Use up your wool stash at random and create a body warming, energy saving, work of eco-fashion. It's 5 degrees warmer inside than out: get out the needles, turn down the heating. Save the world one woolly at a time.
OK lads and lasses, but probably more lasses than lads, I put out a request last week to ask for ideas on what to knit next. Sarah J. Hunter and I came up with the Slocker, which is like a slipper but sock shaped and very thick. This was the start.
And this is the end:
I know it looks as if I'm standing on the ceiling, but that was because I took the picture myself while wearing them and doing a bit of yoga. I've got them on now (over those socks you see) and I can report that it's so toasty in there that it seems to be keeping my whole self warm. I'm only wearing two layers of yoga kit and for me, that's not normally enough of a dull September afternoon.
I am not going to take you up on your suggestions for matching knickers; that would be a bit ticklish.
I wrote down what I did as I went along, so I can post a pattern. But I used 8mm two-ended needles (as you can see in the top pic) and two strands of kid mohair, one ordinary thickness mohair, one cotton, one double knit wool and one black wool thing I got from Texere that's quite tough, so I can wear them around the house. If you've got a sock pattern, and you know what your'e doing, adapt it to fit and get on with it.
Be careful on shiny wood floors. I might stick or stitch a leather sole on to stop them being quite so slippery, but the floors are getting a good polish.
Excellent for the end of a yoga class when you don't want to put shoes on (or aren't allowed) but don't want to get chilly toes.
Here I am then, in classic knitting pattern pose.
I took this on the self timer, running from one end of the room - where the phone was propped on the irnoning board - to the other, because I had 10 seconds to get into the frame, so I got very warm indeed.
I can confirm that its does the trick; it's way too hot to wear at the moment.
I weighed it and it comes in at 1.8kg, so that's 36 x 50g balls, or the equivalent, that you're going to need to get started on your own. It's a fair amount of yarn, but if you're reading this, you've probably got that much in your stash.
I might consider taking orders.
But I'd rather you knitted your own.
Too tired to post up pics tonight, but the woolly is now sewn up and ready to wear.
I'll create a proper pattern. I also want to weigh it so I can give a rough idea of how much yarn you have to assemble to complete one. Get knitting; it's autumn and you'll be needing one soon.
I've finished the back, but as it looks almost identical to the front, I've not bothered photographing the whole thing. My friend Bella came round today to get some help with her maths homework, and while she was getting on with it, I finished a sleeve, and here it is.
As you'll observe, it's a bit different from the front
and back, but that's the general idea. (The back is on the left of the pictures.) As you use up one yarn, you attach another one, and I happened to have three balls of a pink/blue/grey super chunky Rowan sitting about annoying me. In they went.
Sleeves.
I cast on 15 (meant to do 16, then realised I hadn't) and knitted 10 rows in single rib. That was just about long enough so I switched to alternative knit and purl rows.
Rows 13 & 15: increased one stitch at both ends - 19 stitches.
Row 19, 23, 27 etc, increased one stitch at both ends.
I kept going until it was long enough. For me that was 40 rows in all. Then I cast off 27 stitches.
(Measure the front to see how far it comes down your arms, then knit so that the sleeves are the right length and width.)
Now to sew it up. And next, I think I'll do big fluffy indoor socks.
That was a football pun, by the way.
Commentators are given to saying "Well it's a game of two halves," meaning that the first one can be very different from the second. And so it is with 5 Degree Woollies.
Here's the front.
(I promise I was smiling behind there.)
I knitted 15 rows of rib, 50 rows of knitting, cast off 10 stitches for each shoulder and kept 16 for the cosy high neck, then knitted another 10 rows ad cast off the 16 neck stitches.
Next: the back. That's going to be the same size, but will change shade again as I start to run out of some of the yarns.
If you don't have much else to do, you could knit one of these in a day. I was about to speed up when it turned into autumn last week. Now that summer's back, I'm not in so much of a rush.
On Wednesday I took the woolly out of the bag to show my friends, Angela and Bella, and out flew a moth. That bad news is that it's too late; the thing has already laid its eggs and now they'll hatch and tiny crawly things will eat a chunk of my sweater. As it's so huge, I don't think it will compromise the structure, but they can destroy 4-ply.
My vegan friends believe that it's Mother Nature's revenge for exploiting sheep, goats and silk moths; clothing moths don't find cotton or synthetics that tasty so they don't bother with them. Bella, who isn't vegan, was particularly distressed as clothing moths ate holes in the socks I knitted her last year; they are rampant in north London, annoyingly greedy little creatures that they are. (Clothing moths, not vegans.)
I use essential oils to keep them away; they hate patchouli oil which is why it was originally imported from India with pashminas in previous centruries. They don't like clove bud, cinnamon and lots of other beautiful scents. Auroville do some wardobe packs of powdered essential oils to hang up next to your best duffle coat and to pack in with your woollies. They are from an Indian co-operative and smell lovely (to us, not moths).
I've also bought some sticky things from Manufactum; these are 15cm square stickers on which you place a small patch scented with clothing moth pheromone. The creatures then hurl themselves at it and stick fast; a messy death follows. Sorry, but it serves you right.
Apparently they don't like light. Last year my bedroom window blind was shut all winter (Velux problems). I'm hoping that now I've mended it with Sugru, the occasional blast of sunshine with keep them away.
Any other brilliant solutions? Please share I can't wait to hear.
In between work on the big woolly, I had a go at some mittens. The pattern is in Erika Knight's Simple Knitting, my current favourite knitting book. I made them for a friend who put in a request, from some pink stuff (cotton mix?) that arrived in an amazing bargain bag from those nice women at DBNY.
The thumbs have come out a bit wide, but they are lovely and warm. So does Michelle get them, or should I keep my first try and see if I can do better? I'm not sure that she'd want flappy thumbs...
"It's mine now." Mocha, the cat. Our cat likes my work. This summer she has been using my first woolly as a bed, and has tried to lay claim to this one too. My fault; I have now put it away in the orange and pink beach bag (free with suntan lotion) in the foreground.
As you see, I've made some progress with the 2010 5 Degree Woolly. I knitted 16 rows of K1P1 rib, but that was only because I forgot to stop and switch to knit rows and pearl rows.
Once I remembered I switched. (No point pulling stitches out if you don't have to. I just decided to make it longer.) I've now added 32 plain rows. I changed colour at one point as one of my balls ran out. I liked the green flecks, so I added in some apple green mohair; you can see the second hank on the end of the chaise.
In the background there's a tie I'm knitting from some rayon/raw silk yarn. We'll see how that turns out too.
Here's how the 5 Degree Woolly looks in detail:
You can see where I changed colour about 6 rows after the rib.
That's the whole point really. Just use up what's handy.
At some point soon, I've got to decide what to do with the sleeves and neckline, but for this one, the first (technically the second but the first I'm knitting in public), I think I'll stick with straight lines up the sides and a very simple polo neck. If you're more technical, feel free to adapt yours.
This is about two evenings' worth of knitting. If you've ever been put off because you thought it would take you a year to create a reasonably sized chunk of knitwear, I hope this will cheer you along the way. So, raid your nan's yarn stash, get a pair of HUGE needles and join in. Please let me know when you do.
I'd like to recomend a great book, if I may.
Amazon send me books to review every now and again. I choose from a list and as long as I keep writing they keep sending. (To get invited, you have to review a lot of books and get a chunk of "helpful" votes.) One day they sent me this one: Simple Kintting by Erika Knight: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Simple-Knitting-Erika-Knight/dp/1844008150/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1282136032&sr=8-1
I do think that the best way to learn to knit is to sit next to someone who can rescue things if they go wrong while you both chant "in, round, through, off". But if you already learned and need a reminder, or want a project or two to stretch your skills, get Erika's book.
I've been knitting the mittens, almost finished, will post picture shortly.
Now back to my needles.
Here you see my test swatch, 15mm needles, 10 stitches and I decided that 7 rows were about enough to show me where it's going.
At this rate, I've decided on 36 stitches per row to get me a bit sweater that I can throw over whatever else I am wearing at the time.
Next, I'll pull this out and start again. I've a bad habit of starting a sweater without doing the sample swatch, and I'm forever knitting things which I drown in. This time - because I'm doing it in public - I'm behaving myself. Knit in haste, repent at leisure!
A New 5 Degree Woolly: Start now and join in. I've been rifling through the yarn stash and came up with that bunch of yarns in the picture for my autumn-winter collection. First, I'm going to knit a huge sweater that I can throw over all the clothes I'm wearing at the time, instead of switching on the heating. I'm using 15mm needles, some grey mohair I bought off eBay, a purple boucle from Texere (see previous post), and a cashmere/silk mix (the bight pink cone) that I got years back from a company that sold off spare stuff from Scottish woollens companies. (Shame that he seems to have disappeared with the advent of cheap, Chinese cashmere that isn't at all kind to goats.) There are also some beautifully fluffy balls of pink wool, and those two balls of mixed colours from DBNY in the US. I got another DBNY delivery this morning and have added in another pink ball of 100% wool. It might change as I go along, when I run out of something, but that's the point really. Just use up what you have around, and see what happens along the way. I'll be posting my progress. Please do join in, and send pictures of your own work too.
By the way, do go and visit the girls at www.discontinuedbrandnameyarn.com/shop
They have wonderful yarns at amazing prices and it's even worth shipping it to the UK, although the transport miles worry me a little. My bamboo yarn came from Italy, via DBNY in the US, back to the UK and I've no idea where the bamboo was grown in the first place...
Seen here with Monkey, a 400g cone of silver grey Alpaca blend yarn from Texere.
It's the softest stuff I've knitted with for a while and, mixed with some Italian wool I picked up in Venice, it's made me an amazingly warm sweater for when we've forgotten all about summer and need to throw on an extra layer to stay comfortable without turning the heating on.
It's £8 for 400g, and you can get it here:
www.texere-yarns.co.uk/texereshop/Alpaca_Yarns.html
Grab it while it's still around.
I knitted my first 5° Woolly in 2009. It's a way to avoid putting the heating on when it's a bit chilly but not absolutely brass monkeys. It's named after the difference in temperature inside and outside its woolly warmth.
We're lucky to live in a well insulated terrace house with double glazed windows but all the same winter is winter, fuel bills aren't cheap and we live in the UK.
In Britain when we were cold, we used to put another layer on, not whack up the central heating. Last year I had a friend to stay from warmer climes. She kept saying (pointlessly IMHO), "It's so cold! What's wrong with this country? We need the heating on." and I'd reply, "How about putting on a pair of socks and a jumper?" Cruel perhaps, but heating is not just about personal comfort, it's about carbon emissions, cost and conservation.
Anyway, this is my suggestion.
The plan is to use up stashes of knitting yarn that are sitting about all over the UK: your own, your gran's, your auntie's; you know it's out there. For the one in the photo, I used ten strands of different yarn at once, cast on 30 stitches and used 20mm needles, set off and waited to see what would happen.
When one ball ran out I just added another one, picked at random from the stash. That why the sleeve (left) is different from the body (right).
Benefits: warmth, energy-saving, using up the wool stash, learning a new skill, meeting knitters, making 5° Woollies for other people once you've got yours (and accompanying karma points), recognising other wearers and nodding in acknowledgement, owning a total, yet recognisable one-off, becoming a fully fledged member of the nice eco-people club.
I'll post the instructions if you like.
If you don't knit, here's your chance to start. I'm setting up my first 5° Woolly Club in Ealing, but I hope it'll go global.
