Goddam Clothing Moths

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.

Random (Knitting) Distractions

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...

Half Way up the Front

"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.

A Good Book for Learners (and Others)

 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.

The first swatch

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!

Keeping out the cold 2010

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...

Happy knitting.