An Odd Ball Shawl

I have knitted lots of shawls and sometimes find it depressing that every row gets longer and longer.  You cast on 3sts and then keep increasing until you have hundreds.  So I decided to knit a little shawl that started with the maximum number of stitches and then keep decreasing until you could k3tog.

I bought a few odd balls of fashion yarn with sparkly bits – including 2 shades of Sirdar Divine and Stylecraft Cabaret.

Then using 6mm needles I cast on 201 stitches and decided to knit a mitred triangle – decreasing on the edges and at the centre.

Row 1: Knit.

Row 2: K2tog, K97, S1, K2tog, psso, K97, K2tog.
Row 3: Knit.

As with the throw I have just finished.  I knitted every row and decreased on the front on alternate rows – the main difference being that to make a triangle I had to decrease at the ends of the rows as well as at the centre.

I changed colour randomly – working 2, 4 or 6 rows with the different yarns – and then decided to finish the shawl off with a fringe.

I am pleased with the end result – it is not too large – rather like a large triangular scarf.  It is very light-weight and will be easy to wear around my shoulders – cheering up a dull day. 

Odd Ball Charity Throw

After about 6 months of knitting this throw – on and off – I have finished it.

It consists of 54 mitred squares – 6 columns of 9.  For each square I cast on or picked up 71sts (35 +1+ 35).  All the yarn was double knitting weight and I used 5mm needles and garter stitch.   

Row 1: Knit. (back of work)
Row 2: K34, sl1, K2tog, psso, K34.
Row 3: Knit.

I decreased at the centre of all even rows, and knit all odd rows.

I changed colour after I had knitted 8 ridges of garter stitch, working 4 rows (2 ridges) with a contrasting colour, and then working a second stripe after another 8 ridges of garter stitch.  I then used the main colour until the square was complete.  No two squares are the same and there is no pattern – apart from making sure that similar colours are kept apart.

I used a beige coloured yarn to put an edge on the throw – I just picked up stitches (without counting them) and worked 3 rows of garter stitch.  I did the sides first and then the top and bottom.

The throw has turned out larger than I had planned because although each square is roughly 8” square individually – when joined - the squares stretch quite a lot.  If I knit it again – and I probably will to use up other oddments of yarn – I will make the squares smaller – perhaps using as few as 63sts (31 + 1 + 31).

I will now probably donate it to Oxfam for them to sell at festivals in the summer.

Multi-coloured Child’s Cardigan

I have finished this cardigan at last.

I can’t believe it has taken me 2 weeks to sew it up and sew the buttons on!

I have been knitting other things – more about them another time.  I told myself – if you don’t get on with this cardigan – it will be too small – the child will have grown.  I am not completely happy with it – there are too many stitches in the button bands.  I should have used less but I followed the pattern.  In the photo illustrating the pattern – I could see that the button bands were not right.  Actually mine are not that bad – but they could be better.

I have finished re-reading Susan Gordon Lydon’s book The Knitting Sutra – and in that she talks about carrying on following a pattern even when you think it isn’t working.  I often try to follow a pattern and then give up when it isn’t working out how I had hoped.  With this little cardigan – I mostly followed the pattern  but I didn’t use the suggested colours. 

Last weekend I attended the first Saturday meeting of the UK Knitting and Crochet Guild in Oxford.  The meetings will take place on the first Saturday of the month from 2.30 to 4.15 at St Giles Church meeting room on the Woodstock Road.  It is quite near to the Oxford Yarn Store – but I managed to resist the temptation of going along there as the weather was cold and it kept raining.  Later in the year I will probably be unable to resist the temptation.

“Knitting is my Life”

The title is a quote from the first chapter of Susan Gordon Lydon’s book - The Knitting Sutra.  I had intended to write about the little child’s cardigan that I have been knitting and show you a photo of the finished version – unfortunately I still haven’t finished it!  I keep meaning to sew it up but instead I have been knitting squares of my charity blanket and inputting my family history onto the computer.

The lack of knitting this week might make the title quote seem inappropriate – but it isn’t really.  Every spring I try to reduce the amount of stuff in my flat and look for things that I can bear to part with.  When I was going through one of the book shelves I came across Susan Gordon Lydon’s book The Knitting Sutra. 

It was published in 1997 and I may have read it then.  If you are obsessed with knitting – you only need to read the first page to know that you will like the book – I thought “I could have written this book”.    In the first chapter Susan talks about the fact that when her friend Lou comes to visit there is nowhere for her to sit because there is knitting on every chair.  I haven’t got knitting on every chair but I am a bit embarrassed about the amount of  yarn in the lounge.  On a bad day you could be up to your knees in it!  If you are coming to visit – I need notice!

This second knitting book by Susan Gordon Lydon – Knitting Heaven and Earth which was published in 2005 - is good as well – but rather sad as Susan was dying when she wrote it – or perhaps I should put it more positively as she would have done – she was knitting with a terminal illness.

Now I have started re-reading Susan’s books I will carry on – I had forgotten how good they are.  What I do remember from the first book was Susan struggling to knit a complex Annabel Fox pattern – I had to get hold of a copy of the pattern to see what she meant.  I am glad I did because I bought a second-hand copy of Annabel Fox’s first book – The Original Annabel Fox published in 1991.  It is another excellent book and some of Annabel’s designs are a challenge – but some are easier and with the recent revival of intarsia – they are fashionable again.

Now I have started looking at Annabel Fox patterns and I have seen a couple that I would like to knit!