Camera Cosy

The digital camera accompanies me most days - you just never know when you'll need to chronicle the day with an image. Although there is a good case that came with the camera, it's too bulky in the handbag. Most of the time the camera gets chucked in unprotected.

Now I have this. It's based on the 'phone sock made in February and the method of working it out was really scientific. I compared the camera to the phone. The camera is roughly one third larger than the phone. For the phone sock, I used a 5ply wool on 3.75mm needles over 32 stitches. 1/3 of 32 is almost 11. 32 + 11 is 43, but need multiples of for for double rib, so the magic cast on number was 44. I grabbed some 5ply crepe (vintage Patons Treasure - 60% wool, 40% nylon) and knitted in double rib for 46 rows (measuring against the camera as I went) and magicked a three-needle cast off.

The result was a not brilliant. The yarn was a little thinner than that used in the phone sock so tension was a bit loose, the sock was both a bit wide and a bit long. The camera did not fit snugly.
As it took less than 2 hours to knit, I cast on another one on 3.25mm needles over 40 stitches and 40 rows and 2 hours later I'm much happier with the result.

For the record, the camera - an Olympus something or other, is 10cm long x 6cm wide x 2.8cm deep. The sock is 11.5 cm long and 4.5cm wide.

More scarves

Playing a little bit of catch up on the FOs. These scarves were finished months ago, but the photography never happened.

Scrap-busting side-to-side scarves for the gift basket - these will probably go to the nieces for their birthday in February.

Blue Monday - variety of yarns, some held in multiple strands over 120 stitches on 8mm needles with a self fringe.


Ruby Tuesday - variety of yarns, some held double or quadruple over 130 stitches on 8mm needles with a self fringe.

This scarf is a variation on the Prismatic Scarf by Huan-Hua Chye (Rav link). I managed to bugger up the pattern but loved the reverse side so much I just kept going. Maybe one day I'll do it again properly, but probably not. I used 8mm needles over 24 stitches and a full 300g of yarn.

One of the most gorgeous features of the pattern is the knitted on i-cord edge - so neat.

The yarn is Moda Vera Mandorla Printed (Rav link) - a wool/ack blend that is divinely squooshy and great to knit. Can't remember how I came by it, but I'm so glad I kept it.


It tones nicely with my blue beret from last winter and should be a bit of a boost next year when the late winter "I'm so sick of my black overcoat" blues set in.

I canna say but ye strunt rarely, owre gauze and lace

Lace - still don't love it. I can do it, I comprehend it, people I love and admire go crazy for it, it's just - I don't feel it.

Lace does not fill me with the joy and satisfaction that a good Aran pattern does.

I am prepared for eviction from the blogdom.

This pattern is Liesel by Mary Joy Gumayagay . I call it the Red Tape scarf because it is a tape yarn the exact colour as the red tape I still find tying up files in some archival collections. The yarn, South West Trading Company Oasis Solid soy silk, was a charitable donation. It was knitted in response to a request for items for a breast cancer charity exhibition and sale but got side-tracked and didn't get it to my bespoke blocker quickly enough.

It's pretty and looks lovely on the freshly blossoming crab apple. I'll hang on to it for the next charitable request/raffle prize etc.

Your darkest terrors may be vain, Your brightest hopes may fail

Abby by Amy Singer from the latest Knitty in vintage Villawool Suriaplagas - 80% alpaca, 20% nylon - as soft and light and warm as down.

I winged it with this one. There's been trouble with cowls trying to strangle me before, as what little neck I have is well padded so I wanted the finished item to be shorter than the 16" of the pattern and greater in circumference. Having only one ball of yarn which was a bit thicker than the laceweight recommended, I chose a 4.5mm needle instead of a 4mm.

Checking for gauge didn't worry me. This was such a quickie it was as easy to knit it as to trouble with a tension square and there wasn't yarn enough to spare anyway.

I underestimated the thickness of the yarn and overestimated the thickness of my neck. The dratted thing swims and it hasn't even blocked it yet. And no, it can't be unravelled and reknitted because the brushed alpaca sticks like the proverbial to a blanket.

Ah well, can't win 'em all and it's still warm and softer than a baby's bum.

And stockings and pumps to put on my stumps

Socks for the Old Flame which I am calling Snow Gum.


Opal 6ply donated by the Happy Spider, knitted on 3.25mm Knit Picks dpns (also a gift from Spidey as it happens - I'm converted to these needles, btw, they do make the knitting quicker and lighter).

Basic 56 stitch recipe but with foot done over 60 stitches. The heel is slip stitched on the purl row, slipping the same stitch each time. I rather like the effect.

Perspex*

Conversation with the Old Flame a few weeks ago-

OF (removing his elastic-sided boots): I'm going to have to get rid of these boots.

TAPH: Really? Why?

OF: They've stretched and are a bit too loose.

TAPH: Can't you take them into RM Williams' and have them fixed?

OF: I could ... or ...

TAPH: Or?

OF (smiling winsomely): Or I could wear thicker socks.

TAPH: Ahh (realisation dawns). Well there goes the 5ply stash.

Simple Socks by Sarah Golder, Yarn issue 5, Jan. 2007 in recycled 5ply crepe, knitted on 2.75mm dpns.

*Perspex - twice as thick (socks & me) and just as see-through (old joke)

Pump up the volume

Rising to the challenge of my conscience, behold the bulky beanies of the week.



Count 'em - 7.

Actually it's 9 beanies, but only 7 from the bulky stuff; a couple of TTWCs sneaked in as well because the bulky stuff isn't portable for waiting in queues for petrol, queues for Medicare, queues at the chemist (I've had a frustrating week).

Of course now that's done, will I have to repeat it?

I've done the sums and it's 6 a week to finish this yarn off before the end of December. Difficult, but doable - except for the crippling pain. The bulky yarn on big needles has caused excruciating neck and shoulder pain. I took the weekend off the big stuff and did only a heel of a sock and a few rounds of a 12 ply beanie. No pain.

Bugger. I'll have to slow down on the big stuff.

Think global, knit local

This was such great yarn to knit with. A sproingy 12ply weight, 2ply yarn with just a little bit of vegetable matter left in. The ball band describes it as "a natural, undyed fleece product from coloured sheep growers of Canberra/Monaro."

I can't remember which local op-shop it came from but it's local yarn, bought locally (twice) and going to a local charity (twice). Who says it isn't easy being green?

The voices told me to

Sunday night conversation at Taph Towers.

CONSCIENCE: Hmm, so how's that challenge to knit all the bulky yarn by Christmas going, Taph?

TAPH: Well, Conscience, I had a bit of a break last week while I finished off a scarf for a charity sale, a pair of socks for my poor old Mum with the bad circulation who lives in a cold climate and a pair of baby socks which I swapped for a dozen duck eggs. I also started and nearly finished a pair of socks for the Old Flame.

CONSCIENCE: That's an impressive list of finished objects, Taph - bet that gave you a bit of a boost. But in terms of total boodle busting that's 300g of yarn, 200g of which are pretty fine weights. Not much in the volume reduction, is it?

TAPH: Yes, I did feel good finishing things off but you're right, I did set myself that challenge and I'd like to see it through. So here you go, two completed hats from the bulky yarn and the plan is to make one a day this week. The Old Flame loaned me season one of Dead Like Me and season one of Dexter - perhaps I won't go completely insane if I knit while watching those.

CONSCIENCE: Good plan, Taph. Let's chat again next Sunday night.

Beanies 2008.080 and 2008.081

Good knit week

TSS, J, the Old Flame and I took in Lars and the Real Girl at ANU Film Group. It was an odd, sweet film which we all enjoyed. For TSS and I, the bonus was the knitwear. The opening shot shows Lars draped in a what appeared to be a baby blue lacey scarf. It turns out not to be a scarf, but a baby blanket knitted by his mother. He wears it constantly. Plenty of hand knits and cr***et and one scene where three women sit with Lars - one does needlework, one cr***ets and one knits. Am seriously considering trying to replicate the blanket pattern - it was very sweet.

Discover that Miss Muffin the ferret (one of two that live with the Old Flame), not only steals his socks and hides them, but has developed a taste for my hand-knitted socks. My Stanbridge socks were discovered in her lair. We have had words and I've agreed to not leave my socks within her reach.

Called in to visit the Old Flame's parents on Saturday and saw progress on his Dad's winter jumper. His Mum is about to start the last piece; it will be ready before Spring. It's a gorgeous cabled jumper in Bendigo Classic 8ply, Cranberry.

Heirloom Jigsaw 4ply - basic sock pattern

Finished the second of Mum's "whinger" socks just before the Wallabies got flogged by the All Blacks on Saturday night.

Took several goes to cast on another sock in Patonyle after attending a rather fine Cabernet Sauvignon wine tasting on Sunday.

Snow Bunnies and other atrocities

If one has to fall in love, it might as well be with a skier.

Apart from the wonderful possibilities for creating and bestowing knitted gifts, there are the ski trips.


As well as hours of car passenger knitting (2 TTWCs - there would have been a third but the dark and deep brown yarn in small lengths defeated me on our return journey), there is après ski time. I ski not and with my crappy ankle it’s probably not a sport I'll be taking up soon – maybe next year. I do, however, have a prodigous talent for apres ski. Always go with one’s strengths!

Although our trip last Sunday did not go completely to plan, I managed a walk in the snow around Smiggin Holes/Perisher Blue for an hour and then retreated to the pub for a few hours of knitting and people watching. I promise to be more adventurous, use the snow shoes next time and actually take some photos.


The first of Mum's "Whinger" socks was finished in the hotel and the second started. So BORED by it. Really, I need more of distraction when knitting these socks than people watching.

Some of our party returned at lunch time and joined me in the hotel for the afternoon. There was hot chocolate drinking, collective noun creating and a merry game of spot the hideous beanie.

Now I know about people in glass houses etc. but we just couldn't help it. I must have missed the memo about leaving good taste at the entrance to the National Park!

Among the contenders for most revolting head wear were the baby poo yellow felted gnome hat (which beautifully coordinated with the Buchanan tartan scarf sported by the hat wearer’s partner and which I strongly suspect to be a set) and the acrylic fake Mohawk (no pics, sorry, but I’m so going to next time!). The winner, despite the stiff competition, was the result of an unholy union between Big Bird, a toilet mat and spray-on tan. Seriously, this thing was safety orange and that particular type of squeaky “plush” nylon that appeared in bathrooms in the 1970s. It was a helmet shape and worn by someone who may have been a snow bunny years ago and who had spent far too long in the snow without sunscreen.

And the collective noun? Well what would you call a group of snow bunnies? We thought, perhaps, a Hilton, but eventually agreed on a flurry of snow bunnies.


The Old Flame managed to Kinnear the only other knitter in the place. She was sitting behind us and we exchanged knitterly pleasantries to the amusement of some of my party. She was knitting a scarf of burgundy coloured boucle yarn on sparkly plastic needles. It probably wasn’t the first Smiggins SnB, but it was the only one that day.

Progress

Finally something off the needles - even if it's only some beanies for the soup kitchen.

TTWC 2008.054 vintage Jet

This is vintage Patons Jet - the old crepe kind. Despite the murky early 70s colours (it's dun-brown with dull green bits of ... what? not contrast and I hesitate to say highlights - dunno, bits will have to do). The yarn is a delight to knit with. Divine crepe producing the smoothest, evenest fabric. So love it.

TTWC 2008.055-56 hanspun wool

There were two of these TTWCs knitted in the car to Perisher and back on Sunday. The first was borrowed in the car park at Smiggins Holes by one of our party and retained. It's such a joy when someone likes an item enough to keep it - made my day. This is handspun wool in its natural colour. Mostly creamy white with some darker bits. So beautiful to knit with and very warm. Must make a drop off run to Stasia's soon.

There was another TTWC in the handspun but no photo. It looks just like these if you really need to see it.

And speaking of snow, the other item off the needles this week and finished is the 164 inches of ostrich yarn trim for my Mrs Claus outfit. I have to say it turned out quite well and is probably the only legitimate use for this hideous yarn. I used a little under 14 balls of Moda Vera Jazz held double throughout to make 5 pieces of trim. It's all sewn on the dress and the hat has a tassel. There was a pom pom but it collapsed and shed all over my dining table. NOT a pretty sight.

Making a blue*

It is apparent that I am not only mathematically challenged but a ridiculously pie-eyed optimist (or someone who stubbornly refuses to see the evidence in front of her).

The pattern for the Rollin' Beret clearly states that the hat requires 123 m of yarn. The ball band for the Dale of Norway Ara clearly states that each 50g ball consists of 50 m of yarn.

Anyone of moderate intelligence and basic mathematical ability would have worked out before they started knitting that they were going to be short. I worked it out when I had almost finished the first ball and was in a committed relationship with the project.

There was still some denim blue recycled 12 ply left, so I started the whole slip-stitch extension method again with hope in my heart and an eye on the end of the ball. The good news is the recycled 12 ply in the denim colour is all used up. It ran out of about 15 rows too soon.

I tried knitting faster with the remainder of the Ara, because everyone knows if you knit faster you'll finish before you run out of yarn. I got to the end of the ball faster - 6 tiny, decrease-6-stitches-in-every-round, rounds short.

This disappointment happened just before we left SnB last night. By the time I reached home I was prepared to chuck the lot in the bin and lie down and weep. The frugal self prevailed, though and I finished the bloody thing off with a very small amount of recycled 12 ply crepe wool in navy. Not quite what I'd planned, but not wasteful either.

*for non-Australian's "to make a blue" is to make a mistake. Not to be confused with "having a blue" which is an argument/fight.

Knitting Pretty

One of the resolutions this year was to “Knit the Pretties”. These FOs definitely count.

The Rollin’ Beret (pattern by Woolly Wormhead) came up beautifully but far too small. I can only wear it as a misshapen beanie so it’s blocked and in the box for charity. It was such a pleasure to knit though. Don’t you love it when you just have to stop every now and then and exclaim over how pretty your knitting is?


I “stretched” the 70g of the gorgeous 2ply hand dyed, hand spun wool by slip stitching every second row of the body of the beret with some recycled denim coloured 12 ply crepe that was leftover from TTWCs. The slip stitching also created a thicker and warmer fabric - bonus. There was enough of the hand spun left for a fun i-cord embellishment and now it’s all used up.

The washcloth for Old Flame’s mum is finished, too, and with 10 days to spare. Loving the colours, Spidey. The lacy pattern is a little obscured by the variegated yarn but it also opens it up and makes it a bit more girly than a garter stitch pattern. I love that the colours are girly version of the Canberra Raides colours, a team that Old Flame's mum and dad are passionate supporters of.

I’ve started another beret using some Dale of Norway Ara that was part of a prize from Yarn magazine. The colours are variegated purpley-blues and I just want to sink into that deep indigo and dream. A commercially spun thick and thin single, it’s squishily gorgeous to knit and I bet it will pill like a bugger. Doesn’t matter - it’s a hat, not a jumper. Hopefully this one will fit, but if it doesn’t someone will get the joy of wearing it and it’s another completed project and two more balls of yarn towards the stash reduction goal.

This won’t be the last time the pattern is used, either. There’s 270g of Waratah Fibres hand spun Wensleydale blend that is crying out to be the hat and mitten set I need for the ski season (please snow soon, OF’s first cross-country tour is this Sunday!). There’s a pattern in the most recent Spin-Off for lined mittens which looks just the ticket. More pretties, more stash reduction. Woot!

Clearing the decks

The twin nieces turned 13 this year. I don't know when I started these vests but they are a size 8 and were in a bag from Maggie Beer 's Pheasant Farm visited in November 2003 so I'm guessing 5 or 6 years ago.

2 pink vests for the girls

Found in a recent shake up of some boxes that hadn't been opened since I moved into this house 3 years ago, all that needed doing was finishing and sewing on the button band of one of them and the arm bands and buttons on both. So that's what I did yesterday.

The pattern is one I've knitted several times for little people and is in Panda Kids Knits Volume 3 which I still see on pattern racks around the place. The yarn - whatever acrylic K-Mart or Target was selling 7 years ago. The buttons from stash.

One of the reasons these weren't finished (apart from sitting in a storage unit for 12 months when I returned to Canberra) was that two little girls in Sydney had already had the same vest knitted for them from the same yarn that year.

Also found in the shake up was an almost finished jumper knitted for myself which I was never really happy with. It hit the frog pond. Joining it was My Oldest WIP. I went to sew it up and finish the bands yesterday and found that the back was a size bigger than the front. After all I'd been through with the bloody thing, it should think itself lucky that it hit the frog pond and not the bin.

The bin is where the second Jelly Belly vest ended up when I discovered I didn't have enough yarn to finish it and there was no hope of reclaiming the two balls already used.

So two items finished, two items frogged and one item trashed and I'm feeling much happier about what's on the needles. The rest of the WIPs are quivering in a basket and wondering who will get the treatment next. Hopefully there will be another couple of FOs this week and I can begin to think about some new charity projects with all the beautiful yarn that came in last week. It's weighing on my conscience a bit.

Oh, and if anyone sees my two cones of black 3 ply and generic sock pattern, please spank their bottoms and send the home - I need them.

Top of the World

*sigh* Another lovely weekend over.

This one started early on Friday when the Old Flame and I headed to the mountains for a break before the ski season. The Jo Sharp scarf, last spotted at Parliament House, was finished in the car somewhere before Cooma.

Today we took it for a spin up to Charlotte Pass to see if Mt Kosciusko was ready for its closeup. It wasn't. Australia's highest point coyly kept the blankets over its head. The scarf happily filled in.

And down to Lake Jindabyne where it was so bright the scarf needed shades for the view over to East Jindabyne.

The other FO for the week were the Old Flame's birthday socks, beautifully modelled here by the recipient. Bit blurry but the colour's about right.

The pattern is Thuja knitted in vintage Patons Lambswool 80 (80% lambswool, 20% nylon). The yarn isn't as sproingy as I'd have liked and I wouldn't do a 1x1 rib again, but the seeded rib pattern is classy and the whole thing knitted up very quickly. The only change I made was to knit the rib on 3.75mm needles instead of 4mm and I reckon it would be better to knit the whole sock in 3.5mm as they are a bit loose in the top.

Another one bites the dust

Another week, another member of my team leaves. *sigh*

This time it was one of my part-time contract staff who has been with us since before I started. I love J and will miss her very much; not just for her work.

So another leaving scarf. This time a Short Circuit in 8ply on 5mm needles to give it drape. This was a smooth and silky white wool from Mum's stash. I remember the trip to the Wangaratta Woollen Mills in the mid-80s when it was bought. Mum, Nanna and me on a yarn buying road trip. We stayed overnight in a motel in Albury (I love staying in motels!) and bought Dad a suit in an op-shop the day before we went to the woollen mills. He wore that suit to my brother's wedding a few years later.

Anyway, Spidey overdyed the yarn a while back and this colourway is "Wisteria" (I called it Hydrangea because she didn't tell me it was Wisteria, but if you want some, you need to ask for Wisteria).

I think the scarf turned out beautifully, and matches at least one of J's work outfits. I know, as a knitter herself, that she appreciates the love and intent that is the scarf.

Didn't manage to get a photo of her wearing it, but you get the general idea.

Beano

Thanks to a double feature at the ANU Film Group on Friday night, TSS and I finished 4 beanies. (TTWC 2008.045-048). Not quite as beautiful as the costumes in Atonement or Elizabeth the Golden Age, but a good deal warmer.

Thanks to you all for your supportive comments on yesterday's post. I know the weekly 7 things updates have been a little dull, but they've been essential for me.

There was an intervention last night which included vodka and girlie mixers, a Thai takeaway, Red Dwarf series IV and casting on 9 TTWCs. It was good to have a break. Back to it tomorrow.

Also, the castanets were as real as they were lovely. I had a Spanish neighbour who chucked a lot of things out when she unpacked her sea container of belongings. Among the items she jettisoned were some old wooden toys, including the castanets and a small piano (also disposed of this week) and some gorgeous heavy cotton and lace bed linen. I still have the linen and a one-legged wooden marionette which hangs off a door handle.

I'm taking 4 weeks leave from next Friday, so consolidation of current progress will occur then, as will some major sewing projects. I bought a reasonable quantity of some gorgeous stretch satin this afternoon for some slinky nighties. Am feeling the need for something a bit more feminine than over-sized t-shirts.

Soft shoe shuffle

Socks for Mr C's 9th birthday

When one of my aunt's was asked to be a godmother for the first time she wanted to know what her ongoing duties would be. "New shoes every birthday", was the canny parents' response.

I can't come at shoes for Mr C. this year, but my 9 tomorrow nephew and godson can have new socks. These are specially constructed, slipping about on the tiles socks - we're just not telling his mother that.

The pattern is Melissa Deutsch Scott's Bushwalkers from Yarn issue 3.

I knitted the smallest size on 3mm needles rather than 3.75mm for a denser, hopefully more longer wearing fabric and also because Mr C. is only 9, and the smallest women's size still looked a bit big. Also didn't use a contrast yarn like the originals, because this colourway was so gorgeous it really didn't need the lift. The pattern features a garter stitch heel flap for cushioning and a star shaped toe.

The yarn is a Happy Spider special dye job in colourway "Camouflage". The 8ply was part of a huge lot of yarn donated by Margit before she left Canberra. Much of it went for felting, but some of it was soft enough for garments. This yarn has responded to a tight gauge very well.

Having succumbed to a bout of startitis, I also used up 17g of scrap sock yarn (Moda Vera Adore, colour tangerine) to make these little sweeties. Based on Jenny Occleshaw’s Little Roll Top Sock from an old copy of Creative Knitting. Unfortunately CK didn’t publish heel and gusset details and Ms Occleshaw's promised amendments never showed up, so I’ve improvised them. Also went down from a 2.75 to a 2.5mm needle to make them a little smaller.

Tiger, tiger socks

Not to be outdone, Mum continues with the bedsock output. Still using up the Jet, the solid colour is the original Jet colour, the variegated is the camel colour overdyed by Spidey.

The colours are not true but they are bright and cheery.