Tuesday, January 14, 2014

A new obsession or three...

Obsession 1:
 I got a loom for Christmas - I knew I was getting it because the postman delivered it when I was in, rather than hiding it round the back of the fence as he is wont to do...but that is actually better than the traipse into the parcel office with no parking for customers, even those with heavy boxes to carry.

Anyway, it's an Ashford Rigid Heddle Loom (800mm) and just completely fantastic:


http://www.ashford.co.nz/newsite/weaving-wheels-looms/205/weaving/rigid-heddle-loom/moredetail.html

I have woven A Thing:

Practice Scarflet
It's not really long enough to be anything (maybe a wraplet/scarflet/??) but was a practice run. Yesterday night I warped the loom up with an approx 2m warp by using a chair back rather than the warping peg on our not very long table. I have no idea how far I walked while doing this but it felt like MILES.

I am going to cruise through my current stash at record speed if I keep this up [husband heaves sigh of relief, and thinks he will regain the underneath of the bed 'storage area'...he is so, so, wrong]. I wait to see if using the deconstructed (shiny) Guardian Saturday Magazine for keeping the rolled on warp threads at tension will work....

Obsession 2:


 This cardigan out of S2 E1 of 'The Bridge". I must have it. Which means I must work out how to make it OR go to Sweden and buy it. The latter is on the cards so we will see. I totally love The Bridge (and all Scandi- drama) though maybe not as much as I love 'Sherlock' - which had added Scandi Baddie in the last episode of course...

Obsession 3: 

How does one get tickets to see Mr. Cumberbatch in Hamlet???????

Saturday, January 04, 2014

Twelve Owls a Hooting...

My friend the patchworker put in a request for a cardigan version of Kate Davies 'Owlet' for her daughter, who has a great dislike of having anything put over her head (not uncommon in very small children). So I went on Ravelry and found a modification involving a steek, and that's what I decided to do.
I started on Friday 13th December,  possibly not an auspicious date to start, especially after a post-midnight KFC, four hours sleep and too much science based excitement the night before with which we celebrated the husband's birthday. And indeed, things did go a teeny bit awry...

OWLETS showing no sign of PTSD* (unlike me)*post traumatic steeking disorder
I realised when I started the steeking that I have been spoilt by Too Much Shetland yarn (which is, surely, velcro in disguise) resulting in a steeking ALMOST DISASTER on the slippery-slippery Debbie Bliss Rialto Chunky I knit this in. It did not stay put with a crocheted steek, and of course, even as I crocheted the steek I knew this would be the case. I didn’t listen though, did I, yarn gods?
 
I used sweary words that should not be spoken over a small child's cardigan, drank some wine (a lot of wine, rather inadvertantly it turns out) and then came back to it a day later. I had to machine sew the steek, which didn't exactly look neat, but has the effect of stopping the entire garment from falling to pieces in my hands.
 
I hoped I could  hide the crappiness behind the zip, or in a facing of some kind. At this point it was 23rd December and I still thought (why?) that this child would have an Owlet for Christmas. She didn't though, because wrapping and last minute trips to the shops got in the way. Such is life, and I think she probably won't be any the wiser...
 
I didn't trust myself with Christmas Day knitting, what with the pre-9am Bellinis and then the wine and the G&Ts during Dr Who. So let's fast forward to 27th December.

I blanket stitched the steek, then I picked up and knit ribbing on the front:

I think I got away with it
I tried to put a zip in but it looked completely hideous. So replaced the zip with poppers, one at the top of the neck and one in line with the owl feet:


I sewed on 24 buttons, 6 during ‘Death Comes to Pemberley’ none during ‘Bill Bailey, Qualmpeddler’ (I was laughing too much, ironically, during a sketch about rescuing a live owl  from the menu offerings of a Chinese restaurant in Gaung Dong Province) and the rest during Mark Gatiss’s BBC4 documentary about M.R. James - which may be why I imagine these owlets’ eyes follow me round the room…

'Hoot' said the owl...
She finally got her owlet on 30th December, which is really only five days later than intended. What a hoot!