Thursday 21 February 2019

January in Yarn

I'm finally making some progress with my yarn diary, which is exactly what it sounds like - a record in yarn of everything I work on this year. I came up with this daft idea months ago and wrote about it here My Year in Yarn. The idea is to create a patchwork block each month, with each piece representing a knitting or crochet project that you've worked on. You use the same yarn as the project and I've worked out several ways of knitting and crocheting squares that don't need you to work out your tension first. Should you want to join me in this, there's a free pattern here to help you get started.

I shall be making one 8" patchwork square for each month, edging them with a garter stitch border and then sewing them together to make a blanket. I also want to record the details of all the projects in a scrapbook as I go. Here are the non-yarn things I've got to help me make this work.


It took me ages to decide on what to use for my scrapbook. I've got an aversion to notebooks with instructions on the front like 'Be Happy' or 'Book of Special Things' (I've made those two up but you know what I mean) and I didn't want to use an album with sticky pages. Can you tell I've got a daughter who's an archivist? In the end, on her advice, I settled for this inexpensive, black ringbound album from Hobbycraft. It's got black pages and I shall use black photo corners like these to stick things in.

I want to include a picture of each month's block with a key to each of the projects on it and a bit more information about each of them. I think I'll add photos of finished things too and anything that might make it more interesting for people to read in the future. I've got a drawer of scrapbooking bits and pieces upstairs that I shall sort through to see what I've got to make the pages pretty.

I've also got a small notebook where I make notes of everything I work on each month. I tend to have lots and lots of projects on the go at once so it's easy to forget some. The notes include whether it's a knitting or crochet project (or, in my case, weaving too) and details about the yarn and needles or hooks used. This is useful when I come to make the patches, sometimes weeks later.

The square thing with the brightly coloured squares is my mini design board. I made this from some card and a scrap of wadding to help me work out the design each  month. 


The little card shapes are half size so I've written the sizes they represent on them to stop me getting confused. This arrangement is one of the possibilities were I to work on 14 projects one month.

In January the total was a more modest ten - seven knitting, one crochet, one Tunisian crochet and one weaving. I'm also weaving a temperature blanket this year but I'm not including that as it's its own diary. 

So, this is my patchwork square for January ...


I have to say it didn't look lovely and flat like this when I'd finished it. All those different yarns made for a very lumpy and bumpy square; luckily, blocking sorted that out.

So, starting at the top left, we have a big green variegated square representing a blanket I'm weaving on one of my Hazel Rose pin looms. I thought I'd be clever and weave this square, forgetting that this particular loom produces squares smaller than 4". I added a round of crochet to make it up to size. This is the wonderful James C Brett Marble Chunky and I'm using two shades to make a simple blanket of squares.


Next to that big square are four little 2" squares. The one at the top (mostly blue) is some variegated sock yarn that I'm using to knit my son a pair of gloves. These are going very slowly as I have to wait to see him so that he can try them on to check the fit at every stage. I'm up to the fingers on the first glove at the moment so they'll probably be finished just in time for Summer.

The red square with the grey stripe in the middle is more thin 4 ply, this time from a new design I'm working on which I think I shall call 'Pocket Box'. It's a small, folding purse inspired by origami, something like my Pinwheel Purse pattern. The last one is blocking now and then I just want to try a DK version before I write it up.

The cream square is from my Secret Garden blanket which I finished earlier this month so that will appear one more time in February's block. The light green square next to it is actually sparkly, although it doesn't show up in the photograph. This is more thin 4 ply yarn, this time King Cole Party Glitz which I'm using to knit the  mini stockings I attach to my Christmas presents each year. If I don't start knitting them in January, they don't get done.


I've used a variation of my old Mini Stocking pattern which I worked out as I went along until the proportions seemed about right. This yarn seems particularly thin but it knitted up nicely. This colour is called 'Elf' and I've also got a ball of red, called 'Santa' so that's what I'll be using next year. If anyone would like a copy of this pattern (mostly notes, not pictures), let me know and I'll send it to  you. 

That's the top half of the block. Now for the five patches on the bottom.


Starting at the top left again, the green and red square represents my Old-Fashioned Tea Cosy which I knitted to fit my 'new' 100 year old silver plated teapot. You can read more about it in Miss Clare's Teapot. By the way, this is the warmest tea cosy I've ever used; it keeps the tea hot for hours so, if you live in a cold house like me, you might like to try one of these.

The blue and green square next to it is in crochet, just a few of the rainbow colours I'm using to make what I'm calling a 'Mini Marshmallow Blanket'. I'm starting to wish I'd been a bit less ambitious with this one - perhaps a 'Mini Marshmallow Cushion Cover' instead? I do love blankets though.


I've ground to a halt now as I need to order more yarn. Just looking at the picture is making me want to get it out again.

The stripey square in the bottom left corner looks nothing like the original yarn which has long colour runs. I'm using two shades of Schoppel Wolle Edition 3 to knit triangles in the round and then piece them together into a star pattern. I haven't got any photos to show you yet but it's going to be colourful. The two shades I'm using are called English Garden and Laundry Day - wonderful names.

The blue square next to it is more crochet - this time double ended Tunisian Crochet. I'm still at the early stages with this one as I had a lot of trouble with my tension and then had to order a new hook. 


It's going to be a reversible waistcoat - I know, I don't do clothes, what am I thinking? - this is the blue side, it's mostly dark grey on the back.

The last square is the big red one, more James C Brett - this time Aran with Wool. I've only just started this project which is going to be a shawl thing called 'The Big Red Wrap'. I'm using a herringbone stitch pattern which is rather nice but, even with thick yarn, this one's going to take me a while.

So, that's what I was working on in January. I've started several more projects this month and only finished one so far so there could be even more in next month's block. Now I need to get on with the scrapbook pages for January. If only that blank book wasn't so daunting ...

Monday 18 February 2019

Winding Wool

How do you wind your wool? Do you use a swift, a ball winder or the back of a chair?  This is assuming that you buy skeins of yarn of course. I remember when most yarn came in skeins and, nowadays, they're back in fashion again. Which is where the wool winders come in ...

I have several old wool winders or swifts, picked up in antique shops over the years. Yesterday, I added to my collection with this little gem.


It's an Aero Wool Winder which I should think dates from the 1950s, complete with its original box and instruction leaflet. This tells us that "thousands of satisfied persons are using this aid to better knitting" - so now you know. It also suggests that you can use the winder to unravel old garments to re-use the yarn and that it will take out all the kinks; I'm not so sure about that.

Anyway, it all goes together smoothly and the arms can be extended to fit the skein.


It's a compact little device and would be handy to take with you when travelling. It works in much the same way as the first swift I found - this wooden one.


Again, you clamp the holder to a table and then extend the arms to hold the skein of  yarn.


As you can see, this one has four arms instead of three. It also has a little cup on the top to hold your ball of yarn if all that winding is too much like hard work and you have to stop for a rest.


My other two wool winders are completely different in shape and function and I think they're probably both older than the others too. 

The first one clamps to a table and has two little cages to hold the yarn. These are sometimes called 'squirrel cage swifts', although it would be a very small squirrel that fitted in one of these.


I think this one probably had a cup for the yarn on the top as it looks like there's something missing there. It's a bit unsteady and I haven't used it much.

The last winder in my collection is another squirrel cage design but this one is much bigger and stands firmly on the floor. You can adjust the position of the cages up and down the stand with the wooden pegs that go right through them.


This one's probably my favourite; I like the fact that I can use it wherever I want, without having to find something to clamp it to.

Another useful little device to go with your wool winder is a ball winder. These wind your yarn into centre pull 'cakes' - much easier to knit from.


Here I'm winding the yarn from a ball but you can also set up a table top swift next to the ball winder and do two jobs at once. I bought this little winder from a charity shop for £1 (of course I did, and no, in case you're wondering, I don't have much new stuff in my house).

While waiting to find an antique wool winder you could of course wind your wool in the old-fashioned way by co-opting a willing (or unwilling) child to hold your skein while you wind. My Mother grew up in the war surrounded by female relatives who all knitted a lot and she used to swear that she slept with her arms held out, just in case one of them wanted to wind some wool.

Wednesday 13 February 2019

Secret Garden

Today I want to talk about a project that I've thoroughly enjoyed working on over the last year. Normally my designs are simple, brightly coloured and quick to knit. This one is the complete opposite of that.


As you can see, this is a highly textured blanket, knitted in thin, cream yarn. My camera hates taking pictures of cream coloured things so I apologise for the poor quality of the photos in this post - I did the best I could.

Anyway, back to the knitting. This baby blanket is called Secret Garden and has neatly laid out flower beds, moss stitch paths and a brick patterned border. It's named after the book of the same name The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett in which orphan Mary Lennox discovers a neglected garden hidden behind a wall.

Patterns for blankets like this were very popular in Victorian times. Often featuring leaves and other designs from nature, they were knitted in fine cream or white cotton, using thin needles. They were commonly made up of diagonally knitted squares which, when put together, revealed complex patterns.

'Weldon's Practical Knitter' featured patterns for these sorts of blankets - or quilts as they were sometimes known. You can still come across original editions of Weldons like this bound collection which I bought some years ago.


In between the many patterns for baby clothes and what can only be called substantial nether garments are some absolutely beautiful blanket patterns. This one is from a special edition titled 'How To Knit Pretty Designs For Quilts And Borders', published in 1891. It's called Corinthian pattern.


In the same edition there's this 'Open Bay-Leaf Pattern for Quilt Square' - lots of leaves on this one.


Or, for something more modern looking, what about this one?


It's referred to as a ridge hexagon but I have seen blocks of this shape called Sexagons in early patterns too.

Should you want to get some of these old magazines for yourself, I can thoroughly recommend buying the digital editions from Interweave Press. They sell them as individual issues or in collections. I buy new ones every so often and then print them out and keep them in files; I need to get some more I think, they've got lots I haven't bought yet. They also have digital editions of Weldon's Practical Crochet and Weldon's Practical Stocking Knitter, as well as lots of exciting modern titles too. For those interested in knitting history the Knitting Traditions magazines are excellent. I used to order these as actual magazines but the UK stockist had so many problems getting them from the US that they gave up in the end. Maybe I should fill the gaps in my collection with digital issues? 

I should warn you that Victorian knitting patterns are not easy to follow and there may well be mistakes in the instructions so be prepared to do a bit of work to 'translate' them. If you prefer your vintage patterns re-worked and tested then another excellent resource is this book, Knitting Counterpanes by Mary Walker Phillips


In the introduction to this Dover edition Meg Swansen refers to Phillips as one of the 'Big Three' in the knitting world, together with Barbara Walker (she of the wonderful Treasuries of Knitting) and, of course, Meg's own mother Elizabeth Zimmermann - she who must be named whenever knitters gather together.

This book talks about the history of this sort of knitting, as well as providing lots of lovely patterns and advice on designing your own unique blanket. I particularly like this swirly circle ...


... and how about this beautiful octagon?


After all that wonderful inspiration, would you like to hear a bit more about my own blanket? I based my design on the 'Garden Plot'square in Mary Thomas's 1943 Book of Knitting Patterns


I wrote about the start of this project about a year ago in Woolly Plans but, basically, what I did was to take the original square and translate it into something smaller and more to my taste. I've kept the original corner leaves but have replaced the line of leaves with bells and added moss stitch paths. 

There are 24 squares in the blanket, each one has about 100 rows and takes several hours to knit.

This is knitting that shouldn't be rushed, it needs to be taken steadily, enjoying the process of creating something beautiful. When you start sewing the squares together you see more of the pattern. First this ...


... and then this ...


I surprised myself by how much I enjoyed knitting the border on to this blanket - yes, even with all those hundreds of stitches on the needle. It actually didn't take that long and makes all the difference.


Honestly, it looks much nicer in real life (and is actually cream coloured, not dirty beige). I hope you'll be inspired by this to start your own garden blanket, either mine or another one. These really are heirlooms for the future.

Now I can get on with one of the many other blankets I'm working on ... like the new Ten Stitch for example. I'd really like to finish that soon.