Finished

I've finished the Ribwarmer from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Workshop. It was an interesting project and it does meet at the back, When knitting it I knit one row before changing colours on the opposite side which meant that it lined up properly, otherwise I would have had the reverse of the fabric to the front for the second half. I think it would look even better in a heavily variegated yarn with a plain dark yarn. Still this was in some leftovers I had around, I'm sure Elizabeth would be proud! It now needs some washing.


crossposted to Knitting Elizabeth

Bad Knitter but I'm trying

I have finished an item but no photographs yet.
I've been neglecting my knitting in favour of helping to get an Irish Knitting Blog up and running. Apparently people don't see Irish Knitters so we don't exist and this is causing strange ideas about knitting in Ireland.

Judging from some of the designs, blogs and other stuff out there there's nothing of the sort. Some of them are wonderful and my Ravelry Queue has suffered from some additions.

Ribwarmer Start

So before the schoolkids went back this week, it was starting to get cool and my mind drifted to waistcoats and other relatively warm stuff. Travelling to work daily on a motorbike means that season changes are pretty obvious stuff.

I saw the Ribwarmer Waistcoat(Ravelry Link) in Knitting Workshop (one of the four Elizabeth books I have and one of the three I can currently find) and thought it would be a good thing to start with

Earlier today I took a shot of my progress



it's all in garter stitch and I'm starting to wonder how I'll get the reverse side working. It's also strange as I'm finding that I have to keep bringing my attention back to the knitting and making sure I don't accidentally do the wrong thing, I'm reminded of Tara Jon Manning and her discussions of Mindful Knitting and how being mindful of what your're doing is a good thing. I'm powering along with this and I'm on the back stretch of it. I'm enjoying it. I'm also finding myself having to avoid thinking about the next project because I want to enjoy what I'm doing. I love the simplicity of the pattern, you knit straight, then turn, straight, turn, straight and cast off, and then you have half of it knit, you knit a second and sew them up the back.

However the next project has to have something other than garter stitch, between this and a piece of test knitting I'm doing I need something more.

I'm using some leftover aran yarn from some other projects, the white is quite old and the blue is leftover from my Mr Greenjeans. It's quite old and old-style yarn. I think Elizabeth might approve.

Crossposted with Knitting Elizabeth

Patons: a story of handknitting

Patons: A Story of Handknitting

Name of Book: Patons: A story of Handknitting
Author: Michael Harvey
Any other info: 0862541174, Springwood Books, 1985


Comments: this is a joint history of Patons the company and knitting in general, looking at some histories and trends, particularly as it impacts the company. It was comissioned by the company so it does have a tendency to emphasise the role of Patons in the industry. Now under the umbrella of Coats Crafts (a merger that dates back to 1961 and was formerly Coats Patons Ltd.) which also includes Viyella; Tootal; William Briggs; Rowan and Jaeger; Regia; Gedifra; Prym and Anchor are some of the other titles falling under this umbrella group but much of this later mergers aren't part of this book, as they post-date this book.

The original companies of Baldwin and Patons had been going since the 1770's and built themselves up until they merged. Forming a worldwide group spinning wool and making items from it.

While written by an academic it is dependent on available research so it's short piece about Aran knitting is infected by the Kiewe virus the author also notes that "It is interesting to note that some authentic Aran ganseys have horizontal bands of pattern, but though there are many variations in complexity and stitch arrangement, traditional Aran design has a unique and distinct flavour."p 110

Chapter 11 on knitting around the coastline and traditional knitted garments was an interesting read. The photographs are also interesting.

The postscript also makes for interesting reading. Writing at a time knitting was somewhat on the wane, when there were still people knitting as a way of saving, rather than today where pre-made goods are cheaper than hand-knitting and it's more a hobby than a necessity. In a pre-internet world he talks about using Teletext to transmit patterns and how it's an unexplored territory with potential. He also talks about television and knitting, something that is only really being re-explored in the US. His identification of Women's magazines as a staple of knitting pattern highlighting is no longer as valid as it was though recent flurries in the Letters Pages of the Irish-based Women's Way about the removal of the Knitting pages shows how essential it is to some people.

He also talks about how well entrenched the woolshop had become, something that over the next decade or so waned and how mail order was important, something that the internet also changed greatly.

He also states "Moving on to the social aspect, knitting equipment can be carried in a small bag and knitting can take place anywhere with little inconvenience - knitting is mobile. It is socially acceptable to do almost anywhere in non-formal, and even in some formal, gatherings. People can chat and knit, listen and knit, and travel and knit. Women's organisations give an impetus to knitting. People will knit for charity, blankets for the deprived in developing countries, sponsored 'knit-ins' - the satisfaction in all this is great and at the same time others are being helped." (p144) Sometimes even as things change they stay the same.

He also says "Concerning psychological factors, knitting is said to have a therapeutic effect. It is soothing and can help one relax, assuming the knitter does not select too complicated a set of instructions to follow. Above all there is the need many have to create, and knitting is creative. Choice of design, colour selection, knitting the fabric and the final product are the creation of the knitter, which leads to a great satisfaction being obtained from the completed garment." You only need to look at some projects on Ravelry, or indeed on the Knitting Elizabeth project to see how different people play with the same concept and how most of them produce something with variations, no matter how subtle. The concept that knitting is creative needs more emphasis!

Overall it's an interesting read, a slice of history of knitting in the UK and actually well complimented by No Idle hands which has a deeper look at knitting from a US point of view.

Buy/Borrow: If you're interested in history, read this one, it's available second hand in places, I got the copy I read from Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown libraries, and I have a sneaking suspicion that it's the only copy I could find in Borrowbooks. A slice of the knitting world that's quite interesting but focused on one company/supplier rather than several.

Where found: Dun Laoghaire Rathdown should have got their copy back ages ago from me, I've been bold. It's going back now.

Knitting Guild

While reading Patons a story of Handknitting and being without internet at the moment I came across the fact that St Fiacre or St Fiachra was the patron saint of the Paris Guild of Knitters (though he appears to have been a bit of a mysoginist) and also came across Knitting Neels discussion on the topic and wondered again about it.


Any ideas?

Oh my darlings, oh my darlings

Oh my darlings Clementine



Newly finished socks, only took me a day over 2 weeks (started them the day of the last Fiber Fun Friday - i.e. two weeks ago- and finished them today). I did a good chunk of the work on them during both Fiber Fun Fridays that I attended. I did another chunk of them while role-playing this evening, though there was a fair amount of distraction during combat and some ripping happened.

Betty's Tee

With some changes
Ravelry Link Interweave Knits Link



Taken from Interweave Knits Spring 2010, the Darkest yarn is from Jenners in Edinburgh, the two pink blocks were from a sale in This is Knit and the rest from The Yarn Room.

Base Blocks took all bar 2g of the 1st hank of yarn
Body Blocks took almost a full hank of yarn each (all bar 3.5g each approx.)

I filled in the back using the oats colourway up to the reverse stocking stitch portion on the shoulders k2tog or p2 depending on the patterning each end of the row. I tried a variant that was in an email from Interweave knits but it was too big. I did a rib edging along the neck that was 6 rows long with a mitered centre. I also used the oats colourway for the sleeve and bottom edging. If I was doing it again I would crochet along the edges instead of picking up and knitting one row before casting off.

I like how my variant shows the construction. I wore it to last weeks Fiber Fun Friday(1) and the wonderful Elven too a photo of me. Man my hair is a mess.

(1) can be seen here under Fridays

Podcasts - not all knitting content

All podcasts are divided into several portions.

First are those which have lapsed and are no longer available. Sometimes you get a lot of noise about these but these things happen, for a variety of reasons.

Second are those who are incompatable with my player, I have a Nokia N63 which is what I use, it enables me to subscribe to podcasts which is quite convenient and I can download the episodes using wireless and this is an excellent thing. Can't play on this? Sorry I'm not listening. Associated with this are podcasts that can only be accessed through the apple store, sorry, not going there. I could probably play around with several of these and import them through my computer but life is way too short!

Last are those that can be used with my player. These are the only podcasts I'm going to review. Some I've been able to play one or two episodes of and then nothing more, alas.

These podcasts can be divided into two. Knitting and non-knitting. Why yes, I listen to a few non-knitting podcasts.

They also divide down into podcasts that are under 30 minutes, 30 minutes to 1 hour, and then over 1 hour, this is something I don't see often enough in the information about the podcasts on my screen so I have done a spreadsheet that I've filled an average length in (why yes sometimes I get too organised!) The lengths are a bit random, based on a few episodes and this can vary widely

So now for the list - this was typed up about 3 weeks ago and some have changed since but I just wanted to get this up and done. I plan to do some review of some of the podcasts following an old, new and non-knitting format. For reference Knitting Podcast is quite useful for tracking current podcasts.

Current - Knitting

under 30 minutes


Caithness Craft Collective - 20 minutes
Cloudy with a chance of Fiber - 25 minutes
Here's to ewe - 15 minutes
It's a purl man - 24 minutes
Knit a Journey - 25 minutes
Knit Picks Podcast - 22 minutes
Knit Wit - 15 minutes
Knitters Wading Pool - 25 minutes
Ready Set Knit - 28 minutes
Sidders Knit - 20 minutes
Sweaters for Dragons - 15 minutes


30-59 minutes
Brass Needles
Belle of the Ball - 35 minutes
Cast On
Crafty Lit - 40 minutes
Fiber beat - 30 minutes
Doubleknit - 50 minutes
Electric Sheep - 35 minutes
Knit Cast - 35 minutes
Knit Obsession - 46 minutes
Knit Pod - 40 minutes
Knitting History
Knitting Rose - 35 minutes
Must Stash Yo - 53 minutes
Manic Purl - 35 minutes
Never Not Knitting - 38 minutes
She Knits - 30 minutes
Spin control - 30 minutes
Stash and Burn - 53 minutes
Sticks & Strings - 35 minutes
Savvy Girls - 53 Minutes
Sassy Pants Knitter - 30 minutes
Yarns from the Plain - 35 minutes
Yarnspinners tales - 35 minutes
Yarnthing - 35 minutes
Lixie Knits - 33 minutes


60 plus minutes
Avocado Knits - 60 minutes
Craft Culture - 60 minutes (note this is in stereo)
Crafternoon tea with Granny G - 120 minutes
Craft sanity - 75 minutes
Knit Misadventures - 70 minutes - varies
Stitch It - 73 minutes (appears to be an issue with the page at this time)

Current - Non-Knitting

under 30 minutes
Coopette - 6 minutes (gone on Haitus since July 2010)
A History of the world in 100 objects - 20 minutes
Celiac Disease - 10 minutes
Harmonias Early Music - 5 minutes
History of Rome - note some episodes loaded on my device out of sequence - 16 minutes
Savage Love - 25 minutes


30-59 minutes
Coverville - 50 minutes - music covers
A Way with Words - 50 minutes - words and wordplay
RTE Playback - 45 minutes - Weekly broadcast where get the funniest and most newsworthy, or newsquoted stuff in Ireland are replayed, a good intro to modern Ireland
Slice of Sci-Fi - varies - I don't recommend listening to this where you can't laugh, I often cry with laughter with this show, particularly as I'm a geek, also be aware that it's an adult show and occasionally you won't want kids to listen, unless you want to explain some stuff.

60 plus minutes
Renaissance Festival Podcast - 60 minutes - music heavy
Secret World Chronicle - 72 minutes - one of my favourite authors does a podcast novel
Signal - 60 minutes - Can't Stop the Signal (and if you understand that you'll know what it's about)
Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword - a dwarf detective in 1920's US.
Babylon Podcast - you all knew I was a geek, right?
Metamor City Podcast - a series of stories set in a kinda fantasy world with some tech. I like.



Podfaded, loosely defined as over 150 days since the last episode. However there are still episodes available.

under 30 minutes

Justify your Pod - 10 minutes
Bean Knits and Spins
Gives Good Knit - 20 minutes
Just Linda Online - 15 minutes
Knit Science - 24 minutes
Knitting Time together - 25 minutes
Knitting at Night - 20 minutes
Medieval Podcast - only 5 episodes and they're about 15 minutes each
Pixie Purls - 20 minutes
Purl Diving - 11 minutes
Socks in the City - 27 minutes
Stephen Fry's Podgrams - 25 minutes
Stitch Stud - 26 minutes
Whiskers in a twisted stitch - 25 minutes
Y Knit - 27 minutes

30-59 minutes
Brown Eyed Mom - 35 minutes
Crafty Woman - 30 minutes
Film and Fiber - 30 minutes
Knitters Uncensored - 45 minutes
Knitty Noras Knitting Natter - 43 minutes
Miss Flip Knits - 52 minutes
Trueyarns - 32 minutes
Tor.com Geeksguide - 58 minutes - recent but cancellation announced
Tor dot stories - 50 minutes- recent but cancellation announced

60 plus minutes
High Fiber Diet - 70 minutes
Pointy Sticks - 75 minutes
RTE Lyric FM Best of - varies but about 90 minutes
Squeakys Stuff - 60 minutes

Others:

Math 4 Knitters has moved to a site I can't use but has a fair number of online episodes
Yarncraft has had a format change and I can't use the new format

No Idle Hands

BookDepository Link

Types of patterns: Not a pattern book

Experimental/Classical/Modern: A little dated from being published in 1988

Comments:
This is an interesting read about knitting in America from colonial days to the present of the writer in 1988. The last chapter talking about the boom in the 80's was to be followed by bust and then the modern boom and the explosion of the interaction of Knitting and the Internet. It was also pretty interesting when she was talking about some of the fashions and changes and popularity of certain yarns and perceptions about knitting. Much of which you can map as happening at the moment and you can also see some of what was popular waning as it has before and probably will wax and wane again.

It does also dwell on knitting for war and knitting for peace. Some intersting ideas. There was also a mention of a "stitch and bitch" in the mid to late 20th Century! The dearth of knitting for men and the curiousity about male knitters is also addressed.

It looks at how some people knit out of a sense of obligaton, particularly during the war and then abandoned the practice once they could because it was a reminder of those times, and also because as an obligation it became something that when they could they abandoned it. Yes it would probably leave a non-knitter cold but as an example of what women did when they could it's a good one.

It's a social history of American knitting, it dwells on a lot of the social sides, the get-togethers and the feeling of fellowship that many people get from knitting. You only have to glance at Ravelry to see that social aspect of knitting, everything from religion to politics (sometimes a contentious issue and fraught with problems) to pattern searching to books - and thats just the forums. You can also see in it the ways in which people have changes and tweaked patterns more to their taste, a conversation that was harder before the internet.

It's a book that could do with a short update talking about the end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century knitting that's been written by people like me as I type. I'd also love to see a serious look at the history of knitting (and crochet) in Ireland, somewhat like this book. I saw a criticism of the book where it complains about how some of the jargon wasn't quite explained well enough (rather like the rumoured story about the woman investigated by the FBI for a coded document in her possession with k2p4k3 written on it, a joke guaranteed to seperate those who know something about knitting with those who know nothing), and yes, it does have some jargon and some of it can be a little unclear because of the change of styles and assumptions about some ideas and themes, but overall it's a very interesting read.

Buy/Borrow: Worth a read, probably worth even more a read if you're from the US, an interesting social history for Knitters.

Where found: Swansea Metropolitan University Library via Inter-Library Loan

Knitting out of Africa

BookDepository Link Ravelry Link

Types of patterns: Garments

Number of Patterns: 16: Jumper (12) Cardigan (1); Tank top (3)

Split of patterns: Women's mostly but some of the styles would also suit men, the jumpers really have no shaping so careful colour use could make some of these male-friendly.

Size Range: 38-52" (96.5-132cm) (not for all garments)

Colour/Black & White: Colour with some black and white sketches

Schematics: Yes and often with a lot of detail

Target Audience: Intermediate to advanced.

How to knit guide: the regular Interweave hints with some detailed ideas for some of the more complicated applications like entrelac.

Experimental/Classical/Modern: Some a little experimental but mostly classical, stuff that could be make any age by careful colour use.

Comments: as usual she tends towards her own yarn used double.
The first jumper is Kuba, worked in the round in mitred garter-stitch panels it then has either two-tone or contrast stitches, it finishes with a filled in garter stitch piece that ends in a collar either foldover or zippered.
Zaire is somewhat the same but it's more colours and has aspects of log cabin squares, again with the same style collar.
Congo looks something like a woven fabric worked again in mitred garter stitch sections. ended with either standup or v-neck

African Domino - mitred cevrons in this use colour in an interesting way, has potential for use of left-overs.

Pullover - uses the back of the African Domino pattern and plays with it, with a chevron pattern so it's not straight lines, again has potential for use of left-overs or variegated yarns

Asante - two colour slip-stitch motifs make this interesting - though not me.

Sierra Leone takes the slip stitch pattern and add a chequerboard and colour. It's interesting but a bit busy for me

Mali is a pretty jumper with a two-colour coloured pattern that almost looks like a carpet, it's interesting and involves steeks (eek!)

Arrowheads is an interesting pattern also reflecting a carpet, while most photos show it in the yellow and red, I prefer the charcoal and white version

Zimbabwe is a strong pattern done in two colours with a zigzag stress to add variation, interesting look that could be good elsewhere

Nigeria is a band design pattern with more steaks. Zippered neck

Zig-Zag is a more restrained version of Zimbabwe, again in two colours, this is an interesting looking jumper.

Shoowa - another jumper with almost a maze or mosaic to the front almost looking like tiles. Also has slits along the front and back, bold and dramatic

Shoowa Vest is a tank top style top, not photographed on anyone. Uses some of the elements as the Shoowa jumper with a deeper bottom. I'm not sure about this one, I think I would like it as a waistcoat but it would be a fair amount of work to adapt it for that purpose.

The last two patterns are Giraffe and Zebra, a tuxedo style vest and a high-neck vest done in double knitting, the Giraffe wouldn't suit my body shape and the Zebra I'm just not sure about and I'm not sure if it's open front or not, the pattern is a little unclear.

Overall interesting, not my style, the styles are bold and interesting and have potential for use with some interesting colourwork and yarn play. A book to at least look at.

Buy/Borrow: If you like large-ish patterns and like colourwork and like blocky jumpers this is one for you, if your other half likes these too this might be a great book for you, borrow it first and pass it by him to see. Elements of the designs could also be used to play with plainer designs. This is not a book for beginners.

Where found: Fingal libraries via Borrowbooks