Diamonds are forever

 

  ... but only because I am forever knitting them!  Having made four blankets now, I am hesitating on a fifth (two are in use in the lounge, numbers 3 and 4 are sitting upstairs waiting for new owners)..  I have got a giant cushion, which I was planning on covering crosswise .  The difficulty is that based on a multiple of four diamonds it is going to squash the inner, based on five it  might be too big.  The former would take 64 squares, the latter 100 - a huge difference.  But 100 it had to be,  Here is the result.

 

 

Harry Potter has got a lot to answer for ...

E wanted mittens with a flip top, not my favourite thing to knit.  I sent a sample for size, made from Russian joined scrappy  yarn.  

She picked out one of the colours which she called teal, and I would call peppermint green.  Then changed her mind for a red that matches her Gryffindor scarf.  Bit of a contrast on the colour spectrum there, E!  I thought I would put in some gold stripes on the cuff.  Matching the red was a bit tricky, not having the scarf with me, and the computer changing everybody else's.  We'll see.

Small wave to say hello

 Japanese small wave, a nami, is very popular in Japanese material.  With just an 8 stitch repeat, it also lends itself quite nicely to machine knit gloves.  Blue is the most popular, of course,  but I might repeat these for next winter in red.  The yarns are as near as dammit J&S 2 ply jumper weight, although appear to be from different Shetland sources.

Hold me back!

My Lockdown fringe isn't so much getting in my eyes as my nose and mouth as well.  It's been extremely irritating, so I got a cheap plastic hairband from the Co-op and covered in in a 5 stitch I-cord tube.  Such a simple thing, but necessary.

Make Do and Mend

   There is a movement in museums to mend textiles in a very visible way, and one that can be reversed.  The idea is that in future years, more techniques may be found.  One can imagine a future curator asking "now why the devil did they do it liek that?"  Well, here's what I did with mine!  Keith has very pointed elbows and cardis made of 100% wool do not last long with him.  If I can them in time, I can do a bit of Swiss Darning/duplicate stitch to match the original.  This cardi has been mended twice before, and is now pretty hopeless.  I was given some 75 % wool/25% nylon in browns that I decided to use as very visible, machine knit, elbow patches.  He will not be let out of the house wearing it.

Sockits anyone?

I was thinking abut making kits for socks, starting with machine knit tubes.  After first attempt, want to record what would be best.  

Pretty Cymbal, 72 cylinder, tension around 4.  All yarn Russian joined. Waste yarn is white cotton.

*Waste yarn of around 12 rows, join project yarn in with a tad longer piece than usual.  210 rounds, 12 rounds or more of WY, 50 rounds*  Repeat from * to *, then12 more rounds waste and take off machine.

With small dpn's 2.5mm to 2.75mm, pick up last row of project yarn knitted on a longer piece.  Unravel waste yarn.  

1. Standard flat toe - pick up stitches 36/18/18.  Remove waste yarn. Wrap last stitch to go clockwise.  Unravel waste yarn from smaller piece and join in project yarn with Russian join.  K1, skp at first side, k2tog, k1 at second side.  Second round plain,  Go down to approx 24 sts and finish with grafting.  Toe uses approx 15 rounds of a tube.

2. Standard afterthought heel. Measure the foot it is to go on (mine is 10 inches, so measured 9 inches for negative ease).  Measure piece with toe, probably 2 inches and take 2  from 9, leaving 7.  Mark line 7 inches up from toe.  Run a needle up from exact side "seams" of toe.  Don't do it by eye, there may be some bias, as in photo.

Snip one stitch in middle of the needles at the 7 inches level.  Unravel stitch by stitch on to needles and work as for toe.  Toe also uses approx 15 rounds of smaller piece for this.  It now leaves approx 20 rounds to put a ribbed welt on.

3. Swirl toe.  Pick up stitches 24/24/24.  Unravel waste yarn, join from smaller piece. Wrap second from last stitch.  K6 k2tog 9 times.  Knit one round plain.  K5k2tog, etc.  After K1 t k2togl round, do not work a plain round, but k2tog all round, cut yarn and thread through twice.  

4. Swirl heel could also be worked (in which case it is called a hat heel), but it may come out a bit pointed.  Swirls avoid all grafting!

5. Heelless sock after swirl toe OR flat toe.  Try on and decide length.  Pick other end up, or unravel down to where you want it, and use small piece to knit rib.

6.Standard commercial socks, when folded at the heel line, the leg of sock before the rib equals the foot.  You can go along with this or make the rib part as short or as long as you like.  The rib can be 1x1, 2x1,3x1. or 2x2 rib.  Work about 20 rounds, and back stich to finish off which gives a neater edge than casting off.

7. Alternative top - simple back stitch will give a rolled top.  Or fold over and whip stitch a hem.

Picture below show finished sock and the amount remaining from the starting piece

Fifty Years Ago

 

Newspaper headlines today are remembering decimalisation of the English money system.  What I remember about 15th Feb 1971 is it was the day we moved into our first house - in the middle of a mail strike.  The banks were closed for the changeover so we didn't have any cash to pay people (no ATM's then).  The house was in Southampton, the solicitors were in Bournemouth and the estate owners/builders head office was somewhere else again on the South coast, so there had been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing with documents (no email or mobile phones with text!).  Our furniture had been stored temporarily in the garage after previous "friends" in Swansea had ordered us to remove it from theirs.  They charged us for it, too.  Quite a few things had suffered from the damp.  Despite being left open, the fridge door had become shut and was totally green inside.  We had a few curtains, but no carpets, only a huge circular reversible rug.  The house cost us £5,025.  Thanks to the housing boom, we sold it only two years later for £9,750.  Zoopla's current price estimate for it is £260,000!

The coins in the photo are a ship ha'penny (ship depicting Francis Drake's the Golden Hind), 480 to the pound,

The wren farthing (as the wren is the smallest British bird), was discontinued at the end of 1960, and was rare when I was a child.  There would have been 960 to the pound

A modern penny, 100 to the pound, with a portcullis.  This was the badge of the first Tudor monarch used on coins from Henry VIII.  Last used on the old thru'penny bit then on the new penny which was worth 2.4 old pence