A week in knitting: Winter Hooded Cowl | Sunday Knitting Group | Tension with Tension

I was drawn to this gorgeous Rowan's Thick n Thin yarn in a huge sale at John Lewis last year (shade: moorland). I'd bought a new outfit with very different colours (and style) from my usual comfort zone and I needed new accessories. I like to have a hood on my jackets so that I can quickly pull it on and off, as needed. The leather jacket, bought in a charity shop for £20, didn't have a hood, but I'd just seen Toni Collette in Lucky Them and liked how she'd worn a cowl as a hood. Actually, I like all her outfits in this film, and especially how she uses scarves and cowls (and bags and boots). It's an affectionate little film, I've seen it several times, and not just for the fashion style.

I used a very simple stitch, like a basket weave (k2, p2 for four rows, then p2, k2 for four rows) on 9mm birch circular needles. I used a Rowan pattern as a guide, to get the overall dimensions, I knew it had to be deeper than usual (when I say I used a Rowan pattern, I popped into John Lewis and sat down with the pattern book for five minutes). One side is very smooth with the pattern and colours clearly visible:

The other side is more craggy and rough and has a kind of misty look to it:

It reminds me of this Redwood tree bark from the Botanic Garden around the corner:

I've half a ball left, so I might make something arty and sculptural. The pictures of the knitting were taken at different times of day and in different light: the top one was taken at night with electric lighting; the bottom one this morning in daylight. Just realised that I've had my hair done in the same colourway!

Sunday Knitting Group

Finally made it to the knitting group which meets on Sunday afternoons at the Exchange bar in Leicester's cultural quarter. The knitting group has been meeting for about four years now. It has about a dozen members, all ages and abilities, with many continental knitters. There were various projects in progress and talk ranged from Artificial Intelligence and Universal Income to whether stress is a modern invention.

"a sanctuary for knitters"

I love knitting groups: my knitting improved in leaps and bounds once I started going to I Knit London - "a sanctuary for knitters" - complete with large tea urn and licensed bar. One of my favourites quotes from the knitters there is:

"I have a knitting project for every degree of tiredness"

This was a new idea to me, that you could be knitting more than one thing at a time. I was much more Presbyterian and, like a good Girl Guide, I'd steadfastly refused myself any new wool until whatever I was knitting, however boring and frustrating, was completed. Reader, I had never finished a thing.

This new idea of the joy of knitting and tackling small items, like socks, scarves and cowls, beanies and berets, which could be finished in a fortnight, meant I could try out many new techniques and patterns, all for a small outlay and quick rewards, varying between neat and precise and hairy, chunky extravanganzas.

So I was pleased to get to the group in Leicester and renew my contact with other knitters.

Tension about Tension

We need to talk about tension. I was with @lizgore with her tension dilemmas and where it worked out. I've spent ages sometimes messing about with swatches and needles and still ending up with a garment that was way too big!

The yarn in the picture is Rowan handknit cotton from the limited edition Kaffe Fassett colours. It was reduced to £2.40 for 50g in the winter sale at Liberty's, so naturally I had to have it.

The advice on the band gives tension as 19-20 stitches and 28 rows over ten centimetres using the recommended needle size. I'm not worried about matching the exact tension, as I'm going to design my own pattern but I do want accurate measurements.

The Experiment

I cast on 60 stitches and knitted the entire ball in stocking stitch (about 56 rows). I wetted the yarn, squeezed gently and rolled in a towel, before shaping it into an even rectangle and letting it dry naturally overnight. I measured 10cm each way in the centre of the swatch; then wet pressed (as this is how I will be finishing the garment), allowed to dry naturally and measured again. Both times, the tension came to 14.5 stitches and 23 rows.

Slightly trepidatious, and without breathing out, I'm going to use this for calculating the construction of the garment.

Anyone else have problems with tension or handy tips for improving the accuracy of your measuring? I'd be delighted to know.