I Cut My Knitting

After the enjoyment of making a tea cosy for my sister last year, I decided to make one, but a different pattern, for my mother. I chose this pattern for the design and not for the techniques, which include steeking. It is quite possible to knit this pattern back and forth in rows but this is a good way to practice the technique; which, amazingly, I have not done before. I have not avoided it but I have not been searching out patterns with steeks either. I don’t mind knitting back and forth and I don’t mind seaming.

The pattern also includes a Latvian braid or as the designer calls it a Vikkel braid. I am sure I have included these in patterns before but cannot think what off the top of my head. As I was using pure wool this was a bit of a pain as the yarns stick to each when they wrap around as you work the braid.

The designer said there was no need to catch strands going across the back of the design but in some areas there were twelve stitches in one colour for the other to cross. I didn’t like that idea so incorporated ladder back jacquard. It was a good chance to put it to use after having tried it in a pattern. I started off marking the pattern but found it was easier to look at each row as I was working to see if I needed to add back stitches.

For the steeks the designer refers you to a blog post she had written. This was written for a button band and completely encloses the cut edge whereas in this pattern she just has you sewing the steeks down. If I did it again I would work the crochet stitches one stitch in and not right on the middle stitch. In fact, next time I steek I will research more ways of working it. The steeks are for the openings for the spout and handle. After steeking you work an icord edge around them. I wasn’t going to do this as I thought it would be bulky but decide to give it a try and liked the end result.

There were many, many comments that the finished cosy was tight on the recommended size tea pot. I blocked it on my tea pot and although it fit, I would not like to be trying to get it on when the pot is full of boiling tea. As I have no idea what tea pots my mum has, I will be sending her a tea pot. At her age I am sure she does not need it but I do not want her to not use the cosy!

 Before cutting the steeks

I marked the middle of the steek with red sewing thread.

Crochet steek reinforcement

Not blocked and no icord.

Finished

WIPping Wednesday

Taking a break from a post I am writing about my latest finished object to quickly throw in a post about my WIPs.

A couple of things happened recently that made me smile and frown about my WIPs. Firstly there was the finish of a baby blanket that I had started in August last year. Because it had lace knitting on every row, it was not a project that could be worked on all the time. Although I did make it more of a priority (after another gift) as I wanted to finish it before the baby was bigger than the blanket. Not only finishing this gift made me smile but now the only projects older than 2023 were my long term projects.

But I started something new at the end of last week and that is what caused the frown. Not the project itself but the realization that I had too many projects that required concentration. I like one really easy project and one that requires concentration and all the others fall somewhere in between. They may take a while to get finished as I am not working exclusively on one project (unless there is a gift deadline) but since there has been the WIP knit along in the last quarter of the year I have mostly been finishing projects in the year they are started.

At the beginning of the year I started a shawl. This was an Advent shawl that I had first cast on in 2018 when the pattern was published, but I made a mistake and realized I would not have enough yarn so to the frog pond it went. But I still really wanted to make the pattern. I decided one of the yarns I was given in a stash clear out would work perfectly and I wasn’t going to put off the cast on any longer and 1 January 2023 it went on the needles. The pattern requires so much concentration that I can have music on but no words while I am working on it. I really want to get this finished by Christmas which is doable if I work a few rows each day.

The recent cast on was a Tunisian crochet project. After receiving a set of hooks for Christmas 2021 and working with my friends on a project, I wanted to do more Tunisian crochet. But what? Especially as I am limiting the number of shawls I make. I chose a cardigan pattern and it, too, was going to be started on 1 January but with all my other January cast ons – gift, charity, etc, - I decided it would be better to wait. As our make along last year started on 14 February, I thought it would be fun to start this Tunisian project on 14 February but I also knew I wouldn’t want to be interrupted when I started it so I started it on the 12^th when I actually was home alone!

So why the frown? This new project requires concentration. Not to the same level as the Advent shawl but still not a mindless project. I could put the Advent shawl aside and work on the cardigan but I don’t want the shawl to go over multiple years but I also want to finish the cardigan and wait, there’s another project that needs a mention. Last July I started a shawl that was my Pi shawl project with the aim to finish in March this year. Entirely achievable if I worked on it and didn’t start other things. I last worked on it in October of last year. And if I am going to finish the Advent shawl and the Tunisian crochet cardigan then I am going to have to ignore the Pi shawl. Which will be a shame as instead of a nine month project it will be a one year and nine months project.

In the meantime here is a picture of the baby blanket. It is shown on the blocking mats as this shows the pattern and colours the best.

 

February’s Hat

It is the start of the year and all I have to show so far are hats. Last post I showed January’s hat and mentioned starting a hat with Spincycle yarns. I have finished the hat but no photos yet as I decided to make some mitts with the leftovers and I want to photograph them together.

I have finished a couple of gifts and I will show these when the recipients have received them.

January saw ambitious plans. I had a list of eight projects I wished to start. But I was sensible and started only five of them. One of the ones not started was the Tunisian crochet project but I have plans for that this month as I have finished three of the five starts. Also having finished the two gifts I started another easy project. And when I say easy I mean easy - garter stitch, no shaping.

The first of the month caused two cast ons – a hat and a sock. Continuing with my arbitrary decision about only knitting socks if the pattern is already in my library, queue or favorites I found a pattern that fitted the theme. And for hats I cast on the February bulky hat. I am enjoying knitting hats with thicker yarn as they are quick makes and then I can get back to my other projects. Especially as the hats in the bulky collection are a bit on the small side which is fine by me as the hats will all go to a charity and I am not making for a certain person. Also means I have a quick show when I haven’t posted anything for nearly a month.

Once again the yarn is YOTH Father. I didn’t finish the skein but there is not enough for another hat; except looking at stash I realized I had another skein so I will definitely be able to make two maybe three more hats.

Many of the hats in the Year of Bulky Hats are the same pattern as in the Year of Hats. And this is the case for February. I don’t have a problem with this as the patterns are free and have been written for different weight yarns.

 

First of 2023 and Last of 2022

And they are all hats.

On the last day of 2022 I finally finished two crochet hats. These were simple hats that I had worked on, on car journeys I wanted to finish both of them by the end of the year but as I concentrated on the blanket these projects were left to the end. They are patterns that I have made before and are good for using leftovers.

This is the Simple Seed Stitch Beanie. It is written for one colour but I like the effect when using two colours.

This is Better Late Than Never Beanie which I have made many times as it is easy to change colours although I do not recommend using a different colour on every round as it really does come out like clown bath.

I did start the charity hat on 1 January with no rush to finish it, planning to work on it throughout the month. That is until my friend suggested we started our Spincycle yarns. AsI plan to make a hat with mine I said I wanted to finish the hat already on my needles first. This weekend I made an effort to prioritize it and got it finished.

It is knit with YOTH Yarns Father (from my friend’s friend’s stash) and the pattern was the first of the bulky knit patterns from Kelbourne Woolens. I know this is a bad photo but it actually shows off the colour well.

 

A Round Up of 2022

I’m so excited about all the plans I have for new projects in 2023 because I did so well in completing projects in the WIP knitalong. I am starting the New Year with four WIPs but two of those are my scrappy blanket projects which do not have a planned end date and another project is a planned year long project. This means I start the year with one project that needs to be finished.

In 2022, I completed 36 projects:- 18 hats, 5 pairs of socks, 5 baby items, 2 blankets, 2 shawls, 3 cardigans and one tea cosy. Six of those were crocheted. There were also four items that were started and then frogged. This is a little bit lower than last year but there were some big completions and the total yarn I used was more than last year. Also my yarn out far exceeded my yarn in this year. There are a couple of reasons for the low amount of yarn being purchased and they both relate to the same thing – yarn stores closing. With a closing in 2019 and another one in 2021, I was able to build up my stash and with no really local yarn store, I can’t just pop out and buy something. This will still have an impact on my yarn purchasing in 2023.

I wanted to not make so many shawls and I achieved this by completing just two shawls and have another on the needles. But I did enjoy making socks and I will certainly continue to make them when the prompts in Sock Knitters Anonymous interest me.

Looking back at my plans at the start of 2022, they seemed quite simple and I was able to keep up, except I didn’t knit every one of the Year of Hats.

Hope you all have a good 2023.

Welcome 2023

Let’s start all the things.

I was very good at the end of the year by finishing up WIPs and not starting anything new apart from gifts. Now I am ready for a new year and new projects. After Christmas I made a list of all the projects I was planning to start in January and got the yarn and needles into project bags. I even gauge swatched for all the items that aren’t hats.

As in previous years I plan to have a charity knit each month. Last year Kelborne Woolens published a hat pattern each month for thicker yarn. I intend to make each month’s until I run out of aran weight yarn. Having got a nice set of interchangeable Tunisian crochet hooks for Christmas last year and made one project I will start the new year with a Tunisian Crochet project using yarn from a friend of a friend’s stash.

There are also some gifts I wish to make. As one is for a baby and another is for a February birthday I better get on with them. And then there is the yarn from the closing down sale in 2019 that is waiting patiently to be cast on. This year I have to do that. I also have got the yarn and beads ready to make the 2018 Advent shawl. I really want to make it but I might have to be realistic and not expect to get it finished this year. Plenty of projects to start the new year with and I still have plans for a hat using some Spincycle yarn I was given and a project using left over DK weight yarn.  And I am sure future months will see sock knitting.

A Frog

 

When I posted all my WIPs in September I didn’t mention that I wanted to frog three projects. One was a no brainer as it was a baby item that was too small. The other two were projects where I liked the yarn but not the finished items but I did not want to frog until I had made a decision about what I would make with the reclaimed yarn. And to that extent one project is going to remain as an unworn sweater.

One project I was unhappy with was the wrap I made from my Advent yarn in 2019/2020. In my effort to use all the yarn I had ended up with something that I would never wear but if I was going to make something else with the yarn, I still wanted something where I would use most of the yarn. At the end of November I came across a newly published crochet pattern that used a mini set to create a blanket. Bonus, the pattern was free until 1 December. Although I can’t really call it a bonus as it was pretty obvious that the pattern hadn’t been test crocheted. I came across an error very early on and decided to put a note on my project page about it. I was contacted by someone else about it and the maker went on to contact the designer who confirmed the error. The designer put an errata on the pattern page but did not contact any of the prior purchasers of the pattern, which is easy to do with a global email. I feel like the early makers were the test crocheters without knowing that’s what they were. And I’m glad I didn’t pay for the pattern. It is really easy to get test makers but I am guessing the designer wanted to get this pattern out before December and people started to receive their Advents/Countdown yarns.

One of the reasons I had put off frogging the original project was keeping track of the individual yarns and keeping them in order. When I decided to go ahead with this pattern, I literally just worked from the bind off, also as it is crochet I was able to work a colour per day. (OK, some days I was working catch up but I was never more than a day behind and did finish the main part on 24 December.

 

The pattern is made with 24 mini-skeins plus a yarn for a border. It wasn’t until I got to Day 24 that I realized that my set had 25 minis. So I decided to use the last one for the border. The border is two rows but I got just one row from a mini so I left it at that as I couldn’t find anything in my stash that worked well.

 

Yes, I am pleased with the end result. Although it is another blanket. It can be folded in half to make a triangular shawl if I want to wear it that way.

 

A Big Finish

This is another of my WIPs that I finally finished. Last year a group of us that meet regularly via Zoom decided to do a yarn swap. Actually, one person suggested it and organized it and a number of us jumped at the idea. The plan was to send 10 grams of yarn which represented you to each participant and we ended up with the equivalent of two skeins of fingering weight yarn each. I purchased two skeins of yarn at the Vista Fiber Festival so that I could send local yarn around the world.

The only problem that was encountered was that the US was not accepting any mail for Australia so our Australian participant had to wait until January for all her packages.

I opened a package a day from mid-December but did not start a project until I had opened them all as I wanted to see all the mini skeins to decide on the order I would work them – in the end that did not matter and you will see why in the completed project.

We all made different things. I knew that what I made had to use all the yarns and had to be something I would wear/use. A blanket seemed the best thing. I chose a crochet pattern and knew that I would have to add my own yarn to it. Well that was a disaster. Not in the execution as it came out nicely but in its size. Although I would be adding my own yarn to make a border, I would have had to add so much it would have taken away from the delight of the yarns sent. But I was still certain that a blanket was the best idea.

I chose a knitting pattern from a book I own and decided to hold the yarn quadrupled. You read that correctly, four strands of yarn. When I had frogged the original project I had wound the yarn into one big ball thinking I would use it that way but with this decision I had to wind each colour then wind again to get a double strand so that I could work from the inner and outer of the ball to get four strands. I used two greys I had in my stash for the outer circle and had to buy another skein of grey to be able to complete them all. The squares are joined with a yarn that I bought at the Fiber Fiesta at the same time as my swap yarn and the outer border is worked using the yarn I purchased at this year’s Fiber Fiesta with the thought that it would be used in this blanket. I am especially pleased with the cast off. For some squares I had more yarn than was needed so all these ends were used in a knotted bind off. I was even able to add in the Simpson’s yarn that had been sent as a bonus by one of the participants.

I am very happy with the finished item. It is soft and big enough as a lap blanket and each square is individual so you can really see each individual yarn. The blanket has been blocked a few times but due to the shape of each square and different yarns used, it is not going to lie absolutely flat and I am OK with that as I have a one-of-a-kind piece that brings so much joy.