Capsule knitting

The football season kicks off on Saturday so I'm up off north tomorrow to watch the Wanderers' first match of the season against the mighty Stoke City. Tomorrow is also the second day of the Festival of Quilts at the NEC and I'm going along with Katie, Ellen and Katie's mum and sister. On the one hand this means that I get a lift as far as Birmingham, on the other hand it means I have to pare down my packing to something that I can tote around the exhibition centre all day without putting my back out.

Thankfully I am a past mistress of this arcane art (plus I'm going up to my parents' which means that things like PJs, shampoo and my spare toothbrush are already in situ) having in the past succeeded in fitting the contents of an overnight bag into a regular sized handbag and those of a weekend bag into a bag that would fit under my seat for the boyfriend's latest degree ceremony (he's a repeat offender). Given that most of the seats in the Sheldonian Theatre don't have legroom, let alone room for anything else, this is some feat.



Clockwise from the top: ipod (stuffed to the gills with listen again Agatha Christie), toiletries, spare tops, underwear, lucky Bolton shirt, socks, knitting, printout of sock pattern.

Seriously, what else do you need?

The socks in question are the Cedar Dancing socks from Cat Bordhi's New Pathways for Sock Knitters. Aliki remarked a couple of weeks ago that it was slightly odd, given how eager we all were to get our sticky mitts on this book, that none of had actually knit any of the full size socks yet. Anyway, I'm going to be knitting these in the lovely lavender yarn from the Artful Ewe.

By the way - do you notice anything odd about the pair of socks below?



They're not a pair - I've got one Monkey and one Elfine's sock! I thought that switching to all handknit socks was meant to stop this happening.

Progress on the raglan cardigan last night was patchy to say the least. I had to reknit the right button band (the one with the button holes) about 3 and 2 halves times (i.e. three times in its entirety and twice when it was half knit) and I made a similar number of starts on the first sleeve. I think it was worth it though - I'm pretty pleased with my two-row button holes and the sleeves are looking OK now. I'm knitting them back and forth rather than in the round in order to avoid jogging in the stripes and holes in the underarms.



On the minus side this means I have an extra 32 ends to add to the gazillion and one ends that I already have to weave in.

Non-woolly minded illiberalism (or yet another reason not to read the Guardian)

Aliki* pointed me in the direction of this somewhat vitriolic blog post on the "pointless" Ravelympics. Skipping over the inaccuracies, mindless hate, and sweeping generalisms (apparently all knitters are humourless and overweight - that's just like saying that all Guardian journalists can't spell*) this guy just doesn't seem to have got the point. Whenever there is a major sporting event, people who enjoy sport often like to do something to be more involved either with the participants or with the other fans. That something can be wearing team colours, having your once-a-year punt on the Grand National, joining the office sweepstake during the World Cup, or just discussing your new-found love for synchronised diving in the kitchen at work. In the case of the knitting community we celebrate (the same way we celebrate every other day with a Y in it) by knitting. I don't see what's so pointless about using a set period to focus on a particular project, or about using knitting and the Olympics to meet new friends. After all, if I'm going to be sat on my "fat arse" watching over 100 hours of sport (or at least I will be when the telly comes back from the shop) I might as well produce something warm and beautiful at the same time. You go, Ravelympians!

After this brief polemic we now return to our regular scheduled knitting content. I was so excited to find out that Aliki is knitting a pair of Hopscotch socks in a gorgeous blue shade of Oxford Kitchen Yarns. They look fabulous and we spent lunchtime cooing over how neatly the cables intertessellated (though I says it as shouldn't).

Despite a minor flirtation (if you can call casting on 236 stitches in the round a flirtation) with a tank top in an attempt to ascertain whether I could knit up my handspun alpaca and the last of the Jaeger Matchmaker 4 ply at the same gauge (I couldn't) I've made good progress on Clara's raglan cardigan.



I'm just ready to start the ribbing at the bottom then there's just the button bands and the sleeves. It's all looking very cute and well-proportioned, the fabric is lovely and soft and it's not too yarn hungry. I think if I was knitting this in a single colour it wouldn't take much over three balls.

* she knows I just love a bit of righteous indignation and impotent fuming.

** Sorry, I tried not to be cheap but that one just slipped out. Nice use of the less common double-L spelling of "civillisation" btw Steve!

Sweater training

You might have got the impression that all this baby knitting is in aid of my bid to be aunt of the year but in fact I've got an ulterior motive. It's just practice for the one or two adult sweaters I want to design for myself this autumn.



I've been getting to grips with using the EZ percentage system to calculate neck sizes and yoke lengths and after a false start (above - see the unusual letter-box style neck) I've been making good progress on the raglan cardigan for Laurie's little buddy Clara.



This needs to be done for September so I'm trying not to get distracted by other shiny knitting but I've been continuing to spin up the giant sack of biffle on my new wheel.



Hopefully I'll be able to spin enough at a consistent enough weight to knit a sweater - nothing too fancy shaping-wise - I'm thinking a lace tube (happily I suit tube shaped sweaters) with reverse stockinette yoke.

My ambivalence to watching the Beijing Olympics lasted just until the first coxless fours heat yesterday morning. Of course, having decided that I will be watching the Olympics it's ironic that the TV should have packed up this morning - we have sound but no vision! Still, our first gold medal - Nicole Cook in the women's cycling road race - was just as exciting on the radio, in fact more so as I couldn't see whether she was going to hang on or not.

Plural for singular

I sat down at the spinning wheel after work today and after a little while of spinning a fluffy, bulky mess something finally clicked and I'm finally spinning something that looks like the singles I've been getting off the drop spindle for a while now.



It's by no means a full bobbin but I thought I'd stop before the slight muscle strain developed into the dreaded "spinners limp". I'm not at all sure how it happened but I've managed to get from having to draft everything in advance and then treadling to spin it and get it onto the bobbin to a place where I can draft as I spin and the fibre just seems to flow through my fingers.

It's a very satisfying feeling and I can tell that, once I've got a bit better, this is going to be just as addictive as spinning witha drop spindle.

I've also learnt that wearing a black t-shirt whilst spinning is not really advisable due to "the fluff of white wool which settles all over the spinning woman and tends to give her the appearance of a person who has slept in her clothes" (according to Dorothy L. Sayers in Five Red Herrings).


Despite the fact that I've been knitting hard all weekend I don't have much in the knitting line to show off as I seem to have been in hard training for the knit and rip event in the Ravelympics.

What I do have is a swatch for a raglan baby cardigan.



Yarn: Rowan Cashsoft DK
Needles: 3.25mm (border), 3.5mm main piece
Tension: 24 stitches and 32 rows = 4 inches

I rather like the picot edge but my sister, who has commissioned the piece, isn't so keen (I'll be saving that design feature for my own stripy sweater) so it'll be a plain raglan with ribbed edge rather like (in fact exactly like) this one, only for a 1 year old:



The deadline is September so I'd better sit down and get started on the maths.

Knitting is magic

There's always something slightly surreal for me about the first time I wear any handknitted piece, particularly with any item that doesn't need blocking (socks) or that has been blocked before sewing up (sweaters). One moment it's a project that you're working on, the next you've woven in that last end and it's part of your wardrobe. Part of it is that I'm still not entirely used to the fact that I can get new clothes without going into a shop and handing over my credit card* but it's mostly that I'm still stunned by the "ta da" moment when I realise that, with just a couple of bits of wood to help me, I've succeeded in turning the raw materials of spun yarn into a wearable garment.

It's at moments like these that I'm particularly glad to have a flesh and blood knitting group because no-one else quite gets how cool this is.

I'm looking forward to seeing you all on Wednesday!

* usually by the time I've knit something up that part of the business is so long in the past as to have faded from memory.

All done *beams*

Pattern: Minimalist cardigan by Ruthie Nussbaum, IK Fall 2007
Yarn: Oxford Kitchen Yarns DK, 7.5 skeins
Needles: 4.5mm
Ravelled: here

Although I've had this project on the needles since April it's actually a pretty quick and easy knit, I'm just easily distracted. The fit is fantastic - just the right length and the arms and shoulders are just right.

It's a lovely colour to go with jeans and a white t-shirt and I've even got enough yarn left for a matching hat or gloves.

Block around the clock

The Minimalist cardigan is all knit up and currently blocking on the living room floor. It should be dry by tomorrow morning which means that if I stitch like the wind I could have a new cardigan by tomorrow evening.



I can't even remember the last (adult-size) sweater I finished *quickly checks Ravelry*, it looks like it might have been the Peridot sweater about two years ago - gasp!

After this sweater drought I've got my next sweater planned already - a striped top in Wensleydale Longwool and I'm v. keen on trying a wrap cardigan in lace weight Misti Alpaca.

Of course I should concentrate on finishing my current works in progress but there are lots of temptations, not least this beautiful sock yarn from the Artful Ewe which Helen brought me from Seattle. It has beautiful tones of lavender fields and heathery hills.

Getting there

This is looking rather more like it although I'm concerned that it may be a little underspun. I still haven't really worked out how to work the brake but I've found a very useful site here and I'm hoping that Katie and Megan will have some tips for me tomorrow. I kind of feel that they have an advantage as I'm pretty sure that their (new) wheels will have come with a user guide.

On the knitting front I have one and a half completed sleeves for my Minimalist cardigan.



I always seem to slow to a crawl when it comes to knitting the sleeves for any garment but I hope I'll be able to finish the second sleeve by tomorrow and to start making up the cardigan.

Happy spinning

My kilo of biffle has arrived from Wingham Wool Work. Surely I'll have got the hang of spinning on the wheel by the time I've worked through it all!

Maillot grise

Well, there's not really enough for a sweater (except for maybe a baby sweater) but I finished my Tour de Fleece spinning in yesterday evening before the end of the last stage so I think I can claim a yellow jersey.



My Tour de Fleece challenge was to spin up all the grey alpaca at a consistent gauge and I'm pretty pleased with the two skeins I've ended up with.

Handpsun grey alpaca: 160 gms/16 wpi/245 metres



I got to meet some alpaca from Inca Alpaca and Moonsbrook Alpaca yesterday at the CLA game fair although sadly they'd run out of fleece for sale.



I'm not really into any of huntin', shootin' or fishin' but I had a very jolly time at the game fair. There were lots of lovely dogs as well as the alpaca and even some water buffalo from Napton.



They were doing a roaring trade in their absolutely delicious water buffalo ice-cream.

It's lucky that I completed my spinning challenge as knitting-wise the weekend has been a complete washout.

This was my rainbow jaywalker sock at around 11:30:



Here it is at 11:45:



After completing the afterthought heel I tried it on and decided that it was both too long and too tight. The boyfriend, with rather touching faith, suggested that blocking would sort it out but really there's no fun in socks that cut off the citculation.



I rather suspect that these will be going the same way for the same reasons. I really like how this stitch pattern looks unstretched but blocked out they look quite different and unfortunately the tops are far too tight. A rethink is in order but I think I'll try knitting the "second" sock before ripping back this one.

Yarn, Jim, but not as we know it..

Not too awful for my first attempt on the wheel, though a bit fluffy and bumpy. I was able to get straight to spinning after work as I was prevented from going for my run by the aches and strains I picked up hoiking the wheel around yesterday. I came across a useful picture online of a wheel with the oiling points marked with diamonds - I feel like there ought to be oiling points marked on my right shoulder and forearm, left thigh and lower back. Anyhow, I've got the thing going and it does actually seem to spin yarn.

I'm not too discouraged. In fact, like the proverbial, I'm blaming my tools as I don't find those little coloured tops from Handweavers' Studio to be the easiest things to spin as they're very sticky on the drafting. I'm going to order some more biffle from Wingham tomorrow as that drafts very smoothly.

In the meantime I'm still pedalling hard towards the line in the Tour de Fleece. I got a decent amount of alpaca spun on the bus home from work and had a jolly conversation with a chap who had never seen "anyone doing weaving before". I explained (kindly) that he still hadn't seen anyone "doing weaving" and that in fact what I was doing was spinning.



It's nice to think that I was that guy's weird thing that happened to him today. My own weird thing for the day was attempting to help catch a stray racing pigeon which had fluttered into the courtyard at work yesterday and couldn't get out. Aliki and I didn't have much luck as birdcatchers - more Papageno* than Penelope Pitstop. Luckily our colleague Sara seems to have a way with pigeons and was able to get him contained ready to be sent back to his owner in Taunton.

* He's always seemed like rather an inept birdcatcher in the productions I've seen.

Free wheelin'

It may be the last week of the tour, but I've got me a new bike!



Idly glancing at Ravelry around 4:30 this afternoon I spotted a post in the Bluestockings group proclaiming that there was a spinning wheel for sale for £80 in the window of the Red Cross shop on the High Street. As soon as I'd finished work I hared across town on my actual bike, checked it out, bought it, said "no thanks" to the three sacks of somewhat mangy fleece accompanying it, and hauled it off to the pub to meet the rest of the Bluestockings.



Back home (eventually - turns out I did miss my bus due to my watch having stopped, I thought the evening was going slowly) I engaged in a little detective work ("You know my methods Watson, apply them") and discovered that the wheel is a "Wee Peggy" made by John Rappard who made spinning wheels in New Zealand in the 1970s and 1980s. Judging from the number on the underside of the wheel I think that mine was made in 1983. Some of the parts could (I think) do with a bit more finishing such as the bobbins and the front and rear maidens (I'm on a crash course in spinning terminology) - there are some beautiful dark varnished examples online - but for now I'm just eager to get spinning.

Open crochet

If cycling means spinning then golf must mean crochet, yes? After a slowish start when I couldn't quite recall how to make a half treble crochet decrease and a couple of shaky places where I ran out of chains before I'd made enough stitches I've been zipping along on the Marakoopa scarf whilst watching the golfer's battle the elements at Royal Birkdale. It's one of those annoying secret projects so there'll be no bloggage but it's Ravelled here.

I've felt somewhat shamefaced when reading everyone else's Tour de Fleece posts since I've really not been recording my progress. Still I have continued trundling along towards the back of the peloton and yesterday I wound just under 100g of alpaca singles onto the bobbin (getting halfway through the fibre at the two-thirds stage is not perhaps a great sign). It was going to be a round 100 but when the yarn broke for the fourth time I took it as a sign and quit.





Having an empty spindle meant that I could have a quick go at spinning up the samples of Shetland humbug and camel from the Handweavers' Studio. The Shetland spun up beautifully. I split the top into cream and brown and spun it into a single with all the cream first, then all the brown. Then I Andean plied it, one ply of cream, one of brown. I was really chuffed that I only ended up with 1 foot of all cream yarn at the end.



The camel was much more tricky. It's very soft and fine and an absolute arse to draft without getting lumps. Still, at least it doesn't spit at you whilst you're doing it and like everything it looks much more impressive when plied.



I've now tried spinning eight types of fibre (silk, mohair, camel, alpaca, merino, shetland, suffolk and blue faced leicester) and I have to say that for ease of spinning and sheer loveliness the biffle is still my favourite. I can't wait to order some more from Wingham and get started on my giant blanket. I've just got to get through that other 100g of alpaca first.

As my whimsy takes me

Having dashed into Port Meadow on the way home for some variegated sock yarn for a pattern idea* that I had to start on right away I then spent much of my knitting time this weekend working on a completely different pattern with an entirely different yarn.



The lace pattern is "Obstacles" from the Harmony Guide volume II. This photo doesn't really give a very good idea of what it looks like, but it has given me an idea for another pattern stitch (maybe this time in the neglected impulse buy yarn). The yarn is by Oxford Kitchen Yarns in light plum - it's delovely and knitting up remarkably quickly (yay). Happily for my progress on this sock I've managed to reconcile knitting with my current Dorothy L. Sayers kick (four books this weekend, stop me, please) by learning how to hold the pages down with my elbow.

The homespun shawl got its first outing today and I badgered the boyfriend into taking some pictures. Luckily there's no shortage of scenic backdrops in Oxford.





It's blocked out to quite a decent size which gives me to think that with a kilo of fibre spun to around the same thickness and knit in a similarly lacy pattern I could have quite a decent sized blanket. Cosy and not hugely expensive or time consuming either.

* pattern idea is still quite cool but needs some work on the maths side.

Sheep to shawl

Pattern: Constructed as per Kiri with diamond lace pattern
Yarn: 400g handspun Bluefaced Leicester
Needles: 8mm circular

My first serious piece of knitting from my own handspun is currently blocking on the living room floor. I can't quite believe that I got all that done with just a drop spindle. Right now it's perfectly evoking a summer day in the English countryside in that it's wet and smells rather of sheep. However, when dry it's going to be beautifully soft and snuggly and brilliant for combatting the rather overenthusiastic air-conditioning in my office.

Spin, ply, knit

I finished spinning up the sample of Suffolk on the bus home after the AVF (much to the interest of the other passengers), plied it yesterday evening and soaked and hung it up with the 400g of BFL I finished on Friday. I love the smell of wet sheep in the bathroom.

Although I enjoyed spinning the wool (lovely long staple) I decided that it really was a bit too scratchy for me to wear (and I am not a wuss when it comes to wearing wool next to the skin).



Luckily I knew someone in need of a woolly jumper who wouldn't complain.



It was even happy to try on the WIP.



Mistake rib tea cosy



Pattern: my own
Yarn: handspun Suffolk (grey), Rowan Felted Tweed held double (blue and brown)
Needles: 4.5mm dpns

Alternative Village Fete

The first stage of the tour de fleece turned into a bit of a tour of London. I started off at Paddington, headed up to Walthamstow to pick up fibre and a niddy noddy, then caught the tube to Waterloo for the Alternative Village fete in National Theatre Square.

The niddy noddy is lovely and a darn sight more comfortable than winding the stuff round your knees.



On the fibre side I bought samples of Shetland humbug (left), camel (right) and Suffolk (not shown). The bundle of loveliness in the middle is 200g of grey alpaca which I've started to spin up for my TDF challenge.



The single is coming out at 25 wpi under tension and I'm going to try to stick to that average.



I didn't think the AVF was going to be a great place for spinning alpaca for the first time (too much danger of dropping the spindle on wet astroturf) so I started on the sample of grey Suffolk. More on that tomorrow.

The AVF itself was great although the fact that I kept glancing up from the morris dancing to see red London buses overhead on the Waterloo bridge was rather surreal.



The morris dancers were great - rather like uruk hai with bells on. The leader of the troupe took the stick clashing very seriously - I thought it was only in jousting that you got points for breaking a lance.

Between the knitting and the spinning I checked out the vegetable sculptures..



.. and the animals from the Vauxhall City farm ..



.. and ate a tiny wee fairy cake from crumb doilies.



I had a very jolly time at the iknit stand putting faces to some Ravelry names and knitting a swatch for the great british sheep. Mine's the brown one.



I think I'm slightly scared by the sheep, but at least there's no room in there for Edward Woodward.

Three bags full

Or at least a shoebox full.



Just under 400g of Navajo plied blue faced leicester which I finished up last night freeing me up for my Tour de Fleece challenge.

I'm still a pretty newbie spinner so the challenge I've set myself is to spin a batch of fibre into yarn with consistent wpi from beginning to end. I'm really pleased with the blf yarn but the thickness varies rather throughout and this does complicate matters when thinking about gauge for a knitting project.

I'm kicking off le premier etage by heading off to the Handweavers' Studio in north London to buy materials. One of the challenges of this year's tour is to spin from stash but I don't have a fibre stash (yet). Actually I'm planning not to acquire one (mutters of 'I should think so' from the boyfriend) and to spin what I have before acquiring more. Then it can go sit in my yarn stash!

After the HWS I'm heading to the other side of London to the Alternative Village Fete at National Theatre Square for the monthly iknit spinning morning (or rather afternoon) so I'd better go and get ready, especially as my plan for an early night was completely scuppered by Dorothy L. Sayers' fantastic Gaudy Night. Although you know it's a good read when you look up from your book before bedtime to realise it's one in the morning!

Hyperbolic knitting

I had planned a Messy Tuesdays post but decided that, as there was no way that I could compete with Felix's kitchen ceiling*, I'd better just do the washing-up to make room for some photography.

I hadn't realised that in knitting the baby surprise jacket I was actually knitting a mathematical construct but when you lay the BSJ out 'flat' it's definitely a hyperbolic surface. Obviously EZ was a mathematical as well as a knitting genius!





The boyfriend came home with a Times article on Daina Taimina's hyperbolic crochet and pointed out the similarities between that and the BSJ. Luckily for those of us who are now getting requests for knitted mathematical models (the boyfriend now wants a mobius and maybe a Klein bottle) there are plenty of patterns on Ravelry. There's even a pattern for the pair of hyperbolic pants mentioned in the Times article!

* yes, I know it's not meant to be a competition!