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Follow Jen and Jim's many knitting and craft adventures, including expert knitting tips, tutorials and book reviews, with bonus quilting and other crafty content.
Ahem. There seems to have been something of a proliferation of projects on the go at Arnall-Culliford Towers. It has nothing at all to do with the season. No, nothing at all.
Without further preamble, here's the first out of the massive bag of half-done-stuff:
Read moreIs there something you’ve always wanted to make, or perhaps a technique you’ve always wanted to try, but have never had the courage to give it a go? What if there was someone else doing the same thing at the same time so you could muddle through together?
Jen has always wanted to make a Pinglewin.
Through November, we’re challenging you to dig out the discarded, the never started, or the vague notion that never materialised into a plan and make something. It doesn’t have to be knitted (whisper that bit quietly), nor should you feel the pressure to finish a project inside a month. The aim is to get you going, even if you end up discarding the project again, although I hope you won’t. There will be a randomly selected prizewinner at the beginning of December.
If I've piqued your interest, there's a Ravelry thread set up for this MAL (it's for making, not just knitting) so you can let everyone know what you'd like to do before the start of November. The idea is that you're not working on your own, but that you'll find someone else with a desire to do something similar so that you can buddy up and cheerlead each other.
So if you’ve never tried stranded colourwork, but always wanted to, or if you have an unopened sewing pattern bought in a fit of optimism, now is the time to say so. I’m sure you won’t be alone.
Please tag your projects #alwayswantedtomake and post to the thread what you’ve always wanted to make. Obviously you shouldn’t set up a Ravelry project page for things that aren’t yarn related, but do post lots of photos on the thread.
It feels like a long time since I last updated what I've been making, but I've been busily working away, and the pile of WIPs has diminished significantly. So without further ado, here they are:
My Islay cardigan (pattern by Gudrun Johnston) is complete!
I'm really thrilled with how it has turned out. I added about 2 inches to the body length as I'm fairly tall (5ft 9in), and also continued the garter stitch "seams" down the arms, in the same way as they are worked on the body. Apart from those two small mods, I've knitted exactly as per the pattern. I used just over 10 skeins of gorgeous Buachaille yarn in Between Weathers, and I'm really pleased with how well this yarn works for Islay. It's such a smooth st st fabric, and the lace and ribbing pops really nicely too.
I had a dilema over which buttons to use for this cardi, and my cheeky side really fancied some red octopus buttons that I've had in my stash for a while. In the end though, they didn't sit nicely on the i-cord edging, so I went for these elegant fretwork buttons instead, and I'm delighted with how they look! I shall just have to knit another cardi for the octopi!
I have also finished my Pawkie mitts (designed by Kate Davies) from the Seven Skeins Club that ran before Christmas last year. I finished one mitt back then, but the bag languished waiting for its partner.
These are also knitted in Buachaille Between Weathers, this time with a Ptarmigan contrast. I'm really pleased with them, and I'm sure they will get plenty of wear in the office on chilly days this winter.
And last but not least in the FO parade is my Fractal Danger shawl (designed by Martina Behm).
I so enjoyed making this! I completed it as part of the Summer Strickmich Showdown in Martina's Ravelry group (though as a moderator I'm sadly not eligible for the wonderful prizes!). If you have a pattern by Martina on your needles, or fancy making one during August, then do head over to her group and join the fun!
I used a sushi sock roll from Easy Knits that I've had sitting around for far too long! And I'm really happy with how well it showcases the lovely construction of this shawl/scarf. This is another accessory that will get a lot of wear once the weather turns colder.
That's it for FOs, and I'm down to just two WIPs... My Golden Wheat shawl (yes, I know, yawn... one day I'll pick it up again!), and my Alfrick socks. Looking over at the project page for the Humungous shawl, I last worked on it on a car drive to Chester, and funnily enough we are off to Chester at the end of next week. So who knows? Perhaps I'll dust it off and work a repeat of two. My socks are coming along well too. I've finished the colourwork on the leg of the second sock and I'm ready to start the heel, so look out for finished socks before too long as well.
Whilst I love having a nice choice of projects to work on (and it's always good to have a portable, easy project alongside something larger or more tricky...) I also reach a point where I need to clear the decks. And that's the place I've been for the last few weeks. It's possibly the end of the school year that does it. I need to sort out my spaces and declutter. The same goes for my knitting projects and I'm eagerly anticipating my next few projects - a Harewood Hap and possibly Knitter's DNA. Both gorgeous designs and I've got the perfect yarn just waiting...
What are you working on over the summer?
My period of monogamous knitting appears to have ended. I blame the lure of the knitalong! I thought I would lay out the situation, and hope that in doing so, I'm inspired to work down a few of these projects. The fact is that I am looking forward to the finished product of each and every one of them, and when I work a few rows on this and a few rows on that across too many, it ends up feeling as if I will never finish any of them. So with this in mind, I set off on the half term holidays with 6 works in progress (WIPs) in my bag. And after a week of quite good knitting time, I finished one of them. Not terribly impressive! But I did go on to finish another shortly after my return home, and another isn't far off. So here is The State of the WIPS:
A pair of Dave socks (by Rachel Coopey), knitted in West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4ply Country Birds in the Bullfinch colourway (although to my eye it is far more Greater Spotted Woodpecker-like). These are FINISHED! They've been my handbag knitting project since the start of the year, and eluded discovery when Jim did a project round up a few weeks back, but some concentrated effort in the car resulted in a finished pair. They are a little shorter than they should have been, but I think that Jim's loss will be someone else's gain! More on my Ravelry page here: Woodpecker Daves
I FINISHED my Breezy cardigan (by Hannah Fettig)! This is a project which went much faster than I anticipated. I wasn't sure that I had the knitting time for a drape-front 4ply cardigan at the moment, but here I am wearing it. (And it's lovely and cosy today too - our office gets chilly as it faces north.)
I used some Merino Cashmere Nylon that Jeni at Fyberspates dyed for me many moons ago. It's a lovely variegated blue and green - right up my colour palette street! The pattern is really straightforward, and as a result I worked on it a lot on car journeys and in front of the TV. Even the final rib around the neckband didn't take nearly as long as I had feared. In fact it was the fear of how long it would take that stopped me from working on it over half term. I AM DAFT! More details can be found over on my Ravelry page: Breezy for Me
My Theme and Variation hap (by Veera Välimäki) is coming along nicely (still a WIP though). The final edging is slow going as the number of stitches increases dramatically, and there are two slipped stitch rows (for the secret stripes) that don't contribute to the depth of the hap. So it feels like it's not much bigger than when I last photographed it. But that's an illusion, and I mustn't lose momentum! I'm well on track to finish this before the end of term, which is great as it's a present for a very special teacher who deserves each and every stitch of this. I'm using Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in the Raspberry Cordial and Logwood colourways. Anj at Meadow Yarn was particularly helpful when I was choosing shades, and I've really enjoyed knitting it up. I'm coming to the end of the first skein of Raspberry Cordial, but won't need very much of the second to complete the edging. More details on my Ravelry page here: Whoops I cast on a hap!
I've made more progress than I anticipated on my Islay cardigan (by Gudrun Johnston - last time it was on the blog I had only done the ribbing). Hurrah! I'm about to start work on the charts, which should help me to plough through the rest of the body. The KAL for this ends on the 1st July, so I'm not sure that I will be finished by then, but my attempt won't be too bad. I should be onto sleeves I would imagine (well, that's unless I get distracted by other things...). I'm using some beautiful Buachaille in Between Weathers that Kate generously gave me for my birthday, and it is such a joy to work with - all the best bits about proper wool (bounce! spring!) and soft too. I'm knitting this to go with the summer dress I sewed earlier in the year, and I'm so looking forward to wearing them together. Full details on my Ravelry page: Islay
I've made no progress at all on my Alfrick socks, Pawkie (it needs a pair!) or my Golden Wheat shawl (ahem!). But that's actually probably a good thing. If I'm going to finish things, I need to focus and make progress on one or two projects, rather than trying to do all of them at the same time.
Having cast off two projects, it seemed perfectly reasonable to cast on a new one! I recently started to help Martina Behm as a moderator in her new International Strickmich group on Ravelry, so it seemed only right that I should cast on one of her designs to celebrate this! I'm making Fractal Danger out of a deep-stash Sushi Roll from EasyKnits. The colours are gorgeous, and I'm going to work from light to dark, and back out to light again. This is one of those brilliant designs where it's simple enough to memorise, and I can (more or less) work safely on it while chatting at knitting group, without fear of having to unknit everything when I get home again. This is what I'm working on when I'm too tired to do anything else - it's the ideal soothing project. More information here: Fractal Danger
So that is The State of the WIPs! I don't think I have anything else lurking in a project bag anywhere... I know that by many people's standards, I've not got that much on the go, but I do like to take stock and simplify from time to time. Hopefully I'll be back in a few weeks to report that I've finished my Theme and Variation hap and my Islay cardigan. Then perhaps I can cast on another project from The Book of Haps...
Do you have lots of projects on the go? Or do you prefer monogamy in your knitting?
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Images © Jen Arnall-Culliford
Whoosh! And it was done!
In a shade over 2 weeks I have officially banged out this sweater. And now I'm not taking it off. No, really, I'm not! It is light and snuggly and warm, and it is giving me that warm glow of satisfaction in the creation of something beautiful and useful. I'm trying hard not to immediately cast on another one...
Just in case you've missed any of my excitement over the last fortnight, this is a Stopover, designed by the delightful Mary Jane Mucklestone. Jim and I edited up some extra sizes for the pattern, to help with the excitement that Kay and Ann have generated with their Bang Out A Sweater KAL. They are world class enablers. Resistance truly is FUTILE! You can browse the beautiful finished sweaters on Instagram with the bangfinisher hashtag.
There's been a bit of chatter over on Ravelry about adding short rows to the back neck, in order to raise the back/drop the front neck. So I thought I'd share my blocking photo here... This is how I shaped my neckline while it was damp, and then left it to dry. I've not added any short rows. It's entirely shaped as per the original instructions in the pattern. I followed Mary Jane's excellent advice to block it firmly to the shape I wanted, and then I marked the back neck by weaving in some of the orange contrast, to remind myself which side was which. I'm not sure that adding short rows would have improved on this particularly! So trust in Mary Jane, and just shape it while damp. :)
I will do almost anything to avoid knitting with 3 colours in a round, so the contrast pops of orange and teal at the neck were added by duplicate stitch (Swiss darning) at the very end. I then went round and patted and prodded the stitches in the colourwork and darning while it was damp, to ensure that everything was looking its absolute best. I'm constantly amazed by the power of a bit of poking at this stage in a garment. It's transformative!
If you're inspired to make your own Stopover, I'm de-stashing my leftovers... You can find all the details on my Ravelry trade or sell pages: Leftover Lopi
There is still plenty of time to knock one out before the weather warms up!
I can't put it down. Since I cast on last week, I've knitted the body and 1.5 sleeves. This jersey is everything Kay and Ann promised. Satisfying and most of all QUICK! My plan is this: Continue to knit monogamously on my Stopover, and then enjoy being snuggly warm wearing it, while I knit the remainder of my Alfrick socks for the BomBella Colourwork KAL.
I thought I'd be able to balance work on each of these projects, but in reality, I am overtaken by the fact that I just want to be wearing the sweater! And I want to be wearing it right now. I am hoping to finish the second sleeve tonight, and it should then be a sprint through the yoke. Once I join the pieces in a design like this I feel like it gets faster and faster until the final stitches are cast off and it's done. No doubt it's the decreasing number of stitches in the rounds, but I'm sure I just knit more quickly too. At times in my past knitting life I've knitted on many projects at once, but more and more I'm finding that monogamous attention to one project is what works best for me. It feels like I finish things more quickly if I focus on them. It doesn't stop me daydreaming about the next project though, and I have a few ideas up my sleeve...
I am so easily enabled. It's ridiculous! I have a number of great projects in my queue on Ravelry, all waiting patiently with yarn and pattern in a bag and ready to grab at a moments notice. But all it takes is the feeling of excitement emanating from scores of knitters online, and I'm diverted - printing off a new pattern, and searching for the right yarn. Exactly this has happened to me, not once but twice in the last fortnight!
First up was Bombella's Colourwork KAL. I've been talking about making colourwork socks for some time. And up until now, I've not taken that leap. I wouldn't say that I was exactly scared of them, but something deep in my psyche has definitely pressed my pause button. I love colourwork, and have made a good number of colourwork accessories and garments, but never socks. So Ella's KAL with the promise of support, and plenty of fun chatter around techniques and tips, was the perfect opportunity to jump in the deep end! I'm casting on a pair of Alfrick socks. It's a beautiful design by Rachel Coopey - and I've had the yarn waiting in my stash since I first edited the pattern last year. I'm using Lang Jawoll which has the added bonus of coming in 50g balls, so I only needed to purchase 100g of yarn (rather than 200g for sock yarns with the more common 100g put-up). I also plan to use the little bobbins of reinforcing thread for the heels and toes, since that's where I wear through my socks most frequently.
Image © Rachel Coopey
Then as if one KAL wasn't enough... I've been following the Mason-Dixon blog for a good while now. It's been a joy to see Kay and Ann return to regular blogging. They really make me laugh and I love the feeling of community that their blog has created. They started to post about wanting to Bang Out A Sweater in a few weeks... A sweater you could wear before the weather improves... Tempting. Their chosen pattern was Stopover by Mary Jane Mucklestone.
Image © Kathy Cadigan; Design © Mary Jane Mucklestone
It's a design in létt lopi, knitted at a loose gauge to give a light airy fabric. Sounds lovely! But I got tipped over the edge when Mary Jane emailed to ask if Jim and I could add some extra sizes to the pattern, ready for the KAL. I'm a sucker for being made to sit and look at pretty sweater pictures all day! I just couldn't resist! So I made a swift yarn order, and I'm ready to go. If you want to see a heap of pretty lopi sweater pictures, I recommend checking out the #BangOutASweater hashtag on Ravelry and on Instagram in the following weeks. There are some lovely colourways in progress. Who knows? One sweater may not be enough...
Given how easily lead I am, can anyone else be tempted into joining me? Gwaaan, you know you want to!
This is a really, really lovely pattern. When Little Red in the City first came out, Cria was my favourite design by a long shot. When my good friend Nic bought Ysolda's Wee Ones collection for me, I was delighted to discover that Ysolda had designed a babies' version called wee Cria. Did you know that you can buy patterns and eBooks as gifts for your knitting friends? I've been lucky enough to be gifted patterns a few times through Ravelry, and it is such a lovely treat!
Wee Ones was a great present - thanks Nic! - and I've really enjoyed knitting my wee Cria. I cast on back in July, before the summer holidays started. I chose a skein of Wollmeise "Pure" 100% Merino Superwash, in the Sabrina colourway, that had been sitting in my stash awaiting the perfect project since Knit Nation 2010. It's a good thing that yarn doesn't go mouldy...
I had previously knitted up 2 skeins of Wollmeise - one in twisted stitch socks and the other in some pretty complicated gloves, and I'll admit that I didn't much enjoy knitting with it. I know that many people feel similarly - it doesn't have much in the way of stretch and if your needles are too sharp, it's easy to split the plies of the yarn. This time it was different. There was no complicated texture, as I had used in the past, and the yarn made the most incredibly beautiful flat stocking stitch fabric. I absolutely fell in love with the fabric, and would definitely choose Wollmeise Pure again for a kids' garment. It comes in 150g skeins, so this cardigan, in the 12 month size came comfortably from 1 skein, and I'm completely chuffed with how it looks. It just goes to show how much the pattern and needles can affect your enjoyment of a yarn...
And that's what we were waiting for... A picture of the cardigan on my clever niece, Honor! Happily, the cardigan is a bit too big at the moment, but I'm hoping it will be just right in a month or two's time, when the weather starts to get colder.
I really enjoyed the construction of wee Cria - it is knitted from the top down, with all the sleeve head shaping incorporated, so there is very little finishing beyond sewing in a few ends. I struggled to remember to count the rows between buttonholes, but managed to drop a couple of stitches and put them in a few rows later when I realised my mistake. I should have been using some scrap yarn to track the rows, but it wasn't a big problem to fix.
I even discovered that I had some great contrasting buttons in my button box. They work so well with the cardigan, that Honor was in danger of being too well camouflaged on her quilt!
You can find all the technical details of my project over on Ravelry: JenACKnitwear's Wee Cria where you will also find an option to purchase the wee Cria pattern from Ysolda for £4.00 or buy the whole eBook (7 kids patterns) for £10.95. If you have little people to knit for, I would definitely recommend it!
I'm not sure quite how I overlooked blogging about this little knit. I guess that life just got in the way, as it sometimes does!
It's the Kaelyn cardigan by Kyoko Nakayoshi, from the Fyberspates Scrumptious Babies collection. It is such an adorable little design. I love the knitted flowers along the hem (even though I had to knit bobbles and I'm normally vehemently opposed to them...), and the sweet scalloped edging. I did a few little modifications to make my life easier... I knitted the garter stitch front bands at the same time as the body (rather than adding them at the end), and I just used one button at the top, so that I didn't need to keep track of anything else as I knitted. It's gone to my new niece, who will hopefully get a bit of wear out of it before she's too big! I used Fyberspates Vivacious rather than Scrumptious, and I was really pleased with how it knitted up. The fabric really shows off the stitch patterns beautifully. It was a fun knit! I look forward to trying a couple of the other cardigans from the collection in the future...
Thank you for all the Wee Bruton love yesterday! It was great to get the new patterns out into the wild. I'm going to talk a bit more about the finishing on the design later in the week, so watch out for that!
In the meantime, I've finished a few projects from my needles. First up is my Shetland Trader Mystery KAL:
I so enjoyed knitting along with this! The Ravelry group was so friendly and enthusiastic! I almost managed to knit the whole thing with the month of June - I just overran a little at the very end. Not too bad for someone with my limited knitting time these days. The design is so beautiful. It has 3 different textured patterns, based around a garter stitch background. Really simple to wear, and soothing to knit. I would love to knit another in 3 colours as there were some fabulous 3-colour versions made. I'm just not terribly confident about combining colours effectively, so I might have to steal a scheme from someone else. There was plenty of inspiration in the threads on Ravelry, so it won't be hard to choose.
The blocking technique was a bit new to me, as you thread the yarnovers with a thread to block the curved edge. I've read that before, but never tried it, as I have tended to make things with straight edges where I can use wires. It was a bit tricky to ensure it was even all round, but gave a lovely smooth curve, so well worth the time to thread them all.
Thanks again Gudrun for such a fun knit along!
