You are currently browsing the category archive for the 'knitting' category.
Not one to forgo knitting simply because the weather will (eventually) climb above 40C, I’ve started on summer knitting. This little number is for the lass, a swing dress from Knitty.
It had to be upsized considerably for a very tall 7yo but I think it shall do well as a dress then as a top over shorts or leggings later in the season. I’m planning another for my neice, this time in lilac. I’m considering a skirt or t-shirt from the leftover yarn – stripey, undulating kind of thing.
I still have wool on the needles at this early part of spring. It helps keep my fingers warm while the car warms up. Mainly I am committed to finishing a top that I started nearly two years ago. It’s not like me to leave things that long but this particular yarn has been through no less than five rippings of half-finished garments. It’s such a lovely, soft yarn in a colour I love and a weight I enjoy working with. So the top has to be special, too.
The first two attempts at a crochet/knit top from Phildar were frustrating; the February Lady sweater got ripped twice; and the last attempt – a 1920s inspired jumper – has just been ripped. I’m going with Arisaig: the style and pattern are just me and it’s the kind of ‘transseasonal’ garment that is absolutely necessary in Melbourne all year round (except for the five weeks of winter).
Keep your fingers crossed for me on this one.
Encouraged by peasoup’s adventures in this regard, I’ve made a little shawl recently and started on another. The first is inspired derived from a copy of peasoup’s shawl here and here:
Let’s think of it as homage, shall we, especially since the green is suse’s own hand dyed hobbit green.
This next is a beautiful merino lace from Peru, kettle-dyed, and luscious to work with.
The variegation works well with the brioche stitch (knit 1, knit 1 below, then knit the next row) because one stitch is slipped up every other row. It means that different shades can really pop out depending on foreground and background colours. It’s working really well as a solid stitch for a shawl because it’s a garter stitch pattern (very little thinking) while being very light and airy.
Now all I have to do is find the other two skeins and try to forget how I was a very naughty knitter and left a skein out to be nibbled at by insects.
My knitting’s been a bit all over the place recently. All over the house, over a whole lot of projects but not much in the way of actual results. Mostly it’s been *knit, knit, frog (repeat from * 5 times).
Spurred by the success I had with Reverie by Amy Swenson over at Knitty, I went full on with some hat making. The lass’s got frogged only once; the next one for me got frogged four times. I finally settled for an okay hat, if only to get it off the needles and my mind. Hats and I have a mixed straightforward history. They don’t suit me or I don’t suit them. So when Reverie did suit I got rather keen. It’s not the pattern – it really is me. I thought I could modify a little and it didn’t work. So, feeling chastened, I shall return to the pattern and think a little more closely about how I can make it without holes. Because 7.45am on a winter’s morning at a footy game is not a time for holes in your hat.
I’m also puzzling and frogging over winter jumpers or cardis or wraps for me. I’m making an effort to use stash yarns and that does up the degree of difficulty. I love the colours in my stash and I have plenty of patterns to swoon over, it’s just that stash yarn = limited quantities = difficult decisions. Another complicating factor is the new and fascinating information on colours and wardrobe sloshing around the family (thanks, Mum!). So while I now know why I opt for black as my neutral even though chocolate suits me and my preferred colours better, that doesn’t help turn black stash yarn into chocolate stash yarn. I may need to sit down with patterns, yarn, red wine and chocolate. Damn.
Not all is lost. I’m working on a pair of socks for the Bloke and they’re working out nicely without a frog in sight.
Cos I love youse all.*
Though really because I was given a subscription to Creative Knitting magazine from my former workplace and it’s not quite my thing. So rather than toss each edition or have it pile and gather dust, I thought somebody might make use of it. It’s an eighteen month subscription and it’s issued quarterly. I have three issues already that I will send to you and I will arrange a change of address to anywhere in Australia, effective from the next issue. It seems to be targeted at beginner/intermediate knitters and had patterns mostly for women and kids, with a couple of men’s patterns thrown in the last issue.
If you would like it, please leave a comment by 9.00am AEST Saturday and I’ll do a random number draw (um, hopefully I will need to do a random number draw….)
*quote from Jeff Fenech, champion Australian boxer and noted raconteur.
Last week I blocked and sewed my linen top as a bit of a distraction. There’s been a lot said about blocking your knitting pieces before sewing up. Some knitters can get very…obsessive…about their system, drying times and even re-blocking after every wash. I’m a recent convert to the full wet blocking extravaganza. For years, I simply steam pressed the pieces so they’d lie flat sufficiently long enough to sew together painlessly. So while I think wet blocking is now a rather nifty thing to do, I still don’t have much of a system.
A ruler, pins and a beach towel. And space on some carpet (which is why we’ll never have a house without carpet).
This top was knit with linen so I needed to be quite firm with it during blocking. The design – an asymmetric neckline, and stepped sleeve edges – meant a bit of time up close and personal with the pins.
All in all, it looked ready for dissection at the end of the process.
Blocking doesn’t need to be complicated, but it is generally a good idea to check that you’ve given the garment enough room and you haven’t squished a sleeve edge up against the wardrobe door.
And at some point, I may remember to photograph the finished garment.
Handmade Help has started as a long term support for Victorian families who will be rebuilding their lives, their communities and their houses as a consequence of the bushfires. Pip from Meet Me At Mike’s explains it as well.
In addition to monetary donations in the first instance, please consider auctioning a handmade item, with proceeds to the Red Cross. You may wish to bid on an item yourself – there’s some good stuff already up for auction. Over the longer term, several business are drop off points for handmade goods (scarves, hats, blankets, household items etc) that will be distributed at appropriate times. As Pip has stressed, Handmade Help will be liaising with the Red Cross and the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal to ensure that items go to those in need.
Volunteers in Nillumbik:
If you wish to volunteer at the Diamond Creek emergency relief centre, please call the Shire Offices on 94333111 and provide your details and availability. A volunteer roster is being drawn up and you will be contacted and offered shifts.
I was all geared up to do a different post entirely but the memory stick doesn’t have the photos that I thought it had. Please feel free to insert pictures from your own imagination.
I’ve been playing around with some room planning software to trial furniture configurations in the studio. Everything will fit with enough space left for a cutting table as well. Ebay table watching commenced a few days ago. I’m a patient woman (!) so I don’t mind waiting for an ugly laminate table to go for under $10. Fingers crossed nobody bids on the table I’ve just bid on, ‘cos then I’ll get it for a dollar (plus petrol to South Melbourne).
The colour scheme will be white with green, and a few touches of contrast in purple/mustard/orange. I don’t want a fussy looking space and I certainly don’t want the background to compete with my different projects and ideas. I may get out the staple gun this evening and do my inspirations board. I have a large corkboard that I’ll cover with quilt batting and some fabric. I may paint the frame – though that will depend more on the weather at the moment. Out our way, the next four days are 40C or above and those kinds of temperatures are only good for doing nothing.
The one thing that doesn’t fit into the colour scheme or even the room planning software is the lad’s drumkit.
I’m working on a version of the February Lady sweater (available through Ravelry) that’s been a huge hit with internet knitters. The style – 3/4 length sleeves, open style cardi with a few buttons at the top – is flattering and functional. It’ll be great for Melbourne weather which means that while it can be mostly summer now, it could also be spring, autumn or winter in a few days or a few hours.
Having used up stash wool to create this version of a 1940s top,
1940s Lace Jumper
I still have enough left over to use for something else but not all of something else. Which is when I thought I should be more adventurous with my colour and patterns combos and decided to modify the pattern. The top raglan shaping is stocking stitch with a rib band (rather than all garter stitch) and I’m going for a band of smooth wool/silk bronze before moving to the textured wool/silk teal. I’ll make a short sleeve version and band the sleeves and bottom of the cardi with bronze. The lace pattern in between is likely to be replaced by a geometric lace or knit/purl pattern to achieve something of a geometric art deco look.
It’s knit from the top down so at some stage it gets to over 300sts before you move to separating for the sleeves and body. I’m enjoying the knitting of this with its textural and colour contrast and the long rows make it quite a meditative train knit.
We’ve had a very full Christmas with lots of gathering, talking, playing, eating and drinking (ahem). The kids have been in cousin heaven with their Sydney cousin down for Christmas and basking in the attention and cricket and game playing abilities of lots of uncles. I think the prezzies I made went down well – there’s only one left to deliver and I promise, Mini Manc, to send it off tomorrow the next business day.
Here’s my hot tip for Christmas 2009: start knitting now. Not the prezzies – just start knitting like the Goodies, anytime and anywhere. Get your family and friends used to seeing you knit all manner of things anywhere you are. That way, it is quite acceptable for you to get out your knitting over coffee after Christmas lunch. And it makes for much hilarity when your KK opens their present only to realise the socks were on your needles only two hours ago and that in fact they saw you knitting them!
I can recommend a book called Retro Knits: cool vintage patterns for men, women and children from the 1900s through the 1970s. A gift from my sister, it’s full of fab patterns that have been modernised just enough. The patterns have been regraded for contemporary sizes but they haven’t mucked around with the design or shape of the original. Those 1970s leg warmers are pretty special! I’m already planning a couple of tops, particularly a drapey V-sleeve top from 1910.
I’m getting ready for the New Year today by sorting out my stash and finishing a few items or getting them off the repair pile. Hopefully I will get some sewing done and the time to finish off a knitted top. My plans for the evening? Staying home with the kids while my Bloke does his muso thing at a New Year’s Eve gig. I’m not complaining because these days my pumpkin time just keeps getting earlier.
