Socks Finished !!!!!!!!!

I've just returned home from the post office where I got my Dad's socks off in time for his birthday. What a relief. The photo isn't too impressive, but the socks are pretty plain anyway, at his request.

And his birthday card:

The inset is a twill sample I wove for a design board.

It was an even greater relief that there was a few extra yards in the second skein, and so I could finish both socks. I was very happy to have m's suggestions, but was just as glad to be able to graft the toes without any further fuss. I'll remember her idea for the future however.

I stayed away from both loom and spinning wheel in order to finish the socks, but I confess that I did take an occasional break from knitting to try my hand at kitty song writing, which is popular amongst cat bloggers at the moment. I don't reckon it will be my claim to fame, but it was fun.

Now..... on to other fibery things.

© 2006 Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related Posts:
Gallery Photos: Greeting Cards
Gallery Photos: Socks
Making Christmas Cards - tutorial on making greeting cards
Q & A: Trifold Aperture Card Blanks

Weaving Yarn Details & Record Keeping

Valerie asked about grist and sett for the yarns I’ve been using for my shadow weave samples. I had to stop and go look for this information, in fact I even used my McMorrin yarn balance for the first time.

I doing this I became aware of two things:

Firstly, I realized that grist doesn’t really mean anything to me. I know the definition, but that is only intellectual knowledge. Experientially, I don’t know what to do with that information.

As a handspinner I am most familiar with WPI (wraps per inch), so this is what I apply to both knitting and weaving as well. Gauge and grist? Well, I have to stop and think about them. I have to reason through what they mean to me and the project I want to work on. WPI? I can run with that.

Secondly, I realized that even though I am trying to keep better records with my shadow weave samples, there are still informational gaps in what I record on my worksheets. I am writing more things down and doing a better job of recording all the information in the same place, but , I have been realizing that I rely on my memory way too much. For some reason when I look at a weaving sample, or a handspun skein, or knitting pattern, I assume that I’ll remember more than I actually do.

Consequently I have a dozen or so oddball sample skeins from fleeces whose breed and origin I don’t remember. I have several cones of weaving yarns with the labels misplaced. And I have several pairs of socks with mates which don’t fit the same because I couldn’t remember the exact modifications I made, or number of stitches I picked up. (Or, more likely, I misplaced the scrap of paper I jotted the information down on.) And to all this I’m now adding weaving samples with odd bits of information missing.

I’m not consistently scatter brained. I do have a nice file box of spinning cards with control yarns and notes on them, and I have learned to keep a sock knitting notebook with a page for each person I knit socks for. And most of the time I manage to jot down all measurements, calculations, and changes.

Weaving is a little easier because I have to write everything down in order to calculate yarn amounts for warp and weft measurements. And recently I purchased a 3-ring binder for my weaving notes and samples. So I am making progress, though at times I don’t feel like it.

Anyway, if you’ve gotten through all that and are still interested, here is the yarn information:

The yarn for the scarves:
590 yds per lb
Sett 5 epi







Worsted weight knitting yarn samples:
832 yds per lb
Sett 8 epi







The sock yarn samples:
2000 yds per lb
Sett, I'm not sure. I thought I used 10 epi for the red and white samples, but I wasn't happy with it. So for the orange and fair isle sock yarn sample, I used a sett of 12 epi and it made a much denser fabric. I liked it better, but it is hard to believe that only 2 ends per inch could make such a difference in the fabric. So I'm wondering if the specific shadow weave drafts make a difference. Does anybody have any experience with this?

8/2 cotton
3360 yds per lb
Sett 16 epi (fabric too loose, structurally)







16/2 cotton
6650 yds per lb
Sett 24 epi

After all that, I realized that the only way I will ever be able to use grist intuitively, is to pay attention to it and faithfully keep a record of it for the yarns I use. It may seem like more work right now, but I have faith that it will eventually pay off.

© 2006 Leigh's Fiber Journal

No Weaving, Just Sock Knitting

I confess that I haven’t been at the loom for several days as I’m knitting furiously in hopes of getting a pair of socks off to my Dad in time for his birthday.

I am a slow knitter, so in some ways knitting to a deadline is a bit frustrating for me. In my mind, knitting is a relaxing activity. So while I'm impressed with fast knitters, I have deliberately remained leisurely about my knitting. However, when I have a deadline (like now), I put pressure on myself which I don’t enjoy, and I end up kicking myself for not starting earlier. Which is the case here.

This is the progress on the 2nd sock:

The yarn is Knit Picks Essential. I’ve not knit with it before but they had the color my Dad wanted. My only problem is, that because of the size of the sock and length of the cuff, I only got this far with one skein:

That tail is the end of the ball! So, I’m wishing I’d either made the cuff a row or two shorter, or knit toe ups. A short row heel takes less yarn and knits up faster.

I knit toe ups for myself, but somehow don’t have the confidence to knit correctly fitting socks based on measurements alone with a toe up pattern.

Initially, I wasn’t sure what to do about that first sock. I finally decided to go ahead and start on the second. Who knows, there may be a few extra feet of yarn in that skein and I’ll be able to finish grafting the toe on the first.

Then again maybe not and I’ll have to come up with something else. The men in my life say just use another color. Their reasoning is that the toes are hidden in shoes or boots anyway. But to me, these are a gift so there is no room for flaws, cosmetic of otherwise! Not that I think my Dad would mind, but somehow “design element“ just doesn‘t fit the bill here.

At any rate, no decision has to be made yet. So I’ll wait to see how far I get with the 2nd sock to make it. ; )

© 2006 Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related Posts:
Socks Finished!!!!!!!

Shadow Weave Samples - 3

Two more samples.

The first (on the left) is another scarf actually. The pattern is the four block 2 by 2 shadow weave draft from Madelyn van der Hoogt’s “Color-and-Weave Basics” article in the March/April ‘05 issue of Handwoven. I did adjust the number of ends per block according to my desired project width. I followed the treadling order for the scarf (as drawn in), but can imagine a lot of treadling fun with it.

The yarn is the same Yarn Bee Icelandic Jewels that I used for the green and orange scarf. Red and black was the other color combination that I couldn't resist buying. I think what attracted me to these yarns was the ribbon plied into it:

My other experiment with this draft was to tie on some sock yarn leftovers. I used orange (obviously) and one of those Fair Isle space dyed sock yarns.

So this is the same pattern as the scarf but, as you can see, the effect is very different. I found the results intriguing, not only for the ikat-like pattern in the lower sample, but also because of the textured look added by the overshots. More design possibilities!

A couple of close-ups which I scanned in are below.

Next - Shadow Weave Samples - 4

© 2006 Leigh's Fiber Journal

Related Posts:
Shadow Weave: Doing the Triple S - my introduction
Shadow Weave Profiles- how to interpret
Shadow Weave Samples 1 - Begins a series of samples

Merino/Silk Mess Update

Well, I've gotten this far with this:

And still have this on the wheel:

So at least I'm at the point where it appears salvageable.

Many thanks for the encouraging comments! It's been a comfort to know I'm not been alone in this type of problem.