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Tag: knitting

  • Miller’s Hat for Snook

    Miller's HatMiller’s Hat for Snook
    It’s been pretty chilly around here lately, so I finally convinced the Snook to let me knit him a hat. This is tricky business. He doesn’t like things that make his head itchy. He’s hated every woollen beanie I ever put on him. I’d have to get creative. While surfing Ravelry one day, I came across this photo of a guy wearing the unusual Miller’s Hat. Hey, I thought. That looks neat! So I bought the pattern. I decided to go with Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (80% cotton, 20% wool) for the project, despite all the drawbacks. (Cotton isn’t as warm; knitting cables in cotton kills your hands; cotton tends to be a stiffer fabric than wool.) The main selling point was that I knew it definitely wouldn’t make his head “itch.” I ended up having to restart the hat a couple times because I kept stuffing up the herringbone stitch around the band. It’s not hard once you get the hang of it (i.e. read the chart symbols properly), and it looks really cool. I ended up adding quite a few stitches – a whole extra cable repeat’s worth – to make it looser and to compensate for my famously tight tension. I did the whole thing on a 5mm needle, not bothering to change for the cabled bit. I also skipped a couple of the plain rows towards the end, not wanting it to be too slouchy at the top. As for the edging, I just picked up a zillion stitches around the edge, not really caring about the number. (Basically, I winged the whole thing.) It looks… interesting, huh? He likes it. I think he looks like a damn hipster, but it’s unusual and slouchy and keeps his ears warm. That makes us both happy.

    More details and photos over on Ravelry…

  • Absinthe Socks

    Absinthe SocksAbsinthe Socks
    I think I’m finally tired of knitting socks. Each pair is taking me longer and longer to finish. I started these on January 2nd! They’re pretty though, right? These are Absinthe from Knitty, a toe-up swirl of Art Nouveau cables and lace. It’s an absolutely perfect match for the yarn: Knitabulous Merino Sock in “Salwar Kameez” (from her Indian Summer yarn club). It’s the most intense blue-green, from teal to emerald to even kelly green.

    I knitted both socks at the same time on two 2.75mm circular needles. Unfortunately my first attempt at the feet was too small, both in length and diameter. So I frogged them back from the heels all the way to the toes. Then I added in some more increases (eight extra stitches) and lengthened the bit before I started the pattern. That did the trick! When I got to the leg, I finished the five lace repeats and then knitted 2×2 ribbing until I got to the end of the wool. I used Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewn bind-off to finish. (Details also on Ravelry.)

    Absinthe Socks   Absinthe Socks (Detail)

  • No ribbons.

    So… the Easter Show. I didn’t win anything. I was a bit of a letdown, though it’s always nice to have your friends yell “YOU WAS ROBBED!” over and over. The Magic Pudding was nicely displayed, and apparently he was a big hit with people passing by. St. Brigid was strung up in a corner rather lifelessly. Many of my friends won ribbons though, and I was very happy for them. (Lots of photos here.) I’m also happy to report that Gary continues his tradition of excellent nude marquetry. So I grumbled about the judges, and I toasted all the Ravelers, and it was on-the-whole an enjoyable evening. Now I just have to figure out how to knit a nude zombie clown giving the middle finger for next year…

  • Stop Motion Knitting

    This beautiful advertisement for natural gas shows a home being covered with knitting as a metaphor for it warming up in the morning.

    I also recommend watching the “making of” video. It looks like they started with everything covered and then slowly unraveled it all, bit by bit. Lovely!

  • Easter Show Knitting

    The other big thing that happened last week was that I finally finished my Easter Show knitting. I had two entries this year: “St. Brigid” in the aran category and “Albert the Magic Pudding” in the knitted toys. I think they turned out pretty well!

    St. Brigid     Albert the Magic Pudding

    St. Brigid is from Alice Starmore’s Aran Knitting, a book which is sadly out-of-print. (Used copies go for $300! No joke!) Luckily I know someone with a copy who was generous enough to share. This is my second Starmore after last year’s Na Craga. The wool is Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed in colour 127 Posie. It’s a very pretty pinky red with little flecks through it. Starmore’s patterns are famously huge with lots of ease, so I had to play to get the right size. I actually used 4mm needles to get gauge and lengthened the body by an extra repeat. I also lengthened the arms quite a bit. The original version had fringe around the bottom (ew) and a mock turtleneck (ew ew), so I left both of those off. This is a very warm jumper, and I’ll probably only get to wear it a few times a year. But it’s beautiful and I made it and I love it. (More pictures on Flickr and more details on Ravelry.)

    And then there’s the Magic Pudding. (No, Mom, he’s not an octopus!) He’s from a famous Australian children’s book by Norman Lindsay. The Snook read me this book, and I absolutely loved it. It’s a shame that kids in America don’t know it! I based my original design off a postcard with a watercolour of the Pudding by Lindsay himself. I was really tickled when the RAS volunteer who was taking my entries recognised him immediately. Maybe next year I’ll have to do Bunyip Bluegum? (More details on Ravelry.)

  • St. Brigid is blocking

    The Show is rapidly approaching! Time to get this sucker finished. I started by dunking the front and the back in cold water and making sure they were totally saturated. Then I gently squeezed out a bit of the water before rolling each piece in a towel. Carefully I stepped all over it til the towel was soaked, removing a lot of the water. The pieces were then pinned out to the pattern’s measurements. I freaked out a little bit at first because the squares look so big! But when I compared them to Na Craga, they’re only slightly bigger. (Which is good, as I have boobs and the Snook doesn’t.) So I think that will be okay. It was hard to get a decent shot with the crapping lighting in my office, but I don’t think I’ve lost any stitch definition. As soon as these are dry, I’ll do the sleeves. (I ran out of pins!) Then it’s time to start sewing up!

    St. Brigid - blocking

    Incidentally, I am LOVING that I had the forethought to use spit-splicing on this thing. I have like five ends to weave in there. That’s brilliant.

  • Cat and Girl

    “No wonder everyone switched to knitting.” Indeed.

  • Kinokuniya Craft Fair

    Kinokuniya (the best book store in Sydney) will having a Craft Fair on Saturday, February 27th. The Inner City Guild group will be there giving free knitting help to anybody who drops by. The shop will also be giving 20% off all craft books! WIN-WIN if you ask me.

  • Knitters’ Christmas Tea Party

    Christmas Tea Party

    I went to a tea party! The regular Thursday night crowd from the Morris & Sons SnB all met up on Saturday afternoon at Harrogate Teas. We nibbled on sandwiches, sipped a variety of teas, and guzzled our weights in champagne. (I’m serious.) It was so much fun! We also had a “Kris Kringle” swap of decorations, where I got a lovely sparkly dove ornament. And of course, we all frocked up. I’m wearing a vintage “Jonathan Summers” dress that Ma Snook gave me last year. (Everyone joked that I looked like a Stepford Wife.) Lyn has some great photos here too.

    Miss Fee

    Fiona in a fabulous floral headpiece…

    Alison and Sue

    Alison and Sue prove that there is no occasion too formal for the winding of wool…

    Lee

    Lee was a fabulous organiser and looked so smart in his green scarf!

    Jody, Donna, and Ailsa

    Jody knits along with our distant visitors Donna and Ailsa…

    Ness, Jody, and Lyn

    Recent graduate Ness chats with Jody and Lyn…

    Group shot

    A room full of happy and talkative knitters!

  • Socks!

    Biohazard SocksFirst up are the Biohazard Socks I designed and knitted for Eileen. They were a gift for getting her Biology PhD, so I thought the biozard symbol was fitting. I took the symbol and turned it into a chart, scaling it to fit nicely around the leg of the sock. I also centered it so the motifs would continue nicely down the top of the foot. Other than that, it’s your basic cuff-down sock with a slipstitch heel. The yarn is Pagewood Farms St. Elias that I bought last year at Compatto Yarn Salon in Santa Monica. It’s hand dyed Bluefaced Leicester and it’s GORGEOUS. I loved knitting with it. I knitted the socks one at a time on two circular 2.75mm needles. (Ravelry details.)

    Sheri's Posie SocksThe second pair are Sheri’s Posie Socks from Socks from the Toe Up. (Thanks to Fiona for lending me the pattern.) I started them at Guild Camp last month but only finished them last night. I knitted them at the same time on two 2.75mm needles. The yarn is Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in the “Sherbet” colourway, kindly gifted to me by Mary-Helen and Sandra. I was worried that the colours might compete with the lace, but instead I think it all worked together really well. The yarn is lovely to knit with and it really showed off the stitch pattern. There was very little pooling, and I ended up with heaps of it left over. I had some trouble with my initial cast-off being too tight, so I tried out Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off, which worked perfectly. (Ravelry details.)

    Now, on to the next project…