Start of my Husky jumper

Just realised that I hadn't posted a photo of my latest project. It'svery thick, warm wool - 14 ply - which I'm knitting on 6mm needles.

Let's fly away...

Not that I would ever try to compete with that fabulous website "You Knit What???" but the truth is that there are simply too many hideous knitting patterns in the world for one site to cope with. Besides, I've emailed them this pic already.

I'm trying to decide what is more offensive -- the fury wings or the bow.

I picked up the pattern for free at my local Spotlight - obviously no-one would pay for such a hideous pattern - or would they? I saw an extremely elderly woman clutching a copy of this pattern and selecting a blue and green yarn combination.

It's terrible what dementia can do to a person.

Manywhile in my non-hideous knitting world, I've got about 17cm of my 14-ply Husky yarn sweater done. Got to love those fast-knitting yarns. And it is 100 percent wool in a light-grey and definitely not hideous.

In my opinion.

Every cloud has a silver lining

I told you I was crap at working out knitting gauge. I started the Maggie B sized Gabi jumper and fortunately twisted the stitches when I joined them together.

This is normally a very unfortunate thing to do as it means you have to rip out everything and start again from scratch. But I thought it was looking a bit big even for a Maggie B sized jumper, so I slipped the first few twisted rows over my head and discovered that it was literally 50 stitches too big for my hips.

Hopefully I've got it right now as I don't think the Husky will stand up well to another unravel.

Cleckheaton Belle yarn for sale on EBay

I'm listing some of the yarn that I should never have bought and will never use on EBay, hoping to recover some of the cost - or at least reduce my stash.

Baby scrapyarn hat

I couldn't cope with the tiny amount of sockyarn left over but didn't know what I could do with it - 6-ply is not a common ply yarn. There was't even enough yarn to make a baby beanie. But I found a tiny ball of grey yarn that looked like it was thinner than 8-ply and thicker than 4-ply. Hmm. That yarn turned out to be just enough for a baby beanie brim. I then knitted up the sockyarn. There wasn't quite enough to finish the hat so the last couple of rounds are with some scrap 8-ply yarn. It seems to work :)

But for the last couple of days I've been itching to start another (shock-horror) ADULT-sized jumper with some 14-ply Patons Husky I picked up on EBay a few months ago. While I proudly also found a pattern for Husky wool at the local Op Shop, I've actually decided to just knit to my own pattern. I'm bigger than the biggest size listed in the pattern book and I've become quite fond of knitting in the round and avoiding seam sewing. So I'm going to do a Maggie B sized version of my Gabi jumper. This meant (shock-horror) knitting a tension patch (a tension square would have been a bit too much for me). I found I got 16 stiches per 10 cm on 6 mm needles and was able to calculate the number of stitches to cast on to fit around my hips (and NO, I'm not going to admit how many that is). Hopefully I'll have enough yarn to knit a whole jumper - otherwise I'll have to find another yarn for the sleeves or chest.

Another reason why I hate Patons Patterns

I have submitted these photos to You Knit What??? What is really sad is that they all come out of current Pastons knitting books and are not meant to be an ironic joke.

I can't seem to upload a decent picture but this is a link to the ugliest knitting book for 2005 - Metro. Sewing together knitted squares and rectangles is not hip. It's just lazy.

You Knit What???

Just found the funniest knitting site to link to.

Just when you thought you'd found the most hideous pattern on the planet...

Noro Hat Complete :)

Ooh! I am so pleased with how this turned out. Noro yarn is SO yummy. I ended up using about 1 1/2 balls of Kureyon, colour 134. Click here for the pattern (as usual I took someone else's idea and changed it completely to make it my own).

Mmm... Noro Kureyon

I feel like Homer saying "Mmm... donuts".

No wonder Noro Kureyon is so well-loved. I was afraid it was going to be one of those over-rated experiences but the yarn is simply gorgeous. Quite apart from those RICH colours and the self-striping nature of the yarn, it's really interesting to knit with.

It's certainly no beginner yarn. It is 100 percent wool spun in a way where the yarn goes from tight to loose, which I thought I would hate but actually works quite well. I can see why it would felt beautifully although I'm not planning to do this myself this time.

And did I mention the beautiful rich colours?

That one ball you see cost almost as much as all the yarn for the Gabi jumper. And I'll be using two for this hat. This is truly decadant knitting. I would have trouble justifying buying enough yarn for an adult-sized jumper but there are people who knit cat beds out of this stuff! Click here for proof. Talk about spoilt pussies.

I'm doing a ribbed beanie using 4.5mm needles. I have already altered the pattern as I cannot understand why you would start k4, p2, k2, etc as you would then end up with a really thick ridge of six knit stitches in a row. I've cast on 100 stitches and am simply k2, p2, k2, etc all the way around. And obviously I'm doing the whole lot in Noro.

If it turns out to be a bit big I will semi-felt the hat.

Even when I try and knit a tension square I never seem to get the calculations right, so I'm just following my instincts.

Bite me.

Gabi Jumper Complete

This still needs to be blocked but overall I am quite happy how it turned out - especially since I was not following any pattern! In the end I only have about 1/3 ball of purple and 1/4 ball of the multi-coloured yarn left over which is not enough for a hat for a toddler - although I am sure I will work these remnants into another scrap-yarn project. I'm thinking of using them to decorate the ends of a scarf.

I have the horrible feeling that with the novelty yarn and large stitches this jumper represents the ideal Spotlight project and will be looked down upon by the knitting purists. It certainly no heirloom item to be handed down the generations.

But given the rate kids grow it hopefully will serve its purpose for a season.

Do you like this jumper? A free pattern (for non-commercial use) is available here.

Two stitches forward, one rip back

It took 3 attempts to get the neckband right. But I have suceeded in my aim of knitting the sleave in the round from the armhole down. One more sleave to go.

I think I will have enough purple and multi-coloured yarn to knit a matching hat. The entire project will end up having cost me less than$15 and a few days knitting. While buying an outfit at Target may cost about the same amount, at least I can be sure Gabi will not meet anyone else in the same clothes.

I'm also itching to start on another hat project. Like most knitters I've been drooling over the Japanese Noro yarns but balking at the price. I was able to pick up a couple of balls during the post-winter sales (yay Sunspun) and am contemplating a ribbed hat.

OK, maybe there is a use for novelty yarns

I'm not a fan of wool blends but I couldn't resist this high quality super-chunky 50:50 lavender yarn that I got on sale at Cleggs. Regularly $4.95, now $1.95/ball. It's been in my stash for quite a few months looking at me reproachfully. Unfortunately there were only 5 balls available which meant only enough for a toddler jumper. And because I think longer jumpers with decent-sized sleaves are the way to go, I really needed to stretch the wool. I went diving through my stash and found a multi-coloured novelty yarn that also called for 6mm needles. Obviously a match made in stashland.

The novelty yarn is obviously for the front of the chest - I haven't yet decided if I will thread it through the eyelet holes as well. I'm contemplating a few bows. Or maybe not.

This has been one super-quick knit - thoroughly recommended for impatient people like moi. In less than two days I have done the back and 3/4 of the front. I did the bottom part "in the round" on 40cm 6mm circular needles. Since learning how to knit in the round I have become a fan of avoiding needless seam-sewing. The real trick will be if I manage to pick up the armhole stitches and knit the sleaves down in the round.

I have never done this before and am not following any pattern. Nothing like knitting on the fly!!!

Aren't I lucky to have a surrogant niece to practice my knitting on! According to Rachel, Gabi has already reached the age where she knows what she likes so I hope this jumper will come up to her standards. It certainly feels very soft and comfy.

Arghh!!!

Make your own fury bird wings (top right hand photo). Free pattern at your local Spotlight store.

Call me a snob but I think it would be hard to find anything more hidious than the novelty yarns and patterns being promoted by Spotlight this week. What is that woman in the bottom left-hand corner wearing?

I have learnt the hard way that no matter how tempting they look, novelty yarns are a BIG mistake. Pure wool, cotton and mohair are often no more expensive and produce a far nicer and longer-lasting garment. Anything I've made with a novelty yarn inevitably looks tacky and mis-shapen.

Wow! Photos!!!

Firstly, thanks to Sharon and the nice people at the Blogger helpdesk who let me know that some of the Blogger servers have a fault on them. I cleared my cache and cookies and history and got onto a server which is allowing me to upload photos.

The top photo is my second scrapyarn hat, an adult-sized beanie made with a small amount of teal, about 40 grams of Cleckheaton tapestry yarn, about 15 grams of the cream tweed, 20 grams of pale grey, a tiny amount of dark grey and pale blue yarn.

The bottom photo is my "not-so-horrible" roll-brim baby hat. You can't get away from the fact that it has orange and brown in it, but otherwise it is surprisingly non-pukey.

2nd scrap-yarn hat begun

I'm getting very annoyed by my inability to upload phots. I've checked all the help pages and sent an email to the support staff to no-avail. But what can one expect from a free service?

So let's see if I can give you a visual impression using words and possibly colour-coded font.

As the title suggests, I've started a second scrap-yarn hat. the first few rows of the brim are a beautiful rich teal (a bit bluer than this). But not quite as purple as this. Imagine a colour in between.

I'm now using a yarn called Cleckheaton Tapestry which is sort of those variegated colours.

I can't wait until I can upload photos again!!!

Hideous Hat project complete!

Still can't upload photos. But the baby hat is complete and not quite so hideous as the ball of wool indicated. However, my husband offered to burn it on the basis that it would make us look bad if I gave it to anyone. Even the most irritating smug-faced parent.

Time to start another project. I really need to catalogue my yan (that will be a very LONG post here). But I'm contemplating another scrap-yarn hat. One feels very virtuos producing something out of nothing. I may enter this hat in Southern Cross Knitting's variegated yarn competition. There has to be a prize for the most creative use of less than one ball of 1970s yarn!

The Horrible Hat

"Oh my God, you are actually making something with that?!?"

Nothing like support from one's husband.

Unfortunately you'll have to take my word that the baby hat is half done as I get an "error on page" message everytime I try to upload a photo of it. Grrr!

My friend Tash reckons I should sew a designer label into it when I've finished and pretend it's some retro-chic item from Carlisle or Brunswick Street. Double-passive-aggress a trendy parent who then feels compelled to make their kid wear the putrid hat because it's "designer".

Whatever.

Truly Hideous

I cannot bare the truly hideous orange vergiated yarn to remain in my stash. But what can be done with 40 grams of 1970s yarn?

I've started a roll-brim hat for a six-month old baby - I'll probably have to use some more of the salvaged cream-tweed to finish it. But then what can I do with it?

A passive-aggressive gift for a particularly annoying parent? You know one of the really smug ones who think the greatest honour is to offer you the privledge of changing their kid's dirty nappy? Why shouldn't they have a hat to match their backside?

My husband is offering to throw the yarn away for me. He thinks I'm just a mean old woman. I reckon all my kid-free friends know exactly where I am coming from.

Complete!

Now onto my next hat...

Curly soloution

OK, I'm a complete chicken. I couldn't face the verigated orange wool. But what to do with a half-knitted cream tweed beanie still on the needles?

A vague memory stirred inside me and I dived to the very bottom of the "my mum's old wool" pile. There was the back of a child's jumper knitted in the cream-tweed wool, more than 30 years old. I teased open the knot holding the knitting together and started the glorious unravell. I was actually quite surprised at how easily the yarn unwound.

After more than 30 years the unravelled yarm resembled cooked 2-minute noodles but I was able to role up a few small balls. I've started knitting with one of the used balls and although the yarn is very curly, the re-knitted stitches are indistinguishable from those made with the unknitted wool. I may even have enough yarn for a second matching beanie!

Of course I had to get all gung-ho and unravelled a pale blue piece of knitting that looked like it may have been part of a toddler's overalls, and then a bright green pair of baby-pants.

Yay, more yarn! I'm contemplating what to do with it next.