Cherry Ripe

cherry garni socks by yours truly

araucania ranco solid in pt 485

the yarn side walker merino in red lentil evenings

It's about time another cocktail sock pattern was added to the repertoire, so here's something a little fruity! Cherry Garni is a toe-up, heel-flapped, cherry-lace sock, with contrasting cocktail-skewer toe, heel and cuff.

Okay, these should really, technically, be called 'Cherry Garnish Socks', as 'garni' isn't foreign for garnish, but is only an attempt on my part to sound fancy!  I am nothing if not creative in the ways of language!  Or lazy...  Either or, the cherry is a massive part of cocktail dressing, and this new patterns is a natural progression from the Twist of Citrus homage to all things zesty in the cocktail world!

So, whether you're adding a rich red Maraschino cherry to a Manhattan, a green cherry to your Blue Lagoon, drinking a black cherry Mojito, or having your tequila sunrise adorned with a yellow ground cherry, I'm sure you'll agree that the cherry, no matter what colour, is truly a worthy addition to the cocktail sock theme!

The sock begins at the contrasting toe with a simple but effective cocktail-skewer rib pattern:

then moves on to the cherry-lace pattern (a rich, ripe cherry with its stalk and a leaves) :

and for something completely different, I've added a heel-flap.  I have to say I love the final appearance of this - the gusset pick-up is oh-so-very neat, but pay attention - you have to start the increases around 4 inches from the final edge of the heel.  (I've suggested adding a life-line if you aren't completely sure of the length you need - I measured 4 inches from a sock I had previously made and worked out where I needed to start the increases.)

Totally worth it - it looks fabulous!

And another plus: it looks great in different colours!  I asked my testers to use different colours - purples, greens, yellows for different coloured cherries, and they turned out looking fabulous - check out the pattern page for linked projects!  

So, what else do you need to know?  Oh yes indeed - the link to the pattern page and a lovely Ravelry button to click if you fancy investing in something fruity!

Cherry ripe, cherry ripe, 
Ripe I cry, Full and fair ones

Come and buy.

Cherry ripe, cherry ripe,

Ripe I cry,

Full and fair ones

Come and buy.

Voice Cosy

You know - like a tea cosy, but for the voice!

Okay, it's really just an elaborate way to name the species, as it is really just a little shawl, but because it's for a singer friend, the appellation seems right!  (Family: Knitting, Genus: Shawl, Species: Voice Cosy!)

doornroosje or sleeping beauty

It's the perfect Spring/Autumn throat warmer for the discerning singer who worries about unseasonal chills!  (Or anyone who fancies something warm around their neck of a chilly Spring eve!)  The pattern was created by another singer friend of mine, Harma, and it's called 'Doornroosje', the Dutch equivalent of Sleeping Beauty!  (The translation means literally: Little Thorn Rose!)

It's almost a story-telling shawlette, as incorporated in the design are elements from the tale:  

Doornroosje is the Dutch name of Sleeping Beauty, and this shawlette represents her story. From the thorny edge, into the castle, up the stairs and past the bed curtains, you see the voyage of Prince Charming.  (Taken from the Ravelry pattern page.)

I did, however, muck-up the edging - it's supposed to be thorny indeed (you can see it on the Ravelry pattern page linked above), but the beauty of the last few rows is that you can make the edging what you want.  Just as well, really!  I still have so much to learn!

This shall, however, be an excellent birthday gift, and I know the recipient will use it well - keeping her voice cosy against the elements!

Hope On The Rocks Part II

Aka "Operation Save Bag".

So, you saw the bag in the last post.  I'm sorry I foisted that last sad, grey picture on you, dear readers, especially as I wasn't able to look at it myself for a while, but I eventually got the urge to visit the craft supplies shop (everything EXCEPT wool) and buy some fabric paints.  

Boy, those little pots are expensive, so instead of getting a myriad of purples and greens, I came back with 5 of the littlest pots they had: a green, a lavender blue/purple, a black, and white and a red.  Sadly I couldn't afford some of the more jewel tones that the yarn had been blessed with before its unfortunate baptism of fire hot water, but I reckoned these would cover all the bases.  Anything is better than grey, right?

Test one was one of the square pockets.  I know.  These poor pockets have already been through a lot, but if they survived, I knew the bag would stand a chance.  (If not, then a statue saluting our brave yet fallen yarn fellows would be... well, thought about, at the very least.)

i knew that old scottish packing newspaper would come in handy

I have to say I was a little heartened by the colours I was able to mix-up (hey, that art-school year came in handy after all!) and decided that it wasn't really being cocky to just go ahead and paint the bag.  You can tell me later that this was the point that everything went wrong, should the need arise.

colour - how lovely to see you again

After the first attempt I have to tell you, I was feeling happier than I did a few days previously.  Yes, the colours aren't (and won't be) as rich as the originals (nor will they be in quite the right places), but still, they're not bad.  Possibly a half-way point between the original jewel tones, and the grey heartbreak.  

Once these were dry, the instructions told me that to fix the dye (because I know my luck otherwise - the first sniff of rain and this bag would be bleeding colours again) by covering it with a tea-towel and ironing over it with a hot iron.  

So far so good...

I had decided that because the bag hadn't felted to the rigid fabric I was hoping for, that I'd line it in some tough fabric for strength.  So I set off for a nearby material shop (heaven - it's massive - I could lose some serious hours in there fondling all those beautiful fabrics) and came home with some lovely purple material and a few purple zips. I made a simple lining just the teensiest bit smaller than the bag, plus pocket linings and a looooong lining for the shoulder strap.  And yes, I joined the pieces up with hand-sewn blanket stitch, which may or may not have taken hours!

miles and miles of *^%&£@ blanket stitch

The first pieces joined were the strap to the bag, but before joining the main bag sections together I decided that the base needed a bit of shoring-up.  Thick cardboard sewn onto the inside of the base did the job very well...

sewing a 4-year-old would be proud of

... and won't be seen, thanks to the bag lining, complete with 2 pockets, one on each side:

note the one square I didn't paint...

Then, finally, I added the zip to the top of the bag.  And HUZZAH, although it's not the colourful, cute little shoulder bag I was aiming for, it's quite a nice messenger bag, and quite comfortably holds 3 vocal scores!  So, could be worse!

the amazing singing bag

Hope On The Rocks Part I

Once upon a time there was an eBay auction to end all eBay auctions: 10 ball of Noro Kureyon in shade 196 for £20 (i.e. the price of 2 balls of Noro Kureyon).  Of course our intrepid hero had to snap them up before the seller knew what he had on his hands, and in due course said 10 balls of Noro Kureyon came to stay in a country far, far away.

nommy noro

But what to do with 10 balls of Noro Kureyon?  I have to admit that at first I thought I had MILES of the stuff, so substantial it seemed, but 1,000 metres of aran-weight wool doesn't actually get you that far in the whole scheme of making things.  Or at least clothing-wise when you have a frame like mine.  So, items of apparel were out.  Household thingies?  Maybe an afghan?  So I had a look around and found the log cabin basic design and thought that the wool and pattern were a match made in heaven.  

The basic log cabin design is very simple: cast on so many stitches (in my case, 12) on a 4mm (US 6) size circular needle and knit a square using stocking stitch, cast-off to the last stitch, then pick up and knit along the next edge.

After turning a few more corners (depending on how big you want the squares)  they end up looking like this:

I was so taken with the method that I had quite a few 7"x7" squares before I stopped knitting for the evening, and then decided that said squares were going to turn not into an afghan, but into a messenger-style bag.

I worked a total of eight 7"x7" squares (front and back), four 6"x6" squares (pockets on the inside and outside), twelve 3"x3" squares (sides and base), four 1"x7" strips (to house the zip on the top) and fourteen 2"x4" (the strap).  

nearly complete

After working all the pieces needed, I started joining it all up together, starting with the front and back, then adding the sides and base to the front of the bag, which laid flat, looked like this:

ready to create the 3D bag

I joined the squares up in two different ways - to create a flat join, I sewed edges together on the flat, on the wrong side, but to create the crisp angled edge I wanted for the corners and joints, I placed them wrong side together and sewed-up the edge on the right side:

angled join

flat join

The bag main, once joined together, does end up floppy and baggy (if you'll forgive the pun), but once felted, the fabric becomes stiffer, stronger, and if blocked correctly, holds its new shape very well.  

baggy... bag

I must add that the short edges of the top zip closure pieces need to remain unattached, so that the strap can be added after felting.

So, after joining all the pieces together (the main bag, plus the length of strap - not joined to the bag) it was time to start testing the felt-meter of the wool.


I tried one of the 6"x6" pockets first, in a hot wash with a couple of towels to add roughage, as suggested by online research.  After one wash it had shrunk a little bit, but there was still discernible stitch definition to be seen, so I tried another hot wash which pretty, but it still wasn't enough, so I figured another wash and all would be grand.

Then it was time for the bag and strap.  Which is when disaster struck. 3 washes (2 hot, one cooler) later it had shrunk by only 1" square and although the fabric was thicker there were still noticeable stitches to be seen.  Be prepared for a dulling-down of the colours, though.  It is one of the side-effects of hot-water felting, I'm guessing.  Sadly I lost most of the colours.  I guess that's a lesson to learn, but I'm really disappointed.

lacklustre lustre

But the show must go on, so to block, I found some hardback books (actually I used some vocal scores) about the size of the felted bag, put them in a plastic bag, then inserted the covered book inside the felted bag for drying.  

They dried.  The bag was 2 inches smaller than it was to begin with, but I was hoping for smaller.  The strap was the same length, though, which wasn't the plan.  The original test pocket?  2 of the edges turned in to lace, which I found bizarre.  I'm too sad about it all to piece it together just now, or try to figure out a way how to make it shrink a bit more without using the washing machine.  

Our intrepid hero will be back, though.  Perhaps armed with fabric paint.

Gold Envelope Time

Thank you for all your entries in the WIN ALL THE PATTERNS ravelblogoversary competition!  I was quite intrigued with some of your answers, and some of your reasons for some of your answers!  

But first, let's have a list of colours guessed, and who guessed them (if you guessed more than 1 colour, then I took your first offering):

RED: maryw1968, ammcoy, Karen, Kathryn, Patti, Carwoman76, LtdEdition, Ariasnow.

ORANGE: midnightaurora, DreamCatcher, Rachel, liber, madmoon.

PURPLE: zuzusunshine, dizzybea, Bluroux, faayth.

GREEN: txjewelrylady, Mpindstrup, landolista, MunchkinMama, pieheart, rwest81, PaperGirl, HeatherOutsideBOS.

PINK: Vero, knitz67

BLUE : Dodi143

It's true, red is prevalent in my avatar and some of my prototype socks, but I have to say it's more coincidence than anything else!  If my design calls for a certain colour, like the Strawberry Mojito, or the Bloody Mary, then I'll usually go for the most obvious colour choice!  And, like it says in my Ravelry 'about me' section, the red in RedScot is 'merely the colour of my hair'!  

As for orange.  I do apologise to the orange-lovers of the world, but I try to avoid it as much as possible.  It has just never been a colour that I feel particularly drawn-to.  Of course, I do find this amusing every time there's a national/international sports fixture going on here in The Netherlands.  They're not called the Oranje just for the sake of it.  (Hup Holland!)

No, I shall put you all out of your misery and add a screencap I took of my profile page just before I posted about the competition (you may need to click on the photo for an enlargement):

So, if you guessed purple, green or black, then WAHEY, you got through to the next stage!

The next stage involved giving all the correct entries a number between 1 and 12 (the number of winning entries):  I gave them in the order they were given - from the blog, then from the thread on Ravelry:  

1 - Heather (zuzusunshine); 2 - txjewelrylady; 3 - Mpindstrup; 4 - dizzybea; 5 - landolista; 6 - MunchkinMama; 7 - pieheart; 8 - Bluroux; 9 - rwest81; 10 - PaperGirl; 11 - faayth; 12 - flamingfish; 13 - HeatherOutsideBOS

Then for something random, I asked my Facebook friends to give me a number between 1 and 13!  (You may have seen it!)  My friend Esther (HAI!!) answered first and gave me number 9 as the winning choice!

And that person is: rwest81  :: throws confetti ::

Congratulations, my dear!  I'll get the patterns to you on Ravelry!  If you'd like to donate any of them to someone else, do let me know and I'll gift whichever to whomever you'd like!  

Thanks to everyone who took part, and helped me celebrate my ravelblogoversary!

It's That Competition Time Of Year

Of course, the implication is that I do something at this time every year, but having missed the occasion for the past 2 years, I thought I'd commemorate both the occasions and the remembering of said occasions this year, at the same time.

wahey - she remembered!

The occasions?  Both my Ravelversary (31st Jan) and my Blogoversary (4th February).  Or, as I'm bang-slap in the middle of them at the moment, I shall call it my Ravelblogoversary.
I can see this catching on...
So, what's the deal, I hear you ask.  Or I do in my head, which is enough for me to write a sentence or two about it.

The deal is this, dear blogowers (that's 'blog followers' to those not aware of the entry in the RedScot Dictionary of Made-Up Words OUP 2018): I'm offering a complete set of my 'to buy' patterns to the winner of the competition.  That's 9 patterns to the worth of... quite a lot.  My arithmetic skills are currently off partying somewhere.  Probably with my calculator.
And don't worry if you're not a member of Ravelry!  Anyone can see them if you click on this LINK and all I need is an email address so I can send the winner the PDF collection.  If you ARE a member of Ravelry, however, I can send you the patterns there and you will be able to keep them in the online library!

prohibition

gloriana

pom star

bloody mary

honey socktails

strawberry mohito

irish ale

piña colada

irish coffee

But, HOW to win them, I hear you ask. Again. Because I've not been dithering with picture placement at all.  Oh no.  Well, it's simple really. All I need to know is what you think my favourite colour is.  And don't think checking on my Rav profile will help, as I've unhelpfully removed any mention of my preferred palette choice.  

But because I'm actually really a helpful person at heart, I'll give you a heads-up and let you know you have a choice of 3 favourite colours - so you have 3 times the chance of guessing one of them.  (And I should be clearer - give me one colour - if it's one of my 3 favourite colours, then you're in with a chance!)  You don't need to be specific - I'm not looking for a Crayola-perfect colour name, just the general colour umbrella will be sufficient!

All you need to do is write a comment here on the blog telling me what you think the answer is. The winning entries who mention any of the 3 colours will be put into a computer generator thingy (technical wordage notwithstanding) and the winner will be announced after the end of the competition.  

(If blogger is playing silly-bluggers, then hop over to THIS THREAD on Ravelry and let me know what you think the answer might be!  Not a member of Rav and blogger playing silly-bluggers?  Click on the contact me on the profile and send a message.  I'll have that open for the duration.)

The closing date?  February 14th at a minute to midnight CET.  I may as well have something to look forward to on Valentine's Day, eh?

Happy guessing!

Shawls, Shawls Everywhere...

...And Not A One To Wear.

Well, okay, a slight exaggeration.  But only a slight one.  Only because there might be sock content, too.  And I can't wear those either.  Damn you Christmas.  You make me give my preshusses away!

Although 'tis true you've already seen a couple of my efforts - the LazyKaty I made for my Mum aka Amethyst and Old Copper, and the PaintedElly aka Malachite and Moss I made for my little sister, but there is more. 

I know.  I admit to the addiction.  Now that I can look back and see my madness.

Preshuss no. 3:  Sapphire and Sky.  Another Birgit Freyer design, this one is SilkyGarden and was made for one of my oldest friends who was in need of some hugs, so I made her a hug in shawl form for her Christmas.

zitron 'filigran' laceweight yarn in colourway 14 1605 - 

a pretty yarn that slowly goes from a pale to a navy blue and back again

Preshuss no. 4: Lavender and Quartz. Another LazyKaty, because really, it's ridiculously easy and not very time-consuming to make up this little gem.  This one, although I do say otherwise in the title of this post, is currently adorning my neckage area.  Hell, it's cold, and there it was, just lying on the table waiting to be put to good use.  Yes, yes, it does have another  eventual destination, but for the time being I'm quite happy to let it warm my cold shoulders.

 

lang yarns 'jawoll magic degradé' in colourway 86.0046 (greys and purples)

Preshuss no.5: The Sock!  A Twist For Sis socks, to be precise. Another of my own 'Twist of Citrus' pattern - easy to make and absolutely perfect for fast colour-change or self-striping sock yarn. Mmm-mmm!

lang yarns 'jawoll magic degradé' in colourway 85.0025 (blues)

But now it's time to concentrate on some preshusses for myself... oh... wait.  No, now I'm in the middle of a long scarf for my best buddy, and I'm working on a pair of socks for another friend.  But the good news is that I have several boozy and costume sock ideas fermenting in my brain...  There should be a good mix of cool and even more cool this year, I'm a-thinking.

Watch this space...