My spiral socks are finished and have been renamed my Rattlesnake socks as I think the colour of the yarn is like a rattlesnake’s skin. It doesn’t show really well in the photos but the spirals were knitted in opposite directions. I wore them this week and despite looking a slightly funny shape they are really comfortable and fit well. But it has put me off knitting knee high socks as the leg section felt neverending. It took me 3 months to complete these which is mainly down to the boring leg part. They used up almost ALL of a ball of Tofutsies as I didn’t want any of the yarn left over.
It doesn’t matter that I don’t love the colour of them either as I will mostly wear them under boots for which they are the perfect length.
I’ve spent ages on Ravelry today looking at all the projects based on patterns from No Sheep For You by Amy R Singer, as my copy arrived yesterday from The Book Depository. Amy’s book starts with information about several types of nonwool yarns and their properties, comparing them to wool yarns and telling you what they won’t do (cotton doesn’t block very well!). There’s lots of advice on how to get the best out of nonwool yarns and how to chose what type of pattern to use them for. Then there are 20 projects using nonwool yarns including a wonderful silk mosaic jumper by Kristi Porter, a lace shawl inspired by Tuscany by Amy herself and a top with a lace back by Jillian Moreno (the three that have really grabbed my attention so far).
It’s very good timing as next week I’m planning to take a trip to Get Knitted in Bristol and will now be armed with much more information about chosing nonwool yarns. I will definitely be buying some laceweight yarn as I want to try knitting lace and have 3 patterns in mind so far. I will probably buy some silk yarn to either knit the pattern by Jillian Moreno or this lovely top from knitty.com.
Looking at the projects from a book on Ravelry is so useful as you can see the garments on real people. Especially if I can find a photo of someone who is the same body shape as me and then I can tell if the pattern will suit me or not, as all the models in the books are quite tall and thin of which I am neither. Also, it shows you how many people have taken the patterns and given them their own personal touch so no two are the same. They may have simply just changed the colour or size but some of them are quite ingenious, by moving patterned bands to waists to take the attention away from the bust area or to give the appearance of a waist, or by adding sleeves and making a t-shirt shaped top into a cardigan with an asymetric fastening. Knitters are so creative!!
Tags: Amy R Singer, Jillian Moreno, Kristi Porter
