These seeds are cursed!

So I thought it was about time that I gave an update about my Seeds of Change jumper. I’ve finally got a sleeve written and knitted up after much procrastination and one failed attempt. Here it is!

Ok, it’s not a terribly exciting picture (and it’s a bit blurry) but considering how long it’s been in the making, I think it merits a bit of a showing off. Look it’s even got a bit of a bell curve!

My initial attempt looked a bit trapezoidal, so I frogged it and went back to my notes from Knitty. They didn’t seem to be helping much, until I realised I needed the 3rd article from the series! Check it out here.

And incidentally, if you ever thought to yourself when you were in math class ‘When am I ever going to need to use Pythagoras theory?’ …well now you know! Seriously I think I’ve used more ‘real’ math in knitting than I’ve ever used in my life (adding and subtracting doesn’t count, cos everyone has to do those).

Back to the sweater. So I think it’s been almost a year since I originally started this project. And I thought that I might get lucky and finish it up by the end of the month. Except being me, I had to go and check that my calculations and math had actually been worth it, so I sewed in the sleeve (why make 2 mistakes when you can get away with just one?). Except it looked terrible. For some reason that I still can’t figure out, none of the seams seem to line up properly. I tried fudging a few rows here and there but there just seem to be too many on one side and too few on the other. Even though they’re identical in shaping (well, the sleeve is anyway).

I considered leaving things the way they were but it was much too stressful. So I’ve unpicked all the seams (and the border I crocheted around the neck. Which maybe isn’t a bad thing, I might come up with a better idea for that) and I’m planning on blocking all the pieces separately. I’m not really sure if it will make a difference in the grand scheme of things, but at least I can say I did all I could even if it still insists on going pear-shaped.

So I guess the fact that I’ve done all the hard maths-y parts that I can say I’ve actually gone and designed my own jumper.  Yay! I’m so proud of me, even if it does end up looking hideous. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that blocking might help though. Stay tuned to see what the final result will be!

Off the knit list, onto the shit list

Yep, that’s right. NO MORE KNITTING FOR YOU! You know who you are. You two….knit knockers!!!!

You think I haven’t noticed that despite making the right sorts of noises when I gave them to you, I have not heard you utter a word of them since. Nor have I seen you wearing said articles.

No, no. It’s fine. I can take a hint. And I won’t mention them anymore than you. But damned if you’re getting anything else knitted by me! You will go the rest of this lifetime cold and yarnless. Global warming will turn ice age and still no knitting for you.

But I’m not bitter….

It’s gone

I just wanted to mark this as a day of passing. I’ve just fond out that the blog that I had before I came to WordPress has been deleted. I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, it’s about a year since I last logged onto it. But I didn’t know how to transfer posts so much history has been lost :’(

I have also lost all the cool page design that I did (and can’t seem to get to work on WordPress). Today is a sad day.

The disappointment

It was getting late. It was cold. I was hungry. As I hurried down Cross Street to get to the bus stop, a warm pool of light spilt out onto the pavement from the window of Loop.

Loop. The yarniest yarn store in North London. Where the walls are stacked with alpaca-merino-silk-cashmere smooshiness. How could I pass up the opportunity to warm my fingers against the soft fuzzy mohairy goodness that lay within? I ducked inside.

I was glad to see it hadn’t changed much since I’d been there last. I glanced up at the shelves, hoping to see eye wateringly sweet colours. Instead I saw uninspiring hues. No matter, I thought, I’m sure there’s more hidden away in the stock room.

I reached out to the skien of pink yarn infront of me and my hand fell to my side disappointedly. How smooth and buttery soft it had looked. I had been fooled. Frustrated I went back to the front of the store. I eyed the Mongolian cashmere on the top shelf. The price tag stared straight back. I turned my gaze to the book shelf, already knowing that I would find nothing of particular interest there.

Surely, there must be something here.

My eyes drifted down to the sale baskets. Slowly, uncertainly, I peeked in. I reached down to the skein of GGH Soft Kid and squeezed gently. I turned the olive green bundle over in my hands and glanced again into the basket. It had no siblings, only distant cousins from a baby pink family. I put the olive green ball back into the basket with a sigh, rose to my feet and headed for the door.

I took one last look before I left, but knew there was nothing here for me now. The colours were too dull, the prices not right. I stepped back out into the cold, and made my way back down to the bus stop.

Maybe next week… I thought.

A desperate bid to get out of recession?

Admittedly, my understanding of all things politics/economics etc is a bit rubbish but I came across this article and wanted to share:

Billion dollar wreck

Things must be really grim if we’ve taken to the oceans looking for loose change!

A pattern-first yarn snob

In my complete boredom over the past month I have been hanging out a lot on the Ravelry boards and through  a couple of interesting threads have found out a little bit more about the kind of knitter that I am.

The first thread asked which came first, the pattern or the yarn (which means someone else has obviously been thinking about this too!).  At first I thought I would have been a yarn-first kinda chick, but after thinking about it, I decided the reverse is far more accurate.

In my fairly small, but seemingly huge, number of books and magazines dedicated to knitting I have what seems like hundreds of patterns that I want to knit. Combine this with all the patterns on Ravelry that I’ve favourited and tagged as inspiration, and I have a long list of patterns that will keep me busy loooong into the future. Obviously, my mind being the scatty, distractable type that it is, I can’t remember all of these patterns, so have taken to listing my most favourites in my knitting journal, along with the recommended yarn required. Whenever I embark on any possible stash enhancing mission I always bring my journal along, in the hopes of finding if not the exact yarn required for one of these projects, something that substitutes up pretty well.

Occasionally I find that the yarn (or intended pattern) is not suitable for that project after all, which is when it enters stash mode. However when it comes back out of stash mode, it almost always becomes something else that was in my pattern queue. Therefore, I decided, I must certainly be a pattern favouring type.

My second knitterly observation kind of came about through several different threads. On one thread we were discussing the possible misconception that knitting is a ‘cheap’ hobby (I think that knitting can still technically be cheap, but that might be another blog post). It was argued that, to make a sweater one could end up buying so much yarn that it works out the same to buy a store bought sweater. Which I think is true. I’m not sure I would have paid the same amount for a store bought sweater as I have for the yarn I purchased to make one of my current projects. But then came an argument from the depths of clarity! What we forget, is to compare like for like. Most store bought sweaters have a high content of acrylic, or are knit at an impossibly small gauge, making a super thin fabric. I, on the other hand, am making my jumper out of 100% DK baby alpaca! How many high street stores are gonna be selling that huh?! Which makes me think, I’m partly knitting what I do, because it’s something that I can’t get in a high street store.

Second, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I always seem to be knitting lace. Now to be honest, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen lace-weight acrylic yarn! What I do have though is lace-weight made out of silk/mohair, cashmere, an alpaca blend and even an organic Welsh wool. And I love them! I have tried to consider giving a skein (or 2) away to trade for something else and frankly, I just can’t do it. I’m playing for keeps. Given the option of trading my skein of plum cashmere for a sweater’s worth of bamboo yarn, I’d throw the bamboo out of my sight in an instant. That being said, I’m not completely against acrylic. It just seems to be things like polyester, angora  and, well, bamboo that I have issues with. I don’t know what my beef with bamboo yarn is to be honest, but nothing about it appeals to me. Polyester has too many links to fun fur (which I somehow accumulate a lot of considering I don’t buy it!) for me to forgive. I’m also wary of other man-made fibres because part of me is super paranoid about getting hot and sticky wearing them. Finally, I decided angora gets too much up my nose to want to work with again if I can help it.

So I guess that makes me a yarn snob. what it doesn’t make me however, is someone who is happy to pay ridiculous amounts of money for my yarn. I love the way Art Yarns Beaded Cashmere looks and feels but damned if I’m going to pay £30 for one teeny tiny skein! I just can’t justify spending that much on such little yardage.  It’s rude, quite frankly.

So there you are then. I’m a pattern-first yarn snob. Or perhaps that should be a cheap pattern-first yarn snob

Absence makes…everyone forget about you!

I know, I know. I’ve not written anything for ages. Would it help if I told you that I had been busy with the knitting?

I finally finished my Gran’s cape. Only about 2 weeks after when it was due

I’m not entirely sure I’m happy with it, on account of my yarn wasn’t as white as the one photographed for the pattern, but I imagine that they touched the photo up and had special lighting and everything when they took it.

I haven’t really been working on too much else to be honest, on account of being introduced (by accident!) to a series called the Wheel of Time. I’ve only read as far as book 3 (of a 12 book series) but have been engrossed the whole time! I’ve been trying to track own book 4 but I’ve not found it in my local bookstore, and applying to jobs right now kind of takes precedence. Yes I’m unemployed again, but with a mind to move onto something more engaging than my last position. But I mention the books because I can feel a strange need to design patterns based around ideas from the books.

My favourite character is Perrin and I’ve decided if I’m ever in an alternate universe set in the past, I’m heading straight for the nearest blacksmiths.

But back to my yarny crafts. Since last posting I’ve also spun a couple of hanks of yarn. I’ve only got a picture of the yarn I called ‘Stone Mountain’ on account of not having finished up the second yarn completely.

The colours reminded me of looking at a mountain from a distance, which is why it became Stone Mountain.

I’m really quite pleased with the way this came out. I got a new spindle and found it so much easier to work with than the one I originally purchased. My yarn is still a bit slubby, and it’s going to take a few more practices to consistently get any thinner than worsted weight but I’m much less reluctant about the idea of buying more fleecy goodness. I like the ‘plaits’ of yarn to work with the most so far I think.

Well that’s all there is to report for now. Hopefully I should be better at keeping this updated, what with being home before 8pm (if I even leave!) so hopefully I’ve not been too forgotten about.

See you next time!

Sick, sick, sick little knitter

I’ve decided that I’ve officially lost my mind. I think I’m most definitely certifiable. ‘What brings on this insight?‘ I hear you ask. Well dear reader, despite having projects awaiting completion, I have decided to cast on MORE Christmas knitting. It is absolutely ridiculous to assume that by the time the big day rolls around I’ll have finished the 2 pairs of socks that are currently awaiting partners, and the cape that I only cast on for 2 days ago, but I’m currently trying to figure out how I can also squeeze in a headband, another pair of socks, a lace scarf and maybe another pair of socks if I’m lucky.

Lucky?! Even if I knit solidly from now till Christmas without sleep, social life or eating on What PLANET could I ever get that all done in time??!

I don’t know why I feel compelled to knit so many presents. I’m pretty sure that like all the Christmases that have come before, the gifts of yester year will become a blurry non-memory. ‘Just buy a gift voucher‘ my sensible (and lazy!) self insists. ‘I don’t have time for shopping!‘ the knitter in me says ‘How the hell will I get these presents done otherwise?!‘ How indeed.

I find myself cursing the train driver in the morning at how quickly I seem to have arrived at my destination. I wolf my lunch down in the hopes of getting down a few more rows. I find myself wondering if maybe I shouldn’t go to Stitch and Bitch because less bitchin’ means more stitchin’! (The latter hasn’t transpired yet due to the fact that knitting the foot of a sock whilst alone makes my eye start twitching at how tedious it gets after the first inch in between the heel and the toe. I need to make friends with people with freakishly small feet….).

The only thing keeping me going at the moment (apart from insanity!) is how excited I am at the prospect of being able to cross off projects from my queue, yarn from my stash and the extra room for more yarn I’ll soon have. Call me crazy but it might just happen…

A Girl of too many Scarves

I’ve been browsing through my knitting journal (as usual) and I’ve come across an obvious but previously overlooked fact. I have far too many scarves. And hats. And probably shawls if you don’t count them in with the scarves. With leads me to conclude I must be a serial accessorisor.

In my 2 years of knitting I’ve only made one jumper and it didn’t fit. I’ve tried making up my own pattern (see my other posts for details) but stalled on the sleeves. I’ve started another, in the hopes that a pre-prepared pattern may once again lure me in again, but I can already feel the tug of other projects (some of which are, of course, scarves).

Being a serial accessorisor may no be a problem for some, but for a selfish knitter like me, who can’t bear to part with her finished works things are a little more tricky. I mean, just how many scarves is it realistic to wear at one time? And then there’s the whole too hot/too cold thing – if I get dressed once I can’t be bothered to keep putting things on and taking them off again, but the Underground, even in winter can still get hot and stuffy. And hats! Why are all my best hats completely unsuitable to take to work with me? If I get a cold head walking to the station I think a girl should be able to wear a devil horn hat without getting dodgy looks from all those ‘commuter types’. But sadly no.

One can’t even argue that it’s just that I lack the staying power to work on a sweater. I mean I’m sure that some of the lace scarves I’ve knit are far more involved and take just as long to knit as a full blown garment. Maybe then it’s all that stocking stitch? Which I also do when making socks…. No, I think it just comes down to the fact that I love lace weight and so many of the patterns that appeal to me happen to be scarves and shawls (not too many laceweight jumpers out there. Probably for the best).

A review of my knitterly habits to date would reveal a fondness for the following:

• lace weight yarn
• alpaca yarn
• scarves/shawls/hats/socks
• lace patterns
• mohair
• silk

I wonder how much a person’s knitting habits reveal about their personality….

My Raid on the Palace

This weekend has heralded the knitting equivalent of Christmas, with the Knitting and Stitching show coming to Alexandra Palace. I’d been looking forward to the event all year and even been saving a little stash of pennies so I could guarantee yarn-y purchases no matter what my financial situation at the time. Monday night brought the smashing of the money box, and a sense of unchecked glee at the healthy little sum inside.

Come Saturday, things didn’t seem so exciting anymore. Maybe because I had a ‘game plan’ of things that I hoped to get (none of which I could seem to find), or because as Eleanor says there was more ’sewing’ this time, or maybe because I had to wait so long in the queue (which I swear wasn’t there last time!) this year I just felt a bit cheated by the lack of ‘proper’ yarn-y goodness.

But don’t let that make you think that I saved my pennies and came away with nothing! Nope, here is a list of all the yummy stuff that I did manage to find, even if it was on the back up plan list.

• 2x Colinette Jitterbug
• 1x Manos Silk Blend
• 8x Colinette Parisienne (plus 3 contrast colours)
• 2x Twilleys Freedom wool
• 1x The Natural Dye Studio’s Cloud
• 1x Unknown skein of black mohair with a sparkly pink strand running though it
• 1x Scarf kit
• 1x Beret kit
• 1x Sock yarn

Here’s a couple of my faves:

And the best part is that I have a plan for all of these yarns, so they won’t just sit in the stash until next year until I find a suitable project. Admittedly they might sit in the stash until next year because I just can’t knit them fast enough!

So my raid on the palace did bring some treasures, but next time I’m considering giving it a miss. Maybe I’ll save next years’ money box for an Internet spree : )