New Year's (Knitting) Resolutions

Ah, by the popping of corks, I sense a new year is on the way, and with it the resolution to do things better than we did this year.  Whatever knitting resolution I make, August is pretty much out, as I’ll be in Japan.

I did think about resolving to design some of the ideas I’ve had kicking around in the notebook, but that requires yarn for which I seriously don’t have the space.  I did think about using up all the sock yarn I've acquired, but that would work out as one sock a month, which could end up being rather boring.  I did think about resolving to knit something per month from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitters' Almanac, but as the first is an Aran sweater and the second is baby jumpers, neither of which I need, that didn't have wings.

After much thought about what I wanted to resolve, knit-wise, I’ve come up with the following:

Learn to knit socks.  It’s a good knitting skill to have.

Try to learn to knit continental style.  I’ve heard that it’s quicker than English.

Now this one’s a bit more complicated:

Not buy any more yarn until the big project box is empty.

The big project box has yarn for four projects; a bolero, two cardigans and a sweater.  So far, so good.  Obviously yarn bought for gift knitting or souvenir yarn doesn’t count.  (‘Obviously’ I hear fellow knitters chime in agreement).  However, I’ve seen some lovely Jaeger yarn on eBay.  

I know that bidding because you feel sorry that the seller’s knitting career is waning isn’t the best motivator, but at the same time, that would make an awesome sweater!  Anyway, does the ‘no yarn’ rule really count if you make a bid before midnight ?

Either way, the final resolution is:

Knit a jumper for my husband.

Happy New Year – what resolutions have you made, knitting or otherwise ?

   

The Christmas Knitting plan...

…isn’t going to happen the way I’d planned – and that’s OK with me.  I tried, it didn’t happen and I’m not going to stress myself out worrying about it.  The plan was to do mini stockings as place names for Christmas Day.  I tried one, got a little bit more competent with the idea of short rows and picking up wraps and then realised I’d not left myself enough time.  On the scale of one to death, this isn’t even a drop in the ocean.  

Anyway, we had Christmas Day (part one) at the weekend with my parents-in-law.  We had discussions about repeats of self-striping yarn and I tried to roll some skeins into a ball.  I was dropping hints to my husband that a nostepinne would make a brilliant Christmas gift; he didn’t think I had any skeins to use it on.  I was basically proving him wrong.  With the aid of a kitchen towel holder. 

And in the midst of this, my parents in law gave me yarn:

Quite frankly I don’t care if it’s acrylic, or that I don’t have a clue what to do with it.  The acid bright colours suit me no end, and there’s enough to do something decent with it, like a striped jumper or somesuch.

Merry Christmas.  I hope you too are able to count your blessings.

I wasn’t going to get caught up in this ‘Christmas knitting’ thing.  I swore I wasn’t going to get caught up in it, and somehow I have without realising.  Maybe I just wanted an excuse to buy more yarn ?  (For those interested, Red Lion acrylic in red and white, and a white Stylecraft eyelash yarn.  Bet you can't guess what I'm going to be knitting with that!)

I Have A Plan, but having looked at the pattern yesterday it didn’t make as much sense as I wanted it to, and apparently involves Swiss darning.  Swiss darning!  I’ve never darned anything in my life.  Yet. 

I would do it this evening, but the in-laws are visiting today and all tidying up that I’ve done has somehow managed to be undone this last week.  That leaves Sunday, in amongst packing to go away and buying Christmas presents, and blocking the shawl from York.  And decided which knitting projects to take away, copying the patterns and swatching to know which needles I should take; that’s going to take at least half a day!

If the worst comes to the worse, I’ll stay home from midnight mass.  Or darn in church, and thereby give away the secret.  Or darn on the train and risk stabbing myself horribly.  This is the one advantage of knitting with acrylic – no need to worry about blocking time. 

It will all work out fine,  because if I don’t get this sorted for Christmas 2014, I’ll be well ahead for Christmas 2015!

Noting patterns

When we were in York, we met up with an old family friend whose wife sadly died a few years ago, leaving a stash of yarn and over 70 lengths of dress material.  Very kindly, he said that I could have some of the yarn, as he didn’t think his daughter would do anything with it.  Such a lovely gesture.  (I started with some pink wool, which I want to make into a felted hat).  This lady is a knitter so fearless she made herself a mohair jumper, which was then worn, ripped back and re-knitted not once, but twice.  She also made cabled jumpers for all her family – but the re-knitting of mohair is the feat of which I am most in awe.

There feels a certain responsibility in doing something with a deceased person’s yarn.  Should I be frivoulous and do something for myself ?  Should I follow her wishes of what she wanted done, should they be clear ?  Make something for her grandchildren – keeping it in the family, as it were ?  (All a moot point at the moment, as the yarn is still in the attic – but it’s still a consideration).

Following the Yarn Harlot’s example, I’m trying to start making a note of what yarn is intended for which project.  This is mostly to stop me buying three lots of yarn for project X and to remind me which yarn I’ve got kicking around.  Although I realise now there’s another advantage to this method of yarn stashing – should anything happen to me, my knitting friends will know exactly what to do with the yarn.

Far From a Winter of Discontent...

So, last week we went to York.  

We walked the walls and saw some genuine Tour de France bunting:

(although on going back to photograph it, I don't think it was the knitted bunting by the way it was curling at the bottom).

I went to Ramshambles, the knitting shop on The Shambles and bought yarn.  

And then went back the day after to get more.

(I did see the West Yorkshire Spinners bird inspired sock yarn, but as I've not yet learned to knit more than the cuff of a sock, I don't see the point in buying more sock yarn).

I got chatting to the lady behind the counter about my plans for the yarn - to make the bicycle shawl from Bespoke.  The original shawl is made with Rowan Kidsilk Haze; the photos look beautiful, but it's a whatsit to knit with.  She hadn't heard of the book, so nice to pass on information to a fellow knitter.  I bought the yarn as I'd never seen that make before, and the colours were beautiful.  Luckily my husband had stepped outside before I had to pay...

We visited the Quilt Museum (no photos allowed)...

...and saw lots of signature quilts; where people would pay to have their name sewn on to a square, which were then sewn together and raffled off to raise money for charitable causes.  We also say the oldest known example of patchwork, which appeared on the Quilt Museum leaflet:

I bought fabric.

I spent a lot of time admiring York's knitwear.  On two of the four days we were there, the local pub was flooded with Christmas jumper wearers.  I also saw a couple of very natty Christmas pudding hats, as well as the more usual ribs and cables.  This was also the pub where I realised that if you use a straw, you don't have to pick your glass up, leaving your hands free to knit.

Almost every time we stopped, I pulled out my knitting.  

I was very taken with the pub with shiny tables, opposite the Quilt Museum.

My rubbish as anything splicing held.

And somehow I managed to complete a shawl in four days.

Happy holidays! 

Knitting in public day....

So there I was this week, stumbling out of the Tube station, on my way to work - when I saw this:

No, I don't know what it is either.  Baby's hat with ties for under the chin ?  Washcloth with tentacles?  Something else entirely ?  (Yes, the photo doesn't necessarily help; I had to try and wave my camera around above head height to take the photo).

Then, literally a few paces later, I saw this:

What was this, leave your knitting alone in public day ?  

I went back at lunchtime, and both were still there.  Looking at the hat, there were no obvious labels, which would indicate that it is, in fact, hand knitted.  This was later verified when I took it home and dried it off.  It's been knitted sideways, with no obvious ribbing.  No idea of the yarn, or why it was left there.  I can't help wondering if it was an unwanted gift, which was left in a 'I'm so sorry, I've lost it, must have put it down somewhere, what a shame' with fingers crossed behind the back, kind of way.

So, the hat's come to live with us.  I think it needs a proper wash before being used; no idea whether to keep it, donate it to charity or other.  I did think of putting up a 'Lost - Hand Knitted Hat' sign, before realising that was totally insane.  Because of course, taking photos of textiles in trees and taking wet hats home because they look lonely and unloved in totally sane. 

At the time of writing, although not at the time of publishing, I’d much rather be at home knitting.  I was a total couch potato this weekend and pretty much stayed at home and knit.  It was the final race in this year’s Grand Prix season and after all the rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, I totally missed Rosberg dropping lower in the race as I was concentrating on my stocking stitch!  Well, what can you do when you drop a stitch somewhere and have to rip back twenty rows to find it again ?  There’ll be replays and clips on Youtube.  I did feel sorry for him having to ask his team to finish the race, when they wanted to bring him into the pit early.  I still wanted Hamilton to win the Championship, but it would have been nice for Rosberg to have a better race.

But anyway – the thing I am knitting is the khaki shrug, first started on some Bank Holiday earlier this year.  I’ve found our work knitting group, where I sat, chatted and completed twenty rows, before the beer kicked in and I decided to make a tactical retreat.  It inspired me to do another twenty rows the following night and now I’m at the end of my second  ball of yarn, which I (re) started on Sunday.  My plan is to get it done in time for our upcoming trip away to York.  We’re travelling by train, so two hours of knitting time each way, and I’ve already been looking up the local yarn stores and the York Craft Trail.

Oh yes, it’s going to be a great holiday!

Scenes from an Exhibition

So, as expected yesterday, the exhibit didn't allow cameras, as it was lent by a private collector who didn't want photos taken.  The only place cameras were allowed was the ante-room showing displays of recent fashion graduates.  Personally, I just loved the colours:

The focus of the exhibition was the emotional relationship we have with clothing, which is something most knitters will understand.  There was a loose correlation between all the items in each case; one of 70s folk knits, one of 1920s cocktail jumpers etc.  We got a little confused with some of the labelling; having three jumpers in a case, all marked 'jumper' was a little unhelpful.  The 1920s cocktail jumper with a matching hat, had the hat displayed at knee level rather than head or eye level and there was some consternation about the labelling of the articles.  The postcard below shows a 1940s jumper, which was marked as being knitted, but with think it had to have crochet involved too:

I came prepared; guessing there may have been a 'no cameras' request I took a pad of blank paper.  The Pinterest board for the exhibition is here.  In lieu of me having photos, have some notes I made.

On the way out, I found a button and, being lost in the wonder of how large and impressive it was, nearly got myself run over.

Friends and I went for coffee and cake at John Lewis, where I came away with a list of knitting blogs and absolutely no yarn whatsoever from the yarn department.  Must have been a day for finding buttons, as I saw another one as I was going through the barriers at Oxford Circus.  As anybody who has gone through the barriers at Oxford Circus will know, you don't stop or you get the tourists confused and the natives quite impatient.  Hope that button found somebody to love it eventually.

Overall, we liked the exhibition and there were some quite gorgeous pieces to look at.  It's given me ideas of things I may want to do in my own knitting, and more of an idea all the crafty things which go on round the London Bridge area of London.  Certainly worth a visit for the price they're charging - just don't be surprised if the labels need some sleuthing to work out.

The aim for today was to knit.  Problem is, I really want something that I can start and finish today - which means casting on yet another project.....

Come Say Hello!

(Or ‘come say help’ as the computer autocorrected my spelling mistake) 


Most hits on the blog seem to come from people who’ve linked from me making a comment on the Yarn Harlot’s blog. Dear those people, please say hello! Part of the reason for blogging is to link up with others in the knitting community. I may not be the most exciting knitter just yet, but I am friendly. Please come say hello and share what you’re knitting/crocheting etc. Tomorrow I’m planning on going to Fashion and Textile Museum see the KNITWEAR from Chanel to Westwood exhibition with friends. I suspect that photographs won’t be allowed inside, otherwise I’d share them with you. 

I’ve decided to spend Sunday with one of my favourite actors – him on the DVD player and me on the sofa knitting.

Of birthdays and books

So, what happens when your post-it note loving and rather efficient sister sends you a birthday card, knowing you want knitting stuff ? Well, this:

The reason I know she's efficient ? (Other than knowing her for all of her life...) She used double sided sticky tape to attach the money:

And I haven't yet worked out a way to detach it, without removing half of the card.  I suspect I'm going to need a hairdryer to melt the glue!

As I'm impatient and actually find the stuck money quite funny, I've already spent it on these:

We also have a branch of The Works bookshop in our town, with lots of books at massively reduced prices where I bought this:

Seeing how many knitting patterns have crochet included, it's a skill I want to learn. With clear instructions, UK terminology and at less than half price, it was a good spend of birthday money.  It'll probably take until this time next year until I make it past the first few pages!  Then, the next day I went in to have a better peruse and got these:

A book with Japanese sock knitting patterns.  Not necessarily as fussed about the socks, am interested in the stitch patterns which may not occur in British knitting.  I'm off to Japan next year; it's research for the trip.   

And another book on vintage knitting, because the patterns looked beautiful and the book was cheap.

And if that wasn't enough - another history type book, which really can only be justified by being a birthday present and therefore totally frivolous; there's no way I could have justified buying it otherwise:

Knitting: Fashion, Industry, Craft  from the Victoria and Albert Museum  From what I've read of it (only the first few pages), it's amazing. 

Yes, I am a very, very lucky lady. 

No need to cry over spilt mattress stitch....

Urgh, I love knitting, I really do - but everything above and beyond scarves have more challenges than I first anticipated.  If it wasn't for the stash in the spare room I'd probably have considered giving up this knitting business some time ago.  You can tell my stash is getting to me, last night I dreamed of pizza and toe up socks! 

Today's 'thing' is trying to work out mattress stitch properly.  I don't want to be one of those 'make do' type people; I want my knitted pieces to look awesome and be loved accordingly.  So, it's worth learning how to do things properly.  Today's challenge is properly learning the mattress stitch:

I love Youtube - whatever the technique, there's a video to explain it.  (I always find videos far easier to understand pictures).

My first attempt at proper mattress stitch looked like somebody was playing noughts and crosses up the side of my mini hat.  Maybe it's because I'm already cross with my computer not wanting to print a PDF pattern, or because I'm inexplicably tired, but it's not working and I want to cry, properly sob all over my knitwear type cry, which is not a healthy reaction.

So I'm going to go make myself a drink, maybe read some knitting book or another and maybe go back to knitting a scarf ....

That's October sorted

Well, my books arrived:

Amusingly, the postman rang the doorbell as I was halfway through a row of knitting.  (Garter stitch if you're that interested). 

For the fun of it, I made a list of big things I want to knit for me, once I've finished my dissertation.  Honestly, it can't come soon enough! 

That, and the fact that there's nothing on my birthday list so far which isn't related to knitting, means that October is pretty much sorted.  I just need to get there first....

Tuesday

You know I said I wasn't a fan of sod's law ?  Well, in looking to try and cost up how much the Kaffe Fassett mystery knitalong may cost, I found lots of websites - none of which had the colours I wanted in stock.  (That, and the cost of the yarn is making me have second thoughts).

In other news, I may have got a bit tipsy over the weekend and ordered some knitting books.  I did only plan to get one on wristwarmers (they help make the arthritis easier to deal with), but was spurred on by my husband saying 'if you buy that one, I'll learn to knit'.  Space has been cleared on the bookshelf for their arrival and in clearing up yesterday, I found another project bag.  That counts as a result.

But actually, today's post is about something different - a book I read on my Kindle sometime last month: Knit for Health and Wellness by Betsan Corkhill.  In it, she divides knitting projects up into different categories, including projects which teach you new skills and projects she classes as 'free knitting' - that is, knitting for the process of it, without really caring where you end up. 

Interestingly, both the above are projects which have come with me to the Royal Albert Hall for this year's prom concerts.  My free knitting project is the Innocent smoothie hats.  They all have a basic pattern, but I make it up as I go along as regards the colours, stripes, stitches and adornments on the top.  I've lost count of the times I've planned a hat in one way, and halfway through, I realise I've knitted something totally different.

Some of the completed hats: (Late afternoon light and I couldn't work out how to switch on the flash)

Some of the uncompleted hats, on the stitch holders, waiting to be sewn up and finished:

And then, Saturday just gone at the Last Night of the Proms, I was trying socks, knitting in the arena whilst waiting for the concert to start.  (These are the same socks I tried in Nottingham and then again over the Bank Holiday weekend last month.  I'm very tempted to try a toe up pattern, before I get a total block on this pair).  Far from being a free knitting project, this was a 'learn a new skill' technique - namely magic loop knitting - knitting in the round.  Now, whilst I'm not a proficient sock knitter, I can tell there's something wrong with this ribbing:

Whilst the first pair of socks I knit is likely to be rubbish, I'm too much a perfectionist to keep this.  Every time I put the socks on, I'll know, so I'll be ripping out.  Again.

The man next to me in the arena seemed very interested in my socks.  (The ones on my needles, not the ones on my feet).  Wasn't I bored of knitting something on such small needles? (2mm needles are the price I have to pay for knitting loosely).  I could buy socks at M&S for five pounds (yes, but not in this colourway) and do knitting circles still exist?  It did kind of help that one of my friends was a couple of rows back, doing some Fair Isle.

No photographs of me getting in the arena, but I did get a screenshot or two from the concert.

(I have no idea why we're looking at each other - but this is Geoff/Jeff who was interested in my socks and a lovely person to spend the concert with.  Next to him is his wife and in front of me is Clive, a long time prommer). 

And another, slightly better one:

I've tried to work hard today, so when the new knitting books arrive, I'll have lots of time to make them welcome.

The KF KAL

So, this arrived in my in-box this week:

So, it's after the dissertation is due in, I love Rowan yarns and I've heard a lot about Kaffe Fassett - win!  For those interested, the shopping list is here and the Rowan shade card is here

The project is written for a small cushion, large cushion or Afghan, in four colour sets:

Pastel

Brown

Red

Turquoise

I've not worked out which one I want to do and which colour set I want to used.  On one hand, it's my birthday at the beginning of next month and an Afghan would be a lovely gift to knit myself as a birthday present.  On the other hand, with twenty balls of yarn per Afghan, retailing at around £8 each - I'm not sure the combined generosity of any birthday money is going to foot the bill.  Sure, there's the option of buying the yarn bit by bit, but sod's law says that the one colour you want will be out of stick at the precise moment you want it.  

For the record, I am not a fan of sod's law. 

Spot the Difference ....

AKA - Why you shouldn't pack your knitting bag in a hurry.

I've recently taken a step back from knitting the little hats for Innocent Smoothie bottles as A) it was starting to get boring and B) I need to sew some hats up before knitting any more. Whilst I'm happy to knit on my commute into work, I draw the line at bringing needles to sew things up, for fear of injuring one of my fellow travellers. Yes, even the people who stand in the doorways and don't move up when asked. My knitting implements are better than that.

So, I've done a couple of other, quite small knits with fairly instant gratification, like Kevin. 

But, as I was travelling back into London yesterday morning and have got used to the needles between my fingers, I'm back to the hats again. The longer needles have a habit of hitting the window, or have other people get in the way of them.  Seriously, if a train isn't that busy, why would you choose to sit next to the person wielding metal pins ? To counteract this I bought a set of 3mm circulars, but they're just fiddly, as they're slightly smaller than my hand. 3mm needles are slightly too small once I've finished the ribbing, as the knitting two together at the end is a bit of a tight struggle. So, I've decided to go up by a quarter of a millimetre for the body of the hat.  Everything hat related is in a big Cath Kidstone Tote bag, ready to be plundered when I have a train journey.

These were the needles I brought with me today - see the difference ? 

Yeah. 

Luckily, I'd also brought the circulars, as I didn't know how busy the train was going to be, and therefore how much elbow room I needed. (The fact I didn't take the right paperwork to the British Library gives a relative comparison how much thought I put into both knitting and academia). I don't think the guys behind me commented on me sitting at a station taking photos of knitting needles, my Spanish isn't good enough to tell. All I will tell, is that this is the first time I've been glad of the 3mm circulars, just please don't tell them I said so.

Summer Holidays

I'm currently staying with my (slightly dotty) grandmother for the long weekend.  I'm determined that I'm going to learn how to knit socks - these were the socks I was going to knit went to Northampton, but didn't in the end, as I didn't have the right size needles.

Having never knit in the round before, I didn't know about joining the stitches, so as to avoid a massive gap.  Attempt one - frogged.  The second time, I forgot that you need to swap needles as you knit, so I ended up with everything on two needles.  I lost count of the number of failed attempts, although I do have one photo from where it was going right:

About two rows later, I dropped a stitch, couldn't work out where it had gone and started again. Attempt whichever-we're-at-now - frogged.  The yarn is Sirdar Heart and Sole, using the cuff down pattern on the ball band.

Thank goodness for YouTube (seems I wasn't joining properly anyway).  With luck, and enough Bank Holiday rain to keep me inside, these socks may yet happen.

The other project I had with me, is a shrug pattern, from the Free Vintage Knitting website, in a discontinued Jaeger yarn, labelled as a baby merino.  The first problem is the number of splits I had in the yarn (this one wasn't the worst, by a long way).

The second issue I had, and this is a surprising one, was the colourway.  In the balls, it looks nice and autumnal-ish and the kind of colours I'd go for.  All knit up, it actually looked like the camouflage pattern, used on army fatigues.  As a pacifist, I don't really like the idea of wearing something that looks like Army uniform, let alone the fact that this is baby merino.  Not appropriate at all for baby clothing, in my opinion.  Due to the number of the split ends, and the fact that I didn't follow the pattern properly and have much better ideas on how the pattern can be improved, this has also been ripped back to where it started.

But then, with this amount of Bank Holiday rain, I guess an abundance of frogs are par for the course.

Threading it all together

Recently I’ve been watching This Old Thing (dubbed ‘The Vintage Clothes Show) and Tivo decided to record The Great British Sewing Bee on the overnight repeats with BSL interpreter. I don’t know why, but I’m very glad it did. As I’d like to try sewing a bit more, I thought I’d pull together the threads from these two programmes. (See what I did there?)

I’m yet to be convinced about vintage. Sure, I get the glamour and the romanticism thing, but a quick search of online vintage shops doesn’t bring up much, if anything, in my size. The skirt I got from Oxfam (advertised as being ‘woollen’, was actually mostly synthetic with a bit of mohair) had to be sent back as it was too small. Yes, I know I need to get out running again, but that’s not the point. 

The one thing I will take away from This Old Thing is the idea of revamping and upcycling clothes to make your wardrobe stand out from the crowd or to make your clothing last a bit longer. I’m no stranger to customising or dying clothing, or using decoration to make good on an otherwise ruined garment. (This is how I ended up with butterflies on my trousers – they covered up the bleach splashes). I like the idea of going through the stuff for the charity shop and seeing if there’s anything that can be salvaged and I’m also planning on raiding my grandmother’s wardrobe when I see her in a few weeks’ time. 

The one item I really want to be able to sort out, is t-shirts. For some reason, manufacturers think that if you have a bigger bosom, then you have higher shoulders. I either end up with floppy necklines, or having to wear t-shirts which are too ‘sweater girl’ for my liking. I’ve just sent a favourite blouse to the charity shop for making me look frumpy, when all I needed to do was find out how to do bust darts. (In fact, I like that blouse so much, I’m almost tempted to go back to the charity shop to see if it’s still for sale). I’ve lost count of the number of vest t-shirts I’ve had to hitch up by a couple of inches. 

This is where The Great British Sewing Bee comes in. How cool would it be to learn the techniques to adapt charity shop stuff, as well as make my own clothes, in the colour and style that I want, with the decorations and embellishments that I want ? It’s a way of keeping my wardrobe unique, stopping stuff from languishing in the charity shops and making sure I have clothes that actually fit me. Absolute result! 

Now where did I put that sewing machine ….