More Socks and a Wee Sweater

I don't know what it is about socks lately but they're practically flying off the needles.

A pair for an unknown male, may send these to my BiL in Scotland. Assuming the postal strike here in Canada gets mail moving again soon. The posties have been legislated back to work as of today.

Pattern: Improvised Basic Sock
Yarn: Schachenmayr Regia Pairfect in 311
Needle: 2.5mm
Gauge: 41 stitches and 48 rows

Next a pair using the inverse colours from a pair I made for my Mom a few weeks ago. May send these to my Sister in Scotland. The irony about this pair is that the yarn was spun in Yorkshire so if I send them to my Sister they'll have crossed the Atlantic twice. Well traveled socks.

Pattern: Improvised Basic Sock
Yarn: West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 Ply in 805 and 731
Needle: 2.5mm
Gauge: 41 stitches and 48 rows

And a wee sweater for my Wee Niece in Scotland. She's too young to read the internet yet so I feel safe posting here. Plus I'm not actually sure my Sister ever remembers that I have this blog. I made some changes to this pattern, it's written for an aran yarn but I used a chunky so I made the smallest size, it should fit my three year old Wee Niece OK. Still needs blocking and whiskers but he's awfully close to done.

Pattern: Mini Meow by Claire Slade
Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick Solids in Charcoal and Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick Tweeds in Oatmeal
Needle: 9.0mm
Gauge: 9 stitches in 10 cm

Also my Sock Yarn Granny Square Blanket Stash-Ghan is finally done, it only took six years. This is the largest crochet project I've ever done. Apparently I didn't take a final picture, it's much bigger than below.

Pattern: One Big Granny Square
Yarn: Stash Fingering Weight
Hook: 3.5mm

In progress there are a couple of baby blankets, a large fingering weight blanket for myself, a sweater for myself for which I had to re-make the yoke and sleeves because I decided I didn't want another raglan sleeve, and a new stash-ghan, probably another six year project. And a couple of Christmas gifts for my Niece and Nephew in Canada.

Current Weather
6C and partly cloudy. A Chinook is blowing.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Lest We Forget

I simply cannot say it better.

Current Weather

-3C with light snow.

Wordless Wednesday

Pin Weaving

Playing around with a bit of pin weaving, I setup some of the pieces from my Martha Stewart Kit and set to. Yeah, I know it's not the most expensive pin loom out there but I have it so that's what I'll be starting with. This kit has the advantage of being versatile, you can set it up for quite a number of different crafts, and the disadvantage of being quite cheap.

First I tried weaving according to some YouTube instructions I found with a single strand and got this:

First try.

Pretty bad really. The fabric is far too loose, no matter what you tried to use it for it would wear out or snag or something quite quickly. Not even sure I could use it as a coaster, although I might anyway.

Then I tried doubling the strands, basically working each peg twice.

Second try.

Better, although it is clear I need to practice removing the piece from the loom. Which I did by crocheting it off, this double strand technique did not allow me to just lift the piece off. The weave is nice but the edges are curling a bit, blocking might help here or sewing the square to another.

Next I tried with a bulky yarn.

Third try.

This I'm liking much better. The weave is nice, not too tight, not too loose; and it came off the loom nicely. It's hard to see in the picture because I used charcoal - meh, it's what I have.

Next I decided to go a little bit bigger.

Complete with photo-bombing cat.

Fourth try.

The charcoal is about 11cm (4.5") and the oatmeal is about 17cm (6.5"). I like the size of the bigger square.

Socks

Also knocked off another pair of socks, I'm on a roll with socks again! These are a men's size medium, likely to go to my Dad.

Current Weather
2C and pouring rain. There is still a little patch of ice in the back yard, the North side of the house, left from the snow on Oct. 2.

It's about the size of a diner plate