Monday 22 April 2013

Still Dithering

Knitting
I still haven't decided what to do with the pink shawl, but thank you very much for all your comments. Sea, I know that the mum wants lots of pink things so I'm not worried on that score. It's the shade of pink that concerns me, and I think you're absolutely right about ballet pink, stashdragon.

I should watch some of Call the Midwife, Mary Lou,  just to see the knitting. My Granny had a book of knitting patterns which were her staples, and there were two baby jackets in it which she must have knitted over and over. Matinee jackets they would have been called. Does anyone know why? I can't imagine babies ever went much to matinees. I thought the term would have passed into disuse but I see from Ravelry that it's alive and well. There was another pattern in her book which she knitted over and over, for a short-sleeved lacy top to be worn under a tailor-made tweed suit. A woman's tweed suit was called 'a costume' in my youth. I think the tops might have been knitted from baby yarn as they were in those soft pastels like lemon and pink and wisteria, and a pale green. Pale green and lemon were worn by very small babies because you wouldn't know whether they would need blue or pink until they actually arrived. Changed days.

It does look better in daylight, Fiona, but not better enough, if you follow me. If it were a hotter pink, I'd be a lot happier. But I don't  want to spend money on dye and anyway I think dyeing would knacker the cotton and acrylic blend. But the baby was born on Saturday so there's much more important things to think about than blankets. 3.2 kilos, which I believe is a perfect 7 pounds. Mother and baby are both well.

I have been making progress with the Mediterraneo [BIG] Rubble, so much so that I had to rip it back again because I had overshot the increases for the arms. I've made it a little longer because I was worried about it being too short, and now I think I've made it too long, but I won't really know until the underarm seams are sewn so there's no point in flapping, and anyway it won't be too too long and I think this is a pattern I'll knit more than once. In sewing terms, this is a toile or muslin, a trial garment, except that I should be able to wear this.


The sleeves don't look wide enough here, but that's because it's squeezed onto a needle which isn't as long as the row. The neck comes up a bit higher than I expected and I have a very short neck so I don't think I'll add any ribbing. I think I'll just pick up the stitches, do a couple of rows, and cast off, so that it's a rolled neck edge. But we'll see.

Telly
It's the last episode of Broadchurch tonight (Monday) and I shall be all agog. Actually finding out who did it will be a slight disappointment as it always is (or is that just me?) but it's been absorbing and the photography and music have contributed to that a great deal. I have arrived at an age where usually I just complain about music on television, but on this it has been a major part of the whole. I have been distracted by one major hole in the investigations (why haven't they got the boy's phone records from his provider?) but I'm prepared to overlook that for the purposes of suspending disbelief. Last week we saw a major suspect written out but another who had been drawn to our attention was strangely absent. . .


5 comments:

jeanfromcornwall said...

Coming late to the pictures of the pink shawl, I leave my comment here. It is the same colour as the Celanese bloomers my late Mum used to wear in the 1950's. Hence, in our family it is known as "Knicker Pink". It is also the same colour as the Mercedes cars that the cosmetic firm Mary Kay presents to their most successful saleswomen (think Avon-type sales system)I knew a young woman who proudly drove a knicker pink Mercedes!

Mary Lou said...

Or perhaps 'morning' jacket? I've wondered that myself, I think it's a UK term more than here in the US, but certainly of an earlier era. I see that BBC America has bought rights to air Broadchurch, so I suppose it will show up on Netflix in another year. Sigh.

fleegle said...

You're welcome! I also use Mercury on the iPad. I used to use Atomic, but i like Mercury much, much more.

Unknown said...

hi helen--is amy from york, sc usa;; havent seen any new postings here lately;; i hope u r ok... :)

Anonymous said...

This is a great article and has been pretty interesting to read. Thanks for the help with showing how to make a jigsaw puzzle.