socks on the beach

Off to South America tomorrow for 3 weeks! This is what i'm taking to occupy myself when not wandering round Inca ruins, or doing romantic stuff and that (look, he packed his nintendo DS before I packed my knitting, OK?!) I started a pair of Pomatomus socks in Trekking XXL, shade 100 - mmmm pretty colours - i am very much enjoying making these so far.







A close up of the lace pattern on the sock, which was found sunbathing in my back yard yesterday.


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warm things for your Andes

So we're going on honeymoon next week and doing the Inca Trail. I felt that this auspicious occasion merited some new knitwear. I also stumbled on a load of Rowan Plaid in the bargain bin at John Lewis. I'd already made a hat out of this wool last winter, using this pattern. So i winged a pair of mittens and a scarf to match - pinching the cable pattern from the hat. After a couple of cable repeats on the scarf I realised how looong it was going to take though so i lazily lapsed into a 9x1 rib for most of the length, putting cables at the end bits only! Much quicker. The wool used is a chunkyish merino / alpaca blend so they are nice and toasty warm to wear. So I'm all ready for deepest darkest Peru! Now where did I put my marmalade sandwiches?

Shambolic attempt at pattern follows:

Mittens

Using 4x5mm dpns

• Cast on 28st. Work 12 rows in 1x1 rib.


• K1 row


• Inc row: M1 after every third st -> 37 st


• Switch to working in cable pattern


• next row: k1 on 1st needle, pm, inc 1, pm, k -> end


• next 2 rows: k


• next row: k1, sl m, m1, k1, m1, sl m, k -> end


• next 2 rows: k

Continue increasing every 3rd row until thumb section between markers is about 1 stitch shy of thumb circumference - for me this was 11 sts - put thumb section on stitch holder. K around hand, casting on 3 stitches (cable cast on) to bridge across thumb section on holder. Continue knitting in the round in the cable pattern until mitten reaches end of fingers. Then wing some sort of decreasing. I got down to 14 stitches then sewed up with Kitchener stitch. You then just need to finish off the thumb. Knit a plain stocking stitch tube until it is long enough, decrease a bit, break wool and pull through remaining stitches. Knot and weave in ends, or leave them there to fiddle with.

NB. For second mitten, put thumb on other side :D

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Mario mushroom DS sock

I love my DS and don't want it to get scratched... so i made it this sock... out of supercheap 99p-a-ball unspecified fibre from the bargain bin and leftover scraps (all about DK thickness). The image is the old skool 16x16 pixel version. It's just a stocking stitch rectangle sewn down two sides with a bit of intarsia (the other side is a bit messy, but i feel life is too short to worry about such things)

this is roughly how i did it:

a) Knit small swatch of background colour yarn. DK weight is the ideal gauge to fit the mushroom on one side.
b) Measure no of stitches in 5 cm of swatch.
c) Measure long side of DS in cm
d) cast on number of stitches = (b x c)/5. I added a couple of stitches to this for luck so the DS fits in snugly.
e) Knit about 10 rows of background colour in stocking stitch (as a flat piece, not in the round).
f) For the intarsia - i used scraps of old wool and i think this was easier than using big bits that are attached to balls as they get less tangled - you can sort of shake the ends loose. I twisted the yarns together whenever i added a new colour. For the bits where the new colour was only one stitch, eg. the eyes and the edge of the face, i stranded the old colour over. The rest of the time it was easier to pick up another scrap of yarn.

This is the chart i used.

g) Knit the other side in background colour in stocking stitch, until edges meet when wrapped round DS
h) Cast off and sew up long edge and short edge

i can recommend trying it, if anyone is tempted, as it only took one day to do (when fitted in around other activities, rather than 24 hours solid knitting!). And its pretty handy!

Now I can throw it in my bag wherever i'm going, with barely a second thought for its safety. Ideal for Pub Mario kart sessions!!
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FP

First post! w00t! I totally pwn this blog!1!1

Oops forgot where i was for a minute there. My mistake. This is going to be a nice, civilised, public-spirited blog about knitting. With lots of nice pictures of warm things, and advice on how to knit badly in the ancient tradition of the 'wing-it' school. Best viewed with a brew and hobnobs.
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