Vegan Knitting...and then some

FO: Bamboozle Bed Socks

I recently completed two pairs of bed socks with yarn generously donated by my favorite sock yarn company, Crystal Palace Yarns!  I reviewed them on the Vegan Sock Knitalong blog here.  Here's a copy of the review:

Crystal Palace Yarns generously donated a few skeins of Bamboozle yarn for me to test earlier this year. I'm slightly embarassed that it took me this long to make them, but I recently finished two pairs of socks with this yarn. (Second pair featured in next post.)

Bamboozle is made from 55% bamboo, 24% cotton, and 21% elastic nylon. It's fairly stretchy but not as stretchy as Cascade Fixation. This makes it much easier to work with than Fixation. The percentage of bamboo to cotton make for an extremely soft yarn, both on your hands, and on your feet! At an Aran (10 ply) weight, with 90 yds per 50 gm ball, Bamboozle is clearly much thicker than your average sock yarn. However, for the purposes of socks, it's possible to use a much smaller needle than the suggested 8-10 (US) and create a firm, soft, fabric good for cozy winter or boot socks.

Initially I had planned to make a single pair of socks using both colors but when the colors that arrived were slightly different than the ones I thought I was getting, I decided to use them separately and make a pair of cozy house socks for both me and my mother. I was also curious to see how much sock could be made from a single pair of skeins, especially given our larger shoe sizes (9.5 and 11). Based on other people's projects on Ravelry, I chose to use a size 4 US needle. I used a Knit Picks nickle Options with a 24" cable for Magic Loop. Both socks were knit toe-up for maximum trying-on-as-I-went with different stitch patterns.

This pair is made with the colorway Herb Garden, using a basketweave stitch pattern on the foot and leg, followed by a 1x1 ribbing for the last 7 or so rows. I used Judy's Magic Cast On for the toe, and a simple short-row heel. I cast off with a K2tog TBL to make the edge stretchy and easy to get on and off. As you can see, they reached ankle-length on my size 9.5 feet, and would be longer if you have smaller feet. I can see that with three balls, they would reach the length I normally knit the legs of my socks.

Overall, I am very happy with these socks. I wore them the other chilly day in the house and they were very cozy. Then I kept them on to meet up with my local knitting group and they were very comfy and not at all sweaty in my shoes. My only frustration was how splitty this yarn can be, since it is composed of many strands of yarn, all of which are 2-ply themselves. Once one of the individual plies was pulled up by mistake, it was nearly impossible to get it to lie flat within the yarn again. This makes me a little wary of wearing them on any wood floors that might have little splinters. However, once the yarn is knit up, it is very firm and not at all fuzzy. I look forward to making several similar pairs for myself for this upcoming cold winter.

Thank you so much, Dr. Laura at Crystal Palace Yarns!

A Good Sunday

Started with Sweetpea Baking Company (check the sidebar for weekly brunch updates)

Continued at the Tualatin River National Wildlife Refuge

and ended with an evening of babysitting a really sweet boy, after which I did some test knitting for Krafti-Kit an exciting new company two friends of mine have started, opening it's e-commerce doors on October 15th!

Knitting? What's that?

Gosh, I just realized that there's been no knitting content on this blog in 6 weeks.  A blog that dares to include "knitting" in the title and then not provide knitting content is pretty gusty!  Allow me to explain.

I've been working slowly but steadily on Cozy - a blanket for my grandmother.  It's taken 10 balls of this fuzzy pink yarn that is perfect for the blanket but do not have any give.

Given that it's a rectangle with a very simple feather lace pattern, there's not much updating to do unless I thought people wanted to see larger and larger rectangles of fuzzy pink yarn.  I got almost all of the way done before I needed to take a break.  I anticipate finishing within a week.  Here's what it looks like now, folded in half.

I moved on to the second phase of Ravelry's Vegan Sock group KAL using the Brainless pattern and some Saucon Sock in a hunter green I had in my stash.  I hadn't used this yarn before and was looking forward to trying it.  The pattern is fairly simple, as the name suggests, a toe-up mainly stockingette sock with a cable up each side flanked by twisted stitches and a more interesting heel done with purl gussets that get slowly decreased as the heel flap is knit.  This is similar to the one I used to make the Diamond Waffle socks.

The sock started smoothly enough until I got to the end of the gusset increases.  With the stop and start knitting times I've had in the past two weeks, I'd missed a few increase stitches and when I began the heel turn, the setup row did not match the rest of the stitches.

In order to fix the mistakes properly, I needed to rip back about 8 rows.  I'd already had problems putting stitches back on the needles earlier in the sock if I dropped a stitch or made a mistake.  But putting the stitches back after ripping out all of them was a true nightmare.  I've heard people complaining about the splittiness of plant-based yarns before, especially some cottons where the yarn is composed of multiple strands.  But nothing compares to the horror of multiple cotton strands plus very fuzzy acrylic and nylon in a yarn that has absolutely no stretch.

Each stitch split into multiple pieces and the fuzzy ones split even more, turning direction which made it really hard to get them back onto the needle facing the same way.  I persevered and eventually got it but frankly, I haven't worked on the sock since and I have come to the conclusion that this yarn is just not very good quality and doesn't have enough stretch for socks. And although I've never abandoned a project this far along due to yarn issues, I think this may be my first one.

I am sorry to have lost the time but I think I will be much happier starting a new sock with a yarn I actually enjoy knitting with, and I have two balls of Panda Soy and several balls of Bamboozle waiting for me.

Goodbye Brainless sock!  I'm sorry it didn't work out between us.

FO: Woodsy Socks

Pattern: Leyburn Socks
Yarn:  Crystal Palace Yarns' Panda Cotton in "Muir Woods"
Needles: size 1 and size 1.5 Addi Turbo circulars

Modifications:  I have a larger foot than the designer, but also ready that other people had trouble with the ankles being too large.  So I slowly increased the sole stitches to create a higher instep, starting about halfway along the foot, and ending at the heel, with the same number of stitches the pattern calls for  after the "after heel" increases (72).  I knit a no-wrap short-row heel and then started the pattern right away.  About a third of the way up (as soon as I'd passed the ankle), I moved down to a size 1 needle so that the socks wouldn't be baggy.  I used this needle until the last four rows of the ribbing, at which point I switched back to the 1.5s to make getting them on and off easier.  I bound off with a k2, k2tog tbl method to make the edge attractive and stretchy.

Notes: I love these socks!  The color of the yarn is so lovely, and it goes really well with the lattice pattern, which obscures some of the pooling Panda Cotton colorways can have.  They are very comfortable and fit just right.  I love doing toe up socks because I have so much control over how tall to make them, and after leaving a bit for any future mending, this is the perfect height for me.

I also am very proud to say that I have now mastered the continental knit!  I've practiced it before, since having some great lessons with Speedknitter Miriam, but this was my first big project besides a baby hat, which was knit entirely in Continental.  This is a great project for anyone interested in practicing because there are no purl stitches except in the ribbing at the top, but the lattice work breaks up the plain stockinette and is easy to do Continental. I can definitely tell how my gauge firmed up since the second sock is a bit tighter than the first in the leg, but the difference isn't large enough to cause a problem and I'm glad it firmed up.  For now, I'm using the Norwegian purl method, which involves keeping the yarn to the back of the work and twisting the needle behind to pick it up, but I will soon do some practice swatches to see what type of purl works best for me.  I may find myself using combination knitting when doing flat stockinette since my purl gauge is about the same as my knitting, but I'd love to find a quick Continental method that feels comfortable.  I love how much less my hands move.

Resolution Check-in

Pumpkin Ziti with roasted brussels sprouts
(used whole wheat bread for bread crumbs, and ricotta made from almonds and tofu)


Leyburn Sock progress
(almost done with the first one!)


My yoga mat
(on the shelf in the closet by the door - easy to grab when I go to class 2x a week)


Peek at a sculpture by my best friend
(spoke to her on the phone this week for the first time in a long time)

 

KAL - Leyburn Sock

The Vegan Sock group on Ravelry and Vegan Sock KAL blog  just started a new KAL using the Leyburn sock pattern PepperKnit.com.

I am using Panda Cotton in the beautiful colorway "Muir Woods" and the pattern is zooming along quickly.  These socks are toe-up, featuring short-row toes and heels, and a quilted stitch involving floats that go across the fabric and are picked up every few rows to anchor them and mimic the look of quilted fabric.

If you want to join, stop by the group or blog - you don't have to be vegan but you do need to use non-animal fiber yarn.  There will be a prize!

FO: Slouchy Copy Cat Hat (for me!)

 

Pattern:  Slouchy Copy Cat Hat
Yarn:  Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton - 613 (black)
Needles:  Size 6 bamboo circs, and size 8 aluminum circs (both 16")
Mods: Knit about 7.5 inches before decreasing.  Modified decrease substantially so that it matched pattern rather than just being K and K2tog. 

1. sl1 k1 psso, p2 - repeat
2. k2, p2 to end
3. k2, p2tog - repeat
4. k2, p1 to end
5. sl1, k1, psso, p1 - repeat
6. k1, p1 to end
7. sl1, k1, psso to end
8. repeat 7 until around 8 stitches left, then draw end through and weave it in.

Notes: This hat is super warm due to the "cabling" and fits really well.

The top and the bottom (click for larger photos)

Resolution check-in #2

I'm going to be checking in on these for a month or two so that I make sure these are habits to stay.

1.  Yoga - Last week I went twice, once to a Vinyasa class that gave my arm, chest, and shoulder muscles a real workout, and then to a Hatha class where you work up to a single pose through various simpler poses and stretches.  I really liked that class and am doing another one today.

2. Eating - Here's an example of dinner:  La Tortilla Factory low-carb tortillas used to make a quesadilla.  No cheese, just filling with pinto beans (cooked with olive oil, broth, and lots of spices) and onions, red pepper, corn, and Chipotle Field Roast sausage.  Topped with avocado, green salsa, and a spoon of Toffutti sour cream.

3. Knitting - I finished my grandmother's mini shawl.  I'm working through her larger one and am almost done with the HP scarf.  However, I made a warm hat for myself ( featured soon) in two days, and am about to cast on for a pair of socks.  I am also planning to make a matching cowl to go with the hat.

4.  Keeping in touch - I've maintained a good balance of home and social life.  I need to call my father and see how he's doing but I checked in with my aunt and am staying in touch with others, and even getting in touch with some long-lost friends via Facebook.

FO: Mini Shawl

Pattern:  Wool Weaver's Mini Shawl

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Light Country Blue
Needles: Size 10 Boye Circulars
Mods:  needle size to meet gauge
Notes:  I had a slightly smaller yardage than the pattern so I just knit until I was close to the end, and then used yardage counting to figure out how many yards each row took, and how many yards I'd have based on weight.  I could have gotten one more row out of it but it's fine as it is.
You can wear this shawl in a few ways but my favorite way is with both flaps overlapping (as I was about to do in this photo - thanks husband!)  However, you really need a shawl pin or brooch to hold it closed so I'm going to see if I can find something before mailing it to my grandmother.

 

I'm copying Earthchick and presenting my Finished Objects from 2008!

Total knits: 29

Hats: 7
Socks Pairs: 5 (once is shown twice)
Neck scarves: 5
Shawls: 1
Fruits: 7
Sweater: 1
Fingerless gloves: 1
Slippers: 1

Items for charity: 6
Gifts: 17
Items for me: 4

To be finished in 2009:

Wool Weaver's Mini Shawl (knitting is done, finishing isn't)
Gryffindor Scarf (knitting is done, finishing isn't)
Cozy Shawl
Lamb Pillow
Liesl Sweater (knitting is done, finishing isn't)

On the queue for me in 2009:

Mini Tuscany shawl using Habu XS-45 Bamboo
Copycat Slouch hat using Blue Sky Alpacas cotton
matching cowl
Another lace shawl using my Yarntopia Hand-painted Tencel
Falling Leaves socks using Crystal Palace Panda Soy

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year's Day everyone!  My husband and I celebrated New Year's Day with some veganized Hoppin' John from the Joy of Cooking, with a side of roasted Brussels sprouts and homemade tempeh bacon.

I'm very excited to have finally figured out how to use the macro setting on my camera (after 3 years!)  It wasn't included in the manual but I found it online.  I've got several posts planned for the coming few days including coconut fudge from My Sweet Vegan, DIY Month project 4, and New Year's resolutions.  I'll have to plan them out in advance as on Tuesday, I fly or drive (haven't decided which yet) to California to attend my Master's thesis defense meeting.  It's very exciting but also a bit nerve-wracking.  I've been in the MA program for five years and will be very happy to be graduating with my MA in special education.

I'm sorry to report that my aunt who I made the chemo hats for passed away yesterday morning.  I'm glad that she was able to wear the hats for about a month during some very cold weather.  It was the right time - she was on heavy morphine and no longer able to interact with anyone - but that doesn't make it any easier, particularly for my grandfather, who my aunt lived with and cared for for several years.  Right now the family decision is not to tell my grandmother, who is in the early stages of Alzheimer's in a nursing home, unless she realizes that my aunt isn't visiting and can tell something is wrong.  For people with short-term memory loss, the repetition of the early stages of grieving can be very hard.  I wish that I could visit my grandmother, but since I live thousands of miles away, I'm swatching to make a capelet for my grandmother out of a soft washable yarn in one of her favorite colors. 

Happy Holidays!!!

 

The day started like this!  So we stayed inside all day, and did some of this:

and this:

Mock Chicken Noodle soup from Nava Atlas's Vegetarian Soups for All Seasons, a new book for me, and some long overdue science of making a larger scarf into a smaller one.  One faithful reader will be happy to see this project.  It's half done and I foresee it being finished within a week plus drying time.

I also made pumpkin cranberry muffins, coconut fudge, and bread, but some of those are going to be in another post.

I spoke with faraway family for the first Christmas in 10 years and have otherwise had a nice, warm, quiet day with my husband plus a small visit from our next door neighbors.

I hope everyone had a safe, warm, cozy day!

FO: Diamond Waffle Socks

Pattern:  Diamond Waffle Socks - Knitty Fall 2007
Yarn:  Panda Soy Solid in Twig Brown
Needles:  Addi Turbo US 1.5 circulars
Size: M (my husband wears US 10 1/2 shoes)
Modifications:  None!
Notes:  Each of these socks used 1 skein of yarn and I had about 4 yards leftover from each, just enough to save in case they need darning in the future.  I am so happy about getting the pair out of 2 balls instead of having to buy a 3rd skein like I thought I would.  They fit my husband perfectly and they are just lovely.

Thanks to Crystal Palace yarns for offering the yarn as a prize in the Ravelry Vegan Sock group summer KAL.

Our house in the snow

As those in Portland know, we are having some snow!  I'm very excited - it's my first snow since living in CA for 6 years and I am enjoying many aspects of the winter here.

To make the best of my time indoors with relatives visiting, I made some Pumpkin Cranberry Scones from Veganomicon (a resounding success),



finished the pair of Diamond Waffle Socks I've been making for my husband,

And am reading some books and practicing the piano.  I'm also working intermittently on my MA thesis, which I'm defending in two weeks.  It needs some more work but I did a lot in the past two days so today I'm taking the day off of it to spend with my family and relax.

FO: Hat Fit For a Father

Pattern:  Hat Fit for a Boyfriend
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted (100% superwash wool - not vegan)
Needles:  8 circulars
Modifications:  none.  I did a cable cast on like the pattern writer did and really liked the edge.  I knit for about 7 inches before decreasing.
Notes:   This hat is for my father who is currently in Colorado where it's very cold and he requested a wool hat in brown or green.  I love how the yarn is patterned - almost stripes but very faint.  I hope this keeps his head warm!  I used a tiny bit over half of the skein and still have the rest left to make another hat or pair of fingerless gloves.  This hat was very easy to knit in the round with a K3 P2 ribbing but the best part is the decreases at the top.  You decrease every other rib first and it looks so nice! I tried to take a photo from the top but they all came out blurry.

Vegan Sock List

As a Sock Knitter (capitalization for emphasis), I love to find new sock yarns that are vegan.  I know that for beginning knitters, this can be tricky.  So, for a while I've been working on a master list of vegan yarn made specifically for socks.  I've finally gotten it to a posting stage so you'll see that I've put a link on the upper left sidebar of my blog.  I will also link to it here for you blog aggregator readers.

Vegan Sock Yarns

As it stands, the list describes first the commercially-available yarns with names, fiber content, and links to the manufacturer's page about the yarn and a link to the yarn page on Ravelry.  Then the same for  indie dyers and spinners.

I would love to add at least one photo for each yarn, along with links to projects and reviews.  If you have made socks with these yarns and would like me to link to a photo, review, or blog post featuring completed socks made with this yarn, please comment or e-mail me.  Otherwise, I'll have to pop around the internet looking for ones to link to.

Also, if you are an indie dyer/spinner who deals with vegan sock yarns, please contact me and I'll add you to my list.  Same goes for if I've left a commercial yarn off the list.

I hope this list is useful and please let me know if you have any ideas for improving it!

Decompressing Day

Hi there!  That was a long time between posts.  Much longer than I'd intended it to be.  I've been doing a fair amount of knitting and cooking but had to take a break from posting about it for a while.

My husband and I just got back from Denver where we were visiting my father in the hospital.  He was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease that was attacking his lungs and making him unable to breathe on his own.  Luckily he is a vet, and so he received excellent care at the VA hospital, where he was put on a ventilator for 9 days, and given a variety of treatments that restored his breathing and prevented any further damage.

These last two weeks have been incredibly stressful, and although my friends said, "At least you have your knitting!", I wasn't able to knit while in Denver.  It took my father several days to recover from the effects of the sedative and the intubation procedure and I really had to pay attention because he kept trying to pull off the various tubes and wires.  And then he needed a lot of help and support in the few days after that.

So while I spent Thanksgiving Day driving from Salt Lake City back to Portland, this year I am more thankful than any other, that my father survived his illness, and that we were able to be together for that time and reconnect.

As for my knitting, I have some more progress photos to share with you, as well as some family knitting.  My father's sister is unfortunately dealing with end stage breast cancer right now.  She is across the country and so I knit her two hats to keep her head warm.  The first was the Pi Topper Chemo Hat with the pattern available for free from Elann.com.  I used Rowan Calmer as I had some and it's very soft.  I added a few buttons I'd picked up recently at an antique store.

  

The second is the Slouchy Copy Cat Hat also available free from Terra Jamieson of Confessions of a Maniacal Thrower.  I made this one not quite as slouchy as in the pattern and knit the yarn overs through the back loop to eliminate the holes.  It's very warm and comfortable and I'd make one for myself, too.

Now I'll get started making a hat for my dad.  It's COLD in Colorado and at the rehab hospital, he can go outside so I want him to be warm.  I'll look through my patterns and yarn and see what I come up with.  He would definitely wear something simple and dark.

House of Dream's Holiday Bazaar!

This weekend I'll be going on a little knitting retreat on the Oregon Coast and unfortunately, I'll miss the yearly Holiday Bazaar put on by Portland's no-kill cat paradise, House of Dreams.  Since I also had to miss Isa's Benefit Dinner a few weeks ago, I figured I'd make up for it by knitting a few items for the Bazaar.  I used leftover yarn or items I'd made that didn't have an owner yet.  It was fun and easy.  The items won't be expensive (HoD prices them affordably and 100% of the sale goes to the shelter) and they're cute, so if you're in Portland, stop by on Saturday, November 8th from 10 am to 4 pm at Russelville Grange Hall at 12100 NE Prescott!  You'll find tons of handmade items for people and pets, and they even have a vegan table.

FO: Gentleman's Fancy Socks II

I know that with all of this MoFo-ing, it might have seemed like I haven't been knitting.  Au Contraire!  I will have three knitting posts this week.

Pattern:  Gentleman's Fancy Socks from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks

Yarn: Crystal Palace Panda Cotton Print in "Tulip"

Needles:  Addi Turbo 1.5 circulars (2)

Modifications:  Same as for my first set of these socks, 68 stitches, toe-up, short-row heel, no ankle increases.

Notes:  These are for my mother as a replacement for the Spring Forward socks that didn't fit her.  These do!

Secret Pal Package #3

Last week I got my final package from my no-longer-secret pal, Westerly Whimsies!  What a perfect package.

At the top, we have three skeins of Lion Brand Naturals organic cotton yarn in a lovely green, along with the pattern for Ysolda's Liesl underneath it.  I've been wanting to make that pattern and now I have everything I need! (already had the needles.)  Next to the yarn is Stephanie Pearl-MacPhee's Things I Learned from Knitting (whether I wanted to or not), which I have not read yet.  Underneath the book is a cute little Fergie the Frog Clover Kritter Case for carrying around notions, etc.  And finally, underneath that, is a project bag perfect for socks, hats, and other small projects, made from my beloved Moomin fabric! 

With the fall weather upon us, I can't wait to start on Liesl.  Thank you so much, Secret Pal!