Friday, July 24, 2009

Knitting?

Yes, there has been knitting and spinning going on around here.

Lots of tiny socks for geocaching swag.

A "don't have to look" sock for Mike. This is where it was in late June after seeing the new Star Trek movie and at the start of Squidette's graduation. It has since seen Harry Potter, a two hour performance at Squidette's camp and been to the ophthalmologist. (Two by two ribbing can be done with my eyes closed. Or dilated.) It now has a heel and about 4 inches of cuff.

There is also a sock-in-progress for Squidette. It gets worked on while I'm waiting to pick the kids up from camp.

Tomorrow we are going to my sister-in-laws' for the day so I have 3 hours of car time and lots of visiting time. My prediction is that I will finish the first of Squidette's socks (it is almost to the toe) and maybe the first of Mike's pair.

And then there is Swallowtail ...

Knit in laceweight, homespun, two-ply, bamboo-silk (I'm not sure if it is a bamboo silk mix or if it is bamboo "silk." The roving (top really) was a gift and the giver was not, at the time, a spinner and didn't know anything other than what was written on the label.) Since it was evenly dyed, I suspect it it all bamboo. It was certainly easier to spin than silk.

I finished the spinning last summer and the yarn aged for 6 months or so before I finally realized that it needed to be Swallowtail, a pattern that has aged on my shelf for a few years.

I do not think I will make another Swallowtail. It is lovely and I am quite happy with it but the nupps seriously annoyed me. That said, I was using my blunt tipped addi turbos and not the newer addi lace needles. The next time I knit a pattern with nupps in it I will make sure to use pointy needles. I also suffered from some brain melting during the final chart and had to rip out half a dozen rows.

More to come as we start our summer travels. Pittsburgh any one?

5 comments:

Kristen said...

Your Swallowtail is lovely, and the fact that you spun the yarn makes it even more special.
I can't even master the first chart, and can only pray I'll get to the final one someday. If I don't go insane first.

Mary said...

Your Swallowtail is beautiful! I don't even attempt anything with nupps!

Cookie said...

That's a lot of little socks.

Your Swallowtail is lovely and it's even more lovely because you used handspun.

Btw, you could use beads in place of the nupps. I did that with my last one and really like how it turned out.

xo

Ina said...

I don't geocache, but I'd plotz if I found a box with tiny socks -- what a great souvenir.

Lovely Swallowtail! There's balance in the universe -- I love nupps.

Oldpatterns said...

love the mini socks!