KnitLob's Lair - Louhittaren Luola

Sleeping Beauty Socks

I am surrounded by talented professionals and a team of absolutely wonderful test knitters, and thanks to them, The Lair can proudly present a new pattern for sale! It has been a while, but I hope the wait is worth it! And there will be many more to follow soon. I've also updated a few of the older patterns, see the end of the post for details.

The new pattern is a spur-of-the-moment thing. I bought two skeins of a beautiful semisolid turquoise sock yarn, slightly thicker than what I prefer for my socks. It was definitely too thick for gloves, and I was hesitant to use it for socks as it is 2-ply merino-nylon blend, and not too tightly spun. But then it hit me: I need a pair of sleeping socks, the kind you slip on when you get to bed and eventually end up kicking them off at some point at night. The merino would be perfect for them, it's soft and warm, and since it doesn't need to be very durable, I decided to use the newly acquired yarn for a pair of sleeping socks.

I wanted to knit lace for my socks. I usually have no patterning in my socks, merely because I like knitting stockinette and cables and other patterns would be uncomfortable to wear with shoes. I don't wear store-bought socks at all, so I knit stockinette socks mostly as they're an easy, perfect traveling project to take along. But with sleeping socks I could go wild and choose a lace pattern! And so I did, taking a lace pattern from a Japanese stitch pattern book and modifying it slightly.

The pair itself is relatively simple, knitted toe-up with a upside down French heel and a garter lace edging.

I really loved the pair I knitted. I thought it was the perfect marriage between yarn, purpose, color and stitch pattern, and then it hit me. Perhaps others would like it too! A quick call to my test knitters, and here it is: the Sleeping Beauty Socks Pattern!

This button will take you to Ravelry where you can get your copy of the pattern:

Red Dragon Shawl pattern has also been updated (new lay-out, no changes to charts or the pattern).

If you already own a copy, you can download your new version at the Ravelry pattern page. Don't have the Red Dragon yet? Here's the link to Ravelry where you can purchase your copy:

Also updated are the Deep in the Forest Mittens. They have been a true favorite - thank you everyone for your support! The pattern has a completely new lay-out and looks really good to me!

If you already own a copy, you can download your new version at the Ravelry pattern page. Don't have it yet? Here's the link to Ravelry where you can purchase your copy:

Exhausted? There's one more! The Winter Skirt has also a new lay-out:

You can find the new version at the Ravelry pattern page, where you can purchase a copy of the pattern. Or just click the button below:

That's it for now! Enjoy the fall weather and stay warm - we're feeling the misty chill of the mornings here and I've cast on for many many projects, which are soon ready for blogging. Stay tuned then!

Long Time No See

I seem to have stepped and got stuck over there in the dark side (see last post)! The truth is, I haven't knitted much. This summer was the hottest on record, and it felt like it. This, for a knitter, means no wool. Even the thought of it made my hands sticky and eww. I did knit a little, though - but I suppose you don't want to see Mount Doom of Dishcloths, especially since they're all the same.

I haven't spun much, either, although I went a little crazy and bought a spinning wheel.

He (yes, he) is a Schacht Matchless, DT as you can see. And he is wonderful! His name is Jeremy, after Jeremy Irons and Jeremy Clarkson, although my friends seem to believe there is a connection with a Ron Jeremy, too.

If you have no idea who Ron Jeremy is, do not google him. Trust me on this.

Anyway, I love the new wheel! I've wanted one for a long time, after I tried my friend's Matchless. And I can't figure out why I didn't get one sooner. It's a true workhorse, does everything I want and need, and adjusting it is so easy. I've been a Scotch tension spinner, but have now seen the light and will spin everything in DD if possible. I absolutely love the double-drive, although my spinning technique did require some adjusting when I first learned to spin with a double-drive.

I also bought the WooLee Winder for mine 2 days after the wheel arrived, and a Strauch 405 carder, which will arrive sometime this week. I wanted the carder for blending batts, and working with finer fibers too. I spun some pure samoyed (mmm yum) and it turned out absolutely lovely - fluffy, soft and fuzzy. It was like an affair between angora, mohair and merino! But it could use a little oomph (that's a technical term, I'm sure it is). There is a seemingly endless supply of the fiber, and you know what I mean if you've ever seen a samoyed! So next time I'll use my fancy carder to blend it with a nice merino or Shetland or some other lovely fiber like that, and hopefully it'll have a little more elasticity then. However, 100% samoyed is a nice fiber for fluffy two-ply (longdrawn straight from the combed hair).

I have one more thing to show you, and it's proof of the fact that I still knit. In fact I finished this prototype in May, but I'm working on the second version right now with a team of test-knitters, which means the pattern will come out soon.

It's a top-down bolero with Haapsalu and Shetland lace. The prototype was knitted with devilish 7-stitch nupps (never again! at least never again in 85F weather), using 440yds or 400m of 2-ply wool. This can be knit with one skein of fingering weight then, but with two skeins, the sleeves and the body can be knit longer.

The second version on my needles will be worked with 6/0 beads instead of nupps, and with approximately 900yds of handspun 2-ply angora blend. I'll show you when it's finished, right now it's a fuzzy lump embellished with beads!

The pattern for the bolero will be out later this month, as well as the patterns for the gray Alpaca tunic and the Emerald Sweater you saw earlier this year. And there is also a sock pattern I'm anxious to show you! Next up will be previews of the new patterns, and updates on the older ones. And the next post will not happen in early April, but hopefully later this week!

Heresy, They Say

I have stepped over to the dark side.

I bought a knitting-machine and got it two weeks ago. Mostly I have just played with it, but I managed to knit a sweater for Mr HairyFeet. The machine comes in very handy at times like these, when one is faced with fields of stockinette in light fingering weight cotton. Now, some knitters say it's nearly heretical to knit with a machine, but I disagree. (Yes, I am the one pressing the buttons.)

I think machine-knitting is practical at times. I love the uneven stitches of handknit fabrics, I love the zen that comes with knitting round and round and round for weeks at a time. I love seeing the colors emerge, the fabric being created right there at my fingertips.

But then there is cotton. The unrelenting, unforgiving, unpredictable and cruel mistress, which behaves almost always inappropriately and shows every single mistake. It is stiff and unbending, harsh and dry - and yet it produces absolutely beautiful knitted fabric when finished. But there is no way I will ever handknit light fingering weight cotton again. Ever. The idea of 400+ stitches per round, hundreds of rounds without any change, in stockinette.. I would rather knit with acrylic. (Well, no I wouldn't, but acrylic comes close.)

This is where the machine comes in. In two days you have the pieces done, then a wee bit of blocking and seaming and ta-da, you have a sweater!

And the fields of stockinette are all smooth and neat.

Sounds easy, no? Well, it's not. I made the first mistake when I decided to handknit the ribbings. As a result, I haven't knit anything in days - my hands hate cotton and decided to go on strike as a result of the ribbings. Also, I didn't realize how long seaming would take. It takes forever. And it's tedious. And for the life of me I can't sew a neat sleeve cap seam. See?

I learned a lot with this one, so I won't make the same mistakes again. (Ribbing attachment is all I'm saying.) And I am generally happy with this one. My favorite bit? The sleeve increases. And they're not even identical! Usually this would make me reknit the sleeves but not today. First and foremost, they're already sewn in, and secondly.. well it's beige.

But all that (beige) is past now (and out of my stash!), and DH has a nice sweater. He said he'd like another one, but I'll work on my sweater now. (More pictures of DH's sweater in Ravelry.) I dyed some merino-bamboo for my sweater, I only have the front to knit and then the blocking and seaming process. (I sound optimistic, because the reality of seaming for hours hasn't still sunk quite in. Self-delusion is a beautiful thing.)

I haven't given up the joy of handknitting entirely despite the new toy. In fact, I finished a sweater which was called Slinker while I was working on it. It's KnitPicks baby alpaca (Andean Treasure), and the yarn feels so slippery that it truly earned the name. I love the yarn, though - it's superwarm, has a beautiful halo, knits up nicely, the fabric is drapey, but the garment ended up being quite heavy. I used 15 balls of yarn for this sweater, so it weighs well over 28 ounces.

I am very pleased with it. It turned out just the way I wanted: it has a touch of pearls for a feminine air, but it's not bells and whistles girly.

And it fits! And there are no seams!

I like it a lot! And thanks to KnitPicks for sponsoring the yarn! The pattern will now go to my testknitters so we'll hopefully have a pattern finalized soon.

Finally, thank you everyone for your comments in the last post! They all mean so much to me - I've read them many many times and it truly feels great to be back. Thank you, again!

Edited to add: We now have buttons. Go press the disagree button! We like it, it makes us all tickly. :D

Coming Up for Air

Hello, Blog. It's been a long time, hasn't it? Did you miss me? I see the Lair is quite dusty *cough*. Time for some spring cleaning then!

So I'm back. I honestly have no idea what happened. I knitted a cardigan, then cast on for a new one and what do you know, it's suddenly next year - next decade in fact! -, and nearly six months since I blogged. I needed the break, though, to figure out what to do with the Lair. It has also been a time of adjustment - we moved to a new country only a few months ago (I know it's my home country but after 5 years it felt like moving to a new country), and there have been times I wanted to pack everything and go home. It has not been the easiest of winters, although I have enjoyed the company of my friends and family, and it has been desperately beautiful outside, but it's also been a very dark and cold winter. Moving from a busy metropolis to a village of six (6!) houses has not been entirely easy.

On top of this all, I have been on the road a lot, teaching my sweater method to Finnish knitters. And it has been fun, meeting new people and knitting with them - but it has also drained me of energy. And I am applying to a university next summer, which means I have to read, read, read, and perhaps then read some more.

I have not been entirely idle and hibernating though! So let's clear out the dust and take a look at some of the items finished in the Lair over the past 6 months or so!

First up, the bathrobe. Clearly, not my greatest hour, despite the smug grin!

The yarn is a fuzzy acrylic blend, rather horrible to work with but knits up really fast. And it's warm, which was what I wanted. But it does look a bit like a bathrobe, and it wasn't really me - the color and the design looked awkward on me. I gave this cardi to Mum, she likes it and that's what's important.

The next big project was my Double Lattice Sweater. Like the green cardi, it is knitted with the top-down seamless set-in sleeve method, and I absolutely love the way it turned out.

The yarn was rather unforgiving, 100% mercerized cotton, which does not stretch, so the minicables were truly painful to work.

The result is a shining fabric which looks nothing like cotton fabrics - but wears well and is machine washable. Which is great, since normally, white and I do not mix very well.

And it fits just the way I wanted! I could lose a few pounds and it would be even better still, but I am very happy with it as it is. It has been worn a lot already, and it's surprisingly warm considering it's cotton.

And no seams!

I have also been spinning! The Lair has seen some changes in the wheel family - Butch is gone to a new and loving home, since here, he was badly neglected and lonely (and I think Sylvie verbally abused him on a regular basis). The Pocket Wheel is going through some repairs, and has not been actively in use for months. Sylvie is the same, although she has competition now: I have a new wheel. Sophie, a Kromski Sonata, is a true workhorse, not the prettiest wheel there is but a great companion. I'll show pics of her later, but for now, something we played with together.

First, a handspun Baktus, spun from the beautiful Allspunup Falkland fiber to a thick fingering weight single and knitted in a couple of nights to a warm and comfy little shawl.

The colors are truly breathtaking. I love the subtle tones and the variation of dark colors.

I love wearing handspun socks, and these are no exception. There is an element of rag rug-esque striping in the yarn, but I like the vivid colors. The fiber is 100% SW BFL I dyed and spun ages ago.

One last thing I want to show you: my Emerald Sweater. I was lucky enough to get some KnitPicks Gloss Kenai yarn for a sweater*, and used 10 skeins of this truly beautiful teal colored yarn for this design.

It is a simple design, twisted stitches on a reverse stockinette background, but in the cuffs and the hem there is a lace pattern I adapted from a Japanese stitch pattern book.

This was really a lot of fun to knit, despite the gazillion stitches on my #1 needles. The best bit: no seams!

Mr HairyFeet was kind enough to photograph it with me, and I wore it with my Winter Skirt. I really love the combination of these two handknits together.

Happily there is still a lot of time to wear both of them, the spring is only beginning here. As is clearly visible in this picture with the Mount Doom of Snow behind me!

And last but not least, the pattern for the Winter Skirt is finally available through ravelry! That's all for now, next time - Casbah!

*Yarn sponsored by KnitPicks.

Gray Is the New Black

I finished my cardi, the epic project of this fall!

I know, the color choice is radical. But I wanted a gray cardigan, to go so well with all the handknit shawls and scarves.

It's warm, and comfortable, and it fits. There are one or two issues with it, mainly the size of the hood, but I'll take it as a learning experience. There is, in fact, no need to knit a hood so big an entire football team could fit in there. And play.

Otherwise, I can't think of anything negative about it. The broken rib band around the front edges and the hood nearly did me in - 530 stitches of worsted weight yarn on a 32" needle will take your soul, your will to live, your will to knit (gasp) and nearly, but not entirely, your love for gray yarn.