Back to my knitting...

Oddly enough, I'd never heard the phrase "getting back to my/our/their knitting" before this current financial crisis. Then I heard it on David Reidy's wonderful Sticks and String podcast in one of the essays, used in one sense; and if I've heard one banker/building-society manager/finance expert use it in the sense of "retrenching to what we used to be good at", I've heard a dozen...

It seems to mean getting conservative again, going (cringe) "back to basics". And while I think that's a great idea in the banking sense, given the current general balls-up, I don't think that's what knitters mean. Certainly not the seven knitters gathered in the I Knit basement on a glorious sunny Saturday for Gwen's Weird Techniques class anyway. Being a bad, bad blogger, I had my camera but was both too busy and too timid to suggest taking photos. As it turned out, I was sitting next to Joy from The Knitting Goddess Yarns who also had a camera with her but I don't think she took photos either... I learned to knit and purl backwards; and that although I'd been doing the Magic Loop technique correctly, I still didn't enjoy it. And that I really, really need to practice the long-tail cast-on, despite my complete failure at it in the class, because there are some seriously fun things you can do with it... And cabling without a cable needle finally made sense - I'll try it on the second sleeve of St Brigid and see whether things go faster... It was a whirlwind of new techniques, tips, ideas, shared experience; totally recommended when it comes round again... And my first ever formal knitting class (as a student!)...

I have also been knitting. I made the Seachange sweater [Ravelry link] from Gerard's book Knits to Share and Care. It's a lovely thing to make and only took a couple of weeks of train journeys and knit nights... Here it is on the line:

And here it is on. Yes, strange photo. I don't have a full-length mirror at home, so I stand on a chair and take a picture in the living-room mirror...

It's the most sensuous thing to wear - incredibly soft wool and silk. It may pill - I think it's already started - but I really don't care because I feel fantastic wearing it...

The thing I really couldn't get was how the underarm gussets went in. Here they are from one side:

and from the other:

Because it's not knitted in the round, you have to sew up the sweater. If you're tempted to do this gansey (and it's a really nice, quick knit), here's a construction diagram for the underarm gussets. Click to embiggen in Flickr.

I'm including this because it took me forever to work this out. I think it's a spatial awareness thing, maybe; but I had to do it at I Knit where they had the model in the shop, and I only finally worked it out when Laura took the sweater off the tailor's dummy and laid it across my lap; thanks, Laura!

I've also finally fallen in thrall to those Mason-Dixon ladies and made a couple of ballband dishcloths. Here's the first one - the second one is in the wash at the moment... Cool, simple. quick and practical...

Some like it hot...

Ahh... Steve the plumber got the heat back on, courtesy one astonishingly, ruinously, expensive new circuit board. Have spent the weekend with the heat turned up way too high, knitting up a storm for the Textiles in Focus event at Cottenham next month. Some photos of FOs knitted over the last couple of weeks:

These are washcloths; they're about 11"/28cm square in different patterns from the first Barbara Walker book of patterns, in a Patons cotton blend which is washable and friends with kids tell me is hardwearing. Personally I don't use flannels, bath mitts etc. but these look extremely nice sitting in a basket, so I hope others will like them! They're also very nice to knit - take an hour and a half or so each and you get to try a different pattern each time... The Horseshoe Lace one (the red one at bottom right) is my favourite pattern so far - am currently knitting a bag in 9 strands of fine novelty yarn on 10mm needles with that one...

Then two scarves knitted on a circular needle so the stripes go lengthways.

I had fun with these two; all sorts of yarns picked up over the last few years; they're about 230cm long each so the Dr. Who effect is in full force. I'll have to make a couple of shorter ones too...

A felted bag. I have a few of these but this is the finished one so far... Rowan Magpie, Debbie Bliss Maya and some Lana Grossa metallic eyelash...

And then lastly a scarf knitted out of hand-dyed nylon ribbon; which would have been fine to knit in summer, but the various rough and broken skin on my hands meant I was pulling loops through on this one all afternoon yesterday... Pretty though and it's got a lovely drape. This photo doesn't do the colour much of a favour - there's more green in it then pictured.


Otherwise over the weekend

- while knitting I've watched 6 West Wing episodes (but only one new one as per self-rationing agreement - I only have 5 of the Sorkin-written ones left, sniff), listened to most of an Ann Granger audio book and listened to more Virgin Radio than the brain can comfortably accommodate.

- also watched 'The Fog of War' which was completely fascinating - I tried to see this a couple of years ago when it came out, then forgot all about it, and it turned up in the small but very quirky selection of films the Village Stores get from their suppliers. I know far too little about the internal US politics of the Vietnam War period, but it's given me the need to go off and read a lot, if only to work out why I came into the film instinctively prepared to hate Robert McNamara, and came away with huge admiration and respect...

- had a friend round for dinner last night, interrupted by a power cut when the pudding (apple cake) was halfway through cooking; it was somewhat... interesting... in texture when everything came back on an hour or so later, but luckily perfectly edible... Thankfully I could lay my hands on the mini hurricane lantern and gas canister...

- and tidied the kitchen and dining room properly for the first time since the Christmas holidays. A productive weekend...