Caterpillars

There once was a boy who loved bugs and crawlies of all sorts.  He was always careful with animals, treating them gently.

His mother noticed this love of animals and asked him what animal he would like her to knit him.  He quickly chose a caterpillar, and the mother agreed to make one.  The caterpillar was given the name of Zoup.

The boy took great care of Zoup, taking him everywhere.  However, Zoup wanted more, he loved the look of the feel of the plants on his feet.

He enjoyed checking out the gardens, but it wasn't enough.

What Zoup really wanted was to be free.  Caterpillars are not meant to be caterpillars forever.  Zoup asked the boy to let him go.  The boy was unsure, he knew Zoup couldn't look after himself (being made of wool and such). Zoup assured him that it would be okay.

The boy decided to let Zoup go in the garden.  As Zoup crawled away, something happened.

He became a real caterpillar.












The boy was sad that his caterpillar was gone. A couple of weeks later, he went out to the garden and saw a butterfly. He got closer, there was something different about this butterfly. This butterfly allowed him to get real close.

It even landed on his shoulder

It was Zoup! Zoup had come back to visit his friend.  Zoup needed to turn into a butterfly, that is why he left. After his metamorphosis he came back and stayed with his friend.


Knitting details on Ravelry: Zoup, Flutterby

What makes something functional? or The Tale of the Two Hats

Last night at the December meeting of the KWKG, Sally Melville spoke about "Why we knit".  It was a great talk for a number of reasons, but what kept ruminating in my mind is her saying "Honour the craft".  That got tied into some other knitting thoughts that have been tumbling around in my head.

There was a thread on Ravelry that discussed knitting being functional.  There was one poster who felt that most of today's knitting is not functional but merely for personal adornment since it doesn't keep us warm [enough if we were on a fishing boat].  Of course discussion followed.   Since I have read that thread, everytime that I have put on a piece of knitted wool, I say to myself "This ____ is not functional, it is only art" in a very sarcastic tone.

This of course brings us to the question of what is function?  More specifically what makes knitware functional?

Before I answer that let me start with the "Tale of the Two Hats".

Four years ago, I knit myself a colourwork hat, it was my first colourwork project, I used 5 skeins of Misti Alpaca sport.  It is an awarding winning hat, and it keeps my head toasty warm.

However, 2 years ago, I  needed another hat.  This time I made it in a lace pattern with a wool/acrylic blend yarn.  This hat suits the requirements that I set for it.  I actually wear it more than the first hat, as the hat is out in public more, it gets more compliments and I get to talk about the craft of knitting more. 

Why don't I wear the first hat more often? For the simple reason is that it keeps my head toasty warm.  Which is great when it is below zero, and the wind is blowing and I am walking my dog.  However, if the sun is shining, with the temperature around freezing the hat is just too warm.  If I am going to the store even in the middle of February, I am taking the second hat.

Is the functional hat the one that keeps my head warmer or the one that gets the most wear?

I don't think one hat being functional makes the other one less functional.  Both hats are functional, they just serve different functions.  The first hat is designed to block out the wind, and keep all of the warmth from my head next to my head.  If I am stranded on Hwy 402 for an evening I want this hat with me.  If I want to feel some of that nice cool air on my head this hat does not work, it doesn't mean the hat is not functional it is just not suited for the job.

I could knit myself a windproof super warm sweater that will keep me toasty in the below -10C temperatures.  It would be functional. However, how often would I wear this sweater?  Is it functional if it is sitting in a drawer 360 days of the year?  What about a less warm sweater that is worn 100 days of the year.  What about a sweater that I don't wear at all since it doesn't fit right or fits but makes me look 50 lbs heavier?

If I own a sweater/ socks/ shawl and it doesn't get used I would argue that it is not functional.  I don't care how great it may perform under certain conditions, if it doesn't get used it is not functional.

This brings us back to Sally Melville and "honouring the craft", another of her sayings is "knit what you wear and wear what you knit".  Creating sweaters that look great on a wall, but are never worn due to item being ill fitting is not honouring the craft (This is different than creating something for art).  Honouring knitting, is creating items that are used for their intended purpose, that gets people saying  "Wow, I want that/be able to do that."  I love the feeling when people admire my knitting, when it looks great and they want to learn more.  Talking about knitting honours it.  Expanding your techniques and knowledge honours it, using your items honours them and the craft.  Creating functional items is honouring knitting.

It is important to remember that something being functional and being beautiful are not mutually exclusive.  These two items go very well together.

There is nothing wrong with knitting as art. There are lots of great examples (including Knit CamBridge,) and in my mind they can do more for the discussion of knitting amongst non fibre enthusiasts than a sweater stuck in the back of the closet.  The Knit CamBridge project had a function and it served its purpose "I want this work to make you smile, shake your head and laugh. Whatever you do, do it because you love to knit! ".  It created discussion, made people think about knitting, and in my opinion it honoured the craft.

In my mind honouring the craft of knitting is more important than debating about how functional something is or how warm you can make something.

What do you think?

Still alive

Who it was March since my last post.  Whoops, time did fly this summer.

I finished the Honeybee Stole - designed by Anne Hanson

This was a great knit, and it did fly along when I was actually knitting it - it got put aside for other projects quite often.  The yarn has a story behind it which starts with my first (and only) foray into natural dyeing, followed by overdyeing with green acid dye.  I loved the affect that the gold undertones had on the resulting yarn.  As the yarn was mordanted with copper, the feel of the yarn is not as soft as when I first purchased it.  However, I think I will use this stole this coming fall and winter.

  This stole has lace patterning on both sides, which did slow me done some until I got the hang of it.  - Pointy needles are needed.

Silk, Silk and more silk

I was thinking about my knitting projects yesterday and it turns out that I am in a silk mood. I never thought that when I started knitting that I would have four projects utilizing silk being worked on at once (well almost at once) .

1. Bianca jacket - Just to give a quick update on this project. I thought I didn't have enough yarn (again!), but with some calculations I found out the swatch (14 g) had just enough yarn to finish the project. It is now waiting for buttons to be completed.
   
2. Slip stitch ribbed socks - these were recently complete. Nothing more to say.
3. Tomten jacket- This is a classic design by EZ, and I am using the same Merino et Soie that the slip stitch ribbed socks used as well as Shelridge Farms DK weight. I am loving both these yarns, and combining it with garter stitch is giving a very smooshy fabric. I don't think Ninja baby will fit until fall though
   


4. Celtic vest - This is a kit from Fleece Artist. The yarn is their Scotian Silk (35% silk, 65% wool. I just started this project and now that I am past the cast on it should go quickly.
   

All 3 silk yarns are very different, but all feel nice on the hands. There is still a ball of Lang Jawoll Silk sock yarn in the stash...

Bianca update

Jenni wanted clarification of my plan. So here it goes:

1. Knit the lace section at a smaller gauge
2. Cut out one repeat around a cuff
3. Remove the extra repeat I added at neckline

I haven't finished knitting the sleeves yet. When you are working on the 3 and 4th sleeves they go much slower than the second sleeve. I think this picture shows the results of items 1 and 2 above

From A house made of wool

I was thinking it wasn't going to be done for March but I just might get it done for then. It will be good to have a deadline.

From A house made of wool

No jacket today

Jenni had wanted to know about seeing the finished Bianca Jacket. Last week I would have said it should be done for March. I was hoping that I would be able to complete the jacket this week.

From A house made of wool

However, the jacket did not want to go that smoothly. In the above photo I had 14 rows of the second chart left to do on the yoke as well as a garter band down the fronts and along the bottom. See that small pile of yarn next to the sleeve. That is the yarn that I had to complete that task. It was not going to be done.

Since the yarn was discontinued, I considered finding a yarn on ravelry to do the band. As I searched at people's stashes, I began wondering if the finished jacket would look like I ran out of yarn and I just used something else. If I had worked in the second colour earlier so the different colour band was tied in it would work. I needed a different plan.

One of the reasons that I might have run out of yarn was that I added a pattern repeat (11 sts), distributed mostly through the chest before the yoke starts. The reason being I needed something between a 38" and 46.5" size that this pattern calls for. Taking the stitches off the needle and trying the jacket on, the pattern has a lot of ease and I can get rid of that pattern repeat. Another area that more yarn could be found would be the sleeves.

From A house made of wool

The cuff of the sleeves is knitted with a 5 mm needle, the stockinette of the body and sleeves with a 4.5 mm needle and the yoke with a 4 mm needle. To me the lace of the sleeves looks too loose with the 5 mm also the cuff is huge. There is no tapering or angles in the sleeve shape - stockinette on 55 sts to the underarm shaping. If I knit the cuff with the 4.5 mm needle using only 4 (instead of 5) pattern repeats then increase the stitch count after it will give me more than enough yarn. This method does require me to reknit the sleeves though. However, I think in the long run it will give me a better jacket. So instead of knitting the cuff with 55 stitches I am knitting it with 46 stitches - 4 pattern repeats plus 2 selvedge stitches to make the seaming easier. Once the cuff is done I will gradually add in the extra 9 stitches.

That is my current plan - the downside is that my mind was already on the next project and this Scotian silk is calling ( a gauge swatch has already been knitted and is drying).

From A house made of wool

Evolution of a project

Over Christmas I started thinking about knitting the February Ladies Sweater with the Estelle Silk that I purchased at the Knitters Fair. When I purchased this yarn, I thought that I was buying 9 balls but as I can't count or read when overcome with yarn fumes there was only 8 in the bag. (This is totally my fault the bag was clearly marked when I looked at my purchases at home).

I had already printed the pattern, and thought that I might be a little short, but due to the top down raglan construction, I thought I could use some complimentary yarn as an accent and that it would work. I decided to measure my bust and check the pattern.

I was not a little short, I was 200 meters short or about 20%. I didn't even have enough of the complimentary yarn to make up the difference.

A new plan was needed. Enter Ravelry.

Using the pattern searcher, I came across the Bianca Jacket. The same yarn (different brand but basically the same), enough yarn and I liked it. I would prefer the length to be longer but with just over 800 yards that was not going to happen no matter what the pattern.
I adjusted the pattern to knit the body in one piece, I didn't see the reason to keep the side seams. After knitting the bodice, I knit the sleeves in tandem. I kept the seam on the sleeves instead of converting to be in the round for the simple reason I didn't want to re chart the lace pattern (I had messed up the lace big time in the swatch).

Here is a photo of the sleeves part done.
I have progressed now to the point that I have joined the sleeves to the body so it looks like a jumbled mass so no more photos. I have been happy with this project so far and I hope by writing that it is not going to kick me.

Note to Julia in KW:
My sock blockers were acquired at a garage sale by my step mother. I believe they were used to dry socks on them as opposed to decorative use. I only have the pair and due to the size are for men's socks. I keep thinking though that I should get some for my socks.

Koigu socks at long last

I wasn't sure if I had blogged these socks before, I couldn't recall writing about them. A check of the archives (March) has a mention that I did some knitting with the following photo (dated Feb 28). The socks are the Riverbed Socks byCat Bordhi.




I finished the one sock and then finished the pair of Hedera socks (and that took months) before starting the second sock. I was just glad that I carefully put all the magic numbers down on a postit note inside the book, otherwise, well I wouldn't have remembered what toe I did.

The heel took a couple of attempts on the second sock. I don't know what I was doing with my short rows on the first attempt but I was using 3/4 of the stitches before I looked at it closely and realized that I wasn't knitting a heel at all, but some other weird shape. Attempt #2 on the second sock went better. I then looked at the first sock and thought it looked funny - it wasn't the heel fault this time but a problem with the instep stitches.

Finishing the second heel, I ripped the first heel back (I made the sock too long and the heel too high) and then finished the socks in tandem.

I added some blue Koigu PPM that I had left over from entrelac socks to prevent these from being ankle socks. Even with that addition they aren't very tall.
This is also a case of very different skeins from the same dye lot. I bought the two skeins of black KPPPM at the same time, and they have the same dyelot number on them. I don't remember there being a huge difference in the look of the skeins. However as you can see when they are knitted up there is a huge difference in the amount of white in the two yarns. It doesn't matter they still fit Ali's feet (which is good since they were intended for him).

Project details:
Yarn: Koigu Painters Palette Premium Merino P345-33 - 2 skeins + some of a third
Needles: 2.25 mm
Pattern: Riverbed Master Sock with a whirl pool toe.
Master Numbers and such on the Ravelry page.

More blogging

In an attempt to keep you blog readers on your toes I thought I would discuss the sideways cardigan.
This cardigan started after last years Knitters Fair, to provide me a with a cardigan that was versatile. The idea when I went to the fair was a basic grey cardigan, that however changed when I saw this Silk Garden yarn. I purchased the yarn and figured the pattern would be decided later.

After briefly contemplating mitred squares, I decided on knitting the cardigan sideways. This way I would not have horizontal stripes (the only adults that can get away with these are pregnant woman and wafer thin models).

I started on a front, the back and then the second front. Here the project stalled for a number of reasons. This fall though I knew I needed to finish it. I finally decided how to do the sleeves - much simpler than I thought it was going to be (Thanks Maggie Righetti!). However, after I knit one sleeve, and went to seam the second front, I noticed a problem. The necklines were different. I had knit the shaping for the second front using the decreases as for the back. This needed to be ripped out before I started the collar. This was fine since it gave me time to think about how to knit the collar.


I am now working on the second version of the collar, and I as I write this post think that maybe it needs to be ripped out again. When I have tried the cardigan on it seems that the neck opening is to big, and the collar is not going to fix this. I was just going to live with it, but I think if I put short rows along the sides it may make the opening smaller and fix the problem? Anyone have any ideas? Maybe I can wear this for Christmas this year.

A Tale of Two Hats

or Part 3 in my series of trying to catch up on my current knitting.

I had two balls of Lana Gatto Baby Soft in my stash that were just begging to be knit up. This is soft yarn and these were colours were muted. The first ball was chosen as a hat for Ali.
This is a simple 1x1 ribbed hat, it took me three attempts to get cast on number/needle size correct for his hat. As I was knitting along and deciding on how I was going to do the decreases, I remembered a series by TechKnitter on how to get a flat top in a hat instead of a pointed top. I thought that would be the best for this basic hat.
I used her instructions for the decreases just modifying the first decrease to accommodate my use of 1x1 rib instead of 2x2 rib that she uses. I liked the final result.

Yarn:Lana Gatto Baby Soft
Needles: 4.5 mm
Pattern: TechKnitting's method of decreases in the 8 trick pocket hat


Next up a hat for me
Back in September I discussed making a hat for myself and even purchased yarn to make myself a hat (and one for NB). As I started thinking about using that yarn for Foliage, and the changes I should do to account for the gauge difference. I remembered the second ball of the Baby Soft. It would work beautifully for Foliage.
I added an extra 1/2 repeat and ribbed till I ran out of yarn (4 rnds)

Yarn:Lana Gatto Baby Soft
Needles: 4.5 mm
Pattern: Foliage by Emilee Mooney

Hedera Socks

In my on going challenge to get some FO blogged, I present finished Hedera Socks. You may not remember but I originally blogged about these socks back in February when I had finished the first one. The second sock slowly languished until the beginning of October when I finally finsihed the second one. After proudly finishing the socks it took until this past weekend for me to finally photograph the socks (since I wanted to wear them).

Project Details
Yarn: Brown Sheep Wildfoote Luxury Sock Yarn
Needles: 2.25mm /US1
Pattern: Hedera by Cookie A
Mods: None

Something scary

Do you want to know something scary?






Sure you do.



It is not this massacre, that I actually came home to twice this past week. That is Bear, a big stuffed animal that Keeper liked to play with. On Monday I came home and there was small pieces of styrafoam that met me at the door. A quick search of the house led me to believe that Bear was attacked in the rec room and was carried around the house. Bear had a small hole in its arm that I thought could easily be fixed. I went about cleaning up the carnage. Cleaning this up I realized that it was not carried through the house just that those light as nothing pieces stick to everything and are blown everywhere. Friday I came home, and someone had gotten bear from the spare room upstairs (the door does not close firmly) and proceeded to rip the other arm off. More vaccumming. Even today, after yet another vacuuming there is still styrafoam bits everywhere.

The scary thing is that I actually have knitting content to report on. I have finished another front and the back to my cardigan.

The good news is they are the same size. Here they are spread out on the floor prior to blocking. Demonstrating their sameness. I added more seed stitch to the button flap since I really like how this yarn (Noro Silk Garden) looks in seed stitch.

As if that is not enough knitting for you, I have finished one of the Hedera socks. I think that should count as a FO since it is a Cookie A pattern and she only ever knits one. Alas but I can't bring myself to wear mismatched socks even if they are handknit so I guess I shouldn't count it just yet.

I think reporting on two knitting project is enough for one blog post.

(See I told you this was scary.)

Two Birds in the Hand are

.. priceless

My hands now are wonderfully warm and toasty thanks to these



Pattern: Bird in Hand Mitts by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Fiesta Yarns Boomerang (100% merino) in Alaska colourway and some stash 100% wool in white
Needles: I knit these with 2.75 mm - I have yet to measure the gauge. I started knitting - checked on my hand and they fit. What else would I need.

Notes
I have not done stranded knitting for over a year and this was a good refresher as there were a few things that I remembered as I went along. Knit loose is the first one that came back to me. On the right mitt the first couple of motifs are knit tighter than the solid colour rounds. The other thing is the whole yarn dominance -which yarn is dominant from the top or the bottom. For some reason this is not intuitive to me so after I realized on the palm that I should pay attention to this matter it takes me a couple of rounds to get that the bottom yarn is dominant and I should be having the white yarn as dominant.
Like Claudia found (although I haven't measured gauge) these mitts are a great width for me but are longer than I would have chosen. Although this does not distract from their job of keeping my hands warm on my walks. Which they have now for the past 3 days (I finished them up at a meeting on Tuesday). As I am writing this I realize I total forgot to take a close up of the birds. WHOOPS.

Next up...

Happy 2008!

This past Christmas week has seemed like one event after another with just enough time between events to prepare food for the next event. Little knitting was completed although a fun time was had by all.

(I love this picture of Sarah that Emily took. My brother showed us a setting on our camera that allows you to take isolate a colour in a photo).

(Yes, Ali received a 4x8" poster for Superbad)

A favourite Christmas present that I received:

A beautiful wooden swift, which was dutifully put to use to wind this
for these.