Jobo Designs

I have always wanted to try some socks with those tiny 2-stitch cables all over them, but somehow hadn't gotten the chance yet.  Well my chance has arrived!

Iron Knitter Round 4 features just such a pattern:  Maeve by Janneke Maat

With lots twisted stitches and teensy cables and celtic knots galore... this pattern is really well written and has very complete charts and stitch descriptions. 

At first glance I was thinking that they would be really difficult and it would take me forever to finish these... but after I brushed up on my cabling-without-a-cable-needle technique I realized that I had either overestimated the difficulty of the pattern, or underestimated my skill level with cables. 

I haven't had much time to knit over the last few days, only an hour here and there, and already I have the first sock almost finished.  I am 2 rows from beginning the cuff chart, and it is mostly twisted rib with a few tiny cable braids scattered.  That part should be finished tonight, and hopefully the next toe started.

The little braid/rope that runs up both sides of the front of foot design is very satisfying to work.  It looks particularly good slightly stretched as it will on the foot when completed... I think I may have to snarf this design element next time I design to make up my own socks as I go. 

The columns of twisted stitches are fun too.  The first few rows I had a hard time remembering to knit through the back loop, but I am over that now, and things are flying along quite well

The yarn is Knit Picks Stroll Kettle Dyed in "Gold"...Which is particularly difficult to photograph properly.  In daylight it is a mix of warm golds and light browns, kind of like a knotty pine board, but in artificial light it seems to look more flat and boring.  I will try and take some photos outside in the sun before I am done.

I had imagined little celtic knot nightmares, but they really aren't that bad.  Since I have been working on them after work, at times when I am a little tired and less attentive than I'd like, I decided to print out the pattern and mark each row completed.  I know this is a pain in the derriere, and requires stopping and marking after each row, but at least then I was certain of a few things.  Because I marked all the way across the pattern I was able to quickly see which row I needed to focus on in the chart.  I won't have to recount my rows to make an identical second socky, since I know exactly how many rows I did.  I can put down my knitting quickly and pick it up again quickly without thinking too hard... which is nice for breaks at work and rides in the car.  Otherwise I would never be able to knit 1-2 rows at a time and drop the sock without getting lost.

I am hoping to finish Number One tonight, since I am only 2 pattern rows from the cuff, and hopefully I can get the toes of number Two started too.  My goal is to have these completed and blocked by Friday, though we only need to finish by March 20 to stay in the running for Iron Knitter.  I can't believe it... I'm still in the competition.  Some of these knitters are SERIOUS cats!  One lady (SarahBess) knocks off socks in 18-20 hours... which is an amazing feat in itself not considering the fact that these are kamikaze-cable socks.  These are not a simple design.  She is a real inspiration to me.  I think of myself as a pretty fast and efficient knitter, but she puts my skillz to shame.  I want to fall in the same vat of radioactive superhero-inducing goo that she found... maybe then I'll have a chance at the Iron Knitter Title.

Anyways... back to the knitting!

************************************************************************

To all you readers out in the Blogisphere... are there any Techniques or Knitting Styles that you've been eyeing up but haven't had the chance to try yet?  Are you Entranced by Entrelac?  Captivated by Cables?  Fascinated by Felting?  Tempted by Toe-up Socks?  Mystified by Magic Loop?  Freaking out for Fair-Isle?  Leave me a comment and tell me what you're interested in!

After seeing my Fiddle Head Mittens, my father asked if I could make him a pair of colorwork mittens... but perhaps something less girly looking.

Dad so rarely asks me to do anything for him, especially knit anything, that I set out on the design process right away and placed an order for some Knit Picks Palette in more manly colors (Cream and Asphalt Black) 

I decided to try and come up with my own mish-mash of a pattern instead of knitting one directly from a book.  It seems that many of the Norwegian style mittens feature different motifs with different meanings - so I thought it would be fun to incorporate symbols with some meaning to dad.  In particular, he is a sport fisherman who spends as much time as possible in the springtime sitting in a boat hunting for that elusive granddaddy rainbow trout.  So obviously, this mitten needs a fish of some sort on it, and I will probably use a motif for the palm of the hand that looks like fish scales.  Also, Dad is a big fan of his dogs (2 adorable shih tzus - Molly and Sophie) so I hope to be able to add in a small dog motif for them too.

Here is the first cuff underway.  I have charted out the wrists, but am having a hard time putting on paper the thumb gusset...  My plan is to just wing it for the gusset and then continue on with my fishy idea for the back of the hands and the fish scales for the palms.  The other big unknown - He wants mittens with separate "pointer" fingers and the other three fingers together... like Newfoundland Mittens.  Apparently he finds that mittens shaped that way (while a little "live-long-and-prosper-ish" Mr. Spock!) more utilitarian and easier to maneuver around with.  So the end result will be kind of like a glove, but with one finger by itself, and the rest like a mitten.  I might have bitten off more than I can chew?

Here is a sneak peak of the Fish motif (modified from Fisherman's Friend Mittens by Jorid Linvik to be a single fish, and to look more like trout and less like Koi)  and some of the other motifs I plan on incorporating!  The little dog pattern is from Traditional Scandinavian Knitting by Sheila McGregor.

 From this:

- London-Wul Polwarth Top

- Blues and Greys

- 4 oz

to this:

- super soft, bouncy

- 3-ply fingering weight yarn

- approximately 380 yards

I very much enjoyed spinning up this fiber... even though there were a few felted bits in places.  I chose to tear this fiber up into pieces since the colors were not distributed in any even pattern.  I used my handy-dandy postal scale to weigh the torn up chunks and try and make 3 singles of similar length.  In the end I decided to make 2 plies completely baby blue, and the third ply out of the darker shades of blue and grey.  I tried to randomly disperse the colors in the darker 3rd ply.  In the end, my weighing technique was pretty close.  There was a little bit more of the dark single than the others, which I navajo 3-plied just to use it up (around 15 yards)  You can see it in the centre of the skein, about 4 strands of yarn that appear to be all one color.

This skein is destined to become a pair of squishy wonderful socks for ME!  I am thinking maybe something with cables in it?  since the yarn is very basic in color...