I finished these socks in 3 days!!
I’m celebrating a friend’s birthday tonight (Friday) and on Tuesday I thought how lovely it would be to give him a pair of hand knit socks. . . so here they are. . . on my old feet.
I used Harrisville Designs Highland yarn on size 3 needles. They are a sturdy pair of socks!
I love the variety of colors available by Harrisville Designs!
Even striped through the heels!
On April 30th I took an all day class at Yarn Over (sponsored by the Minnesota Knitters’ Guild) on knitting Cowichan Sweaters with Joan Schrouder. (Joan is retiring from teaching at the end of this year, so I feel fortunate to have had this class with her!) Not only did I learn about Native Tribes of the Pacific North West I learned some really fun techniques that I can use on my other knitting as well! I really enjoyed spending this rainy day inside knitting.
The “baby” sweater shown above took me the full 6 hours of class to knit. It measures about 20″ around and 12 inches long. I started the sleeve on one side to get the idea of how it is done. . .I don’t think I will knit anymore of this because I’m afraid it is too small for even a tiny human:) The yarn is a bulky yarn that I purchased from Gale Woods Farm – a lovely lovely yarn! (after I wound it into a ball, I kept it on my desk so I can gaze upon it because I love the texture and sheen so much!) The arrow shapes around the belly part are traditional and sometimes are knit so the direction of the arrow changes direction in the center of the back. I knit it the same all the way around.
The collar isn’t wide enough. If I would have made more increases to widen it, the collar would fold back better and be nice and neat. Here is a good example of learning something by doing it wrong.
Adult sweaters weigh 4 to 5 pounds and are usually about 1/2 ” thick because they are knit using two strands of bulky single ply wool. Yes, two strands even when no pattern is shown. The stitches are twisted around each other over the color patterns and when knitting with 2 strands of the same color. Knitting with two strands of the same color keeps the sweater the same weight throughout. If you only knit with two strands on the color patterned part and not the solid part the sweater would have areas of thick and areas of thin knitting. . . it wouldn’t be as warm or as consistently stable.
here is a close up of the inside of the arrow design. If I do say so myself it is a nice and tidy job of weaving in the carried yarn!
here is the inside close up view of the bird pattern. . . I carried the gray yarn all the way across even though the pattern of the bird didn’t fill up that much of the back.
This is the right or “public” side of the back showing the traditional bird pattern. It looks pretty good – not as smooth as I would like it to be – the carrying/weaving of the second color on the inside shows through to the outside a bit. But this is “traditional” for this type of knitting and I’m learning to appreciate it. You can see under the bird, where it is all white – I was carrying the yarn in the same way but with 2 strands of the same color. I also need just a bit more practice (or more time:)) on picking up for the sleeves. The sleeve caps are done with short rows. A few stitches are picked up across the shoulder seam and then working back and forth you pick up stitches down the armhole. Very cool!
This is one of the coolest things I learned during this class. It is a way to do a 3-needle bind off that creates the look of two crochet chains down the seam. This gave me the idea for a new project – – – not telling just yet – – – but look for it soon. I had a great day and can’t wait to knit an adult size sweater.
I recently met a woman from Montana who raises Navaho Sheep. . . when she has some spun I’ll get to knit a sweater out of it! Can’t wait!
Here are a few places to find out more info about Cowichan Sweaters and the people who knit them.
A link to Sa-Cinn – a place to buy original Cowichan sweaters and hats.
I woke up this morning, put on my favorite pair of hand knit socks and blew out BOTH heels! Dang, I hate it when that happens. I always darn them and keep wearing them but my darning pile is starting to grow almost as big as my knitting UFO pile!
I finally finished these socks yesterday! I started them last summer. . .geesh. . .nothing like leaving work on needles forever.
I knit them in Alpaca Sox by Classic Elite Yarns. The fiber is soft and scrumptious and all the hardwork I did with my travelling stitches barely shows! Between the alpaca in the yarn and the marbled grey/black of the yarn my work gets a bit lost. Live and learn. At least they fit, are toasty warm, and the recipient loves them!
The “arrows” are travelling stitches – worked over 6 stitches – they look like little railroad tracks except there are three rails. The front, back and top and bottom of foot have the stitches pointing down. Sure wish they showed up better.
I was going to write out the pattern for these but you have to move the stitches around so much I’m not sure if it’s worth it.
Now I need to get to my darning pile!
hello all my knitter friends,
Have i got a deal for you! I recently designed a sweater for a new web site that sells patterns and yarns, Uptown Stitches.
The owner sent me a message recently with a special deal. . . . no shipping charges on orders between now and July 31st. To get the free shipping coupon, enter code W2D4-06.
The pattern on the front page is mine!! Knit in Belfast. A cotton/linen blend that is great fun to knit and wonderful for summer knits.
I can’t wait to get my hands on some of her lace weight yarn. It sounds heavenly.
So check out one of my recent projects, the Uptown Sweater, and don’t forget–free shipping coupon for orders between now and July 31. (W2D4-06)
I need some help deciding which one is better. . . or shall I keep them both?
I knit these socks using the feather and fan pattern with a 4 stitch cable in between. The fun part is that I moved the pattern around.
I was thinking of writing up a pattern for this and couldn’t decide how to place the patterns. . . so I made two socks slightly different.
Each sock has 3 feather lace patterns and 3 4-st cable patterns.
One sock has the feather lace going down the center of the front with cables at the sides. This puts two feather patterns in the back with the cable in the center of the back. On this sock I ran this center cable down the entire heel.
The other sock has the cable running down the center of the front with two feather patterns down the side. This puts two cable patterns on each side of a centered feather lace down the back of the sock. I ran these cables along the side down into the heel too.
The placement of the designs also gave the top of each sock a different scallop. . . I still can’t decide which I like better. I think I like the one with the feather lace down the center front and the cable running down the center back and down into the heel.
Let me know which one you like better!
Happy knitting,
Shawn
Yes it has been cold here. . . last night 15 degrees below 0. . .and I just finally warmed up. (meaning, I’ve been too cold to blog). Believe it or not
Though cold and chilly with numb fingers, I have been busy knitting. . . I started a bohus sweater. I got THE book on Bohus knitting, “Poetry in Stitches” and decided I HAD to start a sweater. Only one slight problem. Yarn. I actually had 15 oz of Fairy Hare fiber (called for in many of the patterns) but not enough of one color for the body&sleeves. Being the compulsive person that I am, I decided to forge ahead and just fill in the colors on the body and sleeves as I used up the yarn. The top part looks pretty good. But keep in mind I only have about 3 more oz of the burgundy color and will then have to switch to one of the other colors you see here. I decided to go for “blocks” of color and not “stripes”. 
I also started a freeform knitting project. My friend Ellen, went to Beijing and brought back some yarn for me. It is a mutlticolored earth tone yarn. . . .but don’t know what it is. I gave it the old test of fire. . . and it, smouldered, melted and burned. Seems to me like it may be a blend of poly/wool/and?? It flamed, smelled like burnt hair and part of it squiggled and danced like melting plastic. I can’t even guess at the fiber content from the label because it is in Chinese characters. Anyway, I found some complimentary colors and started knitting. I haven’t done one like this before. . . I am knitting on the piece itself as I change directions. (I usually knit pieces and them sew them together)Here is an almost finished back.
And I have been knitting a pair of socks. I don’t necessarily liked striped socks, so when this yarn was on sale I bought it but decided I would try to knit wavy stripes. Ah ah, feather and fan results in waves, add a few cables and here you have it.
It’s a bit difficult to see the Feather and fan pattern but I am getting a nice scallop. Of course I didn’t swatch and this sock will fit Ellen. (it is small and she wears a size 6 shoe) and for me ( a size eight) I will have to add about 12 stitches. And I already know where I will add them. . . hee hee. Now I’m anxious to finish these so I can start the pair for myself. Since I started knitting socks, and wearing them, I only want to wear hand knit socks. mmm mmm good. got to get knitting. . .
I finished Ellen’s socks on the trip to Chicago. This is the first time I’ve knit with this yarn: Pagewood Farm, handy dyed sock yarn, Merino/bamboo/nylon. It’s really comfortable to knit and wear! I can’t wait to go back and get some more to knit a pair for myself.
This month we are fortunate to have lots of blossoms on our Christmas cactus.
I have lots of must do knitting but all I want to do is start new projects. . . hmmm. . . must be the time of year.
Shawn
I had fun this summer knitting with beads. I forgot I knit these fun socks until it got cold enough to wear them. What a treat to find hand knit socks ready-to-wear in this cool weather.
The pink ones are knit in Liisu Yarn. This sock yarn is left over from my Fingerless Glove pattern. In the Glam Glove pattern I describe three ways to add beads to knitting. If you have a favorite plain sock pattern, try adding a beaded anklet! Even my sturdy peasant ankles, (great for support while dancing but not as skinny as current design deems attractive) look great adorned by beaded anklets.
The blue socks are knit in Cherry Tree Hill yarn left over from the swing jacket that I knit.
I bought the beads for these socks at a great bead store in St. Paul, Storm Cloud Bead Company, located on Snelling at Minnehaha Avenue. Really fun place to go! I took about a yard of yarn with me to the store and shopped around until I found beads that fit the yarn and in the color I wanted.
I also found that I didn’t want to keep moving a bunch of beads down the yarn while knitting the cuff and sock leg so I knit to where I wanted the beads, cut the yarn, strung the beads, and then continued knitting. The ankle bracelet on the blue socks is not as wide as the one on the pink sock. But I think they both look great!
Happy knitting,
Shawn
