gifts

Christmas happened so I can show off the pieces I've been making as gifts. Above and below are knee socks for my mother. I did it toe-up, but with a flap heel (my own formula) and finished with a fair isle cuff. I used Jeagar extra fine merino 4ply with some leftover luxury tweed for the colourwork.


Then, for my brother, a pair of Aaargh-yles - perfect for the guy who wears a suit by day but everyone knows is a secret pirate. I used the chart and guide for knitting argyles from mothheaven. The black and white are both paton's wool rich 4ply, the red and grey are leftover extra fine merino from mum's socks and ones I made for my Grandfather last March.


I also gave my mother a sock knitting kit of yarn, addi's, crochet hook and toe-up pattern (I decimal-ised knitty's universal sock formula). She sent me a text at midnight last night to say she'd swatched and was ready to fill in the gaps in the pattern.

And this morning I had an extra gift in the shape of my final secret pal package, loads of sock yarn, with a fair isle pattern. She also revealed herself - Cassandra, from Philmont. She hasn't told me her blog yet though. SP9 still runs till the end of January, so I'm going to wait a bit before sending the final package the lady I'm spoiling, it's all set out though. All the packages I've sent have been themed - I've had so much fun working them out.

FO: fair isle hotwater bottle cover

I felted a swatch of the the fair isle project I was working on. It didn't felt that evenly, so a lot of the colourwork pattern was lost. Plus all the green went out of the turquoise yarn - a plain blue just wasn't the same.

So I decided the fabric would have to be kept un-felted and, after taking a few measurements, realised it would make a perfect hotwater bottle cover. My mother, who doesn't have my issues with wool. has just moved house, so it was an ideal housewarming present.

I sewed up the cast-on edge. I'd started it with a few rounds of garter stitch, hence the odd edge. For the top, I shifted to working just in brown and decreased a few sts evenly around. Then, after a few cm of st st, I worked a couple repeats of a cross stitch pattern*, through which I run a crochet-chain of the CC as tie. The friction between the yarns means the tie bunches up very neatly.

The book I found the fair isle design in was from Marion, who was my SP last spring. The yarn was a thank you gift from Veronique, who's SP I was. I'm pleased I managed to match them.

* This is similar to the stitch pattern I used in my knitterati entry - I'm going to post the pattern for that in a few weeks.

all american fairy

My "hostess" for SP9 has challenged us to post a picture of a tacky Christmas decoration. Which is perfect, because I was going to post about this little lady anyway.

She's a beaded Christmas Angel. I made her myself, from a kit Alexis sent me from LA. I know red, white and blue could signify a whole set of countries, but you can just tell she's all-American can't you? I whipped it up last weekend and, currently, it's our only decoration in the flat. I think this angel is extremely "tacky" for several reasons, and delight in her being so.

Firstly, there is her "patriotism". I've been listening to some BBC podcasts on American heritage. From a British perspective, the American concepts of national identify are fascinating, being so different from our own. This is especially apparent in terms of our relationship to the flag. The many flags of the United Kingdom are not, to me, celebratory symbols. We might, on occasion, wave them at sporting events or fly them on the top of a public building, but sporting ones are symbols of what team we support as much as anything else, and there are only very few public buildings that fly a national flag. Like many Brits, I'm very aware of the legacy of our flags as symbols of racism. Both in terms of feeling more than embarrassed by colonialism, but also in terms of far-right "skinheads" of the late 20th Century and nationalism debates today. That's a long-winded way of saying, personally, I don't associate flags with comfort, familiarity or really any particularly positive image.

Differences between UK and US attitudes to nationhood aside, surely appropriating religious symbols like angels* with the colours of the flag is a bit "tacky"? And if we do invest a lot of meaning in those stars and stripes, how can we make an allusion to it out of such cheap plastic?

Most of all, for all her plastic-patriotic angelic qualities, this lady is a secret punk. Her skirt is actually made from safety pins. You might be able to tell this from the shot I took up her skirt, although even then they are pretty hidden. Because, you see, our all-American fairy seems to have had a bit too much of the Christmas spirit and fallen over, told you she was a tacky lass. A right old lush, I bet you.


* I know we could also consider her a fairy, and as such a pagan rather than Christian symbol, especially if I put her on a Christmas Tree. I think my argument for her tackiness in this respect still stands.

on stash and "stuff"

I've inherited some furniture from my Dad's office. I now have a chest of drawers of my very ownsome, and my yarn can have a nicer home than a cardbox box.

I'm really pleased to say it easily fits into a small drawer. I admit this is partly due to the number of WIPs I have the moment (I've completely broken my two projects at a time rule...). As long as I don't start thinking I can buy more yarn, just because I have the extra storage space.

I don't like having a stash. I don't like having a pile of unread books either. Having unused "stuff" makes me feel guilty for unneccesary consumerism. Moreover, it's like an overflowing "in tray", which makes me nervy. I have enough of that with the horribly nebulous deadline of the PhD thesis*.

All that said, I was very pleased when this lovely secret pal package came through the door this week. A cotton/ nylon/ wool mix sock yarn in a sort of blue/ green/ white combination. Also yummy chocolate. The latter is now gone, obviously this was purely in the spirit of getting rid of "stuff" cluttering up the place :)


The really dangerous thing that arrived was my sewing machine. My 18th birthday present back when I was doing A-levels and dreaming of undergraduate life in Durham, sewing all my own clothes (etc etc). Except then exams arrived and I didn't really have time to learn how to use it. And I didn't go to Durham, I got a job. It's been at my parent's place for years, being guilt-inducing "stuff". But now I've got it back and I will put it to use. As long as I don't end up having to clear a drawer for fabric.


*UK grad school - hey, nice to meet you, come back in three years with 100,000 words. Go, use the libary - it's open 24 hours and has a coffee machine. (n.b. I am lucky and have a really supportive supervisor, but we do just get the one massive deadline, which is nice, we have freedom, but can hang over you somewhat).

train knitting

I'm off to Scotland in a few hours for my cousin's wedding. I just have a few moments to blog my first SP9 package (!) and show off the projects I'm taking for the train.

First up. The dress I'm wearing to the wedding needs a sash. A great excuse to try a yarn I wouldn't normally have a chance to play with (Debbie Bliss 100% silk). I'm normally of the view that bloggers shouldn't knit with black yarn, and when they do they shouldn't photograph it. But I can't resist.


The green underneath was the dress I was wearing yesterday, not the one I'm wearing to the wedding, which is also silk and a sort of grey/ purple. I love that I'm knitting this super-glam yarn with my smiley-face needles. You'll just have to imagine how lovely it is to work with.

The silk is such as small ball this won't take long. The main project I'm taking is my brother's birthday present. When he was little he lived in his Superman cape (well any fancy dress... pirates, Peter Pan, knights, but mainly Superman) and one christmas asked Santa for "super-boots". We couldn't find any, so I made some out of a pair of red wellingtons, with the superman symbol in gold paint on the side. For his 21st (last week) one of his presents from me was a voucher saying I'd do him a knit slipper-sock version if he told me his feet measurements. I'm using EZ's moccasin sock pattern with Paton's woolrich DK (for his sensitive skin). It'll be mainly red, with dark blue soles. I thought about a gold for intasia symbol, but I'm just going to paint it on.

And, leaving the best till last, my first SP9 package! The parcel arrived yesterday afternoon long after I thought the post had already come and gone (along with my train ticket - so I was VERY pleased with the postman!). The parcel was just small enough to go through the letterbox and landed with a great thund on the carpet. I investigated the front for clues - somewhere in the USA. Then opened it - chocolate (now packed for the train), a flower notebook, a writing set (and I've been meaning to write some proper old fashioned letters recently!). Plus an aran sock pattern from knitpicks and oh, can my fingers feel some yarny goodness? By golly they can - some beautifully autumnal-coloured knitpicks sock yarn.

SP9 Questionnaire

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I am not a yarn snob and I'd not look down my nose at another knitter's choice of yarn, but I am very particular about what I like to work with. I prefer "skinny" yarns: 4ply, laceweight. DK maybe. Very rarely I'll play with aran weight. Mercenized cotton is my favourite to work with but there is a limit to what I can make out of it. I like things with good crisp stitch definition. I have a slight allergy to 100% wool so tend to go for mixes. I don't like anything slubby, fuzzy, snaggy or likely to shed - I'm not much of a mohair fan. I don't really like verigated yarns for anything other than socks - even then I prefer semi-solids or light variegation. I *hate* anything boucle, whatever the fibre content.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?


We have a second for dpns and circulars (can you spot the shadow?) and a plastic cup for hooks. It suits us, I like them.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
Seriously, since early 2005. My mum taught me when I was little, but I soon forgot and was distracted by paint, sewing and beads. My flatmate re-taught me the basics and went away for a week, leaving her copy of Stich & Bitch out on the kitchen table... I knit a lot so even though it's been less than two years, I'd say I'm intermediate. My garment construction and fair isle isn't up to "advanced" levels.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?
Nothing up to date.

5. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products, etc.)
I tend to avoid scented things. They are too likely to make me sneeze.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?
Chocolate. liquorice. I don't have an especially sweet tooth, although I bake a reasonable amount it tends to be based around fruit or chocolate rather than simply for the sugar. I'm lactose intolerant, which limits me a bit.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
No I don't spin and have no desire to learn, I crochet a bit and I used to bead.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s?
I don't like one kind of music. But then there is lots I don't like... probably best avoided.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?
I don't have favourites in colour, all colours are nice in the right context. That said in terms of colours I like to wear, I tend to go for more muted shades.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I have a boyfriend but we don't live together (doesn't stop him leaving his football kit for me to wash, grumble grumble). I share a flat with my oldest friend which is obviously lovely, especially when she makes me lovely things like this skirt:


(sorry, off topic, but I've not shown it off here yet). My mum, brother and grandfather all live in London too, so I see them a reasonable amount but my dad died this summer. No pets.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
Yes to all but ponchos. I don't really like hats or mittens unless it's REALLY cold. I have too many scarves (yes you can have too many, trust me, I tried to get a photo of them all but it was too dark in my room this morning).

12. What is/are your favorite items to knit?
I love knitting socks. Anything small, because I mainly knit to give me something to do on the bus - it has to be portable - but I like a challenge, nothing too mindless. I like lace knitting.

13. What are you knitting right now?


Above, a lace tablecloth from soysilk. I'm about a third of the way through. It's quite a challenge, but I'm enjoying it. Below, and in complete contrast a mindless bit of simple st st for knitting on the bus. It's a scarf I'm going to felt. You can keep up to date on my sidebar.


14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
I have some very special ones from close friends and family.

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
I heart my addi turbos. I actively avoid straight needles, mainly because I find them too long to work with on the bus - I have some shorter ones though, with smily faces on.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Nope. That's what boyfriends are for.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
About a month. I'm quite disciplined about such things.

18. What is your favourite holiday?
I *love* Christmas.

19. Is there anything that you collect?
My PhD is on children's science books.


But on the whole I try not to collect anything - I'd rather travel light. I'm constantly fighting against my yarn and bead stash.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
I'd really like to see what all the fuss is about Socks that Rock. Also, this might sound weird but being in the UK I can't try knitpicks yarns or patterns - they have a couple of fair isle sock patterns that look really nice. I had a Rowan subscription this year but won't renew it. I've got one of my patterns in the new Yarn Forward magazine.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
I'd like to get better at fair isle.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
I knit socks, perhaps too much. My feet are 24.5cm circ, 26cm long. Big feet.

23. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)
13th of April.