Finished Objects - Limp Offerings Gallery!

Yarn and Pattern:
Touch Yarns - 8ply, 100% wool
Buttons:
Vegetable Ivory (apparently)
Materials Source:
Knit & Stitch, Alexandria Palace 2006
Knitting Location:
Train
Project Duration:
10 Commutes*, Oct-Nov 2006
*1 Commute = 30-35 mins

I love receiving photos of O.R.K.s in action. It's good to know that something I have knitted is appreciated and being used. This jumper is not going to win any knitting technique prizes but somehow the pattern and the yarn caught my attention at a point when I thought that I had long reached saturation point - so I bought them.

Most of the things that I knit are for other people and I only bought a camera at Christmas, so evidence of my past finished objects are few and far between.

I do ask gift recipients to send me a photo of their present in action but there are a number out standing! This means that I have an incomplete record of my work. I have taken some photos with my dodgy camera phone and/or with a throwaway camera - so without further ado, here is the O.R.K. Limp Offerings Gallery (ORKLO?!) - I will add to this page, as I come across photos!

Simple Hat - RYC DK Cashcotton: this is the single item that got me back into knitting properly. Prior to this I had only picked up my needles to make a couple of baby hats. At the time of this photo, my mother did not have any hair and this was the softest yarn that I could find in her favourite colour (green).

I tried to knit her another hat but it looked like a dead rat (really) so I abandoned it!



Hat - Rowan Calmer: knitted for when my mother's hair made its reappearance. However, it turned out like a huge, stretchy orange net bag and she didn't like it. I understand that my aunt has it now, somewhere in the South West of England. Not a total disaster though - I liked the yarn enough to buy more in the same colour - this is what I am using to knit my Phyllo Yoked Jumper now.



Baby Bolero - Debbie Bliss Soho: I modified the pattern as it was for a baby boy, added the star motif and edged it with ribbon as it wasn't baby yarn. I just loved the semi-solid colour and the baby's mother was just far too cool to cart a baby around in pastels!

The Don't Ask Scarf: just don't ask. What possessed me to buy this expensive ball of Feza yarn that resulted in the nastiest, ugliest scarf for my best friend's birthday in December? Not only ugly but too short, so I added some even nastier ends to lengthen it. I am embarassed - still embarassed. Never again. It's a measure of our friendship that she still speaks to me.



The Ubiquituous Corsage: Leaving present for a colleague. Received the most comment on the train:
Are you knitting an eyepatch? Are you knitting mice ears?!
No, I am knitting a corsage.
Oh -why? Good question!




Ribs and Ruffles - Chunky Misti Alpaca - Free One Skein Scarf Pattern: I have knitted three of these scarfs as gifts and they have all been a success. The first one I worked in accordance with the pattern and thought it was a bit mean in dimension, length and ruffle. Luckily, it was an 11 year old's Christmas present (in pale pink of course), so it was perfect. The other two were for adults, I increased their width, length and ruffle. One in a semi-solid pink colour with alpaca/merino chunky yarn from the Natural Dye Studio and the other is the one shown above (2 skeins of Misti Alpaca Chunky), that I made as part of my mother's 60th birthday present. The truest colour representation is on the right. I have to confess, I have 4 more skeins hidden away in my stash - in aubergine and cream. So this year, this scarf may make two more present appearances (unless I make one for myself!)



The Word Gets Out Scarf: the family hear that you can knit. After much mirth and ribbing, youngest brother tentatively asks whether you might knit him a scarf. This is the same yarn as the landscape scarf but knitted sideways in a pseudo rib - looks quite different.


I started a new job at the start of October '06 in central London. I do most of my knitting on the train during my commute to and from work (as I read too quickly to keep myself in books). To date, my tally of completed objects is: 7 scarves, five hats, two baby jumpers and one toddler jumper, not to mention a number of samples to support my Purlesence Storyteller entries!



As you can tell, the majority of my projects are portable although I am branching out into larger pieces as I get faster, more confident and want to challenge myself by learning new techniques.


The one thing that I would really like to do though is a finishing techniques course. For some reason, I am not good at following photos in books and I am conscious that I am bodging things together at the end, which mars the finish of the things that I make.