Happy Birthday – Maud Tabron Blog

I think it is almost 5 years since I started knitting this blog.  I wasn’t sure – I had to look back and see what I wrote last year!  At this time I normally do a review of the year and this year I am going to start with a photo of me taken last week by Karen Draisey of Oxford Yarn Store.

The photo is not supposed to be of me – it is the jumper that is important.  This is the jumper that I started last October and only got around to finishing in January.  It is from the Noro Kureyon – The 30^th Anniversary Collection – Wicker Lace Pullover by Yoko Hatta.  The original has short sleeves – I lengthened them – increasing one st at the beginning and end of the row on row 5 of the 8 row pattern.  On the sleeves, I have done 4½ more repeats of the pattern than the original.  I used Noro Kureyon and West Yorkshire Yarn Spinners Retreat.

Last year was dominated by my World War 1 Memorial Quilt which took up a lot of time.  It took up a lot of time knitting it, but also travelling around with it.  Everyone said nice things about it.  It appeared in 4 publications – Knitting magazine, Family Tree magazine, Slipknot and the Rowan newsletter.

I am sure I knitted other things last year – I remember knitting lots of More Tea Vicar tea cosies for All the Fun of the Fair.  They seemed to be more in demand than the previous year.

What else?  I have just had a look through my photos to jog my memory.  I knitted 2 coats for little ones – one blue for a newborn and one with a cat on for a little girl.

I knitted several shawls and shawlettes including one for my aunt’s 80^th birthday.

I knitted 2 throws for Oxford Yarn Store but I only have photo of one of them.  Like the Creative Cables throw – both are from Martin Storey’s Afghan Knits book.

I also knitted a pink Noro jumper and finished the year with a Christmas wreathe.

So looking back on it – I did quite a bit of knitting.  I also started several things which I hope to finish in the next few months including the Creative Cables Throw, a Patricia Werner modular knitting jacket and a Marie Wallin fair-isle cardigan.  There are still plenty of half-finished projects left from the year before to get back to as well.

Creative Cables Throw – Fifth and Sixth Strips

After having knitted Strip 7 of the design – I immediately started Strip 1 before I forgot how to knit the pattern.  

I have knitted this strip in a dull green colour – whereas Strip 7 was grey.

I am keen to finish this design – it is a real challenge and I like a challenge!  I am now working on my sixth strip which is actually Strip 2 of the pattern.  This one is fairly easy relatively speaking!  There is one small mistake in the diagram but it is obvious.

I hope to finish this strip this week but I am knitting other things as well – so I don’t know whether I will get it done.

I have just received a message to confirm that the problems I had with the diagram for Cables Strips 1 and 7 are correct.  The diagram contains printing errors and Rowan is going to produce a correction.  Basically the diagram should be symmetrical.

Creative Cables Throw – Fourth Strip

I have now finished the fourth strip of this throw.  This is actually Strip 7 of the design.

As you can see this is very difficult.   It is not helped by the fact that 3 rows on the diagram are wrong.  They are obviously wrong because the pattern is symmetrical but the pattern on the diagram is not.  It is very easy to go wrong when you are knitting – a problem I have had is a common one – holding the stitches at the back of the work when I should be holding them at the front and vice versa.  I keep stopping and checking back – so hopefully I haven’t gone wrong anywhere – at least I did – but I noticed and took it out and redid it.  One of the photos in the book Afghan Knits shows that the sample knitter had the same problem but didn’t notice.  I am a bit reluctant to say that because mistakes can be hard to see when you are knitting.   In fact I bet no one who has not tried knitting this strip would notice that the sample is wrong.

Strip 1 and Strip 7 are the same.  Immediately on finishing Strip 7, I have started on Strip 1 – the thinking being – now I have almost mastered the pattern – at the time of typing – I have typed it 26 times – I had better carry on.  If I stop I will lose interest and forget how to knit this pattern.

As I have been thinking about my Everything I have Ever Knitted project whilst I have been knitting – I was trying to remember when and how I learned to knit cables.  I think I just knitted a sample from some instructions and produced what I would call a honeycomb pattern.  This pattern is not actually included in this throw but it is featured in the pattern on the front of the latest Knitting magazine which I do fancy having a go at.  It is a Brian Smith design.  I have tried several of his before and enjoyed them.

Creative Cables Throw – Third Strip

This week I have made a start on the third strip of the throw which is actually Strip 4.

This is actually blue.  It doesn’t look much like it in the photos.  However the tone goes quite well with the mauve strips that I have already knitted.

This cable pattern is a different kind of twist – it produces a travelling pattern.  It is quite easy to make mistakes and hold the stitches to the back instead of the front – so it is good to stop and check every so often.  I have only done this once so far and noticed quite quickly.  I have now also learned the pattern – so I don’t have to keep following the chart. 

When I have finished this strip I may start the sewing up because I will I have knitted the strips either side of my first strip –  and it would be good to avoid leaving all the sewing until the end.