Dyed Wensleydale locks, chain plied

When I bought my wheel back in April 2009, although I ordered a range of fibres, I got hooked on spinning dyed merino top because of the amazing range of colours available. With hindsight this wasn’t the easiest thing to learn with – it has a tendency to make a wirey, compacted yarn, even after carding. It’s taken me a while, but now I’ve tried out everything in my fibre stash, with mixed results…

First of all I tried dyed maroon Wensleydale locks, which almost put me off spinning for good. My batch was matted, tangled and full of twigs and second cuts. I was very disappointed because I’ve seen some really exciting yarns spun from locks. I had to give up after just 40 g as it was such tough going. I ended up with an interesting-looking, lustrous yarn but certainly nothing that was worth the pain. Not a good start.

Pencil roving, 2 ply

Next I tried some pencil roving. It turned out to be nearly as tough going -hard to draft, it’s fairly coarse and I was fighting with the clockwise twist it already has as soon as I started spinning. Next time I’d spin it anti-clockwise. It is however an amazing shade of electric blue, and I got it relatively even and fine (5 ply / sport weight-ish). I will make a pair of gloves with the first batch (150 g), but there’s still 250 g left to spin! Buying that much without trying it was stupid – there’s an important lesson there, always buy a sample first!

Humbug BFL, chain plied, dyed with Lemon Lime Kool Aid

After that I moved onto carded BFL – a dream in comparison, so easy to draft. In a couple of hours I made a 50 g chain-plied sample skein and Kool Aid dyed it green, it turned out great! I used it almost immediately for a hat. I have a 500 g bag of brown & white mix BFL (I take it back about not buying a big bag, this stuff is great) which I’d love to make something substantial with, but that’s quite a commitment. Not to mention, how would I keep my spinning even over 500 g?

Hand-painted merino top

Finally, I picked up a nice looking hand-painted braid of merino top from a Raveler having a destash (well, I’m always happy to help others). I was amazed how different it was to spin than the dyed top I’m used to, proving that not all merino is equal. It made a fine, squishy, lofty yarn. I got 550 m of 2 ply, light sock-weight from 110 g – easily the finest I have spun. Sadly the bold yellows, oranges and splashes of purple melded together into a peachy shade that I’m not overjoyed with. I will probably over-dye with pink to give me a rich red. I’m also unsure what to make with it, it’s not strong enough for socks. Maybe this Japanese Feather Scarf or a large Ishbel? Any ideas?

2 ply merino from painted top

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Win this scrumptious, hand-dyed yarn

Stitch and Bitch London - my fantastic local knitting group – are running a competition to give away five copies of my latest pattern, Aduki hat, and two grand prize winners will win some very special yarn to go with it. I have hand-dyed a wool and bamboo blend, ideal for the Aduki Hat, especially for the competition.

To enter you’ll need to sign up for their mailing list, or subscribe to their blog. Whether you’re a Londoner (or even a UKer) or not, sign up to their fortnightly email for the exclusive offers, competitions and Aunt Gertrude’s bizarre, stitch-related agony column.

Stitch and Bitch London is an all-round awesome organisation and I can’t think a better place to spread some It’s a Stitch Up goodness.

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Left to right: Silk & wool blend, superwash merino, wool & bamboo blend

I’ve been experimenting this week with Procion MX textile dyes. I put a few different yarns in a dye bath and I’m amazed at the colour variation from the same batch! The superwash merino sucked up the dye and is almost black in places, while the silk blend is pale and much bluer.

The wool and bamboo blend has the most balanced shade and I’m very pleased with how it turned out. If you like the look of it too, check the site next week for a very special opportunity to win some!

The Procion dyes are really easy to use and require no additional chemicals on animal fibres other than citric acid or vinegar to lower the PH. They’re available from DT Crafts, I followed their simple instructions.

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Aduki hat in Colinette ART yarn

A slouchy, garter stitch hat in an easy, two-colour stripe and slip-stitch pattern.

I designed this hat to show off the beautiful, jewel-like colours of Colinette ART and to make the most of the  wool / bamboo blend’s subtle sheen and drape.

The hat is worked in the flat and seamed, and is suitable for novice knitters familiar with knit and purl. You may want to read this article on seaming if you need help with mattress stitch.

Knit it to suit your tastes – add more slouch or make it fitted, two colours or one – it’s up to you!

Size

• Small: to fit head circumference 51 cm / 20 inches
• Medium: 56 cm / 22 inches
• Large: 61 cm / 24 inches

Requirements

PDF download, price £2.50
Buy now

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Most impotrantly, I finally finished a long term UFO, in time for my sister Holly’s birthday next week. This is a top version of Stephanie Japel’s Saturday in the Part Perfect Dress from her first book Fitted Knits. The book I loved when I first got it, the designs are wearable and lovely, but quickly became frustrated with the insane amount of errata. I have made several projects from the book and this is definitely my favourite finished project so far.

Sunday in the Park Perfect Dress in Debbie Bliss Cathay

I modified just about everything – I couldn’t find an equivalent blend and weight of yarn in the UK (another of my gripes with the book) so I used Debie Bliss Cathay. The pattern has a recommended needle size of 4.5 mm, the yarn 3.75-4 mm but I felt this was gave a fabric that was too open and see through, so I went down to 3.5 mm. I re-did the maths accordingly. As it’s a top-down raglan, altering for a different tension was straightforward. I didn’t like the yarn, it’s heavy and splitty, this is why the top took me so long to finish.

After working the sleeves I stopped following the pattern. I don’t remember there being mistakes, I just didn’t feel the need. I worked back decreases every 6 or 8 rows to the natural waist, then back increases. I added some front increases where the extra columns of mock cables started, and increases all around the bottom before starting the mock cable edging. You may notice that the mock-cable pattern curves above, rather then below the waist. IMHO the original resembles a pair of pants which is not a good look.

Considering I pretty much winged it it’s an amazingly good fit, very pleased indeed. I hope Holly feels the same about it, she’s waited two years!

Also made as gifts, two pairs of Ysolda Teague’s Veyla mittens from Whimsical Little Knits 2 in leftover Colinette Jitterbug. The pattern is very quick and the clever construction makes it so much fun to knit, I couldn’t put it down. The finished gloves are beautiful I think they make a really special gift.

Veyla mitts in Colinette Jitterbug 'Velvet Leaf'

Veyla mitts in Colinette Jitterbug 'Morello Mash' with non-matching, vintage mother-of-pearl buttons

I got a skein of ‘Morello Mash’ from a swap with mooncalf and I’ve had 4 projects from it – two sets of Endpapers, an iPhone cosy and these. ‘Morello Mash’ has more colour variation than ‘Velvet Leaf’ and I wasn’t sure whether this would work with the lace, but it turned out rather well.

I made the small size and they are quite small even with Jitterbug, which I find thicker than the average 4 ply. Definitely have a think about your sizing if you plan to make them.

Rowan All Seasons Cotton in 'Dusk'

My most recent cast-on is Dapple by Kim Hargraves, from her summer book Nectar. I’m surprised at how few projects there are on Ravelry for Dapple, it’s an easy knit but the cables add a bit of interest, and the finished garment would suit most people.

Very unusually for me, I’m using yarn I bought for this very project and the recommended yarn at that – Rowan All Seasons Cotton, as I got a great deal on it in the sales last January. I don’t have anything similarly coloured in my wardrobe (something to do with an aversion to navy caused by school uniform trauma) but I’m sure this slightly faded blue is a shade I’ll wear. I don’t love cotton and unsurprisingly I don’t love this yarn, it’s stiff and hard work to knit. That’s just my taste. It knits up quickly enough so I can live with it.

I’ll let you know how it goes!

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If you’re reading via RSS on a feed reader you’ll need to view this post on the website in order to see some of the charts properly.

Warning: This post is one for the geeks. I don’t mean yarn geeks or knitting geeks, I mean maths/computer/data geeks. If that’s not you, don’t say I didn’t warn you!

As you’ve probably gathered, keeping my yarn stash to a sensible size is a constant battle (and it’s not like I’m alone in that). The more tools I’ve got to help me keep track of what I’ve got, the better. I got a lovely comment about my stash graph from 2009: How did I do?this post from a fellow appreciator of stats. A few weeks ago I went to see the Decode exhibition at V&A (which is fantastic, go see it, it’s on until 11 April 2010), and I’ve also started following a few blogs about data visualisation relating to my day job as an interaction designer – my favourites are Flowing Data and Visual Complexity. All these things got me thinking about how I could graphically represent the monthly stash activity better.

The old graph shows how the total amount of stashed yarn fluctuates from month to month, but what it doesn’t do is represent the amount used and sold as part of the total. I came up with a new graph, a stacked bar chart, which I think shows stash activity in a more semantically illustrative way. The graph was generated in MS Excel.

Stash activity graph

Conclusion

I’m still buying more than I can justify!

The stash activity graph is useful for stopping myself going too crazy with the yarn buying, but what about analysing the yarn I’m actually using (or not using) to see if I can be more practical with what I’m buying? I discovered heat maps on Flowing Data not long ago, and it struck me that this would be an excellent way to represent the contents of my stash. There are instructions on Flowing Data to generate a heat map from CSV format using a free application, but as the maths is very simple, I had a go at turning HTML table data into heat charts using JavaScript.

Heat map of yarn used

I exported an Excel file of my stash from Ravelry. This chart represents the yarn I’ve used (from the ‘All used up’ sheet and the values of the ‘Skeins’ column minus the ‘Remaining skeins’ column from the ‘In stash’ sheet. I combined these values into one sheet, and created a pivot table, summing total skeins against the axes ‘Color family’ and ‘Weight’. If you’re still with me, well done, you’re an Excel wizard. If not, don’t worry, you can still appreciate the pretty chart.

Conclusions

The heat map shows much more clearly what I’m using than numbers alone. No real surprises, I have a preference for DK and aran weights but I do also get through some chunky and 4 ply. The purple/red/pink end of the spectrum is slightly dominant, but really I’ve used quite a good mix of colours.

Heat map of yarn in stash

The data for this chart comes from the ‘Remaining skeins’ columns of the ‘In stash’ and ‘Will trade or sell’ sheets from my Ravelry stash spreadsheet. Same pivot table method as before.

Conclusions

Whoa there! Where did all that grey aran come from? And why aren’t I using it up? It’s not like I don’t like grey yarn, it’s one of my favourite colours. Actually, I like grey yarn so much that I think I’m hoarding it in case they suddenly stop manufacturing it! I’ve also think I’ve subconsciously been saving it for those special projects it deserves, but I’ve not found them yet. With nearly 40 balls of the stuff I think I can afford to dip into my grey stash.

The good news is that aside from the grey and blue aran, there is a nice mix of yarn in my stash, and in similar colours and weights to what I’ve used.

Before seeing this chart I had no idea that I’d accumulated so much grey and blue aran. I’ve already cast on Kim Hargreaves’ Dapple dress in blue Rowan All Seasons Cotton.

Making your own stash heat map

If you’ve managed to get the data out of Excel (which is by far the hardest part) and you’ve got a bit of experience with HTML and JavaScript, why not have a play with this yourself. I have made a zip file containing an HTML page with sample data and my heat map JavaScript embedded. Also included is the JQuery JavaScript library core, which my script requires.

I’d love to see what your stash looks like, post your heat maps below!

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My neglected coat

I’ve not previously blogged about my sewing exploits as it’s been a while since I took on a big project, but today one landed in my lap.

This morning I noticed that the condition of my beloved coat had deteriorated from slightly raggedy lining, to a mere thread away from side-seam destruction.

The story of my coat starts in autumn 2004. The nights were drawing in, winter was approaching and it was time to set about making a new coat. I bought some fantastic vintage, checked, heavyweight tweed from eBay and found a great looking pattern for a large-collared, sixties-inspired trench coat – Vogue pattern 2449. Perfect!

The course of true coat love did not run smooth. It turns out that trench coats are not supposed to be made in a heavy fabric (duh). I had to make significant alterations, removing the mock back shield, epaulettes etc. I broke my sewing machine topstitching the collar – it seems that four thicknesses of heavy tweed is too much for a domestic machine.

Vogue pattern 2449 (out of print)

When I finally got the outer-shall assembled, I discovered that it was vastly oversized and looked ridiculous on. I ended up taking the whole body apart and re-seaming it, taking it in by inches at the shoulders, back and waist. Of course, winter had come and gone by the time it was finished, but by the following winter, I had my dream coat.

It has lasted fantastically well, and from the outside you’d never know that it was suffering. The heavy-weight tweed is not only gorgeous, but extremely tough and warm thanks to its tightly spun threads. It has survived machine washing, clawing by cats and five winters of daily wear with not even a hint of pilling.

disintegrated lining and fraying seams

The lining material was not so great, I chose a brown/purple shot acetate for its colour and price, but the quality was poor, mistake #1. The lining seams at centre back ripped quite early on, and have now disintegrated at the sides and sleeves. This has left the tweed side seams exposed to rubbing and now they’re going. Mistake #2 was not taping the seams! The back vent has ripped at the seam and through the lining fabric. The belt buckle broke during the coat’s first week in the outside world, and although I have never missed it, I’ve got a new one ready.

The repairs

I plan to carefully remove the existing lining and to cut a new one using the old one as a template in a stronger fabric, maybe brushed cotton, maybe raw silk. I’m going to cut it to be larger at the centre back, where it first ripped. Cutting the lining the right size in the first place was incredibly difficult as I’d altered the pattern so much.

Vintage, heavyweight, wool tweed

With the lining out, I’ll repair the back vent and reinforce with grosgrain ribbon. I have to take in the sides of the tweed shell by a few millimetres where they are fraying, and tape all the raw edges of tweed to prevent this happening in future.

The lining will be re-assembled, reinforced at the seams with grosgrain ribbon, and hand-sewn back into shell, sleeves linings first, then body lining sewn onto sleeve lining. All raw edges will be overlocked.

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A fine team: Nick, Kathryn and Joseph

I wanted the photography for my first paid-for pattern to be special, so I enlisted the help of a couple of talented friends; model and actor Kathryn and photographer and studio lighting enthusiast Joseph Hughes. We headed for Hampstead Heath, which had been transformed by a blanket of powder into the most incredible winter-wonderland I’d ever seen. This was my first shoot with studio lighting, I was amazed at the difference it made. Although this is an advanced technique it was much easier than I’d thought and I wanted to share the basic principles.

Location & conditions

The beautiful setting was not without its challenges. Although Kathryn did an excellent job of looking cosy, it was freezing and by UK standards the conditions were extreme. Our first location was an exposed hilltop, the trees offering no protection from the bitter winds. My hand froze to the point where I could barely use the controls, some camera mittens would have been good! Joseph and Nick struggled to hang onto the umbrellas, we gave up on that in search of more sheltered spots.

The batteries had a much shorter life in the cold, a particular problem with flash work. My camera battery managed under 100 shots, rather than the usual 500. We were hampered by other technical problems – the sub-zero temperature and damp air caused condensation and communication failures between camera and lens. My 400D is not weather-proofed as the professional ranges are.

Snow can really mess with exposure, increasing exposure by one full stop helped, as did working in RAW, giving more scope to correct in post-processing. One the no-flash shots I took, the reflection from snow gave a dull, flat quality of light on the subject, devoid of highlights. It was the off-camera lighting that made my shoot a success.

Equipment

Lighting

Off-camera lighting requires a fair bit of kit, but the equipment below be picked up for less than the cost of a second hand, midrange lens.

• Two flashes with manual controls
• Two white, ’shoot through’ umbrellas
• Umbrella stands
• A wireless flash trigger that fits on the camera’s hot-shoe (newer DSLRs often have this built in), and reciever

On the camera

• Canon EOS 400D camera body
• Canon EF 50 mm f/1.8 – a cheap, lightweight but fantastically sharp lens with an excellent quality of background blur thanks to the large aperture
• Canon EF 100 mm f/2.8 Macro – a good quality telephoto that gives a flattering perspective on faces, also great for detail shots

I didn’t use mine much, but it’s always nice to have a sturdy tripod that doesn’t wobble in a howling gale). Some other outdoor photography essentials are a lens cloth, a blower bulb (for cleaning the sensor if dust gets on it when changing lenses), weatherproof kit bag, spare batteries and spare memory cards.

The flast set-up

• Key flash: Set at 1/2 power, angled at 45 degrees camera left and above, triggered by wireless trigger
• Second flash: Set at 1/4 power, angled at 75 degrees camera right at subject height, triggered in optical slave mode

Although we moved from location to location, we used the flash set-up exactly as above throughout. It proved to be more or less foolproof! Below are some before and after shots, and some out-takes showing mistakes and how we corrected them.

Left to right: No flash (natural daylight); one flash, camera left and above; two flashes. The images are un-retouched. Notice how much better the colour and contrast is in the third image, the flash really lifts the subject from the background.

Left: The background is too dark, making it look like Kathryn has been photoshopped into it. Right: Correctly exposing the background using a larger aperture corrects the problem.

Here, Kathryn's face is over-exposed because the key flash was too close. To be fair, Joseph was holding it up with one hand while hanging onto a railing with the other, his feet having turned into blocks of solid ice.

Massive thanks to Joseph, Kathryn and umbrella bearer, Nick. It was a real team effort and a fantastic day despite the cold. The results couldn’t have been better!

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Andy Holden, Pyramid Piece, 2008 © Andy Holden. Courtesy the artist; Works/Projects and Hidde van Seggelen. Photo: Tate Photography

The piece replecates a small lump of rock the artist took from a pyramid at Giza, while on holiday as a young boy. His guilt was such that 13 years later he decided to travel back to Egypt and return it to the exact spot he’d taken it from. Holden’s painstakingly crafted, giant knitted replica of the stolen fragment conveys the emotional importance of this tiny rock. Through its scale, the piece aims to evoke the wide-eyed, awestruck feeling that Holden experienced during his first visit to the pyramids.

Andy Holden, Pyramid Piece (detail), 2008. © Andy Holden. Courtesy the artist; Works/Projects and Hidde van Seggelen. Photo: Tate Photography

What I love about this work is the way that the artist has used a knitted surface, something supple and drapey, to represent a hard, unyielding material. It gives the work an organic kind of warmth and eerie detail that mimics rock strata amazingly well.

The exhibition Art Now: Andy Holden Pyramid Piece and Return of the Pyramid Piece is free and is open 9 January – 10 April 2010 at Tate Britain, London.

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Odds and Ends Scarf

A simple, fun, unisex scarf, worked in a variety of easy, reversible stitches in either DK, aran or chunky weight yarn. Use a single shade for a classic look, or combine your leftovers and work each square in a different yarn to create something totally unique.

This pattern is suitable for novice knitters familiar with knit and purl and changing between the two. It’s a great way to practice some new stitches. If you’re a very new knitter, I recommend you work through parts 1-4 of Lion Brand’s Learn to Knit site, and familiarise yourself with those techniques (cast-on, knit, purl and ribbing).

I was inspired to design this scarf after being lucky enough to knit with Kelley Deal at ATP festival. Kelley created beautiful scarves by combining everyone’s squares, knitted in different colours and stitches. Knitting a long scarf is less daunting when it’s done in bite-sized chunks, and the results can be stunning.

Size

All versions measure approx. 182 cm (72 inches) long and 14 cm (6 inches) wide.

Requirements

Odds and ends scarf

PDF download, price £2.50
Buy now

Model: Kathryn, photography with help from Joseph Hughes

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2009 was an eventful year. I got a new job, I re-launched my old music website, I knitted 36 things, I got two new bikes and rode them lots and of course, knitted with Kelley Deal at ATP! It wasn’t all good though, our little black cat Aduki, who you may remember as the Yarn Health and Safety Officer, has been missing for two months, which is incredibly sad.

So how did I do with my 2009 resolutions?

Stash status

my vine yoke cardigan

I have used 86 balls of yarn from my stash, better still I have sold 110. I have knitted some very successful projects from my stash, like Ysolda Teague’s Vine Yoke Cardigan.

However, I’ve acquired a shocking 169 balls of yarn. Mostly bought, but some gained through my newfound love of spinning and dyeing. It’s not helped either by my current taste for finer knits (half of my 2009 projects were in 4 ply), which take ages and don’t use nearly as much yarn. Overall, there’s a stash reduction but this is hardly a victory, I must do better in 2010.

As the ugly graph shows, I was pretty good for the most of the year but I had a few moments of weakness, mostly driven by sales so at least it was cheap and I have a lovely selection to start 2010 with. I’m quite pleased with the half-price Debbie Bliss Rialto and Rowan Bamboo Soft I just picked up from John Lewis and Liberty!

2009 stash status graph

UFOs

I finished two of my long term UFOs in early 2009 which was great but after that I lost momentum and I’ve still got three of those from 2008 remaining and I’ve gained another two. I set myself a ridiculously ambitious gift knitting schedule in autumn which I almost managed to stick to, to the detriment of UFOs and design work. Much as I love it, I need to do less gift knitting in 2010 if I’m going to finish the big projects.

What else?

Shrug of fail becomes cardigan of win

Aside from the lack of time I’ve had for designing, my other resolutions have gone well. I’ve knitted a fair bit of lace and fairisle (I still can’t do that holding one strand with one hand and the other with the other thing, maybe one day). I’ve knitted practical garments that I love and wear lots, and even managed to turn the odd failure into something useful.

In 2010?

I’m hoping to focus on design and get some more patterns published, maybe some commercial ones. I fell out of love with a complex design project I was working on over the summer and found it hard to get back into it, but now I’m raring to go!

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A knitter gets her copy of Bags that Rock signed by Kelley

I’m not ashamed to admit that when I heard Kelley Deal of The Breeders was leading a knitting session at All Tomorrow’s Parties I was more excited about that than I was about any of the music or general festival fun. I’d heard that Kelley, famous for her rock n’ roll lifestyle, had swapped one type of needles for another and got into knitting as a way to pass the time on the tour bus. Earlier in 2009 she published her first knitting book, Bags That Rock: Knitting on the Road with Kelley Deal (also on Ravelry). She also sells scarves cleverly made from sections of felted jumpers – what a great idea! Clearly a very creative lady, as if we didn’t know that already.

Knitters

Fittingly, we arrived at the knitting venue on the Saturday after watching The Breeders soundcheck. A good crowd of knitters gathered, with some curious but slightly fearful looking guys watching from the edges, as if to witness some kind of supernatural event. I was more than a bit starstruck when Kelley came and set her stuff down with my friend Lucie and I. She stayed and chatted with us for a while about the festival and knitting. At one point I was sat in-between Kelley and her sister Kim (Breeders/Pixies) which was fairly surreal! Kelley is super-friendly, has loads of energy and is generally fun to hang out with, so by the end it was pretty much like a regular Stitch n’ Bitch meeting with people teaching, admiring each-other’s work and chatting.

My square

Kelley instructed us to make 5 inch squares to be sewn together to make scarves. Clearly an experienced knitter, Kelley managed to rustle up a few squares herself while wandering round chatting and generally organising things. By the end of the Saturday session there was a good, but very random selection of squares including a garter stitch one from me made from small scraps of leftover Mirasol Hacho and Louisa Harding Grace.

Following a big night on Saturday, getting up for Sunday’s session at midday was a bit of a challenge, but Lucie and I managed it, along with a couple more friends, Ruth and Cathay. Unsurprisingly, there weren’t quite as many knitters as the day before, but still a respectable 20 or 30 braved the hangover for round two. I’d come to ATP armed with a big bag of spare needles and leftover yarn, and I managed to find Ruth the pink Malabrigo Worsted I used for a hat I made her in 2008. For me, it’s remembering all the past projects that makes using up odds and ends enjoyable.

Lucie gets her knit on

I knocked together a couple more squares; a seed stitch one in my lumpy purple handspun (what else am I going to do with it?) and a garter rib one in chunky, green, hand-dyed.

Overnight Kelley had turned some of the squares into a finished scarf, complete with a little ‘Deal’ label. I was not only overjoyed that my garter square from the day before had made the first cut, but also blown away by how great the finished scarf looked. She’d used a mix of purples, greens and greys, from fine to chunky, in garter, seed stitch, ribbing and even crochet. Someone had even worked a big ‘K’ into their square. I’m gutted I don’t have a picture of the finished scarf, sadly I left my camera behind on the second day.

I came away from the session with loads of creative ideas, combing colours and stitches in ways I wouldn’t normally, and I’m inspired to turn the odds and ends in my stash into things that are unique and beautiful.

You can find a few more photos on my Ravelry project page.

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My gift knitting list is a little out of control, I’m unlikely to get through it even though I started in October. My Dad has thrown a spanner in the works by requesting a balaclava! (Anyone have a good balaclava pattern?) Nevertheless, come Christmas day, I’ll have knitted my way through most of it.

If you haven’t started yet it’s not too late – all the patterns below can be knitted in a few days.

Gloves

Knucks by Pamela Grossman

Knucks by Pamela Grossman (pattern|Ravelry link) (free) is a really useful pattern for fingerless gloves in men’s, women’s and children’s sizes. They can be knitted with any DK weight wool or wool blend. You’ll need 3.5mm DPNs or circular needle. The men’s ones in particular have gone down well with recipients. I’ve knitted the women’s size with under 50g of Mirasol Hacho, making them very economical and a great use of a single skein of hand-dyed DK.

Naganasu’s Lacy Mitts (PDF|Ravelry link) (free) are perfect if you want something more unusual. They’re knitted in 4ply (though lace weight would work great as well) on a 3mm circular needle. They can be made to any length.

Eunny Jeng’s Endpaper Mitts (pattern|Ravelry link) (free) have the wow factor but they’re not one to choose if you’re in a hurry. Not only will the fairisle slow you down but the Italian tubular cast-on may take you a few goes to master if you’re not familiar with the technique. I normally shorten the pattern to speed it up. They are knitted on DPNs (size depending on finished size) using 4 ply yarn.

Hats

Thorpe by Kirsten Kapur

Thorpe by Kirsten Kapur (PDF|Ravelry link) (free) is a simple, versatile, unisex hat in chunky yarn that can be knitted in a couple of evenings. The optional fairisle, earflaps and edging can be knitted in different colours – great for using up odds and ends. You’ll need a 5.5 mm circular needle of DPNs.

I get asked to knit more slouchy hats than anything else. Sarah Moore’s High Street Hat (pattern|Ravelry link) (free) is just the ticket, and would be especially well received by hard-to-please teens. You’ll need some chunky yarn and 5.5 and 6 mm circular needles.

Others

Ishbel by Ysolda Teague

Ysolda Teague’s Ishbel scarf/shawl pattern (pattern|Ravelry) (£3) definitely deserves a place in this list, even though I’ve mentioned it before. I’ve made many as gifts and they’ve gone down well – lace work always looks stunning. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different yarns – I’ve used DK weight silk which gives it a real element of luxury. It’s such a versatile pattern, there are two sizes and it can be worn in different ways to suit all tastes. It knits up quickly on a 4 mm circular needle, the small version typically takes me 4  evenings.

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2009
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If you have a wave account you can find our public wave by searching for ‘damson with:public’.

We cast on on Monday but there’s still time if you want to join in, or just follow the wave and watch the experiment!

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2009
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Pringle of Scotland's cashmere handknits

I’ve been in love with Pringle of Scotland’s chunky cashmere handknits ever since the A/W 06 collection, before I even learnt to knit. The cabled swing jumper pictured was a particular object of desire, and I didn’t realise I could make my own for a tenth of the price, settling instead for a slightly itchy and cheap looking (but nonetheless nice) TopShop knock-off.

I’m obviously not the only one who fell in love with this sweater. As blogged on Needle Exchange in 2007, it’s been copied more times than the Mona Lisa and copied so faithfully! Even by commercial brands – check out Lion Brand’s shameless knock-off. If plagiarism is the highest form of flattery, this sweater has reached the status of a design classic.

These days I’m not so satisfied with my TopShop acrylic sweater and I crave something approaching the luxury of the original. Aside from Lion Brand’s version, I could choose Stockport from Rowan 46, but Cocoon is really not my favourite thing. I could also choose this lovely, Pringle-inspired sleeveless cardigan free pattern from Miss Twiss, but I really do like cosy sleeves. No, I think I’ll design my own knock-off, and I’ll be in good company!

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2009
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Here’s a small selection of beautiful knits from patterns published over the last year:

I hope you’ll join me in celebrating It’s a Stitch Up’s first birthday in the best way possible, with a slice of cake and some knitting!

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2009
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ART yarn from Colinette

It seems like many of my favourite yarns are now discontinued; Jaeger Extra Fine Merino, Rowan 4 Ply Soft and Noro Cash Iroha to name a few, not to mention the RYC line being shelved. It’s about time there was some good news from the yarn world, and there is, yay!

Colinette have introduced a new aran weight wool/bamboo blend, ART, that’s bursting with tweedy texture. Here’s what they say about it:

When starting from a palette over well over a hundred shades it seems only right that we would use ‘ART’ as the name for such a vibrant and versatile yarn. Made from a super soft wool and blended with an equally soft bamboo, ART is light agile and full bodied in it’s texture and colour.

Yes you read that right, over 100 shades! Dark Royal, Thunder,  Magenta and Ischina are on my wishlist – what will you choose?

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2009
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This is what the silk from May’s Kool Aid dyeing project became:

Handspun silk Ishbel

I spun the yellow and purple silk roving and plied them together, but I wasn’t keen on the resulting colour so I overdyed the yarn with more Kool Aid and ended up with a dusky rose. I combined it with the purple Debbie Bliss Pure Silk, fearing that I wouldn’t have enough handspun to complete the project. The wonderful pattern is Ishbel by Ysolda Teague. Although I was intending to use Kool Aid primarily to dye my handspun, I have discovered that Fyberspates Undyed Superwash Merino Sock yarn is especially good at absorbing dye and great value.

From left to right: Violet (3 x Grape, 3 x Berry Blue, 0.5 x Strawberry / 100 g), Strawberry (3 x Strawberry, 2 x Black Cherry, 1 x Orange / 130 g), Plum (1 x Pina Pineapple, 3 x Grape, 1 x Strawberry, 1 x black Cherry / 110 g), all Fyberspates Superwash Merino Sock

I have also refined my method. I have found that soaking the yarn for half an hour in a week vinegar solution, instead of water, helps the dye take to the yarn quickly and evenly. Simmering the yarn in the dye for 30 mins (rather than 10) reduces the amount of run-off to nothing, even with those difficult reds.

Fyberspates Superwash Merino sock painted with Strawberry, Berry Blue, Black Cherry and Grape

What am I going to knit with all this yarn? More Ishbels of course!

Green Ishbel, Texere 4 ply BFL yarn dyed with Berry Blue, Lemon Lime and Orange Kool Aid

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2009
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iPhone Cosy in Colinette Jitterbug 'Morello Mash'

An iPhone cover in 4 ply merino, knitted in the round, in a textured stitch.

If, like me, you’ve just fallen in love with your new iPhone 3G S, you’ll want to protect it. What better way than a waffle-stitch cosy?

Your iPhone deserves the best, so choose something with a lot of bounce to show-off the stitch pattern. Some left over, hand-painted, superwash merino sock yarn is ideal.

Instructions are given for double pointed needles, but it easily be knit on circular needles using the magic loop technique. The bottom of the cost is joined using the three-needle cast-off (that’s ‘bind-off’ to US English speakers). This technique is a bit fiddly but easy to master, a sewn seam could alternatively be used.

Requirements

Instructions

iPhone Cosy

Ribbed edging

Using smaller needles, CO 42 sts

Distribute sts across three needles. Join to work in the round, taking care not to twist work.

Next row (rib): [K1, p1] to end

Work 5 rows more in 1 x 1 rib

Body

Switch to larger needles

Waffle pattern

Row 1: Purl
Rows 2-4: [P1, k2] to end

Continue in waffle pattern until work measures 13 cm (5 in.), ending with row 3 of pattern

Next row (decrease): [K2tog, k1] to end (28 sts)

Turn work inside out, distribute sts evenly on 2 needles, 14 sts on each

Work three needle cast-off

Weave in ends and turn right-side out

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2009
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Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2009
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