Meet Derek.

Ok, so he's not scary, well, at all (don't tell him that!)...

Derek, the Mechanobot

Happy Halloween!

New pattern!

Hello there! It's been a while (again, I know!) but great news - I have finally written up the pattern for the Naomi Scarf after lots of very flattering requests for it on Ravlery. Since I added it to the Ravelry database last night, it's already in 18 queues - how lovely! I am really looking forward to seeing all the different versions everyone makes in different colours, yarns, etc. You can also find the pattern in my Etsy shop - whichever you prefer.

Here are the links:

Naomi Scarf on Ravelry

Naomi Scarf on Etsy

Hope you like it!

Working girl.

Okay, so it's been awhile. I've been busy! I know, it's no excuse. It's been almost a month! Bad, bad.

But as I said, I have been busy. I have knit a whole slew of things, which if I am not too lazy - I mean busy - I will post very soon. But there is news to get out of the way first.

1) I have been writing. (No, not on this blog, but elsewhere and I am excited about it! More on this sometime soon, I hope.)

2) I have been taking an Italian class. This does not mean in any way that I can speak Italian. But I try.

2) I will be moving. Staying in London, but heading East. Woohoo. Everybody who lives East tells me they love it. I am excited.

3) I got a job! In a yarn shop! Lots of woohoos! It's all very exciting. I am doing my best not to spend the money I make on the yarn I sell. It's hard.

So that's the news out of the way. Let's get to the knitting. I guess I'll go backwards, since I just finished a project today that I am too excited about not to share. It's one I have improvised, to fit my friend Naomi's specifications. I kind of hope she doesn't like it, so I can keep it for myself.

It's in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK; a lovely pinky colour. I used mostly garter stitch, added a ruffle,some mesh crochet and a little fringe. I wasn't really sure it was going to turn out ok at first, but I have to say, I really like how it turned out and I am already plotting about making one for myself. I put it on ravelry, with more photos, here.

More soon, I promise.

How to: the Anthro Ruffled Scarf.

I am so happy about the response I have gotten from fellow Ravelers on my Anthropologie-inspired scarf! There have been a few requests for my notes on how I did it, and so I thought I'd write it all out here for you. If you decide to knit the scarf, there is also now a pattern page for it on Ravelry here: Anthropologie-Inspired Ruffled Scarf.

Anthropologie-Inspired Ruffled Scarf

Materials:

• Approximately 4 skeins of Cascade 220 (100% Peruvian Highland Wool/Worsted/10 ply/220yds/201m per skein)
• One set of 5.5 mm knitting needles
• Cable needle
• One 5.5 mm crochet hook
• A sheet of paper folded over itself width-wise to create a 2.5" strip
• Tapestry needle

Gauge: 25 st and 20 rows = 4" in k1, p1 ribbing

Finished Measurements:

• Scarf without crochet border: 87" x 5"
• Scarf with crochet border: 89" x 9"

Pattern notes:

C10F = Slip 10 stitches to cable needle, hold cable needle in front, work 10 stitches in (k1, p1) ribbing, work 10 stitches from cable needle in (k1, p1) ribbing

C10B = Slip 10 stitches to cable needle, hold cable needle in back, work 10 stitches in (k1, p1) ribbing, work 10 stitches from cable needle in (k1, p1) ribbing

Main Knitted Scarf Instructions:

The scarf is worked in a 1x1 rib with a garter stitch border on either side. Cables appear every 15 rows. The border is worked in broomstick crochet, without twisting the loops. More detailed information below.

With 5.5 mm needles, cast on 44 stitches (I like a tubular cast on).

Row 1: slip 1, k1, (k1, p1) to last 2 stitches, k2

Repeat this row 9 times more for a total of 10 rows.

*Cable row 1: slip 1, k1, (C10F) twice, k2

Repeat row 1 14 times

Cable row 2: sl1, k1, work 10 stitches in (k1, p1) ribbing, C10B, work 10 stitches in (k1, p1) ribbing, k2

Repeat row 1 14 times.*

Work from * to * 9 times

Repeat Cable Row 1

Repeat Row 1 14 times

Repeat Cable Row 2

Repeat Row 1 10 times

Bind off.

Crochet Ruffle Border Instructions:

If you haven't done broomstick crochet before, I suggest that you check out any of the youtube videos that give a visualisation of how to do it. It is really easy, but not unless someone shows you how it's done first. You may notice that the loops are twisted together in these videos, however in this version, you will not twist the loops. You may also notice that in these videos, crocheters often use something to hold the loops as they go around. I just used a strip of folded paper, described below.

Take a sheet of A4 or letter-sized paper and fold it width-wise to create a 2.5" wide strip - you will use this to place the crochet loops on to create uniform-sized loops as you go around. Don't worry when there isn't enough space on the strip to hold the loops you are creating; once they start falling off the end of the strip, they will stay uniform in size. You just need to keep the most recent loops on the strip so they don't pull and change in size. You could use a ruler or a piece of cardboard of the same size if you like.

With 5.5 mm crochet hook,start at one corner of the scarf (it doesn't matter which side of the scarf you work from, as it is reversible). Insert the hook into a knit border stitch and draw up a loop. Place the loop on the strip (the strip should be turned horizontally now, as in the photo below.

Continue around the scarf, drawing up a loop for each knitted stitch along the short edge of the scarf, and along each row of the long edge of the scarf, placing the loops on the strip, and moving the strip along as you go. Once you have drawn up these loops around the edges of the entire scarf, single crochet at the top of each loop all the way around. Do not twist the loops. This will secure all the loops together around the scarf. Try to lay the scarf out completely flat as you do this, so that the single crochet stitches are all in approximately the same place on each loop. You will also want to watch out that you don't miss any loops as they can sometimes get lost - check both sides of the scarf every now and then to make sure you haven't missed any. Once you have single crocheted around the scarf in each loop, slip stitch to join the last stitch made to the first stitch. Fasten off and weave in ends.

Okay, so I think that's it! If you find any mistakes in the pattern (especially as I wrote it down from memory, rather than as I knit it), please feel free to let me know!

Mmmm... doughnuts...

I am up to a bit of a spring clean - about 7 or 8 months late, I know, but we are having people over for a little Thanksgiving celebration on Saturday (We are in England. Sadly no 2.5 days off from work.) and then a friend is coming all the way from Oz to stay for a while. It was time.

So, I am filing away stacks of unsorted mail, making stacks and stacks of books look tidy, scaring the dust bunnies out from under the sofa - and, of course, dealing with the untamed wave of wool, haberdashery and pages of knitting patterns that have engulfed the house.

This morning I decided that this major operation included everything down to the last, little pin. And so I made this:

Productive, no?

Anyway, I like it and it will make a nice little addition to my newly organised desk. (Not that I need justification or anything.)

It is: the Donut Pincushion by Nevadamama, made with scraps of yarn and stuffed with dried lentils and some other bits of unwanted yarn too.

Crochet Couture

Well, even if one of her arms was probably freezing, at least the rest of her was warm and cozy...

But I actually think she kind of pulls it off. Not a bad way to brighten a drizzly Melbourne day.

Here she is saying, "So I was at my granny's house without a thing to wear and then I said, 'Hey granny - give me that blanket, I've got a red carpet to get on'!" And Hugo Weaving is saying, "Hey. Nice one granny."

Cardiganarama

Lots has happened since my last post. Lots meaning cardigans.

Here's the finished Herringbone (rav link):

I haven't worn it anywhere but around the house so far. It's almost too cold already for it to be of any use now, and I feel like in the summer it was a bit too warm. It shall be my "house jacket." When did I become a housewife?!

Far more exciting are my Garter Yoke Cardigan and my Duotone Cardigan, both from Vogue Knitting Fall/Winter 2008's piece on top-down raglans.

Cute no? Both really easy, both really cute. Definitely outside-world-wearable.

For the Garter Yoke Cardigan I just used a load of random buttons from my grandmother's old stash. They don't match and are all different sizes, but the gold in them brings them together and I am really liking the effect.

In other news (sort of), Murray and I just got back from the End of the Road Festival this weekend. I camped out. Seriously. But I did bring my knitting. The weather was glorious, so I actually didn't really need to actually wear any of my knitting - who knew the sun could come out in England in September? See below:

Anyway, glorious it was and I got started on what I will call my "Festival Socks" (Drops 103-11 Long Socks) because I had every intention of wearing them all weekend with wellies to keep out the mud, even though I never had to. See proof of said glorious weather in this sunset shot:

Bliss.

Eating: Garganelli with Pumpkin, Sage & Goat's Cheese (so autumn-y and lovely)

Listening to: old Tori (because I saw her last Thursday night!) and Vetiver (because they were one of the best at EOTR).

Employment.

I haven't posted very often on this blog, well, ever, but I find myself in a position recently (read: unemployed) where I can finally get into it properly. The word unemployed itself is interesting... I wouldn't say I am unemployed in the strictest definition of the word exactly; I have found a million ways in which to "employ" myself - it's just unfortunate that none of these ways have managed to make me any money!

Catching up on Jessica Fletcher and Cabot Cove, Maine aside, I have been doing things that I always meant to do and wanted to do but never had the time or the energy. This includes the main reason that I originally financially unemployed myself - finally knuckling down and working on a PhD research proposal and applications - but also things that somehow remind me how to enjoy life. Growing herbs, pumpkin, tomatoes and strawberries in the garden, making real food, taking photos, listening to music, meeting friends, and knitting, knitting, knitting. (And some crocheting and dressmaking too.)

Somehow having back the energy that I lost commuting an hour each way on buses and tubes every morning has made a huge difference and I wonder that I ever thought I would miss it! And so it's time to catch up. We all know Mrs. Fletcher knows how to enjoy the simple things in life (I suppose witnessing as many murders as she has would give you some perspective) and so I felt it only right that I finally document some of these things that make me happy.

Herringbone Mesh Jacket (Amy O'Neill Houck)

Now, believe it or not, the above is set to become a sweater. Hopefully I will have proof of this soon. For now, it is a slightly confusing, but surprisingly easy to crochet hunk of pretty cheap yarn (Robin Aran with Wool 400: 25% wool, the rest acrylic). I bought the yarn ages ago thinking I would make a huge blanket, but obviously more luxurious, fascinating knits came up. And being without finances as I am, I have just recently decided to use up that stash and hitting two birds with one stone, tidy up that corner of the living room that Murray tries not to look at. Brenda Dayne, of the Cast On podcast was talking about this on her last show and basically said even if she tried to just use up all her stash - without buying any more yarn - she probably wouldn't be able to in her lifetime! Now, it hasn't got so bad for me - yet. But might as well start using it while I still have a chance. But my Liberty gift coin still lurks in my wallet, waiting to be spent in exchange for the most beautiful yarn, for the most beautiful project - but gift vouchers don't count, right?

Anyway, the sweater grows. (Confession: I may have allowed myself an episode or two of Murder She Wrote while hooking). Some notes on Ravelry. Also on the go are: Saartje's Booties done Fleegle-style for a friend of the family's baby due early September and the Tender cardigan by Kim Hargreaves.

All this while listening to the lovely Bon Iver and eating (read: getting fat on) some easy, way too quick homemade chocolate fudge. Bliss.