Well, this is embarrassing...

...as Firefox always tells me when it can't connect me to my chosen website.

A couple of weeks ago, the SixtyMillionTrebles facebook group was discussing flipping and skewing. As in, when you're crocheting a granny square blanket or similar, do you go round and round forever in the same direction or do you get to the end of a round and then flip your work over so that you're crocheting back the other way? I must say this latter option sounded bizarre to me, but seemingly it stops the centre of your blanket from getting skewed. Oh, I said, airily, I don't flip, but I don't get skewed centres either. I wasn't smug exactly, but I was quietly confident. And then today, I finished this - my third Sixty Trebles blanket - and look at what we have: a skewed centre! Only in a minor way, but definitely skewed. That'll learn me.

So, there you are, an easy way to avoid getting skewed.

Getting a bit backendish

Well, it will be soon, and we all know knitted goodies don't just magically appear at the first sign of autumn - they have to be worked at for a little while beforehand. So, if you have your mug of hot chocolate/glass of Pinot at the ready, maybe you'd like to try this very simple autumn cowl idea. Not heavy enough for the snows of winter, but perfect when you just need a little extra warmth...

Basically, you make a 16 inch square and sew up the cast on and cast off edges. I suppose you could choose any lacy stitch pattern but I like to make every row: p2, then (yrn, p2tog) to end. See, couldn't be easier, could it? It's light and flops down alluringly. That's what I tell myself anyway. I like a good flop.

I put a row of buttons on my first one, originally intended for fastening it - the lacy holes make great buttonholes. But then I

 realised I didn't need them and sewed up the edges. Can't decide whether to leave them as decoration or to remove them.

Any yarn, any needle size, but I'd avoid superchunky... (The yarn I used is a bit thick and thin - that's not really rubbish knitting you're looking at!)

Three blankets and 60,000,000 trebles

Three blankets in various yarns, and at various stages of completeness, for the Sixty Million Trebles project. If you don't already know, the 60,000,000 trebles represent the number of refugees in the world, so it's an awareness raising project, and also a world record attempt. All the 36" blankets put together will make the biggest blanket ever (they hope!) ands will then be taken apart to make smaller blankets for charities/refugees

.

Here's the facebook group if you'd like to investigate further:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1012887892161823/

Grab a bargain...

Okay, I admit it: I love sock yarn. When we opened the shop I barely knew what a sock yarn mix was and had less intention of ever knitting socks - why ever would you knit your own socks ?? - than of climbing Everest or taking the advanced driving test.

But over time all that changed. From the beautifully dyed Araucania Ranco to the very soft, self-striping Crystal Palace Mini Mochi, I've tried virtually all the sock yarns we've ever stocked. And the newish Debbie Bliss Rialto Luxuy Sock is a bit special among them. And extra great, because it's not over-expensive either. RRP is £9.95, but on the website for just one week (till Mon 22nd) we're offering it at £8.00. So far we've only had four colours delivered,
with more on the way. But they're four winners. Take a look if you'd like to.

Fair isle

I don't do much fair isle these days, but I do still love a colourful, but tastefully understated, jumper in muted shades, maybe with just a touch of patterning rather than completely covered in it. A yoke or a little around the cuffs maybe - enough to say: Doesn't this look fab? or possibly: See, I could do more of this if I wanted, I just don't choose to.

This is an all over pattern of course - I must have had more time in those days - and, I'm guessing, from circa 1974. I used to wear it with Levi 501s and think I looked the bees knees.

I found it by chance in the Fancy Dress Party Possibilities box under the bed.

PS If this is stranded colourwork rather than fair isle, please don't let me know. I'm okay with getting them mixed up.

An eight hour jumper?

I'm having a bet with myself that I can knit this jumper in eight hours. What do you think? It's short; it's simple; it's superchunky on 10mm needles...is it doable? Well, whatever - it's a lovely Debbie Bliss Paloma pattern  from the Winter Brights booklet. If you need a new jumper for your trip to the Arctic next weekend this might be just the one to make.

All change!

Well, that's been a busy few days. Our Old Bank shop is now officially closed and the rooms are empty. Strange how spacious rooms look without furniture. Our house, meanwhile, looks swamped by the influx of desks, tables, shelves and what feels like several tons of yarn. We're currently filling online orders while not being entirely sure where anything is - even the pens and sellotape seem to be hiding away and my trusty shoulder bag disappeared for about a week, which was a bit of a worry...

Anyway, enough rambling! Saturday the 4th June - that's this weekend - will be the first time we'll be selling our wool from the foyer table in The Old Bank. We'll have limited ability to transport stock so please let us know if there's something in particular you'd like to see. We will definitely be bringing along the Cygnet Grousemoor Chunky which will be the day's special offer at £1.95 for a 100g ball (25% wool) and we'll also have with us our new line the Wendy Merino, a soft and lovely 100% merino 4 ply, which will be £3.75 for a 50g ball (rrp £4.10).

Would be great to see you!

What happened to April?

Sorry, it's been so, so long - like a short, late winter/early spring hibernation, but here we are again with some new plans and up to date info...

Firstly, we can't go back to the Piece Hall - there are currently brief notes on the situation on three posters in our Old Bank shop window. We've been well and truly stitched up, but we don't want to dwell on that anymore. Onward and upward!

Our lease at The Old Bank is coming to an end, so we've closed the bricks and mortar shop. Serendipity and Maria's Stamps are still operating from the building, but our section at the back was so cold and so devoid of adequate wool-shop-type light, that we decided to call it a day. When we moved in we were imagining it as a place to just keep the business ticking over till our return to the Piece Hall and, with that boat having sailed, we decided to go in a different direction.

Tomorrow, 7th May, we're having a big sale in the foyer - there's only so much wool I can stuff into our spare bedroom - the Debbie Bliss Riva, Paloma, Rialtos and Cashmerino Aran will be in there amongst lots of other great yarns. We sorted out most of it today and had to draw a halt as we were running out of containers. Do come along if you can - I promise it'll be worth your while. Oh, and there's a Prize Draw for a full 500g pack of beautiful pale blue Sierra Andina 100% alpaca - £1.00 a go and the prize is worth over £60. Prize draw proceeds will go to The Mayfield Trust.

And this is the thing: we'll be having a table in the foyer of the Old Bank the first Saturday of each month for the foreseeable future. If there's something you'd especially like me to bring down one Saturday just let me know and I'll do my best. And every month we'll try to have an especially good bargain or two just for that day.

And, we'll be keeping the website going and re-vamping the stock, getting in some new lines, getting rid of some yarns that have gone stale on us and adding some extra bargains to the clearance section.

I did float the idea on facebook of selling wool by party plan locally without too much response, so I'm going to wait and re-suggest that nearer peak wool-buying time when it gets colder again and see if anyone fancies it - I think it could be fun. Not that I'm good with fun, you understand.

So, that's about it for now. Just need to work out now if I've forgotten anything for tomorrow...

Everybody's Knitting

Every so often someone will bring into the shop a lovely, old book on knitting, usually something A4 and wonderful featuring intricate shawls and fair isle patterns and assorted ganseys. Proper, serious knitting. It's probably symbolic of something or other that whenever these lovely books turn up, my thoughts turn to this little Penguin Handbook from 1977  which makes knitting seem like the most carefree, fun thing in the world. I'm not saying there's a lot in there that I'd want to make, and probably nothing at all that I'd atually wear, but just looking at the pictures gladdens the heart.

From my point of view, apart from the brightly coloured tank tops and swimming costumes - it's very much of its time - it endorses the idea of the backstitch as a good way to make a seam, (which alone would make me love it) and it has instructions like: 'If you know how, double crochet an edge round the neck and armholes, but it's not really necessary.' That so works with my 'it'll do' grain. It's a joyous little book filled with smiling faces and floppy hats and a knitting-makes-you-happy kind of vibe.

If you think knitting should be fun and that there's room in the world for very many drop-shouldered, patterned jumpers with multiple motifs and very little shaping, see if you can get hold of a copy. Amazon has secondhand copies from 43pence (or, if you're very particular and/or very rich, new ones from £999.10).

I've been indulging in a little upcycling, using a double duvet set from Oxfam. It would've been more impressive, of course, if I'd searched our cupboards and drawers for a threadbare sheet of our own to re-purpose, but searching the airing cupboard requires the stepladder and a casual attitude towards the idea of spiders scampering across your hands. Besides, Oxfam was just across the road.
Anyway, this is the result:

I'm not sure I'll use it a lot, but I wanted to try out the technique. And it's kind of rustic, which I like.
As a fabric knitting virgin I was thinking that 10mm needles and old strips of material had to result in a quick knit, right? Well, not really, because cutting up the material into strips takes forever.

Do you want to have a go? Brief instructions below - I winged it, so adjust as you choose...

Starting at one end, cut strips about an inch wide almost to the other end of the fabric, right the way along that side, until you have something that would look like a giant grass skirt if it was green and you held it round your waist.
Now start at the other end and cut down the middle of all those strips, again stopping just short of the far end of the piece of material. When you've finishing all your cutting, you should have a continuous length of fabric yarn. There'll be double width sections at the ends of the strips but don't worry about those - when it comes to knitting them you can either fold them down to minimise the effect of them or you can, like me, just regard them as part of the finished product's charm.
With 10mm needles cast on 25 stitches loosely and knit a garter stitch rectangle that would be bag size if you folded it in two, then knit just the middle seven stitches for a few rows to make a strip for the buttonhole to go in. Make your buttonhole, work another two or three rows and cast off loosely.

Fold your bag in half and sew up the side edges. I used a double thickness of double knitting wool and an over stitch with the wrong sides together - very rough and ready, but it works fine for this.
I added a shoulder strap by casting on 4 stitches from each side and then, when they were sufficiently long to make a decent strap, I casted off both sets of live stitches together. I thought it might be difficult to do a three needle cast off with this size of stitch so I just rearranged the eight stitches from the two needles alternately on one needle and cast them off in turn.
Add a toggle and c'est complet!

A few pointers if you're thinking of having a go...
There'll be a lot of shedding from the frayed edges of your cut material - just be aware. I did a lot of sweeping up.
Cast on and off loosely. In fact, knit loosely too.
If you choose a duvet cover or a sheet with a striped or checked pattern, you'll find it much easier to cut your strips.
I think I used approximately  450g yarn altogether.
You need to choose thin material - don't go for good quality upholstery fabric or the like - you'll regret it.

So, good luck. I'd love to see/hear how you got on.

So, I've finally finished these socks, in lovely Sausalito, that I've been knitting for over a year. Finishing them off didn't actually take too long, despite the fact that I took a good thirteen months over the first half of the first sock; I think sometimes I build them up into being such a big job on such tiny needles with such fine wool that I end up over-faced. Anyway, I finally got a grip and, though every pair of socks I've ever knitted has been scrappy, scrappy, scrappy, they're no worse than my usual standard! I really enjoyed using the tiny circular needle in the end and can see me using that for all my sock knitting in future.

And just to make sure I don't get over-faced next time too, I immediately casted on new stitches for another pair, this time using lovely Debbie Bliss Rialto sock yarn, which I'm trying out on your behalf before I decide whether to stock it in the shop. One of those tough jobs that someone's got to do. Gorgeous colours, huh?

Think I might be in need of a break...

This is what I did last night: typed up a poster listing the Christmas and New Year opening hours of all four shops in the Old Bank; stuck a post-it note to it indicating what needed doing to finish it off; stuck it in my going home bag; laminated it at home WITH THE POST-IT NOTE STILL ATTACHED. Don't tell me that isn't the sign of someone who should be closely supervised for their own safety.

Anyway, in case you have a knittery need or emergency (bread sauce on your sock yarn - that kind of thing...) over the holiday period, we'll be open 10-4.30 on the 29th and 30th Dec, and then 10-3.30 on the 31st. Open normal hours from the 2nd Jan which is, in any case, our regular monthly Saturday.

Hope you all have a great Christmas and New Year and that we'll see you, flaunting many lovely new knitteds, after the break.

Getting things in some sort of order...

I love baskets, but I gave up on putting my many WIPs into baskets because they take up too much space. And then I started piling old carriers, filled with more and more woolly projects, on top of the whole shebang and it really wasn't pretty. Well, to be honest, it was unsightly. Unsightly, I tell you.

So, we took home the coat stand that we used to have in the shop and we filled its hooks with a variety of bags, each containing a separate WIP. Sorted. And not visually offensive. I think I love a solution to a messy storage problem more than almost anything.

And these are what I have in progress just at the moment. Of course, these are just the ones at home; there are several more at work. Maybe I should get another coat stand for those.

The red at the side is a cushion cover I'm making in mohair boucle. I'm finding it a bit tricky to knit with on this scale, but very forgiving of mistakes and a lovely colour. On top of it lies part of an attempted vintage bootee - I'd like to decipher the rest of the very old and brief (cursory even) pattern sometime before I retire. (I'm guessing I now have to pick up stitches all around and work up towards the toe end, but nothing in the pattern suggests that's the case. Confused of Halifax needs help.) Then comes the cream 4 ply One Row Lace Scarf - nice, little, free pattern on ravelry; the socks in Sausalito that I've been knitting for more than twelve months and which I'd like to wear on Christmas Day; a pair of 4ply wristwarmers which were going to be a shop sample but I took too long finishing them so now - oh dear! - I'll have to keep them myself; a chunky green cowl in Cygnet Seriously Chunky and one of many squares for a charity blanket.

So, seven items at home and probably the same number at the shop. Seems reasonable to me. Certainly explains why I struggle to get on the same wavelength as those customers who can't plan another project before they've finished the last one...

 

 

 

T'internet...

This is part umpteen of my occasional, slightly self-indulgent, look-at-these-prices series:

We're concentrating on an internet giant with the initials WW today, as Big D's seems to have fallen out of favour with many. Here goes:

Debbie Bliss Paloma: WW £6.29/TBF £5.95

Debbie Bliss Rialto 4ply: WW £4.99/TBF £4.50

Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran: WW £4.99/TBF £4.50

Patons 100% Cotton 4 ply: WW £4.99/TBF £4.50

Patons 100% Cotton DK: WW £4.99/TBF £4.50

There are a couple of other yarns where the difference is negligible, and there's one yarn where this particular big boy site is maybe 25pence a ball cheaper. But overall, it's worth looking into your local wool shop - whether that's Three Bags Full or a different little shop - or shopping with the smaller sites, not just for good prices but also for fab, friendly, speedy service.

Okay, I won't mention pricing - or rather, people's perceptions about pricing - again for...oh, at least a day or so.

The Piece Hall - what we don't know

Mini rant...

Every day customers ask whether Three Bags Full will be returning to The Piece Hall when the refurbishment is complete. The truthful answer is that we don't know, but the signs are that TPTB don't want us back. Mainly I'm assuming this from the fact that there has been virtually no communication from the people in charge of the refurb, or from the council, regarding the position of former tenants. No updates on the particular units we'd had allotted to us. In fact, no sign that those unofficial allocations will be honoured. They weren't confirmed in writing, but we were all asked what square footage we'd like and where we'd like our shops to be situated. There was no special tour arranged for former tenants; in contrast, I think all the recent tours were arranged during times when you'd expect little specialist shops like ours to be open and therefore the shop owners  - well, Mike and I certainly - were unable to attend. The obligation - which is in writing - for former tenants to be offered a unit in the refurbished Piece Hall, appears not to have been shared with the people who are arranging the new lets. Indeed, while we all spent many hours in meetings about this, and while the offer of a unit in the revamped building was very important at the time to all of us, it's now clear that it wasn't actually important to anyone on the other side of the table. How could the council not tell those letting the units that we have a prior claim? Did those hours of meetings count for so little?

It's now mid-October and the building should be ready for occupation by next summer. We don't know whether it's on track. We don't know how many retail units will be available. We don't know whether they'll be ground floor or first floor. We don't know how the trustees will square the need to make money from the building with the needs of retail customers (the disastrous Food and Drink Festival of a few years ago springs to mind regarding conflicting needs). We don't know what the terms and conditions for tenancy will be, nor the projected length of tenancy, nor the possible service charge, nor...well, anything else really. Because those in charge aren't communicating with us. Emails to relevant people go unanswered. To his credit, Cllr Tim Swift does answer emails but in July he said we'd all be contacted by the team 'in the near future'. Well, we're almost in the run up to Christmas and there's been no word. No communication; no courtesy; no interest.

Our tenancy at The Old Bank finishes at the end of May next year, so I need to be making some decisions. I don't know what any of the other former PH shop owners want - I suspect several have done better outside the Piece Hall than in, and that they're glad to be free of council control - but the refurb team should at least show a little thought for those of us who were willing to believe the council was acting in good faith two years ago and who would like to possibly take up the option of a return.

Here's another one

Again, really simple! I made this because there weren't initially (or ever?) any small projects for the gorgeous Debbie Bliss Paloma yarn and local people were baulking at the idea of paying £130 to knit themselves a cardigan (Can't think why...!) So here's my own small project Paloma idea. The red one I made was more attractive, but I can't find it right now to photograph it.

Three Button Cowl

A really simple but appealing cowl that can be worn long and loose or wound twice round the neck for extra warmth.

Materials

Four hanks Debbie Bliss Paloma

One pair of 7.5mm needles

3 large buttons

Instructions:

Cast on 26 stitches

Row 1 k3 *p2, k2* rpt to last 3 stitches, p2, k1

Row 2 k3 *p2, k2* to last 3 sts, p2 k1

Row 3 k1, *p2, k2* to last st, k1

Row 4 k1, *p2, k2* to last st, k1

These four rows form pattern. Rpt pattern rows until cowl measures approx. 45”

Change to k2, p2 rib: and work the following two rows, three times:

Row 1, k2, *p2, k2* to end

Row 2 k1, p1, k2,* p2, k2* to last 2 sts, p1, k1

Buttonhole row 1: k2, p2, cast off 2, p1, k2, p2, cast off 2, p1, k2, p2, cast off 2, p1, k2

Buttonhole row 2: k1, p1, k2, cast on 2, k2, p2, k2, cast on 2, k2, p2, k2, cast on 2, k2, p1, k1

Next row: work stitches as presented, but work into back of cast on stitches.

Work one more row, then cast off, sew in end and sew on buttons to match buttonhole placings.

A little reminder also, that if you like the pattern and think it's worth a small donation to The Knock On Effect, my late niece's fundraising project for those affected by cancer, then please go to: http://theknockoneffect.bigcartel.com/

where you can scroll down to the donate button. But just if you'd like; there's no obligation.

The missing pattern! In very big print!

Okay, here it is (finally...):

Chunky two colour cowl

Knit in the round version

Materials

1 ball each of two contrasting colours in Adriafil Mistero chunky – I used shades 32 and 26

Circular needle 6.5mm x 40cm

Tension

17stitches and 21 rows to 4 inches – it’s not crucial to have it exact, but somewhere near would be good.

Abbreviations

a = main colour

b = contrast colour

Method

Using your main colour, loosely cast on 96 stitches.

Join your stitches into a round, making sure they aren’t twisted, and marking the start of the round with a coloured thread or stitch marker.

Work 6 rounds of k1, p1 rib, starting with a k1.

Then start working in pattern as follows:

Pattern round 1: (k3a, k1b) repeat to marker

Pattern round 2: (k1b, k1a, k2b) repeat to marker

Work 28 pattern rounds in total.

Break off contrast colour.

Work 5 rounds of k1, p1 rib, starting with a k1, in main colour, then cast off in rib. Break thread, remove marker and sew in ends.

I wear my cowl upside down as I think it looks better that way!

Knitted flat version

Materials

1 ball each of two contrasting colours of Cygnet Grousemoor Chunky – I used shades 194 and 288

Pair straight needles 5.5mm

Abbreviations

a = main colour

b = contrast colour

Tension

16 stitches and 19 rows to 4 inches – it’s not crucial to have it exact but somewhere near would be good.

Method

Using main colour, loosely cast on 97 stitches, and work 6 rows of k1, p1 rib in main colour.

Then work 2-colour pattern as follows:
Pattern row 1: k2a, k1b, *k3a, k1b, rpt from * to last 2 sts, k2a
Pattern row 2: k1a, * p3b, p1a, rpt from * to last 4 sts, p3b, k1a
Repeat these two rows until 28 rows have been worked. Break off colour b.

Work 5 rows of k1, p1 rib in main colour.

Cast off loosely in rib.
With right sides together sew side seam using a simple overstitch.
Sew in ends.

Ravelry and the Chunky Two Colour Cowl

If I've established one thing today it's that I can't successfully navigate the many twists, turns, dead ends and other complications which make up the maze of the ravelry designer's account. I somehow ended up with two accounts. I don't know how, but I'm willing to accept it was probably an error on my part. My pattern wasn't connected to either of them. Then it became connected and a period of comparative peace ensued. Then it wasn't again and havoc ensued. By the time I'd answered a lot of questions from ravellers kindly trying to help me, and realised how little I could picture the shape of the site, a migraine was hovering. (Give me a flowchart or a site map or something! Just something so i can see how all the pages are connected for myself. Otherwise it's like doing a jigsaw without the picture on the lid.)

And it's like tatting: everything's fine while you're doing okay but, the minute you go wrong, there's no easy route back. Or no route at all. I was clicking on the same button at different times and being taken to different pages; how can that be? How can the site one time offer me a choice of my shop account or my designer account and then, another time, offer me my shop account or a different designer account. How?

Are you still there? Okay, this is the pattern that was on ravelry. I posted it saying it was free but if anyone liked it and wanted to donate a small amount to my late niece's fundraising project for cancer charities, The Knock On Effect, that would be fab. That still stands.

I'll upload it here as soon as I've had my lie down in a darkened room. And then another simple one straight after, just because I said I would.