Tour de Fleece 2013

I think I might have mentioned that I wasn't going to take part in the Tour de Fleece.  I thought I'd maybe spin a bit without bothering to post photos and join in with the chat on Ravelry.  It's why I've not really talked about it on the blog.  If you've never heard of this spinning challenge that takes place alongside the Tour de France, then you are probably not a spinner.  I mentioned my decision not to take part on Yarn Raising's Ravelry board and Melia told me that there were amazing prizes for taking part and it was well worth just posting a photo every now and again.  So finding out I didn't need to post photos every day meant I somehow managed to end up joining the Rookies Team and Team Hilltop Cloud, because that is the fibre I'm currently spinning.

So here is today's progress, which I did whilst watching the start of the Tour de France kick off.  It's great that ITV4 has got such good coverage and I'm sure I will get to watch a lot of the race during the next few weeks.  I don't know much about road racing, but I hope to pick up a lot as I watch.

I feel like my spinning is definitely improving and I think that monitoring it over the course of the Tour will show me how I'm doing.

To accompany my spinning, I have decided to cast on a project that uses some of the handspun I've already made.  I have heard that it is better to knit your handspun yarn as soon as possible, because as you improve your technique, the less you enjoy knitting up the early yarn!  So, I have cast on the lovely coloured Beach yarn that I spun from The Yarn Yard Superwash BFL.

The pattern I have chosen is from Knitty, First Fall 2012.  The pattern is Unleaving by Lee Juvan.  It is a pattern that is designed for handspun yarn and is a narrow shawl that is knit sideways, in garter stitch with a lace panel down one side.

I have managed 3 repeats of the chart so far.

After knitting this small amount, I can see why people suggest knitting early handspun yarn soon after it is spun.  This yarn is very loosely plied.  It's actually an education knitting this yarn, because I can see what I did wrong with it.  The lose plying means that the strands are not bound tightly enough to each other and it is very easy to split the yarn and it will be easily damaged.  However, it is still rather wonderful to be knitting something from my handspun yarn, and each time I do it, I will learn more.

I am not planning on updating each day with my Tour de Fleece progress, but I'm hoping when I do I don't bore the non-spinners too much ;-)

Repurposing

You know how sometimes you see a pattern on a blog or on Ravelry, and you just know you HAVE to have it?  That happened to me a couple of months ago.  In early December a picture popped into my "Friend's Activity" feed on Ravelry and Ohdessa's amazing Decibella is not just eye-catching, but drool inducing.  Then the very next day Kay Gardiner loaded a photograph of her version of the exact project.  The pattern in question is Decibella by Gale Zucker.  I really wanted to knit this project, but it is knit in Super Bulky yarn, which is generally not cheap, and I didn't have the yarn in stash.  As it was the run up to Christma,s when I saw this pattern, I just made a mental note and put it aside for a future knit.

Then yesterday I had an epiphany.  I have two cowl/hood type things that I had experimented with about three years ago.  These garments use two skeins of Colinette Point 5, which happen to be Super Bulky weight in exactly the quantity I would need to knit a Decibella.  As neither hood really worked out, I never wear them, so frogging them seemed the humane thing to do, putting them out of their misery and turning them into something lovely instead.  I have frogged the first of my hoods.

These two skeins will equal one of the colours.  I think I will randomly spit splice them together, as I knit, as there are already colours in the purple skein from the green skein, I don't think extra blending will be noticed overly much.  The other hood is yet to be frogged, but it is on my immediate to do list.

In an ideal world, my contrast yarn would not be beige, but I picked it up very cheaply on eBay.  I was experimenting with a design in that yarn and felt it was a deal I couldn't pass up.  As it is such a neutral colour I think it will work out ok as a contrast to the bright colours of the green and purple.  I am more worried about  how fat/thin yarn will look, instead of the lovely plump and evenly spun yarn used in the pattern.  We shall just have to wait and see.

In other news, I have been playing with my lovely distracting yarn.  I have decided I want it to be a scarf and I have been playing with a checkerboard type lace pattern.

I have re-knit this few centimetres about 5 times and I'm still not quite happy with it.  I may give the poor yarn a rest and do some more swatching on some left over yarns from another project, because even though it has stood up incredibly well to the frogging, I don't want to make it fuzzy by doing it too much more.  Hopefully by next week, my ideas will have firmed up a bit and I'll be able to show more.

To look at other people's work in progress, click the button.

Picking Your Braaaaaains!

My major work in progress, is a shawl design.  It started from the Craftsy class I am taking on Lace Shawl Design with Miriam Felton.  I chose the course as I thought it would help clarify how to work out repeats, etc., and how to transition lace charts.  I was right, it did really help with that.  In fact, I really recommend the course for anyone wanting to take their first steps into designing their own shawls.  It doesn't teach how to write patterns, but it does teach you how to work out your own charts.

So, as a result of this class I have created my first triangular wedged shawl pattern.  Here's a sneaky peak.

I knit my first shawlette version in Candy Skein Yummy Fingering in Blue Bubble Gum - I LOVE this colour.  It was what tempted me into ordering my very first yarn from the USA.  I would definitely recommend this yarn, but it is cheaper for me to buy independently dyed yarn from the UK, if only because of the postage.  I plan on knitting my large scale shawl in this gorgeous stuff.

It is BabyLongLegs Perfection Lace.  It is DIVINE.  It is a pure silk laceweight and it has taken the dye like a dream.  The yarn is balled up and raring to go.  But, before I start knitting this sample, I have a question for you to answer, what shape shawl do you prefer?

The charts for this design are based around a simple isosceles triangle and as such there are two basic shapes of shawl that I want to adjust this pattern for;



or,

The shawlette sample was knitted as a half circle shawl, which I am very fond of.  What I want to know, as a rule, which shape of shawl do you prefer; the half circle, or the large triangle?  Or, should I write a pattern that includes both styles and let the knitter decide (even if it complicates the pattern?).

I want outside opinion because my inclination is always towards the half circle style, because that is what I like.  I want to know what potential customers like before I let my personal opinions cloud the design process.  As I don't have a vast market research company to tap into, I thought I'd exploit tap into your expertise and preferences.

Which shape of shawl do you prefer to buy patterns for?
	Large Triangle
	Half Circle (made of triangles)
	Includes Both Styles
pollcode.com free polls

I'd be really grateful if you could vote, using the above poll, and if you want to go further, leave a comment explaining why this is your preference.

I love designing for myself, but more than anything else I want to design something that other people will want to knit.  It is not that I just want to sell the pattern, I also really enjoy seeing other people knit my designs and get pleasure from them.  Key to ensuring that pleasure is giving them the shape they prefer wear.

Thanks so much for bearing with my blathering on, about what most designers keep as a private process, and I hope that when the pattern is finished I'll be able to show you what your input has helped to create.

To see more actual knitting, click on the button!

Blog Week Shawl & Another Shawl

I haven't given you much of an update on how the shawl created with the aid of Blog Week is going.  It was put on the back burner last week as I was working on a test knit for a friend, but I've picked it up again now.

The skeins of coloured yarn were numbered randomly and are shown here:

I know you can't see the bottom right number, but it is 8.  Here they are, all together.

I am very pleased with how the shawl is coming out.  The following photo is a little more yellow than it should be.  The colours in the above photo of all the yarns together are more accurate.

It's quite difficult to see how big the shawl is, because it is all bunched up on the needle.  I think at some time in the next week I'll try and put it on a piece of waste yarn to lie it flat, and see how big it is.

Each row is taking longer and longer now.

But I am really enjoying the changes of colour and pulling out the right skein at each change over.  It keeps it interesting.  I am weaving the ends in as I knit, because I think it would drive me crazy to sew them all in at the end.  I'm using the same technique I discovered when I started doing my Tribute Wrap.

I would never have striped the colours in the way that the list has come out, and because of that I am enjoying the colour combinations and how some stripes really pop out of the background.

As a change from all that garter stitch I have cast on another shawl.  This one is a bit different as I'm using Posh Yarn Gretchen 2 Ply yarn.  If you look on the Ravelry page for this yarn the top picture is pretty close to my skeins of yarn.

The pattern for this lovely yarn chose itself.  It has been in my "Favourites" for a couple of years now.  The pattern is Maplewing by Anne Hanson of Knitspot.

I didn't realise, but the pattern is knit from the outer edge up.  It took me 2 hours to cast on the 600 stitches with an accurate count!  This is why the following photo is all I have to show you!

I LOVE this yarn, its 55% Wool and 45% Silk, which gives it bounce and strength and sheen.  The colour is amazing and after treating myself to two skeins of this glorious stuff, I knew it would be the perfect match for this pattern.  This pattern is one of a few that have motivataed me to practice my lace knitting and become more confident with knitting in 2 ply, so I could one day attempt it.  It has lace stitches on both right and wrong sides, but once the pattern was established, it hasn't been too difficult to keep the repeats all straight.

I'm using my new Kindle Touch, instead of printing out the pattern.  I love being able to highlight the sections I have completed and also add notes if I want to.  I can't imagine ever having to print out patterns again, which will save a few trees!

I am also using combination knitting on this project which is proving interesting.  If you follow the above link to Annie Modesitt's website and click on the Combination Knitting Tab there are clear instructions on how to do this style of knitting.  I think it will improve the tension variations that seem to have appeared in my knit and purl rows since starting continental knitting.  I'll let you know how the experiment goes, but so far, so good!  I hope that next week I will have completed a few more rows to show you. 

If you want to be inspired by lovely crafters today, click on the button!

New Books and a Couple of WIPs

I am so giddy.  I got a delivery from Amazon this morning.  I got two books I've been thinking about getting for a while.  I decided to splash out, as I considered both books an investment, for different reasons.

The first book is Sew What! Skirts.

This is a book I've had my eye on for well over a year.  I got the spiral bound version as I think it will make it easier to follow instructions when working on a project.  I've had a quick flick through the book already, and it seems to be exactly what I was looking for.  The book helps you draw up a basic pattern for a skirt that fits your measurements.  It then goes on to help you adapt that simple pattern into a variety of different styles.  I have a small waist, in relation to my large hips and I find getting non-elasticated skirts to fit properly quite difficult.  I made my first skirt nearly 2 years ago and it really was completed on a wing and a prayer, but I love it.  I really wanted to make more and I decided rather than referring back and forth to the internet a book would be a wise investment.

I hope to try out this book as the weather warms up and I start to emerge from my woolly garments.  When I give the book a test drive, I'll let you know how it goes.

The other book is something I have desired for a much shorter time.  It was only republished very recently, but there was so much talk about it all over the Internet I decided that I must look at it.  After looking at it, on Amazon, and from reading other knitter's views of the book I decided that for the grand total of £24.99 I was going to take a risk.  I downloaded a sample on my Kindle App and thought it looked great.  I was debating whether to get in on Kindle or whether to get the book.  I decided in the end that I love text books, especially craft ones, and I wanted to sit with this particular book on my lap.  If I'd know about it's size before I got it, I might have rethought that lap sitting!

My fingers are shown for scale.  The eagle eyed amongst you might have worked out what this mighty tome is.

Yes, it is all 712 pages of  The Principles of Knitting: Methods and Techniques of Hand Knitting.  If you work out the price per page, I'm sure it is an amazing bargain!  I have the Vogue The Ultimate Knitting Book.  It was one of my first knitting encyclopaedia and I really like it, but it isn't as technical as this new book seems to be.  The diagrams in the book look clear and easy to understand and I can see myself working through various sections of the book to learn new and interesting techniques.

The Internet is great for searching for tutorials on "how to..." but you need to know the name before you can search for the tutorial.  My thoughts are that this book will really help me to investigate new ways of doing things.  I have always loved learning and I especially like learning things about knitting, so this is a book I know I will treasure for a very long time.  I'm not sure if my shelves will take it's weight though!

So now I've told you all about my books I'll revert to that old standby for Wednesday, the WIP!

My Leaves of Grass shawl is coming along nicely.

Now doesn't that look great?  No, not really.  If I spread it out a bit you can see a bit more.

No, it still doesn't look great, does it?  I don't think this project will look good until it is cast off and blocked.  Until then I'll probably not bother sharing photos.  It's a shame I can't show you more as I've made pretty good progress.  I'm now on my first repeat of the outer lace section.  This section has two repeats of a 32 row chart.  After that is complete I do a knitted on border.  I think that border may take quite some time!

As a contrast to the complicated shawl I have cast on another pair of socks.  Yes, that does mean I have finished my other pair.  They are on my feet right now and mighty fine they are too.  But as this isn't a Friday I'm not sharing them with you!  I'll only tease you with my newly cast on socks.

They are very newly cast on, as in I'm only about a third of the way through the toes.  Socks have become my comfort knitting again.  It's lovely to have got back into the habit of knitting them.  I find the stocking stitch soothing when I'm feeling ropey.  Plus I get something useful out of it.

Hope you get better photos from other people's posts about their WIPs.  Click the button to check them out.

A Very big FO!

This has to be one of my biggest finished objects for a very long time.  This project was started in July 2011 and is now finally ready to be revealed.  May I introduce, Lily's Slice of Pi Shawl Pattern.

The shawl comes in two versions, the first, shown above has a ruffled border.  The second option has a straight border, as shown below.

There is very little difference in the pattern for the two version, but the ruffled version does require a greater quantity of knitting (and yarn)!

The navy shawl is knit in Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace, which is 55% Merino and 45% Silk and is a 2 ply laceweight yarn.  I used 760m of this yarn for the unruffled shawl. 

The cream shawl was knit in Rowan Fine Lace, which is made of 80% Alpaca and 20% Merino, which is also a 2 ply laceweight yarn.  I used 1007m of this yarn for the ruffled shawl.

This design works as a light weight shawl in either warm or cold weather.  The navy version is very comfortable in warm weather and is perfect to take on holiday for evening meals outside.

The cream shawl is much warmer due to it's alpaca content.  I often wear it as an additional layer when I go out, even in Winter, as it easily fits in my (admittedly large) handbag.

The shawl is constructed using Elizabeth Zimmermann's Pi Shawl construction, halved.  The result is a semi-circular shawl that only has 7 or 8 increase rows (depending on whether you chose to do a ruffled edge or not).  The increase rows are not within the lace charts, so whilst the shawl looks complicated, in reality it is not that complex as you do not have to try and fit in a variable number of repeats in the charts.

The pattern is written out in full, but also provides large clear charts so you can chose whichever option you prefer to follow during your knit.  The pattern is written in large clear font, as are all Stitched Together Designs, and stitch counts are provided on each increase row so you can check that you have the right number of stitches before you start the next lace section.

As you can see from all the photos, the shawl can be worn in many different ways and it's style is altered as easily as the yarn it is knit with.  My test knitters used a wide variety of yarn which can be seen by clicking on the testers name on this project page.  By the way, my gorgeous friend Jo is the model for the navy shawl photos (which she now owns).

Oh and it you are wondering about the name, Lily was my Scottish Grandmother and the largest lace section on the shawl is the Thistle Leaf Pattern.  Of course anyone with Scottish blood knows that the thistle is the national flower of Scotland, so the name seemed obvious (to me!).

The pattern is now available to download either directly from Ravelry or from my downloads page.  This 13 page pattern also gives tips on how to block this shawl to best affect, so this could be a good first lace pattern for someone who wants to move up from 4 ply shawlettes to a larger shawl in laceweight.  The price of the pattern is £3.75, which is roughly US$5.95/€4.48/AUS$5.51, at the date of publishing this post.

Lily's Slice of Pi Shawl Pattern 

I hope you believe that this FO is worth the wait!  If you have any questions about the pattern, please let me know and I'll try and answer them as best I can.

I am hooking up to my usual Friday Links.  To have a look at other people's finished objects, have a click of a button!

Slice of Pi

I have finally got some decent(ish) photos of my first attempt at designing a lace shawl.  I had decided a while ago that I wanted to try and design a lace shawl and assumed that I would start with a shawlette.  I was wrong.  I ended up designing a semi-circular lace weight shawl.  I  chose this style after knitting Radience.  The shape is great for sitting comfortably on my shoulders.

I loved knitting that shawl, but decided that the colour was not quite right for me.  I ended up giving it to my friend Clare.  So in order to replace that shawl I bought another skein of Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace. 

I decided that I wanted to make something in the same shape, but knew it was too soon to knit the same pattern again.  So I decided to make up my own design.

The shawl has three sections of charted lace, with increases carried out between each section of lace.

I have decided that as much as I love this shawl, it is not quite right, so I am tweaking it a little and knitting another version.  Which is just as well as this one is going out my door as well!  In exchange for modelling the shawl for the pattern I am writing, my friend Jo, is going to get this beauty.  Maybe I just need to treat myself to another skein of Fyberspates Scrumptious Lace in another colour and see if I get to keep the shawl I knit out of that!

I am hooking up to the Friday link parties I used to hook up to.  It's been a while guys, go and check them out, by clicking on the buttons shown below, they are full of cracking projects!

Alpaca Wrap

Woohoo, I have a finished object to share on Finished Object Friday.  Not only that, but it is alpaca - which is fibre based so I am appropriate for my two other linky parties Fiber Arts Friday and Fibers on Friday.  Look at those lovely buttons - don't you want to click on them, just once to see what else other people are making.  Go on you know you want to!  Just remember to come back and see my lovely alpaca wrap - it's very pretty.

Now aren't you glad you came back.  Just to reward you, I'm going to show you a very pretty stitch pattern.

I adore my wrap. I cast off yesterday and got it on the blocking boards straight away.  It was dry by this morning.  I removed it immediately and I whisked it away for it's star photo shoot.  I love how versatile this wrap turned out.

Just wearing it draped around my shoulders looks pretty good.  The pattern suggests that you can use buttons made into cufflinks to hold the wrap together through the lace holes.  I have better than that, I have actual cufflinks.  My Mum gave them to me ages ago for a really nice blouse I shrunk out of.  I can use this set to hold the wrap closed at the front or for making sleeves.

I'm thinking maybe I could do with another set on each arm for this particular style.  But even so, it feels very glamorous, like a 1930's movie star.

This style has the cufflinks holding the back edges together to produce a waistcoat.  I could also clip the front together as there is enough stretch in the lace pattern to do so.

Then of course, there is the good old fashioned shawl pin to hold the wrap closed around my shoulders.

This wrap is so deliciously warm and adaptable, I know that I will wear it a lot.  I also think it will be one of the first things I pack, whenever I go away anywhere.  It will be perfect instead of multiple jackets and cardigans.

This wrap was made using Ember's Embrace by Amy Wunx.  I made the wrap wider, than suggested, by 2 pattern repeats, which gave a total cast on stitch count of 81.  The yarn I used was Toft Alpaca DK, which I bought direct from the farm, on a little trip I took last year.  As this yarn was bought from the discount bin, two skeins of the three I used, had a few worn parts that I had to splice together.  I didn't particularly enjoy doing that, but it was in only a couple of sections where it was repeatedly worn.  I will be interested to see if the full price lace yarn has any worn places.  I'm expecting it to be fine.

Now I've wet blocked this wrap, the yarn is much softer and smoother.  The lace pattern shows up beautifully and it is a really lovely enhancement to this gorgeous British Yarn.  I think this yarn and this pattern only enhance each other.  They are the perfect match.

A friend is taking me to lunch today, so I am planning on wearing my new wrap and feeling very glamorous and sophisticated!  Mind you the sun is shining for once, I hope it won't be too warm to be worn.

Weekly WIP Update

How fast does Wednesday come around?  I just remembered that I missed a WIP update last week because I wanted to talk about my health, so that means the time between updates is relatively even shorter in my head!

Since we last spoke I have started a new pair of socks.  When I was finishing my brown socks (which I have yet to show you) I managed to break one of my lovely KnitPro Options needles by putting my foot on it, when trying my socks on.  It isn't surprising that the needle broke as it was a 2mm needle.  In other words - teeny!  I decided to buy some metal KnitPro needles to replace the broken one.  As I am now knitting socks using two circular needles I also decided to get shorter cables for my replacement needles.  So far I am enjoying the shorter cables but have to confess the metal needles are harder on my hands.  At least the 2mm diameter means there is some flexibility in them.  My new socks have got this far:

I am loving this yarn, Schoeller+Stahl Fortissima Socka Mexiko Color, which has sat in my stash since March 2009.  The yarn is soft and sproingy and the striping works really well. 

This is another sock from Cat Bordhi's book.  It is one with a plain foot and patterned leg.  I've decided that this is a sensible style of sock as the foot is usually hidden by the shoe.  This pattern is Chain Mail, with a plain foot and wrapped ribs that make a chain mail pattern on the leg.



I am enjoying working through my sock yarn and making them into socks.  Socks really are a perfect project to carry around.  I don't have to think too hard about what I'm doing with them at knitting groups or spending time with friends.  Having a simple travelling project to grab without thinking too hard makes leaving the house much quicker too, for which my OH is duly grateful.  Socks are also incredibly useful.  In fact my friend was dropping large hints for a pair the other day.  When I say dropping hints what I meant is complaining that I haven't made him any!  Looks like I might be looking for a man's sock pattern soon.

As socks are only my travelling project I have started another project for at home.  It is Ember's Embrace by Amy Wunx.  It's a free pattern that can be found here.  The wrap can also be made into a shrug with the clever use of cuff-links.  I think it will be a useful garment.  I decided that this would a good project to show off my Toft Alpaca DK yarn.

This yarn is lovely.  It feels soft and bouncy, with a kind of silky gloss that helps the yarn slip through the fingers.  Unfortunately this yarn was in the discount basket and I think I might have discovered why.  There have been a few times that this yarn broke, repeatedly, over a few metres.  At least the alpaca can be fixed by spit splicing, if it was cotton I'd be tearing my hair out. Mind you, I wouldn't have bought this lovely yarn if it hadn't been discounted so I can't complain too much.

I decided that I wanted the wrap to be slightly wider than the pattern so I cast on 99 stitches rather than 63 that the pattern called for.  I knitted for a couple of inches and decided that it was a little bit too wide.

I frogged back and cast on 81 stitches instead, and I think this width works better.  I haven't taken any photos of the new width but you can see the stitch pattern in the old photos and it looks exactly the same.

When I started I was a little uncertain about whether this was the right stitch pattern for this yarn, but the more I knitted the more I loved how it looked.  When the wrap is blocked I think the pattern will really look beautiful.

I also really like the seed stitch border.  The yarn looks wonderfully textured in this stitch pattern.  As the wrap has grown I have fallen more and more in love with the the pattern and the yarn.  I am really enjoying knitting this project and it has exactly the right amount of complexity for TV knitting.  I hope that over the next few weeks you will fall in love with it, as much as I do!

This post is linked up to other WIP updates all over the world.  Click on the button, shown below, to see some other inspirational posts.