Je Déclare

Je déclare Monday, January 28th, 2013 as Chocolates From Normandy Day!

 

We are fortunate enough to have, as friends, a family of horse and dog lovers in Normandy, France. At Christmas, they sent us a photo of the family on horseback at the shore - as well as chocolates from Normandy. Note the horse theme!

 

 

With enormous restraint, we propped the box and photo up on a bookshelf and enjoyed the arrangement each day as we walked past it. 

 

Today was finally declared Chocolates From Normandy Day and, believe me, it was well worth  the wait. They are delectable.

 

A New Sock Pattern

October Leaves

 

I saw this new sock pattern, designed by Mary Henninger, posted on Ravelry recently and I couldn't resist the urge to cast on!

Neutrals Are Like Comfort Food

 

Left: Cascade Heritage - Color 5610 (camel)

Center: Opal - Color 5191 (anthracite)

Right: Cascade Heritage - Color 5618 (snow)

 

After Nora's training class this afternoon, I went to Dartmouth Yarns - a small store on Queen Street that has a lovely selection of yarns. I wanted to stock up on solid colors of sock yarn - either to use alone or in knitting stranded patterns.

And I found these three lovely neutrals.

Vibrant colors are fun and pastels are charming. But there is something soothing and peaceful and serene about earth tones. I think that is why I can never stay on Brooklyn Tweed's blog site for more than a minute or two. Although he sometimes uses deep colors, he most often displays his garments in earth tones -and it always evokes in me an urge to knit immediately!

Let's NOT Do The Twist

Just after Christmas, I purchased yarn on a cone for the first time. It is a worsted weight Rowan wool. I was drawn to it for three reasons. It is the shade of brown I wanted. Since I am knitting an adult sweater from the top down, it’s generous 825 grams would enable me to knit the entire garment without having to join a new ball (a pain in circular knitting). And the price was right – an entire Rowan wool sweater for $25.00!
The gals at the LYS warned me that the stitches, before blocking, would seem very loose and sloppy. But assured me that with blocking, the stitches would bloom and be lovely. They also cautioned that it was truly imperative to knit a swatch, block it, and recheck the gauge.
The good news is that the wool did bloom beautifully and my gauge did not alter after blocking.

 

Notice how uneven and sloppy the stitches look before blocking.

  

And how much the yarn blooms and the stitches fill in after blocking.

HOWEVER!

The yarn, it turns out, has a very high degree of twist. Now, you may think that for the for the price, the twist in the yarn is a minor inconvenience. But if the twist isn’t addressed, the garment will end up being knit on the bias. Techknitter has done an excellent post of this issue. And the problem became obvious as soon as I completed my swatch. You can see that the stitches are all leaning to the left. I have tried any number of suggested manoeuvres to deal with the twist – improvising a lazy susan for the cone, knitting with the yarn coming over the top of the cone, putting a long knitting needle through the cone and setting on top of a bowl horizontally so it turns freely, turning the cone upside down, unravelling and rewinding portions of the cone in the opposite direction but, alas, none so far have worked for me. And I don’t want to wind the yarn into smaller balls and have to cope with many yarn joins in the garment.

The pattern is Wagenfeld by Ankestrick. It is a simple yet stylish pullover. The project is very slow going because I have to stop up at least four times per row to dangle and untwist my knitting. This pattern deserves to be knit again, pleasurably, in a wool that does NOT twist!

Recovering From Second Sock Syndrome

I never had second sock syndrome until last January when I cast on two perfectly good sock patterns and, after completing a sock in each pattern, turned against them and they have languished at the back of the yarn drawer since then. I went on to knit at least a dozen other pairs of socks with great enthusiasm.

Last week, I resolved to finish at least one of the projects and rolled up my sleeves and knit with great determination.

The socks are from Stephanie van der Linden’s wonderful book Around the World in Knitted Socks and there is absolutely nothing wrong with this pattern. It is beautifully written, graphed, and from a collection of super sock patterns. I think I just wasn’t overly pleased with my own knitting and while practice makes perfect, perversely, I refrained from practicing!

Pattern: Route 66
Designer: Stephanie van der Linden
Yarn: Jawoll Superwash Sock (navy) and Lana Grossa Meilenweit 100 Ultimo (color 2504 – taupe)
Needles: Circular 2.25 mm

A Snowy January

Start As You Mean To Go On

I am sharing with you a beautiful New Year's card from Sophie and Jean Paul in France.

 

 

Happy New Year