Saturday 22 November 2008

Babies and Brides

I've finished the Pinwheel but this photograph was taken while I was doing the picot bind-off.
I put off starting the bind-off because I was worried that I'd hate it like the first effort and would have to keep looking, but I think it suits the yarn and the pattern very well. I'd forgotten how much I like to do a picot bind-off; it's a very satisfying rhythm and I even manage to count up to 3 and 4 successfully most of the time. I was quite sorry to finish it.

I haven't blocked it yet and will take another photograph when I have. There was quite a bit of yarn left over and I even toyed with the idea of ripping the picot and doing another couple of rows, but then I thought, 'Hat!' If I remember correctly,this is another Antipodean baby so it will need a woolly hat when it's five or six months old, so I did that sort of size instead of a newborn's. It should make a nice set for sitting in a buggy.

Back in the realm of lace, I mentioned to the bride's mother that I could knit the wedding veil and there was a bit of a silence on the telephone, no doubt while she pictured something made in dishcloth cotton, so I shall do some swatches to give her the idea. I know I'm not up to doing something stupendous like the Princess or the Cap Shawl from Victorian Lace Today, but while I was finishing the Pinwheel it occurred to me that it might make a good pattern for a bridal veil, if one used a fine enough silk and a good border. I checked and something like it is on Ravelry, a pattern from Knitter's Magazine.

I also came across lots of Pi Shawls knitted in silk so I shall think about that too. The bride is a gardener so I could probably find some patterns that are fitting; the groom is an accountant so I'm less likely to find anything to represent him. If the bride doesn't want anything lacey knitted for the day, I can always just make her a pretty shawl anyway.

Spinning Fishwife directed me to this lovely find, the Forest Canopy Cowl. I'm pretty sure I see one in my future, possibly even from stash. Yes, of course I've already bought the pattern.

The Barbara Walker Treasury that I bought off eBay arrived; it's the first one so I have stopped fretting about having Volume Two without Volume One. I wonder how long it will be before I absolutely have to have Volume Three.

The Shetland Triangle is coming along too. I put in a lifeline and did one more repeat, but it looks to me as if I can still squeeze in another before I do the border. I'll put in another lifeline first. It's shedding more now that it's grown.

Because I have this Habu event coming up on Monday, I picked up the Kusha Kusha Scarf again, but I'm afraid I also put it back down again too. I'm going to give it one more try on different needles, and if that doesn't work I'm going to give up on this effort. Maybe I should try again using the stainless steel with some Kidsilk Haze: I think that was one of my swatches. I still have a huge skein of grey Shosenshi, so perhaps I'll get moving with that after Monday.

I'm still glued to Between the Lines. They show it on on Sunday and Monday nights, so I have a binge on Tuesday and watch them one after another. The cops aren't smoking so much but the technology is almost as diverting. The lady cop recently opened up her briefcase and took out an enormous mobile phone, about the size of two bricks, and Tony was seen working last week on a - not a laptop because he would have cut off the circulation to his feet if he'd put it on his knee, but a portable computer. I remember we had one at work: it was portable in that it had a handle on it but it weighed a ton because of the battery. I think that was in pre-Windows days and I used to use Wordperfect on it in DOS. I was allowed to get a taxi when I had it because it was too heavy for me to carry to the bus stop.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love Walker's treasuries. They're old style in having no graphs, just text and b&w photos, but still a fine resource. Volumes 1 and 2, the stitch pattern collections, are indispensable. One of the remaining volumes (number 4, I think) is all mosaic knitting, which may not appeal to you, and I'm not sure what's included in the other. If you like volume 1 you'll definitely want number 2, however. Happy swatching!
-- Gretchen

Knitting Linguist said...

The pinwheel looks great! I like that edging on it, it's very nice with the yarn. And I know what you mean about the BW treasuries; I finally decided that I couldn't live with having just two of them and ordered the third. Oops.

Raveller said...

The Pinwheel looks wonderful. It's wonderful to have a project that you don't want to put down!

Judith said...

I ordered the 3rd Barbara Walker ( I like charts best) from P&M woolcraft but I saw, on visiting I KNIT in London last week that they stock them all £21.99 I think...You can also order direct from Amazon.com, books do arrive though maybe in 3 -4weeks and there is no customs charge on books.
Love the Pinwheel and the picot edging.