My Handmades

Sugar and Cream Cowl

2012-01-21T03:56:00.000-08:00

A simple Cowl with downgrading cables by Alana Dakos. I wanted to make sure this cowl will stand upright like a wind shield and not flop down so coupled my Malabrigo sock yarn with Habu stainless steel in midnight blue. The sock yarn is what's left from my old rose wrap .

I have not blocked or steamed this cowl after casting off as I wanted to keep those cables crunched and tighter around the neck.

Winter is lingering and it is difficult to get good lighting for photos. I loved the dusky pink of last sun rays, soon those trees will be leafy again..

Miranda scarf

2012-01-04T09:56:00.000-08:00

What do you gift someone who got absolutely everything ?? You knit him a scarf in a hope he will appreciate the love and care put in every stitch..

The scarf I had in mind needed to be wintry warm , luxuriously soft , stylish but subtle and manly of course . I have looked at many designs on ravelry and nervously swatched and frogged few swatches with different yarns. My winner was the Miranda scarf.

I chose rowan baby alpaca in the charcoal colour, grey is one of my favourite colours. The pattern is basically a 2 by 2 rib with split cabling inserted every few rows - simple but effective.

I was pondering about the length , since its a winter scarf I wanted the wearer to be able to wrap it double around the neck with enough left overs to be tucked under a coat or a Jacket.

Success me thinks ! :-)

Gnarled oak

2011-12-17T07:35:00.000-08:00

A wonderful knit from coastal knits- a collaboration project from Alana Dakos and Hannah Fettig. As soon as I saw the preview I ordered the yarn - pigeonroof studios cassiopea dk from the states. The dyer had only 4 skeins in her etsy shop whilst the pattern calls for 6 skeins. I know the designer must add some extra yardage for safety but from past experience I know that for my size (XS-S) , 3 to 4 100 grams double knitting skeins are enough. The yarn is truly amazing ; exquisite colouring- love those silky shades of brown and green , it is squishy with great stitch definition, and oh so soft against the skin.

Its a basic cardigan with striking embossed oak leaves on the yoke. Now I have this obsession to leave as little as possible yarn left overs and sometime I do go for the extreme. So here is what I've done ; started the cardigan from the bottom up, now doubting I haven't got enough yarn - made the body only 34 cm before starting the sleeves. I've made a provisional cast on for the sleeves close to the armhole (about an inch) , join them to body and knitted up the yoke and cast off at the neck. Then rejoined the sleeves and knitted them downwards longer than stated up to above the wrist. Having finished the sleeves I had about half a skein left so without hesitation I inserted a life line just above the rib hem of the body, cut the rib away, rejoined and knitted downward until basically run out of yarn and then started the rib with the yarn frogged from the original rib. A similar process was done here. I wanted to create a more slimline cardigan and I'm happy with the extra length skimming over the hips.

By the way the real stars here are my goats , the nanny with the collar is an old English pure breed. She is a definite character , goats are not as daft as sheep, there is a certain intelligence behind those alien eyes.. I'm milking her every morning and making cheese. Her two billies are called ,cough cough, Lunch and Dinner or in short Ed and Zed. But hey this is a knitting blog and I'm busy with holiday knitting , more of which later..

Cria

2011-11-20T02:14:00.000-08:00

I have started the popular Cria by Ysolda numerous times. For those of you in the know , Cria is being knitted seamless top down with an genius method of picking up stitches and using short rows to build up the neck and shoulders area. I'm really bowing and removing my hat here for Ysolda - just the calculations here for all the sizes, wow ! You have to pay attention for the garter stitch neck edges because there aren't any hems later on. I was unhappy with my knitting at first until I decided to slip the first stitch on the neck edge instead of knitting it - that created a tidier edging. I know some knitters added later on edging by crocheting or I-cord but for me the wet blocking was all what it took to smooth matters. Another struggle for me was to find the right yarn. I've started with some grey 4 ply alpaca and it looked good at start but then my fickle knitting heart decided to frog it all and invest in the real McCoy- oh yes baby , old maiden aunt, hand painted alpaca/silk dk ion-dubh (blackbird). Ysolda used it in one of her Cria samples. The yarn is beautifully dyed, colors changing ever so slightly between the shades of this sophisticated dull blue. You just know quality when you see and knit it - recommend !

Its a tight fit but I like it that way.

Cuff close up-the buttons were bought in Ally Pally this year from the textile garden stand- lovely selection of buttons there and a good customer service..

See the cute little pockets?

Enjoyable knit and I wear it often , its a one to keep !

Live oak shawlette

2011-10-31T09:28:00.000-07:00

This is a lovely quick and easy pattern from knitscene fall 2011, designed by Romi Hill. Romi conquered a niche with all her small shawl designs and pretty shawl pins. I've got other shawls of hers queuing on Ravelry , purchased her 2nd book of small shawls and even got a swirl copper shawl pin in knitnation London 2010.

I chose to knit with Malabrigo sock, an old favourite-you just know it won't shed like a black dog in summer ... The color is Turner , very uunusual variegated between yellow-olive-aubergine-brown. I was not sure about it when it arrived , but it grew on me and looks striking on grey or brown . The lace bit is incredibly easy and I adore those leafy ends. Here are some photos, it is rather cloudy and miserable-apologies...

Be Happy and Keep Knitting !

Cambridge shawl

2011-10-07T09:19:00.000-07:00

Couple of months ago my mother in law brought me a cut piece of paper from the Daily mail. It was Kate Middletton shopping in Waitrose and wearing a green shawl. My mother in law kept admiring it and gave me some guastly scratchy mohair from a charity shop. I got the hint. I promised to knit it for her. Her yarn was given back to charity. I still got self respect..

I chose a dk yarn from my stash, rowan ryc classic cashcotton dk in a pleasing spring green color. It is drapey and soft . I'm just not convinced if its going to stay like that after washing.. The pattern is easy to memorise after few rows. The ruffles are knit as you go by using short rows. On I went with the job - its going to be her xmass present. Here are the photos ;

I hope she will like it !

Cornwall and a Crocheted bracelet

2011-09-03T09:08:00.000-07:00

We took a break in Cornwall couple of weeks ago. It is such a beautiful part of the country .

The is a path way on which you can walk to St Michael's mountain but the tide was too high up. So all are queueing for the taxi boats.

Intricate use of shells..

So charming.

Our Lodge was 2 miles away from Polperro (above). To my delight I found this yarn shop there, and as a souvenir I bought enough yarn to knit Dahlia.

Heh?

In Padstow I bought a silver crocheted bracelet (St Ives Silver) ; I like it a lot it and I like that it was crocheted.

The last days of the Summer, enjoy them while you can. :)

Elisa Sawlette

2011-08-23T10:09:00.000-07:00

A charming shawlette by Tiziana Samurai [ravelry link]

Destashed a ball and a bit of kidsilk haze. Interesting construction of using short rows. The turning point of the short row-hole being created- is part of the design. Also worth pointing the designer's clever method of creating even nupps.

The yarn perhaps is too fuzzy to show off the design but the results is light and airy useful little shawl. Berta fully agrees.. :)

Old rose wrap

2011-08-14T04:46:00.000-07:00

Few years ago I visited the knitting and stitching show in Alexandra palace, London and noticed an intricate wrap wore by lady in the 'Loop' stall. I've complimented her and when the lady herself published the pattern I was delighted.

I mainly knit but this is crocheted .The beauty of it is that you can join the squares as you go and the joining itself contributes to the pattern. Its all looks complicated and intricate but after completing few squares the pattern is memorised and it is very relaxing enjoyable crocheting. The old rose wrap calls for a variegated Malabrigo sock and a solid color. I think its important not to create too much color pooling so the way this yarn is dyed is just perfect for the pattern. I've chose a mix of purple and green - 'rayon vert' for the main section and then a sophisticated blue - 'cote d'azure' for the edgings and 3D roses. I've changed the pattern a bit to look more like the original version I saw but I did not add the loopy edgings; instead went for a lacy picot trim.

The pattern is so versatile , because of the buttons and button holes locations. I've tried to show some of the ways it can be wrapped- a shrug, a poncho, a scarf, a cardigan..

Very pleased with my summer project !
Keeeeeep knitting :)

Marion Foale-Red Alert

2011-06-18T08:20:00.000-07:00

The last few months been very challenging and as a direct results knitting time was significantly reduced.In March 2011 I have started a beautiful pattern by Marian Foale. It was published in woman's weekly a while ago so its not even known in Ravelry. I immediately then cut it for safe keeping. It is a simple summer cardigan with a few purl lines near the garter hems and cuffs.

I chose Malabrigo lace -'sealing wax' color and work in a tight gauge of 35 sts per 10cm. I decided also to shorten the body length. The knitted fabric is light as a feather and the color is ever so slightly variegated between warn rich red to light orange. The hems and cuffs are knitted using 2 strands of yarn which give the cardigan some stability. It was a slow progress but I love the end results. Here are some photos taken today hurriedly in between rain wash outs .

Happy knitting ..

Cashmere harvest !

2011-05-29T07:13:00.000-07:00

We all know how pricey is cashmere wool.. but there are other ways to get it cheaply. My sister lives in Kansas where garage sales culture is flourishing. She always buy me cashmere tops costing nothing really. mere few dollars. One of the purchases she gifted me was this lovely soft ,oversized ,grey cashmere cardigan.

I wore it a lot , and when few holes started to show I've decided to unravel it. Now this is machine knitted and the yarn is extremely soft and fragile as you can expect from 100% cashmere lace. There is a warning here , not all machine knitted garments can be unraveled ! It is easy when you know what look for in the seams... I had a tutorial from my friend Eddie, about the fine crochet line running through the seams, in which I'm very grateful for. Here is a link to her blog regarding those issues.
And a few photos from the harvest;

the unravelling.

Unwashed skeins

My lovely gorgeous soft cashmere cakes ..delish !

My knitting heiress !

2011-04-22T11:57:00.000-07:00

It took several attempts to teach my eldest the art of knitting. Her being left handed did not help either. But last year something have clicked and she started to produce wearable garments. My heart is filled with joy as she is really enjoy the knitting and progressing in her understanding of the different techniques.
Here she is with her own knitted garter scarf and Ysolda's hat. They are not flawless but who cares..

Adi registered in ravelry as tinytangler, why don't you make her feel welcomed and be her friend ..x

Wallace butchered and now complete..Phew !

2011-03-27T03:04:00.000-07:00

Wallace was very closed to completion, knitted the 2nd sleeve and ran out of yarn 5 rows before bind off. I decided it would be silly to order one ball of yarn plus postage (not that I haven't done that before..) for few rows and anyway was unhappy with the length of the jacket so decided to chop the whole thing, back and 2 fronts and the bottom , re knit downwards , re-seam and use the leftover yarn to finish the bloody sleeve.

And this is how you do it- Measure where you want the cardigan to end, I preferred it to be on my hip bone and then go up 1.5 inches (to allow for inner side hem shaping). Insert a different color life line, as straight as possible and then take sharp scissors and cut parallel underneath the life line, not to close , about 2 stitches far. Then ,with a smaller knitting needle pick up stitches from the lifeline, pull it out and carefully pull the shreds of yarn away . You should have a whole row of stitches on your needle waiting to be knitted downward. Chances are ,you did not insert the lifeline straight and jumped up/down a row..doesn't matter ,just tink back the stitches until you will get a full undisturbed row.

Here is a close up, decided not to knit the upper pockets and used brown shell buttons. More close up pics here.

I and Henry. He lost one of his wives last week. Natural causes..Hmmm It is surprising how friendly chickens are on an empty stomach :)

Lima is an aran weight which I've knitted as double knitting so the fabric is extremely warm and dense, perfect for those chilly spring morning before the sun is high up.

Awaiting Marion Foale's knitting collection book

2011-03-25T15:23:00.000-07:00

Here is a book I'm really eager to get-

Marion Foale Knitting Collection: Book 1

Marion has an eye to supreme fit and cut, here are my favourites;

Classic ! will be one very happy lady when this book will arrive to my door step...Long wait though, amazon will only release it in about July here in the UK. :(

Bits of Wallace..

2011-03-15T12:12:00.000-07:00

I'm engaged in lots of small pretty details at the moment. Although it looks like an easy stockinette it has magnitude of interesting details; the sewn-in hems, picot at the bottom, double buttons holes at the sewn in button bands, gaping cuffs with a shirt like closures, interesting pockets..I'm taking my time with this one. Again one of Kim Hargreaves classical gems.
I'm using Rowan's lima which is a chain type of yarn and if knitted tight like in this cardigan it results in a soft to the touch ,channel-y fabric. The color in brown with soft tones of reds in it.
Spring has sprung and I'm itching now to complete it. Will keep you posted ! :)

wrong side of bottom & front hems

cuff

picot hem

Echo flower photo shoot

2011-03-05T09:10:00.000-08:00

This is my Echo flower shawl, my first shawl in a knit along.

The yarn is 4 ply alpaca , natural white and soft with some Little straw stuck here and there. It was harvested from Fowberry Hera.

I had 2 hanks of 660 yards in total. After finishing the first hank, I made one more repeat (one more than a shawlette) and then started on the edging. Those nupps are yarn guzzlers so switched to beads and even omitted couple of rows. I was left with 40cm of yarn in the end. Oh the stress of it all..

Very pleased !! :)

The magic in blocking

2011-02-21T10:24:00.000-08:00

Sea of white flowers...

The craft of natural dyeing

2011-02-20T02:31:00.000-08:00

I've been interested in natural dying for quite sometime. It appeals to me the fact that you can go and gather dye materials from nature like mushrooms, tree bark, berries, flower heads, leaves.. food leftovers like onions skins, tea bags, black beans brine..oh and do you remember my beetles ? Also I tend to prefer hues and gentle coloring other than bright strong colors.

I had in my stash few hanks of this soft undyed loopy mohair so when my friend Mary, a keen natural dyer offered to teach how to dye in exchange for some advanced knitting techniques from me ,I gave a big Yes.

There are few methods to dye with cochineal beetles , Mary's method is first to soak the whole beetles in water to soften them . That makes it easy for their crimson juice to drift into the dye bath later on. The mordant for all our experiments was alum 8% (of wool weight) plus cream of tartar 7%, the white wools and fibers were soaked in that for about hour.

Mary brought her own dye stuff; chamomile flower heads which gave light yellow, and logwood bark which gave a beautiful dark purple.

After mordanting, the pots with the wool , dye and cold water were very slowly starting to warm up, it should take about half an hour to warm to gentle simmering. The Chamomile and logwood dyes stuck to the wool quickly but the beetles dye (9% in weight) was very slow to appear . Only after hour of simmering the dye started to come out nice and red but the shade was pink, not my favourite colour . We left it to soak for about 4-5 hours more and its become even more vivid shade of pink. When buying the cochineal beetles , I saw samples of colors achieved and it ranged from deep purple, crimson, red, pink and even orangy, I need to experiments with other type of mordants ..

I gave the pink wool to a friend who was enthusiastic about the color but kept the lovely purple hank which was dyed in the exhaust bath.

This is just the start :)

My stitch markers

2011-02-06T01:24:00.000-08:00

I'm knitting lots of lace at the moment of which will be written later on. I needed lots of stitch markers to separate the repeats and it is so much nicer to use some pretty sparkly glass beads. It even nicer to know that you made them yourself ! All credits my talented friend :)

Moony !

2011-01-28T08:10:00.000-08:00

The hat was made with a speed in between projects. It is Moon by Kim Hargreaves, knitted with Rowan's cocoon. I'm sorry but I forgot to take proper photos before I gave it away to a friend who had a long spell in hospital. What I do have is some silly photos of a big unblocked feminine hat on a mischievous little two years old head :) .I hope you can see the potential..

Eureka !! iphone gloves..

2011-01-21T08:43:00.000-08:00

Today while doing the school run I've notice a weird knitted gloves on one of the moms. The tips of the thumb and two other fingers were knitted in a different yarn.We got chatting and she explained ,the gloves were bought online and especially designed to touch , scroll etc your iphone whilst on your hands. I got a closer look and the yarn on those fingers tips had a shiny metallic silver thread through it. Here is a sketch (ignore the numbers)

I thought to myself what a brilliant idea, in this cold weather, when out and in need of texting, e-mails replying , facebooking etc on your ipad and iphone , you don't want really to be messing with your gloves. I need to experiment and not sure if its going to work but if I was to knit the fingertips with a electrically conductive metallic yarn (think Habu ) then I would create my own iphone gloves and boost my inner knitter ego!!!

The Galvanized Cardigan

2011-01-15T11:38:00.000-08:00

I just seamed today the underarm live stitches and absolutely adore this little cardi. I like the color combination -so elegant. I like the simplicity of the construction and I'm happy with the fit.

A few slight modifications; decided to knit only 39cm of the sleeves before joining to the body. The sleeves grew in length during blocking. I always let the garment soak in a mild bath and then spin it 1600 in my washing machine to get all excess water away. The felted tweed bloomed as I knew it would. Also shortened by half an inch those corrugated cuffs. My sleeves gauge is tighter than the body gauge because this is how I knit with dpns but as I have slim arms it works for me.

If I was to knit it again, I would add about 6 more sts to the button bands , I feel it pulls in the fronts a bit, and cast off tighter the neck band. All in all I'm very happy with the design :)

I used 8 different buttons from a vintage set. So pleased .

Well done , Amy Christoffers !

Does SOFT always is BEST ??

2011-01-07T02:08:00.000-08:00

We knitters tend to favour soft yarns, we go oohh and aahh over cashmere, merino, baby alpaca and such and I'm no different. I paid top sterling for my quivit and angora but if I'm to take good hard look at what I'm wearing in my daily routines it is going to be garments that stood the grime of life. I'm a mother of four kids under 10 years, I have 2 border collies, a flock of chickens (cockerel Henry and his six wives) , I don't have a cleaner as such so I'm fully hands on person. That doesn't go well with malabrigo lace which will peel horribly as soon as I glance at it. All this preference of soft yummy wool results in the fading of many great sheep breeds and we knitters have contributed to this . Wool have so many characters and a great source to reading and understanding those I found in this book by Clara Parkes.
Here the story goes back to September 2010 where I was asked to have a knitting stand in the new forest festival in Minstead. If you got the patience you can see me knitting and talking about 5:20 into the clip.

The stand next to me belong to Sue cole, spinner and weaver. She is rearing some gotland sheep in Mintead (my neighbouring village) and was kind enough to gift me some 3 ply natural grey gotland yarn. The grey actually consists of varied amounts of black and white hairs. The yarn is Not soft, but has a lot of attitude, and it is pleasing and satisfying to the touch. Yarn you can trust not to wear off.
So I used it in 'Curling' by Anne Hanson.

You can always trust Anne to produce beautiful lace . This is the left mitten unblocked, whats left is obviously the right one. Le sigh..... :)

Caterpillar's photo shoot

2010-12-30T06:16:00.000-08:00

Kaffe Fassett's Caterpillar is now complete. Today the temperatures rose to a balmy 7C so it was enough for me to just slip it on and have a little walk up the lane to the green . There been a persistent fog last couple of days but my sparkly and colorful caterpillar drove all the grey away.

The knitting itself was quick with the 7mm needles. There is a shiny lurex in each row but it is accompanied by either double kid silk haze or rowan kid classic. I didn't have all the original colors, some are discontinued so had to substitute some colors but am pleased with the overall color scheme. Reflecting back I think that if I was to do it again I would omit about 12 rows from the body's length. I'm petite and seldom wear long tunics which swallows my frame.

Those new forest ponies were not impressed at all with my presence , next time I'll bring carrots.

Happy New Year and Happy Knitting to you !!

Caterpillar's body..

2010-12-21T03:25:00.000-08:00

Ahhh but where are the sleeves ?

Saturday progress shoot- Galvanized Cardigan

2010-12-11T08:05:00.000-08:00

Remember this post ?

I'm using the original yarns in the magazine. The rowan felted tweed , ancient, is more sagey green than grey but is very stylish with the amber kidsilk haze. My hands had to get used to the dual colored single rib. I'm not fast at that as I want to , I still hold the 2 yarns in my left hand .

And down below is a close up of the wrong side for those who wish to see it (you know who you are , haha).

Brrrrrr...

2010-12-05T07:14:00.000-08:00

The yarn for Scottie was laying dormant for at least eight years. It is the softly spun natural fleece by Jaeger.
Scottie was knitted out of necessity. An eastern arctic wave of snow and ice was hitting this country .

I'm naturally drawn to fine yarns and holding the thick 9mm needles took some time to adjust to. I wanted a thick zipped long Cardigan and chose a Martin Storey design from a jaeger JB 32 booklet. It is very quick to knit , thick yarn is very rewarding in that aspect. The zipper though took couple of days to sew and I made it fit right to the top of the collar so that when you feel extra chilly you zip yourself right up and cover your neck.
Scottie is my favourite homely warmer. I'm pleased.

Maxi also thinks its comfy !!

Caterpillar bling !

2010-11-29T06:24:00.000-08:00

What is on my needles ?
Bling addiction ! every row is sparkling with shimmering metallic lurex ..color combination you would never think of unravelling in each row added..
My lovely lovely caterpillar !!

Florence at last !

2010-11-20T04:32:00.000-08:00

I've only now finished Florence by Kim Hargreaves. Now this was one troublesome cardigan. Many things went wrong here and five days ago it was ready to be pushed away to the back of the wardrobe never to see the light of day.

I chose the yarn to be a rowan cashcotton 4ply in pale dull blue contrasted with the black glass buttons I've ordered from Kim herself. I've only had few balls so got the rest in a different dye lot. That was the first problem. The subtle change in color mid sleeve was a sore to the eye so in the end knitted 3 sleeves. :(

The other serious problem was that the sleeves caps were way too large for the armhole so sewing them resulted in funny crunched up shoulders. The neckband I picked and knitted had too many stitches in it so the neck line was way too wide, floppy and made the shoulders seams flop to mid arms. Not an attractive look !

I went defeated to my Southsea knitting group and my lovely dear friend Caroline volunteered to take the monstrosity home , rip the sleeves out and reknit the caps much smaller (by third) to fit the armholes.

I then sew back the new sleeves , frogged the neckband and picked it again, tight.

So, here I am at the back of my garden in this grey wintry day. My wellies are on and I'm splashing about in my brook .

Happy days !!!

Yes pleeeeaase !

2010-11-05T10:52:00.000-07:00

Check the galvanised Cardigan from the preview of interweave knits winter 2010 edition.

knitted to the bone !

2010-11-03T00:31:00.000-07:00

I stumbled across this - The meditating skeleton :)

Pea vines shawl

2010-10-28T06:25:00.000-07:00

Here is the lethal pea vines shawl by Ann Hanson. This shawl is not for the faint hearted. This shawl is also anti-social, it doesn't like people and small children talking and playing around it.
But if you behave nicely to it, give it your full attention it will reward you with some stunning views.

I chose to make the petite version which used less than 300 yards of the hand dyed seriously-gorgeous knit witches green yarn, a lovely Lacy cashmere mix which bloomed beautifully after blocking.

This is a close -up of the unblocked shawl. See how intricate and entangled everything looks?

You start the shawl from the widest part and gradually decreased stitches on the side panels going on towards the point of the triangle , then you just graft both side of the edging to create that point. All the difficult long rows are at the beginning when you are at most enthusiastic and the pattern kind of relaxes towards the end. I would strongly recommend using lots of stitch markers between the repeats.

The iPhone camera is convenient to use but it does not do justice to the color depth and the photo quality. Also the photographer is kind of under-age, he he, my daughter.

I'm now thinking about those gorgous hand warmers..

Mother of pearl buttons

2010-10-28T03:55:00.000-07:00

Bought those beauties in a little haberdashery shop in Palma. They are carved from mother of pearl shell. Are'nt they lovely?

Chinook Shawl

2010-09-04T06:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a shawl with an eye catching pattern. From a beginning row of eyelets, the lace pattern grows to resemble rippling waves or fish scales. It is a kit supplied by knitpics , the designer is Nina Isaacson. Knitpics does not export to the UK so I had to send it to Kansas where my sister lives. The kit's cost at the time was only $20 and includes 5*50g balls of lace weight all different mixtures of alpaca, silk and merino (Alpaca cloud, Shadow, Gloss Lace, Shimmer)-Absolute bargain ! The yarn is held double ,so at times the yarn needed to be taken from both center and outer ball. You can see the flowing , graduating pool of color starting from a light faded heather to a stronger shade of lilac, purple and dark berry.
The pattern is really easy to remember and knit and my mind already thinks ahead about the possibilities of incorporating it in cardigans..

Here is a loser look, isn't this pretty.. :)

Eriskay photo shoot

2010-08-15T04:03:00.000-07:00

This is a cardigan designed by Jean Moss. Its quite an oldie , traditional garment with lots of little cabling and geometric shapes . I used rowan's felted tweed in a rustic orange color-nice for autumn. It took way too long to knit... I promised to knit a scarf for my sister's dog and knitted it whilst she stayed at my house. What I did not realised is that she chose the cheapest green acrylic of a long thread (I dare not call it yarn, that would be a blasphemy !) It actually squeaked on my needles, and to top it all it had to be finished with a grisly pink. Ahem, that was not a labour of love.. I'll have to ask her for some photos of her beloved visla when she's back home ..

Here is Carrie !

2010-06-27T02:15:00.000-07:00

I tend to favourite designs using 4 ply yarn. I just like the look of the fabric. This time I chose to knit Carrie by Kim Hargreaves from her latest book Misty. As usual it is so wearable.

I used the now discontinued rowan 4 ply cotton , shade ripple. A pretty pale minty color. The patterns calls for 4 ply milk cotton but I preferred to de-stash. The buttons are a nice find from the knitting and stitching show in Ally Pally last year. They are carved coconut shells and dyed blue.
This cardigan is textured with a cording and garter stitch trim. The collar is made separately and seamed to the body.

The lower body below the cording has a pretty cluster motif while the sleeves and upper body got a different smaller clusters.
I knitted the icord 20 cm smaller than stated and then wet blocked it . The cord stretched and the stitches became even.

Nice !

My knitting Studio

2010-05-31T04:24:00.000-07:00

We have moved a house, hence the long absence. It did not prevent me knitting but my pace slowed down considerably. The house is located in a small village, Brook, in the new forest national park and I'm still in awe about the surroundings, the scenery, nature, animals ..
Knitting wise , I chose today's post to be about my new knitting room. It is located in the loft, its spacious , its mine and it is all about my crafts.

I took great pleasure in sorting my stash into the baskets. The hanks or balls are all in plastic bags to prevent damage from moth (touching wood here) and from splitting by the basket's inner edges. The magazines are in easy reach and view on the top of the furniture. I still need to unpack all my knitting books and decide how to shelve them.

A grand old table is waiting to be restored to its former glory and then to be added here.

Not all yarn in the baskets , I store the 'un-inspiring' yarn out of sight.

Now it is time to sit comfortably down and get inspired !

Recycling

2010-04-25T04:00:00.000-07:00

Finally the spring has sprung, the weather got warmer and sunnier so I've managed to wear 'shallot' couple of times. I've knitted it whilst holidaying in Lanzarote . Its interesting to know that the yarn I've used was once part of several other garments worn by other people. Revive by Rowan is totally recycled. You see, there once were clothing, used or faulty or even new and then they've been sterilised and sorted by fibre composition and then grinded to loose fibers. Those loose fibers then were carded and spun into cotton , silk and viscose composition yarn.

Revive has flecks of color, not as soft as pima cotton and somewhat splitty if you are not careful.

I'm pleased with this little cardi, and the match to the Liberty's button.

Nice with sleeveless tee and jeans, sandals and sunglasses on..ahh summer soon !

The Lovely Aeolian Shawl ..

2010-04-09T07:02:00.000-07:00

I've been busy with my knitting and completed few garments. One of the projects I really enjoy knitting is this lovely shawl designed by Elizabeth freeman. She called it Aeolian and because she is a tree counter, the designs is inspired by the shape of trees. The pattern is free and available on knitty. I've knitted it together with Elseline. We both chose lace for this pattern. I had a very nice red lace alpaca while Elseline knitted it with a dark bamboo yarn, from Habu. I chose to knit it without the beads as I wished it to be not too dressy. Both shawls are very pretty.
You can see the finished shawl before blocking above . It looks nothing like the blocked piece. The pink color is untrue, my shawl is very red.

Above is the shawl drying away , blocked on the guestroom mattress.

Here is my daughter modelling the shawl for me ! Lovely !

Red gold !

2010-03-06T08:12:00.001-08:00

Before going with the family to Lanzarote, I have looked in advance for whereabouts of yarn shops and could not find any. Then when reading about this sleepy volcanic island I discovered an unusual cultivation-cochineal Beetles ! A year ago I bought couple of books regarding natural dyes and remembered reading about the source that gives the best crimson red or carmine dyes ; its derived from carmic acid produced by scale insects such as the cochineal beetle. Here is a photo of some of the shades achieved on woven fabrics.

I read a bit about the history and it is very interesting. Apparently the Aztecs used it as a war paints and when the Spanish came across cochineal in 16th century they shipped it back to Europe and there it created a sensation. The red it produced was brighter, deeper and longer lasting than anything anyone had ever seen. It was used on the cardinal gowns, paints, cosmetics .. The Spanish guarded the secret of cochineal cultivation and it was as expensive as gold. The Spanish discovered climate in the Canary islands was perfect for the beetles.
I drove with my family to Guatisa and Mala where there are numerous cacti fields.

The white spots on the cacti wide leaves are the tell tale signs of the beetles. Here is a close up;

I manually removed the beetles from the leaves (and got pricked!). The beetles are fat and full with the red juice they suck from the tunera cacti. You then leave them to dry and then grind them to a red powder. The dry powder then should be filtered in hot water and I was told it is best to use those white tissue coffee filters. You should then soak the undyed yarn or fabric in it for about 25 minutes. If using acid such as vinegar or lemon juice you will get variation in the reds. I bought a fare amount of the beetles and intend to experiment.

By the way the 'jardin del cactus' in Lanzarote sell them ti tourists 2 euros for about 12-15 dry beetles. not bad!

These days many companies prefer organic dyes to chemical alternatives so the cochineal market is on its way up. Did you know that the Italian drink Campari contain cochineal ??

London Knitting Tour

2010-02-19T08:52:00.000-08:00

At last I've managed to see for myself some of the famous knitting spots in London. Myself and two good friends from Southsea knitting club took the train from Portsmouth to Waterloo. Here is Caroline knitting away on the train..notice her chevron cardigan, I've knitted it myself.

The day was organised like a military operation in order to manage to see all the targets.

We first stopped at Oxford street to see Liberty which is such a striking old building, inside and out.

To get to the haberdashery floor you must walk first past all the designer bags and scarfs..there I was with my mouth gaping open admiring everything..The wool though was somewhat disappointing , mostly all your usual rowan staff, the salesladies are snooty but the buttons are gorgeous..

Next stop was an unremarkable knitting shop ; All the fun of the fair , not too far from Liberty. All the yarn were sorted by colors. I found there a lovely brown skinny skein without price tag..

Me- excuse me , how much is this skein?

Shop lady- Oh, let me see the fiber content..

(she fondles the skein but eyeing me up and down..)

Shop lady-(sweet voice) £25 please !

Me-Oh !

Shop Lady- Its the cashmere...

Me- only %15..

Shop lady produces a professional smile but is not backing down..

Me-closing the shop door quietly behind me..

We were planning to visit Weardowney , but few attempts to call them were not answered so it was decided to let go..

Next , we were rushing to Loop and there we stayed a while. Its not a big shop and the owners keep most of the yarn in the basement which has no access to customers. I took my time and slowly scanned the shelves; blue sky alpaca, madelintosh, malabrigo, habu ..what a pleasure ..I looted the shop's stock of habu silk stainless steel, ha ha..

No time for proper lunch, we were running up and down on the tube escalators and the last stop was iknit . Expectations were high but stock levels were low , not enough color range on the malabrigo sock yarn.. Never mind its not as if I have anything to knit with..

Lovely day, and now we are planning the summer knitting tour :)

2010-02-02T03:39:00.000-08:00

Here are the first and only pair of gloves I've ever knitted. This a rowan design with simple cable running along the hem and the back hand, with attached grey beads. The yarn is woolcotton which gives the soft feel to the gloves whilst the wool insulates. I had a good wear out of them the last couple of winters and especially lately in the freezing snowy days..Not bad..

Introducing my knitting group

2010-01-23T01:01:00.001-08:00

Here is a glimpse of my knitting group. I've taken this photo late into the evening so a lot of ladies already left. We could be 25 head strong in a good evening.We've started about two years ago in Borders book shop, the west quay area in Southampton . When Borders went bust last December we finally settled in the cafe at Ikea. We meet every Thursday from 6:00 pm until 8:30 pm. People are making an effort and coming here from Portsmouth, Christchurch , Winchester..we have ladies from France, Germany, Sweden..I like the fact that we have people from all ages and social backgrounds. We all differ but have one thing in common - the passion for the craft of knitting (and yes of course the crocheting).
You're all inspired me one way or another!!
xx

Scarflet

2010-01-08T03:11:00.000-08:00

Here is a Xmas present I've knitted my mom. Actually last year on a visit to Israel I've knitted the first version and it was snapped by my dear grandmother. It is proving very popular with my mates because it is quick, pretty and economic, only one skeins of Rowan cocoon. There plenty version on ravelry. The credit must be given to the designer Kim Seio. Here is my scarflet;

Nice!

knit o'clock

2009-12-30T00:43:00.000-08:00

Birthday present to my husband went pear shaped. Although I took all relevant body measurements ,I trusted the pattern and kept going and the end product is disastrous. I am so disgusted with it that it is all pushed at the back of a wardrobe not to see a day light for few months .

So from big aran needles I switched to a lace weight . The yarn is malabrigo lace and has the loveliest shades of blue . The kettle dying process brings out the most subtle variations which I like. It is a very soft spin so the feel of this merino is very , very soft , cashmere like I would say for a bargain price. The only negative is that I find it hard to wind the skeins , very sticky and at times tangly as well, very time consuming. The gauge is a whopping 35 sts to 10 cm so there is a lot of knitting to be done, hence the headline of this post. I chose a pattern by Marion Foale, tailored style cardigan which was published in woman's weekly. My girls from southsea knit club alert me when a good pattern is being publish . Texts starts running to and fro..we are a great team! Happy knitting year to you!

Coraline

2009-11-18T08:42:00.000-08:00

I found the most beautiful buttons for my Coraline . They are vintage deep ruby glass buttons encased in brass. I've already blocked the cardigan and today made the buttons loops with embroidery floss matching the light grey rowan baby alpaca. The red and grey work great together and I like the smocking detail on the yoke.

Sylvie

2009-11-12T04:09:00.000-08:00

Here some shots of my finished coat sylvie .I'm wearing it all the time now, the easiest piece to slip on when in a hurry, school runs especially. I had a few comments about the hood , it is pointy , elvish if you like and quite charming , maybe it need a bell to attach to,only kidding!

another shawlette

2009-10-21T05:34:00.001-07:00

19102009672, originally uploaded by bespokeknits.

A quick project, easy to memorise. Lovely brown color of the malabrigo sock ,chocolate amargo. I admit I've blocked it too harshly: the edge loops are nice and defined but the garter is stretched beyond recognition so will block it again. I've finished my cable coat and will post an entry as soon as I get to shoot a few photos.

Back is back

2009-09-21T07:19:00.000-07:00

I've noticed a few designs that make their focal point at the back. The front is usually basic or traditional or just slightly embellished . It could be a pretty lace insert like the 'Back Lace Panel Cardigan' from the classic elite Saturday afternoon booklet.

It is interesting. There is this alluring surprise at the back, draws attention to it. Here is another example;

This is the mountain view cardigan by Connie Chang Chinchio, lovely delicate lace.

You could make the back special by adding elaborate cables .This is Sylvi by Mari Muinonen ,a charming hooded coat and she is on my needles now..

I have used 2 yarns together to achieve the right level of thickness and sturdiness. This is a coat and not a floaty wrap. I have used my rowan chunky Scottish tweed together with the rowan Scottish 4 ply. Both yarns are the same color as far as I can see. The back in the photo is blocked so the cables are much more relaxed. The stitch markers are for picking up the marked stitches and knitting the petals. I have finished the fronts and am knitting the first sleeve. This is a fast knit and very rewarding. bye for now.

Aestlight shawl

2009-09-10T11:45:00.000-07:00

This is one of those patterns that manages to rise above others and circulates in abundance within the knitting community, plenty of versions in ravelry. I have mention it first here and chose it to be my camping knitting companion or rather it was chosen for me as the yarn I purchased from 'knit n caboodle' never materialised and I had no response , not the slightest from that shop.

I'm rather pleased with the outcome.

Sugar complete!

2009-09-02T01:23:00.000-07:00

It turn out not too bad. I like the look from the front but if I to do this cardigan again I would have modified it to have a much deeper sleeve cups. These sleeves have the shallowest cups I've ever knitted and I prefer my cardigans not too loose around the armpits..so there you go.

Can I have some color ,please

2009-08-21T03:17:00.000-07:00

Hi, The sugar cardigan is finally at the sawing stage. It seems to have taken longtime and the fact that I managed to knit 3 sleeves didn't help. Yes you've read right. three. Please count twice cast on stitches from now on..

So after all the whiteness I'm in need of color and in abundance. The more the better. Also the next project need to be relatively a quick fix to satisfy the knitting mojo which suffered some blows lately, ie three sleeve fiasco..

Can I introduce Daybreak shawl by the young Stephen West:

This shawl appeals to me, the colors, the theme, the simple geometric design that represent the sun rays..There are few variations on the color scheme which can be seen on ravelry but I'll stick to the original sock yarn, Schoppel Wolle Zauberball in burnt almond and choco creme. I ordered it from knit n caboodle, which are closing down so fingers crossed I'll have it soon for my family camping holiday in Dorset. If the yarn won't arrive in time, option number two is the Aestlight shawl by the shetland trader. I'm going to knit this shawl in two colors. Here is what inspired me, this and this. Now I will use green as the main color , the Jameison spindrift in moss and the mesh part of the design in Kauuni rainbow, just the green yellowy part. So what will it be? Let the postman decide!

Vintage buttons

2009-08-04T10:01:00.000-07:00

Last evening I was given a precious present. Have a look at this..

Those beauties came from a well established button shop in Southsea , this is all I'm saying. Dont want the vintage supply to dwindle out, haha. They are all individual and bottom row plays on the moon , sun and stars theme . All metal and absolutely charming ! Thank you ever so much , Caroline, you are as obssesed as me!

Still Sugar..

2009-07-30T07:16:00.000-07:00

So far , so good.

Featherweight inspiration

2009-07-24T00:08:00.000-07:00

My favourite past time when fed up with my office work is to check other knitting blogs, ravelry, online magazines, etc.. You can learn a lot about whats going on in the knitting world. what patterns are popular, which magazines got out, books etc. I think its wonderful people can self publish their designs all online , no need for books. Great opportunity for working from home and even setting up your own business. I take great pleasure in watching how knitters pick their favourite design and then make it their own, modify it, substitute the yarn, change a few details. I get so much inspiration from it. Here is example of this kind;

Hanna Fettig from knitbot published a breezy little top, done in Malabrigo lace, featherweight cardigan. Now when I saw it I thought its is cute , charming and good for using my Malabrigo. Then I spotted such a wonderful version knitted by Taryn : see photo above as well.

Taryn used dream in color , baby, in shiny moss color. The photography helps but you can see how elegant this top became after adding the feather and fan hem. I absolutely adore this piece and thank you so much Taryn for explaining how you modified Hanna's pattern. Sorry Hanna, but in this case I think the pupil might outdone the master!
Socktopus , as far as I know are the only ones who stock baby but the colors are limited and when phoning them did not seem to be helpful in ordering shiny moss for me so I might be needing to order it from the states..
Where is the summer by the way? Is that it?!

Slow growth..

2009-07-19T06:12:00.000-07:00

I've been busy with sugar. It is growing painfully slow, endless white knitting..I have 2 black and white border collies that shed hair at the same speed I managed to clear. The black hairs somehow always manage to lift themselves and lodge in the white pristine stitches. I've always raised an eyebrow when shopping on e-bay for wool and reading the 'pet free house' comments but now have a greater sympathy for the subject. Just have to accept that my white cardi is going to be a mixture of silky mohair, supreme shetland and canine fur..

The construction of this cardigan is unusual , not your normal 2 fronts, back and 2 sleeves . So far I've knitted the back and 2 front seamlessly up to armholes , put the 2 fronts stitches on scrap yarn and knitted up the back while decreasing for the armholes.

July is an anticipation month for the forthcoming autumn season. My postman does not know it but he is being watched constantly. I'm learining from past mistakes and wont allow my collies to get to my Rowan magazine, not even a sniff. I prefer my magazines without toothmarks, you see..;-) .I've seen some previews of the patterns and the fair isles are good.

goodbye for now.

Daisy

2009-07-09T13:42:00.001-07:00

Shoot me...

White as Sugar

2009-07-07T09:13:00.000-07:00

I'm always looking up for unic wearable designs and my latest find is the danish designer Marianne Isager. I was aware of her but when I stumbled upon her book Japanese Inspired Knits I thought that is one to look out for. She has a nice way with colors and what looks like simple forward approach towards knitting but a closer look shows a thoughtful brilliant construction about her garments. I have started knitting a piece from Classic knits.

Its called 'Sugar'. A clean lined cardigan worked in garter stitch, punctuated with narrow two stitch cables.

Now Marianne knitted her cardi with her own yarns which are not readily available in the UK. I have swatched a few times to achieve a slightly tighter gauge and came up with a combination of rowan kid silk haze in white teamed with a cone of Lacy Shetland 'supreme' which was bought last year in Ally Pally.

Knitting is very slow with this one as it is garter and the back and two fronts are being knitted in one go. I'm putting myself a target of achieving at least one button hole per day. so far so good.

Here is a close up. The book shows 2 cardigans , one with dark buttons and one with creamy color. I chose to have the dark ones from rowan as contrast. What do you think? We love...!

blocked sleeves

2009-06-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

The sleeves are nicely being blocked. Cotton is not giving in knitting , there is no flexibility so to sort out unevenness in cotton, blocking should be strongly considered. This is how I block;

I fill a bowl with lukewarm water and rest the pieces on the water letting them slowly absorb the water until all is sank, stir it gently and let it swim there happily.After few more minutes I'll drain the water from the ball and take the soaked dripping pieces into the washing machine , then spin cycle. When all done , I'll find an available mattress. my favourite is my son's spare one, the straight lines on the pattern make it easy to alienate the sleeves . Then it is a matter of pulling gently to the right measurements and pinning it down. Then its waiting, and when you think its done wait a bit more because although the outside looks dry the inside is still wet.

next is sawing..

2009-06-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

Its summer, glorious summer, well and truly here. Which brings me to cotton. My preference goes to wool but when the temperature soars , even wool goes off. Now, cotton is a plant fiber, stronger than wool and stronger still when wet. A few issues arise around the 'how green ' is cotton, I've read that as a crop its requires vast amounts of pesticides and fertilizers and if I'm not mistaken this crop needs lots and lots of water.

A decade ago , I did not know much about cotton, did not know there are many level of quality and varied personalities. A leaflet from Lidl came with an advertising of 3 balls of cotton, marketed from Germany, for £1.20. What a bargain I exclaimed at the time and rushed and bought most of their stock. cotton is cotton I thought. What a disaster! This cotton found its quite way to charitable venues...

Egyptian cotton is considered the best, go and see hoe expensive bed linen are made from the staff. Apparently its to do with the longest staple length. Then its followed closely by the Pima cotton grown in the united states and Peru.

regarding the process the Cotton is undergoing I tend to least favour the mercerised cotton (invented by John Mercer in the early 19Th century). Although shiny , the increased strengh make my fingers ache after knitting for a while. much prefer soft spun like the rowan purelife organic range or their 4 ply cotton. If I can help it I know not to pick an aran weight , a cardi made from the staff will make you feel as if you were carrying sack of potatoes . Also another tip, try to knit cotton firmly, garment will keep its shape longer.

So, what is on my needles now? Another Kim Hargreaves charming piece Daisy.

Daisy uses pima cotton by rowan. I went for the 'grellow' look, combination of grey and yellow that I find very appealing. The buttons are a great find from ebay, true glass vintage yellow beauties. and isnt that pocket adorable with its contrast.? a simple pattern really, moss bands , fitted.. I have a good feeling about this one!just a warning about the gauge, kim states 26 sts per 10 cm, impossible for me to achieve even after sqizzing the hell out of the pima. I reckon it is a mistake.

Happy summer knitting!

Here's ash

2009-06-20T08:44:00.000-07:00

Here I am staring into the distance with the finished ash proudly on my head.

Many thanks to my friend Wendy for rescuing me and giving me some 'cooking apple' enough to finish the last 4 stripes

The bag

2009-06-13T08:02:00.000-07:00

My mum was born on Xmas day. not such a special day in Israel but here in England it raises a few eyebrows. She was 60 years old and deserved a special present. After some thinking I remember a really beautiful pattern designed by Fiona Morris. Now Fiona is a dear friend of mine but beside that she is phenomenal in her knitting knowledge and in my opinion what Fiona does not know it is nor worth knowing.

The pattern is a silver evening bag, very glamorous, perfect for the theatre, weddings and black tie parties..

There were a few options of beads and yarn combination but I chose the original:

3*10 grams balls of no. 8 Pearle cotton in pale grey

160 grams of size 10 seed beads

size 1.25 mm needles!!! (American size 0000)

All materials for this bag available from Fiona

The metal hand bag frame in Nickel available from 'Bags of handles'.

The making of this bag took me about a month. It is on very small needles and at the beginning you have to get used to the small stitches. The beads need to be prestrung to the cotton with a beading needle and some nymo thread. The technique used is called beaded knitting. The bag is knitted in Garter stitch with beads strung between stitches. The shape of the bag is produced by stringing different numbers of beads between the stitches and some short row shaping.

The large amount of beads give this stunning bag some substantial weight. I decided to saw an inner silk material for extra touch. I wish I could see my mum's face when she opened her present, I gave it to my sister before she flew to Israel...

hot and a hat

2009-06-08T02:05:00.000-07:00

Hi,

I'm in a funny mood, just don't know what to cast on. The problem is the weather. Its fairly warm so cotton, linen , silk are calling to be picked up and I do have cupboards filled the stuff. But which pattern? I have tons and tons of gorgeous patterns for winter, for example silvy and my bohus wild apple..and then the answer came , a hat. another hat? you ask. yes ! one could never have too many hats, and one have lots of relatives who keep a close eye on what you knit and not shy of begging..yes mum, that includes you, dear.

So on the needles is the lovely ash.. Kim Hargreaves of course.

The patterns calls for rowan fine milk cotton but decided to destash some of my rowan 4 ply cotton so are using the long discontinues 'cooking apple' which is a very pale green and 'aegaen' blue. love the color combination of this hat, it is bright, playful, and suits spring and summer.

It is knit in the flat although you can easily convert it to circular needles.

Here is another pattern of Kim's, knit with the now discontinued rowan lurex, navy color and the rowan 4 ply cotton. It is very similar to Ash but chose to keep the purl side as the right one. Here is my daughter modeling the back.

and me next to the Itchen river.

Presenting the Jacket

2009-06-04T13:08:00.000-07:00

I spent the last couple of days sawing. Never rush sawing ..You need to be patient and attentive to details... Then happiness arrives and you got a garment to be proud of. It took 9 balls of rowan 4 ply soft in 'leafy' for the extra small size.The pattern is very textured and give the jacket its stability. I knitted pockets for the first time and shaped a somewhat fancy collar. very pleased with the results and got few compliments today from my border southampton knitting group.

and the back:

Wild Apple

2009-05-28T03:59:00.000-07:00

Not so long ago I bought 'poems of color' knitting in the bohus tradition by Wendy Keeley. Its a lovely book with lots of traditional examples of the bohus style. The garments are lively colored on stockinette stitch background with interspersed purl stitches for texture. Fair Isle garments have just two colors per row and utilize steeks. In the bohus stickning patterns ,there could be any number of colors in a row, and steeks are not been used.

Kerstin Olsson is a bohus stickning designer and is one of my favourites. I have ordered her 'the wild Apple ' kit from Solveig Gustafsson in Sweden. she is a clever dyer and produces the original colors for the official patterns.http://www.solsilke.se/

Here is what my postman delivered yesterday. I'm so glad my two border collies did not get the parcel first . would have been a really expensive disaster.

The yarns are in a superb quality and hence the price. Its a blend of angora and merino, %50 each. realy soft but not 'mohairy'.There is enough to knit an extra large cardigan so I'm sure I will manage a hat or two with the remains.

this is a version done by the , http://theraineysisters.com/

Now will have to be careful with the gauge, I knit the colored bit slightly tighter than the plain stockinette. Have to be strong though, still half a sleeve to go on the Marion Foale's Jacket..

The perfect shawlette

2009-05-25T07:19:00.000-07:00

I have finished one sleeve of Marion Foale's green Jacket but I think It is a bit like watching paint dry, few more inches will be too boring to show so decided to bring you ishbel, courtesy of Ysolda http://ysolda.com/wordpress/2009/01/14/ishbel-pattern/. On ravelry you can see dozens of this lovely shawlette.

I purchased the same yarn the original pattern was made from, an Old Maiden Aunt yarn. a 4 ply mix of alpaca and merino, 'moody'.

It is the perfect size for me to use as a cowboy triangular scarf;

Here I am in a chilly spring day somewhere in the new forest. Love it and it is almost always in my handbag ,ready to be pulled out in time of need.

Double Martha

2009-05-22T09:46:00.000-07:00

While the knitting the Marion Foale's Jacket goes somewhat slowly, I thought to start organise previous knits into some manageable order. In Rowan magazine no 37, 'Martha' in 4 ply cotton by Stella smith proved to be so successful I have knitted it twice. In 2006 I chose a green 4 ply mercerised cotton which I purchased in the historic town Trogir-unesco world heritage site, Croatia and set it with the jeager turquoise beads.

Husband knows that when travelling, no matter where, the missus has to have her yarn shop fix .I'm doing my bit of research and bookmarking all interesting 'yarn /buttons/beads' places .Whilst in Sardinia, I have read in the tourist guide that a Macomer ,has a long tradition in wool manufacture so with high expectations I dragged the tribe along in a filthy cold weather but upon arrival nothing was in sight, a complete sleepy town. I stopped at a cafe to drown my sorrows and while having the best chocolate I've ever tasted, I did some pantomime and tried to ask the Sardinian waitress ‘ donde' wool? She of course did not understand a word in English but after a few tries she pulled me out of the cafe and next door, hidden at the back was a little heaven of yarny staff...bliss..and there I found my really soft charcoal hairy 4 ply alpaca! Written on the label - silke by arvier, bergamo Italy. The six soft balls lay dormant in the stash until I felt the crave to redo martha again. The beads are the gunmetal from jeager. This one is one of my favourites.

and zooming in, see all those white hairs on the black background…

yum..I'm going to have my own llamas, you'll see..I'm already asserting it on dear husband...

First design..

2009-05-20T03:11:00.000-07:00

When purchasing the Weardowney knit couture book , I fell in love with this cardigan.

Actually I was drooling over it. Last October when visiting the knitting and stitching show in Alexandra Palace, London , I went purposely to the Weardowney stall, and started chatting to the heavily pregnant Gail Downey. I made strong hints towards getting the pattern for this cardi but was told that it was part of their line and now discontinued. This was when I made my mind to try and create something beautiful similar to this. I purchased from Gail the original lurex yarn, about £8 per 100g ball. Its looks very similar to the now discontinued rowan lurex. The color is very vintage pink bronze.

So after a lot of experimenting I came out with this. The color is the same as in the book but looks here pink purple. The challenge in this piece was the shaping in the chevron pattern. I had to find a way to increase without being to noticeable. I placed my increases next to the natural ridges occurring in this pattern and I'm quite pleased with the results.

I think the best way to wear it is actually to twin it with your basic jeans otherwise it is too sparkley. Also I got a tip from Gail Downey, the lurex if washed with a fabric conditioner becomes much more 'silky'. I'm very fond of those bronse buttons which were purchased in Paris. The right buttons do beautify a garmen and I always ponder much about which buttons to saw in.

Marion Foale's Jacket

2009-05-19T02:26:00.001-07:00

18052009422, originally uploaded by bespokeknits.

Its actually green, but looks here blue. So far sleeveless..

The beginning

2009-05-18T01:55:00.000-07:00

Hi,

Before I start I would like to apologize in advance if my grammar etc are faulty as English is not my first language.

I grew up in Israel. My mum used to have a knitting shop so me and yarn and knitting go back a long way..

On my needles at the moment is a beautiful classic piece of Marion Foale. I'm sure many of you are familiar with her designs. very tailored, very textured. She made a few appearances in the rowan books but We (My knitting group in Rosie's wine bar , Southsea, Portsmouth) have spotted her kits and patterns in WOMAN'S WEEKLY, out of all places!.. Few of us fell in love with the' thyme green Jacket', and a knit along started.

The pattern calls for Marion Foale's dk sport wool which looks a bit optimistic as the gauge is 29 sts... Anyway I used rowan's 4 ply soft,'leafy' and those chevron and double moss stitches are well defined. I find it very satisfying to knit: easy to memorise but not that simple.

So far I've finished the back, two fronts, colar, buttons..

I'll publish it as soon as I will figure out the technical bits...