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Tag Archives: yarn

Rotational – knitting round and round

06 Sun Nov 2016

Posted by soknitsome in Projects

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

baby, clothing, dress, family, Germany, stripes, yarn

When our daughter shared a photo of our granddaughter pulling herself up to a standing position I just knew I had to knit her a little dress. We were a bit surprised to see her doing it already as she was six-and-a-half months old at the time. In the picture she had on a little dress and you could see frilly nappy peeping out below. Very cute!

After a bit of virtual consultation (sending Ravelry links via WhatsApp gives you a decent-sized photo in the message with the link below) we decided on Rotational in grey. Younger Soknitsome Daughter has a fondness for black and grey and likes grey clothes for Soknitsome Granddaughter, too. grey striped baby dressI knitted the dress in dark and very pale grey stripes. The pattern was easy to follow although I must have miscounted somewhere before joining the back and front as I had to add two stitches to get the slip-stitch colour change row to work out properly.

The yarn is Australian Superfine Merino from Cleckheaton. I bought it at a yarn-tasting hosted by the Knitters’ Guild NSW.  Since it’s a superwash yarn,  I was good and knitted and washed quite a large tension square. I then went down a needle size for the dress because I was also aiming for a garment that wouldn’t look too huge on a slim nine-month old baby (this is more a dress for the winter months). The dress actually works well as a tunic later, too so I did knit towards a 12-month size for length as our granddaughter is not short.

You can imagine my alarm when on giving the dress a bath, I could feel it relaxing beneath my fingers! Fortunately, after being laid out flat to dry, it shrank back to the expected dimensions. Mr Soknitsome got to visit them during his business trip to Germany and promptly sent pictures. Although little Soknitsome Granddaughter did pull herself up to stand while he was there, it was never while wearing the dress!

baby girl in grey striped dress

baby girl in grey striped dress

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It doesn’t always have to be green

21 Fri Oct 2016

Posted by soknitsome in Projects, Yarn

≈ 10 Comments

Tags

gift, laceweight, merino, Ozifarmer's market, scarf, shawls, silk, yarn

I recently finished a scarf for Older Soknitsome Daughter. We’d spent a cosy hour together last year browsing my yarn stash on Ravelry. I have a few skeins of green yarn, partly chosen with my daughter in mind. It is her favourite colour and featured along with gold at her wedding earlier this year. You can imagine my surprise then when she picked out this lovely silvery grey and pink yarn  from Ozifarmer’s Market. Her accompanying words were “It doesn’t always have to be green”.ball of grey and pink yarn

The pattern is Dangling Conversation by Mindy Ross which can be knitted in various weights. The pattern suggests placing the eyelet rows at the colour changes of gradient yarn but the changes in this yarn were so subtle that I just did the eyelet rows where I thought looked about right.

I really enjoyed knitting this. Yes, it is 800m of fine stocking stitch but the yarn is made up of 80% merino and 20% silk and it’s light and soft and was a real pleasure to knit with.grey and pink triangular scarf

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Last but one

05 Tue Apr 2016

Posted by soknitsome in Projects, Travel

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

blanket, cardigan, Germany, knitting, Lana Grossa, socks, yarn

Since I arrived back in Sydney last month I’ve been working very hard to complete the Final Secret Project. It’s finished but still a secret for now.

striped blanket square

When the light’s not been good enough to work on that I’ve been knitting some more pieces for the Lizard Ridge blanket I started almost 18 months ago. The end is in sight. I have one more piece to finish and then comes the major job of sewing them all together…

I’ve been really good and haven’t worked on anything else at the same time. Not the socks I started in Germany, not the cardigan I want to make for me.

yarn and patternHowever, it’s almost time to head off to the airport for another long-haul flight back to Germany. (That really makes me sound like I’m some kind of jet-setter when it’s just been how family events have turned out). I’m looking forward to some serious knitting time. I have that sock I started and I have a new cardigan to cast on! The sock is a Magic Zauberball Stripe sock but I’m using a Lana Grossa yarn that also has long colour stripes.

The cardigan will be my third and final attempt project with this lovely black yarn with flecks of red and blue in it.  The cardigan is knitted seamlessly but from the bottom-up. It’s an ideal travel project if you want something a bit more substantial since the sleeves are knitted separately and then joined to the body. Once you’re manoeuvring the whole garment in your lap you’ve only got a short way to go. There’s more to this story but I’ll cast on first!

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Some more of those secrets

21 Mon Mar 2016

Posted by soknitsome in Projects

≈ 14 Comments

Tags

baby, Bendigo Woollen Mills, blanket, blocking, cardigan, Ravelry, secret, texture, yarn

Here’s the second part of the big reveal where I can share some secret knitting now that Younger Soknitsome Daughter’s daughter has arrived.

Purple baby cardiganPlanning ahead I knitted a cardigan for a 12-month old child. Since a baby/toddler of that age is moving around and not lying still I thought that it would be more practical to have buttons all the way down. This avoids having cardigan fronts that can flap and get in the way. The pattern is a freebie from Ravelry: Little Avery by Taiga Hilliard Designs and it’s a seamless top-down knit. Like the little red jumper in the previous post, this is knitted in Australian machine washable wool from Bendigo Woollen Mills: Luxury 8-ply.

Purple textured baby blanket - flatThe biggest item I knitted was a baby blanket. This is Twinkle Twinkle Baby Blanket by Helen Stewart. I thought Younger Soknitsome Daughter might appreciate something she could use and wash with abandon rather than a more traditional lacy shawl or blanket that would need space and time for blocking after each wash.

Purple textured baby blanket - drapedYounger Soknitsome Daughter likes purple and as I wanted a unisex colour this yarn looked perfect. It’s another yarn from Bendigo Woollen Mills – a blend of wool and bamboo – and has a lovely sheen to it. I struggled slightly with the pattern as there was no way my swatches were blocking out to the size and tension of the pattern. (A common remark on projects is that this blanket turns out smaller than the original). I even knitted squares with various needle sizes and left them out for pondering while I knitted something else.  In the end, I went with the recommended needle size since I preferred the finished fabric.

Textured purple baby blanket - dryingTo replicate Younger Soknitsome’s laundry practice, I just hung the blanket over a drying rack and was very happy to see the final size after washing. It grew but without becoming loose and floppy. There are photos of the little one wrapped up in her blanket but these are my daughter’s pictures.

(Images link to Ravelry project pages)

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Some secrets are secret no longer

15 Tue Mar 2016

Posted by soknitsome in Projects

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

baby, cardigan, hat, jumper, Ravelry, secret, stripes, texture, yarn

Now that Younger Soknitsome Daughter’s daughter has arrived I can share some of my secret knitting. I’ve started updating my Ravelry project pages with photos.

Baby cardigan in whiteThe first item to be knitted was a white cardigan. White cardigans may not be very practical but doesn’t every newborn need a white cardigan? I think so. I chose a traditional classy looking cardigan, a French design, but just to be on the safe side knitted the 3 months size rather than newborn. This cardigan was knitted in Patons Australia Big Baby 4-ply, a very soft machine-washable blend of acrylic and nylon.

textured baby jumper in redAfter that I made a red jumper. Red is good for boys and girls. The pattern I chose is actually labelled as being  ‘boys’ sweaters and vest’ but I think textured sweaters are unisex. The pattern is a Sirdar one (there are lots of Sirdar paper patterns available as PDFs on Patternfish) and as such, traditionally written: knitted in pieces and seamed. I didn’t fancy seaming such a little knit in Dk/8-ply weight so I knitted in the round to the armholes then to and fro for the front and back. I did a three-needle-bind-off for the seamed shoulder and finished the one with button flaps as in the pattern.  I picked up stitches around the armholes for the sleeves and worked short rows for the sleeve caps. For this jumper I used Australian machine washable wool from Bendigo Woollen Mills. It’s lovely and soft, quite plump, perhaps slightly thicker than many 8-ply / DK yarns.

Green and white striped baby cardigan and hatThe third garment I made (well small clothes are just so lovely to knit) was a stripey cardigan in green and white. I used more of the Patons Australia Big Baby, holding the yarn double to replicate DK thickness. Strangely enough, the DK version of this yarn is not nearly as soft as the 4-ply. Once again I didn’t follow the pattern exactly. I didn’t slip the edge stitches as I prefer picking up stitches for button bands in the ratio of  3 for 4 stitches.  To turn the cardigan into an outfit I also made a striped hat but with thinner stripes.

Despite Soknitsome Granddaughter’s displeasure at being dressed and undressed I was keen to get a few photos so I could see how the garments fit in relation to their supposed size.

Baby wearing red jumper

Baby wearing white cardigan     Baby in green and white striped cardigan and hat

There are photos of her looking happier but these were usually when Younger Soknitsome Daughter was holding her and are not intended for publication.

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Fancy Feet

20 Sat Feb 2016

Posted by soknitsome in Projects, Yarn

≈ 17 Comments

Tags

charts, lace patterns, Pattern, Regia, socks, toe-up, yarn

There’s been some white Regia 4-ply in my stash for a while, waiting to be turned into the right pair of socks. Lace socks. Like these socks.

white lace socks

The pattern is Sprig by Wei Siew Leong (aka KiwiPurler who blogs here). Mine look a little bit different because I started them at the toes. I didn’t turn the chart upside down. The lace pattern works well viewed in both directions. The only slight difficulty I had was in reading my knitting. It was a little tricky to anticipate which round was next without referring back to the chart. Of course once the lace is stretched across a foot, it all becomes clear.

I knitted these socks as part of the Aussie Sock Knitters first knit along of the year: undiscovered gems (patterns with fewer than 20 projects). Now as far as I’m concerned this is really a gem of a design. In fact I think these would look beautiful in black (sharp intake of breath at thought of knitting lace in black yarn on 2 mm needles). A friend helpfully pointed out that knitting them in grey and dying them black might be better. I think she’s right.

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Some things get better the longer they take

06 Sat Feb 2016

Posted by soknitsome in Projects

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

Joji Locatelli, KAL, Knitalong, Lana Grossa, Ravelry, shawl, travel, yarn

Four months ago, back in the days of spring, I cast on Joji Locatelli’s Ley Lines shawl as part of her Fall Knit Along.

I’ve admitted before I was overly ambitious in aiming to knit two shawls as part of the knit along so won’t dwell on any of that here. Suffice to say, as we draw closer to autumn here, I finally have a springtime-coloured shawl ready!

Ley Lines is a large asymmetrical shawl and the pattern cover shows Joji enveloped by its ribbing loveliness.  I think this is what attracted me to the pattern in the first place. It’s almost like buying into a lifestyle. I also thought it would be the perfect accessory when travelling.

This was a straightforward knit. Lilac-coloured shawlI did have a little trouble making the cast-on point look good so quickly followed helpful instructions from a fellow Raveler. After that it was plain sailing. Knit two, purl two, knit two, purl two, … (you get the picture) with increases or decreases to change the angle of the ribs in certain sections as well as to increase the size of the shawl. Ribbing is often used for its attribute of drawing knitted fabric in. My shawl grew longer and longer. It was far skinnier than I wanted. I was quite relieved to see that knitting friend S’s Ley Lines wasn’t any different to mine. We agreed we’d have to block them aggressively.

Lilac-coloured shawl wrapped on shoulders

So 845 metres of ribbing later, am I happy?

Yes, extremely.

Blocking Ley Lines has worked the magic I hoped it would. My shawl is now a lovely size for wrapping around me.

It’s light and airyLilac-coloured shawl spread wide

But you can still see the texture of the ribbing.

Lilac-coloured shawl wrapped on shoulders

 

I used yarn from Lana Grossa: Cool Wool Baby, 100% merino in 4-ply/fingering weight. Other details and links to helpful projects are on my Ravelry project page

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What a su-purl-ative Saturday!

16 Wed Dec 2015

Posted by soknitsome in Community

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Christmas, friends, Knitters' Guild NSW, Ravelry, skein, Sydney, yarn

The second Saturday of the month is when the Inner City group of the Knitters’ Guild NSW meets. This month’s meeting was a little different as Lyn and I were convening the meeting for the first time. Having expressed an interest in the position prior to the AGM, we found ourselves nominated by default since many members have already done a stint and were happy for someone else to take a turn. The Inner City group has about 80 members but many are unable to attend every month so we were probably only speaking in front of about 30 odd knitters and crocheters. We don’t just get together to socialise over our knitting and crochet. The Guild’s constitution states that the object of the Guild is to

  • encourage and maintain high standards in design and techniques
  • provide a forum for the exchange and provision of information
  • provide the opportunity for education in the craft

With these aims in mind, we had a bit of a brainstorm and came up with suggestions for talks and skills/techniques development for the coming year. We also collected lots of other excellent suggestions from members and now have the task of putting together an interesting and varied programme for 2016.

After the Guild meeting the knitting fun continued…

The Thursday night knitting group traditionally goes for afternoon tea in December. So we hopped on a train and travelled down to Circular Quay to enjoy a delightful tea at the Sir Stamford Hotel.  Not having knitted enough already, we were working away on our projects before we’d even had a sip of bubbly!

red yarn skein

There were fourteen of us and we were seated around one large table in a private room which was great for chatting. Thanks to Kelly, the organiser, there was some lovely Christmas fun and games with ‘guess the yardage’ of an anonymous skein, a lucky draw, and a Secret Santa Skein Swap. Here’s the lovely yarn I came home with.

This is a hand-dyed skein from Hawthorne Cottage Yarns. It’s a 4-ply wool/nylon blend that feels sturdy enough for some great socks. But the reds are so stunning that perhaps it should be a little something for around a neck? Choices, choices!

Whilst having tea, we even came up with a more appropriate name for our Thursday group. We’re easier to find now on Ravelry – we’re the Sydney CBD Knitters. So if you’re ever in Sydney on a Thursday evening, come on by!

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KnitCamp Nurmilintu

26 Sat Sep 2015

Posted by soknitsome in Projects

≈ 18 Comments

Tags

Debbie Bliss, friends, Heidi Alander, KnitCamp2015, Knitters' Guild NSW, lace, shawls, yarn

As the name suggests, this shawl uses yarn I bought at KnitCamp 2015* to make a Nurmilintu shawl like that worn by Inner City Guild friend, 1funkyknitwit, during camp. It will come as no surprise that there are, cough, cough, a couple of changes to the original pattern.

I love the drape of 1funkyknitwit’s shawl (Ravelry project link) so decided to follow her example and knit mine on 4.5mm needles, which is larger than suggested in Heidi Alander’s pattern. Blue lace scarfHowever, once I got started, I began to wonder about the tension. Is 1funkyknitwit a tight or loose knitter? Would the 379 metres of yarn be enough if I were using larger needles? I decided to play safe and start the first lace section a little earlier – when I had 9 stitches fewer than instructed, since the pattern repeat is 9 stitches wide. I then continued to knit each section so that I finished with nine stitches fewer than stated in the pattern. I knitted the final lace section and still had yarn over. A not-insubstantial amount for someone who likes to use every last inch. I knitted the first 6 rows of the lace section again. Still plenty of yarn. I knitted the middle 6 rows. Yarn left? Yes. I knitted the last five rows and realised I didn’t have enough for the picot cast-off so I just did a stretchy cast off. I cut it more than a little fine – that tail dangling down is all that was left!

Since there were no picot points I just threaded a wire through the edge and blocked the two shorter sides straight. I pulled the curvy hypotenuse side into shape and pinned it.  This meant far less back-breaking time crawling round on the floor. The result is a shawly-kind-of-scarf that works as well over your shoulders as round your neck.

Woman holding blue lace scarf Woman wearing blue lace scarf

*The yarn is Debbie Bliss Fine Donegal (95% wool, 5% cashmere). It comes in large 100g balls and has lovely tweedy flecks in it. My teal colour has flecks of blue and turquoise. KnitCamp 2015 was run by the Knitters’ Guild of NSW  and I wrote in more detail here.

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Who doesn’t like a good “before and after” story?

08 Tue Sep 2015

Posted by soknitsome in Projects, Ravelry

≈ 19 Comments

Tags

Before and after, Judy Marples, lace, Madeline Tosh Merino Light, Ravelry, shawls, yarn

One of the most active threads on Ravelry is Blocking – Before and After! The posts I like best are those where hours of patient lace knitting are finally and almost magically transformed from what looks like an egg tray into a beautiful airy shawl.

So here’s my just-off-the-needles blob of  Madeline Tosh Merino Lightturquoise lace shawl - before stretchingand

after waving my magic wand

stretching on blocking wires…

abracadabra

 Gliding
turquoise lace shawl hanging in front of window

photo links to Ravelry project page

This is Judy Marples’ East Gable Shawl. The feathery, ferny lace pattern was a little less intuitive to knit than some other shawls I’ve made, so I only worked on it when Mr Soknitsome was off learning how to glide!

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Shawls

grey and pink triangular scarf
Lilac-coloured shawl wrapped on shoulders
Ley Lines
Woman holding blue lace scarf
KnitCamp Nurmilintu
turquoise lace shawl hanging in front of window
Gliding
purple lace shawl
Archibald
stripey shawl with ribbed ruffle
European TGV
blue lace wrap with sea in background
Magic Waves
Starry Starry Night
Starry Starry Night
Ishbel's got me smitten
Ishbel’s got me smitten
Looped
Looped
Auf Wiedersehen
Auf Wiedersehen
Heaven
Heaven
Garter Grooves
Garter Grooves
Teardrop
Teardrop
Sorrow
Sorrow
Gala!
Gala!
A little piece of heaven
A little piece of heaven
Cabled
Cabled
Dancing Leaves
Dancing Leaves
Bedtime Bookworm
Bedtime Bookworm
Nightsong
Nightsong
Multnoromah
Multnoromah
Coffee Pimpelliese
Coffee Pimpelliese
Berry Wisp
Berry Wisp
Rainbow Pimpelliese
Rainbow Pimpelliese

Socks

Red striped socks
white lace socks
Sprig
blue lace socks
Le Maquis
Tonal blue socks - on feet
Blue Bark
striped handknit socks side view
These should have been Geek Socks
Stripey socks on feet and left heel
European Jeck
bright striped socks on feet - side view
Socks to Brighten the Doomiest Day
Pink Mix Possums
Pink Mix Possums
Strrripes!
Strrripes!
Stripes for a Mathematician
Stripes for a Mathematician
Munich Traveller
Munich Traveller
Green Apple Clouds
Green Apple Clouds
Upside-Down Hermione
Upside-Down Hermione
A Nice Ribbed Stripe
A Nice Ribbed Stripe
Ruffled Feathers
Ruffled Feathers
Thai Lattice
Thai Lattice
A touch of class
A touch of class
Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir
A bit of you stays when you go
A bit of you stays when you go
Summer Socks
Summer Socks
Orchids in the Garden
Orchids in the Garden
Berry Stripey
Berry Stripey
Mismatched
Mismatched
Wasabi Waves
Wasabi Waves
Travelling into the Blue
Making Merry
Whirple
Whirple
Midnight in Munich
Midnight in Munich
Summer Fizz
Summer Fizz
Waiting for Sunrise
Waiting for Sunrise
Fraternals
Fraternals

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