A knitting start to the year

January seemed a good month to get the knitting machines operating and into production. So 4 projects completed, a couple of these being hybrid machine knitting / hand knitting projects. 

The first was a classic merino jumper. This uses Yeoman sport 1 ply in cream. I buy a couple of cones  and that gives me a couple of 2 ply jumpers. The result is a jumper that is super soft, fits me, washes well and a useful base under my fine knit cowls. 

I knitted a couple of these many years ago  and have only just reluctantly stopped wearing one  as it has truly worn out. However, the elbows did not.( The post of 6 April 2020 gives more details of knitting this style of jumper.)  I have made a block pattern with fitted sleeves and so I know it fits! 

It might sound simple, but having no pattern on the jumper, there is nowhere to hide and so full concentration is needed during construction.

After washing the pieces, I block them onto the tissue pattern pieces and then stitch up using a slight zig zag on my normal, Janome, sewing machine. The neck is cut and sew and gives a nice finish. 

The second item proved to be more of a challenge. I have been using a shawl cardigan pattern, very much altered over the years from a  Posh Frocks pattern.  The post of 30 July 2015 shows just one of the many I have knitted to this design. 

I last knitted it in Uppingham lambswool NM 2/17 and noticed it bulged at the back at the base of the sleeve insertion. As the yarn was fine, a bit of steam solved the issue. For many years I had knitted this pattern in very fine crepe and have a range of colours to chose from in the wardrobe. Being winter and having some cones of yarn in my collection I thought I would knit this in a thicker yarn still, Uppingham ‘Shetland’ NM 2/11.5 

After knitting a strip of tension ranges, I chose the one I thought felt best and knitted a larger tension sample. 

No toile was needed as I had knitted this numerous times before. 

Yes, there is a big ‘However’ here! 

Shapes drawn on the knit leader and in a few snatched hours over a few days, the cardigan was complete, washed and blocked. Trying on time. The slight bulges I had noticed in the finer yarn were magnified in this much thicker and heavier yarn. Reluctantly I decided to recut the sleeves and thought that would solve the problem. It did not. I had been ‘tolerating’ the upper back fit of the cardigan as the overall look and drape with the collar was great.

Grey cardigan back of the neck 

I decided it was time to go back to the drawing board and redraft the back to have a more conventional fit. This would mean new pattern pieces for the back, the fronts, the sleeves, but the shawl collar I hoped would be fine but would need to be longer. I modified the jumper block I used for the merino jumper and made a toile in double knit jersey fabric, the nearest I had to the fabric formed with my intended yarn. 

This nearly worked first time but I decided to raise the back neck slightly as the back seemed to ride up a bit…I have quite a rounded back. 

Fortunately I started with a large cone and managed to knit version 2 without pulling any of version 1 apart.  

Completed cornflower cardigan 

Back of the neck 

The fit is great and I now regret not going back to first principles and redrafting this before now. 

Now to sort through the cones in other colours and knit another. (I have now done the tension square in red, again Uppingham Lambswool NM 2/14) 

The second two projects involve the circular sock knitter machine. I have written about this super knitting machine before. (Post of 10 Jan 2017)

Last Christmas I had chosen as my present some Japanese Knitting Books, both by Hitomi Shida- 250 Japanese Knitting Stitches and the Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible of 260 stitches. These being the original bookend the second one. I thought while I was juggling with wool and foot sizing for machine knit socks I would not knit the leg on the machine but use the leg to try out  some of the patterns in these books. I did a trial using a pattern I have used before from Kate Davies Blue Stockings book (1). I now find this pattern is actually in the  Japanese Knitting Stitch Bible too, pattern 90.  

The red socks and the trial to see if this idea would work- it did and was enjoyable knitting.

 

Then changing the wool and the tension I knit a blue pair of sock feet. I like the 84 needle original cylinder with this fine wool /acrylic mix as I can use a tight tension and the socks last longer. So I had 84 sts to play with and chose a pattern for above the ankle that would work with 80 stitches, pattern 39 in the second Japanese Book attracted me.   All good so far. However to match the machine knit stitch size I need to knit on size 2mm needles. I could go looser but that would sort of miss the point. I think this wonderfully textured knit is harder than any of the fine lace patterns I knit. The first sock was very slow going, especially where the pattern swapped blocks, but the second was quicker and I hope that now having done one of the hundreds of patterns the next I chose will not be so slow.

The completed socks

 

Showing the pattern in more detail

With the sock knitting machine, you in fact knit another heel for a toe! I like then to join this with a Russian Graft.

I have also knit some real cotton dishcloths as these seem impossible to find in the shops. Even these are not so easy as it might look. Getting the right tension and size is key to their success in terms of function. 

Next project(s)? 

I have number lined up, the red cardigan knit as this cornflower one is happening. int is a finer wool. Then I am thinking of knitting a simple cornflower jumper to go with the cornflower blue cardigan. The grey cardigan is paired with a matching jumper and they are nice to wear together or separately, again with a lace cowl, either machine knit or hand knit in fine Shetland yarn, that I have naturally dyed in designs from Unst. There will be more socks ahead of the meet up of the sock knitting enthusiasts at Kegworth on the weekend of March 9-10. I have now  reminded myself how I strengthen the heels invisibly during the knitting, but not used the ribber for a while! 

Notes

1. Kate Davies & Nicole Pohl:  Bluestockings. I love this book, it discusses the history of socks and stockings from several contributors, has essays about 'Blue Stocking' women as well as patterns, tips etc. Much more than a book of sock patterns. 

Shetland Autumn2023 Day 8: Sept Shetland Guild of Spinners, Weavers, Knitters and Dyes meeting snd Shetland Museum and Archives

Since Covid I have belonged  to the Guild,as an ‘outwith’ member and both last year and this year we were in Shetland on a Guild meeting day so I have been able to go to that. The meeting in September is a special day as it is the day the trophies (8 in all)  are given for all the different challenges available to Guild members. This year Members took their items to one room in Islesburgh House and the  meeting was conducted next door while the judging of the items took place. 

Today the meeting had a Speaker, Carol Christiansen was going to talk about Latvian  knitting. I was very much looking forward to this. 

However, initially it looked as if I might not make it! Michael  awoke with a painful and swollen left leg and could not put his weight on it. We had booked him lunch in the Dowry  at Hay’s Dock. The plan was that he would drop me at the Guild , potter in Lerwick or drive to one of the spots we know and like, he would rest and enjoy the scenery. I would have my packed lunch with the Guild  and then go and meet him at Hay’s Dock. It looked instead to me like a trip to The Gilbert Bain might be in order. He was thinking he could manage, take 2 paracetamol and then on Monday he would try and seek medical help! It seemed much too urgent to me. We reached a compromise, we would park the Motorhome at Hay’s Dock, he would get into there and have some lunch and I would meet him there as planned. He would phone me if he got worse. This disrupted things rather and made us slower than normal so I was much later to the Guild meeting than I intended. 

The room for the talk was quite small, the meeting was well attended  and I got about the last remaining seat, on the front row as it turned out, next to Emily Poleson. Great to see people I knew but I was flustered, did not manage to get a drink and needed a few deep breathes before the talk started. 

There was some technical challenges, as often happens with one device not recognising another…which today played to an advantage for me. When Carol stood up to talk she said the talk  was about Estonian Textiles. Well, that sounded good to me too. The presentation was excellent, there were lots of maps of parts of Estonia and photos as well as lots of items and books and some recommendations from Carol. It turned out that Emily  had one of the books and rated it highly and I ordered it as soon as I could and it will now be a Christmas present. Items, such as gloves,  are knitted on fine needles and with fine wool and hence are dense and last well. This sounds good to me as during the winter I find myself patching up knitted gloves too frequently. It also seems that Estonia really values knitting, not just for tourists and their trade, but to keep the traditional crafts going and developing. The skills involved are valued and it is possible to study these at a high academic level. It seems currently this is not the case in this country and maintaining and teaching the skills relies on the Guilds and elderly people who have the knowledge, experience and understanding in their heads and genes! Textile courses, even if they exist in colleges seem to get rid of their valuable equipment. A lot of time and effort had gone into the preparation of this through presentation and I for one really enjoyed and appreciated it. In fact it had so much information in it I would like to hear it all again. 

After the presentation, eating my packed lunch and finally getting a drink it was time to view the results of the judges deliberations in awarding the places in the categories and the trophies, in all but one case. The judges today were Anne Eunson and Pearl (I hope I have remembered that properly). It was great to see Anne again, besides going viral for her Shetland knitted ‘fences’ she is a very talented designer, fine lace spinner and knitter. She has designs in previous editions of the Wool Week Annual and I think  teaching 3 classes for Wool Week 23. (She is also a machine knitter and we have spent time in previous years sharing knowledge and exploring possibilities here in Shetland).  

It was good to look at the entries for the different classes under the theme this year of Maritime and I was pleased to see that the Member’s  Choice Trophy went to Rachael Hunter for her imaginatively designed fine lace shawl. (1) I really needed to get back to Michael to see how his leg was, so having checked the time for meeting to help set up the Guild Exhibition and tables for the tea in Tingwall Hall next Friday evening I walked swiftly back to Hay’s Dock. 

I was surprised to see Anne arrive in her car as I got there, and when I found Michael paying his lunch bill she was there too! This is real friendship Shetland style, checking how Michael  was as I had told her what I couldn’t  stay longer at the Guild meeting. 

I managed to get another drink and a sweet treat from the counter. 

M was insistent I should look round the knitwear in the collection as we had planned whilst he go and sit with his ‘improving’ (?) leg up back in the motorhome. 

I really love these bright gloves that were knitted in Yell in the 1940’s.

I homed in on a case I had not noticed before which displayed fine lace knitting from Unst. 

Just consider  that these Unst pieces were created with no written instructions, that is besides the fact that the yarn was hand spun and extremely finely  spun too. Also there were no photos for them to examine either. That is what makes these pieces fine Shetland Lace imo. 

I always like to see the mitre in a shawl or stole, as so much can be learned about the construction. 

 

This is an example of a traditional Shetland method, one advantage of which is that only some of the piece needed to be worked on at a time. These knitters were true masters of design and economy of time and process. Not a gathered corner in sight. Also look at how fine the threads are, these are likely to be formed of 2 ply yarn too. Each ply would be spun from only be a few fine fibres. 

I had not seen this piece before, I love how it had meaning 

I understand it is a sample for a shawl knitted for Queen Victoria. note the crown. It has been attributed to the Sutherland Family. 

Then onto a modern but wonderful example of using lace. 

Again this has quite a story behind it. The highly talented Angela Irvine from Whalsay has updated this yacht originally built by her grandfather in the 1940’s. (2) 

Time to get back to the campsite, get the poorly leg elevated and rest. What a great ‘textile day’ this had been. 

1. In all the fuss I did not take a single photo at the Guild meeting but if you search under Shetland Guild of Spinners, Knitters, weavers and Dyers, including in Facebook you will be able to see some of the items that won the prizes. 
2. Angela produces a variety of imaginative craftwork. Some of this can be seen at  https://www.angelairvine.co.uk