A present from Estonia

Just before Felix returned from her epic trip to Estonia I received a highly coloured card which cryptically indicated that a gift would follow. And follow it did. There will be no need for me to knit mittens this year as I am now the very proud owner of a pair of handknit Estonian mittens, dyed with natural colours.



These are so beautiful. I love the combination of colourwork and lace at the cuff and the butterfly motif, not to mention the fact that they are toasty warm.



Of course eventually they will wear out but when they do I can knit my own pair of Estonian mittens from this amazing book.



All the text is in Estonian but since the book doesn't actually contain any patterns, just photos and charts, that's not a problem.



I love the fact that Estonian mitten patterns just consist of the chart, it's assumed that everyone already knows how to knit a mitten.

Because I don't have enough on my plate already

I decided to knit a little pillow for my little niece Laurie to carry at our wedding on Saturday. I chose knitting over sewing as my sewing machine and all the wedding dress fabric are still up in Bolton and even though Mum could have posted the fabric to me I didn't fancy sewing satin by hand - or rather I didn't fancy my chances of sewing it in a straight line.

Plus it meant that I got to knit this lovely cable from my Vogue cables Stitchionary.



Sneak preview of the rings if you're interested.

Pattern: Ring bearer (pattern forthcoming when I have a moment)
Needles: 3.25mm and 3.0mm
Yarn: Rowan British Sheep Breeds BFL DK
Notions: crochet hook and waste yarn for provisional cast on, ribbon to tie on rings.
Ravelled here.

I was very pleased with how this turned out - as with so many things the applied icord makes all the difference.

Feeling the knitted LOVE

I read Kate's lovely post about her scarf earlier and I knew exactly where she was coming from. I too was a recipient of the knitted LOVE last week at my hen day when I was presented with over seven metres of amazing knitted wedding bunting created by Felix, Judith, Gabrielle, Emmylou, Ruth D, Ruth V, Mel from Scotland, Gemma, Jenny, Mikal, Carla, and Mel from Reading. When I opened the tissue paper package I couldn't believe what a beautiful and thoughtful gift all these knitters had created for me so thank you so much all of you.



Each flaglet is knit in a different shade of white, cream, or natural coloured yarn and they are decorated with buttons, beads, lace (including lace from Judith's wedding dress), and embroidery.



The icing on the cake came when, after I'd admired each flag, Felix handed me my very own flag-making kit, complete with vintage Aero needles, pattern, yarn, ribbon, and buttons, and pointed out the spare foot of icord at one end of the bunting on which I could thread my flags if I wanted to. I've already knitted one flag and I'm just about to cast on for a second.

I can't wait to hang up my wonderful bridal bunting in our reception venue on Saturday. If you want to knit your very own amazing bunting you can see the pattern and mood board (so impressed that my bunting had a mood board) here.

Pretty little mittens

I'm quite enamoured of this pattern. I'm on Veyla mark two and I think there'll be another pair after this.



I love the fancy cuff and the lacy edging and the wee buttons at the wrist. Ok there are no wee buttons as yet but I have some in mind.

It's very much the season for knitting accessories, some cosy mittens here, a woolly hat there. And whilst I'm knitting little things I can get back to working out what the next big thing will be.

Cloisonné yay!

The ends are woven in, the buttons (I used some of the ones which Felix bought me from Duttons last year) are sewn on and the Cloisonné jacket is ready for me to wear to work tomorrow.



Pattern: Cloisonné jacket by Deborah Helmke
Source: Interweave Fall 2010
Needles: 4.5mm circs
Yarn: (just over) 5 balls New Lanark DK in natural brown and 1.5 balls in ecru.
Modifications: knit in the round with a steek and knit-on button band; I also knit just one lace repeat round the bottom hem.

I'm so pleased with how this turned out. The shape is great - just around the length of a cropped jacket and the yarn is delicious. It's softened up amazingly after blocking and just feels fabulous. This is going to be lovely ad cosy to wear in the office this autumn.



I really like the garter stitch collar too - it's a detail I'll be borrowing for future projects I'm sure.

It's a good thing that the Cloisonne jacket worked out so well because the eyelet cap is a bit of a flat failure. Actually "flat" is the wrong word, it's more of a floofy failure. Blocking didn't sort out the problem, rather after blocking the hat has assumed the proportions of two hats. That being so I'm going to follow Vanessa's example over at do you mind if I knit? and cut it in half. I'm pretty hopeful that I can at least get a ribbed beanie out of the lower half.

What I knit on my holidays - part #1

This was my backup holiday project. Without a current portable project on the go and a new project to start which I wasn't entirely sure would work I packed this "very easy" hat pattern, the right size needles, and a ball of handspun just in case.



I didn't get quite as much done as I thought I would on the journey (due to the need to assist with the navigation on A roads rather than motorways) but I had a couple of good sessions in Ireland and have really motored on since I got back.



I'm just about ready to work the decrease round and then it's on to 8 inches of two by two rib.



What's that marking the beginning of my round?



Whilst in Stirling I was bemoaning my lack of matching stitchmarkers and Mel very kindly offered to make me some. These were waiting for me on the doormat when we got back from holiday. They are soo pretty - thank you Mel!

They're knitting in the wrong place!*

I perpetrated a massive knitting FAIL this evening. When I started the sleeve of my current sweater-in-progress on Monday morning I didn't have the right needle to work the turned hem at the cuff. No problem, I thought, I'll just start with a provisional cast on, knit the cuff later and then graft the two ends together. So this morning once the sleeve was the correct length I cast on the cuff and I was ready to start grafting in the pub this evening. I put both sets of live stitches on the needles, joined in a length of yarn and started grafting. Everything was looking great until I got about two thirds of the way round and realised that I had a lot of sleeve stitches left. Like 30 more than were remaining for the cuff.



&*#$@*! No idea how, but I grafted the cuff to the shoulder end of the sleeve. If it wasn't quite so funny I'd have wept. I left the mis-grafted cuff in place just long enough to share with you guys. It's still a workable plan, I just need to concentrate this time around.



* see Raiders of the Lost Ark

Cosy

Back in the autumn I knit this scarf out of the last remnants of 6 balls of Rowan Big Wool which I'd bought a few years ago to make a poncho (I know, I know). I thought that it would make a very nice Christmas present for someone but then completely forgot to take it up to Bolton with me. Still, their loss, my gain as I realised last night that I had the perfect accessory to muffle up against the big freeze.



Things I love about this scarf: it's extra wide so I can keep everything warm from my nose to my neck, it's very thick so even a single layer blocks out the icy air, and it has pockets great for keeping hands warm and for throwing amusing shapes.

Is this the weirdest looking sock you've ever seen?

So weird in fact that Lien had to ask what it was at Bluestockings this evening! Trust me, it looks a lot more sock-like on the foot. I really wanted to design a sock where all the shaping was created by the stitch pattern and the only way I could do it was with a very small, pointy toe. There was quite a bit of sock knitting going on round the table. Ellen was working on her niece's fabulous Christmas stocking and Jenny had completed her first sock in the lovely red yarn.

I came home to find that the boyfriend had created a masterpiece in shepherd's pie form. He was so proud of his beautiful pie that he thought it deserved a mention on the blog.



The potatoes are light and fluffy, the sauce is full of flavour, and it's as pretty as a picture...but is it good enough for the quarter-final of Masterchef?

Where did you get that hat?

What, this hat?



Pattern: 115-12a - hat with lace pattern by Drops Design
Needles: 3mm and 3.5mm circulars
Yarn: Buttersoft DK (1 skein)

I finished this up on Friday evening at the Studio. Once I finished the decreases the hat, which had been assuming quite alarming proportions, wound up being a quite reasonable size - fabulous for keeping my ears warm. Now I just need the matching gloves.

Down on the farm

I've just got back from a fabulous trip to East Sussex with Felix and Ruth. On Friday afternoon I met Felix and Ruth at Reading station where we all piled into the Felix-mobile and drove to Beech Hill Farm near Rushlake Green in Sussex where Julia Desch keeps a flock of coloured Wensleydale sheep.



[The Studio (exterior) at Beech Hill Farm]



[Felix and Ruth making supper]

It was pitch dark and raining when we got there but we soon got the wood burning stove going and we had a lovely cosy evening eating butternut squash and ginger soup and watching Autumnwatch. One of the assignments on this week's show was to help the British Trust for Ornithology monitor the numbers of Tawny Owls for their Bird Atlas. When the rain let up later on we went outside to listen for Tawny Owls and were very excited to hear three! I've already added our "hearings" to the Tawny Owl coverage map.

The next morning was gorgeous so we headed out to meet the sheep and get some provisions for dinner at the Redlands Farm shop.



[Happy chickens at Redlands Farm shop]

Julia's black Wensleydales are so beautiful.



I love their mad dreadlocks and sweet little faces. These guys are six month old rams.



And this is Old Grey Owl. He's a bit lame and so Julia is moving him to another field to stop him being picked on by the other sheep.



On Saturday afternoon we had a spinning lesson with Wendy. Ruth and I are already pretty good spinners but wanted to learn to spin thicker yarn. Felix was more or less a beginning spinner so this was a great chance for her to get some 1-1 coaching and lots of time to practise on the wheel. I think she's hooked now.



[Felix on the Ashford Kiwi]

Ruth and I both had a go on the Ashford Country Spinner which is for spinning really thick yarn. Ruth managed to ply some of her yarn using it but I just couldn't get used to the weighted wheel which kept going after I stopped treadling.



[Ruth on the Country Spinner]

What I could get used to is the double treadle Ashford Kiwi that I used. So much easier to control the speed than my single treadle Wee Peggy. Having used a wheel with Scotch tension I'm now inspired to sort out the Scotch tension on my own wheel. It can be used with both double drive and Scotch tension and so far I've only tried double drive. I just need a new spring and to replace the existing thick twine with some nylon thread I think.

By the end of our session I felt much happier spinning a thicker yarn and had spun and plied three skeins of grey Romney from another local flock. I'm really looking forward to spinning some more heavier-weight yarn on my own wheel.

Today, once we'd tidied up at the Studio, we headed over to Lewes to spend some of our English pounds. The weather had turned bitterly cold overnight so we were more than happy to keep diving into the lovely little shops that we passed on our way to the Needlemakers craft centre. It was a good thing for our wallets that the patchwork shop was closed but Ruth and Felix still managed to spend a fair amount on buttons, I Spy books, and an incredibly hammy radio dramatisation of The Sea of Adventure which kept us in stitches for the first half hour or so of the drive back. Personally I was most tempted by a near complete set of Arthur Ransome first editions - the former property of an F. C. Baden-Powell of Hinksey Hill, Oxford - but couldn't quite kid myself that I could afford even one. If I was a collector then I probably wouldn't blink at £30 for a first edition but it's a bit much for a book that I just want to read (and re-read). I did get quite a way into We didn't mean to go to Sea whilst Felix and Ruth were browsing and I may have to make a quick trip to the bookshop tomorrow in order to finish it!.

I don't have any photos of the Aladdin's Cave that is downstairs at the Needlemakers but I'm sure Ruth will be posting hers soon. After all that rummaging we were very ready for a lovely lunch followed by cake at the cafe upstairs before heading back to the car for the drive home.

I did get some, although not much, knitting done over the weekend - there were about equal quantities of knitting and ripping - so there'll be a couple of finished object posts coming up in the next day or so.

A hat with no name

Or as good as, anyway. Even if this were the prettiest hat in the world there's virtually no chance of it sweeping the nation with a name like 115-12 a - Hat with lace pattern. It's just not memorable enough. I'm already knitting the pattern and I can't even remember it - it's why I'm putting all these links in the blog posts, just in case I lose my print-out and need to find the pattern again on Ravelry.

If a pattern has a name you can always find it again or find someone who knows it. Even if you get it slightly wrong and go around saying that you want to knit Damozel by Ysolda Teague or Forest Glade or Fern Grove from Knitty - someone's bound to know what you mean. If I get a digit wrong in "115-12 a - hat with lace pattern" I'm lost.



All that said, it is a very pretty lace hat pattern and it's knitting up very nicely in the lovely Buttersoft DK. Now that I've finally worked out how to wear hats without turning my hair into a complete bird's nest I forsee lots more hat knitting this winter.

Stuck on sleeve mountain

I am stuck halfway up sleeve mountain. I have been knitting on the first sleeve of the Arisaig cardigan for the length of a bible.



I'm a bit further on than this now but it feels like I'll never reach the top. Some people might say persevere, struggle on. Me, I'm taking a little break and knitting a hat instead. I'm knitting the lyrically named 115-12 a - Hat with lace pattern from Drops Design using some of the beautiful Artist's Palette Buttersoft DK that Juliet gave me earlier in the year. It's not that I don't love the grey (at the moment I'm wearing grey tights, grey shoes, grey skirt) but it's lovely to be knitting in technicolour again.

"Z" is for zipper

I finally got around to putting a zipper band and zip onto Laurie's striped cardigan this weekend, just in time for her to take it back with her. This was my first zipper and it wasn't terribly easy. I managed the first side OK using the sewing machine but the second side was a nightmare. On my first attempt I broke the needle (turns out I was stitching over the teeth). On the second attempt the tension was completely out and I had to take it all out. For the third attempt I stitched it on by hand and made such a good job of it that I was nearly tempted to take out the first side and redo that by hand too.

Doesn't she look cute in it? I hope she'll enjoy zipping and unzipping the zipper too.

Autumn days

We had the most glorious October day yesterday. It was so sunny that I was almost too warm sitting outside with my knitting at lunchtime.



I'd been a little concerned that I might struggle a little to find my bearings when I picked up the left front of the Arisaig cardigan after a break of a couple of months but the simple lace pattern and the fact that it's easy to count the increases and decreases by the repeats of the lace meant that I was able to carry on as though I had never left off.

The very steep decreases for the front neckline meant that every row was a little but shorter and I was able to make really good progress before the end of the day. I would have made even better progress if I hadn't got so carried away that I knit about 2 inches past the start of the armhole and had to rip back to the right place (oops!). Having had sizing issues with lace cardigans in the past (yes, I'm talking about you here, Katharine vest) I thought that this would be a good moment to block the back and check that the lace and ribbing really would stretch out to the required dimensions.



Yay! I even held a real piece of clothing up against it to make sure and so can now knit on with confidence.

Craft market research

I'm sitting here (in the lovely new computer chair that the boyfriend bought at the weekend) feeling pretty smug that I got in from Bluestockings this evening and did all the laundry before either doing any blogging or yet more knitting. To be honest, laundry was fairly necessary after a ketchup related incident at the pub. Amazingly and in defiance of all the laws of knitting physics the only place that the ketchup didn't go was on new knitter Amy's cream lace project. I'm not sure she'd have come back if that had happened!

We had a really great knitting night. There were 4 (four!) new knitters - Amy, Jenny, Jen, and Meryl - Felix came over from Reading and Helen arrived with her new dog Poppy who instantly became the centre of attention. She is a German Spitz and is just the prettiest dog ever and very well behaved. It was our first night in the new reserved spot by the bar and I think it was a success. There was lots of light all evening and enough space for all the knitters. There was even a little spot for Poppy to zonk out - I think she was exhausted by all the petting.

I took advantage of all these knitters to conduct a little market research on my owl brooches ahead of the craft market on Sunday and I'd like to ask you guys the same questions.

First question: do you prefer the goggly eyes?



or the sleepy eyes?



Here's a picture of the two owls side by side to help you out.



Bear in mind that these are actually little brooches so do think about what you would prefer to wear.

Second question: how much would you pay for a little owl brooch at a craft market? (Assuming you wanted a little owl brooch that is.)

For this one there are a few points to think about. The brooch is handmade (each one takes about an hour to make) and I don't want to sell myself short, or undercut other artists and crafters at the market some of whom will be doing this to make or supplement an income (rather than just as a hobby). On the other hand, I know from experience (my own and that of others) that very few people will pay an amount that would be a fair recompense for the time, skill, and materials that go into making a handmade item.

I have a figure in my own head which I think I'm going to charge but I'd be really interested to have your comments on this.

Edited to add: Thanks for all your lovely comments so far. One or two people mentioned that pricing might depend on the size of the owls - they are around 2 1/4 inches high (5.5 cm).

The antidote to colourwork

After spending all week working on a stranded project in four colours on 3mm needles both my brain and my fingers needed a rest. Something quick and undemanding - some plain vanilla knitting.

Moreover, since I didn't have any uncomplicated projects already on the needles it had to be something that I could cast on with barely a moment's thought (must - start - knitting - again - immediately) and with no risk of having to rip it out once I come across one of those inevitable project issues that a moment's thought would have obviated!*

Moss stitch scarf in Rowan Big Wool



Cast on 17 stitches using 10mm needles and Rowan Big Wool from stash. Knit until yarn runs out. Cast off.

I'm hoping for an easy win on all fronts here. After only an hour or so of knitting I already have nearly a foot of scarf so it should be a quick project. This yarn has been sitting in my stash in bits and pieces for several years. It was originally very expensive so knitting it up will be a weight off my conscience as well as freeing up a lot of space in the stash - they don't call it bulky weight for no reason. And a plain moss stitch scarf will make a splendid item to go in the - no longer imaginary - Christmas gifts box. I even have someone in mind for it.

* actually I did have to rip out two rows and the cast on as I didn't like the gauge I was getting with 12mm needles but when two rows equals all of 34 stitches it's hardly a tragedy.

Oh shoot

I'm sorry I didn't bring my camera into work today as it means I don't have a good picture of the 1 1/2 inches of colourwork which I painstakingly knit last night and heart-achingly ripped out this lunchtime (long story short I M1, K1, M1, K1, M1, K2'd 30 times instead of M1, K1, M1, K2ing 40 times). I am now trying to look for the positives in this.

Ripping out means more knitting - I like knitting so this is a good thing (I'm trying hard to follow Anne's example and be win-win about this).
I wasn't really loving the length of the circular needle that I was using and I suspect that this was messing with my tension - I can switch to a different length needle and it will be better (and hopefully not quite so hurty in the wrists).
When I ventured out to the LYS in search of this better length needle I discovered I already have one (actually two) at home - I spent the money saved on a spinach and feta thingy and a Rachel's Organic rice pudding (nom nom) from the deli next door.
I am in very good company.
I will have fewer stitches (8 per row) to knit this time around.
I will be over it as soon as I've reached the place I got to this morning, before it all went dark.

Had better start knitting then.

Odds and ends

The bad thing about knitting a colourwork project is that you always have a bunch of half balls left over. Conversely the good thing about knitting a colourwork project is that you always have a bunch of half balls left over. I find myself in this position now after completing the Sheep Yoke baby cardigan. There are two strategies for dealing with this situation.

1) Buy a little bit more of the main colour and knit a second one of whatever it was.
2) Knit another project which uses a bit more of the contrast colours and a bit less of the main colour.

Having tried option 1 before, this time I went with option number 2 - introducing the stripey yoked baby cardigan.



I really like the pink, blue, brown, and green stripes together - in fact a few colours more and I'd have a tube line cardigan.

I *heart* Sundays

Two hours in the bath reading Atonement followed by Sunday brunch banana pancakes with golden syrup. It doesn't get much better.

Once bathed and fed I settled down to finishing the embroidery on the sheep cardigan and by the time that Lewis Hamilton had crashed out on the final lap of the Italian Grand Prix it was all ready to post off to my sister.



Pattern: Sheep Yoke baby cardigan by Jen Little
Yarn: British Breeds Blue Face Leicester Double Knitting in Natural, Denim, Sage, Rose, and Sienna
Needles: 3.75mm
Modifications: Extra yoke rounds and increases to modify the size to fit a two-year old, sleeves and body lengthened

I picked up the buttons yesterday on a trip to Village Fabrics in Wallingford with our quilting group (our inaugural fieldtrip).



It was my first visit to Village Fabrics and I loved it.



They have a great selection and the displays are beautifully set out - little bundles of fat quarters and eighths tied up with ribbons and arranged in baskets everywhere.

We were there to pick fabrics for a sampler quilt which we'll be making as a group project. I'm really excited about learning some new quilting skills. I chose three fat quarters - two blue and one brown - which will coordinate nicely with the backing fabric (very light brown with slighter darker dots).



Hopefully if we end up making a good effort of it we can raffle it for charity.