Archive for the 'yarn' Category

it was inevitable really

Take a girl with a fine art background and an obsession with yarn, and give her a bit of extra time. Sooner or later, this is bound to happen:

My first attempt at dyeing yarn. I used Procion acid dye, and painted the skeins with blue-y and yellow-y greens. I made lots of mistakes which resulted in the yarn looking nothing like how I imagined it would.

At first I thought I would overdye it. But, after reskeining and living with it for a few days, I am actually pretty happy with the colour.

The yarn is pure wool 4-ply, and I have got enough to make myself a scarf. I think it might turn into an Ishbel…

Published on June 24, 2009. 30 Comments Tags: .

win yarn! sponsor me!

There is just over a week to go before I run in my first ever 5k race. On the 6th of May I’ll be taking part in the Race for Life in London’s Battersea Park, an event that raises money and awareness for Cancer Research.

I’ll be running as part of the Iknit London team. Other team members will, impressively, be knitting while running or walking. I, on the other hand, will have more than enough to concentrate on with not falling over my own laces.

Thank you so much to everyone who has already sponsored me for this event! I have been really touched by your support. However, I thought the time had come to be a little more pro-active about fundraising. On the one hand, this is not a huge race, and times are tough, so I haven’t wanted to go overboard on this; but on the other hand, it is for an excellent cause. It really doesn’t matter how much or how little you are able to give; every little really does help.

So, I thought I’d do a bit of a yarny giveaway. Here’s how it will work. If you would like to contribute, this link takes you to the sponsorship page for the Iknit team. Click on the link, and donate as much or as little as you like or are able. Leave a comment with your donation with my name in the comment* – this is so that I can identify you and put your name in the draw.

Everyone who does this will have their name put into a hat, and I’ll get Steve to pull out two names. Those people will win one of the two skeins of yarn photographed here.

The first skein is Sundara Yarn Fingering Silky Merino in the colourway The Life Aquatic. This is a 3-ply yarn, made from 50% silk and 50% merino wool. There are 500 yards and 150 grams in the skein. The colours include navy, teal and denim, with flashes of turquoise and pale lime peeping through.

The second skein is Posh Yarn Charlotte in the colourway Atlantis. This is a lace weight yarn, also made from 50% silk and 50% merino wool. There are  700 yards and 100g in the skein. The colours include sky blue, light turquoise, lilac, and aqua.

Thank you in advance!

*If you have already sponsored me but didn’t put my name in the comments, just drop me a line using the contact page, and I’ll add your name to the draw.

Published on April 27, 2009. 10 Comments Tags: , , , .

holiday prep (ie, which yarn to pack?)

Warning – this post contains a photo of the Socktupus Sock Club March yarn. Don’t scroll down if you don’t want to see it!

We’re off to Italy for a week on Monday, and tomorrow is my yoga course, so today is my last day for packing and preparing for the trip. The clothes are all washed and ironed, suncream has (optimistically) been purchased, and the camera batteries are all charged and ready to go.

Which leaves the really big decision: which knitting project(s) to pack?

Serendipitously, the second shipment of my Socktopus Sock Club yarn and pattern arrived in the post this morning. The yarn is Artist’s Palette Sweet Feet, which is a merino/bamboo blend. The colours remind me of English skies at this time of year – there are delicate greys and silvers, greyish and gentle cerulean blue. It’s really pretty, and the pattern (by the talented Lou and Emms) is cute too. I’m going to swatch it tonight, and then pack the yarn and needles ready to cast on on the plane.

My ‘on-flight’ knitting kit consists of a pencil case filled with various pens and pencils, ipod earphones and charger … and my knitpick options needles stashed away in there with the other wires and pointy straight things.  I’m not sure whether I really need to disguise the needles this much, but it’s always worked for me, and I’d rather be safe (have knitting) than sorry (not have knitting!)

I have also cast on for a yoga cardigan. I mentioned the other day that I was thinking of making something like this (Ravelry link) but it is not quite what I want. Instead I am following Barbara Walker’s instructions for a raglan cardigan (another Ravelry link*) from her wonderful book Knitting From the Top. No photos yet, as all I have is a scraggy little crescent of knitting, but I’m having fun with it so far.

Anyway, here’s the Socktopus yarn. Next time hopefully I’ll be able to share some photos of Italy!

* If you are interested in these links and are not yet on Ravelry then go! Sign up now!

Published on April 4, 2009. 16 Comments

spring cleaning and spring greens

It’s all about clearing decks, cleaning slates and fresh starts here at the moment, in knitting and in our home.

First of all, congratulations to Bells who who has won the Om Shanti bedsocks. I ran this random number generator thingie to find a winner, and her comment came up. It’s good to know they are going to a good home!

On the home front, we have been having our bathroom renovated. It will have taken six weeks to do, but should be pretty much done by the end of the week. I’ll share some before and after pics once it’s finally done and the blinds are in. But the way it has affected the rest of our house has been truly astonishing. Dust, laundry and boxes full of tiles, bathroom furniture  and towel rails have overwhelmed almost everywhere. So this weekend we will be spring cleaning, and celebrating taking ownership of our home again.

Similarly, on the knitting front, I’ve had a strong urge recently to clear the decks, and get all of my works in progress off the needles. If you look at the sidebar up a bit and on the left, you’ll see that my only remaining unfinished project is the Hemlock Ring Blanket. My Anemoi mittens are finished and just waiting for an available photographer.

It’s not that I’m burning to start anything else – let’s face it, if I wanted to, I would have, however many projects were already ongoing! No, it’s more a desire for a clean slate and a fresh start. I have been enjoying not planning ahead for once. And I have found it interesting how, through not trying to plan, several ideas have bubbled up into my imagination.

I love Jared Flood’s Alberta vest. And, to my surprise, Steve loves it too. I would love to make this for him, I think it would really suit him (and as a bonus would have no arms to knit). But I think it will have to wait until I can find some suitable yarn – I don’t think it would be quite the same without one of the yarns being variegated, and I’m not sure where I would get that from at the moment.

I’ve also been thinking about the green Grannie Smith cardigan that I almost finished last year (pictured above). It has many elements that I love: the colour, the lace pattern, the Kid Silk Haze from which it is made, its sheer girly prettiness. I made a mistake, however, in choosing this pattern, as it just does not suit my shape. Well, I have got some ideas for how I could modify it without having to start from scratch again. I need a bit of time to play with the ideas, but it would be great if they work out, it would feel like getting a ‘free’ cardigan!

I would also like to have a handknit cardigan to wear while I do yoga. This one (Ravelry link) is kind of what I’m imagining (maybe not with the matching legwarmers though…). I’m thinking of using the green yarn in the photo above, which is Rowan Summer Tweed,  made from  70% silk and 30% cotton.

And then I’d like a small project for train knitting, socks would be good. And some more lace – another shawl maybe? And a beret to match my Laminaria shawl would be nice. And now I really have to stop before my head explodes!

Published on March 12, 2009. 11 Comments

new project: anemoi mittens

As a post-Christmas treat for myself I am making a pair of Anemoi Mittens. The yarn is Lucia Sock from Posh Yarn, in the Fairground colourway. It came as a kit with a pattern for some Winter Cottage Mittens. Although I like that pattern, I’ve been wanting to make some Anemois for ages, so this one won out in the end.

It may be because I’m on holiday, and therefore am more relaxed and contemplative, or because it is the end of the year, a time that makes me more reflective generally.  Whatever the reason, these mittens have been reminding me about the amazing act of transformation we knitters perform when we turn this:

into this:

It’s like magic, every time.

I have modified the pattern slightly around the fingertips. The pattern called for the last few rows to be knitted in stripes, and then cast off with a three-needle cast-off from the inside. I didn’t photograph that, but didn’t like it so tried doing the same cast-off from the outside instead:

I still wasn’t happy with this, so I adapted the method used by Brooklyn Tweed’s Druid mitten pattern that I made recently. I continued the edge stitches around the top of the mitten, incorporating the body stiches as I went, and cast the stitches off with a 3-needle bind off from the inside. I’m very pleased with this modification, as I think it really neatens the end of the mitten.

So, one down, one to go!

Published on January 4, 2009. 19 Comments Tags: , .