Starry Nights

I recently bought two skeins of Opal Van Gogh sock yarn. The first in sunflowers and the other in starry nights. Morgan decided the starry nights one was destined for him. I took them away to France with us and finally finished them on the ferry, on the way home. I love how they have turned out and fit me really well ;) And look... I finished the other ones too. Sunflower colourway:

Making Monday

Natalie over at The Yarn Yard has started making monday blogs. The idea is you post about things you have been making on Mondays. I would have joined in the last two but all I seemed to be making was a mess with three children at home on school holidays.

This week however I got my finger out and have been finishing my boneyard shawl, Stephen West, the designer, is a genius. He specialises in making the simple look stunning. I have been hoarding some rainbow Kauni yarn for ages and although I have planned to do lots of things with it I have never started anything with it. I have started on a Stephen West knitalong and the first clue was disappointingly small so I decided to do another one of his shawls and picked out the Boneyard and grabbed the Kauni. Well it was addictive. I couldn't put it down. The yarn is very moreish, just one more to see the next colour change....

The result is a stunning shawl in a beautiful rainbow.







I couldn't wait to show it off so here are some pictures of it pre-blocked. I have also not quite finished the picot edging I added but you can see how it will look in this picture...



What did you make today?

A Tale of Two Yarns

This is post one of the Knitting and Crochet Blog Week 2011. A week in which knitters and crocheters around the world blog about the same topic every day for a week.

Today's topic is 'A Tale of Two Yarns.'

Being the statistically-driven person I am I was stuck about what to choose to talk about so went to Ravelry and downloaded my stash into a spreadsheet. Yes, yes - once a geek, always a geek.

So - according to my statistics I have two clear favourites in my stash and I shall discuss my love affair with them.

The first yarn is Cascade 220. I do like this yarn - a lot. It is a comforting, thick yarn. It comes in every colour you need and is thick. According to Ravelry I now have 34 skeins - whoops! I gave up individually listing each colour and bunched them all together. Being a worsted weight it knits up really, really quickly so is brilliant for hats, scarves and christmas stockings...





I did buy a whole heap of it with the intention of making my hubbie a Tom Baker Dr Who scarf but I couldn't bring myself to make it. So - I have lots sitting in my stash that I am gradually using.

I find it lovely to knit with - a really solid yarn which does exactly what it says on the skein. There is a reason why it is the most popular yarn on Ravelry.

The second yarn is The Yarn Yard's Clan. I am lucky in that I live fairly close to Natalie of The Yarn Yard so often get to see the yarn at shows local to her (and me). Occasionally I make it over to her house too and get to see the dyeing in progress. It endlessly fascinates me and the colours she produces are simply stunning. They are saturated and beautiful. I joined the Yarn Club about a year ago which for a while was giving me a monthly dose of Clan - so I got to build up a collection of colours I probably would not have chosen at all. It's fun to have someone else selecting your colours for you. As you can see I have a small stash:



It is lovely to work with and just begs to be made into socks. Natalie sells them in 65g skeins which means they are ideal for buying to mix the colours. Colourwork is gorgeous with it. I have to say one of my favourite socks is a fair-isle sock made out of a very dark grey and an orange variegated. I love it - so effective. Looks like a stained-glass window:

Sock Knitting

Forcing myself to knit 12 pairs of socks in twelve months is doing my knitting skills some good.  Not only am I completing projects (for a change) but I am also learning new skills and challenging myself at the same time.

The two Wendy Johnson books are superb for this.  She takes the sock apart into four elements - the toe (the two books I have are toe-up socks - so the toe is always first), the pattern/body (which usually starts on the upper part of the foot once the toe has been completed and then carries on up the leg), the heel and the cast off.  Each part can be done in a number of way and it is simply a pick and mix to put your sock together.

At the moment I am on holiday in France and my holiday knitting, of course, is mainly sock knitting.  Well apart from the baktus I started on the way and the gift I finished too.  (And I optimistically packed some lace yarn - but don't think I am getting near it.)  I am getting quite a lot of time to knit.  I'm not keen on the long-haul driving so Martin does a lot of it leaving me time to knit, also all three kids are in the kids' club for the first time which means two or three sessions a day with lots of time to knit.

I brought along a vanilla sock to knit on the way - nice and mindless - and I completed that today (16th July ) with just the ends to sew in.  For once it is a toe-up vanilla and is in Sassy Stripe - blues - which I have had hanging around my stash for ages.  I do need to find the second skein though for the second sock.  This sock has been great for knitting on the go with my Nic's Knots Japanese Knot Bag hanging from my wrist.

Details:
Pattern: Plain toe up using 'Socks from the Toe Up' - Wendy Johnson
Yarn:  Cascade Sassy Stripes in blues bought from Get Knitted ages ago (I got a free lollipop!)
Needles: 2.5mm addi lace circular - 100cm
Started: Beginning of July 2010
Completed: July 16th 2010
Cast On: Figure of 8
Heel: Short Row
Body: Vanilla (plain stocking stitch)
Top: 2x2 rib for approx. 1"
Cast off: Russian cast-off

My second sock for this month is also from the Wendy Johnson book - 'Socks from the Toe Up'.  It is the Traditional Gansey Sock and is a lovely pattern.  It uses a combination of knit and purl to give a textured effect as used on Fishing Sweaters particularly on the East Coast of Scotland and Northern England.  The pattern I chose to do is a simple V which Wendy comments looks like waves or seagulls - I agree.  It's an interesting way of knitting and is satisfying to do - but is oh so slow...  I am using Yarn Yard Caber (in a lovely lavender/grey) with 2.25mm needles and it is taking forever... I fear this will not be knit in time....

... so.... I have started a third sock this month.  But first - a shopping trip. I managed to get a list of knitting shop in the Tours area and got the chance yesterday to go out, on my own, and find them.  (Martin's day out - he did vineyards.)  I found two of the three open and bought a little wool ;-)  (Martin look away now...)

Shop one - Phildar - mainly a clothes shop with a small wool section at the back - think John Lewis.  I bought some plain wooden buttons for the aforementioned gift.  I wasn't particularly struck by their wool selection.  No sock yarn, nasty needles and lots of cotton and acrylic yarn.  I did buy a few things from their bargain buckets though.

6 balls of Canasta by Phildar (50g) - 79% viscose and 21% acrylic.  Going to give this to my SIL as a wee shiny present for having DS1 to stay for a week ;-)
2 balls of Phil Lin by Phildar 50g, 45% viscose, 40% cotton, 15% linen. Could possibly use this for socks - but does it have enough give?

Then I went to another shop 'Anny Blatt'.  I know nothing about this chain.  They produce their own wool as well as selling other local wool (Spanish and French from what I could see.)  They again had big bargain buckets full of acrylic nastiness.  But - they had shelves of yumminess.  I was very tempted by some lovely (but expensive) alpaca yarn and intreagued by some yak yarn. I settled on some merino wool in the end.

2 balls of Katia Merino Baby (50g) 100% merino in the perfect red.  (One of these is being made into sock number three for this month - see below)
2 balls of Katia Merino Baby (50g) 100% merino in a lovely orange.

2 balls of Anny Blatt - Baby Blatt in Montana (50g) -100% wool.

I have plans for one pair of the orange or purple and am hoping the other pair will make a pair of socks.  It seems the French haven't really discovered sock yarn in the shops yet (not the British are that good at it either - maybe I had the wrong shops...).

So - back to the sock knitting - it looks like the Gansey sock is not going to be finished on time and I noticed that Wendy Johnson has a 'quick sock' section at the back of the book ;-)  So - I have cast on the Van Dyke Socks - which seems apt - you do know my middle name is Dyke? That's a story for another time.  So I fortunately have a range of needles with me and cast this sock on last night. It's a lovely, simple lace knit and is knitting up super-fast.

Details so far:
Pattern: Van Dyke Socks from 'Socks from the Toe Up' by Wendy Johnson
Wool: Katia Merino Baby in a lovely, deep red
Needles: 2.75mm DPNs
Started: 15th July 2010
Cast on: Turkish cast on - 12sts increasing to 52sts

It is interesting how I am now so comfortable with the different ways of knitting socks and currently have socks cast using each of the three main techniques - DPNs, 2 circulars and 1 long circular.  I am also less tolerant of mistakes - ripping out rows to fix a wrong stitch instead of saying it will do.  Although I spot mistakes much sooner now and can 'feel' when something isn't right. It is also really pleasing how quickly I am picking up patterns and can now do more and more away from the safety blanket of the pattern.  I have yet to turn a heel on my own though - one step at a time.

That's enough typing for now - need to knit.

An Olympian Challenge

I have been planning (and blogging about) a jumper for my husband for quite some time. It has been started a few times and frogged back for different reasons. It was going to be Cheesy Puffs at one point but I finally settled on the Elizabeth Zimmermann's EPS jumper. It is a simple pattern using lots of (easy) calculations to determine how many stitches you cast on/increase by etc...

The Yarn Harlot has used the Winter Olympics (again) as an opportunity for knitters/spinners/crocheters to start a project during the Opening Ceremony and the idea is you complete it before the Closing Ceremony (or during if you are running out of time...)

I signed up for it with Martin's jumper as my challenge. I won't keep you in suspense - I didn't finish it. It was just too big a challenge for me - especially being a slow knitter. A bad cold in the middle of the 17 days didn't exactly help either.

Anyway - I am pleased with the progress. I have done about a half of the body and almost finished the first sleeve.

Here's the body:


Here's the sleeve:



The stitch markers show where I have increased so that I can match the other arm.

I am loving the colour - it's called Oatmeal and is from New Lanark (bulky). It has lovely yellow flecks all through it and it gives a lovely effect. It also knits up incredibly quickly which for this slow knitter is ideal.

Woolfish Meal and Swap

It had been a while since I had been to my old knitting group. I now live almost an hour and a half away so it now needs more planning.

Anyway - before Christmas we had decided we would meet up and have lunch together one Saturday. We also pulled names out of a hat and we were to make something for someone else using no more than one ball of wool.

Over Christmas and New Year I had a lot of time for knitting so I made the gorgeous Crest of the Wave Scarf by Judy Jacobs. It's a very simple pattern with just 12 rows to repeat - perfect for my little brain ;-)

I made it using a ball of Posh Lei in mermaid so it was a lovely mix of blues and greens.

The .pdf is available here.

I had a fun time choosing the beads - it took me so long to decide - so in the end I used two colours. A bronze to contrast with the yarn and a green to add a bit of sparkle.

I think Irene was pleased with it.

(Sorry - the colours are a bit off)

I received this unusual scarf/neck warmer. It is made from the softest cashmere in a lovely olive green with a flowery wooden button to hold it together. It's great isn't it? Perfect for keeping my neck warm.

I think everyone was delighted with their presents and the meal was fantastic too.

There are more pictures of some of the other creations over on Louise's Blog.

Knitters Invade York

Wow - can't believe I have not posted here for over two months. I have been so busy, moving house, Christmas, New Year, terrible weather but that's all been and gone. What I want to tell you about is York.I went away this weekend to York to stay in a convent. There is a wonderful group on Ravelry - we are all fan's of Natalie's wonderful yarn - The Yarn Yard. But it's not all about the yarn - there is considerable amount of chatting, listening and supporting that goes on. There has developed a core of women who have become good, good friends. As a group we booked out most of the rooms on both nights I was there. (Some people stayed on for another night too - so not sure how full it was that night.) The convent was perfect for us. There was simple accommodation with a cafe downstairs. Breakfast was included - which was great but best of all was the large recreation room and kitchen which we completely took over as our crafty playground.

Both afternoons and evenings the recreation room became the centre of attraction. People were knitting, spinning, drop spindling, crocheting and tatting. There was non-stop chatter as people got to chat with old friends and to make new friends. The kitchen was soon over-run with food and drink - including an abundance of home-baking. What a talented group of ladies.

Every so often I would pause from my chat and knitting and look around in admiration of how this weekend had come together and how lovely it all was. Everyone was getting on so well together.

On Saturday I went with some others to the National Quilt Museum. It had two exhibitions on "The Celtic Fringe: Wholecloths of Wales and Scotland" and "Namad: A Persian Journey in Felt". Both were interesting but I was disappointed that we couldn't get into see the Museum itself. I think it is only accessible to Guild members. Oh well. I did get my mum something nice for her birthday though - so not a wasted journey at all.

No trip to York is complete without a visit to the amazing Duttons for Buttons. I got some buttons for a XXXX that I am knitting for my lovely friend XXXX. (hee)

Saturday afternoon was great fun. Natalie gave out club parcels to people who were in the yarn club - made me very jealous. Then we had our snowflake parcels. Everyone had prepared a parcel for someone else. What fun. Mine was the first one out and I got some gorgeous hand-knitted gloves from Kay - I adore them - Orla has her eye on them but they are too big. I also got some chocolate and bits and bobs - all still in my suitcase. Will take pics when I have unpacked. (ETA: Now unpacked and pics below - didn't I do well?)

After that Natalie opened up the shop so people could buy any of her yarn if they wanted to - was glorious to see all those amazing colours together. Yum! I bought a skein of the new (as yet unnamed) Alpaca yarn and some green yummy fibre. I was very restrained.

Finally we had a p/hop swap. Everyone brought along some yarn to destash. You could then take anything from the table that you wanted with the promise that you would donate money for the pleasure. I got some Lorna's Lace in black/yellow, some blue Posh Lei, some pink bamboo/silk sock yarn and a Meg Swansen book. Much, much less than I had brought so. my suitcase was much easier to close. I've given my donation - have you?

I think I have made a whole load of new, lovely friends and can't wait until next years.

A bad knitting week

It's not been the best of knitting weeks. I'm seem to have hit a bit of a rut.

I have lots of projects I am really wanting to get my needles into but just can't seem to clarify my thoughts and wool.

First up was the lovely dress I was making for Orla. It's a Zoe Mellor pattern called Daisy Dress. It's a lovely, simple dress made in cotton with a big flower on - perfect for Orla. I chose and bought some lilac and pink wool with blue for the flower. Being me I resisted making it on straight needles and cast it on with circulars, adapting the pattern accordingly. All was going well until I had a session knitting in the dark at my God-daughter's dance show. I wasn't really concentrating on the knitting - just letting the stitches happen. When I picked it up the next day I noticed I had managed to knit the row counter *into* the dress. The only options were to cut into the loop on the row counter or to frog back. So I put it into my bag and hoped the knitting fairies would sort it out. I'll continue this story in a while.

In the meantime... remember the jumper for Martin? (Mentioned on my February Update.) Well much as I love it - I do need to have the pattern with me at all times - and that is hard work for me and I found I wasn't picking it up at all. Knitting the Daisy Dress for Orla prompted me to re-think the jumper - plain stocking stitch on circular needles is ideal for me at the moment - pretty much brain-free. I frogged the Cheesy Puffs. So - I reached for my Elizabeth Zimmermann Knitter's Almanac knowing she had a simple pattern in there and cast on the Hurry Up Last Minute Sweater. Unfortunately I didn't really think it through. I swatched and cast on using huge needles. After a few rows I realised it was too loose - the needles were simply too big - so my yarn is simply not chunky enough for this pattern.

At knitting group this week - Louise frogged back the Daisy Dress (bless her) and saved the stray stitch marker. So - I was just picking it up to knit again - and it was laid out flat on two circulars and it made me appreciate the full size of it. It was *huge*. Big enough to fit me, never mind Orla (she's a petite 3-year old!) So - it had to be frogged along with the Martin jumper - not a good day. So now both are sitting off the needles - waiting for the chance to start again!

In the meantime I cast on and started knitting Martin Storey's Hardwick Slipover. I have completely changed the colours and the yarn and am really pleased with it... until I noticed that I have a twist on my circular needles and am going to have to frog it all back again....

Is someone trying to tell me something??

I do have something wonderful to blog about though - but will need to take photos first...