Is knitting!

Hello all, and welcome to a sunday installment of: knitting files. I have- against all odds, including going to a very special job interview (yay and fingers crossed), my local yarn shop closing down (boo and good bye stitch perfect), and forgetting my new years resolution of ‘no yarn shall be bought unless a project to be worked’  been clacking away at a new project.

Winter Flame lace knitted scarf

This really lovely design is by Ravelry member Juliet Romeo Juliet and is available from here for FREE!! It uses simple Knitting techniques easy for a beginner like me to learn as you progress. Here are the techniques needed other than knit and pearl, and a link to the best you tube demonstrations available:

SSK (slip slip knit)  Demonstrated by knitwitch this is a decrease stitch technique

YO (yarn over) Demonstrated by Knitwitch  this is a increase stitch technique which makes a decorative hole.

K2TOG (knit two together) Demonstrated by Knitwitch  this is a decrease stitch technique

In the beginning it was green.....

I started using Rowan 4ply pure wool in Havana as I picked up 10 balls for £20 in the sale a while back and liked Vae’s (another ravelry members) version in the same yarn. After ripping back a few times I got the tension correct and the repeat process for the pattern….This is half the first repeat. I was loving it.

Then I went to House of Fraser in Solihull and I found the same yarn but in quarry tile red! It was marked as £20 for 10 balls but when it scanned up at £10 I saw it as a sign from a higher power. I frogged the green and got right in there with the red yarn. A proper winter flame!

waves!

Here is my 20% finished WIP. Its curling up a bit but that’s nothing a good block wont sort out (one hopes) and I think another 2 balls will have it finished, making this project a very reasonably priced and not to long in the making project. For more photos pop over to my ravelry page

Other knitting news includes breaking that news years resolution and buying YARN! Lovely lovely yarn. Unlike the art of sewing I have learned that when using a pattern for knitting, the recommended yarn should be used unless you want unpredictable results.  All yarns are not created equal. No matter what WPI they are or weight, using the same weight by a different manufacture than suggested can cause issues. Well- it can cause the finished project to look ‘different’ for better or worse. So now when buying yarn it has to have a purpose, a project and a plan. Here are a few of my plans.

Eliza Day tam by Patricia Clift Martin printed in the current Knit Now (issue 4)

Inspiration can come from anywhere, as this glorious tam shows. It was brought to life with the help of the Nick Cave song, ‘Where the Wild Roses Grow’.

I just love this hat. Using fair-isle or standard colour knitting with a CC (colour changing) yarn from noro it looks more complicated than it it. Although, it is probably quite complicated. Me and Kit have joined a close knitting group in order to make things less complicated. I could not get the ‘suggested’ colour way (250) but visited my new local store (.hildaknitwear.) and she had colour way 254! So there is purchase with a purpose- no issues there

Another yarn purchase this week was from a fantastic retailer called nutty knitting supplies. Best delivery service I have had from any online retailer.  They stock a huge range of hard to find cascades yarn including the eoc+, which is a Peruvian yarn mostly distributed in america. I just love the colours Eco is avalible in, the hanks are huge at 478 yards and gladly the wool is soft and not itchy.

I plan to make Owls by Katie Davies with the two hanks of the Butternut squash pictured here and with the other two hanks I bought in merlot, make Juliet Romeo Juliet’s simplest sweater. Of course this means knitting in the round….hence the close knit group again! Fingers crossed.

Also this months issue of The knitter (41) Louisa Harding has released Elderflower, which is one of the patterns from her larger collection entitled Absinthe. It is essentially one pattern that can be adapted by using different yarns and needle sizes to produce a collar, a cowl and a capulet. My favorite being the capulet. This version is made from the colour ‘Rich’ but I came across a website selling Louisa Harding millias yarn for £3 a ball instead of £5 and free delivery, but they did not stock the rich. I opted for two different colours…. Blackcurrent (purple) and craig (grey).

So far so good hey? No purchase without project! Now I have just to stick to the plan better get a move on…..Knit now issue 5 comes out in a few days time! ….Okay, I should point out that I have got 4 balls of rowan silk twist, 2 hanks of colinette zero  one, 4 skeins of Brigantia Luxury Yarn Double Knit, 2 balls of merino 105, 1 hank of rowan colourscape, and one ball of sneaky cascade 220 superwash that are project-less and unplanned like the children of poor sheep. I have given them a home…must find them a purpose

The last project I would like to attempt is a lovely vintage inspired knit from vintage knits  modeled here by yellowbird. The yarn she used is Rowan’s 4 ply pure wool….and I now have 17 balls of the stuff to use up  I am struggling with the colours though….I have Havana green and Quarry tile red, but I am concerned I could end up looking like a Christmas tree! Bad move that would be. I do not feel like having people hanging ornaments of me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am torn between using the red as the main colour (3 balls), the green as the focus colour (2 balls), and buying 2 balls of brown and cream or cream and ochre…. Is it going to look a bit Hogwarts? and will I mind if it does Watch this space