Monthly Archives: January 2012

Lab Hat

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I manage a neuroscience centre.  We have a host of neuroimaging facilities including MRI and EEG.  Electroencephalography (EEG) is a technique that measures the electrocortical activity of the brain.  (Bear with me knitters, I have a knitterly point to make here.)

When doing an EEG recording, electrodes which detect the electrical activity generated by the brain are arrayed across the scalp. The electrodes are embedded onto a cap, sort of like a swimming cap, which comes in many different sizes to reflect head sizes. (For the geeks out there, these are 64 channel EasyCaps, supplied  by Brain Products GmbH.)

EEG caps are extremely expensive pieces of high tech equipment.  They are fragile and must be treated with care.  The conductive gel which is used to guarantee a good connection between the electrodes and the scalp is sticky and grainy.  After using the caps, they must be very carefully washed, dried and stored.  The caps are gently scrubbed using a soft  toothbrush and baby shampoo.  They are then left to dry.   In the lab, we have a series of glass heads, in different head sizes, which are used for drying and storing the caps.  The washed cap is stretched over the appropriate size glass head and left to air dry.

I was intrigued when finishing my Peerie Flooers hat by the suggestions knitters made for the best way to block a hat.  Some people found a vaguely head sized bowl to dry the hat on; some (rather ingenious) people blew up balloons to the right size and dried the hat on the balloon; many people, I suspect, put the wet hat upon their heads and let it air dry.  I, however, have a laboratory full of glass drying heads in every imaginable head size…….

Everyone loves Audrey

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This is the second in an occasional series called Wearability Wednesday in which I look in more depth at an item I’ve knitted previously, and discuss its actual wearability.  In these posts I want to focus on what gets worn and what doesn’t, and why; also on how it gets worn and how it holds up to wear and washing.  Today, I will be looking at Audrey, a sweater designed by Kim Hargreaves, in homage to Audrey Hepburn and her style in movies such as Roman Holiday.

The Audrey pattern was published in Rowan 35 in 2004.  Kim is a prolific designer who worked at Rowan for over 20 years before branching out to establish her own knit design company with her mother, Kathleen.  Kim is really known for her cardigans and her classic tailoring; you can find her designs at her lovely website.  Kim is well loved by knitters; the Kim Hargreaves group on Ravelry has over 4500 members.

I knit Audrey in late 2009 and it has had a lot of wear.  In this post, I want to look at two aspects of Audrey that really stand out for me.  First, it it looks great on many different body types.  Second, it is a sweater that can be worn in many different ways; it looks great with jeans, at work, and dressed up for evening wear.  Here, the sweater is modelled by me and by both my daughters, each of us adopting a different style.

First, let’s discuss body type.  When I knit Audrey I was about 6 kilos (12.5 pounds) heavier than I am now.  The photo that starts off this post was taken soon after I finished knitting it. Many of the sweaters which I knit back then are far too baggy on me now and I no longer wear them.  Audrey, however, because of the allover ribbing and the stretchy qualities of the yarn, fit me well then and fits we well now.  It is one of the few things in my wardrobe that this is true of.   My daughter Emma is a few inches taller than I am, and very slender and willowy.  She weighs a good 15 kilos less than I do.  Leah is a few inches shorter than I am, and has a real hourglass figure.  In UK sizes, Emma is a 6, Leah an 8, I am a 10 or 12, and two years ago when I knit Audrey, I was a 14, which I believe correspond to US sizes 2-10.  This is quite a range of sizes and heights and shapes, and yet each of us wears this sweater.  As you can see from the photos,  Audrey looks great on each of us.

Besides the great fit of Audrey, the other thing I want to emphasize is its versatility.  To show this, we each adopted a different style when modelling these photos.  Leah wore it with a pair of jeans.  I think it looks great this way.  It is fun and comfortable and easy to wear, but looks modern, and stylish.  It emphasizes Leah’s curviness and looks sexy without being revealing.  She looks really put-together wearing this; it doesn’t need anything else to make it work.

I often wear Audrey to work.  Here it is paired with a nice pair of classic tweed pants (or trousers as we say here in the UK).  I can wear this to meet with clients, attend meetings or give a talk, and look really professional.  At the same time, it has the extra flair that a hand-knit item gives your wardrobe.  It is not something that everyone else in the room is wearing, and lets you express a bit of creativity.  I really like it paired with the jacket that you can see in the other photos.  I bought it from a small shop in Camden, London, that makes its own felted jackets by hand. I like the contrast in styles between the definitely 1950s era Audrey styling and the definitely not 50s line of the jacket.

Emma is modelling Audrey all dressed up for evening wear, with a pair of killer heels and beautiful tights, and a suede miniskirt.  Again, it looks terrific.  It is chic and sexy and sophisticated.  There are not many pieces in my wardrobe that go from casual to office to evening with such aplomb.  One of the features of Audrey that makes it so versatile is the neckline.  It can be worn pulled down over the shoulders, to add a bit of va-va-voom (which looks especially amazing if you have a long neck and beautiful shoulders like Emma) or you can hitch it up a bit to cover the shoulders but still show a lovely line across the neck.

As an aside, my daughters have both inherited my creative streak (from their dad as well, who started out as a jewellry designer before becoming an academic and still has a strong creative side).  Emma, as you know, does all of the fashion styling and photography for this blog, as well as being the tech genius behind it. (Emma is also a jazz saxophonist, but that is another story.)   Leah, who is 17, designs jewelry and is crazy about beading.  Leah made all of the earrings which we are modelling in this photoshoot.  She makes amazing beaded necklaces as well, which weren’t needed for the Audrey shoot, but which I will show in some future post.  Here are closeups of the earrings worn in this post:

So, what is it about Audrey that makes it so versatile, and gives it such great fit?  I think there are a number of factors.  First, the pullover is knit in rib.  Rib is clingy and hugs the body, and allows for alot of give.  I don’t think just anything in rib would stretch to accomodate 4 different sizes so well, but the ribbing is certainly one of the features that allow each of us to wear it.  Second, in addition to the rib, it has great shaping details at the waist and bust.  The shaping of Audrey is really one of its best features; it has a very nice look to it, it is elegant and emphasizes the body’s curves really nicely.  Many allover ribbed sweaters will sag under the bustline but the shaping here prevents that, and gives it a classy feel.  It is a very tailored look, which is one of the things I most admire about Kim’s designs.  I will also point out, as a knitter, that the shaping kept the sweater from being a slog to knit; endless rib would have been boring, but the shaping requires some thought and a bit of skill which made it a far more enjoyable knit.

Third, the sleeve length allows the three of us, with our different arm lengths, to carry this sweater off.  Audrey is designed for 3/4 sleeves.  As you can see, on Leah it has a bracelet length that looks good on her, while on Emma it’s clearly 3/4 length.  If it was designed as a full length sleeve, I think it would not be quite as flexible as it is.  Fourth, the neckline really makes this sweater.  Not only is it pretty and flirty and lacy, thus giving a femininity to an otherwise very tailored piece; but also, it can be worn up or pulled down off the shoulders giving it very different style profiles.

One of the things I haven’t mentioned here is the yarn.  I knit Audrey in the recommended yarn, Calmer by Rowan.  Calmer is a blend, 75% cotton and 25% acrylic microfiber.  I am not usually a fan of manmade fibres, in fact I am normally quite a natural fibre snob.  However, Calmer manages to make a very nice blend that holds up well to wear.  As you can imagine, this Audrey gets worn a lot, and gets washed a lot.  Cotton sweaters have a terrible tendency to stretch and sag but the microfiber content of Audrey really helps it keep its shape.  The fact that it is cotton means that I can basically wear it all year round; it is a great sweater for a summer evening, I can wear it to dance in, unlike wool, and it will keep you warm on a cooler night  The one thing that I don’t like about Calmer is its colour range.  I knit mine in black, but if not black, I would prefer to have Audrey in bright splashy colours – emerald, ruby, peacock.  Calmer comes almost exclusively in pastels, and very unappealing ones at that.  Rowan, if you are listening, jazz up the Calmer range please!

What would I do differently if I were to knit Audrey again?  That is easy: I would add 2 inches onto the length.  At my age, I don’t want my tummy sticking out.  If I had knit a few extra inches to the length, I wouldn’t have any need to suck in my gut with this one, or to be tugging it down.

So here’s to Audrey; a really classy, chic, comfortable and pretty sweater!  It’s a Wearability Wednesday hit.

“Holy distraction, Batman!”

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I am trying very hard to power through the Brick pullover.  There is a lot of knitting involved.  It is not easy to maintain knitting monogamy.  Then, on Monday, a package arrived on my doorstep.

This book, Contemporary Irish Knits by Carol Feller, focuses on wools produced in Irish mills and has patterns for lovely Aran sweaters that manage to be both traditional and modern.  I particularly like this one, which she calls Killybegs:

Killybegs is made with a traditional honeycomb cable stitch in a very unique and interesting construction.  But what really grabbed me was the wool.  What a beautiful green!   And those flecks of brilliant colour!  I love it.

On Wednesday, a package arrived on my doorstep:

Fancy that!  Beautiful Donegal Tweed wool, direct from Ireland.  In grass green.  Enough to make a Killybegs cardigan.  Serendipity, surely?

On Thursday, a package arrived on my doorstep:

Yarn from the Plucky Knitter!  I pre-ordered this back in November.  The Plucky Knitter is owned by Indie yarn dyer Sarah Dimond.  Sarah, and her yarn, have a fanatical following.  I have never before used any Plucky yarn, but its devotees are many and loyal.  Sarah is especially known for her colour sense; the colours are beautiful and richly saturated, but it is also her way of combining them in unique and interesting colourways that make her stand out.  This yarn is part of a kit, a collaboration with designer Veera Välimäki, for a new shawl design, called Colour Affection:

Oh dear!  What should I do?

Plod along on Brick?

Cast on new yarn?

Brick?

New Yarn?

                                                               hmmmm…

Holy distraction, Batman!

Back to reality

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After a lovely two week holiday in which I could knit all I wanted (and sleep in as late as I wanted), on Tuesday it was back to reality.  And in this instance, reality was accompanied by wet, stormy weather, and generally dark and dreary days.  The girls and I were coping with virtual jetlag after having slept till noon and stayed up till the wee hours for a few weeks.  Doug was also coping with very real jetlag, since he left well before the crack of dawn on Wednesday to fly to Japan (hi, Doug!).  Needless to say, it has not been a great week for knitting.

I have been steadily making progress on the Brick pullover for Doug.  The pullover has an interesting construction; the body is knit in mosaic stitch from side to side.  You cast on the sweater at the left side seam (the stitches are held here on the blue yarn, which will be removed later).  Then the underarms are shaped by increasing for a few inches before casting on the additional stitches for the body; this cast-on edge will form the seam between sleeve and chest.  You knit across the back, until you get to the center back where the mosaic pattern is reversed. When you get to the sleeve edge, you cast off stitches, and again decrease along the edge for the underarm slope, until you get to the right side seam, at which point the mosaic pattern is again reversed.  The front will basically mirror the back until we come to the left side seam, at which point the blue yarn will be removed, the stitches put back on the needle, and a two needle bind off will join the piece into a single round pullover body with no seams.

Later, the neckline will be picked up and knit, as well as the bottom ribbing.  (The lack of ribbing on the bottom is why this piece is looking a bit out of proportion; try to imagine it with three inches of ribbing on the bottom.)  The sleeves are also picked up and knit down, in rib.

I think that the pattern is brilliant.  This is the second Hanne Falkenberg sweater that I have knit, and I greatly admire the way in which she constructs her designs.  They are very architectural and the details are fabulous.  I love the transition at the center back:

I find the details of the side shaping and armhole shaping, along with the mosaic transition, so pleasing to the eye:

I really think Hanne is a design genius.  (You can find her website here; her sweaters are not as fitted as I usually like, but I love her sense of colour and the architecture of her designs.)  That said, her patterns are not all that easy to follow, and I would not recommend them to beginners.  I think part of this is her way of contructing and writing the pattern, which I find to be a bit opaque; this is quite likely a result of the patterns being translated into English.  Her patterns are well worth the effort.

On the subject of genius; knitting genius, I am not.  I made the stupidest mistake with this pullover, partly because I misunderstood Hanne’s instructions.  The pattern says to use a continental cast-on when adding additional stitches at the sleeve edge, and to cut an extra length of the grey yarn to use in conjunction with the working yarn to this purpose.  I didn’t know that a continental cast-on is a long-tail cast-on; since I always use a cable cast-on to add additional stitches at the end of a row, I assumed that “continental cast-on” was another term for cable cast-on.  I thus, in a prime example of generalized stupidity, interpreted the pattern to mean that I should hold two strands of yarn together and do a cable cast-on.   What does this actually mean for the sweater?  See the wobbly, ugly cast-on edge at the back left sleeve edge?  See the neat, pretty cast-on edge at the back right sleeve edge?

Of course, I knew it was wrong when I knit it.  My instincts shouted at me to rip it out and redo it my way, but I thought I was following Hanne’s instructions, and felt that she must be right.  The moral of this story: always trust your instincts.  The second moral of this story: a good wet block and steam will make even bad knitting look good (or so one hopes).

The year that was

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On this first day of the New Year, I will wrap up the old year.  I knit 11 items in 2011 (sounds catchy, huh?)  Since this blog is meant to be a record of my knitting as well as a running commentary on all things knitterly that capture my attention, I thought that this would be a good opportunity to document last year’s knits.  If I am still in the blogging business at the end of this year, I can make it a tradition.

The first project of the year was Ormolu, a pullover designed by Barbara Gregory, which I knit for myself; finished February  6, 2011.  This is one of my very favorites.

Second was Carnaby, an adorable skirt I knit for Emma; finished April 3, 2011.  Carnaby was designed by Nikol Lohr.

The Blakeslee Tee, designed by Emily Johnson, was knit in Malabrigo sock yarn (think tiny yarn on tiny needles) in a slip stitch pattern.  I knit it for myself; finished on May 1, 2011.

Next up was the Layering Shrug designed by Juju Vail.  It is knit in linen in a lace stitch; finished June 1, 2011.

Number 5 was a dress designed by Lynn Barr, knit in Rowan Felted Tweed.  I made it for myself and finished while on holiday in Umbria on August 23, 2011. (The trip to Umbria was my 50th birthday present from Doug; so much fun!)

Leaflet is a cute little cardigan designed by Cecily Glowik MacDonald.  I knit it in Quince and Co wool for my daughter Leah; finished September 11, 2011.

The beautiful Stripe Study Shawl, designed by Veera Välimäki, was my seventh knit of the year.  Finished on September 24, 2011, it is knit in Wollmeise.

I knit the Levenwick cardigan, designed by Gudrun Johnston, in Cascade 220 wool.  Knit for myself, it was finished on November 1, 2011.

I knit three items in December! First, a cowl, following notes that Jen Geigley wrote up and posted after seeing a similar cowl in GAP, which I finished on December 3, 2011.  I knit it in seed stitch using two strands of Malabrigo held together.

Next was the Smoulder sweater, designed by Kim Hargreaves and knit for Emma in Kid Silk Haze; I finished it on December 28th.

And last but not least, finished yesterday on the last day of the year, is my Peerie Flooers hat, designed by Kate Davies.

My biggest knitting project of this year was to start this blog.  This is due to my daughter, Emma, who not only badgered me for years to do it, but then set it up for me and figured out how to do things, and tried to teach me some tech skills.  Emma does all the photostyling for this blog, takes the photos, and argues with me over all aspects of the artistic look and layout.  She invariably wins every argument, and her photos make both me and my knitting look good.

Well, that was the year that was; 2011 in knits.  In the next year, I hope to do some adventurous knitting: I want to try my hand at some more stranded knitting, perhaps make a steeked sweater, knit something great for Doug (already in the works), use more indie hand dyed wool, maybe work up a design or two of my own, and have fun along the way.  A very Happy and Healthy New Year to all my readers, and Good Knitting too!