A fickle beastie

Gauge - it's a fickle thing alright. For years, in fact for most of my sock knitting career my default option has been for sock yarn and 2.5mm needles. No messing, no fuss and no thinking required. Now suddenly my default option started giving a sock yarn fabric that was a bit too loose, a bit too wibbly and not at all as smooth as I would like.

I've no idea why, my needles haven't changed, but suddenly it seems as though only 2.25mm needle tips will do. It happened on my last pair of socks and I put it down to the fact that the yarn I was using was quite tightly spun and maybe a bit less plump than some of the yarns I had been using. But nope, it seems to be an issue for all of my socks now.

This delightful yarn from Easy Knits would probably look good at any gauge with those little neon pops of colour but it seems that for me 2.25mm needles are now the perfect sweet spot.

The only problem of course is that I only possess 2 pairs of said needles. I have 2.5mm tips all over the place but now it seems I need to restock. 

Charity Knitting - how to help when you have no time

This month the focus of my Everyday Knitter Facebook group is on charity knitting and this has lead to some great conversations around this subject. Many knitters love to knit for charity and do so prolifically. Others would love to help out more but although they have the supplies and the ability they lack the time to knit all the things they want to and still help out their favourite charities.

Whenever you are knitting for a charity it is often wise to check out how they intend the finished items to be used/distributed/sold before committing your precious time into a project. There seems to be a unversal assumption amongst certain media companies and PR folk that knitters are elderly ladies with an infinite amount of time on their hands and who don't value their time and skills perhaps as much as they ought to - but that's a topic for another day.

If you don't have time to knit something for a charity appeal but would still like to help - never fear:

1. Tell people about it. Spread the word to those around you who might be able to help. Either online or in person - every person who talks about or who mentions a particular charity helps to raise awareness.

2. Have a clear out and donate some craft suppliers. Charities are often thrilled to receive donations of wool and needles. Often they are able to pass these on to other knitters to make use of and create items for sale or donation. It's often worth checking first before you do to make sure that you are supplying what you need.

3. Look around, some charities accept donations all year round - Knit for Peace is a great example. You can cast on for a hat and donate it whenever it is ready, whether that's in a month or a years time.

When it comes to knitting for charity, really no act is too small or too insignificant. We can all do a little bit to help - whatever that is and in whatever form it takes. 

Free patterns: when you might get more than you bargained for

There is an old adage that “There is no such thing as a free lunch” and never is that more appropriate than when dealing with the multitude of websites which are available these days - all offering Free Patterns. I’m not going to link to them as they have no need of any more free publicity but I’m sure you have all seen them crop up on Google searches at various times.

“No need to waste your money on buying patterns” they proclaim - often in loud shouty letters, offering to dazzle and delight the reader with their range of wonderful free patterns.

Whilst there is nothing wrong in principle with this type of website it’s worth bearing a few things in mind before taking them up on their oh-so-kind offer.

First of all, please bear in mind that many of these patterns are counterfeit - that is to say they are available for download without the permission of the designer. Whilst a pattern may be listed as a free pattern on Ravelry, this does not grant anyone else permission to distribute that pattern - either in printed or in electronic form. Often designers will offer a free pattern as a way of driving more visitors to their website or to their Ravelry designer page in the hope of increasing sales and awareness of their product. Having the pattern available elsewhere detracts from that and reduces the potential for further sales. There is a serious misconception among the knitting industry that just because a pattern is available as a free download it is available for anyone to use and distribute and many of these free pattern sites take full advantage of this lack of awareness.

In addition there have been an increasing number of cases where these ‘free download’ websites have been affected by viruses or other forms of malware. In some cases this may be malicious but often it is just the case that such sites are poorly run and administered and therefore may not be as assiduous in checking all their links as you might like.

 Viruses and malware aren’t just a problem with sites like this either. Patterns downloaded directly from individual’s blogs may also be a problem. This was pointed out recently on my Facebook group - I am knitting a sock yarn blanket the pattern for which was published on a blog several years ago. There is a Ravelry pattern page but to get the pattern you have to go to the blog website rather than downloading via Ravelry. Several people reported that they had problems with their PC after visiting the site and thankfully the Rav team were super speedy in responding.

It serves as a timely reminder though, that as used as we are to the instant gratification of downloadable patterns it is worth checking where your downloads come from. Sources such as Ravelry and Love Knitting are impeccable, I am very pleased to say as all patterns have to be uploaded to their servers before they can be activated.

If in doubt, as with anything, it’s best to double check before hitting that download button.

Short and sweet

It’s just a short blog post from me today. The bank holiday weekend is upon us here in the UK and the race is on to enjoy the warm sunny weather before the inevitable rain hits us. On the bright side, a rainy bank holiday is the perfect excuse to hole up inside and crack on with the knitting.

As I’m sure you all know by now (obsessed - moi?) Stash Dash has now begun and I can finally get round to liberating some sock needles from a lingering pile of sock WIPs.

The sun is shining and I’m outside with my sock knitting and my coffee. The house is quiet as everyone else has a lie-in so it’s just me and the cats. And the neighbourhood peacock trying his best to wake every living soul - but I’m ignoring him.

This photo was taken yesterday where I was doing much the same thing but obviously much more presentably attired. Trust me - no one needs to see my morning self with crumpled PJs.

In my head I envision a weekend full of a parade of finished socks lining up in front of me. As the house wakes and domestic duties take over I will still cling grimly to that hope and keep my knitting with me at all times to get the odd round in here and there. And if nothing else - I can use an emergency DPN to stab that infernal peacock,

It's all about the knitting - top tips for maximising your knitting time

At the risk of sounding a trifle obsessed my focus today is all about getting ready for Stash Dash - which starts tomorrow! I may have mentioned it once or twice before.

Success in Stash Dash (whatever your goal is) depends upon maximising your knitting time, and at the risk of stating the bleeding obvious you need to spend as much of your free time knitting and avoiding having to tink back or stop to hunt for supplies.

 With this in mind I am putting together a few project bags which have all of my essential supplies needed for socks and shawls - stitch markers, tape measures, waste yarn etc. I don’t know about you but in my house I can easily lose 10 minutes searching for a tapestry needle. And that crucial 10 minutes knitting time can be much better spent putting in an afterthought heel.

I know that not everyone shares my obsession but this year with time tighter than ever I have put together a few top tips to help me reach my 10K goal - I will report back later on how successful they are:

1. Round up all essential supplies and set up a “sock bag” and a “shawl bag” where my current projects can live while they are being worked on.

2. Do a quick inventory of larger projects and check what stage they are at. Do they need trying on or a decision made about length/fit/gauge - now is the time to decide so that you don’t waste valuable knitting time later on in a state of chronic indecision (no prizes for guessing how I know this).

3. Do you need to order more needles? I’m not joking - nothing is worse than getting to the crucial stage of a project and realising that you need a different size or that something is lost or broken.

4. Plan to curb screen time. This is a big one for me but I need to get my screen time under control if I’m going to make the most of my free time. I’ve downloaded an app called QualityTime to help me monitor how much time I spend online on my phone and I fully expect to be slightly shocked. If I manage to cut my screen time by even a quarter - that’s time that can be more gainfully employed.

5. Gather up local takeaway menus and put them on the fridge. I’m not planning to feed the kids pizza every night (although the thought did cross my mind) but a few easy meals and minimal kitchen time will mean that I can spend some of the precious early evening hours (before I’m too tired to function) getting some solid knitting time under my belt.

If you have any tips for squeezing more knitting time into the day I’d love to hear them. Every little helps, as they say.

Serious preparation required

Time for some serious list making today as Stash Dash looms large in my knitting calendar. My basket of unfinished objects is starting to make me a little twitchy, I must confess but they have to wait until May 26th until I can gleefully cast them off and count them towards my 10K goal.

Because Stash Dash is all about maximising your knitting time I am taking advantage of my restlessness now to compile a list of all my stash dash projects. I have them listed in Ravelry too but as a committed bullet journaler I like to have all the information to hand in my trusty journal too.

I've tried many knitting trackers and apps over the years but I always come back to the tried and tested paper option. In order to try and minimise the amount of time spent faffing with lists I tend to use Ravelry to track my progress and yarn amounts used. But I can't help being drawn to some beautiful ideas on Pinterest for tracking project progress. This idea in particular really caught my eye - but don't say you weren't warned. The combination of knitting and bullet journalling is a complete Pinterest black hole.