Stitch this?

It's harder for me to find time to write about what I'm making than it is to do the making, but while of course it sucks for those of you hanging on my every word; I like me a lot more when I have lots of creating time as opposed to nothing better to do than blog time.

I'll open on a work in progress that's thanks to a surprise announcement.

It's been on the go for a few weeks, but I have started it over once, since as usual my approach to using a pattern is on the looser side and my initial start wasn't doing the business.

This is going to be a jacket for Will and I's very first nibling; who is due to arrive a week after our wedding. The pattern I'm starting from is this 'scrappy socky stripey cardigan'. I have a vision for this, inspired by the father-to-be (Will's brother), so there are of course many amendments being made. I shan't spoil the surprise of what exactly I'm going for until it's handed over, but I am very encouraged by the fact that everyone I've explained the concept to so far has assured me that I'll be the very coolest auntie if I pull it off.

In the winter break catch up section, let's return to my newest craft and look at some of the embroidered things.
One of the decisions I made about the wedding early on was that I wanted to give people a real incentive to join in. Pinterest and the wedding blogs are crawling with ideas for photo scavenger hunts to pop on your tables, but I got the impression nobody actually did them.
So why not offer prizes for completing those challenges?

A lucky dip seemed like the way to go - a mixture of things we'd made, things we've found, and little treats - and since I was in the throes of a stitching passion, embroidered brooches were just... obvious.

I'm sticking to the woodland theme but having all sorts of fun trying different stitches and techniques, and I don't think I can pick a favourite. Indeed, the more I think about continuing to write about them, the more I think I should pick out a few to go into detail about.
What do you think, readers, which of these would you like to read more about?

Wonderful plumage

Having been distracted by all that embroidery, the Pincha shawl has had most of the work on it done while out and about. It joined me on holiday to Sweden last month, has been seen on trains and in pubs many times, and had to have two whole feathers ripped back when I realised the reason the counts weren't working is that I'd dropped three whole stitches.

So it's not gone as quickly as it might if I'd concentrated on it (probably my mum, who is a) a faster knitter than me and b) only works on one thing at a time, would be able to finish one in under a week while I've taken 3 months). It's done at last though. The yarn stretched to 20 feathers and would almost have done 25 but there wouldn't be quite enough for the cast off row.

And Bristol University Botanical Garden was the perfect place to take pictures of the finished product.

I think this is going to be one to wear with only neutrals just because it's a lot of colours to handle, but oh goodness it is soft and warm and two total strangers said they liked it while we were out so I'm marking it down as a success.

Vital stats:
Pattern: Pincha Shawl (20 feathers)
Yarn: Devon Sun Yarns Sprightly Sock (% Merino, % Nylon) from a colour club subscription box
Needles: 3.25mm HiyaHiya bamboo circulars.

And now on to a pink hat in merino handspun.

Pincha scarf progress

The best part of a couple of hours on the train and an afternoon at your nan's house?

Plenty of knitting time.

Pincha shawl in a Devon Sun Yarns colour club exclusive set.

This is slightly less than half the scarf it will be. Variegated yarn has its problems and Pincha exists to make the best of it. Short row shaping forms one feather after another and breaks up a variegated colourway quite attractively.

Well, for a certain value of attractive. After my first couple of feathers I was very excited for how this one going to turn out, after about seven I was fairly sure I hated it? 

Now I'm up to a few repeats of the full colour sequence it's growing on me again,(and mum coos appreciatively every time she sees it) and I'm looking forward to having the finished scarf to show off. Hopefully that won't take too long, as it's conveniently a very good pattern to take on the go (as long as you make good use of stitch markers so you don't have to keep track of rows too closely). It's even been to visit a host of beautiful feathered friends at Birdland in Bourton-on-the-Water, like this Superb Starling whose plumage puts mine to shame.

It's a fun pattern to actually knit as well - I might even knit another one or two - maybe giant ones like this from Auduraka on Ravelry.

Crowning it

On Christmas morning my partner of three years proposed to me.

Being a) a person who is always either making things or thinking about making things and b) not wealthy, it was clear that a noticeable part of this celebration would be handmade and DIY. As of writing, I have started three wedding projects.

One of them is even finished - and what I'll be sharing today (Please don't panic if you find wedding stuff dull as ditchwater, there will be non-wedding projects covered here too).


A few weeks before the question was popped, chatting idly, a friend had suggested that a magical woodland theme might be cute. The image this evoked immediately was so clear and so, so me that the decision was made right there and then. I'll get on to the first project I started on later, but for now, here is my second project, and the first to finish.

I'd read about knitting with wire, but hadn't tried it. When I started looking at bridal tiaras and crowns for inspiration I had first thought of a laurel wreath like a Greek Goddess - since the bridal party aesthetic should evoke Titania's court in A Midsummer Night's Dream. Some research suggested that buying a nice one would be beyond my budget, so I had to think about how to make one.

Thus, knitted wire. I'd seen it talked about online; I'm a knitter above all else; and its organic quality of its shape and capacity to have extra decoration added seemed just the thing.

I bought some 36 gauge beading wire and started swatching.
This is in garter stitch on 3.5mm needles. The garter stitch concertinas up - so you have to use more wire to cover your space - and I found the density of the 'fabric' and how it felt to knit with less than ideal.

Switching to 6mm needles and stocking stitch I started to get a fabric I liked much better. You'll find even in something as stiff as wire, stocking stitch still curls up.

I knit on to the end of my reel of wire, added a few beads to see how they would look (lovely) and how practical it would be to add them into the knitted fabric as I went along (not very, for my taste), and started fiddling about with shaping it. Doubling up the bottom by folding the crown makes it sturdier, solves the stocking stitch curl issue, and I found it easy enough to secure the layers together when I went back to add in beads later.
Here is my prototype, modelled by the purplebird -

The fabric was still too diaphanous, but after a little more reading up I decided 24 gauge wire would do nicely and ordered a few reels in copper. While I waited for them to arrive I played with point shapes in some scrap yarn and settled on a broader point style for me and a sharper one for my partner.

Once I'd made my mind up, the knitting of each one took about three days, and beading them a couple more...
 And by gosh they are just what I was hoping they'd be.