Category: craft

Having just finished knitting another pair of socks, which it turns out was the fifth pair in less than a year, I think I might have to finally admit that I like knitting socks. For those of you who remember previous claims that I didn’t like knitting socks, I do have an explanation: I don’t like knitting the socks that lots of other sock-knitters like knitting and which, for a while, were the socks that I thought I should be knitting.

Obviously, I’m not talking about all other sock-knitters here but, for lots of people, sock-knitting is about bright, varied colours and interesting patterns. The thing that I’ve finally accepted is that I don’t like the bright colours and interesting patterns and I won’t wear the socks once I’ve knitted them. Whereas, relatively plain patterns knitted in solid colours will get worn all the time. Since I’m very a much a product knitter rather than a process knitter, of course I didn’t enjoy knitting something that I wasn’t going to enjoy wearing.

The fifth pair of the year, Steve’s Thuja (from Knitty), is a great example of the plain colour, plain pattern sock that I love. Knitted in a tweedy oatmeal shade with just a simple seed rib, they still look great. The only thing I would do differently with this pattern in future, would be to use a different toe that didn’t require grafting. I know that grafting a toe is easy but, since finishing is my least favourite part of any project, why do it when I don’t have to?

My Katje cardigan reached the point this morning where it splits for the body and sleeves so I thought that would be a good point to try it on and take some photographs. The weather is a bit gloomy here today so the light isn’t brilliant but I’m really pleased with how this is looking. (I’m ignoring the pictures that I took with the hood up; I’ll never wear the hood up!)

Like my Katarina, this is another Cocoknits pattern. I absolutely love Julie’s work. The styles are modern without being too trendy and the patterns are really clearly written.

The two patterns that I’ve knitted have also been simple enough to be fairly mindless knitting but with just enough going on that I don’t get too bored knitting them. They’re ideal for product knitters who aren’t terribly bothered about learning new techniques but do like having new things to wear!

First the old: I finally got Steven to take some pictures of me in my Sahara jumper.

I love this jumper and probably wear it more than anything else I’ve knitted. I’ve already blogged my thoughts on the pattern so I’ll move right on to the new.

I’ve abandoned attempting to convert the Vino cardigan to something that I’ll actually wear and instead am going to use the yarn to make another Cocoknits pattern, Katje. It’s an interesting pattern, knitted from the top seam of the hood down. Given how well my Katarina cardigan turned out, I’m really looking forward to this one.

Finally, there’s yet another pair of socks on the needle.

These are Thuja from Knitty in Rowan Scottish Tweed Aran, which is a gorgeous yarn but unless you happen to be standing in John Lewis looking for yarn that you can buy right now, I’d recommend ordering from New Lanark instead. I’m enjoying the speed of knitting socks in aran-weight and Thuja is a great pattern, enough going on to keep them interesting without getting too complicated. Steven started these but has finally decided that he just isn’t a knitter so I volunteered to finish them for him.

For someone who doesn’t like knitting socks, I seem to be spending rather a lot of time on them recently!

So, does this look familiar to anyone?

That’s right, it’s a swatch for the Myrtle Leaf Shawl from Victorian Lace Today. “But didn’t you already knit one of these?” I hear you ask. “Didn’t it take you about 4 months? Wasn’t it quite stressful and involved lots of cursing and swearing?” Yes, yes and yes.

My mum phoned the other night and the conversation ran something like this:

Mum – Do you have any of the yarn left from knitting your wedding shawl?

Me – Some but not very much. Why?

Mum – I’m making a scrapbook of the wedding.

Me – Wow, that sounds great.

Mum – I already have some bits and pieces like invitations and the order of service but could you send me more if you have them?

Me – No problem, we have plenty of spares left over.

Mum – I also have a piece of your sister’s dress (my sister was my bridesmaid) but I was thinking, rather than taking scissors to your shawl, maybe you could knit a small sample square. Maybe two pattern repeats across by one high.

Me (just about recovered from the mini panic attack at the idea of scissors anywhere near my shawl) – Sure, I should have enough yarn to do that.

The conversation moved on and we talked about other things and then we hung up.

And then it hit me. My Mum had just asked me to knit a swatch for a project that I had already finished. And not just that, the most challenging and stressful project that I had ever worked on. I hadn’t properly knitted a swatch for the shawl the first time I knitted it and now, 4 months later, she wants a swatch!

Fortunately, thanks to a rotten cold, I wasn’t doing anything anyway and so with the help of some Friends DVDs, some chocolate and a large pot of tea, I now have a shawl swatch blocking.

It’s just as well I love my Mum.

… a little silliness must fall.

A very busy and stressful two weeks degenerated recently into this:

Steven and I bought a new dining table and had been discussing what we should put on it that would look nice and stop us from using it as a dumping ground for junk. Steven thought that we should put out my cake stand and buy some knitted cupcakes from All the Fun of the Fair in London for the top. Several episodes of Battlestar Galactica and some stash yarn later, we had this:

The ghosts in the first picture are a salt and pepper shaker that I’ve had for ages but one of them had broken one of its arms, making it very difficult for them to hug (or attack huge cupcakes!). Fortunately, Steven had recently glued it back together.

The single cupcake is a little lonely on its own so I’ve already cast on for the next!

My Sahara jumper is finally finished! Unfortunately, I won’t be able to take any pictures of it until the weekend so you’ll have to make do with the last in-progress picture that I have.

This was a brilliant pattern and I love the finished jumper. The only thing I would change if I knitted another would be the sleeves. I knitted the long-sleeve option and the sleeves are just a bit baggier than I would like. They’re not so bad that it would be worth re-knitting them smaller but I would do it differently if I made another.

I am also considering sewing up part of the neckline as suggested by the pattern rather than continuing to wear it as a really deep v-neck. The weight of the cotton is already starting to stretch the neckline a little so I’m hoping that a bit more structure will help.

Having finished Sahara I went back to working on my Vino cardigan, complete with an updated version of the pattern from the designer. Unfortunately, I decided that knitting it from the top-down was proving too complicated so I started again from the bottom up but all in one piece. This was going pretty quickly until I started decreasing for the waist and realised (with 7″ of cardigan already knitted) that I was exactly 100 stitches short having screwed up my mental arithmetic in spectacular fashion. Various words were uttered and the cardigan has now been consigned to a bag until I can face frogging it.

As an alternative, I’ve cast on for a pair of socks for Steven. Since these are going to be exactly the same as the pair that I recently finished for me, I’m not anticipating any problems. Of course, as with most things, “past performance is no guarantee of future results” so watch this space!

… than with a finished project. December 29th saw the end of my quickest pair of socks ever. These are the Gentleman’s half hose in ringwood pattern from Knitting Vintage socks, otherwise known as my Cyberman socks.

The pattern was delightfully easy to knit and gives a beautiful texture that works very well with the solid-coloured yarn. What is even better is that they fit me perfectly!

These were originally going to be socks for Steven (especially when it looked like his Christmas present might not be delivered in time) but, since he ended up with my Leyburn socks, I decided to make these for me.

Turns out that I’m not going to get away with not making him a pair though. He was so impressed with my pair that I just can’t resist making another for him. Since I still have enough of the solid grey yarn left, they will unfortunately be identical to mine but matching husband and wife socks aren’t the end of the world, right?

I’m experimenting with a new style of photography today and as a change from the scary headless Mac webcam shots, this post will consist entirely of flat-on-the-floor shots.

Despite the appearance of Guitar Hero 3 and a Wii Fit in the flat, there’s still quite a lot of knitting getting done. This is almost entirely due to Steven’s insistence that he be allowed to play the Wii sometimes too.

My Sahara jumper now has a neck band and only needs the sleeves finished. Despite my natural laziness, I’ve admitted that I won’t wear it as often if it has short sleeves and since I have plenty of yarn left, I’m going to knit long sleeves instead. I’ve also decided that I’m not going to sew the v-neck up and will instead wear it with t-shirts underneath. (It’s not obvious in the photo but the v-neck currently ends somewhere round about the middle of my rib-cage.) This has been a great pattern and I can’t wait to wear the jumper. I may even make another one of these in future but not with cotton yarn. This one is knitted with RYC Luxury Cotton that I got in the Liberty sale and, while I love the fabric, trying to “P3tog tbl” with a splitty yarn that has no give in it has been a trial. The broken diamond rib pattern on the neck band was only possible with the application of a pair of sock needles and a crochet hook!

Having said on Thursday that I was clearly insane because I was already thinking about my next pair of socks when I hadn’t really enjoyed knitting the first two pairs, I proved it by casting on for another pair almost as soon as I finished blogging. I’ve christened these my Cyberman socks, mainly to make a very simple, very grey pair of socks seem more interesting. They’re actually the “Gentleman’s half hose in ringwood pattern” from Knitting Vintage Socks. Not that these are intended for any gentleman; these are all mine. Especially since I gave my Leyburn socks to Steven since I had managed to knit them exactly to his size. This is a really nice sock pattern. There’s just enough going on to not make them too boring too knit while being simple enough for me not to have to keep checking the pattern every second row. I’ve also finally had some of the almost instant gratification that sock knitters tell me about since the first sock was finished in just two days. Maybe I’m finally acquiring a taste for sock-knitting.

And, as a change from all the greys and blacks, how about some colour to finish off. After nearly a year, my Double Vision blanket has reached the halfway stage. I’m still loving the way the colours are blending together for this and still very bored with the never-ending garter stitch. However, the guilt of having to explain to my grandmother that the yarn that I bought with the money she gave me for Christmas last year still hasn’t quite been made into a blanket is getting to me. At least the L-shaped strips get shorter as the blanket progresses so it feels like it’s going faster.

Except that now I have three projects that I really want to get finished and only one pair of hands! Maybe I’ll go play Guitar Hero instead.