It doesn’t take much for the word ‘pair’ to start looking like it shouldn’t be a word.
I haven’t been around much. Honestly? All my energy is used up by the time I get around to opening up WordPress. It’s cool, I’m working on it, and in the meantime here’s a quick post to show what I’ve been knitting lately – or some of it. Mindless stockinette has been my saviour in recent months.
Must Be Love Gloves
These were originally supposed to be for me. You see, I have a problem. I have really tiny wrists. Any handknit gloves I’ve tried so far tend to bunch up uncomfortably around my wrists if I stick to the pattern; the only ones that would fit me are the fully ribbed ones (see below). However, when yarn such as this delicious self-striping stuff that wasn’t really an option.
I made these to fit my proportions perfectly. It fits snug against my wrist and is super comfortable. Of course, I was knitting them in front of my girlfriend and now they’re hers. They’re in the post right now, in fact. It must be love.
I’ll be making these beauties into a pattern for anyone else out there with wrists that have nothing to them.
Girlfriend Mitts
Yeah, yeah. I know there’s a pattern here. What can I say? My girlfriend said her hands were cold and I couldn’t have that. These gloves took me months. It’s not that they were difficult, it’s that I cast off the top of the second one and started a different project using those needs before I realised I hadn’t knitted the thumb on one of them. Pro-tip: check this before using needles for new things. D’oh.
Anyway, they’re done now. They’re made of Cascade Heritage Silk that I bought a while ago and I loved. I’m not keen on how it looks in ribbing, actually, but they’re super soft and lightweight but very warm.
There. A proper blog post completed and my girlfriend will hopefully have slightly less chilly hands. Perfect.
Recently I have been interested in getting some charity knitting done. The great thing is there’s some really good ones out there; I’m going to share a couple of the more interesting ones. Of course, these are UK based in general as that’s where I’m li^ing right now so if you’re in the UK and want to do some good with your mad knitting skillz, check out these charities.
There’s a small hospital in Berega, Tanzania, that needs baby hats for the newborns. Who can resist? Little tiny hats for little tiny heads; they take no time, hardly any yarn and yet they are immeasurably valuable for the kids and families it helps. They’ve already received nearly 2,000 hats and I plan to up that number as soon as I can!
There’s a brilliant-looking knitting group supporting the Cypriot Sirius Dog Sanctuary. They’re raising money for pups in need and if there’s one thing I can’t resist it’s a fluffy companion animal in a woollen jumper. They’re selling donated hand-knitted items and have meet-ups in London. They seem pretty new which is excellent; it would be great to help them in the early stages.
I’ll be sharing more charities as I come across them. Knitting is such a lovely hobby but I rarely keep anything I make; I am a process knitter more than anything! If you’re the same, maybe it’s time to start donating to places like these.
If you know any charities like this, I’d love to hear about them.
Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy was one of the first super geeky things my Dad suggested to me. Let’s just say that my Dad is the reason I believe in the geek gene – we have very similar obsessions with very nerdy things (and we both yell at politicians on the TV, but that’s another story). It is very close to my heart because of that.
Here are some glorious patterns I’ve stumbled upon while looking for awesome things.
Fancy being able to understand all known languages? Yeah, I thought so. Just squish one of these little beasts in your ear and you’ll be chatting to penguins in no time. (Um, don’t actually do that though… penguins are mean.)
This is one of the first shawls I knitted, though I never actually finished it so it really doesn’t count. I think it was the first (set of) patterns I ever downloaded. They’re simple and versatile and great for beginners. The Hitchhiker pattern is the most popular pattern on Ravelry at the moment and the others in the collection are lovely too.
It’s when a knitter (or crocheter/weaver/etc) has expensive tastes. When the 3-for-£1 offer on acrylic yarn in the pound shop makes a person recoil. Only fancy pants natural-organic-spun-by-angels-crying-with-joy yarn will do.
Confession: I’m really not a yarn snob.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of quality yarn. I knit with sea silk, with baby alpaca, with merino blends. I like locally hand-dyed stuff and get a kick out of meeting the person who made it. I think there’s something wonderful about all the different fibres there are. Having fondled some qiviut, I am in a constant state of lust to own some of my own.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
But I truly believe acrylic has its place too.
Right now I’m knitting a blanket for my girlfriend’s 30th birthday which, okay, it was totally in July. But I am seeing her in person in a couple of weeks for a holiday – probably the only time I’ll see her while we’re applying for my permanent residency – and it would be nice to give it to her in person. It’s acrylic. Yes, that’s right, I’m giving a blanket made of acrylic to the person I love. There’s no place for yarn snobbery when you need your expendable income for a holiday in Las Vegas, and this blanket is going to be all the colours since it’s based on Avengers. (Yes, there will be pics when it’s done.)
It’s true that the squeaky feel of acrylic is starting to get to me, but I have some delicious dark blue locally hand-dyed 100% silk to knit with when I’m done. Maybe I’m just an occasional snob.
What about you? To you shun acrylic or embrace it?
Last Saturday I was quite happily sitting in the Knit Studio with the usual charming company when I happened to check my email. There was one from my Dad entitled ‘Demon’, which is the name of my gorgeous (and young) black cat. I assumed it would be photos of him since Dad knows how much I miss him and the other cats.
It wasn’t. It was an email saying Dad came home to find Demon paralysed in both his legs. He had an embolism and was put down almost immediately. Dad was too upset to phone me and tell me.
He was four.
Demon’s the one on the right with the biggest eyes. The other is Tiger, who is fine.This photo makes Demon look like he has different coloured eyes. He didn’t.
Of course, this totally threw me. I moved away from my hometown for a multitude of reasons, mostly that it makes me effing crazy. My Dad takes good care of our cats and loves them dearly; they are a huge part of his life and he dotes on them. Most of the time I ask Dad how he is and he promptly tells me how the cats are doing. Except for the male thing, he’s totally a crazy cat lady.
So I’m torn up over Demon dying so young, over Demon dying alone at the vets, and at Dad having to deal with that.
Add in some other stresses and let’s just say I haven’t had the best week in my life.
Someone suggested I buy some yarn to cheer myself up which, let’s face it, is not a suggestion I’m likely to turn down. Fortunately for my bank balance I had left my purse at home with my debit card and only had 10 quid on me; 4 of which I had already spent. I bought a skein of self-striping yarn because it was cheap and because I haven’t tried it before.
Guys, it is MAGICAL.
I didn’t realise how much FUN it would be! I went to my friend Lucy’s house for the evening and spent it knitting this. I’m making it without a pattern, just plain stockinette with lots of decreases for my skinny wrists. I’m probably going to write up the pattern later when they’re finished. I adore the muted colours in the yarn and how even though it’s just stockinette it’s still totally exciting.
It has taken my mind off the horrible events last week and though I am still upset, at least I have my knitting to distract me.
So it came to pass that the people did gather around an indoor tree piled high with generous gifts and then did celebrate the acquisition of new shiny things with the consumption of copious amounts of food. Yes, Christmas has been and gone (thank goodness) and it’s time to wind down from the crazy-fast knitting most knitters dread.
I kind of love it though.
This year I didn’t gift presents to just anyone. Not handmade ones. My departure from Canada and my charming girlfriend coincided horribly with the lead up to giftmas so my energy was limited.
Still, I have tiny relatives to indulge. Beware the brilliance of crappy iPhone photos. (The worst part is it’s not even my iPhone… I am burdened with a Nokia held together with masking tape.)
My niece is a little cutie. I crocheted her a scarf out of hot pink malabrigo.
It’s easy to knit and crochet for most little girls thanks to the awful pink stereotype. I try to avoid it the majority of the time – there are so many other colours out there! – but I had the perfect amount of malabrigo leftover from another project and I couldn’t resist the snuggability.
My first attempt at a sweater seemed to be going wonderfully. I was knitting at a rate of knots (har har har) and I finished the pocket and body in no time. However the rest of the pattern was horribly vague and assumed previous knowledge of knitting raglan sweaters which I did not have at that time. After fretting a while I abandoned it and started again with only a week to go until Christmas.
Somehow I managed this without completely destroying all of my tendons.
I succeeded! This may be my proudest creation. I got to squish my nephew in it and it was glorious. It’s nothing special in terms of yarn (there’s not much variety around here, especially if you’re skint as I am) but it’s soft and easy to care for which is important for toddlers. Jayden is a bit fussy (understatement) so I’m glad he wore it all day without complaining.
Honestly I still can’t believe I knitted this in less than week. Best thing is my almost-forgotten aim for 2012 was to knit a sweater. Level up!
Find the pattern here on Ravelry. As you can see I completely ignored the colourwork.
I also knitted a cowl for my sister but forgot to get photos of that. Aside from the above (and a leaf scarf for a dear friend of which I have no photographic proof) I didn’t give any other handmade gifts.
Well, not until I spent all of Christmas Day knitting.
This hat was originally meant to be for me……but ended up being filched by my big sister.
It turns out I can knit an entire hat in a day if I’m avoiding thinking about the fact I’m thousands of miles away from the person I adore on Christmas Day. I got this done in about six hours I’d say, maybe a little more. I spent a huge chunk of the day with the yarn at my side. When I finished, my sister had expressed such adoration for it I just chucked it at her and said Merry Christmas. It’s nice to have a creation appreciated and I think it made her happy so that’s a little more important than keeping my ears warm!
On Boxing Day I settled down to knit through slightly awkward human communication as is my wont. Also, it counted as a sort of physical exercise while I was eating my weight in cheese and Christmas Pudding (or that’s what I’m telling myself).
I got this done in the early evening and gave it to my mum who had expressed displeasure that Sandi had got a knitted hat and she hadn’t.
My mum seems pretty pleased!
The pattern for both these hats is wonderful and you can find it here. It’s the most popular hat pattern on the site and I can see why.
That’s a satisfying bounty if I say so myself, but I’m not done. Right now I’m sitting watching Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes which is a cartoon I’ve been coerced into watching by my girlfriend, not that I took much persuading and to occupy my hands I’m whipping up a hat for myself, since I gave away my store-bought bobble hat to my little sister who didn’t want to be left out. I started with a pattern but I seem to be thoroughly deviating from the plan. At the moment I’m deciding whether to keep it as a padded headband or whether to pick up some stitches and make it a hat. THEN I have to decide whether to make it fitted or slouchy!
…And crocheting, but that doesn’t go with the alliteration thing.
This is my last month in Canada before I need a new visa/permanent residency, so I’m distracting myself with absolutely everything the world can throw at me. I’m crocheting a beautiful bag and a little fish that turns into sushi for a friend from the knitting group at the Little Green House. I am knitting some mittens for someone else and am about to start a little hat/scarf set for someone small. I have a lot of projects on the go and on top of that it’s Nanowrimo, so I’m writing 50,000 words (at least) of a novel this month.
You can imagine I don’t have much time to think about my imminent departure to England, or the fact that a bunch of strangers holds my fate in their hands.
Last month I also taught a three-part class on crochet which was my first time teaching – or at least the first time I was paid to teach. It was enjoyable and I think it went okay. It has rekindled my passion for crochet.
I’ll admit I’m mostly writing this blog entry to procrastinate all the knitting and writing and crocheting I need to do so I’m going to get back to that now!
There’s a handy way of knitting where you don’t have to turn your work. Why bother, I hear you ask? Well, there are certain types of knitting that you have to turn continuously and it can get repetitive. Also, this close to Christmas don’t you think it’s a good idea to speed things up even a tiny bit? I know I’m knitting furiously to get my gifts done!
Yesterday, ignoring all the knitting I need to do, I went along to The Little Green House in Whitby to take an entrelac class (and, afterward, teach a crochet class). They were running late so I helped rearrange the worsted weight yarn into rainbow colours. I know, I know. How horrible. I had to grope an insane amount of yarn for an hour. How did I cope?
By buying it all some of it, obviously.
Then came the entrelac. It is fascinating to knit and my teacher, Vickie, was excellent. I was the only one there so I got one-on-one tuition, wonderful! Half an hour in I already knew I would be addicted to entrelac knitting
For those of you that don’t know, entrelac is a way of knitting that gives the look of woven squares interlaced (the French for interlaced is, funnily enough, entrelacé). It looks like this:
Just a hat from wikipedia. Google it for more delicious awesomeness.
I’ll have pictures of my own entrelac once I filch my girlfriend’s camera.
It quickly became apparent, however, that turning the work every few stitches was going to get very irritating. Vickie, fortunately, had a solution that pretty much blew my mind.
Knit backwards. Knit. Backwards. What is this sorcery!?
This is this sorcery. You’re welcome.
It looks fiddly but it’s kind of like purling. I found it really helps to knit continental so that the yarn is in your left hand. That way it feels more natural and you can yet the live yarn out of the way of your work.
So if you really hate purling, give this a go. It’s worth it, once you’ve cleaned up your exploded brain.
To put it into context: I started knitting two years ago, or close enough. To be fair for the first six months or so I mostly crocheted as I didn’t dig the whole two-needles thing (oh how times change!) but my first (unfinished) project was a scarf knitted out of a terrible acrylic blue yarn.
So I really should know the basics by now.
Imagine my surprise (and amusement) when I discover that after all this time I’ve been doing the purl stitch wrong!
Yay finished Coachella!
Have a look at this finished top. I’m very pleased with it as it fits and it is entirely wearable. HOWEVER. I noticed the straight section – where I knit flat down to the bottom of the armholes (mid-boob) – is completely different from the part where I knitted in the round. The only difference in these two sections is the purl stitch so I started to have the sneaking suspicion I’d made a fundamental error.
Maybe I’m just not very good at the purl stitch, thought I.
I looked closer. The stitches don’t lie flat and there’s an odd pull between them. Hmm, maybe not. Maybe I twist the stitches.
Then a very kind soul on Ravelry tactfully informed me that it does indeed look like I’m twisting my purl stitches and I facepalmed heavily. As a side-note, if you ever notice something I could do to improve my knitting like this, please tell me. I won’t get upset unless you’re a dick about it. I’ll be grateful!
My first attempts at the purl stitch came from this video.
…And I now realise that I must have been watching it whilst wearing a black sack over my head because there’s no other explanation as to how I managed to miss that you cross the yarn over anti-clockwise.
Of course, I’m halfway through a project right now in which I’ve been accidentally twisting the purl stitch all the way through so I have to keep going. Once it’s done I’ll have to relearn the stitch.
Maybe I’ll go continental while I’m at it.
I’m not the only one to make stupid long-running mistakes, right? …Right? …*crickets chirp*…
Time to buy some sea silk to make myself feel better…!
I make smoothies out of vanilla organic low fat yoghurt, frozen organic blueberries and cherries, plus a big slightly overripe banana. Oh, and cardamom and cinnamon which these days I put in everything, especially milk.
I knit socks for my girlfriend. These were done a while ago and are much prettier in person; unfortunately my camera is shite. It’s Tosh Sock yarn so very soft and comfortable, or so I’m assured. I didn’t use a pattern and successfully did kitchener stitch which made me rather smug.
I continue matching my nail varnish to my knitting projects.
This scarf got frogged since I couldn’t be bothered with the lace any longer – it wasn’t pretty enough to hold my attention. I knitted a different thing with the yarn which I shall be sharing at a later point. I also plan to write up the pattern which is quite simple but I love it.
The nail varnish is called ‘Keep It Real’. Yeah, man. Innit.
Yes I did hunt down the perfect colour to go with this yarn.
Me and my girlfriend buy fish to stop ourselves adopting a cat instead.
Honestly though we’d have got the kitten if he hadn’t been adopted while we were busy watching Hunger Games at the AMC. Which was fabulous by the way.
Saturday I am going to Kniterary (The Little Green House in Whitby) and buying the yarn for my first sweater, plus some more of the cotton above for another project.
Now back to knitting a washcloth decorated with leaves.
The Knitter Nerd 