The Big Knit May 8, 2013

Blanket in progress

Much as I love teaching, the trans-continental travel involved in my teaching trips is very disruptive to the creative process as well as the book-finishing process. I’m now mid-way through an intensive period of travel, from California to the UK and points in between.

My future new book offering, A Little Book of BIG Holes for Hand-knitters, is so near completion! However, since I just can’t work on it while on the road, I planned that the book would be back on Lynda Gemmell (of Cabin Fever)’s desk during this period, so that she could work her layout and formatting magic whilst I was away.

Of course, for long periods of travel one needs something to knit! Preferably something that wouldn’t require endless notes or immediate writing, because, once this period is over, I’ve got to get back into and finish the book. This is not as easy as it sounds: A book is years of effort and work, all expended with no income whatsoever until it is released. It takes self-motivation and stubborn tenacity. For some reason, I would rather just keep knitting…

As you may have detected, I adore double knitting, absolutely love it. I’ve been experimenting lately with a perfect circular tubular cast-on for double knitting: It is so beautiful and elegant. I’ve also been wanting to make a basket with pockets up the sides for storing needles and crochet hooks, these pockets to be created with differing stitch numbers between the layers. The basket began on a 10 hr road trip, which I hardly noticed as I was so absorbed in the initial stages. (When our van was being checked over by customs on reentering Canada, the border agent did comment drily that I must really love knitting! It rather resembled a surreal spider web of yarn within our vehicle.)

DK Basket version

I worked a basket and was pleased with the result, but I just wasn’t ready to finish knitting. So I started another double knit circular object, but this time with the resolve to go big or bust! I’m up to over a 1000 sts per round and LOVING it. Once the cast-on and the first few fiddly rounds are over, it’s plain sailing. Of course I’m having all sorts of ideas for more exotic designs and I may well start another one very soon, but it’s so much fun to have something HUGE and entertaining on the needles to grab and go.

Although I do admit it is beginning to be a rather large piece of carry-on for the airplane tomorrow! I wonder if this is the excuse I need to start a new project? Have any of you carried really big knitting on a plane? I’d love to hear!

Good Morning Sunshine! April 25, 2013

Air Force 1 in Boston

Really, Really Good Morning! I’m in California, just outside San Jose. The sun is shining (I gather Nova Scotia has had a cold dreary wet week). It’s so lush and green here, with steep, bubbly hills covered with trees (with leaves!). The natives take this all for granted: of course there are leaves and sunshine in April! To me, it is still entirely magical. Leaves happen in June, after all.

As part of my new policy of sniffing more roses, I’ve taken a couple of days out of my trip to spend some time with a knitting friend before traveling on to Nine Rubies, just outside San Francisco, for weekend workshops. Is all this perhaps the wisdom of age starting to poke at me? Perhaps life really is short?

In spite of an inauspicious beginning, this trip has been going well. On the evening before my early morning departure, United Airlines left me a message informing me that they’d cancelled my flight, but not to worry: “We have rebooked you for a day later!”

I then spent six times the amount of patience I had, on hold, trying to get through to them on the phone.  Surely they could have left a number that would have led me to assistance a little faster, since they were the ones messing me about? When I did get through (thankfully the phone battery held out), their attitude was that I was the one being a nuisance, wanting to change things!

I ended up flying to Boston, rather than Manchester, as I needed to get to my destination the next day. Classes began at the Elegant Ewe on Friday. I usually allocate a whole day for travel legs (to allow for slight delays), but allocating two days, just in case the airlines mess up, seems ridiculous!

Our plane’s arrival in Boston was held up by some guy with a big, shiny plane called Air Force 1, who seemed to want a more than the usual amount of air space. Surely that calls far more attention to his presence? I was, however, very saddened by the news of the Boston explosions. The contrast between freedom, joy and personal achievement that characterizes the Boston marathon and the horror and wanton destruction made this atrocity even more obscene.
The workshops at Elegant Ewe went swimmingly. I believe this is my 5th multi day knit-fest for them! Wonderful place, delightful and creative students.

Then I got to the tricky travel bit: getting to Washington State. Flights seem to either leave ridiculously early or much too late. I prefer to take the early option so that I have a fall-back position if that one fails, something which seems to happen disturbingly frequently these days. However, when I had to get up at 0345 and head west, with a 3 hour time change ahead, it didn’t seem quite as jolly!

Yorkshire Yarns was fun and Sonya a delight, but it all went by like a whirlwind. I left straight from the workshop to the airport, just in case of encountering newly created hold-ups in security, which I’d been hearing about. As it turned out, I was through in 7 mins, but it’s the uncertainty that gets to you. Perhaps I do need to be a day early for a flight? I am always so relieved when I get to where I ought to be.

I absolutely love meeting new knitters (old knitters, too) on my teaching travels, but the stresses associated with the actual traveling are a little less entertaining.

The Capitol in Concord NH

Yorkshire Yarn next to the old theater

I get Email… April 18, 2013

Home Sweet Home on Tancook Island

I am posting (with the author’s permission) a delightful email I got recently.  Coming as it did, mere days before my next long teaching trip is starting, it banished my annoyance at having to pack so many knitting samples, at facing another round of airport security types,  flight cancellations and at sleeping somewhere other than home.

“Dear Lucy, (and I do mean dear!)

I have been a newbie knitter for about 30 years, LOL! Seriously, I have always loved knitting and crocheting, and have dabbled for a very long time, but I have always had such trouble with my tension, that my stitches were SO tight on my needles and I couldn’t ever fix it no matter how hard I tried. So I gave up. Over and over again, I gave up. All that changed when I found your website through Cat Bordhi’s website (who I stumbled across on Pinterest).

On a whim, I decided to try holding my yarn continental style and, like magic, I could control my tension and stitches! I knit and ripped for practice a few times, then I dove in headfirst and knit a baby hat. Now I’ve just started an adorable cardigan for a dear friend who is going to have her first baby this year.

So I just wanted to write & say thank you so much for your amazing videos. They (you) have LITERALLY changed my life.

Sincerely,
Name redacted “

Suddenly I was overwhelmed by the wonder and delight of being a teacher, an enabler. Exactly THIS is what gives my life so much meaning and makes all my hard work worthwhile. I love to share the joy of knitting, especially the joy of knitting well and with pleasure.

I will leave on this next trip knowing that what I have to share may make some knitter(s) very happy. I look forward to all the wonderful knitters I will meet in the next few weeks!

Air Force 1 in Boston

The Capitol in Concord NH

Lucy’s Circular Needle Storage System April 16, 2013

Finished Needle Case – with all my needles accommodated.

Would you like to store your circular needles in something other than a heap? Make your own needle tidy! Here is a basic outline of the construction of my new storage system for my regular circular needles, something very dear to me, as I have more than a few circulars! Please feel free to make your own.

The needles are hung uncoiled, so you don’t have to steam the flexes. What I am enjoying about this hanger is that I can easily see how many of each kind of needle I have, and in which different lengths. It is an easy project to construct.
All measurements given are entirely adjustable. Overall Dimensions 13” x 28”
Make an estimate of the number of needle sizes you own (or hope to own). If your collection is less than two years old, multiply by 10.
I have 17 slots, which began at 1 1/8” for the smaller sizes, gradually becoming larger further down. You should plan for 17 – 20 slots; that would cover most needs. Calculate the length of fabric you will need (27”).
Sew 4 tubes of fabric so that when flattened out they measure approximately 4”, 8”, 12”, 13” in width respectively. I used tubes of fabric rather than hemming the edges to avoid having seams to catch the needles on whilst you are threading them through the openings.
Stack the tubes on top of each other, with the narrowest on top. Adjust the positions of the seams in each tube so none of them stack on top of one another (for ease of sewing). Pay special attention to the arrangement of the fabric pattern on the top tube as this the one you will see most clearly.
Pin the layers securely. Sew the top and bottom edges with a small seam. Mark the pocket sewing lines with chalk or vanishing marker. Sew the needle slots making sure to double stitch at the beginning and end of each seam. A walking foot or a lot of pins helps to stop the fabrics from slipping.
Sew contrasting fabric on the upper and lower edges. Allow room for a hanging pocket at the top edge, if desired. If you want to hang the needle case from a coat hanger be sure to put the hanger through the upper binding before closing it!

Four different needle hangers, one for each length and one for the extra sizes!

When filling my needle slots, I marked the needle size on the pockets with a temporary marker so that I could shuffle things around once I truly knew what needle sizes I had!
Enjoy. Now that you know exactly what needles you have, you’ll probably need to invest in a few more!

Shows all the lengths you have in each size.

 

Knitters Rock April 8, 2013

Thank you so much, all you passionate knitters out there! Woohoo!! We have cracked the magic 1000 subscribers mark in my Foundations of Double Knitting class on Craftsy.  Let’s face it, knitters just rock! OK, I promise I won’t mention numbers again for a very long time.

I’m happily keeping pace with Craftsy student questions and I’m thoroughly enjoying the student interaction. Craftsy’s interface is designed to allow easy fielding of questions and to make answering them efficient and mostly painless for the instructor.

Today, by the way,  all classes are on sale, right across the board. This is your chance to indulge in something you’ve wanted to try, but were unsure of whether to take the leap or not. Do it today, your mind will be pleased!

I love cross-fertilization between crafts. I value highly what I learned from spinning (notably Navaho Knitting and ideas on balanced stitches) and apply that knowledge to knitting. I’m watching the parallels between my colour use in knitting and in my new-found hobby of fabric piecing (colour blending makes all the difference). These are just a few of the gems that come to mind right now. (I have sewn, cross-stitched, spun, crocheted, tatted, embroidered, made bobbin lace, dyed, and felted in my past.)

I haven’t watched a large number of Craftsy classes yet – I watch them while exercising on the treadmill; it does take a while at half an hour per day! I’ve enjoyed Nancy Marchant’s Brioche class: a great grounding and guidance through a couple of patterns to whet your appetite for the beautiful works in her book.
I’m helping my newly-knitting sister in the UK with Carol Feller’s Celtic Cables Cardigan. It’s a great way for me to mentor her from afar.
I have felt empowered to have wild fun with free motion quilting after watching Leah Day’s classes.
Fiona Ellis is next on my hit list….

How easy it is now to stretch our minds, compared to the effort required before the internet connected us to the whole world! I can not imagine giving it up now

My Orphan You Tube Account! April 3, 2013

Thanks so much to my new Foundations of Double Knitting subscribers on Craftsy. it’s a week old now and we are nearly up to a 1000 knitters. (Does that count as 2000 as you are double knitting?) I’m looking forward to seeing your swatches coming of the needles. This is not a quick, knit and we’re done, kind of class, it’s more of a reshaping of the way you think about your stitches! It’s an ongoing process. (Shown above is the Gadget Bag – one of the class projects. It’s knit in the round with an integral DK pocket.)

I’ve seen a steady tide of new You Tube subscribers to my lucyknit channel, but wanted to mention there is another channel Lucy Neatby, which was mine but is now dormant. We have tried to make it vanish but it just continues to float out there. By all means subscribe but there will be no new material added to this channel and it may just dissappear one day.

Lucyknit is the active one and I’m having a great time filming new material for this one.

Happy spring stitches to you!

 

 

 

My Craftsy Class is live! March 29, 2013

I was so delighted by the colour scheme that they chose for my classes and that the theme music doesn’t form an earworm!

Here it is!