Anna Bright Design

Pattern: Pomatomus socks, from Knitty, Winter 2005

Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy, in Visual Purple.

Needles: 2.75mm

Modifications: I reversed the lace pattern on the second sock, and copied Amanda by finishing the toe at 24 stitches rather than the 12 stitches called for in the pattern

Notes: Phew! I finished these during the closing ceremonies of the Olympics after a mad sprint to the finishing line on Saturday night and Sunday morning. I love how these socks look, but all the twisted rib has played havoc with my wrist; I don’t recommend this pattern if you, like me, have a tendency to get RSI. I also love this yarn and will definitely be using it again.

What I learnt: A number of things. I learnt a new cast on method for single rib, which I’ll share soon. I learnt that knitting for a deadline is not for me, but that knitting something along with other people is.

Just a quick post tonight – today was my first day back at work since the pneumonia, and I’m pretty tired. I finally finished my first sock yesterday, much to my own amazement! Here it is, fabulously and glamorously displayed using the tried and tested stick-your-foot-out-and-photograph-it-yourself technique:

I’ve got almost down to the heel flap on the second sock, which gives me some hope that I may even finish by Sunday…

Steve and I spent five days last week in Denmark: a couple of days in Copenhagen and a few days further up the coast exploring the countryside. Our boys were at a rock school (music, not geology), which meant that we were able to have our first week on our own for about six years.

We flew out on Sunday, and back on Friday afternoon. I’ve got lots to share about our trip, but I thought I’d begin with a Ravelympics update. The event kicked off at 8pm Beijing time on the 8/8/2008, which was 2pm in Denmark. During the week I had swatched, realised that I didn’t have the right side needles, bought a new set of 2.5mm rosewood dpns, and swatched again. Tempting as it was, I refrained from casting on until the official start time, which was when we were driving to the airport to come home:

All went well at first. I got off to a great start, and on the journey home got about an hour and a half’s worth of knitting done, which amounted to the top ribbing and half of the first pattern repeat.

But then, I was struck with an equipment failure setback: one of the BRAND NEW needles snapped! As this is the only set of this size needles I own, and as I will not be anywhere near a yarn store for the next week, I decided (once I had calmed down!) to start again on a slightly larger size. Here’s the offending article and the pre-ripped knitting:

So, I started again, and am pleased with my progress so far. I am just about to turn the heel on the first sock, so almost a quarter of the way through! Here’s how it looks so far:

And what’s more, I also managed to make a virtue out of my false start. I may not end up finishing these socks as quickly as I might otherwise have done, but I took the opportunity of being at home with my knitting books to try out a new cast-on method that is designed for 1×1 ribbing. It is very elastic and very strong, and I am delighted with how well it matches the rib stitches.

Can you see how different it looks to the first attempt (on the 2nd photo)? The original one is done using the two-strand method, which is the one that I use most often. The second method is described by Montse Stanley in her wonderful Knitter’s Handbook as the alternate cable cast-on. It’s a really neat and easy way of casting on for ribbing; I highly recommend it, and I’ll work up a demonstration of it soon to share in case you haven’t come across it before.

Go Team  Mine!!

I’m part of the Pomatomus Posse, making socks and gloves for Team Mine in the forthcoming 2008 Ravelympics. If you’re not a knitter, then that sentence, and indeed the rest of this post, is going to seem pretty strange. Sorry.

The Ravelympics is an event timed to start and end with the lighting and extinguising of the Olympic flame in Beijing. Knitters and crocheters (the Ravthletes) have seventeen days to make a project, which has to be challenging for them. My event is the Sock Put.

So far there are about 3,000 people around the world who have signed up to take part in this extravaganza. There are about eighty people in Team Mine, the team of selfish knitters who say ‘No!’ to making stuff for other people. Here’s our team uniform (I get a crown cos I is a Princess!):

Anyway, I’ve been trying to choose yarn for the socks I’m going to make. I ordered some Sheldrige Farm Ultra, which arrived a few days ago.

It is lovely, but I don’t think it will work for the Pomatomas pattern. The problem is that there is such a contrast between colours and shades in the yarn that I think it will overwhelm the lace stitch. I’m of the view that mulitcoloured yarns and lace patterns should be used together with caution, and that, generally speaking, the lace stitches that work best are one that have a horizontal pattern. Pomatomus has more of a vertical lace pattern.

Also, I think the yarn in real life has more contrast than it appeared to in the website photo:

It was still probably a bad choice though. Not to say that I don’t like the yarn. I do, I think it’s lovely. But I think it would look much better as a pair of Jaywalkers, for example. Another project for another day…

So instead I ordered some Smooshy Dream in Colour, which arrived this morning. It’s a beautiful, softly variegated purple yarn:

I think it will work much better with my pattern. Purple seems to be about the hardest colour I have found to photograph; I have no idea why that should be the case, but my camera did not like this colour at all. I took loads of photos to get the picture above, which is pretty close to the actual yarn. In the process I also took this one, which I like just because it looks to me like a big purple-y landscape…