I got things done

Cold. Yuk. Sore throat and weird voice and stuffy nose. Yuk again. I've been home sick from work Thursday and Friday. At least I've got some knitting done. Lord of the Rings on DVD and a sock, mmmmm. So I finished the Boyfriend socks yesterday. Here they are on my feet (as the boyfriend didn't have time to model them):

Apparently this yarn is a bitch to photograph properly, the colour is almost always off :-( It is darker IRL.

Pattern: Boyfriend socks in size small.
Yarn: Interlacements Tiny Toes colour 201.
Needles: Addi wooden dpn's 2.5 mm. I was a bit bummed when I first tried these needles because there was a small splinter near one of the tips. But I fixed that with a nail file and now they are great. Not so great when you are feverish and have sweaty hands though...
Mods: I originally started another pattern so I did another toe, Oriental cast-on or something, I can't find it now. I made a slip-knot and placed on one needle. The I held two needles parallell and wrapped the yarn around them both. Then I knit around and removed the slip-knot. And made increases every row at first and then every other row.
I also changed the heel to a Sherman short-row heel.


So nice! I definitely prefer this over the double wrapped variety. Much easier and so neat-looking!
Oh, and I wrote out a chart for the Boyfriend stitch pattern. No way I'm going to knit that from writing only. Brrr.

I also managed to crawl on the floor and block the Litla Dimun shawl. I used too few pins so the edges are not perfectly straight but it looks nice enough and I like it!


Pattern: Litla Dimun shawl from Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle.
Yarn: Opal Neon, a little more than two 100g balls. There is definitely enough for matching socks.
Needles: Hmm, what did I use? Addi circs for sure, umm 3 mm?
Mods: None, but I didn't manage to stretch it quite so wide as the pattern suggested. Mine is 29" deep but only about 75" wide instead of the 84" the pattern says.
Comment: The shape of this shawl is a bit unusual but the curved upper edge makes it want to stay on the shoulders nicely, without bunching at the neck.

I had to look up what Litla Dimun actually means. It's the smallest of the Faeroe Islands, and the only inhabitants are sheep!

And garter stitch.

Bottom detail:

I really tried to take some pictures of me wearing it but they where not publishable! I have to make M take some decent pics later!

New socks on the needles! Embossed Leaves from Favorite Socks with Apple Laine Apple Pie in Garden Party. I hope the pattern don't disappear completely, this colourway is pretty wild...

It's a really quick knit, the first one is finished already! Love it!


I chose a little thicker fingering yarn because I'm not sure about the size. The book says the finished width is 7.5" and my foot is about 9". We'll see. If it turns out to be very stretchy I may make them again in a more solid yarn. I have a light green Lang JaWoll that would suit the pattern I think.

BTW the cast-on in the book doesn't seem to be the original one. The book says to use a 1x1 rib cast-on which is a long tail cast-on with every other stitch created backwards so it looks like 1p, 1k, 1p, 1k and so on. Then it goes on to slip every other stitch for two rows before starting the rib. I didn't manage to do this loosely enough so I did my usual long-tail over twoo needles instead. Then I thought to google about sizing and found some hints on the designer's blog. And that is not the same cast-on! I don't feel like ripping so I'll keep mine as is anyway. But I will try this other one some day, it looks nice.

I made them 7 repeats long instead of the 7,5 repeats in the pattern so I used the reversed star toe instead of the one in the book. Very nice if I may say so!

Now I need to decide on a mindless sock for all the driving in the next few days!