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. 

Patch jacket

 

Sometimes a project starts out planning to be one thing, but ends up as quite another thing altogether.

Remember the Wilderness Janker? after washing, it fit Crazy Jake like an Alexei Sayle jacket (buttons popping and sleeves too short) so I got to keep it instead. There can only be one Wilderness jacket so we thought of patches for the next one, and I went 2 sizes up.

It took some time to source appropriately themed fabrics - coffee, cameras, bicycles, skiing, handwriting, backpacking, camping, typewriters, pens, stamps, postmarks, maps, cassette tapes and biscuits. This might be my favourite phase of the project (the collecting/hoarding phase) and I possibly got carried away. Somewhere along the line I also realised I was straying from the original concept of a patch smoking/ lounge jacket but felt I had rather passed the point of no return...

...later when watching the Hobbit, Jake confided wistfully that this was what he meant by patches:

Bilbo patch smoking jacket in The Hobbit

 Fortunately we both agreed that the Hobbit movie would popularise the concept of patch smoking jackets so much that all major fashion outlets would soon be selling crappy versions on the theme and then it would no longer be a desirable thing to own a patch smoking jacket.

So with renewed confidence that no-one anywhere was going to have anything like what I was making, I pressed on...

Stitching in the sunshine

It wouldn't be a Thimble project if everything went swimmingly, so despite by best intentions to cut the lining with room to spare, by the time I had hand-quilted (yes that is right - HAND QUILTED) the shell repeat pattern, there was a deficit at the edges.

Luckily I am master of the work-around because I always make mistakes, so I fashioned a yoke in the lining and sewed plain bias binding to 2 different types of trimming so it was wide enough to cover the lining - even at the sleeve attachments. It looks that good, could almost be worn inside out ...

Finally these beautiful buttons from Tinker Tailor buttons via the Woolclip are just perfect to finish it off.

Duct Tape Wallets

Another 'guest craft' post, featuring fantastic duct tape wallets made by our niece and nephew.

A digression: although hobby crafts are undoubtedly good for the mind and soul, they can be a little taxing on the joints, posture and waist line. Free time is precious and there is often a conflict between wanting to stay in and make things or go out and enjoy the outdoors (walking, cycling, backpacking, camping, sometimes skipping along on a windy day). I am ashamed to say, crafting often has the upper hand. I am currently feeling invigorated and not a little virtuous, having spent a week back-packing and camping in Skye, putting in 7-8 hour walks each day (even with a torn cartilage, which I am sorry to say, might have been prevented if a little more time had been spent walking and a little less time knitting earlier in the year). I had been warned.

Well enough of that self-recrimination and back to crafting. Anyone familiar with backpacking will be aware of the importance of lightweight gear. I understand some people are as obsessive about this as quilters are about fat quarters. This duct tape wallet won my accolade of 'best bit of kit' this trip (other categories being best camp site, best dinner, best walk..).

The original duct tape wallet was this Spiderman design made by Karate Kid (aged about 7 I think) note it isn't a really tiny wallet on a sheet of stamps, but a normal size wallet on stamp design cloth :

Spiderman wallet on postage stamp tablecloth

It wasn't made for me but I immediately saw its potential for a coupon wallet. I did try it out for a couple of weeks but soon realised that I was looking for something a little bit more feminine, and besides that someone wanted it back. By special request, Koala Kid (Karate Kid's sister, aged about 11 I think) made this beautiful polka dot creation:

Polka dot wallet being tested 'in the field'

Not only is it a perfect coupon wallet, it is a pretty fantastic hiking wallet, being lightweight, non-bulky, waterproof, closes easily with a velcro fastener, looks good, has perfectly sized compartments for driving license and Scottish notes...and it is an emergency duct tape resource if disaster strikes (like an airbed puncture or ripped tent...or knee strapping for a torn cartilage...). I don't think in the UK we as yet have such funky duct tape designs like spiderman and polka dots, but here is a link to instructions for making a duct tape wallet. 

Skye: The Quiraing (Trotternish)

Made with Love

A small selection of Sheila's homemade dish cloths

The best thing about hand made things is that they endure.

For years we have been receiving these wonderful hand-crocheted and hand-knitted cotton cloths for Easters and Christmases and birthdays and sometimes for no particular occasion other than it being a good day for a new dish cloth. They are neatly folded and bundled, often tied up in ribbon or wrapped in tissue paper and come courtesy of Sheila, the snowman knitter. 

They are by far and away the best dish cloths I have ever used. I try not to do much dish washing so my cumulative dish washing experience over the years is perhaps not as vast as it could have been, but nevertheless I can spot a good dish cloth. They are also by far and away the best flannels/body scrubbers that I have ever used. I have been more consistent in body scrubbing than dish washing (because it isn't a task that can be easily shirked and left to someone else) so I speak with more authority in that department.

The qualities that I admire are:
1. The cotton is super absorbant (especially good for mopping up spillages)
2. The ridges in the patterns are especially good for scrubbing at persistent stains and dirty crevices (pots not bodies...)
3. The same ridges give an invigorated tingle when used as a face cloth, which is enough to set one up for the day
4. They wash well and when they are supplanted by a new batch they can eventually be relegated to floor cloths (I always feel a bit sad in that phase of their lifespan), however they can still last a very long time as they NEVER fall apart in the wash, being so well made.
5. They look pretty
6. They are made with love and I have it on good authority that it is the 10th form of energy (not mentioned in most physics text books).