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.

kntting for men

I am particularly fond of the children's pattern books for Lanett and Mandarin Petit yarns because of the many designs, suitable for both boys and girls. There is a great Sandnes men's book and also many family friendly Alafoss Lopi patterns.

Notable among the plethora of feminine scarf yarns in the shop, we also stock a chunky print from Estelle called Woodrow, which I think looks very manly and bonus.. it is quick to knit on a 6mm needle.

The free pattern from the company is a sensible one row rib pattern, easy to knit, just the thing for something facinating on the television.

On the other hand, my preferred (six row) pattern works through the yarn with repeated garter stitch ridges, just out of sync enough to make the colour repeat appear more varied. The texture created looks like blocks, which very much appeals to the hand weaver in me.

Another reason I am fond of this stitch pattern is  because it is a helpful exercise for beginners. The simple stucture can increase awarenss of the stitch process, in their hands as knit fabric is created. It is a low risk, small number of stitches, worked on a reasonably sized needle.

As a stitch multiple of 4, you always start knit 2, repeat 4 times then 2 restful garter stitch rows. Truthfully it is an expanded 2 row pattern.

I used the crochet cast on, which means I can use the crochet cast off, causing start and finish edges will look alike. You can find an excellent discussion of this method in Sally Melville's book The Knitting Experience.

Cast on 24 stitches, using the crochet cast on with a 6 mm needle.
Knit 4 rows knit 2 purl 2 rib, then 2 rows knit.

More questions to answer when knitting a scarf with a new yarn. How much yarn will make how long of a scarf? Time for my Lee Valley scale to come out.

Total yarn weight is 100 grams  I have knit 74 cm so far and have 31 grams remaining, over halfway there! So scarf will likely measure approximately 110 when complete, then a bit longer when blocked.  Yes! proceed with confidence on this gift for some lucky fellow.

green appeal

This is the time of the year when I become enamoured of green. Though it is very nice to have so much white around this winter, even while we shovel it, I find my gaze lingering on the houseplants.

No note necessary to tell which sweaters were made in February and March.

This week as I was making another Lumio hat in the new green I discovered the free pattern missing from the reverse side of the ball band. No problem.

You can find the said free pattern on the Schachenmayr website . It is so easy to make, you might not even need to print it out. I found more free patterns for Lumio, so I see a natty glowing scarf in the near future.

Today I am knitting a fiber rich, calorie free pink hat, very sweet!

A vanilla cardigan improves

At the Whitby Knitting Guild meeting I was kindly invited to give a demonstrtation of blocking so I made a vanilla cardigan out of King Cole Aran. The yarn is a mix of acrylic and wool and very washable. I used Kate Buller's excellent book, Style Your Own Kid's Knits.

When it was all sewn up I thought is could use a bit of colour. First I imagined a young man wearing it, so blue buttons were sewn on.

Pockets, are so handy. Making the cardi used exactly two 100 gram balls and I mean exactly, I had only about 6 inches of yarn left after making up.

So I knit pockets to match the button colour using Bravo DK. Casting on 19 stitches, always knitting the 3 outer stitches (garter stitch) and moss stitching the middle (for sturdiness).

After blocking, I placed them, 5 stitches in from the center and 4 stocking stitch rows up from the rib, first marking the spot with pins then basting them in place with (temporary) Wonder Tape. You see the pockets upside down to illustrate the position of the tape. I flipped them over and applied a bit of pressure to make the basting stick. The tape will wash away.

I tested the stitch using the Bravo tension swatch.

Straight stitch, a lighter presser foot pressure and matching thread, using the even feed foot on the sewing machine, also for sturdiness.

A cardigan is born, ready to warm up some lucky young lad!