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Category Archives: knitting

feeling slightly guilty…

05 Friday Jul 2013

Posted by grtescp in knitting

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Tags

apology, basket, blog, fail, knitting

… the most visited post on this blog is the one on “how to knit a basket – kind of“…

… it makes me feel kind of bad every time I see someone has arrived here, several visits a day – usually via a google search for something like “knit basket pattern” – because once they get here they will see I had great intentions – and failed miserably!

… I have since found a other patterns for baskets like this one, but haven’t ventured to test any of them…

… I guess people can learn from my post about what not to do, and what kind of material not to use!

… so an open apology to everyone who arrives here hoping to find a super pattern, and leaves quietly, probably muttering to themselves “well, that was a waste of time“!

serial knitter…

01 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by grtescp in knitting, pattern

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

cowl, instructions, knitting, pattern, scarf

… I seem to have an unhealthy obsession with scarves and even more so cowls. I hate to be cold, and there is nothing worse than a draft down the back of the neck.

… last winter I decided to teach myself to knit. I had learnt as a kid but hadn’t touched a pair of knitting needles since, I had forgotten everything, but seeing a friend producing beautiful sweaters and scarves I decided I wanted to learn again. Plus I needed an easy activity for the evenings, to switch off from a crazy job, something that didn’t take up too much time or energy. I love sewing, but so often sewing projects take a lot of time – and commitment – not great for a stolen hour or two between getting home from work late and dog walking and needing to get to bed early to get up early to start another crazy day.

… I chose a pattern, found a local knitting shop, chose my yarn and bought a circular needle, then I hooked up to youtube and video by video learnt to cast on, knit in the round, purl and knit and eventually after how ever many rows, cast off again. It took me a few attempts to get it right, but that is the beauty of knitting, if it goes wrong, if you don’t like it, you can just pull out the needles and unravel (or frog) your work.

7538c0ec3eab11e19e4a12313813ffc0_7… finally I had a finished cowl – and I decided I didn’t actually like that pattern, the cowl was too stiff and chunky for me, so I took it all apart, and loosely based on some other patterns I had seen on the internet I invented a new design using my single circular needle and the same yarn, it took me a couple of attempts, but finally, with a simple design in seed stitch I was much happier.

… once I had a green cowl I liked I decided to try another pattern – I found one I liked on the internet, I trotted back to the wool shop with the instructions, and the saleswoman pointed to which wools were suitable. I chose a light grey, came home and looked at the instructions more closely – wow – this time I needed to cast on provisionally, and would end with the kitchener stitch. The instructions clearly said “this pattern is not for beginners”. Beginner me? I had already knitted 1 cowl (3 times)!

… back to youtube for the provisional stitch, a few rows later I had to learn how to do cables, and a few evenings later I put my youtube video on repeat as I kitchenered my project closed. At work the next day compliments all round as everyone admired my new cowl. And a friend asked me to make her one too… why not!

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… and then another friend asked me to make her one too… and that made three.

… then I decided I really should become more adventurous, so I found another pattern online for a tank top, I bought the wool, knitted about half the top and realised I wasn’t going to like it… oh well – I undid it and made myself another cowl.

SONY DSC… when I went to visit a friend in New York she wanted me to organise my trip in advance, but I couldn’t get excited about monuments and museums, couldn’t decide which landmarks I had to see, the only place I knew I had to visit (apart from Grand Central) was Purl Soho, I love their blog, I was dying to explore the shop. We went, I loved it, she waited outside, I bought yarn and needles to make a hat – a 2h hat according to the instructions, it took me the better part of 2 days, but it was worth it!

purl soho hat… an evening on etsy, a couple of vintage patterns purchased for sweaters , a lunch time visit to a craft supplies shop, and I came home with a couple of big balls of bright wool that would be perfect. Several evenings, careful pattern following, and half way through the first pattern I gave up and started making a scarf instead…

9f25b6e86ea411e1a87612313804ec91_7… summer came, and with it unemployment, I had more time to sew and less inclination to knit, until the hottest weekend all summer (the only hot weekend all summer). It was 40ºC in the street and I walked past a craft shop with a fabulous display of huge, cosy scarves and cowls in the window, and something compelled me to go into the shop and buy a big ball of wool to make another cowl! A new pattern, a different length, but another cowl! I ended up giving that one away.

ac07ed60f21e11e1a94622000a1e8b13_7… and once that one was made I forgot about knitting for a couple of months, until my eyes fell on another ball of lovely yarn, and I couldn’t resist, and I knitted another variation of my favourite cowl. Different thickness yarn, different sized needles, different number of stitches, but a variation on the same pattern…

… the pattern
Using Rowan big wool and (EU) size 10 needles:
Provisionally cast on 27 stitches
rows 1-4: stocking stitch (knit 1 row, purl the next)
row 5: k3, cable 3 to the back, k9, cable 3 to the front, k3
row 6-10: stocking stitch
row 11: k11, cable 3 to the back, k10
row 12-16: stocking stitch
repeat until your project measures about 60 cm
join the 2 ends using kitchener stitch.
Wear with pride!

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rescue and recovery…

24 Thursday Jan 2013

Posted by grtescp in etsy, knitting, sewing

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Tags

cowl, drawstring bag, etsy, flop, knitting, rescue, sewing

… my first knitting project, a pattern for a cowl bought on etsy, the list of supplies printed out, a trip to my local knitting shop and I came home with the right weight (if that is the term) yarn and the correct sized circular needle. Sat at my desk, and with the help of youtube, I cast on the required number of stitches. Another video taught me how to knit and another explained the intricacies of purling. I followed the pattern to the letter until I needed to go back on to youtube to learn how to cast off…

… and I hated the result! So I pulled it all apart and vaguely followed another pattern to make a different cowl, but I got my stitches twisted before I started knitting in the round, I thought it might be an interesting effect, it wasn’t, so I pulled it all apart and started again… this time I had read about seed stitch, so off I set, I improvised and third time lucky… I ended up with a cowl people still compliment me on today.

… so I am used to starting knitting projects again (and again…)…

… a big ball of chunky wool, 2 evenings watching dvd’s (silk and Somers town), and knit, knit, knit, I made a simple cowl and ran out of wool as I was casting off the last stitches. I have already grumbled about this fail! With hindsight I could probably have just patched it up by using some other similar wool to finish it off, instead I tugged on the end of the wool and frogged it.

… I think I have already confessed to my love for the purlbee blog, I had already made their garter gaiter once and it had been snatched out my hands no sooner than I had finished it. I decided to use the pattern again. This time with a single ball of wool, so no stripes, but I like the texture the stocking stitch gives with a chunky wool. A couple of evenings, another 2 films (the killer inside me and on the road), and I have a completed cowl. I even “timed it” right so I had a tiny bit of wool left over. I might list this one on etsy as I seem to have rather a lot of blue cowls already…

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… and if it wasn’t enough to rescue one flop, last week, packing for a weekend in the mountains, I realised I could do with a few more simple drawstring bags. I use them for shoes and to keep types of clothes together in my bag, to keep my yoga gear separate from my horse riding stuff, my underwear together and separate from my pyjamas, etc…

… a moment of genius, I could use the failed quilt material to make a few such bags! I trimmed and tidied up the wrong side as it would no longer be completely out of sight inside a quilt. I cut the material into 3 strips about 35 cm wide, folded them lengthwise, sewed up the side seams, folded a hem at the top to run string through, found some matching string, and voilá! I have 3 more drawstring bags for my travels.

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flop, flop, fail, fail…

13 Sunday Jan 2013

Posted by grtescp in knitting, sewing

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

failures, flops, knitting, sewing

… it has been quiet around here of late… not because I haven’t been doing anything, but because everything I have made of late has been a complete fail!

… well, there are a few things I made recently that I forgot to photograph before I gave them away, like the garter gaiter knitted following the pattern from the PurlBee. I had barely finished it and a friend saw it, asked for it, I gave it to her and she loves it. I did get a quick shot on instagram mid-knit…

Garter gaitor from the purlbee

… there was the bag I made from left over material from the Japanese tunic I made last autumn, that I sold at the Christmas market…

… and a few more hats, everyone I know is getting fleece hats, I love how quick and easy the pattern is, and with 1/2 m of fleece you can get 4 or 5 hats! I wore mine running this morning, it was so cosy…

… but there have been a fair share of flops too – like the chunky cowl I knitted up just after Christmas, while I was in bed with flu. A couple of evenings tucked up with my hot water bottle, a DVD and my knitting… and 5, yes FIVE, stitches from finishing casting off I ran out of yarn, so I frogged that… it was probably too long anyway.

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… and this week I decided I wanted to do some sewing… and I decided to use up a bunch of material I bought last summer to make a duvet cover. I saw this image last summer, and fell in love with the duvet cover, decided I wanted to make one myself, but I couldn’t find striped material. I settled for some ok-ish fabric instead, despite knowing myself, and knowing, if I have my heart set on something, something else that is just OK is never going to make me happy… then this week I saw a picture of a triangle quilt, and decided maybe I could use my material to make a triangle quilt instead…

73816881361935649_mbT9ONAQ_c

… I cut the triangles, spent hours faffing about how to arrange them, sewed up 5 rows of triangles, sewed the rows together and ended up with something blah… it is folded up and will be stored at the back of my cupboard until I feel compelled to get it back out and complete it…

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… and all of this is procrastinating because I have bought the most gorgeous material to make the Minoru jacket, but this might be the most expensive material I ever bought, even with the 50% discount in the sales, and I am terrified of cutting it, terrified of making a mess of the jacket, of getting the size wrong – most clothes I make end up too big (most clothes I buy are too big too, there is a pattern there!)…

Moment of madness

how to knit a basket – kind of…

02 Sunday Dec 2012

Posted by grtescp in diy, knitting, pattern

≈ 9 Comments

Tags

basket, diy, knitting, string

… a trend seemed to be appearing on my “things to make” pinterest board – knitted baskets. I have a weakness for stylish storage solutions, the knitted baskets I kept bumping into on the interweb looked good, and surely they couldn’t be that hard to make?

https://i0.wp.com/www.rockettstgeorge.co.uk/ekmps/shops/rockettstgeor2/images/rope-knitted-storage-baskets-large-charcoal-40cm-x-40cm-11147-p%5Bekm%5D335x502%5Bekm%5D.gif

… I like knitting – quick and easy projects – I soon get bored when I start losing count of slipped stitches and pssos and k2togs, but I probably need to move on from my favourite cowl pattern which I made 5 times last winter. My friends all seem to be wearing similar neckwear to me.

… I had been on the lookout for the perfect material to knit a basket with for a while. I had thought old fashioned cotton washing line, I couldn’t find old fashioned washing line. I was curtly told in the local drugstore that they had been selling plastified washing line for several decades already. That really wasn’t going to give me the look I was going for. I kept looking…

… in the craft shop to buy material paint for my tea towels, and I spotted some rolls of twine, 4€ for 25m… that would do. At home, out came the circular knitting needle, 35 stitches cast on, work joint to knit in the round paying due attention it wasn’t twisted. I have done that once, and it wasn’t even a little bit useable, I had thought it might make an interesting cowl. It made a froggeable project (I love that expression!).
knitted_basket03… knit, knit, knit… round and round I went for about 12 rows, until I had a decent depth basket, then I had to make it go in at the bottom. I seemed to remember some pattern I had looked at a while back mentioning k2togging (knitting 2 together) every few stitches… I did every 4. At some point I had to transfer to my double ended needles (DPNs – knitting has almost as many acronyms as working for an NGO!). I didn’t use them from the start as last time I used them I struggled to stop the stitches falling off the ends until I decided to hold them all on with clothes pegs, which was hardly an elegant solution! I kept k2togging until I only had 4 stitches left, then I bound off, tied a knot in the end of the string and pulled it through to the inside of the basket…

… it isn’t perfect, but it looks pretty cute when it is full… I think I might look for a better pattern next time though 🙂
knitted_basket04

Instructions for a string knitted basket
Materials:
ball of string
European no 10 circular needle

cast on 35 stitches
join to knit in the round making sure the work isn’t twisted.
knit, knit, knit to desired height (I did 12 rows)
k2tog, k4, repeat until it gets awkward – at some point you may want to transfer to DPN
when you have 10 stitches left k2tog, k3, then k2tog, k2
to finish bind off, tie a knot in the end of the string and pull it to the inside of the work.

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