Say hello to my little friend

Many wonderful things have happened this week, amongst them a surge of visitors to this blog from Facebook.

Of course this gives me no end of joy, since I haven’t had a FB account for nearly six months. I can only imagine someone’s created a fan page for me and my blog, and judging by the geographical origin of the visits I am pretty sure I know who my benefactor and President of my fan club is.
(Yes Love, I can see you. In fact, I can see a bit more than you can. Remember this next time).

So make yourself at home and leave a comment – I’d like to do my best to make your visit an entertaining one!

FO – Baby cardigan

Tags

knitting

As I mentioned on Sunday, I have spent the past couple of days knitting. It’s a cardigan for my friend’s son, who was born last month.

This is not because I have suddenly started liking it again – if this project has proved anything is that if knitting and I were a celebrity couple the TMZ headline would definitely say OFF! – but because a dear, dear friend asked me to make one of these. And she never asks for anything, so I was determined to get this done.

All in all this was a quick make, so I reckon I have spent the same amount of time completing this as I have complaining about how much I dislike knitting now that I have taken up sewing.
This is no small matter. I knitted for over 30 years and at times it was a big part of maintaining my grip on sanity.
Incidentally, when I was a knitter I used to think people who made their own clothes were crazy. But then again I used to think runners were ridiculous and improvisation something for mega-nerds who were nerdier than me.
An open mind really can save you from your own idiocy.

See? I am doing it again. Rambling on about my brain rather than the actual project. So:

- measured an existing cardigan that baby wears for reference;
- leftover DK-weight wool acrylic mix. Approx 140 grams used. I have some beige left but no more blue. I gave away most of my knitting yarn earlier this year and I do not miss it all;
- 4mm needles, 18 st for 4 inches;
- body and sleeves worked in the round using magic loop because neither was wide enough;
- body and sleeves joined and raglan shoulders worked in striped pattern;
- body steeked (very badly) and then finished with Shetland wool which will hopefully felt around the bad steeking. Otherwise, I reckon baby will outgrow this long before the bad steeking becomes an issue;
- make again? I think I will knit for baby until the projects are so big that I really hate them, and then I will ‘fess up to my friend.
Or I might just fall in love with this again. After all, I am a sucker for a happy ending!

Sunday special – Judy’s back!

Tags

30 rock, blue, jones, knitting, liz lemon, sewing, sewing machine

Dear blog
How have you been?
I managed to drag myself into work on Thursday, which was a struggle, while Friday a little less so.
Yesterday was a very busy day, all of it good, some of it very good – look what I brought home from the shop! Isn’t she gorgeous?

Yay! It’s Judy! Fully serviced! Cleaner than ever! With a brand new needle plate, finally one with markings!

Look how delighted my high shank presser feet look! I can hear them giggling with excitement from here!

So how am I spending today, I hear you ask?
Why of course, knitting. There will be more about this soon, but suffice it to say I am not as fond of knitting as I used to be, so this one has to be special.

On the plus side, I get to do it all from my bed while watching some more 30 Rock, which always makes me happy.

Suite Judy blue eyes – Part 1

Tags

blue, jones, sewing, sewing machine

2009 was a tough year.
I’d like to go into detail, but it might upset some people deeply and I still haven’t got the hang of writing one of those disclaimers that include the word trigger.

Suffice it to say that by the end of Summer I had very little reason to get out of bed, and to be fair I can be barely remember doing that, let alone leading what I consider a normal life.
I know I must have done, because every day I went to sit at a desk and be bullied, and every month someone put some money in my bank account in exchange for all that.

I also know that I was doing the ComedySportz UK Improv workshops, although all I can remember about that is one boy that I desperately wanted to be friends with me. That one didn’t end that well either.

I could go on forever about the red mist, the grey days, the blues, the loneliness that nobody notices now. But I won’t. Earlier this year I looked back at stuff I had knitted in the past, and discovered that during that awful, awful time, beautiful things were made. I mean, look at this:

It’s a child-size cape all worked in feather and fan stitch in 4-ply weight wool, which is a lot thinner than anything I would normally want to use. And it’s beautiful if I say so myself.
You can see the rest of those project in this post. There is no denying that I was in a horrible place, and I think the real sign of that is the fact that  had completely forgot about those capes. Or the mittens. The scarf is a different story, and one for another day, but it didn’t exactly register either.

So back to those capes. I bartered my knitting time for a Brother XL2230. I had bought and read every single Elizabeth Zimmermann book I could have had shipped to the UK, and I was itching to steek something.

The machine arrived without a pedal. The pedal came a few weeks later, and by then the darkness had won the battle, and by the looks of it, the war. I can remember very little about December 2009 other than someone being afraid of leaving me at home by myself. Yes, it was that bad.

Anyway, I managed to get better and forgot all about the sewing machine until March 2011, when I moved house.
And May 2011, when I moved house again.
And June 2011, when I moved house once more.

Fast forward to March 2012, when I am getting ready to -guess what?- move house.
Before you ask, no, I don’t like it that much. It just happened that way, and I am hoping it won’t happen again for a while.

In the middle of packing my stuff, I checked that all of the XL2230 was present and correct.
It was, so as soon as I was settled in my (not so) new home I plugged it in and got practising with an old napkin.

The napkin begat a headboard cover, which begat a skirt, which begat lined curtains, which begat the Scarlett O’Hara dress and a fabric stash that grows like Seymour Krelborn and will soon start feeding on people.

But sometimes relationships progress at different speeds, and whilst my love for sewing was growing at the speed of light and I was ready to settle down into a forever Sewing Machine relationship, the Brother was still at the dating stage. Unsure and definitely suffering from indecision, cold feet, fear of commitment and a very temperamental bobbin winder.

I pondered a standalone bobbin winder. For about 15 seconds, which is the time it takes to realise that for the same money you can get an all-metal machine in working condition.

I spent Easter Sunday lounging and looking at machines on eBay. They had to be cheap, they had to have a motor/ belt / pedal, they had to be local enough for me to be able to pick them up by simply getting a lift from a friend.

Enter Judy Garland Minnelli Jones:

Judy wasn’t exactly local, but I asked the seller (a true gent!) to name a price for delivery and was very happy with the figure quoted. It was “sold as seen”, it was heavy, it had a table, it was blue.

You know when they talk about little girls going through a princess phase and a pink phase?
I didn’t. I went through a speed-skating phase, a burning-ants-with-magnifying-lens phase, a build-cars-and-trains-out-of-paper phase and so on.
I also went through a blue phase. When I was about four, I pestered Mum until she painted my bedroom walls turquoise. It’s been over 30 years, and that phase is still going strong.
So when I saw a blue sewing machine, I lost my shizzle.

I told myself that the worst-case scenario was me having the world’s heaviest bobbin winder.
But it would be a blue bobbin winder.

-to be continued

A bit of housekeeping

A few days ago I decided to merge the craft blog, which used to be on Blogger, with this.
There are only a few posts over there (less than 40 right now), so it won’t take too long to finish.
I didn’t feel it was right to comment on sewing / knitting blogs with the address of the running blog, and vice versa.

Meanwhile there’s plenty of both sewing and running over here, so stay tuned for some updates.

I have also created categories, so you can pick whether you want to read about Running, Crafts (sewing / knitting), or Random Randomness.
Of course the Random category might as well be called Rufus Wainwright, but I will try and keep it more varied (ha!).

Stripy mittens!

Tags

mittens

Mittens with a finger opening for emergencies (ie buying tram tickets early in the morning) and extra long cuffs if -like me- you hate to have that exposed area between the end of the sleeve and the start of the glove.
They are worked on US2 / 2.75mm needles. 4-ply leftovers from the Bridesmaids’ capes and some Regia sock yarn in Landscape 4261 Caribbean aka the most beautiful colourway in the Universe. Alternating with some Rowan Felted Tweed in Pale Blue, which is sold as DK but is far too thin for that and for me works better on needles around the 3mm/ US 2 mark. METHOD

Right mitten
In Pale Blue, cast on 48 stitches, join and work 64 rows in k2/p2 ribbing. The first 32 rows are only in Pale Blue, the following 32 are 8 repeats of 2 rows in Mint, 2 rows in Pale Blue.
Continue in stocking stitch, working 2 rows in Caribbean Landscape and 2 rows in Pale Blue. Work 6 rows plain.

Thumb gusset
R71 – K22, P1, lift the running thread between the right and left needle, put it on the left needle and k.
R72 – K all
Repeat these two rows 6 times, ending with a plain row.
R83 – K22, k the following 7 stitches on a piece of scrap yarn in a contrasting colour, then replace on left needle and k to end of row.
R84 – k22, ssk, k3, k2tog k to end
R85 – k all
R86 – k22, ssk, k1, k2 tog, k to end
R87 – k all
R88 – k22, slip 2 knitwise at the same time, knit the next stitch, pass the two slipped stitches over the knitted stitch and off the needles.
You are now back to 48 stitches.

K another 47 rows plain.
Finger opening
k 22, k the following 18 stitches with a piece of scrap yarn, replace on left needle and k to end of row.
k another 9 rows, then start decreases.
R1 – k2, ssk, k 16, k2tog, k4, ssk, k16, k2tog, k2
R2 – k all
Repeat until you have 4 stitches between the decreases. Bind off with three-needle bind off or grafting.

Thumb
Pick up 17 stitches for the thumb – 7 and 6 left from removing the scrap yarn, and two on each side. Work 20 rows of Stocking stitch, work one row of *k2tog, k1* then pull yarn through stitches.

Finger opening
Remove the scrap yarn, pick up 18 stitches from the bottom and work 5 rows of k2/p2 ribbing (row ends with k2).
Pick up 17 st from the bottom and work 7 rows of k2/p2 (row ends with k1).
You are working an odd number of rows so that you are left with a tail of yarn at each end.
Use said tail to seam the sides of the ribbing to the sides of the opening. I seam the bottom ribbing first and then the top, making sure the top overlaps the bottom.

FO and Pattern: Belfry scarf

Tags

liverpool, scarf

I would normally name my projects after their recipients, like I did for Anastasia, Aleisha and Rhiannah.
However I am not entirely ready to go down in (this blog’s) history, so this scarf is named after a line in Suzanne Vega’s song “In Liverpool”. The chorus goes:

Except for the boy in the belfry
He’s crazy, he’s throwing himself
Down from the top of the tower
Like a hunchback in heaven
He’s ringing the bells in the church
For the last half an hour
He sounds like he’s missing something
Or someone that he knows he can’t
Have now and if he isn’t
I certainly am

Because the majority of this scarf was knit in Liverpool, on Sunday – that is today, on trains and trams and in the lovely cafe at the Tate Gallery.
I have always loved the song, long before I have found out how much I love the city of Liverpool itself.

I wasn’t particularly fond of the yarn at first, as it seemed to look a lot better as a ball than when it’s knitted: It’s King Cole Zig Zag in colourway 744, Granite. I was attracted to it because it has every single one of the colours I wear every day to work (beige, grey and black), but when it’s knitted and unblocked it looks like I have ripped up a pair of camouflage trousers: It looks a lot better when it’s blocked, although you’ll have to forgive the yellowness of the picture – I can’t wait to take a picture of this in daylight! Belfry Scarf
Size: 92cm x 16cm (36 1/4in by 6 1/4 in) after blocking. It’s a small adult scarf – I don’t like to wear big dangly ones.
Yarn: King Cole Zig Zag (4 ply suitable for socks). One ball, and you will have plenty left afterwards.
Gauge: 6st to the inch *unblocked*. I have achieved this with 5mm (US 8) needles, but make sure you go and find the correct needle size for the gauge (although I do feel that gauge isn’t absolutely vital as this is a scarf).

Method
Cast on 32 st
R1 – k all stitches tbl (through the back loop)
R2, 3 and 4 – K all stitches.
R5 -k2, *k2tog, yo, k1, p1* rep 7 times, k2
R6 -k2, *k1, p3* rep 7 times, k2
Repeat rows 5 and 6 until work measures 71 cm. The bottom edge will tend to slant because of the K2togethers, but don’t worry about it as it will be rectified with blocking.
Work another 4 rows of garter stitch (K all stitches) and then cast off very loosely.

Block to final measurements (92cm x 16cm – 36 1/4in by 6 1/4 in) and steam gently with an iron, making sure the iron does not touch the scarf.

FOs! FOs! FOs!

As you may – or may not – know, we have been renovating our house for the past 18 months.

We were very lucky in that we (well, I) chose to employ the best building firm in the known universe. Gemma and Gareth are honest, talented, intelligent and certified perfectionists. They are also very close to me and the OH in age, which meant that they became more than just contractors as soon as I knew that I could trust them.

So when Gemma (who is a knitter too) asked me to help with her brother’s wedding I was more than happy to help dress her three daughters!

The tallest one is 11 and she will be wearing a mint-coloured dress and a cream shawl: It’s completely reversible (even the centre stitch is worked in garter stitch), it’s worked in Sirdar Country Style DK on 6mm needles and it’s a mixture of garter stitch and a lacy rib.
One day I will learn to block properly and have the centre stitch fall in a straight line.
Then again, them being builders I am sure they have a plumb line to sort that out.

Jokes aside, I think that might be down to my fixation with working increase stitches in pattern straight away. I’ll try and keep them in stockinette or garter in the future and see if that happens again. The other two, who are 10 and 6 respectively, will be wearing ivory-coloured dresses with mint capes. The capes are worked in Patons Diploma Gold 4Ply on 3 mm needles. The construction is completely seamless apart from the last half inch or so, where I cast off in garter stitch which I sewed later. They are both worked from the top down with raglan increases and feather and fan stitch, with varying lengths of stockinette between the “crimping” rows. Then I picked up the neck stitches and worked a border of lacy ribs on one and plain stockinette on the other one. Both have a set of ruffles at the neck, and I can safely say that in the future I will avoid knitting ruffles for as long I can. Out of the two, this one is probably my favourite.

D’oh!

Just realised this was on a 60 cm circular instead of 80 cm as I thought!

The power to create and a little adventure.

This is no longer anything to do with the Little arrowhead shawl, and instead an adventure in its own right.

I was looking at this today and wondering whether Creativity could be measured in the number of rows before you throw the pattern away, although I always thought of myself as an Unventor rather than a creative person.

Today I have also found the perfect knitting spot. And by that I mean absolutely perfect.

It’s a fabulously comfy club chair in a coffee shop in South Manchester. There is a glass wall behind it and another one to the left, which means the light is brilliant even on a rainy day, and there are obviously coffee and cakes aplenty. I will be taking my knitting to the furniture shop soon in order to test their chairs and find one exactly like that, as I have been wanting club chairs for a while now.

You can’t have everything though, so after my lovely knitting break in the coffee shop I ventured for the first time into one of the few yarn stores that are local to me.

What a disappointment!
The owner was sulky, unhelpful and not even knowledgeable. I turned on the charm, which is easy when you are talking about something you enjoy, and they were having none of it.
I used to work in a shop and you learn very quickly that -apart from a minority of customers who were born miserable- a smile on your side of the counter always gets a smile back from the customer, but this person had yet to discover that.

From now on I will not feel guilty about shopping in the big Department Store, or begrudge shipping charges on eBay, as this woman will never get any business from me.

If she was the last Yarn Store left on the face of the Earth I will give up knitting for birdwatching and spelunking. And I am a claustrophobic who hates birdwatching.