the Soxophone Player

These are from the latest bag I cracked open: Koigu KPPPM in colourway P508.  100% Merino; 160m/50g.

And here are some samples of how it knit up:

This pair is size Small, knit with the 54 needle cylinder on the Legare 400. The colours patterned in a predictable, non pooling manner on the Small and also on the Medium (not shown) which I knit at the same tension.

This pair is size Medium +, knit with the 72 needle cylinder on the Verdun 47.

And this last pair is size Large, also knit with the 72 needle cylinder on the Verdun 47, but with tension 1/4 turn looser than for the Medium+.

I added Black Wooly Nylon to all the heels and toes.

These will be great colours for fall and winter. (Hard to believe tomorrow is Sep 1 when the farm is sweltering in the 30′s like the rest of south-western Ontario!)

The small photos may give an impression that these are black and orange stripes, but if you look closely (or in person!) you’ll find a zillion colours in as many shades, as you would expect in Koigu.

I found this pair of toe-up knee socks, Gothic Temptress, designed by Janine Le Cras – while trolling around on Ravelry.

I don’t have the pattern, but adapted my own version inspired by the photo.

I began with a pico edge mock rib hem top, and then knit a straight forward knee sock, with the exception of making a series of eyelets down the back of the sock for the ribbon.

For each eyelet I  moved a single stitch onto its neighbouring needle, as you would do making a pico edge. That skips the stitch on the first pass, but knits it on the subsequent pass, leaving the hole – or eyelet.

I like to keep things simple, so I used the two yellow hash marks (on the cylinder for the heel) as my reference points for the eyelets, and I made them every 10 rows from about an inch under the hem top down to the pre-heel.

This pair is size Medium, knit with the 72 needle cylinder on the Verdun 47.  At the pre-heel I switched from stockinette to 3:1 mock ribbing for the top of the foot, until the last 5 rows, when I repaced those needles (to facilitate easier Kitchener stitching).

I didn’t have enough ribbon to lace both socks – but here’s one. (That’s just shy of 3 meters of ribbon!)

DW couldn’t find her steel spiked red stilettos, so we had to make do without ;o(

Here’s two new colours from the dye pot.

On the left, Chocolate Brown – I’d call it a Dark Chocolate – dyed at full strength.

And on the right, Sky Blue. This batch I dyed at a medium strength.

The yarn is my own 75/25 Wool/Nylon fingering weight.

There’s very little variegation in these two batches, which is more easily attained working in small batches – 6 skeins in a 20 gallon pot.

As a general rule, I find that using a dye at full strength give the best ‘solid’ result. Lowest, pale values, I find more difficult – especially if the total amount of dye is under 1 tsp.

As another general rule, I prefer some degree of variegation in the uni colours – its what often distinguishes them as home dyed. But sometimes I like a change!

I did do something different with these two batches – I used Ammonium Sulphate as my mordant, instead of my usual Citric Acid.  The former is allegedly more suitable for getting a pastel-ish hue. (I can’t tell the difference!)

Here’s a pair of socks:

These are a size Medium, knit with the 54 needle cylinder on the Legare 400. The pattern is one I made up for some Harry Potter socks, just in different colours.

It’s been a very good year for the vegetable garden here at the farm.

The mid-size (Ultra Girl) and cherry tomatoes have been fabulous.

The Beefsteak, like the one in the photo, are plentiful but perhaps a little less fabulous – a lot of them are gnarly shaped – I think from too much rain – if they grow too fast their skin can’t keep up. But I planted a lot of plants, so there is still plenty of feasting on these big honkin’ sandwich busters.

But there’s only so many BLT’s you can eat.

As if!

But here’s an alternative sandwich, if you’re looking for one. (I’m not the author of this recipe -I’ve been making them for years and I don’t recall the original source.)

You need:

• tomato
• english muffins
• eggs + whatever you use to make French Toast dipping
• Dijon mustard
• Gruyere cheese or substitute
• Rosemary

Start with English Muffins and whatever egg mixture you would use when you make French Toast. I just use egg, a little milk, salt and pepper.

Do up the English Muffins as French Toast, well dipped in the egg, on griddle or fry pan. (Non stick pan if you like, or a pound of butter in the pan if you prefer ;o))

While you’re doing this stage, turn your oven broiler on.

Put the French Toasted English Muffins on a baking sheet. Spread Dijon mustard on the tops of the toasts.

On top of the mustard, put a layer of sliced Gruyere cheese – I prefer the non-smoked plain Gruyere – and no doubt you could substitute your fav here.

Put a generous slice of tomato on top of the cheese, and then sprinkle the tomato with rosemary – fresh if you have it.

Stick that all under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese is soft but not runny, and enjoy!

(I’ve never been sure why the cheese didn’t go on top – maybe it prevents tomato from getting warmed.)

Here’s a pair of Ginger Stripes socks. This pair is size Large, knit with the 72 needle cylinder on the Verdun 47.

The yarn is my own 75/25 Wool/Nylon fingering weight in  two values of Bright Orange - full, and medium – as dyed here.

I fiddle with different ways of changing the colours for the heel when knitting stripes.

On this version – where my stripes are 10 rows :

• On the last stripe before the heel I knit 5 rows instead of 10.
• I begin the short rows of the heel in THE SAME COLOUR as that part row – 6 short rows worth (5 would make me change colours moving clockwise, and I’m a creature of habit who likes to change colours on a counter-clockwise row).
• Then I knit the middle part of the heel in the contrasting colour, up until I have 6 short rows remaining.
• I knit the final 6 rows in the colour of my final stripe in the leg. (Well except in this pair – I forgot to switch in the first sock until there were 4 short rows remaining, so I did the same in the second sock.)
• When I begin to knit the foot, I knit 5 rows instead of 10. That 5 rows combined with the final 5 rows of the leg go together to make a 10 row stripe – consistent with the rest o the sock.

If I did the entire heel in the alternate colour, then I would have a half width (5 row) stripe on the back half of the sock, above and below the heel like this:

Not that there’s a huge difference. I’m just sayin’.

I cleaned up a few part bags of Koigu KPPPM.

The first pair is KPPPM colourway 439, size Large knit with the 72 cylinder on the Verdun 47.

I used a purple Wooly Nylon added to the heels and toes to add strength to the 100% fingering weight merino. I was into a third skein – actually a leftover from a medium pair – to complete the Large pair.

The second pair is KPPPM colourway 831, size Medium +, also knit with the 72 cylinder on the Verdun 47. I used a green Wooly Nylon with the heels and toes. (The green in this colourway doesn’ stand out in the leg and foot – but if you look close at the heels or toes, you can see it in there!)

I actually squeaked this pair out of  2 skeins. Really squeaked!

On both of these pairs I did a 1×1 rib top of 25 rows. I more typically would do a 40 row mock rib, replace needles, knit two rows and hang the hem. With that type of top I am always into a third skein for anything above size Medium (given the same size leg and foot).

I wanted to see if I could squeak through on two skeins with a different top. (Not everyone buys Koigu by the bag.)

Koigu Knitting Tips

• If I only had two skeins of  a colourway I would shorten my rib top down by a few rows – say to 20 or 22, just to play safe – for a Medium +, but I still wouldn’t attempt a size Large or bigger with only two skeins. I would, however, do a size Large if I had enough leftover of a different colourway for the heels and toes. (I allow ~ 3 grams per heel or toe to knit without fear.)
• I find it prudent to crank a little slower – not Noro-slow, but not with reckless-abandon to avoid snagging the plies.  In particular if using the large hooked needles – which I have more or less permanently installed on the Legare 400.
• My notes from earlier days suggest knitting at a looser tension than my standard 4 ply setting. But for the last while I’ve been knitting at my standard setting with no problems. Not sure if the yarn changed over time, or I did!
• I always add Wooly Nylon to the heels and toes with a 100% wool yarn. To be honest, I’ve not tried it any other way, so maybe I’m just making extra work for myself, but in any event it gives me peace of mind! (If you wear unreinforced Koigu socks, I’d love to hear  your observations.)
• The Dryer. I have a pair of Koigu socks that I’ve put in the dryer virtually every week since before Christmas 2009 – definitely not recommended on the Koigu label, but I wanted to know ;o)  Over time the colours have definitely objected to their time in the dryer (faded), but the size of the socks remains the same.

Wooly Nylon

I get my Wooly Nylon online at Threadart. They carry smallish cones, but I haven’t yet found a source of larger cones that will ship to Canada. They have (or at least did have) an eBay shop and I got a good deal on collection of 50 colours.

During my years in the big smoke I had tremendous luck with hybrid-T roses – I always brought home a few new bushes for dw each mothers’ day. In particular I would search out the most fragrant varieties, so the garden and house always smelt fabulous in season.,

But at the farm I’ve never had any luck with roses. They do poorly and usually die the first winter.

So I was very pleased to find this bloom outside my window yesterday.

Almost perfect – not just in my eyes,  but, it seems,  in the eyes of whatever was nibbling on the gorgeous pink petals.

This is a 2 x 1 rib topper done with the 54 needle cylinder on the Legare 400.

I don’t have a 27 slot ribber dial, so can’t easily do a 1 x 1, but with the 36 slot dial using every other slot I can knit a 2 x 1. I first read mention of this at angoravalley.com, and again more recently at  Ask the Bellwether.

Setting up for this knit I can either mount the ribber and transfer stitches before knitting, or, set up with scrap yarn in a 2 x 1 mock rib, mount the ribber, and let it pickup the stitches on its own.

The advantage of the latter – if I drop a ribber stitch it can only run as far as the mock rib – ie not all the way into another sock that is still on the machine!  The mock rib plays Defense!

So here I’ve set up my 2 x 1 mock rib. You can see sock #1 of the pair below the scrap, safely protected ;o)

And now, with scrap yarn still in work, I set the ribber onto the kniter and begin placing my rib needles into every other slot. I begin as near to the red hash mark as possible, and make sure that the first rib needle lines up with the first empty cylinder slot.

Here I’ve now begun to knit around. You can see the yarn has ‘caught’ on the ribber needles beyond the red hash mark. As I crank around, the remaining ribber needles should also catch the yarn. (Sometimes it takes more than one turn to catch them all – no problem, we’re still working in scrap yarn.)

On the second pass, the rib needles complete their stitch. Knitting a few extra rows in scrap will ensure that everything is hunky-dorey.

When I begin knitting with the sock yarn, I start at the right Red Hash Mark and knit around to about 6 o’clock position. Then I raise up out of work the FIRST needle in each pair of cylinder needles. In this photo I’ve just begun that. Then I will advance my yarn carrier forward, and continue raising the first needle of each pair.

Knit TWO ROWS this way.

This little routine will make a selvage so you don’t have to weave the top stitches closed.

Stop before completing the second row, say at 6 o’clock, and place the raised needles back down into work. BE CAREFUL that the latches on these needles stay open!

Now this is when I actually begin to count my rows of knitting for however long I want this topper to be. At that point I put the missing cylinder needles back into the cylinder and transfer the rib stitches to them – then motor on.

Here are two pair of socks knit from two different fingering weight yarns at the same dye rate and both with washfast Chestnut Brown.

The yardage is comparable-ish, but the spin is and wool treatment is quite different.

The pair on the LEFT, size Medium, in my 1 ply soft spun (almost no twist) 70/30 Wool/Nylon, untreated.

The pair on the RIGHT, size Large, is my 3 ply combed as well as carded 75/25 Wool/Nylon, treated (similar to superwash).

It’s interesting how the dye is taken up differently.

The feel of the socks is quite different too, even though they are fairly close in composition.

The treated yarn feels more like a typical dress sock knit from many of the socks yarns on the market. Not quite a merino, but smooth and soft and easy care. A trip to the dryer will not lead to disaster ;o)

But the soft spun have a whole different thing going on – they feel more cushy, and keep my feet dryer,longer. Like a gym sock, but lighter weight. (The yarn is actually a single ply that I normally have plied into a two ply Sport weight yarn for my Duro Sport milled socks.) I think the last of twist results in a loftier yarn, with strength added by the nylon content, not the twist.

I like a heavy wool sock for farm work and winter work, but I’m loving these one ply socks for hiking, kicking around the town and simply every day use. Because they are not treated I need to make sure they don’t accidentally end  up in the dryer, but because the wool is from my Columbia Sheep (low felting) they launder easily on delicate – where every sock I knit goes!

Tomorrow will be BROWN DAY at the farmer’s market…

Shhhh.

I’m working on a secret project.

This is a blend I don’t use too often, but had spun as a special order a while back: 60% Alpaca, 20% Nylon and 20% my Wool. Its a fingering weight.  Some of the blended cones run to a browny-tan,  such as above, and others were blended with a greyer-tan.

To go with the tan I need: Brick Red, Cranberry and National Blue. I don’t need more Brick than the other two colours, but this is just how it worked winding off a cone.

But there’s no sense firing up the dye pot for a 100 g skein or a 50 g skein, so I dyed up some of my 75/25 Wool/Nylon while I was at it. I’m sure it will go to good use!

Of course for now it is sitting on top of my Ginger-Pile waiting to be re-wound.

And here’s something you won’t catch me saying too often – the colours (on my screen) are unaltered and are almost exactly as true.

Go figure!