Sock Madness 20 begins

I always seem to post about qualifying for Sock Madness (look for it on Ravelry - Ravelry is the name of the website for knitters). This year is the same.

Here are the Qualifying round socks, called Newspaper socks.

Nice pattern with a few interesting touches. Textured heels and the vertical strip is duplicate stitch.

I used Nundle sock yarn, which is lovely to knit with, in colours I bought last year.

 Unfortunately, after submitting and being approved on Thursday morning, I tripped and fell hurting my wrist. Drove to Benalla and then on to lunch at Jones Winery in Rutherglen (excellent), I spent the rest of the day in Wodonga hospital Emergency department. There they x-rayed me, confirming I had a broken wrist, put my arm in plaster and followed up with an x-ray in the morning. I went to the concert we were staying in Albury for, Red Hot Summer 2026, headliner Paul Kelly (Great concert at Gateway Lakeside in Wodonga), and travelled home on Sunday.

There's more in store: x-rays and visits to Monash /Orthopaedic clinic for the next 6 weeks, if all goes well!

To continue in Sock Madness I'm going to have to figure out how to make a makeshift knitting belt. I think I need something that will hold both needles as it is my left hand out of action and I'm a continental knitter.

The first round sock has released the specs and it's the bead sock. The beads don't worry me, i can thread them one-handed, but can I knit??

First cap off the rank - or should I say 'First finished object' for the year

 I finally finished my husband's jumper that I had been promising for quite a while, he kept slipping down the list as I knit jumpers for my sons and now for my grandson. Finally, he made it to the top of the list. Not that he doesn't have any handknit jumpers by me, I have done a number over the years.

I finally found a jumper I was happy with and he seemed to like. He did ask for a jumper with a zip, but I managed to dissuade him of that. From one of my books 'Vogue Men's Knits' by Christina Probert. They are re-imaginings of earlier Vogue Knitting patterns, published in 1985. 

The pattern I selected was from 1934, the Knitted Shirt-style sweater. Unfortunately, it had a picture of the current version, but not the 1934 original, which many of the other sweaters did have.

I selected Bendigo Woollen Mills 5ply Classic in the colour Broadleaf. This did mean that I needed to swatch and recalculate the pattern. The switch from 30sts to 10cm to 26sts to 10cm didn't prove too problematic and I managed to get the fit fairly correct and the finish to his specifications.

The pattern itself showed a slightly fancy rib, but I found the inside much more interesting. I kept going and finally got to the collar, which I decided to knit directly onto the sewn up jumper. Somewhere in that process I had a brain fade and decided that the inside was the right side and pulled the jumper apart and re-sewed it up again, only to get to the collar again to discover that the old right side was the correct right side!

I did like the new reversed jumper and decided to do the collar correctly to give a nice contrast. Found some wooden buttons in my stash, and, voila....it's finished.

 still have to steam the jumper, but as it's 37℃ top today, I'll leave it for another day.

My latest exhibition - SHELTER

 Yes, I got talked into doing another solo show at the Yarra Sculpture Gallery in Collingwood. 

I decided to make new work that involved ceramics, which were loosely inspired by Castles.

                                                                              Tower

Castle

Then I accidently made a two new works which seemed to reprise my work on nests and add to the Castles theme.

Nestled and Connected

Fortress

Then I added in some old nest inspired works that I manage to tweek a little bit.

Safe

Secure

I included two big works which also worked on the birds nests theme.

\

High Rise Development

Nesting

And, finally, I decided to include the two Covid works, one of which hadn't been shown anywhere.

Global

Lockdown

The opening was on Sunday the 8th and the exhibition continues to the 29th June. The reception has been great with plenty of interest and good comments.

Recycled Cotton yarn

 i purchased some DMC Nova Vita recycled cotton yarn from Woolybutt. It was a bit expensive, can't quite remember how much. I've decided to just knit some dishcloths with it as it feels quite strong and textured. A good combination for dishcloths as mine are showing severe signs of wear. That I've had my dishcloths for many years doesn't make me feel bad about replacing them. However, this yarn also includes 20% polyester and I'm not sure that the repercussions that might arise (ie. micro plastics) from using it as a dishcloth, makes me feel that this is a one-off attempt.

I am looking at recycling my pure cotton worn out dishcloths, but it's not going well so far, as I seem unable to unpull the yarn in sufficient lengths and I can't seem to find a way of shredding them. Another project.

Anyway, some new dishcloths for me.

PS Woolybutt is looking so good under new management.

Fibre and Clay

 Many years ago I had a joint exhibition at Bolin Bolin garden centre in their gallery and shared the space with a ceramicist. It was a great exhibition in a lovely space.

I've always wanted to combine textiles and ceramics and finally managed to find lessons in the right place and the right time. (Though I did have to give up Yoga for four weeks!) It was at Clay and Co in Cowes on Phillip Island. It was a course that did both an introduction to wheel-throwing and hand-building. Alot of fun and I learnt alot, though, as usual, you find out how much more you have to learn.

Wheel throwing was fun and I managed to produce some pieces, but it reinforced my idea that this is not what I wanted to do.

Hand building had been beckoning ever since I read an article in the British magazines 'Crafts' . The potter being interviewed was a hand builder and liked to do it because you were able to get more texture into the work. This spoke to me as how I would like to work and the class confirmed it.

These are little pinch pots that are just clear glazed, but they do show off the different clays that were available. I like the idea of using different clays to get different effects, rather than using glazes. It feels more organic. 

My first piece out of that class worked well but wasn't exactly as I had envisioned. 

I decided to work with it and continue my idea. Adding Weave-it loom fabrics attached with wire, I made it into a 'Tower'.

I'm very happy with it and long to get onto the next work. I should manage this Thursday, but I've been saying that for weeks....no clay, no clay delivery, space closed...it all adds up. Can't wait.

SM19 Sock Madness .... again

 

This year I seem to be free of any impediment to my competing in Sock Madness 19. Last year, I was busy with the solo exhibition, which seemed to eat up my time. It will be interesting to see how it goes.

The Warm up socks for this year are the Gansey Adventure Socks. I just picked out some stash yarn to knit with. It wasn't a particulary successful choice, but they are well fitting and a fun colour. What was really interesting about these socks was that many people converted them to fairisle or a mix of fairisle and the original gansey stitches, It was very effective.

The qualifying sock, Conjoined Sock twins, owed it's name to the construction method. A fairly simple looking cable and rib sock turned out to be something a bit more interesting. You started at the toe, knit up, then after a couple of rows of stocking stitch, knit the second sock down, then divided the sock and cast off afterwards.

Before splitting the socks, they looked like this:

And afterwards, like this:

Despite being a fairly simple, but effective pair of socks, they did hold some interest. Obviously, the construction method was novel, but also:

    -  Interesting how a little 1x1 twist in the centre of the cables has such impact

    - Nice to revisit the Judy's Magic Loop cast-on

    - Nice to try Judy’s surprisingly stretchy cast-off

Had to adjust enough of my thinking to do the top down after the top up, how did the designer do it?

Reprise the Spiral Socks

 A couple of Christmases ago, I made spiral socks for all the very grown up 'kids' in my family and close friends. Spiral socks were one of the first things I made out of my handspun yarn and I still have them as they were originally intended, bed socks.

I used the book 'Joy of Socks' which is now a bit battered after damp issues in my previous studio, AKA garage. Pages have stuck together and I'm reluctant to try the steaming method to prise them apart. Fortunately, the spiral socks were fine.

My youngest son requested another pair as he works from home and wears them about the house. I'm happy to oblige. I picked out some handspun yarn, including the more hard wearing gotland which I put on the heels and toes. 

I hope he's happy with the result.