Knit the Sky

Knit the Sky is a wonderful title for a book.  It is written by Lea Redmond and has the sub-title: Cultivate Your Creativity with a Playful Way of Knitting.  It is an excellent book.  It is about thinking about knitting in a different way – incorporating it into your life and taking inspiration from your neighbourhood rather than sitting indoors and knitting.   It does contain patterns – but it is really a book of ideas – of things to try.

The title comes from using the colours in the sky to make a scarf.  It is odd that since I read about this idea – I have spent more time looking at the colour of the sky – something I haven’t done since I was a child.  I used to lay on the ground and look up at the sky fascinated by the patterns of the clouds – I expect all children have done this but you grow out of it – which is a shame.  I will start collecting the yarn to knit one of these scarves.  Perhaps this would be a good new year project.  I wonder how many other people will be starting a scarf on 1 January 2017.  Lots – if they have come across this book.

Despite reading this book – I haven’t done much creative knitting this week.  I have been knitting more tea cosies and have only done a little bit more of my latest throw. 

Poppy Throw – Progress Report

I had thought that if I started knitting another throw the weather would improve.  Today is very hot and not at all suitable for knitting throws – but I may do some more later this evening.  I have had a bit of a break from the throw and have started knitting a few tea cosies for my friend who is trying to re-establish her business - All the Fun of the Fair.

This is how far I have got with the throw.  It would be very wrong to complain about the discomfort of knitting it - when it was inspired by the sacrifice of the soldiers in the trenches,

In the photo some of the reds look very similar when in reality they are all very different.  I have included some variegated yarns to add a bit of interest – and because I had some to use up.  I bought a few extra yarns from the online seller – Laughing Hens – including some Louisa Harding yarn called Esquel  - which is a mixture of wool, llama and silk and some yarn from Juniper Moon Farm called Moonshine which is a mixture of wool, alpaca and silk.

Another Knitted Throw

I was intending to start making another throw in Noro Kureyon.  I have knitted a few samples but my heart was not in it.  I will knit it - but now is not the time.

Last Saturday I was in Oxford for the Guild meeting and went to visit Oxford Yarn Store.  Before I set off - I thought about what yarn I wanted to buy to go with yarn I already have.  I want to knit a Christmas jacket in glittery yarn and needed a main colour to pull it all together and I have been thinking of knitting another version of my English Adventure throw using shades of red.  I have enough of the green main colour - leftover from before and I am sure I have oddments for the joining pieces – so I just needed some more shades of red.  I already have some, but I bought a few more.  On my way home I bought another  one on the stall on Gloucester Green market.

Several ladies in Oxford Yarn Store wanted me to tell them about how I knitted the English Adventure throw that is currently in the window.  The more I talked about it – the more I wanted to knit another one – so that is what I am going to do next.

I thought the “We are here.” Art project that took place on 1 July was brilliant and it made me start making a list of all the soldiers that I lost in the First World War – I now have 19 names – I know I will find more when I do more research.  I have mentioned before that I am descended from someone (Thomas Wade) who was killed in action in 1917.  Over the next 2 years – I expect I will use the war as inspiration. 

I have made a start on the throw while I have been watching the tennis on TV.  I expect I will get a bit more done this weekend.

A Knitted Penguin

I finished the penguin that I was knitting.  It is for a little girl’s birthday next week.

 

It is not the sort of thing I normally knit.  I haven’t got enough patience for toys.  It is an Alan Dart pattern that was published in Simply Knitting magazine a few years ago.  His patterns are excellent – very precise and accurate.  It is just not my sort of knitting – I like to learn a pattern quickly and then carry on knitting without having to keep referring to instructions.  I don’t find that relaxing or enjoyable – it is stressful!

I am now going to knit something that I have just got to knit – I can’t get it out of my head.

Dalmatian Baby Coat

I am hoping to start knitting another Noro Kureyon throw tomorrow when the Wimbledon tennis tournament starts and so I have been trying to finish off some of the other things that I have been knitting.

A friend of a work colleague is having a baby this summer.  She is very keen on Dalmatian dogs and so I said I would knit her a little coat for the baby.  I have been knitting it on and off for the last 2 weeks.  It is expected to be a boy – so I decided to knit it using blue yarn. 

 

As far as I know this is an original idea.  After hearing about the recent court case about whether the some of the music in the song Stairway to Heaven had been copied from another song – I began to wonder – have I seen this idea somewhere and remembered it?  I don’t think so – but where do ideas come from?  I think I have seen an animal print knitted cushion – the basic idea may have come from there.

I am now off to finish knitting a penguin!

Commit to Knit

I have been told that knitters are being encouraged to knit for charity during the month of June.  When I was last in Reading, I was given a pattern for a Twiddle Muff to knit for patients suffering from dementia.  As I was away last weekend, I missed the last meeting of the Reading Branch of the Knitting & Crochet Guild at which they were going to knit these muffs -  but I thought I would give it a go.

 

The muff was easy to knit as the pattern is simple and I have a lot of odd balls of yarn but I found it difficult to decorate.  The instructions tell you to sew it up and then decorate it – this seems very odd to me – so I ignored that and decorated it first.

 

It could be better – for example – my stripes could all line up  -  but I think it is OK.   I still have several other unfinished items but at least something is finished. 

More Noro

On Saturday I went to Oxford for the latest Knitting and Crochet Guild branch meeting.  I went early so that I could take my English Adventure throw to Oxford Yarn Store.  It is now having a holiday at the Store – so if you would like to see it in the flesh wool – that is where it is at the moment.  It is a good excuse to show you some of Karen Draisey’s photos of it – which are much better than mine.

Karen advised me to wash it and block it – as Kureyon becomes much softer when it has been washed.  She was absolutely right – I knew she was – but it was hard to wash and block in the small flat where I live. 

At last the next issue of the Noro magazine is on sale.  I found it last Friday.  I didn’t even open it – I took it straight up to the counter to pay.

It contains lots of lovely shawl patterns.  There are 2 that I plan to make one day.  What I haven’t mentioned so far is the Noro yarn I bought in the Oxford Yarn Store and the Noro yarn I bought on the stall on Gloucester Green market.  I can’t knit either of them yet as I have a cardigan to finish and then a baby’s coat and twiddle muff to knit.  However,  I have roughed out a pattern for a new throw – more about that in a week or so.