Butterfly Kisses for the Doctor

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...)

Freeforming away!

Thanks to the wonders of Ravelry, I have knitting friends all over the world I've never met in person. However like all knitting friends, we chat, encourage each other when the knitting mojo has fled and we are in a dreaded knitting slump, oooh and ahhh appropriately over each others finished objects and sometimes just plain marvel at those of us whose knitting transcends the ordinary to become art.... And we know each other well enough to dangle interesting opportunities where they are most likely to be snapped up.

So my adventure in freeforming is all thanks to Rose who I originally met in VHOC (Village Hopelessly Over-committed). She enticed me down this particular rabbit hole. "Come and have a look at the IFFF (International Free Form Forum). They are running an Adventures in Freeform Lace CAL / KAL in June and July. I think you'd love it...." So I went and looked. And all the pretty things and the friendly welcoming people hooked me right in.

I knew what freeform was. I'd had the pleasure of meeting Prudence Mapstone several times at Craft Shows in Melbourne and took a class with her a few years ago.  There are scrumbles in the deep storage area of my UFOs. I had a plan to make a handbag. I have a mesh bag frame and Prudence's book on Freeform Handbags.... But it just never came together into a coherent idea. Prudence's idea of scrumbling seemed to work better in crochet than knitting (and I would always chose knitting over crochet).

The scrumble I made in Prudence's class

But right from the beginning when I decided to take the plunge and take part the creative juices were bubbling over. I think my intensely positive experience with displayed my knitted work as art in the gallery earlier this year had made me more open to creative opportunities when they came my way. (After all a girl need a portfolio if she is going to stage her own show some day....)

The idea was to make a lace shawl using a series of crochet and knit stitch prompts provided weekly. The suggestion was to loosely base it on Wingspan which is made from a series of offset triangles formed with short rows. The other design inspiration was Dreambird which has been near the top of my queue for a while now. Dreambird's encased short row feathers banded in strips of garter stitch just clicked somehow. I could so see a lace Dreambird with a faggoted / trellis framework and delicate lace feathers. And that was my inspiration for beginning to design this - feathers encased in ribs of garter stitch, modularly constructed as a series of panels.

This was my original inspiration for the colour palette. This little guy is blue wren. They are fairly common in regional Victoria where I live. My previous office at the University had large windows with a broad outside ledge that were mirror coated on the outside. One of these little guys came by almost daily to play with his reflection. I was drawn to the colours of these birds' wings: complex shades of brown and a flash of brilliant almost metallic blue.

Another post is coming on the design and construction logistics of the shawl. The rest of this one is just going to be the eye candy pictures of the finished object... (Thanks to the boy for the shots of me wearing it. And yes, I do actually wear it (in public - to work and out shopping, etc...). It's amazingly comfortable and just sits so perfectly on the shoulders. The length has turned out just right too. Not too long to get in the way).

And a big thank you to all the lovely ladies of IFF (especially Melba, Jorel and Loren - the group moderators). You have inspired me to complete my first freeform garment! (I still can't quite believe I have). You've pushed my gently but firmly out of my comfort zone. (Kind of like how mother birds push baby birds out the nest to teach them to fly). You've made me realise I already have my own unique style and it's worth refining but not really changing. And it's been a really fun journey.

Curating Ravelry: Simple textured shawls

Lately I'm lusting after simple shawls, garter stitch, simple textures, beautiful yarn, gorgeous colours. And you know me, a free pattern just tops it all off.

So here's another Curating Ravelry post with the theme of simple textured shawls. Go on, you  know you want to knit one too!

I'm starting with Stephen West of westknits.  Stephen is the master creator of so many cool shawls. (And a few of them are even free).

by westknits

by westknits

Boneyard shawl by Stephen West (Westknits)

by westknits

Metalouse by Stephen West (Westknits) from Knitty, Winter 2012

Actually, there are a few great free shawl patterns in Knitty. This is the next one I have queued.

© Melinda VerMeer

© Melinda VerMeer

Nymphalidea by Melinda VerMeer from Knitty, Deep Fall 2013

by YarnAddictAnni Flickr

Maja by Anniken Allis from Knitty, Winter 2008

© brittsneezer

Stencillo Shawlette by Britt Schmiesing

© Tahki Stacy Charles, Inc.

Bessie Positive/Negative Stole by Irina Poludnenko

© sketchbook

The Age of Brass and Steam Kerchief by Orange Flower Yarns

COM: Cast On Month

How's this for a radical idea? Cast on a new object everyday for a month! (OK, Lets make it a little less overwhelming and make it February where there is only 28 days). Could I do this? Would I take up the dare? I had cyber knitting friends egging me on and I figured I could only try it and see...

I tried (and ultimately failed when life got in the way) and here is the story of my efforts and the lessons I learned along to way to make it easier next time.

Day 1: I cast on a cowl. The Ravelry group instigating the COM is also having a Cowl Along using a pattern designed by one of the group members: IrMom's Cowl. I wasn’t sure about how much I liked the pattern from the original pattern photos (which are in black and hard to see the full glory of the lace) but a few of the projects made from it finally sold me. I liberated the 3 balls of yarn I have from my Mum’s stash a while ago when sourcing yarn for the Granny Wants a Latte Macchiato granny rug. The colour looks pale ice blue is some lights, grey in other but is clearly intended to be grey as the yarn colour is Silver Streak. One pattern repeat completed on the first day.

Day 2: OK. I figured out a way I can cast on a new thing every day but not end up with an enormous number of new WIPs at the end of the month (WIP = Work in Progress). I should make small things that I can cast on and finish in one day. Luckily I had just the project needing love and attention: The Granny wants a Latte Macchiato Granny rug. It takes me about an hour to complete a square for this. Perfect evening TV knitting. So a square in colour combination number 1.

Day 3: I'm also making a strip afghan this year; one new strip per month. Essentially I am knitting all my favourite cable and cable and lace scarves that have caught my eyes recently and sewing them up into a lap blanket for me. (A girl can have too many scarves but I need a rug). This is the beginning of the third strip: the Pretzel Scarf from Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2013 using recycled yarn from my local op shop. Again this is one pattern repeat.

Days 4, 5, 6 and 7: Four more squares for the Granny wants a Latte Macchiato granny rug. Colour combinations 2 through 5. I may even get this rug finished sometime soon. (And I'd done a whole week of cast ons! And I finished the cowl I cast on on Day 1 on Day 4 too).

Days 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12: A new project constructed in 6 pieces. I just loved these when I first saw the pattern Artichaut in The Knitter. (Artichaut means artichoke in French). These are my first ever Ravellenics project for Team Tardis. I can see Victorian Clara wearing these. The yarn is a core of wool covered in a silvery acrylic mesh. Despite the glitter, it is smooth and not scratchy. It also knits up incredibly smooth and doesn’t catch or pull.

Day 13 and 14: No new cast ons and in fact no knitting at all. I went to Sydney for a maths conference and flew out really early one morning and arrived home late the next day. In Australia you can't take knitting needles or crochet hooks in hand luggage. They are dangerous prohibited items aparently. We were traveling without checked luggage so no knitting for two days. (I did get to talk knitting to other mathematicians though).

Days 15 and 16: Back home but the cast on mojo was gone. I did pick up my knitting needles with a sigh of relief and knit away on the current work in progress - a strip for my Anyone Got Cable! scarf-ghan.  This is a mock cable and lace pattern - Falling Water.

Day 17: A new cast on courtesy of a long car trip to Geelong to do the first part of the mighty move for the youngest boy to residences at university. The head of the household was a sweetie and did the bulk of the driving. This is my next planned Ravellenics project - the Oyster Shell fingerless mitts using Spatterdash Wristwarmers pattern from Knitty. I got the palm section completed and picked up stitches to do the flap section in feather and fan lace. But I got lost trying to follow the pattern for the first row which includes short row shaping late at night. (And it's really fine needles and yarn. My eyes were protesting).

Days 18 to 28: OK, the wheels have fallen off this cast on mania effort. Oh, I certainly knitted for the rest of February but there were no new cast ons. I mainly worked on my strips for my strip afghan and finished one strip and got a long way through the Pretzel Scarf strip I cast on at the beginning of February.

Why no more cast ons?

1. Work intervened. The end of February was  the start of teaching for 2014 at University and I was doing a lot of new things in University preparation programs and 'O' week classes. So a lot more time and energy eaten away in planning and material production.
2. I hadn't really planned much past the second mitten cast on for Ravellenics So I didn't know what to cast on next.
3. I ran across a knitting needle availability issue. I knew for example, a couple of more patterns I wanted to incorporate into my strip afghan but everything is DK weight on 4mm needles and I was running out as they were all in use.

Things I learned for next time?

1. Mix the crochet and knitting - this really helps with needle availability. (Plus you can easily steal the hooks from crochet projects!)
2. Consider small modular pieces that you can cast on and finish in a day. I was on a winner here with the granny squares.
3. Plan a long list of interesting things to cast on. Vary the yarn and needle size needed (and probably sensibly match these to the needles I actually have).
4. Pack up little starter packs consisting of the pattern, yarn and needles for projects so it's easy to just pick and start new things.

Would I do it again?
Hell, yes!  With better pre-planning (See notes above).