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Craft club topic of the month - knitting!

Disaster! I finished my new jumper and tried to block it, and it turned into a hideous stretchy mess when wet. Now it's down to my knees!
And when I search 'Cascade 220 Superwash stretch' it seems it's a common problem. It's unwearable. :mad:

Back to normal wool next time. :rolleyes:
 
moose said:
Disaster! I finished my new jumper and tried to block it, and it turned into a hideous stretchy mess when wet. Now it's down to my knees!
And when I search 'Cascade 220 Superwash stretch' it seems it's a common problem. It's unwearable. :mad:

Back to normal wool next time. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Superwash allegedly springs back in the tumble dryer. I've been caught out but never tried it.
 
moose said:
Disaster! I finished my new jumper and tried to block it, and it turned into a hideous stretchy mess when wet. Now it's down to my knees!
And when I search 'Cascade 220 Superwash stretch' it seems it's a common problem. It's unwearable. :mad:

Back to normal wool next time. :rolleyes:
Click to expand...
Oh no! :eek: I think superwash can be a bit slippery like but that sounds drastic.
 
moose said:
Phew - husband took it to the launderette and it's come out roughly the size it was intended to be, and not felted. Glad he restrained me from throwing it on the fire last night, in a tantrum :D
First and last time I ever use superwash! :mad:
Click to expand...
I have an absolute ton of stuff made of superwash and it has never done that. It relaxes a little when blocked but that's it. In fact my favourite cardigan that's gone on for years is superwash (Cygnet Superwash).
 
RubyToogood said:
I have an absolute ton of stuff made of superwash and it has never done that. It relaxes a little when blocked but that's it. In fact my favourite cardigan that's gone on for years is superwash (Cygnet Superwash).
Click to expand...
Well I always think of you when I hear the word, as I know you have knitted a lot. It was unbelievable when wet - it was like wrestling a giant octopus, slithering out of my grasp! At one point the sleeves were 12 inches longer than they were supposed to be :D (I'm laughing NOW... :mad: )
 
I'm now knitting with Air :D
Air by Drops, mind. It's the softest yarn I've ever used - you can hardly feel it in your hand whilst knitting! I doubt it will have any durability whatsoever, but I'm making a instant gratification, super easy jumper on big needles, so I don't really care.

Screenshot 2021-01-02 at 18.30.16.png

It's going to be followed by one of these, which involves CUTTING STITCHES to make the eyelids, and will be way more fiddly. :eek:

Screenshot 2021-01-02 at 18.32.23.png
 
I made a hat for my sister with Air and it's nice.

Below is my latest make - the doll is an old knit for my niece which came back to me for facial reconstruction, hair transplant and rehoming, and is now with youngest gaijinchild. Made the coat and bag for Xmas.

1609613844374.png
 
Enragingly, my camera appears to have died so I am unable to post my (ridiculous) hood. Grandaughter, looking on the phone, (loudly) asked her mum - 'is nana in fancy dress?l Personally, I know I look like a demented elf but suddenly, I love hoods. So much so that I made another, more sober one for D-i-L. Winter white cashmere (thank you Colourmart - my greatest yarn find of the decade). Unfortunately (or possibly not), I showed it to my youngest before wrapping...only for him to say it looked a bit Klu Klux Klanny. Had to hastily rip out the ribbing and add some blue around the edges. Added a ruffle on the bottom (also with some extra blue) just in case. Made a Fair Isle beret for one of my customers and I am finally knitting myself Latvian mittens (almost finished the first one. When I learn how to upload pics from my phone, I can post photos.
Is that 'Ranunculus' Moose? Have done that pattern myself. I used some spendy Handmaiden yarn with Drops Kidsilk.
 
It's the Easy Eyelet Sweater by Knitatude campanula - it's extremely easy, but I'm enjoying the way it makes a feature of the yoke increases rather than trying to do an invisible increase - I will use that idea again.

Well done on pulling the hood back from the KKK precipice! :eek: Looking forward to seeing the demented elf :D
 
Well hey, moose - am doing one of those myself (holey jumpers) but not, sadly, with Air or huge needles. Mine' (s some very fine alpaca I was given, (800gr) on 2.75 needles. I have had it for years but I would never wear anything fine, cream-coloured or holey (instant destruction guaranteed). D-i-L does like and wear my numerous knitted offerings. Also, she is ridiculously tiny (she can swap clothes with 9 year old grand-daughter). Anyway, this is my definition of endless, mindless lockdown knitting...although I also have socks, Latvian mittens and my ongoing stranded cardigan on the go but these require paying serious attention.
 
I have some yarn on the way that I ordered. But I am so old I can't remember which of the two projects I was dithering over that I decided it would be for when I ordered it last Saturday.
 
www.ravelry.com

Aibrean pattern by Isabell Kraemer

For pattern support please go to the questions thread here.
www.ravelry.com www.ravelry.com

Rounding off knitting season with a jumper for sweetheart. I have now completely sworn off merino (the battery chicken of yarns) so am doing this in some rustic Norwegian wool - Hillesvag peltsulgarn 'Tinde - in a lovely grassy green. And not doing the horrible purlknot pattern texture, just doing a waffle stitch. The wool is rather lovely... with that longwool halo thing but a tight worsted spin...and cheap too. Mindless stuff after another season of intensely patterned items on minuscule needles and also supreme displacement for all those other projects facing another year of hibernation.
 
Yep, knitting season is for winter hibernation. Once spring arrives, it is gardening/sewing season. I am helpless to overcome these timings. One day, it just becomes impossible to consider knitting another stitch...so everything not finished gets stashed into baskets and forgotten about until the knitting imperative descends on me again - usually sometime around my birthday in October. This has been the case my entire life...so I am racing against some internal clock to finish this next jumper. Tends to coincide with the spring seed sowing (tomatoes and semi-tender flowers). I have about a week to finish the body and sleeves (have finished yoke and neckline and done the sleeve separation...so it is touch and go.
 
Why don't more patterns work top down?

I feel like everything would be a lot easier if you worked that way.
 
I just think it would be so much easier to make sure you get things that are the length you want.

Posted it after I followed a pattern and got a sleeve for a gorilla. The trying to hold it at my arm pit on the needles to work out what I actually needed to do is ridiculous. would be so much easier if I could hold the shoulder seam to work it out.
 
Me76 said:
I just think it would be so much easier to make sure you get things that are the length you want.

Posted it after I followed a pattern and got a sleeve for a gorilla. The trying to hold it at my arm pit on the needles to work out what I actually needed to do is ridiculous. would be so much easier if I could hold the shoulder seam to work it out.
Click to expand...
Yeah, totally. I'm knitting for mr moose, when I normally only knit for myself, and it's a boon of top-down that he can try on as I knit, raise his arms, etc, to check length.
 
The unruly allotment has put me off gardening for the moment but I seem to have fallen into another colour-induced rabbithole of dyeing. Obviously, I cannot afford dozens of skeins of undyed yarn...so inevitably, spinning has become a necessary next step...plus, there are sheep in my wood and I have access to no end of fleece. After the last lot of stinky sheepwool though, I simply ordered carded slivers from world of wool...at quarter the cost of spun yarn. The Ashford traditional wheel is in a corner of the sitting room, skeins of wool are hanging all over the house and the natural dyeing thing has also involved heaps of pans with mordants, boiling plant stuff and such. Then there are food colourings/acid dyes. I am in a sort of frenzy, tbh, and am just knocking up a couple of drop spindles to get the hang of 'drafting' So much to learn. However, there is a little niggle in my head. While I claim to be a gardener, in truth, I mainly just like raising plants. When it comes to planting them out in perfectly balanced, coherent and lovely gardens, it all goes to shit and I end up with a zillion plants, piled around in pots...which basically makes up my (ahem) garden. I have a horrible feeling that simply arsing about with colours will not get much further than that and I will merely be hoarding yet more skeins and balls of colourful wool (I would be knitting forever to make any inroads into the piles of accumulated woollage (which rarely go together or can even be used to make a single useful garment.).
 
Well you have to do something in the 2 months till Knitting Season, campanula
Are you using your own plants to dye? Would love to see some dyed wool when you get a break in your frenzy.
 
Yep, moose. I grew madder, anthemis, safflowers and persicaria (for indigo)...along with stuff like calendula and walnuts I already have to hand. The madder took 4 years to get enough root...but even after drying and grinding, I didn't get a good deep red. More of a sort of peachy salmon. V.pretty but not what I was hoping for. The indigo has been a ...trip. I have mainly been experimenting with extraction and after several weeks, I have extracted around 20grams of fairly pure indigo. Dyeing with it has been a little fraught though since it there is chemistry involved - fermentation, changing ph, reducing and then re-oxygenating. Unlike simple acid dyes, keeping an indigo vat alive is not unlike maintaining an especially tricky sourdough. So far, I have not really managed to get a deep blue but have got several pretty shades of aquamarine. The main disappointment with indigo involves the high levels of alkalinity ...which is OK for cellulose (plant fibres like cotton, flax) but a bit harsh for protein fibres such as wool or silk. I have been doing overdyeing, kettle dyeing and dipping...while trying to avoid some of the horrible lurid internet examples. Anyway, this is why I am now trying to spin my own yarn because, just like when you are confronted with a pure virgin sheet of white cartridge paper, sized canvas or carefully cut wooden blank (for a lathe), making the first marks (or cuts) really ups my anxiety levels.

For the first time ever, I have picked up my needles in the middle of August. I got about halfway through making a very lovely cardigan in shades of pinks and greys, using kid silk, a Shibui lace weight silk and cashmere and something called 'seacell' (one of these viscose/tencel fibres from Fleecemaiden. All in, the yarn probably cost almost £200 (although I bought it over several years on sale). I started knitting it around 5 years ago but gave up as I decided it was all a bit too fluffy bedjacket style...but am now thinking fuck it, who wouldn't want a pastel silk and cashmere cardi for those idle mornings in bed? I may have to acquire some marabou mules and an ebony cigarillo holder. Anyway, I have finished the back and one front, so am technically over the halfway mark and persevering on.

I will get one of the offspring to help me to upload pics, asap.
 
Sounds like a very interesting process. I plan to get into fiddling with dyes when I don't have to work any more.
We will also need pics of the marabou mules and cigarette holder, of course :D
 
So I have spun up some wool and knitted a swatch. Amazingly, I did produce (ahem) yarn of an interesting texture not unlike some spendy Malabrigo I bought years ago. Would work for a rustic garment of sorts but I expect something a bit more refined. Early days with the spindle though.
I did get a bundle of cheapo Turkish fabric dyes through the post so will get the grand-daughters doing tiedye bunting for our party.
 
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