slippedstitch

Why Don’t You? A review of 'Making is Connecting'

2011-05-18T20:53:00.000Z

Again, this was first published on my work blog - sorry if you've already seen it. I'm posting it here too because I think knitters might be interested.

I've mentioned David Gauntlett's new book, Making is Connecting, a few times recently: on my work blog, my knitting one, and on the Guardian's Notes and Theories. It's an interesting book worth talking about. It's about the social meanings of creativity and 21st century maker cultures, be these makers of blogs, woolly cardigans, cupcakes, podcasts or physics-themed lolcats, and in particular the changing structures of making which surround what is sometimes called ‘social media’. As any seasoned media studies scholar will grump at you, all media is social, but with this thing we call web 2.0 the patterns of sociability are changing (Gauntlett has made a lovely vid on this) in ways which are wrapped up in the history of crafting.

It has, however, taken me a while to actually finish reading the book and post this review. This isn’t because it’s a hard read, or boring. Quite the opposite. For a piece of social sciences, it’s incredibly well written. Still, in a way, it is a book that inspires slow reading, because one of the many reasons why it took me so long to finish (why it takes me so long to finish most books, unless I make myself sit and read them in a go, or even watch a movie or er… finish this sentence) is that I get distracted. I stop consuming whatever other people have made – in this case Gauntlett’s book – and go and produce something for myself. I knitted, I cooked, I wrote, I gave lectures and organised events. Some of this I did myself, some of it collaboratively. Along the way, I also found stuff other people had made to consume and take part in too. And that’s why Making is Connecting might be ‘slow reading’. Because, this process of going off and doing something yourself is a lot of what the book is about.

One of the key frames of the book is a shift from the passivity of the ‘sit back’ model of what might come to be seen as the odd mid to late 20th century era of the television and towards a culture dominated by ideas of making and doing. People who watched British television at a certain point in the late 20th century may remember a show called Why Don't You Just Switch Off Your Television Set and Go Out and Do Something Less Boring Instead. So does Gauntlett.

I wondered at times whether this shift is over-stating in the book. Or at least that I we should be careful of putting them up against each other in terms of making. I love the passivity of some TV shows because they free me to knit in front of them (just knitting on its own doesn’t catch my attention enough). Or what about TV shows that draw on crafting cultures? (food TV, especially in the USA is fascinating here). Moreover, there are ways in which that big smooth professionally oiled machine of big media acts as a material for 21st century craft. One of the striking, not always appreciated, aspects of 21st century making is how much of it is re-making. Fan fiction is the classic case study of the complexity of such remaking culture. Take, for example, Constance Penley’s book NASA/Trek where she writes about people re-working the stories of Star Trek just as they also rework the various stories surrounding NASA.

A smaller topic, but equally interesting I thought, was that of mess. Gauntlett mentions this first when he is introducing web the notion of web2.0 and mentions a video from Chris Anderson, and then comes back to later when discussing the Jaron Lanier's book You Are Not a Gadget. It reminded me of my friend Felix’s great idea (a few years back now) of ‘messy Tuesdays’. Inspired by the ways in which some knitting and cooking bloggers seemed to be self-consciously styling their domestic lives to look like a glossy lifestyle magazine, Felix wrote up a manifesto (currently offline): ‘You are not your flawless surfaces. You are not your orderly laundry-pile. You are not the seamlessness of your Finished Objects. You are not your risen cakes. You are not your sewn-in ends’. As another blogger, Lara put it, ‘as someone who spent her teenager years wrapped in teenage angst about not being clever enough, pretty enough or thin enough, the idea that my home won't be beautiful enough, my craft not so well executed or my knitting up to speed has been at times quite tough’. They confidently posted about the less tidied-up bits of their lives, celebrating the beauty and reality of the mess that surrounds us all.

I sometimes think we should bring that back: #messytues has something on a twitter meme about it, no? I also think there’s potential for some research here. John Law is good on this topic, as a post on the ‘serendipity engine' reminded me recently. Although I’ve just quoted a couple of knit-bloggers, I think this idea of the reality, necessity and even beauty of mess has something to say about the way we tell science stories too (as the reference to Law may signal).

The point that most interested me about this book, however, was the way that Gauntlett, as a professor of media studies, is interested in people making media and mediating making. It’s all very popular culture orientated, with some nods to domestic life. The hand crafting of pharmaceuticals, for example, doesn’t get much of a look in. I wondered if this would have brought something else to the debate.

That’s one of the reasons why I referred to NASA/Trek. There are many other better works on fanfiction (e.g.) but I think Penley’s discussion of something as intrinsically ‘big science’ as the space race says something about the social arrangement of makers in late modern society. There is a danger that by focusing on the ways people make and remake some objects we further 'black-box' others. For example, I learnt how to knit from reading knit blogs. I can make a jumper. I can also blog about this on the super clever iphone I carry around with me. I don’t know how to make an iphone though, or even spin my own wool to make that jumper from. The latter is largely a matter of choice (I do at least know some blogs that’d teach me to spin and even what plants to grow to make my own dyes from, as well as a few people who have access to sheep for wool, or possibly even a llama). For the former though, I have no clue where to even start teaching myself, even if I did, the manufacture of an iphone is not exactly opensource. Most of the time, I’m ok with that cluelessness, it frees me up to be knowledgeable about other things, but it does also disempower me.

There are key ways in which most of us do not have the means to (media) production – from our inability to understand how to do anything but use (as in use as a consumer) the shiny computers so many of us carry around in our pockets, to more economic or legal issues like the one Martin Robbins recently flagged up on his post about web hosts as the Achilles heel of online journalism.

None of that is necessarily a criticism of the book. We all have to focus somewhere, and Gauntlett does touch on these issues a bit in his final chapter ‘Web 2.0 – not all rosy?’ Still, I was surprised not to see more on the sociologies of work, expertise and technology and finished the book wanting to hear more about anti-social aspects of DIY culture. I also suspect Gauntlett would get an intellectual kick out of the various aesthetics of steampunk maker culture (old post I wrote on an exhibition of such work).

To conclude, I do want to stress that Making is Connecting is a lovely book, not least because of Gauntlett realistically optimistic approach. Though he’ll happily call ‘rubbish!’ (his 10 things wrong with the media ‘effects’ model is justifiably a classic), he doesn’t wear an ability to be ‘critical’ like it's some sort of pin badge to show membership of the ‘very clever thinkers club’. Academics should be able to say they like things, and I like this book. I’ll end on a positive note, an honest one, and say if you are a maker of any sort, I can wholehearted recommend Making is Connecting. It’ll give you a chance to think about the history and philosophies of crafting cultures. It’ll lift you out of your own maker microculture to help you ponder your wider context. It inspired me to make this post, and others, and to think more about my making. So do read it, even if it does take you a few months to get around to finishing it because you keep putting it down to do something else instead.

Science and craft (post on the Guardian)

2011-05-17T14:08:00.000Z

This is cross-posted from my work blog, apologies to the few weirdos who read both.

There seems to be more and more events happening which I can only describe as science-craft. I thought I'd write about it, and did a post for the Guardian Science blog.

There are overlaps here with sci-art projects, just as there are overlaps (sometimes problematic ones) between arts and crafts more generally. However, I think science craft events have the potential to involve new and different communities which sci-art doesn't necessary reach, and to be more participatory in their whole project set up too.

There is the question of what you participate for exactly: what are you making? At danger of repeating myself, science communication isn't all about baking a cake shaped like a neuron. In particular, I worry that the fluffier ends of sci-craft might act as a distraction from the production of more politically controversial outcomes.

Still, we shouldn't loose sight of the use of these more playful products too. Or rather, we shouldn't ignore the power of the social interactions which surround their production. My knitting friends often laugh at me for being a 'process knitter'. I'll happily take a piece apart and re-knit it, several times. Finishing is nice. But, for me, the fun's in the doing. Similarly, I suspect much of the worth of public engagement happens in the process rather than the outcome. The various collaborative processes often involved in crafting can provide a space for people to talk through and think through ideas together. As I end the piece for the Guardian:

At a knitting evening held at Hunterian Museum a few years back, I ended up sitting next to a homeopath. As well as swapping tips on the best way to bind off for socks, we discussed our own research projects, including the ways in which they might be seen to clash, and some of the items of the history of surgery that surrounded us. Other people listened and joined in, before we all moved on to complaining about estate agents. It was polite, humorous and thoughtful. It was also pleasingly mundane; something that we’d all do well to remember a lot of science is.

To give another example, I spotted this video of a neuroscientist, Zarinah Agnew, making a giant sandcastle. She told me she wants to do it again, but as a workshop rather than a film. I like this idea, because the time spent making the sandcastle allows space for social interaction which simply watching the film might inspire, but won't necessarily do in itself.

Not all public engagement can or should have an obvious political or scientific outcome. Whether you want to open up the governance of science or increase the public understanding of science, you are unlikely to get anywhere without quite a bit of cultural change first. Playing with a bit of yarn might seem unambitious, but arguably the social interaction and reflection that comes with it can help us get there. Or this social interaction might lead us somewhere else entirely.

More DNA knitting

2011-05-15T16:42:00.002Z

I few weeks ago, I posted about a DNA-themed scarf I'd knitted for a friend of mine. As it was the seventh time I'd knitted that scarf, I took the opportunity to think less about the yarn and needles, but the social relationships the making and sharing the scarves and the pattern reflected. Here's another, different, DNA-themed piece. Again, I want to reflect on the social connections this pattern reflects, because I think it's important.

It’s a cardigan for a baby. The baby’s father is a science writer (another one) who is especially interested in genetics, so I used the cable pattern from June Oshiro's famous DNA scarf. It's a lovely pattern, with a lovely story behind it. In many ways, it inspired both my DNA illusion pattern (googledoc link) and the cosmic radiation scarf I made for my PhD supervisor. I've thought about knitting Oshiro's pattern many times, but just never got around to it.

The crafting of this cardigan reflects my friendship with the new baby’s parents, but it also reflects a sort of parasocial relationship with Oshiro (as in, I’ve never met her and doubt she knows who I am, but I feel as if I know her, as I know odd bits about her life through her blog). Beyond that, it reflects the relationship Oshiro had with a colleague who challenged her to design that scarf, over a decade ago now. Indeed, it reflects decades and decades of scientists connections with each other and broader popular culture. In many ways, the image of the double helix has become part of popular culture, or at least parts of public culture. That's one of the reasons so many people knit it. The book behind the cardigan in the photo is about this issue, and I guess my desire to knit the image reflects the fact I've studied this as a sociology undergraduate.

I used to work in the Science Museum, and would walk past the 1953 Watson and Crick model they have on display there a couple of time a day. So I have an odd set of personal and professional relationships with it too - ones that are different from the relationship a geneticist would have - and have seen people from all over the world stop and think through their relationships with the icon of the double helix as they stop by the exhibit too.

Back to that baby cardigan. It's actually a mash-up of two patterns, as I also used Elizabeth Zimmerman’s 'February baby cardigan' as the basic garment. Thus, it reflecting an older and broader set of connections to knitting communities, as well as, more personally, a connection to my friend Kirsty who gave me a book of Zimmerman patterns for my birthday a few years ago. In terms of my use of both patterns, crafting this piece also reflects various other social connections, of varying degrees of tangibility, throughout the online knitting community as I’ve tracked other uses of these two patterns.

Now I’m sharing it with you – and on ravelry – it reflects another set of connections, and opens itself to further possible ones too.

What am I knitting. Where am I knitting?

2011-04-25T02:03:00.000Z

My latest work in progress, can you guess what it is yet?

It's going to be a scarf, based on the Step Up afghan from Woolly Thoughts. The pattern is the sort of super-logical and efficient-as-possible one I love. There's lots of picking up stitches, knitting one shape into another, and rules like all triangles are stocking stitch, or vertical parallelograms have garter stitch light-coloured stripes. I'm still getting to grips with these rules, but am getting there.

Rather than what am I knitting, a better question might be where am I knitting it? Ignore the old bag from a conference in Florence; that's a red herring.

If you can't quite work out that white fuzzy dome in the background, here's a better shot, stepping out from the macro a bit:

I'm in DC for a couple of months, visiting faculty at American University, School of Communication. I'll also be spending a bit of time in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Toronto and Ottawa while I’m here. Any don't miss knitting things to do, people to see, yarn to squeeze? (don't think I can make Maryland Sheep and Wool).

I just managed to catch the last day of the Crochet Reef display at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History on it's last day. Best two overheards there: "it's not coral, it's made of sweater stuff" (but in a tone of "and OMG that is awesome") and "it wasn't just one person you know, it was loads of people, it's a community project" (again, clearly the speaker thought this was the best bit. I agree).

On the social nature of knitting

2011-03-24T07:17:00.005Z

Here's a picture of my friend Ed wearing a DNA illusion scarf I've just knitted him. Ed's a prolific and highly respected science writer (he blogs at Not Exactly Rocket Science). He recently included me on a list of top science bloggers, and I joked that if he wanted me to knit him a scarf, he only need ask. I was serious too though. I appreciate the work Ed does, but I get to read it for free. Though he does get paid for much of his writing, he also puts a crazy amount of hours in. Knitting him a scarf was a way of saying thank you.

Illusion knitting is notoriously hard to photograph, so you might have to have a look at the video in this post to really get how the trick really works.

As I've said before, DNA and illusion knitting seemed to be made for one another. The ladders of the striping pattern twist round those of the helix as purls and knit-stitches collect to display a regular shape. I also like that you have know how to look at the scarf to really see the pattern. There's an "OH!" moment when you spot it. Symbolic of the science it reflects, the pattern isn't self-evident.

Presenting Ed with the scarf in the pub last night it was great watching other people respond to it too, and holding it up to the eyes to spot the illusion.

I think this DNA illusion pattern is the knitting project I'm most proud of. It's not so much the product (though I do like the way it looks) or the process of knitting it (though I do enjoy illusion knitting). Rather, it's the social connections that making this scarf has either reflected or helped create.

I'm currently reading a new book about the social dimension of craft - Making is Connecting - so I guess this is on my mind at the moment.

The first one I made was for an ex-geneticist friend, as leaving present for work. I'd only recently learned to knit. Flatmate Kirsty had adapted the alien illusion scarf for her brother, with a picture of Che Guevara. I thought I'd try something similar, and that a design reflecting the iconic double helix would work really well with the illusion pattern.

Then I made another for a scientist/ knitter friend in New York, and wrote up the pattern to share. Then more started popping up. I've had emails from all over the world about the pattern. I've knitted the design into some socks for a science-teacher friend for his birthday, then as a baby blanket for a cousin, and then again as a scarf for a friend when she finished her PhD. I finally made one for myself too. A journalist from UK Wired emailed me and it ended up being mentioned there and it featured on this post on science-knitting. I swear I once spotted someone on the street wearing one (I was on the top deck of the bus at the time so couldn't run up to her and check).

The project is ravelled here if you want to see details of yarn, needles and mods. The pattern is available or through googledocs, or via ravelry.

A "strawman" scarf

2011-01-24T08:01:00.000Z

I don't know if you have ever heard the term "straw-man argument"? Loosely, it means arguments that are aimed at a problem that doesn't really exist. It's a classic debating technique. You make up an extreme version or caricature of your opponent's argument (the "straw-man") which is all the easier to knock apart.

So, the expression "but you're straw-manning me!" is a fair and useful term in some contexts (I have used it myself). It helps you point out and defend yourself against unfair criticism, and it helps you pass the rhetorical trick right back at your opponent as, by taking aim at the premise of their argument, it can be reasonably hard to think of a come back.

But the term can be overused. Sometimes what looks like a deliberately rhetorically constructed straw-man is simply a misunderstanding. It's accidental. In fact, it might even be the fault of the person claiming they've been straw-manned. If someone doesn't understand your position, maybe you didn't made yourself very clear in the first place?

Closing an argument with a call of "straw-man!" for a bit of oneupmanship in a debating chamber be all part of the fun, but if the aim is mutual understanding, I'm not convinced it's productive. I'd much prefer people took an interest in why they have been misunderstood/ are being misinterpreted. A lack of understanding can be a chance for everyone to learn: a chance to continue debate, not end it.

Having seen the term once too many one evening, I decided to exorcise my grumpiness the best way I know how: knitting.

I thought about knitting a small straw-coloured toy, like the voodoo doll I made in a moment of whimsical annoyance at the structures academic admin a few years back.

But a doll's pretty useless - as much of my annoyance with the term phrase was that it's not productive, it seemed a bit silly. So, instead, I made a small straw-coloured scarf with a man symbol embroidered at one end. The stitch pattern is from My So Called Scarf, which I thought brought out a straw-y texture (see ravelry project page for full details about yarn, etc).

I've now posted it to a friend who was at the receiving end of some particularly unhelpful "you're just straw-manning me" bit of rhetoric last year. Because debate should be about sharing with others, not keeping the prizes for yourself.

Time catching up

2011-01-09T13:25:00.002Z

2011 is the year I turn 30. This isn't something I'm especially worried about. You can't work in a university (as I do), surrounded by all the hope and energy of youth, and have a problem with feeling older. If anything, I quite like the idea of growing towards wise old biddie status.

Still, I admit that on opening a new calendar on the 1st of Janurary and realising this really was the year I'd leave my 20s, I painted my fingernails with purple glitter and dug out some very old CDs.

Luckily, I have a host of friends who have recently passed through the big 3-0 to guide me on my way. I've already blogged about flatmate-Kirsty turning 30. Here are two scarves I made over the Christmas break for other recently-turned-30 friends.

First up, a scarf for my old university friend, Uslan. You'll have to excuse the slightly dodgy iphone pics - I left my camera at home on the only afternoon I had the scarves before I wrapped them up to give them away.

I've made a scarf for Uslan before (Exchequered, which is in Spring '06 Knitty) but that was about five years ago, so I offered a new one. We discussed size, shape and colour and after passing some example photos back and forth, this is the result: four skeins Colinette Point 5 knitted in brioche rib on giant 10mm needles (see ravelry project page). As Kirsty said about the yarn: it's as if Barbie was sick on a sheep.

The resulting scarf is also incredible long. A scarf to wrap yourself in and hide (or possibly just mask your wrinkles, not that Uslan has wrinkles, I'm sure).

Secondly, a small shawlette for Anne-Marie, who I was at university with and worked at the Science Museum with too. Anne-Marie was also my old flatmate before I lived with Kirsty: we had a teeny-tiny little flat by Mornington Crescent (amazing views over Euston Station).

The pattern is Haruni by Emily Ross. This is meant to be entirely lace, but I subbed chart A for a bit of plain knitting, because that’s what the cool kids do. However, rather than the stocking stitch most people seem to opt for, I went for garter stitch. I'm on a bit of a garter stitch kick at the moment. I used felted tweed, which is supposed to be a DK weight, but is nearer 4ply so it's quite small, but a pretty little shawlette nonetheless (ravelry project page).

FO: Woodland Capelet

2011-01-03T11:29:00.002Z

A small shawl, knitted for flatmate-Kirsty as a Christmas present.

Kirsty always complains about her shoulders being cold, and wraps big scarves around herself as she sits at her desk to work. I thought this would help keep her shoulders warm, but also be elegant enough to wear out with a dress too. I wondered about bringing out some of the golds in the yarn with a bit of embellishment to glam it up a bit, but decided it was better to keep it plain. Kirsty can always add a broach.

The pattern is Woodland Capelet by Susan Mills. It was a fun knit. Unchallenging, but as I blogged yesterday, I've been so busy the last year, I couldn't really cope with anything difficult. It's all simple garter stitch, but the changes of the shoulder shaping and zigzaggy edge to stop you from getting bored.

I'm on a bit of a garter stitch kick at the moment, it as a sort of homespun sophistication (if we can even have "homespun sophistication". I think we can).

The yarn is a mix of recycled silk, cotton and rayon, which makes for a rather warm combination, despite not being obviously woolly.

Full details on the ravelry project page.

I also made a pair of green socks for Kirsty's partner, Anthony. Simple toe-up in basketweave stitch (see that project's ravelry page). I made him almost the exact same pair last year, but brown. As Kirsty says: Anthony likes brown, green and things he has already.

New Year, New Hat

2011-01-02T12:38:00.004Z

So, I walked into a tree.

In my defense, it wasn't the trunk of the tree I walked into, just a bit of a branch. Also, it was snowing quite hard, and I had my eyes on the ground, checking for ice so I didn't slip.

It was on Clapham Common a bit before Christmas, and the point of this story is that I was so dazed from the cold branch hitting me in the face, not to mention checking my glasses weren't scratched, that I didn't realise my hat had fallen off. When I went back to look, it had gone.

I needed a new hat. I picked up a ball of kid classic and a 3.5mm circular needle. I cast on 4 stitches and started working in the round. I increased four stitches every other round until it was roughly wide enough, then worked a 4x4 rib until I'd nearly run out of yarn, and cast off.

Result: one pixie-point red hat, perfect for the Christmas holidays. Final finished piece of knitting for 2010. Ravelry project page.

Conclusion: New Year's Resolution number one is to stop walking into trees.

My New Year's Resolution number two is the more serious one: do less. I've been rushed off my feet all year. I've had so much work, I haven't left much time for many of my friends, time for myself, or even simple things like tidying my room, exercise, cooking properly or sleep. I've hardly had time for a weekend, let alone a holiday. I've gone from being one of the most organised people I know, to turning up late to meetings. I've also been late with a couple of projects, and rushed a few more. I hate that. "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing properly", and all that.

2010 was a lot of fun. I've made new friends and achieved things I've never thought possible, but I finished it absolutely exhausted. Next year: do less, but do it better and be happier. That said, looking at my diary for 2011 I have some really exciting things planned. I'm going to be writing and speaking about some amazing things, and visiting some fantastic places. I just need to keep it all under control.

Having finally taken some time off over the holiday season, I've taken time to knit a few Christmas presents and pieces for friends who have recently turned 30 (urgh, 2011 is the year I do too). Will post them all soon.

... and yes, my eyes are different colours.

Knitted Higgs

2010-09-21T21:54:00.003Z

Last week, I knitted a Higgs Boson. I am more than aware that this is even more ridiculous than the "Rosalind" DNA illusion scarf. As least that scarf was (a) inspired by some ideas in the history and sociology of genetics (b) keeps my neck warm and toasty now the nights are drawing in. This is just blue lump (roughly 10cm wide) inspired by little more than a challenge on twitter and embroidery based on a google image search for "higgs boson". And anyway, it's really more a representation of the particle collisions working at the LHC in the search for the Higgs than the boson itself. And um... a very sketchy representation at that.

The reason for actually taking the time to bother to produce the thing was to provide a jokey prize for a competition run to encourage people to pre-order a Geek Calendar. The Geek Calendar project is, arguably, yet another ridiculous idea. Dreamed up in a pub one night, we joked that we could easily sell a calendar of nerds in aid of libel reform (quite a cause in several geeky corners of the UK). We laughed about it on twitter and got a huge response (it trended in London), thought why not and... um... a few months (and 15 photoshoots) later, we've sold several 100 on pre-orders alone already. You can see a tiny preview, but it's not even printed yet.

If I'm honest, I was already slightly sick of the self-conscious re-claiming of the word "geek" even before I started this project (positively retching at it now...). Still, I do think it's worth celebrating the various nerdish elements of contemporary life. People do specialist things. In detail. They get inspired and obsess. And they're cool. This has always been true, but I think it's more obvious today. We rely on detailed specialist knowledge more and more, and the internet has let us connect specialist interests more easily. Whether this is dedication to a cause, an over-achiever hobby or simply sharing a love of antique calculators, there's a lot of this geeking about. We rely on detailed specialist knowledge more and more, and the internet has let us connect specialist interests more easily. Crucially, this sense of specialism means there is no single definition of what a geek likes or does, there are multiple ways to get your geek on, as we all run down our own various rabbit holes. In many ways, knitting is a perfect example of this, the very niche area of science knitting, even more so.

Check out our flickr to see how much fun I've had at the photoshoots. You can pre-order a calendar now, or proper printed ones will be available from the end of October. If you want to read more about the problems of libel law in the UK, I can recommend this recent essay by Alan Rusbridger.

See also the ravelry project page for info, not that there is much more information there. Really: a blue ball, embroidered, stuffed and closed. That's it. The actual hunt for the Higgs is way more interesting.

Piano made from cassette tapes

2010-09-12T09:48:00.004Z

This has nothing to do with knitting but it's something somebody made and I think it's beautiful. A "piano" built from cassette tapes. It's from a Harvey Nicholls window display, hence the mannequin in the background of the last image.

I love the way they've used black and white tape cases to make the keys, as well as empty cases and a mix of standard sized and smaller DAT tapes. I think my favourite bit is the use of the tape itself - again of varying sizes, as strings of the piano.

I took the photos on the way home from the Natural History Museum last month, after helping out at their Stitch a Squid workshop. It was around 10pm - late-opening at the Museums - and the light shining through the transparent tape cases sparkled in the dark.

If you want another (tenuous) knitting reference, here's a picture of some piano socks I made a few years back.

Normal knit-blogging will resume shortly. I'm currently knitting a higgs boson. Why? Look here.

Busy bees

2010-08-19T06:40:00.003Z

A baby photo of me and my flatmate Kirsty. Yes, Kirsty who made the awesome Wonder Woman jumper that got Boing-ed. That Kirsty.

Our parents have known each other since they were teenagers, and I've known Kirsty since before I could speak. We've shared a flat together for six years now. We joke that when we do finally stop living together we'll never manage to disentangle our joint knitting needle collection. In truth, it'll be a lot more than just that.

She is a bit under a year older than me. Which means she's got to do most things first. She learnt to speak, learnt to walk and learnt to knit first. She went to university first, she left university first (something I'm still struggling to do). She was even Alice before me, as it's her middle name. And she turned 30 first too, yesterday to be precise. See her failing to blow out all the candles in one go.

On such a momentous occasion, I could bang on about what an amazing person Kirsty is, how much she has taught me, how much she means to me. But it's not really my style. Or hers. Or our relationship's. Or this blog's. Instead, I'll show you one of the birthday present I knitted for her and take some photos of her feet.

Legwarmers, covered in bees. One hundred and eighty bees to be precise. Nine sets of bees, each containing ten bees.

They are based on Pinneguri's bumblebee socks, but legwarmer-ised (larger circumference, and no toe or heel). I also striped brown and yellow yarn, rather than use self-striping, and stuck to just the three colours. I think the amazing yellow yarn really makes them, it's Jitterbug in "Vincent's Apron".

The project is ravelled here which includes full details of yarn and needles and link to pattern.

It was part of a bee-themed collection of presents (largely inspired by the legwarmers, Kirsty has no special "thing" about bees, though obviously we all know bees are cool). This included sponsorship of a beehive, honey bath things, an actual pot of honey, and a bee-covered honey and chocolate cake.

Breezy Brighton

2010-07-29T07:00:00.011Z

Here I am on Brighton beach, with my newly knitted socks. Full knitterly details like yarn, etc on ravelry, this post'll explain why I knitted them.

The bobbles running up each side are organised to represent the word "yakawow" in braille. Back in mid-April, the Times published an interview with controversial scientist, Baroness Greenfield. She'd said all a whole host or objectionable and/ or funny things in this interview, and people were chipping in with their favourite bits. "Crowd reading", if you will. Someone quipped "She's right abt 1 thing: we don't want "load of breezy people who go around saying yaka-wow". Cos that would be MENTAL". Another replied with "Yaka-wow must used more! Dunno its meaning but ace phrase".

They were clearly onto something. I logged into twitter a few hours later, after a very serious evening discussing the role of science communication in the developing world, to discover a @yakawow account was now following me. (I still don't know who is behind this account, though I have my suspicions). There were also tshirts for sale, a youtube video, various photoshopped images and facebook page.

It turned out Greenfield didn't coin a new term. It was a transcription error of "yuck and wow", a phrase Greenfield has often used to describe the way people act online, running quickly from one sensation to another. Greenfield is (in)famous for her concerns that computer games and social networking sites are damaging our brains, leading to short attention spans and an inability to empathise (e.g. see this news piece). This makes more sense than "yakawow", but Greenfield's views on computers is not without its critics (short version: all very well as an idea, but it lacks evidence).

The yakawow meme kept running. It was Boing-ed. Quick to celebrate the new word they had invented, the The Times wrote about it (see also this cartoon, from print version). The New York Times vocab blog picked it up and apparently it's in the latest edition of Wired, though I haven't see a copy yet.

One of my old students challenged me to knit yakawow. It had to be socks. Greenfield famously referred to twitter as "reminiscent of a small child saying "Look at me, look at me mummy! Now I've put my sock on. Now I've got my other sock on". I also thought the word would provide an opportunity to play with knitting braille, something I'd been thinking about trying for ages.

I worked three panels of the word, loosely reflecting the streams of code in the poster for the Matrix (a play on Greenfield's suggestion that computer mediated communication is somehow not real). I knitted them one at a time, rather than two-at-once-on-a-huge-circular to mirror Greenfield's point about people on twitter saying they'd put on one sock and then another. They were also from the bottom up: read something into that if you want, I can't be bothered to extend the symbolism any further.

When I wear these socks, I will wiggle my toes inside them and celebrate my belief that interacting online is not without its tangible consequences. Social media sites, not least knit blogging and ravelry, provide real relationships with real people doing real things. Imaginative and clever people who get together to collaboratively discover, develop, teach, learn, critique and create. As the Times' piece on yakawow concludes:

Baroness Greenfield, take note. These people’s brains haven’t atrophied yet. They have taken your interview and created a whole new universe. I think, therefore I yaka-wow.

Still, it can be nice to have a break from it all. Which is why although this photo was taken on Brighton beach on Monday, I didn't blog about it until today. I've been away from the internet, reading a book and knitting a legwarmer. I also took those socks off and went for a bit of a paddle.

FO: leaves scarf

2010-05-16T10:50:00.002Z

Leaf scarf done. Or at least I call it a scarf, I think I’m might use it as bunting, it’s not the sort of thing I’d wear normally. It's a bit big for a necklace and too small for a scarf. That said, I don't really have much call for bunting either. It's finished anyway, even if I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet.

It was always more of a process knit rather than something produced for the final product. A nice easy project to take to knitting groups. I had a few balls of green yarn leftover from a sweater. I didn't want a green hat or a green scarf. I liked how grassy the yarn was. So I decided to knit some leaves.

It's really just icord with the odd leaf growing out of it. I kept knitting until I run out of yarn, adding new stems and leaves wherever looked appropriate. The leaves were easy to make, 2kfb, k, turn, sl1, k2. Then continue to increase either side of the center stitch every RS row until it was big enough, then a few plain rows, before decreasing back again (always slipping the first stitch of each row). I did a center decrease where you slip 2 sts at once, k1, then pass both slipped sts over at once. This helps make the "stem" of the leaf pop. Yes, there were a lot of ends to sew in, but I just did them as I was going rather than leaving them to the end of the project.

The result was a long vine of quite crumbled leaves. Most people I showed the WIP seemed to like this look. I did too, but I also really wanted to see what would happen if I blocked it, how (or if) I could re-shape the leaves. Above is a pre-blocking shot, below shows after. This "during" shot shows the leaves flattened out for a bit, but it didn't make much difference in the long run.

The above shot is also a "bunting" shot as opposed to one of me wearing it as a scarf, below. What do you think, bunting or scarf? (or something else?). All ideas gratefully crowd-sourced.

As ever, there are a few notes on the yarn and needles on the project's ravelry page (n.b. this is public ravelry link, you don't have to be logged it to see it. Ravelry project pages don't have to be exclusive any more, how cool is that?).

Easter Nests

2010-04-04T10:07:00.003Z

My cousin Iain tweeted that he'd made some "Easter nests" the other night. Cue: wave of nostalgia for childhood Easter holidays covered in chocolate. For some reason I always associate these little piles of chocolate-coated breakfast cereal decorated with Mini-Eggs with my Aunt Susie (Iain's mum) so I guess she always made them. Our families would often see each other at some point around the Spring holidays. I'm the one with the long hair trying to be a scary lion.

I'd planned to bake brownies for my mum and little brother instead of giving them a chocolate egg each but, after reading Iain's tweet, decided Easter Nests were in order. You should use mashed up Shredded Wheat for nests because it looks the most stick-like. Nestle products aren't allowed in our flat, so I ended up using Co-op Bran Flakes instead. Much more fiber, plus fortified with iron (people who like magnets: follow that link). I also used plain rather than milk chocolate, which I melted with some golden syrup to sweeten and give a slight chew to the texture. The result are rather grown up Easter Nests, best eaten slowly over a cup of tea. Flatmate-Kirsty had a glass of milk with hers. They are strong and earthy, but very good.

I made a round of brownies for mum and Jim too. He'd only complain otherwise (apparently baking brownies is what big sisters are for, even when you're both speedily approaching 30).

I used this awesome recipe. They are also exceedingly chocolaty and best eaten in small quantities with a cup of tea, especially as I decreased the sugar quantity slightly to bring out the chocolate. Still, I dare say Mum and Jim will get through them. Kirsty beat me with the whole Easter baking though, because she fought with some slightly old yeast to make annoyingly perfect hot cross buns (everything Kirsty makes is annoyingly perfect).

Normal knit blogging will resume in a week or so. I've got an arm and a half to do on my top-down Demi and only about another half ball more to knit of the leaves scarf, so I hope I'll have an FO to show. You can also find more work related blogging from me here (including piece about a 1958 Girls-own chemistry set which featured a pink microscope).

Owls (and Ibsen) Revisited

2010-03-10T08:10:00.003Z

I finished my Aran-version of the Owls Sweater over a year ago (amongst the snow of Feb '09), but it was always a bit on the short side. I was over-cautious about yarn quantities and ended up with a slightly too small sweater (well, fitted, shall we say) and a whole ball left over.

I did wear it, just not as frequently as I'd like. Last week I took action: unpicked the cast-on edge, picked up the ribbing and added a few inches. The result is much more wearable (and afterall, we are all wearing our tops longer these days). If you look very closely, you can just about see where I picked up the stitches, but you do have to look carefully. Full notes on ravelry project page.

The building site/ roundabout in the background is the lovely Yorkshire city of Sheffield, which I visited at the weekend, mainly to see An Enemy of the People. Sheffield might seem a long way to travel from London to see a 19th century Norwegian play about the politics of sewage, but I do love that play. Ibsen has a reputation as grim. This is wrong, especially in terms of An Enemy. The ending is tragic, the final line especially so, but that's only because the build up is so full of joyous enthusiasm for life. It is also a classic study of science and society (Ibsen was a med student turned journalist before he was a dramatist), in many respects as relevant today as it was in the 1880's.

I first saw it in the late 1990s. It was at the National and Ian McKellen played the lead. I was an impressionable 17, and inspired. I ended up doing a big coursework essay on it, and er, devoting my entire life to studying/ researching/ teaching issues of science in society. So, it was with excitement but also a bit of trepidation that I went back. I wasn't disappointed: by the play, by the production or by the changes I could (Holden Caulfield style) track in myself. That's enough blather about literature though, I'll finish with a shot of my current WIP: a small and very easy project using some a few balls of leftover yarn.

It's really just icord with the odd leaf growing out of it. Yes, there are a load of ends to sew in, but I'm doing them as I go. It is inspired by a few projects I've seen around, but largely improvised. It should make a lightweight decorative scarf when its done (or maybe just slightly odd bunting). More details on ravelry project page.

Rosalind Scarf

2010-02-07T20:50:00.004Z

Since designing my Rosalind DNA back in summer 2006, I've made six of the things. And given away each and every one of them, I decided it was high time I made one for me (plus it's been featured in WIRED. How can I not have my own version?). I've been talking about it for ages, but was inspired to finally cast on by some of my students, who are currently knitting the history of genetics.

The scarf employs a technique called illusion knitting (sometimes know as shadow knitting). When viewed straight on, it just looks like slightly wonky stripes. When viewed from the knitting's edge, however, this wonky-texture reveals itself as carefully placed bumps and gaps, and presents a hidden image. This is a picture taken while I'm wearing it, looking down my front, along the line of the pattern.

Illusion knitting is notoriously hard to either describe in words or photograph, so I've embedded a short video. There's another side-view shot at the bottom of this post, along with a picture showing the back of the scarf, where you can see a sort of fossil of the pattern. This is probably the best photo I've seen of this pattern though (i.e. not by me, and using a better contrasting set of yarns).

DNA and illusion knitting could be made for one another. Looking across the scarf, the ladders of the striping pattern twist round those of the helix as purls and knits start to bunch together to display a regular shape (at least for those initiated on how to look). The pattern's title is inspired by Rosalind Franklin (google it), and, because I thought a family reference would be appropriate, a cousin of mine.

I think my favourite illusion knitting pattern is the Cheshire Cat 'Wonderland' socks. I love illusion socks. Straight on, and it's just stripy, point your toes and the cat is revealed. With valentines soon upon us, I should probably mention the lovemeknot socks too.

The Rosalind pattern is available for download on ravelry - or through googledocs (though if you are a knitter and read blogs, er, why aren't you on ravelry?). Knit-geeks who want details of yarn, pattern mods and needles can also check the project's ravelry page.

COMP: Grumpy Robot Seeks Home

2010-01-23T00:13:00.003Z

Meet Marvin. He's loosely based on the BBC TV version of the character from the Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy. I knitted him several years ago as a jokey birthday present for an ex, who solemnly returned it when we split up. I found it again packing up to move house last week. I don't really want to keep him, but someone's got to look after those dodgy diodes down his left-side (if you don't get that reference, you can leave now). So, want him?

Enter this competition. All you have to do is guess how many books I have at home. The closest guess posted in the comments form on this post by 3rd February, 5pm GMT wins Marvin.

Remember to include some sort of link/ email address in your guess so I can contact you if you win. If you don't, the entry will be discounted. I'm happy to post internationally. In case of a draw, I'll pick one out of a hat. I've emailed the total number to myself, so that email can act as a record in case of query. I'm not having people round to count them just to check. I should probably also note it hasn't been knitted to any toy safety standards.

The photo isn't a clue, as it was taken on my bookshelves at college, which I haven't counted. Yes, those are 'work' books, they are primary data for my research. The answer is probably less than you might imagine a lit-PhD-ex-bookseller might have (I'm really, really, not a book hoarder), but it's also probably more than you might imagine too, just because everyone has more books than you think.

UPDATE (3/2/10): and the answer is... 185. So the winner is Mr Robert Weaselspoon, who guessed 172.

Warming jumpers and balling yarn

2010-01-12T18:20:00.008Z

Happy New Year. I'm sneaking in a quick blog post between start-of-term business and our impending house-move next weekend (no huge life-dramas: it's just that the land-lady's selling up and we're only moving a mile away, but moving is a hassle).

I thought I'd share a recent experience in balling some yarn of my mother's, in case the info is of any use to fellow knitters. Exhibit one: some pretty, but very tangled and very, very slippery yarn.

My mum bought it in Damascus (here). From my own experience with a lace-weight version of the same yarn, I predicted it would be a humongous pain to ball. Loads of tangles, and so slippy you leave it un-gripped for a millisecond and the ball falls to pieces (creating more tangles in the process). I warned her, and insisted she came round to use our swift and ball winder.

I was right about the tangles and slipperiness. About 1/8th of the way through we decided to ditch the idea of the ball-winder (it just slipped off it, you had to hold the ball in your hand the whole time...). We needed a bobbin which could readily be passed through un-doing knots. We looked around the table and spotted some rolls of parma violets I had lying around ready to be sent off to a friend who lives in the states.

They worked REALLY well. The thick pen-like shape was great for wrapping yarn around whilst keeping tight in your hand, as well as pointing through the knots. We then balled the yarn (by hand) from these bobbins and kept the balls secure with some tissue paper and rubber bands. It still took several hours: the finished knitting pieces from this yarn better be worth it!

If you don't know what these Parma Violets things are, they are UK-sweeties (candy if you really must), flavoured with violets. You either love or hate them. See a close up of the 'bobbin' here.

I'll finish with a couple of FO shots - pieces finished over the Christmas break, my last knitting of 2009.

It's the Wedgewood blouse from IW Knits Summer 2006 (but modified as a woolly jumper), and a super-simple top-down raglan cardigan. Ravelled here and here respectively. The yarn for both comes from aborted attempts at Demi (rav link). Which, using yarn from a first-day-of-the-sales trip to John Lewis, is my current WIP. I've modified to work it as a top-down raglan, but I'm a little worried I won't have enough yarn. Wish me luck.

tidings of comfort and joy

2009-12-20T23:28:00.002Z

I knitted a hat. It took less than a week. Which is handy because it snowed. Yes, in London. Before Christmas. It settled and everything (Don't believe Hollywood London: most years we have no snow at all).

It's supposed to be Selbu Modern, but because my normally abnormally-super-loose gauge gets abnormally-super-tight as soon as I do colourwork, it's more of a Selbu beanie. Which is at least useful for wearing under my bicycle helmet in the cold. It's also slightly square at the top, but that's due to rubbish blocking (might re-block on a balloon or something). Details of yarn, etc on ravelry project page.

Mince pies! Made by Kirsty, not me. Though the flaky-lightness of the pastry is at least partly due to me. Tip from one of my students: use vodka instead of water in pastry. Works really well. The mince pies were for a small Christmas party we held this afternoon/evening. Both Lara and Felix had to cry off ill, but we still had a house full (including Emms) of merry-makers.

Above is a before shot, some chocolate fruit cake (from Feast. Sounds wrong, but really, really works) surrounded by a pile of pfeffernüsse (Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's recipe), and lights draped over our staircase in the background. We also had gingerbread, dundee cake, goblets of mulled wine and about a trillion other things. Very full now. Signs of the remains are below. Season's Greetings to you all.

Busy-busy-busy as a bee

2009-12-07T00:19:00.003Z

This jumper took me just under four months to make. Seeing as I'm used to chugging one out in a matter of weeks, this seemed like an age. Cycling-to-work really has cut down my knitting time. Also, it was 4ply, on 2.5mms (2mm for the ribbing), so I guess it was always going to take a while.

It's a product of my stash (which itself is best understood as a product of John Lewis sales). I had a bag of not-quite-a-jumper-worth of yellow 4ply tweed, as well as few balls of brown 4ply left over from this top. Put them together and you get a sweater which stripes pleasingly like a bee. Despite the tiny gauge, it was a very simple project - a basic top-down raglan, done seamlessly in the round. As you can see from the third photos in this post, I didn't bother with any jog-less join (I can do a jog-less join, it just seemed like too much effort).

The stripes are perhaps a little too short, and I definitely made the neck too high/ small - makes me feel slightly as if I'm wearing an optical illusion. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. I really like the triangle shapes it makes around the armpits. Plus, small vertical stripes can be surprisingly flattering. Details on ravelry.

It's a Monday, which is always busy for me, but today I've been busier than usual. My MSc students have an essay due (cue: last minute queries about citations, phonecalls asking for extensions...), plus the undergrads have an essay back and I'm running an event this evening which has suddenly become really popular.

But, I've made time for a lunch break when I can make up a pot of tea, switch off work email and write up this post. It's important to take a moment to pause amongst all our business, sit and think about something other than our everyday routine. Today more than ever, perhaps (I mean the Copenhagen conference, if you don't want to bother following the link).

On that ecological note, and considering the bee-like stripes of this jumper, I should probably make some reference to the plight of the honeybee. Bee colonies are collapsing across the world. This is serious. According to this book, bees pollinate 70% of our food. To repeat one of those lines credited to Albert Einstein, if bees disappeared: "No more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man." Scary stuff. If you're interested there's a nice gallery of photos on the subject from the Guardian here and a nice blogpost from BBC's Newsnight here.

Right, busy-busy-busy. I'm off to give a lecture on the cultural legacy of mad cow disease. Then it's the exciting seminar this evening - Mike Hulme, Professor for Climate Change at the University of East Anglia (the place with *that* scandal about the emails...). He's written some provocative pieces in the last week (e.g. this, see also interesting discussion here). Our audience will be a mix of science media people and climate scientists. Should be interesting.

updated

2009-11-08T10:19:00.003Z

Things I did on my holiday, which admittedly was a while ago (bad blogger, etc, etc): I saw a fantastic exhibition on Open Source Embroidery, sat by the beach, took photos of lanterns, and crocheted a shawl (first crochet lace, details on ravelry page). I also split up with Marcus. Which is sad in the short term, but definitely the right thing to do. It was also a while ago now (and, to be honest, the relationship was over a long time before that). Since then I've done a bit of teaching, a fair bit of research, a lot of start of term admin, chunks of lesson planning, oodles of reading, some socialising and a smidgen of baking.

I also bought a brand new bike as my old one was stolen from Bloomsbury while I was off seeing an art exhibition (about twine, in a disused tram tunnel - there are some great things about living in London, despite the bike thieves).

Knitwise, my stripy-like-a-bee sweater's been progressing nicely. I've done both sleeves and the neck down till just below the waist. But it is taking ages (4ply, 2.5mm...) and, as a seamless top-down raglan, is getting too large to fit in my everyday bag. As my other FO is very complex lace (for which I require excellent light and silence), I needed a small and easy project I could take to knitting groups. So I picked up a couple of balls of leftover 4ply from the back of my stash, cast on a few hundred stitches, making sure it was divisible by four, and then simply chugged along in mindless 2x2 rib. Perfect for knitting nights, including this brilliant Halloween-themed event at the Hunterian Museum, and the FO's been perfect for keeping my neck warm now the weather's getting colder. Again, full details on raverly project page.

Summer

2009-08-30T09:40:00.004Z

Without getting too bogged down in a stream of "bad blogger, look how long it has been since I posted", I've not really had much time for knitting, let alone knit-blogging the last few months. I was pretty ill for a couple of weeks (not H1N1 - I wasn't that ill, more incredibly wipe-you-out bad cold than actual flu). Also, it's been summer, so reasonably hot (at least at times, for old Blighty) and I've just not been feeling the desire to produce warm clothes. Plus, it's been the summer, so I've had loads of marking and research to catch up on. And, it's been the summer, so I've been enjoying the outdoors and cycling loads (still haven't mastered the art of knitting whilst cycling).

I'll start with a shot of an FO I finished a while back, but didn't get around to posting. Full details through ravelry. It's a second version of a top I made last summer. The first one was, I felt, a tad on the baggy side. This one, I fear, is a tiny bit small. It's nice enough though, and I do like how the cables pop.

Some things I've been up to whilst not knitting. Felix came round for afternoon tea. I cycled from Henry Tate's Grave to the Tate & Lyle factory via a pair of Tate Libraries and both London Tate Galleries. I read a lot of kids books about being green. Marcus and I had a long weekend in Amsterdam.

To finish, a shot of my new FO. I've been to a couple of conferences recently. For me, conferences equals knitting time (if only for the 6 hour train journey home) so I have actually got a reasonable amount done. It's a stripy top-down raglan, yellow and brown. So I can pretend to be a bee.

knitting on the web

2009-05-25T08:30:00.008Z

It's just the UK edition, but I'm in Wired magazine this month. My life as a z-list knit-celeb and that of an academic researching science in popular culture collided, and I was interviewed about why there is so much maths and science themed knitting.

Or rather, we discussed the way 21st century gender and geek identities have collided within various areas of the nerd-knitting subculture, and this ended up as a piece on science themed knitting. I got the impression the journalist was more interested in why there is so much knitting on the web, and was just talking to me for a bit of (likely to be unpublished) background. But clearly other deadline/ interests/ editorial constraints came along. There a pretty graphic of a ball of yarn tangling into a double helix, and I'm quoted with the explanation that 'creating 3D objects out of coded formulae - that's what a knitting pattern is'.

Still, it is a shame that the topic of knitting on the web wasn't taken further - it's an interesting issue. Knitting and the web have gone together for a long time. I remember listening to a Woman's Hour piece on female web-use a couple of years back, and some expert (can't remember who) argued that some of the first female-led podcasts were knitting ones. Now podcasting is so widespread, there are a quite shocking number of knitting ones. Perhaps there is an obvious reason why: you can knit while listening to a podcast (some of us read and even type while knitting, but it is easier just to press play on itunes). However, I wonder if the broader point isn't also true: that knitting is always at the forefront of women's uptake of new media technologies.

(I know lots of men also take part in the online knitting community, but you have to admit it is dominated by women).

Arguably, knitting has been there at the start of all the major new media developments of the last fifteen (more?) years, often producing some of the most polished and innovative products. Even in the largely pre-blog days, there were/are knitting listservs. There were/ are also knitting homepages, complete with patterns, advice and knitting calculators, often members of a bunch of knitting web-rings. There was/is some first-class knitting e-zines, even if the notion of the e-zine has generally been reinterpreted/ dissapeared. Today, many of us play with twitter and flickr, various blogs have come and gone, but really its is all about ravelry.

As I said to the journalist, I think we can read this in the same way we look at science-themed knitting: there are a fair number of knitters out there who like code, so its no surprise that computing abilities and an interest in knitting overlap. This is only part of the story though: the web is a way of communicating and helping to form and strengthen communities, and knitting has always been about communities. Whatever media knitters have taken - from magazine to scrawled handwritten notes lent to a member of our local knitting circle, from television to facebook - they talk, share, discuss and deconstruct whilst they click-click away. We should also remember that knitting is a bit weird, and the web does help special interest freaks find each other. Moreover, knitters like making stuff, whether it is coded or otherwise. Knit-themed blogs often contain references to DIY, baking, sewing or other craft: blog-building is part of this too.

It is these last three (non-geek) reasons why, I think, knitting on the web has exploded in the last five to ten years. Today, you don't need much of a nerdish inclination or any specialist computer knowledge to use most online knitting media. All you really need is a desire to share ideas and nose on what other people are doing, and those are much more widespread characteristics of knitters.

So, in the absence of Wired picking up on the topic, and in the wake of the ravelry twitter trend-bomb last week, I'd be interested to know what the readers of this blog think. I only really got into knitting four or so years ago, so I came to the knit-web reasonably late - I know there are some early adopters out there, what was it like on the knit-web frontier? Similarly, what about the newbies/ non-knitters, were you shocked when you first discovered quite how humongous the online knitting community is?

knit grumps of a WIP (plus a nice FO)

2009-05-17T11:39:00.008Z

My attempt at the Pretty as a Peacock shawl is kicking my bottom. Doesn't it look pretty up there? Pah! That was *four* false-starts ago.

First, I changed my mind about gauge, and I frogged and started again. The yarn pictured is Fyberspaces infinity, held double. Once the gauge was sorted it was going along pretty well, but I still felt the yarn wasn't the best match for the pattern: the thicker, shinier and evenly-dyed silk I bought in Damascus would do a better job. Again, I frogged and started again.

But this yarn is so slippery if a stitch falls even a little, it'll fall all the way to the end (imagine the complete opposite of kidsilk haze). Plus the pattern, at least in the first few charts, isn't regular enough that its easy to see how to neatly bring the stitch. I'm normally pretty good at using a crochet hook to bring dropped stitches up from several rows down - I'll happily turn cables around the other way or re-situate lace. But for some reason I can't get my head around this one. So, there's been two further full frogs. Grrr.

In happier news, I finished a cardigan, and I love it - even if I do seem to look especially grumpy in all the photos.

Its Rambling Rose from Rowan 39. I'd made this ages ago but it came out way too big. Plus, I thought a longer version would look nice, and I much preferred the ones I saw in ravelry which had been made out of a springy wool rather than the recommended cotton. The restult is the basic idea and charts of Rambling Rose, but done as a top down raglan with a load of side shaping. It fits perfectly, and is a pretty and practical cardi. A nice bit of warmth over a tee for the warmer months. Details of yarn, needles etc can be found the project's ravelry page.

In even happier news, Lara is coming round for afternoon tea, so I'm going to put the annoying knitting away, getting out some plain old stocking stitch to talk-and-knit with and putting on a batch of maple-syrup scones (they have oats in them and make the kitchen smell gorgeous, recipe from this book. Eat them with marmite: it shouldn't work but it really does).

FOs: two lace shawls

2009-05-09T13:27:00.002Z

Two FOs. Both shawls, both lace, both woolley. Both photographed in Regents park (Marcus' workplace is right next to the park, we sometimes go for a wonder at lunchtime if I'm working at a library nearby). First up, a dk-weight tweedy Aeolian.

I did the pattern for the shoulderette, but in heavier yarn, so its nearly as big as a shawl - still pretty much a shoulder warmer though. The yarn is a scottish silk/ merino mix I bought at iknit, along with some bamboo dpns in a last minute 'what if Heathrow try to confiscate my knitting' before leaving for Turkey last month. So actually started it, old-school style, on a set of dpns. It got large enough to be very squashed up them very quickly, so as soon as I got home, I swapped to a circular.

About two thirds of the way through I started to wonder if I liked the big leaf-like frilly edges at the end (they didn't seem to balance the start of the pattern), but as soon as I blocked it and tried it on I could see how well it worked. I'm pleased with this FO. As ever, full details on the project's ravelry page.

Finally, a green Icarus (Interweave Knits, Summer 2006). Again, full details on the project's ravelry page, including links to more photos on flickr.

I wanted to make Icarus for ages - I bought the summer 2006 IW espeically for the pattern. First I could't find the right yarn. Then I was put off by people saying the stockingette was dull (it wasn't). Finally, I rolled my sleeves up and got on with it. Again, this is done with heavier weight yarn than called for (although the gauge isn't that far off - its knit a lot denser), but one of the lovely things about the pattern is it is easy to make it larger or smaller, depending on taste/ available yarn. I used Old Maiden Aunt sockwool* and changed skein at the point I started on second lace pattern for the end section. This was handy because one skein was slightly more variegated than the other: the break in patten hides the slight difference in yarn, and I like all the extra colour on the feathery bits.

My brother's wedding's won't be happening, so I have less of a deadline for the silk lace shawls I was planning. Still, I've already the completed the first chart of Pretty as a Peacock using the purple yarn I bought in Damascus. A sunny summer has been forecast for England, so I'm imagining lots of outdoor cocktail parties for which I'll need an elegant wrap (More likely: muddy festivals. Most likely: sitting at my desk writing conference papers. But a girl can dream).

* Part of the 'homecoming' collection: the Scottish Parliament have successfully emotionally blackmailed me into celebrating my heritage through consumer goods.

Damascene Silk

2009-04-18T17:50:00.001Z

Yes. I've been knitting in the desert. Those are Roman remains in the background (Palmrya). The project is a top-down take on Rambling Rose.

My baby brother's been working in Damascus this year, so my Mother and I decided a visit was in order. The last family holiday together before baby-bro gets married in the summer. Mum and I flew into Istanbul then made the rest of the trip overland. We explored Crusader castles, sacred churches and mosques (e.g. where St Paul had his sight returned), amazingly empty Roman ruins, drank minty lemonade and generally pretended to be Agatha Christie (we had coffee in the hotel where she wrote Murder on the Orient Express). I've put some of my favourite photos at the trip at the end of this post, but first: the yarn.

After managing to avoid anything more yarny than spotting a lady knitting socks outside Istanbul university, on our last day I discovered a little store hiding in the spice souk of Damascus's old town. Surrounded by a heady scent of cinnamon, cardamon and freshly ground coffee were shelves upon shelves full of gleaming silk, all in the deepest, brightest colours. Plus, possibly the rudest shop-keeper I've ever met (though I suspect he was watching the shop for a friend, he seemed to care so little about selling anything). Above are some of the yarns I saw, these are the two I bought.

I had just bought 3000m of cobweb purple silk from Fyberspates, but the aforementioned baby-bro wedding is set to be a giant Malaysian/Scottish triple-event extravaganza, so I've been planning a bit of a summer of lace as it is.

FO: Grassy Green Top-Down

2009-03-15T18:04:00.002Z

I have a new jumper. Or rather, a new tunic. I bought the yarn (rowan cashcotton) in a sale last year, and decided the soft tweediness would be best served with a plan stocking stitch top-down raglan. It has quite baggy three-quarter length sleeves, lots of side-shaping and folded-over seams. Other than that, it's plain vanilla all the way. Full details on the project's ravelry page.

I still just under two balls of the yarn left-over. I was contemplating giving it pockets, similar to Norah Gaughan's Kaari, but I'm not sure how flattering it'd be. I was also thinking about embroidering a tree silhouette in brown wool over the top of the tunic's front, but I like the simplicity of it as it is. Or, I could use the spare yarn to covert this into a proper dress. Or I might just stripe the couple of balls of green and brown yarns I have in my stash into some legwarmers.

I'll see. Right now, I'm going to put my feet up with a bottle of Guinness, Dr Who and some cabling.

Jumpers. Snow & Pie.

2009-02-07T16:56:00.011Z

Before we get onto the knitting, my contribution to London(ish) knit bloggers' delight in our recent snowfall. As well as the odd juxtaposition of British phonebox and New York Cab, I love the red and yellow shining in all that white light.

Unfortunately, getting me, daylight, snow and photographer all outside at the same time proved impossible, so these FO shots are quite thawed. Plus, it is still bleeding cold, so it was a matter of running round the corner to the park behind our house, taking photos, running in to de-frost and change jumper, then running back.

Firstly, O W L S. Even ignoring the wonder of the owls, this is a very well written yoke pattern - I may use it for a plain jumper. I loved the waist-shaping at the back, though if it does mean the unworn jumper looks a bit like it has a bustle (this might be because I gave it an extra inc and dec set to accommodate the smaller row gauge and my over-average height) The owls are fun and cute, but the button-eyes give a pretty detail and though I'm wearing jeans here, it looks smart paired with a plain black skirt, grey tights and boots.

I wasn't sure the owls would be dramatic enough in lighter yarn, but I like them now they are all done and have eyes. I was also worried I’d run out of yarn as the seller only had five left, so I decided to err on the side of a smaller size. The result is tight, but works - I’d much rather this way that too big. I needed have worried about the yarn: I've got a ball to spare (I got the yarn on sale - even with the buttons, a very cheap project). The other worry was that I didn't suit yoked sweaters, but I'm actually quite pleased with it. Despite all these concerns, I was completely convinced by the pattern. Not just for those of us who read The Owl Who Was Afraid of the Dark too much as a child, a properly lovely jumper. Full stats on ravelry.

I also finished a purple tweed jumper (ravelry page here). But it's really plain, so I'll finish with a shot of some hot cherry pie I made last night instead. Because that's what we need in this weather. Warm jumpers and hot puddings.

Finish (in memorandum)

2009-01-18T18:26:00.006Z

Three FOs, all l dedicated to the memory of Tony Hart, who died this weekend. I loved his TV programmes when I was a kid. Art and design via Tony Hart was always so calmly playful, it was about making interesting and beautiful things from stuff around you; exploring the world through shape, colour and texture. It wasn't about impressing posh people, following instructions exactly or being able to achieve measurable results. It was intuitive. It was creative. It was exploratory. It was fun.

Made for: Kirsty (housemate)
Pattern: In some ways it's Thorpe, but modified for DK weight and added bobble action. It similar to the one I did for Marcus last Valentine's but with more bobbles - which Kirsty says are very useful for attaching her MP3 headphones to.
Yarn: Wool-cotton in Gold.
Needles: 2.5 addi lace circ.
Ravelled: here.

Made for: Anthony (another housemate)
Pattern: Basic toe-up sock with stripes. I divided the yarn exactly (weighing on kitchen scales) and worked till I ran out.
Yarn: Cygnet Wool Rich 4 Ply (black), with leftover green of Trekking Pro Natura and Dream in Color Smooshy.
Needles: 2.5 addi lace circ.
Ravelled: here.

Made for: Marcus' mother, in exchange for a jacket she gave me rather than taking to the charity shop (clothes swapping is *so* the new shopping).
Pattern: Basic toe-up with extra embroidery.
Yarn: tea-dyed bamboo sock yarn, with some brown wool as contrast (again, leftovers).
Needles: 2.5 addi circ, my old one - too short to do them both at once, bah!
Ravelled: here.

I was going to spend the evening continuing the Tony Hart memorial by making Morph-like models with plasticine but now Woolies has gone, I'm not sure where I could buy some on a windy Sunday afternoon in Peckham. Instead, I think I'll just watch the Wallace and Gromit movie (Morph's greatest legacy) and swatch for my next project.

Two Xmas FOs

2009-01-01T17:46:00.000Z

We're having household Christmas next week, and Christmas with my little brother in a couple of months*, so this is just the first instalment of gift-knits. The others are still secret.

First up, a pair of walking socks for my mother. They are walking rather than anything thing else because they were part of a walkers' pile of presents. She had a 'during' set, comprising of a book of walks by the River, some gingerbread toffee, blister plasters and the socks. Then a 'post-walk' set, with some sockyarn for knitting herself (I gave her Knitting Vintage Socks for her birthday last month), a graphic novel and posh chocolates.

Pattern: Arch-Shaped Socks, done in complete rib, inspired by Zebra. I improvised my toe as I couldn't find instructions from other ribbed versions, but I've forgotten what I did, so please don't ask!
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Blue Lagoon from Socktopus.
Needles: 2.5 addi lace circ, a long one as I did them two at once.
Ravelled here.

Secondly, a jumper for my boyfriend. I told him its a 'first draft sweater', if it doesn't quite fit he shouldn't write off future jumpers, because I'll know to do bits tighter, looser, longer or shorter next time. That said, it works pretty well. The arms are a bit too long - comic handknitted jumper style - so I might steek them a couple of thumbholes. Personally, I think it could be longer on the body, but he likes it and has been wearing it two days in three, so has got on to a good start.

Pattern: Zimmerman's seamless hybrid. I'll use this again for him, and possibly my little brother if I ever feel the need to knit him a jumper. The mix of raglan and saddle really does give good shoulders. All the stocking stitch was a bit boring, but once you get to the yoke its oodles of fun. Plus no seaming. The pattern is a bit hard to follow in places, simply because its a hybrid of other patterns she keeps saying 'like this other sweater', which involves a lot of cross-referencing.

Yarn: New Lanark Mills DK (the 10% silk/ 90% wool mix) in Blue John, with Cobalt contrast hems. This stuff is great. And so cheap. I really can't sing its praises enough.
Needles: 2.75 and 3.25mm addi lace circs.
Ravelled here.

* He's living in Syria for a year and hasn't got around to getting himself an address, so he can wait till I see him next for his presents. He spent the day at work (the British Council) which apparently consisted of full Christmas dinner, playing the Damascus version of monopoly and watching the Sound of Music.

FO: Gold Rosa

2008-12-22T17:52:00.004Z

I feel like I've not blogged in an age, and my last few blog posts haven't been exactly eventful. The various distractions of living with three other people, cycling and the new job mean I've had little time for knitting, let alone blogging about it. There has also been the usual pre-Xmas secret knitting, so expect another FO post in the new year.

For now though, here's a good-un. Backstory: a while ago, I knitted this beautiful jumper, but it was always a little too big to fit the idea of the perfect aran I had in my head. So I gave it to my mother who is just the cm or so bigger than me needed to make it fit like a glove (plus she didn't have the perfect aran idea in her head to deal with). In exchange she bought me yarn to make Rosa.

Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton in bronze. About eight and a half balls.
Buttons: Brown shell ones from John Lewis, I turned them back to front so you could see the flaws which were more interesting and gave more bronze colours which I like with the gold yarn.Needles: 2mm and 2.75mm circs.

Pattern: Rosa, by Kim Hargreaves, from the Thrown Together collection.
Mods: I used a slightly heavier yarn, but done a size down. To give it a bit more consistency, I did the ruffles in wool-cotton instead of the pattern's suggested kid silk haze. And because these much thicker ruffles looked like scary little worms at first, I sewed the tops of them down too. I rejected her vertical rib sections and went for standard 1x1 ribbing instead. I also added a couple of button holes, but that was accidental (knitting in front of the telly whilst also arguing about how much to feed the fish...).
Verdict: A very wearable piece, and that's about the most important thing, right? It could be smaller*, but the short-row and side shaping Hargraves is so enamoured by does its job - it flatters in the right places. If I did it again, I'd probably do clever things to mean there was less picking up of stitches and less seaming because it wasn't the most fun knit I've ever done.
Ravelled: here.

*New Year's resolution. Stop knitting everything so bloody loose. Or at least wash all my gauge swatches and go down more than three needle sizes if necessary, no matter how ridiculous it might seem.

There has been knitting

2008-11-18T10:22:00.005Z

The yarn cake: product of the ball winder I finally decided to buy. Its amazing. Why didn't I get one before? Not only has there been ball winding, but there has been knitting. This is partly because I realised how close Christmas is, and partly because I took a few days off cycling to work*, thus opening up bus-journey time for the knit. The links below are to ravelry.

Rosa in Wool Cotton

Robot Hat (as socks) in various sockyarn

Arch-shaped socks in Smooshy

* The pause in cycling due to being HIT BY A CAR last week. Driver decided to illegally turn left and not look before he did it. Clever. I was very lucky, a few bruises, and the bike seems equally unscathed. I got straight back on the saddle, and have cycled into town several days since then, but I was a bit shaken up and stiff to manage every day.

Failed Socks

2008-11-05T13:05:00.005Z

Looks pretty, yes? Its Ziggy, from last summer's Knitty, done in two shades of Trekking Pro Natura. Ravelled here.

Lovely to look at, maybe. I was planning to give them to flatmate-Kirsty for Christmas, along with a box of her favourite chocolate-mints, seeing as the colours matched so well. But sadly they fail as socks. Put simply, they are too tight. And fail-socks are never a good present, so I told Kirsty she can have them now if she can get them to fit, and I do her a better present for Christmas. Those with bright screens can follow her struggling to get them on and off the other night.

Yes, I did keep the floats loose. I even knitted them in a much looser gauge than the pattern suggests. Yes, we've tried blocking. They are just too narrow. Plus, the bamboo in trekking means it isn't quite as elastic as a 100% wool sockyarn. Grrr. Once you get them on they are ok. In fact Kirsty says that the support of all that tight fair-isle is really nice (once you have them on, and are happy to keep them on, perhaps forever).

We thought we might steek the inside cuffs and add a couple of rows of stocking stitch - to give a two-way stretch. Do you think it'll work? Either that, or we need to find someone with super-narrow, super-long feet.

FO: October Baby Sweater

2008-10-15T20:58:00.007Z

You'll have to excuse the lack of blogging. I do love our new house (the door to the roof terrace has a built in bottle opener, what's not to like?), but the whole moving palaver has certainly been a blow to knit-blogging.

The picture above is a recent FO I've dubbed the October Baby Sweater. Its based on Zimmermann's February Baby Sweater, but I cut out the lace, replaced it with stocking stitch and finished with a bit of autumnal leaf embroidery. The yarn is some tea-dyed bamboo/ wool and a bit of left-over brown 4ply. The leaves are placed to fall across the left side, and down that edge of the back. See also its ravelry page.

Its for my lovely friend Nadiya, who along with her also-lovely husband Ian recently reproduced an equally lovely baby, little Jaan. Last week I packaged it up with two Baby Surprise Jackets and a batch of diabetic lactose-free brownies. Recipe follows, its easily adaptable for those who know no fear when it comes to the sugar and cow juice (though hard to vegan-ise, you need the eggs). After many years of searching, its my favourite brownie recipe.

250g good quality dark chocolate.
200g dairy-free margarine. Or, for dairy-freaks, 250g of butter.
100g cocoa.
1 teaspoon of baking powder.
200g perfect sweet. Or similar sugar substitute, or 250-300g fine sugar.
40g plain flour. Use whatever type of flour works for your diet, though my personal preference is fine white cake flour.
Five eggs. Or four large ones.

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C. Melt chocolate and fat. Slowly. While that's cooling, mix the dry ingredients together. Beat the eggs into the choc/fat mix. Make a well in the dry ingredients and slowly pour in the wet. You can also add nuts or fruit at this point - a chopped up Mars Bar is ace if you don't mind the sugar. Mix to a thick paste and pour into a brownie tray (or rather splat it rather than pour, the stuff is thick, a spatula is useful). Bake for about 20-25 mins. Its should still be quite squishy in the middle. Leave to cool and cook a bit further while it does so. They are gorgeous while still warm with yoghurt or ice cream, but they actually improve with age, so worth making a large batch and letting them last a day or two.

I'm currently in Leeds, giving a couple of seminars in their philosophy department. I might have an hour or so free tomorrow afternoon, depending on trains - anything I should catch? Next week, I'm off to Dublin for a few days (very excited, never been to Ireland) - again, any recommends?

moving

2008-10-01T00:27:00.003Z

This was meant to be a messy tuesdays post. But of course, I'm behind, and its now wednesday. I've decided that is appropriate.

We moved house over a week ago now, but we're not entirely unpacked yet and the mess is starting to upset me. Every time I walk across a room, I trip over something that hasn't got a home yet. So, to save my sanity, this photo utilises the macro setting to blur it all out behind a kitchen utensil*. I have too much work to do this week** to worry about the rest of the unpacking.

It will get sorted in evenings and at the weekend(s). Eventually. And then the house will be lovely. We've bought a great bed, which actually has bookshelves built inside the base (its called a 'library bed'). That's got to help the unpacking.

There has been some knitting amongst all of this. Its a cotton tee with a heart texture pattern. Not very much, as the moving, cleaning, phoning up utilities companies (don't get me started on BT...) and general screaming into the abyss of boxes hasn't really left much time for yarn. Plus, as predicted, the bicycle has been a serious competitor to knitting. I hope it'll be done in a couple of weeks though, then I'll write up the pattern.

* I'm not entirely sure what this utensil is. We use it for fishing pasta out of water. Sort of like a slotted spoon, but wire based - more slots than spoon.

** I start my new job today. This afternoon, I'm moving offices.

FO: cosmic radiation scarf

2008-09-05T09:21:00.004Z

Knitting service, as promised, resumed.

It seems to be traditional amongst knitting science types to make your thesis supervisor the DNA cable scarf as a thank you. My PhD over and done with (by the way, thanks for all the congratulations comments, emails and ravelry messages), I guessed it was my turn.

But it felt a tad impersonal. So I checked out what my supervisor's thesis had been on, by typing her name into the library catalogue at the university she did her PhD. Answer: black holes and quantum cosmology. (she changed research interests somewhat since then, my PhD was on kids science books).

After dabbling with knitting a black hole (could do a great reversible cowl, no?) I asked some advice from a couple of physics friends and the scientist knitters group on ravlery, finally deciding on a wave based loosely on the power spectrum of cosmic microwave background radiation.

I was all set to cable it, but after a swatch or six, it still didn't look right. So, working on the very scientific principle that simplest is best, I did a basic flat scarf and embroidered the pattern over the top.

Yarn: 100g of DK British wool from eco-annie, with a bit of my tea-dyed bamboo/wool sockyarn for the detail.
Needles: 3.25mm, my favourite short smiley-faced ones.
Pattern: basic 2-stitch, 3-row basket-weave stitch pattern over 42 sts (with a stitch slipped at either side).
Ravelled: here.

I'll finish with a shot of the finished scarf's edges against some similarly fluffy clouds. The yarn was so lovely - like working straight from the sheep.

again, excuse the non-knitting

2008-09-02T08:21:00.005Z

Passed. I have to add a short section to the introduction on methodology, and another short section on theory to the conclusion before I finally submit it to the University library, but its basically done.

Plus, I haven't blogged about this yet, but I have a job. At least for the next year, I'm going to be Lecturer in Science Communication at Imperial College, London.

Normal knitting service will be resumed shortly.

Quilted computer case: tutorial

2008-08-26T10:44:00.001Z

For my own record as well as contributing to greater human knowledge, here's a step-by-step tutorial on how to make a quilted computer case. Its deliberately vague about sizes, as it can be made to fit any computer.

Not only does it keep the computer snug while you drag it abouttown, you can keep the cover on while the computer is in use. If you are actually using it on top of your lap this insulates your thighs from the computer's heat. This also makes using your computer slightly more discrete in public. And if that wasn't enough, it means your laptop looks much more personal than the mass-produced object we all try to forget it is.

You can do it in a day or two, depending on speed of sewing and how complected you want to make your quilt. Its a great opportunity to play with quilt-making skills because at the heart of the project, its a tiny-tiny quilt.

You will need:

A sewing machine and the know-how to use it.
A tape measure.
The computer the case is going to accomodate (or at least careful measurements).
A humungous zip which is long enough to run along the two shorter sides and one long side of the computer.
Pretty fabric for the outside (or scraps to patchwork).
Quilting batting (optional, but I think it makes the quilted bit look nicer)
Some backing fabric for the quited bit (this ends up hidden so can be any old rubbish, but it'll be easier to sew if its a similar type of fabric to your pretty outer layer).
Some flat foam leftover from packaging or purchased from a stationary or craft store (I used a 5mm thick one, folded double). Please don't ask me how to source this - look around or improvise within your own local area. Basically, you need something thick enough to keep your computer cushioned.
Some lining fabric - more than twice the size of the computer. Its probably a good idea if this is cotton, electrical conductivity and all. Though I've never heard of a conducting fabric (e.g. wool) actually causing problems, general wisdom is that if you have the choice of cotton, you might as well not risk it.
Thick strips of fabric for edging (though wide bias tape would probably be better). You can do without this and just make the lining fabric bigger.
Thread appropriate to your fabric.
A few inches of elastic (5mm wide minimum).
An iron.
Big fat pins.
Hand-sewing needle.

Step One:
Using the fabric you've chosen for the outside, along with any batting and the backing fabric make a mini-quilt which is slightly smaller than twice the size of the closed computer.

Step Two:
Cut out foam and a layer of lining fabric which is big enough to cover the computer, its probably a good idea to use the computer to work this out. At the very least, do remember to take into account the depth of the computer as well as two-times the length by width. You want the foam to be every so slightly smaller than the other pieces.

Step Three.
Pin these two new layers together with your mini- quilt. Make sure the foam is in the middle, with some space for the fabric to be sewn together around it adn the zip attached. Test out the sizing with the computer.

Step Four.
Bring these layers together neatly with your edging strips/ bias tape. If not using separate edge pieces, fold the sides of the lining fabric accordingly. Bear in mind the size of the zip when you are making sure the whole caboodle will fit snugly around the computer. Even lazy sewers will want to iron in neat seams at this stage.

Step Five:
Pin in some elastic to the corners - this hold the computer to the case when working with it open.

Step Six:
Check the sizing works one last time. Now is also a good point to weave in some ends (so they don't tangle up sewing later) and you might want to give it a bit of an iron. Then sew around the edges to bring it all together.

Step Seven:
Pin and sew in the zip. Again, its a good idea to check fit with the computer. Finally sew in all remaining ends.

is a bell on a bicycle - yes she is

2008-08-14T10:11:00.012Z

Above above is a photo of me reflected on the bell of my new bicycle.

Nothing has threatened my knitting output more. Not moths, not a cut on the bit of my right forefinger I use to guide the end of a needle, not the boredom of deadline-knitting the last few days before christmas. None of these come near. This is because I generally knit on the bus to work, and come the start of term in October, I plan to be cycling in at least a couple of days a week. That said, I am yet to master cycling down-hill without getting scared of the increased speed and simply wheeling it down the road.

And as it happens, I'm off to the world of the bicycle (also known as the Netherlands) for the next week. I've got five(ish) days in Amsterdam holiday-time, then five(ish) days in Rotterdam for a conference. Any yarn-y (or un yarn-y) recomends?

Because I've not blogged for a bit, and won't for at least another week and a half, I'll finish with a small photo-matrix of some other bits and bobs I've been up to.

Clockwise, from top left-hand corner: 1) Sewing in ends for a quilted computer case I made for a friend (full photo-tute when I'm back). 2) The 'let' sign outside the house we're going to be moving into in mid-September (front view and agent's details). 3) View of the Mersey from Liverpool (taken from just behind the Tate). 4) FO shot of the uptown socks I did for the IW sockalong (my ravelry notes here).

results are in

2008-07-31T20:01:00.000Z

So, the answer to the contest question was 533 (148 primary, 385 secondary). Anyone who thought it was over 1000 scared me, though I think my clues might have misled guessers to the bigger numbers. This means the winner is Juicelbee who guessed 539.

The results of some of my tea-dunking experimenting last week as a worn FO:

This was a very economical project. I picked up six balls of the yellow in the summer sales. I was sure I could get a tee out of just six, but also knew it'd be tight, which meant working a size down from what I would normally and a lot of 'will I make it' nail-biting. It is also a winner of a knit. A very wearable garment and if anything the smaller size was a good choice - I wouldn't want it baggy. Its a genius pattern - easy and elegant, I can see why its so popular. More details on the project's ravelry page.

A nice cup of tea and a sit down

2008-07-24T14:46:00.010Z

Firstly, thanks for all the congratulations about handing in my thesis. If you still want to enter the competition there is another day to get your guess in, have a second guess if you want - only two though (note: I've extended the deadline by a day). If you want to see it knitted up, here's a shot of a skein I dyed at the same time. A few people asked about the dying process, I'm writing it up on the yarn's ravelry page.

More good news: the Interweave preview is up for fall and one of my designs is in it. To celebrate, I brewed up a good old pot of tea.

Except, I stuck a load of yarn in it rather than actually drinking the stuff. I'd read about people dying with tea before, and, still reeling from the smell of koolaid (people drink it?), I thought I'd give it a go. I got a bit carried away and dyed about half my stash, its amazing to see how the different yarns took the tea differently (its all the same brand of tea-bag).

Above is some more bamboo/wool sock yarn, which I think will end up as a baby garment. Below are before and after shots of Orangina I made with some cotton bought in the summer sales. The original colour was a bit too bright yellow. Dunking the FO in a saucepan of tea before I blocked it has just muted it a bit and brought out the golds. Only a slight change, but a much more wearable garment.

Some more before and after shots, this time from a shawl of knit/crochet hexagons. Again, the original (this time a bright white) was a bit too strong and the tea calmed things down, but it came out much more bronze than the other two.

And finally, because you can't have afternoon-tea without some bread and jam, another comparison shot from a taste-test I did today. The front bit of bread has some raspberry jam I made back in April. The one behind is from a batch I did on tuesday, to a recipe from the Guardian. This new batch uses a lot less sugar, and consequentially, to my taste, is a lot yummier - its much more fruity. Still, I'm sure it won't keep nearly so long.

contest: purple sock yarn

2008-07-19T08:55:00.003Z

Blog contest in celebration of finishing my thesis - guess the number of references in my bibliography. Deadline for answers is 5pm, ~~Thursday 24th July 2008~~ Friday 25th July (London time). The closest guess wins this skein of sock yarn.

Its a wool and bamboo mix, dyed by me. 100g, it comes in at about 420 meters - plenty for a pair of socks. From a smoke and pet free home, though it does still smell a bit of grape-flavoured koolaid (my dye of choice). I might throw in some other purple-themed goodies too if I find anything worthy. In event of a tie, I'll pick one winner at random. No one who has read the thesis can enter.

Some clues to get you going:

It includes both primary and secondary sources.
The actual thesis content these sources support comes in at just under 100,000 words.
My case study is this series, though I mentioned many other primary examples, and my secondary source list was much longer.
My media studies inclined colleagues felt it was a bit citation-heavy, the litcrit types thought it was sparse.
The photo below shows the thesis open at the page the bibliography starts. There are no appendixes after that. It is 1.5x spaced, in 11pt font on A4 paper.
Its more than fifty, less than three thousand.
You might as well guess something random. When I tried to guess, I was a good hundred off, and I wrote the bleeding thing.

EDIT: I mean 'closest' as in nearest guess either way (you can go over). So, if the answer was 7586 and no one gets that but someone gets 7588 and another 7584, I'll pick one of the two out of a hat.

excuse the non-knitting content

2008-07-13T13:48:00.002Z

NB: This just means I've finished the first big bit. It still has to be examined. I'm now on holiday (though at home, and online) for a week. Much of which I plan to spend knitting in the park, weather allowing.

Finished (ish)

2008-07-03T09:35:00.005Z

I've always wanted to take a photo of something I've knitted from the wearer's point of view, but I've never had a good enough camera before. You will have to excuse these 'in the mirror' shots - no time for a proper photoshoot.

Anyway, the FO is Catriona by Debbie Bliss. I had wanted to make this top for ages (I just loved the cable pattern) but convinced myself that buying yet another knitting book for just the one pattern was an extravagance. Then I discovered the wonders of prima magazine's online knitting archive. The project is ravelled here, but the stats for blog record are as follows:

Needles: 3.0 mm & 2.5 mm addi circs.
Yarn: 6.5 skeins of Rowan RYC Cashsoft 4 Ply in 'monet'. The first skein was a christmas present from my brother, I just added a few more to make it into a whole garment - thanks for the inspiration Jim!
Mods: I worked in the round till v-neck divide, then seporate pieces flat. I contemplated steeking, but was too much of a wimp. Only two little seams for the shoulders, which if I'd been thinking I could have kitchenered. As usual, I did the entire thing without the aid of a cable needle. I also sketched out a chart as, it being a Debbie Bliss pattern there wasn't one and I prefer things pictorially.

The project actually started out as the chevron lace top from Romantic Style (wip shot here). I also adapted that to work in the round, but just after I divided for the arms I decided it wasn't nearly as nice as it looked in the pattern photos (especially the non-lace bits under the armpits), so frogged it down to the ribbing.

I'm very pleased with it, the sleeves are way more flattering than I thought they'd be - I might work up a design using similar sleeves if I have time this summer.

And in non-knitting life, here's a very nearly done work-in-progress and a very exciting 'finished object'. The wip is a print-out of my thesis. My 2nd-supervisor wanted a paper copy to read from, and because I'd just been treating it electronically, only occasionally printing a chapter at a time, I'd not really had an idea of its size before. Thank goodness I inherited a box of my Dad's giant paperclips (he orchestrated film scores, he needed good paperclips). The FO is a book of academic essays I co-edited.

Today is 'polishing off conclusion day'. Then I'm emailing the thesis to my mum for a proof-read and running off to Oxford for the weekend for a History of Science conference.

Treasure Hunt!

2008-06-14T19:18:00.008Z

Kirsty and Lara and I made up a team for iKnit's Treasure Hunt today (for world-wide knit in public day). There were a whopping 61 questions, many quite cryptic and a few knit-themed anagrams, which took us all over central London. We had a lovely walk about town, saw all the main tourist attractions, stumbled across a giant Thai festival in Trafalgar Square, spotted an amazing fly-over of vintage military planes and er, ran into a naked cycling demonstration, as apparently it was also world-wide cycle naked day (I didn't spot anyone combining the two events).

We had to knit a 15-st wide scarf in DK yarn while we walked around - there was a bonus prize for the longest bit of knitting. I can't believe how long some of the completed scarves were, London has some fast knitters. There were also bonus points for photo-challenges, evidence of some are below (more on flickr).

Challenge: To knit with a celebrity (we cheated a bit outside the National Portrait gallery). A couple of people got Terry Pratchett!

Challenge: To knit on a Routemaster bus (i.e. the oldskool pretty ones). The conductor was absolutely delighted to see knitting.

Challenge: Knit in London landmarks starting with the letters P U R & L. This is P for Public Telephone Box.

... and U for Urinal. I love this photo. But I am a child and love all pee jokes.

Challenge: To find a street name relating to knitting. We cheated a bit again, with the aid of the magnetic strip of a travelcard. We also had 'The Cut', with a photo mimicking steeking.

We were absolutely exhausted by the end, but it was *ooodles* of fun and great to finally meet Lara. A perfect day off from thesis-editing. Thanks so much to Gerard and Craig for organising it.

light in sight

2008-06-08T19:39:00.006Z

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

On my thesis. That's chapter seven (of nine) pretty much done. Two more to polish (they are basically done), then I'm editing the thing as one (giant) narrative, which I hope shouldn't be much of a job, as I've been treating it as a whole thesis for a while. Then, maybe (just maybe) I can hand it in.

On the bleeding Muir I seem to have been working on for YEARS (well, since March). It seems like forever, as I had to frog a good four inches. I'm at the boarder though, and it's just garter stitch (with the odd picot) from then on in.

And, annoyingly, on my favourite jacket. I've had it for about nine years now, and have been darning and patching up holes for the last five. However, I fear it may finally be gone. I'm all about the re-use and re-cycle though, so I'll think of something to do with the fabric. Reconstructed denim is a tad too 80s-tastic though, don't you think? Idea ideas?

Whilst I get going with finishing all this off, I'll leave you with some pictures of pretty Yorkshire Sheep.

I made a TARDIS

2008-05-25T20:04:00.001Z

This post started off as a comment in Lara's blog about the potential of mess, but somehow started to grow into a post in itself and has been sitting in my blogger drafts file for nearly a month. Luckily, it fits my latest FO, so I'll can finally blog it up. I made a TARDIS (shhh, don't tell Auntie Beeb). Ravelled here.

For those who don't know what a TARDIS is, it's the time machine in Dr Who. It's capital letters because it is an acroynm for Time And Relative Dimension in Space. For the purposes of this post, what you really need to know is that its bigger in the inside that the out.

While I was knitting the thing, someone asked what it is for (its a glasses case, by the way, hence the photos), and flatmate-Kirsty pointed out a real TARDIS would actually be a lot more use and instructed me, in her ironically firm way, that I really should be knitting a real one. She's right; a bit of 'relative dimension in space' would be a good thing. Though, specifically, dimension in space with shelving. We so need more storage in our flat.

And this is what brings me to my response to Lara. Her point was inspired by Felix's point that much of mess is a matter of deferring the delight in the everyday. Lara celebrates this, delighting in the possibilities of her craft cupboard. But for me, the idea of such a pile of possibilities just makes my skin crawl. This is why I like to keep my stash generally so low. I hate excess stuff. Yarn, furniture, mugs, food, anything. I never realised how much I hate it until living with Kirsty, as she is entirely the opposite. This is the one area in which our flatshare resembles the odd couple. I have a hatred of hoarding: she can't live without it. I'm sure neither of us would notice this as odd except we share living space, but after nearly four years of the personality clash, I'm starting to wonder if both of us don't boarder on the obsessive.

Credit where credit is due: Kirsty's hoarding includes keeping stuff that'll be useful later, she's not just stockpiling deferred moments of consumption (a point Lara's post also notes neatly). I remember visiting a waste management center in Germany when I was 18 (don't I have all the exciting holidays?) and being delighted to hear they collect things they can't recycle yet and store them in disused mines until they've worked out a way to use them efficiently. Somewhere near Berlin there is a cave-full of batteries. That is sort of wonderful, isn't it?

Maybe I just need to implement a way of organising these 'deferred moments' (be they hobby, chore or a bit of both), so they won't feel like a mess. Maybe we just need a bigger flat. Or more time. That, or David Tennant and his handy time-traveling box with the giant insides. For now, all this one does is store my glasses.

crawling

2008-05-03T17:15:00.007Z

I have finally got around to PDF-ing Rosalind and Bakerloo, and putting them up on ravelry. As an added bonus you can also find my Bottoms Up pattern and an article about toe-up sock heels (with formula/ pattern).

If you are not on ravelry, then that's your own problem, you freak. Join up.

They are all for free. Please respect (a) copyright and (b) that I'm not here to teach you to knit. By all means contact me if you think there is a problem with the pattern, but if I get another message on ravelry from a stranger who wonders if maybe they should have done a swatch (or simply hasn't read the pattern), I'll scream.

Because I'm feeling maudlin today, I've re-dedicated the Bakerloo pattern to Ken Livingstone, seeing as it was named after London transport. As I said, maudlin. Not just about the new mayor - its other voting decisions, or lack of them that really bugged me. I tried to walk it off this afternoon, so stomped up the hill to look over the view of London from the Horniman gardens. I often go there when I want perspective, I somehow feel soothed by surveying my city. But the skyline didn't work today. So I decided to hide in pretend countryside instead, and went for a muddy walk around Sydenham Hill Woods, which at least gave me a chance to play with my new birthday present (new camera). Hence the photos.

I can't believe I took these, and feel entirely justified in having 'blamed my tools' for the last couple of years.

my so-called computer scarf

2008-05-02T19:54:00.001Z

I'll explain what this odd looking button monster is in a moment. First: some context. There's been a lot of fuss about London's academic libraries over the last few weeks. I'm a bit of a connoisseur of such places so have been following the debates with equal measures of glee and distaste (my take on the subject is posted here). One of my favourites is a specialist library at the Wellcome Trust. Its a lovely place to study for those of us lucky enough to need to consult great tomes on the history of medicine. The interior is gorgeous; it's like you're walking into a George Bernard Shaw play (but with wifi).

Except, last week I got told off by the librarian. I can't bring my laptop case into the reading room. After all, I could be using it to steal books (or smuggling in illegal objects). This is fair enough, the British Library actually check the inside of everyone's laptop when they leave. However I need the case - the little magnetic bit that keeps my computer shut is broken. Without the case, the computer flaps open. And because the shutting mechanism is linked to sleep mode, this means the computer turns itself on and off, on and off, on and off, and crashes. Solution: a super-snug computer scarf (ravelry posting).

Hence why I asked for a stitch with very little stretch. After trying a few slipped-stitch options, I settled on the so-called scarf pattern, because I like the texture. I bought the yarn in Japan and have no idea what it's made of. I think it might be a mix of bamboo, silk and possibly something plastic. Its strong anyway, and a light worsted which I worked on a reasonably tight gauge (3.25mm needles). I made enough to go around the computer and some. I added some buttons up each side (20p each, John Lewis, because no doubt someone will ask), made a few icord fasteners. Viola: a safe computer, without risking the suspicion of those fine librarians at Wellcome.

I'll finish with a screen-shot of the computer in action, as people seemed to enjoy nosing last time (from my introduction, which I forced myself to write this week). After all, it is my largest WIP at present.

demi-done

2008-04-25T18:29:00.006Z

I've taken ages to post about this. I finished in March. It's been hard to find a time when me, a charged camera battery, a photographer and light have all be in the same place, but it's also because I haven't entirely decided whether to give it a thumbs up or down.

Its Demi, from Rowan Vintage Style made in Cash Iroha bought half-price in the John Lewis sale. All details in the ravelry page. I'd been wanting to make demi for years. Faced with a sweater's worth of aran weight yarn after the sale, I was desperate to demi-it.

I checked through ravelry for other FOs in the yarn, and again and again the same line came up "Oh, Cash Iroha, how you do grow!" I knew demi shouldn't be loose, so I asked around and was told it didn't grow that much. And I was good. Not only did I swatch properly, but I washed and seriously blocked it before taking stitch and row measurements. I went down several needle sizes and it all seemed to be on track. But, you can guess. It grew.

The pattern does work as a baggy jumper. The side-shaping and twisted rib keep the looseness of the yarn in check, meaning its still reasonably comfortable and (relatively) flattering. Most people seem to use the hourglass sweater patten with Cash Iroha for the same reason. Still, it's not the image I had of the pattern in my mind. Demi is a tight, fitted and nipped in smart garment, not a big softy-sack. And you have to remember that I've had that image in my head for years.

In conclusion, it's a thumbs up of an FO. But my craving for a demi is not sated. Next autumn I'll make another one in a more conventional yarn. It'll be re-gauged to dk, and as a top-down raglan. Because life's too short for all those back-to-front purls on the WS of the twisted rib, and I think the shoulder button detail will look cute on the raglan angle.

In the meantime, I'm looking for a stitch pattern with virtually no stretch. Any ideas?

in need of warmth

2008-04-17T12:10:00.010Z

Even though it's been bright sunshine all week, the weather still feels like this:

(taken weekend before last, when it did actually snow). I seem to feel constantly chilled. And not in the metaphorical, relaxed, way either. It seems plain wrong when it's so sunny, but there is a cruel wind, and it's early enough in the year to still want a bit of cloud cover. I don't think sitting with college's over enthusiastic air-con's all day is exactly helping.

So, in amongst the shivers and sneezes, I've been comforting myself with this:

It'll be socks. It was going to be lovemeknots. Then it was going to be plain stripes. But now it appears to be slipped-stitch colourwork. A proper post will happen at some point when I've thawed enough to think of anything creative. Until then, brrrrr.

Magknits patterns

2008-04-09T08:07:00.011Z

As some of you might know, Magknits has been taken off-line. Including my Bakerloo and Rosalind patterns. I will try to put them up soon (at least as ravelry downloads), but I am very busy at the moment. I have a day off on Sunday, but its my birthday, so I was planning on doing other things.

So please bear with me. I'm doing this for free. I had no notice of this - the first I heard of it was a blog comment this morning. At which point I checked out the threads on ravelry and well, let's not get pulled into that particular mess. Magknits is gone, we're all sorting replacements, some have time to do it quicker than others. End.

If you want Bakerloo, there's a similar pattern here. If you want Rosalind, the chart's written out in knitting language here. You can cross-reference that with a standard illusion knit pattern (use a search engine). You can still get the patterns, without images, through google's cache or the wayback machine. If you have some kind of crazy knitting emergency where you need the pattern now, email me (address in the knitty patterns) and I'll see what I can do.

domestic saturday

2008-04-05T20:48:00.010Z

As a balance to the last two messy tuesdays posts, here is one based on a day of domesticity. Though I dare say you can spot some mess at the back of a few of the shots. The day started with a shower, a bit of a tidy of the kitchen and a check of jobs.ac.uk, followed by a lengthy deconstruction of pantomime cross-dressing over brunch at a local cafe with Marcus. He pottered off to the football, and I picked up some groceries on the way home. I only went in for bread flour, but there was a special offer on frozen raspberries.

So now we have 9 jars of jam. I do like raspberry jam. While doing the washing up, I found an Agatha Christie on the BBC7 iplayer. I not only know whodunit, but could virtually recite the script verbatim, but Miss Marple is one of my favourite guilty pleasures. This one even starts with a knitting; a dropped stitch and skein of blue wool to be exact. So, during the rest of the radio play there was a bit of knitting from me. Socks, using 'magic-magic loop' of two-on-one-needle, I'm making the pattern up as I go.

Then some baking. Kirsty and I, in a moment of whimsy earlier in the week resolved to make a cake in celebration of the return of Dr Who, challenging ourselves to include ingredients starting with the letters d, r, w, h and o. So, a carrot cake with dates, raisins, wholemeal flour, honey and the juice of an orange. We baked it in a loaf tin and covered it in blue icing, full results here. We made up a couple of mini-muffins with the leftover mix, TARDIS door-knobs?

After that little excursion into geekery (unusual for either of us), we completed the day in relative elegance with some pre-dinner cocktails. Because one should always keep a bottle of cava and some cassies on hand. Take that Nigella.

Tomorrow, I work. Marking exams.

unfinished

2008-04-01T11:47:00.012Z

Ravelry didn't kill the knitblog. If anything, it's inspired more people to set them up. I do think, however, there's been a dearth of work in progress posts since the advent of ravelry. If you know your current new cast-on will make it through friend's activity pages, why blog-up their blogroll too? But there is a place for moments taken to sum up works on the needles; time out to consider the process. It being a messy tuesday I thought I spend some time, on my blog, pausing to consider a few incompletes in my life.

Above is a stole I've just started. Muir, to be precise, and in the yarn the pattern calls for, artfibers Tsuki. It's so rare I ever follow yarn specifications, it came as a bit of a surprise to me to realise I'd inadvertently done what I was told. I think it's going to bit a WIP for a while. I have to look at it when I knit, so not great for knit groups, knitting while chatting at home, or knitting in front of the television. It is small, and I had planned it for bus-knitting, but the yarn's so slippery it's hard to knit on a moving vehicle.

Next, is my Demi, in Cash Iroha bought in the John Lewis post-Christmas sale. It's knitted. It's even seamed, and this shot was taken while it was drying after having been washed and blocked. It is however, still without buttons. I had just over a ball left over of the yarn, so I've cast on for a beret. Neither this, or the jumper itself is especially seasonal. I started this back in January, thinking there'd be plenty of time to wear it this year, but things kept getting in the way. I thought it'd still get a wearing after the snow over Easter (in London, yes, the first snow of the year, a week before we swap from GMT to British Summer Time). But its been raging sunshine the last few days. And not the crisp cold kind of sunny either.

Finally, it's my biggest WIP of all, the thesis. Please note the 'horrible' in the document title isn't a comment on the work, as much as a reflection of the case study. As I seem to be saying to people daily at the moment, it's ok, it's getting there. It's getting there slowly, but it is going to be 90,000 words (plus or minus 10,000 words or so), good-quality words at that, so you shouldn't expect speed. And it is getting there.

Messy tuesdays wednesdays

2008-03-19T20:37:00.005Z

I've been really inspired by the 'messy tuesdays' posts. If you've not spotted this yet, Felix's manifesto puts it so very well "You are not your flawless surfaces. You are not your orderly laundry-pile. You are not the seamlessness of your Finished Objects. You are not your risen cakes. You are not your sewn-in ends." Domestics in drag may be oodles of fun, but our lives aren't like that. Indeed, the messiness of the world is just as interesting as that oddly modernist aesthetic that seems to have embedded itself in the world of the craft blog; its not all clean lines, good light, an apparent complete lack of 'stuff'. Wouldn't it be lovely to celebrate the forms of domesticity we experience on an everyday level rather than voguing some fantasy we don't especially like that much anyway?

Except, my life is way too messy to get around to actually blogging on a given day. So here it is, a good 36 hours later I planned. Our round-and-round knitting jar (circs and dpns). Though, there appear to be a few standard straight needles that have inadvertently made there way in there.

It once held jam, though credit where credit is due, the domestic goddess of the household did sterilise it, and probably used it for several types of jam, chutney and marmalade in the meantime. The circs are more than a bit tangled, the dpns aren't neatly sorted and knotted together with string (as they once were). Its way too full. Also, the cables on the circs stick out more than there is space for on the shelf where they usually sit. Consequentially the whole caboodle tips over on regular occasions and, domino-like, scatter all over the kitchen floor. In fact, when I went to replace it after taking the photo, I managed to knock its neighbouring mug of crochet hooks everywhere.

I have to admit, I moved it to take the photo to somewhere with more light. I suppose this is cheating; playing to voguing a world where you can turn your home into a studio. In my defence (a) the only spare time I had was at 7:40am (b) our flat's bloody gloomy at the best of times (c) there wasn't much point posting an image of the kind of grey/ brown blur you can't see anything in. Bah, I'm sure the ability to cheat is part of the celebration of messy tuesdays!

I know I probably should finally get around to sewing that circular needle case from the SnB book. But I have a thesis chapter to write, it took me nearly two hours to get home from the library, and I'd much rather spend the free time I have this evening casting on Muir. Plus, if we're talking chores, there's the hob to scrub, knickers to wash, a button to sew back on, floors to sweep, mould to wipe off the back wall, and darnit I still haven't phoned the student loans company.

I'd suggest 'Yeah, I'm a slacken, and?' pin badges, but I fear people might take the other meaning (and on that, it is a bit shocking that one word can refer to both untidy and sex-worker).

to see the wizard?

2008-03-11T14:50:00.007Z

First up, a link. Oh my goodness, look at this amazing Bromptom, embellished with a gorgeous giant butterfly on the hip. Her project's ravelled here. You have no idea how happy that makes me.

Next, an FO. Mine, this time. A pair of legwarmers, yellow-brick road legwarmers to be precise, using a basket-weave stitch. I didn't intend to replicate the Brompton's sleeves, more inspired by the gentleman's fancy sock pattern, but it seemed to work out that way.

The yellow yarn is collinette's jitterbug, in the 'Vincent's Apron' colourway, inspired completely by Megan. I worked them both at once on a 80cm 2.5mm circular - I'd tried out the two-at-once trick for the red pom's, but found it much easier this time with just the one (rather than two) needles. All ravelled here.

That shot looks like I have rather clumsily upped the brightness on a basic photo editing programme - all that pink in the top left hand corner. But I didn't touch it, there was just weirdo light going on that morning. And on that odd photo colouring, I have a question: to SLR, or not to SLR?

I have a perfectly ok camera. It works. But I do keep getting frustrated by an inability (its and mine) to get the imaginary shots in my head out of the camera. Its five years old this summer, and though I'm normally of the view that (for the good of the planet if nothing else) you should use things till their death, I have to admit, I've been coveting an upgrade for a while. Plus the battery's running out quicker than it used to, so its obviously on its way out. My mother's going to give me money towards one for my birthday next month, and I should have a bit of extra money from various work things. My budget is £250 max, because although I want a good one, I'm not exactly rich. But maybe I should bite the bullet, wait a few months till I have (a) more money saved and (b) time to learn, and go for an entry level SLR.

Flatmate says go for it, mother says not to bother. I've read a few reviews online and tried the trick of clicking the 'what camera' on pictures I like on flickr, and I'm just not sure. Tips, advice?

belated v-day post

2008-03-02T16:14:00.007Z

EDITED to add: bobble = pompom (for those not familiar with English-English).

A few months ago my boyfriend and I had a minor disagreement over a bobble hat. We were on a boat, it was cold, and we'd just spotted another passenger knitting a stripy hat, surrounded by her family members wearing identical ones (all with bobbles).

Marcus: Ooo, you could knit me a hat.
Me: [suddenly quite elated] Knit? You? A request? And you'd wear it??
Marcus: Yeah, you could knit me a hat, I'd like that. Keep my head warm. Go on, knit me a hat. Please.
Me: Of course my love! [starts to mentally add to her ravelry queue]. I could do cables, or fair-isle, you know some really complex patterns...
Marcus: [interrupting] Ye-es. But, you know, with a bobble.
Me: [pause, then imagine the next word like Lady Bracknell says handbag] A bobble?
Marcus: [smiling, goodnaturedly]. Yeah, a bobble, I like bobbles.
Me: But bobbles are horrible and childish. I don't like bobbles. I want to knit cables, or fair isle, and a bobble would just ruin it [pouts].
Marcus: [misjudging my attitudes to bobbles slightly, trying to look cute and and taking on the voice of some kids tv show character] Bobble, bobble, bobble, bobble.
Me: [looks in another direction in disgust].

Now, a few months passed, I'm over not being able to knit him something more technically challenging. Deciding the most romantic presents are always those based on a fight, I swallowed all pride and made him a bobble hat for valentine's day. Project ravelled here.

I started as a basic top-down hat, planning ear flaps and a garter-rim. Then I realised this was basically the same as brooklyn tweed's modification of thorpe to dk-weight, but with stripes. I lengthened the odd bit here and there (and added the bobble) but basically its the same. And, I have to admit it, I think the bobble actually adds to this pattern. It lifts the eye at top of the piece a little, and so stops it from making the head look a bit flat.

I used Rowan Scottish Tweed (a ball of each) because I wanted to see how he'd react to 100% wool. I'm going to knit him a jumper for next winter, and I thought this could be a good test of his skin sensitivity. I figure I can always line a hat, but it's harder with a jumper.

a lazy saturday evening

2008-02-23T17:35:00.005Z

I'm sitting at the giant wooden kitchen table I inherited from my father, feet up on a chair opposite, staring blankly at my computer. Behind me, a load of dripping handwashing is slowly causing a puddle - after seeing Bekki's amazing forecast at a conference yesterday, I was inspired to re-block my increasingly misshapen one. Flatmate-Kirsty is sitting on the floor with her back against the radiator, wrapped in a giant blanket and reading the Guardian magazine. Her hair is alarmingly straightened, after a cut on Thursday. We are both failing to get up and go out for cocktails and general glamorousness, and I'm half re-writing a lesson plan for Monday. We are contemplating making curried parsnip soup for dinner.

Me: I want to blog those red socks but I can't think of anything to say about them.
Kirsty: I think you should say 'Socks. Done. Red! Grrrrrrrrrrrrahhh.'

So, here you go: Socks, pomatomus to be precise.

They are done, and red, though I tend to subscribe to the view all pomatomus should really be blue/ green I somehow felt the yarn called for the pattern. It's Araucania Ranco Solid in case you were wondering.

They are first pair of socks I've managed the two-socks-at-once trick. Hence the "Grrrrrrrrrrrrahhh" noise. Hear me roar.

*sotto voce* though I did cheat for a few rounds at the heel and them worked one at a time, the flap was just getting in the way (admittedly, I was drinking, doing a pub quiz and teaching Kirsty figure-8 caston at the same time, there is a limit to my multi-tasking). I liked this two-at-once business, I'm going to do it again.

Ravelled here. Now I'm off to bake an apple and plum crumble and then an early night. Working tomorrow.

FO: placed cable

2008-02-11T14:13:00.001Z

This was a project inspired by the yarn. It was a very uncharacteristic impulse buy, which I blame Kirsty for entirely - she sent me to the Liberty's pre-Christmas 20%-off event and, the previous weekend, had me model a gorgeous kid-classic cardigan she'd just finished knitting for an ex-flatmate of ours. Initially, I was planning on knitting Belle Epoque, but as soon as I started knitting up the silky yarn I decided it had to be a cowl-neck, and settled on the simple aran from last autumn's Interweave.

Needles: 3.75mm 80cm addi circular.
Pattern: Placed Cable Aran, Cathy Payson, in Interweave Knits, Fall 2007.
Mods: Extensive, see below.
Yarn: Rowan Kid Classic in 'peat', just under nine balls
Ravelled: here.

I modified in two respects. Firstly, actual design: I lengthened the sleeves, cowl and the body by several inches each, and worked the bottom of the body in the same rib as the sleeves. I also added side-shaping and an extra pattern repeat for the central cable, because I thought a longer line in the middle would be more flattering. Secondly, I worked it in the round, and from the top-down (largely to escape seaming such a dark mohair-mix). I started with the back piece, which I worked flat until I got to the bit where the arms divide. I held these stitches, and cast on two small pieces for the front shoulders. I worked these at once (as you would two sleeves at once) before joining at the neck and then working as one piece until it matched the back. Then I joined to work in the round and it was all knitting from then on. For the arms, I picked up with the circular needle and worked in the round using magic loop. I used a k2tog bind off throughout.

Generally I'm pleased with the result. It is a bit sack-like, even with the side-shaping and using a yarn with good drape. A few people who've made it have suggested set-in sleeves might be a good idea (especially as the aran design is so simple, and doesn't really extend to the sleeves anyway), and I'm inclined to agree. Still, I wanted a reasonably baggy jumper, and it's smart enough to where at work. The yarn is a tad itchy - it is 70% wool, but the mohair and nylon take the edge off so I don't find it uncomfortable. Its so lovely and fluffy (without being too fluffy) and silky (without being too silky). For once, this impulse-buy was a goodun.

Sorry about the rubbish in-a-mirror photos. I did take my camera and boyfriend out to the park on Saturday. But the spring-like weather seemed to have brought hayfever along with decent sunlight, and I just didn't feel like having my picture taken. Also, though I'm generally a believer than no responsible blogger should knit with either dark or fuzzy yarn, I do realise this isn't the most photogenic of projects. I'll finish with an 'I'm a little teapot' shot, so you can see the ribbing at the bottom.

In praise of the knit blog

2008-01-27T13:05:00.000Z

This is a post in praise of the knit blog. Its inspired by the 'You Make My Day' award which has been doing the rounds, and Veronique and Emma both presented me with tags for. But I'll start with an FO post - its been waiting to be blogged for a while, and is (kind of) on topic.

I only made one of these. As part of a 'single sock swap', Kate (of Zeitgeist) did half the work. Plus she chose the pattern and complementing yarn, which is, after-all, a big part of any decent FO. I'd made this sock for Heather (ADD Knitter), and sent it to her with enough yarn and the pattern to make its pair; Kate did similar for me. Isn't that the best idea for a swap, possibly ever?

Needles: 2mm & 2.5mm knit-picks circs.
Pattern: Gothic Spire, by Cookie A.
Yarn: Louet Gems Fingering Weight
Shoes: Doc Martin's Mary-Janes, purchased in the winter sales.
Ravelled: here.

I loved knitting this. Not just because of Cookie’s pattern, or the soft and gleaming yarn, but also the Kate's notes on how to accurately replicate her first sock. I always feel knitting from a pattern (as opposed to designing your own) is an insight into another knitter’s approach. I often learn techniques from following patterns. This time, I had the added bonus of an insight into how the pattern was read by another knitter.

So, the 'You Make My Day' awards. Rules: Give the award to 10 people whose blogs make you feel happy about blogland, then let them know so they can pass it on. It was so hard! I limited myself to knitter-bloggers, but still my first draft was about thirty. But here are the final ten, and why, in alphabetical order.

1) A Mingled Yarn. Elizabeth churns out sweaters at the most amazing speed. She thinks about them too; chooses good patterns and pairs them with appropriate mods to produce perfect FOs. She is also a big inspriation on me to sew and I enjoy her more literary posts. A well thought out, well organised and often inspiring blog.

2) Dogged. Funny, observant and thoughtful posts. Gorgeous photographs, with an amazing warmth to them. I really like the ways she reflects not only on knitting, but knit bloggers and their trends. Plus I enjoy drooling over her quilting skills.

3) HelloYarn. In one word, inspiring. Gorgeous shots of knitting and yarn, produced with a great sense of colour, immense skill, an obvious delight in a knitting challenge and a beautifully subversive style. Fair-isle insects, you can't get much cooler than that. Adrian is also one of the most knowledgeable knitters blogging, and one of the many that inspire me to challenge myself to try new techniques.

4) Knitting Philistine. Megan's another one with incredible, fiberlicious, camera-skills. She has a great eye for choosing patterns and yarn, and writes with a lovely breezy style. She's also one of the (many) grad-school knit-bloggers I read. I especially enjoy the enthusiasm she puts into her knitting, photography and blog. It's enthusiasm with a good dose of sardonic humour, but that's my favourite flavour. A real celebration of knitting, without getting 'too twee with the squee'.

5) Needled. Kate composes relatively long posts, but beautifully crafted ones, on a range of design and material culture issues. Funny, extraordinarily skilled, and most of all intelligent. Always worth the read.

6) Practical Polly. Perhaps its crazy to include the blog of someone you share a flat with. Kirsty often says she doesn't bother reading my blog because she assumes I'd tell her anything noteworthy. I read Practical Polly though *screws up face and blows raspberry at rude friend*. I enjoy seeing what aspects of her life she'll choose to blog about. Also, Kirsty has a large part of her knitting life based in Oxford, so it happens outside of our shared space. And through this I have an odd, virtual connection with her knit group, the Bluestockings. I read a load of their blogs too, so I'm going to cheat and add them along with Kirsty.

7) Quelle Erqsome. I read this in a completely different way from (for example) Needled, as Emma's blogging style is more about providing frequent, intense hits of her irreverent humour, great photos, forthright views and superb links. Plus, I like that she's a Londoner academic, even if I fail to go to any local knitting groups and so haven't met her in person. A speedy, punchy blog, but not a frivolous one; it can stay with you for a while afterwards.

8) Specs. Funny, thoughtful, self-deprecating and honest posts, lovely knitting and nice photos. What more could you wish for in a knit-blogger? I first started reading Sarah's blog when she commented here while knitting one of my patterns. It's one of the nicest ways I've 'met' knit-bloggers, and my blogroll is full of such links.

9) Tres Chic, Veronique. Great FOs, clear technical skills, pretty photos and an obvious enjoyment of knitter's maths. Plus, she's another knitter who inspires me to sew. I 'met' Veronique through a run of secret pal, and been a fan of her blog ever since. When I was briefly in New York this winter I even managed to meet her in person. I had assumed she'd have a French accent - not the case at all - I bet there are loads of other bits and pieces I've accidentally 'coloured in' about the lives of the bloggers I read. As with Kirsty and the bluestockings, I'm going to cheat again and include the rest of the Spiders with her, as I'm an avid reader of nearly all their blogs too. It was really nice to meet Gleek (and the Peanut!) in NYC too.

10) Ysolda. I don't know how she finds the time for so much knitting, designing and other domestic gubbins, but its all oodles of fun to read about. She writes well and the photos always look so very good. Plus I like that she's in Edinburgh, it reminds me of my Scottish roots. A classy blog from a clever and creative young woman.

Brompton, etc

2008-01-23T13:24:00.000Z

Mary pointed me to a mistake in the cardigan pattern. It wasn't a big one. I think it was bad maths, or a typo. Or perhaps both. Either way, I apologise. But when you check a pattern you have to pull it right back to first principles to work out exactly where the problem is (at least I do). And this pulling-back made me rethink some of the arm/ body ratio spacing, which has led to a bigger change.

I've altered the pattern page, but for those who've already saved or printed it out already, replace this instruction:

(RS) Work 10 sts in pattern and hold these on a large safety pin, change to size 5 needles, k12 [13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20], pm, k14 [16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30], pm, k36 [38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52], pm, k14 [16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, 30], pm, k12 [13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20], pm, hold the remaining 10 sts on a safety pin.

With this:

(RS) Work 10 sts in pattern and hold these on a large safety pin, change to size 5 needles, k9 [13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 27, 29], pm, k12 [14, 18, 20, 22, 24, 28, 31, 34], pm, k32 [34, 38, 46, 54, 60, 62, 68, 73], pm, k12 [14, 18, 20, 22, 24, 28, 31, 34], pm, k9 [13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 27, 29], pm, hold the remaining 10 sts on a safety pin.

I know at least six people have started because Ravelry told me so. If you have cast-on and got passed the neckband already, the original measurements should still be fine. There were very few places where the maths actually didn't work, and where I have changed things it's normally just by a stitch or two. Its only for the very large sizes that I've changed anything of note. Remember that it is a top-down raglan, so you can try it on to make it fit you as you go anyway.

So as not to have a totally photo-less post, here's a shot of some fabric I bought in the Liberty sale. Look, knitting fabric! They actually had it in three different colourways. I was quite restrained at that fabric sale; they also had all sorts of cool prints of girl scouts camping, sixties swirls filled with fairy-tale characters... I swear I star-spotted Kaffe Fasset there too (see how I cunningly distract you from my bad mental arithmetic?).

really quite touched

2008-01-18T17:21:00.000Z

Yesterday, I commented on posts by both Ashley and Stacey noting how funny it is you can trace mini-vogues for patterns through ravelry 'friends activity' pages. That evening, I was rather taken aback to be confronted with this, my headless torso repeated over the browser window:

Brompton's queue is at 66 last time I checked, and one person's cast on already. How did that happen? I had no idea I had that kind of blog traffic. Sometimes I think the online knitting community is largley about imaginary knitting (fantasy knitting, like fantasy football...?), and I suspect ravelry's queuing feature encouredges that. All that said, thanks. Really, I mean that. For the ravelry comments, ravelry faves (got to love those hearts scattered over your profile), blog comments, links, emails... I'm actually very, very touched. Plus this sort of thing always brings lurkers out; I've discovered a load of new knitters. I'm going to look into putting up the pattern in ravlery as a download pdf, but that'll take time I don't have right now. I will look into it though.

I have no knitting content, as it is still rainy and horrible and I have failed to take any decent photos. Plus I've been applying for jobs and writing papers instead of knitting this week. So I'll end this with a tip and a link.

Tip: Put potato water in your homemade bread. Even better, mash up a couple of potatoes and put that in your dough. It's amazing; the fluffiest center, with a lovely chewy-yet-crisp crust. The sort of bread that is made for strawberry jam. Freezes beautifully and the toast is divine. You might think I'm crazy, it's a Nigella tip I ignored for years as simply loopy, but it works wonders. If you have her domestic goddess book, its page 298 of the UK hardback (though don't use nearly as much salt as she says, in that respect she is loopy).

Link: Hadley Freeman on "Granny Chic". She complains that the recent vogue for an "eccentric trendiness" (cabled cardigans, tweed skirts and the like) isn't pretty and isn't fun. I disagree with her in terms of taste (it is very pretty, and oodles of fun), but otherwise I thought the article was spot-on. However, she's missing a trick in ignoring the number of blokes who have taken on the same aesthetic - have you seen the quantity of 1970s OU beards in your average urban bar these days? (or is that just a Hackney/ Dulwich thing?) I also suspect this aesthetic reaches to taste in food, drink and hobbies. I'd be interested to know what other knitters think about the article though. I suspect a fair few of us engage in a bit of granny-chic.

Personally, I appear to be wearing two types of tweed today, which I admit is excessive.

Brompton: Pattern

2008-01-17T16:22:00.000Z

Cardigans, like Spring, are a matter of transitions, and this is a piece for layering through changeable weather. A relatively loose-knit garment (kept in check with some side-shaping), yet also long enough to keep your bottom warm. It’s a simple knit, but with some neat finishing touches to keep a proficient knitter entertained passed television-knitting and teach newbies a few tricks. Chief amongst these being flexible, reversible, sleeves you can fold up (to keep out of the way while working) or wear low (to cover and comfort hands on colder days).

It's named Brompton after a bit of London I've been lucky enough to work, play, teach and study in for just shy of a decade. Once a bohemian artist's quarter, the area became substantively gentrified after the Great Exhibition which also left us some of the grandest Victorian architecture in the world – galleries, lecture rooms, libraries, concert halls and monuments. But the place maintains a more anarchic, arty feel with the Royal Colleges of Mines, Science, Art and Music, not to mention the hoards of schoolkids pouring in and out of the national museums every day.

Photographer credit: Marcus Roome.

Designer: Alice Bell, under a non-commercial unported license.

Gauge: 18sts/22 rows = 4" in stockinette stitch using larger needle.
Size: XS [S, M, L, 1X, 2X, 3X, 4x, 5x] based on these sizing measurements. Shown in M, lengthened to fit a 5’ 9” woman.
Finished Measurements: Chest: 32 [36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 56, 60, 64] inches, note there are 2-3 inches of ease in the pattern. Length: custom fit.

Materials:

Cygnet Superwash Pure Wool DK [100% wool; 114yd/104m per 50g skein]; color: Gold; 7 [8, 8, 9, 9, 10, 10, 11, 12] skeins
US 5/ 3.75mm circular needle, approx. 32 length-inch length (see pattern notes for further details on needles).
US 3/ 3.25mm circular needle, approx. 32 length-inch length.
Waste yarn (a few meter's worth, preferably of similar weight, different color, smooth - cotton is good).
Two large safety pins (st holder or waste yarn will do as substitution) and at least 8 smaller pins for seaming.
4 stitch markers.
Darning needle.
10 Buttons (see pattern notes for more detail on buttons).

Pattern notes

The needle requirements assume that you are happy to work magic loop and use a circular for flat work. You may wish to use straights and dpns, in which case you will need each for each size, but a circular of the larger size is still advised for the yoke, as it you have to work a large number of sts at once. You would only need dpns for the sleeves, which can also be worked flat and seamed later if you prefer. Even if you are happy to use a circular for flat work, a set of size 3 straights might be worthwhile for the button band, as working a small number of sts on a circular can be frustrating.

The button requirements are stated as 10, but the pictured garment used 11 large buttons (28mm diameter) and 7 smaller ones (15mm). This is because I added an extra button for a longer piece (I am 5’9”), and backed the rather heavy buttons down the front for stability.

Unless the pattern specifically states otherwise, when working flat slip the first st of every every row, and knit of the last st of every row, regardless of side. This makes for neat edges and easy seaming, and is especially important in the basket-weave sections.

3-row basket-weave stitch (worked over a multiple of 4 sts)
Row 1: [k2, p2] to end
Row 2: [p2, k2] to end
Row 3: [k2, p2] to end
Row 4: [k2, p2] to end
Row 5: [p2, k2] to end
Row 6: [k2, p2] to end

The pattern has a relatively loose gauge and generous ease; you may wish to go down a needle size for a denser fabric and/or tighter garment.

As a top-down raglan, you can adjust to custom-fit the piece. Make sure you stand up when doing this for accurate measurements.

Please note, at time of publishing this pattern is untested. All comments and questions are best placed in this blog post, where I'll also try to answer the as best (and as quickly) as I can.

Pattern

Neck:

Using size 3 needles cast on 92 [108, 124, 140, 156, 172, 188, 204, 220] sts. I used cable cast on, but choose your own favorite method.

Work in basket-weave sts for for 7 rows.

(WS) At the start of the 8th row, keep in basket-weave pattern but bind off the 5th and 6th sts, casting them back on when you get back to this point on the 9th row (i.e. make a button-hole).

Work another 3 rows in basket-weave.

(RS) Work 10 sts in pattern and hold these on a large safety pin, change to size 5 needles, k9 [13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 27, 29], pm, k12 [14, 18, 20, 22, 24, 28, 31, 34], pm, k32 [34, 38, 46, 54, 60, 62, 68, 73], pm, k12 [14, 18, 20, 22, 24, 28, 31, 34], pm, k9 [13, 15, 17, 19, 22, 24, 27, 29], pm, hold the remaining 10 sts on a safety pin.

(WS) slip the first stitch and purl back.

On the next, and subsequent right-side rows, increase one stitch either side of each marker by working a kfb stitch (8 sts increased on each row). For every wrong side row, purl.

Note: this produces a reasonably low neck. To heighten it, reduce the number of cast on sts in multiples of 8, and remove one sts from either side of marker when working out where to place them. Similarly, the neck can be lowered further by adding sts in multiples of 8.

Work in this pattern until there are 72 [82, 90, 100, 108, 116, 126, 136, 144], in the back, ending with a WS row.

Body:

Note: As with any top-down raglan, it is worth putting all sts on waste yarn and trying on the piece to check it fits precisely. Add or subtract a few rows (and their increases) if necessary.

(RS) Sl1, k to marker, remove marker, k1, turn and cast on 4 sts, replacing the marker in the middle of these 4sts to mark the side of the cardigan. Turn back and hold all sts to the next marker on waste yarn for the left arm. Knit till next marker (i.e. the back sts), remove maker, k1, turn, cast on 4 sts, replacing the marker in the middle of these to mark the other side. Turn back, move the right arm sts to waste yarn (i.e till next marker). Knit till end.

Work back and forth in st st for 2 inches (XS only), 2 and half inches (S, M and L), 3 inches (all X sizes) before starting side shaping. If the garment’s recipient is of above average height, you may wish to add a few rows. Again, it is worth trying on the piece (you can probably keep in on the needle) to see that it reaches roughly 5 inches above the smallest part of the waist.

Start side shaping. *(RS) [Knit till 2 sts before marker, ssk, k2tog] twice, knit till end.

(WS) purl. Work 4 rows st st. ** Repeat from * to ** four times. Work another 4 rows st st. *(RS) [Knit till 3 sts before marker, kfb, k1, kfb] twice, knit till end (WS) purl. Work 4 rows st st. ** Repeat from * to ** four times.

Note: If garment is to be worn by a particularly curvy recipient, you may wish to work 12 rows less before starting side shaping and add an extra set of increases and decreases.

Once side shaping is complete, hold sts (you can keep them on the needle, but you might wish to use point protectors).

Button band:

Using size 3 needles (straights if you have them) pick up the held button band sts for the right-hand side of the cardigan. Work in basket-weave st until it is roughly the same length (or slightly smaller) body section you have worked so far, finishing with a WS row and hold at the end of the size 5 needle which is also holding the body sts. Depending on your choice of yarn, it may be worth blocking the pieces lightly with a steam iron before checking the length. Do not cast off any sts.

Pull the button band up alongside the edge of the cardigan, pin and seam together (note: you will probably not be seaming one row to one row, as the idea is that the button band is slightly tighter that the main part of the cardigan – though not so tight it bunches, a few less rows, worked on the smaller needles should be fine).

Repeat for the button-hole band (left hand side), but this time make a button-hole every 3 inches (I left 4 pattern repeats between button holes).

Using size 3 needles, work all body and button band/ button-hole band sts at once in basket-weave st for 4 pattern repeats, remembering to add a button hole where it is needed.

Bind off loosely with size 5 needles (I used a k2tog bind off).

Sleeves

Starting from side of the body and using size 5 circular or double-pointed needles needles, pick up and knit two sts from the 4 sts cast on when the body and arms were divided. Pick up 2 more between these and the start of the sleeve sts, and them together. Knit the sts held for the sleeve. Pick up two sts between these and the side of the body, and knit them together. Pick up and knit two sts from those cast on when the body and arms were divided. Place a marker on the needle to mark the center of the bottom of the sleeve and join to work in round. You will have increased the sleeve sts by 6.

Note: this approach should leave no hole in the armpit, but it is worth leaving an 8-inch tail of yarn before picking up sts here, so you can neaten up with a darning needle if necessary.

Work in sts for 4 rnds. You are working in the round now, so there is no need to slip any sts at the end.

Dec rnd: K2tog, knit till last two sts, ssk.

Work dec rnd every inch until there are 40 [44, 44, 48, 48, 52, 52, 56, 56] sts left. Work in st st until 3 inches from where a sweater would normally end.

Change to smaller needles and change to working flat. You will probably still wish to divide sts as if working in the round for an inch or so.

WS: sl1, kfb, p2, and work in basket-weave till end.
RS: as previous row.

Work two rows in pattern, always knitting the last st and slipping the first.

WS: sl1, kfb, p1, k2, and cont in patt.
RS: as previous row

Work two rows in pattern, always knitting the last st and slipping the first, and adding an extra knit st either side of the basket-weave.

WS: sl1, kfb, k2, and work in basket-weave till end.
RS: as previous row.

You should have now increased by 6 sts and have the start of a cuff made of basket-weave st, flanked by a slipped st on each side. Work in basket-weave st for a total of at least 6 pattern repeats, making a button hole at 4 and a half to 5 inches, 3 sts from the side of sleeve.

Once complete, bind off loosely with the larger needles and the same bind-off method as you used for the body.

Repeat for other sleeve.

Finishing:

Sew up any holes left under arms. Weave in any remaining ends. Block lightly, applying washing instructions for your yarn.

Sew on buttons. For the cuffs, you should sew buttons on either side. The inside button is be used to wear the cuffs down; the outside button when pinning them up.

FO: Sunshine Cardigan

2008-01-14T10:45:00.000Z

I'm a big cardigan wearer - party because I enjoy conforming to the academic cliché, but also because they are so convenient for layering warmth and letting your Summer/ Autumn wardrobe extend into colder months. The ultimate transition garment.

A few months ago I started to have a hankering for a yellow, dk-weight cardigan. I had an idea for a perfect garment in my head, but it was very vague and, probably because my standards were so high, I kept changing my mind. I cast on for a top-down raglan. Then bottom-up with set-in sleeves, then top-down again with a different design. I played with cable, lace, cable again, frogging and re-knitting just to frog again. Kirsty still hasn't stopped teasing me about how many times this thing was knitted.

Eventually, I settled on a simple top-down raglan with a basketweave boarder, a bit of side shaping, slipped stitch edges, an applied button band and double-sided sleeves you can wear up (for working) or down (to keep hands snuggly warm).

I had thought about submitting it to knitty, but the deadline day came and we didn't have internet access. Plus the light's been rubbish and I didn't feel there were good enough photos. Most of all I felt that, for all the pattern's finishing touches, the design was too simple. Basic patterns on knitty annoy me, I figured why add to it? I have the pattern written up though, so I'll post it here if anyone interested.

Yarn: cygnet superwash double-knit wool in 'gold', 8 balls.
Needles: 3.25mm circ, 3.75 circ (both 80cm).
Buttons: 11 of the big brown ones (from Liberty, 75p each... but worth it) and 7 smaller ones to stabilise them (from John Lewis, in a pre-packed box - these are cheap plastic basic buttons for mending your trousers).
Ravelled: here.

This last picture was taken at my very favourite part of London; the Science and Art staircase the Victoria and Albert Museum. Not many people realise, but the Science Museum used to be inside the V&A building, back when it was simply the 'South Kensington Museum' and basically the left-overs from the 1851 Great Exhibition. The science collections were booted out to the west side of the stree around the turn of the century; the main exteriour of the V&A built around the old duel-use building. So although the outside of the building is overtly arts and crafts, you'll find a more mixed set of iconography in the interiour. The art and science sections were connected (and demarcated from one another) with a gorgeous ceramic staircase covered in the letters 'S' and 'A'. The V&A, conscious that their own building is one of the prize pieces of their collection, maintain this staircase, but I think most visitors today just walk through it, perhaps thinking its particularly pretty, maybe wondering why Galileo's name is worked into the design.

EDIT, see the pattern:

FO: spiral blanket

2008-01-08T12:09:00.000Z

So, what was I doing with all those spirals? I was making a blanket.

In the end, I made 42 spirals*. Then I laid them out on the kitchen table, pinned them and linked it all together with a boarder made of a deep-red wool. The MC is a variegated boucle I bought at Avril in Japan (don't ask any more details - I don't have them and when I did they were in Japanese), the CC is Rowan's pure wool aran (with the disturbing colourway-name of "blood"). I used a mix of 4.5mm and 6mm hooks.

I then spent several evenings weaving in ends. This is the key problem with crochet blankets.

It was one of the Christmas presents for my mother, which is why I've kept it secret so far. She turned 60 this year, so I thought an (ironic) "old lady blanket" would be a good idea; the crochet spirals are meant to be a twist on the traditional granny square. Because she's no square, she's my momma (plus, neither me or my brother aim to make her a granny for a while). It's based on one of my favourite scarves, which itself is inspired by some of Ruth's amazing hat creations.

I was aiming for a lap blanket, but I realised I didn't quite have enough of the spirals to cover the required area and I didn't want to space them out with too-large a red boarder. So instead I plumped for a giant wrap. As it turns out, Mum seems to find the extra warmth around the shoulders really good, and she's been wearing it loads while she works from home. This picture gives an idea of how it hangs over the shoulders (and a clue as to scale).

Plus, apparently it reminds her of a bed jacket her mother made her years ago. One of the unexpected outcomes of my adventures in yarn is it reminds mum of her own mother. She loves saying "I dreaded that thing about turning into my mother, turns out my daughter did it for me" and I enjoy haunting/ poking fun at her with it. It's that odd thing about being the kid of 50s/60s teenagers. They rebelled against their parents and made a big fuss of it. So do we follow them in such rebellion (which, if you think about it, isn't really that rebellious, as you're doing what they did), or find other ways of bugging them, like aping their parents? The delights of postmodern generational relations. That said, it probably isn't just a matter of post/late/ liquid modenity; it's not as if notions of revolutionary generational change are especially new. Still, its nice how craft often weaves links accross time, whilst allowing generations their own take on things (as evidenced by book titles like this). I wonder what my Granny would have thought of Ravelry?

* This number wasn't deliberate, but I'm a geek so it pleased me.

FO: space invader socks

2008-01-06T15:00:00.000Z

Another vintage FO that has so-far been hidden from the internet (squirrelled away as a secret Christmas present). Space invader socks, made for my little brother. Completed late this summer during flights to and from Tokyo.

I had an idea for these socks ages ago. But great minds think alike and Aija produced her great pattern last Spring. I thought I might as well use her specifications as they were much nicer than the vague idea I had half-formed. However, my (bamboo, 2mm) needle snapped a few cm into the charts. As I was on an aeroplane somewhere over Russia at the time, I was limited to the only other needle in my hand luggage, which happened to be a size up. So, I re-gauged and in doing so had to enlarge and simplify the pattern a bit.

Still, the bigger space invaders show up neatly, and the looser tension means the socks are slightly stretchier. As with the pirate argyles I made my brother last year, these are a pair of socks that are quite silly, but can look respectable under a suit. Let your trousers sit naturally and the embarrassing big-sister knitted motifs entirely disappear: lift them up a few cm and your childish alter-ego is revealed (though you might spot a green monster poking through the left foot on this photo).

The yarn is matchmaker 4ply for the black and knitpicks essential for the green (grass colourway), for those who wonder about such things. And I ended up using a 2.5mmm 80cm addi circular, toe up method.

Pottering about

2007-12-29T13:18:00.000Z

We're right in the middle of those weird few days between Christmas and New Year. It's not a public holiday, but half the country seems to have shut up shop. There is an air of not-working everywhere.

I have work to do. I need to write an overview of my thesis - a paragraph for each chapter which succinctly states what I will be arguing. It's a short enough document, but tricky in its brevity. Pottering about while the overview mulls through the back of my mind seems to be the way to go. This sort of work is an iterative process which requires a lot of mental distance, so it's nice to have some relatively quiet time to space my thoughts out.

Over the last few days I've entertained myself filling in YouGov surveys, (re)reading Phillip Pullman novels and watching bad kid's movies (the latter two do sort of count as research for me). I gave my mother a sock-knitting lesson, did a pile of hand-washing, played with a pattern write-up, sewed some buttons, visited the winter sales, hoovered the hall and scrubbed the bath, every now and again returning to my thesis overview. Having spent the last couple of hours typing up my latest set of notes, I think a break to blog a so-far-secret Christmas FO is in order.

Pattern: Reverse-Bloom Washcloth (free!).
Yarn: Euroflax Linen sportweight, leftover from my bottoms-up top. I managed three washcloths with a bit over half a ball.
Needles: 2.5mm circular (smaller lily), 3.25mm (larger two).
Notes: It's a reasonably quick project, though not as quick as you might think. I wasn't sure if I had enough yarn for a third, so I fudged the design slightly to make it smaller - it's very easily adaptable. An excellent stash-buster and, finished-off with a tiny bar of violet-scented soap, made fantastic stocking-fillers.

PRESENTS!

2007-12-23T11:52:00.000Z

I know it's early, but yesterday was Christmas-with-friends, before we all end up having our Christmas-with-families.

As it turned out, our pile was entirely fabric and yarny goodness. Plus, we manged to solve that ever-so-tricky question: what does one knit for a knitter? Turns out the simple answer is you make stuff they won't knit themselves. Just because you have the skills doesn't mean you'll have the time or inclination.

For example, flatmate-Kirsty won't knit socks. She could. In fact I suspect she'd really enjoy it. I also know she likes wearing hand-knit socks because she's still not given me back the wonderland pair I lent her after the photoshoot back in September. Every time sock-knitting is mentioned she shakes her head in incredulity and mutters something about jumpers. So, I made her these:

I said she could keep the wonderlands too. It being the season of giving and all (and it didn't look like I was going to get them back). I'd also been saving some Japanese cotton for her, covered in cartoons of little animals in various forms of peril (burning, drowning - they're cute but also somewhat disturbing). In fact, we both did pretty well for fabrics walking the macabre/ beautiful line - Kirsty's cousin brought us back some amazing Day of the Dead prints from LA.

And Kirsty's gift to me? This gorgeous alpaca hot-water-bottle-cover. I've been meaning to make one or myself since I did one for my mother last year. But just haven't got around to it (kept getting distracted by socks...)

Ever increasing circles

2007-12-13T11:48:00.000Z

I have turned into a spiral-producing machine. I'm not saying what these are for (it's that time of year...). Simply that they are driving me ever-so-slightly looney.

However, I have mastered the art of an adjustable-ring cast-on. In boucle yarn. On a number 52 bus. Which is an achievement at least. And I'm nearly finished. Maybe four more spirals to do, which equates to roughly two commutes back and forth to work. If I tell you my standard commute is up to 90 minutes each way, you'll see this is slo-oo-ow work.

The yarn is from the Tokyo branch of Avril (aka Habu). And I have no idea what its called or what its made of because I don't read Japanese and long-ago lost the ball band. I suspect a synthetic mix with a bit of wool thrown in. There is 250g of the bleeding stuff though.

FO: Drops Jacket

2007-12-05T15:59:00.000Z

I keep trying to get a decent photo of this. And I keep failing. Considering my previous bad luck with the jumper I think I should just blog on and be done with it.

Pattern: The snappily titled "103-1 Jacket in Eskimo or Silke-Alpaca with A-shape and ¾-long or long sleeves", more commonly known as Drops Jacket. I added a slipped stitch at the start of each row - this gives a really nice neat edge. A Zimmerman trick, well worth applying. I also added a button because I felt it needed it.
Needles: 5.0 mm 80cm circ.
Yarn: Jaeger Extra Fine Merino Chunky very cheap from cucumberpatch.com sale page. The pattern is written in two guages, but I fell in between the two, so worked as if it were aran but cast on for a slightly bigger size (I've noticed lots people who've knitted this jacket fudging this way). It's 100% wool - and even the extra fine merino itches my neck slightly, but as a cardigan I obviously have something underneath. I can't really wear it with short sleeves for long though - get ikky rash on my elbows. Grrr for wool allergy because I love this yarn - so squishy and warm.
Buttons: Bought at John Lewis in a rush at a weekend, so I can't remember any details. I really like the dark wood with the deep red yarn.

Bad luck and photos aside, it's a great piece. Warm, a quick knit, reasonably smart. And I promise it doesn't it doesn't normally cut my chest in quite such an unflattering manner when done up. Neither to I tend to hide behind my hair when wearing it. So much for winter photography.

Two FOs: red hats and purple scarf

2007-11-26T14:03:00.001Z

I thought I'd knit my mum red hat and purple scarf for her 60th birthday (a reference to this poem). I chose my yarn and patterns, and planned to complete the projects during my trip to the USA.

But knitting doesn't always go to plan.

For the red hat, I planned fair-isle, mixing some red 4ply soft with opal uni in a chocolate brown. I designed a chart, cast on at Gatwick airport and, as the plane made its way to the other side of the Atlantic, got about half way through. But as we landed, I decided I didn't like colour combination in fair-isle, and frogged the lot (the brown yarn and chart pattern became these mittens). Stranded in DC with limited internet and a whole ocean away from my pattern book collection (not to mention needles), I was a bit stuck for what to do. I had a 3.25mm circular with me to make the scarf, so did a gauge swatch with the yarn held double, trying out the cable pattern I could do from memory (I'd just used it in this sock).

It worked pretty well, and the double-held soft yarn made for a lovely warm and squishy hat. I'm particularly proud of the the in-pattern crown decreases. I don't know if I could write out the pattern, as the whole project was pretty free-form, but I'll maybe have a go if I have time before Christmas.

This half of the project completed, I cast-on for a lace scarf. Swallowtail in a soysilk laceweight which I planned to dye purple once knitted-up. I worked out how to add pattern repeats to make it big enough, and got most of the way through. But the p5tog's in the boarder were my undoing. I mis-placed one (knitting lace while gossiping...) so frogged a few rows back to re-do them. But the p5tog's acted as a knot, and I literally had to rip it apart, cutting the yarn to bits. As I did this, a load more unravelled in a way I couldn't possible pick back up (and I'm pretty good at using a crochet hook to re-knit a few rows down). More ripping. So much that I lost more yarn than I could spare - I wasn't going to have enough left to re-knit the ripped bit and finish the thing.

Bye bye soy-swallowtail. You can see a picture here. It is the only thing I've knitted that has actually ended up in the bin.

By then I'd got to California, so visited Artfibers in San Francisco hoping to find something special enough to make a replacement with. What a shop! They have the most beautiful, unusual yarn. They also have mini-skeins you can knit with to see if you like it and try out stitch patterns. There are examples of swatches and pictures of finished pieces hanging up all over the place for inspiration. It has a really relaxed and friendly environment too, yet also extremely professional (photos here and here). As soon as I cast on with their Alfabeto, I knew it was perfect - so warm and silky, yet also very light. It has a very dark purple base, almost an oily black, with bits of blue, pink and red shot through (I couldn't get a photo which did it justice). It's 76% silk, 19% mohair, 5% wool - gorgeous stuff.

As a variegated yarn, I decided I'd go for a relatively simple garter-stitch based seafoam stitch, which also gives it a nice drape. It took a bus trip from San Francisco to LA, the plane from LAX to JFK and several commutes to and from work once I was home to finish, but I got it done in time for the birthday itself. I'm really pleased with it, though I think the credit goes largely to Artfibers for such delicious yarn.

So, neither piece was quite what I was planning, and all improvised on the road. But I was pretty pleased with it in the end.

FO (sewing):computer case

2007-11-22T10:36:00.000Z

It was my mother's 60th birthday on tuesday. I'll blog about the knitted components of her present later in the week. For now, here are the details of the piece I produced with the aid of a sewing machine. It's a laptop case, if you can't tell without the actual computer inside it.

The patchwork pieces were from a pile of fair trade scraps Kirsty gave me for my birthday last year. It was so much fun going through this big set of ends of fabric and choosing a collection that worked together and I thought Mum would like. Then there's a layer of quilting and a bit of sparkly top thread (sort of necessary to balance the slab of gold from the zip). Two fat quarters of blue cotton make up the lining and edging, with a double layer of foam Kirsty happened to have in her stash (how great is it living with another crafter?). I braved John Lewis on a saturday in the winter (Father Christmas was there and everything) for a giant zip so it could open all the way around, rather than just be an 'envelope' shape, and added a bit of elastic to slip over the screen when the laptop is open.

It took two afternoons - basically a lazy weekend's work, trip to town included. But that was making things up as I went along; it probably could have been done quicker. If I did it again, I'd sew the elastic in before sandwiching everything together, and I've have curved the edges. But it all works with the patchwork look anyway and its strong and unusual-looking, which was what I was going for.

Thanks for all the nice comments about my mittens WIP. I've finished them and will do a proper photo-shoot once the weather provides us with some light (bah!) and write up the chart in the next week or so.

While on the topic of my patterns, please note I've finally got around to declaring designs published on the blog as creative commons. (Designs held on other websites have their own copyright declarations). You are free to use, modify, share and play with these patterns to your hearts desire, just include a credit to me. However, you can't make money from them. Do not re-publish patterns for sale, or include in sets to sell yarn or for sock clubs, etc. Do not sell the things you make using the pattern. Okey-dokey?

fingers and toes

2007-11-18T07:45:00.000Z

7:45am on a Sunday morning is maybe a bit early for blogging, but Marcus had to leave at 7am for a football game. I couldn't get back to sleep, so thought I might as well catch up.

A while ago I knitted a single sock for the ADD knitter. In exchange, I've received a single sock of my own - this beautiful Gothic Spire from Zeitgeistyarns. When swaps work out, they really are wonderful things.

The colour, the feel of the yarn and the pattern are all amazing - I can't wait to get started. Her generous package also included the needles - knitpicks circs, which its great to have a try of as they are only just starting to be available in the UK. I've cheated though, and am first using one of them to finish off my current WIP, a pair of mittens.

I was working this on the plane, so was using bamboo dpns for that 'these are really just sticks gov' look when going through security. I find dpns can be neater for colourwork, but generally a lot less comfortable. Now I'm off the plane and with a spanking new 2.5mm circ it was much easier going. They are nearly finished, I only really have the thumbs to do.

It's my own design - would people be interested in the pattern?

EDIT: yarn for mittens is cashmerino baby (pale peach) and opal uni (brown). The cashmerino is thicker than the opal, but that actually helps it 'pop'.

LA Story

2007-11-07T00:34:00.000Z

I arrived in LA last night. As the plane circled the city to land, the ash-smog enveloping the area was still pretty obvious. I'm noticing the air quality's pretty bad, even to my London-battered lungs. This morning we went out for proper American breakfast before Alexis went off to class. I pottered around the area she lives in (and found a bookstore to snoop at the new Debbie Stoller). I had two cardigans on, and was pretty amused that it was much colder in LA than it had been in DC.

It was still pretty smoggy, but I went to the local park and sat and knitted for a bit. Then I popped on the metro downtown to MoCA. After finding the gallery (it took a while, seeing as I was on foot rather than LA-usual car) I discovered it was shut on Wednesdays. Darn it. I walked about a bit, visited the public library, and mused that it was a lot warmer now; all sunny and "proper LA". At that point I realised I was only wearing the one cardigan.

Double darn it. I'd left the thicker one in the park in Los Feliz. It was the drops jacket I'd whipped up before leaving for the US. Seeing as it was so warm in DC, I'd hardly worn it. I hadn't taken any picture of it yet - I thought I'd get Alexis to take pictures of me wearing it in some American setting. I went back to the park, hoping that maybe, just maybe it'd still be hanging where I'd left it. Of course, it wasn't. Darn, darn, darn.

Walking dejectedly back down the steps to town, I spotted it! Splayed in a tree, where I gues someone threw/ hung it. You might just be able to make out the Hollywood sign in the background.

By this point the smog had cleared a bit and there was a lovely, fresh breeze. I picked the branches out of the jacket and played around taking photos of the view and walked around Los Feliz a bit more. I bought some amazing tacos and generally enjoyed noting how very different the place is from DC.

Capitol Time

2007-11-05T21:26:00.000Z

I'm in DC. At least for the next coupe of hours, as my flight to LA leaves this evening. The photo above is of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum building (still say ours is prettier). I've really loved DC - for some reason I thought it would be dangerous, unfriendly, ugly and impossible to walk around. I was wrong.

Now the conference is over, today I did museums, and geeked over kids science literature in bookstores. But mainly I just wandered about what I've discovered is a really beautiful city. The weather has been great and sun shows off all the autumnal colours. Plus, I followed Lolly's recommendation of Teaism and had the best noodle soup I think I've ever tasted.

What am I knitting in the bottom left picture? That'd be a secret. As I'm uploading photos though, I'll leave you with a few pictures of some beaded icord I've done recently.

The real meaning of SSK

2007-10-28T19:09:00.000Z

SSK: slip, slip, knit? No, sew, sew, knit. Because I have been making tees. (We are going to ignore the stupidity of this in October, ok?). Sew 1, Sew 2:

Both using Simplicity Pattern 4589 and fabric I bought in Japan. My sewing, as ever, could be better, but they're fine if you don't look too closely. The ladybirds one was way too big, even after taking it in, so I cut a size down for the robots (and made it on the smaller side) and it fits perfectly. The ladybirds one looks fine under a cardigan though, or if you don't mind the super-smock look.

Next up, the knit. The pattern is my own, from the first edition of Yarn Forward. As I've posted before, it was inspired by bubbles in a champagne glass, but the eyelets in this green version are making me think of light coming through tall trees.

I'm really pleased with the result - it's come out exactly as I hoped. I wish I'd charted it though - if anyone's trying the pattern, email me and I'll see what I can do (though I can't promise anything instantaneous). I used Euroflax Linen in emerald. It's strength gives a nice 'tree-like' construction to the sleeves, and it's softening up nicely even if it was pretty rough to knit with. It's sportweight, not the 4ply of the pattern is written for, so I cast on for the smaller size.

Yet, for me the true meaning of SSK will always be a geeky one: Sociology of Scientific Knowledge. And on that, I'm going to a History of Science conference in DC this week, giving a paper on the Professor Branestawm books. Then I have a week off (last real break before thesis hand-in at Easter). I'll wander around DC for a bit, then I'm visiting a friend in LA, taking a bus trip up to San Fransisco and, as my flight home goes through Newark, finishing off with 24 hours in NYC.

Any tips for things to do, places to go, people to see? Kirsty's given me £10 to bring her back some inspiring craft 'stuff'. Where should I go? (bearing in mind I'll mainly be getting around by foot, though like any Londoner I do enjoy a bit of public transport)

FO: rambling vine socks

2007-10-21T11:27:00.000Z

Thanks for all your comments on the last post. I've been tracing through comments on other blogs too, and a few threads on ravelry. All interesting stuff. I was contemplating a follow-up post musing on the politics of fantasy, but I really should be channeling such energies into my thesis. Instead, I'll go with an unexcused celebration of one of my personal indulgences, and show off an FO.

It'll be winging its way to a friend as fast as Royal Mail will carry it, along with pattern and yarn for the second sock and some other bobbly-themed goodies (e.g. some beaded icord).

Pattern: My own, based very loosely on Martin Storey's Rambling Rose ("inspired" I think is the term). The vine motif starts at the toe, and grows as you knit, winding itself up the side of your ankle. I'm thinking of developing it further; making it a bit more complex. If I do it again, I'll use a crisper, lighter yarn so its easier to photograph (in real life it looks lovely, but dark colours, fuzz and blogging are not a good mix).

Yarn: Wensleydale Longwool 4ply. I wanted a very English yarn, as my pal's in the US. It's very warm and soft, and apparently it wears pretty well. The fuzz gives it a really yummy, mossy look - a very sniffable yarn.

political point

2007-10-18T15:01:00.000Z

Erqsome's recent post pointed me to this wonderfully thoughtful review of 'the domestic in drag' (i.e. much of the knit, sewing and baking blogosphere, Nigella...). I think Ashley, in her comment there, has it spot on - its not that craft is a feminist issue, its that celebrations of 'the gentle art of domesticity' raise questions of class.

I stopped reading Yarnstorm a while back because her celebration of a particular form of upper-middle-class life bugged me a bit. Similarly, I start screaming at the telly when Nigella says things like 'If you only have the one oven'. I'm not necessarily judging them, class can largely be a cultural thing - they happened to choose a slightly different life from mine. I do have my personal opinions on recycling, state education and (ahem) use of the British Library which at times various 'domestics in drag' have inflamed. But I tend to choose to keep them relatively personal. This is partly because I tend to think direct confrontation isn't always the best form of political action, but also because I know my craft blog is a heavily filtered version of my life, only really showing parts of me as they mix with knitting (and occasionally baking and sewing, the knitblogosphere having intersected with other domestic crafts). This is a window into my life, as it is to others. But it is just a single perspective. I assume the same is true of Yarnstorm et al, and wouldn't think it fair to criticise directly.

Still, the economics of craft is something we should think about more. Just as Nigella preaches that a little of what you fancy does you good, yet has taken it to a rather sickening degree in her latest series (I don't think compulsive eating is healthy - for you, society and the planet), piles and piles of yarn stash are to me, a symbol of over-consumption. Just because its handmade doesn't mean it isn't capitalism. That doesn't necessarily make it wrong, I'm not preaching anti- or pro- any particular ideology. I just want to emphasise that craft is economic, and therefore political in more ways than one.

I don't think I know the right or true way on any of this though - this post is a mix of things I happen to be thinking and ideas that are at the front of my mind. I'd be interested to know what others think.

learn from my stupidity

2007-10-13T17:48:00.000Z

When you leave your handknit socks for the winter, don't just leave them at the bottom of your washing pile thinking "yay, I don't need to wash them for six months". Dirty socks attract moths a lot more easily.

Yeah, that is my middle finger sticking out of the hole - the munching, flying little beasties. I've washed the socks anyway, and once they're dry I'll see if I can darn the hole, but it's pretty big. In my some of my favourite socks, too (the lovemeknots). Next spring, I'll remember to wash them all, carefully fold them and put them away securely. Possibly sealed. For the time being, I'm remaining vigilant, and Kirsty invested in a few anti-moth herb sachets (which are strong-smelling, and I haven't stopped sneezing since she opened them up, but at least won't make the flat stink of mothballs).

paddle power

2007-09-30T20:51:00.000Z

On saturday we took the Paddlesteamer from Tower Bridge to Whitstable (my pic here). It went right down the Themes, then out to the sea, via Southend. You could walk around the middle of the boat to see the steam engine at work and take a peak out of portholes to see the paddles go round and round. Plus, I wasn't the only person knitting on deck. All very exciting. Slightly cold too, which allowed some re-discovery of FO's gone by.

One the left side, a slightly better shot of my squirrelly mittens. On the right, Marcus is wearing a pair of mitten-topped gloves I made ages ago, pre-blog (loosely based on the broadstreet pattern). They've lasted really well, he wears them all the time. Marcus also caught me engaging in some sneaky yarn sniffing.

A 'ps' for ravelry users: I'm a stupid person and had "messaging" switched off for a load of last week. So if you messaged me, friended me or left a comment and didn't get a reply, give me a poke.

I'm in

2007-09-24T13:25:00.000Z

I'm on ravelry, my username is slippedstitch if you want to be friends. For those who aren't on it yet, it chiefly a way of combining a super-organised knitting notebook (what you've done, what's in your stash, what you might do next, stuff you've seen you like) with the folksonomies of web2.0. It does this very well.

So, with the prompt to organise myself provided by ravelry, I got around to photographing my current WIP (above) - a top called 'bottoms up'. In contrast to the webiness of ravelry, this is from a 'dead tree' publication: the first edition of Yarn Forward. It's a lightweight, relatively glam top (think Orangina); check out pigwotknits' wip of a long-sleeved one. It's my own design, but I did a smaller size for the magazine and wanted one to fit me. I bought the yarn ages ago (Euroflax linen) and hoped to have it done by summer, but other projects kept coming up.

The pattern starts off in the 1x1 twisted rib shown, then gradually flattens out to more and more stocking stitch, growing further with eyelets around the shoulders (all shaping's done by change in stitch pattern). Originally designed in a light pink cotton, the eyelets emerging from horizontal lines of twisted rib were inspired by bubbles in a champagne cocktail. But in this green, I think it'll be more like light coming through tree-tops. We shall see. I was going to do it in a champagne colour, but fell in love with this emerald.

I also photographed all my currently stashed yarn. All these photos are all links to flickr, where I've made notes on each yarn.

FO - cheshire cat socks

2007-09-17T20:32:00.000Z

A bit of a 'vintage' FO as I finished it ages ago. It just took a while for the pattern to go up and me to get round to linking to it - here it is (WARNING: links to pdf).

A (cheshire) cat. He hides, you seek. Go on. You know you want to knit some. Because everybody needs a pair of kitty-illusion socks where the feline appears and disappears as you point your toes and the tail twists itself leisurely up your leg.

For Purlescence's luxurious style, I used cashsoft, so have given them leather patches on the soles (for slipper socks), but the pattern would work just as well in a more hard-wearing sockyarn.

Thanks to Robynn for her great competition which inspired the project and Kirsty for acting as legs model for the pics.

FO: Giant entrelac "Mermaid" scarf

2007-09-16T21:07:00.000Z

Yarn: Four balls of Phildar Horizons in 'Madras'. I bought it very cheap in a summer sale in Paris.

Needles: Two 3mm plastic dpns, made into straights with a couple of end-protectors. I don't like the length of most standard straights, so much preferred this set up as the cable of circs gets in the way for entrelac.

Pattern: It didn't start off as Danica. If anything, it's more inspired by Lady Eleanor. I used the instructions for the technique from How to Knit. But I realised, half-way through, that it is exactly the width for it; an MC-only Danica. It wasn't going to be quite so long, but I figured I might as well knit till I finished the stuff. I probably should have done it wider, but didn't think I'd have enough yarn. The lightness of these synthetic yarns *shakes head* I don't know. Entrelac is pretty addictive, so it wasn't too tedious to work that length of scarf, plus I had other projects to play with which broke it up.

Verdict: I love it. I've always wanted a giant Dr Who like scarf (but never had the patience to before). The changes of colours, done in entrelac, remind me of mermaid scales.

Photos, appropriately enough, taken on Brighton Beach this weekend.

FO: glasses case

2007-09-13T08:04:00.000Z

Flatmate-Kirsty found some glasses last week lying about in Oxford, and in some off-kilter karma I promptly lost my glasses-case.

So I knat-up a replacement.

It's leftover blue wool from the skein Veronique sent me last year (which I used in a hot-water-bottle-cover for my mother). I made it in a similar style to the PDA case I did a while back. Turkish cast-on, in this case about 80sts, and worked in st st round until about twice the desired length. Then folded back in half (so worked row is level to cast on one) and kitchenered shut. This gives a nice double-thick piece with neat lip to the purse. Then put it in the wash for a hot, fast spin with a pair of jeans and a towel or three. Sew on zip, work a bit of random embroidery. Ta-da!

I kept with Veronique's mix of this blue with a dark chocolate brown for the zip and decoration. None of this especially goes with my red glasses, but we'll ignore that.

All so much nicer than the black logoed plastic things they give you at the opticians. I don't know why it took me so long to make one.

FO: Pea-green baby jumper

2007-09-09T21:53:00.000Z

Simple baby jumper I started on the way back from Japan from some leftovers of my main project (which is still top secret as is a xmas present).

Yarn: Knitpicks sock yarn solid. No idea on the colour - GREEN. Very soft stuff this yarn, probably much better for baby clothes than socks!
Pattern: My own, a top-down raglan worked roughly from this guide then with a zig-zag patterned stitch I made up on the plane as a way of stopping me go mad from the simple st st. I'm pretty pleased with this stitch, it gives a nice drape as well as texture.
Needles: Addi 80cm 2.75mm circs, using magic loop.