What you can do with two worn-out shirts

I’ve wanted a spinner’s lap cloth for a while, but the cost and the shipping have deterred me. My husband recently discarded a few shirts that had gotten old and worn-out, and so I had the perfect materials to try making one myself. I looked up pictures of various types of lap cloth, both homemade and storebought ones, and measured my lap while sitting at the wheel in the typical spinning position to determine the dimensions I wanted.

It is reversible, one side is black, the other light blue, so I can use it for contrast when spinning both light and dark yarns. There are pockets on both sides, two pockets on one side and three on the other. I stash my singles reference card, my threading hook, oil bottle and my nøstepinne in the pockets so they are all close to hand.

I won’t claim that the handiwork is particularly impressive, because it absolutely isn’t (notice, for example, the bias tape hanging off the end), but it works beautifully to provide  contrast to help me get more consistent singles and protects my trousers from stray fibres.

And best of all: Using old sewing thread, bias tape from the corner convenience store (yes, really!) and two old shirts, I now have a perfectly nice lap cloth for next to nothing! I feel so very, very thrifty

What I’m spinning? I’m glad you asked…

Shetland top from Jamieson & Smith. I bought a sample pack (25 g each of 5 different fleece colours) and 1 kg of the moorit colour. I have started sampling the moorit with a view to spinning for a whole sweater. My two-ply samples using short forward draw and aiming at a DK/light worsted have bloomed to a surprising extent and are probably closer to aran weight. Sampling will continue. This is lovely spinning fibre, and considerably cheaper to buy than comparable amounts of fibre from most other sources, European or otherwise. So far highly recommended!

When nothing but EZ will do

We have had the coldest winter in a long, long time here. And my lovely lace berets have not really lived up to the challenge of keeping my ears warm. It became clear to me very quickly that I needed a hat that was serious about ear-warming, and so I turned to the trusty EZ:

Pattern: Ganomy from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac

Yarn: my own handspun from a handdyed superwash merino from Fyberspates

Needles: 5 mm, Addis and Knitpicks Harmony dpns

Modifications: I decreased more rapidly after I reached half the original number of stitches, so I would avoid the gnome-like top. I’m not sure how successful it was, but considering the amount of yarn I had left, it was probably the only solution.

This is a warm hat! It has withstood – 20 degrees Celsius through a couple of hours of sledding with my children. And that is the definitive test of a warm hat.

She’s having a baby

This has been the year of baby for so many of my friends, and I’ve finished what I think is the piece de resistance of my baby knitting. The baby girl I made it for will most likely show up any day now.

Pattern: Of course, the very well-known February Baby Jacket from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac

Yarn: Du store alpakka “Sterk” (40 % alpaca, 40 % merino, 20 % nylon), a wonderful new marled DK weight yarn. Du store alpakka really is a godsend for Norwegian knitters, they introduce a lot of yarn types that the more traditional companies frown at. The yarn is three-ply, with each ply a slightly different tone of red, which is exactly right for this pattern:

Inspired by several knitbloggers who are better at presentation of their handknit gifts than I am (for example Grumperina), I made a little gift tag, too:

A useful little knit

Pattern: Garter-cuff gloves and mittens by Deborah Newton from Weekend Knitting

Yarn: Rauma Istra kamgarn, colour #2028. The yarn is one of very few worsted-spun yarns from Rauma, and I’m not convinced that it is generally the best choice for mittens, but I chose it because it most closely matched the Rauma Vamsegarn that I used for my lace beret with matching scarf.

Knit: 24-26 November.

This is a very nice pattern. I had some problems of my own devising, because I thought I’d like the mittens better if they had a ribbed cuff. Apart from the cuff, I knit the pattern as written, but when I put the mittens on, it turned out that the cuffs weren’t very good looking and the mittens needed shortening above the cuff. So I decided to pull out one of the tricks I’ve learnt from the knit blogging community. I chose the correct row about 1.5 cm above the old cuff, snipped a single stitch, unravelled in both directions, picked up the resulting free stitches and knit down a new cuff.

It’s not actually all that difficult, but performing a trick like that makes you feel very clever.

And that is a good thing, because just this week, I did something so monumentally stupid to my knitting that I can’t even quite believe it. I was knitting the sleeves for my son’s cardigan two at a time on one circular needle magic-loop style, and it was taking forever because of the fiddliness. Eventually, though, I got to 30 cm, sometime after midnight. I checked the sleeves against the pattern to make sure I had enough stitches for the raglan yoke, and discovered I had sixteen stitches too few on each sleeve. I put them aside to count again the day after, but had the same too-low stitch count then, and decided to rip them out rather than trying to make do with too-tight sleeves. The moment I had ripped out both sleeves and rewound the yarn into balls, I turned over the page in the pattern book and discovered the pattern I had been knitting – and which showed that I had had the correct number of stitches. I still want to cry when I think about those sleeves. I’m a little over halfway on the first replacement sleeve, but with the bad karma of that project, I don’t think it will be finished too soon. But at least I have nice red mittens to make me feel warm and clever:

Sending lots of love and a little, blue hat

So, recently I learnt that an old friend that I don’t have enough contact with, had recently had a second child. I figured that I’d send some love in the form of a handknit baby hat, at least.

Pattern: Djevellue/Sweet baby cap from Gro

Yarn: Sandnes Garn Sisu Fantasy. I did worry a little that it would be too scratchy for a baby’s head, but after washing it seemed fine.

Needles: 2.5 mm Addis, magic loop-style.

Mods/notes: I changed nothing about this pattern, it is really wonderful and the cap seems to fit on the head much longer than other baby caps do. I did something different this time, I sewed in a piece of cotton ribbon with washing instructions on. I think I’ll do that every time I gift something from now on.

Repurposing

Inspiration (and a pattern!) from this:

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An old sweater that’s too tight, felted a little:

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Some embroidery thread and a couple of cheap plastic buttons

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Very cute slippers sized for my two-year-old. I like, and, more importantly, so does my daughter.

A touch of France

I’ve knit myself a couple of berets recently. They took about a day each, and I love, love, love them. You may remember that I had a hat disaster which ended with me deciding to knit a lace beret? Here they are:

I call the pattern “Sorbonne”, because my husband told me I look like a student of French literature at the Sorbonne when I put it on.

I used a little over one 50 gram ball of Rauma Vamsegarn for each of them, and I’ve threaded some hat elastic through the ribbing on both to get that snug fit around the forehead.

If you want, you can knit Sorbonne, too. This pattern is provided completely free, but with the clear proviso that I’m not a professional designer, and I have not test knit this pattern beyond the two hats I’ve knit for myself.

They’re pretty fun both to knit and to wear, though. Especially if you pretend to be a student of French literature at the Sorbonne.

Recommendation: The Knitter

In the last few months I’ve been really enjoying a relatively new British knitting magazine called The Knitter. Contrary to most British knitting mags, it’s usually packed with stylish, up-to-date knitting fashions and usually has some nice technique articles or designer profiles. They also have a regular column by the Mason-Dixon knitting bloggers. But my favourite bit is the strong thematic profile of every issue. Every issue opens with a mood board illustrating the theme. Here are a couple of examples:

Issue #9, Modern Bohemian:

Issue #5, Natural Selection:

ETA: And if you want it, too (why wouldn’t you? It’s THAT good!) you can subscribe here.

Yarny pleasures

I love tiny little knits. I love knits that are quick and simple, in both execution and styling. Here are two I recently finished:

Pattern: Heartbreakingly cute baby kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting. It’s not the first time I’ve knit this pattern, and I doubt it will be the last.

Yarn: Mirasol Hacho in shade 300, practically all of two balls.

Needles: 4 mm Addis.

Modifications/notes: No mods except for stepped decreases on the sleeves to diminish the bulkiness of the seams. I love the little yellow ladybug buttons! The lucky recipient of this kimono jacket is three days old now, and I hope to buy a onesie or a pair of trousers in a matching yellow to give her along with the jacket.

Pattern: Baktus – I’m not ashamed of my bandwagon jumping. There’s a reason popular patterns become popular. In many things I aspire to originality, but my knitting is not one of them – especially since I wear my FLS several times a week and have NEVER seen anyone else wearing an FLS or giving the slightest indication of having recognised mine…

Yarn: The last 75 grams of my handspun BFL top, handdyed by Jeni of Fyberspates.

Needles: 4 mm for drape and to get the most out of my remaining yarn.

I love this little scarflet. It’s just long enough to go twice around my neck and tie in a single knot. It’s perfect for work as we have rather overactive A/C. Handspun and garter stitch is such a perfect combination.

Inspiration

I have a couple of FOs to show off, but no pictures as yet, unfortunately. So right now I’d like to share two new books that have inspired me in the last few weeks

Kathrine Gregersen (Samlaget 2008): Brukt på nytt

This Norwegian book is filled with projects to reuse and recycle materials you have in your home. There are knitting, sewing, paper, wood and metal projects. The projects are very simple and charming, and I find the redesign ideas very useful. This book has me looking at our pile of old bed sheets with a calculating eye. In the top picture is the book, two dishcloths inspired by the book and two balls of rags cut from old t-shirts. I’m currently making this:

A bathmat from t-shirt rags. Actually, this project reminds me a lot of the rag knitting in the first Mason-Dixon book, but the idea is probably not original to either book. The styling in this book, however, makes the projects very appealing.

This book should probably be considered a gateway drug. After I bought it for the knitting projects, I borrowed my mother’s sewing machine to try the sewing patterns. This inexorably, and with a few days, led me to buy this:

Heather Ross (STC Craft 2009) Weekend Sewing

A couple of projects from this book that I would like to make once my sewing improves a little:

Kimono dress with an obi-inspired sash

A bag to hold my whole life

Cotton shirt dress – ideal for work!

And last under the heading of “inspiration”: After realising that I’m about to develop a serious sewing habit, I had to start budgeting. So I visited the home textiles shops and took advantage of the late summer sales. The below fabrics are (on left) two 100 % cotton tablecloths, 150 cm * 220 (i. e. a LOT of fabric), which were discounted down to $4 each, and (on right) two 150cm * 1m pieces of thicker curtain fabrics, also 100 % cotton, which were 70 % off. I’m considering the two curtain fabrics for the bag above.