Some pretty socks :3

So while I finished it a bit ago, I’m finally coming round to show off the socks I knit for the boyfriend. I did it with a knitty pattern–you can’t see the knit purl diamonds well unless you’re up close. (I do believe the pattern is called “waffle diamond socks”). In any case, I knit it with a ball of the Gaia’s Colours sock yarn I had, which is an absolute treat, on size 0 needles.

Waffle Diamond Sock

I did slightly different things for each sock, so one is a little bigger than the other by mistake.

socks!

The major big difference was the type of heel I used for each sock. For the left sock, I did a peasant heel from the lingerie knitting book. Since I hate picking up stitches, I’m not surprised that I didn’t much care for the heel.

Heels

The other heel was the one that came with the pattern, that had a gusset and heel flap. It’s the first time I’ve done a heel flap sock, and I quite like how it turned out–the eye of partridge pattern is really nice to look and it feels super cozy.

eye of patridge heel flap

I absolutely despise a plain 1×1 rib–it feels painful on my hands and takes forever. So naturally I like to try and play with my ribs a bit more. For each sock I did a different rib–the first sock is a sailor’s rib from the Second Treasury, and the second sock is a cable rib from Cables Untangled. I really like the cable rib and could see using it again.

Sailor's Rib

Cable Rib

The boyfriend likes them, which makes me quite happy. He’s taken to only wearing them around the apartment, despite the fact I made them to be worn just in general (they’re even superwash!). But they do keep his feet warm, which is the big thing. :3 And he likes them.

Tonight he’s making homemade lasagna and then taking me to see “Rent” while it’s in town. He sprung the tickets on me as a surprise, which was just too sweet. Until then, I’m going to try and make some homemade wheat noodles!

Psuedo-Rolags, Rosemary Knits, and Yarn!

So far school has been bound and determined to take up my time and so has the boyfriend. I don’t mind the boyfriend, cause he’s lovely and sweet and it’s good but I do mind school.

A favourite blogger of mine has been Rosemary of Rosemary Knits. She’s always inspired me to try and become a better spinner and actually knit with what I spin. While looking through some of her older posts, I came across one on psuedo-rolags. Having just tried to spin my bamboo fiber again (which is oh so finicky and hates to be spun if I use my usual predrafting methods), I was frustrated anew. So I tried out a psuedo-rolag and voila! While it still wants to be finicky, I don’t mind, because it spins a zillion times better.

On the spindle, psuedo-rolags, and the fiber braid

The rolags are really quite tiny, and I took a picture of one. When I get to some other ones I’ve created with the dyed fiber samples, you’ll see the bamboo rolls up a ton tighter than the corridale. It’s next to a US 6 in this picture.

Tiny!

Which brings me to the next bit–MORE psuedo-rolags. I have a new spindle on the way I plan on trying out with these lovely bits. I just wanted something to do with all those colour samples I had lying around, and so voila.

While I didn’t name all of them, I did name one due to a friend who has a thing for purple and orange. I’m hoping that it stripes like I think it will when I spin it.

Mroo

There are some others, and the one really fluffy one was before I started really making them compact with the knitting needle.

Brown and purple

Strawberry melon (it looks so edible)

Storm blue and orange--meant to have really long stripes

I’m hoping to basically make one rainbow coloured yarn. I’m trying to make sure everything looks good with everything else, of course, so I’ll probably be dyeing some new colours as I’m not sure what could possibly follow up the strawberry melon one.

Then I also have hat yarn! While I haven’t gotten started on either yet, I do plan on knitting a gauge swatch for the boy’s hat. I’m thinking of having a manly cabled beanie, but I’ll see. I really like the yarn–it’s super smooshy Tosh merino by madelinetosh–the colour is jade. It’s singles, and a dream to touch.

Jade tosh merino

And then mine is finally getting a chance to indulge in some Lorna’s Lace! I got a DK weight in purple iris, and I’m really looking forward to it. I’m going to knit another Fern Glade hat (since the other way a gift and I really did like that hat).

Shepard Sport Purple Iris

Then I found some handspun singles in the back of my favourite antique store! They’re even still on their bobbin. I thought it was so awesome. I’m thinking on plying them together and then figuring out what to make depending on how much yardage there is. While not exactly the same, I think the colours are close enough to look good plied. The least sheeny one is definitely wool, and I think the sheeny one is probably some type of plant, but I’m not sure what.

The left is wool, right is plant(?)

Very fine lovely lace. This is next to size 6 needle again.

And I do believe that’s all. I’m going to hopefully have the boy’s socks done soon, as well as Mroo’s arm warmers with their evil pattern of inunderstandability.

Cheerio all!

Unrelated to Knitting

I watched this fantastically beautiful short today, called “The Cat’s Piano.” Maybe it won’t be your cup of tea, but take the 9 minutes to sit and watch it–it’s beautiful.

You can watch the whole thing here.

Pricing

So with me wanting to move into actually selling my lace work, one of my bigger thoughts has been concerned around pricing. I don’t want to charge exhorbiant amounts, but after some browsing of stuff of similar skill level/size, I realize that I don’t want to undercharge. I especially don’t considering that it takes so much time to make a decently large scarf out of lace weight, let alone a shawl.

I have figured out a little, and it will most likely be adjusted based off what happens in the future. I’m not sure what my per hour rate would be–of if I wouldn’t do a per two hours, since just a small portion of a scarf can take upwards of two to three hours. This becomes somewhat important to know as well, since I may also do commissioned dreads on occassion.

So, here’s a general idea so far:

Scarves would most likely run about $30-$50. Shawls would run around $75-$100. Commissioned work would be price of supplies + $8/hour. Due to how much of this is skilled labour–and yes, even a plain garter can be skilled–I think that is pretty fair. If you see a scarf that I have knit, and would prefer it with a different fiber (merino instead of cotton, or silk instead of merino or some such) I will help you pick out the appropriate yarn in the fiber and colour you would like and knit it. Other than cost of the supplies–which may vary–the item will be equivalent in both pattern and quality to the original listed item. It is very unlikely that I will do the same for a shawl; however, feel free to ask. Maybe I’m feeling risky or some such.

Other items than scarves or shawls are perfectly okay to request. It is very likely I will offer fingerless gloves/wristlets, and commissioned sweaters are also feasible. Large projects such as blankets, bedspreads, and table cloths are also options, and I may knit one every year or so. While lace is my main focus, items with cabling are also enjoyed and may go up for sale on occassion. If you see a knitting pattern–please, only knitting; I do not crochett–that you like, please contact me about the possibility of knitting it for you if you can’t knit or simply don’t have the time.

Hand-dyed items will most likely be slightly cheaper, because undyed yarn is (generally) cheaper. However, this is taken at the fact that there would be less uniform colour throughout–dyes do not set perfectly evenly.

If an item is requested to be done with my handspun, price will be cost of fiber to be used, time to spin the needed amount of fiber, and time to knit up the item. It would be knit either with singles, double ply, or navajo ply (triple ply). Note that double and navajo will take two/three times as much single to be spun respectively, and as such will cause price to go further up (as it takes more time). Time in this case would still be $8 per hour, as spinning an even single and then plying it appropriately can be a very trying task.

Occasionally I may offer spun lace singles; these will most likely be cost of fiber + $10-$15 depending on how much was spun and how much time it took. Generally, I’ll try and keep costs relatively low on lace singles I offer, and as such they will be handdyed since a pound of undyed fiber is much cheaper than the predyed stuff.

Lace singles may also be requested, and follow cost of fiber + time, as with all other commissions.

If you have another yarn/fiber based endeavour, please feel free to contact me. I am currently working with Shannon of Mroo Art on a commision of some fiber/yarn dread locks. If everything goes smoothly, it is possible I will begin offering dread locks on a commissioned basis only.

I do ask that all commissions be place at least three months prior to when they are desired. While I can often knit up things fairly quickly, I do also have other things to do as a university student. Especially large projects must be requested at least six months prior–shawls, bedspreads, curtains, ect all take a great deal of time on my part to get done, and to make sure they are done without error.

Shipping costs are not included in any of these figures–shipping will most likely be a flat $3.99 to anywhere in the States, and adjusted accordingly when being shipped not in the states. Items will be shipped wrapped in tissue in a box unless otherwise requested. Special items will be adjusted for weight. An invoice will also be included; all items must be paid for prior to being shipped. Commissioned items will be cost of supplies used and supplies being shipped to me (if necessary) before any work is begun, with payment upon completion of the item before it is sent to you.

Jeez, that was rather exhaustive. Hopefully you people can let me if this seems like a fair/reasonable dealio?

Dye!

No, not die. Dye. I’ve been doing a bit, as you’ve seen with the lace sampler scarf I knit myself. What I’m showing here are some of the colours I’ve managed to come up with. All these samples are done with plain old Corridale fiber.

Lemonade Pink

That’s one of my very first dye jobs I ever did, and it still makes me want to eat it. Or drink it. Whichever. It’s a very nice pink, but I prefer a softer one when knitting stuff up, so I don’t see myself ever using this for anything.

Various oranges/reds

For the above, we have more of my experiments with red/yellow. While I don’t usually use these sorts, I did find it very useful for figuring out how the dye works. From left to right, we have Orange, Sherbert, Ginger slice (like those slices of ginger that you get with sushi), Watermelon Pink, and Dusky Rose.

Leperchaun Green

This is exactly what the caption says. It’s a pretty straightforward green–not an even split of blue and yellow, but it did give me an idea of just how silly bright yellow is.

Peacock Blue

This is the original Peacock Blue, which obviously came out much paler on my scarves, and also a lot more mixed. As such, either I need to increase my dye strength with that amount of yarn or take into account all my samples will most likely be much darker than yarn. Personally, I’m not opposed to doing a stronger dye or redying as needed; and I also like seeing what comes out at this point based on method.

Princess Purple, Royal Purple, and brown (left to right)

And now we have the most recent of my dyes. Princess Purple is a very red heavy purple; it seems far more girly, and instantly reminded me of the purple of a princess’ bedspread on the cover of a book I once read. The Royal Purple is excellent in my opinion–not too dark, but also not so red anymore. It took much longer to do than the Princess, primarily due to how blue heavy it is. The brown is… well, just that. It’s a very nice brown, but I didn’t realize just how strong the red was in the bath until too late. I’ll probably dye over it later with more green, as I was going for a dark green.

Some general notes on dyeing so far:

Blue takes much much longer to soak up than red. Salt does in fact make for a more even coat (I used some to soften up the water prior to making the Royal), and adding a little vinegar at a time is also a pretty good method (which I used for the Princess).

If the dye isn’t taking up anymore, but you think it could, add some more vinegar. Vinegar is always the answer. Except when it’s not.

Red / yellow will always be very strong colours, so take that into account–you’re going to likely need less of them than you ever will blue.

Redyeing something is also an option–to make it darker, to even a coat up a bit, or just to fix a colour you don’t like.

Stirring up the dye can help make for a more even application–just be aware of whether what you’re doing is going to felt, and if you can afford that. I’m pretty generous with my stirring/mixing with the fiber samples, but I also line the fiber back up while it’s still steaming hot when I pull it out so that if I decide to spin it, I can.

Note down dye lots. I haven’t not done that yet, but I hear it can be a bitch if you do a pretty awesome colour you’d like to replicate.

Facebook Profile and Design

So I’ve got a facebook page now.  Feel free to friend it; while many updates will be here of course, it’s a good place to see at a glance when things are going on sale and scheduling. Silverrose Lace

In other news, I’ve finalized a scarf that I plan on selling. It will most likely be done in Plymouth Lace Alpaca, in their very nice pink colour. Super soft, and very spring love. Or I’ll do it in a partial silk mix and dye it–I have a few ideas for a good purple that I’ve been contemplating.

In any case, enough talk. Here’s two images of the sample I knitted up. While the edge hasn’t been put on, it’s a nice standard Estonian lace edge that will compliment very nicely. At first I was hesitant about using the full three Garbo panels for the border, after blocking and realizing how much more scarf there is left to do. Since it’s big enought o be a small shawl or large scarf, I’ll likely sell it as such. It will also be knit in two pieces (so the butterflies are going ‘up’ on both sides) and grafted together in the center.

Really enough talk.

Closer up view; mercanized crochet cotton

Less close view; 1.5 reps of liblikari pattern

It’s knit out of size 10 crochet mercanized cotton on US2 needles; roughly the same size as the alpaca lace or kilara that I plan on using.  I will probably knit it on the size 2 as well, to keep it close to this size–at present it’s about 18″ across after blocking, which seems a very good size.

If knit with the plymouth, it will likely run about $30+, depending on if I have to use both skeins.  I’m also curious about selling the pattern after I finish, since I know I’d never be able to knit enough for demand if it’s well liked.

That, I do believe, is all I got for today. Cheerio!

Lace Sampler Scarf

Hallo all! Today I want to share with you my obnoxiously long lace sampler scarf I decided to knit up.

I'm 5'9", and it's /still/ longer when I hold it over my head.

Long, as I said. But I adore long scarves, and this just means I have plenty to wrap around my head and neck. I was most surprised because prior to blocking it was only about 5 feet long. It obviously grew a bit.

It’s knit out of about 200 yards of Knit Picks bulky weight Suri yarn–a very fuzzy 100% alpaca yarn, so very cozy and warm too. You won’t find that colour though–I had some left over white from the blanket I knit my friend, and so I decided to redye the two skeins in a very pretty colour I accidently made while dyeing. I’m calling it peacock green, and it’s mostly blue green with the ocassional bit of really dark blue-purple.

I did the two skeins differently, as you can see from the edges–the edge was pour dyed in a crock pot, while the main part of the scarf was plopped into a big pot of hot water that had the dye in it already. Huge difference, but truly the same dye baths–even same dye concentration!

Scarf folded over; darker skein used for main part of scarf. The edge on this side is the Narrow Points edge.

Now it’s a lace sampler, so it has all sorts of bits of lace. I started knitting it on the way to the Neal Smith Pairie Conservation with my environmental class, so the first part was just really simple webbing and faggoting, since I couldn’t remember anything else offhand. (Edges will be discussed seperate, as they were knitted on last).

webbing and faggoting

The next part of note is the Estonian cookie pattern. I’d been wanting an excuse to try it out for ages now, and suddenly found myself with a scarf that I didn’t want to do boring stuff on. So I did that for two repeats or so.

Estonian cookie pattern

While this oriented differently, it’s almost directly after the cookie pattern. It’s a faun’s eye lace–Barbara Walker’s Second Knitting Treasury–that I thought looked very nice. I also did a Milanese lace and few others from that book. However, I didn’t picture everything since I basically would switch lace if I messed up a row too horribly or what have you; this is a stress relieving project and not a gift, so I wasn’t worried about having mistakes in it.

Faun's Eye Lace

Milan Lace

Finally, I got out Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls by Martha Waterman. I used the Narrow Points lace edge on one side, and the Waves Edge on the other–I’m really very fond of the Waves Edge, and I think the colour of the second skein suits it perfectly. While I was tempted to do something from Heirloom Knitting, but my favourite edge was way too big for just this scarf. I suppose I’ll just have to use the wedding lace edge on a proper shawl!

Wave Edge

In other news, I’ve obviously moved and finally got myself a new companion–the lovely Phalaenopsis orchid. I named her Vera–even though Vera would be a perfect name for an aloe plant looking back on it. In either case, here’s a very good crisp shot of her blooms.

Vera

More Shenangians

My current predicament? I’m too lazy to take pictures again after having to do a system restore. I’ve got nearly everything backed up, but I want the pictures to be up to date, which the most certainly aren’t.

So instead, I come bearing some brief reviews on recent books I’ve acquired:

Amigurumi Knits is a really wonderful book. The pictures are clean and easy to understand, there’s plenty of instruction, and the projects are all cute and fun. I’ve just recently used a up a bit of yarn I thought I’d never have a project for; this is a book for people who need to bust their stash. I’m just glad to have a use for all the novelty yarn and worsted weight that I bought years ago and never use now that I enjoy doing lace.

Second Treasury of Knitting is epic. There’s a few dozen things I want to try out in it already, but that will have to wait while I work on fixing a lace alteration. There’s plenty of lace, but that isn’t the only thing that I want to try out of this book by a long shot. Even if I ignore all the colour work completely, there’s plenty more techniques and tricks well worth trying out.

Cables Untangled is my go to book for socks now. Socks are so boring without any design, and with my disdain for colour work, throwing in a few cables is always good. There’s plenty of ribs that make for pretty cuffs, and it certainly sates my need for cables. The pictures are very clear and there’s plenty of instruction. The book, though, suffers from what many knitting books do for me–not really any pattern I want to knit. Oh sure, that blanket on the cover would be awesome to do, but I think that was all that really caught my eye. Granted, I don’t care for sweaters, or pillow covers.

And I do believe that’s all for now. I’ve got more books, but I can’t see their titles from here. Hopefully that tides you all over for a time!

Removing Mill Oil (lots of Pictures)

I just recently bought two skeins of yarn from The Yarn Workshop–which I’ll make more comments on later. They arrived, they’re beautiful, and I’m fairly certain I’ll buy a cone of one of them, though which remains to be seen, since I want to knit with them first.

In any case, their yarn arrives with the mill oil still on it. This isn’t a huge deal at all, and is quite easily removed (thankfully!). Since I didn’t see many places that mentioned how to get it off, I decided to go ahead and make a quick tutorial of how.

The skein I’m demonstrating with is the Killara, a 55% silk/45% superwash wool lace weight. The other skein of Geelong (100% fine merino laceweight) was slightly different in water appearance, and took slightly longer to get all the oil out. Either way, there’s so little difference that it wasn’t worth doing pictures for both.

Go ahead and untwist the skein so that you can make sure nothing’s tangled.

Skein, ready to be soaked.

Make sure the sink you’re using is clean! Wipe it down with a rag or some such. For a silk blend, the water should be warm but not super hot. Fill the sink up about halfway. For pure wool, I always go scalding. Take a look at your water. Your going to want to get it that clear at the end too.

Clear and clean water, lukewarm for the silk.

Next, gently put your skein on the water. It’s most likely going to want to float, so very gently press it down into the water, getting as much air out as possible.

Floats on water!

Your water will most likely become very cloudy/yellow pretty immediately. That’s mill oil coming off the skein, and that’s what this whole process is meant to do!

Yellow water!! Don't forget to add your soap.

At this point, I recommend adding some more water of equivalent temperature and dish soap. You can also add the soap with the first sink full if you’d like, or drain the sink and refill with soap. Just make sure you have soapy water and press the skein back into the water and let it soak all the soap up. You should use dish soap primarily because it’s meant to get oil off/out, and mill oil is still oil.

Bubbles and soap. Make sure the skein is pressed in firmly so it sucks up some of the soap as well.

Give it about five minutes to soak, and then begin to do the rinse process. I didn’t picture it, but gently remove the skein, press it so water runs out, and then drain the sink and refill with clear water. Press the skein in, check how the water looks. Continue draining, refilling, and pressing the skein in gently until the water is mostly clear again.

Put the skein on a towel next, spread out in big oval/circle form.

Begin rolling the towel over from one edge until it’s in noodle shape, and then stomp much of the water out as you can. Do not rub the yarn at this stage to dry it; that should be a given, but you never know.

Mmm, noodles.

Once you’ve done that, hang your yarn to dry! Well, you can lay it flat to dry, but I prefer to hang it so that it stays out of my way for the most part. Plus, there’s a nice feeling of satisfaction that comes from seeing it hanging.

Killara yarn

Geelong yarn

And that’s all there is to it! Hopefully this has proven helpful to someone.

Happy knitting!

Lace Tips

Work in good lighting.

Make sure you’re at a WS row before purling all the way across.

Ripping back 251 stitches would make even the hardest rock cry.

Large open lace requires a border that is at least mostly open as well to look decent, otherwise it looks strange. Or at least it does to me.

If you do something you think is pretty–like always slip the first stitch purlwise of your garter border–and you find a book that is all DON’T DO THAT ignore it. Do what you like, it’s your lace.