Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Meta-Darning my Sanquhar Socks

May 9, 2012 by tomofholland

The Sanquhar socks I knitted last year have seen a lot of wear this winter and even well into spring and when I washed them the other day suddenly loads of holes appeared. These socks are one of my favourites because they are so very comfortable and I managed to get the fit just right. The 2-ply yarn I used (a wool and mohair blend from Blacker Yarns, alas no longer available) is soft yet has a lot of spring and was quite hard-wearing, considering how much I wore them. I’m also still very pleased with how the Sanquhar-inspired design came out.

In other words, a good opportunity to reread those chapters on darning in one of my favourite mending books to ensure I’m going to do a really good job.

The darning tool I used for this job has a mushroom end for holes in the heel, and a toe-shaped end for holes in the, you guessed it, toes. I picked it up in a car-boot sale, and the toe-end is particularly well-designed.

A close-up of my darning tool reveals that somebody didn’t like it as much as I do! (click on the picture to see a larger version: GRRR!) I guess that in former times, when darning was seen as a necessity, and a skill every woman was supposed to possess, a little girl didn’t like it one bit. This is so different from my own views and feelings. In a society where it is easier to throw away and replace than repair (for whatever excuse), I often get the feeling that people think of darning as a hobby and a luxury. But I like my hand-knitted socks, if only because the fit is unsurpassed and it gives me pleasure to be able to make such an everyday item myself. As these socks took some time to knit (11 stitches to inch!) I want to be able to wear them for as long as I can possibly make them last.

Whilst I was examining the holes, I also noticed thin areas under the ball of the foot and on the side of the big toe. So not only did I need to fill in the holes with stocking darns, but I also wanted to reinforce the thin areas to prevent holes forming.

I tried out a couple of new things. First up is the biased stocking darn:

As you can see, these threads cross each other at the diagonal, and not in the more usual perpendicular fashion. This is supposed to give the darn more stretch. I shall report back in due time, although so far, I haven’t noticed any difference.

Secondly, as I like a Visible Mend, I decided to mix up the colours.

Solid patches in Swiss darning, and the stocking darn is speckled due to different colours for “warp” and “weft”. But as you can see in the following picture, it didn’t stop there. My cuff design was calling out to be re-used!

And so, esteemed Ladies & Gentlemen, the meta-darn was born. This self-referential pattern took me a quite a bit longer than a plain darn, but I had so much fun doing it. Suddenly the slightest shadow of a hint of an inkling of a possibility of a thinning area required to be reinforced. I’m very interested in adding something, which is related to thing added to. Another good example of “meta-interventions” is Amy Twigger Holroyd’s stitch-hacking work. As she says about stitch-hacking: “The [technique is] used to adapt existing garments and patterns to include personalised content. On a conceptual level, these pieces explore authorship and ownership; on a personal level, they allow me to put something of myself into my wardrobe.” *) Although Amy is talking about shop-bought clothes, which sometimes lack a certain individuality, this principle can also apply to hand-made things (although admittedly, the authorship and ownership does not get questioned as much here). In these socks, the cuff pattern gets referenced, and so the darn not only reinforces the fabric, it also reinforces the design.

I limited myself to the areas that needed reinforcing, so the pattern isn’t complete. It looks like an ancient Roman mosaic, or half-stripped wall paper. I’m not sure how this mending yarn will wear, as some of the mending threads I’ve used tend to get fuzzy. However, to me that is going to be an exciting development to follow. Will this design still be legible after having worn these socks for another winter? And once this has worn out, will I be able to perform another Swiss darn, will I need to do a stocking darn, or will I eventually have to resort to refooting the sock? Perhaps for some, these socks are just temporarily stopped on their way out, but for me, the journey with these socks has only just begun.

*) http://keepandshare.wordpress.com/2011/10/06/stitch-hacking-and-pattern-blagging-at-prick-your-finger/

Posted in textile, The Visible Mending Programme | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments »

A Super+Super Fashion Intervention

May 7, 2012 by tomofholland

When I taught my first darning class at Super+Super HQ, I noticed Amy’s cardigan, as it has some delicately embroidered details on shoulders and cuffs.

Amy has had the cardigan for about 18 months now, and at first, she wore it everywhere she went – she was that excited about this beautiful merino fine knit garment. But as often happens when the candle burns too brightly, the novelty soon wore off and the cardigan suffered from Familiarity Fatigue and ended up in the back of the wardrobe.

She was in dire need of a Fashion Intervention, but it took a while before inspiration struck. However, when she found out about Karen Barbé’s embroidery style, it was not long before the Eureka! moment happened.

Mainly whilst sat in bed watching Mad Men Series 4, nimble-fingered Amy embroidered and embroidered and embroidered. She claims the colours used ‘were just lying around’ – she’s done a great job putting them together using running stitch, cross stitch and straight satin stitch. They remind me of Italian ice cream, the ones that are put into a cone with a spatula as it’s too soft to scoop.

The sleeves were a little bit too long, and Amy always wears the cardigan with the cuffs turned up. She decided to turn that into a permanent feature and embroidered them in place; a job she found particularly satisfying.

As you can imagine, after putting in all that work, this cardigan has turned into a firm favourite once more, and it’s shows how with a little bit of embroidery in the right places you can put your own mark on what used to be a perfectly nice, if somewhat unremarkable cardigan.

Posted in story, textile, The Visible Mending Programme | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments »

Tom Says Darn It! At Super+Super HQ

April 28, 2012 by tomofholland

Last Friday saw the inaugural Tom Says Darn It! Mending class at Brighton’s new creative hub: Super+Super HQ.

It was an intimate affair, which meant I could give my students all the attention they needed. We started off with Swiss darning, also known as duplicate stitching. I don’t know where the name “Swiss darning” originates from, but duplicate stitching makes perfect sense, as this is more like embroidery, where you copy the knitting stitches with needle and thread.

This method is particularly good to reinforce worn areas that have not, as yet, developed a hole, like thinning elbows. It is also a clever way to hide stains.

After tackling the Swiss darning, we moved on to the classic stocking darn. I had brought my collection of darning mushrooms and eggs, which is an essential aid, if you want to keep your darn looking neat and tidy, and not accidentally sew onto the other side of your sock!

There was plenty of different yarns to mend with, and we discussed which yarns are suitable for which purposes. The students got to keep the needles needed for darning: a blunt tapestry needle for Swiss darning, and a long sharp darning needle for the stocking darn.

As you can see, we had pots of tea, and a home-made banana bread to fortify the budding darners. I think we all had a slice more than we strictly should have! If you take a closer look at Amy’s cardigan, you will see she has engaged in a fashion intervention. I will tell you more about it in the near future, as I think she has done a great job of it.

I will be running darning classes every month at Super+Super HQ: keep an eye out on my ‘What’s Happening’ page, and the Super+Super HQ website, where you will also find booking information.

The next class will be on Friday, 27 May, 19:00-21:30h. I’ll be looking forward to share the darning love with you!

Posted in workshop | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Sanquhar Pencil Case Pattern Giveaway Winner

April 17, 2012 by tomofholland

The competition for the Sanquhar Pencil Case Pattern and wool Giveaway is now closed. Which means I have selected a winner!

As my own pencil case has been lined with fabric left over from making a pair of boxer shorts, and thus my pencil case match my pants, I asked you to think about what you would like your pencil case to match with. There were a few practical answers, like iPad and notebook covers, or a messenger bag, some of which really were cheekily disguised requests for other Sanquhar inspired patterns. Some were variations on the underwear theme – tasselled pasties anyone? There were anti-theft devices, knitted shoes and egg-cosies, but the answer that amused me most, was sent in by Samatha:

A pencil case pattern, style Sanquhar,
Is something for which I do hanker!
This lim’rick I’ll name
to go with the same
this season, or lose with no rancour!

Not only because my limerick skills are well below par: I would struggle to find just one word to rhyme with ‘Sanquhar’, let alone two! But on a different level I really like the whimsical idea of matching a physical object with something cerebral.

Congratulations to Samantha, I have contacted you for your details, so I can send you your wool. For everybody else, the pattern is for sale at Prick Your Finger, who also stock a range of Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift, to make a pencil case in whichever colour combination you fancy.

Posted in knitting, patterns | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Mother’s Shetland Lace Scarf

April 13, 2012 by tomofholland

It must’ve been almost a year ago now, that my mother asked me to knit her a lace scarf. For some reason, this was quite a big thing for me. My mother used to be a really good knitter (she doesn’t knit much anymore), although I don’t remember her ever knitting lace. Nonetheless, I knew she would really appreciate the skill, time and effort involved in knitting a lace scarf, which is something that non-knitters don’t really seem to get somehow. But it also felt as an acknowledgement that I, a man, and her son, can actually also be taken seriously as a knitter.

Originally I was going to knit a scarf from Jane Sowerby’s Victorian Lace Today (it was to be the Melon Pattern for a shawl or scarf, since you ask), but I just didn’t fancy knitting one long strip of the same pattern. So I set myself a small challenge, and I decided to design my own scarf. To make the chosing patterns a bit easier from all the lace knitting books I have, I was only allowed to use stitch patterns from Sarah Don’s The Art of Shetland Lace. I have always liked the look of Print o’ the Wave, so I went for a more elaborate variation of this for the centre of the scarf. I think you can see here how this name must have come about, it really does look like the ripples left on a sandy beach when the tide goes out:

This is one of the few traditional Shetland patterns on a stocking stitch ground (they are more often than not garter stitch based). So I wanted the border pattern also to be based on stocking stitch. As Print o’ the Wave is something left behind by the sea, I liked the idea of contrasting this with something left behind by a land-based thing. So I chose Fir Cone, with its pleasing curving stocking stitch columns wending their way around the fir cones:

Chosing the lace edging proved more difficult: I had already knitted the centre and borders, before I had finally decided on the lace edging. I didn’t really like any the separate edging samples in Don’s book for this scarf, so after much deliberation, I chose the edging from “Baby’s Shawl in Several Patterns”.

One of the elements that I really like of this particular lace edging, is the faggotting along the straight edge. As you can see, the lace holes are elongated and alternate slanting to the left and the right. But unlike the Print o’ the Wave and the Fir Cone patterns, which are very organic in their design and therefore easy to memorise (after knitting one repeat of either, I didn’t have to refer back to my charts, which really speeds up the knitting), this lace edging turned out to be more elusive.

If you study the top chart (you can click on the picture for a close-up view), you can see that the yarnovers and the decreases keep changing their relative positions in the centre and right side of the chart. The zigzag points were easy to comprehend – they are a standard design element. But even after highlighting the yarnovers on the bottom chart, I just could not get this pattern in my head and I had to refer to the chart for every row every single time. On paper, placement of the decrease on the left or the right side of a yarnover made sense, but once on the needles, they suddenly seemed randomly placed. But looking at the end result, I’m very pleased to have persevered. I’m very proud of this scarf, and I hope I have done my mother proud, too.

Raveled here.

Posted in knitting | Tagged , , , | 21 Comments »

Sanquhar Pencil Case Pattern and Giveaway

April 3, 2012 by tomofholland

Dear readers, it is with great pleasure I can present to you tomofholland’s very first pattern. The Sanquhar Pencil Case Pattern is now available for download in the Prick Your Finger webshop.

The original pencil case, shown in the background, was a graduation present for my partner. I wanted to give him a small knitted item, which he could use every day, without having to worry about spilling food down the front… And as he was forever digging in his bag for pens, this seemed just the thing. The pattern is inspired by the traditional Sanquhar gloves, in the cornet & drum pattern. I have knitted Sanquhar gloves in the fleur-de-lys pattern:

The Sanquhar patterns can be broken down in four parts, which all come back in pencil case:

1) the cuff is knitted in a rib stitch, with the knit stitches in the light colour and the purl stitches in the dark colour. Usually there are accents of the dark colour in the knit columns. I have used one such cuff pattern for the top of the pencil case:

2) the wrist in a Sanquhar glove is always knitted in a salt-and-pepper spot pattern. I used this element at the underside of the pencil case:

3) the other distinctive feature in Sanquhar gloves, is that the wearer’s initials are worked in the cuff too. This can be found on one side of the pencil case:

The pattern comes with an alphabet and blank name plate chart, so you make your own initials!

4) the last element is the patterning of the hand and fingers. Sanquhar gloves can be divided into two distinct styles. Tweed patterns, like my fleur-de-lys gloves, and so-called ‘dambrod’ patterns, which has repeating designs in a strong grid. The cornet & drum version of this, is what I used for the other sides of the pencil case:

The original pencil case was knitted on double-pointed needles and required grafting the bottom closed. I was very lucky that Dr Felicity Ford offered to test-knit my pattern, as apart from invaluable feedback on pattern lay-out, she also brought to my attention Judy’s Magic Cast-On. This means that this pencil case is completely SEAMLESS. You cast on. You knit. You cast off. You’re done.

For the pencil case I used some left over fabric from a pair of boxershorts to line them. Who else can boast a matching pencil case and pants?

Releasing my very first pattern is a cause for celebration in my book, so one lucky winner will be given a free copy of the pattern, and two balls of Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift, in burnt umber and surf, to knit your very own Sanquhar Pencil Case. To enter, leave a comment below and tell me what you think is just the thing to co-ordinate the pencil case with this season. After two weeks, I will select the most amusing answer and post the pattern and wool to the lucky winner.

Posted in patterns | Tagged , , , , | 19 Comments »

A Case of Familiarity Fatigue

March 30, 2012 by tomofholland

Years ago,  when I just caught the knitting bug, I made myself a black brick stitch scarf. It’s a lovely scarf and very soft and comfortable, and I wear it a lot. In fact, I wear it so often, that I’ve started to get a bit bored with it. I no longer appreciate the looks of this scarf and the work I put in it. But what to do about it? I don’t really fancy knitting a new scarf, I don’t want to not wear it (if you know what I mean), and I most definitely don’t want to throw it out either. And yet, I’m bored with this scarf. It’s a classic case of Familiarity Fatigue.

I feel there’s only one remedy for this illness: a Fashion Intervention.

Regular readers of my blog know that I love my Shetland wool, and indeed you may have identified the two balls in the picture as Jamieson’s Shetland Spindrift. Here’s an excellent opportunity to combine my favourite wool with my once-favourite scarf.

In a random fashion I coloured in some of the ‘bricks’ with doubled-up Spindrift, using Swiss darning (also known as duplicate stitching):

I like the purl side of Swiss darning too. The purl nubs of the original black yarn and those of the coloured yarn create a striped effect.

I used three different colours here. Jamieson’s called them ‘surf’, ‘bracken’ and ‘burnt umber’. I think ‘surf’ and ‘bracken’ are particularly well-chosen names for these heathered tones of blue and green. I think the Shetland wool works really well here for various reasons: it provides a nice textural contrast with the supersoft merino/silk blend of the scarf. Then, of course, there’s the contrast between colours and black. In addition, as Shetland wool is quite ‘grabby’, so it was possible to weave in short ends, and not have to worry they will work themselves out again, especially after a burst of steam to set the yarn.

As the days are getting warmer now, I’m not sure if I will be wearing this scarf again until after summer. But once I have packed away this scarf, I have something to look forward to come autumn. I leave you with some close-ups of the scarf, as it caught the sunlight beautifully this morning:

 

Posted in knitting, remaking, The Visible Mending Programme | Tagged , , , , , | 7 Comments »

Older Posts »

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 153 other followers