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Midsummer

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Call for test-knitters! I have a pattern I need test-knitted before I can make it publicly available - we are talking one ball of Rowan Kid Silk Haze plus beads. Knitted lace. Get in touch by email (distantsunATgmailDOTcom) or via Ravelry. Today is Midsummer's Eve. In Denmark they will be lighting bonfires and singing songs right now. I always miss my Danish friends and family whenever special events come around. Midsummer's Eve, or Skt. Hans Aften, is that curious Danish blend of pagan and Christian traditions. You gather with people near water - beaches are popular although many places it will be near a lake - and when dusk falls, you set fire to a big bonfire adorned with an effigy of a witch which is said to "fly to Blocksbjerg" (most Danish names for Hell are places in Germany. I kid you not). Oh, and the Danes sing. We sing whenever we can and, since Midsummer's Eve is a Big Thing, we even have a special song (although most people prefer singing the modern version).

The photo was taken in 2006, my last Skt. Hans Aften in Denmark. I'm feeling a bit nostalgic tonight - especially because I know tonight most of my Danish friends are gathered just north of Copenhagen and I would have liked to have celebrated the longest day of the year with them. The older I get the more attached I become to my personal traditions and I have lost a fair few of them in recent years. It's a bit difficult to stage a big bonfire here in Glasgow without getting arrested for disorderly conduct .. "Honest, guv, I was just celebrating Midsummer's Eve. That old woman burning up? Well, it's tradition.."

FO: Peach Trees

Last May I went back to Copenhagen for a week's holiday. I had the pleasure of staying with a good friend, Peps, who had a spare room. If you have ever lived in Copenhagen, you will know that, as a rule, people do not have spare rooms: the apartments are tiny, every inch of space gets utilised, and you are lucky if a friend has the room for a sofa bed. So, Peps' spare room was the very height of luxury. I have known Peps since the late 1990s when we both worked for a computer gaming magazine. We started playing D&D together, she showed me how to cook hypo-allergenic food, and I supplied her with English-languaged books.

Peps turned forty this year and invited all her friends - including yours truly and D. We were unable to go, unfortunately, but I remembered what she said last year in May: "I love your lace shawls. I'd love to be able to knit one but maybe you can knit one for me at some point?" To my mind, this would be the perfect gift for Peps: something unique, something personal, and something very feminine.

Yarn: Rowan Kid Silk Haze, 2 balls in "Ice Cream" (discontinued colourway) Needles: 4.5mm (US size 7) Pattern: Ah, this is where it gets interesting..

I was searching high and low for a suitable pattern. Peps is petite, so I wanted something quite delicate which would not overpower her frame. She is also extremely feminine, so I wanted the shawl to reflect that (you may argue that a lace shawl is by definition very feminine, but I beg to differ). I pondered the Swallowtail shawl (but I have already made it three times), Ishbel (but we do not get along), and Zetor, to name but a few, but eventually settled on Nightsongs. I liked the graphic quality of the designs - Peps works in graphic design - but it was still very pretty and feminine. Perfect.

Except the pattern was riddled with mistakes. Shame that Kid Silk Haze is a bit temperamental about getting ripped back, or I would have gone for another design. The knitting experience marred my enjoyment of the finished object, so although I am told it is a very pretty shawl, all I see are those poorly constructed charts and the hours I spent trawling through Ravelry threads for errata.Something I did out of love for a friend did not end up as a project I loved. Alas.

I'm yet to hear from Peps, but I'm confident that she likes it.

In other knitting news, my new wrist support has already helped and I was able to knit at my usual pace last night, which means that my 4ply cardigan now has a completed back and a half-way completed sleeve. Huzzah!

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Seesaw

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One of the things I love about living in Glasgow is that you can walk through a park on a perfectly ordinary afternoon and suddenly you are in the middle of King Lear. I should really make a point of buying tickets for Bard in the Botanics and I think I might opt for Twelfth Night now that I've seen quite a chunk of Lear. One of the things I do not love about living in Glasgow is marching season. My bus was caught behind a march the other day and I had plenty of time to think about sectarianism in Glasgow. It truly saddens me that people choose to fuel divisions within a community rather than challenge long-held prejudices and sectarian behaviour.

This is Glasgow life. A constant see-saw of good and bad things. Thankfully the amount of good things happening outweighs the bad things.

Autumn/Winter collections from various yarn companies are beginning to show up around the web.

I am slightly underwhelmed by the Drops collection and can only really see myself making ac-018 (don't you just love the fetching Drops names?) although the ee-324 is very cute novelty pullover.

The new Rowan Autumn/Winter collection have been leaked, and I enjoyed Rowan 48. The Alisa stole is beautiful, the Inga cardigan looks quite Scandinavian (and I mean that as a compliment - imagine it in monochrome and styled with minimalist clothes and accessories. Wowza.) and I love, love the Lidiya dress. Being much more mindful of my queue, though, I am mainly torn between between Rowena (on the left - I already have a commercial black pullover very much in that style) and Vera. I will need to see the magazine in real life before I decide which of the two pullovers I will end up queueing. I also have my beady eye firmly fixed on Rowan Lima for a winter project, so I hope there'll be some fabulous pullovers or cardigans for that yarn.

Not that I am doing much knitting at the moment. I have bought a new wrist support for my poor wrist, so hopefully that will help its recovery. I have completed swatching for a scarf pattern I'm going to write up later this summer (no previews, sorry). I have also knitted a few rows on my 4ply cardigan, but small needles are proving quite painful to hold.

Hold on, though, for a finished object. I finished it some time ago but could not post anything until it had been gifted to a good friend.

How To Choose A Yarn

This is one of my favourite topics: how to choose the right yarn for your project. I'll try to be brief! Bells recently wrote about knitting a cardigan in laceweight yarn and how disappointed she was when it quickly began looking worse for wear. Is it possible to knit a durable garment in laceweight, she wondered? My reply:

I think it is not so much the weight of yarn as the fibre content.. I’d be wary of knitting a garment in Malabrigo Lace, Sock AND Worsted, simply because of the way their merino yarns are constructed (maybe the sock less so but def the lace & the worsted). You’d want a relatively tightly spun lace and preferably in longer fibres than merino.

In other words, when you plan a project you need to take several things into consideration when you choose your yarn in order to avoid disappointment or a garment falling to bits. These should be your main considerations:

  • Weight (lace, 4ply/sock, sport, double knitting etc)
  • Construction (single ply, 2-plied, chained etc)
  • Fibre (cotton, alpaca, merino, blue-face leicester, bamboo etc)
  • Care/Maintenance (machine-washable? dry-clean? hand-wash? defuzzer?)
  • Price

Two examples:

  1. Baby Cardigan. The pattern will tell you a gauge which indicates which Weight you should use. Typically this would be a fine weight like 4ply or double knitting/light worsted. Then think about Fibre: you'll be wanting something soft, so merino would be a great choice (as would blue-face leicester). However, Care/Maintenance tells you that while that Malabrigo Worsted might be the softest thing on earth, it is hand-wash only which isn't a great choice for something that will get drooled on 24/7. It will also start to pill very quickly (it's basically a 2-ply disguised as a 1-ply - that's Construction) and new mums will not have the time to defuzz that baby cardigan before they leave the hospital. You should probably opt for something sturdier, but still soft. Price? That will determine whether you'll end up with a soft acrylic or a soft merino-blend. The choice is yours, but whatever you choose, you will end up with a great baby cardigan.
  2. 4-ply Lace Cardigan. You have already been told by the pattern which Weight to use. You should also look at the recommended Fibre as it will tell you whether the cardigan is designed to be drapey (i.e. silk, alpaca, cotton) or to keep its shape (wool, linen to some degree). If you want to turn a 4-ply cotton cardigan into something you could wear during the winter, you would look for an alpaca 4-ply, for instance. If you will be using the cardigan a lot, you'd want a fairly sturdy yarn (high twist, maybe even cabled - again, use your knowledge of Construction) in a robust fibre (something like a Shetland or an Icelandic 4-ply - or a woolblend) whereas a statement piece could be done in a more delicate yarn (silk, pure merino). Here Care/Maintenance is also important as a soft, delicate yarn invariably will pill more than a rustic yarn. Price is naturally also important.

Designers can generally be trusted to make most of the decisions for you when they write their pattern, but sometimes even they make a poor decision and opt for a pretty yarn which may not suit your purposes (i.e. the pattern is written for delicate cashmere, but the actual garment is a practical cardigan). This is a pitfall for many very experienced knitters.

Notice how I haven't even spoken about colours or how the fibre feels against your skin? That is because I believe you need to have narrowed down your yarn shortlist before you start looking at those pretty, pretty colours or before you start stroking those soft hanks. Most knitters start with a colour before they start thinking about more technical stuff, but, really, would you buy a car just because you liked the colour? Be smart about your purchases, dear readers.

Finally, I know that you might not feel you're "smart enough" to walk into a LYS and find the right yarn based upon the criteria outlined above. This is why LYS employees are suddenly your best friends. They (should) know their yarns and be able to assist you in an honest, friendly and knowledgable way. Explain exactly what you are making, have your pattern's gauge/needle-size on hand, point out who you are making it for (this is more important than you might think) and what your price range is. It'll help them help you.

I don't know if I have been brief here, but I hope this has been helpful. Any comments or queries?

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Love Spreads

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Life is good when the sun is out and you have the day to yourself. The postman brought me the Spring/Summer edition of the Rowan International newsletter and I read it whilst surrounded by buttercups, daisies and playful squirrels. Later, when the sun disappeared, I went to the local Polish deli for rye-bread, tuna pate and buttermilk. It made for a delicious late lunch. I also found two beautiful tweed skirts in a charity shop along with an old, old knitting magazine. Total cost: £3. Yes, it has been one of those days today. One to savour.

I need a tiny pick-me-up, actually, because I have been struggling with wrist-pain following yesterday's knitting group. The old ice pack came out again as did the pain killers. I have been able to crochet without too much bother, so I am wondering if the small knitting needles are exacerbating whatever is wrong with my wrist - I am using 2.5mm and 3mm. Presumably it would do my wrist good if I swapped my usual Continental style for the English style, but as I am working with cotton, I am worried about any change in tension.

ANYWAY. Today has been a lovely day.

And that is even before I mention that a girl in winter has given me a pat on the blogging shoulder. Basically, it is one of those spread-the-love things where someone says "I love reading your blog, have this virtual plaque, think of ten random facts about yourself, and then mention ten blogs you love reading."

I'll give you six factoids, though, because I'm really dull.

1. I have two of my own designs on the needles at the moment. One is a sock pattern and the other one is a beaded scarf. I plan on releasing the patterns. 2. I think in colour and suspect a mild form of synaesthesia. 3. I cannot wear high heels thanks to hypermobile feet. Well, okay, I can, but I'll be limping the next day. I have inlays for my (flat) shoes which ensure my feet are kept steady throughout the day. Thankfully I don't need to wear the inlays constantly. My podiatrist once told me that had I been born in Russia, I would have been part of the State Circus. Thanks. 4. I identify as a Secular Humanist which sometimes makes people think I'm a big fan of Richard Dawkins. I am not. He veers far too close to fundamentalism for my taste and I find him decidedly off-putting. 5. When I say that my style is "vintage-inspired casual", I really mean "perpetually student-ish". I still get asked for student ID in shops despite being in my mid-30s. 6. I once appeared on a Danish quiz show and then travelled around New Zealand on my winnings.

Now imagine the next sentence in big pink sans-serif letters across the bust of a Photoshopped Hollywood Starlet: Ten Fabulous Bloggers You Need to Add To Your Feed Reader Right Now:

  • Drop Stitches, Not Bombs - clever and stylish Italian woman knitting her way across Europe (although mainly UK-based)
  • Bellsknit - Bells in Australia has a way with words, yarn and food. Gorgeous photography and great sense of humour too.
  • Thrums - a recent find. New York-based woman who reads, knits and observes people.
  • A Friend to Knit With - the photography is just stunning
  • Feather & Fan - the brilliant Orata's blog filled with her own designs and travels.
  • Ms KnitWit - I really like how she captures the extraordinary in ordinary life in her photos. Also: smart, funny and crafty.
  • Roobeedoo - Someone else who has been transplanted to a life in Scotland. She's a reader, a crafter and very human.
  • Academia Nuts- I'm privileged to call her a friend. You should see her knitting projects too.
  • Anarkistens (ægte) Kogebog - Danish food blog. The funniest blog I've read in a long time. And she's all about using 12thC recipe books in her kitchen. Respekt dér.
  • Petra O - a Swedish craft blog which is hugely inspirational with its beautiful photography and distinct style.