Fibre Muse

Heat Waves and Hurricanes

2010-08-31T14:55:00.000-03:00

I’m sitting in my office absolutely useless as the humidex reaches 36 C – no air conditioning, just a sorry little fan that is moving the hot air around. Luckily I’m self employed, so when it’s way too hot to work, I am quite free to just surf the web and obsess over the Canadian Hurricane Website and the latest proposed track of Hurricane Earl. We’ve actually spent the last day or so making sure that we have everything we will need (based on our previous experience of Hurricane Juan) to “weather the storm”. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Hummingbird Art Journal Page

2010-08-23T07:32:00.001-03:00

And now for something completely different!

2010-07-28T16:01:00.003-03:00

I’ve been experimenting lately with Art Journaling and following some really fantastic blogs with some absolutely beautiful art journal pages that have been very inspiring. A new one that I just discovered is Wild. Precious. In her most recent video, Effy issues a challenge to create an art journal page based on the question “What’s the point?”. Up to now I’ve just sort of done my own thing but I thought it might be fun to play along, so the result of my efforts are below.

It was a really great exercise that got me thinking about why exactly I’m “drawn” to art journaling (pun sort of intended!). I kept a diary for awhile when I was growing up, and I’m definitely a list-writer and record keeper, and I also have a fascination with blank journals – everything from dollar store journals to wonderful handmade ones to Moleskine journals. When I was a kid I used to love to cut pictures out of old magazines and catalogues and play with them like paper dolls, and I used to like to try to draw but never felt that what I got on the paper did justice to the image that was in my head, so I guess I let my inner critic win for awhile.

So I think art journaling sort of brings all of that together and is a great place to play!

Hands of Time

2010-05-07T19:26:00.008-03:00

I'm very excited to have the opportunity to exhibit a collection of textiles and furniture pieces made by my aunt, grandmother, great grandmother and great grandfather at Harris and Company Art Gallery in West Jeddore. I'll post some pictures of the actual items in the near future, but for now, here are some pictures of the "cast of characters".

This is my grandmother and grandfather Mary and Alden Hartling, taken around the time of their marriage in 1923 - my grandfather was 30 years old and my grandmother was 19. I could not begin to guess how many quilts she made in her life, many of which were made and sold, but I have three. I have many fond memories of sitting beside her in the evenings while she cut out quilt pieces using templates she drew on cereal box cardboard. She died in 1980, when I was 15 years old.

The picture on the right is of my great grandmother and great grandfather, Libby and Donald "Big William" Cameron, taken after the birth of my grandfather, William Hugh Cameron (the baby in the picture) in 1896. Libby outlived three husbands and one daughter, and died in 1945. I inherited an unfinished embroidered table cloth that she was working on at the time of her death, which is included in the exhibition. My grandfather in the picture, Bill, died three months before I was born, on December 24, 1964. My great grandfather, Donald "Big William", was a carriage and furniture maker, and made the spool bed, chairs, and spinning wheel in the exhibit.

If you are in the area between May 8 and June 12, please drop by the gallery, and drop back to this blog for pictures from the exhibit.

Hurricane Bill

2009-08-23T07:21:00.001-03:00

Combine the awesome wonder of nature and power of a hurricane with the awesome wonder and power of the internet and instant satellite pictures, and as long as my roof stays on, it is actually very cool to watch the outer bands of this hurricane approach us on satellite and then step outside and watch exactly the same thing. We just had a huge downpour that lasted maybe five minutes, and when I go out I can still see blue sky peeking through some of the wispy lower clouds and it’s not raining a drop, and the humidity is incredibly high (well, 100%). You can just picture it as a wispy outer arm that must have passed over us, all spiralling in exactly the direction that it should be.

That’s all – just a moment of weather awe and geekiness.

Retro moth fashion?

2009-07-14T22:02:00.002-03:00

Wow. Just…..wow. I have never seen a moth like this before. Nor can I find anything like it when I search Google Images. That pattern is amazing (and I also see that I need to wash my windows). Anyone know what kind of moth this might be?

Travel Fun

2009-07-05T08:21:00.005-03:00

I love to travel, and I don’t get nearly enough opportunity to do so. However, I just recently returned from a great trip to Montreal to visit my sister, and during our visit we took a day and drove to Plattsburgh, New York and Burlington, Vermont. Armed with a GPS and my internal “yarn radar” (okay, and a little pre-trip Googling), we found a very nice yarn shop in Essex Junction, Vermont: Kaleidoscope Yarns.

The one thing I wanted to try to get, so that I could avoid having to buy it via mail order, was the previously blogged about KnitKit, and it was my lucky day that day – they had two. It’s a bit bigger than I imagined it was, but every bit as slick and ingenious.

Oh, and of course I bought a little bit of yarn too!

I'm not sure what I'll make yet - maybe mittens with the Plymouth and socks with the Jitterbug. I’ll check out Ravelry and see what cool things other people are making with these yarns. That is one of my favourite features of the Ravelry site.

Later!

DI(y) Shopping Bag

2009-06-01T07:19:00.004-03:00

Materials: 1 ball (50 gm) Bernat Handicrafter Cotton, natural, 2 balls (50 gm) Rodel Cotton Spezial, black, 4.5 mm crochet hook, 3 mm crochet hook, small amount of black felt (optional), stitch markers

Gauge: not important

Note: except where noted, bag and pocket are worked in "spiral rounds" - use a stitch marker to mark end.

Bag Instructions

With black yarn and 3 mm crochet hook, starting at the bottom of the bag, make an adjustable ring . 8 sc in ring, draw up tight, pm in eighth sc to mark end of rnd and replace end of each rnd. Next rnd: 2 sc in each (16 sc). Next rnd: *1 sc, 2 sc in next sc, repeat from * around (24 sc). Next rnd: *2 sc, 2sc in next sc, repeat from * around (32 sc). Repeat in this manner, increasing 1 sc 8 times evenly, until there are 120 sc around (or until bottom of bag is desired size). On last rnd, join to beg sc with sl st.

Next rnd: Ch 2, dc in each back loop around. Sl st in first dc of rnd.

Mesh rnd: Ch 5, sk 2 dc, *1 dc in next dc, ch 2, sk 2 dc, repeat from * to end of rnd, sl st in 3rd ch of beg ch 5.

Repeat this rnd 30 times, or until bag is desired depth.

Solid rnd: Ch 2, dc in each dc, 2 dc in each ch 2 sp around (120 dc). Repeat this round once more.

Next rnd: Repeat "mesh" rnd once.

Next rnd: Repeat "solid" rnd twice.

Finish with one rnd crab stitch.

Ties

Do two lengths of foundation sc - 240 sc's long.

Pocket

With natural coloured yarn and 4.5 mm hook, repeat bag bottom instructions until you have 48 sts in rnd. Next rnd: *1 sc, ch 3, sk 3, 1 sc, 2 sc in next, repeat from * around. Next rnd: *6 sc (3 of these in ch 3 sp as appropriate), 2 sc in next sc, repeat from * around. Next rnd: *1 sc, ch 5, sk 5, 1 sc, 2 sc in next, repeat from * around. Next rnd: *8 sc (5 of these in ch 5 sp as appropriate), 2 sc in next sc, repeat from * around. Next rnd: *1 sc, ch 7, sk 7, 1 sc, 2 sc in next, repeat from * around. Last rnd: *10 sc (7 of these in ch 7 sp as appropriate), 2 sc in next sc, repeat from * around. Break yarn.

Sew pocket to bag leaving top 1/4 of diameter open. Weave ties through mesh round at top of bag. Sew in ends. If desired, cut small swan or other shape from black felt and sew or glue to pocket as pictured.

Blog surfing again

2009-05-21T17:16:00.000-03:00

Here is another great blog on using Adobe Illustrator to make colour charts, this time in the form of a video. Enjoy!

Part 5: Making templates with basic garment shapes

2009-05-18T08:22:00.003-03:00

This is the final part of my series on using Excel to chart knit and crochet designs.

Making a template spreadsheet of basic shapes that you will use over and over again will save you a lot of time in the initial set up. My suggestion would be to open a blank spreadsheet, and, one per worksheet, outline (with the line drawing tool) some basic flat shapes - sweater, sock, mitten, etc. Whatever will be of most use to you. Or collect these basic shapes as you develop your own library by copying and pasting into a specially designated "Template" spreadsheet for easy access.

Here is a basic sweater front and back shape.

This example is not done to any realistic scale (six shoulder stitches would be a seriously chunky yarn!), so you may wish to make your initial template a little closer to a realistic gauge. Once you copy your template into a working spreadsheet for an individual design, you can easily add rows and columns and edit the aspect ratio of the cells so that your schematic will be to scale from your swatch.

Look carefully at existing schematic drawings in published patterns for help with representing your design in a flat pattern visual. There are also many books available - one of my favourite resources is Deborah Newton's Designing Knitwear.

I hope this series has been helpful and provided you with some ideas for using Excel in creative ways!

Workin' it

2009-05-12T20:44:00.000-03:00

Computers and spreadsheets are great, but sometimes plain old paper and pencil are the best design tools going. I used to keep swatches in a binder along with yarn notes etc, but the swatches add a lot of bulk, so I had a brainstorm one day – make a colour photocopy of the swatch to put in the binder. Not only does it cut down on the bulk in the binder, but printer/scanner/copiers make pretty much actual size photocopies of things, so measuring gauge right on the paper instead of a 3D stretchy swatch is a great way to get an accurate measure. AND, I can use this colour (or black and white) copy of a swatch and design right on it. I’m not going to say right now what the design is that I have in process, but keen eyes might be able to guess the inspiration.

Namaste!

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T10:40:00.001-03:00

Beautiful flowers from my awesome family J !

Catch Up

2009-05-10T09:40:00.003-03:00

Just a few catch up items today.

First, I've finished and photographed the Calico Afghan kit from Mary Maxim. I absolutely love the colours, and really enjoyed working on it.

Second, I was "blog surfing" a few days ago and I stumbled onto "Tales of a Techno-Hooker", and a really great series on how to chart crochet symbols using Adobe Illustrator. I don't own or use Adobe Illustrator, but it's still a very interesting read to compare that with Excel.

Third, I hope to finish my series on Charting with Excel sometime in the next week or two, so watch for that. There is just Part 5, on reusable templates, left to write about.

And lastly, I'm very much looking forward to the season finale of Lost this week, although at the same time sad to be entering another eight or nine month hiatus until the final season starts at the beginning of 2010. I think I can say without a doubt that it is, IMHO, the best tv show ever made. Ever. AND, I am keeping my fingers crossed on this, I really really hope to get to the theatre at the end of the week to see the new Star Trek movie. I can hardly wait!

Later!

Ready to Assemble

2009-04-14T13:36:00.011-03:00

I hope to get the final instalment of the Excel series done soon, but in the meantime, this will just be a short check-in. I've been working on a pattern I found in a recent Mary Maxim catalogue called Calico Afghan. It's been fun doing the squares in my spare time - little snippets of stolen time in fact, waiting for a pot to boil, talking on the phone, etc. I finished the last of the squares yesterday evening while listening to my favourite LOST podcasts - The Transmission and Jay and Jack. Even the though, obviously, the afghan is yet to be assembled, I got such a satisfying sense of accomplishment when I lined all the squares all up for inspection, that I just had to share.

I've also finished a baby afghan for a friend who is due is June. This one is from Vogue Knitting on the Go: Baby Blankets. Very nice pattern, fun to knit.

That's it - back to taxes now.

Part 4 - A Simple Knit Lace Chart

2009-03-21T07:28:00.005-03:00

This is essentially the same procedure as the crochet lace chart except the symbols will be different. You can refer back to this blog entry for instructions on getting the worksheet set up.

Some of the symbols that I use for charting knitting stitches can be seen in this screen shot, and can be found in the "Symbols" menu.

Now I'm ready to copy and paste the symbols from the legend in to my 21 stitch x 20 row "digital swatch". I've chosen "Old Shale", a pretty traditional lace pattern that is probably familiar to most readers. I'm using Mary Thomas's Book of Knitting Patterns. The first thing the pattern tells me is that I need a number of stitches cast on that is divisible by 11, so I will need to insert a column so that I have 22 stitches to work with. Here is what the finished chart looks like.

Once you have charted the first four rows, you can copy and paste them as a whole (ie select the entire area of 22 stitches by 4 rows) the rest of the way up the chart.

Be sure to read all the previous entries in this series for more detailed instructions on some of the more basic operations in Excel.

So far we've only graphed "digital swatches", but the next and final lesson will be setting up garment shaped templates for use (and re-use) so that you can chart texture or colour patterns over the entire garment. This is very useful in design so that you can ensure that patterns are centred properly and work well in relation to one another.

As always, comments welcome.

Plausible Posers

2009-03-11T18:35:00.004-03:00

I'm a fan of Phil Plait (the Bad Astronomer) , I read his blog every day, and never fail to be entertained AND learn something new at the same time. Of all the things I might expect to learn from Phil, and he does cover a diversity of topics, I might be forgiven if I had "crochet" on the bottom of such a list. But I should have known better!

Check this out:
Oh, yeah, it's Adam and Jaime, my favourite Mythbusters, rendered here in crochet! And, no disrespect Phil, but I do think they are a remarkable likeness, although Adam's hairline probably isn't receding quite that much! Check out PaperheroesNet for the lowdown, and while you're there check out some of the other figures (Star Wars, Superman, to name a couple). They've even included the YouTube video for Discovery Channel's "Boom-de-yadda" commercial, which makes me smile every time I see it.

The world IS just awesome!

Part 3 Simple Crochet Lace Chart

2009-03-08T10:51:00.008-03:00

For this tutorial, you can open a new Excel file, or just use the same one and work on Sheet 2. We'll use a 20 x 20 area again, the same as in Part 2, with the same cell sizes. You can refer back to this entry for instructions on setting up the sheet.

The next thing to do is to set up a Key or Legend to define the symbols we're going to use. You can put this anywhere on the sheet, I've chosen to put it just to the right of the area that I'm going to chart. Here is what my Key looks like.

For the heading, I merged eight cells together, shaded the resulting cell, and drew a border around it. I then inserted the symbols that I wanted using the "Symbol" menu icon seen below on the far right.

When you click this icon, the following comes up:

You can see from the screen shot above that my "recently used symbols" include the items in my Key. Explore and see what you can find among the fonts on your computer, and when you find symbols that you like, click on them and then click "insert" (make sure that you have selected the cell on your worksheet where you want the symbol to be first).

Once I have completed my "key" I draw a border around each symbol. I also change the colour of each symbol so that they show up on the chart a little better, but that is a personal preference. To do this, you use the text colour function, not the paint function (paint changes the cell background colour, not the contents). Once I have all of this set, it is then simply a matter of copying and pasting each symbol where I want it in the chart. Below is an example of a chart for a small swatch done in a mesh or filet crochet pattern.

You can see that I've also added a stitch count across the bottom, and row numbering up the side, as well as "direction of work" arrows for further clarity.

And speaking of "direction" - you may notice that in the symbol menu the symbol I chose for the turning chain 2 is two small ovals horizontally oriented, but in my key they are vertically oriented. You can change the orientation of text with this menu icon:

I touched on "aspect ratio" in a previous blog entry, it can become even more important with crochet, especially when using double or treble crochet stitches, where clearly stitches are much taller than they are wide. In my chart above, I kept the cells square, so the aspect ratio is 1, however, here is the resulting swatch:

The stitches and rows are exactly as charted, but as you can see I have a rectangle that actually measures 4.5 inches wide and 7.5 inches long, which would make an aspect ratio of 1.67. Therefore, if I wanted my chart to represent the true proportions, and my cell width is 26 pixels, then I would have to make the cell height 43 pixels (1.67 x 26).

As always, comments, feedback and/or questions welcome!

Part 2 Addendum

2009-03-01T08:55:00.003-04:00

First, I have just realized that I had quite a few restrictions on the comment section, so I've opened that up. Nothing like inviting comments and then making it nearly impossible for people to do so - duh.

Second, and this is probably obvious, but just in case, don't forget to save your worksheet regularly. There is nothing worse than doing a whole lot of work and then having the power go out or something and realizing that you didn't save anything. Ask me how I know this.

Third, to inspire your "doodling", I've done more simple examples below (perhaps somewhat lacking in inspiration, but it's early in the morning). You can use colour charting to audition colour combinations, make sure your design placement is centred, will fit within the area, etc. I should also note here that, particularly if you want to knit a picture, knit stitches are taller than they are wide. This means that if you use squares in your chart, your knitting results might distort the picture (it will be taller, but not wider, than you might expect or want). In the tutorial, I had you set the square size at 24 x 24 pixels. If you are designing a picture for a knitted item and you want a truer representation of how the chart will translate to the knitting, you might wish to set the cell size at 34 pixels high and 24 pixels wide. This will give an aspect ratio of 1.4. You may have to experiment a bit with that - there is an excellent explanation of how to determine your aspect ratio here.

Charting with Excel - Part 2: Colour Charts

2009-02-28T14:51:00.015-04:00

Open a new Excel file

You'll notice that the default size of each cell is a fairly wide rectangle. We want to change these cells to be much more square. In order to do that, hold your mouse over the square immediately to the left of column A and immediately above row 1 and click once. This will highlight the entire worksheet, and you do this when you want to make a universal change to the entire worksheet (such as formatting, font, or cell size). Your worksheet should now look something like this:

Now hold your mouse on the vertical line that separated the column heading A and the column heading B. You cursor should change from a cross shape, to a black vertical line bissected with a black horizontal line with arrows at either end. Click and hold the left mouse button and drag the cursor to the left until the number of pixels reads 24. Release the mouse button and your spreadsheet should look like this.

The next thing I like to do is block out the area (stitches and rows) that I want to chart. If we think of this sample as a small "swatch", then let's draw a square or border around an area 20 stitches (or cells) wide and 20 rows tall. To do this, "select" cells by clicking once on cell F6. Notice that there is a bold line around this cell. This isn't permanent, it is just an indicator of what cell you have selected. Hold down your left mouse button and move your mouse horizontally across the spreadsheet until you have 20 cells highlighted, and then continuing to hold the left mouse button down, move the mouse vertically so that you can select 20 rows down as well. You can tell the number of rows and columns you have selected by looking in the area just above the column headers - 20 R x 20 C.

When you release the button, your spreadsheet should look like this.

Now we need to draw a permanent border around this square. In the menu area, just to the left of the paint can, is an image of a small block of four squares with a line drawn across the two bottom squares.

Click on the tiny triangle just to the right of that to bring down a drop down menu of types of borders, and choose the "thick box border" (eighth one down).

Your spreadsheet should now look like this.

Now we want to incorporate a simple colour pattern by colouring the squares. To do this, select cell I23, and then click on the small triangle to the right of the paint can (see earlier screen shot) to bring up a pallet of available colours. If this selection isn't enough colours to choose from, have some fun clicking on "more colours" and have a look at both the standard and custom tabs!

For our tutorial, let's just click on basic red. This is what you should now have.

Now you can chart a simple design by either (a) copying and pasting this square to other squares, or (b) selecting other squares and clicking once on the paint box (which will show red). You can make any design you wish, or try your hand at the following design.

You are of course not limited to one colour, nor do you need to be limited to a 20 x 20 space. Feel free to experiment. Perhaps try your hand at charting out a picture, or a fairisle design. Most importantly, though, have some fun and play a little!

I hope that this has been helpful. Please feel free to post comments! Next time: charting crochet stitches.

Charting Patterns with Excel - Part 1

2009-02-28T13:17:00.003-04:00

Over the next few blog entries, I hope to lead you through a tutorial on how I use the Excel spreadsheet program to chart patterns - both for colour charts for stranded or intarsia knitting or crochet, and for stitch types (lace/texture), again for knit (hand or machine) or crochet.

I use Microsoft Excel Version 2007. Most of the functions that I will describe are available on earlier versions of Excel, but the menu paths may differ somewhat. The "Help" menu for Excel is excellent, and should help you to find the functions I describe for earlier versions of Excel.

There are a few limitations with the program. One is that, as far as I'm aware (and please correct me if I'm wrong!), Excel will not do a polar graph (circular, not to be confused with a pie chart, which Excel does do), so charting such things as doilies or table cloths, knit or crocheted in the round, is not possible. However, if you google "polar graph paper" there are sites that provide free templates that you can print off and use the old fashioned way.

The other limitation is with the fonts. There are standard knit and crochet symbols found in published patterns, and you can download free (for personal use only) knitting symbols fonts from The Knitting Universe. As far as a font for crochet symbols goes, there must be something out there but I could only find one (please update me if anyone knows of any!). My solution for the time being is to improvise with the many symbols that are available, and just define them carefully in a "key" or "legend".

Finally, a word about reading charts. Charts, particularly those for knitting and crochet patterns, are generally (unless otherwise indicated) read from the bottom right, the first row being read right to left, the second row left to right, and alternating in that manner to the top of the chart. I put directional arrows on most of my charts so that it is clear.

I have a rough outline for this Excel tutorial series as follows:

Part 2: a step by step tutorial (with lots of screen shots for clarity) on making a simple colour chart.
Part 3: a simple crochet lace chart.
Part 4: a simple knit lace chart.
Part 5: making "reusable" templates with basic garment shapes.

Please leave your comments or questions or feedback!

Quick Update

2009-02-23T06:42:00.004-04:00

Just a quick note to show off the first pair of thrummed mittens from my chart. I am quite happy with the results!

The only thing I'm a bit surprised about is that the yellow diamond pattern, once the mittens are sewn up, is noticeably off centre. I think this has to do with the fact that I didn't take into account the stitches that are sacrificed in the sewing up.

I have had a couple of requests for a more detailed tutorial on charting patterns using Excel, so I hope to have the first of several blog posts up on that topic in a few days. Check back!

EXCELling

2009-02-21T13:03:00.008-04:00

I definitely prefer to read patterns in chart form. I also prefer to make up patterns in chart form, and my favourite software for doing this is Excel. I know that there are a number of software packages on the market especially for knitters and craftspeople, but for me Excel does everything I need it to do.

Here's an example of a pattern I was testing for another designer. The designer provided me with written instructions, and I converted them to a chart before I did my test swatch.

Not only is Excel (and the Symbol font) great for charting lace, it's also great for charting colour. In fact, before embarking on my next pair of thrummed mittens, I decided to play around with some colour possibilities, below.

It's a quiet afternoon here today, so I'm going to get started with the first mitten, using Briggs and Little Heritage in charcoal as my main yarn, and with my Studio SK860 midgauge machine set to T8 (T7 for the cuff). I'll let you know they turn out!

By the way, if anyone reads this blog (anyone?) and would like more information on how I use Excel to chart patterns, or if you already use Excel this way and have some tips for me, please leave me a comment!

Rule of Thrum

2009-02-17T07:31:00.014-04:00

As previously promised, here is a group photo of the multi-coloured sample pack of fleece that I bought ages ago from Rovings. This definitely is the antidote to my colourless winter, although now I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by the possibilities.

As you can see, it's not carded, and although thrums are small and easily formed by hand (see Knitting Daily's great instructions), some of this fleece is a bit matted (because it has been languishing in my stash for so long, I'm sure).

So I had a brainwave, since I don't have actual wool carders - the Pet Store!! (Never overlook entirely knitting-unrelated stores for Fibre Accessory Potential).

For my first pair of mittens, I decided to go with a blue and orange combination (think sunset), using up some leftover yarn from A Noble Cowl.

I'm quite happy with the colour combination. I think next some multi-coloured thrumming is in order though, and I'm thinking that a black yarn background will really make the colours pop.

Stay tuned.........

All Thrums

2009-02-12T16:39:00.004-04:00

Inspired by a recent Knitting Daily blog entry, and my quest for colour, I've decided play around with some wonderfully coloured fleece I bought quite awhile ago from Rovings, a very cool sample pack of a wide variety of colours (I'll have to lay it all out and take a "group" picture I think). Up until now, I've done thrummed mittens and slippers (hand and machine knit) in fairly traditional, low key colours, such as these slippers.

These were made with Briggs and Little Heritage yarn (I think) and B&L pencil roving for the thrums. They make great, super warm slippers, and they stand up reasonably well, although I have a pair right now (not pictured) that will require some heel surgery.

So I started out quietly, getting myself back into the swing of things by doing this swatch, experimenting with spacing - close/not close, lined up/offset, tone on tone (hard to tell in the picture, perhaps, but there is a section near the top of brown thrums on brown yarn), and then the fun started! You'll get an idea from the top little cluster of thrums of the variety of awesome colours I have in the fleece. I know it's curled there, and hard to see (although you get a glimpse of the fleecey goodness at the back where it curls).

I never thought I'd hear myself say this, as someone who used to hate to swatch, but I'm sold on it now - sometimes it's just darn fun to play around.

To be continued.......

A Whiter Shade of Pale

2009-02-11T07:29:00.004-04:00

A finished project to report - a sweater I've been wanting to make for myself for a long time. Against my better judgment for a couple of reasons, I decided to do it in white. For one, this is going to be a hard sweater to keep clean, and second, this endless winter of snow, ice and bitter cold has left me starved for colour (see my previous post about the grey socks). This project's saving grace is that this is pretty much the softest yarn I have had the pleasure to run through my fingers in a long time. It's Diamond Luxury Collection Fine Merino Superwash Aran, and it's heavenly to knit with. Creamy is an adjective that pops into my mind.

The pattern is a Cynthia Helene design found in Shepherd pattern leaflet #1912 "Outdoor Pursuits". I have no links I'm afraid, because I think the leaflet is out of print and I actually just googled Cynthia Helene and she doesn't appear to have a website.

So now I find myself with nothing major on the needles for the first time in awhile, and I've decided that I must find more colourful projects to see me through to spring. Stay tuned!

Holy Frak!

2009-01-29T10:51:00.003-04:00

A Cylon Centurion Hat! As a Battlestar Galactica fan (both original and re-imagined), my hat's off to the designer!

And now for something completely different....

2009-01-28T08:05:00.004-04:00

Happily, I can report that the grey work socks are complete, and I quickly moved on to a pair of socks with more colour to counterbalance the effects of the endless grey I have been working with. Remind me never to knit anything all grey in the middle of a bleak, cold, snowy winter again.

A Noble Cowl

2009-01-26T18:12:00.005-04:00

This pattern is a lot of fun to knit, and I'm really happy with the results. I used some Fleece Artist Blue Faced Leicester and 4 mm needles.

The downside of being finished with this project is that now I go back to the boring grey work socks I was working on before I found this pattern and threw the work socks in the "later" pile (oh yeah, it's getting to be a pile). I am, however, motivated to finish the grey socks so that I never have to look at them on my needles again. Luckily, they're almost done - I'm on the home stretch of the second sock.

Want!!

2009-01-24T16:11:00.004-04:00

Miscellany

2009-01-22T07:33:00.007-04:00

A few mittens are first up as finished projects for 2009.

These blue mittens are from the pattern booklet "Patons Gloves and Mittens" and are not my favourite pattern, mostly because the thumbs are knit separately and sewn on.

These white mittens are from the same pattern booklet, I've made them before many times, and they remain for me a classic pattern.

These wristers are quick and easy to make - the pattern is "Fetching" and they are!

These mittens are just a generic pattern, made from Sirdar Peru.

And finally: LOST Season 5 Premiere = Awesome.

A Breath of Fresh Air

2009-01-21T08:34:00.002-04:00

Gimme Shelter

2009-01-20T07:45:00.003-04:00

A rare sight for sore, winter weary eyes, I spotted this incredibly large (winter fattened?) robin tucked in against the -21C temperatures of two days ago.

It's a bit early, but I'll take it as hope for a coming spring!

Welcome Home

2008-03-21T07:20:00.004-03:00

My lovely daughter is home safe and sound from an amazing school trip to Egypt.

See the pyramids along the Nile
Watch the sunrise on a tropic isle
Just remember darlin' all the while
You belong to me

See the market place in Old Algiers
Send me photographs and souvenirs
Just remember when a dream appears
You belong to me

I'll be so alone without you
Maybe you'll be lonesome too, and blue

Fly the ocean in a silver plane
See the jungle when it's wet with rain
Just remember 'til you're home again
You belong to me

("You Belong To Me", written by Pee Wee King, Chilton Price and Redd Stewart, recorded by Patsy Cline in 1962)

Can you find the ice fishers?

2008-01-06T08:09:00.000-04:00

Every year at this time, as soon as the ice is thick enough (by standards much lower than my own usually), a temporary village of ice fishers set up camp on the ice at the head of Musquodoboit Harbour. My daughter, sitting in the passenger seat of the car with the window rolled down and digital camera in hand, tried to do a "drive by photo shooting" yesterday. Defying the odds, because there were a lot of people on the ice yesterday, she took some pictures almost completely devoid of ice fishers.

Lovely pictures mind you, of a late afternoon sun shining on the ice, so I post them here for your enjoyment.

I'll help you out a bit - I've circled a small group in the picture to the right.

Maybe we'll try stopping and getting out to take the photos next time.

Two by Two

2007-12-31T11:34:00.001-04:00

HPIM0999
Originally uploaded by nlobban

This time of year I like to get small project fixes - my attention span really doesn't extend to larger more complex projects. As an added bonus, these mittens are knit flat, so I decided to knit them both at the same time. I do sleeves that way a lot. The trick with these though is that there is a left and right mitten, so I have to remember to reverse whatever I have done on the first mitten when I get across to the second mitten. The other trick is to never set the project down without making a row pass across BOTH mittens, otherwise it's a bit tricky to remember which direction you're knitting in - ask me how I know this :-).

The overwhelming advantage is that when you're done knitting, voila, you have a pair. No Second Mitten Syndrome.

These are knit on 4 mm on my Denise interchangeable needles, with Diamond Galway Irish knitted worsted wool. They look a bit big at the moment, but that is because I'm at the top of the thumb gusset I think. Once I take those thumb stitches off (you can see the gusset "wedge" in the centre of each mitten) I think the mittens will take on a more proportionate look.

Happy New Year!

2007-12-31T09:06:00.000-04:00

I've not been a very good blogger in 2007 - sometimes life is just too busy to stop and write about it! I'm still here, though, and having lots of fun on Ravelry, and hope to be a better blogger in 2008.

Malabrigo FO

2007-04-06T16:47:00.000-03:00

Finally, a finished item to show off this year! This yarn is really lovely, and knits like a dream on the mid-gauge machine. Inspired by the beautiful photography on Yarnstorm, I thought I would play around a little - here's my "Malabrigo Trifle" pre sweater production.

I love the colour of this yarn, so I decided to do a plain, v-neck sweater to best showcase the colours, although I couldn't help adding a little crochet trim shell stitch around the neckline.

My only complaint about this yarn is that it has a very strong smell of vinegar, even after washing, and while I have no objection to the smell of vinegar in general, I would prefer that my clothes (and therefore me) not smell like vinegar. Any tips on overcoming this aroma would be gratefully accepted! I've washed the sweater in Eucalan, and laid it on my blocking board to dry outside on a briskly breezy day, but the unmistakeable odour of vinegar persists.

That's it for now. Next project: a baby bunting for my cousin.

"Snow Day" Mitten Pattern

2007-01-30T06:45:00.000-04:00

Here is a freebie machine knitting pattern that I designed recently when the kids and I had a "Snow Day". Enjoy!

Yarn: 2 50gm balls worsted weight yarn (sample done in Cleckheaton Country 8 ply, gauge stated on the ball band is 22 sts and 30 rows = 10 cm (4”), and I used very little of the second ball)

Machine: midgauge, no ribber required (sample knit on Studio SK860, can also be knit on LK150 or Bond. MT 6

Size: Youth or ladies S (ladies L in brackets)

Finished measurements : Youth or Ladies’ S: circumference – approximately 20 cm around (8”), length - 19 cm (7 ½ “)

Ladies’ L: circumference – approximately 22 cm around (8 ½ ”), length – 22 cm (8 ½ ”)

Symbols/abbreviations: \ remove stitch from needle and replace on needle 2 sts to left (except the stitch farthest to the left, which moves only one stitch over so as not to increase the total number of stitches in work)
/ remove stitch from needle and replace on needle 2 sts to right (except the stitch farthest to the right, which moves only one stitch over so as not to increase the total number of stitches in work)
^ lift purl bar from adjacent stitch and hang on empty needle
S small
L large
T tension
MT main tension
EN every needle
EON every other needle
K knit
R row
RC row count

Special Tools: EN and EON selector tools handy, garter bar would also be useful

Special Techniques:

Triple strand “braided” e-wrap (adapted from “back and forth e-wrap” described in Mary Anne Oger’s Knitting on the Edge )

Break off three lengths of MY approximately 3X the width to be cast on. Holding three strands parallel, e-wrap cast on first and every alternate needle across. Change direction at the last needle and e-wrap back all needles skipped in the first step. See photos below.

Basket Weave Pattern (from Susan Guagliumi’s Hand-Manipulated Stitches for Machine Knitters )

TIP: If you ensure that you are moving sts towards the carriage side of the bed, then this will make it easier to remember which direction you should be transferring the sts and you will not need to follow the chart as closely.

The transferred stitch closest to the carriage should be placed on the needle immediately adjacent (two sts on this needle) so as not to increase the overall number of stitches. All other transferred stitches should be moved in the appropriate direction by 2 sts.

Instructions

CO 44 (48) sts using triple strand braided e-wrap. RC000. T10 K1R. T6 K1R. Remainder of mitten is worked at T6. Work basket weave chart to RC27 (RC30).

Leave 8 sts on carriage side in WP, all other sts to HP. Carriage on hold. E-wrap CO 8 sts. Knitting on these 16 thumb sts only, K to RC15. Dec EOS, ER 2X to 4 sts. Break yarn and thread through these 4 sts, remove from needles and gather. Push thumb to the back of the work and fold in half, return 8 sts to WP, and rehang the 8 e-wrap cast on thumb sts on these needles. Cancel hold.

RC000, keeping continuity of basket weave pattern, resume working from chart to RC27 (RC30). This marks the end of the basket weave pattern. Remainder of mitten is knit plain.

Dec E4thS across row. K2R
Dec E3rdS across row. K2R
Dec E2ndS across row. K1R

Break yarn and thread through rem sts, gathering the top of the mitten. Sew seams, braid and secure the 6 strands of yarn (from cast on) as shown in the photo, and weave in remaining ends.

Repeat for second mitten, making sure that thumb is worked on the opposite side as that of the first mitten. This may require knitting either one less or one more row before starting the thumb to ensure carriage is on correct side.

© 2007 Nancy Lobban. Pattern for personal use only.

Smoke on the water

2007-01-17T09:41:00.000-04:00

Or more precisely, "sea smoke", caused by the extremely cold temperatures this morning.

38 Hats for Afghanistan

2007-01-13T14:57:00.000-04:00

Thanks so much to everyone from the Metro Machine Knitters' Guild and the Mayflower Machine Knitting Guild who contributed hats, they are now on their way to Afghanistan, and I hope to post a picture of them at their destination in the near future. You'll notice the one pink hat - that was a special request!

Fitting a curve into a rectangle

2006-04-18T09:27:00.000-03:00

Well, this Mariner's logo is giving me more of a problem than I thought. I think the main problem is that it's a very curvy logo - some sort of script/italicized font - and I'm trying to keep the curves and I just don't have enought "stitches/pixels" for the "resolution" I want. Here's what I mean:

I think I will abandon the idea of duplicate stitch on this. So, what will (hopefully) give me the curves? Well, plain old fashioned hand embroidery would do the trick, I'm sure, if I were any good at it. But I'm not. So I think I'm going to try surface or tambour crochet. I am more at home with a crochet hook, and I think that I'll be able to reproduce the curves I need as well as the thickness of the lines.

The other challenge - transferring this design to the knitted fabric. Here's my attempt:

I'm basically using a piece of thin white yarn and a large needle to "trace" the design onto the sweater. Then I'll rip the paper off (gently, of course), and using the white yarn line as a guide, reproduce the design with yellow yarn in the surface crochet.

Well, that's the idea anyway. Stay tuned to see if it works or not!

2006-04-14T11:08:00.000-03:00

Another FO

From the teeny tiny little swatch photo in my first blog entry, to the completed Ruana (okay, not quite, I have some ends to weave in that are evident in the photo, but the knitting's done).

I hope to get the pattern written up and available over the next few weeks. Check Ciobair for updates.

And although there is a knitting machine in the background of this hastily staged photo, this was all 100% hand knit. Entrelac is just not worth it on the machine, in my opinion.

Okay, I think my blogging is getting caught up - I have a couple of new projects on the go (because something has to backfill the void left by the completed ones, of course!) that I'll be talking about soon.

2006-04-14T10:59:00.000-03:00

#1 Hockey Hound Sweater Progress

To make up for lost time, I'm "multi-blogging" today. I met with Jed, #1 Hockey Hound, last night, for his "final fitting". We're ready to sew up the seams and duplicate stitch that bad boy Mariners logo to the derriere.

Here's the pre-finishing view:

That's a paper mock-up of the Mariners logo, by the way.

2006-04-14T10:45:00.000-03:00

Big Cables is a Wrap....

Well, of course, it's actually a sweater, but it's done! And actually it's been done for a week or so, I just haven't had time to photograph and blog it.

I don't understand why I can't get my camera to pick up the cables - this photo makes it look like a plain blue sweater. It's probably more operator error than camera I suppose.

I found another error in the pattern as well - when decreasing for the sleeve cap, the pattern notes that you should be at RC156 before casting off the remaining few stitches. That's true if you're doing the smallest size, but in fact, if you are doing the largest size, you should be at RC162, and I didn't bother doing the math on the other sizes, but the RC for the second largest size is probably not right either.

I did e-mail the magazine about the first error, with regard to the neck decreasing, but they weren't really open to hearing about it, let's put it that way, so I'm not going to bother reporting the second error.

All in all a nice, simple, comfortable sweater that I would definitely make again.

2006-04-09T06:57:00.000-03:00

End of 05-06 Minor Hockey season

1 tournament (SEDMHA)
2 kids
3 days
5 meals out
8 games
500 kilometres (give or take 100) (gas @ $1.13.9 per litre), and
lots of friends, fun and laughter

= the end of another successful year of hockey!

2006-03-28T13:10:00.000-04:00

Going to the dogs.....

I have finally started Jed the Hound Dog's hockey sweater. Am squeezing work in on this between looooong hours at the office (accountant=tax season=say no more). Here's what I'm aiming for:

That says "Mariners #1 Hockey Hound". I'm rethinking having that on the side though, and will probably centre it on the back. It'll be duplicate stitched on, I'm not fussing with fairisle for lettering.

I scanned my son's baseball cap in order to trace the letters to get just the right "font", which I cannot seem to identify otherwise on multiple font sites I've visited on the internet. This is what the lettering will look like:

And finally, here's how I make a pattern (for my own use).

I don't know if you can really see anything there, but that's basically what I knit from. I really like the visual, I really dislike patterns with lots of words and no pictures or schematics. The paper is, by the way, wood workers "workshop" paper for figuring out wood working projects, and as you can see it has measurements around the sides in imperial and metric. I got it from Lee Valley Tools. Never underestimate the inventory of non-knitting retail outlets to still provide items useful to knitting (Canadian Tire, Staples, Home Depot, etc).

That's it for today.

2006-03-24T15:44:00.000-04:00

Laura's Camouflage Socks - Off the Hook(s)!

I'm still having flash issues with the camera, so these look more grey camou than green camou in the photo, but here they are anyway. No, the toes aren't going to be white - that's waste yarn for taking the socks off the machine. I'll make it go away when I graft the toes and weave in all the ends.

I have to say that Bernat Sox yarn is just a little bit too thin for my mid-gauge machine - the socks look okay but the gauge is a bit looser than I would like for a sock. We'll see how well they wear for Laura.

That's it for me today.

2006-03-23T09:30:00.000-04:00

Happy Birthday to Me

I'm hard at work churning out income tax returns (day job = accountant), but taking one moment of unabashed self-indulgence to wish myself a happy birthday. No plans other than to not work tonight (a big deal this time of year) and cozy up to the TV with my twelve year old son and watch the Habs humiliate the Leafs.

The big cable sweater is almost ready to be photographed - just sewing up the seams. Knit a camouflage-coloured sock on the machine early this morning for my daughter (photo hopefully to follow - weird happenings with the "flash" on the camera this morning). Plan to knit the mate while supper's in the oven tonight (yes, I am cooking supper on my birthday, but it's OK - I have no plans to do dishes).

Then I absolutely plan to start Jed the Hound's hockey sweater!

2006-03-17T09:59:00.000-04:00

Big Cables continued....

I took my in-process sweater to our machine knitting guild meeting in Truro yesterday and we had a great discussion around the neck decreasing (they agree with me), and we also learned a great new way to do pockets (thanks Marg!).

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here's a close up. Hopefully you can see my little stitch counts in this photo - definitely "11 to 10".

'Nuff said. The next time I "blog" this sweater it will be a picture of the finished item!

2006-03-16T06:46:00.000-04:00

Big Cables progress

I've finished the front of the "Knit Big or Go Home" sweater in the current issue of Knitwords and I'm really pleased with the results so far. The cables are a bit hard to see in this photograph because I am photographically challenged and cannot figure out how to turn off the flash on my digital camera. I did try to darken the contrast a bit, but I don't think that really helped. Just get your nose up close to the screen and squint, and you may start to see the cables going up the middle.

This is a nice, simple (visually, and in execution) design with nice vertical lines (alway a good thing). I think I found a mistake in the pattern though, which caused some frustration when I divided for the neck.

The pattern calls for dividing the two "cable strands" to each follow up the side of the neck. Each cable strand is made up of eight cable stitches and then one tuck rib that's latched up by hand. Of course, once you divide for the neck, you need to start decreasing in order to shape the neck. The pattern calls for a "9 to 8" decrease, meaning that you move the stitch on the 9th needle to the 8th needle. But if you do this, when you get to the shoulder and drop the 9th stitch in order to latch it up for the tuck rib, the tuck rib won't follow beside the cable.

I guess just trust me when I say that the only way to get that tuck rib to follow immediately beside the 8 cable stitches, and still achieve the neck shaping, is to leave those 8 cable stitches and 1 tuck rib stitch totally undisturbed, and do the decrease as "11 to 10", or the eleventh stitch from the neck edge onto the tenth. I can say that this is the voice of experience from ripping out the neck four times because I didn't listen to my own intuition.

The yarn, by the way, is some I have had lounging in my stash for awhile - 100% wool, royal blue, single ply, that's all I know. A little bit coarse off the cone, but it should soften up once it's blocked and even more when it's been "broken in".

Two sleeves to go on this one and then it's on to Jed the Hound's hockey sweater!

2006-03-13T17:39:00.000-04:00

Tournament Results

They played their hearts out, and lost 2-1, but we're all very proud of their efforts and their second place finish!

2006-03-13T06:15:00.000-04:00

Championship game today

Just a quick update to my last post - a win and a loss on Sunday brings my son's team to the championship game this morning at 10:45 - very exciting! More later.....

2006-03-12T07:07:00.000-04:00

Hockey Tournament results Day 1

Yesterday was a great day for my son's Pee Wee AA hockey team - they won both of their games and currently sit in first place out of six teams with a guaranteed spot in the semi-final game of the Joe Lamontagne tournament.

I must confess I leave the knitting needles in the car (not at home, mind you, just in the car) for these games and devote my full attention to the ice. So today is another full day of hockey with two games this afternoon, leading into a possible championship game tomorrow morning.

Pre-game yesterday, I had the pleasure of meeting Jed the Hound Dog for a sizing appointment. Jed will be the (I hope!) proud recipient of a custom knit Eastern Shore Mariners Hockey Hound dog sweater. Now that we have size worked out, I'm ready to draft the pattern, and I look forward to "blogging" my progress. I think this will be machine knit, but I'm not 100% decided on that yet, so check back often as I work my way through this cool project (and for more hockey results!).

2006-03-05T08:52:00.000-04:00

At the rink....

Socks, socks and more socks. I spend a lot of time with the kids at the rink (lots of rinks, lots of hours, lots of hockey). And so I always have a portable rink knitting project or PRKP on the go. All the new wonderful self-striping sock yarns are just the ticket - plain knit and let them do their thing. Here is the current PRKP.

If you haven't tried knitting socks on two circulars a la Cat Bordhi I highly recommend it. I was a "dyed in the wool" five needle sock knitter who resisted the two circular needle idea forever. Now I knit everything circularly this way - glove fingers, tops of hats, doll legs and arms, etc etc.

Enough blogging for today - two rinks, two hockey games, and a pair of socks call my name...

2006-03-05T08:36:00.000-04:00

On the machine....

I usually have something on the machine "in progress", and today it is the "Knit Big or Go Home" sweater in the current issue of Knitwords. This is a nice pattern - extra "short rows" to deal with crossing the huge 6 x 6 cable. Since I don't have a 6 prong transfer tool, I used a double pointed needle as suggested in the accompanying article in the same issue, and it worked great. It's still a bit "tense" crossing that many stitches, but so far I'm pleased with the results.

There are very few "crossings" too, because of the scale of the cable - I think just five or six altogether. I'll post pictures of the finished item soon!

2006-02-28T20:13:00.000-04:00

Exploring Entrelac

And exploring blogging too, I guess you could say, as this is my "maiden" blog post. I like the idea of a journal, particularly one that chronicles my favourite hobbies (with some kid stuff thrown in here and there, and whatever else I feel like), so exploring blogging seemed a neat thing to do.

So, without further adieu - I've been exploring entrelac these days - hand knit, machine knit, crocheted. On the needles at the moment is some beautiful hand dyed Fleece Artist yarn dyed in colours strikingly similar to the Nova Scotia tartan. I like this. It's just a swatch at the moment, but it has potential, so stay tuned.

I've been a hand knitter for a very long time, and more recently have started exploring machine knitting. I tend to turn to machine knitting when I want some plain, boring stocking stitch done faster than I can hand knit it, or if there is a technique that can be accomplished with the machine that can't be accomplished (or at least not as easily) on my hand needles. I have an electronic Studio mid-gauge machine, and it knits hand knitting yarns (the main component of my stash) like a dream.

So I tried entrelac, and here are two samples - can you tell which was hand knit and which was machine knit (answer below)?

Answer: Picture on the left is machine knit. And for this particular technique, there is no advantage to machine knitting. It takes just as long on the machine to pick up all those stitches (if not longer, in fact), and I think I can do it more neatly and consistently by hand.

So my next stop was crocheted entrelac - which is actually done using the technique of "Tunisian Crochet". Now, I've always found crochet faster than knitting, but this is definitely something that has some possibilities! Forgive the yarn colours in the sample - it's just left over yarn swatched for technique only.

There are some tricks to this, and some kinks to work out. You can see from the photo that it produces a lot of ends (although they can be dealt with in crochet fairly easily as you work). With Tunisian crochet, which to me is like a hybrid mix of crochet and knitting together, you end up with a fabric that "sort of" has a knit side and a purl side. When you're knitting entrelac, all of your squares have the knit side on the same side (unless you wanted to deliberately change that, I suppose). With crochet, because of the way you flip the just-completed square, you end up with a row of "knit side facing" (the gold squares in the sample) and then a row of "purl side facing" (the purple squares in the sample). I imagine that's a simple matter of flipping the squares in some other fashion - it will just take some experimentation. So stay tuned as I continue to play.

I think that's enough for a "maiden blog". More soon....!