Bubbles, bubbles everywhere

After a few days knitting over the weekend I've managed to do enough of the camino scarf to show you how the bubbles are working out. Very yummy indeed! The zauberball was an inspired choice I think as it's slow graduations are working well with the size of the bubbles.

Now I'm working with the pattern, it's quite a simple construction but gives a more complex visual result. I think that's a bit of a theme for me:) Anyway, I love how this pattern uses the tight and loose tension to create waves and the lace circles. It doesn't look quite like this when I'm knitting it though! Lace knitting never looks like the real thing till you stretch it out and pin it at the end. But I wanted to see how it was going to turn out so I pinned this little sample to have a peek. I'm liking this a lot :)

Another knitter on Ravelry who used zauberball suggested that one ball should be more than enough for a nice long scarf or half a ball for a short tuck in the jacket length scarf. I'm thinking why not go for the whole ball as it's going to make rather a bright statement anyway!

Ooh, and can you imagine this as a wrap - maybe in a more subtle colourway - monochromatic perhaps? I'd love to see the pattern over a wider piece. I have visions of duck egg blue or pale sandy colours for some reason. Not very me I know but I think it would be very beautiful in a quiet, delicate colourway. Hmm...

 

I've only completed two bubbles as yet but nearly at the third one. I like when it comes to dropping the stitches and the bubble appears :) I do double check my pattern and stitch count before I let the stitches run though - check twice, drop once!! Once you get going though you can see pretty easily where the drops will be. I can, now I'm getting into the flow of things, watch the tv as I go and the pattern is easily memorised so you don't have to live with the chart under your nose all the time either. As long as I get the changeover row right then it all flows nicely.

I think though, I'll be saving this for evenings and getting some more jewellery or beading back into my days or I may be seeing bubbles in my sleep!! And after lots of short day projects this seems to be working up really slowly - for me anyway!

See you all soon,
elaine x

Little minxes

Little Minx socks - front

Today we have some knitting progress - yipee! Things are slowly returning to normal with most things having found a home - just a few more things a-waiting but hopefully they can get sorted tonight and then we can be DONE! Maybe a final tweek or two as I start to use this new workspace but that's okay, you can't pre-empt everything! (although I did give it a damned good shot!!)

So, back to the knitting. The little minx socks really are getting there now but I've only been knitting them watching tv and I've not done a lot of that lately so progress is slower than normal shall we say:-) Now I'm downstairs working, I can monopolise the TV and dvd for longer knitting times rather than using my computer to watch films *hehe* Much more comfy in the living room than on a swivel chair, I must say!

Little Minx - back

The foot section knits a bit quicker being plain on one side so you can steam ahead and get some good progress here. Saying that, the twisted cables are so easy to do, you just motor along remembering to twist every 4th row. I can get quite a few repeats done in 1hr of tv watching so it won't be long till I'm at the top. I keep telling myself every row counts but I think a concerted effort is needed to get these finished so I can start Vivian soon. I may just cast on Vivian this weekend anyway as time's-a-tickin' - April the 8th deadline:-)))  (not that you or girlie bump need the reminder sis!!)

You may have noticed that neither sock has a heel yet. Unfortunately the red bit I need is at the end of the ball so I've decided to knit both heels after both socks are finished. That way I can match up the colours better. The yarn isn't totally exact with its colour proportions as I found when I tried to match the second sock to the first but its near enough and still obviously looks like a pair so I can live with that:-))

Because I've had plenty of time to think about adding the heel to the sock, I've thought about different ways for doing this. The afterthought heel - which I intended to use - is meant to be reduced on both sides and then grafted together. I was thinking if I have to graft anyway, maybe I could do a short row heel? I don't like the obvious lines the decreases give the heel shape and I much prefer the sleekness of the short row heel. It would be easier to knit the heel from the top rather than the sock base so the grafting would be meeting st stitch instead of the knits and purls of the twisted rib pattern. I haven't come across anyone else using this method so is there an obvious reason it's not used, do you know? Anyway, I'll give it a try and if it goes pear-shaped, then I can always use the afterthought heel method.....:-))

Tomorrow, I get some nice baby yarn in the post - excited!! Time to start designing and knitting baby stuff. More on that soon:-)) Have a good weekend yourselves now!

Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball!

Oh. My. God! How yummy is this? It's by Schoppel-Wolle and these graded colour balls are the new Zauberball sock yarn. Look at the richness, the intensity of the colours! Heaven would be a Schoppel-Wolle shop with a nice, comfy knitting chair and an endless supply of free yarn:-)

This one is called tropical fish. I love the way the colours are so bright - they really are that bright - and it is so soft to the touch. It makes me realise that the noro I'm working with right now doesn't feel quite so nice. I feel like I've slipped back into the 80's with a rainbow colour palette and I'm loving it! Nothing subtle about this yarn!

This one is called Fuchsia. As you know a lot of my projects have fushia, or fuchsia if I spell it correctly, in the title so this will be quite at home. I'm thinking stripey socks, or stripey cardi? It may be a bit luminous to wear as a top - even for me! I think I will just live with them for a while till I can think of the best use for them. No rush except my impatience to see how they knit up!

But the range isn't all bright and in-your-face colourways. I also love the more subtle Almond pictured here. The more subtle tones are just heavenly. So rich and close in tone, you know they will just drift into each other as you knit and it will be gorgeous without trying. Can you tell I'm smitten?! And there are 9 colourways in all with more subtle tones like cranberry, denim and blackberries. There's a green one I like too - very jade - but I haven't found it in a UK shop yet.

At £9 a ball, it's an expensive 'smitten' so I will have to save up my pennies or learn to dye my own! I got my zauberball at modern knitting - it's a very user friendly site and so easy to navigate around. And talk about quick delivery! I only ordered them yesterday at lunchtime and they were here this morning!! Well impressive!

I also decided to try out some Addi circulars. I've been using my knitpicks 40cm circulars for my socks but they seem a little small in length so I thought I would try the 60cm length, and also see what the fuss is about Addi's. But silly me will have to wait as I forgot to order two! So lets hope that modern knitting will be as quick on the postage tomorrow;-)

Talking about socks.......

I've got this far with my noro sock. I was following a knee high pattern for the increases but today when I tried it on, it doesn't seem to be the best fit. The problem with changing the increases is that they start about 4-5" above the heel. That's a lot of ripping back. Will this sock ever be knitted?!!! Do I care any more? ;-))) Well, yes, but it's turning into more of a fiasco tester for new techniques!

If I rip back that far, then I should really test out that new heel so I don't have quite so obvious a ridge on the short row wrap and turns. And if I'm going to rip back to the heel, I really should do something about the line that is forming down the side where the colours switch. It's creating an obvious bump and I now realise from looking at a few knee-high patterns that it should be down the back of the leg - like a seamed stocking - rather than where it is naturally forming at the side. And possibly using a slip stitch.....

But I could be here forever on this sock so I'm thinking change the increases and fix all the rest on another pair. But will I be happy giving these as a present or wearing them myself, knowing I could have fixed them to make them a much better sock? Oh, perfectionist gene you are a pain!

Thank goodness, I have more sock needles on the way:-) The Zauberball is waiting to be knitted and I don't think I'll be waiting for the noro socks to be finished!