Let Me Count the Ways

Well, the wedding went swimmingly well. Everything ran very smoothly so far as this guest could tell, and there has seldom if ever been a happier couple. I'm waiting to see the formal photographs but I'll share this one with you meanwhile.

The kilted chap is English and has a Scottish mother, and the chap in the red dress is Scottish. That's not what you thought, is it?

The Puzzle Stole had a bit of an accident. Can you see?


I think it happened on the way back from London, either in the packing or the unpacking so it's entirely my own fault, like so many things, but I think I've patched it up fairly successfully. Thank the Knitting Gods for Kidsilk Haze, which doesn't unravel but stays happily tangled together while you fetch the crochet hook and the repair needle.

I finished the Golden Gail while I was away but I only got it blocked this week.

I could have got another repeat out of the yarn but I didn't want it to be too huge: the bride isn't a tall girl and I want it to be more of a shoulder shawl. I'm going to give it to her as a birthday present as soon as I get it wrapped up.











































This is a lovely pattern and very easy to knit once you get past the difficulties presented by the charts. I made a bodge of the edge chart at the centre point- because I was talking and didn't pay attention to my inner voice - but it's fine. I think I'll probably knit it again. The yarn is 100% silk, custom dyed by Fyberspates.

The title of this post refers to the Navy Ribs which is driving me a bit insane. It's in an irregular rib. I like my fancy knitting to be fancy and my plain knitting to be plain, and this falls between the two. It's decidedly plain but I can hardly take my eyes off it for a moment - 3, 3, 3, 1; 3, 3, 3, 1; 3, 3, 1, er, wait a minute. I'm having serious thoughts about whether I actually want such a garment but I've got myself the 32 cms up to where something happens and I've cast off the 9 stitches at each end, so I allowed myself a break while I pick up and finish the Kidsilk Forest Canopy for my osteopath which has been neglected for a while .

It's a lovely bark-coloured blob of nothingness and I should finish it tonight or tomorrow.

At which point I will have to decide what to cast on next. I will try to keep the Navy Ribs going in the background, and I will pick up the Red Sandstone Cardi again, but I need something else, something um, fancy.

These have been on my conscience since I bought them at Woolfest. They are from the Yarn Yard, Fyberspates, and Ripple Crafts. I have two skeins of the one in the middle.

They're all sort of sock weight and about 400 yards. I'm thinking fingerless gloves, or little shawls or maybe even scarves, or something but in spite of spending inordinate amounts of time on Ravelry, I haven't settled on anything. I think the outer two wouldn't show to their best advantage in garter stitch so I can't do Baktuses and my current Karius is still lurking somewhere so there's no point in casting on another one. The Delft Blue one is strongly tipped to become a Shetland Triangle, but I'm still open to suggestions. I'm very tempted by the smallest version of the Aeolian Shawl but I think it maybe needs a plainer yarn.

I like all of them enough to want to keep them for myself but am realistic enough to be prepared to give the final results away as Christmas presents if I have to. (I'm not quite sure what I mean by 'have to' here, but I expect you know what I mean.)

Here's the ivory and gold dress.

You see what I mean about a happy couple?

A Swift and Scathing Resumption

I did the lace club thing and parcelled up some yarn and patterns. I've marked one of them - Fyberspates yarn and the Adamas Shawl - with the number One, but the rest will be done randomly. One effect of this has been to bring home to me fully just how much lace yarn is lying about the place - this is far from all of it, just the stuff I want to knit first - and has caused some sharp braking on the spending front. Probably not a bad thing.

I finished two more Felicity hats. This one is Drops Classic Alpaca in 4434, used double, very soft and pretty.
This one is black Drops Karisma, which seems harder than the cream Karisma that I used for the Pinwheel but that may be an illusion of some sort. I did this one on two needles instead of four and seamed it up the back, and I think that's made the increases less obvious.The black one is the last one, not the last forever but the last of all the ones I decided to do over Christmas when I was thinking, 'Oh, I could make one for X and one for Y... ' ad infinitum.

Still in the world of accessories, here's a Harry Potter scarf for a teddy bear.












Here's the Sea Silk Forest Canopy blocking. I'm not sure if I've mentioned this one before.

I'm not too nuts about it. I didn't particularly enjoy the yarn, which I found floppy although that might be my fault for using needles that were on the large side (5mm), and the colourway is fairly dull. It's Ocean but it's only blue and grey, no greens at all.

Still, I hope the recipient likes it. It's for my goddaughter and it's intended to introduce her to the idea that might like a shawl or stole for her wedding day. Or indeed a veil. I was thinking about a Pi Shawl veil but I have fallen totally for the Queen Anne's Lace circular shawl, which could be worn as a veil. In fact, I have fallen so hard that I just want to knit it anyway and I don't really care if she wears it or not. She can have it as a doily for her hall table if she likes. It has a mixture of lace and mathematics which makes my heart beat faster. The pattern (I mean the actual recipe, not the design) is interesting in that it's been written by someone who hasn't read many patterns so it does terrifying things like leaving out the plain rows (look at the numbers up the side of the chart) but innovative things like printing the word-by-word instructions side-by-side with the chart. (Is that innovative? I haven't seen it before.)

If I knew whether she was going to wear white or ivory, I would probably have bought the silk and cast on by now, although finding silk that's fine enough might have slowed me down. I want something plied (or do I mean 'thrown'?) for the flexibility: I think I will have to get my head around NMs, which sound a bit too much like NOMs for me to keep a straight face.


see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Of course I could just knit and then dye it if it wasn't the right shade, couldn't I? Couldn't I? The trouble is that natural silk isn't white so that could be risky.

My back did that thing that it does sometimes and I had to go to the osteopath. She's always very good about fitting me in quickly so I thought I'd do her an FC, this time in Kidsilk Haze. She's pale with black hair so she really suits those shades which can look a bit drab on the wrong person. This is a nice dark bark.


I started this on a bamboo Addi circ, but the joins were annoying me so I switched to an Addi lace circ. It's much better, although I have noticed quite a lot of dropped stitches - not a problem with KSH of course and very easy to detect with this pattern.

This arrived last Saturday. Simple Style by Ann Budd.
When I ordered it from Amazon it had a publication date of June, but it must have arrived early. I ordered it without seeing it because I like the sweater on the cover, and you can't really go wrong with Ann Budd, and I thought it would save me dithering in June.


The only complaint I have about it is that not all the patterns go up to my size; since they're all simple, would it have hurt to do a few more sums and work out the larger sizes?




I know I could do the sums, but there's not much point in buying a book with the word 'simple' in the title and then having to do a lot of sums, is there?

I was wandering around Etsy one night recently and came across these. Aren't they cute? They're from Paper and Yarn, and she dyes wool as well.
















She sent me this as a little extra.











More later. Not least, I still have to bring you up to date on Law and Order: UK, which I have been watching diligently on your behalf, and to catch up on comments.

Dreaming

I didn't feel particularly well when I woke on Sunday morning, but I did feel relieved when I realized that I wasn't actually married to the man I'd just married in my dream. I don't know who he was, but I don't think it would have worked out. I quite often feel relieved when I waken up, when I realize that I don't have that job or that meeting, and I haven't lost my walking stick in a particularly large railway station - which is probably the same station where I haven't just missed a train.

I'm often disappointed to realize that I don't really have that extra room I just discovered in my flat, the room where I was going to put all the stuff I don't have room for, but mostly it's good news. My mobile phone is working after all, and I haven't lost all my shoes.

The latest Pinwheel Blankie is finished and will soon be on its way to its next owner. I thought I was going to get bogged down in the border, but instead I got seized by the idea of finishing it and getting it in the post, so I did it all day Saturday and blocked it on Sunday. It grew from 32 inches wide to 44 inches: I could have stretched it more, but I didn't think it would improve it.

I like it for its simplicity and tradition, although I'm a bit worried that the mum might just think it's dull. I hope not. To recap, it's the Pinwheel Blanket, with the border from the Lace Edged Cardigan in Debbie Bliss's Cotton Denim Aran book, and it took 7 balls of Drops Karisma Superwash: the shawl took 5 balls and the border took nearly two. Size 4mm needles.


The silky Forest Canopy grows slowly. It looks like a rag at this stage.

I'm very tempted by an idea I found on Knitting in the Shadows's blog. She says it's not original but I found it on hers so I'm giving her the credit. There's a Ravelry group or groups too. The idea is that you make your own Sock Club by selecting skeins and patterns and parcelling them up in separate bags, which you then open at monthly intervals. When I first read about it, I thought, 'Well, thank goodness I've just given away my sock yarn so I won't be tempted to do something as silly as that,' but then I started thinking about all the lace yarn I have which just sits in my head as a bundle of Could Do This, Could Do That ideas which never get resolved because I have to decide which to do first, before I decide anything else. This way, I could match the yarns to the patterns and then let chance decide which I was going to do first. I have got as far as printing out the patterns I want to use, and although I still feel pretty silly, I think I'm going to look for some bags soon. I might accidentally arrange which one to open first: do you think that would be terribly wrong?

I got this from the Yarn Yard the other week: the colours are a pale, smudgy version of crocuses peeping through grass. It goes by the romantic name of 612 and it's very pretty.


I meant to post this sooner. He must have a cat at home. Or several cats.

Knits in Wear

I've got some more interesting shots of recent FOs, being worn by the people for whom they were made.

This is Micah, wearing his new blanket while he has a nap in the supermarket queue.

Photo by Pops.

And this is Calum in his Felicity hat.

And in profile.
You can really see the colours here, and the halo from the possum (New Zealand possum, not American). It's Cherry Tree Hill merino and possum, which they don't do any more, in the shade River Run. The small pink person beside him wouldn't put on the hat and scarf that I made for her with Felted Tweed and Kidsilk Haze because, allegedly, it is scratchy. Hmmm.

I ran out of yarn on the edging for the Pinwheel blankie and started meanwhile on a shawl. It's the trial shawl for my goddaughter to decide if she wants a wedding shawl and before I could splurge on some silk yarn, I remembered that I had this Hand Maiden Sea Silk.

I think the colour is Ocean.
The pattern is, of course, the Forest Canopy, which I chose partly because well, because, but also because it doesn't use so much yarn as some shawl patterns and I only have one skein.

The music which alarmed some visitors to my previous post was coming from the Playlist in the sidebar above the jigsaws. I've changed the settings now so that it doesn't come on automatically: you have to click on Play.

I went to the optician today for a routine eye test and discovered that I don't need new glasses. I think this is the first time since I was about 10 years old that my sight has stayed the same for two years, hurrah. I haven't worn them out by knitting and watching films at the same time.

Broadcast News was on television the other night. I hadn't seen it since it came out and I still felt the same way about the characters, which surprised me because I usually find if I see a film twenty years later that as well as feeling different about the film, I often relate to the characters differently too. I still think the Albert Brooks character is too much of a dork although he has a lot of good lines (and now he makes me think of George Costanza too, which he couldn't in 1987), I still identify a bit with the Holly Hunter character while not sharing her presence of mind, and although my critical faculties tend to abandon me when I'm faced with a tall strawberry blond, I still think William Hurt plays the shallow-but-he-knows-it anchorman with depth and subtlety. I don't think the characters would be so honest with one another nowadays, but maybe that's just me. I'd forgotten that Jack Nicholson was in it, playing one of his demonic roles with the specially sharpened eyebrows and it was good to see him. It has a lot of good lines, very sharp script.

Pinwheeling Along

I've finished the first skein of Hawaii (of 3 in total). The radius is 10 inches, so that gives me an area so far of 314 square inches: I'm hoping this information will help me work out where to start the edging.

I've been thinking about a picot bind-off, Judith and I'm tempted by some sort of frill, but on the other hand, I don't want to end up with an insane number of stitches on the last row. But it's fun going through Ravelry looking at them all. Someone did one which is yellow in the middle, and then white, so it looks like a giant fried egg.



I realized tonight that these are the Suffragette colours, which would be fitting if the baby's a girl.






One of the nice things about the Pinwheel pattern, Cinders, is that you can make it any size at all, by varying the yarn and needles, and you can just stop when you like, so a cushion could be very quickly and easily done.

Another photograph arrived from Australia, showing Jessica going home from hospital in her Forest Canopy Shawl.

She suits it, doesn't she? She should have her pink hats by the end of the week.

Forest the Fifth

I thought this would be a little bit bigger. Still, I'm happy with it and I'm still taking little peeks at the colours because I like them so much. 

You're right, Knitting Linguist, it's the colours of irises, the yellow ones and the purpley blue ones. 

I used the wires again and this time I remembered to use them for the points, but in the end I took them out of the points and did those by hand. I find it easier to stretch and re-stretch the individual points one at a time.

After blocking, it's 68 inches wide by 34.

I've cast this on. It's the Flutter Scarf by Mim Felton, who also designed Icarus. I've had my eye on it for a while: I particularly like the bell shape at the ends. It has a provisional cast on and then you knit out to each end. 

I cast on late last night and then spent an hour trying to knit an unfamiliar chart with fine black yarn in a bad light. Not very clever, but I seem to have got away with it. I'm not sure that this is the best time of year  to start knitting with fine black yarn. I really must do something about getting a better light by my seat.

It's Kidsilk Night of course, in Starry Night, the sootiest black. It's already 14 inches wide.

Joan, I've reserved My Life Without Me, and Judith, I've got The Music Box and I'm going to watch it tomorrow.

If you haven't had enough above, here's some more.

I couldn't do it and just clicked on Auto Solve, but perhaps you have more patience than I do.

Progress

Wow, that was a long silence. Sorry. I had quite a wobbly week, and then I had a worse than usual paroxysm of indecision over knitting, if you can imagine such a thing. It was about baby hats. 

But first of all, let's have a drumroll for the Icarus. 

I used wires to block the long edge and I'm very happy with the result. My shawls are usually quite wavy along the top, if not positively A-shaped and this one isn't at all. The top took three wires. 

Why didn't I use wires for the pointed edges? Well, I forgot. I think I got sidetracked by the pleasures of pinning out pointy bits, which are many. 

I love the way it feels after blocking; it's just a cloud.

 I think it was a mistake to use the variegated yarn for the pattern, but I don't really care: I know it's there. I would be quite happy to knit this again anyway. It wasn't as difficult as I expected, or as I think the final result looks, because each change of pattern sits quite neatly on top of the previous row.

The beads hardly show but I like them like that. This is unusual for me because I don't usually do understated - it has often been said of my earrings that you can see them from the other side of the room, but this time I'm happy with it. In the photos the twinkles in the edging rows of Kidsilk Night show up better than the beads, but the beads show more in reality.

I'm pretty sure that my next project will be in the Kidsilk Night, but as usual I take no responsibility for any decisions which may subsequently be revoked in these pages.

Here's some proper pictures of the baby shawl, unpinned. 

I must do something about my shawl-photographing skills.  

It will look a lot better when it has a baby in it: 

it's a pity you can't feel the yarn, but do click to embiggen and get a flavour of its creamy softness. Again, thanks to Heike for creating such deliciousness. It's half merino from Australia, and half bfl from Northumberland: the baby is an Australian / Northumbrian mix too. 

I posted it today, so we can still reasonably hope that it will arrive before Baby does.

And here's the Newcastle United FC hat and scarf. I just did the scarf in stocking stitch so it's curling like mad, in spite of intensive blocking, but it's not as if Baby is going to wear it for any longer than a photo shoot. I'm not mad about Baby Cashmerino to knit with, but it does make a beautiful fabric,the sort that makes you look like a better knitter.

Yes, Gretchen, a girl baby could wear the Newcastle hat, but I sort of feel that she should be able to make her own choice about that, or at least that her mother can make it meanwhile on her behalf. 

Jetlady726, here's a foto of the hat with the top undone.

 There's a pattern for an umbilical hat in Stitch'n'Bitch, but I made this one up asI went along: I started the decreases as usual and when it looked about right I stopped decreasing and carried on with the same number of stitches for another while; decreased and then continued again; decreased to 5 stitches and knitted i-cord for a while; cut off the yarn and threaded it back through the stitches, pulled it tight and drew it back down through the cord on a blunt needle. I think the only important thing is to make it a bit longer than you think it needs to be.

I then got totally paralysed about what other hat I was going to make to fill up the parcel. I don't have enough of the merino / bfl left for a hat, or I would have done that. In the end, everything seemd too boyish or too girlish, although they probably weren't. I have now settled on sending the parcel off as is, and knitting a further hat or hats when I know whether baby is a Bruce or a Sheila. If I had had some pink Rowan Handknit DK cotton, I would have made a Daisy Hat regardless, but I don't so I haven't. 

Meanwhile of course, I had to keep my hands busy. I was expecting to pick up the Kidsilk Haze, but instead I got sidetracked into another Forest Canopy Shawl. There was a complicated reason for doing this, but it relates to a blog post that has been taken down, so I will save you the long story. The yarn is a sock yarn from The Yarn Yard: I think it might be this one.  I made a scarf from this for a friend, but I still had most of two skeins and some of a matching yarn intended for heel-and-toes. 

The colours are those of a spring window box full of pansies, or a lawn covered with crocuses. The final rows will be the colour of lobelia flowers. The second skein is a bit lighter than the first, but it doesn't matter. As it happens, somebody on Ravelry has done exactly the same shawl, except that she used 5mm needles and I've used 4mm. I've done 19 repeats and I'm on the border. I love this yarn and we know I love this pattern, so I've been a very happy piglet. I've already bought a chambray shirt to go with it and I can't wait to see it blocked. I hope it's huge. 

I resurrected the little pink bolero by unpicking the sleeve / body seam and will have another go at sewing it together before she outgrows it. 

I was going to do a jokey piece about how the osprey chicks set off from the north in the middle of August, but instead of nobly setting off for Africa, they hung about in the south of England for weeks, stuffing themselves with fish on a river in Kent. They did finally head away from the British Isles last week, only for Deshar, the male, to head off too far west where there was no land from him to rest on, and disappear  for ever somewhere over the North Atlantic, after flying for 104 hours non-stop. Poor thing. His sister has been more fortunate and is now in Morocco, southeast of Fez. Wherever that is. 

Another totally brilliant LOLCAT. 

I watched In Bruges some time during all of this; I thought it was very good. It's one of those films that if you're expecting a comedy, it's surprisingly sad, but if you're expecting a drama, it's surprisingly funny. A bit like life really.