TKN: Bears and (what else?) Socks!

[kniteracy]

TKN: Bears, and (what else?) Socks!

(The Knitting News)

I don't have a photograph of pola_bear's Slytherclaw Bear, whom I think she has named "Ethelbert" to show you, but hopefully we will take one on Christmas day.


My first knitted toy.

I know, I know-- I've been knitting for a long time, and yet I've never made a toy. Why is that? Couple of reasons. Toys look like they're full of sewing and finishing, and I run from sewing and finishing. And to tell you the truth, a lot of knitted and crocheted toys just like kind of, well, creepy to me.

But last week sometime, someone on one of the knitting communities posted a link to Harry Bear, a free pattern from Berroco. And I had an idea for something I could make for pola_bear that would be special for her. Initially, it was to have been a Christmas present, but the thing knitted up so fast that I was able to give it to her on her birthday Wednesday.

So it was last weekend when I got this idea, believe it or not. I think it was Saturday, and I wasn't sure what the equivalent of Berroco Chinchilla would be, so of course I phoned my aunty_marion, who knows Everything. And as luck would have it, aunty_marion just happened to be at Bluewater! And so she found a fuzzy wool and picked up tapestry wool for the Slytherclaw scarf I planned to knit for the bear. So she stopped by on her way home, passed me the John Lewis bag covertly in the foyer, and had dinner with pola_bear, mokatiki, filceolaire, G and me and hung out for a little while to play a game with us later. Meanwhile, that little bag from JLP was just sitting on my desk, calling me.

The next day, after pola_bear left for home, I started swatching. And wouldn't you know it, I couldn't get the stuff to knit to gauge. What a pain! Here's the lesson: even experienced knitters don't always read the pattern properly-- the wool AM had gotten me, based on my description of the bear in the photograph, was an eyelash yarn. But Berroco Chinchilla is a chenille, which is going to knit up much more densely than an eyelash. Luckily, I had two balls of now-discontinued Berroco Furz in my stash, which I had originally intended to use to make a black wrap for ladyat. But lots of things can be used to make black wraps, and this wool worked beautifully, knitted up to gauge with no trouble, and produced a smooth, glossy, furry fabric that was just perfect for a toy. Also, I thought that pola_bear would appreciate a black bear.

I was amazed at how fast this knitted up. By Sunday night, I had the back of the bear completed and the two legs finished and joined for the front. I learned a little bit about short row shaping knitting this project, since I've never had to make legs puffy before, or create a belly or a muzzle. I finished the rest of the front of the bear and his scarf on Monday, then swatched and cast on museinred's socks Monday evening for bus and Tube knitting Tuesday. The bear's scarf was knit on 3mm needles using Anchor tapestry wool, and the colours were just perfect! I do trust aunty_marion to pick out Harry Potter theme colours, so I was not disappointed. I went with green and grey/blue and grey a la films rather than blue and bronze because it was simpler to do it that way. I used the double cast-on I use for socks so I'd have open loops on both ends and no have to sew anything up, knitted the Slytherin half first with the Ravenclaw half on a holder, then knitted the Ravenclaw hat down. I put the fringe on as we watched Fantastic Four with G on Monday night. This followed subtle text-messaging conversations with pola_bear regarding scarf layout and fringe colours (I'm sure she suspected nothing!).

Tuesday night at Sharps, I sewed the bear up, turned him rightside out, and stuffed him with polyfill I bought at Fantasy Fayre in Camden Town before our CSH Christmas Lunch on Tuesday. I learned from this experience, too! All along I'd been worried that the knitting was a bit too loose and stuffing was going to show through. Even with very firmly stuffed legs, there are only a few places where the stuffing shows through at all, and those were either fixed with needle and thread or weren't there when I finished the bear. So I got him all stuffed up, then sewed up his ears and head. I found that I wasn't satisfied with the shaping on his muzzle; even with an extra circle of running stitch around the muzzle, it still isn't defined well enough for me. I'm afraid his little face isn't as bearlike as I would like. I sewed on grey buttons for his eyes and nose, which J thinks look weird but I like, then wove in the ends of the scarf. When we got home on Tuesday night, I pressed the *ahem* out of the all stocking stitch scarf so it would considerately lie flat, and yowza! One black Slytherclaw bear!


And of coruse, then there were the socks!

I've been enjoying knitting plain socks of self-patterning sock wool for awhile now, so I don't get as excited as I used to about the varieties of patterns and colours that are out there. My very first pair of socks was made with Fortissima Socka Colori, and I recall thinking after the fact that the patterning and colouring of this wool was much more interesting than Regia or Opal. That's a bummer, because you're far more likely to find Regia or Opal in the UK than you are Fortissima Socka (does anybody have a UK source for that?), so I've been settling for Opal, which is nicer than Regia in my opinion. But I have to tell you, the stuff I'm making museinred's socks from is just amazing. katyhh, pay attention, because this is the same kind of wool your socks are being made of, except in a variety of blues. :) This is Fortissima Socka Colori Disco, which means it has a little metallic thread running through the rest of the wool. Now, when I first saw this stuff, at Nease's where I used to work in Atlanta, I thought the metallic thread might be overwhelming or make the socks look too glittery. But Socka has made me happy again, because the metallic thread creates a nice subtle sparkle and doesn't detract from the patterning at all. See for yourself:



This is the first of the pair of socks at just past the heel-turn point; I'm about halfway through zipping up the gussets. These are toe-up, gusseted socks a la Queen Kahuna Creations, a pattern that I get more and more comfortable with by the minute. Even reserved Londoners have leaned over on buses and Tube all week to ask me about this sock because it is so striking. Speaking of knitting on the Tube, I actually had a woman sit next to me this morning and ask me, "Is that Opal sock yarn?" Turns out she'd just returned from the US, where she'd learned to knit socks! I have about nine more stitches to zip up on those gussets, and then we'll be just knitting around the cuff until we're done. However, I don't expect to finish these socks over the Christmas holiday, because since I'll be at home much of the time, I'm going to concentrate on filceolaire's Fair Isle cardigan from Philosophers Wool (this is the colourway, but shown as a jumper, not a cardigan). I'm not sure how much I can get done, but I do hope to get back into the swing of the patterning and at least finish the first sleeve. Hopefully I was a smart girl and highlighted the size on the pattern so I'll be able to follow things properly.

Once I'm done with museinred's socks, they'll have to be posted off to the US soon, since she is doing something really wonderful for me that I'll talk about in another post, and then I'll start on katyhh's socks, to be completed before 1812Tones, the 2006 British Filk Con, in February. After that, maybe I'll knit a new pair of socks for me! :-)

Comments

[folkmew.livejournal.com]

Oh! Guess that shows how well you know my tastes eh? :)
Oh boy oh boy!

I *really* wish you were here to initiate me into the knitting sorority! (and fraternity no doubt, just because all the knitters I know are women...)

Ah well. I look forward to the days when we plan regular visits back and forth. Where regular may be once every 5 years but still... I have faith that someday our finances will have a little more breathing room.


Merry Christmas and big hugs my dear!

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Heh.

Now that you've actually seen them, I'll have to manage to get them into the post to you... somehow.