HRYC

Below is the first in a series from a person many will call crazy. I do. When Awilda first messaged me, I thought 'Awilda, YOU CRAZY!'. But i'm all for crazy and ridiculous plans, so how could I turn her down? As our discussions progressed, we agreed that this absurd project needed to be shared with the world. 

Here you are: the first in a series on Awilda's epic project.

 It all started with an act of kindness—a group of friends and I were putting together an auction to raise money for a friend who was having a hard time around Christmas. I have always enjoyed making things for other people, so I decided the best thing I could offer for the auction was myself as a knitter for hire: the winner could chose any pattern they’d like, and I would make it for them. The winner chose the Doctor Who TARDIS Afghan, a colourwork blanket of epic proportions. It was a bit intimidating, but I do love a challenge, so I enthusiastically agreed to take it on. Not make it—take it on.

I had a pattern, a recipient, and unlimited time… all I needed was the yarn. The pattern calls for worsted weight yarn to make a bed-sized afghan. My recipient didn’t want something that big and heavy, and if I was going to spend half my life knitting something, I wanted to do it in a yarn I love. Something that would stand up to months of being carried around in my bag and life as a well-loved and well-used blanket, and still remain as bright and gorgeous as it was in the skein. 

For me there was only one choice—I would make it out of Knitsch. The sockweight size would allow for a more manageable lap blanket size, and allow me to make it out of a yarn I love. After some excited Ravelry messaging with Tash, we decided on a colour palette and how much yarn would be needed to take on the TARDIS blanket: Five colours (Tennant, Silver Lining, Pencarrow, Dark Side, and two skeins of undyed base for white), 40 skeins, 6680 meters. 

The afghan is 569 rows of pattern; I’m currently on row 45, and that’s not even to the base of the TARDIS yet. That doesn’t start until row 87. The only change to the pattern I’ve made is adding a 10-stitch seed stitch border to the edge, to give it a bit of texture and keep it from rolling. So far, the only real difficulty has been keeping the balls from tangling, which I have been successfully managing by separation: I leave one ball in the project bag and putting the other in a yarn bowl. We’ll see how well that continues to work when I’ve got five going at once! 

There's rather a lot of it - and loads of new colours too. Perfect time to start knitting socks and other warm things for the cold weather that is heading our way!

Taking a moment out this afternoon to flip through the new Knitscene mag, oh my oh I was well taken with some of the patterns!

Besides the fact they are yellow and grey - I'm in love with the graphic styling of these Caution mitts by Rebecca Blair

Humboldt Raglan by Alexandra Virgiel - gorgeous simplicity in Cascade 220 Sport (we'll have more in stock in a few weeks) 

The eyelet pattern in the yoke of this great pullover has completely won me over. Again perfectly simple yet interesting and balanced design - the Rockfall Sweater by Mari Chiba

And of course i'm saving the best to last:

Grenadine by the one and only, ever wonderful Michaela Moores. It's wonderful to see Michaela in Knitscene - and this tunic dress is a delight. I adore how it puffs out a little at the mid-thigh, just short enough to intrigue. This is great knitwear design - timeless, classic, and yet incredibly modern. It's knit in Spud and Chloe Fine, and it the perfect winter go anywhere, do anything dress. On my queue it goes! 

Now I think about it, it would also be gorgeous knit in up in Zealana Kiwi Fingering. Mmmm. 

All images are thanks to Knitscene and all pattern links take you to Ravelry. 

Happy knitting! xx

I'm knitting a Trellis Lace scarf from Margaret Stove's Three Simple Lace Scarves pattern sheet (that we are now handing out for free, hooray!).

On a tired day, I start the first lace row and have to do it over a couple of times before my brain remembers how to count to 3. 

As I sigh, and knit the row again, I wonder at how i'll knit a whole scarf and remember the two different rows of the pattern:

Row 1: k3, * (yo, sl1, k1, psso) 3 times, k1, (k2tog, yo) 3 times, k2. Repeat from * to last stitch, k1.

Row 3: k4, * (yo, sl1, k1, psso) twice, yo, sl1, k2tog, psso, (yo, k2tog) twice, yo, k4. Repeat from * to end of row

And after about 10 repeats, like magic, I can remember the pattern off the top of my head. No more checking back to the pattern.  Knitting becomes that lovely gentle dance of balanced increases and decreases. 

Which has me thinking about things I put off learning, because I assume I won't be able to remember: I'd like to learn to code; to spin; to learn more crochet stitches. To be able to look at html and know exactly what the outcome will be on a website in the same way as looking at a knitting pattern allows me to visualise how a lace motif will look. I'd love to understand more about the structure of yarn by making my own from scratch. I'd really quite like to make more than just a Granny Stripe Blanket.

There has been plenty of discussion about how knitting is similar to code, so why do I feel like I can't do it?

Here I was, assuming that I couldn't do something, that I wouldn't be able to remember. That the skills weren't mine. I'm sure we all have these moments of self-doubt. People come in to the shop and say they couldn't possibly do this that or the other thing - and I always disagree. 

We can do anything we put our mind to with practice. 

I've stumbled across something so amazing, so magnificent, that I had to share it with you immediately. (Thanks for the link, Rochelle!) 

Knitterstream is a data visualisation project that believes all that online chatter shouldn't disappear. So they took tweets and turned them into knit fabric in real time. OMG. 

Not only have they made something amazing with a knitting machine, it's a great reminder that what we do everyday may seem a little mundane, a little dull, but it is ours. That in itself makes it special. And we're knitters: we make special things from long bits of pretty string and pieces of wood. Incredible. We create, we make, we produce. And thanks to this, we are part of a great community of knitters. 

Best of all: anyone can join us :)

Have a great weekend, everyone.