Damn, Knit &amp; Blast It

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…

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….

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?

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?

Pretty though huh? So far so good….

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

Filed under Knits WIP, Knitting · 6 Comments

And I Had Most of This In Stash!

September 30th, 2011, 6:22 pm

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 )

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…

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…

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…

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…

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

Close up?? Ok…

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…

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!

Filed under Free Patterns, Knits WIP · 10 Comments

“Still” Working on the Mojo

September 18th, 2011, 10:41 pm

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

Filed under Knits WIP, Knitting, Knitting blog · 6 Comments

Oh, This is Too Hard!

June 12th, 2011, 7:16 pm

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!!

Filed under Knits WIP, Knitting · 3 Comments

The Kim Hargreaves Curse!

May 22nd, 2011, 7:16 pm

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>

From

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

From

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…)

From

Turned out OK after some frogging though…

From

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”!

From

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!!

Filed under Chat, Knits WIP, Knitting, Knitting blog · 12 Comments

Cashmere Cable Fun

April 24th, 2011, 3:25 pm

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.

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…

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….

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…

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

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

Filed under Knits WIP, Knitting, Knitting blog · 12 Comments

I Need a Luxurious Treat…

March 26th, 2011, 11:21 am

Firstly I must say thank you for all the wonderful message of support and sympathy on my last post about poor Thug. You have no idea how much you all helped me. Huge hugs to all you guys

So. How has the knitting faired through all the upset?

Unfortunately, I really wasn’t in the mood to apply myself to fiddly finishing of Lilliana – my fluffy Kidsilk Aura creation. She has lain in the corner, forlorn and abandoned…

I’ll get back to Lilliana at some point….

What I really needed was some indulgent, lovely, treat of a knitting project…..Hmmmm….Wasn’t in the mood to go buy anything (yep, I felt that bad!)….should be trying to keep to my new year’s resolution of knitting up my “snaffled in the sales” yarn…

Mewsley came up with the perfect suggestion, as she nosed a box of yarn towards me…..Cashmere based grief counselling!

It was a good idea. The Rowan Cashmere is fabulously soft and I adore that shade of green. It’s labelled as a Double Knitting but it is on the very fine side of DK. What pattern? Fortunately I have just the thing.

I’m going to remake my favourite French Cable Jumper that I blogged here.

This is the pattern from Bergere De France ….

And me wearing my first incarnation of this pattern from Donkey’s years ago (where I appear to be over thrusting my chest?!!)…

From

So back to the here and now…

I suspected the Cashmere would be thinner than the Bergere De France Berlaine that I knit the original in so I did a swatch….Very unusual for me! The swatch seemed OK, measured the right gauge…

I curled up on the sofa, cast on an knit furiously trying to ignore the lack of a ginger cat to help me. I was thoroughly enjoying the Cashmere and the pattern was difficult enough to distract me and keep me absorbed – all good huh?

Unfortunately, it came up a bit small! The bloody swatch lied to me!!

Mewsley tried to hide the evidence from me but there was too much knitting for her to obscure….

Nothing for it but the cast on again on bigger needles – 3.75mm this time, rather than 3.50 called for in the pattern. Was I upset? Strangely no. I usually hate re-knitting but this time all I wanted was to sit and concentrate on knitting to stop me thinking about Thug – I didn’t mind what I knitted.

Quite a bit of Cashmere based therapy later, I am this far (the one on the right)…

Doesn’t look much different huh? Believe me – under the tape measure it is.

Wanna see a close up of those lovely cables? Course you do….

In case you’re wondering – there are three different cable patterns – each one has a different row repeat too making it a challenge to keep track of. How do I cope?
With a notebook and my trusty highlighters of course…

You can laugh at my tatty scrap of paper if you like but this is my key to getting this one right – the pink rows are the centre cable, the green is the little barley twists and the yellow is the chain done over 6 rows.