Jobo Designs

I have been in love with Estonian Lace from the second I laid eyes on it.  It doesn?t matter which pattern? a leaf, vine, geometric, lily of the valley, paw prints? I love them all.  It?s been in the back of my mind for years now that I neeeeeed to spin the finest yarn I can and go ahead and just knit one of these.  As close to the authentic ones as possible.  I know it will never be 100% right, as I can?t get the right materials here, and I?ll likely not be visiting Estonia anytime soon? but a girl can dream, Right?

At the last Maritime Handspinners? Retreat in October 2011, I bought an 8 ounce bag of Romney washed locks.  I wanted to try spinning for lace directly from the lock (as do some of the other lace spinning geniuses? ahem Margaret Stove cough) and see how well I could do with it.  This wool isn?t the softest one I?ve ever worked with, but the locks are overall quite clean, fairly free of VM, and have a nice bouncy texture.  I?ve been just flicking them open to untangle the tips, and going at it with a Bosworth Mini. 

So far, I think I?ve spun maybe 200 yards of it (very fine 2 ply) and just decided to cast on and give it a try in pattern to see if it ?works? or not.  I didn?t wash to set the yarn either.  I figure blocking will even that part out for me.  I?m not sure how much of the wool I?ve used so far, but there does seem to be a fair bit of loss.  I?m honestly just hoping that I?ll get enough for the shawl out of 4 ish ounces (since I?m estimating I?m losing 30 ? 40 % of the wool? that should be possible out of the 8 ounces).  My plan (if you can actually call it one) is to knit up this small sample ball and then measure and weigh it and extrapolate from there whether I?ll have enough to carry out the rest of the shawl.  I figure if I do run out? I can just make a borderless plain center panel.  That would still be quite striking, even without a border.

I?m using my Woody Knitters Straights size 3 mm, and I?m following the Haapsalu Shawl Book for the number of stitches, cast on recommendations, motifs, and general encouragement.  I chose to use the ?Double Lily of the Valley? chart as my main center design, with a 4 stitch garter border all around.  Then I?ll knit a border lace separately and sew it on to the central rectangle.  This aspect scares me a little, but I tried a sample tiny shawl last year, and my sewn on border looked ok in the end.

As you can see? The little ball is going quite far.  I think I have enough to do the chart completely and probably another half dozen rows.  The shawl is going to be 141 stitches across (you?re only seeing a small portion here, since my needles aren?t that long) and features 3.5 repeats of the Double Lily of the Valley chart across.  To give you an idea of scale? remember that the needles are 3 mm, and I?ve posed a piece of the lace with a Canadian Dime (which is 18 mm diameter) for scale.  I found knitting with the ?thread? was a little bit tedious in the beginning, but I?m getting used to it now.  I had planned to try and work 2 ? 3 rows every day on it, but sadly I?ve gotten behind with all of the other holiday hub-bub.  I hope to get back at it in the new year, and also back into spinning more of this up.  The spinning itself has been quite enjoyable as well!  I?ll post more when progress has actually been made :)

Every year I end up knitting at least a few pairs of ?Man Socks?? aka plain, bland colored, utilitarian, simple, large socks.  Each year it seems, they are for a different person, but nonetheless ? plain ribbed men?s socks. 

Ribbing is my arch enemy!  My nemesis, as it were.  I can knit complicated lace until the cows come home.  Fast.  But put me in front of a garment made up entirely of basic 1x1 or 2x2 ribbing, even seed stitch (that?s just alternating K and P? which is also Ribbing!) and I am paralyzed.  Knitting ribbing seems to take eons.  I know it?s likely all in my head, because I don?t have a problem switching between knit and purl for other things, but ribbing ? oh how I hate thee!  Even though you look beautiful and orderly and elegant in your straight lines.

Now don?t get me wrong? I know the recipient will love these socks, and they will get worn to pieces, and keep the lucky person?s feet nice and toasty ? but I find knitting plain men?s socks to be complete torture!  I love it when I find a man who will accept a sock with a little cable in it, or a bit of a ?design? to it because I know I?ll be able to finish the more ?complicated? sock in half the time of the plain ribbing ones.  I?ve knit lace socks with all-over lace in less time than knitting a small pair of plain ribbed ones.  Maybe I just get bored with ribbing?  where patterning keeps my brain active and I feel more engaged by the knitting?  who knows.

This pair is made from Belfast Mini Mills Merino/Nylon Blend Sock Yarn in a lovely bittersweet chocolate color.  I found the yarn to be a bit splitty in the beginning, but I got used to it eventually.  This is my improvised plain Man Sock? basically a toe up variety in 1x4 ribbing for everything except the sole, and of course a slipped stitch heel for some extra cushion.  I used up the majority of 2 skeins? one per sock.

I really wanted to get as much holiday knitting done as possible well ahead of time this year… not knowing if the baby would arrive on time, or early, or what the situation would be like.  This is one of those projects that I’ve had completed for a while, but just hadn’t gotten around to photographing it with the lousy fall short daylight hours.  It snowed here the last couple of days… so it’s a bit overcast for photo taking, but the fresh fallen snow makes for a nice background :)

These are a pair of Fallberry Fingerless Mittens, as seen in the Knitty.com online knitting magazine.  All of the Knitty patterns are available free of charge… and if you aren’t familiar with this publication… you really should check it out!  Each issue is full of great patterns and a variety of different knit items – from socks to sweaters and shawls. 

I wanted to make something for Mark’s Aunt that would be straightforward, not a ridiculous amount of work, and also that would be useful.  I remember her mentioning before that she had chilly hands from time to time, so I thought fingerless mittens might make a practical accessory.  Normally I wouldn’t be interested in something like a fingerless mitten for myself, thinking that I wouldn’t wear them enough to make the effort justified, but I really like the way that these fit, and am considering making some for me after the holidays are over.

One thing that was really nice about this pattern… you get the illusion of working a fine lacy pattern… but of course, the mitts are made from sport weight yarn, and on decent sized needles so they work up fast.  I decided to go with some KnitPicks Stroll Sport, both for the old standby of practical wool with the added durability of nylon, and for the reasonable price point (less than 4 dollars a ball!).  I knew I’d need more than one ball, but I was able to make the entire pair with about a ball and a quarter.  Really, only the thumbs were worked with the second ball.  So I do actually have enough yarn to make a second pair if I decide to go for it.  (I know I’ve been using a lot of KnitPicks Yarn lately… I don’t work for them, I swear!  I just really like their products!)

I was also pleased with the simplicity of the pattern and the easy to memorize flickering flame style motif.  After a couple of repeats of the chart, I was good to go, and really didn’t have to refer back tot he pattern very often.  Also, because really there were 4 rows of “active” stitch movement, then 4 rows of basically ribbing, the mitts worked up very quickly.  I think it took me around 3 evenings worth of knitting to finish things off.  I made the “large” size, and was a little afraid that they might be too small in the end, but after a little soak and blocking on some mitten blockers, the finished mitts relaxed enough and fit me fine (even in my pregnant, swollen hands and feet state)

I hope the recipient gets lots of use out of them, and enjoys the toasty warm wrists and hands :)