:Kalliope Lane

Look at this luscious Manos scarf:

Isn’t it so gorgeous you want to eat it?

No? Well then, it’s just me.

It’s My So Called Scarf , obviously. You can also see my new Knitpicks Options needles. I got the set! I had started this scarf with my Denise needles, and then switched to try the new ones out. I do love how the yarn slides on the metal needles. One thing I noticed, though, is that using the Options for a thin straight project like this is markedly different than using the Denises for the same thing. Because the Options needle is so flexible and the needles slightly heavier, they flop around (and clink) a lot more when I’m just moving the project around but am not knitting, such as when I’m stuffing it in my bag or getting it out. I’ve taken to sticking the needles in the coil of the finished portion of the scarf when I put it away.

On the other hand, I just cast on for Fetching using the Options for the magic loop, and I love that the cables are flexible enough to do that. I’m also thoroughly enjoying using the 32″ #1 Classics for magic loop sock knitting. The sharp points and cable are fantastic. I would rather have a 40″ to have a bit more room for knitting two socks at once, so I hope they make them, but it’s definitely do-able.

Heels will be the death of me.

So when I started this new pair of Badcaul socks, I went down a needle size because my first pair were a bit loose on size 2’s. I’ve been very happy with the snug fit this time around and was happily proceeding to the heel. I put in my first Sherman heel and realized that there was no way that it would comfortably and attractively rejoin in the round over my somewhat high instep. So on sock #2 I am trying the Eclectic Heel. It seems easy enough, but things are complicated by the fact that I’m knitting both socks on one magic loop, so I really can’t rearrange stitches very easily once I pick up gusset stitches.

For the moment, I have the stitches picked up after the heel on the heel needle and those picked up after the instep on the instep needle, to even out the number of stitches on the two needles. I’m not sure what this means for my gusset decreases, but we’ll see how it works out. I have to finish the other heel first before I start working rounds again. (Hmm…after searching the web I found great recommendations in the comments here, and also here[pdf].)

Thank goodness for the lifelines!

In happier news, I have a lot of new sock yarn:

Knitpicks Gloss in Cocoa, Koigu #323 (teal/grey) and #852(crazy multi-color).
I was sort of disappointed in the Cocoa color. While it’s nice, it isn’t a very sophisticated brown, if that makes any sense.

Shelridge Farms Soft Touch Heather in Loganberry (above) and Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Charcoal

Opal Unisolid, #713 (Heathered Brown)
Meilenweit Mega Boots Stretch: Softcolor 502
Lang Jawoll Superwash, #67-Dark Chocolate Brown

Manos in Granite colorway (#108) and Schaefer Anne in “Denim” (The Manos obviously isn’t for socks! It’s being used for a scarf I’m making and will post pics of soon.)
Don’t they look great together? The Anne picks up the steely blue in the Manos.

And finally:

Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Midnight Sapphire (above) and Moose Creek (below)

(I posted a pic of the Midnight Sapphire before, actually. Sorry. Repeat.)

There’s a lot of man-yarn here, with all of the soft browns and charcoals. There are dad and boyfriend socks in the near future.

This picture doesn’t show it well, but the socks I’m making my mother for Christmas are looking camo-colored. (click for larger pic)

What had seemed a very feminine, delicate colorway in the skein is seeming very brown/grey/green camoflauged in the sock. Ah well. They’re still pretty, just not in the expected way.

I’m also trying out a thing I ran across online: using Eye of Partridge stitch across the arch of the sole for a snug fit in that area.

I think I like it, from what I can tell from trying on half-socks.

You can see my little waste yarn lifeline in the socks above. I’m about to start the heel, and wanted to be on the safe side. On my first short row heel (PGR’s yarn-over method decribed by Purlwise and Alison) I had to rip it out because of holes, and I don’t ever want to do that without a lifeline again. I eventually used the Sherman short row heel (handy row-by-row instructions here; see also: knit and purl encroachments), which I did once before and it turned out great. I’ll be using it again on these.

I’ve got to get back to writing a paper, unfortunately. But I’ll be posting pics of a bunch of new sock yarn in the next day or so, though. I think I have a few pairs of Christmas socks to knit…

I never mentioned it here, but I had a knitting tragedy back in March or April. I had finished my first Badcaul sock (see the beginnings here) and was working on the second while on a plane traveling to Seattle. In order to compare the foot length and pattern repeats, I took out my first lovely finished sock. Can you see where this is going?

Yes, friends, I left sock #1 on the plane! I was so heartbroken that I pretty much completely stalled out on knitting. I never could bring myself to finish sock #2 or think about starting sock #3 (I was able to get another skein from the same dyelot). I bought a lot of yarn in Seattle on that trip, but never used any of it. Summer came and with it heat and soon knitting was far from my mind…

Then we had our fall party for the department. One of the new grad students knits and we got to talking and suddenly I missed it! I went home and cast on for My So-Called Scarf with some delicious Manos in the Granite colorway (as seen knitted by someone else here).

I’ve also restarted the Badcaul Socks, but this time for my mom in a lighter Koigu colorway (pics to come). AND I decided that from now on I’m going to knit both my socks at the same time on the magic loop. It’s fantastic (although the two balls of yarn are sort of annoying.) I got myself some Knitpicks circulars and I’m in love. Pictures and details soon.

I finally made the fabulous Fauxstess Cupcakes from Vegan with a Vengeance! Since I love reading the kitchen chronicles of others, I took lots of pictures so I could write this up in proper fashion.

It seems I need to always cook my cupcakes a little longer than Isa’s recipes say (the oven thermometer I have says my oven’s 350 is 350, but apparently they’re both off). My first batch was sticky and a little underdone. I used rice milk, and the batter had been very thin.

So I made a second batch the next day, which worked out well since the frosting recipes make enough for at least two batches. My second batch had great texture. I used half soy milk, half rice milk, and this time it even frothed up when I mixed it with the mixer. I added an extra heaping tablespoon of flour, and this time the batter was much more how I thought it should be (and more like the batter on the PPK episode I saw).

Here they are unfrosted, both dark & shiny from the flash,

and slightly out of focus without:

Ah, the frosting. Frosting and I don’t get along.

The first night, I used Earth Balance sticks, Spectrum shortening, and sugar that I THOUGHT was superfine/caster, but it wasn’t. It remained a soupy, melty, gritty glob that wouldn’t get fluffy. I made another batch and fixed the sugar problem, but I still got no fluff, no aeration, no nothing. By then it was late and I thought the heat may have been affecting the outcome, so I called it a night.

The next day I made the second batch of cupcakes and tried the frosting again. This time I gave up on the Spectrum shortening and used Crisco instead, with EB sticks and superfine sugar. I finally got fluffy frosting, but the grit of the sugar never went away. It still tasted good. Just gritty. Next time I’m going to try it with powdered sugar instead.

Filling the cupcakes was super easy. I got a cheap decorating starter kit from Jo-Ann’s and had fun piping in the fluff. I used the microwave technique for the ganache, and it worked just fine.

Here they are, just having been dipped:

After setting in the fridge:

I had a hard time finding the right consistentcy for the decorative frosting, but they turned out quite pretty:

See how pretty they are? Well, it’s too bad they didn’t stay that way.

After a day or two, the curliecues seemed to get absorbed into the ganache frosting, and all that was left were ghosts of the little curlies. Weird.

Maybe it was my chocolate, which was rather soft. Maybe I needed a stiffer white frosting. Who knows. I’ll experiment next time…

The final verdict was that they were DELICIOUS, and really not that hard to make. Much easier than all of the steps imply. My parents were over for dinner and really enjoyed them and got a kick out of the name. My mom, not knowing what they were called, initially said, “they’re like the cupcakes you used to take in your lunches.”

We determined they tasted best and had the best texture when at room temperature, so we’d take them out of the fridge 10-15 minutes before we wanted to eat them.

I actually made these at the beginning of June, and just took this long to get the post up. I’ve since made the Coconut Heaven cupcakes too, which were a huge hit (although I had some frosting issues with those, also).

Isa is a genius! Buy the book! Make the cupcakes!

Here is my pretty little Badcaul sock toe:

More cable detail:

For what it’s worth, I think the color is more accurate in this one:

I’m going a bit crazy reading about short row techniques.  I just ripped back to do the heel over again to see if I can completely avoid holes.  I’m either going to try Priscilla Gibson-Roberts’ yarn over technique as shown by Alison, Purlwise, and in Michelle’s Basic Socks; or I may try the wrap technique again, but use Ashley’s method of picking up the wraps; or I might try the strange knit and purl encroachment technique described at HipKnitism, avoiding wraps and yarn overs all together.  Or heck, maybe even the Japanese Short Row (lovely tutorial at NonaKnits).  I’ll let you know how it goes.  I’m off to have short row adventures…

I’ve been out of town for a few days. We were visiting Bloomington because Tom was offered a position there and we were checking it out to see if we liked the town. And we did. I never thought I’d be so charmed by a small college town, but I really adored it. Bloomington proper is only around 60,000 people (not counting the 30,000 or so college students each year), so it’s definitely small. But it has a yarn store!

So on to the knitting: I finished by Jaywalkers, and I have to say they’re not the biggest success for me. The feet and ankles are quite loose, but I wouldn’t have been able to wear the smaller size on my legs. And the socks are DRAMATICALLY different. But that’s partly my fault. On the first sock (right foot) I picked up four extra stitches (not five as I posted previously) along the gusset, and on the second sock (left foot) I only did three. But that doesn’t totally explain the differences — the left foot is noticably darker, with much less light purple striping in. Strange. But I still like them, and they’re warm. It’s just a shame they don’t fit me better, since I enjoyed knitting them so much!

I’m now working on a pair of Badcaul socks in dark but bright red/magenta variegated Koigu PPPM. It’s my first experience with Koigu, and I have to say I’m loving it for the most part. It’s thicker and much sproingier than the Lorna’s Laces (not that I didn’t like the LL), and the socks are very cushy. I was surprised, however, by the quality of the spinning. Some places are VERY loosely spun, and in several spots I had to felt the yarn a bit because it seemed like poorly done joins (I don’t know anything about spinning [yet] so I don’t know the correct terminology). Since the Koigu is so sought after and is relatively expensive, I didn’t expect this. I’ve only rolled one of the skeins so I’m not sure if both are that way.

But the color is gorgeous. The second picture is a little fuzzy, but the true color is somewhere between the two so I put both up. The colorway is either 859 or 829 (I’ll have to check later).

I’ll have a picture of the sock progress soon. I got just past the heel and I noticed holes when I tried them on. I might rip out the entire heel and try yarn-over short rows instead of wrapping. But I’m in LOVE with the sock and the pretty little cables! I’m so proud of them! And the Turkish cast-on is brilliant. Tom thinks I’m crazy because I got so excited over it. (But he agrees that my kitchener stitch toes look all wonky.)

Other new things: Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Midnight Sapphire:

Queensland Kathmandu Aran, maybe for a hat. (It’s pretty much Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed, and this page actually says it’s the same fiber and manufacturer. My LYS had it for 6.75 instead of 9.25 for the Jo Sharp.)

And last, but not least, I got two balls of Jaeger Matchmaker Merino Aran. For wristwarmers?

So I didn’t get my Jaywalkers done in time for the knitalong — ah well. I came to it late. But I’m trying to hurry it up, because I bought myself lots of goodies that I want to knit with: Koigu for socks in a deep magenta variegated colorway (826?), Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Midnight Sapphire (discontinued colorway, very dark), Jaeger Matchmaker Merino (DK?) in a charcoal color for wristwarmers, and some Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran tweed for a hat maybe. I’ve also been playing with some Rowan Felted Tweed for a Shedir hat, but I’m not sure about it.

Pictures of the haul to come!

And I now have Addi Turbos in sizes 0-3, 40″. Bearfoot and Koigu, here I come! I’m tackling the turkish cast-on for two socks at once, toe-up, next. I bought Amelia’s Badcaul pattern, and think I might try that one first with the magenta Koigu. And I may sign up for the Red Hot Sizzling Socks KAL, since I have all the way until July 4th. I’m bound to finish by then!

I’ve been using an online tool for the past several months that is a fantastic handy thing: PBwiki.com

It’s a free online wiki that you have set as private or public. What’s a wiki? It’s kind of like creating your own web of links, your own little website, that you can use to organize all sorts of things and information. You don’t need to know HTML to edit or add to it, so it’s super easy.

I’ve used mine to make Christmas present idea lists, remind myself of important dates during the semester, dates Tom will be away on interview trips, paste quotes I liked, list book recommedations, list links I don’t want to get lost in my hundreds of browser favorites, etc. It’s been great for my knitting hobby because I’ve listed links to various online patterns that I eventually want to knit (along with links to pictures of the finished objects), as well as a list of patterns in particular pattern books so I can figure out which Rowan or Rebecca would be worth buying someday. Basically, you can use PBwiki for anything you might need it for. It’s invaluable to me while I’m at work: I have access to the internet, and write myself notes there all the time.

They have a tour, or you can just check it out directly:

(They say setting up a pb wiki is as easy as making a peanut butter sandwich, hence the cute logo.)