What's on my needles

After a very long absence, I'm back. It's not that I haven't been knitting - in fact, I've been working on lots of jumpers, all from vintage patterns, of course.

At the moment, I am working on this - see if you can recognise the vintage pattern just from the colours.

I was very pleased that I happened to have these shades lying around.

It is Starring Stripes, from the fab zilredloh, who has kindly shared some lovely patterns on her blog. It is from Stitchcraft, one of the loveliest women's magazines of the period. I had been eyeing it up for ages, and eventually cast on a couple of months ago, right before we moved house. I think the stress of moving drove me to abandon a very time-consuming lace jumper in favour of a new and exciting knit, to take my mind off things. I love the thrill of starting a new jumper (except the ribbing).

 

It is knit sideways, another big draw for those who tire quickly of ribbing. The welt is picked up along the straight edge, so you don't get out of it, but at least it can be done at the end, when you can really see the whole jumper coming together. I have finished the back and am halfway through the front. It's a very straightforward knit, just stocking stitch and garter, with shaping for the armholes and neckline. Of course that didn't stop me forgetting where I had increased/decreased, so much ripping back was done.

The wools I'm using are:

Bairns-wear Scotch Knitting 3 ply in Fawn or Natural (vintage yarn, only 2ozs required, we'll see!)

Quince & Co Tern (a fingering? weight) in shade 144 Bouy (yellow)

Jawoll superwash 4 ply by Lang yarns in shade 198 Spring Onion (green)

Jaeger Matchmaker 4 ply in shade 758 (brown)

Nature Spun by Brown Sheep Company sportweight in Pomegranate (rust)

I am using up odd balls of wool left over from other projects, although I am slightly concerned about the different weights. The pattern gives the measurements as 33 - 35 in bust. At the moment the back measures at least 18ins, so  blocking will be interesting.

A Stitch In Time Vol. 2

The postman delivered my copy of 'A Stitch In Time Vol. 2' today, and my day was made! This was a book that had been nearly two years in the making, and it's even better than I could have hoped. It's a lovely hardback book, good and weighty. The attention to detail is fantastic, and there are so many lovely designs. I can't wait to get knitting!


There is a chapter called "Fit and Finish", teaching modern knitters how to adapt these vintage designs so that they'll fit perfectly - it even includes a helpful size chart.

I'm about to cast on 'The Sunday Pictorial Beret'; I just need to decide on a suitable colour. 

I had a wonderful time helping out Susan where I could: sewing up, a bit of knitting, and modelling (very excited to see my picture on the front and back covers!).

East London Craft Guerrilla

Yesterday was the last day of the Knitting & Stitching Show at Ally Pally. I went along to help run a 'Learn To Knit' workshop for Craft Guerrilla. It was tremendous fun. I made a few bows for people to try out as they are such an easy project for beginners.


I met two ladies who are fans of Susan Crawford and A Stitch In Time, who recognised me from the books. They were helping at Knitshop's stand in the main hall, so of course I had to go and say hello to Julieta there. I then spotted the Nest stand, which was as Rose described it, 'bijou'. I can't wait for the Stitch In Time Vol 2 book launch there in a few weeks!

Bev and Natascha

Joan Fontaine

This is a design I recently finished, using Drops Alpaca and  Rowan's Kidsilk Haze. The colour match is almost perfect considering the yarns are from different suppliers. I really like the ribbing, it's good to do something other than K1, P1 ribbing. These photographs were taken by my brother Michael, who has been taking pictures for just over a year now, mostly wildlife, so I had to practically beg him to take a few of me in this jumper. I'm very pleased with them though. I have very high standards now that I have been photographed by Susan Crawford for A Stitch In Time, Volume 1 & Volume 2! (Not that it's made me vain or anything.) I can't wait for A Stitch In time Volume 2 to hit the shelves. It'll be such a treat to see it complete, as I haven't seen many of the pics so far.

First look (gazing into the middle distance)

This is me. This is my first blog post, (well, I did put up a line in January, but that doesn't count). I will be sharing my knitwear designs, and all that is involved in the process. Except the boring bits, hopefully. I will also try to amuse with tales of the Shellac Sisters, of which I am one.