Wednesday, 4 August 2010

Meet Maybelline

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Meet Maybelline.

Maybelline was hanging around the street yesterday and, encouraged by a bit of impromtu petting from Tom’s young sisters, followed them home. They didn’t let her indoors, but after hearing her crying on the doorstep I let her in. She ate a whole sachet of wet food before crying for more, and then spent all night curled up alseep at the foot of our bed!

Maybelline is very small, but definately adult. She has matted chest fur and plenty of fleas, a bald patch on her leg (probably from scratching or licking away fleas or matted fur), lots of scabs on her body, and her ears look quite scabby and flea-bitten; she hates having them touched, so they obviously hurt. She has ventured back into the garden a few times (she is very curious about the chickens, but as they are actually bigger than her, we’re not very concerned!). She never goes far, though, and always pootles right back in. We are going to let her stay for a few days, and I will take her to the vet Friday and see if she’s microchipped.

A woman down the street has a cat that looks very similar, that she calls “Eyeliner Cat”. Eyeliner cat is one of several generations, she says, and a new one moves in with her every few years. Her theory is that there is a ferral Mother Cat somewhere that keeps having kittens and sending them to her door! So, we’ve decided to call her Maybelline for now (after the makeup brand, of course!)

In knitting related news, I have just finished a sweater that will be featured in Yarn Forward Issue 33, which will be out around Christmas time. I’ve worked on it non-stop for the past fortnight, and my arms actually physically ache! But it was great to see it finally finished, as it’s a design I first started work on in a different yarn several years ago, and then ressurected in a better-suited yarn (Rowan Felted Tweed).

Kid Acne's Fox sweater

I have a small birthday gift to knit this weekend (I will post details once the birthday boy has received said gift), and then I plan to knit the Fox Sweater by Kid Acne that was featured in Yarn Forward Issue 10. It’s designed to be knit in a mix of Rowan Cotton and Pure Wool, which I just can’t get my head around (surely the fibres would block and wear differently and look awful??), so I bought some more Rowan Felted Tweed – yes, I’ve just spent a fortnight up to my elbows in it, but that’s how much I love this yarn!

More news on Maybelline to follow, no doubt, so stay tuned!

Catherine at 11:14 am

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Wednesday, 28 July 2010

Mushroom Project Pouch!

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Finally! Inside Crochet Issue 9 has been published, and it includes the pattern for my crocheted Mushroom Project Pouch!

You can find the magazine in good newsagents, WH Smiths and HobbyCraft, or you can download it from YUDU.


Catherine at 10:05 am

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Wednesday, 21 July 2010

I am a continental chick!

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Sally left a lovely comment the other day, and asked about my continental knitting. Do you want to know the secret of my success? Crochet. Yes, crochet. (I wish I could say “patience” but alas, patience is not a virtue I’m blessed with!)

I briefly tried contiental knitting about a year ago, but couldn’t master the purl stitch either. Each stitch was a painfully slow process – even the knit stitch – and as the increase in knitting speed I’d hoped for just didn’t materialise I quickly went back to “English” knitting and put all thought of continental out of my mind.

Fast forward a year, and I picked up my crochet hook for the first time since I learned to knit. As I was working in the garden, the hens pootling around me, the similarities between crochet and continental knitting drifted into mind: I was tensioning the yarn using my left hand instead of my right; I was learning to manipulate a stationary peice of yarn with a moving needle rather than a stationary needle and moving yarn – hooking rather than throwing; and I was learning to keep my tension even over a range of different stitches. Added to which, the crochet stitches were nice and easy so I wasn’t being frustrated by the dreaded continental purl. For me, it was a great introduction to how I needed to learn to hold my yarn and use a needle.

I picked up my knitting needles a week later, and knit a swatch continental style. It certainly wasn’t perfect, but it was certainly much easier than before. I found that continental knitting has a real rhythm to it: as you knit, purl, knit, purl, the way you move your needle is like a conductor swishing his baton back and forth. “English” knitting doesn’t have this; it seems terribly stiff and un-organic after knitting continental style.

On the subject of tension – I feel I owe my successful tension to a bit of a happy coincidence, if I’m honest. Through knitting Anais as a first project, which has a roughly equal number of knit and purl stitches throughout, I learned and used both knit and purl stitches at the same time and so I didn’t become proficient in one over the other.

There are loads of different continental purl techniques, and there a gazillion tutorials out there. This tutorial depicts the method closest to the one that I have been using, though I hold my yarn much lower (I’d get cramp if I held it like her!).

Catherine at 3:28 pm

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Monday, 19 July 2010

A week of zzzzz…

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Following quite a busy week working in Bournemouth, I spent last week at home with the Ladies – Bertha, Bridget, Pidgeon and Princess Layer – and my furboys – Howard and Fuzz.

The weather hasn’t been great here, so we spent lots of time indoors, knitting…


A little bit of dust-bathing, when the weather allowed…

…and a whole lot of napping when it didn’t!

Catherine at 4:48 pm

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Friday, 16 July 2010

Anais finis!

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I have finished Anais, my first continental knitting FO!

It took 8 1/2 balls of Debbie Bliss Cotton DK, and about 2 weeks. I considered adapting the pattern to knit it in the round, but portability was a factor – knitting it in pieces enabled me to take it away to Bournemouth with me.

If I knit it again (which I’m sorely tempted to do), I’d make three main changes:

  1. I would place the 54 cast-off stitches on the back onto string instead, so that I could knit in pattern when doing the collar;

  2. I wouldn’t pick up as many stitches around the side-front for the collar; my collar ended up all wavy, so I ripped back and cast off by working the 6 button band stitches, p1 psso, k2tog psso, p1 psso, k2tog psso and so on, to tighten it up; and lastly,

  3. I re-worked the button holes to be evenly spaced, and would do it again, because as written the first two buttons are much closer. This would have really bugged me.

I am so very pleased with it, and a two-week knit is a real record for me. I calculated that, with the ribbing, knitting it continentally needed a third less hand movements than knitting it “English” style would have. Yay!

Catherine at 7:04 pm

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Monday, 12 July 2010

Almost there!

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I’m on the last leg (or arm) of my Anais journey: I have a single sleeve left to knit and join, buttons to sew on, and blocking to do.

I was a bit undecided about which buttons to choose. The cats just didn’t “go” with it in the end, so I was torn between black “pearl” buttons for a contemporary look, or silver roses for a bit more of a girly traditional look. I think I’m going to go with the black.

Catherine at 12:18 pm

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