I'm hoping these will get finished today. I feel like I've been knitting them forever, but it's only since the beginning of December. I think I need about 8 more rows before I switch to ribbing and then the knitting is done. Some tidying up and a bath and they'll be done.
Hiding behind the pumpkin pie are my completed Broad Street mittens for Nona's Peaceful Palms knitalong. These are for my little sister, HP. I hope she likes them!
Pattern: Broad Street
Yarn: Rowan 4ply soft in 379 - Goblin (which is virtually impossible to photograph accurately).
Needles: 2.75mm and 3.25mm dpns
Modifications: tubular cast on, extra stretchy bind off.
I love this yarn! It's soft and has a slight shine to it, probably due to the way it's plied. I like the way you can see the multi-strand yarn doing its thing and making straight columns.
Having knitted 4 of these mittens, I'm a bit sick of this pattern. It's time to knit something else. Back to socks maybe?
A finished and very fluffy pink and purple cardigan. Mouseover for a back view.
Pattern: Fluffy Belle courtesy of Kate of Make and Boo.
Yarn: Richard Poppleton Eclipse chunky with mohair, shades 93 (pink) and 82 (purple)
Needles: 6mm straight, 5mm circulars, 4.5mm dpns
Modifications: I made the arms a little shorter, although they're still very long. I added i-cord ties.
Date: 13th - 31st October 2005
I love this, especially the collar. It's a little bonkers, but I've had lots of admiring comments and several "Will you knit one for me?". To which the response is "No, but I'll teach you to knit."
It's very very warm and cozy.
Pattern: Annie from the Wayfarer Colinette pattern book
Yarn: Various pink shades of Colinette point 5 from the mill shop.
Needles: straight and circular 12mm
Modifications: I started off making up a size bigger than the biggest size in the book. That turned out enormous, so I frogged the body and reknit it smaller on circular needles. I added short row bust shaping, used a three needle bind off for the shoulder seams and knit the collar in one piece in the round, adding extra rows and using an extra stretchy cast off. Colinette seem a bit sniffy about circulars, why? Surely fewer seams is good on bulky wool.
Date: August - October 2005
I still have a few sticking out ends. I meant to divide each bulky yarn tail in two to make weaving ends in easier, but forgot. One day I'll go back and do it.
My first ever socks
Pattern: My own (I did a gauge swatch, worked out how many stitches to cast on and took it from there), with inspiration from Knitty's Socks 101, Alison's short row tutorial and Nona's short row heel (which confused me a little because I didn't read closely enough to notice that it's a reverse stocking stitch heel, but once I'd worked that out, her tips on closing gaps were very useful. See also her comparison of different short row techniques.)
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Rainbow
Needles: 2.25mm dpns
Modifications: I knitted one sock toe up and one cuff down, using two different short row methods.
This was a bit of fun. I'm not normally a fan of novelty yarns and my original plan involved Kidsilk Haze and chunky wool (something like Loopy and luscious). But then I saw these yarns and realised how feathery they were.
Pattern: the shoulder part is based on the one skein wonder. I then picked up stitches round the armholes and knitted the armholes in the round, increasing until they were sufficiently wing-like and then knitting until they were long enough.
Yarn: Sirdar Fizz and Stylecraft Sassy
Needles: 5mm circular, 15mm circular
Date: August 2005
I knitted two of these, the other is in black mohair found in an Aberystwyth charity shop. HP has it.
Pattern: One skein wonder by Glampyre
Yarn: Purple Patons FAB! DK (100% acrylic)
Needles: 5mm circulars, 3.5mm circulars
Modifications: none, unless you count ruining the detail of the seed stitch cuffs by ironing. (Apparently I still haven't learnt my lesson about blocking acrylic)
Date: August 2005
My first foray into felting
Pattern: Sophie from Magknits
Yarn: Twilleys of Stamford Freedom (100% wool)
Needles: 9mm circulars. I didn't have any DPNs big enough for the i-cord handls, so they were knitted on a pencil and a Berol handwriting pen.
Modifications: modified for a different gauge and a limited amount of wool.
Date: July 2005, I think.
Technically my sister knitted this. I took the yarn, needles and pattern on holiday, planning to knit it once Clapotis was finished, but HP was knittingless and wanted something to do.
Pattern: Popcorn shrug from Interweave Knits staff shrugs
Yarn: Sari silk yarn from Hipknits.
Needles: 8mm, 9mm, 10mm, 12mm
Modifications: We had to go down in needle size to get gauge. It's a few rows because the yarn was running out.
Date: August 2005
If I knitted with this yarn again, I'd alternate skeins every few rows. There's a definite colour change in the middle. I like the way it shows off the yarn with a very simple shape.
This was the top where I discovered the delights of short row shaping, essential when you're curvy!
Pattern: Very Cherry from Knitty
Yarn: Twilleys of Stamford Freedom (100% wool, 50m per 50g)
Needles: 9mm circulars
Modifications: short row shaping
Date: June 2005
If I knitted this again, I'd do an extra stretchy cast off. I did OK with trying to make the stitched on the cast off row as loose as possible, but since then I've learnt a few proper stretchy cost off methods which would work better.
In the background you can see my blanket, knitted by my sisters (and a bit by me) and some stitch markers made from an earring which had lost its mate.
Earlier this year there was an article in the Saturday Guardian magazine on Debbie Stoller and the resurgence of knitting in the US. This was one of the patterns included.
Pattern: The go-everywhere, go-with-everything cardigan by Laura Jean Bernhardson from Guardian weekend, January 8 2005.
Yarn: Purple Patons FAB! DK and some random red acrylic
Needles: 3.5mm I think.
Modifications: stripes
Date: January - February 2005
I did everything wrong, didn't knit a gauge swatch (gasp!), didn't think too much about the yarn, had no concept of blocking (I ironed it to get the stocking stitch to lie flat which the acrylic didn't like much). But I like the result and wear it regularly. I might take it to bits and reblock it one day and maybe add an applied i-cord edging.
Where it all began. This was the first thing I ever knitted that I actually wear. It was stress relief during my A-level exams.
Pattern: my own (garter stitch all the way)
Yarn: Random acrylic mostly, featuring a small section of silver and black lurex.
Date: c. May - August 1998
Sometimes you find wool in the most unexpected places. In this case, the post office in Stepney Green.
I discovered they sold yarn a few weeks ago when I went to post a parcel. Today I went back in search of something suitable for the trim on the bright pink cardigan I'm currently knitting. I'm using a chunky mostly acrylic blend with a little mohair that I bought on eBay. Finding something to go with it is proving a little tricky. I want a bright purple, but can I find it? I thought the post office would be a good place to look. They've got the sort of selection you'd expect for somewhere that's been selling wool for 20 years - lots of acrylic and machine washable wool.
I found some suitable yarn - Sirdar Misty Look - but not in a colour that worked for me. However, the bloke running the post office let me rummage around in the back store room. It was dusty and untidy and piled with bags of yarn. I made him move boxes and climb up shelves to fetch down things I liked the look of. The purple stuff on the left was way up in one corner and took some effort to get down. It's doesn't go with the pink, but having let him risk life and limb to get it down, I thought I'd better buy some. The slubby pink and purple stuff I like better though. I'm thinking maybe edging for gloves. Or a hat?
