Two steps forward...one step back

When I started knitting way, way back in the 70's, my grandmother started me off on her leftovers. As I got older, I inherited the odd balls and the leftovers of both my grandmother and my mother. In my youthful ignorance, I referred to all this yarn as "wool", though I am sure that I would have been hard pressed to find even one natural fibre in the lot!

It has only been over the past few years that I have been introduced to natural fibres and all the wonder that comes with them. Wool was my first (and favourite), but everything else from corn to alpaca holds a special place in my heart. I love that when I knit with natural fibres my needles don't get sticky the way they do when I knit with acrylic. I love the variety that you can get - you need warmth? cool? you can get it in a natural fibre - sometimes even in the same one! I love how many of them have the wonderful combination of durability and delicateness.

Of course, some of the natural fibres require a bit of extra care and tenderness (and you can get a whole new project out of it if you don't respect that!), but I think that a little hand washing and drying flat never hurt anyone.

Then, one day, my grandmother made the funniest comment, "Why on earth would you be making that out of wool? It's too much work."

Excuse me? Why? Because wool and knitting are synonymous. How is it more work than anything else?

But, I am not going to argue - or try to change the mind - of a 90 year old woman. I let it go and kept my love of natural fibres to myself.

Then, I took up spinning on a drop spindle. Again, "Why would you want to go to that trouble?" Now, I really had to think about her comments. Why is she trying to discourage me from traditional aspects and pursuits associated with knitting? I pondered this question for a bit and then I had an epiphany.

For much of her life, daily existence required a lot of labour - work that most of us never have to think about. Everything was hand washed - not just the woolens. Most of the wool from her early years was homespun, therefore, requiring a generous input of labour before it even became a finished product. Progress, in her mind, was washing machines (and anything that you could throw in there), man-made fibres and massed produced yarns that saved time and energy. Besides, she has seen the vast improvement in man-made fibres.

My urge to get back to basics is seen as a huge leap backwards to her. I have the luxury of looking at the prospect of hand washing as quaint. She remembers when that was all that got your clothing clean - and how much work it was.

Then I have to think about my own thought process. Do I give a heirloom quality, natural fibre, hand knitted gift to everybody I know? No. I give it only to the ones I know will appreciate and respect the work required for it's care. Many, many people received a lovingly hand knitted, machine washable acrylic gift.

Real men don't need Tetanus shots...

nor do they wear "colourful" socks with shorts, apparently.

Now, imagine my shock and dismay when Steph, being the lucky recipient of 3 new pairs of handknit socks by yours truly (in a space of less than 6 months, no less!), deigned to complain (he swears he only "commented") that his socks are "too colourful" and could I not knit him plainer socks for summer months - read: when they are going to be visible and able to be admired.

I threw the ball of yarn I was working with (which was, incidentally, in the progress of being knitted into another pair of socks for him!) at his head.

"Try that on!"

"It's only yarn...", he looks at me as if I have grown a second head.

"Exactly!"

He put on the self-striping green, blue and purple socks without another comment.

His buddy, bearing witness to this, had the good grace (and superior judgement) to make sure that I knew that he would wear any colour of socks - PROUDLY - if I made them for him.

Steph left the house, for a boys night out, with something to think about and a fresh lecture about "friends will not make fun of the colour of your socks, and if they do, they aren't your real friends".



This is Steph's foot the day after the "needle incident". I don't know why he didn't have the forethought to just stay still and let me take a quick photo of his foot while the needle was still in it...hindsight is 20/20.

The 2mm dp went through the tip of his baby toe, then through the pad of the outer ball of his foot and out.

I left my knitting on the floor by the couch, as he walked up to the couch to sit down he kicked my knitting under it, but one of the dp's caught on the leg - ouch!

Ironcially enough, this occurred shortly after I had reminded him not to wear shoes in the house (7 years and counting!). To top it all off, when he sat down on the couch so I could take this photo, he sat on a safety pin that had opened up and slipped between the cushions (he wouldn't let me take a photo of that injury!).

Although, I highly recommended him going to get a Tetanus shot, he chose to treat it with tea tree oil. Today he is none the worse for wear, except for a healthy wariness of my dp's.

As a couple, we have grown from this experience:

1. I will not leave my knitting unattended on the floor or on the couch. This is why I have a knitting bag right beside the couch.

2. I will be more careful to account for the sewing notions that I use - ie. darning needles, safety pins, scissors. This is why I have a sewing box right beside the couch.

3. These "incidents" are in no way a valid excuse to keep shoes on in the house!

Busy beaver...

I have been a busy little beaver. On Canada Day we skipped town - family and friends can't understand it. We live in the Market and are right in the middle of all the Canada Day festivities happening in the Nation's Capital - that is why we get out of Dodge!

When we came home, Steph and Ally headed up to the Hill to see what was going on. Naevyne and I met up with them for the fireworks.

I have to admit that it is nice to be able to walk 8 minutes down the street to catch the fireworks at the National Gallery!

We headed out to Meech Lake for the day. The weather was perfect, the water was warm and the girls spent 5-1/2 hours, out of the 6 we were there, in the water. That meant minimal interruptions for my knitting.

The day at the beach allowed me great progress on Ally's Austrian sock (from Interweave Knits Favourite Socks). I have to admit that I cursed her birth when I started the chart, but half way through the first sock I got the hang of it. The socks flew off the needles. These socks have been modified to be anklets, as Ally doesn't like "regular" socks. This is all fine with me because I needed only one ball of yarn, and it is less work for me.

At the beginning of June, I knitted the bmp socks for my brother (http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring07/PATTbmp.html). His birthday isn't until the end of July, but I wasn't sure how complicated or annoying this pattern would be. I started early - which is so out of character for me - to give myself the time to put them down for a bit, if needed. I needn't have worried. These were so much fun to knit up! I hope that he likes them as much as my household does.

Immediately upon finishing the bmp's, I got started on Naevyne's long awaited socks. She chose the yarn and the pattern (I did narrowed down the choice of patterns to a few that I was willing and interested in knitting - many years of childrearing has taught me to never give a 5 year old, particularly a very bright 5 year old, too much license!). The pattern is called Overlapping Leaves, but in the blue yarn it looks like waves.

The pattern is a free PDF download on Ravelry.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/overlapping-leaves-toe-up-sock-pattern

Towards the end of June, Ally had a birthday party to attend. I try to encourage my children to give handmade/handcrafted gifts as birthday presents - and I encourage the same from other children attending our birthday parties. Ally handpainted some white silk in her friend's favourite colours for me to knit up into the Spirogyra fingerless gloves and matching hat.
http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring08/KSPATTspirogyra.html

Long time...

Well, I have been busy. We survived Ally's birthday party (and 14 preteen girls!) along with the the remainder of Ottawa's winter!

I have been knitting - it seems like a mad fool, but really, I have only accomplished a few things. The layette set above being one of them.

It was a gift for Naevyne's Sparks leader. She is expecting a little girl in early June - and that suited me just fine! I had bought a couple of balls of Porto Cervo cotton, on sale, over the winter and I had the left over raw silk from the Valentine's Day hats. I was hoping someone I knew would be having a baby girl! I love knitting infant clothes - you can use so little, but the gift means so much!

I was very happy with the way the outfit turned out, though the hat was my achilles heel! I had it in my mind to make a bonnet with the same pleated edging as I had done the bottom of the dress, but for some reason it was refusing to turn out the way I wanted it to! I swear I ripped it out at least a half dozen times before I finally accepted that should just make a little hat with a pleated fringe - Presto! Done in an evening! Somedays you should just stick with what you know best!

I have also knitted a pink wool crown with silver thread and stars for our little friends' princess birthday. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture of her in it - maybe when I see her next week.

I am currently busy knitting another boring pair of socks for my beloved. It is our anniversary next week and he loves handknit socks - boring, plain old st st, no fuss socks. His goal is to only own socks knitted by me for him. It is definitely a testament to my affection for him that I keep knitting away! Though, I have to admit that the yarn is lovely to knit (even if it is a plain denim blue). It is a Regia wool/silk blend and knits up beautifully.

I have also been distracted by needlefelting, lately. The girls and I have been working on that, along with the odd dye job. We recently took a natural dyes class and had fun with that - we don't have the natural dyes at home, but we have been dying with food colouring. I am having a lot of trouble finding a good selection of Kool Aid powders - perhaps it is a bit too early in the season for it?

I will get around to posting some of our dye work soon.

Not quite knitting, but I want to show it off...

Last Friday, the girls and I joined a fibre arts class held by Fiona Duthie.

She makes the most amazing things and is so talented! On top of that, we have not taken a class yet that was not incredibly fun!

http://www.fionaduthie.com/

The wall hanging on the right was made in her wet felting class. It is hard to believe that it started out as wool batting and carded rovings in different colours - suddenly it transformed into a picture, right before our eyes!

I think that this is Ally and Naevyne's dream spot. Naevyne's puppy is curled up enjoying the sun, while Ally's horse is taking a drink from the lake, but not straying too far from the apple tree.

The finished product is around 2' x 3'. Now I just have to figure out the best way to present it.

We had, also, taken a class with Fiona on working with recycled wool in February, and came home with these wonderful purses that the girls designed, cut and sewed (with a little help from me on the cutting and needle threading, but otherwise all on their own!). I am so proud of them. Even Naevyne at the age of 5 did the blanket stitch around the edge of her purse by herself!

The heart shaped purse was made by Ally. She alternated the colours for the other side. The fold-over purse is by Naevyne. She loved the idea of little pockets on it, and it surprised me a bit, but she wanted the flowers on it.

Orange Express

Orange Express

For child's size 4/5, you will need:

150 grams of a slubby cotton/ramie/viscose (or yarn of your choice)

5.5 mm round

5.5 mm dpn

Glossary:

k2tog - knit 2 stitches together

k2togtbl - knit 2 stitches together the back of the loop

yo - yarn over

m1 - pick up the loop just under the next stitch and knit into it

R - refers to rounds

r- refers to rows

Cast on 90 sts.

Join in the round, placing stitch marker to mark beginning of round.

R1: knit

R2: *(K2tog) 5 times, (yo, k1) 5 times*, repeat * * to end of round.

Repeat these 2 rounds until work measures approximately 25 cm. In the yarn I used it was approximately 25 repeats. My daughter is very standard in proportions, but I like things falling a little longer so that her belly doesn't hang out as she likes to wear her pants on her hips. What you need will depend on the torso length of the little girl you are knitting for, so measure from just above the beginning of ribs to where you want the bottom to fall.

Now we prepare for the back edging:

R1: purl

R2: purl

R3: *(k2tog) 5 times, (m1, k1) 5 times*, repeat * * to end of round

R4: purl

R5: purl

R6: bind off 35 stitches knitwise, loosely. Knit to end of round.

55 stitches on needle. You are no longer knitting in round.

r1: purl

r2: k1, k2togtbl, knit to last 3 stitches, k2tog, k1

Repeat these two rows until there are 40 sts left on needle.

Decrease for neckline:

n1: *(k2tog) 2 times, k5*, repeat * * to last 4 stitches, (k2tog) 2 times

n2: purl

n3: purl

n4: purl

n5: p2tog to end of row

n6: purl

n7: bind off purlwise, loosely

Make up:

I knitted I-cord that was very long, crissscrosses across the back, is threaded into back edge where it meets the front and then ties in the middle of the back. It would be just as nice to knit a shorter I-cord that would tie up right behind the neck, or sew on a matching or contrasting colour of ribbon as the tie for the halter.

At the right side of the neck pick up and knit 3 stitches with dpn to begin an i-cord. Knit until desired length (crisscrossing - 110 cm, tie at back of neck - 30 cm).

Repeat for the other side of neck.

Happy knitting!

Hop on the Orange Express...here comes summer!

I am not complaining about winter - I love winter! I love to see it come, I hate to see it go. I don't mind snow - snowstorms, snowy roads, snowballs... I pretty much love every incarnation of snow! I am CANADIAN!

But, something made me pull out a cardigan that I had knitted for Naevyne 3 years previous, frog it and knit a lacy summer halter. I would be hard pressed to tell you what possessed me - but I just want it understood that I have not started knitting light, lacy summer items in protest of winter.

At one point, I did know what the name and brand of this yarn was, but that was 3 years ago. All I can tell you now is that it is a slubby cotton/ramie blend with a thin viscose thread plyed in, and that it is Italian.

Naevyne chose the name for this design - and to tell you the truth, it is the perfect name for this halter! No one, and I mean no one (even someone who is colourblind!) could mistake this for anything other than "Orange". The fact that I knitted it up in an evening of TV viewing suits the "Express". The way Naevyne moves through life...well, that's in a pretty brisk manner, too!

So, all aboard the "Orange Express"!