Blithe Dance - Sam's Knitting Pages

A fresh start

Coming to you from a shiny clean wiped-and-reformatted laptop, which currently only has photos less than a fortnight old.  It does work a lot more quickly since The Meltdown.  There will be another catch-up post later, when I've worked out how to retrieve my photos from backup, but this is the recent news.

How do you get any knitting done with small children around?  You let chaos reign around you, that's how. In my case, it took a while for me to realise that what kept them so quiet was playing with my camera, while I was concentrating on casting off shoulders together:

 

I wonder whether in years to come, this will be an enduring memory of early childhood for the boys?

I rather hope that the enduring memories will involve a lot of loving crafted sweaters instead:

J calls this his "running jumper", because the picture in Rowan's "Pipsqueaks" book has the boy running across the studio. It's the design called Harry and is knitted in Rowan All Seasons Cotton.  Several washes on, it's doing well.

What's been occupying my time since Christmas, is a rather more colourful project.  Yo, Shaun!

Specifically, these are the sheep from Alan Dart's "Shaun the Sheep" mobile, featured recently in "Simply Knitting".  I love knitting toys, and these were a blast to make.  I used the recommended Patons Fairytale Velvet DK for the woolly bits, but everything else I had from stash, which says something about how long I've been accumulating oddments of coloured DK.

Currently enjoying pride of place in the lounge, the finished mobile.

Just need a few more daisies to grow.

Since I mentioned this in a comment on Knitternatter, here's a picture of the current WIP.  It's a Fair Isle baby top from Debbie Bliss Simply Baby.  Happily, I discovered that the mercerised cotton I bought cheaply at Lidl, knits to the tension of Baby Cashmerino, so I've been picking out some tiny projects as I only had three balls of each colour.  The other colours are oddments of Cotton Glace, so it should be a good "washer" when finished. I've threaded the beads on the yarn to make sure they stayed put, and converted it to knitting in the round (being Fair Isle).  I've also cast off the shoulders together, requiring the use of every free stitch holder in the house.

Ravelry was a great help with this project; I discovered that the picot edging should be done on a smaller needle and that the neckline tends to gape (so I've picked up fewer stitches).  I really need to populate my Ravelry space now but am at a bit of a loss where to start, both with stash and projects.  Since my three year old likes taking pictures so much, perhaps I should set him to work!

And that was 2007

I was making a lot of things in December, but that left me too busy to blog about them.  So here's a catch-up, some knitting, some others.  Jane Brocket's "The Gentle Art of Domesticity" has been in my possession for barely a week, but already I'm fighting the urge to photograph my creations on co-ordinating plates and backgrounds...

A finished blanket - thanks so much to Liz for finding me a part -ball of the last colour. I did think of disguising it with borders or stripes - but we like PERFECTION here at BD. Whatever the cost!

Here are the two boys' blankets together - this is just the effect I was hoping for.  Fraternal.

They have lots of use, even two and three year olds like something to cuddle!

I finished the purple scarf, late on the Sunday before Christmas.  I had to buy another skein of yarn to complete it, and of course the colour balance was slightly different. 21st Century Yarns were very helpful in finding the matching shade from their enormous range (Aubretia). It was the early hours of Christmas eve when I darned in the last end, and I immediately reached for the tissue paper - neglecting to take a picture.  But I managed to catch the recipient, my lovely sister-in-law, wearing it a few days later:

I've indulged in rather a lot of non-knitting crafts too:

Baking - one Christmas cake

and four dozen mince pies

Every year I make a wreath for the door using my patent wire-coat-hanger method

I started making up a bunting kit from Dandelion Designs.  There should be a little felt ornament at each intersection, but that will be for Christmas 2008 - they are going to be seriously fiddly.  This was the most challenging project I've tackled with my sewing machine for quite a few years, not to mention the hand embroidery. It was a job collecting all the fabrics, trimmings and buttons too.  This is an exceptionally difficult shape to photograph!

A close-up of some of the flags:

What will be on the needles for 2008?  Well, in my queue on Ravelry there will shortly be:

- A well fitting, flattering, warm jacket for me - the Holy Grail I know.  Maybe Juno from Rowan 40.

- Alan Dart's Shaun the Sheep mobile

- A few pairs of socks

- Decent sweaters for the children - what sort of knitting mother am I?  They are hardly ever seen in handknits of my own!

Log Jam

This kaleidoscope of stripes is almost finished - but I've run out of the last colour on the final stripe.  I ran out of the dark blue on the penultimate stripe too, but managed to find an oddment in stash of a different yarn to cast it off. But I'm five rows short of the icy blue, so I'm casting around for oddments as I write.

Just testing

I've signed up onto Ravelry and I'm testing to see whether Ravelry can read my blog posts...

Shame on me!

Last time I posted that I'd received an Innocent bottle hat kit for Age Concern as a freebie, but thought I'd use the wool for something else and send a cheque to Age Concern.  After seeing Amelia's last post though, I felt I'd been rather too grumpy and should get into the spirit of the thing.  I then discovered that each hat only takes about 10 minutes to make, but that the closing date was meant to be last Monday.  Some hasty knitting on Tuesday and Wednesday yielded a dozen bobbled covers, beautifully styled here by some young friends. I've never knowingly purchased or drunk an Innocent smoothie, so we had to use some eggs instead.

By the end I was getting quite proficient at making the tiny pompoms.

I've started a scarf as a Christmas present to my sister-in-law, using my 21st Century yarns DK from Alexandra Palace.  How can there be so many scarf patterns out there, and none that quite seem to fit the bill? In the end, I've taken inspiration from a scarf in the Boden catalogue, with help from this pattern of Pagebypage of Maui.  The writer sums it up perfectly: "Berry stitch is great for scarves.  Both sides are beautiful. The stitch can be found in Barbara Walker's "A Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns," on page 221".  They are indeed beautiful, and the scarf lays flat too which is important to me.  I'd love to have taken it directly from Barbara Walker but I'm unlikely to be lucky enough to ever own these books and the local library service have mysteriously "lost" all their copies.

It's very pretty, but reminding me why I don't often knit scarves, due to getting bored after the first couple of feet!

News from the Knitting and Stitching Show

We made it to London, the Derby girls and I, after a shockingly early start and a surprisingly easy drive.  Only two hours from Tamworth to North London, door-to-door.  We made it to the Knitting and Stitching show on Saturday, at Alexandra Palace, the jewel of Wood Green.

The sun shone (at least it did, later on). It was lovely to be back in London again, and the show was the best ever.

So how did I get on in that competition?  First we had to go to the Rowan/Patons fashion show, where the smallest catwalk I've ever seen was tucked into a function room.  (The new Martin Storey men's collection is VERY good by the way).  After the show, Coats' Head of marketing and the new editor of Knitting magazine invited the four finalists up onto the stage.  The prizes were announced in reverse order, leaving me with a knee-knocking reality TV moment as...

I was the last person called up - out came that jacket, and I had WON! (That's me, second right / oops, in my dreams only; that's really me, far left!).  We were all presented with a basket of yarn, and treated to a glass of champagne.  With my back to the TV screens, I didn't see the other finalists' garments very well (the actual garments weren't there) but they all looked lovely and colourful.  So I was very pleased that the judgest picked mine out. They said it had everything they were looking for: presumably that was a digger, dumper truck, bulldozer and steamroller.  One of the other finalists was from Leicester as well - it's not the home of the UK knitting industry for nothing, clearly.

Here I am with my supporters, thanks so much ladies, for making the trip. It was some day out!

After all that, we still had all our shopping to do.  I couldn't possibly top Dawn's lovely collection, after all I only had half the day left, but there was more yarn, knitting stalls and wonderful knitty things than I've ever seen at the show before.  In 2001 I remember having to highlight the dozen or so knitting stands on the plan so I could find them - whereas this year there was something to look at on every aisle. 

I always try to get some sock yarn from Web of Wool and I was very excited to find the new Kaffe Fassett line for Regia - the only problem was choosing one; I think this is called Fire:

Also some blue self-striping for Christmas socks for my dad (you read it here, so I'll have to make them). I tried to combine his two loves: the Royal Air Force (grey-blue) and sailing (sea-green).

For a Christmas scarf, once I can find a good pattern for 100g of double-knitting, a lovely lilac/grey from 21st Century Yarns

I love this next one. I've just bought a brown tweed winter coat, and wanted to make a colourful everyday scarf to go with it.  I've seen this Twilley's Freedom Spirit being knitted and liked it, so now I have some to play with (you may spot, I've already started one ball).  I think this is called Fire too. Can you see a (seasonal) theme developing?

I did spend a long time getting mixed up between this yarn and Elle "the Wool Boutique" variegated merino DK.  Are they the Same?

Lastly, because I can never resist a sewing kit at these events, the pattern for some great shabby-chic olde-American style Christmas bunting. It's about ten feet long in real life, I'm looking forward to a bit of stitching on this.

I also received an Innocent/Rowan hat kit, but I fancy the yarn too much to use it for bottle hats! Not sure what to do with that one, but I'd perhaps better send something to Age Concern so they don't miss out, because they are a Very Good Cause.

The new knitting magazine, Let's Knit was launched at the show and I picked up a promotional copy for £1. At first glance, I'd say it's not really my sort of magazine.  The layout is too bright and splashy for me, and the patterns are not really to challenge.  I think it's aimed at the younger market - aaargh, I feel about 100 years old saying that!  Good luck to them anyway, but I'm not sure how we're to distinguish the four knitting monthlies now since they all seem to have a similar tone and look.  Having said that, I am seeing Knitting magazine with a new respect now I've met the editor and seen the results of their facelift/re-structuring (and now they have kindly given me a prize too!). There's a rather in-depth article on socks, this month, which is pretty encouraging.

I've updated my work-in-progress gallery but will leave you with a picture of the project I started today: Nicole from Debbie Bliss book seven. I'm just knitting it to hip length, from some long-stashed Maya.  After all that shopping and excitement, I just wanted something warm to wear!

Revealed

2007 photo album updated with pictures of my competition entry - I'll find out how I've done at the Knitting show in London on Saturday week.  In the mean time, here's a young friend modelling it (not one of my own, it was too big for them)

Waving goodbye to the prettiest socks in the world

The Waving Lace socks are finished, packed, and on their way to London for the Rowanette Seasons exchange.

I don't have any sock blocking templates but a hastily-bent coathanger did suffice.  I think the pinks and mauves here are so very pretty, I do hope I've read my recipient's colour tastes correctly.  They will certainly be warm!

They look rather nice on feet as well, (Is it cheeky to try on socks meant for a gift, even for modelling?)

Last year in the Rowanette Exchange, I knitted a cushion and received a cushion too  .  This year, I have knitted socks and also received a pair of socks. And a scarf.  And biscuits.  And toys.  And sprinkles.  THANK YOU KARIN - I LOVE THEM ALL!!

They came on Monday, when my neighbour brought round Saturday's parcels.  This also included my first-day Harry Potter which I was cussing Amazon about all through Saturday, to the point where the husband went and bought me another copy. But, the parcel from Karin...

She wrote that the scarf was for spring and the socks for autumn.  I love them and they look great on. The biscuits didn't last long.  The little wooden animals were made by her dad - the boys love them especially the crocodile.

The socks are a feather-and-fan pattern, light and lacy (like I thought mine would be!) and here's a close-up:

It's been a week of many parcels, because I've also received Patons Fairytale Colour to knit my competition entry.  One of the colours was not the one I specified, but they are sorting that, you know how I have to have the perfect shade!  The yarn is good though, very like the old Rowan Designer DK but seems a little thicker.  I think it will make a stable rather than drapey fabric, which is what I like for children.  In fact, I'm quite excited about the swing back from blends and trends to pure merino double knitting in lots of colours from Rowan, Patons, Sublime etc. Good Ol' Proper Knitting Wool.

P.S.  Barely had I uploaded this posting, when I received an email to say that the Jaeger range is being discontinued, including all the Matchmaker Merino, Baby Merino and Extra Fine lines.  So much for that!  Perhaps I should amend the last comment to say thank goodness that Good Ol' Proper Knitting Wool is not dying out completely despite severe attacks.  Oh, I'm gutted. Jaeger! I have Jaeger yarn that's older than I am in my stash. Sorry, what's that? On sale? OK, where's the credit card...

good news, bad news

I have to blog this - there is no one at home but me and the babies and I have to tell someone! The post has just arrived! Time for a quick post while the children are having their Weetabix.

I submitted two designs to the Knitting mag. competition.  I worked late into the night and this was what the kitchen looked like when I'd finished!

Into one of them I poured all my ideas and inspiration, fair isle, knitting in the round, shading colours, clever design details.  But it was not quite a tradtional knitting pattern for children, so on my husband's advice I quickly cobbled together a second design with some intarsia motifs and stripes, that's more the usual thing you see in childrens books. I have a horror of picture sweaters, you see, I like my intarsia geometric and subtly coloured. 

You can guess which one is through to the final! Yes, not my darling creation, but the last-minute one. ?Ha! Serves me right, that.  Really I am very chuffed to have got into the last six, and of course have another knitting deadline, but can I have some knitterly commiserations for my suffering design muse in my hour of need?

They are going to have to remain shrouded in mystery though. I'm going to work the Fair Isle one up in Rowan Pure Wool and try it for submission to Knitty - might even introduce a steek.  But it would need to be an original design, not blogged about.

Rowan Exchange - one sock finished, one two inches in.  Looking good, progressing slowly. T'was ever so.

Added later

I've realised that I might have come across as rather ungracious about being a finalist! I'm thrilled to bits, really I am.  I think I should give Coats the credit for knowing what their target knitting public want to see. And can't wait to get knitting, either.  Note to self: never blog before having a cup of tea in the morning.

On a mission

I haven't gone away again

but..

I can't blog about what I'm knitting!  I'm entering the competition in June/July Knitting magazine, to design a child's garment.  Since I don't like to do things by halves, I'm entering two designs and am currently in the final stages of colouring/photographing/swatching. 

I hope you understand I don't really want to blog my ideas at the moment, particularly if they get through to the next round, you will have to go to Ally Pally to vote on them at the Knitting and Stitching Show.  If I don't, I'll reveal all in a couple of weeks, which is a lot more likely.

Worst of all, the competition deadline is just a couple of days before the Rowanette  Exchange next week, and I'm still on my first sock!  I can show you a picture of that one:

The colours in this Natural Dye Studio sock yarn are lovely.  I thought the sock was coming out to be quite thick, but I think that's characteristic of any sock with texture.

It's been lovely to read people's accounts of Woolfest.  I did hope to go this year, and started planning, but all kinds of family events took it over in the end.  Maybe next time...