Trudi's Knitting Adventures

Great New Sherlock Fan Site Opens It's Doors

2010-10-09T21:42:00.006+01:00

The popularity of BBC series Sherlock seems to know no bounds. Livejournal, Fanfiction.net and Tumblr are all buzzing with Sherlock related content and now a new fansite dedicated entirely to the show has opened.

The Baker Street Supper Club is run by a collective of fans and also takes contributions from fan artists. There are sections for cast and character bios as well as information on the filming locations. You can also pop in to the forum for a chat with other fans.

With the series still to air in the US the online fan content can only keep going upwards. It's just a shame we have to wait a year for series 2.

Free At Last: No More Archaeology, Lots of Knitting

2010-10-04T12:25:00.009+01:00

So, I'm the first to admit that I've done a woeful amount of blogging this year, largely due to my decision to go back to university and do a Masters degree. The workload was horrendous and despite the fact that archaeology is a subject I love, by the end of the course I would have been happy never to see a shovel again. Kind of like how I felt about Shakespeare after studying his plays constantly for two years at A Level.

Luckily, that's all behind me now and I can get back to what I enjoy doing as hobbies, knitting and writing.

On the knitting front I am currently working with Ashley, a fellow knitter from Canada, on an interpretation of Dr Watson's crew-neck sweater from the recent BBC1 series, Sherlock. (See the in-progress photo above). The pattern was arrived at after an afternoon squinting at various screencaps supplied by fans of the show from across the internet.

Having never designed a crew-neck before this has been something of a challenge on the arithmetic front but hopefully it'll come out OK and I can upload a full copy of the notes for the project by the end of the month.

Sherlock Reboot is the Best Thing NOT on TV

2010-08-11T15:09:00.004+01:00

For the last three weeks I have been thoroughly enjoying the new version of Sherlock on BBC1. Written by Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat and starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman it was the most fun thing on TV for quite a while. It's a shame that the first batch of adventures only included three episodes but word has it that a second season will be going ahead next year.

A DVD of the first three episodes also goes on sale in the UK on August 30th and the internet is also providing a stop gap for fans of the show in the form of the usual fan fiction. Live Journal and FanFiction. net both have sections for Sherlock fan fic already and some writers are striking out on their own like the mysteriously named Langdale Pike with Cold Fusion

I've loved Holmes and Watson since my parents introduced me to Conan Doyle's stories as a child. I'm hoping the second season will contain many more Conan Doyle references such as The Red-Headed League and of course, the delicious Irene Adler. :-)

Beautiful Jilbabs and Abayas

2010-06-16T09:42:00.004+01:00

Although I'm not a Muslim woman I often browse Muslim fashion websites for clothes. I prefer not to wear skimpy outfits and keep my arms and legs covered as much as possible in public, not out of any religious conviction, I'm just more comfortable in modest clothing.
Having said that I don't believe that 'modest' should mean 'dull'. I love bright colours, embroidery and good tailoring. As a student of Medieval history I'm also a big fan of the feminine elegance of vintage designs.

Yesterday, I was browsing through one of my regular Google searches for ladies abayas and I stumbled on the website for Lebaas, a British based design house who make all the outfits they sell at their base in Luton.

Their prices are very reasonable, they ship worldwide and their designs are stunning. They also offer a made-to-measure service.

I have my eye on one of their outfits for pay day this month and, should I ever decide to get married, I'll definitely be wearing a Lebaas abaya. This one in particular is appealing to my inner romantic. :-)

Away Mission Socks

2010-02-22T19:09:00.008Z

Things have been busy since Christmas but during the last week I've finally found some time to sit down and work on a new pattern. I've had the idea for a Star Trek tribute sock for a while. Designing one was a bit terrifying though. I've never knit a sock, let alone designed one so I've made this as easy as I can for fellow sock beginners. It's knit from the toe up with a Turkish cast on and a short row heel. You can knit it in blue for Medical/Sci, like the example in the photo, red for Engineering or gold for Command. The silver stripes denote your rank and are based on the insignia from the 2009 movie. Instructions include the insignia for Captain, Commander, Chief Medical and Engineering Officers, Lieutenant and Ensign. There are also two sizes, ladies and mens.

The pattern includes a couple of yarn ideas and all the instructions you should need to make a pair of socks to fit you. The pattern is free to download. Just click on the link below and please let me know how you get on.

An Early Christmas Present for Ridley

2009-11-29T12:39:00.005Z

Ridley had taken possession of one of my favourite fairisle sweaters. He insisted on sleeping on it every night. In order to get my sweater back I decided to make him something to cuddle up to. I spotted Anastasia Roeszler's pattern for a cat crescent on Ravelry and decided it was perfect. All the cats who already have one seem to love it. There was just one problem. The original is knit as 14 separate triangles which are then sewn together. I hate sewing. So I decided to modify the pattern to knit the cushion as a single piece.

If you're a fellow sewing-phobe you can click on the icon below to download my pattern notes.WARNING:If you’ve ever knit a shawl you know what it’s like knitting long rows. At its widest point this cushion contains over 300 stitches per row. Great for TV knitting but hard on the arms. If you find the stitch count a bit daunting you might want to stick to the original pattern. It's available for free from Orange Fish Knits.

I finished Ridley's cushion yesterday and he slept on it all night. Finally, I managed to reclaim that sweater.

Meet Ridley

2009-11-05T12:44:00.004Z

It's been about a month or so since I last updated but now that I'm back at university and inundated with work blogging has slipped further down my list of priorities.

However, I feel that I should make a reference to my new adoptee. After Vinnie died I wasn't going to think about adopting another rescue cat until Christmas but then I made the fatal error of browsing my local shelter's website and spotted a beautiful young tom by the name of Ridley. He was a stray and had a couple of health issues when he arrived at the shelter but, after two weeks of waiting he is now home with me and busily destroying my curtains, not to mention shedding hair on everything. I'm very much looking forward to his first Christmas at home.

Vinnie the Cat. RIP.

2009-10-03T11:06:00.003+01:00

My cat Vinnie died today after suffering a stroke last night. I nursed him all night but there was no chance he was going to recover so the vet put him to sleep first thing this morning. He was 17 years old. He was a rescue cat and I only had him for a year but he was a huge character and I will miss him immensely.

Beating Sweater Apathy

2009-09-13T11:13:00.004+01:00

Sometimes, when you're feeling a bit de-motivated and apathetic towards your knitting a beautiful yarn will turn up on your doorstep and you just have to make something with it no matter what.

So it was when I ordered 10 balls of Sirdar Balmoral arrived in my pigeon hole. One squeeze of a ball and I knew I had to find a pattern to suit it. I scoured Ravelry with no success but a rummage through my bookshelf turned up Kim Hargreaves pattern "Heather" in Rowan's book "A Season's Tale". I was taking a bit of a chance because the pattern is for an aran weight yarn and Balmoral is a DK but, knitting on the needles specified for the yarn has turned out a fantastic sweater that fits beautifully and has a great cuddle factor. I modified the pattern to knit the bulk of the body in the round but, apart from adding extra stitches to the funnel neck to make a more comfortable fit I didn't have to make any other adjustments to the pattern and the instructions were very easy to follow.

Being a member of Ravelry has made me forget that I have a vast stash of patterns on my bookshelf. I learned to knit with Rowan's pattern books and, having re-discovered them, I'm now embarking on another one from the luscious Rowan No44.

Reasons to Show Up to Maths Class

2009-08-18T11:59:00.009+01:00

Finally, someone has come up with a decent reason for going to maths class. Something I could have done with when I was at school.

Mathematicians at the University of Ottawa have released their findings on the best way to deal with a global zombie infection. By the way I will be printing this document off and reading it on the train home tonight just to see how many people do a double take at the title page.

Apparently the best tactic for dealing with a sudden outbreak of the undead is to hit them hard and fast, which probably means I should have taken cricket lessons as well.

A serious article from the BBC includes some very thoughtful and insightful comments from Prof. Neil Ferguson, who's in charge of the UK response to the swine flu epidemic. It's good to know that working for the UK Government doesn't always necessitate the removal of your sense of humour.

Nerdgasm #1

2009-08-06T09:40:00.005+01:00

Everyone knows that the coolest bits of technology are those that owe their development directly to Star Trek and this week the British Metro newspaper dedicated two pages to a variety of inventions straight from the decks of the USS Enterprise.

Amongst the laptops that roll up into poster tubes and mobile phone wrist watches I was particularly excited to see that the Department of Homeland Security has developed the first Medical Tricorder however I was disappointed to discover that they've chosen to give it the very unimaginative name of the Standoff Patient Triage Tool or SPTT.

Now, in the heat of battle or the chaos of a mass emergency, how easy is it going to be to refer to the SPTT by name? It's probably going to end up being called the SPIT and that's not really what you want to hear from a doctor when you're lying a pool of your own bodily fluids,

“Nurse, fetch the spit!”

C'mon DHS, be good sports, make us nerds and triage surgeons everywhere happy. Call it a tricorder. ;-)

This Winter's Must Knit

2009-07-24T13:12:00.005+01:00

Having been allergic since childhood to wearing anything that resembles a coat I'm always on the look out for a good chunky knit sweater to act as a substitute and I think this one might just be it.

This is a new design from Stylecraft to show off their new Signature Chunky yarn. I haven't done any cabling for quite a while but if the back is anything like the front I'm certain to get plenty of practice with this one.

The yarn itself looks fabulous too and comes in a variety of autumnul and wintry shades, although the general rule with my yarn stash is that 'If it comes in red I'll buy it in red'. So, despite the temptations of Thistle purple and Petrol blue, I feel an overwhelming desire to splash out on a huge order of Autumn red.

Yummy. Good job it's payday soon. :-)

Sweater Burn Out

2009-07-17T13:01:00.007+01:00

Even though I have only knit one sweater in the last 6 months I realised last night that I'm suffering from sweater burn out. Nothing is particularly inspiring me at the moment. Luckily I have my Parcheesi Afghan to keep me out of trouble in the meantime. It's my "In Between Projects" project, which means it will take me an age to complete it, but I will be proud of myself when it is done and on my bed, having never knit something this large before.

I am also in the process of trying out some two colour slip stitch patterns with a view to using some scrap yarn to design a winter scarf pattern with, but more on that when I've actually come up with a design I like.

My original plan for this weekend had been to go to the London Film and Comic-Con at Earl's Court but as my ticket is apparently lost in the post and the postal service are on strike anyway this is looking increasingly unlikely. I could just take my receipt and hope that will be enough but to be honest the weather is lining up to be awful, I have a pile of housework to get through and I'm still not back to 100% after being sick for most of last week. Oh well, I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed for 2010 instead.

Begonia Sweater

2009-07-03T10:48:00.007+01:00

I wanted to make myself an off the shoulder sweater but I couldnt find a design I liked so I improvised one. This is a yoked raglan with hems and side panels in 1x1 rib. The central panel of staggered lace fern leaves is framed by stocking stitch. Waist and bust shaping has been done by decreasing and increasing the number of stocking stitches. The body was knit in the round and the sleeves knit flat then joined at the armholes to form the yoke.

This is a very fitted sweater and the pattern notes should be fine for a 32-34 inch bust. If you want to make a large size you will need to add extra stitches either to the ribbed side panels or the stocking stitch panels. If you add them to the ribbed side panels remember to increase by an even number of stitches to accomodate the 1x1 rib pattern. If you have the skills I have also been told you can add short rows to the bust if you just need more room on top. If you're tall or long waisted extra length can be added either side of the waist or bust increases by knitting extra pattern repeats. Extra length can be added to the sleeves by increasing the number of rows between each increase.

What you'll need:

Yarn: between 900 and 1200 meters of DK weight yarn. I used Stylecraft Life DK in burgundy. The sweater itself only used 3 x 298 meter balls but I had to break into a fourth ball for the seams. :-(
Guage: 22 sts x 32 rows per 10cms
Needles: 1 x 3.75mm, 60cms circular needle for the body. 1 Pair of 3.75mm straight needles for the sleeves.
Extras: Stitch markers. Use different colours to mark the lace panel and the raglan decs, row counter, tapestry needle, scissors, scrap yarn, stitch holder.

You can download the pattern notes by clicking on the thumbnail below.

About Me

2009-07-03T09:26:00.001+01:00

My name is Trudi and I live in darkest South East London with my very old, very grumpy cat Vinnie. I'm currently studying for my Masters degree in Archaeology and as you can tell from the photo I like Star Trek, oh and knitting, which is pretty much the purpose of this blog.

I love sweater knitting, as well as the odd scarf and hat too. Most of the time I knit patterns that I stumble across in books or magazines or on Ravelry but every now and again I feel inspired to wing it and just see where my muse takes me.

I don't write patterns. Between work, study and whatever else real life throws my way I simply dont have the time, or the inclination to write 'proper' knitting patterns. However, when I do come up with a wearable design, which is not all the time, I will make my pattern notes available here. If you're one of those brave knitters who's happy to re-size, re-shape and re-write to suit your own body, you are more than welcome to download and use anything I publish here. At some point I will also make the PDFs available on Ravelry so that you can add them to your project book there too.