The colour blue is very prominent in my stash. In fact I have 67 different types of blue somewhere in those cupboards right now. And it’s not just my regular stash, even the yarns that I dye are usually shades of blue. It’s just about the easiest shade to work with and I won’t apologise for dyeing or knitting with blue yarn every chance I get.

This post is about a couple of blue projects I finished recently which went out to a swap partner in Portland, Oregon. I was meant to be knitting a shawl for Nance but decided the scarf I wove using my own hand-dyed Faith, Hope and Love would be perfect.

I have always wanted to work with these two colours togetehr and even planned to knit a stripey shawl with them. But then the loom happened and before I knew it I was weaving happily with this speckled skein of silk and merino.

It did not take long actually as it was not a very wide scarf. Also with just 330 yards of weft, there was not a lot of weaving to do. The fabric is soft and shiny as can be expected with silk blends so I hope Nance will like it.

Project: Blue Silk (Raveled!)
Pattern: Plain Weave, 82 ends
Yarn: Dubai Knits Faith, Hope and Love
Loom: Cricket 15″ Rigid Heddle Loom, 10-dent reed
Warped on: 17 Aug 2012
Finished: 19 Aug 2012
Finished measurements: 7inches wide, 72 inches long including fringe

The main part of the swap is of course the pair of socks. This is a major achievement for me: using yarn from deep-ish stash (May 20120), using a new-to-me yarn and knitting my very first ever Cookie A design. This is Elm from The Knitter’s Book of Socks by Clara Parkes.

It’s not as complcated as t looks. No cables, no fancy stitches. Just a series of cleverly placed increases and decreases to create the wandering branches of the elm tree. The sock as written has a very tall leg so I had to make adjustments. I had to take out a couple of chart repeats for the leg and also amended the top of the foot chart to account for the wider foot that I wanted.

It all worked out very well and Nance said the socks fit her perfectly. Good thing I made notes on my project page so that I can knit these socks again for me. I’m still not sure I want tall socks.

Project: Int’l Sock Swap #7 (Raveled!)
Pattern: Elm by Cookie A.
Yarn: String Theory Hand Dyed Yarn Caper Sock, colourway Bye Bye Blues
Needles: US1/2.25mm
Cast on: 20 Jun 2012
Cast off: 21 Aug 2012
Notes: I have 13 rows of ribbing for the cuff followed by Charts A, B and C. I then adjusted the stitches for the heel flap (27 sts) and instep (33 sts), 20 rows heel flap. I finished the gusset decreases with 33 sts on the sole. I need a wider foot so I am changing the stitch count to 66 for the rest of the sock.

The instep then went on to Chart D. I had to adjust it so that my instep statrs with a p3 and ends with a p3. Not very difficult to do once you got to that point.