Eskimimi Knits knitting blog

… Or ‘how to make a pair of socks your other half won’t want’.

When I was 7 years old I had a teacher called Mr Vic Gibson.  He was young, cool, had a motorbike, a screw-in tooth and a metal bolt in his leg (both courtesy of the motorbike).  He also used to love noranges.  It became a class running joke for someone to point at his lunch on the edge of the desk and ask ‘what’s that, sir?’, to which he’d reply ‘a norange’.  Sometime he’d have a napple, but usually it was a norange.

So, I when I saw the most norangey yarn my eyes had ever beheld, I had to have it.

A norangey yarn -Schoppe-Wolle Admiral Ombré in Orange Henna

I had been anticipating casting off the Warden Bay socks just so that I could start knitting with this lovely ball of yarn, and so about 20 seconds after I kitchenered shut the last few stitches on the stripy blue socks I found myself casting on for a new pair.  My needles didn’t even get a chance to cool down.

But wait.  What always happens with socks I make for myself?  About 30% of the way through the knitting, the Eskimister will start cooing ‘oooh, they’re nice…’ At about 50% of the way to completion they’ll be ‘really, really nice’, and at about 80% they’ll be ‘the best socks ever!’ and are bound to belong to him.

So, I have set about making the pair of socks I have deemed least likely to fall foul of sock theft.  They are worked toe-up, so are a departure from my usual top-down sock knitting.  I have deviated from the pattern as given to do away with using Judy’s magic cast-on (of which I know there are many fans, I just don’t enjoy the knitting of Judy’s magic cast on, especially on DPNs) and instead have started with my usual neat, smooth short row toe:

Short row toe

The pattern notes inform me that these socks feature an ‘interesting’ gusset construction, so I’ll be the judge of that when I get to it!  The short row toe and ‘interesting’ gusset are not enough on their own to spurn the sock hoarding advances of the eskimister, though.  No, for that we need oodles of swirls and lace:

Lace socks. For ME. ME, ME, ME. Mimi.

So, I was a fool to think that  a simple picot cuff would scare off my live-in sock monster, but I’m betting that these socks are just one bright, lacy step too far…

Warden Bay socks

My latest completed project is a simple but pleasing pair of stockinette stitch socks.  72st socks knit at a tight gauge on 2mm needles, just the way I like them.

Simple socks are pleasing.

A picot edge with few rows of twisted ribbing tops the socks, then it is a matter of a steady tube of stockinette stitch.  I knit a half a round of stitches with some scrape yarn to knit a short row heel in after the rest of the sock was completed.  I prefer this way of forming a heel when I am working with striping sock yarn that has an obvious and predictable pattern, as it keeps the progression of the stripes running from the leg and over the top of the foot from doing a funny little ‘jump’ in the order and width of the stripes.

Steady stripes down the top of the foot and up the leg

I prefer short row heels and toes when making ‘afterthought’ type heels (not that it was an afterthought…) as I like both the look and feel of the smoothness of the fabric, for added comfort.  I know that many people do not like the fit of afterthought or short row heels, but neither myself nor Craig have ever had any trouble with socks I have made this way, so I guess it all depends on a person’s individual foot shape.  Talking of Craig, I very much made these socks for myself, but he has been cooing over them since I began them – he adores this yarn, the combination of colours, so  am giving them to him.  He insisted I have them, then suggested some kind of time share deal over who wears them, but I’ll find more joy in the fact that I know he loves them so much than I will by wearing them myself, so I am giving them to him.  I just thought I’d put them on for the photo… just to test them.

Look, there!  It’s an F/O!  Is it a bath puff? Is it a brain?  No, it’s the Simple City shawlette:

Simple City simplicity

I designed this triangular scarf as a project to best use my prize Zauberball, won on Stephcuddles’ blog. I wanted to make something simple, but with just a little bit of flair. It is an uncomplicated but attractive scarf – classic with an added touch of structured femininity in the form of a precise, neat foxglove ruffled edge.

foxglove ruffle

The ruffle sits ‘just so’ as it is worked differently from a standard ruffle, which just sees the number of stitches increased to form a additional gather of fabric at the edge, but I worked this ruffle in a way so that each undulation is prescribed into a neat wave, giving a modern, tailored feel – almost like a pleat.

I love triangular scarves and thought this would be a great addition to my Autumn accessories wardrobe.  The bright, primary colours of the yarn will chime with just about every cardigan and jumper I own, so I think this will become an absolute staple when a chill starts to set in during September afternoons.

Simple City triangular scarf or shawl can be easily adjusted in size.

This is a versatile shawl and I made notes on the best method to scale the shawl up or down for a larger or smaller pattern.

The shawl will give quite markedly different results depending on whether you knit it with a solid yarn for a very classic, versatile scarf, or knit with two yarns to form stripes, or knit stripes with a single 100g ball of colour progressing yarn.

The pattern is now published and available from Ravelry, or you can click the button below to purchase if you don’t have a Ravelry account:

And from the distance there was a sound like a remote murmer.  A deep, quiet murmer.  Maybe the murmer of Barry White?  Maybe the murmer of someone else with a very deep voice? Maybe the murmer of someone with a usually quite high and girlish voice who happened to be suffering from a very bad cold.

Mimi did not have a cold but cleared her throat to make sure.  She then put a hand to her chest, wondering if it was her beating heart that seemed to rumble through her very soul?  No, she was unusually calm.  She stared down the road to where the now intensifying rumble seemed to be originating, squinting in the non-existent Lancaster sun, when over the horizon she saw, slowly rolling, the very top of that most colourful of spheres…

Zauberball!

Mimi grabbed her needles and sprinted (OK, jogged)… (Ok, did that strange half-run, half-walk that people do when they are pretending that they don’t really care about the bus that is about to depart without them) towards the Zauberball, and cast on!  She did not know what she was casting on for, she just needed to knit – it would be whatever it would be.

Mimi knitted in a kind of frenzy for a few minutes before making a shocking decision – she was going to re-wind the Zauberball.  Unconventional, yes, but look at the hidden pretty:

Now Mimi had two ends to play with, and that meant stripes.

Mimi is not quite sure where this is leading, but it is somewhere stripy, and colourful, and she’s covered about ⅓ of the distance.  Now she just has to keep on running (or not quite running, but that same kind of walking-running combo movement she has been doing so much of today)

Zaubergart

Casting on for a Citron

Last night I decided to cast on the popular Citron Shawlette.  It wasn’t so much of a whim, I have fancied making one for a long time now, but have always had other projects on the go, or not quite the right yarn.  The other day though I happened upon someone having a de-stash on Ravelry, amongst which was a skein of Angel Lace from Bluefaced, a 2-ply blend of 70% Baby Alpaca, 20% Silk and 10% Cashmere for £6 including delivery.  It was a natural of-white shade, but I thought it would be perfect to dye up into my dream Citron colour – a rich, almost acidic green.

Angel Lace, self-dyed

It is true that the lace yarn could have been a very pretty and intricate shawl, but I love the simplicity of Citron and would have knit one before now if I had been able to find the perfect yarn.  I think that this is the perfect yarn and I could hardly wait for it to dry before giving it a spin through the Jumbo Ball Winder (for winding Jumbo Balls – still hasn’t got old) and casting on.

I have mentioned before that my most-used knit to date is my Regnbue Scarf (Baktus).  It’s such a simple knit – nothing but garter stitch and minimal shaping along one edge to give the triangular shape, but it is so versatile.  I wear it twice wrapped around my neck and tied at the front, but I also wear it wrapped around my hair when it is blustery out, or to keep my hair from bothering me whilst I work.  I hope that Citron will be called into action as often and as usefully, as casually and as prettily as my Regnbue.

Simples.

Flutter butterfly mittens by Eskimimi Knits

My latest, and proudest, Finished Object.  Here they are at last, my Flutter Mittens.  I do love them so very much and I am inordinately proud to have them finished and the pattern written up and published.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the design is based on a recurring motif in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s book One Hundred Years of Solitude. One of the characters on the story is a young woman called Meme, who in an act of defiance takes a mechanic as a lover.  The mechanic is forever surrounded by a cloud of yellow butterflies that accompanies him everywhere.  One day, during a surreptitious tryst, her lover is caught visiting Meme and suffers a bad fall and is injured.  From this moment Meme is the one who becomes enevloped in the cloud of butterflies which now follow her everywhere.  As her lover lays ill the butterflies start to slowly die and drop away, and she knows of his death only when the last butterfly finally leaves her.

These mittens are a reminder to hold onto your loves and your passions and to treat them gently:

A butterfly in the palm of your hands

In the palm of the mittens is a single, detailed yellow butterfly, like the last one that Meme beheld before it dropped away from sight.
I designed these mittens to have a thumb gore, which means that the gloves may be worn with the large butterfly on the back of the hand and the more numerous butterflies on the palm as and when the mood takes the wearer (plus I find a thumb gore construction on a mitten far more comfortable, having never met a person who has a thumb positioned on the palm of their hand).

Now, as the title of this post suggests, I am celebrating an anniversary today.  Eskimimi Knits is one year old!  174 posts and 1580 comments down the line I can look back on my very first post.  In celebration of that fact I would like to give away this brand new copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude.  As I wrote in my previous post, I can never seem to hold on to a copy.  Maybe I am just not meant to actually own one for any length of time.

Enter the giveaway to win this book.

To enter, simply leave a comment.  remember to fill in your email address as a way for me to get in touch with you if you win.  If you already have the book (and I imagine that many people may) then why not enter to win a copy to pass on to a friend?)
The Flutter Mitten pattern is available from Ravelry or is available for free with the purchase of Eskimimi Knits Twingles Yarn on Etsy.  the listing on Etsy contains plenty of yarn to make the mittens plus an e-mailed PDF of the pattern, including high quality charts and written instructions.

Flutter Mittens

So, thankyou to readers/followers for all of the good thoughts and support for the first year, and thankyou for making writing this blog so very enjoyable.

Writing on Sunday of what I wanted to finish and achieve this week really helped to focus my attentions to tasks I most wanted to complete, and yesterday my new project finally came of the needles.  It is currently in the process of blocking, so proper pictures will have to wait until tomorrow, but for now I thought I would share a few of the details about this pattern.

This has been a project that has been forming in my mind for at least a few months.  One of the questions that somebody asked me in my anonymous question post how it was that I went about the design process.  I answered that I just thought of something that I might like to wear, or owm or just something I might like to knit, and something for which I had not yet found the perfect pattern, and then I go about knitting it, sometimes (but not always) making notes as I go.

My project, and the book that inspired it

This is true, but it doesn’t give any notice of how the inspiration for a project might come about.  My new project was inspired by a recurring motif in Gabriel García Márquez’s book One Hundred Years of Solitude.  This is my favourite book of all time, though I admit that it is a few years now since I last read it (in fact I didn’t even have a copy until a couple of days ago as every time I buy a copy I end up giving it away, which I will almost certainly also do with this copy). Still, throughout my life, since the age of about 13 when I first read this work, this same recurring motif has stuck with me and for some reason I think of it quite often.  I have painted versions of this idea onto stage scenery and canvasses, embroidered this same image onto blouses and cushions and decorated various items around my home with this same recurring element, so the idea to use yarn to re-create the idea has been nestling in the back of my mind for some time.

I have finished writing and formatting the pattern and will post the FO with (probably far too many) pictures tomorrow, but whilst it is blocking in the airing cupboard, and I am being patient in waiting until it is dry before I take the final photographs, here is the reverse of the colourwork:

Stranded colourwork

I feel as if I have been inching toward completing a number of current tasks very slowly, and I am frustrated with my lack of progression, so as this week is about to draw to a close I have decided to take stock of what I have achieved in the past seven days, and taking my lead from Mooncalf, who is far superior to me in matters of being sensible, set myself a number of tasks to achieve in the next week.

On the 25th of July I blogged about feeling as if I had a lot of projects that were ‘half done’  at least there has been some movement of this front.  The second of my Warden Bay socks has been cast on, had the cuff knit, picoted and turned and is two inches deep in stockinette.

The second of my current works in progress has seen more progression, though.  The project of much secrecy is almost complete, and I am very much hoping to get it finished before the 4th of August.  I hope this can be done – there are only a few inches to go, so as long as no disaster befalls me or the project I have my fingers crossed that this shall be achieved.  I wish so much I could share pictures of this project in progress, but hopefully the ‘ta-da’ moment will be worth it.  In the meantime the workmen have sealed off the area whilst works continue:

Works ahead

Along with finishing the knitting and then blocking the project I hope to have the pattern fully written up and formatted, and ready to publish before next week is out. When (and only when) the above project is completed and the pattern is finished I will then turn my attentions back to the wonderfully simple Warden Bay socks, and reward myself with finally giving my own feet a treat, before then going through the exciting process of finding new projects to knit with exciting yarn.

Other achievements this week have been a few more dyeing successes.

New yarns from Eskimimi Knits

I’ve been enjoying working with my usual bright and saturated shades, but also experimenting with some more muted colours, such as Victoria:

Victoria, handpainted skein of muted shades and shadows

I have also mixed a new shade which I think may actually be my favourite colour, ever. I’m Lichen It (idea for name courtesy of Craig) is a solid dyed yarn of amazing saturation. It is almost a warm acid yellow, but it is slightly darkened by undertones of moss green.  I love the colour so much that I immediately went back to the dye pot to dye extra for myself.  I don’t know what I shall make with my own skein yet, but my mind is swimming with ideas.

I'm Lichen It

I managed to dye nine new colours and colour combinations this week, which I think was good going.  I’m not going to pressure myself too much with goals for dyeing, but rather just apply myself to the task as and when I can find time, instead concentrating on knitting and pattern compiling. Hopefully by this time net week I will have new future projects to look forward to. My needles itch for the casting on of a new pattern!

Oh! Before I sign off, I wanted to thank everyone for their interesting, often funny, sometimes probing (sometimes too probing) questions. I have answered about half of them, leaving off a number of duplicates and questions that were either a bit too personal or about family, etc. I shall dress it up with a few illustrations in the future, but for now here it is.