Knit in New Directions by Myra Wood

 

This is a new book – I had not had a chance to look at it before I ordered it - but I could tell from the cover that it was my sort of book.

I haven’t read it all yet – but I have looked at the pictures!  That is the most important part of a book for me.  I had never heard of Myra Wood but then she has probably never heard of me! 

The book contains about 21 designs including variations of tops, cardigans, jumpers and bags using various modular knitting techniques.  Some involve mitred shapes but others are more abstract and are like knitted crazy patchwork.

A lot of modular knitting is really strip knitting – where strips of shapes are joined together but this book places a lot of emphasis on filling a garment template with shapes – I found the work with triangles particularly interesting.

Myra Wood recommends making templates as a basis for designs (as Horst Schulz does in his books) – I think I am too lazy for that – I tend to use an existing garment that fits me as a template.  However I did once use a template for a circular cushion.

I showed the book to my mother who is not a fan of modular knitting.  She thought most of the designs were too garish and not something she would wear.  This reaction made me question whether I have become used to modular knitting being very brightly coloured but also I looked at the designs as a way of knitting a garment and would be unlikely to use the same colours.  Although I occasionally do it – it is rare that I use the colours or even the yarn used by a designer.  I usually can’t leave the design alone either!

So in conclusion – I am sure that other modular knitting fans will enjoy this book – especially those who like detailed instructions on how to complete a design.

 

What Kind of Knitter are you?

It may seem obvious to say knitters are not all the same – but knitters are often either product knitters or process knitters, and some are scientists who are good at maths and others are more interested in colour.

When I was young and had few clothes and little money – I was a product knitter – knitting things to wear, but I am really a process knitter – it is the process of knitting that I enjoy and so now I am quite happy to knit for other people and give away the results.  I also think that is why I now find it easier to rip out and reknit things. 

When I joined a knitting group I realised that many of the other members were scientists or people who were good at maths.  They found working with colour quite difficult.  Whereas I have always found working with colour easy – it is maths that is difficult!  I found it a real struggle at school but remember that there was a topic called Tessellation - which I found easy.  It didn’t seem to me to involve maths at all but was about fitting shapes together – that kind of maths I could do!

I have started reknitting the Noro Kogarashi yarn that I wrote about previously and the photo below shows my sample square.

 

Multi-coloured yarns like this can help those who find choosing colours difficult.  They are also quite therapeutic for me as I don’t have to think too much about which colour to use next.  I am still not happy to use the yarn as it comes and find it hard not to cut it and join it again to spread the colours differently across the knitting.

An Unloved Cardigan

I have been wondering what to do with a cardigan that I knitted last year.  I tried it on again and decided it looked awful.  The yarn was expensive – Noro Kogarashi - I bought it after seeing it in a magazine.  I knitted a design which had been specially written for the yarn but it didn’t turn out well.  I unravelled it fairly soon afterwards and thought I would try again.  I looked about for a plain chunky cardigan pattern and found one that I adapted at bit to produce the second version of the cardigan which is shown below.

 

This cardigan is no more.  I have unravelled it again and am hoping for third time lucky.  This time I am going to make a modular knitted cardigan.  I fancy trying out a design with quite large squares – probably combining them with some smaller ones so that I can make the cardigan longer than it is wide.

Hopefully in a few weeks time I will have a wearable cardigan to show you.

Altering a Finished Garment

I have rediscovered the jumper shown below which I had never been completely happy with.

 

It is made from L-shapes using one shade of my favourite Sirdar Escape yarn (0178).  It was not the design nor the colour that I was not happy with – it was the sleeves – they weren’t quite long enough.  As the ribs were added afterwards – the problem was easily sorted.  I ripped out the ribs and added a bit more knitting at the end of the sleeves before reknitting the ribs again

I am happy with the finished sleeves but ironically when I tried the jumper on again I thought it made me look fat.  I will have to lose some weight before wearing it!

My Favourite Yarns

In my last post I mentioned that Colinette’s Fandango was one of my all-time favourite yarns – this started me thinking about some of the others.

 

The photo shows one ball of each of my favourite yarns:

·         Colinette Fandango

·         Sirdar Escape dk

·         Rowan Tapestry 

·         Sirdar Country Style Highlands and Islands

·         Noro Kureyon

Only the last yarn is still readily available – although it is possible to find odd balls/skeins of the others.

Colinette Fandango (100% pure cotton) – you can still buy the odd skein of this from Colinette – but please don’t because I might want to!  It is available in both bright and more muted colours – but produces a lovely firm fabric when knitted in stocking stitch using much smaller needles than those recommended.  I tend to use 4mm needles rather than 7mm.

Sirdar Escape dk (51% wool, 49% acrylic) – I have bought a few balls of this only the other day but it is officially discontinued.  It had 20 shades – which was too many as several were very similar to each other – but it knitted up beautifully being the perfect mix of wool and man-made fibre.

Rowan Tapestry (70% wool, 30% soya bean protein fibre) – this is a strange yarn but I liked the muted colours.  I liked using most of them in the same garment.  There was a grey/black shade which didn’t fit in very well – but it was OK if you used it on its own.  It was easy to knit with and very soft.

Sirdar Country Style Highlands and Islands (45% acrylic, 40% nylon, 15% wool) – this is very old but you can still buy plain Country Style dk yarn but Highlands and Islands was better quality and available in very subtle colours including tweeds.  If I am fortunate I can still find the odd balls in a charity shop.

Noro Kureyon (100% wool) – I have bought several different Noro yarns but this is the best in my opinion.  It is good for felting but if you are careful – it is good for other projects which need bright colours.

Colinette Arizona Dreams – Mojave Throw

For the last week or so I have been knitting a throw for Colinette yarns.  It is called Mojave from their Arizona Dreams collection.  This colourway is called Desert Stars.

 

I love Colinette yarns – the colours and the yarns are so beautiful.   I had forgotten how good they were.  I used to buy a lot of Colinette yarn when they produced Fandango (cotton chenille for those who don’t know it).  Why do I always seem to like discontinued yarns? 

I was looking through my stash for some plain black double knitting and I realised that I still have quite a bit of Fandango in various colours, as well as Colinette mohair, Zanziba and some very old double knitting.

Knitting this throw has reminded me that you can make amazing items by mixing yarns.  I have become a bit conservative – tending to stick to double knitting or chunky – when mixing or blending yarns can produce wonderful results.

A Plain Knitted Jumper

Before I start work on another modular project I thought I had better finish off a plain grey jumper that I started in January.  It is knitted in a lovely yarn called Alpaca dk by Stylecraft.  It is 20% alpaca and 80% acrylic.  This means it is soft and easy to knit with.

I have some yarn left-over on purpose as I bought too much so that I can use it as a background colour for a modular knit that I am going to start on soon.

I am not that keen on knitting plain jumpers but I decided that I had to because I couldn’t find anything suitable in the shops.  You might ask why I want a boring plain jumper but I find them useful to work in.