Welcome to my blog. I live, knit, crochet, spin and craft near the Northumbrian Coast (but not too near – the waves won't be splashing my yarn!).There's a story in every stitch, every grain of sand, every blade of grass. I thought I'd blog about it…
We’ve all thoroughly enjoyed making this (with some of us up to our third blanket and trying out more of Eleonora’s designs) The pattern was originally released as a Crochet Along project and the anticipation of looking up each new instalment was great fun.
I loved the challenge of learning some new stitches too. I think the basket stitch and bobbles were my favourites.
We were discussing our blankets at Knit and Natter a little while ago and thought it would be good to do our own Knit Along (KAL). Yvonne has risen to the challenge and produced a pattern for a baby blanket, which she is releasing in weekly instalments over the coming weeks.
Yvonne writes, “Here it is. Welcome to the Mystery Knit and Natter Knit Along Blanket.It is knitted in any dk wool with 4mm needles. It can be done in a solid colour or you can add different colours as we go and you will need approximately 160g to complete the project.Happy knitting guys!”
Week 1
Cast on 141 stitches and work 10 rows in garter stitch (knit every row).
I’ll post the next bit next weekend. Meanwhile here’s my completed Week 1 knitting.
Please join in and let me know how you get on…feel free to send photos too. Enjoy!
A while ago I ‘rescued’ some Jacob fleeces, that proved to be quite a challenge even before I began to card it ready for spinning – you can read about that here. I recently decided what to do with it.
I’ve been going to a couple of spinning groups and through one of these I did a day course on English Long Draw spinning. To the uninitiated this creates a fluffier airier yarn. It’s also perfect for fairly short fibres (around 1.5 inches) with some crimp. We practiced handcarding to make rolags before learning the long draw technique. The carding process opens up the locks of fleece and organises the fibres so they lie parallel across the carder, and are then rolled off the teeth into a sausage shape or rolag. We were provided with samples of wool from 4 different sheep breeds to learn with and I finished spinning and plying them at home (pictured top to bottom,Portland, Shetland, Ryland and Zwartbles).
There’s nothing like a big project to hone your skills so once I realised that the Jacob fleece was perfect for long draw I searched for a suitable pattern. I wanted to separate the black and white fibre and spin it separately to make a black and white patterned sweater, but nothing too complex. I found the Lata sweater on Ravelry – the pattern has a very simple 4 row repeat and resembled a houndstooth check …..
I got carding to make those rolags and soon was able to start spinning….
…and plying to make a 2ply yarn. It’s quite soft to the touch.
The sweater is nearly complete – I am halfway through knitting the second sleeve. The cuffs, round neck and waist are worked in knit2 purl2 rib in the black yarn, which sets off the pattern perfectly. I’m really pleased with how it’s going.
Not bad for some dirty fleece that was destined for the bonfire!
Have you ever rescued something from being thrown away and made it into something nice and new?
Spring is in the air! The birds are singing, the daffodils are in bloom and the first of this year’s lambs are bounding about in the fields. It was a perfect day for K and Daughter, and the dogs, Buddy and Wren, to take a coastal walk and for me to indulge in a bit of scenic knitting.
We initially drove to the fishing village of Craster. I dropped them here and decided to get myself a coffee at the Piper’s Pitch – a small food kiosk in the main car park at the entrance to the village, just next to the Tourist Information Office. They were doing a brisk trade in kipper sandwiches (with the local kippers that Craster is famous for). There’s no waste with these. There’s a sign offering free kipper skins for your dog!.
It was such a nice day I decided to sit at one of the tables – I think this is the first al fresco coffee I’ve had this year.
After a quick look to see if there was anything of interest in Tourist Information I drove to Newton-by-the-Sea and parked in the disabled bay overlooking the see. I may have mentioned before on here that to access this you have to remove a heavy chain hung across the road – not very accessible for blue badge holders. Luckily however someone was walking past and kindly moved the chain for me.
The sea was pretty calm and there were lots of walkers about, Many with dogs. A group of children, sensibly clad in wetsuits and lifejackets were having great fun in the water with their makeshift raft. There was also a kayaker and some sea anglers.
Out to sea I could see the brilliant white and black male eider ducks swimming about. A whinchat was perched on a longer stem of marram grass next to the sand and every so often flitted away to catch an insect.
I got on with my current project: a black and white sweater in my handspun Jacob wool.
It wasn’t long until my human and canine companions reappeared further down the beach. They’d had a lovely long walk. We aren’t expecting much activity from the dogs this evening!
This Christmas did not get off to a good start. After spending Christmas Eve in rather a lot of pain, I checked into our local Emergency Department. Christmas Morning was spent undergoing various tests including an ultrasound scan. It turns out that I have gallstones. They sent me home with painkillers and I’m now waiting for an MRI scan and a surgical consult. We were home by lunchtime and set about opening presents. I thought I’d share my crafty Christmas gifts with you.
I actually got a gift on Christmas Eve. Since an amazing holiday in Iceland some years ago we’ve embraced all things Icelandic (well maybe not the fermented shark meat delicacy). There is a lovely tradition in the country where gifts of books are exchanged on Christmas Eve – you then spend the evening drinking hot chocolate and reading the books. It’s called Jolabokaflod (literally Christmas book flood) and I was given this.
Wilderness Knits by Linka Neumann is full of the most gorgeous Scandinavian-style knitting patterns, with stunning photographs and pattern charts. Where to start!
Back in September I upgraded my Electric Eel Wheel Nano e-spinner to the bigger, more robust EEW 6 and I love it. The new machine does everything that the Nano doesn’t. My Christmas gift from K was a rechargeable battery pack so I can now spin with the EEW 6 anywhere without having to rely on mains electricity.
A few weeks back he also found me the perfect bag to take the new machine out and about – it was designed for fishing gear (K has an obscene amount of fishing tackle) but it’s just the right size and has plenty of compartments for all the extra bits and bobs.
There’s even a zipped mesh pocket on the front that’s just perfect for the new battery and lead!
To feed my spinning addiction I got the 12 Days of Christmas pack from Hilltop Cloud – it contains 12 individually wrapped packs of the softest superfine merino and silk fibre in a rather nice project bag. The larger brown paper package contains a larger braid, the red packs hold smaller amounts of combed top. The colours co-ordinate and are inspired by Welsh folk tales. Details of these and the colours they inspired are on the fascinating blog written by Katie Weston, the proprietor of Hilltop Cloud.
The individual packs are marked with the dates (25-31 and 1-5) . Of course I got that wrong and assumed they were labelled 1-12 so I’ve just realised I’m out of sequence!
I also wrapped up a rather unusual gift for K that is not unrelated. It’s a packet of woad seeds. At the year’s final meeting of my local spinning group, one of the lovely ladies who attends brought a large quantity of the seeds that she’d harvested from her own bumper woad crop. K is the gardener, so I’ll see if he can get the seeds to grow into the plants that I can use to dye my fibres in shades of woad blue!
Medical issues aside, I’ve been very lucky this Christmas!
Stitches By The Seawater is back after a bit of a break, so I thought I’d begin with current projects. I always have more than one on the go and this is the most recent cast on.
I won the raffle at a knit and natter group this week – 5 small (25g) sample balls of Stylecraft Amor – it’s an Aran weight blend of 40% super wash wool, and 60% acrylic., featuring some lovely variegated colours
The five different colourways in the pack have some colours in common so I reckoned they could all be used in the same project.
I’ve chosen to knit a simple infinity scarf in k2 p2 rib. Hopefully, if I use the colours in the right order, ithey will produce a shaded effect. I’m knitting in the round and cast on 220 stitches with my 5.5mm circular needle.
At the moment it’s quite portable (I always like a small project to carry around) but as it grows this will be the perfect knit and natter project – nothing complicated, no counting of stitches, no charts to follow, no measuring (I’ll just continue until the yarn is all used up), just round and round with the k2p2 rib!
Since the last time the show was held I learnt to spin yarn and was lucky enough to be gifted a large quantity of raw alpaca fibre, much of which has been prepared, spun and knitted up into various items. For this reason I’ve developed a bit of an interest in these charming animals so it was really interesting to watch some of the classes.
It’s always fascinating to hear an expert share their knowledge and that certainly happened here. The judge took to the microphone after giving the results of each class and explained the reasons for his choices in detail. He described the good (and less good) points on each of the animals. He began by saying what he thought of he conformation of the animal (its basic shape and proportions, as with all animal judging): he wanted to see a straight back, strong legs and good build for the age of the alpaca (youngsters will still be growing). He was also judging the alpaca’s fleece: its length, density, fineness and condition. Some animals seemed to like the process better than others. some were happy being led into the ring by their owners and stood beautifully still while the judge felt their body shape through that lovely thick blanket of fibre. Others protested a bit!
I got chatting to one of the exhibitors who had won an earlier class. Her small herd is a fairly recent venture. She was absolutely delighted to get such a result at her very first show and didn’t quite believe it when the judge placed her animal first.
I have been spinning and knitting with Suri alpaca for a while since some was given to me by some lovely friends of my brother and his wife – it’s quite different in texture to the much more common Huacaya alpaca. Having got to know the fibre well, I was delighted that there were some classes for Suri – I had never seen one of these alpacas in the flesh so I waited around to watch them in the ring.
A couple of the Suri competitors
They look quite different from the fluffy Huacayas, . The locks of fibre hang down like dreadlocks. The Suri breed are quite rare, making up only about 10% of the population.
The Suri class
My other reason to visit the alpaca tent was to pick up a fleece. I’ve previously plied hand dyed alpaca singles with black sheep wool and I love the effect when it’s knitted up. At some point I’d like to do a bigger project like a sweater on similar lines in pure alpaca. I have used black acid dye but it seemed a better idea to use a natural black fibre. A couple of weeks back I picked up some grey alpaca for one of my online knit and Natter Group from someone who keeps a small herd near here. She had no black fibre herself, but put me in touch with Debbie Rippon from Barnacre Alpacas. There is a large established herd of some 300 at Barnacre, including black animals. Debbie was exhibiting at the show and agreed to bring a couple of fleeces with her for me to have a look at.
A corner of the marquee was set up with a few stalls selling knitted items in alpaca, made by some of the exhibitors. I’d arranged to meet Debbie there and she showed me what she’d brought – two gorgeous fleeces, one brown-black and a stunning blue-black which I chose. This came from a female names Hippolyta, her first fleece as a youngster.
Hippolyta (photo D Rippon)
I’m looking forward to prepping and spinning this beautiful black cloud of fluff!
Also located in the alpaca tent were members of the Tynedale Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers, demonstrating their work. It was lovely chatting to some fellow spinners and they invited me to come along to a future meeting, which I hope to at some point over the next few months.
Considering the alpaca were only one small part of the show, I certainly got a lot out of spending some time there.
The group continue to knit, crochet and sew all manner of beautiful things. Here are a selection of their makes.
L has now completed her colourful Sweet Pea Blanket (pictured above), by adding the border.
This was a kit she received from her daughter at Christmas.
L has also been loom knitting this hat.
R has been making herself a cardigan in a self patterning yarn in soft shades of blue and beige.
She’s also been continuing a patchwork project that has been on the go for many years ands wondering how to do the border.
L came to the rescue with some advice as she’s made hexagon quilts before, including this lovely pink one.
That’s the beauty of social knitting/crafting. All that pooled experience means that there is seldom a question that cannot be answered.
We also put our heads together on this project that Y has been working on.
This is one of a pair of gentleman’s kilt stockings in a cable design made in very fine yarn. It involved purl twisted cable, which took some working out! Y is definitely the Sock Queen – she also made these colourful self striping socks, with bright shades alternating with black.
It took me longer to make my alpaca socks than she took to make both of these pairs!
C has made these lovely blue baby bootees….
…and has been working on a pink teddy bear!
A has been crocheting baby blankets, including this one in pretty pastel shades.
She also asked someone skilled in amigurami crochet to make this bunny – isn’t it lovely?
Another crafty friend, who is not in our online knitting group – showed me something she recently completed from a kit: a crocheted Harry Potter! The kit included the tiny broomstick!
Have you made any toys recently? I’d love to hear about them.
Fresh off the needles today, one pair of socks in handspun alpaca and wool. This is the first pair I’ve made from the toe up.
This pair began its journey last summer with one of my first dyeing experiments. I gradient dyed a braid of alpaca in shades of blue, navy, purple, pink and red. You can read about where my alpaca fibre came from here
I spun the yarn and plied it with black zwartbles sheeps wool.
As I wasn’t sure about the yardage I’d need I decided on a toe-up pattern. If I’d knitted a top down sock it would have been a catastrophe if I’d run out of yarn before I reached the toe. On the other hand, working from the toe up could end up ankle or knee length without it really mattering! This pattern is Route 45’s Basic toe-up socks. It gives lots of options for needle size, and works whether you prefer DPNs small circular or magic loop. There is also a measuring guide so you can create perfectly fitted sock.
The other resource I used was this book I got for Christmas.
Who knew there were so many cast on/off methods? Several ways of starting off sock toes are included. The pattern uses the Turkish cast on, which was a first for me.
The book came in again for the cast off on the cuff – I used Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind off, which is a pretty good description….very stretchy.
I’ve really enjoyed knitting these. I love the the way the colours work, Both the gradient and the way that plying with black tones down the colour and gives a tweedy effect when knitted up. The gradients don’t match but I can live with that.
Toe up construction has been a bit of a game changer. I always disliked picking up stitches on the gusset with top down socks and there’s none of that here. I don’t think I’ll be going back to top downs after this.
And as for worrying that I might run out of yarn….well there’s just about enough for another pair!
Yesterday we headed up the coast to Newton by the Sea. It was a glorious, if blustery day. K and Buddy set off for a walk along the beach while I stayed in the car with my knitting.
The sunshine had brought people out and the beach was quite busy.
On quieter winter days the shoreline is peppered with wading birds, but not today. There were too many walkers and dogs for that. Several oystercatchers and redshanks had gathered on some rocks just offshore, an altogether safer place.
I also saw a whinchat on the marram grass at the top of the beach. They are quite common on the dunes here and I always love to see them.
When K returned he reported a large raft of ducks, mainly widgeon, at the southern end of the bay. It seems that overwintering wildfowl are beginning to gather prior to the spring migration
Of course I love to knit with a sea view. Today’s knitting on the dashboard is the second of a pair of toe-up socks in my handspun alpaca and wool.
It felt good to be out on such a beautiful day, in between this week’s storms.
Stitches by the Sea 