Month: December 2017

10 Question Challenge

~ Kristin Tolle ~ 1 Comment

Happy Years Eve!!

Picking this up from NothingButKnit’s blog. For crafters this year here are a few challenging questions you can have fun answering, followed by my Q&A:

  1. Your earliest memory of sewing/crafting?
  2. What is your most beautiful make?
  3. What is your most challenging make?
  4. Your most unpractical make that you like but can’t really wear/use?
  5. What is your most worn/used make?
  6. If you had no limits, what would you like to create?
  7. What is your favourite material to work with?
  8. What is the next technique you would like to learn?
  9. What is the topmost item on your sewing/crafting wish list?
  10. What is one sewing/crafting challenge you want to take for the year 2018?

Try posting it on your blog!

  1. Your earliest memory of sewing/crafting? – Knitting garter stitch slippers when I was 6 years old for my parents for Christmas.
  2. What is your most beautiful make? – My George Hancock out of Tosh DK in worn denim.
  3. What is your most challenging make? The third pair of socks I knit, which have since been frogged.
  4. Your most unpractical make that you like but can’t really wear/use? A beaded hitchhiker scarf out of scratchy sock yarn on the recommended needles. No drape whatsoever. Whenever I put it on, I take it right back off. Beautiful and pointless. If only I’d gone up one needle size I’d probably wear it more.
  5. What is your most worn/used make? My 16 cable hat which is why I don’t understand why I gave the first one away!
  6. If you had no limits, what would you like to create? A arm knitted afghan out of roving about 3-4 times the size of this pattern. I want a KING sized one–not a throw.
  7. What is your favourite material to work with? Superwash Merino wool in DK or worsted weight. Totally forgiving while knitting and washable–especially Zen Garden Serenity DK.
  8. What is the next technique you would like to learn? Weaving. I even have a loom, but I haven’t set it up yet.
  9. What is the topmost item on your sewing/crafting wish list? Better yarn storage.
  10. What is one sewing/crafting challenge you want to take for the year 2018? I’d like to: A. knit more yarn than I buy and B. Give away all of my circular needles.

Is It Done Yet?

~ Kristin Tolle ~ Leave a comment

I remember the long car rides of my youth riding unseatbelted in the back of my dad’s Lincoln Continental. He always thought seat belts were “dangerous” that they’d cut you in half in a car accident (we are talking about waist belts). He’d had the car lovingly restored, painted a darkish silver, high-polish chrome handles on the suicide doors and reupholstered in white leather.

Though my father knew little about fixing cars, it was his love for them that instilled a similar passion in me. I could name any car on the road—especially the sports cars. And I got fairly adept at looking after them myself before they got so complicated.

Later, when I started racing, driving to the track, I’d get that same feeling, the impatient “Are we there yet?” I’d anxiously grip and ungrip the wheel anticipating the fear and fun to come.

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A few years back I sold my racecar to a collector and doubled down on knitting and kayaking. Both are safer and considerably cheaper habits!

I’m ¾ of the way through another project and sadly I’m gripped with the desire to put it down or get it over with. And that feels like the wrong way to look at the situation. I know I’ll feel a huge sense of accomplishment when it’s done, but right now, I’m in the doldrums of a 1×1 rib to the finish line.

I wish I were a faster knitter!!

Fool Socks

~ Kristin Tolle ~ 1 Comment

One might get the idea that I only knit socks these days. Not true! I’ve got another George Hancock on the needles (a merging of Georgetown and Hancock patterns by Hannah Fettig). Since it is for me, it’s been resting for a while. I was finding such variation in Dachshund Tosh DK, that I’m alternating three skeins at a time instead of two each row after I noticed the obvious striping.

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And speaking of stripes…

When I was growing up, my father always seemed to love wearing the colors of bright red and blue *together*—particularly in longitudinal stripes. I remember several shirts and even a pair of red-blue striped jeans he wore to threads.

When we visited his parents, his mother used to tell him he looked like a fool—so in my mind, the colors and stripes were linked. I used to think he went out of his way to find striped blue and red pants and shirts just to irritate her. But he’s kept it up (mostly buying bright red shirts to wear with his blue jeans) even after she passed away so it’s clearly a genuine preference.

“Fool socks” were born based on a Vogue Knitting Boot Socks pattern by Ruth Tobacco with added stripes in alternated toes and heels to just give it a bit more tomfoolery.

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It was an overnight ship to get them home to Idaho in time for his December 23rd b-day and I’ve knit little else due to my work and teaching load this past Fall. To me they look a bit cat-in-the-hat (like my Dr. Seuss Capelet).

What can I say? We are a crazy lot!

I didn’t have time to snap a picture before I sent the completed pair off to him. Here’s hoping my mom with snap a pic while they are afoot!

Any crazy knitting for the crazy people in your life?

Lurid Socks?

~ Kristin Tolle ~ 1 Comment

The sock saga continues. With the titillating toe-ups done, I have another notch on my sock blocks. The only trouble with them is that they came out a bit more mottled than I expected—but they turned out beautifully. I’m now a huge fan of Zen Yarn Garden Serenity DK. So soft! So snuggly. So warm. I wish they fit me—but they don’t.

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The bee is in my bonnet now that I’ve found a pattern that works and is easy to follow. It’s worsted weight, so they go fast, but that also means they are not for daily use. Nick still wears the heck out of them–usually as socks around the house, now that things are a bit chilly.

I’ll probably revisit the fingering weight later since he’s wearing quickly through the two pair I knit a while back. For now I’ll try to knit a few of these for Christmas/birthday presents since I’m feeling a bit more confident about them as a project.

And to think… Some people use sock knitting as a place to start learning how to knit.

My first knitting project was garter slippers similar to these, which are vastly easier than sock.

What was your first project?