Hiatus. That sure is a funny word. After I wrote that last blog post I realsied I wouldn’t have time to write any more for a long time because I had to write a thesis for that pesky degree that I’m doing. Now that that’s done (and I’m pretty hopeful about getting a good result) I can focus on another of my loves: knitting.
So last time I posted, I said I had heaps of news and then I only told you one new thing, and that was that I had entered a beanie into a local agricultural show. Well, the show was held a week ago and guess what…I won! First prize in the hand-knitted beanie division, with a cash prize of $2AUD. Here’s proof of my win:
The show was actually a bigger deal than I thought it would be. I rocked up for about 40 minutes not long before closing time. In fact they had already stopped bothering selling tickets and I got in for free. I scoped out the hall which held my exhibit. There were only about 4 entries competing for the same prize as me but there were HEAPS of entries in total. Lots of hand-knitting, crochet, machine-knitting, patchwork, eggs, produce, flowers and miscellaneous stuff like vegetable scultpures, and decorated egg diorama-thingies. And when I went up to get my prize, there were several old ladies waiting in line with me who had entered about 20 objects and had won with most of them. Career show-knitters. Not that you actually make any money if the prizes are all two bucks. I felt kind of little with my single entry against all those seasoned enterers. But I was SO proud. I even framed my first prize certificate. A very encouraging experience.
Second piece of news: I finished (AGES ago) that shawl I was making for my mum. I still haven’t blocked it, but here it is in its pre-blocked state:
I hope it will make a nice tablecloth for my mum for Christmas.
Next piece of news: I HAVE A SPINNING WHEEL!!!!! During the data collection of my Honours experiment, I was waiting for guinea pigs (of the human variety) to arrive and I was idly looking through gumtree, a free classifieds site that I totally love because it’s how I got my great job as a babysitter. There were about 3 spinning wheels for sale in my area. The cheapest one just happened to be about 3 minutes drive from my house and I bought it! It’s an Ashford Traditional, and here it is:
Isn’t it lovely? I had originally planned for a friend to teach me but while waiting for a time for her to come over, I figured out how to do it myself, with the help of Youtube, Joy of Handspinning, Spinning Daily, Spindle and Wheel, Bella Online and a bunch of other great sites. And while I was writing this blog post I ordered The Intentional Spinner with DVD included as a treat for myself. I’ve even already dyed some yarn with food colouring following a Youtube tutorial and I’ve knitted some marled yarn I span into premie baby booties for Birthline, a great local pregnancy and baby charity. The fibre I’ve been using is raw alpaca fleece which I’ve been washing at home and drying on an old window screen. I then pick it by hand and card it with some small carders I bought on eBay from the seller woolbothy in the UK (I highly recommend him).
I’m in the process of spinning enough wool for socks. I’m plying the yarn using Navajo plying, which is a method of making a 3-ply yarn from a single thread. I’m also collecting calendula petals from my garden. I’m drying them on my windowsill and I plan to dye the yarn using them. The problem I have at the moment is I can’t seem to find any alum, which is a metal (or mineral? Excuse my ignorance) with many uses, one of which is as a mordant for getting the colour of natural dyes into fibre. At the moment I’m trying to stew some alfoil in vinegar (I got this idea from a website) but honestly I’m not too confident about that working. My other option is to dye the yarn in pots made from metals which are mordants like iron or tin, but I’m a cheapskate and scoping out pots made from those materials sounds annoying. I definitely want to try it at some point though, but maybe not for this project.
Next news: I just finished my first original pattern that was worthy of being written down. It’s a beanie for a relative for Christmas with an intarsia fish on it. I’m not entirely happy with the finished product (it turned out too short for my liking, but still wearable) so I’ll make a few adjusments before I post a pattern online.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading!
The Knitted Kitten
Competitive Stitch
It has been a while since I’ve posted on here, and since I’ve posted, several REALLY exciting fibre-related things have happened to me! But I’ll partial out all my great news post by post. Currently, I am sitting in my lab waiting for human guinea pigs to do my experiment. So briefly, here is my first piece of news: I’m entering a knitted piece into a show.
Towards the end of last year when I realised I was getting good at knitting, I told myself it would be nice to knit a really special shawl to enter into the Royal Adelaide Horticultural Show of this year, which takes place in September. I soon realised that knitting a stitch-perfect shawl and filling out all the paperwork was not a great idea in my Honurs year of uni. Fact is, I get distracted enough by knitting as it is. So I threw that idea out the window. Then, about two or three weeks ago I was working at my parents’ shop, which sells feed for farm animals. Someone had left some booklets about the Strathalbyn (or as the cool kids like me call it, “Strath”) Agricultural Show. Looking briefly through it I found that the show, as they often do, would be judging handknitted work alongside the jams and sheep and such. I decided to enter the knitted beanie division. I figured a beanie is much less work than a shawl. I think the idea is that people will enter more than one item because the entry fee is about as much as the cost of processing the cheque for it, but I didn’t want to overload myself. After I finished the shawl I was making for my mum (I’ll tell you about that in a later entry) I got to work on my show beanie. I chose this amazing beanie pattern to make. As it’s my first entry and I’m still a newbie, I didn’t want something too complicated so that I could do it well, but not something so simple that I couldn’t get away with slightly off tension here and there (how can they see with sequins in their eyes?). I also didn’t want something too conventional in case another competitor entered something very similar, against which my piece could be compared. I chose the Lotus Hat pattern because at first glance I thought it was some fancy work with cables and lace. When I actually sat down to do it, I found that it was a deceptively simple and enjoyable lace pattern. The bits that I thought were cables turned out to be made by the arrangement of k2togs and ssks. On the advice of a friend who is a seasoned show-knitter, I chose a woolen yarn (a hand-me-down from a deceased estate) because the tension is apparently more even compared to acrylic. The yarn is bulky, which is just a little thicker than the worsted weight suggested, so I did a tension swatch on one needle size smaller than suggested. This came out a tiny bit small, but I decided to stick with that needle size.
Actually knitting the beanie only took a couple of days, as beanies do. I am still not sure on my choice of needle size. It was a bit of a strain on my hands. The fabric turned out crisp, which I think looks and feels lovely and shows up the lace well, but I don’t know if the judges will see it that way, they might have preferred it fluffier. I especially like in the lace pattern the fact that there are yos on every row, rather than a yo, k, yo, k arrangement which seems more standard. It means the holes are separated by a single thread rather than two threads twisted over each other.
And here is the finished product:
So I’ve sent away my entry form and the hat will be delivered closer to the show date. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. I guess the most important thing is I’m happy with the finished result. It’s definitely something that I’ll wear.
I shall return,
The Knitted Kitten
Spiritual Reflection on Knitting
As well as being a proud knitter and a proud vegetarian, the Knitted Kitten is a proud Catholic. Whatever your spiritual views, I hope you’ll read and appreciate my reflection on knitting.
I wrote this in my prayer book while I was planning a lesson for children who were preparing for the sacrament of confirmation. The lesson was on being a thoughtful and prayerful person and I wanted to show the kids that you could find prayer in anything, so I wrote a prayer (more of a reflection, really) about knitting, and I asked them in the lesson to write a prayer about something in which they found joy. So here is my reflection, it’s no great piece of literature but I hope you’ll appreciate its sentiments.
Distraction from Distraction: Busy work makes you concentrate
I remember my year 6 and 7 teacher telling me this, and I’ve heard it a bit lately: Doodling helps you pay better attention. I doodle, lots, and always have. In second semester of last year I cut out the middle man and sticky taped a blank piece of paper to my lecture pad, and by the end of the year it was covered in pictures of wombats, love hearts and horses. I was reminded of how much I doodle last night when I went to a postgraduate expo with two of my friends and they kept looking at my notepad and laughing. One of them I went to high school with and I used to amuse her to no end with random drawings (and also whispering to her, writing notes and drawing on her stuff). She said after the expo that she forgot how distracting it was to sit next to me during talks. Distracting for her, maybe. But apparently for me, doodling helps one retain information better. Here’s an article that talks about a specific study about that: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/feb/27/doodling-doodles-boring-meetings-concentration. The theory behind why doodling helps is also intersting. They think that doodling is good because it prevents you from daydreaming, which is bad.
This knowledge makes me feel happier about knitting while I’m supposed to be listening. After all, the principle is the same: It’s busy work for your hands but it doesn’t use up too much brain space to concentrate on. Both doodling and knitting would help you not to daydream. I’m quite addicted to knitting. Unless I have to, I probably wouldn’t go more than…three hours without knitting at least a little. As my friends have got used to me knitting, I’ve brought knitting out at more and more inappropriate situations (at restaurants, out to pubs on a Saturday night…). And as I get more comfortable with more people, the knitting also comes out. I’m doing my Honours year in psychology this year. I’d say it took about the fifth meeting with my supervisor, his PhD students and we lowly Honours students for my knitting to come out. I must say they were very impressed with the sock I finished that meeting (so was I, it was my first sock). I even knit during class, when it’s not something for marks. For you see, while I agree that knitting may help me retain information, it would have to be basic knitting like stocking stitch. Anything that involves memory for a sequence of different stitches or, God forbid, actually reading from a pattern, I believe would actually be distracting. And also, I don’t think knitting or doodling necessarily helps you pay attention. You have to want to be paying attention as well. Otherwise, you’ll happily give over the free part of your brain to also concentrate on your doodling or knitting.
So I make few apologies for my knitting during lectures, meetings and certain social occasions. It makes me a better listener, or at least, that can be my excuse. You’re welcome to it also.
The Knitted Kitten
Moral Fibre
There are a lot of ethical issues to consider when doing craft. For me and my knitting, my biggest concern is the animals used in fibre production. I also worry about the overuse of synthetics.
Animals are a hot topic for me. I’ve been a proud vegetarian since I was 15 (I’m now 21). The reasons I don’t eat meat are varied and complicated, but one main reason is that I don’t like animals to be in pain. I am, however, not a vegan, so in principle I’m cool with using animal fibre. The problem with animal fibre is when animals are treated badly in order to get it. These are just my opinions, mind you, and of course you’re welcome to disagree and share your own.
Firstly, silk. Silkworms produce a thread of silk which they wrap around themselves when they are pupae. When they’re ready to turn into moths, they break through the silk, meaning it is no longer a single thread. In silk production for textiles, what is generally wanted is the intact thread of silk. This is harvested by boiling silkworm cocoons. This kills the worm and leaves the silk thread in one piece. Obviously, vegetarians don’t like silk because it kills an animal. I was aware of the way silk was produced so thought I’d never be able to use it in knitting. But then, I found out about peace silk (see http://www.aurorasilk.com/yarns_and_threads/threads/peace_silk_thread/AhimsaPeaceSilkYarn.htm for more information). With this kind of silk, you let the worms turn into moths then harvest the broken silk threads and spin them. I’ve never seen silk like this but apparently it’s fluffier (but still lovely). Anyway, when I found out about peace silk I was so excited that I advertised on Freecycle and found an extremely nice lady who let me take cuttings from her mulberry tree (silkworms eat the leaves. They also can live off other stuff but mulberry leaves are the best). My plan was to raise the trees and in the meantime learn to spin wool. Then, when the trees had enough leaves, I’d try to raise some silkworms! I was so excited. But alas, of the six mulberry cuttings I took, zero struck. My dad says that one day we might buy a mulberry tree and then I can try again. It’s still a dream of mine. One day, when I have my self-sufficient garden and an angora rabbit for a housepet, I will raise silkworms and spin my own silk, and give silkworms to my children’s classrooms for them to raise and observe. One day.
Secondly, wool. Wool is normally fine, but in some countries (ahem, Australia, my home) the sheep aren’t treated all that nice. Firstly there is mulesing. Mulesing is common practice on Australian sheep farms. It is where a layer of skin is cut off (without anaesthetic) from around a lamb’s buttocks, leaving behind a smooth area of scar tissue where no wool grows. Now, before anyone bites my head off over this, mulesing is done for a very respectable reason, and that is, sheep in Australia can get fly strike. Fly strike is a horrible condition where fly larvae feed off the skin. Sheep also have their tails docked (without anaesthetic) in Australia for the same reason (also so that when they’re chasing foxes down dens, their masters don’t accidentally pull their tails off. Or maybe that’s Jack Russels). A sheep’s bum is apparently very wrinkly so prone to fly strike. Mulesing prevents fly strike in the mulesed area but it doesn’t wipe out the problem. Overall I don’t think mulesing is worth it, and there are alternatives. Indeed, non-mulesed sheep exist in Australia. You can raise non-wrinkly sheep or treat and prevent fly strike with chemicals (yes, I know, this would kill baby flies, but I’d rather that than cutting off an awake sheep’s bum skin, in the same way that I worm my pets to prevent them from getting sick). I, for this reason, don’t make a habit of buying wool and if I do, I look for non-Australian wool. I’ve tried to find knitting yarn which is certified to be from non-mulesed sheep, but have failed to do so. If anyone knows of a brand of wool from non-mulesed sheep, tell me about it! But here and here are some wholesalers. I should say that the Australian government is currently trying to discourage mulesing but this link I put up earlier can tell you more about that. But the poor sheep don’t just have mulesing to deal with. The ultra fine wool industry raises sheep which produce, unsurprisingly, ultra fine wool, which is all expensive and fancy and stuff. These sheep are kept indoors all day in tiny solitary pens, even wearing jackets to protect their wool. This is no way for a social animal like sheep to live and I liken it to battery hen egg production. So no ultra fine wool for me.
My other problem with fibre: synthetics. This isn’t as big a problem for me, but it’s worth a mention. In fact, I use lots of synthetics, especially acrylic, because I’m a poor student and that’s what I can afford. I don’t outright think synthetics should be discontinued, but what bothers me about synthetics in general is that they’re not biodegradable and I like composting things and knowing they won’t end up in landfill. I guess it’s an ideal of mine for everything to go back to the land one day, but being an ideal, I don’t expect to achieve it. Acrylic yarn is my biggest peeve because it’s made of petroleum, so it’s basically plastic. Again, my objection to acrylic yarn is philosophical in that I think we should depend less on petroleum, and acrylic yarn is a petroleum product, therefore we should depend less on acrylic yarn. Having said that, I’m not so radical that I’ll stop using it. Where I can, though, I like to use animal and plant fibre for my knitting. Either that or I go through my Grandma’s stash or look in op shops for yarn.
So those are my two cents on ethical fibre choices. Oh, also, I love organics and therefore organic yarn. And no I don’t have dread locks.
The Knitted Kitten
Frogging
This post isn’t about my frog, as much as he is cute and I love his slimy head. This post is about frogging. Frogging in knitting is where a large section of knitting is unravelled (on purpose). It can be heartbreaking, like when you realise you’ve made a mistake way way back and have to frog a whole lot of work to fix it (as I had to do last week with my shawl when I dropped a stitch and didn’t notice). It can also be an awesomely cheap way to get yarn, by frogging an old knitted piece to turn it into something else. I like frogging for this purpose, because I’m a little bit green.
So anyways, I was first introduced to the idea of re-using yarn like this while perusing the great pattern book Aware Knits by Vickie Howell and Adrienne Armstrong. They unravelled an op-shop jumper, dyed the yarn with natural dyes then turned it into baby booties and adorable pilchers. I am super attracted to the idea of frogging for repurposing because in general I am extremely cheap and I like that I’m not using up new resources. The downside is that you have to unravel a project that either you or someone else has worked very hard to make. I had always wanted to try it though.
The other day I took the plunge and bought two jumpers for frogging. I’m going to turn them into baby clothes. YOU CAN’T JUST PICK ANY GARMENT. I won’t explain how to pick a suitable frogging garment, because Neauveau Fiber Art gives an awesome explanation, so look there instead. The first jumper I chose, which I have already started frogging, is this purple jumper.
It is made of a cotton-like yarn which I guess is about the thickness of 4ply wool. The jumper itself is quite unappealing to me. It is either from or inspired by the late 80s – early 90s. It has bare underarms and slits at the shoulders so they poke out (actually, bare shoulders on long-sleeved tops seem to be becoming fashionable, but they’re not my cup of tea). I told myself I’d only frog something ugly, or else I’d feel guilty. However, purple is my favourite colour and this is a nice shade.
The other garment I bought to frog was this jacket (apologies for the bad photography. Please ignore the unmade bed).
I’m torn (pun not intended but welcomed) about frogging this one. It is actually a nice and functional jacket. However, it is a size 18, which means it doesn’t fit me and would have to go back to the op shop if I choose not to frog it. It is also grey, and I’m not a huge fan of how winter clothes mostly come in grey, black and brown. It also has awesome big buttons which could have a bunch of other uses. The yarn is bulky weight which means it would be quick to knit, and grey is a nice unisex colour for babies. I’m leaning towards frogging, but opinions are welcomed.
The good thing about these two garments is they both have tags on them and were therefore not home-made. The purple one is Di Moda and the grey one is Target. That makes me think they were likely made on a machine which means I’m probably not unravelling someone’s time-consuming hand-knitting work. It’s also comforting that they’re not one-of-a-kind. In total they cost me $17, which is much cheaper than buying the same amount of yarn, plus I got buttons with it and the money went to charity.
I’m sure frogging garments to repurpose the yarn will be great fun and finally a way to get cheap yarn! I’m super excited about it, but I still have other projects planned, including the shawl I’m currently working on, before I start re-knitting the frogged yarn. I’ll keep you posted.
The Knitted Kitten
I’ve Finally Done it
I’ve finally done it, I’ve started a blog. I tend to think of blogs as either for the self-absorbed or for people with something interesting to talk about (or perhaps both). I’ve convinced myself that I do have something interesting to talk about: KNITTING. My name is Kat and I’m a craft addict. Seriously, it’s an adorable compulsion. I’m also new to knitting and learning something new with every project, and I wanted to share my adventure with a wider group of people. One day I hope to write my own patterns to post on this blog.
Firstly, some background to my knitting obsession. My paternal grandmother was an avid knitter and taught me to do the basic knit stitch when I was about six. I later figured out how to cast off and do my own slightly unconventional version of the cable cast-on. This gave me the ability (but not the patience) to make rectangular, garter stitch objects like scarves.
Since FOREVER I’ve been fascinated with how things are done and have many times attempted to take up sewing. I showed promise at sewing in home economics at primary school but sewing machines seem to hate me. One day I will conquer them. Nearly two years ago, when I was 19, I became obsessed with gardening (I still am, but trying to finish an Honours degree and several dishearteningly disappointing crops have put that addiction largely on hold), which led to an obsession with self-sufficiency in general, which planted a seed of a desire to learn to knit.
One day in about August last year, I was riding the bus with an old lady I know who was a keen knitter. She asked me if I was able to read on the bus without feeling sick. I said yes but to keep the conversation going I said that I feel horribly motion sick after knitting in a car. The knitting I referred to here was still purely rectangular and garter stitch. Talking to this friend as if I knew stuff about knitting made me feel like a bit of a cheat. All I could do was garter stitch (though I didn’t even know that that’s what it was called), while she was able to make clothes and blankets and other wonderful things. This tipped me over the edge from “It would be nice to learn to knit” to “I’m going to learn to knit”. The next day I went to my local library and borrowed a knitting instruction book and some pattern books.
The first thing I knitted was meant to be (but only vaguely resembled) a baby bootie. This was followed by a pair of acceptable baby booties and then a matching teddy bear which I made for my friend’s baby, who at that time still lived in her belly. Here are them:
While I was making the teddy, my brother’s mother-in-law remarked that I knitted left-handed, even though I’m right-handed. I’d had a friend notice this before. Turns out, I don’t knit left-handed, I knit Continental, which is where you hold the yarn in your left hand instead of the right. The other common method is English, though there are others. Continental seems to suit me better, if anything because it’s faster and I’m impatient. My dear Grandma is no longer with us, but I suspect she knitted Continental as well, even though she was in fact English.
I slowly developed my patience, starting mostly with baby clothes and small toys. Thankfully I knew several peanuts in ladies’ bellies who, when born, would need to be clothed, so I at least had an excuse to knit baby clothes. I’ve only been a knitter for less than a year, so I’m still learning something with every project and becoming more patient. So far, the biggest project I’ve completed is a medium-sized woman’s top. I love knitting lace and right now I’m working on this wicked shawl, my biggest project to date: http://www.yarn.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/product.detail/categoryID/6CE5778C-DFAC-4F79-8CA8-4A509596D98F/productID/72D80A26-828B-4D77-AB04-5D3640E2367B/
I love knitting so much I want to learn everything about it and try every technique there is! To date I’ve done lace, buttonholes, brioche, butterfly stitch, bobbles, cables, blocking, steaming, double knitting, chevron, entrelac, grafting, top down socks, provisional cast-ons, picking up stitches, circular knitting, cable and thumb method cast-ons, i-cord, sewn cast-offs, intarsia, illusion knitting, jointed dolls, beaded knitting and felting. I’ve also done a small amount of crochet but I much prefer knitting, so for now it will remain a supplement to my knitted projects. Here are some examples of the stuff I’ve knitted so far:
In the future I can’t wait to try shetland lace, toe-up socks, magic loop, fair isle, lace cast-offs, crochet cast-offs, smocking, dropped stitches and basically anything else that exists! Of course my mainstay pattern-finder is the amazing www.ravelry.com, especially because I’m a sucker for free patterns.
So, in a very long-winded and involved introduction, this is me and this is my adventure with knitting.
Peace out,
The Knitted Kitten
PS: This is Trickster. She is on my lap right now. She is not a knitted kitten.
