Category Archives: Knitting

The Knittery yarns

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After weeks of being buried under revisions for my book, and an unexpected trip to Canberra for the funeral of a friend, I’m finally posting pictures of the luscious yarns that I received from The Knittery at the beginning of the month.

The Knittery merino silk lace yarn

Merino silk lace yarn – this will be a shawl.

The Knittery merino cashmere sock yarn - Water Lilies

Merino cashmere sock yarn – Water Lilies shade

The Knittery merino cashmere sock yarn - Midnight

Merino cashmere sock yarn – Midnight shade

The Knittery merino cashmere sock yarn - Dark Reds

Merino cashmere sock yarn – Dark reds

The Knittery posmerino yarn - natural

Posmerino yarn – natural shade. This will be a jacket or jumper.

All  I’ve done so far with these yarns (other than some serious drooling and fondling!) is wind the red sock yarn from a skein into balls.

I’ve not done heaps of knitting lately, due to other priorities absorbing my time. I really wish one could still knit on planes, as I had a fair few hours in airports that I could have gainfully used that way, but alas, the needles had to go in the suitcase, and I didn’t get much chance to pull them out in Canberra.

The colourful jaywalker socks are half-way done in the first foot, now. The lacy Veronik socks are still only at the heel of the first sock, but now knitted for the third time – I’ve decided that 2.75mm needles are right for this, having tried both 2.5 and 3mm. However,  both the jaywalker and Veronik socks take a little too much concentration to knit while I’m writing, and since that’s about all I’ve been doing for the past couple of weeks, I haven’t made much progress.

Today I did start another, plain pair of socks, which I can knit while writing. I’m using a Patonyle ‘fairisle’ yarn that I’ve used before and love;Jade/blue/purple socks  Last time, I knitted heels and toes in a jade green, but this time I’ll do them in purple. I like these colours, and they are pleasant to knit with!

On other matters, the exer-stash fund is slowly growing – I haven’t been as good at exercising as I should have been, but I’m over $40 now.

My weaving, however, is still stalled as it has been for months. Maybe once this book is revised and in, I’ll give myself a few hours to play on the looms, and finally get them threaded so I can start to weave.

New Year's Day achievements

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  • I now have $8 in the exer-stash fund. That’s 8km since yesterday morning (5 miles in US-speak).
  • There are now only 2769 people ahead of me in the Ravelry queue. I guess my invite will arrive sometime while I’m in Sydney
  • I threaded 56 ends through the heddles today on the plain weave warp on my baby loom that I’ve not worked on for a while (another 5 x 28 ends to go). When it’s warped, I can move the lease sticks over to the other warp draped and waiting on my small floor loom, which will be a) easier to thread, since I can do it sitting down, and b) potentially a more interesting weave (fine black wool warp, twill pattern in various coloured wefts).
  • I’ve knitted the heel flap on the lairy-coloured jaywalker sock, but I think I want to do the heel in a plain colour – I’ll just have to search my stash to find one that works.
  • Last night, I finished the sleeves for the Fisherman’s Gansey. There’s now just the front to knit.

I didn’t get a heap achieved, textile-wise, in 2007, but I’m happy with what I did in a busy year. In 2008 I’ll be giving my writing and PhD a priority, but since I won’t be working a full-time job other than those, I expect to squeeze in some relaxation time for textiles, in between editing a book, finishing another book, starting the third book, and launching and promoting the first book in September!

Some of the things I’m hoping to make in 2008 include:

  • sewing two jackets from the 2 lots of yardage I wove a few years ago – the current two warps include plain-weave sections for contrast fabrics for collars etc
  • Bianca’s jacket from the Fall 2006 IK. There’s photos here of another Bron’s completed version of this jacket. Because of my shape, I plan to make it longer, and a little fuller in the body over the hips. (Of course, if I ‘earn’ enough funds in the exer-stash to make this in silk mix rather than wool, I’ll probably have walked a fair amount off my hips 🙂 )
  • more socks – I’d like to do some different patterns, try out some different techniques. Plus my Dad likes his handknitted socks, and my sister who can only wear natural fibres probably needs some more
  • a couple more jackets/pullovers, as my existing hand-knitted ones are getting old and good only for around-the-house wear.
  • silk – weaving it, spinning it, knitting it. I think I’m suffering from silk deprivation!

That all should keep my busy and out of mischief!

The exercise-yarn resolution

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Inspired by my good friend Theresa over at Knitterary, I’ve decided to put money into a jar for every kilometre I walk on the dreadmill treadmill, and limit my yarn and fibre expenditure to what’s in the jar.

I’m not much good at either exercise or resolutions, (but very good at buying stuff) so to make this workable for me, I’m paying myself more than Theresa’s doing. I decided, at least to start with, that $1 per kilometre will encourage me to exercise. Given the price of yarn here, and my knitting habits, that should be a good balance of discipline/reward.

I did 1.5 kilometres this morning. I’m already feeling like I want to do 2 kms this afternoon. Enough yarn for a pair of socks is around $10 for plain commercial, to $25 for handpainted. Enough Bendigo yarn for a jacket or jumper is around $70, and way more for other yarns. A cone of cottolin for weaving is about $25, likewise a skein of silk. Now, I’m slightly cheating here, because I do have enough in my stash to keep me going for a while, due to recent purchases, but if I stick to this commitment for future yarn purchases, I should build up enough funds for larger projects, as well as the occasional sock yarn purchase.

So, we’ll see how this works out!! To keep me honest, I’ll do a page here on the blog with contributions and ‘deductions’.

Yarn fund jar

(Yes, it really needs a label that has a knitter on a treadmill wrapped in yarn, but I’m not that artistic.)

Jaywalking

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While in Lincraft in Sydney back in August, I bought a ball of their sock yarn – but in a much brighter colour scheme than I normally go for!

Lincraft yarn for jaywalker socks

I had to use the flash to photograph this, so it’s showing a bit brighter than the reality – but even in reality, it’s definitely not subtle 🙂

The yarn has sat for while in the stash, because I’m really not keen on stripes, so I needed a pattern that would soften the impact of bright vertical stripes. While cruising around various sites, I came across the pattern for the jaywalker socks, which I’ve often seen on knitting blogs in various yarns. A quick peruse of the pattern, and I was pleased to see that it’s not complicated – good for relatively brainfree knitting.

So, out came the new bamboo knitting needles.

Jaywalking on the needles

I’ve made some progress on the first one, and it’s easy to knit, but I’m still not adoring the colour scheme. I don’t hate it, but I don’t love it, either. I probably lean more towards reds with purples, rather than orange. However, I’ll keep on going, at least for now!

Jaywalker progress

And in other updates:

1) I will have enough yarn to finish the Fisherman’s gansey. I’m about four rows from finishing the sleeves, and I weighed the various parts and leftovers today, and there will be enough for the front – and the collar! So, that’s a relief.

2) I’m not enjoying the bamboo needles. I usually knit with metal ones, and I’ll give these a reasonable try out to see if I get more used to them, but so far I’m not finding them as smooth, plus they feel fragile to me.

3) Many thanks to Bev, Astrid and Jen for your suggestions re lacy capelet possibilities. I’ve had a look a the various patterns suggested, and bookmarked a few. Nothing is exactly what I had in mind, but I’ve had some inspirations from them, and there’s an idea that’s percolating away in mymind as a result.

4) The lacy socks I’m knitting haven’t progressed any further since turning the heel. I’m using 2.5mm needles, which is my usual size with 4ply yarn, but I’m thinking that perhaps with this pattern, I may need to use 3mm needles, because the lace pulls in for a tighter tension. So, I might start one on 3mm needles, and see how it goes.

Lacy capelet pattern?

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Does anyone know of a knitting pattern for a simple lacy capelet that would be suitable for a friend of mine who is confined to bed? I have found a couple of bedjacket patterns, but since she has paralysis in one arm, I’m looking for something without sleeves, so it will be easier to put on. I know there are also heaps of lovely shawl patterns, but shawls won’t work as well as they can slip off shoulders and bunch up too easily, and my friend has limited movement to rearrange things. A front-opening capelet that is shaped to sit nicely over the shoulders, with a button or two at the front, would be ideal. If anybody can suggest anything, I’d be grateful – I’d prefer a pattern that’s downloadable from the web, as I’d have to order in knitting books (in a small town, there’s not many on the bookshelves of our shops).

In project updates, I have about 20 rows to go on the gansey sleeves. I haven’t weighed what’s left in the yarn yet – I’ll wait till the sleeves are finished, then weigh the back, and what’s left over. I have a busy day ahead today, but hope to finish the sleeves tonight, and then I’ll have the burning question answered!

Temptation not resisted

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I spent two days drooling over yarns at The Knittery’s website and trying to resist temptation. This morning I succumbed, and ordered 3 skeins of the handpainted merino/cashmere 4ply sock yarn, a skein of 2ply silk and merino, and enough possum/merino aran weight in the natural colour for a jumper – it was on special, and a great deal. I’ve never used any hand-dyed sock yarn, so I’m looking froward to trying it out – I’ve ordered the dark reds, midnight, and water lilies shades.

Given this is holiday time, and many businesses are closed between Christmas and New Year, I was expecting it might take a while to arrive, but when I got home from town this afternoon there was an email saying it had been shipped today. Woo-hooo! I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it might arrive on Monday, although it will more likely be Wednesday.

My current wips are progressing well. On the lacy socks, I’ve just turned the heel on the first one. On the Fisherman’s Gansey, I have about 32 rows to go before the sleeves are finished – and then I’ll work out if I have enough yarn left over for the front as written, or whether I’ll have to shorten the back and front… or write to Bendigo with a sample of the yarn and ordering some more in the closest available dye lot.

Stash enrichment – Bendigo and Nundle

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We went with friends on a day trip a couple of weeks ago, which included calling in at the Nundle Woollen Mill. We didn’t have a whole lot of time there (the male halves of the party getting restless), but I managed to select some of their 4-ply Retro yarns to play with:

Nundle 4-ply Retro yarns

I also brought home 200g of optim merino wool blended with camel:

Combed sliver - optim merino fibre blended with camel

Some of the Retro yarn is already on its way to becoming a pair of lacy socks:

Lace socks in Nundle’s Retro yarn

The pattern is the Socks for Veronik, on page 46 of Interweave Knit’s Holiday gifts edition, 2007.

The above hasn’t been my only stash enrichment lately, though! I put in an order during the Bendigo Woollen Mills sale, and now have 1.2 kilos each of 8ply Colonial in the Ocean Tweed shade, and the 10-ply Aran in Hemp shade:

Bendigo yarn, Ocean Tweed and Hemp

Then I went to my LYS, WOW, and some more sock yarn insisted on coming home with me, telling me I needed to make some socks for my sister:

Socj yarns

I haven’t just been enriching the stash; I have been working on depleting it!! The socks I was knitting for my father (see post below) were finished well in time to be sent off for Christmas. I’ve also been working on a jumper (sweater) that I started earlier in the year – I have now finished the back, and have done 5″ of the sleeves.

Jo Sharp Fisherman’s Rib jumper in Bendigo Ming yarn

The back took a little more yarn than I anticipated, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll have enough to finish the jumper. The back is currently quite long, so I can shorten it an inch or so if necessary. I figured if I did the sleeves, I’d then know how much I’ll have left over for the front, and whether I’ll need to shorten the length or not. The pattern is Jo Sharp’s Fisherman’s Gansey, and the yarn is from Bendigo.

Catching up

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My mind hasn’t been on textile activities a great deal lately, as I’ve been distracted by other developments – like selling two novels to a major Australian publisher!

However, I have been working on a few bits and pieces in amongst other aspects of life, writing, and working:

My friends Michelle and Matthew have a new baby daughter, Saoirse. I’ve had this pattern for about 20 years – it’s from an Anny Blatt book I bought somewhere in my travels. I’ve knitted it a few times before, including at least twice in different sizes for my niece – who is now 16! It’s in 8ply (DK), so it’s a relatively quick knit. As can be seen, I just have to knit the bands and sew the side seams, which I may work on tonight.

I finished these socks a few weeks ago – using the standard sock pattern that I can knit almost from memory. Now I’m working on the next pair:

handknitted blue and gray socks

These will probably be for my Dad for Christmas. I’ve knitted him a couple of pairs of socks already, and he apparently wears them quite a lot. Dad’s got a small foot, so if he doesn’t like them, I’ll have them 🙂

Yes, the sock is sitting on my laptop. I often knit while I’m trying to write, but it has to be something simple, like a plain sock. Having the needles in my hands keeps the part of the brain busy that would otherwise want to go off and play on the internet, but I can put the needles down in my lap quickly when I think of words to write.

Now I’m back to working part-time, it’s giving me not just time to write, but a little brain-space and time to think about weaving again. Sitting at the loom makes for great plotting time, but first there needs to be something on the loom, which requires a design, planning and preparation process.

warps wound

The blue warp will be for a length of plain, plain weave, destined to become bands on a jacket made from an overshot fabric I wove some years ago. It needs something solid and simple to complement the pattern, so I’ve finally wound a warp to weave that contrast. The yarn is the blue cotton that I used as the warp and tabby weft in the overshot – the pattern weft is a light green. This will go on my baby 2-shaft loom, which is quite portable, so i can take it to the spinners and weavers meeting next week and weave while I’m there.

The white warp is a fine wool one for two scarves. I’m probably going to paint the warp, maybe tomorrow if I get myself organised enough to take the dyes and miscellaneous equipment into the guild rooms when I go into town. There’s a microwave for dyeing there, and long tables covered in thick plastic, so it’s a good place to paint warps!

Bliss gloves to be

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Years ago, my mother made me a pair of fingerless gloves out of an angora and wool blend. They live in the pockets of my padded winter jacket, which makes them easy to find and slip on when I’m walking the dogs or collecting kindling or other tasks in the winter cold. They’ve been going strong for at least 18 years, with no signs of wearing yet, and I still lov pulling them on.

So, when my good friend Kerry mentioned that her hands freeze in winter, I decided to dig out the angora and merino blended fibre I’ve had in the stash for a fair while, and spin yarn to knit her some fingerless mittens. I finished the spinning a little while ago, but with life being somewhat frantic in recent months, it took me a while to get organised to dye it. Yesterday I took the skein into our Spinners’ and Weavers’ meeting, and used the microwave there that we keep for dyeing.

The colour turned out a little paler than I’d hoped, but Kerry likes it, so all is fine! I’m planning to start knitting them today.

And talking of bliss things, I finally uploaded a photo of the completed Bliss Socks:

I also finished another pair of mock fair-isle socks this week. The photo’s not great, but the socks are cosy and comfy!

Brown skeins

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While at the Armidale Show last weekend, I was spinning some brown carded fibre I’ve had for quite a few years. We used it for folks to have a go at spinning, and wound off what they’d spun as their momento, but in between I kept spinning it, and filled a bobbin. So, this past week, I’ve spun another bobbin, and I finished plying them tonight while watching the news. Spinning is soooo much quicker when you’re not spinning lace weight!

Brown handspun yarn

These skeins aren’t anything fancy, but since I haven’t spun simple coloured wool for a while, it’s been a nice change. I don’t have a lot more of the carded fibre, so I think these skeins will ultimately be a pair of socks.

Now, I’m off to watch Murphy’s Law and Spooks on TV – I enjoy Friday night British crime shows! – so I’ll be working on the second bliss sock while I’m relaxing. Only another few rows before I start on the heel 🙂