My current obsession, the tunisian cable scarf "San Marino" - I'm now on strip three of three, so it's even further ahead than this! I thought I'd have a go at the Irene Woods / Clearwater Knits lace yoked top. The two yokes took the best part of saturday afternoon to knit on the machine (the transfers are hand-manipulated), and spent yesterday blocking on the bed, alongside my little helper. To be fair, the grey and white blanket is "his" domain, so he's being very good not putting cat hair on my work. Next stop is joining the yokes and knitting the sleeves downwards...  Some inspira ..read more

Regular readers will know I used to suffer terribly from startitis, every spring. Well, it's been late this year and absent in previous years due to my getting older, getting slower at finishing things, and general SAD type issues. When sleep is hard to obtain, inspiration for creating new things falls way down my list of priorities. Anyway, I've decided to just look at what's in the stash and try and make something (anything) with it, instead of "procrasti-planning" items in my head that I never get around to. So the leftover cone of sienna coloured boucle (Christine shawl nightmare, but this ..read more

I found these written up on a scrap of paper, I suspect someone presented these at Metropolitan Dream Week but I've no idea now who it was, so apologies if anyone wants to claim copyright on them (though I'm not sure you can copyright a technique anyway). The first three are joined as you knit.  Cable edging (start at RHS of bed if right-handed): Use 3 prong tool to hang edge of item, RS facing away from you, knit 4 rows. Use 3 prong tool to hang next 3 along edge, K4 rows. *Place end 3sts on RHS onto 3 rem. sts (ie move them left), use 3 prong tool to hang next 3 along edge, K4 rows. Rep ..read more

Sad to say, it took a week's holiday off work (and then not until Thursday) for me to destress enough and do some actual machine knitting. We did manage to catch up with relatives and see Shakespeare's birthplace, something that's been on my bucket list for ages. It's tiny and a bit disappointing when compared with the other properties, ie Mary Arden's and Anne Hathaway's cottages. Luckily we have a ticket which allows us entrance to all three until the end of September this year. It was further complicated by a coach load of French students who were determined to take ridiculous selfies in fr ..read more

I was lucky enough to attend a talk recently by Neil Collison, of Knitting Machine Repairs, at the Long Buckby machine knitting club, and took these notes. Hopefully they will help others who for reasons of geography cannot use Neil's excellent services. I left my faulty garter carriage with him - it would sit on the bed and make all the right noises, but only knit a few stitches and then sit there chugging away and not moving. He returned it very quickly and replaced a circuit board. The only hitch in the whole transaction was that my email provider refused to accept his, so invoicing ended u ..read more

It's always a highlight over December / January to get the invite for the annual CSM event in Kegworth - even more so this year, with our somewhat challenging Christmas. After not teaching last year, I realised that for me, I knit socks better alone, without the delicious distractions of pretty yarn, lovely people, interesting gadgets and plentiful workshops taking my attention elsewhere. But there's a place for just knitting socks if that's what you want to do, and plenty of people do just that!  Anyway, because the Cog had managed to "book" our car before me to go on a snowboarding trip ..read more

TLDR 2 paragraphs: the car issues get resolved somewhat I'm cautiously optimistic that the issues with the car are solved (financially, anyway; a full refund is pending). Still annoyed about the perception of how I was treated, as I had to resort to chasing them on the 'phone several times a week by the end. "I'll be in touch" seemed to be meaningless (I started to keep a communications log, mostly my calling them). They peed off more than three of my many hats - engineers (we do a good job, not a bodge, or we admit we are incapable and find someone who is), quality control (first install had ..read more

Crikey, February already? Being flat out at work does at least make time fly. The socks I posted about last time have been adjusted - the too-long one has been partially tinked and handknit to match length-wise, and I've knit the first of another pair of tubular socks on the Dean & Bean CSM to prove to myself that I CAN knit a matching pair - wish me luck! TLDR: car issues, health issues, work issues The car issues seem to be gradually coming to a close - I have come to the conclusion that the immobiliser company don't know how to use email or landlines and don't even have a customer servi ..read more

Ugh! Current mood: annoyed ..read more

My instructions for grafting a seam from two DPNs:  Hold wrong sides together. The principle is that each stitch on the needles needs a catch st and a throw off stitch. Catch sts match the stitch they go into, throw sts are the reverse and then you throw/drop the stitch from the needle. Working from right to left if you are right handed, sew through the front needle stitch knitwise and the back needle stitch purlwise.  Then,  * sew through the front stitch purlwise and drop it from the needle. Sew through the next front stitch knitwise and then the back stitch knitwise and throw ..read more