[Knitting] Zauberball!

[kniteracy]

I picked up this lovely wool on Wednesday at I Knit London, and now I'm thinking I may get a second ball of it if they still have it on Saturday.

Zauberball translates to 'magic ball', and I think that even in the ball it live up to its name. It's just alive with possibilities, isn't it? The wool comes in an astounding array of colours, not all of them this bright, I promise!

Zauberball! I'm sorry for the blurry photo, iPhone, iPhone, blah, blah, blah, but I really love this wool and the colours are fantastic. It will make up into very long stripes that fade into one another gradually, and right now I'm trying to decide what to make with it. Right now, I'm thinking of the Flit & Float Scarf from this spring's Knitty, or maybe....

Bettie's Lace Stockings

Firestarter

Magic Mirror

Summer Sliding

Which one do you think I should make? :)

Comments

[oreouk.livejournal.com]

Good grief - that's gorgeous. Wah - I want to be able to knit socks!!!

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Come into my parlour, my dearie, and your first ball of wool's free. I'll even throw in the needles. ;)

[oreouk.livejournal.com]

Pusher!!! And with me coming to visit on Monday too.

I have never got beyond knit and purl and I can't remember when the last time was I did any. I think it was when I knitted a scarf for my teddy bear which was all of an inch or 2 wide and took me forever. I might have just made it into my teens at that point.

But... socks! Such cool socks.

Whimper

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I have more pretty sock wool than I will ever knit. And, um, yeah. Needles. I like needles. I have lots.

I suppose that at some point I could just knit you some. You have tiny dinky feet, don't you? Well, tinier than mine, anyhow. Don't tell anybody I said that. ;)

[oreouk.livejournal.com]

Grin. I have more beads than I am ever likely to use. This does not stop me from buying more beads... In fact I bought some just last week for using with the string I bought to do chinese knotted string with beads jewellery with. Maybe I'll try and do some of that this weekend.

That would be very cool of course. I feel if I lust after the pretty socks I *ought* to learn how to make them myself but at the same time I'm shameless enough to admit I would never turn down socks being knitted for me :-) My feet are size 6, so I never thought of them as being dinky tiny feet, but it does all depend on one's frame of reference.

So - Monday. We'll see if I get lured in - with the current sock mania in British fandom it seems likely.

[dyddgu.livejournal.com]

I have a ball of Zauber in chocolate. I am desperate for one in fuschia, or burnt almonds, or tropical fish. I saw a fantastic scarf in it via Simply Socks Yarn co. blog, and now I have it in my head it would make a lovely clapotis...

[telynor.livejournal.com]

It probably would! I could pick one up for you at IKL on Saturday, but couldn't promise to post it promptly; I'm terrible at sending things off.

[dyddgu.livejournal.com]

I've run out of yarn money for the month, sadly! Thanks for the offer though. They have some over at modernknitting.co.uk, so I'll get some when we get paid :-) It's not as though I don't have enough stash to knit through already!

[telynor.livejournal.com]

*laugh*

Yeah, you tell yourself that, but then you just keep finding new places to put it, don'tcha? ;) Yarn fiend!

[dyddgu.livejournal.com]

It's so true. I picked up a popup laundry basket in Tesco's last week, and it's already full. *shame*
It was to be The Year of Knitting From Stash, but it just didn't happen... ;-)
They just keep making such nommable yarn!

ETA: I love Jeannie's socks; I'd do magic mirror in this. And in fact, I might! ;-)

[telynor.livejournal.com]

As aunty_marion points out below, someone on Ravelry has done the magic mirror socks in Zauberball; that's where I discovered the pattern. Then I went to her webpage and it was all over. :)

[dyddgu.livejournal.com]

I did some orange socks (guess who for, hah) in a mystery KAL she had. They were an excellent knit. *goes off to poke at her webpage*

[katyhh.livejournal.com]

Wow :) I think Summer Sliding would look great with this wool ...

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I am leaning heavily toward that or Magic Mirror, with Magic Mirror possibly slightly ahead atm, because I'm concerned the lace pattern on the summer sliding wouldn't show up as beautifully in multicoloured wool. Maybe I'll do a swatch in Kauni, which is similar, and see what happens.

[aunty_marion]

Someone on Ravelry has done the Magic Mirror socks in it - it looks good!

[telynor.livejournal.com]

That's where I discoverd the pattern, was trolling Ravelry to see how it looked knitted up in variousness. :)

[aunty_marion]

Also, Pomatomus looks fine, so Summer Sliding might be OK.

[katyhh.livejournal.com]

OMG, so gorgeous!!! WAIL! I want to learn how to knit socks!!! *sigh*

[telynor.livejournal.com]

See my reply to oreouk, above. ;) Perhaps we'll see each other sooner than you expect. :D

[clothsprogs.livejournal.com]

Summer Sliding!!!!

The wool is fabulous!

Your classes gave me the confuidence to try being a bit adventurous (for me) with my knitting.

I finished my (bottom-up doll sweater and didn't like the ribbing around the waist, so reasoned that if I threaded the needle through a row all the way around just above the ribbing and unravelled it up to the needle, I could knit down to a new waist form there. OK, so It wouldn't unravel and I had to take the scissors to it, but it worked!!!

Teddy

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Good for you! Unravelling from the cast-on edge is nearly impossible. In my knit fix class, that's how I teach people to change stuff from the cast-on edge. It's what I did with that entrelac hat, and most knitters are terrified of it. Congratulations on being adventurous, and remember if you want to have that technique conversation, I'm available anytime I'm available. ;)

[clothsprogs.livejournal.com]

Thankyouthankyouthankyou

Summer Sliding!

Teddy

[aunty_marion]

Wow - interesting colours! Me, I'd go for the scarf (maybe made wider, as more of a shawl?), as that will be a larger area to show it off in - if the colours go on for a long time, you might end up with only two or three changes in a pair of socks.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I do quite like the scarf. I actually saw this project on Ravelry done in this wool (but the black-grey-white colourway)which was stunning. The stripes are wide but not impossible-- think Kauni only softer and rounder. Just look up zauberball on Ravelry and see what other people have done with it.

[aunty_marion]

Oh dear. Pusher. I might need to find some to feel, as a lot of people on Ravelry are saying how soft it is.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Well, you know where I live... Or they probably have it at Get Knitted. Caution: it's pricey. £11/100g at IKL.

[aunty_marion]

£7.50 a ball from Knit n Caboodle...

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Hm, possibly I'm misremembering. That sounds like a big discrepancy, even between London Boutique and Online Shop (whose webpage was busted last time I tried it). Gossip, unfortunately, is that K&C are in trouble and not fulfilling orders very well atm, but that's just the scuttle on Ravelry; I have never ordered from them.

[fourzoas.livejournal.com]

Oh, the pretty! I vote scarf!

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Hmmm... I do like that scarf, but I'm really thinking socks. Maybe I'll just have to get another Zeuberball. ;)

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

It's a ball of rainbows!

I vote for the lace stockings.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Those are awesome, aren't they? I'm definitely knitting them, just not sure with what yet. And I'll have to procure the pattern. I hope IKL still has that mag in stock....

[bercilakslady.livejournal.com]

*sigh* pretty wool! I'd go for a scarf, I think, or Firestarter.

I'm doomed to the land of cotton, making baby gear for my soon to be born niece. (Her Mom, my sis-in-law, is sensitive to wool.) That said, oh my goodness the baby gear, and the fun that is knitting for the wee person.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I am so loving the Firestarter socks, perfect for Birks. I am definitely going to knit them, just not sure with what. I do still have a whole hank of that purple malabrigo, though. Alas, not enough for the lace stockings....

Knitting for babies is instant gratification, plus it makes their mothers think you're cool. :)

[bercilakslady.livejournal.com]

Heh. I hope Andi thinks I'm cool, but I've never been totally sure of that. I love her either way. :)

Andi's a knitter too, but I'm not sure how much she's been doing for the kid while the semester is still going on. (She's a prof.)

[maya-a.livejournal.com]

Oooh, pretty! Are the colors in spectrum order? If so, I'm in double love. I'd do magic mirror (lovely pattern!) or a scarf. The lace stockings are lovely but I don't think they're ideal for that yarn. Must check if it is available here...

[resourceress.livejournal.com]

Wow. That reminds me of some of the brighter balls of Kauni yarn I've seen. Gorgeous! The scarf would be lovely in that colorway, but I really like the Magic Mirror socks shown on Ravelry, and Pomatomus as well. I always worry that lace patterns will get lost in variegated yarn, although the longish color repeats would mitigate that.

Knitting question.

[clothsprogs.livejournal.com]

So, Oh fount of all knitting knowledge...

I have a lovely sweater for one of my dolls, I included an opening at the back to allow for his huge head and extremely skinny neck... but the opening is too short.

Is there and easy/quick way of reworking it larger, or should I go the seamstresses route and stitch around the area the slit needs to be made longer, cut the slit and treat it like a fabric that frays easily...?

Teddy

Teddy discovers steeking...

[aunty_marion]

Uh-oh.

(One way of doing openings for large heads (on future items!) is to make them with a shoulder opening; leave one shoulder unseamed, add a few rows of rib on one side and two or three buttonholes in the same amount of rib on the other. I've got a child's jumper pattern from the 1950s done like that...)

Re: Teddy discovers steeking...

[clothsprogs.livejournal.com]

Thanks - I've seen that done, but this doll has such a huge difference between head size and neck size that I could make both shoulders opening and still not have enough gap to ge t the ehad through.
(http://s47.photobucket.com/albums/f190/guyelfkin/DoA%20London%20Meet%20April%2009/?action=view&current=P4050100-1.jpg)

Teddy

Re: Knitting question.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

The seamstresses' route is absolutely the way to go. In knitting, this is called a steek, as Marion points out. The fabric may fray less easily than you think, but stitching and hemming is very much the way to go here.

Re: Knitting question.

[clothsprogs.livejournal.com]

Thankyou!

Teddy

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Hey, the colours, man! *g*

Do you have to have your legs all twisted round the wrong way like in the Bettie's one? Oh, the others look like normal feet, that's OK then *g*...

I like the look of the Summer Sliding pattern, or Magic Mirror (is that too much magic?)...