A Solution To The Moth Problem?

My magazine arrived safe and sound on Friday, just in time for what I had anticipated would be a more relaxing weekend than I've had for many months. The kids had nothing on the calendar for the first time in 'forever' and I was feeling pretty wiped any way.

Then Saturday arrived and with it some sunshine - not a lot, but enough for the daffodils to open and start bobbing their golden heads in the breeze and for me to develop a modicum of Spring Cleaning fever.

I decided that the answer to a peaceful soul is a peaceful home and as the daily lives of five busy people make a peaceful home almost impossible, I'd have to do the next best thing: declutter! After a hearty breakfast I set to and began sorting out my room and making space for P.A. to come home again. Laundry was folded, clouds of dust were dispersed and nightstands polished and reorganised. Then I looked under the bed. Good grief, what a mess. The dust bunnies had not only visited, they'd moved in and built a warren!

I got the vaccum cleaner and dragged everything out like a madwoman, determined to create order out of chaos. It was then that I remembered the Space Bags. I'd come across them at Costco during the week and picked them up because I'd been looking to purchase some for the past month. You see, I've had a MOTH problem.

A moth must have taken up residence (along with the dust bunnies) and has chewed right through my sons' handknit wool blanket, a gift from a friend when he was born. I found it a few weeks ago when we had that very cold spell and he needed a little extra on his bed at night. I was mortified. I thought of all the woollen garments I have laying around the house totally unprotected! I was particularly horrified by the thought of all the baby sweaters I knitted my children when they were small being munched through by a squadron of flying insects. It was time to take action. Space Bags would be the answer to my storage issues, but they might also be the solution to the moth one too.

So on Saturday I vaccum packed! There were duvets and blankets, summer clothes and beach towels, in fact I loved watching the hoover suck all the air out of those things so much that if you stood still in my house that day, you were liable to find yourself on the inside of one of them! It was then that I remembered the moth. "Hah, just try to get past this, buddy!" I thought as I sucked the life out of an extra large bag filled with Patons Classic Wool Merino and some Encore.

Brilliant!

I'm having some photo issues, so no pictures today I'm afraid. Picasa is playing up and driving me mad!

African Hope Hat

Here's a little treat for 2009. I decided that it was time to share my Hope Hat. I made another one over the Christmas vacation and this time I actually wrote the pattern down.

I first made this last Autumn as a charity project for some children in Tanzania. They love bright colours and so I thought that the fun Fair Isle pattern would brighten their days too. This time I decided that it would be the perfect project to use up the yarn I had left over from the Center Square hat.

The African Hope Hat is a great introduction to stranded knitting for those looking for a simple starter project. It can be adjusted to fit a variety of head sizes, although the Patons Classic Wool Merino which I used has enough stretch in it to accommodate most head sizes anyway. The hat is 5.5 inches deep from the CO edge to the start of the crown shaping.

Let me know if you have any problems. Enjoy!

African Hope Hat

Materials:
Yarn:

Patons Classic Wool Merino: 1 ball Petal Pink 00210 (M)
1 ball Bright Red 00230 (C)

Needles:

3.5mm circular needle (40cm), UK - 10, US - 4
4mm circular needle (40cm), UK – 8, US – 6
4mm double pointed (dpns) needles

Pattern: 8 stitches in repeat

Gauge/Tension: 5 stitches = 1”

Abbreviations:

M = main colour
C = contrast colour
CO = cast on
Rnds = rounds

With 3.5mm needles and M, CO 96 sts. Join into a round being careful not to twist sts. Continue in K2, P2 rib for 1”.
Change to 4mm needles and work in stocking stitch (stockinette) for another inch (approx 6 rnds).
Join in contrast colour (C) and prepare to begin colourwork. Remember to keep your strands loose so that your work does not pucker.

Pattern:
Knit every round using following colour sequence:
Rnd 1: 2C,*1M,1C,1M,3C; repeat from * ending 1M,1C,1M,1C.
Rnd 2: 1C,*2M,1C; repeat from * ending 1C,2M.
Rnd 3: 2M,*3C,3M; repeat from * ending 3C,1M.
Rnd 4: 1M,*2C,1M; repeat from * ending 1M, 2C
Rnd 5: 1M,*1C,3M,1C,1M; repeat from * ending 1C,3M,1C.

Continue in C, working in stocking stitch (stockinette ) for 1” (approx 6 rnds.)
Rejoin M and work pattern again working M in place of C and C in place of M.

Work 1” in stocking stitch (stockinette) as before (approx 6 rnds.) Hat measures 5 ½ inches.

Complete hat by shaping crown. Remember to change to double pointed needles (dpns) when necessary so that you decrease evenly.

Shape Crown:
Rnd 1: K6,K2tog
Knit all even numbered rnds.
Rnd 3: K5,K2tog
Rnd 5: K4,K2tog
Rnd 7: K3,K2tog
Rnd 9: K2,K2tog
Rnd 11: K1,K2tog
Rnd 13: K2tog
Rnd 15: K2tog

Finishing:
Using a wool needle, thread yarn through the remaining stitches and secure work on the wrong side.
Weave in all ends.

WIPs And Gifts

Well I finished the Odessa Hat and it looks lovely. The blue beads add a subtle elegant touch to the piece which will suit its recipient perfectly. I also came across the tube of pearl beads that I was sure I'd bought in the summer, but couldn't find when I went to start this project. (That's how I ended up using the blue ones.) I found them in a pocket in my handbag! Looks like I've been walking around with them in there for months!!

I now seem to have several works in progress (WIPs). Despite a totally manic weekend when my time was certainly not my own, I did manage to get myself organised enough beforehand, so that I had a small project with me wherever I happened to be. The project in question is Nicky Epstein's Chameleon again. This is my second version and on Thursday I took a moment to wind a skein of Cascade 220 (whose shade is aptly named Puget Sound) into a suitable ball for the project. I do not have a swift, so resorted to my Nan's tried and tested trick with a couple of chair backs. My greatest challenge was completing this exercise before the cat decided to investigate! Thankfully, I just got finished before my large ginger and white bundle of fluff strolled languidly into the kitchen to check out what I was doing.

I repeated the same procedure with the lilac Cascade 220 that I am using to knit the Central Park Hoodie. I cast on on Saturday evening and am so excited to see this pattern taking shape.

I managed to score a whole bag of this yarn at a closing sale at the beginning of the summer and it's knitting up beautifully.

My other WIP is the Strawberry hat that I'm making for my niece. As I've hit the construction of the top, it's not such a portable project anymore (I actually have to concentrate a bit now!) so I'll be working on it at home over the next few days. It will be another of my Christmas projects completed, so I'm feeling quite pleased with myself now.

I'm now awaiting the arrival of a KnitPicks order which will contain some beautiful yarn for my final Christmas project - a lovely hat for the man in my life. After 20yrs, it's about time I knitted him something!

A Touch Of Class.

I just have to share with you the fantastic book I found in our local secondhand bookstore on Friday. I was just browsing the Norwegian section (for the first time in fact) and came across this wonderful book of traditional stranded knitting charts, published in 1947!

Not only is the book beautiful to look at but it is full of absolute treasures for a former Norwegian resident and Fair Isle knitter. I feel like I struck gold!

This is helping me deal with the fact that my cold is so bad that I don't have the energy for anything. Just breathing seems to be taking the best from me today.

To top it all, on Saturday I decided to knit up a quick hat to wear down at my sons soccer game next weekend. Center Square by London Nelson is just such a knit. I cast on with Patons Classic Wool Merino from my Canadian delivery and made the whole thing in one day. Should have checked my gauge first though. It came out too big. Double stranding the yarn made a good chunky hat, but my knitting seems to have been quite loose. I should have dropped a needle size.

As I tried to peer out from beneath the cast on edge, I debated whether to just turn up the brim. This would lose some of the Fairisle pattern though and reveal the stranded underside. Instead I decided to felt the hat. This was the first time I'd felted in my American washing machine and I have to confess that I prefer my old one where I could set the exact temperature for the wash. Still, it was a quick knit I reasoned, so I'd take the risk. I threw in the hat with some Norwegian Grønnsåpe and hoped for the best.

The result was a little tight, but after some serious stretching and shaping, looks pretty cool I think. It's lovely and warm and will certainly keep the cold wind out, but at the same time has a classy look about it.

Move over Audrey Hepburn!