Damn, Knit & Blast It

I can’t believe I still haven’t finished Frappe.

I finished knitting the collar and kinda stalled. I have been horrendously busy, so when I’ve had time to knit, I’m too tired to work out a fiddely-diddley construction job! I have learnt from bitter experience not to attempt sewing up when tired - sleeves can end up protruding from chest cavities like an erupting alien!

So what’s fiddley on the lovely, easy Frappe? I’ll show you…

This is one side of the collar - the knitting is straight forward, increasing from 2 stitches left on a safety pin when you do the front. There is some decreasing at the back of the neck on the collar so I left the stitches on the holder and thought I’d do that once I’d seen how it sewed up a little - better than making it too long or too short then trying to squish it to fit! The only thing to beware of is not to twist and strain those two stitches when you’re whipping up the collar.

These two here…

I was faced with sewing the collar, “without stretching” according to the pattern, onto the body.
It lay on my dining room table for three days with me wondering how it fitted together and what stitch to use to sew it.

I noticed that these two bits kinda fitted so I stuck a pin in there and the rest sort of followed on…

I also cheated a bit
I was in London and popped into Liberty’s, so see if they had any “to die for” end of sale yarn (because I really need yarn - NOT!).

They had a completed Frappe on display I investigated the collar fully and stole all the techniques for attaching it. Basically, slip stitch up the sides until the back of the neck and mattress stitch across the back of the neck with the seam facing away from your neck (under the collar).

The slip stitch worked really well, just picking up the bumps at the end of the rows like this…

I think I made quite a neat job, once I finally sat down and sewed it!

Right side of collar, wrong side of jacket…

Wrong side of collar, right side of jacket…

And this is how far it has got today…I have a sleeve!

In case you’re wondering what I did on those few days I was too tired to sew my brain was occupied, pondering the collar?

I picked up some easy knitting. I accidentally did rather a lot of Glace!

I’ve just had a terrific week.

After some serious looking, I’ve been offered a super job. My days of idleness and knitting are numbered! As an IT consultant, I expect that I’ll have to do some travelling but I promise my knitting will be my constant companion. I’ll keep you posted on the trial of trying to fit knitting into the working week!

Then, as if that wasn’t enough, I jumped on a plane for a week in Israel with Ben. Ben was on a two week training course for his work, in Tel Aviv, so I joined him for the weekend and the second week.

Don’t worry - I’m getting to the knitting bits!

So what knitting to take to Israel? Too damn much - that’s what!

Security at the Israeli airports is seriously strict. I wasn’t going to risk anything long and pointy for the flight - even bamboo. I decided to play it very safe and take some short bamboo DPNs ( that were as threatening as 4 cocktail sticks) and a ball of sock yarn. I only have one set of bamboo DPNs in 2.5mm so I had to find a pattern to fit…

I decided to follow the thousands of other knitters before me and do Hedera by Cookie A. free from Knitty.

I chose Nature’s Palette in colour “Owl’s Clover” from my stash - OK, it’s a very recent addition to my stash. I made a heroic dive across the room and intercepted it on the way to the dustbin when Jane (a fellow Guilty Knitter) was having a stash purge.

Jane. I love your stash purges!! Thank you!!

I started the sock and had it on the needles before I left - just in case the security guard’s English didn’t include the word “knitting”…I could imagine me trying to explain, with much handwaving and no Hebrew, what it was all for!

It all got buried in the bottom of my carry on bag, stuffed in a little pink makeup case…

The good news is that no one batted an eyelid at my knitting at security or on the flight. Unfortunately, I fell asleep both ways for large portions of the flight so I have only managed this much!

Not much to show for 10 hours of flying!! It’s a fun pattern so far - this will be my “travelling sock” now I’m back.

So. Beach knitting…

Several people I know were horrified at the notion of knitting amongst the sand, sea, sweat and greasy suntan lotion. It does take some forethought. I have learnt from (sticky) experience that Kidsilk Haze and sweaty hands are a match made in Hell.

I didn’t want to take Frappe because I was easily going to be onto the making up stage - knitting is one thing - pins, darning needles, sewing on the beach? I’m not quite that insane.

I have found that cotton is very good on a beach - it doesn’t stick to your hands or attract sand. I also have managed to accrue 67 balls of Jaeger Siena in my stash

Subbing the Siena for 4ply cotton, I threw all the yarn, pattern and needles in the case to make Geno from Rowan 43 - in fact it’s the only design I really like from that mag! Lacey front, plain back - lots of choice of what to knit!

I love the Lace on this…

I then had a pang - it’s a bit fine…I’ll just throw 7 balls of Silk Cotton and the needles and the pattern for Glace from RYC Summer delights into the suitcase - you never know…

Thats’s this one - from the cover …

I seriously thought I needed to take enough yarn to complete a cardigan, a singlet and a pair of socks! No wonder my case weighed a ton!

So did I finish all these projects on the beach?

Of course I didn’t!

I managed this much of the lace - one whole pattern repeat - for Geno before deciding that being hunched over a lace pattern chart on a beautiful sun drenched beach was not the best use of my sun tanning potential!

I switched to Glace - There’s 18 cms of 2×2 rib to start Glace - much more suntan friendly!
I managed this…

The sun in Israel was very strong - I tan really easily and rarely burn but even I had to take a couple of days off from the beach.

I explored up the coast, while Ben was busy working , to the port of Jaffa and drank freshly squeezed Jaffa orange juice in a the flea market of Jaffa! I poked around the port and thought, “is that an abandoned knitting project?”

Ben and I took a day trip to Jerusalem - Oh what a fascinating, historical place! We barely scratched the surface in a day. I did, however find a sculpture to world peace…call me obsessed but all I could see was a giant ball of wool!

Frappe is storming along… I’m whizzing up the last sleeve today. Unfortunately there’s nothing interesting or exciting to tell or show you about it - quick, easy, looks good so far.

So in the absence of exciting knitting news, want to see my latest embellished Poohs?

(For anyone confused by that question see my post “The Embellishment of Pooh” for how I came to doodle on an E. H. Shepard drawing of Pooh Bear. )

I have been watching far too much Star Trek whilst knitting…therefore I felt compelled to try a “Spock Pooh”!

He is supposed to be phasering a wibbley orange alien who is disintegrating on the right of the picture…not sure this one worked too well!

Then of course, I realised I hadn’t had a “Knitting Pooh”!

Knitting Pooh is wearing a Noro bobble hat, an Aran Jumper and hand dyed variegated socks! He is knitting from Rowan’s little known book “Knitting Bear Knits”…

Ben felt left out at this point and had to embellish a Pooh to reflect his current game - Bioshock.

That’s a Big Daddy and a little Sister….(play about 40 hours of the game if you feel the need to understand what’s going on here!!)

The standard of Poohs is ramping up now. I needed inspiration…I looked out of the window and saw my veggie patch…

This is my current favourite - Allotment Pooh!

Allotment Pooh is inspecting his carrots and radishes, runnerbeans in the background and a hanging basket on the right (hmmm the basket doesn’t quite work huh?) I was really pleased with the garden fork he’s holding!

I tried to show Thug my art work - apart from being blind, he really was just too sleepy to care!

OK - I admit it - it’s a thinly veiled excuse for cute cat photo!

I keep saying I need a yarn sale.

John Lewis kindly obliged me and are having their big, summer yarn sale. I think the rest of the store is having a sale too but let’s focus on what matters here!

I really, REALLY don’t need to buy any yarn. Take a peek at the scary spreadsheet of my stash on the stashwatch page if you think I’m kidding.

But I have been in a knitting slump. A friend of mine told me she wasn’t going to keep a stash any more because she enjoyed choosing a project, going buying the yarn and casting on the minute she got home.

Doesn’t that sound more fun than guiltily hoarding yarn then knitting it up because you think you really ought to? Even though you’ve gone off the project?

I thought I’d try her approach and see if it cured my SKS (Summer Knitting Slump)…

…God! I’m good at coming up with excuses to buy yarn aren’t I??!!

I gnashed, bit and clawed my way through the frenzied pack of yarn hungry knitters and managed to emerge with not one but two garments’ worth of yarn and a pattern book.

I snapped up a copy of RYC/Rowan’s Summer Delights pattern book - I like lots of the patterns in this book!

And a pack of 10 balls of RYC Silk Cotton. When I was in JL, they only had a pack of 10 of each colour out in the sale. Conveniently, the jacket I wanted to make takes 10 balls in my size

I’m going to knit Frappe….

This one…

My plan to buy the yarn for a project and cast on straight away without bothering my stash went a little awry. I did indeed cast on Frappe as soon as I got home (almost before I’d sat down!) I did find it impossible to resist stashing more of the lovely Silk Cotton for a second project from the book though. It was a sale…It was a bargain….

Can you guess which pattern the second garment is? Would it be the one on the cover?? I couldn’t possibly say

So how’s Frappe knitting up?

Like a dream! My mojo seems to have returned and I’m knitting furiously! The yarn is beautiful to knit with and is growing fast on 4.5mm needles.

I’ve done the back and one front already…

The Silk gives the yarn a slight crunchy, crepey feel which I like. They yarn’s stitch definition makes the most of this stitch pattern too.

I do have one reservation about the project. The RYC Silk Cotton is allegedly “Dry Clean only”. I’m not a fan of dry cleaning - expensive, environmentally dubious use of chemicals and a whole lot of hassle running to a fro the dry cleaners.

I have heard a tale that says that the only problem is the yarn will harden up if washed, then soften again with wear. Once I’ve finished Frappe, I’ll knit any leftovers into a swatch and report back to you.

But right now, me and my knitting mojo are best friends again and we’re going to spend an hour on the sofa with Frappe, a big mug of coffee and a lazy ginger cat!

Some body stole my Mojo!

My knitting Mojo, I mean.

You may have noticed that I’ve slowed down blogging…and knitting. Partly because I first injured my arm then had an incredibly painful upset tum. All I was capable of was slumping in front of the TV under a duvet and not knitting. This is the woman who in January, managed to make an entire Bowie jumper while prostrate with the flu.

The real trouble is, I’ve just not felt like knitting. Maybe a couple of weeks has been enough to break the habit?

It seems I’m not alone in suffering a “Summer Knitting Slump” though. Quite a few knitters I’ve talked to have either slowed down or switched to other hobbies. I blame the weather. It’s too warm to lust after big warm jumpers and too grey and drizzly here (classic British summer weather ) to inspire cute little cotton tops.

Maybe I’ve discovered a new syndrome - “Summer Knitting Slump” or “SKS”???

I think I’ve been doing too many things for other people or using up yarn on projects that don’t excite me.

I need to try and rediscover my Mojo.

I have been struggling through what should be a quick and rewarding little project.

I picked up recently a skein of Colinette Giotto in a sale basket - It was a bargain. I had to have it…It’s the colourway “Monet”. Perfectly named. I could see the Waterlilies in the skein!

The yarn is a delicious little “sweetie” - when I was little, if I was very good I was rewarded with a “sweetie” - usually tooth-rottingly delicious sweets - I consider a skein of yarn to be a much healthier option!

I’m going to go look for my Mojo on my balcony - it’s a sunny day, the flowers are looking great, I have a big mug of coffee and a Stephen Fry podcast to listen to.

If combining that perfect knitting environment and a skein of beautiful Giotto doesn’t give me the kick I need I’m going to have to seek out therapy - or the Summer yarn sales at least!!

I promise to blog what I achieved very soon…

After my Ebay Boo Boo, I thought I should really give the Kid Soft a whirl. After all, it’s a Rowan yarn I’d never heard of, let alone knit with. It would be educational….

After some research, I found that there’s only two publications for Kid Soft. The Kid Soft Booklet

and a “concertina card” of 4 patterns. Both are by Kim Hargreaves so I could be sure of something wearable in there. Being a bit of a “completist” I of course scoured Ebay and bought the concertina card too.

I chose a very basic high neck jumper called Dinny. Here’s the pic in the book - not sure if you’ll be able to see it though - in true Rowan style, they have photographed a black jumper on a dark background…

So, “How’s it knitting?”

The short answer is, “Very fast!”

So far I have done the back and front, joined the right shoulder seam ready for the neck (mainly because I’d mislaid half my stitch holders!) and stared the first sleeve.

Want to see a big black blob?

That’s the back. Here’s the best closeup I can get of the knitted fabric,

It makes a very lightweight fabric that looks a little slubby and fluffy - it verges on looking like it’s been badly washed IMHO! It will, however, be very warm judging by the toasty-warm knees I had knitting it.

The toasty-warm knees could have been because of large hairy creatures sitting on my lap whilst I knit. This brings me to another potential problem when knitting plain black in a household containing a huge ginger beast that is magnetically attracted to knitting.

Usually, I’d need to be careful to keep the knitting free of cat fur but the kid soft seems strangely immune?? Barely a whisker. Anybody got a clue why? It’s a great advantage for me - I might actually be able to wear something black in the house! Normally I have to change the second I get in the front door to avoid looking like I’m in the early stages of morphing into a a cat/human hybrid.

Of course, you’re asking yourself,

“How does she know for sure that ginger cat fur doesn’t stick to Kid Soft?”

Thug takes his duties seriously as knitwear tester. Look what happened when I left the back and front on the table for 2 minutes….

I think that look is saying, “Make me a blankie in this…Please! I need some luxury….”

That title is too good for a blog post!

It should be an action movie, maybe an archaeology professor fighting Nazi baddies and hunting for the lost knitted treasures of Hildegard? The sequel could be “Raiders of the Lost Stash Box”??

But I digress. Back to reality - which isn’t quite as exciting. I have finally been able to pick up my Silk Hildegard again. That’s the old favourite that I’m reknitting that I told you about in Goodbye Old Favourite, Hello New Version and Knit for Victory.

The return to Hildegard has reminded me of yet another reason I don’t like having multiple WIPs (Works in Progress). I have kinda lost the initial enthusiasm for Hildegard. I love the pattern, it’s knitting up a treat, the yarn is yummy and I really want the finished garment. Now though, after leaving it for a while, it just feels like a chore to get through before I can get onto a new thing.

There’s only one sleeve left to do and I’m 2/3 of the way up it so not much of a slog, I know. I’ve remembered the pattern OK but I can’t quite remember how I worked all the increases into the pattern for the first sleeve. I think I’ve got them the same and, lets be pragmatic here, who the heck is going to be comparing my sleeve decreases? But it still niggles at me. Hmmmm…I never thought I’d be a closet perfectionist!

Here’s the pattern in case you’ve forgotten - I love this !

The good news is the yarn quantities I’ve used. I’ve just started my 10th ball of the Jaeger Pure Silk so I might be able to get Hildegard out of 10 balls, 11 at most - that leaves me with another 9 to play with! (Did I confess I had grabbed two bags of pure silk in the January sales?)

So, as I don’t like blogging without showing you pictures too - want to see the knitted bits so far?

After all these years of knitting - I am still always surprised at just how long sleeves are! I think that picture really shows it - before you ask they are supposed to be that long - I’m not a chimp!!

Hmmm….finish the sleeve, sew up, do the neck - Go Shopping for buttons! That should spur me on

I want to don’t bore you with my rapid but visually unexciting progress with Bowie, so I thought I’d show you what everybody else at “The Guilty Knitters” is making. (Click the link to see why we are Guilty!!)

These ladies are unbelievably creative and prolific. The wonderful thing is that we all like knitting different styles of items - the variety is fabulous

I’m storming along with Steve’s Bowie - back front and one sleeve done. If I get my head down, I think I’ll make my deadline of his birthday - 9th May - I might need express post to get it to him though

First Janie’s Gents socks with Lozenge Pattern from Knitting Vintage Socks. Janie has recently discovered the “Joy of Socks” and has become a hopeless sockaholic

You need to see a close up of the pattern on these…

Our next sock obsessed knitter is Judie, experimenting with toe up

That yummy yarn is Socks that Rock, Watermelon Tourmaline. Judie insisted on showing us how well her sock fitted, right there in Starbucks!

Anita is making a “Claplette” (That’s a mini Clapotis ) as a gift using Sari Silk - making the dropped stitches run down the knitting is a bit of a swine with this yarn!

Jane has the beautifully coloured Rowan organic cotton to make Potpourri, from the Rowan book to accompany the yarn - how she is managing to do this pattern and gossip with the rest of us and drink coffee I don’t know!

Lastly Jeni - This is “Ladies Shrug” by Kay Jones - Jeni is the fastest, neatest crocheter I have seen…

Lastly as Jeni was getting up to leave, I insisted on snapping a pic for you of her gloves - made with opal sock yarn

Now you can see where my inspiration comes from - It’s like this every week - a constant parade of knitted and crocheted loveliness - heaven!

I need a pleasurable project!

Fortunately, the next project in my queue fits the bill. Scrumptious yarn, rewarding pattern and for someone I love who will appreciate all the work that goes into it.

On a trip to Get Knitted’s store in Bristol, Steve (the lovely husband of my sister Carol) reviewed every blueish DK yarn in the entire store, assessed them for “scratchiness” and finally chose this one:-

It’s Sublime’s Cashmere Merino Silk DK. Any man who’s happy to drive two excited women 30 miles to a yarn shop wait several hours while the shop is thoroughly investigated and actively take part in all the yarn squishing is worthy of a seriously good handknit jumper!

It’s to be knitted to the same Bowie pattern that I made for Ben.

This is the “Ben” version in Rowan Pure Wool DK

The pattern is for a standard DK yarn so substituting is very easy!

And here’s the back made with the sublime -

…apologies - it’s a bit screwed up because it’s been in my knitting bag - I will block it - honest!

And the stitch detail…

I have to say, I love this pattern and heartily recommend it! It’s a very straight forward sweater but the pattern detail of a cable every 4 rows and a couple of knit rows on the purl side every 24 to give the grid effect really keep me going with it - you know how it goes,

” I’ll just finish the next pattern repeat…” or “one more cable before bed…”

I’m using Bowie from Jaeger JB28 - now discontinued- but Rowan have republished it as Edan in their Pure Wool Collection if you can’t find the Jaeger book and want to make one.

I started on 16th April and I’ve done the back and I’m finishing off the neck shaping on the front this morning - not bad huh?

There is a problem though. The men in my life are jealous.

The yarn is gorgeous. Soft, silken, beautiful stitch definition. So much so, Ben is feeling hard done by!

“Steve’s jumper is going to be nicer than mine…”

At least Ben hasn’t resorted to trying to stop me knitting like the other significant male in my life…

…Do you think Thug wants a cuddle?