Yarn Doesn't Grow on Trees, You Know!

But it almost does at £4 for 8.5 balls of vintage cream mohair. It's 90% mohair and 10% artificial fibres, and it's going to make me another test Alef. I put it out on the rosemary bush to air - although it doesn't really need it, since reading about a blogger who put soap in her stash to make it smell fresh, I've started to collect bargain soap bars from TK Max and today I suddenly thought herbs might be nice as well.

Alef has been on my mind. I still have all that lovely Rowan Classic Kid upstairs in a box, along with 3 wickedly expensive buttons and they are not going to be wasted!

I've found a lace trim to try that seems fairly simple and has plain edges - and my new Lucy Neat y DVD (Finesse your Knitting 2) tells you how to make lovely button bands. So, I could use a new lace trim, because I just can't like the other one, abandon the troublesome collar with its flippy edges and knit plain button bands instead. But that's a lot of modifications to make for lovely, but fragile yarn that's already been ripped fifteen times, so, I was happy to find exactly the right yarn for another test Alef.

Edging Error

Can you spot the mistake? I didn't see the first one until I'd gone too far past it to even think about frogging back. Then I cursed myself for the next 12". Then I did it again. What is it about knitting?

The mistakes are adding up at an alarming rate - but I'm not going back! It will be interesting to see if they kind of blend in to the finished item. Or if I'll curse it to Wolverhampton and back for evermore. The mistake, of course, is that the blackberry stitch panel is the centre join of the jacket and acts as the front band. So why, in the name of all that's wonderful, am I joining in yarn on that edge?

Also, I couldn't understand the pattern again. You decrease at the waistline. On the back, you knit in 4 extra panels and decrease those panels. Makes sense to me. If you look at the photo, you can see two panels running up the front that decrease. But they ask you to decrease 3 times. 2 panels. Three decreases. That's more decreases than extra panels. But I thought it would look so naff! I couldn't bear to do it. Have done one extra decrease on the two decreasing panels, and cast off 2 extra under arm. Looking at the picture now, I think maybe I should have done as the pattern said and decreased into the moss stitch. It probably would have blended in OK. Well, of course it would. Too late now. No going back. I've marked the decreases, anyway, so that I can match the other front.

Also, I see that I've got the moss stitch twisted here and there. Must be careful to consistently knit into back of knit stitches on right side - this is because I'm doing combination knitting - purling the Lucy Neatby way to keep my tension in order. Also (it goes on and on, doesn't it, this catalogue of errors?) I was absorbed in the TV last night (Six Degrees of Separation - fascinating maths models) and worked one row plain. I may live to regret this, but I didn't frog - I just moved two stitches on the next row.

Andy likes Durrow, so we'll look for some yarn for it.

Talking of yarn, I had a look on Ravelry for patterns that use Rowan's Classic Kid. (Alef, the cardigan I can't make continues to trouble me - as does the pile of frogged yarn and the three expensive buttons.) I also saw a new Alef. The knitter had omitted the triangle on the collar that I had so much trouble with, and it looked OK. I doubt if anyone would ever look at it and say, that collar's shy a triangle! So, I could make a simple shrug from a Kim Hargreaves book and use the buttons elsewhere, or I could knit Alef again, omitting the triangle. I hate to be beaten! There was also a finished Alef with triangle on collar so I emailed the knitter to ask for advice.

Cloud Three

It's a funny thing about holidays - I've had lots of knitting time, but no time to blog! Our new 40" television has arrived WOW! Movies look terrific, and I feel a serious bout of nature & travel programme watching coming on - all of which is great for knitting.

Here is Cloud. The Sidar Denim is lovely - very soft and cosy to work with. The k2 p2 rib looks quite neat - but stretches nicely, so I've great hopes of this garment actually fitting. It knitted up very quickly - and so it should: this is my third attempt at this particular Kim Hargreaves cardigan. I found the increases in the k2 p2 rib very confusing at first. The instructions in the pattern are perfectly clear. I made the mistake of trying to understand what was happening which led me into a wilderness of different slanting increases. I get very confused with left and right, so add the front and back of the fabric to the mixture and it's no wonder I went wrong.

I only frogged a couple of rows - each time because I either read half of an instruction and started knitting without checking the end of the sentence for the infamous 'at the same time' instructions, and once because I turned "rib until there are 13 stitches on right needle and turn" into " knit until there are 13 stitches on the left needle and turn". I have no idea why someone as dyslexic as me should love to knit.

Keeping a knitting notebook helps. A few weeks ago I bought an A4 artists' sketchpad. It is spiral bound, so it folds back on itself. It looks neater than the old clipboard and scrap paper I was using, and has the advantage that I can refer back to it if need be. I don't bother with photos or long rambles - the blog is perfect for that - but I find if I write out the instructions for the size I am making, a section at a time, along with any modifications, along with all the row and stitch counts, that I go wrong far less often. I've started making a note of when I frog as well - maybe I'll see patterns in my errors that will stop me going wrong as often.

A kind knitter on Ravelry has responded to my email asking her how she'd found Alef the cardigan in Classic Kid I've had such trouble with - 4 failed attempts no less. "BAD" was the answer. She sounds like an accomplished knitter who is not accustomed to failure,but every time she wore Alef the collar flipped up. She advised me to ditch the pattern and have no more to do with Rowan. I would not knit another pattern with twiddly bits by Leah Sutton, that's for sure, but I can't wait until I'm a good enough knitter to buy Rowan's lovely yarns without the fear of ruining them.

This year, by the way, I plan to enjoy my knitting!

Norwegian Mittens

Found another disaster to photograph. These are supposed to be Elizabeth Zimmerman's Norwegian mittens. I'm only not throwing them out because the grey yarn is wool from an Irish rare breed sheep and there's only one ball. When I do learn to knit (I'm still saying when! That's a triumph of hope over experience) I might need that grey to finish the perfect pair of mittens that I will knit one day.

I was brain dead on Friday night so I knit at the sleeves of Turbulence while watching TV rather than going back to the cable.

And this morning I made myself set in the sleeves of Tangerine Nightmare. I hate that garment! It was worth setting in the sleeves as an exercise because I can see that the fully fashioned edges are a disaster! For my next test Alef, I will make the sloping decreases, left or right as the side of the garment dictates, but I will make them at the very edge of the fabric.

I made a start on sewing on the button bands, but I'd had enough. I will do them, though, because the only way to make a good Alef is to practice, practice, practice!

I know what I'd really like - a plain pattern for Rowan's Classic Kid that uses three buttons. Then I'd never have to knit another Alef in my life!

Brown Alef

This is to prove that I am getting better! Another horrible test Alef that took the long walk to the dustbin. It is vile in so many ways - especially where I've done half the lace on 5mm needles, then picked up 4mm needles and finished off the other side and not noticed! How can you not notice something as glaring and awful in the mistake department?

Today I watched Lucy Neatby on DVD on grafting, then had another go at grafting the lace strip together for Tangerine Nightmare. And this time I got it! I suddenly understood how it worked. BUT, probably influenced by mattress stitch, where you leave the stitches slack and pull them up at the end, or in batches, I left the grafting loose - it's only 11 stitches. But they wouldn't pull tight at the end. Tightened them one by one, then overcast a section of lace to the bottom of the main garment and went to the mirror. (You see, I'm getting smarter - I didn't do the whole strip and weave in the ends and then check in the mirror.) I looked in the mirror, and DOH!

One of my least favourite instruction is 'lightly stretched'. It is so difficult to interpret. I did knit the lace strip a bit shorter than measurement of the hem of the main garment, but when I blocked this lace strip it grew several inches, and then was slightly too long for the bottom of the garment. I ignored this and sewed it on anway. It looked frilly and naff. I took the unsewn section and stretched it lightly. It looked smart and lacy. Undid all my sewing. Undid all my grafting. Undid several lace repeats. Redid the waste yarn knitting ready for grafting, and put it all away until tomorrow.

As ever, Lucy Neatby is so, so right. Don't weave in your yarn ends until you are certain that everything is exactly as you want it. This little tip has saved me much anguish.

Thank goodness for stocking stitch. I am storming up the back of the Turbulence U-necked sweater. Thanks to my new, neat, Lucy Neatby inspired knitting, my tension is staying the same all the way up the piece. This is good!

I have just thrown the swatch in the washer. It will be just my luck if this is the only cotton in the known universe that shrinks rather than stretches - because my tension has stayed even, the garment, as it is, is slightly too small. It'll be all right. I'm on a diet!

Peach Alef

Here's yet another practice Alef knit in peach acrylic. I changed the bottom trim to cobweb lace which is knit from the bottom up - it almost worked. I like the part where it joins the body of the garment, but I don't like the bottom part - it looks tatty.

By the way, look, no seams. I knit it in one piece. When I first discovered lovely Addi needles and the concept of knitting in the round, I went through a phase where I knit EVERYTHING in the round. Now I'm not so sure. I think many items fit better if they have side seams, although I still do all plain sleeves in the round.

Because I didn't like the cobweb lace when I saw it on the body of the garment, I committed a fatal error. Laziness always comes back to haunt one. I took it on the long walk to the dustbin. And I didn't practice making the collar and button bands. Which means I don't know how to do it.

Today I wrestled with Tangerine Alef, grafting the lace band and over sewing on the button band. After a couple of hours of frowning concentration, which resulted only in ugly, sore looking joins, I pulled it all back and threw it in the basket. Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to do it.

I already know that I will need to make yet another Alef before I attempt it with the Rowan Classic Kid. I'm finding this such a hard pattern.

Knit six inches of the back for the test Turbulence U-necked sweater yesterday. My, I love time off work!

Seams the Neatby Way & A New Project

Nobody likes seaming, do they? But I did almost enjoy using mattress stitch for the sides of Tangerine Alef - I did as Lucy Neatby said on her DVD. I carefully examined the edge stitch, making sure I had a full stitch, and I carefully went under every bar. Ahh! Pause for big sigh of satisfaction. Beautiful seams, really, truly, honestly beautiful seams, even in tangerine acrylic.

Have nothing to do with those books that tell you to do mattress stitch every few bars - do it Lucy's way. One stitch per bar gives a perfect result, and it doesn't take very much longer at all.

The next job is sewing on the button bands - as yet I don't have a DVD by Lucy Neatby to help me through the process. I got out an instruction book, but the rinky-dink diagram for overcasting made my head ache, so I didn't do any more seaming. I made a swatch for my next project instead - Norah Gaughn's wonderful U-necked Turbulence sweater.

The test yarn is Paton's Laguna- pure cotton double knit. I'm not sure of the vintage. It was a charity shop special @ £1.99 for 10 balls. I suspect the yardage might be a bit mingy, so I'm going to do the back, then the front, then divide what's left in half for what might be rather short sleeves. The real garment is going to be knit in some delicious dark purple Jaeger that I got in a sale - the extra fine merino has been discontinued now, but handling it is like stroking kittens (as the wonderful Yarn Harlot would say). What I do know now (thanks to Lucy) is that it is a single ply yarn, and it will bias, which might cause problems.

Even without potential bias trouble, I know better than to launch into even a simple looking pattern in the 'real' yarn. There are so many, many ways I can mess up a jumper - and the merino is fragile. It doesn't like being messed with (I'll tell you sometime how I discovered this, the hard way, naturally), so, on with the test garment.

I'm knitting it on 3 mm needles. This gives a slightly small gauge - but it's a style that will look OK with some negative ease, my knitting tends to expand, and cotton stretches, so I think it will work out OK.

Sleeve Frustration

The good news is that I finished both sleeves.

The bad news is that they don't match. The tension on the second sleeve is bigger, so it's bigger all over, and floppy looking

The good news is that the second one is neater than the first one, which is what I set out to achieve.

I am not going to frog and reknit- not a test garment. Not orange acrylic. But oh wiffle and spot! How annoying!!

Dream On!

I took this book back to the library today - it does have some glorious knitting in it, but I won't be buying it for about ten years, because that's how long it will take me to get good enough to be able to use it. The garments are beautifully constructed, and the patterns are a joy BUT the styles are, well, let's just say they do nothing for a short round person like me! I'd love to be able to take the fabulous knitting elements from this book (wonderful trims and details: you should see how the patterns match up under the arms! Perfection) but use them in flattering and fashionable styles - those knitted French-style jackets I'm always hankering after, for example. It's beyond my skills at the moment.

I've finished one sleeve and up to the arm of the second sleeve of Alef. The knitting is vile! It's so hard to knit on the very tips of four needles and keep it all even! The stocking stitch is knit on size 5 mm. I bought a 30 cm Addi, and it's maybe a bit too chunky for knitting such a small tube. It seems awkward to knit with, somehow, in a way the smaller 30 cm needles didn't. I tried hard to make the second sleeve neater, but with such a tiny improvement that it is depressing! It all adds up though. Keep knitting!

Awful Alef

Here's a photo that both depresses and cheers me up. Depresses because it's so unutterably awful - (look at my face! Did you ever see such a thoroughly fed-up knitter?). The good side is that looking at the above mess, there is no doubt that I'm improving! There's at least twenty things wrong with that Alef. It's the first one I made after a break of 20 years or so. I had to give up knitting because I needed two pairs of glasses, one for watching TV and one for knitting - impossible, and I'm not really a radio person so I gave up knitting. Then I got wonderful varifocal lenses. It's over £300 for the lenses (not the frames, that's extra!) but oh, is it worth it. It's like having eyes again! I can read maps, look at labels in shops, well, I won't go on, there are many convenient uses for eyes. And then, in February 2006, I suddenly remembered how much I like to knit. So, I went to the local yarn store, bought the current Rowan book and some yarn and launched in - with the above result.

I don't think I ever was a very good knitter - 80s garments had a lot of slack in them! I also knit a lot of ethnic type jumpers, which again don't call for a lot of technique. I used a lot of colours as well, which hid a multitude of sins. I must dig out some old photos - everyone I knew got one of my jumpers. It never occur ed to me to wonder how much they appreciated them! Old sweaters had a second life because they'd go to the local hippies. I went away to Japan for five years and when I came back I saw a couple of my jumpers still walking around the street or drinking beer in the pub.

I spent all night knitting tension squares, so Tangerine Nightmare took a holiday last night. I will do the grafting and sew it up this weekend, because we're at home. It would be nice to finish the last sleeve (still at 6 rows) this week.

I think the big cones are 2-ply anyway. I tried knitting with various needles and numbers of strands last night, but although 2 strands held together gives the right number of stitches for 4-ply, and 3 strands held together gives the right number of stitches for double knit, the row tension seems off, there's always too many rows - I wonder if that's because of the two strands? I think I've noticed this before with trying to get tension with my various bargain cones. Vintage Vogue books have glorious garments in 2-ply and 3-ply yarn, but where would I ever get the time?

If I don't have time to knit with 2-ply, and I can't get the tension for double knit and 4-ply patterns, does this mean I should stop stashing cones? Probably, but I don't think I can! Not when I see all that yarn for so little money!

Lace Trim Ready to Graft, Captain

So there's a purl strip and a knit strip nearly ready to graft. I think it needs one more repeat on the knit strip so that it fits properly. I'm going to wait until the weekend to do the grafting. I need daylight and time to concentrate.

I found that by using a lace book, the trim knitted up real quick. The system I've ended up with at this point is to use the labels template in Word. On each label I write the number of the row, the stitches to knit, and the number of stitches there should be at the end of the row. I did use a row counter with the print out at first, but it's quicker to use a small coin and just push it along as each row is finished. It acts as a place marker as well.

Sleeves, next. I think I'll knit them in the round, because there's going to be quite enough sewing up to do as it is.

Little Things Make a Big Difference

No wonder knitting is so hard. I suddenly wondered if the lapel would look better if I left the last stitch on the other side of the lapel loose. It didn't work, but look how much bigger that side is? It flips more as well.

Made a pair that are loose on the increase side only. I actually assembled all the lace in the right order and knitted up a button band, only to find that I'd made a mess of the band this time. First I did the knitting too loose, then I messed up the number of rows (the pattern instructions are for a two-row buttonhole and this is a one-row buttonhole) so that I tried to do Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn cast off on the wrong side AND on top of that I started doing the cast off wrong. And then I found little holes on each side of the buttonhole. I can't be wrapping the yarn properly. Got out a pair of scissors and hacked it all back. One day, I'll get the hang of it!

But I am starting to think that I might have to make yet another test before I approach the Classic Kid yarn with any confidence.

Late Night Knitting

Sore, aren't they?

1. One set of lace strips must have been assembled upside down. They can't both be right, seeing as they are different! The left one is even different on the same lapel. It had been a long day, that's all I can say.
2. The lapels are different sizes - that's because I used a different technique for each one. The larger lapel was knitted on the same size needles, but working loose at the edges, the smaller one, was knitted changing to big needles at the edge. It's not loose enough. It flips horribly, so that needs reknitting.
3. The bands look different - that's because I used the Elizabeth Zimmerman sewn cast off on the one that looks smaller. It looks neater, and I like it better, but I was kind of forgetting that the two sides should match.
4. I forgot to do the chain edge on the left-hand side - I think the bottom edge will look better and the top edges will sew better if there are no garter stitch bumps in the way.
5. The good news is that the buttonholes went OK, eventually!

I'm going to make an instruction sheet and start again from scratch. Hopefully they'll be done by Friday.

Alef Collar Version 35

Well, that's what it feels like. As well as all the attempts I've had at the garment, I used up a whole ball of pink acrylic trying to make a lapel that wouldn't flip up - the room was covered with little pink tongues of knitting. I wish now I'd photographed them all.

Then I emailed Rowan for advice - and good for them, they replied. Rowan suggested doing the increase by knitting into the front and the back of a stitch, and doing it two stitches from the edge. This worked better than anything I had been doing, but it still wasn't right. The lapel still wanted to flip up. Rowan also suggested adding a stitch to hold it in place - but there must be a way to get the knitting to lie flat.

Of course, Lucy Neatby knows - she draws a diagram to show how the edge stitches get stretched and 'unhappy' when you shape them. She also drops in that it's something to do with isosceles triangles, but anyway, what you have to do is 'be kind' to the edge stitches, because increasing along the bottom of the lapel means they have to stretch further - that's why they go tight. I made one lapel by using a bigger needle at the edge, which was fiddly and still a bit tight, so the second one I kept the same needle and tried to knit with loose yarn on the last 6 stitches and that seemed to help.

Now to learn Lucy's buttonhole for the other side.

Would You Spend One Whole Hour Blocking Tangerine Acrylic?

No, I thought not. But I am learning to how to block more than trying to improve artificial yarn - I find the measuring and getting it square very hard - left to myself I produce parallelograms. luckily Andy was around this morning and he helped me again - he might have to go through it ten times, but I'll get it eventually.

It's come out exactly the right size, which is a bit of a mystery because when I did my tension square I got 1 stitch and 1 row too many, but decided I didn't care. In the past, my Alefs have turned out too large, so I'm obviously doing something wrong.

I've already knitted up the shoulders - I did it Lucy Neatby's way. If like me, you struggle to knit off shoulders, use a double-pointed needle to do the three-needle bind off and you can do it in two easy stages - first knit the two shoulders together, then go back and bind off the row of stitches. It's so perfect, so easy, so Lucy.

Tangerine Nightmare

This is the fourth time I've tried to knit Alef by Leah Sutton (Rowan Magazine 40). I have to succeed, because I bought the lovely Rowan Classic Kid yarn in cream. And the buttons. Do you know how much Rowan yarn costs? Exactly. I'll learn to knit or, well, there is no or. I'm going to learn to knit! Here's how I got to the frame of mind where knitting with Spanish tangerine acrylic yarn seems like a sensible thing to do.

1. Feb 2006. I buy yarn, and the magazine, oh, and the buttons (you could buy a winter coat in Primark for what those buttons cost) and set off knitting. I sew it all up. I try it on. I burst into tears. Frog entire thing.


2. I carry on knitting. Nothing works. I don't know why. I read blogs. I buy books. How hard can this knitting be?


3. Feb 2007. I must be able to knit by now. I reknit a practice Alef in brown acrylic yarn. I sew it all up. I try it on. This time I don't burst into tears because I was kind of expecting trouble. My DH gets to carry the soft pile of disastrous knitting to the rubbish bin in the yard outside. It looks horribly like a pet going to the vet. I wave it goodbye.


4. I carry on knitting. I read more blogs. I buy more books. I knit miles of practice knitting. Surely I can knit by now?


5. September 2007. I make another practice Alef in peach acrylic yarn. I've learnt a lot. I get cocky. I make all kinds of alterations. I sew it up. I heave a deep sigh. Realise that I am now so hardened that I can throw my own rejects into the bin. I think this counts as knitting progress.


6. I carry on knitting. I discover Lucy Neatby. I spend all my money on her DVDs. I find the tangerine yarn. I must be able to knit by now....


7. I'll let you know how it goes