Owls (and Ibsen) Revisited

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.

Warming jumpers and balling yarn

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.

Busy-busy-busy as a bee

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.

Summer

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.

FO: Grassy Green Top-Down

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.

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.

Two Xmas FOs

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

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. 

demi-done

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?

FO: placed cable

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.

FO: Pea-green baby jumper

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.

a tale of two sweaters

Let me take you back to Christmas Sales 2005. Cue weird time-travel music (I'm thinking radiophonic workshop).

My flatmate and I got up very early, managing to be some of the first into the John Lewis* wool department. We'd never done sales properly before and hadn't anything particular in mind. We keenly bagged some very cheap Debbie Bliss merino chunky. It promised a super-warm, super-quick knit and I picked out a jumper's-worth in an icy greeny-blue.

Kirsty had been itching to make a fairly-easy fair isle cardigan. It turned out so well, I thought I'd copy-cat, stealing her leftovers for the colourwork. The result.

But the shape never worked, no matter how I blocked and re-blocked (and re-blocked). It hung oddly. It looked bad. Worse, it never felt comfortable. Loathe to waste the yarn, I resolved to re-knit. I decided on a top-down raglan, and looked for a few balls of a less scratchy yarn for the yoke area where my skin is most sensitive to wool.

So, Christmas 2006 and the sales come round again. Again, I'm one of the first through the door of John Lewis. But this time I come armed with a bit more common sense (and a piece of the green merino, to colour-match). A load of extra fine merino chunky was on sale. For some reason my skin doesn't mind this yarn. They even had a gorgeous dark green.

And so my chunky jumper is re-born.


I used the same design I used for the hot-water-bottle cover. It would have been a lot neater if I'd charted the colourwork increases properly, but I was expecting to just wear it around the house - I didn't know it'd would come out so well. It's not super-glamorous, but it's a perfectly respectable garment. Best of all, it feels nice to wear. It just hangs right, which that cardigan never did.

* Literary side-point. This particular John Lewis is built on the birthplace of Lord Byron.

clues

I finished a jumper at the weekend. So far, this is the best photo of me wearing it.


I'm going to try to enroll the boyfriend into taking a proper shot of me wearing it next week, but it's hard to find a time when me, someone I trust the other side of a camera and the sunlight can all be scheduled together.

I like this photo though. Completely by accident, I realised the background (a section of my bedroom wall) says a lot about me.

The map in the bottom right hand corner is of London, the snippet you can see is roughly where I grew up. Next to this is Barbie. Note, this is Astro-Barbie, standing on the moon. Back when I was an undergrad I had to write an essay with a title something along the lines of "When Barbie's first words are 'Math is Hard', is there any hope for women in science?" I can't remember what my answer was, but I put this pic of Astro-Barbie on the cover.

To the left of Barbie is a postcard of a painting of my primary school. The large poster my hand is actually resting on is a diagrammatic history of the London Underground. I currently live roughly where my wrist is. This is the geekiest poster I own and I love it. Uslan, he of exchequered fame, gave it to me as a birthday present years ago and it always has pride of place in my flat.