fraxknits’ blog

J and I  decided we would probably spend most of our holidays in the UK this year to help local economies during the recession and cut down on flights for environmental reasons.  This is what led to our holiday in the Lakes originally although the final location was chosen because I haven't properly visited before and J wanted to show me round one of his main childhood holiday locations.  While we were there we also make a big effort to shop and eat locally, choosing local, independent  bakeries, butches, restaurants etc where possible rather than stocking up for cheap at Tesco's.  So far we have sampled the following, amazing local food:

    - Grasmere Gingerbread which is like a mix between a cake and a biscuit
    - Cumberland sausages
    - Herdwick Lamb
    - Eden Sunset local mature cheese
    - Local handmade butter
    - Local Bacon (very good quality - great flavour and no shrinkage)
    - Poppy seed bread
    - Smoked Stilton
    - Ewe's Cheese
    - Sticky Toffee Pudding (invented in the Lakes apparently)

All very yummy!

I also discovered a very small knitting and fabric shop about 5 mins walk from our apartment. There is a lady who weaves, spins and knits with yarn from her own sheep.  This was amazing and I just haunted this place.  She told me all about the diffferent breeds, and I got to watch her weaving rugs on a peg loom out of her own fleece.  I ended up buying 1.5kg of aran weight shetland wool in a natural cream colour from her own herd which she spun herself in an old mill.  I am planning to use it to foray into the world of dying and I want to make Wisteria out of it eventually. 

The second item I finished early in the holiday was the Heath's socks for J.  This was a nice simple pattern which I could knit happily in the car or watching movies etc. The final fit is good and I knit them using Artyarns in Turquiose and Brown.  I think that the pattern works well with the varigated yarn and both stand out on their own. I can't believe how fast I knit these up though, they took about a week when they should have taken two!

Heath's Socks

The yarn was fun to knit with and I hope that it wears well.  I don't think it is nicer than other high end yarns and annoyingly it comes in 50g skeins which I dislike since those skeins always seem to end up more expensive somehow.  I bought this yarn on sale from purlescence and I might get it again if it was on sale but the other colours didn't really float my boat in the same way as Easyknits or Socks that Rock do.

Shortly into my Lakes holiday I finished the Absinthe Socks in Wollmeise Frosch.  I am incredibly pleased with these socks.  The pattern was a huge amount of fun, the yarn matched it perfectly! and they look and feel great, a perfect marriage of socks.  My only slight complaint is that the cables which sit on the top of the foot where the ankle and foot meet are tight and stretch a little too much.  Ii didn't irritate me while I wore them yesterday and I did walk a couple of miles out of town to visit a ruined Roman Fort so they were put through a proper test run.

Absinthe Socks

I don't normally "save" special yarn for a perfect pattern but because this was my last skein of Wollmeise I did this time and I am glad that I did.  

Knitting so many socks from Favourite Socks and Knitting on the Road has helped me really refine the way I knit them and now there are several tips and tricks I do as standard whenever I knit  I am adding to these all the time and I have recently discovered another tip from Techknitting to eliminate the holes which appear when you knit a heel flap or a short row heel and then rejoin the heel knitting with the main knitting after picking up all the wraps or picking up stitches down the edge of a heel flap.

So now my list of tips runs as follows:

Toe up

Use Judy’s magic cast on to start the sock but knit the second half of the cast on stitches through the back loop to eliminate the twist.

Knit a heel flap where possible rather than short rows as this give a much better fit.

If you do knit a short row heel then rewrap all the stitches as you pick up and knit/purl the stitch  and the two picked up wraps through the back loop to eliminate the holes you normally get

Cast off using the sewn bind off by Elizabeth Zimmerman for maximum stretchiness.

Cuff Down

Cast on over 2 needles to make the first set of stitches as loose as possible.

Cross over the first and last stitch of the cast on stitches passing one through the other to make it easier to start knitting in the round.

Tips for both types.

Knit a little over half the leg from the cuff down or ankle up ending with the cuff on 3.0m needle and the foot and ankle on 2.5m needles.  This means that the part of the sock circling the wider part of your leg will be slightly looser and bigger and this means it will fit better without disturbing whatever pattern you are doing.

Use the technique recommended by Technknitter of crossing over the first and last instep stitches with the first and last heel stitches when you have finished knitting the heel and are starting the round on the foot/leg.  This will eliminate the hole you normally get.

I am increasingly tempted to buy both the Eclectic Sole and New Pathways for Socks Knitters from the Knitting and Crochet Guild.  They are a little on the steep side for price but the Eclectic has two stunning stand alone patterns in it and New Pathways would be a step into doing my own stock design which is becoming very appealing.  Once I get back from the holiday in the Lake District I might make a final decision.

This evening J and I are leaving for a week in the Lake District and so I have been carefully choosing the contents of my knitting bag.  I have taken most of my Manos Wool Classica in Olive for knitting a vest, some Socks that Rock Mediumweight sockyarn in Kaw Kaw and a skein of laceweight merino, silk and alpaca blend in a berry colour.  So a real range of yarn types and weights to keep me going.

Obviously I am taking all my needles and other notions since you never know what you might need!

The plan is that it shouldn’t take more than a couple of days to finish the two pairs of socks I have on the needles since I am on the second sock in both cases, they are fast knits (historically) and I should get them both finished early in the week.  After all we have several hours of car travelling and at least one sock should get finished in that time.

So I am really looking to start one maybe two projects up in the Lakes.  

There is the Hilja Vest which I really want to be wearing right now at work with a nice white shirt. It has lots of stockinette knitting which should be fast and satisfying.  I think I have been putting it off because I might have to do some conversions with gauge and measuring myself but actually a quiet week away with lots of time to work out the maths is probably perfect.

Next there is the Socks that Rock – I love this colour and I love the base yarn.  I have been looking at completed photos of STR projects on Ravelry for weeks whilst resisting the urge to cast on.  I am taking two different patterns with me that I might use – first the Gullywash socks and secondly the Nutkin socks.  I am considering making a pair for my Mum I think she would love the colour as well and she has already dropped a few hints that in the cold weather my socks are the only things that keep her feet warm. Of the two patterns Nutkin would probably show of the yarn better and isn’t toe up like the other one (I tend to prefer cuff down and yet more than 50% of the socks I have knit so far this year have been toe up!), both of them have a short row heel but this might not bother the recipient as it does me and I do have the technique of creating hole-less wraps pretty much down and perfect now.

Lastly I am taking Victorian Lace today.  Whilst the Melon Stitch Shawl is on hiatus (awaiting the arrival of replacement yarn from Oz) I am not sure I am minded to start another lace shawl project.  However I have two in mind to make for gifts this year and I might discover an urge to get started.  The advantage of starting the gifts now is that a relaxing holiday is a great time to get stuck into the rhythm of a complicated lace project.  Only I will have to be extra careful about the yarn quantities here as I do not want to get stuck again like I did with the Melon Stitch Shawl – running out of yarn mere meters before the finish line.

A knitter on Rav has posted a free pattern to commemorate the life and work of Heath Ledger.  It is a very simple sock with a single subtle cable down the side and it looks very elegant and plain but with a bit of interest.  Now I am not a huge fangirl but I have always enjoyed Heath Ledger’s films – like Johnny Depp he seemed to flit easily between Hollywood Blockbusters like A Knight’s Tale and Batman to more unusual film projects like Brother Grimm.  A few people were knitting these socks and I decided to join in, at least in part because the relatively plain design means that this is a good pattern for variegated yarn and I have some very loud Artyarns sock yarn in turquoise and brown (bought in the Purlescence sale) which I got for J when he asked for a pair of blue socks.

This pattern has been very quick to knit it took only four days to finish the first sock, I went back to knitting with my Brittany needles and I had forgotten how lovely they are after so long knitting with the Harmony’s.  Unfortunately I had also forgotten how fragile they are and snapped one but I can knit a sock on four dpns so it is not a disaster.  These are pretty good mindless knitting for watching the West Wing to as well.

Here is the first sock modelled by J, hopefully the second sock won’t be too far behind!

Heath's socks Heath'Artyarns Heath's socks

When I started the MSS I knew that Victorian Lace Today was short on their yardage estimates (a pretty fundamental crime for a pattern book).  So when I bought my two skeins of Merino Cashmere Sock by the Knittery I made sure I was a couple of hundred yards over the requirements.  Particularly since Alice from Socktopus said at the time that the Knittery was giving up dyeing which obviously meant I had the last of the Passionfruit colourway.

Well I think you probably know what is coming next… I am running out of yardage.  I have tried having faith and blindly knitting on. But I really can’t deny this anymore.  I have about ¼ of the border left to knit and I can see right through the gaps in the centre pull ball.  I have only a few rows left in the yarn.

The shawl itself has been so much fun to knit, and that yarn has been perfect for it.  I am trying not to get too excited though otherwise I shall get more and more panicked about the shortage of yarn.

So I have started trying to source more.  I emailed Alice who confirmed that she didn’t have any tucked away down the back of the sofas, I checked the Knittery website who said she was moving to Etsy after the dyeing hiatus…but not until the end of the year.  Finally I have been posting “in search of posts” on Ravelry and eventually I plan to message those people who have completed projects in this colourway and try to buy their leftovers.

However, this reminds me that a while ago a lovely lady in Germany sent me some leftover Wollmeise in Sonne so that I could finish a pair of socks.  She didn’t want any money for it and I have long thought I should send her a little something so say thank you.  So I am resolved to buy her some Easyknits yarn and ship it to her as a surprise in the next week or two with a nice letter.

Well this Easter Weekend we did a lot of relaxing and nowhere near as much gardening as I had hoped.  The weather was mostly grey and changeable and just didn’t inspire us to be outside very much.

We took some green waste to the recycling centre, visited a garden centre and did a little planting out but I did not manage to take the compost heap apart and finish building the raised bed.

We went to the garden centre to get some more herbs for J to put in the front garden.  We replaced the thyme, tarragon and fennel and I got some more garden mint which I planted in a huge pot by the front door.

I also got some flowers to plant out which is rare for me (I tend to prefer vegetables)  – a Night Scented Phlox and something called "The Love Plant"  both of which are very pretty and should be flowering well into Summer.

Unfortunately J discovered he had missed the boat on planting potatoes which should have been done much earlier in the season but instead he has decided to plant them in August so that we can be eating potatoes come Christmas Day.  This will also give me more space for vegetables which will have been dug up by August getting two crops out of the same bed.  Next year we really must get ourselves more organised earlier in the year for potatoes!

I got several more recipes made from Nigella Lawson over the course of the weekend since we were doing a bit of entertaining:

The Mexican Flan – very nice, like a crème caramel but much faster and less hassle to make.  Even J liked it and normally he doesn’t like creamy things.
Sweetcorn Chowder – very quick to make and everyone who had it during the gaming session said it was good.
Deep fried squid rings – I splashed out and bought some fresh squid from Abel & Cole to make Nigella’s deep friend squid rings with garlic mayo.  The recipe was very good and I was surprised at how well the squid came out with its semolina coating.  The meal was really rich though and despite having it with some steamed purple sprouting broccoli neither of us could finished it. In fact I packed up probably another portion of the squid rings with some tzatziki and a salad for my lunch on Tuesday.

J also made quail boiled in a lemon sauce with mashed potato one night and that was also fabulous.  The quail had a lovely flavour but it was so fiddly to eat I am not entirely convinced it was worth it.

We spent a lot of last Sunday out in the garden working on our vegetable patch and herb garden.  So far I have dug over what will be the root vegetable patch near the shed and created about half of a slightly raised bed using some concrete edging that the last owners of the house left behind.  The compost heap is right next to this bed and our plan is to dismantle the heap and spread the old compost on the raised bed and dig it in.  Any remaining compost will be going on the courgette and squash bed nearer the house which could do with some enriching as well.

Then all our future composting will be done using the hot johanna and rotating compost bin in the future.

J spent much of the weekend viciously hacking back at the growth round the edges of the squash and courgette bed at the back of the garage which is where I think we will end up putting the Hot Johanna.

The afternoon was spent with me potting out our seedlings and starting off the courgettes and squash and with J weeding and tending the herb bed.  We have ended up with 24 coriander plants (giving 8 away to the next door neighbour and reserving 3 for friends) 8 aubergine plants (probably 2-4 to be given away eventually) 14 black cherry tomato and 3 unknown chilli plants.  Many of these will be destined for the newly fixed greenhouse.

Black Cherry Tomato seedlings

Our Sorrel and Chicory are both looking really healthy and strong and we are starting to look into planning for the time when we will be picking meals based on what is good in the garden.

Sorrel

Chicory Herb

Lovage

My other job was to weigh Sorrel leaves.  We have a book of herb recipes (which we have used to plan the herb garden) and all of the Sorrel recipes are by weight of sorrel.  Two largish leaves weight 22g and so we shall be using this to work out how much we need for recipes so we don't harvest more than we need.  In fact in recent weeks we have used rosemary, chives, sage and oregano all from our herb garden and so are already reaping the benefits (I am certain the chives and rosemary have made back their start up costs.

I feel more and more that we are getting into good rhythm for sustainable living, we are saving all our egg shells ready to use as a slug deterrent when the squash are put out.  We are planning are meals to use our garden produce.  We plan to eat roast meats the day before we have a weekend or a working from home day so that we are able to make and freeze the stock.  I haven't had to buy chicken stock cubes in ages through using up the game/chicken stock in our freezer (which tastes so much better anyway!) and I am hoping we can get even better at this game in the future.  For such a long time I saw all this work as tiring and a chore and now it is a game to me I am finding it quite fun.

Aubergine seedlings

Yesterday was our session of Nuns with Guns a RPG set in the Warhammer 40k universe with an all female party run by J.  Two of the players are lawyers, one is an accountant and one is a scientist.

To optimise the party and make sure we are co-operating maximally we decided it was vital that... we do a party SWOT analysis mid session.

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