Thank you for the kind comments and suggestions regarding my last post. As Michelle mentioned, I think at least some of it has to do with the change in the weather (no offence, Autumn). Knitting-wise, I did take Bells’ advice and started on something in my Ravelry queue that will fill a gap in my wardrobe. It’s not quite bloggable yet, but it will be soon.

While on the topic of comments, a couple of interesting conversations about blog comments and replying to comments have occurred recently. It made me think about how I acknowledge comments on this blog, and whether they are within the bounds of good blogging etiquette.

Receiving notification that I’ve got a comment on my blog truly makes my day. It amazes me that people find the content of my blog interesting enough to comment on. It makes me feel part of a community, for want of a better word, and provides me with the motivation to keep blogging; to try to find ways to make the content more interesting. It’s also made me realise that other bloggers must value comments as well, and as such, I comment a lot more frequently than in the days before Pransellknit was around.

All of that said, I really don’t know if I show my appreciation for comments sufficiently. Correspondence is not my strong point, so my way of replying to comments is a mishmash of email, responding in a subsequent post and commenting on the commenter’s blog. Sometimes I don’t reply at all, though this is usually only if the comment doesn’t include a question or I’m familiar with the blogger (in that we comment on each other’s blogs regularly). Now that I’ve said I occasionally don’t reply, it seems rude. Is it?

As a commenter, I don’t expect a reply, but it’s nice when I receive one. Again, I don’t know if this is the norm.

I’m really interested to hear what other people’s opinions are on comment-replying etiquette. As a commenter, do you expect replies, and if so, how do you like that reply to come to you? If you have a blog, do you have a policy for replying to comments? This is all very unscientific, but it’d be nice to continue the discussion, and see if should be showing my appreciation to commenters a bit better.

I’ve been a bit restless with my knitting lately. Swatches have been knit, but I don’t feel particularly drawn to any one pattern. This is a bit of a problem because it creates a small knitting vacuum; besides one secret squirrel project, I don’t really have anything on the needles, but I feel I should be doing something.

The current knitting situation seems to be a good reflection of my non-knitting life of late. I have niggling feeling, that I can’t articulate and can’t work out why it’s there. This means I can’t work out how to fix it, which starts the restlessness all over again. ‘Tis quite a frustrating cycle.

All of this started soon after finishing these knitterly morsels, and thus it’s only fair that they are blamed for this bout.

Umbilical Cord Hats by Jennifer L Jones
Small amounts of Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 8ply, in cream, pink and bracken
4mm needles
Started: April 2010
Finished: April 2010
Modifications: Used a lighter weight yarn, and slightly smaller needles
Ravelryed: here

A couple of the guys at work recently became fathers for the first time, which presented a prime opportunity to knit baby hats. I suspect the hats are a bit big for newborns. However, I have it on good authority that babies grow, so the size shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

The yarn, Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 8ply, is really good for baby knits. It’s lovely and soft to knit with, has a good range of colours and is machine washable. I think Luxury 4ply would work well with some of the vintage patterns I have earmarked as future projects.

The pattern is from Stitch n Bitch, the first knitting book I bought after starting to knit again. Although the book is really well worn, I’ve only made a couple of things from it and was recently contemplating giving it away. These hats prove that reference books should almost always be kept (my second year Business Finance text book is an exception to this rule).

If only I owned a book on how to get my knitting back on track…

Bottoms Up by Alice Bell (rav link only)
2.5 skeins Louet Euroflax Sport, Graphite
2.75mm needles
Started: January 2010
Finished: April 2010
Modifications: Knit a size smaller due to heavier weight yarn, added length to the body, used slip 1, knit 1, psso rather than knit 2 together through back of loop
Ravelryed: here

I didn’t think this top would get a wear until later this year, but because of some unseasonably hot weather down here, I wore it to work yesterday. Although it’s probably a bit more fitted than other versions out there, it was really comfortable. This bodes well for Spring/Summer.

A few modifications were made, but the length was the most important. In the pattern, the body is made up of four sections of ribbing, consisting of 40, 18, 18 and 10 rounds. After reading comments about this pattern, I knitted 60, 24, 24 and 15 rounds, respectively. This added around about 12 cm to the length of the garment but I still think it’s a tad too short on me. Short enough that I won’t be wearing it with trousers anyway; just high waisted skirts.

Length seemed to be an issue for a number of people on Ravelry who made Bottoms Up. The designer commented that it was designed for someone of average height (by american yarn standards). I’m above average height, particularly in terms of torso length, so I expect to have to add some length to almost all patterns. However, 12cm seems a lot of length to add for a garment to still be a bit short, even with my preference for slightly longer tops.

I’ve thought quite a bit about whether I’m being reasonable in my frustration, and I don’t think I am. The designer offers this pattern for free, which is very generous, and I do have a garment from it that will get a lot of wear. The instructions in the pattern are clear, it’s just the length that was an issue. Ultimately, at this stage of my knitting career, most patterns should just be treated as serving suggestions — if I need to change something to suit the recipient, then so be it.

When the yarn was last mentioned, I hadn’t started the yarn over ‘bubbles’. There are decreases each side of the yarn over, which was quite hard on my hands. The fabric itself is lovely and heavy, so while my hands will need a rest from linen, I suspect I will be working with it again. Particularly after seeing this version of Orangina. Sorry hands, you’ll just have to toughen up!

Decluttering is good for the soul. At least, that’s what I’ve been telling myself while sorting things into ‘sell, op shop and throw out’ piles.

As part of the decluttering effort, I’ve been sorting out and selling some of my yarn stash. For the most part it’s been really easy to decide what needed to be rehomed. For some of my yarn, the mere sight of it made me feel overwhelmed; what on earth was I going to use it for, and why did I buy it in the first place? That was a sure sign that it needed to be sent to someone who’d appreciate it more than I ever could.

The hard part of destashing is deciding whether to keep yarn I really like, but is not quite right for the projects I like to work on. A really good example is a jumper’s worth of Bendigo Woollen Mills Rustic 5 ply in Green Tweed that I own.

I’ve shown this yarn here before, when I was having trouble deciding on a project. I’m contemplating destashing it, but am having a hard time letting go. Rustic is my favourite yarn from the Bendigo Woollen Mills range, and 5 ply is a suitable weight for some of the vintage patterns in my collection. It’s a shame that it was discontinued quite some time ago.

However, I’m a bit stuck on the colourway. It’s not a colour that I’d ordinarily wear. This isn’t necessarily a problem, sometimes it’s good to branch out and try things you wouldn’t ordinarily. I just don’t know if I can risk expending all that effort on a garment (does that make me a product knitter?) to find I won’t wear it because of the colour. That last sentence might be a sign that the evolution from process to product knitter is beginning.

It seems so silly to feel so unsure about getting rid of some yarn, but I’m almost convinced I’m not the only one that suffers from stash separation anxiety.

There were high hopes for a productive Easter break, with lots to blog about. In reality, I came down with a bad cold on Thursday, and have only been able to potter around in dribs and drabs for the last two and a bit days. The cold’s impeccable timing is a little frustrating, but what can you do?

Despite the reduced productivity, I managed to finish Somerset yesterday.

Somerset Cardigan by Melissa Wehrle
Around 6 balls of Cleckheaton Angora Supreme
3.25mm and 3.5mm needles
Started: December 2009
Finished: April 2010
Modifications: Smaller needles, added length to the body and an extra buttonhole, made the collar narrower
Ravelryed: here

Although a few modifications were made (which were largely to do with gauge) it’s a nice straightforward knit. The end product is maybe a little big around the shoulders, but it’s still quite wearable. I might need to work on smoothing out the collar edge a bit more, but it’s looking a lot better now than it did when it was first finished:

The yarn created a very soft and warm fabric and I think it worked well with the pattern. It did tend to break if I was a bit rough with it though, and being an angora blend, it sheds like no one’s business. It was particularly nice to find a use for the yarn as I purchased it over five years ago. I originally intended to use it for a pattern that called for 4 ply angora yarn. As Angora Supreme is around 10 ply, the initial swatches required 2mm needles in order to get even close to the required gauge. My sanity and fingers are very glad that project didn’t get past swatching.

The real star in this project is the buttons. Without venturing too far down hyperbole lane, I think these buttons are truly things of beauty and match the cardigan really well. They were purchased from Buttonmania, a button wonderland in Melbourne CBD. The buttons were purchased by the owner of Buttonmania in a collection of 33,000 (yep, thousand) buttons. She showed a lot more restraint than I in that situation; I’d be sorely temped to dig a pit, empty the buttons into it, and dive in, Scrooge McDuck style.

On an unrelated note, it was a relief to read that I’m not the only one that dislikes ribbing. I felt a bit guilty being so negative in my last post; it’s not reasonable to think that I’d like absolutely every aspect of knitting, but I still felt bad whinging about something I do for enjoyment.

Bottom’s Up has been the tortoise to the Somerset hare, knitting wise. Somerset has at least had one mention on this blog and was knit up very quickly, slowing only because of my aversion to picking up stitches for the collar. Despite starting it in January, Bottom’s Up hasn’t been mentioned here at all and has trudged along, being mostly 1×1 twisted rib in the round, knitted on my work commute.

That’s pretty much where the tortoise and the hare analogy ends. Except if I can’t find my darning needles to weave in the ends on Somerset soon, in which case Bottom’s Up will be finished first.

Anyway! This project has been my first encounter knitting with linen yarn (Louet Euroflax Sport). I was somewhat wary after reading how hard some had found it to work with, but I don’t think it’s too bad. The lack of give means it’s a bit unforgiving tension-wise, but once in a rhythm it looks pretty good, and the knitted fabric feels quite nice.

The pattern itself is pretty arduous, but that lends itself well to commute, movie, or anything that provides distraction from the relentless ribbing. I hope I don’t sound too down on the pattern, as there’s absolutely nothing wrong with how it was written. I just overestimated my patience for ribbing, one of my least favourite knitting activities, even with the warnings in the pattern about it.

I’m perhaps a little premature in writing this as I’ve not finished it yet, but if you are looking to make Bottom’s Up, beware of the rib! Alternatively, if you’re a fan of ribbing, this is most definitely the project for you.

Inspired by one of our lovely Tokyo hosts, I recently picked up a pair of cheery gumboots in anticipation of wetter weather. Luckily for me, the sunflowers in my backyard match my boots perfectly, and provided a good photo op.

These are the first gumboots I’ve owned as an adult. They’re not quite as shooshy as the gumboots I used to have that had smiley faces on the soles (quite frankly someone needs to do something about making adult-sized gumboots with smiley faces on the soles), but despite that drawback, I still like them a lot.

Unluckily for me, the gumboots turned up a week after the big storms. No matter though, I will impatiently wait for puddles I can slosh around in and mud to trample through.

We loved it to bits.

We went to museums…

… and to temples

Ate crazy food

Shopped. A lot

Relived some of my childhood

Saw snow falling in Tokyo (a relatively unusual event, apparently)

and wandered around aimlessly.

We only really covered Tokyo and Kyoto in the two weeks we were there, but we’re very keen to go back and explore.

Our Japanese language skills are virtually non-existent, but we were able to get around fine. Everyone we had to converse with was very polite and helpful and we learnt to never underrate the usefulness of mime to get past the language barrier.

As vegetarians, we did have some trouble finding food but managed OK. Positive notable mentions include Deva Deva in Kichijoji, Cafe Proverbs 15:17 in Kyoto, Eat more greens in Azabu and the numerous convenience stores for their delicious and cheap kombu onigiri. A dishonourable mention goes to Disneyland — there was only one place that served vegetarian food, but it had to be purchased as part of a three course meal. Three course meals aren’t conducive to cramming in as many rides as possible into a day.

Craftwise, I did something possibly quite blasphemous. I did not buy any yarn. I did see some lovely (and not so lovely – Sean Sheep novelty yarn, to be exact!) yarn about, but decided to hold out for fabric. I came back with a lot of linen and could have come back with more. Next time, I’ll have to travel during warmer months so I can pack less and take more back! We also visited possibly the most wonderful shop in the world, Rollo in Kyoto which sold vintage trim, buttons and beads. It was a funny little shop, open funny hours, but if I was ever to open a shop, I would want it to be like Rollo. I loved it.

There is so much more I could say about Japan, but feel I have rabbited on enough. However, I’d like to finish with some tips for people who are planning to visit Japan in the future.

Travel

If you are planning to spend most of your time in Tokyo, think carefully about buying a Japan Rail Pass. They can be used on the above ground JR lines, but are of most use if you plan to tour around Japan. We purchased 14 day passes, when we should have bought a 7 day pass for use when going to Kyoto.

When in Tokyo, I highly recommend getting a Pasmo or Suica card for travel on the Subway. We were lucky in that our hosts had some spare passes we could top up, which meant we didn’t need to worry about buying subway tickets. If you have an iPhone or iPod touch, I highly recommend Tokyo Metro 09 to help with commuting from place to place. It works offline, so doesn’t cost you anything data wise, and we found it very very useful. The app cost AUD$1.19.

In Kyoto, the best way to get around is by bus, using a 500 yen daily pass in conjunction with a Bus Navi, a map with all the routes and major sights.

Food

As mentioned previously, we did have a little trouble being vegetarian, but we still ate well. Happy Cow has good listings of vegetarian/vegan places to eat, and we relied on it heavily. There is an app that uses Happy Cow listings, but requires the use of an internet connection so we didn’t use it while away.

If all else fails, there are convenience stores everywhere, which sell really quite cheap and pretty healthy food. We ate a lot of onigiri and plain inari, but didn’t get sick of it.

Shopping

There seems to be an insatiable appetite for shopping in Tokyo, and it’s really hard not to get swept up in it. The guide we relied on most was the Tokyo Shopping Guide from Asking For Trouble. There’s also a great Tokyo shopping post on The Lark.

Sights

It’s really quite hard to come up with a ‘must do’ list, but some of the highlights for us were the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mitaka (buy your ticket before getting to Japan), the view from the Mori Art Museum in Roppongi and Ginkaku-ji (temple of the silver pavillion) in Kyoto. A special mention must go to Hakone, a day trip from Tokyo. There is lots to see and do there, but it’s worth setting aside a good portion of a day to see the Hakone Open Air Museum. It’s one of the best museums I have ever been to, hands down.

Despite the above list, possibly the best thing you can do while in Tokyo or Kyoto though is just wander around. You can stumble across some wonderful treasures.

So, that’s our Japan trip summed up in one, very long for this blog, blog post. If you’ve ever considered going to Japan, I highly recommend it. It’s a really wonderful place.

Before indulging in a Japan roundup post, I should mention how I went in the recent Ravelympics. Sad to say, I didn’t complete my project. This wasn’t much of a surprise, as the only real knitting time I thought I would have during the Olympics was on the plane to Japan and a couple of longer train rides. What did surprise me was how little I achieved.

I made a mistake early on, and even the smallest mistake with Henry, unless caught very early, means a whole lot of ripping back. My enthusiasm drained pretty quickly at that point. On top of that, it appears I misunderstood the rules for taking knitting needles on international flights. Soon after takeoff, I was told knitting on the plane was not allowed as the change to the prohibited item list only applied to domestic flights. This didn’t seem right to me, as I’d heard of others knitting on international flights departing from Australia without issue, but thought it best not to argue.

So yes, my Ravelympics effort was a bit of a washout. That’s perfectly all right though, Henry will now be my project for the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show. Given that’s still months away, it’s a much more relaxed goal and should (!!) be easily achievable.

Despite my previous claim about not having much time for knitting over the past couple of weeks, a little bit of knitting did occur; enough to finish off this fellow:

Elijah by Ysolda Teague
Approximately 100 grams of Lincraft Balmoral Tweed
Black embroidery thread
3.25mm double pointed needles
Started: February 2010
Finished: February 2010
Ravelryed: here

He was made as a thank you gift to our wonderful hosts in Tokyo. He was mostly done before we left, but his eyes and ears were finished while away. The only differences between this Elijah and previous Elijahs were slightly larger needles, accommodating for the slightly heavier yarn used (a 10 ply was used this time rather than the 8 ply used previously). I also used a little bit less stuffing, which makes him a bit easier to pose.

As this is the third time I’ve made Elijah, it’s hard to say whether this is now the end of my Elijah career. It would be good to try different patterns for toys as gifts, but at the same time it’s hard to go past him as he’s a fun and interesting pattern to knit, with such cute results.

Packing has commenced, knitted items and knitting projects have been assembled, documents have been photocopied. It’s just over 12 hours before we head off to Japan.

We’re a little bit nervous, but also a little bit excited. I will try to post while I’m over there, but there’s also every chance this little blog will again go into hibernation for two weeks.

Oh, and a Ravelympics update: I still haven’t finished casting on! Pace should pick up tomorrow while on planes and in departure lounges.