socherryknits

I have to think of more imaginative titles for my posts... OK: 'I heart Yarn, I heart Yarn Magazines, and I heart knitting' will be the title of this post. I had a lovely Stitch n Bitch meet yesterday. One of the members brought in a magazine called "Knit n Style". It contained an article called 'Mindless Knitting' about using knitting as a form of meditation. Now I've long been telling my doctor that knitting is a form of stress-relief for me. Whilst she agrees to an extent, she argues that yoga or meditation would be more effective as knitting is still engaging my mind and hands. Therefore it is not allowing me a total 'relaxation' - which I clearly need as I am 'highly-strung' to say the least! I believe that knitting can induce a meditating effect - once I get into it I can start to drift and become lost in a zen-like state brought about by the repetitive action of knitting. However, I never really thought about the projects I knit. Un...

I received my copy of Yarn Forward this week. The good: Good articles and the best idea for a needle holder that I've seen - sew a strip of rufflette from a curtain to the inside of the fabric and pop the needles in there! Genius! They give 3 yarn substitutes for each pattern "Cheap and Cheerful (under £5 per 100g)", "Mid-range (bet. £5-£10 per 100g)" and "Spoil Yourself (over £10 per 100g)" which is a fantastic idea! Some interesting patterns, although nothing that took my fancy at the moment. I'm having a down-sock time but I think that the sock patterns could appeal later. The down points were a bad choice of typeface and layout which could impact negatively on anyone with visual difficulties and also some image issues. There were many photos of the patterns from all angles, which is exactly what us knitters need! However many of the photos were stretched and looked odd, making it difficult to see the pattern in some cases. The shiny paper cho...

I had a lovely knitty day today! I got the wristwarmers above from K1 Yarns' charity stall at the Miso Funky market . An absolute bargain at £5 - I love them! The proceeds went to Childline. I also made some decent progress on Under the Hoodie (from the Stitch n Bitch book), getting up to the neck shaping and beyond. And I managed to score some Angora yarn from the K1 Yarns stall - 7 skeins for £3.50!! Wooooo! I placed an order with Lilith for one of her fabby hat kits - ice'y/winter blue merino and grey undyed and snowflake charms. I can't wait, and will blog it once it is done. Great day! Am floating on a knitty cloud :)

Just a quick post to say that I will be selling in Hillhead Library, Byres Road, Glasgow tomorrow (Sat 21st Oct) from 10am - 4pm. As well as my iPod cosies, stitch markers and jewellery there will also be Lilith's debut: handspun, hand-dyed hat kits which are utterly divine! On sale at my stall. And also, for knitters; K1 Yarns has a charity stall including mittens and other wintery goodness, knitted by Glasgow knitters for Childline - help a charity and buy lots! There is also a stash swap, during which time I will be abandoning my stall to dive through! See you tomorrow!!

It's been a wee while since I last blogged ... The start of semester really takes it out of me, especially this year due to a temporary promotion to desk supervisor. I'm getting migraines more frequently and falling asleep on the couch at frankly ridiculously early times! I've also been busy seeing a friend from Melbourne (originally Glasgow) and learning Japanese in preparation for next years Japanese yarn/craft fest holiday... Above is Hot Fudge Sundae from Cupcakes Galore - it has ice cream on top and home-made hot fudge sundae sauce dribbling down it - mmm! It was a fairly easy recipe this time [no more stir in bowl over boiling pan of water nonsense!] with an unusual addition of crushed salted peanuts. The boy likes these - I think it would taste better without any nuts. But, unlike with knitting, I fear deviating from the recipe even a tiny bit as I am still very much in novice stages. Below [sticking firmly to the pattern] is my progress on Under the Hoodie from S...

WIPs here, WIPs there. A row here, a row there. Everything's plodding on - nothing's reached a blogworthy stage at the moment. Instead I'm posting about a t-shirt that the brilliant boy has designed - see below - tis fabulous isn't it? He designed it for a site called Threadless which is like a giant t-shirt competition that anyone can submit designs for. People vote and, based on this, some tshirts get printed up by Threadless and sold from the site. So if you would like to see the boy's design being printed by Threadless then please join and vote! It has to get quite a high score in the first 24 hours to remain up for the full seven days, so if you like it spread the word amongst knitters :) [To vote click the box below] I would love for the boy to get the recognition for this excellent design - plus I really want one! I thought about doing it with the iron-on transfer sheet thingys but I'd much prefer a professional printed tee.

I spent the Holiday Monday dyeing some yarn that I've meaning to do for ages with Kool-Aid , for the Urban Mittens - so I decided why not take pics of my progress and do a tutorial-type post. By the way Kool-aid isn't available in the UK [probably due to all the mean chemicals] but if you have an American friend they should be able to send you some. (Also - this tute is in 4 posts as Blogger would never let me upload so many pics into one post - plus they would be out of order) 1. The yarn - I'm using Jaeger Matchmaker Merino Aran in Cream. It's a discontinued yarn, but any animal-based yarn will dye. Acrylic won't dye, but acrylic-blends might produce some interesting results ... I found that merino makes a much more vibrant 'glossy' yarn - Coarser 100% wool tends to make a more matt result. 2. Prepping the yarn - I halved the balls into 25g each - the microwave is better for smaller batches of dyeing. I used a bookshelf to wrap the yarn around and left t...

3. Preparing the Kool-Aid - some websites are very exact about this, but honestly - if you put a little too much vinegar, water, Kool-Aid etc it's still going to be OK! I put 2 Kool-Aids in a pint glass and used a smaller glass (maybe third of the size of a pint glass) to add 1/3 glass of white vinegar and 1 full glass of warm water to the pint glass. This would make vibrant 'hot' shades. If you wanted a more pastel effect I would go with 1 Kool-Aid packet to the same vinegar/water mix. If you want the same vibrancy but a lighter tone than dilute with futher water and a splash more vinegar. Some websites state there being no need for vinegar as the Kool-Aid has acid in it. As I can find no definitive answer, I figure that adding vinegar when it maybe wasn't necessary is less of a catastrophe than not adding vinegar and having the dye all run out in the first handwash as it hasn't set right... Experiment! See what happens! 4. Painting the yarn. Lay the yarn in a mocr...

Figure A Figure B Figure C So Blogger is totally not playing with the order of the pics ... 6. Out of the microwave (Figure C) - once the water is clear tip it into the sink and leave to cool whilst dyeing the next lot. Once the next lot is ready the 'sink yarn' should be cool enough to pick up and place on a plastic bag around the edge of the sink. The reason for this method is to prevent felting - all the instructions I read talked about rinsing yarn in water the same temperature as the yarn. I have taps that run cold for a bit, then go roasting, then warm ... too many temperature variations could cause felting. I decided that cooling the yarn off then rinsing it in cool/lukewarm water in a basin was the safest way to go. If you can get a consistent temperature then put the yarn in the sink and rinse by running the (same temperature as the yarn) tap water down the side of the sink and through the yarn. Don't allow the water to run directly on the yarn in case of felting...

Et Voila! "Oh I love my ball winder, my ball winder, my ball winder. Oh I love my ball winder, It is utterly great!" That's my little song cos there's not much else to say in this final post, except to look at the Kool-Aid dyed loveliness and try and resist starting another WIP until I get the current mountain of WIPs at least a little bit under control. To make me feel better - are there any readers out there who have a bigger WIP progress bar than me? Or am I utterly lacking in the ability to finish anything? I hope you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed making this little tutorial :)

Finally Blogger has let me upload some pics! Above - I took a trip to HK Edinburgh at the weekend and came out with some purple Noro Silk Garden, some more Clover stitch holders and some Addi Turbos. I think I very restrained (because I was rushing as the boy was parked on double yellows in the next street) HK Edinburgh was a really nice shop. What did it have that you can't get in K1 Yarns or Glasgow John Lewis? Well...there was lots of Lana Grossa yarns, which I was really excited about. They were mostly man-made yarns, or man-made blends which didn't interest me much, but it was nice to see something new and different. There was also some lovely Louisa Harding yarns and lots of (Lana Grossa mostly) sock yarns through in the next room. Tonnes of books and magazines that were interesting. They had some coloured aluminium needles in straights, dpns and circs which were so cool and they had made up the Rowan Tapestry scarf from this months Simply Knitting, which looked great. ...

A pretty pic taken on the way back from Inverness to Glasgow - I put my green-tinted sunglasses over the camera lense for more atmosphere [yes I was a bored passenger...] - pretty, no? Oops... I fell into K1 Yarns and stumbled over the Twilley's Freedom Spirit. Am gauging for a pair of arm-warmers. I had a nano-second of sensibility over the current mountain of WIPs and settled for only 2 balls realising that I couldn't create another heavy-duty WIP with only two balls... It's knitting up with a nice colour-change at the moment, although the yarn isn't very tightly spun so the stitches have a tendency to merge into each other as they 'spread out' over the needle. Another summit-type shot - it broke the monotony of arguing over whose iPod was better [mine obviously!] to try and take photos with a camera with dead batteries. (Take batteries out, rub vigorously in hair to create static - camera operates for a further one photo. Repeat) It's easier to win the i...

Some pics from the latest Miso Funky stall : a lovely day with lots of complements about the jewellery I had made :) Next one 21st Oct 2006, Hillhead library, Byres Road, Glasgow

This week I've been working on " Under the Hoodie " and " Central Park Hoodie " - and I've hit a bit of a snag with both .... OK - Central Park Hoodie - see my hand-drawn diagram below [click on the image to open a larger image, then click the image enlarge symbol appears in the bottom right hand corner] The pattern calls for me to "work even in pattern until the armhole measures 8 inches" So do I: a) measure from the edge of the piece (where the first cast-offs for the armholes began) 'as the crow flies' to the edge or, b) curve the measuring tape around the armhole and measure this way? My instinct is a) - am I right? The last thing I made armholes for ( Bella - still a WIP ) I just guessed... Help! And the 2nd problem : Under the Hoodie - shaping the pocket. Those who know me and were at Tuesday's Stitch n' Bitch will know how proud I was of the ability to pick up the stitches for the pocket - thanks to Kathleen's help. Tru...

My first cupcakes in a while: Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes from Cupcakes Galore by Gail Wagman . These are quite nice - but I've had better. The 'cream' bit involved constant stirring of mix in glass bowl over pan of simmering water again ... It went little better this time. Instructions were to stir/cook until mix boils. First the water evaporated ... much later [like 45 mins] ... I'm starting to lose it a little and overfill pan with more boiling water. Placing bowl in pan causes the water to rise over the pan, extinguishing the flame with loud 'hissy fit' noise. I get water level right and place pan lid over bowl to try and encourage mix to boil. Screams of "WHY WON'T YOU JUST [insert expletive here] BOIL!!!!" can be heard from a lower cottage flat in King's Park... an hour of stirring ... "You are going to [insert stronger expletive here] boil!!!" ... I angrily spoon mix out of bowl and into a pan. Turn heat up full and glare at cust...

Progress on the Under the Hoodie [from Stitch n Bitch] and Central Park Hoodie [from Knitscene - Fall 2006]. I haven't got particularly far with either this week however I will be motoring on as from tomorrow. Other news to fill the post - The Dulaan Project to which I donated some hats earlier this year has been extended to become an annual event. The blog of the organiser of the Dulaan Project [which has a post about her meeting with the Yarn Harlot ! amongst other topics] states that 12,085 items were received for the 2006 collection. 7,567 more than their goal - whoop! I love hearing when knitters give their all to their chosen charities.

G arter stitch scarf with Colinette Peach & Cream Point 5 from Woolfest - added a little pocket with the left-over yarn.

Presenting SoCherry's Fall Collection 2006! Cable-knit snug iPod cosies to keep your iPod toasty this fall, and to complement this seasons classic look - inspired by designers such as Alexander McQueen. Coming to my Etsy shop soon! Will fit iPod mini & iPod, or other similarly-sized gadgets. iPod - Rose Pink & Citrine Green / iPod mini Burgandy Wine iPod mini dimensions: height 9.1cm, width 5.1cm, thickness 1.4cm iPod Video 30GB dimensions: height 10.4cm, width 6.1cm, thickness 1.1cm. iPod Video 60GB dimensions: height 10.4cm, width 6.1cm, thickness 1.4cm. iPod Photo 20 & 30GB dimensions: height 10.4cm, width 6.1cm, thickness 1.6cm. iPod 20GB (4th gen. click wheel) dimensions: height 10.4cm, width 6.1cm, thickness 1.4cm. iPod 20GB (3rd gen.) dimensions: height 10.4cm, width 6.1cm, thickness 1.6cm. 30 degree gentle machine wash - 100% cotton. Can't wait? Email me to order with next day delivery [add one day for custom order / request colours available]

My weekend - well, I finished my tension square and had too many stitches to the inch again, however washing and blocking seemed to fix the problem. I am knitting one size up just in case. Thanks to India and Sue for their cable chart reading help. Even with India's helpful arrows added to my pattern I still managed to arse up the cables in the centre by reading the chart left to right instead of right to left. As you can see from above I did try and drop the stitches to pick them up and again and fix the cable. And I got it as well - I managed to fix the cable and start moving back up again. But the stitches were uneven and, although I figured I could probably do some tinking with a crochet hook, the whole process was so painfully slow that in the end I just frogged back to the end of the ribbing *sigh* I also bought Vogue Knitting and Knitsimple from K1 Yarns on Saturday - it's all about the cable this season so I guess I better get my chart reading up to scratch! On Frid...