Skeinspotting

The Inside Loop

The new issue of the online textiles magazine The Inside Loop is up, The Great British Summer issue.

I have this pattern in it. Jennifer Gwiazdowski kindly modelled the sleeves for me and braved a chilly afternoon at the beginning of April to wear a strapless dress.



I am hoping to use Jenni again for modelling, and some other models too.
The next set of things I have published is not until the Autumn. I will have to get cracking then to finish those!

Fair Isle Socks Misery!

I am an old veteran when it comes to knitting Fair Isle stuff and getting it to sit neatly without any ugly bits showing through. However, I seemed to have lost my touch when it comes to putting motifs on to the socks. I suspect what is happening, is that because I am using a pre-dressed very stretchy sock yarn when the fabric is at its full stretch, you can see little bits of the yarn caught in the back showing through.

Grrrr it is driving me potty! I am going to have to try going down a few needle sizes, to lose some of the elastic qualities and try and make the fabric more dense.

Or I am going to have to abandon these stretchy purpose spun sock yarns, and choose a sturdy 4ply or sportsweight yarn that will give me the same control I have when I make hats. After all, hats must stretch on the head and this doesn't normally happen.

The other alternative, it is to knit the cuff flat and use Intarsia
or completely change my design so that yarn stranded at the back, does not need to be caught in with the stitches whilst being carried. My design for motifs though, is so specific, I want them to look the way I have designed them and I am going to find a way of doing it successfully in the round if it kills me.

I am off to research the problem now.