Häschen hüpf!*

*lit. "Bunny hop!"


I finished a pair of Socks. I used one of the Black Bunny Fiber yarns from Carol, the colourway is called "Dreamy".

I call them "Dream Twister". No, I don't, I just made that up.

I also made up the pattern. Very "bäuerlich" (inspired by "Bäuerliches Stricken" by Lisl Fanderl) and not complicated just a bit fussy. All the knit stitches are knit into the back loop, even when twisted. There is stitch twisting going on on every row, so if you want to knit anything like it, prepare yourself.

Let me know if you would want to knit these particular twisted stitches, I might be able to help...



Thanks, dear commenters, for the tips on statistics! I investigated thoroughly *clears throat* and statcounter seemed the obvious choice - good call, Michelle!. Free (sitemeter is not) and uncomplicated (yes, I think I know what a feed is, but hey, I might be wrong, so no feedburner for me at the moment).

Statistics, anyone?

A while ago I signed up with webstat.net to get the opportunity to spy on the people who visit my blog. There, I openly admit that. It was fun for a while and then it just quit working. I have no idea why. I "restarted" the counter - it worked for a couple of hours, then stopped again. I don't understand, since I haven't changed anything. (Maybe it's just because I am cheap and don't want to pay for this, so I am getting punished.)

Well, the counter is still counting hits, but I can't get the information I was after! Like, who is ending up with funny google searches (uhm, wasn't that funny, actually, most of them said "embossed leaves socks" or something similar, but that's NOT the point). Now I've opened a new account, let's see what happens.

Should it stop again, or even right now, is anyone out there who would be able to help me out? Have some magic tricks I could apply? I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

Incidentally

I had started something lacy before I got the splendiferous new laceweight from Carol. I cast on for the Kimono Shawl in Folk Shawls. I chose it because it's a rectangle and I wanted a rectangle. It only dawned on my later that I was using Japanese yarn to knit a "Japanese" pattern. Oy.


The yarn is "Szack" from Ami Ami. It's a two ply. The singles range in colour from light pink over a deep red to orange, so one gets very neat subtle variations when knitting it up.

A couple of things

It's Thursday. I wish that I could have skipped to Friday, or better, Saturday right away instead of Thursday.

I am wearing alpaca in mid-May and am not breaking a sweat. I knew it would come in handy when I knit it, but May 17th seems a bit excessive.

I am swatching and not liking what I am doing. Must be Thursday.

Forget Unzip me not

Somehow there are posts about how to do a provisional (or invisible) cast-on popping up all over. They are all beautifully done, with lotsa pictures to explain and great results. With a crochet hook.

While I am all for using clever knitting techniques, in my opinion using a hook is unecessary hassle. And a lot of people have apparently trouble with the "easy" unraveling of the crochet cast-on; I am not ashamed to admit that I had a problem, too, when I tried it. I'd never go as far as unraveling a normal long-tail cast-on as sometimes proposed. Instead I do the lazy woman's (Alison is right. I had to correct it.) version with waste yarn and without the hook. Works just great.

Advance notice: anyone who visits this blog more often will know of my love-hate relationship with my camera. What can I say, the pictures are not as sharp as I would have wanted to. Sorry about that.


Lazy man's provisional cast-on

You'll need a piece of waste yarn, preferably but not necessarily the same gauge as the actual knitting yarn.

Make a slip knot using both yarns and slide it onto a needle.


Step 1: Hold the yarn as for the long-tail cast-on, with the waste yarn on top. Bring the needle to the front, bringing tip of needle underneath both strands. With lower strand make first loop on needle.




Step 2: Then bring needle from the back before upper (brown) and under lower strand (white)of yarn, pull up to make second loop.




Repeat Step 1 and 2 until you have required amount of stitches.

Turn needle and start knitting.




After knitting the last stitch, just slide slip knot off the needle and leave it. Knit on.





When all the knitting you want to do is done, it's time to get the live stitches off the waste yarn. There will be always one less than cast-on. Undo slip-knot. Insert needle into stitches one by one.







Pull out the waste-yarn. This is where we come to the one little draw-back of this method which can be easily remedied. If you look closely you will realize that every second stitch is mounted the wrong way. By knitting into the backloop of these stiches on the first row they will be adjusted.






And all this without unzipping anything but a slip-knot.

No words

I got mail today. Black Bunny Fiber mail. Last Monday in a fit of really not needed retail therapy (combined with yarn therapy) I ordered some more of Carol's much wanted hand dyed sock yarn. Three skeins. If you were one of the unlucky souls who didn't get to order some - blame it on my greed. (Rolf, if you are reading this, I have a good explanation for each one of the three skeins. Seriously.)

This is my loot.

Exciting. Splendiferous, each single one.

And then, then...it happened. There was a fourth skein. One I didn't order but knew about because Carol told me of it. Actually, she said "Hee-hee, I just finished dyeing a laceweight for you. I'll pop it in with your sock yarn." That's what I call a serious yarn teaser. I had no idea what to expect. I took it out of the envelope. I stared at it. I read the label, my jaw dropped, my eyes glazed over, I started breathing heavily and, for one of the rare occasions in my life, I was speechless. And screeching inside. (If I had screeched as I wanted to, my husband would have died of a heart attack.) I think you could call this "la petite mort de laine" - a yarn orgasm indeed.

I was of the opinion that the "Upper Voltage" colourway was as good as it gets a combination - it is in its own way. But, but - again, speechless - look at this!


I-know-it-doesn't-look-it-even-though-I-have-fotographed-it-in-natural-light-and-took-a-lot-of-pictures-to-catch-the-colours-just-right-but-I-do-solemnly-swear-that-Carol-managed-to-get-them-JUST-RIGHT-and-the-yarn-really-looks-just-like-my-sofa.

Excuse me while I catch my breath. That's not all.


How cool is that???

Carol, thank you so much - this laceweight is very special to me and I treasure every yard!!