Tag: wool

New Old Knitting

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I was absolutely convinced I’d blogged about this last summer, but apparently not! Anyway, way back in July or August, my friend Chris sent me a parcel full of knitting patterns. Some I kept, some I passed on to my Mum, but the one that really stood out to me was this one. A probably-1960s raglan cardigan, with a smart cable detail, that should fit over the top of the 1950s dresses I’d been making at the time. One of the problems with new knitting patterns, even vintage-style ones, is that they tend to be very fitted. When you’ve got a dress or a blouse with quite wide sleeves, you need a roomier cardigan to go over the top!

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Image © Victoria & Albert Museum

The pattern calls for 18 ounces of double knitting yarn, in my size. That translates to roughly 525 grams, which seemed a little on the light side. I wanted to check on the yardage in those 18 ounces, as it varies from yarn to yarn, and I wanted to make sure I’d have enough. The yardage wasn’t stated in the pattern, so I went online to have a look. I didn’t find much in the way of helpful information, as it turned out – although the V&A do have this lovely shade chart. Remember those? I used to love choosing wool with my Mum, from the little tufty shade charts that she used to keep in the sideboard. Wouldn’t it be nice to have those again now, so that we could see what we were getting before we ordered online?

Anyway, I digress.

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What I did find, eventually, was this. The exact wool called for in the pattern, a grand total of 18 ounces, all in the same dye lot, and in absolutely perfect condition! And to top it off, a rummage in the button stash turned up the perfect set. I still can’t believe the serendipity of it!

The thing I still don’t know, sadly, is the yardage of each of those tiny one ounce balls of wool. It’s not stated on the label, so the only thing I can do now is unravel one, and measure it. I might also, for the first time in my knitting life, actually make a gauge swatch and measure that too. Given that I have precisely the amount of yarn called for, I can’t even entertain the possibility of running out. After all, it’s not as though I can pop down to the shops and buy some more!

ORANGE wool jacket

Orange Wool Jacket

Words simply cannot do justice to how INCREDIBLY BRIGHT this fabric is. Ridiculously orange, with teal, magenta and a little bit of yellow thrown in for good measure. In case you hadn’t guessed, this fabric is LOUD.

I think I bought it in Chepstow last year, in a fabric shop that was absolutely piled to the ceiling with goodies. This was everything that was left on the roll – 160 cm long, 150 wide.

Orange Wool Jacket

The pattern is one of my own, that I tested in cotton jersey earlier in the year. Irritatingly, I was so busy with the Emporium that I didn’t take any photos, but it’s very comfortable and I’ve been wearing it a lot. This style is perfect for wearing to work, where it can be quite chilly on the front desk, but it looks daft to be sitting there with your coat on.

It’s a double herringbone wool tartan, with a little bit of boucle running through it, for those who care about such things. The lower sleeves are cut on the bias, with a little bias cuff. This allows them to stretch a little bit, but not too much. There are no fastenings at the moment, although I’m contemplating covered buttons and little loops of selvedge to pop them through. I’ll wear it a few times first though, and see how it goes.

Orange Wool Jacket

I made absolutely no attempt to match the stripes at any of the seams. I didn’t have anything like enough fabric to try, and I don’t think it really matters. The only thing I want to change next time though is to eliminate the top seam on the lower sleeve. It doesn’t really need to be there, it looks a bit distracting, and it creates a dodgy junction of four pieces of fabric coming together in the same place. In a thick fabric that can be difficult to keep tidy, so it seems best to just get rid of the extra seam altogether.

I’m not sure it’s quite chilly enough to start wearing this to work just yet, but I’m definitely looking forward to wearing it!

To shop, or not to shop


Image © Zara

Yesterday I went shopping, and did not buy this silk blouse with hot air balloons and air ships all over it from Zara. I also did not buy two tops with skulls on them from H&M, and a pair of Thundercats Converse from Schuh.

I did buy four pairs of stripy over-the-knee socks, and a bright yellow skirt.

Yellow wool skirt

It’s calf length, 75% wool 25% nylon, fully lined, with pockets in the side seams. Smells a little bit of mothballs now I’ve ironed it (yes, believe it or not I did iron it before I took this picture – clearly not hard enough!), but that’s nothing that a little wash won’t fix. And it shows that somebody’s bothered to look after it. The label says “Yessica” which, if memory serves, is 1980s C&A. It cost a grand total of £6, from the Sue Ryder shop.

I have a sneaky suspicion that this skirt will sit in my wardrobe (along with the tweedy one I bought in May) and be relegated to “vaguely Steampunk dressing-up”. Which would be sad, as it’s a really lovely skirt, great quality, and with details that I really like.

So, why buy the skirt that won’t get worn, and not the blouse that will?

I’ve been trying very hard not to buy mass-produced things from chain stores this year. The biggest exception has been my ever-increasing collection of TM Lewin shirts, but I think I’ve got enough now to last me a good few years. (She says, having just looked at the website and seen a purple flowery one, and a blue one with birds… both reduced from £85 to £20… argh!)

So whilst the hot air balloon blouse is lovely, and silk, and would in fact look great with this yellow skirt… and the skull tops from H&M were just generally awesome (I’m still a sucker for anything with skulls on it)… and the Thundercats Converse were hilarious… they’re all mass-produced, fast fashion, and designed to be disposable. And I don’t want that from my clothes any more.

I’d always thought I wasn’t one to worry about what other people thought of my clothes (see: yellow coat, silly prints, bow ties, gold boots, pink hair, Being A Goth), but I think part of my reluctance to wear skirts like this and my tweedy one is the fear that people might look at me funny. I had a teacher at middle school (anyone remember Mrs Trubshaw?) who was widely ridiculed for wearing unusual clothes, including an a-line skirt with a forest design appliqued round the hem, which a) I would now kill for, and b) was probably actually quite fashionable in the mid 1980s. As kids, we were absolutely horrible to her, and I’m basically afraid of being treated the same way. Which is silly really, because if I coped with people shouting at me in the street when my hair was pink, I’m sure I can deal with a few sideways glances at a yellow skirt.

Perhaps one of my resolutions for 2013 should be to stop falling back into the comfortable trap of jeans and t-shirts, and start putting more effort into wearing the clothes that I really love.

Learning to spin

Spinning!

Look! I made yarn! I started with fluff, and now I have yarn!

Yes, I am exactly as excited as that made me sound, if not more so. Yarn!!

So, yes, anyway. I borrowed the drop  spindle from work, months and months ago, along with a bit of leftover fibre from the felting sessions. I thought it might be handy if I could teach myself to spin, given that there were a bunch of spindles right there not being used. I found a couple of books, read a couple of magazines, and gave it a try. But it didn’t seem to make sense, I wasn’t able to make yarn, and I got a bit cross and shoved it all in a  bag and pretended I wasn’t sulking about it.

Fast forward to last night, and I went along to a local knitting group where Felix very kindly taught me how to spin! It turned out that what I needed was a person to demonstrate the principles, and then it turned out to be really easy!

Of course, the little bit of yarn I’ve made so far is terrible. It’s inconsistent in thickness, lumpy in places, disastrously over-spun, and almost certainly useless. However, I am assured that this is widely considered to be Art Yarn, and that I should make as much of it as I like until I start to get the hang of consistency. Usually I would be upset at the prospect of making an increasing amount of crappy yarn. Thankfully I’m so excited about having learnt this new-to-me ancient method of transforming fluff that I want to make as much of it as I possibly can!

As you might expect, I’m already coveting new fibres and new tools. I’m currently using a cheap MDF spindle, and spinning merino tops. That’s great, I’m making yarn… but trying out Felix’s lovely little walnut spindle with a little bit of fluffy Estonian wool was something of a revelation. Felix also suggested that I might want to look up Hilltop Katie on Etsy, and now I’m having a really hard time trying not to buy one of everything. Her beginners’ kits look like a great place to start.

I can’t go back to the knitting group next week, I’ll be at work. But the week after, I’d love to be able to go back and show them a whole  spindle full of Very Artistic Yarn!

London Souvenirs

London Souvenirs

Everyone knows that yarn and fabric bought while you’re on holiday doesn’t count as stash, right…?

On the left is two balls of Schoppel Wolle’s “Flying Saucer” sock yarn. It’s dyed two strands at once, so that when you unwind it into two balls you can knit two identical socks. If you follow their pattern, it also creates a somewhat psychedelic flying saucer pattern on the legs of the socks. I probably won’t be following their pattern (because I’m awkward like that), so it’ll be interesting to see how it knits up.

The little burgundy stick is a shawl pin that exactly matches the never-ending stole that I’m currently knitting. I bought the stick and the yarn from Loop, which was just up the road from our hotel. We also had a nice little wander around the antiques shops and stalls around Camden Passage while we were waiting for Loop to open. (I’d accidentally dragged my friends there half an hour too early. Oops.)

The fabric, as you can see, is from the V&A. I was slightly disgruntled to look at the V&A online shop and discover that both of the fabrics I’ve chosen are on special offer, and therefore cheaper, but I guess the shipping would make up the difference, so never mind. The fabrics were produced to go with the 2010 exhibition Quilts 1700-2010, and are a limited edition featuring designs from prints in the V&A collection.

The top fabric is ‘Palm Tree’, and is taken from a patchwork coverlet pieced from various early 19th century printed cottons. It was possibly made in Wales, sometime around 1830-40. The bottom fabric is ‘India Flower’, taken from a patchwork coverlet composed of block-printed cottons of the 1780s and 1790s. It was made in Britain, and dated 1797.

Being tight of budget, I bought a half-metre of each print. It’s a metre and a half wide, so there should be enough to make three pairs of shoes from each design, if anybody might be interested in such a thing…? They had so many lovely prints, I wish I could have afforded to buy one of everything!

Traditional English Summer.

Victorians in the rain

Last weekend we paid a visit to Broadlands, where there was a multi-period historical re-enactment weekend going on. As you can see, the weather was absolutely ideal for a British summer’s day out.

As it turned out the Victorian Redcoats didn’t have to shelter for very long, but it was certainly very wet while it lasted!

Professor Leonidas C. Grymm and his Mermaid

This is Professor Leonidas C. Grymm, and his Mermaid. He represented part of Grymm Tooms Travelling Museum, which I very much enjoyed. The gentleman above represents a Victorian explorer and collector, and he told us about various famous collections and artifacts. His colleague, Doctor Lazarus Tooms, demonstrates a history of the advancements made in medicine, including surgery and anatomy.

I only took a few photos – partly because of the rain, and partly because I accidentally became increasingly laden with shopping as the afternoon wore on. I picked up two large felt hat blanks for steaming into shape (one black, one bright pink), and was very restrained at the fabric stall. I came away with just five metres of a lovely woven wool fabric in cream and brown, with a little blue spot running through the diamond pattern. That will be perfect for a pair of trousers and a jacket, and I rather wish I’d bought some more!

O W L hugs…

Sirdar Hug

I popped into town the other day, and while I was waiting for a bus I decided to nip into Jacksons. I’m glad I did, because they just happened to have a great big basket of Sirdar Hug for just £1.20 a ball! This means that for just £14.40, I now have enough wool to knit a whole jumper, and I’m thinking of O W L S.

So, I went and looked at the pattern on Ravelry, and looked at all the different O W L S that other people have knitted and, having coveted the pattern ever since I first saw it, I came to a difficult conclusion.

I do want owls, but I don’t want O W L S.

I’d like my jumper to be longer, but I don’t know how far the yarn will go, so I’d like to knit something from the top down rather than from the bottom up. I don’t really like knitting in the round – the constant knitting without the variation of the purl rows makes my wrists ache. I think that big jumpers need seams to give them a certain amount of structural integrity, especially at the shoulders, to stop them from stretching and twisting all over the place. (I don’t know whether that’s actually true, or whether I just think that way because I’m a dressmaker, where everything has seams.) Also, I might need to do a bit of swatching. The yarn band recommends using 8mm needles, but it looks much better for 6½s to me.

If a swatch on 6½mm needles comes out with a nice fabric that isn’t too stiff, I might take the easy option and replicate my favourite pirate jumper, (here’s a non-Ravelry link) only with owls instead of skulls.

I’ll knit the front and back from the armscye to the neck from the bottom up, incorporating a purl ridge for the row of owls to sit on. Then, once I’ve knitted the sleeves, I can divide the remaining yarn into two, pick up the stitches, and knit downwards until the jumper is as long as the yarn will allow. The purl ridge will neatly disguise the join. I might even add a bit of a chunky leaf lace motif to the sleeves and hem, inspired by Teva Durham’s Lace Leaf Pullover. Although I sold the book with that pattern in it because I didn’t get on with wrangling such heavily process-driven knitting. Still, I’m sure I can make something up.

Hang on… didn’t I just say somewhere that this would be the “easy” option?

Hmm.

Exactly what I need!

I’m sorry that the posts have been few and far between lately – I’m having far too much fun at the museum, and haven’t found time to blog about it all while I’m at home.

I’m partly helping out on the reception desk of the museum, and partly giving a hand to the visiting artists who are providing the family workshop activities. Today we’re making and decorating plaster of paris bugs, which should be fun!

The museum has a studio full of amazing resources. I’ve been learning all about wool with information packs from the British Wool Marketing Board, and feeling inspired to learn how to make felt.

I was just having a little look around the internet for felting resources (as someone’s helpfully checked out all the books from my local library – and they’re overdue!), and I came across the most useful thing ever – polystyrene lasts for making felted slippers!

The main stumbling block (if you’ll pardon the pun) in my quest to make shoes has been that the lasts are so expensive, and difficult to buy in single pairs. I never wanted to use the lasts for hammering, only for shaping the fabric as I sew. For that, these polystyrene ones will be absolutely ideal!

Who’d have thought that a felting website was exactly the place I needed to look for shoemaking supplies?

I love those moments when you find exactly the perfect thing, just as you thought you were searching for something else.

Dyeing wool with Kool Aid

Ta-Daa!

I was looking through some of my photos on Flickr, and realised that I’d never posted my tutorial for dyeing wool using Kool Aid! 

It’s now in the FAQ section, with my other tutorials.

I dyed this one lonely ball of wool more than a year ago, and I still haven’t thought of anything in particular to knit with it. What do you do with just one ball of double knitting? Time to head over to Ravelry and look for some ideas, I think!