So overwhelming is the experience of entering the room that it takes a while to notice that the room is also filled with subversive objects and messages, including explicit text messages from the artist’s past relationships. The notion of stepping into a stranger’s intimate life and overpowering neon cause a sense of unease that slowly transforms the cosy, cushioned space into something more menacing.

If you’d like to see the room for yourself, you’ll have to be quick. The show closes on the evening of Saturday 24 March with a blacklight party!

Tony’s Gallery is open Wednesday to Sunday, 10am – 7pm at 68 Sclater Street, London, E1 6HR, near Shoreditch High Street station.

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2012
Post a comment | Permalink to Olek exhibition at Tony’s Gallery

It's a Stitch up on Facebook | @itsastitchup on Twitter


A selection of one-offs, handmade by Suzie are available in the shop!

This project took weeks of research, planning, buying of pink yarn, swatching and buying of more pink yarn; but only a few days of knitting. I just love it.

It’s based on the ‘Red Palm’ chart from the Bohus book. I simplified the chart a little. My hat is knitted in a DK weight with a folded, 1×1 rib band. I improvised the pattern over the decreases. I use this crown decrease calculator to plan the shaping to the top of the hat, but it was way off. I re-knit the crown 3 times, changing the decrease rate, to get it to lie flat. Even then, it took some aggressive blocking. I can’t say what went wrong, the maths looked sound, it should have produced a flat circle. Perhaps the purl stitches did unexpected things to the gauge. Never mind, it was all OK in the end.

It seems a little lonely on its own. Would a matching scarf, mittens and leg warmers be overkill?

Also, pompom – yea or nay?

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2012
Post a comment | Permalink to FO: Pink Bohus hat

It's a Stitch up on Facebook | @itsastitchup on Twitter


A selection of one-offs, handmade by Suzie are available in the shop!

The original Marius® © motif was designed by Unn Søiland in Norway in 1953, and it is protected by copyright.

Since my first Norwegian hot water bottle cover was born in December, they’ve been selling as fast as I can knit them – clearly a winning formula.

Now you can knit your own! The Nordic ski sweater hot water bottle cover pattern is available as a PDF download from Ravelry for £2.50.

Nordic ski sweater hot water bottle cover knitting pattern, £2.50. The original Marius® © motif was designed by Unn Søiland in Norway in 1953, and it is protected by copyright.

Norway is one of my favourites countries to visit and I love all things Norwegian (well not everything, I’m not keen on brown cheese,  whale meat or the oil industry). This was a perfect opportunity to try out Nordic stranded patterns. Stranded work creates a more dense, structured and better insulating fabric, ideal for a hot water bottle cover. This design is inspired by ‘Marius’ sweaters, the attire of choice in Norwegian ski brochures in the 70s.

The suggested yarn, Cascade 220, is hard to find in the UK but Get Knitted stock it with free UK delivery. It’s a great choice for colour-work because it’s affordable and comes in a myriad of colours. It can be substituted any light aran yarn – I have also used Debbie Bliss Merino Aran and King Cole Merino Aran with this pattern.

If you’d rather pick up the finished article, there is one left in the shop. I don’t expect it to hang around long and this is the last one for a while. It’s time for me to move on to other projects.

The original Marius® © motif was designed by Unn Søiland in Norway in 1953, and it is protected by copyright. Read about the Marius story at www.marius.no

Hand knit hot water bottle cover, £30. The original Marius® © motif was designed by Unn Søiland in Norway in 1953, and it is protected by copyright.

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2012
Post a comment | Permalink to New pattern: Nordic ski sweater hot water bottle cover

It's a Stitch up on Facebook | @itsastitchup on Twitter


A selection of one-offs, handmade by Suzie are available in the shop!

It now looks like this:

There are no words.

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2012
Post a comment | Permalink to Disaster at 60°

It's a Stitch up on Facebook | @itsastitchup on Twitter


A selection of one-offs, handmade by Suzie are available in the shop!

* Note to any baffled British readers: ‘Bind-off’ is the US term for cast-off. As I’m British, I normally use British terms but this technique seems to exclusively be known by the US term.

It is normally worked with right sides together for a neat finish, but it can also be worked with wrong sides together, to make a feature of a join with a row of running stitches along the seam, as shown in my photo tutorial. The latter is perfect for baby clothes because it leaves the inside of the garment perfectly smooth.

Three needle bind-off used on a sweater shoulder seam, worked with right sides facing for a hidden seam. Inside left, outside right.

You’ll need: Some knitting to join, with the same number of stitches on each needle; a spare needle of a similar size to the ones your knitting is on.

Let’s get started!

Decide if you’d like your seam to be on the outside of you work. If yes, hold your pieces together with wrong sides together, as I have. If you’d like your seam on the inside, hold the pieces with right sides together (inside out).

1. Align your needles so that both are in the same position with the yarn between them.

Both needles aligned ready to start three needle bind-off

2. With the third needle, insert through the front loop of the first stitch on the facing row (as if to knit) and through the front loop of the first stitch on the back row.

Insert third needle through first stitch of both pieces

3. Knit both stitches together.

First stitch of three needle bind-off

4. Carefully slide the two worked stitches off the needles on each side. You’ll have a single stitch on the third needle.

The first stitch has been worked

5. Repeat this process, knitting the next stitch on the front needle together with the first stitch on the back needle.

Working the second stitch

You’ll now have two stitches on the third needle.

After two stitches have been worked

6. Lift the first stitch on the third needle off over the second, casting (binding) off one stitch, exactly as you would normally. Take care not to drop any stitches off the working needles, this step is normally when it happens!

Casting off the first stitch

That’s it! This is a good time to check your needles are lined up nicely to make the next stitch easier.

One stitch cast off

Repeat steps 1-6 until you’ve run out of stitches.

This will feel a little fiddly at first. Dropped stitches are common so be extra vigilant and keep your needles aligned.

The three needle bind-off works very well combined with short rows for a jogless sloping seam, which is exactly what I did in the project pictured.

The finished project with a neat row of stitches following the seam

What is this mysterious project? It’s a new pattern, coming very soon.

Many thanks to Rob Wilson for the photography in this tutorial.

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2012
Post a comment | Permalink to Three needle bind-off

It's a Stitch up on Facebook | @itsastitchup on Twitter


A selection of one-offs, handmade by Suzie are available in the shop!

Bohus Red Palm swatch

I can also tell that my original colour selection is a tiny bit off. Green has to go (that’s a given) and the pale pinks aren’t working. There is too much contrast between the fuchsia and dusky pink, and between the pale pink and white, and not enough between those tow shades.  I have a new-found appreciation of how difficult it is to balance a complex colour scheme, it needs to be exactly right.

I was forced (literally) to buy more yarn. Luckily it was cheap, I picked up some bargain King Cole merino in bright pink, and some Artesano merino in very pale pink, both from Hejhog.

Here is the final line-up:

Many, many shades of pink

I can see this combination being more successful. Now that the colours have been chosen, there is just the small matter of what to make… I do need a new hat, my Aduki Hat got left somewhere in Berlin.

I prefer not to think about the fact that I’ve bought 9 balls of yarn (11 including the ones I’m not using) to make a hat. The advantage of fairisle is that there should be plenty left over for a matching scarf, gloves even leg warmers.

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2012
Post a comment | Permalink to Bohus in development

It's a Stitch up on Facebook | @itsastitchup on Twitter


A selection of one-offs, handmade by Suzie are available in the shop!

Luckily all of the stitches were still discernible, so I reinforced them by following the path of each stitch with a yarn needle and sock yarn. I later discovered after seeing this post on creative mending that this method is called “Swiss darning”.

Mended Jaywalker socks

Yes, I’m aware that my mending is not exactly invisible. I opted for the most hard-wearing yarn I could find, rather than the most similar. This method does take a long time but it is very easy and could be invisible (with the right yarn).

Mended sock heel

I’m hopeful that I wont be mending these again for a couple of years at least.

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2012
Post a comment | Permalink to Mending knitted socks

It's a Stitch up on Facebook | @itsastitchup on Twitter


A selection of one-offs, handmade by Suzie are available in the shop!

Enough time  has passed since I designed my Baby wrap-cardigan for me not to mind making another one, so I whipped one up for a friend’s baby girl using the same cotton yarn, recycled from a cardigan, as the original.

Baby Wrap Cardigan

It is mighty cute and I really appreciate the lack of seaming. I didn’t even begrudge knitting in cotton because the colours work so well together and it’s nice to have put it to good use.

I made a few changes to the original design; I added a bit of length, I made the sleeves a bit wider and I swapped the buttons and press-studs for ties. Parents have told me that they find ties much easier and that most baby clothes come up a bit short.

icord ties

The ties are two-stitch i-cords, about 6 inches long. They are knitted onto the garment stitches, rather than sewn on, for a bit of reinforcement. They’re easier than buttonholes, especially on a length-adjusted garment because there is no need to consider their placement until the end.

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2012
Post a comment | Permalink to Baby wrap-cardigan revisited

It's a Stitch up on Facebook | @itsastitchup on Twitter


A selection of one-offs, handmade by Suzie are available in the shop!

Poems of Colour: Knitting in the Bohus Tradition

I’ve had my eye on this book by Wendy Keele since discovering Bohus sweaters on the Bohusläns Museum website. I don’t remember how I came across it but was particularly taken with ‘Grey mist’ and ‘red palm’ sweaters and the subtle colour-work transitions. Now that I’ve got the book, I can reveal that the secret of these is in the inclusion of strategically placed purl stitches which not only add texture but enhance the shimmering fade effect.

Bohus knitting is a Swedish initiative, founded in the late 1930s at the height of the depression in order to encourage home crafts. By the 1950s it developed into a successful industry and Bohus knitwear was luxuary fashion.

Poems of Colour: Knitting in the Bohus Tradition is not just a pattern book, it’s also an illustrated history of the designs and the designers.

The designs are not for the faint-hearted. Written for 2ply / lace yarns on tiny 2.5mm needles with up to 16 colours per design, even the smaller projects in the book are challenging.

However, they are stunning, and using the clearly illustrated charts, a knitter with a little colour-work experience can incorporate Bohus designs into any project. Apart from the yoke sweaters, the garments are boxy and unflattering, but patterns are given for hats and gloves in many of the designs.

The 'Wild Apple' design

The 'Red Palm' design

Although the chances of me completing a 2ply sweater in my lifetime are slim, I still feel that this book is an essential addition to my library.

Keen to try out some of the charts, I ordered some cheap Wendy Merino Bliss DK from Kemps, and I’ve knitted up a swatch from the ‘Red Palm’ chart.

'Red Palm' swatch in DK merino

It doesn’t quite have the subtlety of the original but its very striking. It turns out to be very hard to find yarn in 8 shades of pink! It has the potential for a stunning hat/scarf/gloves set.

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2012
Post a comment | Permalink to Poems of Colour: Knitting in the Bohus Tradition

It's a Stitch up on Facebook | @itsastitchup on Twitter


A selection of one-offs, handmade by Suzie are available in the shop!

Berlin is maybe my favourite city (apart from the fine city in which I live); it’s turbulent and significant history is apparent everywhere, but it’s also overflowing with a world-leading and diverse contemporary creative scene.

I love the space-age architecture of the TV tower, which dominates the skyline.

Berlin TV tower

I saw a mind-blowing installation at Hamburger Bahnhof gallery.

TOMÁS SARACENO - Cloud Cities at Hamburger Bahnhof Gallerie, Berlin

I marvelled at an incredible miniature Berlin with trains, moving traffic, day and night and thunderstorms.

LOXX - Miniatur Welten Berlin

I stood on the runway at the eerie former airport, Tempelhof park.

Tempelhof runway

I scoured Berlin’s great-value vintage shops for interesting finds.

Vinatge sweaters at Humana, Alexanderplatz

I sampled delicious food and many excellent German beers with friends.

Transit, Friedrichshain

And no trip would be complete without something knit related… I discovered an industrial carding machine at the German Museum of Technology.

Carding machine at Deutsches Technikmuseum

A great trip and the new camera isn’t bad either!

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2012
Post a comment | Permalink to Berlin

It's a Stitch up on Facebook | @itsastitchup on Twitter


A selection of one-offs, handmade by Suzie are available in the shop!

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2012
Post a comment | Permalink to Marvellous buttons

It's a Stitch up on Facebook | @itsastitchup on Twitter


A selection of one-offs, handmade by Suzie are available in the shop!

This pair were knitted from the Fyberspates sparkle fibre, they are ridiculously soft.

Handspun cabled fingerless mittens

And this pair from the Colinette fibre.

Handspun ribbed mittens

I’m particularly pleased with the Colinette pair – the merino fibre didn’t feel especially fine but the fabric is very soft against the skin. I love the colours too.

I didn’t have a pattern for either pair, it’s easy to wing it with fingerless mittens as they’re basically just a tube. They’re roughly DK gauge on 4mm needles. The thumb is formed by knitting 8 stitches on scrap yarn at the desired point so it can be unpicked and the thumb tube worked afterwards. This method is described in full in this pattern.

It’s the finishing that makes or break a simple project; I used the Italian tubular cast on and tubular bind off for stretchy, attractive edges on the ribbed edges, and Jeny’s surprisingly stretchy bind off on the thumb. These are well worth the extra effort.

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2011
Post a comment | Permalink to Handspun mittens

It's a Stitch up on Facebook | @itsastitchup on Twitter


A selection of one-offs, handmade by Suzie are available in the shop!

I don’t have a Christmas tree, but the pagan tradition of decorating the house with greenery is one that I follow. I created a display for my fireplace with holly, yew, ivy and dried seed heads sprayed gold, all picked from inside the M25, from Epping Forest and my garden. Holly berries are abundant this year!

Festive greenery

I love wrapping gifts (even more than I like opening them) and giving them a personal touch. This year I made gift tags from MOO MiniCards and matching stickers with my own photos. I think they look great!

MOO MiniCards and stickers

If you’d like to make your own, the star photos have a Creative Commons licence, that means you’re welcome to use them for personal use. The MiniCards and stickers are from moo.com. Yes – I work for MOO, so I am biased but I love their products. As a little Christmas present to you, use ’SB0770′ for 15% off

Merry Christmas!

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2011
Post a comment | Permalink to Festive touches

It's a Stitch up on Facebook | @itsastitchup on Twitter


A selection of one-offs, handmade by Suzie are available in the shop!

The bad Christmas jumper is as much a seasonal staple as dry turkey and brussel sprouts. However Andrew Salomone and his hacked knitting machine are here to change all that.

Oh Come All Ye Hackers exhibition at KK Outlet

My personal favourite:

"DO YOU HATE IT? NO, I LOVE IT!"

KK Outlet also have cute, stitch-inspired Christmas cards and gifts.

Cross-stitch Christmas

Merry stitchmas!

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2011
Post a comment | Permalink to Christmas sweater art

It's a Stitch up on Facebook | @itsastitchup on Twitter


A selection of one-offs, handmade by Suzie are available in the shop!

For now, there are a few handmade goodies and a small quantity of hand-dyed yarn. In the coming months you’ll be able to find everything from hand-knitted accessories to vintage fabrics and trimmings, with the emphasis on one-off pieces.

For the moment, postage is a flat rate of £3.00 anywhere in the world, no matter what you order.

I hope you like all the things in the shop as much as I loved making them. Please let me know what you think!

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2011
Post a comment | Permalink to New shop!

It's a Stitch up on Facebook | @itsastitchup on Twitter


A selection of one-offs, handmade by Suzie are available in the shop!

It did not disappoint, I have already spun one lot.

Handspun from Fyberspates Sparkleroving in teal and grey

As usual, I hit no particular gauge, it’s something like a light DK. This is not my best spinning by a long way, in fact it was quite difficult. I don’t know whether it was the slipperiness of the silk or the short staple of the ridiculously soft merino but it turned out very uneven. I don’t think it matters, it will make a lovely pair of cabled hand warmers.

The other batch is still to spin.

Fyberspates Sparkle roving in purple, mauve and grey

Nothing hangs around for long on the Fyberspates website, they have a few shades of Sparkle Fibre left but they’ve already sold out of both these colours – be quick!

www.fyberspates.co.uk

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2011
Post a comment | Permalink to Sparkle Fibre

It's a Stitch up on Facebook | @itsastitchup on Twitter


A selection of one-offs, handmade by Suzie are available in the shop!

Knitting blankets in 4 ply yarn is slow going, but when that yarn is Kureyon Sock it’s so worth it.

Mitred squares blanket in Noro Kureyon Sock shade 253

This one took me about six weeks, but I didn’t notice the hours as it was so enjoyable to make. The method was the same as the last mitred squares blanket except that this time I made squares at three different sizes; starting with 25, 49 and 72 stitches.

Random squares

What do you think? Worth writing up the pattern?

For a good price on Kureyon Sock, head over to Hejhog.

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2011
Post a comment | Permalink to Square eyes

It's a Stitch up on Facebook | @itsastitchup on Twitter


A selection of one-offs, handmade by Suzie are available in the shop!

Both skeins started out as undyed top from British sheep, both spun the same way and home dyed but with different results.

New handspun: Purple BFL worsted-ish, red Wensleydale DK

The purple skein is BFL, dyed as fibre. Different shades of blue and purple were poured in while it was in a tray before boiling, in order to achieve graduated colour effect from one end to the other. The dying process lead to very compressed fibre, which had to be teased out before spinning. The finished result is too subtle to be worth the effort, I probably wont vat-dye fibre again. However, the finished yarn is a pretty, bouncy, light aran.

The second skein is Wensleydale, dyed as yarn. It was spun the same thickness as the BFL but I’ve ended up with DK because it hasn’t fluffed up as much. I’ve never spun Wensleydale before, it’s incredibly long staple and lustrous texture would make it perfect for beginners. The resulting yarn is silky and dense, and works perfectly with the intense, saturated shade.

What I’m most impressed each skein was spun and plied in around 2 hours. It’s not so long ago that spinning 100 g would be a project that spanned a couple of weeks.

Now I just have to decide on suitable projects for these. Any recommendations for 85 m of DK or 100 m of worsted?

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2011
Post a comment | Permalink to Yarn from scratch

It's a Stitch up on Facebook | @itsastitchup on Twitter


A selection of one-offs, handmade by Suzie are available in the shop!

The cocoon coat is a loose but structured shape that narrows at the hem. It has wide sleeves, often gathering at the cuff, drop shoulders or raglans and a funnel collar or no collar. The cocoon shape emerged in the early 1900s as a cape alternative and was popularised again by Balenciaga in the 50s. It is definitely making a come back; current interpretations feature rolled cuffs or structured hems. The 80s inspired, double-breasted version sharpens up the silhouette.

Unfitted styles

Clockwise from top left; Egg Coat by Maison Scotch, Loose Check Jacket by Marios for TopShop, Textured Sleeve Cocoon Coat by Vila, Dacry Ombré Coat by Tory Birch.

This is not an easy style to carry off, neither in the wearing nor the designing. But, a fun departure from previous seasons’ trends.

Another look I really like is the long, lean, tailored jacket. This style updates borrows the understated collar, straight lines and longer cut of the boyfriend jacket but gives it a feminine touch with narrow, defined shoulders.

Long, tailored styles

Left: Tailored Coat by Maison Scotch. Right: Long Line Wool Blazer by Selected.

I fear that the lack of waist accentuation makes this another style best suited to the non-curvy. But with the right detailing – like the slightly puffed shoulder on the Maison Scotch coat above – it could flatter most shapes.

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2011
Post a comment | Permalink to Coat styles for A/W 2011

It's a Stitch up on Facebook | @itsastitchup on Twitter


A selection of one-offs, handmade by Suzie are available in the shop!

Needle gauge prototypes

My needle gauge is credit card sized, has all metric sizes from 2-12mm, a 5cm rule and a 2 inch rule. I think I will add a WPI gauge to the final design as well. They will most likely be available in 2mm clear acrylic but I may get a thicker version

I’d appreciate some help with my market research if you wouldn’t mind!

• Would you buy one?
• How much would you pay?
• Am I missing anything?

Posted by suzie for It's a Stitch Up, © 2011
Post a comment | Permalink to Needle gauge prototypes!

It's a Stitch up on Facebook | @itsastitchup on Twitter


A selection of one-offs, handmade by Suzie are available in the shop!