New pattern - Vitus

I have a new pattern! I ended up making this 3 times, and might have to make it again sometime - maybe a huge superfine laceweight one?


Vitus is a top down triangular shawl, inspired by St Vitus Cathedral in Prague Castle. When we were living there I always loved seeing it on the skyline as we went past on the tram. I have a few more ideas in my head for other Prague-related designs too, although I have no idea yet how to actually get the effect I want for some of them!


The shawl starts with a no-pick-up garter tab (which will feature in its own blog post at some point) and a setup section, and then the column and arches charts can be mixed and matched to suit your tastes. The edging chart comes last, and is finished off with a delicate picot edging - have to get those spiky, knobbly spires in somewhere!


I have made two samples exactly to the pattern, in different weight yarns - the yellow is Zealana Kiwi Laceweight, and uses a total of 500m (2.5 balls), the purple is Skein Merino Silk Sport, and uses 330m (a full skein). The purple shawl omits the arches chart, and I really like how that emphasises the edging.


My first prototype was made for a shawl exchange, and uses 700m of Tri'Coterie Lace Merino Tencel, which is a true laceweight yarn. You can't tell in the photo, but it has hints of purple throughout the black. It is beautifully soft and drapey too. I almost didn't want to part with it!

Vitus is available through ravelry here, or use this link

Little bits

This morning I had a request from a small boy for jeans, I suspect because his big brother was wearing some. I had an old pair that I started mending a couple of months ago, when he decided they would be terrible, so I pulled them out again and finished the patches. He remembered that I'd promised elephants, so I had to dig out the elephant fabric but I also found some red with spots and tools (left over from his sun hat - he was a bit worried that I'd cut his hat up when he saw it!)

A photo posted by Sonya (@stringherder) on Jan 17, 2016 at 3:27pm PST

I was pleasantly surprised by a box arriving on my doorstep this afternoon, all the way from Switzerland! A delicious, delicious box full of yarn and chocolate, thanks to Robynn! I have only had a little look through, but I feel thoroughly spoilt. I will spread it all out and have a good look/play/sample tomorrow during preschool, as it's not something I really want Help with. I already have ideas for some of the yarn, and if it works I may have to hunt down more of at least some of it!

I have finally started on the border of my shawl, so in 18 more rows it will be done. I am about to start on ridiculous quantities of beading (something like 350 beads just in the edging - compared to 80ish in the rest of the shawl).

Bother.

I have 1.5 grams left with which to do at least 16 more rows. I have a funny feeling that's well short of plausible.

New plan: finish the ball, then calculate how much smaller it needs to be, then rip back a bit and try again. I may block before ripping too, in case I suddenly decide I hate it.

It's not my normal knitting, but I'm surprising myself by really liking it so far. Here's hoping I still like it after I'm fully satisfied with how the design works.

Anyway, it's getting cold here, and I want to use that knitting needle to make a nice warm hat!

Wednesday again - and I noticed this time!

Not only do I have a stocking update and a cardigan update, there is also a new design that decided to jump into the needles. It is destined to be a scarf or stole, and is being made from some Zealana Kauri fingering (60% merino, 30% possum, 10% silk) that I bought for a different design where it didn't want to cooperate. I'm much happier with this incarnation so far.

The heel of the stocking is now nice and clear, just the rest of the foot to go.


You can almost see the knit/purl chevron pattern on the back of this if you squint enough.


This is so beautifully soft, I'm loving it so far.

Squirrels' Paradise Blanket

A bit over three years ago I started designing a baby blanket. I found the perfect colour yarn at a Knitworld sale, and started playing with stitch patterns, tweaking until I had exactly what I wanted. When it looked big enough I started playing with ways to finish it off and settled on a cabled i-cord edging. And half way through I ran out of yarn. The reason that it had been on sale was (of course) because it was discontinued, but I eventually found some in a different shop that was being sold off too - but I had to buy the whole pack of (I think) 6 balls, when all I needed was half a ball.

After all that hunting I had to summon up the enthusiasm to pick it up and finish what felt like an endless edging.



Unfortunately, the yarn didn't wear well, so by the time I was ready to tackle writing up the pattern and decided I needed better photos it was looking pretty tatty. So I made a second one, in a completely different yarn (Skeinz Vintage DK, colour Merlot).



And now the pattern has finally been released!

Available on Ravelry, NZ$7.00

Shhhh...

I'd love to show you the shawl I'm currently working on, but it's a secret. The design is for a yarn club, and I'm looking forward to being able to share more details. For now I just want to report that the yarn is divine to work with, and despite initial misgivings that I was crazy and it wasn't really going to work I am pleased with how the shawl is developing. I have no idea if it will be finished before we go overseas, but as we have no idea when that is happening I am seeing how far I can get.

(Seriously brain? I have samples that show that the concept works, and no real reason for it not to. Why can't you just sit back and have a bit of faith for once?)

This post brought to you courtesy of awake-too-early baby.

Oaken blanket

What could be snugglier than acorns? Well, lots of things, I guess. This blanket for one!



Yarn is Skeinz Vintage DK, in Merlot, I used most of 10 balls. The pattern is currently being slowly written up on days that I can summon the brainpower after the boys are in bed. (Anyone interested in testing, when it's done?)

It is worked in the round from the centre out, and finished with a cabled icord bind off. It's technically a baby blanket, but at 1m square it also makes a great lap rug, and I have to confess that's the main use it has had so far.

I tried to get some 'in use' shots, but both the changeling and the monkey are far too active. No quietly posing babies here! Here are a couple of outtakes:

I love this one, it's just not really a good photo of the blanket


And this demonstrates why this blanket is taking so long to finish writing up!

Designing, and overthinking

I find I have a tendency to overthink things when I design. Sometimes it helps refine a design - things like working out exactly which type of increase or decrease gives the best result. And sometimes it just delays things while I think up more and more options to investigate.

I have just had a lesson in spontaneity by starting on a new shawl. I spent a while trialling all sorts of things that weren't right, and then gave in and charted up something simpler that turned out to be pretty much exactly what I was going for anyway. (Some of the other options would have worked too, but it would have taken a lot longer to finalise it.)

And my next lesson in not overthinking will be putting together a couple of shawl patterns for a submission. That is, I'd like to do two, but I definitely plan to get one done - the second one will take a bit more messing around and may not come to fruition by the deadline. (I hope I can do it, I love the concept.) The first design is basically drawn up, just need to work out a few details and swatch. I'm actually a little surprised at how quickly it has come together!

Long post, lots of photos

First up - embroidery. The stocking is currently making good progress, which is nice. I'm sure it will slow down again when I get back to some of the more bitsy bits, but I'm enjoying seeing actual progress while it lasts.

(For some reason it will happily go every way except upright. A sideways picture will do, I can't be bothered arguing with it)

I've also been knitting a bunch of Small Things, although I think the only new items are a pair of mittens (so quick to make!), and a Very Small Singlet.

Mitten pattern is The Stay Put Mini Mitts, wool is John Q Heather DK from my stash. I used half of a 50g ball, so I may do a second pair the same, but will more likely use a different colour for the emergency backup mittens.

Singlet is shown with the 18 month size one, and it really is ridiculously tiny. (I have compared it to other clothing of an appropriate size, and it appears to be correct...). The larger singlet used 83g of wool, this one used only 34g of Vintage Purls Sock - which is lucky, as I only had 35g of it!
Next singlet-related job will be writing up the pattern, and seeing if it makes sense to anyone. This is my first attempt at making a knitting pattern to fit multiple sizes, and as far as I can tell from my two samples it looks at least somewhat plausible that it is correct.

On the sewing front I have finished my first ever Proper Trousers. Peter hates trying to find decent trousers, so I finally convinced him to let me try making a pair. The pattern is taken from a pair he had made when we passed through Bangkok on the way to Europe a few years ago, so it should fit fairly well.

The fabric was from the $8 table at Fabric Vision (when they had their last 25% off sale), and is a heavy cotton broken twill. It got a wee bit creased when I prewashed, but for a pair of prototype pants it'll do. There are a few things where I could have done things in a slightly different order, but I've never done a trouser fly before and I was making it up as I go along. I think at very least they have worked to prove that I can make something that fits from the pattern, and that trousers aren't really that horrendous to put together. Next pair will be trying out some moleskin from the same sale.
I have also reached the decision that I really need to do something about my wardrobe. I haven't really added anything to it for a while now, and it's getting pretty dire. First new item is (theoretically) going to be a top from a blue striped knit fabric.

Not sure what it is, but it has a nice drape. I may test some to try to work it out, but I'm not sure I actually care enough. It will be a bit of an adventure, since the styles of clothing I like best are nicely fitted woven fabrics, but that's not really practical with constantly changing size/shape and needing access for feeding Small People. One day I can go back to that, but in the meantime I will have to venture into the world of knits.

And lastly, spinning! I have just acquired a second-hand Majacraft Suzie.

I suspect it's quite old, given some of the features, like the metal knob on the front that is now being made from wood, and the straight plates on the crank assembly. Also, it has hooks on the flyer, rather than the sliding hooks that are the norm on all the other ones I've seen.

I've started spinning some merino on it, and it spins nicely. When I've finished the first half I will go through and do some maintenance/tweaking, and spin the second half. It definitely feels more enticing to sit down and spin with it than with my old wheel (an Ashford Traveller - nothing wrong with it, the Suzie just feels a lot more Engineered).
I also finished off the purple corriedale that had been sitting half spun for far too long.

I couldn't quite ply it all onto one bobbin, so there is a smaller second skein with the purple, and I found a bobbin with a bit of brown corriedale to finish off the uneven end with. So I not only finished up some long delayed spinning, I also cleared an extra bobbin.

Whew, that was long.

Procrastination

Singlet 2 is growing, but I'm currently procrastinating on undoing the front to make it better. It needs to happen, I just want it to magically fix itself...

And as successful procrastination goes, the purple corriedale is nearly spun. I'm hoping to finish the second half tonight and ply tomorrow. Hopefully there will be some photos soon.