I'm loving the new needles

I may have said this before but there was a time when I would have been very surprised indeed to find myself enthusing over a set of knitting needles. 

After all, since amalgamating all my mother's and mother-in-law's needles, I could be said to have more than enough

But so many knitting friends (not to mention the lady in my local wool shop) have been extolling the virtues of Knit Pro interchangeable needles.  The cables come separately in several lengths and the needles in every size  imaginable, all ready to screw into the right length cable for the work in hand.

Well for Plug and Play Pembrokeshire we were asked to bring our own needles (if you read my last post you will already know that the lovely Brenda and Amy provided everything else!).  So - here we have it - the ideal excuse for a treat.

The starter kit had three sizes of needles and I added size 3mm as extra - we were after all going to knit lace.  Well, I knew they were Very Pretty and with all the interchangeability (including the option to use the set in the manner of two long needles using a on one end of each cable) Very Practical but it was not till I began knitting my lace that I found out how Fabulous they are to knit with.

For me knitting is all about tactile pleasures.  In the wool shop, I trail my hand over the alpaca, touch my cheek with the cashmere and test the pure organic wool against my neck for scratchiness, all the while following Elizabeth Zimmerman's advice to pass by the acrylics with my nose in the air.  When I sit down to knit with one of these gorgeous fibres I let out a yoga like sigh of relaxation.  But what joy to find needles that add to the pleasure.  These beauties are so smooth and shiny that the yarn positively glides over them as if on oiled wheels - sooo brilliant. I would like to say that I will never knit with anything else again but it will take me awhile to collect a full set

The Zimmermann project - Part 3

Although I haven't mentioned my Zimmermann sweater for a couple of weeks I am still making progress.  I have completed the body as far as the armholes, simply miles of straight knitting, currently parked on my longest new Knit Pro cable with stoppers on both ends

And have begun the sleeves.  I ripped out my first attempt.  The instructions, to cast on 20% of the body-stitches making the first increase (M1 each side of three stitches marking the underarm) after four rounds then every following fourth round gave me too tight a fore arm.  Not that it didn't fit but I didn't like the look of something so close fitting, particularly as in winter my father wears his sweaters over long sleeved shirts.  

So I began again, still with 40 stitches for the rib (20% of 200) but increased ten stitches evenly over the last rib row then began the increases as described by EZ.  I have also used the two cable needle method to knit both sleeves together in the round for the first time.  Thank you U-Tube! where every knitting technique is explained.  Actually to begin with it was not as simple as it looks in this video clip. I kept getting the yarn looped the wrong way around the needles and the two balls twined around themselves.  On Sunday night, knitting while watching Spooks I managed to knit all the stitches onto one cable, I've no idea how I did that!  But eventually I got the hang of it sticking to three rules

• follow the needle back to its end each time you change from front to back - you are aiming for two Os one along side the other not a figure of eight
• hold the needle with the stitches you are about to knit close to the cable with the 'just knitted' stitches - this stops a ladder forming at the changeover point
• Keep the yarn you are not knitting with at the back of the work

I began making this sweater before I knew the joy of my new cable needles and on a size I don't yet have (4.5) but hopefully when I get to the yoke my local yarn shop will have got the 4.5s back in stock and I can finish the project in style.  

I know I shall have more stitches than I should have when I reach the point of joining sleeves to the body and knitting up the yoke but I will deal with that when I come to it (and let you know!)

xx

C

Knitting in Wales

I'm just back from my first ever knitting course taught by stars of the knitting world Amy Singer and Brenda Dayne.

I thought travelling to Pembrokeshire for the weekend was a pretty big stretch from Hampshire but NEW HAMPSHIRE???  I met Laurie as we arrived at the run down railway halt nearest to the hotel.  It seemed to be in the middle of nowhere (except it did have a very very good yarn shop).  I was amazed when she told me she had come from Maine (not New Hampshire, but you know what I mean) , flying over just for the course.  She knew so much about our teachers I was ashamed to admit that a friend had suggested we go to the course and I knew no more than that.  In fact  nearly half the women who attended came from the USA, travelling miles to attend classes given by such well known and admired knitters.

And here they are in front of the lovely hotel in Pembrokeshire where we stayed and where we learned  the essentials of a beautiful lace shawl and a perfectly fitting sweater.

(You'll have to look here to see what they were photographing)

We had goody bags!

(With three hanks of super quality yarn but my third hank is already a work in progress)

We had our own yarn shop

(NiMu as well as Fiberspates)

And Show and Tell

But above all we had good teaching.  Amy Singer taught us about her brilliant tool for taking any lace pattern and adapting it to the shape of the garment you want to make.

We did lots of charting and swatching.  There was a much rubbing out of charts and ripping out of swatches till (with Brenda's and Amy's help) we got it right

Brenda taught how, with a few key measurements, a calculator and knowing the knitting tension (gauge) of the yarn we were using we could make the perfectly fitting sweater.

I have chosen some fabulous lace weight merino wool, cashmere and silk mix from NiMu for my sweater.  I can't begin that yet as I need plenty of time to get the basics right - probably emailing Brenda a few times till I feel confident to launch into the project but I'm all occasionally for delayed gratification


The surroundings were beautiful, the view from the Orangery where we worked was lovely (who says it always rains in Wales!)

the neighbours were curious but friendly

we even had time on Sunday evening to watch Downton Abbey together (I wonder what Lady Mary would make of such enthusiasm for knitting)

But most of all we knitted and talked about knitting, even while waiting for dinner to be served

Thank you Amy and Brenda for a really special time

xx

c