Look, Ma!!
I steeked!

It’s very exciting. Part of me wants to cut it now, just to see what happens. Of course, the other part never, ever, ever wants to cut it at all.
I only have about 5 more rows to do on the body before it gets put aside and I start the sleeves.

I’ve read ahead through the pattern, and when it comes to cutting the steek, it doesn’t say anything about sewing it first. But I am supposed to do that, aren’t I?
I think I better start thinking about what alcoholic beverage I’ll need on Steek Day!

So the year is off to a flying start if I plan to finish a pair of socks a month again.
The January socks are done. We took them on an outing to the Art Gallery today, to see the Monet exhibition. (Very nice, but too crowded – the Degas exhibition is better)

Super easy, super plain, super quick!
Specs:
Yarn: Opal Rainforest 6ply in Chameleon
Pattern: Wendy’s Sport Weight toe-Up socks with Gusset Heel
Needles: Knitpicks Harmony DPNS in 2.75mm
I really shouldn’t leave posting for a week, because then I have too much to post. It’s been hot again, and we’ve avoided the heat by going to the movies and to the beach, but it hasn’t been all laziness.
It’s that time of the year, where I realise that Em has grown (again!), and some of her dance costumes just aren’t going to make it through the year. This time I had to face the truth and admit that there was no way I could squeeze her into her tutu for another year. It actually should have been replaced a year ago, but it’s a job I detest. Hate, hate, hate. But I sucked it up and I’ve been working on it.

It will look better by the time it’s finished. I hope. There’s 7 metres of bloody tulle in that thing. I’m hoping that this is the last time I ever have to make a tutu. And I’ve told Emily that if she has a daughter who dances, she’d better start saving now so that she can pay someone else to make the stupid tutus.
I haven’t been able to totally abandon Autumn Rose, it demands my attention. I can hear it whispering to me from the knitting bag.

And it’s coming along very nicely! I’m actually really enjoying it, although I still think that Fair Isle will never be my first love. I have some MadelineTosh Silk Lace weight here that’s also whispering to me. I’ve ignored it successfully so far, but I’m not sure how long that can last.
In non knitting news, my in-laws just had a trip to Oman over Christmas and New Year, and look at what my mother in law picked up for me.

It’s the cutest little hand painted thimble. For herself, she picked up food poisoning that landed her in hospital. I think I got the better deal!
And Twinkie has been sadly under publicised lately. The main reason is because she spends the hot days curled around the pedestal in the toilet, and that doesn’t provide the best photo opportunities. However, she did come out to supervise the house for a little while.

And Squeak has taught himself something clever. Emily’s bedroom door handle needs oiling, and it has a very annoying squeak when it’s turned. Squeak has learned to copy that noise. I’m sure he thought it was most amusing the other night when I kept coming out to see why Emily was coming in and out of her door. Which she wasn’t. But every time I turned my back again, I heard the noise.
It’s not quite so amusing at 6am.

So last night I got busy. I wove in all the ends on Autumn Rose, and I finally pulled my finger out and sewed the buttons onto Tangled Yoke.
Yes, Tangled Yoke is finished! And the final verdict? I love it!

Specs:
Pattern: Tangled Yoke by Eunny Jang from Interweave Knits, Fall 2007
Size: 34″
Yarn: Grignasco Tango, Colour 322, 6 balls. I got lucky, and scored the yarn in a Ravelry destash, but I picked up two more balls from The Wool Inn to be on the safe side. I didn’t need them, though.
Needles: 3.5mm (US4)
Mods: None.

A nice knit! The cable requires some attention, but it’s fun. I love watching patterns emerge in my knitting, so I quite enjoyed the cable.
It appears that the Grignasco Tango is not an easy yarn to find. It appears to be exactly the same yarn as the recommended yarn, Rowan Felted Tweed. Both are 50% Wool, 25% Alpaca, 25% Viscose, both have 175m, (191yds) per ball. The Wool Inn at Penrith have a whole lot in stock, in some gorgeous colours, at around $AU8 a ball. Apart from that, a quick google search doesn’t show up much. (Except that the yarn may actually be discontinued)

It’s a little warm to wear it at this time of the year, but it’ll be great when it gets cooler. The yarn is a little scratchy for against the skin wear, but not horrendously so.
Now it’s back to work on another Eunny masterpiece, Autumn Rose.
Psst, did I mention that I love the cable?!?

So I’ve mentioned a few times that in 2008 I intended to knit a pair of socks a month. I succeeded! In fact, I kind of overachieved. Kind of. I also kind of cheated.
I managed 13 pairs of socks, in a year and a week. On Wednesday I finally polished off my Esther socks, and they’re so pretty!

Specs:
Pattern: Esther Socks by Stephanie van der Linden (Rav link) This pattern was originally released for a German sock knitalong group, but is now available through Ravelry.
Yarn: Cascade Heritage, purchased at Yarns Online
Needles: 2.25mm Knitpicks Harmony DPNS
The pattern was fun! It’s a 24 row repeat, so it wasn’t easy, but I didn’t find it too difficult. It does require you to pay attention, but the end result is well worth it.
I’m now a huge fan of the Cascade Heritage! Yarns Online currently only has the pink in stock, but she usually has other colours, and a 100g hank is only $12.50. It feels nice to knit with, blocks well and frogs nicely. I’ll be using more of this – it’s nice to find a solid colour sock yarn at a very reasonable price! I have a decent amount of leftovers too.
So I finished these on January 7, so I went over by a week, but that was actually the 13th pair of socks for the year. I mentioned that I cheated a little, and I did. Out of those 13 pairs, 4 pairs were straight stockinette toe up socks. And those are quick.
How quick?
Yesterday we went to Canberra for the day. We took the trip so we could see the Degas exhibition at the National Gallery. The exhibition is absolutely beautiful, and well worth the trip, by the way.
It takes us about two and a half hours to drive down to Canberra. So after I finished the Esther socks on Wednesday, I cast on a new pair of socks so I’d have something to knit in the car. I wanted something really easy and straight forward, the Fair Isle needs too much attention. So I got out a ball of Opal 6ply and cast on a pair of Wendy’s Sportweight Toe Up socks for David. All I did on Wednesday was the toe.
By the time we got home last night, this is how much sock I’d managed.

Like I said, quick.
I knit in the car on the way down and on the way home, and I knit a little bit while having lunch with some lovely Canberra knitters, but that was it. And for that amount of effort, I have a nearly completed sock. That helped keep my sock count up last year!
There hasn’t been a lot of Twinkie photos lately, because it’s been so hot, she’s taken up permanent residence in her summer house. And I’m not sure people want pictures of the toilet! Seriously, she spends most of summer curled around the pedestal.
However, we have a surprise guest rabbit.

Meet Houdini. Well, I actually don’t know his name. Or if he is a he. Houdini lives across the road and has developed a habit of digging holes under the fence and escaping. This morning, Em captured him and we put him into Twinkie’s hutch for safekeeping.
Twinkie wasn’t fazed at all, in fact she totally ignored his existence. He went home this afternoon, much to Emily’s dismay!

Despite the ridiculous heat wave we’re currently suffering through in Sydney, there has been progress on Autumn Rose. I must have rocks in my head starting this garment at this time of year! (Or wool in my head, as one friend so well put it)
But I can’t help myself, I have to work on it. Perhaps not as much as I might if the weather were cooler, though.

I’m pretty happy with the way it’s coming along. Even the inside looks pretty tidy!

I do have a question to ask of the Fair Isle experts though. Is there a “correct” way to finish the ends? If it all goes well, I was thinking I might enter it into the Easter SHow, but I have no idea if there is a right or wrong way to finish the ends off!