Damn, Knit & Blast It

My sister has a hat need.

I have needles, an obscene amount of yarn and knit skills.

There’s only one way this can turn out

Given that my knitting has not been going well, I plumped for an easy option that I knew worked.

Do you remember the Accidental hat? (Snug from Rowan 42)

It’s this one…

I wear this all the time in winter and love it – warm, easy to wear, goes with everything and warm (I know I said warm twice – it deserves it!)

I knew I had some creamy coloured Rowan Cocoon in my stash…two evenings later I was looking for a model

My old bear, Basil, didn’t run away quickly enough but didn’t turn out to be much good at hat modeling…

So I had to step in – where’s Thug when I need him?

That wasn’t enough to meet the Hat Need.

I remembered a very old, 1970’s type bobblehat in an old Patons book…

This wonderfully useful book has been republished numerous times – my copy is the 1985 bicentenary edition! (and cost a princely 95p)

The pattern picture is hillarious…

…but it is a very good, basic hat that stays on. I love the neat decreases too.

I found 100g of Sublime Merino and whipped one up in a few evenings.

Then topped if with a huge bobble (that Carol can remove if she wants to) made of the Sublime, cream and deep purple Kidsilk Haze (Well, I have to use it up somehow!)

I was getting into my stride now and enjoying knitting for the first time in ages.

Then I found the perfect hat pattern – a French Beret in Louisa Harding’s “Hats Gloves Scarves” book.

I loved the striped option (there’s a plain, picot edge version too). It was knit in Rowan 4ply Soft – I kinda have a stash of oddments and balls from various sources

I chose 5 colours I think my sister will like and thoroughly enjoyed reverse stocking stitch stripes and the pattern in general.

I loved the contrast edging..

I loved the “target” in the middle

I loved the colours and textures together.

The only part I didn’t love was sewing up the seam accurately with mattress stitch(took some fiddle-faddle to get it lined up) and sewing in a thousand ends. I did carry the yarn up the side where possible but a few times it was at the wrong end.

I could have knit in the round but felt  the inevitable carried up unused colours and darned in ends would look messier than a careful mattress stitch seam with the ends lost in the seam.

I needed a model again…and Basil wasn’t very good (sorry Basil)…

Come here Thug….

Ben was very sheepish over Christmas (no wool related pun intended)…he was especially awkward when I was knitting…

Finally he found the courage to confess the problem…

…he’d lost his Iphone cosy I’d made for him – on the train – Grrrr!!!

If you remember, readers, he also lost a hat I’d lovingly made for him on the train too.

He whimpered and begged (rather appealingly) for me to knit him another Iphone cosy as he felt naked without it.

I made him grovel the appropriate amount then gave in graciously – I could use a quickie project to cheer up my knitting. Those of you who were thinking of any other type of “quickie” are very smutty indeed…

Again (this is the third one) we went to my Rowan 4ply soft stash and chose a colour – green this time – the last two were light grey and black – at least I’ve weaned him off the grey scale

It was such a quickie, I forgot to take photos of the work in progress but here’s the finished article and a mini pattern for you if you want one too.

Wanna see it modelled?

I’ve shaped the corners and grafted the bottom with Kitchener stitch because Ben appreciates a cute bottom

Pattern

Requirements

¼ ball Rowan 4ply soft (any 4ply or sock yarn will do – cotton isn’t recommended though)

2.25mm DPN Needles

Tension

Not really an issue!

Pattern

Cast on 36 stitches using long tail cast on and divide between needles.

Knit in K2, P2 rib until 13cm.

Arrange stitches across two needles, 18st on each  needle.

First decrease round

First needle – S1, K1, psso, patt 14 st, K2tog

Second needle – S1, K1, psso, patt 14 st, K2tog (32 st)

Next Round (no decrease)

First needle – K1, patt 14st K1.

Second needle – K1, patt 14st, K1. (32 st)

Second decrease round

First needle – S1, K1, psso, patt 12 st, K2tog

Second needle – S1, K1, psso, patt 12 st, K2tog (28 st)

Next Round (no decrease)

First needle – K14

Second needle – K14

Graft together using Kitchener stitch, darn in ends and enjoy!

I should know better.

I don’t have much luck with projects with mega chunky yarn.

So why, Oh why readers, when I was struggling to find my knitting mojo with Catrin, did I decide to splurge on 10 balls of Rowan Big wool to make this huge snuggle-fest of a jumper?

It’s Ronnie from the Kim Hargreaves book, Precious.

I suppose I thought it would be a quick, easy, rewarding project….

I cast on on 12mm needles as decreed by the pattern and knit for a whopping 42cm.

Hmmm …It didn’t look wide enough…

A check of my gauge and the learned opinions of my knitting buddies was that I was way too tight – the garment would end up around 8cm too small for me.

Bigger needles were needed. Unfortunately, the next size from 12mm is 15mm a huge jump. Why don’t they make 13mm needles?? Anybody know where I could get some?

I bravely cast on  and finished the back. My gauge was OK width wise but my stitches were too long…hmmm…that proved to be something of a problem with the raglan shaping which was written for a set number of row, not length.

As you can see the armholes would start somewhere around my hips!

The stitches seem too loose too – it was sagging quite a bit because it was so loose. This garment would be quite heavy and sag badly if left this loose.

A this point a Big Wool bonfire was being contemplated and my knitting mojo had packed it’s bags and emigrated 

I have 4 choices with this garment:

1. Abandon it and burn/reuse the expensive yarn on a different project
2. Continue in the vain hope it will all turn out OK (not bloody likely)
3. Start a third time on the original needle size but knit a bigger size to allow for my gauge issues with big wool (and possibly have to buy more yarn)
4. Continue in the original size and original needles, cross my fingers (which won’t help my gauge either) then block the hell out of it when it’s too small.

I’m tending towards option 3 – knit a bigger size. I liked the density of the fabric the original needles created way better than the too loose on 15mm.

I really, really need a successful, fun project to kick start my knitting mojo or I’m gonna need a new hobby

Next time I’m tempted to knit something on broom sticks – someone slap me – please!

The observant among you may have noticed I’ve not posted much of what I’ve been knitting recently-there’s a reason for that.  It’s not been going so well.

Thug and Mewsley have been having a tough time settling in to the new house and they haven’t been up to writing their usual contributions to the site or helping me with the knitting.

So. First the knitting update.

Before I moved…when I was hyper and frantic to, ‘just get on with it’,  I started Catrin, from Rowan Classic Heartland.  I chose a glorious choccie brown flecked Rowan Silky Tweed.

This pattern

From this book

Firstly, the choccie brown – I’m not sure the complicated cable pattern will be done justice with the dark colour and the flecks confusing it. My knitterly friend (whom I trust) said it’d be fine – I carried on.

Here’s a progress shot – I’m up to the armholes on the back…

Secondly, this pattern is charted needs good eyesight, to see the chart and to see the knitting! This is a problem – I’m at “that age” where I’ve suddenly started need my glasses. And I need to have my glasses upgraded.

Even my close up is blurry!

On top of this slight hiccup, I managed to bust my favourite lamp in the move. The new living room has poor ceiling lights so I’m knitting in the dark. With out of date glasses – if I remember to put them on 

Can you understand yet why not much has happened???

I’ve now got a new lamp and bought some snazzy new stronger glasses

But in the mean time, while sorting out those little issue, I started another problematic project…but that’s for another post !

On to the kitty cats.
Several of you have enquired about the furry beasts and how they are doing “post move”…
On the day of the move, we had cleared one room completely and put all their favourite toys, blankets, cushions and food by a nice warm radiator for them. They also were treated to anti-anxiety drugs, on advice of the vet, as they are rather old and set in their ways (18 years old in April!!)

Mewsley was terrified and spaced out and hid in her “Migloo” like a good cat. (thats a fabric cat Igloo …. Mewsley + Igloo = Migloo) .

Thug went hyperactive and wrestled his way out of the bedroom (with much meowing) and tried to investigate what was going on. He chased several removal men around the flat. My heart went out to him – It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve seen him really frustrated with being blind and not being able to see what’s happening. Eventually he wore himself out and sprawled in the middle of the living room floor and went to sleep. Luckily my removal men were cat lovers and they tiptoed around him

In the new house…
Mewsley:
Mewsley was terrified. Mewsley crept into our bed, under the duvet and hid…for 2 days. At night she came out and slept on my pillow – or cuddled me in the bed. She hadn’t eaten so, worried, I bought food and water upstairs and put it just outside the bedroom door.

After a huge scoff and an hour’s sleep she was a new cat. Wanting cuddles, exploring, scampering up and down the stairs (that’s a novelty if you’ve been living in a flat).

She’s still happiest in the bedroom, but now it’s beside the radiator or on the bed. Downstairs is still rather scary….

Thug:

Thug was his usual brave, fearless self. He set about stomping around mapping every room. Unfortunately, his elderly, walnut sized, post brain tumour brain got a little confused by the scale of the change. He got lost and confused. I could see him trying to walk the same route he’s had in the flat. Heartbreaking

We’ve had a lot of sleepless nights with Thug too. There has been meowing. Lots of it. At 3am to 4am to 5am. And a bit more during the day.

I suddenly have sympathy for parents of teething toddlers!

First, he wanted to go out – I taught him the route through the utility room, out into the conservatory, out a second cat flap into the garden. Where he drinks some rainwater from a muddy puddle and comes back in again – I do change his water bowl daily but muddy rainwater is clearly superior.

Then he was meowy because he was lost and lonely, I taught him how to find us (half asleep) in bed.

Then he was cold overnight… again, he’s got the hang of cuddling up on the bed , usually around my feet (handy that – I get cold feet!)

Now we’re down to “I’ve just come in from the garden and I’m gonna meow-ow-ow to let everyone know I own this place” type meowing – 5 or 6 yowls then it stops – sometimes I can sleep through it!

I have been seriously sleep-deprived over the last month and was starting to have most uncharitable thoughts about my furry ginger companion.

He’s settling now and  has started to discover we have a big garden, and a pond, and fish – exploring is high on his agenda for the summer.

Right now he’s happy that his Mum is nearby on her computer and he’s found his basket, thoughtfully placed by the radiator next to his Mum’s desk so he’s available to for a 30 second head scratch at short notice.

Thug and Mewsley have promised they will help me sort Catrin out,…once they’ve had a little nap….

(Yes they are lounging on my denim blankie!)

“Wow” said Ben,

“Homebase have an offer of great big bales of wool. You’d like that wouldn’t you? Get your coat – that’s this weekend’s project!!”

Sightly confused at the prospect of Homebase selling yarn, but eager to to buy bales of wool for a project, I followed Ben eagerly…

Unfortunately, he had neglected to mention he meant “Earthwool“.

Not some fabulous yarn but carbon neutral loft insulation made from recycled glass bottles.

I’ve never tried spinning but I suspect that even the most ardent spinner would have trouble making this into something knitable … might be a bit scratchier than pure lambswool…

So this is the “6 huge balls of  Wool” I ended up with…

So the weekend was spent insulating the loft and boarding an area so we can store  that “need it once in five years” kinda junk out of the way.

I won’t bore you with all the details but it did involve 2 drills, a jigsaw and a laser guided circular saw. Also a very attractive outfit for the job…

I’m the one on the left – I’ve never felt so desirable

So why did I go along with Ben’s “Woolly Deception”?

Because, I can’t move in my soon to be knit room – it’s full of non knitting junk…

This way I can get the junk  in the loft…

One step closer to my knitting paradise… 

The great house move has happened!

We’re in the new house and we’re in that manic mood swinging place where one minute the house is fabulous and the next we’re despairing and wailing, “what have we done?”

We bought from an old lady who clearly hadn’t been able to manage the house for some time. It’s filthy – years of filth and neglect and DIY left undone. Not to mention the spider colonies  in need of eviction!

It’s gradually getting there – Slowly  getting cleaner.  I’ve deployed some serious power tools to slash & burn the overgrown shrubs in the garden and I’m fixing the broken stuff one item at a time – although I can’t decide if my favourite so far was the bath sealant strip held in place with chewing gum (discovered when our showering seeped through the bathroom floor and flooded the hall way) or the toilet cistern -containing a nice blue bleach block- constantly overflowing through the wonderfully sited overflow pipe right over the front door! Come and visit and get a free blue rinse anyone??

I could write all night about the new house but this is a knitting blog so I’ll tell you how the important knitty stuff has faired with the move.

Firstly, you’ll notice I’ve not blogged – lack of internet and too damned busy -  I’m hoping you’ll understand!

The only knitting I’ve  done has been on a Sunday morning with the Guilty Knitters. I have been crazy busy but I felt I had to hang on to this one island of knitting in my week – Ben enjoyed getting some quality time with his Xbox360  too.

So not much to report on the knitting front

In a recent post, Dawn asked how I was moving my stash in “the great house move”.

For most of my readers , to you, that would mean picking up a basket or box or suitcase of yarn and adding it to the pile of boxes.

For me, dear readers, stash relocation became a major project.

First there were the knitting books to pack.  You’d think two boxes would do it?

Just a few books on that shelf…two boxes full maybe? ..

And my other shelf of books and leaflets in the cupboard…

And my near complete collection of rowan mags…

And the books I use a lot that are by the sofa…

I carefully labelled the boxes “knit books”…

That was a mistake – my removals men were a little flabbergasted,
“Just how many boxes of Knit Books do you have?”

Hmmm…There’s 6 boxes here

And another two in the bedroom!

Yep, 8 stuffed full boxes of knitting related books, booklets, leaflets and magazines.

Can you imaging the look on the removals men’s faces when they encountered my yarn stash?

When I packed my yarn stash up, I confess, I was shocked by the sheer volume of yarn. I bought from IKEA, some special “stash bags” like this…

They are called “Dimpa” and measure 65 x 22 x 65cm and are dust proof, damp resistant, polypropelene webbing. The zip opens across the top and halfway down each side too – making them good for stuffing big quilts in as well as yarn.

Very reasonable at £3.29!

Would you believe I filled 3 of these?

…and that was on top of my 4 usual “underbed storage boxes” and a big ikea cardboard box! Poor removals men

In case you’re wondering how I find my yarn – it’s all catalogued carefully on Ravelry along with it’s stashbag location. Each type of yarn is sealed in a freezer bag too (since my encounter with moths!)

Like this…

All that’s left now is to get my Guest bedroom/Knit room set up. It’ll have a sofa bed for the guests, giving me somewhere to sit and knit and read knit books. And some much nicer storage for my yarn.

Just the rest of the house to sort out first then I can get to the yarn room – What more motivation do I need?

Knitting notions….

Why the heck do we call them notions?

The definition we are used to is “items for needlework”, small items used in sewing, e.g. needles, pins, thread, and buttons

But a notion could be and idea, an impression, a perception, a desire or a whim….all rather romantic and whistful…

A few buttons and thread and a couple of needles are dull utilities huh? Practical implements and nothing more…

Maybe…just maybe, they are called notions because of what a creative mind and dexterous hands can do with needles, pins, thread and buttons…something romantic, creative and wistful maybe??

Something to think about …

My knitting notions do not say “romantic” or wistful”. They have been living in a in their worn-out, faded needle book…

The felt is so old that it won’t hold needles any more…it needs replacing.

And it’s time to confess, I lied to you. I didn’t show you everything from  Ally Pally

I bought something else at Ally Pally….

It’s the Namaste Buddy Travel Case.
I bought it from the Little Knitting Company’s stand for a bargainous £12. I was expecting more

It’s magnetic so doesn’t fling my scissors to the floor when I open it…

And has a little divider which keeps all my magnetically held pins and needles separated.

Best of all, it Nearly goes with my Namaste knitting bag and Namaste needle binder! (Different colour but close enough)

At least my Knitting notions are now properly packed for the big move on Monday

Don’t get too excited!  S.E.X. = Stash Enhancement Exercise.

I went to the Alexandra Palace (Ally Pally to Londoners) Knitting & Stitching show on Friday, accompanied by my good friends, Judie and Anita, from the Guilty Knitters

I had extravagantly taken the day off work and decided on a generous budget.  My extravagance was was justified to myself by the fact that my house move was on the point of falling apart because people couldn’t agree on completion dates. I was stressed to the point of exploding and needed some serious chill out time,  to maintain sanity.

We had a terrific day! Everything seemed to work for us. Trains and buses arrived on cue, we stopped for coffee when there was no queue and seats available (10 mins later the queue was out the door!) and we all found lovely things to acquire.

So do you want to see what I bought? Huh? huh?

Shall I tease you some more?

Ok…here’s the yarn in ascending order of excitement…

First there was some Debbie Bliss Donegal Aran Tweed…

Probably for a Central Park Hoodie – Several of my knitting buddies have made pattern and I like it!

Next is some outrageous novelty Pom-Pom yarn to make a bobbly scarf…

It’s probably very tacky and is totally synthetic but it looks fun to try so I blow a huge raspberry at any yarn-snobs out there!

Then there are the 5 beautiful, bargain skeins from Blacker Designs, of rare and wonderful Gotland /Merino mix (Gotland is a type of sheep – only around 1500 in this country!!)

I’m thinking of doing an Iris version in this – might not work though – I need to swatch….

Finally a yarn I so fell in love with I totally forgot to ask about the fibres involved! I suspect silk and wool…it’s so pretty I don’t care if it’s acrylic and barbed wire

It’s from Debonaire (or Erica Downs). We discussed slouchy berets but I think a fabulous scarf would be more me – I’d certainly wear it more…

So did I just buy yarn? Ummmm   No…..
…there is more…

A super indulgent sent of Knit Pro sock needles…

And some fun  kits to knit wire and bead bracelets – so much easier than it looks! – I bought some extra wire too.
This one took me a hour!

It was a super day. I spent too much and thoroughly enjoyed myself. I even managed to relax and forget the house move drama.

Do you want to know the best bit? The lovely Ben had been diligently working hard all day with solicitors and estate agents. He sent me a text at Ally Pally – we’ve exchanged contracts!!

Monday 26th October… My stash moves to it’s own yarn room

Thug has been very busy preparing to move house. Fortunately he has still found time to help me with the finishing of Cheer.

I would get mad at him sitting on my freshly blocked knitting but how could I resist this face?

I did say Cheer wouldn’t take long but pressures of work, preparing for  house moving (Probably in October) and study for a work related exam in November have slowed knitting to a crawl.

The work exam is the “Version2 to Version3 ITIL Manager’s Certificate Conversion”  – it’s about as thrilling as it sounds an involves me knowing this little pile of books…

So please forgive me if I’m a bit quiet over the next month!

Back to Cheer.

She was a quick, rewarding  and easy knit but…I did have a little problem with the pattern when I knit the sleeves. Here’s the piccy first so you can see what I’m rambling on about…

Above the vent in the sleeve the basket weave pattern continues up the sleeve in a triangle. A nice design touch. Unfortunately I could not get the instructions in the pattern to match reality. The basket weave is a nice easy “K3,P3,K3,P3…”. The pattern would have me knit either side of the vent with 2 knit stitches one edge and 2 purl stitches the other edge with one increase in the middle where they join.

That makes the basket weave pattern wrong.

If I increased 2 stitches the stitch count was wrong.

Maybe I put the 2 pieces on the needle in the wrong order? Then the instruction for the decreasing triangle were wrong??!!

In the end I fudged it together and my decreasing triangle above the vent is a little smaller than the design intend.

This wasn’t too much of an issue for me to sort out, as an experienced knitter, but this is otherwise an easy pattern a beginner might try and get seriously disheartened with – not good enough, Rowan!

Enough of the negativity, want to see the finished Cheer?

I think she goes with the outfit rather well.

Here’s the back shot, not exciting but I always thing I have to show the back for completeness!

Of course, the problem with those shots is you can’t see the lovely shoes which inspired this knit…

…a point Thug was keen to have me pose to rectify!