tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6054829143170383612024-03-14T18:01:11.353+11:00KnitographicalMy life in random knitted thingsJo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.comBlogger156125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-27316145776505356442021-09-24T19:17:00.001+10:002021-09-24T19:17:42.469+10:00Urban Decay FFAL Week 3 - Rustscapes<p>Rust is secretly magic - right? Take a metallic object, add some moisture and prolonged exposure to the elements and a fantastic metamorphosis takes place. Nicholas Forrest in writing <i>The Aesthetics of Urban Decay - A Reaction to Rust </i>for artsy.net in 2012 reflects that "a rusty metal surface takes on the characteristics of a living organism
which is constantly changing and reacting to its environment. When we see a rusty piece of metal it usually signifies abandonment and
disuse but can also represent progress, change and development. As a
sort of “living surface” that is beautifully textural, there is more to
rusty metal than its utilitarian function would suggest".</p><p>On today's inspirational stroll around our (k)nitty, gritty, grungy city, we're going to play close attention to the rustscapes - the places where rust has worked its transformational magic. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images4-f.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/804885627/3.Rust_Cracks_and_dots_medium2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://images4-f.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/804885627/3.Rust_Cracks_and_dots_medium2.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images4-f.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/804885629/3.Rust_meets_paint_medium2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://images4-f.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/804885629/3.Rust_meets_paint_medium2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p>For a longer virtual stroll of rustscapes go visit my Pinterest board <a href="https://www.pinterest.com.au/ninjaknitter1/derelict/rusted/">https://www.pinterest.com.au/ninjaknitter1/derelict/rusted/</a></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Knitting Technique Suggestions <br /></h3><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/3a/f2/18/3af2181ce3bb8b70aeef7ad71cef0b0c.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="426" height="640" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/3a/f2/18/3af2181ce3bb8b70aeef7ad71cef0b0c.jpg" width="426" /></a></div>I've always found the random patterning rust forms intriguing to replicate as a fabric. The above rust 'berries' became the basis of a colourwork hat. I started by sketching the dots onto graph paper and then joined them up with curved lines. I made a second chart inspired by a cracked rust surface.<p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/e3/a8/88/e3a888ac66da810a3ec3f1376474245d.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="427" height="640" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/e3/a8/88/e3a888ac66da810a3ec3f1376474245d.jpg" width="427" /></a></div><br /> See my charts below. For the background I used a shifting, stripey background of variegated blues, turquoise and aqua.<br /><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images4-f.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/442634143/17818077_228329277571846_2214557508016537600_n_medium2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://images4-f.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/442634143/17818077_228329277571846_2214557508016537600_n_medium2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images4-g.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/442665392/Close_up_and_rust_medium2.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="267" src="https://images4-g.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/442665392/Close_up_and_rust_medium2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images4-f.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/442634021/IMG_2723_medium2.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="427" data-original-width="640" height="267" src="https://images4-f.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/442634021/IMG_2723_medium2.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><p>The next step is to add the thin curved lines using some embroidery (stem stitch, chain stitch or back stitch I think). </p><h3 style="text-align: left;">My freeform piece taking shape<br /></h3><p>Rust has even made me want to dabble in some crochet - here's my current work in progress. I started with crocheting some tiny circles and then crocheted over the interconnecting yarn and joined up some loops. Then I back-filled sections with knitting or crochet. I'm using doubled lace-weight and sock-weight yarns here. The green is my first piece of handspun yarn - doesn't look too dreadful all knitted up.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TR6DGR3OAK4/YU0GzHSen_I/AAAAAAAACrk/tu-hlcHBIAkVaGaBrbsmFaTH_T5WpIrwACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Crochet_Rust.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1857" data-original-width="2048" height="363" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TR6DGR3OAK4/YU0GzHSen_I/AAAAAAAACrk/tu-hlcHBIAkVaGaBrbsmFaTH_T5WpIrwACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h363/Crochet_Rust.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-44272390466285618832021-09-11T14:54:00.004+10:002021-09-11T14:54:53.426+10:00Urban Decay FFAL Week 2 - Flaking, peeling paint and wallpaper<p>Today we draw our freeform inspiration from the impact weathering, neglect and decay have on painted and wall-papered surfaces. Paint cracks, flakes, blisters and peels off surfaces in irregular strips with unexpected frilly edges, exposing unexpected layers of colour documenting eras of changing decorating tastes. Some colours remain as bright as the day they were applied and other mute and fade under the joint influences of sunlight and time.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images4-g.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/804885695/2.Where_paint_goes2die_medium2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://images4-g.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/804885695/2.Where_paint_goes2die_medium2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>My Pinterest board, <a href="https://www.pinterest.com.au/ninjaknitter1/derelict/where-paint-goes-to-die/" target="_blank">Where Paint goes to Die</a>, curates beauty in aging paint and wallpaper surfaces. </p><p>Wallpaper is like a vertical archeological dig, uncovering eras of habitation and decorative influences. I'm always here for florid scroll work, exuberant florals and dubious colour palettes. Sometimes time peels it all back to the underlying structural framework of lathe, hessian, plaster, horsehair or stone.<br /></p><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images4-g.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/804885696/2.Peeling_wallper_medium2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://images4-g.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/804885696/2.Peeling_wallper_medium2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Knitting technique suggestions</h2><h2 style="text-align: left;">Marlisle</h2><p style="text-align: left;">Marlisle is a method of creating decorative texture and colour shifts in
hand-knitted fabric popularised by Anna Maltz (Sweaterspotter) and described in her book <a href="https://www.moderndailyknitting.com/shop/marlisle-new-direction-knitting/" target="_blank"><i>Marlisle - a new direction in knitting</i></a>. By separately knitting the two yarns generally being held together to form
a marl base, Marlisle allows patches of stranded colourwork to be
scattered throughout a knitted piece without the use of intarsia
and avoids long messy floats. Effectively two yarns are used to create three colour effects, the two yarns held together and each worked separately with the other carried behind. The first two swatches below knitted by Anna are what I'd consider to be freeform Marlisle. To me this fairly screams <b>wallpaper</b>. <br /></p><h2 style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/516bdd8ee4b0f1cbdef3f724/1460629369982-DG5WL5X4S81G6WFTGTJ9/Image-2.jpeg?format=750w" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="750" height="300" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/516bdd8ee4b0f1cbdef3f724/1460629369982-DG5WL5X4S81G6WFTGTJ9/Image-2.jpeg?format=750w" width="400" /></a></div> <a href="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/516bdd8ee4b0f1cbdef3f724/1460629336849-4JGC2H86VKDUGWUJPTVI/Image-2.jpeg?format=750w" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="563" data-original-width="750" height="300" src="https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/516bdd8ee4b0f1cbdef3f724/1460629336849-4JGC2H86VKDUGWUJPTVI/Image-2.jpeg?format=750w" width="400" /></a></h2><p>Here's an example where I've used marlisle with a shifting background colour and self striping yarn. I also love how the motifs here pop up from the marled background.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images4-f.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/549223394/IMG20180929073806_medium2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://images4-f.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/549223394/IMG20180929073806_medium2.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Dimensional Tuck knitting </h3><p style="text-align: left;">Dimensional tuck knitting is a technique developed by Tracy Purtscher where a simple stockinette fabric is manipulated to fold and pucker to create a raised textured surface by knitting tuck stitches at strategic places on the back of the work. I'd highly recommend her book<i> </i><a href="https://www.bookdepository.com/Dimensional-Tuck-Knitting-Tracy-Purtscher/9781942021674?redirected=true&selectCurrency=AUD&w=AF45AU96085T85A8V9CZ&gclid=Cj0KCQjw4eaJBhDMARIsANhrQAA0iqNbt2oIhfbYCoJ40wTBNvNXEsevn-P3X6ht5S4QM4iomdGVsjQaAlxXEALw_wcB" target="_blank"><i>Dimensional Tuck Knitting: An Innovative Technique for Creating Surface Design</i></a> if you wan to do a deeper dive in the technique<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="http://www.knittinguniverse.com/edi_var/modules/classes/class_image/13593.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="436" height="500" src="http://www.knittinguniverse.com/edi_var/modules/classes/class_image/13593.png" width="436" /></a></div><div class="h2" itemprop="name" style="text-align: left;">Tracy has video explanations of how to work the tuck stitches she uses to make rippled and folded knitted fabric on her blog - <a href="http://stringativity.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Stringativity</a>.</div><p></p><p>These experimental swatches, inspired by dimensional tuck knitting, and made on a knitting machine by Rachel Brooks, offer a glimpse into the possibilities of this as a freeform technique.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://theinteriorofmybraindotcom.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/machine-knit-pleating-tucking-stockinette-side.jpg?w=748&h=997" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://theinteriorofmybraindotcom.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/machine-knit-pleating-tucking-stockinette-side.jpg?w=748&h=997" width="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://theinteriorofmybraindotcom.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/knit-side-machine-knitting-tucks.jpg?w=748&h=997" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://theinteriorofmybraindotcom.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/knit-side-machine-knitting-tucks.jpg?w=748&h=997" width="480" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://theinteriorofmybraindotcom.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/purl-side-machine-knitting-tucks.jpg?w=748&h=997" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="640" src="https://theinteriorofmybraindotcom.files.wordpress.com/2018/05/purl-side-machine-knitting-tucks.jpg?w=748&h=997" width="480" /></a></div><p>For me the wrong side of the swatch above is equally interesting, offering insights into its construction.</p><p><br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">My freeform piece taking shape </h3><p style="text-align: left;">I began with an existing experimental swatch. I just can't resist an semi-impossible knitting challenge. When I was leafing through my new Japanese Stitch dictionary: 1000 Japanese Knitting & Crochet Stitches by Nihon Vogue, back in January this year, the description of one group of stitches immediately provoked my interest in weird techniques for creating knitted fabric. 'Patterns 650-653. The four stitch patterns in this section are unusual and challenging'. Of course this was effectively enticing me to try this (immediately). The patterns are a combination of overlaid lace and a pseudo marlisle with multiple layers being knitted in parts. It involves juggling four dpns with front and back stitches.But this swatch keeps whispering, 'Wallpaper?" at me.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z0DUcw_jJVw/YTwxK-nRPtI/AAAAAAAACrM/NSroSYYzyEAitDaN-jq-UnPNcZ46UeXFACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Japanese_Swatch.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Z0DUcw_jJVw/YTwxK-nRPtI/AAAAAAAACrM/NSroSYYzyEAitDaN-jq-UnPNcZ46UeXFACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h400/Japanese_Swatch.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>My progress doesn't look at that freeformish at the moment. I've been making wallpaper like knitted swatches swatches and I'm nearly at the stage where I'm going to start joining and blurring the edges .<p></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cy0uzweQte8/YTwzLVB2ZZI/AAAAAAAACrU/pVGsHbc3f_QMADIHLM1NgSi3bxVfpi4XACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Planning_wallpaper.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2047" data-original-width="2048" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cy0uzweQte8/YTwzLVB2ZZI/AAAAAAAACrU/pVGsHbc3f_QMADIHLM1NgSi3bxVfpi4XACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h400/Planning_wallpaper.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u2BlFVJSHlY/YTwzk0ZhjjI/AAAAAAAACrc/tsXYFPlXgXMy88GDjs33qRhpcHegxLYBQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Marlisle_as_wallpaper.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2047" data-original-width="2048" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-u2BlFVJSHlY/YTwzk0ZhjjI/AAAAAAAACrc/tsXYFPlXgXMy88GDjs33qRhpcHegxLYBQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h400/Marlisle_as_wallpaper.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Excuse me while I go and play some more.<br />Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-26491555498200224272021-09-01T07:15:00.002+10:002021-09-24T20:03:18.201+10:00Urban Decay FFAL - Week 1 - Urban Structure and Framework<p style="text-align: center;"> <a href="https://images4-f.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/803533864/URBAN_Decay_FFAL_medium2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="640" height="400" src="https://images4-f.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/803533864/URBAN_Decay_FFAL_medium2.jpg" width="400" /></a></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Welcome to my (k)nitty, gritty, grungy city. </h2><p>For the next couple of months we are going to be wandering its streets and alley ways, and poking our noses into the abandoned and derelict places, finding freeform inspiration amongst the <b>Urban Decay</b>.</p><p>I'm dedicating this freefrom adventure to two of my best co-conspirators on past adventures in the IFFF (International Free Form Forum) - the delightful roseknits24-7, who first pushed me down the freeform rabbit hole but was right there with me all the way and Ne11 (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/artisanloops/" target="_blank">Artisan Loops</a> / <a href="https://www.instagram.com/uncommonloops/" target="_blank">Uncommon Loops</a> on Instagram), mentor, friend and amazing inspiration who makes me believe we make art, not craft. They've both moved on from Ravelry but I hope their spirit of whimsical delight and mad crochet freeform skills infuse our adventures this time too.<br /></p><p>I'm going to suggest something slightly radical as our starting point for this freeform adventure. How about a little planning to start with? Just a little - not too much to inhibit the freeform chaos and creativity - but a little to think about what we could make from combining our eight inspiration prompts.<br /></p><p>I have to admit, I have had the luxury of eight months or so to plan this adventure and I knew right from the start that it wanted to be a wearable piece and I eventually decided on a shawl / wrap. (You can see the evolution of my design sketches below).<br /></p><p>So ask yourself a few questions before we dive in: <br /></p><p>What does this want to be? Something wearable, an art piece, something useful - a cushion, a bag? Do I want to cover something with my freeform? Do I want to just make scrumbles or doodle with yarn?<br /></p><h4 style="text-align: left;">Or you can just say stuff it and move right onto the freeform thing...</h4><p style="text-align: left;">Our inspiration this week is<b> urban structure and framework</b> - thinks bridges, girders, ironwork, scaffolds... Think about both the structure and the spaces in-between.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;">I'm particularly fond of railway bridges - especially when they are rusty and disused.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lek-wbFFCK8/YSq6g8s-f4I/AAAAAAAACp0/QEVMze8JayMh43y1po-dhNs83mU6lMjmACLcBGAsYHQ/s1564/1.Framework_Rail_bridges.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1564" data-original-width="1564" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Lek-wbFFCK8/YSq6g8s-f4I/AAAAAAAACp0/QEVMze8JayMh43y1po-dhNs83mU6lMjmACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h400/1.Framework_Rail_bridges.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><p></p><p>So let me talk you through how I used these in my piece. I was looking at the spaces. Can you see all those triangles?</p><p>That's a fun shape to play with (especially as a knitter where more linear, angular geometry is a better fit to the fabric structure). What can I do with lots of triangles?</p><p>I started with thinking about a template for mittens, constructed from triangles. But that constrained me to smallish pieces and possibly finer yarns than I wanted to work with. And it was just a little too regular to please the freeform muse this time, even if I made them non-matching mittens.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A1Vmm8Zbv8o/YSq_qH8_0qI/AAAAAAAACqE/sfgEZ-yjoeIBM3oHjJ57d8YJtaeqsO0bACLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Triangle_Mittens.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1488" data-original-width="2048" height="291" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-A1Vmm8Zbv8o/YSq_qH8_0qI/AAAAAAAACqE/sfgEZ-yjoeIBM3oHjJ57d8YJtaeqsO0bACLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h291/Triangle_Mittens.jpg" width="400" /> </a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3Ctw647q_cc/YSq_6YdJXgI/AAAAAAAACqM/hVBYIyELc7w5UrNyYps8W-ztHrVUVuvoQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/Plan_Urban_Decay_shawl.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1488" data-original-width="2048" height="291" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3Ctw647q_cc/YSq_6YdJXgI/AAAAAAAACqM/hVBYIyELc7w5UrNyYps8W-ztHrVUVuvoQCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h291/Plan_Urban_Decay_shawl.jpg" width="400" /></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But what can I do with lots of different sized and shaped irregular triangles? What if those spaces in the structure were filled in with freeform? That promising thought turned in the shawl sketch above - A structural spine girder with spokes between the freeform triangles.<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Might I suggest the patterns of <a href="https://www.ravelry.com/designers/ursa-major-knits" target="_blank">Ursa major KNITS</a> (Link to her Ravelry Designer Store) or you can find her as <a href="https://www.instagram.com/ursamajorknits/" target="_blank">ursamjorknits</a> on Instagram, as a source of structure inspiration? Her shawls are often made up pieces enclosed in a framework and uses all sort of different shapes<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-auUJpKlnWTE/YSrAUx3woSI/AAAAAAAACqU/fh-jfi2-zLIJCUiaWamlLaXtt33TkzlYgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1564/IMG_20210509_065126.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1564" data-original-width="1564" height="400" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-auUJpKlnWTE/YSrAUx3woSI/AAAAAAAACqU/fh-jfi2-zLIJCUiaWamlLaXtt33TkzlYgCLcBGAsYHQ/w400-h400/IMG_20210509_065126.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><h3 style="text-align: left;">My freeform piece taking shape <br /></h3></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I began my structure with the long edge at the top of my shawl. I wanted regular big triangular holes, something I wasn't quite sure how to achieve in knitting, so I turned to a shawl pattern I already had in my extensive collection - <a href="https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/11-openwork-shawl">#11 Openwork Shawl</a>
by Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton from <i>Designer Knitting</i> No.1 2020 which features her Drop-Stitch Openwork technique. My knitted girder is essentially a modified single pattern repeat with an added i-cord rolled edge.<br /><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I deliberately held two lace-weight yarns together to achieve the rusty girder effect - a black and grey alpaca and a rusty tonal wool. This will both even up and open up when I block it.<br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images4-f.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/803555482/IMG20210828154652_medium2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="640" src="https://images4-f.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/803555482/IMG20210828154652_medium2.jpg" width="480" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Suggestions for your play</h3><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So my challenge for this week is to create your own openwork piece. Embrace the holes and the structure surrounding them. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">You could work with mesh, for example. Here's a link to a Ravelry search of crochet mesh shopping and market bags for inspiration <a href="https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/search#craft=crochet&availability=free&pa=mesh&pc=bag&sort=best&view=captioned_thumbs" target="_blank">Pattern Search - Crochet mesh shopping bag (free)</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> <br /></div>Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-50858936576464313482021-08-28T13:15:00.005+10:002021-09-01T07:18:21.970+10:00What is Freeform Fiberart?<p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/8f/b1/e9/8fb1e9b0d81c00877d6d8e00d58e3792.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="420" data-original-width="563" height="298" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/8f/b1/e9/8fb1e9b0d81c00877d6d8e00d58e3792.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a class="Wk9 xQ4 CCY czT eEj kVc DI9 BG7" href="http://florilegium.com/one-small-thing-x-43/" rel="nofollow" tabindex="0">florilegium.com</a></td></tr></tbody></table> <p></p><p>Let's start with the dictionary definition of Freeform, shall we?<br /></p><div class="lW8rQd"><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline; text-align: left;"><h3><span><span class="kqEaA ZYHQ7e"><b>F</b></span><span class="kqEaA z8gr9e">reeform <i><span style="font-weight: normal;">(adjective) </span></i>- </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">not conforming to a regular or formal structure or shape; </span></span></h3><h3><span style="font-weight: normal;"><span>having or being an irregular or asymmetrical shape or design.</span></span></h3></div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;"><span><span> </span></span></div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;"><span><span>I'm not setting myself an easy task here either. There is a thread in the IFFF (International Free From Forum) on Ravelry which </span></span><span><span><span><span>has been around for eight years and </span></span>currently has 140 posts attempting to answer the question - <b>What is your definition of Freeform?</b></span></span></div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;"><span><span><b> </b></span></span></div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;"><span><span>Maybe it’s easier to say what Freeform <i>isn’t? </i>It's not following a pattern (though you may draw on aspects of patterns in producing a freeform piece). It's not repeating modular construction (freeform is often described as irregular and organic - it grows rather than is constructed to a predetermined fixed plan). </span></span>Freeform is an art form that defies defining and<span><span> there are no rules.</span></span></div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;"><span><span> </span></span></div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;"><span><span>We see common themes in the ways people try to describe freeform though. </span></span><span><span><br /></span></span></div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;"><span><span> </span></span></div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;"><span><span>An analogy to painting with needles and hooks and yarn where the stitches are the brushstrokes.</span></span></div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Abstract art with yarn and hook or knitting needles</li><li>Yarn painting <br /></li></ul></div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;">It is crochet and/or knitting worked in seemingly random shapes, colors, and techniques. </div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Controlled anarchy and chaos</li><li>Freeform is the demonstration of active choices and skillful creativity
by which control has been taken to shape abstract order out of random
chaos.</li><li>Knitting (and / or crocheting) in a totally unprogrammed, unconventional way.</li></ul></div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;"></div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;">But above all, freeform is a playground, an act of creativity, the ability to produce a piece of art that sings to your soul.</div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;"><ul style="text-align: left;"><li>Freeform is the inside of my brain let loose<div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;">.</div></li><li><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;">The freedom to create textiles/fabrics, using all possible techniques
and fibres, that makes me feel FREE, hence the FREEform in the name <br /></div></li></ul></div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;">OK, Mathematician me here. To me freeform is about asymmetry. Even if you
are creating to a symmetrical shape such as a garment, the elements are
asymmetrical. It’s also probably why most free form incorporates curves
and organic shapes. Freefrom is irregularity not regularity. That said,
there are no rules…. </div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;"><br /></div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;">We agree to disagree on an exact all encompassing definition, but we agree, <b>we know it when we see it</b>. So let me show you freeform.</div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;"> </div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;"></div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;"></div></div><div><div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;"><span></span></div></div></div><h2 style="text-align: left;">Scrumble based freeform</h2><p style="text-align: left;">A scrumble is a small piece of freeform crochet or knitting that can be joined to make a larger piece of freeform work. Traditionally scrumbles are densely worked but they can also be more open and lacy, drawing on empty space as part of their design.</p><p>In explaining the origin of the word scrumble, Jame's Walters who coined the word together with Sylvia Cosh says<br /></p><p><i>‘Scrumble’ is a mixture of ‘scrumple’,
‘scrummage’ and ‘amble’ (to name but few), that is, for us it originally
described a crochet fabric-making process involving frequent
semi-deliberate, optional and speculative decisions with regard to yarn
and stitch selection and resulting in more or less randomly shaped and
textured pieces. The ‘umble/amble/ramble’ part has the feel
of Paul Klee’s ‘taking a line for a walk’ and Jenny Dowde’s adaptation
of that, ‘taking a yarn for a walk’, because it’s a process - sometimes
you know where you’re going, but mostly you’re wandering and wondering
and looking for inspiration, often directly from the piece itself as it
appears in your fingers'.</i></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Prudence Mapstone </h3><p>Website: <a href="http://www.knotjustknitting.com/" target="_blank">www.knotjustknitting.com</a></p>For a delicious collection of scrumbles look at her blog - <a href="http://prudencemapstone.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">A scrumble a week</a> <br /><p>Being an Australian, Prudence's work was the first freeform I saw in the wild and she was my first teacher. Prudence is a regular on the Australian craft show circuit and a generous, inspiring teacher. I still have my first incomplete scrumble I made in a class with her and while scrumble based freeform turned out not to be my freeform style, I'm in awe of her work. Her aesthetic is organic and resonates of the natural world.<br /></p><p>There is a small group of freeformers who argue that scrumble based freeform is the only true freeform. I vehemently disagree.That's like saying only a particular style of painting is art - rather scrumbling is a 'school' of freeform. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/0c/cf/2a/0ccf2af31810799eb6d5ee998dbf56dc.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" height="375" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/0c/cf/2a/0ccf2af31810799eb6d5ee998dbf56dc.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/b8/10/19/b81019745c196984b4f380b5ffa071ed.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="423" data-original-width="564" height="423" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/b8/10/19/b81019745c196984b4f380b5ffa071ed.jpg" width="564" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/9b/f0/61/9bf061a2c0a3ad66f9e9fd46c7610a36.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="657" data-original-width="564" height="657" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/9b/f0/61/9bf061a2c0a3ad66f9e9fd46c7610a36.jpg" width="564" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrdco7aaAY1qjoiero1_500.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="500" height="375" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrdco7aaAY1qjoiero1_500.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/4e/e9/df/4ee9dffadf753666f983908c04d69925.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="375" height="500" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/4e/e9/df/4ee9dffadf753666f983908c04d69925.jpg" width="375" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Nell (Elyn) Bray (Artisan Loops)</h3><p style="text-align: left;">Nell's true passion is needle lace but her freeform creations are also amazing art pieces. She is also the bullion stitch master.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/57/a9/88/57a98841e5efce2ae036ef4f50e3d658.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="564" height="564" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/57/a9/88/57a98841e5efce2ae036ef4f50e3d658.jpg" width="564" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/a3/ff/91/a3ff910a71fe548edf59e76569d5b3a9.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="625" data-original-width="563" height="625" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/a3/ff/91/a3ff910a71fe548edf59e76569d5b3a9.jpg" width="563" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;">Asimina Chremos </h3><p style="text-align: left;"><span title="Edited">Asimina is a dancer who creates freeform doilies in her downtime. Her work is a great example of more openwork scrumbling, featuring a </span><span title="Edited"><span title="Edited">colourful fusion of angular and circular geometry and use of large empty space.</span></span></p><p>You can read more about her work in this article. <a href="https://blog.etsy.com/en/fresh-shop-silverspace/?epik=dj0yJnU9WkZLakhDUGcydDJOaTdKc3EtR1pWaGo1WFlla2RPV0wmcD0wJm49MHN3cGRsZGZwTERtRDROdy02NTdkQSZ0PUFBQUFBR0VrbTBB" target="_blank">Asimina Chremos</a>, freeform crocheted doilies</p><p> <a href="https://asiminachremos.space/crochet-art">https://asiminachremos.space/crochet-art</a></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/fd/ad/c7/fdadc7d657b1f12eb2a822dd9de68563.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="393" data-original-width="563" height="393" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/fd/ad/c7/fdadc7d657b1f12eb2a822dd9de68563.jpg" width="563" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/d4/10/90/d41090fa04afb4c3afcd8a932bb67973.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="564" data-original-width="564" height="564" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/d4/10/90/d41090fa04afb4c3afcd8a932bb67973.jpg" width="564" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://64.media.tumblr.com/407a8f809bdad7382b06640c9d7053a8/tumblr_nhi6shS6U51ru8nnoo1_500.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="366" data-original-width="500" height="366" src="https://64.media.tumblr.com/407a8f809bdad7382b06640c9d7053a8/tumblr_nhi6shS6U51ru8nnoo1_500.jpg" width="500" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"></h3><h3 style="text-align: left;">Mitsuko Tonouchi <br /></h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/af/46/3b/af463b55f52188927074c8c3d06553e8.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="429" data-original-width="473" height="429" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/af/46/3b/af463b55f52188927074c8c3d06553e8.jpg" width="473" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/9c/f3/bb/9cf3bba1bfc492c9a641a0531eec9fc0.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="563" height="375" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/9c/f3/bb/9cf3bba1bfc492c9a641a0531eec9fc0.jpg" width="563" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/57/0e/74/570e74cb45aaa01749f116fc511475b9.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="231" data-original-width="320" height="231" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/57/0e/74/570e74cb45aaa01749f116fc511475b9.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/eb/2a/16/eb2a16e1d95165aec5a80081f1392317.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="229" data-original-width="320" height="229" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/eb/2a/16/eb2a16e1d95165aec5a80081f1392317.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Bonnie Prokopowicz</b></span></span></h3><p>Bonnie's piece here illustrates a style where a relatively small and consistent vocabulary of stitches are used in a piece. This only uses one stitch - half double crochet (American crochet terminology) worked in the 'third loop' - sometimes called camel crochet. You don't need to be an accomplished crocheter to create amazing freeform - the basic stitches are more than enough. <br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/14/35/e3/1435e3901f5a6fde2edf6dcd0e7330b1.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="376" data-original-width="564" height="376" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/14/35/e3/1435e3901f5a6fde2edf6dcd0e7330b1.jpg" width="564" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="tBJ dyH iFc MF7 pBj zDA IZT swG">Bonnie Prokopowicz Gathering Storm (2018)<br /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><p></p><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Motif based freeform <br /></h2><p><span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">In fibreart, a<b> motif</b> is a smaller element in a much larger work. Knit or crochet motifs are made individually and joined together to create larger works.</span></span> Here we are heading into an area of freeform where patterns are often used to create sub-pieces (the motifs) of a larger work which are combined in an aesthetically pleasing but random or irregular pattern.</p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Modern Irish crochet</h3><p style="text-align: left;">It's often been said that traditional Irish Crochet was the first freeform. Irish crochet is created from small individual motifs on a openwork mesh background. Modern Irish crochet uses a more colourful palette and often thicker yarn. The Russian language crochet magazines <b>Zhurnal MOD</b> and <b>Duplet</b> are great places to find pattern diagrams for motifs and examples of modern Irish crochet freeform.</p><p style="text-align: left;">Given that the Russian crochet community are amongst the best proponents of this style, I apologise that I can't always credit my examples here to a particular maker because of the language barrier and profuse sharing and resharing of images in this community. I've tried to use watermarked photos where possible for this reason.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/12/c0/db/12c0dbc92b704e20072fadd28c25edaf.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="411" data-original-width="548" height="411" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/12/c0/db/12c0dbc92b704e20072fadd28c25edaf.jpg" width="548" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/cb/81/9f/cb819fa99b4c902ae8bbbf0a28514ace.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="533" height="800" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/cb/81/9f/cb819fa99b4c902ae8bbbf0a28514ace.jpg" width="533" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a class="Wk9 xQ4 CCY czT eEj kVc DI9 BG7" href="https://hobbyistontheroad.com/picture-emerging-irish-crochet-lace-dress/" rel="nofollow" tabindex="0">hobbyistontheroad.com</a></td></tr></tbody></table><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/95/9e/df/959edf56d8b0aaecfb3dc6818bf17f39.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="762" data-original-width="507" height="762" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/95/9e/df/959edf56d8b0aaecfb3dc6818bf17f39.jpg" width="507" /></a></div><h3 style="text-align: left;"> Encasement </h3><p> Here the motifs are joined with a denser background encasing each motif, rather than using an openwork mesh.<br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://images4-g.ravelrycache.com/uploads/dragonbird/229142612/freeform_bird_afghan_finished-1_medium2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="427" height="640" src="https://images4-g.ravelrycache.com/uploads/dragonbird/229142612/freeform_bird_afghan_finished-1_medium2.jpg" width="427" /></a></div><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/4f/fc/a1/4ffca12c26c5234d63f7887c620f4327.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="477" height="640" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/4f/fc/a1/4ffca12c26c5234d63f7887c620f4327.jpg" width="477" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/be/67/77/be677789c85c49f0889c76dc6d5d2a69.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="535" height="800" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/be/67/77/be677789c85c49f0889c76dc6d5d2a69.jpg" width="535" /></a></div><p></p><h2 style="text-align: left;">Freeform Knitting</h2><p style="text-align: left;">The jury is much more divided on the subject of freeform knitting - some arguing that there are very few true examples of freeform knitting. Many scrumble freeformers incorporate both knitting and crochet, but freeform which is just composed of knitted fabris is rarer. The linear nature of the construction of knitted fabric with multiple stitches worked on needles at a time lends itself to regular geometry rather than organic curves. Freeform knitting is often perceived as more of a 'danger' - only to be attempted by the brave and adventurous knitter with all those loose stitches ready to escape and run away as you maneuver your work into unaccustomed shapes. It's true that freeform knitting needs more of technical base - a vocabulary of shaping skills such as increases and decreases and short rows and a willingness to work with circular needles or dpns and cast off and pick up stitches. But it definitely exists.<br /></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><h3 style="text-align: left;">Free range knitting </h3><p>Designer Jane Thornley describes her work as<b> Free range knitting</b>, rather than calling it freeform knitting. Undulating waves of fabric are created using short rows and there is an encouragement to 'paint' landscapes with yarn but this often still progresses in a fairly linear fashion. These full width linear pieces aren't always recognised as true freeform.<br /></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/72/71/1c/72711c3e6b32de3c465f0f8daa2ba871.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="629" data-original-width="480" height="629" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/72/71/1c/72711c3e6b32de3c465f0f8daa2ba871.jpg" width="480" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">River run wrap by Christie Furber</td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/4d/97/8f/4d978f452ea6a571488bde4427800cab.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="433" data-original-width="563" height="433" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/4d/97/8f/4d978f452ea6a571488bde4427800cab.jpg" width="563" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Peacock Furls Wrap by Jane Thornley. This piece with its modular semicircular construction is much more recognisable as 'freeform'<br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> </td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://images4-g.ravelrycache.com/uploads/color4texture/105172485/there_she_blows_medium2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="485" data-original-width="640" height="485" src="https://images4-g.ravelrycache.com/uploads/color4texture/105172485/there_she_blows_medium2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shorelines by Jayne Thornley<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><h3 style="text-align: left;">Shortrows <br /></h3><p>Shortrows are the tool that really opens up possibilities in freeform knitting.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/e0/a2/0e/e0a20e9507a0da84f399f14c17deaa73.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="752" data-original-width="564" height="752" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/e0/a2/0e/e0a20e9507a0da84f399f14c17deaa73.jpg" width="564" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.etsystatic.com/7664115/r/il/816c39/1380520711/il_794xN.1380520711_q0uz.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="646" height="800" src="https://i.etsystatic.com/7664115/r/il/816c39/1380520711/il_794xN.1380520711_q0uz.jpg" width="646" /></a></div><p></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/31/fd/85/31fd8542301c1428bdcd3df7e2b7be6d.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="470" height="800" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/31/fd/85/31fd8542301c1428bdcd3df7e2b7be6d.jpg" width="470" /></a></div> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/1a/ec/b2/1aecb2d5a45f4736634d777b66adc82b.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="532" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/1a/ec/b2/1aecb2d5a45f4736634d777b66adc82b.jpg" title="Jung Hwa Loo" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="tBJ dyH iFc MF7 pBj zDA IZT swG">Shell Canyon by Debbie New from <i>Knitting Art</i> by Karen Searle</span></td></tr></tbody></table><h3 style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://images4-g.ravelrycache.com/uploads/newform/309882941/Test_water_073_medium2.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="577" data-original-width="640" height="577" src="https://images4-g.ravelrycache.com/uploads/newform/309882941/Test_water_073_medium2.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><p>Barbara Lawler (Newform) - Testing the Waters</p></td></tr></tbody></table>Swing Knitting <br /></h3><p>Swing knitting is a unique technique of short row knitting using the rhythms of music to develop repeatable short row patterns which swing and dance through the piece. Ah, but it's repeatable you say, not strictly freeform as it's not irregular patterning. I'd argue that that this is an immensely useful techniques in a knit freeformer's arsenal and that the results can delightfully blend regular and irregular. <br /></p><span class="ILfuVd"><span class="hgKElc">Swing Knitting was has its roots in the work of <b>Gabrielle Kluge</b> <a href="http://www.strickrausch.de/">http://www.strickrausch.de/</a> and was trademarked by Heidrun Liegmann-Halama <a href="http://swing-knitting.com">http://swing-knitting.com</a></span></span>
<p>The main technique is doing a start short row with always the same
amount of stitches (the melody width) and moving it, using a mathematical
sequence of numbers (the knitting melody) for each short row field
(stanza) of your work. This knitting melody can be 1,2,3,4,5 or any math
sequence you invent, and you follow it throughout the whole work.</p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.strickrausch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/kluga34-bearb_3zu1_i900.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="267" data-original-width="800" height="214" src="https://www.strickrausch.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/kluga34-bearb_3zu1_i900.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gabriele Kluge<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/35/f9/17/35f9178efa73153f0ec8cdaa5ef4c167.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="565" data-original-width="563" height="565" src="https://i.pinimg.com/564x/35/f9/17/35f9178efa73153f0ec8cdaa5ef4c167.jpg" width="563" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fadenzaubereien</td></tr></tbody></table><h3 style="text-align: left;">Crazy Quilt Knitting (Myra Wood) and Patchwork knitting (Horst Schultz)</h3><p style="text-align: left;">Horst Schultz pioneered 'Patchwork Knitting' (see his book of the same name), connecting smaller knitted patches into larger pieces. Even though his work consists of repeated regular motifs and isn't strictly freeform, his work is unique in that he strayed beyond strictly right angle geometry to work with curved pieces. Myra Wood translates traditional crazy patchwork into knitwear. <br /></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"></h3><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://images4-g.ravelrycache.com/flickr/6/0/9/6093812626/6093812626.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="377" height="500" src="https://images4-g.ravelrycache.com/flickr/6/0/9/6093812626/6093812626.jpg" width="377" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Myra Wood<br /></td></tr></tbody></table><p>This is really just dipping a toe into the possibilities of freeform.</p><p>I've barely skimmed the surface and haven't even mentioned freeform lace knitting or Myra's Wood's crazy lace. I also haven't dived into pictorial crochet and knitting or knitted or crocheted portraiture (which may or may not be true freeform).</p><p>Suffice to say, taking your needles and hooks and yarn to play off the beaten track opens a world of possibilities.<br /></p>Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-52841774106355664782016-05-08T11:41:00.001+10:002016-05-08T11:45:35.568+10:00What to knit for your boyMy boy is off at University for most of the year studying (hard???) to become a medical engineer. (Actually I think he is really majoring in drone construction, social dorm living, light partying and online computer gaming).... Boys will be boys...<br />
<br />
His university campus is in Victoria's second largest city, Geelong. Geelong is lovely sprawling town on the edge of a bay - the gateway to the famous Surf Coast and the Great Ocean Road - with a country town feel but still all the humming bustle of a big city. There's only one draw back (apart from the up to 5 hour journey by public transport to come home for a visit). It's <b>cold</b> in winter. No, not snow kind of cold, more biting winds straight off the Antarctic.<br />
<br />
This gives me a valid excuse to knit <b>all</b> the hats for him. He definitely wears them and appreciates them, both as the edge to an outfit and as a way to keep his ears warm. I love knitting for an appreciative audience - though I may have got a little carried away this year so far. <br />
<br />
So it's perhaps not surprising that I began my knitter's year of 2016 by casting on a hat on New Year's Eve and finishing it up on New Year's Day. <span class="clicker_icon" id="append_notes_clicker"><a class="clicker" href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/insulate-hat#" title="Add an entry to your notes"></a></span> So I got bored. It’s holidays after all and a I needed a small
diversion. That’s what a hat is, isn’t it? I can almost knit one in day. <br />
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<a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/348115414/Hat_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/348115414/Hat_medium2.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="markdown notes scope--editable" id="project_notes_16509235">
This was a little bit of subtle geekery for the boy (He's a massive Dr Who fan) but it’s a tiny bit of a failure.<br />
Oh, its nothing to do with the knitting or the sizing. It’s lovely
even colorwork and fits nicely. (I may just have blocked it by wearing a
wet beanie on my head). I just didn’t choose two shades of
grey that have enough contrast for the pattern to show up. Also I am
using recycled yarn and there are some stains in the yarn on the crown
which didn’t wash out… They almost look deliberate though…<br />
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<a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/348115415/Back_beanie_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/348115415/Back_beanie_medium2.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/348115406/Side_hat_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/348115406/Side_hat_medium2.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
This is a really nice pattern (Thanks Amy!). Well written and easy to follow.<br />
<b>Pattern: </b><a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/insulate-hat" target="_blank">INSULATE! hat</a> by Amy van de Laar - a free pattern.<br />
<b>Needles:</b> My absolute favourite antique Aero jumper length 4mm dpns<br />
<b>Yarn:</b> Blue grey Machinewash 8 ply from the Lifeline Op shop and leftover Bendigo Woollen Mills Stella in Shell.<br />
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<a href="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/348115405/Smile_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/348115405/Smile_medium2.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/346648974/I_can_see_a_dalek_medium2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/346648974/I_can_see_a_dalek_medium2.JPG" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's a real pity those Daleks aren't sufficiently visible</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I still had the hat bug in my system though. It clearly wasn't going to be a quick fix this time. It was about this stage, I hunted down a hat group on Ravelry and decided 16 hats in 2016 was certainly a doable and admirable goal. <br />
<br />
I was feeling some colourwork next.. Anyone who has followed my blog for a while may have noticed the odd fox related thing sneaks onto my needles / hook every so often. Foxes are a sort of obsession of mine. I love how you can evoke a fox with just a stylised shape and colour. This particular pattern has long been in my queue. I swear I didn't actually set out to knit this specifically for the boy, but he begged exceedingly nicely when it was finished...<br />
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<a href="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/349880107/Comtemplative_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/349880107/Comtemplative_medium2.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<b>Pattern:</b> <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fox-hat-12" target="_blank">Fox Hat</a> by Eline Oftedal<br />
<b>Needles: </b>3 mm antique Aero jumper length dpns<br />
<b>Yarn:</b> Cleckheaton Country 8 Ply in a fox-like colour, Moda Vera Pure Wool 8ply in gunmetal grey and Panda Machinewash 8 ply Crepe in cream
<br />
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<a href="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/349880109/Close_up_detail_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/349880109/Close_up_detail_medium2.jpg" height="316" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
This flew off the needles (slowly). It only took a week but the three
colour rounds of colour work were tediously slow. I’m slightly
meticulous about exactly where to carry the yarn on the back to get the
best effect on the front and this means concentration, constant
untangling of yarn and slow rounds.<br />
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<a href="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/349880100/Watching_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/349880100/Watching_medium2.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
As this is knitted at a very small gauge for DK there were a lot of stitches (144 per round). I am really pleased with the result (But I won’t knit this one again - the colour work would get tedious in quantity). The boy tells me it is soooo warm and snugly.<br />
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<a href="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/349880101/Typing_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/349880101/Typing_medium2.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
I photographed this by sneaking into the boy cave, catching the boy in his natural environment in front of a a computer, plonked the hat on his head and told him to ignore me as I randomly photographed the back of his head. In hindsight this may have been the moment I lost this hat to his clutches... <br />
<br />
The next hat off my needles for the boy was a re-knit of the INSULATE! hat - <b>Exterminate! 2.0</b>.<br />
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<a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/355563123/Boy_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/355563123/Boy_medium2.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
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<div class="markdown notes scope--editable" id="project_notes_16778413">
Yes, I know I’ve made one of these already this already this year. But the
contrast between the two greys I used is not strong enough to really see
the Daleks. And it’s too much of a watch cap fit to please the boy. He
likes slouchy beanies. I needed to make another one.<br />
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<a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/355563133/Exterminate_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/355563133/Exterminate_medium2.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
This ended up being the first cast on for Village Hopelessly Over-committed Cast On Month (VHOCCOM12016) on February 1st. I still want to use the Bendigo Woollen Mills Stellar but as the main
colour this time. And after running several potential colour
combinations past the boy we have tweedy reddish brown Daleks (Slightly
rusty - I think these are the old school Daleks that were conspiring
against Winston Churchill in World war II - he called them ‘Ironsides’ -
ep 3 season 5 - Victory of the Daleks). <br />
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<a href="http://merchandise.thedoctorwhosite.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/churchill-years.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://merchandise.thedoctorwhosite.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/churchill-years.jpg" height="353" width="400" /></a></div>
I made some modification to the pattern for this version.<i> </i>I did eight rows double rib instead of six as the longer slouch the boy wanted needed a firmer longer band to maintain adequate head connection. I did fifteen rows of plain stockinette in the MC (grey) before starting the colourwork to extend the hat for some slouchiness and changed the shaping from Slip 2 K PSSO to Slip 1 K2tog PSSO.</div>
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<a href="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/355563122/Crown_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/355563122/Crown_medium2.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="markdown notes scope--editable" id="project_notes_16778413">
<b>Pattern: </b><a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/insulate-hat" target="_blank">INSULATE! hat</a> by Amy van de Laar - a free pattern.</div>
<div class="markdown notes scope--editable" id="project_notes_16778413">
<b>Needles:</b> My absolute favourite antique Aero jumper length 4mm dpns<br />
<b>Yarn:</b> Bendigo Woollen Mills Stella 8 ply in Shell and reddish brown tweed upcycled from the Lifeline Op shop.</div>
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Once again we have photographed the boy wearing a hat in his natural environment - rebuilding a quadcopter drone on my kitchen table after a particularly nasty encounter with the neighbour's fence...</div>
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The boy also got the 11th hat off my needles this year as a request. I had previously knitted <b>Father Cables</b> from this yarn (You'll get the see that one in another post). Whilst the
boy doesn’t like that particular hat enough to snaffle it - the cables
are too elaborate for his taste - he loves the softness and feel of
the yarn. So he wanted something suitably masculine made out of this
yarn… He also is the person who pointed me towards this particular yarn in an op shop scrounging expedition orginally so he deserved something made out of it.<br />
<br />
We decided on Antler by tincanknits. I’ve had this one printed out
for ages now waiting for the just the right occasion. Looks like the
marriage of this yarn and pattern was set to be it. So I cast on early in the week and did a few rows of rib and then a
few more another day. Then on Saturday whilst manning my stall at a
car boot sale (and making a perfectly respectable $8.40 profit after
stall cost! - I was selling essentially trash rather than treasure) I
finished the rib and worked up about three repeats of the pattern. It
was quite a talking point. It still surprises me the reactions you get
when you knit in the round on dpns in public. You get elderly people
remembering their sock knitting years when everyone knew how to knit a
sock and turn a heel. You get bafflement about how do you work with all
those extra needles. You get safety admonishments about using all those
sharp pointy things and accidentally taking out your own eye whilst
cabling…<br />
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And then I came home and promptly ripped it all back to the rib. I
hadn’t changed needle size from the 4 mm used for the band to 5 mm as the
pattern suggested as my 5mm dpns are only 20 cm long and I find them a
little short to work with comfortably and stitches like to commit
suicide by jumping off the end of the needles. So I tend to avoid them
if I can. But I needed to up the needle size to accommodate the pull-in
of the cables. So I came home and started the patterning again on 5 mm.
By the end of Saturday I was back to five completed repeats. The pattern
calls for eight repeats for the small size but I did nine as suggested for
the large size as the boy likes a really deep slouch to his hats. This was not promising straight off the needles… Long thin and weird
looking. I love what blocking does to this yarn. It makes it bloom and
soften till it feels like cashmere. Gorgeous hat in the end.<br />
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<b>Pattern:</b> <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/antler-hat" target="_blank">Antler Hat</a> by tincanknits - a free pattern<br />
<b>Needles: </b>4 mm antique Aero jumper length dpns and 5 mm dpns<br />
<b>Yarn:</b> Cleckheaton Nature Merino 8ply in gray
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The boy and I shared a lovely photographic road trip last time he was home around some abandoned refuse from the heavy industry in our area taking photos of this hat. Photo credits for the pictures of the flat hat to <a href="https://www.instagram.com/larkinsmark/" target="_blank">@larkinsmark</a> (on instagram).<br />
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Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-12886609962146513282016-04-30T21:49:00.000+10:002016-04-30T21:49:20.933+10:00Spreading rainbow joySo <a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/randomly-on-wednesday.html" target="_blank">randomly one Wednesday in February</a> last year I got a day to just wander the city and enjoy the delights of Melbourne. I love Melbourne. It has a beautiful European vibe, quirky laneways with amazing graffiti and a food and coffee culture the envy of the rest of Australia.<br />
<br />
I wondered passed the City Square and was transfixed with the yarn covered trees. Bright and colourful rainbow yarn bombed trees. I may have hugged a few and definitely patted the knitted one admiringly. I couldn't help but smile.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3BBYWAuTYKY/VNV-6rLLgyI/AAAAAAAACdk/ZoyimBxzg3UD5HVAy663oUMMbzY4eyJeg/s1600/Tree_two.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3BBYWAuTYKY/VNV-6rLLgyI/AAAAAAAACdk/ZoyimBxzg3UD5HVAy663oUMMbzY4eyJeg/s400/Tree_two.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is my favourite. Perhaps it's because it's knitted or maybe it's the cleverness of the arrangement of the strips around the tree.</td></tr>
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Whilst I was communing with the trees I discovered the <a href="http://www.yarncorner.com.au/" target="_blank">Yarn Corner</a> business card tied to each tree. I snaffled one, took it home and looked them up. Next thing I know, I'm a signed up member thinking I have the skills to do this and with a burning ambition to tackle a City Square tree next year.<br /><br />
As soon as the sign-ups were open I put my hand up for a tree. I spent the next few months knitting sporadically on a nearly three metre long tree blankie.<br />
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The rules were rainbow stripes using only the traditional rainbow colours. So I decided knitted chevrons were the go and hunted for free knitted chevron blanket patterns on Ravelry. The kids argued for a single rainbow from the bottom of the tree in purple to red at the top. (This turned out to be a really inspired choice on their behalf as it made for a unique and eye catching tree).<br />
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<br />
<b>Pattern: </b>Loosely based on <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/chevron-colour-block-blanket" target="_blank">Chevron Colour-Block Blanket </a>by Espace Tricot - a free pattern<br />
<b>Needles: </b>5 mm <br />
<b>Yarn:</b> What can I say? I worked my way through my stash. There is now no purple left... And not a lot of orange or yellow... <br />
<br />
Install day arrived and the boy and I caught the red eye train (which turned out to actually be a bus) to the big city. We were all prepared with yarn, sewing needles, scissors, mega safely pins, our hi-vis vests and of course a giant knitted rainbow in a bag as well as a camera ready to document the behind the scenes magic of the installation process.<br />
<br />
And then it rained. In fact it sort of slightly poured. (The weather totally disrespected the fact that it was sill late in January and high Summer). It threw a giant spanner in the works. The central area of the City Square is sand covered and the scissor lifts needed to install the yarn bombs on the upper sections of the trees couldn't get near the trees as they would have got bogged in the mush. It was still possible to do the trees along the edge of the footpaths. So we dodged the showers - mostly.<br />
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With advice from the veteran and experienced yarn bombers we pinned our piece to its tree. The boy demonstrated that he too could sew and we stitched up as far as we could reach from the ground.<br />
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I got to go up in a scissor lift and attach the top section. Despite me worrying that the piece I'd made was going to be too long, it was exactly perfect anchoring nicely around a branch at the top.<br />
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It was a little bit wet up there though...<br />
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The boy got sort of adopted and is now a signed up member of Yarn Corner ready to contribute his skills in sewing, basic knitting and photography. <br />
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I met a lovely bunch of people all of whom have a passion for knitting, crochet and community. I got to watch random strangers smile and pat my tree. One small child even hugged it.<br />
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I followed the adventures of my tree in downtown Melbourne for the next few months on social media particularly instagram until I reluctantly helped it disrobe in the middle of March.<br />
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I may have even hugged my tree myself.<br />
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Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-22058432356198419522016-04-27T09:06:00.000+10:002016-05-08T11:43:57.640+10:00Fine LinesAbout the time I began writing this blog (about 6 years or so ago) my children decided that handmade knitwear was actually something you could wear, be seen in public with, acknowledge to all and sundry that 'Yes, it was in fact hand-knitted and my Mum made it for me' and be proud of it. Only a fellow knitter understands the myriad proud feelings that come with your teenage / young adult children arriving at this realisation. We started slowly with accessories and gently progressed to whole garments.<br />
<br />
Since then I've made the boy a handmade jumper, a scarf and five hats (as well as a knitted stuffed deer head for the Boy Cave). That reminds me, I've made three of these hats fairly recently. Stay tuned for a hat blog post featuring the boy wearing hats! He also has a queue of matched yarn and jumper / cardigan patterns waiting for me to get around to knitting them.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span id="goog_1711978948"></span><span id="goog_1711978949"></span>Not so Little Boy Blue and wearing Graeme the hat!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Examination in brioche</td></tr>
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The middle daughter Mel (<a href="http://www.thefancifulfungirl.com/" target="_blank">The Fanciful Fungirl</a>) still lives at home and so is in a prime position for subtle nagging and tempting suggestions of what she really needs knit for her next. Her tally so far is two berets, three beanies, a knitted cloche hat, two pairs of fingerless gloves and two jumpers (and a knitted cover for her tablet computer complete with bumble bees). She also tends to bring out my design instincts, commissioning unique hand knitted pieces.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/245302414/Full_length_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/245302414/Full_length_medium2.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Funky Chunky</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/189282847/Model_Shot_2_medium2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/189282847/Model_Shot_2_medium2.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cables of Europe</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/284218742/Iced_chocolate_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/284218742/Iced_chocolate_medium2.jpg" height="282" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sunrise / Sunset using hand dyed yarn</td></tr>
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The eldest Doctor daughter has sadly missed out on her fair share of the knitted bounty to a certain extent. Oh, I've knitted her three berets and a slouchy hat but that is it... (The fact that she knits herself does contribute to this a bit. She made her own intricately cabled cover for her laptop and a lovely seed stitch cowl and last time she was home snaffled some knitting needles and raided the stash for squishy wool to make some more accessories and cushion covers). <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/139754841/beret_wearer_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/139754841/beret_wearer_medium2.jpg" height="391" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Selbu Modern</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/324870440/SLR_Selfie_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/324870440/SLR_Selfie_medium2.jpg" height="312" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Slow Flurry on me, the daughter wearing her own hand knitted seed stitch cowl</td></tr>
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<br />
She hasn't yet got a hand knit jumper and I decided in November it was time to remedy that. After all November is NaKniSweMo - National Knit a Sweater (of more than 50,000 stitches) Month. This time my needles were going to be dedicated to making a jumper for the Doctor daughter.<br />
<br />
Making a jumper for an adult with their own distinct personal style is a process of research and negotiation. We began with looking at the European runway fashion for knitwear for the upcoming Winter season. Brioche, rib, cables and fair-isle (often in monochrome colourways) were the common knitwear themes. Oh and fringes!! Let's not go there, ever! She sent me photos of jumpers she had found in the shops that she had debated buying. It looked like something in a defined rib with shaping flaring out towards the bottom was on the top of her list. The colour choice was easy - grey. We often joke until fairly recently my daughter's entire wardrobe was shades of grey punctuated with black exercise wear and the odd other neutral (cream, white, denim and occasionally mushroom).<br />
<br />
A knitted jumper is a big commitment and if done right out of good quality yarn should last for 20 or more years. So what ever we made should be classic enough not to go out of style too quickly. But it needed a modern edge. The jumper we eventually chose is classic fisherman's rib but with very modern lines and shaping - Fisherman Redux.<br />
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<b>Pattern:</b> <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fisherman-redux">Fisherman Redux</a>
by Vera Sanon
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<b>Needles: </b>3.75 mm and 4.5 mm<b> </b><br />
<b>Yarn:</b><b> </b>Bendigo Woollen Mills Stellar 8 Ply, Colourway 105 Shell - 4 by 200 g balls. This is a wool and bamboo blend with a lovely soft drape and lustre.<label></label><br />
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So we tried to knit this in November... I ordered yarn <b>1st November</b> as I didn’t have anything
suitable in the stash. (Thank Bob for online mail order). I did swatch
with some op shop yarn but the texture didn’t do the pattern justice. The yarn arrived Thursday <b>5th November</b> - swatched to make sure that my gauge was spot on. It was! And then I cast on on Friday night <b>6th November</b>.
I worked up the band - around 1000 stitches and then realized I had
started the 1 by 1 rib on a knit and it needed to be a purl. Teach me to
think know what I’m doing without carefully reading the pattern…. So I
ripped it all out again and followed the pattern instructions for 1 by 1
rib. Only 4 rows and <b>255 sts</b> on day 1. Saturday <b>7th November</b> was move the boy home form Geelong at the end of the Uni year - lots of scope for car knitting.<br />
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And this is about where real life commitments and November NaKniSweMo
knitting plans crashed into each other head on and the knitting plans
got stream-rolled by marking, exams and admin plus a major assessment
piece for my own study into a twisted smoking wreck. Oh, I tried. I finished
the front, back, neck edging and part of a sleeve in November. I
started counting stitches and got to over 30,000 for the back and front
alone. This is definitely a +50,000 stitches garment.<br />
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<div class="markdown notes scope--editable" id="project_notes_16124667">
I’d also like to give a special shout out to Hazel, the 30+ kilo 8
month old puppy with a penchant for yarn and stealth sneak
stealing of knitting. I love you for the almost half a front I had to frog and
re-knit twice after you took my knitting for a few runs around the
backyard. It is really difficult (read this as impossible) to pick up a
well dropped stitch in Fisherman's rib!!<br />
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I finished this in the post Christmas relaxing period. (I often find
this is a really productive time for me knit wise. I like to finish the
year with a cleanish slate and I have time to laze and watch the Boxing
Day test on TV and let the needles fly away).<br />
<br />
This is a knitting success story. It fits Doctor daughter perfectly. She
loves it (except for a minor quibble about the width of the sleeves -
they’re a little wide for her taste) and I love the sleek modern
shaping. The yarn has a gorgeous shine and sheen and is crisp enough to
show off the rib to perfection. It looked great even before blocking and
amazing after.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/352527146/Is_that_rain_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/352527146/Is_that_rain_medium2.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is that really rain - on my new jumper?</td></tr>
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So what do you want me to knit for you next, Doctor daughter? (And thanks for playing photo shoot too early one Sunday morning in the rainy city after you'd just finished a full on night shift!) Photo credits for the lovely shots of Doctor daughter to the boy (<a href="https://www.instagram.com/larkinsmark/" target="_blank">@larkinsmark</a> on instagram).</div>
Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-41253230204885103932016-04-24T10:41:00.002+10:002016-04-24T10:41:21.792+10:00Taylor the SwiftI've long debated on this blog post as I don't really have enough photos of the finished object serving in its intended purpose. But then I think, hey I created a mascot for a Pom team that went to Disney World and the World Cheer and Dance Championships and I'm damn proud of that (as well as being exceptionally proud of my daughter and her team)! So blog I will... (And it is almost exactly a year since the event this mascot was made for took place so it's certainly high time).<br />
<br />
The knitting challenge I received from my eldest daughter: Make a mascot to mark the center of the stage for her team’s Pom
performance at the 2015 Cheer and Dance World Championships in April at
Disney World in Florida. Her team are the Swifts. She did send me a rough sketch
for colours and an idea of the size.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/278068518/Swift_birdy_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/278068518/Swift_birdy_medium2.jpg" height="295" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">#20swifteen</td></tr>
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So I first made this little guy as a prototype. You can read more about him (and see more photos) in his own blog post:<a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/20swifteen.html" target="_blank"> #20swiftteen</a>. He is gorgeous and I'm happy with how he turned out be he was but not quite what they were looking for. (Don't worry, this little swift is not a poor homeless birdy. He was quickly snapped up by Coach Casey)<br />
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Cue a modified sketch. They added a hat, hightops and dog tags - a little more gansta swift. It also needed to be larger - about 30 cm high.<br />
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It all began with these cute little crocheted hightops. This is the only pattern I used in creating Taylor. It's from a <i>Mollie Makes</i> magazine - a Christmas special I think. I'm proud of these as crochet is very much my secondary craft skill. I also learnt surface crochet to do the black line embellishments. They are green as that is MCA (Melbourne Cheer Academy) and hence the Swifts colours. I edged these with black and white striped ribbon, used real black shoe laces, stuffed them firmly and glued them to the base of the body.<br />
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I knitted the body and chest piece, head, wings and under wings, beak and tail separately flat on two needles, seamed them and stuffed the body and head and then attached the wings, tail and beak. The tail helps with the overall balance so Taylor stands properly. The eyes are toy safety eyes and she has real false eyelashes glued on. After embroidering the black line on her beak we added lipstick as clearly she needed her full stage make-up to compete. The boy donated the dog tags and we found a short black chain.<br />
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The hat is sewn. The front and brim are made from black velvet and the back from acetate mesh. I'm not entirely happy with the shape of this as it doesn't stand up as vertically as it should in the front. Pattern drafting is definitely something I could sharpen my skills in. In hindsight, I should have stuffed the hat before attaching it to help it maintain its shape. The hat is glued to the head and the 15 on the front is iron-on crystal numbers. <br />
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Here she is already to help the Swifts train to World Championship Domination.<br />
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I got to see my mascot proudly marking the center of the stage at the final rehearsal before the girls went overseas.<br />
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It was the trip of a lifetime if a little more drama filled than one would want. That's my daughter right at the front in their first team photo at Disney World. She spectacularly injured her ankle in rehearsals three days before comp and didn't get to compete on stage with the the rest of the team in the preliminary rounds. But massive applications of ice and some heavy duty strapping plus an extreme unwillingness to come this far and not compete, saw her take the stage for the finals.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Check that ankle strapping!</td></tr>
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MCA (My daughter's cheer academy) made a little YouTube miniseries of the Swifts Road to Worlds. This is the final episode showing their performance in the finals. They finished in the top 20 in the World. Not bad for a team from Down Under where cheer has nowhere near the massive profile or funding that it has in the US. (These athletes are all amateurs with full time jobs or study commitments not semi-professional).<br />
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I'm not entirely sure what happened to Taylor. I haven't seen her since she disappeared into a bag for her trip to Florida and Disney World. Maybe she's an illegal immigrant haunting Disney World and the cheer hall at ESPN representing her little heart out forever. Go Swifts!!!Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-76612184037606880872016-02-25T21:45:00.002+11:002016-02-25T21:45:34.948+11:00Cold Feet in SummerJanuary 2015 seems to have been a month of odd urges for instant knitting gratification for me. So, when I was cleaning up the massive magazine collection and found these, I knew I had to make slippers in the height of Summer! (Actually really Summer has been a bit of failure this year - a bit heavy on the rain and cool temperatures - not enough sunshine. Slippers in the middle of summer is not really that weird this year).<br />
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I have to admit it was partially the colour combination that attracted me to this pattern so I went stash diving for blue and brown. The brown tweed is leftovers from the boy's <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/project">Graeme Street Slouch</a> and the blue is my last two balls from my pi shawl <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/project">Smoked Camp pi</a>. They look cool together (more than cool in fact) and are on the thin side for DK so not too hard to work double.<br />
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I had a major issue when I got to inserting the waste yarn for the opening for the cuff. It seemed to be in the wrong place. A little voice in my head said, if you put the hole there, it stuffs up how the toe lies. Did I listen to the little voice? Not really! (I never do and always regret it later!) I did check my working from the pattern and was happy I’d followed it correctly. So I did the hat heel (Cool idea that) and completed the cuff and tried the slipper on and it fits and it’s gorgeous and the toe is all screwed up and twisted around and my knitter OCD is engaged big time. I had to frog it (or partially frog it) once I figured out where the stuff up was. <br />
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The best way to figure it out? Knit the second one! So I cast on for the tab for the toe, and followed the pattern, increasing around according to the pattern. And then it hit me. I KNEW WHERE I HAD MADE MY MISTAKE on the first slipper. Yes, right at the beginning! I was a silly, over-confident, I’m an experienced knitter and I don’t need to use a stitch marker kind of mistake! In the first knit round without shaping, I’d assumed the yarn tail was the beginning of the round (AND IT WASN’T). So all the shaping from that point was out of alignment and we all know where that little error ended up… So Slipper one got frogged and reknit… <br />
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Slipper two was a walk in the park except for some yarn chicken at the end of the cuff. I ended up with about 1 m of the blue left at the end. <br />
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The re-knit of slipper one also went smoothly. (Except I had to use that little bit of blue yarn to complete the heel). The cast off is perhaps a little tight due to a spot of yarn chicken again but I’m really happy with the finished product. This was in fact a fun enough pattern to knit three times. (No second sock syndrome here!)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/350209625/Toasty_Toes_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/350209625/Toasty_Toes_medium2.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Toasting my toes in front of the heater. this is not even a posed shot. It was cold enough to have the heater on.</td></tr>
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<b>Pattern:</b> <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/selfoss-slippers" target="_blank">Selfoss Slippers</a> by Rosee Woodland<br />
<b>Needles:</b> 3.25 mm and 4 mm dpns<br />
<b>Yarn:</b> Blue grey wool blend and reddish brown tweed upcycled from op shop. <br />
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Even after all that I was still feeling some socks but am easing into it by working them at DK weight on big needles. These could also double as slipper socks. This is another pattern that called out to me as I was attempting to tidy, catalogue and potentially cull the magazine collection.... I love Scandinavian type colourwork and the star is such an iconic motif.<br />
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These socks had a false start. I did the measuring and dithered between the medium and large sizes. I initially cast on the large size, knitted the band and nearly 30 rows of the colourwork and then tried the leg on. It was WAYYYY too large. (Part of this was probably due to the fact that I was using 3.75mm rather than 3.5mm needles - we don’t have 3.5 mm as a standard size in Australia.). So I frogged it and cast on a medium size instead. This is an addictive colourwork pattern of the" Just one more row" type thing….. (Made redoing the leg again a relatively fun process). <br />
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Day one saw the leg colourwork finished. Day two I turned the heel (with tea and breakfast) and finished off the foot (31 rows of colourwork) and the toe. The heel shaping is somewhat different to the Dutch heel I’m used to but fits nicely. The pattern called for decreasing down to eight stitches for the toe and running a gathering thread through similar to fastening off a hat. I decreased down to the eight stitches as suggested but used Kitchener stitch instead (Once I found some instructions to refresh my memory on the sequence). This is tidier but these socks still suffer from pointy toe syndrome. <br />
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These are quite a good fit on me. The leg deals nicely with my solid calves and puffy ankle. (Why is it when you are recovering from a damaged ankle, you twist it again just as it is nearly better?) So two days = 1 sock… <br />
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I decided I'd better cast on sock two straight away… (Avoid second sock syndrome at all cost). Second socks are always better. You’ve ironed the kinks out on the first one. The only hiccup on the second sock was running out of the cream yarn and having to stash dive scraps to finish the sock.<br />
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<b>Pattern: </b><a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/nordic-star-3">Nordic Star</a>
by Eline Oftedal<br />
<b>Needles:</b> 3.75 mm dpns<br />
<b>Yarn:</b> Panda machinewash 8 ply crepe in cream and blue grey machinewash upcycled from the op shop. Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-85817023107098824582016-01-11T09:42:00.004+11:002016-01-11T09:42:59.460+11:00A little bit ChanelI want to let you in on a little secret of mine. I actually like sewing in ends and sewing up garments. I find it sort of meditative. There's something so satisfying about taking separate pieces and producing a wearable garment.<br />
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I often work in cars. If I'm not driving, I tend to need distraction so that I am not the world's worst back seat driver. (I hate other people driving my car but seeing as all my children are old enough to drive, I occasionally have to grit my teeth especially when playing in their neck of the woods. Apparently I drive too country to be allowed to play in the city).<br />
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So this is a sunny Saturday afternoon heading for a lovely lunch in down town Mornington. I had my camera with me and the boy decided to capture my delight with my handiwork.<br />
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"But what are you sewing up?" I hear you ask. Well this is Graphic Grays, another of my stash to sweater efforts in 2015. <br />
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<b>Pattern:</b> <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/12-graphic-jacket" target="_blank">#12 Graphic Jacket</a> by Jacqueline van Dillen from <i>Designer Knitting Early Winter 2013</i>.<br />
<b>Needles:</b> 4.5 mm<br />
<b>Yarn:</b> 8 ply Blue grey machinewash bought from op-shop (8.5 balls) and Moda Vera Pure Wool 8ply shade 44 Dark Gray (10 skeins). <br />
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<a href="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/324864082/Finished_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/324864082/Finished_medium2.jpg" height="298" width="400" /></a></div>
My daughter Melissa went on a giant trip through Europe at the end of 2013. This was part of the Christmas present she bought home for me - Italian and European knitting magazines. (Best present ever!) This pattern just sang to me - classic, elegant, a little Chanel-like and could double as a jacket /
blazer. As a University lecturer, I do have a job that often calls for corporate suiting but I loathe actually wearing a conventional blazer. It feels too restrictive across my back, shoulders and upper arms. To me wearing a blazer / suit jacket is like wearing a straight jacket. I have the same sort of aversion to traditional shirts. This is a nice compromise. I have the world's largest collection of cardigans but this one will take the style formality up that little notch.<br />
<br />
<div class="markdown notes scope--editable" id="project_notes_14443072">
Now I don't really have worsted weight yarn in the stash. I wanted to knit this in DK (Australian 8 ply) so swatching was absolutely necessary. Strangely enough, I got gauge first time with the suggested needles (4.5 mm).<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/279688994/Graphic_Grays_Swatch_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/279688994/Graphic_Grays_Swatch_medium2.jpg" height="373" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Isn't it a pretty swatch? You can really see the pattern properly here.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This was gorgeously addictive colour work. Proper traditional fairisle with only two colours per row, short colour repeats so no long floats to weave in and a easily memorised pattern.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/300311202/Progress_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/300311202/Progress_medium2.jpg" height="285" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The piece at the front shows the pattern 'in the knitting stage' so to speak. The underneath piece is blocked</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Even though this was quick to knit, it was slow to finish. I swatched in January, cast on the sleeves in February, knitted the backs and fronts through the Aussie winter, sewed it up in August and officially finished in October (sewing on the buttons) but didn't get shots of me wearing it till a ridiculously hot day in December!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/345641038/Side_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/345641038/Side_medium2.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></div>
<br />
Let's blame it on the buttons shall we? They were a saga in themselves. The pattern called for self cover knitted buttons. Our local haberdashery has moved to a town a half an hour away so things like this require a planned shopping trip. I couldn't get the size of self cover button I wanted and so compromised on the next size up. Then I got them home and tried to assemble the first button and they were defective. They were missing the little gripped / spiked edge to hold the fabric and the fronts and backs didn't clip together and hold. So it took me a month to make the trip to return them and I couldn't get <b>any</b> self cover buttons that time. (They had been recalled because they were defective - strange that?). So I left with a refund but no buttons. Finally about 6 weeks later, I had to get a poster printed for an academic conference and had an hour to kill and finally bought some appropriate buttons. It was late September by this time). I did sew the buttons on as soon as I got back from the conference though!<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/345641030/Back_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/345641030/Back_medium2.jpg" height="400" width="316" /></a></div>
<br />
I'd actually worn the jacket without buttons a few times. I'm now looking forward to getting a lot of chances to wear this next winter.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/345641039/Side_detail_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/345641039/Side_detail_medium2.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/345641034/Buttoning_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/345641034/Buttoning_medium2.jpg" height="357" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the photo that made me realise I really needed a haircut as it's all flyaway again.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Thanks once again to my boy. He may not wash dishes or do housework without a running commentary on the unfairness of life but he has peculiar knack of (a) taking a good photo of me and (b) making the knitwear shine. (I love you Mark!)Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-56262677278858244682016-01-06T18:24:00.000+11:002016-01-11T08:24:55.594+11:00Hugging the curvesThe first of my New Years knitting resolutions for 2015 was to turn the stash into sweaters... I have quite a number of sweater sized lots in my stash. They take up a lot of room and it's time to seriously use them up.<br />
<br />
So I matched the stash to some patterns I liked and swatched for a few sweater projects in January 2015 exploring possibilities. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/338285046/Side_cables_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/338285046/Side_cables_medium2.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
I dithered on this pattern. I really like the twisting cables from waist to shoulder but was a bit unsure
on the peplum idea… However, the back flows so beautifully with the
peplum, I think I’ll try it anyway. (God knows my hips are generously
sized to say the least at the moment).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/338285037/Back_Cables_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/338285037/Back_Cables_medium2.jpg" height="400" width="333" /></a></div>
<br />
What’s in name? The Lion brand patterns have such prosaic names. This one is Cabled Peplum Pullover. I
rarely use them for actual project names. The combination of twisted
almost plaited cables and the gorgeous tweedy gold yarn reminded me of
traditional corn dollies. These are plaited from the last grain of the
harvest to give the spirit of the corn somewhere to live till the next
planting. Hence ’<b>Spirit of the Corn</b>’ for this one.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/338285039/Kegs_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/338285039/Kegs_medium2.jpg" height="398" width="400" /></a></div>
<b>Pattern:</b> <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/cable-peplum-pullover" target="_blank">Cable Peplum Pullover</a> - free pattern by Lion Brand Yarn<br />
<b>Needles:</b> 4.5 mm (Knitting a worsted weight pattern using DK yarn meant I had to go up a needle size to make gauge).<br />
<b>Yarn:</b> Cleckheaton Country Naturals 8 Ply
- colour 1839 Gold - I used 11 balls<br />
<b>Cost:</b> $22 ($2 a ball on sale)<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/338285050/Golden_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/338285050/Golden_medium2.jpg" height="328" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
This was cast on 15th of Feb for COM. I began as I often do with a sleeve. Sleeves are a good
place to start and also good large scale swatches to check gauge. Also
the sleeves for this pattern are simple 2 by 2 rib. Train knitting
powered through the bulk of the first sleeve really quickly. The momentum carried me through the second
sleeve pretty promptly too.<br />
<br />
This hibernated for the winter… The sheer number of stitches for the
peplum section at the bottom was a little overwhelming. And the charts
are very large but the individual stitches are shown really small. I
almost need magnifying glasses to read some of this so it required patience to
tackle the first par. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/338285041/Back_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/338285041/Back_medium2.jpg" height="400" width="396" /></a></div>
The back hit the needles in late September and flew off the needles
in less than a week. I did find a small issue in my instructions for the
Cable 4/4 RC - the needle needs to be held at the back of the work
instead of the front as listed. But once I got this started, I was
pleasantly surprised at how quick this was to knit. There is really only
a cable row every 7 to 11 rows or so and the rest is just a few
increases and rib.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
The front also flew fairly quickly bar some very annoying chart
problems with the neck shaping. The charts show the decreases a row too
early. The written instructions were OK though so I followed these
instead.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/338285048/Up_straight_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/338285048/Up_straight_medium2.jpg" height="251" width="400" /></a></div>
Despite the finished jumper looking like a narrow ribbed tube
designed to fit a stick figure, it stretched out beautifully and hugs my
figure like a gently fitting glove. The cables curve gently around the
outside of my breasts and up to my shoulders and everything just sits
and flows perfectly. <b>I LOVE this!</b> The children all told
me it was few inches too short but after blocking it has relaxed a
little and grown about an inch and a half in length and is now perfect.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/338285040/Happy_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/338285040/Happy_medium2.jpg" height="361" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
I hereby declare this stash to sweater project a massive success! (Photo credits once again to the boy!)Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-60254925154644111852016-01-03T09:52:00.000+11:002016-01-03T09:52:40.490+11:00From little things big things grow - Collaborative crafting<div class="lr_dct_ent" data-hveid="27">
<div class="vk_ans" style="margin-bottom: 0;">
<b><span data-dobid="hdw">collaboration</span></b></div>
<div>
<div>
<div class="lr_dct_sf_h">
<i>noun</i></div>
<div class="xpdxpnd vk_gy" data-mh="-1">
noun: <b>collaboration</b>; plural noun: <b>collaborations</b></div>
<ol class="lr_dct_sf_sens">
<li><div>
<div class="lr_dct_sf_sen vk_txt">
<div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;">
<b></b>the action of working with someone to produce something.</div>
<div style="margin-left: 20px;">
<div class="_Jig">
<br />
<div class="vk_gy">
"he wrote a book <b>in collaboration with</b> his son"</div>
<br />
<div>
<table class="vk_tbl vk_gy"><tbody>
<tr><td class="lr_dct_nyms_ttl" style="padding-right: 3px;">synonyms:</td><td><a data-ved="0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIHDAA" href="https://www.google.com.au/search?sa=X&biw=1280&bih=641&q=define+cooperation&ved=0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIHDAA">cooperation</a>, <a data-ved="0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIHTAA" href="https://www.google.com.au/search?sa=X&biw=1280&bih=641&q=define+alliance&ved=0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIHTAA">alliance</a>, <a data-ved="0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIHjAA" href="https://www.google.com.au/search?sa=X&biw=1280&bih=641&q=define+partnership&ved=0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIHjAA">partnership</a>, <a data-ved="0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIHzAA" href="https://www.google.com.au/search?sa=X&biw=1280&bih=641&q=define+participation&ved=0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIHzAA">participation</a>, <a data-ved="0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIIDAA" href="https://www.google.com.au/search?sa=X&biw=1280&bih=641&q=define+combination&ved=0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIIDAA">combination</a>, <a data-ved="0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIITAA" href="https://www.google.com.au/search?sa=X&biw=1280&bih=641&q=define+association&ved=0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIITAA">association</a>, <a data-ved="0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIIjAA" href="https://www.google.com.au/search?sa=X&biw=1280&bih=641&q=define+concert&ved=0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIIjAA">concert</a>; <span data-log-string="synonyms-more-click"><span class="lr_dct_more_btn" style="padding-left: 4px;">More</span></span><br />
<div style="display: inline;">
<div style="display: inline;">
<div class="lr_dct_more_txt xpdxpnd xpdnoxpnd" data-mh="-1">
<span data-log-string="synonyms-more-click"><a data-ved="0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIJDAA" href="https://www.google.com.au/search?sa=X&biw=1280&bih=641&q=define+teamwork&ved=0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIJDAA">teamwork</a>, joint effort, working together, <a data-ved="0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIJTAA" href="https://www.google.com.au/search?sa=X&biw=1280&bih=641&q=define+coopetition&ved=0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIJTAA">coopetition</a> </span></div>
<div class="lr_dct_more_txt xpdxpnd xpdnoxpnd" data-mh="-1">
<span data-log-string="synonyms-more-click"></span><br />
<div class="vk_gy">
<span data-log-string="synonyms-more-click">"he wrote on art and architecture in collaboration with John Betjeman"</span></div>
<span data-log-string="synonyms-more-click">
</span></div>
</div>
</div>
<span data-log-string="synonyms-more-click">
</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
<div style="margin-left: -13px;">
<ul>
<li class="xpdxpnd" data-mh="-1"><div class="lr_dct_sf_subsen">
<div class="_Jig">
<div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;">
something produced in collaboration with someone.</div>
<br />
<div class="vk_gy">
"his recent opera was a collaboration with Lessing"</div>
</div>
</div>
</li>
</ul>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</li>
<li><div>
<div class="lr_dct_sf_sen vk_txt">
<div data-dobid="dfn" style="display: inline;">
<b></b>traitorous cooperation with an enemy.</div>
<div style="margin-left: 20px;">
<div class="_Jig">
<br />
<div class="vk_gy">
"he faces charges of collaboration"</div>
<br />
<div>
<table class="vk_tbl vk_gy"><tbody>
<tr><td class="lr_dct_nyms_ttl" style="padding-right: 3px;">synonyms:</td><td>fraternizing, fraternization, colluding, <a data-ved="0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIJjAA" href="https://www.google.com.au/search?sa=X&biw=1280&bih=641&q=define+collusion&ved=0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIJjAA">collusion</a>, cooperating, <a data-ved="0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIJzAA" href="https://www.google.com.au/search?sa=X&biw=1280&bih=641&q=define+cooperation&ved=0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIJzAA">cooperation</a>, consorting, sympathizing, <a data-ved="0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIKDAA" href="https://www.google.com.au/search?sa=X&biw=1280&bih=641&q=define+sympathy&ved=0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIKDAA">sympathy</a>; <br />
<div style="display: inline;">
<div style="display: inline;">
<div style="display: inline;">
conspiring </div>
<br />
<div class="vk_gy">
"Salengro had been accused of collaboration with the enemy"</div>
</div>
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="xpdxpnd" data-mh="-1">
<table class="vk_tbl vk_gy"><tbody>
<tr><td class="lr_dct_nyms_ttl" style="padding-right: 3px;">antonyms:</td><td><a data-ved="0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIKjAA" href="https://www.google.com.au/search?sa=X&biw=1280&bih=641&q=define+resistance&ved=0ahUKEwiEuJOD3InKAhXhHaYKHXPuA0UQ_SoIKjAA">resistance</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
</div>
</div>
(Definition from Google)<br />
<br />
So why am I opening a blog post with a dictionary definition of Collaboration? 2015 was my <b>Year of Collaborative Crafting</b>. In the crafting world collaboration is all along the lines of the old adage of "Many hands make light work". Actually its been more like many come to together to produce amazing pieces of art! This year, I've contributed to 4 collaborative artworks with other knitters and crocheters from around the world.<br />
<br />
I know where the idea all started. I first heard of the <a href="https://5000poppies.wordpress.com/about/" target="_blank">5000 Poppies Project</a> at a craft show in Melbourne in July
2014 where Lynn Berry, the instigator had a booth with hundreds of poppies
pinned to the walls. You could sit and chat and make a poppy to
contribute. Due the fact I was with my little sister I didn’t sit and
knit / crochet on the day but I did pick up the patterns.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/282277034/5000-poppies-sq350x350_medium.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/282277034/5000-poppies-sq350x350_medium.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></div>
I crocheted one lone little poppy as my contribution to the massive field of poppies planned for ANZAC Day
2015 at Federation Square Melbourne and sent it off in the mail. This is in tribute to my husband’s
years of military service in the Australian Army. <b> </b><br />
<br />
<b>Service in peacetime
is no less valuable than war time. It’s the willingness to enter the
service of your nation and protection of it’s people that counts.</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/282398182/COM_Day2_Poppies_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/282398182/COM_Day2_Poppies_medium2.jpg" height="307" width="400" /></a></div>
There’s also something slightly ironic about the fact that I crocheted my poppy considering how much of a knitter I am!<br />
<br />
I wasn't lucky enough to get to see the poppies in person at fed square on Anzac day but it was an amazing spectacle.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/299179642/Fed_Square_poppies_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/299179642/Fed_Square_poppies_medium2.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/299179643/Poppy_Carpet_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/299179643/Poppy_Carpet_medium2.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
<br />
The story the ABC did on the the sea of poppies at Fe<span id="goog_1888251236"></span><span id="goog_1888251237"></span>deration Square on ANZAC Day 2015 was one of the ten most watched stories for the year. You can watch it <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-24/federation-square-taken-over-by-a-sea-of-handmade-poppies/6419068" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
The poppies are now touring Australia for the next 3 years and are about to overtake the Chelsea Flower Show in the UK. They need another 20,000 poppies on stems. I think I'd better knit on this time?<br />
<br />
Then Prudence Mapstone put out the call all over the freeforming world:<br />
<blockquote>
<i>It will be 50 years this coming November since the term ‘Flower
Power’ was first coined in Berkeley, California, and used as a passive
resistance slogan for non-violent protest against the Vietnam War. By
the ‘summer of love’ a few years later, the movement had spread; the
term ‘flower child’ was synonymous with ‘hippie’, and a counterculture
had sprung up embracing psychedelic music and art. This art style is
often recognizable from its simple, graphic, brightly coloured,
poster-like designs; and as many flower children sought a return to
basics and simple living, crafts had a resurgence, and a distinctive
style of no-rules crochet sprang up as a small part of the hippie, grass
roots ethos</i>. <br />
</blockquote>
<br />
How could I not contribute to something I would actually have a chance
to see in real life? And it challenged me to push my freeform
crochet skills a little further…<br />
<br />
I found an inspiration picture - I knew the colour palette I want to
use. I started with a crocheted centre in the little scrap of pumpkin
orange that was leftover from Junkyard Pumpkin. After all how better to
use the last of the genuine 70’s yarn than in a homage to the 60s/70s.
Mossy olive green and olive gold and baby blue….<br />
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<br />
This was a frog and re-frog project. I tried to recreate a flower
from the inspiration wallpaper picture but found my crochet skills were
inadequate to the task. So I just used the colour way and went for it. I
made a flower basically with seven large pointed petals and then
bordered it in variegated pink and finally knitted on a little border to
fill up the wedges. The edging makes it pop.<br />
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<br />
If you want to know more about the 50 years of Flower Power project and see lots of photos of the individual scrumbles as well as the amazing finished piece - check out Prudence's blog about the project - <a href="http://50yearsofflowerpower.blogspot.com.au/" target="_blank">50 Years of Flower Power</a>.<br />
<br />
I got to see the final finished art work at the the Craft & Quilt Fair in Melbourne (Victoria, Australia) in July. It's enormous - about 10 m long and nearly 2 m high. I found my little piece, marveled at how well Prudence had made so many disparate pieces into such a singing harmonious whole, modeled for a photo (not my most flattering shot!) and signed the guest book. I also got the chance to chat to Prudence and thank her in person. It was amazing, just how mach attention this artwork got and how happy it made people to experience it.<br />
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<br />
<i>I came especially to visit my flower and all her friends. Thanks Prudence for the amazing opportunity to collaborate.</i><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/315788329/Proud_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://images4.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/315788329/Proud_medium2.jpg" height="225" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My piece is just slightly up and to the left of my head. Can you find it?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And then<a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/randomly-on-wednesday.html" target="_blank"> randomly on a Wednesday in February</a> I found the most amazing yarn-bombed trees in the City Square in Melbourne. And so I discovered a new place to collaborate: <a href="http://www.yarncorner.com.au/#!/about/" target="_blank">Yarn Corner.</a> (They nicely leave little business cards tied to their commissioned yarn-bombing projects).<br />
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<b>Yarn Corner</b> is one of the largest yarn bombing groups in the world,
with nearly 1,000 local and international members. Based in Melbourne,
Australia, the members come from many walks of life, and all crafting
skill levels.The group was formed in May 2011 by prominent Melbourne fibre artist
Bali of Twilight Taggers, who started fortnightly stitch and bitch
meetings just for yarn bombers. What started as small gatherings, has
over the course of 3 years, turned into a thriving not for profit
community of like-minded crafters.<br />
<br />
<div class="markdown notes scope--editable" id="project_notes_15778807">
As my first contribution as a member of Yarn Corner, I made a small part of a collaborative art project for the <strong></strong>Moreart, the Moreland City Council Public Art Show.<strong> </strong>Moreart is an annual
art-in-public-spaces event that aims to surprise and engage the
community. All sorts of artworks and artists appear in
unusual, and unexpected public sites along the Upfield and Sydney Road
rail, road and bike precinct.<br />
<br />
The theme for the Yarn Corner Piece was <strong><em>‘How do I feel?’</em></strong> - a collaborative blanket made of puzzle pieces expressing individual women’s attitude to their bodies.<br />
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Mine says: “My own autobiography”. After all, my body is a road map of
my life. I lived these wrinkles, saggy skin and plump bumpy bits and
earned every grey hair. And it was a fun journey.<br />
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I had trouble making gauge for this so I made it twice - once with a
4mm hook and once with a 5 mm hook. It then got three edging rows to get
it large enough.</div>
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.moreland.vic.gov.au/globalassets/galleries/image-galleries/2015-moreart/moreart-launch-181.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://www.moreland.vic.gov.au/globalassets/galleries/image-galleries/2015-moreart/moreart-launch-181.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How Do I Feel? Exhibit by Yarn Corner: Safeway fence, Upfield Bike Path, Brunswick</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I've just completed one more massive piece for Yarn Corner but this is so awesome it deserves its own post. Keep your eyes open for more collobrative crafting / yarn bombing / knitting as art in 2016. (Great way to use up the stash too by the way).<br />
<br />Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-52610284725819527412016-01-02T09:56:00.001+11:002016-01-02T09:56:33.703+11:00Snow FlurryMy baby sister gets me most of the time and so gives me amazingly just right presents.For Christmas 2014, I got Hunter Hammerson's ebook <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/bundles/curls-versatile-wearable-wraps" target="_blank">Curls</a>. This is such a kid in the candy store book for me. My short list from this is only about 12 of the Curls. I cast on for the first curl, <a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2015/02/randomly-on-wednesday.html" target="_blank">Pitted Olive</a> on Boxing Day 2014 and this one went to my Mum. (After all I had liberated the yarn from her stash originally....)<br />
<br />
My dream Curl was always the cover pattern - <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/filemot-2" target="_blank">Filemot</a>. I love the the fern like lace and the crisp pop of the twisted stitches. Then it seemed as if all my online knitting friends were conspiring to make me knit a shawl in May / June. In
<i>The Unofficial Women’s Weekly</i> group there was a shawl / scarf knit along
running. In the <i>Stitch Addiction Podcast</i> Ravelry group there was a Shawl KAL for May and June (with prizes). In <i>Village Hopelessly
Over Committed</i>, May was <strong>Cast on Dream</strong> month. And in <i>Laughing Purple Goldfish designs</i>, it was <strong>Me Me Me May</strong>.<br />
<br />
I can take a hint when it’s that blatant guys!<br />
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<br />
A dream knit needs dream yarn too. Dream yarn doesn't need to be expensive. It just has to be a dream to knit with and wear. In my case this came cheaply from an op shop. (That's a thrift store or charity shop for my US and UK readers). This is a blend of wool and other delicious goodies possibly alpaca, angora or mohair. It has such depth of colour for such a neutral shade. It also blocks up delicious soft with a lovely drape and feel. Knitting this curl would be the swansong for this well loved batch of yarn. (It's also been part of two hats - <a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/2013-international-year-of-stats-no.html" target="_blank">Federation</a> and <a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/winter-smoke-selbu-modern-beret.html" target="_blank">Winter Smoke</a> as well as the amazing <a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/anyone-got-cable-scarf-ghan.html" target="_blank">Anyone got Cable!</a> scarf-ghan)<br />
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<br />
<b>Pattern:</b> <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/filemot-2" target="_blank">Filemot</a><br />
<b>Needles:</b> 4.5 mm straights and a long circular<br />
<b>Yarn:</b> upcycled 8 ply (DK) op shop wool, alpaca and, I suspect angora, blend in winter white/cream with small gray and black fibres<br />
<b>Cost:</b> 50 cents for the whole bag - best 50 cents I ever spent on yarn!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/324870440/SLR_Selfie_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/324870440/SLR_Selfie_medium2.jpg" height="312" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Selfie with an SLR with my eldest daughter. She knitted the cowl she is wearing. I'm really proud of her. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This was not an easy knit by any means. It was has literally millions of twisted stitches and they are slow to knit. It's a full lace pattern - no plain purl rows to have a breather and there are twisted stitches on the purl side too. It took me a few goes to get some of the stranger twisted decreases straight in my head (especially the ones decreasing two stitches at a time). However, it was worth the pain and occasional frustration.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/301421219/Filemot_Initial_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/301421219/Filemot_Initial_medium2.jpg" height="313" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Like all lace, blocking really makes a difference. You really don't see the full beauty of the lace when it's all crumpled up on the needles.</td></tr>
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The shawl did get finished in time to make the cut off for prizes for the KAL in the <i>Stitch Addiction Podcast</i> Ravelry group but it didn't win a prize. In one of life's great ironies, the post after mine did!<br />
<br />
The beauty of curls is in their curved shape and hence the many, many ways you can style and wear them.<br />
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Draped around the shoulders secured with a shawl pin shows the asymmetry of the shawl off to perfection.<br />
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Or start with the largest point at the front and warp the ends around and secure with a brooch or shawl pin.<br />
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Or wrap around like a scarf to create a snuggly neck warmer to ward off the chill on a blusterly late winter day at the seasdide.<br />
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Thanks once again to my daughter and son for their amazing photography skills. These photos were taken on the beautiful Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, Australia. If you look very carefully in the last photo you can see my happy photo bombing family.<br />
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(Let's not mention the fact that I last time I posted on the blog was My 2015 shall we? Sorry blog, I do still love you - but LIFE!!!! makes me have to do tedious things first sometimes)Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-65364053253691975172015-05-10T09:17:00.001+10:002015-05-10T09:17:05.402+10:00Smoked camp pi<div class="notes markdown" id="project_notes_14791221">
You may have realised in my day job I'm a mild mannered semi-nerdy mathematician/ statistician. Yes, I have the glasses and calculator collection and academic university day job to prove it. It means that I get somewhat excited about some things that the rest of the world thinks are slightly weird. Take Pi day (14th March) for example. This year was a very special Pi day. A once in 100 years Pi day. We had the first 5 digits of pi as the date (American style dates of course). Cue an amazing Pi party.<br />
<br />
I got invited to the the most amazing online <b>Pi Party</b> in existence with over 100 types of virtual pie and knitting goodness galore hosted by the amazing PJ. Luckily it was a Saturday so all day my inner nerd was eating as much virtual pie as I liked (there was pizza pie, apple pie, lemon meringue pie, cheesecake.... and all calorie / kilojoule free and no crumbs in the knitting). And all the while I was singing internally "It’s pi day. It’s pi day. You’ve got to cast on on pi day…."<br />
<br />
(What for, a pi shawl of course). I wanted to make a lacy pi and
settled on the 100 anniversary pi shawl design - Camping. I’m a sucker
for lace leaves and it has a beautiful scalloped border. I made this
fairly large and at large gauge so it can double as a pi blanket.<br />
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<br />
I began with Emily Ocker’s circular cast on using a crochet hook.
This is so cool. I always love when I get to learn an awesomely
practical new technique and this so neat and useful for my future
knitting.<br />
I used the first 12 rounds of the Heliotaxis pi shawl pattern (up to
the 72 st increase round) as the beginning of my shawl. I did however
chase up a copy of the 100th Anniversary edition of Elizabeth
Zimmerman’s Knitter’s Almanac to look at how the original beginning
went. I devoured the July chapter - a shawl …<br />
<br />
‘<i>Have you seen the well known geometric theory behind what you have
been doing? …. It’s Pi, the geometry of a circle hinging on the
mysterious relationship of the circumference of a circle to it’s radius.
A circle will double its circumference in infinitely themselves -
doubling distances</i>” (Zimmerman, Knitters Almanac). I do have to take issue with EZ about her comment
about women forgetting such mathematical theory the minute we finish
high school in order to fit in more practical knowledge. Clearly that’s
not the case for all such women. Who says Pi is not practical anyway? It
after all is applicable to knitting! (Plus I get to teach the awesome usefulness of pi to science students).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://igcdn-photos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t51.2885-15/11084669_826244160763252_584112389_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://igcdn-photos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/t51.2885-15/11084669_826244160763252_584112389_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drive by pi</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I worked on dpns until I had enough stitches to transfer over to a 80 cm long circular.<br />
This was awesomely addictive knitting - along the lines of just one
row more…. Because the patterns were relatively short repeats, the lace
was quick and simple to execute. It didn’t lose it’s charm even when the
rows were 592 stitches long (or nearly 900 in the last row!) It only
took about three weeks to knit too - very quick for nearly a jumper’s
worth of wool.<br />
<br />
I have to agree with EZ that a circular shawl is perfect travel
knitting. The knitting creates its own bag shape as it grows and you can
store the yarn inside it. You can knit on public transport without
losing the ball under seats. It scrunches up small enough to transport
easily even when close to the end.<br />
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<a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/297127533/Twilight_pi_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/297127533/Twilight_pi_medium2.jpg" height="267" width="400" /></a> </div>
It blocked out huge - 52 inches or around 134 cm in diameter. We
decided this is about the largest circular shawl I can actually
practically block. It took nearly the whole alphabet - 25 of my 26
alphabet jigsaw blocking mats (and most of the lounge room floor).<br />
<br />
This may be my first pi shawl but it won’t be my last one. This is coming to my next maths conference so it can hang out with the other mathematicians who truly appreciated the blend of geometry, maths and gorgeous lace this is.<br />
<br />
<b>Pattern: </b><a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ez-100th-anniversary-pi-shawl-camping" target="_blank">EZ 100th Aniversary Pi shawl: Camping</a> by Mwaa Knit Obsession incorporating the middle of <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/heliotaxis-pi-shawl" target="_blank">Heliotaxis Pi Shawl </a>by Nata's Knots - both are free patterns.<br />
<b>Yarn: </b>Blue grey wool blend? Recycled yarn bought from Lifeline op shop - thin 8ply weight.<br />
<b>Cost:</b> $5 for a jumper lot. I have 2 balls left over<br />
<b>Needles:</b> 4.5mm (dpns and an 80cm and 100 cm circular) </div>
Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-52790392147262436492015-04-07T09:54:00.001+10:002015-04-07T09:54:10.018+10:00The great Scarf-ghan unveiling....In January 2014 my needles and I started on a journey of discovery. In March 2015 after thousands of stitches, miles of seaming, many adventures and delicious knitting experiences along the way, we called a halt. The great scarf / strip afghan experiment is finished and officially in use. <b>Anyone got cable!</b> is a finished object and a much loved family member. There are arguments about who gets to snuggle under in on the couch on in the recliner. It's actually rarely me (and I did knit it for myself...)<br />
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The lovely ladies in the <i>Unofficial Women's Weekly Group</i> on Ravelry are owed a giant hug for providing the motivation to create this beauty. We were encouraging each other to complete the various knitted afghans we were making. Many of us were doing variations on the classic, knit a square - make an afghan. However the sheer horror of the concept of all that sewing was a giant hurdle many were baulking at. So I thought, why not make strips instead of squares. Essentially I knit all my favourite cable and cable and lace
scarves that caught my eye recently and sewed them up into a lap
blanket for me. The genesis of the idea, the inspiration and the early stages of construction are described in more detail in this blog post (<a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/anyone-got-cable-scarf-ghan.html" target="_blank">Anyone got cable! - A scarf-ghan</a>).<br />
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This was a great strategy. There was a constant variety of patterns and yarn in little do-able chunks at a time. I didn't get bored in the middle of the process. Each scarf got a chance to tell its own story along the way. See also <a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/a-series-of-scarves-afghan.html" target="_blank">a series of scarves = afghan</a> for the details of each scarf strip - e.g. patterns used. As a bonus most of them are free patterns.<br />
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On Good Friday we convinced the afghan to come and play in the Sunflowers and have its final beauty shots taken. The town I live in has two giant public art installations designed to brighten up some depressed and unused industrial areas of town. These photos were taken in a field that is a giant spiral maze of sunflowers. (You can read more about the project here - <a href="http://growth.outr.org/getsunflowered" target="_blank">#getsunflowered</a>). <br />
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<br />
I admit, I did wimp out of this without strictly finishing it completely. I haven't added a separate knitted edging. I toyed with both a sideways knitted garter stitch and an i-cord border (and had a go at both) but felt it didn't really need it enough to make me feel justified knitting it.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's the boy demonstrated how you can wrap yourself head to toe in the awesome snugness. He make the blanket look like a butterfly chrysalis.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I'd like to thank my children for frolicking in the sunflowers with me. I'm off to plan the next afghan adventure now. I don't think I quite have it out of my system. I might just snuggle here under my blanket while I knit the next one.<br />
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Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-52057231478660011982015-04-02T07:29:00.000+11:002015-04-02T07:29:37.383+11:00Butterfly Kisses for the DoctorIt comes as no great surprise to those who know me that I'm a Dr Who fan. My favorite doctor is the tenth Doctor - David Tennant. I could write an essay on why he's the coolest, sexiest, most interesting Doctor with the best story arcs but this is a knitting blog after all. I'll just post a photo of the most awesome Doctor for you to contemplate (There is a point to this, I promise you).<br />
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<div class="notes markdown" id="project_notes_14523876">
After last year and all the shawl stuff I still hadn't quite got it all out of the system. I may have wanted to make yet another lace shawl and after much
deliberation and hours of time spent squirreling through the Ravelry pattern database, I decided that Nymphadelia was the next lace shawl for the needles. Blue tweed and
brown variegated sock yarn together should be cool. (This has the added benefit of using up the stash as is my
goal for 2015).<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I was right. It is cool!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I was a little dubious about these two yarns together in the ball -
variegated yarns often knit up so much differently to how they present
as a ball and so I was hopeful it would work like I pictured it in my
head. Why this colour combination? I love blue and brown together. It
quite frequently features in my wardrobe. This particular blue and brown
colour combination is my tribute to the 10th Doctor. These colours evoke
his costume: blue and brown pinstripe suits, a long brown overcoat and
converse sneakers (See photo above).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/283707194/Wear_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/283707194/Wear_medium2.jpg" height="278" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I may have temporarily yarn bombed another statue. It was just the right shade of blue. How could I resist?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
And that is part of the inspiration for the name too. The shawl
pattern (a free one from Knitty magazine) is called Nymphalidea (the Latin
name for one of the largest butterfly families). The colours are 10th
doctor inspired. Hence <b>Butterfly Kisses for The Doctor.</b><br />
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I cast on as Day 1 project for Feburary COM over in Village Hopelessly
Overcommitted (VHOC). Must say I love the simplicity of the lace and
purl ridges and the effect of the variegated yarn. Easy to
remember pattern and it’s flying along. I managed 18 repeats of the
Wedge D and welt combination in the first day.<br />
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The next day I got to 21 repeats and then 24 repeats on Day 3. Day 4 was a
day of long train journeys. Prime knitting time. So I finished all 27 repeats.
(And I ended up with the correct stitch count as given in pattern! Bonus).
The shawl was now in need of aggressive blocking to show off in its full
glory! Lace is so messy just off the needles before blocking works its magic.<br />
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<b>Pattern:</b> <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/nymphalidea" target="_blank">Nymphalidea</a> by Melinda Vermeer - a free pattern from Knitty Deep Fall, 2013<br />
<b>Needles:</b> 4mm<br />
<b>Yarn:</b> Bendigo Woolen Mills 5 ply Colonial in Berry twist - donated stash from my Aunty and Moda Vera Noir sock yarn in Coffee Mix. (I have enough yarn left over to make another one...)<br />
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Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-51348952433581975252015-03-28T20:46:00.000+11:002015-03-28T20:46:27.530+11:00I do still love you blog...I hate it when I come in here and have to push my way through the massive spiderweb someone's built blocking the doorway. (Where did that come from? I'm sure I've never knit any spiders). Pardon me while I spit out some spiderwebs and brush them out of my hair and off my glasses. There may well be some dust bunnies breeding in the dark corners too but I get that. Bunnies do breed like bunnies and I've certainly knit enough of them over the years to have a substantial breeding colony of the things.<br />
<br />
It looks like I may have been neglecting my little corner of cyberspace just a little. A tiny, incy weeny tad (or something). Let's just get a broom and a mop and bucket and clean up a little in here, why don't we? There, all neatly spick and span again.<br />
<br />
Now, I really did come in here to show you things. (Actually I got pushed in...) I have been creating lots and lots and lots. I have one, no two, three, four (and possibly some more) new knitted finished objects to share with you. I've been so busy knitting and crocheting away (and working flat out, but let's not mention that) that I've forgot to give each happy little knitted object a chance to recount its journey and shine. They may have got a little bolshi on me demanding little creatures. So here I am to do their bidding.<br />
<br />
Remember how back on New Year's Day my daughter and I dyed some beautiful yarn? With food colouring and tea and coffee and microwave?<br />
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She commissioned some elbow length cabled gauntlets. She settled on <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lady-jane-greys-gloves" target="_blank">Lady Jane Grey's Gloves </a>by Sarah Lady. These are elbow length with a plaited cable on the the top and shaped to fit the arm.<br />
<br />
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These were one of my first projects for February COM (Cast on Month). The idea is to cast on something new for every day of the month of February. I didn't quite make it but it was an awesome ride along the way. The first glove wasn’t exactly smooth
sailing. I had to use 3.75 mm rather 3.5 mm as suggested in the pattern. (3.5 mm
is not a standard size in Australia). The I misinterpreted the instructions
for the placement of the thumb gusset and got to the top of the gusset
before realizing I had to frog back about 18 rows and move it over to where the thumb is actually anatomically situated on the hand. I successfully completed to top of glove but then frogged back and re-knit the edging on 3.25 mm
needles to make it fit tightly enough around Mel’s palm.<br />
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This is a free pattern and not for the faint-hearted novice. It is a
little primitive in its writing style only detailing the cable section
and describing where to place it. It requires some intuitive decisions
that only come from years of experience. (That said, it is a lovely
design).<br />
<br />
I love how the colours spiral around this. It makes me happy just to look at it.<br />
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<a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/283458284/COM_Day5_Glove_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/283458284/COM_Day5_Glove_medium2.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></div>
The second mitt took only two days with no fuss and drama attached! I need to dye more yarn! it’s eleventy times more fun to knit with your own hand dyed yarn!<br />
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<a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/284218746/Plaited_cable_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/284218746/Plaited_cable_medium2.jpg" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
<b>Pattern:</b> <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lady-jane-greys-gloves" target="_blank">Lady Jane Grey's Gloves</a> by Sarah Lady<br />
<b>Needles:</b> 3.25 and 3.75mm dpns<br />
<b>Yarn:</b> Hand dyed aran weight machinewash wool.<br />
<br />
The children staged a photo shoot for this in a local cafe complete with decadent iced coffee / chocolate beverage. Mel created a personalized unique manicure to highlight her gloves. (Some of my North American virtual knitting friends suggested that these are just the ultimate cosy mitts for winter coffee runs. The kids did the best to recreate this scenario in the middle of an Australian summer).<br />
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<br />Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-57522506344658980582015-02-28T20:58:00.002+11:002015-02-28T20:58:40.994+11:00#20swifteenMy eldest daughter has always been a dancer. Until she finished school, it was ballet and jazz. Then she moved to the big smoke for University and had to reluctantly give it up. Two years ago, she sort of stumbled into the dance side of cheer-leading. A cheer gym near where she was living advertised an open day with free dance classes. So along she went, eager to stretch out those under used dance muscles and got asked to audition for an Open Pom team. Why not, she thought? She made it through the audition and onto the team. Being somewhat of a novice to the world of cheer she had no idea at the rarefied levels the team she had joined was playing in initially. In her first year, she found herself at State and Australian championships and at the end of year being part of a team that had won a bid to compete in the World Cheer and Dance Championships at Disney World in Florida in America in 2015.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://photos-e.ak.instagram.com/hphotos-ak-xaf1/t51.2885-15/10958259_324761577720748_281376308_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://photos-e.ak.instagram.com/hphotos-ak-xaf1/t51.2885-15/10958259_324761577720748_281376308_n.jpg" height="400" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Australian All Star Cheer Championships 2014: She's the one on the left.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Her University recognized her as an elite athlete. She currently juggling 4 or 5 days of training a week with hospital placements. (She's in her last year of Med school). She and her fellow Swifts are on the final countdown to #20swifteen - their giant World Championship adventure.<br />
<br />
But of course a team off to the other side of the world needs a mascot to take on their adventures.So I got one of those bizarre knitting challenges I thrive on from my daughter and her squad of fellow cheerleaders. Could I make a slightly gangsta knitted swift mascot for her team?<br />
<br />
I got some guidance in the form of this lovely photograph of a sketch from my daughter. (She's incredibly talented at lots of things but she'd be the first to tell you drawing is not one of her strongest points). <br />
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And here's what I came up with. I've made little knitted birdies before. There's a little knitted parrot I made years ago kicking around my house that's just the right size to fit on a child's shoulder. It's played parrot to many an imaginary pirate. The <a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2011/07/harry-potter-in-honour-of-last-ever.html" target="_blank">knitted Harry Potter doll</a> has it's own owl companion, Hedwig. I used the same basic body shape.<br />
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You can see the swift's little birdy feet here. They're made from bent paperclips wrapped in yarn and secured with hot glue.<br />
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The final finished swift is about 15 cm tall and 22 cm across from wing tip to wing tip.<br />
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This was just the prototype. It's hard creating something to exactly fit the brief when all the conversations around what is wanted take place by phone, email, and Facebook chat. The swift is a little small. Now I'm scaling up to about 40cm tall with a slightly less outspread wing arrangement. It will also be wearing baby size high-tops and a peaked cap and dog-tags... This little swift has gone off to live with my daughter in the meantime.<br />
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So "Go Swifts!" (You need to imagine this said in a cheer type way - complete with pom pom waving and a kick line).<br />
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Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-77831008352077862442015-02-13T21:03:00.001+11:002015-02-13T21:03:17.130+11:00Randomly on a WednesdayEvery so often you get the gift a day to stop and smell the metaphorical roses. I spent a pleasant Wednesday morning idly wandering the streets of Melbourne camera in hand with no plan and no agenda except to appreciate our beautiful city (and take some photos of the latest finished objects).<br />
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The city square was a riotous bloom of colours - all the trees were wearing sweaters. (Clearly the trees had figured out the only way to deal with Melbourne's non existent 2015 summer was to rug up). It was a grey and overcast day.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oliUlo4XiKQ/VNV-pm4uRPI/AAAAAAAACdE/_eJVUBSRWwc/s1600/Tree_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-oliUlo4XiKQ/VNV-pm4uRPI/AAAAAAAACdE/_eJVUBSRWwc/s1600/Tree_3.jpg" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GLt-CLhw9r4/VNV-1GSOKXI/AAAAAAAACdY/u0E7wC58Jeo/s1600/Tree_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GLt-CLhw9r4/VNV-1GSOKXI/AAAAAAAACdY/u0E7wC58Jeo/s1600/Tree_4.jpg" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
This is a bare sprinkling of the trees. All the ones along the footpath have also been done - must be about 20 to 25 trees in all.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3BBYWAuTYKY/VNV-6rLLgyI/AAAAAAAACdg/MsrGaBhgdzg/s1600/Tree_two.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3BBYWAuTYKY/VNV-6rLLgyI/AAAAAAAACdg/MsrGaBhgdzg/s1600/Tree_two.jpg" height="267" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This one is my favourite. All the texture and pattern.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
This is the work of <a href="http://www.yarncorner.com.au/" target="_blank">Yarn Corner</a> who advertise themselves as one of the largest yarn-bombing groups in the world. They left their little business cards tied to the trees. It's not an unsanctioned installation but fully endorsed by the Melbourne City Council. I love that I live in a place where people allow you to cheer the world up like this. I went and hunted up Yarn Corner on the internet and may have just joined up to play in their next epic yarn-bomb madness. I also discovered that a couple of the people I know in real life contributed to this massive effort. For those of you wondering how you dress a very large tree in a sweater, there are cherry pickers involved apparently.<br />
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I just may have also hugged a tree or two....<br />
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I did take my camera and the most recent finished shawl and scarf to specifically take some finished object photos.I may have done my own little subversive bit to brighten people's days by temporarily yarn-bombing statues. After all Chinese Lions wear shawls and cute little punk dogs need a scarf to ward off the summer chill.<br />
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This was my favourite. This is on one of the busiest corners in the city. There are a trio of statues here - depicting typical commuters in the everyday rush. I wrapped this guy in a shawl, took my photos and patted him on the head and went on my way - all to the smiles of the passing city crowd.<br />
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Melbourne has amazing street art everywhere you turn. This is outside the State Library - a giant chunk that just looks like its randomly fallen off the building. I hope it liked its transient scarf embellishment.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rm_z443GTp4/VNWBqaz-7MI/AAAAAAAACeY/OX3y9sf_xHs/s1600/Scarf_bombing_the_library.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Rm_z443GTp4/VNWBqaz-7MI/AAAAAAAACeY/OX3y9sf_xHs/s1600/Scarf_bombing_the_library.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
<i>(And because I know there are those of you who are wondering. (Because I know my mother did). I didn't leave the scarf and shawl behind. It was temporary adornment for the purposes of photo taking only. There are too many knitting hours in these to just abandon them to fate. The scarf in particular in the last bit of of my giant scarf-ghan. It's sort of needed).</i><br />
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The highlight of my random Wednesday was the last bit. I was in the city with my youngest sister. She had to work for the morning but the afternoon we spent at the<a href="http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/jeanpaulgaultier" target="_blank"> John Paul Gaultier </a>exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria. I was truthfully blown away. I had a little idea of what to expect - fantastic outfits on dummies of course. Maybe a cone bra or two - corsetry and costumes made for stage. But the sheer scope and scale of the imagination of Gaultier as a designer was eye opening and humbling. <br />
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The crafter in me marveled at the hours of handwork involved in bringing the genius vision to life (1600 hours for a life like hand beaded leopard skin anyone?) Photography was encouraged with signs everywhere urging patrons to snap and share on social media. I left the snapping to my sister except for a few garments to sang to my knitter's heart. (Try searching the hashtag #jpgngv on instagram for a taste of the 160+ garments in the exhibition)<br />
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My relevation of the day was that Jean Paul Gauliter is really a freeformer.<br />
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And he can take a classic fisherman's rib and aran and twist it so it dances across a catwalk.<br />
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We'll finish this with a little peak into one of Melbourne's ubiquitous laneways. This is Amplett lane named in honour of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrissy_Amphlett" target="_blank">Chrissy Amplett from the Divinyls</a>. The official street sign may still be in chalk but the artwork is striking.<br />
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Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-64744029144838737962015-01-25T09:03:00.002+11:002015-01-25T09:03:46.211+11:00Dealing with Knitting ADHDI suffer a little bit from Knitter ADHD - also know as the <span style="font-size: large;">Ooh, Shinny new thing! Syndrome</span>. Now I know this about myself and so I know I need to restrain my impulses or I end up with no needles left to use, a million new cast-ons, piles of WIPs and UFOs cluttering up the house and nothing actually ever getting finished. For me, I find I need to periodically drop the needles, back off from the actual knitting and stock-take and plan. The beginning of a new year is a great time for this.<br />
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I did make some New Years Resolutions for 2015. (But they are mostly about my knitting and they are more in the light of challenges I have set myself. On a more personal reinvention to a healthier me note, I also gave up sugar in my tea. That's a real challenge!) I'm sharing them here with you as a form of self motivation and type of self shaming.... If I proclaim it to the world, I'm more likely to follow through aren't I? <br />
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All good efforts start with good planning…. I want 2015 to be as awesome a knitting year as 2014 was!<br />
<ol>
<li>Knit up the four jumper lots of yarn that are yelling to be done this year.</li>
<li>Find and queue patterns for said jumper lots - One cable for me, one
classic cardigan for the boy, a self designed kimono with an asymmetric
front, and a self designed garter stitch jumper in a chunky boucle.</li>
<li>Apply my free forming skills to the swatch collection - I’m thinking they become a basket.</li>
<li>At least one pair of socks this year.</li>
<li>Charity knitting that actually gets donated to charity - I tend to
need to knit toys on a regular basis - also hats but hoard them.</li>
<li>Put the practical bits of the stash on Ravelry - garment and accessory sized batches that are labelled.</li>
<li>Buy and knit at least one dream pattern from the queue.</li>
<li>Seriously cull the magazine collection - this is my current January
summer holiday project… (I also like idea of a long term plan to knit a project from each book/ magazine I own!) Once done stick more of the library on Ravelry.</li>
<li>Play along in the useful Rav activities that make me knit
productively - COM (Cast on Month in Village Hopelessly Overcommitted)
and regular WIP wrestling bouts as well as NaKniSweMo.</li>
<li>Try to keep the ratio of Cast ons to WIPs completed at less than 1:1. Finish at least three long term WIPs in 2015.</li>
</ol>
This looks like a lot but I knit every day so a need a decently ambitious plan.<br />
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And I signed up to <b>Cold Sheep</b> (go a whole year without buying any yarn) after a small final fling in early January - 8 mixed balls of browns and greys to have enough to
finish <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/131-52-latte-macchiato---blanket-in-lima">Granny wants a latte macchiato</a>
and one ball of variegated red for a charity project. And I
walked past my favorite op-shop and a sweater weight quantity of
delicious dark blue grey sport weight just asked me for a new home at a
ridiculous price.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I really, really do have enough yarn to knit from for a whole year and not run out. I do!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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I gave myself the following loopholes:<br />
<ol>
<li>Yarn to finish already started projects.</li>
<li>Yarn for commissioned projects. (Though the other person can supply this).</li>
<li>A free pass for Craft Shows and road trip yarns - but a serious budget limit to be applied here.</li>
<li>Shopping my mother’s stash is always allowed. </li>
</ol>
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I seriously did a list of the current UFOs and WIPs. Lists are good. I like lists:<br />
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I'm only including the stuff on Ravelry - There are a couple of very old
UFOs that haven’t made it to Ravelry yet but they are not on the radar
this year.<br />
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<b>UFOs</b> (I have to really go digging to unearth these. They are in deep storage. There are only eight though). <br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/classic-hand-made-doll">AK Traditions Doll</a> <br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/dead-fox">Dead Fox</a> <br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/dickensian-mice">Dickensian Mouse</a> <br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/soul-warming-shrug">Domino Shawl</a> - has a chance at life soon - I know where it is at least…. <br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/gentlemans-sampler-afghan-and-pillow">Gentlemans sampler afghan</a> - next long term knit afghan project - plan devised as part of January 2015 stocktake process. <br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/longitudinal">Longitudinal</a> - damn second sock syndrome. <br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/of-mice-and-mushrooms">Of mice and mushrooms</a>
- self designed cardigan suffering for a lack of yarn to completely
execute plan. A lovely fellow Raveller is sending me 4 balls of yarn so I
can execute the original plan…. <br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/order-of-the-garter">Order of the Garter</a> - what project? - this is yarn with a plan.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DudgtXC61V8/VMQVa3tQsLI/AAAAAAAACcs/gO9obOlLMDk/s1600/Ufo_Cave.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DudgtXC61V8/VMQVa3tQsLI/AAAAAAAACcs/gO9obOlLMDk/s1600/Ufo_Cave.PNG" height="255" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Welcome to the UFO cave</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b>WIPs</b> (Have received recent love. Not in the rotation at the moment though. Only five of these). <br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/aviator-bear">A headless bear</a> - needs clothes <br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/fungus-among-us">Fungus among us</a> - Want to make more fungi and lichen. Have patterns ready. <br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/monochrome">Monochrome</a> - freeform exploration piece. Being added too as inspiration strikes. <br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/julekuler">Pallina di natale</a>
- one down - lots more to make. Christmas baubles for my daughter’s
tree. Little diversions that only take a day or so. The Christmas goat
is next. <br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/owl-key-chain-pattern">To tag an owl</a> - Little crocheted owl tags /ornaments - want to make a few more out of the oddments. Planned small diversions.<br />
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<b>Current WIPs</b> (I’m not a monongamous knitter. Four at a time is pretty standard). <br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/everstar-scarf">Anyone got Cable!</a> - the scarf afghan - one scarf to go. Pattern and yarn picked - will be next new project on the needles this month. <br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/131-52-latte-macchiato---blanket-in-lima">Granny wants a latte macchiato</a>
- long term granny rug that has just been assembled so far and the
crochet hook is out and I am making new squares. About 1/3 finished. It
will be queen bed sized…. <br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/infuscate">Pitted Olive</a> - the current knitting project <br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/swatch-buster">Swatch buster</a> - free form C/KAL for Jan / Feb 2015. Theme: Polar opposites. Aim: To cover my work tub with all those pesky swatches.<br />
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<b>Queue</b> (Burning a hole in my knitting basket waiting its turn) <br />
<a href="http://www.ravelry.com/projects/ninja-knitter/lady-jane-greys-gloves">Sunrise / sunset</a> - We hand dyed the yarn, we have a plan. Next to the needles. <br />
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<br />
This is typical me. It's nearly the end of January and we're only just letting the plans out in public. The good thing about the delay is that I can report on the progress as well!<br />
<br />
So far, I have:<br />
<ol>
<li>Added all the magazines and knitting books that I located to my Ravelry library. (And earmarked about 6 or 7 magazines for sale / trade) <i>(Serious Progress on Resolution #8)</i>.</li>
<li>Logged all the identifiable stash into Ravelry. (I took lots of photos of yarn...) <i>(Resolution #6 done and dusted!!!)</i></li>
<li>Joined a couple of new Stash busting / Finish a thing and Cold sheep groups on Ravelry. You need your support mechanisms and these types of groups are wonderful.</li>
<li>Tried to fit plans to yarn - queued a few patterns, swatched a bit, etc... (This is the subject of next blogpost). <i>(Resolution #2 seriously underway)</i>.</li>
<li>Decided on a hastag for the year #Stashtosweater.</li>
<li>Began wrestling those swatches into a recognizable project form. <i>(Resolution #3 is source of great current enjoyment and knitting challenge). </i></li>
</ol>
Oh, and of course I have picked up the needles again I've been knitting up a storm.... (I love holidays)...<br />
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Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-64754503934490338632015-01-16T08:37:00.000+11:002015-01-16T08:37:40.569+11:00What I did in November - the final revealIn November, I knitted and knitted and knitted some more and 27 days later I had a completed cardigan. It was all in response to NaKniSweMo - a challenge to knit a sweater of more than 50,000 stitches in November. (The acronym stands for <b>Na</b>tional <b>Kni</b>t a <b>Swe</b>ater in a <b>Mo</b>nth. Though it should more properly be international these days). It was inspired by NaWriNoMo (National Write a Novel of 50,000 words or more in November). The sweater tried to document the process and kept a diary which you can read <a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/diary-of-sweater.html" target="_blank">here</a>. <br />
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<br />
A sweater in a month? Why not? I’ve done it before. A sweater of
50,000 stitches plus in a month? Doable. When the month is November….?
Now maybe, we’re pushing it. It’s marking month. I’m going on holidays
at the end of the month. It’s late spring here in Australia and the
weather is warming up. We’ve already had a few days over 30 degrees
Celsius. And I have to finish my DFAD for the IFFF Fungus Among Us CKAL
by the 18th. But what the hell, you never know till you try.<br />
<br />
It’s time to knit something substantial for me. I’ve knitted both
Mark and Mel a jumper this year. I’ve made me two shawls and a stole and
a hat and some fingerless mitts (2 pairs). Must be time for a sweater
(or more properly a cardigan). I’m not so much of a sweater girl but I
do love me a good cardigan.<br />
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Rhodium has been on my radar / floating around the queue since I got a copy of <em>The Knitter’s</em>
70th issue. In fact, I pretty much want to make the whole platinum
collection. I have three jumper lots of yarn for me just sitting around.
This is going to be stash busting. I have some weird dirty cream / tan /
latte coloured up-cycled yarn I got from the Lifeline Op shop for $5
for the whole bag. It’s a pure wool blend with little black threads and
angora in it I suspect. I have 16 balls.<br />
<br />
I swatched on the 31st October and washed and blocked the swatches on
the first of November. The pattern calls for DK weight yarn on 3.25mm. I
knitted swatches using both 3.25mm and 3.75mm of all three main
stitches. The row gauges given in the pattern for the rib are weird -
less rows over 10 cm for rib than reverse stockinette? I’m going to
match the row gauge for the reverse stockinette as the bulk of the
jumper is this and it only has rib bands.<br />
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I’ll count the stitches in a spreadsheet but a quick calculation
based on gauge and the schematic is fine to meet the target of 50,000
stitches.<br />
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<b>Pattern:</b> <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/rhodium-2" target="_blank">Rhodium</a> by Deborah Helmke from <i>The Knitter Issue 70</i>, The Platinum Collection<br />
<b>Needles:</b> 3.75mm<br />
<b>Yarn: </b>dirty cream / tan /
latte coloured up-cycled yarn, pure wool blend with little black threads and
angor, op-shop special<br />
<b>Total cost:</b> $5 <br />
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The family is ambivalent about this and an overall finished garment. They like the colour, praise the execution and the lace but really dislike the overall design. Long fronts and a short back look weird according to them. I love how deliciously snugly and warm this is. They just don't get modern design.<br />
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It took a while to get the finished modeled shots for this given I went on holidays as soon as I finished and it's been too hot to wear a winter weight cardigan. But finally courtesy of the non existent summer weather, we got the photo-shoot. Thanks to the boy for his awesome photography skills once again. <br />
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<br />Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-81705180209045021962015-01-11T17:10:00.004+11:002015-01-11T17:10:41.972+11:00Mum, I need this!In September I went to conference in Sydney. I took the head of the household and he holidayed while I worked and middle child, <a href="http://clavum-es.blogspot.com.au/" target="_blank">Melissa</a>, minded house back home. On the last morning as I sitting savoring a cup of tea before the first session, I get a panicked phone call from Mel saying the gate to backyard had blown open in a storm and her hand reared extremely beloved pet chicken Pesto (+ the other chook) were missing. We discussed strategy for finding said chook and she went to work very agitated.<br />
<br />
Later that same day whilst waiting for my flight at Sydney Airport, the head of household and I made extremely good use of free airport internet and had a long Facebook enabled conversation with Melissa. She made her Dad tell her a nonsense story (an excruciatingly slow process when he is a two finger typist). He stirred her unmercifully about her poor chicken sitting skills and she peppered me with pictures of random knitted hats from Etsy with the plea - "Mum, I need this!" During her giant European tour earlier this year, she became a ‘hat’
person, returning with three tres chic felt numbers, a number of new
knitted ones and an insatiable appetite for all things hat. When she got to this one, I immediately recognized it. I had the magazine (<em>Knitscene Winter 2012</em>)
and it was one of the patterns that made me buy the magazine in the
first place. So, I said sure. We debated colours and settled on cream
with a mustard band - things I knew we’d be able to find without
purchasing new yarn.<br />
<br />
The chicken demonstrated immense homing chicken skills with Pesto back in the backyard when Mel got home from work. The other chicken (Nutty, short for Nutmeg) was never seen again.<br />
<br />
When I arrived home, we shopped the stash and dug out this
Cleckheaton Country naturals in cream and gold. I love Country Naturals -
gorgeously soft to knit, it washes like a dream and has this delicious
tweediness. I knitted her a hat that very weekend. We cuddled the chicken but it refused to divulge its adventures. <br />
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<b>Pattern:</b> Lucy by Carina Spencer from <i>Knitscene, Winter 2012</i><br />
<b>Needles:</b> 4mm (Those antique jumper length Aeros that I love so much again).<br />
<b>Yarn: </b>Cleckheaton Country naturals 8ply in cream and gold.<br />
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<b>Postscript:</b> Unfortunately in mid November, Pesto had her last adventure. Something feral that really wanted a chicken dinner dug a hole under our fence and we awoke to a yard full of feathers and no chicken. We miss Pesto, the chook who loved a selfie, ate chips and bacon rind from your hand, helped me hang the washing by stealing clothes and pegs and occasionally flew onto the washing line but required help to get down and lived to terrorise the cat. You were the best pet chicken a family could have.<br />
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<a href="https://fbexternal-a.akamaihd.net/safe_image.php?d=AQC6CEKOinkgzd37&w=487&h=487&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdistilleryimage9.ak.instagram.com%2F3494e7d2e5cc11e19c6622000a1e89ba_7.jpg&sx=0&sy=0&sw=612&sh=612" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://fbexternal-a.akamaihd.net/safe_image.php?d=AQC6CEKOinkgzd37&w=487&h=487&url=http%3A%2F%2Fdistilleryimage9.ak.instagram.com%2F3494e7d2e5cc11e19c6622000a1e89ba_7.jpg&sx=0&sy=0&sw=612&sh=612" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" id="fbPhotoSnowliftCaption" tabindex="0"><span class="hasCaption">An appropriate last picture to be taken of Pesto... She did love selfies. Rest in peace chicken puppy.</span></span></td></tr>
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Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-55807123964253562292015-01-05T16:05:00.001+11:002015-01-05T16:05:08.733+11:00Dyeing the sunset: a photo tutorial for dyeing yarn with food coloringOne of my New Years Resolutions is to learn to dye yarn. So what a better time to dye some yarn than New Year's Day? Messy stuff and holidays go together.<br />
<br />
The wonderful font of information that is the internet tells me that the easiest way to dye stuff involves vinegar, food colouring and a microwave. It's so easy that other people even let children participate. I used little bits and pieces of several sets of instructions from blogs and wool manufacturers to get this to work. (I also enlisted the help of my 21 year old child)....<br />
<br />
<b>Materials and tools:</b><br />
<ul>
<li>Yarn - needs to be 100% natural animal fibre for best results, e.g. wool, alpaca, mohair, angora, cashmere. Acrylic and cotton need different techniques.</li>
<li>White vinegar</li>
<li>Food coloring</li>
<li>Towels, paper towels, old rags, etc... to protect your bench tops from looking like a rainbow.</li>
<li>Cling film / plastic wrap</li>
<li>Microwave oven</li>
<li>Rubber gloves (after all you don't want to dye your hands the color of the rainbow) and an apron if you are a habitually messy cook. The good thing about food coloring is that it does wash out / clean up reasonably well if there are spills.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<b>Step 1:</b><br />
Skein up your yarn<b>. </b>I used three balls of aran weight beige / fawnish up-cycled yarn from unraveled jumpers that came from an op shop / charity store / thrift store. For greatest success natural animal fibre is recommended, such as wool, alpaca, angora, etc... This is wool. (And even better it was cheap and I could afford to destroy it potentially if it all went horribly wrong).<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IMcZgxaFAXs/VKTA5S-dY8I/AAAAAAAACZg/tP2GfXQg_S0/s1600/Step_1_Skein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><b><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IMcZgxaFAXs/VKTA5S-dY8I/AAAAAAAACZg/tP2GfXQg_S0/s1600/Step_1_Skein.jpg" height="257" width="320" /></b></a></div>
I wrapped the yarn around the back of a kitchen chair and tied it off in four places fairly loosely.<b></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Step 2:</b><br />
Mordant your yarn<b>.</b> A<b> </b>mordant is<b> </b>a substance, typically an inorganic oxide, that combines with a dye or stain and fixes it in a material. This step is essentially preparing the yarn to accept and hold dye. The simplest mordant is vinegar. (Note: This works if you are using food colouring as the dye. If you are using plant based dyes such as onion skins, you need a chemical mordant).<br />
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Use equal parts of warm water and white household vinegar soak your yarn thoroughly. (For my skein it was two cups of white vinegar to two cups of warm water). Leave it long enough to soak through properly; at least an hour at minimum but it could be as long as overnight.<b> </b><br />
<br />
<b>Step 3:</b><br />
Set up for dyeing<b>. </b>Remove the skein from the vinegar solution and wring out gently and pat dry. The yarn should be damp but not dripping. I've covered my kitchen bench with an old towel and then laid a sheet of cling film / plastic wrap on top of this. Then arrange the skein on top of this reasonably spread out and without any major twists and tangles.<br />
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<b></b><br />
<b>Step 4:</b><br />
Dye the yarn all the pretty colours. This is the fun creative bit. We used yellow and red food coloring as well as very strong black coffee and a mixed berry fruit based tea infusion. I would fondly refer to this as kitchen cupboard dying. The coffee and tea were an experiment that didn't really work out as well as the food coloring. They didn't provide the intensity of color of the food coloring and didn't set and stay as strongly in the finished yarn.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3XVr5fWzEbQ/VKTBLywqXnI/AAAAAAAACZ4/ba4kloUxnW0/s1600/Step_4_Dyed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3XVr5fWzEbQ/VKTBLywqXnI/AAAAAAAACZ4/ba4kloUxnW0/s1600/Step_4_Dyed.jpg" height="217" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rj3Vra9H5nw/VKTj406tPzI/AAAAAAAACaM/G3CtdqAAGSA/s1600/What_color_where.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rj3Vra9H5nw/VKTj406tPzI/AAAAAAAACaM/G3CtdqAAGSA/s1600/What_color_where.jpg" height="217" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Squirt / dribble the food coloring on the yarn in the pattern of your choice. We've gone for short bands of color here. Mix up specific colors first if you want. There is some orange and purplish red in here as well. We were going for sunset / sunrise colors.<br />
<br />
Massage the color well into the yarn. Wear rubber gloves unless you want weird and wonderfully colored hands. You can color the whole skein or leave some gaps of the original yarn color as we did. This takes more food color than you might anticipate. Our one skein used two small half bottles of food coloring, a small cup of strong coffee and about 50 ml of very strong fruit tea infusion. We could definitely have done with more food coloring.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Step 5</b>:<br />
Micronuke the hell out it. Wrap the yarn firmly in the cling film / plastic wrap to make a giant sausage shape. Place in a glass casserole dish or on a microwave proof plate and microwave on your microwave's highest setting. Remove yarn from the microwave and allow to cool. Do not unwrap the yarn. It should look like it does below with condensation on the inside of the plastic film.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PWl9s6shCmQ/VKTBPDDQVBI/AAAAAAAACZ8/vg2r9M_Xf60/s1600/Step_5_Microwaved_yarn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PWl9s6shCmQ/VKTBPDDQVBI/AAAAAAAACZ8/vg2r9M_Xf60/s1600/Step_5_Microwaved_yarn.jpg" height="266" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looks kind of like some bizarre sausage....</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Once cool, place the yarn back in the microwave for another 5 minutes. Remove from microwave and allow to cool. Remove and discard the plastic wrap.<br />
<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b>Step 6:</b><br />
Rinse the yarn thoroughly under warm water until the water runs clear. It was at this stage that I realized the coffee and tea hadn't worked as well as I would have like as they rinsed out a lot. (I suspect that they need a chemical mordant as they are essentially plant based dyes). The food coloring held very well.<br />
<br />
Drape the yarn to dry in place out of the sun. Mine is on the drying rack in the lounge room.<br />
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<br />
<br />
<b>Step 7:</b><br />
Photograph the pretty yarn from all its best angles. Once its totally dry make a cool twisted skein or roll into into balls or cakes. <br />
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Swatch and see how it knits up. Then plan a pretty project. (This is going to be cabled armwarmers and a matching hat).<br />
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One successful New Year's resolution.Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-69499058588860548682015-01-02T08:00:00.001+11:002015-01-02T08:00:10.943+11:002014: A Year in ReviewIt's 2015! (Or #20swifteen as my cheer-leading future doctor daughter has taken to calling it). New Years Day is about taking stock of the old year and making resolutions for the new year. (Let's leave the resolutions for later, shall we? If you don't make them, you can't break them, right?...)<br />
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So here is my stock take of the 2014 knitting. My needles were exceptionally productive this year with 27 separate finished projects in 2014.The year started with cowls and scarves. In the heat of an Australian summer I turned to crochet and made <a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014_01_01_archive.html" target="_blank"><i><b>Tweed ruffles</b></i></a>. In February, I KALed along with some lovely ladies and<b><i> <a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/com-cast-on-month.html" target="_blank">I can Cowl if I want to!</a></i></b><a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/com-cast-on-month.html" target="_blank"> </a>fairly flew off the needles.<br />
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I knitted my life into a cowl - <b><a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/06/story-telling-with-sticks-and-string.html" target="_blank"><i>Knitographical</i></a>.</b> I wrote it's story and exhibited it and the <a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014_02_01_archive.html" target="_blank"><i><b>Flat Fox</b></i></a> picture in a art exhibition. (And people actually treated it as real art!)<br />
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In February in solidarity with knitters all over the world, I plied my needles for the Ravellenics as I watched the Winter Olympics from Sochi in Russia. Two pairs of mittens had their birth as competitors in both Mitten Moguls and Lace Luge. (That's <a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014_03_01_archive.html" target="_blank"><b><i>Steampunk on Toast </i></b></a>on the left and <b><a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/september-madness.html" target="_blank"><i>Oyster Shell</i></a> </b>on the right)<br />
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I made toys... Lots of toys. I spent my lazy January holiday assembling long neglected toys. (See <a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/01/the-great-sew-up-thon.html" target="_blank">The Great Sew-up-a-thon</a>). I KALed along throughout the year and bent the rules of COM (Cast On Month) to cast on a new toy piece a day. (Clockwise from top left, <b><i>Nativity camel</i></b>, <a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/september-madness.html" target="_blank"><b><i>Intrepid Fox</i></b></a>, <b><i>A headless bear</i></b> - clearly he's not headless anymore, <b><i>Fit to scare children</i>,</b> <b><i>Christmas sheep</i></b>, <b><i>Jean Greenhowe Teddy</i></b>, <a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/10/september-madness.html" target="_blank"><b><i>Mike the Monkey</i></b></a>, <b><i>Tropical bird</i></b> and <a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/just-rabbitting-around.html" target="_blank"><b><i>Rabbitty</i></b></a> in the middle).<br />
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Unlike 2013, I made <b>only</b> two hats. These were little whimseys diverting me from the main game for a weekend here and there.(<a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/just-little-divergence.html" target="_blank"><b><i>Divergent</i></b></a> and <b><i>Mum, I need this!</i></b>).<br />
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I discovered shawls. I planned to make my first lace shawl but along the way made two more. I think this is the start of a new addiction. The last new project on the needles for 2014 was a shawl too.<br />
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(From left to right: <a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/curly-wurly.html" target="_blank"><b><i>Curly wurly</i></b></a>,<a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/09/freeforming-away.html" target="_blank"> <b><i>Lacewing</i></b></a> and<i><b> <a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/brown-as.html" target="_blank">Brown as</a>)</b></i>.<br />
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And there was freeform. I got enticed to play along with the lovely ladies in the International Free Form Forum on Ravelry. With their enthusiastic encouragement I made my first freeform shawl and then went on to design my first patterns and have people successfully make mould from them (<a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/mould-is-fun.html" target="_blank"><i><b>Mould is Fun</b></i></a>). In honour of the future mycologist daughter, I made little knitted mushrooms too (<i><b>Fungus among us</b></i>).<br />
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2014 was the year of the jumper; One for Mel (<a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/funky-chunky.html" target="_blank"><b><i>Funky Chunky</i></b></a>), one for the boy (<a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/08/not-so-little-boy-blue.html" target="_blank"><i><b>Not so little boy blue</b></i></a>) and one for me (<a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/11/diary-of-sweater.html" target="_blank"><i><b>Recycled Rhodium</b></i></a> in just 27 days in November).<br />
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The long term project of the year was a scarf- afghan (<a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/04/anyone-got-cable-scarf-ghan.html" target="_blank"><i><b>Anyone got cable!</b></i></a>). This is a construction idea I'll be exploring further in future.Everyone in the family wants one.<br />
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And then there was the inevitable <a href="http://knitographical.blogspot.com.au/2014/12/we-knit-you-merry-christmas.html" target="_blank">Christmas knitting</a>. (Clockwise from top left: <i><b>Angel in a box</b></i>, <i><b>Sunburnt reindeer</b></i> and <i><b>Pallina di Natale</b></i>).<br />
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What will 2015 bring? The needles are primed for anything again.<br />
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(<u>Note:</u> All the links in this post go to the blogpost about that project. All photo-collages made using <a href="http://www.picmonkey.com/" target="_blank">picmonkey</a>).Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-605482914317038361.post-22099996594889697822014-12-27T17:33:00.001+11:002014-12-27T17:33:11.112+11:00We knit you a Merry Christmas....In December, the knitting needles tend to naturally turn to knitting ornaments. Even almost without conscious effort, I find myself wanting to knit little whimsies for my Christmas tree and to share with my family. <br />
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I spent the first week of December on the beautiful Australian Gold Coast having a much needed relaxing holiday. Sun, sand, surf, shopping, neon, amazing food and seven and a half thousand cheerleaders. (One of the main reasons we were there was to watch future doctor daughter shake her poms in the Open Australian title division as a prelude to Worlds next year #20swifteen).<br />
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Holidays mean holiday knitting, right? It's the best way to
wind down and de-stress. If you are a knitter, you understand that the most agonizing part of holiday packing is deciding just what knitting to take with you on holidays. You've got to have enough for all your knitting moods. You need extra yarn, just in case you run out. You've got to remember to pack all the appropriate needles and stitch markers, scissors, sewing needles, the pattern, etc... You need more than one backup project in case it all goes wrong for you. <br />
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Holiday knitting also has to be portable. This time around, I decided to take two small knitting kits that had come with various English knitting magazines. Part of the impetus for this was knitting for Christmas with the delightful ladies in The Unofficial Women’s Weekly group who were running a CAL/KAL for November/December 2014<br />
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This first was a cute little reindeer kit that came with issue 105 of <i>Knit Today</i>. Supposedly everything needed,
yarn, stuffing, embroidery thread, ribbon and the bell - just add needles.
I love his little slip stitch texture. And he’s cute and small and
Christmassy.<br />
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And then I ran out of yarn (and stuffing) not even a few days into the holiday! I knitted and stuffed two legs
complete with their little separate hooves. I made the body and stuffed
it with what I had left of the stuffing supplied in the kit but it’s not
plump enough. I knitted the head and sewed up the ends. I made a tail….
and I had about 25 cm of yarn left….<br />
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I don’t know what the issue is. I used the suggested needle size (2.75 mm).
My tension checks out OKish… There’s just not enough yarn in the kit. I
still had to make two arms and the hooves, two ears and two antlers.
I’m pretty sure I have some similar brown acrylic in the stash. So I'll finish it when I got home. So much for this being holiday knitting. (That's why you take backup projects...)<br />
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Actually the brown acrylic, I was thinking of was in my mother’
stash. She has custody of all the cheap toy acrylic. She was happy to
see me even if I was only there to steal wool…. I knitted the arms and
paws and stuffed them. The colour is quite different but it looks OK
after assembly. (It’s sufficiently symmetric). I knitted two ears and
embroidered the face and tied on his bell. Voila!<br />
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The kids were quite uncomplimentary about the finished object - they
decided it doesn’t look like a reindeer. They were calling it a dog /
cow / minotaur thingy. (Minotaur? - too much fantasy reading going on
around here).<br />
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Photos taken in Hosier Lane in Melbourne during the mad Christmas rush season. I love good graffiti laneways.<br />
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So it was onto the backup knitting plan. I turned to the other kit - a Christmas angel that was again a kit from <i>Let's Knit</i> Issue 73, November 2013. The pattern is called Gabriella by Amanda Berry. This one was knitted on 3.75mm needles. it's knitted flat and then seamed. I knitted the head and body bit. Then the holiday finished.<br />
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I knitted little bits of the angel here and there over the rest of December but had a small spot of procrastination in finishing up the face and the hair. Finally knuckled down and did it early in the morning on the 23rd of December. This one is part of my Mum's Christmas gift. I've been told the angel has a serene expression. I love the pop of gold in her hair and wings.<br />
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Last Christmas was the first year, we were missing a child for Christmas dinner. The middle daughter spent her Christmas in Padova in Italy with generous friends chasing the elusive white Christmas. It didn't snow for her but it was still an awesome experience. She bought me home Italian knitting magazines and a copy of Arne and Carlo's Knitted Christmas balls book (in Italian). Now I can read Italian (sort of). I studied it a high school but it is very rusty. However, once I brushed up on the Italian knitting terminology, I was fine with this. There are clear photo tutorials for stuffing and finishing and all the patterns are charted. Mel of course had an ulterior motive in buying me this book. She wants a collection of red and white baubles for her future tree. Of course I'll oblige. She keeps complaining about a distinct lack of Christmas markets in Australia.<br />
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I made a sample bauble using DK and 3.75mm Needles. It was an abject failure as a bauble. It was miles too large and there was insufficient contrast between the yarns I was using. (Probably a mistake to use a variegated yarn as one of them. It does, however, make a good cat toy / child's ball though). So we went to fingering weight yarn and 2.75 mm needles. Meet Running reindeer. Next I'm going to knit the Christmas goat. (See <a href="http://www.visitgavle.se/sv/the-gavle-goat" target="_blank">Gavlebokken</a>).<br />
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<a href="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/272268030/Running_Reindeer_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-d.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/272268030/Running_Reindeer_medium2.jpg" height="252" width="320" /></a></div>
And I made a gift tag for my sister's present. These little owls are a great effective use of tiny little scrappy bits of yarn. I did have a plan to make a heap of these for present tags. It didn't happen. Life intervened. But at least one present got special love.<br />
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<a href="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/234144634/Owl_Tag_1_medium2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://images4-b.ravelrycache.com/uploads/ninja-knitter/234144634/Owl_Tag_1_medium2.jpg" height="249" width="320" /></a></div>
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Jo-annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14088658716620729312noreply@blogger.com0