fixing things

Normal sized sleeves at long last

Remember the aran cardigan with giant sleeves? It has had a lot of wear this winter which is a pleasing reward for a labour of love...but the giant sleeves ( a result of not understanding the properties of Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran after washing) could be ignored no longer.

Luckily, in learning how to rectify other mistakes I discovered this technique for shortening sleeves:
1. Using a circular needle pick up loops of stitches in a line at the level you wish the cuff to start - if you have matched up the seam neatly this line should start and end at the same level. This will allow the cuff to be knitted in a round, which is a much neater technique than having a seam.

2. Cut the sleeve off a couple of rows down from the circular needle and remove/unravel any wool below the circular needle - what you end up with is a circular needle threaded neatly through the loops at the bottom edge of the sleeve. Now simply knit the cuffs in an identical pattern to the original ones.

The knit stitches are actually upside down because in the pattern the sleeves were knitted from the cuffs up whereas this is knitting from the top down, but it doesn't seem to matter. In the original fisherman's ganseys, the entire sleeve was knitted from the top down to allow for replacement of worn out sleeves, I guess using a very similar technique. The Kate Davies sweater also has top down sleeves so should I feel inclined I could make it into a long sleeved sweater without too much effort.

close up of cuff knitted from top down on end of sleeve knitted from bottom up

little hat

little hat

alpacaly ever after yarn

I was recently lucky enough to get hold of some of this beautiful alpaca yarn, still warm from our favourite local alpaca flock.

I had my eye peeled for some 4ply yarn in manly colours and this was a timely find. The handspun hand-dyed superfine merino has proven too hot for my warm-blooded friend so is in my hat collection now (;-)). I replaced it earlier in the year with this version which knitted up nice and quickly using yarn from the same place as Sheila's ponytail hat but even that is slightly too warm (!) so the alpaca seemed ideal.

ardelanish in-situ

ardelanish wool (mull)

The alpacaly ever after yarn (sold at temporary measure) is so soft and the colours so delicious that it was a pure sensory indulgence. The colours harmonise like a perfect cappuchino with chocolate sprinkles. Hard to believe this is un-dyed! There was also the odd bit of straw thrown in, which just added to its organic charm. Even the packaging was too good to throw away - these are the actual faces of the actual alpacas (*artist's impression). Added to this was the knowledge that this is limited edition yarn (I understand this was leftovers from the last shearing and they are planning to do aran weight in future which is what it says on the labels) so I can be assured there will not be throngs of Cumbrians wearing hats like mine...

...of course there is always a but....no thimble project would be complete without a but...

...next time I set out to make a manly hat I must not get so caught up in tactile rapture that I inadvertently make a frilly edge and a hat that is ever so little (but coincidentally just right for my own little head or a small child with a big head).  I blame the circular needle. Looks like I'll have to go through the whole pleasurable experience all over again, poor me....

autumn knits

thimble's loop

ponytail hat by Sheila

devil trap

Sigh. Winter looms.
The only good things about this time of year are coal fires, an extra hour in bed today, hot water bottles and home made woollies.
Purl Bee has some gorgeous free patterns, which is where I found this Shawl Collar loop Cowl. These knitters make me believe in the possibility of perfection and not only that but consistent perfection.
I'm not quite there...but now have a warm neck. I used up the last of my Torridon Croftwools hand-dyed Gotland for the lining - perfect and not at all itchy.

Sheila has been busy making ponytail hats for everyone she knows with ponytail potential - thanks! This is a tried and tested favourite from Knitty but she added the crocheted flower which transforms it. The wool used for this was from another Scottish holiday and a trip to Ardalanish weavers on the Isle of Mull. It actually smells of sheep (clean ones of course). The hat looks even nicer from the front but I got camera shy. I stumbled on the cutest pony tail hat pattern today: the urban homesteaders winter hat. Oh to be six again, I would have loved one.

heart attack jumper

heart attack jumper by Thimble

This started out as a germ of an idea when making the Kate Davies: Tortoise and Hare sweater and somehow ended up as this unique piece of self-expression.

In the Maureen stash (inherited from great aunty Maureen), there was rather a lot of this bottle green wool which may well be as old as me. The school green is a bit intense for a full jumper, but it struck me as a great fair-isle filler.

I had one of those lightbulb moments when I suddenly realised that I could substitute the peeries in the hare/tortoise sweater for ECGs...and well, it evolved from there.

Anyone in the know will realise that the jumper has to be read from top to bottom - the first ECG is normal, line 2 reflects the blood clot blocking the artery (when the ST segments go up); the subsequent lines follow the progress over hours-days (as the ST segments fall, T waves become inverted and deep q waves appear). I thought about doing a flat line, but decided not to kill off the patient.

Purlbee has a very useful tutorial on designing your own fair-isle.

the creative process

It was useful putting the whole thing down on paper before picking up my needles, plus I finally got to use my coloured biros:

heart attack by Thimble

The hares and tortoises (tortoi?) of the original design were replaced with hearts (of course), doctor bags, stethoscopes, medicine bottles and syringes. My original design had capsules, but I realised as soon as I did them that they looked more like eyes and once I saw eyes I could only see eyes....

 ...so not having the heart (!) to unpick all those lines I removed that segment and using kitchener stitch replaced it with this...

...which of course you can see is a line of heart murmurs...

...ok it is a little geeky but no more than this doctor who version of Kate's design (which actually has a hidden runic message in it!). 

blue wood and birthday knits

Green wood cup: Chlorociboria aeruginascens Cumbria 2013

I intended only to post about birthday knits today but this Green Wood cup justifies a double-themed posting.

A couple of years ago, Crazy Jake stumbled across some blue wood (in a secret place, deep in the forest) and brought me back a spelk. We learned that the blue/green wood stain is produced by a mushroom called the 'green elfcup' or 'green wood cup'. The mushroom is not often seen, but the green/blue xylindein-stained wood is more prevalent. The pigment in the wood is enduring and has been used in decorative woodworking for hundreds of years: see this post. We have been walking around for years with our 'eyes peeled' for this wood, but we never saw it again...until this week, when Crazy Jake re-stumbled upon it. Having found not only the wood, but a smattering of little elfcups, I was most eager to be taken on a blue wood safari.

Thimble in the wild

The green wood cup has long been on my list of 'things in nature I would really like to see one day' so it was fitting that it shouldn't be too easy and this blue wood safari was not without risk. Look carefully and you will see me in red, in a sea of bracken, tendrils twisting round my ankles, threatening to engulf me.. then there were the slippy rocks and the faery shoelace-untiers; the hidden bogs with fetid bog-stink; the slithery slope and the giant gravity-defying boulders above our heads. When, sweat-slicked and weary, we finally tracked down our prize, there were the FLIES. But it was worth it....

Green wood with green woodcups (and fly)

These mushrooms are really small. The flies (and the fact I kept sliding down the slope and the big rock above me was making me nervous) meant we couldn't linger. Lucky for me for the fly conveniently landed in shot - a perfect scale marker to show the tininess of the fungus. Unfortunately we brought back from safari some even tinier nature gifts - 2 days later and Crazy Jake is still finding the world's smallest ticks on him - we stopped counting at 12.

Can't think of a segue from blue wood to birthday knits, but I just had to mention these beautiful gifts knitted for me by mum - a slouch beret and shawlette. The shawlette I especially love - it is knitted in 4 ply 45% silk, 55% superwash merino and I have been wearing it all week, which speaks volumes about the Cumbrian summer.  

a riot of colour

Sheila's blanky

This blog needs a colour injection. This is Sheila's latest crocheted creation - I love it!

My own needles are going nineteen to the dozen at the moment, working on a really good idea I have had, based on Kate Davie's Hare and Tortoise design. Now that I am past the Vikkel braids I am not completely sure whether my design is a really good idea after all... but it is certainly an original one.

So I am knitting in the car, in the woods (listening to birdsong, how soothing...) , in Temporary Measure, watching Marple (who by strange symmetry is also knitting, thinking about murder), in bed in the evening, in bed in the morning...

...I think I might be addicted...or afflicted...

Thanks Goodness for Negative Ease

Thimble sporting Hare and Tortoise sweater

Boy oh boy, where to start! There have been so many 'moments' when making this sweater - those wobbly moments when it looks like it has all turned to s*** and why am even bothering with complicated things when I could probably make a really nice PLAIN sweater and surely to goodness it is easier all round to just buy one anyway.

There have also been some really brilliant moments, like when I finally understand the instructions, and when the little tortoises appear and when the steeks don't fall apart despite me using the wrong yarn and when the neck looks so neat....

I am very proud of that neckline

Hedley helping me stretch the sweater

The design by Kate Davies caught my eye a couple of years ago and I bought the pattern online as a PDF. I think it suits a petite frame better...or maybe I should face the fact that I should have gone for size 3 rather than size 2, though I think I was between sizes...lesson 1 - if between sizes choose the BIGGER size.

Kate Davies wearing Tortoise and Hare sweater

Lesson 2  - Steeks: if the instructions call for Shetland wool, use Shetland wool. Alpaca yarn is everywhere at the moment and I loved the idea of it, plus it is hypoallergenic. I was excited to discover Artesano 4 ply Alpaca comes in the same shades and at a fraction of the cost too so I bought all the yarn and only then did I read this post, where Kate Davies explains steeks (a scary process which involves cutting across rows of ovely neat knitting) and in the final paragraph, states: 'So if you are in any way nervous about steeking, then I would suggest that you stick with a sticky yarn (choose a woollen -spun yarn with a ‘halo’) and avoid smooth, shiny yarns — ie, those that are superwash-treated, those that are worsted spun, or those with long smooth fibres, like Alpaca'. Well of course it was too late by the time I had read that....I have to say there were a few sticky moments at the end with the steeks. I used sticky wool to crochet the steeks but the Alpaca really is a slippery customer and I had a sweaty couple of evenings sewing in ends.

Lesson 3 - No two animals look the same so why should I knit them that way, even when the pattern wants me to? Reminds me of the flower scene from Harold and Maude:

 

Well OK, so my lumpy tortoises aren't so much deliberate statements on the wonderful diversity that exists in nature as happy accidents due to the old affliction of watching too many DVDs and not concentrating on the pattern. Luckily, for the more monstrous tortoises (tortoi?) I was able to fix any of the bigger shell cankers with a needle and wool.

Lesson 4 - Negative Ease. One of the biggest wobbly moments was when someone suggested tactfully that maybe I could give the finished garment to my 11 year old neice because it obviously was really very small. The hardest thing about this design is that it is knitted as a solid tube and then the 2 sides of the neck are knitted together with a steek bridge (as are the sleeves) so it is impossible to try it on until the steeks have been done and cut. So it takes a lot of faith that everything will be ok in the end. Negative ease is best explained here by Techknitter. The garment is smaller than the person wearing it. Had I known about negative ease I would have smiled knowingly at the 'little girl sweater' comment instead of feeling somewhat distressed. OK, so the 'trying on' moment was a bit like this example of extreme negative ease:

I have learned a lot about lengthening a sweater design and steeks and knitting in the round and fairisle and what a peerie is and Vikkel Braids and weaving floats and the properties of alpaca and negative ease and fixing mistakes. I am 90% happy with the sweater. I mustn't eat too many pies or I will enter extreme negative ease territory.

Woolfest again

Organic rabbit on a mole hill planted with grass seeds

This little chap was a lucky find at Woolfest 2013. As you can probably tell, he is organic. I am not 100% sure but think he was from Garthenor Organic Wool and was supposed to be a present for a small child but on reflection he is a keeper.

This time last week I was riding on a Woolfest wave of pure happiness - in my opinion it was the best one yet and learning from previous years I had saved up my pocket money to avoid disappointment. There were the old favourites like Susan Crawford (the Frances pattern is on my list of projects to do, only the Nile green Excelana yarn has sold out at the moment) ...and even though I know that it will take about 5 years before I get around to it (because of the affliction of having TOO MANY HOBBIES), I was far too excited to find the Kate Davies Paper Dolls pattern on sale to let it slip by. Although I was very much tempted by the gorgeous Titus Yarn at the Baa Ram Ewe stall, every time I went to look I found it full of people squashed in like sheep in a pen, so maybe next year...

Kate Davies: Paper Dolls

Susan Crawford: Frances

Speaking of squashes, the Textile Garden trestle tables were as popular as ever - can't think of a simile for the throng of beady-eyed women rooting through the tubs of beautiful buttons - like bees on clover? like seagulls on chips? Though nearly scared off by their intensity, I braved the crowd and it was worth it for these tiny wooden buttons:

The Textile Garden: wooden engraved buttons

A nice Estonian man accompanied by his daughter (both dressed in the traditional costume of the island of Saaremaa), told me all about how they are working hard to keep the traditional craft alive and are travelling far and wide to tell people all over the world all about it. The Nordic style knitwear was so beautiful- each district has a different distinctive pattern. Because they had travelled so far and got dressed up so nicely and had such lovely mittens and socks, I bought these too: 

Saarema Wool Association mittens and socks

Although I have been sewing more than knitting this last year, in the run up to Woolfest I dusted off my spinning wheel and have had a few (tricky) alpaca projects on the go (more of that later). I have also been buzzing with Fair Isle ideas so I was delighted to discover Polly Purl who designs and makes these Fair Isle sweaters with playful original Fair Isle patterns. I especially like the burnt orange and grey and the raincloud design. This is very suitable for Cumbria and is top of my birthday wish list.

Polly Purl

This is just a little selection of the many marvellous things to be discovered at Woolfest. Just writing about them has made me happy all over again. On that note, I think I'll go and do some tricky knitting in the sunshine. 

Gussets

Man's Aran cardigan after a good few wears

Rowan Pure Wool Family Collection

One day I will hopefully get to finish a sweater without there being something ever so slightly or ever so majorly flawed about the finished piece. Ever the optimist, each time it happens, I just think how much more experienced I am getting with every mistake.

Pictured in grey is the man cardigan I recently finished, from the Rowan Pure Wool Family Collection. The request was for 'one of these in merino'...

After too much time going google-eyed looking for a fine merino Aran weight wool with similar knitting tension gauge and suitable colour and price (the other twisted thing about flaws being the more expensive the raw ingredients, the more painful the flaw and the more temptation to shamefacedly throw it in the bin because looking at it is a constant reminder of profligacy and overestimation of one's crafting ability), I settled on Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran in grey, which I found on sale.

I wish I had known about Ravelry back then, I might have checked out the properties of this wool before committing. Don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful wool, soft and warm and a pleasure to knit with. It does pill on wearing but nothing a bit of de-bobbling won't sort every so often. The tricky thing is the stretchiness of Debbie Bliss Rialto Aran on washing.

Determined at the outset to avoid disasters, I think I even did a tension gauge swatch before knitting (learning from the cape fiasco), and measured the subject and measured again after christmas mince pie season...So when a year later (I am easily distracted) it came to the sewing up, I was dismayed to find the jacket to be just a little too snug in the chest department, the subject not having expanded in any appreciable form.

Not to worry, Techknitter to the rescue. What we had was an emergency gusset situation.

Gussets using Techknitter technique

Gusset in situ

How gusset might appear when lifting arms aloft

A gusset  is a 'triangular or rhomboid piece of fabric inserted into a seam to add breadth or reduce stress from tight-fitting clothing'.

It was a bit fiddly sewing them in and I would have liked a neater finish but they certainly did the job and BEFORE WASHING (bw) this was a perfectly fitted man's cardigan.

After washing (aw) we seemed to have an entirely different beast. Thinking that wool is wool is wool and wool generally shrinks on drying, I washed and blocked and hand-dried flat.

Imagine my dismay when I discovered aw that the arms had increased in length by about a third (!!!) and the gussets were NO LONGER NECESSARY, the chest having 'relaxed' on washing. I wasn't relaxed. Absobloodylutely no way am I taking those gussets out.

At that point I discovered Ravelry and read a most interesting Debbie bliss Rialto Aran discussion
which had the following comments, 'This stuff blooms like crazy during blocking! It really spreads and becomes much more drapey', and my personal favourite, 'Nice to knit, but grows faster than a puppy after you wash it.' Someone recommended tumble drying which did work, though that encouraged pilling.

Buttons from TextileGarden

On the plus side, it must be comfy and warm because it has been worn lots this February but I admit I do get sad when I see the sleeves rolled up like a jam roly-poly. I did find the perfect buttons though, from TextileGarden.

I wonder if next time I should wash the pieces before making up, thus avoiding any unnecessary though not uninteresting forays into the world of gusseting....

Escargot helmet

Last year, without a specific project in mind but unable to resist, I bought some lovely hand-dyed wool from Croft Wool and Weavers in Torridon (mentioned in the post 'good hats'):

nettle

weld

Inspired by my current Poirot box set marathon, I was looking for a Cloche hat pattern. Must be getting a bit mature in my tastes because although this is my 3rd time through this box set, for the first time I find myself admiring Miss Lemon's style:

Miss Lemon

I scoured the net and came across this magnificent free pattern on Ravelry, designed by Veronica Parsons: the Escargot hat. There are lots of versions on google images and I noticed that many of them are a bit roomy. I have a tiny head (no wasted space in there) so I reduced the pattern by 10 stitches:

Escargot cloche

Veronica Parson's 'Escargot' worn by Thimble

So far I have worn it once and received many exclamations of admiration, awe and astonishment. What a hat! I think it makes me look like a warrior lady soldier...

Chalcidian helmets

...but someone else said it looks like an old american football helmet. Nevertheless I feel I have notched it up a step in the style stakes for 2013.