Day 4: A Knitter or Crocheter for All Seasons? (3KCBWDAY4)

This was where I used my scientific mind to it's full potential. I actually put together something in Excel that has all my finished projects, by month.

Yeah, it's a little hard to read, sorry, hopefully you can see there are months along the top and projects named underneath. Generally, it looks like I knit less in May/June and more in Autumn and Spring - but oddly not winter. But what about the type of project I'm making?

Here I have made pink the complex lace stuff compared to the easier less-need-to-look-at-a-chart stuff. It is so uniformly spread, it could be butter on toast.

My gift knitting also shows less seasonality than I'd expected - and nothing in December! So far, I can see very little trend at all....

Ah, I see it now. Here I've done garments red, socks yellow, gloves green, scarves blue and hats pink. I do garments and socks in the winter, and hats and gloves in July (?!) and the Autumn, mainly.

Mostly, I'm impressed that there is any sort of pattern; I certainly don't plan it that way!! Also, I have only been knitting for less than three years, so there's not been very long for any sort of trend to emerge. The trends I do have probably won't stand up to any sort of statistical testing :p

And here is a little picture of some birds in Leeds' Tropical World, just to lighten things up after all that maths !

'What are you looking at?'

What's on my needles

I have realised in all my excitement of travelling to the four corners of Britain, it has been a fair while since I have mentioned what I'm actually knitting. And this is because, for the lat month, it has been dominated by one item: Lauriel.

I am a lot in love with this pattern and apart from some teething problems with the rib at the start has flowed off my needles (as I mentioned a while ago). Except, it has been a very busy month and so it is not getting the attention it deserves. Much progress was made during my working from Scotland days, but this stalled as I reached Cambridge and the ribbing at the bottom of the body. I have come to the simple conclusion that I have the wrong number of stitches which is why the ribbing won't work, have fudged accordingly and need to see how it turns out.

Meanwhile, I needed something to do in the seminars I attended in Cambridge. Socks were an obvious solution.

My coursemates were supportive and maybe a little impressed with my skills over the fortnight (I did only get in about an hour a day, with note-taking). I was wondering if I could come up with a decent name for the project and when I asked my neighbour she said unhesitatingly 'The Sanity Socks'. After all, what is better for keeping your head during ten 12-hour days plus a half-day Saturday than some self-striping socks?

When I was at home for a few days and needed some knitting for while I was catching up with Torchwood (still very behind though, tsk!), I picked up my first ever knitted thing: the Garter Stitch Scarf. Last year I decided it was too short to be useful, so grabbed some extra wool in an end-of-line sale to make it useful again. As the weather begins to turn colder, I fear I may need it sooner rather than later!

I will probably have more exciting travel stories when I next write. Until next time x

FO Friday - Feather & Fan Socks

I decided, during the knitting funk, that a speedy knit was needed. Something attainable, with a new skill or two thrown in to make me feel like I'm Developing As A Knitter. And so I stumbled upon these guys.

Pattern: the Feather and Fan sock, a toe-up sock pattern with lace on the ankle [ravelry link].

Yarn: 4ply from Woolfest 2011, called 'Rainbow Sock Wool' - a BFL/nylon blend that is lovely and cosy from the Wool Clip stall. The label tells me it was made by Jan & Cecilia and you can email or telephone them, but they don't have their own website or anything.

Love the pattern, so easy to follow and needing just the right amount of brain power. Learned about short-row shaping at the toe and heel, and the awesome super-stretchy bind off at the top. I think I'll be making all my future socks toe-up in future; I just get on with it better than top-down.

I love how this yarn has turned out with these socks. It really is a match made in heaven, and I'm really proud of them. I did have a crisis of confidence with them - clearly related to the general knitting funk - but that makes me even more proud of them. I made it through, and would you look at what I did on the way??

Trying to Kick the Funk

So, I have been in a bit of a knitting funk of late. Starting things and partway through, deciding they're not the right yarn/pattern combo, so ripping back. Making mistakes and ripping back. Having things not work and ripping back. Realising something is not the right size and ripping back. Running out of yarn and ripping back. It's not been a good month.

So far, I've only had knitting blips for days or maybe a week, but as you can tell it has been going on for a while. Maybe I've been working hard. Maybe I've been having too much non-knitting fun. But this week I have had to face the music: I am in a knitting funk.

I have tried several things to get out of it, and none of them have worked.... yet!

1. Soldier on

The first is a hat where the ribbed band was way too loose. I have knit the Grace Lace Beret before but in acrylic so wasn't expecting the ribbing to be tight (featured as part of Blog Week), but this yarn had enough wool content that it should have worked. It got this far and was frogged.

The next is the lovely angora mittens. I have knitted these until I have run out of yarn, and have just decided they are too big. Frogged, to be reborn when I can face the maths.

2. Buy yarn for the next project, as an incentive.

This is destined to be a Snowbaby Hat by eskimimi (rav link). It involves colourwork and I have never done that before. So, as everything seemed to be going wrong so far, I have not cast it on -- I was just hoping that a little temptation of future work might make me work harder and so things would go right again.

3. Buy stunning artisan yarn with no project in mind.

Both from The Yarn Yard in Making Mischief (above) and Hare (below). Probably both going to become lacework shawls for myself, unless I am feeling very generous. Though they are both stunning, I still haven't quite pinned down a project for either of them, yet. Though there are a lot of 4ply shawls on my waiting list.

4. Buy a random ball of yarn and then fail to knit anything with it.

Though not for want of trying. This has often inspired me in the past, but all I wanted to make some vanilla socks for some quick gratification. It turns out bamboo yarn was not the answer - the ribbing had no grip. Then I tried to make a lovely lace shawl - the yarn was too busy and obscured the pattern (I did have three attempts at the shawl before giving up). Then some mittlets - they just didn't work at all. They were supposed to be doing some scrunching up on the wrist but, whether it was the yarn, the pattern, or the knitter, it just plain didn't happen. Frogged and this ball of yarn is condemned to the Box Of Yarn That Doesn't Exist.

5. Go to a knitting event with knitting friends

Though I think that is a tale for another day...

FO: Lush Green Orchid Thief

Some years ago, I bought a lovely green dress for a wedding and, being I was on a short deadline, I bought a cheapo shawl and shoes to go with it. But I felt this outfit could have a shawl knitted for it, to make it more brilliant for wedding season this year. However, having knit it and tried it on with the dress, they don't match. Also, this dress was clearly bought before the advent of the Cake Diet.

I love the shawl, the dress is being donated to a thinner friend.

Pattern: Orchid Thief by Ysolda Teague, in Brave New Knits

Yarn: Jawoll Magic 4ply in colour 17 (called grasshopper or apple - either way, green). Bought at Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Fair 2010

Lovely pattern, though be sure to check out the errata and the relevant ravelry discussion before struggling on. And definitely, definitely, use lifelines (unless you are a really really great knitter). The yarn is great if a little prone to felting, but I love how it has turned out.

FO: Hello Sailor! Socks

Well, they really did have to be called that, given the nautical stripes and the related pattern - Fishnet Socks from The Purl Bee by Purl Soho. A knit designed to be simple, easy and quick, to counter Orchid Thief. However, I got quite distracted with life / work / holidays and so they took me about a month. (also, in my rookie yarn-buying days, I'd bought a single ball of Regia not knowing you need two for a proper pair of socks, and this used it up nicely). My former housemate was excited when she saw me knitting them, exclaiming, 'Summer bedsocks!!' and since she clearly had a gap in her life for them I gave them away.

The modifications I made were to ssk instead of k2tog for the second sock to that the twists went the other way (which worked really well) and to knit the sole of the sock instead of continuing in pattern, to make it more comfy to walk on (which didn't really work, the twisting stopped for the foot). Only my second pair of socks so still learning but much happier with my picking-up and grafting skills. Though I'm hoping the next pair are toe-up, fingers crossed as I hear they're hard to start...

All Quiet on the Knitting Front

Well, not really. Things have been rather hectic in all other aspects of my life; on the rubbish side, deadlines loom at work and I've been under the weather. On the more fun side, I've been on holiday to Prague (lovely) and planning trips to Woolfest, a separate holiday to the Lakes, a trip to a festival in Scotland to attend and various trips to Edinburgh. However, all this Stuff To Do means I can't concentrate on any one thing: always flitting between the bits I need to do at work, evenings spent researching holidays and transport. And this has infected my knitting too. Currently, four projects on the needles, with apologies for the dodgy photos as I was losing the light.

My favourite first: Ysolda's Orchid Thief, from Brave New Knits. Despite some initial twinges of a bipolar relationship of loving the outcome but finding the whole thing rather hard work, I've grown to find the pattern intuitive and the result satisfying.

The second is a pair of Fishnet Anklets by The Purl Bee, mainly making use of a single ball of Regia I bought as a rookie knitter because I liked the colours, not knowing that it makes two to make a pair of proper socks. Fortunately, these are mainly holes!

The third thing is angora mittlets, a pattern based on the stitch pattern from the Darkside Cowl (ravelry link) but the shape of cupcake mittlets (ravelry link). I'm not quite sure I have enough yarn left, plus some sniffles mean I didn't fancy knitting angora *atchoo, so these have stalled. However, looking forward to wearing them with my lovely cowl (a gift along with the yarn from Stephcuddles).

The final thing is a soon-to-be-frogged hat. The band around the head is really loose, and it's irritated me to wear it when I've just been wearing it round the house [for testing, it's not that cold!] and I figure the wool is nice enough that it should be liberated and saved for a better day.

Now all I need is to finish some of 'em!

FO: Simple City

Yarn: Artisan Yarns Superwash Sock in Lavender's Dilly

I saw this yarn a good long while ago; our eyes met across a crowded stall, and I was away; love at first sight. I was obviously going to buy it, despite [trying to] be on a mission to only buy yarn I had a project in mind for, no matter how tenuous the idea was.

Some time later, I saw Eskimimi's Simple City [ravelry link], and decided it would be a match made in heaven. While many other projects were more pressing, I built the idea of this perfect yarn and perfect project up in my head. The pattern is brilliantly designed, straightforward to follow and beautifully laid out. I heartily recommend it to all but the 'complete novice' knitter - and the fruit salad of stitch markers, courtesy of Stephcuddles made any counting pain-free.

This huge build-up meant that, when I finished, I was a tad disappointed. No angels sang. No trumpets sounded. No knitting fairy furnished me with an idea of what I should do next.

However, in the intervening three weeks, I have fallen in love again; it is the perfect match of yarn, pattern and personality. Though I need to learn how to wear it in a less-of-a-mess way!

FO: Dalek

After much agonising and procrastinating, the Day of the Dalek has finally dawned.



Pattern: Extermiknit! [Ravelry link]

The pattern looks like hell on earth, but once you get into it, it's really not that bad! I had a crisis (on and off for about 8 months) about i-cords but once I asked for help and made myself do it (only thing I took to a Knit Night) I was fine and finished. There is a provisional crochet cast on that I also needed help with. This did mean he spend waaaay too long in this state:


Needles: 4mm dpns

I would definitely recommend knitting it in the round, but I hate sewing things up so I guess I'm biased!

Wool: Acrylic DK from Leeds Market.

The shop is on the right, if you do in through the doors on the corner of Vicar Lane and George Street (I think!). The right sort of wool for such a project - I bought two 100g balls (red and dark gray) for about £2.20 and used some white acrylic I had lying about. And I have loads left, enough to knit at least one more Dalek. Maybe there could be an army of them...?

FO: Spring Forward (Blue)

This is my first pair of socks, and I may have bitten off more than I can chew with Spring Forward. Don't get me wrong, lovely well-written, simple pattern; it was just a little too much to learn picking up stitches, turning the heel etc. while doing a pattern. So, if you're new to socks, find a plain vanilla sock pattern and then knit these.

As with any 'first', there were trials, tribulations, and times when I just ran off to more experienced knitters, but overall I enjoyed the process. The yarn I chose was really easy to use and reasonably priced - King Cole Merino 4ply in Slate Blue, from Baa Ram Ewe, Headingley.

I joined the two balls of yarn using a Russian join, supported by this website and the ever-patient Steph. It was a little confusing at first but actually is a great idea and worth persisting with.

Yeah, slight second sock syndrome though - I did the join well into the second sock as you can see, and there was snow on the ground. That second sock only took two months. But again, worth it in the end - knitted for my Mum, she was really touched and proud of how I'm coming along as a knitter (though, since she taught me to knit, maybe a little worried about what she started!!)

FO: Spring Ishbel

It would seem blog week has thrown me all out of whack. I finished two projects that week and still haven't blogged about them. And there's all sorts of knitterly topics I have in my head or things on the horizon.

So to Ishbel.

(taken using flash)

I really, really enjoyed this pattern. Though the lacework meant it was needed a fair bit of brainpower, as I got into the swing of each row I found I could at least watch TV or a film. I used to live with a lovely fellow student, now teacher, and I saw the yarn and thought of her instantly. I showed it to her online and she make squeaking noises. Another day, I showed her the pattern and more squeaking ensued. And so her birthday present idea was born in my mind.

(taken with no flash)

I used Zauberball in Flowers (aka Floral Language, aka Durch die Blumen), bought at Harrogate Knitting & Stitching Fair way back in November. I cast on between Christmas and New Year, and after a couple of train journeys was making good progress; it was looking good, knitting up quickly, and the green was peeking through and making me rather excited.

However, there was a go-slow when the lacework started - the rows became too long to take it on the train, it became too difficult to do socially, and I was so crazy busy that my knitting time at home almost vanished. I took it to a fabulous craft day with ewenique and this really sparked my love of it again, especially as she gave me a coincidentally matching project bag 'for Christmas'.

Initially, I knitted the small version, but then I had only one stripe and loads of yarn left so I tinkered about a bit and managed to do the pattern section: ABABAC - first two rows of D - E. And trust me, that is literally as much as the yarn would allow (at least at my gauge) - there was a lot of cunning lifeline placement! The two skills I learned were lifeline placement and blocking by myself - so proud of it I even took photos of the blocking stage...

But the best part by far was giving it to my former housemate. She was so genuinely touched that she could not stop thanking and hugging me. This cheered me up so much after a few rough days that it made all the trials worthwhile.

WIP Wednesday

I don't normally do WIP Wednesday, but I realised I haven't given an update about what's on my needles in a good long while, and I have some time to blog on a Wednesday. A match made in heaven. So, apologies for the godawful photos, a long day at work means I have looked whistfully out of the window at the beautiful sunshine but not actually been able to take any knitting photos in daylight.

Today's news is relatively exciting - there is a Beautiful Thing afoot.

Well, at least I hope it's going to be a beautiful thing - the pattern is Eskimimi's Simple City, a beautiful thing - and the yarn is Artisan Yarns Sock in Lavendar's Dilly (mentioned when I bought it and during Blog Week). I'm still not quite sure the whole parcel is living up to my expectations, but they are rather high so maybe that was inevitable.

The other news is about this wee fiend:

I know that it doesn't look like much, but the body has been in that state since at least September. That is some serious hibernation. And that provisional cast on was done about this time last year. Pretty lame, if you ask me. Though, as of Knit & Natter last night, there is also a plunger arm:

Of course, I didn't say it was attached....

FO: Beautiful Bolero

Pattern: Falling Leaves, Let's Knit Sept 2010, size: 10

Yarn: King Cole Merino Blend DK in Cranberry (x7)

Mods: none (that I know of....), except that I wet blocked it rather than pressing it. Oh and I sewed it up with embroidery thread instead of wool, to make me take my time with it.

Well, I'm really rather proud of this. Though it has been the damn bolero, bloody bolero (and several worse things), I love it now. Wore it for the Valentine's Supper we had last night, and my other half was rather impressed with my skills :) At the start, I enjoyed making it; it was always going to be a bit of a slog getting through my first garment (especially the back), but I'm really glad I did it with this, with no fretting about fit or shaping. Though somehow managed to run out of wool really near the end; fortunately my LYS had another ball in the same dyelot :)

Overall, great colour, useful thing, enjoyed making it at first but it became a bit of a slog, though now I'm really pleased with it!!

FO: Humanity Mittens

Apologies for the quality of the picture, it was late at night and there was a birthday deadline the next day!

Pattern: Humanity Mittlets. (ravelry link(

Yarn: King Cold Merino Blend Chunky in Navy

Needles: 4mm bamboo dpns.

Generally please with my cabling skills (first time for everything!), but I'd used a bit of the yarn for another project, so ran out and made the thumbs shorter. Turns out, this is a good thing, as it's useful in some guitar-playing way.

This project was made for my housemate, who I've been stressing about (and probably being fairly passive-aggressive to), in a kind of I-cannot-believe-he-thinks-it's-acceptable-to (for example) leave a panful of curry on the oven uncovered overnight, use my baking things for cooking, or use my kitchen scissors to cut his hair. However, while making this project, I thought about this. Maybe I do have high standards but, even if that's OK, I cannot possibly pull him up on everything and I definitely cannot change his whole attitude. So, I'm just going to do it all; clean up what I can, when I can, because if you do it regularly it doesn't get so bad. And maybe just buy new scissors when he moves out...

FO Friday (sort of) - Heart Scarf

So, I finished something - the heart scarf! And just in time for my trip up to Edinburgh this weekend. And I promise you, I did finish it on Thursday night, so it could've been a legitimate Friday FO, but I forgot my camera cable - d'oh!!

Pattern: Heart Scarf by Stephannie C. Roy

[it's the fourth pattern in a knitty special for breast cancer awareness; all the patterns come in one .pdf, so you have to scroll down a bit.]

Yarn: Cygnet Seriously Chunky, four balls from baa ram ewe (my lovely LYS)

Needles: 9mm straights, plus a darning needle for the grafting

Generally, I love it. It's so chunky and snuggly. I can pull it over half my face while walking through the harsh Scottish winds. I love the colour, which is much less `striking' against my purple coat than the one I had been wearing. There are matching gloves in my head, and maybe a matching hat, but who knows if these will get done before the weather gets warm!! I haven't blocked it and am umm-ing and aah-ing about whether I should, because I like that it's dense, but equally you can't really see the pattern when I'm actually wearing it.

Oh, and I messed up the grafting. This is the first time I had done it, so I had the brilliant knittinghelp.com video on while I was doing it. This did mean that I failed to watch what I was doing, and in my tiredness and confusion failed to remember which way was knitwise and which was purlwise. Note to self: do not try to graft at 11pm at night. But this comes into the category of things that are `errors only I will ever notice'.

Well, and now you.