Colour Review - 4KCBWDAY4

Today's prompt...

What are your favourite colours for knitted or crocheted projects. Have a think about what colours you seem to favour when yarn shopping and crafting.

Only after writing this part of your post should you then actually look to see what colours you have used in your projects. 


Ah, colour. I love colour. My favourite colour is orange (in case you couldn't already tell that from the colour scheme of the blog *laughs*)

I have some gorgeous orange yarn waiting for the right pattern - probably a cardigan, I also love cardigans ;)

However orange probably isn't my go-to colour for yarn purchases. Whenever I buy yarn, I tend to be drawn to greys - I love the colour in general (or lack of colour) and I love wearing it, so I find it jumps out at me for garments...

One thing I know I don't often buy is anything pastel - but I have knit one pastel thing and I love it, so perhaps I should be more open to softer colours in future. In this case, I was drawn to the delicate prettiness of the yarn

Before looking closely at my stash and my finished objects, I think it will be fair to say that for socks, I like a lot of colour. The brighter the better. For garments and other accessories, well, there's the grey thing, but I have a feeling I tend to buy/knit colours in phases....

For example, my Green Phase:

And to illustrate - Socks of Obnoxious Colour

Yep, fair to say I like colour* laughs* Also, there seems to be a fair amount of orange appearing in my sock drawer ;)

For more posts on today's topic, type 4KCBWDAY4 into your search engine of choice and get clicking ;)

Sock Yarns on Review

Edited to add: As I still haven't taken pictures of my Berwick jumper, I'm leaving this up for FO / Fibre Arts Friday in case it is of interest ;)

I heartily admit that I may have become a little obsessed with sock knitting since my first pair - I still dream of an all-handknit sock drawer and I'm getting there slowly *laughs*

Having said that, it might seem a little too obsessed to have been pondering my sock drawer earlier (sometimes it takes a while to decide which pair to wear) and have then come up with this post...

I was interested to see how some of the different sock yarns I'd used had been holding up, so I thought it might be interesting/useful/none of the above to do a quick review of the most worn socks and their condition.

I've focused on the socks I wear the most, which have all had roughly the same amount of wear (ok, so this isn't a scientific study but I think it'll be sufficient!). Also worth noting - I handwash all my socks, even the ones that can go in the machine.

Princess Unicorn Socks
Yarn: KnitPicks Imagination: 50% Merino, 25% Alpaca, 25% Nylon 

The heel on these has completely felted, which is perhaps unsurprising as the yarn is particularly soft and fluffy. They are the only princess soles on the list, which makes me wonder if that has any additional properties that might affect wear. Now I'm going to have to make more to test this theory *laughs*


Super Awesome Happy Rainbow Socks
Yarn: Knit Picks Felici: 75% merino, 25% nylon

I love these socks. They're my softest pair and they feel like old friends when I put them on. Being so soft, I am pretty impressed with how the yarn is holding up, often the softer yarns are not the most hard wearing. You can see some pilling on the foot, but it is relatively minor. The heels are a bit felted, but the stitches are still in good condition. Overall, I'm pleased with these ;)



Second Socks
Yarn: Zauberball: 75% wool, 25% nylon

I think these socks are in the worst condition of all of them. To be fair, they have been around the longest (side note, my first socks aren't on this list because I don't wear them very often!) but I also don't wear them as much as some of the others any more.

The foot is completely pilled, it's hard to show because of how dark the yarn is but even this picture demonstrates a lot of pilling. Where it's not pilled the yarn is completely fuzzy. This is probably due to the fact that Zauberball is a single plied yarn, so it gets fuzzed really easily. Regardless, they still feel good on my feet - I just wouldn't knit anything with a pattern, it would be completely obscured.


Socks the Third
Yarn: Silky 4 ply Sock: 80% wool, 20% tencel

When I first finished these socks, the yarn felt all weird and squeaky and I wasn't sure I'd like them. After a wash it was all good, they became soft and lovely. They have also held up probably better than any of the other socks. Minor pilling and fuzzing around the heel but nothing really of note.

The only thing I will say is that the yarn hasn't got much spring to it, the ribbing on the cuffs is a lot looser now, and they feel like they have stretched a little. So maybe they're not holding up as well as I think. The colour is still awesome though (I dyed the yarn myself you see *laughs*)

Starpower Socks

Yarn: Skinny Bugga: 80% merino, 10% nylon, 10% cashmere

These are my most expensive socks. They are also the worst for pilling. Because of the colour and the pattern, it was really hard to get a good picture, so I picked the bobbly bits off one of the socks and took a photo of that instead *laughs*:

I was a little surprised at how badly these have pilled, and a little disappointed if I'm honest. I have another skein of skinny bugga in my stash, and I'm pretty sure I won't be knitting socks with it. It is beautiful yarn, but not cut out for socks. A shame really, I like the luxury of having some cashmere on my feet ;)

Multicoloured Swap Socks
Yarn: Drachenwolle: 75% wool, 25% nylon

I debated whether or not to include these, as they're made with German yarn that might not be easily accessible to other people (I got it in a swap). But then I looked at how great the condition was and decided to include them anyway.

They aren't the softest socks in my drawer, but aside from a small amount of fuzziness on the heels, they look the same as the day I finished them.

Drunken Socks of Deformity
Yarn: Moonlight and Laughter Merino Superwash Sock: 100% merino

Sock yarn with no nylon - I expected these to fall apart if I'm honest! They've pilled a little on the feet, and the heels are quite felted, but they're actually much better than I expected. One heel is worse than the other, but if you know the backstory of these socks then that won't come as a surprise ;)

Conclusion

So there you have it - the softest yarns aren't necessarily going to fall to bits after a few wears, the hardiest yarn is still pretty hardy, and the expensive yarn may be best used for something that gets a little less wear than your average pair of socks.

I hope this post has been interesting, or informative, or at least just not horribly dull!

Noro

When I posted that I was knitting some socks with Noro yarn, a couple of people asked why I said I probably wouldn't use it again... Good question!

So I thought I'd post about what I think. I know Noro can split opinion, with some people adoring it and some hating it. I don't know how strongly I feel, but I am most certainly not in the loving it camp *laughs*

A couple of things I actually haven't experienced so far, despite Noro being notorious for them, are knots interrupting the colours and vegetable matter. I'm pretty glad I haven't had to deal with that (so far!)

The main things that are bugging me are twofold. The first is something I knew may be an issue, although I didn't quite expect it to be so pronounced:

Thick and thin spots. I knew the yarn was rustic (which is why I am not complaining about it being rough and scratchy, I knew that when I bought it!) and would have variations, but some stitches are laceweight and some are aran/worsted - which is making my fabric look weird and bumpy.

But the thing that is absolutely driving me mad is the way the yarn twists on itself while I am trying to knit...

*growls in frustration* I have had yarn before that twists (Zauberball, I'm looking at you), but never anything this bad. I have to untangle myself approximately every 10 stitches. Of course, it doesn't help that I am knitting these socks 2 at a time, so the tangling is exponentially increased.

[insert clever title here]*

I'm pleased to have a picture this week that represents some decent progress in both knitting and reading, it feels like a little while since I have had such a good week ;)

As you can see, I have made some progress on my sock - the weather has taken a turn for the worse, temperature-wise, so alpaca socks now seem like an excellent project *laughs* I have another few rows to go before turning the heel.

My other main project is the cardigan I wrote about recently. Despite the long purl rows, not my favourite thing at all, I have completed a fairly large chunk of knitting:

Not bad, huh? It's currently about bust length on me, so I still have a long way to go, but I'm really pleased with how it is shaping up so far.

I love the felted tweed fabric, I can totally see why people rave about this yarn (even if it does cover me in fibres as I'm working!)

And the subtle stripes that I was hoping would work - well, I'm really happy with them. I think it works really well:

Pop over to Tami's and Ginny's for more lovely knitting and reading content, and have a lovely day *smiles*

*yeah, so I seem to be lacking title inspiration this morning!

Subtlety

A little while ago I bought 4 balls of Rowan Felted Tweed DK on ebay for a ridiculously low price. Felted Tweed seems to be one of those yarns that people absolutely adore, so I was really pleased to get my hands on some.

However, despite the excellent yardage, I knew that 4 balls wouldn't really be enough for a pattern that I wanted to make with it, so I ordered a couple more balls from another shop. And this is where I include a public service announcement - do not assume you know what colour you have, if you do not have it in front of you *laughs*

Original yarn on the bottom, new yarn on top. Hmmm.

So, I ended up with 4 balls of one colour and 2 balls of a similar but definitely not the same colour. Dilemma time *laughs*


After a lot of searching, I settled on a pattern that I thought could work and be something I would like - Daffodil. I was inspired by one of the pictures on the pattern page, with grey and yellow stripes (by nasseknits)

Of course, I will need to employ my standard modification of adding some increases around the hips so that I can have a button band that buttons all the way down ;)

So, I decided to see if this pattern would work. As the yarns I'm using are so similar in colour, I wasn't sure if the contrast would be too subtle...



I quite like the subtlety - what do you think?

Fjord Span

Wow, busy week was busy! And not in the funnest of fun ways. But, on the plus side, I did manage to finish my Wingspan *grins*

Sadly, as I only finished last night, I can only share blocking pictures and not the fully modelled version, but as far as I'm concerned, it still counts ;)

I love it *grins* I love the shape, I really enjoyed the pattern and the colours are so gorgeous.

Actually, this picture is probably the best representation of the colours:

It took me ages, but I think I managed to capture the wonderful shades in the yarn perfectly - makes a nice change as it is usually pretty tough!

I've mentioned before, but just to recap, this is yarn I bought in Norway. I went for colours that reminded me of the rocks and water of the fjords - it's almost a shame there's no green in there as the country really is beautifully lush, but these colours work so well together I think green would have been out of place.

The yarn is quite textured, it's not a smooth yarn but blocking has removed the scratchiness and now it just feels lovely and rustic.

Overall, I'm really happy with how this project turned out *smiles*

You know the Friday drill - head over to Tami's, Natural Suburbia and Wisdom Begins in Wonder . Have a wonderful weekend :)

Seaweed of Endor

I'm glad I saved up a couple of finished objects to keep me going through a few Fridays, as I have barely worked on my wingspan at all the last few days and therefore it is not finished for today *laughs*

While I was on my blogging sabbatical, I finished my green cowl...

I love it *smiles* I think this is the first time I have knit the same pattern more than once, but it's such an easy and effective project that having the same thing in a different colour felt like a good idea. 

Excuse the scrunched up arm picture - trying to get the whole cowl in when taking a self portrait wasn't easy *laughs*

As with the other version of this I made, I almost prefer it inside out, I love the texture of the 4x1 rib from the wrong side. It could probably do with a bit of blocking to help it lie better though!

And, because I think it is cute - as a hood:

*laughs*

I know I have bragged about the yarn plenty of times before, but here it is one last time ;)

These gorgeous colours come courtesy of yarn dyed by cunning boyfriend. He was so impressed with my first Kool Aid dyed yarn that he wanted to have a go himself, and this is the result. I love the range of colours and the way it looks, as I may have mentioned (a fair few times, I can't help it, I love that he made something that I could make something beautiful with *sappy smile*)

Ok, enough of that ;)

The yarn was named Seaweed of Endor, so this is now my Endor cowl.

As it is Friday, I am linking up with the lovely ladies at   Tami's, Natural Suburbia and Wisdom Begins in Wonder . Have a wonderful weekend :)

To Dye For...

So, as I mentioned yesterday, boyfriend had a go at dyeing yarn *grins* He'd been quite impressed with my attempt  some time ago, and had suggested he might find it fun to have a go. So I bought undyed yarn at Knit Nation and ordered some more Kool Aid. We agreed that he could dye the yarn for my use, being somewhat reluctant to venture into the land of crazy coloured socks himself. Works for me ;)

We assembled our supplies:

I decided, having reviewed my sock yarn stash, that I was lacking in the green department, so we went with blue, green and yellow Kool Aid. I did order a purple one as well, in case a blue/purple combo might work, but we didn't use that in the end.

Boyfriend looked beautifully fetching in yellow rubber gloves and my cowprint apron *laughs* However, and I'm sorry to disappoint, to save his blushes there will be no photographic evidence of this. He did look cute though, especially while he was concentrating on dipping the yarn into different colours and being quite specific about what he wanted next ;)

Dyed and ready to go into the microwave to cure:

These colours are obviously a bit more saturated due to the yarn being wet. Also, being a wool/tencel blend, the yarn only adheres to the animal fibre and not to the tencel, so the final product looks a little different. However I was prepared for this, having dyed the same blend myself. I actually quite like the almost chalky quality of the colour. Next time I'll go for something a bit more vibrant though ;)

I took quite a few pictures of the finished skein (or hank if you prefer) to show off the subtle colour variations.

 Boyfriend has named his colourway "Seaweed of Endor" and is, I believe, really quite proud of it *smiles* I can't wait to knit with it and see how the colours combine, I love the icy blue sections particularly. Better get knitting socks fast!

Trying Not to Pun

Recently I was lucky to be offered some yarn to try out - from a company called Home Crafts .

Anyway, one of the yarns I had to try out was a skein of recycled sari silk.

I've never used sari silk before, as pretty as it is I have never had any idea to what to do with it, so I never bought any. But then I had some, and it was the perfect opportunity to try it out.

Because of all the amazing colours, I have noticed that sometimes projects using it can get a bit overwhelming. So I decided to pair it with some cream yarn that I had lurking in my stash and do something with stripes...

I think it gives the colours a real opportunity to shine, rather than getting a bit muddled together. They really are beautiful - although I found the yarn really tough on the hands when I was working with it, so it's probably not something I would use again. I'm glad I have given it a go though - if only to know that I like to look at the skeins but don't want to buy any ;)

So, enough jabbering, do you want to see what I made?!

 A cute hat *smiles* It's not my usual style, but I actually really like it.


Fair disclaimer - I was sent this yarn as well as a few other skeins free of charge by Home Crafts, to make a project and blog about it as part of a crafting competition. I hadn't actually heard of the site before this, but they sell lots of crafty supplies that I now quite fancy buying. As this isn't a review as such, the usual "all opinions are my own and not something I was asked to say" isn't entirely relevant, but still true *laughs*


It's Friday, so you know what to do... Visit Tami's, Natural Suburbia and Wisdom Begins in Wonder. Have a great weekend :)

PS - it was tough coming up with a post title that didn't involve a pun based on the word Sari sounding like Sorry!