Finito!

My sockapaloooza socks are finished!

They'll be a little bit late to my pal, as they've got a long way to travel, but I'm pretty pleased with them. I did end up frogging back the foot on the first sock to re-knit the heel, but they seemed to knit back up again super quick, considering how long it is since I started them. Perhaps the Anzac day holiday helped a little... and the fact that we put off painting the white walls in the laundry until another day... sometime soon....



The Vital Statistics:
Yarn: Eki Riva Superbaby Alpaca
Needles: 2mm 80cm addi turbo circulars, a gift from Kris
Pattern: Baltic socks from the German Muster Socken knitalong.
Pattern Modifications: I played around with the pattern so much I decided to re-write it (in English!). A pdf copy is available here and on my sidebar.

Other comments: This was my first shot at Magic Loop, and I found it just as easy as knitting on two circs (except maybe a bit awkward on the heel), and very convenient for commuter knitting. There did seem to be a bit of a knack to getting the needle cable to sit right, but once I had that sussed out it was smooth sailing.


The first sock didn't actually start out on the loop: it was the subject of quite a different "first" knitting experience: a law-breaking one. I started knitting the sock on an overnight interstate work trip. A trip that involved smuggling some bamboo sock needles and yarn in with my toiletries in my hand luggage (for those who don't know, down here we're not allowed to take any type of knitting needles with us in the aeroplane cabin). What can I say: I've you're willing to risk it, you may be able to get away with it too - although I hasten to add that I had no intention of knitting whilst on the plane! Just in the hotel room that night. What a lovely guilty pleasure...

delicious distractions

I have stuff to do. Suff like helping Scott paint the laundry, so that it's bright white with cafe latte feature brick wall (instead of a poxy pale blue that goes appallingly with the beige and grey tiles and flooring).


Yes, plenty of stuff to do.

Even without phone calls from a certain old and painfully neurotic friend demanding precise details about plans for my impending nuptials (an annoying distraction) and packages like this from Axelle (an exceedlingly special and wonderful distraction):



I was delighted that Axelle (creator of the Klee scarf- my staple chilly morning attire) agreed to swap some of my handiwork (I'll let her tell you about the details) in return for a couple of skeins of her amazing handpainted yarn. When I opended up the package, I was overwhelmed by how generous she had been, sending me three skeins of Estelle Sportweight cashmere, plus some delicious Dagoba dark chocolate spiced with chilli (mmmm I'm rapidly developing an addiction to this stuff- Good thing I haven't found it somewhere local yet!).

The colourway is Hotel California, and it's incredibly vibrant and warm in real life. Somehow just gazing at it across the room it gives me warm fuzzy vibes.

I must get these sockapaloooza socks off the needles and find a pattern to knit the cashmere in. I was originally thinking of socks, but with 600 yards of yarn to play with I think I'm veering towards a lacy scarf -cashmere needs to be next to the skin I feel... Do you have any suggestions?

a sewing project

Over Easter I got together with a creative sewing buddy for an inspired day of fabric shopping, cutting and sewing, and now I very nearly have a completed skirt- but I couldn't wait until I finish it off to share the process and the fun with a few people who might appreciate it a bit more than Walter (who just wants to lie on it) and Scott (who doesn't see what all the fuss is about).

My sewing buddy and I started out with a fabric shopping expedition to two of our favorite haunts: Cutting Edge on Glenferrie Road, Malvern, and Artextil in Lennox Street, Richmond. Wonderful stashes of bolts of beautiful quality fabrics including Italian deisgner creations, and wonderfully friendly service. I love a sales lady who offers you the remnant she had stashed behind the counter for herself, just because she sees that you've fallen in love with the large piece from the shelf, that's just not quite big enough for the coat that you're planning to make. So kind.

Some of the fabric is pretty pricey, but it's great value when you consider the quality. After all, how much would you spend on an Ermenegildo Zegna skirt? - that would be of course, assuming that they had given up on making suits for Paul Keating and actually made skirts. Personally I like to think that the $80 I spent for a bit less than a metre of the most divinely supple and soft Zegna wool flannel was a bargain.

After the shoppping fun, we ajourned to my friend's perfectly appointed inner city studio flat, and reaching for her copy of Pattern Magic (Hey, doesn't everyone have a copy yet?), I started cutting little boxes from stiff paper, and taping them onto a copy of my favorite skirt pattern: a DKNY A-line skirt that's at least 10 years old and has been "made" at least a dozen times (I suppose I could say I've made it that many times... perhaps more accurate to say I've based a garment on it a dozen times?).


We contemplated the placement of boxes, which involved some modelling, and sketching, and contemplating. The idea was simple enough, but there were a multitude of ways of arranging them, sizing them and piecing them, and I wanted to play with the pattern of the stripes and the shape of the boxes.


With the design decided, and the pattern pieces cut, the next step was cutting the pieces. I mixed in a scrap of a plain black flannel for some added design interest.


I returned home to the familiar presence of my Huskies to tackle the next step: tacking, pinning, snipping, trimming, and sewing. With the benefit of hindsight (and confirmed by my friend's advice: she concocted a skirt based on another Pattern Magic style in a fraction of the sewing time that my skirt has taken) this is probably one of the most difficult designs in the book. Or at least, it seemed that way as I carefully trimmed, pinned and sewed, stretching and folding the fabric at each corner of the boxes. This isn't a sewing exercise for the beginner or faint-hearted.


But OOohhhh, the sense of satisfying wonder as each sculpted box took shape...


The end result was a bit of a dog's breakfast on the back (and will be getting covered up with some lining), but the front of the skirt is pretty cool I think. Subtle enough to evade the first glance, but a point of intrigue for the eye of a keen clothing fan (or so I hope...)



Ok, so maybe that photo isn't so good- you really need to see it worn as a skirt. I guess I'd better get on and finish it....
Along with my sockapaloooza socks....
and the bags I'm making for the shop...
and a couple of things I'm swapping...
or something for the 7 friends (and counting) who have announced they're producing babies this year...
and I'd better not bore you with the other mundane stuff on the "to do" list...

Rummaging

Last weekend Scott and I enjoyed a little weekend away in the Yarra Valley. A bit of a relaxing escape from our usual surrounds and a spot of wedding planning to take care of. We found a warm and cosy B&B, complete with roaring log fire and freshly baked bread delivered to our room. Very snug. Almost too snug to leave. But we did manage to drag ourselves outside, venturing through the wet and wintery weather to rummage through some op shops. There's couple of second hand stores in Yarra Glen, a couple of large op shops in Healesville, and on the drive back we stopped in at the weekly "Trash and Treasure" carpark market in Wantirna. So along with the books we found, there were two other exciting finds:

First up this cute little box caught my attention in Healsville. So perfect, so cute, so boxy. Inside, a old slide projector. Romanslide 35, Made in Japan, No idea how old(yet.. must Google more).


The plan is to replace the light fitting and check the electrics so that we can actually use it- I have a collection of slides from a few overseas trips, and I'm itching to bore some dinner guests with my detailed holiday recollections...

The other exciting find was a vintage Singer sewing machine. We were thinking about hunting something like this down for sewing leather on- we'd heard they're really sturdy and great for this kind of heavy duty work. And besides, the three sewing machines that already reside here just didn't feel like enough!


We saw about half a dozen of the old Singers over the weekend, all generally about the same age, of varying prices and condition, different parts missing or damaged. This one, found at the Wantirna "Trash and Treasure", was the cheapest at $20, and looked great but was needing some repairs to get it back up and running. $20 seemed like a fair sum to risk finding out, even if we just ended up with something to use for spare parts.

We've already been in touch a sewing machine man who does this kind of work, and it sounds like it's fixable. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, we've figured out it's a 201K, dating from 1951 (the serial number is the clue), and found an instruction manual.


Now, I'm all inspired to do some sewing (on one of the machines that's working!)... where did I put down Pattern Magic...

the art of decorative thongs

To those Aussies after footwear: no this isn't about thongs (aka flip flops).

To those from the northern hemisphere after underwear: no this isn't about thongs (aka G Strings).

It's about the thonging inside this little book (something we picked up while op shopping (aka thrift shopping) last weekend)**


It's an oldie but a goodie. Simple clear patterns and lots of old school explinations of process and method. Plus some decorative thonging ideas:


and some appropriate applications of said thonging: A knitting bag!


**I have some more op shop finds to share with you in the next few days.

on trying to avoid Achilles' heel

I've been getting back into train knitting over the last week, spurred on by the realisation that the clock is ticking and I don't have long left to finish these socks off...

They had completely stalled. First there was the dilema of whether these are the right socks for my sockpal, or whether I should keep them for myself. I got over this agonising debate with a fortuitous trip to Sunspun- where I made the wonderful (and tempting) discovery that they stock Eki Riva. I promptly bought a couple of skeins so I can make some socks for myself as soon as these (and what seems like a hundred other projects on the "I want to knit" list) are done.


While I was in Sunspun I explained to the ladies that I'm knitting some socks in this divine yarn. They expressed concern. They expressed surprise. They suggested that it really was much to delicate for sock wear. I felt like I imagine a heathen quilter must feel from time to time, flying in the face of dreary convention. But although I disagreed with them generally, (surely my pal's feet deserve a spot of pampering?) their concerned expressions and murmurs sort of confirmed something I was thinking about: that the heels and toes might benefit from some reinforcement.

So I started hunting for sock reinforcing yarn. Elann just had black. Other sites had sold out, and I feared that I would be charged some exorbitant postage fee (which seems the norm when buying from the USA) for such a little package. I tried knitting in some of the leftover reinforcing yarn from my Elfine socks, but the colour really was too far off. I consulted the girls. Options were put forth and considered. Crewel embroidery yarn? crochet cotton? Wooly Nylon? **

In the end, I opted for the latter. This loosely spun thread is used in overlocking. It comes in many shades, including a very compatible blue/grey. Armed with wooly nylon I knit up a short row heel. And I've carried on with the foot to the toes.


Now that I'm on the home stretch on Sock #1 I've still got a wee bit of a lingering dilemma- are the short row heels too narrow? They don't fit me that well but my pal (ooohhhh, a bit of a clue if she's reading?) says she has really narrow heels and I think this heel fits her stitch proportion specifications. I may try a slightly wider heel on Sock #2 and then re-knit the one that doesn't seem quite right.

But at least they're back up and running.

** I'd love to hear from you if you have any suggestions for reinforcing sock heels and toes, including any convenient sources.

Bookworm

I'd like to share with you some of the inspiring books that have recently come into my possession, and have been entertaining my mind's eye lately. They've been a bit of a substitute for my usual inspiration diet of bloglines (eeek! 367 new posts!?!) and flickr of late, while I've been spending less time on line, and more time on other parts of life.

I have three books to share.


Of course you've probably all read the Harlot's bookbookbook ages ago. I hadn't gotten around to snaffling a copy for myself. Luckily Mum had, and she'd just finished reading it when she visited last month, and she wanted to pass it on to me, in all it's witty, entertaining glory. A wonderful escape from thoughts about work, and makes for fun on the train as I try to muffle smirks, guffaws and wry grins from fellow passengers.


Handmade Felt is another book I've been coveting for a while. I spotted it in Alison's Japanese craft book collection ages ago, and wanted to get hold of it for myself so that I could ogle it's brilliant step by step photos and admire it's elegant ideas, in the vain hope that it may prompt me to actually do some felting.

I hope so, soon.. We'll have to see which potential craft projects pull strongest over the coming (Easter) long weekend.

Both Handmade Felt and the next offering were bought in conjunction with Carolyn, in a combined effort to save on shipping costs from Yes Asia. She really didn't need to twist my arm to add some goodies to the order, and it was hard to restrain myself.

This next book, Pattern Magic, I just had to have.

A friend brought a copy back from a trip to Japan with her, and I promptly drooled all over it (which she knew I would, so she did have a bib handy...). She offered to lend it to me for a little bit, but I decided I really had to have my own copy. It's amazing and inspiring- just the right sort of challenge I'm seeking for a few clothes sewing projects. Complicated but in essence, simple and logical, all based on numbers. Taking simple basic shapes and playing with them to compose amazing forms and folds and structure.

It has many ideas but my two favorites are the little box forms embellishing a simple shell top (I'd love to add some to a simple A-line skirt.. Yes I do seem to have a bit of a thing for boxes don't I?) and beautifully folded woven tops. Magic indeed.


More photos and ISBN details over at Flickr.

What I did on my holidays.

No, I haven't really been on holidays, but writing this post having not blogged for a couple of weeks, kind of feels like writing one of those assignments at the start of a new year at school. I find myself sitting here, like a dazed kid, chewing on the end of my pencil and trying to think of something interesting and exciting and captivating to say.

I did have a holiday of sorts while Mum and Dad were here- a shopping trip to Patchwork on Central with Mum. She's an avid quilter and her work has featured in previous photo shoots.

I came away with a tidy little stash for myself: some warm reds and greens which work really well with some of the existing fabrics in my stash. I also bought a stash for some grey blue greens for a friend, and some reds, blues and mauves which are already in the process of being sewn up into new quilted bags for my (momentarily empty!) shop and a swap or two.


But apart from that little bit of sewing, there hasn't been a huge amount of crafting going on lately. I've been spending train time reading instead of knitting, and time at home has been more focused on planning future holidays, socialising and dealing with the usual mundane stuff.

But I'm really looking forward to all that I'll learn in the term ahead.

The End.

(can I have a bunny stamp please, Miss?)