Knitting socks (which actually fit)

Yesterday I picked up my knitting and started a new sock. It’s for a friend from yarn they bought. I have their foot measurements already, so I did a gauge swatch (I know, shocking for me!) and figured out the maths of the whole thing. This is much, much more organised than I usually am in sock knitting, but there’s a reason for it: if I’ve worked it out right, they’ll actually fit my friend.

In the past I’ve been lax about this, bizarrely. I’m a bit of a lax person when it comes to fine details anyway, so it’s not a shock that it transferred over to my knitting. Relaxed, that’s what I am. That sounds a lot better than ‘absent-minded and all over the place’. Sometimes I’ve knitted socks that barely fit my foot and are too loose around the leg, but I don’t care. I kept them, I wear them. I’m stubborn that way, and I still love my creations.

However, it is possible to make socks that actually fit, and I learnt that last year.

I think I mentioned that my friend and I went to a class with Kate Atherley at The Purple Purl. We turned up late because Toronto traffic is evil but even in that time we learnt so much.

Kate Atherley has very strong feelings on socks. I respect that. She showed us how to measure our feet and what gauge to aim for and what yarn is best for socks. By the end of the night I was so inspired by the awesomeness that is knitting and maths that I went out and designed my own shawl – not sure how that is what my brain took out of it, but you can’t account for the little grey cells.

If you want to learn about this magic and set your knitting brain aflame, you should check out Kate Atherley’s book Custom Socks: Knit to Fit Your Feet. No, this is not a sponsored post; I do not yet even own this book, though it’s on my wishlist and one day I shall have it, it shall be mine, my precioussss. However, I’ve had enough looks at it to know that it’s incredibly useful.

Even better, it’s logical thinking that’s tricked my illogical mind into actually planning ahead when knitting something. Sometimes. Okay, occasionally at best, but it’s a start.

Do you use unmodified patterns for socks or do you do your own thing to make it fit perfectly?

Yarn bowls and randomness

A while ago (maybe a year?) my lovely friend Frankie sent me a yarn bowl that’s just adorable. It has a pointy nose and little ears and it is pleasing to the touch. I use it whenever I knit at my desk, and it’s the only yarn bowl I have.

It’s interesting to me that a potter would sit down and make something like this. It’s very specific! I love that they do, though; it gives knitters something fun to use and look at, and I’ve seen some really creative examples. I’m sure some people who work with ceramics/clay are knitters themselves, or have knitters of their own. Creativity tends to overlap.

I love my yarn bowl. Do you have one? Do you use it?

For a general update on The Life of Polo: I am currently enjoying a continuation of renewed ambition that’s been building for a few months. It is aimed at all areas of my life. Over the past few days I’ve become totally overwhelmed by it to the point I began feeling like a failure in some areas and had a mini meltdown. It doesn’t help that though the Christmas holidays were fun, it was a lot of socialising and I am EXHAUSTED from all the people. I kind of want to nap for a year or so.

The fact is that I have a lot of interests. I read (a lot). I write. I am a salesperson in my working life. I knit. I crochet. I experiment with other fibrecrafts when the inspiration hits. I occasionally bind books. I journal. I do nail art. I run. I paint. I sing. I play guitar and ukulele. I try to get involved in activism. I am a plethora of random things, and that was entirely an excuse to say ‘plethora’.

Plethora.

What a great word.

Anyway, I have a vague idea of where I want my life to go now which should be determined quite soundly in whether or not I get into the MEd course I’m applying for in Adult Learning. We’ll see. In the meantime I am focusing my intense inspiration in other areas and hoping for the best.

Another random thing: for Christmas my girlfriend got us tickets to see the Matilda musical in Toronto. It was GLORIOUS. I identified heavily with Matilda as a kid; I was the weirdo who couldn’t quite connect with others around and mostly just got lost in books, so she was my idol. I loved the book and the movie a lot, and now I can say I love the musical too. I’m very grateful that my girlfriend gave me such an awesome present.

That’s a general update on me! I’m trying to be better about not getting overwhelmed by my blog, because I love it and want it to continue, and that’s a huge part because of all the wonderful people I’ve met through it.

So, wonderful people. What’s new?

What are you reading?

This year I set myself a goal to read 75 books. Last year my goal was 50 and I ended at 61, so I figured 75 was reachable. It’s easy to track through Goodreads, so I signed up.

(My challenge is here. I’m not 100% sure that link will take you to it, but let’s hope. If not, search for Polo Lonergan and add me. I’ll steal all your books. I mean… take your recommendations…)

Why did I do it? It’s crazy, right? I should read as much as I want to feel like I’m reading enough. It shouldn’t be a chore. Thing is, even with a challenge like this, nothing about it feels forced. It is a way to remind myself how many good books are out there and how much time I have in between things where I can pick up a good book and enjoy it.

I get a bus to work and home again in the evening. That’s 45 minutes right there altogether. I have an hour’s worth of breaks at work, though I can’t always spend it reading. Sometimes I can, and this challenge makes me want to do so.

It also gives me an excuse to run a hot bubble bath once a week or so and enjoy without guilt, which is something that stops me doing a lot of relaxing, pointless activities. I’m not very good at stopping without worrying about what I should be doing, but reading with a point makes me feel justified. It’s the same reason I knit so much to relax. I can be productive and unproductive all at once.

On top of all of those excellent reasons to do this challenge, I also find I actively seek out new books far more than I was doing before. I would wait for books to fall into my lap. I wouldn’t ask people what they were reading unless it came up naturally in conversation. Now I’m aggressive about it. TELL ME YOUR BOOKS, STRANGER. I NEED NEW ONES.

As it stands I am on my 54th book of the year. That’s 2 ahead of schedule (thank you Goodreads). So I’m going to get aggressive with you guys.

What books are you reading? Why should I read it too? Do you have a challenge you like to follow like this one?

Do you love alpaca yarn too?

If you saw my last post about Nuevo Norte Alpacas and my trip into a little world full of alpaca-based happiness, you will know that I one day intend to keep alpacas.

Why? Well, the first time I felt alpaca yarn my mind was blown. I knew on a vague level that alpacas were a thing, but alpaca turned into my gateway drug into the world of fancy, soft, fluffy, amazing fibre. One small skein of pale blue baby alpaca/silk and I was sold on the world of fibre.

That project was one of the early documented ones on the blog, back in December 2011. I had been knitting for about a year and a friend send me the yarn. I found a nice pattern for fingerless mitts, something I’d never needed so badly before I knitted, and spent some of the worst weeks of my life knitting them. I was sick, I was in pain, and I’d had to postpone my year in Canada due to all of the above. (The picture to the side is from when I was bed-bound for a few weeks, and the featured cat is Disney who hated almost everyone but loved me so, so much. Especially when I didn’t move for a while.)

By December I was better and ready to go, but there’s a reason I called them ‘Escapism Mitts’. They gave me the space to enjoy texture and colour and the process of knitting instead of dwelling on the difficulties at the time.

I still have and use the mitts and they still look fabulous.

Since then I would have to say alpaca has remained close to my top spot in terms of my favourite fibre. I knit with wool more often as I knit socks pretty much constantly, but when I have an excuse for alpaca I don’t often resist.

How does that translate into wanting to keep alpacas myself?

My girlfriend and I are animal lovers. We surround ourselves with them, her even more than me (at her work). One day we plan to have a small farm – one they call here a ‘hobby farm’ – and keep a few choice animals. We’ll have alpacas (because I’m deadly serious about it), goats, chickens, horses. Maybe a few cows one day.

I mean, ideally I’d like to have an enormous herd of merino sheep but as I would spend all day running around hugging those giant puffballs, I’ll stick to alpacas.

Just look at this fluffy asshole. – Merino, Glen Orkney, Awatere, Marlborough, New Zealand, CC BY 2.0.

Wait, alpacas are also giant puffballs. Maybe I should reconsider. (I won’t.)

Do you like alpacas? Would you ever like to keep animals for their fibre? If you do already, how do you find it?

 

An Alpaca Surprise

It’s wonderful to get away for a while. In the middle of July we packed up our things into a car that is much smaller than it looks from the outside, like a sort of reverse TARDIS, and drove a few hours along the edge of Lake Ontario with our knees by our chins. It’s been a long time since I went camping and I had no idea what to expect from a Canadian campsite, so I was excited for new experiences (and hopefully raccoons).

As we drove through the gorgeous Southern Ontario countryside my head whipped around when my girlfriend pointed out a field full of alpacas. I noticed the sign ‘gift shop’ and tried to be polite and say we could maybe stop on the way back? If we had time? Except somehow I gave in and we turned around, pulled into the yard, and descended upon the friendliest alpaca farmer I’ve ever met.

We’ll pretend I’ve met more than one.

The farm was Nuevo Norte Alpacas in Colborne, and the owner – I believe her name was Amy – opened up the gift shop just for us. Well, me. My girlfriend and her mum weren’t in it for the fibre.

Nuevo Norte

She showed us down to the gift shop and I told her that one day I wanted to keep alpacas, and she was super helpful. I feel as though I learned more in that half an hour than anything I’ve learned before. She explained the entire philosophy behind how she cares for the alpacas (and she has 80+ so she should know), and that she got into it for the fibre as much as anything else.

I bought two sets of roving and a beautiful grey lopi yarn from their flock, and geeked out about knitting and spinning. On the way back Amy (I think) showed me the wild woad growing on her land which I had never seen in person – only in pictures. She brought us to the pen full of pregnant alpacas or those who had recently given birth, plus some thoroughly adorable crias (babies). I learned that alpacas all poop in the same spot in the field and that crias will stand for a long time in that spot with nothing happening while they’re still nursing. This entertained me more than it should.

I know this isn’t the kind of image you came here to see, but you’re welcome! 😀

Though I cannot get back out there easily for now as I don’t drive, once I do – and have some spare time – I will be going back. My aim to one day keep alpacas is sincere and I think I’ve found a place that would be perfect to learn more.

If you’re ever passing through, check out Nuevo Norte Alpacas. They do tours and workshops and classes, and they have some gorgeous fibre for sale.

KN Reads: Style by Chelsea M. Cameron

Someone on Twitter mentioned this book in passing in a conversation that was nothing to do with me, but it looked intriguing enough for me to buy for my kindle right away. Since I was in the market for a sweet, fluffy queer romance anyway, I figured Style by Chelsea M. Cameron would do the trick.

A summary: Kyle (a young woman) and Stella (also a young woman) have been at school together for a while without noticing one another much. They’re paired together in a school project despite being apparent opposites: Stella is an ice-cold snow queen, while Kyle is your average awkward friendly nerd. Unsurprisingly – since this is a romance and all – they end up together despite their better judgment.

Now, Chelsea M. Cameron has written a lot of books. A lot of them. I haven’t read any except this one, but I gather she has some loyal fans in the romance world. She is also (as per her Twitter) super adorable and friendly so I can see why.

This book came at the right time for me. Like its author, Style is adorable. It’s fluffy and almost irredeemably sweet. In the aftermath of a horrifying month for queer people, is it any surprise that I felt the need to dive into something so light? It was a great balm for the darkness.

That said: while I recommend this book to anyone looking for something insubstantial and distracting, don’t go in it looking for some in-depth character development or complex plots. Nothing much goes wrong for these two (which was perfect for my mood), and at times I struggled to remember which character was which since they are remarkably similar to one another.

Despite that, the book flows nicely and it’s an easy read. Sometimes you need style over substance, and this time it’s all in the title.

How I Avoid Ladders on DPNs

Whenever I talk about how much I love knitting with double-pointed needles (DPNs), people who aren’t converts talk about the ladder. It’s that awful run of loose stitches you get where you switch needles, and it does make your knitting look less than tidy.

It took me a long time to get the hang of avoiding that ladder and sometimes even now I’ll end up with one if I’m working at an unusual gauge, but I’ve mostly got the hang of avoiding it and this video shows you what I do.

I wasn’t feeling chatty so you get slightly sarcastic, extremely silly captions instead (which is basically my natural speaking tone anyway).

Oh, and you also get some old timey music to cheer you along. You’re welcome.

Why knitting won my heart

If you’ve been following my recent series of posts, you might wonder how I jumped from being totally obsessed with crochet to being a dedicated knitter. Though I learned to knit before I learned to crochet, I took to the latter much faster.

I thought knitting was too fiddly, and it was too difficult to fix things. I could fudge anything with crochet, so I went with the hook.

For example, see this post from November 2010:

Recent times have also seen me attempting to knit once more. It didn’t go well. I can cast on and I can do the knit stitch quite confidently but then I notice I’ve dropped a stitch and instead of trying to work out how to fix this problem, my brain explodes and I spend so much time picking the bits of skull out of the yarn it’s not really worth it, you know? So I am not getting very far with the knitting needles.

What changed?

Circulars. Yep, the moment I figured out how much more convenient they are, I could not stop.

It only took until March 2011, too. Though by this time I was fully entrenched in the craft community of my hometown, I had avoided knitting as a matter of course since I abandoned my first project. Then I discovered circular needles.

There’s the first example of knitting on my blog after so many months of crochet, and it’s on a pair of terrible, cheap, metal and plastic circulars. I say they’re terrible because I cannot stand knitting or crocheting with metal where I can help it; I’m a wood person all the way.

Here’s what I had to say about knitting on circulars:

I find them so much nicer to use outside of the house since you don’t poke the person next to you on the train and your project is less likely to slip off the end. Absolute bliss.

These days I either knit on circulars or DPNs. I knit with the latter when I’m making socks or gloves/mittens, and circulars for almost everything else. I love being able to shove the project down onto the cord to stop it slipping off in my bag, and I love how little space it takes up compared to straights. It also doesn’t feel as heavy, since you can balance it in your lap.

I’ve been paying attention to how I use DPNs lately since people have asked me for tips once or twice, and I’m going to post a few tips I’ve found useful when I’m trying to avoid getting tangled in my own project or forming unattractive ladders up my socks.

What turned knitting for you from a passing interest to something more?

A comfy knitted neck-thing

My friend Jen is a good person. She’s the kind of friend who stays in a hotel overnight at the airport so she can meet you off the plane. She’s the kind of person who enjoys treks to yarn stores (hence our visit to Loop when we were in London). She’s the kind of person who deserves a nice knitted gift here and there.

This is, coincidentally, the first knitted object I’ve made that I did entirely in Continental. It was an easy choice. It’s basically a long knitted tube, so I had no purling and no complicated lace. My stitches weren’t as even as they are with English/throwing, but my gauge was consistent and a little blocked got rid of the worst of it.

I might write up this pattern, simple as it is.

A note on the yarn: it is a thing of wonderment. It is called ‘Ayni’ from Amano Yarns and it is a beautiful, fine, luxurious blend of baby alpaca and silk. It’s gentle on the skin and comes in some gorgeous colours. I picked a deep purple for Jen.

I cast on enough to make the size I needed, then knitted for two solid weeks while teaching a new hire class at work. Once it was twice as long as I needed I folded it inside out and kitchener-stitched the whole thing up into a tube.

This was the result.

And this is what it looks like on the intended recipient as we sat drinking posh drinks in Costa. Oh, how I missed Costa.

She says it’s going to be great for when she’s watching football as scarves usually fall off. I’m glad it’ll have a practical use, though it looks so great on her that I don’t really mind either way.

It’s lovely to knit something for someone that’s knitworthy, isn’t it?

Five knitting things that please me

The first time someone suggests you should learn to knit you may be baffled. People still do that? Do I look like I’m eighty? Etc etc. Put aside all your prejudices and try knitting on for size because there are many things to please you.

At least… if you’re me.

One: Rows and rows of stockinette.

It’s one of the most basic stitches. On straight needles it’s knit one row, purl the next, but when you’re knitting in the round (like I almost always do)? It’s just knit stitch over and over. People complain about the miles of stockinette some projects have and even I have been known to gripe, but let’s face it: this is what knitting is all about. Anything else is gravy.

Note to new knitters: gravy is a metaphor. Do not attempt to apply gravy to your stockinette.

Miles and miles and miles and miles and

Two: Blindingly complicated lace patterns.

Yes, I like to jump through the extremes.

Lace is sometimes to complicated it hardly looks like knitting any more, but even the hardest is much easier than it looks. It’s all just knitting, purling, increasing, decreasing. There may be about a thousand variations of those things before you even get to the ridiculous ones like p5tog tbl (purl five together through the back loop, and no I have never seen this on an actual pattern yet) but even a nupp is just knits and yarn overs and a decrease.

The hardest part is the counting. Seriously, I can do fiddly lace if I use roughly 5,405 stitch markers so that I don’t have to figure out where the heck I am in the pattern.

Three: Casting on.

Once again there are many ways to cast on, but I’m not talking about the technicalities. I’m talking about that moment where you’re done one project and moving on to the next. That moment where you have come to the end of the second sock and seek out a new pattern to start.

Or, if you’re more like me, that moment halfway through a project when you think you’ll scream if you have to do one more bobble so end up casting on something else to keep you sane.

It’s the thrill of the new and the thrill of the familiar all wrapped up into one, and I love it.

Four: Nupps.

I hate them. Really, really hate them. Yet the sense of triumph at mastering something so fiddly and ridiculous is overwhelming. I still fondle the nupps of my Damask shawl regularly. At present it is pinned up on my desk at work to stare at happily until it’s spring and I can wear it again.

Got to love/hate a good nupp.

 

Nupps, for me, signify that moment of realising I can knit well. Not just get by, not just churn out a few simple things. I can do something difficult and I can, after a few attempts, do it well. That negates the hate a bit.

Five: Frogging a project.

This may sound counter-intuitive. What’s so fun and satisfying about ripping back a project until it’s nothing but a ball of yarn once more? Doesn’t that mean defeat, resignation, sadness?

Yes, maybe. Or maybe it’s one of my abandoned projects languishing in my drawer for three years before I get it out and now I have a ‘new’ skein of bright red merino/silk sock yarn to play with again.

Ta-dah!

Besides, I’m a process knitter. I may love most of my finished objects but certainly not all of them.

What are your favourite knitting things, folks?