Startitis Of The Cuff

“There are two mistakes one can make along the road to knitting something fabulous …not going all the way, and not starting.” (Buddha, 563-483 B.C.)

I think copied that quote down correctly, anyway. I can’t remember if Buddha actually said ‘knitting something fabulous’ or ‘peace’, but it was one of the two.

So, I am currently suffering from a bout of ’startitis’, a word which I have nabbed off of somewhere else, but I cannot for the life of me remember where. Actually I am not sure if the symptoms are those of startitis, as I have definitely started the new pair of socks I am trying to knit for my Brother in law… nine times.

A journey into finding the perfect sock cuff I have been on the quest for a fantastic sock cuff. Firm, yet stretchy, and without the tight pull of even the most elastic of cast-ons, garrotting the blood supply and leaving an itchy welt. These socks are not for me. They are for a beloved brother-in-law of whom I am very fond. Still, my fondness does not extend to me wrapping my hands around his calf to get an idea of how large his legs are for the purpose of making a pair of socks for his christmas surprise, so I needed to find a cuff that would fit no matter what.

I have tried various cast-ons (long tail, old Norwegian, tubular…), various stitches and techniques, yet none seemed to stretch as much as my store bought socks. So, after much fiddling around, many hours and a healthy dose of muttered swear words, I think I have found something that I love. I’m going to knit a few inches of sock just to make sure it is as fabulous at the job as I hope it will be, and (fingers crossed) if it is I will note down the details tomorrow.

Regnbue Scarf

The Baktus scarf is finished and blocked.

I was reading about the inspiration for the name ‘Baktus’ and found that Baktus and Karius are characters from a Norwegian children’s book – they are two trolls that live in the teeth, and Bactus is a play on words from ‘bacteria’. Anyway, thinking this scarf to be too pretty to be names after toothrot, I have called it ‘Regnbue’, which is Norwegian for rainbow. Made from a single 100g ball of sock yarn, this is a quick and inexpensive project that makes a lovely gift. To make the most of the yarn for this project you should have a digital scale to hand as this allows you to weigh the yarn in the skein as you knit until you have half of your yarn left, then you start decreasing which means you end up with no waste.

Made with a single ball of Schoppel-Wolle’s Crazy Zauberball (shade used: Little Fox), the completed and blocked scarf measures exactly 60″(153cm) in length and 12″ (30cm) at the widest point where I had increased to 86 stitches. I love it.

Pattern: Baktus Scarf
Yarn: Schoppel Wolle Crazy Zauberball in Little Fox.

Digital Scales - Part Of A Knitter's Arsenal

A digital weighing scale is a handy thing to have in your knitting kit. Most digital kitchen scales that work in 1g increments will suffice for the needs of most knitters. I actually have a small digital jewellery scale that works in increments of 1/10th of a gram, but I have had them for many years and long before I started knitting. They are, however, very handy as they are only 4×6″ in size and fit easily into my knitting bag.

Digital scales are inexpensive, and (if you have a set that you can also use in the kitchen) great for making cakes. A digital weighing scale is indispensable when making a pair of socks or mittens from a single skein of yarn. The popular Baktus scarf (which I am currently in the process of blocking) requires you to cast on only a few stitches, slowly increase along one edge until you have knit exactly half of your yarn, and then decrease along the same edge until you are back to your original cast on number of stitches and out of yarn. It’s a fantastic pattern for getting the most out of a single ball of yarn with no waste at the end, but guesswork as to when you have reached the halfway point of your ball of yarn could lead to tears and naughty words. You can pick up a pair of digital jewellery scales for about £7-8 on eBay, and you can find digital kitchen scales in any shop that sells kitchen equipment. If you want to test the kitchen scales out by making a cake, please feel free to send any baked goods to me and my cake-trained palette will be happy to tell you if your scales have resulted in baking success.

An Eye For Colour

Some people seem to have an innate sense of what colours look good together, whereas some people feel so overwhelmed by the thought of combining several shades into a one outfit that they end up sticking to what they know and living a monotone life. I have pretty strong ideas about which colours I like. I love a dusky pink alongside a sage green, I love to see rich brown the colour of bitter chocolate alongside a pale turquoise, but I have always had a strong idea of what colours I favour, whether they are in vogue or not (though, usually, not).

One knitter's beauty is another's headache, and though colour choice is and will always be a personal thing, there are a few tools to help those that want to experiment but don’t want to end up looking like 1980s Christmas decorations…Colour Lovers is one of my favourite sites for searching out palettes of colour. The pro palette maker provides many tools to create and view your own colour combinations. If you are unsure of how a number of colours you have been admiring online might look together you can simply use the slide controls to pick out those colours and observe them together. If you have no preconceived idea of what colours you might like to try then the huge library of user made colour palettes are always a great place to start looking for information.

From subtle to outlandish - there are thousands of swatches to enjoy, useful for both working out great yarn combinations and blog layouts/graphics, etc. The colour lovers site is only one of thousands of resources available to you on the internet, but it is one of those that I find myself returning to most often – much of the time just to browse and admire, and to remind myself not to keep returning to the colour combinations that I have had prior success with.

Order of the Garter

A year and a half ago I was wandering around a bookstore when I picked up a book called ‘I Love Knitting’. I couldn’t tell you what made me pick it up, but I felt like I should buy it. On the way home from the bookstore I called into a general homewares shop that just happened to stock two sizes of grey powdered aluminium needles and three or four shades of acrylic with all of the tactile crunchiness of fresh cornflakes.

That evening I cast on for the first time and before even trying it decided that I did not like Garter Stitch. Even in the pages of the book garter stitch looked clumsy and childish next to the smooth, uniform fabric of stockinette stitch, or the interesting textures of the other simple stitches on display.

My very first piece of knitting wasn’t in garter stitch. In fact, my first ever attempt at actually knitting a few stitches was done in moss stitch, for some reason. I even have a picture to mark the occasion.

I couldn’t understand why anyone would enjoy the look of garter stitch – it looked so naïve. Surely it was the stitch that people learned to ‘get used’ to the knit stitch before going on to learn properly, and which they then forgot about when they learned how to do the proper stitches?

This view seemed to reside in my subconscious for quite a long time, until one day I saw the most simple short scarf/cowl you might imagine. Made with chunky yarn and in simple, naïve, beautiful garter stitch. Like paring a piece of furniture down to its most basic elements, this stitch achieved such a simplicity of design in this scarf because of its properties – edges that don’t curl, identical on each side, and a lovely thick, warm and stretchy resulting fabric.

I had a quick look around for small and quick pattern done in garter stitch and found the Knitted Kitty pattern.

(The kitten found the ball of Noro he was playing with to be rough and full of twigs)

I kept it to a small project because I wasn’t sure if the garter stitch, despite my new-found appreciation of its form, would keep my interest. I am only now attempting my first garter stitch project of any notable size, and just past the half-way point I can feel that I am starting to tire of the monotony just slightly, but I have an audiobook on the go to keep me occupied in a secondary way, and the constantly changing colours of the yarn I am using are at least providing an element of surprise eery few inches or so. Hopefully I shall be able to judge in a day or so whether the effect of the finished article was worth it.

Pattern: Knitted Kitty
Yarn: King Cole Big Value DK

Beware of your bamboo, for it is rayon.

The Federal Trade Commission in America has this month issued a consumer alert regarding bamboo fabrics. Under the pun-filled title ‘Have You Been Bamboozled by Bamboo Fabrics?’ the article seems to be anything but a laughing matter. A lengthy discussion on the Ravelry Yarn forums gives some indication of the confusing nature of the recent missive issued by the FTC.

Much of the confusion stems¹ from the uncertain wording of the ‘warning’:

 …when it comes to soft bamboo textiles, like shirts or sheets, there’s a catch: they’re actually rayon. 

So, all ‘bamboo’ textiles (and yes, I say ‘all’ because the FTC has declared that this is the state of all bamboo fabrics) they are actually rayon. So – what is rayon? Rayon is a cellulose fibre produced by treating various types of plant matter. It is often made from trees, but other plants, including bamboo, can be used as the base material for rayon. So, ‘bamboo’ yarn is made from bamboo that has gone through a process of rayonisation (you may find this to be a word that I have just made up). So, I think stating that ‘this yarn is not made from bamboo, but is instead rayon’ is like saying that an omelette cannot be both and omelette and ‘eggs’ – sure – it’s not still a little ovoid packed up in calcium carbonate packaging, but we understand where the origins of the omlette begin. So, when we are knitting we are not knitting with the raw product of bamboo fibres – OK, we understand that. In fact, the chemical processes that turn bamboo stems into rayon fibre may be quite harsh – it is hard to judge as information seems quite scant, and I have found no way of measuring the impact of any of these chemical processes upon the environment against, for example, the pesticides used when growing cotton. Nevertheless, the FTC want us to know what a service they are doing for the people:

The Federal Trade Commission, the nation’s consumer protection agency, wants you to know that the soft “bamboo” fabrics on the market today are rayon. 

So, is that all there is to the FTCs announcement? Well, no. There seems to be some confusion regarding whether the ‘bamboo’ rayon yarns and fabrics on the market are manufactured from bamboo at all.

Some people have read the statement to mean that manufacturers of so-called ‘bamboo’ yarns aren’t in fact deriving their rayon from bamboo at all, but other plant sources. If the end product is pretty much the same thing, what difference does it make? Well, bamboo seems to be a more ecologically sound way of producing rayon as bamboo is a such a fast-growing and sustainable crop that requires no pesticides in its production. Two lines in the FTCs announcement does give a hint that this might be part of their concern:

Even when bamboo is the “plant source” used to create rayon, no traits of the original plant are left in the finished product. Companies that claim a product is “bamboo” should have reliable evidence, like scientific tests and analyses, to show that it’s made of actual bamboo fiber. 

So, are they claiming that bamboo rayons aren’t actually produced from bamboo, or not? Well, the problem seems to lie right there – some people think this is exactly what they are claiming, whereas others think that the statement merely refers to the fact that bamboo yarn isn’t yarn spun from raw bamboo fibres but processed via (new made up word redux coming up) ‘rayonisation’. Here is the link to the statement issued by the FTC which should either help you make up your own mind or serve to confuse you more than I already have. The Ravelry thread² on this matter also makes interesting reading, if just to see how much confusion the terms used in the FTC’s statement have caused.

¹: Unintentional pun alert 
²: A (free) Ravelery account is needed to access the forums, but you have one already, right?

Earn your stripes

I completed my latest pair of socks yesterday evening, happy to kitchener shut the final toe section and rush them to the bathroom for a soak and onto my handmade sock blockers before turning in for the night. It’s taken me ten days to complete these socks, far longer than the other pairs, just because life seemed to keep on getting in the way.

I decided to stick to an extremely simple and plain pattern for this yarn, and let the stripes and the bold colours do the talking. I am very fond of this colourway, so I’m glad there’s a second ball waiting for me to eventually make myself a matching pair.

Pattern: Short Row Heels and Toes for the Sock Enthusiast by Mimi Hill
Yarn: Wendy Happy in Aries

Promenade Scarf (pattern)

Last year, a few months after I had started to learn how to knit, and when the weather had started to turn cold as the first signs of winter approached, I turned my mind to the possibility of doing a bit of Christmas knitting. The person I most wanted to knit something for was my grandmother – a wonderful, kind and loving person who has spent so many hundreds of hours over the years at the sewing machine, making any and everything I could wish for.

After thinking on what to make her for a while I settled on scarf. She would often come in from a cold day saying how cod she felt around the neck of her coat. She also disliked the look of her neck (which is stupid as she looks wonderful), but would often put her hand to her throat self-consciously as she spoke to people. My grandmother never often wore scarves though, because as she has lived practically her whole life with only one working arm (after a terrible accident she had when she was just 3 years old) she found scarves unmanageable on a blustery day when they might start to slip and she was trying to carry her usual accompaniment of handbag and shopping.

I decided I wanted to knit her something warm and elegant, made from something soft and luxurious, but mostly something which she would not have to worry about once she had put it on. I eventually settled on this shorter length scarf with no unnecessary ends. The double layer of fabric in the front of the neck keeps you warm no matter what neckline you are wearing, and the two buttons keep the scarf secure and comfortable.

Made from a soft, warm yarn this is an extremely fast knit and so it is perfect for quick or last-minute gifts, but it still shows that you have made an effort and made something beautiful. The gift is even nicer to give when it is for yourself. Note: It is recommended that you knit this scarf in a natural fibre as it does benefit from being blocked.

Download the PDF for the Promenade Scarf

knit unloved

How many knits have you sent out into the wild? have they all found happy homes and owners to care for them, or have some ended up unloved, maybe even abused? Meet my first ever pair of knitted socks:

They are not particularly beautiful, but they were the original. I had been putting off knitting socks since I began knitting – I wanted to try, but I could never find the confidence. A month or so ago, Socks the 1st were born. Sure, they weren’t very pretty, had no finesse, and had a few wonky stitches from my first flirtations with short-row shaping, but they were sock -shaped and fit their new owner.

Let’s meet up with them a month later:

This is not the sight of happy socks. They are unloved, abandoned. They are literally ‘left on the shelf’. Since making Socks the 1st, I have made a few more pairs of socks, and I think it is fair to say that subsequent pairs have been an improvement on these humble beginnings, and the flashier, more comfortable socks have ousted Socks the 1st from favour. I do not mind this, socks the 1st were only really an experiment, but the recipient had picked out the yarn and seemed very happy with them, at first. Still, I wanted to find these guys a new home.

They’re a bit big for me, so the heel isn’t quite in the right place, but they are warm and comfortable, and as I haven’t actually knit a pair of socks for myself yet, I’m happy that they’ve decided to be my friends.

Are you a person of highly immoral fibre?

Do you have any of Cascade’s Rustic yarn in your stash? Or a sweater made of Harrisville Flax & Wool blend, perhaps?

Wool (well known for it’s warmth and comfort) and linen (made from the fibres of the flax plant, and valued for its crispness and coolness) are a popular blend of fibres for suits and trousers, and are combined in a number of gorgeous hand knitting yarns, yet there are some people who believe these to be a forbidden mixture of fibres, warned against in religious scripture.

I found this out quite by chance, mentioned as an aside in Stephen Law’s The Philosophy Gym, but it’s something that stuck with me, and a subject that I have been quasi-researching in my spare moments for the past couple of weeks. I’ll be straight up and tell you I am not religious, but the teachings (and particularly the history) of various religions hold endless fascination for me. If you mix that together with a healthy dose of yarn-talk, then I am all ears.

So, what do these religious texts actually say?

…neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee. (Leviticus 19:19)

What most interests me is how this instruction came about. If I had to make my own judgement on what this instruction was for, I’d have guessed that it was a warning to keep the purity of different species and forms, because the entire verse reads:

Ye shall keep my statutes. Thou shalt not let thy cattle gender with a diverse kind: thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed: neither shall a garment mingled of linen and woollen come upon thee. (Leviticus 19:19) 

So, don’t mix species of animals, fields of crops, or types of fibre – keep them all separate.

Deciding to hit up Google for a few answers, though, I soon discovered that this is not necessarily the assumed reason. The first search engine result I hit upon had the following dialogue: Q: ‘Why shouldn’t we wear wool and linen together’ A: ‘Electrocution’. Simply stated, but not particularly satisfying as an answer. No explanation was given as to why a garment of mixed wool and linen fibres might lead to electrocution, just that it would. Back to the google-a-tron! Soon, I came across this far more comprehensive explanation from Brian Sass:

If you were to wear a garment mixed with linen and wool in a hot climate, the first thing you would notice is an increasing tiredness as your energy gets zapped, then your internal organs would begin to fail as the electricity needed to run their various functions is depleted. As the energy passes from your body and meets with the hot air your skin will start to excoriate like a blister, causing rapid fluid loss and dehydration. The pain and discomfort would become unbearable and you would long for death to quickly come. Your wish is eventually granted. 

Scary stuff, and Brain Sass uses the appliance of science to explain further:

You can measure the electricity in the human body in an electrical measurement called angstroms. The human body is quite healthy with 100 angstroms of electricity, if the electricity falls to 50 angstroms sickness begins to occur – if the decline continues to drop to 15 angstroms – more critical diseases such as cancer will occur. Wearing a linen garment will boost the electricity in the human body to 5000 angstroms! keeping you very healthy and full of energy- it’s no wonder that God had his priests wearing linen garments in His service. Wool on the other hand will also boost the body’s electricity to 5000 angstroms but with an opposite polarity. This is not harmful unless you mix the two, in which case, being of opposite polarity they cancel each other out and the bodies electricity drops to “0″ causing the symptoms outlined above. 

Despite the scientific explanation that Brain Sass offers, I do not find it credible that these two fibres will cause you break out in blisters and develop cancer, otherwise clothes manufacturers around the world would have lawsuits coming out of their ears by now.

The real reason, to me, is still a mystery. This extremely interesting account and explanation of why wearing ’shatnez’(mixed linen and wool fibres) is forbidden is Judaism, and the practicalities of shatnez in modern life offers some understanding of the history of the rule:

…the Law of shatnez is a chok, a decree that the King has passed for His subjects, for which we do not know the reason.

(italics mine). So, at the moment I am not much the wiser as the historical significance of these passages but I find it an interesting concept none the less. If anyone has any more information about the ruling against mixing wool and linen in a single garment, that exists in a number of religions, I’d be extremely interested in hearing from you. Similarly, if anyone has any wool/linen mix yarn that they are now too scared to use, I will gladly take donations and put the risk wholly onto myself. I especially like the colour green.

36, 288 stitches

Earlier on, and because I have nothing better do with my Sunday afternoons, I worked out (as accurately as I could) how many stitches would be knit by the time I finish my latest pair of socks:

Except I will have actually knit over and above that number as yesterday I experienced something I have previously been able to avoid since I started knitting – the sad feeling of pulling out rows and rows of perfectly formed little stitches. Somehow, when knitting the second sock, I knitted about three inches past the point where I wanted to insert some waste yarn stitches where I later wanted to put the heel. The thing is, I had been carefully checking my progress every few rows to make sure I didn’t make the very mistake that I did. I pouted so much as I pulled about 40 rows of stitches out that my bottom lip aches. Still, now I have only a few more stripes before I reach the bit I most enjoy – the short row heels and toes. Saving this until the last thing is the equivalent, for me, of eating all of your vegetables first to savour the main part of the dish at the very end. It is the way I eat my meals, and the way I knit my socks – saving the most enjoyable bits for the end, so savouring the moment these two completely formless tubes take on the shape of socks… as long as I don’t screw up again.

Photography Tutorial/FAQ Part III

Part One of this tutorial dealt with setting up your space to take photographs with a clean white background, whilst Part Two concentrated on camera settings and how to get the best from your photographs. This third and final part concentrates on using photo manipulating software to get a similar look when photos turn out dull due to bad lighting conditions or camera inadequacies. It’s always best to get a good shot to start with using the techniques in parts 1&2, but for those too impatient to wait for a brighter day and better conditions, here’s an alternative.

There are almost certainly many ways of achieving this same effect in Photoshop, I’m pretty sure I once knew some others, but I have successfully pushed them all out of my head when I discovered which way I decided to be the easiest.

So, after opening the file (above) in photoshop it should only take a few short steps to make this picture shine.

From the toolbar, select Image > Adjustments > Curves

Now, from the window that pops up, select the eyedropper on the right of the group of three. This is the one that sets the ‘white point’.

Ooh, we're so close – the magic is about to happen…

Now guide the little eyedropper tool tip to an area of the background that was your white sheet of card, click it and pop!

What this essentially does is tell the imaging software ‘hey – you see this colour here? It’s supposed to be white, darn it. Now, go fix it!’ and photoshop duly obliged.

You should now have a perfectly white background. If you do not, then just click around a few more areas of the background until you do.

Well, that really is the sum of all of my knowledge. Not much, is it? Nevertheless, after playing around with the settings a bit you soon find what works for you.

Photography Tutorial/FAQ Part II

Part One of this tutorial explained how I set up my space ready for taking my photographs, so now I am going to move on to how I set up my camera and actually take my photographs. This post will deal mostly with camera settings, so if you are not familiar with the menu system of your camera, or if a feature isn’t immediately apparent on your camera, it might be worthwhile consulting your instruction manual. It’s worthwhile pointing out here that not all digital cameras are going to have the features that I use, but my camera is pretty old, was very inexpensive, and the same features are found on my mobile phone camera. All cameras I have used have these same functions, so chances are good that yours will, too.

Ok, so firstly you are going to want to position your camera so that the whole frame is filled with the white of your backdrop. Ensure that no shadows from surrounding objects/curtains/wandering pets are finding their way onto the backdrop and position the item to be photographed within the frame of the viewfinder. Often that means that the objects are going to be quite close to the lens, so the macro (closeup) button is your best friend here. Most people will probably know where that is, but just in case you didn’t read your camera manual at all it usually looks like a little tulip. If you press this it will allow your camera to focus better at close ranges. Some cameras have a function that allows you to press it an extra time, giving you a super close-up mode, but for most subjects just normal macro mode will do.

The next thing to do is to set the white balance of your camera. If you have never done this before, you might find this very handy. The white balance controls how the camera ’sees’ the colour white, and it stops your camera from giving your pictures a blue/red/yellow tinge, depending on the lighting conditions. In short, it should keep the colours neutral and true. The white balance controls are often hidden somewhere in the menus of your camera, so you might have to search to find them. One point to keep in mind here is that some cameras will not let you access the white balance controls if your camera is set to ‘auto’ mode. Switch your camera to the ‘P’ (program) mode if this is the case. Once you have found the white balance mode you set the new white balance by aiming your camera at something white that exists in the same lighting conditions as the object you are shooting. Luckily you have a big sheet of white card in front of you in the correct position, so point your camera at the card and make sure that it is only the white card that you can see through the viewfinder, and press the shutter button. The white balance should now be set.

Now would be a good moment to take a few shots of your item. I always say you should take loads as there are always some duds. If you don’t have a very steady hand then a tripod could come in useful. Or, if you are a cheapskate/lazy like me, a pile of books or something similar will suffice.

OK, before you rush of to your PC with your new photos, there’s one more thing you should try – altering the brightness. Even with all of the above steps, some of my photographs appear ‘dull’ once in a while, and the backdrop is a pale grey rather than brilliant white. To counteract this you can have a play with you camera’s brightness settings to improve the pictures.

Again, cameras vary, but my brightness control button looks like the picture on the left. When pushed it brings up a little slide control which, by using the left and right arrow buttons, allows you to control the brightness of the shot. To get the best out of this feature it really needs to be experimented with. I’d suggest doing what I did and grabbing a pen and paper and noting the file numbers of the photographs as you take them, taking three or four shots with each level of brightness you turn your camera up. When you later view these pictures on your computer you will be able to see what level of brightness is about right for your photographs.

And that’s about it! The more you explore and experiment with the positioning of your backdrop and the brightness/contrast settings, the more likely you are to get a pure white background. Before long finding the right settings becomes second nature.

If your camera just won’t play ball, though, or doesn’t have the required settings, there is another option – as long as you have access to some photo manipulating software along the lines of Photoshop. I always think it is a good idea to get a good, clear photograph without having to use photoshop to improve things, but when you are in a hurry, or there are dark, dull skies overhead, a little photographic wizardry can save you having to put our photoshoot off until another day.

I’ll explain this second option in the third and final part of this tutorial.

Photography Tutorial/FAQ Part I

One of the questions I get asked quite often relates to the way I photograph my items and yarn. I often choose to photograph at least some shots of a project against a white background as I find it an unencumbered way to view the items without distraction of a busy backdrop.

It took a little playing around before I could get the technique to work for me, but once I worked out how to set my camera up to best make use of the light conditions, etc, it became an easy and quick way to take good quality pictures. 

I’ve been asked a few times if I have a little studio for taking my photographs. All I can ever reply to that is I can only wish I did! I also have an inexpensive little pocket digital camera and not much space, so those dreams cast aside, it’s time to reveal the truth:

So, all you need is a large (A1) sheet of pure white card and maybe a bit of Blu-tack to keep it in place whilst you snap away. The important thing to remember with the card is that it should be un-creased and should be placed against the wall, reaching down to the floor/table-top in a smooth curve – this will produce a seamless background. To ensure the best images, try and have as much natural light on the subject as possible. By this I do not mean bright sunlight, but nice, cool daylight. I find it best to have a large window/open door to the side of me (in the picture above there is a large window to the left of the piece of card) as this gives a good amount of light on the object and you will no be hampered by your own shadow, or the shadow of your camera, appearing in shot.

Now – fiddling around with a few of the settings on your camera is going to help to improve your shots. Not all cameras work identically as far as button placement and menu navigation are concerned, but many are quite similar. If you cannot find one of the settings/buttons which I mention in the following part of the tutorial/FAQ, it’s time to go and hunt down the manual for your digital camera.

Continue to part 2.

Me Ol’ bamboo

I was recently introduced to bamboo yarn when looking for some sock yarn that would knit into broad stripes of colour, and the yarn suggested to me was ‘Happy’ by Wendy. I’d never seen, let alone used bamboo yarn before, and as I was purchasing over the internet the package that arrived the next morning was a complete revelation. Soft, drapey and with a subtle sheen it was unlike any yarn I had so far worked with. Knitting with it allowed it to glide over the needles making knitting fast and comfortable, but these tactile and aesthetic positives aside, what else does bamboo yarn offer us?

There have been many murmurs lately about the benefits of different forms of yarn. As the world comes around to the reality of how we humans affect out environment, the sustainability of raw materials and use of organic processes have become buzz words in many areas of life, and the knitting world is part of this part of this shift in thinking.

So, what are the benefits of bamboo yarn? Ecologically, bamboo is the fastest growing woody plant in the world, meaning that it is very quick to cultivate. In David Farrelly’s The Book of Bamboo it is reported that bamboo has been observed to grow as much as 121cm (approximately 4ft) in just 24 hours. It takes no pesticides to cultivate bamboo either, so it can, and usually is, grown organically. As for the consumer end of the bamboo trail, numerous health benefits have been claimed about bamboo fibre and the textiles created from it, though trials and experiments are still ongoing. Bamboo is said to be extremely absorbent - holding about 60% more water per measurement of weight than the equivalent in cotton. It also produces a very breathable fabric, allowing the body to stay cool and comfortable. Bamboo fibre is also believed to have antibacterial properties, allowing it to better deal with the microbes that cause sweat to smell. So - absorbent, breathable and it avoids whiffs? It would seem to be the perfect choice for socks and summer wear.

As for myself - I just like the feel of the yarn - both to knit with and as a finished garment, and knowing many people who dislike the feel of wool yarns against their bare skin, this alternative has been a wonderful discovery.

Dapper Nintendo DS Lite/DSi Cosy (pattern)

The Nintendo DS has been one of the most spectacular successes in the world of gadgetry that there has ever been. Resting on the coffee tables, desks, and slung into the bags of schoolchildren, businessmen and grannies alike it was the first gaming innovation that crossed the boundaries of age, and as such it is the biggest selling gaming console of all time. Many people feel very attached to their little travelling games companion, but time spent rattling around in the bottom of a briefcase, rucksack or handbag it is fraught with all sorts of dangers. Malicious keys, hateful biros, malevolent hair accessories, spiteful football boots – all trying to do your little gaming friend some damage to its smooth and perfect surface.

I say ‘no!’ to DS abuse. It is true that commercially available DS protective cases are available, but there is no love in their construction, no feeling for the protection of your little dual-screened pal. We must rally around to change the way people treat their DS consoles, and the change must start with you. Snatch up your needles, dive into your stash, and press download, download, download!
Download the PDF for the Dapper Nintendo DS Lite/DSi Cosy

The trouble with colour

... is that not everybody likes it.

Me? I love it. I was raised by Care Bears. In a disco. Run by Clowns. So, where’s the problem? Well, the thought of Christmas gift knitting has started to creep into my mind and I have my heart set on a pair of socks for each of my nearest and dearest, but the truth is that genetics do not seem to control our colour preferences. I am not too concerned about choices for my sisters – though they’d not embrace the fashion stylings of a Gyles Brandreth jumper, a colourful pair of socks hidden away under some jeans will (hopefully) not disgust them too much. The difficulty, however, starts with my sisters’ partners. Both, by their own admission, rather conservative chaps. A pair of socks knitted from the tail-hairs of a My Little Pony aren’t going to make it onto their feet. My issue, though, that I just can’t seem to buy sensible sock yarn. I have tried, really I have, and look at the extent of my success thus far:

I’ve never been able to limit my love all all things bright and colourful – I just can’t see why anyone would want to dress in dull, drab, unsaturated shades when there are so many beautiful bright hues to pick from, though I know those more subtle tones and shades can look stunning. I had a friend at university that pretty much exclusively only wore shades of grey. From Dove to Charcoal, she would have looked no different on a 1950s TV set, but she was the most graceful and elegant dresser I have ever known. I, on the other hand, looked like I had covered myself in super-glue and run naked through a troupe of clowns. So, I’m trying to slowly adjust myself to starting to look for sock yarn in dark grey, to make socks for my sisters’ partners that they might actually like enough to wear.

Whilst I prepare myself for that leap, though, I’m happily filling my cart with two Zauberballs in the shades ‘Tropical Fish’ and ‘Crazy Little Fox’.

Font – Knitted

Yesterday I posted about a quirky little typeface I found one day and about its uses for design and layouts for knitterly folk, but also the possibility of it perhaps working as a quick and easy way to generate charts for knitted words. Using the graphic I made yesterday, I managed to knit this (please excuse the untidy sample, I only had 15 minutes to knit this in and it hasn’t been blocked or had its stitches manipulated into submission).

I think it is readable and attractive, and due to the relatively equal width/height of the characters and the fact that there are no large blocks of colour, it works very well in stranded knitting. So – if you give an infinite number of knitting needles to an infinite number of monkeys, how long will it take for one of them to knit Hamlet?

Rachel’s Socks

The socks that Giantmonk was helping to knit in the very first post of this blog are now complete. Made from Wendy Happy sock yarn in the shade Leo, this yarn is made primarily with Bamboo with added Nylon for strength, meaning that it is not only 100% vegan and very suitable for anyone with wool allergies, but it is also very cool on the feet and (if the spiel is to be believed) very good at keeping the feet relatively free from nasty smell-making bacteria.

So, having a sister with a wool allergy and smelly feet (Hi Rachel!) – I know she’ll never stumble by this blog in a million years so I am not too worried about saying that… snarfle – this yarn was a perfect choice. Moreover, it didn’t cost very much either – £6 for a 100g/420m ball.

As I wanted to make the most of the long colour repeats, and because I wasn’t sure how this slippery, drapey yarn was going to behave, I wanted a relatively simple pattern that I could knit without concentrating too much. I decided on a plain stockinette sock with a sideways garter stitch cuff but with an added lace panel that would run down the outside edge of the foot, just for a little added interest (though this might add as an extra ventilation shaft for those whom the magical odour-repelling properties of bamboo yarn do not suffice!)

There was plenty of yarn to ensure that the stripes on the socks matched perfectly, and still enough left over to allow me to sift through the rest of the yarn and pick out four matching lengths so that the short-row heels and toes, which I added in after knitting the rest of the socks, all matched.

There was one small negative that I encountered with this yarn – when I was soaking the finished socks to block them they bled a lot. Left to soak for ten minutes in cold water when I returned it looked like a scene from Sweeney Todd’s Bathroom.

Knitted words – Knitfont

A while ago I was wandering merrily through Internetland, watching balls of wool skip happily through the meadows, scampering around the giant cones of yarn, whilst listening to the gentle soothing sound of the needles clicking away in the trees when I stumbled upon Knitfont. I picked myself back up and considered this cute little font for a few minutes. It was a simple idea, but perfectly done, and available in two different forms – knitted letters on a plain background or white letters on a knitted background.

Both quite attractive in themselves, but I think the effect is most pleasing when you use both together. If you have a graphics program that uses layers, such as Photoshop, you can use both versions in different colours to layer one on top of the other to fit them together:

I used this same idea to create the ‘Eskimimi Knits’ graphic at the top of the page, and I think it could come in handy for making gift tags or washing instructions tags for knitted items and in many other applications.

I think the question that begs to be asked is – Can you use it for lettering in colourwork? I haven’t tried it myself, yet, but it’s something I keep meaning to give a go. I do not think that it is the intended purpose of the font – I think it may have been created purely for decorative value, but I think it is worth experimenting with so I’m gong to give it a go. I’ll post the results soon.

‘Knitfont’ by Honey and Death can be downloaded free of charge from here.

Understanding Socks – Part II

Once I had completed and handed the first pair of socks to the intended recipient I felt quite buoyed by the project, and it motivated me to start a new project. I had a peer through my stash to have a think about what to knit next, but nothing grabbed me, so I had a wander to the shops and ended up accidentally buying some more sock yarn. I think part of the motivation was that the first pair of socks were quick, well formed and just made something special of an item that is often mundane and unloved.

The second pair of socks (Mermaid Socks, by Lucy Neatby) were on the needles the next day. A more complex design with a sideways garter cuff and swirling pattern around the leg, the were gratefully received and enviously coveted.

Two pairs down, a third pair just about to reach completion, I’m considering making a pair for each person in the family as a Christmas gifts.

I still don’t have a clue what knitted dishcloths are about, though.

Understanding Socks – Part I

I never understood the attraction of wearing hand-knit socks, let alone the time and effort needed to complete a pair of the most utilitarian of garments which sit in smelly shoes and never get seen. Nevertheless, a little bug – a tiny bug with a really annoying voice kept on telling me that I should try to knit a pair, just for the knowledge of how to knit socks should I ever need to (I don’t know what circumstances could ever lead to me desperately needing to knit a sock, but that aside it was a constant worry that I couldn’t do so should I ever need to…) I eventually caved in to that little bug and armed with two balls of Regia Design Line in the shade ‘Easter’, which is the colour of a clown’s dreams, I made a pretty basic pair of toe-up socks using Knitty.com’s Universal Toe-Up Sock Formula, which I’d happily recommend to any other sock-virgins.

The socks were easy-going, no stress knitting – easily accomplished whilst watching the TV once I learned how to do short rows via the very clear instructions included. They were declared well-fitting, comfortable and warm, and I was feeling decidedly happy with myself for accomplishing the dreaded socks – what I had imagined to be fiddly and time consuming actually turned out to be simple and very fast. A couple of nights in front of the TV and a pair of woolly foot covers were born.

Self-Designing Scarf (Pattern)

scarfwin

This was my first attempt at writing up my ideas for a pattern. This instructional is all about one way of handling colour changes in yarn that has long, gradual lengths of colour that fade into each other – the inspiration coming from Rowan Colourscape Chunky (in colours by Kaffe Fassett).

Download the PDF for the Self-designing Scarf

New-smelling blog

I’ve spent a few hours making the graphics and layout for this blog, even more hours fiddling with it of code to get things like dates to display in a way that pleases me, and now I have writer’s block.  This will no doubt be typical of the way in which I mean to go on, so for the time being I shall just introduce you to my knitting chum, Giantmonk, and go and consume some tea and crumpets.

Giantmonk, knitting socks. I can't really knit at all - I let him do all of the work and then take the credit.