beautiful things

Tyrolean Stockings

Three more 2007 FOs to go!!! This one is a relatively recent one.

Tyrolean Stockings

Date:
Oct 7th - Nov 4th, 2007
Yarn:
2 skeins Green Mountain Spinnery Maine Organic Grey (I had 11g left at the end)
Needles:
Addi Turbo US#3 40" circulars

Pattern:
Tyrolean Stockings by Ann Budd from Interweave Knits Fall 2007, available for purchase here

The story:
I fell in love with the oatmeal colored version of this project shown in the magazine (I think I'm a sucker for good photographs of projects!) and mistakenly thought the Maine Organic Grey would be a similar color (they were out of the Vermont Organic Natural Grey specified). The snapshot on the Green Mountain Mountain spinnery website is very deceiving - as you can see from my photos below, it is a much darker grey. Actually, I'm pretty surprised that a yarn called "natural grey" would be as light as it looks in the magazine either... I do wish magazines would try and make their photos match the actual color of the yarns they call for. I know it's not always easy - but they're professionals!

Anyway, I am totally over the initial disappointment because I loved this project - both the process and the final product. This was my first pair of socks so that was very exciting. I don't really consider these "typical socks" that I think of when people say they knit socks as generally they mean using much lighter weight sock yarn. It also seemed like a relatively challenging sock project to start out with, but actually I found it quite straightforward, and I enjoyed following the instructions not quite knowing exactly what was going to happen and then having it all click as the construction revealed itself.

The cable pattern was also pretty easy to memorize, although you do have to make sure you get your cable twists in the right direction. However, one major error I made gave me the opportunity to try dropping stitches in order to fix it and it came out beautifully.

I still haven't figured out what shoes to wear these socks with were I to actually wear them out of the house, but I have been wearing them around the house and I love the snug custom fit and the overall look and feel of them. I highly recommend this project!

In progress shots:

Finished shots:

Flickr set is here.
Ravelry link is here.

First stocking done!

Heal flap and turning the heel:

Picking up stitches and knitting the gusset:

Gusset detail and rest of foot:

Completed!

Boo boo

So, I made a small boo boo in my tyrolean stockings, but fortunately Kelly Petkun, on a recent Knitpicks podcast, describes how you can fix mistakes, including those in cables, many many rows back by dropping the stitches down and reknitting them back again, thus saving you from ripping back those many many rows.

I was familiar with this technique, but for some reason hadn't previously thought it would work for cables. Besides which, I've only used cables once, in my very first project so I hadn't really thought about it.

What a lifesaver! Although honestly, without this technique, I doubt I would have knit back all those rows. I would have just left the mistake as it wasn't that visible, but it would probably have always annoyed me.

Here is the mistake:

This cable is supposed to be twisted right over left. It's a little strange because it's the only one - all the other 2 stitch cables twist left over right. And I was thinking last night, hmmm, I haven't twisted right over left for a while and so I actually stopped and looked at what I was doing and sure enough, I had reversed it about 24 rows back.

No problem!

I dropped those 2 columns of stitches all the way back down to the error (I think Kelly said something about dropping an extra stitch on either side but I didn't bother with that):

Then I knit those two stitches back up, using the next loose thread up like I was knitting with it in regular fashion - you knit the two stitches from left to right needle as normal, then pass the two stitches back to the left needle, twisting them to the right orientation, and then knit them again.

It was a little fiddly, but it worked like a charm!

There, all better!

Next big project...?

You know how sometimes a pattern just whisks you off your feet and captures your imagination? I haven't been browsing patterns much lately but there have been three such patterns the past forty eight hours that I feel like I want to knit NOW!

The first is Flicca by Anna Bell, which I saw on my friend activity page on Ravelry. Gorgeous! It also looks beautiful here and here (sorry, second link is Ravelry only but the photos are private on Flickr).

The other two are in Vogue Knitting Holiday 2007, which I guess just came out a few days ago. To be honest, most of the patterns in the magazine don't appeal to me, but flipping through it in the store, I came across a couple of designs by Tom Scott that I immediately fell in love with - #25 fringed wrap and #26 asymmetrical wrap. I can't find any photos online so I took a couple myself.

This is the fringed wrap, simple yet appealing, perhaps because it looks so cozy as the weather is just turning here in New York.

The asymmetrical wrap though is just stunning, I think - understated yet dramatic. I'm not sure though, is this the kind of thing that only looks good in a fashion magazine in a beautiful model with her blonde hair blowing in the studio created wind? Would I actually wear such a thing? Unfortunately, no one that I can find online has actually knit it yet, which is of course understandable as the magazine only just came out, but is it my imagination or do fewer people knit from Vogue Knitting than, say Interweave Knits?

Speaking of Interweave Knits, here are the Tyrolean Stockings I've started from IK Fall 2007:

I really fell in love with the oatmeal version shown in the magazine, only, you tell me, does Vermont Organic Grey specified look at all oatmeal-y to you? Plus they're sold out, so I got the Maine Organic Grey instead, thinking it would be the most similar to the magazine, but I should have known better - magazines shamelessly manipulate the colors in their photos so they resemble nothing like the actual yarn!!!

I probably should have ust gone with Vermont Organic White or even the New Mexico Organic... but I didn't really want white white socks. Anyway, they'll look good with my black leather skirt, only I'm really not sure what shoes I would wear them with. I haven't worn knee high socks since I was in middle school!

Anyway, back to my next big project, which hopefully I can actually finish before the cold season ends... I was pretty much ready to jump right into Flicca but now I'm thinking I might just give the asymmetrical wrap a go even though it is much less practical. The yarn the pattern calls for, Classic Elite Montera, looks like a beautiful yarn. Would I just go with brown or something more striking like the green that happens to be on sale at webs? Or does that ruin the understated-ness?

Off to yarn shop...