Fell: after the sleeves

My first attempt for the sleeves started at 24 stitches. This was “on the tight side”, and eventually I came to my senses and frogged back to start on 28 stitches. Much nicer! I also did a new cast on- basically the cast on for double knitting (the fabric, not yarn weight), and then move stitches around so it all flows nicely. I didn’t make a note of how many increases I did (why would I do something that sensible??), and I did the shoulder cap shaping as stated. It seems a smidge small, so I’ve left the yarn attached so I can more easily frog and reknit if it is too small. (It’ll depend on how big the shoulder shaping is on the body, etc).

I am…not sure I’ve got enough yarn. I ordered half as many skeins as the pattern calls for (I have 5), beause I have twice as much yardage as the yarn the pattern calls for….and I used most of 100g on each sleeve. Leaving me about 3.5 balls for body, collar (and it’s a big collar) and button band. We’ll see. I’m not that fussed about dye lots (watch that come and bite me later!), and it’s not like I’ll have much of a choice if I have to get more anyway… *sigh*

I’ve also found some nice antler buttons, but the shop only had 5, so I emailed them asking whether that was a glitch/when they’ll get more. Hopefully I’ll be able to get them in January (it’s one of my goals:) )

Now, on to knitting the body. I double checked on a favourite jumper, and apparently I actually want this 20 inches accross. *sigh* This is why we check (I had thought I wanted smaller than the smallest size, and instead I want between the second and third sizes. *eyeballs yarn again*). Whhhhhich still ends up being too big when I add in my gauge issues.

Ok, so the smallest size back will come out at 21.5 inches. 1.5 inches is 18 stitches (I have 12 stitches to 4 inches), so let’s go with 46 stitches for the back, and, 9 stitches off each of the fronts for 23 stitches each. This seems wildly wrong (for one thing, this doesn’t include space for the button band), but we’ll try 92 stitches anyway. I can always frog back if necessary (one of the things I’m trying to get better at is frogging when necessary).

Time to get knitting!

Fell: Planning stage

I’ve decided to take on a more measured, thoughtful plan for this blog (and life in general!). Specifically, to think and prepare more for each thing I make and how I should change bits to suit me more. And also document how I go about planning things for others to see and maybe take inspiration from (if anyone knows other blogs that do this I would be delighted to hear about them 🙂 )

The pattern I’m talking about today is Fell (Ravelry link), also available here (Rowan website). I’m using a dark red yarn from Brooklyn Tweed (Quarry, I had to buy it from a Canadian website and get it shipped over here to the UK).

First step is a gauge swatch. I get 12 stitches to 4 inches (4.5mm needles), the pattern calls for 14 stitches. I like the fabric I have, so I’ll reduce the numbers to make it work. The size I want is the smallest, so I can’t just sneakily knit the next size down. The last page of the pattern has blocking measurements, and I like the length of the sleeve, but the body seems a bit long. I’m doing the sleeve first for a number of reasons, and there’s some interesting stuff going on with the body anyway.

The next step is to have a look at the project notes- most people don’t have much to say about this. A few people say it comes out big, a few others say it comes out true to size. One person specifically mentions the sleeves are wide, so I check that- I’m going to be making the smallest size, and according to gauge the sleeve comes out at 14 inches around. I want about 12, so I definitely need fewer increases.

So, I want about 2 inches fewer, which if I had gauge would be 7 stitches. (Lets round that down to 6, because even numbers are much nicer for sleeves). Given that the pattern only calls for 10 stitches increase, I think I’m also going to need to reduce the number of stitches I cast on for the ribbing of the sleeve. In the first instance I’ll guess at 6 (I would usually do half, so 4, but then I’m also knitting it in the round and you lose 2 stitches to sewing up so I’ll take out 6 and see how it goes). I can always frog if things don’t work out.

Looking through the pattern gives some interesting gems as well. The pockets- when I helped a friend do a simpliefied version of this pattern, we omitted the pockets because I couldn’t figure what was actually going on with them. Looking back at them now, I have no idea what I was thinking because they make perfect sense…*facepalm*. So I’ll be doing the pockets as written, or maybe making them slightly deeper (at the moment the opening goes all the way down to the bottom of the pocket, which to me feels like it’s a recipe for things Falling Out). The other thing about the pattern is that the sleeves and body pattern has to match at the underarm. This is…slightly awkward if you only notice when you want to start the sleeve cap. I’ll be getting around that by doing the sleeves first, and seeing where on the sleeve I want to start the body patterning, and work off that.

I’m also going to knit the sleeves in the round and the body all in one piece, because what sort of heathen doesn’t? (This is a joke. There are many reasons why you may want to knit sleeves flat, and the body in pieces and seam. If I didn’t hate seaming so much I would do so 😉 ). The only other thing I think there is to say is that I’m going to try and find some antler buttons for it, because I’m trying to use less plastic and antlers seem really cool!

So, my total plan of attack for this jumper:

• Knit the first sleeve cuff and edit the number of stitches if necessary
• Knit the second sleeve cuff, and then the sleeves at the same time, in the round (I have a very bad history of sleeves not matching if they are knitted separately, and I quite like TAAT knitting)
• Check numbers for the body, and cast on for both fronts and the side together. I will consider putting in a fake seam down the sides, but probably won’t bother
• When I’ve finished the ribbing for the body, ascertain where on the pattern to start the main body
• Knit the rest pretty much as standard. Play around with numbers again for the button bands- I should make sure I have buttons before starting the button band, so that I can make sure I get the button band big enough, and the buttonholes the right size.

Time to get knitting I suppose!

Failed experimentation: tie dying silk hankies

Story time! One day, when I was in Hobbycraft, I decided I wanted to buy a tie dye kit and experiment with tie dying. My original plan was tie dye some shirts for work. This was a complete flop when I accidentally bought polyester shirts (for those following along at home, you can’t dye polyester, at least not with a cheap tie dye kit from Hobbycraft. It has to be natral materials).

So I also wanted to try knitting from silk hankies (please note: these are not the handkerchiefs you use to blow your nose on 😉 ). Unfortunately, I couldn’t find what I was looking for already dyed. Bingo!

Except…the silk *really* didn’t want to take the dye. It was just beading on top (I was dying onto dry silk and hadn’t done a pre-wash or anything, so this may be entirely my fault). I massaged the silk to get it to absorb, and oh boy it needed a lot. And a lot. And a lot. And it still didn’t do a great job.

I know that tie dying should leave some white space, but frankly the other stuff I dyed (underwear, so no pictures 😉 and my partners each did a couple of shirts) didn’t have the greatest white spaces, and this had too much. And it didn’t even go all the way through the small pile of silk hankies I had in each lot. This is the other side

This isn’t a big pile of hankies. I split 100g into three piles using scales for three colours, and then halved each of those for the dying, so this pile is probably about 17g.

After pplying the dye, you have to wrap it all up in clingfilm and leave them for 6-8 hours, then rinse. I started rinsing then stopped because the running water was really starting to Mess Things Up. So I stopped and let them dry while I thought things through.

And now I have the start of a plan:

Soak the hankies (colour by colour) and hope the colours even out somewhat.

Leave them to dry

Re-evaluate.

 

So, this may be a bit of a failed activity, but it works great as an experiment! Now I just need to remember to keep writing down what I do! If anyone more experienced than me has any advice, please share! (If you feel comfortable!) I’m so far out of my comfort zone, help would be wonderful! But I’m (kinda) happy to keep experiementing and seeing what happens if necessary! (Also, quick note: how do silk hankies cope with being heated up in a saucepan for dying? That is probably going to be my next plan if the soaking doesn’t get the colours I want…

Let’s pretend it’s Wednesday and I’ll tell you about the elephant in the room

It is unfortunately nowhere near finished. Even if I hadn’t forgotten the week I spent away or the many weekends I was travelling rather than crocheting, I was also hit by a bad shoulder which meant no crochet for a (different) week 😦 I haven’t even finished the main head yet, for crying out loud!

Here’s where I’m up to, so far.

At least the front of the head is made, I guess! The tusks were really awkward to fit in, but I’m oretty happy with how it went.

I have a bit of a respite- the rest of my year plan for crafting looks like this:

October- test knit a pair of socks for John

November- do the writing NaNo (I write HP fanfiction)

December- knit my OLAS cardigan as a delayed NaNo project

(Then when January starts I’ll do most of that as the cross stitch NaNo and see how far into this wedding sampler I can get).

Am I slightly insane for thinking this is all feasible? Almost certainly. Am I going to learn from this if/when it all fails spectacularly. Probably not. And most importantly- what is the repite I was talking about?

Well, this comes in two parts.

A-I can easily knit a sock in less than a month, so I have quite a lot of October to also finish this elephant. (Also, the knitting group at Uni has started again so I have even more time to make things)

B- the pattern for the socks I’m test knitting hasn’t arrived yet, so even if I wanted to start work on it, I can’t. (John, please keep procrastinating…)

Right, I’m off to keep crocheting! Wish me luck on this deadline!

Spinning- what I’ve learnt so far

Spinning has been rather an interesting thing to learn again second time around. Using a drop spindle, along with the park and draft method, has definitely helped. It also probably helped that I have a planned use for the yarn I make. Actually, I have two plans; I’ll talk about them later.

Firstly, I made the white yarn. Then the bright blue, and now I’m working on the darker blue. The light blue is (I think) rather underspun, so I’m concentrating on spinning and plying the darker blue a lot more, and I think it is making a difference 🙂 Any tips (including telling me I’m doing it wildly wrong) will be gratefully appreciated (and then probably researched because I’m like that!) (Unfortunately no close ups of my yarn because my phone is refusing to focus close up and I can’t find my camera, which may or may not be capable of such a feat. IRL the light blue is greener than portrayed, and the dark blue is…well…dark blue rather than black)

Since I don’t have a niddy noddy I’ve been skeining it up on my arm, which is a grand total of 30 inches around (very nice and round for working out total yardage!). Just count the number of loops(IDK the right term???), multiple by 30 inches then divide by 36 to get yardage (or just multiply by 5/6). The important thing to note here is that the yardage I’ll get is less than the number of loops. Which I didn’t realise at the time, so the yardage I had previous announced as spinning is rather inaccurate…*whistles innocently*. So, trying this again:

-White yarn. 34 loops(wraps maybe???)=28.33 yards

-Light blue yarn. 35+29=64 wraps= 53.33 yards

-Dark blue yarn. 27 wraps=22.5 yards

*lesigh* Much worse than I had thought. Oh well, I’ll have fun knitting with it :). Just to flarify- this isn’t wildly different yardage for the same weight of fluff. The white is 18g of*something*, the light blue is 25g of merino and the dark blue is about 12.5g of merino. I bought a mix bag of merino from world of wool. Lovely stuff, must acquire some more 😀 (On a side note, this is why my spinning yardage has suddenly dropped if anyone is actually reading that 😉 )

So, onto my plans for the yarn! Originally I planned to make a stripy colourwork scarf, so bands of colourwork in different pairs of colours and different patterns. But then I remembered that I was originally going to buy the Peerie Flooers pattern and make that (probably two- one for me and one for my mum). Decisions decisions…I mean, I guess there’s no reason why I can’t do both (other than the speed at which I spin…) The scarf I’m thinking of will look something like this:

just in double knitting rather than in the round because yardage…I’m thinking that the hat first- it should give me an idea as to how far my handspun will stretch, or whether I’ll need more than 25g of each colour (I mean, probably, even if 25g of two colours can do a complete band on the scarf!)

 

2017 look back and 2018 plans

Right, 2017 is nearly over (might in face be over by the time I finish this and get it posted, I’m not sure how long this is going to bed), and wowsa what a year!

Finished the PhD, got a job, knitted (checks ravelry) 9.5 projects on ravelry (the half was finishing the scrappy hexagon blanket), very nearly finished the rainbow cardigan (it is currently being used but I need to sew buttons on and I can’t do that whilst wearing it…), did four cross stitches (Hello, make today awesome and two stockings). Plus Christmas cards, the seagull (remind me to tell you about that later, it’s so cute!!!) and probably seeral other things. But I definitely feel that I haven’t done as much this year as I have in previous years (the PhD probably contributed to this!).

So, next year! As I announced a while ago, my 2018 word is going to be ‘Preparation’. I was rather hoping to have cross stitched this by now, but at least I have a pattern (Christmas knitting rather took over…). So as well as wanting to cross stitch that (I’m rather thinking a grey for the word, I don’t really feel that it’s a bright colour sort of word), I’ve decided to come up with a list of projects I want to make next year.

So far, I have:

Cross stitch my ‘preparation’

Kita’s OLAS cardigan- the sleeves are nearly finished, must remember to blog about that!

My OLAS cardigan- I’m not sure whether I want it big or not, so I’m using Kita’s as a sounding board- I’ll be able to try it on wince we’re about the same size, and see what’s what

Cockatoo Brae- I know I’ve been having a really hard time hitting gauge, but I really want this cardigan!

Masc buttonbox- it’s a really nice waistcoat pattern, I just want a masc version of it. Will have to blog about that too when I get the yarn for it 🙂

Socks for mother- she loves the bluetit yarn I used for some socks, and requested some socks with it. I decided to raise this to a pair of socks in every bird colourway West Yorkshire Spinners do (9). I’m also thinking that if I use contrasting yarn for toes and heels (afterthougt heel, I’m turning into a massive fan of it), I can use the rest of the yarn to make a bedspread- I’m thinking hexagon flowers of central colour in the bird yarn, surrounded by hexagons in the solid colour in some pattern. West Yorkshire Spinners suggest which of their solid yarns goes with each of the bird yarns, so I wouldn’t have to guess from the internet pictures if I can’t find a stockist of it.

Rachel’s wedding sampler- I don’t know when she’s getting married (after she finishes her PhD), but I’d hate to be caught out with this, so this becomes my cross stitch priority after I finish the wolf

Two wedding cards- as well as Rachel’s wedding (Mr and Dr by the time she finishes her PhD), I’m going to a same-gender wedding between a Mr and a Dr. I would be very surprised if I could find a suitable card for either of them, so I’ll have to make my own. Which involves finding a suitable pattern, but I figure that’s more likely, and I can always modify something if necessary…

2 pillow covers- Kita’s is nearly finished, mine hasn’t been started, but this plan has sort of ground to a halt since I need to replenish my sock yarn scraps for them…maybe ‘knit myself more socks’ would be a better plan…

2 blankets for me- I really want the woodland blanket attic24 is bringing out soon, and I would definitely want the larger size. I’m also thinking that I want the larger cosy blanket as well.

That’s all for now, which comes to a grand total of 21 projects (counting my mum’s as 9), and not counting any socks for me to do the pillow covers. Umm. This….could be interesting. Ok, let’s scratch the pillow covers, they’re probably the most unrealistic in the whole thing, thanks to not haivng very much scrap yarn. So, summarising, we have:

4 jumpers (aran, aran, aran, 4ply)

2 (large) blankets (crochet, DK)

2 cross stitch cards

1 large cross stitch

1 small cross stitch

9 pairs of socks.

I’m still not convinced that I can do all of this (but plans are still great), but that doesn’t seem so completely insane at the moment. Obviously, this isn’t everything I want to do this year (I have no other Christmas presents planned yet…), but I think this is pretty much the backbone of it all. Actually, looking at my Christmas list, it could well be that no-one else gets a hand-made present next year…

Other things I want to do: more cross stitch stockings and knit me more socks. It’s hard to be precise about these, because how many do I want to make? I don’t want to have a set number to hit, because I think that if I manage that I’ll stop then making them, and I don’t want to do that. I also want to make some knitted birds from a book my parents gave me for Christmas, but I need a lot more thinking to decide which ones (as well as what to do with them after they’ve been made…)

I also want to organise this blog a lot more in 2018. Organise my tags, retag most/all of my posts, have a look at organising posts in different ways etc. I’m also thinking of having a page for finished object posts, and maybe in thos posts link back to the beginninng/WIP posts I’ve made for them all. Or even just link it all to ravelry…we shall see. This is the thng I think is most likely to fall through the cracks, but we shall see. At some point I shall try to remember to have a look at what it’s currently like and hopefully break down the whole thing into manageable chunks.

I also have more not-crafting goals and plans for next year (including getting a new job…), but I’m not sure if people would be interested in hearing them??? Or do you all just come here for the crafting??? (In which case, sorry for the lack of pictures, there will be some later when I do finished posts for the shawl, and the rainbow cardigan and the seagull…)

Hello 2017!

So, who’s looking forward to 2017? Can we say it starts tomorrow in order to protect David Attenbrough???

I have compiled a list of goals for next year, a variety of crafting/learning new skills/personal development. I’m really excited to start!

There are three crafting(ish) ones I’m aiming for:

1)Have birthday/Christmas presents planned by the end of February

This one is actually mostly done. I need to come up with something for my dad’s birthday, and I currently have a blanket down for my parents Christmas, but I’m not sure about that one… I’ve started a spreadsheet with everyone’s birthday/fav colour and what they’ve had from me previously to make this much easier, and it’s definitely working! I can do a larger post on this later if people are interested?

2) Stitch and finish my Christmas stockings.

I want 24/25 of them to become an advent calender for me, the others I’m not so sure on. Maybe Christmas tree decorations? So far I think I have about 3 done (but they’re currently up in York so I can’t check!)

3) Complete the November crafting challenge. Either NaKniSweMo, or NaCrossStitchMo.

I have a couple of options for this. There’s a butterfly fairy cross stitch I’d like to do from a couple of issues of one of the cross stitch magazines I’ve got. Alternatively, I still have Cockatoo Brae to do (because doing NaKni with a 4ply yarn is such a great idea…). Or I could figure out how many hexagons on my scrappy blanket that would be and do that (this would be the easiest to keep track of whether I’m on track…). Or just a generic blanket, as I totally want a proper blanket for myself!

 

So what do you think? Any thoughts will be gratefully read! Are any of you planning on anything similar???

4 weeks until Christmas…

…and finally the slight panic sets in. This post is just going to be informative- a reminder to myself of what I have to do, and deadlines for everything, so no pretty pictures (because I went on a long fast cycle ride this morning and I still haven’t recovered enough to make getting up from under a blanket a good idea 🙂 )

So, what still needs to be made, and deadlines:

1. Cushion for my American pen pal-deadline 1st December to be posted, so really needs to be finished by the end of Wednesday. If I get around to sewing the front together, I can then just make a giant granny square for the back on Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday and put it all together Wednesday evening.
2. Advent scarf for my aunt. I’m going to Salisbury for Christmas on Thursday 15th, so really if possible, this should be done by Sunday 11th, so it can be blocked here
3. Advent hat for my mum. This can be knitted in Salisbury, but I do need to remember the yarn if I don’t start it before then. I also need to figure the pattern, so I should probably start it here in case I need anything funny… Deadline for this really is like the 20th, so it can be blocked.
4. Cat butt coasters for my sister. This is the third thing she asked for this year, I think she keeps forgetting what she’s asked me for! But this is the easiest option so I’m going with it! Again, doesnt need to be kept a secret, so the deadline really is Dec 25. I’m making them out of acrylic, so blocking them will be with my mum’s iron on the ironing board.

This is ridiculously straight forward. I feel as though I’m missing something…But no, that really is everything. Just have to remember to pack all the yarn/presents when I go home!

I am back!

After spending the summer with my aunt (sho doesn’t have unlimited internets, so I was restricted to just using the web for my work), I am now back and busily crafting away. How is it September already?!? Christmas is just around the corner, and I have nothing finished… (excpet my to-do list!). One of my friends is going to Japan at the end of November, and so her present (a crochet attic24 blanket) needs to be done by around about the middle of November, so I can postit to her before she goes. However, I don’t have the yarn for that yet (I ordered it on Tuesday), and so I’ve been getting on with another Christmas present, this one for the aunt I went to stay with. It’s so pretty! Naturally, I want to keep it to myself, but I’m sure my aunt will like it 🙂

I have also been crafting over the summer, and have a bit to show you all! There is a finished pair of socks (of course!), and a nearly finished other sock, using the longitudonal pattern. It’s so fun! It produces a completely different pooling effect, which is why I’m using it- I didn’t like how it pooled when knitting normally, but this garter stitch is lovely 🙂 I haven’t taken any photos of them yet, so I’ll show them off later.

There has also been some cross stitching- not very much as there was a 5 year old around as well, which meant I didn’t want to get into the technicalities of a pattern and threads etc etc etc, but I have done a few stockings.

Intermittent blog posts the second (and a finish!)

Firstly, I have finished (and washed!) my housemate’s blanket. I absolutely love it, and don’t really want to give it away. *sigh* But I’m sure he’ll enjoy it, which is the important thing. And I think I have enough yarn left over to make me a scrappy crochet blanket. I’m thinking hexagon, because apparently my brain really likes hexagons. Ooh, I could do that mathematical half-hexagon thing. Hmm, that would involve quite a lot of sewing up, I think. I will think on that some more…

But now this has been finished, I really should get back to the alphabet blanket. *sigh*. It’s nearly finished, so it really could be quite a lot worse, but I don’t want to. I really want to start knitting Cockatoo Brae, but the blanket really should get done first…and if I save it, it would be a rather fun (and slightly stupid, given that it’s 4ply yarn) option for NaNo this year.

So at the moment ~I’m being fairly good, and I plan to continue embroidering the last few letters on the Dick Bruna blanket.

Not too much left to go! I’ll get there eventually…