Yes, I still knit.

I’m working on finishing myself some knee-high socks, which is why I’ve been a little quiet. Fourteen inches of 2×2 rib on DPNs is a silent, soul-crushing pain in the ass. Please remind me of this when I next get it into my head to knit knee-highs.

Brightly coloured cable hats for the grand endeavour. I’m attempting to make my peace with cables, after avoiding them for about a year. For some reason I’ve always had trouble figuring out exactly when to twist by looking at the stitches. With the more intricate cable-work you’re working row-by-row off a chart, so it’s easy to tell where you’re up to, but the plain jane ‘twist every six rounds’ thing kind of puts me off my knitting groove…or something. Anyway.

There are some very simple and clear instructions on cabling without a cable needle here, which is awesome, but I’m still hankering to get the cables over and done with. I’ve got a couple of manly, ribbed, naval-inspired beanies in mind.

Maybe not in hot pink.

Coffee and date scones

3/4 C soy milk
1 t apple cider vinegar
1 C wholemeal self-raising flour
1 C white self-raising flour
pinch salt
2 T vegan margarine
1 t sugar
2 t instant coffee granules
1 C dried dates, roughly chopped
self-raising flour, for dusting

Preheat oven to 210 degrees Celsius.
Mix soy milk and vinegar together in a measuring jug. Set aside to curdle. After 5 minutes stir in sugar and coffee granules
Sift flour and salt into large bowl and mix in margarine with fingertips until resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in dates until coated with flour mixture. Make well in centre.
Pour in milk mixture and stir together to form a soft dough. Turn onto floured surface and roll dough to a rectangle around 2cm thick.
Cut dough into squares. Place on greaseproof papered baking tray and bake for 15 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through. Serve warm.

Apple Cinnamon Scone

3/4 C soy milk
1 t apple cider vinegar
2 C self-raising flour
pinch salt
2 T vegan margarine
4 T unsweetened applesauce
1 t cinnamon
self-raising flour, for dusting

Preheat oven to 210 degrees Celsius.
Mix soy milk and vinegar together in a measuring jug. Set aside to curdle.
Sift flour and salt into large bowl and mix in margarine with fingertips until resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Make well in centre.
Pour in milk mixture and stir together to form a soft dough. Turn onto floured surface and roll dough to a rectangle around 2cm thick.
Spread dough with applesauce and sprinkle cinnamon on top.
Roll dough into log, beginning and ending with long edges. Slice dough roll into strips roughly 3cm thick. Place together on greaseproof papered baking tray, spiral-side up.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through. Pull apart to serve.

I have this plan.

Guardian Pharmacies are running this ‘Guardian Angel’ knitting program, serving as a collection point for The Salvation Army who distribute knitwear to those who need it during winter. The program runs June–August, and I got thinking: I like to knit hats. Hats are warm. I’ve got eleven weeks until August 31st.

I’m going to knit as many hats as I can this winter and they will be available for a limited time on madeit and etsy. Proceeds from any hats sold will go into buying more yarn and making more hats. At the end of August I’ll donate all hats and any money raised.

One hat down!

A finished object post.

You guys are probably getting a bit sick of seeing these colours zig-zag across the blog, but this’ll be the last time, I promise.

I rarely do this–reflect on a project before beginning something new–but it’s rare that I finish a sweater/ jumper of any size, and it’s nice to see something other than an accessory grace my ravelry projects page.

I don’t know if I’ll be rushing into many more of the same, however, since I’ve been thinking of doing some charity knitting for winter and my thoughts tend towards quick knits–beanies, scarves, mitts–for keeping extremities nice and toasty.

And then, there’s always socks: I’ve been wearing long boots to work lately, and some handknit knee-highs would go down a treat.

For those of you in the northern hemisphere, however, the story must be quite different. What summer projects are you planning?

Tutorial: two sleeves at a time

I have always hated knitting sleeves. This is one of the reasons, I think, that I would rather knit socks or hats or cowls or toys or even a blanket than finish a jumper (or ‘sweater’ to the uninitiated). But, here I am knitting a jumper–almost by accident.

The sample cowl that I made last week was a 17-stitch repeat wider than necessary, but I loved the colour combination too much to frog it. I picked up stitches from each end and have been busy concocting a ‘cupcake’ jumper for my young niece. Dreading the sleeves as I do, I left them until last and debated long and hard with myself the pros and cons of a short-sleeved worsted-weight garment. The need for sleeves won.

I’ve heard lots about this two-at-a-time technique for knitting socks on circular needles, and decided that my dire need for sleeves warranted giving it a go. Here’s how it works:

Each sleeve is worked as a top half and a bottom half. You divide the stitches and make sure the top half of each sleeve is on one needle together, and the bottom half of each sleeve is on another needle, each sleeve with its own ball of yarn. It can help if both needles are different lengths, so it is easy to identify which is which at a glance.

Stitches are worked one needle at a time. You work across all of the top or bottom stitches, using the end of the same needle to knit the stitches on it. Use the relevant ball of yarn as you come to it.

So, for my little cupcake jumper sleeves I knit the top half of sleeve A with the top needle and one ball of yarn, then changed balls of yarn and knit the top half of sleeve B with the same needle. I then turned the jumper around and worked the bottom half of each sleeve with the bottom needle. One round of each sleeve complete.

I found it a bit fiddly at first, but when you get into the rhythm it’s fun, fast, and a lot like knitting a sock on four needles (which I love). I’ll check back in when the damned sleeves are–hopefully–finished!