(c) Woolfiller

Woolfiller is a product sold by Heleen Klopper, which consists of a felting needle, some wool fibres in various colours and a foam pad. Marketed as clever hack tool, it helps you fix holes in woolen garments (or other things) by simply needlefelting some wool fibres over the top. While most of you will not be impressed, because the idea is not new, and you can get a felting needle and some fibres for far less than €18,50, I think it could be great for people, who don’t have a clue about crafting. I would definitely not buy that, but would be extremely pleased if more people fixed their beloved cashmere sweaters, rather than place them in them bin (believe me, I’ve met people who do that). I hope it takes off. Who knows, maybe it will be a first step into crafting for some people?

I now see felt everywhere. It’s the perfect material for so many uses. It can be waterproof, depending how comapct it is and what type of wool is used. Depending on thicknes it can do lots of things; it can be used in recording studios to prevent sound bouncing off walls for example, or it could protect your laptop from bumps. Here below is a picture of felt case made by hard graft. A lot of their products use felt in quite novel ways.

(c) hard graft

Of course felt owes all the wonderful properties to wool, which it is made of. Different types of wool will have slightly different properties, with some rugged types being quite rough but entirely waterproof, to some supersoft types you could almost make underwear out of. Kate Davies is my favourite person to talk about the wonderful world of wool, so check out this post, and this, and this… and others. By far my favourite property of wool is that it is so versatile.

People at howies are dedicated to providing sportswear that works brilliantly, and not destroying the planet in the process.

(c) howies

So it comes as no surprise that they prefer merino wool to synthetics in their active wear. Check out this, this and this.

What I am trying to say, is let’s make wool superpopular. But not just any wool, your “local” wool (in quotation marks, because it could be a bit further than your local potatoes). Wool is great, but in this country at least, not amazingly profitable, with many farmers having to sell wool at a loss, simply to hang on to the market (from here). It’s not surprising when you think that raw wool is sold at about 50 pence per kilogram which doesn’t even cover the cost of shearing! (ukagriculture.com) I don’t think it’s right for a farmer to make a loss, and then the same wool to be maketed as upmarket, heavily processed product sold in hip shops at high prices to knitters across the world. I’m not saying wool should be cheap. I’m saying that farmers don’t get their fair share. British wool suffers from competition with producers who can afford to sell it cheaper. With so much of the country particularly suited to grazing by sheep (indeed in certain areas grazing sheep are used as a tool for sustainable land management), it would be a real shame to lose chunk of British heritage. So if you care about farmers around you, buy the wool that is produced as close to you as possible. Buy it from the farmer or from the mill, that way the middleman is cut out and more profit goes to them. I haven’t bought branded yarn in a very long time, and encouraging my knitting circle to do the same. An encourage you to try to find a mill close to you too. It could be well worth it.

Fox scarf, photo from http://www.donnawilson.com/product.php?id_product=103

Fox scarf by designer Donna Wilson is knitted in Scotland, from 100% lambswool and costs £46. I know I could probably knit something similar, but would it be equally cute? I’m in love! The rest of her range is also really nice… Especially the rainy cushions and blankets. I can only dream for now though.

A robot!

Now I need to put some electronics in it and make it walk…

Courtesy of Amazon.co.uk

Many of you have already read Elizabeth Zimmermann’s books and knitted what she inspired you to knit, in that case I am preaching to the already converted. If you haven’t yet been bitten by EZ bug, then I urge you – go to Amazon and buy  Knitting without Tears. Really, do!

I was quite slow on the EZ bandwagon, mostly because to buy a book (or indeed anything that’s not to do with my university course), I had to plan it and make financial arrangements, and there was always something of higher priority. And with so many free patterns on the internet, so many tutorials and wonderful bloggers sharing their skills and ideas, it wasn’t really a pressing issue. Frankly, I regret only that I didn’t buy it sooner.

Firstly, because it’s so difficult to figure out how your knit will fit in different places from a pattern written by someone else. My last cardigan, for example, has the perfect bust circumference and overall length, but the sleeves are weirdly wide (gauge was spot on) and shoulders droop lower than on the model, so even though I shortened the sleeves, they are still too long. Not by much, but not quite perfect, so I wear it mostly at home. EZ teaches you how to make garments that fit you in the way you like it, from the yarn you like, at the gauge you find appropriate.  Few simple calculations and away you go…

Secondly, you can start knitting a jumper without knowing what style it will become. You start at the bottom, in the round, and while you go through all that stockinette you can have a think about your shoulder style (yoke, raglan, saddle-shoulder, hybrid, set-in sleeve), whether you want hems or ribbing, how you will finish the neckline… I loved it. Instead of spending hours on ravelry trying to pick the next pattern, I just started and the vision clarified itself over time. I didn’t think it was a good idea, but I found it incredibly soothing on the mind.

EZ’s style is so chatty, so warm and intimate, she feels a bit like an old aunt. I read and re-read it several times, not looking for advice, but because she is so funny and sweet. True, you will not find clear patterns to follow to the letter, but a more general idea how to go about knitting, told like a story. I think I could have even enjoyed the book if I didn’t have a clue about knitting.

If you need any more convincing just have a look at brooklyntweed’s Seamless Hybrid.

But enough about the book, let’s see what good came out of it…

This is a “kangaroo–pouch sweater”, with set-in sleeves done using short rows. It’s a lot easier than it sounds, and the result is just great. When picking up stitches for the sleeves it looks a bit weird for a while, but EZ reassures: “You will end up with far too many stitches for a civilised armhole, but this has been foreseen, so keep calm.” I reckon I could now knit a set-in sleeve with my eyes closed (almost).

Didn’t do any waist shaping, and made it quite short, only to the hip line. It’s the most flattering fit for me. I opted for 2 inches of positive ease, to make it super comfortable. Sleeves are a bit more fitted than that, between 0.5 and 1 inch ease, which makes it look a little bit more elegant. To make sure it keeps shape I put in fake seams at the sides and in the sleeves (every third row knit in the row below). Finished off with hems, rather than ribbing. I love the way it fits, so definitely will be making another one. But definitely the best thing about it was starting without thinking about the finished item. Very relaxing way to knit. I can’t see myself knitting from patterns for a while.

And there’s some lace cut out of newspaper too.

Beginning of new trend? I love these, so I hope so!

Ysolda has now decided to donate a huge 80% of the price of her patterns – a chunk which will no doubt massively boost the £4000 she donated already. You have time until the end of the month to make the most of this offer.

Coraline – one of my favourites by Ysolda (http://ysolda.com)

Don’t wait until later!

Classic Elite Yarns Webletter no 71 – Ariosa Pom-Pom hat

Maybe it’s a bit childish, but I love the size of this pom pom – it’s almost as big as her head! Of course I had to have it. I only thought that I would run out of yarn, so decided to make it slightly shorter.

My problem with hats is that they are usually too tight making my hair flatter than a pancake, or they are too long, ending up in my eyes when they cover my ears comfortably. Now this one, let me tell you, is just right. It took only one evening to make, and not before time! On the very next day it got so cold and snowy, I had no choice but to omit blocking and wear it immediately (as if I didn’t have another warm hat, being a knitter! – no actually, I didn’t, how did that happen?).

Come to think of it, the pom pom is a bit small compared to the size of the hat and my head, but I don’t know when I will have the chance to redo it, or whether this amount of yarn will be enough:

I love it though, so soft and warm, the pom pom is not quite as important as trapped body heat right now.

Ladies and gentlemen, meet my new knitting machine. I say new, but what I mean is that it’s from the sixties, and a very kind lady has given it to me via freecycle. This is the third time I was son the receiving end of freecycle kindness. Fist time I needed a bicycle, and I was given a bicycle of my dreams, with basket and everything. This time I wanted to learn a new skill on any old machine, and got a very fancy double bed one, able to take on wide range of yarn weights, and able to to circular knitting! Not only that. The wonderful lady also gave me a lift home, and promised to send me some pattern books as soon as she finds them. I am so happy. Don’t you just love other people?

The instruction manual is quite difficult to understand for somebody who has never used it before, I also found it quite hard to find tutorials for this specific model on the interweb. Diana Sullivan, however, has many lesson on using a ribber in general. Hers is a different machine, but the principle is the same. I watched her video on circular cast on used for flat pieces of knitting. This worked a lot better that flat cast on suggester by my manual – not dropping stitches was too much of a challenge – or maybe I just didn’t understand instructions very well. Also, without circular cast on on the double bed, it would have been impossible to hang the casting comb my machine comes with – it doesn’t have hooks, but small holes that you thread wire through instead. One thing I learnt already, is that it’s really a lot harder to figure out than hand knitting, takes a lot of skill and patience, but is definitely faster once you know what you’re doing. It took me all Saturday to figure out how to set everything up, cast on and hang weights. This morning it took me less than ten minutes to set up properly and knit a successful sample.

I still intend to hand knit with aran, dk and chunky weight yarns, but this will hopefully enable me to venture into the world of homemade fine knits. I’m off now to learn how to cast off…

Towards the beginning of September  I looked everywhere for a lightweight coat suitable for Autumn. I looked in all the shops. Nothing would suit or fit me. I looked in ALL the charity shops (it took a day). Nothing that I would like or in my size.

I decided to make my own, but couldn’t find a pattern that I had in my head. I wanted hip length, Peter Pan collar, large pockets on the outside, slightly A–line and a box pleat at the back (that’s a must!). I wanted it to be as simple as possible. I didn’t have a clue how to draft a coat pattern, how much ease one needs in sleeves and how much in body. I needed a starting point.

Talea coat from burdastyle looks a long shot from what I wanted, with its princess seams and lots of detailing, but hey, it’s free!

I cut out all the pattern pieces and arranged the princess seams next to each other. I could immediately see that they touch around bust area and at the bottom, leaving a gap that will form waist shaping when sewn. I didn’t want waist shaping, so the easiest thing to do was to glue the pieces together and disregard the hole in the middle. That still leaves the gap at the top of the princess seam, which forms the  curve in the yoke. I left it, but used it as a dart marking – which gave me lovely fit at the top, but no waist shaping. I did the same with the back, but added some width in the middle for my box pleat. I ended up with one piece for the back, and two front pieces (instead of four and four respectively).

I changed the collar as well, lined the pockets and put in lining. I didn’t know how to do it, but somehow managed to figure it out.

I spent a little bit more on the fabric, because I figured I’d wear it a lot, so it made sense to put some extra effort into making this a quality garment.

I bought nice, large wood buttons, which are stitched not onto the coat, but smaller shell buttons on the other side (to prevent fabric pulling). The biggest challenge though was making bound buttonholes, which I have never done before, and got it completely wrong  – started from the wrong side – and had to unpick it all and fix the holes I made in the process… Let me tell you, there were tears. But once fixed – they look great, so I think I will do them again on something.

It took me almost 4 days to make, including fiddling with the pattern, but it was worth it – I did indeed wear it a lot. Until it got colder and I found almost exactly the same coat, but heavier and longer, in local charity shop for £1. That’s another story though…

• I have finally finished the waistcoat for my lovely, and managed to do that before it got cold. It has been worn almost all the time, so it doesn’t look so lovely and new on these photos. It has diagonal pockets lined with wool twill and is very light. (rav link)

• I finished Saint Denis Cardigan – it is a tiny bit too big, but does a great job as an outer layer, it’s lovely, soft and comfortable. I omitted short rows in the collar, really prefer it flat. I tried to to as much as possible in one piece and I may have decreased for v-neck in a wrong place. You can’t tell though, can you? (rav link)

Looking forward to having some time off for Christmas (when I say off, I mean that I have to write essays, but I can do it from home and sneak in some knitting time) and putting my feet up for a bit.