IKnit Day 2009!

I didn't think I'd be able to go this year, but cancellation of one thing and the start of another meant that my Saturday was free for yarny goodness. So I went! I got up bright and early on Saturday morning, armed with cake, a packed lunch and plenty of carrier bags, and headed down to the Royal Horticultural Halls. I got there early enough that I was the second person through the door, but we all had a really good time standing about in the queue chatting and looking at one another's projects. I love queuing with knitters. :D

The place was not nearly as packed as last year, probably because it was split over two days instead of just the one. There were also fewer vendors. On the other hand, the hall had figured out that knitters really would come to an all-day event, so opened the cafe and restaurant for us (unlike last year) and made sure that the cashpoint in the building had been refilled (since it ran out in the first 45 minutes last year!).

The best thing for me was meeting up with people I knew. Last year several of the Ravelry groups to which I belong had had a meet-up, but I was too shy to go and say hello. Not this year! This year I met, I chatted, I cooed over yarn and babies and admired lace and handspun. And another friend was working on one of the stalls. For her I brought cake, but she and her colleagues couldn't eat all of it. Off I went to distribute cake to all and sundry! Well, not quite everyone, but all the people from whom I bought something, as well as the lovely people from iKnit who were running the event. And of course the Posh Knitters.

I spent a lovely quarter hour with the lady running the Knitting and Crochet Guild stall, trying to reverse-engineer a crochet block. I'm determined to figure it out. Chatted with several people about the new location of the Handweaver's Studio, since I was hauling my purchases in the lovely canvas bag they'd given me when I bought Fifi. And I finally got my hands on a Ravelry 'My Name Is...' badge from a lady who'd brought a bowlful to give away.

Oh yes, there was shopping. ;) Of course there was shopping! I'd gone planning to get unusual and unique things, nothing I could get in a shop. And I really wanted a batt to spin, since I've only ever spun from combed top before. Here's what I brought home:

The big pile of fluff is a batt from Rockpool Candy. She does amazing batts, blended with several fibers and often with findings carded in. This one is merino, milk protein and banana fiber with velvet ribbon, black silk lace and red feathers! It's called 'Bordello' and is 50g of loveliness. I'm planning on spinning it up as a heavy-ish single, then plying it with some plain red merino to get more length from it. The red, purple and orange fluff in the bag is combed top, but it's special. It's superwash merino blended with nylon to spin into sock yarn! I'm finally going to be able to spin and knit socks I can wear.
The yarn is a skein of Infinity Lace from Fyberspates. It's actually the colour of cinnabar. The name is appropriate - it's 3000 yards to 100g! I've got plans for a very large lace shawl. This purchase did mean that I failed in one of my goals, since I didn't really want to bring home anymore laceweight. Ah well. It was worth it.
The rest of my purchases weren't planned, but rather were on my mental list of 'stuff I really want to get my hands on if ever I happen to see it for sale'. The book is the long-awaited reprint of Alice Starmore's 'Book of Fair Isle Knitting'. Pretty much everyone is hoping this means that the rest of her books will be coming back into print in the future. It's a hefty tome, containing everything that was in the original edition from 1988, but with added photos. The leaflet is a copy of a shawl pattern called 'Ishbel'. It's this year's must-knit shawl pattern, since it's so gorgeous, but had only been available online and I've closed my Paypal account. Fyberspates were happily selling paper copies, and I got one just before they ran out!
The mug is my new office mug. It just says "I'd rather be knitting". I've been looking for one for ages, and now I've got one! It'll make my colleagues laugh. They've all seen me squirrelled away in the staffroom knitting away over lunch.

And finally, I was walking up to the bus stop afterwards in the glorious sunshine and decided to play tourist. Westminster was looking gorgeous!

Blown away

On the evening I went to see S for the final dress fitting, she handed me an envelope, along with a very definitive statement that she was not to be argued with! Inside was a gift certificate to Loop, our favourite LYS and the source of all the yarn for the dress. Incredibly generous and totally unexpected! I had told her that making the dress was going to be my gift to her, but she says that she hadn't realized how many hours of labour it was going to take. We both got a bit weepy at that point, although the perry we'd been drinking might have had something to do with that too. :)

She'd timed it well, as that very Sunday I'd been planning a trip to Loop for a book launch. Cookie A, designer of my beloved Monkey socks, as well as the Poms and many other gorgeous designs, has just brought out a book of new sock designs. I couldn't miss meeting her and looking at the sample socks she'd brought, and with S's gift to me I didn't feel guilty shopping when I'm supposed to be saving money.

I got the book. It's called Sock Innovation, and has pages and pages of great patterns, beautiful photography and fabulous instructions on sock construction. Cookie A was charming and graciously signed my book, even checking the spelling of my name, and allowed me to pick her brains on sock ribbing. Plus the owner of Loop baked chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal raisin cookies. Yum!

Loop have recently started stocking KnitPro knitting needles as well. I was tempted by the interchangeable set, but then sense struck me and I remembered that I don't really like circular needles. I also remembered that I needed a few more sets of sock needles as well. So, the Harmony DPN set followed me home too. I haven't tried them out yet, but they are beautiful. And they come in sets of 6 needles in case one gets broken!

The final purchase of the day was sheer indulgence. I've often lusted over beautiful and pricey yarns, but ultimately bought more sensible and economic ones instead. Not that day. S wanted me to enjoy myself, so for once I bought the gorgeous, expensive, frivolous yarn that I've petted so many times in the past. Two perfect skeins of Handmaiden Lace Silk in the colourway 'Stardust'. Blue, silver, black, grey... More than any colourway I've ever seen, this yarn is me.



When it grows up, this yarn is going to become a Laminaria Shawl. I've pored over that pattern countless times and have never found a worthy yarn for something that pretty. Now I think this is going to be the perfect marriage of pattern and yarn. For the time being, though, I'm just going to pet my amazing yarn and be happy that it's finally mine.

Thank you, S. Your generosity has made this knitter very, very happy. And it was a privilege making your dress.

A belated birthday post

Yes, my birthday was in fact in the middle of March. Despite that, I'm updating now because I have knitterly photos from that occasion! :D

Several months ago I signed up to participate in a birthday swap on Ravelry. Hubs called me at work on my birthday to tell me a mysterious package had been delivered from Scotland! It took me a while to remember, but then I twigged that it was my swap parcel. And what a parcel! Yarn, chocolate, a badge for my collection, frog prince buttons...

CherryRed outdid herself.

My mum also came to visit for Crown and took me shopping at the Handweavers' Studio for my birthday too. Three new bobbins for my wheel, some fiber sample packs (including one of cashmere, yum!), a couple of magazine back-issues and a book on needle lace. Thanks mum!

I promise I'm not dead

Though you might think that from the infrequency of my updates these days. I am rapidly approaching the end of the dress, and it's eating all of my time. I feel as though I can't update my blog because I have no finished projects to show, and there's only so many views of a green blob one can take. The wedding is a week on Saturday. Thankfully, I'm off the hook for lining it. Given the state my elbows are in from all the crochet, that's a really good thing!

I've started the toe of the first of hubby's Thuja socks. His toes are quite wide, so I probably won't do the recommended number of toe decreases. I'm working on a novelty yarn garter-stitch scarf as well - the ideal project for evenings when my brain has switched off.

This past weekend was a major Kingdom event - Spring Crown Tourney. My home Shire was hosting, and I (foolishly?) volunteered as reservations steward. Assisting in the running of a weekend-long event for 100 people is not hugely relaxing, but it was a lot of fun. And it meant that I spent quite a chunk of time frantically sewing clothing together to wear to court. My fingers are itching to sew again! I'm pondering taking some time out from yarncraft after finishing the dress in order to ply a needle for a while.

Having said that, Cookie A is in London this weekend signing copies of her new book at Loop. And I have a good-sized pile of semi-solid sock yarn needing a pattern, and I did commit to making myself four new pairs of socks this year...

Book reviews

Yesterday I received an amazon parcel with two new knitting books in it. Yay gift certificates! One of them was a mostly known quantity, the other was full of surprises. Since I'm really pleased with both, I thought I'd give them a quick review.

First up - The Best of Interweave Knits. I bought this book for two shawl patterns that I've been wanting to knit for a while. One, the Icarus Shawl, is a very simple triangular lace shawl with a funky edging. I'm planning to use my long-hoarded Sundara Yarn Silk Lace to make this one. The second pattern is the Forest Path Stole, a rather stunning entrelac number with lace patterns in each square. The rest of the patterns in the book are interesting, although I doubt I'll knit many of them. The women's sweaters lack shaping, and there are enough sweaters out there already that I like that it's not worth altering them. The men's sweaters, though, have definite possibilities!

The second - Knitalong. This is a book about knitting more than it is a book of patterns. The author has gathered essays about people who knit together for a purpose, whether friendship, art, or political statement. It's a touching book. The patterns are lovely, too, all wrapped up in the reasons why knitters gather together. I bought it for a particular pattern, the Pillow of Sei Shonagon. A very simple eyelet lace pillow made special by the strips of muslin woven through, with beautiful words written on. It's gorgeous, and I've had it in my queue for ages. Looking through it, I've found several others that I'd love to make.

All in all, very good purchases!

Owww.

Ok, I think I need to do a motto sampler that says "Too much sewing and not enough stretching makes the Knitting Fiend hurt lots." Yes, once again I have managed to embroider myself into a serious neck-and-shoulder knot. Thank goodness for hot baths and neck rubs.

The upside is that I managed to get loads done on the poetry sampler this weekend. I'm nearly done with the cross-stitch parts and have made good inroads on the backstitching. Although I'm 99% certain I'm going to need another skein of Claret to finish. Fortunately my friendly neighbourhood needlework shop carries Gentle Art Sampler Threads!

I also cast on for a new project on Friday evening. Mum has been after the Wool Peddler's Shawl from Folk Shawls for a while now, and since there was a secondhand copy on Amazon for cheap she bought the book and had it sent to me. It came on Friday, and since we'd already gotten the yarn I saw no point in delaying! It's a very basic triangle shawl - garter stitch for about half of it, then an arrowhead lace pattern for the second half. And the edging is just more garter stitch, so I can knit the lace pattern until I run out of yarn. This makes me very happy, as I won't have to find something to do with the leftovers!

Stitch 'n' Bitch tonight will see me working away on the Halloween Monkeys while eating birthday cake. A friend is celebrating, so I've made chocolate indulgence for her, complete with frosting! Mmmmmm...

Belated Birthday Books

The Amazon parcel with the late gift certificate books arrived yesterday, and what great books! I blew my lunch hour reading, unsurprisingly, and then spent most of the evening looking at them too!
The first book was Knitting Without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmerman, that great goddess of knit. And the book is fabulous. I suspect that once I get well and truly sucked into sweater knitting (and once I can afford to buy sweater quantities of yarn more than once a year), this book will become my bible. She's very good at encouraging the knitter to make things that fit and suit, rather than blindly following patterns all the time. An excellent philosophy.

The second was about as far from EZ as you can get - Son of Stitch n' Bitch! The 4th book in this series (I think), the whole book is full of patterns for blokes. It's also got a great section in the front on how to find out what the bloke will actually wear that's full of useful tips. Some of the stuff I can't imagine anyone actually wearing, like some of the weirder "post-modern" sweaters, but many of the patterns rock. Like the illusion knit scarf that secretly contains two silhouettes of ladies pole-dancing, or the socks with dice on the cuffs!

And yet more birthday goodness!

My best friend and I met up yesterday for a much belated birthday present swap (hers was in February, mine was in March!), and much to my surprise, she'd gotten me a knitting book! Bit of a shock, because she's always teased me about my 'granny-ish' hobbies. But she'd seen another friend's copy of Naughty Needles and decided that I needed my own. I'm definitely going to have to make myself a cavewoman furry bra and panty set, although there won't be action shots on the blog!

Odds and Ends

The interview yesterday went swimmingly. I am now sleeping like a log since it's finished. And because it went so well, I decided that I deserved a little shopping expedition. Of course that meant going to the needlework shop! I was very good and didn't buy any yarn (although a social event is going to take us perilously close to Loop tomorrow afternoon. I may succumb.). Instead, I bought Rowan Magazine, Issue 40. I've never been entirely sure about Rowan knitting magazines. Their yarn is great (this is the company that makes Kidsilk Haze, referred to by many knitters as 'Cracksilk'), but their patterns have always seems a little too runway model for my liking. Or so I thought. I was organizing my Ravelry queue the other day and discovered that my blog-hopping adventures had put no less than three Rowan patterns in my queue - and they were all from issue 40! So when I went up to buy garb-making thread and noticed that they were still selling this back issue, I took note. And then bought it yesterday.

Upon getting it home, I read through it cover-to-cover, as one does. Closer inspection has led me to the conclusion that while many of the patterns are not something I'd necessarily wear, almost all of them are things that will inspire my own designs. And the things that I had queued are great. A very good investment!

(As an aside, I'd always been put off by the cover price of the magazine. It's £10.50, which seems huge for a magazine. Until you realise that there are nearly 50 patterns in each issue. Most knitting books retail for between £10 and £20, and rarely have more than 20 patterns. In fact, they frequently only have 12-15.)

My library will be expanding even more in the next week. I received a very belated birthday gift certificate, part of which has been spent on knitting books. Hurrah for Amazon! There will soon be a copy of Knitting Without Tears and Son of Stitch n' Bitch cuddling up on my already overstuffed bookshelf. Book reviews will follow, of course!

There has also been knitting. I'd lost my mojo prior to the interview, mostly due to stress and exhaustion from not sleeping. But I've got it back with a vengeance! Last night while watching In Search of Medieval Britain I finished up the first mitt of the pair. And this morning I cast on the second to avoid Second Mitt Syndrome. I also put in half an hour's work on sewing the husband's tunic, so I'm feeling very virtuous.

The plan for the weekend is to completely make the second mitt and to make a good start on using the remnants on the mini-Who scarf. Other than that, I have no fixed plans. Apart from sleeping, of course!

Progress and new beginnings

Things are going well. Over the weekend I'm planning to do a big first quarter review of all my Mission:Possible projects with photos. Plus if I'm feeling brave I might even count how many balls of yarn I have. I probably won't, mostly because I've acquired a load more yarn, but also because I don't feel like digging it all out and making a mess.

The ripple afghan is going well. I joined the second skein of yarn on this morning, so it is now a 2-colour afghan. Purple and black, very goth. I'm going to do some number-crunching tonight and figure out exactly how big it's going to end up, based on how many rows I got out of how many grams of yarn. Or something like that. I did a ton of work on the cabled sweater over Easter weekend too - it's starting to look like a piece of fabric instead of a cast-on on a circular needle. And I bought buttons for another pair of booties.

And because I passed a test yesterday, I decided that I was entitled to start a new project. Especially since I've finished four projects already this month! So, last night I fished out one of the balls of sock yarn that I bought last year at the Knitting and Stitching Show and cast on for a Pomatomus Sock. This was one of the sock patterns in my M:P list, so I'm still feeling fairly virtuous. I've been having some logic issues with the pattern, though. This sock was designed by the same person as the Monkey socks, and was originally knit with the same yarn. However, the Monkeys were done over 64 on 2.5mm needles, and the Poms are written as 72 on 2.75mm needles. And they supposedly make the same size sock! Several other Ravellers have made the same observation, so I'm going to make them on 2.5mm needles. If they are too big, I can give them away and know better for next time.

The result of this doubt for the Poms is that I'm not now using the yarn I had originally planned for them. I love my sKnitches, and I want it to go on a project that will make me totally happy. So I'm planning to use it for the Meadowlands Sock, the pattern that won the design conpetition for Summer of Socks 2007. It's based on a Cat Bordhi construction, which is something I've always wanted to try. Unfortunately, it's really difficult to find the book in the UK. I guess it must be a small US press that doesn't have a contract with any European retailers. Truth be told, I'd love to play with any of her books. Much like Knitting New Scarves, Ms Bordhi's knitting explores and pushes the boundaries of what is possible with knitted fabric. Some of it is not really to my taste, like knitting socks on two circular needles, but the constructions of her projects are fascinating.

SQUEEEE!!!!!

A weekend of not much progress, truth be told.

But.

Butbutbut.

On Friday I received an Amazon parcel with a lovely thing in it - Folk Socks by Nancy Bush, an early birthday present from my equally lovely mum. Maybe I'll end up with all of her books. That would rock! This one is about 2/3 history of socks and hosiery and 1/3 patterns. As ever, the patterns are fantastic. I shall make most of them, I think.

And tonight the spouse and I went over to my co-worker's house because she had offered me a gift - a working sewing machine! It's seriously vintage, but is in working order and still had a spare bobbin and some fancy needles to go with. I shall take pictures and explore when I'm not worn out from a party. And to cap it, she'd also found an enormous stash of old knitting needles to give me! Including a large bundle of footlong DPNs. As far as I can tell, they don't make these any more. And I've been desperate to get some for sweater-making.

What a great weekend!

Parcelly goodness

I got a package this morning from my lovely grandmother. Among other things, it had the newest issue of Interweave Knits and Knit Simple, two rather great magazines! I had a quick scan through over lunch, but I'm planning to read them in depth while eating my dinner. (Bagel and a soup, if you're interested.)

I resisted the urge of getting a book at Waterstone's today, since I've been told not to shop till after my birthday next week. But I have been planning some good shopping, and am looking forward to it immensely! It will involve a good friend and a couple of yarn shops to which I've never been...

Sock is going well. I've nearly finished the gusset decreases, and will probably finish them tonight. At least I hope to. The magazines may distract me. With any luck there will be a finished pair of socks to photograph by the end of the weekend, and maybe even a mostly-done tunic! Although that's going to mean another trip to the shop for some bias tape and a long phone call with mum to figure out what to do with it.

New Book!

One of my knitting colleagues and I swapped some books this afternoon, and I came away with a copy of Scarf Style! It's lovely. There were two projects in it I'd seen elsewhere and knew I wanted to make (an Estonian lace shawl and an entrelac stole), but I've just read through it and discovered that actually I'd like to make pretty much everything in it.

The one that grabs me most is a pattern for an enormous crocheted lace wrap that will look stunning in the black-and-hot-pink yarn my lovely grandmother sent me. I just need to go pick up an 11.5mm crochet hook!

Ribbing is finished for the second Monkey sock. Hopefully this one will go as quickly as the first.

Weekend part one - photo edition!

So, the list. Fabric for garb - check! Thanks to the wonders of the Walthamstow market, we have acquired 7m of two different wools for two overtunics, 2m of dark green linen for an undertunic, and 2m of linen for making myself headdresses. Woohoo!

Photos for the blog, and a couple of posts. Well, here's the first! I present, first of all, the finished front and the partial back of the granny square pillow. It's stunningly ugly, to quote my brother, but I rather like it. I may finish the back someday, but since I'm just making it one giant square, it's kinda boring.

Next up we have the stripey legwarmers. These are as much a stashbusting exercise as they are a useful project (although I won't complain about wearing them to work!), so they are also in crazy colours.

Finally, we have the true success of the weekend - finished Jitterbug Socks! I got most of the heel done on Friday night while watching a taped episode of Torchwood, and then had to spend way too much time on the Underground on Saturday, so it just sort of happened. But they fit, and are warm and beautiful.

Other things that happened. Well, my time on the Underground was for a good purpose. I had to trek out to a depot in Park Royal to collect an Amazon parcel that contained my last Christmas knitting book "Knitting New Scarves". It is mind-boggling in its complexity. Pages of diagrams on how to hold as many as 6 needles at a time. I love it! I may just start at the front of the book and make every scarf, except for the one that is just woven strips of I-cord. Ick.

I received a package from my lovely grandmother containing 5 rather stunning balls of Bernat Fun Stripes, which are destined to become a sweater once I have used up some other things in my stash!

And I did cast on for the Interlocking Cables sweater, but as it's currently a cast-on round and a half round of white stitches, I decided it didn't need its picture taken.