Winterthorn: Published!

The title covers it all really.

I've finally typed up my Winterthorn pattern; published it; realised I left off any kind of photo from the PDF; quickly stuck a photo on; and re-published it.

The hats are masterfully modelled by my sister and my mum. Hopefully it's clear which one is actually the right size!

While I was knitting the hats I wasn't working from a printed chart but rather a bitmap with each pixel representing a stitch. The advantage of a bitmap is that you can zoom in and select the number of pixels in each section. I find it more reliable than counting squares on a printed chart. I'd been hoping to upload the bitmap somewhere and link to it but I've been struck by technological incompetence and can't find a trustworthy hosting site for the file.

Bitmap aside, I'm happy with the pattern and now I get to indulge my favourite pastime: stalking my Ravelry recent activity!

Third Time Lucky

It's been a couple of weeks since I last wrote anything. That's because of three things that happened in quick succession. A reluctance to write stuff was not one of these things. I've actually quite missed the blog and that has to be a sign that I should keep doing it.

First thing that happened:

The BBC linked to my post. The actual BBC. I freaked out. I freaked out quite a lot. For the first ten minutes I very literally could not string "The BBC has linked to my blog" into a sentence:
Me: "They... They... They..."
Colleague: "Who?"
Me: "The BBC! They... They... They..."
Colleague: "The BBC what?"
Me: "They... The BBC... They..."

It went on for a while.

On a number of levels I'm not actually surprised, I've read the blurb about the blog linking before. I just never really expected it to actually happen. Especially as the BBC bot found my post less than 30 minutes after I'd posted it. And if they were going to link to my blog, why did it have to be a post where I commented on steamy almost-sex scenes written after far too long spent travelling?

Then there was thing two:

In case you can't quite work out what that can possibly be (and many people have wondered) it is a cardboard house, complete with flaps and knitted sand bags to help get across the facts about the impacts of the Summer 2007 floods. 

Obviously.

I'm still not entirely certain how I volunteered to make this, or how it seemed a good idea to take the "house with flaps for questions made out of a crisp box" concept and instead decide to make a three-storey house complete with photos of ikea interiors and a chimney with smoke. But I do know that it ate up a lot of hours and a lot of PVA glue.

Directly or indirectly, the late nights involved with thing two led inevitably to thing three:

I came down with a mutant cold/flu/virus thing that has left me with the world's most annoying cough. I'm not going to apologise for the self-pity. Ill people get to do self-pity.

The point where everyone seemed to realise that I wasn't making it up was when they realised I'd been off work for three days and I hadn't done any knitting! Now that's proper illness!

It wasn't until Sunday night that I actually managed to pick up my knitting again. I'd love to say that I was struck with renewed determination, that the days of rest had left me charged up and ready to demolish any knitting challenge in mere hours. Hardly. On one hand, I was quite glad to be doing something other than lying in bed doing pointless self-pity. On the other, I wanted to go back to bed and do a bit more self-pity.

But this brings me on to the subject of my post and, believe me, Third Time Lucky does not refer to the three things that have kept me off the internet for two weeks. No.

<insert dramatic drum roll>

I have (finally) finished Winterthorn version three! And, not only is it finished, but it's actually the right size! I've been showing it to everyone in work who has ever expressed even a passing interest in knitting! Unfortunately it's still too dark while I'm home to get pictures but, come the weekend, nothing's going to stop me photographing this thing, repeatedly.

I finished it Monday evening and blocked it with more care and attention than anything I've ever blocked before. I tried to prepare myself: Maybe it would be too big again. Maybe I'd stretch the rib too much during blocking. Maybe it would be too small. Maybe my experimental decreasing on a coluple of rows would be too obvious. Maybe I don't actually like the cream colour I've used.

In the end, it has turned out to be exactly what I first imagined when I woke up with a hat in my head in December. The final verdict is: 2.75mm needles and sensible 4ply wool. Now all I have to do is to write up the pattern, find a way to fit a 200-stitch chart into a PDF and publish it.

I hadn't given much thought to what yarn I'll recommend on the pattern but, now that I've completed the final (definitely final) Winterthorn, I think it's going to have to be the Rowan Pure Wool 4ply. I have a bit of a thing against Rowan wool and I know it doesn't really deserve it. In my head, I think of it as rather boring and overpriced. Well, I'm going to try to be nicer about Rowan in the future: the 4 ply was an absolute pleasure to work with and it has a loveley springiness about it that demands to go into a hat!

When I started out on this I never imagined that it would take three hats before I'd be happy. I never imagined it'd be March before I felt ready to write up the pattern. But I do know now that I'm happy with what I've designed and I'm confident that it works. It's given me the opportunity to try a few things (most of which haven't worked) and helped to add to my needle collection (I had no 2.75mm circulars or DPNs until now). Plus, I now have more hats and who can complain about that?

So, overall, this has been a positive experience. It's just that it has involved quite a bit more cursing, frustration and focus groups of my colleagues than most positive experiences!

Just how big do I think my head is?

Winterthorn 2 is blocked and wearable! I had some fun and games playing around with the camera this morning and here's the result:

I think I might try again with 32 photos rather than 16 because some didn't quite work out so well but hopefully it at least shows the way that the pattern of the thorns moves between the different sections.

When I started out, my favourite part was the design itself. Then I decided I preffered the border (especially on the first hat) but now I just like looking at the top of the hat and the way the eight sections come together (and not just because I was relieved to finally get to the decreasing!)

I've still got a lot of learning and practicing to do with stranded knitting but I'm still really happy with how this looks when I turn it inside out. That'll teach me to do it properly rather than just sort of working something out the way I used to.

Anyway, despite this being the second version and despite using smaller needles and annoyingly thin wool, the hat is still big! Not as big as the first but still bigger than I was imagining. Nonetheless, I wore the hat up to town and it didn't fly off, it kept my ears nice and warm and, best of all my sister was right: it didn't give me hat hair!

Slow progress

Knitting the first Winterthorn over Christmas seemed pretty quick. When you're doing nothing except watching animated family films and eating chocolate oranges I guess time flies. Now that I'm back at work and managing just a row or two per day, the second Winterthorn suddenly feels like very slow going. I must be over half way though as I've reached the section that's pale blue on the chart.

What's surprising me most is that I'm still really enjoying knitting this. The fact that it's not a repeating pattern means that it doesn't get boring, even if I can't get a lot done. Plus the beautiful colour shifts are looking fantastic.

The Zauberball hasn't got any thicker though, if anything it's actually getting thinner. As much as I love the squishy sublime, I couldn't have chosen a worse companion for the orange, they're about as different as two yarns allegedly of the same weight could possibly be.

Nonetheless, I just can't wait to wear this. Fun as my crazy sparkly hat is, I know I'm going to love this hat. Plus I'm pretty certain that the size is going to to be spot on - slouchy but snug.

Next hat, same as the first, a little bit smaller and a little bit.... less stripey?

Me: Look, I finished the hat
Sister: Wow, it looks great!
Me: Well, it's quite a bit bigger than I'd planned. I'm going to do another one on smaller needles.
Sister: No! It's perfect! Look, it fits me really well!
Me: Um... well you can have it if you want. On the condition that I can take lots of photos of you wearing it.

She was right, it really does suit her:

And that's why I have lots of photos of my sister wearing her new hat, which she loves! Quote: "It keeps my head warm and it doesn't give me hat hair". So I think that's a win!

Even so, I've started version two on 3.25mm needles as I want a hat for myself that is slouchy but not quite so big. If that doesn't work then I'll just do another blue one for myself with less rib and hope it sticks on my head as well as it does on my sister's.

The wool for the new hat came from Get Knitted last Friday where I spent far too much money on some amazingly soft Sublime 4ply (on sale!), some lovely stripey Zauberball and lots of sets of DPNs that I needed. Yes, needed.

I fell for the Zauberball because of the fantastic colour but I'll admit that I'm already having some doubts. For a start, how is this possibly 4ply? I was avoiding using some Jawoll Magic because it's 3ply and I'm sure that the Zauberball is no bigger. Plus I've become paranoid after reading the comments on Ravelry about splitting, knots and sudden colour changes. Nonetheless I've started the hat and, if anything, I'm a little surprised that the colour changes are so gradual. It's what I was looking for and I think it'll be fine for the main body of the hat but the border is looking pretty boring in all one colour. I think I'd probably try striping the border section from the inside and outside of a ball if I was going to do another in self-striping.

It's looking great so far and I'm forcing myself to go more slowly and take more care over my stranding and it's paying off. But the best thing so far is the lovely soft, squishy feel to the Sublime 4ply. I want to go back and buy the lot while it's on sale!

The other thing I bought at Get Knitted was some impossibly white alpaca silk from Blue Sky Alpacas. That's earmarked for my Sizergh scarf if, if and when this hat is done. I feel a lot happier now I've bought something suitably soft, my hand-spun just wasn't working out right unfortunately.

Now, if only one of those two projects was remotely suitable for bus-knitting...

A lesson in trusting my instincts

 

3.25 mm



3.5mm.
I have no excuse for the stripes

Well, the hat is finished. It was supposed to be a slouchy hat but a whole new word needs to be invented for just how big this hat is. Oh well. My initial test piece was 3.25mm and I should have known to stick with that. It's not that it doesn't fit, more that it looks a bit of a joke because I can fit my whole head inside and pull it right down to my chin!




New lesson:
My tension is incredibly
different on circular needles.



The hat is currently drying/blocking so hopefully I can get some photos tomorrow and start the process of convincing myself that it's not as bad as all that. In the mean time I've started another draft of the hat on 3.25mm needles. It's also a good excuse to try it out with a self-striping sock yarn, I'm sure I must have something suitable in the Big Box of Yarn, otherwise I'll be talking myself into a trip to Get Knitted on Saturday.

 

I've also started something that I've had in mind for a while, using Nimu Yarn's Sizergh yarn. Either this is going to be a super-effective scarf or I'm going to hate myself for wasting such stunning yarn. The skein I have is a breathtakingly beautiful midnight blue with tiny splashes of colours. It's shimmery and soft and fabulous. The pattern needs something contrasting but it's hard to imagine anything worthy of being used with the Sizergh. The best I could do is spin some lovely soft Blue Faced Leicester. I'm out of practice so it's rather inconsistent (no, it's textured - as my teacher would say) but hopefully it should be a good contrast. Not sure how much I'm going to love this though, it's going to have ends to sew in and already I know that it looked far better in my head!

Winterthorn

The hat has a name! Over Christmas I conducted exhaustive research into a good name for my pattern (I asked my family). Despite my sister's insistence on "Christmas Hat" or "Blue Christmas Hat" and my Dad's rather unhelpful "White Lightning" and slightly more helpful "White Thorn", I finally settled on Winterthorn. It seems to match the pattern and the colours.

I knitted three test panels in the end. The first was too small (3.25mm) and I didn't love the colours. The second was a better size but I hated the colours. The third was only a partial panel to get the lower border right. Plus I tried out a couple of options for rib. Unfortunately, by the time I got the the rib (and particularly the transition from rib to pattern) I was already rather tipsy on winter pimms so I think I missed some rather obvious stuff. Oh well.

The test knit is now well on its way, mostly because I have done pretty much nothing other than knitting and watching silly christmas family films for the past three days! I'm already at the decreasing and I have learned several things: my tension for continental purling sucks (the  test panel is waaay smaller than the real thing) and I need a LOT more practice at stranding.

I think that before I'm happy with this I'm probably going to have to make another, especially if I can find an interesting self-striping yarn with a nice slow colour change. If so, there will be one less repeat of the rib and that will probably be in 3.25mm.

The real doubt I'm having at the moment is the pattern itself. I was very wary of making it look too busy but now that it's almost done, I'm not sure there's enough detail on it. But I'm determined not to make my mind up until it's all finished. So tomorrow may include buying some 3.5mm DPNs as the circular is getting unwieldy.

Get dressed you merry gentlemen!

I love days when I have absolutely no plans so I've been very much looking forward to today. About the only thing I needed to achieve today was, ideally, making mince pies to distribute in place of Christmas cards. Well, I procrastinated for a while but eventually ended up listening to the Cabin Pressure Christmas special while making these:
 

Excessive pies mark the official start of Christmas



I heard the Christmas episode of Cabin Pressure last year. I remembered that it was funny but I'd forgotten just how funny. There are a lot of things I find amusing but Cabin Pressure makes me laugh out loud. Frequently and at significant volume.

I was particularly happy to hear at the end of the episode that they'll be broadcasting the first series from next week because I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't warm to it at first and I've only heard some of the more recent episodes. I don't really have any excuse except that I didn't give it the time it deserved at first because I thought that it might be too much situation and not enough comedy. Once again: idiot.

The Christmas special was the perfect example of properly funny jokes balanced by the interesting relationships between the characters. I think it's this that makes Cabin Pressure so great: the characters are more than just a method of getting jokes across, they feel like people you might very well know from your office. Or possibly eccentric members of your extended family. I was going to say "except maybe Arthur" but then I remembered a colleague, a nice girl but she had more in common with Arthur than any real person should.

Though I'm not really in a position to comment, today I was entirely empathising with Arthur and his overwhelming love of Christmas. As someone who has constructed decorations for her office out of garden canes, tacking thread and paper snowflakes made from old application forms, I think that an umbrella decorated with milk pots sounded pretty amazing.

Considering some of the more bleak Christmas radio (I'm looking at you, The Holly and the Ivy) it was fantastic to have something so decidedly pro-festive-spirit to listen to while making endless mince pies. Thank you John Finnemore, you genius, and thank you 4Extra for broadcasting it this week.


sucky stripes



Anyway, about the only other thing I've managed to achieve today is a test knit panel for my hat. Charting it actually proved to be easier than I thought but what's really giving me trouble now is colours. The default blue for 4ply is a boring powder blue and it's cramping my stripes. I suck at colour at the best of times and this is not the best of times. Plus the panel has turned out waaaay to small so I'll be knitting another, with bigger needles. And possibly more adventurous stripes now that I have caved in and bought another ball of wool. Unfortunately, it's a oddly bright turquoise that I'd never normally touch but I can't shake the idea that I can somehow make it work.

Also, I'm beginning to wonder if the calm, plant-y design in my head might not actually be a bit sinister and thorny now it's approaching reality.

I think I may like it better that way.



I dream in hats

Well, okay, I don't dream in hats. That would be unusual and probably unpleasant. But I woke up yesterday with a fully formed hat in my head, right down to the colour combinations. Normally when I get attacked by pattern ideas I just draw a clumsy sketch in notebook and plan to come back later but I made the critical mistake of going to the shops yesterday. So now I have the wool (five balls) and a really clear picture in my head of what I'm planning but no actual idea of how to make the hat.

The main problem is: it's 4-ply. I got bored/annoyed enough at a double knit hat but 4-ply? I'm going to go crazy. Also, I've recently decided that hats don't really suit me, or at least the sort that are head-shaped don't. So I'm aiming for a slouchy, 4-ply, tam-ish-but-not-too-flat, colourwork hat. Urgh I'm going to regret this so very much.

But there's something about this challenge that I think will keep me nicely occupied over Christmas. The main challenge is that I've never made a hat in anything like this spec before so charting it is going to be an absolute bugger. In an ideal world I'd make one all in white, draw all over it with marker pens and see what comes out of it. Short of that I've no idea how to work it through properly because it's going to have a non-repeating pattern. Which is going to make it a bugger to fit into a PDF too.

The reason I know this is going to be worth doing is that I know I'm going to hate knitting it but I still can't stop planning it. Although I woke up with it in mind, it's actually the culmination of several ideas I've been considering for a while, I just hope it's going to look as good in real life as it does in my mind's eye. What I'm aiming for is something calm and plant/glass panel-ish. Sort of like what sleeping beauty's conservatory might have looked like after a ten years or so. Wow, that's going to make for a lame name.

Now, time to get some 2.5mm circulars