Rainbow Socks

I want to show you my new rainbow socks, modeled here by my daughter. I have had so much fun knitting these socks! I don’t quite remember where I had the idea to dye a rainbow yarn, but the inspiration for the construction came from several places.

First of all they are knit with several mini-skeins. I was inspired by the Blender Socks on Ravelry. The special method is that you change skeins gradually. You start with the new skein for a row, then knit from the previous skein and change again until you finally drop the old yarn. When you are done knitting you have several ends to darn in, but it was not too bad.

These socks are knit toe-up to make sure that I would have enough “room” for all the colours of the rainbow. I used a new-to-me method to cast on, that is very easy to do. I love it! You can see it in a video here.

The heel is the Smooth Tomato Heel by Cat Bordhi. She explains it in her video here. Again, I am very happy with this heel. It is very easy to do and most importantly I love the way it fits my foot. ( The socks are a bit too large for my daughter.)

To cast-off I used the sewn bind-off by Elizabeth Zimmerman. You can find very good instructions on Knitty (scroll down.) The bind-off is very stretchy and well worth the effort.

If you like to make your own rainbow socks you can find the yarn in my Etsy shop. Happy knitting!

 

Valentine’s Gift

Each year when Valentine’s day nears my kids have high expectations. I know they are not thinking of their Mom, but still I thought  could surprise them with a little gift. For my daughters I made these rings.

The rings are knitted out of silk lace yarn and the hearts are needle-felted and then sewn onto the ring. It took very little time to make them and my girls like them very much.

Here is how I made them:

Ring base:

Silk lace yarn ( I used my Swiss Silk) , 2 mm DPNs

Cast on loosely 18 (small) or 21 (medium) stitches using long-tail cast on. Distribute the stitches on 3 DPNs. Knit 6 rows in stockinette, cast off. Let the fabric roll inwards.

I needle-felted the hearts free-style with several shades of red and orange wool fibers. I added the fibers in several layers because I wanted the hearts to be very plump. You can find basic instructions  for needle-felting hearts on this blog.

When You Are So Late You Are Early

Every year before Christmas I walk into the Superwomen trap. I think I can do everything. When I look at all the projects on Ravelry that are Christmas themed or good as gifts I want to make them all. There are knitted door wreaths, Christmas decorations, little trees and even a squashed rat. This time I thought I could do something small.

When I saw the book 55 Christmas Balls to Knit I thought they were the ideal gift. I guessed I could knit one in an hour and make one for everybody on my list. Well, the first ball took me about 4 hours to make and I had to admit I could not do it. I also remembered that I don’t like to knit small things. I finished the second ball 2 weeks ago, well into the New Year. I also decided to keep them. This year I have started early, really to get ready for Christmas; )

Patterns: Eight Petal Rose and Rocking Horse from the book 55 Christmas Balls to Knit

Yarn: my own hand-dyed and natural in fingering weight

Needles: 2.5mm

 

Something Special

When my Mother-in-law turned 70 last month I wanted to make her something special. She likes to wear slippers especially when she stays in a hotel so I started to look for the perfect pattern. I found the Tweed Slippers by Natalya Berezynska on Etsy. There were several things I like about them. First of all I think they look good. The combination of crocheting and knitting is very clever, because in general a crocheted fabric is very sturdy and a knitted fabric is stretchy. I also like the double soles which make the slippers very comfortable to wear.

I decided to dye the yarn purple, because it is a colour that my MIL really likes, but thinks it does not suit her. I thought purple slippers would make her smile. For the outer sole I found a very sturdy yarn that I had bought many years ago. It is not soft, think carpet yarn. For the rest of the slipper I used two strands of my Aran weight yarn one in light purple and one dyed in dark purple. I made no changes to the pattern other than messing up at one point and crocheting an extra row.

It turned out that my arm likes crocheting even less than knitting, especially since I tried to make a firm fabric. At one point I thought about giving up,  but I persevered and finished the slippers just in time.

To make the slippers even more whimsical I attached two needle-felted flowers. I felted these onto a water-soluble stabilizer so that you can make the petals thin and soft. In the end I added lines of puff paint to the soles to make them less slippery.

The slippers look huge and they are a size 9/10, but they fit and are very comfortable. If I were to make them again I would add a few decreases at the back of the heel to a make them a bit more fitted around the ankle.

My MIL is very happy with her slippers and I am glad I got them done after all.

You can find the pattern on Etsy and on Ravelry.

Labour of Love

My 13 year old daughter is very fashion conscious. When she asked me to make her fingerless gloves I was delighted to be able to give her something handmade she would enjoy. I thought about the colours she likes to wear and dyed a skein of Louet Gems in “Colour in the Dark” for her. I had never knit gloves before and went to Ravelry for some research. I found a pattern and got to work. I was hoping I would get them done by Christmas.

Unfortunately after my surgery almost a year ago I have problems with my right arm, especially when I am knitting. I started the gloves, but during a yoga session I injured my arm further and ended up with an inflamed nerve. This meant a lot of things, but one of them was no knitting for sure. So what should have taken me 2 weeks took me closer to 3 months to finish. But finished they are, my daughter loves them and “luckily” it has been so cold and nasty weather, that my daughter even had a chance to wear them.

The specs:

Pattern: Knotty Gloves

Yarn: Sunnyside Ellen Louet Gems Fingering in “Colour in the Dark”

Changes: I had to change the number of stitches, because my yarn is a bit thinner and my daughter’s hands are narrow. Also I am apparently unable to follow a pattern even if I want to, because I noticed too late that while you knit the cable pattern you are supposed to knit the thumb gusset. I finished the cable pattern first. Another obvious change is that my daughter wanted “tipless” gloves, so I bound off the fingers after the second knuckle.

I really like how the gloves turned out. The pattern is very pretty and well written.