Knit, knit, knit ... and knit some more

This week I have had way more knitting time than usual. First Monday and Tuesday elder cub was not 100%, nothing serious but a nasty cough .. so I stayed home with him, and I knit .. a lot, which was a nice way to pass the time waiting for him to get better (or worse). We had a prescription for antibiotics should his cough go to his chest, luckily it didn't. Then Thursday night Bear had an appointment with a Dental Surgeon, nothing too major but surgery all the same. With his heart history it was prudent to stay home and be there on the Friday with him 'just in case'. Again .. another day knitting was achieved. Every one is now fine - except I suspect that I have picked up the cubs bug .. things taste funny and my throat feels not quite right ... inevitable I suspect. Smallest cub was off school Thursday with the same thing - but that day Bear parented. Parented - it is a verb isn't it?


So knitting, when one knits 3 of five working days a week and knits evenings .. significant progress happens.
First both Squirrel Mitt outer were done ... thumbs and all. I've not blocked these yet, as I'm waiting to block the pair at once with the lining in them so right now they are a little 'bumpier' than I'd like .. but it should all sort and smooth in the blocking.

Once the mitts were done, and after i had admired them for a bit, I picked up for the lining stitches around the line where the cuff was knit up. This is such a neat technique .... and completely covers all the stranding inside the mitten, prevents snagging and of course makes the mittens thicker. I didn't have a small quantity of lace weight I wanted to sacrifice for these so headed out to my LYS to see what they had. Oddly - in New Zealand lace weight is often referred to as 2 or 3 ply, and is predominately sold and used for baby wear. You know the old fashioned white, lemon, pale blue, pale pink layette sets, booties, jacket, bonnet. Because of that the lace weight yarns on offer in yarn stores here are in those colour schemes, not quite what I wanted ..oh how I dream of LYS's that stock a full range of yarns, not just the baby colours and DK weights that seem so popular in New Zealand. Luckily the manager found a 50g ball of this silk merino unbranded lace weight left over from the last sale. This seemed a good match and is soft and silky - perfect for the mitten lining. She is holding the other one 'just in case I need it', even luckier she found the price was still the sale price of $NZD4 - score!

The lining is where I made my only change to the pattern. The increase rate for the lining gusset is the same as for the outer but was too fast, the lining row gauge must be shorter on the same sized needles. So I frogged the first attempt at the lining gusset and reworked it with an increase rate of every 3rd round (not every 2nd). That seemed about perfect. With no stranding and charting ... the lining knits up relatively fast compared to knitting the outer.


I realized that as the lining will be covered totally by the lining - I probably needed a progress shot of the stranding, so here it is. the instructions say if the mittens are to be lined there is no need to weave the longer floats .. but I did. I think that it can help the work stay flatter, the temptation to pull the stranding to tight is increased as the floats get longer.

Last night I finished the lining in the first mitten completely, and as it was only 9ish .. I picked up the stitches for lining the second mitten.

Which will probably not knit as fast as the first lining .... but there is some thing addictive about these. Right at the end of the pattern it says "Attaching acorns? Now’s the time". This made me wonder .... I couldn't find any reference to acorns in the pattern itself so I headed off to Ravelry to check out the versions others had knitted and sure enough some had attached acorns, little acorns dangling off the wrist .. and there are instructions Wee Twee Tiny Acorn Tutorial, by Pamela Wayne (sorry its a Ravelry link).

These mittens have me totally enthralled, its not even cold here, we have sun and the windows open and the kids are out biking. My plan when I bought this pattern was to knit these on the plane at the end of the month. So much for the plan, I loved knitting these, and now I have to rethink my traveling knitting. ...

Feel free to make travel knitting suggestions, I'm now thinking Bug Out socks and a Traveling Women Shawl, and/or a center out baby blanket?

na Stella

News, reviews and anwers

Today's post is full, first up I'm guest blogging over at GrannyG's place, a review of the Nightingale sock pattern, so for a full update on that knitting you will have to pop over and read it there. There is also news ... two finished objects, the Mobius and the Rouge Roses socks .. which means I've started new thing(s). Yes plural, as in I have 3 projects lined up ready to go and I want to knit them all, one of them is the newest kit in the Winter 2010 Vintage Purls Sock Club.


so projects, well ever since I saw a pair of these in person, I've coveted them. Nothing for it but to knit my own, can you guess which pattern they are?

Squirrel sampler mittens by Adrian Bizilia. I had a day at home with the eldest cub, he had a chesty cold and really wasn't ready to participate and infect a classroom of kids. Wow .. when one knits from noon until bed, with small breaks for after school pick-ups, and travelers vaccinations, and evening meals .. one gets a lot done. I'm hoping my squirrel will have a head and complete tail by end of today.

This all came about because I finished the Rouge roses socks, and they are thick and warm and cosy. I love the weight of the yarn, its a 'medium' sock yarn, and heavier than that I usually use. I'm not sure of the logistics of fitting thicker socks into my shoes .. and I'm a little wary of wearing them too much and putting holes in them. They are lovely but nylon-less .. and for some reason that worry's me. I want my hand knit socks to last .. but I am just supposing they will wear faster, they may not and in fact the high twist is supposed to prevent that, so I need to relax, trust, and wear them.

I also finished the Mobius, and while it is longer than I expected, I did cast on a lot of stitches, and looks more like crochet than knitting, I'm happy with it. Small bear has already claimed it - which is fine by me, I can see there will be another of these soon, wider and shorter and perhaps with a finer pattern.

the 2nd installment of the sock club arrived this week and I'm smitten. Look Bugs, and aptly named Bug out. I love it, we are a little spoiled in our neck of the woods as the designer delivers kits to us, this time at spin night. She also brings her sample along all knit up for us to fondle and admire ...

and there were gasps of surprise as we turned it over and found a knitted squashed bug under the foot - that just makes it even cooler. I have already queued this one, I've not cast on .. but it might just be the very next thing after squirrels are done.

Now recently I had a comment / question from Moemoe you do such great color work are there any site, books, patterns you can recommend for a beginner?.
Well, I can tell you how colourwork began for me. At first I worked a few items that had stripped cuffs, vertical striping, that let me play without fear and intimidation of taking on a large and complex project. To start with I also worked a few child's, (well toddlers) jerseys with small repeating colour work motifs. One that I can't find a photo of right now as a variation of Wendy Johnsons baby Norgi sweater that was a pattern and steeking tutorial on Knitty. I can't say what book would be best for you as I don't have many that show how to work colour work, but one of my fist purchases on knitting was Knitting in the old way, which has details for shaping sweaters and has quite a few charts one can use to decorate items with. I worked quite a few smaller simpler projects, the FakeIsle hat, a few pair of mittens, even a pair of colour work socks with very simple patterns. I designed and worked a larger cardigan for myself, Fannigan, and knit a Bohus from a kit. Each of these was a step more complicated in the colour work and gave me more practice and experience and confidence. Most of the early colour work was simple, working a 2 blue, one green stitches across a round. And all of it was in the round, that was essential for my sanity, not to have to work the design in reverse as I purled back the other way.
In my early projects I stressed a lot about 'how to best hold the yarn'. I found several video's on line that demonstrated ways to hold and work the yarns, the Fair Isle and Norwegien blog post has a lot of excellent detail of sources in print, dvd and free on line so I wont' repeat it all here. The Philosophers wool videos were a good source when I started, as I was knitting more with my yarn in the right hand. That technique is a good one and works well for many many expert knitters. Youtube is invaluable as well.

Eventually I started to carry my yarn more and more in the left hand, and I asked on the Knitters Review forums (pre-ravelry) about how to work colour work carrying both yarns in the left hand and had several very nice knitters post details of their techniques. Those I tried and adapted and found worked for me. I have a mental block with using both hands, I can never work out which hand is holding the colour I want to use .. even if I'm looking at my hands. When I carry both colours of yarn in my left hand I can just scoop the blue or the white .. whichever I need and I'm much less confused. I have now posted on Youtube and here in the side bar videos of how I knit colour work.


One of the best hints I ever read was by Wendy Johnson, its on this page under color knitting questions. Wendy suggested as one knits to stretch out the stitches on the right hand needle so the floats are as long as they need to be. Magic! that worked wonders for me and I do that all the time now. And don't panic or write it off until its blocked ... every. Blocking solves a multitude of tension problems in colour knitting.

I guess the main point is that one becomes better at anything in stages, start small and simple with a corrugated rib or simple geometric pattern on a hat. Work up confidence and ability in stages .. and use yarn you like, in colours you love.

please .. if there are other sources or information or advice that is important, do leave a comment
na Stella

End of the tour

Yes today is officially the last day of the Tour de Fleece, the 25th of July 2010. How am I going? Well .. I'm not breaking any records ... but I've spun more than I have in any other three week space of time, 700g of Texel, nearly 80g of Perendale lace weight single (80g more to go), and 30g of silk merino blend, plus 100g of yellow Autumn Citrus merino ... I've done well 910g by my reckoning, which is a lot of fibre, an average of 40+ grams a day. I suspect spinning the bulkier Texel skewed my daily average upwards .. but I'm not bothered. I have managed to spin most days since the last post .. and knit. Yesterday was the KSG (Knitters Study Group) and we worked on Mobius. So now I have a new fun quick knit on the go ...

First up is my latest tour spinning, 30 grams of a wool and silk blend from Doe, no details on the kind of wool or the proportions of the blend, which is fine. Not everything needs to be documented and measured with precision. I spun this finely and then wound it into a centre pull ball .. and two plied it from the ball. I am loving this new spinning trick (Thanks Morag). I suspect this is under plied .. but I can fix that once its dry. This is still damp from blocking, and I've not yet hung it up to dry, so it may bulk and puff and not need more twist when it is dry. It is a lovely day here, warm still sunny .. not quite expected for winter but I'm not complaining. As you can see there was me with a camera on the front stairs .. so Yo-you came to check it out. I love the colour of this .. but it is a such a small amount .. perhaps wristers or another head band?


My other Tour spinning is no where near complete, more than half remains un-spun. I hope to finish the first half tonight .... but there will be no panic if I don't get there .. its only a hobby, and I had two loose goals for the tour, one was to spin the 700g of Texel which I have done, and the other was to spin every day if possible.

Rogue roses .. sock number two grows .. slowly, I'm well past the heel and working away the gusset. Last week I gave a talk at a local group, a repeat of my Stash conference paper, and I was asked by a member of the audience in a slightly awed voice if I could 'turn a heel'. I'm pleased to say I can, I most certainly can, but at the time I didn't have a complete heel on the needles as evidence. A friend in the audience offered to show the group the socks she was wearing, Salto, which I had knit for her. It was lovely, P sat there with a foot up on the desk allowing people to admire my sock knitting skills, I felt quite accomplished.

The KSG lesson this time was Mobius. Some time ago I swapped 2 skeins of VP Sock yarn for two of Cat Bordhi's mobius books. I posted in the In search of Books thread in Ravelry ... and found two knitters who were happy to swap. I have never knit a mobius before .. although I've had the books for ages and looked thru them often. The cast on she uses in the book is a lot like the tubular cast on I usually work .. so I went with that. This was sheer exploratory play .. I had a bit of an idea about the yarn (fingering alpaca merino) and a reversible stitch pattern (Birds eye lace from BW .. worked with the alternate rounds in purl) .. but no idea of how it would work or how many stitches. I've still not counted them. I wanted more than a plain chevron pattern, and more lacy than moss or rib.

It really is a kind of magical knitting, all round and round with no beginning and no end. I had not quite understood the mobius when knit works up a bit like spiral as much as a mobius. Yo-you was suitably impressed, and the eyelet lace seems very open but reversible. I do like the hexagonal shape these eyelets have become. I've gone with an i-cord edge as the cast off, and am working that now. Size was determined by one ball of yarn. I can see there will be at least one other of these .. although I'm keen to trial it in a more decorative lace .. or reversible stitch.

take care, I'm off to treadle (peddle away the rest of the tour), although as NZ is one of the first countries in the date:time line series .. technically I guess I could still be touring tomorrow when it is actually the end of the tour in France, and when we have spin-night. This time it is as my house.
na Stella

Thursday not wednesday

Today is Thursday, not Wednesday. In the past I've posted Sunday and Wednesday, twice a week. I'm going to have to change that, not Wednesday because right now that is my only full day of work, to Thursday when I will get to leave work most weeks at noon. So today is Thursday, I'm at home, I've had lunch (yum .. Toby-cub cooked last night with help and there were left overs), and there is light for photos and so I post. There are two finished objects today, one is a little quickie, a instant gratification knit-fix, and a little bit of spinning to report, because, you know the Tour de Fleece continues still. I have made progress on the Rouge Roses socks, I'm past the heel on the second one .. but no photos so I'll save that report for the weekend.



I've finished the baby vest, its pretty soft green and pink in an eyelet pattern. This is a classic Margaret Stove lacy baby vest, and I've knit it before, November of last year, in cobweb lace merino. This time I used 'mystery laceweight' yarn from the sale stock at the back of the Mill, no identification buyer beware. It is still laceweight yarn but thicker, and so the needles were larger and the finished vest larger. Technical specs:
Pattern: Margaret Stove Lacy Baby Vest
Needles: 3.25 for the body and 2.75 for the ribbing
Started: 3rd July 2010
Finished:20th July 2010
For: a baby at Bears work, not yet here, ETA 3 weeks
Modifications: none, but I did take more care in dividing the work to knit the front and back chest and shoulders flat. That way I was working lace on the right side of the work .. not on the reverse side as I ended up doing last time.

Look! Last time I knit it with lace cobweb weight and 2.75 mm needles. What a difference needle size and yarn weight makes .. I'd say a good 6 months growth in this case.

And the instant project? A moss stitch headband. Smallest cub wears her Quant ll the time, and I had 50 g of worsted weight handspun yarn that was BFL indigo dyed yarn from a Verb for Keeping warm. That is not a lot of yarn but half of it is enough for a headband. I mucked about for a bit, dithering over eyelets and lace and cables ... but really a simple moss stitch with a slip stitch edge was the best look with this yarn. I love the slight denim variation in the yarn - faded just like jeans and a perfect match for small-cubs blue eyes. I have enough to knit another .. which I just might do as a gift for one of her wee friends.

And spinning ...... yes I still am spinning with the tour. I have managed 30 minutes or more most days .. which surprises me. I'm still working away on the first half of the yellow perendale .. but Monday night I worked on this. A little 50g bag of wool/silk blend from Doe. One bobbin, fairly fine .. my plans are to wind it into a centre pull ball and two ply it - now I know that trick it seems a useful one to use.
My 'parenting' responsibility today, now I'm the 'after-school' parent is to transport cubs to swimming. Smallest one has a lesson, oldest one plays in the pool as he is a strong swimmer .. me I'm going to lane swim. That is something I used to do 4-5 times a week .. but with full time work it fell by the wayside. Tonight is knit night .. so there is that to look forward to, and this Saturday it is KSG (Knitters Study Group), the project is Mobius .. so I need to sort a project and yarn. Mobius knitting is something I'm keen to explore a little bit.

Take care
Na Stella