Welcome: Knitting and fencing but rarely together

Hello, I'm Bronagh aka Lapurplepenguin a Northern Irish born, London-based knitting designer, tech editor and journalist 

I love my pointy sticks and when I occasionally put down my knitting, I am sometimes known to pick up a sword - or at the very least help others indulge in some sabre fencing by helping my club organise competitions and events.

Although superficially different knitting and sabre fencing share some surprising common traits (apart from getting you odd looks on the train) - storage requirements, specialist kit, strange languages and of course the pointy objects.

The blog is mainly about adventures in yarn and jewellery but will occasionally feature a spot of swashbuckling.

One thing I should explain is the name. You can find me on Facebook, Twitter and Ravelry as lapurplepenguin and on Instagram it is bromiskelly_lapurplepenguin so this blog belongs to a penguin with pointy sticks (knitting needles and swords). There's lots of knitting on all these feeds so do please follow me.

Purple Penguin has been an all purpose name I've used for years - long before I started a second career as a knitwear designer. It first started I think when I needed a name for a quiz team or the like. Someone said think of a couple of things you like: obviously purple and penguins.

But it then came in handy as a code in relation to knitting and dressmaking. If you are wearing a garment you made and someone compliments it, and you admit you made it, there are sometimes odd reactions. But if I say "it's a purple penguin" they nod or say really. And so my knitting superhero identity was born.

You can find more about my work and designs at lapurplepenguin.com

Let's swatch

Let’s swatch

Having just cast off my third swatch of the morning, I’ve been musing about the value of these small squares of knitting and why swatching seems to really annoy some knitters. So I’m taking a break – I’ve several more swatches to do – to share some thoughts.

Today I am swatching for a variety of reasons – there’s a tension swatch for a new garment, some to demonstrate techniques for a class I’m teaching tomorrow, one to work out a new reversible cable idea I’ve had and some for design submissions I’m making to a magazine. It’s very unlikely that I’ll knit anything bigger than a 15cm square in the next 24 hours.

And yes, I’m making all those swatches because it’s my job but there are very good reasons for you to swatch too.

Ensuring your project comes out to the right size

Stitch and row tension are the key numbers I, and every other knitting designer uses, to work out the instructions in a pattern. If we tell you to cast on a number of stitches, work a number of rows etc, we are doing it to give you a piece of knitting of a certain size based on the tension our original samples came out to.

If a knitter follows the instructions using a different tension (aka gauge) their knitting will come out to different measurements. It really is that fundamental.

I regularly come across people who tell me that they never do tension swatches because their tension is fine. Then again in my role solving customer problems for a large knitting brand, I regularly have conversations with knitters where I work out that the problem is that their tension is different to one in the pattern.

You may have been lucky with your tension so far but because every single one of us have different hands it isn’t possible that every knitter out there will always get the same tension as me or you – especially as our tension can change depending on the fibres in your yarn and what your needles are made of.

So please, please, please make a tension swatch before you start a project. It’s just knitting and you like knitting don’t you.

Oh, and if you’re still not convinced – if your tension is off, you might also run out of yarn. On the other hand making your tension square won’t leave you short of yarn. Designers factor the yarn for a swatch into their yarn calculations.

Mastering a technique

A swatch is a helpful way to practice complex stitch patterns or an unusual technique and solve any problems or mistakes on a small scale – rather than when you have 200+ stiches on your needles.

I’d much rather get the technique down on a small piece before having to rip out masses of stitches.

With this swatch, you don’t always have to use the yarn for the project. For example practicing a fiddly stitch on a chunky yarn before you tackle it in a sock can help you work it out. Your bag of yarn oddments is your go to for this.

Trying out a yarn

Because I write yarn reviews for Knitting magazine, I make a lot of swatches to try out yarns. I really recommend it as a way of getting to know how a yarn that’s new to you behaves and how it feels in your hands.

If you are using a yarn for the first time or substituting a yarn in a pattern, it is worth swatching with it before embarking on a large project. A swatch can help you decide whether you like the feel, look and drape of a yarn using a particular stitch. Discovering that before you’ve knitted half a cardigan is a good call.

It can also tell you if you actually like the feel of the yarn as you use it. Hating using a yarn you’ve chosen for a blanket is no fun.

Believe me, embracing your swatches can only benefit your knitting.

Let's swatch

Let’s swatch

Having just cast off my third swatch of the morning, I’ve been musing about the value of these small squares of knitting and why swatching seems to really annoy some knitters. So I’m taking a break – I’ve several more swatches to do – to share some thoughts.

Today I am swatching for a variety of reasons – there’s a tension swatch for a new garment, some to demonstrate techniques for a class I’m teaching tomorrow, one to work out a new reversible cable idea I’ve had and some for design submissions I’m making to a magazine. It’s very unlikely that I’ll knit anything bigger than a 15cm square in the next 24 hours.

And yes, I’m making all those swatches because it’s my job but there are very good reasons for you to swatch too.

Ensuring your project comes out to the right size

Stitch and row tension are the key numbers I, and every other knitting designer uses, to work out the instructions in a pattern. If we tell you to cast on a number of stitches, work a number of rows etc, we are doing it to give you a piece of knitting of a certain size based on the tension our original samples came out to.

If a knitter follows the instructions using a different tension (aka gauge) their knitting will come out to different measurements. It really is that fundamental.

I regularly come across people who tell me that they never do tension swatches because their tension is fine. Then again in my role solving customer problems for a large knitting brand, I regularly have conversations with knitters where I work out that the problem is that their tension is different to one in the pattern.

You may have been lucky with your tension so far but because every single one of us have different hands it isn’t possible that every knitter out there will always get the same tension as me or you – especially as our tension can change depending on the fibres in your yarn and what your needles are made of.

So please, please, please make a tension swatch before you start a project. It’s just knitting and you like knitting don’t you.

Oh, and if you’re still not convinced – if your tension is off, you might also run out of yarn. On the other hand making your tension square won’t leave you short of yarn. Designers factor the yarn for a swatch into their yarn calculations.

Mastering a technique

A swatch is a helpful way to practice complex stitch patterns or an unusual technique and solve any problems or mistakes on a small scale – rather than when you have 200+ stiches on your needles.

I’d much rather get the technique down on a small piece before having to rip out masses of stitches.

With this swatch, you don’t always have to use the yarn for the project. For example practicing a fiddly stitch on a chunky yarn before you tackle it in a sock can help you work it out. Your bag of yarn oddments is your go to for this.

Trying out a yarn

Because I write yarn reviews for Knitting magazine, I make a lot of swatches to try out yarns. I really recommend it as a way of getting to know how a yarn that’s new to you behaves and how it feels in your hands.

If you are using a yarn for the first time or substituting a yarn in a pattern, it is worth swatching with it before embarking on a large project. A swatch can help you decide whether you like the feel, look and drape of a yarn using a particular stitch. Discovering that before you’ve knitted half a cardigan is a good call.

It can also tell you if you actually like the feel of the yarn as you use it. Hating using a yarn you’ve chosen for a blanket is no fun.

Believe me, embracing your swatches can only benefit your knitting.

A flurry of patterns

It has been one of those weeks.

One of those weeks when I get to look like a pattern machine rather than a one woman band spinning a legion of plates.

As happens occasionally three UK knitting magazines came out within days of each other all with at least one pattern designed by me. These pieces were commissioned at different times with different deadlines but they have all arrived on the newsagent shelves at the same time. Lots of work coming to fruition all at once. And I have to say all designs I really enjoyed creating.

They are:

 

Posy, in Knitting Magazine issue 259, is all about vintage inspiration and pretty lace. This tee is knitted in Eden Cottage Yarns Milburn 4ply and is a good choice to try out a little lace in a garment.

 

The Flower Bursts socks in Simply Knitting issue 262 are top down socks with a flap and gusset style heel and a floral eyelet pattern on the leg and the top of the foot. These are made in West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4ply giving you a good choice of spring colours to peep out of your shoes.

 

Lillian is a classic twin set featuring a pretty lace panel detail on the fronts. The top is sleeveless - so you could also knit it on its own in a larger size as a layering slip over. I am a fan of designing twin sets because there are options to knit it all or choose one piece depending on what suit you. You could also choose to do the top in a contrasting colour - or even a set of tops in different shades. And talking of shades, you have so much choice with this one - it's knitted in John Arbon Textiles Knit by Numbers. Find the pattern in Knitting Magazine issue 259.

 

The Gordale mitts feature a colourwork cable up the back of the hands. This is a great way to try this technique out because you are only working on a small amount of cable. And I promise, it is easier than it looks. I used baa ram ewe Pip Colourwork yarn for these and they feel beautiful. Plus it comes in 36 fabulous shades including neons. You can find this pattern in The Knitter issue 213.

Swatches and Squishiness

How has your week been?

A lot of mine has been about swatches and bundles of yarn – so that’s pretty good.

Swatches are an enormous part of a designer’s life. When you answer a magazine’s call for submissions for example, you need to swatch your stitch patterns in the right type of yarn.

Each design submitted will include a sketch, pictures of the swatch or swatches, a description and suggestions for the yarn and colours to make the item in – all brought together on a single page.

Recently I’ve submitted ideas to number of calls which has resulted in a pile of new swatches.

Over the past two or three weeks, I’ve had commissions come in from those ideas and agreed the actual yarns and colours to be used.

This means I’ve needed to sort out all the swatches for the commissioned designs and collect them up with the sketch and notes for each one while lovely swishy parcels arrive.

Now, I need to reswatch in the lovely yarns pictured before I start creating the patterns and samples. I need to know exactly how the final yarn choice behaves before I start the calculations for how many stitches I need etc.

But it is good to stop and admire all the fab yarn I’ll be working with. There are some old favourites in among the yarns pictured as well as some brand new items that I’m excited to work with. Some are so new they aren’t on the market yet – but they will be by the time the designs appear in magazines. It is a great privilege to be able to work with these.

I will share some in progress pics when I can but for now you are going to have to guess what I might be making from these swatches and yarns.

Sewing up and more upcoming classes

I have a number of classes coming up at The Yarn Dispensary in Faversham over the next couple of months. Starting with something I think is a very important skill – joining your knitting with confidence. We’ll be practising mattress stitch, three needle bind offs and grafting/Kitchener stitch to help you finish your projects beautifully.

• 22 March - Finishing your Knits - Sewing up and joining your projects
• 12 April – Learn to Knit Socks
• 26 April – Introduction to Knitting Cables
• 10 May - Adding beautiful edgings to your knits

The Yarn Dispensary is a beautiful, friendly yarn shop housed in a historic building in the centre of Faversham, Kent. Faversham is just over an hour by train from London Victoria and St Pancras stations and is well worth a visit in itself. You could combine a class, with exploring the historic town, browsing the market and seeing a copy of the Magna Carter (for free just across from the shop).

Browse and book my upcoming workshops at the shop, here.

 

Counting Rows

I’ve been thinking about counting rows this week because I think it is something we experienced knitters fail to explain enough. As a result, you see discussions online about whether or not you should count the stitches on the needle or where you should start counting from at the bottom of your work.

I think a lot of this happens because people are counting rows on stocking stitch projects and are attempting to count the Vs on the flat side of their work. This is difficult because you might be counting your cast on as a row and this affects whether you should count the stitches on the needle.

However, if you turn your work over and count the row ridges it is much easier.

If like me you use the cable cast on method, or you use a knit cast on, this is a very straight forward method – simply count the lines of ridges. If you use a long tail cast on, check what the ridge at the bottom of your work looks like after you have cast on. It may be worth popping a removable marker in the cast on ridge, so that later you can count the rows after the cast on.

Even if you are someone who uses a row counter or ticks each row off on paper, it is worth knowing about counting ridges, because sometimes you might forget. Plus there are patterns that ask you to knit to a particular length on the back and then on the front to work to XX rows fewer than the back – you will need to count at that point.

Even if you don't use it often, having a reliable row counting system is a useful addition to your toolbox.

Getting Zandra Rhodes a cuppa

Over the past couple of weeks I was volunteering at the Faversham Literary Festival.

This is an amazing local event featuring dozens of big name authors. But it only works thanks to dozens of volunteers like me who bustle about checking tickets, showing people to seats, running bookstalls and bars, and looking after authors and interviewers backstage.

On Saturday I found myself looking after the iconic Zandra Rhodes who was there to talk about her book… Iconic.

It was a joy to meet this unique textile and fashion designer. And to hear her talk about her design process especially when some of the things she mentioned were so familiar. For example realising you need to rethink a garment because the fabric pattern only looks good if the wearer keeps their arms stuck out at all times.

In this pic you can see Zandra and my attempt to stuff a lot of knitwear under my orange volunteer gilet (this venue was a historic church with some very cold parts).

I knit fast but...

I’ve seen a number of posts lately from people feeling inadequate or not a “proper knitter” because they knit slowly or at least more slowly than other people they see.

Because of this they take longer to finish items than their friends or, more likely, people they see online.

As a very fast knitter, who finishes a items regularly, I don’t what to be part of the problem.

I knit fast but you don’t have to to be a “proper knitter”.

There are various reasons for my speed. Firstly, I don’t remember learning to knit which means I was very young when I started and I’m in my 50s now. So that’s half a century of practice, especially as I’ve always had at least one project on the go at all times since my mid teens.

Then as a knitting tutor, I have put a lot of thought and research into understanding and refining my knitting technique. I’ve found a style that suits me combined with knowledge about what needles work for me with what yarns and projects.

And then there are deadlines. I design regularly for magazines, so I have deadlines to hit. I love knitting but it is also part of my working day so I plan periods of knitting into my daily plan. For example, this afternoon I am writing in approx 45 minute blocks, alternating with 15 minutes of shawl knitting (about 2 rows on the current sample). On another day, I might dedicate the afternoon to intense sleeve knitting. Plus my mantra is pretty much: if I’m sitting, I’m knitting.

But you don’t need to do any of that if you don’t want to.

It doesn’t matter if you knit all day, every day or you manage a few rows at a knitting group once a week – YOU ARE A PROPER KNITTER.

Also it doesn’t matter to anyone but you when you finish something. As knitters we are supposed to enjoy the process of making – if you make more slowly, you are probably getting a lot of enjoyment from each stitch.

So relax and go at your speed and feel good about it. You’ll probably make fewer mistakes that way too.

Mittens and the wonder of wool

Last week in Kent in turned very cold so it was time for the full DK mittens. I wear 4ply fingerless mitts a lot in winter even when out for a walk and find they keep my hands comfortable most of the time. But when the temperature drops I turn to handknit gloves or mittens.

 

Mittens from my Birdie cloche and mitten set using DK yarn.
Find the pattern on Ravelry and Payhip

Pure wool DK mittens, especially these from my Birdie pattern (they’re named after a great aunt), are increasingly my favourites. I have seen plenty of advice saying mittens are the best choice for warmth if dexterity isn’t a priority and my experience agrees.

According to at least one active wear website, mittens are warmer because your fingers share body heat and there is less surface area on a mitten than a glove. But I don’t need high-tech fabric to help keep my fingers cosy because there is wool!

The amazing temperature controlling properties of pure wool, along with my fingers snuggling together for warmth, means cosy hands even in last week’s chill. Plus, I can fit a pair of 4ply fingerless mitts under this pair if it gets even colder.

Funnily enough I have another Birdie set on the go already in some lovely Bluefaced Leicester from West Yorkshire Spinners. The hat is done and when I get a chance, in between design deadlines, I am ready to start the mittens.

 

Tip of the week: Check out your yarn labels, they are a fount of info

I'd like you to take a look at your yarn stash and read some labels. Quite often when we start a project we just discard the labels or leave then to languish in the bottom of the project bag, but they have a lot to say.

What the yarn is made of: The more you knit the more you learn about how different fibres behave so the fibre content listed can give you clues about how the yarn will be to knit with and what sort of fabric it might make.

Recommended needle size and tension: This doesn't mean that you must use these needles or that this is the tension that you will get in a particular pattern. Rather it is the average tension the manufacturer has found for that yarn on that size of needle. But this does give you clues to what range of needles this yarn will work best with.

The amount and length of the yarn in the ball or skein: Labels will often tell you how many metres there are in the ball as well as the weight. Some patterns will tell you how many metres of yarns are used in a project, so this can be very useful.

Washing instructions: Very useful - if I am giving a knitted item to a non-knitter I will often include a yarn label so they have official washing instructions.