New Year, New Hat

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.

tidings of comfort and joy

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.

Finish (in memorandum)

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.

belated v-day post

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.

Two FOs: red hats and purple scarf

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 (mod): not so slouchy

I modified the hat so it fits a bit better. As proof, above is a photo of me wearing it yesterday, sitting by a load of giant bells at the British Museum (my last name is Bell...). You'll have to excuse the dark shadows and slightly dazed look, I was a bit off colour over the weekend and not sleeping that well.

I frogged it down a good couple of inches. The patten says to work for six inches before starting the crown decreases, but in this version there is a bit under four. It's still slouchy enough for me to tuck my hair inside, if the mood so takes me (useful when it's windy).

FO: too slouchy?

Firstly, thanks for the comments on my recent posts. Moving to bloggerbeta makes it harder to reply to people. I realised google had changed my settings; I needed to re-tick the box letting them show my email EDIT: on my profile page (so that when I comment people can reply).

I'm not going to post a pattern of the voodoo doll - it's just two spheres and four tubes! The heart used a very simple chart, anyone who can do intarsia can work out how to write one themself. As for any doll, its advisable to work a tight gauge, I did two strands held together for thickness. If you still want guidance, there is a really great voodoo doll pattern here.

Anyway, I finished something. A hat. Do you think, maybe, it might just be a bit big?



It's Le Slouch (n.b. links to pdf)

I know it's meant to be slouchy, but it's not quite the look I was hoping for (even when I wear it properly). I think the problem is more likely the yarn than the pattern. It's cashmerino and has a bit too much drape. A strong woolen tweed would do a lot better, but it would have scratched my forehead.

I'm going to try wearing a bit more this week, maybe I just need to find the right way for it to hang. I love the colour and the seed stitch at this tension, even if it is a bit too drapy. If that doesn't work out I'll frog it down a few inches. As the designer says, it's basically an elongated beret. So I can try de-elongating it a tad. I hate re-knitting with cashmerino thoug - too fluffy and cotton wool like.

FO - shedir

Pattern: Shedir from the Knitty breast cancer print edition, downloadable here.
Yarn: two skeins Debbie Bliss cashmerino dk (I have about two thirds of a ball left). I know cashmerino will pill like crazy; not the best for cables. But I don't care. I can't take wool and it matches a scarf I wear all the time that's knitted in the aran weight version.
Needles: 2.75mm addi circs, using magic loop. That is two sizes down from the suggested ones and crazy small for dk weight yarn. I knit loose. I did the whole thing without a cabling needle.

Following Eunny, I only did three repeats of the main braid pattern instead of five. I thought about twisting the knit stitches too, but am feeling a bit "over" the twisted rib at the moment. I wish I'd done a better cast on. I was feeling particularly grumpy when I started it, and just worked knit-along for speed. Cable would have looked much neater.

And a shot from the front. In which I'm knitting Forecast, which is nearly finished. But then it's been nearly finshed for a while...


I know I said I'd stop knitting breasts... It is a breast, and not just because it's pink. Shedir (the title of the pattern) comes from an Arabic word for breast. The pattern notes say to try google if you want to know the title's meaning. Of course, knitting's web presence being what it is, I needed to do a few layers of searches, filtering "hat, cap, knitting, knitty, knit".

I just need to keep hold of this hat. No small feat in the current climate. Yes, a tornado in London - just down the road from my old school. My mother only lives the other side of the park, she was pretty lucky.

And I've swapped to BloggerBeta. Hence the lables.

problem with t'noggin

I knitted a hat.

Using Wormhead's ingenious Whirly Rib pattern, I striped Kureyon with a solid purple Cashmerino. To avoid itching from the wool, I worked cashmerino only for the rim, then striped in the gradually. The yarn and the pattern worked so well. The colours; gorgeous. I finished at the end of last week and already had compliments from non-knitters and knitters alike.

Lack of photographic evidence?

I left on the bus this morning. I was tired and frustrated by seeing the bus I was going to change onto pass us. I might be able to try the London Transport lost property office, but don't hold out much hope.

Grump grump grump. I was planning on blogging about it this evening and really looking forward to it.

But in good news I drunkenly made my boyfriend wear my pink scarf on saturday night (went surprisingly well with his yellow tee-shirt). Now smells of him. Which is comforting considering the lack of whirly wool hat to keep my noggin* warm.

*Brit slang - I mean head. Though you probably worked that out.

balaclava

This project was so quick it didn't make to my sidebar. I mentioned in my last post that my boyfriend's mother requested a balaclava for a ten year old. I didn't know exactly why, but it was easier not to ask. As it turns out, Di was teaching the "Balaclava Boy" (story in this book studied in many schools) but none of the students knew what a balaclava was.


Looking for patterns I found this amazing site on Red Cross balaclava's, and I love Noa. But I couldn't find a pattern for child's balaclava that was right. As a teaching aid, it did need to look very balaclava-like. In the end I worked it out myself.

I worked a top down hat until it got to the circumference Yarn Standard's suggested for a child's head. Then bound off a third of the stitches, worked flat for what I guessed was the length of a child's head, cast sts back on, rejoined in round, did a few rows then swapped to smaller needles and ribbed a few inches, ending with a sewn bind off.

It took a couple of trips to work on the bus and a few hours in the evening tv-knitting. A week's project, but hassle-free week. With the tablecloth done and still enough knitting days till xmas I had the time.

I got thank you texts yesterday saying Di had tried it on and it "does wonders for the double chins", suggesting this as a marketing possibility. I could see the balaclava working with some of those clean masculine lines this year. Maybe chain mail large guage or with a chunky cable, and grey naturally :)

EDIT: Yarnforward are looking for people to knit a few projects for the next issue - they are all really small and it'd be a great way of showcasing your knitting. Check the Yarnforward Blog for details.