What I made, by Sharon

 I've always considered myself a product knitter. I love the finished object and I love wearing my handknits. But recently, as I spent every free minute of my time knitting on a hat for no-one in particulra ( Sonsie by Kate Davies Designs )  I started to consider that maybe my relationship with knitting has evolved. The act of just so soothing, making every stitch and every stitch making a piece of art, as well as a practical, usable garment.  I was obsessed with knitting this hat, and not for any particular reason. I used some machine dyed Bellevie Park yarn that was left over from one of Katie's projects, and some had-dyed yarn left from Leon's winter set. And I love it. The bright solid against the hand-dyed is so effective.  Mixing and matching hand and machine dyed is not something I've thought a lot about, but it's something I want to experiment with more.

When I decided to make a sock with the left-overs from my Rose Cardigan, I wanted it to be purl side out. The jumper is knit flat (so much purling) so I decided to knit the sock inside out so most of the fabric would be knit, rather than purled. It does mean that the cabling is "backwards" and, unless I made a particular effort to look, mistakes go unnoticed for a lot longer than would happen if I could see it in the course of the knitting. Luckily I know how to drop stitches down to fix cables, which was required more than once! I was worried that the gusset picked up stitches would look messy. When I mentioned this to Brent, he provided me with his sock pattern, which happens to look equally good from either side. I don't think that was quite the reason he designed it, but I'm pretty happy with how that went. The only other thing I didn't consider is that the toe is also inside out, and, off the foot it looks a little odd.  As you can see, the one on the left is...

 As documented here, I spent the last three weeks knitting a dress . It was quite a fun knit while I was doing it - stripes and loads and loads of stocking stitch on the round is my idea of fun. The drama came at the end - the hem curled like crazy. Of course the hem curled, it's 5 rounds of 5x1 rib. I blocked the body before deciding what to do with sleeves. It miraculously stopped curling, but was rather too long. then I finished the sleeves, blocked it again and it's the perfect length. No idea how that happened.  Meanwhile I used the left-over yarn to make my first project from Kate Davies' Summer of Mystery Club - the  Little Venice Hat . It came out a little slouchier than expected, but I love a slouchy hat, so it's a win. I didn't knit them to wear them as a matching set, and the first time I put them on together was for these photos. Separately I love both these items - together they look like a sleep set! Needless to say I won't be wearing them togethe...

On the 25th of May I started a Pressed Flowers Hat, as a swatch for my Pressed Flowers Cardigan . I knit the cardigan though the first three weeks of June. I couldn't declare is officially finished, because I made polymer clay buttons and I wanted to do shank buttons, rather than ones with holes. I went to my local bead shop. who didn't have any. I ordered some online, and accidentally ordered dolls shanks! I eventually got the right size: I also made matching hair slides, a broach and a shawl pin. Here's our attempt at a picture that shows all of these being worn:  And why did I need a shawl pin? Because, even before I finished the cardigan, I knew I wanted to keep knitting this pattern.  So I made the matching shawl : This was a very addictive knit, made even more so because I dyed both background colours myself.  It's particularly strange because,while the motif is very pretty and very fun to knit, but there are many problems with these patterns. The designer does n...

 And just in time too, the chill has arrived here.  For Leon's 2024 winter set I decided to knit the Winding Road Hat and Scarf pattern by Teniana Ortuta Designs. I don't really know where I came across the pattern, but it looked interesting, but not so complicated I couldn't knit it in public, because I knew I was knitting the whole set while travelling. Full trip report here if you would like to hear about things other than the knitting. I started the hat before we left, I wanted to check that the needles and yarn worked well together. I'm glad I did, because I decided I liked it better all knit on 4mm needles, so I didn't have to carry extra needles.  I made up a pair of mitts - cast on 36 stitches, 12 rounds plain rib, start a thumb gusset and hat chart at the same time. reverse the pattern for the second one: When we went to The Yarn Trader I bought a "matching" skein of sock yarn, from local dyer  Colagirl Collective .  I finished the mitts before w...

I made a Mussleburgh hat earlier in the year, and even though I thought I was following the directions exactly it did not come out quite right.  It was a little bit loose. My head is 51 cm, my gauge was 7 stitches, so according to the pattern I knit the right size. It's also a little bit shorter than I would like it. Too long for a beanie, too short for a good turn-up. I couldn't work out why. I still wore it, but it was not quite right. When I decided to knit one for Elise I knew I wanted to make it longer, and tighter. After I finished Elise's (with 24 fewer stitches) I realised something about mine: Now, this is a knit tube. I know how to knit tubes. When I make sleeves or socks, they don't balloon out in the middle. So I decided to reblock it. The instructions actually specifically say to fold it inside each other after blocking, but I probably folded it and dried it on my head, because that's how I block my hats. Not this time: Now it's longer and thinner ...

 I have often admired knitters who have multiple projects on the go at the same time - something simple for when they are out and about, something more complicated for at home. I've tried it before, but it has always done my head in. Well, last week I cast on Astragal , a stranded hat and I thought it would be better not to try to knit a charted pattern on a busy weekend, so I also cast on a charity jumper. End result: at the end of the week i have a very attractive colourwork hat for Elise, and a stripy  jumper for a three year old, and 200 grams less 8 ply leftovers in the stash -box. Very satisfying all around.  

There are two finishes for this week, and one very close. Starting with a hat for Rachey as a thank you for not giving me Covid. It's true that everyone reading this also hasn't given me Covid, but Rachey sat next to me all evening, and then tested positive the next day. I was fine. Thanks: here's a hat. Then I plied the yarn I'd been spinning. I LOVE how it looks, but it's only 150 meters. Which doesn't surprise me, since it's 3 ply and quite dense. It also feels like spiky rope. It felt pretty spiky before   s pun it. That's what I get for buying fibre marked "crossbreed". I did learn something about dyeing: the fibre was originally laid out folded in thirds - so the colour  pattern repeated three times. I'm going to get some undyed fibre and do the same thing, although probably to dye a rainbow. Then I'm going to super dilute the colours and dye some for the main colour. yes, I'm planning / dyeing / spinning for Waiting For Rain ...

T his years Richmond Knitters Bendigo Knit-along was Magnolia. It comes in a number of formats -yoked jumper, dress, jumper with lace and bobbles around the hips.   Photo from the designer Not to my taste. Many of the version are in heavier yarn (a 12 ply dress? I'm sweating just thinking about it). The lace is not my favourite. Still, there is also a hat pattern so I decided to knit it from some old Buachalle yarn I had left over from knitting a dress. And here it is: It's fine, and I'm sure I will enjoy wearing it at Bendigo. I don't know why, but I followed the pattern as written - which is top down. I probably would have enjoyed the knitting more if I had trusted my instincts and knit is bottom up. I'm considering making a pair of socks using the chart, just because I can. 

  The second item in Romi Hill's Acts of Kindness Oddments Knitdown subscription is a hat knit with two strands of mohair and an 8ply background. Perfect, I love using up bits and pieces of left over yarn. The pattern uses a simple and not tight tubular cast on. One I appear to have failed with before, but it worked here. Can't explain it. The hat took two nights to knit, one at knit night, and I'm always too busy talking to make much progress at knit night! It's lovely pattern, and a really great way to use up leftovers. I was going to make two, but I think I left the yarn at the pub! Not important, since I'm going back next week, so if they have it they will give it back, and if they don't, I guess that's one way to destash! 

My niece is having a baby boy in February, so when some light blue sparkle yarn showed us in the mail, I knew what it needed to be. This is the Oh Baby! Cardi pattern by Roberta Rich. A really cute, simple top down, seam free, all in one baby quite. I had enough yarn left over that I made a matching hat. And then I got carried away, and decided to knit another one for KOGO (Knit One Give One). I wasn't quite paying attention, so I ended up making the large instead of the medium, and the Stranded in Oz Yarn I was using had less yardage and I realised I was going to run out of yarn. I striped  in some mystery left-overs, and a bit of the sparkle yarn, and I think it came out really well.   

  Kieran  (or Kizza as he is usually referred to), is my favourite Brother-in-Law. I have four brother-in-laws, but he's the one I like best, and not just because every time we go away, whether it is for a night or a month, he comes and looks after our cats. He mentioned to Leon that he couldn't find the hat I made for him in 2016, so I decided it was time for a new one anyway. I dyed the yarn I recycled from my Carbeth  a light brown, and made him a Tiilda hat Since I know he wears the mitts I make him all the time, I also made him some matching mitts.  The knitting of these took 5 days total. It would have been four, but i decided to do the alternating cable cast on on the bottom of the mitts. Then I matched it with the tubular cast off. When will I learn that the tubular cast off is not stretchy? So I had to pull that out and replace it with a stretchier cast off. Other than that, it was a very smooth knit and I really like the results.