fuzzy little alien

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Fuzzy Alien from Creepy Cute Crochet: zombies, robots ninjas and more by Christen Haden.
Size: One size.
Yarn: Dune by Trendsetter Yarns, 41 per cent mohair, 30 per cent acrylic, 12 per cent viscose, 11 per cent nylon, 6 per cent metal.
Hook: 4mm crochet.
Start to finish: all done on 8 June 2010.
Recycle/stash content: 100 per cent - hooray! The yarn was from my stash, I got it at a yarn swap. The embroidery and antennae were done with the aforementioned Red heart acrylic. The stuffing came from a thrifted cushion.
Comments: This was my first 'amigurumi' project and I wasn't thrilled by it. The book has indeed very cute patterns but I didn't find the instructions very clear and it was a pain to have to flip to the back for the basic body part instructions.
Verdict: Cute.

wwkipd

Today was World Wide Knit in Public Day. We hung out at Cal Anderson Park in Capitol Hill and knit (and crocheted) some slugs, mushrooms, leaves, gnomes and fuzzy little aliens which we then left behind in the playground for the (hopeful) delight of local children.

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Knitted 'Shrooms by Abby Kroken.
Size: one size.
Yarn: Ugh, Red Heart Super Saver 100 per cent petrochemical-derived nightmare yarn. I can't believe that people would actually knit with and wear anything made from this, it is truly horrible, it almost crunches when you knit with it. It's also weather proof and we wanted something that could stand the rain if necessary.
Needles: 4mm double-pointed needles.
Start to finish: All done within about half an hour on this auspicious day.
Recycle/stash content: 100 per cent - all the yarn came from the thrift store.
Comments: Cute pattern and I like the idea of a child somewhere maybe having a vague memory of the day they found a mushroom in the swing. Maybe they'll keep it, maybe they'll learn to knit
Verdict: I hope to see them popping up all over the place.

spode

Not yet part 2 of my Willow saga but in the same vein - SPODE!! All of the transferware that I have ever purchased new has been Spode, mostly from the Blue Italian range and on sale. I stress on sale because the stuff is expensive. I used to buy one piece each payday, whatever was marked down that fortnight. Now I just shop at Goodwill - $3.99!

This plate is from the Aesop's Fables range featuring 'The Lion and the Fox'. It is in perfect condition; I'm guessing that its previous owner had it on display because when I bought it, it still had one of those wire and spring plate display hangers hooked around it. Who parts with their Spode?

willow, weep for me (part 1)

I grew up with blue and white transferware. Because it comes in so many different patterns, it is easy to build up a dinner set's worth from disparate pieces. When we came to the US that is what I went shopping for at the thrift stores. And of course, thrift stores being what they are here I had plenty to choose from.

My favourite transferware design is, I think, the classic 'Blue Willow'.

I did feel a bit, well, childish, reverting to exactly what I had grown up with and the plates don't really go with our contemporary cutlery. But then I came across an awesome and wonderful book that put all that to rights -Wary Meyers' Tossed and Found: Unconventional Design from Cast-offs. (I highly recommend this book. I borrowed it from the library, then I bought it.)

It turns out that Linda and John Meyers, the super-creative folk behind Wary Meyers, also like Blue Willow (yes, silly that I need a book to justify my crockery choices but oh well, whatever works for me) and have done some great work with the concept, including this chair. I would never have imagined a graffiti-esque, Posca-pen version of the blue Willow design, but fortunately they have and I love it. (Complete aside - anyone else recall the advent of middle-class white private-school boys with their Posca pens 'tagging' the seats on public transport in 1990s Melbourne? Groan, I do.)

Anyway, I am filled with a renewed and newly justified love for the Willow pattern so when I saw this kitsch little brooch at Goodwill on Mother's Day, I just couldn't resist. And it fits perfectly on my newest knit, but more on that next time.

ps - Wes Montgomery, Willow, Weep For Me.

may reading

The Outlander by Gil Adamson - This book took a bit of getting into; in fact, for about the first hundred pages I wasn't sure whether I would persevere. By halfway (200 pages) I was enjoying it and the rest was great. I saw this book in a bookshop and reserved it at the library where it became almost immediately available. I felt sorry for the bookshop but gee I love the library. Interestingly, the word 'revenant' appeared in this book, a word that I came across for the very first time in the book that I read last month, If Ever I return, Pretty Peggy-O. Same word, two books in a row.

The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter by Sharyn McCrumb - More sheriff fiction, the next in the series to If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O. I found the plot rather unlikely (just as the first but enjoyed the writing and the characters.

brought to you by the letter b

Little miss bear is allowed to watch a movie each weekend. She loves Madeline but last week was asking for the a-b-c movie. We had no idea what this was so Tim downloaded an episode of Sesame Street and that was a hit.

So today's post is brought to you by the letter b. This is part of my embroidery work on the wagga which is actually to be baby brother's baby blanket. For embroidery thread I am using cotton unravelled from a sweater (or cardigan?) that I bought at the op shop in Seymour (a town in country Victoria).

It is not mercerised so drawing it through the fabric can be a bit of a tug at times. I am using back stitch in an attempt to achieve as solid a line as possible.

For the other waggas I am contemplating testing out the 'perle-8-in-the-bobbin' technique as used on the White Romance project in Make Your Own Contemporary Quilts. Has anyone out there ever tried this?

out, damned moth!

Thankfully we don't actually have any moths but I can't resist a literary allusion when I think of one. But a few friends recently have had or feared moth problems so I decided on pre-emptive action and sewed up some lavender sachets. I wanted to use a fine, light-weight fabric so that the lavender scent would easily escape, so to speak, and decided upon some Swiss cotton handkerchiefs that I bought at op shops in Zurich when we visited a couple of years ago.

A couple of them weren't in very good condition after going through the wash but that was ok, I just cut some fabric out around the damage and sewed up the sachets. I bought a set of fine sewing machine needles especially for the task and promptly misplaced them. I had an inkling that for such a light-weight fabric I should alter the tension of the presser foot pressure or some such but, well, I was too lazy to look it up. So I just sewed - no problems.

Now each closet and cupboard with woollens therein also has a lavender sachet and (I hope) no moths.

wagga wagga wagga*

I was having a poke around in my stash yesterday evening when I found a few dozen pre-cut squares and rectangles that I prepared about three years ago in Australia, transported across the Pacific and promptly forgot about. Now that I have a sewing space permanently set up, the temptation was just too great - I started piecing and pinning and sewing. Twenty-four hours later, I have three more waggas to work on (eventually).

Hmm, no idea what I'm talking about? Sorry - last August I finally finished piecing together my version of a wagga, a traditional Australian quilt/rug that was often improvised from suiting samples, hessian and flour sacks. I improvised mine from squares cut from fulled cream-coloured woollen sweaters. Back at the time I was planning to add some other Australian(a) touches to it. I have started on some embroidery, more on that later.

But even longer ago, about three years, when I first had the idea to make a wagga-type blanket, I toyed around with a number of fabric ideas, all recycled clothing from the op shop. What I found yesterday evening and sewed up were a heap of squares from a llama coat and from a couple of woollen blazers. One day I will think of a way to decorate and back them but for now it is infinitely more satisfying to have them sewn up than in piles.

* Wagga Wagga is a town in New South Wales, Australia.

not kansas

There's no place like home. And no place like a home with a new baby in it.

The Vital Statistics

Pattern: Ruby Slippers from Vintage Knits for Modern Babies by Hadley Fierlinger.

Size: 3-6 months.

Yarn: Filatura Lanarota Luxury Cashmere, 0.25 skeins.

Needles: 4.5mm.

Start to finish: 29 April to 1 May 2010.

Recycle/stash content: 100 per cent - hooray! The yarn I bought at a thrift store and the buttons, such cute buttons, came off a cashmere cardigan of mine that I had worn to death (and originally purchased at a thrift store).

Comments: Red is my favourite colour and I wanted to knit these booties the moment I saw the book. Having never knit booties before my knitting plans were disrupted for a few months by a mental block about knitting booties. I finally looked at the pattern and realised how simple they were; all the knitting was complete in one evening.

Verdict: Very cute and I cannot wait to meet the baby whom I made them for.

doily-go-round

Projects come and go here, the urge to work on them goes away and comes back again. Remember the doily quilt? The top was finished last September and the back is also pieced. So that's about eight months that I have been thinking about the sashing for.

I feel that the edges of the embroidered nine-patch blocks need some delineation. I thought about appliquéing some ribbon along the seams but it was too heavy. Then I thought about some embroidery but that really seemed too labour intensive (although goodness knows how much I could have achieved in eight months). Finally I got inspired by a project in my favourite quilt book - Make Your Own Contemporary Quilts - which uses machine embroidery with perle 8 cotton in the bobbin. This of course requires that you sew on the wrong side of the fabric. So I decided to try this technique out. I chose the shade of perle 8 and that was as far as I got.

Until yesterday, when I finally got to work with an empty bobbin which I wound by hand with some practice perle 8. And then I tested it out:

















What I learnt from these tests:

• you have to make sure that the bobbin thread is properly caught otherwise it comes through all loose and gets tangled up and costs you a good quarter of an hour digging it out of the bobbin case (far left);
• loose tension with a straight stitch works well (centre) although the sewing thread does still peek through a bit;
• zig-zag stitch doesn't work (no matter what the tension).

I'm happy with the straight stitch and am planning to give it a try, perhaps even two parallel lines of stitching. First, I'll have to get a coordinating green sewing thread. Oh dear, it could be months ...

tunique francaise

Attempting to redeem myself in the recycling department, I have been working on a tunic/dress for little miss bear. The main fabric is yardage that I picked up at Goodwill (I think) because I loved the pattern and the brown trim is from the same brown dress as my recent rag doll.

Look, french seams. Just thought that I'd put this out there in case anyone else is as horrified by my previous knitting effort as I am.

attack of the hundred dollar baby knit

Have you ever picked something up in a shop, or rather had a friend thrust something at you, that was so wrong that you just had to buy it and prove that you could do something with it? But to do something with it, you had to actually buy more yarn, not to mention needles upon which to knit it. Thus was born the hundred dollar baby knit.

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Shrug Bug by Gina Bonomo, available to download on Ravelry for US$5 (start your calculators).
Size: Just the one size provided for - 6 to 12 months - but I don't think that I got gauge so mine is a bit larger.
Yarn: Gedifra Easy Wear in colourway 7405, a variegated super bulky yarn that my friend Olivia (yes, I'm naming names) found in the sale drawer at the back of a certain yarn store that I often criticise but regularly frequent, one skein (variegated super bulky - what was I thinking?). And Rowan Big Wool in colourway 57 Commodore, purchased the next day from the same store (fortunately also from the sale drawer), one skein but I misjudged and bought two. Adding up.
Needles: 12.75mm Addi Turbos and 15mm Crystal Palace bamboo circulars, needle sizes that of course I would never normally have use for and so had to purchase. From the aforementioned yarn store. And at that size, they're expensive. Still counting?
Start to finish: 17 April to 25 April 2010.
Recycle/stash content: None whatsoever; I'm disappointed with myself. And I have actually ended up with a skein of Big Wool and some utterly redundant circular needles.
Comments: Where to begin? This was a project that just spiralled out of control and ended up costing a small fortune. Ok, some of it was for needles which are resuable, just unlikely to be reused by me. Oh, and there was the button from Bad Woman Yarns, another $6. And the final product in the two yarns, while kind of cute, isn't even fit for purpose. Modifications - obviously, I used two different yarns. I also knit front and back twice to make the raglan increases instead of working yarn-overs.

Verdict: I wish that I hadn't. This was such a misguided project - for one thing, the yarns are both handwash only and my baby is a champion spewer. It will get worn once for a little while before being completely soaked in regurgitated breastmilk and will then wallow in the handwash pile for goodness knows how long. And then it will stink and then ... just not a good idea.

The pattern though is really very cute and I think would have been way more successful had it been executed in the one yarn throughout. It would actually have looked great had I just used the Big Wool. And I do have that extra skein; now if I could just get hold of some more ...

kathy goes to haiti

Whenever I lament of how I have too much in the cupboard waiting to be used, I really need to think of how many there are who have too little. In order to indeed use up some stash and benefit someone else, I made this rag doll using the instructions on the Dolly Donations blog and it will be off to Haiti later this year.

The doll is entirely recycled, made from things that I had in the cupboard - the face, arms and legs are from a dress that I bought at a yard sale, the dress is from an Esprit romper, the hair is a scrap of black cotton velveteen, the face done with embroidery floss that I bought at an estate sale, and the stuffing is taken out of a cushion that didn't fare very well when I washed it.

The pattern provided on the Dolly Donations blog is very straightforward and the sewing was easy. Of course it took me weeks to complete but only because I got distracted doing other things. The most time-consuming element was embroidering the face, embroidery being, as with many of my crafting endeavours, something that I do on an as-needs basis. I have looked at a number of embroidery books over the years but this really was 'make it up as I go along'. I'm quite happy with the result and that it doesn't just look plain scary.

nest

Omelette anyone?

The Vital Statistics Pattern: Bird's Nest Pin Cushion by Hannah Fettig from the book Closely Knit: handmade gifts for the ones you love.
Size: the size that it came out at in the yarn that I knit it with! I did make five eggs.
Yarn: Jo Sharp Soho Summer DK Cotton in Cloudless and Rowan Purelife British Sheep Breeds DK.
Needles: 3.75mm bamboo dpns for the eggs and 3.25mm Addi Lace for the nest.
Start to finish: 24 April to 28 April 2010.
Recycle/stash content: All of it - hooray!! And the eggs are tightly stuffed with a bit of felted woollen sweater that I had floating around.

Comments: This was one of those projects that as soon as I saw it I knew that I had to make it and would hanker to do so. I love the way that you can use pretty much any yarn that you want to and the contrast between the eggs in a smooth blue cotton and the nest in a rustic wool. This Purelife stuff - when I blocked the little nest to make a bit more space the wet wool, the smell! Very rustic.

The eggs are a bit of a tricky knit - they start with a provisional cast on of 12 stitches and you knit to one end, then go back to those stitches and knit to the other. At first I thought this more trouble than it was worth but when I tried to cast on four stitches on dpns with cotton yarn I changed my mind. Just be sure to leave a long tail when you cast on with which to knit the other half of the egg. Less ends. The nest is knit in a basketweave stitch which I enjoyed and the effect is great.

Verdict: One of those projects where I am thinking that I could make another one in the white cotton and a larger version of the nest with some heavier yarn and .... I really enjoyed making this nest, I think that the effect is wonderful - both whimsical and practical. I especially take pleasure in the slightly absurd act of sticking pins into eggs.

april reading

Three books - a good reading month!

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Anne Shaffer and Annie Barrows - this was a nice book, perfect book club fodder but I found it overly contrived, almost trite in the blanket way that it addresses a number of Second World War events on the island of Guernsey. Nevertheless, it was very readable and the characters appealing if not somewhat one dimensional and the interpersonal outcomes totally predictable.
Club Dead by Charlaine Harris - sex with vampires. And werewolves.
If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O by Sharyn McCrumb - again, detective fiction, although this time sheriff fiction. I enjoyed reading this, good characters and subplots centring on Vietnam and its veterans and it's the first in a series - hooray! - but I found that the crime was preposterously too sophisticated for the perpetrator. Looking forward to the next instalment!

thrift score

The other thing that I do when I feel stressed is spend money. What is it about spending money that makes me feel like I am in control of something? Perhaps it is just the illusion of power in the notion of purchasing power. Fortunately, I'm spending it at the thrift store so it doesn't do too much damage to our bank account. And these past few days I have struck it lucky with yarn:

top row, left to right: Noro Transitions, Cascade 220 Superwash (four), Enterprise Knitting Yarn (a vintage Sugar'n'Cream), Zitron Trekking XXL
middle row: Rowan Cotton Tape, Lily Sugar'n'Cream, (two), Baruffa Kid Fur (not sure what I'll do with this one), Cascade 220 Wool
bottom row: Zitron Trekking XXL, Patons UK Crocus 4ply (four; a vintage yarn I think), Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool (white and red).

All very useful purchases and all of which of course just lead me to think of more projects and things that I want to make and ...

p.s. Thrift Score is also an excellent book by Al Hoff, all about my favourite past time.

corriedale

It has been very lax of me (as a knitter) to not declare until now that we have champion Corriedale sheep breeders in the family. Yes, Tim's cousin and wife are the proprietors of Liberton Corriedales and will be at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival on the 1st and 2nd of May.

Jim and Brenda stopped by in Seattle for a few nights on their way across to the east coast and I was the lucky recipient of two enormous hanks of their wool. The hanks weigh about a pound each; I'm not sure of yardage but apparently enough for an adult sweater. I'm not sure whether to experiment with dying the yarn or using it in its beautiful natural state. I could never wear cream so I guess that I'll have to decide whom I'm going to knit for before I decide on the colour!

Actually, what I have to do first is catch up with myself; I still don't feel like I am back on top of things since we left for Orcas Island which is almost a fortnight ago. Since then I've had a cold and allergies simultaneously (that's two grades of snot at the same time - sorry) and house guests for four days. I feel as though I am behind on everything - email, housework, knitting. And when I feel stretched like this what do I do? I retreat into my knitting and sewing and general crafting but in a hectic, frantic kind of way, which just leaves me with more unfinished stuff and feeling more stressed. It also leads to one discount skein of wool turning into a hundred dollar baby jacket ... but more about that later (sneak peek at right).

acorn hat

Oooh, I've been saving this one up. Finally revealing it is almost as exciting as giving it to the expectant mother was.

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Acorn hat by Jane Davis from Simple Crochet for Cherished Babies.
Size: newborn.
Yarn: Grignasco Bambi, 100% merino, not sure of shade, with yarn held double throughout for the hat and a mystery yarn from stash for the leaves.
Hook: 4mm.
Start to finish: 22 March to 31 March 2010.
Recycle/stash content: all of it from stash!
Comments: Eep, it's a few weeks ago now. This was a gift for a friend who is expecting twins. This was simple to crochet for an effective result, the leaves especially are great. I crocheted a few extra rows on the hat because I found the result from the pattern wasn't deep enough. The hat has a turned-under brim and instead of attaching that to the inside of the hat with a crochet stitch (as the pattern directs) I just slip stitched it into place.
Verdict: Very happy.

(3*36+66)/456*2/3

We have spent the last couple of days on Orcas Island in a beach house perched upon a bluff above a pebble beach with a stunning view out across Puget Sound and various other islands. Deer wandered through our garden as I sat on the deck in the moist misty morning and completed a few more rows on my Knitted Veil. That's where the maths comes in - I am a quarter of the way through!!

It was wonderful to get out of town although a bit stressful too with small children, especially making sure that there were enough changes of clothes to keep a certain little boy dry and clean (he stayed dry, not so clean but I've given up on that). Orcas Island was beautiful, as is the whole San Juan Islands area; just the ferry ride from Anacortes to Orcas felt like a cruise in itself. One thing that really struck Tim and I was the (to us) overwhelming private ownership of the land there, particularly the beaches. It just felt wrong. We had a private beach as part of our accommodation but were exhorted to not stray beyond the big white boulder or the pink survey tape. Pink survey tape? There may be some cachet in the exclusivity of a private beach but ah, not in pink survey tape.

I'm not sure whether I have written about this before but the main thing that has struck me in so many ways about the US since we moved here is the rampant individualism. I am currently sleep-deprived and a bit addled by a head cold/hayfever mix, so my skills of sociological analysis are not really up to the task of elaborating on this. I just eagerly await publication of E Unus Plures: American individualism and the shaping of the nation (I'm just making this up but in the event that such a volume does already exist, let me know!)

make it work

Ah, the immortal words of Project Runway's Tim Gunn. I've been kind of enjoying season 7 (available to watch online) but is the format perhaps getting tired or the characters just aren't as dynamic a mix this time around?

Anyway, as I've been working along on this piece I've been considering my 'point of view as a designer' and remembering some of things about myself, namely that I really dislike mesh; adore lace but dislike mesh, particularly in clothing, you know, mesh inserts and the like. Love fishnet stockings though. The Kid Silk Haze/Wool Stainless Steel mix is just fluffy enough on 5mm needles to create a fabric but that has run out now and I'm not much liking the Wool Stainless Steel held double; there is still not enough bulk and it's mesh. I'm pondering a few options:

• increase stitch count and knit with thread held double on much smaller needles but it's a new week and I think that I've had my fill of soothing stocking stitch for now
  
• same but in a heavily textured lacy stitch (I'll be needing Barbara Walker)
• increase stitch count and instead crochet with thread (plain or lacy?) held double which will produce a denser fabric but I can't find my crochet hook roll just now.

Ok, I think that I'll reserve some Barbara Walker volumes and think about it. Any suggestions welcome!

making it up

Ok, this bit I am not making up - yesterday commenced with vomit at 5:00am and culminated with a trip to the emergency room in the afternoon. Same child (little miss bear), completely different woes. The upset tummy had cleared up (or cleared itself out with two more vomits) by 8:00am, the cut finger resulted from being caught in the car door. The finger was also cleared of any great damage after an x-ray and that glue stuff that they use instead of stitches and a sparkly silver bandaid - phew!

So by yesterday evening, I just really wanted some soothing stocking stitch knitting so I cast on with some Kidsilk Haze and Lion Brand Wool Stainless Steel, yarns held together. Yes, the Lion Brand rip-off of Habu which presents the opportunity to rant a little about Habu. Look, it's been a hard week.

I don't much like Habu. I know that it's the darling of the fibrenistas and perhaps that's part of it. Yes, their yarns are interesting, fascinating even but I am irritated by product names like A-17 1/4.5 which I guess is supposed to mean something to those in the know. Perhaps that is what irritates me, the 'those-in-the-know'-ness of it. And I feel like Habu has a lot of that. Plus, when I once went by their stall at a fibre show, the woman was unpleasant to me, so that's that and I have embraced Lion Brand, yes, the company responsible for all of that Vanna's Choice acrylic out there.

So, what am I making? I don't know, I'm just making it up as I go along. I have wound the two yarns up into a ball together and cast on 54 stitches. I'm going to knit until the Kidsilk Haze runs out and then will keep going with the Wool Stainless Steel, probably held double. And then we'll see where we end up (clearly not on W 29th St though).

moo

Not much seen in fashion since 1985 or thereabouts, and perhaps with good reason, I have recently fallen in love with the concept of the tabard. You see, my dear sweet baby son is a spewer - spit-up, chuck, spew, posset, whatever you want to call it. A very happy spewer (and fear not dear reader, perfectly healthy) but regurgitated breast milk fills our days and drenches his clothing. And this was starting to worry me (and cost me hours doing laundry) - I was worried about his poor sweet chest getting cold.

I was thinking about some wool-lined bibs or some such when inspiration hit. There was a felted 100 per cent lambswool J Crew sweater stuffed in the cupboard upstairs which I was long planning to use to make some patchwork balls. I didn't, however, like it enough to actually make said patchwork balls. But I didn't get rid of it because everytime I looked at it I thought about the patchwork balls that I was supposed to make with it. Even though I knew that I never would - funny how the mind works.

Anyway, I finally put it to good use and cut some bibs out of it. Not bibs to keep him clean but at least to keep him dry and warm. And the argyle looks quite cute at this scale. And then I bought three more lambswool sweaters, as soft as I could find, on various thrift expeditions and elaborated on the style to create a tabard. He wears them between his inner layer (usually a onesie) and outer layer (long-sleeve t-shirt or whatever). Something about the fuzziness of the felted lambswool keeps them nicely in place and I know that he is warm and dry.

Given the amount that he chucks up, the amount that comes out the other end and the amount of weight that he is putting on (his rate of weight increase has recently increased), I am clearly reincarnated from a prize dairy cow.

march reading

The Burry Man's Day, the second in the series of the Dandy Gilver Murder Mysteries by Catriona McPherson. Again featuring the same engaging character, Dandelion Gilver, the writing in this volume was rather different to the first, shorter sentences, more concise, more clarity. I had thought that the convoluted writing in the first volume - After the Armistice Ball - was just my imagination after the journalistic incisiveness of Stiff. But it wasn't my imagination, it was the writing, and this volume is eminently more readable.

Needless to say I really enjoyed it, even though it took me the whole month to get through. I usually read while I'm settling Baby B, one hand keeping the book open, one hand in a rhythmic pat-pat on his mattress. Having read the two volumes now, the post-Great War setting has become more significant which I am finding to be a really interesting element.

Can't wait to read the next one but I am rationing myself! Next month will I think be more sex with vampires.

baa ram ewe

The Bergamot research goes on. Not being able to find a ball of the Rowan Purelife Organic Wool at my local yarn haunt (Weaving Works), I consulted the Rowan colour cards and chose instead a ball of the Rowan Purelife British Sheep Breeds Bluefaced Leicester in the 781 brown shade as the closest approximation of weight and texture.

It is, indeed, much finer than the yarns that I had been testing out, even than the Zara which is also a dk weight yarn. So far I have only swatched for the shell pattern but will continue with a few rows of the bobbles and some plain treble (UK terminology) fabric to get the best idea of what I am looking for. I will not actually be making Bergamot in in either of the Purelife yarns because frankly, I find the Rowan products to be mighty overpriced. Really lovely but still overpriced.

Fortunately, I went on an excursion to Little Knits in West Seattle last week and saw that they have Jo Sharp Classic DK wool on clearance for $3.99 a ball. It looks similar to the Purelife yarns in weight and texture so I'm going to swatch up with the Mulberry that I bought. I don't think that I've ever taken so much trouble over choosing a yarn in my life!

A quick word on Little Knits - they do online ordering too and they have some amazing deals on end-of-line colours and stock. If you are longing to try something expensive and are not too picky about the colour available to you, have a look there for a bargain. If you can, go in in person - the proprieter is just lovely.

anarchy in the ssk

I got a book! It's actually one that I have previously partly read and I remember it being so inspiring that when I had the chance to buy a copy second hand I grabbed it. Zilboorg gives excellent descriptions of the act of making stitches, of pulling the loops through the loops and states that if you are achieving the stitch that you want, you are doing it correctly, no matter what anyone else says. Love it!

taste testing

I've been swatching away for Bergamot with a few different yarns but still don't have much of an idea of how to proceed. From left to right is Cascade 220 in colourway Galaxy, Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in colourway Peridot, Filatura di Crosa Zara in colourway 1523 and some teal recycled J Crew (same as I have used for Wallingford and Woolsthorpe), all done on a 4mm or 4.25mm crochet hook (G).

There are all sorts of pros and cons: the Zara and Cascade 220 Galaxy are too dark and the pattern gets lost so that wasn't such a great idea for a swatch; the Cotton Fleece gives great stitch definition; the recycled yarn has no twist in it and doesn't show the pattern very well but I do like the colour; as do I like the Cotton Fleece Peridot but both yarns are heavier than the 8ply (dk) that the pattern calls for, etc etc.

Thing is, I still don't know quite what I want from this - something heavy and woolly for the winter? something fresh and green for the spring? With regard to differing yarn weights and gauges, I feel far more confident about modifying a pattern in crochet than in knitting, so I could change it around a bit, perhaps use a 10ply (worsted) yarn, a larger hook and cut some repeats out of the pattern. Or I could go for the finer version of the Cotton Fleece (Cotton Fine) and use a smaller hook and more repeats.

But then there's the pattern itself - the row of bobbles right across the middle and the lack of shaping and the fact that the model has no visible bust to speak of ... so I get to thinking about ways to change it - make it slimmer, give it some shaping, decrease the bulk of the bobbles and the proliferation of ideas overwhelms me. And as I have said before - making a pattern work is actually really difficult and a fine balance of elements. Once you start to muck around with that it creates a lot of work to get the balance right again. The recycled yarn version is an attempt to make the jacket just as it is (and in the smallest size) to see what it is like but given that crochet takes up so much more yardage than knitting and the yarn is recycled from a size small sweater, there isn't going to be enough of it.

Anyway, I do think that I'll go for either green or purple and by the way, isn't Periwinkle from Rowan 41 pretty?

childhood remade

If only it were that simple!

The Vital Statistics
Pattern: Childhood Remake Sweater by Anna and Heidi Pickles, available free!
Size: The free pattern is only for the one-year size but three- and four-year sizes are avaialble in their shop, but umm, buyer beware as I will detail below.
Yarn: The pattern is written for a dk-weight yarn held double and a dk-weight handspun yarn held double. I used a worsted weight - Pingouin Fleur de Laine, colourway 6 - which gave me the desired gauge (17sts per 10cm) and some recycled yarn from a J Crew aran-style knit.
Needles: 4.5mm for the ribbing and cuffs, 5mm for the body and sleeves.
Start to finish: 3 March to 15 March 2010, a quick knit.
Stash/recycle content: 100 per cent - hooray! I received the Fleur de Laine at a stash swap and the recycled J Crew was purchased at Ballard Goodwill and already in the cupboard.
Comments: This pattern is available for free and I feel a bit uncertain about criticising something that has been made freely available. Nevertheless, there are some problems with the pattern that someone considering making it may like to be aware of in advance before they invest their time and yarn. I have also taken the time to let the company know about my concerns, so this is not just idle griping!

So, the pattern is not very well written and the construction of the garment is poorly thought out. The sweater is a T-shape with no fashioning and the sleeves and body are knit all in one. It is similar in this sense to a number of baby kimono patterns which are knit in one piece (such as this Lion Brand one). The pattern here calls for the body to be knit in the round and to then divide for the front and back, then kitchener stitch together 50 stitches for each arm (eek!). I didn't do this: I knit it flat (just because I felt like it) and did a three-needle bind off on the top of the sleeves - it's absolutely invisible. I also chose a provisional cast on for the sleeves and so did a three-needle bind off there too. But, why not just knit it flat, all in one piece and seam only the sides and sleeves? A lot less work than grafting two sleeves.

My other issue was with the front placket which is knit in the solid main colour, contrasting with the yoke and sleeves. The pattern calls for this to be knit using the intarsia method, which I did, which I shouldn't have. This was the first time I had ever done intarsia colour work, so pushing my boundaries a bit here. But I didn't even need to - I think that it would make far more sense to leave eight stitches live at the centre front and to simply knit the placket and then seam it to the yoke. The method in the pattern is also very difficult to work in combination with garter stitch stripes, I ended up working with three threads at one point, two of which were the same colour ... Didn't go too badly for a first attempt but was of course much better by the end.

There are also a couple of omissions in the pattern, namely what to do with the 10 stitches that you cast on for where the placket overlaps (not sure why 10 anyway). I actually just picked up eight sts from the back of the placket and knitted on those.

Verdict: This is indeed a very cute pattern but I'm not sure that I like the balance of the stocking stitch body and garter stitch yoke/sleeves in the finished product. I'm not sure what the pattern for the larger sizes is like but I would not have been happy if I had paid for this one (and I didn't so that's fine) - I don't think that the construction is very well thought out and is needlessly more complex than it should be. There may be some Norwegian knitting tradition significance to knitting it in the round but my recommendations would certainly be to knit it flat in one piece and knit the placket separately. I do like my finished product though and am looking forward to seeing my little boy in it next winter.

thank you

Thank you dear readers for your supportive words about the veil and for all the other comments that you leave. I am rarely a commenter on blogs so am in no position to exhort others to comment on mine; however, that said - please do leave a comment some time as it is lovely to know that someone is out there, reading.

The marker problem on the veil - Lynn in Tucson, it is alas every marker (thirteen of them) on every fourth row. Now that I am using split stitch markers I should indeed be able to move them all before I start knitting the row obviating the need to do it as I go (thereby interrupting the flow of the knitting which is half the point of doing it, to be in the flow). Thank you Leonie for the suggestion! I might also try Rachel's suggestion of using a length of unwaxed dental floss as a running stitch marker - I knew there was a reason I had some of that in the cupboard. My dentist will be pleased to know that I have found a use for it - I'm visiting him this afternoon ...

vale veil?

Am I going to make it on this one? That is, am I going to make it at all? It's over a month ago that I said I was going to review my progress on the A Knitted Veil in Peruvian Wool (it's officially called A Knitted Veil in Pyrenees Wool but I'm using an alpaca blend, so ...)

There are all sorts of things holding me back on this one. To begin with, I've made a real mess of my photocopied pattern with notes scribbled everywhere; well, not notes actually but various calculations as to how far through it I am and how much there actually is to go. I need to make another copy and start with a clean slate - task for tomorrow.

Why the intentness on how far through it I am? Well, I'm always intent on that and because now that I have finished the decorative border there are just miles and miles of four-row lace pattern repeat. How many miles? About 135 rows worth.

And this particular lace pattern bothers me because on the third row there is a k2tog that crosses over the six-stitch repeat boundary. Huh? The lace is a six-stitch repeat, that is, you knit the same six stitches all the way across the row. To keep this all in line I have placed a marker every six stitches. However, on the third row of the pattern the six-stitch repeat is offset by one stitch, requiring me to k2tog across the marker. A pain because it necessitates taking out the marker and repositioning it thirteen times on every fourth row. I'm trying it with split ring markers but it's excruciating knitting and I don't know whether I can face another 16 miles of it (ok, 135 rows). Complication of course is that I love it. The lace is beautiful, the yarn produces a great fabric and I so want to try a knitted on edging.

A possible fix is to simply take out the markers but that would require that I trust myself to read the lace and know where I'm up to. Hmmmm? Might be worth a try but I'll put in a lifeline first.