Forge by Martin Storey

I have mentioned that I am knitting a jumper – actually I have almost finished it now.  It is called Forge and is another design by Martin Storey – I seem to have done a lot of his recently.

It is knitted in Rowan Moordale which is 70% wool and 30% alpaca.  It is very soft! This shade is called Gooseberry. The design is supposed to be knitted by casting on with a different colour.  You can forget that – I am not spending almost £16 for a different colour even if I liked the effect, which I don't.  So far I do like the basic design.  It is stocking stitch and then garter stitch at the top.  I have done the front and back and am now working on the sleeves.

All 3 photos are knitted using the same yarn - I say this because the colour looks different in each one.  I think the last one is the closest to the actual colour.  I am not completely sure that the jumper is going to fit me but I have been measuring the knitting against a jumper that does fit me and it is similar – so fingers crossed.

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.

Creative Cables Throw by Martin Storey

A few weeks ago – I finally finished the Creative Cables throw using my choice of colours.  Karen Draisey of Oxford Yarn Store took some pictures of the finished throw.

I feel a bit guilty because it cost me nothing.  I did not buy any yarn – I used yarn from my stash.  I made myself feel better by thinking that once I had knitted it there would be a space for some new yarn!

This throw is featured on the cover of the book Afghan Knits.  When I saw it – I was not keen on the colour choice and thought it was a shame that such a good design was spoilt by the colours.  The don’t seem to go together.  If I was buying yarn for this project – I probably would have used a snooker table green for the end strip instead of the dull green that I had.

The printed pattern has a few mistakes and Rowan have issued some corrections for it.  However I am not the most experienced cable knitter and I managed to work out what ought to be done.  Basically all the charts should be symmetrical  - the left and right side should be the same – which in the copy I had – they aren’t.   A good tip is – follow the photograph – and once you have established the pattern correctly follow that rather than the chart.

Tomorrow I am going to Oxford for our Knitting and Crochet Guild Regional Day.  I have never been to one before and to be honest – I am not sure what one is – it sounds like a conference that I used to go to for work – although about knitting instead of work!  I will use this as an excuse to visit Oxford Yarn Store and make up for not buying yarn for the Creative Cables throw.   I am working on a jumper and have 2 shawls that I want to knit but I can’t stop thinking about the next throw I want to make and trying to work out how much yarn I need.   

I keep saying to myself – I must clear up some of the bags of yarn in my lounge but instead of that – I keep adding to them!

Denim Baby Jacket

Although this is a little jacket that I have knitted recently for a relatively new baby – it fits well with the theme of retro knitting.  I have knitted lots of little jackets over the years.

This jacket is knitted using some old yarn from my stash.  It is Sirdar Denim Tweed DK.  It is 60% acrylic, 25% cotton and 15% wool.  It feels like soft cotton.  It is not stiff like yarn which is only made of cotton.

I have used it before for babies’ jackets but normally I use a blue shade.  I have also used it in the past with blue and cream to make Denim Union Jack tea cosies.  

It was quite hard to find buttons which looked right.  Many were the wrong shade of red.  It is amazing how many shades of red that there are.

While I was watching the snooker I finally finished the Creative Cables Throw – I will show you a photo of that next week.  I have also started knitting a jumper using Rowan Moordale.  It is my third Martin Storey project in a row.

Everything I have Ever Knitted – Continued

This week I have been trying to finish the cardigan I have been knitting for Oxford Yarn Store and trying to finish the Creative Cables throw – at the time of writing I still haven’t finished either of them.

I decided to makes some progress on something by writing a bit more about some of the things I have knitted over the years.  This first piece is a sample of probably the first multi-coloured yarn that I ever used.  I knitted a short-sleeved jumper in about 1984.  It was the time when summer yarns were being promoted for the first time.

I did wear the jumper – I remember wearing it under a black suit.  I had totally forgotten about it until I found a ball of the yarn. It was called Robin Diamante and was supposedly double knitting yarn – but it is very thin.  It was 87% acrylic and 13% nylon.  It is described as “lustre crepe”.

This second piece is similar  to yarn I used for a plain fluffy scarf.  It was mohair but tempered by nylon so it didn’t shed hairs everywhere.  I knitted it on the train travelling backwards and forwards to Oxford – so that was in 1984 as well.

This third piece is also fluffy.  I can’t remember the exact name of the yarn but it was “Funky Fur” or something like that.  I bought it to make a jumper for a little girl.  

She would have been about 4 at the time and she is 21 now – so it would have been in the summer of 2002.  I do like novelty yarns but prefer it if they don’t make a lot of mess.  They are fun and knitting should be fun.

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.

Coco by Martin Storey

At the moment I am knitting a sample garment for Oxford Yarn Store.  It is a fairly plain cardigan design called Coco by Martin Storey from a booklet called Ocean Blue.  I can’t show you a picture of it because I only have a typed pattern.

The rib is quite interesting – you knit into the back of the stitches on the front – which makes the rib stretch out more than it usually does.

The yarn is Rowan denim revive.  It is made with recycled denim and recycled cotton.  Officially the yarn is 95% cotton and 5% other fibre.  I think the original garment was knitted in a shade of blue but this is a off-white.

I would like to show you a photo of a finished cardigan next week – but that is probably wishful thinking.