I have spent ages writing how to calculate the perfect set-sleevhead. It’s looking good, and my proofreader has applauded the clarity of my explanation, so those hours were not wasted.
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BBC Radio 4 ‘More or Less’ programme Friday 25th August, 16.30.
Earlier in the summer I was approached by the BBC to give an interview to about the history of clothing sizing. I was really keen to do this and try to put the problems so many of us have with this issue into some context.
It was a sweltering day, and it was a relief to avoid travelling and being able to take part in the interview in the BBC Brighton studio. If you ask me now what I talked about, I can’t remember, so it will be a nice surprise for me as well to listen on Friday at 4.30pm.
If you miss it, don’t forget to catch up on iPlayer.
Photoshoot for my latest book today.
Today has been all about lighting and getting knitting to lie flat. Every knitter knows how annoying the stocking stitch roll can be, and we are resorting to the tricks and tips the lovely photographer I worked with on The Knitting Book taught me. So far have managed to get some nice clear shots. I am loving daylight bulbs, as it's a bit cloudy today.
This morning's photos were mostly about shaping and tension swatches. This afternoon it's colour techniques.
Chapter Nine is nearly finished. One particular section on shaping calculation has been knotty. It's been proofread now and apparently I have made it really clear. Let's hope so, sleepless nights pondering how to describe sleeve head shaping seem to have paid off!
Back to the shoot now, but before I go, here's a camera-eye view of today's efforts.
Cutting fabric strips for research garment
I have just spent ages cutting nylon tulle into 1/2 inch strips. I tried tearing them, but the edges roll and become too smooth for my purpose.
Luckily I could use a powered rotary cutter, but even so the tulle fought back and slithered around.
The strips are to be woven into machine knit fabric to create a scratchy surface. Yes normally one is striving for a soft surface, but this garment is going to emulate for the wearer the feeling of having a skin disorder.
Sampling so far has found that nylon tulle on a Lycra base knit can be quite irritating. When the nylon is slightly melted it becomes even more irritating. So that’s the plan.
Peg loom
Ross has built me a peg loom. This is the only photo so far but more will follow. We found helpful instructions on the Internet and the finished one has three rows of pegs of different sizes spaces differently.
I want to make some rugs and although I am part way through hooking one I also want to make a loosely woven fleece one to felt and I haveJacob’s fleece that will do the job nicely.
‘plein air’ knitting
Caravanning and knitting. Sitting in a field whilst dinner is cooking on the BBQ. Knitting baby boots for Katie’s baby.
Scotney castle walk
Just walked from Lamberhurst to Scotney Castle. No great distance but managed to get stung by nettles, thistles in my feet and a dash of sunburn.
Rewarded by a very substantial cream tea with both fruit and cherry and coconut scones.
Last quick visit to the toilets before walking back to the caravan.
This weather is what summer holidays should be for.
A bit of kitchen and eco dyeing
This post is about a bit of experimenting I did last weekend. Dyeing is something I’ve mainly done with Dylon since leaving college myself. At college I learned to use acid and direct dyes in the correct chemicaly formulas, and I even went on a natural dyeing workshop many years ago but never seemed to have the time to put it into practise with small children around. I bought India Flint’s inspiring
So last week, having visited the Ethel Mairet archive at Ditchling Museum and been entranced by the naturally dyed yarns, plus talking to my students about natural dyeing, (which fits in nicely with the hand knit and hand spinning I am teaching a the moment), a.bit of wet work seemed just right.
To start with I dug out some ecru and natural yarns – one is alpaca and merino, and the other two are merino, all double knit weight. Only small, odd balls to play with as this is just fun.
I was regretting the state of a bunch of gorgeous deep red roses given to me on Valentine’s day by my lovely husband, which were dying, so I decided to use these to dye with. After a quite scoot around the internet I found these two helpful posts about dyeing with rose petals http://sadieraeandco.com/2013/03/12/rose-petal-dye/
and
and got cracking.
First I chopped the heads up finely – this is to release the most colour potential.
…and then put them into about twice their volume of water and brought it to the boil and simmered for about an hour to an hour and a half. Then I squeezed poured it all into a fine sieve and pressed out all the juice and water to extract this lovely coloured liquid (below). The petals were now a beige, having given up all their gorgeous red. I got very excited at this point and began to boil up pans of red onion skins, orange peel, carrot peelings, the cat… (oh no, sorry not the cat)…whatever I thought might give me a dye. Cooking spaghetti bolognese for dinner gave me a range of dye ingredients from the by-products! Luckily I am a good multi-tasker so I don’t think any dye-stuff ended upon in the spag bol sauce, well no-one complained anyway…
Whilst the petals were simmering I had taken my yarns and wound them into hanks on a niddly-noddy – I would love a wooden one, but this rather ghastly plastic one works fine. Actually I think I might have a wooden one somewhere… must look through my cupboards.
Whilst hanking the yarns I inserted ‘leases’ at intevals around the hank (3 on this small hank). These prevent the yarn tangling during the dyeing process and make it easy to back wind into balls afterwards.
I do love the look of a hank twisted up tidily.
The hanks of yarn were then immersed in the vinegar mordant solution, (I used 3 parts water to 1 part vinegar). They were simmered in it for about an hour, and then left in a glass bowl until the liquid was cool. A plate on top kept them submerged.
When they were ready, I took the hanks out of the mordant, drained them, and immersed the first one in the rose dye into which I had added a tsp of lemon juice as some people say this helps deepen the colour.
However, this is where I believe I went wrong. I had added salt when preparing it to help the dye stick, but I think I should have simmered the yarn in the dye at this stage, because the colour washed out even after an overnight soak. I did re-boil and simmer the next day but the lovely pink colour never returned, it went brownish. Not unattractive, but not the lovely pink it had promised after the first dyeing!
Not being put off I then dyed one hand in the orange peel bath and the other in the red onion skin one. I used only salt on the onion yarn. As with the rose version, I simmered it in a salt water solution and added salt to the dye bath as well and then simmered the yarn in that for an hour. The orange peel and carrot yarn was mordanted in vinegar as the rose yarn had been, salt was added to the dye bath and the yarn simmered in the dye for an hour.
Above are the hanks hung up to dry after rinsing well,
and below are the final yarns
I will knit these up once my cold has gone and I feel able to concentrate, and post the result…
Review of The Knitting Book
Thank you ‘butterfly reader’ for your review of The Knitting Book:
‘I do use other books as well as this one but this is the one I return to when I can’t remember how to do something’
read the complete review at:
http://butterflyreader.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-knitting-book-by-vikki-haffenden.html
Sequin yarn on a drop spindle
Its that time of year again when I become inspired afresh to spin when I freshen up my skills to teach basic principles and practise of spinning to the first year knit students. This year, I am concentrating on using drop spindles as the wheel can be quite intimidating as an introduction to spinning. Drop spindles are so accessible, and the look of pleasure on their faces when the first successful section of yarn is spun is so rewarding makes them the ideal introductory tool.
We start with tops so they don’t have to card (time is short for the workshop), and I buy both tops and spindles from Wingham Wool Works http://www.winghamwoolwork.co.uk, and find the dyed Merino tops a really easy one for beginners as the long fibre is more forgiving of slipping fingers and fumbled drafting.
I have made a few quite successful drop spindles out of chop sticks and wooden toy wheels which work well for those who choose not to purchase their own spindle (although as these cost less than a round of drinks I try to persuade them to invest). I discovered the wheels weren’t quite heavy enough, so have added a few pennies secured with BluTak as an interim measure – seems OK for the moment.
So whilst demonstrating I have spun a reasonable amount of purple tops up, and spent last evening plying this with a thread onto which I have threaded sequins – so have now got a pretty decorative yarn I will knit up and post here when done. Hopefully I have balanced the yarn sufficiently – but we will see. The fibre length for this was much shorter than merino so it is consequently a more woollen effect yarn.
Vikki Haffenden 
