Antipodes

I have a new favourite shawl. The pattern is Antipodes by Libby Jonson aka Truly Myrtle. Ravelry project page. Libby has some really lovely patterns – I really like her style and all the patterns all seem very wearable to me. Check them out

The pattern was a pleasure to knit from start to finish. It’s worked from point to point, so you just increase until just under half of your yarn has been used then decrease to the point. It’s great for getting the most out of one skein of 4 ply.

I used Titus 4 ply in Harvest Gold by Eden Cottage Yarns. Looking at my past blog posts, I bought it at Woolfest all the way back in 2012. I’d been saving it for just the right project. I’m very happy I used it for this and the colour is just so rich.

The skein I used was quite generous at 110g, so I was able to work 29 repeats of the main part of the pattern.

I really love this and have been wearing it lots.

Holly and the Wee Mouse

I bought (among many other things) a kit from Sue Stratford at Yarndale. She has many gorgeous and sweet kits. I got the Chunky Holly kit.

I quickly got started and after only a couple of nights work. I have a fabulous chunky holly.

And if you can see her hiding behind the berries, a wee little mouse.

All the materials are included in the kit. The little mouse is made from angora, so she is lovely and fluffy.

One interesting surprise was because of the sewing down the centre of the stuffed leaf, it’s mouldable. The leaves stay in the position that you put them in.

There’s a range of other Christmas based kits too. Including a chunky robin and a Christmas tree tea cosy. If you’re based around Cleethorpes, then you can get your own kit from A Good Yarn or if you are elsewhere in the world, then you can get them directly from Sue Stratford at the Knitting Hut

It has quite an interesting construction that makes them look so good with the centre and side veins. The berries are a bit glittery too. I’m planning on mine having a home centre stage above my mirror in my lounge over the Christmas period.

That’s one project I’ve finished recently. There are literally dozens of others that I haven’t shared but I hope to, so wait for the next instalment.

Yarndale 2015

I’m very sorry for the radio silence over the summer but my workload was very high and something had to give. Unfortunately for you guys, it was the blog. I’m going to try and get back into the groove of blogging. I want to try and blog weekly like I’ve done for the past few years but have a feeling that it may not happen as often as I like.

I’ve done lots of knitting and even a bit of crochet. The camera has been out lots and I’ve been sharing a few bits on Instagram. I’m @hardybarn on there and please follow me, if you’d like to.

I meant to do this blog last week but there was a bit of procastinating going on. Some friends and I hired a cottage near Skipton for Yarndale weekend. I must say it was rather fab having a knitting weekend.

Yarndale was as good as ever. The sun was shining and I’ve been saving up all year, so I had plenty of pennies to spend.

There was too much fun and chatting going on for me to remember to take photos, but here’s my haul.

I bought Coopknits Socks Volume 2 and the latest Pom Pom magazine.

I bought 2 project bags, one from Jem Weston (who does some great workshops at A Good Yarn, as well as a talented designer) and a Coopknits one.

I topped up on needles and bought some tags that were cute, to add to finished knitting gifts.

There was a ridiculous amount of buttons from Textile Garden and I’m not talking about that one!

I bought some mini skeins from Knitting Goddess and some sock yarn from easyknits to make Otis from the Coopknits sock book.

There’s a lovely cone of cobalt blue Lithuanian linen from Midwinter Yarns, which is destined for a large shawl.

The rest of the yarn was from Triskelion Yarns. The colours in this brand really appeal to my taste and I could honestly have bought the entire lot.

The grey is Dylan 4 ply which is 50% de-haired yak and 50% silk. It’s heavenly soft and is destined for a shawl of my own design that I’m working on for my City and Guilds Level 3 course.

On the Sunday, we had a trip to Clapham and Beckside Yarns to see the lovely Sandra. I might have bought more yarn….

She stocks Kauni, which is something I’ve seen a lot of but never seen it stocked in a bricks and mortar shop. So a couple of skeins of that came home with me.

Beckside Yarn is in a beautiful place and we were lucky enough to be able to sit outside in the sunshine with a coffee.

Photo Tutorial: How to Improve the Loose Knit Stitch Before a Purl

When working ribbing, ever had that loose knit stitch before you change to purl? It’s a common problem. The reason it does it this is because the way a purl stitch is worked, it uses a little bit more yarn than a knit stitch and the excess moves into the last knit stitch and makes it loose. It’s the same reason why rowing out can happen for some – when you’re working stocking stitch and your purl rows look bigger than your knit rows. Rowing out doesn’t always happen, it’s often a combination of yarn fibre, tension and knitting technique.

There is a way around this and there are quite a few tutorials out there on how to fix this. I’ll show you how in a minute but the basic idea is that if you combination purl that first purl stitch after your knit stitch, it will tighten things up.

A normal purl involves wrapping the yarn anti-clockwise around the needle and a combination is wrapping the yarn clockwise. This uses less yarn though it does mean the stitch sits on the needle backwards, so you have to remember to work into the back of the stitch on the next row/round.

Tension does have an effect on whether you have a loose knit stitch in the first place. I find since I tend towards being a tight knitter then I don’t always have this issue, which is a bit of a problem when you try and do it intentionally for a tutorial!

The question I had about this technique is what do you do on the next row afterwards. Do you just work normally and work into the back of the stitch or do you repeat the technique or what happens if you work all the purl stitches this way?

I’d decided that when I worked in the round then it made sense to repeat the combination purl into the back of the stitch every row but what if I’m working back and forth. So what I did was repeated the same knitting swatch for each variation to see which one I preferred the look of. Just bear in mind this is what happens with my knitting technique and this particular yarn. You may want to repeat this for yourself and see which you prefer.

I found that when I was doing the cuffs of the Esquel poncho and I was working at a loose tension and the knit stitches were looking messy, so I used the large needles and that yarn to do my testing.

What I decided from this was the combination purl on the first purl on both the RS and WS rows was the neatest option (bottom left). The combination purl on all the stitches on both sides was pretty neat too but I found it opened up the first knit stitch of the column instead.

I found that working the combination purl every other row (whether on all the stitches or just the first one) made for a messy purl column.

So from now on I’m going to make sure I combination purl just on the first stitch but on both right side and wrong side rows. The winner….

So I’ll show how to do it now.

1. When you get to the first purl stitch after a knit stitch, insert the needle into the stitch as if to purl.

This is what you do the first time you do this - on all successive purl rows the stitch will be seated on the needle backwards, so insert the needle into the stitch as if to purl backwards (so from the back and left to right – sorry forgot to photograph that bit)

2. Wrap the yarn around the stitch clockwise (instead of anti-clockwise as for a normal purl) and work the stitch.

3. On the wrong side (WS), we want to mirror what we did on the right side. When you get to the last knit stitch before you change to purl, the stitch will be sitting  backwards on the needle. The column of stitches on the reverse will open up with this technique but better on the wrong side than on the front of your work.

4. Insert your needle into the stitch as if you were going to knit into the back of the stitch.

5. Knit the stitch but wrap the yarn clockwise around the needle and work the stitch. This stitch just worked will be sitting backwards on the needle.

Just repeat this every time you come to this section in your knitting. The stitch will be sat backwards on the needle every time you come to it and hopefully remind you to knit or purl it by wrapping your yarn clockwise around the needle. If you forget to do it then pop a stitch marker in to remind you.

I’m working on this lovely pink aran coat at the moment and the technique is working well to make the transition from knit to purl neat and tidy.

Wee Envelopes

While on holiday I made a Wee Envelope by Ysolda Teague.

I really, really loved making this pattern. It’s really clever but quite easy. I ended up working it on magic loop, that way I didn’t have to worry about using stitch holders and it made it easy to pick up the stitches again.

I used Malabrigo Arroyo and I absolutely loved the yarn too. It was soft and squishy, it’s a semi solid so the colour has great depth too. I definitely want to make myself something in this yarn.

I enjoyed it that much I made another one in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino.

Malabrigo Wee Envelope Project Page

Baby Cashmerino Wee Envelope Project Page

Highlands #2

So 2nd instalment….

One day, we had a day trip to the Isle of Skye. The journey there is just so picturesque.

We’d heard about a coral beach right at the top of the Isle of Skye. It was so pretty and the sea was turquoise.

And it really was made of coral.

Those mitts came in handy when we were up a mountain. How about this for extreme knitting?

Mr has got some wear out of a vest I made him. I made it quite some time ago but it was one of those projects that went a bit wrong. It recently went under some sweater surgery and it’s now a firm favourite.

Pattern: Laredo Ravelry project page. There’s more detail on the surgery on the project page.

Mr has a thing about balancing rocks. I think it’s to occupy him while I take numerous photos.

Pretty cool though.

Oh and another yarn shop trip. On the way down, we went to Stirling Castle and happened to drop into McAree Brothers in Stirling.