Into the Woods

Recently, a certain young man of my acquaintance had a rather important birthday, and I wanted to give him a gift that would be special and lasting. I love it so much I was tempted to keep it (but of course I didn't)! I'm looking forward to playing with it though, with the little dude.

(picture heavy post follows)

This is the Play Forest Island (enchanted, isn't it?) with all its magical inhabitants:



As you can see, there is a hollow tree stump, where a fox and a chipmunk live...





and a sacred hill with its magic tree, and bubbling spring...



and sometimes the chipmunk lives in this little old tree stump, near his friend the deer, who lives on the hill...



while down in the meadow, a fluffy sheep grazes beside the stream where Paddle Wagtail the white goose lives...



I would say this is a pretty idyllic little play forest, just waiting for adventures and fantasies to be imagined.

This happy dream brought to you by Eves Little Earthlings. Everything is handmade from re-purposed wool items or hand knitted and embroidered and embellished.

I have a point here...

A couple of months ago, when I got a little extra boost to my finances from teaching two 8-week courses at the same time, I rewarded myself with something I'd been coveting obsessing over thinking about for a long time.

Signature Needles!

They came in a nice little grey nylon drawstring bag, and I bought a set of the plastic tubes for storage. I intend to treat these like the specialty art tools that they are!



I got the size that I use most often in DPNs - 1.5 or 2.50 mm and I got them 5" long (options are 4", 5" or 6" for the DPNs). Signature needles come in both straight needles and circulars (in limited sizes right now) but a lot of my tiny knitting is for socks or other small circular knitting so it was DPNs for me. That's where I thought the advertised "stiletto" points would do my knitting the most good. Signature needles come in a three different points - stiletto is the sharpest. If the circulars were made in small sizes I would have gotten a circular, but the smallest at the moment for a circular is a US 5, so I'm waiting. At $45 - $55 for a set of DPNs, I had to choose carefully.



Before I got my own set, I imagined that the stiletto points would be as sharp as sewing needles and that I would be constantly piercing my fingertips as I knit. They are nicely pointed, but they aren't sharp like that.



I found that they were easy to use with tiny stitches and splitty yarn. I used them with my recent summer socks, below. The shaft of the needles is a beautiful colourful metal (is it aluminum?) that is not so slick that the stitches slip off easily when I don't want them to; in fact the shaft of the needle seems to grip the stitches, while the point allows stitches to slide from needle to needle while knitting. This is not the case with other metal DPNs that I have!

In comparison with some of my other favorite needles, all size 1.5, the Signatures are certainly the best for very close or tiny work.

(sorry I couldn't get this picture any sharper)


Starting on the left of this photo are the Pryms - they are matte metal and grip stitches nicely but the points are actually blunt. I never use them with splitty yarn for this reason.

The next pair is my very lovely Darn Pretty Needles from Grafton Fibers. I really love these needles! They are hardwood, very durable and beautiful, and they are also made with a variety of points. I have the sharps, and can use them for pretty much all knitting, even very fine knitting. Because they are wood, they grip the stitches so that nothing slips off. Also because they are wood, the tips do become less pointed over time (it takes a long time but it does happen). The makers told me that I can sharpen again by sanding with a business card and this works fine. They are a wonderful tool. You can see that the sharp points are not as sharp as the Signature Stilettos.



Next in the photo is the Signature Stiletto needle. Note the looonnnng slope of the point. This is unique and, I believe, what gives these needles their ability to slip under the tightest stitches and the finest yarn. They definitely have the finest point of my collection.

The final pair is my KnitPicks metal DPN. I have the wooden ones too, but since they are similar to the Grafton Fibers needles as far as point, just not the same quality, I didn't put them in the comparison photo. The metal KnitPicks, as you can see, is almost as pointy as the Signature needle. You can also see that the tip doesn't have the same long slope. And because the point and shaft of the KnitPicks needles is made all in one with the same metal and the same slick polish, I have a lot of trouble with my stitches slipping off the KP needles when I don't want them to.

So there you have it! Was it worth the money? definitely! But the price will prohibit me from having a whole collection, sadly. I do very much want to get a couple of the circulars when they come in size 2 and 4 and will save up my pennies for that time!

A Big Pile-O-Knits

I'm home from my travels and I have a big pile of knits to show for it.



The first one up is the Brat Sister Hat in Swan Island worsted, Robin's Egg Blue...



The second completed is my pair of Kaibashira socks, made from Tofutsies yarn. They came out so cute and fit perfectly.





The next project finished was the Fish Socks (my design). I love these! They're made from Crystal Palace Panda Silk and are so soft. They hold my feet like a foot massage!





Aftre that I completed the Puck's Scarf in Quince & Co. Osprey yarn in Honey and the Kelpie Helmet in Quince & Co. Puffin (same colourway):



The Pucks scarf is super long and wraps around my neck twice and still hangs down on both sides:



and the Kelpie hat is very cute on! I tried to take a picture of myself in the mirror, but my iphone camera is just not sharp enough for a reflected image...



and - finally - I knit yarns and yards of this beautiful cashmere sock yarn (from SockcandybyMelissa.etsy.com) and finished a Balaclava for myself!



Do you think I'll be warm enough this winter???

Oh... I also brought home a little head cold. Does that count as a souvenir? Eh, I don't think so. My favorite healing tactic - lying on the couch watching Mapp & Lucia videos on my laptop and knitting. Works every time.

Sanddollar Hat

...and speaking of sand dollars, one of my favorite seashells...



I am drifting along on the waves of a new pattern: The Brat Sister hat by Grace Akhrem, using Swan Island Worsted in Robin's Egg Blue. As you can see, the design on the hat top makes a perfect sand dollar!



This pattern using size 3 needles, so it's not ideal for worsted weight, but the Swan's Island is a fairly light worsted and its working well. My winters are spent in a state with rather brutal snow storms (hard to imagine in this 90 degree F weather!), so I wanted a hat with more heft than the original fingering weight version yielded.

I got my copy at The Loopy Ewe, but it's available at a variety of online shops. I found the cast on and first 3 or 4 rows to be a bit challenging - sort of like juggling porcupines when the first 5 stitches on size 3 DPNs needed to be joined and then increased in each stitch. After that is was super easy and fast, fast, fast!

I hope that when I'm in the midst of ice and snow this winter, I'll remember my idyllic days by this oceans this summer.