This is Jean Luc Picard, of the USS Entreprise...

Equation for a quick birthday gift, for a sci-fi geek : left over wool + Star Trek fan + technology obsessed = Star Trek pyjama-like knitted phone cover.

Perfect! 

          

The knitting bit was really easy. After all, these Star Alliance uniform aren’t the trickiest to convert into..., well into anything really!... So here, no rocket science involved (poor pun intended).

The phone I’ve made this cover for is a Galaxy model (that one pun isn’t intended though!), but I’m hoping to work out measurements to fit an iPhone/iPod soon, and maybe tablets too... And in other colours than that of the Star Trek Next Generation Commander’s red.

Patrick Stewart, as Commander Jean Luc Picard

Using DK wool from the stash and 3mm straight needles (you can easily translate to double pointed needles I’m sure)

Cast on 24 stitches, using black wool.

Work 2 rows on 2x2 ribs.

Knit 8 rows in stockinette stitch.

Switch to the red wool, and continue in stockinette stitch until the piece measures 27cm from cast on edge.

Switch to black wool, work another 8 rows, and 2 rows in 2X2 ribs.

Cast off. Join sides using mattress stitch. Block.

Like I said, this is the easy bit. To transform this random block of colour into a Commander Jean-Luc Picard’s uniform, I needed to add a few things that are Next Generation specifics. It’s all about the details you know!... To start with, the insignia, the communicator badge for those in the know (that won’t be me by the way!). Using felt sheets and some random silver and gold paint, I managed to do just that in a way that it’s isn’t too bulky and also it is easy to sew it on and/or glue on the cover itself.

Also, another Trekkie I know suggested that I should add the 4 gold “dots” on the top of the black bit, as they are the mark of the rank of Commander Picard. I think. Well, whatever they are, they served me well as I hid a button in, or more like underneath, one of them; creating therefore a wee closing system for the phone cover. 

materials

communicator badge in the making

finished product

Et voilà!!! (Commander Picard is French, isn’t he?...)

Stuck with a chart design? Call the plumber!

My friend Jess, aka Ginger Twist, is opening her knitting shop. Actually, she has opened her shop TODAY!!! Exciting much? You better believe it...

I like to think that I am a good friend, so I happily offered a hand in sorting some things out for the wee shop. Like painting the outside, moving the stock of wool into the shop and also shelving the wool (I’d like to point out that I am an honest friend too, there was no cheeky skein or ball hidden in my pockets when I left. I promise!)

But also, I am having a go at knitting design for real. As in imagining a design, knit a sample, and nicely type and print the pattern and chart for other people’s use on the computer.

Ginger Twist Studio is selling this beautiful kid mohair, and I was very inspired to make a cowl with it. A cowl with stars. Like a woolly constellation.

Working on the design for the colour chart, my inner geek’s little voice in my head whispered this amazing idea...

Isn’t it so obvious!!! Getting hold of old school Super Mario imagery, I easily transcript the pixel art of the star sprite into my chart. (I do emphasize that it is not a copy and paste of the existing pixel art, it has been amended for my design’s purpose)

I am now in the process of knitting the chart. I am nearly halfway through, and really really pleased with it so far. What do you think?...

I expect the cowl and pattern (which I will name Stellar, after realising that my first choice of name is somewhat unpronounceable) to be on show at Ginger Twist Studio in a couple of weeks. A week to finish the sample, and a week to come to grips with computer programs for the pattern! I’ll keep you posted...

That sense of accomplishment... (and of relief!)

So I have been away on a few holidays lately.  Two short and a long adventurous one. Which is good, I love travelling and I have had a fantastic time. I’ll take time to tell you more about it some time...

Problem is when going away at length like that, is that all the things that have been started accumulate and just sit there, remain unfinished, on and on and on... And if that wasn’t bad enough I also had to start yet a new project upon my leaving to Africa (that’s the long adventure), because I wanted something small and easy to knit on the train and plane and during airport layovers... It actually helped a great deal keeping myself entertained so great idea there.  But now it’s just sitting along with the other bulkier or more complicated works I have ongoing... Gnnnnn...

I came back to real life and made an executive decision. Time to finish and not start things! Even if my head is overflowing with creativity. I shall be strong and resist temptation to cast on any new stitch what-so-ever!!!

I’m now proud to announce that I have finally finished the cropped jumper started over a month ago maybe two even. I appreciate it is by far the easiest project of the lot, but hey ho you’ve got to give yourself motivation one way or another. And I am well chuffed with this new garment of mine, as much for the sense of achievement as for the fact that it looks pretty cool!

The pattern, Fern, is from the book More Knitting in the Sun. I can still fit a 12 years old size top! Let’s have a bit of cake now...

detail of stitches worked

Onwards now to resume some colour work knitting and to finish these godforsaken Hawaiian shorts... And onwards to introduce mohair to my stash... Wait! What? “New wool”, “starting” something??? Oh well, I have a good reason for that. Other than I am weak faced with crafty inspiration...

on holidays, slow progress...

Yes yes, I know, it's been a while since my last post. About 2 weeks I think. It's just that these days I have started my holidays and travelling season, so I have other matters on my mind than knitting. "How dare she?!?!" I hear you exclamating! Don't worry, I haven't gone completely off the grid just yet! I am currently in the south of France (again) visiting my family and I have with me a few knitting projects to keep me going.

I am, of course, still working on the Hawaiian Trunks. The progress is slow, I confess. And I won't be finished in time for the boys' birthdays as planned. But it's ok really, it's nearly a tradition with my sister to be really late in the present delivery. Take last Christmas for example. I got my gift from my sis' only early March!
The problems I am encountering with this project at the moment is that the blue cotton that I bought from La Droguerie is quite quite hard to work on the hibiscus flowers colourwork bit, it just won't stay in place in place in my fingers! This is rather annoying, and I must do breathing exercises every 4 or 5 rounds or so to keep me from throwing it all away.
And of course I also forgot to bring the necessary needles to get a move on on the sunset pattern trunks... It's typical, one always has to forget something when one packs for a trip away. And also typically, I have starting using 3.25mm needles, which doesn't seem to exist in France. So for now and this project I am stuck (I have only completed the belt).

Being on holiday at my Mum's for a short time, we couldn't help but to go to every wool shop that we know off in the area. And I didn't resist buying some wool and started working on a cropped jumper for myself. I know it's not fair isle, but it's a cool project still.
(Oh, and talking of my Mum, she knitted this amazing short sleeve cardi in a duck blue mohair blend wool... I've been wearing it constantly for a week! Well, in the evenings; it's been sunny and 25°C and over since I got there last Friday, hee hee.)

Otherwise I am trying to come to terms with some computer programs to create colour charts. Not doing very well here so far, but I won't give up. The same way I'm not giving up on my Hobbit Kindle cover, it's just on hold I promise!

And finally, I've been doing a bit of sewing. All related to knitting too! I have a mind to recycle -or "upcycle"- old t-shirts into knitting bags. And I am having quite some fun with this to tell you the truth! I am looking forward to be able to get myself a sewing machine and make more of these than really is necessary...

So you see, I am away but still am a busy bee with my knitting needles.
The first 3 weeks in May I'll be travelling in Southern Africa (can't wait!) so posts will be scarce then. But I trust you'll forgive me, and be sure that I'll get back on weekly schedule as soon as... So keep patient my friends!

Hobbit Kindle cover # 1

Did I ever tell you that I am a nerd?

Well, there’s no hiding this from you anymore...

And it’s well due time that I blend my love for sci-fi and fantasy literature with my obsession with colour work knitting.

For my first nerdy knit creation and colour chart, I chose to make myself a cover for my trusty Kindle. And the inspiration comes from the best of them all, JRR Tolkien. I’ll be keeping the Lord of The Rings aside for a little while for now  -although I do have quite a number of burgeoning ideas in relation to it; so I’ll use The Hobbit instead. And I’m thinking it’s going to be rather straight forward really. Dwarves = runes = straight lines = easy. But is it really? Hell no it isn’t! I have now been working on this chart for a couple of days, and I am pulling my hair a little bit here.

For those of you who are unaware of this classic of literature that is The Hobbit; it tells the story of, duh!,  a hobbit (I don’t need to tell you what a hobbit is surely!) who finds himself embarked on a adventure with a bunch of dwarves thanks to a certain wizard who might just be as famous as Merlin himself by now.  The purpose of the adventure is to reunite the dwarves with an enormous family treasure that is now guarded by a nasty dragon. And because there is a treasure to find, there is a map. Thror’s map. And it is the legend, the key, of this map that I am *trying* to transform into a e-reader/tablet cover. To be more precise, that little bit on the left corner that marks (I quote) “the secret entrance. You see that rune on the West side [of the mountain], and the hand pointing to it from the other runes? That marks a hidden passage to the Lower Halls.”

Thror's map - as printed in my copy of The Hobbit

work in progress

So there you go, or more accurately there I go! Let’s keep working on this idea, the dwarvish runes may not be as easy as I thought to transfer onto a chart, but I’ll soon get there I know. And then onto knitting a cosy and awesome looking cover for my Kindle...  And then when I succeed at this one, perhaps I’ll think about creating more nerdy designs for tablet covers (Harry Potter anyone? Or A Song of Ice and Fire / Game of Thrones?)...  

Mmmmmmh, I may be onto something here...

Pine Bough Cowl # 2

And I am back from holidays... For now anyway!

A few days away in Nice, where the sun has not been shining that much actually... But no matter I am not here to talk vacation, am I?

postcard from the Riviera!

I took my Pine Bough Cowl project with me to work on while on the road, aiming to finish it by the time I got back to the UK. And I guess I would have, if I hadn’t had so many obstacles in my way! It has been quite the trial of patience, let me you...

First, and mainly, my needle broke!

It started to split on my train ride to the airport. Not cool! I was counting on that journey to do a fair bit of the knitting... I fixed the problem à la MacGyver when I got to Nice, and got my hands on some thermal retractable sheath (got that wee trick from an old musician flatmate of mine who used to repair his jacks and cables with this stuff), and it did the trick until one of the needle's end completely detached! Even less cool!!! That was time for some proper surgery. Cut, snip, re-sheath, I got myself a needle that just about last me until I got back to my house. When I switched needles, I saw that the other end was starting to split as well... Oh dear, it was well overdue time to be reunited with all my knitting equipment... 

And if this wasn't enough, I also at times didn’t carry enough yarn when taking the project to knit on the go...

But, eventually, I did complete that God forsaken cowl! (Sorry Dianna, I did enjoy knitting your design, and I do love to wear it now, but quite honestly I am glad I am done with it and its lot of troubles...) And with these few drawbacks I did so by the end of the month too, my own self inflicted schedule! So all in all, success!!!

Shaun modelling the Pine Bough Cowl

Time to move on to other knits now...

Hawaiian trunks # 3

This week, I’m away on a little holiday to France. A well deserved break from the horrible winter weather,  catching up with my friends back home in Nice. But don’t you worry, I’ve been bringing my knitting with me! I have this Pine Bough Cowl to finish, remember? And how am I supposed to past the time in transports if not by doing some needle work!

And did you also think I would leave you without the latest updates on the Hawaiian Trunks designs?

The charts are now pretty much ready for me to start on the shorts as soon as I get back to Edinburgh. Well, I’ll need to get wool shopping first, but then I’ll get to the task to bring these crazy ideas to life! No more distractions! (Except perhaps inspiration for other projects... But that's ok.)

(Somehow my subconscious made me choose orange and brown pencils for the palm tree chart... Which, before I coloured the background with yellow, resulted in a striking resemblance to the logo of a certain coconut flavoured alcoholic beverage... Brain, are you trying to tell me something here???)

I'll be back in few days. Until then...

Hawaiian trunks # 2

Ta-Dah!!!!

Here is it, the hibiscus flower sample!

What do you think?

I think it looks pretty good, a promising start... True, the colours aren’t the best to display the design to its full potential. I used some left over wool here, but of course when I’ll knit the actual shorts I’ll be using some white or other light/pastel tone to contrast on a bright and darker main colour.

And I’ll be using cotton, not wool. I always pictured cotton or a cotton blend to do this project. It just seems the right material for a pair of shorts to be worn in hot hot summers.

Also on Friday afternoon, as I was finishing my sample, I have heard a couple of times this : “but, if you go into the water with these knitted trunks, won’t they shrink?”. I reflected about that a little. And I came to the conclusion that you would need to swim (quite erratically too) in a sea water that is 30°C or more for that to happen.  And even for my nephew on his island in the tropics, for whom these shorts are intended, the ocean doesn’t really get that hot. Correct me if I’m wrong...

Right, now I need to work on polishing and adding a couple of leaves and details to this hibiscus chart. And start the other chart, the one for the sunset with palm trees. This is all quite challenging but very exciting! I shall have these draft drawings ready to show really soon!

Pine Bough Cowl

Sometimes, it is good to knit someone else’s design. Especially so when that someone else is a friend who is trying to build a career and a living out of knitting. And who is crazy talented, providing a beautiful and original fair isle pattern!

When my friend Dianna Potter released this pattern, I immediately adored it! And I set myself to work on this project, quick.

A funny thing happened when I went to buy the wool. I have over the past few months used a lot of cold colours in my projects, a lot of blues and greens and greys. So for this one I just wanted some warmer tones, some yellows and oranges with a nice shade of fuchsia or brown for contrast. I spent an hour in the shop, choosing the colours for my “sweater for the neck”, as Dianna calls it. And as you can tell from the picture below, I didn’t buy any of the tones I had in mind, but some green and blue yarns! Unbelievable! What had happened there? Where and how did I lose track of my original plan?

And then a day or two later, I realise that I have lost one of the blue yarns. Dilemma! Do I get another ball of blue, risking ending up with wool from different dye lots?  Or... Or!!! Do I choose a second contrast colour?...

Aaaah, I think this last idea is a good one, and that the white is quite matching with the main green and make the contrast blue stand out a little more too. No?

I am now halfway through this knit, and I’m loving it. However I’m keeping the last 50% for next week when I’ll be flying to France for a few days; it will make a perfect holiday project. Expect to see the end result at the end of the month!

Find the free pattern for the cowl here, and also check out Dianna’s designer’s profile on Ravelry or find her on the Paper Tiger blog (from my blog roll on the right of your screen).

Hawaiian trunks # 1

After the Christmas craziness of knitting for what seems half of my entourage, for the past couple of months I have been working on a few projects that I’m keeping preciously for myself. But now it is time for me to realise that the season of friends and family birthdays is soon upon me again. Starting with my baby nephew’s second birthday.

Knitting something for my nephew’s birthday is always a tricky situation. Firstly because I have two nephews, and although it is the youngest we are celebrating soon, I can’t just not knit for the oldest (who’s 7) at the same time. And vice versa.  So, it is not one project I need to think about, but two. What kind of Auntie would I be otherwise?

Secondly, because my sister and her family live on a small island in the middle of the Indian Ocean. They spend Christmas refreshing themselves in a swimming pool, and their winter is as cold as a Scottish summer is hot. Scarves and big woolly hats and jumpers are rather useless over there...

But recently, exploring Ravelry for some other purpose, I came across this pattern of trunk shorts from the book More knitting in the Sun,by Kirsti Potter. It’s perfect! These two boys have their share of light jumpers already, and these shorts are wonderfully fitting for their environment and their lifestyle – running everywhere barefoot.

But I can’t just knit this in one colour, can I? No no no, not me!

Thinking of tropical islands, with sandy beaches and volcanoes (yes, you read that right) and surfers, I choose to give these shorts a Hawaiian look. I want big flowers, bright colours, possibly a sunset and palm trees! Well, I have to make two pairs of shorts, so I have room for experiment...

But let’s start with the obvious Hawaiian shirt design, the big fat flowers. So on Saturday I’ve been looking at drawing a first chart of a hibiscus flower. I simply typed “hibiscus design” in the search engine, looked at the images results and after selecting one I liked, I drew it by hand on my trusty squared Pukka pad. Ah yes, I draw my charts by hand; no tracing paper, where would be the fun in that!

working station

And a draft hibiscus chart was born!

A trial knit is undergoing, and I’m really excited to see how it will turn out! You will, of course, be the first ones to see the result of this experiment; with a picture posted here most likely by the end of the week.

The first charts

And so Christmas 2012 was approaching. Fast.
But no matter, I had just discovered fair isle and fair isle my friends would get as presents. Whether they liked it or not. And even if there was only a few weeks to spare before D-Day (or Christmas Day).
I knitted 3 fair isle hats in the space of a month (along with a "normal" hat, a cowl or two, and a bolero). It was very much the only stuff I did while hibernating at the beginning of winter.

All hats are based on a pattern found in a old magazine from my Mum's, dated from the 90's I think.
I didn't really keep notes of things completing the projects, I didn't think I'd have to use any of it again! But I think it goes as follow :
Cast on 96 stitches on a 3.5mm circular needle.
Work 8 cm on 2x2 rib
Switch to 4mm circular needle and knit a round, increasing 1 stitch every 20 stitches (100 st)
Knit the 32 rounds of fair isle chart
Switch to double pointed needles, and start decreasing 10 stitches every 2nd round, until 20 stitches remains.
Decrease to 10 stitches.
Close hat.

Now, these are the instructions for a hat that would actually fit someone's head nicely. The first hat I've made (with the lettering) was too small and the second one (with the pandas) ended up too big. But it's like they say, third time's the charm and the green hat was the right size!
I have used Rowan's Pure Wool DK for all three hats, with also some K1 Yarns Scappa wool as contrast colors on the green hat.

1- "I love the beat" hat
I had two charts to do that one. One for the 32 rounds of the hat's main body, and one for the "I love the beat" lettering. The latter looks like a banner, I've worked it on a 50 stitches width basis, so it would be knitted twice to fit the circumference of the hat.

finished!

and of course he has to wear the hat with the change of rounds at the front. ..

2- Panda hat
The reason this one ended up too big is because I liked the black pandas so much I just felt like I'd fit some more and did the blue ones. Therefore extending the length of the hat a few rounds too many. Oops!

pandas in the detail

3- Green hat
A simple fair isle design, but it hit the spot with the friend who received this hat a present. Or so he told me, I hope it was an honest thought!...

Once upon a time...

Once upon a time, there wasn't any princess, who wasn't living in a land far far away.
There was me, Sylvie. Born and raised in southern France (which actually is sort of a far far away land, depending where you're reading this post from...), and I've always been surrounded by knits and wool and needles thanks my Mum.
I am a child of the 80's, and in the 80's, fair isle seemed to be all the craze. Or at least my sister and I used to wear quite a few fair isle and intarsia jumpers then, so it was the craze in our household at any rate.

showing some Mummy love, wearing my favorite fair isle jumper she knitted

Funnily enough I never got into knitting when I was a kid, but somehow the failed attempts to learn to cast on and stitch and purl that I made then didn't go wasted when I decided, 2 years or so ago and now living as an expat' in Edinburgh, to pick up the needles again. Success!!!
Quickly I felt like I wanted to move on to beyond basic skills. So I went to a knitting class, and was taught by Vala how to knit fair isle (find her on Ravelry here)...

my first fair isle rounds

the end product of the fair isle class

And an obsession was born...
Obsession doesn't even start to describe it. I went to the class in late November, therefore quite a lot of of my friends ended up with fair isle hats in their Christmas stockings. And I just dived in in creating my own patterns. I went a little bit nuts over this, but I've made it to the schedule. But this, my friends, will be the subject of a future post. Or two.
Although I am far to have become the most skilled of knitters (always progressing!), my mind is buzzing with so many ideas of designs to turn into color charts that I just had to put it out there. Out there being this blog, on the world wide web, an entire world to share my crazy ideas with. What I aim is to share with you the charts and designs I am creating, without pretention. I'm doing it, the knitting and the blogging about it, because I'm having so much fun with it!!! And I'm crossing my fingers that you'll be having fun reading me and trying my crazy fair isle designs!
Until then, my fellow knitters...