Winter Warmers

My new gloves are finally finished! This pair were born after finishing this  scarf . I had originally bought three balls of yarn,  Paytons Embrace, a 2 ply of  90% Merino , 10%  Silk. Beautiful yarn! So soft and warm. The original purchase was for a scarf, which is what I did, but I only used half of the yarn and I still had a ball and a half left. What do do with it? I could make another scarf, but how many green scarves do I need, even if they are different patterns? So then my mind went to matching gloves.

 I had made gloves before, but they were in 4 ply and this was a 2 ply. So the hunt began for a pattern. I found a few old ones on the net, but they were fingerless, and I wanted my fingers warm too. I figured if the crunch came, I could have a go of adding some fingers in. It would mean some experimentation and I thought I could do it if I set my mind. Before I tackled this task though I asked some of the ladies at one of my stitching groups, one of which produced this pattern, which came from a book " A Gathering of Lace" by Meg Swansen.

I would class myself as an experienced knitter, but these gloves would have to be  the hardest thing I have done. Worked on 2mm double pointed needles, with a patterned rib thrown in for good measure, and the beginning half rib, half pattern. The pattern certainly took me for a ride, but they do fit well, look pretty, and best of all keep my hands warm.

They are finally finished, and ready for winter. I also still have just over a ball of yarn left, so what to do with that. I could knit another scarf as a gift for someone, or I could adapt the glove  pattern to make a pair that would match my scarf. Mmmmmm........................... food for thought, which way to turn? Watch this space!

Knitting Up Some Extra Warmth

The knitting bug has had me caught over the last few months, in between the crazy patchwork embellishment, a new piece of tenneriffe lace, my pulled and drawn sampler, and  a project for Stitchers Plus.

First up is my new wrap. This began in October last year when I walked into a little habby shop while on holidays. The buisiness was for sale, and  everything was marked down. I walked out with a lovely hank of "Centolavaggi", a 100%, merino wool,  lace weight yarn from Italy. I had no idea what I would do with it, just a scarf of some kind. Also on the same day, I visited a tiny little, church run, second - hand shop, & walked out with a baby knitting book ( minus the cover) for all of 20c. Inside was a pattern for a circular baby shawl in feather & fan. My theory was that if I used larger needles, I could do 1/2 of the baby shawl, and it would come out large enough to wrap around me. Mmmm......... famous last words. it wasn't working up as I'd hoped, so I un-pulled it and found another pattern.

In the end I used the free "Meandering Vines Shawl" to be found on Ravelry, though I tweaked  it a bit to suit my purpose. It is knitted in two halves, which are then grafted together, something I have only done once before and that was nearly 35 years ago. So consequently there are no close-up pics of my grafting! Still, my wrap is finished for when the cooler weather finally arrives.

My second project is this lovely scarf. It was born purely for the need of something to do while on a flying trip up north. My wrap was finished, all except the grafting, so I needed something else, something that I could see easily without dragging magnifiers around or needing excellent light. I found three balls of Payton's "Embrace", a 2 ply yarn of 90% merino wool - 10% silk, in my stash. So I quickly searched my patterns and found this, the "Flit 'n' Float" scarf, by Birdy Evans, also available for  free on Ravelry. I had used one of the charts of this patten to make this scarf a few years back, now I wanted to do the whole thing.

The pattern began with  a provisional cast on, something I had not done before. This method creates 'live' stitches which are placed on another yarn, then picked up later to knit the remainder of the scarf. The flounce is knitted first, from the base of the scarf to outside edge of the flounce. The stitches are cast off, then picked up again from the provisional casting on and then the  remainder of the scarf is worked. It was interesting doing this and really not that hard.

I am very happy with this scarf, it is warm and light, & long enough to wrap around my neck twice. I also love the beautiful feel of the yarn. Now all I have to do is think about what to do with the remainder, I still have a ball and a half left. I am thinking gloves to match, so watch this space! Think I will be warn enough this winter?

A Knitted Family Heirloom

Behold, my greatest knitting achievement! Made as a gift, now given, and can now be shown off!

Back in October 2012, I received a phone call from a family member telling me that a new little person was arriving in May of this year. Wow! Excellent news! Of course, being the textile person that I am, my mind instantly started ticking over as to what I could make. But I needed inspiration, and  asked the new Mum-To-Be what she would like. "Mmmmm..........anything."  What colour? "Mmmmm...........whatever you feel." Well, that left me an open book, but I still needed inspiration. At the time I was packing to go on holidays, leaving the next day, and I had no time to think.

Thinking time came the next day in the car, I was passenger so I could let my mind wander. I could make a daisy wheel shawl, the ones that my Mum made for all the little babies of my generation. Maybe not, little fingers used to get caught easily. A patchwork quilt? I had made one of those for another family member some years ago, and then I remembered that another prominent family member on the other side also did those. I could look through some books, but they were all at home and I was in the car, not returning back for another two weeks! Decisions, decisions!

Then I remembered that the little town we were going to had a fabulous patchwork shop, and a lovely haberdashery shop with stunning embroidery threads and knitting yarns. Mmm....... I would just have to pay them both a visit to get some inspiration. Just inspiration mind you! Ha ha....... we all know what it is like when we get into shops like that! I have been in both these shops on many occasions and have never walked out empty handed!

We traveled on a Saturday, arriving too late in the afternoon to go looking, the lovely shops were closed by the time we arrived. Bugger, I just had to wait until Monday.

So on Monday morning my first port of call was the patchwork shop. I wasn't thinking patchwork quilt, I was thinking patterns, you never knew what they had. But there wasn't anything that said "baby", so then I just had to look at fabrics, how could I not? Remember I still had no idea what I was going to do! Still nothing that jumped out and said "baby", so then I stated looking at colours and picked up a few FQ's that together said "baby". I think I walked out of that shop with enough fabric to make a cot quilt, and that together would make something nice for a new little person. At this time though I still didn't know what that something was.

My next port of call was to the haberdashery shop. It's one of these shops that may not look all that inviting from the outside, but once you step inside and start really looking, there are some amazing treasures to be found. Right by the front door was the wooden stand with all the knitting and crochet patterns which  took me a long while to get past . I found two books with knitted baby shawl patterns, mmm......................... which one. They both had some beautiful patterns inside. After much deliberation, thinking of my ability, and the tastes of the Mother-To-Be, I made a decision, then moved on to yarn and needles. I had needles at home of course, but they were at home and I was elsewhere, and I wanted to start knitting NOW.

So here I was on holidays with enough fabric to make a quilt, and enough yarn to make a shawl. I might add here that I also had other stitching to do, but the shawl took over. The pattern is from the Shepherd Baby Shawls Collection 1, knitted in Shepherd Baby Wool Merino 3 ply. It begins on a set of four needles, then graduates to circular needles. I might add here that in the book the patterns are given a "sheep" rating which I didn't notice until a few days after I bought it. This pattern is given a "4 sheep" rating, in other words the hardest in the book! Well, that didn't surprise me, I usually go for the difficult and most challenging!

The pattern certainly was challenging! I think I un-pulled the start about 10 times before I got it right. I was nearly to the point of giving up and making one of the more easier patterns in the book. But I like a challenge, and never like something getting the better of me. After the rocky start, it was plain sailing for quite a while, until I needed a longer circular needle. I had checked in the haberdashery shop before we came home, they only had an 80cm one, I wanted 100cm. Then I checked my usual haunts at home, still nothing larger than 80cm! This shawl was pictured as a finished item in the book so there must be longer circular needles somewhere! I just had to find them.So then I started hunting on-line. I could find kits & packages that had them included, but they were $$$$$ and I wouldn't use the other items included. I finally rang Morris and Sons, where the girls were extremely helpful, and I had my 100cm circular needle within days. The shawl could grow a bit further, that is until I had to do another row of increases, and the 100cm needle needed to be longer! So another call to Morris and Sons who helped me out of a jam once again.

The needles were Knit Pro brand, which I would highly recommend. They are beautiful to knit with, and come in separate tips and cables which screw together. There are all sizes in the tips, and varying lengths in the cables, and there are also little connectors that connect two or more cables together to make one really long one. With this shawl I ended up with a 120cm, 100cm, and an 80cm cable, and at some point had the 100cm and 120cm cable joined together to take the over 2,000 stitches that were required!

So behold, my greatest knitted creation! A challenge and a half! Would I do another one? Maybe. I am thinking some alterations to this one to make something more adult-ish.

And what of the fabric I bought? Well some of that went into this quilt, and some I still have, with plans of making something else. So watch this space for more baby related goodies, and adult versions of the shawl above.

My Feather & Fan Scarf Finished

My feather & fan scarf is now finished & ready for next winter. Just in time too as the weather is really warming up already & my hands were starting to sweat on occasions.

I've knitted feather & fan patterns before but not as a scarf. If ever I do another one I'll think about the pattern more. I'm really not happy with the ends looking different & am not quite sure what I could have done about it. I could perhaps have started in the center, knitted one way then the other, but I am not sure how that would have looked at the cast on area. Maybe a few rows of garter stitch would help & I am sure there is a method of casting on that will let you knit two ways.

I guess I could also  start two ends separately then graft them together in the center. At least then I would end up with two wavy ends the same with the pattern going the same direction when the scarf is being worn. Mmmm........... food for thought.

Note to self:- make notes on my pattern, practice some grafting, & research cast on methods.

Knitting a Scarf in Feather & Fan

I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted anything here. I have been creating of course, every day, I've just been slack in sharing.


Above is a pic of my current knitting. Way too warm for it now of course with spring well & truly here, but this scarf will be perfect & ready for when the cold hits next year. It's in a two ply Cashmere & a Feather & Fan pattern. I purchased the yarn at the Sydney Craft & Quilt Fair back in June, and when I did so I had the choice of a few different complimentary patterns. My intentions were always of making a scarf in Feather  & Fan, & as this was one of the pattern choices, guess which one I chose. After all it saved me from working it all out by myself. The yarn sat there for a few weeks & I thought it might be a good project to take to do while away for a weekend back in July. The morning before we left I thought I would start it & have it on the way, so I could just pick it up & go. Mmmmmm............................ famous last words.

If I un-pulled that scarf once, I must have un-pulled it 50 times. The first few rows were fine, but after that I would end up with one stitch or more too many at the end of the row. At first I tried unpicking one stitch at a time, but the  yarn is fine & I was having trouble seeing the tiny stitches. I even tried using my magnifier. In the end it was easier just to pull the needles out & start again. I think I went through this process about four times on that first morning alone. Needless to say I packed some other stitching as well to take with me that weekend.

I did get some quiet time to myself that weekend, so tried again, and still ended up with the same problem, un-pulling it another few times. At one point I thought that it may have been an error in the pattern, but as the error was turning up in different rows I dismissed that idea. Can you imagine the frustration? I am not one to let a problem beat me, & usually the bigger the problem the better the challenge. My mind was thinking of all  the ways I could possibly solve the issue.

In the end, I sat in perfect quiet, with no distractions, & cheered every time I got to the end of a row with it correct. There were jumps of joy when I got the first repeat done with no errors. Yippee! Thank goodness also for my row counter, I haven' used it for a very long time but it sure has come in handy with this pattern.

My scarf is over half done now, taking much longer than I thought. The two ply yarn would have something to do with that I am sure. The weather is much too warm now for cashmere scarves, but I want to finish it before the weather gets too hot & while my hands can still handle the yarn without sweating. I fear if I leave it for something else now it will never get finished, and that is just not an option.