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Tag: knitting

  • bmp Socks

    I started these socks back in November as a prize for the Colony of Gamers charity raffle. I sat them aside in December to wait to hear who won (so I could knit the feet the correct size). And I waited… and I waited… and no email! I contacted them a few weeks ago asking what was happening, and still no reply. I figure that means they’re mine, right? Right. So this weekend I finally finished ’em.

    bmp Socks

    bmp Socks

    The pattern is from Knitty. I happened to have a lot of black and white 5ply in my stash, so I used that instead of traditional sock wool. (I took the needle up to a 3mm.) They look pretty big, but fairisle doesn’t stretch much and they fit me well. I knit them on two circs and followed the pattern pretty much exactly. The shooter was done in duplicate stitch. Cute and retro, huh? (More pics and details on Ravelry.)

  • Tired.

    Tired. Spent entire day working on Guild stuff.

  • Not-So-Secret Guild Business

    So the big news of the weekend was that I was elected unopposed as the new Convenor of the Inner City group of the Knitters Guild of NSW. Basically that means I’m in charge of running the meetings for our group of 32 knitters every month. My first act upon taking power was to MOVE THE MEETING! Our old location at Humanist House was getting decidedly cramped. So last week I got in contact with a nice lady at the City of Sydney Libraries who ended up offering us free meeting space at Customs House Library! Fiona and I checked it out Saturday afternoon and it’s PERFECT. (Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4) The group members agreed to it immediately so I’ve been busy sending out notices and updating websites. In the space of a fortnight I’ve gone from “Revolution!” to holding an office within the regime!

  • Knitting Camp at the Opera

    moblogged image

    Andrew, Tia and I have set up camp in the Domain! It’s sweltering. We are cowering in the shade.

  • Weekend Update

    It was grey and horrible the whole time. Do I need to say more? Friday started promising with beers and Japanese food after work, but I was dreading Saturday morning. I had to go to the Knitters’ Guild Executive Committee meeting and give a report on the state of the website. Which isn’t too bad in and of itself, but I knew that there was also going to be quite a bit of discussion about the Ravelry Incident. (Basically, two weeks ago somebody started a discussion thread on Ravelry to air some gripes about the Guild. The Guild didn’t like this AT ALL. The first rule of Knitting Guild is you do not talk about Knitting Guild. Seriously. The whole thing blew up into this huge scandal with the non-Internet using folks feeling very attacked and defensive towards those Ravelry people.) And since I was going to be there, I knew the chances were good that I’d end up trying to defend The Entire Internet to a bunch of aggrieved old ladies. I wasn’t wrong. After three hours of that – I wish I were joking – I headed off to Newtown for SSK. Ahhh, to be around people who get it. That was a nice time. Sunday morning I got up early to head to IKEA with Miss Jane. I’m proud to say I was quite restrained. I got a lazy susan for the pantry, a coat rack for the entry hall, and another Benno to hold our DVDs. (Of course, I haven’t put any of it together yet.) After getting home, I came down with a wicked sinus headache that’s been kicking my butt ever since. My nose is relatively clear but somehow there’s still pressure making me feel nauseous. Standing in the shower clears it momentarily, but I can’t do that 24-7. Any suggestions?

  • Blockhead

    BlockheadBlockhead
    I just realized that I forgot to properly document my most recent Finished Object! “Blockhead” was designed partly as a Halloween costume and partly just as a jumper I thought the Snook would like. The pattern itself is from Wendy leaflet #5101, which is the exact same one I used for the Long Sleeve Cotton Polo. Because the zig-zag would be done as intarsia, I couldn’t knit the body in the round as I normally do. So the front and back were knitted separately to the armholes; then the whole thing was joined up on one circ for the yoke and collar. The yarn is Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece (80% cotton, 20% merino) that I ordered direct from the mill in the US. It was ridiculously cheap (luckily I got it before the Aussie dollar collapsed) and I used less than 7 skeins for the whole jumper. The yarn was wonderful to knit with, much less splitty than the Jo Sharp cotton, and I think it’ll be a good weight for our climate. Snookums actually graphed the zig-zag for me (after much analysis of the comic strip) and it’s available for download as a PDF here. Now all I need are some buttons and it’s done!

  • Monteagle Bag

    Monteagle BagI saw the Monteagle Bag on Mason-Dixon two weeks ago and immediately downloaded the free pattern PDF. Then I filed it away in my brain and forgot about it. Last weekend, when I was supposed to be tidying up the house but really was procrastinating by digging around in my knitting wool, I found a single skein of Louet Euroflax linen. (I won it in the Knitty Calendar Contest a couple years back.) “Now why does that yarn ring a bell suddenly…?” Oh right! It’s the one they used for the bag! I got to work.

    My linen is actually the worsted weight, which is twice as thick as the one in the pattern. No matter, it works just fine. It’s just a lot sturdier. I used 6mm needles and managed to get one bag out of the 100g skein with a few meters to spare. The pattern is really ingenious, and I enjoyed figuring out how to do the new stitches. My bag didn’t turn out quite as tall as theirs, so I added a few additional rows at the top to lengthen it. I made the strap long so it could be slung diagonally across the body. I “blocked” it by hanging it up overnight with a dictionary inside to stretch it out. It’s a great little project! (More details are on Ravelry.)

    Monteagle Bag

  • February Lady Sweater

    February Lady Sweater

    This sweater took Ravelry by storm a few months ago. There are now more than 1400 finished projects, and another 5000 people still have it queued up. Why did it get so popular? If I had to analyze it, I’d say there were three important factors: it’s based on a famous baby sweater by Elizabeth Zimmerman, who most knitters revere; the pattern was released for free; and the author looks SUPER CUTE in the photo. (That shouldn’t matter so much, but it really, really does.) Anyway, I somehow caught the bug and started it ’round about WWKIP Day. The pattern calls for a worsted weight yarn, but I decided to use an 8ply instead. I’ve had two packets of discontinued Cleckheaton Alpaca/Wool in my stash for some time, and it seemed like a perfect match. The knitting went really quickly, even though I was making the biggest size (to compensate for the thinner yarn). The top-down construction means you can try it on as you go, so I did plenty of fittings. Since I’m so tall, I had to do quite a bit of straight garter stitch after the raglan increases finished to get the sleeves to meet under the arms. That’s why I ended up doing a 4th buttonhole. The original plan was to dye it, but I realized today that I’d rather get some wear out of it now, this winter, rather than waiting to mess around with dyes. So I’m calling it finished! I’m loving it. It’s lovely and comfy and warm. The buttons came from the Button Shop in Newtown. I may still dye it in the future, but the cream is growing on me… (Ravelry details are here.)

  • Ribbed Socks

    Ribbed SocksRibbed Socks
    These basic-yet-functional socks were a quick project I whipped up for the Snook. The yarn is Lana Grossa Meilenweit Cotton Fantasy, and I was hoping that the additional cotten content would make them less itchy for his feet. (We’ll see.) I used 2.75mm needles and a single ball was plenty long enough.

    The pattern is basically just one that I improvised. I knitted them toe-up at the same time on two circular needles. I used Judy’s Magic Cast-on for the toes, but I decided to try an experiment. Instead of making the toes symmetrical, I decided to do make them more pointed on one side (mimicking the outline of the Snook’s toes). So on each toe, I increased every row on one side, and every few rows on the other side. I don’t know whether it’s going to make them any more comfortable, but it was fun to try. Of course, making separate toes meant that the socks aren’t interchangeable. You have to wear the “right” sock on the right foot. To make it easier to tell them apart, I knitted in an L or R on the back of each leg against a background of reversed stocking stitch. The gusset increases and heel turns were taken from Widdershins. I like doing the reversed turned heel, and I think it fits better and looks nicer than a short-row heel. I did an “eye of partridge” heel for added strength as well.

    He put them on first thing this morning so I guess that’s the seal of approval! (More photos on Ravelry and Flickr.)

  • Tintin Jumper

    Tintin and SnowyThis was a special surprise birthday gift for my nephew Kurt, who is a big fan of Tintin. I used the pattern for “Jumper with Raglan Sleeves” from Panda Handknits #204 (“11 Handknits for Kids”). I noticed that in many of the illustrations of Tintin he’s wearing a sky blue jumper, so that decided me on the colour. Ma Snook provided me with a picture of Tintin and Snowy, which I transferred to knitter’s graph paper in Photoshop. The main areas of colour were knit in intarsia, but the smaller details (Snowy’s tongue and nose, and the black outlines on their faces) were embroidered on after the fact. I also decided to put “TINTIN” in block letters down one of the sleeves, just to keep it interesting. It was a fairly quick knit, and the only annoyance was weaving in all the ends and sewing it together. (I normally like to knit in the round, but the intarsia in this case prevented that.) I knitted it out of Filatura di Crosa Zara, and I probably used 9 balls of the blue and 1 of the white. (I used scraps of random 8ply for the other colours.) I used 4mm needles and finished it in just over a month. He and his parents are coming over Friday for dinner… I hope he likes it! (Ravelry details.)