Two sleaves in progress

Currently knitting: 2 sleaves. At the same time, on the same needles, but using two balls of wool. For baby Michael's dog jumper.

The theory is that at least this way the sleaves will definitely turn out the same length with the same shaping. Because I am not always careful enough using row counters. It requires a level of concentration that I can't always manage when multi-tasking. Which is otherwise known as knitting while watching TV.

I seem to have lost my knitting and blogging mojo over the past couple of weeks. It just seem to takes so long to achieve anything. But I am determined to push over this hurdle. I'm hoping by the time I finish the sleaves, I'll be capable of finishing the embroidery on the front and back of the jumper.

Websites with free knitting patterns

How long is a piece of string? One of my colleagues at work wanted a list of 'all' the websites with free knitting patterns for her mum. As most knitters know, there are literally thousands of such sites; so many that it is amazing that we still manage to go out and purchase patterns. But a computer print-out will never replace the feel of a 'proper' book. So I quickly sent her links to some of my favourites.

MagKnits - quarterly British site which has included my favourite diagonal scarf pattern and a good short-row top for big busted women.

Mostly Knitting - site by Australian knitter Sarah Bradberry. Lots of charts, re-written old patterns, great roll-brim hat and fingerless gloves.

Knitting Pattern Central - as the name suggests, a connection to lots of free patterns (including mine!)

Knitting About - I sometimes find myself going in circles here, but there are some good gems buried amongst the ads.

KnittingHelp - a recent discovery; includes some good basics.

Knitty - it would be sacrilege to leave Knitty out although it is very American-centric. Worth a look just for the obligatory weirdo pattern of the issue.

Your Rights @ Work beanie + free pattern

This beanie is for one of my friends to wear at the upcoming Your Rights @ Work rally. I wanted it to be quite wearable out in public after the rally, hence I decided to just go for a subtle stripe on a basic black beanie.

Pattern requirements:
80 grams black 8-ply wool
small amount of orange 8-ply wool
40cm circular needle - 4mm (or 3.75mm if you are a loose knitter linke me)
set of 4mm (3.75mm) DPNs
Wool needle

(Try not to buy any of the above from Spotlight until they stop offering staff AWAs that leave them worse off than if they were being paid the Award rate. Search your stash and/or support your local wool shop. The orange should be 'safety orange' and can be a bit tricky to find in pure wool - I found the colour in the Naturally New Zealand brand. I thoroughly recommend pure wool over acrylic - much nicer to knit with, warmer to wear and longer lasting. There are machine washable wool yarns available.)

Construction:
Using black yarn, cast on 120 stitches onto the circular needle. Join, being careful not to twist, and place marker(a scrap of yarn works as well, if not better, than the fancy stitch markers).
K2, P2 rib for four rounds. Break off black yarn.
Using orange yarn, K2, P2 rib for four rounds. Break off orange yarn.
Using black yearn, K2, P2 rib for a further 28 rounds.
Rounds 37-50: Knit.
Round 51: *Knit 2-tog, K13 ** Repeat from * to ** until the end of the round
Round 52 (and all even rounds from this point on): Knit
Round 53: *Knit 2-tog, K12 ** Repeat from * to ** until the end of the round
Round 55: *Knit 2-tog, K11 ** Repeat from * to ** until the end of the round
At this point you'll need to change to the DPNs.
Continue in this fashion until only 8 stitches remain. Cut a tail of about 15 cm, and use the yarn needle to thread the tail through the final 8 stitches. Neatly darn in this and all other ends, remembering that the brim will be turned up when the beanie is worn.

Canberra survival kit

Yes, yes, I know. Nothing posted for ages and then all I do is stick up another photo of yet another Noro hat and scarf set.

And it is not even a diagonal/lace/weird design, but a plain rib. Actually a Prime Rib, but a fairly straightforward scarf by my standards. It's been my 'knitting as therapy' project. I've just been having a fairly 'blah' week and needed something soothing to do.

The yarn is colourway 126, now out of production, purchased off eBay. A bit too orange and green for my taste. But perfect for someone with a different skin-tone. Like one of my colleagues at work who was born in India and is transfering to the Canberra office next month. As any Australian knows, Canberra in winter is hell, with temperatures regularly dropping bellow zero overnight (OK, this may not compete with Michigan or Canada but in Australia we don't have the same set-up for sub-zero climates). We have all been teasing poor Shefali merciously about her future trips to work. So I figured a nice thick woollen hat and scarf set might be an appropriate farewell present.

The hat I did on the tram, a ball of yarn and my needles stuffed in a coat pocket, which turned out to be rather convenient. So I am now starting my 'Your Rights at Work' beanie (black with orange stripe) as a tram project. Once I'm sure I have the pattern right I'll post it here and possibly on the ACTU site if they want it.

By popular demand...

This is the multi-direction scarf (and hat) that has saved me from Melbourne's cold snap this past two weeks and got all the attention. The scarf pattern is from Magknits (click here for a direct link) and is much easier to knit than it looks. The ribbed hat pattern is my own (click here for the pattern - but I now only cast on 92 stitches and use the 6mm circular needle).

I can't upload any pics of my current knitting as my computer guru (aka my husband) is busy upgrading the system which always seems to entail him taking off programs I use and assuring me that they'll be put back on really, really soon but never soon enough for someone as impatient as me!

I'm now doing the front of the Spot the dog jumper for baby Michael. My knitting as therapy is a very simple prime-rib scarf (in Noro, casting on 24 stitches on 6mm needles) to match another Noro rib hat I finished on the tram last week. This latest set will probably end up being for a friend's birthday. It's crazy; I wouldn't normally spend $50 on a regular birthday present but I don't seem to have a problem giving her a present involving more than $50 worth of wool. Such is the mentality of a true knitaholic!

And in blast from the past news, a YEAR after I designed the CPSU beanie (click here fore a photo), the union decided to run an article about it in their national magazine. Which would have been fine except they wrote the article as though I was still in my old position and workplace - I hope no-one is currently frustrated, trying to track me down!

Back online

One has to love computer hiccups. Without going into long and boring details, I have recovered my email address book but lost all my emails in the process. This has happened a few times which is why I now also use a gmail and yahoo email account to store a lot of my mail in, whatever Outlook, Microsoft, my computer and my computer technician conspire to do.

In knitting news, I finished another Noro hat on my tram journeys too and from work. I found my knitting in public attracted a lot more attention than it usually does. Probably because I was also wearing my diagonal short-rows scarf (it's been very cold here) and beanie. Two knitters I have never met before over the past week have asked me for that scarf pattern. And I got a lot of comments over my knitting. I feel a strange mixture of pride and self-consciousness when people do that.

Today I went to a yarn expo at Coburg Town Hall and managed to leave without buying anything. There was some gorgeous hand-dyed merino wool and mohair, some lovely local handspun and also some good deals on Heirloom and Naturally wool but my stash is approaching scary levels. The only thing I bought was a Nostepinde hand wool-winder (actually the ti tree one in the picture) to make centre-pull balls. I'm sorry to say that my first attempt was not as good as that portrayed by the purported first-timer in the picture.

Anyway, I'll try and post again tomorrow. Good night to all.

My 2 cents worth in reply to Spotlight's 2 cents offer to staff

I try and keep my knitting and union passions separate as I don't want to put off people who are not into both things. But sometimes there is a cross-over that simply can't be ignored - like Spotlight's decision to employ new staff on AWA's that up the hourly rate by 2 cents an hour (from AU$14.28 to AU$14.30) but remove all shift and overtime penalties for staff working nights and weekends. The relevant union involved , The Shop, Distributive & Allied Employee's Association, estimates that this means that new employees will earn $90 less a week than the current employees able to remain on the award. Read more here.

Call me a cynic but I don't think that $90 per week taken from some of the lowest paid people in Australia is going to translate into cheaper yarn for us knitting addicts. Spotlight has already reduced the amount of quality Australian natural yarn on the shelves and replaced it with pricier and poorer-quality imports (to any American readers, yes we in Australia now finally understand what you were all going on about re: Redheart yarn and totally agree). I suspect that $90 will be going straight into the bottom line of the people who own the store.

And who are Spotlight's staff anyhow? Well, according to their own website, people like you and me:

Are you interested in a job with Spotlight Stores?

Spotlight is constantly in need of new staff. Each Store is responsible for their own recruitment and will employ on an as needs basis. Exisiting customers are some of our best new employees!

Knitters for unions

I am always rather touched when non-knitting friends acknowledge my hobby and give me knitting related presents. The above book is a 'Christmas' present from Tash, my old union organiser. We are still friends even though we are continually trying to entice staff from each other's organisation to change sides. Neither of us has succeeded yet.

Tash may have a tiny little ulterior motive in giving me this book. She is on the board for Apheda and reckons a nice hat, glove and scarf set in Your Rights At Work colours would be perfect for the upcoming fundraising dinner. I'll let you into a secret - I'd make them up for her even without the book.

In other knitting news, one of the Melbourne SnB girls has accused me of being an enabler for letting everyone on the list know Clegg's in Melbourne is flogging off its Patons Lush Mohair for $3.95/ball. Now I am letting everyone on the internet know. This is the same yarn that used to sell for around $12/ball (and even more if you were foolish enough to purchase it from certain over-rated boutique yarn stores). I wasn't deliberately trying to enable. Just encourage everyone else to buy up the excess stock before my stash grew any bigger and my bank account even smaller. As of Tuesday 23 May they still had silver/grey, lilac-purple, autumn tones, lolly pink and pale green left.

I have finished the back of the Spot the dog jumper and am about to move onto the front. I forgot how much fun simple intarsia knitting can be and how quickly baby jumpers knitted up. My current tram project is yet another Noro yarn ribbed hat. I promise I will give this one away as a present. I didn't intend to knit another hat but I chucked a ball of yarn and the 6mm circulars in my coat pocket and it sort of happened.

Back to kiddie knitting

I received a phone call from my friend, Rachel, last week. Apparently Miss Gabi has discovered the Miffy jumper I knitted for her a year ago (bottom pic). It is still two sizes too big but this has not dissuaded Miss Gabi from deciding it's her favourite jumper for the moment. Miffy is being worn with sleeves rolled-up and being dragged all over the place. I am thrilled.

But it got me thinking that I really should get off my butt re: kid no. 2. Poor Michael doesn't even have a hat after Miss Gabi discovered the one I knitted for him, naturally too large, and decided that after a bit of stretching that it is perfect for her's truly. So I unearthed my favourite ABC For Kids Book of Knitted Jumpers and examined the stash and decided to knit up Spot.

The top picture is my work in progress whereas the second pic is from the knitting book. You may notice that I am knitting a black and white Spot, instead of yellow and brown. Michael is too young to notice and Rachel too sleep-deprived to care. Miss Gabi almost certainly will notice and care but hopefully she'll let Michael get on and wear the jumper. Maybe she will think it is Harry who I recall as being a black and white dog. At least the jumper will definitely be too small for her to steal. It will have Spot on both the front and the back as I don't have quite enough blue wool to do a solid back. I thought about doing a completely different picture on the back but decided against it. For the moment. I might change my mind tomorrow.

Jellybean socks finished

Note how different the toes look to the rest of the socks, thanks to the lack of pooling.

I resisted the urge to wear the socks bushwalking today - I want them to last more than one week.

I still have 1 1/2 balls of yarn left over and am thinking of making fingerless gloves - this time alternating the two balls to reduce the pooling.

Instant gratification for the ADD Knitter

The Christmas Morning Massacre socks should be finished by the end of this week - they are my current tram project.  I still haven't perfected the hole-avoidance technique but they will be quite wearable.  I should probably try some other style of sock-making but at least this pattern seems to produce socks that fit comfortably.

 

Over the last few days I made another hat for my husband -- but might steal it back for my own wear.  It's made of Jo Sharp Ultra - 85 percent wool, 10 percent silk and 5 percent cashmere - the most gloriously thick and luxurious yarn.  Colour 'clinker' which translates to dark navy blue with maybe a faint touch of green in it.  The label recommended 7mm needles, but I always go down a size or two; on my 6mm hat-making circular it was a bit of a firm knit but not ridiculously so.  I bought the yarn when I went to check out the famous Wool Baa which is a dangerous short tram ride from my work.  It's very similar to Sunspun in terms of types and quality of yarns and accessories.

 

I dream of making a jumper out of Jo Sharp Ultra Clinker but estimate it would be require about 25 balls (I'm a big girl and I like long jumpers) at $7.60 each...

 

Summer Interweave Knits arrives

After all the shenanigans of trying to get my Spring IK mag, the summer one came without any dramas quite unexpectedly last night.  There is a ribbed maternity jumper which has inspired me as to what I want to do with the as-yet untouched 20 balls of Jo Sharp DK yarn I have sitting at home.  I'll have to check my gauge and adjust for a non-baby belly (of course the pattern calls for a different yarn) but I think this could work.

Super-fast scarf

I made another Prime Rib scarf on 9mm needles; this time using lopi yarn I bought off eBay last year (pure wool, one single thick strand lightly spun; about 12-14-ply). It was a super-fast knit; just two nights in front of the TV. I'm quite pleased with the result - it's nice soft wool and I think a mistake-free item.

It's a gift for my cousin who has just come out of hospital - I wanted to make something nice but not spend a heap of time or money on it. The yarn wasn't overly expensive when I bought it and it's been sitting in my stash for so long that I regard this as a cost-free project. The scarf came out at 8 inches in width and 82 inches in length.

Jelly Bean Socks

As promised, a picture.

I've already nicknamed these, 'The Jelly Bean Socks' for obvious reasons. Although looking at them now, I'm wondering whether 'The Christmas Morning Massacre' may be more accurate.

These socks are a wonderful example of why one should alternate two balls when knitting with variegated yarn. You wouldn't believe that the heels and toes were knitted with the same yarn - as the rows were shorter at these points, the colour was distributed in a completely different manner. The technical term for what happened on the rest of the sock is apparently 'pooling'.

Current Interweave Knits for sale
The Spring 2006 Interweave Knits finally arrived. It has some great patterns but as I flicked through the magazine I knew I was not going to be getting around to actually making up any of the garments. There are 21 patterns including Drop-Stitch Hoodie, Oversized Cable Jacket (by Kathy Zimmerman), One Piece Lace Pullover, Lovely Lace Socks, Trellis Scarf, Mandarin Blouse, Streakers Shrug, Fingerless Mitts and more. So I put it up for sale on e-Bay with a starting price of $8.00 which is less than half what the magazine is going for at Borders. Hopefully it will find a good home with a keen knitter who might actually use it.

Still alive...

And still knitting. Just haven't been posting.

The picture is of a tea cosy, made as a gift for my boss in return for him hunting out some knitting books for me. We don't have a teapot at home, so it is being modeled by the coffee canister. Use your imagination...

After all the effort of trying to learning Prime Rib in the round and having to rip and re-start and rip and re-start, I ended up doing it in a plain 2X2 rib.

The Trekking socks are on hold. I managed to break one of the fine bamboo needles at home (do'h!) I can keep going on four but it is all rather disheartening. I don't think I'm really cut out for this fine work.

Luckily I was able to get distracted by some other rainbow-coloured yarn which I bought from Lynne at Yarnivorous - it's the same yarn that she is making the baby hat out of - and I'm starting a pair of quick-knit socks out of it (the yarn is about six-ply and I'm knitting on 3.25mm and 3mm needles, 52 stitches). Of course I didn't learn from her experience and knit with two balls at once to reduce the pooling. I've finished one sock and it looks quite Christmassy, with a red spiral snaking its way around a green background. I've started the second sock and it is pooling quite differently - I'm getting vertical blogs of colour that have begun to swirl now I've switched to smaller needles (the camera batteries are currently being recharged - photos will be uploaded when camera is operative again). At this stage I don't care. It's freezing in Melbourne and I just want another pair of hand-knit warm woolly socks for myself!

Well the ironing isn't done...

But I have finally finished Gabi's cardigan!!!

Gabi's cardigan bands done!!!

I am very very very excited.  Maybe excessively so.  My longest work on needles project is ALMOST completed and I know I will get it finished this week because I have finally overcome THE hurdle - sewing on those friggin bands on the front of the cardigan.  Now that I knew that they were meant to be so short and I did need to s-t-r-e-t-c-h them as I sewed, it was all so easy.  Thanks Karen! (from SnB Melbourne).

 

And somehow I managed to pick up the right number of stitches around the neck first time, so the neckband is done as well.  Last night I finished sewing in all the stray ends, and all I need to do now is sew in the sleaves and sew up the sides.  I can't guarantee that will be done tonight due to an ironing marathon being required :(  But it will be done this week.

 

Gabi's birthday was on Sunday but she is two years old and completely oblivious to the timing of that sort of thing and it's only clothes and I send presents randomly through the year.  I called up on the day, and with everyone being willing to blame Australia Post, I think all will be forgiven when the package turns up a couple of weeks late.

 

 

New look Knitaholic

Fingers crossed that this 'new look' is more readable than the old version. Firstly, thanks to Ozknitter who tried to help me by sending me instructions on how to change my old template's background to white. Unfortunately as Blogger is a very fickle beast (we are talking about a system that capriciously decides to not upload photos for days on end, or not upload new posts on the blog for a few days, even when it tells the author "blog successfully republished"), it decided to interpret a few simple changes to the code as "let's turn half the blog white and half the blog pink and put strange pink and white blotches all over the place" (which I gather is how the blog had been appearing to some people before I started tweaking). I'm not going to slag off Blogger as it is a free system and I've seen almost as bad stuff come off expensive commercial programs, but I was VERY frustrated.

Anyway, I managed to finally upload a brand new white-background-based template which would accept most of my personalised links. I decided to simplify things by taking off most of the fancy buttons which used to be in my side-bar as they took up way too much space. So this is a very minimalist look blog for the moment. I'm not used to it myself yet but I would prefer it first and foremost to be a readable blog. If it's as fickle as the pink one, let me know and I'll reinstate the old template.

Multiple projects on the needles

Firstly, apologies to Karen and anyone else who is having trouble reading this blog. I know nothing about html and am one of these people who is blogging on the fly with pre-defined templates and cutting and pasting and bandaids and prayers and swear words holding it all together. Barely and badly. I gather this template isn't very readable on some systems. I tried today to select a more simple white-background template. But for some reason every time I tried to make the simplest change (such as replacing the 'edit me' link with a real link) the font changed size and the sidebar ended up on the bottom of my blog. And I started growling and pulling my hair in frustration. Which is not very good for me or my hair. So template editing is on hold, at least until the weekend.

My first Trekking sock is going well - 17 cm down the leg - I'll knit to about 20 or 21cm before starting the heels. Due to the delicate nature of the needles, the over-crowding of Melbourne's public transport, my general klutziness and the thugs in private school uniforms (isn't it nice that some of these schools are now accepting thugs from all ethnic backgrounds, not just WASPs, as long as they have the money and a bad attitude? - but I digress), I am leaving this project at home.

I'm a little bit freaked-out because a few days ago I posted a question about avoiding little holes when making short-row heels on the Wiseneedle website and the owner of that site decided to answer the question, complete with pictures, on her own blog, String-or-nothing. OK, I'm sure I'm not the only person in the world with this question but it's scary the impact one can have. Even the formidable Carol of Go Knit in Your Hat has started adding in metric disclaimers in her posts after a few of us Australians made comments about American cultural imperialism in the knitting world.

The girls at Stitch 'n' Bitch last night saw me struggling with about four attempts of starting a Prime Rib Tea cozy - I am pleased to announce that I have finally got it going. I ended up only casting on 50 stitches as it is for a small teapot. It is being made for my boss who in a previous life owned a second-hand bookstore. He's going to locate the old knitting books from the store in return for a tea cosy. If I'm lucky the books will include one of the rare collectables famed in the knitting world. More likely it will be a collection of Patons patterns from the 1980s.

I'm actually very impressed with this pattern. This girl (woman?), Megan Mills, from New Zealand worked out a way of doing Prime Rib in the round. The great EZ would have hated it (as it involves lots of purl stitches) but my dislike of sewing up far exceeds my dislike of doing purl. And it is quite easy once you get going. Hint to anyone else making the tea cosy - it is much easier if you cast the stitches onto a very fat needle (I used a 9mm) and then slip them onto the 4mm needles. No need to learn a fancy Old Norwegian cast-on or other such nonsense.

I also talked to the girls at Stitch 'n' Bitch re: the bands on Gabi's cardigan and learnt they are meant to be as short as they are - I need to s-t-r-e-t-c-h them massively as I sew them on as otherwise they will droop and get baggy. So I will definitely get off my backside and do that this weekend as Miss Gabi is nearly 2, winter has set in and that cardigan needs to be finished.

Living dangerously

I bought myself some bamboo DPNs the other day and they are just heaven to use. The texture is perfect - neither so slippery that the yarn slides off at any opportunity, nor so sticky that knitting is painful.

The only problem is that I live in terror of accidentally snapping and breaking the delicate needles. Especially the 2mm ones which are almost as fine as toothpicks - albeit very long toothpicks.

I'm using the needles to knit up my first pair of 4-ply socks using the gorgeous Trekking yarn. This yarn has to be seen to be believed. It is actually four strands of finely twisted yarn and each strand gradually changes colour, creating an amazing kaleidoscope effect.

I used 3.75mm needles to cast on 64 stitches (as I have failed to learn any of the fancy techniques for doing a loose cast-on), slipped them onto 2.5mm DPNs, knitted 3cm of k2p2 rib, changed to plain stocking stitch and after the sock was 9cm in length changed to the 2mm DPNs. I was quite surprised by the difference 1/2 millimetre makes.

After my abject failure to calculate gauge last socks I decided to live dangerously and just follow the pattern, only substituting needles one size smaller at each point as I seem to be a slightly loose knitter - especially when the needles are so delicate. The ribbing was driving me nuts so I decided to make these a plainer pair of socks - hopefully this will not prove to be a mistake.

This is definitely a home project - there were a few near misses when I was merely a passenger in the car yesterday. I shudder to think what the private school thugs on the train could do to my needles with one careless shove. I'm not comfortable living that dangerously.

Sharing the warmth of wool

It was so cold yesterday that I wore one of my hats all day, even inside the house. It got me thinking about people who aren't as lucky as me and don't have a hat. Or even, in some cases, a house.

A quick whip around the house found no less than 8 hats which were not being used by either my husband or myself, nor had they been listed in my Etsy store. There are at least two worthy projects in Melbourne dedicated to collecting handknitted items for people in need - Knitters for Melbourne's Needy and the KOGO (Knit One Give One) project. Interestingly they were both started by Jewish women who I have me - pensioner Rifka Knox founded Knitters for Melbourne's Needy, while the KOGO project is an offshoot of the Ardoch Youth Foundation which was started by teacher Kathy Hilton when she discovered that one of her students was living in a Brotherhood Bin but still trying to come to school and get an education.

According to the website, Knitters for Melbourne's Needy is not currently accepting any more knitters (I suspect the project has grown beyond the capacity of being able to coordinate so many knitters) but is always in need of more wool. KOGO, however, is only in its second year and as such is keen to get more knitters involved.