Garter Stitch

I do like garter stitch and I am glad that it is having a revival.  There is a book which has “garter stitch” and “revival” in the title which I must get around to buying.  I remember when I first learnt to knit – I used to do garter stitch with fine yarn on small needles – this is not that much fun.  Now I often use much larger needles than you are supposed to - so that the fabric is not so dense and heavy.

I have finished the Noro shawl that I was knitting last week.  I was a bit dubious about producing a picot edge while casting off – but I did it.  I won’t lie to you – it took ages – I think it took at least an hour!  There were a lot of stitches.  I am not sure how many in the end because I just kept going until the shawl seemed about the right size.  It is based on the Brian Smith design but it is not identical!

What I particularly like – which wasn’t in the original design – is that the edging changes colour from lime to navy.  Brian Smith used a plain colour to cast off.  My shawl would look odd if there was not so much of each colour – it looks like it was planned.  I knew there would be a colour changed due to the large number of stitches – but part of the fun of using Noro yarn – is that you are never quite sure what will happen.

I am now back knitting my 10-Stitch blanket.  It is in Noro Kureyon shade 319 which has a lot of bright definite colours and I am using large needles – 7mm I think.

I am pleased with the result so far.  It is another fun garter-stitch design.   I am not sure that I am doing it right – but I think it looks OK!

Another Noro Shawl

I have finally finished knitting tea cosies for the moment and have started knitting another shawl.  The last time I visited Oxford Yarn Store I bought 4 more balls of Noro Silk Garden 4ply.  They were half-price in the sale.

I have been looking around for a garter stitch based pattern.  I wanted something easy to knit while I was travelling about last weekend.

The original pattern is by Brian Smith – I ripped it out of Knitting magazine last year.  It is supposed to be knitted in double knitting weight yarn – so I have had to increase the second garter stitch section so that it will be a bit longer.  If I had just followed the pattern using 4ply – it would have turned out more like a head-scarf than a shawl. 

I haven’t finished it yet and because every alternate row has 4 more stitches – a row takes longer and longer to do.  I hope to finish it in the next few days because I want to get back to the 10 stitch blanket that I started in January.

Happy Third Birthday – Maud Tabron Blog

I have now been writing this blog for 3 years.  I have just been re-reading the posts that I have made during the last year and looked back at what I intended to knit and what I actually knitted.

I intended that 2016 would be the year that I finally finished off projects that were sitting around in bags – either almost finished or partially finished and at the end of the year I would either finish them or unravel them.  It was a good plan but unfortunately it didn’t happen and I now have even more unfinished projects than I did last year.

The problem is that I get bored easily and I tend to agree to knit things for other people when I have finished what I was knitting for myself.  Because of the piles of unfinished knitting – I tend to think that I didn’t do much during the year – but I managed to knit 4 large throws this year as well as several smaller projects from penguins to cardigans and not forgetting the 30 tea cosies that I have knitted.

The following are a few reminders of some of the things that I have done.

This last photo shows a throw I knitted for my friend in the autumn.   She only just received it at the end of January. 

Maybe this time next year I will be able to say – I have no unfinished projects apart from the one I am working on.  Unlikely – but you never know. 

Knit the Sky Scarf – February Update

I thought I would show you my progress so far on the Knit the Sky scarf which will take all year to knit.

You may be wondering why I have knitted 2 rows in red - I decided to include a dividing line between the months so it is more obvious what the sky was like during each month.  So far this year it has been very grey.  I don’t think I will be using the bright blue any time soon.  In fact I probably ought to buy some more grey.

This week I have had more time for knitting and have been working on designing and knitting tea cosies for All the Fun of the Fair.   They are going to be launched at the Knitting & Stitching Show at the beginning of March – so I have another busy weekend ahead of me to finish things off.

Resisting the Temptation to Knit Another Shawl

On Saturday I went to Oxford for the Knitting and Crochet Guild Oxford branch meeting.  I took some more yarn to Oxford Yarn Store – which is collecting yarn for the refugees in Northern Greece.  I sorted out 2 carrier bags of chunky yarn.  Some of it was quite old – about 30 years old – but it can still be knitted into something warm.

I took 2 bags into the Yarn Store and managed to leave with only one.  I bought some more of their sale yarn including some more Noro Silk Garden 4ply.   I also bought some more Noro Kureyon.  I tend to buy this regularly then I don’t notice how much it costs!

I have been knitting tea cosies for most of the week – but I have been thinking about knitting another shawl.  I have found 2 balls of Noro Silk Garden 4ply that I bought last year. 

I have been looking around for a pattern to use it for.  I think I have found one in an old Noro magazine.  I will say more on this when I have started it – and I mustn’t start it because I have several more tea cosies to knit.  

This month’s topic for the Knitting and Crochet Guild meeting was the 10 Stitch blanket by Frankie Brown.   As I have said before – I am not a very technical knitter – but I had a go.

I used some Kureyon and large needles.  When I took it out to photograph – I noticed I had gone wrong – so I unravelled a bit.  I would like to finish this – if I can master the technique – it could be useful for using up odd balls of yarn.  I will add it to the ever growing list of Things to Knit this year!

Cable Edge Garter Stitch Shawl from Knitting Magazine

This week I have been knitting another shawl – this time from the latest Knitting magazine (Issue 164 February 2017). 

It is a Stylecraft pattern and you are supposed to use Stylecraft Head Over Heels yarn.  I haven’t got any of that but I have got some Debbie Bliss Rialto luxury sock yarn – and so I have use that.   I think I may run out before I finish – but I don’t think that will matter – I will just stop. 

I quite like Knitting magazine – in fact I subscribe to it – but sometimes there is nothing in there that I would like to knit.  The latest issue is a good one.  There are several attractive patterns including 2 cardigans that I would knit if I had the time.  Even the shawl on the cover is growing on me.

Knitting magazine seems to have more serious patterns and less little quirky items.  This issue has the second part of an article about the technique of double knitting.  I have kept last month's issue and when I have got time I will have to study the technique (look at the pictures) - to see if I can get better at it than my attempts last September.

There is a "my yarn shop" feature - and this issue it is one of my local yarn stores - Oxford Yarn Store.  I am not the only one who likes it!

I seem to be into shawls at the moment – and I saw an advert in the magazine for Stephen West’s book.  I have ordered it and spent some time looking at the pictures.

I may knit one of the shawls one day – there are several that I like – but I must now spend some more time on tea cosies for my friend who owns All the Fun of the Fair.

Seafoam Shawl from Knit Now Magazine

I have had a week off work and so I ought to have got a lot of knitting done.  I haven’t done as much as I would have liked – but then I never do.  I decided that I wanted to knit something easy.  Last year I had bought some Noro Silk Garden 4 ply yarn – and I decided to make a shawl using that.  This shade is number 389 and I used just over 3 balls.

I found an easy pattern called a Seafoam Shawl in the latest Knit Now magazine (issue 69). The pattern was designed by Katie Martin as part of The Challenge feature of the magazine.  The designers are challenged to design something using 100g of yarn.  You are supposed to use a ball of West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 ply yarn which is 400 metres long. I had to use more Noro Silk Garden 4 ply in terms of weight because each ball is only 150 metres long.  This means that 3 balls should have been enough – but I expect my tension was a bit suspect.  I didn’t check it – it doesn’t really matter in this case.

As I knitted the shawl – it curled up – and now even after I have blocked it – it does not stay flat – but I am really pleased with it.  The pattern was easy to follow and only contained one minor mistake. It said you needed 28 stitch markers whereas you need 29 – but I used odd bits of yarn because I only have about 8 actual stitch markers – so it was no problem to cut another one.

When I was thinking about what to write about this year – I thought I would have a look at the different knitting magazines which are currently available in the UK.  Knit Now is a magazine that I have bought a few times recently.

I might have bought it more often but it tends to have free gifts in bags around the magazine – so you can’t look at it or even properly look at the cover.  I hate free gifts!  I never know what to do with them and if I give them to someone else – I have probably left the associated pattern in the magazine.  Knit Now is better in this respect – there is a free gift but the pattern is separate and I have taped the two together – ready to give them to charity.

Knit Now does seem to be an interesting magazine with a cross-section of patterns.  If I had unlimited time - I would knit some more of them.  As well as the patterns which seem to follow a theme - there are interesting articles, the usual yarn analysis and news.  The main distinctive features are – the promotion of local yarn stores and the range of sizes included in the patterns.  I will be buying it next month.