Sunday, June 24, 2018

Knitting

I'll be making my annual trip north next week, and not a moment to soon. The prospect of being somewhere where a cool breeze is a given, and where World Cup enthusiasm is at a minimum (the majority of the neighbours are sheep, they have other things to think about) sounds like heaven. As today has been a hot day, and England won their game, there's a considerable crowd of more or less drunk topless men between here and Marks & Spencer's.

For the most part that has meant a procession of startlingly white beer guts wobbling down the street ahead of owners getting steadily redder in the face and across their backs. I'm not sure what will be worse for them tomorrow - the sunburn or the hangovers. I doubt they'll learn much from either.

I've learnt to stay inside as much as possible post match, so have finally made the tassels for my Kep's. I've been putting this off for months assuming for some reason that it would be a fiddly, difficult job. Obviously it isn't, so I at least have learnt something useful today. One kep is for my brother, who I think might wear it (I've seen him wear odder things) the other one for Dad, who when he saw a picture of the one I'd done for Peter, said he'd like one too.

I will admit this seems unlikely to me, he's been decidedly unenthusiastic about the offer of scarfs or cowls, and a kep is quite a sartorial statement, but I made him one anyway. They're fun to knit (apart from the ribbing under the brim, which is incredibly dull to knit), and I think the next one I make will be even longer.

The cowl in greys was to use up some lace weight yarn, and is sort of a swatch to practice stripes. It's soft, lightweight, and inoffensive and a lace pattern that I love, but the greys don't work brilliantly together, and I need to think more about how I put the shades together. Dissatisfactions aside I find these really useful, and I'm basically pleased with this one.

The current cowl on the needles is intended for someone else, but I might end up keeping it because the row of green triangles has been a mistake. They disappear into the grey in a really annoying way. A swatch would have shown me this, but they were an unhappy inspiration in what was originally going to be a two tone thing. I only realised how unhappy after knitting enough more not to want to rip it back. I'm wondering if putting in some more rows of green will make it better or worse.

6 comments:

  1. Lovely surprise to find knitting on a book blog! Maybe I'll post some of my finished items! I love the keps - that's an unknown word for us Yanks. Is it a specific type of hat? Dialect? I see what you mean about the cowl. Not enough contrast. TIP: Quilters look at fabric through a color evaluator or filter; everything looks grey, black, or white and you can check the contrast levels. If you take a picture of your intended yarns, and turn it B&W (most phone cameras do that)you get the same effect. Have a great holiday and HAPpy knitting!

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    1. A kep was a traditional fishermans hat. They seem to turn up all over the place so I'm not sure if it's origins. There is a Fair Isle fishermans kep page on Facebook that's worth joining just to see all the amazing hats people have knitted. The cowl was to use up some bits of yarn I had, it's the middle bit I'm unhappy with, swatching would help, and so will the black and white filter.

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  2. I commented last night (another Yank) about how much I liked your color choices (although gray and white wouldn't have been on my top ten list) -- duplicate the bottom section of the cowl for the top. It is subtle but attractive. I loved the hats with the darker one the hands down favorite. I admire anyone who can knit from charts, or from patterns. My dyslexia kicks in and my eyes glaze over when I check out the charts. Ginny Jones

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    1. I love greys! One of the things I'm finding most interesting about knitting is how colours and shades work together, and learning how to make them work together. I find charts much easier for lace, written instructions much harder to follow. The Fair Isle charts I like because I can always count where I am in a pattern and they're very visual. It's also really interesting to realise what foes and doesn't work for other people.

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  3. Beautiful knitting....I have yet to do fair isle. I can quite happily do stripes, etc but need to challenge myself.

    I too hate knitting rib - just had to finish a cardigan which had 30 rows of rib. It was knit sideways! Trouble is it is a lovely pattern and I know I will end up knitting it again.

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    1. Fair Isle is easier than you think it will be - the biggest challenge is getting the pattern to fit your stitch count the way you need it to. It's also really addictive! Ribbing is the dullest thing I've ever knitted - but it's not a long list so maybe I'll come to be grateful for it sometime.

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