Knitting Disasters...

There is no feeling like the satisfaction of completing a knitting project. Hours and hours of labour - not to mention the investment in the yarn - coming to fruition and resulting in a beautiful garment that you can proudly show off on Instagram or in your Ravelry group (is that just me?) or, if you are lucky enough to have friends/family who actually appreciate the time and effort that goes into a hand knit, to gift on with love.

But sometimes it all goes a bit pear shaped...

I started my Lush cardigan back in the summer with the intention of having a nice little transitional knit for those cooler Autumn morning school runs - you know, when it's not quite chilly enough for a coat but to cold for just shirt sleeves. I made really good progress and had divided for the sleeves a couple of days before we were due to take the camper down to Devon for a few days. Of course I packed my project bag, anticipating several hours of knitting time on the journey down and in between beach visits. I had a whole body's worth of straight knitting to do and I really wanted to get past that and onto the sleeves.
I didn't get as much knitting time as I would have liked - the weather was awesome and we spent more time on the beach than at the camp site! But a fair chunk of the body was knit over those few days. So far, so good.

Until I got to the waist shaping... (thank goodness I decided to do the optional waist shaping!)
My stitch count wasn't right and I could not for the life of me work out where I had lost 8 stitches. I know the count was correct when I divided for the sleeves all those rows back, and really 8 stitches is a lot of stitches to lose.
I read and re read the pattern before it dawned on me that I had not cast on enough stitches under the arm holes.

So this was not a fudge it job. If I left it as it was there was a real chance that, once finished, I wouldn't actually be able to get my arms through the sleeves...

unravelling is hard to do...

So all my hours (ok not that many, maybe 3 or 4?) of boring stocking stitch had to be unravelled. Right back up to the armhole. I got it sorted and even managed to re-knit a bit of the body but the net result was I returned from holiday with slightly less Lush cardi than I left with.

Now I know that in the grand scheme of things this is no great disaster and, although unravelling all that work was frustrating, I was able to fix the mistake and I will have a Lush to wear sometime soon. I have also learnt a very valuable lesson - ALWAYS check your stitch count after you have done any kind of shaping/dividing for arms/decreasing for neck etc etc. It saves a lot of hassle later!

But what about the disasters that can't be fixed?

This weekend got off to a grand start when I pulled a load of washing out of the machine to hang up to dry and found both my pairs of Blue Skies Sock Club socks, reduced by about a third of their original size and properly felted to boot. They weren't supposed to be in that load. They were supposed to be kept separate and hand washed! This wasn't just any old sock yarn - this was the fabulous Knitting Goddess's equally fabulous Brit Sock.

shrunken socks...

I may have cried.

A lot.

Unfortunately once your hand knit socks have shrunk there's not much you can do with them except hand them to someone with smaller feet. So Roo now has two lovely pairs of cosy felted socks to wear this winter (until he grows out of them, which given his current rate of growth means approximately one season) and my handmade sock drawer is reduced to 2 pairs once again.




On the bright side I suppose this means I have an excuse (if one were needed) to knit more. So Operation Sock Drawer begins anew...


What knitting disasters have you had? Have you ever accidentally ruined a much loved piece in the washing machine? Please tell me about them so I don't feel quite so alone in my despair and we can commiserate together...

Yarn Review :: Cornish Tin II

Some of you may remember the general excitement that accompanied the release of Blacker Yarns 10th Birthday blend Cornish Tin (you can read my review of this yarn on my old blog Tales from Mount Pleasant). This gorgeous limited edition yarn exceeded even their expectations and sold out within weeks...

But, if you missed out last time, never fear because Sue has decided to do it all again to celebrate their 11th Birthday!

image copyright Blacker Yarns

As before the blend is a limited edition and will only be made once. This time there are a few changes to the blend - most notably that it is made from 100% UK based fibre (the first Cornish Tin contained Falkland merino). 

Tin II is a woollen spun yarn blended from a collection of British fibres including Alpaca, Portland, Saxon Merino, Gotland, Jacob, Shetland, Black Welsh Mountain, Mohair, and English Merino and will be available in both 4ply and DK weights.

Once again it will be available in undyed Levant Grey and Blacker have tweaked the colour palette to seven glorious dyed colours, all named after Cornish Tin Mines.

Sonia sent me a small sample of both weights to play with and I couldn't wait to knit up a couple of swatches...

I kept it simple with my DK sample in deep and mysterious Polgooth Blue.  Squishy garter (after hearing Louise at Knit British rave about how the garter bumps popped -and OMG she was so right!!) interspersed with a panel of textured moss stitch with a couple of rows of stocking stitch in between for definition, on the recommended 4mm needles. It knit up quickly and smoothly - the yarn is definitely less 'rustic' than the first Cornish Tin  - and formed a thick, robust fabric. I think it would make the most fantastic winter sweater, it would certainly keep you cosy and warm!

For the 4ply sample (in the fantastically named Ding Dong Purple!) I decided to try something a little more lacy and knit up a small swatch in Old Shale lace.  Again the swatch knit up quickly; the yarn just slides through your fingers so smoothly, with superb stitch definition. This fabric too seemed quite thick but opened up beautifully with blocking. There is more than enough give for quite aggressive blocking here too - the lace opened up nicely without losing any of that wonderful texture or definition.

Both yarns appear to be sturdy, robust, smoother than the original Cornish Tin and soften and bloom  with blocking. I imagine they will wear well and age beautifully... (this is beginning to sound like a review for fine wine lol!) Cornish Tin II has wonderful stitch definition and would be perfect for structured and textured projects - cables in particular - and I think both yarns could easily cope with going up a needle size or three for a little more drape.

As my shawl obsession shows no signs of abating I have been looking, on Ravelry, at some of the lovely haps in Kate Davies' 'Book of Haps' and I think Cornish Tin II would be the perfect yarn to use for any of these gorgeous designs (I don't have the book as yet, I am saving my pennies for it because, however practical a digital download might be, you just can't beat the feel of a beautiful book in your hands...)

Tin II goes on sale on the 20^th September and will retail at £16.20 per 100g, this is a limited edition yarn so don’t miss out! 

Special Offer - pattern discount

Last year I designed a little pattern for the release of Cornish Tin (my first pattern for sale on Ravelry!) Lost in the Forest Mitts are a simple lacy fingerless mitt, inspired by autumnal walks in the Forest I call home. They take a very small amount of 4ply yarn (130m/142yds) and are a great project for using up those precious leftovers. They would knit up just perfectly in Cornish Tin II 4ply (or any of Blacker's other gorgeous 4ply yarns) and I would like to offer a special 20% discount to all you lovely readers using the code CT2BLOG at the checkout.
This offer runs till the end of September.