Too many sheep - not enough knitting

The house is full of wool but very little has been stitched of late. Its been a strange Summer and rather sad. My sister Mary was suddenly very ill and in July, not long after my last blog, she died. We had some lovely family times together in her last few weeks. She was such an amazing character, she gave so much to so many and we miss her.

Unscoured Blue Faced Leicester fleece

So blogging about knitting has not been on the agenda for a while. At one point this summer we defied the elements to briefly go camping in the Yorkshire Dales. We met lots of sheep and despite my stated determination not to buy I came back with an unscoured Swaledale fleece, unscoured Blue Faced Leicester fleece and a kilo of beautiful Wensleydale combed tops.

It's now all lurking in different parts of the house in various stages waiting to be washed, dyed, combed, carded or spun. The Blue Faced Leicester was hilariously curly, but I have to say rather whiffy too! Washing it was not something I wanted to do in my kitchen so its been a question of dodging the showers. Its been a bit of a learning curve too - book in one hand, fleece in the other. Something will come of it all eventually I dare say: but will it be wool or worsted?  I will try and keep you posted. I might need some wool combs and a new spinning wheel yet!

Wensleydale combed tops

Rolled up unscoured Swaledale fleece

Fifty years in the making - Aran knit meets Swaledale hand spun

Aran Achill jacket knitted c.1963 meets Swaledale hand spun c.2012

It seems ages ago now; but actually only about twelve months have passed since my big sister promised to re-knit the Achill jacket pattern she had last knitted 50 years ago if I came up with the wool. Back in the early 1960’s she produced several beautiful Aran jackets in wool brought back from holidays near Achill Island off the West Coast of Ireland by our late parents. (earlier post-Out for a spin).

Despite a long time searching, the special quality of the wool proved impossible to match at any affordable price. So it’s been a double challenge for Katharine to convert my wobbly hand spun Swaledale into this fantastic jacket. I am very much the novice at spinning and it took me a good while to spin the yarn. Many other major knitting projects have been and gone through Katharine’s hands while she has been waiting.

The result is superb, I could not be happier. It deserves the greatest care I can give it but I will want to wear it all the time

I wore my earlier jacket to destruction and we were convinced all that remained of the Achill wool was one of Narnie’s hats.  How very odd that the very week the new jacket was finally completed, mother’s original brown Achill jacket was spotted at the bottom of an old trunk.

Here they are together.  My new one complete with its handmade wooden buttons, created from fumed oak by my unique brother in law Derek Martin, who is not only maker of all those knitting pins for my knitting bags but also the craftsman who designed and built my spinning wheel.

At the risk of sounding a bit cheesy ……..and I have just had some for lunch; this is about more than just knitting. It’s special and its wrapped up in wonderful family ties and fifty years of memories, in particular my BMT in 1988 from Katharine which gave me the last 24 years.  We have come by two great husbands, thirteen children and twenty grandchildren between us and countless cousins , uncles and aunts so there is still plenty more knitting to do…...

All I can say for now is “Thanks sis!".

Down the slippery slope - bias knitting problems

Oh dear what can the matter be? Quite a lot it appears. The knitting has gone all lop sided!

I had my suspicions when I knitted a tension swatch that all might not be well with the yarn I had Navajo plyed on the spinning wheel. This looping/chaining technique converts a single strand into a three ply yarn. It's quite simple when you get going, but  I was aware some over twisting had occurred while I was getting the hang of it.

I knew over twisted yarn can cause the knitted fabric to slope off in one direction, but the slope on the tension swatch was barely perceptible so I pressed on with the main garment sleeve. Thirty six cms.(15") of slip stitch pattern later not only do I have a bias on the fabric but one side is a good 5cms(2") longer than  the other.

Time for a cup of cocoa and burning some midnight oil while wading through Montese Stanley's "The Hand Knitter's Handbook - still the best book I have for finding better techniques and problem solving.

Along with  the over twisted yarn, loose stitches at the beginning of a purl row could well be part of the problem.  Apart from tightening the first purl stitches another suggestion Montese gave is to work a double chain selvedge on the over long edge. But that might not be suitable on a sleeve seam.

I'm hoping taking the yarn from the opposite direction of twist might help things. Another possibility for sorting the bias caused by the yarn, given by Montese, could be to incorporate twisted or plaited stocking stitches going in the opposite direction.

You often come across knitting or purling into the back of a stitch when shaping but I have never really considered the possibilities created by the use of rows of such stitches for forming basic fabrics. I am now quite fascinated and am busy making sample swatches of twisted and plaited stocking stitch.

I still love the yarn, I'm determined to make it behave and give me a new cosy cardigan - based on one I had when I was eight. Any other suggestions?

Wool in the willows

Hand dyed wool in home grown willow basket

It might have been raining cats and dogs all last month but at last some of my hand dyed wool now lies basking in my first ever home grown willow basket!

Making bags is one thing but I have long had a yearning to make baskets too.  Last year’s birthday present – thirty or so willow stick cuttings and some agricultural matting might not be everyone’s idea of a glittering, surprise birthday treat; but for me it was potentially a dream come true.

Despite some rather dry weather last year and little attention on the allotment the cuttings survived. One year on the first rods were harvested in February. Although another year is really needed for the rods to be suitable for basket making I have finally coaxed a few of the first growth into something recognisable as a basket.

Apart from a practice run with some rolled up newspaper and sliced up supermarket carrier bags this was my first attempt at basketry. A long way to go yet and lots to learn but working with the willow proved to be very satisfying. The aroma of the willow is lovely and I’m looking to grow some different varieties next year.

Around 1850’s William Scaling, willow grower and basket maker to Queen Victoria grew the finest willows on land less than a mile away from my little patch. There is no sign of it now but basket making and wicker work for perambulators and furniture was an important industry locally well into the twentieth century. I wonder if could ever be revived ? .... I guess it might take just a few more willows.

Not quite a host of knitted daffodils

knitted daffodils

The daffs in the garden and the parks are pretty much all over but I now have couple which will never fade. Some what strangely the other week we found a pile of artificial flower heads in our gateway. Whether they had been dropped by a child or by the bin men remains a mystery.  We left them in situ in case anyone returned for them and they gradually disappeared. But then I wished I had collected a few to pop into the basket by the door - under the rapidly fading mini daffodils we had been enjoying.

By nightfall it had became a bit of a personal challenge to try knitting a couple of replacements The outer petals were not to complicated - simply increasing and decreasing to get the overall shape. It took a few goes to get the idea of a trumpets. I wanted a more frilly effect which I finally got near to by knitting it as a flat piece starting with just a few stitches, rapidly increasing to about four times the number, finishing with a picot edge before joining. The stem is a simple knitted  I-cord with a stick inserted up its length. The vaguely knitted leaf shape got stiffened with a few dried stalks from last year.

I will try to remember to dust them so they don't turn into Narcissi!

Pink panther's Olympic bid - crochet cat on the loose

A few weeks ago the BBC ran an update about the £500,000 Arts Council commission to celebrate the Olympics. The East Midlands artist Shauna Richardson had completed all three 30ft Olympic lions crocheted  in local wool. Out of all the original contenders this had been my favourite, but I was quite amazed at the audacity of the project.  The wool is quite rough apparently and unsurprisingly Shauna did admit to sore fingers from time to time.

The project set me off thinking about knitting a quick little cat of my own. I looked through a stream of cute woolly felines on Ravelry and tried downloading a free pattern from Japan. Despite the translation and a multitude of diagrams it totally defeated me. It may have been down to the different stitch notations that are used in different parts of the world. Anyhow I eventually set off on a venture of my own. 

No sore fingers for me! I decided to use up some really soft 3ply fingering in pink. Well it was never going to be too realistic. There is definitely room for improvement and I thinks she needs a bit more to eat. But she doesn't bite and when asked most recognise her many cat like qualities.

I will definitely be off to Chatsworth to see Shauna Richardson masterpieces when the go on show before I try another one.

Little big heads - knitters beware

Zip up top for two year old

How time flies! My youngest grandchild has passed his second birthday already. Rather late in the day for a creative hand knit to add to his birthday booty I decided to haul out my old but trusty Knitmaster 155 knitting machine with its equally vintage KR6 knit radar.
To ring the changes on the standard raglan sleeve jumper I went for a cosy high neck with a front zip opening. I was quite pleased with the outcome. It had been a bit touch and go as to whether there was sufficient of the yarn I had selected which is a lovely pure wool in variegated grey browns - perfect chocolaty toddler camouflage.
A shame then that I had slightly underestimated the size of the young gentleman's head so that the garment had to come home with me again after a birthday outing to West Yorkshire. No matter how brainy you may think the infant it seems its very hard to be too generous when calculating the neck opening for a young child as the head's of all children are proportionally larger at that age.  Another lesson relearned the hard way! But its all OK now.

Knitting for Heros – our diamond Queen at home during the Second World War

Princess Elizabeth knitting

Last weeks anniversary of the accession of Queen Elizabeth to the throne reminded me of the collection of books about Royalty which have been gathering dust at the top of the stairs for a few years since I accidentally acquired them in a huge job lot of books I brought at an auction sale.

Taking five minutes off to have a little browse and picking up on one volume with a very striking cover, The Royal Family in Wartime, I came across this lovely picture of the Royal Family at home. Princess Elizabeth is looking so relaxed as she stands, knitting in hand, right by the fire.

In our house she would have been accused of hogging the heat, but perhaps the Palace was just as draughty as our place used to be - so I wouldn’t blame her!

Home tonight telegram 1945

As I got further into the book I started coming across little pieces of wartime ephemera. The front of a charming Christmas card, newspaper cuttings of children’s colouring pictures, hand written recipes for Eggless Cake, and Sponge Parkin came fluttering out.  But my heart nearly stopped when a page opened to reveal a telegraphic envelope. Dreading the thought that it had born bad news, it was a relief to find it was in fact to herald a soldier’s homecoming in December 1945.

The young Princess may well have been knitting socks for the troops or even prisoners of war,  it looks like she is knitting on double pointers. And I guess there is a double point to all of this in how closely the Royal Family did stand by the people during the devastation of the war and just how spectacularly something as simple as a little  bit of knitting contributed by many individuals can create a significant difference where it is needed.

The Royal Family in Wartime, Odhams Press Ltd., London 1945

Put a sock in it.

Thinking about what would make a good bag for a sock knitter, I thought it was about time I had a go knitting some socks myself.

Put a sock in it - stop laughing!

Not having any specifically sock yarn to hand I set off with some doubled up, rather sparkly yarn of undetermined fibres from a cone; which I didn’t mind getting wasted if it didn’t produce the finished socks.  By making a tension swatch and a rough lower leg measurement I followed most of James Norbury ‘s generic sock instructions from the good old Odham’s Encyclopedia of Knitting. It was all much simpler than I had imagined.

Undecided about the merits of circular needles compared with double pointers I switched around a bit. The circular needles I currently have are not the greatest but I gradually got into the swing of the “magic loop” however by the end of the second sock I was rather surprised to find that I had made much quicker progress with the double pointers.

Not the most stylish, I will readily admit! - but actually the socks fit remarkable well and look much better on the foot. Any how these will make a great pair of bed socks and they can come camping with me next time we are out in the tent. But next time I should now be able to create a sock pattern for any size with a bit more style.  

Knitting short rows

Small knitted bag curves knitted with short rows

Despite all the assorted yarn in generous amounts sitting around the place waiting for something to happen to them I have been taken up with looking for ideas of what to do with a small mountain of short lengths of rug wool from the back of the cupboard. They are warp ends from the woollen mill at  Solva, near St. David's Wales, the colours are lovely but none of them are even a metre long. Great for pegging a rug but I really wanted to weave them. This hasn't happened yet but I thought I would just see how they knitted.
I have tried my hand a little at "free knitting" in the past and quite enjoyed the effect of knitting short rows, (turning back before the end of the row). As you can see you can get some lovely curves going so I put some in too. Eventually my little experimental pieces have become a small zipped  and lined bag.

Knitting Feathers

As ever I have spent the first week of the year tidying up last years accumulated bits and bobs which have found a temporary Christmas home or a more permanent lodging in my workshop. Had to do something a bit more radical this year to better accommodate the extra craft related gear I have also acquired.  So have been shifting tool racks and making space for more shelves.

While moving things around I came across a little square of knitting I did on two feathers. I remember having a go at this after I read an item on the web about knitting on the West Coast of Ireland.  I had been trying to find some Aran wool from Achill Island, the article described learning to knit on goose quills and other makeshift needles such as sticks of willow and bicycle spokes.

I didn’t have any goose quills but there are always pigeon feathers in the garden so I had a go on two of these. They worked quite well, smooth with just a little grip too and the curve made them easy to hold. Even less excuse now for not getting on with some knitting even when the needles have been left at home.

You can read more of the article about traditional knitting in Ireland at

http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/aemblem/sweaters.html