8 Finished Merino Tops!

ok - so yes, the tops are merino, and yes they are knit, but I cheated and sewed these from fabric, not knit them myself. This week was a week of parcels, first Bobbins from Auckland, and then a surprise from California, and fabric from Global Fabrics. I have been knitting since the last post, two baby blanket squares (not photographed - I forgot, so next time), and the Alpaca Tangled yoke on teeny tiny needles.



Because I've been knitting, my tangled yoke cardigan grows. Whenever I knit it in public, at the pool, knit night, the guild meeting I attract questions about the needles size. OK the needles are 2.5mm, and yes it is an adult cardigan, and yes it will take time - but I like fine knitting. I've begun the stocking stitch torso - so expect lots of small increments in growth on it from now on. I do.



Finally - my extra 6 bobbins arrived for my Pipy spinning wheel, all nice and gleaming. Aren't these beautiful? When my Pipy came with only 3 bobbins, as they did when new I ordered an additional 6 to be made by Mr Poore. He made the Pipy and as he was still making bobbins at aged 90. I took the opportunity to lay in a seriously indulgent additional set of six. Six - should keep me happy for a long time, added to the original 3 that gives me 9. Nothing quite like being short a bobbin or two. I did have to wait, until Mr Poore sourced some more brass but the wait was worth it.

And the next parcel this week was 2 boxes of a scifi dvd series, and a skein of sock yarn from Suzanne (Magpie of Ravelry). That lady knows my favorite things, socks and sci-fi, what could be better? Suzanne suggested the pink for Poppy socks, and I think yes, perhaps Froot Loops from the latest knitty. Poppy has noticed and commented that I get far fancier socks than she does, but in my defense, the last 2 pairs have been for other people not me, and the next ones will be for her.





Today I spent much of the time stitching, 3 machines set out on the dining table and a lunch of soup in a cup so I could keep working without having to clear the table. Winter is approaching and so an extra layer is required, now I detest Polypro thermals, they pill, they go smelly and they require very careful laundering to remain nice and soft and new looking. But ... I can't afford to dress the cubs in commercial merino thermal underwear, so I decided to make them home made (or made with love) merino thermals. I bought 1.5m of blue and 1.5m of tangarine merino from Global fabrics, for a total of $NZ65. That is tangarine not Peach - really it didn't photograph well at all. And 3 machines you ask, well a straight sewer, a 4 thread over-locker, and a cover-seamer - I used to take my sewing seriously and still have all the equipment in the hall cupboards.




I copied a singlet of Poppy's and a fitted sleeved top onto heavy card, grade the pattern up to fit Toby, and cut out 2 long sleeved top and 2 sleeveless tops for each cub then spent the day sewing. It has been ages since I had a sewing day - and I enjoyed the fast productive results. All up using thread I already had, and making my own patterns, and not charging for my time, the tops cost $NZ8.12 each. Following costing maths to an even more illogical conclusion (after all I wouldn't buy 8 tops all at once), Polypro tops sell for $24.95 each, so I in theory I saved $134.60. Now do you think I can justify spending that that on yarn. :-) The blue is for the boy, and the tangarine for the girl - and the blue tops do not look girly in real life. Yes there are 7 tops in the photo, and Toby is wearing the 8th.

I even added a thumb hole to add a slight 'cool factor to Toby's long sleeved tops, in an attempt to negate any 'my mother made these' thoughts that might occur. He did think that was pretty cool - so I might have succeeded.

I'm near the end of my sock spinning and plan to do that most of this week, just to get it out of the way and free up the wheel for something new - I will photograph the baby blanket squares I've been knitting(from my homespun!) for the next post, I might even cast on for mitten number 2!
take care - Stella

half way there ...

mmmm yes, a mitten, half a pair, so half way there. Today there was near darkness as I went to work at 8:15 am, and darkness as I bussed home at 5:30 pm, so very limited opportunities for quality photos. I forget to pack the knitting to photograph in daylight at work. I've worked a little more on my alpaca cardigan, and spun a little more. I realise today I have both process and product knitting, usually my work is far more on the process, I know I can knit some ugly things just because they involve an interesting or challenging technique. At least I know that about my knitting.


So .... my mitten is done, finished early last night and worn and admired. I loooove this twined fabric, firm, thick, squishy in a firm way, elastic by again firm. I'm not so sure I love the actual knitting - but like any new technique it takes time to become proficient and for it to be easy.

I always post my videos on u-tube, and some one responded to the twined knitting video with the simple but puzzled query - 'why do you do twined knitting'. How on earth do you answer that? Its not as simple as 'because I can', but perhaps more along the lines of 'because I read about it and it sounded interesting'. Ok, we all know that puts me firmly in the world of the knitting geek. I freely admit to being a technique focussed knitter, and when shown a new technique - well I just want to give it a try, and possibly add it to my technique tool box.

But back to talking about the mitten, I decreased the end of the mitten and grafted the top, picked up the waiting thumb stitches and knit the thumb. I used a decrease for the thumb that matched that of the top of the mitten, decreased at the edges and grafted closed. Odd, as usually patterns I've used have a more round thumb decrease, but this works nicely.

So this is what the mitten looks like, all it needs now is a mate. We have had one slight frost so far, but no real sign of winter. The mornings are chilly, a message that winter is coming, and so I will knit another mitten to complete the pair, just so I can wear them.

and a closer view of the twined knitted fabric, see how the stitches lift a little on the left side? I think that is the result of the twisting pulling the right side of the stitch down snug. I can see how those who take such things seriously could feel stranding is not the same as twining.

and finally - some progress on my tangled yoke cardigan, slow progress as I'm knitting in finner yarn that that specified. Look - nearly 16 cm, of the 19 cm required! Nearly there, and then ..... stocking stitch ... flat! This is a real product knit, where it is the cardigan I want and the process is to be endured.

Our local knitters night has found itself a name - Take back the knit. Do you like it? Thats tomorrow night, and I've got the local guild monthly meeting Saturday, so time to knit a few more cm's on my rib. I do need to cast on for the second mitten - but that requires focused time, and is not a social activity.

Tvåändsstickning - holding those twisty yarns

Today - a quick short post, a video showing the more efficient hold for twined knitting. I developed this method based on a few photos in an article in an Threads book, Knitting around the world. The article is 'Swedish two-stranded knitting' by Linda D Y Sokalski. I inter-loaned a copy through my local library - then found several of my knitting group had copies.




and thanks for nice messages last post, its been a sad few days, and I expect there will be more sadness to come. My colleague is some one I first co-taught papers with 8 years ago, and who I watched as she completed her masters. She is some one with whom I have had many many process vs product discussions centered on student work. She has an arts background and I a science one, together we found that the same things were important in our students work.

Take care - I'm still twining away on my mittens, and I promise progress images next time.
Stella

Nope - dark chocolate can't fix this,

Some small things, and an incredibly sad thing. I'm back at work, after having a few days at home to rest and get better. No point coughing all over the students and fellow staff is there? And - yes I'm sad, some one is moving into a hospice, and its sad, no other word for it, to describe knowing a life ends soon. Sad. No its not family, but a colleague who I admire and who has such a healthy respectful human attitude to students and peers that I'll miss her already. Please excuse me while I feel a little dark and blue about the whole thing - Friday there is a small function (at her request) to say goodbye - and just between you me and a big box of tissues --- frankly, I'm gonna be a mess. There are a few things in this world I've found to my dismay that even the darkest of dark chocolate can't fix, and this my friends, appears to be one of them.

So I'll avoid the issue for now by talking about the knitting, my Salto sock project continues, I've worked the heel on sock two, and un-worked, or frogged the toe on sock one. Sock one is now just sitting and waiting for me to knit sock two to the same length, and then I'll finish the two together. Remember sock 1 ended up being a little to long and needed trimming? And there might be an issue of not enough yarn - but we will cross that bridge when we get to it.



And my twined mitt? Well I've knit up to the thumb and even managed to add a line of crook stitches to delineate the thumb/palm line. I was so proud of myself, early in the line if you look really close you can see where I messed up, before I learned to read the twine chain and predict if the row should be k1 p1 k1 or p1 k1 p1.



And the increases? Well twined increases are a doddle, is that a word unique to New Zealand or is it in common use world wide. Here is means easy-as, or not-difficult. So to increase in twined knitting, one knits into the stitch first with one strand, and then twists the other strand over and knits into the same stitch - an easy increase, 2 stitches where once there were one. I chose to work this mitten with all the increases on one side of the thumb gusset, why? Because I'd never seen that done before and it was one of the 4 thumb shaping options in the book. I like the result, especially the way the stitches angle away from the body of the mitten so sharply.


And for all of you who think my knitting is well nigh perfect, well its not and here is some of the proof, I have not mastered twining over the gap of the dpn needles. And some where in the muddle I think I goofed the aligning of the knits and purls, something is not right here, and its not the begining of the round so I can't blame that. Wanna know the worst part - its the center back of the mitten, and I could have shifted the gusset around to hide this on the palm - but I didn't think of that till afterwards. Still I'm thinking of this as my 'learning' mitten.



And I'll leave you with my progress so far. I'm trying something new, I've got the thumb stitches strung on a waste yarn just waiting. But this time I strung the 2 stitches either side of the stitches on hold as well - maybe it will stop those on the waste yarn pulling a little hole in my work? Of course with the twining - its so dense it probably won't form a hole anyway. Notice this knitting stands on its own!

Stella