Review: Soak Wash
Recently I have been on a roll, making felt beads for necklaces and earrings. I’m really getting through the liquid soap! I’d mentioned the feltmaking on Twitter and in the course of things, Alison from p2tog and I got into a tweeted conversation about felting. She carries Soak Wash in her shop, which is a liquid soap wash made especially for textile makers: for wool, felting and washing delicate fabrics. Alison was kind enough to send me four samples of Soak to try out in felting, as she hadn’t tried them for that purpose herself.
Turns out that it was really good. Here’s what happened:
Each of the samples contained 6ml of soak which is enough for one wash of a some undies or soak of skein of yarn. I added one sample to about 700ml of hot water, found that it wasn’t quite soapy enough to felt my fibre, so added another sample into the mix to get it up to strength.
Alison sent four different frangrances of Soak, and my favourite was Floral (which also smelled lovely when mixed with Aquae). One of the best things that I found about using Soak is that it does not have to be rinsed out which made it brilliant for felting.
In the spirit of the review, I also tried the Soak Wash for soaking some newly spun yarn and a pocket hankie. Both the yarn and the hankie smelled really lovely afterwards, but apart from that I couldn’t really tell whether they were softer or not.
In any event, I would give Soak Wash five stars for felting and three and a half for soaking yarn and will definitely be using it again.
If I’ve given you ideas and you’d like to purchase some too, p2tog have lots to choose from here and if you’d like to see what I made the felt beads into, take a look here.
Badges of Honour?
Last week I found a little, crackly plastic bag full to the brim with Brownie and Girl Guide badges. It was just under the box I was looking for which contained some sewing cottons. Although I knew that I still had the badges that I’d earned in the pack and patrol from the 1980s, I was delighted to find that the little bag also contained those from my Mum’s time in the Brownies in the late 1950s.
The only thing is, that I really don’t remember what they were all for. I don’t even know definitively which were mine and which were my Mum’s (although I’m fairly sure that the woggle is my Dad’s from Scouts). I really feel rather ashamed of this. I know that I put a lot of hard work into earning each of my little fabric badges of honour; that they meant so much to me at the time.
Part of me wants to make up new names for them: to give them new life and meaning from my childhood and my mother’s. How about the Spidergirl Badge for Climbing Trees, or the Bear Grylls Badge for Crossing Ravines on a Rope Bridge? Although perhaps Bear Grylls wouldn’t go in for the safety ropes, actually.
Both myself and my Mum were in the Brownies at the time of a big anniversary: she in 1960 at the 50th Jubilee, and myself in 1985 at the 65th. The badges we recieved to commemorate this are very much of their times, I think. I remember going on a coach with my Brownie pack to the local Girl Guide camping ground on a hot Saturday that summer. There were many, many other Brownie packs and Guide units there: more than I ever thought possible. It seemed so grown up at the time, toasting marshmallows on sticks at a campfire with the big girls.
Mum says that for the 50th anniversary they held a special service at her local church and she was one of the girls selected to carry a flag in the parade through the town to celebrate. I wish I had a photo of her to show you in her Brownie uniform, but it seems that she doesn’t have any. She didn’t allow me to get away so lightly though!
I have put the badges away again, in the little crackly bag which seems so much their home. I wonder if they will be added to by my future children, and whether in time they will remember what all of their badges were for? Things that seem so important at the time, important enough to keep for now 50 years fade into the background of memory with a sense of nostalgia. But I will be keeping them. I believe it is important to pass these things on, even if it is somewhat with a case of Chinese Whispers as to their original meaning. Isn’t that all part of family history and storytelling?
PlateaKnit!
I’ve just announced the latest @platea project (our sixth) over on their blog: excitingly it is to be PlateaKnit! Well, there had to be a knitting performance sooner or later, didn’t there? It is going to run 25th – 29th January 2010 (Monday to Friday), just on Twitter. I’m really excited to be leading a @platea project and I do hope that lots of you want to will join in.
The full instructions of how to participate are over on the @platea blog, but I’ll give you the gist of what is happening here. If you think you’d like to join in, please let us know in the comments section of the @platea blog post, and be sure to follow the other performers taking part as well.
I will be making something whilst dipping in and out of the instructions throughout next week. It may be a hat: it may be a scarf. After the performance is over I will be making up a larger item ( probably a scarf) following the full set of instructions. I’ll post what I come up with here along with links to what others come up with.
If you’d like to participate yourself, just drop your name and Twitter ID into the comments at the bottom of the @platea post, follow the other performers, and get instructing or making!
as yet untitled
I’ve just finished making this work.
It is the final piece resulting from the UFO I received from Rachael Matthews. I’d love to know what you think it is about (without me telling you any more). This isn’t a test. I’m genuinely interested in how people interpret things with no written clues.
Please leave any suggestions in the comments.
Georgius: Coffee Cup Cosy Variation
Here are the instructions for the George Coffee Cup Cosy in the stitch pattern Roman Rib: Georgius, if you will. It’s a stitch pattern that looks pretty complicated but is very easy to knit and makes a dense fabric which is great for coffee cup insulation.
Georgius Coffee Cup Cosy
Georgius Coffee Cup Cosy
Materials
Leftover chunky/bulky yarn: takes around 30-40m as a guide (also works with 2 strands of DK held together, as above)
4.5mm-5mm needles
6 small buttons and embroidery thread for sewing
Abbreviations
k = knit
p = purl
yo = yarn over (wrap yarn around working needle once)
k2tog = knit two stitches together
kfb = knit front and back in same stitch (to increase)
Georgius: flat view
Pattern
Cast on 32 stitches
Row 1: knit all stitches
Row 2: k3, yo, k2tog, k to end
Row 3: purl all stitches
Row 4: kfb, *k1, p1* to last stitch, kfb
Row 5:*k1, p1* to last stitch
Repeat rows 2-5, 4 times (21 rows total)
Row 22: k3, yo, k2tog, k to end
Row 23: knit all stitches
Cast off
Weave in ends and add buttons at appropriate places.
n.b. If you are making a mug cosy, repeat rows 2-5 only twice.
As usual, please feel free to knit up the coffee cup cosies to keep or as gifts/charity fundraising, but please do not knit up for commercial purposes or reproduce the pattern without first seeking permission.
Copyright © Ingrid Murnane 2009. All rights reserved.
George: a Basic Coffee Cup Cosy Pattern
The inspiration for this coffee cup cosy was twofold. Firstly, my Mum doesn’t find it easy to grip a coffee cup without a handle and was trying to think of a solution. Secondly, although I rather like take-away coffee and hot chocolate, I don’t like the free advertising that the companies are getting from me on their cups. This coffee cup cosy rectifies both of the problems in one pattern.
Following in the spirit of my grandad George (who would cut labels off everything and always turned supermarket bags inside out before using them) I have always liked to obilterate logos. Those of you who followed me in the @Platea Co-Modify performance, may well be surprised by this (but do remember, it was a performance and I couldn’t care less whose yarn I am using). However, those who know me in real life will find it difficult to think of any clothing or accessories which I have with a logo or visible label left intact.
George Coffee Cup Cosies
So now you know the background, on to the instructions!
I’ve made this a really simple pattern which can be knitted up in around an hour, so would be great for a last minute present and is easy enough to knit in front of the tv or at the cinema. It is marvellous for stashbusting: it takes around 30 metres of yarn, give or take, but you could always use up lots of oddments by striping them. It is knitted flat, in stocking stitch and six buttons are added for closure. It fits a regular or large sized take away-cup, and as you can see, you can tailor it to be smaller and it fit through the handle of a mug too. This would be a great beginner pattern, teaching casting on and off, knit and purl stitches, kfb increases and eyelets.
Basic Shape for Coffee Cup Cosy
Materials
Leftover chunky/bulky yarn (also works with 2 strands of DK held together, as above)
4.5mm-5mm needles
6 small buttons and embroidery thread for sewing
Abbreviations
k = knit
p = purl
yo = yarn over (wrap yarn around working needle once)
k2tog = knit two stitches together
kfb = knit front and back in same stitch (to increase)
Pattern
Cast on 32 stitches
Row 1: knit all stitches
*Row 2: k3, yo, k2tog, k to end
Row 3: purl all stitches
Row 4: kfb, k to last stitch, kfb
Row 5: purl all stitches*
Repeat rows 2-5, 4 times (21 rows total)
Row 22: k3, yo, k2tog, k to end
Row 23: knit all stitches
Cast off
Weave in ends and add buttons at appropriate places.
n.b. If you are making a mug cosy, repeat rows 2-5 only twice.
So, let me know how it goes if you decide to make one: would love to see pics if you have them! I will add some alternative stitch patterns for the cosy over the next week.
Please feel free to knit up the coffee cup cosies to keep or as gifts/charity fundraising, but please do not knit up for commercial purposes or reproduce the pattern without first seeking permission.
Copyright © Ingrid Murnane 2009. All rights reserved.
from hibernation to reinvention
I won some sock yarn in a competition a few years ago, but as I hadn’t tried socks at that point (and the mere thought of sock-knitting scared the be-jesus out of me) I decided to knit it up as a first lace project.
The Leafy Lace Scarf
I chose this pretty leaf pattern, which seemed easy enough and used my new red needles which made a great contrast to the mossy greens in the yarn. It all went quite well to begin with. Well, once I had got the hang of reading a lace chart anyway… I knitted away happily on the train and the bus and in front of the TV. The scarf was to be a present for my partner at the time who liked green leafy things and who had a coat which this would match really well.
So far so good…until we split up. Now, I know what you’re thinking: the infamous ‘Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater‘. Well I don’t really think that I can blame it on that, (or in this case perhaps the ‘Curse of the Girlfriend Scarf’) as I’d already knitted her a bag. But in any case, as you would imagine after the breakup I didn’t want to knit any more of it. Retitled ‘The Lace Scarf of Doom’ it was effectively put into hibernation as an UnFinished Object.
So, why am I telling you this?
Well the other day I happened across the UFO Project Administration Service which is a really interesting art project set up by Rachael Matthews of Prick Your Finger yarn shop.
UFO Project Administration Form
The basic premise is that you can send in a UFO which you have totally given up on, or sign up to finish somebody else’s UFO. You sign up for an invitation and are sent a specially designed form on which you fill in details about both yourself and your UFO (or the kind of thing you might like to knit of somebody else’s). Rachael will then matchmake knitter with UFO. The brilliant thing about this is that you don’t have to continue to knit the original pattern: you can be as inventive as you like. Jumpers with extra arms, parts of tea cosies made into bags, using a totally different yarn to continue, crocheting something that was started in knitting; the possibilites are endless. Of course you can just continue to knit the original too, if you like. As you have probably guessed, I have decided to send in the Lace Scarf of Doom for somebody else to have a try with and I’m also going to ask for somebody else’s UFO to work on.
The Red Round: another possible contender
What I find so interesting to about this whole idea is that the unloved, unwanted knitted object now could gain a new lease of life and its social life and object biography will be added to in an unexpected direction. Every UFO will have a story behind it: that of its making, the yarn that was used, how the pattern was picked, about the person who knitted it, why they made it and what was going on in their life as they knit. As a UFO going through the Project Administration Service it will now have many added layers of history. Who knows what will happen to the Lace Scarf of Doom, but one thing is sure: it will be much more interesting than had I just finished knitting it to its intended pattern. I can’t wait to see what someone else does with it!
There will be an exhibition at the Jerwood Space in London from 10th June – 19th July 2009, which will also tour Britain and which will feature some of the now-finished UFOs.
Co-Modify: the story so far…
I’ve been taking part in the @platea performance Co-Modify this week and it has been really interesting. I’m being ‘sponsored’ by Sirdar, the British knitting company. This has been my profile picture on Twitter, Facebook and Ravelry this week.
I said that I'd be wearing a hat made from Sirdar yarn: I never said anything about it being knitted...
I’ve not taken part in an online art project before and it has been so interesting to take part but also to have been documenting it. I think that I have got much more out of it this way. I’m going to blog about the experience properly in a couple of days to explain what I have been doing across my social media networks; indeed, to reflect on what I have learned from it too. I wanted to just give a quick update of what has been going on first though.
So, enough gabbing on: here is the blog post that I wrote for @platea today, which gives some of my favourite parts of the project so far.
To begin…
I’ve recently realised that in writing about my textile work, I have become much more active in my making.
I will be updating this blog as somewhat of a visual diary and reflecting on the processes, techniques and outcomes that I use to create the many and varied arms of my practice. I will be writing about a variety of textile related work that I am making, thinking about or am generally interested in.
I make work in a number of guises: the craft education researcher, the hobbyist-knitter, the knitter-designer, the new crocheter, the art-yarn spinner and the conceptual artist. Most of these areas seem to overlap at one point or another. I’m generally technique-led and like to learn something new and then see how I can push it. I do tend to be more interested in the process than the outcome a lot of the time.
One project that has I have recently been thinking about a lot is Brainstorm 1.0: my BA Textile Art degree show work. I’m revisiting and attempting to resolve it as, you guessed it: Brainstorm 2.0…
I’ve been trying to make work about human electricity for a few years now. I made a lot of pleated work at university in which I was trying to talk about the brainwaves, and the correlations between epilepsy and storms. This is something from my degree show.
Brainstorm 1.0 version 27.8 -2005
This idea has been dormant for a while now and while I think I took it as far as I could with pleating, I don’t feel like it ever was fully resolved.
I’ve recently started to learn to spin on a drop spindle, and am exploring the ways that the fibres ply together to form a new yarn. There seems to be a lot which I could draw on and use in this technique to take the electricity idea in different directions.
Thinking about ideas of nerves and neurones, insulation, and the ways that the actual action of spinning can lend itself to talking about these ideas.
I’ve a lot to explore and experiment with in this new project.
I’ll keep you updated.
