Wednesday's #WIP, Graffiti Knitting & More Adventures in Haberdashery

So, here is my current #WIP: a jacket, for me. It's a Sarah Dallas moss stitch jacket from Rowan's Scottish Inspirations, using lovely Debbie Bliss Glen  wool I picked up in the Cafe Knit sale. It's beautiful wool; I'm just hoping it knits up like the pattern as I was too lazy to knit a tension square . . . am I the only one?! I am rather too near the sea in North Norfolk in this picture - I had to shift back a bit a few moments after I took this. I'm rather pleased with my cheapy jelly shoes, too!

Norwich  library has a fantastic selection of knitting and crochet books - and look what some knitters have done to the section!

This probably isn't technically yarn-bombing, actually, as it's to advertise a new Knit and Natter group they're starting up there - but it looks great.

No trip to Norwich is complete without a rummage in the haberdashery department of Jarrolds, and here is one of my mug huggers en route:

They have some gorgeous VV Rouleaux ribbon on sale which i'm rather regretting not having bought: lace plus velvet . . .  hm, maybe I can give them a ring. . . .  ;)  I did manage to buy some red "Live...Love...Laugh" ribbon and a Rico Aran pattern - they had lots of lovely things.

I wonder if I can take a break from the jacket - much as I love it - to have a go at the crochet necklace and collar I've Tweeted about . . .  they're beautiful and there are so few crochet things I actually *know* I will use....

Wednesday's #WIP : mice!

Today's Wednesday Work In Progress (or WIP): mice for my sister's children. She and I used to love the Jill Barklem Brambly Hedge books when we were little, and I'm pleased that her children love them too. Her eldest has been asking for a toy mouse, so a little trawl of Ravelry ensued. This is a brilliant pattern, free to download, from Janet McMahon's blog, called Fair Isle Mice. You can find the blog here: www.yellowpinkandsparkly.blogspot.co.uk .  I made the Fair Isle a bit simpler, knitting just two rows in alternate main colour and contrast colour stitches. I was a bit worried, half way through, that they looked rather sluggy, but I think the coloured tails and eyes have changed that!

I also learnt how to do i-cord! How have I not known how to do this before? She suggests making the tails by twisting a long length of the main colour, but I wanted coloured tails. It's also quite hard to do the twisty thing hard enough without another pair of hands, and I wanted to get on with them. So I had a quick look in Debbie Stoller's Stitch'n Bitch book, and the i-cord instructions are in there on page 87. If you end up doing this pattern but want a contrasting tail (doesn't everyone?!), then use 3.75mm double-pointed needles and use 4 stitches. I did about 30 rows and, on the penultimate row, tapered the tail a bit by knitting two together twice, then the remaining two stitches together.

I managed to listen to a fair few episodes of the excellent Caithness Craft Collective's knitting podcasts while making these: Louise Hunt has a really engaging way of talking about her crafting as well as her whisky-drinking  - while describing the scenery of her part of Scotland beautifully too. Her knitting book reviews sound really good, too. Find her here: http://caithnesscraftcollective.podbean.com/

 I got the recommendation for these programmes from Sadie's blog: http://ravelledsleeve.wordpress.com/ - there are other suggestions on there, too, but I haven't got round to those yet.

Anyway: one more mouse to go!

Hooray! One Completed Knitting Project: My Jumper!

If you have seen me on Ravelry celebrating this already, then I apologise! I am, though, really pleased with this, my most recent knitting project - it's not often I can tout an FO, even if it's not Friday. Knitted in Sirdar Click Chunky, this was really quick and not too pricey. The back and sleeve are plain, so there's just enough pattern to keep your interest along the front. The original pattern was designed for Sirdar's Connemara Chunky, which is variegated and not really my kind of thing. I thought I'd jolly up the useful grey with the red which I had left over from a Wibbling Wools sale last year. The Lady Friend pointed out that this looks, basically, like a kid's jumper - but hey, that's part of its appeal. It looks like you could wear it on the beach, going for a walk, or sitting outside a country pub drinking real ale in the evening. . . .  Perfect.

Yes, I Can Make a Blog Post out of a Keep Cup and a Wool Shop

I am childishly pleased with my day so far. This picture shows my hugely exciting, er, travel cup. I popped to our lovely independent cafe, The Coffee House, on Moreton Hall, today. They have a table full of these great reusable cups for sale. Now, I suppose it has been flown in from Australia, but ... it is usable by baristas in coffee shops, so I am smugly saving that ugly takeaway packaging each time I use it. It can go in the dishwasher at home, too. What's more - every time someone uses one in The Coffee House, you get 10% off your drink! Phew! Can it get any more necessary to have one of these? Mind you, it got mildly embarrassing as the lovely cafe ladies said you can choose the colour of each component...so I swapped lids....bodies....lids...cap bits an alarming number of times. The creation above, then, is truly unique. I need to get out more. Actually - I see a window of opportunity for a knitted Keep Cup hugger . . .

Now - moving swiftly on - for a recent trip to Oxford's new(ish) haberdashery shop, Darn It & Stitch. I was just wondering where, down all the narrow streets off the High this was, when I saw this bicycle on St Aldate's. I see from their blog that the Darn-It-&-Stitchers have been yarnbombing Oxford in the last week or so, and this bike seat cover is available via them on Ravelry!

Anyway:

This is the outside of the shop. It is slightly misty somehow because it was boiling hot and I'm not sure my BlackBerry enjoyed such a lot of light. Inside, the shop is laid out like the bread and fruit are at a deli -

It's a great informal layout, and somehow the boxes encourage you to, er, pinch the wool. The ribbons and other 'notions' are all good, too, and I bought myself some completely unnecessary but lovely ribbon, which I'm sure I will need for something, soon:

They run classes, too, called Pinworks, from their upstairs room: find out more at www.darnitandstitch.com. The woman at the till was lovely, too, and the shop is, I bet, a great addition to Oxford's shops. I'll have to plan another trip...

Ah - coffee and wool. What more could you want on a drizzly Monday?

Been Caught Knitting - Out and About

Recently I've got a bit over-excited when I've seen hand-knitted or crocheted things in public - must be something to do with Knitting In Public week earlier this month! Saw these lovely crochet blankets in a sunny corner of the gorgeous gardens of some almshouses when exploring some Hidden Gardens last weekend. Seeing these really made me want to make a crochet blanket, something I haven't done since the birth of my first nephew, seven years ago. I wouldn't have gone for the bright colours here, but they look great against the geraniums. The view from this bench would be hundreds of roses in yellow, red and peach - fabulous. I saw a friend looking at the same garden, and she was wondering how soon we could put our names down for these houses! We're not 40 yet, even, but hey - never to early to start planning which almshouse to retire to!

Once again on the theme of Been Caught Knitting, here is a shot of one of my mug huggers, held by my patient girlfriend, on the Sheringham seafront! It was a bit blustery for June so we really needed a coffee. Out of shot here is a lovely new bag of yarn from Sheringham's wool shop, Creative Crafts, to make the aforementioned girlfriend a jumper. A good day out!

Now for the most glamorous location that one of my mug-huggers has made it to:

New York! Sadly I didn't go on this trip, but, hey, at least my knitting did!

Last pic for this post: here is the intrepid New York mug-hugger in Christopher Park, New York - an important location in the history of the gay rights movement. It was here that the notorious Stonewall Inn was located, and this was the destination of the first American gay rights march in 1969. Does this count at yarnbombing?!

My plan for my next post: to photograph some more knitting and crochet while out and about. I will ask people's permission - but I love spotting hand made things and hearing about how they're made. Fingers crossed that I find some willing specimens!

Graffiti Knitting hits North Norfolk

I wonder who has knitted these? In Sheringham this week, I saw at least 5 of these lovely knitted crowns, many complete with jewels and glittery bits, between the station and the beach. There are no signs or stickers around them, and the window of Sheringham's wool shop, Creative Crafts, is giving nothing away: it advertises a weekly Knit n Natter, but I can't imagine its usual clientele doing anything as subversive as yarn bombing street lights with freestyle crowns. They are fab! They are glitzy and jaunty and somehow really cheering to see. I think this is the first time I've actually spotted some graffiti knitting without being told that it is there. So, three cheers for the Sheringham Graffiti Knitter(s), whoever you are! I think these are just great!

Having seen these, I began to take more notice of the murals and artwork in Sheringham  - resulting in a rather grim plaque on the Art Trail:

The bronze plaque on the left says that the fisherman on the right are wearing traditional "ganseys", or knitted jerseys. Apparently, the complicated Aran patterns were so that the women could identify their men if they drowned - they would recognise the pattern! Eeek! And, sure enough, though my crummy BlackBerry photo doesn's make this clear, the two men on the plaque have got jumpers with different patterns on. What a horrible thought.

However - who would have thought that Sheringham was so arty? - I *then* came across this just fantastic piece of beach hut art:

I hope the owners don't mind me using this here - the doors were locked and there was no-one around. The back ground is yellower than it is here and the whole hut is a lovely primrose colour, with this black silhouette as the only decoration. Brilliant. If only she'd been knitting instead of reading.

But what of knitting? I *can't* get my bootees right (what a sentence), so I have unravelled them and turned my back on them. But the Sirdar chunky jumper is coming along really nicely. I think my Lady Friend is right, and it is basically a kids' jumper in terms of its school story colours (red and grey), but chunky is speedy and it has cables - which I love - so I am pleased.  I did knit quite a bit of it, in between finding knitted crowns on the streets, but I also spent quite a long time reading the new Patrick Gale, A Perfectly Good Man. His writing is very good: warm, evocative of Cornwall, and witty. I'm not competent to knit and read, so occasionally Patrick Gale won.

I'd love to hear any news of the Sheringham Yarn Bombers!

Finally: quick Wednesday WIP. As I've just mentioned, the Sirdar jumper is the WIP. You can see it in the previous post, where I'm knitting it with a lovely sea view!

Jubilee Weekend Knitting and General High Jinks

Yesterday's trip to Cafe Knit was inevitably rather Jubilee-tastic. I'm sure Suffolk has the highest concentration of Union Jack flags and bunting in England; Cafe Knit had some fantastic knitted bunting as well as the great tea cosies in the window. I treated myself to some delicious Debbie Bliss 'Glen' wool to knit a Sarah Hatton cardigan - the pattern looks brilliant, and nice easy moss stitch too - perfect TV knitting. Victoria has 15% off in celebration of the Jubilee, too, so it felt like a great bargain! She has some great Lavenham Blue yarn, too, bred and dyed in Suffolk - I wish I'd bought some of it ... might have to ring and order some ... but how many WIPs can one person have?! There is an excellent review of the Lavenham Blue yarn on another East Anglian knitter's blog, which you can read here: http://annidomino.blogspot.co.uk/  . Anni tests the yarn's tension and colourfastness and has good close-up photos of it, too.

Saw this rather unlikely headline on the way to the car. There's no tradition of Jubilee spoof headlines, is there??

This picture was last weekend, knitting on the North Norfolk Coast, with Sirdar chunky yarn from Sheringham's Creative Crafts. I'm sure the Queen would rather have had her Jubilee in the 27 degree heat of last Sunday, but I was quite happy knitting and drinking coffee on the beach. So different from today, when our street party had to take refuge from the rain in the church - quite medieval, in its way! A brilliant occasion, nevertheless. Now - TV and knitting are calling!