Tag Archives: Madeline Tosh

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Summer of socks

This is truly my summer of socks. This is the seventh pair I have worked on for the summer, and there is an eighth on the needles right now, but that pair is super secret for the time being. I feel sort of like a sock junkie since I can’t seem to go very long without one pair on my needles.

This pair will be for my brother’s girlfriend, Brenna. She already knows it’s happening, so I don’t have to be sneaky about it. The yarn is Madeline Tosh Sock. Many hand painted yarns have some variation within the ball. For this pair one foot is slightly darker since the outside of the ball is slightly darker. The yarn color is Baltic. It’s definitely hypnotizing. If you haven’t checked out the amazing dyeing of Madeline Tosh you might just start drooling.

The pattern is my own. It doesn’t have a name yet. I’m still brainstorming. I welcome any ideas. It reminds me of scales. I hope to get it out in the next couple of weeks, baby time permitting. Since I’m making these in a different foot size from my own, I will need some help from my friend Karen as a foot model.

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A comfortable creature, indeed.


Finally, I have some pics of my finished Creature Comforts Cardi. To me, this is much more like a shrug than a cardigan, but maybe they liked some alliteration in the name. I neglected to put up any front facing shots of this sweater because they all looked goofy or I was closing my eyes. I thank the fella (Matthew Petty) for taking the pics. I did finish this in time to wear to Rhinebeck, and I love it so much that I want to wear it all the time.

The yarn is Tosh DK, and I knitted the 34″-38″ bust size. I barely got into the fifth ball, and I’ve heard from a few people at my LYS that in the larger sizes they overestimate the yarn a bit.

I loved the cable pattern. I like the idea and look of many cables, but I hate having to keep track of rows. With this cable pattern, most of the rows are different enough that you can figure out where you are if you put it down and come back to it later. I kept track mostly by counting how many purls I had purled last in the center of my leaf.

The middle of the pattern kept me intrigued and kept me knitting, as I wanted to watch the leaves crawl up the back of the sweater. The sides were mindless enough to make it go fast.

I loved the Tosh DK yarn, and after wearing this a few times unblocked (gasp!) I threw it in the washer and dryer and it came out looking lovely.

As many others have done and mentioned on Ravelry, I did a provisional cast on and did all the ribbing at once in the round when the main part of the body was finished. This is basically a giant rectangle that you fold in half, seam a bit, make sleeves on, and wear.

Beginners, do not be intimidated. The cable stitches are well described, and the construction is super simple. I think I will be wearing this for ages.

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Comforts.

There are many comforts in life. Knitting is one of my comforts. In my life it has served as a celebration for new beginnings; balm for a sad, swollen heart; a generous show of love for cherished ones; a source of soothing for my frazzled mind; and innovation for my creative impetus. I can’t imagine my life without knitting. It constantly occupies a corner of my mind, and is a practice I will never give up as long as I am able to wield two sticks and string.

Here is a project that has been on my needles for a few weeks:

Creature Comforts Cardi

Creature Comforts Cardi

It’s the Creature Comforts Cardi by Amy Hendrix for Madeline Tosh. I’m making it out of Tosh DK in Chambray. The yarn is squishy and has the slightest variation in tone as you knit with it. I love the way the leaves are formed in the cable pattern. The cable is enough to keep me interested, but the sides are plain enough so that you can carry on with other things at the same time. This cardigan has been my comfortable companion today as I was home from work with a chest cold.

I’m not following the pattern exactly. I noticed several people on Ravelry mentioned that they did a provisional cast on to make the ribbing all at once at the end to avoid a seam. I’m going for this option, because in the pattern pics the seam on the ribbing is quite noticeable. I’m also scrapping the pockets, because many people were critical of those. There is an afterthought pocket in the pattern. I might consider that at the end if I change my mind.

I would recommend if you use Tosh DK (for any project, really) that you should make sure you have enough for your project. It seems that they don’t have dye lots written on the tags and dye lots can be VERY different. I will not have this problem with my cardigan because I got them all from the same batch, but a customer at the store had to order more of her color and it was much, much paler in a different batch. The lack of dye lots also makes it nearly impossible to find some of the original dye lot. I was disappointed in the first skein when I came upon a knot (grrrr) and there was an abrupt color darkening when I knit past the knot. Luckily, this was toward the end of the ball, so I ripped back and set the darker yarn aside. Hopefully I won’t have to use it.

The nip in the night air has renewed my interest in this cardigan. I also still have Larch Cardigan  and Minimalist Cardigan on the needles from last year and (yikes!) the year before to finish, but as they are out of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light and Berroco Ultra Alpaca, I have less desire to work on them since it is not that cold yet.

Happy knitting.