Applied I-Cord

I am in the process of writing a new pattern. One of the techniques that my new pattern uses is Applied I-Cord. I found some information online on how to utilise this technique, but I realise there is not a lot out there. I decided to take some photographs of how I applied i-cord to my new project, just in case there are any questions, about what I mean by Applied I-Cord.

The photographs included in this post were taken whilst knitting my up coming project the On Target Bag, which is a felted bag. The i-cord is being applied to a circular piece of knitting, knitting with two strands of double knit weight yarn.

Firstly cast on the number of stitches you want to use for your i-cord. In this case I have cast on 4.

With the rear of the work facing towards you, knit the first three stitches on the needle. Slip the third stitch knitwise.

Place the tip of the left hand needle under the next stitch on the edge of the work. In this case, I am only using the furthest leg of the stitch, and not both, as I want to use the closest leg to sew the bag together.

Knit into this picked up stitch.

The stitches on the right hand needle should look like this, from the back.

Next pass the slipped stitch over the last stitch that was knit.

There are now four stitches on the right hand needle. Transfer all four stitches back onto the left hand needle, without turning the work.

From the front of the work, the Applied I-Cord should look like this.

After the stitches have been passed to the left hand needle, the working yarn will be at the left hand side of the working stitches. In order to knit the first stitch of each row of the i-cord, you must pull the yarn tight along the back of the stitches. This is what pulls the cord into a round shape.

Continue, following this method until the desired length has been reached. If you are joining the ends of the i-cord, then graft the ends together, ensuring the i-cord retains its twist at the join.

I hope that this little tutorial helps anyone with questions about the i-cord in my pattern. If you are ever applying i-cord to any shape other than a circle and you have to manipulate the i-cord round corners, then add 2-3 extra rows of i-cord, without picking up stitches before picking up again round the adjacent side.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Flimsy Yarn

I seem to be spending all my time knitting with teeny tiny strips of yarn these days. I think it is because of my newly found passion for lace weight yarn. My passion could turn to an obsession or it could turn to hate. I haven't quite decided yet. I think I must have knit my Ishbel at least twice, but I still have only managed to get as far as the end of the second chart. I have to do seven charts by the way.

It doesn't look very big does it. That is because all that stocking stitch has been done twice now. The lace border bit, has been done many more times. I am so glad that I found some crochet cotton to use as a life line. The first time I used a life line it was very flimsy thread for normal sewing use. It didn't not let me pick up the stitches because it wasn't strong enough and thick enough to hold the stitches taut. This is why the stocking stitch has been done twice. Now I have the crochet cotton I'm only having to undo a few rows at a time. It doesn't stop it being frustrating when I have to unpick my hard fought over stitches, but at least it is slightly less time consuming.

You can actually see the lace pattern starting to emerge now. I have also discovered that I get on much better with the chart than I do with written instructions. I find it easier to memorise the repeats.

Despite all the frustrations I don't seem to be able to put it down and have been knitting only this for the last week, with the exception of my socks, which are purely for knitting in company. As I went to Borders on Monday, for my knitting group, I churned out some more on my vanilla socks.

The vanilla bit stands for the boring basic pattern with no twiddles (not the colour). I think the colour is more tutti frutti than vanilla. So far these have been great knitting group socks. I hope the heel goes as well.

Whilst at Borders I succumbed to a beautiful bag from Paperchase.

It is waterproof, has a zipped top and a small inner pocket. It will be perfect for carrying around my projects in the winter months, especially with the bright colours to cheer me up. The bag is great, but I don't think it will get much use at the moment, given my current preoccupation with flimsy yarn. All I need for teeny yarn is a tiny project bag. Ah well it can sit in the corner of the lounge looking pretty!

Oh and yesterday I helped Mary Clare set up a Folksy shop for her bags. Hopefully she will add fabric and other bits and pieces soon as she gets more used to the process. In the meantime have a look at what she has put up at Folksy. I really love her bags, and if I hadn't just bought a new bag, I would have had one of these!

Handbag Charm

I am currently knitting away on projects that I have already mentioned. These projects aren't very photo worthy, at the moment. So instead I present, for your delectation, gratuitous photos of my pretty handbag charm.

I made the charm using a clip bought from Mary Clare and beads from MIL's birthday gift. The bead set is made up of mainly brown and gold colours and this lent itself well to being made into a charm for my suede handbag.

I am really pleased with this little project and may make more in the future, to go with my other handbags, though I will need different colours. To be honest, I'll take any excuse to buy pretty coloured beads, so it is a win/win situation.

Had to show just one last shot!

The Blanket Grows

I feel like I hit a huge milestone today. I blocked my KAL Blanket centre panel. This panel has been hanging around since February, and the rest of the blanket is to be built around it.

The panel is based on the pattern for Tie-Back Cushions from The Knitter, Issue 1 and is by Amanda Crawford. I love this pattern and have enjoyed every single repeat of the cabling. I finished my 13th repeat just before my yarn ran out and when I measured it, for blocking, it was 36" x 12", which is the perfect size to build the rest of the blanket around. Most of the coloured squares are 6" x 6", so they should fit around the panel perfectly. Now all I need to do is calculate how much more yarn I will need to finish it off. Psychologically I feel that blocking this panel has brought me a great deal closer to finishing the entire blanket, even though I know I am only half way through.

After all my hard work cabling and blocking, I decided that today would be a lace day. I watched some recorded tv and worked my way through Ishbel.

I have decided to do the larger version of this scarf, because I am not a small person, and I would like it to at least cover my broad shoulders. I have managed to finish the stocking stitch part of the pattern and I am now on the first section of lace.

As you can see I have already started with my lifelines. I followed a tip I read somewhere once, (I can't remember where, unfortunately) that suggested threading the cotton through the little hole on my KnitPro Options Needle and knitting the row concerned. This automatically threads the lifeline through the row, without any effort at all. It's a marvellous suggestion and I will use it at regular intervals throughout the pattern. I have found a video on YouTube that describes this method, you can find it here.

I have only managed 4 rows of the lace pattern so far, but I am enjoying watching it grow and can't wait to be able to wear it. Considering this was only a test knit, I am rapidly falling in love with the yarn and know that when it has been washed and blocked it will be very beautiful and soft. I knew I would fall in love with lace once I started, that's why I bought all that nice yarn!

Karmic Knitting

As the recipient of fabulous test knitters' time and energy, I felt it would only be appropriate for me to respond in kind. Not necessarily by testing something by my test knitters, but by testing something from the same group on Ravelry. It is a wonderful group I have only recently joined, where anyone can put out a request for test knitters. The test knitters then use their own yarn and then knit the pattern and give feed back. If anyone else feels like doing their karma some good, the group is on Ravelry and is Free Pattern Testers.

The pattern that I tested was BlueBonnets and this was designed by Sasha Evans of Sasha's Blue Carpet. I really like her blog which is full of a mix of craft and intellectual debate. She describes herself thus

"This blog follows the domestic antics of a broke, punchy, feminist, sword-toting graduate student as she knits her way to freedom."

I already read the blog, so when the pattern was listed I jumped at the chance to do a small quick project for somebody I quite like. The pattern is for a headband and uses a little bit of lace, a little bit of cabling and some nifty plaits.

The pattern used Paton's Bamboo Silk, but I wasn't quite as upmarket and used Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo. I really like this yarn. It is soft and silky but strong with a nice drape. I will probably knit something garment sized in this yarn eventually.

The pattern required using provisional crochet cast on. I think you can see that I may have gone a little lopsided. I thought I'd corrected any errors, but you can see it after blocking, if you look carefully. I'm banking on most people not knowing where to look.

I like how the cabling and lace shape the head band.

I have worn this all day, as it is just what I need to keep my growing out fringe, out of my eyes. I may well make another one, with the Baby Bamboo I have left over from the Cyber Sam project.

Along with the above, this weekend I have been knitting my Ishbel and carrying on with the great KAL Blanket project. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed cables, so after doing the BlueBonnets I dug out my big centre panel and got cabling. I'm sure it will end eventually as I only have 1 and a bit balls of yarn left in this colour. I just hope it is long enough, after the yarn runs out.

Romberry Scarf Pattern Now Available

If you are very observant, you may have noticed an addition to my blog page. A few weeks ago I added a section for my patterns. I have made available a Fair Isle chart for free download and I have now added the Romberry Scarf pattern.

The Romberry Scarf was designed after searching for a scarf to match the Porom Hat, designed by Jared Flood. After several sessions sitting in front of the pattern search on Ravelry, I gave up and decided to design my own. The Romberry Scarf Pattern is the result of many weeks of hard work by me, and my pattern testers; Purplereigns, Sataytoo and Acucena. Thank you ladies, you did stellar work!

The scarf is made up of a lace stitch, knit for the main body of the scarf and the frill edge is crocheted on. The lace pattern is written out in abbreviated instructions and is also charted, for those that prefer that format.

The turquoise scarf was knit using Louisa Harding's Grace Hand-dyed yarn and the raspberry scarf was knit using RYC Wool Silk DK. Each version used 3 full skeins, plus around a quarter of a 4th. If you wanted to lengthen the scarf, you would probably have enough yarn to add an extra repeat of the lace. The size, as written in the pattern, is approximately 40" x 9", depending on tension.

The scarf was designed to be reversible and is long enough to be tied at the neck, like a cravat or the weight of the wool silk yarn allows it to stay in place if it is worn crossed over at the front, under a coat.

I loved making these scarves and hope that others will want to make them too. The pattern is for sale at £1.00, which at today's exchange rate is approximately US$1.75 (this will fluctuate). The pattern can be downloaded using the link at the top left hand side of the blog, or directly from the Ravelry page.

If you do decide to make the scarf, please let me know as I would love to see photos of what others have done with the design.

Ishbel

This is a very short post (for once!). I just wanted to tell you that I have finally cast on for a lace pattern. I cast on my Ishbel last night and took it to Mary Clare's new evening knitting group. I managed to get this much done in two hours, whilst chatting.

The lambswool is proving to be very very nice indeed. Oh I'm so glad I have at least a kilo of this stuff.

Pattern Test and A New Watch

I have just cast off and sewn in the ends of my second Romberry Scarf. This scarf was knit using the pattern I wrote, to test it out. I used Louisa Harding's Grace yarn and it was wonderful to knit with.

The colour is wonderful and the variation is very subtle, but not too delicate. This yarn shows the stitch pattern much more clearly than on the first scarf, partly because it is a lighter colour and partly because it drapes much more. The ribbing is much more relaxed, possibly because the yarn is slightly less dense.

I really love the sheen that yarns containing silk produce. You can also see more clearly the crocheted part of the scarf.

I am going to work on tweaking the pattern, following some suggestions made by my testers and hopefully within a couple of weeks, this pattern will be available for download.

For a change of scenery yesterday I met a friend and we went for lunch. Whilst finding somewhere to eat, we came across a stall selling interesting watches. I was very tempted to buy one at the bargain price of £5, but I resisted. However, this watch buying urge, did prompt me into making up my own watch.

I bought all these components at Mary Clare a couple of weeks ago. She had just got in some wonderful new jewellery making stock. I couldn't resist this little collection and had much fun choosing which beads would work together well. I made my watch in around 45 minutes, after having to adjust for length. The result of my work is this:

I am very pleased with my new watch and hope it will go with lots of outfits. I also have quite a few of the beads left to possibly make some accessories to match my new wrist ornament.

I did warn you that the jewellery making would be featuring in this blog again.

More Goodies

Can you believe I have even more yarn goodies to show you. In my defence I had forgotten about buying these when I went to Ravelry Day. Technically I hadn't bought them when I left the house. I had set up my Snipe account to bid for the yarn when the sale was about to end. I love sniping for ebay bargains. I use Myibay and it lets me set the highest price I will pay for an item and it then automatically bids for it just before the auction closes at the lowest possible price to win. You can also set categories and how many items in a category you are prepared to bid for if you win an item. It is all very clever and has captured me some real bargains. The latest bargain is for Mango Moon Sari Silk.

This yarn is made from the scraps of silk found around the factories that make saris in India. The women who spin the silk do it by hand using drop spindles in their own homes. This allows them to earn an income without having to stop caring for their famillies. It is a very worthwhile cause that produces a very interesting yarn.

The yarn is bulky and uneven but full of bright colours and interesting textures. I got it for less than a quarter of the price (including postage). I am so grateful that people clear out their stash and give me the benefit of cheap yarn!

After my lace yarn purchases, I have finally decided that I am ready to start my lace training. When I got home from the Ravelry Day, I spent quite a lot of time searching through my patterns and the internet for the ideal first big lace project. I have finally decided on the Ishbel by Ysolda Teague. I love this little shawl and I don't think I'm alone. There are lots of pictures of this project on Ravelry, 1226 at my last count! I like the pattern and it is a good size to get started. I am not going to use any of my precious new yarn to knit it, but I am going to use the yarn I bought at Uppingham Yarns last summer.

I have 2kg of this stuff and it was dirt cheap. I had bought it to felt with, but I haven't plied enough together yet. For once this lack of progress is actually in my favour because it means I can use the unplied yarn to knit my Ishbel with. As it is 100% Lambs Wool is is nice and soft, but it has a little more body to it, than my new yarns, so I won't be afraid of snagging it while I knit. I think this pattern and yarn combination, is a good first step towards my ultimate ambition of knitting the Aeolian Shawl, which is my dream shawl.

I am also quite pleased to report that I have finally cast on my contribution to the Milkweed Project. I signed up to take part in this months ago, and as there was a long deadline (December) I have been sitting on my hands. Yesterday I decided that I needed to play with the yarn and see what happened.

I am using 4mm needles and knitting in garter stitch, but I am wrapping the needle with the yarn several times to give long loopy stitches. The loops are in random places and are of varying lengths. I think this lack of regimentation (i.e. planning) makes the texture of the knitting more like natural fibrous material.

I think this is the sort of texture I am looking for, and I will pick up the project and knit, when I have a spare few minutes, over the coming months.

UK Ravelry Day 2009

I had a wonderful day yesterday. Yes the weather was awful, yes I got cold, wet and tired, but oh yes was it worth it!! My friend Jennie from the knitting group at Borders, was very kind and offered to give me a lift to Coventry. We managed to find the venue and completely by chance parked right next to the ShopMobility. We had brought my wheelchair, but decided a scooter was a much better idea, and it was. I put on my waterproof leggings and jacket and got on board and we travelled through the pouring rain. The very first stall we saw was The Knitting Goddess. After diving into the pile of beautiful yarn, I made my first purchase of the day a 100% Alpaca Lace weight, in semi-solid Slate.

This is a really fine yarn with some beautifully delicate colour variations. The yarn is slightly more grey than the pictures show.

One of the many reasons I was glad that Jennie gave me a lift is that she has made some very beautiful laceweight knitting. Her projects have been a real inspiration and have played a big part in my longing to knit lace. Having Jennie by my side meant that I had someone who knew all about the lace and helped me chose well. One thing I like about lace is how little bulk there is to it and one skein goes a very very long way. Each of the hanks I have bought will probably make one or two projects each!

Next in my list of purchases is from The Natural Dye Studio. I kept being drawn to the blues and purples I am always captivated by, so in a conscious effort I looked at the other colours. To my joy I fell head over heels with a delicate green yarn called Angel.

This is made of Baby Alpaca, Silk and Cashmere and has a soft haze.

After my great purchases, we then went and had a wander round the stalls inside and gawped at RockPool Candy's giant crochet. If you want to see, have a look here on her website. The Coventry Long Draw Spinners were there doing mini teaching sessions, but by the time I got there I was too tired to have a go. I really had intented to try it some time but alas my body, as usual, let me down.

The venue of Coventry's Methodist Central Hall was a good choice. There was just enough room to shelter from the rain and lots of tables and chairs where we could dry off. I also have to say their toasted tea cakes were lovely.

On my way to grab a sandwich from Subway I came across Krafty Koala's stand and bought some lovely Merino/Tencel sock wool. I doubt very much if this will get used for socks as it is too pretty to be hidden away under shoes.

It is very soft and silky with a nice sheen from the tencel.

At this point I was all spent out, or so I thought. Jennie wanted to do one last run round the stalls before going home and she went back to the Yarn Addicts Stall. I totally fell in love with the stunningly soft Exotic Lace yarn from YarnAddicts.

It is made of Baby Alpaca, Silk and Cashmere and it is DIVINE!!! Though is it the same composition as the Angel, if feels and looks quite different. It is a slightly denser and more springy yarn and it cries out to me every time I see it.

I was so in love with this yarn that when they told me they didn't take cards I nearly cried. Jennie offered to put it with her list of purchases and pay by cheque. I was unbelievably grateful and will owe her one for a long time for this. I keep stroking it because it feels so good. I must point out I have already paid her back, but if I had been unable to buy this yarn, because I hadn't brought enough cash, I would have been inconsolable.

I'm afraid I didn't actually take any photos on the day, because I was scared of my camera getting water logged, but thankfully MiffyRabbit took some so you can see how wet it was. My favorite shot is of the pigeons sheltering. I also nearly got some of the sock yarn with silver in it, but had spent up by that point.

This day out was wonderful. Everyone was friendly, and there were lots of familliar faces to chat to. I think this was mainly because most of the Border's knitting group was there. There were lots of people wearing great knits (even if they were covered up most of the time) and everyone seemed really happy to be there. The rain didn't seem to diminish spirits in any way. I wish I could go next year, but think that Scotland is a little out of my travel comfort zone.

I had a great time and can't wait to coo over everyone else's purchases, because I wish I could have bought something from every stall.