Well covered

When people think of knitting they tend to think of winter woolies, gloves and hats and cozy blankets. Which makes selling knitwear during summer something of a challenge. So recently I’ve been thinking of things I can make that don’t conjure up thoughts of open fires and hot chocolate.

What I came up with was iPhone covers, and then I decided that I wouldn’t knit them after all - it was time to get out the old crochet hook and cotton. I’ve come up with three different iPhone designs so far: a plain double crochet one; a ‘RING, RING’ one; and a lacy one that I’m going to line. The first two are cotton, the final one was made from a bit of leftover wool.

Plain iPhone cover. This is a simple double crochet design in cotton.

Double crochet (or single crochet in American) is ideal for iPhone covers. It creates a nice thick, tight fabric that will protect the phone, while cotton is hard wearing and machine washable. The plain cover is simple: make a chain that’s about the same length as your phone and then do double crochet rows until the fabric is long enough to wrap around your phone; join along the edges and bottom. I also did a double crochet border in a different colour along the top to provide contrast.

The back of RING, RING. The trick, as with knitting colourwork, is to make sure
you don't pull the threads too tight.

RING, RING was much more fun. I wanted to write ‘RING’ into both sides of the cover, using crochet rather than embroidery or Swiss darning. So I would be using two colours in the same row, kind of like crochet Fair Isle. I’ve used crochet to make stripes before, but I’ve never actually done colour work using crochet before. This was going to be interesting.

I remembered from doing stripes that the trick is to use the alternative colour to do the final step of the stitch, so with a double crochet, you insert the hook through the stitch below, wrap around in your main colour and pull through, then use the second colour to complete the stitch. You now have a finished stitch in your main colour and a loop on your hook in the second colour.

It worked! One RING as ordered.

The next step was to work out how to do the actual writing. This involved working out how many rows and stitches are needed to make one side of the cover and then drawing this onto graph paper, with each square representing one stitch. Then I drew out the letters, and it was time to start crocheting. That was when it got complicated.

To change colours in a row, you run the different threads across the back of the work, making an unholy mess of the back of the work; however, when you get to the end of a row, you turn your work, making the back now the front. This meant I had come up with a new way of crocheting so that the mess remained on the back. Crocheting on the right side was simple - just go ahead as usual - but with the wrong side showing I had make sure the non-working thread was at the front of the work. The working colour I could use as normal, but once I’d finished with that thread I had to pull it over the work and hold it tight to the front of the fabric, then bring the new working colour into play by pulling that over and to the back of the fabric, and then crochet as normal.

The finished article. This was the test piece, done in what I happened to have handy,
so the contrast isn't great, but you can see what I'm aiming for.

Have I created a new way to crochet? Probably not - I’m certain that I’m not the first person to think of this, but does open up a lot of possibilities with crochet colourwork. I’ll be crocheting Fair Isle-style jumpers before you know it.

Luscious lace

I recently finished my first ever lace shawl. It’s Ishbel by Isolde Teague, and a quick look at Ravelry shows that it’s certainly a popular design - more than 11,000 completed projects. Wow! I knitted it in Sea Silk by HandMaiden Fine Yarn, a silk/seacell mix, in a variegated purple. I bought the yarn ages ago at Stash in south-west London when some knitting chums visited. I had no idea what I’d do with it, but it was so soft and silky and purple that I just had to buy it. And it turned out to be ideal for Ishbel, so how’s that for serendipity?

The finished piece. Prior to blocking, the lace isn't all that impressive.

It did take a while, mostly because I kept getting sidetracked by other things (designing, mainly. Designing is so much fun). But also because of a few mistakes. The biggest one was in the simple stocking stitch section. That’s right - the section that should have been easiest. To make the shawl a nice triangular shape, the centre stitch is flanked by a yarn over on either side; somehow I managed to move my centre stitch and yarn overs combo by one stitch. This meant there was one too few stitches on the first half (and conversely one too many on the second). I didn’t notice this until I got to the lace sections and there weren’t enough stitches for the pattern repeats. I had to undo the whole thing. Damn.

Blocking really brought out the lace pattern
and pointed edging.

But undeterred I carried on. My advice? Use a stitch marker! I don’t know how that stitch shifted but if I’d had a stitch marker in place it wouldn’t have.

The pattern is easy enough to follow - the lace sections being a set of repeated stitches to the centre then the same stitches in the reverse order to the end. Once you’ve got the repeating bit for each row in your head, off you go. My only criticism is that stitch counts aren’t given at the end of each row, just each section, so it can be difficult to keep track of things. In the end I figured that if I’ve got the right number of stitches to repeats then I must be doing OK, and this seemed to work.

The problem is that when you do make a mistake - and I made two - you don’t find out until you’re on the next pattern row (there’s a purl row between each), and when you’re knitting more than 200 stitches this can take rather a long time and involve quite a lot of counting, undoing and redoing. Both my mistakes involved missing out a yarn over, which was easy to spot so I could just make a stitch in the appropriate place and merrily carry on without too much fuss. If you’ve forgotten a k2tog or psso, however, it’s going to be a tad more frustrating as you will have to undo (and redo) nearly three rows.

This is a project that needs to be blocked. Once I’d cast off (nice cast off method, by the way: k2tog, slip stitch back onto left-hand needle and repeat. I’d never seen that before and it creates a lovely cast off edge), the lace section looked, well, a bit rubbish. All scrunched up and ugly. But after a bit of work with some pins and an ironing board, the lace really came into its own - a pretty, leaf-like pattern with a pointy edge.

I’m certainly pleased with the finished object and I’m planning on taking it on holiday with me as a posh evening cover up. Now I just need to go somewhere posh.

Lovely! Now I just need an invite to some place posh so I can wear it.

Yarn review: Manos Silk Blend

Composition: 70% extra-fine merino and 30% kettle-dyed silk
Tension: 22sts x 30 rows
Length: 270 metres per 100g hank
Colourway: Candyfloss
Price: £15 (from SoSusie Yarns at Archway Market)

Now that my Ishbel is done, I’ve been able to concentrate on testing out a yarn I’ve had for a while. Manos Silk Blend is, as you might expect, a gorgeous mix of silk and merino from fair-trade organisation Manos del Uruguay.

In progress: the colour and stitch pattern are shown off nicely.

Manos del Uruguay is a non-profit social organisation which, since 1968, has provided jobs for craftswomen living in Uruguay rural areas. The yarns are hand made and dyed in small lots, and the collective also produces clothing and artisanal goods.

The yarns really are luscious and Silk Blend is truly gorgeous: soft to the touch, smooth and warm. It has a very high ‘squish factor’, as I like to call it - a yarn’s ability to produce that need in all knitters and crocheters to grab a yarn and squash it, stroke it and hold it against our skin.

A very simple k2tog/YO pattern was used to create the lattice effect. The merino blend combined with the open-work stitches should produce a very warm yet lightweight hat.

This is not a very tightly wrapped yarn and I was slightly concerned it would be splitty but it’s not all. It’s actually really nice to knit with, although I would suggest that metal needles would be better than wooden or bamboo. I used a metal circular and the yarn slid along it nicely, but I suspect it might stick on the rougher surface of wood or bamboo. It knits up nicely and the stitch definition is lovely.

The lacy cap I designed to test the yarn shows off the variegated colour well, I think, and the super-soft blend of silk and merino means it’s safe for even the most sensitive of heads. The pattern will be available shortly via Ravelry and as a kit from SoSusie Yarns - watch this space!

The finished hat. It would make a great gift for a baby or little girl.

Shawl thing

I have a confession: I’m a little bit tired today. You see, I stayed up till gone 1am to get my Ishbel shawl finished. We’ve all done it - just a few rows to the end, so you might as well carry on. But when those rows are around 300 stitches long, it takes a tad longer than you might hope. But at least it’s done.

This really is a project that will benefit from blocking. At the moment it doesn’t look that great. The lace is all bunched up, rather than light and airy, which a good blocking will sort right out. I'm pleased with it though, and I've decided I really do love knitting lace.

The finished shawl. It will be much bigger and much lacier when blocked.

Lace detail. It will look much better when blocked.

Easy stocking stitch centre section.

The drugs do work

For those who don't know, in July 2007 I was diagnosed with severe depression. I was signed off work and prescribed Citalopram. I knew nothing about this drug other than what my GP told me: it's a selected seratonin re-uptake inhibitor or SSRI, the same family of drugs as Prozac. A scary thought - I've read Prozac Nation.

Severe depression means that it was bad. I hadn't just thought about killing myself, I'd planned how I'd do it. So when I say that Citalopram saved my life I'm not being melodramatic.

Citalopram, an SSRI. Photo by Fimpelman (commons.wikimedia.org).

Mental illness is not well understood in the UK. And depression is one of the most prevalent and least understood. (Along with alcoholism, but that's a whole different story.) I kept my depression hidden from most people at the beginning, telling only a select few, most of whom were very supportive. Even my own father thought I should have been able to just myself out of it, that it was a matter of choice.

My boyfriend of the time didn't really get it either. He tried, but there were days when I could barely get out of bed and he would get home filled with silent resentment that I hadn't done the housework. It's difficult to explain to someone who hasn't experienced it just how exhausting even the tiniest things can be. At times just sitting up in bed was completely draining.

Citalopram gave me my life back. But it also cut me off from myself. It was like being two separate entities. The human being who went to work, paid bills, was a productive and useful member of society. I'm deliberately avoiding words like machine and automaton here, because it wasn't mechanical. It was organic, autonomous. It just wasn't informed by that other part of me, the feeling, creative part that in my depression had become my enemy.

I couldn't write. I couldn't create. I was studying for an MA at the time and after four days stating at a blank page I had to come off the drugs in order to write an essay. My brain went haywire. I felt dizzy and spaced out, but my 5,000 word essay was written in a matter of days. It probably goes without saying that I did this without my doctor's knowledge.

But the worst thing for me, as a wannabe novelist, was that I couldn't write fiction. The words just weren't there anymore. For as long as I can remember I've written fiction. It's part of who I am. My brain was forever coming up with new ideas for novels, stories, plots, subplots, characters, even a screenplay once, and I got huge pleasure from making these real through words. And suddenly I couldn't do it anymore. That part of my brain was no longer accessible. I hated it. Right from the beginning I wanted to get off Citalopram.

It’s taken four and a half years of slowly decreasing my dosage, with a few setbacks, notably last January when things got really dark again, but a few weeks ago I stopped taking Citalopram. So far it’s been fine.

Life is certainly harder without Citalopram. Being on it is like being in a bubble that protects you from life’s sharp edges. It’s like having a nice comforting barrier between you and what’s happening to you. Life without Citalopram is more raw, more real. Emotions are more vivid. Sometimes I find myself crying for no reason, the final episode of the latest series of Being Human was a total blub-fest. But there are also moments of joy, just at the wonderousness of life. And I’m writing again. Short stories, two whole chapters of a children’s fantasy novel, and of course this blog post. 

I've gone on quite a bit, so as a reward for getting to the end, here's a cute picture of a cat. Own photo.

Crucial cases

I’m designing again. Crochet this time. I was inspired by the fact that I have lots of circular needles. I used to be scared of circs, then I used them and I’ve never looked back. You can have way more stitches, the weight of your work is on your lap rather than your wrists, and there are no ends to catch in your sleeves (or is that just me?). What’s not to like?

Well, there’s the problem of identifying the needle size once you’ve taken it out of the packet. You can use a size gauge, but who wants to bother with one of those? And where do you keep your circs without getting them all tangled up or lost?

These were the problems I was considering when I came up with the Hanging Circular Needle Case. Not the snappiest of names, I know, but at least you know what you’re getting. It’s a simple enough concept. A long piece of crocheted fabric in three panels: double crochet, fan lace pattern and double crochet shaped to come to a point. It’ll fold in three, secured with either a button or hook and eye. I’ll line it with fabric that shows through the lace pattern and sew on some ribbon to hang it up with.

The first panel, nearly done.

Rib tickler

A lot of design, at least the way I do it, is trial and error. When I first started the needle case I was positive I wanted a rib effect on the double crochet panels. I achieved this by crocheting through the back loop only. The resulting fabric looked lovely. But then it occurred to me that it would also be very stretchy, and that this would make it rather difficult to sew the lining on. Hmm.

I’d done 10cm by the time I made this realisation. There was no choice but to undo the whole thing. I’ve redone it now, with just a plain ol’ double crochet. It ain’t as pretty, but it works, and it was much quicker than the dc tbl. Yeah, now I’m thinking that I’d be on the lace panel by now if I’d started off with dc.

A close up. A very poor one - you try taking a good close up inside at night. No? Thought not.

Changing names

A while ago I changed my blog and Twitter name from Idoru Knits to knitting etc. I thought the latter sounded more serious, more grown up. I was wrong. I want my old name back.

Designer label
There is a reason for this. I’m not just being fickle - not entirely anyway. I want to design things. I want to produce the things I design under my own label. And I want that label to be Idoru Knits. Even though there’ll be crocheted items too. Maybe even some sewn ones if I ever get brave enough to use my sewing machine.

Recently I’ve been busily designing lots of things - a jumper, a wrist warmer, a t-shirt, headbands and flowers. I’m going to write up the patterns and try to sell them, and then make up lots of the smaller items and sell those too. I’m going to set up a Folksy shop when I’ve got something to put in it.

I’m not expecting to make my millions through this little design project. A bit of pocket money would be nice, but mostly this is a creative outlet. I’ve really enjoyed the few pieces that I’ve already designed, working out how make a frill on the bottom and cuffs of my jumper, the climbing vine pattern on my t-shirt, figuring out size and fit. It’s been a lot of fun. Long may it continue - under my new name, of course ...

My new headbands.