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….

“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!

I’ve been busy.  I’ve been stressed with work. I’ve been trying to sell and buy a new home. I’ve not had any time off work since Christmas because I thought I’d be moving.

I was coping with all this.

My  house purchase/sale falling apart for the second time and putting right back at square one was too much to take. I could either get very depressed or take positive, decisive action.

Positive action it was. I marched Ben to the nearest Travel Agents and booked us a luxury holiday in Mexico!

Fear not,  I’m getting to the knitting related parts – this isn’t a “look at my holiday snaps” post.

I decided to treat myself to a brand spanking new project for the trip – no stash busting, no trying to finish off other projects – this holiday was to be indulgence all the way…

I decided on Iris from Rowan 45. A beautiful lace cardigan in Rowan Cotton Glace.

Here she is…

I love knitting cotton on holiday – hot damp hands and suncream don’t seem to affect it too much. I found out the hard way once that hot sunny beaches and Kidsilk Haze are a match made in hell!

You see that couple of inches of knitting in the picture? You think that was all I did?

Ha! Of course not. I cast on the back on the airplane, using an addi circular so as not to upset airport security with pointy, long, evil terrorist death sticks (or knitting needles as they sometimes are called) and knit for most of the 10 hour flight.

I knit by the pool. (note the rather large cocktail on the table in the foreground)

In fact, I knit in the pool!

Note the ball of yarn tucked in my bikini strap!

This was a technique that was a little ungainly and fraught with constant danger of drowning my knitting so it was an experiment which didn’t last too long.

If you think people looked at me knitting under a sun shade, you should have seen their faces when I knit in the pool!

So how much of Iris did I complete?

Less than I thought I might…

One back…

And one left front…

The top of this left front again because I was drinking too many yummy cocktails by the pool

Not bad huh?

I guess I should show your the stitch detail too…

And the edging at the bottom….

Pretty, pretty pattern isn’t it? and surprisingly easy to do.

Well it’s midnight and I’m wide awake with Jetlag and I have work tomorrow.

Maybe just a few more rows before bed….

OK. I admit it….my resolve has failed me and I got bored with the flower blanket. It has been put away, pending winter.

I’m a bad, naughty knitter and a bad, delinquent blogger

It’s my sister’s fault really….she went and had a birthday right when I was struggling to apply myself – she distracted me….

The gift I had in mind for her was knitted so I had to stop with the blanket to make sure it was finished in time…. didn’t I??

So what did I make Carol for her birthday?

There’s a story here….

Once upon a time,  in a long lost century, around an era some might call “1992″ , my big sister bought knitting kit from Good Housekeeping Magazine. It was by a company called Knitwits (who I can’s find a trace of now).

It was for a lovely bobbly, lacy  cushion cover. The pattern doesn’t specify the yarn but I suspect strongly that it was Rowan Handknit cotton.  Carol decided the best way to complete this kit was to ask her little sister to knit it up for her! I happily obliged and the cushion has adorned Carol’s livingroom ever since.  Still looking like new…

…and I stupidly don’t have a picture of it!

About 6 years ago I made another version of this cushion (I got pictures this time!!) in fabulous Rowan Chenile Chunky. This version was beloved by Thug before it even got off the needles. It has become his personal cushion and a favourite snoozing spot.

Aww….

Hmmm – Can’t see the pattern there can you?? Kinda obscured by the ginger lard-boy…
Try this…

and this… (I apologise for the matted, fur encrusted tatty nature of this cushion. It does get washed regularly when I can prise it out from Thug’s paws)

(I apologise for the matted, fur encrusted tatty nature of this cushion. It does get washed regularly when I can prise it out from Thug’s paws)

I tell you – those bobbles, especially with chenille, are a bitch – I had “bobble finger” by the end of this cutie.

So what of Carol’s birthday present? I knew Carol was hankering after a new cushion cover for her living room and was sure I had the perfect colour yarn in stash….

This is what I came up with…

And I learnt a useful trick about bobbles too!

A good thing because this cushion has 234 of them!

You know how you do a bobble -(k,p,k,p into a stitch to make 4 stitches, knit back and forth on those 4 stitches a few times the decrease back to 1 stitch and carry on.)- That involves a heck of a lot of turning your work around – it wastes time and involves flailing limbs, tangled balls of yarn and, if knitting on the train as I planned to do, ticked off commuters.

I thought I’d try my hand at backwards knitting for the purl rowls of the bobbles (backwards knitting is where you don’t turn the work at the end of a knit row but work from left to right with the right side facing you).

I’m not very even when I backwards knit but what the hey – it’s in a bble – eho’ll see? It worked like a charm and made the dreadded “bobble rows” much easier to handle. It also had the advantage of not causing and loss of eyeballs to my fellow commuters!

So did Carol like her birthday gift?

Well yes – she loved it, but only after I’d convinced her it wasn”t a rather eclectic hat!

The Knit’n'Commute  blankie production line has been going well but I’ve had my first nutter objecting to “train knitting” this week!

I get on the mainline train and get my knitting out. Within three stitches the woman next to me pulls herself up to her  sour, scrub faced, puffed up height of self importance and inquires,

“Have you ever considered that it might be dangerous to use such pointed implements? What if there was an accident?”

(I’m currently knitting with 3.75mm knitpicks circular needles)

After catching my breath, I calmly but firmly answered,

” Yes I have, these are less sharp than your average propelling pencil or biro. In the event of an accident or train crash anyone doing a crossword would be just as dangerous.”

She answered,

” Yes, but I wouldn’t want one of those poked in my  eye either!” (Why does every nutter think knitting needles are instantly going to have their eye out?)

I said,

” But you wouldn’t consider saying anything to someone sitting here doing the crossword would you?”

She huffed and angrily turned the page of ther crappy free newspaper in an exaggerated way that made me want to giggle.

The chap opposite me who really just wanted a quite trip to work giggled as well.

She fumed the entire 25min trip  and over acted the Mrs Angry page turning routine….and I purposefully knitted the entire way.

She nearly exploded when I stood up (still knitting) and disembarked, leaving her apoplectic watching me. ..I enjoyed that.

Like anyone who has had a minor confrontation, I thought of all the things I should have said later…

“Has it occurred to you that if we had an accident or train crash all those people standing up will crash into you?”

“What about all those heavy laptop bags in the overhead parcel shelves?”

” We’re not wearing seat belts you know? That man opposite will probably crush your skull if we hit anything?”

” Everyone on the train has fingers – they could take your take your eye out…maybe all train passengers should wear mittens?”

” Oh Hell.  Why don’t you just wrap yourself in cotton wool , goggles, mittens and a crash helmet and let the grown-ups take care of the nasty pointy world??!!”