I've Made It! I've Made It!

Lovely readers, do you know indigodragonfly yarns?

Kim and Ron, the geniuses behind the company, are known for their beautiful yarns, their fantastic colours - but perhaps most of all, they are known for their hilarious, bizarre and yet always apt colour names.

Their names are often inspired by pop culture - there's a Buffy series, a Firefly series, a High Fidelity series - and sometimes just by ridiculous things people say.

And I'm proud to announce that I am one of those people that has said ridiculous things... a ridiculous thing that gets it own yarn!

When I did a design for Kim's project club, I carefully wrote up the pattern, and submitted it to her chosen tech editor for review - the eminently sensible Jaya.

I often use a safety pin in my lace projects, as a way to mark the right side of the fabric.

But I often type faster than I think....

So instead of "safety pin" I typed "safety pint".

That in itself is funny enough.

But with me being a relatively well-known tech editor with a passion for precision, and it being a design for Kim's club (where strange things have been known to happen), the typo stopped Jaya in her tracks.

She actually contacted Kim to check whether it was a typo, or whether I actually meant it...

We've been laughing about this ever since.  It's become a short-hand for "beware: this is the sort of pattern that might drive you to drink".

And when Kim was creating new colours for this spring, she and her team created a truly fantastic orange. The sort of orange I adore wearing and knitting. My favourite colour!

And so:

"Safety Pin or Safety Pint: Discuss"

"Spinning a Good Yarn"

The Grid magazine in Toronto profiles male knitters, and explores the shift in gender perceptions towards crafting...

Knit Fest Spring Fling in Collingwood

This Saturday I'm heading up to Collingwood with Glenna C. to teach a couple of classes at Grey Heron's KnitFest.

Karen has a beautiful space, and we are gathering to spend a day learning, sharing, laughing - and enjoying some of her wonderful hospitality.

I'm teaching Continental Knitting, and a workshop on Sizing and Fit. Glenna is teaching a class on cables, and her fun steeking workshop.

We went last spring, and had a fabulous time. Come join us!

What (Else) Would Madame Defarge Knit?

I'm thrilled to announce that I'm part of the new Cooperative Press publication from editrix extraordinaire Heather Ordover, What (Else) Would Madame Defarge Knit?

In the book you will find 28 patterns written by designers both new and experienced - one of whom is me, of course!

Of course it's a sock... 

As in the previous book, there's a range of projects of all difficulty levels so everyone should be able to find something to love. You can see pretty pics at Ravelry. Each designer has contributed a pattern, and also a story about their relationship to books and their own acts of creation. These stories are heartfelt, honest, and in few cases, just darn funny.

To celebrate the book's release — and to give something back to all of you who make this possible — we are giving away some goodies.

If you've already pre-ordered the book, check your inbox or spam filter tomorrow afternoon! The links to the goodies should appear!

If you haven't already ordered the book (what are you waiting for?) you have two choices:

• Pre-order W(e)WMDfK? —learn more here or order
  
  Print+Digital. $26.95 or
  
  Digital only $16.95 through Saturday at 3pm EDT

or

• Pre-order W(e)WMDfK? and pick up a copy of the original WWMDfK? in print and digital formats —$50 plus shipping for both books, both formats! For those of you who don't already have the first book, this is a nice deal. Learn more here or order  Print+Digital of both books.

The discount on the two-book package and all of the goodies disappear at 3pm EDT on Saturday, April 6, 2013.

Holiday Knitting

Travel - especially journeys with long plane/car/train trips - are excellent opportunities for knitting.

We had all of the above on the trip to the UK - plane there and back, of course, plane up to Aberdeen and back; various train journeys in the London area, including a day trip to Brighton, and some longish car rides in the Aberdeen area. Perfect.

In the days before I left, I had the usual "what knitting should I take" panic... socks, of course, but I wanted something else, too.

A conversation with Brenna at Lettuce Knit got me thinking...

In the fall of 2005, I knitted a garter stitch scarf with Kidsilk Haze, and although I loved the result, the process nearly killed me.

I absolutely adore mohair, and it's always galled me that I'd had a bad experience with it. I should love these fine silk/mohair blends, as they are incredibly light and incredibly warm. Perhaps it was time to try again.

There was a partial ball of this yarn in the scrap bucket, so with Brenna's encouragement I decided to give a go.

I knew that whatever I did, it had to be simple - for successful knitting in low-light and low-sleep situations, and I wanted a basic go-everywhere, wear-with-everything result. I thought about a big rectangle, but at that gauge that would have been a lifetime's worth of knitting.

It look me a few goes to land on the pattern I wanted, but I ended up with a tip-up triangle shawl in garter stitch. Easy as possible. It was the clever Rosa's suggestion to start with a few stitches already cast on (rather than at the very tip), to change the geometry a little.

I made sure I had plane-friendly needles - I chose Chia Goo bamboo circulars as they have surprisingly good points for non-metal needles. And I remembered from my previous experience that you need a good point.

Using 4.5mm needles, I cast on 45 stitches and starting working... every row: kfb, k to end.

Easy. No need to keep track of the rows; no need to keep track of stitches. It didn't matter if I ended up with a stitch too many or too little.

I started a couple of days before I left,



and worked on it all through the holiday...



over drinks both hot and cold...







and cast off on the plane on the way home. Exactly 2 balls of the KidSeta gives a shawl about 24 inches deep and 66 inches across at the top edge. It's blocking now, and should be dry enough for me to wear tonight when I head out to teach.

I do have a third ball of the yarn in the stash, and I plan to wear this for a bit to see if I like the size... am thinking I might add a border along the lower edge...

Can't blog, am on vacation.

 Lace on a plane!

Lace in a coffee shop!

What Else Would Madame DeFarge Knit?

An excellent question indeed....

image courtesy Wikipedia

Madame Thérèse Defarge is a character in the Dickens book A Tale of Two Cities. She is a knitter, sitting by the gallows with her needles always close, through personal and political upheaval chaos during the French  revolution.

Brilliant designer, teacher, podcaster and all-around clever person and good egg, Heather Ordover, of CraftLit, published What Would Madame DeFarge Knit a couple of years ago. A genius blend of craft and literature, the book provides patterns inspired by great characters and books of literature. It's one of those knitting books that you can keep beside your bed, and read like a novel.

I loved the book when it came out, and was thrilled when Heather asked me to contribute to the second volume, What Else Would Madame DeFarge Knit?

It’s more than just a pattern book — it’s a treasure of links, essays, and designs to entertain your hands AND your mind. In its 200+ pages, you’ll find more than 25 knitting patterns (and one weaving pattern!) designed to delight your inner bibliophile.

There was no question which book, and indeed, which character, I was going to choose... Can you guess?

Book available for preorder here, it's shipping next month.

If you're interested in the book, sign up for the newsletter here. Even if you're not, sign up anyway! Free patterns! Free pattern for a really lovely pair of mittens, which apparently we'll need forever now, because summer is never coming.

On the Road Again: Waterloo Classes and then a Holiday

This weekend I'm loading up my car with Nutella muffins and heading to see my friends at Shall We Knit in Waterloo.

I've got four classes on the slate:
Continental Knitting: Knit faster! Master 2-handed colorwork! Rest your strained hands!
Intro to Lace Knitting: Yarnovers, lifelines and blocking - oh my! Suitable for adventurous newer knitters, or knitters looking to expand their repertoire, I'll introduce you to the joy and wonder of lace knitting. We'll learn how to read and work lace patterns (including charts), and I'll share tips and tricks with you for successfully working lace projects, and producing shawls and scarves you're proud to wear.
Top Down Socks 101: A very good place to start if you've never made socks before. Suitable for knitters who are confident with knit and purl - experience knitting in the round preferred but not mandatory. Also good if you live in the land of the toe-up, and want to broaden your horizons. Adventurous sock knitters like to go both ways, you know!
Fixing Mistakes: Because Knit Happens. Suitable for knitters of all levels - come and learn how to save your work. You'd be amazed about what we can fix without undoing - and if you do have to undo, I'll show you ways to make it painless and safe.

And as a bonus, the very wonderful Kim McBrien of indigodragonfly is going to be there at the same time - she is teaching a few classes, and running a yarn tasting! She'll also have a special pop-up shop with lots of delicious yarns.

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And then after that, we're jumping on a plane to the UK for a bit of a holiday, and a wedding. Planned highlights include: the Kaffe Fasset exhibit at the Fashion and Textile Museum, the David Bowie Exhibit at the V&A, and an Argi Bhaji sandwich or three.

Delicious. Seriously.

Awesome Things: Y is for Yarn; Fantastic x 2

I'm beyond thrilled with two things that have come my way recently.

The first is a write up about me and my second book in the Spring/Summer 2013 issue of Vogue Knitting.

 I blush... "followed her fantastic first book... with an equally fantastic second"... Wow.

The second is a postcard sent by my brother T. from the Manchester Art Gallery.

"Y is for Yarn"
To business men in Manchester
The Yarn is daily bread,
They talk of hanks and mules and counts,
And throstle-frames and thread,
As did their grandsires long ago
Who now, of course, are dead.

It's from "Manchester Alphabet", 1906, by Roger Oldham. This book of comic drawings and verse was ostensibly created as a child's alphabet, but clearly was designed for the fun of the adults. The book contained drawings of the then very gritty and industrial city, delicately drawn and coloured, with dry verse to accompany. 

I was born in the environs of Manchester, and my mother's family goes back a long way in the area. My Mum remembers well this industrial past, and the phrase "trouble at' mill" is not just a Monty Python punchline.

More detail on the publication here.

Finished: The Leopard Hat

Subtle? Nope!

But I LOVE IT.

Just the ticket for cheering up the last weeks of winter.

More here.

Have You Had Lunch? "The Sandwich Theory of Colour Selection"

I made a presentation a couple of weeks ago at the KW Knitter's Guild meeting, on the topic of colour.

Colourwork is a topic that worries people. I get amazingly experienced knitters in my Intro to Colourwork classes.  I always start the class by asking if anyone has tried working with multiple colours in any way, and usually at least half the class has. Indeed, there's usually a couple of people who've made entire Fair Isle sweaters....

"But I'm not sure I'm doing it right." 

Even knitters who've done colourwork in the past feel like they need help, because they want to do it better.

I get it – bad colourwork is an awful experience. It’s not the easiest type of knitting to do, and the results can be either terrible, or just plain disappointing.

The problem is that it’s not just about being able to read a pattern and successfully work the stitches... and that it itself is challenging, when you're trying not to tangle (or to tangle appropriately)...

... but it’s also about TASTE. In that, it's about appropriate colour choices. It always makes me worry: are those good colours? Are they the right colours for me? Does it look good?

And for me, that's where I start to worry. When I gave my talk at the KW Guild, I focused on building confidence. Confidence with the techniques, sure, but perhaps more importantly for me, confidence about choosing colours.

The lovely Annie Bee, member of the KW Guild, (and fellow rescue hound owner), had written about colour theory on the Rock + Purl blog a couple of weeks ago. I thought her post was great, but I know that even using the words "colour theory" still frightened some people.

Annie, thrilled with the great response to her post to the Rock + Purl blog (well deserved, it's terrific) was inspired to start a series of posts about colour on her own blog. And she asked for guest contributors.  Always seeking listeners for my myriad opinions, I leapt at the opportunity.

And so: The Sandwich Theory of Colour Selection. Make sure you're not hungry before you read it.

New personal website!

I've finally properly put together my personal website - kateatherley.com

Go visit! 

You can see my Twitter feed there, get in touch with me, read my blog posts, and see a list of all my upcoming classes and events.

File under: Crazy

I have a bit of thing for leopard prints.

A couple of weeks ago the lovely Sue brought this pattern to my attention: Stray. It's a stranded colourwork hat, in leopard print. 

I bought the pattern that day, and immediately went stash diving for yarn.

Well, naturally, I didn't have much of a selection of yarn in that gauge, but I did manage to find three skeins of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light, a yarn I love very much. It's warm, and blocks beautifully, and it has a great little halo I thought would be nice for this design, to suggest a bit of 'furriness'.

The problem, however, was that I didn't have anything like appropriate colours. Oh sure, I had a nice medium brown - but the contrast colour choice was limited. I had a couple of shades of orange. (This should not come as a surprise to anyone who knows me.)

So I did what any sensible knitter would do: I cast on anyway.

So herewith, an orange leopard print hat.

I've been working on it as I've been riding Go Transit this week, and it's been an ideal travel project. It needs a lot of attention, but it's not a big project.

The colours, however, aren't the craziest thing about this project.

It's that it's THREE COLOUR stranded colourwork.  Yes, three colours per round.

It is one of the most fun projects I've ever knitted, but it is a hair, shall we say... 'toothy'...

If you're looking for a challenging and engaging colourwork project... if you're feeling emboldened by my presentation last Tuesday... or if you just need something to do to frighten your other knitter friends... Stray is it!

(P.S. Fab project bag is from Pip N Milly Creations - I adore this design for colourwork as the yarnballs sit neatly side-by-side in the flat bottom, and the clear front means I can more easily keep track of potential tangles.)

On Knitting in Public

I had an interesting discussion with a couple of newer knitters last week.

I've been knitting seriously and shamelessly since the mid 1990s. And with that, comes knitting in public. I knit in public all the time - most often when commuting around the city on the TTC.

I used to knit on the TTC every weekday when I still had a day job at rush hour, and on the New York subway when I lived there. Sometimes, the vehicles were a bit crowded, but working on a sock project doesn't need much room.

picture courtesy Brent Gilliard, on a Creative Commons license

Now I use the TTC at least four or five times a week, most often on streetcars.

Streetcars - also known as trams - are, IMHO, the best public transport vehicle for knitting. They have them in various cities around the world, and I've personally ridden them in Toronto, Boston, Stockholm, Helsinki, Portland, OR, and Manchester - all while I'm knitting.

Streetcars are great for knitting because you're most often above ground - natural light! And if what you're knitting doesn't require much attention, there's always something good to look at. Streetcars are significantly steadier and smoother than buses, being on rails. I tend to motion sickness, so this is a huge advantage to me. It's also useful if you're trying to balance a chart on your lap.

The other knitters in the conversation are newer knitters, and have taken up transit-knitting only recently. They were telling me that they feel that knitting on the TTC draws attention - that they get stared at.

I've had the odd odd exchange with an interested fellow passenger, it's true, but I think that I've been knitting on public transport for so long that not only do I not notice whether people are paying attention to me (usually because I'm paying attention my knitting), but I'm not even sure I remember how people reacted to me when I wasn't knitting. I can't remember the last time I was on/in any kind of vehicle without knitting...

I'm riding trains a few times this week - Tuesday heading to Kitchener Waterloo to speak to my friends at the Guild today, and Saturday off to Spun in Burlington. You know I'll be knitting up a storm the entire way.

Do you get stared at when you knit in public? Do you notice?

Mod Squad Mods

It's always a thrill to see an FO from one of my patterns; even more of a thrill when someone takes the idea and runs with it.

Long-time friend and knitter W. was intrigued by the slip stitch colourwork technique in my Mod Squad hat, but she was unsure if she wanted to knit a hat. Her daughters have lots of big curly hair, so they like headbands.

So W. made headbands.

These are the second and third.

More are on the needles as we speak. Love it!

W. has used Tanis Fibre Art's Green Label aran weight, worked on 4.5mm needles. The blue is the Cobalt  colour, the purple one is the Grape colour. Both worked with Tanis's natural as the contrast colour.

If you want to make your own headband variant, follow the pattern as written until you've complete 2 repeats of the 12-row pattern, and works Rows 1-6 once more.
Knit 1 round, purl 1 round.
Work a decrease round as follows:
Decrease round, size small only: (K2, k2tog, k3, k2tog, k2, k2tog) 8 times around. 80 sts.
Decrease round, size large only: (K3, k2tog, k2, k2tog, k3, k2tog) 8 times around. 88 sts.
Purl 1 round, knit 1 round.
BO purlwise.

Buy the Mod Squad Pattern - On Ravelry, On Patternfish

On Sock Sizing; Idea re: Leg Length

Being a glutton for punishment - or an attention junkie, not sure which - am working on my next book.

This one's about socks. (The first one was going to be about socks, but I got a bit distracted.)

Specifically about custom-fit socks. And I want to make sure I'm addressing the sorts of fit challenges knitters regularly run into.

I'd love your input!

What questions do you have about custom-fitting socks? What fit problems do you encounter with patterns? Are there standard modifications you find yourself having to make?

Leave your questions as a comment - or email me at kate at wisehildaknits dot com. The best 5 questions (for which I have contact info) will get a digital copy of the book when it's released!

I've been digging into sock sizes and looking at patterns, and something occurred to me: sock leg length (for typical calf length socks) seems to be always related to foot circumference. But I'm not sure this is the best way of doing it... wouldn't it make more sense to articulate leg length relative to height/leg length of the wearer? As petite/average/tall? After all, we size socks by foot circumference, and foot circumference isn't always correlated to height of wearer. I know very narrow size 12s who need the same sock circumference as wide size 7s. And those two wearers might not want the same leg length....

What do you think? Am I crazy? Would this make it too complicated?

Flu is Yucky; Once I've Recovered...

I've been living life like a cat the last little while: staying indoors, and sleeping 16 hours a day. I know there is debate about the merits of the flu shot, but all I have to say is that flu is nasty. It is, plain and simple, exhaustion. Having a shower requires a 20 minute rest. Walking the dog wiped me out for the afternoon. And let's just say I didn't get a lot of knitting done, let alone any work.

Still, I'm on the mend. And I've got enough energy now to start thinking about my plans for the next few weeks, and I'm excited.

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The weekend of January 25th to 27th I'm at Shall We Knit, in Waterloo.
Friday night they are hosting a signing of my new book, Knit Accessories.
And over the weekend I'm teaching four classes:

• Continental Knitting
• Entrelac
• Fearless Finishing
• War and Peace Socks

More info here.

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Sundays February 10, 17, 24 and March 3rd I'm teaching a special session of the Project Class at The Knit Cafe in Toronto.

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Saturday February 16th I'm going to be at Spun Fibre Arts in Burlington, teaching two classes, Fearless Finishing and Top Down Socks 101.

More info here.

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Saturday February 23rd I'm at The Stash, a newer store in Campbellville, Ontario. Two classes there, Socks 102 and Lace 102. More info here.

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And then there's the Vancouver Retreat, and stay tuned for some other announcements in the near future.

And of course, there is my regular teaching schedule at Lettuce Knit and The Purple Purl.

New Designs: 2 Skeins, 2 Hats

I have an on-again, off-again relationship with colorwork. When I was a newer knitter, I relished in the design possibilities of using multiple colors in my work. I striped things; I put polka dots on things; I made abstract geometric patterns. I think it pleases my mathematical mind.


But then as I got more experienced, I started working patterns in other ways: lace and cables, mostly. And for years I worked only in one colour.

Inspired by the work in my own book, I've been revisiting colorwork of late. First there were the Campbell Glen Fingerless Mitts.

And then I developed a Fair Isle hat design as an idea for a new class. This is a classic Fair Isle pattern: 2 color corrugated ribbing (which I adore), and a couple of very traditional yet straightforward stitch patterns combined to great effect.

The Cherry Fizz Hat

I'm very pleased with how the crown decreases look on this one.

And then sparked by a question from a student, I started playing with Mosaic knitting.

If you haven't tried Mosaic knitting, or are simply nervous about colourwork, then I encourage you to give it a go! It's an excellent cheat - I mean, alternative - for Fair Isle, in that you only work a single color in a given round. The stitches of the second color are slipped. Two rounds are worked knitting the MC and slipping the CC, and then two rounds are worked slipping the MC and knitting the CC. Four pattern rounds equals 2 complete rounds in each color. Barbara Walker is the queen of Mosaic Knitting, and this stitch pattern comes from one of her treasuries. Its unusual in that it's worked in stockinette stitch; most Mosaic patterns are at least partially garter stitch. I adore this particular stitch pattern for two reasons: in stockinette it really does feel like cheater's Fair Isle, and it's just so very mod.

And so, The Mod Squad Mosaic Hat

Sized for adults - small and large sizes. And both patterns include a tutorial for working that particular colorwork technique, and tips for working from charts and blocking. Mod Squad has instructions both written and charted; Cherry Fizz is charted only.

Either pattern can be worked from one skein each of two colours of Cascade 220... in fact, one skein of each is enough for both hats!

Cherry Fizz Pattern - On Ravelry, On Patternfish

Mod Squad Pattern - On Ravelry, On Patternfish

The Finished Shawl

Very happy with it!

It's about 70 inches in wingspan, 35 inches deep. I wanted a bigger shawl, I definitely got a bigger shawl!

 

(Still trying to figure out how to rotate this pic...)

We're going to need a bigger mat.

I adore my Wings of the Pigeon shawl, and I wear it a lot. It's modestly sized, and just perfect for wearing with a dress when it's cool indoors, or with a light coat.

But as the weather inevitably turns arctic, I enjoy a larger shawl. The original is made from a single ball of Zauberball, and it's about 42 inches across.

When I was at The Needle Emporium last year I picked up two balls of Marks and Kattens Fame Trend yarn, in the "Party" colorway. The yarn is pretty much identical to the Zauberball - it's a slightly fuzzy 75% wool/ 25% nylon blend single, with very long stretches of color. It's ostensibly a sock yarn, but I think it's a bit too fine and certainly too fragile for socks.

The "Party" colorway is like my beloved Noro Kureyon 242, but without the green, and I thought it would be perfect for a larger, shawl. It will go with everything in my wardrobe, and be a real statement piece.

I've been working on the shawl on and off over the past year, and decided for my break between Christmas and New Year that I would try to finish it.

I did some math to see how much larger I thought I could make the shawl with a second ball -I reckoned that if the first one gets me about 140 rows, accommodating the ever-growing stitch count a second ball could get me about 60 rows. So I've been working away. The rows get longer as the piece gets bigger, and I started to try to figure out how long it was going to take me to finish the second ball... about 16 hours, I expected.

So I do what all obsessed knitters on a deadline do (don't we??): set a daily objective. The morning of New Years' Day, after good three hours of knitting into the second ball, I decided to weigh it. I had 112gms left. Of a 100gm ball.

I shook my head, blamed in on the hangover, and weighed it again. Yup. 112 gms left. So not only do I have a second ball of the yarn to use, it's significantly larger than expected. Exciting, I thought! A much larger shawl!

I thought I should check my progress against the original. You know what's it like when you're working a large small on a not-very-long circular needle - it's all bunched up and you don't get a sense of the size.

So I dug out the original, and laid them out together.

In addition to having significantly more yardage than I expected, my gauge is looser in this yarn - I actually think it's a bit thicker than the Zauberball.

I decided to keep going. New Year's Day is a quiet day on the couch here, and so I got a good five hours knitting done.

The original plan had been to work until I'd use the second ball. Realizing that I probably wouldn't find the time I needed to finish the second ball, the slightly revised plan was to work until the end of my Christmas break, the end of this weekend, and then call it done.

After looking at it this morning, I think it's done. (The new one is laid out, not even faintly stretched. Wingspan will be about 55 inches after blocking, I expect.)

Can't quite get the colours to read true in this light but this should give you a good idea of the patterning.  I can't wait to wear it!