Damn, Knit & Blast It

The long awaited Ben scarf was all over in 3 days

I really enjoyed the mindless long rows of knit and the regular gratification of finishing a stripe.

I cast off with a 4.5mm needle (was knit on 4mm) and made sure it wasn’t too tight (I used a cable cast on BTW – in case you were wondering!) and it didn’t even seem to need blocking once I was done.

I promised to let you know about yarn usage – I used less than one ball of each colour! I have no idea why the pattern implys, with it’s ambiguous wording, 3x 50g  balls of each colour?? So now you know what to knit to use up some of those odd balls from your stash

I did try and persuade Ben that I should use the excess to make him matching gloves, hat and possibly underpants but that was a step too far. He wasn’t interested , strangely, so I’ll have to be pleased if he wears the scarf. The excess yarn has now been returned to the shop and I feel virtuous for doing a little “unshopping”.

So here’s close up of the scarf and all it’s stripy glory…

From Ben Scarf

Ben did his best “Grumpy Ben doesn’t want a pooie old scarf!” routine for the photo shoot at first..

From Ben Scarf

Then I caught him admiring himself and arranging his new scarf 2 mins later (He wasn’t really grumpy)

From Ben Scarf

So here’s a happy Ben who is actually quite pleased with his scarf!

From Ben Scarf

…And a shot of it under his big winter coat…

From Ben Scarf

And lastly a shot of it flung over the banister, waiting for the weather to be cold enough for him to wear it!

From Ben Scarf

Do you remember Liliana?

This is the picture from the pattern book…

From Lilianna

I had finished knitting her and just had the neckband and sewing up to do last February when I was overwhelmed by my beautiful furry ginger boy, Thug dying.  I couldn’t face the fiddly sewing up and Liliana was flug to one side and forgotten. Poor Liliana…

I’m now in a,

” I want to start new things and get all the old WIPS out of the way!“

kind of mood so Liliana has had the finishing treatment and actually – I wish I’d finished her sooner – she’s rather a warm and snuzzley success!

So without further ado – I present the finished Liliana…

From Lilianna

A shot of the back (you can see where it’s quite fitted and a little snug – probably because of Christmas excesses!)…

From Lilianna

And a close up of the neck band – which is a thin strip of rib, sewn on sideways and tied in a bow….not sure I’d do that again – gapes a bit but I think it looks ok??

From Lilianna

She is a very warm jumper although the Aura is a little irritating on my skin if I’m honest – and I’m not usually that sensitive to itchy yarns.

There were lots of previous blog posts talking about Liliana so I’ll just give you the completed knit report containg the list of previous posts and leave you to click away if wish
Happy reading!

I’ve said before how Ben doesn’t feel the cold.  He rarely wears a jumper and only wears gloves, and hats when it’s several degrees below freezing. Pretty frustrating for a knitter

We’ve had several conversations like this over the years,

Me: “Ohhh, look at this lovely man-scarf pattern. Can I knit it for you?”

Ben: “No thanks, I don’t wear scarves. “

Me: “But you were cold when it snowed and borrowed my black one??”

Ben: “It’s not cold now”

Me: “But, but…It’ll be cold by the time I’ve knitted it….” <imagine eyes tearing up>

Ben: “I wouldn’t wear it. I don’t like them. I’d probably lose it and I’ve never seen a man wearing a scarf.”  <Ben stamps foot>

Several train trips later, after I diligently (and annoyingly) point out every  man who was wearing a scarf (and in some cases matching hats and gloves!) Ben conceded that men do wear scarves when they are cold. And not all of them are Hipster idiots!

So the great day has arrived. Ben has graciously allowed me to knit him a scarf. Some people might think he should gratefully accept my generous offer to hand craft him a custom made, beautiful garment. Made with great skill and love but , after 10 years of trying, I’ll take what I can get!

So what scarf?

He didn’t want cables or complicated stitch patterns (curses!) so we quickly came down to Erika Knight’s Garter Stitch Scarf, from her Men’s Knits book.

This book and this scarf….

From Ben Scarf

You’d think I could knit that from stash wouldn’t you? But the pattern seemed to suggest I needed 3 balls of yarn in each colour?? I didn’t have that volume of the same yarn in colours Ben would like (lilac and pink maybe but for some reason he didn’t like that idea!) That seemed a lot of yarn. How would you interpret this wording…

“3 x 50g balls of DK weight yarn, such as Rowan Baby Alpaca DK in each of grey, light grey and blue”

To me that says three balls of each colour – yardage isn’t great on the baby alpaca either – 100 meters per ball, but 900meters of yarn and a scarf weighing 450g??

I dragged Ben into a yarn shop,pointed him at the DK yarns and told him to choose three colours he liked in yarn that soft enough he’d be happy to have wrapped around his neck.

He really liked the colours of the Sirdar Country Style range. It’s a Wool/Nylon/Acrylic blend that’s machine washable and tumble dryable – not that scarves need a lot of washing but practical is best for men’s stuff! The yardage is very good on this yarn too – 155 meters x 50g. For some reason, I still bought 3 balls of each colour. Interestingly, Sirdar have recently upped the wool content from 15% to 30% in the Country Style. I can be a yarn snob but I remember growing up with this yarn – and I know it’s a good reliable workhorse. It is knitting up beautifully and feels soft too.

So what colours? Not massively different from the pattern but it has to be Ben’s choice to have a fighting chance of being worn.

These are the colours….

From

So how is it going?
Well, the pattern calls for you to cast on 220 stitches to make a 110cm scarf. This I did. Then I though – that’s a bit short!

I pinned a scarf of min up to 110cm and flung it around Ben’s neck. “Longer!” was the response so I restarted and I’m now knitting 320 stitches which should give a 160cm long scarf (2 stitch per cm length)

Wanna progress shot?

From Ben Scarf

It’s very plain knitting but there is something quite zen and pleasing about long rows of knit. A change from complicated patterns and shaping.

10 rows of each colour then onto the next stripe…

From Ben Scarf

So far each stripe has used about half a ball – that’s with 100 extra stitches!
I’ll keep you posted on the yarn useage….

….and if he wears it!

I have learnt from bitter experience that some yarns are not for knitting on the beach.

Suncream and silk? … disastrous. Kidsilk Haze and hot sweaty hands? … tangled, sticky and unpleasant. Shetland wool and sea water?….. you get the picture huh?

So what did I take to Africa?

I thought that the perfect yarn would be Rowan Denim. Why? because it’s cotton, so doesn’t get hot or hairy or sticky and, most importantly…when it’s done you bung it in the washing machine to shrink it to size and wash out any suncream, sea water, perspiration and drunkenly split cocktails!

I chose Joy from Kim Hargreaves’ book Nectar.

This book and this pattern…

From Joy

I confess I didn’t knit at all on safari – too much to see! I did knit on the beach in Zanzibar though – here’s the evidence…

From Joy

And in all the airport (there were several!) This is Zanzibar airport….

From Joy

One of the nicest things to happen was that one of the chaps working handing out towels on the beach in Zanzibar very shyly asked me what I was doing? He and his friends were facinated and had never seen knitting before – I ended up giving a short master class and letting them all have a go! It was totally surreal

So what about the garment? Want to see the finished object? Course you do….

From Joy

Like the buttons? I was going to use cream coloured shell ones but I’d just bought a red top and I fell in love with these heart buttons and the necklace…

From Joy

There is a cute picot edging (knit 3, cast off 3) and bands of alternating stocking stitch, and reverse stocking stitch and some “yarn overish lace” to break it up.

From Joy

Nothing difficult but you had to pay attention not to knit a row when you should be purling!

I always feel I have to show you the back, even though, after a month of holiday indulgence my bum is trying to fill the view finder of the camera!

From Joy

Any problems? well, if I’m honest – it has come up a bit smaller than I had hoped. I knit the 34″ size and it’s snug and pulling a bit if buttoned. On the plus side – it’s a summer jackety kind of thing so I doubt I’d wear it buttoned anyway

All in all, I’m pretty pleased with my “Honeymoon knit” – now maybe one in blue Denim???

From Joy

Where have I been? Not blogging? What possible excuse?

Errm…..

…how about ….

“We eloped to Africa on a fabulous long trip and got married”?!!

Do you remember that the lovely Ben proposed last December – I blogged it in Exciting news and a Hat…

We’ve been together a long time and didn’t want a traditional wedding but we did want a fabulous Honeymoon to remember.

Therefore, we got married in Zanzibar (big island off the East coast of Africa) and had a relax on the beach, then went on safari in Kenya!

We took literally 2000 photos of the whole trip and I could write for days about how fantastic the wedding was, how well we were looked after in the resort, how unbelievably beautiful the Masai Mara is, how astounding it is to be 10 ft away from wild animals doing their thing, how wonderful Africa is to visit. (Before you ask – no trouble, no pirates, no unpleasantness of any kind.)

So what to show you?

Well this is a knitting blog so here’s what I’ll do….a couple of my favorite pics from the wedding and the safari, links to more pictures so you can take a look if you’re interested then tomorrow, I’ll tell you what I knit while I was away…well you didn’t think I’d leave my knitting at home did you??! Tsk – you just don’t know me if you did!

Wedding photos… Click HERE for more photos if you wanna peek)
My fave photo…

From Wedding

Paddling in my wedding dress….

From Wedding

Strolling on the beach once it was done…

From Wedding

Safari photos – click HERE for more safari photos…

Hyena, snacking on a spine…

From Safari – Subset

A rather large hippo…

From Safari – Subset

Sunrise over the mara…

From Safari – Subset

The “Marsh Pride” of lions, devouring a Topi…

From Safari – Subset

Exciting huh

So what did I knit?

Hmmmm….this post is getting long so next post tomorrow for that one!

OK – teaser – It was Kim Hargreaves and it was in Denim and I have finished it…..

Excitement this week – My copy of A Stitch in Time Volume 2 arrived. Susan Crawford even signed it for me – Thanks Susan!

It’s this book

From Top Secret 2

It is a HUGE book, ram packed with 120 fantastic patterns from 1930s – 1959. All graded and made with modern yarns. Some are not to my taste but others are definately on my wish list. Even if you didn’t knit, it’s a facinating coffee table book to flick through.

Do you  remember that I knitted “To Wear in the Evenings” (or Top Secret as I called it) for the first volume? I blogged it here –>> Top Secret – Declassified

This was the garment…

From Top Secret

Well, told you in my “Where have you been?” post that I had knit a garment for Volume two and here it is!!

From Top Secret 2

It’s a fabulous lace top from the 1950′s called The Ribbon Threaded Jumper. It’s on page 310 if you have the book.  Here’s the original picture from the 1950′s…

From Top Secret 2

Do you like??

It really was an absolute pleasure to knit. Knitshop Pima Cotton and a pretty straight forward lace pattern. Very “my kinda knit”! The yoke is interesting – the back, front and both sleeves are put on a circular needle and yoke is knitted in one piece. Strangely, it’s knit back and forth with an opening at the back that you sew up later. I would knit it in the round if I wasn’t making a sample strictly to the pattern!

Wanna see some more piccies?
Here are some, just before I sent my “Ribbon Threaded jumper” back to the publishers.

How the sleeve and yoke attach…

From Top Secret 2

The completed jumper before sewing up (I send it back without sewing it)…

From Top Secret 2

Some yoke detail….

From Top Secret 2

And from the book – a cute sleeve picture…

From Top Secret 2

And that neck – all beribboned and finished

From Top Secret 2

So did I get a mention in this fantastic book?

Naturally, at the front in the acknowledgement – a list of all us brave knitters…

From Top Secret 2

So all that’s missing from this post now is a completed knit report and a picture of Mewsley, refusing to get off the knitting!

From Top Secret 2

When I saw a bag of 10 skeins of Louisa Harding’s hand dyed Grace Silk DK for a silly bargain price of £2.90 a skein I couldn’t resist.

Just look at it…isn’t that pretty?

From Beatriz Silkwool

I eagerly started to look for a pattern to use it…

Hmmmmm Actually – there’s not that much yardage in each skein – probably because the silk is heavy. It’s a good thing I’m a small size as I didn’t have enough yarn for several of my choices and I needed a pattern that would lend itself to the floppy, drapey nature of the yarn.

Then inspiration hit me – I had the Rowan Lenpur book from when I made Katia - remember Katia?

This is the book I mean…

From Beatriz Silkwool

Lenpur in a linen yarn and very, very floppy so I hope that the patterns will suit the Silk Wool. In that book I found what I hope will be the perfect garment – Beatriz.

Here’s the book pic….

From Beatriz Silkwool

I had a bumpy start to Beatriz – not least because the hand dying process seems to have welded some of the Grace silk fibers together making balling the skeins on my swift a “swear-worthy” task

Then there was the “What size? What needle size dilemma?”….

“Oh Dear, I’m slap in the middle of the first two sizes”, Thinks Susan. Hmmmm… ,”I’ll make the larger one….”

…..several inches later….

“Hmmmm, that’s feeling a bit stiff and I really have to tug it to pretend I have the right gauge”

……..< Swearing >

……Starting again….

So, I’m now knitting the smaller size but on 4.5mm needles rather than the 4mm given. I’m using two balls at a time – 4 rows from each ball – so and variation between skeins isn’t too obvious.

Wanna see her so far?

From Beatriz Silkwool

Not bad huh? I know this is fabulous yarn but part of me is never quite as thrilled with these variagated, hand dyed yarns when they are knit up – I guess I like solid colours.

So wanna see a close up?

From Beatriz Silkwool

Pretty though huh? So far so good….

But now I’m starting to worry it’ll be too big!

Oh WOW!!!

I’ve finished the Modern Quilt Wrap and I am beside myself with the results. It definitely one of my favorite things I’ve made in a long time. (Yep the knitting mojo is back!)

It has been finished quickly, mainly because it has that “I’ll just finish this stripe before making dinner, I’ll just finish this block before bed” kinda  hook that made me a total progress junkie.

I may have mentioned before that I’m not a massive blocking fan – I can reliably ruin knitted fabric, particularly when armed with an iron! It this case I took a huge leap forward in my knitterly experience….

I bought blocking wires…..

From Modern Quilt Wrap

These are the “Block-It kit” I got mine from HuluCrafts. I’ve never had blocking wires before because I’m not really a shawl knitter (except the lovely Birch which I marmalised with an iron because, back then, I didn’t know any better about blocking shawls!!) Oh, I just noticed the rulers in that picture – the kit comes with a ruler in inches only – the cm one is mine from years ago – wouldn’t want to mislead you.

I carefully threaded the wires through my shawl and pinned it out on the sofa bed in my knitroom/guestroom on some towels….I was impressed how easy that process was and how much better it looked even befor the steaming, even though this is the back of the wrap….

From Modern Quilt Wrap

I hovered the steam iron over it without squashing it until it was good and damp then left it alone for several hours. Mewsley was under strict instructions not to sleep on the wrap. Something she had taken to doing in the guise of “helping”..

From Modern Quilt Wrap

So how does it look???

Well, I made this wrap to cheer up a big, thick unflattering grey wool winter coat so I guess I had better model it with that…

From Modern Quilt Wrap

From Modern Quilt Wrap

And a shot with the whole thing? Of course!

From Modern Quilt Wrap

Even my office chair looks good wearing it

From Modern Quilt Wrap

As you can tell I love this wrap. If you possibly can, in Kidsilk Haze or any other lovely yarn, try making this wrap. It’s easy, addictive and massively rewarding

OUCH!

I have had the stitches out of my poorly foot. 3 of the 5 stitches came out easily. The other 2 hurt like the nurse was pulling out  old hairy rope

My eyes watered and I needed a tissue to dab at them…

…how about a knitted tissue?!

OK, OK an actual knitted tissue is one of the worst ideas ever for a knitted item! However, I couldn’t resist these from Kleenex!

From Knitted Tissues_1

The good news on the foot is that it’s healing well but more swollen and bruised than they would like – another week off work with my foot up

Pass the knitting and the TV remote….

…and those knitted tissues – there’s a weepy movie coming up!

I think my mojo must be well and truly back because I think my next project is gorgeous!

Here’s a clue…You should be able to guess the yarn at least (if you know my stash )

From Modern Quilt Wrap

So did you guess it’s Rowan’s Kidsilk Haze? What else would be such a “Mojo Invigorator” for me huh?

So what am I making? It’s the Modern Quilt Wrap by Mags Kandis. <–Click the pattern name is you want a copy of the free pattern from Knitting Daily.

Here’s the front page of the pattern…

From Modern Quilt Wrap

Isn’t that just the thing to brighten up a dull winter coat?

The pattern calls for 9 different coloured balls of Kidsilk Haze. That’s quite an investment (over £70) if you have to go out and buy all the balls. I’m certain that the wrap won’t use more than half a ball of each colour so leftovers must be an option (I’ll keep you posted on the yarn amounts used) Too much to spend so I thought I’d see what I had in stash, play with the colour combinations and maybe buy one or two balls if I needed to…

…I had 7 of the given colours in stash! My good knitterly friends Mel and Judie swooped to my rescue with the last two colours after a very enjoyable afternoon of Kidsilk stash diving and swapsies.

I still felt like I should put my spin on the colour combinations…but then I looked at this…

From Modern Quilt Wrap

Those are just too beautiful together to mess with- Mags Kandis knows how to put colours together – who am I to argue

The pattern is straight forward domino knitting – something I’ve been meaning to dabble with for ages. Each square is picked up and knitted one colour at a time, onto the previous square – with two decreases in the middle on alternate rows to make the corner. Here’s the vital diagram from the pattern…

From Modern Quilt Wrap

You start at the bottom left and keep adding the squares – you make this set of blocks twice for the full wrap.  There is a written explanation for each square too.

So how far have I got? With all the enforced “sitting with my post operative foot up” I have got along quite quickly…

From Modern Quilt Wrap

Isn’t that delectable? Believe me – it’s more beautiful with the sunshine behind it. Like a stained glass window.

Close up?? Ok…

From Modern Quilt Wrap

As you can see – it’s all garter stitch. Easy to knit but picking up the stitches is “fun”. I have learnt that picking up the “knobbles” and only a single strand makes a much neater pickup that grabbing the loop in between the garters. Pretty neat on the back so far…

From Modern Quilt Wrap

Time to pour a glass of wine, join the lovely Ben in the garden in the last of today’s fabulous sunshine and knit another square…this beast is getting addictive!

I think I’ve finally broken that Kim Hargreaves curse of mine! Still is finished and I’m very pleased.

How did I manage to finish so quickly?? That would be because I’ve been off from work since Tuesday after a small operation on my foot.

OK,OK so the foot isn’t exactly broken – but I did have a huge boney lump chiseled from the top of it. The lump was pressing a nerve and giving me serious pain with shoes. I was only in hospital for the day but came out with a Popeye type bandage…

From Still

…which has now thankfully been removed leaving stitches and a huge plaster (you really don’t want to see that!)

I seem to be healing fast, but must keep my foot “elevated” for at least another week until the stitches come out. Hmmmm…what to do when I can’t go anywhere, can’t stand, can’t walk and cant drive and must pretty much sit on the sofa with my foot up…. KNIT!!

So after a couple of days of knitting like fury, I am delighted (as you can see!) to present the finished Still…

From Still

I like that piccy but here’s a better couple of shots where you can see more of the garment…

From Still

From Still

And the back view…

From Still

Still has been a quick and easy knit, the pattern was well written and there were some very cute details incorporated.

The horizontal rib was worked sideways for the cuff, then stitches picked up down one side to start the main sleeve. Very neat and pretty – so much better than normal ribbing…

From Still

And the neck line – that is terrific

From Still

The shaping is achieved by keeping the horizontal rib pattern going over 6 stitches for the neck band while increasing in the stocking stitch part every few rows. You then cast off the shoulders and continue the neck band for a few centimeters to slip stitch onto the back of the neck. it all makes an easy, neat construction without all that annoying picking up of stitches (have I told you a dislike picking up stitches? I did? Oh good…. )

From Still

All very effective

You may be wondering what Mewsley has been doing to help? “Matron Mewsley” has been making sure I stay on the sofa by sitting on my lap to pin me down a great deal. Then she did a stirling job of keeping an eye on the trimmed off yarn ends when I was sewing up…

From Still

But she is elderly….once she was sure I was on the mend she let herself have a little 6 hour nap in the knitting equipment!

From Still

Maybe I’m a glutton for punishment but, my next project is another Kim Hargreaves. I will break that “Kim Hargreaves Curse” if it kills me!

Usually I have at least 10 things I’m itching to start and another 20 patterns I kinda like too. This time there was much gnashing and wailing and flinging of pattern books – I had a hard time finding something I wanted to knit…

…”Whaaa! I want some plain stocking stitch knitting cos my last few projects have been moss stitch, cables and fairisle!”

……”Gnash, Wail! I must use some of my stash”…

……….”Sulk. Be nice to have a success this time”…

Eventually, I calmed myself down from my frenzy of  ”There is nothing in the 88 books, 97 magazines and 53 booklets I have logged in Ravelry I could possibly knit” and decided on a pattern I have long had my eye on.

It’s from Kim Hargreaves Thrown Together book. This one…

From Still

…And I have chosen Still – a 1040′s inspired top in Rowan Calmer.

Piccies from the book….

From Still

Love that neck line – hope it works!!

From Still

Still is knitted on 5mm needles so is coming together very quickly and suits my need for an easy, quick project. Wanna see??
…Woosh! After 1 week…

From Still

I gotta say, I do like the horizontal rib – a sweet touch…

From Still

Let see if I can keep up the momentum – this one is looking promising

After putting in the effort to finish Elizabeth, I’m disappointed to find, she’s turned out too big

This really isn’t helping my lack of knitting mojo!

I think she wearable but not the sleek, elegant fitted look I was expecting…see what you think….

From Elizabeth

It’s ok over the hips but huge under the arms.

Mewsley tried to join in and make me feel better but it was beyond even her fluffy skills (hmmm, except I’m smiling more in that shot!)…

From Elizabeth

The “girls” at the Guilty Knitters suggested that a deep V neck like this is better suited to a big busted woman. One thing I sadly am not!! When I breathed in and puffed up my chest it did fit better but…I don’t think I could sustain that through an entire working day

I do think I got the buttons right – I looked at matching, same coloured ones but thought they would just disappear into the jacket…but you cant go far wrong with neutral shell buttons…. and actually, that’s the kinda buttons in the picture in the book.)

From Elizabeth

Wanna see the back? you can see all the extra fabric…

From Elizabeth

So what to do with it? I may wear it to give it a “road test” but I deeply suspect my sister is in for an early Christmas prezzy ….

Completed Knit Report
Name:	Elizabeth
Pattern:	Kim Hargreaves from Heartfelt
Yarn:	Rowan Summer Tweed
Pattern Problems:	Errata in pattern, badly written front instructions, turned out way too big
Pattern Modifications:	None
Washing and Wearing:	Meh
Knit It Again???:	No.
Difficulty:	4/5 (only because the pattern was badly written
Rating:	2/5
Other Postings Relating To This One:	Where have you been This is too Hard The Kim Hargreaves Curse

Oh Gosh!

Over 2 months since my last blog post – you must be imagining the worst
Massive apologies

Don’t panic! There is absolutely nothing seriously or medically wrong.

I have just been struggling with a combination of my normal SKS (Summer Knitting Slump), loosing my beloved blogging muse, Thug (3 pictures of his daft antics and a blog post had written itself!), being mega busy at work and suffering from insomnia.  Knitting was starting to feel like one more pressure – something I had to do so I could blog about it. Time to take a break for a couple of weeks… (Ooops…)

So all of those are things I can’t change except insomnia…been creeping up for a while- it’s quite odd. I’m utterly exhausted by 20:30 in the evening - falling asleep on the sofa unless I am poked with sharp sticks by the lovely Ben (who is happy to oblige).  Even if I stay awake all evening, I’m  too tired to knit. I go to bed, instantly go to sleep, until about  3am. Bing! Wide awake. If I knit then I wake up too much and am knackered the next day and it exacerbates the cycle. Can you see how this is affecting my knitting huh?

The good news is my Doc gave me a full MOT and I’m as fit as a fiddle. I guess I’m just going to have to manage it.

But enough of this. Have I done any knitting at all?

Well, after a lot of frowning and swearing…

From Elizabeth

I finally finished the accursed fronts of Elizabeth. I have to say, now they are done – the design is rather good. The collar extends round the back of the neck. I have joined the collar and “three needle bind offed” the shoulders…This is how it looks right now…

From Elizabeth

I currently romping through the last sleeve so should be done quite soon (assuming I can stay awake(!))

But I have knit another entire garment while I have been absconding from blog land….
…but unfortunately I can’t show it to you!

Hideous disaster I’m ashamed of?? Au contraire!
Do you remember when I made Top Secret? The sample I made for KnitOnTheNet for the Stitch in Time book?

Well, they contacted me to see if I’d do another sample – there is a sequel to Stitch in Time on the way – Squeee!!!!

You can read all about it and pre order here – Stitch in Time Vol 2.

What did I knit???

Well, I can’t tell you much or even show you til the book is out but it was a massively enjoyable knit – I could easily reknit it for myself. A lacey design from the 50′s in a lovely pure cotton dk.

You’re gonna have to wait to see that one.

So. I had best get back to finishing the Elizabeth sleeve and try not to fall asleep face down a drooling on my needles…

Lets not leave it 2 months until the next post huh?

Squee!

News, hot off the press from the Guilty Knitters….

We have a famous knitting designer friend in out midst!

One of the founder members of the Guilty Knitters, Janie B., has been chosen to be one of the designers for the IKnit sock club.!!

We (the Guilty Knitters) have watched Janie carefully work and rework her Tantalus design until she was happy with it. More attention to detail than I could manage.

Janie announced here success to us but was a little shy.

Best shot I could get of her!

From Janie B

Janie loves working with ridiculously fine yarns, has a passion for lace and has the “sock-bug in a bad way. Janie takes her knitting everywhere with her and inspired my “commuting knitting” by telling me how many rows she could manage in the lift at Mornington Crescent tube station!!!

Well done Janie – I’m green with envy

Ghaaaah!My head hurt from smashing it repeatedly onto my desk … This pattern is not well written.

I’m still plugging away at Elizabeth from Kim Hargreaves. After finding the errata and having to reknit the back, I quite naturally, started on the front. (this post does get more exciting – I promise…)

All was going well – the pattern spelt out the short row shaping to get the lovely curve in great detail, row by row…

Then the waist shaping – 10 rows of this, 12 rows of that, 10 rows something or other….

All was happy in my knitting bag ….

Then to “Shape Font Neck and Collar”

6 rows in, it’s as if Kim realised she was taking up to much space with the pattern; There is a garbled paragraph explaining, collar increases, front decreases, armhole shaping and (get this) continue edge shaping as for the back!

I’m an experienced knitter. I can fathom most patterns but this was an exercise in logic and arithmetic. I had to go back a write out what I had done for the back so I could apply the same shapings to the front. Then work out all the front and collar stuff . Urgh, after a long day at work I didn’t need this. I perfectly capable of working out the arithmetic in a pattern but I don’t want to – I have enough details stress at work- that’s why I buy patterns and don’t write much of my own. Grrrr!..

Sorry Kim – no two ways about it – that section was very badly written.

Eventually, I think I worked out the logic, wrote out the rows and finished the front. Here she is…

From Elizabeth

After all that head-hurty-fathoming of the pattern, WOW! It’s a really good design!

The curve at the back follows onto the fronts (Kim’s usual foray into short row shaping).
The waist shaping is detailed and (after a holding it up to see if it fits session) looks like i’s perfect for me.
The collar is also beautifully done. a column of reverse stocking stitch divides the main body from the collar and gives a neat fold line (something I wish I’d had in other patterns!)

From Elizabeth

And the wrong side view…

From Elizabeth

Then we have a notch in the collar – Kim gives clear directions on how to cast off and cast on with an extra stitch between each stitch to make sure it doesn’t pull tight.

Lastly you extend the collar belond the shoulder so it wrap around the back of the neck – all very well done.

All is  good again.

Well – I say good – that was one front….an attack of SKS (Summer Knitting Slump) later I’m having a hard time doing the other front!!

I think someone has put a “Kim Hargreaves Curse” on me!

I love her designs but I keep on getting it wrong with stupid errors when I knit them! It’s not like I’m a beginner either is it?? They all turn out OK in the end but if I’m going to mess up it’s on a Kim pattern….

First there was Maria – a lovely favourite top of mine – but I sewed the left sleeve into the right armhole  <Slaps forehead>

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Then there was Emily – This time I managed to get the edging different lengths and forget to do the decreasing on the sleeves…

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The Haven scarf??? That turned out really well but I made a huge blunder and messed up the pattern (with associated embarrassing shot of me being unhappy about it…)

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Turned out OK after some frogging  though…

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And of course there was the memorable Ronnie – the sloppy Joe in Rowan Big Wool. I struggled with the tension, made it was too large and end up looking like a Dr Who alien and promising a “big wool bonfire”!

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Ronnie has escaped the bonfire and has now been rehomed to a friend of mine – She looks fabulous in Ronnie – maybe because she’s a foot taller than me!

So what Kim Hargreaves related disaster has prompted this “Susan’s Screw-up Retrospective”??

I’ve had some pretty red Rowan Summer Tweed in my stash for some time – another John Lewis Rowan sale source of guilt

I had always intended to make Elizabeth from Kim’s Heartfelt book with it. With the sun shining and the air-conditioning at work blasting so I need a jacket in the office it was calling to me.

This is the piccy in Kim’s book…

From Elizabeth

Beautiful huh? Love that curved peplum I would even knit moss stitch (which I don’t enjoy much) to own that beauty!

I happily got out my swift and wound the hanks of Summer Tweed into yarn cakes – I love this stage of starting a new project

From Elizabeth

So off I started knitting the back….

….I found that the pattern was complicated and had lots of  shortrow shaping to make the curve – a common technique Kim uses…But the Knits and Purls were in the wrong place for the moss stitch – that’s not like a Kim pattern….

One ball of yarn later- looked back at the pattern, relieved I had finished the short row shaping….

A word caught my eye at the top of the page….

Elizabeth is knitted in DOUBLE moss stitch throughout….I had diligently corrected the pattern to single moss stitch. I hit myself in the face with the pattern several times to try and beat some sense into myself. I only do this type of screw up with Kim’s patterns!!

Rip…Rip…Rip…start again…

I finished the back without drama…

It did seem a bit large…..

From Elizabeth

But the DOUBLE moss stitch looked super in the red…

From Elizabeth

I’m half way up a front – the fronts and the notched collar are supposed to be the hard bits….

From Elizabeth

I was a happy little knitter….then, in a quite coffee break at work, I thought I’d show a colleague what I was working on and looked at Kim’s site…..

….and found the errata….

ELIZABETH
Back – Length to the beg of armhole shaping should read 38.5 (38.5: 40: 40: 40: 40) and not 42 (42: 43: 43: 43: 43) as stated.
Left front – Shape armhole should read as folls:
Cast off 4 (4: 5: 5: 5: 6) sts at beg of next row. Work 1 row. Dec 1 st at armhole edge of next 5 (5: 5: 5: 7: 7) rows and 2 (2: 3: 3: 2: 3) foll alt rows, and then on foll 4th row.
Size diagram – garment length should read 56.5 (57.5: 59: 60: 61: 62) cm – 22 ¼ (22 ½ : 23: 23 ½ : 24: 24 ½) in

I had knit 3.5 cms too much before starting the armholes! All that knitting wasted

So tonight I rip a large chunk of the back out and do it again.

I suppose it’s not too bad – that’s the first time in my many Kim Hargreaves’s cursed garments it’s not been my fault!!

The green cashmere delight is done.

Against the background of the most dull DIY project possible …painting the hall stairs, landing, coat cupboard and airing cupboard plain white instead of a horrid dirty, dark cream which was probably painted on 20 years ago…

…With hands so rough from 2 days  sanding down paintwork that I couldn’t run yarn through my hands any more because it had pilled before I had knit it(!)

…fighting exhaustion bought on from running up and down ladders…

…are you feeling sorry for me yet??? Fed up with my verbose description of the DIY hell?

OK – The short version – We’ve been busy with DIY but I managed to finish the green cashmere. S’pose you like to see it??

From Green Cashmere

‘fraid I’ve had to edit out my face and horrid “post painting mong-pant-jogger-bottoms” as I didn’t want to scare you with the haggard tired wreck I look like tonight after my all day paint-a-thon!

So, less of the whining about the painting – more about the knitting

This has been a lovely project – I recommend the pattern to anyone who can wrangle a cable or two. BTW, if you’re searching for the English version of this French pattern, google for “Bergere de France 106.26”

The sleeves fitted in a treat when making up and I love that arm cable…

From Green Cashmere

And I think I did better with the joining of those two strips of cable at the back of the neck…

…if you remember (why would you?) when I made this before, way back in 2006,Blogged here in “Back Catalog Delving”, the only thing I was unhappy about was the way I joined at the back of the neck.

Here’s the previous version…

From French Cable Jumper

And this version…

From Green Cashmere

I just took more care, centralised the cables…and Kitchener stitched it rather than the quick bodge of a three needle bind of I did  on my cream one before!

Hmmm – I liked this piccy of the back better but not such a good shot of the join…

From Green Cashmere

And what has Mewsley been doing while I slave away, alternating between knitting and painting? Being a good cat and curling up on the most comfortable blankets and chairs and staying out of the way and waiting for the disruption to be over

Awww!

From Green Cashmere

From Green Cashmere

Happy Easter! It’s a glorious sunny day and while lounging and knitting in the sunshine, I realised I  haven’t told you about my progress with the lovely green cashmere…

I’ve completed the back and the front …but it’s the front I want to tell you about today.

From Green Cashmere

I love the way the cable in this design, splits and frames the V neck. The best bit is – It’s incredibly easy to achieve – I’ll show you…

That fat cable in the middle is worked over 20 stitches. Every 10 rows you C10B (Cable 10 Back) then immediately C10F (Cable 10 Front). When you divide for the neck, you split in the middle of this fat cable. All you need to do then is make a stitch at the centre edge to always be purled to make a neat edging and you’re set. Like this…

From Green Cashmere

Once you’ve got you neck divided all you do is end the row with a “C10B, P1″ and carry on…
“But what about the neck shaping?”, You ask…

That’s easy too – to do the increase, p2tog on the 2 stitches preceding the C10B. It makes a lovely neat neck….

From Green Cashmere

That just leaves the back of the neck to worry about…

You simply do your shoulder shaping and carry on with the C10B until it’s long enough to sew in place at the back of the neck. Like this…

From Green Cashmere

One last thing to say about the front – I do love a pattern that is well enough designed to think about where the cables fall at the armholes – look at this – just perfect with the cable running up the armhole edge and a spare stitch to sew up with

From Green Cashmere

Now I guess, all that’s left for me to do is get those sleeves done… this far and counting

From Green Cashmere