Richmond Knitters
A different April
April is normally quite a joyous month for me, because it is my birthday month! But this year Damian and I both got Covid before Easter. It’s taken us 3 years before catching it this first time (and hopefully our last) so we’ve done pretty well to dodge it so far. Our plans for Easter needed to change, including my very kind brother who collected these final Burch & Purchese cakes and delivered them safely around Melbourne to family members. It took Covid for us to realise how bad an idea it is for us to live so far apart…
I am hopeful Burch & Purchese will come back because it is/was my go-to place for special cakes. In fact, they are doing a pop-up for the King’s Coronation, if you’re the patriotic sort like Darren.
Whilst I was unwell, not a lot of knitting was going on… I felt like playing/planning with my stash, but after sorting out 3 or 4 pairs of scrappy socks I was exhausted! And, after doing an hour of knitting on the couch, I napped for an hour!
But I have cast-on some new things now, whilst my Stephen West MKAL shawl is still going on…
I’ve cast-on my Richmond Knitters ‘Bendigo’ project, which is going to be cowl. The motif (imagined by Brent) was created using Carla Meijsen’s Magic Motifs. I’ve also cast-on some socks from the yarn Danni dyed specially for the Richmond Knitters last Christmas. I’m still working on my Mystery Shawl, but it just seems to be taking forever, hopefully I’ll have a finished object photo for you next time. Can I say now, I don’t think I’ll participate in the Westknits MKAL this year, it’s just too slow knitting and not a lot of instant gratification. Can someone please remind me come October.
Last weekend was very busy, catching up with ALL the things, belated Easter and birthday celebrations (Lux cakes, did a great job in filling in the B&P gap), visiting my sisters new house, my Spinning certificate presentation and going to a Footy match!
During our illness, I didn’t leave the house for 10 days, just because… and it didn’t seem all that strange. We are homebodies, and especially since the lockdowns we’ve had in Melbourne, I think we are changed forever.
December
I really truly need to blog more often, December was busy!
Damian and I were in Brisbane again in late November, to early December. We ate delicious food, went for walks and worked, it was kind of a working holiday for me. It’s a shame the weather was not it’s typical Brisbane weather whilst I was there, when I touched down in Melbourne it was 37 degrees, gah…
When I got home, I had 4 days of advents to open!
This years Advent calendars were from My Creative Garage and also Little Woollie Makes, in 8 ply. I was very pleased with my choices, I’m also happy to not have started any advent projects immediately, (not that I have the time!) because I always seem to arrange them in a different order than is intended.
The following weekend, The Richmond Knitters had their annual Christmas (festivus) Dinner party. It was a very joyous occasion, and I would say it was our best yet.
Danni from Halfbaked Hand-dyed (and Damian) had one more surprise up their sleeve. As revealed on Christmas morning…
Damian asked Danni if she could choose 2 surprise skeins for me (as a surprise gift from Damian). It was probably a really tough ask… because I already have all of my favourite colour ways by Danni, and it’s quite a bit… I opened my gift and I couldn’t believe my eyes… 2 gobstopper balls of unreleased colour ways! And they are totally me. I really don’t know how to thank Danni enough.
Our family Christmases were spread over Christmas eve and Christmas day this year.
They were wonderful occasions and it was lovely to spread out the celebrations and eating over 2 days for once!
Wondering how my Spinning Folio is going? I’m on leave for a couple of weeks, and I’m making the most of it. I hope for some hotter days next week, so I can wash some fleece for my major project.
G is for German short rows
Last weekend when I cast-on my Birkin sweater, all was going well…
… until my yarn snapped under the pressure of picking up the wrap of a wrapped stitch. This is one of those devastating moments in knitting (that I had never managed to do before). I was shell-shocked.
Fast forward to Monday night knit night, where I told my tale of woe. Right away, Nat suggested I use German short-rows rather than the regular wrap and turn. Genius! I took my knitting back to the end of the ribbing and began my short rows once again.
This is my progress so far. I am enjoying knitting colour work again. Gosh I hope it fits!
I finally finished knitting the lace sleeve inserts of my Japan Sleeves sweater, and ‘lightly blocked it’ over the weekend.
I knit 7 repeats of the lace per sleeve, which I think is the right length for me. After the gentle blocking, the length grew quite a bit, and I was glad I didn’t knit to the length I was supposed to.
I also adjusted the rate the stitches were picked up. i.e. I needed to do this a second time to get closer to the stitch count the pattern was calling for. It was worth it.
For the shoulder shaping, the pattern specified to do regular W&T short rows; but instead I used my new found confidence in German Short Rows, thanks to Nat (and Sharon)!
February WIPS and March cast ons!
Setting myself knitting goals for each month of the year, I’m certain is responsible for how quickly March has come around this year. I am catching my tail, to keep up with the pair of socks and a sweater per month scenario let me tell you.
This is what I’ve got on my February sweater so far.
Whilst it doesn’t look like much. I’m loving knitting the lace panels of the sleeves of Japan Sleeves by Joji Locateli.
I had a late start on this project, due to changing my mind about yarn choice. The yarn I am using now is deep stash. It’s Patons Patonyle and I think it’s going to be wonderful.
I also had a set back on my hand spun socks.
I had finished the first sock, and it was the worst shaping I’ve ever done on a sock. It was all due to my heel flap being too tall. Luckily I only had to rip out half a foot, and the yarn is super quick to knit up.
I’m pretty happy with these February projects. February is a short month you know, even with a leap year.
My March sweater cast on is, The Birkin Sweater by Caitlyn Hunter. I’m knitting this as part of a knit-along with the Richmond Knitters to wear to the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show in July. Which is plenty of time away, because this is going to get finished in March along with my other WIPS… hahaha
The yarn I’m using is Holst Yarn Supersoft. I’m looking forward to really getting into this project. I’ve done a couple of little gauge swatches to get stitch gauge. I’m going to wing the rest of it. No one in my knitting group can get row gauge anyway so there’s no point wasting precious knitting time fiddling with that!
And my March socks cast on, is a pair of plain ‘Pairfect’ socks by Arne and Carlos for Regia.
I think these will be super fun to knit up. The yarn has been sitting in my sock yarn box on my coffee table (yes there are other sock yarn boxes in the house), waiting to be knit for at least the last 12 months. It keeps getting past over because of newer yarn, but it really deserves it’s time on my needles.
Speak soon
Aldous Sweater
I’m surrounded by sweater knitters in my knitting group, and to be honest I’m getting a little jealous by how quickly they can ‘bang out a sweater’ to term a phrase.
There were not many sweaters to speak of last year so this year I decided to change it up, the goal is to cast-on one new sweater per month for me.
On 1 January, I cast-on for Aldous by Isabell Kraemer 
And on February 9, I cast off!
I even surprised myself. Look at that smugness.
I enjoyed the construction of this sweater. The yoke is shaped by using a modified version of the contiguous set-in sleeves method developed by Susie Myers.
I opted for the split hem version, and to also wear the sweater with the stockinette as the right side.
The yarn is ‘Field of Dreams’ a collaboration by The Purl Box and Great Ocean Road Mill. It was a lovely yarn to work with. It’s going to work nicely over a pair of jeans. The blend of polwarth, linen and suri alpaca is deceptively warm. Probably perfect for the Bendigo Sheep Show which is where this yarn was purchased last year.
The only alteration I made to the pattern, was to knit a double collar. This was to correct my own mistake. I originally knit the collar with the same size needles as the body (because I’m lazy). By the time I was halfway through the yoke, I realised the collar was never going to sit right without some intervention. It was folding over to the front. So I picked up the stitches around the base of the collar on the right side using smaller needles. Once I reached the height of the original collar, I knit the cast on edge stitches together with the next row of stitches, then in the following row I cast-off once more. Phew! I’m really happy with the collar now.
I look forward to knitting another Isabell Kraemer sweater later this year (if I stay on track!)
January Socks
It’s about that time of year, when I start blogging for a few months and I wonder why I ever stopped.
This is fair warning dear reader. I’m not consistent, but I have good intentions.
Like my intention to knit a pair of socks and a sweater for every month in 2020. Stop laughing. I know this is probably (most likely) not going to happen.
Let’s be honest, this is a rough goal. Like these socks before you. They were cast-on in December as my ‘Christmas cast-on’. But I’m calling them my January socks done.
The yarn is by Danni of Half-baked Hand-dyed. It’s a special Christmas colour way that she dyed for our knitting group, The Richmond Knitters. How lucky are we to have a resident hand-dyer of yarns and a lovely person/knitter/spinner all round as part of our group.
So, I know what you’re thinking, we’re already into February, where’s your January Sweater Sonia? It’s only a blog post away!
Damn it, I just went to hyperlink Danni above and saw this in her store:
You should totally go get it, so I don’t…
February socks and sweater have been cast-on. This is the only way I can fool myself I’m totally on top of my goals. More on that soon.
Eventually, I get the hint
My dear friend Deb… is a bit of a stirrer, so she totally deserves some recognition on my blog.
As knitting friends we’ve exchanged many fibre gifts over the years of our friendship. Nothing makes me happier than buying knitty gifts for friends, even better if they’re as nuts about knitting as you are.
If I ever give you the impression that I have too much yarn and it is the last thing I would want as a gift because I have so much… you’d be wrong!
Over time, Deb has chipped away at some of the yarny gifts I’ve given her. But it has suddenly dawned on her, I have never knit with any of the yarn she has given to me. And she’d be right… because I have too much yarn.
So about two or more months ago, what started as subtle prodding to blatant announcements at knit night (she really is a friend!) about the state of affairs, that I have never knit with any of her gifts… I finally got the hint.
I’ve cast-on these Broken Seed Stitch socks in the Skein yarn: Top Drawer sock yarn. The yarn along with the project bag was a birthday gift in 2016. The yarn is delicious, the pattern is delightful. Debs has also knit this pattern about the time the yarn was given to me, so the project has always been set in my mind. I look very much forward to finishing these socks, I hope it will get me out of trouble for now!
Delayed gratification
Last year I participated in Yarngasm’s Box o’ Sox KAL. Which means, I set myself the task to knit 12 pairs of socks within the 12 months. Whilst I didn’t make it, I did complete five pairs of socks.
One of the provisos of the KAL is that the socks are unworn for the duration of the KAL. So whilst I felt a little defeated about falling short of my goal… pulling out a pristine pair of socks every few days in January has been pretty awesome. Before you ask, yes I wear hand-knit socks all year round, I have cold feet most of the time!
I have enjoyed this experience so much, that I’m considering continuing the tradition of knitting a stash of socks (it may not be 12 pairs), and holding back their release into my sock drawer until January next year.
I still have the unknit skeins of yarn in my wooden box, and rather than returning them to the stash or rehashing a whole new set of 12 skeins to knit this year. I’m going to continue on with these beauties, because my feelings towards them have not changed. I’ve added just one new skein, it’s HalfBaked Handdyed’s yarn in the Richmond Knitter’s exclusive colour way called ‘Audrey’. It was dyed especially for us last year and I want to get it on the needles this year.
There’s eight skeins of yarn in my box. I get the feeling a couple more will be added soon, more on that in another post.
On Monday night at knit night, we were discussing sock drawers and how to let go of socks that have had their day. I do struggle with this concept, especially as I’ve repaired so many of my socks. I think of the hours spent knitting them and the memories of the time they were made or the province of the yarn itself. I guess I was just being silly.
So I pulled out the socks that had been in the ‘to-be-repaired’ pile, and did a stocktake of my sock drawer. I decided I can do without these socks. Some of the pairs that needed to be repaired were on their 2nd repair, I’m seriously never making socks again without any nylon. The two pairs I pulled out of my sock drawer, one was the ill-fitting ‘Skew’ socks that I never wear. The other is a pair that sadly felted from the very beginning and should never have been made into socks. I know better now.
So if you’re keeping score, that’s 5 pairs in and 6 pairs out. I’m hoping not to lose so many next year in the sock stocktake, but I feel better for the ones that have gone, They were holding back my sock drawer!
Sonia Knits 