FO: Dunkerton Sweet and Vorticity

Despite my absence, worry not: I have been knitting. It has been quite a productive month in terms of knit the queue - first off, I have finished four socks. So I don't overwhelm you all, that's all you're going to hear about today.

Pattern: Dunkerton Sweet by Jen Arnall-Culliford [rav link]. Really well-written pattern; I found the lace logical and pretty easy to learn, and the nearly-new thing to me was that they had 'footedness' - I've only done that once before and frankly, I was worrying about other things with that project. 

Yarn: Skein Queen Entwist in Beauty Berry (cranberryish red), the last of the three skeins of sock yarn I got at Harrogate Knitting and Stitching Show 2012. Delicious stuff to knit with, high twist and beautifully semisolid, perfect for socks.

If I had my time again, I might make the leg longer as I had plenty of yarn left - but it would only be by half a pattern repeat and, as they're top-down, that would mean I'd have to think about it. Generally loved the whole project though :)

And here's the second pair...

Pattern: Vorticity by Alice Yu [rav link]. I will admit, it did stretch my brainpower in places, but once I'd got my head around it, not too bad. Delighted with the result.
Yarn: High Twist BFL/Nylon by Wharfedale Woolworks. The inimitable Steph had it custom dyed for me in a colourway called 'A Typical British Summer's Day', so of course it is the colour of the sky just before a thunderstorm kicks off. Fabulous stuff to knit with; I heartily recommend it.

These are a bit of a geeky project, given my love of the weather, particularly storms and wind. Vorticity is a quantity that measures how much 'spinniness' something has - if you can imagine a tornado, it has a lot of vorticity! There is quite a lot of it knocking about in thunderstorms and the sort of things I work on. It seemed like a perfect match.

Both great patterns, both great yarns, and how I have more cosy socks! Hope you stop by again soon to hear more of my knitting exploits.

Yarndale Part 2

I know it was a while ago, but I've been dying to tell you all about what I actually bought at Yarndale [after telling you about the atmosphere and things a while back]. And I promise I'll explain the hiatus, all in good time. On with the show!

My first purchase was the eponymous bag - the stall was right in the lobby, and very busy, even though we got there about 10:15. Sadly, it did get screwed up under everything else I bought, so now it's in the ironing basket...

I scooped up a second mug from Herdy - in both senses, i.e. it's slightly imperfect and I already own one. This time in the purple, of course:

On to the woolly goodness! I got some fibre for my mum. It's a merino/silk in greys - Mum seems to like that sort of thing:

I was only allowed to buy yarn for myself, as I own plenty of fibre but cannot spin it [yet]. First up was 100g of DK in some of my favourite colours, probably destined to be a hat for me (hopefully gloves too, yardage willing!). I bought this partially because the fibre is interesting - 100% llama - and I'm curious to see how it knits up.

Then I got a little Eden Cottage, since their star seems to be rising, people love the yarn, and they had this gorgeous colour - 'Plum'. ,It's 100% superwash merino and it was bought with my bridesmaid in mind, so it will probably become a scarf/ shawly thing for her. 

Finally, I saw a really beautiful shawl on display at Artisan Yarns [whose website isn't playing nicely for me, but they were definitely there!]. I managed to be persuaded that I might want to turn this yarn into a wedding shawl for myself. It is gorgeous, but in my genius I've mislaid the card with the fibre blend written on, and the website seems to have migrated to here where the shop is down. Looking at their yarns on ravelry, I suspect it is a alpaca / cashmere / silk blend; whatever it is, it is delicious and highly strokeable.

Not a bad haul. but not a huge amount of stuff either! Stayed within budget and got some stuff that I'm really looking forward to knitting. Now to just finish off knitting the queue...

A Beautiful Thing

Apologies for the hiatus, there will be more on that story later. Meanwhile, here's a post I pretty much had written before things kicked off....

Someone has been kind enough to make me a Beautiful Thing:

I'll start at the beginning. I often knit at work, when my computer is working through something and I need to keep an eye on it. Knitting on DPNs is particularly good for desk knitting, as there are more points you can put it down at if the computer finishes up or fails in its task. However, as is always the case with balls of yarn, it tends to run away from me. This is not great at work, as the yarn tends to end up rolling under someone else's desk, under the desk chairs where it gets caught up in the legs, and heaven defend us when it heads for the cable runs.

Fortunately for everyone, the guy who sits next to me is a problem solver. He speculated whether I could keep the yarn is a bowl to stop it bimbling off everywhere, and when we tried it with a standard cereal bowl, it didn't work. I mentioned the idea of a yarn bowl, and it turns out my neighbour's dad turns wood as a hobby. He accepted the challenge of turning a yarn bowl, but cutting a slot in it made it too weak. Enter the Yarn Tub. So far I have used it without the lid, because I haven't started a project since owning it, but it works very well just like that.

Of course, this was a very lovely thing for someone to do - and someone I'd never met! Enter some vanilla sock knitting, to turn this into a bit of a skills swap.

I guess I'd better get cracking on them!

When Knitting (and life) Attack!

This post comes with a massive caveat that things round here have got a little too busy. I'm getting a little stressed as I watch all of the plates spinning, just waiting to drop one. Knitting has been used for stress relief in the past, notably towards the end of my Masters and just as I started my PhD. I will try to avoid this turning into The Blog Of A Crazy Lady but let's just say - you've been warned! It's probably better to not ask how I'm doing.

It has not been a great week knitting-wise either: my main story is definitely a When Knitting Attacks. I tried to knit a hat - a simple enough task in theory, but in practice not so much. I have had to frog it completely, twice. The yarn is some red Sublime Merino DK, which I love as it's more or less the same as what I knitted Lauriel with (less wool content, different colour). First, I had a go at the Rylands Cabled Hat [rav link] and didn't get past the brim as I got muddled at the transition. Then, I tried another pattern called Haywire [rav link] and got past the brim, but the hat was just turning out the wrong shape. The yarn went into the naughty corner, but might not have spent long enough there. I've started the Godric's Hollow Hat [rav link] but I fear it is a little on the large side; I've knitted for maybe an inch since the brim, and the brim is a bit slippy. I've not got far enough to check my gauge, but I think it's heading back to the naughty corner for a little cooling off time.

And an extra bit of bad news is that I've been meaning to design and knit a cosy for a teapot, bought for me by my other half. This week, I have totally failed to find this teapot anywhere :( not only am I sad because the teapot has sentimental value and I'm really worried it's been left somewhere in a housemove, I was really looking forward to having a go at designing, too.

Let's end with a positive! What I've mostly been knitting since I last wrote to you has been socks. These socks have been going like a dream, and like the oasis in the desert I have been devouring them. The lace pattern is a bit complicated for it to be 'brainless' knitting, but in all honesty that isn't what I need at the moment. When I knit, what I need is something that absorbs me enough that I don't think about all of the other things I'm supposed to be doing. These socks are doing just that, and they're flying off the needles!

Yarndale Part 1

It's usually at this time of year, as the weather turns colder, that I find myself with a proper urge to buy yarn. Clearly, the organisers of Yarndale know this, as they've picked the perfect weekend for a yarn festival - at least for me. Conferences are finished and so I feel like I can celebrate surviving that, but the new students are around and that makes work quite stressful. Add to that the leaves turning, winds picking up and temperatures dropping, and all I want to do is knit.

Plus, it's less than a half hour drive from where I live, in the beautiful town of Skipton; a town not only full of history, but also of tea rooms, pubs, and interesting little shops. And, as it's The Gateway to the Dales, the scenery is not half bad:

The yarnbombing on the way to the venue was pretty impressive - miles of crocheted bunting! 

Even more of it in the lobby!

Where there was also a knitted picnic...

...and an awesome tea cosy competition:

I went on the Saturday, which was crazy busy. It was near impossible to get photos on the stands but I tried to capture the atmosphere: lots of people, lots of yarn! There was a good spread of yarn and fibre, half a dozen options for needles and hooks, and a few people doing larger things like wheels. If I recall correctly, there was maybe one or two stall selling fabric and cross-stitch stuff, another one or maybe two with books, but it was very much about the yarn and fibre. Just how I would want it!

The venue was the auction mart, which is clearly more usually used for livestock buying and selling. It was a great place to hold it, especially when the sun shone in through the roof. Not all of the space was used but I guess that allows for future growth in the coming years! There was enough room in the 'corridors' between stalls; the only times we had to squeeze were due to groups of people standing about, rather than busy stalls spilling out. The disadvantages of the venue were that the cafe was really busy for most of the day, the toilets broke down, and I hear parking was difficult for those who arrived later (we were fine at about 10:20). But with the town centre a very short drive away, if we'd been desperate for a pit stop then we probably could've headed there.

There weren't as many cute animals as there were at Woolfest - but there were some:

... and there were quite a lot of bunnies! Sooo fluffy!! Even got a little stroke of one of them :)

The range of stallholders was excellent: many of the usual suspects were there, selling yarn and fibre - plus a few new, clearly very Yorkshire-based businesses, which I was glad to discover. [NB. Oxfam Skipton were there taking donations of unwanted yarn, which they're going to knit into things to sell in the shop. I have a few ideas for what they could have from my stash - just thought I'd mention it in case anyone else has the same problem!]. Overall, an excellent day out. I will tell you all about my purchases another day.

FO: Lauriel

Finally! I'm sure you've been looking forward to this as much as I have. The ups and downs of this project have been fairly well documented, and there were several given that I officially cast on 1st August 2011 and officially finished 1st September 2013.

The sleeves were too long and had to be ripped back. The button band didn't sit right and needed reinforcing (which took me at least a year to get around to). I'm sure there were dozens of tiny setbacks, and I'm sure I've learned from them all.

The main thing I've learned that I'm not great when it comes to finishing big things, because that involves carrying a lot of stuff around and concentrating for more than 20 minutes, so isn't great on a train or at knit night. The details are great fun, and do carried me through this project sufficiently that it wasn't just a mountain of stockinette, and I knitted the body up pretty quickly. It was the very end stages where I floundered. Blocking took a while (especially as the sleeves were partly reknitted). Ends were not tucked in for ages. Sewing things is especially bad, as shown by the amount of time it took me to do the button band reinforcing.

At the moment I love it; it's not quite the weather to wear wool to work yet, but I'm sure I will. I also had a fairly useless pale blue skirt and an even more useless pale blue handbag, and I've dyed both navy so I have a complete outfit. Result!

The reinforcing [done using this Knitmore Girls video] has improved things but I'm still not mega-happy with the button band. I suspect that over the last two years I have just gained enough weight that, if I were to start now, I might contemplate a larger size.

But screw it, I'm leaving it as it is - and intend to enjoy wearing it just as soon as I get home!

The Kindness of Strangers

Another week, another finished object. I cast these guys on back in February, knowing that they were going to be a slow-burning project. This is just down to the fact that the pattern involves a lot of cabling; one in every 4 rows is cabling every single stitch. Not something to do in half-light or when half-asleep.

I knitted away, finishing the first sock back in April. I carried on and then disaster struck: I ran out of yarn, at possible the worst point. I was so invested I couldn't rip back and knit another pattern, but not so far that I could get away with just minor adjustments to the pattern I was using. The socks got sent to the naughty corner, and we had a cooling off period.

Mid-August comes and I start to have an assess of  what was lying around and what was going to be easy to finish (though I was a bit slack in blogging and only confessed how bad things had got on the 28th). Dig out the socks, and decide that the only real solution is to get more yarn. In the hopes of not having to buy a whole new skein, I get on ravelry and do a little stash-searching, trying to find someone local who had a little bit to spare. Enter, hawthorn. She is the kind stranger that the title refers to. She's made a beautiful Baby Surprise Jacket in this yarn. This left her with had a little bit of yarn to spare, which she was willing to send to me.

Hoorah! It was enough!! It's not the same dyelot but it doesn't bother me. Six months is too long to have any pair of socks on the needles. I wanted them away. Needless to say, I am very happy with the result. It's a great combination of pattern and yarn, and has made some really cosy socks.