Make do and mend

Do you have a bit of spare sock in your life? Maybe you made one sock or mitten and got distracted by another fibre opportunity, or maybe there is a particular hole in a sock and you feel pretty sure mending it will not happen. But you like the knitting a lot, and cannot not say goodbye.

But fear not Stephanie, I say to myself, the answer is... make one of these sweet artistic pin cushions. One that is especially friendly in holding my preferred blunt tapestry needles.

I have made pin cushions successfully out of t shirt material and enjoy seeing the colour of the fabric in a new way. Pin cushions also make a nice gift for a fellow fibre enthusiast.

It creates a second landing place for pins in my sewing room. The main difference is fabric needles are much sharper and an easily pierce cloth. My favourite blunt ended tapestry needles for sewing up hand knitting not so much, actually they just bounce off the surface.

I thought, so why not use hand knitted material.

In hand weaving, wool yarn as a warp is an excellent material for cleaning and polishing the steel reeds as you weave. I didn't have much fleece on hand so I softly wound a donut shaped ball of wools left over from other projects.

In this example I use the leg part as the foot had a large hole on the side from an unfortunate sharp encounter. It is also a little bit more worn on the bottom.

Cut a tube about 4 inches long, just below the rib and above the heel.

Then, gently pull out the yarn bits to reveal live stitches. I like to keep unravelling until I have about 18 to 20 inches of yarn on one end for the sculpting part. This pair had been washed many times so after picking out the bits, the stitches stay open and happy to accept the tapestry needle.

 I used a fairly small tapestry needle, and  although the yarn was very curly from being knitted for so long, the stitches were open and stable for pulling through.

You could use new uncrinkled yarn, or even a sturdy thread like Coats Button and Craft. I like sock yarn because the nylon content makes it very strong for sewing.

Make the stuffing, by winding up some scraps of wool yarn into about a 2 ounce ball. Keep the winding soft and squishy, not hard, because you want to be able to sculpt the pincushion into shape.

Make a of hole in the middle as you wind. I used the handle of this Danish Dough Whisk because it is thicker than my wooden spoons. In the spinning world there is actually a tool to facilitate the winding called a Nostepinne.

One could also use fleece or a complete unused ball of wool. The important thing, if you want to polish your needles is to use wool, not acrylic or cotton.

When you remove the label is is easy to flatten it into a more donut like shape.

Pull the yarn through to gather one end.

I like to thread the yarn though the open stitches twice and gently draw the opening closed. I find it stays closed better than just going through the stitches once.

Stuff in the stuffing. I should be a fairly easy fit, not a struggle, and yet fill the tube.

Close the other end of the tube by threading through the open stitches as before.
Using a fairly long piece of yarn or thread, sew through the centre, making sections, pulling in a firm and friendly manner until you have shaped the ball into a sort of pumpkin.

Fasten off the thread and all is complete.

A decoration in the centre is nice, a button or a bead. I am going to find something red or deep pink to go with the grey colour of my new pin cushion family member. Maybe my favourite rose and leaf.

Yarn Crawl 2017

Local Yarn Shops (LYS) of Durham
 are collaborating in a Yarn Crawl
 October 20th and 21st to celebrate the 2017 knitting season
with our fellow fibre enthusiasts.

Soper Creek Yarns

80 King Street West

Bowmanville, Ontario

Wool Queen

182 Simcoe Street S. 

Oshawa, Ontario

Wool on William

5 Williams Street W. 

Oshawa, Ontario

Never Enough Wool

26 Water Street

Port Perry, Ontario

Kniterary

124 Dundas St., West

Whitby, Ontario

Myrtle Station Wool

9585 Baldwin North

Ashburn, Ontario

In Myrtle Station, participants will enjoy 20% off the regular price of

 all Lopi, one of my all time favourite yarns. 
I may have mentioned before how much I appreciate
 the company being owned by the employees themselves.  
The yarn itself is processed using the natural hot water of Iceland.

Cascade 220 is a premier standard worsted weight
 with lots of pattern support on the web as well as the public library. 
Our in stock selection is pretty darn healthy

Sock yarn, and more sock yarn, which I wonder...is it sock yarn? 

We are knitting shawls nine times out of ten...with sock yarn.
I am on point 21 of the"Hitchiker" shawl only 21 more to go

 Bonus Free Handy Pattern Sleeve with any purchase! 
These protective sleeves are framed with a nice stiff border. 
I like to slip a magnetic board in behind the pattern
 and use magnetic strips to keep my place.

(especially on breezy days at the beach...in Cuba...in January, sigh)

German Heel Shaping at the Knit Club

As you may know, the Whitby Knit Club meets at the local, downtown library on the first Wednesday of the month from 7 to 9 pm. Usually our president Sharion leads us in a topic, however this month I volunteered to show the German short row sock heel.

It is actually very easy to do and a bit quicker, once you get the hang of it. I suggest for your first try, getting together with a knitting friend for company. My mum and I often used this practice when we tackled a new knitting process.

I made two small sample heels using the chart from one of my favourite Regia books - Flusi and the sock yarn. I like the portable size and especially the story and charming artwork. All Regia patterns use a very comprehensive chart for the different sock sizes.

I used Cascade 220 for sample clarity,  it is the same weight as the Regia 8 ply. I cast on 24 stitches with 4.5mm needles. Here is one of the samples laid over an Erika Knight 4 ply sock sample. I encourage you check out the video from Very Pink Knits for a live tutorial.

The Schachenmayr company has a wonderfully thorough website supporting Regia sock yarn. Here is the link for their interactive sock guide. They have 2ply, 3ply, 4ply (the most popular) 6 ply, and 8 ply. I am very fond of the 6ply, especially for the knitting relay we run towards Christmas because it is thicker and quicker.

It is a lovely robust sized ball, which makes up into a fab Christmas gift of toasty, sturdy winter wellie boot socks.

And speaking of socks, the "go to" side project for many knitters, just arrived in the shop are these cute, super handy lightweight nylon bags from Diamond Yarn.

The bag in the top right hand corner is the dark colour, thinking of my mum's taste. I like the cheery green one, easy to see in these twilight days of November. The orange fabric, makes me think of Hawaii. The striped one of flowers

They are manufactured in Pakistan as a small cottage industry developed to support a local community. The bags close with a cord and toggle.

There are also 2 convenient snap loops for hanging, one on the inside, one on the outside. Perfect for small projects and only $4.99. The nylon fabric makes whipping your work out for a vital although brief knitting mediation that much easier.

A nice addition to my plethora of knitting bags. Here is the pattern for Atkinson bag that goes with me to my daughters karate class every Saturday. It was very enjoyable to make.

The zipper pocket holds my scissors and sock making pattern separate from the yarn and knitting.

portable projects

For travel, grouping stuff in bags works great for keeping organized. Check out this tip from the Get It Done Guy. I  do own a couple of luxury Sea to Summit garment bags in different colours, they are rather like portable drawers. I also use the ubiquitous Ziploc bag.

For that bit of extra class I'm keen on the organza and polyester silk bags from Dollarama, they weigh almost nothing. Particular colours and textures for particular stuff and they do double duty as an evening purse/camera bag too.

This winter I made Stand and Stow bags by Terry Atkinson and so enjoyed the process, especially using the log fabric from Ikea. I told my friend Yimi I am now a woodworker!

After making these bags, I checked out Terry's website and found a cute free sock sack pattern. I used some stash spring fabric and a matching zipper  for my first effort.

I decided to put the current sock project I am making, for my lovely daughter Veronica in this bag.

Next I acquired a super cute fabric group from Ruby Pearl Quilts in Oshawa called Lovey Dovey, so I plan to make more sock sacks, one especially for my mom. Her current project,  a gorgeous Kate Davies hat in authentic shetland wool should fit nicely. 

knitters speed dating!

At the April Durham handknitting guild meeting (7 pm, second Wednesday of the month at the downtown Whitby Public Library) we are hosting our first yarn tasting, courtesy of the nice folks at Estelle Designs and Sales.

Rather like speed dating for knitters, there are 15 unique yarns to sample, and we are preparing for 15 fiber loving participants, plus a gift for each knitter from Estelle, plus a special door prize draw!

Byron fashioned this cool niddy noddy out of half inch plastic pipe for us, quote "for under five bucks with tax!". Byron made me one years ago from copper pipe, but I could not find it. A niddy noddy is used for measuring yarn, and making skeins. I have made small skeins that will hold the yarn labels, so the participants will know which yarn they are sampling.

In the process of making the kits I have decided to sew fabric bags. I found this nice flowery fabric in my stash that reminds me spring will come. I think Mary from the guild gave it to me years ago.

Almost ready for date night! The whole experience makes me feel like one of Santa's elves. I am well acquainted with my quarter inch sewing machine foot now.

Next I will be knitting my own samples before date night. I have some patterns to share which I believe will be perfect for getting acquainted with this cool assortment of fibre.

Handy Ribbed Hat Pattern

This is the time of the year to start work on small items for gifting. One of my very favorites is this hat pattern made in Sisu sock weight yarn. It is a simple rib and requires only one 50 gram ball for the first few sizes. A project to chip away at when there is something really absorbing on the television or you are involved in a good conversation.  Mum knit this version for my nephew Pete.

Ribbed Sisu Hat

Sizes (1) 2-4 (6-8) 10-12 years (adult)

Yarn: Sisu (80% wool, 20% nylon, 50 g = approx. 160 m)

Yarn required: (1) 1 (1) 2 (2) balls

Knitting needles : 3mm double pointed

Cast on (114) 120 (126) 132 (138) sts.

Work ribbing (k3,p3) around until the toque measures (23) 24 (25) 27 (28) cm.

Decrease as follows: *work the k sts k1, k2tog and work the p sts p1, p2 tog*, repeat from* to * around. Work 3 rows (=k2, p2) ribbing around.

Next row: *K2 tog, p2 tog*, repeat from * to * around. Work 3 rows (k1, p1) ribbing around.

Next row: *K2 tog*, repeat from * to * around. K 1 row around.

Cut the yarn, thread it through rem sts, gather and fasten strand well.

from Sisu hat book Tema 01

Compliments of:

Myrtle Station Wool and Ferguson’s Knitting and Nordic Yarns

905 655 4858