Monthly Archives: December 2014

Christmas Cowls 2014

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I knit cowls for both girls this Christmas.

Leah’s is knit from the pattern Cabernet Infinity Scarf by Monika Sirna, in the DK weight cowl version.  I had a skein of the gorgeous Madelinetosh Tosh Merino DK in Candlewick left over from Leah’s Peloponnese sweater.  I ordered an extra two skeins to make this cowl, as per the yardage instructions, but only used two skeins in all (thus leaving me with one skein for…moi!).

I knit this with a US size 5, which gave it a pretty tight knit.  I imagine that most people would knit it to a bigger gauge, but I liked this look better.  I then blocked it heavily.  It was 7″x36″ pre-block, and I blocked it out to 8″x46″.  Once blocked, the cowl is light and airy, and very soft.  The cables and lace are crisp and clear in this yarn.

I have wanted to make this cowl for a long time. It is really a striking pattern, particularly in this rich golden hue. It is a bit of a fiddly knit, but is worth the extra effort.   It was clearly a big hit with Leah.  It goes beautifully with her Peloponnese sweater, but also looks good with many other colours.  Leah wears a lot of reds, burgundys, and purples and the gold really shines.

Emma’s cowl uses the Lowbrow Cowl pattern by Thao Nguyen.  I had two skeins of the lovely Madelinetosh Tosh Merino DK in Venetian left over from Emma’s gorgeous sweater, Venetian Audrey.   I knit this one with a US size 6 needle, and also knit an extra pattern repeat to give the cowl more width; blocked, it measures 8.5″x48″.  I had almost half a skein left over.

Unfortunately, Emma’s Audrey is across the ocean and couldn’t get in on this photo shoot, but I think they will work well together.  On my Ravelry page, I have named these two the Golden Cowl and the Ruby Cowl, because of the beautiful jewel tones.

The weather here has been lovely this Christmas; cold but very sunny.  We have gone for many long walks through the countryside.  The winter sun gives beautiful light.  This, of course, gives many opportunities for photo shoots.

My family are surprisingly good at indulging me and this blog.  Yesterday, Doug and the girls went into London for the day.   They dutifully took many cowl photos in the British Museum.  Here they are standing in front of the Bronze Gates of Balawat (fragments and replicas of the huge bronze gates of Shalmaneser III (858-824 BC) from Balawat).

Incidentally, Doug was also wearing a hand-knit cowl.  I knit this one a few years ago for myself but it looks better on Doug so its his now. (Its just Malabrigo Worsted held double knit in seed stitch).

Happy New Year to all of you from all of us.  I am heading off now to drink home-made eggnog and watch Dinner for One (if you don’t know, ask a German!).

Edited to correct yarn used for Lowbrow cowl.

How to spoil a knitter for Christmas

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My family “gets” me.  I know this for many reasons, not least of which is that they know exactly how to spoil me.

Emma was recently in Portland, Oregon visiting a friend.  (Hi, Indi!)  While there, she went to Knit Purl to buy my Christmas presents.  How amazing is that!  Thus, I sat here in England on Christmas morning, opening goodies from a famous Portland yarn shop, brought over the ocean by my daughter from Vancouver.

Emma bought me some beautiful yarn made by Bumblebirch, a local (to Portland) hand-dyer.  This is Wellspring, a 3-ply fingering weight superwash merino, in the colours Rainstorm and Eggplant.  It is so beautiful, and has a very generous 448 metres per skein.  My brain is now very busy contemplating patterns.

As Emma tells it, she had already decided on the Wellspring, when she came across these lovely skeins:

She ended up buying both sets.  These are by another local outfit, Alpha B Yarn.  This is the Luxe B, a gorgeous 50-50 blend of superwash merino and silk that is so soft and springy you have to feel it to believe it.  These colours are Stainless Steel and Pendleton Round-up.

Books are always under our tree.  This year we each received great books, from amazing cookbooks to compendiums of Arabic calligraphy, from ancient Sumerian poetry to politcal manifestos.  Quite a few of mine were textile-related.  Leah gave me World Textiles: A Sourcebook, from the British Museum.  This book is chock-full of the most gorgeous photographs of textiles from their collection, including embroidery from Palestine, Afghanistan, India and Pakistan, Miao textiles from China, textiles from Guatemala, Mexico and the Andes and printed and dyed textiles from Africa.

I love that the book features many up-close photos so that you can see the stitchwork.  Even better, the British Museum is but an hour a way, so I can go and see these fabulous pieces in person as well.

Doug bought me two knitting-related books.  First, the new book by Kate Davies, simply entitled Yokes.  I am so looking forward to perusing this book over the next week.  I love Kate’s designs, but also love her writing style.  Second, a book called Knit for Health and Wellness by Betsan Corkhill.  We know Betsan, and there is no more passionate or knowledgeable advocate of knitting as a means to improve well-being.  If I can, I will write reviews of these books over the coming months.

Last but not least, in my Christmas stocking was a beautiful shawl pin, made by Jul Designs, also purchased at Knit Purl by Emma.

How better to photograph a twig-shaped shawl pin, than as a twig on our winter rose bush?

I have also been knitting for Christmas this year, but to see what I’ve made, you will have to come back in a few days, because, right now I am off to spoil my family!

Merry Mittenmas!

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I was sitting around thinking about mitten patterns (as one does) and listening to Christmas carols.  My head filled in the following lyrics:

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me

Twelve great mitten patterns…

So, without further ado, I present to you twelve great mitten patterns (in no particular order; all links are to Ravelry pattern pages.)

1. Newton’s Mittens, designed by Emily Bujold:

© Scienceteacher

2. Deep in the Forest mittens, designed by Tuulia Samela:

by Tuulia

3. Perfect Storm mittens, designed by Kimberly Voisin:

© Carrie Bostick Hoge

4. 4-11 Mittens, designed by Anna Zilboorg:

© sweatergoddess

5. Paradoxical mittens, designed by Lucy Neatby:

by LucyN

6. Blomst mittens, designed by Tori Seierstad:

by Torirot

7. Wallpaper Mittens, designed by Veronik Avery:

by Veronik

8. Stay Puft mittens (Ghostbuster tribute), designed by Therese Sharp:

© Therese Sharp

9. Golden Light Mittens, designed by Spilly Jane:

© SpillyJane

10. Freja mittens, designed by Emmy Petersson:

© Emmy Petersson

11. Lotus Mittens, designed by Heather Dessurud:

© hedda knits

12. Fishbone Mittens, designed by Marit Trudvang:

by yarnjungle

Looking over this list, I can see a number of dominant themes:

  1. Colourwork.  Every single one of these patterns utilizes colourwork.  No Plain Jane mittens for me!
  2. Whimsy.  It is clear that I have a finely tuned sense of the ridiculous.
  3. Black and white geometrics.  Three out of twelve fall into this category; clearly, this is an appealing theme for me.

Happy Holidays!

Time to catch up on some reading

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Last week I finally had time to catch up on my blog reading. Thus, it is time for another edition of Surfing the Knit, in which I point out some posts that have caught my fancy. Let’s start with the pretty: first a pretty sweater, and then a pretty blog.

1. Konrad, knitter extraordinaire and author of the blog Knitting Konrad, recently knit the wonderful Ordie sweater designed by Martin Storey. It is a great sweater which I have featured on these pages before in a Pattern Radar segment. As usual, Konrad looks smashing. You can see it here.

2. I love the blog Millefeuilles. Stephanie, who writes the blog, lives in the Loire Valley in France and is writing a PhD dissertation on Baroque Garden Design. Every one of her posts is beautifully designed – like an unfolding work of art. I recently knit a sweater for Leah which used the lovely Madelinetosh Merino DK in Candlewick – a very gorgeous burnished gold. Stephanie has been knitting with the same yarn, and here is a post inspired by Candlewick and Stravinsky’s The Firebird.

3. Anyone who reads my blog regularly will have noticed that I have a thing for stitch holders, particularly the kind which open (they look like modified safety pins). I use them in many ways and find them completely indispensable. Glenna, who writes the blog Knitting to Stay Sane (a great name!), wrote a post last month called “9 Ways Stitch Markers Will Make Your Life Easier”. I couldn’t agree more with this post – read it and make your knitting stress-free. Number 7 is new to me – I regularly use all of the other tips – why have I not been using this one as well?

4. The knitting universe has been buzzing lately about changes to the tax laws in the EU and their unintended consequences for knitting designers who sell their patterns online. Ysolda has written a very informative post about these changes which makes quite interesting reading. (Yes, it is a lengthy post about tax law and it is utterly fascinating!) Ysolda made three points I found very thought-provoking: first, that tax authorities had no idea of the type and number of small business who would be affected, second, that the new rules could be seen to be in conflict with the EU’s strict data protection laws, and third, that these changes could have a disproportionate impact on women.

5. And last, a post that has nothing to do with knitting. Sara, who writes the knitting blog Knot my Day Job, recently wrote a post about the Hampton Court Palace, which is a short train ride outside of London and was part of the court of Henry VIII. I love Hampton Court Palace! It is a short drive from my home and I have been there many times. It is a great place to spend the day. This is a very nice post, with lots of photos, about one of my favourite places.