A New Year

There’s been a lot of changes in 2011 for me, the people around me, and the world. It’s been a memorable year but generally not for the right reasons. It ended on a high note though and I have great hopes for 2012.

So what happened to me last year?

• I lost one gentle, relaxing job and started up a harder, more stressful job for the same pay.
• People around me fell ill or faced the possibility of illness.
• I got IIH, an unpleasant condition that meant I had to put off moving to Canada for three months.

Most importantly, though,

• I moved to Canada!

Yep, that’s right, after years of wanting I’m finally in the land of mounties and maple leaves. As I type this I’m sat in the mountains of British Columbia surrounded by some absolutely lovely people (and cats). Finally I’m where I want to be. In a few days I’ll be moving to Oshawa in Ontario where Nari and I will be looking for jobs and an apartment together. It’s like a dream come true and believe me, it’s a dream I’ve had for a long time. Pretty much as long as I remember.

None of this has anything to do with knitting or craft on the surface but believe me, internally it does. Because of all the shifts and changes in the last year I’ve spent a lot of time concentrating on getting better at knitting. I’ve learnt a lot of new skills and I’m proud of how far I’ve come.

New Skills

• Long-tail cast on – which I now use for everything
• Stockinette stitch – or rather, how to do it neatly.
• Knitting in the round
• Jeny’s surprisingly stretchy bind off – perfect for ribbed things
• Simple lace (usually lace rib)
• Increases and decreases of various sorts
• How to find and use vintage patterns

Major projects completed

• Mittens for Tamara
• Headband for my big sister
• Socks for Nari (my first complete and functional pair)
• Crochet shawl
• Hat for mum
• Escapism mitts for me (my proudest achievement so far)
• A beret for Jen

The majority of these were made in the tail end of the year while I was lying in bed or otherwise compromised with this delightful illness. I’m mostly better now and coming off my pills (although it is technically incurable) so I’ll be working soon and will have less time to knit. I don’t intend to let this stop me.

I’m going to post tomorrow about my major knitting resolution for 2012.

How has your year been?

How to Knit in the Round

When I started knitting I didn’t really get it. Same with crochet. With both of these crafts it finally clicked when I started in the round. It seems to flow much easier and I seem to find it less awkward to keep track of where I am in a pattern. I’m sure there are a lot of people who would much rather knit straight but given the choice, I’ll usually pick something knitted in the round.

There are a few methods of doing this, which I’ll lay out here. I am not comfortable enough with some of the methods to be able to instruct from scratch, so I’ll provide you with the links and resources to learn as quickly as I did.

Double Pointed Needles

These are needles that do not have the stopper at one end. They’re pointed on both sides – hence the name – and they’re usually quite a bit shorter than regular straight needles. They’re used a lot in knitting socks.

This is my preferred method for knitting socks and mittens/gloves. It looks a bit fiddly but once you realise you’re only ever knitting on two of the needles, it becomes much easier. The only problem is trying to avoid the obvious line through the bits where the needles switch, something I haven’t quite got the hang of yet. I learned through YouTube videos such as this one, though if you search for ‘knitting on double pointed needles’ a lot of tips and tutorials come up.

The most important thing with knitting on DPNs is that you don’t get the first stitches twisted. If you do, your sock is going to look more than a little strange and will be rather unwearable!

Circular Needles

These are needles specifically designed for knitting in the round; they’re generally used for larger projects than socks etc. They’re two straight needles attached to a flexible cord which comes in a variety of lengths.

I recently used a 16″ circular to knit my mum a hat, shown in the previous post. I also used the same needle to knit myself a headband using an offcentre rib stitch which I’m sure has a name but I have no idea what that would be! It was entirely improvised. Knitting on circulars is quite useful because you can slip the project down onto the cord when transporting. I’ve never had anything fall of circular needles, unlike DPNs; I have also used circular needles to knit straight just for the portability factor.

Have a look at this tutorial or this video. It’s quite a simple process, possibly the simplest of methods knitting in the round. All you need to bear in mind is picking the right size!

Magic Loop Knitting

This is the newest method for me. It’s where you use one long-cabled circular needle and knit small projects in the round – for example, I’m using this to knit mittens. You split the stitches down the middle with the cable. It’s very clever. I understand a lot of people prefer this to knitting with DPNs.

I only tried it a couple of days ago and for some reason I’d expected it to be a lot more difficult. It wasn’t – it was easy peasy! Me and a friend were watching TV so I didn’t want to watch a video on youtube which is my usual method of learning a tricky new skill in knitting. Turns out I didn’t need to: this tutorial from KnitPicks was more than enough.

It may look complicated and confusing but I promise it’s not. I’m not sure I’m completely sold on it; I still prefer knitting on DPNs but that’s a personal preference. The best thing about knitting is that there are so many ways to achieve the same or similar effects and it’s fun to try each of them out when you’re learning to know your own preferences.

So how do you do it?

What have I been knitting (& crocheting)?

Escapism Mitts

Pattern: Sojourn Mitts (Ravelry)

Yarn: Old Maiden Aunt’s Alpaca/Silk

Started: November 9th 2011

Finished: November 14th 2011

I started these mitts when my lovely best friend sent me a skein of this gorgeous yarn. I couldn’t help myself from casting on even though it’s almost Christmas and I have lots of gifts to knit. It was also a bit of a difficult time emotionally, hence the title ‘escapism’: it distracted me from the lovely imbalance of hormones in my head thanks to my medication. I wear these all the time. Dad even said they look professional, which is sweet even if inaccurate. There are plenty of mistakes but that’s what makes them not mass-produced. I would recommend this pattern to anyone.

Motherbot Hat

Pattern: Sockhead Hat

Yarn: Some random purple variegated sock yarn

Started: 1st December 2011

Finished: 5th December 2011

A christmas present for my mum. I was going to knit her socks, but then she asked for a hat. I’d already bought this yarn (I lost the label, hence unable to tell you the brand) so I found a pattern that fit the weight. This is a slouchy pattern but my mum has quite a small head so I decided to reduce the pattern quite a lot. She really liked it. We’re not so much with the waiting to give presents in my family…

Beretion

Pattern: The Columbia Beret (Ravelry)

Yarn: BC Garn Baby Alpaca

Started: About a year ago

Finished: November 2011

It’s not that I took months to make this relatively simple design. It’s that I had real trouble picking something suitable for the lovely soft yarn. It’s laceweight, which I equally adore and fear, since it seems somewhat harder to make into a finished object. This beret is quite appropriate since Jen wears one frequently. I’m assured she likes it. 🙂

—

I know all of these pictures are dubious in quality. Unfortunately at the moment I only have an iPhone to take photos with and soon I won’t even have that – I’m giving it to my mum when I go to Canada in a week. However I know I’ve got a camera somewhere. Just gotta find it!

30 Days of Knitting (part trois)

11: Do you have a “Knitter Hero” or someone that is just way too awesome for their own good? Do share!

Yes! There are some amazing knitters around online but the most consistently entertaining is Yarn Harlot. She posts regularly about her escapades on her book tours or simply what she’s knitting and I love seeing how prolific she is. It’s impressive and she inspires me to be better. I know a lot of awesome knitters in real life too. I have yet to meet a knitter I don’t find awesome, in fact!

12: Where do you keep your stash? Post pictures!

BWUAHAHAHA. AHAHAHAH. Haaaahahah. No.

I have a dwindling stash seeing as I’m using it all up for Christmas but let’s just say it’s not at all organised. Case in point: I have my hot pink malabrigo for my sister’s bedsocks stuffed inside a padded envelope that once held the yarn my friend sent me. I have a purple skein of wool/acrylic blend sat loose in my bag. I have a canvas shopping bag full of random skeins at home, plus numerous more littered about the place. Let’s just say I have trouble finding my yarn in a timely fashion and be done with it.

When I am properly settled in Canada, I already know how I want to store my yarn.

Click image for source.

Something like that, only well… probably less organised. Though that said my bookcase is the only thing in my room with any sense of order to it, at least before I started giving away all my books to unwitting friends. The most important aspect of my yarn storage is that it has glass doors: first for display purposes (yarn is pretty!) and second because, well, I don’t expect our flat shall be devoid of sharp-clawed curious furry animals.

13: Do you have yarn that you love but can’t find a project for?

Sort of. I have the yarn I made my first sock from (see previous post) that stubbornly refuses to be anything, but that’s possibly because I don’t like the yarn very much. So that doesn’t qualify. Generally I find use for the yarns I love. The only exception was a skein of Malabrigo silky merino blend in the archangel colourway which was fantastically beautiful but because of the small quantity I owned, I wasted it entirely on a small bag I’ve never looked at again.

I want more of it. That said, I still have no idea what I’d do with it if I had it.

14: What’s the worst yarn/fiber that you’ve worked with and why?

The first yarn I ever purchased was in a small knitting kit from a charity shop in Poole. It was terrible. Thin, brittle, rough on the hands. 100% acrylic which usually I’m okay with even if I prefer something a little more exciting. I have never used it. Even back then I turned my nose up at it and bought some softer, more interesting acrylic.

15: What was your least favorite pattern and why?

I’m not sure. I don’t work for long on patterns I don’t enjoy. In generalised terms though I like to knit things that are intuitive and rhythmic rather than complicated and mathy. I don’t like to have to count all the time when I’m knitting and the less I have to concentrate the better. That’s not to say I don’t love figuring out complicated patterns; it’s just that I’d like to be able to get into the swing of even those sorts of projects after a few repeats rather than spending the entire time struggling and grimacing. I’ve got to think of those wrinkles, you know. I’m already the grand old age of 24!*

I’m really enjoying rambling about my knitting habits. Hopefully it’s interesting to someone else out there too! Stay tuned, kids: more to come tomorrow.

* Disclaimer: I don’t give a damn about wrinkles. 😉

30 Days of Knitting (part deux)

6: What is your favorite piece that you’ve knit?

That’s a toss up between two. There’s the fingerless mitts I finished in November which are made from such a beautiful yarn it makes me ache to touch it; I’m especially proud of these since my Dad, a stoic man, said they look ‘professionally made’. To get a compliment from my father is praise indeed. They’re warm and snug and the yarn was a gift from a very dear friend of mine so they’re special to me, flaws and all.

The yarn is much greener than it appears here.

However, there’s another project I’ve used quite a lot since I crocheted it a long while ago… and I’ve just realised it’s crochet, not knit, so it has no place here. Shock horror! In that case, the mitts above are what does it for me. Aren’t they lovely? I don’t have a good picture of both of them together, but trust me, they look good.

7: Your least favorite?

Oh, there’s lots. I don’t tend to get very far in things I’m not pleased with though which is why I haven’t finished as many projects as I perhaps should have after knitting for over a year. I didn’t really start knitting until recently which means most of my projects have been abandoned as soon as my less-than-beginner head realised it wasn’t going to work for whatever reason.

There is my first sock though. It’s not that I don’t like the sock or that I’m not proud of it; I do, and I am. I just cannot stand the yarn. It’s splitty and uncomfortable to use and I don’t like the wide stripes or the colour transitions. It’s not the yarn for me so I never made the second sock.

It did eventually gain a toe.

8: What’s your most challenging project?

Every project I do is challenging to me, generally. I like to try new things and work out new skills. Socks are difficult in the best way and I love knitting them. Cables I find very difficult because I’m rubbish at keeping track of where I am in a pattern and tend to get it very wrong. You should see my sister’s bedsocks; the cables on it are appalling in places but they look good overall and she won’t mind. I’ve only just got the hang of the cables and I’ve nearly finished the cuff.

Of course, this just makes me want to knit more cables.

9: What fiber or yarn do you love working with?

MALABRIGO. OH MALABRIGO, I CANNOT QUIT YOU. My first couple of skeins came from my girlfriend in a lovely parcel of yarny goodness and I fell in love immediately. With the yarn, that is, not the girlfriend – that came much earlier. 😉 No, I love the squishy butteryness of Malabrigo; the way it feels to knit and the way it feels to use in a finished project. My sister is lucky indeed to be getting malabrigo worsted socks for Christmas but it’s a treat for me too to get to use such delicious yarn.

Even if it is hot pink. Shudder.

I have a lot of love for a lot of different yarns on top of Malabrigo though. The texture of a yarn is important to me in whether I enjoy a project or not. I was pleasantly surprised with King Kole Zig Zag yarn but not so impressed with Tosh sock, which shows it’s not the price that woos me. I do adore the colour of the Tosh sock though which makes up for it.

10: Do you have a favorite pattern or designer?

No. I get most of my patterns from Ravelry just from browsing around. I’m cool with paying a couple of quid if it’s something I really want to make, especially since I know it goes straight to the person who designed it and not some big heartless company. There’s something soothing about that, isn’t there?

In general I like patterns that are both easy to read and interesting. I don’t like counting lots and lots, so intuitive patterns I can memorise and mesmerise myself with are ideal.

Vintage Knitting, Craft Books and Cats

They had great covers, too.

I love old knitting books.

Unfortunately I can’t remember where I got this link but wherever it was, I’m endlessly grateful. I’ve said before that one of the reasons I find knitting so fascinating is its long and illustrious history. The most well-documented of this being, of course, the 1800s. With easy means to mass-produce books and other resources they spun out many patterns that are still accessible today. The above link gives you a great insight into the kind of things people would be knitting at the time.

This wonderful online resource for vintage books doesn’t just cover knitting. There’s all sorts of arts and crafts related books but of course I gravitate towards a certain sector! The image to your right shows the cover of a book/pamphlet that cost one shilling and is written ‘by a Lady’. It’s how to knit in a floral style and it’s simply charming. I would love to hold the physical book, flick through its pages and absorb it that way but since that’s not likely to happen any time soon, this is the next best thing. And there’s a lot of variety there which can suck away hours of your life as you read through all the old patterns and advice given to so many women through the years.

There’s also a book on there entitled ‘Ladies’ Work for Sailors’ which is a pamphlet explaining all manner of useful projects for those not able to shunt their work onto their wives. The fact that it’s called Ladies’ work is intriguing considering sailors must have been doing these kinds of things since time began, or else walking in holey socks throughout their seafaring days. The history of gender and knitting is something I’m planning on researching at some point since it’s a fascinating subject.

In more personal news, I’ve recently received a skein of Tosh sock in the colourway ‘Fjord’. It’s to knit a pair of Christmas socks for my girlfriend and to be honest, I haven’t had the best start. The skein was horribly tangled and it took me many, many hours to wind it into a ball which simultaneously wound me right up! Still, it’s done now and all I have to do is find a pattern for it.

Not the best match for colours, but you get the idea.

I’m actually tempted to make an ordinary plain sock without a pattern. I don’t think I’d need one now.

And yes, I’m still ignoring the sock with the messed-up toe. I’ll get to it!

In non-knitting news I spent a week cat sitting for Jane while she and Sophie were in France and I kind of… didn’t leave. At the moment my house is devoid of cats due to Dad moving to Southampton and when Jane and Sophie said I could stay here, I jumped at the chance. Mostly because Jane is such a lovely person anyway. She’s making her beautiful glass beads right now while I write this post and we’re listening to a bit of Joni Mitchell. What more could I want?

Oh that’s right. Absolutely gorgeous cats. She has two, Lou and Ruby, and they are lovely.

Lou...

…is a slightly shy, standoffish girl with gorgeous markings and lovely soft fur. She took a while to get used to me I think but one morning I woke up and she was sleeping beside me. She wouldn’t let me get up for ages, demanding attention with rather fierce headbutts to the face and now she seems to have accepted my presence.

Ruby...

…is a much more social kitty who took about fifteen microseconds to start attacking me for attention when I showed up. She’s sweet and likes to hit me over the head with her tail until I stroke her. She’s lucky she’s cute! But seriously, this cat is absolutely adorable and I want to pack both of them up and bring them with me when I eventually leave.

Now to work out how to stop these two little fiends attacking my knitting…

The Magical Sock Saga: Part One

Socks are important. No, really. If you live somewhere soggy like England and have to wear nice waterproof shoes, you want your feet to be cosy inside. If you live somewhere cold you need all the layers you can get. They can be decorative (rainbow toe socks) or just plain functional (my dad’s 20 pairs of identical navy blue socks).

Here’s what Wiki has to say about socks and yes I’ve left the [1]s in so you know it’s the real deal, man:

A sock is an item of clothing worn on the feet. The foot is among the heaviest producers of sweat in the body, as it is able to produce over a pint of perspiration per day.^[1] Socks help to absorb this sweat and draw it to areas where air can evaporate the perspiration. In cold environments, socks decrease the risk of frostbite. Its name is derived from the loose-fitting slipper, called a soccus in Latin, worn by Roman comic actors.

The earliest surviving cloth socks, thereby proving that ancient Egyptians were Nightcrawler.

Well, that told you. Who doesn’t need a loose fitting slipper to cling to their sweaty skin? Exactly. Now that I’ve made the art of socks seem positively divine, I can proudly announce that I’m on an epic mission to produce one.

First up, I bought DPNs (double pointed needles). I have 10 sets of 5 DPNs in different sizes, all bamboo. Ebay is wonderful for that crap. All of that only cost me six quid! I adore bamboo crochet hooks and needles so this seemed to be the logical choice.

Next up, I purchased a yarn which is pretty enough to make me want to keep going. I would not work well with a solid colour as my attention span is not great. I am lucky enough to have a couple of brilliant yarn stores in my town which a wide selection of beautiful fibres but as I cannot resist anything vaguely rainbow (as anyone who knew me at college will attend) I had to go for Lang Yarns – Jawoll Magic Dégradé which is 75% new wool and 25% nylon which, in my research, seems to be a fairly good percentage for socks.

It's almost as classy as my flower-explosion purse/glasses.

I mean, look at it. How could I resist?

The next bit was the fun part. I’ve already tried knitting in the round on circular needles, resulting in a cowl that was absolutely lovely until I cast off way too tightly and it doesn’t fit. Clever Polo. I’ve tried ribbing in the same project. I’ve never tried to use DPNs so working out to handle that many sticks at once was a bit of a nightmare! First step? Casting on.

I always cast on/off too tight so I learnt how to use the Long Tail Cast On – that’s a link to a youtube video that got me perfectly capable of casting on well in no time at all. It’s really fun and rhythmic! I ended up casting on way too many stitches just because I couldn’t help myself.

As for swatching, well… I tried. By which I mean I have the attention span of a dead dog. I managed a few rows before I got bored and decided it was a good time to start knitting a the sock itself. Here’s how far I got:

Not very far at all, as you can see...

Still, who needs to be sensible and actually follow the process? It’s much more fun to wing it, right? I’m an expert at that. So I cast on my sock and I’m a couple of inches in but you don’t get a picture of that until next time.

And there will be a next time. I fear a new obsession may be born!