It's Getting Colder

Which, theoretically, means that my knitting output should be growing as well, but it kind of isn't, to be honest.

I've been sick for the past week or so, which would normally be alright in terms of being able to sit around for a lot of time knitting. But no, I caught myself something which made me really tired, and even the idea of looking at the back section of Maidenhair was getting a bit tedious so....

I started a sleeve!

My logic being that, being a quarter or so of the whole back, I should be able to whip in a couple of rows here and there before feeling a little bit blase about it all. And that's not to say that I've fallen out of love with the pattern, because believe me, the more I knit of it, the more I want to knit to get it done.

I think it's this time of year that really inspires knitters to really invest a little bit more time in their knitting, churning out a last couple of scarves or beanies for the winter to come. And really, you don't need a lot more inspiration than just taking a bit of a walk outside, and seeing all the colours change.

I'd like to know if I'm the only one who thinks autumn is an exciting time for knitters and other crafters out there. I think that there is nothing greater than finally being able to fully invest myself in what I love doing, and I hope that you'll all take a little bit more advantage of the colder weather if you've got it!

xpeace folks

The Foundations of Designing Knitwear

After a bit of a hiatus, it's nice to come back with a lot of ideas and news to share with you guys.

I've begun to design a bit of a knitwear collection, I'm thinking of designing about 10 items all up, but it's hard to tell at the moment. I've been doing a LOT of mindmapping and brainstorming about what I want out of the stuff that I'm designing, because I would like people to get some use out of the patterns, while also sticking to what I like to knit, and what I like to wear.

Here is a photo of the workstation at the moment, with about a quarter of the swatches and tests that I've been doing over the past month or so:

I've really been getting into textured designing at the moment, because I like the yarn to be able to just pop out and be the star attraction. I've tried to make an effort and use 100% Australian wool/yarn, and I think that looking into the more textured designs are definitely paying off.

I really want the stuff that I am working on to scream colour. And lots of it. The last thing that people need on a drizzly, miserable grey winter day is to put on some dull clothing, what they need is a good dash of colour.  So, I've been trying to graph out a few stranded designs, whatever comes to mind really. I don't want to say that my sweaters are going to be anything garish, but I would love to dabble in a bit of the oversized colourwork from the 80's or so, but that is still in the pipeline at the moment.

All in all, though, it is a really exciting process, especially when you've got a pattern all written up and ready to go. I can't wait to start getting a few of the designs onto and off of the needles to show you guys here!

x peace folks

The maiden's hair is growing

Slowly but surely, I am plodding along with my Maidenhair cardi, and I still have not fallen out of love with it, and I doubt I ever shall.

However, I can never ever seem to get it in the right light. All this rain we've been having at the moment has made it very difficult to get any kind of decent photography done. Not that I would ever claim to be the world's best photographer, but it would be nice to get a nice light picture of it.

And I just watched the royal wedding, it was a pretty nice event to watch. Definitely great for some intense and delicate knitting done. And I think I may just keep on keeping on with the Maidenhair now. I don't think I've ever been quite so smitten with a pattern, but this is really so much fun to knit.


x peace folks

Introducing Maidenhair

Hi all,
It's been pretty busy around the office here at Hilarity at the moment, getting into the last stretch of autumn has been a really inspiring time for all things knit, just in time for winter. Designing a range of garments has been a pretty exhilarating experience, and I am really eager to let you all know what is happening behind the blog scenes. Anyway, there has been something that I can show you, a birthday/christmas present for my sister, it's the Maidenhair Cardigan/Jacket/whatever you want to call it by Alice Starmore.

Here is a pic of the back in progress:

Sorry for the poor lighting, I will endeavour to get a better photo in the sun tomorrow. But it is a blast to knit. Not too difficult to knit up, but it is still something that you have to follow until you can remember the pattern repeat. I adore knitting it so far

Just for kicks, I took a couple of photos of the pattern sections up close:

Side panel

Middle Panel

Needless to say, this is going to take a little bit of time to get off the ground, so I have a plethora of small knitting projects going on behind the scenes to satisfy my cast-off desires. Either way, hoping your Autumn/Spring break has been great, wherever you are, and keep those needles clicking!

x peace

New Knitting Ideas

With the autumn period well and truly upon us, I've kind of gone into mini project overload. Mainly scarves, if I'm completely honest, but a couple of hats here and there, and I'm planning to do a couple of mittens as well.
Here is a photo of my squishy scarf in progress. It's a simple mistake-rib pattern, but oh mylanta. Boy does it ever make for a lovely, squishy fabric. Definitely one of life's simple pleasures.

And, I assure you that the green is much nicer and a bit deeper in real life, I'll try and get a better photo of the colour tomorrow.

I suppose I've been in a bit of a knitting funk at the moment. After (almost) finishing my Osterdalen, I am loving just taking it easy in some scarf-knitting. No tension checking, no stranded patterning to worry about. This is real therapeutic knitting, working my way up to the harder stuff again. I started with 8 feet of garter stitch, a bit of mistake-rib, and it's really comforting. Plus it is great to have a lot of little projects completed after such a colossal beast of a project.

I've also been doing a bit of designing as of late, but I'm going to save the details for the next post !

x peace folks

Still Alive!

Hi everyone, hope that you are having a good week so far. I've been lucky enough to score (almost) three weeks of holidays, during which very little has to be done, so I'm glad to say that I have made a whole lot of progress on the knitting front.

After the Knitting and Crochet blog week frenzy, I must admit that I have been a little bit frazzled and fizzled out about blogging so regularly, and so I've kind of just returned to my pattern of just blogging when I have time to do it, and when I feel motivated enough.

So, onto the knitting. I've almost finished Osterdalen, and I took a few photos while I was doing the steeks which I might post up here, maybe in a post devoted wholly to the steeking process. I know that there are a couple of them out there, but it can never hurt to give people a helping hand, right?
I've pretty much finished doing all the little odd bits and ends of the knitting, and now I just have to put in the zipper, which I'm not liking. I just can't seem to wrap my head around the instructions in the Dale booklet, but I'm sure that I'll be able to find a whole lot of info about putting in zippers on the internet.

Apart from that, my life has been consumed with a whole lot of knitting projects. I want to knit up a bunch of plain scarves and hats, the main accessories and stuff. Just a lot of plain patterns, and then maybe open up a stall or something like that and see if I can make a little bit of a profit. It would just be cool to see if it were viable, I suppose.

Anyway, sorry about the lack of photo's, but it is pretty late now and the lighting is ghastly, so I will save them for the next post.

Peace for now folks x

Small Gauge Aran Work

I've been dreaming of doing a Starmore sweater for quite some time now, and now that I have all the patterns that I'm going to need to get myself going on a sweater or two, I thought I might as well try off a hat or something to familiarise myself with her style of pattern.

So, without any further ado, here is a picture of my Kittiwake hat-in-progress.

It was kind of hard to spread out the stitches on the needles in order to get the cables to stand out, but I'm liking it so far.

One thing that I have found, though, is that doing cablework at a smaller gauge is somewhat more tricky than at a larger gauge, because I tend to cable without a cable needle. But I'm not going to let that stop me.

In the meantime, I've finished the bulk of my knitting on Osterdalen, and I shall devote this weekend to getting it done and dusted, which means it's time to get the sewing machine out and cut, cut, cut away into the steek stitches. I'll make sure that I have a pot of coffee that morning :D

x peace for now folks