Leaping on the bandwagon

After reading Lynne's post last week I was suddenly inspired to get a move on and join in with the Innocent Big Knit 2011. After spending the last couple of months working solidly on Deco and the Garter Yoke Cardi it's really nice to be churning out these tiny little finished objects and (which is the main point) I've worked through 150 g of odds and ends in my stash.
No surprises that my favourite so far is this guy:

I'm very pleased that Mikal badgered persuaded me into knitting him. I also knitted a Lynne-inspired Kermit hat.

Here's the full roll-call so far. I plan to keep knitting until a) I reach 100* or b) I run out of time before the deadline or c) I get bored - whichever happens first.

One of the things I really like about this is it's like a yarn-y trip down memory lane. For instance the second hat from the left in the bottom row above is knit from the end of a skein of Socks That Rock in Moonstone which I used to knit a pair of lace socks for Felix; the very bottom right hat is knit in Artisan Threads yarn bought at Woolfest 2009 in the company of Kate, Lara, and Felix. That was such a fabulous trip and it's lovely to have a fibrous reminder of it. The wee sheepy above is (appropriately enough) knit from Rowan Purelife British Sheep Breeds yarn (cream) and some brown that I used for my eldest niece's Baby Sheep Yoke cardigan. Kermit (also below) is knit from Jo Sharp yarn that I bought in Australia on my honeymoon and which I used to knit a Debbie Bliss cardigan for my baby niece Kate. I could go on for ages here but I'll just do one more - the third hat from the left in the top row below is knit from the hand dyed (by me) yarn which I used to knit the Bonfire night mitts that got devoured by moths (not the same as these hand dyed mitts that got devoured by moths - it's obviously a recurring theme round here).

* I have a strong competitive instinct and six years worth of leftovers to work through.

Due to popular demand*

I am knitting the sheep hat (last week's pattern of the week) for Innocent's Big Knit. More wee hats later today folks.

* that means you Mikal

Done Deco

Meet my new favourite item of clothing:

I really need a photoshoot director to give me notes on posture

Pattern: Deco by the immensely talented Kate Davies
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers in #9322 Silver Spruce (4.75 100g skeins)
Needles: 3mm circulars
Modifications: I started the neck shaping at the same time as the armhole shaping for extra "scoopiness" and knit all parts of the cardigan with a 3mm needle (as I didn't think that I could use a smaller size needle without breaking it).
Ravelled: here

so that's what my hair looks like from the back

if you look carefully you can see the photographer

As those who know me will testify, this has been a bit of a slog. Nothing to do with the pattern which is completely joyous to knit and contains some of my very favourite techniques. Nothing to do with the yarn either. This was my first time knitting with Cascade 220 and I love it - it's soft, sturdy, felts beautifully (very important for spit splicing) and comes in a cracking range of colours. The issue really was with trying to knit a yarn with a recommended gauge of 18-20 stitches per inch on 4.5-5mm needles at a gauge of 26 stitches per inch on 3mm needles. It's lucky that KnitPros are so sturdy. If you do try this at home I warn you in advance that it will be tricky and there will be a lot of soul searching about drape and whether, when finished, your cardigan will be able to stand up on its own. However, if you stick with it the reward is a wonderfully soft, structured cardigan that keeps you toasty even on a nippy September morning when you're wondering whether footless tights (as opposed to ones with feet) are such a bright idea.

Now for the details:

The buttons (which complement the design of the cardigan splendidly) are from Darn it and Stitch as is the ribbon (of which I hope Kate approves). I probably could have done a more invisible job with the blind stitching but when you're using vintage Sylko threads it seems a shame not to see them.

Local yarn for local people

When I popped into Darn It and Stitch yesterday after work I was thrilled to see that Jo is now stocking the beautiful pure Ryeland yarn from Blacker Yarns. I have knit with this stuff before and it is lovely. However, I was even more excited when she told me why she was stocking that particular line - it is from local sheep! Sheep, in fact, that I have seen in Wolvercote whilst out running. I was so excited that I nearly gave up my plans for a laceweight lace cardigan (a la this one from Cath Kidston) and bought DK yarn instead.

Jo also has new yarn in from Oxford Kitchen Yarns (another local supplier). Sadly there wasn't quite enough of the sock in Sunflower which would have been the perfect shade to mimic the yellow cashmere used in the CK cardigan.

There's not quite enough time** to show you what I actually purchased but it did come one of Jo's lovely new paper bags.

* apologies for the quality of the photos - I was rushing to catch a bus! ** rushing for another bus

As I type

My Deco cardigan is blocking on my living room floor. I really hope it will be dry by tomorrow morning as I'd like to take it up to Bolton with me to work on the finishing (buttons, snaps, and button band facing to sew on, ends to weave in). Yep, I'm finally ready to commit to weaving in some ends after trying it on earlier this afternoon (albeit in a somewhat damp state) and deciding that it does fit as well as I'd like it too. Ideally I want it finished for Monday so I can wear it with my favourite summer dress before the good weather goes away entirely. Then I'll just have to settle for wearing it with my favourite autumn dress (really also a summer dress but can be worn with thick tights).

Teatime at the museum

Inspired by my gallery outing with Lara last weekend, this Sunday I headed into town for a spot of 19th century art and tea and cake at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. Once I'd made my way around the Pisarros on the third floor mezzanine I headed down to to the basement to investigate the cafe which, despite its subterranean location, is bright and airy and a lovely place to relax after wandering round the galleries (or indeed the gift shop).

Although it was lunchtime and although the soup did look really nice I'd gone in there with the idea of having tea and cake and I stuck to my guns.

I had a really lovely pot or Earl Grey tea and a magnificent slice of chocolate fudge cake whilst I put in some more work on my Deco cardigan - I'm very happy that I've found another lovely place to drink tea and knit.

Bank Holiday outing #2

I had another lovely Bank Holiday outing today, this time to London to meet the lovely Lara for tea and a catch-up at Yumchaa. Once we'd finished exchanging all our news we headed off to Liberty for a browse round the haberdashery department. Like Kate we too found the lovely new Rowan fine tweed yarn. I'm very glad now that Lara prevented me from impulse-buying any yarn at the time as now I can buy the yarn in the right amounts and colours for Kate's lovely hat pattern (once it's published).

Once we'd pulled ourselves away from Liberty we went for a wander around the National Gallery followed by more tea in the lovely new Peyton and Byrne cafe (recently reviewed here). I had the Bakewell tart and Lara had the peach and honey tart and they were both delicious.



[Bakewell tart]

Of course there was plenty of time for knitting, both at the cafe and on the train to and from Oxford. I finished the second sleeve cap on my Deco cardigan but I'm afraid I'm not really further on than I was yesterday as I had to rip back about half of the first sleeve after realising that I had interpreted the instruction to knit rows A and B then repeat 6 times, as meaning knit rows A and B 6 times in total, and then executed them to knit rows A and B five times in total. The nice lady sitting opposite me on the train on the way back was somewhat distressed by my undoing so much of my knitting but as I explained, if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. Still hoping to finish Deco by the end of the week but sadly I don't think it won't be blocked in time to wear to my dad's birthday dinner at the weekend.

Bank Holiday outing #1

The husband and I took advantage of our brand new National Trust membership and the half-decent weather forecast on Sunday to pop over the border and visit Charlecote Park in Warwickshire.



[even the gatehouse is fancy]

We arrived just as the house and outbuildings were being evacuated after a fire alarm but we were allowed into the park to eat our sandwiches and pork pies and by the time we'd finished our picnic the alarm was over and we were able to look round the house.

The park had been home to the Lucy family since the 1200s but was decorated as it had been in the mid-19th century by Mary Elizabeth Lucy.



[orange bedroom]

The grounds and gardens, set on the banks of the River Avon and River Dene, are beautiful with a herd of fallow deer roaming about them.



[cascade into the Avon]

Luckily the weather stayed fine for long enough for us to wander round before heading into the cafe for tea and cake.









If there are two things the National Trust does well it's gardens and cake.

A present from Charlecote

I came away from our visit to Charlecote Park yesterday with something much better than a box of National Trust shortbread. Dahlias from their garden. Not picked by me I hasten to add - they were selling them for £2 a bunch in the plant and flower centre at the exit.





What a gorgeous souvenir to be able to take away. And much better for me than shortbread.

I was going to write a flip post about how great it is when male drivers lean on their horns when I'm out running as the resultant adrenaline boost makes me run much faster, but it turns out that having simmered about this all the way home I'm still much too angry.

Do these morons realise that their behaviour is intimidatory? Do they think it's fun to threaten women? It would appear so from the way that they were laughing afterwards. Personally I find their behaviour sexist, offensive, and utterly reprehensible.

Crunch time

With the button and neck bands of my Deco complete I was finally able to check on the size and fit of my cardigan. I'd been a bit worried that it would be rather on the small size but when I tried it on with one of the dresses that I plan to wear it with it looked just perfect (yes, I know I'm not wearing a dress in the picture above).

It's such a relief as I was really dreading having to rip the whole shebang back and rework the gauge. I lightly steamed it before trying it on to relax the fabric and it really helped. I'm hopeful that a proper blocking will really work its magic.

The next step is to work the short rows for the sleeve caps. I've going to have to make another tiny modification here as there's no way that I can work this yarn in the smaller needle size specified (much less pick up stitches with a 2mm needle) but I hope this won't be too much of an issue.

I can also get onto the fun business of picking out some grosgrain ribbon and fabulous buttons for it - I think a trip to Darnit and Stitch is in order.

Snake in the grass

We had a fantastic treat when we went for our usual evening walk around Blenheim. We hadn't got more than a few metres along the path when we saw a 3 foot grass snake basking in the middle of it. It slithered off incredibly quickly but I managed to get one half decent photo.



You can just see the white band on the back of its neck and I was able to get close enough to see its tongue flicking in and out. I was so excited - this is the first snake I've seen in the wild since I was very little.

The rest of our walk was less eventful but very lovely. Blenheim looked so beautiful in the evening sunshine - even the algae on the lake was a stunning iridescent green.

Wedding cupcakes

Today we went to our fourth and final wedding of the year, that of Ruth and Paul in Great Malvern. We arrived just before the exit of the newly married couple from the Council House in Malvern and had a moment of wondering if we were at the right wedding until I spotted that all the bridesmaids were wearing Damsons. It's usually a sign that you're in the right place when you recognise the knitwear.

Of course Ruth had also knit a shawl for herself - pretty fabulous, no?



My own contribution to the day's craftiness was baking a batch of cupcakes for the cake table.



Chocolate cupcakes with creme fraiche icing decorated with raspberries and mint leaves

It took a little while to get the creme fraiche* icing right and the kitchen still looks like something exploded in it but I think it was worth it. And, I got the sweetest compliment. As I was taking a picture of the cupcakes I heard this angelic little boy behind me saying "Mummy, that lady's taking a picture of my favourite cakes".

* it was meant to be soured cream icing but creme fraiche was what we had in the fridge

NY knits

I got a lot of knitting done on my trip to New York. The great thing about knitting on holiday is that the project becomes a souvenir of the trip, every time you wear the finished object you remember the holiday.



I knit on the plane* (it's allowed now!), and at the hotel, and on the subway, and on the train and when I came back I had this.



The only reason it's not already finished is that I ran out of yarn. The pattern estimated 950 yards for the size that I'm knitting and I had 952 yards so I'm really not sure how I've ended up 2 balls short - either the estimate or the yardage on the ball band is way out. I've ordered another couple of balls from Blacker Yarns. I hope it's the right shade - it's not always the easiest thing to match up the information on the ball band with the information on the website.

So in the meantime I'm working on this.



I bought 5 skeins of Cascade 220 from Purl Soho (another souvenir from New York). Purl Soho is a lovely shop.



The only problem is there's too much choice. I managed to spend a whole hour browsing before Richard lost patience and made me make up my mind.

I suspect that the Cascade still isn't the perfect choice for the Deco pattern. Not completely surprising since the only test I applied was to check that it was thinner than the first yarn that I chose. I even had a long conversation over tea in Headington (at the lovely Jacobs & Field) with Felix about knitting a new gauge swatch and trying to knit a smaller size on larger needles but whilst I was waiting for my bus I realised that the more I knit the more drape the fabric seemed to have.



And I love the colour, which doesn't show up well in either of these photos but it's a deep jade.

* no problem taking wooden interchangeables through security screening at Heathrow or Newark and the only comment I got from United staff was on the colour of the yarn.

ETA: As this is always a hot topic amongst knitters I thought I'd add a little extra detail. Although there were no signs prohibiting knitting needles at the United/Continental desk I took a couple of precautions anyway. I used KnitPro interchangeables with wooden points and I unscrewed the points before we went through security screening and put the end protectors on the cable so that if there was a problem I wouldn't be faffing around in the queue trying to unscrew my needles. I then put the points in my purse with a couple of pencils and the bag went through fine. I also had a spare set of points in the case that I checked in, just in case.

Share a Disney memory and raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital

Please click on the link below and help raise £1 million for Great Ormond Street Hospital. They do amazing work for so many children including my little niece Kate.

You don't have to give any money, just give a few seconds of your time to share your earliest memory of a Disney film.



Kate says please click the link: http://www.facebook.com/disneyjunioruk

More postcards from New York

New York skyscrapers



Clockwise from top left: Woolworth building, Chrysler building, Empire State building, Flatiron building.

New York bridges



Clockwise from top left: Brooklyn bridge, Manhattan bridge, George Washington bridge, Henry Hudson bridge

New York landmarks



Clockwise from top left: New York Stock Exchange, Federal Hall, Bow Bridge in Central Park, Statue of Liberty

New York snacks



Clockwise from top left: Devil's Food cake cupcake at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Frozen yoghurt at Bloomingdales, Red Velvet cupcake at Blake & Todd, Italian Combo at Ashby's

Suffice to say we had an amazing time. Highlights include the Circle Line boat trip, checking out the views from the Top of the Rock, and having cocktails at a swanky bar on the top floor of a hotel just up the road from the UN. I also loved strolling round Central Park and window shopping in Soho. Plus my visit to Purl Soho where I did more than just window shop. Photos of yarn and what I'm knitting with it in my next post.

A postcard from New York

Having a splendid time. Took the Circle Line tour yesterday - hopefully heading up one of the tall buildings today for a different perspective on the city.

Love from Liz

Greetings from New York

Times Square (woot!)



Central Park with skyscrapers in the background.



How much money the US owed at 17:25 yesterday!*

It's just a flying visit at the moment - we arrived yesterday afternoon and this morning we're catching a train up to Norwalk for my sister-in-law's wedding - but we'll be back on Sunday for a few more days. I'm really looking forward to checking out the New York yarn shops! I should have enough knitting to keep me going in the meantime. I'm currently knitting Melissa LaBarre's Garter Yoke Cardi (originally published in an issue of Knit1 but now available as a download from the Vogue Knitting Store) and I've nearly reached the point where I need to divide for the body. I'm knitting it in the Blacker Yarns Shetland DK which I bought at Knit Nation with the intention of knitting a Deco only to find I had insurmountable issues with gauge**. Entirely my own fault for not double checking the needle size used in the pattern before buying the yarn, if I had then I would have known it was far too heavy - despite having the same weight and yardage as the Corriedale which Kate uses. Anyway I trawled through Ravelry until I found another cardigan which I could knit with around 950 yards of DK yarn and came up with the Garter Yoke Cardi. It seemed vaguely familiar and when I looked at the projects tab I realised why - Megan had knit one back in 2009 and I remembered it looking really great. So far it's going really well and I've already had one compliment on the colour (natural light grey Shetland) from the one of the flight attendants on the plane. Yes, I knit on the plane! Knitting needles weren't mentioned in the list of prohibited items at the check in desk so I unscrewed the points on my interchangeables, put the end caps on the cable (just in case there was a problem I didn't want to be doing all that in the baggage screening line) and put the points in my handbag. In the event there were no problems whatsoever and I got a good six hours of garter stitch and stockinette in whilst watching the Twilight saga back-to-back (United does not have a good selection of recent movies compared to those on Singapore Airlines). My only slight worry is whether I'll have enough yarn. I should be OK, the pattern gives 918 yards for the size I'm knitting and I have 952 but I seem to be going through the balls awfully quickly!

I'll post a picture of progress so far once I've divided for the body, at the moment it's so bunched up on the cable that you can't really tell what's going on.

* This might just be me but I would find this incredibly dispiriting if we had a similar "clock" up in London. It's not really the way to make people feel good about the state of the economy.

** I actually got stitch gauge with the recommended needle size but the density of the fabric was such that it would have been a kevlar cardigan.

Sunday crumble

Sunday is a good day for country walks, following the cricket, and proper puddings.



Crumble is definitely a proper Sunday pudding especially when served with a dollop of cold cream and it's so easy to make. Just fill an oven proof bowl with enough fruit to fully cover the bottom, sprinkle with sugar, spoon over enough crumble mix to hide the fruit, sprinkle some more brown sugar on top and then bake at around 200 C for 25 minutes or until it looks done.

Crumble mix recipe (makes enough for 2 people)
4 oz plain flour
1.5 oz butter
2.5 oz demerara sugar

Rub the flour and butter together (similar to making pastry) then mix in the sugar.

This crumble is made with yet more cherry plums but later in the year it will be apple and blackberry.

Whilst watching the cricket I spent most of the day on a secret sewing project - I'll have pictures to show you in a couple of weeks once the recipient has received it.

New tricks

I just got back from a very long day at Knit Nation in London with a bag full of yarn and a new skill. I took the very cool Lene Alve's class, Mittens of Rovaniemi, a class that I'd wanted to take ever since I read the Yarn Harlot's post (linked to at "of").

We started off by knitting a wristlet in four colours, one main colour, and three contrast colours.

From the front it looks like regular stranded knitting (although no sane knitter would attempt to carry four colours in one round).



Turn it inside out however and where are the strands?



The answer is there aren't any, the yarn is carried up the work, rather than around - it's pure genius. For each area of contrast colour you have a separate mini-skein of yarn which are skewered on a straight knitting needle in order to keep them in order. This may seem like overkill when dealing with just five mini skeins but it's just enough kill (as Spike once said) when you have eleven mini-skeins as we did when we switched to knitting proper mittens after lunch.



It's a yarn kebab.



It may look like chaos but it's controlled chaos. I didn't get a great way into my mittens - knitting with 2mm needles at tight gauge is a very slow business when you're not used to it - but I got far enough to know that I will be doing more of this (possibly at a slightly looser gauge until my fingers toughen up).

Lene kept circling the class to give us pointers and amaze us with a bevy of samples of astonishing Finnish knitting and crochet techniques. Did you know that you could do colourwork in crochet? And that you can do it without leaving any floats or ends showing (apparently they are hidden away inside the stitches).



Now that's another class I can't wait to take.

Meanwhile during lunch I ran into a few friends.

Jenny, Amy, and Ruth were there to take Franklin Habit's class on lace edgings.





Judith and Jaq were both on duty as part of the Socktopus team and as soon as I walked into the Knit Tea Salon I saw Mel (or rather she saw me). It was lovely to sit an have a chat with Mel over lunch before hitting the marketplace.

I was also very happy to see the lovely folks from Blacker Yarns as I had a voucher from last summer to spend with them. After a bit of dithering I picked eight balls of light grey Shetland DK to knit a Deco and then after another circuit of the marketplace came back to get four balls of Shetland, Corriedale, and Hebridean in different colours for my Rovaniemi mittens.