The Black Lake ~ New Harry Potter companion yarn!

With the start of my Harry Potter 2010 Yarn Club underway, there is a new yarn that is a companion to the club. The dyeing process for this yarn is unique so the colors for this turned out just amazing!

The Black Lake ~ Hogwarts Lake

"And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood."
~Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone

"There were rocks littering the lake bottom. He dived and snatched up a particularly jagged one and returned to the statue. He began to hack at the ropes binding Ron, and after several minutes' hard work, they broke apart. Ron floated, unconscious, a few inches above the lake bottom, drifting a little in the ebb of water."
~Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire

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Do you remember Hogwarts Lake?... The Black Lake. Harry crossed it in a tiny boat with Hagrid as a first year seeing Hogwarts Castle for the first time. The Merpeople lived there, and they held his friends under the water, captive, for the Second Task in The Goblet of Fire. The Merpeople came out to sing a lament song for Dumbledores final rest into The White Tomb...

Beautiful, luxurious colors of deep blues, paler blues, sea greens, emerald and browns play onto the sparkling blue faced leiscester yarn base. It has a high aqua cast in natural and bright lights, and outside of that you can see the deeper blues that play into it. This effect is achieved from the over-dyeing and gives it unique color.

BFL yarn is shimmery, quite strong, and soft; this blend has nylon added in to make it an even more durable softy. This one is also a superwash so you can machine wash it for ease if you choose.

It's a unique colorway with an initial kettle dye, then colors were hand painted on, then another immersion into the kettle to overdye the yarn.

Specs:
BFL Sock (80/20 superwash light sportweight BFL, nylon)
333 yds approx - 100g.
Heavy fingering to light sport weight sock
Machine wash gentle, dry flat

Autumn Harvest Yarn 2-skein Packs for sale!

Ohhhh I just love the Autumn season... I'm going to have to dye up some of these special Autumn Harvest yarn packs for myself too! I've had that Mythos pattern from Knitty's First Fall issue in mind... I think I might have just the right yarn in mind now too..

Order Autumn Harvest Yarn Pack

Right now in my Etsy shop I have Autumn Harvest Yarn packs for sale. Each pack is like a mini-club, meaning that it's two skeins of yarn, dyed in the same colorway and going out in one package. Each package comes with surprise Autumn goodies to enjoy during your seasonal knitting.

It'll be enough yarn for knitting a shawl, or a sweater like I'm thinking of above, gloves, mitts, a scarf, whatever project you've got in mind. It's available in my Twisted Sock yarn base, which is soft and plush, with a nice twist to it. The yardage for each double skein pack is listed below. And like always, anyone who orders yarn clubs or packs can order additional skeins of yarn if you want more of the same limited colorways. Just convo or email me to find out price per skein :)


~ Twisted Sock (80/20 superwash merion/nylon)
400 yds/100g. each skein = 800 yds/200g per package


Happy Autumn! 

Inamorata Chart - converted to written

Wow, life's been busy again...I've been working on Inamorata with some gorgeous Tinsel Toes merino/tencel blend yarn from The Unique Sheep. Painty had a Lord of the Rings sock club (now she's onto #3) a while back, and I could not resist her lovely yarns. This was back before I started dying my own yarns, and when I saw Inamorata needed a sock yarn held double, I dug through my stash, and there it was.... Prince of the Wood Elves staring at me, shining silvery with little flecks of brown and green. One of my favorite things is to wind up yarn just before a project so I get to see the light play across it's colors and help me envision the finished project. It's a different type of yarn for me, since it has 50% tencel in it, it has more of a feel like a cotton will, and I predominately knit with wools or alpaca/llama yarns... but it is nice, and is a perfect yarn for such a Summery camisole. Just the right color to show off the cabling, and just the right fibers for a light Summer cami. Now... if only I can get the right sizing. That is another blog post though, and this one I'm going to have the cable chart conversion on, so I'll get to the subject. I will also add in another blog later with a short video with cabling without a cable needle. This is a great project to learn it on too since these are tiny cables and quite simple to cable without a separate needle.


Note: I didn't think it would be necessary, but I found this pattern to be much easier with using stitch markers to mark each pattern repeat on my work. I had my two end stitch markers to separate the 3 (or 2 depending on the size you're making) stitches at each end of the work that are not worked in the pattern repeat, and then I used plain ring stitch markers to separate each 8 st pattern repeat. This way, if I made any errors, my brain found them faster and could identify the pattern much more easily as I went along. It saved much time down the road rather than counting out each section all together to see where the mistake was etc.

Inamorata Chart Conversion


Queue this on Ravelry
Inamorata pattern on Knitty

*keep in mind that you are knitting back and forth in this chart, not in the round. You can easily knit this in the round, by not joining it but knitting as though it were. If you do this, on every even numbered row, you'll need to reverse the directions & stitches (i.e. row 2 would become: p2, k2, p4).


(Begin and end each row with the 3 (or 2 if your size requires) each reverse stockinette stitches as pattern states)

Row 1:  p2, kfb, p4
Row 2:  k4, p2, k2
Row 3:  p1, c2b, c2f, p3
Row 4:  k3, p1, k2, p1, k1
Row 5:  c2b, k2, c2f, p2
Row 6:  k2, p1, k4, p1
Row 7:  k1 tbl, k4, k1 tbl, p2
Row 8:  k2, p1, k4, p1
Row 9:  c2fp, k2, c2bp, p2
Row 10: k3, p1, k2, p1, k1
Row 11: p1, c2fp, c2bp, p3
Row 12: k4, p2, k2
Row 13: p2, c2f, p4
Row 14: k3, c2f, c2b, k1
Row 15: c2b, k2, c2f, p2
Row 16: k2, p1, k4, p1
Row 17: k4, c2f, c2b
Row 18: k1, p2, k5
Row 19: k5, c2b, k1
Row 20: k1, p2, k5
Row 21: k4, c2b, c2f
Row 22: k2, p1, k4, p1
Row 23: c2fp, k2, c2bp, p2
Row 24: k3, c2bp, c2fp, k1
Row 25: p2, c2f, p4
Row 26: k4, p2, k2
Row 27: p1, c2b, c2f, p3
Row 28: k3, p1, k2, p1, k1
Row 29: c2b, k2, c2f, p2
Row 30: k2, p1, k4, p1
Row 31: k1 tbl, k4, k1 tbl, p2
Row 32: k2, p1, k4, p1
Row 33: c2fp, k2, c2bp, p2
Row 34: k3, p1, k2, p1, k1
Row 35: p1, c2fp, c2bp, p3
Row 36: k4, p2tog, k2

Like the pattern states, you will have 7 stitches for the pattern repeat, increased to 8 sts for the repeat beginning on Row 1. Row 36 decreases you back down to your original number of stitches.

If you see any mistakes, please email me so I can update it :)

Here's a pic of what my chart looked like after all my notes on it

Newborn Jaywalkers, Toe-up Pattern

I decided to use the Jaywalker pattern and scale it down to a newborn size. The original Jaywalker pattern by Grumperina can be found here on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/jaywalker#

I did them toe-up, two-at-a-time, with a magic cast-on (Cat Bordhi's video is a great example as well), and a Fleegle heel.

You can queue these in Ravelry.


Yarn
Fingering weight (First photo - Angels & Elephants in color Polperro, Second photo - Plymouth Happy Feet in color 11 - Olive/Wine), small amount

Needles
Circulars or DPN's in #0 or #1 (I used both sizes to do them two-at-a-time since that's what I had) This is written with using two circulars, so if you use DPN's, then adjust it to how you arrange sts on them.

Finished size
foot length approx 3" (this is customizable), foot circumference approx 3.5"

Stitches used
kfbl - knit through the front of the loop, then without slipping off needle, knit again through back loop and then slip off needle (increased one st)
dd - double decrease, slip two sts together knitwise, then knit the next st, now slip the two slipped sts over the knit st.
sewn bind off - using tapestry needle, thread needle purlwise through next 2 sts on needle, then back through first st knitwise and slip that st off needle, continue until all sts are worked and weave in ends.


Toe
Begin by casting on 12 sts using the magic cast on. You will have 6 sts on each needle.
Rnd 1: Knit all sts
Rnd 2: (inc rnd) k1, inc1, k to last st, inc1, k1 - x2

Repeat these two rounds until you have 32 sts total between both needles (16 sts per needle)


Instep
Now you will be working the pattern on the instep needle, and plain stockinette on the sole needle.

Pattern -
k1, kfbl, k1, dd, k1, kfbl, kfbl, k1, dd, k1, kfbl, k1

Rnd 1: knit all sts
Rnd 2: work in pattern on instep needle, work plain stockinette on sole needle

Repeat these two rounds 9 times to reach a foot length of 2" or until 1" shorter than desired length of foot. The gusset and heel turn will normally consume about 1" of length so you can adjust your final foot size with that in mind.

Gusset
Work in pattern across instep needle, and then began gusset increases on your sole/heel needle.

Working on the sole/heel needle now, k1, inc1, knit to last st, inc1, k1. On instep needle, continue where you are at in the pattern (either a knit row or pattern row). On sole/heel needle, knit all sts.

Rnd 1: (instep needle) Work where you are at in pattern
(sole/heel needle) k1, inc1, knit to last st, inc1, k1

Rnd 2: (instep needle) Work where you are at in pattern
(sole/heel needle) knit all sts

Repeat these two rounds until you have 26 sts on the sole/heel needle (you will have 16 sts on the instep needle still, bringing you to a total of 42 sts between both needles).

Now, you are ready to begin turning your heel, which will be worked only on the sole/heel needle. Note where you leave off in pattern to pick it back up (either a knit row or pattern row) after you turn the heel.

Turn the heel
Place a marker in the middle of the sts on the sole/heel needle. You will have 13 sts on either side of the marker. All work will be done on this needle only for now.

Knit across the needle until you are two sts past the marker. k2tog, k1, turn
Sl1 purlwise, purl across the needle until you are two sts past the marker. p2tog, p1, turn

*sl1 knitwise, knit across needle until 1 st before gap, k2tog, k1, turn
sl 1 purlwise, purl across needle until 1 st before gap, p2tog, p1, turn*

Repeat these two rounds until you have ended on a purl round and have two sts left on each side. Now you will sl1 knitwise, and knit until 1 st before the gap, k2tog, k1, and NOT TURN. Continue working now on your instep needle (no gap this way - see Fleegle heel link above for clarification).

Ankle
Continue working in pattern where you left off and work in pattern on both instep and heel/needle so it wraps around the ankle on both sides. Work for 9 complete repeats of pattern (18 rnds) or until desired length.

Cuff
Work in 1x1 ribbing for 6 rnds or until desired length.

Bind off using the sewn bind off. More information and pictures can be found here.

Any corrections, or questions or whatever, let me know. I'm bound to have missed something due to my pregnant brain.

Socks complete! And new sock yarn

Arriving on xmas eve from the UK is my new sock yarn from Angels & Elephants. About 1600 total yards of hand dyed sockish deliciousness. From left to right they are: Polperro 100% British sock wool in colors of blue to green to deep purple (maybe for the Saartje booties or the Bellatrix socks), Zennor 100% blue faced leicester in colors of lavender to grey to blue to purple, Autumn Leaves 100% blue faced leicester in colors of pink to olive to browns and greens with a little mustard (I'm thinking of using this for either some Morgana socks or for the Ginny Weasley socks), and finally it's Damson Delight 100% British sock wool
in deep purple to medium purple to pale violet (maybe this for the Bellatrix socks?).

And here is a final shot of (and it's impossible to get the true color of the yarn which is a deep and bright garnet color) of my Baudelaire socks that I finished up. I can't get a good close-up of the lace pattern with my camera, but I got some fairly decent ones a few posts back. They are very comfy and snuggly! I love them!

So...I'm going to try to pick out my yarn and get started on the Saartje booties. They should be a very quick knit, and I'm thinking I can do both of them at the same time on the circulars. I have to wind my yarn into balls, so that will consume the first hour of my time right now at least...but at least the yarn came in 50 gram hanks so I can just wind them separately to use for two-at-a-time socks. That's my new goal. I'm even thinking that I can do four-at-a-time baby socks right? Yep, that sounds totally plausible. Someone has to have tried it. Just use lots of baggies to keep that yarn separate....


Jim had gone to Michaels and picked up a bunch of rolled casting to use for my belly mask. With how crampy and odd I've been feeling everyone is getting ready for this baby to come any day. I'm still at 36 weeks though and knowing that I've given birth with my other children anywhere from 39 to 42 weeks there's just no telling. But a nice glass of wine definitely calmed things down the other night. Sometimes I can't even figure out how to get into a comfortable position where it doesn't feel like the baby is trying to completely turn itself around or over, or where my stomach doesn't feel like it's pushing itself out into everything I get near. Other times it feels completely like it's a part of me that doesn't interfere with anything at all. This has been the most unique of my pregnancies, but Jim tells me that they all have had their own issues like this. I seem to be able to forget anything unpleasant then I guess.

I would love for Winter Break to go on, and I'm a little sad for there to be only one more week. I'm enjoying this break from routine and obligations so much. I always do. Summertime is too long of a break, but these small breaks really make it nice. Especially now when I'm physically uncomfortable for one reason or another lately and love not having to get up early, or run to ballet, or drive kids back and forth to schools and all the other stuff we have to do. I love being able to do what I want to do when I want to do it. Again, what I miss the most from homeschooling.

Well, time to wind the yarn and think about what I want to use to start those booties. Sometimes after it's wound into a ball it starts to look like something completely different than when you see it in a hank. It begins to take on a life of what it wants to be. When I have more time, I think I might even start dying my own yarns. I have so many ideas of what I want to do but I'm trying to just take things one day at a time, at least until after the baby comes and we are settled back into some sort of a routine.