Knit the Knits

What goes around comes around

2011-02-18T10:08:00.006Z

A few weeks ago I had an email from an unknown knitter in Dublin. She'd started a project which had then gone into hibernation. When the project later came to light, she discovered she didn't have enough yarn to finish the garment. The yarn, had of course, been discontinued. Undetered, this resourceful knitter knew that Google was her friend. She found, via this very blog, that I had bought some of the same yarn in the same colour:

Well, she was very lucky, because I did have some left and was very happy to send it to her to allow her to finish the garment.

And I thought no more about it.

Until I posted here that I was thinking about a huge, skinny lace project but didn't have quite enough of quite the right yarn for the job. Hardly had my fingers left the keyboard, when I had a message from WyeSue, who was offering goodies. Before a few days were up, this little lot arrived:

Almost half a kilo of Jamieson and Smith Shetland Supreme

and this:

almost half a kilo of blue silk.

So, you see, what goes around really does come around.

They are both pretty skinny:

The Shetland Supreme.

The blue silk.

I couldn't help myself. I had to cast on immediately:

This is a swatch (yes, you heard correctly) for the alternative centre of the Queen Susan Shawl. I know, it looks just like all lace looks before blocking.

I did a bit of strectching:

and a close-up:

The yarn is beautiful to work with - slightly fuzzy (tt), so if you do happen to lose a stitch it doesn't fly down to the cast on edge before you can say "Jack Robinson". The pattern suggests pairing decreases (K2tog and K1, sl1, PSSO; or SSK, as I normally do) but actually, with this skinny yarn and needles (1.5mm), I don't think it makes a scrap of difference. The bottom half of the swatch uses paired decreases, the top half has K2tog throughout. Can you tell them apart?

I don't think the swatch is going to come out square (or even be capable of being blocked square), so I'm going to have to do some adjustments.

I don't know what the blue silk is going to turn into but I'm sure it will speak to me before too long.

Many, many thanks to WyeSue, who has cemented her position as the greatest enabler in the universe.

Oh, Sharon, (who left a comment about the blue and cream sock in the last post) the sock is from Stephanie van der Linden's book "Around the World in Knitted Socks". Great book, great patterns. If you are a sock knitter, I think it needs to be on your bookshelves.

There and back again

2011-02-10T10:40:00.013Z

I set off from here:

and before long, I was here:

As soon as I was on the train I cast on for a sock:

All my elaborate plans for knitting pair one, sock one; pair two, sock one; etc went right out of the window. I should have been knitting sock two of this pair:

but I couldn't cope with two colours and a chart on a journey, so I cast on for the "Scent of Lavender" socks from Stephanie van der Linden's book "Around the World in Knitted Socks".

By the time we got to here:

I had got to here:

So I decided it was time for a reward:

By the time I got to my destination:

I'd got as far as this:

However, I suddenly realised that SkipNorth is creeping up on me and I know I'll be expected to show at least one item that I have knitted with the vast amount of yarn I purchased last year.

So I decided I'd better get on with this:

"This" is the Fern Glade Shawl by Dorothy Siemens of Fiddlesticks Knitting, looking just as photogenic as lace normally looks until the magic of blocking. The yarn is "Exquisite", 50% mulberry silk, 50% merino wool, 50g/500m, also from Fiddlesticks (though I bought it at the Knitting and Crochet Guild). It's beautiful to work with and the pattern charts are large and clear. It's quite an interesting knit - sometimes the ground is stocking stitch, sometimes garter; sometimes it's patterned on alternate rows and sometimes on every row.

Here she is spread out a bit so you can see a little of the pattern:

Note the trusty running yarn markers - I've almost run out of the bright red crochet cotton and am reduced to white, which is not going to work too well on any white item I might be knitting. That's certainly a possibility, whereas my knitting a bright red item is probably not.

I started the edging:

Apologies for the wonky (tt) photo.

It's very slow going - the edging is attached by k2tog to the live stitches of the shawl every alternate row. I don't know exactly how many stitches there are but it is a lot. I'm almost finished now and the next picture should be of the shawl in all her (blocked) glory.

There has also been movement on the very complex, very skinny shawl requiring the 6000m of yarn but that will have to wait for another day because if I don't get off here and start knitting the border will never be finished.

There's more to life than socks

2011-01-26T17:17:00.004Z

Really. There is.

I know I said it hasn't all been socks but it seems all I've talked about is socks. Just to prove there is more to life than socks:

This is Barry - I don't know why he's called Barry (I don't even know if he's a boy) but Mel-at-work said he looks like a Barry, so Barry he is. As you can see, he's got a bit of yarn trailing from his ear but that's all sorted out now and he's got a nose, too.

The pattern came from "Best in Show - knit your own dog" by Sally Muir and Joanna Osborne . They are the pair who designed the famous "Sheep Jumper":

that Princess Diana wore to a polo match on one occasion, thus starting a craze. Everyone had one (even me - though I didn't follow the pattern exactly - mine had one lost sheep on the back). There is a free pattern available here if you want to relive the '80's.

I haven't been knitting much lace but that is all set to change. I am feeling the urge for some massive, super-skinny-yarn lace project. I'm thinking about starting Sharon Miller's Wedding Ring Shawl again (notwithstanding the disaster that happened last time); or maybe I'll attack The Lerwick Shawl (also by Sharon Miller). Another possibility would be The Queen Susan Shawl, which has a remarkable story but takes 6,000 yards of yarn. While I'm absolutely positive I've got far more than 6,000 yards of lace yarn in the house, I'm not so positive that I've got 6,000 yards of the same type and colour.

Part of the great joy of thinking about a project like this is deciding on the yarn. I've been doing lots of research but hesitate to commit myself until I've been to SkipNorth in March. I might find the perfect thing while I'm there. We'll be visiting Coldspring Mill (website undergoing a makeover but stuffed full of Debbie Bliss on cones at such a cheap price it makes your eyes water and your hand reach for the plastic), Texere, Bombay Stores (website doesn't really do it justice - full of delights) and Wingham Wool Work so the chances are good.

I might just have to wait and see.

More Socks

2011-01-19T09:49:00.007Z

As I said, there have been a lot of socks:

These are some for 'im indoors. I used the Gull Wing pattern out of Chrissy Gardiner's "Toe Up" and made the hybrid heel, increasing the gusset stitches to accommodate his high instep. They fit very well.

Close up of the pattern:

All these socks did have a tendency to induce the dreaded second sock syndrome until I had a brainwave - why not knit the socks in pairs. (Yes, I know we normally knit socks in pairs - bear with me.)

What I really mean is knit the socks two pairs at a time. So we knit sock one of pair one; sock one of pair two; sock two of pair one and finally, sock two of pair two. It's like starting a new pair every time - no second sock syndrome.

My first "pair" of socks knitted after this fashion:

and

Can you tell what it is yet?

The first is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the Buck's Bar colourway. I had such trouble choosing a pattern for this yarn. I started "Spina di Pesce" by Yarnissima - useless. Lovely pattern, just not right for this yarn.

Frog.

I started the "Switcheroo Socks" from "Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn". I not only started them, I finished the first sock. It just wasn't right and I knew it wasn't right from a very early stage but I just kept knitting. Maybe I was thinking it would suddenly transform itself into a delightful sock in the night time. It didn't.

Frog.

I finally settled on "Skew" - I've knitted a pair before, and though they look plain, there is actually just enough action to keep one interested.

Toe:

Heel:

Very ingenious construction - I still don't really know quite how the magic happens.

I then embarked on sock one of pair two:

"Route 66 " from Stephanie Van Der Linden's lovely "Around the World in Knitted Socks". I've knitted several of Stephanie's pattern's before and always liked them, so this book was my little gift to myself. I even went to the extent of ordering yarn (as if there weren't enough in the house already) to make several other pairs.

I've just started sock two of pair one and I'm not bored yet.

It hasn't all been socks - there have been other things but all that will have to wait - my sock is calling.

Many thanks to those who have commented - it's nice to know there are real people out there.

Can a blog be a phoenix?

2011-01-13T15:21:00.006Z

I'm hoping this one can be.

I know there's been a long hiatus, which is mostly down to Knit Camp. All the work before it and all the fallout after it just made me feel that it was impossible to contribute anything, both here and elsewhere on 'tinterweb. Though the dust has settled somewhat, the whole thing has had a profound impact and I am only now feeling capable of crawling out from under my stone.

However, I never stopped knitting, though I don't suppose that will come as much of a surprise to anyone. Strangely, for one who at one time constantly protested that she didn't like knitting socks, I've been knitting mostly socks:

These are the Escher Socks from "Knitting Socks with Hand Painted Yarn". Yarn is Opal Trekking and I used the usual 2.5mm circular needle. Of course, I didn't follow the pattern much. I used the stitch pattern but made them toe-up (which I much prefer) using the worksheets for the shaped round toe and the hybrid heel from Chrissy Gardiner's "Toe-Up".

I don't normally buy patten books because I resent paying through the nose for the one pattern in the book I might possibly want to knit. However, both of the above books are well worth the outlay. Chrissy Gardiner's book doesn't have terribly exciting patterns (just my opinion and no offence intended) but the worksheets for different toe and heel treatments which allow you to make toe-up socks from any pattern are certainly worth the cover price. The hand painted yarn book has very interesting information about how to deal with the pooling and splotching that so often occurs with hand painted yarns as well as some lovely patterns. I have already made several of them with more in the pipeline.

Speaking of which:

these are Veronik Avery's Staccato Socks from that same book.

The pattern is toe-up and is designed to use one main yarn and small amounts of three additional colours. I used stuff from the sock yarn blanket bag, thinking that if all the yarn I've got goes into the sock yarn blanket it will be sufficient to cover the Great Bed of Ware (with quite a bit left to hang down the sides).

That's enough for now - the phoenix is feeling tired, but for those of you who might have been missing it,
here's the back field in a snowstorm:

More socks, amongst other things, soon.

Sunny Stirling

2010-04-15T19:35:00.007+01:00

I went to Scotland for the weekend to scope out the accommodation for KnitCamp.

What a lovely place Stirling is:

This is a little path round one of the student residences.

There's a lake in the middle of the campus:

There are lots of places, both inside and out, that will be just the ticket for sitting and knitting and chatting and generally enjoying oneself. If you aren't coming, I really think you are missing a treat.

This pair look like they could do with some knitted items:

(I expect they will have, come August.)

We had meetings all morning and saw all over the campus - some lovely little wooden chalets down by the lake look really nice.

In the afternoon we had a little recreation.

We took a felting class with Ewa Kuniczak (one of the tutors at KnitCamp):

(that's Ewa, with the pink and blue hair).

We had such fun. Ewa taught us to make a felted picture and then how to make beads and other felted shapes.

This is my picture:

Cheryl made a washing line:

and Jo made a tempest scene, with a handmaiden offering a golden orb to placate the goddess:

(actually, I just made that last bit up.)

I would certainly recommend anyone who has even the faintest interest in felting to consider taking a class with Ewa; she certainly taught me a lot.

There was knitting but I've taken no photographs so you will just have to wait with bated breath.

I leave you with Saturday back field in Scotland:

Don't you wish you were coming?

Running to Stand Still

2010-04-08T07:44:00.007+01:00

Is what I feel like at the moment.

Tickets for the Ravelry Weekend (13th - 14th August) at the beautiful Stirling University Campus went on sale at the beginning of April, so there has been a lot of work to do.

I'm still working in the yarn shop:

It actually looks much better than this now because more things are arriving every day. We are the only UK stockist of Grignasco, beautiful yarn at a reasonable price, which takes me back to my Italian days - I used it all the time. We are getting some Noro in and (at my instigation) Dorothy Sieman's beautiful Fiddlesticks patterns and yarn.

We also have plenty of Jamieson & Smith:

I'm still knitting things for the shop, too.

This:

is a rather dark shot of the "Helleborus Yoke" cardigan by Matthew Gnagy in Knitscene, Spring 2010.

I used Manos del Uruguay Wool Classica (available at Yarn Gathering) and had the body knitted in no time. Of course, I had to modify the thing - it's worked sideways from the right front and he suggests keeping the yoke stitches live throughout but casting off the stitches of the body at the side seam, only to cast them on again to start the back. I don't think so. I just carried on and ignored him. (Something I do in daily life, too.) I also did a provisional cast on for the sleeve and then grafted the seam at the end. In this endeavour I was greatly aided by an article in the latest Interweave Knits by TechKnitter. Her blog is well worth a look if you need to be reminded how to do some fancy manoeuvre (of even if you haven't a clue how to do it and need to be led by the hand). Thanks to her, the graft is invisible to the naked eye - so invisible that I didn't take a picture of it because I couldn't find it (and now the garment has gone to the shop, to star in the window.)

The collar of the Helleborus Yoke was an entirely different matter. The first attempt followed the pattern as written. No go. The second attempt reduced the number of rows in the straight section and used a chain selvedge. No go. Then I looked to Ravelry and found that most people had been having problems with the collar - one knitter even left it off altogether because she couldn't fathom it. The designer chimed in with his corrections. One word of advice - don't even think about doing it his way. That was my third attempt and it was fearful. On the fourth attempt I decided to go my own way (see "carry on and ignore him" above). This is how it's going to stay because I've had enough of frogging - it's not perfect but it is wearable. (I know "it will do" is not the attitude but I really am at the tearing of the hair stage.)

What I did (if anyone is interested):

Work 5 repeats of the corrected short row increasing section; work 1 short row repeat without increasing (to the centre back); work 1 short row repeat without increasing; work 5 repeats of the short row decreasing section.

This is the start of the collar:

and that's how it goes on.

That's enough for now - I'm going up to the shop to teaching children to knit - snaring them early.

We're going to Stirling this weekend for a recce, so pictures of that next week (if I remember the camera!)

Here Again

2010-04-01T18:16:00.005+01:00

Yes, I know, I know. Long time, no hear.

It's been far too long for catch-up so I'm just going to start again.

Some Twilley's Freedom Spirit

has been maturing in my stash and being remarkably quiet as to what it would like to be when it grew up.

Finally, the yarn spoke:

Stefanie Japel's Textured Circle Shrug. The pattern is available for free on the Lion Brand website (you do have to register). Just be warned that there is a lot of 1 x 1 ribbing, followed by a lot of seed stitch (which is also 1 x 1 ribbing in essence). If I'd realised there was quite so much of it, I might not have started. However, I'm very pleased I did.

Here's the front:

We did try to get a picture with my head on it but according to #1 ~~daughter~~ photographer I kept "pulling a funny face".

I added the button - sewn through both fronts; no button hole. It just looked didn't look right open - too well-endowed, I think.

You don't know the biggest news - I started working in a yarn shop. Talk about a kid in a candy shop - I spent a whole day counting balls of yarn and making lists. Complete bliss. Of course, it is also extremely dangerous - the stash is growing exponentially.

I made this:

(see exchange above for explanation of lack of head).

The back:

to go on display. It's the Transverse Cardigan from the Spring 2010 Interweave Knits. I used Malabrigo Worsted in "Dusty" (available from Yarn Gathering) and had it knitted in about four days. Come and see it for yourself if you are passing Earlsdon Street in Coventry.

I've also been very busy with KnitCamp organising. August doesn't seem all that far away.

That's all for now. I can't promise I'll blog every day but I really will make an effort to blog more than once every Preston Guild.

Disaster, Darling

2009-12-08T13:01:00.008Z

Remember the green Kimono Jacket? I took it off the other evening and there it was:

Arrgghh!

But I have the solution - a little pamphlet by Rena Crockett (who I imagine in the Wild West, planting seeds, raising chickens, making and mending). It's called Flawless Knit Repair and it walks you through the process.

First, remove the stray bits of yarn:

Then pin to a backing fabric:

Unpick carefully, so you have some yarn to weave in at the end.

The yarn will be all kinky (as you see, above), so you can steam it carefully to straighten it.

Stabilize the hole with contrasting sewing thread:

Weave the new yarn (which you have carefully preserved from the time when you knit it in the first place) under and over the sewing thread:

Use a crochet hook to recreat columns of stitches:

Kitchener each stitch to the corresponding loop at the top of the column.

Here we are partway through:

The tension is looking a bit wonky (tt) but it can all be evened out at the end.

This is it at the end:

The only thing left is to close up the slits at each side and weave in the ends.

Weaving in of ends (not one of my favourite pastimes) took ages - there are two strands at each end of every row; there were five rows: twenty ends to weave in.

However, I don't think it looks too shabby:

Yes, I know, some of the stitches in the light yarn should have been purled . While it is possible to do this, and Rena Crockett explains all, I just didn't have the strength to work it out.

I pretty pleased with the way it turned out.

If you ever have a disaster, darling, there's a very good Knitty article you might want to refer to.

Soay Aran

2009-12-05T12:47:00.006Z

I've finally managed to get started on the man's Soay Aran. It took me quite a while to decide on which cables to use and the exact placement of said cables. I'm basing the jumper on Janet Szabo's "Son of Aran" project. It is made entirely without seams, so right up my street.

Here are the honeycomb cables, which form the centre panel on both back and front:

This:

shows the 14 stitch braided cable, taken from Alice Starmore's "Aran Knitting", flanked by two 8 stitch plaits, from the same book. These cables are on either side of the honeycomb panel and also form the shoulder saddles and will continue down the sleeves.

I feel as if I've knitted the whole thing twice over because I have made several mistakes while crossing cables and have had to drop down about three repeats and knit them up again. The moral of this story is to look at your knitting and not go into a trance.

I've also started Ysolda Teague's Vine Yoke Cardigan, which is going to be on display in the shop. We thought the shop might be open next week but, due to one thing and another, it probably won't open until the New Year. This is a good thing, in a way, because it gives me a bit more time to get it finished.

Progress to date:

That's the right front and sleeve.

It's knitted all in one piece (no sewing!) and uses short rows to good effect. Reading various discussions on the pattern, some people say it comes out quite large - mine looks tiny, so let's hope it does grow in length (as the pattern says it will).

Here's the bottom edge:

and this is the yoke:

which looks a little plouffy (technical term). I am hoping that all will become smooth in the blocking. I think the cardie is designed to be worn with negative ease, so it will be blocked on the body, if you follow.

Work on the KnitCamp continues - the class schedule is now available to download and we are slowly getting the tutor pages up. I think it's going to be such fun - and Lixie, it might seem a long way but there may be a coach going from London. Imagine the fun - knitting for hours with lots of other knitters; eating cake; drinking one's chosen beverage. Sounds like bliss to me.

Where to start?

2009-11-28T12:08:00.005Z

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

2009-10-22T18:05:00.010+01:00

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

2009-10-20T08:26:00.005+01:00

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 Wra p 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

2009-08-27T09:38:00.005+01:00

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.

Is she still knitting socks?

2009-07-28T11:47:00.007+01:00

Yes, she is.

I've finished the Spiralling Socks:

and while I think the yarn is perfect for the job, I'm not so enamoured with the actual pattern.

The hunt was therefore on for a toe-up pattern that was a little more roomy than this one.

I liked the look of the Mojo socks but I also liked the look of Judy Gibson's "You're putting me on Socks" with calculations for using two circular needles by Peggy Pignato. (Except I was using magic loop but it's the same principle.)

The socks certainly look a little odd when they aren't on the foot:

but the addition of a gusset certainly helps the fit of them:

They are very comfortable.

There has been a small hiatus in the knitting department. I have had a wobbly tummy (tt). The upside is that I'm slightly thinner than I was (no bad thing - normally when I'm ill I eat like a horse, this time I didn't eat at all). I was so weak I could do nothing but lie on the sofa like the Lady of the Camellias, watch the Tour de France on TV and knit socks. All better now and able to get on with some lace.

As I said, I've begun MMario's "Spanish Armada". I'm on round 87 and it's going well. It looks like the usual pile of dental floss that the monkey's been playing with:

Woman cannot live by lace alone, of course, and there is yet another sock on the needle. I wanted to use the Trekking yarn I dyed with KoolAid at SkipNorth and decided on Firestarter:

I like the elegant way the cable splits to accommodate the gusset. There's just enough "action" to keep the attention but not so much that it detracts from the colours in the yarn.

The garden is still growing:

We have courgettes:

We have tomatoes:

We have kale:

I suppose I'd better go and cook some of it.

Socks and more Socks

2009-07-14T11:22:00.006+01:00

The second Jack Sparrow Sock, which is, in effect, the fourth Jack Sparrow Sock, is finished. It looks exactly like the first (third) sock, so I shan't bore you with a picture.

I've moved swiftly on to the next sock. I ordered Zauberball yarn from Modern Knitting specifically for this project - the Spiralling Socks out of the latest "The Knitter" magazine.

I'm using the fuchsia colourway (though I had originally thought of using the Tropical Fish) and they are coming out extremely well:

Here's the afterthought heel:

I can see the point of using an afterthought heel because it means the flow of colour is not interupted, though I found it quite difficult to place the heel - the pattern says to work until the sock is 5cm shorter than the finished length. That's all very well, but the measurement seems to change depending on if you are measuring the sock on the foot or on the table. My advice is definitely to measure the sock on the foot. I think the heel could have been deeper, too, but I'm not so skilled in sock knitting as to be able to alter the pattern. Any advice from all you seasoned sock knitters out there?

I've also made a decision as to what should be my next big lace project. I've settled on MMario's "Spanish Armada". Now I know it doesn't look much in that picture but it was when I saw this version that my mind was made up. I'm using the lace yarn from Krafty Koala that I bought in Coventry and I'm on round 34. No pictures yet, I'm afraid - too busy knitting.

I've also been busy in the garden, or rather Mother Nature has been busy. She has provided us with broad beans:

and courgettes:

My appeal for any news of coil-less safety pins has been rewarded by a very generous Vanessa (of the above mentioned Modern Knitting). Look what arrived in the post this morning:

How very kind. Thank you so much, Vanessa. (Aren't knitters nice?)

Plagued with latter wit

2009-07-02T16:53:00.004+01:00

I don't know what I was thinking the other day. I told you all about the excellent service from Modern Knitting and about how the postman is wise to my yarn-buying ways but I failed to give you a picture of the yarn.

This is the Tropical Fish:

and this the Fuchsia:

Luscious.

The Tropical Fish is probably going to be the Spiralling Socks from the latest "The Knitter"; the Fuchsia, I'm not so sure about. All suggestions gratefully received.

I just thought I'd try to find you a link to the Spiralling Socks, unsuccessfully, as it turns out. However, while making the attempt, I came across these Celtic Spiral Socks. That's a Ravelry link, so if you aren't on Ravelry, you need to sign up immediately, or you could just go directly to the pattern chart. Obviously not suitable for this fancy yarn but very striking, nevertheless.

I am, however, getting ahead of myself. I have completed the first Jack Sparrow II for #1 son:

I made even more modifications to the pattern. I still used a toe-up construction, because that's what I like. I know there are some people out there who cannot abide the toe-up sock, nor the magic loop (you know who you are) but you will just have to bear with me on this one.

One of the joys of knitting toe-up is that you have plenty of time to work out what your gauge is before you get anywhere near needing to know this information. Twelve rows before it was time to begin the heel, I started to increase one stitch at each end of every other row on the sole stitches. I increased a total of twelve stitches, which is an arbitrary sort of a number but happened to be the number of stitches I was going to leave unwrapped in the centre of the heel.

I worked a short-row heel as normal on half the original number of stitches. Then I began to work in the round again and decreased away the twelve extra stitches, one at each of the heel on every other row.

Here it is complete:

The addition of those few stitches just adds sufficient room to make it unnecessary to be pulling and tugging and squirming about to get the sock on the foot.

Temperature here at the moment is 91F/33C, so it's a completely academic question - there will be no wearing of socks in this household for quite a while yet.

Heels and Toes

2009-06-30T10:43:00.004+01:00

Having finished the Jack Sparrow socks for 'im indoors, I have now embarked upon a second pair for #1 son. I'm using a different colourway to avoid the inevitable, "You're wearing my socks!" from one or other of them:

I may also make more modifications to the pattern (which I hardly followed at all for the first pair).

I used short row toes and heels just because there's no Turkish Cast-On and therefore no contortions and there's no grafting, either. Short rows? Easy, no? Well, yes. Easy, but there are several ways of doing short rows. You couldn't do better than look at Nona's series of posts about this very topic (as I did). First she talks about the wrapped stitch short row. This is the classic one; if you even know what a short row is, this is probably the one you know. It's the one I know and it's the one I normally use.

Then she speaks about the yarn over short row. I haven't actually tried this method, so I really have no room to talk, have I?

Lastly, she writes about the Japanese short row (which also appears in my bible, Montse Stanley's "Hand Knitter's Handbook" as the "catch" method). I thought I might give this a go. Nona's method uses safety pins (and if anyone knows a source of coil-less safety pins, would they please speak up), though Montse Stanley doesn't - she just expects you to identify which loop to pick up with the naked eye. I was wrapping 13 stitches on each side of the central 10 stitches for the heel, which meant I had 26 safety pins hanging off the knitting like some crazed punk rocker in days of yore. After I rid myself of all the metalwork, I really couldn't tell the difference between the Japanese short row heel and the regular wrapped stitch short row heel, possibly because I'm using black for the toes and heels and you can't see a thing anyway. End of experiment and back to my regular short row method.

The trouble with short row heels is that they can make the sock difficult to put on, particularly if the wearer has a high instep as 'im indoors has. If I had only looked back over my notes for the Rainbow Socks, I would have seen that "The heel is worked over more than half the total stitches to allow for a high instep." Plagued with latter wit (as my dad used to say).

With the second pair of Jack Sparrow's I'm thinking about using a modified short row heel which also incorporates a gusset and has a heel flap on the sole, which I saw on the Lots of Yarn blog. I'm about to start that now, so watch this space.

I'm obsessed with socks. The latest edition of "The Knitter" has a pattern for Spiralling Socks, shown in a rainbow colourway. Very zizzy (tt). I couldn't resist. Google was my friend and I found the yarn (Zauberball from Schoppel Wolle) at Modern Knitting, a company I have never come across before. I ordered one ball of the Tropical Fish and one of Fuchsia, mainly because I got free shipping over £16 (though I now see that has risen to £18). I ordered late on Friday evening and imagine my surprise when a small package was flung in through the open door of my kitchen this morning followed by a cheery, "More yarn?". Isn't the Royal Mail marvellous?

Too much writing, too few pictures?

Back Field this morning:

(Raw materials dots in the background)

Sweetcorn:

'Im indoors says it should be "Knee-high by the 4th of July" (said in what he considers to be a Southern drawl). If anyone can shed light on the origin of this pearl of wisdom I'd be very grateful. I suppose it all depends how high your knee is - it's just about up to mine now.)

Walking on Sunshine

2009-06-23T13:12:00.007+01:00

The Hoffnung Socks are finished - just as the weather becomes too hot to wear them:

More pictures:

I have worn them only once and, as predicted, they have started to pill already. This is the second time I have knitted with Cascade yarn (the first was for the Noni bag). If you recall, that bag turned a very odd, mucky (tt) green during the felting process. The delightful Lisa at First4Yarns very generously supplied me with a second hank and that time all was well. (I still haven't finished the bag - it just needs handles and somehow, I just haven't managed it yet.)

Why are socks like buses? You wait for ages and then three come along at once. Not content with the Monkeys and Hoffnung, I am almost finished with the first of "Jack Sparrow's Favourite Socks" Made especially for 'im indoors, at his own request. I gave him the choice of several pattern but these were his favourite. (Maybe I should take to calling him "Jack Sparrow" instead of 'im indoors?)

The sole:

The heel:

The toe:

and the reason why they are Jack Sparrow's favourite socks in the first place?

Actually, though I gave a link to the pattern, I didn't follow it at all. I worked toe-up, with a short row toe:

and heel:

and because the original pattern uses only 64 stitches and 'im indoors (aka Cap'n Jack) needs 72 stitches, I also had to modify the skull pattern. I had to add two stitches to each pattern repeat, the result being that the skulls are rather more well-fed than they perhaps ought to be.

I was going to bang on about short row toes/heels but that will have to wait for another day - I want to get started on the second sock before the dreaded SSS sets in.

The Joy of DPNs

2009-06-15T21:00:00.007+01:00

The Joy of DPNs is that when you are the original loose woman, and when all the stitches-in-waiting of your Hoffnung sock:

fall off the needle, and you make an instinctive lunge to catch them, it's just as easy to stab yourself in the hand as it is to stab yourself in the thigh:

I'm using some Cascade sock yarn in colour 5616, bought at UK Ravelry Day in Coventry from a vendor whose name I can't recall. I like the feel of this yarn but it's splitty (technical term) and looks as though it might pill at the first wearing. I can't say I'm terribly impressed.

The Hoffnung pattern, on the other hand, is a joy. We start in the middle of the top of the foot by casting on eight stitches. We then work a lace square and end up with 32 stitches on each side. A short-row toe is worked over the stitches of needle one (one side of the square) then the sole is knitted back and forth, joined to the waiting stitches on each side by K2tog/P2tog, until no stitches remain. Then you work a short-row heel and dash on up the leg (though actually, they are ankle socks, so there's not much of a leg.) The one sock is finished, the other is started.

While I was casting about to decide which socks to knit next, 'im indoors suggested I knit a size nine sock (just his size). I warned him that I wasn't in the market for knitting boring socks. Then came the search for a suitable (non-boring) pattern. Eventually, I found these and asked #1 son if he thought his daddy would wear them. Response? "I don't know, but I would." So that's two pairs of Jack Sparrow's required.

I seem to be on something of a sock knitting odyssey and I really don't know why. Socks are not my favourite things to knit but sometimes they just seem to hit the spot.

I finished the toe-up monkeys:

but while I love the yarn (thanks, MA in PA), I'm not so keen on the style of the socks. The gusset is not deep enough, so it's quite hard to get the socks on. Once they are on, they are fine, but I don't think I'll be using this particular construction in the future. However, I'm very impressed with this photograph, which is me taking a picture of my own feet:

I think I must have been a contortionist in a previous life.

Look what appeared in the back field:

It's all very green:

So is the garden:

That's a general over-view. Onions and shallots in the foreground; sweetcorn to the left. Runner beans, sprouts and cabbages in the right corner. Purple sprouting broccoli, curly kale, asparagus, leeks, parsnips, globe artichokes and Jerusalem artichokes in the far left bed.

Here's the salad patch:

Spinach, beetroot, radishes, mixed leaves, rocket, spring onions, lollo rosso.

Ann-at-someone-else's-work tipped up at my work the other day, bringing with her a little sparkly bag. "I saw this and I thought of you."

and this one:

Isn't she a sweetie?

Didn't we have a lovely time?

2009-06-07T15:44:00.008+01:00

UK Ravelry Day 2009 was a triumph. Yes, there were some teething troubles but all in all I think it went really well.

The weather was atrocious but that didn't stop the market stalls being piled with yarn, though the two alpacas looked bedraggled.

My lace class went well (though I say it myself) and I managed to bring another nine knitters over to the dark side. We didn't get through above half of what I'd put in the hand out, so I could probably make two workshops out of the material. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and learn something, so I judge it a success.

There was chatting:

There were hats:

There was yarn:

This is Rockpool Candy's stall.

There were plenty of stalls outside but it was so wet I didn't dare expose the camera to the elements.

I did, however, buy yarn (like I need more!)

This is some beautiful laceweight yarn (1200m/100g) from The Natural Dye Studio:

A close-up:

It's a mixture of baby alpaca, cashmere and silk and feels divine. Not quite sure what I'm going to make with it. All suggestions gratefully received.

It seemed to be a green day. This is yet more green laceweight yarn:

This is from Krafty Koala and is also an alpaca/cashmere/silk blend and 1200m/100g. It's called "Emerald Isle" and I do believe there is a shawl of that name, so maybe the yarn has spoken.

Close-up:

I bought some Cascade sock yarn in a plain colour:

because I want to make the Hoffnung socks. I was intrigued by the construction (plus there's lace).

And that's all I bought apart from a pattern for a dinky little cape from Keep and Share.

It was nice to catch up with friends, old and new, and just talk about knitting all day long.

Many thanks to Jo for arranging everything.

She's already asked me to be at next year's event in Scotland.

I have run this idea tentatively past 'im indoors, who did not react with unallayed enthusiasm. However, there is plenty of time and as my Grannie always said, "It's a poor woman who can't get her own way."

See you there?

One of my readers (you know who you are) was complaining that she didn't want to see the back field, she wanted to see the garden.

Just for you:

Satisfied?

Shipston Wool Fair

2009-05-27T10:07:00.015+01:00

We had a lovely day in Shipston on Monday at the first annual Shipston Wool Day. This idea was dreamed up by a woman who has twice been mayor of Shipston, in order to celebrate Shipston's history as a wool washing town. The sheep were driven into the river on one side, where the bank slopes gently down, and made to swim across. An elaborate system of hurdles stopped the sheep escaping up or down the river. Out they popped on the other side, nice and clean.

There were sheep:

This is a Herdwick, I think.

There was the biggest sheep in the world (that's not the Guinness Book of Records speaking, it's just what it looked like to me) weighing in at 18 stone (252lb/114.3kg):

That's her head and this is her back:

As someone remarked, "She's got a centre parting."

There was sheep shearing:

These are done, and look very naked.

I'm sure this one is saying, "I'm a bit chilly":

There was knitting:

These are the WI ladies (known as the Shipston KnitWIts). I had a nice time knitting with them. I was knitting a sock on five needles (mostly for effect - I usually use two circulars or magic loop for socks).

These are the socks I was knitting, back on the trusty Hiya Hiya needle:

Toe up Monkeys, based on Cookie A's pattern. I didn't do the conversion myself (though it wouldn't have been all that hard) but used this pattern from Knitting Sutra.

Here's a close-up of the pattern:

The yarn is KnitPicks "Dancing" (41% cotton/39% wool/13% nylon/7% elastic) sent to me by my knitbud, MA from PA. Considering we have never met in the flesh, I was astonished that she managed to choose the very colourway that I would have chosen myself - I truly think we were separated at birth. I can't seem to find this yarn on the KnitPicks site, so it must have been discontinued. It's coming along very nicely, though I do say so myself.

We had lots of interest from passers-by and I even taught two people to knit. Many people said they used to knit but didn't anymore. One mother wanted a refresher so she could teach her daughter to knit so here they are, knitting together:

There was yarn:

This is Jo's stall. Jo is organizing the UK Ravelry Day and informs me that my lace knitting class is sold out, (so that's another 10 knitters lured over to the dark side.)

Jo very generously gave me a skein of her handpainted yarn:

Here's the pink and purple bit:

The yarn is currently sitting on top of the monitor, while I wait for it to tell me what it wants to be.

There was spinning:

although here it looks more like drinking coffee.

There was cake:

from the local baker's.

All the local shops got in on the act:

Gingerbread sheep in the deli:

I even lent roving and my spindle to the florist's (where #1 son works on Saturdays.)

Sadly, Angela, who had the idea in the first place, died two weeks before the event, so never got to see the triumph that it was. At the end, Angela's husband, Alan, the present mayor of Shipston, announced that this was to become an annual event and that the second Shipston Wool Fair will be held on May 31st, 2010.

I, for one, can't wait - I'm sure it will be even bigger and even better next year.

I'm sorry I haven't been diligent with the blog of late but there has been a lot of prep for the lace knitting class which I can't really talk about here in case the students are stalking me.

I'm reading Alan Bennett's "Untold Stories" at the moment and he says, of writing a diary, "What I do always dislike is not having written anything for a while and then finding I have to catch up." Couldn't have put it better myself.

I'll have to start the catching up tomorrow.

Could do better

2009-04-18T13:43:00.007+01:00

The most delightful cardie came to my attention. It's called the Botanica Medallion Cardigan and is featured on the front cover of the latest Vogue Knitting. There's a good picture of it on the Blue Sky Alpacas website here, or an excellent video on VK's site here. (You need to click on "The new naturals" and it's #4 - you can click on the thumbnail at the bottom to go straight there).

Naturally enough, I don't have the yarn called for (Blue Sky Alpaca Skinny Dyed Cotton) and I'm not going to get it either. I searched about in the stash and came across seven balls of this:

A 60% cotton/40% linen blend that I've had for ages. I thought it might do, so I started with the medallion:

There it is, unblocked, looking as sad as unblocked lace usually does. It needs to be 16 inches in diameter and I think it will probably get to that size but I'm a little concerned that the fabric is too floppy (technical term).

Then I started on the outer band, which uses pattern stitches with differing row gauges to shape the circle. Very ingenious.

Here's the lacey cables, obtained by wrapping the yarn three times round the needle on one row, dropping the wraps on the next and performing a six stitch cable on the elongated stitches:

Spider's web? Dog's breakfast, more like. This is just so not the right yarn (especially after I saw that video). It needs to be heavier; it needs to have better stitch definition; it needs to swing more (rather than float). Just to hammer the point home, here's the little cable that really should be more visible:

So. Not. The. Right. Yarn.

So now I'm casting about for something else that will do and trying to avoid buying anything (having returned from SkipNorth with less yarn than last year but having spent more money. How did that happen? I have no idea.)

The original yarn is in a strange put up of 65g/137m so we are looking for about 105m to 50g.

I've got some soft, shiny cottony stuff:

It's actually lighter than this in the flesh. No ball bands, of course, so no idea what weight really.

Then there's some Debbie Bliss Wool/Cotton:

Pictured here when I first bought it, years ago. There are quite clearly four balls of each colour. Strangely, though I can't remember using any of it, I can only find three balls of each at the moment. I'm thinking the central medallion in the purple (yes, I know it looks blue but it's purple, trust me) and the outer band in the pinky colour. Weight? 115m/50g, so in the ball-park. But is there enough yarn? The pattern says 1050 yards (960m) and I've only got 920m. That's if I use every scrap of yarn and if I can find the other two balls. There's the answer. No, there isn't enough yarn.

I think I'd better start on the outer band with the white cotton and see how I get on with the cables in that.

It's all a bit frustrating - makes me want to go and knit some lace - it's easier.

Just because you haven't had one for a while, here's the back field. Though there are no sheep visible, there are sheep in the field. Really.

Done (and more yarn).

2009-04-16T20:50:00.009+01:00

I got to the end of the Soay Aran, and, though I say it myself, it is rather splendid. Thankfully, the recipient thought so, too:

There she is, in it. That small, brown blob in the background is one of the yarn donors. There are lambs - more yarn is in the offing.

Here is another view, languishing in my garden:

The honeycomb panel in the centre turned out better than I could have expected.

Next up is a similar (but not the same) man's version.

Did I mention more yarn?

This is still from SkipNorth:

I did the Kool-Aid dyeing workshop with Lixie. This is what my sock yarn looks like in the ball.
I don't know what it's going to look like in the sock (or sock yarn blanket). Watch this space.

This little delight is another generous gift from Sue:

Lovely colours. I think it's Margaret Stove Artisan Merino laceweigh t, though I'm not sure.

There's more laceweight joy here:

(also from Sue). What is this going to turn into? Maybe something from Evelyn Clark's "Knitting Lace Triangles" (or possibly something out of my own head).

Lest you think it's all been scrambling to finish the Aran and gloating over new yarn, let me finish with Ann-at-someone-else's-work's birthday cake:

Yarn? A little Cascade 220, some pink stuff and a bit of Appleton's crewel wool (for the cherry). Pattern available here - go on and make one, you know you want to. Go on.

Even more yarn

2009-04-14T11:48:00.005+01:00

You saw some of my haul in the last post but there is more.

The ever-generous Sue gave me some skinny stuff:

I don't quite know what that's going to turn into but something will present itself.

There is some Shetland cobweb (aka very, very skinny):

170g, only £5. I'm thinking I might have another bash at the Wedding Ring Shawl now that the trauma of having to frog the first one has abated somewhat.

I got this cone of unknown green stuff:

from the yarn mountain at KCG. I don't know what it is, apart from that it's two different green yarns wound (not plied) together and it only cost £1.

I'm supposed to be knitting on the Soay sheep jumper (of which more later) but I want to be knitting lace.

I'm weak, what can I say:

This is the beginning of Peacock Feathers from Fiddlesticks. I have knitted this once already but it wasn't the right yarn for the job and it sat, unloved, until a m**h got it. It really was only a small bite but I had never liked it and I threw it away. Yes, right in the bin. Out it went. This is going to be much better.

I am knitting on the Soay jumper. I am. Honestly.

The owner of the sheep (and hence the yarn) wanted me to knit Alice Starmore's St Brigid. It's a pattern that I really like and have in my mental queue but, after some swatching (yes, you heard) it became obvious that this is not the yarn for it.

We have a revised plan - the big, fat plait from St B, a honeycomb panel in the middle and all based on Janet Szabo's Son of Aran.

I did the maths. I swatched. I have something resembling a jumper.

You start with the saddles:

Here's the fat plait, which I have bordered with a simple four stitch twist:

and this is the honeycomb panel:

Even though it's not St Brigid, we still wanted to retain the cable round the neck:

and that's exactly what I did. I haven't added the ribbing as AS did because I don't think it's needed. I shall have to consult with the wearer, of course.

The whole thing needs to be 27" long. At present it's 22" and it's not going to get any bigger unless I stop messing with the computer and start knitting.

I bought yarn

2009-04-10T12:15:00.004+01:00

which really should come as no surprise.

I went on my second SkipNorth to Haworth and I bought yarn.

I really did plan my spending this year - I knew I wanted yarn to make "Star Cross'd Love" and I wanted some yarn to make "Twist and Shout" and I wanted some skinny (technical term) yarn for general lace knitting.

It all went right out of the window when the very first thing I saw at our very first stop (Coldspring Mill) was this:

A kilo of Debbie Bliss Pure Silk for only £30. This would have cost £130 at my LYS. Quite a saving. I don't quite know what I'm going to make with it but something will come to mind.

I got back on track with my next two purchases:

A kilo of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK for only £20 (£84 in the shops). I thought this would do for Twist and Shout but I'm also leaning towards Alice Starmore's "St Brigid" I need to do a bit of swatching. Swatching? Wash your mouth out with soap.

1.150kg of Twilley's Freedom Wool (looking very loud in the picture - in reality it's a beautiful muted rust colour. This is what I plan to use for "Star Cross'd Love" and, in fact, I've started.

I'm having a little difficulty because the pattern is written for only one size and that size is OS/S. There is no way that I fit into that category and so I'm having to resize the pattern but because the structure is "interesting" I'm not quite sure where to do my tweaking. I've made the first piece (above) much longer than the 27 rows the pattern says. All this is made much harder by the fact that there is no schematic with the pattern and no row gauge is given, so I don't know how long this "left front" should be. I'm guessing that it's the bit you can just about see in the picture with the pattern - the bit that goes from the shoulder down to the under arm. I'm not quite sure how long this should be. I know the cardie is quite close fitting but I do want to be able to get my arm into it. I shall refer to the ever-reliable Montse Stanley's "Knitting your own designs for a perfect fit" and see if she can shed any light.

I bought other stuff, too and I've been doing plenty of knitting but all that will have to wait because Ann-at-someone-else's-work is coming to take me out for lunch.

Cotton really is the Devil's work

2009-03-08T16:38:00.005Z

Some one asked me to finish a denim jumper for her husband. (In fact, it's the same woman with the Soay sheep.) She's done the back and part of the front. I managed to match her gauge - though I had to drop three needle sizes (as you all know, I am the original loose woman). I'd forgotten just how fearful cotton is to work with - stiff, unforgiving of any slight irregularity in tension, and the ends just won't stay hidden. Anyway, it's done:

The pattern is from Rowan Denim and is called "Boatman", designed by Kim Hargreaves (according to Ravelry - I can't actually find any credits). If she was responsible for the making up instructions, she should be ashamed. They are dreadful. "Use a back stitch for all main knitting seams and an edge to edge stitch for all ribs unless otherwise stated." I don't think so. I used ladder stitch and here you can('t) see it:

I also used short row shaping on the shoulders and did a three needle bind off on the right side:

This is the armhole shaping (which, strangely, was written K3 tog - a right slanting decrease - at the beginning of the row and K3 tog tbl - a left slanting decrease - at the end). Needless to say, I did SSSK at the beginning of the row and K3 tog at the end, so at least the decreases are slanting in the right direction.

Anyway, I'm not going to be knitting any more cotton for a very long time.

Have you heard of the UK Ravelry Day? Only of interest if you are actually in the UK of course. Well, Jo (who's idea it was in the first place) has asked me to teach a lace knitting class. "Oh, yes," I said blithely "No problem". Then I found out who else was going to be there - Meg Swansen, Beth Brown Reinsel, Jared Flood (aka Brooklyn Tweed) amongst others. Crikey! Am I up to the job?

Now I'm starting to panic that no-one will sign up or that I'll forget how to knit or that I'll break my thumb before the day or that I'll dry up totally. I don't know what's wrong with me - I've read stories to 250 kids all in one room together; I've taught engineers, lawyers, airline pilots, journalists, police officers (not the knitting police officers) and all sorts. What is proving to be more difficult is actually narrowing down what I'm going to teach and what I'm going to leave out. Once you get me started on lace knitting I could go on for days (but I promise not to).

Here are the raw materials lurking in the back field, enough to calm anyone down:

Resting on my laurels?

2009-03-05T17:18:00.006Z

You may think I've been resting on my laurels but I assure you I've been doing no such thing. Someone asked me if I would knit "something " for her and she gave me a tiny photocopy of a waistcoat thingie (technical term). That's the trouble with being a knitter - non-knitters think you can work miracles. Remember that old joke? "My mother made me a homosexual." "If I buy the wool, will she make me one, too?" - I felt a bit like that knitter.

Considering that's all I had to go off, I think I did a good job. Here's the front:

and a close-up of the cable:

The collar presented certain difficulties. It looked very Elizabethan (the first one, not the present one) - standing up, a little ruff-like. The yarn I was using (Rowan Pure Wool Aran) was fairly sturdy before it was washed but after washing it turned a little "floppy" (tt). I had to work the collar double to make it stand up as it was supposed to do:

So I picked up and knitted stitches around the neckline and then worked double the length required. I then picked up the corresponding stitch from the base of the collar and worked that stitch together with the next stitch on my left needle. When I had two stitches on the right needle, I cast off in the normal way. Sometimes when I do this I work a purl row on the right side when the collar is the correct length and before I start working the "inside" of the collar. This acts as a fold line and makes the collar crisper. I didn't do that in this case because I wanted the collar to be softer and more rounded at the top.

The cast off edge of the armhole band also presented problems. I cast off three times and it just didn't look right. I tried a backstitch cast off - thread about three times the length of the edge to be cast off into a blunt pointed tapestry needle; put the needle into the first two stitches purlwise; pull yarn through but do not drop the stitches; put the needle into the first stitch knitwise; drop the stitch off the knitting needle; pull the yarn through and repeat. It looked like a dog's breakfast. I tried an Italian sewn cast off. It looked dreadful. I tried a sort of kitchener cast off using this marvelous explanation. This is a link to a post on Ravelry and I apologize if you are not able to access it but I have never really understood quite what I was doing with the Kitchener Stitch and now I do. In spite of the fact that I now know all there is to know about grafting - that didn't look good either. Eventually, I used a modified version of the two row cast off - first row in single rib and pull the knits over the purls as in a normal cast off; second row, slip each stitch purlwise onto left needle and pull the previous one over - no yarn used up. I don't think this looks too bad:

If anyone can suggest a better cast off for a 2x1 rib I am all ears.

There are twelve buttons:

and that's eight of them.

No sooner was that off the needles when I had a call from someone else. This lady has her own Soay sheep; she has her own Soay yarn and she wants me to knit it into a little "something" for her and her husband. Details of this will have to wait for another day but things are progressing.

Oh, and look what reappeared in my back field:

Better than a mean old horse anyday, wouldn't you say?

Haven't we been here before?

2009-02-07T11:53:00.007Z

Just when we thought we'd had the last of the snow, back it came. They went to school; I went to work - we were all back by lunchtime. I wouldn't have wanted to leave it any longer. This was the "main road" in my village yesterday:

The Church:

and the back field:

Nothing to do but sit and knit.

The sock yarn blanket is up to 410 squares - I would say it is about a third done. My pair snuggled up under it:

More pictures:

(I think that might be upside down - some of you may wish to stand on your head for a proper look.)

Close-up of one of the squares:

(Right way up - stand normally now.)

I've also been knitting a Cabled Waistcoat (or "Vest"). A friend of mine asked if I would knit something for her. She then produced a small, dark image of a waistcoat. I have done the best I can to reproduce it.

A front:

The cable is the Celtic Plait from the Harmony "Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches"

The Back:

I know it looks quite small but it's 2 x 1 rib, so very stretchy. It also looks short; that is because there is a deep (like six inches deep) band of rib around the bottom of the garment.

The yarn had to be: aran weight; natural colour; 100% natural fibre and machine washable. I settled on Rowan Pure Wool Aran because it ticks all the boxes. I'm using 4.5mm needles and I used Knitware Design to give me an outline of the pattern but I changed it quite a bit because it's shorter, double-breasted, has a much longer collar, is much lower in front and has that band of ribbing round the bottom - just about the only thing that remains from the original is the armhole shaping.

I'm slightly stalled now because it's time to start the button holes on the other front and I want to get the buttons first. I haven't made it to the button shop yet - see first picture, above - but I'm hoping to get there this afternoon.

I leave you with a sunny back field:

Lyra

2009-02-03T16:02:00.005Z

A while ago Lacis reprinted Lyra (that's Jane's - beautiful), a Herbert Niebling pattern that had become very rare and hence very expensive. Naturally, I had to have it. I started it a few weeks ago on a 2mm circular Addi that is three metres long. I snapped that up at the KCG last March, egged on by that arch enabler Sue, who, as it turns out, is also knitting Lyra.

I used Emily Ocker's circular start and I'm using the magic loop technique - no wrestling with a few teeny, tiny stitches on skinny (tt) dpns for me. A three metre long cable does mean that I have rather a lot of cable flapping about but as she grows things should settle down. The bonus is that she won't be all scrunched up (tt) on the needle and I'll be able to take some pictures so you can all see how sad and crumpled and just plain horrible lace knitting looks before blocking and then you can all marvel (as I do, every single time) at the transformation blocking brings about.

A close-up of the central flower:

Overview of the whole thing so far:

Here's the cable coming out at the side:

For some reason, it doesn't seem to pull the stitches so much if the cable crosses when it emerges (as you can just about see here).

The weather forecast was, in part, correct. It did, indeed, snow, just not quite so much as we had been led to believe (at least not here).

This was the back field yesterday, looking very grey and wintery:

and here it is today, looking bright and sunny:

Of course, the whole country just about ground to a halt and school was closed today. We have been revising Religious Education with #1 son. Net result? #1 daughter and I have a firm grasp of the seven Sacraments of the Catholic Church, #1 son, less so. Maybe I could put in to do the exam for him?

As Promised

2009-01-31T10:02:00.006Z

Here, then, as promised are pictures of Fulmar.

The front:

Close-up of some cables:

Close-up of the welt:

I cannot say I am particularly impressed with the pattern transition from welt to body. It doesn't exactly flow - the one stops; the other starts. I would have thought Ms Starmore might have given this kind of design issue some thought considering she is so very precious about her work -remember all that performance about people being told off for mentioning her name in their Ebay auctions? There's an article from the Seattle Times if you are faintly interested. Personally, I'd rather be knitting. I wonder if one of these is winging its way to me, even as I type?

The back is also finished and looks remarkably similar to the front. I have started the one sleeve:

The going is extremely slow (but slightly faster now I've got the hang of making cables without recourse to a cable needle) because, in order to get the correct gauge, I find myself using 2.5mm needles. I am, in effect, knitting an Aran jumper on sock needles. What possessed me? Why do I put myself through it? It is a beautiful pattern. What can I say?

This is last week's back field, taken by #1 daughter, who is quite handy with a camera:

We are threatened with snow on Monday and if that comes to pass, I'll certainly give you a picture.

Catch Up

2009-01-22T17:42:00.006Z

Something I didn't mention in my list of items done, done, done in my last post was the dodecahedron:

and here it is in the hand of #1 daughter (who happens to be wearing the asymmetric wrist warmers I made with the angora that Lixie sent me all those months ago):

'Im indoors asked, "What's it for?" Whereupon I threw it at him and said, "It's for throwing at people who ask stupid questions." (it's also good for throwing at the TV when one can bear it no longer.)

I used some Regia sock yarn in the Brasil colourway and 2mm dpns. The pattern, should you want one for your very own, is here. It's not hard to make, though the final point is a bit of a fiddle. It was fun.

I have also finished Cinxia from Knitty. Here's the back:

and here's the side:

Here's a close-up of the button that I added - a find in the "boutique" aka Charity/Thrift Shop:

I used some of the yarn I bought at in Yorkshire at SkipNorth last year. The good news is that I'm going again in March - excitement is mounting and I'm preparing my stash fund.

That's all for now. Pictures of the start of Lyra; Fulmar; the sock blanket and news of designing a cabled waistcoat/vest thingie (technical term) will follow.

I leave you with this article from "The Daily Telegraph" - she's knitted a brain?? I thought I was off the wall with the 'flu virus but a brain?

Black Dog 1, Blog 0

2009-01-15T09:37:00.003Z

The Black Dog has certainly been dogging my footsteps and the blog has suffered. There has, of course, been knitting - even at my very lowest I can usually manage to pick up a needle.

I blocked the three squares that make up the Estonian Potpourri :

and fastened them together in the rather strange (but ingenious) way the pattern directs. I then tackled the border, which required picking up stitches all the way around. There were a great many stitches on the needle at the end of it but eventually it was finished, even though it involved a number of the dreaded nupps.

Speaking of nupps - I have, it seems, been mispronouncing their name. That is, if this video is to be believed. Nancy Bush demonstrates how to knit one of the pesky little fellows and she says "nupp" to rhyme with "soup" (and not "cup", as I've been saying all along).

The border is done but needs to be blocked and I just haven't been able to raise the enthusiasm for crawling around on my hands and knees. I will certainly have to do it before I go to SkipNorth in March. It will be an essential item in the "what did you make with all the yarn you bought last year" questions which I know will be forthcoming.

There has been plenty of other knitting - Cinxia from Knitty, done; a hat for Diego, done; 371 squares of the sock yarn blanket, done; Fulmar, resurrected, back and front, done; Lyra, started; but pictures and all that jazz will have to wait because now I have to go to work.

Now the days are getting lighter and the Black Dog is slinking off, I'm hoping to blog a little more and knit a lot more.

Ester is Finished

2008-10-15T09:01:00.001+01:00

I finished Ester. Here she is in the garden:

I think it's turned out rather well. It's just the job for this time of the year when it's neither hot nor cold but you just need something on your shoulders. It did use up quite a lot of yarn - no bad thing with that green stuff.

Here she is from the side:

Although the blurb says you can wear this either way up, it feels more comfortable for me to wear it this way, so I have added a button to join the front. I didn't bother with a button hole but just sewed the thing together and attached the button over the top. It does mean I can't wear the shrug open and I do need to put it on over my head but this is not really a problem.

This was a quick, easy knit - gave me plenty of practice in making cables without recourse to a cable needle and used up oodles (tt) of the bright green tape, so all in all, a good thing. I'm thinking it might be nice in a slightly fuzzy (tt) yarn. Not so fuzzy that the cables are obliterated but just fuzzy enough to give a slight halo (this is a real technical term) - something like Rowan Kid Classic (if it hasn't been discontinued, something that Rowan is constantly doing. Don't get me started.) I'd probably have to use the yarn doubled to get the gauge, although the pattern is so straightforward, it wouldn't be difficult to adjust for any yarn.

For those who are interested the Sock Blanket is at 287 squares and looking good - I work on it while watching TV that I can't take my eyes off - a great deal of work is going on during the snooker.

The weather at the weekend was lovely, which makes quite a change. I spent some time visiting the Domestic Fowl Trust at Honeybourne (because I'm thinking of getting some chickens) and driving there made me realise how lovely England is.

Even the back field looks nice bathed in sunshine:

I'd better get on with a few more nupps.

Frustration

2008-10-07T11:24:00.004+01:00

The latest pattern in the Estonian Potpourri has almost driven me to throw the whole thing against the wall. The words don't match the chart. She says the nupps should be made on the private ("wrong") side of the fabric but yet the chart shows them on the public ("right") side. Even though I read the words, I took it upon myself to ignore them and made the nupps on the public side. The nupps weren't great, so I ripped it out and started again. Incredibly, I still ignored the "nupps on the private side" advice and, throwing caution to the winds, I made the nupps on the public side once again. While the nupps looked OK, they looked even better on the private side. That's when I read the instructions for the umpteenth time and came to my senses. Eventually, I produces this:

which I don't think looks too bad at all, considering it's unblocked. However, by this stage, the nupps were starting to get on my nerves, so the Estonian Potpourri has been laid aside for a short while.

In the meantime, I have booked my place at Skipnorth 2009. Ann-at-work and I had such a good time last year that we determined to go again. It was booked up within 48 hours (I blame that Ravelry) and it was only Lixie saving us a place that meant we scraped in by the skin of our teeth. Last year was my first year, so I wasn't involved in the "Have you used up any/all of the stash you bought last year?" but this year I'm sure to get grilled about the fate of the nine (9) kilos of yarn I bought - mostly at the instigation of Sue. Some is already in use - the green cashmerino for the Star "tablecloth":

the fuchsia stuff (technical term) for the Estonian Potpourri above and I'm thinking about Herbert Neibling's Lyra in some red skinny (tt) stuff.

There is an awful lot of yarn in nine kilos. I've got a pile of this:

Love the colour but I don't know why I keep on buying variegated yarn when I know that most of the time I don't like the look of it knitted up.

Close-up:

it doesn't look much better.

I started casting about for something to knit with it. I'm thinking a cardigan, I'm thinking knitted in one piece (or as few pieces as possible), I'm thinking a free pattern.

You'd think, wouldn't you, with all the free patterns available at Knitting Pattern Central, or Garn Studio, or Berroco, or on Ravelry, that there would be a pattern that would jump out and yell, "Knit me, Knit me!" I think the problem is just too much choice. If it were a case of "this or that", I probably wouldn't have a problem. As it is, I'm paralysed, like the rabbit in the headlights.

There are a few I quite like but I think Cinxia from Knitty ticks all the boxes. I've done a swatch (yes, I know, that was a pig flying past the window) and I can get the gauge required using 4mm needles. (The fact that the pattern calls for 4.5mm needles worries me not one whit - I am the original loose woman, after all.) Strangely, I don't have a 4mm circular needle (or at least not one that's available for cast on purposes) and, even worse, neither does my LYS. I shall have to wait.

Hence the frustration of the title. I had to do something. In my search for a suitable pattern for the variegated yarn, I came across Ester, also from Knitty. I have got to knit something and this is as good as anything. Ideally, I'd like to knit it without having to buy more yarn. This is the solution:

It's a cone of some slinky (tt) stuff, bought years ago in Italy. What possessed me? I have no idea.

It's a tape:

and "it's very green" - that from both 'im indoors and #1 son.

I started (without a swatch) on 6.5mm needles and pulled it right out after two rows because it was too big. There seem to be some sizing issues with the pattern - lots of people say it comes out really small, but I don't think it needed to be as big as all that. I started again with 5.5mm needles (and please note - I "wasted" no more time than knitting a swatch would have cost me) and I am off:

25 rows of 2x1 rib followed by the first cable cross:

Progress has been swift:

Here, I've just cast on the extra stitches at each side.

The weather is so vile, there is nothing to do but sit and knit and that's exactly what I'm going to do now.

I got a ribbon!

2008-09-22T11:17:00.004+01:00

I was stunned to get this:

the "I love your blog award" from Knit Yoga. As many of you know (if you are attending) I never win anything - apart from a book about crochet hats, which ended up being about as much use as a chocolate teapot.

Strings are attached, of course:

1. post this award on your blog;
2. add a link to the person who sent you the award;
3. nominate at least 4 other bloggers, and add their links as well; and
4. leave a comment at the new recipients' blogs, so they know they got an award.

Nominate four other bloggers! It's a big ask (as the Australians say) because I read so many blogs but I have racked my brain and I have whittled them down.

Here they are, in no particular order:

Lacefreak - her lace work is just stunning. Sometimes I just go there and look at the pictures.

Marie Fly Fly - beautiful photographs. I don't make garment very often but when I do it's probably going to be something that I saw on this blog.

The Whole Ball of Yarn(s) - knitting, cooking and reading. All the things I love best.

Up Knit Creek - because it's the best title for a knitting blog, ever. And because Annie recognised me at the Knitting and Stitching Show last year by the shawl I was wearing and we had a good old chat and shared our purchases.

Aside from racking my brain to choose the above, I 've also been knitting.

The Estonian Potpourri stole moves on apace. Block A is finished and appears here like an old rag:

It's constructed like a log cabin quilt block and uses different lace patterns for each strip. There are three blocks, each having a central square and eight lace strips, a total of twenty-seven patterns.

As I reported in my last post, the nupps were giving me grief. I really didn't like the ones in the central square of block A. I missed them out completely in block A, pattern 8.

When it came to the centre square of block B, I knew I would have to include the nupps and I knew I had to find a better way of doing them. I consulted here and there in cyberspace but finally resorted to my old stand-by: Montse Stanley's The Handknitter's Handbook (if it's not in this book, it's not worth knowing.)

She calls them "tufts" or "popcorns", which caused a fair amount of confusion when I was looking up "nupps". When I finally found them, I discovered that she has four different variations. I tried them all. In the end, I settled on what she calls a "Thimble Tuft".

I'll try to do some pictures when I a) grow a spare hand, or b) #1 daughter/photographer gets home from school, whichever is the sooner.

I think they look much better:

This is the centre square of block B.

Close-up of the nupps:

Nuppy (tt), or what?

Back on the Straight and Narrow

2008-09-10T16:35:00.004+01:00

Many thanks for your commiserations over the disaster with the computer. I think we may now be almost back to what passes for normal here in the rural backwater. The computer is happy to communicate with the camera but is giving the printer the cold shoulder. Let's hope I can work it out before I throw the printer straight through the monitor.

I have a confession to make. In all the flurry over the sudden death, I hardly lifted a knitting needle. What is worse I actually toyed with going over to the dark side. (No, not the Crochet!) I did a little bit of cross stitch and I must say I found it most relaxing. It's something I started a few years ago and worked on sporadically but then I laid it aside. For some reason I took it up again.

It's a picture of a peacock in a pear tree. Here's the part I've finished:

Here's a close-up of the corner block:

There's even a partridge (not in the pear tree, though):

However, it wasn't long before the call of the knitting needle became impossible to ignore.

I looked at the Estonian Pot Pourri pattern and, though it's a beautiful pattern, I wasn't happy with it. The reason for this was that I'd started it on the wrong needles. 2.5mm needles, while skinny (tt) enough for me, were too skinny for the yarn. The yarn is some unknown fuchsia stuff, bought during last year's SkipNorth. I bit the bullet. I ripped it out. Everything. The whole lot. Gone.

I started again. I took a 4mm needle and produced the central square:

The nupps, while not particularly difficult to execute, don't please me. I ripped a few back before I found the ever reliable Fleegle's instructions. They are a model of clarity.

I still don't like the nupps and the reason is, I think, that they are too unstructured for me. I like neatness. I like symmetry. I like precision. Nupps, by their very nature, can't be any of the above. It's a matter of how much slack the individual knitter leaves for each nupp and it's almost impossible to leave exactly the same amount of slack each time (at least it is for me, maybe it's a case of "practise makes perfect".) Anyway, the nupps are done, though I'm sure there will be more, sneaking up on me when I least expect it.

I did a few more patterns. Here they are, unblocked of course, so looking like an old rag:

The rain has been lashing down and the river has been rising. Thankfully, it is nowhere near the house, though the newly planted cabbages, broccoli and cauliflower almost got washed away. "Water in well" read the instructions. I think we can safely say that those instructions have been carried out to the letter.

Here's the back field last Saturday at 10.45am.

The flash went off.

Nothing to do but sit and knit.

Back from the Dead

2008-08-30T17:09:00.002+01:00

That's not me - that's the computer. The screen went black, the brainbox went bang and I went barmy. Talk about the rural backwater - I feel as if I've been cut off from civilisation for ever. The blog is bereft; Ravelry is buzzing away; knitters the world over are knitting and chatting and generally having a good time and I am sitting in a Victorian agricultural worker's cottage in the back end of nowhere tearing out my hair.

My address book has gone down a black hole (though there may be hope of getting it back, when I can work out how to do it), so if you want me to get in touch with you, you will have to get in touch with me first. Does that make sense? It sounds slightly Irish to me (don't start writing in - I love the Irish, I'm married to one, after all).

So that's where I've been. More later.

Bag of Bags

2008-07-26T13:10:00.003+01:00

Here's the "Bag of Bags" in all its recycled glory:

The Pattern (such as it is)

You will need:
"Yarn"
5mm needles, dpns or circulars. (I use circulars for just about everything these days - you can use straights to start with but for the body of the bag you will need dpns or circs)

First make your "yarn". I used Ruth's instructions here, but there are other methods - Google is your friend.

Using 5mm needles cast on 40 stitches and work 22 rows in garter stitch. (Knit every row). This rectangle forms the bottom of the bag.

Using 5mm dpns or circs pick up and knit 11 stitches down the first short side of your rectangle. Pick up and knit 40 sts from the cast on edge. Pick up and knit 11 stitches down the second short side of your rectangle. 102 sts. Place marker to indicate the beginning of the round.

Work in the round, in stocking stitch (knit every round) until the body of the bag measures 12 inches (30 cm) - or more, or less. It's your bag. You decide.

To shape the handles:

(Knit 14, Cast off 12, Knit 14, Cast off 11) twice.

You will have four groups of 14 stitches. Leave three of these groups on stitch holders and work back and forth on the remaining 14 stitches.

Join yarn and work 1 row knit and 1 row purl.

Decrease row: *K1, SSK, K to last 3 stitches, K2tog, K1
Work three rows st st (i.e. P 1 row, K 1 row, P 1 row)
Repeat from * until 4 stitches remain.

Work 8 rows st st on these 4 sts. Do not cast off.

Repeat this shaping on the next group of 14 stitches, then graft the remaining stitches together to form the handle. You could use a three needle bind off if you prefer but grafting is neater (and it's only four stitches - you can do it!)

Repeat the whole performance on the other two groups of stitches to make the other handle.

In hindsight (perfect 20/20 vision), I might work 5 rows between the decreases on the handles and stop with 6 or 8 stitches remaining. This would make a fatter (technical term) handle, which might be better.

Use bag at supermarket/farm shop/farmers' market and feel smug - you have made something out of nothing and all it cost you was a small investment of your time.

Send me a picture if you make one - I'd love to see them.

The back field is basking in sunshine and has been mowed:

It really is the rural backwater.

"Just START, Kate!"

2008-07-17T10:12:00.004+01:00

That's what I've been telling myself for weeks. Just START. Just sit down at that keyboard and blog.

Well, I finally listened to myself, and here I am.

I've been doing sporadic knitting, which sounds like something you need to see the doctor for (or at least get some cream to apply.)

Knitting on the green "tablecloth" continues. I'm now on round 95, and it's slightly larger than it was when I was on round 94 - if it's scrunched up (technical term), it can fit into my less than massive palm. There is no picture. It's just a small, green, scrunched up mess.

The sock yarn blanket has reached 232 squares. Here are a couple of the latest ones:

I've been knitting in the ends as I go and then snipping them off. There are an awful lot of ends and they seem to get all over the place. In order to try and keep them in the one spot, I've been putting them into a jar:

I think they look quite attractive, in a slightly off-the-wall way.

I've also made a "Bag of Bags". I cut up all those plastic bags that, like milk bottles and wire coat-hangers, seem to breed if you turn your back on them for half a second and made "yarn". I used these instructions for cutting the yarn and about six or seven bags. Here it is in progress:

It's finished now and there will be a picture of the complete article and even the "pattern" (such as it is) in a later post. I'm thinking about making a hat with plastic bags, possibly modelled on the sou'wester, beloved of old sea dogs, to protect myself from Mother Nature. It is raining. Again.

Home Again

2008-07-01T16:40:00.005+01:00

Here I am, back again, having had a lovely time with Mother in Italy. There wasn't much evidence of any knitting (though I did see some one crocheting on the train) and there is only one tiny yarn shop in Sorrento, which didn't have a very exciting range of yarns:

I may have mentioned that I won a prize in the Yarn Smackdown competition and the book arrived while I was away.

It's about hats, which is a good thing but it's about crochet hats, which is not such a good thing. I know the basics of crochet but have never really taken to it - whenever I have tried to make a doily, it's turned out like a hat; when I try to make a hat, it turns out flat. I'm hoping this book will spur me on to greater effort with the crochet hook.

To that end I have made "Lively" and I don't think it's turned out too badly - #1 son, pictured here, has "commandeered" it:

Here's a view of the top:

The central section, where you "close the hole" in the middle, is a little "plouffy" (technical term) but all in all, I'm very pleased with it. It was quick and easy but used a ton of yarn.

My only real criticism of the book is that it doesn't tell us which yarns were used but advises us to use "worsted weight" or "sports weight" - which isn't a big help for me. I would have preferred to know the yardage of the yarns used, thus allowing me to make a reasonable stab at substituting yarn. However, I suppose it's just a hat - it's bound to fit somebody, somewhere.

I've also been working on the sock yarn blanket, though it's a little hot to have the whole thing on your lap at the moment. I've reached 206 squares and here's #1 daughter hiding under the thing:

and again:

Many thanks again to those kind readers who have sent me yarn to add to the growing pile.

I've also been working on the green "tablecloth", but there's no picture of that. It suffers from the usual downfall of all lace knitting - it looks like a crumpled handkerchief until blocked.

I have also been wrestling with getting the "garden" here in the rural backwater into some semblance of order and have made a bed and planted various vegetables. There's not much to see at the moment but perhaps when there is, you will be treated to a picture.

No recent picture of the back field - the nettles are so high I can't get anywhere near it but if my plans for a flame gun come to fruition, there's no telling if there will be a back field left.

Flying Visit

2008-06-07T10:55:00.006+01:00

This really is a "flying" visit - I am off to Sorrento (yet again) with mother and we are leaving tomorrow! What with all the chaos at work, the fact that I'm going so soon simply slid by me. I thought I'd better check in here before you all thought I'd gone down another black hole.

There hasn't been enough knitting done lately, due to the aforementioned chaos at work (I was there 35 hours between Sunday and Wednesday - I usually work 12 hours a week.). I have only managed to do about three squares on the sock yarn blanket, which is now up to 280 squares. However, there has been a very generous offer from Kelly - she sent me some yarn!

At this point, I should be showing you pictures of said yarn. Blogger is playing up, as usual, so there may be no pictures today. Edited later: Blogger has relented - we have lift-off.

Kelly sent me four skeins of sock yarn:

Plymouth "Happy Feet" a beautiful blue colour way:

Brown Sheep "Wildfoote" in colour "Sonatina":

Lorna's Laces "Shepherd Sock" in colour "Childsplay", which looks like a box of crayons - yellow, green, blue, orange, purple, pink:

Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn in colour "Peacock", which is, not surprisingly, the colour of a peacock - green, purple, blue. That's the one on the right - for some strange reason there is no close-up of that.

How very kind and generous! Kelly has a yarn shop in Circle Pines, Minnesota and I would urge you to go and visit her. I'm not quite sure where Circle Pines is, but if you are anywhere near it, you will surely know where to find it. Go and say hello from me.

Just in case any lace knitters out there have been in suspended animation for the past week, I'd just like to point out that Lacis have reprinted Herbert Niebling's "Lyra" - a very beautiful and very rare pattern that was selling on e-bay for about $150 only last week. Needless to say, it's in the post.

I leave you with the back field:

Next week's back field will be "un prato", and if I can find one, you shall have one.

Ciao!

Water, water, everywhere

2008-05-31T17:29:00.005+01:00

I don't know about you, but in our house my stash is threatening to take over. It has wormed its way into every room in the house and is tucked into all sorts of hidey holes. There's quite a lot in the hallway. It's stored in two hanging basket type thingies (technical term). At least, they were hanging, until they fell down (surely they weren't too heavy?) a while ago and laziness and sheer cack-handedness with drills and hooks and such like meant that they remained on the floor in an untidy heap.

It's been raining rather a lot lately. It rained so much that water got in under the front door, unknown to me at first, since we never use it. It was only when I came to dig out some yarn from the un-hanging basket that I realised it was wet.

I spent quite a long time yesterday sorting out the wet yarn; putting the wet yarn into skeins; wetting the yarn some more, with clean water and shampoo this time; hanging the yarn to dry:

and finally making it into a neat little row:

That is, from left to right, some Rowan Ribbon Twist; Rowan Polar; Rowan Rowanspun 4 ply; Blackberry Ridge wool/silk lace weight; unknown cotton (what was I thinking?); Louisa Harding Impression; Colinette Skye.

I think I have managed to save the day.

I haven't forgotten the meme - I'm just biding my time.

Long time, no hear

2008-05-28T17:43:00.008+01:00

Yes, I know, I know. It's been far too long. It's a bit like when you don't write your thank-you letters, there and then, on Boxing Day. The longer you don't do it, the harder it becomes.

Here I am now, though and rest assured there has been no lack of knitting here in the rural backwater.

I finished the Wrap Me Up wrap and there has been a request for more pictures. Here are a few:

The front:

The side:

Close-up of the pink bobbles:

I didn't add any beads in the end - it just seemed that to make any impact at all the beads would have had to be huge. I added a few buttons for ornamentation but, strangely, there don't seem to be any pictures and no prospect of any in the near future - the camera has gone to Spain with the offspring and will be back later this week.

I am still working on the Sock Yarn blanket (174 squares at the last count.) I have received yarn donations from Jan (aka Wibbo)

and Alex (aka Little Lixie)

That little lot is certainly helping to keep me going. It's a great TV watching project and offers some well needed light relief from all that lace, which I seem to have on the needles all the time.

In fact, the green lace "tablecloth" has been languishing on the piano for the last few weeks, although I did pick it up and do a couple of rounds this afternoon. No pictures - the camera's in Spain, remember?

You know I died in the Yarn Smackdown? Well, all is not completely lost. There is a prize draw for the fallen in each round and I won a prize! I never win anything, ever, so this was a lovely surprise. I have won a book, which is good - I love books. It's a book about hats, even better - I love hats and never leave the house without one, ever. The only slight fly in the ointment is that it's a book about crochet hats. I don't love crochet - I can crochet but I don't. However, never look a gift horse in the mouth, as they say. Maybe this book will be the thing to spur me on to greater effort in the crochet department. It hasn't arrived yet and I'm thinking it must be somewhere on the high seas (or swallowed by the good old Royal Mail, never to be seen again.)

I have been tagged by Annie and I'm well aware of the fact. However, I need some time to mull over the questions (and any answers I may want to share with you), so that will be for another day. I promise that that day will not be too far in the future.

The weather is so grim at the moment (hasn't stopped raining for what feels like days); life is slightly odd since the offspring are away and that always makes the house seem strange; my place of work is closed for a week while the new owners "take over" - I live so near that I can hear them chucking things in the skip and tearing up the car park with a digger. I'm hoping there will be something left for me to go back to next week. Really, the only thing left to do is knit and that's what I'm going to do right now.

I'm obsessed

2008-04-26T21:05:00.005+01:00

I'm obsessed with the sock yarn blanket. It's growing like Topsy. I keep thinking, "Just one more square and then I'll go to bed/do the washing up/cook the dinner/go to work" (delete as appropriate).

We are up to ninety-seven squares. It sounds a lot but it doesn't look much:

I did say that I would just go and buy the sock yarn but I went whizzing into my LYS the other day, only to find a very limited supply of Regia and plenty of ultra-costly Araucania. Needless to say, I didn't bite. Jo's shop, Crafty Cottage, in Warwick has closed down (boo-hoo!), so no joy there. It's ordering on-line or begging from my readers. I'm not above begging, so if you really can't help yourself - send sock yarn!

I am taking the green star shawl very slowly, possibly because of the aforementioned obsession, and am at round 54. No picture - it's the usual lace knitter's photographic nightmare - a pile of dental floss. In this case it's olive green but to all intents and purposes, it's dental floss.

The Wrap Me Up Wrap is blocking even as I write:

Here's the picot hem:

This is the ruffle:

and here's a lace rib panel:

It's taking much longer to dry than a lace shawl, so it's good that today has been the hottest day of the year to date (69F). I'm sorry I can't do the temperature in centigrade- I had my head round it perfectly when I lived in Italy but when I bought 'im indoors a fancy thermometer with indoor and outdoor readings and he set it to Fahrenheit - well, that was it. I don't know if I'm coming or going. Suffice it to say that today was hot and the wrap is drying nicely. It should be dry by tomorrow and then it's just a case of putting an edging on the long sides and a dragon's tooth edging on one of the short ends and I am done. Just in time for it to be too warm to wear.

Spring appears to have sprung here in the rural backwater - I leave you with the back field "in the green".

(Later in the day my "friends" were lurking but I gave them a very wide berth.)

I'm so dead

2008-04-16T21:42:00.009+01:00

I am speaking to you today from beyond the grave. The Yarn Smackdown has smacked me down. I am dead.

Killed, on my own doorstep by a beautiful lime green hat from lisalaraine. I thought all was well, as the postman had passed me by in the morning. Don't be fooled. Three thirty saw the Parcel Force van at my door and there I was - laid low.

The kids came home.

"How are you, Mummy?"

"Well, since you ask, I'm dead."

Wails from both.

Then they saw the hat, lying on the table in one of those re-sealable bags (the ones that I can never get resealed).

#1 daughter snatched it up - "Here's the evidence!"

#1 son said, "Here's the murder weapon."

I think they've been watching too much CSI (and if that Horatio Cane isn't the hottest redhead on TV, I don't know who is.)

The Sock Yarn Blanket is starting to take over my life. I started by making it five blocks wide, just to see if I liked the idea of it. Well, I like the idea of it. So now I'm thinking twenty squares wide, so it can act as a "throw" on the sofa. I don't know how long it will need to be. Let's just say, "long".

Shelly Kang (who made the original sock yarn blanket) asked for yarn donations. Then she got the Yarn Harlot involved and soon became buried in sock yarn. I was thinking of applying the simpler expedient of going to the yarn shop and buying the stuff but, hey, if anyone has spare sock yarn...

I'm up to forty-three squares now and I'm still not fed up with it, which must be some kind of a record.

I need to go and knit another few (squillion) squares.

Third time lucky?

2008-04-13T13:29:00.004+01:00

I've been trying (and trying and trying) to start a tablecloth, which I will use as a shawl, of course. It's the "Tablecloth with center (sic) star" from "Anna" February 1987. I am using the olive green Cashwool I got in Yorkshire and my trusty Hiya Hiya 2.5mm circular needles.

It all seemed to be going fairly well until I managed to make a complete pig's ear (technical term) of one of the double decreases used to close the top of the petals. I didn't discover this until the next round, by which time there was a huge hole. As I was so near the beginning (just about twenty rounds in), I decided to rip out and start again. I was quickly back on track and then I got to about round 45 and just didn't like the look of the area around where the "magic" loop came out. I tried readjusting the tension with a sewing needle. No better. I tried dropping down the offending four stitches and knitting them back up. Even worse. I carried on for two more rounds and then I just knew I wasn't happy with it and I didn't think I ever would be. Out it came.

Part of the difficulty was that in this particular area there were YOs at the end (or beginning) of the needle. It seemed to make a huge hole and just accentuated the ladder effect that all lace knitters need to guard against when changing needles while working a piece in the round. I'm trying to counteract that this time round by not doing a YO at the beginning (or end) of the needle but waiting until the next round and picking up the running thread between the needles. This seems to be tightening that area a little bit, though I'm only up to round sixteen so I haven't done that more than once so far.

I'm almost to the point of flinging it across the room.

I think this was the first try:

I started the Wrap Me Up wrap again, this time using Rowan Tapestry in the rainbow colourway:

This is much, much better in my opinion, though I wasn't able to buy enough yarn in my LYS, so I'm now stalled for lack of yarn - it seems to be taking a long time to get here. One of my knitting friends has just made this same wrap using the same yarn. She has yarn left and has very generously offered to send it to me - I bet that arrives before Rowan gets round to sending it.

For light relief, I've started a "Sock Yarn Blanket". Garter stitch mitred squares using left over sock yarn and joining together as I go. I've made about thirty squares, so it is growing, if rather slowly. This is obviously going to be a long term project.

Ann-at-work's Smart car has died. She is blaming it on all the yarn that I crammed into it on the way back from SkipNorth. I am not so sure and think there may be a deeper, darker reason. She's got a very zizzy (technical term) new Golf and my first thought when she appeared in it was, "Wow, we could fit tons of yarn in that!"

There were going to be pictures in this post but Blogger is playing up (as is often the case these days) and doesn't seem to want to play with me. I'll publish this anyway - just so you know I'm still alive and knitting, and come back later and try to add the pictures. (Edited later: finally got the pictures uploaded.)

Oh, and I'm through to the second round of the Yarn Smackdown and have just sent off a pink number in Rowan Kid Classic to my victim in Maryland - little does she know her death is on its way (though I expect mine from her is too - it's all down to the USPS and the good old Royal Mail at this stage. May the best postman win.)

Last week they said it would snow.

It did:

Kauni Complete

2008-03-18T14:14:00.005Z

The Kauni has been lurking, untouched, for a few months; partly because I couldn't face the picking up of the 175 stitches around the sleeve opening; partly because I feared I may run out of yarn. Decisive action was called for and to that end the whole job lot went to SkipNorth with me last weekend.

Though it took me all of Friday evening and part of Saturday, too, I finally managed to pick up all the stitches and was ready to whirl my way gaily down the final sleeve. I've been such a good girl and have resisted the call of the nine (9) kilos of lace weight yarn I can't quite believe I bought in Yorkshire; the call of the Niebling patterns I acquired; the spindle and roving I got to learn to spin with; the wrap pattern that I got, with the yarn already wound for it. I turned away from all of them and I finished the Kauni - just in time to present it to 'im indoors on his birthday.

The front:

The back:

All done and am I pleased.

I didn't have time to wash and block it so I did a little steaming. Basically, I laid a wet cloth over the knitting and very gently (hardly touching at all) placed a hot iron over the cloth to force steam through the fibres. My knitting is fairly even, anyway, so this was enough. It also sorted out the slight tendency of the back neckband to flip to the outside. Never underestimate the power of blocking!

I've now started on the Wrap Me Up Wrap but things are not going well. There is nothing wrong with the pattern (except there are no charts and I'd really rather have charts now) but it's all down to the choice of yarn. I bought three huge skeins (about a kilo) of brown/beige/grey variegated yarn from Coldspring Mill while we were in Yorkshire, specifically for this wrap. However, I am not happy with progress.

Here's the first (of 21) blocks:

See, I just don't think that this pattern does anything for this yarn (or maybe vice versa). I think the pattern needs longer runs of colour - something like Noro Silk Garden or Kureyon, or maybe Rowan Tapestry. So now I have a few options - frog the thing right now or keep on going for a bit longer (but I don't think it's going to get any better); order some more yarn to make it (more research needed and a money tree in the garden would be handy); root through the stash to see if there is enough of something suitable. I know there isn't - I'd have to mix and match colours and yarns and when Debbie New or Prudence Mapstone do that it looks like a work of art, when I do it, it looks like a dog's dinner.

Also, what to do with a kilo of brown/beige/grey variegated yarn from Coldspring. Any ideas?

Saturday field is, in fact, Sunday field this week:

I don't know how that happened - it has been raining quite a bit but the river seemed to creep up on me while my back was turned.

SkipNorth

2008-03-10T15:29:00.009Z

Here I am, back from SkipNorth. A few pounds lighter in the pocket, a few pounds heavier in the yarn department. (I am told that those who attended last year's SkipNorth managed to buy half a ton of yarn at the KCG alone - that's 1120 pounds, which is about the weight of an adult American alligator.)

We stayed in the Youth Hostel in Haworth - a beautiful Victorian mill owner's mansion, set above the village:

We were well fed and watered and had plenty of room to knit and spin and show off our talents.

It was lovely to meet so many like-minded souls - some of whom I "know" from the blogging world, others who were completely new to me.

A certain amount of stash enhancement took place with visits to Coldspring Mill, The Skep, The Knitting and Crochet Guild and Wingham Wool Works.

Coldspring is a funny sort of a place. The downstairs is full of yarn of all descriptions - some cheap and cheerful acrylic; some unnamed (but easily identified) "designer" yarns; some cones of wool or cotton or silk but all a bit fat (technical term) for me. Upstairs there is a large selection of camping gear and outdoors stuff.

I was very restrained (really I was). I bought some brown/cream/grey variegated wool to make the "Wrap Me Up Wrap" (no picture yet, I was too busy winding the yarn for when the pattern arrives that I didn't have a spare hand for the camera). In spite of the treasure trove, I contented myself with just that.

We then moved on to the Skep and because it is so small, half of the party went in and half went first to a nearby haberdasher's. A real old fashioned place with every bit of kit for knitting, sewing, quilting, paper crafts. There were plenty of buttons in little drawers with one example button on the front - no stupid little cards here - you can buy exactly the number of buttons you require (even if it's one). Here, I had the great good fortune to snap up a box of nickel plated T-pins, which are indispensable for blocking lace projects and extremely hard to come by.

Back at the Skep I bought two balls of sock yarn because Jo at Crafty Cottage in Warwick has twisted my arm into teaching a sock knitting class (of which more later), so I need to knit a few pairs of socks into various stages of completion. That's all I bought. (I did say I was very restrained.)

In fact, I was saving myself for the Knitting and Crochet Guild, because I knew they had plenty of just the sort of skinny (technical term) yarn that I like.

I wasn't disappointed. There was skinny (tt) yarn on cones from floor to ceiling. We had to ask the man for a step ladder to go adventuring up to the higher reaches. Thanks partly to my own greed and inability to pass up a bargain (all cones were £1.00 - that's about 50 cents to you lot across the pond) and partly to that great enabler, Sue, I managed to acquire eleven cones of yarn - various fibres (some unknown), various colours. This is enough skinny yarn to keep me knitting far into the next century. I don't suppose I'll be here then but if there is no knitting in heaven, then I'm not going.

I was also tipped off (by that minx Sue again) to the sale of old Anna magazines for £1.00 a go. I snaffled five containing Herbert Niebling lace patterns and considering these are very rare and going for about $150 on ebay I don't think I did too badly. Again, there is enough lace knitting to keep me going for a good while yet, my only difficulty being in deciding which lace to knit next.

I seemed to end up with a huge bag of yarn - yes, those three bags are all mine:

(though I really spent very little) and there were concerns about how it could possibly fit into a Smart car for the journey home. There were visions of me being packed into the car with only a pair of eyes on show. In the end, it all fitted perfectly:

Sunday saw us visiting Wingham Wool Works and while it is mostly stuff for spinners - a fibre art that I have not yet succumbed to - there was other stuff too. I bought a cone of "mucky green" (tt) raw silk (once again, thrust into my hands by the demon Sue) that is just lovely and even though I've just told you I haven't succumbed to the spinning bug, I bought a drop spindle and some Cheviot roving that I am assured by someone in the know will be a good thing for a beginner to start with.

I know you haven't had "Saturday Back Field" for a while, so here's the back field where I was on Saturday:

This is the view from the terrace outside Coldspring Mill. Dark, windswept and brooding - no wonder Emily Bronte wrote "Wuthering Heights"!

That's all for now - I'm off to fondle some yarn (and, let's face it, I've got plenty of yarn to fondle).

Two Socks at Once?

2008-02-27T21:21:00.004Z

I don't knit socks. This is what I always say to people. Then I think back over the socks I have knitted - several pairs (yellowish, green stripes, blue stripes) for 'im indoors; several pairs for me - plain but fancy yarn. Then I got fed up with knitting plain socks, however fancy the yarn so I made the False Flame Crew socks; Amber's socks; Sideways Socks Supreme (all from "Socks, socks, socks"); Pomatomus and Monkey Socks (both by Cookie A); Travelling Vine and Kaibashira (in progress as we speak). So I do knit socks, it's just that plain socks bore me and fancy socks always involve making two exactly the same, which is tedious. Then I saw this article in Knitty, about how you could knit two socks at the same time, one inside the other and i thought, "I can do that."

Some people (and she knows exactly who she is) were sceptical - they thought I'd gone right round the bend and assured me that there were treatment options for my affliction. When I tried the cast on I was inclined to agree. I put it down and decided it was a ridiculous idea. But it was still there in the back of my mind. I tried again. I made this:

See, that's the cast on. I am using two different colours. I might be slightly bonkers but I am not a complete maniac- this is a practice piece, not ~~a real sock~~ real socks.

I knitted a bit and I even learned how to purl:

I knitted some more:

I made a mistake (easily done) and corrected it (not so easy but not impossible). This looks as if it might be doable. I might just give it a try. I'd want to start with a "plain" pair but, since I can now knit and purl, I don't see why some sort of pattern might not be possible. Now all of you think I've lost my marbles - I just know you do.

In other news, I have signed up for Yarn Smackdown, which I heard about on Ravelry, that den of iniquity. It's a bit like the Hat Attack but arranged in "brackets", so you play against one other knitter and then the winner moves on to play the winner of another bracket. We'll be knitting a hat, so to get myself into the swing of things, I've knitted yet another hat.

This is the Halley's Comet Hat by Marnie MacLean, which I also saw on Ravelry. I've used the same Jaeger Shetland Aran as for the Hat Attack. Same 4mm needles (though I might have been better using slightly larger ones). The pattern says the hat would benefit from blocking. Well, so it would but I couldn't think of a way of doing it apart from wetting it, putting it on and letting it dry on my own head and I didn't think that would be too comfortable. Various options were thought of, assessed and discarded as impractical.

Finally, I settled on this:

Here she is stretched over one of my black hats. It fits very well, but the hat says "Do not wear in the rain" (Don't get me started on how ridiculous that statement is) so I may have to cover the black hat with a plastic bag before I can wet the Comet and stretch it over.

Here's the side view:

I'm quite pleased with that.

Ravelry Day at Crafty Cottage in Warwick is on Saturday. If anyone is nearby, come and say hello!

Dead as a Door Nail

2008-02-20T17:18:00.004Z

At 11.05 am GMT on Tuesday 19th February 2008, I was killed by a beautiful blue hat, seen her modelled by Ann-at-work.

Back view:

Side view:

I gave it to Ann-at-work because I am really not a blue person. It's a lovely hat. Beautifully knitted. The yarn is some sort of Lopi-type, by the name of "Emmebi Diamond", though I haven't been able to find out much about it. It was made for me by my assassin, sadly blogless, but Savitaks on Ravelry. The colour is more true in the first image above. For any geeks out there the cables on the hat indicate the numbers 0 to 15 in binary code. I never understood binary - you'd think it would be easier, since it only requires counting to two, but I have never found it so.

I really enjoyed the Hat Attack and hope to join in the next one, later in the year. I also want to persuade Ann-at-work to enter. She is, of course, a neo-knitter. She is also my star pupil, having knitted two hats (one of her own devising), a scarf and a pair of socks. Technically, she's only knitted a quarter of a pair of socks, but considering she has mastered the short row toe and is about to meet the short row heel (which is exactly the same), I don't think she is doing too badly. Of course, she had a very good teacher...

Since I finished the Travelling Vine socks I thought I'd better buy more sock yarn. One swift trip to Crafty Cottage in Warwick later and this is what had happened:

Opal sock yarn, called Hummel.

Opal sock yarn, called Picture.

More Tofutsies, which has already been cast on:

This is Kaibashira, from MagKnits. As you may know, I hate knitting plain socks because I just get so bored. This sock satisfies my desire for a bit of pattern with my desire to use fancy (tt) yarn.

There is a lovely ruffled picot edge. Here's a close up:

Cast on 187 stitches? I thought I was making a sock for an elephant. I just wish I'd read the pattern a little more closely. Had I done so, I probably wouldn't have used the fancy, double needle, very stretchy cast on, which has become my cast on of choice for cuff down socks. It's not really a problem but neither is it really necessary.

Even though feather and fan, of which this is a variation, is not my favourite lace pattern, I'm really liking the way these are looking.

Incidentally, Jo at Crafty Cottage is having a Ravelry Day on Saturday 1st March. It sounds like it's going to be great fun, so if you are anywhere near why don't you come on over and say hello. I'll be the one in the hat, the shawl and the fancy socks.

Dead Man Walking

2008-02-14T19:29:00.003Z

I've been a bit quiet lately because I've been away for a day or so (only to Bedford for a party, nothing earth shattering); I've been knitting like fury and I'm almost dead.

Did you hear about the Sock Wars? Well, I've just done the same with Hat Attack.

The pattern came out at about 1.45pm my time on Saturday afternoon. I had to hold back 'im indoors from leaving for Bedford until the pattern was safely printed off. We'd had some information about gauge/ suitable yarn and so on in the run-up to the start. I had the hat cast on before we left the rural backwater and continued to knit in the car until it was too dark to see. No chance of sending the thing off before Monday, so I was very leisurely about it - though I must say I pulled out the knitting as the party wore on - no-one batted an eyelid. I got the hat done late on Saturday evening.

Some competitors seem to be taking the thing very seriously but then, I even swatched, which goes to show how serious about the whole thing I am being. (For those unfamiliar with my usual attitude to swatching - I never swatch, ever.)

My assassin (blogless) is in Estonia and has already sent my hat, though I have not received it (hence the title of this post).

I have sent my hat:

to my victim, who is in Belgium. It appears that she is still alive, as I had a message on Ravelry from her today but her days are numbered.

We're doomed.

My brother-in-law arrived from Italy yesterday.

"Any news?" he asked.

"Well, I could tell you the Horse Story."

"Oh, I know all about that - I read it on your blog."

Harrumph.

The Horse Story

2008-02-02T23:39:00.000Z

I wasn't going to tell The Horse Story, because this is a blog about knitting, right? But there have been so many comments and questions that I feel I have no option but to reveal The Horse Story (and the even more startling follow-up.)

Last Sunday afternoon, sitting on the sofa in my own house in the rural backwater and minding my own business, the back door suddenly burst open and #1 daughter erupted into the house. She was weeping, she was wailing, she was unable to speak and, strangely, she was shoeless. All sorts of horror flashed through my mind but when I finally managed to calm the child down sufficiently, she told me that she had been coming home, through the now famous "back field", and that one of the horses had rushed at her and scared her. She ran away so fast that the new red shoes came off in the general melee and were now lying in the back field. "No problem, don't worry, darling. Mummy will get the shoes back," said this brave woman, in cavalier fashion.

Out I went, over the back fence with #1 daughter in the background, pointing out the shoes. The horse was there. The horse came up to me.

Here's the horse in a quieter moment (just in case you've forgotten what a horse looks like):

I held out my hand in greeting and the bugger bit me on the inside of the forearm.

This is what it looks like now, almost a week later (and slightly blurry from the contortionist's tricks I had to go through to get this picture):

That was bad enough, but on Wednesday evening I was alerted to flashing blue lights in the pub's car park. Thinking that my workplace had gone on fire once again, I shot out of the house to find out what was happening. Only to meet a fireman, in full regalia, walking up the road, shining a torch and "looking for a hydrant" (I would have thought there should be a list of where they all are, but that's just me and my quirky outlook on life.) "So what's the problem?" I ask and he replies, "Oh, nothing much, it's just a fire in some stables at the bottom of the pub car park."

Oh, Dear God.

I've been expecting the "four o'clock knock" ever since. "Excuse me, Madam, but we have reason to believe that you have a grudge against this horse. Would you mind accompanying us to the station to assist with our enquiries?"

Of course, I have nothing to fear. I was at home all the time, with 'im indoors. The only problem being that when I said that to him, he said, "Were you?"

So far, I'm still at liberty but who knows how long that state of affairs will apply?

For the record, even though I'm not the biggest fan of our equine friend, I really wouldn't wish being burned to a crisp on him and as it turned out he wasn't even singed - no horses were harmed in the telling of this story.

There's been a bit of knitting:

That's the "Audrey" bag, not quite finished yet. The handle is meant to be a silver chain with yarn woven through it. I'm not sure I'm so keen on that idea and #1 daughter says I should make a little handle like "Tilly's legs" (that would be the I-cord, then.) Maybe, maybe not.

Follow-up to the Noni bag saga - many thanks to all for their comments re dyeing, not dyeing, what colour to dye and so on. I was most cheered by several people who have said that having one odd flower is "interesting", "quirky", "fun" and all what not. (I might be starting to come round to that way of thinking.)

The best thing of all?

I had an email from Lisa at First4Yarns, where I bought the Cascade, that turned into the bag, that turned a different colour, that ended up being part of the house that Kate knitted.

I can't do better than just tell you what she wrote:

Hi Kate,

Just been browsing online and came to your Blog, I can't believe how the bag has turned out ! That is the first time I have seen that the yarn changes colour when felted, what happened?

If you would like to have another try I am quite willing to send you some more free of charge as I feel this shouldn't have happened.

I will let Cascade know x

Lisa :()

Talk about customer service above and beyond the call of duty! I haven't replied to Lisa yet because I'm not quite sure of the etiquette of how to go on in this situation. Any advice? (Take the yarn and run has already sprung to mind...)

Oh, and, in case you were wondering the red shoes were retrieved from over the rainbow and all is now well (apart from the bruise, more yellow by the minute.)

Disappointment

2008-01-29T08:32:00.000Z

I think just about the last thing I wrote was about how green the Noni bag turned out to be. I may have mentioned something about the uncertainty of the felting process, especially since I have a front-loading washing machine. Never a truer word spoken.

This is the bright lime green bag after felting:

It has turned what can only be described as a "mucky brown" (technical term). On the plus side, it is a more suitable size for a bag. I'm trying to think what to do with it because I certainly don't want it to be that colour. Dye it black? Remove the colour and dye it back to the lime green it started off as? Dye it with what? Throw it behind the sofa and forget about it for a while? Everything is possible.

Not content with the bag itself turning into a nightmare, the flowers are not far behind. There are five flowers. I had already felted one because I couldn't wait to see how it would turn out. I made the others and felted them. I'm sure you will spot the problem:

Guess which one I did first? That's something else with a whole lot of questions attached.

I decided to get back to something where I know what I'm doing:

This is clue 2 of the Spring Shawl Surprise and it's still looking good. The difficulty has stepped up a bit in this part - the Bird's Eye pattern at the top centre there doesn't have that plain private side row but is patterned on both sides. It's not impossible but you do need to keep your wits about you.

Here's a shot of the side border:

It's the usual lace-in-progress story - it looks like a crumpled handkerchief until the blocking, so you will just have to use your imagination.

After the setback with the Noni bag, I thought I'd have a go at a little bag in the latest "Let's Knit" magazine. It's called "Audrey" and consists of two moss stitch squares, two cabled squares and a garter stitch gusset. The handle is meant to be a chain with yarn wrapped around it but I might do something different there. The recommended yarn is RYC Cashsoft Aran and only one ball is required. Of course, I'm not using that yarn because there is so much yarn already in the house. I'm using Debbie Bliss wool/cotton doubled and size 4.5mm needles. Strangely, there is no gauge given for the pattern, though we do have finished dimensions. It's a small bag but I think it's meant to be dinky (technical term).

Here's the cabled square, which I did without the aid of a cable needle (oh, the joy! the liberation!):

Here are the rest of the ingredients, looking slightly wonky (tt):

And, finally, just because you haven't seen it for a while, I give you a soggy back field:

No sign of the horses, one of which bit me the other day (don't ask).

Bag, socks and some lace.

2008-01-10T16:27:00.001Z

Ages ago I got some Cascade 220 and a Noni Bag pattern from First4Yarns in Wales. I made a flower and felted it but then laid the project aside. Having spent two days this week waiting in the Orthodontist's surgery(don't ask), I decided it was time to get on with the bag because it's nice, mindless knitting. (Incidentally, there was another woman waiting who was also knitting - proof, it it were needed, that I am not that salmon swimming the wrong way down the one-way street.)

I finished knitting the bag and it looks big enough to be used in the sack race - let's hope the felting shrivels (technical term) it to a more suitable size.

It's also very green, more green than I remember:

The flowers are even pinker than they were:

Felting the flower hasn't really toned it down much:

What was I thinking?

My original reading of the pattern had me making nine flowers, on closer inspection I discovered that I had to make "5 9-petal flowers", so that was a stroke of luck. All the knitting is now done and I'm doing some deep breathing exercises to prepare me for the felting. I have a front-loading washing machine (as most Brits do, I think) so earnest advice to "check the item every five minutes or so" is completely useless. I have to run it through the hottest wash and hope I don't end up with a bag for Barbie. It's a very stressful time.

I think I'm turning into a clever clogs. Or, to be more accurate, a clever socks.

Remember I made the Monkey socks? Well, I bought some beautiful Araucania sock yarn in autumn colours the other day and wanted a pattern to reflect the colourway. When I saw the travelling vine pattern in James Norbury's "Traditional Knitting Patterns" I realised it was just the thing. The drawback was that the pattern isn't charted and it's written for knitting flat. I had to chart the pattern and adapt it for knitting in the round. By this time, I was quite exhausted and the idea of designing a sock from scratch was a little daunting, so I didn't do it. The pattern repeat is eight stitches and it just so happens that the pattern used in the Monkey sock is a sixteen stitch repeat. I cheated. I just plugged the travelling vine pattern into the Monkey shape.

So far, I think they are looking good.

My next area of concern is that I might have made the leg too long and will find myself running out of yarn before I'm finished. Next time, I need to adapt the pattern for toe-up knitting, though I'm sure someone has already done it.

There has also been lace. I have started the Spring Shawl Surprice (sic). I'm not giving a link to the Yahoo group because I believe membership is now closed (so, too late, you missed the boat). I don't usually like mystery KALs - why would I want to invest time, effort and funds into knitting something that may well turn out to be nothing more than a glorified dish rag? (or not, of course - we could have the next Herbert Niebling lurking in our midst.) Anyway, I sometimes sign up for mystery KALs and wait until all the clues have been published and I've seen some pictures of WIPs before I commit myself. This one was different. As soon as I saw the first clue I just knew it was going to be a beautiful design. So far I have almost completed clue one:

I'm using some Patons 2-ply baby yarn, 100% wool in white. I'm probably going to dye the thing later, though I'm not quite sure what colour yet. Maybe a green. (Possibly not such a loud green as the Noni bag...)

Oh, and my latest acquisition?

A Brother knitting machine, courtesy of one of our customers, who ran the Christmas Bazaar and had this left at the end. She even delivered it to me at work. I was so excited I wanted to run straight home and get on with it. Everything is there: the table, the garter carriage, the lace carriage, the colour thingie (technical term), another bit of kit for drafting out your own patterns, a ball winder (almost the best bit since mine went down a black hole years ago and has yet to re-appear - bet it does next week, though.) The instruction book is somewhat cryptic and the learning curve is steep. I've managed to knit a few swatches but no actual items yet. I'm thinking about trying to find a class and taking a few lessons. We shall see.

I'd better get on - I'm so glad I've got some lace back on the needles - I thought my motivation would never come back.

MIA

2008-01-08T10:30:00.000Z

I have been, haven't I? I don't know what happened really - Christmas; the Black Dog; feeling as though I'm living under a stone, such is the quality of light (or lack of it) at this time of the year.

Anyway, the pies have been minced; the tree trimmed; the tree detrimmed; the Black Dog seen off (at least for now) and it finally looks like there is a light at the end of the tunnel - even though it may yet turn out to be an on-coming train.

There has been some knitting. Only small-ish pieces as I think I'm still in shock after the WRS debacle.

I have been trawling through the Yarn Stash Wonders Book and it's a treasure trove of delights. I made some hand warmer/fingerless mittens for Ann-at-work. Her hands get cold when she's driving and since I happened to have some yarn which is exactly the same colour as her SmartCar and since she's going to be driving me to the far north in March (more about that later), I decided these were just the thing for her:

I also made the Kureyon scarf from that same book. All the projects take just one skein and this one would have too if I hadn't misread the pattern. I made the first half of the scarf too long, so then it was decision time. Should I buy another ball (what? Me? Buy yarn??), or should I try and think of another way to finish the scarf? My MIL suggested making a hole in the scarf (isn't there a Buttonhole Scarf pattern somewhere?). This I did and if you tie it in some sort of elaborate fashion that I did once and can now no longer replicate, it looks like this:

I don't usually knit gifts for Christmas (too much pressure and they won't appreciate it anyway) but that book did inspire me. I knitted a collar thingie (technical term) for myself from Rowan Polar, a yarn which is now, sadly, discontinued:

I made another similar for Aunty Pat in a teal chenille. She likes it very much. If she was getting a neck warmer, Mammy would need one too. The bulky collar is a great pattern - easy and quick but I'd already knitted it twice (which is once more than I usually knit patterns), so I needed something else. The same but not the same. One Tree Hill to the rescue with the delightful Fidget. I used some Sirdar fluffy stuff (technical term) for this, in a beige colour. These two projects needed five buttons between them. Now, I've got a huge button tin. I buy buttons that take my fancy in the boutique. I cut buttons off old clothes before they turn into cleaning rags. As I said, I've got a huge button tin. Were there any suitable buttons in that tin? Of course not. It's another one of those eternal mysteries (like what really does happen to all those odd socks, how do wire coat hangers breed and why is there always one teaspoon left at the bottom of the washing-up bowl?) I had to buy buttons.

Even though I've professed not to enjoy knitting socks, the nether regions have received quite a bit of attention lately. Another pair of the delightful Saartje's bootees:

from left-over Regia 6-ply sock yarn, for Francesca's not-yet-here baby. I know some people have converted this pattern to knit in the round but, though I am not fond of sewing, they are so quick to make and finish that it's really not necessary. The thing that takes the longest length of time is the sewing on of the buttons (and going to the shop to buy them because, of course, there aren't any suitable ones in the vast tin.)

Some Pomatomus socks for me, from left-over Gedifra fashion trend sportivo, purchased from Webs to make the Scrawl:

Finally, I bought some Tofutsies sock yarn from Crafty Cottage in Warwick:

and I have used it to make some Monkey Socks:

(these are socks for me, not socks for a monkey). They are now finished and fit very nicely. The toe on the Pomatomus socks (also by Cookie A) were a bit too pointy (technical term) for my not very pointy toes, these are much better.

That's us about up-to-date (apart from a lacy alpaca hat - no picture yet) and for me to tell you where Ann-at-work will be driving me to.

We are going to SkipNorth in Haworth (home of the Bronte sisters and their drunken brother Bramwell) next March. It's just after my birthday and being that it's a big, round birthday, this is my treat to myself. I can't wait.

Are you sure you haven't got enough yarn?

2007-11-21T14:54:00.001Z

Just as you can never have too many shoes, you can never have enough yarn. Of course, when it gets to the stage that the offspring are making igloos out of yarn you may want to draw in your horns slightly. I have been good. I've been very, very good but occasionally one just can't help oneself.

Like the other day, browsing the "boutiques" (aka Charity/Thrift Shops), I came across a bag of 100% wool crepe in green - eight 25g balls for 50p. So cheap, so my colour that I just couldn't resist.

Worse (or better, depending on your point of view) was to follow. Inside the shop was a whole shelf of yarn in bags. Most of it not my style but lurking right at the back was a bag of twenty (yes, 20) balls of Sunbeam "Shantung" - 65% silk, 35% wool, also in green:

They are 25g balls but there is no indication of the yardage. I've no idea what I'm going to do with this yarn but there is plenty of it and for £8 it would have been a sin not to bring it home with me. I haven't got round to looking either of these yarns up on Wise Needle or Yarndex, though I suspect they are both so ancient that they won't appear.

As you know, I can't resist lace and so have started the "Primula" design from Marianne Kinzel's "First Book of Modern Lace Knitting". I'm using the green 4ply and 4.5mm needles. I'm hoping I've got enough yarn to complete what will turn out to be yet another shawl. There's no picture of that at the moment - the light is so bad that it's like living in the Underworld.

I've also bought books (but books don't count - everybody buys books, don't they? Don't they??) I got a copy of James Norbury's "Traditional Knitting Patterns" from a charity bazaar in a village near mine. It looks as though this might be a first edition because inside is written the name "E. Clark" and the date "1961", though the printed page says, "First published 1962". Whatever the case, it's a valuable stitch dictionary though not all the patterns are charted and where charts do appear, he uses what can only be called an idiosyncratic system of symbols.

I also bought a book from my LYS the other day (though I didn't buy yarn, so that should count for something). I bought "Yarn Stash Wonders" edited by Judith Durant. I see that according to the publisher's website this book isn't even published yet so, unusually, I am at the cutting edge.

It's a lovely book containing 101 patterns for using up that odd/orphaned ball of yarn. You know the one - the one you just couldn't resist, even though you had absolutely no idea what you were going to do with it? or the one left over from that project where you ordered two extra balls "just in case"? or the one where you bought one skein because you couldn't afford two? This is the book you need. Each project is photographed in colour - not a "fashion" shot, nor an "arty" picture just one where you can actually see the project. Scarves, hats, mittens, shawls, socks - there's plenty for everyone.

I couldn't resist the "Little Ruff":

This is a ruffled collar, fastened, in my case, with a wooden button from the "boutique". The original calls for one skein of Noro Cash Iroha and is pictured in a plain red. Mine uses Colinette Skye in the "dusk" colourway, and a representative sample of women who know (ie Ann-at-work and Kate-in-the-office) have declared mine to be better than the original. So easy to knit, so effective.

I absolutely couldn't resist these bootees (found on Ravelry, of course) and one of my friends has obliged by producing a baby boy at just the right moment. These are winging their way to Baby Ben as we speak.

Free pattern is available here.

They take seconds to make - the thing that takes the longest is sewing on the buttons.

Latest news is that there is a new yarn shop within striking distance of the rural backwater. Crafty Cottage stocks all manner of delights. I was very restrained during my visit today. I purchased only one ball of SWTC "Tofutsies" though I was very, very tempted by the many beautiful yarns (including Malabrigo lace weight merino - the first time I have seen this yarn in person) and I'm sure I'll be back there very soon - especially when the cafe opens and when Jo becomes the first UK stockist of the by now infamous Kauni. If you are anywhere near, I do urge you to visit. Stroking of yarn is encouraged!

You may wonder why I have purchased yet more sock yarn when I profess to dislike knitting socks. I have had an epiphany - I don't dislike knitting socks, I dislike knitting plain socks. I have just started the second Pomatomus sock and am considering other complicated patterns (it's all down to that Ravelry). Anyway, since the Tofutsies yarn contains crushed up crab and shrimp shells, I can always suck my socks if the worst comes to the worst.

A Flurry of Activity

2007-11-20T16:35:00.000Z

After the huge blow that was the loss of the WRS, I have been knitting for reassurance. Wanting to reassure myself that I am not a complete wombat (no offence to any wombats who may be reading), I have embarked upon a myriad of small projects that can be rattled off in no time.

Ravelry has a lot to answer for, of course. I had some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (part of which I used for the Flower Basket Shawl, if you remember) in stash. I wanted to knit something with the four balls of pink yarn remaining. Ravelry came up trumps with pictures of Catmum's Saxon Braid Scarf. This is the pattern that is featured on the cover of Nicky Epstein's book "Knitting on the Edge" I haven't got the book and I'm not looking to spend £13.97 (this is about $28US at present) for one scarf pattern. I have, however, got Barbara Walker's Charted Knitting Designs and lo! there we find on page 86, a chart for the "Saxon Braid". This is 28 stitch pattern repeat. We need some sort of an edging, so I decided to use the double slipped stitch edging that Annie Modesitt uses in her Backyard Leaves Scarf in Scarf Style - this uses 3 stitches. Then I decided I'd like a fringe (as in the original) and found a free pattern by Nicky Epstein which uses a drop stitch technique to form an integral fringe. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that this is the self-same technique used for the original Saxon Braid Scarf. This uses 7 stitches. So I cast on 28+3+7, a total of 38 stitches and bashed on with the scarf. (By the way, the original pattern is full of errors apparently. Go here for some of them - or you could just do what I did and wing it.)

Just before I started the fourth (and final) ball of yarn, I decided that a sort-of matching hat might be a good idea. I settled on Coronet from Knitty (also after seeing it on Ravelry).

I made the cable band in pink and the remainder of the hat in the aubergine colour (left over from the Flower Basket). Hope I don't scare you too much with this picture of me (taken with the self portrait setting of the camera, since I was alone at the time).

Oh, and if anyone has not yet come across the Walker Treasury Project, you want to go and have a look - it is a marvellous resource for any serious knitter.

There's been other knitting; there's been yarn buying; there's been book buying; but all this will have to wait because I need to get back to work.

WRS RIP

2007-11-15T10:22:00.000Z

The Wedding Ring Shawl - Suddenly, at home, on 1st November 2007, aged 16 months. Dearly missed by her many friends. The Memorial Service has already taken place.

Yes, the WRS is no more. She developed a fatal break in the silk thread, right in the middle, quite a long way down. I have no idea how this came about, as she was kept in a safe place, wrapped in a cotton pillow case. I spent hours trying to revive her but she was beyond help. I tried to frog her but the delicate nature of the yarn really didn't allow for this so the whole thing was consigned to the bin.

So she has gone. From the initial swatches:

to the first few rows:

to the delicate tracery of the centre:

to the intricate two ring motif:

RIP

I started again, immediately and actually felt much better about the pattern. I felt as though I had a little bit more of a grip of the yarn and the skinny (tt) needles.

However, ten rows in, the same thing happened. I didn't notice the silk being thin or damaged in any way but suddenly on the next row - there was the break and nothing I could do about it. I've been reeling from this blow ever since. I've put it aside for now. I may make another attempt. I may purchase more silk, or possibly some other yarn entirely. I don't want to be beaten by a shawl but at the moment I need to take a rest from the WRS.

There has been other knitting - mostly little "fill-in" pieces. There's been some yarn buying (some great bargains), some book buying (ditto) and a lot of casting about on Ravelry for another lace pattern that might capture the imagination. No luck so far, though.

My computer has turned to treacle (or maybe it's just Blogger) so pictures are difficult at the moment. The promise of Broadband has been held out and is promised very shortly, so we should see a significant improvement in the next few weeks. Can't wait.

In the meantime, I have nothing but praise for those who have completed the Wedding Ring Shawl:

Laritza

Miss Alice Faye

Martha

and those who have it in progress:

Jane (aka LaceFreak)

and all the others out there.

Good Luck!

More Socks

2007-10-30T18:07:00.000Z

For all my protestations about not really liking knitting socks, I have been most taken by the Rainbow Socks. My first pair, in pink, for me, have hardly been off my feet since they came off the needles. I have embarked on a second pair, for 'im indoors.

This time I decided that it would be perfectly possible to knit the socks toe-up, which I much prefer, since it means you can knit and knit until there is no yarn left (or until you get fed up with it, whichever is the sooner.) I decided on short row toes, it seemed most in keeping with the rest of the sock (and also means there is no grafting to be done. When you are done, you are done.) I looked to the ever reliable Knitty and found the equally reliable Wendy Johnson, who has created a tutorial specially for people like me, who like to read about all the possible ways of doing a thing; about the pitfalls of doing a thing; about how other people have done the thing; about how not to do the thing; before actually doing the thing. Short row toe was accomplished in, well, short order.

Short row heel, ditto:

'Im indoors has the highest instep of anyone I have ever known and in the past short row heels just wouldn't work. He couldn't get them "round the bend". This time, I decided that I am in charge of my knitting and the business of using half the total number of stitches for the heel would not do. I therefore used 42 stitches, out of a total 72 and it worked a treat.

I've had to modify the pattern somewhat. The original calls for 60 stitches (which is what I used for mine) and the short row sections work out perfectly. Someone on Ravelry said the pattern was a 10 stitch repeat, so I thought I'd be OK with 70 stitches for this larger sock. Well, it's not a 10 stitch repeat. It's actually a repeat of 8 stitches plus 4 - so 60 works, 68 would work and 74 would work. However, 74 stitches really would make the sock too baggy (technical term), so 72 it is and a slight fudge on the points of the diamonds.

I don't think you can see the fudge:

I've been trying to knit from my stash this year. I haven't sworn off buying yarn but I have tried to be "careful". In my rummagings behind the sofa the other day, I came upon some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran.

There are four balls of a sort of aubergine colour and four of a pale pink. I've obviously started various things but nothing has worked out. I have no idea why I bought this yarn in the first place - it's far too fat (tt) for me but it's soft and squidgy (tt) and it wants to be something. But what?

Three balls (plus about four yards) of the aubergine has turned into Evelyn Clark's Flower Basket Shawl. I know that the original yarn is a lace weight (Misti International Laceweight Baby Alpaca) but the yarn is used double and the gauge is 16sts and 24 rows to 10cm in stocking stitch. The gauge given on the ball band for the Cashmerino Aran is 18sts and 24 rows, which is about right. I rattled it off in no time - started on Sunday, finished today, Tuesday. She is unblocked at present and looks fearfully small but I think she will grow in the blocking.

Here's a close-up of one of the baskets:

and here's the whole thing, looking slightly sorry for herself but just you wait. The Ugly Duckling will turn into a Swan - I just know it.

I'm still no further forward on which shawl to knit next - I need something to get my teeth into (but not something that is biting off more than I can chew). One of Dorothy Siemens' patterns? Something by Hazel Carter? maybe Alcazar? If I can't find anything I want to knit at Blackberry Ridge, I think it's time to hang up my needles.

Double Done

2007-10-22T13:31:00.000+01:00

Two posts in two days? Two FOs in two days? The former might have something to do with the latter.

The Rona Shaw is finished:

Vital Statistics:

Yarn: Blue and pink Atkinson Yarn Illusion Jacinthe (i.e. Unknown)

Source: "Boutique" aka Charity/Thrift Shop

Pattern: Rona Lace Shawl from Knitpicks

Needles: 3.25 circulars

Started: 8th September 2007

Finished: 17th October 2007

Diameter: 60 inches

Weight: 161g

This is a lovely pattern to knit.

The Rainbow Socks are also done:

I never had so much trouble with a pair of socks in my life. I had to use lifelines and I ripped several sections of both socks back. I don't really know what the problem was (apart from crass stupidity on my part). I did extensive research on short row techniques and I still wasn't satisfied with the outcome. Eventually, I settled on this technique. I found that passing the lifted wrap over the turning stitch made for a neater, less holey (tt) finish than any other method, as you can see from the short row heel:

Though I used the yarn she specifies, I think these socks would look better if the stripes were narrower so if (and that's a great big IF) I ever knit these socks again I'd probably use Regia mini ringel or something else with skinny (tt) stripes.

Many thanks to Mary-Lou for her correspondence on short rows, without which I'd probably never have finished the fearful things and certainly would have less hair than at present.

So now I'm in that post- finishing valley where I can't decide what to knit next. Yes, I know - there's the Kauni; the Japanese shawl; the Burda tablecloth; a sock for 'im indoors; the flu virus; Fulmar; the Mermaid; the Wedding Ring Shawl. All WIPs, all right here in my living room. But nothing's really shouting "Knit me, knit me"

What shall I do?

HELP!

Oh, nearly forgot. Back Field Saturday on a Monday, just for a change:

Time Passing

2007-10-18T10:26:00.000+01:00

Time passing? Time has passed. No, Suzanne, I'm not still lying down in the darkened room (though I feel as if I am). I seem to be knitting in the black hole again. I knit every day. I knit for at least two hours every day and most days I knit for longer. You would think, therefore, that the needles would be smoking (good job I'm not fond of bamboo needles) and the FOs would be flying off the needles. It just doesn't seem to be happening that way and I can't, for the life of me, work out why. I have obviously warped the space-time continuum once again.

There has been some progress, I suppose. The Rona Shawl is finished, though she remains unblocked. I have to wait for the weekend when #1 daughter's bedroom, which has the largest floor space, is available for stretching (the shawl) and crawling about (me). Strangely, she appears to me "more than a circle". That's not a problem, all the better really, since it means the shawl will stay on my shoulders better, but I was surprised - I thought I was making a circular shawl. All may change in the blocking stage, of course.

Here's the centre of the shawl:

hanging on the washing line.

Here's a view of the centre flower:

(she's still on the washing line).

Here's a slightly dodgy (technical term) view of the whole thing:

Blocked pictures/vital statistics when the blocking happens.

I also started some socks. Yes, I know - I like the idea of knitting socks (and wearing them) much more than the actual fact of the matter. These socks are different. They are the Rainbow Socks from Magknits and were called to my attention by a certain person, who shall remain nameless but she knows exactly who she is and she has a lot to answer for.

(Not the best picture. I'll try to get a better one later.)

Short rows are used to create the "crazy stripes". I thought I was proficient in short rows after my adventures with Nona's Japanese Short Row Tutorial. What could be simpler? Ha! Think again, clever clogs. I can knit the most complex of lace (see above); I can knit stranded colour work (see the Kauni); I can knit complex cables (see Fulmar); can I knit a simple, short row sock? Not without a great deal of difficulty. I have even resorted to a life-line (a life-line! I ask you! I haven't even got a life-line in the Wedding Ring Shawl!) I don't know what it is about this sock but it's not the easiest thing in the world to do.

I started off using the Japanese short rows (with the safety pins) but soon got fed up with that. I tried it without the safety pins but really wasn't sure if I was picking up the correct loop. I tried the yarn over method. That left holes and loose bits and just looked a mess. I've settled on my own method. I wrap the yarn right around the needle fairly snugly and then knit that snug loop together with the wrapped stitch when I next come to it. The sock still looks a bit "bobbly" (tt) but I'm hoping that the very wearing of it will cause a "mini-blocking" and even out a multitude of sins. We shall see.

I'm also taking part in the Anne (with an "e") of Green Gables Knit and Read along. I first read these books as a child but re-read them at the beginning of this year, when I was so ill. Even though I'm a knitter, I hadn't realised just how much knitting content is in the books. Imagine my surprise when on the very first page of the very first book we find, "Mrs Rachel (...) knitting 'cotton warp' quilts." I haven't a clue what a "cotton warp" quilt is. I've googled and come up with very little apart from someone on the Yesterknits message board, who tells us that "Cotton warp is a kind of cotton thread. It's used for the warp threads in weaving. It is about the same weight as a sport weight woolen (sic) yarn." I don't think I've got the fortitude to knit a whole quilt (and I certainly don't have time to do so), which leaves me with the problem of deciding on an Anne-inspired project.

On another note, I saw an awesome bag the other day. I accosted the bag-holder and discovered that it was made by Elbo. I think these would look good in a knitted fabric. I know that Anne came with "a shabby, old-fashioned carpet bag" but maybe, when the bag was new, it looked a little bit like one of these? (Without the bow, perhaps?) Over to the drawing board, I think.

I cut the sleeve steek

2007-10-04T18:05:00.000+01:00

and I've been lying down in a darkened room ever since.

That's not true - I've just been busy, what with one thing and another. There has been some knitting, though.

I finished the neck shaping on the Kauni. We haven't actually tried it on 'im indoors yet but it looks like it will fit:

I considered knitting twice the height of the neckband and folding it over to form a hem but the recipient didn't seem to want this, so I didn't do it. (His wish is my command.)

I did, indeed, cut the sleeve steek and, considering it was eight thirty in the morning, I didn't even have recourse to the wine and chocolate (although a certain amount of deep breathing did go on.) I have only ever made one jumper with steeks before - that was my Fearless Fair Isle. On that occasion, I cut the steek and then folded the raw edges under and slip stitched it down. This time I haven't bothered with that because I don't think it's really necessary. This is probably a case of "famous last words", as the whole thing unravels the first time it's worn. I'm hoping not.

Progress on the first sleeve:

The problem of how to match up the two sleeves, if at all, I have left to a later date.

Here's the inside:

See how the cut part is curling to the inside anyway?

I've also done more knitting on the Rona Shawl. She is as un-photogenic as most lace is while it's on the needles:

I suppose I could thread a long string through all the stitches, take her right off the needles and lay her out for a photo call but I really can't face it at the moment. I tried to do the best I could here:

The Mermaid is "resting". I still haven't grown another arm so am unable to show you the beading process and take photographs at the same time. We will have to wait until #1 ~~daughter~~ photographer can be pressed into service

The Japanese shawl, the Burda tablecloth, the WRS are all on the back burner at the moment. (I really don't know what I've been doing with my time - could it be something to do with two children and a job, perhaps?)

I have, however, been flittering (technical term) about the internet and came upon Nona's marvellous tutorial about "Improvisational Knitting". This appears to be similar to the freeform knitting described by Prudence Mapstone, amongst others, as well as the swirl knitting described by Debbie New in her "Unexpected Knitting".

However, the improvisational knitting is much more to my taste, being a little more structured than either of the above techniques. I like the idea of free form knitting (in the same way that I like the idea of knitting socks) but what I end up with tends to look like a jumbled mess. (Although I did have some success with the yellow flower based on ideas in Debbie New's book.) I have made me a swatch:

Very nice, too. I don't know what I'm going to do with it but it looks good.

Ann-at-work has finally finished the "secret object" and all can now be revealed. Her boyfriend is just about to set off for the Antarctic, so she has knitted him a hat (in Regia sock yarn, colour "Arctic", would you believe.)

Considering she didn't know one end of a knitting needle from the other a few short weeks ago, I am very, very proud of her. She can now cast on, knit, purl, work in ribbing, K2tog and use two circular needles together to make a small circumference. (Of course, she had a good teacher!)

Here are the finishing touches being added:

(Do not concern yourself about the many bottles in the background - we don't live in a bar, we just work there.)

Here is the finished object:

Well done, Ann-at-work!

The Bag of Bags

2007-09-23T15:17:00.001+01:00

Surely everyone, the world over, has "the Bag of Bags". It's that plastic carrier bag that contains all the other carrier bags that seem to breed as soon as two of them are left alone together. We decided we were going to do something about this and my mother-in-law set about knitting a bag from strips of plastic:

She put the handles all the way around the bag to give it more strength:

It's been test driven by my sister-in-law and pronounced a success. It doesn't cut the circulation off in your fingers, either. (Always a bonus.)

I'm slightly concerned that the whole thing will disintegrated in a couple of years but then I suppose we'll just knit another one. In fact, MIL has already almost completed her second one - she modified the pattern because the addition of the gussets was "fiddly" (her technical term) and unnecessary.

I have finally reached the right height on the Kauni jumper to start the front neck shaping. I am loosely basing the shaping on a sweatshirt belonging to 'im indoors, which he claims is very comfortable and of a suitable shape and size. I measured the width of the neck on the sweatshirt and discovered the shoulders were eight inches and the neck opening was also eight inches. My gauge is eight stitches per inch, so I'm going to have the shoulders be 64 stitches wide and the neck opening 65 stitches wide (which adds up to 193, which is how many stitches I have on the front.) I left the centre 45 stitches on a piece of thread and cast on ten steek stitches over this area.

I'm going to decrease one stitch at both the front neck edges on every round five times and then decrease one stitch each side on every other round another five times. This should take me fifteen rounds. Then I'm going to do a little bit of back neck shaping (but I haven't done the sums for that yet), knit a few rounds straight and graft the shoulders together (or possibly do a three needle bind off, depending on how I'm feeling). It is my aim that the shoulders should fall just at the end of the pattern repeat. I'm hoping that all my sums will come together.

The Mermaid is only very slightly bigger. I'm hoping to get some pictures to show how I'm fixing the beads on. At first I threaded all the beads onto the yarn but got myself into a fearful tangle and, though I know silk is strong, I was a bit concerned about the beads wearing the yarn because of the constant pushing up and down. Another method needed to be found in order to preserve what little sanity I still retain. This involves a beading needle, a length of sewing cotton and a steady hand - pictures later (when I've had time to grow a third hand to hold the camera.)

Avast, me 'arties

2007-09-19T19:37:00.000+01:00

Ahoy, ye many landlubbers! It be international Talk Like a Pirate Day an' I be spendin' the second dog watch, lazin' in me bunk an' knittin' on Mermaid, as only befits the day. There be a few pictures:

She be a beauty, an' no mistake - 'er's no buxom wench, 'er's skinny 'an saucy.

I be off fer a touch 'o grub an' grog.

May yer decks be swabbed, may yer booty be bountiful!

Fair winds, me hearties.

Eight bells an' all's well - be sure an' not to turn yer eye from knit like a pirate - it be a fair marvel.

It be about time to heave to, put down the killick, strike the red ensign and retire to me bunk.

The Knitting and Stitching Show

2007-09-18T09:31:00.000+01:00

should really be called "The Stitching and Knitting Show" because there was much more stitching than there was knitting. Nevertheless, that didn't stop me (and Ann-at-work, who was acting as my chauffeuse) from having a most enjoyable day.

I promised myself that I wouldn't go mad because, as you know, I have enough yarn to start my own yarn shop as it is. I saw this safety pin with the loops under it and thought it would be ideal for fastening the Kimono Jacket (to replace that hat pin that was forever piercing my attributes). There were hundreds of little charms to choose from but these three express my feelings perfectly.

I had a vague feeling that I might find some lace-weight yarn to make into something or other - I've joined both the Secret of the Stole KAL and the Secret of Chrysopolis. I told Ann-at-work to keep me well away from sock yarn and variegated yarn. Sock yarn is to be avoided because although I like the idea of knitting socks and I like wearing hand knitted socks, I don't actually enjoy the fact of knitting them. Variegated yarn is more or less the same story - it looks lovely in the ball/skein but you really need to choose the project with care - something simple and classic that will showcase the yarn. I mostly knit lace and I have yet to see a lace item in variegated yarn that makes me swoon with delight. If you know of any, send me a link, I'd really like to use variegated yarn for some lace.

Nothing was really striking me. There really was hardly any skinny (technical term) yarn to be had - plenty of frou-frou stuff; plenty of "ecological" cotton (you know my views on cotton - the devil's work); lots of alpaca - not skinny enough for my purposes; plenty of mohair ("What sort of an animal is a Mo?") - again, not really suitable for lace. I was starting to think that the cash would just have to burn a hole right through my pocket when I saw these beads:

which put me in mind of a mermaid.

Now, I'm not a great fan of beads on knitting - I have used them occasionally but I haven't really been bitten by the beading bug. A stole floated into my mind. Some sort of skinny, blue-ish, green-ish, shiny stuff (all technical terms) with a pattern like fish scales and with some beads to add a bit of shimmer.

I bought the beads and then I recalled the Uppingham Yarns stand, where I had seen cones of skinny (tt) silk:

I bought a blue and a green with a view to using the yarn double to make my mermaid dream come true. More of that in the coming days.

When I say skinny (tt) I mean skinny. Here are the two strands of yarn with a strand of sock yarn for scale.

Hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew.

Skinny yarn calls for skinny needles. I was more than pleased to come across the KnitnCaboodle stand and discover they had HiyaHiya needles.

I think this is the only UK source for these needles, which we have heard all about from our American friends. Everything they say is true - very light, very pointy (tt), uncoated (so no chance of the coating wearing off), very flexible cable, great joins. Best of all? Much cheaper than Addis! Soon to be available in ebony, rosewood and bamboo (but bamboo is nails down a blackboard for me). I'm already test driving these 2mm circs on a swatch (yes, you read right - a SWATCH) for my mermaid dream and there will be pictures of that later.

Just as we sank exhausted in the bar, we were approached by a fellow knitter, who asked "Are you Kate?". She turned out to be Annie of "Up Knit Creek" (still the best name for a knitting blog, ever). I showed off the Kauni to Annie and her mum:

and Annie showed me her purchases (and I'm sure you'll get to read all about it on her blog).

She also made Ann-at-work's day. When I introduced them ("Anne this is Ann. Ann, Anne") she said, "Oh, you're Ann-at-work!" I have not heard the end of it ("I'm famous. Am I as famous as you, do you think? I'm Ann-at-work. I'm famous.")

Speaking of the famous "Ann-at-work", we have finally managed to get the secret item cast-on:

Bet she'll be even more famous now.

Off to dream of mermaids.

I just can't help myself

2007-09-13T17:01:00.001+01:00

That Ravelry has got a lot to answer for. The trouble is that temptation is all around - just skimming through there the other day, I came across this delightful shawl from Knitpicks and so I had to have it.

Don't get me started on Knitpicks. I believe I had a rant about them previously. They won't ship outside the US or Canada ("because we can't give our international customers the service our US customers have come to expect"). I don't know how they can expect to have international customers. In order to purchase this downloadable pattern (for a measly $1.29) I had to register and give them what, in my opinion, amounted to a great deal of personal information AND I had to give them an address in the US.

Hello!! It's a download. It really doesn't matter if I'm in Ulan Bator or Timbuktu. I was very miffed and sent them a stiff email demanding that they remove all my personal information from their records. They say they've done it.

The pattern is very lovely, though. However, it is all words, no charts at all. I never thought I'd here myself saying this but I really, really prefer charts. It's so much easier to see how the pattern should be lining up and if there is a mistake in the pattern, it's usually much easier to spot on a chart.

In fact, I did find a mistake on round 50 - nothing major, just the inclusion of two YOs that weren't needed. Easy to spot though - every other round is plain (though there is a little bit of purling from time to time), so when YOs appeared on two consecutive rounds, I knew there was something up.

The yarn is some unknown acrylic stuff on a cone, bought in the "boutique" for a few pence ages ago. I don't have much information about it - the label inside says, "Atkinson yarn. Illusion. Jacinthe 4746. 500g" The word "Burnley" also appears. Considering Burnley is two miles away from where I was born, I thought this was my yarn. It's a two ply - some sort of blue fuzzy stuff (technical term) wrapped with a pink shiny strand. It actually gives a very nice, understated effect. I have previously used this yarn to make a shawl, which I wore to a drinks party last December. One of the guests fell in love with the shawl and her boyfriend took me on one side and begged me to sell him the shawl as a gift for her. So I did. She sent me the most lovely thank you card. I'm hoping to keep this one for myself.

I suppose you want pictures?

Here's the start. I always use Emily Ocker's circular start for pieces like this. It works every time.

Here's one a bit bigger:

Those big holes are caused by working a YO five times on the one round and then working K/P/K/P/K into the YOs on the next round. In retrospect, I think I would do YO four times but still work five stitches into that space on the next round. It would probably neaten the edges of the holes (but then, it's not blocked yet, and that usually covers a multitude of sins.)

Here we are with the centre section completed:

That's probably the best picture you're going to get of this until it's off the needles (unless I thread a string through all the stitches and I just don't see that happening anytime soon.)

Close-up of a lacy bit (technical term):

I'm going to the Knitting and Stitching show at the NEC in Birmingham on Sunday with Ann-at-work, so if anyone is there give me a shout. I'll be the one wearing a hat, a shawl and bright pink crocs (amongst other things).

The back field is still the back field:

A bag, a flower and more Kauni

2007-09-06T22:27:00.000+01:00

Remember the performance I had trying to find suitable yarn for the bag I promised to make? It was just as much of a performance to find the ribbon. That's the trouble with Rowan books - always asking for yarn that's been discontinued, always requiring bag handles, or buttons or beads or, in this case, "taffeta ribbon, 13cm wide". Hello!! I live in the rural backwater, finding any ribbon is a bit of a lottery, finding 13cm wide taffeta ribbon would be somewhat of a miracle.

Time was short. In the end I got some black, shiny, slinky stuff (all technical terms) and, dragging out the ancient Singer (that's not Pavarotti, either RIP), I made a ribbon thing myself. There were supposed to be "embellishments" but none of the ones I made looked any good. I thought about beads but my Not-a Barbie sister-in-law is not very "bling", so in the end I decided I liked the calm, understated simplicity of the brown bag and the black ribbon. I don't think it looks too shabby:

I've been taunting you with promises of pictures of the steeks in the Kauni jumper for far too long. Here you go:

You can see the one stitch left on the safety pin at the bottom of the picture; you can see the ten stitches cast on for cutting purposes later; you can see the chequerboard pattern in the steek. If you are Lixie you can also see the stitch marker you sent me at the top of the picture.

Here's the progress so far:

I'm so in love with this that I want one for myself. I cannot bear the thought of knitting the self-same jumper again. Apart from the boredom factor I wouldn't want to run the risk of looking like Tweedledum and Tweedledumber, so I'm considering using the sideways scroll motif from the Ukrainian socks in Nancy Bush's "Folk Socks", to make a Kauni of my very own.

When I ordered the yarn for the brown bag, I felt obliged to order other stuff too (free shipping over £20 - I was actually saving money). The pattern for the "9 to 9" Noni bag and the yarn to make it. I haven't started the bag yet but I've had a go at the flowers. You saw the "holes" that were never going to close up on felting? Here's the finished felted flower (no holes, but that's because I took steps to avoid forming holes in the first place):

Only another eight to go. Oh, and the bag, of course.

Treacle

2007-09-03T15:48:00.001+01:00

Treacle seems to be the general state of my computer at the moment. Never exactly a greyhound in the speed stakes, it seems to be getting slower and slower as if gummed up with treacle. For this reason, there may or may not be pictures before a week next Wednesday.

Work on the Kauni jumper is moving forward, although I still haven't taken any pictures of the steek stitches. It's good TV knitting because, for all it requires a yarn in each hand, the actual pattern is very simple.

I've had to lay that aside for the moment, though, because the brown bag needs to be finished before Friday.
The knitting has progressed well. I've made the back and front of the bag and also three rectangles which could be uses as embellishments. I couldn't decide which yarn would look best so have done all three. The pieces are felted before making up (because the handle is a taffeta ribbon, which I'm sure wouldn't stand up to a high temperature).

These are the pieces, pre-felting:

I think the darker swatch on the bottom is probably the best one for embellishment purposes but I'll wait and see what it looks like after it's been felted.

Since I had the Cascade yarn on the needles, I thought I'd just have a little go at the flowers to go on the Noni bag. They are made using short-rows, which causes the petals to be concave - a very nice touch. My first attempt wasn't great:

The pattern does say "As you proceed you will notice "holes" in the middle of the petals. This is normal and the holes will close during felting." Well, that's as may be. I think those "holes" are too big to close during felting. So I decided to take steps to close the gap. There are various methods for doing this. Excellent explanation by Nona of the wrapped stitch technique, the yarn over way of going on, and, best of all in my opinion, the Japanese approach. She credits Lucy Neatby with the pin trick. A jolly good trick it is, too, otherwise I don't know how you'd manage to identify which loop to pick up.

This is the second petal:

I think you'll all agree that's much better.

And that's not all. I belong to the Charting Lace group on Yahoo (I joined to try and get my head round all this stuff when I was charting the She Sells Sea Shells pattern) and someone has started a very interesting topic. We are presented with an antique lace pattern in words and are to attempt to chart it. First up was the "Persian Lace Edging".

I've made a chart but trying to work out how to show it here has almost caused my head to explode. Before I throw a brick through the monitor I'm going to admit defeat. I've done a swatch though (stand back in amazement!)

This is the first one:

where I used paired decreases and a centred double decrease.

This is the second one:

where I just used K2tog throughout and K3tog for the double decrease. This is the one I prefer and the one that most closely resembles the original. I really don't think that the direction of the slant of the increases makes all that much difference in garter-based lace, which is what this is, in the main, although there is a very small stocking stitch section.

I might try this again as on a stocking stitch ground - where I'm sure the direction of the decreases would make a difference.

One more thing - I was/am knitting the Galveston Shawl as a KAL and was a member of the GalKal Yahoo group. Some horrible bungle with Ya-hell (not for the first time) has meant that I no longer have access to the files of that group. I've got all the charts downloaded apart from the edging, so if anyone has those charts, I'd be eternally grateful. Email me privately if you want - the address is in the side bar.

Enough.

Bags of Yarn

2007-08-31T17:22:00.000+01:00

Work continues on the Kauni jumper. I have started the steeks. I put the first stitch of the round on a safety pin and cast on one edge stitch, eight steek stitches and one more edge stitch (ten in total). I'm keeping both edge stitches in the background colour and working the remaining eight steek stitches in a chequerboard pattern (less chance of the whole lot coming undone when the cutting happens.) No pictures of that yet but there will be.

I promised to make my "not-a-Barbie" sister-in-law a bag for some posh do she's going to next month. We finally settled on "Clyde" by Sarah Hatton from Rowan #38. There is one of those "I'm a fashion photographer, I don't do clear" pictures here. Since you won't be able to see that, let me just tell you that it is a small, felted bag with a ribbon for a handle, which goes through a "button hole" in the bag to fasten it. The yarn suggested is Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Aran, which has, of course, been discontinued. Substitute suggestion is Rowan Scottish Tweed, which doesn't have the right colour. I searched through the stash - I just need one skein of 100% non-superwash wool in a chocolate brown. With all the yarn that is in my house (just about enough to start my own yarn shop, if you must know) you wouldn't think that was a "big ask". Well, it was. I've got the right colour, wrong composition. I've the right composition, wrong colour. There was only one thing for it - off to the yarn shop.

You wouldn't believe that they didn't have any suitable yarn either, would you. Nicky-in-the-shop even offered me some of her own stash (but she didn't have the right colour either). I'm starting to tear my hair out at this stage. When I say "next month" I actually mean "next week" (which is, after all, next month), so time is of the essence.

Google was my friend and I found a stockist of Cascade 220 in the UK. A new-to-me yarn shop, first4yarns. I honestly cannot praise them highly enough.

I telephoned yesterday morning with a couple of queries about colours and yarn requirements. Very nice lady, very helpful, very pleasant. She said it was easier to order on-line, which I duly did. This was at 10am. I went off to work. . She sent me an email at 1pm (which I didn't get because I was at work) saying the order was packed but there had been a problem with my credit card and would I phone, or email so she could send it that afternoon. At 2.15 she telephoned and got 'im indoors, who was able to sort out the problem. When I got home I replied to her email to thank her for her diligence. To which she responded, in part, "we are always worried when Husbands answer the phone as we know often wool stashing is top secret". What a hoot! (True though, obviously they understand their target audience.)

The postman came up trumps and I was rewarded with this little lot:

Two skeins chocolate brown Cascade 220 for the "Clyde" bag.

Two skeins lime green Cascade for the body of another bag.

Pattern for the Noni "Two Versions of Two Felted Evening Bags", aforementioned lime green yarn and one skein fuchsia for the flowers round the top.

Sorry about the dark picture, the previous one of the lime green yarn gives a much better impression of the vibrant colour.

Don't forget to check out first4yarns - they were brilliant.

I know it's Saturday, though I did start writing this post yesterday and then had all kinds of problems with uploading the pics (don't get me started). It's early here and I haven't been out to take a picture of the back field but it's still there.

Ready for the Steek (eek!)

2007-08-28T18:44:00.000+01:00

I am almost up to the point where I need to add on the stitches for the armhole steeks on the Kauni jumper. I'm not quite sure how many stitches to add on - not so many that I use up lots of yarn and have bulky facings to fold back at the end; not so few that the whole thing unravels as soon as look at it. Six? Eight? or an odd number?

I suppose I'd better read about it for a while before I actually do anything.

Wendy Johnson tells us something about the Norwegian steek in Knitty here (but the Norwegians, hardy people that they are, do not seem to be adding any stitches for the steek. I don't fancy that idea.) There is more about steeks here, where she uses 10 extra stitches to allow room for the cutting. Then there is Eunny Jang and I think this is the best explanation of steeks, ever. She says, "Unreinforced and sewn steeks are typically worked with an even number of bridge stitches and cut between the center two stitches, while crocheted steeks are typically worked with an odd number of bridge stitches and cut through the center stitch." I'm thinking unreinforced, because I'm using a very "sticky" (technical term) wool, so I'd need to add on an even number of stitches (quite how many I'm not sure).

There were meant to be pictures here but Blogger (new, improved) is not playing and I am fed up with it.

The Kauni jumper is looking good, although I fear I may have to join the yarn again because we are running into two balls of orange, in the same place at the same time. Bah, humbug.

Latest update! Blogger has relented.

Here is progress on the Scroll-y jumper:

and, even though I know it is now Wednesday (and possibly even Thursday in some far-flung corners of the world), this is the back field as it was on Saturday:

Oh, and another thought: if you are on Ravelry would you please leave a comment and tell me your user name? I know there are lots of people on there who I would love to look at but I find the search facility to be a bit specific. (It will find "theyarnharlot" but not "yarn harlot" or "harlot" or "Stephanie McPhee" or "Stephanie Pearl McPhee".)