Wool Week

Did you know that next week is Wool Week? Well, actually Wool Week kicks off this Saturday with tonnes of events throughout the UK lined up for the rest of the week. Wool Week is part of The Campaign for Wool which seeks to promote the benefits of using wool - here in the UK the focus is primarily on locally produced wool and the campaign is backed by the Prince of Wales and The Wool Marketing Board. As a knitter I am mainly concerned with hand-knitting wool, but the campaign actually focuses on how diverse and sustainable a product wool really is. I also remember the huge buzz surrounding British wool when I was at the Knit Camp marketplace in August and next week I will be part of a Wool Week event - these are exciting times to be a knitter.

Everybody's already seen this one, but I thought it wonderfully apt..

(Meanwhile I appear to be dying of the common cold. Send me good vibes. I hate being ill.)

The Big Knit

Perthshire Amber - The Dougie MacLean Festival is repeating its Big Knit again this year. Last year people at the festival and across the globe got their knitting needles out to help raise £2,000 for Shelter Scotland. (..) For knitters who want to get involved and can’t come to the festival, all they have to do is to get hold of some Artesano wool and knit a six inch square in one of the approved blanket colours, and then send it off to the Festival.

More info at Shelter Scotland. If you are a Glasgow knitter, you can purchase Artesano yarn at Mandors or The Life Craft.

Idunn

Pope Benedict XVI is visiting Scotland and England over the next few days. I have never lived anywhere with a big Catholic community and it is interesting to see how Glasgow is reacting. I do not know if it is the result of the Glasgow Airport terrorist attack, but the amount of security is quite surprising; The main motorway is being shut down for an entire day, several areas surrounding the park where the Pope will address pilgrims have been shut off and certain trains are designated pilgrims-only. This reminds me of when George W. Bush visited Denmark at his height of his unpopularity - boy, it was fun to navigate Copenhagen that day - but mainly it strikes me as odd that a religious leader can generate so much fuss. Then again I identify as a secular humanist. One of these days I need to make myself a "Humanist; Not a Dawkins Fan", though. One of the Pope's aides have pulled out of the UK visit following an interview wherein he criticises the UK for "a new and aggressive atheism". The media have reacted strongly to this, of course, but I think I know which brand of atheism the aide is referring to and, honestly, it is a form of atheism that makes me uncomfortable too. I need to write more about this, but suffice to say that a) I'm puzzled by the Pope's visit and b) I hope all my Catholic friends in Glasgow will have a memorable and good day.

If course there is one religious belief with which I do feel connected: Forn Sidr or Asatru, the belief in the old Norse gods. I grew up with the stories and while I do not believe, there is definitely a connection. I think it is about growing up in a landscape where you see remnants of the ancient past everywhere and seeing the forces of nature unfold before your eyes. Again, I need to write more about this.

And there is a knitting aspect, of course.

Last night I cast on for Idunn. I assumed this would be a commuter project: The February Beret by sockpixie. I made this hat in orange last year and it turned out to be the most flattering hat I have ever owned - well, apart from the rusty orange hue. As soon as I finished it last year, I  began thinking about those two precious balls of Scottish Tweed DK in "Apple Green" from my stash. Ever since Rowan discontinued Scottish Tweed due to supply issues, I have been acting all dragon-like what with the hoarding and jealous guarding.. but yarn is really meant to be knitted up and so here we are.

And Idunn was a Norse goddess associated with apples.

I don't think it'll be much of a commuter project because I'm halfway done. Just in time for the first autumnal winds and heavy rainfall. I love being a knitter.

PPS. I shall be in Copenhagen November 4 until November 8, so get in touch if you know of any knit night/knit event/yarn sale.

WIP: Lumley

I finished the back of my cardigan yesterday. It has been a really quick knit so far - every time I sit down to work on it, the rows fly by - and it has been very satisfying too. I have not been knitting many garments this year for a number of reasons, so I'm extra-excited about knitting this one. To remind you of the stats: Pattern: Patsy by Kim Hargreaves Yarn: Rowan Baby Alpaca DK in "Cherry Red"

It is my first Hargreaves garment, but I suspect it will not be the last. Yesterday I sat thinking about my old blog post about plain knitting and how much I encouraged everyone to embrace plain knitting. Hargreaves must think along the same lines, because her designs are based upon the most basic stitch patterns: moss stitch, ribbing, stocking stitch, garter stitch .. but then she throws in little details that elevates the designs from being run-of-the-mill to actual gems. My current cardigan project has a few of Hargreaves details: the increases and decreases are cleverly hidden; the shoulder section gets an unexpected moss stitch pattern; the fronts have elegant tiny picots running up the button-band. The pattern does not scream to high heaven about its 'knitterliness' (this pattern has always frightened me with its loud 'knitterliness' as has this one) but there is much knitterly pleasure to be found in the fine print.

As a consequence of finding pleasure in the details, I have allowed myself to dwell over the finer aspects of knitting too.

I started knitting one of the fronts and began by exploring which cast-on method would be best. Yes, I know it is a bit late to ponder these things after having finished the back, but I felt like experimenting.

My preferred cast-on method is the longtail cast-on, but I tried out a couple of other methods to see which one would give me the neatest edge (and picot). The knitted cast-on is many people's favourite, but I found I had to knit the first row through the back-loops just to get an even-looking edge. I suspected the cable cast-on was going to provide the best-looking edge, but while it was neater than the knitted cast-on, it was less flexible than I would have liked. I swear I was two seconds away from attempting the Italian tubular cast-on (the bane of my knitting life!) .. but I ended up going back to the longtail method. Montse Stanley's The Knitter's Handbook is my go-to reference book for knitting techniques and I think she lists more than twenty cast-ons. I shall investigate.

As for why I'm calling the Patsy cardigan "Lumley" it should be fairly obvious..

SSS + C

Self-Stitched September is going swimmingly despite the lack of updates. It helps that the weather in Glasgow is unpredictable at best, so I get good use out of my woolly projects despite it being early September. SSS also helps me focus on what I need to make for myself and not what I would really like to make. Anyway, a photo of today's outfit. Forecast is a perennial favourite of mine and at the moment it makes for a great jacket. Depending upon the season I either use it with vintage looking shirts peeping out (like the one I am wearing today) or I stuff several layers underneath it and button it up. Either way, I love wearing it and the fit continues to be great. I'm also wearing my Vancouver socks. I need to knit more socks. Despite my unease about knitting socks, I like wearing them on autumnal days.

I look really tired in the photo. I'm actually okay, so I presume lack of makeup + lack of enthusiasm = tired face.

SSS round-up: Kaiti/Kiri shawl (Saturday), Snorri (Sunday - in the evening I switched to a Rowan Kidsilk Aura vest I haven't blogged about), Dragonfly (Monday) and Serenity/Haematite (Tuesday).

I am obsessed with knitted dresses at the moment although I know I don't have time nor the willpower to knit a dress, let alone the confidence to wear one. I love this Drops pattern and think that Kid Classic would make the perfect substitute. Imagine this dress in deep red or maybe dusky purple? Oh yeah. I'm also loving the 1960s vibe of the Grouch pattern and there's a terribly cute cabled dress, Georgia, in the recent Homestead Classics booklet. I think I might just stick to buying a knitted dress (if I find one I'd feel comfortable wearing) because I have too many things to knit already.

Finally, some non-knitting content: just like ten years ago I put Joyce's Ulysses aside circa page 250 only to find myself being engulfed by Life. I tried returning to the novel earlier this week, but my head was not in it. If I find my life slowing down, I shall restart the novel because apparently that is what happens when I try to read it. So I have decided to squirrel it aside for the moment and focus on Tom McCarthy's C which is on this year's Booker short list. All I know about C is that its author rejects the realist mode of late 20th British fiction (HOORAY), claims a kinship with early 20th C High Modernism (HOORAY) and that a review ended thus:

"Will he turn out," McCarthy asked recently of the French writer Jean-Philippe Toussaint, "to have been deconstructing literary sentimentalism or sentimentalising literary deconstruction?" It's a sign of his writerly horse sense that this skilfully realised, ambitious, over-literary book finds the time to leave a similar question hanging.

Clearly my kind of book.

Sensitive Knitters: This Post Comes With a Warning

I have thrown out several old knitting/crochet projects today. I don't think I've even ravelled them - except Newgrange, Ms Pettigrew, and Autumn Morning - as they were mostly pre-Ravelry. I chose not to rip out the projects because, really, the yarns used weren't that great and I have way too much yarn already. I chose projects that were ill-fitting, badly-conceived or just not used - and oddly enough D seemed more upset about me throwing out projects than I was. I don't really know why anyone would get upset about me throwing out an itchy rainbow-coloured mohair scarf.Or a hat which makes me look at though I'm growing fungus on top of my head. Looking at Newgrange I was reminded of an old idea I had for a crocheted cowl/scarf, though. I will get back to that idea very, very soon. Promise.

Current project is Patsy from the new Kim Hargreaves book, Touching Elegance. Judging from the online community, I am the only person in the entire universe to like this collection, but I really dig the 1920s/1930s nostalgia and its sombre atmosphere.

The back looked incredibly tiny when I first started but as I progressed from the ribbed section into the "proper" pattern, the sizing started to make sense. It has been a quick knit so far - famous last words! - but I'm already at the armhole shaping and am gearing up for making the fronts. Usually I'd work on a sleeve between doing the two fronts, but seeing as I have monkey arms, I will want to lengthen the sleeves so I need to figure out how much yarn I've got and how much I need to lengthen the sleeves. It'll be easier to figure out once the rest of the cardigan is done.. right?

The yarn is RYC Baby Alpaca DK (I think it's being rebranded as Rowan? All RYC yarns now come with nice Rowan paper ballbands). It's lovely. Actually, it's lovely. It's one of those yarns that look vaguely non-descript in the ball but bloom as soon as you start working with it. It makes a deliciously soft fabric but the softness has some body to it: it is not all fluffiness. I do like my alpaca yarns (I'm always cold & alpaca is warmer than wool) and this is one of the nicest I have used. I just hope that I'm not miscalculating just how much it'll stretch - I am knitting it to a slightly tighter gauge and I do want my cardigan to have a blousy feel. We shall see.

I need a couple of more projects on my needles, as Patsy is now the only thing I'm working on. I have a couple of knitting group sessions coming up, so I'll be looking for a few brainless projects. I also want a lace project on the needles - I started knitting a Laminaria shawl for ms Old Maiden Aunt, but my head was not in the right place (I'll get back to it soon enough, though). Off to search the Ravelry database..

.. but first I need to pull my handknitted cardigans out of the washing machine. I know. This blog post is full of knitting upsets.