Summer Scarves and Socks

I was trying to make an effort to post more frequently again, but time just seems to fly by.

Nearly 2 weeks in Malta for scrabble last month unsuccessfully defending my Malta Open and European Open titles - I came third and second respectively, so not a total disaster. (Unlike my BEST match on Saturday).

Visitors when I got back over the long weekend of the Jim Clark rally. We were very lucky with the weather for a change - glorious sunshine so everyone was outside in the garden rather than crammed in to the sun room for the barbecue. This may have been the last rally after the unfortunate turn of events.

Garden needed some TLC and still does, but it has actually been too hot the last few days!

And knitting...

I took the new scarf design I was working on to Malta but very little progress was made. Too tired when we got back from playing, and the two days off we had were easily filled with other activities.

But I knuckled back down when I got home and completed version 1 (Iolair-iasgaich - osprey):

and immediately started on version 2 (Iolaire - eagle) - thinner and longer with different placements of the cables and lace:

I wrote the second version up first as it was the easier of the two, and the charted instructions are currently being tested. A little disappointed that I have had no takers for the written instructions - lots of 'love' on the post. Maybe it is the time of year - school holidays, hot weather...

I finished writing up the other one yesterday. For something that was so easy to design and knit, it was amazingly difficult to write up the pattern! I am now torn about putting it in for testing at the moment because of the lack of testers for version 1.

And now I am back to socks...

Started working on the prototype of my third variant of stripes to use up left overs. I am still trying to come up with a name... currently Stripes - The Final Frontier. If I come up with a fourth stripes variant they would have to be Never Say Never Again...

How to Waste A Day

I published Its Stripes, Jim on Saturday evening.

Posted my new design in the designer forums I am in.

And then looked on my designer page. I had a few favourite hearts already.

It must have been a slow time for other people publishing as my pattern thumbprint stayed on the front page of the Pattern tab for quite a while.

On Sunday morning I logged in. More hearts :)

It was on the front page of the 'Hot right now' patterns!

And then I spent the rest of the day checking... and checking my User Activity... And rechecking the pattern pages... I got up to position 24.

I must admit to being a little sad when it was higher up than the cutest knitapotamus you could ever wish for.

It has now slipped back into obscurity, but it was good while it lasted :)

Curb Your Enthusiasm

I can't help myself. I have no patience.

I finished my latest pair of socks, really excited and happy with them, but it was raining so I could not get any good photographs. But I post my finished project with bad photos taken indoors in poor light anyway.

And two people ask if I am going to be wanting the pattern to be tested within a few minutes of sharing my project.

And I really do want to get a test set up sooner rather than later.  So I use those photos and finish writing up the pattern and start a test...

It is now sunny but Paul is away until Tuesday...

So I have been outside contorting myself to try to get some better photos that don't include my shadow of holding the camera. And don't show a gap of white leg between my pulled up jeans and the top of the sock. And avoid the bird poo on the patio wall. And don't have a shrub growing out of my feet. I took about thirty and got three that are not too bad...

It is lucky we don't have neighbours nearby :)

Elliptic Cowl

My test for It's Stripes, Jim is drawing to a close. The test was actually for completing a single right-to-left striped sock, but five out of six testers like the pattern enough to make a pair (and the sixth implied that a pair will be made once she has completed another test but not before my deadline). This makes me happy :) The general opinion so far is that it is a fun knit - enough going on to not be boring and not difficult.

I have a second test running for a quick knit cowl in bulky yarn. I came up with the design after scanning the database for something to use up some araucania copihue yarn I had bought in 2011 and couldn't find what I had in mind. I wanted a cowl that was fitted to my neck and also covered my shoulders.

I wanted some texture so played around with spiralling ribs for the neck. Some research into determining the circumference of ellipses to work out the increases required to get the collar shape I wanted for my stitch and row gauge. Short rows with increases to build the ellipse shape either side after the neck, and then back to spiralling ribs with increases to keep the ellipse shape and get to  the required finished size.


I liked it - in fact I kept it on for the whole day as it was quite chilly here - but could see a couple of improvements that I could make. No problem, it used just under two skeins and I still had another four... so I made another one with the changes :)

Back to the Garden

Spurred on by some good 'gardening' weather - warm, dry and not blowing a gale - I have made good progress in getting parts of the garden under control.

I started with the veggie patch - and have hopefully got out all the remaining potatoes, some of which were still edible!

Two of my three rhubarb plants are thriving, and the eagle-eyed will spot a few leeks that I have excavated around.

I then moved on to the long bank extension. I am really pleased with how the new bit is doing. The bulbs I put in have given a splash of colour. The day lilies have put on strong growth, and a week on I can see the irises are coming through. The rather sad looking heucheras that I split are now also putting on strong growth and hopefully I will have a nice zig-zag of interesting foliage later in the year. Even the tiny bits of veronica that I popped in more from hope than expectation are doing well - one is even flowering.

I then moved on to the fruit tree bed - two days and I have cleared the carpet of weeds. I rescued a very pretty pansy that was flowering gamely in amongst them and given it a new home. I really wanted to get this done as the ground is very dry and we were promised rain, so I wanted the trees to get the water rather than the weeds. I also got another bag's worth of potatoes out...

A few days ago I also weeded the herb patch, and have got the first raised planter back under control. Unlike the rest of the garden the planters are quite damp and muddy, being north facing alongside the high wall.

My packet of parsley seed said that parsley can be difficult to germinate - I don't think this is true. As well as all the baby plants in the herb patch I have it growing in the path, three very large healthy plants in the corner of the fruit tree bed and one has made it across the lawn to the planter above...

We eventually got the much needed steady rain yesterday.

What's In a Name?

I am finding naming my patterns is quite a difficult thing.

You want something fairly unique or descriptive.

For my Helagon scarf/wrap this came out of a FB plea for whether or not there was a proper (and preferably single word) name for a 6-sided 2-D shape with 3 pairs of parallel but unequal length sides. The answer appeared to be no. So I came up with Helagon as Helen's hexagon. The design changed but the name stuck...

For my ribbed/cabled socks the name Boing Boing seemed to obvious to me - they were knit in a yarn colour called Fruehling that means Spring and the socks are springy...

For my latest socks I called my own project (Tyger Tyger) Burning Bright but that would not be a good name for the pattern unless everyone wanted to make them in bright orange!

They feature stripes using an idea I first used in some socks back in 2012, but at that time I hadn't come up with a good method of making the stripes move right to left so I never published the design. However, I decided to revisit them and analysed why they were problematical. And in these socks - It's Stripes, Jim (but not as we know them) - I hope I have overcome the problem. They are currently being tested so I should find out if the solution I came up with is worth pursuing...

Helagon

There is one week left until my Helagon scarf/wrap design test finishes.

I have been very lucky in getting a tester for each length for both weight yarns being tested.

 I am really enjoying seeing all the progress photographs.

Some beautiful scarves are being made in wonderful colour combinations. Red seems popular - red and black, red and white, and red and grey, and they all look stunning. Two different shades of blue and a blue and green. White is also popular, being combined with blue, purple and black as well as the aforementioned red. Finally a blue with a contrasting red/orange variegated yarn with small sections of blue to 'join' the two together.

I have had several comments on how fun this pattern is :)

I think my one tester who was having problems with the changing of yarn colour has now "got it". A bit of a language barrier, but I have several German testers and I think between us we managed to explain what to do.

So far only one error has been found but I have re-written a couple of sections for clarity after comments from my testers and done a few other tweaks.

Once the content is finalised (hopefully no more changes) I still need to convert it into my template.

And I want to get some more photographs of the longer version when it isn't blowing a gale.

I asked for advice on the Designers forum on whether to put a collage photograph as my pattern 'hero' shot to show the different ways it can be worn but the overwhelming response was to use the above photograph.

More Love for My Old Sock Patterns

After releasing my "for sale" pattern I noticed that my other two socks patterns have had some renewed interest.

They are really cute sock patterns and deserve some more love. Both from me and knitters...

So I have put in quite a lot of time and effort in getting them into my new layout and adding more sizing options/information.

I got my Xmas Tree Socks pattern updated yesterday:

Not only have I updated the style but I have included instructions for other stitch counts (widths) and row counts (foot/leg length), and updated the gusset/heel instructions for the different stitch counts.

And have just finished updating my Interlock Socks pattern:

This one I have found harder to do. I don't want to be too prescriptive - the design will work with any sensible stitch count that is a multiple of four. I have provided the finished foot lengths for 3 different row gauges if worked exactly as it is written and leave it up to the knitter to add extra rows if needed for their row gauge in either the main colour rows or the pattern chart rows. When the pattern was originally tested back in 2012 this did not seem to be a problem for my testers - socks were made in UK shoe sizes 4-8 and 60/64/68/72 stitch counts, toe up and cuff down without any issues in a wonderful mix of colours and yarns.

Taking the Designing Plunge

I like designing many of my own patterns. And if I like the end result other people may too.

I have published a couple of free sock patterns on Ravelry already. It is hard to tell how many people have actually made them as not everybody makes a project page but of those that do I have hit double figures. The patterns have been downloaded an order of magnitude times more.

And one group actually picked my Xmas Trees pattern for their KAL at the end of last year.

But if I want to do this more seriously I need to do things properly. I joined the Designers, Budding Designers and the Ravelry Shopkeepers groups and started reading a lot of invaluable advice.

So for my first "pay for" sock pattern, Boing Boing socks, I went through the following steps:

1. Write up the pattern
2. Take photographs
3. Put in a testing request to the Free Pattern Testers group
4. Monitor and respond to the testing thread
5. Make any required corrections/clarifications to the pattern
6. Take better photographs!
Photographing your own feet is not easy. I now drafted in Paul to get some much better photographs outside in natural light. Out of about two dozen I got four I liked!
7. Got it tech edited.
Paul performed this task admirably. He knows nothing about knitting, but give him a document and he is in his element ensuring consistency in layout and style!

And now all the prep has been done it is time to actually take the step over the precipice...

8. Add the pattern to the Ravelry database
9. Link the pattern to your store
10. Activate!

And very importantly, send your pattern as a gift to your testers so they can add it to their library and link their projects.

Advertising and promotion are another matter that I may need to get into at a later date. Maybe when I have a decent portfolio of patterns.

Things I will do differently going forward:
Get good photographs at the outset! The better it looks the more likely you will attract testers.
Create a template from this pattern for follow on patterns so that they all have the same look and feel.

Long Bank Extension Epic

I started creating the long bank extension at the start of September 2008. This is what it looked like a couple of days in...

One year on...

Two years on...

Three years on...

And then I did my shoulder in. No progress at all in 2012... And this was left to do...

So after spraying with weed killer yet again in July (and missing one section in the middle of it) come August I started work. I hadn't wanted to do all of it in one go but having missed a year I just went for it.

Nine days work to do the first pass of stones and weeds removal:

Oh, and one ant's nest in the middle which I sprayed and another at the top/path which I left well alone. And the day when the flying ants erupted from that one and were crawling all over the top before flying off haphazardly in all directions.

And did I mention the slates. It was bad enough finding them buried all over the bank - put your spade in and it comes to a full stop so then trowel to determine where it is to get it out, but when I thought I was almost finished I found the mother load buried about 4 inches under the surface about a foot in from where I wanted the edge to be. That cost me an extra day's work...

They stretched from the red hot pokers for a good yard and a half, several deep and were 'flaky'. I don't know how far in they go as I stopped excavating (very carefully - the small shards are as vicious as glass) when I had gone far enough for the garden.

I also dug out three wooden posts, numerous nails especially amongst the above slates and the ubiquitous farmer's nylon rope (orange and blue).

And then I started the second pass. Dig it all over again with a spade and get the rocks in place for my stepping stones. Another five days work. Paul helped getting the very heavy rocks in, and a further four rocks were provided by Allan (in addition to four donated a couple of years ago) to let me complete it just under 5 years on from when I very first started. And Jean still thinks I'm mad...

I had a couple of days off (well, getting nettles out of the high bank) but the last week I have been weeding the rest of the LBE (still not finished) and populating my new section. Other than bulbs and one shrub (a choisya from Morrison's) everything has been transplanted or divided from plants in the rest of the LBE.

I have reclaimed the path stretching the length of the LBE - this involved a lot of digging out of pulmonarias - and to think I started with one that hitch-hiked in a pot from Sandhurst.

And near the end of the path I noticed that the hibiscus that Maureen gave me as a seedling from her hibiscus that was a seedling from my mother's hibiscus is going to flower for the first time!

Far East Adventures - Part 1 - Penang

Things did not go well in Penang... or Bangkok.

Firstly my case never made it to Bangkok. The flight was already late arriving and having to wait until the baggage carousel said that was it, no more baggage coming out, and then having to queue along with another half a dozen people to fill in the paperwork (not helped by not having the full address and they wouldn't phone Gerry to get it) left me feeling completely frazzled. I found the metered taxi rank and finally was on my way to Gerry's. I felt a lot happier when I recognised a few of the landmarks - most notably the elephant building which meant I was almost there. An hour and a half later than expected and I arrived.

Jane phoned the airport in the morning to give them the full address and baggage expected time of arrival kept coming and then going. Eventually at about 4.30 pm men arrived with a case - not mine. They then returned with another case - jackpot!

I had a few days to recover before the 5 am start on our drive to Penang to ensure we cleared Bangkok before rush hour(s). I would like to say that this was an amazing experience, but I hadn't appreciated how flat Thailand is so it was not great sightseeing! There are occasional standalone 'mountains' (too big to really be called hills) that are very dramatic in appearance with their almost sheer sides. A few have temples on top, and one had an enormous Buddha - I cannot imagine how it got there!

Anyway, back to the journey. Firstly miles and miles of salt farms. And that was replaced my hundreds of miles of coconut plantations. And it started to rain in the afternoon and kept going, other than a break of about 10 minutes. That was very unfortunate. Having been driving relatively slowly the traffic speeded up. And then came to a halt. As we slowly moved on around a corner there was a lorry upside down against the large concrete barrier protecting the road from a large drop. The cab was completely flattened... We only saw one other accident, a car overturned in the 'central reservation' (this is mainly a double tree-lined area with a drainage ditch in the middle that runs almost completely the length of the road to Malaysia except in the towns) but no-one looked hurt. However, I had given up counting the number of dead dogs at the outskirts of the towns we passed through.

We had many short breaks for food, a quick ciggie for me, and the necessary. I will just say that the service areas do not have Western lavatories...

Getting across the border was relatively pain free. I was a little wary when Gerry told me he didn't have a license to drive in Malaysia just before we reached the border and I had visions of us being turned back! I was dropped off at my hotel a couple of hours later. In total 1150 km that took us about 15 and a half hours.

The next day was free to recover.

I will skip over the scrabble itself. Suffice it to say that a year off from serious studying combined with some pretty dreadful tiles at times is not a formula for success. But I did have a good time. The Aussies were on the executive floor of the hotel and I got invited to join them for free drinks and nibbles at happy hour on several occasions :)

We set off for home after the prize-giving.

A scary moment as we neared the border. There was a road block across half the road. We slowed but there was no sign of anyone - until after we went through. Suddenly there was a police or army guy waving and blowing a whistle at us. Gerry reversed back, and now there were three of them. The one in charge was shouting at us - didn't we know we had to stop. Well, um, no. We had gone through really fast. Well, um, no. They checked our passports and made Gerry get out and open the boot. We were praying they didn't ask for a driving license... After a few minutes they let us go. Very relieved when we got over the border...

We stopped overnight (well just before midnight by the time Gerry found the hotel he had decided upon). I zapped my way up and down the TV channels trying to find the Wimbledon final - Jane had said she thought it would be on a terrestrial channel - but to no avail. I gave up and tried to sleep - replaced rock (pillow) with a towel and got a few hours. Got up about 7 am and went to breakfast. This was an experience. There appeared to be four coachloads of people staying there, all colour coded. Purples, Blues, Pinks and Yellows. It was a buffet breakfast, fully lined by 'uniformed' tourists. I had been a little concerned on the food front but needn't have worried - I spotted fried eggs, bread and toaster, marmalade, hot water urn and jars of coffee powder. I could have got a job - I appeared to be the only person who knew how to use a toaster! People were putting bread in it, and then removing it again 30 seconds later without pressing the handles down. No sign of Gerry though. I went back for seconds. Still no sign of Gerry, so I went back to my room to collect my bag and checkout. It was getting close to the time Gerry had said he wanted to leave by so I got the desk to phone his room - he was ready to go. And I got given the news of Murray's victory as we got in the car :)

No more incidents on the way back to Bangkok, and we managed to avoid rain most of the way. The last game of the final was being repeated on the TV as we stepped in the door.

Is This Really June?

I think we are a month behind. But we are catching up quickly. It feels as if we have had more nice days so far this month than we had in the whole of last summer!

I contemplated calling this post White Is The Colour...

Not only is the may just coming in to its full glory but the crab apple over the road is dripping with blossom...

And there is the smell of wild garlic in the air...

And when I haven't been playing scrabble I have been busy in the garden.

Veggie seeds sown. So far the only signs of this are two cabbage seedlings.

The high bank has been attacked. I was trying to work out how long it had been neglected. As I normally only venture up there in the spring and autumn and last year I never made it due to weather and my frozen shoulder it was at least 21 months, and possibly nearer 26... And it showed...

The nettles weren't quite as bad as when first we moved up here, but were still about 4 foot high. Two days to pull most of them out and another couple of hours digging out roots. I took the opportunity to then do some planting. Autumn crocuses dug out, split and replanted - still have a couple of dozen left over. Two rhododendrons and a Japanese maple that had survived in their original pots for several years waiting for a home. I also dug up and divided some primroses from the LBE, three dark geraniums self-seeded in the drive and half a dozen geranium Johnson's blue also from the LBE. If they don't survive the trauma I will try again in the autumn.

Today I started with spraying the end of the LBE that is still waiting to be done. Maybe this is the year... Luckily the mice had chewed through the Clinic Ace plastic container half an inch up the side so I still had some left! I also made up a small batch in a jam jar and went out with a paint brush to attack some of the large deep rooted weeds that are impossible to dig out of the long bank. This will be an ongoing campaign.

And then on to the long bank in earnest. Paul had started clearing buttercups but soon got bored after a couple of barrow loads. I got him to make a start on the brambles while I followed up where Paul had started, going deeper into the bank and under the shrubs. I got another three sack loads out (mainly buttercups but also nettles and other weeds) before calling it a day.

Done:

To do:

Win Some, Lose Some, Win Some More

Time to catch up on my scrabble exploits.

February was Vienna. Nigel was there... I came second...
April was Marbella. Nigel was there... I came nowhere...
May was Malta. Nigel wasn't there... I won both the European Open and the Malta Open... Woohoo :)

June and back to domestic scrabble.

The Scottish NSC heat was on the 1st, and I abandoned Paul, visitors and guests to the annual Jim Clark Rally barbecue. I was under pressure to qualify. And after Melanie got a nine-timer against me in game 1 (MOp(H)EADS)  and followed it with 2 more bonuses I was lying last after the first round. Another loss in round 5 against Ross and the pressure was really on. And then I had to play Lukeman who was also struggling. A tense game that I scraped home by 2 points. 4-2, but my spread was poor so I needed to win the last game against Allan, who was undefeated. Luckily it flowed for me, and despite Allan having both the blanks I won by 170 to secure my qualification for the semis.

And then on the 5th I played my BEST 2nd round match against Allan. (I had a bye in the first round). It could have been so different. I lost the first game which was close - notable by the fact that the last 5 tiles I picked (3 and then 2) were all Es! In game 2 Allan played the phony DOILEYS on move 2. I challenged it off and then ensured the correct spelling was unplayable with a strategic AZO. A bonus of CIG(A)RETS and I was off and running. Allan got AUDILES down after dumping YO but I romped home. And continued to romp in the next 3 games. Allan conceded the fifth game after playing another phony when 150 points behind.

Next weekend is the Scottish Open, and then on the 18th I play my 3rd round BEST match against Ross. And I fly out to Bangkok on the 26th for more foreign adventures in Penang and the King's Cup.

Cardigardening

I realised that despite all my knitting over the last year and a half I had a distinct lack of cardigans. Jumpers overflowing, but very few cardies.

Well, that's not too hard to rectify...

February...

April...

And I also got around to buying and sewing in the zip for my hoodie jacket - I bought the yarn for this from a spinner/dyer on Lewis many many years ago (I guess the 1990s) when visiting my cousin Margaret and her husband Donald. Knitted the jacket last year. Zip only waited 9 months...

And possibly late April, more likely May:

Just finished blocking the body, first sleeve on the needles. I have no idea how this will turn out. I had 4.25 skeins left of this gorgeous Jaeger 4-ply silk that I got as an absolute bargain in 2011 and couldn't find a pattern I liked to use it. So I am making up my own...

I have also been busy in the garden. I finished weeding the LBE a couple of days ago - see April photo. And yesterday I started on the veggie patch. After my first abortive attempt when the weather gods sent down an onslaught of hail the moment my hands were covered in dirt I got back out an hour later and got in a good session.

This gives a good indication of the state it was in after a year of neglect due to last year's weather and my frozen shoulder. I actually got the next bed cleared as well by end of play yesterday evening.

Oh, and I have also bought some more yarn. 700g of organic merino aran. That was my allowed reward for knitting an extra mile over my 12 mile target of last year...

Same Old Same Old

So I haven't blogged in a while. Time moves on but nothing really new happens.

I am still playing scrabble. After doing very little study last year I had my most successful run of results ever. Winning the King's Cup and the Romanian Open, third place in Prague and second in Vienna. My scrabble budget is looking very healthy. Off to Marbella in a week's time with a couple of spare days for R&R. And I've started revising again. Hmm... maybe I should stick to a winning formula, but I guess my luck will run out at some point.

I have managed one short stint in the garden to do a bit of a tidy up. We have been promised that temperatures will pick up just about the time I go away...

But I have been knitting.... and knitting...

I reached my goal of a mile a month last year, and a mile+ more:

That's most but not all of my year's labour.

So far this year I have completed another pair of glittens, two lace-weight scarfs, one mohair wrap, two pairs of socks, one cardigan, two cushion covers to finish off some old chenille and one replacement right-hand glove for the one I lost in Vienna. Another 2.2 miles of yarn. And I am well on my on another cardigan - body done and about a third of the first sleeve.

And I haven't bought any yarn for over 15 months!!!

And this is what I have left...

Main stash:

Partials/Scraps:

Twelfth Sweater of the Year

I finished my twelfth pair of socks of the year a week ago - another of my own design to use up leftovers with a simple colourwork design:

And now I am working on my twelfth sweater of the year... Okay, I am including a sleeveless top in the category but even so...

I am making use of my new knitting books that I got for my birthday. MIL asked me what I wanted and then said to get them and she would pay for them. So three bargain second hand Harmony Guides including Aran stitches. And then from myself, to make up for Paul's complete fail on my birthday front, I sent off for Ann Budd's new handy book of top-down sweaters and a second hand copy of Barbara Walker's Second Treasury of Knitting Stitches from the USA, which seemed to be most people's choice when the topic came up in Ravelry discussions.

So I decided the time had come to make my own design cabled jumper. I sat down with my stitch dictionaries and chose which cable patterns I would like.

And then I made another spreadsheet... I have to say I have found that a colour chart for the cables is soooo much easier to read than all the standard chart abbreviations for C4B, C5F, RT, LT etc! I have laid it out so that the colour key is aligned with the use of it in the chart and I just have to glance at it to know what I am supposed to be doing.

Although I decided to make this in the round, bottom up I have also been making use of the sweater book for reverse engineering as far as possible my neck and for the sleeve cap shaping. My head has been spinning on the subject of sleeve caps as I decided I wanted saddle shoulders and my chosen cable panel for the saddle was wider than the examples. So the sleeves are being done top down. I am halfway down the first one, and having tried it on this morning I think my adjustments are okay...

Two Twit Twoo

I was very kindly gifted the knitting pattern by a fellow ravelry member to make the popular Owls sweater by Kate Davies a couple of month back. I was originally planning to knit it using Debbie Bliss Merino chunky that I bought on ebay last year, but the pattern said it suited more rustic yarns.

So I broke into a knitting kit of Alafoss Lopi that I bought in Iceland in 1996 - there were 700g of a nice charcoal black which should be more than enough. As it was, being short in arm and body, I completed the sweater in four and a half days using just 550 grammes!

I have ordered buttons from Ebay - cheaper to buy 600 buttons from China than the 38 required for the Owl's eyes in the UK. They should arrive in a couple of weeks time...

And then I decided to go straight ahead and make another one...

I have a cunning plan.

Janet gave me some Icelandic Soft Spun yarn earlier this year - not enough to make a sweater on its own but it is an almost perfect match for the remaining Alafoss Lopi from the kit. It should be enough to make the body and sleeves up to the owls. And then I will finish off the black for the owls which should mean that any slight variation in colour on the top of the yoke/neck will not be noticeable.