Grey B&L Socks

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Deborah Cooke

It’s Friday again, and time to show off some knitting.

Here’s a new pair of socks I just finished for Mr. Math. The yarn is Briggs & Little Tuffy – I bought the grey, which is called Smoke, and used up the blue (Blue Jeans) from the ends in my stash. You can see that I miscalculated a little and didn’t quite have the same amount of blue for the left sock. That’s why it has a bit more grey on the toe. There wasn’t a pattern for these – I just cast on and knit. The yarn does want to felt a little over time (because I don’t hand wash socks) so the ribbing ensures that the socks maintain some stretchiness.

Briggs & Little is an old Canadian mill, located in the Maritimes. I like their sock wool a lot. It’s tough and wears well, plus it has character. Mr. Math was pretty glad to see these come off the needles, given how cold it is here right now. They went straight onto his feet!

I’m determined to use up the bits and ends of Tuffy in my stash, so there’s another thick sock on my needles now. What do you think?

Balkan

Posted on January 9, 2015 by Deborah Cooke

This is a sweater I made for Mr. Math. The pattern is called Balkan and is a design by Brandon Mably for Rowan Yarns. And here’s our variation:

Mr. Math wasn’t fussed about the softness of the yarn that’s specified for this sweater—I made him a crew neck sweater of softly spun yarn once before, and his whiskers roughed up the neck ribbing. He wanted something tough this time, and he didn’t want muted colours. He picked the yarn and the colours: it’s Harrisville Highland which is a wonderful tweed yarn. I bought it on cones, which is how they put it up for weavers. The colours are Tundra and Black Cherry.

This sweater is a very trim fit, and doesn’t have much ease in the body. I had some troubles with the sleeves: they were too tight in the forearm, then too full in the upper arm, then too long overall. When I reknit them to be wider on the lower arm and narrower on the upper arm, the sleeve cap ended up too short to fit into the sweater. I knit them either three or four times, but finally, they’re right. (Lots of notes on my Ravelry project page.) I was so fed up that the pieces sat in my knitting basket for more than a month before I decided to sew it together for Christmas.

The Harrisville Highland on cones isn’t washed, so it hasn’t been fulled. I gave the finished sweater a good soak in the tub and even walked on it to full the yarn, then blocked it to size to dry. The yarn blossomed in a wonderful way, and softened as well. Because it’s a tweed yarn, it has many other colours and subtle gradations, which don’t show up in the picture above. Mr. Math loves it. He wore the sweater on Christmas Day and has worn it a lot since then because it’s been so chilly here. He says the trim fit makes it great for layering and that it’s really warm.

Skye Finished

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Deborah Cooke

You might remember me talking about a vest I was knitting for Mr. Math a few weeks ago – if not, that post is right here. The pattern is called Skye, designed by Brandon Mably, from Rowan 52. I actually knitted it without substituting the yarns (a strange and incredible thing). It uses four colours of Rowan Colourspun. I finished it last week and really like it. As a bonus, Mr. Math also really likes it (!) and it fits perfectly!

Here it is:This picture is more true to the colours than the last one. What do you think?

Colourspun Skye

Posted on August 22, 2014 by Deborah Cooke

A few years ago, I saw a men’s vest pattern in a Rowan Magazine and really liked it. I didn’t rush out to order the yarn, and by the time I thought I might knit it, two of the colours required for the pattern had been discontinued. I figured that vest wasn’t meant to be. But a little while ago, I noticed that there were a few balls of those very same discontinued colours available at an online store. I ordered them up, and because I really like this yarn, I cast on the vest despite having so many other projects on my needles.

Here’s the completed back:The pattern is called Skye and it was designed by Brandon Mably. I seem to knit a lot of Brandon Mably designs for Mr. Math. The yarn is called Colourspun, and it’s a very soft yarn. It’s the same yarn used in my Icicle Mitts. The discontinued colours are the red and the brown – all of the colours have long variegations, so it looks as if there are more than four colours used. (Red, brown, green, then beige for the grid.) They also shade into each other at some points, which I like a lot. I think it’s going to be pretty warm, giving that the beige wool is carried across the back of each square. (You can see that at the top, where it’s curled back a bit.) Mr. Math likes it a lot, though, so I’m sure he’ll wear it.

What do you think?

Socks in Tuffy and Regia

Posted on October 25, 2013 by Deborah Cooke

I haven’t posted about my knitting for a while, mostly because I’ve been knitting gifts. Since they’re surprises, I don’t photograph or talk about them – that would spoil the fun!

But I’ve also been knitting socks for Mr. Math. I have this idea that I can clear out at least one corner of my stash. It’s a bit of a quixotic goal, but can’t hurt to try. He really likes these ones.

They’re ribbed socks knit from Briggs & Little Tuffy, one of my fave sock yarns (and spun right here in Canada). The dark grey is called Oxford, and I used up some bits for the red (also Tuffy) and the black (mmmm, something else from the stash!) to jazz them up.Also, here are the socks for him that are currently on my needles – one is done. You might remember that I knit a vest for him from this yarn – it’s Regia six-ply, with colourways designed by Kaffe Fassett. Well, there were three balls left, so he gets matching socks. Here’s the first one – the second is knit to the heel and will be just the same (because I have fussy knitter disease).I also have some lace on the needles (because winter is coming, and I knit lace in the winter) but right now, it just looks like a lump. I’ll show you after it’s blocked.

Green Socks for the Mister

Posted on August 24, 2012 by Deborah Cooke

Just off the needles – a new pair of socks for the man. These are knit of Patons Kroy FX in the Calla Lily colourway.As usual, when I bought the yarn, I forgot that it’s thicker and has less yardage in each ball. (I always do this with the Kroy FX.) I bought only two balls, which isn’t enough to make a pair of socks for Mr. Math. I was going to go back for a third ball, but he decided he wanted contrasting toes. So, I used one ball for each sock, then switched to some leftovers of another colourway (I think it’s Clover) to do the toes.

He’s pleased, and it’s getting to be time for wearing socks anyway.

The big question is – why is everything I’m knitting this year GREEN?

Do you have a favourite colour? Does it change from year to year (or from season to season) or is it pretty constant?

A New Blue Vest

Posted on July 25, 2012 by Deborah Cooke

I’m not really sure how this happened, but I ended up knitting a wool vest for Mr. Math in the hottest July I can ever remember enduring. It was a comparatively quick knit and is done now.

That makes two vests I’ve knit for him this summer. Impetus for this was the zipper breaking in his polar fleece vest last winter. He decided not to buy another one, because he wanted to wear handknits instead. (Yay!) But he didn’t have any vests, which are a winter favourite. So, out came the books and the stash to find out what he liked and why.

This is a free pattern, available on Ravelry, called Conservative (but Pretty) Dad Vest. (That’s a Rav link, but you can create an account there for free.) Mr. Math isn’t a dad, but he liked the vest and I liked that the instructions were in the right gauge for the yarn he chose. The yarn is a Kaffe Fassett sock yarn – Regia 6 ply – which self-stripes. Here’s the finished vest:It fits him perfectly and he likes it, so all is good. It could stand to be blocked, but I’ll do that when the weather cools off.

On to the next project!

Conservative Dad Vest

Posted on July 9, 2012 by Deborah Cooke

Here’s another project that I’ve been working on. Strange but true – it’s wool.This is the back of another vest for Mr. Math. It’s knit of a heavy sock wool – Regia Design Line 6-ply – in a colourway designed by Kaffe Fassett. The yarn is doing the striping, all by itself. The pattern is Conservative but Pretty Dad Vest, which is a free pattern – here’s the Ravelry link and here’s the designer’s link. (It’s the pattern in the bottom left corner of this display – if you click on it, you can download the pdf.) The pattern is great – very easy and straightforward, and also easy to modify. Mr. Math is leaner and taller than the designer’s dad, but I’ve got it covered.

These socks are knit from the 4-ply variant of this same yarn, in the same colourway, but in the variegation that doesn’t stripe. Here’s my post on the socks – I can see now, though, that there are slight differences in the colours. There’s no brown or dark green in this variant.

Why knit with wool in the summer? Well, because it’s my favourite. Wool isn’t frustrating to knit with. It doesn’t shed. This is unlike the KSH projects I have on my needles right now – I have no patience for finding mohair fibres everywhere when it’s hot! Wool has elasticity, too, so tension comes out beautifully even. I have a cotton sweater on my needles right now, too, but knitting with cotton is never my favourite. Also, this vest is mostly plain stockinette – I just knit a row and purl a row and repeat. Self-striping yarn is a good choice for this weather because I find it entertaining. It keeps me knitting, just to see how the colours come out next.

Which is why I’ve knit the back of this vest in less than a week, in a heat wave.

What do you knit in the summer, and why?

Sonny Vest

Posted on May 24, 2012 by Deborah Cooke

Here’s a finished project to celebrate the end of the week. This vest is for Mr. Math and is knit of Rowan’s Colourscape Chunky. The colourways were designed by Kaffe Fassett, so you can imagine that I’ve been fingering this yarn (and lusting after it) since it was introduced. It’s a single ply chunky weight yarn, spun of merino – and now it’s discontinued.

Here’s the vest:

The pattern is called Sonny, from the Colourscape Folk Collection pattern book. I knit it almost 2 inches longer because Mr. Math is tall. It’s even knit in the same colourway as in the book – Camouflage – and Mr. Math is very happy with it. It was a pretty quick knit.

The yarn is fabulous. It has so many more colours than even show in the photograph. And it’s soft. I hope it doesn’t pill as single plies often do, but we’ll see. On the one hand, I’m disappointed that it’s discontinued because that means it will eventually disappear from the world. On the other hand, the fact that it’s discontinued means that it’s on sale at a lot of outlets, and that price drop makes it easier to acquire.

I’d bought four skeins – the pattern calls for three – thinking I might need more for the extra length. I did go into the fourth ball to play matchy matchy on the second side of the v-front, but all my bits together weigh more than one skein. Theoretically, I could have bought just three skeins, but I do like the matchy matchy. And I love the orange on the neck ribbing. I was hoping for that!

Top Down Raglan

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Deborah Cooke

I finally finished Mr. Math’s new sweater. This is a pullover, a top-down raglan with a crew neck – here’s a link for the free pattern. I used the same pattern for his Elrond Sweater, which he wears all the time.

These sweaters are kind of fun to knit because there’s not really a pattern to follow. You calculate the cast-on at the neck – based on your gauge and measurements desired for the finished sweater – then start knitting. You increase at the raglan seams every second row, and keep knitting around until it’s time to split the yoke into the arms and the body. You decide this point by trying the sweater on. Then you knit the body until the sweater is long enough, ditto on the sleeves, and you’re done. If you knit in stockinette, in the round, you just knit the whole way down. It’s not very challenging once you have it going, which makes it good television knitting.

Mr. Math wanted a basic sweater to wear around the house and he prefers wool. So, he chose a shade of Patons Classic Wool – his pick was Dark Grey Marl. Marl means that one ply of the yarn is one colour and one ply is another. This yarn has one charcoal ply and one off-white ply. Knitted up, the effect is more flicky than tweedy. I put some red stripes in PCW on the cuffs and neck.

And here it is.

The photo is mediocre, both because I’m a mediocre photographer and because marl yarn doesn’t photograph well. I only had a chance to take one shot – then the sweater was on him and he was heading out to get things done. I think this one is going to get some serious mileage!

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