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Screenwriter and crafty type

Holsten Pullover – another top down raglan

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Anyone who lives in or around Crystal Palace in Southeast London will know Haynes Lane Market. It’s a relic from a by-gone era, a proper flea market selling knick-knacks, antiques, curiosities, records, vintage clothes, ephemera, general gubbins and down-and-out junk.

I love it.

Or, at least, I did. I haven’t been there for years now. Trying to prevent your kids from marauding around rickety shelving units filled with vintage crystal takes a lot of the fun out of the Sunday mooch.

But, back in ye olden days, 10 years BC (before Cecily), I regularly went to idly wander the sloping corridors of the old market. And by golly did I find some wonders. 

Including one fine day when I discovered an entire stall filled with someone’s Haberdashery stock from their old shop. And that’s where I got a bag load of slightly musty smelling Linnen Brilliant yarn from Scheepjes.

I kept hold of the yarn for years, used bits of it to make some granny squares and then one day, BINGO! I found the right project for it. 

The Holsten!

And I would have gotten away with it if it hadn’t been that I totally didn’t have enough yarn for that project. 

I mean, I thought I did. I checked it!

I’m sure I checked it. 

Anyway, somewhere along the way, I realised I didn’t have enough yearn to finish. That’s when I started messaging random people on Ravelry who had the right yarn in their stash. 

But no one got back to me instantly. And I’m impatient. And also, I don’t check my Ravelry inbox regularly. Turned out, some kind soul had actually responded. But by then it was too late…

This is pretty much the dictionary definition of over-sharing. I don’t even know this poor woman. Why did I tell her all this??

Actually, the top is the better for it. It was definitely on the wide side. Maybe I’ll make it again and this time actually measure myself before I start. In fact – brainwave people! – maybe I’ll actually take all my measurements (before the 5pm Discarding Of The Bra ceremony obvs) and WRITE THEM DOWN so I actually know what size to make.

Sheesh, this is like rocket science or something. 

The Details

Bracken Jumper – Top Down Loveliness

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Two Brackens

My love for top down knitting knows no bounds. I am struggling to think of anything I’ve made recently that doesn’t arrive on circular needles. And yet, I actually don’t mind seaming stuff. I know many people consider it a giant ball-ache, but I find it quite satisfying. 

What I don’t like is keeping track of different bits and pieces. Even worse is the casting on, which is surely the devil’s work. I never get the length of the long tail right on long tail casting on techniques and I NEVER remember how many stitches I’ve done. A pox be upon it. 

Gosh, this update is becoming positively mediaeval in tone. Verily! 

My silly girls

Again, you beady-eyed types (why do you have beads for eyes, is what I want to know) will note that I clearly ran out of yarn for Cecily’s Bracken. She has red sleeves and collar. She didn’t mind, bless her beautiful heart.

This is such a fun, quick pattern to make. I know a lot of people have problems with the neckline and it does take a while to get your head around. But, in fact, my problems have been slightly different. First the neck is just very tight even with a stretchy cast on. I actually ended up completely re-making my youngest’s Bracken. I tried to unpick it from the top neckline (ie what is actually the “bottom” of the knitting), got horribly confused and just had to weep gently while I frogged the entire thing.  

And second, I ended up with a very strange line of yarn across the front of the neckline where the extra stitches get cast on. I finally worked it out when I made my first one recently. I’ll share that exciting drama (and more!) in an upcoming post about the new one I’m making.

For anyone stuck with the neckline instructions, I can also attempt a tutorial. I know you’ll be on the edges of your seats until then!

The details

Knitty bits – an update!

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The giant crafty update

Just when you thought you’d got away from my waffling, fibre-arty epistles, I go and start up again. Hello!

Now, listen. The completist in me wants to go back and chronologically update you with EVERY SINGLE THING I’ve made since I last blogged 400 years ago. But actually, I don’t think I even have photos of some of the things I’ve given away. I regret the loss of my daughter’s little blue cardigan most of all. It’s a reminder  not to give away things you’ve made for your babies. You never know when you might want to pull the tiny outfits from their moth-resistant storage bags to have a little cry about how quickly little ones grow. Plus it had pink alpacas on it. What a loss. 🙁

Anyway, I digress. The point is, I’m just going to shut my eyes, say “to hell with chronology” and go ahead and do another craft dump. (That sounded ruder than it needed to.) 

The big news is, I’ve recently got the sewing machine out of hibernation and started up sewing again. I have no idea what I’m doing, but looking back on here, I am reminded of how bad I was at knitting. Now look at me – unpicking the same top-down raglan neckline every evening because I’ve been distracted by the TV and have forgotten to increase. I’m a seasoned professional!

So, expect to see more sewed items on here soon. “Soon” in this context could mean “in 3 years” given my previous track record. 

Anyway, enough blather. Here are a selection of recent and no-so-recent makes. Enjoy!

Hetty’s homemade ensemble

Even though this photo was taken quite a few years ago, Arrietty (nearly 6) STILL wears this beautiful Summer Days cardigan by Elena Nodel. 

It was my first ever top down knitting project. It’s made seamlessly in one piece. It comes together using some sort of sorcery called the “Contiguous Method” developed by a magician called Susie Myers. It truly is magic. 

It is also very fun to make. Even better, I became a more adept knitter because of it. However, any new skills I learned have almost certainly all been forgotten because I can only retain about 10 pieces of information at a time. Thank god for YouTube.

The buttons are vintage from my bumper box of buttons inherited from my husband’s nana. They’re beauties.

I made one of these for Cecily too, but the yarn I used was a soft baby merino instead of this beautiful cotton-merino mix (which I think was Debbie Bliss) and it turned out floppier than I’d like. She still loves it and wears it, though.

In fact, this has been so popular, I started making another one for Arrietty in red. It’s in the queue to be finished next. 

Here’s a photo of my knitting it last summer (yes, I started it ages ago and never finished because [reasons]). Please also enjoy the swollen left ankle. I twisted it at our wood when I was distracted by a tree. 

Elevated ankle + knitting. 

Beady-eyed crafty types will also note I’ve written some Universal Crochet symbols along the bottom to help me remember increases. I don’t know the knitting symbols (I assume there are some – I’ll save that rabbit hole for a day when I’m on deadline with an important work project.)

I wish all patterns uses charts. They’re so much easier. 

ALSO! I totally sewed that skirt!

I made that skirt for Cecily yonks ago. In fact, so long ago I barely recall it. What I CAN recall is that she only wore it a handful of times because she only really liked wearing giant “spinny” dresses at the point (ie dresses so puffy she could spin and show her knickers). I think it was a contributing factor in me deciding to mothball my sewing machine (but more on that later.)

Again, I think I gave the skirt away so I can’t upload a better photo. However, I can exclusively reveal that it’s made out of Liberty fabric I got from a fabric outlet mill in Lancashire. 

:: :: :: :: :: : :

Hold on, change of plan!

Actually, I know I said I was going to do a big crafty dump, but I’ve changed my mind. I’m moving my other knitting makes to new posts. This one is already long enough and if I don’t hit publish soon I’m scared some of you might enter an induced coma before any of us reach the end (with me being the inducer). 

See you in the next blog post! I know you’ll all be on the edge of your seats waiting for it. See you soon!

Good Hooking gets a squashed new home

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Err, well, since I have singularly failed to update poor old Good Hooking for quite some time, I thought I should just consolidate my personal blogging empire into ONE unkempt blog, rather than scattering them all about the internet like pizza menus.

As those of you who follow my Good Hooking exploits will know (hi Will! Still not entirely sure what you doing on there, but you knock yourself out), I have been promising to update with a full inventory of all the self-crafted items I have lovingly produced over the past… however long it is, but I have yet to make good on that promise.

Well, today I plan to change all that!

Here, for your viewing pleasure, I can exclusively reveal my a/w 2010-2012 collection.

Sirdar Red Bamboo jumper

I love this jumper. It looks a bit wobbly now from washing (some of the bamboo shrivelled and went wirey even though it’s machine washable. The cheek!) but it has to be the best thing I’ve ever made. I love the yarn, I love the pattern and I love the colour. In fact it looks like I bought it from a shop. But as we all know, if I’d bought it from a shop it would have cost a LOT less money. And that’s what counts. Or something.

I learned about three new cast off techniques for this one. The neckline kept coming out too tight, so I had to keep re-doing it (leaving it a little bit wibbly after the 20th attempt). I now try to only ever cast off using a crochet hook. What sane human would do it any other way, I ask you?

Also, I actually used the right yarn with the right pattern, which I think is only the second time I’ve done that. It’s a thrilling experience, I don’t mind telling you.

Pullover with round or v neck pattern on Ravelry.

Last year’s winter hat

Crochet Hat

I was going to finish this off with some neat neck ties. And then I didn’t. And then winter finished.

Toe up socks!

Very fun, very quick. I learned many things.

  1. I like knitting using the magic loop method so much I want to lick it.
  2. I do not like knitting two socks at once using two sets of cables or one set of cables for that matter. What faffery!
  3. I love Judy and her magic cast on.
  4. The Lifestyle toe up socks pattern will give you a lot of confidence in just winging it a bit with patterns.
  5. The short row heel is very clever, but takes practice. I pulled the heel a bit tighter after taking this photo.
  6. The quest for the perfect cast-off may never be over, but by golly people have turned it into a science. I love the innovation, and I loved trying out different ones. I can’t actually remember which one I used in the end though, dangnabbit. Weebleknits has an assortment of stretchy bind offs she’s helpfully herded into one blog post.

Too-small cardie

I took too long to make this one. I used lovely Rooster Almerino I got from RKM Wools in a huge sale they were having (I started sweating when I walked in and saw all the lovely yarn on sale). But by the time I’d finished Cecily had outgrown it. Ungrateful child.

I then spent two evenings unpicking it all and getting the wool tangled up.

Debbie Bliss Ribbed baby jacket pattern on Ravelry.

Three Christmas hats

Crochet Hats

I made Cecily a lovely warm hat (using the frogged yarn from the Too-Small Cardie) and then I rushed to make two more for her two cousins who are staying with us. I finished the last one at about midnight on Christmas Eve.

I made up the pattern based on a hat my mother made me when I was a toddler. I remember loving the hat, which probably explains why I still own it all these years later.

Yarn Stash!

I gave all my teeth-jangling acrylics to Deadly Knitshade – so she could go and create pigeon pullovers and scarves for telephone boxes – and upgraded to real wools, bamboos and cottons. I am now one of those smug crafters whose whole lives are tinted with a “retro” filter. Plus, my yarn stash is now one of the most valuable things in my house.

I will be the person stuffing wool into bags while the house burns down.

Most of it was bought in a state of feverish excitement from two massive yarn sales from RKM Wools and House of Linens round the corner from me (which I only just discovered – a bloody wool shop round the corner from where I live ALL THESE YEARS!)

And breathe

There are a few bits and pieces still missing. Where, for example, is the masterpiece that is the blue and pink Alpaca motif cardie? And where, pray tell, is the not-quite-enough-buttons chunky knit cardigan?

Patience my friends, patience.

Always busy making stuff

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It’s not that I don’t love you — I do, honest I do — it’s just that since moving house and having a baby I seem to find it impossible to actually locate things I’ve made, photograph them and then remember which SD card they’re on.

Such simple tasks in theory, and yet I fail consistently.

This is not helped by the fact that my brain likes things filed neatly, and so even if I locate a few items on a memory card, they get rejected for not being the thing I made after the last thing I blogged about.

Anyway, I’m just going to have to let it go and show you what craft-related items I have on my laptop right now (oh, and the death of a laptop has not been helpful in my quest to locate and file).

:: :: :: :: ::

OK, after a long search, I’ve found… some baby booties.

At this rate, the backlog could take a while to get through…

Anyway, I made these ages ago (last summer) from a lovely Japanese pattern book. They were extremely quick and easy. The downside being that Cecily left them on her feet for about 20 seconds before pulling them off.

After that, I actually altered the pattern and added a little extra row which made them less inclined to give into the merest tug from a curious infant. Unfortunately, this meant that they stayed on for a lot longer until Cecily decided enough was enough and ripped the entire strap off.

After that, I put them in my craft bag where they make me smile and where a baby can’t seek and destroy.

Look at her ickle chubby feet!

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