A Summer Cardigan!

I have finally finished something instead of constantly starting things and then moving on to something else.  Earlier in the year – in early summer – I knitted a cotton cardigan in 2 shades of Noro Kibou – it has been mostly finished for a couple of months but I hadn’t sewn on the buttons nor the pockets. 

This year I spent some of my birthday money on a decorative mannequin.  “She” is modelling the finished cardigan.

I am still knitting several other things but at least one is finished.  I probably won’t get to wear it until next summer.

My friend who owns the quirky gift business All the Fun of the Fair wants me to knit her some more tea cosies so I will be starting them before finishing anything else. 

Tedious Knitting!

I have been away visiting my mother and have not done much knitting.   I have been doing terrible things like “gardening”!  I know a lot of people don’t knit so much in the summer because they spend time on gardening but I am not one of them.  However my mother needed some help with her garden so I had to stop knitting and attack the plants.  Given free rein to cut down anything – I can cope with gardening – it is if I have to decide whether a plant is wanted that there is a problem.  I know a lot about yarn and knitting but practically nothing about plants and gardening.

Apart from gardening I have also been reading the Nathan Dylan Goodwin book shown below.

It is the fourth in a crime series about Morton Farrier, forensic genealogist and if you like family history and crime stories – you will enjoy it.  The reason I mention it is because the main character Elsie Finch complains about her married life in the 1940s was “ghastly routine” and mentions “dreadful knitting patterns given to her by her mother … Baking, tidying, washing, cleaning, knitting. Endlessly.”  Thankfully things have changed since the 1940s and knitting is much more exciting.  However a lot less people knit – in the 1940s everyone did it – now I meet lots of people who have never tried it.

I have done some knitting during the last week – in fact – I have just checked and I have just completed row 401.

I am not going to say much about this as it is a birthday present for a friend – who may be reading this and I want it to be a surprise.  However it is quite hard for me to knit – it is just row after row of stocking stitch – which I will admit can be a bit tedious!

Multi-coloured Knitting Samples

This week I have been continuing my latest attempt to reduce the amount of stuff that I have accummuated.  I haven’t looked at my wool.  I know I have got a lot of it – but I will knit it one day!

I looked under the bed (I have got one of those beds with drawers at the bottom and the sides) and found a few things that I knitted about 10 years ago (and then put under the bed).  I don’t actually remember knitting any of them.

I know that when I knitted this jacket – I was trying out a blending technique involving knitting with 2 yarns at the same time.

The following photo shows a little Fair-isle jacket that I knitted as a sample.

And this is a little jumper I knitted using a two-colour technique – I suppose it is Fair-isle as well – but it may have another name.

I have sent the first 2 to charity – but I have kept the last one for the moment.  I love this technique – many years ago I knitted a black and white jacket that was like this.   It was much admired and I would like to make another one.  It will go on the list!

Double Knitting

Yesterday I went to Oxford for the latest meeting of the Oxford branch of the Knitting & Crochet Guild.  This month’s topic was the technique of “double knitting”.

I have admired designs produced using double knitting – such as those by Australian fibre artist Annette Fitton.  I would like to knit one of her designs – but I think I will have to do a lot more practising first.

Several members of other branches came to Oxford to try double knitting – which is easier to learn with a teacher rather than from videos or from a book.   This is my sample piece.

Some of it is OK.  I got the idea of knitting both sides at the same time  –  but when I changed colours in the middle – I went wrong.  For instance -  I can see that  I have got my yarn at the back when it should have been at the front.   I have done something different wrong on the other side I have a white stitch that should be black.  I think you need a lot of patience!  I will have another go at trying to get it right.  Perhaps I will be able to change colours if I concentrate more.  I think I was talking when I should have been paying attention!

Everyone else did better than I did and a couple of people are intending to have a go at larger projects.  I think I will get back to a bit of easy stocking stitch.