Yes, I do knit, why do you ask?

It’s hard to believe this started life as a knitting blog. I dare not even check when I last mentioned knitting on these pages, let alone talked about something I made myself.

But there are a couple of “advantages” in being too ill to do much. The greatest advantage, of course, is quiet time. And quiet time, for me, means reading and knitting.

My last post talked about my reading so I’m here to talk about knitting!

Yes, you know, sticks (albeit very short sticks joined by a plastic cable) and yarn.

On Christmas Eve, in response to the horrific bushfires (not far from here) that destroyed 200 homes and damaged at least another 200, I began another knitted blanket. I quite often have a knitted blanket on the go – there are many charities that will take them, especially at this time of year. The blankets most often called for around here are 70” x 40” so I chose to design my own. It is inspired by the Moderne Baby Blanket (Ravelry link) from Mason-Dixon Knitting (Ann Shayne and Kay Gardiner) which I had just finished a few weeks before. I particularly like the two rows of white yarn I have used to do the first part of each section.

The knitting is finished but I have lots of ends to sew in. There’s also a safety pin hanging from the large brown section to the right where I dropped a stitch more than 40 rows back and didn't notice. I will use a crochet hook to deal with that! when I crochet a border around the whole thing. I tried to use yarn from my stash to complete this blanket, hence the different shades of brown and green. Speaking of green, the colour here is way off: the green across the top is bottle green; the other green is a deep forest green! I tried to adjust the colour but this is the best I could get.

In retrospect, I don’t think I would cast off each section then pick up the stitches on the next round – I think I’d leave the stitches live on some waste yarn (or a spare “cable”). For some reason, my blanket won’t lie flat – I think it’s a combination of tension problems (caused by casting off then picking up the stitches) and using different brands of DK weight acrylic yarn – they all knit up to a different gauge even though they’re supposed to be the same ‘weight’. Fortunately, bodies are not flat so blankets with a bit of ”curvature” aren’t too much of a drama and I may be able to block it (if it bothers me too much – all that mucking around with the steam iron to block acrylic is not my favourite activity!)

I have also knitted a very basic beanie – it’s DK weight (tencel/acrylic) yarn knitted on 4mm needles using 120 stitches – it will fit somebody with a very big head (you can see that it is way too big for me)! What was I thinking when I cast on? The tencel blend (now discontinued Moda Vera “Jaclyn”) is such a soft yarn; I’m sure the new owner will find it warm and comfortable! The colour should be cream not the soft grey shown here; what is it with taking photos outside on a sunny Sydney winter’s day?

 

Although I gave some yarn away before we moved, the amount of yarn that moved with us had shocked me and goaded me into some knitting action’', even before I got sick. While I was away at my mother’s, I worked on and almost completed the first of two scarves; the second I finished last night. Both are knitted in a (now discontinued) DK weight, 50% tencel/acrylic blend (Moda Vera “Cynthia”), in a simple, slipped-stitch pattern on a garter-stitch base making them quick to knit, and ideal for conversation, listening to audio books or watching television in low-light levels.

I knew three 50g balls of black yarn wasn't enough to knit a scarf but I wasn’t sure how far one ball would go so I started with a provisional cast on and knitted one ball. This resulted in 152 rows, so I then planned 30-row stripes from the remaining two balls plus the two balls of ‘forest’ green I also had in stash. The result is a scarf of a good length and the combination could be worn by either a man or a woman. Come to think of it, I’m sure I saw it around a certain man’s neck on Saturday when he realised he was coming down with something (which the doctor confirmed yesterday was likely to be bronchitis!).

 

The black and green scarf was knitted on 41 stitches using nearly 250g of yarn and came out at 7.5” x 75”. I had only 200g of grey yarn but still wanted a scarf of a reasonable length so made it slightly narrower – 37 stitches. The resulting scarf is 6” x 70”.

Unfortunately, that is almost the end of my stash of Moda Vera “Cynthia”; I have just six balls of ‘brown’ and one ball of a “natural mix” left; plus some leftover from the green and black scarf. I say unfortunately because it was a lovely soft yarn, both on my hands while knitting and in the final product. I still have several balls of Moda Vera Jaclyn (same DK weight, 50% tencel/acrylic blend) but I’m not overly fond of the boring cream colour. I think I’ll wait until summer and see how it takes dye; it’s not like I have no yarn to work with in the meantime! Meanwhile, the boring cream will be used as a background for a stranded colour-work hat using the leftover green, black and a small amount of the brown.

In case you’re wondering why I have to wait for summer (apart from the fact that downstairs is not completely unpacked and sorted yet), my “dyeing studio” is in a room under the house – it’s freezing down there in winter, it’s like a cool room without the need for electricity! No wonder the previous owner used some of the area down there as a cellar!

In sewing news, I’ve had a huge hiccough in my progress with the Country Houses quilt which was (but, sadly is no longer) on track to be finished by the end of the month. There’ll be a post about it soon; but right now I’m off to cast on for that stranded colour-work hat!

What are you working on at the moment?

a story of good intentions (part 1)

Hello! It’s been way too long. When I don’t write on my blog, it’s very easy to form a habit of not writing on my blog! Many times I have had a great idea for a blog post but somehow, I just didn’t get to it.

I was going to write on the first day of March about how February had been my month for getting projects finished. I had written earlier in February about my “feeling flat” and that my solution to this issue was to finish some UFOs. It occurred to me that there were just to many UFOs around, and that if something were to happen to me, DD would be stuck with the task of deciding whether to finish them or throw them out. Since she can’t bear waste, she would feel obliged to finish them. We don’t knit to the same gauge so finishing my knitting projects would be a challenge, which would be made even harder by the fact that I rarely use patterns either!

So, in February I got stuck into some of my UFOs and even managed to finish a couple. The quilt and the blanket I have already shown in a previous post. These socks were started on 11th January so they could only be described as UFOs because I got second sock syndrome and cast them aside for something new!
This shawl was a WIP rather than a UFO since Ravelry shows me that I only started it on 16th February!

I am easily distracted. We had a crochet workshop at the Knitters’ Guild in mid-February and I caught the bug again. I made a small baby rug from 200g of 8ply (DK) acrylic yarn in girlie colours. I thought it was too small to be useful and too heavy for a baby (I had forgotten that crochet consumes yarn much more voraciously than knitting!). But my worst crochet nightmare came back to haunt me – it would not lie flat. I talked to the tutor of the crochet workshop. I emailed a blog-friend who crochets (Hi, Maria). I took my completed work to the LYS and asked for help. I was encouraged to block it and try my next project with less chains in the corners.

And so, of course, I began another crochet project while WM and were away in mid-March visiting Taronga Western Plains Zoo (hopefully, I’ll write a post about that later). No matter what I did, the curling continued. The acrylic yarn felt stiff and hard and, ultimately, I decided to rip out both projects. Well, actually, DD ripped out the first one for me while I fixed a problem with her knitting, and the second one sits forlornly in the frogpond! Of course, no photos were taken before ripping the first one but here are two photos of the second attempt. The second photo shows the curling problem.

 

Then, I suddenly realised that the Charity of the Month (CotM) over at Knit4Charities was for NSW Women’s Refuges. My good intentions to finish my UFOs were waylaid by my good intentions to knit a few things for this charity. While watching Castle one evening, I became aware that slouch hats were in fashion with younger women and so I looked on Ravelry for some patterns. Here is 2yo Older Grandson modelling my first attempt on varying someone’s perfectly good pattern to suit myself!
You can read my comments about my attempt on my Ravelry projects page. I haven’t taken photos of my other hats and I need to get them in the post so I doubt you’ll see any more of them.

I plan to write the second half of this post soon, but you have already seen where my good intentions lead!

hat trick

Cricket was a game that my dad loved and played well into middle age.

In cricket, a hat trick is awarded to the bowler when three batsmen are bowled or caught out from that bowler's three consecutive deliveries. Not easy to do, as you can imagine.

The term "hat trick", according to Wikipedia - the source of not always accurate information - was first used in cricket in 1878, and is now used in other sports, as diverse as soccer, lacrosse, hockey, motor racing, darts and poker!

If I had been raised in a "betting" family, I may have called my post Trifecta, so I guess by now you know that three is the essential number here! LOL

I completed three hats (we call them beanies) in three consecutive days so may I present my hat trick?

All three are variations of my "go to" pattern, which is labelled Beanie With Pompoms in Handknits to Wrap and Adorn (Ravelry link). Mine definitely do not have pompoms (nor are ever likely to!)

The first is Self Striping Beanie, which is knitted from 8ply (DK) acrylic which I hand-dyed using acid dyes. Here is the yarn in the round, so to speak,


and here is the beanie:

I love the process and products of hand dyeing but am a bit over the self striping or blotchy "pooling" effects of these yarns. This second hat, my Not So Subtle Stripes beanie, uses the left overs of the above yarn paired with a solid acrylic of unknown origin. I like the way this breaks up the pooling.

You know, it's astonishing how plastic-y acrylic feels when I have been knitting in wool for several weeks! I guess that's because it is a form of plastic!

The third beanie is my favourite of the three. It was actually the first of these three beanies to be finished but I'm one of those people who likes to leave the best till last.

I call it my Subtle Stripes beanie. It is knitted in the remainder of the variegated yarn used for my Water, Forest and Fire scarf (Ravelry link to my project page) with a ball of Moda Vera Pure wool, colour Fern.

I love the way the stripes work in this beanie and will definitely repeat this idea.

Now I understand why so many beanies turn up in the charity parcels - they are so quick and easy to knit! There's no need to repeat one to create a second one (as is the case for socks/mittens/gloves), and no boring repetitiveness (as in scarves) because they are done so quickly. In many cases, a 50g skein is enough to complete a hat so three or four hats can be made from the same amount of yarn taht is used to make one scarf.

Long live the hat - may many heads be warmed!

FO Friday

In my post on 1st March I said I would come back with photos of finished objects. I also said on Wednesday that there were items in my knitting corner that were awaiting photography! DD visited on Wednesday so photos were taken and I have some goodies to show you.

Firstly, a hat knitted by DD - her first foray into slip stitch patterns; we are both very proud of her results.


As for me (specs on my Ravelry project pages if you want them; listed here in italics):


Lime Spider and Coconut Ice beanie
pattern: Fourth Grade Hat (Rav link)

I said the striping of the yarn looked like lime and pink coconut ice; DD said Lime Spider (or icecream soda) and Coconut Ice, hence the name.

This is an attempt at conventional entrelac - I'm not in a hurry to try this style of knitting again, it's slow and seems to use more yarn than a conventional beanie would. The hat designed by Abby Franquemont looks great, mine less so. Not quite sure why - perhaps the fact that it's knitted in a hand-dyed acrylic and therefore can't be blocked is part of the answer.

Why did I choose to knit this in my handpainted acrylic? I wanted to see what the shortish colour repeats would do in shorter rows of stocking (stockinette) stitch.

I also tried to modify the pattern because it was getting too big - my modifications were not as successful as I would have liked!

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Socks for Someone #1 - a fraternal pair
pattern from the ball band of Moda Vera Noir sock yarn

My first attempt, following the pattern exactly, gave big, baggy socks that were enormous on WM! I ripped the 3/4 finished sock out completely and started again.

I have never done this kind of heel before and was reasonably happy with it, except for the hole where the short rows of the heel joined the foot. If I knitted it again I would slip the first stitch of every row while knitting the heel gussett - it is so much easier to pick up stitches along the gussett if I do that!

These took so long - Second Sock Syndrome plus no record of modifications on the first sock = pain in the knitting needles! I am determined that in future I will knit two socks at the same time; I have enough dpns to do that!

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DD and I dyed 400m (200g) of yarn in this beautiful colourway. While I was winding it into a ball, I started singing "Sunshine Lollipops" so that became the name of the yarn!

Sunshine Lollipops Scarf pattern detail

Sunshine Lollipops scarf
pattern: Drop Stitch Scarf by Christine Vogel (Rav link)

I just love, love, love this pattern - so quick to knit, so bright and cheerful (well, in the yarn I chose and in the yarn on the Ravelry pattern page). How many other patterns give you an eight feet scarf (2.4 metres) in just three days?

I knitted this one in wool. I knitted till it was 1.8 metres long. I usually knit in acrylic and forgot the magic of blocking - voila! eight feet of scarf! I will definitely be knitting this pattern again!

And I'm in good company, more than 5,000 people have this in their projects list, and another 5,000+ in their queue!

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I had some yarn left over from the scarf so I knitted a hat:

Sunshine Lollipops beanie
pattern: Slip Stitch Stash Hat by Renee Rico

If I had not been using a slip stitch pattern, I may have had enough to knit a child size hat but I decided to incorporate some scrap yarn (as the pattern suggests).

The lower third of the hat contains only the Sunshine Lollipops yarn - variegated yarns make interesting slip stitch patterns without the need to join in new colours.

slip stitch pattern detail

crown detail (a slip stitch modification on the original design)

the first of autumn

In Australia, our seasons change on the first of the month (not on the equinox as in some other countries). Today is the first day of autumn - not that it felt any different to yesterday with the temperature forecast about 32*C (92*F) with high humidity. Yet there is a promise of cooler weather ahead.

The organisation I collect knitted items for, Australian Inland Ministries, is the charity of the month in April on knit4charities, as is another event I support: Sydney's Homeless Connect Day. I'm knitting as fast as I can but, as you all know, it's never fast enough! I have revisited some long neglected projects and have knitted new ones. I only cast on a new project when I have completed a UFO so that means relatively monogamous knitting is happening here.

I am currently knitting from patterns. That is unusual for me as I either use my "go to" patterns (especially for beanies and socks) or design my own patterns. Out of curiosity, I typed "charity" into the search box on Ravelry's pattern page and was stunned to get a very large number of patterns in response! I also trawled my friends' projects/faves to add to my Ravelry queue which is now so long (for me) that I'll never knit everything that's on there!

So here are a couple of my recently finished projects:

The Campus Scarf (Ravelry Link) knitted in Moda Vera Cynthia on 4mm (US 6) needles. I modified this pattern to use only 30 stitches because 42 was too wide. My scarf is a little narrow but it's long so it can be wound around the wearer's neck twice for extra warmth.

I'm ashamed to admit it but I finally got around to putting the zipper in this Tomten jacket! How embarassing - I finished knitting this in 2009!

More about my other finshed projects when I have photos to show!

knitting (and a little crochet)

After all, that's what this blog is supposed to be about, isn't it?

Warning: photo heavy post


There have been beanies

Moda Vera Cynthia Blue

Moda Vera Cynthia Forest

three in this colourway; the colours are much darker - rich plum and burgundy

Schoeller and Stahl Skyline Light (hand-dyed) - thanks Leonie

and scarves

two of these

dropped garter stitch

Turbulent Indigo scarf  (Rav link) in donated acrylic "mohair"

DD knitted this one!

Journey Scarf (Rav link) knitted in Moda Vera Cynthia grey

this one is currently on the needles - a sample for my entrelac workshop

and ladies' mitts (pattern modified from Cleckheaton's Handknits to Wrap and Adorn)

and blankets (afghans) approximately 70 inches by 40 inches (175cm by 100cm).

this one is in the finishing process (lots of ends to sew in)

this one is hibernating until I remember to buy a bigger hook

this one is currently on the needles 200 stitches, one row per colour

this one is my "sample" for the garter stitch entrelac workshop I am tutoring next month

 and one toddler's jumper (sweater) which was "homework" to practise Fair Isle technique

beanies for bubs in gold and brown

My brother is a very keen supporter of the Hawthorn "Hawks" AFL club; has been most of his life. In December he saw me knitting a beanie, examined it and declared my skills good enough to knit a beanie for his yet unborn daughter - in Hawthorn colours of course.

Last weekend we visited DB, DSIL and five-week old Little Miss. She is so tiny - only 5lb 5oz at birth. Here's a photo of her from last weekend.

And here are the two beanies I designed and knitted for her being modelled by her oh-so-cute-and-not-so-tiny second cousin, aka GS#1. The first is knitted in soft acrylic - the only way I could get the bright gold colour.

The second is in Lincraft "Cosy Wool". It was a bit scratchy so I washed it in hair conditioner and it softened a bit - luckily, Little Miss has that mop of hair to protect her from semi-scratchy yarn!

WM had the presence of mind to take a photo of the unmodelled beanie to show off the stranded colourwork.

Three months' worth of beanies - some photos as promised

As I've said before, beanies are good travelling companions: knitted on circulars there's no danger of losing a needle and knitted in the round there's no need to get to the end of the row! They're also good for watching television when I really want to pay attention. And when the beanies are knitted for persons unknown, it doesn't matter what size they are - each will fit someone!

So here, in no particular order, are the beanies you haven't seen before. Most of them are knitted in leftover Carnival acrylic given to me by mum.

This one is in carnival colours!

A self striping yarn in soft colours.

This one started with the left overs of the previous beanie then four more yarns were added!

This one pooled in an interesting

fashion!

Showing here are two looks from different sides of the same beanie.

This one provoked my brother to ask for a Hawthorn (Australian Rules football team) beanie for his daughter due late March!

 This one is a sunhat beanie - it didn't work as I had planned but it still works as a beanie.

 This is the chevron version of the Moda Vera "Spell" beanies I seem to have been knitting forever!

I also knitted three regular beanies from the same yarn but I think you've seen enough of this yarn.

Then there was the Skyline yarn Leonie sent when destashing her "ack".
This yarn is 80% wool and 20% polyamide and has the most striking stitch definition of any yarn I have ever seen (including cotton).

It is, however, not a nice yarn to work with - feels more like nylon than wool.

This photo doesn't do the beanie justice but unfortunately I had no human head to model this beanie.

I was running out of pink yarn so I created a stranded colour ("fair isle") version.

Notice the stitch definition which works so beautifully in this beanie.

Thanks Leonie - I'm looking forward to dyeing the rest and seeing how it turns out.

This is DD's favourite - it nearly didn't end up in the charity collection at all!! LOL

And now, a self-striped beanie of my own hand dyed acrylic. It's funny how it striped. There are twenty or so stiches to a colour repeat but the way they kept ending up near each other created stripes but not pooling! Handpainted yarns are always fascinating!

And finally, a beanie as part of an ensemble which includes Elizabeth Zimmermann's February Baby Sweater (without buttons) and "Playful" socks from Babies and Toddlers: A Knitters' Dozen. All these are knitted in three different but coordinating handpainted acrylic yarns. Amazingly, these yarns are all supersoft from going through the dyeing process.

Not shown are the lenghwise garter stitch scarf I knitted from odds and ends of acrylic yarn while visiting dad in hospital or the bed socks I knitted for him because his feet were cold but which he was not allowed to wear.

Nor can I show you the baby blanket I knitted in Cleckheaton Baby Zhivago (colourway as shown) over 160 stitches on 5mm needles. It had a garter stitch border and a pattern stitch of ten stitches stocking stitch and then stitches reverse stocking stitch over 14 rows then reverse the squares. Between the garter stitch border and the blanket proper there was a yarn-over done on the right side rows to differentiate the border from the reverse stocking stitch. I designed the blanket so my mother could knit it during her stress but I ended up knitting it all myself. I cast on Tuesday night, knitted at home and the hospital and cast off and sewed in the ends on Saturday night. Four days for a 36" square - not bad! I didn't block it because all my blocking supplies were at home in Sydney and the yarn is 50% acrylic so probably wouldn't block anyway! The finished blanket was wrapped before I had a chance to take a photo and will be given to my brother and SIL on the birth of their daughter in about eleven weeks.

PS Leonie, I can't show you the knitting in the colour I didn't like - I pulled it out days ago. If you want to check the colour, It is Bendigo Luxury "Leaf".