FOs: Nev & Intuitive

I have been on a crazy knitting spree lately. This week I finished three things and am well on my way on finishing another two. Strange, but lovely. The first finished object is Nev, a huge shawl  - the biggest I have ever made, I think. The pattern is Bex Hopkins' Dew Drops Shawl, a free pattern and I used Navia Uno, a Faroese yarn. I had a few issues with both pattern and yarn, but as I really like the finished object it was worth the effort.

You can find my modifications/shortcuts on the project's Rav entry so suffice to say that I thought the pattern had been written in an overly-complicated manner and that there are easier ways of getting the same result. The yarn was very odd: it had a core of lovely wool but also had a cotton-like thread wrapped around the core. It made for an odd knitting experience - a yarn which was partly pliable and partly very inelastic. The thread occasionally bundled up and the two plies frequently caught on my needles. As I said, I really like Nev and I am inordinately fond of the actual fabric, so I would probably use the yarn again, but it does makes for an odd knitting experience. Snældan remains my favourite North Atlantic lace yarn, in other words.

I took Nev out for a trial run this afternoon. It blocked out huge (2.2m across and 80 cm deep, fact fans) which made for a very cosy shawl on a snowy afternoon. Today is my Other Half's birthday so despite heavy snowfall we made the effort to go out for the best cake in the West End (which included sparkles today!) and a lovely meal. Pardon the chubbiness - I wore five layers underneath my coat!

(Incidentally, I felt totally Parisian as we were frolicking in the snow round Merchant City's fab late 19th C architecture and I wore super-cool knitwear. Eat your heart out, fashionistas everywhere)

I also wore the other finished object: my brand-new winter hat. Remember when knitting was a totally utilitarian exercise? Remember when you whipped up a hat because you were cold - and not because you had stashed a handdyed yarn from Ireland or found this totally must-knit pattern on Ravelry? Yeah, I went Old Skool this week. I knitted a hat because winter was upon us.

I found the perfect quick, warm knit in seconds. Danish knit blogger, Julia Zahle, published a hat pattern about a year ago and I had sort-of always kind-of meant to knit it. Intiutive was a practical, quick, easy, and warm hat. I knitted it in less than a day and have worn it ever since.

I used less than a skein of Cascade 220. C220 is heavier than the recommended yarn, so I CO 100 stitches and then followed the pattern from there. The lace pattern is an easy 2-row repeat and although it is a lacy pattern, the fabric becomes so dense that it actually allows for extra warmth. Black is quite a boring colour, but it is also a practical colour.. For the very same reason I am now knitting a pair of black fingerless gloves.

Ah, and as yarn leaves the stash more enters the stash: my gran has a big heart and delights in giving presents to birthday celebrants' partners. This meant that I got a huge bag of assorted yarn - all very nice stuff - today. I'm slightly overwhelmed - as is my yarn 'closet' (a small walk-in closet just off the living room, to be precise. We also store a double bed in there.). One of my to-do things for the week ahead? Sorting out my yarn stash, so I can actually shut the door. Ulp.

Finally, one of my favourite blog posts of the week month: Wearable foods. The bubblegum outfits are achingly beautiful.

ADDENDUM:

It's Only November

Checking In

Thank you all for your valuable advice on sewing machines. I have asked many knowledgeable people and perused the net in search of good advice. (Admittedly I gave up on the net bit after finding a blog which detailed how the blogger spent $1200 on a sewing machine that would give her slightly more perfect straight 1/4" seams when quilting than her old $1000 machine. I am not that much of a perfectionist. Although I admit to being tempted by jelly rolls, so I might cave in to quilting some day soon)

I am now considering a mechanical Elna machine (hopefully getting to do a trial run soon) which is roughly the same price as the electronic Janome I had previously been eyeing. I am a bit cautious about getting a machine I cannot quite poke around in with a screwdriver (which is also why I prefer my computers to be desktops built from various spare parts rather than going out to buy a fully-formed laptop) and I think the Elna might fit the bill better than the Janome. I have a few more months before I need to make a decision. I am also planning on doing a few intermediate sewing classes at The Life Craft which will hopefully give me enough confidence to do a Colette pattern (I want to do both a Crepe and a Ceylon).

Knitting-wise.. phew, I have a slew of finished objects lately. I have been listening to a lot of dreadful audiobooks and these have helped me focus on my knitting rather than anything else. I have finished a self-designed garment (I will need to write this out as a pattern - let me know if you want to test-knit something for me 'soonish'), a big shawl, and a hat. Weather permitting, I will get some photos on this blog this week. Now I only have the sleeves for my red alpaca cardigan to do and I have a complete blank slate*

* obvious lie: I have so much I should be knitting that I feel faint just thinking about it

Finally, hey, a public service announcement for friends and family trying to think of a present for me. This year I've been a tad more organised! I know, I know .. wonders never cease..

Catch-Up

I have ten rows to go on my tenth shawl of 2010. The rows are getting very long now, so I'm taking a break - just long enough to make myself a cup of tea and to update my sadly neglected blog. It has been a very long week. All my best intentions and all my best-laid plans flew out the window whilst I tried to hold on to my sanity and get through a mountain of work. I have been playing catch-up ever since returning from Denmark and I think I'm almost nearly there.

These things have helped me through the week:

• He Will Have His Way - the follow-up to She Will Have Her Way, funnily enough. Boy & Bear's version of Fall At Your Feet is quite possibly my favourite Finn cover (fighting it out with Holly Throsby's Not the Girl You Think You Are) and I also really like the surf rock take on Shark Attack.
• Humoncomics can be very hit-or-miss, but I liked their take on Scandinavian cuisines. I made Danish rice pudding this week - it's a main course in Denmark and makes for wonderful comfort food. We did not have any leftovers, though, or I would have made some klatkager the next day.
• Dogs Don't Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving. If you have a dog or ever known one, you should read this. I still remember how betrayed my dog looked when we moved across town (I was 18. He was deeply upset on a profound level).
• This youtube video made me smile one cloudy, grey November morning: Dannii & Kylie Minogue flash mob in Sydney.

My shawl beckons me (as does that cup of tea). Have a lovely weekend.

Reds & Greens

November is never a great time to take photos, blue-tinted light and all, so excuse the slight bluriness and blueness of these photos. I have been working on this Kim Hargreaves cardigan ever since Touching Elegance was published. It should not have taken me this long but a lot of things have conspired against me: other projects, a sudden lack of knitting mojo, stressful time at work, injury-prone hands..

Luckily I was able to devote some proper time to the cardigan during my holiday and the second front knitted up in less than four days. I found my homemade spreadsheet absolutely invaluable: all the increase and decreases which make for a slightly biased fabric and create a gently sloped front edge were just too much to keep straight in my head. I'm a visual learner and I think I'll make these spreadsheets a lot in the future unless I'm dealing with extremely basic shapes.

Whilst I was in Copenhagen, I decided to search for suitable buttons. The original pattern just calls for five buttons, but I had decided to incorporate a sixth buttonhole to help stabilise the fronts as I've knitted this cardigan with negative ease. I found the perfect buttons in a fabric shop and I'm very pleased by how I managed to find some in the same shade of red (it's not an easy shade of red to match - it is a coral-ish, slightly cool red). My original plan was to find some navy and white buttons to give the cardigan a nautical feel, but these buttons make it a much more versatile garment. Score!

Incidentally, this is the best piece of knitting advice I have ever been given (thanks Gran): Use the most expensive buttons you can afford. Cheap buttons will make even the most luxurious garment feel cheap whilst expensive buttons will make a simple garment look like a million.

I have also been knitting socks. Well, mini-socks to be precise.

I'm running a Christmas workshop later this week and have been playing around with scrap yarn in preparation. The grey sock is knitted in 4ply yarn and the red sock in aran-weight yarn. I plan on adding embellishments (beads, buttons, glittery yarn) and see where that takes me. I also need to tweak the 'heel' as I'm not very happy with how it looks.

I'm doing yet another Christmas workshop next week - that one is about crocheting Christmas ornaments and we'll be using a pattern which has been handed down my family. I have already done a few swatches for that one whilst in Denmark (we called it 'mother-daughter bonding over Christmas crafting') but I might do a few more. Just for kicks.

Finally, thank you so much for all your comments and Rav messages lately. I'm running way behind schedule in answering all of you but I will get there!

Plans Afoot

Early next year I am getting a sewing machine and I am so excited. I have been trying to figure out which machine to buy and so far the Janome dc3050 is the frontrunner. I have tried it and I like its versatility - I am just not sure it is not a bit too fancy and it is perhaps also a bit pricier than I would have liked (especially for a model which has been on the market for years). What machine do you have and what would you recommend? I am not a complete beginner - I just haven't sewn for a few good years. I have also spent time thinking about why exactly I want a sewing machine.

Of course I want to make my own clothes. Being a proficient knitter has taught me how amazing it feels to wear something that fits 'just right' and in colours I like. Like many others, I find clothes shopping an ordeal - partly because I never seem to fit into one particular size and partly because I don't like most of the clothes bought in shops. Upcycling old textiles is also greatly appealing (and nothing new to me - my favourite pair of trousers as a teen were fashioned from old 1950s curtains) and being able to mend things in my home strikes yet another cord. Perhaps I'm just trying to convince myself that this is not just another act of consumerism but actually a practical purchase. That is how my head works.

However, I do find myself slightly scared by venturing into the world of dress-making. I went into a few fabric stores in Copenhagen and I was petrified. This was presumably how I felt the first time I went into a yarn store, but I really cannot remember nowadays. I was surrounded by rolls of material and I had NO IDEA what most of them were or how they could be used. I have mostly dabbled in cottons, so I was quite unprepared by the sheer variety available.

I am still knitting, of course. I finished a project whilst on holiday, but I need to sit down and work out pattern before I post more details. It's an own design and it'll be available in a range of sizes. I have a lot of things on my plate work-wise (going on holiday is great; coming back is always slightly stressful) so I don't know when I'll publish it. I only have the sleeves to do on my red alpaca cardigan. I have two more charts left on my Faroese yarn shawl. And I have a sample I need to knit with the deadline looming (yes, it's for a publication; no, not my design; yes, it's super-pretty). All so many projects almost done.. just not there yet.

Random links:

• This headline made me convulse with laughter.
• What a shame my Christmas shopping is done.
• Some people are geekier than me. Or you. Or my Significant Other. Although he enjoyed that site.
• What a way to wake up every morning.
• The geekiest thing I've seen on YouTube. Well, today.
• 10 Essential Books from the Last 25 Years. Exactly what it says on the tin.. not. Too token, too white, too male, and much too US-centric. Also curiously omitting the book which named the referenced generation and no Atwood either (take your pick but The Handmaid's Tale would be my choice).
• This Danish criminal case has rattled me. For years I lived very, very close to where these crimes took place and when I heard about the police trying to find the perpetrator, I had a horrible feeling I knew the guy. I'm very, very, very glad to be proven wrong (if indeed the arrested man is guilty).