Coupling Socks

Coupling socks, done

Pattern: Coupling socks by Deb Barnhill.
Yarn: Colinette Jitterbug in Velvet Plum, 1 skein. (I bought mine from Sarah Durrant.)
Needles: 2.5mm KnitPicks circulars, magic loop.

Modifications: Nothing major, I just substituted the lacy m1 stitches along the gusset increases with normal m1. The primary reason was because I forgot that it’s supposed to be the lacy m1s 🙂 but then I rather prefer the way it looks without the holes along the sides.

Closer look at the texture…

This is a great sock pattern. I love the way it looks, it has an openness to it due to the lace, but not too lacy. It has the right amount of texture for my liking. And although it looks hard, the stitch pattern is actually quite easy to memorise. Another big tick from me.

The pattern is very well written too, there’s no mistakes that I can see. This is the first time I made socks toe-up with heel flaps (instead of short row heels), so I just followed the instructions to the dot. And it worked like a charm. I like the heel flap look better than short row heels, so I’m very glad to discover this method.

Flat look

I have to say that Colinette Jitterbug is a great yarn. This is the first time I’ve used this yarn, and I’m very happy with it. I was a bit concerned about the shorter-than-average yardage for a sock yarn (267m/292yd in a skein), but then I managed to get a pair of socks out of the single skein with still a little bit to spare (your mileage may vary). The yarn itself is very nice to work with, it’s soft and tightly spun, similar to STR I think! It comes in some lovely colours too. I particularly love this ‘velvet plum’ colourway, I think the subtle variegation adds some depth to the texture. The colour did bleed a little bit when I gave it a handwash after I finished knitting it (the water had a pale pink tint to it) but that doesn’t worry me as I won’t be washing these socks in the washing machine with other garments anyway. And the colour was still vibrant after the wash. I definitely would love to use this yarn again.

17 October 2007

Family and fabrics

My parents are visiting from Indonesia at the moment. I haven’t seen them for a long time, so it’s good to get to spend time with them again. Plus they haven’t seen Annette since she was born, so Annette is also enjoying getting to know her ‘new’ Oma and Opa. They came laden with goodies for Annette. How many Hello Kitty lunch boxes and stickers can one little girl have? Never enough, apparently!

Before they came here, they asked me if I wanted anything from there. I thought of yarn, but Indonesia does not have a knitting culture (it’s a tropical country, wool yarns are unheard of over there!), so I said, um, fabrics? And my mum came good, she brought me a little pile of fabrics. Here are some of my favourites.

Apples fabric

Bears

I vaguely remember having some pajamas made of the fabric in the second picture above, the one with the dots, houses, etc. My mum used to sew some clothes for me when I was little, although she doesn’t sew anymore now. I regret not taking any interest in learning to sew from her earlier. I didn’t have any interest in crafting whatsoever — be it knitting, sewing or anything else — until just a few years ago. Now my mum is quite pleasantly surprised and amazed that I have turned into a crafter myself 🙂

So for the past week Annette and I have been taking my parents around, did some sightseeing etc, and tomorrow we are going to yum cha. Yummm! I’ve finished my Coupling socks (photos soon), and Little Majolica is almost finished as well. Finally!

15 October 2007

gocco

gocco labels

No, I hadn’t bought myself a print gocco (though now I wish I had!). But Belinda was kind enough to lend me hers 🙂 I’ve always wanted some sort of label to attach to the things that I make (knits, bags, clothes? maybe not socks though 🙂 ) so I finally gave it a go with the print gocco, to make some labels out of twill tapes. It was a bit intimidating at first, with me letting the box sit there for a few weeks while I fret about how I want the label to look and how to go about doing it. But thanks to some fabulous tutorials on the internet, I finally felt brave enough to try it. If anyone’s interested, here are the links that I’ve found useful:

Once I actually got going and did it, it was actually quite simple (well the tutorials helped!) and not as complicated as I thought it would be. Print gocco is like a mix between screen-printing and stamping. First you get a design that you want to print (can be hand-drawn, printed from computer, photocopied, etc), then you ‘set’ the screen, next you apply some paint, and finally you stamp/press (to paper, card, or fabric, etc), and voila! Setting the screen was straightforward. Transferring to the twill tape took a bit getting used to, though. Had some hiccups in the beginning.

First try… gave a nice long press.

too dark!

Oops, too dark! Better press it lightly next go…

too light!

Oops, too light!

Repeat, until finally…

gocco label

Ahhh, that’s better.

6 October 2007

Socktober

Looks like October will be sock knitting month for me. I have joined a couple of knit-alongs, both of which are socks-related. The first is Socktoberfest, “a month-long celebration of socks”, hosted by Lolly. I joined Socktoberfest for the first time last year, thinking that I’d give sock knitting a go, just for fun. At the time I had knitted a pair of socks, but I wasn’t really into sock knitting. And during that month I didn’t even finish a single pair of socks. Doesn’t sound like a success story, you’d say? But what resulted after last year’s Socktoberfest, was that I was suddenly addicted to knitting socks. Sure, I’m not the fastest sock knitter around, but somehow it just feels strange if I don’t have a sock on the needles. I don’t know what it is about sock knitting — if I just want socks I could buy them for two bucks a pair. But perhaps it’s the comfort a pair of handknitted socks give, perhaps it’s the portableness of the project that I can work on anywhere, or perhaps it’s just the lure of the yummy sock yarns 🙂 So in celebration of the celebration that started my love of sock knitting, I’m participating in Socktoberfest again!

The other knit-along is the Southern Summer of Socks that Bells and Rose Red are hosting. It’s “simply as a fun, relaxed way to knit through your sock yarn stash” during the southern hemisphere’s summer (although it’s open to participants from anywhere in the world). So it’s not only for October, it runs until March next year. At the end of it they’ll have contests with categories such as “Best first sock”, or “Most socks”, etc. Sounds interesting!

I have a line up of socks that I’d like to knit, but that’s for later. To begin with I’d just like to finish the two socks that are already on the needles.

And I’ve ordered some Knit Picks circular needles from Donni (psst, she’s currently running a contest to win a free Knit Picks Options set!), for magic looping. I’m good to go!

Handknit socks

My handknit socks so far. Looking forward to adding more to my collection 🙂

28 September 2007

I love parcels

You might remember that a while back I joined the Scrap Swap that TuttiFruiti and RedHeaded Snip It organised. Well look what I got!

Scrap swap parcel

A big thank you to my swap partner Kristine. These arrived early last week, apologies for my lateness in posting about them! The fabrics are so lovely, lots of gorgeous florals, and in generous cuts too. I don’t have many florals in my stash, so I’m very excited to get these! She also included some japanese print and linen which she knows I love. Thank you so much Kristine! If you haven’t come across her already, Kristine designs a children clothing line under her label Townmouse, which is just to die for. She also makes these gorgeous creche bags!

And these gorgeous cards arrived from blogless Shireen. A lovely surprise. I love them! I love the way she put those pretty paper into such lovely designs. Thank you so much, Shireen!

Card by Shireen

Card by Shireen

Card by Shireen

Card by Shireen

25 September 2007