Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Riches. With photos.

Today we are discussing the yarny loot that Bells sent me along with the baby tee shirt and kangaroo shown yesterday. (This morning while The Baby was playing I fell asleep - damn medication - and woke up to find a kangaroo propped against me.) I love it all. Love love love. (The husbeast came home while I was unpacking the box yesterday, pulling out these almost-basketball sized balls of yarn and hooting with glee, and he said "What did you order now?" and I said "Nothing, Bells sent me this." and he said "Oh, great, now you're getting FREE yarn. We'll be buried." or something to that effect.)

So the balls of yarn? Bendego Woolen Mills yarn in "Colonial" pure new Australian wool. (There's no web site to link you guys to. Aussie readers, nag them about that.)


As always the colors aren't coming out quite right (and I took the damn picture in daylight, too). What looks like red there is actually a bright magenta. And the greyish is a beautiful heathered lavender. Bells mentioned I might want to dye the beige and she's right - I do. I look at this and think socks. I've already got a pattern picked out for the lavender, from the book I reviewed yesterday. Don't let the size of those yarn balls decieve you. Each one is 400m/437 yards. (Neat yardage/meterage calculator here.)

Then there is what she calls the historic yarn of Australia:
"Tomten" from Paton's. I've never used this particular species before, but I've loved the Paton's yarns I've worked with. I'm thinking a striped jumper for The Baby next winter. (When you knit with Australian wool, it's a jumper, not a sweater.)

Then there's the best part.

Hand spun, hand dyed lace weight wool from the Happy Spider. It's 1200m/1310yards - hello, a shawl for me. Memememe. I'm keeping this one all to myself. It's living on my desk where I can pat it and hug it and call it George until I find the time to knit it up.

Bells also send some shade cards from Bendigo and some Australian goodies - Tim Tams and Violet Crumble. Both are yummy... could someone explain the "Violet" part of the Violet Crumble name? I'm not getting it.

Thanks again, Bells!


In other news, when I finish this post I'll be adding another yarn to my shop. (Which needs a link from here... I need to get off my ass and do that.) I found this down behind the book case while I was cleaning up my office the other day:

One last skein of the Peruvian sock wool, color scheme 'water'.

Oh, and I finished the sock!

Well, all except for grafting the toe. Anyone ever tried a three-needle bindoff? Anyone? Thoughts?

It also looks like I need to work a little harder at that whole random dye thing.

I used the 'anatomically correct toe shaping' on page five of "Socks for Clogs and Sandals" by Anna Zilboorg (yesterday's book review) where you start shaping on the outside of the foot about an inch before you start on the inside. It worked well and I really like the fit. (Of course then you have a right and left sock, but I can handle that.)

I think I dislocated my hip taking that photo. Anyway, the heel feels fine too, now that the rest of the sock is done and it's all fitting properly. And we're looking good on yardage for another sock. (If I run two rows short I'll be pissed.)

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

I used a three needle bind off on a pair of socks I just finished and I like it. Of course, they leave a ridge and since the socks aren't for me, I don't know how they will wear but anything is preferable to grafting. Good luck. I love the colors.

debsnm said...

I've never used a 3-needle bind-off for socks. I've used it for other stuff, though, and it's not my favorite - a pain in the arse for really no particular reason that I can determine. I'd rather do a kitchener than a 3-needle. JMHO

Amy Lane said...

Bells is a good good friend... great colors--and what a fun package in the middle of gray February. I would think the 3-needle would leave a seam, which, if you're wearing sandals wouldn't be a problem, but, after many craptacular grafts, I've finally gotten decent with them...I sort of like them now. (It's almost magic.)

Hey--you and bells should check out the new book--you can get a view on iUniverse. You guys are listed under the acknowledgments:-)

Anonymous said...

I would graft the toe of the sock to avoid the ridge I think. Three needle bind offs are great for other things though. I just did one to close up the hood on a baby sweater and loved the way it turn out; lot's nicer than a seam.

Sheepish Annie said...

I saw a pair of socks just last night with a three needle bind off and they looked very tidy. I think I may try that on my next pair. The knitter said that she turned the sock inside out to do it and that this was a bit tricky. But that, otherwise, it was super-simple. And I like simple...

Rae said...

I think the kitchener stitch rocks. It's so easy to learn and do, and the finish is perfect.

I like the colorway.

I'm also going to have to check out the sock book you mentioned -- I like the toe shaping idea, particularly since I'm persnickety about the toe shaping. Gotta look into it.

Bells said...

oh there are all my goodies!

yes, it's true, bendigo does not have a website. A quaintly old fashioned notion if ever there was one. There's a petition floating around the net actually, trying to make them get off their arses and do something about it. No joy yet.

No idea about the violet in Violet Crumble. I always just assumed it was the purple packaging.

happyspider said...

violet crumble is because of the packaging - it was released (is that right for chocolate?) at a time when most chocolate packaging was brown and it was an attempt to make the public aware of cadbury's purple and gold colours. so there you go :)
and i'm very glad you like the hand-dyed :) i'm currently making a shawl in a very similar dye-job and i'm in love :)

NeedleTart said...

I use the three-needle bind-off whenever I can on shoulder seams. It seems (almost typed seams.....) to hang better and is one more seam I don't have to sew up. On socks, I am afraid it would leave a bump and my family has very sensative feet. One reason The Husband like hand-knit socks is that they are smoooooth.

Terby said...

Kitchener. Almost always (unless it's a gathered toe, but I don't think it will wear as well. The ridges would bother my toes, and once I got the hang of it, I found out that I really enjoy kitchener.

Nice goodies! And yum on that Violet Crumble. I've had it once, and I thought it was delicious.

verylisa said...

I just called Bendigo Woollen Mills to request a catalog. Asked the lovely lady who answered the phone about their website plans, and she said it is under development. They are expecting to launch their site in the middle of this year.

Catie said...

Yae about the yarn. I've made one pair of socks and kitchener grafted them (I think). It was my first time grafting and I found it easy enough. Is there some other method that is difficult or is the kitchener stich the one that everyone complains about?

amy said...

Kirchener for a sock, definitely. Just my opinion, but I wouldn't want the ridge on the toe of my sock. If you DO use 3-needle bindoff, make sure you do it so that the ridge faces the outside--I don't think the bump will matter so much if you're wearing them with Berks and such, but you definitely don't want it on the inside. I can never remember which way to hold it, though, RS facing or WS facing, to get the ridge on the outside.

That said, Kirchener is really not that hard. On the sock I just finished I actually had to put it down in the middle when my son woke up. Then when I finished it I realized somehow a stitch had been dropped at the beginning, and I had to pick it out, pick up the stitch, and re-do it. I am SO against sewing seams that I have twice now used Kirchener stitch to weave fronts & backs together at the shoulder. It's not that hard. :-)

Alwen said...

Look -- they match the tie-dye on my living room wall!

I think I've only knitted cuff-down socks once, and "even I" (if you've read Suzette Haden Elgin, you understand about using "even" on people) was able to dope out grafting the toe.

Once I ripped it out three times or so.

Denise said...

Totem is a great wool, I think you'll like it. I made a Fair Isle jumper about 20-mumble something years ago, which I didn't wear much... then last year I unravelled the whole thing, skeined and washed it, and knitted it into a cool cardigan, and the Totem was as good as new.

I agree with the 3 needle bind off - toes are much nicer with Kitchener stitch.

And excellent news, Lisa, about Bendigo planning their web site finally!

Rae said...

*IF* you feel like taking another photo, I'd love to see the Happy Spider yarn in your hand. How freaking big is a hank of 1200+ yards????? Mine are all about 300/400 yards and are big enough. But 1200 in one? Yawoza!

KeithF said...

Hi. I just discovered your blog and both the contents and the photos are great. But oooooh, that multi-colored, five shades of blue background is making my eyes hurt. Any chance you could switch to a more neutral Blogger web page layout?

KeithF