Damn, Knit & Blast It

Spring is “springing” in the garden and I’ve just finished two thick, dark wintery jumpers.

I guess I’ll be needing a new exciting knit that is  something summery then?

I have been fawning over the new Rowan Magazine, number 47

From Halcyon

and trying to decide between my 3 favourites in the book.

There’s Harmony…

From Halcyon

Which is lovely and  knit in Organic Cotton 4ply – I really like this but thought it would be a bit too much like my  golden Iris.

From Iris

So Harmony is rejected.

Then there was Sedate

From Halcyon

Knit in Milk Cotton and a whopping great 10 balls of my favourite, Kid Silk Haze. It would be a good stash buster project for me but again, it’s a lacy cardigan, but I was sorely tempted…

***EDIT***

Thanks Helen, for commenting and alerting me – the yarn amounts in the Rowan Mag are wrong for Sedate. Rowan have published an errata here -  Sedate Errata.

Correct amounts are FMC: 5, 5, 5, 6, 6 KSH: 4, 4, 4, 5, 5.

Only 4 balls of KSH stash busting!!

Then I saw Halcyon on a display model in Liberty…

From Halcyon

I was with a friend of mine, a Rowan rep, who immediately said,

“Halcyon- that’s a pig to knit! Lace on every row, no let up with nice easy purl rows!!”

How could I pass up a challenge like that? 

For once, Rowan has some really good photos of the garment in their magazine – they really show the detail in the garment – I winge enough about bad photos so praise where it’s due…

From Halcyon

From Halcyon

Halcyon is knit in Fine Milk Cotton – called “Milk” cotton because it’s made with 30% milk protein. I dread to think how a glass of milk is transformed into yarn but the end result is a wonderful soft silken yarn. It is rather splitty is you’re not careful but I can cope with that.

So is that lace a “pig”?

Actually – it’s not so bad once you get the pattern going…

…but this is the chart…

From Halcyon

Too small for human eyes!!

Even with my new upgraded glasses this was a struggle to see.

But again, Rowan have redeemed themselves – a PDF of the chart, in a size suitable for harassed knitters, trying to balance the pattern on their knee while not dropping lace stitches, is available here–> Halcyon Chart.

So what colour am I doing? How far have I got?

I didn’t like the beige – only because it looks insipid on me. So I chose Pastille, shade 494 – a very classy silver grey with a hint of blue. I thought it would look good formally for work as well as with jeans…but I’m getting ahead of myself – I have to knit it first!

The pattern starts at the waist and works downwards, knitting the peplum. Later you pick up stitches and work upwards. I know I should have started with a provisional cast on but I was so in a hurry to cast on but I  just didn’t Bad Susan!

First you do acres of very boring rib – I would have liked to have saved that for later when I needed a break from the lace but the life of a knitter is hard!

So here’s the back peplum all knit..

From Halcyon

The lace pattern is basically, two blocks of pattern – the open lattice work and the petal pattern. After 12 rows, the pattern offsets so these two blocks form a chequerboard effect. You can see that more clearly in the Rowan pics above.

For the peplum though, you carry on with the second pattern repeat but start increasing in between the the petals. This gives the fullness over the hips and the lovely drape.

It sounds fiddly but it’s explained well and, with a few stitch markers – I was well away.

Here’s the front peplum, mid increase with the stitch markers…

From Halcyon

You can see I’m using my precious Signature knitting needles for Halcyon – those stilletto points are essential for the lace and a splitty yarn.

I hadn’t realised just how much difference thy made until I was nearing the end of the peplum.

With all the increases, I had gone up to over 300 stitches crammed on my 12″ needle. I didn’t have a suitable circular hand for the last few rows so I pulled out some long ancient Aero needles – so old they were marked in the old English sizings as “No.12″.

Boy, were they blunt! I’ve checked, this is the only point in Halcyon I’ll have this many stitches so no excuse for  extra long Signature needle shopping for me

Not this week..Maybe not…No, I couldn’t…

I know this is a knitting blog, but here’s the deal.

I’ll tell you about my exciting new knitting project in my next post if you humour me and listen to me brag about the DIY we’ve been up to…

This was our Utility room, just after we moved in…

From DIY 2010

From DIY 2010

There was 20 years of dirt on the walls, which never seem to have been wiped, chocolate brown gloss paintwork, knackered old cupboards and a bile green carpet that had been used as a cat toilet. We even found cans of beer in those old wardrobes that were 12 years out of date! 12 years!!

It made my flesh creep to put anything of ours out there, let alone let any laundry touch the floor. Even worse – what if Thug and Mewsley got the idea they could use it as a cat toilet too? This room quickly became out top priority to get sorted.

First we ripped up the disgusting bile green carpet and lino and found the original beige lino underneath – a thorough scrub and bleach and we could live with it for a couple of months.

The window was replaced (we had the whole house done – what a change!)
and we scrubbed and painted the walls, gloss and ceiling. The Utility room is quite a big room – 6.5m x 2.5m so this was quite a big job. This was when Ben christened it the DIY Dungeon! For weeks we seemed to spend every spare minute out there rubbing down, filing and painting.

Time for a breather while we planned phase 2!

From DIY 2010

The next big job was the floor – We wanted tiles but the cost of getting a professional to lay them was prohibitive. More DIY!!

It was a hard, back breaking, knee bruising, painstaking job but I think we did rather well!

From DIY 2010

From DIY 2010

We also needed new kitchen units to house the sink, washer and dryer… The old ones had to go…

From DIY 2010

To be replaced by these!

From DIY 2010

So much cleaner and brighter

And that brings be up to this Easter weekend…

The finishing touch – tiling around the sink unit..

From DIY 2010

From DIY 2010

From DIY 2010

I’m so pleased with what we’ve achieved out here I keep going to take another look to make sure I’m not dreaming – daft aren’t I?

Oh Boy! I seem to have blinked and it’s been over a month since my last blog post – Sorry readers – I’ve been bad and neglected you

First I was busy with work – but in a good way. Learning new stuff, meeting new people but under some tough deadlines, doing long days and having to stay away from home.

Then we had a week off work.

The plan was to revamp the “DIY dungeon”, otherwise known as the Utility Room and celebrate my birthday. We got about half the work done then we both got hit with a really nasty tummy bug. I will spare you the detail but suffice it to say, neither of us ate or retained proper food for a week. 

(I’ll tell you more about the DIY dungeon in another post -but you can have a sneak preview in the pictures…)

Though all of this woe,  I did get some knitting done and do a have a finished object to show you!

Do you remember Catrin? I blogged about her here then found she was too hard for for a stressed out , “post house move knitter” so she was put aside in favour of Ronnie (who was supposed to be easy!)

So, to remind you Catrin is from Rowan Classic  Heartland

and looks like this in the book

From Catrin

I really don’t know why I put this project aside? Maybe I was just ready for a more challenging knit when I came back to it?  I really enjoyed Catrin when I picked her up again – much more than the accursed Ronnie!

I was, however,  shocked to see that I started Catrin just before I moved in October- time is flying

So wanna see it?

Here she is – a month’s hard labour!!

From Catrin

And one with me grinning at you…

From Catrin

I like this pattern as the cables are on the back as well as the front – I find in very boring to have to knit plain sleeves and back with all the interest going on on the front.

Here’s the back – just to prove it…

From Catrin

And the sleeves are pretty cabley too…

From Catrin

The cables are complex but once the pattern is going, I can see what comes next fairly easily. I do have to check with the pattern still but it’s a quick glance to check rather than a slavish following of every twist.

Sizing is curious – as the is from Rowan’s Classic range I decided to knit a 32″ size. I normally knit Rowan pattern, from their main books, in a 34″ but  I keep on finding that the Classic series comes up too big for me. I think you’ll agree this is a good fit – I certainly wouldn’t want it any larger. I did ask  a senior Rowan design person at one of the shows if the sizing was different between the main books and Classic but he said they were identical. That’s not my experience so be aware if you’re deciding between sizes.

I must say, I found the Rowan Silky Tweed a dream to knit with it’s a lovely yarn and highlights the cables really well. It’s 80% lambswool and 20% silk.

I love the unrefined texture of lambs wool but I know a lot of knitters find it rough (memories of Grandma knitted, wonky sleeve length, itchy, school V-neck sweaters immediately surface!) The 20% silk in the Silky Tweed softens the yarn beautifully and gets rid of any trace of that typical woolly scratch. The wool makes it incredibly warm and light too.

I will definitely be looking out for Silky Tweed in the sales!

Completed Knit Report
Name:	Catrin
Pattern:	From Rowan Classic Heartland by Martin Storey
Yarn:	Rowan Silky Tweed
Pattern Problems:	None – but did need an extra ball
Pattern Modifications:	None – straight forward jumper with all the detail in the cables
Washing and Wearing:	Very warm
Knit It Again???:	Possibly
Difficulty:	Medium
Rating:	4/5
Other Postings Relating To This One:	Cats ‘n’ knitting – tough going