L'Amour et la Morte (at long last!)

I have no idea why, but it seems like these socks just did not want to be finished. But they did -- and here they are! The pattern is up and out and ready to go.Get the pattern here on Ravelry or here on Etsy. Here are all the dirty details that you're just dying to know:

Named for a song by The Real Tuesday Weld, the L'Amour et la Morte socks feature a skull and heart motif just beneath the cuff and a heart-shaped cable that runs down the leg and foot.This is a great pattern for those times when you only want a wee bit of colourwork or when you only have a wee bit of yarn to use for it (less than half a skein of Knit Picks Gloss Sock Yarn was used in the production of an entire pair of these socks.)

The cable chart is (as always) large and colour-coded so you won’t go batty when working the pattern.Yarn requirements: 440 yard MC fingering weight yarn (2 skeins Knit Picks Gloss Sock Yarn if using,) and 100 yards (significantly less, actually) of CC yarn.

The pattern is a clear, concise, 5-page .pdf file with large charts and images. LOTS of images, I might add!

Size: Women’s Medium (or any foot/leg that is 8” in circumference.)

Gauge: 8 stitches = 1 inch (2.5 cm) in Stockinette st

Yarn: 2 skeins of Knit Picks Gloss Sock Yarn (220 y / 50 g) in Burgundy (MC) and 1 skein (a partial skein will do) of Knit Picks Gloss Sock Yarn (220 y/ 50 g) in Porcini or the equivalent amounts of any other comparable fingering weight yarns.

Needles: One set of five (5) double pointed needles in US 2 (2.75 mm) or size necessary to obtain gauge.

Notions: A stitch marker to mark beginning of round (optional,) a cable needle (also optional) and a sewing needle to weave in ends.

Skills Needed: Increasing and decreasing, knitting in the round, stranded knitting, cabling, twisted stitches, and chart reading.
Enjoy the socks! Let me know if you have any questions!

Sheep Labour

The bad news: still waiting on that sock pattern. The good news: if not today, then tomorrow morning. The other good news: there are sheeps!!I met these cute little critters this past Sunday while visiting Featherstone Estate Winery in Vineland, Ontario. They're great believers in sheep labour, which I think is a fabulous idea. An adorable, fabulous, wooly idea (don't even get me started on how much I love their use of falconry in the vineyard -- I wanted to meet Amadeus!) As for the wines, allow me to recommend their Black Sheep Riesling. I love living so close to several thriving wine regions.

Ok, back to the sock!

Handknit/spun SpillyStuffs on sale

No, there is still no new sock pattern (yet.) Just a little bit longer and there will be.

But what there are right now, are things on sale. Things on sale for 50% of my original asking price. Things like an entire pair of ready-to-wear Spilly-knit Latvian mittens, a Bertha bag and an odd skein of Spilly-spun laceweight merino. And if you're into things like my patterns, including the uber-local Willistead mittens, they're available there, too. Perhaps these are things that you might like to acquire? We shall see.

Sockpeek

With any luck, the L'Amour et la Morte sock pattern actually will be out today. Here, have a quick peek at the sock so far:Yep, it needs a heel and a foot. Once again, the pattern is charted and written and ready to go, and all I need to do is get decent pictures of the sock itself. Stay tuned.

ETA: Am rapidly losing decent light to photograph in...the socks will be out tomorrow, 16 July 2009. Just a wee extension, I promise. ~j

Socks with skulls on

It's official: after a good long while my L'amour et la Morte socks are officially back in production! This means that they'll be finished soon, which means that the pattern will be out soon. Soon,(which is a fairly funny word, if you stop to think about it,) in this case means my self-imposed deadline of Wednesday, 15 July 2009. And though I might grumble (in this case at myself, which is just plain confusing,)about having to self-impose deadlines, it's the only way I'm going to be able to knit and release all the things that I plan on knitting and releasing this summer.

Ok, enough already; on to the sock:Yep, that's a sock-in-progress, all right! Ok, maybe there's not as much progress to show as of yet (and there might be even more if I hurry up and stop blogging already,) but the good news is that the sock is on the move. I don't know if you can tell which direction I'm taking the skully little lovely in yet, but you will soon (there's that word again!) enough.

So here's hoping that this little nibble will tide you over til we next see the sock. In the meantime, have a cupcake.

New mitten -- Psychic Hearts -- is out

The pattern for Psychic Hearts is now available! The best part? It's only $3 for the rest of the summer! So if you're crazy enough to want to get a jump on winter and knit mittens in the heat (like me,) well, here you go.
Named for the Thurston Moore song of the same name, these cute colourwork mittens are a perfect introduction to the world of fine-gauge colourwork knitting. The pattern is easily memorized and worked, and is a great way to use up odd scraps of leftover fingering-yarn. Use two alternating colours or as many as you’d like to make these mittens your own!

NOTE: The pattern also includes instructions for making these as fingerless mittens.

Get it here, on Etsy or here, on Ravelry.

Here are some other things you might like to know about Psychic Hearts:

Size: Women’s Medium (or any hand that is 8” in circumference.)

Gauge: 9 stitches = 1 inch (2.5 cm) in Stockinette st.

Yarn: One ball of Knit Picks’ Palette (231yd / 50g) in each of the following colours: Doe (Main Colour -- MC,) and the following Contrast Colours (partial balls may be used since relatively little of each is required): Raspberry Heather (CA,) Masala (CB,) Bark (CD,) Golden Heather (CE,) and Tidepool Heather (CF.) Alternately, any other fingering yarn in these colours or colours of your choice may be used. A 15” piece of waste yarn of the same weight in a contrasting colour to hold the thumb stitches is also required.

Needles: One set of five (5) double pointed needles in US 1 (2.25 mm) or size necessary to obtain gauge.

Notions: A stitch marker to mark beginning of round (optional,) and a sewing needle to weave in ends.

Skills Needed: Knitting in the round, stranded knitting and chart reading.

New mittens on the move

The charts are done and the pattern is written! With any luck the Psychic Hearts mitten pattern should be released today.

All I have to do is finish the finger decreases and give it a thumb......and them steam block it and take proper pictures. Yep, almost there!

The observant will note the difference in colour between this picture and the last one. This one is a better representation of the actual mitten's colour.

Startitis at Pittsworth

We're suffering from a nasty case of Startitis over here at Pittsworth Manor these days. Look! I have proof:It's a new mitten! Well, it's a mitten knit (so far) up to the thumb, at any rate. It's a cute, quick little pattern that I've taken to calling Psychic Hearts. I think it might be safe to say that it's the first (and only) knitting pattern named for a Thurston Moore song.

Yes, I have Thurston on the brain, having just seen Sonic Youth this past Monday night. Oh, it was an amazing show! It took my right ear until Wednesday to fully recover. I haven't had that sort of painful fun at a show since I saw Spiritualized last September. I'm seriously considering wearing earplugs at concerts from now on.

In any event, I hope to polish this mitten off soon (maybe tomorrow?) and release the pattern shortly thereafter. Maybe I'll even do some kind of crazy sale on the new pattern, in celebration of those of us who love knitting our mittens, even if it is July. We'll see.

The stalled sock

Because you've been waiting so patiently for it, here's the aforementioned sock:Meet L'Amour et La Morte, (what will eventually be) my latest sock-pattern-in-the-works. It shares its name with a song by The Real Tuesday Weld, whose music I have been much taken with as of late. Keep an eye out for more pictures of the sock soon, since after this initial burst of colourwork it's going to change gears somewhat. Exciting, no?

There are mittens on the way as well, most notably the Owlmittens, which I'm hoping that you'll enjoy. These, of course, are the mitteny incarnation of my Owlsocks. Other surprises are on the way as well (as usual.)