Handspun sock yarn

I finished the third lot of handspun sock yarn for my NEWT today, the one I called Marius, that is blue, purple and redNOTPINK. (Marius really is not a pink sort of guy. But a good red is difficult to dye, apparently, and mixing white mohair into it does not help.)

This one is not as thin as the other two. It's still 18 wraps per inch, but the 209g measured just under 400m. I think it's more of a sport weight or dk than fingering, so I might try 3.25mm needles for the socks.

ValJean, Cosette, Marius
4290m (4692y) of handspun singles.

I also finished the first pair of socks, made from hanspun merino/nylon that I dyed and spun a few months back, and called "10nant". (I've gotten addicted to Dr Who)

The pattern is Helix from the book "Brave New Knits". Nothing hard about it, though. I changed it to toe-up (so as to be able to knit until the yarn ran out) and also did right twists instead of left twists, which are much easier. The next pair of newty socks is Scylla, and I'm on the second sock...

I finished Jasmine's brioche scarf. It has one error I couldn't figure out how to pick up. The pattern is easy. It's basically just "yarn over, slip stitch, k2tog" repeated on every row, but it makes a funny looking stitch that I couldn't figure out how to actually repair, and probably would have needed a lifeline to frog back a bit. Worth trying, though. Ribbing without purling!

(I'll manage spindleknitter's impossible brioche cable socks one day!!)

Zara

I met my friend, Telly, when we were both pregnant with our first babies, and now our 5yo babies are still friends. Not only is her Zara a bright and cute girl, she has a proper appreciation for knitting. She requests knitted things, and that sort of enthusiasm shouldn't be discouraged.

Having said that, she requested this hat a long time ago!

It was to be blue and purple, with hearts and pompoms.

I kept putting it off for other things, until one night I found myself knitting with blue and purple yarn, and realized that the hat had started itself.

(Not Zara, but my 4yo knitting model, Jasmine)

Pattern

Stuff: 6mm needle (I used a 40cm circular), 100g of DK yarn, 50g of contrast DK yarn (or less, if you don't need 5 tries to make pompoms like me)

Bottom: Holding two strands together, cast on 70 stitches. (Knit two rounds, purl two rounds) three times. Knit four more rounds. Follow the chart (adapted a bit from an Alice Starmore book)

and then knit 35 more rounds.

Top: I wanted a pointy bit in the middle, so I did some short rows on each "side".

1. Knit 21, place a marker, k 35, place a marker, k14 (you are back at the start of the round)
2. Knit to marker, turn.
3. Slip 1, purl 6, turn. Slip 1, knit 5, turn.
4. Slip 1, purl 4, turn. Slip 1, knit 3, turn.
5. Slip 1, purl 2, turn. Slip 1, knit 1.
6. Knit the next three stitches together with the stitch below. (Look for the stitch that wraps around the base of the stitch, and lift it onto your left needle; knit those two together.)
7. Repeat 2-6 for the point on the other side.
8. The next round is for picking closing the holes on the right side of the points. Knit right up to the first gap, and knit the three stitches together with the stitch below. Just like before, but the gap is on the right of your stitch instead of the left. Do the same for the other point.

Casting off: I lined up my points (starting at the start of the round) and kitchenered the front and back together.

Pompoms :)

I'm hopeless at pompoms! I started off with three strands, threaded through the points, folded into 6 strands, and plaited. Then I attached fork pompoms.

Fun, hey? I think I made mine wrong; I tied through the middle and cut only on the back. Must try them properly, because pompoms are cute.

Three k

I have been spinning my little fingers off lately. I finished Cosette

Stats for the two of them:
183g. 512m of 3 ply. (1536m of singles.)
Length per 100g: 839m
Plan to knit: Cinch

And then I started on the ValJean

It's going to be stripey, because I divided up the batts like this first:

for each skein/sock.

Just before plying. I'm too lazy to change the bobbin :) so I wind off the single with my ball winder, making a "cake" like this, and then put it into a bowl on the floor. I've found that if I sit so the single runs over my jeans leg a bit, the slight tension will pull out the annoying little backtwist worms.

Stats on the ValJean skeins:
168g. 519m of 3 ply. (1559m of singles)
Length per 100g: 928m = Best yet. (in fact, the second skein was 995m/100g)
Plan: Hermione's Everyday socks

Well over 3km in 18 days.

I've nearly finished a scarf for Jasmine, trying out brioche stitch for the first time.

and I tried my hand at art yarn, making a batt out of many different things: hemp, flax, banana, tencel, mohair, angelina, merino, romney, cotton thread and bits of material. It was fun, but I can't think of anything to do with it other than laugh and throw it in the bin :)

Not much else going on here. Might finish some socks tomorrow; we'll see.