Other Plans

The title of this post comes from the saying: Life is what happens while you are making other plans.  This is what has happened to me recently – I had intended to get so much knitted last week.  I had started the Noro Kureyon jumper and it was going well.  The back was knitted and then somehow I wasn’t concentrating very well when I cast on the front and it ended up 6 stitches wider.  I decided that the best way to fix this was accept I had made a mistake and unravel it immediately.  I then made sure I cast on the right number of stitches.

The problem could have been worse because at least with too many stitches I now had more yarn than I needed – if I hadn’t done enough stitches that would have been a worse problem as I would have had a struggle getting the colours to match and would run out of yarn in the middle of a row.

At this moment I have almost finished reknitting the front of the jumper.  I am hoping that the sleeves will not be too difficult but I want to make them longer and I will probably knit them both at the same time – so they end up the same.  I think I will knit them according to the pattern for the smallest size – I am knitting the body of the medium size and then make them longer afterwards.  I will do more stripes and then possibly add a cuff.

I had some great news on Friday – Oxford Yarn Store I are going to stock Kureyon again.  This could be expensive for me but I do love it.  I had forgotten how much until I started knitting the Noro Kureyon jumper.  

Whilst knitting, I have been thinking about a shawl I would like to knit and have sorted out some Kureyon to use.  I wanted it to be colourful but to include black – so it will go with my black hats.

The following ball is a more accurate colour - the light was funny when I was taking photos and it was hard not to get the yarn looking too orange.

I hope my next post will include at least one finished project – maybe the jumper - but you never know if the shawl goes well I may manage that too.

Noro Kureyon Jumper

This jumper is definitely ideal to knit at this time of the year.  The colours replicate those that I see on the trees outside.

Since I bought the background yarn last Friday I seem to have made a lot of progress.  The pattern is fairly easy and progress is rapid.  I have finished the back and am now working on the front.

I am trying to make the back and the front as similar as possible – which means that I use bits of several different balls of Kureyon.  I think there will be leftovers!  

The pattern is from the Noro Kureyon 30^th Anniversary Collection and it is called Wicker Lace Pullover by Yoko Hatta.  It is supposed to be oversized.  I am not sure that it is very big.  I have chosen to knit a medium size and I normally knit loosely – so it should be at least the measurements given, but it is smaller.  I don’t mind that as it is still quite wide – much wider than the jumper I am measuring it against.  I may make some changes -  I may make the sleeves longer.  In the pattern they are fairly short.  This is typical of me – I can’t leave a pattern alone - I change things as I go along.

But is it Art?

The title for this post comes from the name of a shop in Reading which I used to visit when I was a student in the 1980s but was still trading the last time I was there.  It sums up the thoughts I have been having about knitting this week.  I think some knitting should be considered to be art.

Last weekend I finally cast off the simple shawl that I had been knitting.  In the end I did not go back to the original pattern – I just did 4 rows of garter stitch and cast off.  I am very happy with the end result and have been wearing it today.

This morning I delivered my World War 1 Memorial quilt to Oxford Yarn Store.  It will be on display there shortly and can be seen until the end of November.  I expect I will visit it a few times but I will officially be there on Armistice weekend – on Saturday 10 November.

As I knew I was going to be visiting the yarn store I had thought about what I am going to knit next and what extra yarn I might need.    While I was clearing out – I found several balls of Noro Kureyon in autumnal shades.   It is officially called Shade 263.   I thought I would use it to knit a jumper from the Noro book – 30^th Anniversary Collection.  

I needed a main colour to go with the Kureyon and I decided to go for West Yorkshire Spinners Chunky Roving Re: treat in a light brown shade.  I did give some consideration to using blue so the jumper would go with my jeans or some whacky colour like mauve for a major contrast – but I decided on an unexciting colour to show off the Kureyon.  

It is interesting that although Kureyon is supposed to be Aran weight yarn – I have chosen a chunky yarn to go with it and in fact the chunky is actually thinner.  Something I have learned from many years of knitting – is that it is a good thing to be flexible. 

I am definitely going to cast on this jumper later on today.  I know I said I was going to make a bag – and I have got the yarn out and roughed out a pattern – but I want to think about it a bit more before I start on that.  Maybe next week…

Knitted Throws

This week I have been working on my latest shawl.  I have almost finished it – so I have been thinking about what to knit next.

I have got 2 ideas for knitted throws – one strips of cable and the other using lots of old yarns that I have got left over from other projects.  I am not sure which one to knit first – I may do neither because I quite fancy making another bag.  I have some lovely shades of red and pink which I would like to use.  It is a project that I have been planning for a couple of years – but nothing has happened so far.

I have been clearing out my yarn or more accurately – moving it around my flat.  I have discovered some yarn that I had forgotten about all together as well as sorting out some yarn to give to my friend who does charity knitting.  All the odd balls that I am hanging onto could make lovely knitted throws.

I also found the poppy version of my English Adventure throw.  Over the years I have knitted a lot of things with poppies on – but when I decided to knit something specifically related to World War 1 – I largely avoided using them.

I know where my other poppy throw is – because it is on my sofa and I see it every day.

I still like the original English Adventure throw – it is a great example of what you can do with odd balls if you buy a main colour to hold the design together.

I am not sure where to store all my throws – I had thought of just putting them on the spare bed – producing a “princess and the pea” effect.   I could store them in plastic boxes – if they weren’t so full of yarn!

Another Shawl

I know – it is another shawl – and I have got lots of shawls, but I like shawls.  I wear shawls.

Originally I saw a pattern in Knit Now magazine that I liked.  It used one ball of Debbie Bliss Rialto Sock yarn and 3 balls of Debbie Bliss Rialto 4ply.  The design used white as a contrast colour which I was not keen on – so I am using grey.

I started knitting following the pattern – and it was fine – then I got to a bit where I was supposed to knit short rows – I am not sure why.  I seems to make the pattern unnecessarily complicated.  I just wanted to knit an easy garter stitch shawl – and so that is what I am doing.  I have stopped following the pattern.  I may go back to it for the edging – I don’t know yet.

King Cole Riot

For the last few weeks I have been knitting a scarf in King Cole Riot DK yarn.  I have decided that it is finished.  The yarn is 30% wool and 70% acrylic and this shade is called Reggae (1842).

I didn’t have a pattern but I cast on 52sts using 4.5mm needles and worked a 2 row pattern as follows:

Row 1: K1, P1, K2; rep to end.
Row 2: K2, P1, K1; rep to end.

I had 3 balls of yarn but I only used most of 2.

As with most scarves I found it difficult to knit because it is so boring!  However, if you are very tired and not paying much attention – it is an ideal project!

Also this week I have finished another project that I started years ago.  I have started my annual clear-out and found a few unfinished projects which do not require much to actually be finished. 

This is called Isis by Jan Henley and was published in Let’s Knitting magazine Issue 72 in 2013.  I liked it as soon as I saw it and bought the yarn on my way home after reading the magazine on a train.

I knitted it straightaway.  It is also knitted using King Cole Riot – but this was chunky yarn and used 4 shades 2 balls of Seashore (653), Dawn (652)and Lava (662).  I cast off and then forgot about it.  

Actually every time I came across it since 2013 – I have intended to finish it – all it needed was the ends sewing in and buttons sewn on.  I have finally done both of these things this week.  I won’t be wearing it but now it is finished I can send it to the local charity shop.  I hope someone likes it.  Otherwise it could be unravelled and the yarn reused.  I did think about doing this myself – but I have got too much yarn.  I enjoyed knitting it.  I am a process knitter.

I am now knitting something that I do intend to wear.

Shawl for My Aunt

I have finished the shawl I have been knitting for my aunt.  I hope she likes it.  It is the sort of colours that she usually wears.

It is knitted in Debbie Bliss Rialto sock yarn as the main colour with 3 shades of Isager – blue, mauve and burgundy.   It is interesting how these colours look different as the background colour changes

I sort of made up the pattern – based on a photo I saw in the latest Designer Knitting magazine and a Noro jumper pattern which has a back and front in this kind of cross-hatching effect.  I started with a triangle at the top and then increased 7 sts on each piece (one on each garter stitch ridge).  I think if I did something similar again I would increase more stitches and maybe turn it into a curl.

At several points during the knitting process I was worried that it would not turn out very well – but actually I am fairly happy with it.  I just need to block it and then it will be ready to wrap.

I may not get much knitting done this coming week – but I still have that scarf to finish and then I am going to start something new.