The penguin with the pointy sticks

Making makers - creating a social good

I've always loved these end credits for shows made my Chris Carter's production company Ten Thirteen because of satisfaction in the little boy's voice:

 

 

To some this may seem a trivial thing but yesterday I read this piece by Gillian Montegrande, founder of Made by Hands of Britain - I make, therefore I am - which argues that the sense of satisfaction and personal achievement as well as learning from  "failures" or unexpected outcomes offers a postive good for society.

She says: "If we could only pass on to others that sense of achievement and what it feels like to stare upon the tangible and positive result of one’s own useful endeavours, then it will go at least some way to improving the lot of individuals who currently have no hope."

Thinking about this, I realised that these days I don't just get that postive glow from my own making but also from teaching other people ot knit or master a craft skill through and article or a demo.

Giving someone a sense of achievement is positive for that person and whoever introduces them to the craft. I love the look that goes across someone's face (adult or child) when they complete that first row of knitting. 

In fact teaching craft is making in itself, making crafters.

 

 

 

 

Jacqueline mitts - continuing the P/HOP mitts tradition

Thanks to P/HOP and Cranford mania, I've become a fingerless mitt addict. So it seemed appropriate to donate this design to the fundraising project for Medicins Sans Frontiers.

Typically for me, they are worked in 4ply yarn of relatively fine needles, but the pattern with a little texture is straightforward and they are an excellent stashbuster.

I've written a blog post for it explaing in more including why I'm doing this for P/HOP.

And you can find the pattern here.

 

Making Monday: visualising my crafting

For various reasons I've found myself thinking about photo montages to show off my craft interests. It has been interesting looking at all the images I have and trying to define myself through them. I thought I'd share a first attempt.

 

FO: On a walk in the park

I was so pleased with my leafy scarf design inspired by an interesting skein of Ripples Crafts yarn that I took the finished object for a walk in the park in this lovely sunny weather.

Inspirational colour

My 2012 yarn diet has reached March - although I think I may crack before too long. But it doesn't stop me recieving yarn gifts and recently the lovely Juliet Barnard of The Knitter gave me a stunning skein of sock yarn from Ripples Crafts.

The colour way is Assynt Ancient Tartan, a mix of deep brown, rich tan and a subtle leafy green. I fell in love with it right away and the skein has been resting on the end of the sofa from where I've picked it up dozens of times to contemplate. I was wondering what to use it for but in reality it was obvious. Every time I looked at it I thought of beech trees in autumn and the leaves we used to rake up in our garden when I was a child. 

So I started flicking through some lace source books and have started work on a long slim scarf that could be wtrapped into the neck of a coat or draped over a plain dress or sweater. I'm using the two leaf patterns below if it works to my satisfaction I'll reveal the full effect here soon.

 

 

 

 

Outside in or inside out - choices, triangles and shawls

All the triangular - and hexagonal - shawls I've made until now have been what I would describe as inside out. By that I mean they have started with few stitches that form the centre of the long edge and the pattern increases in two triangular panels either side of a central "spine" - as in the leaf pattern on this shawl.

But last week I made Blyth by Kitman Figueroa which works the other way. You start with the edging casting on, in this case, more than 300 stitches, and forming the shape by decreasing to create triangles on each side of the spine.

There are advantages and disadvantages of this method. Yes because each row is shorter, there is a feeling of the whole process speeding up. On the other hand with an inside out construction you set the initial lace pattern over a very few stitches and can then use preceding rows to help accurately place new pattern repeats. With the outside in approach you have to correctly place a lot of lace repeats over the 300+ stitches with nothing to refer to.

Each person will probably have their own view of which method they prefer but both produce lovely shawls so the choice may depend on what effect the designer wants from the edging.

Meanwhile my Blyth is looking great.

 

Fair isle fun

I haven't done much colour work over the last few years - perhaps due to my lace obsession - but a while back I bought yarn to knit Julia by Judy Furlong.     

 

By coincidence a friend also bought yarn for it, in the original colourway shown here - I'd chosen more red/browen tomes so no clash at least.

And that is as far as either of us got. Well no, I had at some point cast on 130-odd stitches and worked a few rows of the 1x1 rib for the back. But that was definitely it.

We occasionally bemoaned this state of affairs with little effect until my friend came up with a challenge. We would make it our knitting for the Six Nations rugby tournament this year. 

With hindsight this may not have been the most sensible combination - it is hard to keep count of stitches when you are leaping out of your seat due to a refs decision or a brilliant try. Also it is quite hard to leap out of your chair when you are knitting one colour in continental and one English style.

But with the back complete I am feeling happy about fair isle again and establishing a smooth technique and even tension. I've becaome more confident with floats - I've worried in the past about carrying yarn over more than five stitches without catching it but having spoken with a friend who is floaring for nine in another pattern (following a masterclass) I'm happily doing seven stitch floats (the most the pattern requires).

I don't know why I haven't been doing colourwork much, now I've returned to it, I'm full of colourful ideas.

 

Meeting a need: manly fingerless gloves

 

The long-suffering Mr Penguin was complaining of cold hands when he was working in our spare room/home office.  I said I didn't have the same problem but he pointed out that this was probably due to my collection of fingerless mitts.

 Ok so mine are fine, often lacy and possibly a bit girly, but eventually a pair of DK fingerless gloves (definitely not mitts - v girly apparently) was agreed on.

But a pattern search revealled nothing suitable. There were few men's fingerless gloves or mitts about and of those that I could find none passed the Mr Penguin test.

So it was out with the measuring tape, plus a sheet of paper where I drew round his hand, a calculator and a bit of swatching. 

And a few days later it was cosy hands all round.

The same day as the gloves had their first test run. we were out with friends when another knitter's partner mentioned he wanted fingerless gloves (with all the same caveats). A definite gap in the pattern market.

So I've written up the pattern and published it - yes really, I've had confidence in my designing and writing skills, to create a simple but hopefully popular pattern.

So if you know of a man with cold hands, help is at hand. Plus in extra good news, these are a stashbuster, using under 200m of DK yarn.

 

Cables - forget your fear

Chatting to new knitters, and indeed those who have been knitting for a while, the fear of cables comes up quite regularly. They'll say something along the lines of loving a particular cable pattern but that they wouldn't know where to start. It's a pity because really if you do stocking stitch neatly there is nothing to be afraid off.

So here is my humble attempt to demystify the cable needle.

Cables are twists, braids or other raised textures created by changing the order stitches are worked. They are typically worked in stocking stitch panels surrounded by reverse stocking stitch (purl on right side, knit on wrong side, so that the "bumps" are on the right side).

 

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The basic cable pattern I'm using here is worked in DK yarn using 4.5mm needles and a cable needle (CN) which is a short double pointed needle which allows you to pick up stitches with one end and knit them on the other - don't worry that will make sense in a moment.

Cast on 31.

Row 1: P7, K6, P5, K6, P7 

Row 2: K7, P6, K5, P6, K7

Repeat these rows twice more.

At this point you have a series of stocking stitch and reverse stocking stitch and are ready to make your first cable twists.

 

 Row 7: P7, C6F, P5, C6B, P7.

"C6F" is the first cable instruction. The C tells you it is a cable, the 6 that it is worked over six stitches and the F tells you what to do with your cable.

In this case the instruction note for C6F reads: Place the next 3 stitches on the CN and hold to the front of your work (F means front).

 

 The instruction continues: K3 from the left needle, ...

 

  ... then K3 from the CN.

 

 This produces a left leaning twist.

 The second cable instruction C6B means Place the next 3 stitches on the CN and hold to the back of your work; K3 from the left needle, then K3 from the CN.

 

 

This produces a right leaning twist.

 

Row 8: As row 2.

These 8 rows form the pattern.

The final pattern line means you now repeat the 8 rows for the the length of your piece to create regular cable pattern.

 

The pottern after 3 repeats

Cables may also be presented on a chart using symbols - a chart for this cable could look csomething like this where the empty squares represent knit stitches on the right side and purls on the wrong side, dots are purls on the right side and the crossing symbols indicate the cables. Charts always come with a key to explain them and while they may seem daunting at first, they are useful in showing what your knitting will look like.

 This is a basic cable pattern but any type will be explained in the same way, with information on the number of stitches and how many go on the CN either at the front or back.

Once you have mastered this basic tachnique, all types of cable follow the same principles, so the cable world is your oyster. Trust the pattern and enjoy.

 

Knitting with hard sums

This week I've been learning about tech editing - the art of checking, editing and grading (sizing) knitting patterns - from the highly regarded tech editor and excellent teacher Jen Arnall-Culliford, who has worked on The Knitter magazine and books such as A Stitch in Time Vol 2.

Tech editing is about making sure knitting patterns work, ie you can understand them, that they tell you the right number of stitches at all times, that they will fit, that you have the right amount of yarn, etc. 

It is about a lot more that just liking knitting, although that helps. It requires an understanding of garment construction, attention to detail, technical understanding of knitting stitches and instructions and sums - and not just the easy adding up ones.

Pythagoras and square roots feature significantly which for me was great - I love sums - but may not be for everyone.

We did have to think and there was lots to learn but we also laughed a lot. I would recommend Jen as a teacher.

For me this was an inspiring course that showed me that I could bring together my organisational, knitting and publishing skills together in a new and satisfying way.

So now I'm fired up to use my new skills and am setting off to promote this new string to my freelance bow.