Knitting by numbers

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

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

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

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

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

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...

... 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!