Hi Everyone
I would normally wish you a Happy New Year now, but maybe that’s not appropriate at the moment. I will instead send you all best wishes for 2021 and hope that it is a healthy one for you and better than 2020.
I’ve got my fingers tightly crossed and hope that we will be able to meet up in 2021 but I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it’s not the Autumn before we can safely do so indoors, if then. It may not seem like it now, but there is always hope that we can meet outdoors in larger numbers before we can meet indoors, especially as the year progresses towards warmer, dryer weather. I’ll continue to watch for announcements and have a few ideas of where we could meet out doors when the time comes.
It was lovely to see a few of you are our December Zoom meeting. Maybe we could arrange another one sometime. It might well need to be a limited time meeting as I can’t promise we have someone who has a suitable paid for account that allows for longer meetings and who is willing to host. To keep things easy I would suggest that any on line meeting should be on the same day and time that we would normally meet in person (i.e. first Tuesday of the month at 8 pm). But first things first - if you can host a meeting please get in touch in the usual way. If you would like to join in a zoom meeting also please get in touch in the usual way.
Some branches of the Knitting and Crochet Guild are holding virtual meetings. Many of them welcome others from outside their area. Details such as days and times are on the KCG website as well as who to contact for the codes for the meetings.
Socks
I recently had an exchange of messages with one of our members about wool for socks, and whether or not it should include nylon/polyester/polyamide or similar for better wear and why/why not? I thought this is a subject worth exploring further and it lead on to other sock related matters.
Sock yarn—with or without nylon?
Why wear wool socks? An article in Business Insider is helpful. Ok they are talking about commercial wool socks rather than the ones but it’s relevant information. A blog on the Nicharry website asks which material is best, polyester, cotton, wool or bamboo. (I didn’t even look at the prices!) There are other sites too if you want to delve further and search. Just these two sites alone have answered another question I was going to look into i.e. what about other fibres?
I found the Winwick Mum website that had reviewed no-nylon sock yarns to see how they compared with commercially produced sock yarns containing nylon. The yarns reviewed are produced within the UK. There is another website called Wovember that also discusses pure wool (without nylon) for socks. The yarns that get a mention may not be current but the basic information is valid.
Those of you who are interested in looking for commercially produced sock yarn could look at The Sock Yarn Shop. They are UK based and offer an extensive range of sock yarns, including some which are 6ply and 8ply so ideal for someone who wants a thicker pair of socks for wearing inside walking boots or wellingtons. They have a range of wool mixes too, including some with either Yak, alpaca or silk. Of course these yarns aren’t just for socks, you can knit almost anything out of them!
I’ve been wearing hand knitted socks since around 2009. All pairs have been knitted in commercially available sock yarn, mostly wool with nylon, but I have knitted a few pairs in a yarn by Wendy called Happy (now discontinued) which is bamboo as well as others in a stretch acrylic and cotton yarn who’s name is lost with the ball band! I can comfortably wear the wool socks all year round, but the other fibres are not warm enough when it is cold. I’m still wearing the original pair I knitted from Regia sock yarn but one or two pairs have gone through under the heel. The rest are all wearing well. Knowing roughly what I paid for them, I would say that the cheaper it is the less likely it is to last. Look out for the more expensive yarns when they are on offer and you will get a bargain. Having said that, Drops yarns are not expensive and wear well! They can be found at the Wool Warehouse along with other sock yarns.
You may remember that last year I knitted a couple of pairs of socks from yarn from my stash that wasn’t sock yarn (see Newsletters 2 and 3 for pictures and yarn info). Naughty me did not do a tension swatch as I’ve knitted so many pairs now I thought it would be ok. I’ve tried these socks on and whilst the length is ok, the width of the foot and leg is not. It’s far too wide and the socks fall off. Perhaps they would make better bed socks than daytime ones. It basically comes down to the yarns not having any give in them and also no negative ease.
DPN’s or circulars?
Assuming you don’t want seams in your socks and that you will be therefore be knitting in the round your options are double pointed needles (DPN’s) or circular needles.
The DPN’s can be any length and material, but I find that shorter ones are better. There are some with bends in them which some people find nice to use. I find spreading the stitches over four needles (with a 5th to knit with) easier when it comes to shaping for heel and toe, but some people have the stitches on three needles, using a 4th to knit with. If you’ve not used DPN’s before then I suggest you look at a few YouTube videos like this one from Sapphiresnpurls or a web tutorial such as Sheep and Stitch. You’ll need to scroll down to find that one!
With circulars there are a couple of choices. Really short (9”) ones or really long ones. Some people find the really short ones cramp their hands. I find them ok so long as I don’t sit and knit for hours and regularly stop and stretch my fingers. I hold it differently to other knitting, much more delicately with finger tips rather than with my whole hand. If using long circular needles you’ll need them much longer than you think as you’ll be using a technique called magic loop as the number of stitches needed for socks won’t stretch round much more than 9” circulars. Winwick Mum has a blog about choice of needles.
Not heard of, or tried, magic loop then see the TinCanKnits blog and also put the words into a YouTube to find plenty of videos.
But before I finish, I’ll quickly say a bit about patterns for socks. You’ll be spoilt for choice with l00’s of free patterns on the internet as well as paid for ones. Start with something simple, just plain stocking stitch with a ribbed cuff perhaps so you get to understand the shaping and processes required. Then you can move on to more intricate patterns. There is no need to pattern under the foot; it probably wouldn’t be very comfortable or wear as well as plain stocking stitch.
Whilst I’m on about patterns, I wondered if there were any crochet sock patterns. I went first to Ravelry and did a pattern search there. Wow, spoilt for choice! I wonder how comfortable they are to wear. Do they stretch like a knitted pair? Perhaps something else to try!
Next time I’ll give you a few options when it comes to the actual knitting of the sock; things like Toe up, cuff down or TAAT and also the type of heel to knit. I’ll also try and mention knitting socks on your knitting machine.
I’ve changed it a bit as I wanted it to be more visual rather than just a list on a piece of paper. By the end of the last year I wasn’t finding my list particularly inspiring or encouraging which is what it was supposed to be. I got the idea for this version from one of the websites I visited where they called it “knitting bingo”. You make a grid and put a goal into each square. The items in the grid don’t have to be worked in any order or on any timescale. You can even work on two or more at the same time. You can also add more at any time, but you can’t delete any, only cross them off or put a tick against them as you achieve. And of course you could include any craft, not just knitting and crochet. At the end of my ideas chart I put some websites relevant to the various square so I could easily find them and didn’t need to hunt them out. I don’t see why you couldn’t also include something you want to do around the home or garden too! Search for knitting bingo for other ideas.
The first thing I did was to look through my stash of yarn to see if there was anything that jumped out shouting “use me”. I found some (naturally!). I next decided what could it be used for and, having done so, it went into a box on my chart or rather one for each yarn! I also looked at some of my bookmarked websites. They’d caught my eye because it was a technique or pattern I wanted to try. So into boxes they went too. The chart was filling up but I can add more boxes at any time. I added a few pictures too purely to make it look more “inviting” and to help me remember. I’m sure by now you get the idea! This is just part of my chart including a couple of things that I’ve ticked off so far.
You’ll see some of the cashmere wraps and scarves in the show and tell. They still need washing and blocking but I don’t want to hold this Newsletter up until it has been done. They each ticked one box and some ticked two boxes. The first is obvious, but the second was the one for using two or more cones for one object. My cashmere is lots of part cones, with some of them being the same colour and dye lot and some having less than 50g on them. I used two for the wrap so I could tick that box too!
Browsing the World Wide Web
Comments I read on an online group lead me to the Knitty website and a discussion about z and s twist yarns and why it makes a difference when knitted as stocking stitch.
The Modern Daily Knitting website writes about how our knitting style affects gauge and fabric. You pick when knitting continental style and throw when knitting English style.
Looking for something a bit different to knit for a child? Are they the sort of kid that likes wierd/gruesome things? How about a flat rat bookmark? (Scroll down the page to find the pattern.)
If that’s a bit small, then perhaps big knitting will appeal. Take a look at this 60 sec video. The link popped up in by Facebook feed.
Did you know that for the past 20 years there has been a Pantone colour of the year? I didn’t but apparently there has. See what they have chosen for 2021 and what they are for previous years on the Pantone website.
Socks for Paramedics is a Facebook group. It’s a non profit initiative set up to provide pairs of hand knitted socks for Paramedics during the current pandemic as a way to say thank you. Donations are forwarded by them to Ambulance stations around the country, usually in batches of 10 pairs. The socks are much appreciated. It’s often the larger sizes that are most needed (sizes 9/10/11). If you can, please include the size, fibre and wash instructions with them, and maybe a personal note of appreciation too.
The Crafts Council has stories (perhaps better described as articles) on their website including one published in December 2020 entitled How crafting helps me manage my mental health. One of the people quoted is Lorna Hamilton Brown. If you’re interested generally in crafts and arts have a look around the site.
Knitting, it’s therapeutic benefits and our mental health has also been written about in Vogue.
I also spotted a yarn supplier I’ve not heard of before. Based at Sawbridgeworth in Hertfordshire, Yarnland offer free delivery on orders over £25.00
If you’re looking for locally grown yarn, then take a look at The Little Grey Sheep Co. They are based just down the road in Well, near Hook. You may have come across them before as they have exhibited at Unravel, Farnham when exhibitions were allowed!
I’ve had a quick look at some of the exhibition websites. Many of them are either cancelled or have gone “virtual” so it doesn’t look as if we will be able to visit any of them before the summer at the earliest. I’ll keep checking and let you know when there is anything to report.
Sally has also sent some links you may be interested to see/read. The first is about a research paper by Dr. Mariana Popescu in 2018 who used a Brother KH-970 with ribber to create a knitted fabric former for concrete structures. 2019 research upgraded to using industrial knitting machine. It may sound boring and probably would be if you read the actual paper, but watch the YouTube video. It gets more intriguing as it goes along and by the end it’s fascinating and takes knitting to a whole new level especially if you are interested in “green” issues too! If this has caught your interest I have a link to more information about Mariana and also to her research paper.
CW+ is the official charity of the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. They are looking for volunteer knitters for their #ScarfUp project. You can read more about it on the charity website.
You may have missed it, but it’s not too late to view the BBC programme Inside the Factory episode about socks. It can be found on iPlayer. If watching it on your TV it’s Series 6, Episode 2.
The Museum of Army Flying are looking for knitted and crocheted helicopters for their heroic helicopter project. Closing date is 28th February so there is still time for you to help if you would like to.
It’s not our local area, but I did spot this on one of the Facebook groups and thought you might like to see it. It’s a report on ITV East Anglia so hopefully it will still be there.
Show and Tell
Gaynor included a photo of crochet tree decoration that she had made.
Nina also emailed to say that she hasn’t been knitting for a few weeks as she decided it was time to get her room sorted. She’s found some things she’d forgotten about so hopefully she will get to the knitting soon. Nina said that the room is looking much better now and she’s finally got her LK150 out of it’s box where it’s been since she last used it as a knitting weekend. So it’s had a good clean along with her other machine and everything is ready to be used.
Ros also weaves so her third photo is of a bright and cheerful table runner and mats that she made for Christmas.
Sally messaged to say her two week holiday over Christmas seems a distant memory already as she is back at work and it’s busy as usual.
For Christmas she was given a 4kg ball of "mahoosive" yarn. Sally said “It's horrible stuff to knit with, as the lack of twist means it keeps shedding everywhere! I used a couple of lengths of plastic pipe that we have left over from a DIY project, and my other-half commented that it looked like I was rowing a boat rather than knitting. It took 3 x 1hr sessions to finish the blanket, which I've boxed up to give back to the gifter next Christmas.” Did you take any photos of the finished blanket, Sally? I’m sure we’d all like to see it.
Sally concluded by saying “I am determined to finish more projects for me this year, so I've started by dusting off the knit-leader (which I keep meaning to get around to learning how to use) and I've started a cardigan. I'm still working my way through a stash of Duo Magic in a cream/aran colour. I think the "magic" is that the cone just keeps on going and going and going!”
I look forward to receiving photos of your knits and crochet for our next Newsletter.
And finally:
Until we meet again
Keep Calm
and carry on
Knitting or Crocheting!
Hands, Face, Space
Keep Active, Stay Positive - We will meet again
