Ah, there you are! Good to see you. Come in, come in, bring your yarnery-in-progress and sit here beside the fire. This blog post contains both knitting and cake.
Let’s begin the yarn. I’ve been designing. And knitting. I should’ve been doing other things, but I just couldn’t help it. If you’ve hung around here for more than about three seconds, then it won’t surprise you to know that what I’m making involves stranded colourwork… and freshwater life… and geology. These are three of the biggest obsessions of my life.
This idea has been brewing in my mind for a while. And then it escaped, onto the page and then, with some inevitability, into yarn. But way back at the beginning, I merely doodled, and pondered how my idea might become knitted reality:-
So. This is to become a picture (approximately one metre square), which I’ll stretch over a canvas and – if I manage to catch the Stoic Spouse in a tolerant mood when I suggest the idea – I’ll mount on the wall. I’m working in the round with a steek, because that’s way easier than attempting stranded purling. (Here’s how to steek.) The yarn is Jamieson’s Of Shetland Spindrift…
…but I’m thinking of making one in Stylecraft Special, too. And it’s well over a hundred thousand stitches. Yes, I will be offering you the pattern. The knitting is above averagely fun.
See the skull in the design? Well it’s almost done:-
And the buried ancient sword is complete:-
Somehow, it feels rude to show you stranded knitting without showing you the reverse. Also the steek, ready to be cut:-
I am enjoying the knitting more than might be considered strictly healthy. And the knitting is proving to be quicker than the designing, because creating this monster on-page took many hours of working and re-working and re-re-working. I still haven’t got the reeds and weeds right, but there’s time. The trickiest bit was the boot… how to make it recognizable as a boot, yet scruffy. It was a problem, I can tell you.
And that drawing of the pike? I left it – and some other sketches – within reach of the twinnage. Their eight-year-old temptation to colour in was strong:-
Anyway, that’s the yarn, but did I mention cake? I do believe that I mentioned cake. Would you like some cake?
There’s a story here, of course. In the summer, we went up to the Scottish island of Mull, and enjoyed a blissful week of wildlife-spotting. Whilst there, we took a boat to the island of Staffa, site of the famous Fingal’s Cave.
What I didn’t know was that as we bounced around in the little boat that took us back across the sea from this utterly amazing island, cogs were turning in the Stoic Spouse’s mind. (I remember looking at his strange facial expression at the time, and just assuming it was seasickness. Little did I know.) He had a plan. Early in December, it was my birthday. The Stoic Spouse commissioned a cake for me:-
Yes, this is Staffa, rendered in delicious chocolate cake, complete with basalt columns. The £150 000 tag is because apparently, some rich chap once bought the island for that price as a surprise for his wife. She didn’t like it! HEY STOIC SPOUSE, (if you’re reading) I WOULDN’T SAY NO TO A GEOLOGICALLY FASCINATING ISLAND NEXT TIME YOU’RE GIFT-SHOPPING. What do you mean, you ‘haven’t got a spare 150k lying around’?
The cake-maker even included Fingal’s Cave.
And I can confirm that the cake was utterly delicious. It was made by The Cake Shop in Oxford’s famous Covered Market. (No, I have no financial incentive for telling you that.) The Stoic Spouse used them for the cake via which he proposed, and our wedding cake, and the cake with which he surprised me on my first blogiversary. He is a man who communicates primarily through the medium of cake. If there’s a problem with this tendency, I’ve yet to discover it.
Your new pattern very much puts me in mind of the wonderful TV series ‘Detectorists’!
Ooh, you’re making me curious. (No TV here, so no access.)
On Instagram I commented (@moonpenny) before I saw the whole design. It is incredible. Wow. I would love to put images into yarn. I am now scouring the Interweb for stranded knitting classes……You are quite something. And your other half is too. Fab cake. To be fair, my other half is willing to travel any distance (he says) so that I can attend a lesson. He will ‘find something to do’, then we can hang out after class….
I have also mentioned that it is ok if he choses to play golf at home while I head off, he would enjoy that more. Bless him.
I’d be happy to teach you…
That would be incredible. Do you run classes?
Wonderful knitting!
Thank you!
I am fascinated with the “stranded” fish turned and swimming towards me above your sturgeon.
Thank you for noticing that. I’m quietly proud of it. Hope it works in yarn, too.
I thought, when I saw the fish, that it gave the design action. In stranded I don’t see that.
Enjoyed both the stranded knitting and the CAKE. Your emails always brings a smile 😊 to my face before I even open them.
That’s very kind of you to say. Thank you.
Fingal’s cave was quite beautiful, the water was amazing azure color.. how ungrateful of the wife gifted such an island was,… and lacking in an eye for beauty too. Your stoic spouse is a sweetie, and his cakes look so yummy, be good to him my dear.
I know – how on earth could anyone fail to be entranced?! And there are PUFFINS nesting there, too!
Fabulous!
I’m curious about the yarn and your design. I am fully drawn in, especially the photo with the bedrock and color transitions. I guess each color is chosen vs yarn gradients, and that you maintain the 2 strands per row to “paint” your knit fabric. I hope to study this more. LOVE IT. Also the cake and underpinning relationships. Thank you so much!
Thank you so much. Yes, I’ve kept strictly to 2 colours per round. The yarns are all solid shades. Sometimes there’s an abrupt transition between colours in this design, and at other times, I’ve made a gradual change by swapping back and forth between old and new colours at the start of each round. Sorry, that wasn’t a very clear explanation. Yours and other comments are making me think I should write a blog post about the process.
Oh wow that is amazing, I love it already!!
Thank you! I hope the rest of it won’t disappoint!
That is amazing
Thank you!
Amazing all round! With such a creative knitter and such a fabulous cake communicator in the house, how could there not be a twinnage with an irresistible urge to colour in sketches.
The boys do seem to be quite imaginative and creative. We encourage these tendencies as much as possible!
Perhaps they will be in charge of producing your next birthday cake. I propose a chocolate sponge with a knitted cover instead of icing.
I LIKE your thinking!
But you wouldn’t like my knitting! LOL.
What a brilliant design. I can’t wait to see this finished! And as for that cake! What a wonderful stoic spouse you have! I’m not sure I’d have wanted to eat it!
Making the first cut into the cake felt wrong, but then… well, it’s cake. Mmmm….
I love the drowned shopping trolley, and all the rest of it too! Curious about the chart – so beautiful and rich in detail. Very interested in your process from sketch(es) to refined chart. I have sketched directly onto graph paper, but it remains an approximate pattern, with the final knit still ‘approximating’ the chart … to variable effect!
Like you, I usually design on graph paper, but this thing was just too big for that. I used a programme called Stitchfiddle – highly recommended. And I’ve got a very basic electronic drawing pad that’s connected up to the laptop. (Maybe I should do a blog post about the whole process.)
But when possible, you can’t beat pencil and paper.
Thank you! A blog post about the process would be lovely, at some point. You are so generous in sharing your creativity and inspiring originality. It seems unfair to be peppering you with requests! Love your work 🙂
I’m just honoured that people are interested. It’s nice to have an excuse to chatter about knitting with like-minded souls.
Fabulous design and I really like your colors so far. May I ask what program you used to create the chart? I design stranded knitting too but haven’t found just the right software for MAC yet. Any suggestions?
Thank you! I use Stitchfiddle, and I love it. Highly, highly, recommended. Actually, I usually use pencil and paper, but that wasn’t an option for something this big!
I love any blog post that includes cake…and knitting too. Really amazing.
It’s a pretty good combination. 🙂
This is amazing, I love knitting and am always knitting but don’t have half of your talent, wonderful.
Your knitting is amazing as ever. As someone who cannot knit, it astounds me what you achieve with yarn!
It took me a while to figure out why I couldn’t see the shopping trolley properly. The wheel frame kept appearing perpendicular to the basket 🤪 The (sideways) basket is leaning forwards with the back edge higher than the front. The wheel frame is leaning backwards with the front higher than the back, iyswim? At least, I hope that’s the problem, not my eyes!!
Love your blog and love all the photos (I used to live near Wantage so I like to try and guess where you’re running!)
Thank you and have a wonderful 2019.
Thank you! Yes, I think you’ve pretty much got the measure of the shopping trolley. Wantage is lovely. Do you miss it? That said, the amount of house-building there (and everywhere round here) is just nuts. When I was training for the marathon in the summer, I sometimes ran to Wantage.
The knitting is remarkable. The cake looks good to. Happy knitting and a Happy New Year. Xx
And a very happy, yarny, new year to you, too.
I love it sooooo much!!
The drawing of the pattern is already so beautiful………all these details……………
Awww, thank you! 😊
Wow! Such a talented lady. I love reading your blog and one day may be brave enough to try stranded knitting, not sure I have the patience. You are an inspiration x
Your stranded knitting and colour work is really tempting me to try it out and I’m fascinated by steeking, but consider myself too much of a beginner (and too scary) to cut my knitting. I’d love to try it out with some landscapes though. Love your blog also
Rhian
That’s great. I really love the fish but also the things hidden in the mud. When my boys were small we had a book they loved about what was under the street, gas mains and water pipes, sewage pipes (they’re boys…they love toilet humour!),dinosaur bones, swords, Viking helmets etc.
I’d love a post explaining more about how you designed it and how you knit it. I’ve done a tiny bit of colourwork. I gather that wool is a bit more sticky than acrylic, which helps with steeking but I’ve never tried.
Thank you for sharing your blog with us.
This is an incredible design! I spent a few minutes exploring it for all the details.
I’m impressed with all of you – your design, the cake and the coloring. I would love to read a blog about how you bring your creations to life. It’s very interesting and fascinating. I really marvel at how you do it! I cannot wait to see the finished project. Happy New Year!
That is amazing, Phyll. I love the inclusion of the Ancient Sword and the modern shopping trolley!
I walk with a stick these days, not strictly necessary but it helps. The stick has somewhat homicidal tendencies. I maintain it’s cos somewhere in the metal from which it is made are a few atoms from a Saxon (or Viking) Sword. You know, one of those jobs with a Name that, once drawn from it’s sheath, couldn’t be returned until it had ‘tasted blood’. This is not but a figment of my fevered imagination, other people have said that their metal sticks have similar tendencies!
And as for the CAKE – well done Stoic Spouse (and the Cake Makers in Oxford Market!)
I love it, and I love the detail of the Dragon fly.
What a cool design! What did you use to chart it?