It was my birthday last week and to be honest I don’t handle them particularly well. I’m not really sure why, I’d just sooner do the whole present thing without the pressure????
My children were on time as far as ordering me a gift (a couple of days before the unmentionable event), however the said gift only arrived today. For me this is better, it means I have something to look forward to although my husband believes this is unacceptable (?????).
So today I happily ripped the packaging off my gift to discover a beautiful hank of Malabrigo Sock Yarn in Ravelry Red and a beautiful book called Handmade in the UK with designs from Emily Wessel.
Usually, I’m pretty up to date on newly published books but I had yet to see this one so it was a complete suprise. There are 10 designs in the book all with an element of lace in the knitting and if I were to be completely honest I think I’d like to make all but one of them.
I thought you might like a little look at my favourites.
Rosewater
Rosewater is this beautiful little, double knit hat. Made in the round, the pattern includes 5 sizes from baby to large adult.
Windswept AdultWindswept child
Windswept is a double knit, v neck jumper with a lace panel running down the centre. Again the pattern includes an incredible range of sizes, this time from baby to 4XL (16 sizes). I love the use of garter stitch to make the knit look contemporary. It’s used on the deep cuffs, the bottom bands and runs up in between the middle of the lace panel and splits to form the neck shaping.
Estuary
Estuary is a gently shaped 4ply shawl/scarf with 2 lace patterns and is very like something I’ve been designing recently.
Vivid
The last pattern in the book is Vivid and there’s no denying it’s beauty. The instructions include yarn amounts for 1 square knitted in either 4ply, dk or aran weight meaning you can use your favourite yarn. All day I’ve been jumping from this to my final pattern and back. Obviously, though I shall have to begin with Winding Way as I have the perfect yarn already, don’t I?
Blocking your knitwear can really enhance your work by bringing out details and shaping. It can also make your garment sit better when wearing. Sometimes after knitting and sewing up I can be quite desperate to wear my work but will always try to block regardless. Without exception all lace work should always be blocked to open up the stitches
Most of the time after sewing in my ends I will wash my finished garment. I tend to use Soak, a delicate washing liquid in which you quite literally ‘soak’ your clothes. A sink full of cool water only needs a teaspoon of the washing detergent and you leave your garment submerged (soaking) for about 15 minutes. You should always check whether or not your yarn is colourfast but in most cases I’d only be washing one garment at a time so it’s never really a problem. The great thing about this washing liquid is that there is no need to rinse (yes, I did say no need). If your using Woolite or something similar you will have to rinse your garment through at least three times to get rid of any detergent.
After soaking you should squeeze out any excess water remembering not to wring as you could stretch your hard work. You can always place your work between towels and use pressure to extract more water (stand on it). If I’m honest however, I tend to tie the garment tightly into a clean pillowcase and put it in my washing machine on the spin cycle. You can control the intensity of spin on my machine which helps.
Once spun I pin the garment out to size on my childrens play mat using rust proof pins. You can of course buy expensive blocking mats, they tend to be made of the same material as the mat I use but come complete with the measurements on them.
If you don’t have these mats you can use several old towels or maybe your ironing board for smaller projects. The mats are easy to locate, I have 2 packs one of which was bought in Tesco whilst the other was bought in Smyths Toy Shop.
Use the actual measurements if available on your pattern. My waistcoat is supposed to be blocked to 36″ around the chest, but after being washed the yarn has relaxed a little and it is coming up at 38″. I’m happy with the extra roominess but would always advise you knit, wash and dry your tension square to ensure you knit the correct size. Obviously, I didn’t do that here – oops!
I have used the pins to ensure my bands and collar lie properly (I hope so anyway) and have inserted extra pins under each bobble on the pockets to try and make them stand proud when dry.
You will tend to find drying your work can take some time. If at all possible try to leave it somewhere warm. If using towels underneath you might find you will have to change them to prevent them from becoming smelly and in turn making your garment a little musty.
This is the method I tend to use to block my work although there are other methods. If at all possible avoid using an iron to press your garments as this can make your stitches flatten or worse still if you’ve used acrylic, melt. The only time I would have used an iron is if my garment had been made in 100% cotton. Then I held the iron above the work and used the steam from it to help set the garment. If you’re in a rush you can pin the garment out first, spritz with water from a plant spray and leave to dry.
Please Note:- Be careful when blocking rib, I know one person who stretched her stitches so tightly that when dry the rib was completely flat. Remember you are trying to enhance your work.
If you haven’t tried it before why not block your next project to see the difference.
I thought it was time to update you all on the progress of my ever increasing blanket which is now 54.5″/138cms. As you can probably imagine knitting the 2 rows per day is taking much longer now on account of the blankets size. To be on the safe side I need to make sure I have three quarters to an hour spare when I start to knit. Unfortunately, our weather is anything but May like which has inadvertently been a godsend as there is some warmth from the blanket.
Sitting under the weight of it whilst knitting in heat is not great.
I think I have a little over a months worth of knitting left before I’ll reach my target length of 6 foot.
In order for you to judge the length and to give you a bit of a giggle you can see me modelling the blanket so far. I’m 5ft3 on a good day.
The latest issue of Knitty has been released and as ever there are some truly beautiful patterns so be sure to go and have a look for yourself.
My three favourites in this issue are:
Lunatic Fringe
Lunatic fringe by Jennifer Dassau is a beautifully, quirky shawl knitted in Terra by The Fibre Company which is an aran weight yarn. Knitted from the bottom up, creating the fringe as you go to form an unusual, asymmetrical shape.
Easy As Pie is a technicolour blanket by OneHandKnits and is knitted in Sirdar’s Baby Bamboo which is a standard double knit yarn. Clever use of short rows and colour work creates this vibrant, funky blanket.
Last but not least and one that I have had to add to my ever extending ‘to knit’ list is Buttonbox by Elizabeth McCarten. This beautiful waistcoat is knitted in one piece using Brooklyn Tweed’s Shelter yarn which is an aran weight. The shaped waist and shawl collar make it a very flattering style, whilst the little box stitch pattern adds enough interest to the overall look of the knitted fabric.
If these patterns haven’t been enough to tempt you (why?), it might just interest you to know that there is a new coloum in the magazine – ‘Techniques with the Neurotic Knitter’. Kristin Fraser aka The Neurotic Knitter has a look at cast ons this issue via videos. The techniques she covers for Spring/Summer are the Backwards Loop, Cable, Knitted and the Long Tail methods. Great if you only know the one cast on method.
i also urge you to check out the Templeton Square Competition Winners to see just how ingenious some knitters are.
My knitting is running away on me, to be more precise it’s the amount of projects that is getting out of hand.
I did manage to finish the Rico Fashion Summer Print top that I was knitting for Dina.
Dina reluctantly modelling the new top
Then there’s the Abbi Jumper that I’ve finished today, it still needs the ends sewing in and blocking.
Abbi Jumper
Not too bad so far but there’s also my Game of Thrones, Winter is Coming shawlette that I haven’t had time to get on with.
Game of Thrones
Ahem…. and the little chunky Grandads cardigan that I started today for the shop.
Hayfield Baby Chunky Knit
There is also the Moody Blanket but it wouldn’t be fair to include it as I only have to complete 2 rows a day as planned.
My intention this weekend I think you’ll agree should be to concentrate on getting some of my projects completed. We’ll just choose to glaze over the cardigan and waistcoat still waiting to be sewn up since last year. There might also be a scarf lurking somewhere that I’ve started for one of my friends and there’s the jacket that I’ve knitted the back and the sleeve of, etc, etc, etc. If that wasn’t bad enough I’ve deliberately hidden the two hanks of lovely Lornas Laces yarn that arrived for their Ravelry KAL and then there’s the Poolside jumper pattern on Ravelry that I’ve been lusting over since I discovered it this week.
I don’t know about you, but I think I might need some serious, outside help?
Before I start this post, I should warn you it’ll be quite lengthy, so I’ve decided to split it into three. The first two discuss the concept of the mood blanket and the third gives the pattern.
Some of you may have seen the link I posted on the shop’s Facebook page with regards to the ‘My year in temperature’ concept scarf by Kristen Cooper, but for those of you that haven’t, here’s the link.
Kristen’s idea is to select shades of yarn to represent the temperature that day. In her case she is using 15 shades with each one equating to a 5 degree jump in temperature. She then intends to work a row of her scarf a day with the colour that she has previously chosen for the temperature of that day. The end result will be a scarf that represents the year’s temperatures a stripe/day at a time.
OK, as ideas go it’s great and I love the concept, so why haven’t I reached for my ever bulging stash crates and needles and cast on?
Two reasons really:
The first, and most obvious to my fellow citizens of this very Emerald Isle, is the weather. To be honest the temperature, whilst prone to fluctuation, doesn’t have the obvious highs and lows of British Columbia in Canada, where Kristen is from, more’s the pity. Which led me to think about other things that happen on a daily basis that could be used to create the effect. The most obvious to me being our mood, which can be changeable from a day-to-day basis = Design Element Sorted, lovely.
The second reason is because it’s a scarf, not that I have anything against scarves. In fact I can usually be found wearing one in all but the very hottest of temperatures, which to be fair I don’t get to see much (second dig at the Irish weather, sorry). I suppose I’m not really that big into multi-coloured clothing and yes I do know I could keep the palette of colours very similar, but I still feel it’s not for me.
So after much pondering, well not really that much as I’ve always wanted to knit one, I decided a blanket would be a more my kind of thing. Having seen one years ago, worked in two strands of yarn with one always the same shade, I set to the planning.
I knew I wanted the blanket to be a big one; much more than a throw for the sofa. If I’m going to make one it’s got to be big enough to use as extra insulation on the bed in the winter months, so it’s going to take a lot of yarn. I also want it to be chunky and squishy, but the yarn, if it’s going to be held double, doesn’t need to be too thick. Aran weight should do.
The initial decision is always what yarn to use. It has to be gorgeous and not too expensive (yes I do have a wool shop, but you still have to pay for the stock you use, even if it is at cost+vat). Having moved away from the pure merino staring lovingly at me from the shop shelves, I was drawn to the Bonus Aran from Sirdar, particularly the lovely new shade of blue that I’ve been coveting since it came in.
Sirdar Bonus Aran in Royal
There is a good selection of shades available in the range, especially when combined with the Bonus Aran Tweed colours too. Yes, it’s not pure wool, or even 50%, in fact it’s only 20% wool with 80% acrylic. It is however, machine washable, which is definitely a bonus in a blanket, and it also comes in massive 400g balls each containing approximately 840 metres. I want my blanket to be utilitarian rather than something I’m petrified to throw over the bed and I’d rather the moths weren’t interested either.
OK, so which colour for which moods and how many moods do I really have?
The honest answer is not many. I’m lucky to be a glass is half full kind of person (sickening at times according to my husband) and truthfully very rarely have bad days. That’s not to say there haven’t been the odd truly horrific days in my life like we all sadly experience; fortunately though they’re very few and far between. So my base mood is for the most part OK: I then have good days and some that could be classed as really good.
That’s really it – three moods?
So……….. on Saturday I played with colour combinations. As the royal was the shade I was drawn to I experimented with it first. It’s too bright to use as my base shade (the constant one) but I figured that if I could find the correct combination to go with it the other two shades would be easier to work out.
Royal with 4 other shades
These look much better in the photo than they do in reality, the royal just wasn’t sitting with anything else properly. So back to the drawing board. Of the four samples, the one I liked the most was the one knitted with the cream tweed yarn – shade 929. Using this as my base shade I looked at the other options available to me in the range, focusing on the blues predominantly, as blue is my favourite colour
At this time of year you can’t fail to notice the impending visit of the jolly white-haired geezer in the bright red suit. The infection spreads like wildfire and before you know it you’re walking around singing carols and driving everyone mad (just me then?).
Anyway, across our three knitting groups we try to encourage everyone to join us for our annual Christmas get together and take part in our Secret Santa present swap.
Every year we stick to the same theme – A Christmas Decoration. The only rule is that the decoration must be handmade, preferably knitted or crocheted. I have been posting up links to various patterns which could be used for these gifts but thought it might be an idea to put them all in one place for everyone to see.
If you’re still stuck for ideas there are literally 1000s of them out there – there’s even my decoration that I posted last week. Another idea if you’re not too confident is to make a felted heart or knit a little scarf and wrap it around a shop-bought snowman/reindeer or Santa ornament. Or you can wind yarn around a polystyrene ball to make it look just like a ball of wool.
So today I happily ripped the packaging off my gift to discover a beautiful hank of Malabrigo Sock Yarn in Ravelry Red and a beautiful book called Handmade in the UK with designs from Emily Wessel.
Confessions of a Fibre Strumpet 