Show and tell: Two pieces from Finland

These are two of the photos I found in a big folder on mothers day.

I lived in Finland for some years, it seems that all belongs to a previous life… I did a two year textile course and two years of tailoring. I remember vividly taking these photos on a fresh Saturday morning in autumn…

This cotton jumper I knitted on the machine – I just love it, so timeless, so square and well thought out design repeats.

And the diagonal squares jumper, I gave that to a class mate… I had quiet an obsession with geometrical designs… You will see – I will show more shortly!

Wrap Cardigan (2)

This is where we are at with this project: the shawl is done, every 5th stitch has been unraveled and I have blocked it nicely. I have started knitting the sleeve – initially I was going to shape the sleeve head, but since the armhole is a slit, I will just go straight with the sleeve, decreasing every 12th rows 2 stitches…

Hhmmm… I was going to knit a border around it to make it bigger, but that is not really needed. Maybe an i-cord, since I am just loving those at the moment… maybe don’t touch it after finishing the sleeves, hey?

More important than any fancy and complicated finish – it seems to be crucial how one wraps it. Not easy, since the shawl is not very wide – which makes the back ending up being too short. In the original picture the stylist has taken great care that the back does not reveal the bottom edge!

Again, there is a great section in Maggie Righetti’s book about how knitwear is photographed and how you can analyse the shortcomings of a garment and its design, which the stylist has concealed in the clever photographic presentation…

In the original photo the neckline looks wider – and that is just because the sleeves pull the neckline apart; I guess the center back is not wide enough…

Mothers Day Surprise!!!!

Happy Mother’s Day! This is going nicely, and it is only the afternoon!

I woke up and got coffee and handmade chocolates in bed. I read yesterday’s paper and a bit about knitwear design.  When I got up, I found in the lounge and kitchen heaps of flowers – it looks so beautiful in my home! Never mind all the dust… Then I made pancakes for 3 teenage boys and two daughters and a husband and went on a new walk at Woolwich Docks. We took our corgi ‘cousins’ and Jenny and enjoyed the wind and the sun.

And then I scanned ancient photos of my knitwear and stage work into the computer – and will introduce these pieces to you bit by bit.

Surprise!

It is time to put the Osso Bucco into the oven whilst hubby is at the Jazz Band rehearsal… it will warm up the house.

Hope you had a good mother’s day!

Edit:

My Osso Bucco only got in the oven at 6pm, had to sit there for 2 1/2 hours… Patrick kindly went to the supermarket to get some mince and whipped up Tacos… and everybody was happy!

And for the first time for years I have been able to listen to Opera (Rigoletto) from start to finish, without anybody ridiculing it, disrupting it… oh, thanks Mr Verdi – I love you! The kids even wanted a summary of the storyline…

Black and White and a bit of red… (1)

Another new project: what should I call this one… this started a few weeks ago with finding some fat quarters in Big W… And I can not remember what came first, the chicken or the egg… the pattern or the fabric… but after some sketches made after purchasing the fabric, I reverted to an idea developed on holiday:

Now I have prepared a simple coloring in pattern on the computer, but before I could color it in, I had already started cutting the fabric… so this is my exercise in randomness, trying to let the fabric speak, not be too controlling what goes where, and I hope the overall pattern will stand out/ emerge, once the top is finished. Fingers crossed – because the contrast between my light and dark fabrics is not that evident…

Long Live Barbara Walker!

I had a look at the newly re- released ‘The Principles of Knitting’ by June Hemmons Hiatt. I downloaded a sample on my kindle. Not that I will ever by another craft book on the kindle… craft books are there to flick through, not only to read from cover to cover. But I will give this one a miss. June is an amazing knitter, she really goes into the depth of principles, it is just wonderful. But I don’t need it.

What I will dig out, now that I have taken the knitters oat (I do solemnly declare never to use someone else’s knitting pattern) I will dig out Barbara Walker’s books again. She used to hate knitting in college, she tells us in one of the introductions. But every fall she used to embark on a research project; I think she used to research astronomy and other serious topics. And then one year she decided to give knitting a go again – and she never stopped. The result are these wonderful reference books of stitches, some are charted, some are not. This is all I need. Lace, cable, mosaic… the lot!

Wrap cardigan (1)

Do you remember the wrap cardigan that started me in a weird sort of way to knit a scallop/ shell scarf? Well, I have started it because (justification technique picked up from teenage son) the yarn at Bendigo Woolen Mills was so cheap and also because I promised Rebecca a cardigan*. And finally – though I am not stuck with Timothy’s Bull jumper, I did get a bit bored with just knitting plain at the moment… I thought I deserved a treat and a diversion.**  So here is a quick sneaky preview of the pattern: It is very quick to knit. Picture one shows the pattern. Picture two shows the finished lace pattern which is created by letting one (every fifth) stitch unravel!

I do solemnly declare never to use anyone else’s patterns ever again – it just doesn’t work for me! It lulls me into a false security of definitely working much better than anything I could design… and then I do end up being a bit unsatisfied with the finished product because I don’t think the entire process through as thoroughly as I would my own project…

In this instance I had to use tiny needles and still ended up with a bigger gauge than in the instructions, so had to re-calculate the entire project (not a big deal). And now I wonder if the loose strands of yarn, that are forming the lace, will be any good – or will they hook into objects in day to day living, creating awful snags? Time will tell.

And I feel that this wrap will need an i-cord finish…

*”Rebecca’s cardigan?” I hear you think! “Surely it must be finished by now… but whatever happened to it… did we ever get to see a photo of the finished item?” Spot on, another case of creator’s denial… it’s fate shall be revealed in the very near future.

**Timothy’s Bull: going well, but I am waiting for the delivery of a currently out of stock cream to use for the eye. And I am dreading transferring my drawing to the intarsia chart…

Linenstich Scarf: Afterthought

If I don’t show off a finished project (just post a quick picture) – you can be sure I am in denial… something has disappointed me. Rebecca has gone to New York without her scarf (thank God she is going into summer!), it has been sitting on  my workbench because I have not been able to straighten the edges to my satisfaction. Neither pressing nor blocking have worked well enough! The edges have kept rolling up and frankly, I would not want to wear this scarf, as lovely as the wool and the texture are. Can you see what I mean? Kate Davies has just published a new cardigan pattern, and the edging and buttonholes are created with i – cords!!! Somehow this idea, (to apply the i-cord to the scarf) came to me as I was watching my daughters soccer game this morning…

As soon as I came home I tried it and I am so happy – even without pressing the scarf, the edges have settled and don’t roll anymore. Let’s just hope I have enough yarn to go around the entire scarf.

How to achieve this i-cord finish? I half remembered the i-cord from my mobius finish, but googled a tutorial how to achieve nice corners. It is also important to have the needle size for the i-cord at least 2 sizes bigger than the needle used for the actual fabric. And I used a thinner needle to pick up my stitches.

Edit: My i-cord has 4 stitches. For the i-cord on the long side of the scarf, I pick up every stitch and knit it together with the last (4th) stitch of the i-cord. On the short side, I pick up 2 stitches every 3 rows.