" title="Knit one, read two"> Knit one, read two

The number of red shawls in progress around here has risen from one to two.

The first is the Circular Shawl which, as you might be able to tell from the picture is still kicking my ass. There are four lifelines in there at the moment and I’m about to have to rip back to the last one unless I can figure out where I’ve gone wrong in the current row.

The new needle has definitely helped with this pattern, to the extent that even if I have to rip back to the last lifeline, I’ll still have 5 completed repeats out of the 42 that the pattern suggests. I still haven’t gotten used to the level of concentration that lace knitting with all patterned rows needs though and still haven’t quite accepted that, even if inserting a lifeline is slightly fiddly, it’s still better to insert one after every repeat than have to rip back two repeats at a time. However, I am making progress and am absolutely determined that I will finish this shawl!

The second is what I’m calling my Mojo Shawl, purposefully cast on to remind me that knitting isn’t always complicated and lacking in fun. It’s Laura Chau’s Simple Yet Effective Shawl with vaguely Fibonnaci-series-based increasing sections of garter and stocking stitch. I say ‘vaguely’ because I have a bad cold at the moment and so keep forgetting to keep track of how many rows I’ve knitted in each section and am therefore just going ‘by eye’.

The yarn for this one is some leftover Noro Cash Iroha that I had so it’s going to be nice and warm and soft and snuggly. Just perfect for wrapping yourself up in when you’re feeling under the weather.

I’m having my ass kicked by a shawl. I’ve tried to cast on for the Curved Shawl with Diamond Edging (Ravelry link) three times now and have yet to make it past the second row.

There is absolutely no reason why I should not be able to knit this shawl. Yes, the yarn (the Plymouth baby alpaca lace in the picture above) is skinny but the needles aren’t that small. K3tog is the most complicated stitch in the pattern so no problems there. And yet, it is just not working. To add insult to injury, the alpaca starts getting quite fuzzy after being frogged three times so I’m starting to worry about ‘wasting’ yarn.

I had decided after ripping out the third attempt that I was going to knit a different shawl instead but after a little time and reflection, I have changed my mind and am going to have (at least) one more attempt at this pattern. I’ve ordered some Knit Pro needles in the appropriate size since my interchangeables don’t go that small and I’ve convinced myself that the needles must be the problem. There’s no problem with the yarn, there’s no problem with the pattern and there can’t possibly be a problem with the knitter; can there?

I finished the project that was distracting me from finishing the Double Vision blanket and here it is:

It’s a baby set for my one of my best friends who gave birth to a baby girl 6 weeks earlier than expected. I had already knitted the Teddy Bear Baby blanket for this particular baby but since she was so tiny (but healthy!) I couldn’t resist the urge to knit something else. The pattern is a free pattern designed for knitting sets to be donated to a premature baby unit. The pattern itself could do with some editing; less experienced knitters might struggle with some sections. It is absolutely gorgeous when finished though. The only change I made was to add i-cord ties rather than buttons since I couldn’t find any buttons that I liked.

I bought the yarn before I knew the baby’s name and it is just absolute coincidence that they named her Heather. The yarn is RYC Cashsoft 4 ply. The colours were beautiful and the yarn was delightly soft but I’m not sure I’ll use it again. It was badly spun in places and feels like it will pill very easily. This doesn’t really matter for a baby set that baby will grow out of in about five minutes but I had considered using it for adult jumpers and changed my mind.

I have also finished knitting the squares for Double Vision and started the seaming. I’m so glad the blanket is knitted in strips and not as individual squares but, even so, there’s still a lot of seaming to be done. I’ve managed about a quarter so far and it’s looking fantastic, I just hope I don’t run out of steam before it’s done!

The last time I took any sort of organised sewing class was back in High School. I enjoyed my home economics classes and still have some of the things that I made (including an elephant whose ears I sewed on upside down) but I wouldn’t be in a hurry to go back and do them again.

Unlike the class that I attended last night. Under guidance from Steven, his mum bought me vouchers for the Make Lounge for my birthday. To quote their website:  “The Make Lounge offers contemporary craft workshops with a stylish, social twist – perfect for embracing the ‘make do and mend’ ethic in a fashionable way!”

I took one of their intermediate sewing classes, the zippers clinic. We learned how to sew in regular zips and invisible zips and then made a little zippered oilcloth pouch. Here’s mine:

And with the zip open, just to prove it works:

There were wine and nibbles on hand and the atmosphere was fun and friendly. I had been a bit nervous about turning up on my own but I had a brilliant evening. I had enough vouchers for two classes so I’m already booked on the reversible handbag class next week and I can’t wait!

As well as their sewing classes, they offer crochet, jewellery-making, needle-felting, leather-working and lots of others with even more being added all the time. I realise I might be starting to sound like an advert but I promise I have no connection with them other than being a very satisfied customer!

P.S. I still haven’t finished the last two Double Vision squares and here are a couple of sneak peeks at why:

I have now knitted 98 out of the 100 squares for my Double Vision blanket. I don’t have an updated picture since it seemed silly to spend knitting time taking photographs instead of just finishing it!

There are various reasons why I haven’t finished knitting the squares (exams, celebrating the end of the exams, recovering from celebrating the end of the exams) but I realised this week that even when I finish the squares I don’t have enough yarn to knit the border. The idea has been creeping up on me for a while but I have been firmly in denial. Now that I’m down to half of my last ball of black yarn, keeping in mind that the whole thing is knit with two strands held together so you go through yarn twice as fast, it is time to face the fact that that is not going to be enough to finish the contrasting strips between squares and knit a 5 row border all the way around.

I decided this morning that this must mean that there’s an error in the pattern and it underestimated the amount that I would need. So, I checked the pattern:

• 150 grams each of main colours
• 400 grams of contrast colour

400 grams? <Insert expletive here> So why did I only buy 200?

Now, I do have some niggles with this pattern. There is a bit missing in terms of knitting some of the contrast strips between squares. It’s easy to work out what to do but it is missing. Also, the method suggested for sewing the strips together isn’t actually physically possible. It has clearly been copied from another pattern without anyone checking to make sure that it was appropriate for this one, which it is not. Again, not a big deal and I really don’t need a pattern to tell me how to sew knitted strips together. It turns out though that the one thing I can’t blame the pattern for is me running out of yarn.

I have now ordered more yarn from Cucumberpatch and since I have to finish the squares and sew everything together before I knit the border anyway, waiting for yarn is not going to hold up the blanket at all. It’s just a little embarasssing.

I am not a morning person, in fact, I haven’t been a morning person since I was a very small child. However, I might be starting to appreciate the benefits of early rising.

Steven has been working on the other side of London this week, which means that he has been leaving pretty early. I’ve been getting up and having some coffee with him before he goes but he left so early this morning that even he didn’t want to get up a bit earlier to have time to have breakfast. However, rather than going back to sleep when he left, I decided I would just get up. I’m studying at home today (exam on Monday!) so I don’t need to go out at all. Instead, I’ve spent the past two hours curled up on the sofa under a hand-knit blanket with my coffee finishing off my latest cafetière cosy.

I’m not becoming obsessed, honest! I had knitted an altered version of my last cosy design to fit the cafetière that we actually use and decided that I just didn’t like it when it was finished. It was too bulky and then when I blocked it it grew so much that it just fell straight off. So I picked different yarn, different needles and started with a new design feature. Rather than the slightly rustic garter stitch in aran weight tweed yarn of the first one, this one is knitted in DK weight with some subtle stocking stitch stripes to break up the garter stitch. This created a really nice fabric, so nice that while I was still knitting it Steven asked what it was going to be since it looked so good. Bearing in mind that I managed to knit an entire pair of surprise fingerless gloves in front of him without him noticing, this is high praise indeed.

All that I had left to do this morning was sew on the buttons and add some button loops. One of the things I didn’t like about the last cosy was there was a bit of bulk where the fabric overlapped when buttoned so I deliberately designed this one not to overlap at all. I love how the button loops worked out.

These were done following a tutorial from My Fashionable Life, which I first used when I knitted some Saartje’s booties a couple of years ago. (A recent email from the receiving baby’s mum revealed that these booties are now in use by baby’s little brother!)

So, the cosy is finished, photographed (even though the light was appalling) and blogged and it’s still only 9:30. Sounds like time for me to start studying!

My Double Vision blanket, that is. Last time we saw it, it looked like this:

As of this morning, it now looks like this:

That is a whole 10% more completed, leaving just 40% to go.

I had written a whole paragraph here explaining all the reasons why I wasn’t enjoying knitting this but I’m pretty sure no one wants to listen to me moan.

I am determined to finish this blanket before the end of the year. I’ve already invested a reasonable amount of time and money in this project and I really want to be able to hang it on the wall. Also, according to my Ravelry notes, I cast on for this in January 2008; I really don’t want it to take more than two years!

..what it wants to be.

Some years ago, when they were fashionable, I knitted myself a poncho. I wore it quite a lot at the time but haven’t worn it in a while so decided to reclaim the yarn and knit something that would get more use.

I searched around for clothing patterns but didn’t have enough yarn to knit any of the jumpers that I liked and also wasn’t sure about wearing something knit from chunky yarn; I really don’t need any extra bulk! I had similar problems with the shawl patterns that I looked at.

Meanwhile, there was a little voice at the back of my head saying things like, ”What about a blanket? You quite liked the idea of a grown-up version of the teddy bear baby blanket.” For some reason, I was determined not to listen to the little voice though and, even having decided that I was going to make a blanket, I tried swatching for all sorts of other types of blankets; cables, lace, you name it, I tried it.

The little voice was becoming more insistent the more swatches that I ripped out: “What about the alternating stocking and reverse stocking squares? You really liked those.”

And, eventually, I succumbed and so was born the Sophisticated Squares blanket:

This is a really basic knit – alternating squares of stocking and reverse stocking stitch surrounded by a seed stitch border. The chunky yarn means that it is knitting up very, very quickly, even more quickly than the teddy bear baby blanket. And, most importantly of all, I love it. I plan to block it quite severely when it’s finished which means it should be a reasonable size and drape really nicely. I can’t wait!

This week my knitting has been all about instant gratification, which means I have two new finished projects to show.

I hid a pair of fingerless gloves  in Steven’s suitcase as an extra birthday present since he wasn’t at home for his birthday. These are another pair of Koigu Wristers, knitted in left over Cygnet Truly Wool Rich 4-ply.

Every time I knit this pattern, I modify it slightly but it is a good basic pattern. I just need to remember next time that they don’t magically knit themselves and while they are a quick knit, they are not instantaneous. This means that if I want to knit them as a gift, casting on more than 2 days before the deadline would be a good idea, particularly if the person they’re being knitted for lives with me!

I also knitted another version of my cafetière cosy since we broke the cafetière that the first one was knitted for and bought a different-sized replacement. 

The more I look at the photos, the less satisfied I am with this though. I think I want to re-knit it so that it covers the section above the handle and doesn’t come down quite as far at the bottom.

I have written up the pattern for the first version (shown below) so I might just go ahead and publish that. I was waiting until I had written up this version but since it’s going to be a completely different shape, I think it’s probably better to publish them separately.

Speaking of publishing, there has been one other instant gratification project designed and knitted over the last couple of weeks but I’ve decided that I’m going to brave my fear of rejection and submit it for publishing. Unfortunately, that means I’m not allowed to say anything more about it but you should be hearing more one way or the other by the end of the year!

So I didn’t actually do any quilting on holiday but I certainly learned a lot about how it’s done in Hawaii. As you might expect, quilting is a not a native craft in Hawaii but was imported by missionaries.

Despite huge amounts of temptation, I managed to restrain myself and came back with only two books on the subject. Unfortunately, I also managed to resist the urge to go into any of the many fabric shops we saw so I don’t have any beautiful Hawaiian fabrics to show you.

The first book is Hawaiian Quilts: Tradition and Transition. A bilingual (English and Japanese) book that was written to accompany a touring exhibition of vintage and modern Hawaiian quilts. It has a good description of the history and progression of quilting in Hawaii right up to the modern day but my favourite section  is the beautiful pictures of the quilts that formed the exhibition. Some of the vintage quilts can be seen online at the Bishop Museum website or there’s a glimpse of two of the modern ones below.

The second book is The Pillows to Patch Quilt Collection: The Hawaiian Way. It is a beautifully illustrated quilt pattern book full of quilt squares and applique patterns based on Hawaiian motifs. Other reviews say that the instructions are clear and easy to follow, even for beginners, but I will report back after my exams when I actually have time to try them.

The picture shows a section of the table of contents. I’m already enjoying planning a quilt with this book; I just hope making one is as much fun!