Update on Craft Fair

What a huge bore! So few people through the door on both days. Sold a very plain pair of gloves to next stall holder who cheekily asked me for a discount, one scissors keeper to a friend who happens to live on same street as the venue, and one sheep puppet that is so old I had to check for moth holes first. My pal sold nairy a thing until I bought her rainbow crochet elephant, so she didn't even take the cost of the stall. We certainly won't be doing that venue again!

Skoleppar Collection

Along with my pal Marg, a big crocheter, I have been asked to do a Craft Fair at rather short notice next weekend. Knowing from experience that we don't sell much, we are having a joint stand and splitting the expense, and it's a bit of a mad scramble to get stuff together. I am rather sneakily putting out to sell all the Crimble pressies I have been knitting, because if they do sell, I will still have time to knit and replace them (and with a bit of luck, SO'd Law will operate and I'll make heaps of money!). I've also made a pattern leaflet up, as I find these go down rather well. This is the piccy for the front. The blue and turquoise pieces on the right are destined for a Specs case. Scissors keepers or memory stick holders at top and bottom, mug cosy at extreme left, lilac completed spec case next, one of pair of inserts in middle.

Huggie Muggies

Daft name for a daft piece of knitting - other choices are mug cosies, cup warmer. Anyroad up, as they say round here: Machine knitted Shetland wool in Half English or Fisherman's Rib, 60 rows or thereabouts, which goes to the inside of the piece. One edge crocheted with two buttonholes. One wash in machine to full. Two buttons sewn on and voila, instant Crimble pressies. Presented with a cardboard cutout of a mug ('cos some people will think they are wristbands!) and a safety warning about not trying to fit onto a cup of scalding liquid. My favourite is the shades of grey one, with one white and one black sheep button, so I might keep that for myself. Toying with the idea of handknit ones with cables, or even skoleppar, using the points to join through mug handle.

I might embroider some more sheep, need to buy more black felt for the heads. Not my best skill.

Next challenge is the coathangers. Cannot get plain wooden ones locally without a trouser bar, although have found that Tuppy's Emporium do them mail order. Next strategy is to try and get cheap, already padded ones from charity shops or whatever. Watch this space.

Tangling in the Wash

Sounds like the next village to Much-Binding-in-the-Marsh, doesn't it? I was making a load of skoleppar scissors keepers for Crimble. (See entry for 2nd June) Instead of ribbon this time, I thought I would crochet braids, leave the ends unsewn until after fulling in the washing machine. If the ends are threaded through the keeper as well as the scissors, then they don't keep parting company. The piccy shows what happened when I put eleven in the wash at the same time! They did a complete tourniquet act round the sleeve of one of my silk blouses. Undoing them was like reverse bobbin lace making. I only had to break one thread though.

I reckon this size is good for memory sticks for the males in the family - for the boys, I am going to put a couple of very old pix of themselves on them.

A larger "keeper" has worked out well as a specs case. Not quite as big as underfoot skoleppar, and still with the opening of one angled section. Evidently Keith's bright yellow and orange one caused a lot of comments at his Luncheon Club today. Because both sides aren't seen at once, different patterns were used - stripes on one side, 2x2 blocks on the other. I'll leave the reader to guess which was the easier side to knit.

Next project for Crimble is huggie muggies - still in the wash, pix to follow.

Local Exhibition

The local museum has a craft exhibition every other year (it's Art in between). I went along with a pile of goodies and also demonstrated on the sock machine over two weekends. Sold one pair of gloves, profit over exhibition fee and sales deduction £3.50 which was a lot better than some other people did!

From the left - basket of spun and dyed Wensleydale and some spinning tools, Sockrates and Heelitrope enjoying the outing, basket of gloves, socks and hats. In front of spinning basket is my scarf of 29 natural dyes, a bag made from Wilko's lustre yarn. I also put the three-and-a-half seasons shawls on display.

The Big Sweat finished

At last, the Big Sweat for little K. is finished, sewn up and posted off. Designing at 140 miles distance drove me to doing a sleeve shaping which is narrow in the forearm part, with internal tabs and external buttons so the sleeves can be shortened by rolling up. Piccy shows short left sleeve, full length right one.

Ican now get on with mini-skoleppar for Christmas!

Baby Blankets

I finished the crochet baby blankets. Strange effect when working on the second one was that the background(return row) colour completely altered my perception of the colours and which to pick next, even though they were in exactly the same order as on the first. Electric light didn't help. Even in the photo you can see that allt he colours seem darker.

Decadent Dazee

I got the companion flower finished at last. In Val Pierce's original pattern for a snail there was a daisy with white petals. I made the pot, stalk and flower on the sock machine, and decided to be clever and make a fringe on the flatbed for hair. Didn't realise what flimsy yarn I had picked up, so she definitely looks as if she is having a Bad Hair Day.

But anyway, Helen at Ruddington Framework Knitters'Museum says she won't alter a thing, and Dazee is here pictured outside the cottages. Last seen in the tea room, obviosly too lazee a dazee to move into the Griswold Sock Room where she truly belongs!

Read all about me in French!

My pals in the Spinners and Weavers of South West France have just refreshed their website. You can find it here http://spinandweaveswfrance.fr/mai09_maryhawkins.html

I must have been talking a lot on that day as I do not remember so many photos being taken and I am still staggered that I managed to get all that lot AND clothes and books for a fortnight in my 15kg allowance with Ryanair!

Soma Cube

Finished it yesterday. Load of fun, but bits of foam everywhere from trying to make curvy bath sponges fit a box shape.

Hexaflexagon Cushion

Very much inspired at KCG AGM by Pat Ashforth and Steve Plummer's cushion. Delighted when I went in my local wool shop for nine shades of yarn to find she's having a summer sale of 20% off. So I bought Sirdar Calico, a 60/40 cotton/acrylic mix. The project calls for 3 main colour families, 3 shades in each. 18 triangles, mainly double crochet, don't have to think about them, and so easy for taking on a bus or train. Pattern is from my pals at www.woollythoughts.com

I've taken on a new "job" which will tie me to the computer more than usual, so need an easy project for the times I can relax.

Heeliotrope

Heelitrope was finished today, complete with a bee in her bonnet, which probably doesn't show up in the pix. Again, inspired by Val Pierce's Daisy pattern in Knitting, June 2007. Name courtesy of Pat at Woolly Thoughts, which is why the petals are purple.


Knit as one tube on the sock machine, pot up through stalk to flower. Leaves and petals crocheted afterwards.

Don't believe the ball!

I bought some King Cole Zig Zag last Open Day at the Centre for Knitting & Crochet. It's 50/50 wool and nylon, destined for hard-wearing socks, and a wonderful rainbow. Two balls with the same shade and dyelot number, but looking very different. One was apparently short repeats of the colour. To check it out, I ran it through the sock machine as a tube. Due to the ball dropping on the floor, it pulled the tension a bit so I got three different patterns. I took the ballband off the second, thinking this was long repeats (the unknitted ball in the photo), only unound a little bit and immediately saw, yes it was going to be exactly the same as the other one.

Moral - if there is no photo attached of the yarn as knitted, don't believe apparent long colour runs in the ball - unwind some, even if it annoys the shop owner!

Why don't men wear shawls?

Had a lively discussion at Derby Branch of KCG today - the shubject was scarves, shawls, shrugs - their shapes and consh-truction (shorry!). I asked the question - why don't men wear shawls? One theory was that men don't get cold in the same areas of their bodies! What do you think?

Nalbinding

Some people think that Nalbinding came before knitting. On Saturday I had my first opportunity to see it "in the flesh", when I met up with Tanya of the York Guild of WSD. She has done slippers and mittens in it, so of course I am now dying to have a go.

UK Ravelry Day

Got sent to Coventry yesterday, as roving ambassador for Ruddington Framework Knitters' Museum, along with Sockrates Snail. Didn't buy an awful lot, but had a whale of a time, AND we had our photo taken with Meg Swansen (to follow). Items bought were rubbery stuff to turn socks into slippers, a couple of skeins of sock yarn for dyeing - one Blue Faced Leicester, one Wenselydale, and some silk and banana fibres to spin. Plus some Skacel Zauberball yarn that promises to only have one repeat per sock. Saw dozens of people I knew, and Sockrates made lots of new friends.

Since coming home I have run the Zauberball through the sock machine, just as a tube. No way can I make two even-slightly matching socks from this! Plus there are two yarn knots that make the colour change abruptly. It'll be great in a scarf though.

Icelandic shoe inserts

Picked up an incredibly interesting book at the Centre for Knitting & Crochet on Saturday. Its Icelandic Knitting Using Rose Patterns by Helene Magnusson. She has her own website (hername and dot com). Half the book is research on these wonderful little knitted items which used to be made to fit their soft shoes about a century ago. The other half is new patterns for garments and accessories using the patterns found within them. No actual pattern for a shoe insert itself, so I emailed the author, who wrote back instantly that she didn't think about it until the book was well on its way to being published. She then Googled for my name and came up with another person with my name in New York who is also a knitter nad wants to improve her French! Really uncanny, a sort of Internet doppelganger.
Anyway, I have made a trial insert, a proper pair with stripes to get the sizing right, and am halfway through a pair with a complicated pattern in the middle. Pix later. In the meantime, have done a mini-pair and joined them together for a scissors holder. Should make a good workshop.

Back from the hols

Just after the last post, the washing machine broke down. So we flew off to France knowing that we had several things to sort out when we got back! At last I can report that the sock machine is re-attached to its desk, the car is running, and the new washing machine has done two loads today. I seem to have hit the ground running, so have only completed the rib and leg of a sock so far.

I brought back three magazines from France, mainly on crochet, some new techniques to try out, like their macrame crochet and their Cro-Tat, which have quite different interpretation. Macrame crochet looks a bit like Irish Crochet, and is done not over padded cords but over crocheted ones. The Cro-Tat is a wonderfully easy way of doing tatting, at last, without worrying if the knot is done the right way or the wrong way on the other thread. If you have ever struggled to learn tatting you will know what I mean!

May Day, mayday!

A bit in limbo! The car passed its MoT on 27th April, then the sock machine got impossible to turn, so took it with me on my regular Wednesday in Ruddington to see if Helen and Milla could sort it for me. It was a bit embarrassing, as I was doing a local event on May Bank Hol and it just kept stopping when visitors were having a go. Sold the pair of bamboo socks, though, a hat pattern and some of my own spun and dyed yarn, and encouraged one woman to start spinning.

Anyway, it was sorted - the central nut and bolt, as I thought. I’m not sure whether there is a screw inside a screw, but it wasn’t a straightforward relationship between one end and the other. Packed up to come home and the clutch went on the car so had to have a suspended tow. As my local garage is at the bottom of the hill, no way could I drag the machine home, even in a wheely case, so it is stuck there for quite some time as we are off on our hols, flying on Sunday. I hate this bit before a holiday - everything is ready, no car so can’t even get to the wool shop in Beeston for more of the bamboo yarn with my profits, don’t want to start anything new and can’t even fill in time by playing on the sock machine.

However, did wind off some more of the stiff Jacobs yarn (see string bag on 2nd April - now finished but not got round to a photo) and am making crochet bowls by the technique of one round of dcs, one round dcs into the same places as the round below. Hard work on the wrists so can’t do many rounds at a time.

Sockrates Snail

Made this on one of the machines at Ruddington yesterday, and finished off with some handknitting and crochet today. He is contemplating a dandelion on the lawn, as St George's Day is the traditional day for picking and making dandelion wine. The idea came from a handknit pattern in Knitting mag, June 2007, designer Val Pierce.

Forget all your Sammy and Sidney snails - this one HAD to be Sockrates!

Bag beginning and bamboo, bouncing on the bus

Had a long trek into The Big City by bus, crocheting handles of a peachy-coloured string bag on the way. The bag had been started on the CSM, with every other stitch dropped. Quite pleased with the effect but thought a crochet start base would be better. Tried this by Montse Stanley’s pinhole start on eleven trebles, next round increased to 21 trebles, next round 42 trebles. Looked a bit tiny so did a round of 42 double trebles. It will just stretch to every other needle on the machine. Added advantage is that it could be put on an empty machine, no fiddling with cutting waste yarn off afterwards.

My business finished in the big city, caught the bus back but got off in one of the suburbs, half an hour in the Fabric Place choosing some jersey fabric for a new frock, then crossed the road to Yarn, or as I prefer to call it from their website address, yarn-in-notts (think about it!). I was shown a new sock yarn, Happy by Wendy (Thomas Ramsden Group). This is 75% bamboo and 25% nylon and I could see straightaway that the CSM would love it, and I was right. Bamboo yarn is rather lively, so it snarled up a big on re-winding, but not enough to annoy. The colour way is Aquarius, and the small blue splashed in the pale green seemed to come out a slightly different pattern in each repeat, which is rather charming. AND the price is only £5.95. I ran the remainder through the Knitmaster, 64 sts, 148 rows at T7, so it looks like with care I will be able to get a pair of short fingerless mitts out of it as well - I do gloves starting on 56 sts increasing to 64, in case you are wondering why I chose that number of stitches.

Jacob's String Bag

Brought some rough stuff home - it was (probably) Jacob’s wool on a huge cone, but although between 4ply and DK and only a single ply, very coarse, and slightly oiled. Made up a sample piece to throw in the washing machine, and it did not come out as fluffy as I expected. A friend thought there might be some linen in it - it certainly has that linen “bounce”. But not something you would want next to your skin. The CSM didn’t like it, so back to hand knitting.

Thus I started yet another string bag with it. Montse Stanley’s Pinhole crochet cast on with 16 stitches, then straight onto a 5.5mm 60cm circular needle, pulling the loop through. Increased in every stitch (32sts). One round knit, one round purl, one round knit. Increased in every stitch again to 64sts, one round plain. Repeated the formula to 128 sts. Because of the coarseness of the yarn, the increase row has the appearance of long knit stitches divided by purls. Photographed it after this, it just about fits neatly on the needle now, so should be easier. Might do some elongated stitches up the bag, still one purl round after three knit rounds, just to vary the monotony. The 128 sts will divide up nicely when it comes to making the handle or handles - haven’t decided which yet. This bag will not be washed before being put into use.

A Vegetarian Platter of Dyeing

I was leading a workshop with my WSD pals. 16 took part in the workshop, another 4 sat out spinning (what a relief - it could so easily have been the other way round!). First I showed them the raw platter - red cabbage, red onions, beetroot - all dull maroon coloured, but not what the dyes would come out.


I wasn’t at all sure about the water at that Village Hall, and of course nobody else was using Wensleydale fleece which is my favourite. The day could have been chaotic with three microwaves, five gas burners and two electric burners going, but it worked amazingly well, and everybody produced results far, far beyond my expectations. I hope this comes out in the photos. They all got very excited, and Helen suggested that we have a “dessert” course next year - dyeing with fruits such as blackberries. It was probably one of the best days we have had (she said, modestly).

Sockwise or Anti-sockwise?

Having got into some difficulty with the rib on some Lana Grossa yarn, I decided to hand knit the ribs and place the work back on the CSM. Unfortunately because of the thread-up the yarn has to be cut (I wouldn’t have earned anything from the Imperia knitting company for this, they insisted on every sock only have one piece of yarn in it). Dropping the rib into the middle of the machine the same way as I knit means the machine in normal action takes the yarn in the opposite direction and would leave a big hole not easy to mend. So the rib has to be turned inside out. As I’ve done an invisible cast on with two rows of slip stitch it is identical both sides. Phew.

Afterthought - it wouldn’t really be the end of the world if I turned the handle the other way until the heel shaping. Just unconventional.

Up to Lee Mills and being fleeced

Up to Lee Mills to take six binbags full of yarn for the Yarn Mountain and to attempt to help sorting out for the new season. Oh dear, didn’t get very far, there is so much new stuff to be put away. But did some research on Marianne Kinzel, and find we have got most of the patterns. How ever the place is going to be clear for the first set of visitors in two weeks goodness only knows, let alone any displays going up. I do wish I lived nearer. And this year the SkipNorth group will be 44 strong!

Got home to find an email from a new friend about a CSM she has recently bought - she was fleeced £950 for a filthy, rusty, item which took her a lot of work to get going, and when she complained, the man called her a liar! Just goes to show you should never buy any machinery by post without seeing and testing it out first (bit arch of me to say this, I have just ordered a new lawnmower from Tesco Direct online! But that is a recognised brand. It’s all the more embarrassing as I know this man, and like him (but have never bought anything from him.) I feel so lucky I got my CSM via Ruddington.

Purple Sheep

Went up to the local organic farm shop this morning - they had three purple sheep in the field! I hurriedly parked the car and grabbed my camera. Once I had taken a shot I could see they it wasn’t just a purple splodge or raddle (wrong time of year anyway to mark if the ram had been at the ewe, as they are just about to give birth). The message of the side of the nearest sheep read “Hay Ewe”. Apparently some agricultural students had been visiting, and sprayed the message on, silly sods. Made me smile though. Inside the shop I bought uncooked beetroot and red cabbage for my Dyeing Day next weekend. I’m doing onion skins as well. It has since occurred to me that if I display the beets, the cabbage and some red onions, they are all just about the same shade of red - but the dyes they give me are orange, turquoise and golden yellow, respectively, which would demonstrate the point that you don't always get the colour you can see. Don’t know if I will get any of them anyway, as I don’t know what the water supply is like up in Hazelwood.

A Day at Ruddington

Over to Ruddington today to take the Sock Collection ready for sale in the shop. Eight pairs in their own yarn, a 60/40 wool/nylon mix, the kind the CSM likes best, and half a dozen pairs in Opal Harry Potter and Trekking yarns.

They have a Fashion Knitwear student on a three-month “work” placement, and I have been asked if I will show her the workings of the CSM and talk a bit about the history of knitting. H is very amenable and amazingly comes from Godalming, where Keith was born and my No.1 son works. By coincidence (or not?), Godalming was also a small pocket of the framework knitting industry. So we had a good rapport from the start. I started straight in with William Lee’s invention and why he could do it at that precise time in history - Nottinghamshire had good supply of trees for the frame in Sherwood Forest, bags of local sheep, and a new wire works had opened near Belper in 1561. The wire was necessary for the flexible needles with beards on them. I took H over to the West frameshop to show her how the frames worked, from the Victorian one there used for most demonstrations, up to the last one made in the 1950’s. These all produced flat pieces of work, ideal for shawls, but stockings had to be seamed. However, these needles were fixed rigidly horizontally in the frames, and it wasn’t until Matthew Townsend took out a patent in 1847 for the latch needle that needles could be mounted in a machine at any angle. Hence the circular (sock) machine where they are vertical with the working part at the top. Straight or Flatbed machine are generally set at about 45 degrees with ribbers at right angles to this. H has used Dubied at the Poly, but luckily not too much, as you have to “unlearn” some bits. THE CSM only tolerates the needles in two positions, up (out of work) or down (in work) and they have to be moved manually from one to the other, such as in heel shaping.

I started H off with plain knitting to get used to the feel of the machine, which is a Griswold and is dedicated to her for the full length of her stay. We then went back to the very basics, starting from an empty machine. This is slow and fiddly, mad most sock knitters used heaps of waste yarn in between socks to avoid this stage ever again!. We did a small amount of lace holes, picking up a picot hem, tiny cables and tuck stitches, as well as the all-important heel shaping. Of course, several stitches were dropped, all due to the heel spring weights being set not quite right. I advised H to practise this the days I couldn’t be there, and next Wednesday I may let her loose on the ribber, which is a whlol different ball game.

Make Do and Mend Day

Last week I picked up a beige and white spotted blouse in my local jumble sale for 10p. I’d recently completed knitting two bags which were too nice just to have as bags, so I have called them Bag Cushions. The idea is that they will live on the settee until I want them for an outing, so they needed some sort of stuffing that could be taken in and out quickly. The oblong Kilim bag was easy - I had a long piece of wadding left over from my patchwork quilt. Also, because of having the hoards of visitors last week, I had taken an older pillow out of storage and found it was awful - one of those items that’s supposed to be washable and totally changes its shape in the machine! I took this to bits and found that this was also a piece of flat wadding, wrapped round and round. I extricated it down to the good stuff, and cut two circles from it for my sunflower bag. Both these are destined to be going on holiday with us in May, as our gite in France doesn’t have any cushions on the settee. They will be stuffed with balls of wool for the flight - let’s see what the X-ray machine makes of that! For the present, the spotted blouse has provided the covers for the wadding - the back for the Kilim, the sleeves for the sunflower. It’s delightfully polyester and slippery, and must have made its previous owner sweat like nobody’s business (yes, I have washed it before cutting it up!).

I’m also knitting another Noquo (Not-quite-origami) bag from that fantastic shiny Wilko’s yarn in bronze and purple, which will be enormously stretchy and needs a woven lining. I’ve used the fronts of the blouse for this, and for a bit of fun, kept the button and buttonband on as the top edge. One edge slopped off where it has been the underarm, but the bag has cut off corners anyway - serendipity. A few minutes works with scissors and sewing machine and three challenges solved in one fell swoop.

The rest of the morning seemed to be taken up with re-assembling my Knitmaster, taken down to accommodate the visitors. It’s only been down for a week, but I ended up with two pieces of metal that I couldn’t place for ages. Eventually the grey matter got working, and the machine is up and safe. All I needed it for was to knit “shoelaces” which are actually going on socks. These are 3-stitch slipstitch or I-cord. I’d also picked up some clear beads in Southwell, so joined a couple of these to the end of each shoe lace. The socks are made on the CSM, with double eyelet holes every 10 rows down the front of the leg. The laces re purely decorative, they won’t pull the sock in for fit, but they have already given me the idea of socks with a horizontal row of eyelets to tie. Thoughts of shoelaces lead to socklaces, so how about several mini sock suspended along its length round the sock? I’ve got 84 needles to play with, mathematically this divides into factors of 2,3,4,6,7, multiples of 12x7, 14x6, 21x4, 28x3, which is a bit awkward, so I suppose I will have to go for 12 holes spaced every 7 stitches, which will give a bow tie at the front and 11 spaces to hang tiny socks, probably too many, unless I only hang a socks every other one.

Busy Weekend

No.1 son plus wife and all three grandchildren (youngest 3 years old) were coming up for the weekend for the first time, which took some organising. No. 2 son and wife decided to join in pretty much at the last minute to surprise me, booking themselves in at the local hotel as I don't have elastic walls. I seem to have spent most of the weekend on my feet cooking for nine, but there were a magic few minutes when my grand-daughter "knitted" my craft room with a ball of wool. I got proper needles out for her and we did the "Under the fence, catch the sheep, back we come, over we leap" bit, but she was far more interested in the Art Installation. She didn't tie me up, but I had to cut my way out of the room!

Today I have put the house straight and set the 1920's Cymbal Circular Sock Machine back up. I've started a sock in two colours i.e. rib, heel and toe are going to be in contrast. Another pair for the local museum shop. At present, I only have three colours to choose from, as we need to be using labelled yarn for sales purposes, so I need to ring the changes. Last week I finished a pair of roll top socks, two pinks sandwiched with grey. I cheated on this a little, by starting the top two rolls on the Knitmaster flatbed. Then I e-wrapped a cast-on row on the CSM, but this row came undone later, so I must have done backward "e's". Always something new to learn!

Thought it was about time I cast on, so these gloves are waving "Hi everybody!". This blog will be mainly about knitting, with a bit of spinning, dyeing and crochet thrown in.