feelings towards my current projects. Did you see what lovely shawl she knit, when she got bored with hers? Sometimes projects just feel right, and sometimes they don't.

I want to knit a pair of socks. I saw them in the new Knitter's magazine, they are designed by Cat Bordhi. I think she's my favorite sock designer. I didn't get the magazine yet. Don't know why I can't find it anywhere. I sure hope it's not sold out yet. The socks are called "Spring Thaw" and I just love them!

So, the last two evenings, I've been looking through all my knitting magazines. There's at least one project in every issue of "Interweaeve Kits" and "Knitter's magazine" I have,which I would like to do, but I do have other knitting magazines as well, and there was nothing in THOSE I wanted to knit. I'll be more careful in the future in buying knitting magazines. And also, why do I keep buying more knitting books? I have so many, and there are so many projects in all of them, added to the ones in my magazines. It would keep me busy for years, and years, and still, there's always a new book, a new design, which I WANT, absolutely MUST HAVE! That's crazy. This madness has got to stop, but how? :o)

I didn't take as many pictures of the pups this summer. It's always the same. They enjoy their days. Biko's doing pretty well, chasing the tennis ball, and swimming in the pool. She's now reached the point, where it's time for a bubble bath. She stinks! Getting soaking wet every day, and not drying totally, makes for the famous wet dog/old rag stink. I've been waiting for a really hot, hot day, so she would dry faster.

Sam's goofy as always. He bumped his head against a wall, not once, but twice. He was so excited to go outside, that he's twirling, well that's the same every time we go outside. But now he's got a wound over his right eye. Nothing too bad. He's staying away from every water source, except where he goes to drink some. He's almost destroyed his red ball, we introduced a new ball, but so far, he's rather playing with the red, of course. He might get a bath today too, which will leave all of us wet, wet, wet. Well, I'll get to it then, to get it over with.

Test knit socks

I've been waiting for Bea to give me a link to the finished pattern, which is now available in English. She's still working on the German version. Since this was all finished some time ago, there's no reason not to show it to you now.

I've been lucky to be able to test knit "Cross and Meet" socks by Beate Zaech. This pattern comes in two versions. I've knit the lace version. Dave did the cabled version.

So far there's only a ravelry link for the pattern.

Of course red socks are hard to photograph. I've used Regia stretch, because that's what Bea used for her pair, and I happened to have this yarn in my stash. I didn't like the yarn much. It was very splitty, sometimes the stretch material looked through. The color isn't my favorite either, I bought it online, because it was on sale. I do however like this pattern very much. They fit comfortable, and I'll be happy to wear them a lot. I think I'll knit the cabled version some day too.

specifics:

pattern: "Cross and meet" by Beate Zaech

yarn: Regia stretch, color# 32,

needles: 2.25mm, 5 DP

size: 10.25" for myself

start-finish: June 20 - 25

Little brown bear ....

My little brown bear block found a new home. Shirley from PEI liked it so much, that she asked me, if I would trade it. I was really happy that she liked it so much, and was glad to send it to her, because the block would have disappeared in my closet for who knows many more years?


... today I found this package in my mail box! I didn't really want anything for the block, but Shirley send me fiber samples! Cashmere! Mohair! Silk hankies! and Kid Mohair locks!!! Wow!
I've spun mohair/wool blend before, but all the others I haven't even touched so far, only read about it, seen it on other blogs. Cashmere is sooooo very soft, but right now, my fingers are too rough, because of the gardening. I have to look at these treasures for a while, enjoy them in their lovely little bags. Thank you, Shirley! You made me very happy!

You all know how much I love my little bloggy here. But sometimes life has a way to bring things into perspective. If you don't hear as much from me as in the past, forgive me. I hope I'll be back in full force soon. I haven't done much fibering through the last weeks, I also hope this will turn around soon.

Stay cool!

Dutch socks for Dutch Klompen!

This is sock yarn from my super swap. I had to hand - wind it, because it was so tangled, and I didn't have the patience to work it on the swift. Didn't matter, although I like to work with a center pull ball the best.


yarn: Storm in Wolhalla, color Hollandse Luchten or "flour mill", 75% wool, 25% nylon, 100g, 460 yds.
pattern: Hypnosis by Janel Laidman from her book "The Eclectic Sole"
needles: 2.25mm, 5DP
size: for my 10 1/4" feet
start-finish: June 18 - 20

I liked the pattern in the book, and when the socks are on the sock blocker, but not so much when they are on my feet. They are too short for my liking. I wanted to follow the pattern first, before I could think of making changes to it, to fit me better, but now I'm thinking, I don't want to knit this pattern a second time. As they are, you have to follow the chart 4 times, and that's enough for me. I found a tiny printing error in the chart 1, page 50, round 23, stitch 20. This stitch should be a purl instead of knit, but everybody can figure that one out. I love how the chart is printed big enough to read comfortable. I also like the Chart Key and Techniques in the back of the book. Great pictures to show how to do the techniques used in the book.
One thing was irritating to me, and that is that from the 14 sock pattern in the book there are
1 pattern with 58 stitches
6 with 60 stitches
1 with 62 stitches
1 with 63 stitches and
2 with 64 stitches, there are also the cool looking patterns knit sideways, I haven't figured out yet. They are all made for one size, you can play with yarn weight, and needle sizes to get them bigger or smaller.

I usually need 64 stitches for the leg for my socks, on 2.25mm needles. That means I have to do something to fit my feet with almost all the patterns. They seem to be also on the short side on the leg, again, with time, and a little thinking you can make them longer.

With this Hypnosis socks, from the nature of the pattern, there is a ridge forming on top of the foot, where the leg ends and the foot starts. I've read on ravelry, that others have that as well, so there's not much one can do about it.

I must say, that I'm a tiny bit disappointed in these socks. I love the yarn and the colorway, the socks look good on the blockers, but not on my feet. Maybe one day, when I'm really, really bored, I'll frog them and knit something else. I do have yarn left over, but realistically, I don't think I ever will.