Shipping out

In search of a smaller typeface, Woolmix is moving across the internet to woolmix.blogspot.com

Do stop by for a visit …

Notions

These arrived in the post yesterday:

Some basic notions to start my sewing kit, along with a round plastic box of needles from I know not where, some shirring elastic and a fairly decent-looking pair of scissors, all of which were found in the Box of Useful Things.

I’m not quite sure of the difference between normal and bobble-headed pins (though the latter will be easier to see in the carpet when walking around in bare feet) but I thought I’d better get both. Then spent far too much time trying to decide between shades of blue Gutermann thread, and somehow feeling that if I chose the wrong one my nascent sewing career would be doomed. In reality, the candidates were all perfectly acceptable shades of mid blue. The pink is less hot pink than I hoped, but probably a good thing as I am trying to be reasonably sensible in my sewing purchases, and not end up with all manner of lovely-but-unusable stuff stashed in bags.

All came from Knit and Sew, and very speedily: I placed my order yesterday lunchtime and here it is.

Now to actually get the sewing machine purple beast out of its box. (The number of the beast was in fact the number on the box in which the beast arrived.)

The number of the beast

Bonnet rouge

The first finished object of 2012 has made itself known:

Rubbish BlackBerry photo

More Scandinavia than Revolutionary France, but with a pleasingly Phyrygian point.

Following Mustaa Villaa’s pattern notes for garter-stitch beanies for the Finnish Red Cross, I reduced the circumference to 100 stitches to make a toddler-size hat and made one in navy and pale blue during the Christmas holidays – a quick and straightforward knit done sitting on the sofa watching reruns of Top Gear classic art-house films.

I decided to make a red and white version to use up some oddments of DK that have been hanging around for quite a while. Again, quick and straightforward though knitting in between work and other plans, progress was a bit slower and somewhat less focused. Some odd things happened – wonky stitches, a crazy loopy thing on the inside, some kind of knot – and the finishing was done in haste (and not helped by having a G&T and American Graffiti to hand).

Far from perfect, but an excellent stash-buster (see Mustaa Villaa’s wonderful multi-coloured versions) and the first knit of the 20 in 2012 challenge.

Back here

I was here …

… now I am back here, on the internet, and trying to make up for lost time on NaKniMitMo12.

I’m making a pair of mittens from Glenna C’s terrific Frostbite set, and so having my first go at stranded colourwork. All going well thus far, though I am glad of the practice I had with the Morse Mitts and the case of the inadvertently large thumbs.

Sock progress

On the needles

Works in progress at the beginning of December:

• Owls
  Just needs underarm seams sewn and ends woven in
• Owlet
  Half of body done
• Cria
  Knit pockets and sleeves, finish and sew on buttons
• Sock
  One finished, cuff and about an inch of leg on the second
• Gavyn
  Knit neckband and placket, sew in sleeves

Work to be done in order to finish it all before the end of the year.

Wovember

Earlier this month, a sibling asked me what I would like for Christmas. ‘Wool,’ I replied. But I didn’t really mean that. I  just meant something with which I could knit, regardless of its fibre content. I meant yarn.

In following the Wovember campaign, I have started to be more mindful of the distinction between wool and yarn, and to challenge my assumptions about the former, particularly concerning price. My yarn-buying tends towards the cheap and cheerful, perhaps because I feel my skill as a knitter does not justify expensive materials. But then I looked at prices of such things as Cascade 220 and the gorgeous Excelana, and was very pleasantly surprised: high-quality materials at a very fair price. Materials that will last.

I have also started to look at the fibre content of my clothes, eyes opened wide by the Wovember Hall of Shame. My ‘good wool skirt’, whatever the moths might think, is not especially woolly. Nor are my hat and gloves. I baulked at the price of a 100% wool coat last year, but it has proved one of my best investments: smoky blue boiled wool, with a snazzy Cadbury’s purple lining, it is well into its second winter of near-constant wear and, bar a couple of coffee splashes, look as good as new.

Above all, though, Wovember has encouraged me to make a linguistic shift, to engage with the semantics of my craft. To draw distinctions between yarns based on their materials, not to lazily and vaguely refer to it all as wool.

So, with new projects in mind, I am going to order some wool. You know: the stuff that comes off sheep.

Sock

Last year, I had great plans of taking part in the Knitting Olympics, with my project of choice being a pair of socks. I duly cast on and attempted to wrangle the dpns, but after a couple of false starts I decided that, under sporting rules, I was probably out and settled down in the stands to watch the cross-country skiing instead.

The yarn has come out a couple of times since then, and generally gone back into the stash pretty quickly, with my attempts at socks never getting far beyond the cuff. Now, as a warm-up for projects planned for the new year, I am having another go.

So far so good, and progress has been quite quick as I marvel at the self-striping yarn and rattle on to see what’s coming next. I’m down to the heel flap of the first sock with no ripping out or excessively unladylike language. Indeed, the only casualty has been one dpn disppearing into the inner recesses of the sofa, never to be seen again.

Pattern: Tiptoe Through The Tulips
Modifications: self-striping yarn, no intarsia heel
Yarn: Hot Socks Circus in 523

 

More on the mittens

I was very taken with the Frostbite set on Knitting to Stay Sane and bought the pattern at the beginning of October, along with the yarn to make the mittens in teal and white.

Not having a great deal of experience in knitting on double-pointed needles, and even less with colour work (bar a brief skirmish with intarsia) I decided on a plain run before going for the whole colourwork enchilada.

Knitted in Sirdar Escape chunky in ‘Endeavour’ to size small, but with size large thumbs: not because I have disproportionately big thumbs, but because I didn’t pay attention and knitted the wrong size. Still, I’m pleased with them as my first go, thought the pattern clear and straightfoward, and the colourwork ones will appear in the new year.