Damn, Knit & Blast It

On my knitterly shopping spree, when I bought my lovely Namaste needle binder, I suffered a problem well know to knitters.

Another item just jumped into my basket! I didn’t put them there! Honest!

I just had to have these…

Also from Namaste, glass knitting needles…

“Won’t they break??”, I thought that - they are made from Borosilicate glass. For those of you who are not chemists, that’s the technical name for the process of adding boron to the glass to toughen it - the branded product you’ll know is Pyrex! I will not be testing how much abuse they can stand though - they will be treated with love and respect.

They are just Sooooo pretty! I was really taken with these yellow and black ones - they remind me of the tiny yellow ladyirds you sometimes see…

I think that was a better picture of them - one of the many things I have learnt from writing this blog is just how hard it is to take a decent picture! You try taking a picture of glass knitting needle and you’ll see! “Respect” to professional photographers!

…but what are they like to use?

Pretty darned good!! They are 5mm, coincidentally the right size for Orford, my current project (rather convenient the right size jumped into my basket huh?). I know I’m a bad, naughty knitter but I changed onto my new needles straight away - halfway through the back! (It didn’t show - phew!)

At first the tips grated together slightly and I was thinking, “oh dear, this could be an expensive mistake…”. After about 40ish rows, they seemed to have worn in (or I got used to them!) and the tips are now silky smooth. The shaft is also perfectly smooth and has very little “grip” on the yarn. This makes it very easy to slide the stitches along ( a pet hate of mine is when you have to stop and shove the next stitches up the needle in bunches.)

They were an extravagance. I didn’t need them but I think they were worth it.

Heck!! I’m worth it!

…..I wonder what other sizes there are……

I have to share…

…I’ve been shopping for knitterly treats…..

……And I’m not talking yarn…….

………I’ve been lusting after one of these for 18 months…….

…………A Namaste Needle Binder!!!

It works like a lever Arch file and has “pages” inside to store your needles in….

Like this…

There are different pages available and you can buy them separately - this pic shows a large needle holder and a storage pouch (like a big pencil case).

Here’s one of the small needle holders and one of the handy pouches on the inside wall…

You also get to see my motley collection of needles - A good half of which are as old as me and have been inherited!!

Now, after the raving and “ohhing” at how pretty it is, a couple of practical observations.

Most of my needles are about 35cm long, end to tip. These stick over the top of the pages and, although they do fit in the case, you have to be careful how you zip it.

I have 6 pages of needles (3 big needle pages and 3 small ones). You can only zip the bag if these are pushed to the bottom of the bag, not at the high point of the clippy rings. Do-able but not well thought out. The bag needs to be a bit taller!

There are pages for circular needles - I’ll not use those because I have mine in a CD case from Ikea, like this.

Credit for that idea to Uknitty
(Who really must start blogging again !)

I do have lots of sets of DPNs though. Currently thrown in one of the pouches.

And Crochet hooks. Where’s the page for those??

I am however, very pleased with it - I now have nearly all my needles in one place (20mm and 15mm wouldn’t fit!) in a holder that looks good in the living room.

Oh, I nearly forgot - I got mine from Foreign Strand - they sell both the binder and the extra pages in the UK so no worries about import taxes!

I really liked this design from the first moment I saw it.

It’s Orford from the current Rowan magazine, no. 41.

What stopped me rushing straight out and buying the yarn was the cost! It takes 12 balls of Rowan Cotton Rope - Nearly £50! That seemed rather steep for a little vesty type top.

Then along came the John Lewis sale!

I elbowed, bit and clawed my way through the throng of frenzied yarn-snaffling knitters (sorry if I bit any of my readers) and managed to grab enough of the right colours - half price!

Still an extravagance but….but……..but…. <Insert excuse here when a convincing one is thought of>

The news is - It’s going to be another quick knit!

Orford is knit on 5mm needles and has grown so fast, I’ve done the back already…

The yarn is called “rope” for good reason - although very soft and pleasant to work with it’s three quite thick strands spun loosely together in ropesque fashion. It can split or the end fray if you treat it rough but not so much as to be a problem.

It has knitted a thicker, heavier fabric than I was expecting and it might not be ideal to wear as a summer top as shown in the Rowan picture - I think it will look super over a crisp white shirt though…

Want to see a close-up of the cables??? OK then…

Here’s one of the rib too…

I’m going to need a bigger wardrobe if I keep knitting this fast…

I was very good Friday!

I did all my household chores so the weekend would be free for more fun things like helping a friend clear brambles from her new allotment. Yep, I’m strange - I like that kinda thing!

After a hard day of chores I thought,

“I’ll sit in the garden, watch the washing dry and knit for an hour”

My current project (I tell you about it in my next post - honest!) needs close following from the pattern- not the thing for a mongy hour knitting in the garden.

What to knit that does not require thinking and is fun and portable enough for the garden…

I have recently tidied my stash and sorted out a bag of rather unpromising, homeless scraplettes destined for the bin…

So I took these and my “bobble stash”…

to make more Smoothie hats. (See this posting for details of what they are for and how addictive they are. )

I was rather pleased with a couple of hour’s work

OK - I did say one hour sitting in the garden but you know how it gets when you’re enjoying yourself

Here’s what I made…..

Stripes…

Ancient boucle from Twillieys (I still have the ball band - sold in ounces!)

Variations on a purple and white stripey theme…

A solidish one and a holey one…

The holey one is fun and all my knitterly friends who’ve see it grab it and want to know how it’s done -here’s the “pattern”

• Cast on 28st and do 2 rows of K1, P1 rib as usual.
• Row1:(K2tog,yrn) rep to end
• Row 2 (and all even rows): Purl
• Row 3: K1, (K2tog,yrn) rep to last st, K1
• Row 4: Purl
• Repeat the above 4 rows twice more.
• Row 13: (K2tog) rep to end
• Row 14: (P2tog) rep to end
• Sew it up and apply pompom!

And some luxurious kimono ribbony ones (the pink one is Pure Silk and Ribbon !)

Wow - even for me, Nicole has been a quick knit! Despite having with the beady problem to work out.

The fit has come a up little big, compared to the Rowan picture ,but I don’t reckon it looks too bad.

I think I simply made it a size too large! I’ve been going to the gym like a demon lately and I think I must have dropped a size! I’m hoping a trip through the washing machine and tumble dryer will help adjust to fit a little. (Or I’ll have to eat more pies)

Here she is….

I love the shaping around the neckline and the way the straps work. I’m amazed at how detailed and well thought out this little top has been.

And the back view…..

I think I may have “gilded the lilly” by getting a bit carried away and putting a bead on each of the buttons…

but it’s fun! If you think you recognise those buttons….they are the leftovers I had from Flu-flo!

I promised, in my last post about Nicole, to tell you about how I resolved the beady problem of the straps.

The pattern tells you to knit the straps then sew nearly 200 beads on afterwards by hand. As I said in my last posting, I’d rather stab myself in the leg repeatedly with a metal 2.25mm needle than do that!!

The strap is a very cute 4 row pattern done like this…

Foundation Row: K1, K2tog, yfwd, K1, (Yfwd) twice, K1. (7 st)

Row 1: (WS) P1, (P1, K1) into double Yfwd of previous row, P2tog, yrn, P2.

Row 2: K1, K2Tog, Yfwd, K4

Row 3: Cast off 2 st (one stitch on right needle), P2tog, yrn, P2 (5 sts)

Row 4: K1, K2tog, yfwd, K1, (Yfwd) twice, K1. (7 st)

Repeat rows 1-4….

This is what it looks like ….

Very pretty but no beads….

I’d usually add beads using the slip stitch method, as eloquently described here on Kim Hargreaves’ site.

I couldn’t use that method because I needed to place a bead every other row and would need a handy knit stitch on the straight side of the strap.

I did notice a very handily placed “yrn” on every WS row though (bolded in the pattern)…..and in the right place……”hmmmmmm”

Firstly, use short needles when you’re doing this or you’ll take an eye out with the flailing ends! I used 20cm DPNs but they still felt a bit long!

Thread your beads on the yarn and described on Kim’s Help Page - about 40 is enough for each strap.

***Click on the following photos to see them bigger***

When you get to the “yrn” , slide the bead up to the front of the work and work the Yrn. Make sure you keep the bead pushed away from yo, to the right side of the strap. Like this…

then finish the row by doing P2.

On the next row you start with K1, K2tog. The K2tog is where you trap the bead in place. Insert the RH needle and make sure the bead is pushed down and under the RH needle as you make the stitch. Like this…

then wrap the warn around the needle as usual making sure the yarn passes over the bead on it’s way to the needle tip.

Make the stitch and it should look like this!

And here a fabulously beaded strap with no sewing and no leg stabbing required…

I have probably explained that very badly but have a bash at it - it’s intuitive when you have the needles in your hands.

Give it a go!

I have about a gazillion balls of yarn and associated projects waiting to be knit up.

So why did I suddenly become overwhelmed in John Lewis, by the desire to buy yarn to make a pattern I’d only just seen?? I must be a sick, untreatable yarn addict…. It’s that or the tummy bug that’s had be laid up for the last few days….

This was the object of my latest desire …(This picture does not do all the detail justice)…

It’s Nicole by Leah Sutton from Rowan Magazine 39

I’m really enjoying mercerised cotton at the moment and I seem to be wearing lots of vesty type tops so this leapt off the page at me.

“OK” I thought, “It’s going to be a bit boring to knit but I want to wear it.”

I didn’t want to spend much money that day so I decided to substitute Patons’ 100% Pure cotton 4ply for the Rowan 4 ply cotton.

Boy did that decision work out a bargain!! I needed 2 balls at £3.50 a ball - a garment for £7 Cool!

So…. Start knitting…..

There is a band of a textured pattern around the waist and bustline. This is worked on bigger needles so it doesn’t pull the garment tighter at these points.

The pattern is relatively simple “Yfwd, K3 and pass the first of these 3 stitches over there other 2, repeat….”

You won’t know till you’ve tried it, just how hard it was to get the “larger” (3.25mm) needle through that first stitch to be able to pass it over!

I spent hours cursing and stabbing myself trying to hook up that illusive first stitch! By the time I started to get the hang of it, I’d been gripping the left hand needle so hard I’d worn a blister on the side of my left ring finger Is it just me who gets that when suffering “knitting stress”?

I silently thanked the Knitting Gods, when that section was done, that the whole garment wasn’t in that stitch

Here’s how it looks….

The middle stocking stitch part was very very dull. Some shaping but still brainless. Duller than a dull thing, on a wet Tuesday afternoon in Dullsville. Ideal though, to do while gossiping and gulping down buckets of Starbucks with my fellow Guilty Knitters!

Nearly finished back and front …just the straps and front shaping. Surely I’m nearly finished???

So did you spot the beads? Take another look at that picture …

There they are….on the straps!

While you’re looking at those straps, did you spot that they were in a lacey pattern? No? Me neither till I got to knit them!

(No ,I don’t read the pattern through before I start - I like to be reckless and live dangerously!! )

Then the big downer… the 200ish beads are sewn on after knitting the straps ! I think I’d rather spend an afternoon stabbing my leg with my 2.25mm metal needles

See my next post for details of how I resolved this beady problem! (no leg stabbing required!)