dreamcatcher - knitting . photography . life

Winding up this blog

2010-12-04T15:57:00.003Z

After much thought I have decided to wind up operations on this blog. I'm leaving it up and running, but won't be posting any more.

I am still knitting of course but rather less than before, and I don't have enough craft-related news to post very often. I will be setting up a new blog elsewhere which will have a different focus, I won't be linking across but if you'd like the link when it's live, email me via the address at the top of the page or ask me on Twitter :-)

Photoblog: Portmeirion

2010-11-06T01:47:00.018Z

The promised post about Portmeirion finally makes an appearance! I must admit I do most of my blogging (or micro-blogging) via Twitter these days, hence this blog is left rather neglected. If you're on Twitter please do say hello/follow, if you're not on Twitter, do consider joining! I have found it an excellent way to keep up with many online friends who I might not otherwise speak to very often, and it's also fantastic for fast-moving, as-it-happens news and commentary - for me that means Formula 1 in particular.

Anyway, back to Portmeirion. Many of these photos are wallpaper-sized (1650x1050, widescreen monitor format) so click on any you'd like a large version of.

I'll start with a photo I actually ended up taking on the way home. As we reached the final leg of our journey down, the view across the Lleyn peninsula was superb. It was the clearest I have ever seen it, equally so in the other direction towards the mountains. It was almost as clear as we headed home:

Our first port of call was a walk down through the village to the waterside. You are on the south side of the Lleyn here, and you have a view across the water to the "main" mainland:

On this day, the Italianate village looked truly Mediterranean. Stunning blue skies, sunshine, sparkling water, rich green foliage.

It really is Wales, and it was simply stunning!

After watching the world go by from a waterside bench for a while, we headed to the stone boat, Les Amis Reunis:

If you've ever seen the TV series The Prisoner (the original 1960s version) you will instantly recognise the stone boat. The village hasn't changed too much from when the series was filmed there, and is well worth visiting if you are a fan.

The late Patrick McGoohan stayed in a cottage called "White Horses" during filming. This is a view through an archway next to the cottage itself - it is situated a couple of minutes' walk from the stone boat and the main hotel building.

On the walk to White Horses there were some gorgeous shrubs in flower:

Back in the main village, this is the Green Dome, Number Two's residence in the series:

Back in the 60s, the green dome itself was actually painted wood (probably marine ply or similar). It was painted to look like verdigris. This was a typical piece of illusion employed by the village's creator, Clough Williams Ellis! It was probably more to do with cost than anything else. These days, the roof has been replaced with a genuine copper one. However it is taking its sweet time to start going green!

This is the Gloriette, overlooking the main square with the pool and fountain where "Rover", the huge white weather balloon/guardian of the Village would often appear. The Gloriette was used most memorably in the episode "Free For All" where Number 6 (McGoohan) made his election speech.

Also in the main square are two gold statues on pillars - as I had the DSLR with me I could take a reasonably close-up photo of one of them for the first time:

The Bristol Colonnade:

Like a number of the buildings in Portmeirion, this is a rescued building, transplanted from its original location. The lawn in front of it is famous as the scene of the human chess game in the episode "Checkmate".

After lunch we went for a walk in the woodland gardens, which include a small lake and a Japanese-style bridge:

If you've never been to Portmeirion, it is well worth a visit - we've actually stayed there twice, both times in Telford's Tower (which has an amazing view over the Piazza to Number Six's house), and visited on several more occasions over the years. Our interest came originally from The Prisoner association but even without that, it is a gorgeous place, and on this late June day was absolutely magical.

Woolfest, York & Arnside

2010-09-21T01:07:00.027+01:00

We had some time off at the end of June and early July, so we had a few day-trips. It's taken this long to find time to sort out the photos and sit down to blog them! I've also not been able to keep up with blogs in the past few months, trying my best to catch up!

This first post covers Woolfest, then trips to York and Silverdale/Arnside. The next post will cover Portmeirion which occurred in between Woolfest and York!

Woolfest 2010

This was our second year visiting Woolfest, and this year we just went on the Saturday. Once again it was an excellent event, we managed to see some of the sheep auction this time too which was fun. I have a few photos of the livestock again:

(I took a few more but they were a bit blurry - I switch the flash off on the compact camera as the last thing the animals need is flashbulbs going off!).

Here's Mitchells from the outside - from the back of the building taken from the car park above. Surrounded by hills and mountains!

Here are a few photos taken from the car on the A66 on the last leg!

York

We hadn't been to York for a few years and managed to pick a fine day to visit. Our previous couple of visits have been when we were staying in North Yorkshire on holiday, but this time we were heading into the city from the West. We use the Marygate car park which is essentially just across the road from the Museum Gardens, and next to the river. Thankfully with the aid of the satnav and my map we got to it from this new direction!

From the car park you cross the road to walk through the Museum gardens towards the main city centre area. Here are some of the ruins:

Once in the city centre you find some interesting sights. I think this is called something like street performance art? He was very good anyway!

We made our way up towards the Minster. Opposite the Minster itself is the Minster School - loved this sign on their wall:

We were intending visiting the Minster, but were rather horrified that instead of the donations boxes previously in use, there were turnstiles and an entrance charge of something like £8.50. Now this is still a "working" church and I did find something rather wrong with having to pay a fairly hefty fixed sum to get in. Yes, they do have to raise funds for ongoing upkeep and conservation work, and we would undoubtedly have donated, but this just felt wrong.

Anyway, plenty more things to see, including this rather stunning street (or rather wall) furniture nearby):

Quite a few renamed streets judging by the signs:

Gargoyles:

We also had a walk along the river:

Various water craft around, either travelling up and down the river or moored alongside.

See the bridge in the picture above? We decided to cross that and it was terrifying! Mesh sides and holes cut into the floor. I do not need to see the river below me thanks all the same!

Loved the name of this narrowboat:

Plemty of geese and other water fowl around too, this is a gosling foraging in the park next to the footpath:

Silverdale and Arnside

First port of call was Kays nursey at Silverdale, after a quick visit to the Wolf House Gallery (we may have acquired a couple of pieces of pottery there). Kays has been developed a little in recent years, there is now a wooden-construction tearoom and deck, this overlooks the rather amazing garden that is currently being worked on to bring it back to its former glory. No photos of that unfortunately but here are some of the flower beds that grace one side of the nursery:

On to Arnside, where although the breeze was "brisk" it was dry and sunny, with good views out over the estuary:

There were a lot of birds on the sands, we were surprised to see that a lot of them were mallard ducks!

Sand and water:

Doctor Who Season 14 Scarf

2010-08-04T15:03:00.003+01:00

Finally completed my Doctor Who scarf, knit in Cascade 220:

All the yarn details and more photos can be found on the Ravelry project page which is accessible by anyone. The scarf is approximately 116 inches long (just over nine and a half feet) after washing and blocking (allowing it to stretch a bit). I believe this is the shortest version of the scarf and is very wearable especially if you wrap it around you neck once!

I used my rotary cutter for the first time to trim the fringes, it did an excellent job and gave a very neat even finish.

In book news, I'm not far off the end of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I've found it quite gripping especially the second half of the book.

Hopefully I should be back with a couple of photo blog posts very soon, of our "travels" in late June and early July.

Doctor Who Scarf WIP

2010-06-13T13:48:00.007+01:00

This is my progress so far on my Who scarf:

I think I'm about a third of the way through. It's good TV knitting!

There is also some exciting news on the shop front. My Sheer laceweight yarn is featured in the new (July 2010) issue of Let's Knit magazine:

I was thrilled to be asked to contribute to the feature on laceweight yarns. The skein in question (Stargazing) has now sold, but my repeatable colourway "Space Odyssey" is very similar.

Socks!

2010-06-09T01:17:00.003+01:00

Specifically, my first pair of socks. I started these a year ago, got to the heel turn, then put them aside for other projects. As part of a WIP-along I decided I should finish them - the second was completed in a few days.

I used Charlene Schurch's "Sensational Knitted Socks" as a reference, and one of the basic patterns converted to just plain stocking stitch. The socks fit very well - I followed the instructions regarding measuring feet beforehand, and swatched the yarn. The latter was one of the skeins of unidentified sock yarn that I dyed with Kool Aid some time ago. After struggling with the joins between the two circulars I was using, I eventually got the hang of a neater join, so the second sock was a much more pleasant and quicker knitting experience.

I will definitely be making more handknit socks in the future!

Citron

2010-05-05T12:55:00.008+01:00

Citron from Knitty, main body knit in Flamboyance Yarns Dashing merino sock. The pattern calls for a heavier laceweight yarn with around 500 yards, so the sock yarn ran out just after the increases for the ruffled edge. I used some leftover RYC Cashsoft 4ply in deep purple for the remainder, when that ran out on the last row I cast off with a paler lilac/mauve in the same yarn.

If I made this again I would probably use KFB rather than M1 for the increases - at this sort of loose gauge, the M1s are very obvious when the piece is blocked. I love the shape it creates, and I tried not to block it too harshly to retain as much of the ruching as possible.

I'm now working on a Season 14 Doctor Who scarf, as worn by Tom Baker (the fourth Doctor). WittyLittleKnitter is an excellent resource for Who scarf patterns and information. I'm using Cascade 220 for mine, substituting Beige for sand, and Goldenrod for Gold. I also got Christmas Red standard as the heather version is pretty much impossible to get here at the moment.

Thanks for all your comments on the last post, and particularly regarding "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". I finally started reading it, but haven't got very far yet, it does seem good though.

I've just seen the news on John Simm Online that he has a new TV project, working with Philip Glenister. That was exciting enough in itself, but it also stars Max Beesley, so I'm one happy bunny today. We don't have Sky any more but it will likely be out on DVD soon after broadcast, judging by the current "Strike Back" made by the same people for Sky.

Alveare

2010-04-12T17:23:00.007+01:00

Alveare by Woolly Wormhead, knit in my own hand dyed Flamboyance Yarns Bailey aran (100% BFL). It took around 88g for the medium size. I absolutely love the decrease pattern, it creates a very distinctive pentagon shape. I didn't block this over a form, as I wanted to keep a little of the beehive look. The BFL knit up very well, with great stitch definition, and it also has a lot of "body" even after washing and blocking.

My current WIP is a Citron shawlette in Flamboyance Dashing 4ply (100% superwash merino), in a shade I named Tangerine Dream. I'm using 5mm needles, as the pattern is written for laceweight on 4mm needles. It's a simple effect to execute and looks good so far. It will be interesting to see how far the skein goes, I am prepared to use a toning yarn for the ruffle if need be!

I'm also currently trying to decide which book to read next. I finished "I Robot" a wee while ago, and it's in a volume with "Robots and Empire". The latter isn't inspiring me much though, so I'm going to start either the first True Blood novel, or The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. I'm leaning towards the latter, no doubt partly inspired by the new series of Wallander on BBC4 - the original Swedish version which I do much prefer to the Kenneth Branagh adaptations. I've not yet read any of the Henning Mankell books but have found a useful website dedicated to the books and their adaptations.

Hemlock Ring blanket

2010-04-09T18:35:00.008+01:00

A Hemlock Ring knit in Rowan Pure Wool Aran, shade Forest - a gorgeous green and from one of the Kemps Rowan bargain bags. It took just 3.5 skeins, I stopped at the default place on the chart rather than do any extra repeats. Blocked, it measures around 41" across at its widest, so a good-sized snuggly blanket for the sofa. I did the crochet version of the cast-off, which seemed an awful lot simpler than the knit version.

I finished these a wee while ago, but they had to wing their way to Australia. A Felicity hat knit in Rowan Calmer for Lynne, along with a purple Ballband Cloth:

I've just finished an Alveare hat in my own Flamboyance Bailey BFL aran, pictures once it is blocked. I've also started a Citron shawlette in Flamboyance Dashing sock yarn!

In non-knitting news, I was absolutely thrilled with the first episode of the new series of Doctor Who. Matt Smith is a wonderful Doctor - when I first saw him I instantly thought of Patrick Troughton (2), and this has been borne out in the first instalment. Ashes to Ashes is also back on our screens, and should give us some answers to the whole Life on Mars/Ashes/Gene Genie conundrum. I'm hoping for an appearance by Sam Tyler I have to say!

Also exceedingly happy last Sunday to have my Red Bull F1 boys get a 1-2 at the Malaysian Grand Prix. I'm much more of a driver fan than teams per se, but as it happens my absolute #1 Sebastan Vettel, and the fabulous Mark Webber, both drive for the same team. I'm also really pleased for my other two favourite drivers, Robert Kubica and Heikki Kovalainen, both doing well with their new teams this year.

Just Enough Ruffles

2010-03-24T11:11:00.005Z

Pattern: Just Enough Ruffles by Laura Chau
Yarn: Jaeger Shetland Aran
Needles: 5.5mm circulars
Yardage: approx. 320 yards, 1.75 skeins
Size: approx, 51" long before blocking, 60" after

A fairly speedy scarf to make, it is knit lengthwise using short row shaping. The yarn is gorgeous, blocking really well, and the scarf was a big hit with the recipient. I might have to make one for myself!

I am currently knitting a Hemlock Ring blanket, and am well over 400 stitches on the needle at the moment.

This is how it looked when I'd just started:

I'd also like to say a big thank-you for all the comments and good wishes for Flamboyance Yarns. I'm pleased with how it is going so far - the shop has barely been open two weeks but it seems like longer! The shop also has its own blog where I aim to post updates and the like, and it's also on Twitter. This week's update will have laceweight and also Splendour merino/cashmere/nylon 4ply.

Cloths!

2010-03-10T13:22:00.009Z

Last month I knitted quite a few cloths. One was for a Dishcloth Swap on the CTnY forum, but I'd been promising myself to make some for a long time. I like to use them as face flannels - they are great as a lovely hot (or cold) cloth. My husband requested some so I made these two for him:

The standard Ballband pattern as found in the original Mason Dixon book, amongst other places. I used Garnstudio Drops Paris which is a 100% cotton aran weight yarn.

I made a Harmonic Mosaic cloth for the swap, yarn is the Paris again:

And also made one for me:

More cloths for me - firstly another Ballband using brown Paris and Anchor Magicline shade 1422:

Circle cloth, aqua Paris and Magicline 1504:

I also received two lovely cloths, one knitted Ballband and one crocheted, from Nevisknitter, thank you!

I've just completed a Just Enough Ruffles scarf, in Jaeger Shetland Aran, and will be blocking it shortly. It's a birthday gift and I'm very pleased with how it has turned out. The Jaeger is a gorgeous yarn, sadly long discontinued.

I had some lovely news this week, I won the blog prize draw on leafgreenknits! I chose the book Inspired to Knit as my prize, it arrived yesterday and is as lovely as I had hoped - thank you Linda!

Experiments in colour

2010-02-12T10:49:00.007Z

Various yarns dyed with standard acid dyes:

75% merino 25% nylon superwash sock weight

100% merino sock weight

100% superwash Bluefaced Leicester sock weight

80% merino 20% silk laceweight

I think my favourite is the merino sock in bright pink/orange/green/yellow. The orange is purely from colour blending within the skein, I love how there are so many variations of shade created.

The photography of different colours presents a challenge too. The camera coped well with three of the skeins, but the blue-green BFL gave it some problems. The auto white balance wasn't up to the job, and the first shots were distinctly blue-biased. I must note that the photos were taken late in the day and the lighting conditions were far from ideal to start with. I finally deciphered the camera manual's instructions on custom white balance, and set that up as the light was fading fast. The end result isn't bad, but what you can't really see is the subtle purple shading on some of the strands. However it was a useful lesson in photography!

2010

2010-01-07T12:27:00.007Z

Wishing everyone a very happy and peaceful 2010. I have my first FO of the year, the Maximus cowl by ChicKnits. Inspired partly by the very cold and snowy weather we are currently experiencing in the UK, and partly because I got some lovely Rowan Big Wool in the now legendary Kemps Rowan bargain packs, just before Christmas.

Last year I took part in the 24 in 2009 challenge i.e. knit 24 items/projects in one year. I'm pleased to say my final total was 27, the last two being a Sock Yarn Slouch hat in Yarn Yard Hug organic merino, and the Charlotte capelet from Rowan 38 in Big Wool (bargain packs again):

I also started using the Knitmeter last year to keep track of how much yarn I knitted up. In total I knitted 6.92 miles of yarn (12180 yards). It will be interesting to compare this year's output with that total. I'm not aiming at 24 in 2010, just aiming to knit up some of my stash! My current garment-size project is the Elfin cardigan from Rowan 34. It's the first time I've knit with Felted Tweed and I love the fabric it creates. I was also lucky enough to score 500g-worth of mixed shades in KSH in the Kemps £5-a-bag Rowan bonanza, and happily there is some dark brown that I can use for the ruffled edgings and cuffs on this cardigan. It should tone nicely with the light-ish brown "Cocoa" in the Felted Tweed. I also plan to knit another Felicity hat, for myself this time, in some brown Lamb's Pride. Hopefully it should tone in nicely with the cowl.

Overall I don't have too many specific "objectives" for knitting in 2010. I'm looking forward to working on whatever takes my fancy, in the main. I'd like to buy less yarn, but am not enforcing any kind of "diet" - rather am continuing with my policy of thinking about things for a while before purchase. It has worked quite well so far, compared to past yarn-buying habits. I think I will try to keep count of yardage "in" as well as yardage knit, which will be enlightening if nothing else!

I also intend to learn crochet this year, and have already made quite a reasonable start. I bought the introductory copy of The Art of Crochet, and worked through the getting started instructions with some success. Given that in the past I have struggled to manipulate hook and yarn, I can now hold hook and yarn and "pick" the yarn with the hook to make stitches. I won't be continuing with the partwork but it has certainly helped me over some hurdles.

Cranford mitts and Felicity hat

2009-12-15T10:45:00.006Z

Cranford mitts, knit in Yarn Yard Hug (organic merino). A great pattern, very well written and with a very elegant solution to thumb shaping! The gloves fit like, well, a glove, I'm sure there will be another pair of these somewhere in my future.

Another Felicity hat, knit as a gift in Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. I modified the pattern by casting on 90 rather than 70, keeping the same needle sizes, and increasing up to 140 stitches. I also carried on the decrease rounds further than the pattern suggests. I'm very pleased with the end result and think I will make another for myself this time, in some brown Lambs' Pride in my stash. I am definitely on a hat kick at the moment, my current WIP is a sock yarn slouch hat using the grey Hug as seen in the Cranford edging.

The Cranfords mark my "24 in 2009", now exceeded! Next year I am planning to participate in the sock yarn challenge on the CTnY forum - any item knit using sock yarn each month. I may not make one every month but I do have lots of lovely hat, glove and shawl patterns queued up as well as socks.

Feather scarf

2009-11-26T13:37:00.004Z

This blog is starting to resemble buses - nothing for ages then two turn up at once.

My latest FO is the Feather Scarf, knit in Artesano Alpaca Inca Cloud. This is a dream to knit with, it's so soft. It does shed a little though! The fabric opened up a lot on blocking, going from 44" to 52" long. I used a little less than two skeins, and the scarf was knit on 4mm needles.

Last night I cast on for a pair of Cranford Mitts. This is now a p/hop pattern so I will be sure to make a donation once I've finished them. Not much progress to show but I do love these colours - Mysteron (grey) and Smile in Yarn Yard Hug organic merino (something like a sport weight).

Yet another Clapotis and other FOs

2009-11-25T14:29:00.008Z

Playing catch-up with FOs again, as I seem to end up posting pictures everywhere else and forget to blog them!

Another Clapotis, knitted in Mirasol Hacho shade "Northern Lights". This is a DK so I went down to 4.5mm needles, although 5mm would have worked just as well. There are two extra repeats in the straight section, and this is around 70" long by 21" wide. The Hacho is a great yarn to knit with, quite tightly plied, and pure wool to boot.

I also took part in this year's Woolly Wormhead Mystery KAL, as last year I just didn't have the time. There were two hat patterns to choose from, with a great deal if you bought both (the prices are still reduced until the 30th of November). I chose to knit hat A, as this was described as a slouchy hat with lace pattern. I even had the called-for yarn in stash, Stylecraft Pure Wool DK. This was bought several years ago and it was nice to have a good project to use it for.

I love the finished hat, and the crown shaping in particular is very pretty. I'd certainly make it again, probably in a more "squooshy" DK.

Tonight I'm planning to cast on for a pair of Cranford Mitts, using Yarn Yard Hug bought back when the pattern was first released. There is a glove KAL on the CTnY forum at the moment and this is a good excuse to finally make these! I'm also quite keen on mittens and "proper" gloves so hopefully will be trying a few patterns out in the near future.

Finally, I've created slideshows on Photobucket for my 2007 and 2008 FOs. My Flickr Pro subscription ran out at the end of October and I didn't see a reason to renew it, now that Ravelry has a number of options for uploading pictures. You can only view the latest 200 photos uploaded to Flickr, so in future I will be using a combination of PB and direct uploads.

Heather Hoodie Vest

2009-10-29T11:11:00.004Z

Pattern: Heather Hoodie Vest, Knitscene Fall 2009
Yarn: Sirdar Denim Chunky, shade 509
Yardage: 5.08 skeins
Needles: 6mm straights and 6mm circs

Another garment that I am very pleased with indeed. The yarn is a wool/cotton/acrylic blend, handles very well, washes well and keeps its shape, and the cables really pop. It's also very cosy! The hood is of elven proportions and would certainly keep your head dry in a rain shower. The pattern is one I would knit again, maybe in a dark leaf green. The Mr thinks it looks like a top from the latest Robin Hood series and I'm inclined to agree.

Another recent finish was the Piper hat from Twist Collective:

Knit in Sublime Merino Silk Cashmere aran, a gorgeous yarn but a bit drapier than I think this needs. I made the slouchier version too and would knit this again using a wool yarn. The piping was done in Cascade 220.

I also turned the heel on my sock!

The decreases have also been completed and it just needs the main foot section completing next. I've also knit the right front section of Tender, my KSH cardigan, and am aiming to finish that before Christmas.

My current project is another Clapotis, using some Mirasol Hacho bought at the Black Sheep Craft Barn shop (a wondrous place to visit, there is a huge yarn pile amongst other things!). I'm going to the theatre in a couple of weeks' time and decided I'd like a more moody, autumnal scarf/wrap to wear. The photo doesn't do the colours justice, hopefully my next progress shot will be in better light.

The blog has also had a revamp, I hope you like the new look!

Holker Hall - photo blog

2009-10-13T14:44:00.022+01:00

I am decidedly late in posting photos of our visit to Holker Hall on the first of October. We've been busy in the meantime with the ongoing decluttering of the house and garage. Lots of things have been re-homed, some things re-purposed (part cans of paint go to the tip where the Council collect and use them, for example), and unfortunately some stuff simply had to be chucked out. We still have work to do in the attic, but phase 1 saw 5 large bags of stuff collected by a charity today, in addition to the things mentioned above. At the moment the house is tidy again and there are no piles of stuff stacked up waiting to go elsewhere!

I'll update my knitting progress in a separate post, for now here are some photos I took during our visit. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and considering the date the gardens still looked quite summery. Click on any of the photos to see a larger version.

Formal gardens near the house, still a riot of colour.

Beautiful blues and purples.

"Architectural" seed heads.

This is at the gate from the garden onto the parkland, leading to the labyrinth - they have carved a compass point showing North into the centre.

My favourite photo of the day. Gorgeous lichens on one of the standing stones making up the labyrinth. It's a modern construction but looks lovely.

View from the labyrinth across the countryside.

And the view back to the house.

A short walk from the labyrinth is this wonderful slate sundial.

One of the many and varied benches, this one is entirely held together with dowels.

Ducks in the cascade fountain - as we approached they all rushed into the water with much noise and splashing!

As we stood watching the ducks and admiring the fountain, the sun scythed through the trees and we were treated to a rainbow in the spray.

The ducks later calmed down and some came out of the water to preen (one suspects they were angling to be fed!). I've tried to find out what species these are, to no avail, does anyone know?

Late summer colour in the sunken garden.

"Here shall ye see no enemy, but winter and rough weather"

House and gardens - we also toured the house itself and it was great to see the rooms so brightly sunlit. Unlike many "stately homes" this house is lived in and there is no attempt to stop the natural light.

Holker also hosts a Motor Museum, with a lot of material related to Donald Campbell. The photo above shows a replica of the Bluebird car, and below the K7 boat. The car in particular is huge!

I would recommend a visit to Holker, it has been some years since we last visited, and it has been much improved. As we were walking down to the gardens to begin our tour, we were overtaken by Lord Cavendish, who greeted us very cheerily, and took the time to have a quick chat with us and some other visitors. Not something you expect to happen, and I think shows how very "hands-on" the family are when it comes to running the business!

Basil

2009-09-15T09:35:00.005+01:00

I finished this sweater a couple of weeks ago and forgot to blog it. The pattern is Basil from the Rowan Summer Tweed Collection by Kim Hargreaves, knit in Summer Tweed shade "Shark". The colours are not that good in the photo as it was taken in poor light - it's a darker grey base with flecks of blue-grey and black.

I love how this turned out, it's a wonderful fit and very soft and comfortable. I found the Summer Tweed fine to knit with, it didn't cause me any problems at all. The main mods to this sweater were (1) adding 4 extra rows after switching to the larger needles front and back, before the waist decreases, and (2) convering the shoulders to short row shoulder shaping. This is a method I will most definitely use in future, it significantly improves the look of the shoulders. A three-needle bind-off is used to seam the shoulders and again this gives a very neat finish.

I've just finished the last body piece for the Hoodie Vest, so my next job is joining the shoulders (three-needle bind-off again, but there's no shoulder shaping in this design) then blocking the body out to size. As well as knitting, I've been making chutney and marmalade! First off was Green Tomato Chutney (Delia Smith recipe), using our homegrown cherry tomatoes. We had to make sure we went out and picked all the greens off the plants just for this recipe, as they were all ripening up so well! Next was Mango Chutney, using a recipe by Marguerite Patten. We opted for the version without apples and hence using more mango. It turned out beautifully and tastes fabulous, although it's currently maturing for a month before we use any.

Last up was Grapefruit Marmalade (another Marguerite recipe), as I have great difficulty finding this in the shops, and tend to avoid oranges. We used pink grapefruit, and soaked the pith etc. for 24 hours before use. As it turned out this was a good thing to do, according to the collected wisdom on t'internet. I'd never made marmalade before (or mango chutney), so I was rather winging it on things like setting point - especially without a jam thermometer. Again it turned out really well, I was a bit worried it might never set but it has made a lovely thick marmalade. I have a partial jar in the fridge at the moment with the rest stored and it tastes wonderful. We have since invested in a proper preserving pan and thermometer, rather than the stock pot we've used this time. I will definitely be making my own marmalade and mango chutney again! I don't have any photos as my husband very helpfully put all the jars back into the boxes they originally came in, and they are sitting on top of the kitchen cupboards! They do need to mature though, especially the green tomato, that needs to be left for three months.

Purple

2009-08-24T16:47:00.007+01:00

One of my favourite colours! First up is the completed Robin beret in RYC Cashsoft 4ply, shade Loganberry:

This only used 1.3 out of 2 full skeins, and I didn't add the contrast pompom. I knit this flat on straights as per the pattern, but it could easily be converted to a seamless pattern in the round. The RYC Cashsoft is beautifully soft, as per its name. A lovely beret for the winter and a great fit.

More purple, this time some yarn I hand-dyed for my swap partner in the current CT'n'Y Summer Secret Santa. It's a 100% merino laceweight, which I snagged as a bargainous cone.

I used Procion MX dyes bought as a kit. The first dye run gave some lovely shades, but there were paler patches that I wasn't happy with. The yarn was then overdyed with one shade of purple which gave a rich semi-solid. I'm very happy with the end result, as this was my first "proper" acid dye project and I wasn't expecting anything quite so good!

Not purple - this is my latest WIP, the Heather Hoodie Vest from the current Knitscene:

The yarn is Sirdar Denim Chunky in a cream/beige marl shade. It's the first time I've knit with it and I'm very pleased with how it knits up and handles.

My Basil sweater in Summer Tweed is complete, and waiting for me to finish seaming the sides! It's too hard to see under electric light, but I'm hoping to finish the sewing up tomorrow in daylight.

Finally, I had a lovely surprise last week, as Simply Knitting had reviewed my blog on theirs! This was most unexpected, my thanks to SK for their kind review!

Noro Striped Scarf & Shawl That Jazz

2009-08-05T12:42:00.004+01:00

Pattern: Noro Striped Scarf by brooklyntweed
Yarn: Noro Kureyon shades 138, 159, 164 & unknown
Yardage: 4 skeins'-worth in total, 2 of 138, 1 of 159, part-skeins of 164 and unknown
Needles: 4.5mm

I've been wanting to make one of these manually-striped Noro scarves for a long time. I love how this turned out. I cast on 41 stitches for a 1x1 rib scarf approx. 7 inches wide.

Pattern: Shawl That Jazz by Samantha Roshak
Yarn: Mirasol Hacho shade Scarlet Pimpernel
Yardage: 8 skeins approx. 1096 yards
Needles: 5mm

Another cosy winter woolly! The shape of this is lovely, a gentle curve achieved by using short rows. I made the border around 3 inches deep, a little bigger than the size in the pattern. If I made this again I'd leave out the decrease row after picking up the border stitches, for a more ruffly effect.

My current projects include Basil from The Summer Tweed Collection, a sweater I've wanted to make for a while. This is the first time I've knit with Rowan's Summer Tweed, and I'm pleasantly surprised with how it handles. I was expecting something awkward but after the first row I find it great to knit with. The fabric is makes is rather nice too, a bit "scrunchy" but with a softness too. It will be interesting to see how it feels after washing. I'm also making the Robin beret from Amber: A Winter Gathering by Kim Hargreaves. The kit had been in stash for a wee while!

Finally, I would like to wish Felipe Massa all the best for his recuperation after the awful crash during Q2 at the Hungaroring. It was a very worrying time but thankfully he is now on the mend. Once again we can be very thankful for the safety improvements in F1 over the years, in this case the new helmets in particular. I'll keep the picture at top right on the blog until Felipe is back racing again.

Tempest

2009-07-20T10:54:00.005+01:00

Pattern: Tempest by Ann Weaver (published on Knitty)
Yarn: Violet Green Socrates Merino 4ply in Seascape
Yardage: 1101 yards for size E
Needles: 4mm straights and 3.25mm straights for edgings

This cardigan is all about the finishing. It takes some time but is worth it for the end result. This has turned out beautifully and is an excellent fit.

The first obvious mod is the lack of stripes, of course. I'd knit this again but am still in two minds about whether to do a striped version - I'm not sure they'd be as flattering! The sleeves have a few rows of garter stitch as an edging. The pattern doesn't specify any edging for them and I didn't want the ends curling. I guess you could also add the hem to them afterwards as per the lower edge but the GS does match the button bands. The latter turned out well, especially with the sewn bind-off.

My only slight gripe is that the buttonholes would have been better as YO, K2tog rather than binding off 2 stitches and adding them again on the next row. This seemed to cause a bit of gaping around a few of the buttonholes. It also meant I couldn't use the sweet little purple buttons I bought (too small). This cardi needs 14 buttons and in the end I used a mix of green and purple buttons of the same type. They are a little larger than called for, I think, but I like the effect.

In other knitting news, I've finished the first large section of Shawl That Jazz. I'll be tackling the rest of it as soon as I get the Noro bug out of my system for a while. I started a Noro Striped Scarf the other night and as usual, it's addictive watching the stripe colour combos evolve. I can see this being finished fairly quickly, it will be a great addition to my winter woolies.

Tender is coming along nicely, I have the back and one front piece completed so far. My sock project is on hiatus but I will come back to it, probably with one of the short Addi circs I bought. I'm also waiting on tenterhooks for the new Rowan 46 to arrive, having seen the preview pictures there are a lot of things I like in this issue.

Sloochie

2009-07-13T17:52:00.010+01:00

Pattern: Sloochie by Woolly Wormhead
Yarn: Wensleydale Longwool Sheep Shop Aran
Yardage: 153 (around 88g of 100g)
Needles: 4.5mm DPNs and 16" circ.

Knit as part of the July Vertical KAL in the Wormhead's Hats group on Ravelry. I made the largest size with no real mods (body ended up a little longer) and it fits very well. I love the pixie style. This was the first time I'd knit a top-down hat, and for once I did OK with DPNs, changing over to a circ at around 90 stitches. The Wensleydale is lovely wool, quite "heavy" in its own way but it makes a good fabric. I may knit this hat again in a "loftier" wool.

As promised here are a few photos of the animals at Woolfest.

Just been shorn!

These two young 'uns were having a head-butting contest with the black sheep next door!

Gorgeous alpacas - they look like they are knitted when they've been shorn

Woolfest stash!

2009-06-28T18:56:00.009+01:00

I don't often post stash acquisitions on here, but will make an exception for my Woolfest haul! We ended up going to both days, and spectacularly failed to meet almost everyone I'd hoped to! The place was busy though, especially on the Friday. On Saturday we managed to get in to a number of stalls we couldn't see for people on the Friday :-) I'm sorry not to get to meet folks, I really am, it's so rare for me to have this kind of opportunity. Hopefully we will go next year, and maybe organise a mini meet-up too. I think leaving it to chance given the size of the venue, and the sheer numbers, isn't the best idea!

On to the yarn. First off, a three-pack of Caber from The Yarn Yard in a lovely silver-grey. Destined for a cardigan or sweater methinks.

Two skeins of the new Yarn Yard Kelpie laceweight cashmere. Beautiful stuff.

More YY laceweight, Gloaming:

The Yarn Yard Woolfest 2009 colourway in Toddy!

Lovely laceweight from Knitwitches - Lime Cordial in merino/silk (800m/100g), and Storm Clouds in organic water mill spun merino (1000m/100g):

The lime is destined for a cardigan, probably Paper Crane (unless I'm brave and do my own top-down creation!).

There was also some fibre from Wingham Wool Work, who also had a subscriber offer for a free jute bag which came in very handy for purchases.

This will be used for both felting and hopefully spinning. I already have a drop spindle from the Wool Clip, and after having seen people spindling, I now have a much better idea how it "works". There was so much lovely fibre around but I didn't want to buy lots until I know I can use it successfully.

There were some other bits and bobs, including some polystyrene foot forms(!) (ideas about making felted slippers and pixie shoes!), and a pair of sock blockers:

I also have some photos of the animals, which I'll save for my next post. I didn't take any of the stalls etc. as I wasn't at all sure it was the "done thing", and anyway I was too busy browsing to think about taking photos!

Woolfest or bust

2009-06-23T14:07:00.003+01:00

This year will be my first visit to Woolfest (along with the Mr), I'm looking forward to it very much! I've wanted to go for the past couple of years but it has tended to coincide with holidays elsewhere.

We'll be visiting on the Friday, thankfully this is one fibre festival that is within reasonable driving distance for us (still 2 hours though!). I will be wearing my Ravelry badge with my Rav/blog name knittyinpink. Please feel free to say hello if you so wish (or indeed skedaddle in the opposite direction). If I spot any of my blog/Rav/forum pals I will do likewise, I am mostly depending upon name badges though!

My Tempest cardigan is currently pinned out and blocking, and may be finished in time for Friday. I may even wear it if the weather is on the cool side. I ended up frogging Ishbel though, as I had made some mistakes and after starting the wrong section and not realising until the centre of the row, it seemed the best thing to do. I really must try to knit lace in (a)daylight, and (b) peace and quiet. No TV! It's a pity to have to frog it this time, I don't have a problem with lace per se (and the charts for this are excellent), but do need to concentrate :-)

In lieu of knitting photos, here's a picture of one of my moth orchids, I love the pale yellow.

Of WIPs and knitting

2009-06-05T13:50:00.007+01:00

I've been casting on for more projects as the mood takes me, most recently Tempest in this lovely Violet Green Socrates 4ply I originally bought for Shoalwater:

I'll have a WIP photo soon, as I only started this last night and am about 20 rows in to the back. It's a cardigan I've been wanting to make ever since I saw it, but I'm doing a non-striped version instead. There is plenty of the Seascape, and I love the colours without adding any toning stripes. Thanks are due to pictish for suggesting this as I hadn't considered this option before.

Shawl That Jazz is on a mini-hiatus, about half way through the first section. I generally like the colours in the yarn but have a small bee in my bonnet about the dark bottle-ish green elements. This is one of the very very few colours/shades I don't really like. That said I like it overall, and thankfully the rows are getting shorter!

I've also been working on Ishbel this week, heading towards starting the lace section. The WIP photo isn't terribly exciting but it's on Ravelry should you wish to see it. The red Eva is showing its semi-solid nature, when observed in daylight you can see quite a variation in depth of shade. More interesting than a true solid shade, I think.

There is also my first ever sock! I had to learn the long tail cast-on for this, having never bothered with it in the past. Once I watched the video on Knitting Help I "got" it, I do seem to learn much more readily from demos rather than pictures in books. It doesn't help that I can't often make out what goes where in the diagrams in books, despite how clearly they are drawn. Photos are easier, and I learned how to knit in the round with 2 circs from a very helpful tutorial I'd printed out (which now seems to have disappeared online). My "join" stitches are a little loose so far (not helped by plumping for plain stockinette for the main sock body!), but I'm getting there!

This is the yarn I dyed with Kool Aid a couple of weeks ago, I rather like how it is knitting up!

Petersburg

2009-05-15T15:50:00.002+01:00

Pattern: Petersburg from Rowan 42
Yarn: Rowan Cocoon, shade Scree
Yardage: 5.74 skeins for size M
Needles: 7mm & 6mm bamboo straights, & 6mm circ for front borders

I decided to finish off Petersburg this past week, as I'd started it back in January when the weather was truly cold! Given the damp day we're having today, it was nice and snug to try on. I'm pleased with how this turned out, the Cocoon is a lovely yarn, very soft and squishy. It does tend to shed some fibres (mohair content) though.

A foray into dyeing

2009-05-15T15:30:00.005+01:00

A while ago I won a Kool Aid dyeing kit, which comprised a skein of sock yarn and quite a few sachets of drink mix. This week I decided to make my first attempt at dyeing yarn. The original idea was to dye two skeins of sock yarn a pale lime green, basically a solid-ish colour.

In attempt 1, I used a stock pot on the stove top. For the green, I mixed one sachet of Lime with one of Lemonade, and small amount of Mango. I'd printed out some instructions from Knitty, and also had an info sheet that came with the other skein of yarn. Based upon these I put the dye solution into the pot, then put the soaked skeins in on top of this. I quickly realised this wasn't going to give an even distribution of colour, far from it! The yarn took up the dye incredibly fast, and because at this point there was very little water in the pot, it was pretty much confined to the lower parts of the skeins that were in contact with the solution. Now I realised that my original plan was probably rather ambitious, given the quantity of dye available, but even after adding water, I could tell the solution was just about exhausted before I switched on the heat!

Ending up with 2 skeins dyed in patches in green, I mixed up some Pink Lemonade and some Grape. The first skein I just used the pink, applying with a turkey baster that we have never used (skein laid out flat on some plastic). The second got the purple with a few splashes of pink. This bit is a lot of fun - I wasn't aiming for anything terribly organised, just trying out the techniques. These skeins were set, one by one, using the microwave. They have turned out pretty well, considering they have been through twice the process!

Pink/green skein, rewound into a centre-pull ball:

I had to snip this part way through, as both skeins had developed a few tangles due to not being tied well enough (I just left the ties on that they came with, which probably weren't quite snug enough to begin with)

Green/purple/pink skein, rewound:

I wound the first part of this one off by hand, as this had got a wee bit more tangled.

All in all, I'm pleased with how these turned out, especially as a first attempt!

Dancing with tears in our eyes

2009-05-05T13:18:00.005+01:00

The past month has been slightly surreal, to say the least! We were looking forward to seeing the re-formed Ultravox on their "Return to Eden" tour, on April 14th at Manchester Apollo. As a fan from the early 1980s, who wasn't able to see them live back then, this was a dream come true.

We were not disappointed - the band are every bit as good now, after such a long break, as they were back then. The Ultravox "sound" is there, and with the advent of better technology allows them to enjoy the performance much more, without huge racks of equipment to nurse along and pray it doesn't fail! We were in the third row of the stalls, which at the Apllo meant you were extremely close to the stage, a fantastic viewpoint.

I was particularly glad to be able to see Billy Currie play his violin/viola solos live, something that inspired me to stick with the violin myself, all those years ago (and to eventually have the experience of playing many times as part of an orchestra, in front of audiences).

I took our compact digital camera along to Manchester, and while the photos it managed weren't brilliant, they were good enough for my own personal memento of the event. The Ultravox site linked above will have plenty of great tour photos and other material uploaded soon!

After Manchester, I decided that one gig wasn't enough - this may never happen again, after all! I decided to acquire a ticket for the Camden Roundhouse gig on April 30th, which was also being filmed for a live DVD. I had the most amazing day, and got very close to the front at the gig itself (the main area at the Roundhouse was standing). The sound here was hugely more rich and powerful than at Manchester, and much clapping, singing, and punching the air was the order of the day :-)

Afterwards I met back up with some people who were at the same hotel, and we went around the back of the venue to wait for the band to leave. To cut a long story short, I was lucky enough to get the autographs of Chris, Billy and Warren. This wasn't something I'd factored in to my plans at all, the gig was reward enough, so it was a wonderful end to an amazing evening.

All this excitement has meant that knitting has rather taken a back seat in the past few weeks! I'm now picking my WIPs up again, and have ordered some yarn for a Shawl That Jazz. I did manage to finish reading "Wives and Daughters" by Elizabeth Gaskell, and was rather surprised to find it was unfinished, as she died before completing it. It appears that only one chapter remained unwritten, and from notes we can glean the events it would contain. I did enjoy the book despite the missing ending! Last week I read "The Graveyard Book" by Neil Gaiman, which is just a wonderful story, highly recommended. One of those books that you really don't want to finish, and you miss it afterwards. I'm about to start "Twilight", which needs little introduction, but may switch to the sixth in the "Saga of Seven Suns" series by Kevin J. Anderson when that arrives.

Ms Marigold

2009-04-08T17:25:00.004+01:00

Pattern: Ms Marigold by ZephyrStyle
Yarn: Rowan Calmer shade Kiwi
Yardage: 188g (less than four standard balls)
Needles: 4.5mm Addi circ & 4mm for the neck and arm edgings

This turned out very well indeed, the combination of a stretchy yarn and making a size smaller gave a good figure-hugging fit. This tank/top is knit top-down, and surprisingly I didn't have to make any mods to the pattern as written - I was expecting to have to add extra before I rejoined the armholes, for example. My only real mod was to finish the arm edgings with 3 rows of rib, rather than the crochet edging and ruffle. I'd look a bit of a numpty with ruffles at the top of my square shoulders!

I would definitely make this again, the Calmer is a delightful yarn to work with. The top was hand washed, then spun in the machine inside a mesh laundry bag, and line dried as the weather is so lovely. No stretching out of shape or any other problems. My next version may well be in a wool yarn, although I'm tempted to make one in deep pink Calmer too.

Last weekend I started a mini shawl in variegated DK on large needles, and that has now been frogged. I realised I wouldn't really have enough to finish it in that shade alone, and decided a toning border/ruffle just wouldn't be quite right. It had been a choice between that and Ishbel, so I cast on the latter a couple of nights ago. I'm using Posh Yarn Eva 2ply, in a deep red which according to my records was the PY Lace Club November 2006 yarn. About time it was knitted with!

This is the larger version of the shawl, and I'm hoping to have enough yarn left over to make the beret too.

A grand day out

2009-03-31T18:18:00.016+01:00

Taking advantage of the better weather, longer days, and a long weekend, we had a trip up to Sizergh Castle yesterday. We hadn't been there for some years, and there was little in the way of active renovation work going on this time. They have not long since completed major roof repairs, and the castle can be seen in its full glory.

This was also a good excuse to give our new-ish D-SLR camera (Olympus E-420) its first proper outing. Apart from a little cropping on a couple of the photos, and resizing, they have not been edited. I'm really pleased with the quality of picture, and so far I'm only using the basic settings. It's a world away from our compact digital, which does take great photos, but is necessarily limited in what it can achieve.

Click on the photos to see an approx. 1024x768 px size version.

Sedum growing on moss in a dry stone wall, just outside the new visitor centre building.

More of the wall.

Fern growing in more luxuriant moss on a tree, at the entrance to the limestone garden.

Small waterfall running into one of the pools, you can see Spring is well underway.

Taken from the top of the limestone garden, towards the castle.

Bog-dwelling member of the Arum family, I suspect!

Lovely reflections, even on an overcast day.

Looking into the Dutch garden.

This wall is a riot of colour and greenery in summer, I love the texture of the brick and the stark contrast of the bench.

You won't see this glorious green mossy roof soon, when the leaves unfurl.

Tea Time cardigan

2009-03-24T13:21:00.003Z

Pattern: Tea Time by Martin Storey, from Rowan Classic Summer
Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton shade Citron
Yardage: 7.56 balls
Needles: 3.25mm and 4mm straights

I finally found a great pattern to use the 8 balls of Wool Cotton that have been lurking in my stash. I made size M after checking the schematic, as these designs tend to run large, and it's a good fit. There were a couple of mods, the first intentional (adding one inch to the overall body length), the second accidental (missing the last 4 stitch decreases on the neckline). Both seem to have worked out well.

I'm around half way through knitting a top-down seamless garment, Ms Marigold by Zephyrstyle, in Calmer. At the moment it is round-and-round stocking stitch!

Porom beret

2009-03-18T13:18:00.005Z

Pattern: Porom by brooklyntweed
Yarn: Jamiesons Double Knitting shade Leprechaun
Yardage: 170 yards (2 x 25g + 7g of a third)
Needles: 4mm and 5mm Addi circs, and 5mm DPNs

Great pattern with extremely clear charts, I love the finished result. I decided to use the original yarn, in the shade used for the Druid mittens, and also bought some Spindrift at the same time for said mitts.

My Tea Time cardigan is now awaiting seaming, so it should be finished very soon. I also started a Ms Marigold tank a couple of nights ago. This is a Zephyrstyle pattern and is knit top-down. I'm just at the point where I knit the two fronts and back separately until they join back up after the armholes end. There were some lovely examples in Calmer on Ravelry so I'm using the Kiwi shade again. It should only take around 3 to 4 skeins. Tanks/slipovers make great layering pieces so I'm hoping to make a few in the near future. My next one may well be in Kureyon sock.

I also finally got to grips with the sewing machine. I've wanted to learn how to use it for years, and finally took the plunge. I found I could indeed sew a straight line! There are plans for bag linings and skirts, and also fully-sewn bags, but I think my first project will be a sewing needle case. I've had my little selection of needles on a piece of scrap fabric for years, so it seemed a good starting point to make something respectable for them to live in.

Next up, learning to warp up my rigid heddle loom and using some sock weight yarn to make a scarf! I'm loving what knit and tonic Wendy has been making on her loom! And also very excited about the new F1 season starting at the end of the month, despite the very dodgy rulings on points/wins announced this week.

Alhambra

2009-02-22T15:19:00.007Z

Pattern: Alhambra by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Posh Yarn Eva 2ply shade Rhyme
Yardage: just under 40g of a 55g skein
Size: 39" x 12.5" after blocking - 15 pattern repeats
Needles: 3.25mm bamboo straights

Very pleased with the finished result! The scrolls are such a striking design, and well worth the lace pattern on both sides (no purl "rest" rows!).

The KSH knitting is going well (thanks for asking CA!), and I've also started a more summery cardi in Rowan Wool Cotton. This is yarn that I've had in stash for a couple of years so again, nice to use it. The pattern is Tea Time from the RYC Classic Summer book.

Progress

2009-02-17T13:20:00.003Z

Alhambra is the next project to finish, and the only one left over from 2008. I've completed 10 pattern repeats so far, and based on the yardage of the Eva, I should be able to do 20.

It's amazing the difference time makes. When I started this, I'd not really knit with any form of laceweight yarn before, and found it a little difficult to use. The project was soon put to one side, as I was increasingly busy at work and didn't have the patience or concentration to knit the lace pattern.

Recently I've been knitting with KSH, which is a much finer laceweight than the Eva. Having got to grips with that, and knitting away at more-or-less my normal speed with it, I switched back to Alhambra. The practice with the KSH has really paid off. Even the p2togtbl moves are flowing very easily. At one point I had really thought I couldn't cope with fine laceweight, so I'm counting it as a definite achievement.

Yesterday I received a nice surprise in the post. When I was knitting the latest Clapotis, I started off with Brittany 5mm straights. One evening I suddenly found the yarn catching on every stitch on one of the needle tips. Closer inspection revealed what looked like a small chip out of the wood, which we believe to be one of those natural "flaws" in the wood grain. It certainly wasn't anything that you could see beforehand, and probably just revealed itself after much use. I was reminded that Brittany operate a guarantee scheme and sent off an email explaining the problem, and asking for one replacement needle. Yesterday I received a whole new pair of 5mm straights from Artesano UK! I certainly didn't expect a complete pair and am most impressed with the customer service from Brittany/Artesano.

Traversa beret

2009-02-14T10:11:00.007Z

Pattern: Traversa by Woolly Wormhead
Size made: M
Yarn: Cascade 220
Yardage: 0.8 of a skein
Needles: 4.5mm 16" Addi circ & bamboo DPNs

This took me a little longer to complete than most berets, as it involves 1-stitch cables on almost every row before the crown decreases. I've not yet practised the art of cabling without a cable needle, something I will do on a piece of "scrap" knitting, not a proper project! The original design is for a silk/wool blend, giving the finished item more drape/slouch. As I had the Cascade in stash, it seemed daft not to use it, and I'm very pleased with the end result. It holds its shape well while still allowing enough slouchiness - it was blocked over a dinner plate and you can still see that "fold line" at the moment. The stitch definition is also great, I definitely foresee more 220 in my future. This hat is part of the February Vertical KAL on the Wormhead's Hats group on Ravelry, if you are interested in making one.

If you're thinking of making a donation to help those affected by the Victorian bushfires, please do visit serendipity.

I've also added a widget to the sidebar for p/hop, raising funds in aid of Medecins Sans Frontieres. There is a Ravelry group where you can also get involved if you have anything you'd like to "hop" and generally add your support. MSF are also now on Twitter and are aiming to reach 500 followers as their next target.

Finally, I am making progress on my KSH knit, Tender. Since the picture below was taken yesterday I've added another few inches of st st, and also found that wearing my glasses helped quite a bit with the night-time knitting. I normally only wear them when I'm working on a computer, and don't need them otherwise, but for close knitting work with fine yarn they are a big help.

Melinda cardigan

2009-02-06T23:30:00.008Z

Pattern: Melinda from Colinette "Wayfarer"
Size made: 36
Yarn: Colinette Prism shade "Monet"
Yardage: a little under 6 skeins
Needles: 6mm + 5mm for edgings

I'm very pleased with this cardigan, it fits a treat. I went down a size after checking the schematic and am glad I did so. I added 3/4" to the overall length though. Skeins were alternated every 2 rows, which seems to have given a pretty even distribution of colour. Three of the skeins were from the mill shop sale room and were mis-dyes as far as I could tell, but they seem to have blended in very well with the others.

I've now taken the plunge and cast on for Tender in Kidsilk Haze. Previous encounters with this yarn have not ended happily. This time, I'm using metal needles as recommended by various people on Ravelry. Top notch advice, as the yarn moves freely on them. The cardigan is basically plain stockinette too, which seems a sensible approach given previous problems with lace. I'm now a few rows in to the back piece and am finding the actual knitting surprisingly speedy. This after the rather tortuous cast-on of 316 stitches (I used stitch markers every 20 to keep count) then the next row decreasing by half.

This week I also joined Twitter, which seems fun, especially the tweetings of Sir Stephen of Fry. ETA - I've changed my account to "protected" updates, which means you have to request to "follow" them. I've left it public until now to see how it went, but decided I'd rather have a little more control over it. I'm happy to approve folks I "know" from knitblogging, Ravelry and elsewhere :-)

Flutter Sleeve Cardigan

2009-01-24T13:34:00.008Z

Pattern: Flutter Sleeve Cardigan by Pam Allen, Interweave Knits Spring 2008
Yarn: Rowan Calmer shade Kiwi
Yardage: 4.72 skeins
Size made: 40

Finally completed and I'm very happy with the result! The shaping and detail on this design is excellent, and the stretch in the Calmer is quite helpful in keeping the rib section snug. In hindsight I would rethink the button placing as the top button is probably a little too high, and with the Calmer's elasticity there is some "pull". I added a couple of press-studs/poppers between the buttons.

The sleeve edgings are a single thickness of seed/moss stitch rather than turned back and doubled, and I knit 8 rows before binding off. I also omitted the small sleeve tabs. Definitely a pattern I would consider making again.

I've started Petersburg from Rowan 42 this week, and finished the back piece last night (photo was taken the previous day):

My first time knitting with Cocoon, it's incredibly soft yarn although does tend to shed some fibres. Not surprising as it's 20% angora!

Spring, while not exactly in the air, is also beckoning, and having completed Flutter Sleeve I'm keen to make something else in Calmer. I've had my eye on Hearten from the Calmer Collection for a long time so that may be my next project.

It would be great to have another dedicated collection of patterns written for Calmer too. There are a few designs in the new Rowan 45 but none of them appeal to me. Capri from R43 is a must-knit. Kim Hargreaves has several lovely patterns from her recent books though, including Still.

Speaking of Rowan 45, overall I think it is a good collection, especially the Bloom section. My crochet skills are going to need some serious improvement to tackle some of those edgings though!

Felicity

2009-01-19T14:35:00.008Z

Pattern: Felicity by Wanett Clyde
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted shade Watercolour
Yardage: approx. 142 yards
Needles: 3.75mm & 4.5mm

Completed in a couple of days using the darker dyelot of Watercolour left over from Clapotis. Washed then blocked over a dinner plate to relax the fabric and obtain a sufficient amount of slouch! It's a lovely cosy hat and one I can wear alongside the Clapotis. I'd make this pattern again, maybe in a single colour tweedy aran next time.

The Flutter Sleeve cardi is almost there - today I finished sewing on the second front band and have steam pressed the pieces prior to the main seaming. The only knitting left is the edgings for the sleeves. I'm going to do a single thickness here instead of the turnback cuff effect on the original, and leave out the tabs too.

On a different subject, last week we went to the cinema to see Defiance. This is based upon a true story, and we both enjoyed it very much, highly recommended. Daniel Craig was excellent as Tuvia Bielski, and I was also particularly impressed by Jamie Bell (he of Billy Elliot fame, a film I have never seen!) as his brother Asael. We probably wouldn't have made the effort to see this if it were not for Mr. Craig, but it is well worth it. It deals with a particularly terrible episode of history, and while sometimes it is not easy viewing, there is a theme of hope and the triumph of humanity over adversity.

Clapotis

2009-01-18T13:27:00.004Z

Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted, shade Watercolour
Yardage: 3 full skeins + 16g from a fourth

Very pleased with the finished object, it was wet blocked (gently pinned, not stretched too much) to even out the fabric and the dropped stitches. Beautifully soft and warm. The fourth skein used was from a very different dyelot, much darker, you can see it on the "wrong side" photo at lower left. More details on yarn usage etc. on Ravelry.

Pink tweed cardigan

2009-01-10T12:42:00.004Z

Pattern: Design G from Sirdar Relaxed Weekend Living (345) - v-neck version
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Aran Tweed in shade 20001
Yardage: 10 x 50g skeins for 36/38 size

A fabulous warm and cosy cardigan, it's perfect for the current freezing conditions! The only minor mod I made was adding around an inch to the sleeves, just personal preference. All the seaming was done with a toning plain wool DK yarn, partly to reduce seam bulk but mainly because I've found the tweeds tend to break when you're sewing up with them.

I usually go for a slightly more fitted look but this was intended for being a comfy cardi to wear around the house. It's a relaxed fit without being baggy. I used some pinky-purple shell buttons which pick up the lilac and bright purple flecks in the tweed. I'd defnitely use this yarn again, it does bloom quite significantly on washing and softens up well (for reference this is the original, discontinued DB aran tweed).

This is my first FO of 2009! Now this one is done, I will make an effort to complete the Flutter Sleeve which has languished for a while. However as I'd finished one thing I decided to start another new project, the Melinda cardigan/jacket from the Colinette Wayfarer pattern book. This yarn (Prism) has been in stash for an age and I love how it is knitting up so far. For once, I'm following Colinette's advice and using two skeins at once, two rows per skein carrying the other up the side. As there is quite some difference in the depth and distribution of the colours in the skeins I have, I thought it was worth doing, and I'm very pleased with how it looks so far:

This is the back, I'm almost up to the armholes now since last night's knitting stint.

24 in 2009

2009-01-05T13:46:00.004Z

Having decided this is the year of knitting up some of my stash, into some of the lovely projects I have queued, I've joined up for the 24 in 2009 challenge (link is to the Ravelry thread in the Stash Knit-down group, where the idea originated).

This is also a knitalong/project on the Crafty Threads 'n' Yarns forum, thanks go to KnittingLadybird for the button in the sidebar! When I counted up the projects I'd completed in 2008 I was quite surprised to find there were 21. This in a year where I struggled to be able to knit at all at times, and I certainly felt my output was reduced. The 24 projects can be anything you like, there are no restrictions, and you can count anything you already had as a WIP in 2008.

Speaking of WIPs, here is my current progress on Clapotis #3:

I've just completed the ninth straight repeat (of thirteen), and am using Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in "Watercolour". It looks like I'll need a little of a fourth skein to finish, based upon my yarn usage calculations thus far. This yarn has been in stash for some time, always intended for another Clapotis. Why Clapotis? I know it's quite an "old" pattern now, but my original one has been worn day in, day out for nigh on 3 years. It's a perfect design for wearing as a scarf, and if it's chilly (think air-conditioned offices) it serves very well as a wrap to ward off the cold. My original piece is starting to look a little faded with washing and wearing, although it has barely pilled at all, and I'd always promised myself another, in worsted weight this time.

I now need to head off and tackle the raglan seaming on the cardigan, it has been pinned for a couple of days, but I need decent daylight for sewing-up.

I also decided to keep track of how much yarn I've actually knit up this year, using the KnitMeter. I'm usually clueless how much I've used, and as I'm trying to knit some of the stash it seemed a useful thing to have a record.

Finally, thank you for all your comments, they are all very much appreciated! It's not always that easy to reply directly to the author, given that Blogger doesn't ask for an email address when commenting. However I will try to post some responses in the comments themselves, which I believe you can track by selecting the option to have follow-up comments emailed to you.

Westside cap

2008-12-30T12:44:00.005Z

Pattern: Westside by ChicKnits
Yarn: Cascade 220
Yardage: around 0.75 skeins - used up all the leftover yarn from a previous project

A very enjoyable pattern to knit, the twisted rib cables really "pop" especially when blocked (I found it definitely needed blocking to achieve the required shape, as the cables naturally pull the cap in). Cascade 220 works very well even though it is not a "true" aran weight, great to knit with and is very soft and cosy after blocking.

I've also finished the main knitting on the pink tweed cardi, it's now awaiting blocking of the pieces before I start seaming and add the button bands. Which leads me on to:

Plans for 2009!

- my next project will be a Clapotis in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted
- also going to cast on a cardi and/or hoodie, quite possibly Ginny and Cassidy
- and I must have more berets! Porom is probably next

I have also been musing on things I'd like to learn or achieve in 2009:

- socks! Something I fully intended to do in 2008, but didn't have the time and energy to attempt
- learn a little more crochet (I can do a (US) single crochet edging and that's it), so I'm not daunted when I see those pretty edgings. I also really like Bergamot from the Rowan Purelife Wool collection, so I guess I have something to aim at!
- tackle those "interesting" techniques like a tubular cast-on
- knit more items in laceweight yarn. I'm currently knitting Alhambra in Posh Eva 2-ply and seem to have got the hang of working with finer yarns at long last.
- knit some of the lovely things in my queue, using stash
- do some sewing, hand and machine (which involves learning to use the machine!)
- warp up my loom and do some weaving at long last

Here's wishing everyone a very happy and productive 2009!

Boo!

2008-12-22T11:13:00.006Z

Meet Boo the bat:

The first time I have attempted a knitted toy, he's mildly lopsided but then so am I :-D I used buttons for eyes, partly because I didn't have any of those special toy eyes, but mostly because I like Coraline. This was a gift for the Mr and served in lieu of a Christmas card - we'd rather do something a bit more permanent and different.

The pattern is from mochimochiland and I used the called-for yarn, Cascade 220. I also used DPNs for the entire thing, quite the achievement for someone who usually descends into cursing if forced to use them!

Last gift knit was a quick-to-knit pair of mitts in leftover Miski. Well, it would have been entirely leftover Miski if I hadn't calculated I was 4g short for the second mitt, so another skein was swiftly acquired.

Gifts completed, I've picked up Alhambra again and now have 6 pattern repeats complete. I seem to be coping much better with the laceweight yarn this time around. It probably helps that I'm not tired or stressed! I'm looking forward to finishing and blocking this piece and seeing the scrolls and curvy sides in their full glory.

Last night I made a start on a Westside cap from ChicKnits. Using Cascade 220 again, the silver grey used for Boo, I should have enough I think. The brim cast-on was, er, interesting, I suspect this is some kind of tubular technique. I'd never done one before but I think it looks OK so far.

This will probably be my last post before the big day so I'll wish you all a very happy Christmas!

Beret and cowl

2008-12-19T11:07:00.004Z

More Christmas gifts complete and now with their recipient:

Last Minute 'Purled' Beret knit in Fyberspates BFL aran. Gorgeous yarn to knit with. I left the beret "right" side out though.

Quickie Cowl in King Cole Anti-Tickle Merino DK, used doubled to sub for chunky yarn. I've had this yarn in stash for a while, again it was great to knit with, very soft indeed.

Blowsey Ruffles scarf

2008-12-16T13:00:00.003Z

Blowsey Ruffles, made in Mirasol Miski, for a Christmas gift. The pattern is originally from The Inside Loop. The Miski was lovely to knit with and blocked nicely.

You may have noticed that Ruffles is being modelled on a dress form. I've promised myself an adjustable dress form for a long time, and bought this one from DonAngeli on ebay. Great service and a good budget product (mine is the Supafit adjustable dress form). I bought the small as my sizing is towards the top end of this size, the larger model would be a bit too big unfortunately. It is quite easy to adjust the sizing with thumbwheels, overall height is also adjustable and there is a hem marker too.

I'm currently knitting away on more Christmas gifts, last night I finished a Last Minute Purled Beret, and my current project is a Quickie Cowl in doubled-up King Cole merino DK. After that it's some simple mitts, and a mochimochiland pattern which will remain a mystery for now!

Books meme

2008-12-04T00:51:00.003Z

Found this over on My Knitting and Me and thought I'd play along:

Instructions:

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Underline those you intend to read.
3) Italicise the books you LOVE.
4) Reprint this list so we can try and track down these people who’ve read 6 and force books upon them.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - J D Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’dolin - Louis De Bernieres Mans
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’ Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Long time no blog

2008-12-03T12:51:00.009Z

Hoping to post here a little more often in future. There are a few FOs to show:

Twilleys beret pattern knit in Fyberspates DK wool (shade Foxglove). Intended as a matching beret for my long-serving Clapotis in the same yarn - the beret yarn is brighter but the overall effect is good.

Marble Muffin by Woolly Wormhead - knit in the called-for yarn, Araucania Aysen, lovely stuff. The finished article isn't very slouchy and might improve with blocking, although I maybe should have knit the largest size.

Dashing gloves in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino aran - made for terri in the Crafty Threads 'n' Yarns Autumn swap. I love how this yarn knits up and was loath to let them go!

As for my current WIPs, Flutter Sleeve is currently hibernating (plans are afoot to finish it off soon), as is Alhambra (ditto). My Sirdar cardi in the pink DB tweed is coming along nicely, with one sleeve left to knit before some seaming is required.

At the moment I'm doing some Christmas gift knitting, not something I've attempted for the past couple of years. First up is the Blowsey Ruffles scarf in some gorgeous Mirasol Miski:

The yarn is 100% baby llama, incredibly soft and knits up nicely. It does shed fibres a little though. Hopefully a good soak and gentle blocking will reduce that a little.

In other happenings, some very exciting (to me, anyway!) news was announced recently - Ultravox will be playing a reunion tour next year! I'm signed up with the official site so got priority booking, and we have seats 3 rows from the front for Manchester. This tour is something I never thought I would see, I think pretty much all fans were resigned to the fact that they would never tour again. This is also the full original line-up of the band, I can't wait!

Ocean Waves shawl, and mitts

2008-09-18T18:09:00.008+01:00

Two posts in one week, whatever next!

Ocean Waves shawl in Posh Yarn Emily:

More details on ravelry.

Also made this week, a pair of fingerless mitts in New Lanark Donegal Silk Aran, for my husband.

Again more details on ravelry.

I'm now part way through the Marble Muffin hat in Araucania Aysen, gorgeous yarn to knit with!

Sirdar cardigan in Calico

2008-09-17T00:33:00.004+01:00

Finished last Bank Holiday Monday and added to Ravelry a week or so later. I'm adding it here as it has been a WIP on the sidebar for a while!

Details are on Ravelry. I'm very pleased with the finished item, and particularly pleased with the seaming, which I tend to take my time over and it does pay dividends. Sirdar Calico is a lovely yarn to use and knits up into a soft fabric.

I'm not sure what the future of this blog will be, as I tend to post and update my projects on Ravelry these days, and don't have time to duplicate information over here. If it's a choice between knitting time, and sitting updating the blog, I'd rather knit! In any event the blog will stay around, I may or may not update it, but I'm not going to delete it. I'm also way behind on other blogs, even with whip-up posts removed there are well over 400 new posts showing on Bloglines. It's probably a time to admit that I can't keep up with everything I might like to, and with the best will in the world I won't be able to read every post properly. I'll drop by when I can though!

love (1)

2008-05-22T18:57:00.004+01:00

If you're not on Ravelry the post title may be a little mysterious, but I thought I'd mention some things that I think are rather fabulous, and chuck some positive vibes around the place.

Ravelry is, of course, made of awesome. I love the things you can use this site for. Whenever I need to check my stash, perhaps to see if I already have suitable yarn for a project, it's a click away. I can download it into a spreadsheet too, for offline viewing, and their sheet looks a lot tidier than my original pre-Rav version! The queue is another great tool for me, as although I have patterns all over the place, I never really had a proper "view" of things I may want to make. Every time I want to look up a yarn or a pattern now, I go to Rav. What an incredible resource, and free to boot. Thank you Casey, Jess and Mary-Heather, I think it needs saying! I don't know what I used to do before Rav!

Must also mention the Rav Store, I have some lovely Rav swag now in the form of t-shirts and lapel pins :-) I love my beta tee so much that I had to order some of the new ones.

Much kudos to Stash and Yarnbox for recent orders most speedily filled. It's well worth signing up to the Stash newsletter as they recently had a 20% off sale on everything, including sale items. Even better, it was repeated the following week! I snagged some Rowan Denim in Ecru to make Joy from "Nectar", and later some RYC Cashcotton 4ply for the Apres Surf Hoodie from the summer IK. I just wish the actual magazine would arrive - it seems all subscription copies via UK shops are delayed!

I also signed up to the Yarnbox Club recently which gives a permanent 10% discount on all purchases (again including sale items). I rather liked the cardi on the cover of the latest Simply Knitting, and received very promptly a pack of Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton from the sale.

Speaking of Kim Hargreaves' "Nectar" collection, I've ended up with yarn to make Ripple and also Jasmine (the latter being a kit from Kim ordered with the book). It's a lovely collection and a few of the designs are existing patterns that were only available as kits before.

My Flutter Sleeve Cardi is progressing, slowly but surely, with the back now complete and up to the rib short rows on the first front piece:

The Rowan Calmer is lovely to knit with too. I'm hoping to make some good progress this holiday weekend especially as I have tomorrow off as well.

Big thanks also to the lovely Lynne, who met The Harlot recently at an event and got me a signed copy of her latest book! And she sent me a skein of yarn too!

Central Park Hoodie

2008-05-06T16:44:00.008+01:00

At long last, I had the time to sew up CPH this bank holiday weekend! I took my time with the sewing, using mattress stitch on all seams, so it took quite a while. I like the idea of sewing in the sleeve heads before seaming the side and sleeve seams all in one go, I think the sleeves are the neatest I've done so far.

The Rowanspun Aran (shade Hardy) was lovely to knit with and blocked very nicely, softening somewhat in the process. The only slight down side is that it tends to break when you are sewing up with it. I'd heard this beforehand and even though I took care to try not to leave very much stitching to tighten up at a time, I still had a number of breaks. I'm struggling to remember how much yarn I used in total, I think around 6.5 skeins (time for a stock take in the Rowan department!).

I'm so pleased with how this garment turned out, it's a great fit with some ease so you can easily wear things underneath. I made the 40" size as I'd heard this could run a little small, but after blocking it's just right. The sleeves are quite long but I like them that way, nothing worse than sleeves at "half mast" particularly when it's cold!

I didn't make many mods, I used a three needle bind-off on the hood rather than casting off and seaming (could have grafted it too), and I knit the front bands all in one go rather than each side individually. I made 6 buttonholes and used olive wood buttons.

Alexandra

2008-05-02T19:26:00.004+01:00

This has been finished for a little while, blocked earlier this week:

Alexandra from Fitted Knits, using Rowan Plaid in shade "Sea Thistle". I added a little extra length between the decreases and increases, and also after the increases. This version has an extra cable twist right near the lower edge. I settled on doing short sleeves instead of the three-quarter ones in the pattern. With my mods this only took a little under 4.5 balls of the Plaid, in the 36 size. Needles were Denise 6.5mm circs.

It's official ...

2008-04-27T17:05:00.012+01:00

... I have startitis at the moment. I've kept it reasonably under control so far but I can't guarantee that will continue. It must be Spring and the extra daylight adding a little more va-va-voom in the knitting department :-)

My first WIP is Alhambra mentioned in my last post. I had a 55g skein of Eva 2-ply in stash that I decided to use for this, as it only really asks for 350-ish yards. I think a solid colour would be better for this pattern but I like the way the Eva is knitting up into curvy diagonal stripes of colour.

I'm quite pleased with my progress on this, as previously I'd been a little put off knitting with finer yarns. This was down to using KSH, which is of course incredibly fine AND fluffy. The Eva is lovely to knit with and I think I've now grasped the various directions of yarnovers. Not to mention doing the p2togtbl correctly. It seems I was not doing it correctly at first, and I struggled away, and ended up messing up the stitch counts by one on a few rows in the first repeats. It doesn't look disastrous though andI decided to leave it as something that showed a learning curve. Strangely I had looked up p2togtbl some time ago, and found some directions, but when I checked the video on Knitting Help I found it was being done differently - and more importantly in an easier way!

I finished off the second sleeve on Alexandra on Friday night, and that is now blocking. I did short slightly puffed sleeves in the end, as I thought I'd get more use from it to wear over a long sleeved top in the colder months. Besides the fact I don't have 6.5mm DPNs, or even 2 circs, and using one Denise set wasn't exactly fun!

Having done the above I happily cast on for the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan from Spring 08 IK. I'd originally wondered about using DB Cathay but I should have remembered this really is a thinner DK yarn and doesn't make a suitable fabric on 4.5mm needles. The swatch confirmed this, so I had another think and finally hit upon Rowan Calmer, from stash. The swatch performed perfectly and I'm now up to the ribbing at the waist on the back piece:

I'm still trying to find time to sew up CPH, and am keeping my fingers crossed for this coming Bank Holiday weekend.

I could really have done with blogging last weekend too, after our week off, but it turned out fairly busy and I reluctantly deferred it a week. We did get plenty done around the house though, and managed a couple of days out too.

The first trip was to Coldspring Mill and Haworth:

You can see some cones of yarn through the windows in the picture. As usual there was plenty of temptation to hand inside. I came away with 2 packs around the 500g mark of Twilleys Freedom Spirit, and a cone of DB Cathay in pink. The latter was intended for Flutter Sleeve but as noted above, wasn't suitable. I've got plenty of alternatives to use it for though.

It was a lovely day weather-wise, quite breezy but not overly cold. You can see how bright and Spring-like it was in these photos of Haworth:

The Parsonage, taken from the churchyard

The main street

There was a lovely exhibition of historic photographs of Haworth and its environs, in the old school rooms near the parsonage. This was the original school built by the Rev. Bronte. One photo showed the day the Parsonage opened as a museum, in 1928 I think. The narrow street leading to it was literally jam packed with people, and everyone was wearing a hat. Well, I did spot one man in the middle of the picture who wasn't!

A couple of days later we went to Farfield Mill near Sedbergh, on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. This was originally recommended by Donna, and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit. The mill was rescued some yeas ago and some of the original looms were also saved. They now weave on those very same looms as a commercial venture, and you can watch them in action.

The building is divided into four floors, and we started on the top floor, which is a lovely exhibition of hand looms and spinning wheels. On all of the floors there are studios for craftspeople, there was no-one working or demonstrating there that day though. I didn't get any photos of the looms up there, too busy looking at them!

On level 2 there is a big display of the history of the mill, and some of the older looms that were used to weave cloth:

Level 1 houses a lovely cafe, and also the commercial weaving rooms. We sat next to the window through to the weaving room and watched the weaver winding yarns from large cones onto smaller ones. I managed to snag a photo through the glass doors as were were leaving:

Apologies for the slightly blurry photo as I was using the camera on "museum" setting, this is in the room next to the looms, but I'm not 100% sure what was being wound onto what!

They use yarn made from the fleece of the local Rough Fell sheep. I believe this next picture, taken of the field just outside the mill, is of those same breed of sheep. They were not at all impressed at someone getting out of a car to take their photo, and set up quite a noise!

We've not long since finished watching the Spanish Grand Prix, quite an interesting race and another one with a high level of attrition. I'm somewhat gutted for Nick Heidfeld having to serve a 10 second stop/start penalty, as he had no choice but to pit during a safety car phase. I guess that is a risk they run if they leave pitting until the last possible moment, but all the same he did manage to regain a reasonable placing. Well done to the winners, and all the best to Heikki Kovalainen who had an awful crash due to what sounded like a foreign object that caused a tyre to blow out.

Beret in Posh Yarn DK

2008-04-14T17:17:00.006+01:00

Used just over half a skein of the Helena merino DK left over from the Forest Canopy shawl - I now have a matching shawl/scarf and beret! Already worn when I went shopping this afternoon :-)

The pattern is from Twilleys Freedom Spirit book 455. I'm going to make another to match my original Clapotis too.

This week I've been working on Alexandra from Fitted Knits. I'm just finishing off the garter stitch edging then casting off the main body. This is a very quick sweater to knit. I'm using Rowan Plaid in shade Sea Thistle.

I didn't bother to add extra cable for the photo so the lower edge looks small in the photo. I've been trying this on as I go along and I'm very pleased with the overall fit. I've added a little extra length in the body, both in the mid section between decreases and increases, and also after the increases to incorporate a fourth cable set.

I've just bought some lovely lace patterns from Knitspot - Gale, Alhambra and Hypoteneuse. Gale will be perfect in some purple Rowanspun 4ply from my stash, and I'm thinking of using one of my 55g skeins of Posh yarn laceweight for Alhambra. I don't know whether to start one of these next, or make the Earth Maiden wrap by Ilga Leja. Definitely in a lace knitting mood though.

Great news, our tickets for the Mighty Boosh were delivered today - and we have seats 5 rows from the front in the stalls! *happy dance* Very glad to at last know what seats we were allocated, as the original priority booking just said "general admission".

Finally I've added my pattern notes for the Glam Rock Ski Hat to the original post, linked from the sidebar. The pattern is also now linked in on ravelry, although I seem to be having a few issues being able to have my own "designer" linkup on there - more on that depending on further developments!

And the winners are ...

2008-04-05T20:58:00.005+01:00

Announcing the winners of my blogiversary giveaway!

Firstly the winner of the laceweight yarn is:

RooKnits !!

And the winner of the "regulars" giveaway is:

Liz !!

I'll be contacting you shortly!

Draw conducted using this random picker.

Very happy with the results of F1 Bahrain qualifying today - BMW Sauber have done extremely well with (I have to say this) a Pole on pole! Congrats to Kubica for getting pole and to Nick for coming in at #6. Should be a good race tomorrow.

I took the opportunity to sew up my beret during the qualifying too, and the CPH pieces were all blocked at the start of the week. Hoping to sew up at least some of CPH tomorrow. I've also got the yarn out to start Alexandra from Fitted Knits as currently I have nothing OTN!

And in other news

2008-03-30T16:29:00.009+01:00

The CPH front bands are now cast off and it's ready for blocking!

I knit the edging in one piece, as I'd used a three needle bind-off on the hood and saw no reason to do the front in two halves. I've added 6 buttonholes too.

Some more yarn acquisition, from the Yarn Yard again:

100g of sock in "Spring" and a 50g toning skein in "Bedazzle". There were more tempting colourways this week but I missed them, you can see them on the YY blog. I confess I snagged a bargain skein of merino yesterday too, along with another 50g of Mysteron!

After seeing Oxford Kitchen Yarns sock yarn on Sarah's blog I'm afraid I was led into temptation once again:

100g of 100% BFL sock yarn in "Candyfloss". I'm blaming all these pretty colours on it being Spring! It was certainly a lovely change to be able to take photos outside last week. One of the advantages of getting up early for work is leaving earlier too, so I can get home in the strong daylight. A disadvantage is trying to readjust your body clock to getting up over an hour earlier, I've spent two months back at our old offices and last week was a shock to the system! So much so that I ended up sleeping in very late yesterday, but I still managed to finish CPH and start a beret from the Twilley's Freedom Spirit pattern book in the remaining merino DK from the FCS.

I recently mentioned that I was going to the theatre to see "Sleuth", then entirely forgot to report back on it. I enjoyed it very much, it really is a two-man play, and both Michael Praed and Simon McCorkindale were excellent in their respective roles. I don't think I've ever seen the film before so I didn't know the plot, and the various twists and turns were very entertaining. Being in a front row seat was a wonderful experience, and I caught Michael's eye a couple of times, once during the play itself and also during the curtain call :-) (and he has very lovely twinkly eyes). I hope you enjoy it as much as I did when you see it next month Aknita!

I hope my fellow F1 knitters enjoyed the Malaysian Grand prix last Sunday too. Compared to the Melbourne craziness it was a relatively tame affair, but some great moments including Nick setting the fastest lap of the race, and doing some impressive overtaking. Huge congrats to Nick for getting back up the field after an unfortunate start, and to Robert (Kubica) for coming in second! Go team BMW Sauber!

(Nick on the podium in Melbourne - picture courtesy of and © BMW Press Club)

Forest Canopy Shawl

2008-03-30T00:43:00.006Z

Finished last weekend and blocked Sunday/Monday, and an outdoor photoshoot on Thursday after work:

Pattern - Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl by Susan Pierce Lawrence
Yarn - Posh Yarn Helena DK shade "Dales"
Yardage - approx 116g used out of 200g
Modifications - three extra pattern repeats

Blogiversary giveaway!

2008-03-23T13:32:00.005Z

As previously mentioned, March is the month I first started blogging, way back in 2005. This makes it my three year blogiversary, so it's definitely an excuse to have a giveaway.

Here's what's up for grabs:

A prize for laceweight junkies! On the left, a skein of handpaintedyarn.com pure wool laceweight. The site says this is 850 yards per skein, ravelry says 950. Gorgeous mix of purply reds, not available on the website at the moment. On the right, a skein of Posh Yarn Felicity pure silk laceweight. I believe this is 700 yards, and not a yarn that PY carry any more. This skein was a limited run for the one-time Lace Club.

To enter the draw, please leave a comment on this post!

Last date for comments is Friday 5th April, right up to midnight UK time.

I also have an extra prize to give away, this time for all the lovely people who drop by here and comment. I know a few of you are having a break from blogging at the moment too, or don't have much free time for one reason or another, so I wanted to say "thanks" by including all of the "regulars" in a separate draw too (you can still enter the other draw of course!). I won't post any pictures, suffice to say it is sock-oriented!

Hopefully I will be announcing the winners on the weekend of the 6-7th April. Good luck!

I am now off to do a little cleaning around the house, then finish off the border and bind-off on my Forest Canopy shawl. The latter may have to wait until we've watched the Malaysian Grand Prix though! Couldn't face getting up at 6am on a Sunday to watch it live so we're watching the re-run in an hour or so :-) I shall be cheering for all of the British drivers on principle, and also rooting for my favourite:

(and avoiding any and all news feeds between now and 2-45!)

Diversionary lace

2008-03-08T16:10:00.007Z

I couldn't resist starting the Forest Canopy Shawl I mentioned in the previous post, using Posh Yarn Helena merino DK in shade "Dales". Four repeats done so far:

I'm aiming to pick up for the button band on CPH this weekend, but I think the lovely colours in the merino were just the kind of Spring pick-me-up that was needed.

Finally wrested from the clutches of the Post Office today (one out of four parcels to sign for, so they took all four back to the office, argh!), here is some of the gorgeous Yarn Yard merino in shades Mysteron (above) and Smile:

This is for the Cranford Mitts (link goes to Sussex Yorkie's lovely first pair of mitts), and judging from reports, these two 50g skeins should be enough for 2 pairs. I'm intending using the Mysteron as the main lace for the first pair with Smile (and it does indeed make me do just that) for the edging.

Natalie now sells most of her yarn in 50g skeins, which is great for things like the mitts and even for socks, where you want to use more than one colour. It's so tempting in fact that I also got these in the same parcel:

Oatcake (above) and Moment 50g skeins of Yarn Yard sock.

I'm not doing too badly with my attempts to knit from stash, even so, and if you can't buy some scrummy yarn every so often it's a pretty miserable do! I'd bought very little so far this year until I found out that Dunelm Mill were selling off some Rowan yarns at 99p per ball. Fear not, they had not happened upon a secret stash of R2 yarn :-D When I went to our local store they had Holiday, Cotton Braid and Spray. I've ended up with three different shades of Spray, enough for a number of jumpers judging by the Urban Streets book which I received today (another of the hostage parcels).

And speaking of sock yarn - I am planning to attempt my first pair of socks in the near future. I've got enough sock yarn in stash to see me through a fair few pairs, I think, and I've just invested in some 60cm Knitpicks circs so I can do the two-circulars method. Thanks to BlueADT and the other posters on the 2-socks-2-circs KAL on the CTY forum for inspiring me. I shall try one sock at first though, 2 at once may be too far off the deep end for a first attempt!

I also ordered this which arrived today:

Sensational Knitted Socks, which seems to be a very popular book (and I'll surely end up with the second one too!). Also pictured is Ysolda's latest beret pattern, I've acquired several of her lovely patterns recently, now to acquire a time turner to have the time to knit them all :-D I also have my beady eye on the entrelac bag from the latest Yarn Forward, and the Hurry Up Spring mitts from Stitch 'n' Bitch....

PIF, prizes and live comedy

2008-03-02T17:37:00.009Z

I sent out my PIF parcels last week and both have now been received, so I can now show you what I made!

In the end, after trying several other patterns, I settled upon the "Pashmina Cowl" from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I do recommend this book as it contains a lot of lovely useful patterns, including the famous Chevron Scarf. The first cowl for gilraen was made in Posh Yarn Emily, shade Digress:

The second cowl for blog-blethers was knit in Stroud Wool sock yarn (Socrates) from Violet Green, shade "Solent":

In the end I only had two rather than the usual three PIF recipients, so when the lovely Sarah offered to obtain some Koigu for me from the USA, I hatched a plan :-) In addition to the yarn I sent in return I whipped up a pair of Dashing gloves in Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Aran (shade Hero). I knew these were on her "queue" and I also knew she was awfully busy making gifts for other people, so it was a nice opportunity to surprise her with a wee handknit gift :-)

Not the most fantastic photo of mine, but Sarah does have better pictures on her blog.

My CPH is almost finished! Just the front bands to knit on, then washing/blocking, and seaming. Oh and sewing on buttons! I'm looking at making a couple of the sweaters from Fitted Knits next, probably Alexandra first, but I may just have to squeeze in a Forest Canopy shawl in some lovely PY merino DK that I've had for ages! My original FCS has been doing a sterling job keeping me warm in the face of air conditioning this winter, as has my Clapotis, so another one of those in Lorna's Laces this time is also on the cards.

I received this lovely prize from Liz at fluffyknitting this week, which I won in her blogiversary draw:

A skein of Lamb's Pride worsted in "Chocolate Souffle" (yummy), a pretty FQ of fabric, some choccy (yummy again), and this gorgeous set of stitchmarkers:

Thanks again Liz for my lovely prize!

I will be running a blogiversary draw this month, as it was three years ago that I first set this blog up. It took another couple of months for knitting content to appear but it doesn't seem like three years at all! Stay tuned for the details.

We had a great night out on Friday, as we went to see French & Saunders on their final UK tour. What we didn't realise was that this was the opening night of the tour! We'd found our seats and were sitting looking around before the show, when Mr DC said "Isn't that ..." and nodded over to where none other than Lenny Henry was walking through the stalls near us! I wasn't 100% sure it was him, although I have sat a few feet away from him a year or so ago during the filming of the last "Vicar of Dibley" episodes! Anyway it soon became clear that we were right as Dawn said some of her family were in the audience that night!

We really enjoyed the show, a clever combination of live sketches interspersed with filmed segments (allowing for more complex costume and prosthetics changes). We'd never seen them in a live show before (although obviously I've seen Dawn at the VoD filming), so make sure you go if you're a fan as this really is their last tour! There was some very funny rivalry running through the show, Vicar of Dibley versus Absolutely Fabulous for top sitcom and comedy goddess! It did culminate in a hilarious sequence near the end but I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't yet seen it.

My next theatre visit is in a couple of weeks, to see "Sleuth" with Michael Praed and Simon McCorkindale. Michael played Robin in the wonderful "Robin of Sherwood" of course, so I had to go to see this! I even managed to get a front row seat :-)

Nice hat, Garibaldi

2008-02-10T16:11:00.000Z

... which is another Babylon 5 reference but seems appropriate. Either that or "oh no not more hats" :-)

Rollin beret in unknown chunky green hand-dyed yarn:

Boho beret, felted, in Noro Kureyon:

(links go to the ravelry project pages, more photos on there)

I'm currently working on finishing that poor CPH that has been repeatedly put aside for other things. Half way up the second sleeve, hoping to finish it in time to wear it before the weather warms up :-D

I'll leave you with one of my recent sig graphics, made in honour of Ashes to Ashes starting this past week:

Hats and more hats

2007-12-30T13:45:00.000Z

Plenty of small projects in recent times, still some I can't yet show but here are the ones I can!

Urchin Cap by Woolly Wormhead, knitted over the past couple of days in RYC Soft Tweed, shade Bramble. Lovely pattern and it fits a treat, and I really enjoyed knitting with this yarn. Pity it is now discontinued!

VeeDub beanie, just a simple 2x2 rib border, stockinette then 4 sets of paired k2tog/ssk decreases at the crown. Knit in New Lanark Donegal Silk Tweed Aran in Dark Graphite. I needle felted the VW logo using Cascade 220.

A rib beanie in Noro Silver Thaw, made for a gift - one of my favourite patterns I think as I've done three so far, all gifts!

More details on Ravelry/Flickr for these, I do find blogging coming very low down the priority list these days! I generally update my Rav projects list fairly regularly though.

Hope everyone is having a good holiday/break, wishing you all a very Happy New Year! My goal in 2008 is to knit up some of my stash, I've already made a start :-)

Finally - maricel, thanks for your comment, I can't find a way to contact you though. I do have the pattern you're after from the now-defunct Spun, so please email me directly on the address in the sidebar :-)

CPH progress

2007-12-01T17:11:00.000Z

Time to post a progress picture of the CPH. Thus far the back and both front pieces are complete, and I've made a start on the first sleeve. This does tend to be put aside frequently, mainly due to gift knits at the moment.

Not easy to get any kind of decent photos this time of year, the photo has been tweaked a little to hopefully show up the cables a little better.

I've now decided upon my PIF gifts and have started the first one, I'm sort of aiming for January with these.

Here's something I made a few weeks ago, using two strands of aran weight yarn held together (Noro Kureyon and Jamiesons Shetland Aran):

It's the larger felted bowl pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. It went through two washes at 70 degrees and has felted reasonably well. It's certainly a lot smaller! I blocked it using a glass basin so deliberately crimped the top edge over rather than pinning it out flat. I have to say I prefer the way Cascade 220 felts, losing all stitch definition, whereas you can still see it in this piece. The original pattern uses Lamb's Pride Bulky in a single strand, I did wonder if using two strands gave the yarn a little less wriggle room.

This week I've also completed another knitted gift, which I can't yet show (you can see why CPH progress is slow!).

A couple of links which may be of interest:

Project Download - I saw this via Neil Gaiman's blog, tis for a very good cause.

Free Rice - found this via Piece of Beauty, it's a highly addictive vocabulary game, and for each definition you get right it donates 20 grains of rice via the UN. My best level is 50 (DH got this too), don't ask me how except I seem to be able to work out many of the words even if I don't know them! I'm not Googling them either! If you want to keep your scores go to Options before you begin, as it defaults to not saving them.

Glam Rock Ski Hat, aka Vince's Tundra Hat

2007-11-24T18:16:00.003Z

Here's the finished Glam Rock Ski Hat, I had fun needlefelting lightning bolts onto the earflaps! I used Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky to make the outline (just winging it by eye), then filled in with more yarn. I then added some BFL fibre on top.

More pictures on Flickr.

I used two patterns for this hat, mostly the Amelia hat from the SnB calendar, and also Woolly Wormhead's Scrappy Flapper.

Update 6th April 2008:

I have written up my pattern notes and made them available as a PDF.

PIF gift!

2007-11-24T17:55:00.000Z

I received a lovely PIF gift this week from Piglottie:

A fabby project bag made from one of Kaffe Fassett's amazing fabrics, and two handmade Piglottie Productions cards! I loved the first bag that Piglottie made for a swap in reds, yellows and oranges, and I was made up to receive one of my own. Thanks again PL, it really made my day!

I wish I was having some measure of success with my own PIF project plans though! I think I have settled on a pattern now, but not after much cursing at my own knitting ability this week - possibly the onset of a bit of a cold going through me.

Anyway - here's some pretty yarn!

Top to bottom - Posh Yarn Lucia in "Gigue", Posh Yarn Helena in "Evocative", and yarn Yard sock in "Sandstorm" with a 50g contrast skein of "Bitter Chocolate". Yummy! I bought enough Helena to make a tank top as I loved the muted colours and the idea just crept into my head ;-)

How Many Hats?

2007-11-03T17:06:00.000Z

The post title being a tribute to a sketch from "Armstrong and Miller" last night, which had me in stitches. I missed the first episode last week (probably still in mourning as "Not Going Out" had ended), it's absolutely hilarious and one of the songs is still going round in my head.

Speaking of hats I do have one to show you. We are having a KAL on the Mighty Boosh group on ravelry, for the hat Vince wears in the episode "Tundra". Mine is knit in Jaeger Extra Fine Merino Chunky (Red Ink), fudging a couple of different patterns together and winging it to some extent. I did a single crochet (US terminology) edging all the way round to stabilise the edges and help reduce curling, and the cords are in i-cord.

This is pre-blocking, it's now blocking on the slightly precarious combination of glass head on upside-down bowl, with some bubble wrap to pin the flaps and edges to. Once dry I'll be adding pompoms, and then some needle-felting to turn it into a Glam Rock Ski Hat :-D

I've not really touched any other knitting since my last post, but there are a few things to show. First up a gorgeous skein of Yarn Yard sock in shade "Conker":

And Posh Yarn Laura in "Moorland":

I was lucky enough to win two prizes in terri's recent fundraiser raffle on the Crafty Threads forum - I picked a Kool Aid dyeing kit:

and the Amy Butler "In Stitches" book (which has all the patterns neatly stashed in a pocket inside the front cover):

In books, I've finished "Postcards" which I thoroughly enjoyed, and have now dug out Neil Gaiman's "Stardust" as it seemed timely! If you've never read any of his novels I definitely recommend "Neverwhere", which was also adapted for television.

I've also finally invested in a set of straighteners, in the end I went for BaByliss Pros instead of GHDs. These things are just genius. My hair is ever so thick and tends to kink and curl, the difference is incredible!

Skully mini tote

2007-10-14T11:57:00.000+01:00

I made this a little while ago for a prezzie, now it is safely with the recipient I can post a picture :-)

Pattern: Mini Skull and Crossbones Tote by Hello Yarn
Yarn: Cascade 220 shades 8555 (black) and 8401 (silver grey)
Needles: 6.5mm
Yardage: around three quarters of the MC (black) skein (100g skein) plus a small amount of the grey

I completely forgot to take a picture pre-felting to show the amazing difference. This is knit with larger needles to give a slightly more open fabric, something I have really only now appreciated is required for good felting. The bag was put in the washing machine at 70 degrees, inside a zipped wash bag (the mesh kind), with a large bath towel for agitation. As we have the standard UK automatic washing machine it went through the full wash cycle, and it emerged as a fully felted piece. There is zero stitch definition left. I am very happy with the end result, and there is plenty of yarn left to make a second bag in the reverse colourway.

I finally finished the back section of the CPH a few days ago, and have just started the first front piece. I thought about knitting both fronts at once but decided not to. I've been noting row counts for the back piece so I can use those to match the pieces up with hopefully a reasonable amount of accuracy.

I've started a new work routine recently and am still adjusting, so I've had less time than usual to visit blogs. I'll visit when I can, it might be a while after posts went up and I might be reading several at once, but I'll get there eventually :-)

Thanks everyone for the book recs in the previous post too. I've actually read The Shipping News, a few years ago now, what a wonderful book. They made a half-decent film of it too! I'm about half way through Postcards, it's fascinating, and AP writes such evocative prose.

Smooch

2007-10-06T16:48:00.000+01:00

Finally complete after being put to one side in the dismal summer weather:

Pattern: Smooch by Kim Hargreaves, from the Rowan All Seasons Cotton collection
Yarn: Rowan All Seasons Cotton in Pansy
Needles: 5mm and 4mm bamboo straights
Yardage: around four and a half 50g balls

Pattern amendments:
I realised one reason I was avoiding finishing this was the (in my book) fiddly way of making a slipped stitch edging on the armholes and neckline. I decided to simply slip stitches and to be honest it looks the same.

Very glad to have finished a long-standing WIP, and it's a good fit too.

I made this cloth/potholder as a gift recently:

The cloth is knit in Debbie Bliss Cotton DK, using this pattern from Caffina's Creations. The idea for adding some fabric backing and cotton batting came from the Easy-Going Potholders pattern from Magknits. I hand-sewed the backing, which was my first proper sewing for many a year. I was quite pleased with how it turned out, despite hand sewing not being my forte. Next step is tackling the sewing machine!

The remnant from the skein of cotton used above was just enough to make this Simple Lace Headband (not such a great photo I'm afraid):

Another Ribbed Noro Hat for a birthday gift, in Silver Thaw shade 13 (takes a little under one skein):

In books, I finished and thoroughly enjoyed "North and South" while on holiday from work recently. I've also read the new Terry Pratchett novel, "Making Money", which had me laughing out loud as usual. I've now started something different, "Postcards" by Annie Proulx. I believe it is something in the vein of Steinbeck's "Grapes of Wrath". I read quite a number of his works in my teens, and he is one of the authors I intend to rediscover. I'm also quite keen to re-read some of the Thomas Hardy novels. I know he is not universally liked but I loved books like "Far From The Madding Crowd".

As regards the Pay It Forward exchange, unfortunately hazy is not now able to participate, but I have decided to make a third gift as a surprise for a friend instead, rather than throw the field open again. I feel it's in the spirit of the PIF if not the letter.

Tweedy

2007-09-22T16:20:00.000+01:00

A tweedy WIP to be more precise. I've started the Central Park Hoodie at long last, after wanting to knit it all last winter. The yarn is Rowanspun Aran in "Hardy", and I love working with it. I can see I need to "collect" some more!

My other WIPs are slumbering, although Yelena is slowly being completed piece by piece. I also have a mystery WIP OTN of course, and another completed which I'm really pleased with, but must stay secret for the time being.

I did make a second batch of innocent hats recently, I'm planning on making 20 in total this year I think.

Many many thanks to the folks who have signed up to my PIF - gilraen, hazy and blog-blethers! Please head over to one of their blogs if you would like to join the PIF exchange, I believe they all have a space left at the moment!

I've been slowly adding my stash on to Ravelry this week, after completing the projects, and it's driving me a little scatty! I'm cross referencing with my yarn spreadsheet and keep finding yarn I thought I had photos of which mysteriously don't appear in my Flickr sets *tears a bit more hair out LOL*. I've not had much chance to go pattern browsing and add to my queue yet, which is one thing I really do enjoy. I think the queue will be a better tool than my current spreadsheet for future projects.

Pay It Forward

2007-09-19T20:05:00.001+01:00

I've seen this on a few blogs already, at first I wasn't sure about committing to it but have decided to give it a go :-) I have signed up on Piglottie's blog, here is the spiel:

"It’s the Pay It Forward Exchange. It’s based of the concept of the movie “Pay it Forward” where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness are passed on. You all know I’m already a PIF type of person. So here’s how it works. I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 6 months) and that’s a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog."

My gifts may be knitted, or may be another craft ... I will do my best to pick something that the recipients would like.

So - the first three people to comment and say that they would like to PIF, will be my recipients :-) (you can still comment without committing BTW!) I am happy to send internationally too.

EDIT - all places now taken - thanks very much to my three PIF sign-ups - gilraen, hazy and blog-blethers! I'm looking forward to this very much :-)

And the winner is ....

2007-09-19T14:43:00.000+01:00

*drumroll please*

gilraen !!!

Congratulations, I will be contacting you shortly!

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway!

Colinette haul

2007-09-13T16:49:00.000+01:00

We had the most beautiful weather for our trip down to Colinette, blue skies and sunshine all the way. Just like a perfect summer's day - in mid-September!

For those who haven't visited the Banwy workshops, this is the view from outside:

The sheds/workshops extend quite a way to the right. It all looks quite functional and utilitarian from here. Some of the metal shutter doors were open on Tuesday, and we could see moving machinery that looked like it was winding yarn - we've never seen any of the doors open before so it was interesting to see what lurks behind them! Behind the blue door on the left is the entrance to the mill shop, which does look exactly like the photo on the link, a riot of colour.

As you go in to your immediate left is the new aran yarn Iona. It feels gorgeous as you might expect (wool, silk and mohair mix). We went off hunting for Skye, the 100% wool aran, as I was after the new Iona book and some Skye to knit Enid, a sideways-knit jacket. I eventually chose Velvet Bronze, a lovely subtle mix of purples and bronzed browns:

All of the "velvet" shades are incredible. It's one thing to see photos of shades but quite another to look at them for real. You could quite literally buy half of the shop!

On our last visit I got three skeins of Prism from the sale room, with no real idea what to use them for. Recently I got the Wayfarer pattern book and after seeing minniemoll's Melinda cardigan, realised I just needed three more skeins of the Prism in "Monet":

I also wanted some more Point 5 as it's great for felting, my DH spotted the three skeins on the left in the sale room, and I found the other one. The singleton may well become another comfy beanie hat, and I will dream up a felted project for the others (which I reckon were meant to be Ischia).

There was plenty of Point 5 in the sale room, along with some mohair in wonderful shades (a striking blue-green, and a pale pink mottled colourway both caught my eye). A fair bit of Cadenza too, which is such a soft merino DK. Both Tao and Parisienne were on special offer so for anyone going soon (Anne and Kath!) hopefully that will still be at those prices.

All in all a fabulous day. We had a wander down to the railway station (where some of the new Iona book was photographed), and back via the riverside path.

(clickie for desktop wallpaper-sized version)

We headed over to Criccieth through the stunning scenery of Snowdonia. I managed to snap this through the side window of the car, click for the big version and look at the sheep for scale!

We stayed overnight at the Mynydd Ednyfed country house hotel, which we thoroughly enjoyed. It is set in gardens and surrounding estate just above Criccieth town. The house was once home to David Lloyd George's family.

The following day we visited a friend who lives nearby, but first we went down to the beach and admired the view across to Snowdonia. It looked very ethereal, all shades of pale silvery grey, blues and pinks:

(clickie for desktop wallpaper-sized version)

My favourite photo was this one:

(clickie for desktop wallpaper-sized version)

On arriving home a squishy Posh parcel was waiting:

Posh Yarn Emily in "Mistress"

All in all a very pleasant two days!

Giveaway!

2007-09-11T00:32:00.000+01:00

The giveaway is now closed and results posted above, thanks for entering!

It's time for a knitterly giveaway:

Up for grabs:

- a small project bag in red polka dot fabric, lined with a pale pink printed fabric. Bought at Sedbergh craft market, it's the sock-size version of the bag from my earlier posting. It has 4 outer pockets too. Very cute, fastens with a drawstring, perfect for carrying small projects.
- a 100g skein of Posh Yarn Lucia (4ply) in colourway "Cancan", from my stash. Gorgeous shades of pink, purple, blue, peach and orange, 30% cashmere, 70% merino, and 330 metres (360 yards)
- also included, some Divine chocolate, and one of my beaded book thongs

To enter the draw, please leave a comment on this post. Draw closes at midnight UK time (BST) on Wednesday 19th September (i.e. you have until 23:59 on Tuesday 18th to leave a comment!). Good luck!

ETA - for gilraen - I got 2 x Emily "Mistress" on Sunday - it was that or Vintage, and I figured there would be a bigger scrum for Vintage :-)

The knitting of small things

2007-09-08T17:09:00.000+01:00

For the past couple of weeks I've been knitting small, almost-instant-gratification projects. It's good to have a change from large items for a while. I've also been doing some mystery knitting which I can't show here yet. I've even started a sewing project - something I've not really done since I was at school! No photos of that yet as I've only got as far as cutting out the felt, but stay tuned.

First up, my first batch of hats for the innocent fundraising for Help the Aged:

These are great for using up leftover yarn. I've added the hat-ometer to my sidebar, the target has been raised again this year as they exceeded last year's by quite a bit.

There was almost a full skein of BSA cotton left over from Flair, so I made another 3am cable hat, this time for me:

I love how the cables "pop" with this yarn. I couldn't believe that I still had leftover yarn after the hat, so I knit a moss stitch headband too (not pictured). I had to finish the last few rows with some green Cotton Fleece but it's made a very useful soft band for keeping my hair under control. I've been growing it all year and it's not long enough to be able to tie back yet, but still long enough to need taming at times.

On the subject of yarn, my stashalong is officially over! I have not celebrated by buying crates of yarn (not yet), but I did snag this from The Land of Temptation last Sunday:

Posh Yarn Helena merino 4ply in "Glen"

We're on holiday from work for the next two weeks and a trip to Colinette is imminent! Stand by for some stash enhancement. I'm also hoping to warp up my loom, and get the sewing machine out and learn to use it properly.

I thought I'd mention some of my WIPs that disappeared from the sidebar too. I started the Simple Knitted Bodice in March this year but never got more than a few rows into it, that was frogged back a few weeks ago and I'm looking to restart this autumn/winter. I was using Jaeger Shetland Aran but am considering trying Rowan Summer Tweed instead. I started the Spring Things shawl earlier in the year too, and got to the end of the first section, but with gritted teeth! I find KSH a little difficult to handle, and the problem was being able to see it at night - even with a daylight lamp it was very awkward. This was actually sent on to a good blogging friend who will hopefully be able to finish it one day.

Here's my first attempts at needle felting. This was a kit sent to me by another blogging friend for my birthday, and it was a great introduction to the craft.

Both sides of the little wool purse from the kit, with the heart shapes made using a tiny metal cookie-cutter template that was included. The flower was attached to the purse so I had a go at embellishing it without the aid of a template. It's highly addictive and takes very little time, I really enjoyed this and have since bought the Clover felting tool which holds multiple needles, and a single needle mounted in a soft-grip handle. I also bought a few more shades of the Filz-It felting wool, and a bigger foam pad to work with (all from Get Knitted).

Here's something I forgot to add to my previous post. On our visit to the Wool Clip, we ended up buying a painting! The Watermill Cafe exhibits the work of local artists, this is a scene looking out over the Solway Firth (we think, we forgot to ask for the card next to the painting), and is by Jean Alexander, acrylic on boxed canvas:

We both love paintings of the sea, especially where the artist has painted wave action and caught the movement of the water. This now hangs over our fireplace, and in fact the two other (smaller) paintings in the room are both of the sea too (both bought in Cornwall).

Before I forget, I got my invite to Ravelry last week too! I am knittyinpink on there. It's an excellent and as others have noted addictive place! I've not had much time to add projects or stash on there yet but am hoping to do that fairly soon.

And finally - I will be holding a giveaway soon - it may even be up in the next couple of days. Watch this space!

Stashalong ticker!

2007-09-01T00:01:00.000+01:00

Here's the countdown sticky for my stashalong. No more yarn for larger projects until September 1st. I'm allowing the odd skein here or there e.g. one-off handpainted yarn, but no sweater-size purchases. It's more a case of storage space than anything else, I don't believe in guilt over buying yarn :-)

A grand day out

2007-08-26T17:28:00.000+01:00

Or rather, two grand days out. Yesterday we went up to Cumbria, firstly to Sedbergh and the Charter Market, and to meet up with the folks from the Sharpe Appreciation Society who had been invited to participate. Sedbergh is England's third Book Town, and as such has a number of specialist and general bookshops. The market was part of the Festival of Books and Drama. We spent a very enjoyable hour or so wandering around the market stalls and some of the shops. The "Sleepy Elephant" is a rather wonderful combination of books and crafts, and specialises in books about the needle arts. I found this inspiring book amongst them:

After my exploits in Noro I couldn't resist this, it's very inspiring, and I have plans to attempt at least one shawl, possibly something like this:

At one of the craft stalls I found this rather lovely project bag:

We also visited Westwood Books where I picked up three Elizabeth Gaskell novels, including "North and South". We hadn't planned to go anywhere else after Sedbergh but found ourselves with plenty of time to spare, so we headed north, firstly out of Sedbergh towards Kirkby Stephen along the most glorious route. The landscape was stunning and the weather for once was very pleasant and sunny. This time of year the heath/heather is out in full bloom and you can see the amazing patchwork of greens and purples stretching out in front of you.

We picked up the M6 again further north and headed towards Caldbeck. For a bank holiday, the traffic was light, although it did look very busy on the local roads as we passed under the exit for Keswick. The area between Windermere and Keswick does unfortunately become very busy at weekends and holidays, and probably most of the time in the summer. We have spent more than one occasion stuck in large amounts of traffic! Caldbeck is the home of the Wool Clip, and of course not far from the home of Woolfest. It is housed in converted mill buildings along with two other shops and a cafe. As you might expect, the shop is full of fibre! There are also yarns, handknitted garments, rugs, and all sorts of things. I've been thinking of getting a drop spindle for a while, so I bought a drop spindle starter kit, along with some Wensleydale locks dyed in rich sunset colours, and some dyed Masham fibre:

I got a needle felting kit for my birthday and I bought the fibre more with this in mind, but I'm looking forward to trying out spinning with the spindle! It came with some Blue Faced Leicester and Black Welsh Mountain fibre. There are some instructions, but I'm going to do a little more research before trying to spin!

Last Sunday we had another day out, although the weather wasn't quite as kind. We went to the VW Festival at Harewood House near Leeds. The rain had made the event field into rather a mud bath in places, but thankfully it did stop raining not too long after we arrived. Later on, we went up to the house itself, which is just incredible inside in the state rooms, and fascinating under stairs in the old servants quarters and kitchens. Outside in the terrace garden, the RSPB were stationed with binoculars, as this is one of the sites where red kites were re-introduced. The species was almost wiped out in Britain but is now staging a remarkable recovery. We saw two kites circling high above, and one a little closer over the lake. We've seen them in Wales, too, while travelling across Powys in the mountains.

More photos in the gallery.

Thank you so much to everyone who has commented on the Noro entrelac scarf. It's a really fabulous use for Kureyon in particular - each shade contains such rich colours, very saturated, and this I think is partly why it works so well.

In answer to terri's question, I do think entrelac is actually quite easy, once you get the hang of how it is constructed. It's very logical, and really only comprises of basic knit and purl, and standard increases and decreases. If you have a slipped stitch selvedge it makes it simple to pick up stitches for the next block evenly. Definitely give it a try - use a practice piece first time to understand how it fits together. It took me an age with my first go, but once I'd worked it out and found a good pattern, I was flying along.

This week I've been working on Yelena, and am not far off finishing the first front piece. It's not the fastest knit, being in 1x1 rib, but at least it's on 6mm needles! I'm trying not to cast on any new projects at the moment, but so many patterns are calling to me!

Entrelac scarf in Noro Kureyon

2007-08-22T18:58:00.000+01:00

I love this scarf! Essential details:

Pattern: adapted Lady Eleanor Stole from Scarf Style
Yarn: Noro Kureyon
Shades: one skein each of 154, 164, 159, 157, 128, 138, in this order
Needles: 5mm bamboo straights
Finished size: 10 inches wide x 80 inches long
Pattern mods: four base triangles instead of seven

I started off with the Danica pattern from Knitty, and ended up frogging my first laborious attempt at the entrelac. Howver it did give me the general idea of how it worked, and once I picked up my copy of Scarf Style I found I could knit the rectangles and triangles a lot faster. In fact if you are thinking of trying entrelac this is a very well written pattern, and it makes it very easy to pick up the stitches each time, by slipping the first stitch of the decrease row - creating a nice selvedge. Entrelac looks incredibly difficult but once you've had a quick practice, it's easy to get the hang of. I found I didn't need to look at the pattern after a while as it's very logical.

There are more photos in my Flickr gallery. Each skein was knit in its entirety before starting the next - you can chop and change around every few tiers too. I used felted joins each time I started a new skein, and to rejoin yarn after removing the inevitable knots. Three skeins came from stash, and I initially only bought two more - then decided I needed a sixth! The scarf is lovely and warm and comfortable, it had a good soak first in Ecover wool wash, then in the fabric conditioner, and it does make quite a difference to the knitted fabric. I'm looking forward to some colder weather so I can wear this!

Finally, thank you so much to everyone who commented on my previous post, I am very touched! I do try to answer comments at some point, by the way, given the time constraints it's likely to be the next time I blog rather than right away - but I do try especially if someone is looking for a pattern link or a specific piece of information. of course, Blogger doesn't help as you can't directly email back, so if I can't track you down on your blog, I'll generally add something to my next post :-) I'm really looking forward to catching up with everyone on Ravelry - only around 1100 ahead of me today!

Quite a lot of knitting

2007-08-12T13:03:00.000+01:00

I thought I'd dust off the blog and post up the various knits I've completed this summer. You can always find a full set of FO photos on my new Flickr account, by the way. Having signed up and uploaded lots of photos in preparation for Ravelry, I've found it's a fantastic resource and will be adding to the galleries there regularly.

In chronological order:

One Skein Wonder in Noro Kochoran

This used around one and two thirds skeins - I made the sleeves longer and finished them with a 2x2 rib to match the border around the body.

Dashing gloves in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran

Made as a gift - they used approx. three-quarters of a skein per glove.

Antoinette cardigan from Rowan 39

Yarn is Rowan Cotton Rope, shade Cyclamen. It took 15 skeins rather than the 14 specified. There is a "modelled" photo on the Flickr gallery.

Bergere de France Hooded Jacket

Finally finished! It does actually fit quite well, after I feared it would be much too small. With hindsight I'd have made size 3 rather than size 2, now I know how the sizes actually translate! Again there's a modelled pic on Flickr.

Currently on the needles is an entrelac scarf in Noro Kureyon, inspired by this beautiful scarf showcased on whip-up. This photo was taken last week, with a full first section using shade 154, then half way through a skein of 164:

I'm now almost finished with the fourth skein out of six. I'm concentrating on knitting this at the moment, my other two WIPs are the Smooch top from the ASC book and the Yelena cardigan which has been stalled for a long time! Here's the almost-complete back of Smooch:

As I mentioned in an earlier post, this is using the ASC that came as the gift when I renewed my Rowan membershop this year. I bought an extra skein from Jannette and amazingly it was the same dye lot!

The stashalonging is going quite well. I've bought a few skeins of handpainted yarn along the way, and 3 Noro Silver Thaw in the Stash sale. I had a rather large day off when on holiday in July, but stuck to the list I'd taken with me:

We have: 10 skeins of Rowan Damask in Molasses, destined for the Tulip top; a pack of Summer Tweed in Shark on sale in Sheepish in York; and 6 skeins of Wensleydale Longwool DK for the top-down cable raglan from IK. I also snagged the Happy Hooker book and the new pattern book for Twilleys Freedom Spirit and Freedom Wool. There are some fabulous patterns in the latter and I have plenty of FS in stash! This week I've bought the three new pattern books from Debbie Bliss, I particularly like the Luxury Collection. I also got the new Bergere de France pattern book (508) again with some lovely tempting patterns.

I'm very pleased with the new Rowan collection 42, I love the Doon Coat in Kid Classic, and the Fyne tunic in Felted Tweed. There are a good dozen or so patterns in there that I would make.

As far as Ravelry is concerned, there are currently 2120 people ahead of me in the queue. I'm almost done with uploading photos to Flickr in preparation, I have one last cache of stash to photograph. Although I have a spreadsheet with my stash listed, having the photo sets together is great, as the colour and texture speaks to you rather more strongly than a written list can!

BabCom: End Transmission

2007-06-17T13:49:00.000+01:00

For the non-B5 people out there - I'm taking a break from blogging for the summer. Public comments are switched off, or at least should be if Blogger is cooperating, as we are not at home to internet muppetry especially of the spam variety! Have a good summer, I intend to chill out and knit!

Flair jacket

2007-06-11T19:13:00.001+01:00

Flair was finished on Saturday, and the buttons sewn on yesterday. Modelled today as it's slightly cooler!

Pattern: Flair by Knit and Tonic
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas worsted dyed organic cotton, shade 620 Fern
Yardage: 6 full skeins plus a small amount of a seventh
Needles: main body Denise 4.5mm with 30" cord; Addi 4.5mm 16" needle for sleeves; Denise 4.5mm with shorter cord for collar

I do like how this has turned out. It fits nicely, has plenty of "swing", and the fabric is very soft and fluid. The BSA cotton does tend to shed and pill, as it's so soft though.

Pattern amendments:

- an extra buttonhole
- added several more increases plus some straight rows than the pattern called for before I separated off the sleeve stitches. I quite possibly added a little more than I needed but it doesn't show
- seed stitch band is 8 stitches, not 7, as I had a brain fart with the seven at first (dont ask!). Therefore the bottom band is also a tad deeper to match with the vertical one.
- body length below armholes is slightly longer than the pattern calls for, and this was just with knitting up to the last mandated increases (although I didn't do that last one). I find this a little odd as I was convinced that my row gauage was causing the buttonholes to be too close together at first.
- I made increases (M1) where the pattern called for decreases in the sleeves (thanks Sarah)
- I've only added buttons on the front placket. I didn't fancy my chances making the inner buttons "invisible", and simply added one and a loop at the inner top instead. It seems to hang well enough! The buttons are olive wood and were a good choice I think!

I originally bought 6 skeins of the BSA from kpixie, and only just went into a seventh for the collar alone, which I acquired swiftly from Loop GB. I ought to know by now that it's always wise to buy an extra skein!

As you can see from my ticker above, I'm stashalonging at the moment, basically for large projects (sweater size). To that end I've started Antoinette from Rowan 39, in a few days' worth of knitting I have the back complete and have almost finishedthe second front piece. This is knitted in Rowan Cotton Rope which is a bit awkward to cast on with at times, but knits up nicely into a soft fabric. The shade is Cyclamen, discontinued, obtained for 1.50 a ball at Cucumberpatch!

I also rejoined the Rowan club and this year's gift arrived. Four balls of All Seasons Cotton and 2 patterns, a waistcoat and a wrap. After some reports that the wrap pattern is slightly bizarre, I'm wondering about snagging an extra skein and making Smooch from the ASC book instead.

I'm on the last few days of the 4-week Food Doctor plan, still going well and I will certainly maintain the basic principles of this for the foreseeable future. I'm quite possibly addicted to porridge though!

Flair almost there, and summer secret santa goodies

2007-06-03T18:51:00.000+01:00

I skipped posting last week, as I hadn't been doing all that much knitting and Flair hadn't progressed significantly. I was also busy doing things like going to the theatre!

I'm glad to say I'm now on the second sleeve, after that only the collar to pick up and knit. "Only" isn't really the right word, as these seed stitch bands are rather slow to work. I'm sure they would be easier with maybe the continental kniting style, and one day I will try that out. I also found the lower band easier than the ones on the sleeves, as the Addis I'm using on the sleeves are harder on my hands than the Denise needles. The Addis also didn't impress when I was working m1 on the sleeves (I'm doing increases rather than decreases), I had to lift the yarn from the back as the needle tip just refused to cooperate knitting into the back of the picked up loop. Again the Denises were fine with this manoeuvre on the main body.

Here's a progress photo, taken earlier before I finished sleeve number one.

Hopefully this will be done and dusted this week, it's taken longer than it should due to my not knitting that much in the past couple of weeks.

The Food Doctor plan is going well, and there is already evidence of some weight loss! My favourite pair of summer shorts refused to button / zip up when I tried them on in April, and that was one of the reasons I decided to take action. I have been wearing them this weekend :-) I don't have any scales apart from those in the kitchen, and I'm not going to start obsessively weighing myself, but it's encouraging to know that simply changing my diet around has had so many positive benefits even just two weeks in. I feel a lot better and am generally more awake in the mornings now, my next plan is to start going swimming again once a week. I haven't done that (apart from in the sea on hols) for years and years.

Here's some yummy yarn that arrived this week: on the left is the May yarn from the Yarn Yard Merino club, such gorgeous colours, and at right is the last instalment from the Posh yarn lace club.

There was also another lovely package in the mail, my Summer Secret Santa parcel from the swap on Crafty Threads forum. Here's what came out of the box:

What a gorgeous felted bag! Inside the bag:

Revealing:

A pretty dishcloth with a dog motif; a lavender candle and lavender sachet (I love the scent), and some choccy!

And finally:

The most gorgeous skein of Silkwood 4ply in shade Chilli, really rich red, oranges and browns. There is also a pattern for this particular yarn, some fingerless mitts with a ribbon threaded through them, very glam!

I really love my gifts, especially the things made for me. The bag is definitely going on hols with me next month with my knitting in it :-) The main clue was the chocolate - can you see the name in the picture - and also the motif on the cloth I think. My santa was terri - thanks again for such a lovely parcel!

I mentioned that I went to the theatre last weekend, I saw the play "Shining City" at the Bolton Octagon. This is a contemporary play by Conor McPherson, here's a mini review I wrote up last week:

Shining City is billed as a ghost story (the Emerald Isle meets "The Sixth Sense"), but it's less about ghosts and more about scared, emotionally isolated people, all trying to find companionship, comfort, meaning in their lives. There is a central theme of guilt - the two main characters both have reasons to feel a lot of guilt about what they have done in their lives.

George Irving plays John, who comes to see ex-priest turned therapist Ian. John is very choked and distressed at first and eventually manages to explain that he is seeing very vivid incarnations of his dead wife at the home they shared. His wife has recently been killed in a car accident.

As the story unfolds, we find that John is carrying guilt over an extra-marital affair of sorts. He loved his wife but there is also a feeling of isolation there, seemingly brought on because they couldn't have children, and he found it something which seemed to separate them from everyone else they knew.

At the same time, we see Ian going through his own turmoil and increasingly becoming confused and guilt-ridden. He has a baby with a young woman yet he seems to be pushing her away, and eventually he brings a rent boy back to his office (at this point he appears to be working and sleeping at his office). Whether this all points back to why he left the priesthood is not explained.

By the end we find John is pretty much transformed, he was worked through his guilt, isn't seeing his ghostly wife any more, and in the final scene he brings a gift for Ian, a Tiffany lamp. I think this symbolises John having come to terms with his demons, and he's passing the lamp to the therapist whose own life is now a mess - and the ghost follows. There is a great moment right at the end, signalled by the faint tune of an ice cream van, something John heard when he saw the ghost himself, but this time it is Ian who hears it. He shuts the door to the stairs and behind it .....

I really enjoyed this play, it is only around 1 hour 40 minutes long with no interval, and played in 5 scenes each set 2 months apart. George Irving is truly excellent as John, and for this he played the whole thing with an Irish accent which I thought was very believable. He has some very long sequences of dialogue, which flowed so well, he had the manner of speech as well as the accent.

The play also benefits from being staged at a small venue like the Octagon, for this production the seats were set up on 3 sides only with a raised stage. Apparently the raised stage is quite unusual for the Octagon, but worked really well. Once the lights go down you are really in quite an intimate atmosphere with the actors. It runs until the 6th of June, highly recommended!

I went to see this because George irving is one of my favourite actors, it was well worth a trip out on a Saturday afternoon, and I got to meet George very briefly afterwards, along with a few other fans who had travelled there too.

Vegetables

2007-05-19T13:46:00.000+01:00

Yes, I've been eating lot more veggies this week, hence the post title! I've only been adopting the Food Doctor (low GI) principles in full since Thursday, as that's the day of the week the plan starts, so we have a way to go yet before seeing any positive changes. My guts are a little perturbed at the changes, but apart from that I've not experienced any other side effects. Not really craving sugar or chocolate either which is good. It has been lovely to try new things and also have recipes that include the likes of quinoa. I've used quinoa flour in my baking but wasn't sure what else to do with it, so now I know!

I haven't done much knitting this week as I've been concentrating on starting the new plan, and some extra cooking was required to prepare things like batches of soup, and smoothies. Flair is progressing but slowly, I now have the lovely olive wood buttons for her:

I also had my first yarn from The Yarn Yard this week, a new organic merino 4ply. This is two skeins in the shade "Egremont", from the one-off sale section:

This is beautiful soft merino and I plan to make some sort of shawl or wrap with it. I joined the Merino Club too, which runs for 3 months at a time, can't wait to see what the May yarn is like.

I've been tagged for a couple more memes in the past week, firstly one from Seahorse:

1. What do you hope to accomplish with your blog?

I didn't set out with a goal in mind, but I started the blog after encouragement from Lynne a couple of years ago. She had been blogging about her knitting for a while, and I'd just got back into the craft after a gap or 10-12 years. I've always been up for new web-based projects, and at first I wondered if anyone would ever read it! Happily I have been proved more than wrong on that account! It has become a way to share my craft pursuits with the online knitting community, and I have also made some lovely friends because of it.

2. Are you a spiritual person?

More so now than I was as a younger person. I don't hold with organised religion, but these days will admit that there may be some form of higher power in the universe, of what kind I wouldn't like to speculate! The power and the beauty of nature, or wonderful hand crafted items, these are the things that feed the soul. I do believe very much in the interconnectedness of things.

3. If you were stranded on a desert island, what three things would you want to have with you?

If we can assume basic food and shelter, then I would unfortunately have to say primarily my asthma meds! The very thought of being stranded somewhere without that is terrifying! I am also quite allergic to fish (not seafood) so there'd better be something other than that to catch and eat! I'd have to say yarn and needles, goodness you could always unravel it and make something different :-) Finally, a big pile of books, all the ones I don't have time to read at the moment.

4. What's your favourite childhood memory?

The one thing that stands out is annual holidays to the Channel Islands, in the 70s and 80s. A fabulous place to take children on holiday, the beaches are just gorgeous and you can walk to all kinds of interesting places. I remember saving up my pocket money, and would be thrilled if I amassed more than ten pounds. It went a lot further in those days! We would always go shopping and buy trinkets and the soft toys made in Guernsey. So many things to recall - the cafe we walked to that had a mynah bird, who generally refused to speak to you (don't blame him), and also had an amazing Victorian floral toilet! The awful Underground Hospital, dripping tunnels and a bad atmosphere (once visited, never again). The Little Chapel, the walls entirely covered in shells. Great times :-)

5. Is this your first meme?

No.

I know a lot of people have done this already, but consider yourself tagged if you're at all interested!

I was also tagged by Franney for the 7 things meme:

The rules:

Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

1. I ate butternut squash (roasted) for the first time this week, it's fabulous.

2. Up until the age of 16 I played violin. I was in one of the county orchestras, which meant giving up every other Sunday, and also spent each Saturday morning at "music centre" where we had a small string orchestra. I still have my violin and may well pick it up again one day.

3. I'm growing my hair again after having it very short for the past 7 or 8 years. It is currently at the driving-you-mad-sticking-out stage :-)

4. I have a glass christening goblet inscribed with runes and other symbology from Middle Earth, I think this was primarily my grandad's idea. It's an incredible piece.

5. I was in the audience for the filming of the very last Vicar of Dibley, shown last Christmas. Richard Curtis sat right next to me on the steps for most of the evening.

6. I drive a black VW New Beetle, with black upholstery, tinted windows, and a black flower in the dash vase. Any resemblance to Disaster Area's stunt ship is purely coincidental.

7. I seem to have the "collector" gene and as well as hoarding yarn, I have collections including Toy Story, Lord of the Rings, and the Clangers. I'm now starting a Mr Benn figure collection, one of my all time favourite children's programmes.

Again please consider yourself tagged if you'd like to have a go, I know many people have already done this.

Flair progress, Charmed Knits, and playing with beads

2007-05-13T17:29:00.000+01:00

Soundtrack for this post: The Very Best of the Eagles

Flair

I didn't post an update last week as I wanted to get a bit further along with Flair before showing a progress photo. In fact I've only knitted Flair for the past 2 weeks, not my usual modus operandi! As you're knitting the whole jacket including the sleeve caps at the same time, the rows are fairly long, and I figured it needs concentration to make progress. Add to that the large wrapover at the front, you have rows somewhat longer than for a standard sweater or cardigan:

The Blue Sky Alpacas organic cotton is a dream to knit with. It's very soft and doesn't seem to cause any aching hands like some other less flexible cotton yarns can. I'm just over 2 inches below where I joined the body under the arm holes. I think I'm going to add an extra buttonhole here too. The pattern relies on row gauge for a few things, and I think buttons would have been better placed with more intervening rows, not the 14 the pattern suggests (I'm getting 18/23 or 24 on average and the pattern asks for 18/22). The same goes for when to separate off the sleeve stitches, the pattern gives you a number of stitches which equates to a row number - I added four more increases (8 rows) plus another 4 straight rows before I did that. This is the beauty of knitting top down though, you can try the piece on as many times as you like and you won't get any nasty surprises! I can just add on extra lengths of cord for this, as shown, the Denise needles are working really well with this pattern.

Another modification I've made is 8 stitches for the front button bands rather than 7. Seed stitch, according to the books, should be done over an even number of stitches, and I was in danger of messing it up with 7. It sounds daft but sometimes the simplest things are the very things that can go wrong! I've ordered some olive-wood buttons from a haberdasher on ebay, I had a yen for wooden buttons for this piece and these look lovely, I should have them to show next week.

Beaded book thongs

I've been up to some other crafty things apart from knitting, during last week's Bank Holiday I got my bead stash out (acquired over several years) and made some knitting book thongs. I made some more a couple of nights ago too, they're quite addictive! Click on the photos to see the detail, apologies for the flash as we've got quite poor light this afternoon.

First we have a gothic version for DH on 1mm cord, with pewter bat and skull charms, silver beads and a glass "wingnut" bead; and a purple one using 2mm cord and various glass and wooden beads:

Next one uses green lampwork beads from a wonderful set, plus wooden and silver beads, on 1mm cord:

I have several more but these will be sent as gifts, so I won't put the photo up just yet!

Charmed Knits

This wonderful book arrived yesterday from The Book Depository:

I've been looking forward to this for months :-) Alison Hansel of the Blue Blog has put together a great collection of Harry Potter themed patterns. If you're a Potter Knitter you'll have seen some of them online before - the year 1/2 and year 3 scarves, the Quid-socks, Hermione's cable and bobble hat & mitts. However there are a lot of brand new patterns alongside these established favourites, including a Weasley sweater designed in chunky yarn to knit up nice and quickly! You can also find hats, gloves, Dobby socks, knitting bags, Mrs Weasley's housecoat, and more quirky items like needle cases, pointed hats and even Errol the owl! It's a very nicely presented book and a great price for all these patterns together. I was particularly pleased to find this:

The Quidditch Sweater! I've had a cone of yellow merino aran waiting for this for a long time :-)

Yarny goodness

A couple of weeks ago I was alerted to some wonderful laceweight yarn at handpaintedyarn.com. You have to see the prices for yourself! The company's shipping policy is also very good, they don't ship right away to save undue cost, but my parcel arrived via DHL in approximately 10 days. Since shipping only cost a few pounds I was mightily impressed that they used DHL! I got three different colours in total, but as one is intended as a gift I'm only showing two of them here:

At left is "Mustard", a gorgeous bright green, and at right is Laguna Azul. The yarn itself is very soft and just incredible value. Each skein also has 850 yards in 100g. I bought two of each which gives plenty for large shawls or wraps.

This week I discovered Lane Borgosesia Cashwool, another lovely laceweight yarn. Here's a skein of olive from Pavi Yarns (ordered in the afternoon, arrived the next morning!):

Another very soft yarn, with an amazing 1375 yards per 100g. I can see more of this yarn in my future, at £8.95 it's an excellent buy.

In other news, it has been quite a busy week or two. We picked up our new (to us) car yesterday, another VW New Beetle :-) Our original one is in black, this one is a reddish colour - the colour of Pimms, I have decided after some thought! We went up to Windermere in it today to give it a run, and saw some interesting sheep along the way - jet black lambs, black sheep with white faces, brown sheep :-) I don't know the breeds but it's always lovely to see all the lambs bouncing around :-)

Yesterday we had to do some extra food shopping, as I'm going to be starting this next week:

I'm really looking forward to this, as I already eat a lot of the foods he uses in the plan, and it will hopefully help me stop snacking too much on chocolate! I can imagine it would be quite a wrench for many people to start though, especially if you are fond of tea or coffee (I don't drink either). Hopefully this will help me lose some weight and give me plenty more ideas on what to eat, and in the correct proportions. It's a sensible approach to eating and there is no rationing involved of the kind that would leave you hungry! I'll report back on my progress during the four weeks of the plan :-)

"I Never" meme

2007-05-13T11:12:00.000+01:00

I got this from Jacquie. Edit the list, bold for stuff you've done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you're not planning on doing.

Afghan/Blanket
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Domino knitting (modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cozies…)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with DPNs
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Baby items
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

If you'd like to do the meme just copy it and leave a comment to let me know!

Tank top in Twilleys Freedom Spirit

2007-04-29T17:22:00.000+01:00

Pattern: Tank top from "Knitting" magazine
Yarn: Twilleys Freedom Spirit shade 501 "Soul"
Yardage: 5 balls plus a small amount of a sixth
Needles: Brittany birch 4mm, metal 3.5mm and Denise 4mm circular
Modifications: made the armholes slightly deeper

This was a nice easy knit, despite the pattern in the magazine having various parts missing - mostly near the end - but they were easily worked out. I also got to practice picking up a dropped stitch for the first time from about 5 inches down on the back piece. Not quite fully dropped, more of a hole with stitches above, so I unravelled that stitch back down and picked it back up with a crochet hook. I'm very pleased with my picking up of stitches on this piece for the neck an armholes too. I made sure to follow the same line and not deviate and it seems to have worked. I worked my decreases one stitch in from the end of the row in all cases too so you can see them on the arm curves and neck.

The pattern makes a long-line tank and has shaping to accomodate hips and waist. Not sure that the horizontal stripes are quite the most flattering thing on my figure at the moment, but here's a photo to show that it actually is a very good fit:

Now that I've scared you all, here's some lovely yarn to take your mind off it :-) This is Socrates 4ply from Violet Green, and is for a Shoalwater shawl. After seeing murdo's lovely WIP on the Crafty Threads forum I had to dig the pattern out, then I saw this which is named "Seascape":

I can't wait to get started with this. I should probably attempt to finish Spring Things first though. After some thought I decided I won't be doing the nupps on it though. KSH is not a yarn I would choose to work with again, it feels lovely but is so fine and fluffy I do have trouble handling it. After a few troubles with decreases I decided the last thing I want to do is invite disaster with p5tog! I'd attempt it happily with a different yarn though.

My Blue Sky Alpacas cotton arrived from kpixie yesterday, it took barely 6 days to reach me, and it's beautiful yarn. The picture doesn't do the green justice, it's more olive than it shows, but it does show some of the lustrous softness:

This is of course for Flair, and again I'm itching to get started!

After mandella's excellent review and hearing good things all round, I bought "No Sheep For You" by Amy Singer. I've been reading the first few chapters and have learnt a fair bit already about fibres (now I finally know what modal is!). The patterns I've looked at so far are lovely too.

I also picked up several Colinette pattern books for half price from the ongoing Knit Tin sale. I'd wanted Wayfarer in particular for a while so was happy to find it at a bargainous price.

Some great news this week for a knitblogger friend, Hazel's pattern for a beaded jacket is published in the current issue of Simply Knitting! It's a lovely 6-page spread and a very pretty piece indeed.

I'd also like to mention Sunflower Swifts and Sublime Spindles who now have a blog to showcase their wares. I bought my swift from them earlier this year and am very pleased with it, it's a beautiful piece of work.

Finally a mention to the lovely Piglottie who has an ongoing sale of her excellent hand-made cards, in aid of a friend's charitable trek. Please pop over and take a look!

More of the same

2007-04-22T16:20:00.000+01:00

The temptation to cast on more WIPs is ever-present, and I've several things in mind that I'd like to start, but this week I've persevered with my two current main projects. The tank top is almost up to the neckline of the front piece and I'm hoping to finish the main knitting on that this coming week.

I've been doing one repeat per day so far (two yesterday) on the KSH shawl. I pick it up when I get home from work and complete a repeat in good daylight. Last night I did a repeat late on under the worklamp and even with a daylight bulb it was more difficult to see, the yarn becomes rather shiny and since it's not that dark a colour to start with, tends to merge with the needles!

There have been one or two kerfuffles along the way. The first was something strange occurring on a purl row (you'd think I'd save my gaffes for the lace rows!) and I had to readjust the number of stitches. This worked well, then at some point I forgot the last purl row of a repeat so I have a small section "back to front"! Again I don't think this will be particularly noticeable once the shawl is blocked, one thing about KSH is that it is actually strangely forgiving about mistakes of this nature, the fabric is so open and cobwebby. I was fighting off some form of cold bug most of last week too and it did make me rather slower than usual at knitting, and probably accounts for the missed purl row too! One night I could hardly face even the tank top knitting so it must have been affecting my faculties :-)

Here it is at 10 repeats out of 13 of chart A (now completed 11):

I'm using straights as I found these very good for the Forest Canopy shawl, and given I'm using KSH it does make it easier to handle for me. I'm looking at acquiring some Addi lace circular needles though. These seem to have rave reviews, and this US-based shop will apparently ship needle-only orders free to the UK. I also found Loop GB carry them but currently they are all listed as out of stock.

After seeing Sarah's post about the Blue Sky Alpaca cotton, way back in March (heading towards two months ago now) I finally decided I would order some to make Flair. See how I resisted temptation for So Long ;-) I ordered from kpixie, who do indeed give you a lovely 10% off voucher which can be used against your first order if you so wish. Even with postage this still comes out to less than I would be able to buy it for in the UK. I've ordered the Fern shade, which should go with quite a lot of things in my wardrobe.

This week the postie brought me this lovely goth pin from Hazel, these will soon be available from Knitz & Glitz.

It goes beautifully with my shawl, thanks again Hazel!

I've just finished reading Empress Orchid by Anchee Min. This is a very interesting look at the life of a concubine in the Forbidden City, during the time of the Opium Wars. It is based on real people and events and at times is quite terrifying as you see the constraints and the dangers that Orchid faces. I enjoyed the story but found the style rather disjointed at times. I've just started "Persuasion", one of Jane Austen's novels that I have have not read before, and by contrast it is a sheer delight to read. Having been obliged to read "Pride and Prejudice" for O-level and not enjoying it at all at the time (who could enjoy dissecting a book), in more recent years I have hugely enjoyed reading Jane Austen's work. P&P is one of my favourite books of all time.