New hat pattern

As you might notice I have a new free download pattern available on Ravelry - my Rylands Cabled Hat (click on the project number in the side bar and it will take you to the Ravelry page although you might need to login)

This has taken longer than expected to release for various reasons, not least that I got distracted knitting another Featherweight Cardie which I may have said was an extremely boring knit when I made my first one. This second one is in a lovely duck egg blue cashmere merino 4ply so it's going a lot more quickly. I have most of one sleeve and the collar left to do and then I'll share some photos.

I have also been in discussions with Jo, the creative person behind Dodoknitz yarns. She's going to design a colourway for me for a new circular shawl pattern I've been thinking about for the last couple of months. It will be inspired by some of the lovely architectural details in Manchester and will be a mixture of openwork and fine cables with a knitted on border.

That being said I have a semi-circular shawl pattern that I've been meaning to knit and write up for ages and I also now have the yarn for that. Choices, choices...

Blocking a hat

I have been very bad at blogging but I have been thinking about it and taking photos, just not actually writing any posts.

I've been knitting hats recently which is a little odd and I'm not really a hat person. The cabled hat is in the final stages of testing and will be released shortly as a free Ravelry download and when writing up the pattern I got to thinking about blocking. Rylands was blocked over a large dinner plate balanced on a jam jar (not elegant) and something I learnt from posts on Ravelry. I thought it might be useful to blog the blocking process for a hat here:

 

A finished hat - a bit scrunchy with the yarnovers not that obvious

 The hat has now been soaked and stretched over the lid of a cake tin (other round flat things work well too). A strand of yarn has been threaded through the ribbing like a drawstring

 Here the drawstring has been tightened up to make sure the ribbing stays reasonably tight and the simple lace is stretched out properly

This is the top of the hat after being stretched over the cake tin lid and once the drawstring has been tightened

To allow air to circulate here is the blocking hat balanced on a jar (and in the background our new fence) and looking like a flying saucer

Here is the finished blocked hat. The stitches have evened out and the open yarnover spiral is clearer. The columns of knit stitch stand out better and it generally looks neater

And the final inside shot. The ribbing is neater and still tight and the beaded yarnovers really stand out.

Modelled shots to come...

Knitting Retrospective 2010

I did a looking back post a little while ago but I thought I should illustrate some of what I've done over the past year. With the usual apologies about  photo quality here is my 2010 Knitting Retrospective

Vaguely from the top left corner:

1. Pink (in Grey and Green) Jumper - Rowan Scottish Tweed Aran
2. Summer Fool Shawl - left over sock yarns
3. Leaf edged Pi Shawl - Araucania Rancy Multy
4. Button Cuff Socks - Collinette Jitterbug
5. Through the Woods Hood (Big Girl size in red) - Wendy Mode DK
6. Moss Rib Hat - Austrmann Mandy
7. Aces 8 scarf - Unknown cashmere/merino
8. Dad's Cabled Scarf - Forsell Touch of Silk Aran
9. Trina Jacket - Rowan Scottish Tweed Aran
10. Whipple Shawl - Natural Dye Studio BFL/ Knitting Goddess 100% wool
11. 198 Yards of Heaven Shawlette - Araucania Nature Wool Solids
12. Shipwreck Shawl (made for my wedding) - custom dyed Flutterby Creations Merino/silk 
13. Lymond Socks - handdyed shetland sock
14. Featherweight Cardie - recycled lambswool
15. Evening Primrose Scarf - Posh Sylvia 4ply
16. Mizzle (solid colour) - Treviso sock
17. Through the Woods Hood (adult size) - Wendy Mode Chunky
18. Mizzle (Striped) - Rowan Scottish Tweed 4ply
19. Limestone Shawlette - YarnAddictAnni's Fantasy Sock
20. (inner ring of photos) Woodland Shawl - Kauni Effektgarn
21. John's Cabled Scarf - New Lanark DK
22. What Happens If...? - Silkwood Sock yarn
23. Peggy Sue - Forsell Touch of Silk DK
24. Grace Beret - Wildfire Fibres Hercules DK
25. 198 Yards of Heaven (mint) - Anny Blatt Mini Sport
26. Ishbel - Fyberspates Sheila's Sock
27. (centre photo) Grace Cowl - Wildfire Fibres Hercules DK

Better photos for once

So with the New Year my creative juices have started flowing for some reason. I have a few patterns at the sketching stage: two pairs of fingerless gloves, a couple of shawls...and this hat:

Photo courtesy of my husband who can a)take photos b)has a decent camera and c)likes tweaking things on Photoshop. It was also a lovely if very cold day so the light was excellent.

This sample is in Wendy Mode DK in Chili and is a very usable hat

Carrying on the theme of having decent photos my older sister has been having a photo shoot in the Through the Woods hoods that I sent up to the frozen North (Edinburgh) for her and her daughter. You can find her take on elfish mischief here on her professional photography blog. She has also kindly offered to take photos for my patterns in the future so hopefully the photography will improve substantially.

End of the year and some FOs

So it's the end of the year, and I'm not sure where this year went. A fair amount of it went on hospital visiting and looking after ill people one way or another - hopefully less of that next year, I don't think there could actually be more thinking about it. As a consequence of the hospital visiting I've been kept busy by social workers and care agencies. I have nothing but respect for the work social workers do. They work in a difficult and deeply bureaucratic system which makes it incredibly difficult for them to put in place creative, flexible and individual solutions to problems which is a great shame as creativity and flexibility would often make a huge difference to the person they are trying to help.

Another large amount went on volunteering work that got a little out of hand, especially in the last few months. It's a very worthwhile and rewarding thing volunteering especially when you're supporting something you feel strongly about but it can eat your life. I have learnt more than I ever thought I'd need to about the legal issues around playing fields, about mergers, about conducting managing the Press, and about the interesting world of local politics.

Some of it went on pattern designing and this year saw Summer Fool, Garden Pond, Mizzle, Pergola and Whipple released via Ravelry download. This was one of my goals the year - to release one pattern - so I'm very pleased to have exceeded that target.

Some of it went on getting married. That was nice! Himself and I had been together 10 years when we tied the knot in front of all our family and friends in April. It marked the end of quite a difficult period of ill health for Himself and was a celebration of coming through challenging times.

And a small part of it went on learning to sew a little and quilt a little. My mum liked her quilt apparently so I must have done a decent job. One of her friends wrote to me to say how pretty it was which was much appreciated.

So all in all a busy and demanding year (note I haven't mentioned work at all!) and to round off the year here are some FOs:

Through the Woods (Big Girl size - not toddler I am informed)

Please note the addition of a bobble and my absolutely favourite buttons which a metal smiling whales

Through the Woods (Adult size)

A December hat (the pattern is the Cashmere Ribbed Hat although this is in wool)

And a WIP:

This is the blind for our spare room - patchwork strips separated by Stockton lining. It still needs lining and I need to get a blind mechanism. It's pretty big at 100" by 51"

And the detail:

I particularly like the Amy Butler paisley fabric.

So I finish the year with one sewing WIP and one knitting WIP which is a simple pair of socks for Himself. I don't count the sock yarn blanket.

And so to next year, what does that have in store? Hopefully some more patterns being published. Hopefully a new job for Himself. I don't really do resolutions but I will have a think about goals

Through the woods again

I started knitting a Through the Woods hood for my smallest niece but due to underestimating the size of a toddler's head I have had to reknit it completely with my yarn held double and have now run out of yarn. Still here it is in progress:

It still need a deep ribbed border at the front and the bottom and some button band. I added the bobble as I suspect she's a bobble type of person. This is quite a quick knit - I managed this much in about 4 hours of committed knitting and it's Wendy Mode DK held double for a chunky weight (and yes I know I could have just bought Wendy Mode Chunky but I was subbing for what I thought was a toddler size, turns out toddlers have quite large heads especially when they are covered with curls)

I do have some Wendy Mode Chunky in Imperial Purple to make the same hood for smallest niece's mother, possibly without the bobble though

In other news, today is my birthday which is so far full of crafty things (new button box with starter buttons, Mobair yarn, quilting book...). Happy me day!

It's cold outside

Grace Lace Beret

So it really is cold outside, and despite not being a 'hat person' I decided it was time I had a hat. I had this stunning yarn (Hercules DK from Wild Fire Fibres bought at Purl City Yarns) which wanted to be something for me and I found the Grace Lace Beret from Loop Knits (free online). A ridiculously short time later (4-5 hours) I had a hat which I blocked over a dinner plate and wore this morning whilst waiting 25 minutes for my late train - the previous train had frozen to the tracks!

I had a second skein of this yarn so have also knit a matching cowl which I've made very warm so I can fold and pin it at the front. It's 5 vertical repeats of the Grace lace chart and the picture shows it folded in half
 

Grace Inspired Cowl