Happy 8th Birthday Maud Tabron Blog

I am very conscious that I have not done much knitting at all this year.  I started a jumper in January but I have not knitted any more of it than when I last wrote a post.   However today it the anniversary of me starting to write this blog - so I thought I would write something about a piece of knitting that is very important to me although I didn't knit it myself.

This is a throw - which at the time was called a patchwork quilt - that was knitted for me in the 1970s by my maternal grandmother Rebecca Wade.  This is the lady who taught me to knit - I would not be writing this blog if it wasn't for her.

Until this week I had not seen this throw for about 30 years.  In my memory it was blue and white.  I was surprised at how many other colours are in it.  It has threads hanging off it, holes, darns, curly edges and it has been very eccentrically knitted - but I still love it!  My grandmother was just using up all the odd bits of yarn that she had.  When I do that - I try to organize it in some way - but she hasn't - some of it is blocks of one colour - but in other sections it looks as if she has just pulled out the next colour and knitted with that.  

Grandma has used crochet to make some of the shapes fit together and has done a crocheted edge.  I don't remember ever seeing her crochet.  My other grandma preferred crochet to knitting.  

Now I have found this throw again - I think I am going to put in on my sofa so that I see it every day. I can see its imperfections but I don't care about them because Grandma knitted it for me. You can see where I got my love of knitting quilts and throws.  I am currently working on one as another present for a friend.   More about that next time.

Happy 7th Birthday Maud Tabron Blog

 

When 22 February comes around each year – I think – another year can’t have passed already.   The other thing I think each year is that I didn’t do much knitting.  However I know I knit without noticing and often forget to write about something because I am too busy knitting it.  I think the square shown above is an example of this.  I knitted this for a Knitting and Crochet Guild project.  We had to knit something that represented us - a favourite stitch or favourite yarn etc.  I chose stocking stitch but it is the yarn, the colours and the patchwork that represents me.  Also knitting something that has a meaning.  The lack of definition was intentional.

During the first lockdown of 2020 – I meant to do more knitting – I meant to finish some things and in fact I did.  I finished the jacket that I had started at least the year before.  I don't seem to have a finished photo of it - but I know I did finish it!

I also wanted to knit another Fandango bag – in a brick design – something that had been in my head since 2014!  I have another one in there – which may get knitted this year.   I still have plenty of Fandango and a few basic bags – so I could make a new one every year.  Typically I tend to use the same bag all the time – so much so that it is now very worn.  I should start using the Brick bag and knit another one to put in the cupboard!

During the spring I got some tea cosies finished which had been waiting unfinished for years.  Later in the summer I also knitted a new tea cosy for my cousin.

I also knitted some other gifts too including a cowl and a shawl using yarn from my stash.

I had completely forgotten about a couple of the shawls that I knitted during the year.  It’s a good thing I can re-read this blog and see what I have been doing.

I had been wanting to have a go at the Elizabeth Zimmermann Baby Surprise Jacket  - I managed to achieve that as well as several other baby jackets that are now ready to give to new babies.

At the moment I am still working on the Bressay Hap shawl that I mentioned last week but I have 4 large unfinished projects and plenty of ideas for new projects.  I have knitted lots of individual squares for a charity blanket.  I have knitted several individual squares for my Afternoon Tea throw and I would still like to finish the Everything I Have Ever Knitted project which I think I started in 2019 and have hardly touched since.  I should keep knitting pieces for it as I go through my stash and a memory of a particular project comes back. 

At some time before the autumn deadline – I would like to knit and send off some Innocent Smoothie hats for Age UK.  This is something I have been thinking of doing for a few years and I have collected together some patterns and have a lot of odd bits of yarn that I could use up.

While I am still furloughed from work – I should get on with some of these projects but unfortunately when I am out for my morning walk – I usually thing of something else that I would like to knit – and my family history is never-ending.  I enjoy knitting but it does not occupy the mind like family history.  I will have to think of some more projects which combine the 2 things.

Happy 6th Birthday Maud Tabron Blog

It is 6 years since I started writing this blog.  I am very conscious that during the previous year the posts have become very irregular.  This is because I have not done much knitting and so have little to write about.  In fact I was thinking I could write my next post about all the things that I haven’t finished!

When I reach a birthday – I usually look back at what I have knitted during the previous year and I am often surprised about how much I have done when all I can remember are the things that I haven’t finished and those that I haven’t even got around to starting.  I am really surprised to find out that I actually knitted 3 throws during the early part of the year:

The Creative Cables Throw

The Bauhaus Throw

The 100 Yarns Throw

Otherwise I knitted various presents for people – particularly babies and a few shawls which I enjoyed knitting.  

The throws were easy – even the “complicated” cables – in comparison to trying to knit those duck feet.  The problem is that I knit lots of throws and I feel comfortable doing them but I don’t knit socks and I don’t like small fiddly things like toys.  However although I didn’t completely follow the pattern – I did manage to produce some duck feet.

This year I do hope to be able to spend more time knitting and more time writing this blog. 

A Few Favourites

I managed to finish the shawl that I was knitting for my mother at the end of last year.  There are several other shawls that I would like to knit.  I had Stephen West’s latest book for Christmas and some red yarn which I intend to make into a shawl.

Tomorrow is the latest meeting for the Oxford Branch of the Knitting and Crochet Guild.  This month’s topic is a discussion of favourite designers, patterns, yarns etc.  In anticipation of this I have been thinking about my favourites.

I know I have written about my favourite yarns before.  Some of them are discontinued!  My top 5 all-time are:

1                     Colinette Fandango

2                     Noro Kureyon

3                     Sirdar Highlands and Islands

4                     Rowan Felted Tweed

5                     Debbie Bliss Rialto Sock

I have a few patterns that I have knitted many times – most of these are for babies.  I am currently knitting a few little coats for Oxford Baby Bank.  My liking for shawls and multi-coloured knitting influence liking for particular designers – my current top 5 would be:

1                     Horst Schulz

2                     Kaffe Fassett

3                     Valentina Devine

4                     Brian Smith

5                     Patricia Werner

I could have also added Martin Storey – but that would have been 6!  I just had another thought – I could have added Sirdar Escape to the yarn list – so that would be 6 as well.

I would like to start knitting another shawl, but I am going to take the little baby coats to the meeting because they  are much easier to knit when you are talking.  If I take the shawl – I will have to unravel it when I get home which will be really frustrating – so I am going to stick to knitting something “boring”.

Adventures with I-cord

I had meant to write about the regional day last Saturday – as soon as I got back but I was quite tired as it was a long day!  I did enjoy myself – particularly the 2 visits to Oxford Yarn Store.  I met up with some people that I haven’t seen for years as knitters from around the country converged on Oxford.  As I was early – I went to the Yarn Store to waste some time and to look at what yarn I could choose for my next project.

The morning speaker was Debbie Abrahams who is a Knitting and Crochet Guild patron.  She gave a very interesting talk about how she used a house in Barcelona which had been designed by Gaudi as inspiration for her the blanket which she designed last year.  She showed us lots of samples of how the ideas developed.  She is much more organized than I am.  I also usually differ in another way in that I prefer to design from ideas rather than images.  My next throw will contradict what I have just said as I am going to take my inspiration from a watercolour.

After lunch we looked at some of the Guild’s collection of knitting and crochet and then we spilt up for workshops.  I attended the one called Adventures with I-cord which was taught by Sue Winn from the Lincoln branch of the Guild.

I have knitted I-cord before but I had forgotten how to do it and I am attracted by some of those shawls with I-cord cast-ons or cast-offs.  We started with cast offs – this sample shows casting off in I-cord.  On the right I knit as usual and on the left – I knit into the back of the stitches which produced a neater effect.

We then tried adding an I-cord edge.

We made a leaf starting with I-cord.

We used I-cord to make a flower.

Lastly we threaded wire through to make bendy I-cord.

It was great fun and I will definitely use I-cord on something soon.

After tea and biscuits most of us went to the Yarn Store.  It was packed.  I was in there for more than an hour.  I waited until everyone else had been served until I decided what to buy.  I won’t show you now – that can be for another day.  At the moment I am still knitting a jumper and I must concentrate on finishing that before getting side-tracked by anything else.

Boxes and Bowls

This week’s topic for the Oxford branch of the Knitting and Crochet Guild meeting tomorrow is knitted and crocheted boxes and baskets.  

I decided to try to make a bowl using Noro Kureyon and single crochet.  My first attempt was a small bowl starting with a ring and working outwards using some rough crochet.  I intended to felt the finished bowl to hide the imperfections and this I duly did.  It is not too bad.  

I then had another go - again with single crochet and Kureyon but I have not felted it.  I also made a much bigger ring to start with – about 8sts and tried to keep the crochet flat for longer to make the bowl larger.  

I think the bowl shows off the colour change of the yarn and the single crochet is so stiff – it makes quite a good soft bowl.  The normal disadvantage of crochet – its stiffness and lack of drape is an advantage in this case.

I then found a pattern for a box made with string in the book Simple Knits for Easy Living by Erika Knight.  You are supposed to use string and starch but I have used green garden twine.  It was only about £1 and the whole roll makes one small box with twine leftover.  It is quite stiff but I could still starch it or paint it with glue if I wanted it to be stiffer.

I have now started knitting a small box using raffia – I will carry on with that tomorrow but now I had better get back to knitting the cardigan that I mentioned last week.

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.

Everything I have Ever Knitted

Last year when I finished knitting my WW1 Memorial Quilt – I was asked – what are you going to do next?  I thought about this for several weeks.  I am attracted to knitting simple garments which let the yarn to the talking and this started from when I first developed my knitting skills.  In the summer of 2019 it will be 40 years since I  knitted my first garment and then knitted lots of samples to try out various stitch patterns.

I learned to knit as a child but only knitted small squares and oblongs.  And then some time in the mid to late 1970s I worked on this patchwork quilt.  I knitted stripes for the first time and used very small needles.  This was my first colour-work project.  Unlike the majority of the other projects that I have knitted since – I still have access to it – it is on my mother’s bed.

This year I want to produce a piece of knitting which commemorates my experience of knitting.  This won’t mean much to anyone else but I hope the end result will be interesting and attractive.

When I mentioned my idea at a Knitting & Crochet Guild meeting – I was asked – can you remember everything you have ever knitted or do you keep a record of it?  This blog is a record of most of what I have knitted during the last 5 years.  Before that I have files of patterns that I  have designed, copies of patterns I have knitted and little bits of yarn that I kept to use for something else one day.  That day may have come because I will be able to use the yarn that I used originally.

Last Christmas I read a book called “A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived.”  This provided the idea for my knitting project – because one person is symbolic of lots of others – that is the same with this project – I will remember the garments I liked, that I hated, that were significant in some way – and they will represent all the others.

I am surprised about what I do remember but it is because of how I think and how I design – I tend to go over what I have done or what I have learned and then produce a variation.  Some patterns have had about 20 variations, if not more.  I am thinking particularly of a jacket that I have knitted for an expected baby.  I have done it plain – in pink or blue or yellow – I have done it with a Fair Isle pattern – I have done it in tartan and I have done it striped.  The basic pattern is the same but the end results look very different.  

At the moment – I intend to be very casual about this project – I will knit whatever occurs to me in whatever order it occurs.  I will collect together lots of little bits of knitting and arrange them at the end.  I may then find that I need to knit some more pieces to persuade those I have already knitted to look like one piece of knitting that hangs together.

So far this year I have knitted nothing – not one stitch – not on this project nor on any other.  I have been suffering from a nasty virus which has left me feeling exhausted most of the time and too tired to knit (I must have been very ill indeed!).  Anyway – today I am feeling a bit more optimistic and have a bit more energy – so I might actually finish the Christmas present that I mentioned in the previous post.

Christmas Wreath

There are a few words that I find difficult to spell – wreath is one of them – I want to put wreathe.  I think the latter is a verb.

This is a present which I have made for Oxford Yarn Store’s birthday.  It would make more sense as a Christmas present – but it is the store’s birthday at this time of the year.

I have knitted several different wreaths over the years and no 2 have been the same.  Basically I use some dark green to knit the basic ring shape and then stuff it.   I just knitted a straight piece of stocking stitch and then joined the end to the beginning to make a ring.  I then joined the sides to make a tube leaving a gap for the stuffing. 

I then use a Loopa to produce some foliage using 4 or 5 different dark green yarns including something textured.

Then I knit bits to decorate the wreath.  This time I have knitted 2 different kinds of red flowers.  

I have knitted some basic leaves and cut some leaves out of an old jumper which I had felted.   Thirdly I knitted a bit of holly.  This is fun but a bit fiddly.

I could have left it at that but I think I will sew on some gold beads to lift it a bit and make the finished wreath a bit more sparkly!

Below I am including a rough pattern for knitting a Christmas Wreath – without the instructions for a open flowers (which are not mine to publish).  However – if you want to make a wreath – I advise you to make one up using whatever yarn you have and decorating however you wish.

Christmas Wreath Pattern

Materials

100g DK in dark green
50g DK in contrasting shades of dark green (ideally include something textured if you are going to use a Loopa)
50g textured DK in red
50g of red DK for berries and roses
Small amount of yellow DK yarn
Gold beads
Stuffing material for the base.
4mm needles
Loopa (if available)

Base

Using dark green DK and 4mm needles cast on 30sts and work in stocking stitch for 186 rows.  Cast off and sew the top to the bottom to form a ring.  Join the side seams leaving a gap to add the stuffing.  Stuff the ring and sew up the gap.

Roses (Make 3)

Using red DK and 4mm needles cast on 35sts.

Row 1: Knit.
Row 2: Purl.
Row 3: *K2, M1, (pick up the loop between the sts and knit into the back of it); repeat from * to end. (52sts)
Row 4: Purl.
Row 5: *K3, M1; repeat from * to end. (69sts)
Row 6: Purl.
Row 7: *K4, M1; repeat from * to end. (86sts)
Row 8: Purl.
Row 9: *K5, M1; repeat from * to end. (103sts)
Cast off.
Wind up into a rose shape and sew together leaving a tail to use to sew the rose onto the wreath.

Rose Leaves (Make 16 or as many as required)

Using green DK and 4mm needles cast on 3sts.
Row 1: K1, M1, K1, M1, K1. (5sts)
Row 2: Purl.
Row 3: K2, M1, K1, M1, K2 (7sts)
Row 4: Purl.
Row 5: K3, M1, K1, M1, K3 (9sts)
Row 6: Purl.
Row 7: K4, M1, K1, M1, K4 (11sts)
Row 8: Purl.
Row 9: skpo (Slip one, knit one, pass the slipped stitch over), K7, K2tog. (9sts)
Row 10: Purl.
Row 11: skpo, K5, K2tog. (7sts)
Row 12: Purl.
Row 13: skpo, K3, K2tog. (5sts)
Row 14: Purl.
Row 15: skpo, K1, K2tog. (3sts)
Row 16: Purl.
Row 17: Slip 2sts together, K1, pass the slipped stitches over. (1st)
Fasten off.

Red Christmas Roses (Make 4)

I used Nicky Epstein’s small flower pattern for these.  You could use any flower pattern you have access to.

Holly leaf (Make 4)

Using dark green DK and 4mm needles, cast on 3sts. 

Row 1: K1, M1 (pick up the loop between the stitches and knit into the back of it), K1, M1, K1. (5sts)
Row 2: Purl.
Row 3: K2, M1, K1, M1, K2. (7sts)
Row 4: Purl.
Row 5: K3, M1, K1, M1, K3. (9sts)
Row 6: Purl.
Row 7: Cast off 3sts, M1, K1, M1, K4.
Row 8: Cast off 3sts, P4.
Row 9: K2, M1, K1, M1, K2.
Row 10: Purl.
Row 11: Cast off 2sts, K4.
Row 12: Cast off 2sts, P2
Row 13: Slip 2sts together, K1, pass the slipped stitches over.
Fasten off.

Holly berries (Make 6)
Using red DK and 4mm needles cast on 4sts, and work in stocking stitch for 3 rows. Cast off.  Tie the cast on tail to the cast off tail and shape into a ball.

Join the berries together and sew the leaves together.  Sew in any ends. Then sew the berries onto the front of the leaves.

Loop to hang wreath
Using 2 strands of dark green DK make a chain of 20sts.  Make into a loop and sew onto the top of the wreath base (at the back).

Finishing
Make a Loopa “scarf” in 5 shades of green.  If you haven’t got a Loopa – you could just add more leaves. As well as the Loopa scarf, I added additional leaves by felting an old jumper and then cutting out leaves from that. 

Position everything on the base and then sew into place.