Bromley Knits

Chilly in Durham - Not Enough Handknits to Keep Me Warm!

2012-02-11T10:31:00.000Z

Yesterday I visited the stunning cathedral, castle and university town of Durham. This view is from the bank of the Wear looking up to the fortified Normal castle and pre-Norman cathedral.

But readers, it was a very cold day indeed, and despite wearing FOUR knitted items I was very chilly indeed and we had to make frequent stops for hot drinks/food - not really a hardship!

In the photo I am wearing Juliet over a lighter weight jumper, with a very ancient, but very warm, scarf knitted in Rowan Biggy Print, and a plain black beret knitted to a Jo Sharp pattern in some left over wool/acrylic blend yarn. It's plainness kind of bothers me, but also makes it very wearable, although the acrylic blend means it is not actually my warmest hat. I am also wearing hand knit socks inside my winter boots, knitted in Regia sock wool.

The exposed brick work behind me is actually part of the old city wall, which is now inside one of Durham's best cafes - Flat White.

It's been a great week of rediscovery of my handknits, and I have a clearer idea of which ones might be headed for the frog pond! I am wearing the Montague Bulky Lace Vest again today, which shows it is one of the more versatile and one of the warmest as well. We are heading north for a mini-break to Scotland tomorrow (bizarrely warmer than here at the moment) and I am planning to take the Perfect Periwinkle, which layers up and down well. Stay tuned.

Today's Knit

2012-02-09T09:44:00.000Z

Continuing to combat the cold here in Yorkshire, today I am wearing another knit from the fantastic New England Knits book - Melissa LaBarre's Montague Bulky Lace Vest:

This was another knit completed while I was in DC, and I'm wearing it today with a thermal vest and fine gauge merino rib sweater underneath. The yarn is reclaimed sweater yarn, probably wool or possibly a blend of wool/acrylic, and was either a heavy aran or light chunky - I knitted up the sizes to get my sizing, but did overcompensate slightly and it is a little big around the sleeve openings.

Planning a day at home today as the weather is most unconducive to getting out and about (freezing rain, shortly to be followed by snow) - we might walk to the local cinema for the afternoon showing of War Horse.

New Jersey in North Yorkshire

2012-02-08T16:56:00.001Z

As planned, today we sent off on a little morning trip to the North Yorkshire Dales village of Bedale, where there is (according to my local knitting circle) a rather nice yarn store - and indeed there was.

New Jersey Yarns is well stocked with the Yorkshire usuals (Rowan, Debbie Bliss), with a little bit of Louisa Harding and Artesano, plus a nice range of German sock yarn - I will rarely knit socks with anything else as being someone who uses public transport and likes walking anyway, I wear out socks super-fast. I was particularly pleased to see some Jarol yarn, locally spun and of British breeds, so bought a skein of that in natural cream (for that hat I'm still hankering after perhaps), and some new Louisa Harding chenille, and happily took my spoils away for some sample knitting.

Keeping me warm in arctic Yorkshire today was the Back-to-School U-Necked Vest, from Steph Japel's Fitted Knits, worn over a lightweight wool polo neck jumper, and the Undulating Rib socks, from Interweave's Favourite Socks book, worn inside heavy winter boots.

The Best-Laid Plans...

2012-02-07T14:53:00.000Z

Well, I was due to be touring around Ireland right now, but owing to a certain weather event in the UKon Saturday, I am not!

Pretty as it was, snow is very, very disruptive in the UK, and when our flight was cancelled after an 8 hour delay, we gave up, applied for a refund, went to get the car, found it buried under a snowdrift, and walked to the nearby Travelodge, bagging their last room (although I felt desperately sorry for the guy who walked in directly after us). So we are holidaying at home instead, and have rescheduled Ireland for late summer, when the weather is likely to be kinder, both here and there. There are some advantages to this - I can work on all 3 items on my needles, for example, and we are doing regular day trips out so I have a few yarn shops in mind for visits.

Taking advantage of the cold, snowy weather and of not being at work (where the heating inside is set to tropical temperatures - whereas at home our own elderly boiler frequently fails us, as it has done today) I am happily wearing a different handknit a day. Yesterday I wore my as-yet unblogged and un-ravelried version of Cecily Glowik McDonald's Hampton Cardigan, which I knitted while in DC out of 100% natural, undyed alpaca yarn, bought from a local crafts shop at Posades Airport in northern Argentina many years ago. I'd always wondered quite what to do with it, until I saw this cardigan. I altered the construction somewhat, knitting it top-down from my own calculations and then breaking into the vine lace pattern once I'd completed the bodice. I also had to do the sleeves short, due to yarn amount (see previous post!).

In this picture I am wearing it with a light thermal long sleeved t-shirt and absolutely baked in temps that peaked just above freezing! I wore this last winter in the mid and north Atlantic late winter and it was fantastic - I remember being caught out in a snow storm in rural New Jersey wearing this outfit with only an unlined waterproof as a jacket, and being totally fine. Not for nothing do they say alpaca is the warmest fibre on earth! I have not worked out how I want to fasten it yet, so am wearing it here with a pretty brooch keeping it closed. The fantastic tiled wall behind me is at the Tiled Hall Cafe in Leeds, where we stopped for lunch on our way to retrieve the car:

This is the historic reading room in Leeds Library/Art Gallery and is definately worth a visit if you are in town.

Today I am wearing the Garter Stitch Tunic - a favourite in cold weather - and will try to get a snap of that for tomorrow's blog, and as we are having a rest day at home today (very productive - I have made marmalade and planted polyanthus in pots by the front door), I plan to do a little from all 3 projects - the Afghan, a current sample, and the husband's sweater.

Squares, samples, and sweaters

2012-02-03T16:11:00.001Z

If I have been a bit quiet on the blogging front lately, it is because all I have been knitting is endless amounts of samples (for City and Guilds), squares (for the Afghan), and in between endless rows of stocking stitch on the husband's sweater. Don't get me wrong, there is acutally quite a lot of variation - and interest - in knitting all these different things, but I want a new project.

I've thought about a hat. There is a good one in Issue 3 of Knit Now (Carol Feller's Bundoran Beret). I've thought about an infinity scarf. I'm planning a light grey travelling sweater of my own design. BUT - I need to finish the samples, the squares and the sweater first. Well, maybe not the squares - that is a long term project, but funnily enough the one I have packed in my travelling bag (whilst wishing I had thought up the travelling sweater with enough time to knit it before travelling!) to do en-route from place to place in Northern Ireland, where we will be spending next week.

Packing light to travel in the wildly swinging temperatures and weather of the UK is no easy feat. We are doing some of this trip on public transport, so I need to be able to easily carry my bag (a kind of smart backpack that looks like a soft travel bag when the handles are zipped away), and so have settled on one basic day outfit and one evening. Central to this was a warm, stylish throwover cardigan or sweater type thing. I would have thought I'd have lots of things like that, but turns out I don't. Lots of my handknits are too heavy, and many are short sleeved (note to self - must over buy rather than under buy yarn!). None of my shop bought sweaters are quite right. Then I saw almost the exact thing I wanted on a very stylish woman at choir practice this week, worn with straight leg jeans. It had turned into a sketch, and in Northern Ireland I might just find the exact lightweight, tweedy dove grey wool I am after....(although perhaps I should use the dark brown Jacob I recently bought). Decisions, decisions - I shall just have to see if any perfect yarn presents itself.

Square No 19 Complete - and a New Purchase!

2012-01-09T10:05:00.001Z

As I promised myself, I sat down for a few hours yesterday afternoon and completed the Great American Afghan Square N.o. 19, which I posted about on Saturday. Here is a picture of the completed square:

This takes me to 9 completed squares, and as they are a generous size (12" square), I could put this amount together for a small lap blanket:

I have enough yarn to do 4 more squares, possibly 5 or 6 if I do some multi-coloured ones as well. 6 more square would be ideal, so I think I will soldier on, even though it may mean waiting a bit longer. This afghan was intended as a housewarming for our new house, which we have been living in since August!

I also purchased some yarn yesterday - in the morning we went to suss out a nearby car boot sale, as we need to sell some stuff from our downsizing, and while there I found a woman selling a load of yarn. Mostly 1980s stuff, there were some nice colours but most of it was a little acrylic-y for me - until I saw this lovely 100% Jacob wool in a natural, undyed, dark brown:

And I managed to buy 16 balls for £15. Very happy with that purchase. A sweater's amount, so I will think on what kind of sweater to do with it.

Difficult

2012-01-07T18:38:00.000Z

After knitting the husband's jumper, and occasionally (very bad!) working on a rather dull City and Guilds sample, I picked up the lately neglected Great American Afghan today, as I am halfway through Square 19, which calls for a two colour entrelac with cables pattern. Here is a picture of my progress so far:

Now what is tricky about this pattern (my first every go at entrelac) is remembering to do the knit or purl 2s at the end of every right side block, in order to join the blocks together. Quite often, I will get most of the way through a block (sometimes having cabled through it) and realised - I haven't joined it! Aaargh! So frustrating, and such a silly repeat mistake. Doesn't matter how long I have been knitting, I keep making them!

Readers, my goal is to finish this square, this weekend. Hold me to it...

Sample Knitting - City and Guilds Module 3 begun!

2011-12-31T17:44:00.000Z

I am starting my New Year's resolutions a little early, as today I started cracking on with my sample knitting for Module 3 of the City and Guilds Distance Knitting/Hand Knitted Textiles course I have been doing, on and off, for about the last 6 years. I managed to get Modules 1 and 2 complete in Washington last year, but have been dragging my heels on making a proper start on Module 3, until today, when I completed 4 samples! One of the ways I am enticing myself to knit multiple samples is to use yarn I want to work up to something - that way it feels a bit like getting a tension swatch out of the way. All my lovely single skeins from America, which are just waiting to be turned into hats and socks could be tried out this way - I feel an afternoon of winding coming on! I usually hand wind off the back of a chair while watching TV - but I have a lot to do, so perhaps a new years treat to myself might be a swift and ball winder.

My plan is knit samples on my train journey to and from work through January, and the husband's stocking stitch sweater in the evenings, when I'm usually too tired to cope with any kind of detail at all.

A very happy new year to all my readers as well - we are off to cut some rug on the dancefloor tonight; wishing you well however you are spending this new year's eve.

Simplicity 9139

2011-12-30T10:34:00.000Z

Simplicity 9139, a pair of elasticated waist "lounge" pants, is complete. They took me a couple of days on and off, and whilst I certainly wouldn't win any prizes for workmanship, they are wearable, and very comfortable. In fact I am wearing them today, with a slim fitting black merino wool jumper and black ballet flats (somewhat inspired by the mini-series on Bobby Kennedy we are currently watching)! A couple of views below, apologies for the poor shots in front of a mirror, in dull northern light!

The fabric is some kind of poyester mock-wool type thing, picked up from a local charity shop. When I get better at sewing, I will start to buy better fabric! The pattern is really designed to make lightweight summer pants, and I will try that too later in the year, and next time I will cut a small size - this one is medium, and is a little too baggy in the thighs really.

I learnt some good things from making these - the importance of tacking before sewing, and some of the different ways to make elasticated/drawstring waists, which I reviewed on Youtube before I went with casing and thick elastic. I am also hoping to get to the point sometime soon when I can "read" sewing pieces like I can knitting - identifiying fronts and backs of trousers easily for example.

On knitting: working on the husband's 4 ply Cashsoft forest green jumper in front of the TV in the evenings - about a third of the way through the body, which I am working in the round.

Surface is Complete

2011-12-28T10:37:00.001Z

Finished last night, wearing it today! A little wonky around the collar/top button, so I probably need to re-sew that button. A well written pattern - my main modification was making the blister pattern edgings shallower due to using up a different dye lot on these (see agonised blog entries below as I discover the mismatching dye lots issue when nearly finished!).

Boxing Day musings

2011-12-26T17:44:00.000Z

Another Christmas is now passing, and this year I did not do any handknitted presents, although I bought yarn for a future sweater and some kind of accessory for my husband, and am sending Julia a random gift of the Nolita Lace Hat and matching shawl after her visit here. Like most other knitters I have learnt to only give handknitted gifts to peope who appreciate them, usually people who craft themselves.

So I have resisted the single skein urge, and have continued on with Surface over the break, and am now in the closing stages of the final sleeve - all going well I will complete it in the next few days. That will leave me with my husbands 1940s sweater, and the Great American Afghan on the needles - so maybe there will be an opportunity for a single skein project (I have been thinking of adding a corsage to the front of Surface to ramp up the vintage look a bit - that would be a good single skein project before I go back to work).

I have spent a lot of today clearing and sorting, prompted by our plan to go for a bike ride on xmas day morning. The plan was foiled at the last minute by our inability to locate the bike lock keys (the bikes were locked up in the back yard), and so we went for country ramble instead. While just as nice, it does point to the fact that there are still things we can't find after our moves last year. Clearing is therapeutic, and I have enjoyed pottering around sorting stuff out (although completely failed to find the bike lock keys), and creating a kind of to-do list to deal with the things I found. One of them (or perhaps I should say three of them) are jumpers to frog and rework. One is for Linda (of which there is a picture below - she dislikes how this turned out so I agreed to rework it for her), and two are old ones of my husbands, made by (gasp) ex-girlfriends. (He has a history of dating knitters). These have been languishing in the loft, but we have less room and less disposable income now, so I suggested to him that I rip and re-knit them and he was keen on the idea, although it brings new meanings to the "sweater curse" I guess! I've been waiting for a snow day to do this ripping, but alas the weather remains mild and damp, so I will just need to get on with it, particularly as I promised Linda a reworked sweater this winter!

The Nolita Lace Cap Gives Me a Single Skein Bug

2011-12-23T07:43:00.000Z

The Nolita Lace Cap proved a super-fast and diverting knit, and gave me a bit of a one-skein bug. I do, after all, have a lot of single skeins as during my year in America I bought a skein of pretty, local yarn almost every time we went anywhere (and we visited 27 states)!

Nolita Lace Cap

2011-12-22T18:31:00.000Z

Julia visited this weekend just gone, and she borrowed from my pile of knitted hats as the weather was cold and icy here. She loved the Battleboro hat, but knitting a pattern twice bores me so today I cast on the Nolita Lace Hat, from Andrea Tung's Hats, Mittens and Scarves. Julia actually bought me this cute box of pattern cards as a gift a few years ago, so it only seems right that she should benefit from it! I am using stash of course - King Cole Inspire - left over from a shawl some time ago. Julia wore the shawl while here and admired the colour. Here is the Nolita Lace Cap, so far:

We have two films lined up to watch tonight (a movie marathon), so might even finish it, as the lace is drop stitch and it is already growing quickly.

On The Frustration of Mismatched Dye Lots

2011-12-21T12:02:00.000Z

After being stop-start for a few weeks now, Surface has come grinding to a complete halt due to my last two balls being mismatched dye lots. I have realised this too late (a result of my free and easy, non measuring non planning ways with knitting) and had to rethink how I was going to do the sleeves in order to make the mismatched balls look intentional rather than accidental (as they do now). The only solution I can think of is to do both the sleeve welts in the darker dye lot, as I have already done the banding and collar in this dye lot. Then I can do the plain part of the sleeve in the lighter dye lot. BUT it means ripping out one sleeve, and half of the other, and starting them again. Really, this is not such a big deal - they are half sleeves after all. However, it is a psychological barrier, and so I cast on instead....

I cast on a jumper for the husband, in the 4 ply Cashsoft I bought at Liberty last week (colour "Forest" - nice!). Due to it being 4 ply, and him wanting something classic and plain, I used my 1940s pattern books for inspiration and am knitting a sort of hybrid of two sweaters - one to get the gauge correct, and one to get the style he is after.

I've broken up now for my Christmas break, so am planning Item 2 in my sewing project (all my vintage sewing patterns), and next in line is Simplicity 9139, donated by Julia when she was having a clear out. It dates I would guess from the early 1990s, and I plan to do View D, the long drawstring waist trousers in some dark khaki cotton blend I picked up from a local charity shop. If I don't have enough material I will do View E (capri length).

Great charity shop pick-up today; found a pair of MaxMara black trousers for a tenner. They will be fantastic for work in the new year, and I can look forward to going back and wearing them!

Freeform-Style Scarf, from Vera Moda Yarn.

2011-12-12T08:26:00.000Z

Not the greatest picture (taken on the bus while listening to my ipod!) - and all I know about this yarn is that it is the Vera Moda brand, bought at Spotlight Australia (a craft superstore). It is warm and surprisingly luxurious.

Slogging on with Surface

2011-12-11T17:19:00.000Z

This week I have been bored, bored, bored with Surface, and with only a sleeve (and a half one at that!) to do. So instead of taking it on my commute I took a book instead and some days did no knitting at all! The book was The Secret Scripture - so good I nearly missed my stop a couple of times.

And maybe the break worked, because I have returned to the last of Surface with renewed vigour this weekend, and flew through the textured "blister patterned" sleeve border on my train journeys to and from London, where I was to spend Saturday with an old friend.

With my friend, I went to Liberty's, and since they were having a 10% off sale (one good thing about a declining economy I guess), and the husband has asked for a fine knit, forest green jumper that he would be able to wear out to restaurants etc, I bought a sweater's worth of Rowan 4 ply Cashsoft in "Forest", and I guess I will get started on that after I sew up Surface. Now I need more yarn about as much as I need a hole in the head, but I didn't have much in forest green, and certainly not enough for a man's sweater.

Meanwhile, it has turned pretty chilly here in the UK, so I wore a scarf I'd knitted way back in May, when I was staying at my parent's house in Australia. My mother had bought me the freeform-style yarn as a gift, and I knitted it up while there. In shades of greens, with some blues/purples/pinks thrown in, it looks good against my black winter coat. A picture will follow, and some more information about the yarn, which I'll need to do some research on.

Arriving back home, I started to plan what I was going to wear to my works Christmas party this week, and wondered if it is finally time to edge that black wrap cardigan I have been ignoring since September!

Bella in the Garden, Late on a Winter Afternoon

2011-11-30T20:06:00.000Z

As promised!
Had a setback on Surface today, when I discovered I had a) knit the patterned cuff in 3.25mm needles rather than 4mm and b)picked up the one ball of yarn that is in a different dyelot to knit it with! Rather elementary errors for someone who has been knitting nearly her whole life! Can't face redoing the sleeve right now. Might work on a different bit of it, or succumb to the siren call of the cast on....

A Little More on Surface

2011-11-29T16:07:00.000Z

Hey do you see what I'm doing here? Blogging every day! I do actually keep a written knitting journal, so am trying to use this format more for that - and prevent those long weeks of no blogging.

Bear with me, I am trying to get my picture of Bella up, but Blogger and my computer don't want to play. It will happen, and in fact is up on my Rav page now.

So yesterday I spent a lot of the day staring at a screen at work (finishing off documents), and was brain-exhausted by the end of the day. Did not knit at all on my commute, but I did listen to the latest Stash and Burn (Episode 112). After I got home, had dinner and unwound a bit I did half a pattern repeat on the second Surface sleeve, and in doing that finished the patterned section - onto plain stocking stitch again, which lends itself much better to evenings after work.

And of course I daydreamed about things I would like to cast on - yesterday it was the Oasis Wrap from the Sept 2010 edition of Yarn Forward. I have some Lornas Laces in Clay from a long-ago yarn swap (thanks Jane!) that might just work....

Bella - Number One in the Rowan Project.

2011-11-28T13:17:00.000Z

A while ago, Susan (over at Damn, Knit and Blast It) gave me an idea - to knit one thing from each one of my old Rowan Magazines, and I blogged briefly about this at the time. Unfortunately, she gave me this idea about a month before I upped sticks to DC for a year (and I wasn't about to lug a bunch of Rowan Magazines over there!). But before I went, I started the project, and now I'm back and have unpacked, I plan to continue.

I started by reknitting the first Rowan pattern I ever did - Bella, a mid-1990s Kim Hargreaves pattern. It used a then-available Rowan Chenille yarn which must have been quite fine in weight as the needle size is small. I remember buying the magazine, yarn and needles from Liberty, totally blown away by how beautiful the magazine was. Coming from Australia, and in that pre-internet age, I had never seen Rowan products before, and in the knitting slump of the 1990s hadn't been doing much knitting anyway. I had done a lot as a teenager in the 1980s, with youthful knitting-mad aunties to spur me on!

I knitted the original Bella on the long flight home one Christmas (probably my second trip home after settling in the UK), and remember having difficulty with the lacy openwork pattern, and not wearing it much after I made it.

This time I used some handpainted Aracunia chenille in stash (picked up for next to nothing at All the Fun of the Fair in London), knitted it up in no time on much larger needles (5.5 mm I think) and love the result, even though the colours are a bit too earthy for me really. In fact I thought I had gifted it before I left for DC, but found it in my box of accessories when I unpacked recently, so started wearing it with both a tan mac and my black coat.

I popped out into the garden yesterday to take some arty pics of Bella, so will post one with this. Time to choose the next project, from another 90s era Rowan Magazine!

Simplicity 9078, a Surface pic and the Importance of Lists.

2011-11-27T14:21:00.000Z

Today a little more information on my newly-sewn-for-Christmas gold top (pic in previous post). The pattern is Simplicity 9078, and as I said yesterday I would date it as early 1980s. I attach a pic of the cover:

I picked this pattern up at Oxfam for the princely sum of 49p, and in fact have already tried it out once - that attempt was doomed as I used a patterned jersey knit fabric which I found I couldn't sew easily on my then crappy machine (before I got the trusty treadle running). I did however manage to centre the fabric, and ended up mostly sticking it together with hemming tape. It fell apart the first time I washed it, but I did get compliments on it that one time! My intention this time is that it will last longer, so I took the pattern's advice and used a silk-type (viscose) fabric, and actually sewed the seams.

Yesterday I was feeling rather flipperty-gibbet about my craft projects, so I sat down after blogging and wrote out a list of what I am working on. The list went like this (in no particular order):

Fair Isle Hand Warmers
Surface
Great American Afghan
Mending (I have a pile to do!)
Skirt refashion
T-shirt quilt
Next sewing project: elastic waist trousers

I have left the list where I do my crafting - on the sofa in the lounge, in front of the TV/radio, and so after it got dark yesterday (about 3.30pm!) I found an old mini-series on CBS Drama (The Thorn Birds - fantastic stuff) and finished the hand warmers before I had to make dinner. They are now ticked off the list (very satisfying) and in fact I am wearing them right now. Keeping up the good work, this morning after I had finished various chores and outings I sat down to Desert Islands Discs at 11am and worked on Surface (the second sleeve) for an hour. Here is a pic of the first, finished, sleeve:

I am hoping this rich berry coloured cashmere-blend (RYC cashsoft) cardigan will become a weekend staple, particularly as I am feeling short of comfy, cozy-yet-stylish weekend clothes at the moment.

Fair isle hand warmers

2011-11-26T15:15:00.001Z

A long overdue update - the winter season; fair isle and gold!

2011-11-26T15:12:00.000Z

So I have been knitting, and sewing, a little. Surface is more than half done, and to entertain myself as I always get bored about 2/3 through a project, I am knitting some fair isle hand warmers. I have come to like the concept of hand warmers, and wanted to practice my colourwork. These (in the associated picture) are from a free Rav pattern. They are quick and fun to do, and I've used left over sock yarn. The GAA has been languising, I'm afraid...

But I have been sewing - I got my Jones CS Family treadle going, with a little help from a few internet sources and youtube, and sewed a vintage (circa 1980s) top out of some gold fabric I picked up at a charity shop. I am pretty happy with the result, and it is my first step towards my aim of sewing all my vintage patterns. Pic below:

The treadle sews beautifully, smoothly and at the pace I want (I dislike electric machines), and the rhythmic nature of treadling is soothing, like knitting, only the results are quicker!

Wrap pencil skirt

2011-10-30T18:23:00.001Z

Shorts for lounging and sleeping in

2011-10-30T18:21:00.001Z

Surface, Unpacking, and Sewing Goals for 2012

2011-10-29T12:10:00.000+01:00

A few weeks on and I am near half way through Surface - hours of stocking stitch, with occasional waist shaping are perfect for no-brain-required post-work knitting. I have just unpacked three boxes of yarn and knitting books (which has made me realise I need no more yarn and no more books on knitting!). Only a little more has been done on the Afghan (entrelac with cables at the moment - not as demanding as it sounds, but certainly not for weeknights), and I ashamed to say, no more samples either.BUT I plan to post a couple of sewing pics from my time in DC - shorts, and a wrap pencil-style skirt, both made from thrift store material and sewed by hand in my DC apartment, during the spring and summer of 2010. The shorts are great for lounge and sleepwear, and the skirt has been worn to work, but it does have closure issues which makes me anxious when I wear it (ie that it will fall off!). I also unpacked a bunch of sewing patterns I have stashed over the years today, most are vintage, circa 80s and 90s and either picked up from thrift stores or given to me by friends having clearouts, but I do have a couple of Amy Butler bag patterns as well. My goal for 2012? Sew all of these patterns! Let's see if I can do it...

Knitting for Every Mood

2011-10-17T10:32:00.001+01:00

While the Yoga Wrap sits unworn on the cane armchair in my bedroom, waiting for an edging, I have been working on the Great American Afghan. Last night I started my ninth square - three squares completed this month, a record. Of course this is only because as the decorators have moved in, ALL my yarn has been boxed up and is hard to get to. But boredom is setting in, and I did manage to climb over some boxes yesterday, and, in desperation place my hands on the RYC cashsoft I had planned on doing something with. First I had thought another 3 hour sweater. Then I thought the Glengarrie and Yorkshire 2 hour sweater. (You can see where I'm going here can't you?)

BUT then I did a Ravelry search and found two Norah Gaughan patterns - Surface (from Knitty Winter 2008 - top picture below), and a free Berrocco pattern, Wishbone (lower picture below). Surface will be perfect for the cashsoft.
So my plan is to have the GAA on the go, plus Surface for times went I want to knit clothing, rather than a blanket, AND of course my samples for Module 3 of the City and Guilds in Textile Design (train knitting). 3 things OTN - something for every mood.

Working from Deep Stash

2011-09-25T10:16:00.000+01:00

One of the (few) benefits to an international move is that all of my new American yarn is currently securely boxed up, thanks to the US postal service, but my old stash yarn is in an open box, waiting for a place in our new house to live. So, despite being behind my target of one square a month on the Great American Afghan (should be about to start my 10th sqaure, instead I'm starting my 6th), I have been dipping into Deep Stash to knit useful things for my new commute and job.

First up - some ancient black Cygnet DK 100% merino I bought years ago at John Lewis Oxford St, with plans to knit a sleeveless vest. I then promptly bought exactly such a vest from Laura Ashley and so never felt the need to knit one up. The amount of yarn wasn't quite enough to be useful for anything else, and so it languished. However - mornings and evenings are cold in North Yorkshire, so I feel the need for cardigans and wraps to pull over the lighter clothes I wear at work (where the buildings are usually too warm). Black is a useful, argueably neutral, colour, so I pulled the yarn out and started Lisa Gentry's Yoga Wrap Sweater (making good use of Sobahime's alterations on Ravelry). I knitted top down, and have now completed it, except for edging. What to do about edging? I have no yarn left, so could edge in a contrast colour (makes it harder to work as a throw-over-anything wrap though), OR I could leave it unedged, which doesn't look too bad, kind of Japanese in style, and use a shawl pin to secure it if wanted. I am planning to give this a go - I can always go back and edge it if I feel I want to later.

Further projects planned from Deep Stash: either the 3 hour, or 2 hour Yorkshire and Glengarry Sweater using the old dark burgandy RYC Cashsoft I've had in stash seemingly forever. As its short sleeved this would make a good work sweater I think, to be worn with flowing black trousers (my basic work "uniform" - soft black trousers and pretty tops). Also, another go at the Central Park Hoodie in some rather glam gold aran wool/acrylic blend by Patons I picked up on ebay years ago, for some unknown reason. It's escaped several stash clearouts, because I rather like it - I also like the thought of using the gold yarn for a casual sweater.

The longer I can keep my new yarn boxed up the better maybe...

Great american afghan

2011-08-27T16:48:00.001+01:00

Now on block 6 - more pics soon!

2 needle socks in progress

2011-08-25T08:04:00.001+01:00

A fathers day gift for my dad. Yarn is jarol sweet briar.

It Might Make a Good Tea Cosy...

2011-07-08T20:40:00.000+01:00

When I'm not knitting (which is hardly ever), I sometimes sew, as detailed in this blog, and I sometimes even crochet. Now, I was taught to knit the traditional way - as a child, at my grandmother's knee - but as no one in my immediate family crocheted, I didn't learn how. Perhaps it's due to being a child in the 1970s, but I've always liked crochet, and was very excited as a much younger woman when it made a spectacular return in the early 1990s. However, I've always struggled with it. I follow how-to books when crocheting, and it really is no replacement for having someone show you how. I frequently get lost in patterns, and get very confused when increasing or decreasing, and sometimes have difficulty working out which is the right side of my work - I am used to being able to "read" my knitting easily, and staring at a piece of crochet wondering what is going wrong makes me feel very helpless!

I am slowly working my way through a basic book of crocheted patterns (Lena Maikon's Knitter's Lib) and recently tried my hand at a hat, with mixed results. I finished it, and got through the pattern, but it came out too big, and with rather obvious (and wobbly) joins at the beginning of each round. I haven't worn it.

However, in a pre-move clearout today I hesitated before putting it in a bag destined for donation. Maybe I can use it as a tea cosy....

On Wearing Shawls in Summer

2011-07-01T12:20:00.000+01:00

The more shawls I knit, the more I realize how incredibly useful they are. Yesterday I spent the day in Baltimore, Maryland - a grittily industrial but still beautiful harbour city, full of amazing architcture and historic ships, including the famous Balitmore clippers. I took advantage of the many free offerings at the Visitor's Centre, including an afternoon walking tour of the city. Afternoons in Maryland in late June are pretty warm, and although I had a hat I wanted something to protect my shoulders and chest area as my tee shirt had a sweetheart neckline. My Really Simple Shawlette (search Ravelry for the pattern) was perfect, knitted in Noro Silk Garden Sock it kept me cool during the hot walk, and at the end of the day - no sunburn. It also drew many admiring comments from passers-by. A real success, so many thanks to the talented designer!

On wearing shawls in summer

2011-07-01T12:06:00.001+01:00

The civil war era

2011-06-29T12:47:00.001+01:00

Halcyon yarns

2011-06-29T12:44:00.001+01:00

In My Queue: A Civil War Era Shawl

2011-06-29T12:39:00.001+01:00

Yesterday as I was passing the historic Willard Hotel in downtown Washington, I passed two ladies dressed in civil war era garb - no mean feat in the heat and humidity of the Washington summer, and indeed they were fanning themselves! One had a lace shawl draped across her arms, and it reminded me how beautiful shawls look.

A little while ago, I was surfing for vintage patterns and found a lovely website from the South Carolina Ladies Auxiliary (http://csa-scla.org/index/htm). From it, I plan to knit the Civil War Era Shawl, in the originally suggested colours of violet, black and gold. But what yarn to use?

While in Bath, Maine, on our recent New England trip, I visited the wonderful and amazing Halcyon Yarns (halcyonyarn.com) and was in heaven. Rows and rows of ceiling high wooden shelving stocking their own brand of beautiful yarns, plus a range of other quality yarns, and with notions, books, weaving and spinning supplies as well - looking at the examples of woven scarves made me want to buy a starter kit then and there! I left with a bag of pure silk yarn ends in varying colours (violet, black, gold among them) and some Victorian Brushed Mohair in violet - serendipity.

The insignia shawl

2011-06-28T11:57:00.001+01:00

So far.

2011-06-27T12:09:00.001+01:00

Our plans for a weekend at the Great Lakes went awry, thanks to airline delays, so instead we made lemonade out of lemons, hired a car and set off through the Appalachian Mountains to West Virginia. That meant I needed some in-car knitting, so I cast on for the Insignia Shawl by Cecily Glowik Macdonald in this summer's Knitscene. I used some vintage cotton bought from a thrift shop in cobalt blue - a cotton shawl will be perfect for over-airconditioned inside spaces here in DC. And it's all garter stitch, perfect for the car.

However, I didn't have the required 4.5 mm circular with me, so talked my husband into a stop for coffee in the pretty town of Cumberland, Maryland, deep in the mountains and with a yarn shop (Millicents Yarns and More, http://millicentsyarns.com/). They were happy to help me out with a needle, and I was set for the weekend.

The "dreaming spires" of Cumberland, Maryland.

The Insignia Shawl

Shibui ankle socks

2011-06-23T12:11:00.001+01:00

Waiting for a block and maybe a picot edge.

New England, Part One (Portsmouth)

2011-06-22T13:36:00.001+01:00

Last week saw us travelling around New England, visiting historical towns, beautiful beaches, and mountain landscapes. It was a wonderful trip, and of course I also found time to drop in to a number of yarn stores - New England is yarn store heaven!

Our first stop was Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where I visited the Yarn Basket and bought 2 skeins of New England Shetland in the colourway "Peacock" (a shawl perhaps), and picked up an old Jo Sharp knitting magazine on a heavy discount.

While there I finished the Shibui ankle socks, which are in my knitting bag waiting to be blocked.

Harrisville New England Shetland in "Peacock"

The beautiful town of Portsmouth

The Yarn Basket

Shorts, Completed.

2011-06-09T12:21:00.001+01:00

Well, who was to know elastic would be so hard to find in downtown Washington DC? My usual supplier of basic sewing tools (CVS!) didn't stock it, and it is just to hot to walk the streets looking for it, so I substituted a long shoelace as a drawstring in the shorts, and am very happy with the result, although the husband says they look too boyish.

I am getting into this sewing thing, so this morning will sort out the fastenings on a wrap skirt I have been working on, on and off, as that's all I need to do to finish it, and tonight maybe start a patchwork bag from all my leftover scraps from these two projects - something like this perhaps (from http://sewingtime.blogspot.com/2009/09/pink-penguin-patchwork-drawstring-bag.html)

As my shoulder improves, I have been able to work more on Frost Flowers, but am thinking about knitting the back plain - it will be easier on my shoulder (and that means I might get it done in time to wear it this summer), and I have a road trip coming up next week and need in-car knitting. For me, this can only be plain or purl knitting - I can't look down at my work in the car or I feel sick. I will probably throw the Shibui socks into my knitting bag too, to finish them off. Breaks are good knitting time for me, and usually good times to finish off projects.

When I'm done with those, that will leave me with only a design I am working on, and this:

It's a little too hot in DC to want to knit a wool afghan right now; I am nearly through the first strip though, so this one will be travelling back to to chilly North Yorkshire with me in August, for finishing over the autumn/winter.

Adventures in Sewing

2011-06-07T12:03:00.004+01:00

In order to give my sore shoulder a break from knitting I have been dabbling in sewing lately, and last night after work settled down to make a pair of shorts for the sweltering DC weather, using Sky Turtle's suggestions at:
http://skyturtle.net/2009/05//26/how-to-make-an-easy-peasy-pair-of-shorts/

Sky Turtle's beautiful shorts

I used some cotton fabric I'd picked up at a thrift store, dark red with small white stars all over it, and drew around my pyjama pants to make the pattern. I don't have a sewing machine here in DC so leisurely spent the evening hand sewing the seams (using backstitch). I will finish them tonight, just need to get some elastic for the waistband - they have turned out pretty well.

I managed to squeeze in some knitting as well - picked up and knit the gussets on the second Shibui sock (while sitting in the shade on the Mall at lunchtime watching people jog by under the hot DC sun!), and did 5 rows on Frost Flowers before bed.

All in all, a pretty productive day!

Travels around America

2011-06-06T12:21:00.005+01:00

Almost at the end of my year in America, I suddenly thought I should be blogging about my travels here! Yesterday saw us travelling back from beautiful and sleepy (at this time of year!) Cape Cod, where we spent the weekend, and where I visited the impressively well-stocked Black Purls Yarn store in East Sandwich. I bought two skeins of "Sugar Rush" in white there. Wonderfully soft, I had never seen this sugar-derived yarn before. Normally I buy local yarns on my travels, but if I can't find any I look for something unusual, and this fit the bill.

At the airport and on the flight home I worked on a pair of summer ankle "sports" style socks in Shibui Sock (bought from one of my current LYSs, Stitch DC), using my usual sock pattern, the Vogue Universal Sock Calculator and adapting it to make ankle socks. The Shibui is very pretty, not quite a solid, but a little unforgiving to work with - and I am using Kollage square needles which should be giving me a more even knitting texture than usual (thanks for the needles, Janie!).

At home in the evening I managed four rows of the Frost Flowers top before my shoulder starting aching and I had to stop, sadly.

Our next trip is Maine, stay tuned...

Cape Cod - Dexter's Grist Mill

Black Purls Yarn

Shibui Sock

Frost Flowers Top (available as a free download on Ravelry)

No Idle Hands

2011-03-14T12:13:00.000Z

For the past few weeks, I have been reading Anne McDonald's No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting.

Although I knew of the existance of this book, I had never been compelled to read it, probably becuase it describes itself as a history of American knitting, and until recently I did not live in America, nor knew that much of life here. However, it is much more universal from that and has been an extremely enjoyable read - I would recommend it to anyone, anywhere in the world.

It covers knitting from the American Revolution until the 1980s - a huge span of time which saw sweeping changes in society and culture, and hence in knitting. People knit less for necessity now, but knitting still has the same properties; relaxation, something to do in odd moments, something to do with one's hands, and the pleasure of hand made items.

I was astounded by the work of one early knitter, completely blind, who knit intricate mittens with poetry and verse included, using fair isle techniques. In fact it was striking how many early knitters note that knitting, unlike sewing, is something that can be done in the dark! Used to electric light available all the time, I hadn't even considered this.

The output of earlier knitters is also pretty amazing; one knitter regularly turned out 10 sweaters in 7 days, achieved through a routine of knitting from 9am until 2am the following morning, broken only by meals, occasional trips to market, and an afternoon rest.

Much time is given to sock knitting, both in wartime and in peace, and this has inspired me to once again pick up my sock needles and start the perfect portable, pick-up, put-down and ultimately most useful of projects - even in this day and age, hand knit socks are much, much nicer than shop bought ones. The knitters in the book knit socks at every available moment, and so many times in the past few weeks as I've been reading this book I've thought - if only I had a sock to work on now...

5 th ave infinity scarf

2011-03-01T07:59:00.001Z

Drops design sweater

2011-03-01T07:58:00.001Z

2011-02-03T21:33:00.000Z

It has been too long as usual between my last blog and now. I had thought that a year not working would mean much more regular blogging, but it is not so.
So - what have I actually completed these past months here in DC?
- The Feather and Fan Shrug in alpaca/silk laceweight, and drew oohs and aahs when I wore it recently over a black turtleneck.
- A cowl from the Knit Two Together book, which came in useful recently during a cold snap (although the Louisa Harding mohair/silk blend was perhaps not a good idea as although pretty it's fine fibres found their way into my nose and mouth!
- Two hats: the Besselborough hat from New England Knits in Malabrigio and Jared Flood's Quincey in some handspun from an alpaca farm in Virginia. Both have been worn, but Qunicy is super-warm and has been worn to death.
- The Lotus Leaf Scarf/Neckwarmer in Frog Tree Melange (so soft and warm!). Worn to death as it tucks neatly under a coat, and looks pretty when the coat comes off.
- The Bulky Lace Vest from New England Knits in reclaimed yarn.
- A Drops Design sweater for the husband, in Rowan Purelife British Breeds Blue Faced Leicester. Came out a little snug, but he wears it.

Currently OTK:
- a baby sweater for a friend's child in Regia Softy.
- a variation on a design theme in some treasured alpaca from rural Argentina, bought some years ago. Got sick of it sitting in the yarn cupboard waiting for some special pattern or idea, so got it out and started knitting it. It will be a cardigan/vest type thing.

Currently planned:
- an infinity cowl in some Jade Sapphire cashmere (picked up in NYC - but more about that later!)

So it's not a bad list. A knitting friend recently asked me how my knitting resolutions were going - and had I met last years (no!). Last year's resoution was cast on (a pair of fair isle gloves) but not completed. This resolution carries over to this year, along with one to start knitting more of my own designs.

Watch and wait...

Guy's scarf

2010-12-29T17:36:00.001Z

Modelled, and needed, on the city walls, york.

Bulky lace vest

2010-12-27T18:00:00.001Z

Guy's scarf

2010-12-27T17:59:00.000Z

Garter stitch tunic

2010-12-27T17:57:00.000Z

Completed last year, coming in handy in this cold snap!

Guy's Scarf

2010-12-13T13:32:00.000Z

Soon I will post a photo, but last night I finished a scarf for my husband, who has been feeling the cold here in DC (and also has a long history of losing scarves that I knit him!).
Shortly after he requested it, we found ourselves at a farmer's market in the small town of Smithfield, in southern Virginia and a local alpaca farmer and spinner had a stall there selling her wares. I bought two skeins (about 350 yards) of rust-red alpaca in what was probably a 4 ply weight, and some emergency needles as I had conveniently run out of knitting to do, had no small needles with me, and had a four hour train journey the next day!
On the train I cast on 48 stitches and set to work using a basket stitch-type pattern, and knit for many hours as our train was held on the line somewhere near Providence Fort for two hours, in addition to the normal time our journey required. The pattern was inspired by recently watching the 1980s series of The Balkan Trilogy - "Fortunes of War" I think it is called, with a very young Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson. It's a period piece and throughout Kenneth Branagh (who stars as Guy) wears a basket stitch scarf. I liked the look of it and filed the idea away as good for a men's scarf.
Last night I ran out of yarn, and so finished the scarf. It is light, soft and very warm - just the thing for the frigid DC temperatures last week and again this week.

2010-12-11T20:39:00.000Z

In my last post I reflected on my current transient status and how that was affecting my knitting, and lo and behold after that something seemed to shift. It's funny how talking about issues can result in some kind of movement.

To help this movement forward, "New England Knits" arrived in the post and I immediately cast on for the Bulky Lace Vest, using the recycled soft beige yarn I had bought from a "thrift store" and unravelled one afternoon while watching Pride and Prejudice (the newer version, sadly, not the classic with Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, which is my favourite). It is now finished, blocked, and ready to wear next week on the plane journey back to London. I used nearly all of the yarn - a whole sweater's worth - to complete this long-line vest and promise a picture soon. A lovely pattern, it was well constructed and written with no errors that I could see. The only mods I made were to leave the back neck stitches live in order to knit them into the edging, rather than cast off and then pick up later; I also ended up with a slightly different number of edge stitches but decided that didn't really matter. This would have been my mistake and nothing to do with the pattern as counting bores me and I probably wasn't very specific about it when picking up! I compensated for my completely different yarn (a bulky aran/light chunky) and tension by going up the size guide and knitted a very large size; on reflection perhaps a bit overcompensated, but this kind of design can be wrapped and pinned and that is what I plan to do with this vest. I am very happy with the result indeed.

A creative burst has also overwhelmed me - during a visit to another "thrift store" with a new-found friend here in DC, I found a basket full of yarn for sale - lovely high-grade Egyptian cotton in white, blue and black from a Norwiegian yarn supplier. Excitedly I bought everything I could find, and the assistant at the store, seeing my interest, showed me two half completed projects that had been donated with the yarn. I bought them too, thinking I could recycle them. However when I got them home and looked carefully at them I noticed how beautifully they had been knitted and made, and also recognised the basic design they used - they had been knitted in the German/European style without a pattern, just to measurements the knitter knew would work for her (or him). One was a blue and white striped boat necked style sweater, and this only required the ends to be woven in and the seams sewn to be complete. One evening in front of the TV and this was complete - I wore the resulting sweater this week (a little out of season perhaps) to lunch with the friend who had been there when I bought it and we both agreed it was a lovely piece of work, to which I can't take much credit. The other piece has only the front completed, and is knitted in the same style and to the same measurements as the striped sweater. This one has intarsia night-sky blue stars scattered on a black background, which I will make the front. This afternoon I have swatched to complete a plain black back,and I will probably do some kind of short sleeves, depending on how much yarn I have left. I couldn't bear to rip out this sweater - the design reminds me of Van Gogh's Starry Night picture; it's beautiful. Both have kind of an 80s vibe (and the yarn dates from that time I would say), but that's ok as that look is quite in at the moment. These discoveries have led me to wonder why they were donated - did someone who knit beautifully in the 80s just lose interest in the craft? Or did they become unable to knit for some reason (this happened to my German aunt, whose work these designs remind me of)? Or did they move, or pass on, leaving their work unfinished? Somehow it feels right to be finishing, rather than ripping, these pieces. Again, pictures will follow at some stage.

This burst of creativity re-sparked my interest in sweater design, and so I began to sketch out some sweaters I would like to make. This snowballed, and I have a pile of sketches to work from now! Between completing these, and the City and Guilds Distance Knitting course, I think I will be very busy indeed these next 6 months.

It's good to feel less transient and more grounded.

Experiments in felting

2010-11-30T19:51:00.001Z

Snow flake

On transience and knitting

2010-11-11T16:29:00.003Z

Although we will be living in DC for a year, and that is a significant amount of time, I feel very transient here (although not in a bad way - more in a constantly-on-holiday way) and my recent projects reflect that. I have just finished the Battleboro Hat, from the New England Knits book (which I have just ordered - thanks to Charmayne for the amazon gift voucher!) - this pattern was published in the Fall Interweave Knits. I used Malabrigio worsted, as recommended and am looking forward to some colder weather here so I can wear it. I have also finished the Lotus Leaf Scarf in Frog Tree Merino Melange (so soft! And such a cute pattern!), and a Feather and Fan Cowl from Tracey Ullman and Mel Clark's book Knit 2 Together. The cowl was knit in some long lost Louisa Harding yarn which I picked up in a yarn swap some years ago and for some reason stowed in my luggage about 10 minutes before we left home. See below for a photo of these three small projects.
But I have struggled to commit myself to anything larger than these little, finish-in-an-evening type projects. Partly this is because I have also re-registered for the City and Guilds Hand Knitting course and spend a lot of my spare time (of which I have much more of at the moment than I accustommed to) knitting samples, partly it is because I have agreed to knit some gifts for friends this Christmas and this takes up other moments of spare time, but really it is because my head isn't in the right place for a longer term project. These pick up and put down quick knits feel right for now; even though I have time to knit longer, larger, and more complicated projects at present. I had thought time available was a huge factor in my knitting progress - but it seems it's also sense of place and permanance too, and in fact it seems that this might be more important - who knew (as they say over here)?

3 accessories

2010-11-11T16:27:00.001Z

Bromley knits - in DC!

2010-10-18T17:14:00.004+01:00

After two weeks in my new home-for-a-year, DC, I thought I would post about my observations of knitting here so far. I have found two yarn shops in DC so far - the well established and known Stitch DC in Eastern Market, which is a fantastic, eclectic space with classes as a particular strength, and the fairly newly opened A Looped Yarn in Dupont Circle, which has a fantastic range of stock and a great knitting circle on Thursday nights. I also discovered the Serenity farm stall at Dupont Circle Farmers Market (weekends only) where hand spun and dyed wool from specialist breeds is sold.

There are more yarn stores in the suburbs of Maryland and Virgina, I believe, but I have yet to venture that far - all in the weeks to come!

I didn't, in the end, pack much in the way of yarn and am kind of glad I didn't as the climate here is different; much, much warmer at the moment than London would be so actually I feel like knitting lighter, summery things still. I had some laceweight alpaca silk with me in deep red, and as I was also feeling short of cardigans and things to throw on during cooler evenings, I have started a feather and fan shrug, pattern from a free Ravelry link. A pic will follow. Thanks to A Looped Yarn for the bamboo circular which I am loving!

I am also in knitting magazine heaven here - at almost every bookstore and outlet I can buy any of a selection of 10-15 or so magazines! Having picked up the latest Piecework and Interweave Knits, I am poring over them with plans for what to knit over the coming winter, when I will definately need warm things, and I am looking forward to sampling some of the American yarns I can't get easily in the UK (eg cascade, berroco etc).

On self-made September, oddness in knitting patterns, and the Rowan Project.

2010-09-23T16:06:00.000+01:00

Self made September has had a 5 day hiatus, in part because I am trying to work out what I will need for 9 months in DC and have been “test-wearing” some things (only to be advised by an American friend today that nothing I own will be warm enough for the DC winter come January!), but also because I only have a couple of light, summer weight knitted things – it’s been mild here in London – and I was getting sick of them. Most of my knits are wool and just way too warm at the moment. It’s made me realise that I need to knit more:
a) Fine weight clothing, as that’s what I like to wear
b) Cotton, silks and bamboos, as these items are more versatile and, with central heating, can be worn through all seasons here in the UK anyway.
Self made September has also made me go through my knitted items and decide what to keep and what to chuck (along with everything else in my wardrobe – nothing like a massive change of lifestyle and an international move to make you reassess your wardrobe!). Sadly, several items are for the charity shop – the filet patch blouse (I hated it), the Carie Cropped Cardigan (not my colours, and I never wore it as it was too warm, but not long enough!), the Thick and Thin Cardigan Coat (didn’t fit well) and the fitted tee (one Noro sweater in a wardrobe is enough! And due to a washing incident it’s felted and so unfroggable). It was however strangely liberating to get rid of these knits, which used to look accusingly at me every time I opened my wardrobe door (why aren’t you wearing us?).
Making the grade are: Bridie, the Back to School U-Necked vest, Juliet, the Bed jacket, the Anthropolgie cropped cardigan, and the Garter Stitch Tunic. These are all well desgined, knit in colours I like, and usually in good quality yarns, except Juliet, knitted earlier on in my return to knitting, before I’d given myself over to luxury in quite the same way. Sadly, she is looking a little the worse for wear.
Which brings me to reflect on why knitting patterns are often so odd? The Filet patch blouse, for example, required one to seam up the sides, but then leave the rest, including the arms – i.e. no sleeve seams. Why??? Why would you have no sleeve seams? When I tried this, the blouse promptly slipped off the top of my body – not ideal if you’re walking down the high street – and just looked unfinished. In the photo for the pattern, it is not immediately obvious that there are no sleeve seams, and of course the model is standing still. I know designers are trying to be cutting edge and different, but please – design things that can be worn.
I have, on the suggestion of a friend/fellow knitting group member, decided to start on the Rowan Project, as seen on Ravelry – knit something from every Rowan mag. I don’t own every Rowan mag, but I do have some older ones, and so I will knit something from every Rowan mag I own; not necessarily in order, but possibly. I am starting with Bella, a lace scarf by Kim Hargreaves. This was the first Rowan mag I bought (on my first trip to Liberty), and also the first pattern I did, in 1996, not long after I first arrived in the UK from Australia. At the time I knitted it in Fine Chenille, as the pattern calls for. This yarn is long out of production, but I do have some hand painted Aracunia chenille in my stash, and have substituted this. It’s heavier, but in true Jared Flood style I like the effect it’s giving on 5.5 mm needles, rather than fine weight yarn on 3 ¼. I remember struggling with that scarf, and the chenille originally, and it is long lost now, but this time around the scarf has knitted up easily in a couple of days.
Photos coming soon.

Versailles shawl

2010-09-20T13:06:00.001+01:00

In king cole inspire dk

Filet patch blouse

2010-09-13T08:53:00.001+01:00

Complete and blocked

Liberty skirt

2010-09-06T09:38:00.001+01:00

Self Made September

2010-09-06T09:30:00.003+01:00

So far, I have been managing to wear or use something I have made every day in September (thanks Green Apples for the idea) - it's been a good way to get more wear out of things I have made, which languish in the wardrobe far too much. Today I am wearing a skirt I made out of some Liberty fabric I bought on sale there in January; I've only worn this skirt once before, and in fact it had been scrunched up in the cupboard for so long I had to wash and iron it last week!
Why don't I wear the clothes I make more? Sometimes it's fit, sometimes it's colour, sometimes it's that it was something interesting to do, but not something I actually want to wear; that happens most often with knitting, so yes I think I am a process knitter.
The photos below show how I have been going so far; we were away at the weekend so I wore Clapotis both days - needed in the chilly mornings and evenings of County Durham! I will keep posting on my progress.

Thrift scarf for self made september.

2010-09-03T13:35:00.001+01:00

Vintage vest for self made september

2010-09-02T10:26:00.001+01:00

Panel baby blanket

2010-09-01T14:06:00.001+01:00

Self made september

2010-09-01T10:19:00.001+01:00

Juliet

Holiday Knitting Adventures

2010-08-27T15:11:00.002+01:00

Well they weren't really adventures - more along the lines of "stop the car - there's a knitting shop!" During the first two weeks of August, we undertook a driving holiday in the UK, visiting Scotland, the north of England, Wales and Devon/Cornwall (all briefly). I managed a few visits to yarn stores, but more than that I needed plain knitting to do in the car - so at the wonderful MCA McAree Brothers store in Edinburgh I bought some budget friendly and good quality navy and cream Paton's cotton in order to make a summer hoodie, all in stocking stitch, and loosely based on a Bergere de France child's pattern (sized up and worked seamlessly to give me a bit of challenge). Onto the back burner went dad's vintage socks and the Filet Patch Blouse as both required me to look at them as I worked - something I can't do in the car!
Back home I have picked both up and dad's vintage socks are nearly there, knitted on two needles (as my grandmother always used to do) in some ancient Sirdar Country Style 4 ply in a russetty orange shade. My husband laughed at them, then tried one on and said "oh actually these are really good - really comfortable!" The pattern shapes the leg using a decreasing rib pattern which comes out a bit like a checkerboard across the ankle; I quite like the effect and it gives them a good fit. I omitted a top band as my dad has diabetes and doesn't like his socks too tight at the top - I am hoping to send them off in time for Fathers Day in Australia.
I've finished the two yokes for the Filet Patch Blouse - using a wildly different set of coloured yarns in cottons, silks and bamboo, although I found sewing the patches together a bit of a faff. I have been playing around with gauge and needles for the body, for which I am using Felted Tweed and have decided on held double using 7mm. I am a little wary of substituting on Teva Durham patterns as she, in my experience, writes for her own yarns and their gauge is not easily replicable. But so far, so good.
Below you will see some photos of these projects, my haul from the Edinburgh yarn stores (which also included Knit 1), and a scenic piccy of one of the walks we took - and really needed to take after eating afternoon tea with cakes every day!

The filet patch blouse continues

2010-08-27T15:10:00.001+01:00

Scottish haul

2010-08-27T15:08:00.001+01:00

Vintage mens socks

2010-08-27T15:06:00.001+01:00

2010-08-21T18:47:00.003+01:00

Changes coming

2010-07-30T13:24:00.002+01:00

Taking a little time out over lunch to blog - I have posted up some pics of one recently finished piece (the Lace Kerchief, from a back issue of Yarn Magazine in Fyberspates silk), and the Simple Pleasures Hat (free pattern from the Purl Bee) in cashmere and Kidsilk Haze (thanks Susan for the KSH!).
We leave for a much needed two week break tomorrow, to Scotland as is usual for us in summer, but this time we are also taking in Wales and Devon/Cornwall. I am hoping to slip in some visits to yarn shops along the way - googling found me k1 and of course the McAree Bros in Edinburgh, and a couple of potential possiblities in Glasgow.
Ah, but what to take as holiday knitting - I have nearly finished all of my finishing, so just dad's vintage socks to take, but with half a sock to do that won't take long, so two knits that could do with reworking are coming along - the Central Park Hoodie (knitted rather niaively in a silk/linen blend - it stretched) for a bit of surgery on the cuffs, and the Thick and Thin cardigan coat, again, for a reworking of the cuffs. If I can't make them work this time, then they are for the textile recycling bin!
On my one current and recently started project (Teva Durham's Filet Patch Blouse, thanks to Stash and Burn for the suggestion) - both yokes are now done, and I am swatching for the body.

Simple pleasures

2010-07-30T13:23:00.001+01:00

Linda models the lace kerchief

2010-07-30T13:22:00.001+01:00

Filet patch blouse

2010-07-07T13:02:00.001+01:00

Lace kerchief

2010-07-07T12:52:00.001+01:00

Things I Need to Finish

2010-05-20T16:20:00.002+01:00

If I have been quiet on the blogging front lately, it's because I have been Finishing. I do this a lot - there are always lots of things for me to finish! Currently being finished:
Intoxicating - only needs sewing up, and the neckline doing. I used stash to knit this colourful, mosaic summer sweater from the wonderful book "No Sheep for You". It is knit in a mixture of Rowan Hand Knit Cotton, and Debbie Bliss Cathay and Pure Silk. It was a great knit, with lots going on all the time, but not too much (except for one set of 7 rows which required me to do stranded fairisle, short rows and decreases all at the same time...I broke into a sweat!). The pattern writing is exemplary.
The Versailles Shawl - just 7 rows from the lace border, but as I now have over 200 stitches per row the going is slow. This is probably going to end up as a gift.
The Panelled Baby Blanket - just 1 more panel to do! (Can you spot a pattern here?)
And I must confess I CAST ON this week, in a desperate attempt for some light relief from all this finishing. I started the Snug handwarmers from Emma King's book Fun and Funky Knitting. These are intended to be a birthday present for my sister (who, living in Australia, is about to go into winter) although they are rather bright and sparkly for her - I am using some self-striping mohair in stash, with Jaeger Luxury Tweed in orange, and Louisa Harding Coquette in green (this yarn provides the sparkle).
I have just been cruising ravelry for ideas for the 10 skeins of Rownan Purelife British Breeds Blue Faced Leicester I recently bought; and made some progress, when I stumbled across a Knitty pattern in Habu stainless steel silk (called something like Tangled Seaweed) which I just fell in love with. Oh dear - I am supposed to be using up the stash!

Some FOs, and some finishing off!

2010-04-29T16:28:00.002+01:00

Below is a (slightly fuzzy) photo of the Cozy Campfire socks I have been using a travel project lately - they have been to Belfast, Dublin, Milan, the Lakes, and on a few journeys around London and the south-east as well. This Dream In Colour yarn is just beautiful - even Simon wanted a pair, until he saw the glitter in them and thought it was too girly.
These socks used my favourite basic Vogue socks pattern, no stitch pattern as the yarn speaks for itself.
It is now rather too warm in London for me to want to wear them, but a cool change is expected this weekend and I expect to be padding around my draughty floorboards in them.

Cozy campfire socks

2010-04-29T16:26:00.001+01:00

The Knitting Blues

2010-04-16T17:52:00.002+01:00

Today I have come to the end of 2 weeks leave from work, and I haven't done as much knitting as I thought I would. I thought this would be a great time to complete random WIPs, but somehow this didn't happen - in fact I probably knitted less than I do during working weeks!
I finished the Central Park Hoodie - or should I say Central Park DRESS! That might give some idea of what happened when I washed and blocked this linen/silk blend yarn - yep, it has no memory and has ended up a long line cardigan, with very long sleeves. I think it might end up in the frog pond, along with a number of other projects which are languishing there at present... or it might make a good mothers day present for my mum!
I am close to finishing the plain Dream in Colour socks, (Cozy Campfire - bought, I must admit, partly for the name alone); these have been accompanying me on trips out during my annual leave.
I am undecided about whether I will finish the Versailles Shawl, partly because I am living to regret my choice of yarn; a very soft cotton/wool/acrylic blend (King Cole Inspire) in bright green - perhaps a bit too bright? Perhaps a bit too cheap? I am not a yarn snob, and it's not the feel which is surprisingly luxurious, but it's the colour. I thought it would work for a shawl, but maybe not. It is hibernating in a corner of my knitting room - again.
I did another panel of the Panelled Baby Blanket; only one to go now - this might be a good project for knitting group on Sunday.
I need a project that's going to work now. And something I feel inspired to knit - I have hit a blank. I went back to my stash list, and started to wind the Adriafil Merino Laceweight I have had sitting in stash for ages, with thoughts of doing either something vintage, or the tank top from One Skein; but it did not want to wind easily and I got frustrated and stuffed it in a bag! Oh dear...
Next on the stash list is the Argentinian Alpaca, which needs to be ripped from an ill-thought-out project and re-knit into, probably, a shawl. But April does not feel like the right time to knit an aplaca shawl, so probably not.
Next is 4 skeins of Kidsilk Haze which I had planned to do Grace with; I knitted Grace about 5 years ago but it came out too short and I gifted it to a friend; she wears it a lot and I would still like one for myself - modified to have a longer body!
Decisions, decisions. I have bought some yarn too - this is what having time does; I get to visit yarn shops! I will post pictures of these purchases soon.

2010-03-23T14:06:00.003Z

On of the nicest things I do in the mornings when getting my bag ready for work is to plan what knitting I will take to do on my commute - my commute can be up to 1 1/2 hours each way, so theoretically I can get a lot of knitting done (my projects don't seem to grow that quickly though!).

Yesterday I packed the Central Park Hoodie, of which I only have the rest of the second sleeve to do before blocking it, sewing it, and finishing it with the hood and button bands. I really want to get to the blocking/sewing stage by the end of this weekend coming (I am BORED with this project now - dangerous, as startitis beckons).

But when I came to pull it out, I realised I had left the pattern notes and cable needle back at home. Luckily I could pretty much remember the pattern, up to the point at which I would need to shape the sleeve caps and I was a little way off that, but I did need the cable needle. However, inspired by my mother who manages to turn out beautiful, complex knits without stitch markers or holders, or cable needles, or indeed any of the fancy notions I use all the time, I rummaged in my bag and found a large paperclip, and so it had to do, bent into a kind of cable needle shape. And it worked fine, so fine that I didn't even bother bringing my cable needle today.

On another note, Spring/Summer Knitty is up, and I want to do two patterns from it - Buttonheads, and the Torreyana shoulderette; I will just have to be strong and hold off starting until I finish the Central Park Hoodie's second sleeve...

When you really need a cable needle

2010-03-23T14:02:00.002Z

A paper clip has to do!

2010-03-19T12:12:00.002Z

I am a far too infrequent blogger, mostly due to the demands of work and life in general, but every now and then I resolve to turn over a new leaf, and today is one of those times.

This weekend just gone, hubbie and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary by flying to Milan, with a quick trip to Zegna fitted in before taking a train to Verenna on Lake Como. Verenna has special significance for us, as it was there, at the end of a walking holiday in the Swiss Alps, that hubbie proposed. Dear reader, of course I married him, and spending our anniversary weekend there was a lovely prospect, even though I am recovering from a cough/cold and spent the weekend virtually coughing up my lungs.

Although always on the lookout for yarn shops I didn't find any - although did find much fine cashmere and merino already made into things. I took some knitting with me, which you can see a photo of below; it's Catherine Tough's Panelled Baby Blanket from her book Hip Knits. As the great EZ says - unless you are a great stay-at-home, always knit blankets in squares or strips, and this is a strip knit blanket which I am doing in contemporary shades of creams, beiges and browns (from stash, I am proud to say), with flashes of leaf green and red. It will be a gift, and I don't know the sex of the baby - hence the neutral colour scheme!

I also wore a knitted item while on the rather cool Lake - the vintage style beret featured below is from one of the Rowan Winter magazines, and was knitted in, now discontinued, Jaeger Luxury Tweed (an alpaca/lambswool blend), in a soft berry colour.

After returning from Lake Como I have been attempting to relax after busy days at work with the second sleeve from the Central Park Hoodie - a pattern which is generally enjoyable if a bit fiddly at times.

More posting soon...

Knitting a blanket on the move

2010-03-16T16:25:00.001Z

A knitted beret comes in useful

2010-03-16T16:23:00.001Z

Beautiful lake Como

2010-03-16T16:22:00.001Z

Central park hoody - knitting while in oz.

2010-01-29T15:55:00.001Z

A little something picked up in australia

2010-01-29T15:51:00.001Z

Back to school u necked vest

2009-12-28T17:20:00.001Z

Keeping me warm on today's trip to the beautiful city of york

Winter shawl - as worn

2009-12-28T12:41:00.001Z

Standing outside sheepish in the shambles, york.

Adventures in crochet

2009-12-27T12:19:00.001Z

A winter shawl - my second, and most complicated so far, crochet project.

In which I nearly complete two items in one day

2009-12-24T10:22:00.004Z

The 23rd of December was a good day for me, knitting-wise. I finished work at midday, and with that sudddenly realised exactly how close Christmas really is. This spurred me on to complete Simon's annual Christmas scarf - this year the Textured Ascot from Jane Davis' 2005 book "Knit Ponchos, Wraps and Scarves", which was a Christmas present from my mother a few years ago. The yarn, Jarol Heritage DK in coffee, is left over from my favourite FO from 2009 - Anna Bell's Bridie - and the scarf took just over 100g. You will see a photo if you scroll down.

I had a long evening in waiting for Simon to get home from Yorkshire, and whiled away the hours making progress on the Back to School U-Neck Vest from Stephanie Japel's "Fitted Knits", knitted in Wensleydale Woolshop's Longwool Aran in teal - a gratefully received birthday gift from the Guilty Knitters. The yarn is wonderful - light, warm and lustrous, but the pattern was not so wonderful. I am an experienced seamless knitter, and accustomed to Steph Japel's patterns, so I was surprised to find myself having lots of problems with stitch counts throughout this. I logged on to Ravelry to discover that not only does the original book have errors, but there are errors in the errata for this pattern. I winged it in the end, and also accidentally freestyled my own textured version of the waffle stitch pattern that makes up the body, and I'm pretty happy with the outcome - just the edgings to do around the neck and armholes. Again, you will see a photo if you scan down.

OTK currently - well I am being quite restrained, but I do have three projects on the needles I am now thinking better of - the Versailles shawl (love the pattern, not so sure now about my yarn choice), Catherine Tough's Panelled Baby Blanket (will probably get finished for a gift next year), and a second go at Popknits' Footlights Cardigan (I think I've already gone wrong, and will probably have to rip it out).

My plan is to hibernate the baby blanket until the intended baby is closer to being born, to rip out Footlights, and...perhaps...finish the Versailles shawl before new year. This will mean starting the new year (almost) completely afresh.

What a lovely thing to contemplate!

U necked vest - nearly complete

2009-12-24T10:20:00.001Z

Textured ascot scarf

2009-12-24T10:15:00.001Z

Footlights

2009-11-12T08:22:00.000Z

Dark photos and OTK

2009-09-23T16:53:00.003+01:00

Below is a very dark and difficult-to-see photo of Grace, from a very old edition of Knitty. It was knit in Rowan Kidsilk Haze, and came out way too short in the body for me (I am tall and seem to have a freakishly long torso as I always have to lengthen patterns - I made the mistake of not lengthening this one!). Kidsilk Haze is not easy to rip, and it looked very beautiful, so I gifted it to Linda, who is very petite, and it looked lovely on her when we met recently for dinner. I will try for a better photo next time!

OTK: Top Secret - worked on that all weekend! Intoxicating got picked up again, and discarded again; my yarn choice is just not right so it is going to the frog pond. The Versielles shawl from Knit Magazine, Issue 2 is my train knitting, and I might just cast on another Footlights (from Popknits, Issue 1) tonight - my last attempt was too roomy and gifted to Julia after sitting in my closet for a year.

Grace - an older knit

2009-09-16T19:45:00.001+01:00

Sunday Secrets

2009-09-06T13:33:00.002+01:00

Sunday is knitting group day for me, and at present on Sundays I am working on a secret project, and actually I have very little else on the needles. However, I have started a non-secret project - a cardigan, in some Rowan Little Big Wool. I cast on top down, and completed about 2" of moss stitch, and have commenced the sleeves/body with yarn over raglan increases in stocking stitch. After I break for the sleeves, I'll do some kind of all over lace leaf stitch for the rest of the body under the arms. The sleeves will be stocking stitch, and the borders in moss stitch.
It is not progressing very quickly though as I can't put my mind to anything much at the moment; to many other things to think about, like home, and family. Hopefully I will feel clearer in a couple of weeks.
See below for a piccie of progress so far on the Little Big Wool Cardigan.

Non secret project

2009-09-06T13:30:00.001+01:00

Two Thrift Projects - About

2009-09-05T15:22:00.004+01:00

Last Monday was a deliscious Bank Holiday here in the UK, and I found myself with a whole day to pass. Of course, I could have done some housework, or caught up with friends I hadn't seen for a while, or caught up on some work, but instead I knitted and sewed two projects out of materials I had:

Project One: A Lovely Old Lady Bag from Eithne Farry's book "Yeah I Made It Myself", made from a vintage curtain which had been left in the cellar of our house, found when we moved in. The bag handles are from John Lewis, and I bought them a long time ago with the aim of making this bag. The bag is lined with hot pink satin, from a market haberdashery stall, and again lying around in my fabric/yarn cupboard. The brooch is from Topshop and again was lying around on my dressing table.

Project Two: Inspired by the Trangular Garter Stitch Shawl from "Knit: Handmade Style".
This shawl/scarf is made from odds and ends of jewel-toned yarns in my stash, mostly leftovers from other projects. It includes some Debbie Bliss Cathay, two different Louisa Harding yarns (sari silk and another one, unknown type), some Jaeger Pure Silk, Noro Cash Iro, Patons Washed Haze and Cargo, and Rowan Scottish Tweed. This mix makes it feel luxurious and soft - and although slightly unsure about it after finishing it I wore it shopping in the high street today and felt great in it. It was very, very therapeutic to knit, watching the colours change as the simplicity of the garter stitch induced an almost trance like state.

More blogging soon - there are projects finished to blog about, and in the pipeline.

Two thrift projects

2009-09-05T15:16:00.001+01:00