Category: Yarn

A boo, frou-frou, and a big Bamboo

Well, I didn’t get to the wedding – by the time I got clearance from the school, it would have cost over 300 pounds for self and offspring, and would have involved travelling at stupid o’clock. So I took the day off anyway and spent it doing computery stuff. I installed a new hard drive (250g) in the old computer, discovering along the way that I didn’t have a particular cable I needed. I also discovered there was no point in transferring the Firewire card to the new computer as it has an unconnected 1394 port in the front panel – it would cost a few pounds to install one. So the FW card goes back in the old computer. The old 20g hard drive is now in a portable powered fanned external case. May use it purely for music.

Crafting: clicky to my first pattern, for hair scrunchies, see left! Though this is a bit of a cheat, to get myself linked on Ravelry as a designer – shh! don’t tell anyone! I do intend to produce patterns but haven’t got round to it yet.

It came through one of those D’oh! moments – when you realise the answer has been staring you in the face. I have very fine, flyaway hair. It needs to be restrained in a lot of situations – housework, work, nappy-changing, etc. The only product that will keep the hair in place is Brylcreem – half a jar usually does the trick, but it’s not a look I’m keen on. Any fixings you care to mention – combs, ribbons, elastics, kirby-grips – either fall out, or damage my hair. The only thing that stands a chance of staying in place without snapping the hair are scrunchies. For some reason, though, the few that I can find are usually in hideous colours.

So I was about to throw out an old fuzzy black one, randomly wishing I could get more and thinking the fuzzy would make a nice scarf, when it hit me I could make the blasted things with fancy yarns… D’oh! Hence the pattern – crochet, if you’re interested. On the plus side, since I’d got the fancy yarns to make scarves for myself, all the scrunchies have mysteriously turned out to be in lovely colours that tone with my wardrobe!

I have also put together a shortie scarf/ruff affair. I’ve found a scarf to be too long and gappy for some of my winter coats, and thought that a big-collared jumper would work better – only without the jumper… so I knit this collar-and-yoke thingy in Sirdar Bigga (Etna colourway), which I found unbanded in the Bull-Ring for 69p. It’s a 2×2 rib on the collar, 3×3 rib on the yoke by picking up the bar between the paired knits and purls. Finished with a belt buckle from the same source.

Finally – another Bull-Ring bargain: pure bamboo yarn, unbanded, also 69p. They had the same stuff on the shelves. I thought I’d just try a little random swatching to see what it was like to knit with, then I saw Knitting magazine had printed one of Joan McGowan-Michael’s patterns from Knitting Lingerie Style – Silk Slip. It’s basically just a bra: you sew a silk ‘skirt’ to it. I’m almost finished the first cup, after a few modifications for my voluptuousness. The straps are supposed to be single crochet, but I think I might use the lace bit to knit thicker straps for comfort. I’m also uncomfortable about sewing (!) so the skirt may wind up being knitted too…

TTFN

K

Happy New Yarn!

Er, Year…

Yarn’s been on my mind recently.

Well duh…

I’m having a bit of a crisis..

I hates the coloured-up yarn… but… I have happily knitted up stuff in the coloured-up yarn, and loved it. This is causing my head pain.

I’ve also just bought these – unbanded mystery yarn from the Bullring yarne shoppe. Pink in shades from Baby to Crack Ho with flashes of toffee to keep it tasteful, and what initially looks to be silver tinselly bits woven in, but on closer inspection is tiny strips of clear cellophane-type material. Sounds … DIRE. But actually quite nice. Something for Niece #1 possibly. The second a boucle in Browns, all the way from ecru to taupe. Woo! (Oh yes, in case I forgot to mensh, not loving the boucle slubby nubby stuff either). I shall make a camel from it (I am hoping to make a Noah’s Ark and a Nativity scene this year), or maybe some sheep. I have also been deeply taken by this (scroll down to Liquorice). And today I almost bought a green, white and orange mohair in Rackham’s sale – my father would be pirouetting in his grave, no mean feat for a man who made Triple H look petite. Sorry, petit. Hell no – I DO mean petite. Ma daddy was a MAN.

Admittedly, I’m thinking scarves, kiddie stuff, weird amigurumi toy stuff – where the maddcolorz either don’t really matter or are absolutely essential to the project. I’d never do a sweater in the tricolour mohair f’rinstance (well, not for a grown-up. E.g., me, or someone my age or younger and more than, say, 10. My mum – maybe. If she acted her age). But I’d make myself a shrug in the pinky. And even contemplate a big ol’ sudden-cold-snap-and-the-heating-dies cardi/jacket in the Liquorice. What gives, as our colonial cousins would say?

I’m struggling with this. Okay, first off, if we’re talking animals (camels, sheep, etc), then anything goes for the effect. Kids, again, well the girlies love the spangles, and the boys haven’t fallen into the Boring Man-Rut yet. Scarves – anything goes. They’re an accessory, so you might want to make one scarf matching several different outfits – multicoloured is therefore good. Shawls and wraps, OTH, look nasty in multis*. Like you were using up all the leftovers in your stash – nothing wrong with that, just, well. But could you not make a Fair Isle at least? Make it look less like a desperate “oh shite, I’m running out of wool so I’ll just make a Dr Who scarf type thing” project. Not that I’D EVAR use a shawl anyhoo**.

It’s the Liquorice cardi that throws me.

So, let’s approach this from the other side. Arans do not need maddcolorz. In fact, anything with a stitch pattern, even something as basic as basketweave, doesn’t need maddcolorz. I go so far as to say knitted lace doesn’t need maddcolorz, though I’ve only done one lace pattern myself. So, anything with textural or sculptural qualities should be done in one colour – not multi-coloured, tweed, flecked, handpainted, etc. If it’s just acres of stockinette, go for it. If it’s kiddy, or special- occasion like a shrug or do-it-all like a scarf – go for it. If it’s for an elderly person – take your pick. Toys, intarsia, Fair Isle, it goes without saying.

That Liquorice cardi is still bugging me…

Ta ta
K

* Please note these are the opinions of the author, expressed after 6 beers, 2 bottles of wine, and a hefty brandy in the early hours of New Year’s Day, and are not meant to be taken seriously as meaning anything. If you handpaint/dye your own yarn, The Author is deeply jealous of you and wishes she had a more co-operative toddler so she could do likewise. If you are enamoured of the maddcolorz yarn and never use anything else – well, so does The Author. Okay she does use other stuff and MAKES A BIG THANG OF IT, but she breaks her own rulez lotz tuu.

** I’ve been reading some interesting Ravelry threads on attitudes towards knitting, crochet, handcrafts generally. One thing that pops out is that all the handcrafts are associated with being poor, lower-class, etc. That’s shawls to me. They’re for people who can’t afford proper warm coats, or decent heating in their homes (I include here home-made coats, and self-felled timber or self-dug turf fires – whatever). Afghans fall in the same category. People who need shawls or afghans to stay warm are people who can’t (because of age or infirmity) or won’t (because of laziness) provide the needful for themselves. I’m a snob.

Mistah Death and the Aran Blankie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A while back I mentioned a rush job for Halloween, and then totally forgot to post about it.


Hubby’s workplace does a lot of charity work – in fact they’re set up as a non-profit-making charity. He’s done a 30-mile walk for charity with workmates, including the CEO who lent him suitable socks; once a fortnight he spends an afternoon of worktime helping in the Birmingham Children’s Hospital school, and was their Santa this year; and he participates regularly and enthusiastically in their fancy dress / dress-down charity Fridays, as you can see to the right.Here it is! Based on Knitty’s Jackyll & Hide pattern.

The cloak is borrowed, and the plastic scythe came from a charity shop. I didn’t bother with the mouth as a) I had no time, b) it involves ~shudder~ embroidery, and c) hubby promised to do it then wimped out.

The yarn used (Ben Nevis Aran 25% Wool) is a bit rubbish* – very furry with no density to it – so I used it doubled on 6mm dpns and circulars. I had it in with the idea of making an heirloom Aran bedspread, over a long period, using 12in x12in ‘swatches’ whereon I would practice various Aran stitches that took my fancy – swatch 1, to the right, is a rather dense honeycomb pattern from a stitch dictionary which doesn’t exist according to its ISBN. I reckon it would take about 42 such swatches – 6′ wide x 7′ long – for our double bed, maybe 63 or 72 for a more luxuriant look. Though a major part of the appeal of this is that it should be machine-washable, so I may have to sacrifice opulence for being able to fit it in the machine…
TTFN
K

‘* – Cheap, and available in VAST quantities.

 

This WILL have HAS pics…

Eventually… The pics are taken and awaiting upload from my phone.

The scarf is finished, ends woven in, washed and blocked. The rather stringy, fine mohair bloomed nicely – the resulting fabric appears solid until you look closely, allowing the lace flowers stand out well. The pics don’t really do justice – I was hoping to hang it by a window so you could see the light coming through, but had to settle for laying it on white paper. I shall hand it over on Thursday rather than Friday as she has a do to go to and might like to wear it.

My sister’s bag is boarded, lined and sewn up, and lacks only the fastening. The specs cases for Mum and MIL are finished too, including the label inside. These won’t be in time for Christmas unfortunately. I won’t even get them off until Saturday.

I’m also well into Libby’s amigurumi unicorn – head and body completed to the start of the bum, and stuffed as far as possible. I still have a little time to work on it, as I won’t see them until after Christmas Day anyway. I’m not entirely thrilled with the shape, as the head and neck extend more or less straight out from the body making it look more like a goose than a horse. Before I started, I did think it needed some short-rowing where the lower neck reaches the body – i.e., no building up of the back until the chest is in place. That would mean turning the work and working backwards. I can’t see an amigurumi way of doing it, except maybe by making the pieces separately and sewing them together in the right configuration. There’s a lot of shaping involved and correct stuffing is crucial.

ION, the deputy head was most distressed to see me knitting during break. Apparently I should be planning lessons. It has been pointed out that I am not in fact a qualified teacher, have no regular classes and therefore do not have PPA time, and am in possession of a contract that specifically forbids me from planning lessons (even though I DO, because there’s usually no coverwork). So he gave it as his opinion that I should be doing anything but knitting. Possibly helping out in the canteen, or cleaning the toilets then.

No scarf for him!

If he had any sense, he’d be begging me to run an after-school club for the tards…

Kxxx

Three weeks till Christmas…

And progress is… progressing.

I managed to get the lining and a fancy button for my sister’s bag, though I really need to pick up some board to stiffen it (Yes I’m going with the button closure. Musing is what this blog is for too). The lining is quite lovely – heavy, turquoise with a pale gold sheen from a primrose weft (or warp. Not too sure of my fabric orientation). Although I haven’t had time to inspect it closely, I would not be surprised if it was silk, or at least a good quality fake. Only £2 in the Bullring for about 2m of 60″ width. Well chuffed. There may even be enough to line a skirt for myself, a little something I’ve been planning ever since I got the eau de Nil chenille, using crocheted squares from an old tablecloth pattern.

The covers for both specs cases are complete, all I need is to find the craft glue.

The childminder’s scarf is almost complete, another 3 repeats to go. IBC has utterly charmed her and her husband by calling them by name, and demanding kisses. I suppose I ought to think of some wee thing to give his playmates there… I’ve swapped the scarf to my in-school project, and taken the Trellis cardi for Liz’s youngest home where I have more time to complete it.

I still need to make a start on the unicorn for Lisa’s daughter – in fact I need to get the chenille out and wind my pullcakes.

Santa went to Rackham’s on Saturday and picked up IBC’s tractor and trailer, wrecking shoulders, back and bum.

We’ve decided not to send cards this year. Instead we’re sending ducks to Bangladesh, or possibly midwife kits to Burkina Faso – haven’t decided. We may also substitute something like this for presents for the adults in the family, as it is SO difficult to buy gifts for most of them, in part because we just don’t have the time.

Only 3 weeks!

K

Christmas Bag

Finished the first Christmas bag (for my sister), but it still needs to be lined. Also the instructions call for a fancy button, but I’m leaning towards a couple of plain satchel fastenings.

Also some pics of double-knitting, which I larned masel on a trip to Ireland recently. It’s just a practice piece. I’ve put together some designs for baby blankies, one of which is just on the needles but there’s no urgency to complete.

I have also decided to make spectacle cases for Mum and MIL – both occasionally wear glasses and are always losing them. So I got some cheap cases at the weekend and have already knitted a cover for one in Paton’s Lush in Autumn, a bright red-yellow-purple mix. Try losing that. The second is half-complete. I may do a mobile phone cosy for SIL.

My friend’s daughter has become fascinated by unicorns. And guess what pattern appeared in the last issue of Crochet??! Must start pull-caking the chenille. Wish I could remember what size hook I used last time.

And it turns out Friday is not a training day as I’d thought, but a real, honest-to-goodness day off!! So I’ll go into town and get some supplies at the Bullring – lining fabric, fasteners, maybe craft glue – and probably Abraham’s Santa present.

T’ra
K

New work

Since the last post, I started my first ever lace knitting project, began the Christmas knitathon, am not substantially further on with the Bob the Builder jumper, and went back to Ireland for a night… It was about the right length of time for a visit home!

My big baby brother turned 40 at the end of October, but the surprise party was on the 10th November. And surprise it was – he’s been like a wasp since his actual birthday because nobody made any fuss, just the odd card and well-wishing, a small token present or two. Organising the party was no mean feat for his wife, as he has been off work with a broken arm for the last few weeks and was underfoot every time she tried to write an invitation or make a phone call. But he was completely fooled. The only tricky bit was that they had to send him into the North on the day on a series of pointless but “urgent” errands, and of course I was coming down from Aldergrove to Kesh, along any route he might take, staying with my sister who he might drop in on for a cup of tea… Any other guest seen travelling down could be explained, but why would I be coming over to Ireland in secret??? It was a good night, there shall be YouTube evidence of the big man DANCING as soon as YouTube deigns to co-operate, and Mum was looking more relaxed, younger and less strained than she has done for years.

I don’t think we’re fully aware yet of the toll on her of caring for Dad in the last few years. None of us knew she had to dress him, for example. I knew she was bathing him, but thought that was just back-scrubbing where he couldn’t reach – ffs TH does that for me! It seems he was more incapacitated than he let on to anyone. The unravelling of his life continues.

So, to wips: the lace scarf was inspired by a cone of black mohair (or fluffy string) I found dumped outside a late neighbour’s house. How grue is that?! She must have been a machine knitter, because there were other bits and bobs – including pieces of knitting machine – lying about, obviously fallen out of bins and not picked up by our delightful and hard-working binmen. The scarf pattern is merely of 8×6-petal flowers with a garter-stitch border, nothing exciting. However it has been frogged about 6 times to date: I have only managed to do 3 rows of flowers, and one of those has only 7 flowers on it. The next row would have had only 5, as the total number of stitches had dropped from 64 to 44! I have no idea how this happened. It’s not as if I’m not well used to textured patterns. It’s not like I can’t count! I checked and rechecked and double-checked the pattern, the number of stitches on the needle, counted and re-counted the pattern stitches off and checked again that the fluffiness or the yos weren’t ‘creating’ stitches – and still I either had too many stitches or too few at the end of each row. The only row that work out right is the one where the Offspring was torturing me for walks and purpo juice and cuggles. If it ever works, I’ll give it to the Offspring’s childminder.

The knitathon is just to make little token gifts for Mum, my sis, and my MIL. Last year I made a skinny scarf and gloves set in eyelash yarn for them – the gloves were actually purchased black fleece jobs, but I knitted matching eyelash-yarn cuffs for them. And didn’t take pics – pity, as it was quite effective. This year, I saw an interesting pattern in Simply Knitting mag. Weeell, pattern. Anyhoo. Tis a baggie. Supposedly, a bedroom cushion (does anyone really have these things, unless they’re selling the house?) which doubles as a nightwear holder (again, does ANYONE use these things?), which presumably provides the cushiony goodness, otherwise you wind up with a nightie case and a teeny cushionpad lying on the floor. There’s 2 yarns, and something goin on between them. Naturally, the two yarns are only available on the second moon of Tau Ceti 6 during the bicentennial eclipse, but only to quadripeds. But I got some Patons Lush (surprisingly soft) to substitute for the sparkly yarn, and for the other I’ve quadruple-plied some thin chenille from the stash. That’s looking good, like sari yarn. I’ll make up two versions, one in blues on eau-de-nil chenille, and the other in autumn colours on wine chenille. I figure I’ll just give them, they can use them as they want. In my sis’s case, (blue/eau-de-nil version) I hope she will use it to pick out colours for her bedroom in the new house. Please God. Anything so long as next visit I don’t have to wander around saying how well I think donkey pink, terracotta and putty beige go together (*shudder*).

On Bob, I’m about halfway up the helmet bit on the front, having begun working flat from the armholes. Ho hum. Erm. That’s about it.

And I should be Ravelry -bound in the next couple of days!!!

T’ra
K

Ravelry update:

  • You signed up on October 19, 2007
  • You are #46355 on the list.
  • 510 people are ahead of you in line.
  • 10365 people are behind you in line.
  • 79% of the list has been invited so far

 

I give you…

… the Glory that is Begotha – the Gothic Aran!

Also known as a black mystery-yarn sweater with a bit of cabling and moss-stitch. Still, TH is happy. He’s had it on a few times since, but usually whips it off as soon as he comes indoors because “it’s so warm”, so even when I’ve had the camphone there’s been no opportunity to snap it. Yesterday, though, he came home early and I cornered him in the back garden and wouldn’t let him in till I got the pics.

And here it is, photographing well for black thanks to our wintery sunshine – the stitch detail shows up beautifully. The turtleneck collar is 2×2 rib, over about 76st I think. Clumping a little at the sides because of TH’s simian posture and his habit of mugging for the camera, but otherwise a lovely fit for a nine-stone hank of string.

Sadly, TH is not looking his lovely best. His workplace organised the staff flu jabs yesterday, and he had a bad reaction – hence the early homecoming. We were supposed to be going out to a work do of mine last night, babysitter organised and everything, but in the end I went alone, leaving him with his head down the loo, loving spouse that I am.

Apropos of space-filling, and pointedly ignoring a certain 2yr-old putting in some practice for the Toddler Olympics (All-Out Tantrum event), here’s the Bob the Builder sweater thus far. There’s only 3 or 4 rows of ‘face’ left before I get into the helmet, and the first 4 rows of the logo on the back are in place – not enough to photograph though. And yes, those are nappy pins – I use them to hold the nyims* of yarn not in play. TH’s aversion to washables – odd given he’s happy to be coated in all manner of shite from disintegrating disposables – left me with a surplus. The hair is done in a knit version of bullion stitch for a curly look … that was the plan, but we shall see.

The second pic shows the reverse: all in all, quite neat; most of the tails are on the (inside) left, due to the way I am knitting on the colours (i.e., leaving a long tail to be knitted on the next row). Hopefully this will be tidier in the making-up stage. I really do not enjoy putting garments together, and tbh I would not be dying about picture-knitting/intarsia if it wasn’t for seeing the picture appear row by row. Such a pity knitting in the round and intarsia don’t go together…

WOOT! TG4 is on the Idirlíon!! Ros na Rún here we come!!!

T’ra
K
Oh for Pete’s sake – Aran? Irish? black? Begorra? Begotha? Catch up peeps…

* – a mangled anglicisation of the Irish mion (m-YUNN), meaning a very small amount, what can be held in the palm of the hand with the top finger-knuckles straight and fingertips touching the mid-palm.

 

Hurrah!

The Gothic Aran is finished!

Apart from one thread inexplicably left hanging from a sleeve, it is done, laundered, and tried on by a very chuffed hubby. Back-to-front at first, being himself, but ye gods what a fine fit when it was on. I short-rowed the back of the collar as prescribed in EZ, which was rather nasty with the moss-stitch panels, but what a difference it makes. Fits him like a glove. Pics later, once my camphone is recharged.

IBC’s Bob the Builder sweater is well under way. I’m putting the face on the front – it’s up to the mouth atm – and the logo on the back, which I haven’t got to yet. The sweater shape is reversible (front same as back, not inside-out reversible), so it would be nice to have a different view on each side. I’m knitting in the round again. I read somewhere that intarsia couldn’t be done in the round, but didn’t get why, since Fair Isle is traditionally knitted in the round. Now I do. Duh. Wool ends up at the wrong end of the knitting. I’ve got a partial solution which cuts down on the bitties of yarn hanging at the sides: leave a long tail when starting a new colour, that can then be used to knit the next row. In the case of the outlining black yarn, the tail may be enough to complete all stitches required.

And I’ve started a little something for Halloween – rush job, special request from TH. Fingers crossed…

Update

Not a lot to say, nothing completed.

TH’s Gothic Aran proved trickier than anticipated – not disastrously so, not even challenging really, just fiddly around the collar. It worked in the round, which is good, but TH’s broad shoulders and slender frame mean that while the front and back are completed to the base of the neck, I need to knit up the shoulders another inch/inch-and-a-half to reach the same point, nibbling off stitches from the front and back as I go. Oh yes – I decided late on to go for EZ’s fake raglan method of reducing the yoke, which looks well, despite some very awkward fudging when the decreases started cutting into the moss-stitch panels. Now this shoulder problem is turning it into a combined EZ raglan/saddle sweater.

But this is what comes of taking a pattern for an aran, running it according to another intended for Fair Isle, then changing mind 3/4 of the way through and finishing via a third for a plain sweater, discovering that the final bit needs to be fudged via a fourth (also plain), all the while using an unidentifiable yarn and a needle size not recommended in any of the patterns – and therefore a totally different number of stitches. Hey ho – at least I did swatches this time. I do get TH to try it every so often on to check the fit (so far, perfect).

I do feel that I’m working in the true EZ spirit though, winging it and not being scared. And occasionally lying down in a darkened room to recover.

I have also made it through the ribbing and into the body of IBC’s Bob the Builder sweater, and have done the charts – modified one of Bob’s face to fit better on the sweater, and made another of the Bob logo, though I think some surface embroidery is going to be necessary to get the detail in on it. I’m also very taken with the idea of a knit or crotchet BtB ‘hard’ hat… Hmm. When am I going to get my stockings made, I ask you?