I’m shutting up shop!
In less than a month we are off on our intricately simple adventure and I’m not even going to think about this blog while we’re gone. That doesn’t mean there won’t be any crafty goodness in my life – just that it will be recorded on Pilgrims’ Progress, if anywhere at all. I’ve managed to stuff more balls of sock wool than you’d imagine possible into a compression sack and hidden them away at the bottom of a pack…..and a little emroidery project too

So long!

Not only does the band of merry followers watch 1938 movies and make capes and bows-n-arrows, and read the book (Howard Pyle’s version is the alltime favourite), but they write too…and even bind their own book, making a rather crafty endeavour.

There was a wee bit of gifted-from-Karen wool left. I thought it just might stretch to one hat.

And it did.

I cast it on, made a start, got distracted with another project, convinced J13 she could do it (didn’t take much convincing, to tell the truth), took it back as an easy project to work on while we went out last night. Ever scared the wool would run out, I stopped it short. With plenty of wool left. Well, not plenty. Exactly enough to do a back flap. Much more interesting than just 2×2 rib all the way, don’t you think?

Father Bear said something about a me knitting a kiwi on his hat…I seem to recall him mentioning white and small, but we all know kiwi are brown and Mr Google found me a pattern this size, so I hope he likes it!
Not to worry if he doesn’t….this will be the for-when-it’s-really-really-cold-and-he-needs-two-hats hat… when it’s *that* cold he won’t care if pink and purple hippos are parading across his head. And he won’t even mind that the wool isn’t so soft (a point duly noted by moi when he made it…..I’ve bought him some nice soft merino to knit up into another hat – a plain black hat, probably more to his liking, that will fit just perfickly under this slightly-too-big-one)

PS If I’d had white wool, I’d have embroidered according to his wishes, but I used what I had and if you ask me, it looks quite spiffing.

The real hippie in me is coming out.

This wee number is just worth bronze at the moment…but when I re-knit the boofy skirt bit into something a little more subdued and less billowy, it’ll get gold.

The boring stuff: Tairei Plains cotton knit on 4mm needles. It went on and on for miles – used just over 6 balls and it’s not a small top;-) Very slippery to knit, but beautifully soft to wear. Have enough left to make another!

Pattern for future reference:
I used this generic how to knit a t-shirt pattern to get the neck, armpit and shoulder shaping. (Note: when it tells you to knit until x decreases have been made, it means on each side, not in total).
Started with a picot hem at waist level and knit upwards in the round (then picked up stitches underneath to knit the “skirt part”).
Turned guage swatch (shock horror, yes one of those….but only made after incorrectly guesstimating and knitting far too many rows fit for an elephant) into a pocket with picot hem.
Sleeves:repeated the picot hem again. Knit from the hem up to the top, in the round for the lower portion, then the cap back and forth as per the above pattern, but I changed the dimensions to be a puff sleeve instead of a tight one. Seems to have worked.

She doesn’t *need* her teddy. But she does like him to join her in bed most nights. Sometimes he even gets to accompany her on outdoor expeditions.
He used to have a tag on his bottom that said where he came from and was good for holding on to. Good for caressing as she dropped off to sleep too.
One sister cut it off in a moment of spite long ago.
Another sister lovingly replaced it with a silky orange ribbon. And some more for his neck.
The neck one disappeared. The bottom one wore thin and was eventually no longer a tag, but two frayed ends. Ever so sweetly she asked if it would be possible to make a new tag.
I suggested a replacement ribbon round his neck, thinking that would be much quicker, and wouldn’t require the use of needle and thread
But you can’t rub your finger along that quite the same I was quietly informed.
What’s a few stitches, a few minutes?
A very small expression of love.

Every expanded knitting needle collection needs a dedicated bag, right?
I might be kicking myself yet – although I recycled jeans for the base and strap, for the pocket I cut into a Brand New Piece of Fabric (that was and still is – if there’s enough) destined to become one layer of a blue paisley skirt. Now it holds scissors, tape measure, ancient metal tin of pins-n-needles and a little matching blue-n-white floral baggie made by Sharon full of stitch markers. In the main bag are more bags, because I just can’t bring myself to leave cables and tips and circulars and DPNs all jumbled up in a heap. I’ve got to know that when I pick up the 2mm bag, only 2mm or 2.5mm needles will be inside! Coz I’m like that. Then there’s a wee box, which looks vintage, but is really brand new from the Spotlight sale table. It’s just perfect for holding the different length cables. Five of them with an Easy Identification System. There’s a button in a different colour tied on to each one….won’t mean much to you, but I know which is which. And just in case I forget, there’s a string of the same buttons (arranged smallest to biggest, of course) in the box to jog my memory. Isn’t that a dandy idea?
There’s also a plastic toothbrush holder that one of the kids was given for Christmas. Too short for their toothbrushes, it’s just perfect for my sock needles.

Now about these new needles. They are Knit Picks Interchangeable Circular Harmony Wood Tip ones bought from Vintage Purls (who, by the way, provided excellent service and a lengthy explanation to my questioning, as well as prompt, nay must-have-been-immediate courier-ing).

I’m not exactly a connoisseur of needles. I do remember that my mother liked knitting on tortoiseshell ones, but I just used what I could find at the Sallies. Until the day I tried Addi Turbos at a little knitting get-together-club I frequent. They were so nice. The wool didn’t get snagged on the join; it just floated along. I bought some. Mainly short ones suitable for knitting the soakers, longies and hats that were my repertoire at that stage. I vowed never to buy another cheap needle again (and I haven’t ) What I did start doing, however, was knitting bigger projects. Have you ever tried to knit three hundred stitches on a 40cm needle? I bought some longer ones. Hard to choose between 80cm, 100cm, 120cm and 150cm cables. I can imagine uses for each of them. So at the time I just bought exactly what I needed. Including some very short bamboo double pointeds coz I got into doing socks, but not with magic loop.
Then I toddled off to that knitting group again and discovered KnitPicks®. For quite some time I gave them not another thought, then in a fit of uncharacteristic unrationality one day I bought some. Lots of them, in fact, to almost totally round out my needle collection.
And I discovered I like them even more than Addi Turbos. The main point of difference is the point. The KnitPicks point is much less blunt and so it is easier to slip in behind stitches. They are also very very light. At first this was disconcerting to me, because it felt like walking on air – you know, slightly unnatural – but within a day of knitting I was hooked. I also already love having the different cable lengths. I slipped the top I’m knitting for myself onto a long cable and was able to try it on without having to faff around with waste yarn and the inevitable dropped stitches. Priceless;-)
Confession: I had thought they might be fiddly, and anything that needs a little tool to put together definitely makes me think twice about its useability for me. It’s true, you do use a wee key (well, that’s what they call it, but actually it’s just a piece of wire with a loop on one end), but it really isn’t hard. Not even for me. I must say I’m a little hesitant to let the kids put the needles together in case they try to force them and ruin the thread, but I’m a Responsible Adult, who can do this kind of thing. Gives them something else to forward to doing when they grow up.
When I first felt the wooden tips I was surprised at their smoothness. I was used to my sock needles that are more like chicken satay skewers than smoothly polished wood. I suspected the KnitPicks wouldn’t be as “grippy”. But I was wrong. The slippery cotton I had been knitting on (and dropping off) my addis has stayed firmly in place on the KnitPicks.
So then I decided if they were so good for silky stuff, 100% wool would probably be sluggish. Wrong again.

Is it strange to be so happy about finding a wonderful tool?

Well, I’m not against using sheep in my clothing. I don’t even mind eating the things. But not everyone is as enlightened (I’ve even heard recently that there are some people who won’t eat honey, because it’s exploiting the poor bees….I mean to say, what do they think bees were designed to do if it is not make honey for us bears?)

Anyway, someone with a more sensitive ecological conscience than yours truly has come up with a book that encourages knitting without wool. And it was interesting. There’s a little summary of different types of non-animal fibres at the beginning and a very useful table of how they perform.
As for the patterns, not too many appealed.

Just a silk robe (but I’ll need to get rich before I can hope to make that one!), a cardy that is very Kaffe Fassett in style, a men’s top-down raglan sweater and a tomato top (without the houndstooth pattern thankyouverymuch).

no SHEEP FOR YOU by Amy R. Singer

How I’d best go put that lamb roast in the oven;-)

I first saw this book by Tracey Ullman and Mel Clark at a friend’s place and I came home thinking it was awful. Last week I checked it out of the library. I’ve changed my mind about it and worked out why. Dear Friend liked the patterns for pompom aprons, fru-fru tea cosies and school-girl tunics. These I do not like. And I was unable to see past them that first night. Sitting on my own, lingering over the pages that grabbed me, I found plenty of patterns that appealed…so many, in fact, that if we weren’t about to head overseas in less than ten weeks, I’d be buying the book (especially as it is only $11 at Amazon right now).

But I will content myself with jotting down the patterns, so I don’t forget where I found them….and one day…..I’ll make some.

I’ve already made the neck warmer (photo should be coming…yeah…yeah….let’s be realistic….we leave in less than ten weeks y’hear?…..photo not coming any day soon).

The grown-up bonnet is on the needles right now, but in a scaled down version for a little girl (and I think I’m going to add a button to make sure it stays on).

Sharon has already made the Daphne Cape, which I would love to make with a picot trim round the hood. (I’m not very good at just doing what the pattern says, am I?) Although I *would* do the Detective Hat almost exactly as written…and the only change would be to use two strands of a cotton I already have instead of buying the insanely priced recommended silk (and I guess I wouldn’t add a plastic buckle either, but they do say that is optional and you can go for rhinestones….which are not really me either)

There’s a delightful lacy hug-me-tight, that is just totally beautiful and somewhat impractical (although if the pioneer women wore them on the ships from England to New Zealand back in the 1800s, then maybe they were more practical than they look….I might make one yet…would certainly love to).

If we didn’t have all our packs, I could make the doctor’s bag, which looks big enough to carry all our gear for our whole trip!!!! That will definitely have to wait. As will the bath mat;-)

When we eventually need a nice plain hoodie or pullover, there are patterns for both.

While I’m not too fond of the Ponsonby suit, the scallop stitch pattern is intriguing, so I might use it on a sock:

SCALLOP STITCH IN THE ROUND
(multiple of 4 sts, 4 round repeat)
Rnds 1 & 3: knit (if done on straights, purl these rows)
Rnd 2: *bind 2, k2* repeat to end
Rnd 4: *k2, bind 2* repeat to end

Bind 2 = With the tip of the right hand needle inserted from back to front, lift the strand between the two needles onto the right-hand needle; knit the next 2 sts, pass the lifted strand over the two knit stitches and off the needle.

Finally, there’s the Rowena cardigan. Very pretty. Plain enough.
I’m going to snaffle the idea, but knit it top-down and on bigger needles to suit my chosen wool.
If you can get away without seaming, whyever wouldn’t you?