Reynaud’s – Yarn, Books & Roses

Thank heavens we had a sunny day. I shoveled the snow off the deck so the cats could get outside and I would have a place to lay out knitted items for some pictures. As usual MacKenzie had other ideas about this.

Cat and yarn — I turn my back for just a second and there he is, chomping yarn and putting hairs onto everything…

Still, I got some shots during beaks in the action, and here is what I’m working on right now.

Red alpaca half gloves. — This yarn is Blue Sky Alpacas’ sport weight. It is a two ply yarn made of 100% baby alpaca.

I really liked fellow blogger Andre Sue’s half finger mitts that she shared with us. (Here’s her pattern). My hand is really short and fat with nice swollen fingers so I had to make alterations to her pattern so it would work on my hand. (“Oh my, your hands are really puffy,” commented a nurse while getting me ready for an endoscopic GI exam. “Did you know your fingers are turning purple..?”) Thank you Reynaud’s and scleroderma. I’ll be putting these fabulous alpaca half-gloves on for the next visit to the gastroenterology torture chamber.

Yep. That's my hand. — Yep. That’s my hand. Short, wide and puffy.

I wear lots of layers these days including these comfy kimono sleeve sweaters from J.Jill. I made the cuff of the gloves a little longer than Andre Sue’s pattern called for so that they would cover the gap between my hand and the bottom of the sleeve. I’m thinking that I want to add some embellishments that I will share with you all when I get the pictures of the finished mitts posted. Maybe by Friday if I hustle. There is a big snowstorm coming this weekend, and they sure would be nice and warm to wear…

Closeup of yarn. — Don’t these colors look like they were made to be with a grey sweater? This is Serenity 20 from Zen Yarn Garden in the colorway Jewel.

I’m also working on another Hitchhiker made with the fabulous 20% cashmere hand-painted yarn that practically threw itself at me last week (that would be the yarn in the serendipitous phenomenology post). I have about half of the points done, but still a lot of yarn left to knit as the shawl gets wider the longer you knit. I just love the colors and it is working up to be really nice; the hand and drape will be just what I want. Can’t wait to get this one done too.

Well that’s it for this week. I plan to really get cracking on finishing all of these up. I’ve been looking at shawl patterns, and I have a couple of weeks of knitting before I need to start on the March New Year’s resolution sock. Gosh, it would be really nice to have a new shawl (I mean, a shawl that is NOT a Hitchhiker. You know, something with lace in it that involves reading a chart… Beads too. I definitely need beads). I wonder if my family would like shawls for their Christmas presents?

Time to go dig in the stash!!

My feet just hate the cold. Once they get cold, they stay cold for a long time. (Yep. It’s a Reynaud’s thing.) A few weeks ago I came home on a sub-zero night and ended up under the covers wearing layers of wool including socks and my Ugg boots trying to warm up. Seriously, this is ridiculous! Time to fight back!!

Sock and Book — I’m knitting the Basic Sock in the book Knitting Scandinavian Slippers and Socks by Laura Farson.

Say hello everyone to the February sock. <grin> This sock is stranded or twined every single row of knitting including the heels and toes. Doesn’t that sound warm? I’m knitting it in a rustic worsted weight wool (this is the same Irish wool that got dyed in my canning jars a couple of posts back) that is lofty and very warm. I’m using yarn that is heavier than what is called for in the pattern, so they will be larger and more dense. These are the kind of socks that I can use as slippers over lighter socks while indoors, or they can stay on my feet while I’m wearing my snow boots. They are going to be warm, warm, warm!!!

I am so motivated to have warm feet!!

Anyway, this pattern is very interesting and I am learning lots of new tricks. The cast on was “Two-Strand Twisted German Cast On” which seems a lot like Old Norwegian cast on, but with two colors.

Top of ock. — The blue yarn at the top shows the cast on and two rows of the twined garter stitch edging.

The edging continued with twined garter stitch, also new to me, and created so much twist in the working yarn that I abandoned it and moved on to the checker stitch without finishing the last two rows. Instead of twining I’m knitting the rest of the sock stranded. The twining is much stretchier than what would be traditional for a Scandinavian sock, but I want to get these socks done before the next bad cold snap.

Inside of sock. — All this stranding is going to make the socks cushy and warm. Warm is good.

Anyway, I’m happy with my stranding: look how plush and warm it looks!!

Gusset of sock. — The gusset is created by adding stitches to each side of 25 central stitches. Later they will be reduced in the construction of the bottom of the heel. There is no heel flap and picked-up stitches. All new to me!

The heel is worked in a way that I have never seen before, but it looks like it will be a good fit on my foot. I’m getting close to the bottom of the gusset now, and the heel looks pretty challenging, so this might be something of a learning curve. 🙂 I’m knitting with two cable needles instead of my usual double points, and I am finding out that this is easier for trying on the sock while it’s being knitted.

So here it is. The February sock is going to be fun, I’ll learn lots of new techniques, and I should end up with warm feet. Yeah!

Tag: Reynaud’s

WIP Wednesday: Half-Finger MItts and a Fabulous Hitchhiker

Introducing the February 2015 Sock