New Year's Resolutions?

It's that time of year. When we reflect on the year just ending and start to plan and dream about the year ahead.

I am not one to make big new years resolution announcements, for a few reasons:

1. My work schedule in January is not conducive to starting and maintaining any new habits
2. By openly stating any new goals I feel like there is such a set up for failure - if there is any weak moments or divergence from the goal everyone knows and it is much harder mentally, for me anyway, to get back on track. I know for others this has the reverse effect and by announcing their resolutions to the world they get the motivation and accountability they need to succeed.
3. A resolution made on 1 January may not be relevant days, weeks or months after. Life moves quickly and what seems important in the moment, may not be in the long term. I guess that is why a lot of new years resolutions are "eat healthier" or "exercise more" - these are general and will always be things that are required in order to live a happy and healthy life. I'm not saying that I won't try to do either of these things, I'm just not sure that I need to make them a new years resolution.

What I like to do at this time, is look back on what I have achieved in the past year. We spend so much of our lives doing and being, that often the milestones and achievements pass us by without any thought or celebration.

2015 was a big year for me, especially in my craftiness:

My nine most liked Instagram posts of 2015

• I started this blog in March and have fairly consistently posted entries.
• I started dyeing yarn, experimented and found a true passion.
• I opened my etsy shop. AND I have had sales. It's one thing to open a shop and put my creations out into the world, but for other people to decide they want to spend their hard earned money on my yarn is an amazing feeling.
• I knit a lot; including four shawls, a jumper, one soft toy, six beanies, two pairs of mitts (including the cupcake mittens), and at least 8 pairs of socks (I have been super lazy and have not entered my sock projects in to Ravelry).

Do I have things I want to do and achieve in 2016? YES - lots!!! I look forward to sharing my crafting progress and business growth with everyone.

Knitrospective - Shawls

What makes a great shawl? Colour? Shape? Size? Lace? Beads? Garter?

Shawls are a regular in my knitting rotation. I have a lot in my queue and library. Once I have completed one I am searching for the next one to cast on.

They are go-to accessory pieces, especially for my work wardrobe. Essential for combating the chill of air-conditioning and also for adding the "knitterly touch" to my outfits.

I began with small, one skein shawls like the Multnomah by Kate Ray, Mizzle by Patricia Martin and Pimpelliese by Christine Ebers.

Pimpelliese

I now enjoy larger multi-coloured, lace or beaded shawls. Although there is always a place for a more simple, one skein shawl in the knitting rotation (my recently knitted Reyna is an example of this).

Nuvem has been on my needles twice, and could definitely be knit again.

My Hope

The two most intricate shawls I have knit have not been for me, but made as special gifts. The My Hope for my sister on her wedding day and Bella Botanica for my mother-in-law for Christmas. Both had beading and lace work and I loved the process of knitting each of them. I know both have been worn numerous times, which makes me happy. What I am disappointed about it that in both cases I never took proper finished object pictures, only progress and blocking shots.

I think I will at some stage have to knit a lace and bead shawl for myself, but at the moment I am enjoying the squishy garter and fun colour combinations from patterns like Drachenfels and Moonraker by Melanie Berg.

Moonraker

A shawl that was in my queue for a very long time was Bloom, which I finished earlier this year. I wrote a full blog post on the finished object. I have worn it at work and received many compliments - it has some wow factor. I am thinking about yarn combinations for another one.

Bloom

So what is the best kind of shawl? It's much too difficult to decide, I guess I will have to keep knitting more to try out more patterns, colour combinations, shapes and techniques.

Finished Object - Bloom Shawl

It was so great to come back from Bendigo with yarn for specific projects and so motivating to cast on straight away.

When I arrived home on the Sunday afternoon I immediately balled up the charcoal and teal corriedale I had purchased for Colleens Crafts to make the Bloom Shawl by Kiri FitzGerald-Hillier.

The version of the pattern I followed is the original as it was published in Issue 31 of Yarn Magazine.

My default for reading patterns is the written instructions and then referring to a chart, if provided, as a reminder guide as I complete each round. After completing this pattern, my advice for anyone else is to follow the charts, as the written directions seem to be inaccurate or at least confusing in parts.

First thing I did was find a tutorial on how to do the pinhole cast on - I used the one from Very Pink Knits. It took me a couple of tries to get it right but overall not a hard thing to master.
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The directions were for 5 dpns, but I knit the whole motif on magic loop. One thing that was not clear in the written directions was where to place markers - to split the motif into its four sections. If I had realised this earlier I would have been able to get this information from the chart. I guessed a little as I went along and I think in the end it is not noticeable that I fudged it a bit.

I made several modifications in the wing sections. For the decreases on both the left and right wings I knit two together through the back loop. I tried a few different decreases and decided that in the garter stitch I liked the look of this method best. I flipped the wings, so that the decrease side was the top edge, the finish and angle of the wing seemed to lay better that way. I also connected the blacks at the top of the motif together by knitting the last black stitch of one wing with the first black stitch of the other.

This was a super quick knit - it took me 15 days and zoomed along. I think part of the reason for this, apart from being knit in a DK, was that until you get to the edging there are really not many stitches on the needles, so the rows are short.

In the end I used all but 8 grams of the charcoal (from 213 grams). I do have plenty of the teal left, having only used 40 grams of a 100 gram skein.

I wet blocked the shawl, using blocking wires on the motif to make it square. Then pinned the wings and edge into shape around that square. I also pinned out each point of the lace pattern.

The Bendigo Haul

Shawl pins from All Buttoned Up

I had such as wonderful time at Bendigo this year.

Did I stick to my list? Pretty much.

I have added all my new yarn to my Ravelry stash already, but wanted to do a blog post to highlight all the great vendors.

Needles and cables - all purchased from Fiberific!.
Two ChiaoGoo "Spin Cables", 75cm and 125cm. For most things I prefer these over the red twist cable as the are more flexible and they spin at their base which I really like.

Wool N Wire stitch markers

Three sets of the "Twist" Lace needle tips in sizes 2.75mm, 3.5mm and 4mm - sizes that I regularly use.

Accessories and stitch markers
Two shawl pins from All Buttoned Up - Vintage Jewellery Melbourne.
A set of blinglets medium sized stitch markers from Fiberific!
A set of stitch markers from Wool N Wire


Yarn
Dyed by Hand Yarns (top three skeins):
White Gum Wool DK - 2 skeins in Purple Sea Urchin
Tough Stocking (4ply)- 1 skein in Blue Ringed Octopus
Tough Stocking (4ply) - 1 skein in a "one hit wonder" purple colourway

Colleens Crafts (first two, bottom row left to right) :
Corriedale DK - 2 skeins in Sage Green Tones
Corriedale DK - 2 skeins in Charcoal

Mayhem & Chaos (middle right and bottom right):
Crazy Eights (DK/8ply) - Voodoo Lady - enough for a sweater (thinking this will be the main colour for the Pixelated Pullover)
Lollisox - Taste the Rainbow - sample of fingering weight

What to wear to Bendigo?

A quick post this week, as I prepare to head to Bendi this weekend.

The shopping list is prepared. I have added some tools to the list too; additional Chiagoo needle tips and the twist cables.

Travel plans are set. I am driving to a friends on Friday afternoon to catch up, craft and have some wines. Saturday we are driving to Bendigo together, then back to her house to “play” with our purchases.

Final thing to sort out, I think is the toughest – what am I going to wear!?!?

I have three suitably warm knit tops. Miranda, Charleston Tea and Tric. Yarns for all three of these projects were purchased from previous Bendigo trips. They are all comfortable and I'm really pleased with them and proud to show them off. So I am thinking I may pack all three and decide on the day.

The hardest part to choose is the rest of the outfit and knit accessories. Victoria has been experiencing an extremely wet and cold winter, and Bendigo has a reputation for being extremely cold. Gloves, scarf, beanie etc will be essential. But how much knit is too much knit?? Is there such a thing? Also need to keep in mind that I will probably also need a coat (which then covers up all the knitting) and I think gumboots will be the footwear of choice (with hand knit socks of course). My blanket box is full of choices, will be hard to decide. I may end up taking a lot of this with me!!

How do I choose what to wear from so many knitted accessories??

Cupcake mittens, deadlines and making changes to the pattern

My sister requested that I make her Cupcake Mittens.They looked super cute, so agreed that I would give them a go.

I am satisfied with the end result and pretty happy with my colour work, but these were a hard slog.

The beginning of this project caused me frustration. I had trouble getting gauge, first they were too loose, then they were too tight - playing with needle size and stitch counts until I on the fourth try I was happy with the cuff. I also found that by knitting the cupcakes on the palm as well as the back of the hand the mitt was very tight (partly I think due to my inexperience in colour work). So I chose to rip back to the cuff and change the pattern. I knit the cupcakes on only the back of the hand, five on the first row, four on the next and then alternated those two rows. I also knit three plain rows in between, in order to give myself a break from the colour work, provide an opportunity to knit in ends as I went and to hopefully prevent the overall mitten from being too tight.

I also changed the pattern further, by making the mitts convertible. I used the directions from the ChemKnits tutorial for transforming any mitten knitting pattern into convertible mittens.

After three repeats into the cupcakes on the first mitt, I thought that the thumb as written in the pattern was going to end up making the mitts too tight and not sit correctly, so I made the decision to start adding in a thumb gusset. The end result was a stumpy looking thumb that looked weird and felt wrong. I blocked it so see how it would end up, and had my sister try it on. Immediately I knew I had made the wrong decision with the thumb. I put that completed mitt aside and started the second one, following the pattern.

Although the first mitt ended as a bit of a fail, it had actually knit up quickly once I had started. So I was keen to get going on the second one to get it right. But the one by one twisted rib on 2mm needles broke me and I struggled to get it going. I knew I had a deadline, my sister was waiting for these mitts and now, not only did I have to knit the second one, but I had to go back and see if I could save the first!! But the brain is a funny thing, right? I wanted to cast on other things, or didn't feel like knitting at all. I think if I had no deadline and the first one had been a success I would have been into it and quickly finished the second. But with the weather getting colder and my sister eagerly expecting the finished pair, progress on the second one was slow.

I think I was also dragging on knitting it, because I knew I was going to have to tackle fixing the first one when I was done.

To begin this process I looked to see if I could rip it out from the bind off, but because it had been blocked, the ends were hard to find and it had fused together a bit, not felted, but just difficult to rip out. So I grabbed a pair of scissors and cut the top off the mitts, just above where I needed to restart with the thumb as written in the pattern.

As painful as that was, it ended up being the best option. Once I had taken the plunge, ripping out and picked back up where it needed to be I felt so much better and it took me less then a week to then knit up the rest of the mitt.

Lessons learned:

• I really do not react well to deadline knitting (when the recipient is expecting the item).
• I should have followed the pattern;
• or at least read it through first - perhaps if I had read the entire pattern I would have started a thumb gusset earlier, preventing the stumpy thumb I created.
• I enjoy the result of colour work and would like to do more, perhaps on a jumper.

knitrospective - inside my notions bags

This is not so much a look back, but a look inside. Something I have developed over time is the contents of my notions bag. It has gone through many stages. Starting out with not much in it, to bulging at the seams, to a now pared back version of what are my essentials. There is quite a lot jammed into this little bag, but everything is there for a reason.

Let's take a look...

- Tapestry needles - a small plastic case with needles of varying sizes for darning, weaving in ends and grafting

- Zip lock bag of spare yarn - for holding stitches, inserting the spot for an afterthought heel and emergency stitch markers. I keep it in little butterflies in the ziplock bag to stop it getting tangled

- Measuring tape and safety pins - both fairly self explanatory and always come in handy (my marathon running husband has even been happy I take my notions bag with me everywhere as he has needed extra safety pins for his events bibs)

- Emery boards - for fingernail snags but also for needle snags (small rough patches on wooden needles or small imperfections that sometimes occur on the cables of circular needles).

- Three bags of stitch markers

• a set of the plastic locking markers for holding dropped stitches or marking increases and decreases
• pretty markers; mostly small gauge with beads and some cute dangly sheep - I generally use these ones for marking the beginning of a round, sleeves, back/front etc
• larger, closed rings; that I use for marking pattern repeats - a little repurposing with these ones - they are the rings from old bras that I cut the rings out of

- "Stabby things" - this metal container (also repurposed, originally the case for a stylus pen) holds all my pointy things. Two different sized crochet hooks. A cable needle. Needle threader. Fold up scissors - they take up less space, and if left in a bag with knitting will not snag or cut accidentally. A tapestry needle. I also include in this case a small measuring tape, two stitch holders (not pictured, as they are currently in use on a project I will be talking about on the blog in the next few weeks), a few stitch markers and a pencil. I can then grab this case out and put into a small project bag knowing I have the essentials.



My preference for pencils are these mechanical ones. They do not require a sharpener, draw a precise clean line and have a retractible tip.

The final thing in my bag is the cute little container pictured below. I think of this as my mini notions kit and is perfect for throwing into an "on-to-go" sock project. Light, compact, and useful. In it there is a length of yarn for a lifeline or afterthought heel, a locking stitch marker and a few elastic rings to use as stitch markers.

So, these are the essentials for my notions bag. What do you keep in yours? What tool can you not do without for a project on the go? I think I am at the point that I have the contents of my notions bag set, but interested to see what other people use as there are always new ideas and different ways of approaching things.

knitrospective - most worn/reliable knit acccessory

Recently I bought a wooden chest for the end of the bed, and now all of my knitted items are stored there. As I moved each piece from their previous homes I took time to look over what I have done and the progression that I have made as a knitter. This gave me a renewed look at my knitting as a "body of work" and accompanied with my Ravelry Project Page brings back a lot of memories.

I thought it would be interesting to focus on pieces that I have knit previously, tell their story, how I feel about them now and hopefully get some inspiration from other knitters.

For this knitrospective I am focusing on the accessory (excluding socks) that I wear most regularly and think of as a "go to" piece.

Cowls are definitely my favourite accessory pieces and my most worn/reliable of my cowls is the Fresco Basket Whip Cowl. Interestingly, it was the first cowl I ever knit. And the only reason I knit it was because it was part of a knitalong I joined.

Project Breakdown:
Pattern: Fresco Basket Whip Cowl
Designer: Laura Patterson
Started: 1 November, 2011
Finished: 16 November, 2011
Yarn: Heirloom Easy Care 5ply
Colourway: Blue (No.740)

To be honest, if it had not been for the knitalong I may not have even considered knitting this pattern. But now I grab that cowl to put on more often than any other. It is warm, but not too hot; can be casual or more formal/corporate; and goes with a lot of different outfits and colours.

For the knitters out there - what is your go to knit accessory? Share in the comments or join in on instagram with #knitrospective