May Sweater Challenge

May is the perfect month to concentrate on a little bit of sweater knitting. Never mind “Summer knits” and wafty linen tops. We know that the british weather is fickle at the best of times and you can be very glad of a warm woolly sweater on an August bank holiday in this country.

Even if the weather gods smile on us and we have a glorious summer, by starting a sweater now you have a great chance of having a fabulous new addition to your autumn wardrobe.

Sweater knitting also ties in very well with the #memademay challenge. Predominantly an initiative started by sewists this also extends to anyone who makes elements of their wardrobe by hand. There are some inspirational blog posts on the subject and this is a hashtag I love to follow on Instagram, along with #handmadewardrobe and #slowfashion.

If that wasn’t incentive enough there is also #milomay - an annual KAL for the super cute and very adaptable Milo vest - a pattern by Georgie Nicolson. This has been running for a few years now and there are some wonderful examples on Ravelry of knitters who have taken this fabulous pattern and really made it their own.

And just to add the cherry on top of the cake, starting a sweater gives you are great boost on your Stash Dash total. I’ll talk more about Stash Dash in the coming weeks - a lot more as it is a real favourite of mine - but for now just bear in mind that it starts towards the end of May and runs until August. Seasoned Stash Dashers will be already planning their summer knits with this in mind.

So, what are you waiting for? Just a suggestion but these are a few ideas for how you can participate in the #maysweaterchallenge.

• Dig out your unfinished sweater projects and either rip them out or finish them.

• Challenge yourself to knit your first garment - baby knit totally count.

• Cast on a brand new shiny sweater project - yes I know - this is my favourite option too.

• Organise your stash and pair up your ‘sweater quantities’ of yarn to patterns in the queue.

As ever, there are no knitting police. Set your own challenge and be sure to head over to the Everyday Knitter Facebook group to join in the fun and chat. Hope to see you there.

What is a sock yarn swap anyway?

So, what's all the fuss about a sock yarn mini swap anyway?

If you are a member of the Everyday Knitter Facebook group you may have seen that we had so much fun with our last mini swap that we are doing it again. Many of us are knitting sock yarn blankets or scrap yarn projects and as much as we love our own stashed yarn it can be a real bonus to have an injection of colour from someone else's stash.

So, the sock yarn mini swap idea was born. For minimum hassle and maximum knitting time we use an app called Elfster which is an automated gift exchange service. You register and then after the sign-up deadline has passed you will automatically matched up to a swap partner. The swap is reciprocal - ie you both exchange gifts with each other.

If your swap partner has any particular preferences it's good to take these into account when choosing which yarns to send. You can set up your preferences by using the 'wish list' function in Elfster.

You then just need to wind off your chosen yarns into 5g mini balls or skeins. It isn't necessary at all to skein them but if you would like to there is a great tutorial here on how to do it. It's also nice to label the skeins - dyer and colourway - so that your partner knows what they are. It's a great way to discover new-to-you dyers or to get your mitts on something that you haven't had a chance to try out before.

Then just write a little note, pop everything in a Jiffy bag and post it by the deadline. It's a good idea to register on Elfster that you have sent your parcel. As an admin - that makes my job so much easier.

Then, when your parcel arrives please take a little picture and let us know about it on the Facebook Group. You can also record it as received on Elfster. This shows your swappee that their parcel has arrived safely and hopefully that you are happy with the contents.

All that remains to be done is to grab your sock yarn blanket and add your new mini skeins, along with some happy memories of a new knitty friend you've made.

Progress...and a quandry

I'm sure it can't just be me who always seems to reach a sticking point partway through their project. All is going swimmingly, the yarn is fabulous, you love the way it works with the pattern and then, all of a sudden, nothing. All motivation dries up, disappears and the project descends into the the WIP basket never to be seen again.

For me, the crucial point is about 75% of the way through something. Even though my logical brain tells me that just a bit more effort and I'll be casting off, my less than rational brain is yearning to go and do something else. This is often compounded, as in the case of this shawl, when a crucial design decision is needed.

This is warm and squishy DK weight yarn and I'm keen to use as much of the yarn I had as possible - Cumbria DK from The Fibre Co. I'm now at the stage to do the border and the plan I had in my head doesn't look quite right. I find myself in a quandry and so of course I do what I normally do in this situation - cast on for something else.

But, today I am being good. It's coffee at the ready and thinking caps on. Today this shawl will have a border and I will be a happy designer - probably.

Starting on the right foot

For me, this is the perfect start to any day. Give me half an hour with some wool and some strong hot coffee and I'm ready to face the day. If I have to bypass this step and get straight into the morning chaos then nothing ever quite seems to go right and I spend the rest of the day feeling grumpy and out of sorts.

Half an hour of silence, with just the birds going nuts with the dawn chorus outside. Half an hour without being asked to find something, wash something or feed someone. Half an hour to feel the wool in my hands and the rhythmic, soothing making of stitches and all is right with the world. 

I always have my knitting with me obviously  and will happily pick it up and knit at every opportunity but somehow nothing is more important than that first half an hour. Just me and my yarn, making something.

Socks vs sleeves

They are both knit in the round. They both are knit in plain stocking stitch and they both take quite a while to complete. Yet why do socks practically fly off the needles and sleeves take a small eternity? Its the perennial question and I'm sure that I can't be the only knitter that thinks so.

The answer must be in the colours - more specifically in the stripes which cheer you on. Shouting encouragement and brining about the well known 'one more round syndrome'.

Sleeves generally have the disadvantage of being relatively plain - although a fun stripy sweater has long been on my to-do list. In addition if you are starting at the cuff and working up they have the extra disadvantage of growing in circumference as you increase the stitch count.

I have found a few tips that do help me with my sleeve nemesis though and I thought I would share them in case you find them helpful too.

1. Use a small circumference circular needle, even if it means you need to invest in a couple of different cable lengths. For example I started my DK grey sweater sleeve on a 4mm 30cm Addi turbo needle and then moved the stitches onto a 60cm needle as the stitch count grew. Being able to whizz round and round and get into the knitting groove really helps to get odd rounds done here and there.

2. Use some jazzy stitch markers to liven things up. It won't speed the knitting up but it will make it prettier.

3. To save having to stop and count stitches use a clip on marker or bulb pin to mark each increase. Far easier to count a row of markers than to count stitches again and again, each time hoping that you have reached the magic number.

4. Use sleeves as a portable travel project and work them whilst out and about, while your sweater body lives at home. This idea came from the renowned Elizabeth Zimmerman and as with most of her advice, is an excellent tip. Nothing worse than slogging your way through the body of a sweater only to find that the sleeves are yet to happen. Much better to be able to crack on and join them up whilst the motivation is strong and crack on with the yoke.

Right, enough procrastinating for me. One sleeve is almost done so I'm going to get the other one underway to be this week's travel knitting.

Time out

This weekend we are having a bit of a back to basics theme. We have two young boys, who like all young children everywhere love their tablets and electronic devices. It's all too easy to end up with a situation where they are relied on too heavily though and so, with the arrival of warmer spring weather we have declared that electronic gadgets are not to be used during the day.

Obviously this means that DH and myself need to be aware of our screen time too - hmmm- double edged sword possibly. But it does give me more time for knitting and also for taking the opportunity for some family walks.

This blue bell wood near our village is a favourite at this time of the year and it's such a special treat to just sit and take it all in. The sight and scent of so many beautiful bluebells is really heavenly and it was lovely to be able to share it with the boys today.

It may not excite them in quite the same way as Minecraft but I hope that when they grow up the remember it and do the same with their children.