Jane's Probably Knitting

Made with Love

2011-09-05T20:39:00.000+01:00

Today's blog post is a little bit different. I'm going to show you the beautiful work of other people and share with you how very privileged I feel that they have chosen to show their love for me with the gift of the work of their hands.

First, look at this felted bag that my sister has made for me. It started life as a waistcoat that she found in a charity shop.

The embellishments are all individually hand stitched, not just to attach them to the bag but to change their texture and add detail.

I am completely in awe of the evenness of her tiny stitches - none of this has been done by machine.

Of course, it has to become my project bag - that way I get to keep it with me always without putting it under too much stress - this is the sort of gift that needs to be used for years to come.

I'm incredibly proud of my sister's skill but also feel so warm inside that she chose to spend so many hours making something this beautiful for me - I will treasure it.

I have been very lucky indeed this week as yesterday I received these in the post.

No ordinary sock blockers but blockers made from beautiful Australian cypress wood by my friend Leon. They have no oil or varnish but the finish of them is like satin because he sanded them over and over again until they were perfect. No embellishments, nothing added - just the natural wood and a dear friend determined to make me something to the very best of his ability.

As someone who makes things by hand herself I can think of nothing better than receiving handmade gifts from loved ones. Both my sister and Leon love to wear jumpers and socks that I have made them and every time I use these beautiful things I will think of them and the time they spent with me in mind, making something beautiful to show their care.

I'm so lucky.

Traditional with a twist

2011-08-25T10:21:00.001+01:00

Have you ever had one of those absolutely perfect days, the memory of which you want to wrap up very carefully and keep so that whenever you need a bit of a boost you can get it out and smile? I had one of those days a couple of Sundays ago. It was a few days after all the riots and upheaval in London and I felt extremely fortunate that my friend Laura and I could pack up a picnic, drive out into Sussex and end up somewhere like this - Herstmonceaux Castle. As we parked, Laura couldn't contain herself and squealed loudly -'It's got a moat!' much to the amusement of the people nearby. 'She's American' I offered by way of explanation.

When I booked tickets for a folk concert in this beautiful setting I could not have hoped for a more perfect day - both in terms of the weather, and because both of us needed some time to draw breath from the challenges of living in the big city.

One of the wearying things about the media coverage of the recent disturbances is the inevitable hand wringing and blustering about 'The Youth of Today' as if they are somehow alien beings sent to disappoint and alarm us. We created the world that they are inheriting and it has never been more important to hear their voices. It was refreshing, therefore that the first musician on the bill was Luke Jackson. At 16 years old he really impressed me with his honest and relevant songs.

Next up were Phil and Hannah, a duo whose songs were really enhanced by the quality of their musicianship and the fact that they mixed traditional folk with modern twists such as harmonica beatboxing. I'm also a real sucker for a slide guitar...

Finally to the top of the bill were Steve Knightley,

Phil Beer

and Miranda Sykes, collectively known as Show of Hands who gave a great performance of old and new songs. One of the things that draws me to folk and acoustic music is the narrative style, the ability to tell traditional and contemporary stories about ordinary people and help make sense of where we find ourselves as a community. Now I know there are those who prefer their folk music more traditional and those who don't think folk music has anything to say to them I do believe it's important not to lose the old songs because they have things to say that give us another way of looking at where we are now, as well as having some fine, danceable tunes, lets not be too po faced about things! Like any living art I think music needs to keep developing to stay relevant, fresh and enjoyable. This concert showed that these musicians feel the same way.

And what was I doing when I wasn't clapping and singing and dancing along to the music on a fine sunny afternoon? Apart from trying to make a dent in the enormous picnic we had brought I was of course, knitting!

The project I brought along with me was the Mystery Shawl by Stephen West. I enjoy Stephen West's designs for a similar reason to my enthusiasm for modern folk music. Regular readers will know that a large part of my passion for knitting is that it is an element of the thread that binds me to the line of creative women in my family and beyond as well as the way that in today's consumer society making something slowly and patiently by hand can give so much pleasure. Just as with music, I believe the craft needs new, fresh ideas and approaches to keep it exciting and having used a few of Stephen West's patterns I love the way that he uses clean, simple, architectural shapes to give a modern twist to this most traditional of activities.

So, three out of four clues into the project I have been challenged to find three colours that I think work together.

Confront my fear of intarsia knitting.

And to relax into the peaceful rhythm of longer and longer rows knowing that the project is growing with every stitch even if this is not apparant to the naked eye.

Whether it be music or knitting, I like my traditions with a twist and have faith that if older and younger people share their creativity we can do amazing things.

Finally, if you would like to hear me talking about my day job in knitting please have a listen to Episode 11 of Kate's lovely podcast, A Playful Day. My interview with her is at about 45minutes into the show but please listen to the whole thing - all sorts of knitterly natter plus some very thought provoking comments on recent events.

Back to stripes

2011-08-08T15:38:00.000+01:00

After a brief detour I am now firmly back with my stripe obsession and despite the attack of castonitis that I seem to have fallen prey to recently I am pleased to say that I have finally managed to finish something.

I have noticed that I can occasionally suffer from a strange malaise such that I will work on four or five projects at once with all of them reaching quite an advanced stage of completion but find it really hard to decide to concentrate on one and get it finished. Perhaps I get rather too attached to my projects as projects rather than thinking about them as the finished thing and can't bear to finish those final few rows. I don't think it's because I'm worried that they aren't going to turn out well but I do sometimes have a really sad pang as I cast off that final stitch and they go from being my knitting to being a garment. Any knitters out there got any clue what I mean? Or is it just me?

Anyway, less of the rambling - I have something I have managed to finish to show you. This is Taygete, a two colour, triangular shawl, one of the Seven Small Shawls collection by Romy Hill.

It takes me a very long time to decide on a colour combination and I don't always make particularly traditional choices. The yarn in this case is Clan by the Yarn Yard in a warm pinky, purply brown paired with a very pale but quite warm pink. The pink really isn't my sort of colour but I am learning that I need colours in my stash that I may not be keen on in their own right but can have a quite astonishing effect when paired with another. As a pair I have really fallen in love with this combination as it gives a very feminine feel to the brown without making it too frou frou and girly.

Taygete has quite an interesting construction, the stripy garter stitch section starting at one side, increasing towards the middle and then decreased to match on the other side.

A lace border in the main colour is then added by picking up the loops along the two shorter sides of the triangle. Finally a picot border in the contrast colour is added all the way around the shawl.

In general I'm really pleased with the shawl. It took two full skeins of the brown and a skein and a half of the pink and has worked out as quite a substantial piece. Garter stitch has very good stretch. I like the way that it looks as interesting on the back as it does on the front. My only minor disappointment is that there is a tendency for the lower edge of the lace to roll up. I also have to admit that my blocking of the picot edge might not have been as uniform as it could be - and it shows. I'm hoping that it's a case of unearthing the blocking wires and giving it another good thorough, even reblocking.

I'll keep you posted.

Making Monday

2011-08-01T23:09:00.000+01:00

My friend Natalie declared the other day that she was in a blog slump and needed some ideas to put some energy back in her writing. As with most things, if you ask your friends,an idea is bound to present itself as many of us admitted that we were suffering from a bit of midsummer writer's torpor.

So, to get us all up and at it Natalie suggested that we declare today 'Making Monday' and blog about something we have made. Now as this blog is all about making things that is hardly breaking the mould for me so I thought that the least I could do was, instead of talking about what knitting I had completed, I would take things back a step or two and talk about making yarn.

Now as you may know, I learned to spin about three years ago and very quickly bought my first spinning wheel. After a few changes of model I am now the proud owner of a Majacraft Susie on which I really love spinning. However, Susie is not very portable so for any kind of spinning outside the house I have tended to take a drop spindle.I have quite a collection of drop spindles as I think they are such beautiful objects but there is something else that I have come to realise recently. I really like making yarn with them.

There is a wonderful, self contained feeling in knowing that I can turn this:

Merino silk by Lime Green Jelly

Into this:

Bosworth Midi Spindle in Cocobolo with a birch shaft

And then into this:

Two ply light fingering weight yarn

The spindle and fibre have travelled around with me to festivals and fibre shows, it may be a little slower and rely more on eye and feel than working at a wheel but the intimacy and simplicity of the process really makes me feel like I am making yarn, and making it in the way people have made it for thousands of years.

The other thing that I have learned is that if you make a little bit here and a little bit there it soon mounts up and you have a usable amount of yarn.

Last weekend I was working on the P-Hop stall at Fibre East and brought along my spindle for the very few moments of quiet that we had. It seemed appropriate, therefore that I made the yarn into something from the P-Hop range of patterns. I have cast on for the Trinity Shawlette which is a very simple but effective leaf lace shawl that can be made in an infinite variety of sizes. So far the knitting is going well.

I don't think the variegation fights too hard with the simple allover pattern and the thing that I am especially pleased about is that the shawl is turning out to be kitten soft - I wish you could feel it. Slowing down and making yarn mindfully has meant that I have been able to brings out the best in this fibre and the finished shawl will be pretty much what I want it to be and will also remind me of all the places that I have settled down for a few minutes to work on it.

This is why I love making things.

If you want to see who else has been Making Monday, Natalie is keeping a list on her blog here

Born Stripy

2011-07-14T10:04:00.002+01:00

Today's shawl is slightly different. My current enthusiasm is for stripy shawls combining more than one yarn. This one was born stripy.

My friend Katie has just taken the brave step of setting up her own fibre business. Her speciality is combing and blending fibres into interesting roving so of course I had to give it a try. I bought one called embers which is a blend of orange, red and yellow merino with a little alpaca, a little silk and a few sparkles thrown in for good measure.

I haven't spun with such an array of fibres all in the one roving before so I was pleasantly surprised at how easy the fibre was to spin and very soon had a respectable hank of fingering weight yarn.

As the yarn has quite a lot going on I decided that I wanted to choose a pattern that didn't fight with the yarn but also had some interest. The Holden Shawlette seemed to fit the bill.

The stocking stitch body allows the yarn to show off its essential stripyness. I was really pleased at how even and consistently random the striping was - the sign of a good blend.

The lace patterned edge allowed me to play with the striping a little. It was good to see that the pattern and yarn didn't overpower each other.

All in all this was a quick and very satisfying project. I have to say that I usually shy away from fibre that has sparkle in it but to Katie's credit she adds it with a light touch - light enough even for a confirmed wool lover like me. I think this shawl will be a cosy and bright addition to an autumn outfit. But first let's have a bit more summer please!

Katie has written a lovely piece on this project here.http://the-view-from-the-hill.blogspot.com/2011/07/finished-objects.html

Rocking out with a Flying V

2011-07-08T09:00:00.005+01:00

Yes, the stripy knits just keep on coming!

Today's offering is Different Lines, another shawl by Veera Valimaki, the same designer responsible for the Stripe Study Shawl. It has her trademark short row shaping but is worked sideways from one point this time creating a shawl which is triangular like a Flying V guitar or a paper dart.

It makes it very interesting to wear as there are all kinds of possibilities in the way that it can be draped. it does make me wish I was a little more soigne and elegant as I can leave the house with it looking just the way I want it and by the time I have reached the bus stop it's trailing behind me or I'm asking someone on the bus to retrieve the other half of my shawl pin which has landed between their feet.

This time I wanted a lighter, more drapy shawl so I went for Yarn Yard Toddy which is a sock weight merino yarn in a solid grey and a semi solid hot pink and used a 4mm circular needle.

I like the gentle variegation in the pink as it softens the very graphic style of this shawl. My version of the shawl has two extra pink stripes as I wanted to use every scrap of the pink.

People have asked me whether I found so much garter stitch tedious to knit. To be honest, from a process point of view this project is saved from being a completely mindless knit by the short rows. As every row begins with ten, then twenty stitches etc etc the stripe starts to build quite quickly which is more than can be said for the four inches of grey border at the end. There's no getting away from it - it's dull, dull knitting. However, it's absolutely perfect for taking away for the weekend to the Isle of Wight Festival where I could knit along quite happily, chatting to my friends and listening to Seasick Steve, Iggy and the Stooges and Pulp.

Had to put it down when the Foo Fighters came on though - was dropping stitches!

Flying Buttresses

2011-07-06T09:09:00.004+01:00

The next shawl in my series of stripy projects was a very speedy knit. Dream Stripes by Cailliau Berangere in some Rowan Yorkshire Tweed 4ply in Shrew and Barley. I modified the pattern slightly, giving it a small garter stitch border and emphasising the centre line with yarnovers rather that lifted increases to give the shawl a little more fluidity.

I'm really pleased with the colour combination especially as on their own these colours are both, well a bit dull. Especially Shrew as I have to say the Rowan yarn naming people were absolutely spot on with their description - it is exactly the shade of a little brownish grey , scuttling creature... shudder....

So how come you have it in your stash? I hear you ask. Good point. It might have something to do with a strange disorder which used to come over me in the days when Rowan did really good, woolly wools. It was known as the All Discontinued Rowan Must Be Rescued And Come To Live In My House Syndrome. Yes, even the colours that nobody else wants - because it's half price, it's Rowan and it's DISCONTINUED!! The large bags of Rowanspun, Yorkshire Tweed and Scottish Tweed are witness to my efforts on their behalf.

Imagine my joy when rummaging in my stash for likely striped shawl partners I came up with this two. I think the grey and cream highlight each other very well. The grey lace edge makes me think of ornate Gothic architecture hence the title of this post.

I am looking forward to combing my stash for more unlikely combination in my ongoing attempts to justify my yarn stashing habits.

Earning my stripes

2011-07-04T23:46:00.003+01:00

Recently I have become somewhat obsessed with knitting stripes. There seem to be a huge number of new patterns for shawls in particular which involve using two colours of yarn creatively - this usually involves a measure of striping.

The fun starts with deciding which colours go together.... For me that can be quite a drawn out process - I have to be able to see a combination in my mind's eye and be satisfied that the combination makes each colour more 'itself' than on its own such that I can't stop looking at it.

If you could see my coffee table at the moment you would see baskets of yarn, overflowing with colours that I keep moving around until a combination jumps out at me as just right. Of course, as in the case of this shawl, a neutral and an acid colour are an easy partnership. Lime green also happens to be one of my favourite colours.

The shawl pattern that I chose was the Stripe Study Shawl by Veera Valimaki as its asymmetric shape and use of short rows to vary the shape of the stripes was very appealing both in terms of process with the short rows breaking up the prospect of knitting enormous, mind numbing swathes of garter stitch and with the visual impact. I love its clean, graphic lines.

The yarn is Elsbeth Lavold Silky Wool, which, whilst somewhat heavier than the recommended yarn has enough drape to work for this project.

I think the end result is quite effective. I love the quirky, asymmetric style of the piece which also makes it surprisingly easy to wear.

Over the next few days I will share with you how severe my obsession with stripes has become...

Getting Cosy

2011-06-20T14:05:00.006+01:00

One of the things I have noticed about knit blogging and spending any time on forums such as Ravelry is that knitters are very keen on organising gift swaps. To be perfectly honest ( with apologies for sounding like such a misery...) they have never really appealed to me. With a busy full time job and a list of things I want to knit for myself and my loved ones that runs to several pages I have tended to prefer to spend my time on these projects rather than working on something then posting it off into the ether hoping that the recipient whose tastes I have only had a few clues about is going to like it.

But you know what they say, never say never, and when someone in a group of knitters I know both in person and online suggested a tea cosy swap I allowed my arm to be twisted. I was assigned the task of knitting a cosy for my friend Heather, a rather classy lady who knows what she likes but also has a twinkle in her eye.

I thought I would go for reasonably conventional but with a twist so I chose probably the least flamboyant pattern from Loani Prior's book of tea cosy patterns (before this challenge I didn't even know such a book existed....)

The pattern is deceptively simple with the added advantage for me that it involves a posy of crocheted roses allowing me to practice some of the skills I learned on the East London Crochet Group weekend last year. I completed all the component parts without incident. Then came my nemesis, sewing the thing together. My first attempt was a bit of a disaster. The base for the flowers insisted on protruding upwards spilling the flowers out of the top in a higgledy piggledy fashion - not the elegant posy in the photograph. I had to call an emergency meeting with my friend Katie and my sister over coffee where we decided that the flowers needed to be lashed down much tighter and the baggy top would just have to look after itself. As you can see the end product doesn't look too shabby after all.

I think Heather was pleased.

With my cosy in the hands of its intended recipient I could relax and wait for my surprise - and here it is! Although I don't think Deb and I have met, she has clearly taken the trouble to look at my projects and get an idea of my taste as it suits me perfectly!

How could I fail to like a big sunny sunflower in my favourite colour?

The accompanying cheesy biscuits didn't last long. I knew there was a reason I thought gift swaps were a bad idea....

While we are on the subject of tea cosies, Laura from Marie Curie Cancer Care contacted me to tell me about their giant tea cosy competition. You can read all about it here.

I might just join in myself!

The Yarn Whisperer

2011-06-15T01:01:00.008+01:00

My friend Natalie at the Yarn Yard dyes beautiful yarn. This is not news. She creates yarn in all the colours of the rainbow. Sometimes, at the end of the day, when she is trying to make sure that she uses every last drop of dye she produces colours that the rainbow hasn't thought of. And sometimes she says, Jane,I've dyed a skein that I think you will like, and it's always one of these end of the day creations....

This is what happened with this skein of Crannog, her tightly spun heavy lace weight merino. We were sitting at her kitchen table while an enormous pile of yarn lay nearby. Natalie dived into the pile and extracted this one which was different to any of the others and said - 'This one's yours!' She was right - I love it! The colour is difficult to describe, a sort of greenish grey that looks like bronze in some lights.

Choosing a pattern for a favourite skein of yarn can often be quite difficult. I wanted something reasonably simple which would let the yarn do the talking. I cast on Alceste by the very talented Asa Tricosa. It is a very elegant, open piece which suited the yarn well. I could see myself wearing it...

But sometimes, with the best will in the world, even with the vision of a beautiful, wearable piece in my mind's eye I just can't get into a rhythm with the pattern. This I hasten to add has nothing to do with the pattern which is gorgeous! It must just be the way my brain is wired. I got about a third of the way through and found that I was still welded to the charts and counting out every row, making it impossible to relax while I was making it even thought it is not a complex pattern and has beautiful clean lines. But for me, knitting is as much about the process as the product so the project languished. But I couldn't forget about that beautiful yarn. It wasn't going to let me leave it unknit!

So one day I gritted my teeth and ripped out half a metre of beautiful knitted fabric. Grrr....

Then I cast on Lilah from the latest issue of Knitty and everything fell into place, my needles flew and in no time at all I had a beautiful shawl! I think the yarn and pattern really suit each other - sometimes it reminds me of the gilt frame around a painting as the colours work with each other in the light.

The pattern is simple but with enough changes to keep it interesting.

The 800 metres in a skein mean that I can create a substantial shawl which I have worn lots of time already.

Blocking it took up most of the space on the bed.

Much to the disgust of Mr Talsi....

Pulling it out of the bag

2011-06-10T11:16:00.006+01:00

Thanks so much to everyone for their kind comments about the Hypernova (or Hypertension as it was rechristened during the latter phases of its construction...) I still can't quite believe I made it.

You reminded me how much I enjoy blogging as a way of sharing my enjoyment of the textile arts with like minded people so, not having any shortage of subject matter thought I would shock you all with another post in the space of a week. This time I wanted to share with you the enjoyment that I am getting from spinning.

People who have been reading this blog over the years will have seen my first attempts at spinning and will have seen how my enthusiasm and I hope, skills have developed in that time.

Whenever I go to fibre festivals, alongside the skeins of hand dyed yarn there are more and more beautiful braids of hand dyed fibre. Before you know where you are the cupboard is brimming with 100 gram braids of gorgeous colour and texture which I can now spin finely and evenly into a pretty good three ply worsted for socks or a decent heavy lace weight for shawls. This is good - but sometimes you just want to be a bit more free and easy and do something on a bit of a larger scale.

This is where Wingham Wool Works giant batts come in. At this year's Skipnorth event where a party of enthusiastic knitters and spinners go a little 'wool blind and crazy' in Yorkshire for a weekend I came away with a large plastic sack containing a 500g blue grey cloud of grey Falkland fibre blended with blue and green merino. Only part of the batt is on the floor in the following picture but it does give you a sense of scale...

Now I can't claim to be the world's greatest technical spinner so the joy of the batt for me is that it allows itself to be literally thrown at the wheel and some sort of viable yarn seems to emerge. What I was hoping for was a sort of heavy aran verging on a chunky weight yarn without too much twist.

As you can see from the single, the blue and green merino was well blended with the Falkland but still shone through. The resulting yarn was rustic, but reasonable consistent.

The muted, cloudy colours made me think of sea glass on a pebble beach.

The yarn was very quick to spin and because I had consciously worked to minimise the twist, still retained a good deal of spring. I would like to claim that I achieved a semi worsted finish but the process was way more chaotic than that!

The next phase was to decide what to knit. I have to admit that an analysis of my projects would show that I tend towards accessories rather than garments so my first thought was to make a large, warm wrap. I cast on for a Clapotis but soon discovered that the fabric did not have the sort of drape that this project would need. In fact it soon became clear that the finished object would more resemble an ironing board cover than an elegant, Paris inspired wrap. Perhaps I could make a cardigan...

I happen to be a great admirer of Knitting Pure and Simple patterns and was delighted to discover that they are now available to download from the Patternfish website and found a pattern for a cap sleeved long line cardigan which I thought would do the trick. The fabric that I made at the recommended tension made me happy so off I went.

In next to no time the yarn knitted up into a garment that I am really rather pleased with. Hand spun yarn is just such a joy to knit with. I love all the lumps and bumps and variegations but somehow the fabric is still beautiful.

And as a final twist of good luck I rediscovered this shawl pin, bought from Moving Mud at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival a couple of years ago and realised that it made the perfect finishing touch. Made my day!

When I look at this cardi I love thinking about how it used to be a big plastic bag full of fluff and now it's been transformed into something beautiful and practical.

And people ask me why I love knitting and spinning?

Taking pride in my work

2011-06-06T22:16:00.005+01:00

Every now and again a project comes along that makes us step outside our usual comfort zone and stretch ourselves to the limit of one aspect or another of our knitting skills and endurance. I want to tell you about one such project. Some time last year, my friend Rachel did a test knit of a new pattern, the Hypernova Shawl by Arlene's World of Lace. It was spectacular,yet simple in its construction, elegant chevrons radiating out from the centre into a shawl shaped like three quarters of a circle. I already had the recommended yarn, Wollemeise Lace-Garn in a shade with just enough movement to emphasise the chevrons so it was only a matter of time before I cast on...

As with all projects that start at the centre and work their way out I whizzed through the first few repeats. The set up required some concentration but once I had the chevrons in place I was away and knitting....and knitting...and knitting.

I think if anyone had actually told me at the beginning of the process how much knitting is involved in this shawl I might never have cast on. If anyone had told me how difficult it is to correct an error in a double yarn over on the bias I might never have cast on. The minor errors that I made whilst learning this lesson kept jumping out of the fabric to taunt me but I was committed now. Weeks turned into months and I was still knitting. I would take the shawl away for whole weekends undistracted by any other project and I was still knitting. More and more stitches piles onto my circular needle. Rows started to take half an hour, then three quarters of an hour... Every increase round added another sixty stitches to the needle. By the time the cast off round came around there were the best part of a thousand stitches in every row. The cast off itself took a good three hours to complete.

Of course, if you are amongst my friends and knitting neighbours none of this will be news to you. I may have whinged a little.. I may have flounced off a couple of times and embarked on a few instant gratification projects... I may have expressed doubt that anyone could possibly complete this project and retain their sanity... I may have required a loyal band of friends giving me a countdown over the final twenty rows, offering donations to P/Hop in return for my perseverance.

But then I blocked it...

Even though I have knitted lace before and am used to the transformation that blocking brings I was not prepared for the difference between the crumpled bundle of blue yarn and needles I had been carrying around for months and the thing of beauty it has turned into.

Just look at it!

I might knit another one... one day...

But what have you been doing all this time?

2011-04-09T11:02:00.010+01:00

I've had a lot of chance to think about reconnecting with my past recently. I've just been to a family funeral where I met some relatives that I haven't seen for over thirty years. I've also, for some reason heard from a couple of old boyfriends. Must be something in the air.... One of the things that I have learned about keeping old friendships alive is that you need to at least make some effort at capturing the time you have been apart so that you can move on without questions unasked and gaps unaccounted for. This may just be me, and may also partly explain why my reconnection with this blog has faltered a little. What I need to do, just so that I can feel we are back on a proper footing is to give you a brief rundown of all the knitting that I have been doing whilst things have been quiet round here. Trust me, there is rather a lot which I am going to have to spread over a couple of postings but here is the proof that whilst I may have been a little flabby in the blogging department, I have certainly been prolific with my needles. In the first picture you may be astonished to discover that I have made myself another pair of Cranfords. I have to admit that they are rather special as I made them in cashmere that I bought on holiday in Paris a couple of years ago from La Droguerie. I love bringing yarn home as a souvenir of a trip as finding the right project and reminiscing about a happy time while I am knitting it add to the pleasure. Did I mention that for some reason, in a moment of optimism about the speed of my knitting and my ability to focus I signed up for an online challenge called the 52 pair Plunge where it attempt to finish 52 pairs of socks between June 1st 2010 and May 31st 2011? Of course I set off at a reasonable clip but was soon feeling the pace. I think I have knitted about 29 pairs and with only 6 weeks of the challenge left am in serious danger of not finishing... One good thing that has come out of this challenge is that I have been forced to get on and finish a few pairs that have been on the needles for some considerable time. These plain top down socks in Opal yarn are a good example. Another slightly more interesting dimension to the 52 pair plunge was my belief that if I joined a whole lot of knitalongs, I would be pulled along by peer pressure. These socks, in Old Maiden Aunt Sock yarn are from a mystery sock knitalong from one of the larger sock knitting groups on Ravelry. I have to admit that I cheated a bit and waited for the first two clues to be published before I decided that it might be worth doing but thoroughly enjoyed both the pattern and the challenge. If only I could remember what the pattern was...

Oooh look - more dull socks off the needles - will not be buying any more Opal Mosaic zzzzzzzzz.....

May I point out that a swift couple of pairs of toddler socks is not entirely 52 pair plunge gamesmanship on my part. I did design a plain pattern for a toe up sock knitting class that I was teaching a couple of times this year and they were used as class samples. Not gamesmanship but they gave my tally a much needed quick boost....

Note small running out of yarn incident - no frogging for me - pressing on regardless. Both pairs made in scraps of Cherry Tree Hill Supersock and being happily worn by my friend's little boy who appreciates my 'design feature'.

Next up a rather lovely pair of plain toe up socks in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino. Another outcome of this sock knitting mania is that I have been knitting more plain socks recently and in the spirit of stash busting digging old variegated skeins out from the back of the stash and rediscovering why I never seem to tire of knitting even the plainest socks so long as the yarn feels good and is an interesting colour.

I also rekindled my love for Nancy Bush designs with this pair of Little Child's Socks in some lovely green Yarn Yard Toddy that I knitted as part of a Nancy Bush knitalong. Some of my favourite socks that I always go to first when I have done a batch of hand washing are Nancy Bush socks. I love the attention to detail and the way that they fit.

Hmmm.... gloves. I loved knitting these Knotty Gloves by Julia Mueller in a wonderful bright skein of Yarn Yard Clan.... until I got to the fingers...zzzzz...... good job I prefer fingerless mitts for most practical purposes. These lay without a thumb for about six months such was my lack of enthusiasm for that final bit of finishing. Now they're done I really like them and for those with more stamina than me I can thoroughly recommend this free pattern.

Next up, another pair of socks which I am ashamed to say also languished for some time - Brainless by Yarnissima in Koigu no less. Blame the endless twisted rib....

I have blogged about my yellow Bitterrroot shawl before. This is a free pattern in Knitty which I knit in Yarn Yard Gloaming, a reasonably robust merino and silk heavy lace weight which is wonderful to work wish if you aren't particularly fond of the very fine, frogs breath types of lace weight. As you can see, blocking transforms lace.

So much so that I need several self indulgent photographs to show it in all its glory.

I would really like to have a few more of these now that the warmer weather is here as they are perfect to wear at the throat of a black dress making that 'What shall I wear' moment first thing in the morning as easy as possible.

It must have become fairly clear now that I am a great lover of the colour yellow and these socks continue that theme. The yarn is another souvenir from my travels - Green Mountain Spinnery Sock in 'Meadow' which I brought back from the Rhinebeck Festival two years ago. If you look very closely at the yarn, which is a tightly spun wool and mohair blend, you will see little flecks of green and pink which lift the colour considerably.

And finally, after a weekend school on crochet back in August I felt it was time to embark on a seriously large crochet project - a big ripple blanket using Attic 24's very simple, well illustrated and attractive pattern. I get it out and add a few rows every so often. Would be nice to have it finished so that I can show and tell it at the retreat this August. Where did I put my hook?

Ripples are fun to photograph.

I'm particularly proud of the 'Arty' orange stripe I have added to the otherwise quite sombre 30s inspired palette.

Are you still with me? Believe it or not I still have a pile of past projects to show you before I'm up to date but I feel so much better for getting this lot off my chest! Normal service will return eventually.......

Every journey starts with one step

2011-03-14T19:00:00.002Z

Having drifted through another blogging hiatus it would be easy to carry on procrastinating, paralysed by the amount of things that I could tell you about and the expectation that I should be offering some spectacular piece of woolly news to entice you back into reading my ramblings again. Or I could just go on about a piece of spinning and knitting that has made me really happy recently and just take it from there.

I have spun and knit a handful of pairs of socks in my time. The first pair make an appearance in their almost finished state in my avatar. I was so consumed with delight at having actually spun yarn for my own socks that I turned a blind eye to the fact that they were overspun to the point of the fabric resembling kevlar but I love them and coincidentally was wearing them only yesterday. I doubt that they will ever wear out.

The other pairs have been sock shaped and acceptable but I felt I was on a bit of a plateau. Then, last summer I took a spinning for socks class with Judith McKenzie McCuin and discovered that what I really needed to be doing was making three ply sock yarn and it has taken me until now and the acquisition of a tensioned Lazy Kate to settle down and have a go.

The fibre that I chose was a grey merino, overdyed with purple and pink in a colourway called Sutton's Tarn by the Thylacine. I adore coloured fleece overdyed or blended with coloured fibre as it seems to give the shades a real depth and complexity. The spinning was quite a time consuming exercise but the resulting yarn well rewarded my efforts.

I decided not to mess around and just knit a plain toe up sock to let the yarn speak for itself and it was an absolute joy to knit with. The three plies made the yarn strong but it was much softer and plumper than any of the two plies that I have produced up to now. As you can see the fabric on 2mm needles was firm and even.

Can anything possibly interrupt this orgy of self congratulation I hear you ask? Nothing, apart from the fact that I was so busy making sure my singles were fine and not to overspun and that my plying was smooth and even that I completely neglected to think about colour distribution so all the purple yarn has migrated to one sock making it look like a have a severely bruised foot!

I still love these socks for their softness and evenness and the leap forward in my spinning skills that they represent. I just need to think a little more about the colours next time!

Work and Play

2010-12-23T15:01:00.003Z

Helloooooo..............

Is there anybody there?

I wouldn't blame you if you had given up on ever hearing from this neck of the woods but I am still around, and still knitting. It's taken me some time to get round to writing this post and the longer it has taken, the more difficult it has been to explain the silence.

Knitting has been a pretty constant companion through most of my life. I was taught by my grandmother at the age of four so there have been very few times in my life when knitting has not been a part of it. It has ebbed and flowed as other interests and responsibilities have had to take centre stage but it has always been a quiet, constant part of my life. I can remember many years ago when my mother was terminally ill, how we took refuge in talking about our knitting. I remember the last letter she sent me where she triumphantly announced that she had finally got to grips with using a circular needle. In happier times when my sister told me she was expecting the first child, my nephew, the first thing I did was to make three little cardigans in bright primary colours and ascending sizes and her telling me that opening that parcel was the first time that she really appreciated the changes ahead! Later on, with a new born G fast asleep in his cot she tells me that she woke up feeling very scared and overwhelmed to find me sitting at the end of her bed, peacefully knitting and knew that all would be well.

With the advent of the online knitting community, like many people, knitting has become a greater part of my life, not just from the availability of more interesting materials but in terms of the community that we have grown and the real life friendships that it has led to. Without the internet I would never have become a knitting teacher or designer, wouldn't have had the first idea of how to go about learning to spin. Through this community I have travelled the length and breadth of the country, have visited friends and festivals in the United States and Australia and become the proud owner of more handmade socks than a centipede would need to hike the Pennine Way.

Long term readers of this blog will know that I have always been particularly rigorous in keeping my knitting life and other dimensions of my world quite separate and have rarely reflected on my personal or professional life apart from when it directly interlaces with my knitting. You may have picked up that I have been working as a very senior professional in a large public service in the UK and have found knitting invaluable in helping me deal with the stresses and strains that such a position inevitably brings both as another focus to life but also as a relaxing activity in itself. Sitting on the bus, tuning in to the rhythm of my needles is such a good way to deal with a frustrating and difficult day.

However, there have been some significant and rather wonderful changes to this balancing act which in some ways have contributed to my blog silence as I have been working on how I build them into my blogging and online presence. I have been incredibly lucky and secured a job where my skills as a knitter are as important as my experience as a project manager. I have been appointed by the Charities Advisory Trust to be the project manager for Knit for Peace, one of their major activities.

I t has taken me a few weeks to think about whether I should be keeping this blog completely separate or whether I should be using the Knit for Peace blog that I have set up for the project in a different way and those ideas are still forming in my head but in the first instance I thought that it was time that I tried to articulate some of my thought processes in my own blog as a way of breaking through the log jam and getting back to something I really enjoy writing. it's going to be a very interesting journey, combining my personal interests with my career and so far I am thoroughly enjoying the ride. Whether I use this blog or some other way to tell you about them please be assured - there is knitting and lots of it!

Flow

2010-09-18T20:04:00.004+01:00

Sometimes I wonder why I am a knitter. Why do I enjoy the thousands and thousands of small movements that slowly build up a piece of work layer by layer such that rarely a day goes by without sitting down and adding a few rows to one project or another? I quite often ask myself that question myself when I get bogged down in a project that never seems to end or doesn't seem to be turning out to look like it did in my mind's eye. The yarn may not feel comfortable in my hands, the needles too long, too short, too grippy, too slippy.

It is wonderful, therefore when a project defies the odds. It helps to take a yarn in one of my favourite colours, bright, golden yellow, in a gorgeous fibre, merino and silk in lace weight that is neither too heavy or too light. This is Gloaming by the Yarn Yard, an 80% merino 20% silk lace weight yarn which gives 800metres to 100grammes. Light but not insubstantial.

I decided that I would make another Bitterroot from Knitty as I have given away the purple one that I made at the beginning of the year to my friend Cathy in Australia - the colour is perfect for her. This colour is much more me. It helps to have a pattern which whilst rarely static for long has enough predictability and readability for me to really start to relax, enjoying the feel of the yarn through my fingers, devouring every stitch, eager to make progress but also wanting to savour the experience. I've heard this feeling of being completely at one with whatever you are doing is called Flow.

Wikipedia describes it as 'the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity'. Whatever it is, I think it's the feeling that we as knitters and crafts people strive for and are lucky enough to achieve.

Apparently it has all sorts of benefits . Who knew?

As with all lace, at the moment the shawl looks somewhat indifferent whilst under construction. I will have to wait until it is blocked for it to transform itself into something rather special.

Mind you, it will be a shame to lose these textural elements as they appear on the wrong side.

Another positive dimension to this shawl is,just when I think I might get a bit bogged down and lose my Flow, I get to add beads! Luckily I found I had these beads on hand which should blend in pretty well.

And finally, in case I need any more motivation....

I need a shawl to match these shoes.............

A Clean Start

2010-09-17T17:21:00.004+01:00

I really have no explanation for why it has taken me so long to return to this blog - probably the longest interval since I started writing. Blame the summer and the lure of the great outdoors.

I think it is fair to say that summer in London is drawing to a close. I believe I have eaten my last home grown red tomatoes and the morning was chilly enough for me to reach for a pair of warm woolly socks from my sadly depleted sock drawer.

Some rummaging in the laundry bag later the reason became clear - a significant backlog on the sock washing front. I know that much sock yarn is perfectly safe to be machine washed but I prefer to wash my hand knitted socks by hand - I think they do stay looking better for longer and having spent so much time in making them I do feel a great deal more responsibility towards them than if they were shop bought.

So there you have it - celebrating the turn of the season with 25 freshly washed, line dried pairs of socks. I think I might even be looking forward to autumn - just a little bit.

Serious sockage!

2010-08-08T22:54:00.005+01:00

You must know me well enough by now to know that a temporary lack of blogging certainly doesn't mean that there has been a lack of knitting - oh no. I am, however, still stuck in the sock groove and am, quite miraculously, still on target to achieve the 52 pair plunge. The year is yet young, however, and there are some seriously nice shawl patterns out there....

Anyway, just to reassure you of the continued clicking of my needles here are my Herdy Monkeys. The yarn is Yarn Yard Toddy in a colour which Natalie died especially for Woolfest 2009 in colours that evoke the countryside and also the famous Herdwick Sheep. I have been thinking about what sort of pattern would suit them and then read on the Ravelry UK Sock Knitters Forum about a Knitalong using Los Monos Locos, a sock pattern which is basically the famous Cookie A Monkey sock but knit from the toe up. I think this sort of stitch pattern lends itself quite well to variegated yarns and was particularly pleased with the effect which reminded me of birds feathers. The heel had an unusual construction the heel flap and gussets done together across the sole of the foot then a short row heel cup done afterwards. It looks very pretty but doesn't give the arch expansion that a normal flap and gusset does so the socks fit but are a little snug to manoeuvre over the arch.

Today's second offering is also a pair of Cookie A socks, Lindsay from her book Sock Innovations. I have to say that this pattern isn't at first glance as attractive as a lot of the other designs in the book but as it was this month's sock on the Makin' Cookies Knitalong on Ravelry I thought I would have a go. I have to say that I enjoy the camaraderie and encouragement of Knitalongs so have been doing quite a few recently. I think I will become a little selective as time goes by as there are so many beautiful patterns around that I want to leave some room for tackling them.

These Lindsay socks are a very quick knit and the pattern is very easy to remember. I knit mine in some Koigu in muted greys, lilacs and khaki which I think lent itself well to this pattern. The toe and heel are garter stitch short row, the only part of which I found challenging was grafting the seam between sole and heel to finish them off but it was a learning experience.

I also managed to finish off a pair of socks that had been languishing in my WIP bag for a few months. These are my Tanzelope Crocodile Mansocks knit in Yarn Yard Clan in one of the club colours. I used a simple broken rib which whilst rather time consuming to do worked well with the variegated yarn. I used a basic toe up construction based on Wendyknits universal sock pattern.

There will be more sock coverage soon if you can bear it but you will be relieved to know that I took some spinning classes recently so my next post will probably be all about them. Plus, and this may surprise you, in a couple of weeks I am going away for the weekend with the East London Crochet Group. I may come back a changed woman.....

I get knocked down....

2010-07-13T22:01:00.004+01:00

....But I get up again...

Today's post, whilst still vaguely about sock knitting is really more about the place that knitting has in my life and how it helps me manage the stresses and strains of a responsible job in a busy urban environment. I know that I don't talk much about my life outside my knitting on this blog and this remains my overall intention but nobody does anything in complete isolation so I wanted to tell you a bit about last week.

Last Tuesday I failed my driving test. Again. This is extremely frustrating as my driving standard is good enough to pass, I just get very nervous on the day and make the silliest of errors. This time was no different so I started the long slink back to work with my well groomed tail well and truly between my legs then remembered that my route to work (creatively planned) could include Loop's new shop in Camden Passage. I didn't think it was unreasonable to console myself with a little treat.

Loop is certainly the place for treats and in the end I chose some rather posh handmaiden Casbah in a shade that reminded me of those pieces of glass that are washed up on the beach by the tide, translucent and smooth. This heady mixture of merino, silk and cashmere felt so consoling...

I decided to join the Serpentine Sock, another pattern from Wendy Johnson's first toe up book knitalong which is designed for sport weight yarn on 2.75 mm needles as the yardage on this yarn was quite low and if I knit the big size on 2.5mm I reckoned I had a viable combination.

You can see what I mean about the shade in this photo of the sole of the foot.

I don't think the colours detract from the flow of the stitch pattern.

This was a very quick and satisfying knit which produced a gloriously silky and soft fabric which I think will make perfect bedtime/lounging around the house socks. The fabric isn't as firm and robust as I would use for day to day wear.

It only took me five days to finish these socks and whilst they were a really good comfort project I have to say that I prefer the feel of a good robust sock yarn knit on small needles so have returned to my other projects with renewed enthusiasm.

I've also re booked my driving test.

Tunnel Vision

2010-07-08T01:46:00.006+01:00

Well hello! And how is everybody? Me? I'm just fine although I am rather chastened by my lack of blogging recently. It's not that I haven't been busy doing interesting and blogworthy things it's just that I haven't had the energy to write and tell you all about them.

I will try to make brief amends today. You may be surprised to know that I have maintained my focus and am still keeping up with the 52 pair plunge. We are 5 weeks into the challenge and I have completed six pairs of socks. Don't ask me how it happened.

First of all I have a pair of mansocks which in all honestly have been sitting on the needles two thirds finished for a very long time so they were easy pickings. They are knitted in Opal 4ply although I have not managed to locate the ball band so can't tell you what the shade name or number is. Having been used to knitting with hand dyed yarns I did notice that the yarn was a little less pleasant to work with but I'm sure I read somewhere that the yarn has a light coating on it for ease of knitting which is removed by the first wash leaving the finished sock soft and fluffy. I've also found this yarn to be extremely hard wearing and durable.

Next up is my first contribution to the Makin' Cookies Knitalong on Ravelry. I'm a bit of a stranger to formal knitalongs and at first I was a little bamboozled by the acres of rules which I was expected to read and inwardly digest. However, once I started posting comments and pictures I found it to be a very welcoming place to be and have enjoyed the banter and encouragement.

This month's sock has been Milo by Cookie A and whilst reasonably complex turned out to be quite intuitive and quick to knit. The yarn I chose is Nature's Palette in Autumn Leaves which meant I was also able to enter it into another Knitalong where participants are assigned a colour with which to knit any socks they like that month. Much quite amusing debate ensues about when is an orange yarn orange enough but I was relieved to note that my apricot yarn passed muster! I am very pleased with how they came out and grateful to everyone for their kind comments and encouragement.

And finally, on this week's catch up post allow me to present my Ruby Slippers knit in Yarn Yard Clan Rhododendron club yarn. These socks are knit using a construction method that I am not familiar with. They start from the toe up and the gusset expansion happens between the lines of cable on the bridge of the foot followed by the sort of flap and gusset for toe ups heel that I am used to.

All in all I am having a wonderful time knitting away on my various challenges and I haven't become bored by sock knitting yet. What I am discovering is a lot more enthusiastic, friendly knitters as well as huge numbers of new patterns by designers I am as yet unfamiliar with. I would like my annual tally of socks (however many there might end up being) to reflect the diversity of sock knitting opportunities in terms of both pattern and yarn that are out there.

Speaking of yarn, I was fortunate enough to visit Woolfest a couple of weeks ago and decided to confine my shopping to sock yarns and came home with a beautiful bag full of coloured inspiration. I really must take a photo of them to show you.

Anyway, as you can imagine I have tons of socks in progress so next time will have more than enough to tell you - as long as I'm not too busy knitting.

So far so good!

2010-06-17T00:20:00.003+01:00

You will be pleased to know that sock knitting has been going on here in a big way. Surprisingly, I am even up to date on the 52 Pair Plunge! Last week's contribution was Diamonds and Cables from Wendy Johnson's new and very beguiling book knit in Yarn Yard Clan in the Kale colourway. I'm pleased with the combination of yarn and pattern.

In week three I got a little more ambitious. As part of the Anything Nancy Bush knitalong on Ravelry I chose Virve's Stockings from Folk Knitting in Estonia as I wanted to make something slightly more unusual. I also love the way that the coloured band appears at just the right spot between shoe and trouser.

I didn't have quite enough yarn to make them full knee socks - in fact I am quite pleased with my judgement as I finished both socks with a couple of feet a yarn to spare. This didn't stop me making contingency plans about different colour bands on the toes, however.

I am becoming a little more optimistic about my ability to give this challenge a good run for its money. I certainly have the speed and I certainly don't have to turn into some sort of reclusive sock knitting machine. While I was knitting these I spent four days in Wales and four days at the Isle of Wight Music Festival. Either I am becoming more brazen about knitting in public or it is possible to run a normal life while undertaking this foolish game.

We shall see.

Socks and Drugs and Rock and Roll*

2010-06-07T00:07:00.005+01:00

I think it's probably quite common after a long and enjoyable trip but since I came back from my holidays I've been feeling a bit flat. None of my knitting has particularly grabbed me and my spinning wheel has been idle for ages.

Then, wandering around in Ravelry I started to pick up rumblings about something called a 52 pair plunge. After further investigation it emerges that there are knitters who are so dedicated to the knitting of socks that they challenge themselves to knit 52 pairs in a year. Apparently this madness is now in its fourth year. And no, we aren't talking 52 pairs of baby socks which are, they say admissible, we are talking knee socks, colour work socks, complicated travelling stitches. These knitters must never sleep!

Of course it wasn't too long before I persuaded myself that of course it was theoretically possible that I could do this although having checked my statistics the most socks I have ever knitted in one year is 29. The long and the short of it is that I have signed up for the full challenge although of course I hold Rachel at Knittingtastic and Natalie at The Yarn Yard entirely responsible for leading me down the paths of sock madness by signing up themselves.

The Plunge officially started on 1st June and as the completion of socks already complete is allowed I set to with some enthusiasm, digging forgotten socks out from all kinds of nooks and crannies and (ahem) maybe starting a few more just to get my hand in. By the time the plunge started I had counted fourteen pairs on the needles...

I have been thinking about how to approach this task and thought that trawling Ravelry and finding a few knitalongs might help a little as I really do enjoy the camaraderie and company of other knitters engaged in a common pursuit so have devised myself a fiendishly complicated schedule that I will try not to bore you with. Basically, I am planning to finish one pair of socks a week. This week I finished these off.

Yes, I admit, they could be described as 'Low Hanging Fruit' being almost complete plain toe up socks in a variegated yarn but we all have to start somewhere. For the record they are Toe up socks largely following Wendy Johnson's generic recipe in Socks that Rock Lightweight in Flower Power on a 2.25mm circular needle. I have also decided to use the good stuff from my stash to make the task as enjoyable as possible.

Here is a (very) small selection of some of the other things I have on my needles.

Last year I bought this lovely skein of yarn from The Yarn Yard. It's the Woolfest 2009 limited edition in colours that make me think of a Herdwick sheep.

I'm knitting less and less with variegated yarn these days but thought that as it's June (Woolfest month!) it was appropriate to use it as my first sock in the Yarn yard's own 12 socks in 12 months challenge as well as the UK Sock Knitters KAL which requires knitters to knit the same pattern - in this case Los Monos Locos, a toe up adaptation of the ubiquitous Monkey Socks by Cookie A. They have an interesting heel construction so I thought I'd have a go. Here is my progress to date.

I also found a very gentle KAL on the Nancy Bush Knitters forum. Now I am a huge fan of Nancy and am excited to report that I will be taking a class with her at Knitnation 2010 so I thought it would be a good opportunity to try one of her patterns. Having seen a beautiful version by my friend Jacqueline in Melbourne I chose Virve's Stockings from Folk Knitting in Estonia. It is a reasonably uncomplicated knit but the thing I really like about it is that the fair isle band sits exactly where they can be seen under a long skirt or trousers - how clever is that? The yarn that I used is Yarn Yard Clan in a charcoal grey solid colour.

The band is made from scraps of Clan in Botanic and two club yarns, Kale and Purple. I knot this stocking in record time largely due to the fact that I had convinced myself that I was going to run out of yarn before I reached the toe and everyone knows that you use less yarn if you knit really, really fast..... Luckily I made it with a couple of metres to spare.

Moving deeper into my mounting obsession I decided to join in with the Making Cookies Group who have been working their way through Cookie A's book, Sock Innovation and have reached Milo. Recently this skein of apricot Nature's Palette fell into my bag at Loop so at the same time these socks are entered for the Solid Socks Groups June KAL which happens to have reached the colour orange! I know what you're thinking, I'm starting to lose the plot...

I haven't got very far with Milo at the moment but it is much simpler and easy to knit than I expected. The yarn is also very soft and cushy.

Finally, before you decide that I am in the grips of some clinical mania I will show you some progress on the Norwegian Roses Sock that I showed you last week. This is my first attempt at an entire sock in stranded colour work so may take me some time. I am also knitting along with a very relaxed group on the Knitgrllls Group with this one.

I think it's fair to say that I have got my knitting mojo well and truly back - the question is, can it be sustained? Keep checking here to find out...

*with apologies to the late lamented Ian Dury.

The Australia Diaries Part 8 - Bright lights, big city...

2010-05-27T01:34:00.005+01:00

Whilst it was hard to say goodbye to friends in country Victoria the blow was lessened by a few days acclimatising myself to city living once again with my friends Jan and Geoff who really make me feel like Melbourne is my second home.

I was also lucky enough to meet up with my friend Jacqueline who I met some years ago through the Knitters Review Forum and have been trying but failing to meet up with on my trips ever since. I was sad not to be able to catch up with my friend Rose but that just means that I have to come back soon!.

Jacqueline and I met up at what I am led to believe is a traditional meeting point for Melburnians, under the clocks at Flinders Street Station.

While I was waiting I was reminded by these wonderful shop fronts that I was not in London and that even in the big city, the bush is close to the heart, at least in the imagination of many Australians.

Akubra hats are an Australian icon, traditionally made from rabbit fur felt, something that, thanks to European settlement they have in abundance here.

One of the wonderful things about having friends in unfamiliar cities is that they can show you treasures that you would be very hard pressed to find on your own. On leaving Flinders Street, Jacqueline whisked me away into the unprepossessing entrance of the Nicholas Building on Swanson Street, an elderly but characterful building which turned out to be an absolute treasure house.

First we visited Buttonmania where the very helpful assistant with old fashioned grace pulled out drawer after drawer to find the perfect small brown button for a project that Jacqueline is working on.

Next we visited Kimono House where when running my hands over all the beautiful textiles I regretted my limited sewing skills.

Finally, we found, quite by chance, L'uccello , a newly opened shop selling vintage haberdashery and craft kits where Jacqueline found some gorgeously subtle vintage ribbon for edging a skirt to wear with every girl's winter wardrobe essential - red boots!

Of course, all this retail excitement meant that we were soon ready for lunch so we headed for Federation Square.

The architecture of Federation Square which was finished around five years ago has both its admirers and detractors as it is very contemporary and distinctive. I have to say that I really like it and revisiting it now after seeing it first just after it had been finished it is good to see how people have taken it to their hearts and are using it as a focal point for city life as it was intended to be.

We headed to the Chocolate Buddha for lunch and spent the best part of the afternoon putting the world to rights from the importance of knitting a tension square to the peculiarities of the male of the species.

My last day in Melbourne was full of friendship and relaxed conversation and one of the many reasons that it will always be part of my life.

But, life goes on and I have been home for several weeks now and of course have been knitting tirelessly to help acclimatise to real life. Next time I will share with you some of the things I have been doing and also some of the surely misguided plans I have for the year. Here are a couple of tasters to keep you going.

Socks! No surprises there then....

The Australia Diaries Part 7 - Ladies who lunch

2010-05-23T21:10:00.005+01:00

We're into the last few days of my trip now and it's hard sometimes not to let the shadow of my imminent departure and farewells to dear friends fall over the memories of these moments. On the road again we headed for eastern Victoria near Lakes Entrance to stay with Leon's brother Brian and his wife, Margaret to spend a couple of days while Leon took a woodworking course at the local technical college.

As you can see the location was, once again idyllic although the slightly brown caste you can see in the distance is smoke from the somewhat controversial practice of cool burning which some argue helps to forestall the catastrophic fires that the area has experienced in recent years.

With the right eye, even the silver gull who is a tireless scavenger and an absolute pest if you want to eat fish and chips peacefully by the sea can be appreciated for the beautiful creature that it is.

Margaret took charge of my entertainment while Leon was at college and what a wonderful job she made of it. Visits to the local wool shop, friends and relatives, I was never short of someone to talk to and best of all, a lot of these women are the most talented crafters so I was treated to looking at wonderful examples of their quilting, needlepoint and knitting.

I was also invited to the monthly fund raising lunch at the local parish church. Oh and by the way said Margaret, casually, they'd like you to do the after lunch speech. Splutter... Shall I talk about my knitting? I offered hopefully. Oh no, she said. They like a slightly more meaty subject than that - can you talk about mental health services in the UK. Blimey, I thought - this is getting me back in the swing for work just a couple of days too early.

As it turned out, it was easy to find enough to talk about a service I feel passionate about and the women were warm and interested and asked a lot of very pertinent questions. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, the lunch was excellent - and I think they let me win the raffle...

On the way back, Leon stopped and let me visit one of my favourite wool shops - the Jolly Jumbuck. They sell some of the most beautiful naturally coloured yarns as well as some very nice hand dyed skeins. I'll admit that I did indulge but I can't show you as when I packed up to head back to Melbourne it soon became clear that there was not enough room in my rucksack for everything so as we speak it is wending its way, at exorbitant cost across the seas to Blighty. It really is worth it!

In knitting news I have to admit that even on a road trip, monogamous knitting is not possible. There are times when it is not very sociable to knit a more complicated pattern so I cast on for another Damson, once again in Wollemeise, this time in shades of blue and green as my reserve project. I l=love the way this pattern is shaped, it makes the scarf so easy to wear that I wish I had half a dozen - although right now I will settle for two.

Next time will be my final post from Australia after which I will be telling you abut what I have been knitting these last couple of weeks.

The Australia Diaries Part 6 - on the road again

2010-05-18T22:17:00.011+01:00

It only seemed like a couple of days before we were back on the road again, this time to Bendigo, a medium sized town in country Victoria, about a five hour drive from Churinga. The occasion was a weekend of meetings of the Victorian Green Party. I was warmly welcomed as a fellow Green from the UK and wished well in the coming election and then spontaneously invited to stand up and say a few words - into a microphone and everything - I was very glad to get back into my corner and carry on my knitting but it was also lovely to be surrounded by people who are equally concerned and interested in the environment.

I did get some time, however, to slip out and explore the urban environment. Bendigo clearly shows that it was built on prosperity back in the 19th century, prosperity, I understand, largely based on gold mining. There are many imposing buildings designed to showcase this new wealth. I always like to look upwards when I visit a modern town as a lot of the more interesting architecture is above the rather uniform modern shopping street.

Look at this riot of ornamentation high up on a rooftop, largely out of sight.

Leon and I also came across this rather exuberant decorative brickwork along the side of a building.

He has asked me to use the pattern to design him a hat. I think it can be done...

As in any environment, decay stands side by side with new development. I was struck by the way that this ruined building created a confusion between indoors and outdoors. It is clearly considered a rather photogenic location as later in day we came across a wedding party having some photographs done in the 'courtyard' which I imagine was once somebody's home.

Digressing momentarily on the subject of ruins.... Leon and I came across this abandoned house on our travels.

At first glance it looks like one of the fairly common abandoned homes that you come across as you drive around Australia which make you think about what life was like in this country when it was very young and without much in the way of infrastructure and people needed to make their homes with whatever materials came to hand. I am used to seeing the ubiquitous corrugated iron roofs but what made this building so interesting was what had been revealed when the corrugated iron slipped off.

Before the advent of corrugated iron people used to roof their houses with wooden shingles cut from the surrounding trees. Leon tells me that very few examples of these roofs remain in the area and that we were very lucky to see one.

We also managed to have a walk through the park at the centre of Bendigo. Some of the trees are familiar and European . Others aren't. This one looked like a giant monkey puzzle tree.

But just looking at the trunk with all its folds and texture it reminds me of a great elephant's foot.

Just in case you thought that this was no longer a knitting blog there isn't a knitter in Australia who doesn't know what the highlight of any visit to Bendigo is...

Could I leave empty handed? Of course not. On my visit, Lyn had been knitting a baby blanket with some gorgeous, beautifully soft grey yarn. I just had to have some. Here is my skein of Bendigo Luxury 4ply in a colour called Red Earth which is a rich, wholesome brown. It comes in large, satisfying 200g cakes and is quite easy on the purse as well. Whilst not labelled merino it is every bit as soft as many yarns that I have knit with labelled as such.

Of course, I had to cast on straight away so here is my third travel project - the beginnings of a Haruni lace shawl. So far it is knitting up into a warm, substantial shawl.I am finding the pattern easy and straightforward to follow and have decided to add a few repeats to ensure that as a warm shawl it is large enough to swaddle myself in.

In my next post we go back to the Lakes, I find another wool shop and have fun with a church ladies' luncheon club....

The Australia Diaries Part 5 - 56 jars of chutney

2010-05-13T22:49:00.007+01:00

After the excitement of my travels it was lovely to get back to Leon and Cathy's house in the bush and spend a few days indulging in more domestic pursuits. In Australia, April marks the beginning of autumn so we spent time in the garden making sure every last bit of the harvest was gathered in before the cold weather.

Tomato plants were stripped and yielded this rather motley collection of unripe fruit.

Which we turned into this:

Added an eye watering quantity of this:

Cooked them up with herbs and spices and all good things to make this: Green tomato chutney.

56 jars of it!

Apparently, I was a little generous with the chili on the first batch so it isn't for the faint hearted. I relented in subsequent boilings and produced a much less exciting brew which is perfectly safe for children and those of a nervous disposition....

Here is the recipe as best as I can remember it.

Nola's Green Tomato Chutney

6lbs green tomatoes

2lbs onions

1lb sugar

cinnamon, cloves and allspice tied up in muslin bag

3pints white vinegar

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

2 teaspoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon chili powder (more if you dare)

1 cup flour

Method

Boil tomatoes, onions and vinegar (reserving a small amount of vinegar for later) with muslin bag of spices for 20 minutes. Add sugar and boil for another hour. Mix remaining ingredients to a paste with reserved vinegar, stir in until thickened.

Bottle in sterilised jars.

In knitting news I finished the Wandering the Moors Shawl. I really like the way it has turned out. I also had a huge amount of yarn left over. The feel is light and airy with no areas of significant over twist or over plying so it is still obviously hand spun .

Of course, I can never be without knitting in my hand so I will show you my next travel project very soon!

The Australia Diaries Part 4 - I love Sydney!

2010-05-11T09:00:00.005+01:00

Do you know what I discovered on this trip? Australia is really, really big. I have travelled from Melbourne to Sydney before but it was only just over an hour in the plane so it felt like no distance at all. As I was already half way up the New South Wales coast we thought it would be a really good idea for me to complete the journey to Sydney by coach. At 6.30am I was standing, bleary eyed at the coach stop in Merimbula. At 4.00 pm I emerged, equally bleary eyed to be met by my blogging friend Lyn of Shades of Grey fame. We had already met up in London where Lyn very kindly offered her hospitality and the chance to come to love Sydney as my only previous experience had been work and rain soaked!

Lyn lives in Redfern, a diverse and colourful inner city suburb in an apartment that mine wants to be when it grows up, surrounded by books, beautiful and interesting objects, comfy sofas and the evidence of a lively, intelligent and creative mind.

No sooner had I put my bags down and she had whisked me off to a ballet at the opera house. Yes, the Sydney Opera House, most iconic of iconic buildings and I've been inside it! I have to admit that I was very excited.There are few urban views more spectacular than Sydney harbour with its bridge and opera house and ferries buzzing backwards and forwards. I was well and truly smitten.

The next couple of days were a whirl of good food, good company and knitters! On Saturday we went to a meeting of the Inner City branch of the Knitters Guild which was inspiring to me on many levels. Firstly, the number and variety of ages and skill levels of the knitters gathered in a small room at the central library. Secondly, the way that it was skillfully run with a very light but firm touch. There was a brief amount of business, an interesting and accessible tutorial, a very inclusive show and tell and of course tea and cakes! It certainly made me reflect on the UK Knitting and Crochet Guild and how much more vibrant and relevant this group feels to the organisation we currently have here which, to the general member feels very inward looking currently.

The other highlight of the trip was an invitation to Rose Red's baby shower. It was so lovely to be surrounded by warm, friendly knitters that I have known through their blogs for some time now and can at last put faces to the names. Of course there were so many people there my head was a bit of a whirl but it was particularly good to meet Miss Fee, DrK, and Bells knits as well as Rose Red and her impending arrival.

As a tribute to these lovely knitters who made me so welcome I wanted to find a way to show them to you on the blog without embarrassment as I know that not everybody likes to have their face on the Internet so, with their kind permission I have some images of knitters with their knitting.

People may recognise themselves....

And of course, the reason why I needed to abandon work on my shawl and do some speed knitting becomes obvious.

Little red socks for the new arrival.

I have just heard that baby Connor arrived safe and well on Mother's Day. Health and happiness always to all of you.

And thank you, knitters of Sydney, and especially Lyn for making it possible for me to say 'I love Sydney!'

The Australia Diaries Part 3 - Walking on the Moon

2010-05-07T19:57:00.008+01:00

One of the things that I love about Australia is the opportunity to be out in some of the most beautiful landscape which, in the crowded islands that I live in would be overrun with walkers and bikers. Here, it is possible to feel that it is just you, the trees and the birds.

It is six years since I was in this part of the country and one of the places that lingered in my memory is Moon Bay, in the Mimosa National Park. The walk down to the beach is a steep but cool path down through woodland.

I do love that even the shrubs are unusual and interesting - like these mock oranges.

The trees in this area are Spotted Gums. Their bark puts me in mind of London Planes who survive the pollution of the city by shedding their bark in small pieces. I love the texture and pattern in this bark.

As you can see, Moon Bay is the most perfect crescent of sand with gently breaking waves and blue, blue sea - almost deserted apart from Leon and I. We were fortunate to be able to watch sea eagles returning to their nest in the cliffs and just to sit and listen to the waves breaking on the shore without any evidence of the presence of other human beings. Sometimes when I am weaving my way through the crowds at Bank underground station I find myself mentally walking along Moon Bay - I wonder where every other commuter has gone in their mind...

On this, our last day in the area we decided to go to Merimbula to take a dolphin watching trip. Can you see any dolphins?

No, nor could I.

Despite this disappointment, being out on this sapphire blue sea was wonderful and we had the opportunity to watch gannets diving for fish and to see the coastline from a completely different perspective.

Next morning we had to get up at stupid o'clock and go our separate ways - me on a coach going north and Leon heading back south.

Breakfast at Bateman Bay was an unexpected pleasure.

In knitting matters my Wandering the Moors shawl was growing well and I had reached the lace edging.

However, next time I will tell you how I needed to temporarily abandon this project and indulge in a little speed knitting and what else I did on a visit to a fellow knitter in Sydney.

The Australia Diaries Part 2 - In which I disturb the wildlife

2010-05-03T17:03:00.004+01:00

One of the things that makes Australia so fascinating is the wildlife. Being isolated from the rest of the world for so many tens of thousands of years, there are species of animals here that really have few parallels anywhere else in the world. One of the most iconic of these has to be the kangaroo.

During the first week of my stay Leon and I spent a few days at Tathra, a beautiful seaside town on the New South Wales Coast. Early on the first morning of our stay, Leon asked 'Want to see some kangaroos?' Of course! I grabbed my camera and we set off.

I was a little baffled when I found myself on the fairway of the local golf course. Most of my friends will at this point be sniggering as they know my loathing for golf but apparently, golf courses are a prime location for spotting kangaroos - all that short, tasty grass apparently.

I wasn't to be disappointed - basking luxuriously in the sun was this female and her joey.

Now I have a new camera with a short zoom lens which as you can see does not really get you up close and personal with skittish wildlife so I thought I would just keep moving forward quietly and see how close I could get. Here are the results of my efforts.

I think I've been spotted.

What's going on?

The joey decided I was a bit too close at this point and hopped off into the undergrowth.

What do you want?

Oh do go away!

I think I need to invest in a longer lens as I would much prefer not to disturb animals in order to get a decent photograph.

In knitting news, the shawl that I decided to make is Wandering the Moor by Celeste Glassel whose design was inspired by Diana Rivers' shawl in the latest BBC adaptation of Jane Eyre. It is mainly stocking stitch with a lace border so I thought it would show this yarn to its best advantage. The rows get longer as the shawl progresses so the breadth of the colour repeats should start to get thinner and blend into the background by the tame I reach the lace edge.

That's the theory anyway...

The Australia Diaries Part 1 - Back to the Prom

2010-05-01T19:53:00.007+01:00

Well here I am, back from Australia. I had hoped to be able to blog as I went but a combination of a very busy and nomadic visit coupled with slow Internet connections meant that I had very little time on line at all so the whole of April has passed without a single entry.

Now that I am returned and pretty well recovered from the jet lag I have been looking through my photographs and am now able to offer a retrospective diary over the next few days, capturing some of the highlights and impressions before they fade from memory.

One of the early trips that we took was a return visit to Wilson's Promontory a beautiful wilderness which was the first National Park established in Australia.

Just look at the blue of that sea.

Alongside the dreadful loss of human life in the bush fires of 2008/9 I was very sad when I heard that over 50% of this beautiful place had been destroyed. As you can see, evidence of the heat of the blazes is still very evident.

However, it would be a mistake to feel too much concern for the natural environment as fire is very much part of the cycle of life in the Australian bush with some plants requiring the passing of fire to germinate and others being able to regenerate easily once the fire had passed.

You can see here how the understory has become green and lush under these blackened shrubs.

Exotic looking grass trees thrive in this environment.

And the epicormic shoots breaking out from the trunk of this eucalypt showing that despite its blackened branches the tree still thrives and will regenerate itself.

There were one or two other pleasant surprises awaiting us. The unseasonably warm weather had confused some of the wild flowers and encouraged this epacris to burst into blossom.

And this banksia flower provided a welcome and unexpected meal for a passing ant.

I wanted my knitting projects for the trip to reflect some of the colours that I associate with the landscape of this part of Australia so chose some heavy lace weight that I have been spinning from this fibre by The Thylacine.

The plied yarn turned out like this.

Next time I'll introduce you to a kangaroo and tell you what I've been knitting.

Fin

2010-03-29T09:34:00.003+01:00

This is the last of my 'catching up with myself' posts where I am showing you pieces that I have finally finished despite my parallel knitting habits. I have noticed this happens with my knitting quite often - I will have several projects on the go and either by chance or design, I end up finishing them at around the same time.

Having joined Ilga Leja's International Year of the Scarf Club I really wanted to finish the first couple before the end of March or I would be seriously behind! Friends at Skipnorth would have seen me quite monogamously beavering away on the Austria Scarf and I was delighted to discover that I finished all the required sections a day before I was due to come home. I them tried it on in the way that I think it looks most attractive, wrapped around twice as a neck piece. Unfortunately I am not blessed with the most swan like neck so instead of elegant ripples of fabric draped around my shoulders it looked as if a boa constrictor had me firmly by the throat. There was nothing for it but to knit on so I added a further section of stripes until my ball of grey yarn ran out.

I'm very glad I did as I wore it to work the other day and had several compliments. It's unusual, very easy to wear and extremely soft and comfortable.

Spurred on by this success I buckled down and tackled the final foot of my now outrageously long up sized Austria Scarf. I have also worn it to work and it is certainly a dramatic piece. I have to keep my wits about me not to get it caught in tube train doors or let it trail in puddles. Having said that it is also very versatile and once again extremely soft against the skin.

And here is a close up of the dramatic cabling on the end of the scarf.

You will be impressed to know that I have started the March scarf, Scotland but have only made a few inches of progress so far. Once again, because I have made it a rule to knit only from stash for this project it will look quite different from the original. I may, however fall behind again as the April scarf is almost upon us and I am about to head off to Australia for most of April. Now I could take a pile of works in progress with me and get them finished off but that wouldn't be any fun would it?I am taking all new projects to make sure that I get the maximum knitting enjoyment per gram of my luggage - no partly finished passengers in my crush packed rucksack!

Now the sharp eyed amongst you will know why I am posting this entry at a quarter to six in the morning! I am planning to keep blogging while I'm away as I have plenty of knitty and spinny plans for my stay and I can't wait to tell you all about them.

Better go and check my passport again....

A journey of a few thousand stitches

2010-03-25T00:29:00.006Z

Yes, it's that time of year again - the annual Skipnorth adventure has come and gone in a flurry of needles, yarn, wheels and fibre. This is the fourth time I've had the privilege of spending a long weekend with a group of knitters, crocheters and spinners from all over the UK who converge on the Youth Hostel in Haworth to share and enjoy love of the textile arts.

As you can see the weather and accommodation was grand.

The youth hostel is a converted Edwardian mansion built by someone who made their fortune in the wool trade which seems rather appropriate. Many of the original features have been retained such as these lovely painted glass doors.

The detail and colours are lovely.

The views across the valley on a lovely sunny day also speak of Yorkshire's woollen industry heritage.

With snowdrops in the garden confirming the turn in the seasons.

This year I think we managed a really good balance of skills sharing - I thouroughly enjoyed teaching easy colour skills to a lovely group of easy going knitters, learning how to make wet felt and enjoying an enthusiastic presentation from an alpaca farmer and of course, shopping.

Here is one of our closely guarded secrets (don't breathe a word to anyone...) which sells mill ends often at half their full price.

You will be amazed to know that I decided I really didn't need any more wool and spent time exploring and photographing their yard.

Next another one of our secrets - the Bombay Stores - an absolute Aladdin's cave of things shiny - I may have been followed home by some beads and fat quarters of silk from here. I also invested in all the spices I could need in a year for £20 at the neighbouring Haq's supermarket - my kitchen is becoming as colourful as my yarn stash.

And of course there was knitting. On the long car journey I started casting off all 600 stitches of my Damson shawlette.

By the time we arrived I had just about finished...

I blocked it this last weekend and have to say it was worth all those stitches - this wishbone shaped shawl really sits on the shoulders beautifully and having worn it for the first time makes just the right splash of colour against a grey dress and trousers. Of course I now want one in every colour.

It did have a little help from a pair of red shoes though...

Something Beautiful

2010-03-21T22:16:00.004Z

I was just thinking back to when I started this blog and how I said that I wanted it to be a record of how I developed as a knitter in terms of skills and confidence. As a blog it has turned into much more than this. It has become a place where I have met lots of wonderful and encouraging fellow knitters such as the lovely Lyn from the Shades of Grey blog who I was lucky enough to meet in person during her brief recent stay in London.

It has been a place to keep in touch with knitters who have become friends over the years through events like Skipnorth which I was lucky enough to attend again this year and will tell you about very soon but today I wanted to talk about how sometimes my knitting reminds me of the reason I started the blog in the first place.

I have always been a little intimidated by lace knitting. Not the lace itself but the process of knitting with ultra fine yarn but I have been determined this year to persevere. The Bitterroot pattern in Knitty seemed the ideal project to kick start my lace knitting as it is in fact a reasonably simple, very intuitive pattern.....and it has beads....

The yarn I chose is (I understand) the classic workhorse of the lace knitter, Jaggerspun Zephyr, a merino silk 2ply lace weight in a gorgeous deep purple called Plum. The beads are 4mm seed beads in an iridescent purple.

I found the knitting pretty straightforward and the bead placement not as difficult as I feared although I expect I am dreadfully slow and cackhanded bit I got there in the end.

It was very difficult to see how things would turn out while the shawl was on the needles but once I had blocked it the garment was totally transformed.

I have to say that I think it is one of the most beautiful thinks I have knitted. The beads just around the edge give it a wonderful weight and drape.

The simplicity of the pattern comes into its own as the changes flow beautifully one into the other.

And another close up to show off the beading.

Can you tell I enjoyed this project? I am itching to cast on more lace but I have a whole lot of projects very close to completion that I will be showing you over the next few days.

Do you think I can hold out?

A Tale of Two Scarves

2010-03-07T21:37:00.004Z

Surprise! It's me again. I don't know where the time has gone and can't believe it's the middle of March already. You will be relieved to know that I have been knitting up a storm despite my silence but have been doing a little reassessment of how I spend my knitting time.

One glance at my sidebar will tell you that the garment that I have knitted most over the last three years is socks. Now I am very fond of hand knitted socks and wear them exclusively all winter but one glance at my dressing table drawers will tell you that there are only a certain number of socks that one woman needs to either wear or to keep on hand for gift giving opportunities so I have set myself the task of knitting other things this year and with any luck learning a few new skills along the way.

The first thing that I did was to joint the Ilga Leja scarf club. After all, a girl can never have too many scarves and it will be an opportunity to knit on larger needles and to make some inroads into my ever increasing stash.

Every month Ilga produces a pattern based on a different country. January's scarf was inspired by Norway and is basically a mobius tube using a range of simple colour work techniques using aran weight yarn.

For the main colour I chose this Dream in Color Classy in Grey Tabby.

And for the contrast some Schaeffer Marjaana, a lovely wool silk blend now sadly discontinued in a shade called Toni Morrison.

I'm really enjoying the way that the semi solid shades of the Gray Tabby are working with the more vibrant but still earthy colours of the Toni Morrison. IN terms of skills development I have been attempting to master the jogless jog where the colours change. As you can see from the photo the jog is not eliminated but certainly looks less harsh. Gentle blocking should blend things in even more.

I am about a third of the way through the scarf but the patterns come thick and fast. Hot on it's heels came February's pattern based on Austrian lace and cable stitches. In this one I made a significant departure from the original which is a rather staid and elegant white scarf knit in four ply yarn. Not my style at all. Then I remembered some lovely squishy bulky yarn that I have in my stash - Jo Sharp Silk Road Ultra in a shade called Elm.

It's quite the stylish thing round my way at the moment to wear a huge, over sized scarf. Most of the examples I have seen have been in rather ghastly sugar pink and white acrylic so I thought I would do something slightly different.

The scarf is certainly over sized - nearly six feet of it so far and I have another 8 inches or so to go. One of the aspects of this pattern that lends itself well to this adaptation is that the scarf is designed to flare out at each end so some of the bulk around the back of the neck is reduced. The scarf grows satisfyingly swiftly on size 8mm needles so I really need to get it finished so I get the benefit before the cold weather comes to an end.

Not satisfied with joining Ilga's scarf club I have also signed on for the Ravelry 10 shawls in 2010 as I really want to get to grips with lace knitting. Next time I will show you what I have been doing on that score but I warn you now - nothing is finished as we speak but a lot of things are approaching the final 10%. I really must focus - these WIPS take up an awful lot more space than socks!

Tequila Sunrise

2010-02-18T20:09:00.008Z

Today I have a story of a project from start to finish. Back in September 2009 I bought a lovely skein of lace weight Yarn from my friend Heather who dyes and ravels under the name of Sparkleduck. It was a bit special for both of us as it was the first time that Heather had sold any of her yarns at a festival and for me as I've only just plucked up the courage to start knitting with this sort of fine and delicate yarn. I would say that this is a medium lace weight, a lovely, soft merino and silk blend in a shade that she named Autumn Leaves.

For this yarn I was looking for a pattern which made the most of the yarn which is why when I saw Citron from Knitty I knew it was just the thing. I was also looking for a nice relaxing knit to see me through the Christmas week amongst the distractions of a lively family and this, with its huge swathes of stocking stitch was a good choice.

The shawlette starts from the back of the neck and radiates out through rows of increases followed by ruched sections when each stitch is effectively doubled so I started of with great gusto, making good progress and enjoying the way the yarn and pattern worked together really well.

However, it wasn't long before I was working on rows containing many hundreds of stitches and a ball of yarn which never seemed to get any smaller. I had planned to make my Citron a little larger than the original so had to accept that the rows would get ever more insanely long.

Casting off 800 stitches was almost an evening's entertainment in itself. The finished article (above) reminded me of a sea anemone or an exotic fungus so I gave it a good severe blocking. Now I'm wondering whether I have been a little too severe as although there is still a clear demarcation between the ridges, the ruched stripes have, quite frankly lost their ruchiness.

It is a good size, however and reminds me of a Tequila Sunrise.

I may wear it a few times and see how I feel and perhaps reblock it.

What do you think?

Dreams and Reality

2010-02-14T17:54:00.005Z

Remember me? Anyone who doesn't know me well might be speculated as to whether I took the veil and stayed at the Nunnery. Anyone who does know me well would be laughing heartily at that idea.

The weekend in York was such a highlight I am still basking in the warm glow of it. Three gloriously sunny, bitingly cold days in a beautiful city in the company of two dozen of the most entertaining, inspiring, talented, warm and life enhancing people it has been my privilege to spend time with; some who were already friends,some I knew to talk to and some that I had never met before in my life all came together to create a really unforgettable weekend.

We didn't have much of a plan for the weekend, we just floated around, meeting up in small groups, larger groups, teaching each other bits and pieces, sharing, admiring, encouraging and above all laughing.

I had the chance for as much company as I wanted and also the opportunity to wander off on my own from time to time. The balance was just what I needed to get some space to think and plan and learn and be inspired to keep on building my skills and enjoying all the knitting community has to offer.

I don't think I am ever going to make the ranks of the superbloggers because I always forget to take photographs of knitting events with which to tell my story. Part of this is probably forgetfulness, it may partly be an awareness of the privacy of others and the fact that stepping behind a camera can put a distance between me and the group so, as usual here is a random selection of images that I took on a wander around York. Rather than the classic views I tend to prefer to look up at the quirkier objects from unusual angles which help me remember the individuality of a place.

It makes me smile that 1960's shop lettering is starting to look dated and interesting.

You can just make out on this faded sign an invitation to come and shop at a pork butchers and confectioners. Any suggestions for the sorts of products that might have been a speciality of the house? Ham bonbons? Bacon twists?

A more traditionally decorative shot but look at the man in all the knitwear -yes - it was that cold!

And a reminder of the importance of the wool industry to the history and economy of this part of the world.

Creating a prosperous and highly decorated city, even in the minor streets and alleyways.

One of the attractive aspects of York is the time span over which it has developed and the variety of architectural and decorative styles that still remain. This very modern and stylish bistro had made a feature of retaining some beautiful vintage stained glass windows.

Of course, there was an awful lot of knitting and crochet to be done. Natalie brought me my long looked forward to order of Saffron Clan and the sunny yellow was irresistible so I cast on a pair of gloves; Knotty Gloves, a free pattern by Julia Mueller. I was a little daunted but they have proved to be quite a simple knit although I have to admit that the fingers can get a little tedious - unless you have plenty of people to chat with while you are doing them. I romped through the first one in the company of my fellow knitters. I am embarrassed to say that having been home for two weeks I am still minus a thumb.....

I did confine myself to my bedroom to ensure that I managed the cable twist without error.

With the encouragement of my friend Judy I had a bit of an eureka moment when it comes to crochet. I had wanted to make a cotton bathmat for my newly tiled bathroom having had an alarming 'skating incident' emerging from the shower the other morning. I had a copy of 200 Ripple Stitches by Jan Eaton and chose an attractive pattern. I still need help with crochet instructions and also had no idea that a decrease stitch existed in Crochet. Once that was explained I was off like a shot!

I am using Pachuko Organic Cotton in Avocado and Coffee. These are natural plant colours which means that there s no dye to run and apparently the colours intensify with washing. We shall see...

I'm in the middle of sewing in ends right now but I will show you what it looks like in situ when I have spread a little rubber solution on the back to enhance its non slipability. I am such an ungainly creature I really can leave nothing to chance...

Right - back to the knitting. One of the dangers of spending the weekend with a group of knitters is that I am so inspired by their work I have had another attack of casting on....

May disappear under a pile of WIPs...

Get thee to a nunnery!

2010-01-28T23:46:00.002Z

Where did the week go? Alas, my knitting corner is going to be deserted for the next four days while I get up to knitterly shenanigans in a nunnery in York with a couple of dozen of the nation's best knitters, spinners, bakers and all round good time girls.

Hope you are looking forward to your weekend as much as I am.

Uncharacteristic single mindedness

2010-01-24T20:23:00.005Z

Well, the least you can expect after a two week blogging silence is a finished article and I'm determined not to disappoint. May I present a complete pair of Ailbe Mittens knit in Yarn Yard Clan. They were a really enjoyable knit from start to finish (apart from the questionable grafting at the end but we won't dwell on that...) which is a good job because despite their innocent demeanor there is a heck of a lot of knitting in a pair of mittens made on 2mm needles!

Their other pleasing characteristic is the fact that they fit beautifully and are really comfortable to wear. This is all good as I am heading off to York on Friday to spend the weekend in a convent with twenty other knitters. Northern England in January! What a perfect showcase for knitted goods! How many hats, socks, scarves and mittens can a girl squeeze into her bag along with all the equipment I just might need for a weekend of knitting and spinning excitement.

Sorry - back to the mittens....

I think this yarn is perfect for this sort of project - the twisted stitches really stand out well and the fabric is really dense and soft. The main motif is quite complex but has a flow to it.

The ribbing is very simple but it's amazing to me how a few simple travelling stitches every so often can turn it into something quite beautiful and complex looking. I wouldn't mind a whole pair of mitts in this stitch pattern. Can't be that hard.....

Well, I think that's probably how far I can stretch the narrative over one pair of purple mittens. Fear not, there's another post around the corner where I will tell you all about this.

....and how I survived an eight hundred stitch cast off....

Still mitten smitten

2010-01-10T15:39:00.004Z

Well it's still all about the mittens in my house. Must be the wind and snow that is making its presence felt across the UK at the moment because all I want to do is curl up on my sofa, watch the weather and make mittens!

First some good news - I finished the simple pair of mitts for my sister. I hope she likes them. Just to reiterate they are knit in Madeleine Tosh Tosh Sock and are my own design using a simple twisted stitch pattern. I am pleased with them and hope that Sue enjoys wearing them too. I could be persuaded to write up the pattern if people are interested.

Filled with enthusiasm I cast on another pair in Yarn Yard Clan in the Botanic shade using a slightly more complex stitch pattern. I was very pleased with the way the asymmetric ribbing led into the main body of the pattern but as the cuff progressed it became clear that this stitch pattern is a lot more yarn hungry and draws in the fabric more than the previous one so more stitches need to be added.

The mitt now looks like this again - waiting for a bit of a tweak to the design.

In the meantime my latest Yarn Yard Club Yarns arrived - this time a beautiful green and brown inspired by horse chestnut trees (and you know how much these trees mean to me) so I spent a lot of time gazing at it and planning what I might do with it. The highly contrasting shades were designed with colour work in mind but I felt that something was missing....

One of the blogs that I always enjoy visiting is Cornflower and it was when I read this entry that my problems was solved. A bit of nudity was all that was required to spice things up a bit!

From then on the pattern choice was quite easy. I have had Postwar Mittens from the Twist Collective in my queue for a long time and the colours seemed to have the slightly retro quality that I was looking for. I'm really pleased with the way the addition of a small amount of Nude Clan has brought the combination to life.

I spent quite a large part of my time over the weekend happily knitting away on these and am looking forward to picking them up again this evening. Isn't it lovely when you have a project you are enjoying so much it's hard to put down?

New Year Mittens

2010-01-01T16:49:00.005Z

I've been nursing this yarn for some time,wanting to make something special with it. It's the November Yarn Yard Clan sock club offering and is my sort of semi solid with not only variation in tone but shade as well which knits up into a lovely heathered fabric.

Clan is a wonderfully smooth merino due to its eight strands to create a sock weight yarn so I knew that it would show patterns very well.

So I wound it and continued to look for a suitable pattern. I haven't knit much from Knitty recently, not because the patterns are anything but their usual high standard but nothing had been in the right place at the right time.

I had been thinking about doing something intricate with twisted stitches as I prepared to head back to the Isle of Wight for Christmas and the New Year when I knew I would have the time and liberty to spend concentrating on my knitting. Ailbe seemed to be the perfect pattern to match the yarn, and with its twisted motif and tiny needles to provide the challenge I was looking for.

It turns out, as it often does that these mittens, whilst time consuming are an easy and rewarding knit. The yarn lends itself beautifully to this sort of knitting.

Even so, I really couldn't go straight on to the second without a slight detour onto another project. I have been promising my sister a pair of fingerless mitts and found this yarn in my basket. It is Tosh Sock by Madeleine Tosh and is a souvenir from my trip to America in October. I bought it in Loop in Philadephia which is a well stocked, friendly shop with plenty of high end yarn to choose from. One of the lovely touches is that they offer to wind your new yarn for you as a matter of course. Much to the disappointment of my sister and niece and nephew who continue to fight for the privilege of winding my yarn.

I chose a stitch pattern from Twisted Stitch Knitting by Maria Erlbacher . This book is going to be a very useful resource for patterns for socks and gloves.

The stitch pattern I chose is quite fiddly but simple and classic.

To make the mitts as light and warm as possible I knot them on 2mm needles to give a very firm and windproof fabric.

Believe it or not, I have started the second one of these even though I have so many ideas in my head having spent time reading the book.

Do you think she'll like them?

Finally - the one about the Wool Museum

2009-12-29T23:40:00.003Z

Today, after going on about it for some time I am going to tell you about the visit my sister and I made to the National Wool Museum of Wales at the beginning of December. We'd been promising ourselves a visit for some time, but it's quite a long drive and of 'minority interest' so we chose a day when it would be 'just us' while the children were at school.

The museum is housed in a former woollen spinning mill with most of the machinery still intact. It is a working museum with the exhibits arranged around the process although on the day that we visited the machines were quiet. In fact, the whole place had a tranquil hush about it with us being virtually the only visitors.

Despite its idyllic rural setting the museum is essentially about an industrial process with skilled workers spending long hours in noisy rooms for very low wages. It is important that we affluent textile artists by choice do not make the mistake of romanticising the weaving industry. We thought about our late Aunty Annie who started work in the cotton mills of Accrington in Lancashire at the age of 12 and was so small she had to stand on a box to reach the loom. By the time I knew her in her later years she had been made completely deaf by the sound of the machines but was an excellent lip reader - a skill that needed to be quickly acquired.

Here is one of the vessels used to wash the raw fleece.

And this is a boiler used to supply hot water for the process.

An enormous amount of craftsmanship was evident in the building of the machines for the woollen mill which is still in full working order.

And here are some examples of the sorts of traditional Welsh woollen cloth that this mill and many like it produced, some of which are still in action today.

Apart from the main exhibit which followed the industrial process through, the museum wove social history throughout the story they set out to tell. The role of hand spinning was not forgotten with a few examples of spinning equipment such as this great wheel on display. What I hadn't realised was that in the impoverished villages, spinning on the great wheel continued well beyond the invention of treadle versions because the great wheel was simple and affordable by a wider range of people. One poignant image that stuck in my mind was of an elderly lady standing barefoot outside her cottage at work at her great wheel.

The museum also put together some good interactive pieces of social history where they had collected memoirs from local people about the thriving bustle of the village while the mill was in operation compared to the few shops that remain to serve a far more dormitory settlement. Our attention was also caught by the window frame on which it had been a tradition to write the names of mill workers who got married while they were working there.

Whilst this museum was not specifically orientated towards hand knitting it was striking that a large amount of the folk art and photography of the archetypal Welsh woman would contain references to hand knitting. Again, women would knit not as a restful hobby at the end of the day but out of necessity, either for their families or as outworkers on piece work rates.

Here is an example of a rather romanticised image of an elderly Welsh lady knitting stockings at her doorstep.

And here is a rather fearsome array of Welsh knitters who don't look as if they indulge in the pastime for fun.

All in all Sue and I had a wonderful day at the museum. The exhibits are well presented and there is also an excellent cafe and shop (these things matter!). As we said when we got together this weekend it was one of those days we treasure away to revisit when we're feeling a bit low - two sisters having a day out together doing something at least one of us is passionate about.

Home for the Holidays

2009-12-24T22:19:00.004Z

As every year, my little family has gathered on the Isle of Wight. As I write, the children are asleep in bed with stockings securely tied with my knitting yarn to the ends of their beds and the adults are snoozing in front of Christmas Carols on the television. All is well in our small world.

Today in between last minute present wrapping, cooking and visits from friends and relations we took a walk down to the river and my nephew and I captured a few images we'd like to share. It was a typical Christmas Eve, a little dull and chilly but all the ice and snow that had threatened to keep us apart had disappeared. Difficult and uncertain journeys were forgotten.

The river was quiet and calm with the silence broken by the calls of curlews and oyster catchers. We made out the exotic shape of an egret at too far a distance to capture on camera.

We took a last look at the crumbling remains of the Ryde Queen, a paddle steamer that used to run between Ryde and Portsmouth but in later years served as a nightclub where we did some of our growing up as teenagers. It's sad to see the state it is now in as it waits to be scrapped next year.

This time of year makes me reflect on how many journeys this ship has taken people on - too and from their loved ones, from youth to adulthood. So many hellos and goodbyes, memories happy and sad.

I hope you all have the opportunity to spend the holiday season with everyone you love and love you.

Sheep courtesy of Sheep Poo Paper. You didn't expect an entirely sheep free post did you?

If we were lobsters...

2009-12-15T21:32:00.004Z

...we wouldn't have so many fingers and I wouldn't have procrastinated so heavily about finishing test knitting this lovely glove pattern by the very talented Littleberry. I have had it on the needles since February and sailed through the cuff and the stranded knitting. Then came the thought of all those fingers....

I was given a reprieve for the summer months but as the days grew cooler my conscience began to prick me so I picked up the first glove and started knitting fingers. I have to admit that it was a lot easier than I had anticipated although it still isn't one of my favourite knitting activities.

Despite the temptation to take new projects with me on a recent trip to Wales to be with my family I took only works in progress and distracted with family chitchat managed to finish the second glove in double quick time.

The yarn is one of my favourite standards, Jamieson's Spindrift in Pistachio and Blossom and took just over a 25g ball and a half of the green and half a ball of the pink so the project is very economical. The Shetland yarn blooms beautifully and always gives colour work that sense of cohesion that stranded fabric needs.

The finished gloves are a really good fit and may be pressed into service sooner rather than later as the temperatures in London plummet and my customary fingerless mitts need replacing with something offering more comprehensive coverage.

I hope Littleberry makes this pattern available soon as I can highly recommend it as simple ,straightforward and well written with only the absolute minimum number of fingers required ,assuming they are not a gift for a lobster.

The promised trip around the National Wool Museum of Wales is not forgotten - I just have a few photographs to take which require daylight - as I leave home in the dark and come home in the dark Monday to Friday, the weekends are the only times I can get photos done for the blog. I am so happy that the solstice is just around the corner and we can soon look forward to a few more minutes of daylight every day.

I may never take this scarf off....

2009-12-13T10:35:00.005Z

I know the last few posts have been a bit of a repetitive parade of finished projects but that is only because I have been really good and resisted the temptation to cast on new stuff.I'm not sure how long I can hold out however as while I am knitting away on a piece of work where the pattern is firmly embedded in my memory my mind can wander off and generate all kinds of wild and wonderful ideas.

Mind you, I am delighted to say that I have managed to finish the Lace Ribbons Scarf. This is a pattern by Veronik Avery from Knitty and has turned out to be the perfect showcase for this yarn which is Acero, a wool, silk and viscose fingering weight blend from Brooks Farm which I bought at the Maryland Sheep and Wool festival last year. I had originally intended to make a shawl which was made up of what seems like hundreds of little spirals all knit together but quite honestly, when it dawned on me how many ends that meant sewing in I fell at the first hurdle...

I have used two 100g skeins for this project and the scarf is a magnificent 3 metres long. Which is hard to photograph.

I knew that is was longer than I anticipated when I started blocking it on my bedroom floor, followed it across the landing and into the bathroom....

It has, however become a wardrobe staple as it is light enough to throw around my neck several times and also works perfectly with a long light brown boiled wool jacket that I wear a lot for work at this time of year.

I also think it looks equally good from the back

As well as the front.

Next time, by way of a change I will have news of my visit to the National Wool Museum of Wales, once voted the most boring museum in Britain. I of course, might have a slightly different view....

Leaves are finally falling

2009-12-03T10:48:00.007Z

Last time you saw this shawl must have been back in May when I was first planning some proper lace knitting with lace weight yarn. I chose 100g of cashmere lace weight from Knitwitch which gave me over 800 metres of entertainment.

So I knitted

and knitted but the ball of yarn never seemed to get any smaller.

Eventually I decided that the piece was big enough and I stopped. With 25g still to go. And there she lay for a few weeks until I decided to go on a blocking spree and the magic happened.

I find it very difficult to photograph large pieces successfully but I hope these images give you and idea of the floaty airy pinkness of this project.

It amazes me that there can be so much warmth and substance from 75g of yarn but at the same time it can be so insubstantial.

The mild variegation's in the yarn don't detract from the simple lace pattern which I found very easy to memorise and the yarn very pleasant to work with.

I think I may be ready for something a little more complicated next time.

When Ishbel was very young

2009-12-02T20:15:00.003Z

...she looked like this. 100g of grey blue faced Leicester and silk over dyed in blue, green, pink and jade but with plenty of the natural colour showing through. The fibre was dyed by the lovely Marianne in her Etsy shop Fluffenstuff.

you can see from the predrafted fibre how well the colours blend with each other.

and this is how the yarn turned out. Maybe a little unevenly spun in places but overall a reasonably bouncy yarn which averaged out at about a 4ply.

I wound the yarn and have to say that it sat on my desk for a long time while I decided what project it was best suited to. I wanted something which would show the subtle striping of the yarn but would also add a bit of movement to draw the eye from some of the lumpier bits of spinning.

Ishbel by Ysolda Teague presented herself as the perfect project with an expanse of stocking stitch which gives the yarn a chance to show its real character and a lacy edge to break the whole thing up.

I'm pleased with the result - I made the centre to the specifications for the larger size and the edging for the smaller as I was determined to use every last morsel of yarn. In fact, I ran it so close I had to hastily Andean ply myself a couple of metres from the leftover single on the bobbin so that I could finish the cast off - phew!

I really like the combination of the yarn and the pattern. It puts me in mind of the effect of one of those giant clam shells with the iridescent mother of peal inside and the fluted edges to the shell.

It's also just the right size to throw around the shoulders to keep the chills off or to fill that gap between your coat and jumper and has the unmistakable texture of hand spun.

Thank you Marianne and Ysolda - a lovely combination.

A pair of Cranfords to call my own

2009-11-29T15:03:00.005Z

With all of the excitement around P-hop's birthday celebrations I was drawn to thinking abut the Cranford Mitts that I donated to P-hop back at the beginning of the campaign. One of the reasons that I designed them was that I really wanted to wear a pair of warm but feminine fingerless gloves. As a public transport user in a pretty temperate part of the world, fingerless mitts are a perfect alternative for mitts and gloves as I don't have to keep pulling them on and off every time I search for a ticket or some change but they keep that important part of the hand warm and also stop those annoying draughts which whip around bus shelters and train stations from finding their way up a girl's sleeves.

The first pair that I made were a gift for my friend Natalie who was, at the time in need of a bit of a mid winter pick me up and the second pair went to my friend Mary's mum who, at 96 was finding that keeping her hands warm wasn't as easy as it used to be. It therefore dawned on me that despite them being designed as something I really wanted to wear, I didn't have a pair of Cranfords of my own.

One of the lovely things about having a stash of yarn on hand is that sometimes, on a night when the wind is howling and sleep is a bit hard to come by, I can lay in my bed and contentedly match yarn and projects. Sometimes, however, the match seems so perfect that I have to resist the urge to leap out of bed and start the project immediately. This was the case when I remembered that I had this yarn waiting in my stash.

I bought it at Woolfest this June and it really does tick all the boxes for a yarn nerd such as myself. The sea green yarn is a mixture of Corriedale and Black Welsh, over dyed with a lovely translucent colour which allows the shade of the original fibre to shine through and the natural is a blend of Corriedale and Manx Loughtan which gives it the warm beige colour. It is a fairly gentle two ply woollen spin, and although marketed as a 4ply, is a little heavier than something like a Jamieson's Spindrift. In texture the feeling is somewhere between a Shetland and a Merino, not kitten soft but far from rustic - perfect for mitten knitting! This line of yarns is so new that Blacker Design only had these prototype balls with them but very kindly allowed me to have them and posted them on to me after the festival.

The Cranfords knitted up very quickly and I am very pleased with the results - Cranfords of my very own.

And here's a closer look - I love the texture of the very natural yarn against the architectural qualities of the lace stitch.

The mitts used just under 50g of the main colour so there is plenty left to make the edgings on my next pair in a gorgeous soft lavender, this time in Corriedale with Hebridean over dyed.

Thinking about the yarns I bought at Woolfest last year has also reminded me of the very difficult time our hosts in Cockermouth are having at the moment in the aftermath of the terribly destructive floods of last week. I have already booked accommodation for next year as a way of showing support and I know many knitting groups are thinking about how they can help. A fund has been set up here by the Cumbria Foundation.

I'm off to knit more Cranfords...

P/hop Eddie Izzard competition

2009-11-27T12:15:00.002Z

We take a break for normal programming to bring you some very exciting news. If you visit the P-Hop site here today, not only will you be able to read blogs from a whole lot of fabulous people and download a loads of lovely new patterns, there is a competition to pledge and win tickets to see Eddie Izzard live at the O2 next week.

Now I love Eddie almost as much as I love knitting so it breaks my heart to part with them but events have conspired against me and I need to be somewhere else. But my loss is your potential gain so please join the silent auction and give as generously as you can.

Good luck and say hi to Eddie for me....

Happy Birthday P-Hop!

2009-11-23T14:21:00.007Z

Beautiful and Brainless

2009-11-20T00:30:00.004Z

Believe it or not, I have been a good and dutiful knitter (for the most part). I have been through all my works in progress, bagged them up so that I don't lose essential elements and find an excuse for putting them down again and stored them all in a large work bag by the sofa. And a large work bag it is I might tell you. A work bag which is struggling to contain its overflowing contents....

Of course when you go diving around in your projects you find bits and pieces that remind you of events and people. Remember the IKnit Day at the Horticultural Halls back in the summer? I was lucky enough to attend a sock knitting course with Yarnissima aka Marjan Hammink and here is the little sock that I produced as coursework.

As a way of consolidating my learning I thought I would make pair of adult socks using one of her patterns and chose this rather attractive skein of Koigu.

The pattern I chose is called Brainless. It seemed like a good idea to me - how hard could it be after all? I have to say that on the first sock I struggled with the very exacting and unfamiliar instructions, right and left handed lifted increases, changing the placement of the work on the needles and the endless rows of ribbing knit through the back of the loop.

I have to say, however, that it fits beautifully and is, after all, a rather handsome sock. Apart from the fact that it appears that I am unable to estimate how much yarn needs to be saved at the end to do an inch of ribbing.

I am now half way up the foot on the second sock but almost as I cast on and read the first few lines of the pattern, the penny started to drop and I understood the flow of the pattern and the elegant attention to detail in the way that the toe shaping moves into the cable motifs at the side of the foot. I still struggled with rearranging the stitches on the needle but I am sure this is to do with my issue with left and right. I am sure that these socks will not languish for very long in my knitting basket as they have become a real pleasure to knit and I am certainly planning to knit more Yarnissima patterns in the future.

They are in fact both beautiful and Really Rather Clever.

Hold the front page - my first finished crochet project!

2009-11-15T22:59:00.002Z

This is a short but rather momentous post. Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present my first crochet project, not only complete but completed by following instructions in a real life book!

You may remember that while I was on my road trip in America, one of the things that my friend Laura had promised to do was to teach me to crochet properly by following a crochet pattern. Previously I could knock out the odd lumpy granny square but when I looked at a pattern my eyes just crossed so I really didn't feel as if I could call myself a crocheter.

When we were in Philadelphia we visited a beautiful yarn shop called Loop where I found this really accessible book and some lovely Blue Skies Organic Cotton to start with. It's true that lovely materials inspire us to greater effort so I was eager to get started. The helpful assistant wound my skeins for me, found me the right sized hook and I was ready to go!

Washcloths seemed to be a good start. You can never have too many, it doesn't matter if they are maybe a little misshapen and not all exactly the same size....

I found, as with many things, that a crochet pattern isn't as difficult to decipher as I thought it was going to be. Laura is a very good and patient teacher which helped considerably, and generously crocheted along with me using her own selection of colours which of course, came from exactly the opposite side of the spectrum as you would expect from two best friends who consider gentle bickering to be a satisfying part of their relationship!

Before long I was hooked (did you see what I did there?) and over the course of the next few weeks consolidated my learning with three matching washcloths. The dense, nubbly stitch makes a perfect washcloth texture when you use this ultra soft cotton.

In fact I like it so much I thought you might enjoy a closer look. I love the colour combination which reminds me of the rich shades you might see in an Indian spice market.

I wonder what my next crochet project might be....

The eternal clapotis

2009-11-04T23:11:00.005Z

As regular readers of this blog will know, I am an habitual knitter of Clapotis, probably one of the most virulent of viral knits on the internet. I make no apology for this. I knit fast and furiously on it, enjoying the process but also because I really wanted to wear it and knew exactly which outfit had a red Clapotis shaped hole in it!

So here is is, knit in just over seven balls of Noro Silk Garden with one extra repeat added for luck! The broad,random stripes in this yarn cross the bias knit shape of the Clapotis beautifully.

Although it does remind me ever so slightly of those magic eye puzzles which I am never able to fathom out!

Another reason to love this particular pattern is that it looks especially good unblocked or roughly dried and the back is as decorative as the front.

My favourite aspect of this pattern, however is the way that the ripples fold up on each other and flow around the neck - right side...

...or wrong side.

This is the perfect wrap for blustery autumn weather - I have already worn it a couple of times to great success. My knitting will always fulfil many functions. Sometimes I want to stretch myself and knit new, complicated things in new techniques and sometimes I knit simple things over and over again for comfort. This project is slightly different as this is a garment I wanted to wear so I got out wool and needles and made it - the product was the most important thing rather than the process.This is one of the things that I love about the place that knitting holds in my life - there is a project for every occasion, every mood or every hole in an autumn wardrobe!

Travellers Impressions: Souvenirs

2009-11-03T00:18:00.006Z

You will know by now that I really don't like laying out great displays of booty from my travels. I am consciously trying to be more selective in the purchases that I make, walking that delicate balance between supporting fibre artists who are doing a wonderful job in the creation of materials for us to work with and the fact that I truly and honestly do not need any more wool and fibre.

Life is, as ever a compromise. As I may have said before, when you create things with you r own hands you really come to appreciate the craftsmanship of others. For some time I have erred towards small and delicate drop spindles so I thought it was time for some slightly heavier tools to expand my spinning options some more.

I am consistently drawn to Golding spindles for their workmanship, attention to detail, balance and beauty. I love the ebony, top left for its simplicity and balance. The mother of pearl I have to admit is a sheer indulgence - I just wanted something pretty....

Finally, a Lily spindle by Gilbert Gonsalves, maker of Robin Spinning Wheels which I haven't tried before. I will let you know how it handles.
As I tend not to give large inventories of purchased yarn I don't think this one will be familiar to you. I needed a project on larger needles to knit on the plane as I judged that British Airways could hardly object to a Denise Interchangeable. This yarn seemed appropriate - it is Brooks Farm Acero a sock weight yarn with a fibre composition of 60% wool, 20% silk and 20% viscose. I bought it at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival last year so it was about time I got round to using it!

I decided to make the Lace Ribbon scarf from Knitty. Six feet later it may be becoming a little tedious but the colour and pattern work beautifully together and I'm really looking forward to the finished article. The silk and viscose give the whole thing a lovely sheen and drape. I'm using two 100g skeins of this yarn as it's a scarf that deserves to be long. It filled my two plane journeys beautifully without comment from crew or fellow passengers incidentally. I had to suppress a smile when I found my tiny Swiss Army Knife accidentally tucked down the back of my flight bag - two weeks after my trip...

Finally, I did make substantial progress on the Malabrigo mansocks. The colours just chimed in so perfectly with the autumn leaves as I travelled about it really was the only project to knit on.

It's now two weeks since I got back home with a head full of impressions and a bag full of dirty laundry. The laundry is now clean and I have to address myself to the enormous shifting pile of half knitted projects that are starting to weigh on my mind. I have loads of ideas and inspirations - just need to do some simple, head clearing finishing off knitting before I can get to it.

I'll let you know how long I hold out before casting on again!

Travellers Impressions: Wildlife

2009-10-26T23:23:00.010Z

No trip to a Sheep and Wool Fair is complete without a good look around the livestock barns to take a look at the creatures whose fluff we covet. I will tell you now, I will never make a top class wildlife photographer as I was determined not to alarm the animals so set my camera to suppress the flash gun and refused to poke, prod, snap fingers etc to get the animal's attention. This would all be tres laudable if I had what they do, patience, and didn't have the attention span of a gnat in a room full of bright shiny and woolly distractions. Treat these photos kindly, they are guaranteed cruelty free and a true representation of the expressions of the animals at the time.

As usual I was way too scatty to ascertain their breed - do chip in if you know.

First up, look at this serene creature - don't you just want to bury your hands in that beautiful curly fleece?
Or this bashful teenager gazing through her fringe? I think she may possibly be a Rambouillet.

And this delicate little creature may be a Soay.

Not sure about this chap having the bad hair day.
But who could mistake this characterful Jacob for anything else?

Sheep were not the only wool bearing creatures showing their talents at Rhinebeck. Look at these beautiful Llamas preparing to compete....

in the high jump competition! Apologies for the quality of the photograph - it was the only one where a llama was actually in flight...

...most of them were asserting their independence of character in this manner...

But who can fail to forgive a creature that looks this regal?

And they do have their sensitive side too.

No report on my wildlife encounters would be complete without a photograph of Dennis, my knitting supervisor during my stay in New York. He hadn't been in the best of health but on hearing the mention of the words 'Portrait of Dennis' started to enthusiastically clean his fur. He is a quiet, dignified cat much beloved by Juanita, my very gracious host. I wish him a full recovery.

And finally, despite the fact that I wanted to bring all these wonderful creatures home with me, I had to content myself with this, a black sheep mug by Jenny the Potter.

It will be a good way to remember my travels every time I have a cup of tea.

Next time I might just talk about a few souvenirs of my travels - and there could also be knitting...

Travellers Impressions: Colour

2009-10-24T15:12:00.006+01:00

Well hello everyone, it's been a while....

I'm back from my couple of weeks on the east coast of the USA with a head full of impressions and a bag full of yarn! Unusually circumstances pretty much prevented almost all internet contact which means that I have so much to talk about that I have been at a loss as to how to share the best of my experiences with you in a coherent manner. Having looked through the hundreds of photos that I have taken - yes, I did make sure my camera was a constant companion this time - I have decided to concentrate on themes rather than try to give a day by day travelogue.

Given that I was travelling in the middle of autumn, or fall, the first theme that my camera led me to is colour.

I have to say that everything that I have been told about the magnificence of the colours in this part of the country at this time of year is, in my brief experience true. Starting my travels in the south it was wonderful to see how as I travelled north through Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New York State how the colours became more and more wildly intense.

The light at this time of year is also wonderfully golden adding an intensity to the colours whether you look up through the canopy...

....or focus in on a single plant.

Even on an overcast day the colours sing.

But against a clear blue sky they are simply magnificent.

Even in the built environment colour takes on a new intensity as this image of the Library at Columbia University in New York City shows.

Crafts people are not immune to the influence of the shades of autumn. Everywhere I looked, people were decorating their houses with bright orange pumpkins in advance of the holiday season. However,none were as beautiful as these works of art made by the pumpkin carver at the Sheep and Wool festival at Rhinebeck.

Autumnal themes were very much on the minds of the yarn stall holders as well - look at this amazing array of autumnal shades in this yarn display.

I also realised that I am by no means immune to these influences. We paid a visit to Loop, a beautiful yarn shop in Philadelphia where I found a book of beginners crochet patterns and with my friend Laura's help chose a pattern for washcloths and some lovely Blue Skies organic cotton to make them with. The shades I was drawn to are very much in keeping with the warm tones of the season. Thanks to Laura's patient assistance I am proud to say that I have now followed my first crochet pattern!

The colours are also beautifully picked up in the sock that I took with me as a travel project.

That's all for now - thanks to everyone for their good wishes for my trip - I really did have a wonderful time. Also, a quick hello to any readers of Let's Knit magazine who are visiting for the first time - things aren't usually as chaotic (well, not quite...)

I'll be back very soon and am thinking about telling you about the wild (and not so wild) life next time...

In which knitting brings out the worst in me

2009-10-07T00:34:00.006+01:00

Now I have always serenely imagined that when I indulge myself in the fibre arts I am allowing my very best and most creative self to express herself fully as a way of compensation for all the compromises, frustrations and less than admirable behaviours I have to display in my working and domestic life.

With knitting and spinning I am artistic, creative, meticulous and productive. If I was allowed to knit all day I would be a far better citizen and human being than the flawed character who stands before you. As I was preparing to go away for the weekend to the Isle of Wight to see my dad (a euphemism for two days uninterrupted knitting and chatting time with meals thrown in) I could have been sensible and taken a couple of my many unfinished items and made substantial progress on them.The problem is that I just didn't want to. I wanted to take shiny new projects away with me and forget about everything in my to do pile gazing at me balefully. Then it dawned on me. I can do exactly what I please in my knitting - if I want to have 100 things on the go then I can, it doesn't have to always show my best side, sometimes it's a very convenient place to indulge my habits of procrastinating, starting but not finishing, being seduced by the new and shiny... certainly less risky than letting them out at work!

So my lesson for today is - do what you love - there is no such thing as the perfect knitter - be wild, undisciplined and enjoy yourself - I do!

Thus liberated I had a good rummage through my sock yarn and chose a couple of skeins in colours that caught my eye.

On the left is some Yarn Yard Toddy in the club colours from last month and on the right is some Malabrigo sock.

While I was at my dad's I went out into the garden and took a few random photos of indicators of the change of season such as these leaves...

and these horse chestnuts, shiny straight from their husks.

It occurred to me that I had chosen warm colours, in keeping with the shades that things are now turning and in warm tones to lift the spirits as the nights draw in.

My initial thoughts were just to knot a couple of plain toe up socks as a way of imprinting the basic toe up sock recipe in my mind but then as I started the first tow I got to wondering what the pattern would look like a bit jumbled up so I got out the simple diamond pattern that I had used in my horse chestnut socks and started playing around with it.

In plain stocking stitch the short colour repeats make for a very pleasing overall texture

But a very simple stitch pattern givessome interest without being overwhelmed by the colour repeats as there are no real jarring contrasting colours so they harmonise well.

As I wound the Malabrigo into a ball it struck me that the overall effect of the shades was by no means overtly feminine and therefore suitable for a mansock. I decided to have a go at Wendy Johnson's Mock Cable Socks sized for a larger foot.

I have to say I am totally smitten with this yarn - the shades that they have blended make such a warm and sophisticated overall palette.

and the mock cable make then a little bit more interesting to knit.

It was also a wonderful feeling not to be encumbered by my bag of unfinished items and to start everything from scratch. Naughty but nice....

Thanks to everyone for their good wishes for my trip - I fly out at stupid o'clock tomorrow morning but should be in New York City for lunch - how about that?

Have I packed yet? Of course not!

Big wheel keeps on turning...

2009-10-02T23:44:00.003+01:00

And little ones do too - Little Gem's to be precise.

You could be forgiven for thinking that I had abandoned my spinning in favour of instant gratification scarfage projects but I'm sure you will be reassured to know that I do find time for a bit of a spin every day - even if it is only ten minutes.

On the bobbin at the moment is some lovely grey merino over dyed in shades of green by The Thylacine. I love naturally coloured roving over dyed as it gives such a sophisticated depth to the colours. It is also lovely when, as in this case, some of the natural colour is allowed to show through. The name of this colourway is Temperate Rainforest, which perfectly describes and evokes the part of Australia in the Strezlecki Ranges that I spend as much of my time in as possible. It's spring there now which makes me miss it very much right now but, I have exciting travel news of a different kind which I will tell you about later.

I have 200g of this roving and am spinning it reasonably finely for me and am stripping it into finger sized pieces to give reasonably sized but not massive colour repeats. I will be making a two ply yarn so am hoping for a gently variegated heathered effect with some but not too obvious striping to make a lacy shoulder shawl to feed my current obsession.

Most recently off the bobbins is this yarn spun from Lime Green Jelly's Merino, Cashmere and Silk roving in the Queen of Hearts shade. As you can see, it has some of my usual spinning inconsistencies but it is the most beautifully soft yarn you can imagine. I'm planning to make myself a rather Gothic pair of extended Cranfords with it.

And finally, I have a finished object for you - yes, with great perseverance I have finished the Skinny Lace Rib scarf in Yarn Yard Caber in the Sea Glass shade. Despite the fact that at some points I believed that I was actually knitting from a loop and the ball of yarn really did not have an end I finally regained my faith in the laws of physics and finished the scarf last night. I have decided not to block it as I like the texture as it is and it wraps twice around my neck very comfortably. The stitch pattern I used is the enigmatically titled Number 41 from Susanna Lewis's Knitting Lace which is extremely simple and easy to memorise and read..

The back of the scarf is also quite decorative.

And I nearly forgot -my travel plans. I'm off to see my dad on the Isle of Wight at the weekend for a couple of days of lazy chatting and knitting but this time next week I will be in America, starting in New York, travelling down through Pennsylvania to Philadelphia, back up to Massachusetts, and into New York State to the Dutchess County Showgrounds for the Rhinebeck Sheep and Wool Festival!

How excited do you think I am?

I want them all and I want them now!

2009-09-27T19:26:00.019+01:00

It really has been a beautiful September in my little part of the world,day after day of bright sunshine but with the added tang in the air that makes such a change from the humid torpor of London in midsummer. It may be telling me that autumn is just around the corner but right now stepping outside the door into a fresh bright morning makes you feel alive and happy and full of optimism.

Another great thing about this time of year is that it gives me a chance to break out all those little scarves and wraps that I have knitted, just as a small something to keep the morning chill off my neck. The Flutter Scarf has made an appearance and so have Lady Eleanor and one of the Clapotis but do you know what? I just haven't got enough scarves! I need a whole rainbow of silky, flirty little neck pieces to see me through the change of season. It shouldn't take me too long, right?

Wearing my Flutter Scarf, which I spindle spun from Merino Tencel fibre convinced me that it is the perfect fibre for this time of year so I had a good rummage through my stash and came up with a skein of Yarn Yard Caber in a beautiful shade called Sea Glass which I thought would make a lovely scarf. Armed with some helpful suggestions from friends on Ravelry I hunted around for a suitable pattern but nothing really appealed. I did download a pattern from a well known designer and was a little horrified to see that I had just paid $5 for a pattern lifted straight out of a stitch dictionary which once I had started knitting it just didn't have the rhythm I need to be able to quickly memorise it for train knitting. I then had a bit of a light bulb moment and realised that the best thing to do was to get the stitch dictionaries out myself and find something more to my taste.

This simple lace rib was just what I was looking for so I started knitting, and knitting, and knitting.....

I've been knitting on this for most of the week and I still have this stubborn little ball of yarn which refuses to get any smaller.... Of course, it doesn't help when all attempts at project monogamy fail. Last week I had a meeting in central London and was feeling very pleased with myself in black dress, heels and brown Clapotis thrown carelessly around my shoulders. I clip clopped into John Lewis on my way home thinking that I need a new handbag but of course the only ones I liked were way beyond my price range so I took a little detour to the yarn department. Instead of a new handbag I took home six balls of Noro Silk Garden and two of Kid Silk Haze.Ho hum...

At least I have already cast on with the Silk Garden. This rather uninteresting piece of fabric is another Clapotis. Yes, I know that in the world of the knitter they are so last year darling, but in my little world of finding nice, simple, stylish things to wear I can't get enough of them and a warm red autumnal one will be perfect.

Of course I won't get bored half way through again....

And if that wasn't enough look at this little beauty - a cone of wool silk lace weight that I bought from the crazy Belgians at the Iknit weekender.

And no, this isn't a topographical map of the Gobi desert, it's the beginnings of another Leaf Lace Shawl. The yarn is a lot fluffier and fuller than it looks compressed on the cone so I think it will make a lovely warm shawlette with a good bloom on it.

All three of these scarves would be perfect for wearing on these crisp bright sunny mornings but have I finished any of them - of course not!

In my defense, however, before I was seized by scarf mania and abandoned every other work in progress I did finish, you'll never guess - yes, another pair of socks....

Plain top down socks from my own recipe in Indie Dyer Sock Yarn which I think has produced a rather handsome sock.

Here is a closeup of the fabric - the yarn is nice to work with and the colour combination is muted and sophisticated. I'd happily use it again.

Anyway, I have to go - scarves to knit!

Frogging a dead horse

2009-09-20T16:26:00.004+01:00

After two exhausting but fabulous days at the Iknit Weekender, Natalie and I decided to spend Sunday playing with my stash. It didn't take long for my nice tidy living room to be turned into this;
When wine and knitting come together we all know that the outcomes will be... interesting.

During my massive tidying up session I came across quite a few Works in Progress that I had put aside for various reasons. One was a top down raglan jumper in Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran Tweed in a lovely flecked charcoal grey which I could have sworn I had taken a photo of at some point in its construction but haven't been able to find. Trust me, the yarn was the only lovely thing about it. Bearing in mind I had completed the body, one sleeve and had nearly finished the other its faults included: too wide, too short, ugly and poorly executed contrast colours at hem and cuff, sleeve decreases that did not match each other and no idea how to finish the neck. All in all, everything I know about knitting had clearly deserted me when I worked on that jumper. It had to go but I am such a coward when it comes to frogging my own work. Natalie, however, set about it with way too much relish for my comfort and soon it looked like this:

Now isn't that the most beautiful pile of yarn? It really is the most lovely stuff to knit with. And it isn't the first time I have used this yarn. Fortified with a glass of wine I disappeared upstairs and came down with a couple of projects that I had completed when I perhaps knew a little less than I do now.
Look at this beauty for example. The yarn was an absolute joy to knit with, if I remember correctly it is the DK version of Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweed. It must have been a joy - just look at all that two by two rib knitted in the flat. Look how even the stitches are and how meticulously I followed the pattern. Except for one thing....

I really should have checked my gauge swatch for length as well as width... I even remember knitting away on the bus on one of the sleeves and an elderly lady asking me what I was doing and asking me tentatively 'Aren't those sleeves going to be a bit long?' Hell no, I thought - I haven't reached the end of my increase rows yet - they're bound to be right....

I have bitten the bullet and started to dismantle this jumper - the wool really is too lovely to waste on this unwearable monstrosity.

Which brings me on to my final exhibit. Once again, the most gorgeous yarn - Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in one of my favourite colours - Verdigris. Look at the beautiful and complex cables on this pattern from her book Viking Knits. Did I stop to notice, however, that the pattern called for Silke Tweed not Silky Wool? Of course not! Then I might have realised that the two yarns are a completely different weight. Did I do a gauge swatch? Of course I didn't! If I had done, my error might have dawned on me even at that late stage. Did I notice that the patterns had a distinctive eighties feel about them with their drop shoulders... Not at all - I was seduced by the beautiful and complex cables.

Which is why the finished article looks like this...

With sleeves that I have to admit are moving in the direction of that most reviled 80's phenomenon The Batwing.

So what have I learnt?

I have learnt that when good knits go bad you need a trusted friend to help you face the facts that sometimes nothing can be done to save them and the yarn deserves better.

I have learned that there are much better and more flattering ways to construct a garment than drop shouldered jumpers knit in the flat.

I have learned not to ignore little old ladies on the bus.

I have learned that if you sense something is going wrong STOP KNITTING NOW!!! It will not miraculously improve if you just press on.

I have learned that even though I know way more about knitting than I did when I made the first two jumpers I am perfectly capable of making a complete dogs dinner of something if I don't pay attention to first principles - even a simple garment will punish you if you 'wing it'.

Most of all I have learned that after a couple of glasses of wine with a good friend these disasters are very, very funny.

Has anyone seen Alice?

2009-09-16T22:44:00.003+01:00

I'm afraid I'm by no means the first blogger out of the blocks with my report on the Iknit two day knitting extravaganza so I feel liberated from the need to write a blow by blow account and can ramble at my ease through some of the impressions of the days.

I was there literally, from when the doors opened and the knitters started to gather and when we were finally asked politely to vacate the premises thanks to the timings of classes and the numbers of people I found to catch up and chat with. Every year Iknit feels more and more like a great big party of all the people I know from the various corners of the knitting universe that I inhabit.

As in previous years my dear friend Natalie came down to stay with me - not as her yarn dying alter ego The Yarn Yard but as herself so that she could have as much fun as me with everyone who wants to chat with her and to enjoy recharging knitting batteries with courses and talks from some of the best in the business.

So- here we all are then on Friday morning, eagerly entering the Horticultural Halls.

As usual, Gerard and the Iknit team had made sure that there was plenty of space for the charity projects that knitters are involved in. As regular readers may know, I have been working with the P/Hop campaign raising money for Medecins Sans Frontiers and they were able to have a stall in the main hall. Knitters up and down the country donate books and yarn and make shawls and blankets to raffle, patterns and skills were P/hopped and field staff were there to talk about the work the money funds.

In this photograph, I am struck by the juxtaposition of the warm, cosy knitted goods with and the image of the armed man. Sobering.

The good news is that we raised over £800 from generous knitters. Thank you to everyone who donated.

In other news, one of the lovely things about events like this is to be inspired by the incredible work of other knitters. It was wonderful to see Roo's beautiful beaded wedding shawl in person - here it is meeting another Aolian sibling made by Gill from the Woolly Workshop. I know this photo is slightly blurred but that Gill just doesn't stand still and its such a happy scene.

One of the best things about this event were the wonderful knitting teachers who we had the opportunity to learn from. On Friday I took a lace class with Annie Modesitt. Yes, THE Annie Modesitt! She filled the room with her personality even though she must have been exhausted and gave a class which was informative, idiosyncratic, entertaining and memorable. Here is my desk, complete with swatch and copious notes. I am determined to improve my lace knitting this winter and maybe I'll be pirouetting my work at the next Iknit Weekender!

On Saturday, I took a sock knitting class with Marjan Hamminck, alias Yarnissima. Her style could not be more different to Annie's with all of us busily working away on our mini sock projects and Marjan moving quietly between us, gently correcting mistakes and answering queries.

Here is my sock knitting work.I am now proficient in right slanting and left slanting lifted increases which I will certainly add to my repertoire.

At the end of the class as I was packing up my things I mentioned that I would have to hurry if I was to make my Alice Starmore colour work class, the highlight of the weekend. I leave you to imagine how I felt when my neighbour pointed out that according to my list, I should have attended that class the day before.

Idiot, idiot, idiot.

Fortune comes in threes

2009-09-06T23:42:00.005+01:00

As promised, today's post not only contains actual knitting content made by moi, but not one, not two but three finished items (pause for fanfares and ringing of bells).

Unsurprisingly, all three are pairs of socks as of course, there still aren't enough pairs of handmade socks in the world.

First up is a pair of mansocks in Regian Kaffe Fassett knit to my usual top down sock recipe. This is the second time I have used this yarn and am once again very impressed with it in terms of machine processed yarn at a reasonable price. I like the colour combination, placement and balance of small and large lengths of colour which take it out of the ordinary.

Secondly, here is a pair of socks which have languished for some time - Cookie A's Kai-Mei socks in Knitwitch's Blue Faced Leicester sock yarn which I bought at a bargain price at the Woolfest before last. This pattern combined quite a lot of unchallenging ribbing with an eccentric and fun to knit diagonal motif. Whilst I thoroughly recommend this yarn for being wonderfully soft I did wonder whether something a little more tightly spun like Wollmeise or Yarn Yard Clan might be a better choice for this pattern as the motifs expose quite a lot of single strands in the detailing and might look better if they were a little more robust.

I couldn't help but get my sock lasts out again as they show off the matching motifs very well and make them look terribly elegant. Finally, it was no hardship at all to finish Wendy Johnson's Riding on the Metro Socks in the Yarn Yard's latest addition now known as Clan. This yarn isn't available for another two weeks and I can't wait to get my hands on some more. Whilst the colour isn't one that I would normally choose, it is very good for showing off the intricate lozenge pattern on the socks. This yarn is very tightly spun so any pattern stitches stand out in great relief. I would advise against anything too highly patterned or full of twists, especially in the foot area as they might become uncomfortable. Come to think of it - might have been better to use the Knitwitches for this project and the Clan for the Kai-Meis!

Once again the sock lasts show off the patterning in a very feminine way - if only my own feet were as elegant.

And finally, you didn't really expect me to be out in the garden with a pair of feet and a camera under my arm and not get up to more mischief?

Look what I found! A man eating plant!

Exciting news to follow - not only have I finished another item but the Yarn Archive is expecting a very special visitor!

The Sheep of Talybont

2009-09-03T18:27:00.005+01:00

Yes, today's post is another outside broadcast - this time all the way from Wales at the Talybont Village Show which my sister and I try and visit every year and am pleased to report that this year was not disrupted by rain, foot and mouth, blue tongue, nor any other unfortunate incident.

This meant that there were plenty of beautiful sheep to photograph. Much to my shame I am not entirely sure of the breed of some of these lovely animals so if anyone would like to oblige by posting a name in the comments box I will be very grateful.

Let's start with this magnificent specimen.

And this beautifully matched pair.

I love the soft muzzle and general sheepiness of this creature.

Compared to the distinguished Roman nose on this chap.

Now I can identify this lovely Jacob. Just look at his gorgeous fleece.

And this inscrutable beast.

I believe this heroic profile belongs to a Welsh Black.

But I've never seen this dainty creature before.

It was lovely to see the spinners out in force.

And that the show held a prizewinning class for hand knitting.

This is my only minor gripe about the show. With all the beautiful sheep and spinners about, it is a shame that the evidently talented knitters in the village did not have access to better materials and still chose to use acrylic yarns for their work.

Here is the beautifully knitted prize winning entry.

And an exquisite piece of incredibly fine lace in the table decoration class.

I think it is wonderful that the people of Talybont put on such an excellent show every year. In addition to the sheep and knitting there was obviously much more in the form of livestock, produce and handcrafts.

If there is such a show near you do go along and maybe even enter a class - there really is a great deal of inspiration to be had.

Just in case you think I have abandoned my needles for the camera look out for the next post when at least three items will be off the needles!

Knitting for Peace at the Courtauld Gallery

2009-08-25T23:39:00.009+01:00

When I look back over the last few months I am amazed at all the places that my knitting has taken me - Camp Bestival, the foot of the Plinth...and today is no exception. Knitters for Peace were invited to be Knitters in Residence for the weekend at the Courtauld Gallery which is housed in the very grand surroundings of Somerset House on the Strand in London.

So what connection might knitting have with the rarefied fine art atmosphere of the Courtauld? Well, it all starts here with their current special exhibition: Beyond Bloomsbury -designs of the Omega Workshops 1913-19.

Here, in the words of the exhibition is a synopsis of the work of the Omega Workshop.

The designers who worked at the Omega Workshop decided not to sign their work - instead it was all marked with the Omega symbol. Other aspects of their values were that they valued the hand made and irregular, bright colours and bold lines and group activity. They were also pacifists who worked with refugee women in France to produce embroideries for them to make a living after they had been driven from their villages by the advancing armies. Can you see the reference points for Knitters for Peace?

Much of the works are applied arts - here is a painted screen.

And a needlepoint chair back. The colours are bold and the designs are moving towards abstraction.

Many of the pieces are designs for textiles such as rugs drawn on graph paper.

Some have a deceptive simplicity.

When we were discussing the project and things we might do I had the opportunity to look at the catalogue and decided that it might be in keeping with the spirit of the exhibition to put together a piece that was inspired by one of the designs of the Omega Workshop.

One of the patterns caught my eye as being vaguely reminiscent of a log cabin blanket.

However, it needed to be simplified and adjusted to be suitable as a group project to suit most levels of skills.
Knitters soon got to work.

Refreshments were, of course, essential.

Over the two days we not only knitted a good number of squares but encouraged members of the public to stop and knit a couple of rows or we taught children to knit and added their contributions.

And here you can see the way in which the project is developing. The differences in tension make the squares a little irregular so the finished piece will require some fairly ferocious blocking if it is to be neat and regular. However, having spoken to the curator and several other very knowledgeable members of staff I may leave it a little rough and ready as this is very much in the style of the Omega Workshop.

All in all this was a fabulous experience. We raised awareness for Knitters for Peace, we connected people with parts of their past they had forgotten by allowing them to knit a few rows and reminisce, we set children on a path of what we hope is a fun and worthwhile pastime and we paid appropriate tribute to the Omega Workshop by working on a piece that not only referenced the exhibition but worked very much in the spirit of the members.

I think Roger Fry would not only have approved, he would have picked up a pair of needles and asked for a quick lesson!

Exclusive! Knitter P/hopping on the Plinth!

2009-08-15T14:47:00.003+01:00

One more nail in the coffin of the idea that knitting is something that ladies of a certain age do behind closed doors.Knitters are out and about and doing amazing things!

Today Rooknits joined the ranks of knitters who have taken part in the One and Other project inspired by Anthony Gormley where over four months, 2400 people take turns in spending an hour on the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square. Roo chose to spend her hour knitting a blanket square and building awareness for the P/Hop project where knitters share their skills, knowledge and stuff to raise funds for Medecins Sans Frontieres who take desperately needed medical care to people in the direst of circumstances.

Here's Roo, on the plinth, also building desperately needed awareness for Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club....

This photo gives a sense of the scale of the setting. You might be surprised to know that I also volunteered (unsuccessfully so far) for the project but having seen this shot I have a nasty feeling my vertigo would kick in and I would spend the hour clinging to the edge!

Of course, these days where you find one knitter in public you are likely to find a whole crowd more so here are a few of the group of supporters who roused themselves from their beds at such an unearthly hour on a Saturday morning for the occasion. It was great to see Pete, P/Hop's legendary sponsored knitter and my star pupil making such good progress on his Arsenal scarf. Will he get to wear it this season? His exciting news is that he has been sponsored a further $500 to learn to knit a sock. His generous donor will, I hope be delighted to hear that I gave him his first mini tutorial at the foot of the plinth. If you watch the footage of Roo's hour of fame you can just make us out.... thanks to my yellow cardi!

I had no idea that the cameras strayed onto the surrounding area so it was alarming but gratifying to receive text messages from friends saying 'Nice cardi!' I told you that in the hands of a better photographer it was far less of a shapeless lump!

How could the camera not stray onto this group of happy knitters?

No man was safe from being drawn into the mysterious world of the knitter. Steve will have needles in his hand before he knows what has hit him!

And here's Roo being brought safely down to earth. She did us proud!

And here are some of the blanket squares that supporters have been knitting ready to be sewn together int a beautiful blanket which will be raffled at the IKnit day next month to raise funds for MSF. It is shaping up to be a very beautiful and well traveled piece!

Never a dull moment when you're a knitter!

Abysmal photography

2009-08-13T00:47:00.002+01:00

Despite my lovely new camera, there is one sort of photography that I just can't seem to get right - cardigans and jumpers. Here, finally, after a stern talking to and another trip to the blockers I can reveal my new yellow cardigan in all its limp and shapeless glory!

You'll have to believe me when I say that it's really a very perky little three quarter sleeved cardi that makes me feel like one of these ladies when I wear it over my little black dress.

So much so that I had to invest in a pair of these....

and another gratuitous shot just to takes your mind off the knitting....

Of course I know what you are going to say - let's see the outfit! Well, I think it's going to take the help of a lovely assistant or the revolutionary step of reading the manual entry on self timing and a few more weeks off the pies before I subject you to that sort of apparition....

For those not completely mesmerised by the shoes the cardigan stats are as follows. Yarn, coned Elsbeth Lavold (allegedly) Silky Wool from Coldspring Mill, in an unnamed but very cheerful yellow. Pattern, Knitting Pure and Simple Top Down Tie Fronted Cardigan modified for three quarter sleeves and addition on eyelet pattern from Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting Patterns.

Testing, testing...

2009-08-05T20:02:00.006+01:00

As regular readers of this blog may know, Natalie, yarn dyer extraordinaire and owner of the Yarn Yard and I are great friends and collaborators. Most of the schemes we dream up at half past midnight on the telephone never see the light of day but we do all we can to support each other in whatever we are planning or working on.

As you can imagine, I was delighted when Natalie asked me to review an exclusive new yarn for her. Last week, this little beauty and its partner arrived in the post. Although Natalie and I are friends I did give this yarn a thorough work over and hope I have been fair and objective.

It's an eight ply, 100% merino and as you can see, the fineness of the plies gives it a very smooth, solid construction with virtually no halo at all. It's also a little heavier and not so fuzzy soft as Natalie's current sock yarns, similar in weight to say Socks that Rock Light and very reminiscent in texture to Wollmeise but lighter than something like Colinette Jitterbug.

In order to give it a thorough test I chose a pattern which combined a lot of pattern stitches with a range of construction elements. This is, once again from Wendy Johnson's Socks from the Toe Up, the Riding on the Metro Sock.

The yarn is lovely to knit with and produces a fabric which is a lot more solid than the other Yarn Yard staples, Bonny and Toddy and very smooth and crisp in its stitch definition. It doesn't split too badly when working on those tricky little ssk's although it does have a slight tendency to twist up on itself during knitting but nothing compared to some that I have tried.

The skeins weighed in at 60g each so I wanted to make sure I got as much out of them as possible. This yarn doesn't have the yardage of Bonny or Toddy and produces a heavier weight sock. Because the lace pattern has quite long repeats I decided to stop where I would usually finish with a 50g skein and only had this 6g ball left so people who like a decent amount of leg on their sock will be pleased to hear that Natalie is planning to sell it in 65g(I think) skeins.

Here's a close up of the stitch pattern which is, as you can see very firm and defined. People who prefer their socks slightly less textured may wish to choose one of the other alternatives. Because of the eight ply construction I think it will make very hard wearing socks despite the absence of nylon. Natural fibre purists like me will be very chuffed about that!

All in all I think this yarn is a really exciting addition to the yarns available in the UK and as merino absorbs colour beautifully there is opportunity for some striking colourways.

I think it stands up to scrutiny pretty well.

Thank you!

2009-08-04T11:34:00.002+01:00

I'd just like to thank the very kind person who has nominated my blog for the Dorset Cereals Little Blog Awards (link in the sidebar). I am delighted that anyone should think so well of my ramblings...

Lurking within tent

2009-08-03T20:15:00.006+01:00

Just in case anyone thought I had abandoned my stash and taken to a life on the open road after Camp Bestival, I'm back, vowing eternal love for my duvet and hot running water. I did have a fabulous time and as usual completely failed to capture most of it on film. Here, however is a small taster. This is the I Knit tent where we spent two days teaching people of all ages how to knit and finger knit.

The tent was packed most of the time. I think parents thought we were some sort of magicians as by teaching a very simple technique to make strings and strings of.....knitting from old scraps of yarn, their children were happily mesmerised for hours. You could hear the grateful sighs as they sank into our big comfy sofas.

For us, as people enthusiastic to share our love of the fibre arts it was a good opportunity to share what we know and to show people that children don't always need the latest gadget, and that they really enjoy making stuff. It was a real pleasure to work with them but also exhausting. The weather held good for most of the weekend but this was my favourite part of the day - the view from our tent before the crowds were let in first thing in the morning.

And here was my knitting spot.
As with any festival, you never know who is going to appear next. The Ladies of the Lawn dropped by to give us a few acapella numbers. Lithium by Nirvana was my favourite.

The clouds gathered on Sunday afternoon and after an insanely long train journey and missing the last tube train home I sank blissfully into my duvet and reflected on the simple pleasures of life....

Despite all this excitement, knitting has to go on! I have finished my On Hold socks. I am quite pleased with the way they have come out. They are made in a wool and silk blend by Posh Yarns which I think suits the pattern very well. They have a lovely sheen and texture.

Here is the customary blocker shot.

Here they are on the lasts which really shows off the scroll pattern running down the front of the foot.

And finally, I am still enjoying playing with my new toys and camera even though some people may find my interpretations a little..... creepy....

Surely this one is alright?

This one? Maybe less so....

What do you think?

Infidelity

2009-07-23T18:52:00.004+01:00

Readers of a nervous disposition may wish to look away now. I have a confession to make. I have been unfaithful. I have been playing away. And you know what? It was great and I'm planning to do it again.

Thanks to the lovely people at the Make Lounge in Islington, I have caught the embroidery bug. I've had a go before but have found a lot of the designs and transfers just a little bit mumsy although I can appreciate the retro chic of a crinoline lady table cloth like anyone else when its under a heaving table of French fancies and fairy cakes

Thanks to a whole new set of up to date transfers and ideas look what I am making - Rock and Roll tea towel -it's so cool it's hot!

In all seriousness it was a great class with good technical instruction. I can now do a French knot which I understand is viewed by embroiderers in the same way we knitters often view Kitchener stitch - with the greatest of suspicion...

Here's a closeup on my work where you can see the rather wobbly efforts of the first timer.I'm definitely going to keep going as I find it really satisfying but it will probably remain a 'bit on the side'. But don't stand too close you might find yourself embellished!

Not content with my dalliance with embroidery, on Monday I took my courage in both hands and, reassured by the relaxed approach of the Make Lounge (they serve wine for the super anxious) I decided to tackle my long held suspicion of the sewing machine, despite the fact that I have one upstairs gathering dust and signed up for one of their beginners' sewing classes. Again, with expert and very friendly instruction I managed to thread my sewing machine, cut out pattern pieces without drawing blood (Which is more than I managed to do on the embroidery course) and make this perfectly serviceable and rather stylish bag.

It's great to be able to use really good materials right from the start and to be filled with enough confidence that you aren't going to ruin them.

Look at that piece of machining (almost) perfectly straight.

I feel that this is going to be a practical and useful skill and plan to take some more advanced classes in the future. I really enjoyed both classes and whilst I can't imagine abandoning my knitting and spinning I will keep up both activities and try to improve my skills.

I know that this may have come as a bit of a shock to some of you so before you all knock me off your blog reader lists let me just tell you that I am down at Camp Bestival for the next three days helping out in the Iknit Knitting tent in the Magic Meadow. If you're at the festival please come by and say hello.

And if you see me struggling to put my tent up, please take pity on me....