Flying out on Friday

I'm flying out on holiday on Friday and have an overwhelmingly long to-do list.  So, of course the most important thing to be doing is writing blog entries!  

The multi-coloured fraternal socks are finished, and I had a happy yarn accident, courtesy of Phileas Yarns (with a 10% discount, it would be rude not to).  I went for the yarn/colourways of: Explorer - Reynisfjara, Rambler - Hot Dog in Coney Island and Rambler - Bac Ha.  There were at least three others I wanted, but I was being restrained.  There will be photos...

Pattern - Time Traveller Socks by Liz Sedmak
Yarn - King Cole 50 50 (discontinued)

I did try to make sure that both socks were started at the same point of the colour patterning, but somehow it didn't work as expected.  I guess that's part of the fun of knitting; seeing how it all turns out.  I also did a garter stitch gusset for a bit of variety. 

The toe-up Hermione's are going better than expected.  I was going to wait until after holidays to make them, but what the heck.

The Gender Games by Juno Dawson
Hermione's Every Day Socks - yarn: West Yorkshire Spinners

The Gender Games by Juno Dawson is the book I borrowed last week - and it seemed the perfect book to start reading over Pride weekend.  I don't always like the style of writing, but I agree with the points that she's making - so am sticking with it.

 Look at the waffle-y lusciousness of these socks:

Just look!

I love them - and I cannot wait to knit another pair (or several) after coming back from holidays.  I think I've worked out how to do the waffle pattern on the toes as well.

Yesterday, we went to a barbeque, held at a colleague's house, the other side of London and then some.  (Hertfordshire, to be exact).  That meant train journeys, which meant knitting time.  I decided to take the blue and red socks, on which I'd turned the heel too early.  Sock one has been sorted and knitted up to the point that I can do the gusset increase - but hadn't quite steeled myself up to sort out sock two - until yesterday.  On the down side, it's fiddly sorting out mistakes on socks.  On the plus side, I could get rid of this:

Remember - mistakes remind you that it's hand knit by a human.

I have no idea how it got there, and I had begrudgingly accepted it was there.  However, the perfectionist in me is pleased to get rid of it.

I put a lifeline in, trying to catch every stitch:

 and then pulled the needles out and ripped.  It's only on doing that, I found the two stitches that I hadn't caught on the lifeline.  Such is.

Counting stitches on the Thameslink platform at St Pancras railway station holds no fear for me.

59 stitches.  No, 61 stitches.  What ?

So - 59 stitches. Does that include the dropped stitches or not? 

No photos of the party - I was too busy having fun.  I knew a grand total of three people at the beginning of the party, and several more by the end.  We discussed French politics, built a fire and toasted marshmallows.  I also found out that one of my consultants is also a knitter.  We've already bonded over sharing a name and now this!  She's only been in our department five days and I already like her.

Do you have a summer holiday planned?  What's on your to-do list, and what have you been knitting? 

Now I Know How Dobby Felt

Any Harry Potter fan will know that the only way a house elf will become free, is if their human gives them an item of clothing.  Dobby the house elf was given his freedom by means of a sock.  Socks are a big deal to Dobby - and I'm starting to understand the enthusiasm.

My first failed attempt at cuff down socks is detailed here and the discovery of toe up socks is detailed here  (Fact fans, that first pair is still in the process of being knit).

I then tried Sockmatician's toe-ups as part of his March sockalong - which used German short rows which I thought was an exciting technique to learn.  Apparently you can also do them without turning the work  (Both links are to Youtube tutorials).

 Things were going well:

Toe up socks - yarn is Regia 4 ply in the colourway Mosaic

Things were going really well:

I realise that the camera on my phone isn't that good under artificial light

Until the point where they weren't.

I have no idea where I went wrong - but as other knitters were using (and loving) the pattern, it's a knitter error, rather than a pattern error.

So, instead of getting worked up, I did the only logical thing - and cast on a new pair, using Stray Cat sock yarn (the acquisition of which is here)  The pattern is Time Traveller Socks, by Liz Sedmak.  (Ravelry link here  Non Ravelry link here)  It has a Fleegle heel - which the pattern describes as being: "great for a beginning sock knitter because there is no picking up gusset stitches, no “wrap and turn” short rows, and no kitchener stitch"  Sold. 

 The heel looks a little triangular to me, but the sense of achievement in turning the heel was pretty awesome. 

Using the same pattern, I cast on my next pair: 

King Cole 50:50 (discontinued) Colourway: Jubilee

I was knitting these socks for the second briefing weekend for our trip to Iceland, for the World Scout Moot in Iceland.  It's not the required wool content needed for walking socks for the trip, but it contains the colours of both the UK and Icelandic flags, and it seems appropriate to wear them for the opening ceremony. 

However, after the first false start with the heel (I had to knit to two stitches beyond the marker, which I did - I just used the wrong marker) I don't think I've knitted the foot long enough.  I've turned the heel on the first sock and it feels a bit snug.  It might be OK, but then again, there's a risk it won't be - and if frogging 20 rounds or so removes that risk, then so be it. 

The weather here has been phenomenally hot, and socks are about the only things I can knit without sweltering.  (This is why there are no photos yet of the completed cable-breaker).  All the windows are open, which means moths at bedtime.  The fridge is full of drinks which we're both reminding the other to actually drink,  The Tube tomorrow is not worth contemplating.  On the plus side, my hands appear to be behaving themselves, more or less. 

What has your weekend brought you ?  If you're in the UK - how are you coping with the heat?  No, really - I think I need tips. 

A Treat of a Retreat

Last weekend I was at the Jolie's kitchen knitting retreat.  There is so much to say about it, I don't know where to start, even a week later.  Karie Westermann's take on it is here if you're interested. 

My train on Friday night was delayed by 20 minutes. Yes, 90 minutes.  I had to telephone the hotel to confirm that I was still coming, for fear of giving my room to somebody else.  Apparently some of the other ladies who were attending the retreat had been in the bar earlier knitting.  Sadly I missed them, and hoped to catch up with them the next day.  On the plus side, I did manage to get through a decent chunk of my knitting project.

This was the first time I had ever been to a knitting event, and realised afterwards that I did not take enough photographs.  It was lovely to be in an environment where everybody was knitting, it wasn't considered weird to grab somebody's clothing and ask about the use of colour, or to admire the stitch work.  In fact it was positively encouraged.  Of the projects that stood out were Fiona's fair isle sweater (Ravelry link) and Catherine's beautifully colourful cardigan. 

The event opened with Kate Atherley talking about her life as a knitter.  She was born in a local hospital and not Toronto born and bred as I had always thought.  My second favourite part of her talk was her discussion of how people seem afraid to get their knitting wet.  Apparently she has been in classes where she has grabbed people's knitting and stuck it in a glass of water, just to prove that you can get knitting wet, without the universe imploding or similar.  As she quite rightly asked have you seen the places where these sheep live? They're places where it rains.  Apparently Herdyshepherd  has quite good photos to prove this.

My favourite story was on the subject of gauge.  Apparently there are many women in New York who are rich.  One of these women came into a knitting shop complaining that her knitting hadn't worked.  When the shopkeeper asked her if she had made a gauge swatch, she replied that her maid had done it.  Yes, the maid had made the knitting swatch.

Over the course of the weekend I took two classes. The first was with Kate Atherley on sizing and fit.  I will admit, that she was pretty much the reason I went the retreat.  I think this is a separate blog post in itself, but it was a class worth taking, partly for the knitting, partly because I got to draw pictures of boobs and partly because it confirmed some of the things I already sort of knew.

After pizza for dinner (the Northern Quarter has really come up in status since I lived in Manchester), we met back up for a talk on British wool and the raffle. Louise from Knit British talked about British yarn, and how it's packaged and marketed.  Apparently if something is labelled as British, there's no guarantee that it's bred, sheared, spun, dyed or packaged in Britain.  She mentioned the woolsack webpage, which lists British yarns available for sale.  She passed around samples, and the ones which took my fancy were:

Falkland Merino (turquoise), Teeswater (white), and Wensleydale (brown):

Chilla Valley alpaca (brown, top left), Jacob aran (top right, beige) and more Teeswater (bottom, beige)

The raffle prizes were scrumptious (and all won by other people)

Kate  and Karie took over Joeli's Periscope.  

At some point in the evening, I went back to my hotel, properly looked at the goodie bag which we'd been given (which was amazing) and went to bed far too late. 

Sunday started with a class on hap shawl construction (which has three parts), and making our own mini version of the Mahy shawl.  

The class was good fun, with a lot of laughing and some crude comments - which may have come from me.  If you describe lace knitting to me as 'strategically placed holes' what sort of a reaction do you expect?!  There was also discussion about how Japanese people are wild for Shetland lace (it was the only useful book I could find in Tokyo).  I mentioned  this article in Knitty, and why chart knitting therefore is something that transcends linguistic boundaries. 

Somewhere along the line, mine went wrong, so had to be ripped back by a few rows.  Now, I know I'm not the most proficient knitter, but even I could see what was wrong when I put it back on the needles:

I didn't have enough time to complete what we were supposed to complete before the session ended, so I had the good idea of taking the needles out, threading a lifeline in and picking it up when I got home.  Again, spot the problem:

This is what happens when you don't get enough sleep the night before! 

The weekend ended with Kate Hepple talking about how she got involved in Knit Now magazine.  (Basically, she was working for the NHS and was headhunted via Ravelry).  She gave us an overview of the process - call for submissions, deciding which will be featured (only two garments per issue, all the rest are accessories), tech editing and knitting samples, if I remember correctly.  There's a vlog here which explains it.  There was also a great discussion about the models used for knitwear shoots, and the discussion between 'real women' and size six models.  I suspect this is a discussion the knitting community isn't going to solve in isolation.

There was also a swaps table and mini market place.  Should my husband ask, I didn't spend a penny on new yarn.  (I don't think he's noticed the new acquisitions however). 

There is so much more I could have said about the weekend.  It was very strange to be back in Manchester after about fourteen years; I hardly recognised it.  It was brilliant to be among women who were funny, and creative and smart.  And if you want an example of how welcoming the knitting community are, I turned up wearing a shop-bought acrylic sweater, which nobody commented on. 

Because I felt like it

I may have claimed last week that I didn't have any yarn to make another sick day pi shawl.  In actual fact, I did.  Somewhere in the stash were two balls of green worsted weight, two balls of black and three balls of a beige-ish colour - all Brown Sheep Lamb Pride 

Instead of doing another pi shawl, I decided to make a Meema's felted marsupial tote bag, from the book Stitch and Bitch.  Having knit with Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride wool before, I remember it being slightly scratchy and therefore ideal for felting. 

The design is pretty simple; knit a rectangle in garter stitch and then pick up stitches round the edge, and start knitting in the round.  If you've ever started a shawl with a garter tab cast on, it's a similar principle, just with a bigger tab.  I knitted it with 8mm needles, rather than the 10mm needles which were recommended, as A) I'm a loose knitter anyway and B) they were the largest circular needles I own.  I didn't do a gauge swatch and when I measured afterwards, I wasn't too far out.  Slipping the first stitch of each row made it easier to pick up the stitches afterwards. 

After picking up the stitches from round the edge, I had, what I thought was, a clever idea of increasing the stitches to make the bag bigger.  In reality, my bag looked like a hat and the knitting seemed to go on forever.  The stitches were tight, and it wasn't fun to knit.  There are pictures of me with the bag on my head; I'm too vain to post them.


Luckily, I'd kept the base black and the sides green, so when it came to ripping out, it was easy to see what should stay and what should go.  As I was rushing to work on Thursday morning, I couldn't find my darning needles to put in a lifeline - so instead tied a loop on the end of the sock yarn, and used a crochet hook to pull it through.  Whilst I'm still not a fan of the colour pink, it doesn't half look good next to the green and black. 

All of this (and the above photo) was done on the train on the way to work, with a rather sturdy man squashing me up against the window.  He was replaced by a slightly less sturdy man; I'm sure he farted somewhere between Peckham Rye and Denmark Hill. 

Somehow the ripping out and starting again worked.  I am strongly of the opinion that yarn knows how it wants to be knitted.  Once I'd started again, the stitches flowed beautifully, everything was easy to knit and I could see progress.  Quite a lot of progress, actually.  After Friday's journey in to work, a meeting in the evening and the journey home, pretty much all of the green bit was complete.

When adding the black at the top, I nearly made a rookie error, of knitting in the wrong direction.  The pattern was pretty, but the change from one colour to the other felt lumpy when I knit it. 

Next time, I'd like to try this pattern on the outside of the bag

I made one modification; adding a strip across the top for the popper to go on.  Instead of casting off 22 as the pattern said, I cast off 7, knit 8 and cast off 7. The 8 knitted stitches were then put on a stitch holder. When the main body of the bag was complete, I picked up the 8 stitches and knit a garter stitch flap, to sew the popper on to.  The 8 stitches were slipped on to a needle holder and picked up later.

The floppy bag - before felting

I didn't know whether to felt at 60 degrees, or 90 degrees.  Both would work, but I didn't want the bag so small that it couldn't be used.  I went for 60 degrees, shoved into the washing machine along with a pair of jeans.  When it came out, there were a couple of places where I think it would benefit from some hand felting. 

The completed bag, after felting

I also knit the handles in garter stitch, rather than stockingette.  I didn't want the top of the bag to roll over at the top.  The top of the bagbag itself works in garter stitch, the handles possibly don't.  The next time, I would do the handles in stocking stitch, so that it rolls in on itself and makes a thinner handle than the one I have now. 


Would I knit this again ?

Heck yes! 

Why did I like it ?
Simple and pretty quick to knit.  Way of using up yarn, which may be too itchy to wear next to the skin

Why didn't I like it ? 
Nothing I didn't like about the pattern.  Didn't like the uncertainty of knowing which temperature to felt the bag at.

What would I change ?

Possibly make it bigger, and would definitely try felting it at 90 degrees.  Did make an adaptation with the tab for the popper.  I'd also try and do the section at the top in reverse stocking stitch, to get the pattern between the two yarn colours.  I'd also stick to the handles in stockinette stitch. 

The Frances sampler scarf

This came about after going through my stitch dictionary and realising that there were several patterns which could be worked over 35 stitches.  As a learning exercise, I'd recommend it, but as a knitting project there's still a lot I need to learn!

I started by trying to work out which stitches would go best together, have a similar drape etc.  Then I tried to work out the length of yarn needed.  I did this by knitting a set number of rows in garter stitch, measuring the amount of yarn used, and worked out how many rows I could do with the yarn I had. Note - this isn't a method which works!

NB - all photos taken before blocking.

I still have a lot to learn, like the fact that different stitches take up a different breadth of the scarf:

Ooops! 

I started with ribbed border stitch, worked over a two row repeat.  Loved it as a stitch pattern, but it has a clear front and back - which I don't like for scarves.  (I like my scarves to be the same back and front).  The problem was, I couldn't work out which was supposed to be the front, and which was supposed to be the back.  

My least favourite side:

ribbed border stitch

My favourite side:

ribbed border stitch

Close up of the crossed stitch pattern:

ribbed border stitch

I'd probably use this one again, but on a jumper or other piece of clothing.  Not sure it's stretchy enough for a ribbed edging, but it looks pretty and is easy to knit.

Next were the open striped rows, again worked over a two row pattern.

Open striped rows

I think I changed this from a stockingette stitch pattern, to a garter stitch pattern to make the fabric lie flat.  Again, liked the pattern, would use it for a scarf or something similar for future patterns.

After that were the open worked squares, in both stockingette stitch and garter stitch - to stop the scarf rolling up too much.  This was worked over a ten row pattern.  Interestingly, the garter stitch squares were much shorter than the stockingette stitch (which was how the pattern was written).

Open work squares - stockingette at the bottom and top, garter in the middle.

I think the pattern needs to be worked at a tighter gauge than the one I used.  The pattern doesn't work  as well in garter stitch and I wouldn't use it in stockingette stitch for a scarf.  I like the look of the pattern, but am unlikely to use it again, as I don't know where I would use it.

Then came the crossed cardigan stitch

Crossed cardigan stitch

I liked this one - worked over one row, so the same back and front.  It looked like ribs, but wasn't.  It was much thinner across the width of the scarf, so if I were making a scarf with this stitch again, I'd probably need more stitches on the needle.  I'd also use this for sweaters or other clothing. 

Then, my second favourite stitch - eyelet mesh, worked over four rows. 

Eyelet mesh

The only downside is that the front is not the same as the back (one side is flatter than the other), so not one I'd choose for a scarf again.  I don't know about using it for other clothing, as I don't know how much it would stretch after being worn and washed a few times.  No point having a sweater which sags and looks like a tent after knitting, is there?


Then, my favourite, just because I thought it looked so pretty - Turkish stitch.

Turkish stitch

Again, this was worked over one row, with an odd number of stitches: k1 *YO, k2tog - repeat from * to end of row.  The YO K2tog combo felt a bit hard going at times, and didn't do my wrists any favours.  I'm sure there are other variations which could be made: moss stitch border, slip the first stitch rather than knit it, cast on an even number of stitches and knit both the first and last stitches.....

After the above pattern, I then reversed it and went back through eyelet mesh, crossed cardigan stitch, open worked squares, open striped rows etc.  Only, I ended up with this much yarn left for about thirty or so rows.  Now maths isn't my greatest strength, but....

Overall, as an exercise I was glad I did it.  I discovered some stitch patterns which I'd use again, I've discovered that guessing the yarn length needed isn't really the most exact way of doing it.  I almost managed to join in My Sister's Knitter  stash down knitalong, but just flunked the deadline.  I've got a vague idea about how to write a pattern, albeit a scarf pattern.  I'd recommend it to others, and would do it myself again.

Reader, I frogged it.  

Mojo no show

Have you ever had one of those times when the bounce has gone out of your bungee?  When things don't work out the way you want or need them to ?  Because I've been a bit like that.

Firstly there was theatre.  Since finishing my MA in September last year, the last thing I've wanted to do is anything related to the theatre.  The new season at The National Theatre was released; I was only excited by one show.  Admittedly I've seen two of them elsewhere; Waste at The Almeida in London (too long) and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom at The Royal Exchange  in Manchester (would watch again).  But still, for a new season of a well established theatre, two is not a great hit rate. 

Then, there's the knitting.  It was sort of chuntering along, sometimes going right - often going wrong.  I think the number of times I ripped it back and started again was somewhere in double figures.  It was almost as if the yarn didn't want to be knitted into that particular pattern.  I don't know how many times I'd ripped back to start again, but it was somewhere in the double figures.  It always seemed to be somewhere between 100 and 200 stitches, which is a lot to start again.  Yes, I did try tinking it back, but have you ever tried to tink back a YO k2tog?  It's not something you do to keep you sane!

So I made a silent agreement with the yarn.  I'd find something else to knit it into, if it didn't mind me finding another yarn to do the current project with, and we seem to have come to an agreement.  So what started off as this:

Has now ended up as this...

(scraps for a scrap sock yarn blanket) 

...and has now been re-started as this:

I'm now somewhere well over 200 stitches which is the best indication that this yarn wants to be knitted into this project, which makes me indescribably happy.  

Last weekend, I went back to Sheffield, to see Blasted at Sheffield Theatres.  As I was walking in to the auditorium there was a moment when I got that tingle down my spine, when I remembered why I loved theatre and gave up two years of my life to study it.  At the end of the play, I remembered what amazing theatre feels like.  It gave me sparks of joy, which is what I'm going to call the neon project, which I want to wear when I go back next month.

This week's challenges...

In the grand plan of de-stashing (or as I like to call it, yarnmaggedon), I’ve cast on a something in a sock yarn.  I think it’s going to end up as a shawl/scarf type thing, but whichever it is, it’ll be colourful.  It’s based on the Gallatin scarf pattern (Ravelry link), just without the rows of stockingette and reverse stockingette.  I may do ribs when it gets to near the end.  By that point, I may well have given up the ghost and do something else instead.  I really don’t want to think about how many stitches I’ll be casting off, or even which cast off I’m going to have to do or how much yarn it’s going to take when I get there.

Anyway, head down in my 2.25mms and yarn on the train this week, I realised that I was at the antepenultimate station to home, just as I’d started the next row.  Looking down, my first thought was ‘how many stitches’ (124, as it turned out), closely followed by ‘how am I going to get this done before I get home’.  

The penultimate station home, and I was only a third of the way through the row (or at least it felt that way).  So I put my head down and sprinted – or whatever the knitting equivalent is.  Luckily with that many stitches, it was easy to get into a rhythm; YO, k2tog, k2 etc.   (It’s a pretty basic pattern.  I don’t need to insult anyone’s intelligence by repeating it).

Everything was going well until I had to pull out more yarn, just as we were coming in to the station.  Had it not been for that, I would have got to the end of the row before getting to the end of the train journey.  Every Olympian knows the ‘if only’ and that was mine.  If only I’d had enough loose yarn to get to the end without having to give a yank.  If it wasn’t for that delay, I would have completed and arrived on the platform triumphant.

When we finally got to the station, I left the train with bag over my shoulder, coat in one hand, knitting in the other.  There were a grand total of eight stitches on the needle; so near and yet so far.

(dramatic reconstruction) 

It's perfectly normal to be the last person off the platform, because you've just got the last of the row to complete - right ?

The following day, I was knitting at work, explaining how easy the pattern is about ten seconds before realising I was out by a stitch.  One.  Freaking.  Stitch.

Husband had a look at it, as, in his words: "I'm anal about numbers".

He found where he thought the problem was and I tried to tink back the row...

Only somehow the yarn got tangled at the end of a row, I dropped a stitch and it all went a bit Orange Juice; I had to rip it up and start again.  I'm trying to convince myself that it's all a learning process, and at least now I have fewer stitches on the needles, knitting between train stations is a lot easier.

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.