Where to start?

The problem with not being quite so diligent as I might be in the posting department is that so much time goes by; so much knitting is done, that I don't know where to start.

Planning for KnitCamp 2010 moves on apace. If you haven't heard about it, pop on over to the website and look at all the delights that are on offer. Ravelry Weekend will take place on 13th - 14th August 2010 and I am in the process of organising a Guinness World Record attempt at "the most number of people knitting simultaneously". The present record is 256 (achieved in Australia earlier this year) - I'm sure we can do better than that!

I've been knitting socks for display in a new yarn shop to be opened shortly - it's not my shop so I don't want to jinx it but I will be working there on one day a week and also teaching some classes and holding "Knitting A & E" once a month. My only fear is that someone will arrive with a project that I can't sort out and the only solution would be frogging - sort of like DOA for knitting.

Memaid sock:



This is from Lucy Neatby's "Cool Socks, Warm Feet", knitted with Trekking on a 2mm Addi. (I don't know why it's so expensive at Amazon - it's on sale in my LYS for about ten quid.)

Here's the heel:



Knitted in garter stitch using short rows it's very easy and neat - the way it turned out two tone was completely by chance. Lucy gives two cuff options - a wavy cuff or a sideways garter stitch cuff. If you choose to make the latter, "there is no need to swatch for this cuff style". Guess which one I chose.

Second sock won't be knitted (but 'im indoors has expressed an interest, so I'll be knitting a pair for him).

The other sock I've made is the Conwy sock from Nancy Bush's "Knitting on the road: Sock Patterns for the Traveling Knitter"






It's quite a long sock and so has some very elegant calf shaping. Again, 2mm Addi but I don't know what yarn - some un-named ball of sock stuff (tt).

I've also started the second Soay aran (from the yarn grown about five miles from here). No pictures yet - the yarn is dark, the house is dark, the weather is murky. It's almost impossible to get a decent photograph.

Just because you haven't had one for a while here's the back field about an hour ago:



That's all for now - I'm off to do some knitting.

Buying Yarn

In spite of the fact that there is enough yarn in the house to start a modest shop, I just keep on buying it. I do know I'm not the only one with this problem. I try to be good - only buying for specific projects - but I just can't help myself.

This:



is a case in point. Six balls of Rowan Denim Cotton found in the "boutique" for a song. Cotton? You know what I think about cotton (the devil's work) but yet I still bought it. What is wrong with me?

I also bought 400g of Twilley's Freedom Spirit (well, that's what the label on the bag said, as you see, there are no ball bands):



Again, I have no idea why but I quite like the colours, and it's sure to come in for something.
I feel a felted bag coming on.

I got three balls of Stylecraft "Alpine" (98% wool, 2% nylon) because I want to make a scarf of some sort:



To that end I have been trawling Ravelry for free scarf patterns. I think I have it narrowed down to the Dragon Scarf, Krtek or Tree Bark. Any advice?

I told you in the last post that I have acquired three new jobs, all to do with knitting. The first is test knitting/proof-reading baby patterns for a UK-based designer. It's all very hush-hush because the garments/patterns are not yet published, so you won't suddenly be seeing a rash of baby clothes.

The second job is really most exciting. Many of you will know that Jo Watson, who organised the UK Ravelry Day in Coventry in June, is organising UK KnitCamp 2010 at Stirling University next August. Jo has offered me the grand-sounding post of "Operations Manager" and, naturally, I snapped her hand off. I am to be in charge of maintaining class lists; assigning classroom assistants and generally making sure that things run smoothly. The best bit? I'm going to be Nancy Bush's personal assistant. How cool is that?

The third job is a spin-off from the second - I'm helping to moderate the UK Knit Camp group on Ravelry (along with the lovely Pat Ashforth of Woolly Thoughts fame).

One last thing, (this is where we get to the actual knitting part) I made this:



to wear in the run-up to Remembrance Day. I had downloaded the poppy pattern from Knitonthenet (£2 donation to the Poppy Appeal) but then I found this one on the Lion Brand website (you have to register to access the pattern but it is free) and I think I prefer it. 'Im indoors took one look and said, "You can knit me one of those." There are more poppies in my future.

Catch up

Yes, she is still here and still knitting.

As some of you may know, September/October is not a great period of the year for me and I just lost my blogging mojo. Many thanks to Susanne for giving me a little nudge in the right direction.

I've been knitting DonnaRocco - a mystery KAL, mainly because it uses up an array of stash.

Here's the edging:



This uses some silk/cotton blend bought in the "boutique" (aka Charity/Thrift shop).

Then you knit a wedge shaped piece of simple faggoting, using short rows for shaping:



This is some slubby stuff (tt) bought on a cone so long ago that it is lost in the mists of time.

Then there are a few rows of stripes:



This bit used up a few different yarns.

Then it comes to the best bit (in my eyes) - the lace:



This is the state of play so far:



The original calls for another wedge shaped piece in order to make the finished item rectangular but I quite like the asymmetrical look of it now, so I might just do a few more stripes and cast off.

I've also been knitting the Every Way Wrap from the Fall IK. I'm using the cone of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino aran I got at SkipNorth earlier this year:



The garment appears very versatile and there is no shaping or sewing up of any description, so it's right up my street.

It's also nice to practise doing cables without a cable needle. I used these instructions from Grumperina. Most instructions for achieving this manoeuvre simply say to transpose the cable stitches and then knit them. These instructions explain how you can knit half of the cable stitches before you move the stitches. Clear as mud? Go and look at the pictures and all will become clear.

Anyway, we start with rows and rows (and rows) of 2 x 2 rib but once that's out of the way the excitement starts.

There's a moss stitch panel (seen here with a small portion of the dreaded ribbing):



and then there's the cable panel:



Reversible cables, too - very clever.

This is the progress to date:



Actually, I have got a little further than this now. I have completed the sixteen repeats of the cable pattern but find the wrap is not as long as I would like, so I'm working a few more repeats. Did I do a gauge swatch? What do you think?

There is other news - including three new jobs, all to do with knitting; the Knitting and Stitching show at Ally Pally; new books aplenty but it will all have to wait because now I want to go and knit.

Startitis

I know, I know, I haven't posted for a while. I've been spending a few days with Mother (she of the tattoo):



She was a bit miserable and I went to cheer her up. All done now and back at home.

I've been suffering a severe bout of startitis. I spent several days trying to start a new project and getting nowhere. There is quite enough yarn in the house to start any number of new things but the difficulty is to decide exactly which new thing to start.

I didn't feel like socks (having made so many in the recent past); I didn't feel like lace (let's hope that doesn't last long!); I didn't feel like working on any of the numerous FOs lying round the house. I did a few squares on the interminable sock yarn blanket (just over 600 squares now) but nothing really grabbed my attention.

Then I found a facsimile copy of Mrs Beeton's Book of Needlework, originally published in 1870 (when Dickens was busy dying; Lenin was busy being born and Queen Victoria was well settled on her throne). It's available online to download from Project Gutenberg but nothing beats having the thing in your hand.

There are some very interesting patterns in there, among them a "Rosette for Antimacassar". You are meant to make several of these and join them together with small knitted squares, the pattern for which is also given. I took up the needles and this was the result:



It reminds me of a jelly mould, for some reason.

Just for interest, I always thought an antimacassar was a thin fabric laid on the back of a chair to stop macassar oil, used as a gentleman's hair preparation, from soiling the fabric of the chair or sofa. Mrs Beeton's version appears to be more of a blanket or cover of some description, though I have no idea what the original yarn ("grey and violet fleecy wool") would have been like. Mrs B also calls it a "berceaunette cover". Now, I don't really know what that is, but a "berceuse" is a lullaby so I'm guessing a pram cover/cradle cover. Any clues?

Anyway, I made the thing and looked at it and thought, "Well, what am I going to do with that?"

#1 daughter had no such problem. She looked at it; picked it up; put her hand through the hole; waved her arm about and said, "It's a wristwarmer, silly."

It is now:



I picked up stitches around the hole (30, if you are interested) worked a few (16) rounds of 1x1 rib and cast off.

Doesn't it look nice poking out of my sleeve:



All I have to do now is make the other one.