knitteriety

FOs need good homes

2007-08-01T16:19:00.000-07:00

Despite some ruffle issues, I did manage to complete Karen's birthday prezzie in time for her birthday. Of course, I didn't see her until weeks later ... but that's of no matter.
Here she is modelling it at one of my patio get-togethers this summer and I'm very glad that the fit and the colours suited her so well. Happy birthday, Karen!

In other knitting gift news, Nicole and Rob welcomed their son, Elliot Ross, to the world very early in the morning on June 29th. He may very well be the most (and best) documented child EVER as you can see at his parents' website. From ultrasound, through baby bump progress (a truly magnificent set of photographs btw), to the moment of circumcision... it's all there. Oh my. Hopefully, the Chevron Lace Throw comes in handy.
Currently, I'm making good progress on a "Seventies-With-Taste" cardigan in Cathay black and gold to pair with a light gold Cotton Angora "Venus Shell" for my godmother's Christmas gift. There has been substantial stash reduction during the Vancouver Public Library strike (covered pictorially by Venus here) and the "Knitting in Solidarity" movement. I've gotten through 7.5 skeins of Rowan Big Tuft Wool already!

Lily Crozier-Byrnes

2007-06-07T17:59:00.001-07:00

My friend and colleague in London ("a good Essex girl" she tells me), Sheila, and hubby recently welcomed their first baby, Lily, to the family. The "it"-being-a-"girl" part was expected since Sheila is one of five girls and her father has four sisters...
Isn't she lovely? And, in honour of her birth (and in enough time to send off the parcel in a fairly prompt fashion) I finally acquired the bit of ribbon necessary to complete the kimono-jacket I knitted in October.The booties were done during that baby spree in the autumn with the last bit of green and white that I'd been working with.I love the ribbon I found to match. The flowers were so cute! There was a plain green back-up ribbon in case it was a boy but now I can hold onto that to use as an accent for the little empress-waisted sweater pattern I found last week.And here it is all packaged up (above) to send to Lily (below)!

Sheep Dress still in Action

2007-05-12T21:45:00.000-07:00

It has been a ridiculously long time since I posted anything to this blog and my apologies to anyone still reading but I've been trying out some new patterns with the alarmingly large batch of yarns that I picked up at the Urban Yarns inventory sale. $400 of yarn fit in one large carrier bag to my surprise. I told them that I'd see them again next year and plan on sticking to that... :P
Last year, before leaving the UK, I managed to finish this little dress for my favourite Yorkshire lass, Nina. Her parents have been very busy - starting a new job, raising her and her brother, writing about cows... - and so only recently posted a much-promised picture of Nina in the dress to Facebook. Apparently, they've had many comments on it when Nina wears it out. On one occasion, a pair of elderly ladies stopped them on the street to ask where they got it. Looks like she might be able to wear it for a little longer... but I better start looking at something even more ambitious for next Christmas. Maybe a matching jumper and hat. I'll have to find out if she's still into sheep or if I need to move onto butterflies or something.

Chevron Lace Throw

2007-02-28T17:45:00.000-08:00

... at least that's what it's called in the Vogue Knitting On the Go! Baby Blankets book but Brendan keeps insisting that it looks like the Chrysler building.
This is my attempt to reduce stash and use up all the green Rowan Wool Cotton that I have in one go. So far so good. I'm down to my last two balls and this baby isn't even due until June!
I think leafy is a better descriptor than "Chrysler building".

A Bit of Lace

2007-02-28T16:57:00.000-08:00

I get some desperate vibes off of my stash sometimes. Bags of Cashmerino DK needing a form, loose balls of aran-weight longing to warm someone up, but most especially my skeins of yarns because they know that working with them requires an extra step and some tools that I have not yet invested in. How lovely was it, then, when a co-worker announced that her husband and daughters had bought her a Swift and ball-winder for Christmas? In exchange for a skein of Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn (in Peacock), she happily wound my largest skein of superwash variegated wool (a bargain buy two years ago at the Skep in Yorkshire) which I'd been eyeing as the makings for a birthday gift. It was so large, in fact, that they were compelled to cut it when the first ball got so big that it could no longer turn on the winder. Here's what's left of the second ball...
The project is called "Lacy Top" in Vogue Knitting's 2006 Holiday edition. I thought that the blues and reds in this yarn would suit my friend, Karen, who favours rich, vibrant colours. Now the picture in the magazine is a little bit misleading since the pattern shape doesn't actually have a waist. In fact, the whole thing is really quite bell-shaped, to be honest. I may have to buy a belt for her too, just in case!
I'm foregoing the little bow in front. I think the feather-and-fan collar is ornamental enough and she could always add a broach is she feels it's really necessary.
Here's the main piece sans collar and ruffles just after joining the shoulder seams. I knitted the whole thing in the round from the hem up and then separated at the armholes and finished up the front and back pieces individually. The knitting in the round is probably to blame for the colour pooling just about the lace edge. It kind of reminds me of wood grain around a knot... if the wood was red and blue.
The ruffles are done now as is the collar but the poor thing needs to be reblocked because the collar is curling and only then I can make my attempt at attaching the ruffles! Gah!

Cardigan Conclusion

2007-02-27T10:51:00.000-08:00

All right, I didn't get this project finished for Christmas Day but that was only because I only purchased the blocking board that I "needed" on Christmas Eve and the cardigan was still drying on the board on Christmas Day. I spent most of Boxing Day sewing in the zipper (another first!) and it was finished by Boxing Day evening. Of course, I was in a nasty mood by this point as hand-sewing a black zipper into a charcoal grey sweater using black thread can make a person slightly frustrated. I actually threw the completed project at him when I tied off the last thread. He asked if it was done. I said that there were two bits of yarn that needed to be woven in. And then, he just let it sit there. "Aren't you even going to try it on?!?" I asked. "You said it wasn't finished," he said, all innocent-like. "It's TWO BITS of yarn," I responded. He quickly put it on and wore it religiously for the next three days. Clever man. In the meantime, my yarn needles ALL went walkies at the same time so those two bits on the collar didn't get woven in until the New Year.
All in all, I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The cabling is simple and the design is straightforward. I'll happily NOT do another zip for a long time but so far it seems to be holding up and it only seems to buckle in a funny way when Brendan slouches while sitting. (Point for good posture, yay!) I was able to adjust the pattern to both our likings. To recap for those who have forgotten (and quite understandably as this was one of my longer motivated projects), this is the Pentagon Aran Cardigan from Norah Gaughan's Knitting Nature book. I added an inch of ribbing at the hem, extended the length and decreased the stitches in the collar to create the mock turtle that Brendan prefers, and added folded back cuffs (which you can't see because he insisted on facing the camera as if it were a firing squad). I'm very happy that I chose to do the sleeves from the top down since it turns out Gaughan's pattern would have been very tight in the upper arm and shoulder as it was written. That adjustment was a lot simpler than I would have thought.He actually likes it. Really. He just doesn't like cameras. Anyhoo, things I'll keep in mind for the future include: Russian joins don't work so well in this yarn (Mission Falls 1824) and installing zips is a true test of affection.

Just in time for the New Year

2007-02-14T10:44:00.000-08:00

... the Chinese New Year, that is.
I've been a very bad knitting blogger over the last few months. This certainly doesn't mean that I haven't been knitting, though. I finished the dread Christmas cardigan (pictures and story to follow) in time for Boxing Day. Suffice it to say, me and zips do NOT get along. I also made a couple of pairs of thrummed slippers for my cold-footed friends and managed to get this baby blanket (pictured) done for my friends, Mary and Randy, who just had their baby, Monica, at the end of January.
My Christmas prezzie to myself was the blocking board (also pictured) which folds in half into a handled portfolio-style carrying/storage form.
This baby blanket was fun and frustrating in equal measures. The octogonal swirls were done individually and didn't take long and were nice little projects that I could tote along anywhere. Then the little moss-stitch squares were picked up along an edge and knitted onto 17 of the 18 octogons. THEN, they had to be sewn together. And, of course, I fitted the first three together in the wrong direction and refused to tear out the seams which meant doing some creative fitting near the end. There's meant to be a crocheted edging (well, there's also meant to be seven bobbles on each of the squares but THAT wasn't about to happen) and I'm toying with the idea of doing it in a different colour now that I know it's a girl. Crochet... ugh.

Christmas Cardigan Continues...

2006-11-09T15:20:00.000-08:00

The light over the kitchen table is not very yarn-friendly but it was the only place I could think of to lay out the back of the cardigan for a photo-shoot. Obviously, shaping has not been an issue here. The Mission Falls 1824 has been really lovely to work with although it doesn't take a Russian Join as nicely as I would like.
The major challenge has been remembering where the moss-stitch creeps in between the cables and where the pattern leaves it smooth. I've had to re-stitch a few columns along the way. The boy's run off to New York City for a week so I'm glad I finished this piece before he left so that I have something to work the left and right fronts against. I've been measuring against him every 20 rows or so and the length he likes is about two and a half inches shorter than the pattern calls for. Need to stay alert for the neck shaping on the front, I guess.
The cabling's been giving my left hand some problems. I'm really hoping that it isn't a sign of CTS but I've been getting numb spells and cold streaks every once in a while. I won't give up the knitting but I may need to be more careful while working at the library...

A Use for Fall Foliage

2006-11-09T14:38:00.000-08:00

I own a lot of sock wool. For someone who has yet to make a legitimate pair of socks, I have an obscene amount of sock wool. So what do I do? I made a handbag.
Polly had issues with the colours of this Cherry Tree Hill wool (October 5 on alltangledup) but I think I was probably attracted by the colours initially. I just don't think I'd wear socks in them. I get into these moods where I feel that I need to branch out palette-wise and end up buying colours that don't fit easily into my life. So there were bamboo handles in one of the London boxes I unpacked last week and a pattern that called for this specific yarn... it was meant to be, I guess.
I wasn't sure about attaching the handles. I've never claimed to be a seamstress of any ilk. Worked out a system that is best termed a reverse mattress stitch. There's probably a real name for it. Anyhoo, all's well and another Christmas prezzie is done!

Gratifying

2006-11-09T14:34:00.000-08:00

I made the hat Grace is wearing in this picture early in the spring when I was using up my purple Cashmerino Aran. She's just growing out of it now.

Cutest Logo Ever

2006-10-18T18:24:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in the previous post, the boyfriend actually made a decision on what sort of knitted Christmas he'd like. He said things like "cardigan" and "black" and "cabled". Feeling a little bad about throwing out all his cardigans a few years ago (they were all nasty-old and acrylic and very Mr. Roger-ish), I found and bought Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughan (which I'd been meaning to do ever since Yvonne brought it to Liberty's night to show-and-gloat) and pointed out the Pentagon Aran Cardigan. In agreement on the pattern, off we went a couple of weekends ago to Main Street on a sunny Sunday afternoon to acquire the necessary wool since, unfortunately, my stash is severely lacking in black wool. Our first stop was Birkeland Bros. which, unbeknownst to us, was closed for the long weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving). Which left us wandering up the street in search of the much spoken-of new yarn shop, Three Bags Full (also linked in the sidebar as "My Local"). So new, in fact, that they didn't even have a sign up yet. It was pure luck (and vigilance) that I even spotted their window display from across the street. We had three choices of yarns: Cascade, which I found scratchier than my liking; Debbie Bliss, which I found pricier than my liking; and the Mission Falls 1824 Wool, which, although pricy still, was less expensive than the imported Bliss (it's a Canadian-made yarn) and less scratchy than the Cascade. Alas, the black was back-ordered... but Brendan found the charcoal well enough to his liking and our mission for the day was accomplished. As so it should be smooth sailing to Christmas morning, right? ha!

The Christmas Cardigan Saga: Part I - From Humble Beginnings

So, here we are at row 22.

What the picture doesn't show is the three times I had to frog this section, twice right back to the cast on. I don't think Gaughan realized that some of her readers don't think too hard before starting chart-work. The first time I started, I didn't even realize I was supposed to start on the Chart and, instead, started a 1x1 ribbing. When I figured that out, I decided a ribbed edge might be nice. Started the Chart after an inch of ribbing on the RS. Six rows later, came to the realization that the cabling is on the even rows and, therefore, I was cabling on the WS. Frog. Decided to read the Chart backwards the second time around (don't even ask, there was some sort of logic to it, I think). Frog. Got it going the correct way but lost a stitch during one of the cables the third time. Frogged back to the dropped stitch. So, three days after starting, I've got a hard-won 22 rows done. Yay, me!

Any hints on photographing cables in dark wool, Polly? They'd be much appreciated!

Need some Notions

2006-10-17T15:54:00.000-07:00

Just finished this infant-sized kimono from Debbie Bliss' Special Knits book. I'm pretty sure I'm happy to ignore the embroidery instructions. With the number of babies popping up all around me, the more gender-neutral I keep these projects, the better. I really like the way the green Wool Cotton knits up and the leftover white from the little sheep dress I made earlier this year works well as the border. I still haven't bitten the blocking bullet yet so I think I'll have to steam and press this before wrapping it up for Christmas. The hem curls something ferocious.

My shopping list gets longer everyday. I still need to pick up buttons for the Town-Square cardigan (which has found its perfect owner, btw) and now I need a ribbon of some sort for the tie on this kimono. Brendan's also decided on a cardigan for Christmas... with a zip front! Gah!

Bootee Duty

2006-10-08T11:59:00.000-07:00

My friends seem to insist on growing up and getting married and starting families. Most of them actually in that order now (as opposed to some of my high school friends...) and I've been kept busy trying to organize some suitable baby projects to foist on the tots. My newest victim is Nathan, now four months old.
Here he is just back from a second walk in as many hours, a little confused as he experiences deja vu for the first time.
He's a happy baby, which is a blessing. He's also extremely tall (but proportioned) for his age. The bootees I brought with me won't be used for long, I'm sure.
First, there were these Textured-Cuff ones done in Rowan Wool Cotton. I need to practise picking up stitches. The sides kept wanting to buckle when I was setting up this picture.
Later, I found a ball of very yellow (shudder!) acrylic yarn in my stash. (Don't ask me what possessed me to buy it in the first place.) In any case, the colour was very appropriate for the Duck Feet pattern sans the blanket stitching on the ends. Both bootie patterns are from Zoe Mellor's 50 Baby Bootees to Knit. There's quite a few more patterns that I'd like to try but many involve haberdashery that I don't have lying about - buttons, ribbon, lace, etc.

Town Square in Sage

2006-08-15T22:36:00.000-07:00

For the girls at Liberty's, this will look familiar. I was working on it the last few times I was able to make it down on Wednesday evenings. Sans buttons so far, I finally got the pattern to match up reasonably well on the sleeve seams. Honestly, I nearly lost my will to live, sewing and picking out stitches umpteen times.

The pattern is the "Town Square Jacket" by Melissa Leapman from the August-October 2005 issue of Cast On magazine (for knitters). I substituted Debbie Bliss Alpaca-Silk Aran for the acrylic yarn recommended and then reduced the size of needles from 4.5mm and 5mm to 4mm and 4.5mm.
Without the buttons, the weight of the yarn made keeping it on the hanger for this picture pretty tricky. I was almost tempted to sew loops into the shoulders like they do for dresses that slide off hangers (but then I remembered that I wouldn't be hanging this anyway). The collar isn't shown in any real detail in the magazine picture so I was a little surprised when it came out with three corners but that's what happens when you "inc 1 st at ea shoulder seam and at center back neck". Oops, I guess EOR means "every other row". Oh, well.
The sleeves look kind of long but I'm thinking that the body will stretch out a little with time...

I haven't figured out how to take close-up pictures with a flash without getting the funny little shadow at the bottom of the picture so please bear with me. Casting on the button band and button-hole band turned out to be time consuming as the right side turned out to have more rows than the left. Brendan commented that I didn't seem to be enjoying my hobby as I muttered profanities over my sixtieth (not really) cast-on.

I really loved the way this yarn took to the texture of this pattern:
Row 1 (RS): *K1, p1. Rep from * for pat.
Row 2: *K1, p1. Rep from * for pat.
Row 3 and 4: Knit.
Repeat Rows 1-4 for pat.
I'll have to remember it for future projects. Love it!

And, finally, a close-up up the three most challenging parts (after the sleeve seams) - the collar, the button-band, and the sleeve-to-body seam. Not too shabby, I think!

Zig Zag Zaniness

2006-08-11T15:39:00.000-07:00

I've spent the past few days of unemployment trying to finish up half-done projects and so far, I'm happy to say I've been fairly productive. I hate sewing...

This is an aerial view of my completed "Stitch-effect Sweater" from Julia Cooper's Textured Knits (a book which a bunch of people at the Liberty knitting group apparently got for free while I paid for). I did this with the discontinued shade "Madame" in Rowan Cashsoft DK.

I need to find a better way (and place) to photograph my projects.

It knitted up really quickly and, as with the previous project I did from this book ("Casual Cable Sweater"), I actually enjoyed working from the charts Cooper includes.

If you look closely at this strangely posed picture above, you can see the reason I thought this pattern was so cute - the stitch pattern trails onto the back. Unfortunately, this made making up the seam even more annoying than usual...

To be Felted

2006-08-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

I really need to get myself a copy of Emma King's 25 Bags to Knit: Beautiful Bags in Stylish Colours. The colours aspect isn't so good since many of her choices have been discontinued now but the patterns are fun and they are quick ways to use up remnant yarn. This one is "Cranberry" (ironically, knitted in Cassis shade) without the beading, which I haven't been bothered enough to try. I actually knitted it on the plane from Heathrow to Calgary and got it all done except the handles. Now that it's done, though, I've decided that I need to try felting. It's a nice enough bag but really floppy (10mm needles) and the way I load up my bags, I'll need something a little hardier. Cabling on 10mms is interesting...

First Socks

2006-08-11T15:13:00.000-07:00

Socks have been on my to-do list for a long time. These aren't exactly what I had in mind. I've got several balls of beautiful self-patterning stuff waiting for my attention but this pattern in Julia Cooper's Textured Knits seemed to be a quick and easy way to use up some remnants (alas, see yarn story below). Anyhoo, they're done now and even full-sized.
I think I need to work on keeping the yarn tight on the short-rows. I ended up with rather lacy heels.
I don't think I'll ever be a bobble fan. But at least I can say I've done them now. :o)

A Short Yarn about Yarn

2006-08-04T17:36:00.000-07:00

Before I left the UK, I made a couple of knitted gifts for my co-workers. For my department head, I made a sea-man's scarf in the UK Select Alpaca. Same pattern as I made for Chris Q. last Christmas. For Alice, the other Geography teacher, I made a little handbag out of Rowan Classic Kid. Now the pattern calls for 2 balls and says it is to be knitted doubled up, so I did what I thought was the sensible thing and took the strand from the inside of each of the balls and knitted it double that way. When I finished it, I had the majority of two balls of yarn left. So the other day, I got sick of the jumper I've been working on and decided to use the remnants of this creamsicle-coloured Classic Kid to make a pair of bobbled socks. I thought if I made them for smaller feet I might be able to do one sock with one ball. Well, about three rows from the decrease, I ran out. Annoyed.
Went out to a new-to-me yarn shop in West Point Grey (Urban Yarns) today who I'd called about my situation yesterday. Turns out they have an entire bag of this discontinued colour in the back. For $12.95 a ball! It's a lovely little shop but I'm having a hard time believing that I'll be able to afford to shop there anytime soon...

Yorkshire Kid Knit

2006-08-02T20:25:00.000-07:00

This is a project that I've been meaning to tackle for months, ever since I saw the little sheep on the hem. It's from the Debbie Bliss "Baby Knits" book and I knew that I had to make it for Nina, my Skipton family's little girl.

I changed the main colour from the sack-cloth brown in the book to a more pastural green to emulate the Yorkshire Dales. It's meant to be a smock-style dress (no fitting or shaping for a waist), which works well with the "smocking" of the yoke, I think.
Attaching the collar was tricky, as I'm not an experienced seamstress and really resent the entire making-up process. (There are two jumpers still in pieces, awaiting my attention.)
I've always enjoyed cabling and I think the smocking came out really well.
I've never done any fair isle or intarsia work so the sheep were the most challenging aspect of this project and I decided, after the fair isle came out looking a bit tight, that I'd try both techniques. Above, are the fair isle sheep I did on the back of the skirt. The green between the sheep is buckling a bit and the material is obviously heavier with the black & white strands twisted in behind. Below, are the intarsia-style sheep. I'm calling them intarsia-style because I actually fair-isled the black behind the white in each sheep rather than create a new bobbin for the three or four stitches that make up the tail and ran the green through behind each of the sheep (which peeks out every once in a while). I think this was the better way to go as the green remained the same thickness and texture as the rest of the skirt, which is voluminous to say the least. The down-side being that there were all these bits of black and white to sew in at the end.

I wasn't sure how the little white hem was going to turn out as I don't think I'd ever done anything like it before but once I got my head around the instructions and my fingers adjusted to the pick-up stitches, it went fairly smoothly and really finishes off the look of the dress. I need my friends to have more girl babies so that I can try something like this again! But not for a while, please.

I'm hoping for a picture of Nina wearing the dress but until then, my loyal readers can put the two together by checking out this jaunty little picture of her from my main blog.

Baby knits

2006-04-01T14:50:00.000-08:00

When the onslaught on newborns on the way, I dug into my stash and came up with some cashmerino aran wool and adapted a Debbie Bliss pattern for a baby raglan jumper to knit top-down. The whole thing is down in stocking stitch on purpose so that the neck, hem and cuffs roll.
The pattern is a little wonky in that the sleeves are relatively long compared to the length of the body. These pictures are actually from my second go. The first one was in newborn size for my nearly-bursting co-worker, Sahera. That one was done to the patterns numbers and looked really short. The pictured one (done at the 12-18 month size) went home with Ms. Walker for her niece and I purposely lengthened the body a little to balance it out.

As with all my top-down attempts, the raglan looks lovely...
The colour is pictured a little bluer than reality. I hope Sahera has a girl.

Curly Whirly Madness

2006-01-27T16:13:00.000-08:00

Wow, has it ever been a long time since I posted here. There have been a few projects since the Cotton-Silk Challenge, some involving wool importing, but the only pics I've got on hand (or disk) are of my CWs.
This was my first one. It was an initial cast-on of 700 stitches and ended up as more of a ruffle since there was so much of this beautiful boucle from Touch Yarns that I didn't want to stop knitting when I got to the end of the decrease so I increased again... The final product was given as a gift to Jewel Staite at the Serenity Squared convention.

This was my second one which took a lot longer because, as pretty as it is, I do not enjoy working with Kidsilk Spray. I assume the same will hold for KSH and KSN too. Much too fine and fussy. This one is being modelled here by the birthday girl and recipient, Tam, who I met through Serenity functions (premiere and convention). Another reason this one took so long is that I did it on the increase - starting with 150 stitches, doubling, doubling, and doubling again. Turns out that casting off 1200 stitches in KSS takes me about four hours.

After Tam's I didn't think I'd want to do another CW for a long, long time but it was a flatmate's birthday recently (not Sarah, the flatmate pictured above, but Kylie who didn't want her picture taken) and she seemed to like the one I made for Tam. This one only took a few days. I used Wendy Jazz, a novelty yarn (shudder) which, to be fair, is exceptionally soft and comes in some lovely colours. Having learned my lesson with the increase CW, I cast on 600 stitches with this one and halved every five or six rows. Came out a little on the short side (see below) but Kylie's happy with it.

Better Late than Never

2005-11-28T12:02:00.000-08:00

Here are front and back views of the hoodie I made for Marianne out of the Debbie Bliss cotton-silk aran. I hope it looks better when she's wearing it... I still think that it might've been the wrong yarn to use but at least the silk content should prevent the colour from fading much.

The pattern is from Vogue Knitting Magazine (Fall 2005). I might try another one from the athletic section for my other sporty friend. After the socks, scarfs and slippers, of course.

Ally Pally Stash

2005-11-04T04:12:00.000-08:00

My two days at the Alexandra Palace Knitting and Stitching Exhibition (October 15 & 16) were a great contrast to each other. On Saturday, I spent much of the day at the Relax and Knit tables and a little walking about. My only expenditures were a heinously over-priced lunch of chicken and rice and about thirty quid of yarn - one being a hank of Alchemy bamboo, the last one they had in that colour.

One Sunday, the floodgates opened and I ended up travelling home with about six carrier bags of loot. Here's some of it:
(Edit: the green-blue hank of boucle in the middle of the picture has since been transformed into the curly-whirly scarf seen here.)

These are two skeins of one of the softest, definitely the lightest natural yarns I've ever encountered. This is Touch Yarns' possum-wool yarn. 500m to the 100g. I've since sent one skein off to Knitting Mama in Saskatoon. Gotta share the joy.
I'm one of Touch Yarns biggest fans now. Above, is eight skeins of their 12-ply mohair-merino. On the left is three of their brushed variety and to the right is five of the boucle. Altogether, this set of chloro-octuplets is going to make one gorgeous blanket for Merwitch and Qball's wedding gift.

Thrumming Along...

2005-11-04T03:48:00.000-08:00

Here are pictures of my first thrummed project - a pair of super-warm slippers for my coldest-blooded friend, the Merwitch. They somehow took longer and yet were quicker to do than I'd thought. Longer because the first pattern I picked turned out to be a rubbishy slipper. It looked more like an envelope with lacings than a slipper. Quicker because pulling the thrums and knitting them in is actually a pretty simple skill.

Still, all is not perfect. Thinking myself smarter than the second pattern, I reversed the cuff on my first slipper (closer one in the picture above) so that the knitted side would face out at the top of the fold. Forgetting to do that on the second slipper, I realized that the pattern meant for the purled side to face out so that the fold wouldn't try to roll. Well, now she'll be able to tell right from left...

Just a couple of wooly squashes... The orange is the (now discontinued) Debbie Bliss Tweed Aran that I picked up pretty cheap at Ally Pally. The idea is that it'll felt up nicely as the slippers are worn.

This is the second thrummed project I did. My flatmate asked for a thrummed ear-warmer headband (although not in so many words). The picture was taken before I finished it off by Kitchener stitching the two panels of ribbing together, sealing the thrums inside and effectively creating a yarn-based inner tube. The yarn is the blue Debbie Bliss Cotton Silk Aran that I used on the hoodie earlier. As if I hadn't learned it well enough before, this yarn has very poor elasticity for ribbing. Sarah will probably have to tie off a bit at the back with an elastic to get a good fit.

Manly Lace

2005-10-27T06:26:00.000-07:00

My first sperm... er, seaman's scarf. This is before I had woven in the ends but I'm pleased with how it turned out. I wanted a pattern that could be viewed from both sides so the double moss-stitch was ideal and the ribbing (K4, P4) is very stretchy and warm. I framed the panels with three rows of garter stitch at the ends of the scarf and three stitches at the end of each row in garter stitch to keep it flat. No decrease in the middle - the ribbing does all the work. I used Alpaca Select, the same yarn as the dimple stitch shawl, and so the detail is quite clear and the scarf is, of course, very soft.

Charity Knitting

2005-10-09T02:55:00.000-07:00

Here's the first project I've encountered that I can actually contribute to... might even walk 'em down to the office myself!
Innocent bottles

And the how-to

Rescued!

2005-09-15T13:33:00.000-07:00

Today, I fully conceded to the fact that I'm going to need more yarn to finish this hoodie. As the yarn has been discontinued, I had to turn to Ebay for sellers and, as luck would have it, there was a seller with the right shade to sell... in Canada! After a few emails and a harrowing experience setting up a Paypal account, it's done!

In other news, I made it to my first London knitting group meeting at the very posh Liberty's store. It was nice to be one of the crowd again. There were some extremely talented knitters present - one who does the most amazing lace wraps on a weekly basis apparently. The ringleader (of sorts) is Yvonne who turns out to email Sally regularly. What a small world this is! Even better, Yvonne runs a booth at the Knitting and Stitching Show and, in exchange for some volunteer time, I get in free! Knitters rock!

Sleeve Joy

2005-09-13T03:38:00.000-07:00

I started in on the cotton-wool hoodie sleeve the other night, paying careful attention to the bind-offs in the pattern as I was picking up and increasing. Reading a pattern backward isn't nearly as difficult as I anticipated. Eventually, I realized it had worked out really nicely! Will post a pic soon. Now I'm concerned that I may be running out of yarn.

Cotton-Silk Frustration

2005-09-09T16:15:00.000-07:00

I decided that I'd try for a non-wool project for one of my more sporty friends and found a neat pattern in the VOGUEknitting International mag that seemed to suit the bill. However, the pattern for the hoodie pullover calls for alpaca wool (who would go jogging in alpaca?) so I found a Debbie Bliss cotton-silk yarn that fit the tension (see previous post about tension squares) and started in, choosing to forego the side seams by knitting it on two circulars from the bottom up.
A few issues have cropped up. Firstly, although the yarn fits the tension, it doesn't have the same elasticity as wool and so the ribbing on the hem and waistband isn't looking so hot. Next, the twelve-strand nature of the yarn is proving difficult to execute the Russian Join with. There are some unfortunate lumps and pokey bits where yarns have been joined. Third, because I'm knitting this hem up instead of collar down, I'm not exactly sure how to join up the shoulders or how to work in the sleeves. So far, I've put the stitches I was supposed to bind off under the arms onto a contrasting piece of yarn in hopes that I'll be able to pick them up later for sleeve-work. This whole project may have to be binned or frogged. I'll have to find out what normal people use this yarn for...

Trippy Trip...

2005-09-07T12:41:00.000-07:00

Look where I'm going in October...
Alexandra Palace

Everyone has a First...

2005-09-02T16:05:00.000-07:00

Ta-da! My very first tension square...

Moroccan Inspired Wensleydale Sweater

2005-08-25T12:15:00.000-07:00

On our trip back from Carlisle, Sally, Izzy and me detoured through Wensleydale and stopped at both the Wensleydale Cheese Factory and the Wensleydale Sheep Shop. At the Sheep Shop (what, you thought the cheese shop sold yarn?), I purchased both the pattern and the materials for this funky-looking and very comfortable sweater. The edging is done by doubling up the main wool with a contrasting colour.

The front and back are pretty much identical except for the neckline. The stocking stitch knitted up really quickly. The edging was all garter stitch.

The pattern is actually assymetrical, with one side fully two inches longer than the other. I didn't really like that so I tweaked it so that it looks a little more normal (to me). The front hem overlaps either way so balancing it out was easy enough. The back was originally supposed to do this weird Tetris horizontal-vertical-horizontal hemline. I recalculated the stitches, mimicked the front cast on, and now it's slotted.

The other really neat thing about this pattern was that the sleeves are knitted square and then set into the bodice. Easiest make up I've done in a while. I also bought enough gold and green yarn to make this one again. I'll have to pick up new needles though. The birch ones I did this one on snapped in my bag one day.

Karlsro Sweater in Alpaca-Silk

2005-08-20T17:34:00.000-07:00

Oh, I'm well "chuffed" with this one. Despite having to pick up a row where most of the stitches don't actually exist until you make them, and excusing the one row on the back where the pattern went a little askew, I really like how quickly this one knit up and the Alpaca-Silk is really warm and cozy... and so soft. The colour's tranferring a little but should be okay after a gentle wash. The pattern warns that the sleeves come out really long a skinny but, never fear, once there's an arm in it, the lacy stiching stretches into a proper shape. The sweater is ballet-top style and has one long tie on the left front that is threaded through an intentional gap in the right side-seam and wraps around the back to tie up on the side with the short tie on the right front (see second pic). The neck line is quite open so I may have to invest in some prettier shirts to wear underneath. It could probably use with a little blocking out too - the hem tends to curl. I'm actually happy that there are a few errors in this. I don't feel so bad about keeping it for myself now.

I'll probably look into some less expensive wools to do this in again for presents. Seems to me it would look especially nice on a couple of rather prone-to-chill mates at home.

Believe it or not, this was the first time I'd made an I-cord. Very useful... I used it for the ties on the baby sweater too.

And here it is from the back...

Baby Sweater Knitted on Circulars

2005-08-20T17:18:00.000-07:00

This was mostly Sally's work - she designed the pattern and had completed the nifty pseudo-raglan shoulders - but I finished it off from about mid-body, did the sleeves, and added the border and ties. If I could have a do-over, I'd probably loosen up the hem and cuffs and add a few more stitches to the border... everything wants to curl and I don't think blocking will even help that much.

You have to admit that that is a FABULOUS looking raglan seam... even if it isn't really a seam at all. I may have been converted to this circular, no seam system...

Dimple Stitch Shawl Wrap

2005-08-20T17:13:00.000-07:00

This was a long time in the making, despite being a relatively simple pattern. Mostly, it was poor preparation on my part. It starts with a very large cast-on and then decreases to its bottom point. I thought that I'd be able to make do with straight needles but, although the initial cast-on fit (just barely), it became apparent with the first line of pattern, which require a double wrap for each stitch, that I was going to need circulars. Sally offered to lend me her 5.5mms but it was about two weeks before our paths crossed again. After that, it went swimmingly... until I ran out of wool. I made this one out of 100% Alpaca and hadn't checked the yardage. So it ended up on hold until I could make a trip out to Texere and stock up again. Alpaca Select is a dream to work with and knits up beautifully as you can see from the picture of the stitch detail. It still needs to be washed out and pressed gently for some of the rogue stitches to work themselves into a sensible shape. Shhh... it's a present.

Aw, bollocks...

2005-08-15T16:36:00.000-07:00

I was getting very excited about reaching the last leg (well, technically, arm) of this Alpaca-Silk sweater. However, when I stopped to count stitches I discovered that there were too many. Backtracking, I discovered that I didn't bind off enough stitches twenty rows before so I've been forced to "frog" it all back to the bind off row. Grrr... with all the wrapped yarn stitches in this pattern it might be an hour before it's back on track.

Couldn't Help Myself...

2005-08-11T16:56:00.000-07:00

I really was going to get back to that cushion cover, I was! And then I was consolidating and packing up my stash and found the Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk I had been saving as a reward for finishing all my other little projects. I bought out Attica on a Stash Enhancing EXercise trip that Sally and I took a while back (my last big buy) of the Claret coloured A-S. It was (supposedly) just enough for a wrap around sweater from the Noro book. As soon as I opened that bag I'd put aside - with all the wool, the photocopy of the pattern, and even the 7mm circular needles nicely packaged together - I just couldn't resist sitting down and starting it! It is the softest stuff in the world and knits up beautifully! It doesn't take the Russian Join as nicely as I'd like but that might be me needing a little practice...

This one knits around (from left side to right side) rather than up to down or vice versa and is such an easy two row pattern that I've already finished the left sleeve and left front. I hope it fits. I really want this one for myself. I don't know if I'll ever be able to justify splurging on A-S again... it's very dear, y'know!

Skill of the Month: Russian Join

2005-08-06T17:02:00.000-07:00

I hate weaving ends in. Hate it. Hate it. Hate it. It's especially frustrating when making something large out of 50g balls. So how much do I wish someone had taught me this little trick years and years ago? You can use this to change colours (for large blocks of work) or just to join up skeins of the same colour.

http://www.knittinganyway.com/freethings/russianjoin.htm
This site's got the best illustrations for the join. It does take practice too.

fiddlesticks
This site was helpful with the "spit splice" hint for wool yarns. Yummy.

knittinghelp
This one's got videos! Oooh, videos...

Works in Progress and Completed

2005-08-06T16:27:00.000-07:00

I don't think that anyone's actually reading this yet but that's okay: it'll be a good way of chronicling what I actually do since I rarely keep my projects.

A couple of weeks ago, I completed a Debbie Bliss hooded baby blanket (Baby Knits Book) in her Cashmerino Aran wool which was really lovely. That was sent off to Chilliwack to an old classmate who's expecting her third baby in October so no pics unfortunately but since I used the same colour wool as the picture on the book cover... oh look, here's another blogger who did the same pattern in organic cotton and took pictures of it in use. Perfect!

Since taking on this housesitting gig, I haven't actually LEFT the house a lot. I seem to have lost track of one of the cats but I'm hoping she turns up before Sally and Izzy get back. I have, however, gotten a good bit of knitting, reading, internet surfing, plant watering and cleaning done. Very domestic. Oh, and sleeping... sleep good.

I completed the dimple stitch wrap for my favourite Saskatonian knitting guru. It's really lovely (I used a mossy green alpaca) and really BIG. I will try to take a picture of it before I send it off as a birthday gift. It was a really simple pattern out of Jeanette Trotman's Easy Knitted Accessories, which has got to be one of my all-time favourite pattern books. Each project teaches a new skill and the table of contents includes a picture for each project. How cleverly logical! The dimple stitch is the most advanced but there are a couple of other things I'd like to try.

Next up, although it wasn't meant to be, is finishing off a darling little cardigan for my Skipton sis. Sally started it a while ago for another friend's baby but said I could finish it and give it Nina if I was so inclined. I'm a little worried that she might've grown too big for it but I'll do it up and see. Neatest thing was that I'm finally over my fear of knitting in the round. Double-pointed needles (dpn) have a tendency to go any which way with me so I figured learning Sally's trick with two circular needles would be a smart thing to do. It wasn't a natural transition. I made a right mess of it at first until I googled for step-by-step instructions. (I love the internet.) I've finished off the length and one sleeve. I'm also hoping that I didn't make the sleeve too tight at the wrist.

After the cardigan (which shouldn't take me longer than tomorrow except for the making up) is a cabled cushion cover. This was a make-work project that started off as a cabling challenge as it has four different cabled patterns in it. Actually, only two involve cabling: the other two are really just moss-stitch patterns. Anyhow, it's in a blue cotton and it was meant to be the Denim Wrap out of Debbie Bliss' Great Knits for Kids but what with my tweaking it to fit my materials, it's going to be too small to be a wrap so I've decided to cast off at a square and knit a stocking stitch square to match up on the back. Ta-da! A cushion cover. Now, I just need to find a cushion to fit it.

I've got a few more things on my to-knit list including some pairs of socks (another new skill), a gorgeous alpaca-silk jacket for me, ME, ME!, and two Wensleydale jumpers.

Out to Launch!

2005-08-04T07:30:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, my Skipton super-mum misheard the name of my semi-monthly knitting meeting, the Knitterati, as "Knitteriety" which seemed just too perfect to pass up as a blog name. With the new picture uploading program, I should be able to post pics of my completed projects which will be lovely since I send most of them away once I'm done with them. Probably won't post as often as it will depend heavily on my free time but now it's launched. Champagne, anyone?