Categories
Knitting

Fibre East 2015

It’s really not been a good few months for me, hence the lack of blog posts. I always find it hardest to talk when the pinnacle of my week has been levelling up in Candy Crush, but I decided to make the effort to go to Fibre East this weekend and I’m really glad I did. I love the sheepy smell you get at wool festivals and the way all the rooms were named after different sheep breeds.

Knitting accessories
Some of the lovely non-yarn things available from Belinda Harris-Reid, Wendy Fowler Pottery and whoever made these sheepy needle rolls and whose name I have completely forgottten ©Rachel Gibbs

Fibre East is the biggest local show to me and I’ve been a few times now. I found myself trying to explain the concept of a knitting festival to someone on the train who commented on my socks in progress, which is always a bit of a mystery to the uninitiated but for me it was really nice to be with people who share my enthusiasm for playing with pointy sticks (or hooks, or spindles, etc…).

Some of the amazing needle felted creations
Amazing needle felted creations ©Rachel Gibbs

I was really impressed with some of the more arty stalls, such as these impressive needle felted creations. My one foray into needle felting ended up with something like a cross between a highland cow and a giraffe, that certainly wouldn’t support its own weight. I also enjoyed watching some of the spinning demonstrations. At the Crafts from the Dungeon stall I was intrigued by a mayan spinner which I’ve never come across before but is apparently simpler than drop spindling because the stages are more independent and you don’t end up trying (and failing in my case) to do three things at once. Louise from Spin City also took the time to give me some tips on drop spindling using her beautiful glass spindles with pressed flowers embedded.

As I’m trying valiantly to reduce my stash before it takes over the whole flat and bankrupts me in the process, I put a few ground rules into place. I wanted to only buy wool from dyers I hadn’t tried before and only if I didn’t already have very similar yarn already (when putting all my stash on ravelry earlier in the year I found a few almost identical skeins – clearly I really liked that colour). As Fibre East is full of lovely independent dyers this wasn’t too much of a hardship.

Fibre East 2015 Haul
Fibre East Haul ©Rachel Gibbs

I came home with a very restrained pile, in my opinion. I’ve been admiring CoopKnits latest sock book for months, I’ve made several of her socks before and really like her style, especially the cabled ones, so I’d already mentally bookmarked this. I found some gorgeous autumnal orange variegated on the EasyKnits stall which I think I’m going to combine with a neutral to make Kate Atherley’s Lemon Difficult, I’m not sure how I’ve managed to go without buying any yarn from him before but that is now rectified. I’m still enjoying making simple self striping socks while my brain struggles with anything more complicated, but hand dyed self striping is quite rare so I was pleased to find this grellow ball from Unbelieva-wool.

Karie Westermann’s Mahy shawl has been rightly admired from all angles since it was released a few weeks ago and when I realised that all my shawls were in cool colours I decided to find a natural lace weight to make this out of (although given my track record with KALs it’ll probably be next summer by the time it’s finished). I found the perfect skein from Nude Ewe but like for many people at Fibre East, the phone signal required to take card payments was rather lacking. It meant I had the chance for a nice chat with the stall holder and when it seemed like it was going to take a long time for the app to load she kindly offered to come and find me on the p/hop stand across the tent when it was behaving.

p/hop stand
Me helping out on the p/hop stand ©p/hop

I helped out on the p/hop stand a couple of Fibre Easts ago and really enjoyed it, so volunteered to help out for a few hours to give some of the others a bit of a break. We had a great time talking about knitting, tech editing and designing. Lots of people came and donated money and I got to see my Oscillating socks sample in the flesh which was a nice surprise. P/hop has been raising money for Médecins Sans Frontières, mainly through donated pattern sales, for six years and recently passed the £50,000 mark which is an incredible achievement.

I’ve been struggling just to get out of the house lately and I’d forgotten just how good it was to talk to people who share your interests. I don’t think I’d met any of the people I talked to before but they were all very friendly and I went home really happy even if completely knackered after walking back to the station.

Categories
Designing Knitting Life Sewing

15(ish) in 15

My blog posting frequency is definitely correlated to my mood. I started last year quite well and it went downhill which pretty much sums up last year. I’m hoping 2015 will end in a better place but it’s going to take a lot of effort to get there.

Several people have suggested goals for the year instead of resolutions, which I think will work better for me as I’m terrible at sticking to resolutions. So, to join in with various people in the knitting world, I’ve been trying to come up with a 15 in 15 list. This is how it currently stands although it is open to change.

1 garment sewn: probably a pencil skirt as I found a nice grey pinstripe wool blend on sale and it’s one of the simplest things to make that I might actually wear.

2 Jumpers/cardigans finished: I’m part way through two cardigans and one jumper, and have been in that state for most of the year. I seem to keep casting things on and never finishing them. If only people wouldn’t keep realising patterns that I love, like most of the ones in Yokes by Kate Davies which I got for Christmas (kidding, please don’t stop).

3 designs released: while I had some design ideas that even made it to a finished sample last year, none of them were written down or published as my brain wasn’t really up to it. Now that VATMESS is a little bit less horribly complicated with the Ravelry/LoveKnitting collaboration that might help, or then again it might not.

4 project bags sewn: I’ve been accumulating pretty fat quarters for a while in the intent of making some project bags (although that will probably only increase the WIP collection which isn’t a great idea).

5 cross stitch projects: also including blackwork, hardanger and anything else embroidery related. I’m doing quite well at finishing bookmarks and cards but I would like to try some more challenging things (and maybe find the blue thread I need to finish the badger I was working on last year which has gone walkabout).

6 letters written: I am atrocious at keeping up correspondence and I really want to try and be better at replying in particular. My Grandma has sent me quite a lot of letters of the past year and it has really helped when I’m in a low point to know that someone is thinking of me (and to receive post that isn’t a bill or a medical appointment).

7 social gatherings: as a sufferer of depression and anxiety it’s really easy to turn down opportunities to see people, especially if they aren’t local. I know I usually feel better once I’m there but that doesn’t help when the thought of leaving the house and having to interact with the outside world causes a panic attack.

8 goals met: I’m sure I won’t meet all of these, so this one is a bit tongue-in-cheek and a bit of a reminder to myself to focus on the ones I do achieve, not the ones I don’t.

9 recipes tried: I have quite a few recipes books but tend to stick to things I know how to cook. They may not work out very well, or even be very edible but it can’t hurt to try (strange allergic reactions aside).

10 blog posts written: I managed 17 last year which is more than one a month on average so I’m happy with that. I’m never going to be someone who posts every day because I just don’t have that much to say, especially when I’m finding life difficult, but 10 I might manage.

11 projects made from stash: There’s a new Ravelry group called Stash-Heap Challenge which is encouraging me to first work out exactly what I have in my stash and then to try and use it instead of buying more. This is especially important as due to being on long-term sick leave my disposable income is very reduced and food is more important than yarn, probably.

12 new books read: I know I’m not the only with a pile of books I keep meaning to read but don’t get around to. This is not helped by volunteering in the book section of a charity shop. I’m also including audio books in this, I often listen to books while knitting, especially if it’s something complicated so I don’t want to be splitting my focus between the knitting/pattern and the TV.

13: unlucky for some and uninspired for me. Any suggestions welcome.

14 lbs lost: a side effect of many anti-depressants is increased appetite and weight gain. I wouldn’t mind so much but I just had to get rid of half my clothes because they weren’t going to fit any time soon.

15 pairs of socks finished: an ambitious target but I have a lot of sock in my stash that needs using and I’m including WIPs that have fallen foul of Second Sock Syndrome. I’m working on converting my sister to the hand knit sock appreciation society so there may be several pairs on their way to her in her recently purchased old and rather draughty cottage.

I’m going to pretend that I posted this on the 15th of the month on purpose and that it has nothing to do with me being indecisive and disorganised. I’ll try to keep you posted on how progress is going (or not as the case may be) so be warned of the likelihood of lots of sock pictures (not necessarily in pairs).

Categories
Knitting

Stripes Everywhere

I’ve been knitting lots of stripy socks lately. I find them very relaxing and it gives me a chance to investigate the effect of subtle changes.

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The socks on the left have featured on this blog before. I used 60 stitches on 2.25mm (US1) dpns. For the socks on the right I used 64 stitches on 2mm (US0) dpns, although the finished size is almost the same for both socks. Both were worked top down with a flap and gusset heel. I found the Opal yarn was a bit softer than the Regia and as the stripes of the Opal are less regular I decided to match them for the second sock, whereas for the Regia I matched the stripe boundaries but not the colours.

Opal The Little Prince and the Geographer socks
Opal Little Prince ©Rachel Gibbs

For my next Opal socks I decided to try using a 9 inch circular as lots of people have been recommending them lately. As I prefer wood to metal, I bought a bamboo HiyaHiya needle in 2.25mm. I haven’t found anywhere in the UK which stocks the Chiaogoo 9 inch bamboo circulars but I liked the HiyaHiya. With such a short needle tip I didn’t have a problem with the bamboo bending, as I have found previously with HiyaHiya needles, and I found them comfortable to use. I also don’t have to worry about laddering with circulars, which is always an issue with dpns and shows up particularly on plain stocking stitch. The only problem I have found is that I have to change to dpns for the toe as the circumference becomes too small for the circulars.

I’ve also been hearing a lot about the Fish Lips Kiss Heel by Sox Therapist so I used that for these socks, which used 64 stitches. It was easy to work and I like the result. The only concern I have is that without a reinforced heel flap the socks will wear out quicker but I will have to wait for the result of that experiment.

WYS Bulfinch socks
WYS Signature 4ply Country Birds ©Rachel Gibbs

The final socks were made using a new yarn, again using the 9 inch circular and 64 stitches. It uses Blue Faced Leicester wool and is very soft but hopefully strong also. By happy coincidence I managed to get use a whole repeat of the stripe pattern for the heel and so the top of the foot matches perfectly with the leg. I wanted to see if a flap and gusset heel was as easy to work with the circular and there were no problems.

My obsession with stripy socks shows no sign of stopping soon and I have cast on another pair in Twisted Limone. I decided to break from tradition and make these toe up. The Twisted Limone is a bit thinner than a standard sock yarn so I am using 2mm needles which seem to be producing a nice fabric so far.

Categories
Knitting Life

Wonderwool Wales

One of my best friends happens to have a cottage really close to Builth Wells where Wonderwool Wales is held. I asked if I could come and visit for the weekend and he even agreed to give me a lift. I have tried to get the train to visit him before but the trains to the middle of nowhere only run every 4 hours (so middle of nowhere that his cottage has no internet, no tv signal and no mobile signal, I can only cope with it for a few days before the urge to check my email gets too strong). On that occasion I missed one of my connections and ended up getting a taxi from Hereford, which is not to be advised. When you go to the customer service desk to ask which the next available train is and they get out an atlas, it’s time to be worried.

It was really nice to catch up on the drive because I don’t get to see him much but I was glad of a leg stretch by the time we arrived. We spent most of the time talking about zombies and scuba diving but also about the influence of certain military figures on knitting terminology as we passed by Raglan. The Raglan sleeve was named after the 1st Baron of Raglan who apparently popularised the style after losing an arm at the battle of Waterloo. Mike is in the army and I’m obsessed with knitting, so it was a good crossover topic.

I spent two lovely afternoons browsing around Wonderwool, teaching Mike about the different kinds of yarn and had to find someone demonstrating needle felting before he would believe that all you have to do is poke bits of fluff with a needle to form lovely sculptures. This explanation may go some way towards my hopeless attempts at needle felting which resulted in a highland cow with incredibly spindly legs that wouldn’t stand up.

Wonderwool haul
Wonderwool Haul ©Rachel Gibbs

Wonderwool was full of lovely yarn from some of my favourite companies. I resisted the urge to buy everything on the Eden Cottage stand and ended up with some Bowland DK and Hayton 4ply. The Hayton is a lovely pale blue-green which I hope will show up cables well. I got some Sweet Georgia Superwash DK from the Purlesence stall in a lovely deep blue, I love the whole range of Sweet Georgia colours and the staff on the Purlescence stall are always really friendly.

I’ve been trying to resist learning to spin but apparently the fibre fumes got to me, and I ended up with a learn to spin kit from Hilltop Cloud. Mike and I both had great fun trying it out, although it worked much better the next morning without the influence of gin.

We were at the Baa Ram Ewe stand on Sunday as they were awarded the second prize for 3*3m stall, and they were practically jumping for joy which was nice to see. I ended up with two skeins of TItus which I have been wanting to try for a while. I think Bantam (deep red/purple) and Eire (pale blue) will work nicely together in some colourwork.

Just before we left I had a nice chat with Kate Heppell on the Knit Now stand and she directed my towards the Triskelion stall, which I must have missed before as I got distracted by all the pretty yarn and failed to travel around the show in a methodical manner. I’m glad she did because it’s not a brand I’ve tried before, but the yarns have a beautiful depth of colour and I’m looking forward to trying them out.

I really enjoyed my weekend of woollying. It had been a long week of moving house for me and I was glad of a break from the cycle of packing/unpacking and trying to work my new cooker. I’m still trying to figure out where to put everything and looking forward to my sofa arriving so I don’t have to chose between hard wooden chairs or the floor to sit on.

Categories
Knitting

One cardigan one sock, keep knitting

I feel like I’ve knitted at least two cardigans with all the ripping out I’ve been doing, but I’ve finally got a version that I think I’m happy with and all I need to do is sew in the many, many ends and attach the buttons, which will probably take as long as knitting it. I forgot that the pattern at the bottom would be wrapped around and join at the front, so the blocks aren’t distributed as evenly as I would like but I can live with that (or rather am not willing to rip it all out again).

Tetris Baby Cardigan
Tetris Baby Cardigan, almost finished ©Rachel Gibbs

I followed up my vanilla hat knitting with vanilla sock(s), only one so far but the stripes are helping to keep me motivated. It’s in Regia 4ply Design Line Ombré Stripe in Moss Garden. I’m not keen on a lot of the multicoloured Regias, especially the ones by Kaffe Fassett, as they often contain rather odd colour combinations, but these I like.

Regia sock
Regia Sock (part 1) ©Rachel Gibbs

I received my Knit Now 32 on Monday, and it’s my favourite kind of issue – the annual Best of British. Not only does it have lots of great patterns (as always) but it uses entirely British yarns, including a new yarn developed by Knit Now, which looks great. I love Jamie the Shetland Puffin, the Kellynch Blanket and pretty much everything in the All At Sea collection.

Categories
Baking Knitting

Productiveness (or the lack thereof)

Productiveness has not been my strong point lately. I keep getting distracted half way through things either by something new and shiny or because I’m just sick of whatever it is I’m doing. So, my Follow Your Arrow is still languishing part way through clue 4, waiting to be fixed, the badger cross stitch has some backstitching but it’s fiddly and quite hard to see.

I made one mitt from my Eden Cottage Millburn (which is lovely and so soft) and the second should be easier now I’ve stopped changing my mind on what I want to do but I seem to have developed Second Mitt Syndrome to go with my Second Sock Syndrome and Second Sleeve Syndrome…

Then I was watching Joeli’s Kitchen podcast earlier today and she was talking about some quick hats she’d been making in Chunky or DK held double. I’m hoping that this might be a project I can actually finish and since I only had one head the last time I checked, I don’t have to make two of them. After a bit of stash diving I decided on some Boo’s Attic Lavishly Plump DK in Damson Autumn which I got at Fibre East. Thanks to a tip from Joeli, I’ve wound this into a ball held double and plan to cast on this evening in front of the Great British Sewing Bee.

Boo's Attic DK
Boo’s Attic DK wound into double thickness ball ©Rachel Gibbs

I like the Great British Sewing Bee and although I’ve not done much garment sewing at all and certainly not in the last ten years I still know what they’re talking about most of the time. It’s really interesting to see the different interpretations of the same design and I’m  impressed by what they manage to achieve in such a short time.

To go with the Sewing Bee, I’ve taken some inspiration from the Bake Off and have been making Hazelnut bars from Cakes: 100 Everyday Recipes by Love Food. It’s not a recipe I’ve tried before but they smell good and now I just have to wait for them to cool. I’m not sure I got the consistency of the batter right, I seem to have ended up with something a bit like sticky crumble topping but I’m sure it will taste fine.

Hazelnut Bars
Hazelnut Bars ©Rachel Gibbs
Categories
Knitting Sewing

Works in Progress

Cross Stitch

I’ve finished all the cross stitches and half cross stitches on my Badger, now to start the decorative touches: the backstitch and the french knots. It’s only 11 x 8cm but it’s on 18 count Aida so that’s still quite a lot of stitches.

Badger Cross Stitch Almost Finished
Cross Stitch WIP ©Rachel Gibbs

I like how the half cross stitches are used to form the background but that’s either a very small badger or really big flowers.

Follow Your Arrow

Categories
Designing Knitting

Colour Journal Project – January

I’ve been a fan of The Yarn Yard for several years now, and when I saw that the theme for the first month of her new project, The Colour Journal Project, was brights/rainbows I order some at once. I’ve always had a bit of thing for rainbows and when I was younger had a fine collection of rainbow striped socks. January was a dreary and difficult month for me, and a bit of colour does wonders in lifting the spirits.

I ordered the Toddy Sevens option, seven mini skeins in a solid rainbow. Natalie’s solid colours tend to be beautifully deep and intense, one of the reasons I like her yarns, and I intended to make something for my cousin’s new baby, so Toddy was a good choice.

My cousin and her wife are very geeky, they got married last year at a sci-fi convention, and I wanted to make them something which reflected that. I decided on a cardigan with tetris blocks along the bottom, and fortunately there were seven colours and seven blocks in tetris. After some head scratching trying to work out how to fit the blocks together, giving up on the idea of doing it in intarsia, and trying to explain what tetris is to my parents, I’ve made it past the border and onto the body. The baby isn’t due until May so I have plenty of time to weave in all the ends and work out how I’m doing the sleeves but I’m happy with it so far.

Tetris Baby Cardigan
Tetris Baby Cardigan in The Yarn Yard Toddy
©Rachel Gibbs

 

 

Categories
Knitting

In Praise of Chiaogoos and Karbonz

Needle choice is a very personal thing, and something that one person hates might well be what works best for someone else. A conversation on Twitter the other day inspired me to talk about my favourites and why they work for me.

I used to be a big fan of KnitPro Symphonies, to someone who learnt to knit on grey metal pony needles they were really exciting: the ability to swap tips and cables, the quietness and lightness of the wood and the pretty colours. I built up a collection of interchangeables and dpns and they weren’t perfect but I liked them.

I prefer to knit socks on dpns and I found I kept breaking my needles, mainly my own fault, but with very thin wooden needles it’s somewhat inevitable. When I heard that knit pro were bringing out carbon fibre needles I was intrigued. Partly, it was my geeky side that found the idea of using such a new and technically advanced material for something as simple as knitting needles exciting, but also I thought it might solve my problem of snapped needles without being as slippery as metal. Doing a lot of my knitting on the move, on buses and in queues, needles that fall out when you’re not paying attention aren’t for me. I ordered a set of 2.25mm Karbonz, my favourite size for socks, and I’m really happy with them. They are warm and light like wood, and although the tips are metal they don’t click too loudly and I haven’t managed to break them yet.

KnitPro Karbonz
My current socks in progress on KnitPro Karbonz ©Rachel Gibbs

Everything other than socks I tend to use circulars for, they’re easier on my wrists than straights and very convenient, especially interchangeables. I found with the KnitPros that they would come unscrewed when I knit and that the numbers wore off and I was always searching for a needle gauge. I decided to try a few types, HiyaHiya Bamboo, Chiaogoo Spin and Pony Bamboo. I’d heard good things about all of them, so I got a set of tips and cable in each. It wasn’t a particularly scientific experiment since they were all in different sizes, which may have contributed to the results, but for me, the Chiaogoos came out top.

Chiaogoo, HiyaHiya and Pony needles
Chiaogoo, HiyaHiya and Pony needles ©Rachel Gibbs

I really like that the size is engraved on the needle and the cable tips, saving me from searching for needle gauges and tape measures. I found I prefer using a key to tighten the join. I wasn’t a fan of the rubber grips for the HiyaHiyas, especially since they don’t come as standard with the cables and have to be bought separately. I also love the swivel join, I think it really helps the tips not come unscrewed. The Chiaogoo tips are really smooth and slightly more rigid that the HiyaHiyas, particularly in the smallest size, which I like as I was worried that the HiyaHiyas would break. Not forgetting, of course, that Chiaogoo is really fun to say.

My Christmas present to myself was a full set of small Chiaogoos, and so far I’m loving them. What’s your favourite type of needle and why?

Categories
Knitting

Follow Your Arrow Clue 1 (spoilers)

I’ve finished Clue 1, just in time for Clue 2 to start tomorrow. I chose clue A because I thought it was a more interesting construction. I like that it’s fairly simple so far, but interesting enough not to be boring. My concentration levels aren’t great at the moment so it’s a good fit for me.