Inspired by a discussion of book covers, here is a recent find from an antique centre. I had decided that it would be mine as soon as I saw the cover.

Practical Knitting Illustrated – The key to hundreds of garments you can make yourself (by Margaret Murray and Jane Koster) doesn’t have a date on it, but I’d say it was from the 1940’s. The corners of the front and back covers are bent, but besides that, it’s in pretty good condition.

There’s all sorts of knit and crochet patterns in here, clothes for men, women, teens, children and babies, and homewares. I don’t have a scanner so this photo isn’t so great, but this pattern was one of my favourites:

It also has a handy dandy section on changing patterns – how to resize, add in lace panels, all sorts.

There’s only one thing about this book that makes me sad:

I don’t understand why you would want to tear pages out of any book, let alone a lovely book like this. Perhaps the person who did this was desperate to get their hands on feather stitch lace rib, shower stitch, leaf stitch and pyramid stitch, the instructions for which were on the ripped out pages.

At this stage I’ve only had time to just flick through, but I’m impressed by what I’ve seen and read so far. I’m very pleased to have it occupying my shelves!

My dear partner’s birthday happens to fall right near Christmas, which means that most knitted gifts aren’t immediately useful. Despite this, I still made him Henry for Christmas. Well, it was intended as a Christmas present, but I didn’t get it finished in time for either Christmas or his birthday.

Henry by Mareike Sattler
1.75 balls of Grignasco Tango, shade 211
4.00 and 3.50 mm Addi circulars
Start: November 2008
Finish: January 2009

I made a few modifications to the pattern, starting with the yarn. I thought tweed and herringbone would go together nicely, but struggled to find a 4 ply tweed in a suitable colour. Opting for a slightly heavier weight yarn meant that I could reduce the number of cast on stitches… to 416.

Before starting, I had read some criticisms of the pattern in regard to the cast on and cast off not matching. To try and get around this, I knit the ending rows a little differently to the pattern, knitting one row less, and finishing with a purl row rather than a knit row. This made it look a little more even, however I suspect that the stitch used in the scarf is just not conducive to looking identical at the cast on and cast off edges. I think this is largely due to the slipped ‘bars’ of yarn that form the herringbone pattern settling at the bottom of the stitch, making the space above the ‘bar’ larger than the space below the ‘bar’. This all makes perfect sense to me, but I’m not sure if it will to anyone else!

I also opted for a cable cast on, rather than the tubular cast on. This was largely due to my eagerness to get started on the project, as I feel that the tubular cast on is a bit fiddly, and wouldn’t add that much to the look of the scarf. Because I opted for a cable cast on, I cast off by knitting two together, then slipping the resulting stitch back onto the left needle. This made the cast on and cast off edges close to looking the same.

All in all, I am (and most importantly, he is) happy with how the scarf turned out. All indications suggest that when cooler days are upon us, the scarf will become useful. I also see another version of this scarf in my future, using some Malabrigo Worsted I have squirrelled away. I cannot say that it’s the easiest knit in the world, but the effort that goes into it pays off handsomely.

It’s cooled down a bit since my last post, but it’s still a bit warm to be even thinking about, let alone knitting, beanies. However, I wanted a break from Christmas knitting and I knew this would be a quick project, so I went ahead and did it anyway.

Star Crossed Slouchy Beanie by Natalie Larson
0.75 skein of Malabrigo Worsted, American Beauty
8.00 mm Addi circulars
Start: December 2008
Finish: January 2009

This is also an unusual project for me, as I knit this for myself and I don’t see myself as a hat person at all (even though sometimes I would like to be). This seemed like a good way to ease myself into maybe wearing hats in the future.

This project was a good way to revisit cabling without a needle, which I learnt to do a couple of months ago. The cables in this were a little more fiddly, as I needed to drop three stitches off the needle as opposed to one stitch last time, but it still worked fine and it still seems to be less fiddly and quicker than using a cable needle.

It’s the first time I’ve used Malabrigo, and it’s really a lovely yarn to knit with, and creates a lovely soft fabric. My only fear is that the attributes that make it so lovely will also cause it to pill a lot. Only time will tell.

Next up, the girl who knit a scarf in the middle of summer!

I was keen to blog over the Christmas/New Year break, but being away from my computer meant that I had to save my enthusiasm until my computer and I were one again.

These are the socks I gave my sister for Christmas. I was aiming for retina burning, and retina burning is what she got.

Generic toe up sock pattern by Wendy Johnson
0.75 skein of Noro Kureyon Sock, colourway 180
3.00 mm dpns
Start: November 2008
Finish: December 2008

The skein was split into two, and knit alternating stripes of three rows from each skein half. I could have made them a bit longer, but due to time constraints, I chose to leave them a little shorter. It was for the best anyway, as it meant that the Elijah twins could have scarves from the scraps.

There seems to be a bit too much twist to the Noro sock yarn, as it had a tendancy to twist back on itself no matter how careful I was with it. I’ve worked with non-sock kureyon before and didn’t notice the twisting issue. Besides that small annoyance, it was fine to work with. I must admit, I’m a bit funny when it comes to Noro. I’m not really into variegated/self striping yarn, but I like Noro’s long colour changes. However, having said that, my favourite uses of Noro are when the colour changes is broken up by stripes or entrelac.

The gifts I have knitted for Christmas this year are slowly starting to make their way to their recipients. The first ones to go were 2 Elijahs. They have both been renamed, I suspect inspired by an epic trilogy of movies an actor called Elijah had a major part in. Although I know they will be well loved and cared for, it was very hard to let them go.

The first Elijah (let’s call him One) was made around Christmas time last year. However, as I couldn’t get the other Elijah (Two) made in time for Christmas last year, One stayed with me all through the year, waiting for Two to be made. The only photos I have of One were taken soon after he was finished, terrible photos taken under incandescent light. When I meet up with One’s new owner in the new year, I’ll take some hopefully better photos.

Elijah by Ysolda Teague
Approximately 100 grams of Bendigo Woollen Mills Rustic 8 ply in Earth
Scraps of Noro Kureyon Sock, colourway 180
Scraps of random 8 ply black acrylic

Both One and Two were comfortably made from one ball of Rustic. I think Earth is a perfect elephant colour, being a nice mix of light brown and grey. To distinguish between the two, I knit small garter stitch scarves from scraps of Noro Kureyon sock yarn, left over from another Christmas present which is currently blocking. I had real trouble with getting the french knots to look even for both One and Two’s eyes, so I opted to embroider (in the loosest sense of the word) small rectangles using scraps of black 8 ply acrylic.

It seems that in the intervening period between knitting One and Two, my gauge had become a bit looser, as Two turned out a little bigger, despite using the same yarn and needles. I also think I’m knitting a little faster these days, as Two took a smidge over a week, which seemed a lot shorter than the time needed to knit One.

I shall end with my favourite part of Elijah: his hands and feet. I think it’s a lovely pattern, and very easy to follow, but doing the arms and legs were my favourite part, both times round. I find them almost too cute to deal with.

A little bit of dissatisfaction has crept into my life of late, and it seems to have affected my enthusiasm for finishing off the projects I’m working on at the moment. Today I decided that it was time to get on with it so I could move onto things that I have more enthusiasm for.

I finally got round to dyeing some yarn destined for a grocery bag or bags, depending on how much yarn is needed. My fingers are only slightly green tinged, so all in all I’d call it a success.

I’m also nearly at the cast off stage for this sock. This really shouldn’t have taken as long as it has, particularly given it’s the only knitting project that I’m working on at the moment. It really is a tribute to the powers of procrastination!

If I keep my head down and keep chipping away at things for the next few weeks, I’ll have all the current projects out of the way, and I’ll be able to start working on the projects that have been swirling around in my head.

There hasn’t been a shortage of things to write about lately, but I’ve struggle to actually get on with writing a blog post. This is mostly due to having to get a pair of socks finished by this weekend, so every time I thought about writing a post, thoughts of not finishing the socks in time were enough to stop me from sitting down and writing.

I’m glad I did refrain, because I’m giving these to my Mum today, and I only finished blocking them yesterday.

Snicket (rav link)
0.75 skein of The Knittery Merino Cashmere sock, in Chocolate
3.75 dpns
Start: October 2008
Finish: October 2008

These are the first pair of socks I’ve knit in over a year, and the first pair of patterned socks. It was also the first time I had to worry if I had enough yarn to finish the job. I needn’t have worried, there is plenty left.

The colour pooled a bit, but it looks a lot more severe in photos than in real life. I think the cables draw enough attention away from it to be ok, but to be honest, I just didn’t have time to do anything about it, once I started to notice it on the first sock.

If I had more time to modify the pattern, I would have tried to continue the pattern, in some form, down the back of the heel, as I find the transition from the leg to the heel a bit abrupt. Apart from that, I quite enjoyed knitting them. The knittery yarn, as always, was lovely to knit with.

I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to knit next, as a few of the projects I have lined up will be unbloggable. I guess I can always try to write about something else instead!

Even though I mentioned that gift knitting wouldn’t really be blogged until it was in the recipient’s possession, I’m still going to blog about this one. So, if you happen to be my mother, look away now!

Snicket (Ravelry link) is a project that ticks all the boxes for me right at this very point in time. My Mum, whose birthday is at the end of this month, has made positive noises about me making a pair of socks for her, I’ve been itching to do some cabling and I’m currently quite enamoured with single ridges of rib against large sections of reverse stockinette. Can’t go wrong, really!

Georgie recently blogged about knitting epiphanies. My most recent one was a couple of centimetres into the cabling on Snicket. I was sick of the mess of needles that I had from cabling in the round, so I learnt how to cable without a needle using this very clear and useful tutorial. I think Snicket’s a really good project to learn this technique, as you’re only ever switching one stitch over at a time.

The heel of the first sock has just been turned, so I do need to get a wriggle on, but I’m relying heavily on the assumption that the second sock goes quicker than the first, despite the threat of second sock syndrome. I’m really enjoying knitting with this yarn, cashmere merino sock from the Knittery, so I’m hoping that will help me get through any tough times.

The only drawback to this yarn is that it has a wee bit of a halo to it, which seems to be causing all sorts of focus problems for my camera, even when using manual focus. So, apologies for the slightly fuzzy photos.

The descent into gift knitting season has commenced over here. A couple of birthdays are on the horizon, and I needed to whip up something quicksmart.

Turn a Square
a smidge of blue Lincraft cosy wool, a smidge of Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8ply in Raven and Anthracite and a smidge of Bendigo Woollen Mills Rustic 8ply in Graphite
3.75 and 4.5 mm dpns
Start: September 2008
Finish: September 2008

The hats are for are typical boys, so I wasn’t very adventurous with the colours, but that’s ok, because they were scraps of yarn that weren’t doing anything anyway.

Even though the recommended yarn is worsted weight, 8 ply seemed to work fine without any modification to the number of stitches cast on. I opted for a 3.75mm needle for the ribbing, as I wanted to make sure it fit snuggly around the band. I had a bit of trouble getting used to the jogless stripe technique, but once I got the hang of that, the hats were done in no time at all. In fact, I highly recommend this pattern if you need to whip up a present quickly, and the giftee is a skull cap wearer.

Because it is the gift knitting season, and I don’t know who reads this blog, I won’t be posting about projects much until they’re done and they are in the recipients’ possession. Don’t want to be ruining any surprises!

While knitting on the bus earlier this week, I noticed I was knitting with olive green yarn, while wearing an olive green coat and an olive green bag in my lap. Then I realised that my wallet is olive green, the last jumper I finished was olive green, two neglected projects in my cupboard are olive green, and I still have some olive green yarn stashed away. Even the first lot of yarn I bought after I started knitting again was olive green.

I really do like olive green, but making that mental list made my head spin. Once this current project is finished I will not be knitting with or purchasing any olive green yarn for a bit. It’s only fair for the other colours in the spectrum. I hope that I’m not the only one with a subconscious obsession for a colour.

So yes, the current project. The Tyrolean cardigan from Sarah Dallas’ Vintage Knits. This was an opportunistic project as I had the needles, yarn that knit to gauge, a number of options for buttons and the book, so it really didn’t require any effort on my behalf at all.

Despite my apparent love for all things olive green, I didn’t really want to be olive green. I was inspired to give this pattern a shot, after seeing this version on Ravelry, but wanted to do it in some manner of grey. Having said all that, I’m fairly satisfied with the colour so far.

Progress has been fairly steady, with the back finished and the left front almost done as well. The body is a couple of centimetres longer to accommodate for my slightly longer torso, and I think I’ll give the embroidery a miss.