Hey!
In the case that you never deleted this blog from your RSS reader – you can find my crafty stuff over at: theknitter.nicolehindes.com – head over and update your RSS feeds my friends 🙂
There are pretty pictures of spices over there :0
-in handknits!
Hey!
In the case that you never deleted this blog from your RSS reader – you can find my crafty stuff over at: theknitter.nicolehindes.com – head over and update your RSS feeds my friends 🙂
There are pretty pictures of spices over there :0
Once I stop breaking things!
I’m trying to build a wordpress.org site, and move on to bigger and better things… but shoot if all this php, css, htp, cyberduck, etc stuff isn’t really, really confusing!
Anyway. That’s what I’ve been up to – and what you can expect to see sometime soon-ish. Once my life calms down. It’s August, which means that I have no life for a bit while I’m training and while my staffers are in training.
Oh wait. This is a knitting blog. Hmm. Here go:
I have been watching the Rainey Sisters start knitting this and in a really wise snap decision, I rushed out and got enough yarn to start my own. I’ve knit even more than what you see there – I’m only 5 inches from the point where I get to do an armhole (how did I find the time to get that far, you ask? I have no idea.) and I love this knit. The errata makes things a bit confusing, but I’m liking it.
So yay. Knitting: Success. Blogging: Failure. Life: Busy.
I was going to resist doing the knitting olympics this round… but I decided that a swatch a day should be doable (and easy enough to “work ahead” – which I guess is like I’m doping, but don’t tell!) and so… we’ll have a swatch a day… but probably only occasionally on this blog. I’ll post them each day to the WTP blog, however.
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash
Needles: US #8
Gauge: 5 st/inch after blocking
Pattern: Barred Knit Pattern
Stitch Count Repeat: Multiple of 6 stitches
Book: A Treasury of Knitting Patterns
Page: 152
Comments: easy and pretty fun.
I’m pleased to be able to announce one of my secret projects!
Yay!
Here we have Popsicle (Rav link), a new sock pattern that features a mirrored patterning across the foot. I designed this for Three Irish Girls yarn company and their Sock Yarnista sock club.
I’m incredibly proud of this design and the way it turned out. It’s pretty easy/simple… and the swooshing off the foot makes me hope that people will be able to avoid some second sock syndrome. Just doing my duty, you know…
One of the design challenges in this sock was that I had to figure out how to do the gusset decreases (since the instep had it’s own party going on, I didn’t want to crowd it with your typical gusset decreases). I knew that as Cat Bordhi explains, I could place the decreases where ever I wanted in the gusset section, just so long as they existed… I tried a few options and finally found a perfect solution… along the bottom of the heel. You can see a photo here that illustrates this.
Um, so yay! I love this pattern and I hope you do too!
Here are some specifics:
Popsicle, Designed by Nicole Hindes
Gauge: 30 sts over 4 inches (36 rows over 4 inches)
Yarn:Â Three Irish Girls Kells Sport Merin
Needles: US 2 (But use what gets YOU gauge)
Download available: at the Three Irish Girls Website ($5.95)
The inspiration: This sock is an homage to the summers of my childhood. It’s a fairly simple, top-down sock with a heel flap. The interesting element to keep you out of the heat is the way the pattern melts off the top of your foot like a popsicle during the dog days of summer.
NOooo! This is a knitting blog. Silly.
I’ve started on the dishcloths. A few people suggested the colors that I ended up using – but ultimately, it was my mom who called (after reading that blog post – check it out, there’s a contest goin’ on) and told me that the bride’s maid (what a funny word linguistically… why did I never notice that before?) dresses were going to be brown with little pink accents. I like the combination, but there’s a fine line before one gets into neopolitan ice cream territory (which I’d like to avoid). And so I made the following dishcloths:
They’re not my favorite, but I suspect that’s because I’m not a huge fan of the color combos. Oh well. They’ll do.
I’ve also made another Velvet Oblivion. I make tons of these. So much so that I have a system for naming them. This one, for example is VO version 6.08 (month, year). They’re like my stand-by gift because they’re awesome, decently affordable (I can get 3 out of the ball of Touch Me) and SUPER quick since I’ve long since stopped knitting the furry border – a single round of double crochet just goes soooo fast. These are also like the ONE thing, IMO, that I’ve found as “acceptable use” of eyelash yarn.
It’s difficult to take a photo of yourself with a blindfold on. Here’s a few outakes.
I’ve made this version for a family auction that will occur over the holiday weekend. Benefits go to a great cause (you’ll learn about this later) and I’m sure that my auction item will bring in lots of dollars!
Yay!
And I’ve also made something for me!
($20 bucks says my mom leaves a comment asking for one/a collection)
I didn’t use a pattern for this. I was inspired by Annie’s (Ravelry), but after about 4 different attempts at knitting my own in the past few months, I had to give up on the knitted wire idea. Until… I went to a bead store and got some 28 Gauge silver wire. Tried again. Failed.
So then… I tried some crochet! Yay! It worked! Should I write up a “recipe” for this so you can make your own? Keep in mind that I don’t really know much about crochet… or writing crochet patterns (hence, the “recipe” idea).
In other news. It looks like texture wins for the upcoming sock design – for those of you who wanted lace or colorwork, keep in mind that this tutorial/design will definitely be adaptable for your own colorwork/lace – trust me – it’s just that in this case, the finished product will be texture. I’ve got some swatching ideas comin’ up… I’ll post an “intro” post and step one after the holiday.
It seems as though people are pretty evenly split with the whole “what should I design for you as a series of tutorials” with a lot of people being intrigued by the quilt-inspired scarf.. and socks.
Now… If I’m going to do socks, that’s going to be a big, long process because at the same time, I’m going to include excel tutorials for those wanting to write their own sock patterns. Yea. I’m probably too ambitious. But what can you do?
So… since the sock will be a series of posts… that may infact stretch a few weeks, I think I’ll do the scarf along the way (I think I too am intrigued by this idea).
But first…
I need to know what kind of socks you want me to design.
So… leave a comment…
Do you want: Colorwork? Lace? Or textural? Let me know and I’ll do some swatching over the holiday.