A Knitter's Tale

Gift Knitting (Part 3)

2012-01-19T16:17:00.003Z

While I was on my mitten kick, I thought I'd also knit some for my mum for Christmas. This idea was modified slightly when she saw the ones that I was knitting for my mother-in-law and didn't seem particularly enthused.
Close consideration of when she'd wear them quickly made me realise that gloves would be a much better gift for her, so I cracked out Knotty, a pattern that's been on my waiting list since it was first published.

The yarn is Fyberspates Sheila's Sock yarn in a glorious, vibrant purple. It's a very smooth, high twist sock yarn which works well with the design of this glove.

I made some modifications to the placement of the fingers while I was knitting - these are obvious from the orange lifelines. I don't like when the fingers of a glove are all picked up off the same round of stitches - the little finger never fits properly. What I do is to put all the stitches on waste yarn and knit the little finger, then pick up the rest of the stitches, knit another 4 rounds, put the stitches back on waste yarn and knit the remaining fingers. I leave the waste yarn in as a lifeline as it also makes it much easier to count the number of rows in each finger so the two gloves match.

This yarn haemorraged dye during it's first soak, but the colour remained unchanged - whew!

The stitch definiting on the cable worked out beautifully with this yarn and I've got enough left over from the skein for a little highlight in my current project.

Gift Knitting (Part2)

2012-01-12T13:33:00.000Z

Some time ago, I suggested to the Resident Radiologist that I might knit his mother some Scandinavian-style stranded mittens for Christmas (I had just finished my Chrysanthmums at the time and was on a mitten kick). The response was distinctly non-committal until he saw the pattern, Cavaleras by Pamela Schwab, at which point the enthusiasm picked up considerably...

In case some of you know the Cavaleras pattern and are starting to think that this is an odd choice, I should probably explain a bit about my mother-in-law. She studies funerary monuments and is a member of the Church Monument Society. The senior women in that society pride themselves on the procurement and wearing of garments or accessories adorned by sculls. Not scull-and-cross bones, just skulls. The more (discrete) skulls you have, the better... which is why Calaveras was perfect.

The yarn is Drops Alpaca (which I love, love, love for colourwork), knitted on 2.5mm DPNs. The pattern was wonderfully written and charted and very simple to follow (and memorise). I altered the cuff slightly so that the corrugated rib wasn't actually a rib, just stocking stitch. My stranded colour-work still leaves a bit to be desired, but there is a definite curve of improvement from my first Chrysanthemum mitten, to the last Calaveras one.

When I wrapped them, I put them with their backs together and the palms facing out. When my MIL unwrapped them, she looked pleased, thanked me for them, then separated them out, saw the pattern, and laughed out loud (in a good way). I hope that they'll come in useful in many cold and draughty Church visits in the coming years.

Gift Knitting (Part 1)

2012-01-10T12:16:00.000Z

Happy New Year.

In the last few months of 2011, I was knitting pretty constantly on gifts for Christmas and the Resident Radiologist's birthday. Now that the wrappings have been opened and surprises revealed, I can post some of the projects here.

First up in chronological terms was the RR's birthday. He received the statutory pair of socks and in addition, a new hat to keep his ears warm in the Glasgow autumns and springs (it's not really thick enough for winter proper - not that we're having one of those at the moment).

The yarn for both projects was Colinette Jitterbug in Velvet Leaf. I bought this yarn about six years ago, back when Colinette was pretty much the only show in town when it came to beautiful yarn from a UK dyer. Now of course, there is such a huge availability of indy-dyed yarn, we hardly know where to start.
At the time I bought it, Jitterbug was sold as superwash but I'm proceeding with care in that respect as I vaguely recall hearing felting horror stories from others. The yarn is lovely and springy and the varigation in the colour is really subtle.

The socks are my usual basic top-down, heel-flap pattern, knitted on 2.25mm DPNs.

The hat pattern was a 2x2 rib pattern by TinksDarkerSide that works the decreases at the top to form a lovely simple swirl.

Both the socks and the hat appear to have entered into regular use which is all a knitter can ask for really!

Spinning Onwards

2011-11-28T10:46:00.001Z

The spinning continues (as does the Christmas knitting, but that isn't yet bloggable)...

First off the spindle was a braid of merino / silk blend dyed by Old Maiden Aunt in the colourway 'teal deer'.

I spun this on my heavy (45g) bottom-whorl spindle as a light fingering weight single, then tried something new with the plying. Instead of chain plying directly from one spindle to another, I chained the single into a plying ball. This took ages to do (and much help from the Resident Radiologist), but it did allow me to stop and start with the plying much more easily than if I'd been plying directly.

The finished yarn was a light DK weight and I got about 150m in the skein.

Next up was a rainbow felting sample pack from Diva Design studios in Moray. The fibre wasn't listed, but a bit of detective work makes me think it was mostly merino with an occasional bit of silk blended in.

I spun this on a much lighter modular spindle, taking the single off on three bobbins, then chain plying directly from the bobbins onto my heavy spindle, joining the single as I went.

I've ended up with 200m of light fingering weight 3 ply in a lovely rainbow.

On reflection, I think that a plying ball is really useful for making a two ply, or a three ply from individual singles, but the work involved in putting a chained three ply onto the ball is probably not worth any time and convenience saved during plying.

From (almost) first principles

2011-11-08T15:16:00.001Z

I've been spinning for a while now... I first bought a drop spindle at Woolfest in 2008, then went up to Twist Fibre Craft Studio in Newburgh to have a beginners lesson. My spinning got steadily better and I produced some yarns that I was fairly proud of, but I never used them.

At Woolfest 2009, I bought another spindle so I could ply from the spindle carrying the single, onto the second spindle and a bag of beautiful 80% merino / 20% silk roving. I spun half of it up almost immediately and then never got going the other half (my intention was to ply as a 2-ply).

Roll forward a couple of years (and one small child) and The Yarn Cake in Glasgow started a Spin Sunday on the first Sunday of the month. This coincided nicely with my fingers starting to get itchy for spinning again, so I hunted down the half bag of roving and got going again.

This time, I was bitten thoroughly by the bug and within a few days, I'd finished spinning the second half of the fibre. I changed my mind about plying as a 2 ply, as I prefer the roundness of a 3 ply, so I chain plied both of my singles and ended up with two lovely skeins of approximately fingering weight yarn.

I immediately knitted the longer skein up into a scarf for my daughter.

It's a plain linen-stitch scarf using surprisingly large needles (5.5mm) as linen stitch is quite dense.
The fabric is wonderfully flat and has a good drape and really does look woven.

The other skein is likely to become a pair of mittens, or maybe a hat.

Stranded Mittens - Chrysanthemums

2011-10-13T15:35:00.002+01:00

I've been bitten quite severely by the stranded colourwork bug recently and these mittens were the culprit! I saw them on Knitty when they were published and just knew I had to try them.

I'm not proficient at knitting with a different colour in each hand with DPNs, though I do manage it with longer straight needles, so the first mitten was an agony of pick one colour up and knit a stitch, pick the other colour up and knit a stitch (especially on the cuff). In addition to this , although I thought I was spacing my stitches well enough, once I finished, I found the work was puckered and that the floats were, in general, not long enough.

There is a clear improvement between the first and second mitten and they're lovely and soft and warm to wear. In addition, they go perfectly with my Beret de Printemps, though this was not intentional!
I love the traditional Scandinavian palm, thumb and striped cuff, but I'm not sure I'd bother with the picot edge again.

Details:
Yarn: Artesano Alpaca 4ply
Needles: 2.25mm DPNs
Pattern: Chrysanthemum by Heather Desserud, published in Knitty, Winter 2010

Since knitting these, I've finished a second pair of stranded mittens that are Christmas knitting, so not for blogging until January, and am contemplating a stranded colourwork jumper....

A hit and a miss

2011-09-29T16:58:00.000+01:00

After receiving a hint that I needed a new beret and cowl set, I went looking for patterns. There are several lovely beret patterns in my Ravelry queue - Gretel, Ishbel and Snapdragon, all by Ysolda Teague, but it was Beret de Printemps by Jeni Chase that really caught my attention.

I had two balls of Rowan Felted Tweed DK in my stash in a lovely spring green that seemed just right for a spring beret, so off I knitted.

I didn't find the pattern very well written, there are a couple of points in the chart when the next step is not altogether clear, but after a false-start or two, I got there.

The miracle of blocking turned a rather unpromising looking blob into a respectable looking beret.

I had yarn left over, so I used the stitch pattern to make a little cowl to match.

Details:
Pattern: Beret de Printemps by Jeni Chase,
Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed DK in colour 146 (Herb)
Needles: 3.5mm and 4mm DPNs

The beret is a real hit - it fits well, the colour is lovely and it's warm. The cowl is sadly a miss. It's too short and tends to roll down and end up as a round knitted band around my neck. I think it could have done with being a few pattern repeats bigger. It will be frogged and returned to stash.

Little Green Jumper

2011-03-30T16:34:00.004+01:00

Another post-baby knit, but Imogen has almost grown out of it already...

The pattern is Placket Neck Pullover by Joelle Hoverson published in Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I knitted this in Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton on 4mm needles. It took just under 4 balls.

I hate this yarn with a passion - I originally bought it to make a summer cardigan for myself, but the yarn has on average 2 knots per ball and starts to look a bit rough as you handle it so I ripped the cardi. Although I couldn't bear the idea of putting in the work to make something for myself out of such a poor quality yarn because I did't think it would wear well, the effort / outcome balance is different for a baby garment because they wear their clothes for so little time before outgrowing them.

It worked out really well and was perfect for Imogen. She doesn't like cardigans much so a jumper suited her better over the winter. I didn't put the buttons on as things tend to ride up on her and I though that they would end up wedged under her chin!

The garment is well constructed with minimal seaming (which I always prefer) and the pattern is beautifully written.

Simple socks and not-so-simple socks...

2011-03-10T14:16:00.004Z

It would seem that the reason I'm not blogging as regularly as I would like to is not that I'm not knitting, but that I'm not taking photos as regularly any more (and apparently I can't blog without photos).
At the weekend I managed to get the camera out and get up to date with my projects, so here we have the first project I knitted after picking up the needles again, and something considerably more tricky.

Socks for the Resident Radiologist:

My standard top-down pattern with heel-flap heel. The yarn is Fortissima Colori Socka Color in an Autumnal colourway that the RR chose many moons ago. Knitted on 2.25mm DPNs.

Socks for the Knitter:
These are Skew by Lana Holden, published in Knitty. The yarn is some lovely Trekking XXL. They were knitted on 2.5mm DPNs.

Thanks to some spectacular denial on my part while I was knitting not just the first, but also the second sock in this pair, they were considerably too long for my feet... but too narrow for the RR's heel...
What to do? I couldn't bring myself to rip them and alter the length as they're knitted toe-up so I would have to pretty much start again.

After much musing, I decided to cut a section out of the foot part of each sock and graft the two parts back together. Using a 2mm needle, I picked up the row of stitches either side of the section I wanted to lose...

snipped a stitch and unravelled the yarn to separate the two parts...

then ripped to get rid of the extra rows.

After that, it was just a matter of grafting... and grafting... and grafting...

They now fit beautifully.I ended up taking almost two inches out of each sock (that's how bad the denial was). Despite spending a huge amount of time knitting these socks (and then performing knitty surgery on them), I still can't get over how strange and beautiful the heels are.

I don't think I'll knit these again. I'm glad I've done them and the (final) fit is really good, but they're not relaxing knitting, they're in no way intuitive (even for my maths-oriented brain) and I still can't get my head around how the heels actually work!

Angora felts beautifully.....

2010-12-17T20:47:00.005Z

... unfortunately!

This time last year I knitted a little neck warmer from the 'Pretty Thing' pattern by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee. It was a little thing of beauty and kept my neck toasty warm without being scratchy.

I should have known in Spring this year that it was doomed because, when I tidied up the box of hats and scarfs to put them away for the summer, the beret that I knitted it to go with (Rose Red by Ysolda Teague), had been nested in and eaten by mice.

Now, the lovely neck warmer has had an unintentional trip through the washing machine at 40C and came out looking like this...

and with the flash on to really highlight the horror...

Ouch. Looking on the bright side, I now have a great reason to knit another hat and neckwarmer in this year's chosen colour, yarn and pattern. Now I just have to find the time...

With hindsight...

2010-12-07T13:21:00.002Z

... I would never have knitted the following projects.

I loved the patterns and the yarn, and it seemed like a good idea at the time, but they've never been used. On a positive note, they didn't take long and are still really cute!

I didn't want to knit anything major for Imogen in newborn size as she would grow out of it so fast, but I thought that a little hat and sock set to go home from the hospital would be nice. In reality, she was wearing a sleep suit, so the socks were unnecessary and the hat was too big. By the time it fitted, we were having a hot summer so was too hot!

Pattern: Baby socks and hat by Sue Morgan.
Yarn: RYC cashcotton 4 ply.
Needles: 3mm DPNs.

This yarn makes a lovely hat and I'll probably knit another one for her in the future as I have a lot of it in stash. It's too inflexible for socks though, especially very little ones to go on delicate feet.

Catching up

2010-10-24T17:04:00.004+01:00

Apparently it's harder to overcome blogging inertia than I thought it would be. I've been knitting slowly but productively for the last 4 months now, but I've still got finished projects to blog from before Imogen was born...

First of all are these baby washcloths...

Pattern: Baby Cloths by Kris Knits.
Yarn: Pisgah Peaches and Creme 100% cotton.
Needles: 3.5mm.

They're in regular use now and are very handy.

Getting started again

2010-06-15T22:00:00.002+01:00

Hello again...

I'm afraid that while I'm not yet ready to resume normal posting, my little girl is now 9 weeks old, growing well and sleeping well, so I'm picking up the knitting again. Nothing spectacular, you understand, just the usual socks for the resident radiologist, but it's progress.

There are also a few projects left unblogged from my LBB (life before baby).

I should be back with photos soon...

Little Cardi's

2010-04-13T18:26:00.003+01:00

This is (barring something strange happening) my last post from a baby-free zone... and possibly my last post for a while.

In addition to all the baby gifts and little bits and pieces, I've also been working on a couple of more substantial baby knits.

First up is Snug (ravelry link), a little hooded jacket:

The yarn is Jaeger Extra Fine Merino Chunky in Oak, knitted on 6mm needles. As the baby is going to be growing rapidly over the warm summer months, I'm hoping that this will do instead of a proper jacket at first. It's very stretchy and lovely and warm, and will hopefully see lots of wear.

The other project is a Drops Baby Jacket:

I've been working on this for ages due to yarn availability issues, but finally got it off the needles last week, crocheted the edging and blocked it. The last step was putting on the buttons yesterday.

The yarn is Artesano Alpaca 100% Baby Alpaca 4 ply, knitted on 2.25mm needles. I knitted the 6-9 months size as I wanted the baby to get a decent amount of wear out of this top, considering the amount of work that went into it!

The only modification I made was to crochet an edging all the way round the piece, rather than pick up and knit an edging onto the neck-line alone.

Both of these projects have an unusual end-on construction which seems to work really well for baby projects where shaping isn't too much of an issue.

More Baby Gifts

2010-04-12T12:26:00.003+01:00

The march of the baby gifts goes on...

Today we have another Celestine Sox containing a jingle cat toy for a friend's little boy:

The yarn is Regia Colour Sock yarn in Zanzibar. Knitted on 2.25mm needles and stuffed with polyester stuffing and a pile of old yarn ends.

Next up is a Toadstool Rattle containing another jingle cat toy for another friend's little boy:

The yarn is the left-over Old Maiden Aunt Merino Sock yarn from the Resident Radiologist's scarf. Knitted on 2.25mm needles and stuffed with polyester toy stuffing.

Finally, I've made another Baby Berry Hat for my sister to give to one of her colleagues:

The yarn is Pisgah Peaches and Creme in Shocking Pink and Apple Green. Knitted on 4mm needles.

One of these has already been delivered, and the other two go in the post today. I'm working to a pretty strict timetable now as I fully expect the bump to be on the outside on Wednesday this week...

Labour of Love

2010-04-09T17:28:00.003+01:00

The longest and least interesting project in my work pile is finally off the needles.

This scarf originated with the November 2009 installment of the Old Maiden Aunt sock yarn club. I unwrapped the package and my husband pounced immediately, noting that the colours were a slightly more tasteful version of his house colours from school.

He already had one scarf that I had crocheted for him, which was in pretty much constant use, so another would allow for laundry breaks.

The pattern is a straight-forward 2x2 rib over 80 stitches on 3.5mm needles for 72 inches. There's a two inch border in brown at each end and the rest is two-row stripes with the yarn carried up the edge. The yarn is hand-dyed on a 100% merino base which is absolutely beautiful and has a lovely drape on these size needles.

I'm thinking it looks a bit Gap-does-Eton. He likes it immensly and has already worn it, despite the improving weather.

Finally...

2010-03-31T11:11:00.006+01:00

... I can count the Textured Circles Shrug as a finished object. The knitting has been done for ages, but I wanted to overdye it a shade of pewter.
Step forward the major players in this scheme...

... food colouring paste in Liquorice and a large bottle of household vinegar.

I soaked the shrug in a water / vinegar mix to saturate the fibres, then in the dye (made up in hot water and vinegar). After about 10 minutes in the dye -with agitation to ensure an even take-up - it was into the microwave to heat the dye and fibers so the dye would strike.

This was achieved by way of a large salad bowl covered with clingfilm. Then it was just a case of rinsing in cool water, checking the colour and repeating until the depth of colour was what I wanted.

I did the final rinse and spin in the washing machine. The colour is possibly still just on the pale side, but I've decided to live with it for a while before deciding whether to darken it up more.

I've worn the finished shrug to work three times already since I dyed it - it's the perfect shape to go over a 9-month bump!

Baby Gifts

2010-03-27T17:20:00.003Z

There seems to have been a spate of babies lately, so in addition to knitting lots of little toys and clothes for my own bump, I've been knitting some for others as well.

This is the Upside-down Daisy Hat from Itty Bitty Hats by Susan B Anderson. I knitted it in Pisgah Peaches and Creme cotton on 4mm needles.

The petals were knitted separately and sewn on afterwards, but were not as fiddly as I thought they might be. I made each petal two rows longer in the central section to look a bit better proportionally on the hat size I'd knitted. The hat is a gift for a colleague of my mother's.

I've also knitted another Nautie by Beth Skwarecki. My sister saw the first one I knitted and asked for one for a colleague of her's who's due the week before me.

She wanted the same colours as the first one, but I didn't have enough yarn left over for the shell, so I added a lilac and striped the shell as written in the original pattern. It worked out so well that I kept the second one and gave my sister the original!

A bit behind

2010-03-12T16:43:00.004Z

I've gotten a bit behind with my blogging lately but the knitting is continuing. I'm actually making really good progress with a couple of my larger projects that I'd like to get done before the baby makes an appearance.

This is the Textured Circles Shrug by Stephanie Japel. I've knitted it in Noro Cash Iroha that I bought in the John Lewis sale a few years ago now (so it almost feels like knitting for free!).

Details:

Pattern - Textured Circles Shrug by Stephanie Japel (Ravelry Link).
Yarn - Noro Cash Iroha (7 balls).
Needles - 4.5mm and 5 mm circulars.
Modifications - nothing that really matters, however, I did sew up the sleeve seams before I picked up and knitted the border. This seemed to make more sense to me that picking up the border over unsewn seams.

However, despite appearances, this shrug is NOT FINISHED YET... The knitting is all done, the ends are sewn in and it fits well enough that I don't want to make any tweaks, but the colour is just not me. I knew this when I bought the yarn, but when a full pack of silk-cashmere blend yarn is on sale for a song, I could't pass it by. I reasoned that the yarn is very neutral, so once it decided what it wanted to be, I'd overdye it.

I've repeatedly debated with myself whether I should dye it in skeins, or wait until it was knitted up and garment dye it and eventually went with the latter. I didn't know how many balls I would use, so didn't want to risk either too few or too many of one colour. I also think that garment dying might be a bit more even.

I've knitted several swatches with the remains of the 7th ball and have plans to experiment with them until I get the colour I want (a sort of pewter), then have a go with the whole shrug. The current plan is to acid dye using white vinegar and food colour paste, setting the colour in the microwave so I don't end up with a felted mess. Fingers crossed...

New Toys

2010-03-02T17:18:00.004Z

I'm a bit of a use-the-best-tools-for-the-job junkie. I've inherited this trait from my Dad (who's a trained tool-maker and engineer) - my Mum will probably be nodding in recognition around now. I'm happy to improvise and make do for a while, but once I know that something is for me and I'm going to stick with it, I like to make a bit of an investment in the right tools.
This has happened recently with knitting. I've been knitting regularly for the last 6 years and over that time my needle preference has evolved. I started out with 14 inch straight inox needles inherited from my grandmother, and added a few pairs of wooden ones in sizes that I didn't have. I moved on to socks and used inox DPNs from Gran's needle box (these are still my favourite sock needles). For small circumferences and especially socks, I now know that I'm going to stick with DPNs so have added more sizes (inox for small gauges and wooden for larger). I can do small projects on two circular needles, but don't really like it.

Since I started knitting lace a couple of years back, I've acquired a few sets of Addi circular needles and like them immensly. Over time, I've found that I actually prefer circular needles to straights for all projects because the weight of the project always sits in the middle and not out at the end of one needle. Once I'd acknowledged that I hadn't actually used a set of long straights for well over a year, I decided to make an investment in good circular needles. I had a decision, either two pairs of the longest Addis in each size that I used (so I wasn't hampered by cable lengths) or a set of interchangables.

I went for the interchangables. Get Knitted were offering a starter set of KnitPro interchangables with three sets of points, three cables in different lengths, and some other necessary accessories. I'd heard excellent reports of the KnitPro needles and liked that there were nickel, wooden and acrylic points available that would all fit the same cables, so in I jumped (with a few extras - more points in the sizes I use most, and some markers and cable connecter so I can make really long cables eg for edging a blanket).

I love them. They make it really easy to change needle size and I can connect an extra cable if I need to try something on, rather than slipping the stitches onto waste yarn and then back onto the needle. They've also worked out much less expensive than the equivalent combinations of fixed circular needles (I've got the equivalent of 21 sets of circulars for the price of around 4 sets) and are really good quality. My long straight needles have gone into a box at the bottom of my stash and I'm not really sure that they'll see the light of day again...

Nautie

2010-02-26T14:16:00.004Z

Knitting has definitely slowed in the last week or so, but I am still getting through project bags and making progress on my larger projects.

Here's the contents of project bag 3:

Some left-over Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran, 3.5mm DPNs and the pattern for Nautie byBeth Skwarecki, published in Knitty.
This was a really well-written pattern but the knitting was a little fiddly as the spiral shell had to be stuffed as it was knitted and simultaneously coiled. I found that no matter what I did, the stitch securing the coil was always a little on the loose side, but it didn't seem to matter in the end as the loose end from the shell cast-off is used to sew the coil in a little more securely anyway.

I did make a modification to the pattern as written - instead of knitting the head as a separate piece and sewing it in afterwards, I picked up stitches inside the shell and knitted the head on as I went, stuffing it before closing it up.

Once again, it's a pattern suitable for a newborn onwards as there are no hard bits or attached bits to swallow. My sister has seen it and already requested one for a friend of hers who's expecting the week before me - I'd better get my skates on!

Productive Weekend

2010-02-16T14:38:00.004Z

The project bag system is still going strong. At the weekend, I sat down and finished the knitting on the major project I've been working on for weeks (more on that another post - I've got a long way to go before I consider it a 'finished object').

I rewarded myself with another dip into the project bags and completed another little knit before I knew what had happened!

Bag number 2:

This time the contents were a pile of left-over 4 ply bits and pieces, another bell-in-ball cat toy, 2.25mm needles and the pattern for the Toadstool Baby Rattle by The Purl Bee. This pattern is beautifully constructed and written and was a joy to knit. There is almost no finishing, barring the weaving in of a few ends and it is stuffed as it is knitted. The cat toy goes into the bell of the toadstool, covered in a little polyester stuffing.

The finished rattle is just the right size for tiny hands, and once again should be suitable for a newborn onwards, as there are no small parts or hard bits. I still have lots of 4 ply left-overs and a couple more cat toys, so might need to knit another of these for a friend...

Bag Number One

2010-02-12T10:55:00.005Z

These small-project bags were intended as a reward for getting a chunk of larger project knitted, but I decided that to get the ball rolling, I would knit the first one straight off. So, what was in the bag?

A ball of Regia Crazy Colour sock yarn in Jupiter, from John Lewis' sale, a set of 2.25mm DPNs, a cat bell-in-ball toy and the pattern for Celestine Sox from Berrocco.

This pattern is knitted as twelve points, with each point being joined to the adjacent points with picked-up stitches. The last time I knitted this (a couple of years ago) I tried to be very clever and used a provisional cast-on to avoid the picking up stitches, but in the end it was very fiddly and the lack of a firm cast-on edge anywhere reduced the definition of the design.
The first 11 points are knitted, the ends all secured and the toy is stuffed (standard polyester toy stuffing).

This time I put a cat toy in with the stuffing so that as the toy is rolled around, or shaken, it jingles. I'm hoping that this star will have a long life as a baby / toddler toy...

The last point is then picked up and knitted closed with a little more stuffing added as the point grows.

The finished toy should be suitable from birth as there are no sharp bits and nothing that can become detached / swallowed. It's even washable!

And did it work RE getting me back on track with my large UFOs? Well, last night I sat down and knitted several rounds of the (300+ stitch) edging on the shrug I'm knitting, so progress is being made - only 10 round and the bind-off to go...

Overcoming inertia

2010-02-10T16:18:00.002Z

About a week or so ago, I was reading Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's blog, and something she posted about making up her own sock clubs - essentially a series of bags, each containing all the makings of a sock - got me thinking about how to overcome my knitting inertia.

The main problems as I see them are two-fold: I'm working on three projects at the moment, one is large and boring (but I'll like the outcome), the second is a very dull 2x2 ribbed scarf in 4ply (very boring but the Resident Radiologist will like the outcome) and the third has stalled, waiting for more yarn; the projects I'd like to be working on are in my ravelry queue, where I gaze at the pictures, browse my stash list for good matches, and then promptly forget the combinations by the time I get home.

The solution was presented by Ms Pearl-McPhee: make up project bags containing everything required for the project. Genius.

I now have a collection of about eight bags containing the pattern, yarn, needles and any extras required for (mostly small) projects I'd like to knit in the near future. All I have to do when I'm struggling to keep going with one of my larger projects is pick up a bag and get going. No thinking, no procrastinating, no indecision about yarn, just knitting.

Stalled

2010-02-03T17:18:00.004Z

While I was in a really productive knitting spell, which lasted until a couple of weeks ago, I powered my way through over 50% of this little knitted baby cardigan. Nothing held me up, not the very fine yarn, the 2.5mm needles or the slightly unusual construction.

Then I ran out of the pinky-orangey yarn.

And that's when everything went pear-shaped... I started this project knowing that I didn't have enough yarn to finish it, but also aware that since I'd only bought the yarn a few weeks earlier, I would easily be able to get some more from my LYS. So, on a Saturday morning two and a half weeks ago, I went to said yarn store, only to discover that they'd SHUT DOWN two days earlier!

This really came out of the blue as I know the owner of the yarn store and there had been no warning. The upbeat notice on the window said that they'd moved - TO EDINBURGH. This really isn't a move, she's had the Edinburgh store for well over a year, it's really the closing down of the Glasgow store. It's not like you can just pop round the corner to the Edinburgh store in a few minutes (and for some reason, I can't get their website to function properly on either of the computers I have access to).

Then, to cap it off, it turned out that the knitting meetup which was associated with the yarn store had also been abandoned (and we were due to meet up the next week). Thankfully, some core members of the meetup group got together and organised a new venue so it will continue, but to say we felt let-down would be putting it mildly!

Thankfully, there is a light at the end of this project. A knitting friend who passes the Edinburgh store regularly is going to pop in and pick up another ball of the yarn for me, and some time soon, I'm going to Edinburgh to cash in the completed loyalty cards I was saving to see me through my maternity leave. I've lost the momentum on my knitting though, and this set-back seems to have been the catalyst.

More little hats

2010-02-01T17:03:00.003Z

I think that I might have this little baby hat pattern out of my system by now, but then again, maybe not... there are still a couple of new or anticipated arrivals that I haven't knitted for.

These two were run off this week, using up more left-overs from my Rainbow Chain Baby Blanket.
The blue one was requested by my Mum as a gift for a colleague who has just had a baby boy.
The pink-red one is for my pilates instructor who has just gone on maternity leave and is expecting a little girl in a couple of weeks.

Details:
The pattern is Berry Baby Hat by Michelle Sabatier, on RandomStitches.
The yarn is all Pisgah Peaches and Creme 100% cotton aran weight.
I used 4mm DPN needles.
I modified the published pattern by going down a needle size and casting on 72 stitches. This made 8 repeats of 9 stitches and I purled the last stitch in each repeat for a bit of texture.

On the renovations front, all the major work is done and we're just waiting for the decorator to get going. Sadly, I misplaced my camera for a week so I couldn't record the changes. Some of the improvements are invisible (work done under the floor in the dining room), others aren't very striking but make me happy (proper wooden window sills in the dining room and nursery and a hinge-down hatch for the attic) and others make a huge difference (building a cupboard round the boiler in the kitchen - hiding the boiler and exposed pipes, gaining a bit of storage and covering up the many hideous strata of aged wallpaper exposed in the boiler corner).

Bog-standard Beret...

2010-01-18T14:20:00.004Z

... and a little bit of construction!

I had just over two balls of yarn left over once I finished the red scarf in my last post and decided that a nice red beret would finish my winter look off perfectly.

I was a little concerned that I might not have enough yarn, so first time I knitted this, I reduced the diameter slightly, and while it fitted fine, it didn't look good. In addition, there was the best part of half a ball of yarn left over. Since the total knitting time was about three hours and only represented an evening's work, I started again.

The second time, I cast on fewer stitches to get a snugger fit round my ears and worked increases to a slightly larger diameter than first time round, then just followed the pattern to the last row. I added a short icord stem, instead of threading the yarn through the last round of stitches and pulling, as I think that this gives a nicer finish.

This time, the beret fits beautifully, and despite still requiring a wet block on a dinner plate, I've worn it several times in the last week.

Details:
The pattern is Beret by Twilleys of Stamford.
The yarn is Debbie Bliss Cotton DK (2 balls), in Raspberry (038).
I used 4.5mm needles throughout (DPNs and circular).
In addition to the modifications mentioned above, I modified the pattern to work it in the round.

The renovations have also moved on, the day after my last post, there was a ceiling but no floor, but now we have a ceiling, a level floor and new skirting boards!

Today the plasterer is skimming the ceiling and then it's really just a matter of decorating.

New scarf and a bit of demolition...

2010-01-14T17:29:00.003Z

The relentless march through projects goes on - I just can't seem to stop knitting at the moment and most of the projects I've picked have been fairly quick.

The latest is a bright new scarf with yarn I bought in the sales. This stuff didn't even make it to the stash!

Details:
The Pattern is 'Brooke's Column of Leaves' by Brooke Nelson.
The yarn is Debbie Bliss Cotton DK in Raspberry. I used just under 5 balls for a 60" scarf.
I used 4.5mm needles throughout.
I made no modifications.

I'm normally veer away from Debbie Bliss yarns (although I still have some old examples in my stash) as they tend to be poor quality, with lots of knots per ball and pill horribly on wearing. In addition to this they tend to be expensive and not good value yardage-wise. While this yarn is quite short on yardage, I only found 1 knot in 5 balls and, in the sale, the price was right. The colour is also fabulous for winter and lifts my brown coat and matches a long-line jumper that I should be able to wear right up until my due date.

In tune with the relentless march through projects, the relentless march through pregnancy also continues. The Resident Radiologist and I are now starting to make serious progress towards a nursery. The room had a cracked ceiling and non-level floor and events are in motion this week to rectify the situation.

When I got home last night, the room no longer had a ceiling at all and I've been assured that, while there will be a new ceiling this evening (cunningly preserving the original mouldings), there won't be a floor! Roll on the weekend when structural integrity should be restored.

Leyburn

2010-01-11T16:54:00.002Z

This pattern was a dream to knit - the eight row repeat just kept things ticking over nicely and progress was fast.

Sadly the socks are too big for me - the pattern instructions said that the quilted lattice pattern was pretty inflexible, so I cast on four more stitches than usual and scrupulously made sure that the stitches were well-spaced when working the lattice, but they came out just too loose. Happily, they fit my sister perfectly so she now has a new pair of warm socks for winter.

I modified this pattern fairly drastically so I'll discuss this here rather than in the details section: The pattern is written in a toe-up format with short-row toes and heels. I personally don't mind knitting socks this way, but find that they tend not to fit me very well. I re-wrote as follows for top-down with a heel-flap heel...
Cast on 72 stitches and knitted 2x2 rib for 10 rows. Used quilted lattice stitch pattern as written (for in the round) until leg was desired length. Worked heel-flap over 35 stitches using heel-stitch and turned as usual. Picked up stitches for instep and worked foot in round, but only with quilted lattice stitch (as written for working flat) over top 37 stitches. Did usual decreases back to 72 stitches. Normal toe with kitchener grafting.

Details:
The pattern was my adaptation of Leyburn by Pepperknit.
The yarn is Marks and Kattens Fame Trend sock yarn which I brought back as a souvenir from my trip to Uppsala in October.
I used 2.5mm DPN needles throughout.
I modified the pattern as detailed above.

The resident radiologist has indicated that he likes these socks and that the diameter was fine on his foot, so there might be another pair of these in my near future!

The Final Installment

2010-01-08T11:22:00.004Z

December saw the final installment of the Old Maiden Aunt Preview Sock Yarn Club. Both previous parcels had been lovely, but with this one, Lilith outdid herself.

First of all, there was the yarn. A merino / cashmere /nylon blend base that feels so soft and lofty. The colourways are 'Derilict Daughter' - the purpley one and 'Seen the Ocean' - the blue one. These are definitely my favourite colours from this club- really vibrant with great depth to them.

Next there was another stitch marker - a seahorse to go with the Seen the Ocean colourway.

Then there were two mini-skein keyrings. The red one is the 'Last Night's Red Dress' colourway and the brown one is the 'Brass Taps and Oak' colourway.

Finally there was a little jute tote bag to put it in...

All in all, a lovely parcel to get just before Christmas.
This year's sock yarn club for me is going to be the Fyberspates Sheila's Sock club, and already I can't wait to see what Jen comes up with...

Just in time

2010-01-06T14:54:00.004Z

Just before we went away to the in-laws for Christmas, I finished the knitting on the Chaton Minet felted cat basket. It was huge, approximatedly 24 inches across when laid flat and very very floppy.

I had a day off work before we left and many loads of laundry to do so I put it in an old pillow case and added it in with the coloured loads. Three 40C cycles later, it was felted nicely and felt really firm so I stretched it over the lid of my big cake carrier to shape and dry.

Within three hours, the cat was in it, and with the really cold weather we've been having every since, she hasn't ventured far from it. It's perfectly Splat-sized (don't ask about the name - it's a vet thing) and makes a great warm bed when positioned in front of the radiator!

Details:
Pattern : Chaton Minet by Caroline Dlugy-Hegwer.
Yarn: Icelandic Lopi Roving from Twist Fibre Craft Studio, held double throughout.
Needles: 9mm circulars.
Modifications: None.
Felting: Three 40C cycles in front-loading machine.

Still Busy

2009-12-21T14:48:00.004Z

Despite the finishing flurry recently, I'm still busy. I have three projects on-the-go at the moment, and countless others I can't wait to cast on.

The project which is going to be on the needles for the longest is definitely an exersize in deferred gratification:

'House Colours' scarf for the Resident Radiologist. The yarn is Old Maiden Aunt 100% Merino 4 ply in the November colourways 'Put on the Day' and 'Midnight Owl' from the Previews Yarn Club. As soon as I opened the parcel, the RR exclaimed that the colours were his old house colours from school. That sealed it - they were destined for him.
I'm knitting the scarf on 3.5mm needles in 2x2 rib and it could take some time - I'm aiming for 60" long (if there's enough yarn) and I'm currently at 7"!

The next project is actually now off the needles and just awaits felting:

Chaton Minet Felted Cat Basket by Caroline Dlugy-Hegwer (Rav link). I've been knitting it in Lopi Roving from Twist Fibre Craft Studio in Fife. The current state of this project is floppy and huge, but I'm hoping it will end up dense and compact. I'm going to try felting the swatch before going for the whole thing. A fellow raveler has knitted the same project in the same yarn and had to put it through two 40C cycles to get it felted, so I'm not too worried about messing it up on the first run.

The last project on the needles is a pair of socks:

Leyburn byMintyFresh (Rav link). These were meant to be for me, but they've come up just too big and happily fit my sister perfectly, so once this singleton has a pair, they'll be winging their was east to keep her feet warm.

Finally, I'd just like to wish you all a Merry Christmas.

I'll be back on-line some time between Christmas and New Year.

Instant Gratification

2009-12-17T13:42:00.004Z

I'm usually a process knitter and a long-time connoisseur of delayed gratification, but occasionally, a bit of instant gratification really hits the spot.

Two things I've made this week fall into this category:

A little blueberry baby hat...

Details:
The pattern is Baby Berry Hat by RandomStitches.
The yarn is Peaches and Creme 100% cotton by Pisgah Yarn Company.
I used 4.5mm needles throughout.
Total knitting time was less than two hours!

A lovely spiced apple cake...

Details:
The recipe is the Chalet School Apple Cake from Cherry Cake and Ginger Beer by Jane Brocket.
I swapped the ground hazelnuts for ground almonds and added some of the sliced apple through the mix as well as on top.
The results were delicious and didn't last very long!

Little Sister's Dress

2009-12-15T17:02:00.005Z

All done - after the big decision making process with the buttons, at the last moment I found two little olive green buttons at the bottom of my button box and realised that they were perfect.

I crocheted round the whole neck opening and made two loops as I went for buttonholes.

Details:

The pattern is Little Sister's Dress by Tosa Froseth.
The yarn is RYC cashcotton 4 ply in citron (the colour is better in the second photo).
I used a 3.25mm addi lace circular needle throughout.
I used a 2.5mm crochet hook for the neck.
My row gauge was a little off so I made a few modifications to account for this.

This project has reminded me how much I love RYC cashcotton 4 ply. It feels beautifully soft and wears and machine washes well so should be good for baby clothes. It has been discontinued now so I've been online in the last week, scooping up as much as I can from the virtual bargain bins. I now have a nice little stash of it for baby jumpers and socks and the like.

Pretty Thing

2009-12-11T16:23:00.003Z

The little green dress is now finished, but while it's blocking, here's another finished object hot off the needles...

'Pretty Thing' by Stephanie Pearl McPhee. This was a really quick knit and is great for wearing under my winter coat when I don't want the bulk of a scarf, just a warm neck!
I knitted it to match the Rose Red beret I knitted last year in the same yarn and which has become a staple for walking to work in the winter.

Forgive the wierd expression, I was trying to look at the screen of the camera in the mirror...

Details:
The pattern is Pretty Thing by Stephanie Pearl McPhee (Ravelry Link).
The yarn is Orkney St Magnus DK in burgandy (an angora / lambswool blend).
I used two 4mm circular needles and many stitch markers throughout.

Decisions, decisions

2009-12-09T13:51:00.005Z

Since my knitting mojo came back at full-strength and I've cleared a few larger projects, I've been hankering to go on a stash-busting project-starting frenzy. I've already started a few projects:

Pretty Thing by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, using Orkney St Magnus DK (to match my Rose Red beret from last winter).

House Colours Scarf (a simple 2x2 rib with skinny stripes) using the latest installment of the Old Maiden Aunt yarn club for the Resident Radiologist.

Little Sister's Dress by Tora Froseth, using RYC cash cotton 4 ply (left-over from my Apres Surf Hoodie).

In addition to starting this last one, I've actually finished all of the knitting and just need to make a desicion about buttons before I crochet the neck edging and buttonhole loops.

This morning, in what passes for good light in Glasgow in the winter, I got out my button box and had a good search through...

I have a few choices - the mother of pearl buttons are lovely with the yarn and are my favorites, but I doubt that they'll stand up to repeated machine-washing. The mock-horn one looks good and would wash well, but I can only fine one and I need at least two. The ceramic ones on the card strip look great colour-wise but like the shell ones, I doubt they'll wash well, so I think I'm going for the sensible choice, the small pearly white ones that look fine and will wash well...

Next up - the decision for what to cast on now... My Ravelry queue tells me that Better-than-booties Baby Socks by Anne Budd, Entomology by Laura Nelkin and Baby Berry Hat by Michele Sabatier are all in the running and I have the yarn in stash, but I just can't decide!

Aeolian Resurrected

2009-12-08T10:29:00.005Z

According to my Ravelry entry, I started Aeolian way back in June... I flew through the bulk of the knitting, then four rows from the end, I ran out of yarn (I was using the left-overs from my MIL's Hanami wrap).

From then until a week and a half ago, my Aeolian has languished, unloved in a plastic bag in my project box, with its needles, beads and tiny crochet hook. More than once, I considered frogging it and knitting something else and the only thing that stopped me was the idea of the beads pinging all over the place when I was ripping out!

The light at the end of the tunnel came in the form of a Fyberspates Trunk Show at K1 Yarns in Glasgow a couple of Saturdays back. Jen brought a huge pile of beautiful stock with her and in the boxes, I found the perfect skein of Scrumptious Lace.

Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace in Autumn Hedgerow colourway.

I hadn't wanted to buy another skein of the original Charcoal colourway because what would I do with another almost 1km of grey laceweight? Autumn Hedgerow fitted the bill perfectly though, as it contains small patches of charcoal in amoungst the autumn russets, so it complemented what I already had beautifully, whilst leaving me with almost a skein of something completely different.

The knitting was quickly completed, and blocking was immediate.

Yesterday evening I wove in the ends and I'm wearing it today. Yipeee...

Details:

Pattern is Aeolian by Elizabeth Freeman, published in Knitty Spring 2009.
Yarn is Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace in Charcoal and Autumn Hedgerow colourways.
Needles used were 3.25mm throughout (Addi Lace, 100cm).
I made the small version of the pattern.

Zoom

2009-12-01T12:26:00.004Z

Wow - this baby blanket just knitted itself! I laid out the cotton for it last weekend, as soon as I'd finished the Resident Radiologist's jumper, and before I knew it, I was three colour repeats in... I finished it in just over a week.

The yarn is Cookies and Creme from the Pisgah Yarn Company in the states. I've read about it on many blogs (especially Mason Dixon Knitting) but for some reason, had assumed that it might be a little hard on the hands for knitting with, especially before it was washed. I was wrong. It was beautifully soft from the off, and not at all splitty like some cottons are. I've got loads of each colour left over so can knit lots of other colourful baby bits and pieces.

Details:

The pattern is the Rainbow Chain Carriage Blanket by Erika Flory, published in Knotions. Slightly annoyingly, the pattern as written (even with the erratum included) does not make the blanket shown in the published photograph. There is a white stripe between colours, as written, which changes the colour flow and balance a bit, but it's still a lovely pattern.

The yarn is Peaches and Creme worsted weight cotton, available here in the UK.

I used a 4.5mm circular needle throughout.

I made no changes to the pattern as written (with erratum).

The finished blanket is quite small, perfect for a new baby, over a car seat and eventually as a comfort blanket.

Ta Daaaa

2009-11-26T13:59:00.003Z

The finished, blocked and woven-in article.

This first photo shows the detail better...

while the colour is better in this one.

Details:

The pattern is Cobblestone by Jared Flood, published in Interweave Knits.
The yarn is New Lanark 100% wool aran in the colourway 'denim'.
I used 2 long 4.5mm circular needles throughout.
I made no modifications to the pattern as written!
I knitted the smallest size, but with my gauge and the fact that this yarn really relaxes when blocked, it came out at approximately 42" chest with 2-3" positive ease.

It fits the resident radiologist perfectly and he's even mentioned the possibility of wearing it to work so he must like it!

See-saw

2009-11-25T12:42:00.002Z

Just as my knitting takes off, my blogging grinds to a halt. The light has been so bad lately that I've not been able to take photos, and it would seem that photos are what inspire me to blog. I've got a few days off work starting this afternoon, so hopefully I'll be able to get some day-time shots.

I've mostly finished the Resident Radiologist's Cobblestone Pullover. It has had it's underarms grafted and a soak in the bath. All that awaits is for it to dry out completely for a final try-on, weave in the ends and it's done.

In the mean-time I've been flying through the rainbow blanket. I've finished 4 colour repeats out of 14. The Pisgah Peaches and Creme is lovely to knit with, much softer than I'd anticipated, and I've got loads of each colour left over so the baby might be on the receiving end of a few more multi-coloured cotton items.

I've also been on Ravelry, downloading patterns like a mad thing. The need to knit has just hit me in a big way again, so watch this space as they say...

The carrot that's keeping me going.

2009-11-18T17:13:00.004Z

I'm still knitting away on the cobblestone pullover for the Resident Radiologist - I'm about 3/4 of the way up the yoke. It's been a fairly tough slog, yards and yards of navy blue yarn, but here's what's waiting for me at the finish line...

The Rainbow Chain Carriage Blanket by Erika Flory. The yarn is waiting patiently in the stash, I just need to finish a few more inches of blue garter stitch, kitchener stitch the underarms and give the whole jumper a good blocking (it currently fits neatly, so I'm hoping that it will relax by about an inch or two in circumference)...

Unexpected Visitor

2009-11-16T14:27:00.004Z

I was sitting in the dining room finishing my breakfast this morning when I heard some soot dropping down the chimney. This occasionally happens, so I didn't worry too much until I heard a LOT more, followed by a scrabbling. The next thing I knew, a beak appeared from the grate and this little chap appeared. I think it was a starling.

He flew round the dining room. trying to get throught the double glazed window, then settled down to eat a bit of my orchid compost.

Then he moved into the kitchen, where I had the door already open and waiting, but he totally ignored the door and hopped around, trying out my cereal left-overs, the drying rack and the bread board...

before settling on the tap.

Finally it noticed the gaping doorway and flew off!

Wheeeee!

2009-11-13T16:24:00.002Z

This is a very quick update as I'm about to fly out the door to get my H1N1 shot. The GPs in Glasgow finally have it available and since I'm in a high-risk group, I'm getting it now.

After that, the excitement starts. We've got tickets for the Proclaimers tonight at the SECC in Glasgow. The atmosphere at their live gigs is amazing and I just can't wait...

Stash relocation

2009-11-12T16:45:00.006Z

As I mentioned in a previous post, my study is going to become the baby's room. In addition to merging my study contents with the Resident Radiologist's study, this change of use also involves relocating my stash which has resided for the last couple of years in a large chest of drawers in my study.

The drawers are staying, but in the future will house small vests, baby-grows and myriad other tiny items I've probably not yet become acquainted with.

My stash, on the other hand, is being relegated to the cupboard under the stairs. I have three big plastic boxes with flip-down lids left over from the house-move and these will work pretty well and stack well.

The top box has 4ply, sock yarn and lace-weight. The next box has DK and aran and the bottom box has fibre for spinning, my niddy-noddy, yarn I'm looking to swap or get rid of and my small fabric stash. I recently freecycled the bulk of my cross-stitch stash (keeping only the DMC and Anchor cottons - so useful for mending) so don't have to find a place for that any more.

Old Uppsala

2009-11-11T17:41:00.003Z

On the last day of my trip to Sweden, the weather was beautifully cold, clear and crisp. Perfect for a good after-breakfast walk. The area my friend lives in is essentally car-free (there is a road round the outside of the development with parking and garages, but where the houses and flats are is only accessable by footpath). From her house, we walked through these paths, took a bridge over a main road and immediately found ourselves in a large well-mapped network of woodland paths. It was really well thought-out with notice boards illustrating routes of different lengths appropriate for jogging, walking or cycling.

We walked towards Old Uppsala, the original settlement in the area which is now about 5km from the centre of Uppsala city.

The views were stunning and our choice of direction took us up the only proper hill in the whole region.

In the above photo, the building is the church at Old Uppsala which is about 1000 years old. The three mounds just in front of the church are the burial mounds of the three most prominant Viking Kings.

The return journey was just as beautiful and the clear weather held out until we were back at the house. On our return leg, we found this little chap crossing the path...

Not a good time of the year to be a catepillar, mid October with the temperatures already heading below 0C! Somehow, I doubt that he was going to have a long and fruitful life but you never know - maybe catepillars hibernate?

Further Stash Enhancement

2009-11-10T16:55:00.004Z

I realise that this runs contrary to my comittment to slim down the stash this year, but when I heard that Lilith from Old Maiden Aunt was going to do a limited edition, three-month sock yarn club, I couldn't really resist. There will be two skeins each month, hand-dyed in strong plain semi-solid colours. The yarns will be a different composition each month as well.

October's installment arrived a couple of weeks ago...

Strange Rock 'n' Rollers, a colourway that changes tone in different lights.

Bitter Bug, a lovely irridescent green...

And a lovely little beetle stitch marker.

The yarn is a bamboo/superwash merino blend and is far too yummy for socks. The rather clever Lilith has designed pairs of colourways each month that share some tones (and a base yarn composition) so that they should work well together in colourwork projects, if desired. I think that a lacey scarf might be on the cards for the bitter bug...

Stockholm

2009-11-09T16:23:00.003Z

It would seem that I don't count weekends as days of the week - it never even occurred to me to blog! I can't imaging that's going to change soon, so I'm going to aim for 5 post a week for the rest of November.

The second full day of my holiday, my friend and I caught the bus down to Stockholm for the day. I was seriously impressed by the ticket system, we just went online the night before and bought the ticket and reserved a seat by credit card and a confirmation was text-messaged to us. The next day, we just showed the bus driver the text and he ticked us off the list he had on the touch screen computer in the bus! Efficient or what (and totally paper-free)?

I don't think that I really saw Stockholm at its best, as the weather was very cold and it rained on and off all day. Nevertheless, I liked what I saw.
I'd never fully appreciated that Stockholm is build on a series of islands connected by bridges and ferries. It was actually quite difficult to know which way I was facing (towards the coast or inland) because the water was all around.

Sweden currently holds the Presidency of the European Union, so this island, which houses the parliament is, for the time being, a Very Important Place. Despite this, there was no sense of it being off-limits or access-controlled as bits of London would have been when the UK held the post.

The next island over houses the Royal Palace and the old town. The Palace is very huge and square and stately. The old town, by contrast was very quirky with a warren of little narrow streets housing interesting little shops. It reminded me strongly of the Shambles in York.

Adjacent to the main shopping area is an open space that is in constant use in the summer months for picnics and street-performers etc. While we were there we saw a charity publicising Breast Cancer Awareness Week lighting a huge field of candles . The effect was really stunning as the light was starting to go.

Uppsala goodies

2009-11-06T17:09:00.003Z

Since I've been making a concerted effort at stash reduction over the last year (and will now have to redouble those efforts as the baby is getting the room my stash currently resides in), I resolved only to buy yarn in Sweden if I couldn't get it at home. This cut down the options quite a bit as even Drops is available in the UK.

I did pick up some sock yarn (probably for the resident radiologist, but I do rather like it myself).

The brand is Marks and Kattens Fame and the blend is a standard sock yarn - 75% wool, 25% nylon.

I also picked up a card of darning yarn for a good jumper of the RR.

I've never seen darning yarn like it in the UK - there was a rainbow of colours and a good selection of weights available.

Finally, my eye was drawn by something I hadn't even thought about in years - embroidery kits. It might have been because my friend, in addition to being a great knitter, makes lovely cross-stitch tablecloths and pictures, so we were looking in that section. I was reeled in by the designs in the Permin of Copenhagen 'Scandinavian' collection and this beautiful kit for a tablecloth ended up coming home with me.

I haven't done cross-stitch for almost 10 years, never mind embroidery so it took me a while to get going, but bit by bit, stem stitch and satin stitch have come back to me and a little progress is being made. I'm not holding my breath for this Christmas though!

Uppsala

2009-11-05T16:32:00.005Z

About three weeks ago, I took a week off work to use up some of the annual leave that I still have for this year (I never seem to manage to take it all). My 'idealist brain' was planning on just hanging around the house, chilling out and relaxing when my 'realist brain' kicked in and informed me that all I'd really do was fret about how little laundry / DIY I was doing and waste a week. Sadly, my realist brain is generally right so I did a little thinking and realised that 1) I would be safely in my second trimester and 2) it might be my last chance for solo travel for a while, so I booked some plane tickets and flew to Sweden to visit a good friend who moved back there almost a year ago.

She lives in the city of Uppsala, about an hour north of Stockholm and we had a whole day in Uppsala, just walking around, enjoying the sights and sampling the food.
My friend is also an avid knitter, so our wanders happened to take us right past the doors of her favourite two craft shops, however the spoils will have to wait until tomorrow.

We saw the cathedral...

The old University library (Uppsala is first and foremost a university town)...

The castle (very different in style from anything I've seen in the UK)...

and the castle gardens.

The area around the river (some lovely individual little shops etc)...

and a very cool road-sign that has no explanation nearby but apparently is a reference to a famous children's story set in the cathedral area of Uppsala!

A very enjoyable first day to a holiday.

Making the best of the worst

2009-11-04T15:08:00.002Z

This week promised to be a pretty bad one at work... On Saturday morning, I had to throw two fairly big experiments in the bin as the transfections looked wierd. Then, on Monday morning, when I went to plate out more cells to replace the experiments I'd abandoned, I discovered that the parental cell-line had also died (probably why those transfections looked wierd). While the situation was not un-recoverable (I've got more cells in cold storage, they'll just take a little time to get going), these two problems left me with a big hole in my week where experiments would normally sit, and since we're madly busy at the moment, trying to get results before my boss goes off to Harvard to collaborate with a couple of pretty big names in our field, this is not a good thing.

Now, two days later, I'm appreciating the flip-side... While I'm still going to have to work like a mad thing over the weekend to make up time once the new cells get going, I have some time on my hands now... and a lecture that I've still not written for a honours virology course in three weeks' time. I was planning on checking the reading material (grudgingly) this weekend and then putting the slides together next week, but now I've got time this week to do the reading properly and make the slides, and I'm really enjoying it.

Even better, when I got home yesterday, there was a missed delivery card through the door - so by the time I get to the depot on Saturday morning to collect the extra yarn for the Resident Radiologist's jumper, the lecture will be written and I'll be able to knit in my spare time without the guilt of the unwritten lecture hanging over me.

Cosy socks

2009-11-03T10:48:00.002Z

Here's a project that's been finished for over a month that I never got round to photographing until now. The Resident Radiologist loves hand-knitted socks and always seems to look forward to a new pair. I finished the kitchener stitch on these once evening and they were on his feet the next morning!

Details: My usual pattern, 68 stitches on 2.5mm needles with a deep slipped-stitch heel flap. These fit the RR so are about a UK size 12. The yarn is Opal sock yarn and the colourway is the Hundertwasser 'Silver Spiral' design that I got in a yarn swap about 18 months ago. I have a second ball of this yarn - not sure what to do with it, maybe a baby jumper?

I'm back - with NaBloPoMo

2009-11-02T14:43:00.005Z

OK - I realise that I'm already a day late with this, but in an effort to kick-start my blogging again, I've decided to participate in NaBloPoMo - an annual event encouraging bloggers to post every day for the month of November.

I guess that I'll start with the good news... the downturn in knitting mojo of the last few months caused by my feeling pretty 'bleugh' throughout my first trimester (my latest big project is growing a human being!) has passed and knitting has resumed.

I've been knitting a jumper for my husband, the Resident Radiologist, which is on hold temporarily while I wait for more yarn which could be a while due to intermittent postal strikes. While I'm waiting, I've been brushing of my, long-unused, embroidery skills to decorate a tablecloth for Christmas.

Now I've taken the first step to getting the blog back on-track, I just need to get the camera out and get back into the habit of taking regular photos...

Colour saturation

2009-09-10T16:55:00.004+01:00

Not a single stitch of knitting has occurred since my last post I'm afraid. I'm halfway down the foot of a second sock and really want to get it finished, but I just can't find the inspiration or will.

When I was having a read though my regular blog roll, I came across this on the Yarn Yard Blog. I had a go, (I scored 4 incidentally in case anyone else has tried it), and it got me thinking. Of all the things that might inspire a person to knit, for me, it's colour. When I walk round Woolfest or my LYS, it's the colours that draw me to a yarn and then to a pattern.

With this in mind, I had a quick trawl through Ravelry and came up with this colourful beauty (non Rav link). Just what I need in terms of colour therapy to look forward to once the sock is done. I quickly ordered the necessary yarn - Peaches and Creme - an american cotton yarn that I've read about many times and was pleased to find available in the UK.

Now all I have to do is get the sock done and anticipate a large parcel of colour arriving in the post...

Dreaming in Colour

2009-08-20T12:54:00.004+01:00

Knitting has not been a regular activity for me lately. I don't really know what's happened - I'm usually pretty productive, but I've been knitting the same pair of socks for the resident radiologist for the last month and I've only just turned the heel on the second sock.

I did have a good excuse for one week -

We were enjoying the sights of Paris and Normandy and no knitting accompanied us.

I can't seem to account for the rest of the time though.

Before this hiatus struck, the last thing I finished up was this Shrug by Dream in Colour.

I knitted it using Catalina Alpaca yarn, which is supposed to be aran weight, but is really closer to DK. I adjusted the pattern to allow for this by including an extra repeat of the lace pattern width-wise.

It's been really handy and matches up well with my summer wardrobe.

Socks

2009-07-23T16:01:00.003+01:00

I've not been knitting much lately - I went away to a research conference in Oxford for a week and it disrupted my rhythm. Just before I got on the plane though, I managed to get these in the post to my little sister...

Bed socks knitted to my usual pattern on 4.5mm needles. The cuff yarn is Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in pale yellow and the body of the sock is Fyberspates BFL sock yarn in Fiesta colourway.

These should keep her toes warm at night!

The Resident Radiologist also did well on the sock front lately...

My usual heel-flap pattern knitted on 2.25mm needles with Trekking XXL yarn in a blues and greens colourway.

I have started swatching for a new largeish project so hopefully normal service should resume soon.

Can you guess what it is yet?

2009-07-07T17:33:00.005+01:00

I've got a couple of biggish project that have stalled a little recently, but between these larger items, knitting has been occurring. So in the immortal words of Rolf Harris 'Can you tell what it is yet?'...

There is a big round bit,

And a big round bit with a stalk.

Four stumpy bits,

And a little crochet.

Yes - it's Elephante by Susan Anderson.

Knitted with the Jaeger Extra Fine Merino DK scraps from my sister's mitred square blanket.

And with a little icord tail. So cute!

Woolfest 2009

2009-06-30T17:12:00.006+01:00

This year, for me, Woolfest was all about spinning. Yes, there were the usual array of fluffy and furry fibre sources on display...

and very cute they were too.

And a little yarn was purchased...

Sock yarn for the Resident Radiologist as reward for braving Woolfest for the second year in a row.

A skein of beautiful alpaca, silk and cashmere blend laceweight for me from The Yarn Yard.

But mostly it was all about fibre...

Angora fluff from one of the bunnies on show on the day,

Superwash BFL combed top (naturals) from The Yarn Yard; Superwash merino combed top (pinks / oranges) and Falkland wool combed top (blues and greens), both from Felt Studio UK.

Merino - silk blend combed top from Wingham Wool Work that I've already spun almost half of.

I also aquired some more tools for making yarn from fluff...

A beautiful second-hand lazy kate and bobbins and an Ashford Niddy-noddy.

As always, Woolfest was a real treat for the fibre fiend in me and a fantastic prologue to a couple of days in the Lake District, walking (Place Fell and Ullswater this year) and enjoying the wonderful weather.

A Year in Yarn

2009-06-25T14:51:00.006+01:00

About this time last year, I signed up for the Get Knitted Lorna's Laces sock yarn club. The deal was two skeins of a limited-edition colourway every two months.

The last installment arrived this month. To my eternal shame (as I'm meant to be stash-busting, not aquiring), I've not knitted any of it up yet, but I have plans...

Fandango - possibly destined for a Swirl Scarf.

Irish Jig - not sure yet - maybe socks for the Resident Radiologist?

Christmas Congo - definitely socks for the RR.

Laendler - may also be used in the Swirl Scarf.

Hula Kolili - this is the one I'm least fond of - I can't think what to do with it.

Three Drunken Maidens - socks for me.

There are several colourways here that I would have walked straight past in a shop and never have picked up myself, but they've all grown on me and each has it's own charms. In addition - as the club was from Get Knitted, they all arrived beautifully wrapped with a little extra (often edible) surprise.

Despite this blatent stash aquisition, I've actually been quite good over the last year. Any other yarn that I bought was knitted up straight away and on the whole, I've got less stash this year than last. I've also been having a clear-out so there is yarn available on my destash page on Ravelry. I may be about to make up for lost time though as the RR and I are off to the Lake District this weekend for some hill walking and a trip to Woolfest!

Caramel Alpaca

2009-06-05T14:51:00.003+01:00

The whole recent spinning thing was instigated by a random conversation with a friend of my in-laws 18 months ago. She has five alpacas of varying colours that she keeps and I asked where she sold their fleeces onto when they were sheared. 'Nowhere' came the reply 'we just throw them away'. I was really surprised by this and explained that alpaca is a lovely fibre to knit with and that surely some small-scale spinner would use them...

...skip forward a few months and the in-laws came to visit. My FIL handed me a large sturdy carrier bag full of caramel coloured alpaca fluff. They'd been sheared and could I use some?

At that time, I didn't know how to spin and wasn't sure that I really wanted to learn (there's only so much time and another fibre-related obsession would detract from knitting time). The idea must have grown on me though, as, a couple of months later I bought a drop spindle at Woolfest, then recently I learned to use it and bought the hand carders needed to card the fleece.

I've been combing raw, unwashed fleece into these light and airy rolags...

Which spin up into a fairly fine single.

I then navajo-plied them and washed the yarn in the skein.

The finished product is a little underspun so I'm going to work on that in the next batch, but for now, I have about 100m of caramel coloured 100% alpaca yarn processed entirely from the raw fleece by hand.

Finished

2009-05-27T15:01:00.003+01:00

Apres Surf is off the needles and all sewn up. I'm really delighted with the finished result - this was my best ever attempt at seaming and my best ever set in sleeves. I really feel that I've made progress with this project.

Here are the details:

Pattern: Apres Surf Hoodie by Connie Chang Chinchio
Yarn: RYC CashCotton 4 ply in Citron
Needles: 3.5 and 3.25mm addi lace needles.

Alterations: I knitted the body in the round up to the armholes and neck divide and then flat to the shoulders. I knitted the sleeves flat then seamed them before setting them in. I did a normal cast on for the body and sleeves and then did an applied i-cord afterwards instead of a provisional cast on and i-cord bind off. (I did do the i-cord bind off on the hood and it was lovely but took for ever!).

I still need to re-block since the neck and hood edging was added but I've already worn it a couple of times. The yarn is beautifully soft next to the skin and the shape is really wearable.

Learning Curve.

2009-05-19T13:14:00.005+01:00

I've always enjoyed the challenge of learning a new skill and a class I took about a month ago has had me on a fairly steep learning curve ever since. I drove up to Twist Fibre Craft Studio in Newburgh in the north of Fife to learn how to use the drop spindle I bought at Woolfest last year.
I'd had a little go at using it but nothing had clicked and I decided that tuition was the way forward.

Initially, I used a top-whorl spindle supplied in the class and managed to produce some knobbly, hairy almost-yarn from some carded Icelandic wool. I then managed pretty much the same with my bottom-whorl spindle.

I bought some combed silk - merino tops to take home with me and started that evening and fairly quickly produced a spindle full of singles.

A quick watch of videos on the internet and I tried navajo plying it with pretty good success.
These skeins are on the small side and the yarn is a bit hard (I think that I over spun it).

Next I remembered about the mixed bag of combed merino tops I bought from Wingham Wool Work at Woolfest two years ago. I got it out and realised that I pretty much had a whole spectrum of colour. I started at the red end and spun through the colours until I reached the violet end.

This time I tried winding the single off the spindle with my ball winder, to try to control the tension during plying, which worked for a while, but eventually the lovely and obliging Resident Radiologist had to hold the ball and provide tension while I navajo plied (I like three ply - the yarn produced is much rounder so I'm going to stick with this method for a while).

I'm really pleased with the finished product this time. I've soaked and dried it to set the twist and the yarn is beautifully soft. I've ended up with about 80m of 4ply-weight yarn. Clearly I'm nowhere near the top of the learning curve yet, but I've reached a place where I can produce useful quantities of usable yarn.

Little Bits and Pieces

2009-05-13T11:15:00.004+01:00

I'm still working well on the Apres Surf Hoodie - I've nearly finished the sleeves and then there's 'just' the blocking and sewing up to do!

In the mean-time though, I've found a great excuse for some instant gratification. One of my closest friends has just had a baby and another is expecting in the very near future. Baby knitting is the best form of near-instant finishing...

There's been an 'On the sunny side' hat, knitted with Colinette Banyan on 5mm needles.

A pair of Saartje's booties in the same yarn, knitted on 3mm needles.

Two pairs of baby socks knitted in Regia Bamboo sock yarn on 2.5mm needles.

I'm not sure I've got the baby knitting out of my system yet so there may be more to follow!

Progress

2009-04-30T13:12:00.004+01:00

I've been knitting away on the Apres Surf Hoodie intermittantly for the last couple of weeks and progress has been good. The short lace repeat was easily memorised so I could pick up and put down whenever I wanted without too much reference to the pattern. The nature of the pattern also spurred me on to do 'just one more repeat'.

I've finished the body now and decided that, rather than leave stitches on a holder, I would just get the hood done too. The pattern is beautifully written and the lace pattern flows perfectly from the body into the hood and also lines up at the shoulders which makes me happy.

I still need to knit the band on the hood and neck opening and the applied I-cord at the hemline (I decided that this would be simpler than a provisional cast on followed by putting all the stitches back on a needle and doing an I-cord bind-off. I also have both sleeves to do.

This knitting has now been interrupted by a couple of other projects (more on which later...) but should be back on the needles fairly soon.

New Beginings...

2009-04-21T14:31:00.004+01:00

The Apres Surf Hoodie has been on my 'to knit' list ever since the pattern was published last summer. In fact, it might even have been the reason I bought that issue of Interweave Knits.

In december I went to the John Lewis sale and managed to get enough Rowan Cashcotton 4 ply in their sale for my size - clearly this was meant to be... but then the yarn went into the stash and the jumper did not appear. I just didn't seem to be in the mood for it until really lately (I blame Dad's big blue jumper - I couldn't think about anything else until I knew it was properly finished).

A couple of weeks ago, the yarn came out of the stash and the swatching happened. I knitted two swatches and after washing and blocking, one was the perfect gauge. I liked the look and drape of the other one better though, so I did the maths and worked out that if I knitted the pattern for the 35.5 inch chest in the gauge I liked best, I'd get a size just below the next size up, which should fit me pretty well.

And so I've started something new at last...

The Big Blue...

2009-04-14T13:20:00.005+01:00

I finished the knitting on my Dad's birthday jumper ages ago - in plenty time for his birthday at the end of February in fact. However, I always had a nagging feeling that the top half wasn't going to be quite right, so I left the lifelines in just in case...

...my nagging feeling turned out to be correct, but in the end the solution didn't require me to resort to frogging to the lifeline (and just as well because this yarn is seriously sticky - a bit like Shetland - and doesn't rip well).

The neck line was way too baggy for Dad. The rest of the jumper actually fitted pretty well (which I was delighted about as it was the first major garment that I've designed myself) but the neck was just too large.

While I was willing to rip and re-knit if necessary, I thought that first I'd try to reknit the neck band a bit tighter. I had to cut out the old band - sticky yarn problems, and instead of picking up a stitch for every row, I picked up two stitches for every three rows and used a slightly smaller needle. I also changed the stitch pattern to 1x1 rib from 2x2 rib, and knitted a facing to the band which I sewed down afterwards.

The effect is quite marked and the fit is much improved. I'm really pleased with the result as while the lifelines were still in, I didn't really feel the jumper was finished and I couldn't move on to a new big project. When the lifelines came out on Sunday after Dad tried it on again, I could heave a huge sigh of relief!

Project details: Yarn - New Lanark 100% Wool Aran.
- colourway = Denim (colour best in top two photos).
- quantity = 8 balls for 56" chest jumper.
Stitch pattern - mistake rib over 4 stitches.
Needles - Addi turbo 4.5mm and 4mm.

Ooh, pretty...

2009-04-08T16:43:00.006+01:00

... or at least I think so.

I hope some other people think so too as these are some of the first jewelry pieces I will be listing on my Etsy shop.

Red glass lariat necklace.

Jasper drop earrings.

Black and white lampwork earrings.

Turquoise lampwork earrings.

Biwa pearl and seed bead necklace.

Lavender and pearl pin.

This next pin is not for sale, it's mine (all mine)...

Ocean green and silver pin.

So if you're ever looking for just the right pin to fasten a hand-knit, or a gift for a friend, please come and visit me on Etsy...

Yarn Fumes...

2009-04-02T16:44:00.003+01:00

I was going throught the photos I had taken of my new silk socks when I came across this one and it brought to mind the phrase 'overcome by yarn fumes' - generally used when a knitter tries to excuse the purchase of more yarn.

Splat definitely looks like she's been overcome by the yarn fumes.

These are my leftovers socks knitted with the remains of some Regia Silk 6 ply that I used to knit a pair of socks for the Resident Radiologist. They are 52 stitches around, knitted on 3.75mm needles to my usual pattern.

And these are the RR's original pair. I knitted them as a stealth project last year when the RR was working away from home and gave them to him for Christmas. Since then, they've rarely been out of his work boots or out of the laundry basket for long enough for a photo!

They are also 52 stitches around to my usual pattern. The silk blend yarn is lovely and soft and warm and washes really well, but I don't think that I'd use it again for socks as it doesn't have the resilience of wool and stretches out of shape a bit during wearing.

Rose Red

2009-03-12T13:11:00.004Z

This little beauty knit up just as quickly second time round and now fits like a dream.

The pattern is Rose Red by Ysolda Teague and the yarn is Orkney St Magnus DK - an angora / lambswool blend. The finished beret is easy to wear, it can be worn pulled to one side or to the back as a slouch.

I've not really been knitting much lately - just working a little on a pair of silk-blend socks for me with the left-overs from the Resident Radiologist's Christmas Socks. I really want to get on with another 'proper project' such as the Apres Surf Hoodie, for which I have the pattern and yarn, but the mojo just isn't there.

Even this most recent addition to the stash, the February Lorna's Laces sock club from Get Knitted in a colourway that I can't make out hasn't got the fingers twitching!

Instead, I've been working on bead and silverwork. I've decided that this is going to be the year when I take a load of my jewelry to a craft fair, but I've also been toying with the idea of Etsy... To this end, I've been trying to get really good photographs of my pieces using a light box at work. I'll try to put a selection up next post and you can all let me know what you think!

Spring has Sprung...

2009-02-23T12:11:00.006Z

... and I sincerley hope that I've not jinxed Glasgow for the next month by typing that.

But really, the transformation in the last two weeks has been immense.

From this...

to this - and this is not a one off. The Resident Radiologist and I took a walk into the west-end yesterday along the Kelvin and there were crocuses out everywhere.

Down by the canal...

...from this - tracks made by foxes playing on the ice...

... to this - the neighbourhood heron making himself comfortable again.

And in the house, spring has been on its way for a while with potted bulbs brightening up the dining room and sitting room.

Hyacinth 'White Pearl'

Hyacinth 'Jan Bos'

Narcissus 'Tete a Tete'.

Back to square one...

2009-02-19T14:56:00.005Z

The featureless blue expanse of Dad's birthday jumper is finished and blocked and awaiting Saturday to be tried on by it's new owner (so that I can heave a sigh of relief if it fits or get knitting again if it doesn't). As a reward for finishing (on time and with my sanity intact), I cast on for this little beauty. I've had the yarn in my stash since hogmanay, just waiting to get onto the needles.

Three evenings later, after several hours of angst that it was going to be too small, I was casting off and beginning to have a sneaking suspicion that the opposite may be true...

Oh yes - much too big. I'm carefully balancing it on my head in the photo above to stop it falling off!
The pattern is lovely and beautifully written and the finished item is wonderfully soft and warm, but not even two hours of watching TV with the beret balanced on my head could convince me that I would really wear it in this state. So (after a few photos) out came the ball winder and the yarn went back to the frog-pond... immediately... before I could convince myself that a light felting might render it the necessary two inches smaller (come on brain - this is 50% angora, even a light felting would render it suitable only for a doll's head).

Finally, after three evenings knitting and five minutes ripping, I was back to this... not so far really from my jumping-off point!

I've already cast on again - this time for the medium size which is a pattern repeat smaller.

Clearly nature was trying to cheer me up about life this morning - this was the beautiful weather on the walk to work - it just about makes me believe that spring is on the way again...

Posh Mittens

2009-02-16T15:43:00.004Z

This project was inspired by a picture I saw in a magazine ages ago and ripped out as a reminder.
I think that the picture was in Scottish Field and I was struck by the wonderful colours and cosy look. The mittens in the advert were cashmere and cost nearly £50, to which my miserly Scottish heart responded - 'I bet I could knit them for a fraction of that'.

The photograph was good enough that I was able to pick out the stranded colourwork pattern and make a chart. I looked around for an appropriate yarn and immediately fell for the Artesano Alpaca 4 ply that Katherine had in stock at K1 yarns. My first swatch didn't work out at all well for the pattern so I held the yarn double and tried again - perfect.

The mitten pattern was entirely improvised with some ribbing and shaping on the arms for a snug fit and a gusseted thumb. The cuffs reach my elbows for warmth under 3/4 sleeve jumpers. I think that I used 3.75mm needles.

This was my first real go at stranded colourwork using more that two yarns and I'm pleased with how it turned out. If I knit these again, I might shorten the floats at the back by wrapping them with the working yarn. My gauge isn't quite that of the mittens in the advert so the pattern looks slightly different and my colours are all slightly more vivid so together look sharper, but on the whole I'm happy with them.

February Lady Sweater

2009-01-23T17:25:00.003Z

I'm still knitting away on the jumper for my Dad's birthday (one sleeve and the body both up to the armhole divide and the other sleeve on it's way) but acres of blue ribbed fabric don't make for interesting blogging so here's (as they say on Blue Peter) one I made earlier...

This is the February Lady Sweater, designed by Pamela Wynne, adapted from a baby pattern by the immortal EZ.

I've knitted it in Fyberspates Blue-faced Leicester Aran in the Spring Greens colourway on 5.5mm needles. The colour is best represented in the first two photos here. This yarn is lovely and springy and I've been wearing this cardigan over a vest top and it's not at all itchy on the skin. I cast on for the third smallest size and knitted 20 repeats of the lace pattern in the body and 16 in the arms.

This was actually cast off several weeks ago, but I didn't get round to getting buttons for it for ages (due to varied car problems). I did try digging in my button box (which is not yet a thing of limitless possibility and more a work in progress) for something suitable and came up with the most beautiful and perfect ceramic buttons (above), but sadly I only had two and this pattern calls for three. Eventually I found the bronze-look ones that I used in John Lewis and I think that they work pretty well.

Finally, I borrowed a technique that I saw Lene Alve use a couple of weeks back and used smaller plain buttons (from the button box this time) on the back of the fabric to support the bigger buttons on the front. I like the finish this gives - it looks very professional!

Knitting by numbers

2009-01-19T16:34:00.004Z

I suspect that by now, you've all realised that I don't follow patterns too well. It's not that I can't follow a pattern, it's just that I just can't help improving on them, changing the construction or altering the fit. I can't think of a single thing I've knitted for ages (other than lace - which the thought of altering brings out a cold sweat) which hasn't been subject to some sort of meddling. However, in all of these projects, there has been an underlying pattern to follow (with the exception of a couple of pairs of mittens).

Now, however, I'm branching out in a big way... My Dad likes big warm chunky knitted jumpers in Shetland-type hard-wearing wool... My Dad has a birthday coming up... I found myself arranging with Mum to measure one of his better fitting jumpers on the sly so I can surprise him with a hand-knitted jumper on his birthday...

Here's the thing - Dad has a 56" chest (yes, you did read that correctly and no, it isn't a typo) and a long back and likes fairly traditional fisherman-style jumpers with a vertical rib . I didn't know where to start looking for a pattern that would accommodate these requirements without quite a bit of alteration so I'm just working from the numers, for the first time ever!

I bought the yarn (my choice of yarn - aran and Mum's choice of colour) from New Lanark which spins beautiful traditional wool and wool / silk yarns on a traditional spinning mule. I then picked a rib pattern which I think will work well (2x2 mistake rib) and knitted a big swatch (the biggest I've ever knitted at 7" x 8"), washed and blocked it out, let it dry then measured for gauge.

After that, it was just maths. 56 inches at 14 stitches / 4 inches indicated a round of 196 stitches. I'm going to work the body in the round to the armholes, then the sleeves in the round to the armholes, join them together onto one needle and work raglan shoulders and a V-neck. I think that this should fit well and the rib means that the jumper will not be sloppy on as it should pull in for a little negative ease without being too tight either.

NB the photo of the swatch doesn't look particularly like a rib, all I can say it that it looks much better in person.

Stealth Crochet Revealed

2009-01-12T11:47:00.005Z

Back in February, March and April last year (when the Resident Radiologist was still working in Edinburgh and living away a couple of nights a week) , I worked on a surprise crochet project for him. I couldn't blog about it at the time as he's known to lurk round here from time to time.

Anyway, at the start of December he got the project (a scarf) for his birthday, so it's now fair game for blogging and I managed to get a photo of him wearing it at the weekend.

The yarn is Rowanspun 4ply, which was a gift from Float'n'Purl. The scarf was crocheted on a 4mm hook using double crochet along it's length to get long-ways stripes. The ends were finished with a couple of rows of double crochet picket up and worked across the stripes in the charcoal colour (the photos above were prior to finishing).

The colours are perfect for the RR's wardrobe (the colours are best in the indoor photo - apologies for the camera shake) and to be honest, it's not spend much time away from his neck since he opened the wrapping paper, which is very gratifying!

Quick Knits

2009-01-07T13:34:00.005Z

Happy New Year.

I hope that you all had a good Christmas and New Year. I had a house-full of guests for Christmas which was lively and great fun, then a very quiet New Year, just me and the resident radiologist from the 27th until we went back to work on the 5th January. Bliss - and a pretty productive knitting period too.

I finished off the February Lady Sweater which is now blocked and just waiting for buttons, but more on than next time (or once I find the buttons); I also designed, started and finished a pair of stranded colourwork mittens that I'd been thinking about for a while and which are currently blocking. Finally, I produced a couple of quick knits.

Which were:
A second knitted bangle in one of my favourite colours. The bangle core came from Asda and the knitted cover is left-over Arwetta superwash sock yarn (from my Vinnland socks). I cast on 68 stitches on 2.5mm needles, knitted a couple of rows in stocking stitch, then the bulk of the rows in 2x2 rib, a further row in knit and bound off. After that, it was a simple task to sew it over the bangle. I have a second bangle like this still waiting for a jacket - I just haven't decided on the yarn yet...

A knitted iPod nano cosy for my Christmas gift from the RR. Knitted in Artesano 100% Alpaca 4 ply, in the round on 2mm needles. This yarn could easily become one of my very favourites. It feels wonderful - soft and ever so slightly fuzzy, has good yardage and isn't too expensive. If I could contemplate knitting a jumper in 4 ply, this would be the yarn. Hmmm - might need to investigate the DK version!

Cast on 32 stitches, 2x2 rib for 10 rows then stocking stitch until it was about 4 rows longer than the iPod. Used kitchener stitch to graft the end together. It's a good snug fit so it won't slip off too easily and let my new toy get scratched in my pocket.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-22T10:38:00.002Z

I'm going off-line from now until some time after Christmas, so I wanted to take this opportunity to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

I hope that you've all got your Christmas knitting finished and can relax and enjoy the holiday.

Winter Warmer

2008-12-19T10:35:00.004Z

I love cuddling up with a hot-water bottle and over the last year, hot water bottles have become a permenant fixture for me in the colder months. Last November, the Resident Radiologist and I moved into an oldish house which had been sitting empty for the best part of a year. There was no residual warmth in the place from the comings and goings of previous owners, the boiler was inefficient and expensive to run, and to top it all we had to get woodworm and damp-rot treated in the attic which necessitated the removal of all the loft insulation (not that there was much) in early January and we didn't manage to install more until the spring.

There were quite a few evenings in the first year when I would be sitting with my feet on a hot-water bottle, hugging another go try to get a bit warmer. While we have made several improvements for this winter, including more insulation and a super-efficient boiler, the house is always going to be on the cool side and I still love my hot water bottle.

My favorite hot water bottle only had a temporary cover which I'd made from a bit of polar fleece about five years ago, and which was very effective but was getting a bit tatty. Finally I've got round to making it a new jumper:

The pattern, as I mentioned in my last post, is based on Jessie by Kim Hargreaves for Rowan. I've looked for a link to this pattern on the Rowan website but can't find it any more but here's a Ravelry link. I've used some left-over Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (not quite two balls) in a grass green with pale yellow for contrast.

The cashmerino aran comes up perfectly to gauge but I know from a cover I knitted for my sister that it was a tendency to grow, so I took a couple of stitches off the totals for the front and back.

I also fancied a cabled cover so I ditched the intarsia heart motif and added four chunky cables down the front. These should also pull in a bit and help the cover stay snug.

I've yet to get round to finding the right buttons, but the cover has already been pressed into service.

Startitis

2008-12-17T11:13:00.004Z

Apologies for the break in service - I've spent the last week trying to get my head around Proteomics Bioinformatics on one of the Wellcome Trust's Advanced Courses at Hinxton Hall in Cambridgeshire. Needless to say my head now hurts but I think I've learned some useful stuff.

Before I left, I suffered from a spate of Startitis, something I don't usually succumb to but which I have a bad case of at the moment.

First I cast on with the Fyberspates Aran for a February Lady Sweater...

This is a great pattern and I think that I will adapt the top-down raglan for my own patterns in the future as it ensures a great fit with little guess work.

I also cast on for a hot water bottle cover with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran...

The pattern is loosely based on Jessie by Rowan (which I've used before as written) but I've ditched the intarsia heart this time and added some cables. I'm also using a contrasting colour for the edges.

Finally I cast on for some baby socks for a friend...

The yarn is some left-over Regia Bamboo Colour sock yarn.

Not content with this plethora of projects, I took some yarn and needles with me on the course and started (and finished) a forth project - but more on that another time.

A little after-thought... an incident from the course I went on just goes to show how universal patterns have become due to the internet. I was walking from the dining room to the teaching room one morning thinking that the sweater being worn by the girl in front of me (a scientist from New Zealand) looked very like a Central Park Hoodie and that her hat looked pretty like Odessa. The more I looked, the more I was sure, but was unwilling to ask as non-knitters can take it pretty badly if you ask if their jumper is hand-knitted. The next lunchtime, I had just resolved to ask her when she came up to me to ask if the scarf I was wearing two days earlier was Clapotis! Apparently I'm not the only knitter to go round pattern spotting!

Brown Paper packages...

2008-12-02T13:00:00.005Z

... not quite tied up with string in this case. Brown paper nevertheless.

I was very excited collecting this from the post office a few Saturdays back - I wasn't expecting it to be quite so big. I had taken advantage of the Fyberspates sale (Jen was clearing out old stock before her house move) enjoyed the following beautiful sight when I opened the packaging...

Ooooh yummy!

There was some aran weight Blue Faced Leicester in the Spring Greens colourway,

Some Blue Faced Leicester sock yarn in the Lagoon colourway for the resident radiologist,

And some Blue Faced Leicester sock yarn in the Fiesta colourway (fabulous name - really captures the look of the yarn perfectly) for me.

I've been pretty good with knitting from stashed yarn lately so I didn't feel too guilty about this little haul. Also, the aran weight was bought with a particular project in mind and is on the needles already so it's not even going to make it upstairs to the stash storage drawers!

His and Hers...

2008-11-25T14:34:00.004Z

... new socks for winter. (And most definitely not matching! The Resident Radiologist and I are not really matching sorts of people.)

In this case, the only real overlap (besides both items being hand-knitted socks) is the pattern, my standard fall-back, top-down, heel-flap sock pattern.

Hers: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in 'Girly Stripe'. 68 stitches around on 2.25mm needles to fit a UK6.5 foot. A fantastic injection of colour to combat a very dark Glasgow November.

His: Schoeller + Stahl Fortissima Colori Socka Color. 68 stitches around on 2.25mm needles to fit a UK11 foot. A lovely soft heathered colourway chosen by the resident radiologist himself.

Knitted Bangle

2008-11-19T16:23:00.003Z

Sadly, I can't remember where I first came across this idea so I can't give proper credit, but needless to say that the original idea was not mine.

What I do remember, though, was seeing a photo in an up-market magazine (possibly Scottish Field) and thinking '£70 for a cashmere-covered bangle - what a rip-off'. So I, in turn, ripped off the idea and made this alpaca-covered bangle for about £3.50.

The core bangle is a cheap plastic one from Claire's Accessories. I then cast on 64 stitches with Artesano Alpaca Inca Cloud yarn on 2.25mm DPNs and away I went. I had thought about grafting the end to the beginning, but to get enough tension to keep the cover taught, I ended up casting off all the stitches, then using a varient on mattress stitch to bring the ends together.

I really like this (and it keeps my wrist lovely and warm) and am now on the look-out for other old bangles of various width to cover.

French Market Bag Redux

2008-11-10T18:42:00.003Z

This is a bag I've been hankering after for a while now - a big, squashy, bright version of the dinky one I made about a year ago.

The pattern is French Market Bag and this time I knitted it in Debbie Bliss Soho. I used almost nine balls of yarn and the pre-felted bag occupied the whole width of my dining room table.

I knitted it on 5.5mm needles ( and would have prefered 6.5mm if I'd had them as circs), and felted in a standard cycle at 40C.

The handles are long enough to go comfortably over my shoulder (diagonally if needs be) so I can distribute the weight of my shopping.

The colour is a real pick-me-up in a fairly dreary Glasgow November and will be invaluable at the Farmer's Market.

Irish Jig

2008-11-03T18:17:00.004Z

This is mainly a visual post. The yarn is the latest installment of the the Lorna's Laces Sock Club from Get Knitted 'Irish Jig'.

It's probably not going to be my favorite LL colourway as the yellow is a bit muddy, but it's nice and spring-like so makes a good stash addition. I suspect that once it matures in the stash for a while, the perfect pattern will make itself known and it will all work out well.

Woo Hoo

2008-10-24T10:28:00.004+01:00

I don't think that I've been so happy to finish a project in a long time. But then again, this is probably the biggest project I've ever knitted. And I wasn't too keen on the colours ( my sister's choice). Having said all that, I'm delighted with the way this mitred square blanket turned out.

I pretty much designed it myself after seeing a photo of a similar blanket on Ravelry. The yarn is Jaeger Extra Fine Merino DK in colours Rose petal (982), Cream (931), Natural (937) and Ocean (940). I was one ball of Rose Petal short so I substituted a ball of Rowan Extra Fine Merino DK in pale pink which was a pretty good match (the square knitted with it doesn't really jump out and sock you between the eyes - second from left, bottom row, below). I used a 4.5mm needle throughout.

Here are the techi bits - I cast on 55 stitches per side, per square and decreased two stitches in the middle every second row. I picked up stitches for subsequent squares whenever possible to minimise seaming. I seamed when necessary using double crochet stitch. The blanket is just over 6 feet square.

I picked up the stitches for the border on 4 circular needles. There are 1320 stitches in the border! This meant over an hour per round!
It's off to it's new home with my sister on Sunday... and I can cast on for something new...

Celestine

2008-10-09T13:00:00.006+01:00

This was a very quick little project to occupy some time while I was waiting for yarn to arrive.

It's an dodecahedral star, knitted modularly and stuffed with toy stuffing before finishing the last point. The pattern is Celestine Sox. I used Regia Bamboo Colour sock yarn and 2.25mm needles.

I modified the pattern slightly (as ever) in that I used a provisional cast-on and then just released stitches from the life-line as I knitted the subsequent pentagons, instead of picking up stitches.

It was a really quick knit - about four evenings total and will make a great baby gift which should have a much longer useful life than a jacket or jumper because as the baby grows and becomes mobile, the star can be kicked about and chased. Each point is just about the right size for a small hand to grasp.

I have several friends having babies over the coming months, so I can see quite a few of these in my immediate future.

In my life outside of all things yarney, the Resident Radiologist and I have been making the most of the few dry, sunny, weekend, autumn days that have come our way in recent weeks by getting out onto the hills around Glasgow. A couple of weekends ago we did the Queen's View walk to the Whangie and back over the hill.

(That's Loch Lomond in the distance).

We'd been this way before but not managed to find the Whangie, which you would think was pretty strange, as a 50 foot high rock formation isn't the easiest thing to miss.

This time we realised why. I was actually standing on top of Auchineden, about 8 feet away from the top of this craggy drop before I could actually see it.

The formation is pretty amazing and is supposed to give some weird echoes if you get the spot just right.

Warning...

2008-10-06T14:44:00.004+01:00

... this post contains a real live (knitted) FO!

My knitting has actually taken off a bit lately with progress being made on several fronts. Funnily enough, this was precipitated by running out of yarn on the major WIP I was working on, and being forced to diversify a bit.

Here is my (finally) finished Gathered Pullover by Hana Jason in Interweave Knits Winter 2007.

This was started in Feb '08 (I think) but languished without arms in my WIP box all summer. I just couldn't work out what I wanted to do with them - long, cropped, cuff-up or top down.

Eventually I picked up stitches all round the armhole and worked a short-row cap sleeve (slightly puffed - unintentional but I like the outcome). I then put an EZ applied I-cord round the edge of the sleeve and armhole to prevent rolling.

I'm delighted with the result and have worn this several times already (despite it still having an un-woven in end in one of the sleeves)!

The yarn is 100% merino 4ply from a mystery cone I bought on Ebay. The body was worked in one piece in the round to the armholes, then flat to the tops of the shoulders and grafted together. The hem is a turned hem as rolled hems round my middle just seem to keep on rolling until they sit somewhere round my rib-cage! I went down a couple of needle sizes to introduce some waist shaping, then went back up one to work the upper torso.

If I was knitting this again (which is a definite possibility) I wouldn't bother with the gather either side of the cable panel. I don't think it adds anything and just looks a bit weird.

Reworking

2008-09-23T14:18:00.004+01:00

I couple of posts ago, I showed a photo of a back-to-school necklace and shawl pin set I made for my sister. The pin I was very pleased with - that's what I worked on first and the idea had been fermenting in my head for a while. The necklace was an afterthought really - I was enjoying myself too much to stop and it just happened. The thing was, I was never quite sure about it so I sent it to my sister with a note saying that if it didn't work for her - wrong length / wrong style etc just to send it back and I'd rework it... And this is just what has happened... And I'm so pleased that she sent it back because I'd been thinking about it a bit anyway, and I'm much happier with its second incarnation.

Apologies for the photograph - it was (gasp) too sunny in Glasgow to get a good photo showing the colours and the shapes.

This is the product of a couple of hours beading and crimping on Sunday morning while the Resident Radiologist was watching a DVD and playing on his new Wii...

I took out all the small seed beads and bugles and drastically reduced the number of larger seed beads. I also added in some lavender-dyed freshwater pearls I found in a local bead store and some fluorite rectangular tubes from the Scottish Bead Fair. The final arrangement has freshwater pearls (tiny white and larger lavender) on the shortest wire, fluorite tubes on the middle wire and a mixture of freshwater pearls (tiny white), fluorite beads and amethyst chips on the longest wire with a few glass seed beads covering the ends. All the findings are sterling silver and the wire is aculon.

I was enjoying myself so much a pair of earrings 'happened' before I knew what was going on!

I'm delighted with the new finished product and hope my sister will be too.

I Aten't Dead

2008-09-17T15:05:00.002+01:00

... in the immortal words of Granny Weatherwax.

I am, however, waging war on a large and slow-moving WIP which hasn't provided much interesting material for blogging. I will be back soon.... with photos!

Stringing some ideas together...

2008-08-28T17:22:00.004+01:00

... I've not really been knitting much lately, though I have finished a long-standing WIP which I'll blog about once I've taken some photos.

I have however been beading.

I've been feeling the urge to get the bead stash out for a while now and last weekend proved to be just the time.

It started with a shawl / cardigan pin I bought (in an unbent form) at Woolfest, which I shaped up with a spring bend (wound one and a half times round a pen) and embellished with bits of amethyst, a few pearls and some other purple and white beads I had lying around. I enjoyed that so much I wasn't quite ready for it to be over, so I got out some monofilament and before I knew it, I had a matching necklace...

These are going to be a back-to-school gift for my sister who's a teacher.

It didn't stop there though - I ripped out a necklace I made a while ago and remade it with a stronger support wire so that it sits better, and the dangles for a pair of earrings to match (I don't have any ear-wires to mount them on at the moment though).

I also made a simple memory-wire necklace with mixed seed beads and horn heshi discs...

a beach-comber style knotted necklace with some embroidery cotton...

And a macrame beaded bracelet.

This is all a bit of a build up for this weekend really. The Scottish Bead Fair is on in Perth on Sunday and I'm going for a little look round (though I'm going to have to take it easy as I've just come down with shingles so am feeling a little under the weather). Mostly I'm going to be browsing for stash and ideas, but I also have a little list.....

Fandango

2008-08-21T18:02:00.002+01:00

A month or so ago, I was browsing the Get Knitted site, like you do, when I noticed the link to their sock club. Now, I've been considering the idea of a sock club for some time, and when I realised that the Get Knitted one was using specially-dyed Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock, I jumped on the band-wagon immediately.

Here's the first installment:

Colourway 'Fandango'.

I've no idea what pattern I'm going to knit yet, or when, but the yarn is sooooo pretty, I think I might just look at it for a bit!

The before and after shots...

2008-08-18T11:14:00.004+01:00

Hanami is off the needles and in blocking. I am so pleased about this I can hardly say.

It's turned out really well and the size is good. Before blocking, it measured 18 inches wide by 52 inches long. I've blocked it to 15 inches wide and 72 inches long which seemed like a good size and proportion and it isn't too stretched so I think that it should keep these sizes and not bounce back in too much.

I used Fyberspates Scrumptious laceweight which is a merino / silk blend and size 3.25mm Addi Lace needles. The yarn was beautiful to work with and I've got enough left over to knit a small triangular shawl (something similar to Swallowtail) or a lace scarf. There was not a single knot in the entire skein!
I knitted an extra repeat of the basketweave chart and an extra repeat of the last cherry blossom chart.

The one thing I think I might change, were I to knit this again, is that I might introduce a little variation into the last chart. After the wonderful flurry of blossom in the second-last chart, the blossom in the last one just seems a little too regimented.

The blocking was a bit experimental - I've wanted to use blocking wires for ages as they strike me as being much simpler and more effective (for straight edges) than a squillion pins, but they're hard to find in the UK. Here I dug out a box of my grandmother's old knitting needles (she had about 20 pairs all 2.5mm or smaller) and used them. It worked like a dream and I'll definitely be doing this again!
You can just about see them in this close-up of the end...

All I need now is to find a gift box to fold it into and the Resident Radiologist can present it to his mother on Sunday...

Another update

2008-08-14T16:06:00.002+01:00

My needles are still clicking away on the Hanami stole for my MIL's birthday and I'm well on with the cherry blossom section.

The occasional drift of petals has started to become a flurry and I'm on the second-last chart.

I'm getting a bit impatient with this now for a couple of reasons; I want to get it blocked to put my mind at rest about the length, and there are so many other things I want to knit at the moment.
Just another week of knitting monogamy and I'll be free to knit whatever I want...

Still knitting like a mad thing...

2008-08-05T14:51:00.005+01:00

... but progress is definitely being made.

When I cast on for Hanami, I thought that I might be on a real hiding-to-nothing to get it finished in three weeks, since currently I'm out playing tennis or doing other things that interfere with knitting time at least three evenings a week. Added to this, the first repeat of the basket weave pattern made me want to cry, I had to tink back or pick up missed yarn-overs so many times.

However, a week later and the basket weave is all finished (8 repeats in total - I added one for extra length), I've completed the transition chart and I'm into chart A of the cherry blossom. I never did manage to memorise the basket weave pattern, it was just too long with too many changes of direction so I always had to have the chart on my lap, but I did get enough of a feel for it that I could tell when something wasn't right.

I'm hoping that the stole will block out quite a bit as currently in it's unblocked blob-like state, it's only about 30 inches long and I'm just over half-way. I generally think that stoles need to be at least 6 feet long to be useful.

I'm out tonight and thursday playing tennis and I don't think that Hanami will make for a good knit-night project as I would probably have to rip out all progress made afterwards to correct a gossip-induced mistake, so there might not be too much progress this week. On the other hand, I thought that about last week and it's amazing what a couple of rows here and there will do.

I need this off the needles by two weeks tomorrow so I can block it before the Resident Radiologist flies down to Cambridge the following weekend.

Blanket update.

2008-07-29T17:36:00.004+01:00

Here's a quick update on the blanket I'm knitting for my sister. I've finished the knitting for the central section and woven all the ends in.

I'm currently resisting the urge to sew these four blocks together (they're just laid out carefully in the photo) as I should really finish the squares for the outer rim first.

This project is going on hold for a few weeks though, as I'm currently knitting to a deadline. I mentioned to the Resident Radiologist a while ago that I would knit the Hanami stole for his mother's birthday. Last week he told me that her birthday was at the start of August (I thought that it was September - d'oh). I've been given a slight reprieve as he's not going down to Cambridge to visit until the 24th August so I have until then. So far I've knitted just over one repeat of the first chart, but from now on, I pretty much need to manage a repeat per evening to make sure I'm safely finished in time. Eeek!

Disappointing

2008-07-25T15:49:00.004+01:00

I received my latest Rowan magazine (44) a couple of weeks ago and I have to say that I'm totally underwhelmed by it. There is not a single thing that I want to knit or that I feel could play a useful part in my wardrobe.

I also noticed that many of the designs were re-hashed from themes one or two to fill out theme three. Do they normally do this? I hadn't noticed before. It's not even as if anyone with a bit of know-how wouldn't be able to change the colour / add or remove sleeves or embellishments for themselves!

I think that this may be the final straw and the Rowan subscription will not be getting renewed...

Photo Meme

2008-07-18T11:04:00.005+01:00

I don't usually do memes but here's a lovely one I found on 'And She Knits Too'.

1. (Mary) “Rosa Mary” and Rubus spectabilis, Groningen, The Netherlands, 2. (sushi) デパ地下寿司, 3. George Heriot's School, Edinburgh, 4. (green) Meeting the pregnant princess of the forest, 5. Tommy Lee Jones, 6. Gin Tonic, 7. (skiing in the Alps) Chalet à la Montagne, 8. nigella's easy sticky toffee pudding, 9. (a scientist) Frost-5 (RVP-05-03-28), 10. (Gawain) Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 11. (happy) don't worry be happy new year, 12. maryD1

It goes like this:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What high school did you go to?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. Who is your celebrity crush?
6. Favorite drink?
7. Dream vacation?
8. Favorite dessert?
9. What do you want to be when you grow up?
10. What do you love most in life?
11. One word to describe you.
12. Your Flickr name.

I've added in my answers to the less obvious photo titles.

Mitred Blanket Update

2008-07-15T11:02:00.006+01:00

Despite the Woolfest Stash, the list of projects as long as my arm that I'd like to cast on and a general lift in the sock-knitting mojo again, I've been knitting monogamously on the mitred blanket for my sister.

Following a minor set-back, then a desperate search for the 'right' yarn, progress has been good.

As I'm knitting four blocks in one piece, picking up stitches from one block for the next, I had to plan out the colour pattern in advance. This sketch shows what I'm aiming for. The heavy dark lines show which blocks can been knitted into one piece, and the lighter lines show the individual blocks.

I've currently finished three of the big centre pieces and have started the first block for the fourth piece. After these big pieces are done, I'll start on the smaller pieces for round the edges.

My minor set-back was that I started this project without one of the colours. Cucumberpatch, where I'd bought all the rest of the yarn (Jaeger Extra Fine Merino DK which is now discontinued and was on sale) were clean out of the rose-petal shade. I wasn't too worried about this as I thought that I could find a DK yarn from another range in the right shade to use. I tried this with the Jaeger Baby Merino DK in shade 'rose'. It was a disaster. The colour screamed out as being different and even the gauge and texture of the yarn was wrong - where the EFM is very smooth and cylindrical, the Baby Merino is much more obviously 'plied' and felt pretty scratchy.

I went back to my original plan and tried to source some EFM in rose petal elsewhere. I bought two balls from Angel Yarns and ordered five from English Yarns, but when they checked their stock, they only had one! This left me four balls short and running out of options. Step forward Pat and Chris and the amazing kindness of these fellow knitters. Pat sent me two balls she had from the Rowan Mill and Chris swapped two balls she had for some of another colour, changing the colour scheme for a project she had planned in the process! Incredibly, five of these balls are from the same dye lot and the other two can't be told apart, so good is the match.

This means that now I have enough yarn for the project and I won't have to compromise the look or feel of the blanket with a substitute pink...

I am a little sad that the Jaeger Extra Fine Merino has been discontinued and that I came accross it so late in the day. It's absolutely beautiful to work with and lovely and soft. My recommendation would be to stash some while you can!

Woolfest Stash

2008-07-11T17:09:00.006+01:00

Finally I've found time to get to the blog again. I've been learning new techniques at work and it always takes much longer than I think it will.

Here's the Woolfest stash additions:

Some more Lopi roving to add to the wheels from last year (from Twist Fibre Crafts)...

...some sock yarn for the Resident Radiologist, chosen by him...

...some Faery Lace yarn from Fyberspates. I hummed and hawed over buying this when Jen was doing the trunkshow in Glasgow and eventually put it down, but when I saw it again at Woolfest, I just had to have it...

...some more Catalina Baby alpaca yarn to add to the left-overs from last year (my sister wants a French Market Bag in the same yarn as the one I made for myself)!

...finally a cheap drop spindle for me. I've wanted to give this a go for a while but didn't want to spend a fortune on a spindle to find that I didn't really enjoy it. Now I just have to get the hang of it!

I've already had a go on it but I don't think I'm holding the roving right - I'm going to take it along to knitting night in a couple of weeks and see if anyone can help.

Catbells

2008-07-08T17:13:00.003+01:00

The morning after Woolfest, the Resident Radiologist and I decided to go for a walk (since it would be rude to stay in the Lakes and not go for a walk on a dry day). I have a few walking books in the Ordinance Survey Range and the one for the lakes recommended a route from Hawse End, up and over Catbells, then back along the western bank of Derwent Water.

We altered the route slightly to take a path that ascended a little way up the side of Catbells, then contoured round the hill, along which we walked the whole outward route. We then joined the summit path and climbed up to the top from the south end, finally following the ridge north and back to Hawse End. In this way we avoided the shore of the lake which would probably have been pretty midge-ridden given the warm, damp weather.

The views from the top were fantastic and were definitely worth the climb. We could look out over Derwent Water to the east...

... the Newlands Valley to the west...

... and as far as Bassenthwaite Lake to the north...

PS We saw these sheep along the way; they appeared on the far side of the road, stopped, looked both ways, then crossed over and were lost from view. Clearly evolutionary pressures are live and well in the Lake District!

Horrible Blogger

2008-07-08T09:23:00.002+01:00

I've just realised that I can't reply to comments directly, thanks to Blogger's system of posting so this is a quick call out to Pat. Thanks for the offer of yarn - I'd love to take you up on it. Are you on ravelry, if so, could you leave a comment to let me know your Rav name so I can contact you there? If not, could you leave a comment to let me know and I'll find some way to get my email address to you - I'm not too keen about posting it on my blog due to the possibilities of automatic spam and I can't work out how to put a button for it in my side-bar!