Fleece Artist Socks

Posted on May 17, 2023 by Deborah Cooke

Things have been really busy writing-and-publishing-wise, which means my knitting and sewing projects have been getting less action. When I need to think, I need a simple project (or two.) So I finished a pair of new socks for myself which is always a good thing.

Socks knit by Deborah Cooke in Fleece Artist Kiki, Twilight colourway

I managed to crop the toe of one of them in this picture, but the colour is pretty true. They’re knit of Fleece Artist Kiki in Twilight, a superwash and nylon blend that is put up in a big skein of 140g. (That’s a Ravelry link for the yarn.) This yarn is thick, so these socks are thick, and I used almost the whole skein.

This is just my usual sock pattern, the one I don’t have to think about too much, but this time, I added two six-stitch mirroring cables to the front.

After the 2/2 ribbing, I changed to 6/2 ribbing for the rest of the sock, turning cables on two adjacent knit bands. When I got to the heel, I positioned them at the center front. They go all the way down to the toe and make me happy.

It was the Halo that got me thinking about Fleece Artist yarn and missing (as usual) their Trail Socks yarn base. I no longer have a LYS with Fleece Artist yarn, which is sad, but Ravelry shows that Trail Socks isn’t discontinued. Good news. I haven’t seen it in so long that I assumed otherwise. (Let the hunt begin.) I found Kiki at Little Knits, because it’s discontinued. The colour saturation is great and the yarn is very squishy. I was surprised by the thickness, though. These are heavy socks.

Here’s my Ravelry project page.

I’ve also rescued my Spector from Sleeve Island and hope to have that to show you soon. I still don’t love it, but I’ll be glad to have it done.

Halo is Done!

Posted on May 3, 2023 by Deborah Cooke

Another sweater freed from Sleeve Island. This cardigan is Halo, a pattern from Fleece Artist.

Mine is knit in Koigu KPPPM held with a strand of Rowan KidSilk Haze. Here’s my first blog post about it.

I started this project a year ago, in February 2022. (It was a free pattern then, but might not be so now.) I liked the design a lot but didn’t want to buy more yarn, so I shopped my stash. I came up with some Koigu KPPPM in a mixy blue and some Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Turkish Plum which matched. The resulting fabric is lovely and soft, with enough variation from the Koigu to make the colour interesting.

Mmm. Squishy goodness.

Halo Jacket by Fleece Artist knit by Deborah Cooke in Koigu KPPPM and Rowan Kidsilk Haze

The construction is interesting. You can tell by the ridges that it’s a sideways knit. You cast on provisionally at what might be considered a sideseam, knit across the back, cast off stitches for the sleeve, then knit across one front. You put those stitches on a holder. You go back to the provisional cast-on to pick up enough stitches for the other front, then when it’s done, put them on a holder. You sew the shoulder seams, then start knitting those front stitches, up one side, pick up stitches across the back for the collar, then down the other front. This makes a self-rolling shawl collar after you knit five inches of it. Then you go back to each sleeve opening to pick up stitches and knit in the round, decreasing down to each cuff.

By the elbow of the second sleeve, I was sure that I would run out of yarn. I stopped knitting so I could look for something matchy-matchy at the Koigu tent sale in August. The best I could do was some solid-ish navy (it looks kettle-dyed) so I decided to use it on the cuffs and the front edge of the collar, if necessary. I frogged a lot of the collar to be sure I had enough Koigu for the second sleeve. By this time, I’d lost momentum and the project sat. As is so often the case, I picked it up finally and finished it in a couple of evenings.

And – ha! – I didn’t run out of yarn. I took the remaining Koigu and knit on the collar until it was gone.

Here’s Halo completed.

Morning sunlight through the tree branches makes for dappled light and shadow. 🙂

Mine came out a bit smaller than anticipated. I made the larger size, which meant it should have been 25″ long and 48″ wide. There’s no row gauge specified, probably because it’s stretchy, but the stitch gauge is 20 sts to 4″. Mine is right on, but my sweater is 22″ long and 42″ wide. So, if and when I make another of these cardigans, I’ll add 15 stitches to the length and 7 or 8 repeats to the width, probably 4 across the back and 4 on each front.

I’m thinking I might knit a second one of these rather than another Lunenberg-meets-Hebrides cardigan. I have more of the KPPPM in the teal colourway than I had of the navy, so that should work out well – plus I have KSH in Trance to knit with it. Or I might buy a Halo bundle from Fleece Artist and actually knit the sweater in the specified yarn. (Had to sit down for a minute there. Phew. What a concept.) We’ll see after I finish up a few projects still on the go.

In the meantime, here’s the link to my Ravelry project page.

Pantone Hats

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Deborah Cooke

Things have been quiet here, mostly because I’ve been writing like mad lately. I did NaNoWriMo in November, then was finishing up the book that publishes next week – it was almost twice as long as I’d expected, so getting it done was a bit of a crush.

I have also been knitting though. 🙂

First, I have three hats to show you.

Three hats in Caron X Pantone knit by Deborah Cooke

I found a package of three Pantone X Caron braids in the cutout bin at Spinrite a few years ago. (That’s a Ravelry link because these braids are discontinued and no longer on the Yarnspirations site.) This colourway is called Morning Blues. I think they might have been a little off-weight in certain colours – which would explain them being discounted – as I had some fiddling to do to get a result I liked.

First Snow hat knit in Caron Pantone X by Deborah Cooke

The middle one is that old fave hat pattern of mine, First Snow (which is no longer available.) It has a faux-fur pompom. I wasn’t fussy about where the colours changed on that one, just started the next colour when I ran out of the one I was using. It took every inch of the braid to finish. I knit two of these before but only managed to photograph one. Here it is.

The other two are knit using the Yarnspirations patter Fair Isle Hat, a free pattern which is designed for this yarn bundle and is still available. It specifies where to change colours and I had to fudge it a couple of times. I still think they came out well, though.

Next time, I’ll show you the cardigan that is challenging my eyesight…

Maine Ocean Quilt

Posted on November 2, 2022 by Deborah Cooke

It’s been quiet here lately because I’ve been buried in writing and publishing tasks. Last week, though, I took a little fiber break and got this quilt top finished. I quilted it on my Singer 185.

Blue squares pieced and quilted by Deborah Cooke

This one was inspired by a quilt I saw on our road trip to Maine: the cabin where we stayed had a quilt in this pattern on the bed. Theirs was red and white, but I really liked the simple pattern and how effective a design it made. I doodled it down, then came home to sort through my stash. I really like this colour combination. The top has been waiting to be quilted for a while.

Since the colours reminded me of the ocean, I quilted it in waves – they go diagonally across the middle square, then I started to quilt around and around. After finishing the third (outer) square border around the middle, I had to respray the outside border with temporary adhesive – all that wrestling of the fabric had made the layers come apart again. The backing is a printed cotton sateen from my stash, and the border is the same Kaffe Fassett Roman Glass in purple that’s in the quilt.

Here’s a picture of the pieced top in the sunshine:

This one was a challenge to quilt on the machine – I think it’s either the maximum size that I can manage or close to it. It’s 72″ by 72″ finished. I have one more that’s about this size (the mermaids) and I’ll probably try to do my Storm at Sea on the machine – it’s a teensy bit bigger. (Ha. No pix of that one. It’s been waiting a looooooooong time to be quilted!) The bigger ones will have to go to the long arm quilter to be finished up.

I also have a lap top pieced in these fabrics which I’ve been handquilting with embroidery floss. It has flannel on the back and is a very cozy piece of work. I’ll try to get that done soon and post a pic.

New Blue Socks

Posted on August 5, 2022 by Deborah Cooke

Most of my socks are wearing out, so I’ve been knitting new ones for myself for the fall. Here’s my latest pair.

socks knit by Deborah Cooke in Patons Kroy Socks Blue Raspberry

I really like this colourway. I used a little bit more than two balls, and needed to join from a third ball for the toes. I ran out with each ball after about 3/4″ of the turquoise band that begins the toe. You can see that I added more turquoise when knitting the right one, which means less purple on the toe. I’ll survive that. 🙂 Fortunately, I’d found that third ball in the mill ends at Spinrite, so it only cost $1. I have a lot of it left for my sock afghan or maybe another knitted dress for Barbie.

And yes, I already have another pair of socks on my needles….

More Kroy Socks

Posted on June 15, 2022 by Deborah Cooke

I’m due for some new socks so took on that project for my summer knitting. After all the sock yarns I’ve tried, I keep coming back to Patons Kroy Socks. The colours aren’t as unique as hand-painted yarns, but the socks always wear well. (My other fave yarn was Fleece Artist Trail Socks, which was both pretty and durable, but they don’t use that yarn base anymore.)

Kroy Socks (that link goes to the Yarnspirations site) is a thicker version of this yarn, with four plies instead of three, so it has less yardage. There’s 166 yards per ball. Usually, I buy three then have close to half a ball left over. This time, I decided to use just two balls.

The first pair is a blue colourway called Magic Stripes. (It’s the last colourway on the Yarnspirations site.)

socks knit by Deborah Cooke in Patons Kroy Socks

I used my usual sock pattern, casting on 72 stitches, working in 2/2 rib for about 12 rows, then switching to 6/2 ribbing to the heel. I usually knit a total of 72 rows before starting the heel (because it’s easy to remember) but this time I worked only 56 in the hope of making each sock out of one ball. As you can see, I ran out and had to make the toes black.

For the next pair, I followed the same strategy, accepting the fate of black toes. This colourway is called Mexicala Stripes (it’s the second colour in the third row of swatches on the Yarnspirations site). I’m always up for some bright socks and these are definitely bright. The colourway has a really long repeat: there were only two repeats in the skein. You can see that the yellow from the top of the cuff starts again at the end of the heel flap.

Sock knit in Patons Kroy Socks Mexicali Stripes colourway by Deborah Cooke

This time, I worked 55 rows to the heel flap, then only 18 RS rows on the heel flap. (There were 19 on the blue pair above.) I was surprised by how much difference this made – I not only finished the first sock from one ball but had 3g of wool left over. The second sock is still on the needles, but it will match exactly.

How do you make socks match exactly and effortlessly? This strategy only works when you shop in-person and can look at the skeins. Choose two that start at the same point in the repeat of the colourway. My second ball of Mexicala Stripes starts with the same yellow band, so the socks will match without any trouble at all. When you order online, of course, the person filling the order will usually just grab the next two balls, so this plan won’t work.

My next lot of Kroy Socks is three balls in the colour Blue Raspberry. I’ll make taller socks and have some left over for my sock afghan. I’ve been adding to the one made of mitred squares. Hmm. I talked about those in this post, although they don’t have a post of their own. I’ll write a post about that for Friday.

Have you knit any socks lately?

A Soft Stripey Chemo Hat in Aran

Posted on May 19, 2022 by Deborah Cooke

I know far too many people who are battling cancer right now, and recently offered to make some chemo hats. I expected this to be an easy project, but it was a challenge instead. When I found a yarn I liked (soft and squishy), I couldn’t find a pattern for it (or even its gauge) that I also liked. In the end, I merged some patterns together and came up with my own.

Here’s one, for an aran weight yarn.

This yarn is Lionbrand Landscapes, a 100% acrylic yarn that comes in wonderful graduated colours. (That link will take you to the Lionbrand website product page.) I used a colourway called Blue Lagoon for this first one, and bought the yarn at Michaels. One thing with this yarn is that it’s a loosely spun single ply, so be careful not to split the strand when knitting. I ended up making more of a scoop motion than usual to catch the entire ply and that worked really well.

This hat is knit from the top down. Many of the ones that were knit cuff-up ended up having too tight of a cast-on edge, so I preferred this method. You might prefer it inside out as the knit side of the stockinette is smoother. Check with the recipient before you sew in the ends as you’ll want them on the wrong side, whichever side that’s going to be.

You’ll need:
• one skein of Lionbrand Landscape yarn (I used .7 of a ball in Blue Lagoon for the hat with the ribbed cuff, and .85 of a ball in Wildflower for the version with the rolled hem.)
• 6.0mm needles, a set of DPNs and (if you prefer) a 40cm circular
• 5.5mm needles, either a set of DPNs or a 40cm circular (for the ribbing)
• stitch markers (optional) You’ll need one to mark the beginning of the row, and five more (in a different colour) to mark the repeats.
• a needle to sew in the ends.

Gauge: 18 stitches and 22 rows = 4 inches, in stockinette on 6.0mm needles

There are instructions for two sizes for the finished hat is 21″ (regular) and 23″ (large) around. If the recipient has a much smaller head (or you aren’t sure) the version with the ribbed cuff is more likely to stay put.

Instructions:
Cast on 6 stitches on a 6.0mm DPN and arrange them over three needles (2 stitches on each). Join in the round and place a marker at the beginning of the round.

Round 1: KFB in each stitch (12)
Round 2: Knit
Round 3: *K1, KFB, place marker. Repeat from * to end of round. (18)
Round 4: Knit
Round 5: *K to one stitch before marker, KFB. Repeat from * to end of round. (24)

Repeat rows 4 and 5 until you have 78 (for regular) or 90 (for large) stitches. Change to the circular needle when you have enough stitches, if that’s what you prefer.

Knit the next round, removing the markers after each wedge and leaving only the marker at the end of the round. Continue to knit for 3″ after the last increase.

Work next row in K1 P1 ribbing, changing to 5.5mm needles as you work the row. Continue in ribbing on the smaller needles for 2.5″ (In my case, that was 13 rows.) Cast off in ribbing.

Sew in ends and you’re done!

Variations:
• I wanted 2/2 ribbing on the blue hat, so I knit two stitches together halfway through the first row of ribbing and again at the end of the round. That gave me 88 stitches instead of 90, which is divisible by 4.
• you can also make a variation with a rolled brim. I made one with the colourway Wildflower but forgot to take a picture before sending it away. Instead of changing to ribbing, just keep knitting in stockinette to at least 8″ from the cast-on edge. I made mine with 6″ of stockinette after the last increase, then cast off loosely. This used more of the ball but had a nice rolled cuff.

Abbreviations:
K: Knit
P: Purl
KFB: Knit front and back. This increases one stitch, making one stitch into two. You could substitute any other increase you prefer, like M1 (make one) or YO (yarn over).

Finished Shawl

Posted on March 16, 2022 by Deborah Cooke

I finished my shawl, knit from the Rowan subscribers’ kit! I told you about this in December when I cast it on. Here it is on the blocking needles:

Lace Scarf by Sarah Hatton knit in Rowan Pure Wool 4ply by Deborah Cooke

It’s BIG! It blocked out to 18″ by 83″, with ten repeats. I used up all but 10g of the wool.

Here’s a detail image on the blocking needles:

The colour of the yarn is a greyed blue, quite pretty. It looks more grey here and more blue in the first post. In reality, it’s in between.

The shawl is supposed to be knit in a circle, with the ends grafted together, but I knew I’d wrestle with wearing that. Instead, I knit 6 rows of garter stitch at the beginning and at the end. I also increased the selvedge stitches from two stitches to three. I would have liked to have done another repeat of the first motif at the end – this second picture actually shows the cast-off end – to make it more symmetrical but there wasn’t enough yarn. I could have added a repeat of the second motif at the beginning if I’d thought of it then, but we’re going to go with asymmetry at this point.

My Ravelry project page is here.

I found this a nice knit, although it got to be quite a pile in my lap by the end. The lace stitches were easy although I didn’t quite memorize them, and the wool showed them off well.

It’s interesting that the shadow in the snow makes the picture look blurred. The colour is more true in this shot. I’m hoping this will be the last chance for a while to toss a project in the snow for pictures.

On to the next project waiting to be finished!

Papillon Done

Posted on July 12, 2021 by Deborah Cooke

Papillon is a garter stitch short-row shawl worked in two colours, which I started in May. That link will take you to my first post. I used Noro Silk Garden Sock and a local black alpaca yarn from my stash. There’s a lot of counting with this one, and a lot of turning, but it’s a pretty easy knit otherwise. Here’s my finished shawl:

Papillon shawl knit in Noro Silk Garden Sock by Deborah Cooke

This is a big shawl! Mine probably feels more substantial because both yarns are a little heavier than a fingering weight, maybe closer to sport. It took all of the black that I had, and just over 2 balls of the Noro Silk Garden Sock.

This was an addictive knit, but then, it often works out that way for me with self-striping yarns.

I knit the shawl just as the directions instructed, but added some beads at the hem.

You can just see them in the black border. (I like how they nestle in there and are a bit subtle.) You knit four rows of garter stitch before casting off, and I added the beads in the third row. They’re 2/0 beads and I used the crochet hook method, putting a bead on every fifth stitch. It took about 100 beads, which was just about all I had left of those. (I used them before, on another Noro shawl and these were left over. Hmm. Can I find it? This one! Noro spider web fichu. Ha!)

What do you think?

Cardigans for Barbie

Posted on April 14, 2021 by Deborah Cooke

This project is actually the one I cast on before the shrugs but finished later. Why? Because it’s fiddly.

Here’s the book the last time Jen tempted me to knit for dolls. 🙂 It’s called Knits for Barbie and is by Nicky Epstein. It’s out of print, so that’s a Ravelry link. There are a lot of cute patterns here, and they’re styled nicely for inspiration.

The specified yarns are often tapestry yarns, but many people on Ravelry use sock yarn. What’s distinct about these patterns to me is that they’re made exactly like sweaters for people from traditional patterns. No top-down seamless stuff here. I’ve never been so glad to finish a project as these two sweaters – and the process definitely made me appreciate the seamless shrug pattern I shared with you last week.

Timely Twinset by Nicky Epstein knit in MadTosh Twist Light by Deborah Cooke

But let’s talk about the cardigans. I decided to make the Timely Twin Set, (another Ravelry link there) which is a cardigan and sleeveless shell. For my first attempt, I used some leftover Madeline Tosh Twist Light in Lepidoptra. This is kind of kettle-dyed and so it didn’t make stripes even on a small garment. I knit the back, the two fronts, the two sleeves, sewed it all together, then picked up the button bands on each front, and finally knit the collar. Just like a big sweater, but teeny teeny tiny!

One thing I learned quickly is that no matter how small the stitches, Barbie fingers are smaller. It’s much easier to try these sweaters on Barbie if she has a pair of mittens on. (Barbie “gloves” are actually mittens as the fingers aren’t separated.) If you don’t have any, you could wrap a piece of cloth or the corner of a sandwich bag over her hand to put on the sweater. My vintage doll has a gap between her pinkie and the other fingers, as well as between fingers and thumb, and it was that pinkie that gave the trouble.

This cardigan pattern has no buttonholes, just buttons on the left, so the sweater is always worn open. I used teeny tiny snaps (five of them) and sewed the buttons on the right front instead. These are 3mm clear snaps that I ordered online. They’re very tiny, which I like, but they’re hard to fasten. I wouldn’t recommend them for little fingers. I might (gah) take them off and sew on plain old metal snaps.

Here’s the finished cardigan from the side:

Barbie is wearing a pair of pants I made for her of cotton twill. They’re a bit too long for her, but we both like the color.

The cardigan is pretty bulky for Barbie – I think it looks better in the pictures than IRL – so I didn’t knit the shell to go with it. Instead, I tried an experiment and knit the cardigan again, this time in Elann Silken Kydd (which is like Rowan Kidsilk Haze).

This time, I eliminated the side seams and knit the body to the underarms, then divided it. I still knit the sleeves separately and did the button bands etc. I did the five snaps and buttons again, and here’s the result:

Timely Twinset by Nicky Epstein knit in Elann Silken Kydd by Deborah Cooke

It’s still pretty fluffy, even though this one came out smaller in the thinner yarn. (Same needles.) It reminds me of a mohair sweater I have myself – it’s exactly the sweater I want when the power goes out, but not so much otherwise. It’s really fluffy and warm, but not flattering at all. It’s knit of that thick mohair that used to be prevalent. I want Barbie to be glamourous not practical!

Here are the two sweaters beside each other, so you can see the difference just by changing the yarn:

Timely Twinset by Nicky Epstein knit in MadTosh Twist Light and in Elann Silken Kydd by Deborah Cooke

So, I’ll try a variation, a top-down cardigan with a lot fewer seams. Stay tuned for that!

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