ravelry

Finished object #2 – Summer Sky Socks

Posted on January 25, 2013January 30, 2013 by bekswhoknits

Sock number 1 in my 13 in 2013 challenge is complete and I’m in love this pattern.

Two at a time, toe up socks, with little delicate cables, on my favourite addi turbo 2.5 circular, with moda vera noir ( which is always on special).

My Bloke thinks I’m in a rut because all he sees me knitting is socks.
But not all socks are created equally.

These summer-sky socks (yay! alliteration!) were a great cable project for me. After learning how to cable without a needle on my Christmas Spirit Hats, I wanted something so I could really practice.

And these are it!

The pattern has a yarn over detail in the centre, which makes it really easy to know where you’re up to in the pattern. It was easy to memorise and didn’t require a counter (always a plus in my book).

I really want to knit more things with this pattern. I’m thinking maybe a pair of fingerless gloves. Who knew I would like cables so much?!

A scarf in the middle of summer

Posted on December 24, 2012December 24, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I cast on this scarf over the weekend.
Now it’s forecast to be 40 degrees on Christmas Day, and I’m casting on a thick winter scarf??

Madness.

I put it down to the cold which I’ve somehow managed to catch.
Having a cold in winter seems normal, you get to rug up, drink lots of tea, and you always know if you have a temperature.
At the moment I’m not sure if I have a temperature or am reacting to the temperature outside!

So I curled up with the aircon on, made some stewed nectarines, and cast on a scarf.

Although its very slow going, so maybe at the rate it will be done by next winter!

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The cardigan is finished!

Posted on September 21, 2012September 21, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I am pleased as punch!
I made something and it fits.

Of course I finished it last night very late and so I have some very poor photos to show for it, but I’ve finished my first garment!!!

The pattern was really easy! I would imagine not all cardigans are so easy, particularly ones with sleeves, but I would recommend lady Kina to any knitter who wants to knit a cardigan.

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I cast on a cardigan!!

Posted on September 14, 2012September 14, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I finally decided to bite the bullet and cast on something wearable.

My biggest fear has always been it’s not going to fit.
So I had to choose a pattern which was all in one. Knitting two pieces and seaming them together is not going to allay this fear.

So I settled on Lady Kina. It’s short sleeved so it looked easy.
And it is!

I can hardly believe it. I cast on on Sunday, had Monday off (the aforementioned sneezing) and now it’s Friday I can see that it’s a cardigan!

I’m overusing exclamation marks today but I really am shocked and very impressed with myself.

It doesn’t look like much (yet) but I’m proud as punch!

~~~
lets talk!
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Socks. All about socks

Posted on August 24, 2012August 24, 2012 by bekswhoknits

Well this pair of socks started came into the world a while ago.
The flew to Melbourne and back without a single stitch being added.
They then sat around looking at the blanket being knitted, feeling lost and abandoned.

And then when I do pick them up again, I’m already kind of bored. I’m knitting them half heartedly thinking “I wish I had a pattern, or something more interesting than sockinette”.

Aha! I’m about to do the gusset, surely I can do something different with that!

So I hunted down Ravelry and found a centre V increase. I modified it to the number of stitches I had and I was on my way.

The heel turned with ease, the ribbing was complete when I felt restless.

What else can I do or learn for these socks.
Picot edging!
I love the look but have never learnt.

So onto YouTube I go and find my knitting guru, knitting by Judy.

And voila! I have a pair of socks with some interest.

The yarn is Moda Vera noir (as I can’t help but buy it in every pretty colour), and I’ve used two different colours and switched them over at different points.

Two at a time baby!

Pay it forward

Posted on July 10, 2012July 10, 2012 by bekswhoknits

While I was reading my morning blogs I came across this post from Keri.

And I think this is just the thing to keep me busy whilst I figure out my health issues.

These rules are from Tara over at The Little Things

Here are the rules if you want to join in:
1. I will send a surprise gift to the first three commenters on this post. The gift will be handmade by me. It will be sent sometime in the next 365 days. It will be a surprise. We all love getting surprises in the mail, right?

2. To sign up and receive a gift, you must play along, too. Pay it Forward on your blog, by promising to make a surprise for the first three people who comment on the post.

3. You must have a blog (that is updated regularly, as I will blog stalk you to find the right gift for you). Include your blog address in your comment. A Ravelry handle could also be very helpful, so add that too please.

4. After commenting here, you must repost this or something similar to your blog in 48 hours. If not, I will choose the next person who comments…Its that simple!! 🙂

I am looking forward to playing this fun game with my fellow bloggers and making something special and handmade just for them

And since I’m in Australia I’m more than happy to ship internationally.

Friday (finally)

Posted on June 22, 2012June 22, 2012 by bekswhoknits

What a week it’s been.

So here, presented without comment, are some of the creations I’ve finished off in the last few weeks.

For bonus credit, go have a read of this commentary of the Ravelympics saga.

A poor example of how to handle a copy right infringement. Particularly as the knitting community understands copyright pretty well. But Caitlin has blogged really extensively and writes better than I could (or have a right to considering its not my country’s idiocy. But we have plenty of our own)

Lesson learnt.

Posted on June 4, 2012June 4, 2012 by bekswhoknits

Always, always write down why projects you’re working on.

Particularly when you run out of yarn and don’t know when you’ll buy more.
Particularly when it ends up being about 6 months between shopping trips.

Because you’ll probably forget what pattern you were working too. There’s a lot of lacy baktus scarf patterns around.

Lesson number 2? When you don’t know what pattern you’re using, put a lifeline in place so when you have to frog back it’s a bit easier.

And frog back I did. 4 times.

I really was ready to thrown the damn thing out the window. Perhaps use it as a mop, or leave it in a draw with velcro.
But I persevered and ended up finding this photo still on my phone.

So apologies to whoever created the pattern because I’ve lost all other evidence.

But I’ve finished the damn thing and now I don’t know what to do with it.
I really don’t like it.
It’s not something I would ever wear, and dear ol Mumsi took one look at it and declared it not to be her either.

So it will sit in the gift bin until someone deserving comes along.

It’s such a pretty yarn too (Moda Vera Beauvardia) and fortunately I have a lot left to make something that’s actually pretty.

The moral of this story is the point we hope we’ve made

Posted on May 11, 2012May 7, 2012 by bekswhoknits

Reading a knitting chart after 3 white wines is never advisable.
Not the first time you read it, nor the second, and you should know better by the third.

Well I do know better now it’s the third but, this riff sock has had be confounded.
Obviously after a few white wines I don’t know my left from right, or my
Because I’ve done this twice now.

The first time I persisted, mainly because I was driving (passenger seat) and naively assumed that the pattern would eventually ‘make sense’. Well it did, but only when I read it correctly.
I eventually persisted and ended up with my laughing stock socks.
These were a failure from start to finish.

The second time was me being careless. I forgot about the previous failure (I don’t quite know how as they were quite literally on the Mr’s feet in front of me) and I didn’t double check the pattern properly.
Needless to say this time I frogged them and have since started again.

The other ones weren’t quite so lucky.
I made them on 3.5 mm needles. Which was too big for the sock pattern but too small for the yarn. So they are huge. Too big even for the Mr’s size 12 man-feet.
Then there was the pattern error at the beginning of the sock, but also at the cuff section.
And then I was so sick of them instead of fixing them I just finished the round of pattern and started the rib.
So they don’t fit properly around the heel.

So they’re my laughing stock socks.

Although I will say one thing about them, they’re nice and squidgy. And the pattern does look ok if you follow it properly.

So I’m casting on again. Let’s see if I can learn from my mistakes.

I didn’t have the heart to take more photos.

And if you’re wondering about the title of this post??? It’s the last line of this video.

I may be insane

Posted on April 20, 2012April 17, 2012 by bekswhoknits

I may be insane.
I am knitting a blanket out of sock yarn.

I’ve made a slight modification in that I’m joining the working 10 to the completed section using a knit 2 together (rather than ssk). I’m also changing yarns really frequently.

It’s all these sock ends that I don’t know what to do with, so I’m making them into a blanket. It may take me a while on 3mm needles.
So far it’s 6 different colour blends of Moda Vera Noro