Until the end of January I am donating 50% of sales from Centrique ALL Stolen Stitches patterns directly to relief for the Haiti earthquake. There are also many other designers on Ravelry doing the same so take a look at the new ‘Help for Haiti’ filter on Ravelry at the top of the pattern page.
We came back from our holiday at the end of last week. At 7 in the morning we came into Shannon airport to -7 degree temperatures, freezing fog and a dead car battery. 10 minutes from landing the pilot announced ‘ we are coming into freezing fog, with minimal visability. We are going to attempt landing but if it’s not possible we’ll circle around and land in Dublin.’ Now this is probably not a big deal if you are not travelling with 4 kids from 3 to 11, mountains of bags and a home that is not in Dublin (we would still have to get back to Shannon for our car!). Luckily we still landed, hacked our car open with a credit card and got a jump start for the dead battery. My poor frozen husband couldn’t even get a coffee at the first petrol station we stopped at as their water was frozen!!
Strangely we must have all been in a very good mood from the holiday because somehow it just didn’t seem like that big a deal. Even coming home to a frozen (brand new) pump, leaking heating system and broken shower….. at least we had our new wood stove, it really came into its own. Having parents living next door helps a lot too, you are never stuck!
The boys all got to enjoy some great snow on Sunday, the first we have had in years. The slid down the front lawn, built snow men and tossed snow balls at each other. Now today we are being battered by rain storms with flooding. Life is never dull. Now if only the schools would reopen and I could get back to work.
I got lots of knitting done while I was on holiday (and bought lots of wool!). My sister in law gave me two big bags for alpaca from peru so several pairs of mittens were finished before we came home to be prepared.
I finished (and photographed) a wrap with some more lovely Fyberspates Scrumptious yarn (sneak peak below), photographed a cotton cardi and knit up my first sample of a vest idea I’m working on.
Sneak peak of new Fyberspates Wrap
A little while ago I finished up a pair of socks with an entwined cable pattern I love. It took a lot of experimenting and several pairs of socks before it worked out just right but it is almost ready to publish now. They will be called ‘Casadh’ which is the Irish for twisted which seemed rather fitting for them. This version was knitted by my friend Sue for her husband. These socks are designed for a man but as the pattern is ribbed there is an awful lot of stretch. With the foot length shortened they fit me fine as well.
I’ll post a few more photos of our holiday and the holiday knits in a few days when life starts getting back to normal.
As with most of Ireland Cork is getting pretty nippy at the moment. I manage to forget every winter just how cold it can get! I think I might be in need of an extra chunky wool sweater or two…
On a warmer note a few months ago we installed a stove to replace our fireplace which we rarely if ever use (partially due to my complete inability to light it sucessfully!) The stove is really wonderful, warm, easy and foolproof to light even for me! What more could you ask for!
A few months ago I began the process of putting together my ebook ‘Wearable Lace‘. It is now officially finished, all the 5individual pdfs are compiled into one 20 page booklet. As well as the patterns I spend a few pages in the booklet talking about lace, how to work increases in lace and I’ve even got a photo tutorial on a provisional crochet cast-on. Moving from single pattern pdfs to a complete book took more work than we had anticipated but I’m very happy with how it turned out. So go take a look!
Looking back over my last few posts I realized that I never posted about the final pattern published in Wearable Lace’ Midnight Shrug.
Midnight Shrug
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I love this photo (location rather than me!). It was taken at one of my favourite spots on a sunny day in September in James Fort in Kinsale. There are in the process of restoring the old fort but most of the area is wild with big open fields and plenty of room for the boys to run. We always have a great time when we go there.
I got my first 2 boxes of printed patterns yesterday, it’s very exciting! Both of them are for my Fyberspates Patterns, Centrique and Trilo. I love seeing the patterns printed up, they feel so substantial.
I’ve just sent out a big stack of packages to shops in Ireland and the UK full of patterns. If you’ve orderd some you should have them very shortly. If you are interested in ordering these two patterns for your shop just send me an email carol AT stolenstitches DOT com.
There should be a couple more Scrumptious patterns in the coming months that I’ll also get printed up so soon we’ll have a great collection of patterns out there.
I’m happy to let everyone know that we have rescheduled our knitting classes from this weekend. They will now take place on the 5th of December at the same time as before. You can see the full details at classes above.
I think that everyone was very relieved that they didn’t have to go out in the weather last weekend. As it turned out it never ended up getting as bad as expected over t he weekend which I was very happy about.
See you all in two weeks!
Due to very bad weather conditions we are postponing our class that is due to take place this morning. We are working on rescheduling it for two weeks time and details will be posted as soon as it has been arranged. If the new day does not suit anyone who has booked let me know and we will issue a refund.
I’m sure this will come as no surprise to anyone who is living in Cork. For anyone outside the city, there was sever flooding (and now also contaminated water) and the rain has started with a vengance again this morning. More on the flooding.
I am still planning on writing that new post on customizing your shaping, but it’ll be a few days. I’m currently buried in projects and pattern writing. Not that I’m complaining.. I actually really enjoy the maths end of pattern writing, I guess even if I haven’t been working as an engineer for many years it’s still buried there somewhere.
I knit a top for my sister for Christmas that I just finished last night. It was in sock yarn at a looser gauge than standard (like with Ziggy Zag) and I was fairly curious how it was going to work out. I’m really happy with the way it looks on so hopefully it will get some use. It is this very vivid turquoise color with a large drapy neckline and gathered sleeves. Most of the pattern is written up so hopefully I’ll get it up for sale in the new year. No photos, don’t want to spoil the Christmas suprise!
I wanted to send a reminder to anyone close by (or within driving distance) that the classes I’m running with Sue in Wilton are happening fairly soon. We’ve still got some spaces, so if you are interested get booking!
Last spring Fritillary was published in Yarn Forward. I’ve updated the pattern and republished as an individual pattern download.
This pattern will be part of my Wearable Lace collection, so if you buy the collection you will automatically receive all 4 patterns that are already in it.
Fritillary $5.95
Wearable Lace Collection $14.95
When I started knitting I was very eager to knit myself a cardigan. I bought expensive wool, had a pattern I liked and I even knit a gauge swatch. I choose to knit the medium size, as I usually wear a small or medium from a shop.
I knit all the pieces, seamed it together and it was horrible. The sleeves were like tents and the shoulders caps hung inches off my shoulders. I was gutted. Does this sound familiar? Now looking back I know exactly what I did wrong but at the time I was baffled. Now to really illustrate my failed attempt I should really include a photo…but I’m not sure I’m that brave!!
There were a couple of main point where I went wrong. The first was gauge. Now I did knit a gauge swatch that was correct. However when knitting the complete piece my gauge went from 18 to 16 stitches over 4 inches! Now as a novice knitter your gauge is more likely to vary over a large piece and as you relax into your knitting. To take this into consideration for garment knitted in pieces I would suggest starting with a sleeve and rechecking your gauge as you go. Sleeves can be left a little larger if it is just a slight gauge difference or reknit if it looks like it will make a big difference. If you are knitting in once piece from the top down or the bottom up you will need to keep a close eye on your gauge and make adjustments if necessary as you go.
In addition to my gauge was the issue of fit. When you walk into a shop most people know roughly what size will fit. Often you need to compromise, maybe the shoulders are just right but it’s a little tight across the chest, but if you go up a size the chest is right but the shoulders are too wide and baggy. The beauty of hand knitting (that I think is often forgotten) is that it is customizable. It will fit YOU. However this does take a little knowledge on your side.
The pattern
When I (and any other designer) is designing a garment we have to create it to fit standard dimensions. Generally this entails using standardized tables (probably with some modification from personal experience) to create a range of sizes. If you are created with standard proportions that is great for you but what happens if you are large busted, have narrow shoulders, high waist, short arms? None of these are wrong or right, just different than the average. When you get a pattern and you want it to fit you I would first examine the schematic. Most, but maybe not all, dimensions will be on this. If some key dimensions are not there, calculate them (count rows to get waist height, add shoulders and neck together for total shoulders, etc.).
Measure yourself
Now this is the hard part – you need to know your own dimensions. You only need to do this once, draw them on a little stick figure of yourself and put it somewhere you can find them the next time you need them. If you have a friend that will do this with you that is great but if not you can also do it yourself. Get a snug fitting t-shirt that fits well, mark your widest bust point with a pin and measure around yourself at that point. Repeat this for your waist and hips. If the shoulder caps fall exactly where your shoulder curves then this measurement will give you your shoulders (if it is off, measure the difference and make the adjustment). Now you can take off the t-shirt and measure the distance from the shoulder to your fullest bust point, your waist and the widest point of your hips. Take the measurements from the armhole shoulder height as this is lower (you can see how the shoulder will slope towards the neck).
Now put all the measurements on your little drawing and put it somewhere safe.
What’s my size?
Now that you have all of the dimensions you need to know what to do with them! This part is dependent on what type of garment you are making, the yarn gauge and of course personal preference.
Ease is the basis of all your size decisions. For a close fitted garment you will have little to no ease (if your bust measures 36 you knit 36 inch size). A very fitted t-shirt style may even have negative ease (for a 36 inch bust size you may knit a 34 inch chest size). For a heavier outer wear jacket or heavy sweater you will have positive ease (for a 36 inch chest you would knit a 38-42 inch size).
The weight of your knitting yarn and they type of pattern comes into this decision as well. A thick yarn and a very elaborate cable will create a thick fabric, possibly with a little less stretch. This means that you have to add extra inches to the finished size to make sure it will fit.
Finally, personal preference. A good way to see what kind of fit you like is to look in your wardrobe. Find a top in your wardrobe with a similar weight yarn that you like how it fits. Measure the bust size and use this as a guide.
Now armed with this information you have the tools available to help you avoid the complete disaster that was my first sweater! If you relative proportions are non-standard your next step is to customize your garment.
In my next post I’ll give a basic outline on how to do adjustments to suit your shape.
When I first began knitting I remember having a very hard time of keeping track of patterns where several different things are happening at once.
Maybe you are working a pattern with an eight row repeat, when you reach the armholes you need to decrease at the armhole and after a certain length you must also began neckline shaping. How do you keep track of all of these things at once? This is especially relevant if you tend to have several projects on the go together, so your project might be put down for a week or two and you will need to know where you left off.
I find the best way for me to keep track is to make out a chart. If I’m being very organised I print a spreadsheet out (like below) but more often than not I just scribble a little chart on a sheet that I keep with the pattern.
This graph might give you an idea of what I mean. This would be for a pattern with an 8 row pattern repeat (so I have 8 rows listed). I always put in whether it starts on a RS or WS so I won’t forget.
Next I put in the different shaping with either different colors or symbols. In this example I use green for the armhole shaping; decrease 1 st each end every row twice and then on every RS row 4 times. You can see the green cells where you have your armhole decreases.
Next I also want to put in my neckline shaping. In this case the neckline shaping starts when 4 rows of armhole shaping have been worked. I’ve marked them with an X so they stand out and won’t be forgotten.
I always make out a quick chart like this before I begin shaping, that way I know how many increases or decreases I have worked and it is very easy to go and check that you stitch count is correct. It only takes a few minutes but it can save you days of reknitting!