The online home and (not so) alter(ed)-ego of Ann Carrier.
Mother. Artist. Designer. Photographer. Calligrapher. Knitter. Gamer. Gardener. Petrolhead. Collector of pebbles and shells.
Never met a museum gift shop she didn’t like.
Six days in, and I've managed to start and finish each swatch on the day, which is longer than I thought I'd last.
It's fun though, and I'm learning lots about how stitch patterns affect gauge.
I'm also learning that the occasional twisted knit stitch is okay, but twisted purls are the devil's work.
Today's lesson was how much lace can increase the stitch gauge, especially when blocking. I actually had to push the sides in to get it to be the same width as the other swatches.
Started on the tube to work.
Continued on the tube home from work.
Finished on the sofa, during an episode of NCIS Season 3.
Nice quick pattern this, with every other row having only half the stitches.
Started: on the tube to work. Finished: during NCIS Season 3, Episode 1.
Notes: 12 row repeat made it more complicated for tube knitting than I'd have liked.
Some details, for those of you who like that kind of thing.
Yarn: Knit Picks Merino Style Colourways: Asparagus, Storm, Moss, Cinnamon, Pine, Hollyberry Needle: Addi Lace 4mm 60cm No of Cast on Stitches: 25 (fudged with knit stitches at either side if the stitch pattern repeat comes up short) Rows: however many to get the same height as the swatch from day 1 when blocked.
The (self imposed, and therefore liable to change) Rules
Swatch has to be started and finished on the day in question. Ideally, washed and blocked the same day too.
The Plan
Knit as many swatches as I can from the six balls of yarn, hope they come out in a relatively even number, then stitch them together in an afghan, the arrangement of which is yet to be decided.
One of the things I bought when visiting Hill Country Weavers last March was a 365 Knitting Stitches a Year Perpetual Calendar.
I've used it a few times in 2007, mostly as a stitch dictionary, and hadn't really thought about it beyond that, until two days ago, when I was struck with a brilliantstupid idea.
The idea being that I'd knit a swatch, every day, from my perpetual calendar (taking a day off on the 29th of February, because it wasn't made for a leap year), and I'd see how many afghans I could make.
I thought about it a bit more, because I wasn't sure I could commit the time, but then I thought about it even more, and figured what the hell - I'll make the time.
So yesterday, I picked a ball of yarn and a suitable circular needle, sat down and got started. I cast on 25 stitches, knit 40 rows, then cast off. It took me less time than The Simpsons Movie.
Then, in the break between finishing the Simpsons Movie and starting to watch Evil Aliens, I nipped into the bathroom, gave it a wash and blocked it a little, so it could be nice and perky for it's close up, which was taken today (2nd January) at the Royal Festival Hall, where the I Knit group had chosen to have its first outing of the year.
Well, one bit of it at least.
December was a bit of a mad month for me, as evidenced by my disappearance from this blog. Sorry about that, didn't mean to.
Anyway, despite having one of the maddest months of a pretty mad year, I managed to turn out five items of Christmas knitting, in time for them to be wrapped and under the tree on Christmas day.
Item one was a hat for my boyfriend's brother. Tragically, I didn't get a photo of it, so you'll have to take my word for it that it looked impressive. I did a variation on Emily Spence's Sheep and Wool Hat, in black and light grey, modified slightly because I'm an idiot and can't count, and so made it five rounds of six stitch high blocks rather than six of five. I also made the crown stripy rather than plain. Even better, I think he liked it. He grinned and put it on immediately it got out of the wrapping.
Item two is the hat illustrated above, for my boyfriend's dad. it's a variation on the Circular Bicolour Prime Rib (Brioche) Hat and was inspired by Grumperina's Blustery Day Brioche Hat. I increased the stitch count because they grow heads big in that family, and consequently slightly messed up the symmetry of the decreases, but he didn't notice, and liked the hat enough to be seen wearing it in public, even if it was only the once, to be polite.
Item three was a one row handspun scarf, made in Noro Iro for my boyfriend's mum. There was a bit of comedy around the fact that the yarn is pretty harsh and ropey when you're knitting with it, and I had to wash and tumble dry it to get it to soften up. The comedy came from the fact that I had to do this in her house, with her tumble dryer, without her seeing it. I managed it, but it was a bit of a struggle at times.
Item four was a Marsan Watchcap for my boyfriend's grandad in a lovely sagey green yarn.
Last but not least, item five was a pair of bed socks for my boyfriend's grandma. I used the International Sock of Doom pattern for these, as it's a super-quick knit and used lovely purple Rowan pure wool dk to keep her feet warm in bed (and save her from having to warm her feet on her husband's back).
Everything was well received, and I got a lovely warm glow from having done it.
Unfortunately, item six - a hat for my boyfriend - was stopped in its tracks when he began having an asthma attack when I started to wind the skein of beautiful alpaca yarn I'd chosen for him into a ball. Doh. Will have to find something else instead.
Item seven - a pair of transformer mitts for my mum hasn't been started yet. Nor have the mittens for my niece, wristwarmers and hat for my sister, or hat for my brother-in-law, but I've got at least two weeks before those are all due, so there's still time.
I've become obsessed with fair-isle knitting, particularly using a solid and a varigated yarn, rather than two solids.
I blame Natalie and Jane for this, mostly.
Well, that, and I had no idea what else to do with rainbow yarn that's likely to be too busy for anything other than stockinette, and maybe too loud for even that.
Luckily, I remembered that Nikki bought me some black alpaca for my birthday last year (on condition that I use it for something for me), so I dug it out and spun it up (it was lovely), and hopefully, there'll be enough of both to make a pair of wristwarmers.
Now though, the fun part - making up the chart!
...even if it's not the kind of learning the conference organisers expected you to do.
I went to a web conference at the beginning of the week, and for reasons I'm not quite sure, when I was leaving the house, I grabbed two balls of yarn, not just one, with the intention of knitting a pair of wristwarmers.
So, there I was, listening to presentations about javascript, when I was overcome by the urge to learn to knit fair-isle, and before I could help myself, out came the moleskine, scribble went the pen on the squares, and (very quietly) click click click went the needles, working on creating a pair of not just plain wristwarmers, but fair-isle wristwarmers.
My tension was a little tight and my stranding a little uneven til I figured out how best to wrangle the two strands, but all in all, I don't think it was all that bad, for a first attempt.
...and for those of you who like that kind of thing, the money shot.
Well, what a week that was.
Last Monday night, as I walked into the spare room to sit down at the laptop and work on the fibrelust site, I turned, and something in my back screamed. Thankfully for the neighbours, I managed not to.
Six hours later, enough painkillers had kicked in to allow me to go to bed and get some sleep.
Five hours after that, I had to get off the tube at Oxford Circus because the pain was so bad I was either going to vomit, pass out, or both.
Twelve hours after that, I was in the Accident and Emergency Department of Kings College Hospital, London, having my back checked out.
... and the rest of the week passed in a haze of pain, pain meds and unfortunate, drug-fuelled crocheting (of which, more later).
With guests staying for the weekend and a two-day conference at the beginning of the week (none of which helped my slowly recovering back much), I've got quite a bit of blogging to catch up on, so I thought I'd start slowly, with a bit of yarn porn.
My first Etsy purchase, bought from All the Pretty Fibres, was turned into beautifully lofty singles, which I'm very pleased with, and have yet to tell me what they want to be.
Any ideas? There's probably about 200 yards in that little lot.