My name is Ruth and I’m a yarn buying addict. That’s how I’ll have to introduce myself when I find a help group for this specific addiction. This is not social buying. I can’t get one ball and walk away. No, this is hardcore.
This week I received a huge bag of lovely wool from Doulton Border Leicester Yarns plus a parcel from Unique Yarns co, both for commissions to design and knit projects for them. It’s very nice to feel in demand, but the list of knitting and pattern writing stretching out in front of me, as well as my existing yarn mountain waiting to be transformed into Christmas presents, is making me a little stressed.
The antidote? Retail therapy in a local charity shop buying, you’ve guessed it, yarn. I’m not sure where it all came from but there were crates and baskets full of individual balls plus packs and packs of mohair. How many warm, but slightly scratchy jumpers do I need? Apparently about 20 or more.
Maybe I could knit it all then felt it into a new shed to store my wool.
For the uninitiated, intarsia is used when you want to knit large areas of different colours or multiple colours in each row. This is different to Fairisle/stranded colour work, where there are only ever two colours used at a time. I love Fairisle, I love the design challenges it offers, I love the orderliness if it and the structure to it. Intarsia, on the other hand, requires multiple mini balls of wool (bobbins) to be hanging from your work all at once.
Foolishly, I decided it was time to confront my aversion to intarsia and designed a woven look checked scarf knitted across ways on a long circular needle. I neatly wound the 11 bobbins required to travel vertically over the working colours onto cardboard inners with little slits into which to lodge the yarn and stop it unravelling. What could go wrong? I was already mentally chastising myself for avoiding intarsia projects for so long as I cast on and looked forward to a nice relaxing evening of scarf knitting.
It was only a matter of minutes before I found it intensely annoying to have 11 balls of wool dangling and bobbing around as I worked. The jiggling also loosened my yarn from their cardboard bobbins and it wasn’t long before working yarn was tangled into bobbin yarn and the springy circular needle. It got even worse when I stood up to make a calming cup of tea and the whole messy web of yarn somehow followed me across the room. My entire, vast and varied vocabulary of expletives were used on a continuous loop of enraged muttering. Watch this space to see whether I take the shears
to the whole miserable mess, or whether I refuse to be beaten and finish it!
I’m pleased to say that I’ve finished my Horticultural Hats pattern book and published it on Ravelry. Time for a rest and some stash busting projects for myself. At least, that’s what I thought as I was knitting the last one. As it happened though, it was exactly then that I met Ellie from Doulton Border Leicester who was in need of a couple of patterns designing. A couple of patterns soon turned into plans for a pattern book, open days, workshops, meet the sheep days and a full range of patterns centred around the super star of the flock, Sam the Ram Lamb. My goal was to get two jumpers and a couple of accessories done for Yarndale this weekend. That done, I knitted a couple of Sam the Ram Lamb Christmas decorations to make Ellie chuckle.
Whilst knitting the under side of one of them, I thought it would be a good idea to use my Aran bobble making skills to good use for anatomical correctness for the sire of numerous prize lambs.
Fast forward to Yarndale where I joined the Doulton team for a couple of hours as the new in house designer. I had my best professional game face on, a pocket full of business cards and was giving my serious designer advice to anyone who would listen. What I hadn’t reckoned on though, was Ellie having customers in stitches by not only proudly displaying knitted Sam the Ram lamb’s Crown Jewels, but crediting me for their creation.
That’s one of my jumpers on the Doulton Border Leicester stand at Yarndale.
My holiday in Wales took on a very crafty feel – knitting, sketching and even a bit of crochet when I found some recycled paper tape and crochet hooks for sale in a gift shop. It wasn’t long before the large dining table in the cottage was covered with all of my projects. I finished the gloves for myself, knitted in lace weight cashmere on 2mm needles. Trying them on now instantly transports me back to the cottage lounge, watching the Tour de France on TV, or rather listening to it whilst concentrating on not dropping any tiny stitches. The turquoise hat was my handbag knit so my memories linked to that are sitting on the beach knitting and numerous tea shop stops where I’d do
a few rows.
My yarn finding radar also led me to a tiny shop that sold some locally spun and dyed
Welsh wool and amazingly, a tiny yarn fayre. OK, it was a 30 mile detour on our way home and ended up being one barn, lots of sacks of fleece but the £1 entry fee included a free cuppa. I bought 3 hanks of very home spun, plant-dyed Welsh wool. As soon as I got home, I used it to knit a new tea cosy. The plant dyes were the exact colour of the grasses in the many coastal wild flower meadows I’d so admired. I added a few stitches to remind me of the wild Thyme, Foxgloves and chamomile.
My memories of Wales are knitted into the things I made. Back home to the real world and 3 large parcels of yarn awaited me for various Christmas commission designs to knit. The weeds in my garden and veg plot have taken on Triffid proportions. The campsite had the usual mix of eccentrics staying – a clairvoyant, a professional storyteller and a deaf violinist. But I am refreshed and ready to return to work and have my holiday memories to sustain me.
Maybe not what you’re thinking – I’m talking about the arcane, black art of crochet. At least, that’s how many people view this particular needlecraft, not least avid knitters. I’ve run a few crochet workshops with various degrees of success and I’m planning more this October (10th , 17th , 24th), so crocheting is on my mind. I learnt the rudiments from my Nanna and then taught myself a few more techniques relatively recently. My main motivation was that someone told me it used up yarn really quickly, so I envisioned an rapid diminishing of my stash. However, I instantly gravitated to crocheting little toys. When I say little, I mean teddies standing around 2cm tall, crocheted out of lace weight yarn with a 1.25mm hook. Stash reduction, approximately 4 metres of fine yarn!
I think one reason for many people’s aversion to crochet, mine included, is the memory of it in the fashions of the 1970’s. I have cringe-worthy photos of my young self in huge flares with a crocheted poncho. I also have some hilarious vintage pattern books with granny square garments in vile colour combinations. However, I recently saw this Dolce & Gabbana advert – far be it for me to suggest they have plagiarised anything, but note the similarity to the 1970’s magazine pattern!
So, the classes I’m running in October are going to be a celebration of granny squares. Watch out for a group of women in multi coloured maxi waistcoats!
To find out more about my classes, check out my Facebook page for The Art Shed.
This is a review of my local yarn fair – Spring Into Wool – and the first one of the season.
A total of 40 volunteer knitters spent around ten-months making the 5ft by 7ft Knitted Leeds map, which features more than 40 illustrations of the city’s major buildings and landmarks.
For the benefit of the initiated, a yarn fair is a place where knitters and crafters like me go to look at stalls and stalls of tempting delights; hand dyed yarn, hand spun yarn, fibre to spin your own or make felt creations, needles, buttons and more. It should be pointed out that I don’t need any of those things. I have a shed load of yarn and accessories. Literally, a large shed. Full. Even if I yarn bombed the whole nursery, I’d still have some left over (note to self though, knitting an 8 acre blanket might help).
So, this morning I found myself walking through the door of Leeds Grammar school with great intentions to just savour the friendly atmosphere, enjoy the well lit, pleasant space and chat to fellow yarnies. The plan was to allow myself to buy one luxury skein and 2 bargain buys, but I did bring 2 carrier bags and a rucksack just in case the bargains were extra bulky.
Organiser Nick Milton, of Sheep on Mars, is right – the 90 stands a really good mixture and attract knitters from all over the country. The refectory is large and spacious with good food to sustain shoppers. Everyone from stall holders to traffic management has a smile and a friendly word. A perfect combination to set the stage for my morning of looking-not-buying.
Fibre for spinning, phew.
I started well; my purse stayed firmly in my bag for a good 90seconds before I bought some stitch markers and dog-shaped buttons from the Woolmouse stand. They don’t count as banned goods because they are small and not woolly. I averted my eyes from any stalls that might tempt me into another craft like spinning or dying or felting. However, it is true – resistance is futile – so time to change my modus operandi from limiting my retail compulsions to justifying them. Firstly, a couple of stands were supporting charities, so out of the goodness of my heart I bought 2 skeins, one cone and 12 magazines from those stalls and felt very virtuous doing so. Four cones and 7 skeins were from stalls who voiced an interest in using my designs, so obviously they were a business investment and probably an allowable tax expense. Yarn purchased from sale bins actually saved me money, thereby allowing me to buy more luxury skeins than originally planned. Plus, of course, I am helping the local economy and supporting small businesses. Unicorn buttons plainly don’t count at all because they’re magic. All in all, I feel I can congratulate myself on being so disciplined. Time to cast on that blanket…
What I actually bought. Note the danger signs – flyers for more knitting shows.
It is feeling super Spring like around the Nursery – my favourite time of year. I am day dreaming about warmer weather and maybe knitting myself another one-skein shrug like these designs I did last year. Some soft, luxury yarn to rest my acrylic-blistered, chilblains hands maybe.
Pink Tulip Shrug
Pattern availabile on Ravelry
No, in reality what I’ve been doing this week, is a commission for Knit Now magazine using their free gift acrylic yarn for a Christmas gifts booklet. I have been knitting a Fairisle snowflake and reindeer hat. This feels wrong on so many levels!
Fast forwarding to winter is very bad.
More acrylic is very bad.
Sewing red bead noses onto reindeers is very, very bad.
I’m a runner, so I’m used to picking up aches, pains and injuries. In fact I started crafting as a means to force myself to sit down and rest my weary body. However, I have come to realise that knitting is fraught with danger.
Muscle spasms in my neck and shoulder are a common occurrence, to the point once, where I couldn’t turn my head enough to drive. Lately, I’ve been working on commissions for the online yarn shop, Deramores, as one of their in house designers. This involves knitting garments in their own 100% acrylic. As acrylic goes, it’s good quality in lots of lovely bright colours, but the current, enormous shawl is really playing havoc with my hands. Think severe carpet burn on every finger tip as this indestructible fibre saws over them. As a consequence, any design fees not spent on random yarn addiction purchases, is spent on sticking plasters and Physio bills. Running is looking safer by the minute!
I post pictures of most of my knitted designs on social media. I say most, because I like to maintain some illusion of competence. So, I post pictures of quite elaborate looking Fairisle or complicated lace. In truth though, I could fill an entire gallery with photos of cock ups. Not errors in aforementioned elaborate Fairisle and complicated lace. No, in recent weeks I have managed the following; On a garter stitch shawl I’m designing with 3 colours of stripes in the same order on a grey background, I got the second set of stripes in the wrong order. I have also been doing some patterns for beginner Knits for Indie dyers – mitts patterns so simple I actually said out loud, ‘I can’t believe anyone would need a pattern for these’ just before making fundamental mistakes to the second mitt of each.
I could continue. Endlessly. My punishment is the humiliating task of re-knitting a pattern that I designed to be bomb-proof for the most inept of inept knitters.
This is the garter stitch shawl on which I got the stripes wrong. They have been corrected and I am continuing with it.
Ruth Dorrington 