If at first you don't succeed, rip, rip, rip again!

 

After one jumper which was abandoned mid-make, and a second jumper which I haven't the heart to admit just didn't work, I have been thinking a lot about frogging. I love the term frogging, largely because non-knitters have a look of acute confusion when it's used as a verb (rip it, rip it). What I do not love, is subjecting my hard work to this act of destruction.

But should it be considered such a destructive act? Am I not giving frogging it's due, not looking at its benefits? Once I had frogged Phillipa I re-used the wool and started again, making something better and still beautiful. And here is the wonderful thing about knitting, being able to salvage and recycle.

In the past, when kids had jumpers knitted by their mothers, and families couldn't afford new clothes very easily, it was common to rip back a jumper, add a little more yarn, and make a slightly bigger jumper. I adore this idea, that there was no waste. New and beautiful things were created out of the very fibre of items that were already worn and loved.

Knitting is not a cheap hobby, especially if you want to use good quality and beautiful yarn, so recycling in this way means both saving money, and not having to simply throw away a yarn that you bought because you fell a little (or a lot) in love with it.

It's a hard choice to make, to reverse weeks worth of work. So I got curious about why people make the decision, why do knitters frog their work?

I spent a while on Ravelry, looking over the simply wonderful projects people have completed, but I spent more time reading about the frogged projects, and why people had chosen to do it. I found many reasons such as 'the fit was bad', 'the yarn doesn't work for this project', 'I just hate it', but the reason a few people gave which I really loved was that they loved the yarn and had a better project in which the yarn would be so much better. In this, the frogging is a loving act, giving something a new life in which it will be even more loved.

So I shouldn't feel sad when something must be frogged, I should feel excited about what it will now become.

Phillipa... My nemesis

Ok nemesis is a bit over-dramatic, but I've had a bit of a time with this little madam. It was my first attempt at making a jumper with my increasingly confident knitting skills, and it went belly up.

You might remember my last attempt with this wool resulted in excess armpit fabric, which felt very strange. I hadn't even got as far as the sleeves.

When I got back from visiting family before Christmas I decided that I wanted to give it another go, I hate not finishing things (though some things may be subjected to an extended pause).

I put into practice some stuff I'd been reading up on about measuring stitches and gauge from swatches... So I swatched! I'm now a swatching convert! Then came the maths.... So much maths... I don't like maths.

I decided to scrap the increases and make a box shaped body, then continue with the pattern for the armholes/neckline/pattern.... And.....

TA DA!!!!

IT WORKED! I now have a wearable jumper, that I made with my own two needles and several balls of wool. I'm really pleased that the first jumper I set out to make is still my first completed jumper too.

The diagonal stripes are really easy to get the hang of (even though the pattern makes it sound really complicated) and was easy enough to trundle through during my essential Christmas tv viewing. I didn't make the mistake of using too small needles so the finished jumper isn't too thick and heavy (but by gum is it warm!!). And I'm even really proud of my stitching up.

I did some steam blocking once all the pieces were knitted up (I did skip treating the ripped wool properly so it was still very wibbly), and it was only at this point I noticed a glaring pattern mistake...

The stripes on the left of the buttons should be facing the same way as those to the right of the buttons... And we're just going to ignore that wonky bottom button. I think this is a fault that could be overlooked (also translated as but I'd finished it, don't make me rip it back again).

In all, it's not perfect, it's still a bit big on me, it's wonky in places, but it's mine and I love it!

 Also I know these photos make the colour look different in every picture, camera and artificial lighting issues there. The closest is just above on the left (dark bluish purple).

The snuggest of snug scarves

It's not something I've done since I learned how to knit, is making a scarf, and that one wasn't even for me. This winter I decided I wanted a huge snugly scarf to keep me resembling a bug in a rug while out and about in the (granted not that cold) grim old North.

After scouring the tomes of Ravelry patterns to find a suitable freebie I stumbled accross a pattern for a ribbed scarf with a difference, a little extra oomph to make it a bit more special. (Link will be appearing here soon... Promise).

 

It's a really easy pattern to follow which is part rib, part moss stitch. I used a cheap and cheerful synthetic bulky yarn which I found in Wooly Minded in Newcastle in a yummy rich red colour (I think the colour was called "burgundy"). The result... Squishy city! I made it really (perhaps excessively) bulky but if you prefer a more slender scarf it's easy enough to reduce a couple of pattern repeats to make it lighter, and of course it can be made up in a lighter yarn (DK might produce nice results).

 And a close up of the stitches.

I wanted a quick fix knit that I could get finished and get some wear out of before Christmas. I cast this on December 6th and I finished it a week (and two balls of wool) later, now that's satisfying! I like to have long and more detailed projects on the go too.. But sometimes delayed gratification just doesn't work for a girl.

 I mean check out how squishy and snugly this bad boy is!!

When I'm wearing it I can either fold it down so it sits under my chin, or unfold it and have it covering my nose as well as my ears! Think wooly red ninja (he he).

 This is the folded down version. I love my scarf :)