aurora borealis socks, finished
March 24, 2009
It doesn’t take much for me to callously toss aside a project in favour of something new, no matter how burning with passion I might have been for that project yesterday. This Noro sock yarn (on the left) has given me a lot of grief: first by having purple in the mix, which I always have to take out; by knitting up into a too-tight sock THREE times (not its fault, mine, but still); by not quite striping to my satisfaction until I started alternating four rows each from both ends of the skein; by being coarse and inelastic and generally hell on the hands. Sometime a month or so ago I dove into the stash to find a few softer, gentler yarns with which to satisfy my urge for stripes while not killing my hands.
Enter the Aurora Borealis socks (on the right). Four-row alternating stripes of Lizardman merino sock yarn from Twisted and Marrakesh merino sock yarn from Fearless Fibers. Soft and cozy, if a wee bit falley-downey at the moment (nothing a bit of elastic in the ribbing won’t fix).
There’s no pattern, just a bog-standard toe-up customized to fit my largeish calves. I used my favourite toe technique of casting on a few stitches (8, in this case), knitting a little rectangle and then picking up stitches along the sides and the cast on edge. An afterthought heel, because I prefer the look of the decrease edge to that of a short-row heel. And because I’m a wanker and don’t care for the look of a stretchy bind off, I cast on and knit the ribbing bands separately from the top down and grafted them on. Tedious, but worth it.
Posted by jodi on March 24, 2009 at 9.11am
grafting party
March 16, 2009
Curled up under a blanket with Peter, beer on hand, watching curling and working on a sock (a perfect Sunday evening were it not for the head cold that had me drinking medicine straight from the bottle).
Knit dorks, I hear you whispering over there. Yes, I’m grafting a cuff onto a sock. Why, you ask? Well. You know those fancy stretchy bind-offs for toe up socks, like the one that has you slipping every stitch back to the left and working it twice? I just hate, hate, hate the way those look, all floppy and lumpy. I hate them so much that I’d rather knit a cuff separately (using my beloved first cast on I ever learned, which is stretchy and sturdy and handsome and I would make out with it if I could) and graft it onto the top of the sock. Two thirds of the way through grafting the first cuff I’m almost ready to revisit those bind-offs, but not quite yet. But bloody hell, this is tedious.
Posted by jodi on March 16, 2009 at 9.04am
studio video, march 5
March 5, 2009
Ridiculously Hard Birch Plywood: “Oh, Wrist! Come over here a moment, would you? There’s someone I’d like you to meet. Repetitive Stress Injury, this is Ms Wrist”.
Repetitive Stress Injury (wryly smiling): “Ah yes, Ms Wrist and I have met”.
Wrist (wringing herself and sighing): “RSI and I go way back. That tall slender fellow over there, Mr Gouge, introduced us years ago”.
RSI: “Yes, my dear Mr Gouge. A fine chap, but not the sharpest tool in the shed”.
Posted by jodi on March 5, 2009 at 1.59pm
studio video, march 3
March 4, 2009
Drawing a calendar for my studio wall to help me with my time management.
Posted by jodi on March 4, 2009 at 1.55pm
