I’ve just discovered KnitCast which is a podcast about knitting. There are the first 5 podcasts up on the site so far, and the interviews are really interesting – definitely worth a listen. I’ve even managed to get a bit knitted on the latest sock while listening.

In other knitting I have decided that I need a new felted bag. I have one I knitted last year which is dark green and my other half kindly says looks like a carpet tile. It is really useful though, as it has a long strap so I can wear it diagonally and have both hands free, and it is big enough to fit in bit of knitting, along with the obligatory purse and phone and other stuff I usually carry around. It is starting to pill a little now though, and I decided it would be nice to have one in another colour too, so I have set to on a sample swatch using 4 strands of 2ply lambswool from Uppingham Yarns and 8mm needles. It is coming along but isn’t great computing knitting as the yarn is oiled and so I tend to grease up the keys – not quite the desired effect. However the library is having a rent 3 DVDs for the price of 2 offer until the end of May so I have got a few things to watch while I knit my sample to be felted.

As I said before we had a workshop on knitting with silk at knitting group yesterday, which was great fun. She brought in some Mawata caps which are a big hat shape made by taking the silk cocoon after the caterpillar has emerged as a moth and then soaking it and stretching it to about 12 inches x 8 inches ish. You can grab the top of the cap and pull off a layer of silk which you can then stretch out and roll on your trouser to form a rather primitive type of thread. A way of making silk thread for those who don’t spin really. I hope I have remembered that description of the process properly.

Anyway, then we knitted it up trying different needle sizes and stitch patterns and generally playing around with it, and that is the white part of the sample below (the blue is some commercial acrylic yarn I was playing with different needle sizes in stocking stitch and garter stitch).

Silk sample

I also had to buy a skein of the most beautiful hand dyed silk:

Skein of hand dyed silk

I’m afraid the picture didn’t come out that well, but it is a blend of different blues and greys with silver specks. I haven’t worked out what is going to be yet, possibly a scarf?