Muddy Sheep

A Northern Story

2/12/2016

I've started designing again recently. I never really stopped designing, but I made things that weren't quite right for publishing, and I didn't want to spend the time to make them right. I've also made a crazy number of swatches for YarnSub over the past couple of years, so making actual wearable things has been a slow process for me.

Then, a few weeks ago, Kate at Northern Yarn sent me a skein of her own yarn to try. This yarn has a great story. Kate returned to her Lancashire roots after a spell in London, which is where I had met her, at a knitting group. Once back in the north of England, and with children to look after, she changed career and started an online yarn shop. Looking at her home landscape with fresh eyes, she couldn't help but see the many sheep in her neighbourhood as big balls of yarn with legs and cute faces.

Kate decided to make her own yarn, though she'd never done anything like it before. She even helped with shearing.

The deliciously woolly yarn that she sent me made me want to do more than a couple of swatches and a review. I had a lace pattern and a short row shaping section in mind for a shawl, and amazingly, it all worked out. I enjoyed knitting it more than anything else I've made in a long time.

Thank you to Laura, another beautiful knitting friend, for modelling.

The pattern's not quite ready; the shawl takes more than 100g of yarn, so I'm going to amend it slightly to incorporate a second colour in the short row section. Since Kate hasn't yet had any of her yarn dyed, I've decided to try a little dying myself. I've wanted to try dyeing for a long time, but it's one of those 'one day' things for me, mostly because I'm scared! Well, 'one day' is going to be tomorrow, it turns out.

In the meantime, I've ordered some chunky-weight yarn from Kate for a hat. I have searched the house from top to bottom and there are no hats to be found, which is mysterious considering the number of them that I've bought and made over the years!

I've swatched, of course. And I intend to fully embrace the pompom trend with this one.

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All I want for Christmas is some Cashmerino Superchunky

7/12/2014

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Oh Christmas. I wasn't going to knit any presents this year, too much else to do, but then I had a "wouldn't it be nice if..." moment about my knitting group Secret Santee. The slight problem is that mostly my knitting projects take months to come to fruition, whereas it's less than two weeks until our Christmas party.

Enter Debbie Bliss Cashmerino SuperChunky to save this knitter in distress. I love this yarn. I love it even though it contains Acrylic-disguised-as-Microfibre. It's like knitting with a cat's tail (but bendier) that doesn't end for a full 75 metres. When I heard it was to be discontinued back in 2009, I bought up as much as I could get my hands on, which wasn't nearly enough. And I've still got it because I couldn't use it in case I needed it. That's Stasher's Logic for you.

But yesterday my need was great enough. I consulted the stash spreadsheet in order to locate the yarn (I'm not even joking) and within 24 hours that cowl was finished. Granted I had a day trip on the train to knit it in, but using 8mm needles, instead of the 3mm needles I've been using recently, knitting seems almost instantaneous.

So, Debbie Bliss, you've set up your new shop - looks lovely - so couldn't you find time to work on getting Cashmerino Superchunky back on the shelves?

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Things you can learn at a street party.

19/10/2014

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My boys caught the knitting bug again at last month's knitting-at-the-street-party event. My eldest had an idea he might knit a jumper for a toy, but 32 stitches on the needle later and the jumper lost its appeal. I can understand. He'll come back to it one day.

My youngest has been knitting scarves for his toys ever since though. He's even progressed past garter stitch through stocking stitch and onto moss stitch. He wasn't so keen on all that backwards and forwards stuff though, so moss stitch didn't last too long.

Still, one of his toys has a mighty fine looking scarf with 6 rows of moss stitch in the middle!

The street party itself was full-on, but rewarding on so many levels. Firstly there was a non-stop stream of children who wanted to learn to knit. I still encounter raised eyebrows and patronising smiles from adults when I tell them that I love knitting, but kids have none of these learned judgments about craft, they just think it looks interesting and want to try it.

Secondly, I learnt I had way more patience than I ever previously believed. If before I thought I had a puddle's depth of patience, while teaching six year olds to knit I found out that the puddle has a false bottom and there's an entire well underneath. It was quite a revelation to me, but why does it take me being with other people's children to learn how to do better with my own? Whatever the reason, it made the event full-on fun and rewarding rather than frustrating.

I've even managed to access my new found patience since while helping the boys with their homework. Who knew it was even possible to get through a homework session with your seven year old without steam escaping through your ears?

So while I thought I was teaching kids to knit, really they were teaching me a more important lesson. And although I can't guarantee that my well of patience will never reduce to a puddle again, at least I know there's more to be had: believe it and it's there.

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Come knit with us at the Wanstead Fringe

12/9/2014

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The Duke pub in Wanstead, east London, is holding a street party as part of the Wanstead Fringe festival tomorrow, and I was very excited when they asked our knitting group to join them in their craft tent.

They mentioned that the craft tent is also going to be the cake tent, so my day tomorrow will be filled with:

1. Knitting
2. Cake
3. Teaching people to knit while eating cake.

All these things make me very happy.

If you would like to come and knit with us, say hello, learn to knit/crochet or get some help with a knitty problem, then just look out for the girl sitting under a sign like the picture above, with a ball of yarn in one hand and a cake in the other. I won't know which one to put down!

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Stepney City Farm and knitted treasure

14/8/2014

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After my Fiber East post, Probably Jane commented that, along with Nickerjac, she's part of a knitting group that meets at Stepney City Farm. Jane mentioned that the farm has a large farmyard to run around in, toy tractors, great cake and kittens (real, actual kittens) , so I decided this would be a way of combining knitting and boys during a summer holiday morning.

The kittens were friendly and cute beyond words. We also fed sheep and patted donkeys, noshed bacon sandwiches and ate the chocolatiest-ever chocolate cake. The knitting group was the best bit though. Nic and Jane were so welcoming, helpful and chatty.

I found out something really cool too. I sort of knew Nic already; before I had the boys I used to go to a knitting group that met every couple of weeks at the cafe in Liberty department store. Nic used to go there sometimes but it was a large group and I hadn't spoken that much with her. Soon after I had my eldest son, 10 years ago now, I received a hand-knitted blanket in the post from the Liberty Knitters. Nic told me yesterday that she had made and sewn together some of the squares in that blanket.

I was a bit lost for words. I remember that it arrived on a day when new-motherhood was hard. Receiving a surprise parcel and opening it to find that there were people in the world who thought enough of me to knit 65,000 stitches into a blanket for my baby was a powerful way to lift my day.

When I got home from Stepney I remembered that after receiving the parcel, I'd been given access to the Yahoo messages group that the Liberty Knitters had used to co-ordinate blanket-making activities. I found the messages online still, and the final one, dated 14 September 2004, was a thank you copied in from an email from me, so that all the girls who had made squares could read it:

Not quite lost for words - but 'Wow' was all I could manage first thing this morning. I received a large parcel, and inside was one of the most wonderful presents I've ever received... a baby blanket, beautifully knitted and lined by the Liberty group. I am so touched, I can't tell you. Whoever thought of it is genius, because I can't think of anything that I could treasure more.

I have been a little down over the last few days. I love my baby more than I can describe, and he was very much wished for, yet still being a new mum is hard. This morning's present has made me feel supported and loved, and I can't thank you enough for that.

Ten years on and I'd like to say again: thank you, Liberty Knitters, your stitches are still treasured.

Ten years of use - and look how well that Rowan Handknit Cotton is wearing!

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Fabulous Fibre East

28/7/2014

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And when do I think I am going to find time to learn to spin? I asked myself this while gazing at a beginner's drop spindle, some fluff and a page of instructions neatly packaged together in a plastic bag. Mostly I was worrying that I would find the time and become so entranced with the whole thing that within a year my bedroom would be bursting with clouds of rainbow-coloured roving, a spinning wheel and maybe a couple of sheep.

This is what Fibre East does to you.

I went with my children on Saturday and loved it. As well as the obvious attractions for me of the merino, silk and cashmere treasures available to buy, there was plenty for us all to do. First on the list was a sheep-shearing roadshow. I was amazed at how calm the sheep was through the process and how easy the shearer made it look. I think he may have done it before.

Having seen where the fleece came from, my youngest asked to buy one for himself.

"But what would you do with it?" I asked.

"Cuddle it," he said.

How was I supposed to argue with that? I did persuade him to find something a little more manageable than an entire fleece, and he chose the hand-dyed merino in the picture above. He even paid for it out of his own pocket money.

We were excited to discover a community farm on the site open to all the visitors. Piglets cooling off in their water butt made us laugh and we found sheep who were stoical about us petting their fleecy necks. We must have looked very warm, because a lady working on the farm took us to stand for a minute or two in the chiller room. I bought two cold drinks from the shelves to show my gratitude!

Inspired by the calm industry of the spinners around the show, I gave in and bought the beginner's spinning kit. And I didn't even try to resist the wool tops (fleece ready for spinning) from Adelaide and Walker. They enticed me in with sheep breeds that I have read about and researched for Yarnsub but not actually knitted with as yet. Gotland, Corriedale and Wensleydale came home with me. Plus some Blue Faced Leicester in three natural shades, twisted into candy stripes like a piece of sheep-meets-humbug art. I think I might keep it like that, it makes me smile.

I could hardly keep putting one foot in front of the other by the time the children and I had done the mile walk in the sun back to the station, an hour on the train and the slow roast on the Central Line back to East London. Exhausted. But I'm going back next year; I have to, I've arranged to meet a fellow beginner spinner on the Woodland Turnery stall to compare progress.

Anyone know how to keep sheep?

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Thank you for your help!

27/7/2014

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I've had such a great response to announcing that Yarnsub is live. Lots of people have said that they've been looking for something like this for a long time, which is heartening to hear.

I am also grateful to the Designers group on Ravelry, who pointed out where some matches didn't seem right. Most of those discrepancies have already been fixed, with one requiring a change in the software. Sock yarns weren't showing up with the substitutes that people expected, but we've been able to fix this now.

Others have used our new 'Report an issue' links to tell us where there's a problem with the data. Every problem reported gives us the chance to make the site better, so keep them coming.

It's also been fun to find out how you've used the site to find just the sub that you need, it's great to feel useful!

Wendy

A gratuitous shot of some you-can't-leave-here-without-me Apples and Pears sock yarn.

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New yarn substitution website! (And a request for help...)

23/7/2014

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Our brand-new yarn substitution website - Yarnsub.com - is up and running! Type in the name of a yarn and you'll be presented with a list of substitution options, each one matched by gauge, texture, fiber content and fiber characteristics. You can also look for a kind of yarn - "cotton worsted", for example - and see a list of possibilities.

When looking for a substitution myself I had assumed there would already be a website to help. I found lots of articles on the art of yarn substitution, but I couldn't find anywhere that I could just enter a yarn name and receive accurate suggestions for a replacement.

I thought something like that might be useful.

Luckily for me, my husband is a bit amazing at writing software and he liked the idea too. While he was working on the tech side, I got to work on some yarn research. (It was a tough job, but someone had to do it!) I researched different fibers, swatched, experimented with gauge and tried out all manner of exotic and not-so exotic yarns. I looked at textures, drape, warmth, elasticity, absorbency, durability, luster and softness. And then we condensed the knowledge into a form that could be processed by the software to find accurate substitutes.

Eventually, we are aiming to provide "buy it now" links to retailers from yarn pages. This will help us cover our costs and allow us to keep Yarnsub available and up-to-date far into the future.

But for now, I'd simply like to start getting the word out. Currently the website doesn't come up high in Google searches. To change that I need more sites to link to it. Would you be able to mention Yarnsub.com on your website, blog or on Facebook or Twitter? I would be extremely grateful! Do you have any other suggestions about how to get the word out? I'm not in any way a marketing expert, so any ideas you have would be very helpful.

I'd also like to improve the usefulness of the website, so if you have any suggestions or if you have any problems, please let me know. Already I've had the suggestion that more images would be helpful - those are being added as fast as I can get copyright permission from yarn manufacturers.

I'd love to hear if you like the site and if you find it useful, but I'd also really appreciate any criticism or feedback about it. Are the notes on a particular substitution clear and do they give you confidence? Are there any matches you don't agree with? Have I missed an important brand? Please don't hold back! The sooner I know about issues, the better.
Email me: hello@muddysheep.com

Thank you!
Wendy

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Increases: Make 1 left, right, knit-side, purl-side, with hole, no hole...

17/7/2014

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Increases Part 1 - Make 1

A friend in my knitting group asked me to write a post about the different increases in knitting. It's going to have to be several posts - why am I still surprised about how long these things take to pull together?

I'm starting with the work-horse of the increases: make 1, abbreviated to 'M1' usually in patterns. It can lean to the left or the right, and it can be made on the knit or the purl side. And if you don't twist the new stitch as you form it you make a hole. Pictures of each of these are shown below.

An M1 increase is formed between two stitches, using the length of yarn, or 'bar', that runs between the two stitches where you want a new stitch. The bar is shown in the picture on the right.

Patterns often don't specify which increase to use, just saying M1 rather than M1L (for left-leaning) or M1R (for right-leaning). Then you can do whichever you like. I find the left-leaning version easiest to do and I've shown it first.

It's less common to increase on the purl side, but it's useful to know how:

So for a left-leaning Make 1, whether on a knit or a purl row, move the left hand needle away from you to pick up the bar. For a right-leaning Make 1, move the left hand needle towards you to pick up the bar. I remember this because if someone has left they're going away from me.

Finally, if you want to leave a decorative hole, then you can - just don't twist the stitch:

I want these tutorials to be as useful as possible, so let me know if there's anything that's not clear or where I could make improvements.

Next post will be all about Yarnsub - wahey!

A Northern Story

All I want for Christmas is some Cashmerino Superchunky

Things you can learn at a street party.

Come knit with us at the Wanstead Fringe

Stepney City Farm and knitted treasure

Fabulous Fibre East

Thank you for your help!

New yarn substitution website! (And a request for help...)

Increases: Make 1 left, right, knit-side, purl-side, with hole, no hole...

Increases Part 1 - Make 1

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