I Knit Therefore I Am

I'm a bad, bad blogger

2005-04-29T10:59:00.000+01:00

How is it possible that I haven't had anything to say about knitting for over 3 weeks? *blushes*

And now I come to you without pictures. I am truly the crappest knitblogger in the universe. Ah well - all I can say is get used to it. My RL friends have and they have had to put up with this sort of unreliability for many a long year now, poor souls :)

Anyway, other than bemoaning my crapness what do I actually have to say about knitting?

1. Tempting is nearly finished. Again. Sizing is looking much better this time out but once again I am dithering over the shoulder shaping. I think I need to take her off the needles and try it on before I make my decision. But hopefully there should be pictures of her in all her glory sometime next week.

2. I just sent off 7 hats to the Dulaan Project. If you don't know about this one, check out Ryan's blog over at Mossy Cottage Knits. Heck, even if you do know about it check out her blog anyway because she has posted some really powerful pictures of the kids this project has been set up to help. I promise it will inspire you to get out your needles and make something really warm to send them.

3. My SP4 has a sense of humour. At least that's what I hope it is. After a little post office related confusion I received an April Fool's parcel from her this week, focussing on my deep suspicion of crochet. It contained (and I quote) "yarn so cheap that it doesn't matter if you make a mistake" (Acrylic. Pink. Dayglo. Need I say more?) and the most frightening pattern book I have ever seen in my born days. Really there is some stuff in there that my granny wouldn't crochet and let me tell you, that is saying something. I am particularly drawn to the crocheted tie. I wonder if I made it for my dad for his birthday if I could then persuade him to wear it? There will definitely be pictures of this wonder of publishing once I get my arse in gear. It is far too good not to share with y'all.

So anyway that's it for now. Look forward to a return to more frequent blogging in the near future :)

OMG, I feel like jumping out of my bath and running down the street naked!

2005-04-04T13:17:00.000+01:00

Today I have had a true Eureka moment.

Since I last wrote I have been fretting about my Tempting disaster. Yes, my weight loss will account for some of the difference in sizing, but surely not the handfuls of spare fabric that I was left with when I tried it on last night? And given that the next thing I want to knit is the Shapely Tank from White Lies it seemed to me that it would be worth doing a bit of research to crack my seeming inability to get a fitted sweater to actually, you know, fit me.

So I did a bit more Googling, read lots of knitblogs, and came across a vital piece of advice from the Shapely Tank KAL. Apparently most knitting and sewing patterns are sized for a B cup. So if your boobs are more on the ample side cupwise rather than measuring around your full bust to determine what size to make you should measure higher up - basically under your armpits. Then you deal with the extra boobage either through the use of short rows a la Shapely Tank or via the inherent nature of the fabric a la Tempting.

It's so simple when you think about it I really can't believe I hadn't worked it out before. Now me & my 34D's can return to the Tempting fray with confidence that I might actually be able to get some wear out of the finished product.

*dances the happy dance of a better educated knitter*

Well, there's good news, a bit more good news and then bad news

2005-04-04T00:28:00.000+01:00

First the good news. While I was away on holiday I received a fantastic Easter surprise from my Secret Pal 4. She has really been doing her homework because when I opened it I was over the moon. My favourite colour and useful for my other crafty activities too. Here it is - a purple variety bag from Texere. I love, love, love it - thanks Peep!

Thanks Secret Pal!

Second the other good news. I finished Tempting!

But I'm not going to post a picture of it because of the bad news.

It is VAST! And by vast I mean unwearably 100% frogging required VAST. I have hidden it away in my knitting bag for the moment but I think the unravelling starts tomorrow. Although the silver lining in this very dark cloud is that allowing for the vastness I think when it is the right size it will look really good so I think once I am over the dissapointment I will be raring to knit it again. Plus I have also realised that I think I am going to need to add some shoulder shaping to keep the thing up due to my 34D chest *blushes*.

So what have I learnt from this debacle? Two things, I think:

* Firstly, make allowances in the sizing if you are in the middle of losing weight while you are knitting a project. Doh!

* Second, read other people's knitblogs before you start. If I'd just done a quick Google I'd have found out about the general vastness of the pattern and the requirement for the chestier among us to add shoulder shaping. There's plenty of comments on it, if only I'd bothered to read them. Double doh!

Anyway, you live and learn I suppose. And I'm still hoping for a sexy sweater at the end of this process. At least it shouldn't take so long to knit this time, seeing as I am planning to go down by 2.5 sizes.

Leavin' on a jet plane

2005-03-21T20:41:00.000Z

Life is crazy. Still knitting but very little time to blog about it at the moment. This will pass I know but it is a bit frustrating.

However, on the positive front I am now going to be away travelling for a couple of weeks so don't worry if it all goes quiet for a bit. I promise lots of pics of sun-kissed knitting when I get back (subject of course to the vagaries of blogger and hello).

See y'all later :)

2005-03-17T00:14:00.000Z

Dulaan hats

Heathland is finished

Look at my lovely lace!

What's this going to be then?

And the answer is .... 6

2005-03-11T23:50:00.000Z

The question being how many hats can I knit in an obsessive fashion one after the other for the Dulaan Project before I cast on something else, of course. And here they are:

Dulaan hats

They're quite good, aren't they? I've really enjoyed making them actually. Lots of scope for using up bits and pieces from my stash, plus the fact that I discovered the wonder that is twisted rib when making the white, yellow and brown one on the right hand side of the picture. Seriously, I don't think I'm going to use normal rib ever again. Apart from the project below of course, but more of that later. I'm going to make a few more things and then send them off to F.I.R.E all together. I might make something other than hats I think, because looking at Ryan's blog there are quite a few of those already out there. I think perhaps the Mongolians will need to keep more than their heads warm.

In other news, here is my finished Heathland shawl. She's turned out OK, don't you think? I bow before the power of blocking.

Heathland is finished

And just because I am so amazed at the transformation blocking has caused, here's another gratuitous shots of the lace detail.

Look at my lovely lace!

Heathland will be making her debut 1 week from today as a stylish addition to my concert ensemble, keeping my shoulders warm when I'm not on stage singing. I think she'll be perfect for that.

So now that the lace is done, what am I knitting at the moment? Here's a picture of my progress to date - see if you can guess. Just in case you need a clue, it's a sweater of sorts and I'm knitting it for myself.

What's this going to be then?

Answers on a postcard. Or maybe just in the comments :)

ETA - Waah! Hello & / or Blogger seem to be malfunctioning. I'm going to leave this for a little while and then repost it if the pictures are still not showing up.

ETA II - Blogger appears to be officially cracked out. The only way I can get pictures to appear at the moment is to post them straight from Hello and then not edit the post so that's what I've done. The pics for this post are in the one above, if you see what I mean. I do hope this goes away soon :/

It's all hats, all of the time (apart from the blocking, that is)

2005-03-02T23:36:00.000Z

So this weekend I had a pretty self indulgent time on the knitting front. It started off well with me knitting my first ever hat in honour of the Dulaan project (click the button on the sidebar for more info). Here is is being blocked using my patent "upside down pudding basin on top of an upside down pint glass" methodology. I used one of the patterns Ryan suggests on the Dulaan site, and the remnants of the Noro Kureyon left over from when I made Rosedale. Nice, don't you think?

My first Dulaan FO

And can I just say that hats are a revelation in terms of speed and knitting satisfaction. That one only took me an evening to produce! All that time before Christmas that I spend slaving away over the sock needles when I could have been effortlessly churning out hats for all and sundry! I know what everyone is getting next year.

Of course, the only trouble with woolly hats is that I would never wear one myself as they unfailingly make me look like an escapee from some kind of sheltered accommodation. I don't really do hats unless they are the vast brimmed variety a la Kristen Scott Thomas in Four Weddings and a Funeral. But never mind - I know lots of people who would look great in them when it comes round to Christmas, and hopefully the Mongolians will be glad of a few. Because once I'd finished that one I felt inspired to rummage around in my stash for any other suitable oddments to be transformed into Dulaan items.

And look what I found:

Look what I found in my stash - where did all that come from?

I see more hats in my future. In fact the bright red & custard yellow yarn has already been transformed into a rather cute slipstitch number and I am currently working the brown and cream into a twisted rib hat pattern. Pics after the weekend when they will be blocked and respectable. The lavender Kid Classic on the left of the shot is destined to become Coronet I think. I wonder how many hats I can knit before I get sick of them?

So what else was included in my self indulgent knitting weekend? Well, firstly I must say a big thankyou to Emma for a) giving me some sensible advice on how to block lace and b) reminding me that Heathland was going to stretch a lot when I blocked it. I had forgotten that little point and was planning on a lot more knitting, but decided to stop and block instead, which was a jolly good job as the thing took up the whole of the spare bed for blocking purposes as it was. Any longer and we'd have been in serious trouble.

Anyway, here is my very first attempt at lace blocking in action:

Blocking 101 - stage 1

(I hope y'all are noticing the handknit socks there.) Yes, I have just soaked my lovely feather & fan work in tepid water, wrapped it and in a towel and stood on it to squeeze the excess water out of it. And what of it?

Here are the results of that particular tender mercy:

Blocking 101 - stage 2 (eek!)

I have to admit I was panicking a leetle bit at this stage. Once again I remembered Stephanie's mantra that "all lace looks like crap until you block it" and boldly pressed on, armed only with 2 boxes of glass headed pins.

Here it is before the official pinning out ceremony.

Blocking 101 stage 3 (phew)

There was an "after" picture but unfortunately it turned out rather fuzzy, so you'll have to settle for this closeup of the stitch pattern instead.

Now that looks like better stitch definition to me

I am feeling distinctly less meh about Heathland now :) RLBF is destined to be sadly dissappointed.

Two posts in three days?!

2005-02-24T23:53:00.000Z

What is the world coming to?

But I seem to recall promising you pictures of my lace and Secret Pal related loot, and I thought I'd shock you by doing what I said I was going to do for once. It's all fun, fun, fun round here :)

Anyway, my Feather & Fan lace has grown rather a lot since you last saw it. Here it is, stretched out on my lounge floor with a ball of yarn carefully positioned to give you an idea of scale.

Lots and lots of lace

This project has actually grown on me quite a lot in the making. Now there's more of it I feel a lot happier about how it's going to turn out and I am beginning to love the colour scheme (for which I'd look at my previous post but one if I were you - this is not a great colour reproduction). RLBF's mum has christened it the Heathland Shawl as it reminds her of the Scottish Highlands. This seems highly appropriate to me when you look at it closely - there's all kinds of green in there, together with some subtle purples, blues and yellows which evoke that part of the world extremely well. RLBF kindly offered to adopt Heathland should I decide that I still felt 'meh' about it when it was finished. Unluckily for her I think she is going to be dissapointed :) I look forward to a giant adventure in blocking some time over the weekend, which could be fun as I've never blocked anything quite this large before. I'm thinking that I need to invest in a load more dressmaking pins. And do you think it'll need a full-dunking wet block or will I be able to get away with a quick spritz? Decisions, decisions.

So what else have I got to show you? Well, finally here is a picture of the yarn part of my first SP4 gift. Thanks Peep!

Yay for my Secret Pal :)

Note the mohair in delicious Atropos-ish colours on the left and the tempting experimental R2 on the right. Fabulous, I thought. And you could also note the basket they're sitting in if you like, because I made it myself on a course I went on over last weekend. It's a little eccentric in its shaping but I'm rather proud of it nonetheless. Go me!

Speaking of Secret Pals I received another small gift from mine earlier in the week. It's a handy pocket torch come calendar thingy that I plan to keep in my handbag for those difficult moments when I'm wrestling with my keys in the dark. And I started plotting my next parcel to the knitter whose Secret Pal I am. This whole thing is turning out to be a lot of fun.

Finally, here are two recent additions to the stash. I really shouldn't have bought either of them I suppose, but hey, if it wasn't full of yarn that I wasn't going to knit for some fair old time it wouldn't be worthy of the term 'stash' now, would it?

Anyway, first up is a Colinette throw kit in glorious shades of red, which will match the bedroom decor in Norfolk perfectly.

Stash enhancement - blame Theresa

Now I'm afraid this purchase can be entirely blamed on Theresa over at The Keyboard Biologist, as that was where I read that these kits are due to be discontinued in the UK. The word "Why?" springs to mind given how popular they seem to be in the knitblog community, but still. I just hope I don't love this so much once I've knitted it that I wish I had invested in one for the spare bedroom too - a distinct possibility looking at the yumminess of the yarn that's included in the kit. I haven't even dared open the plastic bag yet, for fear of distraction. Perhaps I'll find a spare couple of hours some time over the weekend :)

My final loot is this from the nice people at The Yarn Warehouse. It's a Weasley jumper kit to knit up for my 2 year old nephew. I can't wait to get cracking on this one as my sister in law is a big HP fan too, so I'm quite sure she'll get the reference. One of the best things about this purchase was the price though. £10 for the lot! Quite a bargain, I thought.

O Lordy - it's a Weasley jumper in the making.

There was a lot that I wanted to say about the trendiness or otherwise of knitting as a hobby in the UK but it's late here and I'm starting to type funny. Maybe next time when I'm not falling asleep at the computer. Sleep well everyone.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions

2005-02-22T01:12:00.000Z

Yeah, I know. I said I'd do another post last week. And now it's this week. Where does the time go? I think it's something to do with all those evenings spent wrestling with two pointy sticks and a ball of string rather than diligently blogging about it :)

Anyway, last time I posted I promised you a guest knitter of the week. And here she is. May I present my mother-in-law, knitter extraordinaire, modelling her very own version of Rosedale.

Rosedale MIL style

Nice, ney? MIL has been knitting for a long, long time and can leave me for dust in the stitches per minute stakes. She also likes to strike out from the pattern and do her own thing, a trait that she also evidences in her cookery. Hence puddings that are described as apple crumble but actually have oranges in them. But I digress. Anyway, MIL's Rosedale has been knit from a load of wool that I brought her back from a trip that Mr A & I made in summer 2003. We went to the Orknies, Shetland, Iceland and the Faroes, and MIL was presented with wool from every location on our return. All different weights of course, and certainly not chosen in contemplation of including them in the same project, but hasn't it come out great?

Here's another shot of it.

More Rosedale

Of course sometimes MIL's knitting experience is humbling to behold. But she does make mistakes like us lesser mortals. Like when she joined the second sleeve of her Rosedale in the centre of the back, but don't tell her I told you about that one :)

Here is another of her projects. This is here version of Clapotis, knit with Axelle's alpaca in the Waterlilies shade. Yet another victory for both yarn and pattern I think:

Clapotis encore

The more times I see Clapotis being made up, the more I like it. I think I may have to knit one for my mum now to stop her getting sartorial envy.

So what is going on in my own knitting at the moment. Well, the eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that despite me proclaiming that I am not a joiner a couple of posts ago there is a new button in my sidebar for the Dulaan Project, run by Ryan over at Mossy Cottage Knits. Check it out. You can knit pretty much anything you fancy (provided it's warn of course) and you get to send it to Mongolian children to protect them against winter temperatures in the -40's in Ulaan Batar. Plus the receiving charity has expressed some scepticism that they will be donated even 500 garments as a result of Ryan's efforts. Bah!. They have clearly never met a determined group of knitters before. They better be bracing themselves for the onslaught, that's all I can say.

I do not yet have anything on the needles for this project as I am in London, my stash is in Norfolk and the twain have not met for nearly 2 weeks now. But I've got my eye on Coronet from knitty, and maybe a couple of scarves. We shall see.

In terms of actual knitting - knitting I am still ploughing on with the Feather and Fan lace. It is now enormously long, but because the scarf is also quite wide I feel it still needs to be longer. So I'm knitting onwards. Heaven alone knows where I'm going to block the thing, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Pics later in the week (yeah, yeah) when I finally manage to get home in the hours of daylight. Also Secret Pal loot pictures - I promise. You really need to see the mohair.

The internet gods are temporarily placated

2005-02-14T22:41:00.000Z

Which means I can post some of the pictures I have diligently been taking for the last two weeks. Yay!

So, here are a couple of action shots from the Norfolk knit-in of last weekend. This is RLBF's niece concentrating hard on her Tamagotchi bag. I hope you note that she is wearing a particularly fetching poncho :)

Knit in - RLBF's niece

And this is niece's BF approximately 20 minutes after I taught her to cast on. Go girls!

Knit in - Niece's BF

So what else have I got to show you? Well, Mr A's Dennis the Menace socks are finished for a start.

Dennis the Menace is done

He seems pleased, which is a good thing. Given that I basically made these up based on a number of sock patterns that I have known and a few quick measurements of his (enormous) feet I am pretty pleased with the fit too although they are definitely slightly too baggy in the leg. More calf shaping and casting on fewer stitches will improve the fit next time out.

And what else has been going on with my knitting since we last spoke? Didn't I say that I was planning on finishing my Colinette jumper this weekend? Which would have been totally logical due to various portability issues and my desire to actually wear the thing. Sadly the knitting urge does not appear to reside in the logical part of my brain. So despite having carted a huge bag stuffed full of Point 5 and various finished parts of jumper halfway across the country I studiously ignored it all weekend and knitted this instead:

Feather & Fan Lace

Yes, it's another scarf. Yes, this is supposed to be my 'carry backwards and forwards to work' portable project. I can't explain it either. I wouldn't bother trying if I were you.

Anyway, this is my first attempt at lace and I'm feeling a little bit 'meh' about it so far but have decided to have the courage of my convictions and persevere. Here's a closeup so you can see what you think.

Feather & Fan closeup

I'm not wildly happy with the stitch definition and the way the pattern is reflected in the fabric, if you see what I mean. But I am taking heart from the Yarn Harlot's recent post where she said that that all lace looks like crap until it's been blocked and am hoping for a minor miracle at the finishing stage. How susceptible 100% rayon yarn is going to be to the blocking process is something that I am studiously avoiding thinking about at this moment in time.

Anyway, internet permitting I have plenty more pictures to share with you later this week, including my Secret Pal loot (thanks SP!) and the work of my guest knitter of the week, namely my mother in law. Watch this space!

The Internet hates me

2005-02-09T09:54:00.000Z

No, seriously. It does.

Why have I reached this conclusion? Well once again I have many exciting knitting related things to blog about and loads of really cool pictures to share with you. And once again I can't post them. This time it's to do with the complete meltdown of my home internet connection for reasons I will not bore you with. Mr A assures me he is "sorting it out". How long this will take is in the lap of the gods. Mr A is not known for his prompt action even in a crisis. I would sort it out by signing up with another provider, but from past experience know that this will cause far more trouble than it's worth in the end as whoever I choose will be All Wrong for reasons unspecified. So, I wait for proper service to be restored and in the meantime make sneaky picture-free posts from my computer at work.

Sigh.

Anyway, even without pictures I must say thank you, thank you, THANK YOU to my secret pal. I received a huge parcel from her yesterday with lots of goodies inside, which I promise to show you eventually as they are very cool. They included 2 balls of Rowan R2 which I have been eyeing up in the shops for some time now, some extremely funky mohair that has sent my creative side off into pattern searching overdrive, some yummy looking Japanese style peanuts and a book by a guy called Danny Wallace who started a movement that undertakes random acts of kindness. My secret pal attached a note to the front saying that she thought the book was appropriate under the circumstances. What she may not know is that it's really very appropriate as it became clear to me after reading about 2 pages that the author lives in the same apartment block as I do. It's a small world, neh?

The weekend knit-in that I mentioned in my last post went off without a hitch. The girls decided to knit Tamagotchi bags, which was a great idea actually as they were small enough for them to make a reasonable amount of progress in an afternoon. For those of you in blessed ignorance of Tamagotchis they are little electronic pets that beep a lot and need to be fed and played with to prevent them "dying", which seems to me like a fairly traumatic item to give a nine year old girl but nonetheless they seem to love them. They can also "talk" to each other and give each other presents. Apparently there are lots of options for Tamagotchi gift giving but the two that cam over at the weekend restricted themselves to giving each other cake and lumps of poo. Really. Again, the girls seemed to like it. I clearly have no idea how the nine year old female brain works.

Anywho, we had a lovely afternoon all stitching away and I was most delighted by the shouts of "Oh please, just one row more" when RLBF announced she had to take them home. Of course I made a point to get pictures. Including one of RLBF knitting a fiendishly complicated sock from a chart that gave me the hives just looking at it. I will post them eventually. *eyeroll*

Finally I seem to have ground to a slight halt on my Colinette jumper as it is really not very portable due to the freakishly large size of the needles required. I'm going to try and focus on it this weekend as I would really like to be wearing it rather than staring at 90% of it in pieces on my needles. To distract myself from the unportable nature of this project I have started a Feather and Fan shawl in some Interlacements Rick Rack that I bought at Stitches East. More on that in my next post. Suffice to say that one skein of this stuff is 1100 yards worth of yarn. Want to know how long it took me to wind that into balls? 4 hours. Without any significant tangling I might add. I need a swift.

Guess what? More SOX!

2005-02-03T23:52:00.000Z

So, remember that I said I was going to knit Dennis the Menace socks for Mr A now that I have finished Clapotis? Well here is my progress to date:

Dennis the Menace progress

Not bad, eh? I am quite pleased with these as I have essentially made up the pattern and Mr A has tried the finished one on and it seems to fit fine. If anything it is a little loose in the leg, which I think is because this is my first time out for socks with DK yarn rather than a finer gauge. Next time I shall cast on slightly less stitches.

Other than that, the jogless jog that BDC recommended is working like a charm (thanks, BDC!) , calf shaping turned out to be utterly simple and my first afterthought heel passed without incident. I quite like it as an alternative for more rufty tufty socks actually - it has none of the holing issues that you can get with the short row heel and it has a good rugged feel about it. A useful thing to add to the sock repertoire I feel.

And how is Mr A feeling about his socks to date? He has pronounced himself "quite pleased" which from him is high praise indeed. But he is getting a bit impatient as progress has slowed rather over the last couple of days. "And why is that, Atropos?" I hear you ask.

Well, I may have accidently wandered over to Colinette's new online store and had a little splurge on this. Nice, don't you think? I am completely new to Colinette's yarns and have to say that I really like the thick/thin texture of Point 5 but I was initially a little alarmed by the colour that my selection turned out to be. I ordered the Gaugin colourway, so exactly the shade you see on the model in the picture, and it is really quite a bit brighter in real life than it is in the pictures. I was initially concerned that it would turn out to be just too green for me, bit having finished the back and lived with it for a while I think we'll be fine. What do you think?

I may have got a little sidetracked....

And here's a close up of the fabric Point 5 produces.

Point 5 close up

I do love the textural effect that is produced by the varying thicknesses of the yarn, don't you? And another big plus in Point 5's favour is that you knit it on 12mm needles so the thing grows at the speed of light. I feel a bit like I've landed in Brobdignag when I'm knitting it though - 12 mm needles are BIG!

Anyway, it knits up so quickly that I think I might even get the whole jumper finished off over the weekend. RLBF is coming over with her niece (she of the Liberty poncho) and niece's BF and we are going to have a knit out. Niece & niece's BF are keen to move on from lumpy garter stitch scarves but are still not exactly experts in the craft. Does anyone have any suggestions for quick and easy projects that RLBF & I might be able to interest them in?

Secret Pals 4

2005-01-28T16:05:00.000Z

Well, I've signed up for Secret Pals 4 in a fit of enthusiasm and excitement. I'm not a natural 'joiner' but I thought that given my recent post about the generosity of spirit of the knitting community, the least I could do would be to help share the love, right? So here are my answers to the Secret Pal questionnaire - good luck Secret Pal, wherever you are! Here's hoping that the following is of some use to you.

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer high- end/natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?

I would love the answer to this question to be no. But sadly it is yes. I have tried knitting with the British equivalent of Red Heart. It's fine for knitting for kids and little fun projects. But I would never choose it for something for myself. Sorry.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?

Nope. I have one crochet hook that I regard with deep suspicion and use solely for fringing the many scarves that I currently seem to be fixated with. I do feel that I should teach myself how to do it sometime though. Spinning doesn't interest me at all for some reason. I think it's because knitting for me is more product than process.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)

Not allergic per se, but am a fairly rabid non-smoker and don't particularly like overpowering smells of any nature. Other than that, bring it on.

4. How long have you been knitting?

I learned how to knit when I was about 6 I think. I had a fairly serious spate of it in my early teens which involved producing pastel baby cardigans for various infants of my acquaintance but I only picked my needles back up in earnest about 18 months ago.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
I do, but it's full of really obscure things so I'm not going to link it here :)

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)
I'm not wild about things that smell for no good reason, if you see what I mean. Or things with obviously artificial smells. But I like natural scents like citrus and lavender. And I have some vanilla L'Occitaine bubble bath that makes me smell of cake that I am particularly fond of.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?

Nope. I am the queen of savoury. Give me something like cheese or olives over chocolate any day of the week.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?
I am fairly proficient at needlepoint, although that is a bit on the back burner at the moment. I am also a keen amateur photographer and I write when I can find the time to do so. My main creative outlet other than knitting is music though. I sing in a choir and am trying to get to do more concerts with other groups because I love it so much.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

I can certainly manage MP3's because I have a husband who is a techno geek. In terms of what I like, my tastes are pretty eclectic. A good slab of English folk & roots music, combined with a certain amount of 'world' stuff, plenty of classical, some classic jazz and a varied selection of rock and pop probably covers it. I currently have Rufus Wainwright, Keane, Franz Ferdinand, Eliza Carthy, Dinah Shore, U2, Julie Lee, Union Station, Mozart's C Minor Mass and Appalachian Spring sat in a pile on top of my CD player if that's any help.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer?

I naturally gravitate towards autumn colours - chocolate brown, slubby greens, all kinds of purple, bluey greys, that kind of thing. Red makes me look like death warmed up so I actively avoid it. As does really bright blue. I have very pale skin.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

It's just me & my husband of 10 years, Mr A. No pets as we currently commute between 2 houses.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)

To use my working life to advance things that I believe to be true and important, and other than that to follow my bliss (as they say).

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?

I have a bit of a thing about Koigu. I also like Noro Silk Garden and Debbie Bliss's Alpaca Silk and Maya. Told you I was a yarn snob.

14. What fibres do you absolutely *not* like?

Not an acrylic fan. Also yet to conceive of a good purpose for chenille or eyelash yarn but I guess I could be persuaded.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?

Socks and scarves. I only learnt how to knit socks about 6 months ago so it still seems like a minor miracle that I can actually knit around a corner. Scarves & I just like each other. What can I say?

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

My favourite patterns in the last 12 months (ie ones I would consider knitting again) were Rosedale & Clapotis, both from the knitty archives.

17. What are you knitting right now?

Red & black stripy socks for my husband to a pattern that I am making up as I go along and the Glenora throw in Mission Falls. Click the link on my sidebar if you want to see my progress on that one. I should have finished it really but i have currently misplaced the pattern in my recent move. Doh!

18. What do you think about ponchos?

I have nothing against them per se. However I do not believe that they are fundamentally suited to people of my body type, ie fairly voluptuous and curvy. It's something to do with having that huge point hovering over the backside I think.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?

Circs. Every time.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

To be honest I'm not that fussed. Although I haven't really tried our bamboo needles properly so maybe they are a revelation waiting to happen.

21. Are you a sock knitter?

Yep. Definitely.

22. How did you learn to knit?

My mum taught me. Thanks, mum!

23. How old is your oldest UFO?

About 6 months I think. I only have 2 that I haven't been knitting regularly for a while and one of those is the Glenora Throw where I've misplaced the pattern - I don't think that's too bad, is it?

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?

What a strange question. Not sure that I have a particularly strong preference in either category to be honest.

25. What is your favorite holiday?

I like Christmas Eve. I love the sense of waiting and preparation for the next day.

26. Is there anything that you collect?

Nope. Have been making a serious effort to declutter over the last few years so collections are definitely not on the agenda.

Wonders will never cease!

2005-01-26T23:33:00.000Z

It's a miracle! My camera, laptop and I are on speaking terms again. This makes me very happy. Better yet I managed to persuade Mr A to take some new pictures to replace the blue tinted ones I posted about on Monday so you get to see not only my FO's but also me with my head cut off. How lucky you are.

So, without further ado I present my very own version of Clapotis.

Clapotis complet

Isn't she lovely? And versatile too.

Is it a scarf? Is it a wrap?

I have to say that I love pretty much everything about this scarf. I love how soft and snuggly it is. I love the fact that I can wear it either around my neck or round my shoulders. I love how warm it keeps me. And I love, love, love the colour combinations. Want a closer look?

It's me in yarn form :)

I used almost 3 skeins of Axelle's wonderful sport weight cashmere in this project, and modified the pattern to add two extra repeats in the straight section of the scarf making her a little longer than the original. I had plenty of yarn to do this. In fact it's possible that I might have enough yarn left over to have added another repeat but I think it would have been a close run thing. And what colourway did I use? Why,Atropos of course! What other choice could there be?

For my second FO I present ... wait for it .... another SCARF. I don't know why any of you are surprised at that. I have confessed my scarf problem on these pages before and I am learning to live with it. Of course, having scarves like these does help.

Debbie Bliss Maya ribbed scarf

So this is a basic K3 P3 rib scarf in Debbie Bliss Maya picked up on whim on one of my visits to John Lewis. This is another yarn that I absolutely love. The colours are fantastic (a bit more plums and reds than you see here - I think my camera was struggling with the colour reproduction) and it's unbelievably snuggly even though it's 100% wool. It's apparently made by the same people that make Manos. To which all I can say is that I need to get myself some Manos. Lots of it. And soon, too. Will have to do some research and find somewhere that is prepared to ship it to me.

Anyway, getting back to the FO, I used 4 skeins to make this project, including using a good part of the last one to make a fringe. This makes for a long scarf, as you can see from the first picture. I would guess one that's about 6 feet long in total although I haven't measured it. I can certainly wrap it twice around my neck to keep the cold out. And have I mentioned the fringe? I'm really proud of that:

Classy looking fringe

As you can see I've included pieces of satin ribbon in the fringe, blatently ripping off the idea from a shop bought scarf that my brother's girl friend was wearing at Christmas. I think it works well, don't you? I like the contrast of the textures and it also adds a little weight to the fringe, making the scarf hang nicely. The only slightly sour note in the whole process was discovering that you can't buy satin ribbon by the metre in John Lewis's any more. Nope - it all comes prewrapped on rolls of 5 or 10 metres. WTF? I have to say I think that's a move in the wrong direction. I see a new ribbon supplier in my future.

Anyway, I leave you with a gratuitous close up of the ribbing. Ta da!

Yummy yarn

Random knitting thoughts of the week ... but sadly no pictures

2005-01-24T23:29:00.000Z

Yes, I know. No pictures. Again. This time it's to do with a software issue and the fact that I can't go grovelling under my desk to connect my laptop to our dialup line without waking Mr A. As usual the story is far too long to bore y'all with.

It's not that I don't have pictures. I do. Both of a finished Clapotis and my own version of a long ribbed scarf in Debbie Bliss Maya. The fact that they all have a rather strange blue tint to them is neither here nor there. I will either take new ones or I will post the blue-ish ones and be damned later this week. For now you will have to content yourself with a selection of random knitting thoughts and observations that have been rattling around in my mind since I last posted.

* Firstly, my Jordana Paige knitting bag turns out to have been worth every last penny. I am so pleased with it. I bought the black one so that it would go with anything, and it has been to work with me every day since it turned up. It has just enough room for my day to day bits and bobs in one side, and plenty of room for my knitting in the other. My favourite bits about it are the fact that it has a really sturdy base with little feet so that it stands square on the floor and you can knit straight out of it (if you see what I mean) and it also has a little yarn feed loop in the knitting compartment so that you can pull yarn straight out of the bag without getting it in a tangle. I really love it, and it does make me feel just a little bit like a kick-ass corporate financier knitting chick :)

* Second, I learnt a valuable lesson in felting this Christmas, namely to turn down the temperature on the washing machine after you have finished for fear of inadvertantly washing a load of non colour fast clothing at 95 degrees. Doh! Luckily for me most of the things in the unfortunate pile of washing belonged to me rather than Mr A. I don't mind going out and replacing half my underwear because it has been dyed a fetching shade of grey but I'd rather not listen to a lecture on washing machine operation at the same time :)

* Third, have you noticed how knitting exerts an irresistable pull over non-knitters of all kinds? I did quite a lot of knitting on trains during the Christmas break and someone talked to me about what I was doing on every single trip. Anyone who has travelled on British trains will know how strange an occurance this is. Normally you could canter naked through the buffet car and noone would bat an eyelid, but get two sticks and some yarn out and suddenly everyone wants to talk to you. Luckily 99% of those folk have been very nice people. There was the slightly creepy drunk man who offered to hold my skein for me while I wound it into a ball but I managed to deter him by repeated polite refusal. What is it with drunk people and trains? I don't know.

The other aspect of the draw of knitting seems to be that as soon as you get it out of your bag someone totally unexpected decides that they want to learn how to do it too. We had a load of friends to stay with us in Norfolk over Christmas, including 2 other knitters. The click of the needles must have done the trick as one of the non-knitters has now seen the light and started on a jumper for the baby she is expecting in July. And remember the 10 year old recipient of the Liberty poncho? Not only has she learnt how to knit but she has taught her best friend how to do it too and they are happily knitting lumpy garter stitch scarves together :)

I love this craft. There's really nothing better than spreading the word to the next generation either.

So what's next on the needles for me now that Clapotis is finished? Some Dennis the Menace socks for Mr A. Sadly I have not been able to elicit from him exactly what he means by that request. I was hoping for some guidance on length and thickness of stripes but all I got was "you know .... Dennis the Menace socks". Being none the wiser I have hunted out some black and red superwash yarn and am preparing to cast on and knit them freestyle. I am currently fretting about calf shaping and how to eliminate the inevitable joggle at the colour changes. I know full well that Mr A is never going to notice either of those things, but I will. Any advice on how to deal with either topic gratefully received :)

Finally technology smiles on the inept

2005-01-17T23:32:00.000Z

At last all the bits I need to communicate with you all in pictures are in the same place at the same time. I do believe there are herds of pigs flying past my window as we speak. But before they circle round for their next pass let me share some pictures of my Christmas knitting with you.

Firstly, the Vine Lace socks that I gave my MIL:

Vine Lace Sox

These are made from Apple Laine Apple Butter in a shade whose name I forget but which as you can see is a lovely lovely collection of pinks and purples. Try as I might I could not eliminate the eyeleting between the needle changeovers so I have just decided to live with it as a design feature. MIL is none the wiser and has been sighted wearing the socks on several occasions so I think these were a success. Next time I am going to try not doing a needle changeover at the same time as a YO and see if that helps.

Secondly, the baby blanket for my new nephew, finished approximately 4 days before he made his appearance into the world.

Baby blanket - a labour of love

This is made from Rowan wool cotton in two shades of grey/blue (although they look more grey in this picture) with a garter stitch border and a moss stitch centre panel. Take it from me, you do not want to embark on a moss stitch baby blanket unless you have a good strong knitting backbone to see you through the wasteland that is balls 3,4 and 5 of the centre panel. It's lucky that I've already got one nephew so I had some inkling that this one was going to be fun to have around, that's all I can say. Somewhere I have a picture of said nephew all wrapped up in his spiffy new blanket, which made the whole thing worthwhile. But I can't find it at the moment :/ If I locate it I'll post it - I promise.

Third, Petite eyelet rib sox for mother of nephews:

Petite eyelet rib sox

These are made from Koigu PPPM which was a dream to knit with. I am glad I have plenty more in the stash, is all I can say. This pattern was fun, easy to memorise and quick to knit up too (well, quick for sox anyway). A good one to try if you're relatively new to sock knitting and want to branch out.

Finally, a fuzzy picture of my Very Harlot poncho made in Rowan Polar for 9 year old niece of RLBF:

Poncho - blurry but cool

I have named this the Liberty poncho. Betya can't guess why :)

So there we have it - proof positive that Christmas knitting really did happen rather than just get blogged about. I've lots more to talk about on the knitting front, including the wonders of my new bag, Felting Lessons I Have Learned, progress on Clapotis and success in luring new knitters into the ~~coven~~ fold. But I think I'll save it for another post so that you get to hear from me more than once in a blue moon :)

Tricoteuses Sans Frontieres - the kindness of knitters

2005-01-08T01:22:00.000Z

Yes, I know I only posted yesterday. So sue me - this is important.

One thing I really like about the OL knitting community is the enormous amount of goodwill and kindness that knitters show both to each other and to the world at large. I first started reading knitblogs through Ann & Kay's great afghan-o-rama over at Mason Dixon Knitting and I love things like RAOK and Secret Pals (although I haven't yet summoned up enough courage to join in). The recent tsunami disaster in Asia has received a number of responses from the knitting community but the best one I have come across is this, started by The Yarn Harlot .

TSF - the Harlot has started a movement

If you haven't seen it go here to find out how it works, and join if you can. Every little really will help those who have lost their homes and livelihoods.

I would also like to add a personal plea to Stephanies. I'm not sure how many of you know this but in RL I am the finance director of War on Want , a UK based development charity who work to eradicate the causes of poverty. We have a number of partners in the affected area and the news from them this week has been terrible - homes washed away, factories where only 200 out of 700 employees turned up for work on Monday - just general confusion and chaos. We are not a disaster relief agency. Instead we focus on helping people build up sustainable lives over the long term through things like securing more safety conscious working conditions or a decent minimum wage. This means we have a lot of experience of working in areas where the media spotlight has moved on but the issue still remains. So I know that there will be a heck of a lot that needs doing in these regions for years to come and much of it will be done quietly and out of the public eye.

What I'm trying to say is that once all the debris has been cleared up and the dead buried the people who have been affected by this disaster will still need support for a long time to come in order to put their lives back together. So as well as giving something today, if you think you might have some spare cash please find an organisation that you like which works on long term poverty related issues and send them something next month and every month after that. Regular donors are the lifeblood of most not for profit organisations and you will be doing something to tackle the causes of poverty rather than just its symptoms. Thank you.

If you've stuck it out this far I promise normal knitting-related service will be resumed shortly :)

I'm in love!

2005-01-07T00:19:00.000Z

So there I was, wandering round my favourite yarn site (possibly ordering some Debbie Bliss Aran Cashmerino to make this - I couldn't possibly comment) when I saw a new link to knitting bags. So I clicked on it expecting, you know, an ordinary kntting bag. Instead I came across this vision of lovliness. Look!

Jordana Paige knitting bag

Now I'm expecting all you US knitbloggers are going "Yeah, yeah - what's new about that?" But let me tell you that here in the UK, the land where bad ass knitters are still lone voices crying in the wilderness, this bag is something of a revelation. Look at the inside for heaven's sake.

Aiee! I am in knitting heaven

This is clearly the knitting bag for the dynamic corporate chick who makes multi-million pound deals in the morning and then whips her needles out for a spot of light K2 P2 rib over lunch. Now that's not me any more. I gave all that dynamic corporate business up nearly 18 months ago and have been much happier since my move to the not-for-profit sector. But I still remember those days. And I sure as heck can still carry the bag.

So I ordered one. As a late Christmas present from me to me. Without even wincing at the pricetag. I can't wait. Now all I have to do is break the news to Mr A about exactly how much it cost before it turns up on my doorstep :/ Wish me luck!

And have I actually been doing any knitting rather than just lusting over knitting accessories? Well yes I have. And I may even be able to post some pictures this weekend, subject to the patron saint of lost things reuniting me with the cable that connects my camera to my laptop. I have been working on Clapotis in some of Axelle's wonderfully soft and snuggly cashmere. I love both the yarn and the pattern. Dropping those stitches is so liberating, and the stranded bars show off the different colours in the yarn to perfection. Wait for the pictures. They'll be worth it - I promise :)

Christmas - the aftermath

2004-12-28T01:53:00.000Z

Well, I did it. The last time I posted I really didn't think it was humanly possible, but I finished my Christmas knitting in time to give everything away, even though I was sewing a lining into the Booga bag I made for RLBF in the car on the way to her house. And everyone loved everything so I am feeling highly accomplished and more than slightly smug.

But not that smug, as my camera and I are still locked in mortal combat so there will be no pictures of my FO for a few days yet. Apparently whilst my camera and computer are in Norfolk enjoying a splendid English rural Christmas, the vital cable to connect the two has stayed in London for the duration. Curses! But never fear - I will wrestle my pictures out of the camera as soon as it and the cable are reunited. Who knew this could be so complex?

Anyway, in lieu of pictures of this year's knitted gifts I thought I would talk about what knitting-related gifts my lovely friends and family bought for me. I got a really good haul, which could carry me through knitting for 2005 and beyond. Look -

Mr A's brother and his wife got me this:

Folk Socks by Nancy Bush

This is a great book for the sock knitter who wants a new challenge. There's lots of technical resources in terms of new heel turns and toe shapings and the patterns are an order of magnitude more tricky that anything I have attempted to date. But they look so fabulous when they're done that I'm itching to get something out of my book on this needles. Intarsia socks hold no fear for me! (Well, not until I've cast on, anyway). I see more socks in my future.

My mum & dad got me this:

Knitting on the Edge by Nicky Epstein

This is a fantastic reference book for the intermediate knitter who is starting to design their own patterns or to make serious modifications to existing ones. It contains hundreds of different ideas for edging garments with very clear instructions and photographs for each one. There are also a small number of projects, but the best thing about this book is the inspiriation it contains to enable you to design your own projects. I'm certain to have fun with this one.

My brother and his girlfriend got me this:

Scarf Style by Pam Allen

Words cannot express how much I *heart* this book. Every single project is interesting and there are 2 or 3 that nearly had me drooling on the page. This, combined with the scarf fetish, is just pure indulgence.

I also got a couple of other knit-related things, including a fantastic pattern-a-day calendar from Axelle and a knifty pair of torch spectacles from Mr A so that I can knit on long evening car journeys without shining a torch all around the car and blinding him. I cannot say that they are sartorially elegant, but I'm sure they'll do the trick. Didn't I do well? I can't believe it really - I certainly don't deserve it but I am really lucky to have such thoughtful, generous friends and family. Thanks everyone :)

Christmas knitting - it's getting bloody

2004-12-24T01:14:00.000Z

Just so as you know - once again there will still be no pictures in this post. I have now found my camera but there is some inscruitable software problem that Mr A has promised to fix tomorrow. My view is that the planets are not aligned properly. Or something. Anyway, pictures soon just not today.

But the reason that I have been compelled to post, pictures or no pictures, is that it appears to be early in the morning on Christmas Eve. CHRISTMAS EVE!! How did that happen? Where did all those knitting hours go? Who knows, but I have been knitting like a woman possesed for the last week in order to try and get to the end of my Christmas knitting list. The trouble is that the freaking thing keeps growing. As soon as something drops off one end my knitting imp adds another thing onto the 'To Knit' list and I am dispatched back into the fray. I present the evidence:

Atropos's Christmas knitting list

Harvest socks - complete, given, recipient very happy

Vine lace socks - ditto

Double eyelet rib socks - ditto

Baby blanket - ditto (at least I assume the recipient is very happy. Given that he is currently less than 24 hours old this may be pushing it frankly)

Silk Garden ribbed scarf - knitted in two days on a whim after spying wool in John Lewis's. Looks wonderful and is beautifully soft. Recipient then cancelled meeting at last minute so now not due for gifting until the New Year *face palm*

Broken rib socks - Just turning the second heel. Due for giving on Boxing Day. Must knit faster, but have been impeded by...

Harlot poncho for 10 year old - Cast on yesterday evening, again on a whim after grabbing huge handfuls of Rowan Polar in John Lewis's. Just about to cast off. Still have fringe to construct and also due for giving on Boxing Day. Aiee!

Large Booga Bag - Successfully felted. Now just needs to be lined :/ Again, due for giving on Boxing Day.

Why did I add 2 more things to the list at the last minute? Can anyone answer that question for me? I must be truly crazy. More details on the 24 hour poncho will be forthcoming when my coamera software & I are in a more zen place but for now I must get back to the needles (it's Christmas EVE for heaven's sake!)

Atropos, Atropos, where have you been?

2004-12-16T17:23:00.000Z

Sorry for the lengthy silence, ladies & gentlemen. Those of you that read my LJ will know that I have been running around like a crazy fool for the last 3 weeks because I have been moving house, and singing in concerts and generally tearing my hair out with everything that needs to get done at home & at work before Christmas. The horror is beginning to abate but sadly my digital camera is currently packed in one of the many boxes strewn around my new flat so there will be no pictures until I find it.

I know. I get the crap knitblogger award for the month. I'm learning to deal with it.

But even though I have been surrounded by chaos there has been knitting, although you'll just have to imagine it until I've opened a few more boxes.

In the main, much progress has been made on Christmas socks. Since I last posted the Vine Lace pair are done, I've finished another pair in double eyelet rib (for my sister in law) and am about to start the second sock on a third pair in some other lace pattern whose name I forget (for my best friend). Go me! I can now turn a short row heel and do kitchener stitch without reference to the pattern. I can also turn out a sock in 2-3 evenings of solid knitting, depending on how complex the lace pattern is. And I finally seem to have conquered the eyelet problem. I'm quite pleased with that, even if I do say so myself.

My last 3 socks have been in Koigu PPPM rather than Apple Laine, and I have to say I *heart* it. I love the zinginess of the colours, the smoothness of it to knit with and the fact that it is really difficult to split even when you are doing kitchener stitch with a pointy needle in Strict Defiance of the Instructions. Luckily I have plenty more where that came from. Perhaps I will get to knit myself something out of it after Christmas *sigh*

I have also finished the baby blanket for my new nephew / niece, which is a darn good job given that he / she is due to put in an appearance on Christmas Day. I really like it now it's done, and I think the simplicity of the pattern makes it very stylish, but let me tell you a moss stitch blanket of whatever size is truly a labour of love. It just seemed to take forever. I'm hopeful that it will get a lot of use though, so that will be OK.

In other news I gave the Harvest socks away at the weekend and they were received with much squeeing and delight. It is very nice to put so much effort into something and have the recipient be so pleased with it. I just hope the rest of my knitted gifts go down so well.

Finally, proof positive that the fact that knitting is hip is finally penetrating these shores. I was doing the toe decreases on one of my socks on the Tube the other day when a 20-something, blonde-haired, rather lovely looking young man with a pierced lip leant over and said "Oh, is that how you knit socks. I've always wondered. I can knit scarves and things but that looks really complicated." We proceeded to have a 5 minute conversation about how simple it was really, yarn, needle sizes etc. to the absolute astonishment of everyone else in the carriage. If I weren't married I might even regard this as evidence that knitting makes a good flirtation technique. Who knew?

Anyway, hopefully in a few days normal service will be resumed, but you might have t bear with me a little longer. Rest assured that even if I'm not blogging I most certainly am knitting :)

Christmas knitting update

2004-11-24T20:10:00.000Z

So, how's the manic Christmas knitting going, I hear you ask?

Well here's progress on my Vine Lace socks to date. As you can see I'm halfway through turning the shortrow heel.

Sock progress

I can almost hear knitting brains around the world counting the number of days until Christmas and thinking, "Um, Atropos - I hope you hadn't planned to give too many people socks this year if that's how fast you're going." And that would be fair enough if that was still my first sock. But actually it's the second. Look!

Fooled you!

So, at current rates I will have finished this pair in around 11 days which is certainly a new record for me and holds out some hope of getting maybe 70% of my original over-ambitious plan done before the big day. That is of course if I can overcome 2 major hurdles:

- Kitchener stitch. For some reason I am having a Kitchener stitch blackout. It's not that I can't do it. It's just that for some reason I don't seem to want to. So at last count I had 4 completed socks that just need their toes grafting lurking in the bottom of my knitting bag. Someone please send me some finishing vibes - I am in dire need of them.

- Ponchos. I have 2 ten-year-old girls on my Christmas present list who I had not originally included in my knitting plans. But I woke up in the middle of the night sometime last week with the word "poncho" ringing around in my head and now it's refusing to go away. There is no way in the world that I could knit 2 ponchos and another bajillion pairs of socks in the time available of course. But that doesn't mean that my knitting imp isn't tempting me to try. What? Doesn't everyone have a knitting imp that sits on their shoulder whispering things like "Why don't you buy some Noro Silk Garden even though your stash is the size of Mount Everest and you have no particular project in mind for it"? Or in this case "Ponchos....you know you want to". Anyway, I am sternly resisting the imp at the moment, but I have no idea how long that's going to last.

In other news, this is new in the stash:

Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton

I expect the siren call of Klaralund will get me eventually, but at the moment I am quite taken with this little number:

Lovlund

Has anyone knitted it? I'd be interested in your experiences with the pattern, and particularly any views on yarn substitutions.

For, lo! I have seen the Promised Land (but I forgot to take my camera)

2004-11-16T01:13:00.000Z

This weekend I think I may have attained knitting Nirvana. Whatever the heck happened I certainly had a lot of fun and learnt some very useful new skills, although I should probably be severely punished for blogging without due care and attention because I very stupidly forgot to take my camera to record the event for posterity.

What have I been doing that was so brilliant?

Well,Axelle and I spent the weekend at Rowan in Holmfirth participating in a workshop called 'Creative Design' taken by Louisa Harding.

(Louisa Harding!....the Rowan mill!....SQUEE!! My lunch was served by Kim Hargreaves' sister!!!11!)

Now I've got that out of my system I'll show you what I produced at least, even though I don't have any "in-progress" shots. Luckily Axe did remember her camera so if you check out her blog later in the week you should be able to see what she did, and some of the stuff done by the other participants. There were some amazing things, I'm telling you.

Here's what I did (Excuse the after dark photo - usual disclaimers).

Workshop results

The idea of the workshop was to come up with a design for an original garment based on inspiration from a picture, postcard or other source materials. One of the participants (a lovely lady named Doreen) even brought along one of her bathroom tiles with her and used that as a basis for her design. Louisa told us that the process we were following is very similar to the one she uses when she is designing for Rowan, which made me feel all grown up and designer-y before we even started :)

The first step was to put together a mood board. This involved lots of tearing pictures out of Vogue and Elle Decoration, sorting & sifting, cutting them out and sticking them onto a piece of paper to create an idea of the type of look and feel you want the garment to have. Here's a better picture of what I came up with for stage 1:

Mood board

As you can see, it's got all kinds of pictures on it and also some small twists of yarn in colours and textures that reflect the pictures on the board.

Stage 2 was to write a brief, which is basically a series of bullet points stating what you want the garment to be. Mine said things like "fluid", "smart casual" and "luxurious but practical". Frankly at this point I was a bit sceptical that any kind of garment could emerge from this process but I was having too much fun cutting and sticking and choosing yarn to care.

The next stage then was supposed to be to draw out your garment ideas and come up with a sketch of your design, but I was itching to knit so I set off making a swatch with a subset of the yarns on my mood board. This was when it all suddenly began to come together for me and ideas started zinging around the place. I spent the rest of the afternoon knitting like a crazy person and came up with this:

Swatch

The colour reproduction is a little bit bright but you get the idea. The slubby green colour is Jaeger luxury tweed, and the stripes are done in Kidsilk Haze, Kid Classic and Jaeger Matchmaker DK. The tree design was "borrowed" from one of the postcards on my board and backstitched on afterwards with 2 strands of Kidsilk Haze. Honesty means that I must also tell you that the embroidery was Louisa's idea, although the sewing is all my own work. I've also sewn some clear glass beads on at the end of the "tree branches", although I'm not sure that I'm going to keep them in the final design as they are a bit twinkly. The swatch is very airy with a good drape, and it's soft to the touch. Just what I was hoping for really, which was a bit of a surprise, but at least it was a pleasant one.

Day 2 of the workshop was spent finishing up swatches and turning them into written patterns for a final garment. A number of bad drawings and some crazy maths-skillz later and I have 90% of the pattern for a loose-ish fit jumper with a boat neck and bell sleeves primarily in the slubby green Jaegar tweed with these stripes around the sleeves and the bottom edge , and embroidered trees on the bottom edge stripes. All I have to do now is sketch out some of my curves on knitters graph paper and work out my decreases and increases. (And knit it of course, but let's not focus on that part for the moment).

I appear to have designed a jumper and written a pattern for it!

*faints*

So now you see why it was so much fun. Louisa was lovely, Holmfirth was lovely and I got to spend the whole weekend playing with yarn with a group of equally yarn-crazed, highly talented ladies. Absolute bliss.

And what about all that Christmas knitting I'm supposed to be doing? Well I finished the Harvest socks on the train on the way back but I haven't kitchenered up the toes yet so you'll have to wait for proof that I have actually have a finished object. Instead I'll leave you with a picture of my next pair in progress, again knitted out of Apple Laine Apple Butter, but this time using a vine lace pattern.

Vine lace sock

I'll post some more pictures later in the week, just as soon as I've worked out exactly who I'm going to give this pair to. Decisions, decisions :)

Knittingdipity

2004-11-12T13:27:00.000Z

You know, one of the things that I like best about knitting is the whole "what goes around comes around" part of it. I love the way knitters exchange ideas and yarn in some kind of huge international swap-meet and use them to make creative original things. I present a recent example of what I'm talking about from my own experience.

Remember when I went off on a hunt for rug cotton and came home from John Lewis with three skeins of this?

Debbie Bliss Maya

You will remember that I didn't really know what I was going to do with it, but thought I might use it for Clapotis.

Well, I'm still going to make Clapotis, but I'm going to use some of Axelle's yarn to do it. The Atropos colourway in fact. How's a gal supposed to resist yarn that's named after her? So what to do with the Debbie Bliss?

Well, I went wandering round the internet for inspiration and came across a copy of her new book, which is almost entirely devoted to patterns for Maya yarn.

Ribby scarf

I didn't even need to look at the pictures inside - I just fell in love with the scarf on the front cover. (Yes, I have a scarf problem. And?) It's starting to get cold here and a lovely purple speckly ribbed scarf will be just the thing to keep my neck warm come December. But I'm not planning on buying the book just for that pattern because I've already knitted a ribbed scarf from Noro Kureyon 70, so I can use the pattern from that.

Kureyon 70 ribbed scarf

I gave this to my sister in law for her birthday at the end of the month and she loves it. But not as much as my nephew Theo, who keeps stroking it and going "Oooh" at all the different colours.

Inspired by this, my mother in law knitted Theo a hat from this Debbie Bliss pattern, but out of Kureyon 92.

DB hat

And where did she get the Kureyon? I had it left over from my Rosedale and had given it to her because she wanted to make a Booga Bag :)

Rosedale in Kureyon 92

So there we have it - three knitters interact and projects abound. None of them are exactly what they started out as, but they all have a bit of knittingdipity :)

What date did you say it was again?

2004-11-09T02:06:00.000Z

So, we had another lovely weekend in Norfolk painting the downstairs bathroom and planting bulbs in the garden. We got back early last night so I even got a full night's sleep for a change - so much so that when I got up for work this morning I felt like this:

All is calm, all is bright

And then I remembered what the date was, and I felt like this:

HOW long is it until Christmas?

What is it that is upsetting me so? Well, in case you hadn't noticed, Christmas is coming and the yarn stash does not seem to have diminished any despite all my best intentions. In fact, it's just over 6 weeks to Christmas now, I believe, and what progress have I made against my knitted gift list? Not much, that's what. Ferreting around in my various knitting bags unearthed the following:

* 7/8ths of a baby blanket for new not yet born niece / nephew;

* A half felted bag for RLBF;

* One baby sock, half of a pair for nephew Theo; and

* 1.5 socks for dear friend Cat who once found a rugby player naked in our communal bathtub (if I haven't already told you this story, I wouldn't go there if I were you.)

What good is that? What I need is finished Christmas objects and I need them fast. So my needles will be flying faster than usual over the next few weeks and I see lots of socks in my future. I am resolved *nods* Don't know how long that's going to last, but for now my eyes are fixed on the prize of not having to give anyone expensive Christmas presents.

I dare you to pop back later and see how I do :)