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August 02, 2007

Chalet socks and a meme

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Oh no, it has been weeks since my last update! Time really flies when the husband is on vacation. Sadly, he will be back in the office next week, and soon will my free time be over too. Schools starts in two weeks (or actually closer to one and a half) and then I have to pick up my own work too. And I really wish I've got my new computer by then, the old one broke down one month ago, and I should have got the new two weeks ago. Grrrrrr...............

I got tagged by Kamicha with a pretty fun meme (not being too fond of memes, I found this one in fact quite nice. And short ;-) The question is what is behind the name of your blog and your signature. When choosing the name Yarn Nest I wanted something cosy and knitting related. I like birds a lot, and I have seen several bird nests where the birds have used yarn and strings to pad the nest with, in a manner far more complicated than any knitting pattern I've ever seen. I saw before me a picture of a bird, sitting in her well built nest, filled with balls of wool, knitting. It would be warm and cosy and you would perhaps see the heads of some small birds around her. I thought of adding such a picture to the banner of my blog, but, alas, not being very skilled when it comes to drawing, it has so far came to nothing. My signature, Maud, is simple; it's my name, so no deeper thoughts behind that.
Feel free to pick up this meme if you want to, I'm not tagging anybody specifically with it.

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And the Chalet socks? There have been a lot going around here, but every evening I have had some knitting time too. I have in fact quite a lot of knitting to show, and sadly very few in-progress pictures. The Chalet socks went to my younger son, who likes the denim blue colour of the Regia Silk yarn a lot. The socks fit like gloves on his feet, and he has been skating around the living room on them the way a tomorrow-15-years-old only can do. He thinks it's a good thing we have smooth, slippery floors. And I'm happy there are no cracks in the flooring, or he would wear down the socks in no time at all! The socks are knitted according to the pattern, except for correcting a small mistake in the second row of the first chart; the centre twisted pattern should have crossings on the second row too. If a crossing is made at this place will every second crossing be a double one and every second a simple one, which would be the logical solution, considering the rest of the pattern. You can see the crossings very well on the picture to the left of this text.

Project details:
Pattern: Chalet socks by Nancy Bush from Folk socks.
Yarn: Regia Silk, 55 % Merino wool, 20 % Silk, 25 % polyamide, less than two balls in colour 050.
Needles: 2, 5 mm dpns (five, not four as the pattern called for.
Gauge: 30 stitches and 42 rows to 10x10 cm.

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July 19, 2007

It's all about socks

Last week, after arriving home from Italy, I finished both the Spiral boot socks and the striped socks for Hanna. They both went blocking, and came out with smoother surfaces and clearer stitches.

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In the striped socks I knitted for Hanna I tried two different ways of making the rounds more jogless. Under the foot I used a method of knitting the first stitch of the new colour with both colours, and then adjusting the unwanted colour stitch on the next row. This creates a pretty straight line, but it is, as you can see, hard to keep the tension even. On the inside of the leg portion (this sock pair is having a left foot and a right foot, both with the jog on the inside of the leg part) I used a method where you knit the first row of the second colour just like normal, but on the second row pick up a loop the first colour and knit it together with the first stitch of the second colour. The tension was easy to keep up, but I don't think the jog is as good. Or perhaps I knitted something wrong here? I have a feel it's not looking like it's supposed to. So please, since I feel neither of these methods is perfect, if you do know about a better way to avoid the jog, would you like to share it? I would really appreciate it!

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These socks were also knitted using the magic loop technique. It is the first time I have used it for completed socks, before this I have only used magic loop for the toe portion. And I think it will stay that way. The heels were fussy to make on magic loop, and there is clear signs in the sides of the socks were the rows have started and ended. Since I never get any marks when knitting with the old-fashioned trusty double-pointed needles, and the speed is also of quite an other world, I think I will stick to the dpns for the future. And use magic loop for toes only when I'm starting socks that way.

Project details:
Pattern: my own, knitted from the toes up using magic loop. A basic way to knit toe up can be found here.
Yarn: Regia cotton sockyarn, 41 % wool, 34 % cotton and 25 % polyamide, about 75 grams.
Needles: 2,5 mm addi circular needle.

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The Spiral boot socks then? Finished with the knitting and blocked. They still need some kind of elastic or perhaps a beautiful ribbon would be enough in order to stay up. The lace in the cuff is too elastic to stay up without any help, and my leg not shaply enough. But the socks were funny to knit, and I think the pattern is pretty cunning, the way it looks like there is only one pattern on the leg. Click here to see a picture where the decrease points are marked with two lines! If you look closely you can see were the decreases are made, but when you just look in a normal way, they look like having just one pattern. All in all it is a very well fitting sock, the foot is just perfect for me.

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Project details:
Pattern: Spiral boot sock by Evelyn Clark for Interweave Knits Summer 2007.
Yarn: Novita Nalle (a Finnish sock yarn), 145 grams.
Needles: 2,5 mm double pointed needles.

Before starting our trip to the archipelago on Monday I dug out three balls of Regia Silk in a denim blue colour, 2,5 mm dpns and Nancy Bush's Folk socks book. The pattern I chose is the Chalet socks, with it's roots in the sock pattern with traveling stitches found in Bavaria, Tirol, Alsace and Norway. I once lived in Munich and stayed with a family very fond of the traditional Bavarian way to dress, and since I have liked the traveling stitches in socks very much. I in fact found not long ago a very traditional pattern, but since it will look better in a light coloured yarn I decided to let that pattern wait a while, and I chose the chalet socks instead. In this pattern there is something as unusual as mistakes in the charts. The center pattern should start with two twisted knit stitches that on row number two are crossed. This way you'll have circles that every second time twist around once and every second time twice. The way the pattern is charted was very hard to understand in the beginning, not being like what I'm used to, but I'm starting to get the grip of it. And now the knitting flows, I'm past the heel already. Look look!

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I hope you'll have a nice day, filled with laughter and joy! I'm now off to clean the house, tackle the last of the archipelago wash mountain and do some work in the garden.

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Welcome to my blog! My name is Maud, and I spend my free hours grooming Afghan hounds, knitting, cooking, and growing bonsai trees. I am since the summer of 2012 reporting from Stockholm Sweden, entries before that are from Esbo, Finland.

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