The 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.
So I matched the stash to some patterns I liked and swatched for a few sweater projects in January 2015 exploring possibilities.
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).
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 ’Spirit of the Corn’ for this one.
Pattern:Cable Peplum Pullover - free pattern by Lion Brand Yarn Needles: 4.5 mm (Knitting a worsted weight pattern using DK yarn meant I had to go up a needle size to make gauge). Yarn: Cleckheaton Country Naturals 8 Ply
- colour 1839 Gold - I used 11 balls Cost: $22 ($2 a ball on sale)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. I LOVE this! 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.
I hereby declare this stash to sweater project a massive success! (Photo credits once again to the boy!)
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. Anyone got cable! 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...)
The lovely ladies in the Unofficial Women's Weekly Group 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 (Anyone got cable! - A scarf-ghan).
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 series of scarves = afghan for the details of each scarf strip - e.g. patterns used. As a bonus most of them are free patterns.
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 - #getsunflowered).
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.
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.
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.
It 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).
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).
I was right. It is cool!
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).
I may have temporarily yarn bombed another statue. It was just the right shade of blue. How could I resist?
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 Butterfly Kisses for The Doctor.
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.
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.
Pattern:Nymphalidea by Melinda Vermeer - a free pattern from Knitty Deep Fall, 2013 Needles: 4mm Yarn: 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...)
It'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?...)
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 Tweed ruffles. In February, I KALed along with some lovely ladies andI can Cowl if I want to!fairly flew off the needles.
I knitted my life into a cowl - Knitographical. I wrote it's story and exhibited it and the Flat Fox picture in a art exhibition. (And people actually treated it as real art!)
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 Steampunk on Toast on the left and Oyster Shellon the right)
I made toys... Lots of toys. I spent my lazy January holiday assembling long neglected toys. (See The Great Sew-up-a-thon). 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, Nativity camel, Intrepid Fox, A headless bear - clearly he's not headless anymore, Fit to scare children,Christmas sheep, Jean Greenhowe Teddy, Mike the Monkey, Tropical bird and Rabbitty in the middle).
Unlike 2013, I made only two hats. These were little whimseys diverting me from the main game for a weekend here and there.(Divergent and Mum, I need this!).
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.
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 (Mould is Fun). In honour of the future mycologist daughter, I made little knitted mushrooms too (Fungus among us).
The long term project of the year was a scarf- afghan (Anyone got cable!). This is a construction idea I'll be exploring further in future.Everyone in the family wants one.
And then there was the inevitable Christmas knitting. (Clockwise from top left: Angel in a box, Sunburnt reindeer and Pallina di Natale).
What will 2015 bring? The needles are primed for anything again.
(Note: All the links in this post go to the blogpost about that project. All photo-collages made using picmonkey).
An afghan has quietly been creating itself along in the background all year this year. (Well, not exactly on its own, it has been relying on me to be quietly knitting along on the component scarves amongst all the other knitting this year).
We first met the afghan in all its glory in April - Anyone got cable! scarf-ghan though sneak peaks had made it into the blog before that.But I haven't really posted about it since then and lots of progress has been made. In fact its an almost functional couch blanket now.
It's time for round two. I have made 4 more scarves since.
Scarf number 5: Twisted ribbons
The fifth scarf is a hybrid cable and lace pattern which I started in early April. I started this using the two balls of cream coloured Panda Machinewash crepe I'd bought in an end of winter sell out. (Can't you see that this was a potentially disastrous move?) But the pattern just ate through the yardage and I inevitably ran out of yarn late April and
ordered some more. Whilst I was waiting I cast on scarf number six. (Can't have idle knitting needles, can you?)
Then of course the new yarn
didn’t match colourwise. I knitted about half a pattern repeat but it
offended my sensibilities. The colour change was that dramatic! So
frogged the lot on 1st June 2014. I bought two more balls and began again in
the new cream machinewash. This was now going to be the June strip!
That was
probably a little ambitious. Actually I cast this back on on the 22rd of
August! I was finishing up all the the other WIPs (Two jumpers for
various children being the biggest of them). And it was finally completed on 15th
September. The irony was that after blocking this ended up about 2
pattern repeats too long so in early October I frogged a bit of it and
redid the garter stitch edge so it fitted with the rest of the strips. This scarf should just be very happy that I am persistent in the face of adversity.
Scarf number 6: Bernadette cable scarf
I had a cold and everything else I was working on is
too complicated for my brain to cope with. Cables again - waving cables interlocking gently. This was me being productive whilst coping with the saga of scarf number five (see above). This was smooth sailing in comparison. And the yarn is a dream to knit. (Pity I think it's discontinued).
Pattern: Bernadette Cable Scarf by SmarieK Knits Needles: 4mm Yarn: Panda Woolblend Crepe 8 ply, Gray, 3 and a little bit 50g balls.
Scarf number 7: Eagle feathers
This one is based on Eagle Feathers - a free scarf pattern with a series of different patterned bands beginning with simple chevrons and morphing through to full feathers. I started with a provisional cast on
as it is worked out from each end. This was true stash busting. The yarn I used had a somewhat checkered past. I was reusing the yarn from Arundel
which I had frogged during the Ravellenics. I had some some fun (not!) unpicking the
provisional cast on and getting the correct amount of stitches to work
the other way. This was a really fun pattern to knit and I especially
love the feathers section on each of the edges. Unfortunately it ended up too long
after blocking. It’s always hard to judge just how much a lace pattern
will open up. So I took off one pattern repeat on each end and redid the moss
stitch borders.
Pattern:The Eagle Feathers Scarf by Margaret Kiprenko Needles: 4mm Yarn: Patons Australia Katie, Tan / mustard, 4 50 g balls
Scarf number 8: Beaumonde
Earlier this year I discovered the delights of dropping stitches on purpose (See Curly Wurly). I was eager to try this again. This was slated to be a cable scarf again. This pattern is a combination of cable and dropped stitches - the very definition of
fun. It’s awesome to drop stitches on purpose. The yarn is some cream 12% angora, 48% viscose and 40% acrylic in a
buttery cream colour I bought for $2 a ball in an end of season sale. So this something I actually bought purposely this year with this rug in mind.
Pattern: Beaumonde by SmarieK Knits. (She has an awesome collection of free cable scarf patterns available. This is the second one I have used as part of this scarf-ghan). Needles: 4mm Yarn: Moda Vera Messina, cream, 3.2 50g balls
I decided to bite the bullet at the beginning of December and sew what I had completed up in order to decide how many more scarves I needed to make to ge the width I want. This process took most of a week using my ususual evening knitting time to painstaking stitch the scarves together.
It's not quite as wide as I want it to be. I estimate I need two more scarves and one is already on the needles - a leafy lacy tendril on reverse stocking stitch. It's not too early to declare this project a massive sucess. Even at it's present size, it's a snuggly, cuddly useable couch rug. It stretches from my toes to my chest. Various family members have spent a fair bit of time trying to claim this for their own but it's mine, mine, you hear ..... (Cue evil laugh track here). However, I foresee me making variations on this theme for the next few years.... (My mum wants one, so does the hubby....)
Every so often something just pushes its way to the head of the queue and forces me to knit it NOW! I had no intention of knitting a shawl. I have two on the needles currently (Brown As - a traditional triangle lace shawl and Lacewing a free form knitted and crocheted shawl inspired by the colours of a blue wren's wing). I really didn't plan to make another. But Melba (one of the moderators of Ravelry's International Free Form group) dangled this pattern under my nose and even though I didn't find the original very inspiring knitted as it was in a single colour, there was enough mystery in trying to figure out how it was constructed to make me drag some yarn out of the stash and just knit up a little sample to see how it worked. (Note to self for future reference: this was in hindsight perhaps a bad idea. Resist the intriguing knitting puzzle a little harder next time).
This pattern with its use of short row sections and dropped
stitches was a fascinating and addictive knitting exercise.You know of the 'just one more bit' and then I'll put it down go do the housework / complete tedious marking / insert any essential but boring chore here. I'd never done dropped stitches on purpose before (though there have been lots by accident over a long knitting career). I'd find myself insanely giggling inside each time I deliberately dropped and unraveled a stitch. I'm sure the knitting police were secretly watching me flaunting the laws of good knitting and waiting in the wings to slap me with a ticket for illegal knitting.
More by accident than design I'd knitted my little sample piece (it ended up becoming part of the aforementioned Lacewing) in a gorgeous varigated cream, grey and tan yarn. I discovered this pattern just shows off a short repeat variegated yarn to absolute
perfection. And in my stash I had just the perfect thing to use: two balls of a acrylic print called Instinctive designed to knit up into a sort of a fake dead animal print.
Mel is responsible for the inspiration behind the name. I was knitting
this and she said it reminded her of a chocolate coated something. The
wave like patterning and the fact the colour is a mix of chocolate,
white chocolate and caramel together with it’s wavy pattern reminds us
of a Cadbury Curly Wurly chocolate bar. So Curly Wurly it is. (Though it was very nearly Chocolate Covered Pretzel)
Pattern:Summit Shawl by Mandie Harrington from Knitty Spring+Summer 2010 - a free pattern Needles: 4mm straights Yarn: Moda Vera Instinctive, colour 51, black, white and caramel, 100% Acrylic, used 2 by 100 g balls. Bought on sale for $1 each. (So yes, total cost only $2!) Total elapsed knitting time: 11 days....
It wasn't a totally smooth knit though. There was some extreme frogging involved. I initially started knitting this to the width suggested in the pattern (15 columns) and completed
almost two full repeats. However, I only had two balls on this yarn and
wouldn’t get the length I needed. So I frogged it and cast on again with only 8 columns - more of a scarf / stole width.
It garnered some interesting comments on Ravelry on the way. I got told that the colour made it look likes hundreds of baby snakes together. Hundreds of snakes. That would be scary to wear around your shoulders….
The original knit in progress shot that inspired the hundreds of snakes comment
I wet blocked the shawl when I finished it but it didn’t hold its shape when dry and the pins were
removed due to the acrylic yarn. I wore it once but wasn't happy with it because it didn't drape nicely and kept slipping. So I decided to
aggressively steam block it to 'kill' the acrylic. Much happier with the finished stole / shawl
now!
The photo-shoot took place on a glorious spring afternoon. Mel is an inspired photographer sometimes and she deserves a giant pat of the back today for making both the shawl and me look good.
