Northern Line Knitter

Sock Horror

2009-04-13T17:40:00.002+01:00

My Om Shanti socks became Omg Shanti socks after a brief dip in luckwarm water. They grew to enormous proportions - previously all these socks were just about the same length:

At least they both match:

A lady from Chameleon Yarns pm-ed me to say that putting them in the dryer might sort them out. I don't have a dryer but luckily I'm not heart broken about the loss of these socks. Also they might be better once dry. I'll update this post if that is the case.

I finished my froot loop socks and I'm very happy that the yarn looks appropriately edible:

Today I sorted through my yarn & now I'm in need of an antihistamine. No wonder I only do this once or twice a year! The photos below show a proportion of the non-sock part of my stash.

Quilting

2009-04-04T15:36:00.004+01:00

Sometimes I look at other people's blogs and feel jealous of their fabulous crafting environment with quilting walls, huge tables and special built in wardrobes. Admittedly this tends to be people who craft for a living rather than a hobby, but still, it's difficult not to wish that we had room for an extension to our small South London maisonette. This week I took two days off and the weather was gorgeous so I moved my sewing machine from the kitchen table to the garden and was completely cured of my jealousy because, as far as I'm concerned, nothing could be nicer.

After my intensive spell of working it has been lovely to have a holiday. I decided to carry on working on my sunrise quilt and decided to add three borders to finish off the patchwork.

The next step is to layer the quilt with the patchwork on top, wadding in the middle and a backing fabric and then quilt the layers together. To attempt to make the quilting easier I bought an 'even walking foot'. This is a cumbersome looking sewing machine foot which feeds the fabric though from the top at the same rate that the feed dogs feed through the fabric at the bottom. I was petty flummoxed as to how to fit the foot to my Janome DC3050 until I found a fantastic post and a fabulous diagram from Hoppo Bumpo.

I took some photos of the process in case anyone else has the same difficulty as me:
1. Remove the foot holder

2. Prop the foot handle over the needle clamp

3. Screw in the foot

I quilted a test piece of patchwork and was very impressed with the new foot:

From the back:

So the next step will be to attempt the same thing with my much larger sunrise quilt.

G20

2009-03-30T17:12:00.002+01:00

On April 1st i.e. tomorrow the G20 summit hits London (and I think 'hits' it going to be very appropriate adjective). I'm one of the thousands of people who work at an investment bank here in London but I promise that I have had nothing to do with
the current economic situation. I work in IT in the glamorous world of address book technology & not anywhere even close to finance. This is a good thing because maths was not my strongest subject and in fact I failed my maths A-level in a spectacular way, although with the current state of the world it probably would have made no difference if some of the banks had handed over all of their accounts to me and my poor arithmetic.

Anyhow we have been told that tomorrow we should dress in casual clothes so we don't stand out amidst all of the rioters. I'm sure that this must be some kind of April fools joke because the bankers I know would be incapable of looking like an anarchist and blending in at a riot unless chinos are now all the rage with the Socialist Workers. I'll be OK because in the whole of my life I have never managed to look smart.

I've not been posting recently or reading other peoples blogs because I've been working all hours including weekends and late nights. Now I should be able to cut back and re-enter my personal life which is an enormous relief.

70's style

2009-03-08T18:43:00.003Z

I was born in 1969 so consequently spent my formative years in the 70's and I think that the colours of that time have seeped into my brain. I remember my parent's house where I grew up had a bright orange carpet and purple walls plus brown furniture. This seems to have made a lasting impact on my tastes as I was extremely excited by these fabrics (which I've started to make into yet another bag).

The blue is Carnaby Street by Robert Kaufman & the other is Poppy Dot Orange by Erin McMorris.

Of course other things in the 70's were lousy. I grew up in an industrial town in the North of England and it got pretty grim as the industries began to disappear and people began to lose their jobs. And in the 80's it got yet grimmer without even the benefit of funky fabrics.

On the knitting front, last week I blocked a Clapotis that I actually finished mid January. The Claoptis isn't the most interesting pattern to knit, but it's good for knitting groups and on the tube when you need something semi-mindless. I made it in Sea Silk & I'm very pleased with the drapyness and the weight of it.

Sock Factory

2009-02-28T12:59:00.007Z

As I mentioned previously I want more handknitted socks and so I have become my own personal sock factory. I was lucky enough to buy this lovely Artsygal yarn from Justine (many thanks!!).

And I'm very pleased with the resulting socks (they look nicer in real life). I like the way that the very bright multicolored yarn is toned down to an almost-grey when knitted up.

I am very keen on feather and fan type patters so I based the stitch pattern on Rob Matyska's broadripple.

I tend not to follow a pattern because I knit on the tube a lot. Normally things work out OK but here I've ended up with two different heel shapings (although only an up-close fellow knitter would notice). I think the one on the LHS is the more 'finished' looking one because I've unwrapped my stitches. The RHS is the lazy alternative...

Another 40th

2009-02-23T22:50:00.003Z

Last Friday was Chris' 40th birthday so we decided to have a quiet weekend away in the New Forest. It felt like spring for the first time this year.
We did some hiking through the woodland:

We found the perfect pub:

And went down to the salt marshes:

I needed a bit of peace and down-time since I'm going to have to work flat out for the next two or three weeks. I can't wait for everything to calm down so I can get back to the sewing machine and needles and maybe even go to a knitting evening or two.

Volksfaden

2009-02-17T12:32:00.002Z

I know it's a recession and no one can afford to buy stuff, but even without spending any money you can enjoy looking at this beautiful and original on-line fabric shop Volksfaden.

Another Bag

2009-02-15T11:25:00.003Z

I decided to have a go at making a bag without using a pattern, so here's what I came up with:

The front (with a pocket)

This is the back

There is also an inside zipped pocket in the lining.

I'm quite pleased with it. It's big enough to hold a book and a sock project plus my tube pass.

I used odds and ends of fabric left over from my Amy Butler bag because I was worried about ruining some of my other fabric. This means I've unintentionally ended up with a matching set:

I didn't put a closure on the top; I had bought a zip but I decided that it wasn't long enough and nearly added some press studs but decided against it. In the end I decided that the bag will hang just under my elbow and so I it ought to be OK without one & I can add one later if necessary.

All about socks

2009-02-08T13:04:00.011Z

Over the last month I have undergone a huge change in my attitude to handknitted socks.

I knitted my first sock a couple of years ago however I was very much a sock cynic thinking 'What is the point of handknitting a sock just to hide it away in your shoes where it will be worn out in no time at all?' So I knitted my first sock out of a desire to try out all the soch knitting techniques - dnps, turning heels, short rows etc. I used lovely Old Maiden Aunt yarn and had a enjoyable knit and I had a nice little pair of socks at the end of it.

However I still wasn't absolutely convinced about the value of handknitted socks.

I went on knitting socks because of the project portability and the lovely yarns plus of course the fabulous patterns. When I had to go away from home for business trips I'd always take some of my socks because they were such comforting things so slip on at night and remind you of home.

Last year I knitted quite a few pairs of socks including socks for friends AND I went on a Lucy Neatby sock knitters course. But I still wasn't a totally convinced sock knitter.

So what has changed? This cold weather has finally made me realise that handknitted socks aren't just ornamental socks to wear at home. They are very practical being warmer, more squishy and thicker than shop bought socks. The change is now I feel that I don't have enough handknitted socks and I need to knit more so I don't have to worry about running out. In other words I've gone from being a Process sock knitter to a Product sock knitter.

So it is slightly ironic that it has taken me since last April to finish my latest pair of socks. I picked them up again as part of my WIP drive and actually it's taken me about 3 weeks to finish them off. They were knitted on 2mm needles in beautiful yarn that Jon from Easy Knits gave me on a funny drunken afternoon (you can read about it on his blog 13/04/2008 entry). The yarn is a bamboo/merino mix & I loved the colours - pink, yellow and beige.

The pattern is Having Hope by Diane Mullholand which I more or less followed although I made a few adjustments for the quirks of my feet. Diane wrote this pattern in order to raise money for cancer research (which is a cause that is also close to my heart).

Amy Butler Sophia Bag

2009-02-08T11:27:00.009Z

I've finally finished my second Amy Butler bag: Sophia.

I like the shape of the bag with it's 50's feel. However I think that the handles should be longer and the center of the bag (where the zip is fitted) should be narrower so it's easier to carry.

The fabric is from the Joel Dewberry Ginseng collection.

The only modification I made was to omit the cording at the bottom. This was because various people on the sewing pattern review forum gave this advise to avoid having to sew through zillions of layers.

I'm going to use it to hold all of my sewing machine things that don't have a home.

Next time I'm going to design my own bag. I have quite a good idea of what I want and the Amy Butler patterns have given me a good introduction to bag making.

As I'm sure I've mentioned before I love sewing and I love my sewing machine. I especially love the little packets of sewing machine needles. I imagine the design of these needle cases must have been the same for decades.

I'm still figuring out the system of grading of sewing machine needles whereby the numbers are something like (90/14) or (100/16). I understand that the higher the first number the thicker the needle so 100 is good for denim and 70 is good for satin. I think the second number is just another way of expressing the first number. It gets more complicated because the number doesn't relate to the type of end that the needle has, so you could have a 100 ball point needle that wouldn't work on leather. I suppose you just have read what it says on the packet. 'UNIVERSAL' is pretty self-explanatory.

I also love the colours of the threads. When I bought my sewing machine I was lucky enough to get loads and loads of free threads which was almost as good as getting the sewing machine itself!

One more thing. Look at the weird vegetable I got in my vegetable box:

It's called scorzonera and apparently tastes like artichokes and asparagus. I can't wait to give it a try tonight.

Google Library

2009-02-05T07:49:00.003Z

I've just belatedly discovered Google Library and I'm quite impressed. You can search using the google search engine inside previews of loads of craft books. The previews are much longer than amazon type previews letting you really make up your mind about the book.

For example I've had my eye on the following two books because they both have great amazon reviews but they are not stocked in any bookshops near me. The long previews are very useful to make a decision on whether or not to buy:

Fine Machine Sewing - Carol Ahles
Couture Sewing Techniques By Claire B. Shaeffer

Not all books have long previews and the knitting book selection didn't seem so good. I think at the moment the listed books are slightly older. The most recently published book I saw was:

Knit Couture By Henry Conway

I already own this book but if you were interested in buying it the preview does give a lot of information. In this case some of the photos are blanked out due to copyright reasons.

It'll be interesting to see where this technology goes but now I have to go to work!

Snow

2009-02-02T08:37:00.005Z

It's very exciting! This is the most snow I have ever seen in London & I've lived here for more than 10 years. None of the buses are running and the tube lines are in chaos so I'm having a day at home (unless it suddenly clears up).

It was something new for the cat:

but curiousity always wins!

I'd rather have a cup of tea

2009-01-31T08:27:00.008Z

A quote from a recent Economist article:
TO SOME there is nothing so urgent that it cannot be postponed in favour of a cup of tea. Such procrastination is a mystery to psychologists, who wonder why people would sabotage themselves in this way.
I simply do not understand what could possibly be more important than a cup of tea.

However speaking of procrastination I have began a finishing drive on my neglected WIPs. In the case of this beaded South Seas stole I had only about a weeks worth of knitting before it was completed. I had completely stalled with this one due to the tediousness of the edging.

Here are the panels:

I love geometric designs and I was very excited about the bottom right panel. If I was going to knit this lovely design again I think I'd make the shawl panels symmetrical and skip the bottom left panel altogether.

I used 'Posh Yarn' that I bought in Wales last year. I can see why people go so crazy for it, in fact I didn't knit this shawl in public in case I was mugged by a fundamentalist posh yarn knitter.

Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter

2009-01-24T08:37:00.014Z

I bought my sewing machine early last year and found it rather intimidating. My only previous experience was when someone gave me a beautiful old singer machine when I was 21 and broke. I lived in a funny little ground floor flat in Glasgow which was so damp that slugs shared the flat leaving slimy trails allover the carpets and any clothes left on the floor. After a couple of months some local druggies broke in and stole just about everything in the flat including half full bottles of shampoo and of course my sewing machine. I had no insurance but also I didn't have many possessions so I wasn't too upset but my poor flatmate had his entire record collection stolen which he found devastating. Anyhow that brought my sewing to a immediate stop.

So fast forward to 2008 when my beautiful new Janome machine arrived. I'd completely forgotten about spool thread so I spent some time pouring over the manual before I could even thread it. I bought the machine with the idea of making adjustments to clothes and that kind of thing but once I started looking around on the internet and in bookshops I realised that I was more interested in the home decor side of sewing especially because you can get such gorgeous fabrics at the moment.

The first book I bought was Simple Sewing by Lotta Jansdotter. Some of the projects are VERY simple, for example one of the projects is for kitchen towels and I think that even I would never actually need instructions on how to hem a piece of fabric! Also there is a pattern for picnic placemats which are pretty much the same as the kitchen towel! I would classify those patterns as being suitable for brain dead zombies however the remainder of the patterns are more at a beginner standard. She uses absolutely wonderful fabrics and the photography is beautiful in a Scandinavian style. I made some oven gloves using a pattern from the book & Kaffe Fasset fabric.

The gloves are lined with fabric but as far as I could make out from the instructions all of the raw ends of the fabric were visible on the inside. When I made the second glove I didn't follow the instructions and hid the raw edges. I think as a beginner when you try a project you want to learn some finishing techniques so I was a bit disappointed with the instructions. Other than that the gloves are lovely and look very nice from the outside. When I used them for the first time I was nervous I would end up with 3rd degree burns but they do work.

I do like this book because it looks so good and is useful for finding inspiration. It has some other cool patterns such as a reversible apron and tote bags plus a cool hat with a quilted rim. You never know, I might even make some kitchen towels from it!

40!

2009-01-20T20:27:00.002Z

Oh no! I never thought it would happen to me but I'm now 40 years old. I had a lovely trip away with my friends to celebrate and I managed not to spend the whole time hiding under the bed.

We went to Keswick in the Lake District:

It was cold but v.pretty:

I'm in the middle being 40:

Finished Mittens

2009-01-11T09:47:00.004Z

I've just finished these Fiddlehead mittens:

I used some Harrisville Designs New England Shetland yarn that I bought when I was on holiday in Victoria, British Columbia. Luckily when purchasing this random holiday yarn I bought a contrasting colour. Even if I say so myself, that was very sensible indeed and it makes it quite set apart from other less sensible decisions I've made when purchasing yarn without a motive (I'm talking about YOU Lana Grossa!).

The Harrisville yarn was perfect for stranded work although a bit too skinny for these mittens as they came out too small for me to add a lining as in the pattern. Oh well - that just means that they were finished sooner & they are still nice and warm. The good news is I have plenty of yarn left for a second pair with the colours reversed (at some unspecified point in the future).

The yarn was nice to work with but it's very (& strangely) easy to snap.

52 Weeks

2009-01-10T17:01:00.007Z

What a shock to be back at work this week. I don't think I was much use until Wednesday and had remembered why I was supposed to be there. I had such a nice Christmas & New Year holiday this year which consisted of staying in the house completely for 3 days whilst sewing and knitting. It was so nice to get away from my stressful job for a short while.

Now I'm trying to work through my unfinished projects & I'm finally I'm doing some work on my Apres Surf. I've decided to knit on the sleeves from the top with a short row sleeve cap because if I follow the pattern they will end up going way past my finger tips. I'm going to try and knock together a tutorial on that technique at some point.

This week I went to see The Clientele play. They were fabulous & I was lucky enough to be at the front. Here is James from the Clientele on Thursday night with an enormous glitterball:

They were playing in The Luminaire in Kilburn which coincidentally is the same place as I took one of my first Proj 365 photos last year:

Project 365 is a project to take one photo a day for a year & I kept it up for about a month before I absolutely ran out of ideas. It got a bit depressing to realise that just about most days all I had to photograph was the London Underground! Here is an example of one of the photos from last year. I called it 'Move towards the light' (don't look if you've got any depressive tendencies!):

Anyhow this year I'm going to do project 52 (a photo a week) which is much more manageable and even I must do one interesting thing a week! I've set up a flickr group with a couple of friends & if anyone else would like to join then please let me know & I'll invite you in.

Also you can now download my excel macro for producing knitters graph paper.

And one more thing: Justine has a fantastic competition on her blog Elevenses at the moment. You might win some (suspenseful silence) wollmeister!!!

More Quilting

2009-01-02T14:12:00.008Z

One book I bought last year was Last Minute Quilted Gifts. I enjoyed Last Minute Knitted Gifts and hoped for more of the same. I thought the book was OK but nothing really leaped out at me as a 'must make'. I did make one project from the book which used up some of my quilt disaster fabric:

I'm very fond of these little coasters.

I finally made a decision on yesterdays patchwork. I went for a combination of #1 and #2 in the end after much rearranging and deliberating. I'm going to call this quilt the 'Sunrise Quilt' because the colours look like the sun rising over the sea. The brightness of the fabrics is a tonic in these grey winter days.

The next step is to make a border then bind and quilt (or is it quilt and bind)...

Quilt Confusion

2009-01-01T14:09:00.004Z

I just don't know what to do with my quilt. This is my second attempt at patchwork and it's very confusing to know what is best.

I sewed the version on the LHS into strips but then decided that I could do a better layout; I spent 2 hours unpicking and rearranging (see RHS).

Now, looking at the photos, I'm not so sure that the first version isn't better....

Knitting in 2008

2008-12-30T21:20:00.013Z

2008 Finished Knitted Objects

So here is a summary of my finished knitted items from 2008. I also have quite a few things to finish off. My resolution for next year is to finish one existing WIP before starting on something else (we'll see how that goes).

2008 Stash Size

And here is the awful truth. So it's a 'one in - one out' policy in 2009.

Christmas

2008-12-28T13:44:00.003Z

I must say that I'm not normally a huge fan of Christmas, but for the last two years I have invited my family to stay at my house and looked after them. These have been my favorite Christmas times by far. I know it is a cliche but it really is much better to give than to receive. However there was an exception where 'getting' was MUCH better; Chris gave me 'Quilting, Patchwork & Applique - a World Guild' for a Christmas present. I'm absolutely delighted.

I ordered some of the fabric from Quilthome in the US but fabric did not arrive. I queried it with their customer service department who were exceptionally helpful and resent the fabrics. Later they informed that the original order had been returned to them as 'Not Deliverable'. I intend to complain to my local PO as all I can think is that they did not attempt to deliver it. Quilthome have a fabulous fabric selection and obviously I rate them very highly for customer service.

I'm going to make some bags out of the following 6 fabrics. The fabric on the left is the lining and on the right is the outer fabric:

Joel Dewberry - Manzanita (black)
Tina Givens - Sweet Poppies (red)

Joel Dewberry - Ginseng Collection (both)

Amy Butler (this might not be correct)

Today I started thinking about doing some quilting and I was lucky enough to get some help from a furry friend:

Excel Macro - Knitters Graph Paper

2008-12-27T15:07:00.012Z

I wrote the following macro a while ago which produces Knitters Graph paper. I'm sure there are better things out there but this does do the job.

To try it do the following:

*update*
You can download it from here:
Gauge.xls
Just press the button. You'll still have to edit the code to change the gauge as described below:

1. In Excel open a new worksheet and goto the following menu option
Tools - Macro - Visual Basic Editor

2. On the LHS there should be a list of worksheets - double click on Sheet1

3. Chose CommandButton1 from the LHS drop down menu

4. If your gauge is different then you can play around with the following two numbers to match your values:
dStitchGauge
dRowGauge

If they are both set to 1 then the the cells will be square.

5. Save then go back to the worksheet and click on the button

5. That's it - you should get knitters graph paper produced on your worksheet like this (but remember to set the option to print the grid lines):

Here's the code:

Dim dRowGauge As Double
Dim dStitchGauge As Double
Dim dRatio As Double
Dim dColumnWidth As Double
Dim dRowHeight As Double

Const cSquareColumnWidth = 2
Const cSquareRowHeight = 15

dStitchGauge = 3 'Change this value to your stitch gauge
dRowGauge = 2 'Change this value to your row gauge

dRatio = dRowGauge / dStitchGauge

If dRatio <= 1 Then
dColumnWidth = dRatio * cSquareColumnWidth
dRowHeight = 1 * cSquareRowHeight
Else
dColumnWidth = 1 * cSquareColumnWidth
dRowHeight = (1 / dRatio) * cSquareRowHeight
End If

'Row Gauge to Column Gauge ratio
With Range("a1:iv65536")
.Clear
.RowHeight = dRowHeight
.ColumnWidth = dColumnWidth
End With

More snowflakes

2008-12-15T23:21:00.005Z

I have made these prints of the crocheted snowflakes for Christmas cards by doing a 'reverse' contact print. The original contact prints are below:

Crochet

2008-12-07T17:46:00.007Z

I taught myself to crochet!

I've been using patterns from the book Crochet Inspiration to make these Christmas ornaments...

Chaos on the Northern Line

2008-10-26T11:19:00.006Z

On Thursday I got to Balham Station and was confronted with a crowd so large that cars couldn't get down the road:

Apparently there was a 'body on the line' at Oval. The hassle of being in such a large crowd and the inconvienience make it very difficult to feel sympathy for the 'body' because it seems so abstract.

I ended up getting a bus to Brixton. Recently there seems to be more and more people traveling up the Northern Line. I never get a seat which makes my back ache and by the time I get to work I am already exhausted.

So I'm thinking about moving away. I used to live in Edinburgh and now I want to return. I was there last week and remembered the reasons why I love it:

Sewing

2008-10-13T08:53:00.009+01:00

Now I'm obsessed with sewing which is quite new to me. I'm a big believer of trying not to be intimidated and 'jumping in the deep end'. The two projects below show the good side and bad side of this approach!

My biggest project (and one which I'm very pleased with) has been the Amy Butler Weekender bag. This bag is huge - big enough to store a sewing machine:

I posted a review of the pattern on the pattern review website and I've pasted it in here:

I thought I'd write a review of this pattern because I'm very much a sewing beginner so it might give other beginners an idea of whether or not they want to commit to this pattern (especially since many of the reviews do not recommend this pattern for beginners).

I loved making this bag and was very pleased with the result which did look a lot like the photo on the pattern envelope. Also I've had some very nice comments from friends who were genuinely surprised that I hadn't bought the bag in a shop.

Making the bag took me a long time - much longer than I expected. I spent more than a day just cutting out the pieces because I realised that if I cut them as recommended in the instructions that the various elements to the pattern would not line-up and then it might look pretty messy. I learnt that I might have had an easier job choosing a smaller pattern repeat!

After the cutting out it took me about another 3 full days of hardcore sewing. The most difficult part for me was making the cording and 'crowding' the cording - and just the concept of cording! The zip was very easy and I didn't have too much problem with the thickness of the sewing but I used a substitute of Timtex* (I don't think you can get it in the UK) that was recommended to me (on u-handbag.com) so maybe it was slightly thinner.

*The substitute was - Vilene Craft/Pelmet Sew-in (edit)

One downside was the cost of this project - it worked out to be hugely more expensive than I expected when I bought the pattern. I'd recommend that people price this bag out before starting sewing because it easily cost me> £100.

I followed the instructions exactly. I thought that they were very clear although I had to read through some parts a number of times before getting them. I am a much better sewer now - I learnt a whole heap of techniques and I am now much more confident with my sewing machine as a result. I would recommend this pattern to an enthusiastic beginner who is prepared maybe to do a little research on the internet if they get stuck.

However all has not been successful in my sewing mania. I bought some Kaffe Fassstt prints with the intention to make a quilt from last minute quilted gifts. So here are some of the beautiful original prints:

And I did this to them (which in real life looks even worse):

I've learnt that just because the fabric look nice separately they won't necessarily look nice all together. And although I think unpatterned neutrals are boring - that is sometimes exactly what is needed. I will use up all of that material in different projects but my punishment for my bad taste is having to unpick all of those stitches.

So if you're going to be brave and jump in you have to expect to occasionally get into a bit of trouble!

I do sometimes post!

2008-04-06T14:04:00.006+01:00

OK - I don't post enough. And this post isn't even about knitting!

First of all we have a lovely new addition to our home:

and secondly, something unusual (for London) happened today. See if you can guess what it is:

Results

2007-12-05T11:17:00.000Z

These are the results of my home dyeing:

Hand Dyeing

2007-12-04T10:30:00.001Z

I’ve not been keeping up this blog because I enrolled on Ravelry and found that it made it easier to keep track of my projects than the blog. However, now I’ve been working on some hand dyeing so here is what I did and how it worked out.

Firstly I went on a dyeing course at The Handweavers Studio (the course was fabulous - I'd recommend it). Each person tried different dye recipes and at the end we compiled all of the recipes and samples into a reference:

The next step was to try the process myself at home. The Handweavers Studio sell both Acid Based and Fibre Reactive Dyes. However they do not sell Glaber’s Salts ( leveling agent) so I found it at Fibre Crafts website.

I dyed 5 gram samples of yarn and then scaled up to 100g hanks.

For the 5g samples, I put each sample in a plastic bag (a cook-in-the-bag) with the ingredients:
5ml Glauber Salt Stock (stock is 100g gs to 1000ml water)
5ml Vinegar
3ml Dye Stock (stock is 5g dye powder to 500ml water)

then 100g hanks:
100ml Glauber Salt Stock
100ml Vinegar
300ml Dye Stock

What I found was the colour was stronger on the 100g hanks. I’ve no idea why – I suspect the plastic bags might be semi-permeable so maybe some dye was lost. 5ml is difficult to measure accurately so maybe I put less in. also 3ml dye stock is more than required for a saturated colour.

Also, despite the glauber salt, I got a bit of streaking at the lower concentrations.

Blue Sky

2007-08-14T19:18:00.001+01:00

So much for yarns from the UK - I've just fallen completely in love with Blue Sky Alpaca's. It's the colours.

I especially like the green (which is Alpaca & Silk). I started knitting swatches in it, but X wasn't very sure and kept saying he didn't think it would suit me. Then when I was out shopping I saw a jumper in M&S that was a similar colour. I even had my yarn with me so I could compare & it was EXACTLY the same. So... I tried it on to see if X was right, maybe it would look awful, after all, it is quite a bright green... Inevitably it looked great. I ended up buying the jumper. Doh - now it seems like a waste of time to knit in the Blue Sky Alpaca green when I've already got a jumper in the same colour. And of course X has now admited he's wrong and it looks nice (why did I listen to him? He's COLOURBLIND. Really.).

Next Sweater

2007-08-03T12:00:00.001+01:00

I've SO nearly finished Ziggy. Now I've done all the knitting and cast off. I just need to weave in any left over ends (and photograph it for ravelry). Of course, now I’m thinking about my next sweater. I popped into iKnit to see if I could find any suitable yarn, but nothing leaped out at me. I’m intending to go up to Loop on Saturday - I like the yarn selection & the colours they have there. I’m thinking lovely soft Alpaca in black or turquoise.

Meanwhile I’ve been working on a pair of socks which are going very slowly. I’ve been knitting them on the tube and I only get about 6 rows done in 30minutes. Also on my finished sock I have some horrid colour pooling on the sole. I’m going to rip it out and re-knit to avoid it. I’m surprised so see this because it’s Koigu.

My next socks are going to be a pattern I’m inventing called Mary Queen of Socks. I’m basing these socks on a written description of a pair worn by Mary Queen of Scots to her execution in ‘A History of Hand knitting by Richard Rutt’. The description is very vague which is lucky as I am not concerned with historical correctness! I’m going to try to use the same stich pattern for the socks and for my new sweater – so the socks will be a test run to see how it looks. This is all yet to be decided, although I have a few ideas.

Other than that I started trying to knit the Childs Plaid Neck Jumper from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, but I couldn’t get gauge with the yarn substitution I was trying to use. I think the sweater would have actually been too big for me let alone a baby.

Holiday

2007-07-29T12:28:00.000+01:00

The holiday was fabulous and despite my best intentions not to knit for X's sake, I did knit a Chevron Scarf. He actually prefers it when I knit 'cause I'm less impatient- phew!

We went to Seattle and took a couple of weeks to drive down to San Francoico. I love that whole area, especially Oregan, because the countryside is spectacular and the people are just so friendly. I also loved the exchange rate and made full use of it!

I went to 3 yarn stores: So Much Yarn (Seattle), Knit Purl (Portland) and Websters (Ashland) and thought that they were all fabulous. Knit Purl sold a huge array of fabulous Koigu and Websters had fantastic variety. I'm very pleased with my Chevron Scarf, the pattern was perfect as not much concentration is needed, so is very easy to put down then pick up after a couple of days. I used Claudia Hand Painted Yarns and I was inpired in my colour choice by some of the examples on Ravelry.

Thanks for the nice comments on Ziggy. Jocelyn (I wanted to email you but cannot find your email address) - I intended originally to produce a pattern for Ziggy. It would have been the first pattern I'd attempted to write, but now I have decided that it would be too difficult. I've had to change so much on the fly that a pattern would be unworkable and I would hate to get it wrong and waste peoples time and money. However if anyone is intested in knitting something similar I could provide a lot of help.

Hail

2007-07-04T19:32:00.000+01:00

Yesterday on the train home the roofs of the houses I past were covered with a deep layer of hail. But it's JULY!!! In LONDON!!! Global Warming seems to be catching up with us. One nice thing - I saw the brightest rainbow.

From tomorrow I'll be in the states buying yarn for my stash - hooray. I need a holiday.

Soaking

2007-07-02T20:37:00.000+01:00

The weather in the UK has been awful. There have been floods all over Northern England & the weather down here has been exceedingly wet. On Sat I had to go to the hair dressers - a three monthly chore I loath. I get my hair highlighted to cover up a few streaks of grey and the process takes a good few hours and costs > £100. The only bonus is that I ask the hairdresser to make my unruly curly hair straight which pleases my partner who otherwise doesn't get to have a girlfriend with lovely straight hair. Anyhow, after being in the hairdressers from 14:45 - 18:00 I finally left. Naturally it was pouring down, but hey, it's OK I've got my umbrella... But a car roared past me, through a puddle, and absolutely soaked me from head to foot. I'm sure it was deliberate. My hair was instantly curly again and I was covered in filthy water. When I got home putting on my homemade socks was the only thing that could comfort me. I do love my socks.

So Close!

2007-07-01T14:07:00.000+01:00

I've nearly, nearly finished - I've got a small amount of the left sleeve and all of the ribbing to do, and that’s it. We’re going on holiday on Thursday, so my original plan was to have the whole thing finished before then. Now I’d be happy with just having the ribbing to finish off when I return!

We are having to do a lot of packing because we are going to be camping while on holiday – this means we have so much extra gear to pack. I’m not going to knit while we are away ‘cause I don’t think it’s fair on X, but I am going to drag him around every yarn shop possible. We are going to Seattle then slowly driving down to San Francisco (although not staying in SF) via Portland, so I’ve been spending a lot of time googling the LYS’s. The shops look fab – finally I’ll be able to touch these yarns I keep hearing about. Also with the good exchange rate I should be able to buy some nice yarns cheaply. I’m imagining some kind of yarn paradise!

Lost Shoe

2007-06-28T13:51:00.001+01:00

I had an embarrassing moment yesterday. I was rushing to jump on the tube and someone stepped on the back of my trainer, which came off my foot. So I was in the tube and my shoe was outside the tube, just as the doors were beginning to shut! I managed to grab the doors and keep them open enough for the train not to leave the station. I was shouting to a girl on the platform ‘GIVE ME MY SHOE!’ – being shoeless did not bring out my polite side! She didn’t seem to want to pick it up – but really, my trainers are not that bad! Another girl helped me keep the door a fraction open – she was the one who stepped on me in the first place. Eventually the doors opened and the girl on the platform finally picked up my shoe and it handed to me. I slunk into a seat and put it back on, but what would you do if you were in the middle of the city with only one shoe? Take the other one off I suppose.

Ravelry

2007-06-27T13:23:00.000+01:00

The guys from Ravelry helped me and now I can log on - I think I'd managed to type my password incorrectly when I created my account. Or I did something else stupid.

I think Ravelry is fabulous! I've put in 3 projects so far, but only 2 with photos, but it is amazing seeing what other people have done with the same yarn, pattern etc. It's making me very happy!

Ravelry sadness

2007-06-25T19:20:00.000+01:00

I got my ravelry login & was very excited, but somehow I’ve managed to break it already. For a technical person who works as a computer programmer I can be a complete dunce on the keyboard. Another example is that it took me a month to notice the spell check on the blog editor! So, I logged into ravelry from work and decided that if I kept it open all day then my boss wouldn’t be too happy – so I logged out. Now I cannot log back in. Like an idiot, I’ve misspelt either my user name or my password. I had to email the guys at ravely and grovel. Hopefully they will have time to fix it sooner or later, but I know they are very busy.

One sleeve and lots of ribbing left on my jumper - but it's looking quite nice… Maybe I should loose a tiny bit of weight though. It fits a bit too ‘exactly’ for my curves! I’m not taking any more photos until it’s ready! I’m determined to finish it before my holidays on Juliy 5th.

It took me about 12 hours of solid knitting for the first sleeve – I’d gone up to my Dad’s house in Middlesbrough and it just rained all the time giving me lots of knitting hours. The journey there took 6.5 hours driving and back was 7.5 hours – much more than I like. Normally it’s 5 hours but it took one hour to go 3 miles in London on the way up…

Still the dammed jumper

2007-06-15T19:34:00.000+01:00

I'm still knitting the body of the jumper - I reckon I've got about 18 rows to go, but it's taking FOREVER!!! Then the sleeves. Then the neckband.

Still, it's looking good (as far as I'm concerned) and it fits.

This week I sitting on the tube and a guy got on with trousers really low down his hips and a midrift top. You could see what basically looked like the beginning of his pubic hair. It was not a pretty sight. Anyhow he was stood over the other side of the carriage form me. Then I shut my eyes 'cause I was tired - opened them again - and he was about half way towards me. I shut my eyes again, opened them and he was stood RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME!! It was just like the last Doctor Who episode with the angels. Not a nice experience!

Progress at last

2007-06-09T14:45:00.001+01:00

Finally my jumper is progressing. Unexpected things are still happening, but now they are good things!

This week I went to the S&B in Balham for the first time. It's held in a pub which is very local to me which used to be a bowling club (of the green variety not the alley sort). It's really cool inside the pub - they have kept the layout of the place and the bowling paraphenalia. I liked it so much I went back with X for a meal on Thursday night. Anyhow the S&B people (all women) were very nice and working on all kinds of different projects. It's nice to meet up with people who also like to knit. I was a bit of the odd one out - being about the same age as most of the other women but with no children. they all seemed to have nice lives - pilates one night, yoga the next...

Today it is KIP day, but hopefully going to the S&B will count all week. I haven't been knitting on the tube becaue it is incredibly busy and hot right now down there.

A Success and a Disaster

2007-06-03T19:41:00.000+01:00

Firstly a success - My Embossed Leaves Socks are finished and look nice! I love the pattern - the designer really has thought through the details. I'll definitely be knitting these socks again. I found I made more mistakes on the second sock than the first sock - maybe it was because I had the dreaded summer flu. These socks took me about a week to make (knitting on and off). They took 1.5 balls of 50g sock yarn on 3mm needles. The only modification to the pattern I made was to shorten the socks by one pattern repeat (16 rounds) as I have size 5 feet.

Now the disaster. Naturally it's the pattern I'm designing. It was going OK, but I decided it was too big. I based the design on a pattern I'd made up for another fitted sleeve jumper, but stupidly I'd written down that pattern incorrectly. With a lot of despair I decided to pull out what I'd done and re-knit. I'd even done the neckband! Luckily I decided to do the sleeves and that's when I realised it was a no-go. Poor me! This project is cursed! Really, this is the worst I've had. Anyhow see the depressing before and after pics.

2007-05-30T13:19:00.001+01:00

On Saturday night I went out to see the Screaming Tea Party again, at what is most probably the worst music venue in London. I hadn't been before and will not be going there again... It's called Bloomsbury Bowling and is basically a bowling alley with a stage attached. Most of the clientele appear to be at hen or stag do's and the music is interrupted by the sound of the bowling balls. Maybe I was just a bit too old (well, 20 years too old) for the place, but I think I would have hated it when I was 18! However The Screaming Tea Party were good as usual and loud enough to overcome the venue. I got back to Balham exactly by midnight so was lucky not to miss the last tube!

Now, knitting. My reformed Ziggy creation is now going somewhere. Transformed into a fitted sleeve jumper it finally is looking wearable! I'm still above the bust line though - so maybe not wearable yet! The issues I have now are:
1. It's another slipped stich pattern because I love the look - BUT it's incredibly slow to knit. there about 4 rounds per cm!
2. It may be too big - I think it should be a bit tighter but I am very resistant to pulling it out because it's so slow to knit!

So I'm having a break and knitting the Embossed Leaves Socks which are going very well. I'm nearly at the toe of my first sock and I am really impressed by the pattern. Aren't socks great. What I like is the ingenuity of all the different ways to turn the heel and shape the toes. It's fascinating.

2007-05-24T16:24:00.001+01:00

I've got an unexpected afternoon off - so moaning constantly about all your extra time does pay off! On top of my normal hours I've had to work for 3 Saturdays, last Sunday, between 11pm and 1am yesyerday and also at 2am on Monday morning! Also I might have to work this coming Sunday. It's not as bad as it sounds because it's not constant work, but it is tiring.

I had yesterday off too and I decided to go down to London's SouthBank to find a new knitting shop I'd heard about on the side of the Oxo tower called Eco-Annie. Annie sells yarn that (I think) she spins herself from all kinds of rare breed organic sheep. Also she sells recycled cotton that she's dyed herself. It's all lovely stufff. I bought 3 balls of yarn:

UK Alpaca 70% Blueface Leicester 30% - a beautiful black and fabulously soft. It's quite pricy at £10 for 100mg - but this is my favorite. I might get enough for a jumper.
Swaledale 100g Aran - Cream with black flecks. I think this would make fabulous gloves or scalves
Manx Loghton - Worsted 4ply 50g - brown. This would make a good sock yarn.

I love wool from yorkshire as I spent so much time there when I was young - hiking with my friends and staying in youth hostels. We saw so many sheep - maybe they were the great great great grandmothers of the sheep that produced the Swaledale wool!

While I was at Southbank I popped into the Anthony Gormly exhibition. It was very enjoyable - the kind of exhibition which it full of sensations. I'd quite like to go again with a friend. There is a box full of steam which you walk into. Once your inside you can't see the floor, the sides, where the door is or the tips of your fingers! It's actually quite frightening so I didn't stray too far from where I thought the door was. If someone else had been with me I might have been a bit braver but I could imagine wandering around and around the box for hours not being able to escape. Also there are casts of Anthony gormley's body all around Southbank which are stood on the edge of buildings and in the street - it actually seems quite sinister.

Back to knitting. I've started a new sock project - I'm knitting Mona Schmidt's Embossed Leaves Socks from the Interweave Favorite Socks book. I love the pattern so I cast on yesterday and so far have only finished the ribbing. I used the 1x1 Rib Cast-On which was new to me and took afew goes to get right. Now, of course, it seems like the easiest thing!

My cardigan project, Ziggy, has been pretty much a disaster. It just doesn't look like it would ever be anything that I would like to wear.

Things that worked well were:
1. The fit was good
2. A garter stich button band with short rows to give it the same gauge (lengthwise) as the st st
3. In a different cardigan with thinner wool I think that the lace bands around the neck would look nice. I imagine that they could look add emphasis to the wearers face.

Things that worked badly were:
1. The colour and the yoke patterning made the thing look childlike or maybe 'old lady' like
2. The two patterns (lace and the zig-zags) looked wrong together
3. I think to look neater you'd have to stck to doing the increases after 8 rows - not then change it to every 10 rows or it looks a bit messy (I'd have to work this one out!)

The actual round necked yoke design has worked OK. For future reference I cast on 100 st including 6 st per front for the button band (5 plus 1 slipped stich).
I increased every 8th or so row evenly arond the cardigan calculating the number of stiches to be added as 8 for every second row. Therefore on the 8th row I added (8/2) * 4 = 16 stiches. I ended up with 338st and a length to the underarm of 10". I then divided for the body using percentages and then worked out an even number of repeats of 9 stiches per secton.
28% back (46cm) was 94st
23% per sleeve (40cm) was 84st
13 % per front exclding the button band (20cm) was 44st

So I've got a new idea - this time as a fitted shoulder sweater and yes - with the zig zag design.

Round Yoked Cardigan

2007-05-20T12:21:00.001+01:00

My Round Yoked Cardigan is going OK - I'm about ready to divide for the sleeves and body.

Ive started a new cushion with some lovely yarn I got discounted last year from John Lewis - Plaid - Crushed Shell. I think I've only got enough yarn for one side of a cushion (I've worked out it takes 300-400g) so I might do the B-side in a contrasting yarn... As usual efforts to decrease my stash will lead to more yarn being bought!

I was knitting with the Rowan Plaid yarn on the tube last night and my friend was watching me knit UNTIL she got an allergic reaction to the yarn! I had to put the wool away. It contains some Merino Wool and Alpaca, and it has been in my stash for some time so no doubt it also contains a large number of dust mites!

We went out to see the mighty Ghost Club - my favorite live band. They did a 3D cover which was fab. Screaming Tea Party were also playing & they blew everyone away. They are descibed as no-wave punk and are a mix of Japenese guitarists and an Italian female dummer who may be the coolest women in the world. I like their EP but LIVE they are absolutely fantastic!

RIP Ziggy

2007-05-13T19:37:00.000+01:00

Dear Ziggy, I'm afraid it's all over between us - I think we both knew the end was coming. At first we had some good times, but gradully, over time, the bad times became more frequent until it became obvious it just wasn't working. Still, life is long and you never know, maybe one day we'll meet again and things will be different. By the way, I hope you won't be too upset to learn I've got someone else who reminds me of you in so many ways...

So I RIPped Ziggy and have now started a new cardigan (the yoke is going to be modelled on one I saw in the TV program 'Without a Trace'. I've seen a few nice items of knitware on that program actually!). I worked out I could cast on 100 st and I'm knitting it top down with no neck shaping. It will have a bit of lace knitting in the yoke, then probably go all Ziggy as I get down to the divide for sleeves and body.

I finished my cashion - I'm very pleased with it. For future reference it was 8 repeats of the honeycome pattern (8st per repeat) - this pattern is great as it's the same number of stiches across as up to get a square. The cushion was 35cmx35cm from John Lewis.

Sock Yarn!

2007-05-12T14:37:00.001+01:00

I bought some sock yarn on ebay from The Natural Dye Studio. I'm really pleased because I've wanted some solid colour yarn for ages for a pattern in the Interweave Favorite Socks book & this is perfect.

However I do need some smaller needles because my smallest ones are 2.75mm. It seems John Lewis don't have the smaller sizes in stock - in fact there didn't seem to be a space for them in the rack so I'll have to go somewhere else.

My cushion cover is coming along really well - I've nearly finished & it looks lovely, but Ziggy, my cardigan is not such a happy story... I may rethink the design (!) but I'll knit the first 50 odd rows and see how it looks first. It's the dammed round yoke that I'm struggling with AND do I like it or just think I like it???

Cushion

2007-05-07T10:49:00.000+01:00

I've started a project for KIP - a cushion cover. I bought some organic wool about 2 years ago (!) and am delighted I've thought of something pretty to do with it.

The wool is:

Garthenor Organic Pure Wool 100% Llanwenog 200g Chunky which is, as you might guess, from a farm in Wales. The URL is http://organicwoollies.co.uk/ - it's a great website where they have pictures of all the sheep breeds.

I'm knitting the cushion in a aran honeycomb stich. It's about 16" across.

Design Ziggy!

2007-05-05T14:32:00.000+01:00

I'm calling my new cardigan design Ziggy - the reason will become obvious. I've knitted a test swatch and it's given me a clearer idea of what I want.

I'm going to knit my next swatch based on the following revised design chart.

Roof Knitting

2007-05-04T17:09:00.001+01:00

I've taught my work colleague how to knit a sock. She’s done really well and has picked up the short row technique for doing toes and heels although she had never even purled before. Unfortunately she’s leaving the job here (not sock related!) but it’s been lovely sitting knitting in the roof garden in the sun when we should have been working… Also I’ve finished my first ever pair of socks - again proving that they are greener than grass! They are still attached to the umbilical cord (so to speak) as I might re-knit the rib on smaller needles - but first I'll have to buy 8 dpn 2mm... Also I couldn't help but include my new shoes that I love but hurt me incredibly right now!

I have enough wool left for 2 more socks. Here is a tip - if you want to know how long to make your toe up sock to either use up exactly half or a quarter of a ball simply weigh the ball as you knit... If you have a 100g ball originally stop knitting when you get to 50 g. This also works for jumpers, sleeves, basically anything where the amount of yarn you have left suddenly becomes of great significance! For example, you can calculate how much one row (or round) weighs by weighing the ball before and after knitting 10 rows then calculate how many rows you have left in the ball.

Boo - Course Cancelled - but cotton hooray!!!

2007-05-04T16:00:00.000+01:00

I booked a knitting course at Loop called 'Finishing techniques' - it was supposed to be last Saturday but unfortunately was cancelled. On Tuesday I took a trip to Loop and used the money I'd pre-paid for the course (and a bit more!) to buy some beautiful organic cotton in Sky & Pumpkin:
Blue Sky Cotton
100% Organic CottonWeight and yardage: Approx. 100 grams / 150 yards or 137 metres Needles: 4.5 - 5.5mm / #7 - 9 (US)
Tension: 16-20 sts = 10cm using 5.5mm needles

No doubt the tension will be way off for me because I'm a loose knitter (I mean the stiches!). Anyhow I'm now delighted that the course was cancelled because I'd rather have the cotton AND I no longer do any finishing - I knit everything from the top down!

Anyhow I plan to design & knit a yoke necked cardigan. In my Barbara Walker book she says unlike a raglan you simply do all the increases on one round then knit straight for a few rounds... Sounds easy!

I've found some useful links on the internet (thanks to the people listed!):
Montcalm Knits - blog
Knits and Pieces
The two above show a really nice yoked pattern and you can clearly see the stepped construction.

Also:
Knitty Blase
Lionbrand free pattern
Zimmermania Archive
Hello Yarn
The next step is to knit design the pattern...

Hike

2007-04-30T21:57:00.000+01:00

We went on a hike yesterday - the countryside was full of lambs jumping up and down and cowslips. We were up on the SouthDowns (Ditchling Beacon) and we walked to the Jack & Jill windmills and beyond - a very nice 9 miles in beautiful weather.

Maybe I'll find some sweet sweater inspiration from all the sping colours!

Today I checked the GhostClub website and found they are playing again - I'm so excited that it's pathetic but I'm sure David Mitchell is a genius!

I went to the cinema and did a bit of sock knitting waiting for the film to come on. One it started I stopped because there is nothing more annoying than hearing people eating in the pictures and I expect the clicking of knitting needles would be as bad... The film was a documentory 'Scott Walker - 30th Century Man'. I havn't heard a great deal of his music but I'm going to rip it all from X's vinyl after this film. I like to see artists evolve - I never understand how people can make the same sound for years and years, so Scott Walker is my kind of musician (even if I don't quite get his later stuff). There was a bit were he was making a noise by punching a pig carcass and it certainly added something sinister to the sound, even if you were unawear of what 'made' the noise. OK - maybe a lot of people would disagree with using a dead pig to make music but... in fact I can't think of an argument for it... but it did sound interesting.

I Knit & Brendon Mably

2007-04-28T15:25:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday I went to the I Knit shop and ordered some of the beautiful Wensleydale Longwool. I Knit is fab for British wools. I think it's my favorite of the London wool shops.

Brendon Mably from the Kaffe Fassett studio was in I Knit promoting his new book. Although I'm not really a fan of the 'Kaffe Fasset look', I admire the design and craft it takes to construct the pieces. During his talk I was interested that Brendon said he never uses variagated wool as you have no control over colour combinations. He recommended that we find balls of the different colours and combine them in ways that exactly suit our purpose. I agree with this to a large extent. When I went on holiday to Norway last year I saw a women knitting on the train. She was making a beautiful garment from many balls of green wool in slightly different shades. Needless to say, when I got back to the UK I went to the wool shops looking for these kinds of combinations and again, needless to say, you can't buy those kinds of colours. Maybe the lady had dyed the wool herself or Norway simply has better knitting shops.

I have completed my cabled cardigan and it looks very nice. The photos of it don't really do it justice. I think ot's the first thing I've made where everybody sayd 'did you really knit that- can I have one?'. Of course the answers are 'Yes and No!'.

The Grass is Greener

2007-04-22T06:31:00.000+01:00

Since it's spring I bought some green hand painted sock yarn from Old Maiden Aunt (named from the Jane Austin quote). It's 100% blue faced leicester (superwash). I think she gave me the best customer service I've ever had. I got about 10 emails from her about the yarn. Anyhow, I'm knitting it into socks with knitties universal sock formula.

The yarn is called "the Grass is Greener" but I've checked and I think the wool is greener than the grass!

It's beautiful here at the moment - warm and sunny. Yesterday we went for a hike on Box Hill (coincidently famous from the Jane Austin book Emma) and I took some photos of the spring growth.

Every woman is a size 8

2007-04-19T13:31:00.001+01:00

I received Sweater Design in Plain English from amazon a couple of days ago. I bought it because I heard on a podcast that it was 'full of maths' so I knew it must be the book for me. So far I've read to chapter 10 and found this interesting quote 'Every woman is a size 8' (Ruth Rohn) meaning that the actual distance between the tips of our shoulder blades doesn't vary much between women of all different shapes and sizes. I think this fact accounts for the reason that when I knit a jumper from a pattern for a 40" bust it never fits across the shoulders. It is always much too large. Now I've been designing my own patterns top down I start with the shoulder fit then worry about the bust as I move towards it and FINALLY I'm getting knitware that fits.

I wish I'd designed my own garments years ago. Getting to the end of a pattern to find it is too big is dismal!

Cardigan

2007-04-19T13:12:00.000+01:00

I've finally finished my cardigan. Yeah!

Next planned projects are:
1. Socks with old maiden aunt yarn - my first socks!
2. Yoke necked cardigan for me
3. Saddle shouldered jumper in a simplified aran style for X

Additionally the last jumper I knit needs a bit of rework. It looks OK but it's too baggy at the hips. I think I'm going to do that one first and move on to the new stuff later - except the socks :-).

I'm actually knitting through various top down knitting styles in the Barbara Walker book. So I've done the Raglan and the Set-in Sleeves so far.

My bag

2007-04-16T23:06:00.000+01:00

Here's a pic of my bag that I'm knitting on the tube between other projects. I've knitted the handles using the provisional cast on then joined them at the bottom. I need to pull a bit out and make a change, but generally it's not too bad for the very beginning of a thing.

Arrrrrg

2007-04-16T22:58:00.000+01:00

My Ipod has broken. It sounds so trivial but when you have to go on the underground for 2 hrs a every day at rush hour it seems like a necessity. I'll have to pull myself together! Lots of people don't have ipods and don't go postal on the tube. In fact, I've found if you listen to anything punky on the tube it is NOT relaxing; in fact, I've found it can make you (I'm embarrassed to say) downright agressive! but that's all the other people's fault not mine, I think...

Knitting - my hands ache after my mammoth cardigan finishing. But I did go to John Lwis and get some buttons. AND I found a beautiful button shop on Marybone Lane. They sell vintage buttons - unfortunately I walked past it at night but it looked fab from the window. The buttons I actually bought are square in black bark - very nice. I had some nice oval ones but I lost them. How stupid is that! Very stupid indeed.

Panic Over

2007-04-15T09:21:00.001+01:00

They're back... Without having to ask X for help. Phew! 'Ipod' - I love you again!!

Ipod Disaster!

2007-04-15T09:14:00.000+01:00

Before I left last night I found my ipod no longer had any music or podcasts on it - just photos of New Zealand!!! Very strange. I synchronised and then everything had gone. I had to go all the way to New Southgate with nothing to listen to. at least I had my knitting and my new Lace Style book to look at. anyhow I'm trying to sort out my ipod now. Hopefully they will all magically come back.

Tube Knitting

2007-04-14T17:42:00.000+01:00

Now I'm going OUT so I've got about an hour in the tube to knit. I've got a small bag which is my current tube project in big rowan wool (I bought because it was discounted). I also like the colours - pink/white/black - but it's kind of unsuitable for anything EXCEPT hopefiully this bag (actually I also made a lovely scarf out of it once). Anyhow, if the tube isn't too busy and I get a seat, I'll be progressing my knitting.

London Wool Shops

2007-04-14T15:39:00.000+01:00

I've just come back from the Stash shop in Putney - this is the first time I've been there. I was very keen to go because they stock all those yarns you hear about on the web & I was very curious to see them 'in the flesh'.

http://www.stashyarns.co.uk/

Today it is a beautiful hot day however no-one had warned me and I was still more dressed for spring than for summer. A black long sleeved jumper and tights really was not suitable, however I arrived without fainting (surprisingly the train air-con was working!).

Stash , as you'd imagine, was a beautiful shop. The yarns were gorgeous BUT so expensive, I loved Art Yarns but they were about £15 a skein. I've got a good job and no kids, but even I couldn't afford those prices. BUT they were so-oooo lovely. Of course I couldn't leave without getting some yarn so I got South West Trading Company Bamboo in Trq Green for £8.99 per ball (I got 2 balls for some reason - I'm not sure there is anything I can actually do with this!).

I think it's a shame there isn't more (what I'd call) indie UK labels in stock in the London wool shops. We have so many sheep.

OK. Now I'm going to sit outside and continue knitting my cardigan - so nearly finished!