Victorian Scarf

The scarf from page 80 of Victorian Lace Today was finished a while ago but lay and lay and lay until I got round to blocking it. I finally blocked it on my bed, and actually found a pin the hard way a couple of days later.

It's pretty but I did get bored towards the end; I think if the pattern weren't in garter stitch I would have loved it more. I must remember that the next time I'm choosing a lace pattern. The yarn is an alpaca and nylon sock yarn from Fyberspates and is quite beautiful, has many more flashes of pink in it than you can see here. I took about 17 photographs of it at different settings to try and capture the subtleties but they all came out looking much the same. I'm going to give it away, as I have scarves the way some women have shoes, and I think the colours would suit my niece better than they do me.

Because I made the scarf quite short, there is yarn left over and it's so delicious to work with that I couldn't bear to put it away, so I'm using it for some of the flowers on Nicky Epstein's Anniversary scarf in the latest Vogue Knitting (Fall 2007). It goes very well with some of Natalie's sock yarn in a slightly purplish denim-blue (cool blue needles from Natalie too). I'm looking for a third shade; I tried some Lorna's Laces in Georgetown but it's too icy a blue so I'm still looking.


What about Kauni? Well, the indecision continues and is expanding exponentially. I spent a long time looking at child-sized patterns while the little voices in my head kept saying, 'But if you make a child's sweater then the blocks of colour will be wider, probably too wide,' and 'If you try to make up the shoulder shaping yourself it will go wildly wrong,' and 'Why didn't you buy the blue / green / purple colourway instead of the rainbow?' So I spent another long time looking at Kauni pictures on blogs. I've wondered about making a sort of sleeveless thing for myself but that brings me back to the colourway. I've thought about a bag, but I don't really like knitted bags very much and anyway I have trouble using the bags I've already got. I could make a blanket, but I'm not very into them either. Oh, wait a minute, what about a cushion? A big enough one to let the stripes be fairly narrow... I could use the cast-on for Ruth Sorensen's cardi to start me off and then it would fit one of my big sofa cushions. No shaping, no different sizes of stripes, just lots of lovely colour changes and some pretty patterns. I think I've got it.

Kauni Fun

I did block the Scarf, p. 80, from Victorian Lace Today, but I will have to wait for decent light to photograph that and I have something else to show you. I finally cracked yesterday and ordered some Kauni rainbow yarn from Jannette on eBay. My excuse was that since I was buying ball of Jaeger cotton to knit a Pumpkin Hat for a baby that's due on Hallowe'en, that cost a little over £2, I might as well spend nearly £17 on some Kauni. That figures, doesn't it?

The yarn arrived this morning and I have been swatching feverishly most of the day. I started on 3mm needles, which seems to be the usual, but went up to 3.5mm and then 4mm because it seemed to be quite dense. It will presumably bloom quite a lot when it's washed, and the 4mm needles get a good effect. I wonder if I should try 4.5mm. It's very tempting to tear ahead, but there's no point in being annoyed half way through because it's not what I want. I did the swatch backwards and forwards and the actual knitting will be in the round, which I assume will be tighter, so maybe 4.5 is worth trying.

I'm not going to make a sweater for myself. I'm going to make one for the great-niece, who is still tiny enough that one can rustle something up relatively quickly. I was thinking of a sweater, but she would get more use out of a cardigan, wouldn't she? And it would give me an opportunity to steek.

I decided to break away from the box pattern that the famous Kauni Cardi is in; it's good but I've seen a lot of it and I would like to go for a more varied effect. I sat last night, before the yarn arrived, with some graph paper and my copy of Mary Smith and Maggie Twatt's 'Shetland Pattern Book', copying out patterns. It's a brilliant collection, and I find the fact of copying the patterns out a) makes them easier to follow, and b) gives me an idea of how tricky they might be to do.

I don't want to do the same pattern throughout; I would rather use bands of different stitches as Fair Isle does.

Something with curves might be interesting too. I have a copy of Solveig Hisdal's 'Poetry in Stitches', so I'm considering some of those. She's Norwegian and the yarn is Danish so something from that part of the world would be fitting.

You can see where this is going, can't you? Total indecision strikes again.

Unfinishing

I seem to have a lot of things which I have finished knitting, but haven't finished. The stripy Mably is still waiting for me to press / steam it before I do the seaming and i-cord edge; the Scarf, page 80 from Victorian Lace Today is still waiting to be blocked; a second Errol the Owl has been knitted but is waiting to be sewn and stuffed; and one pair of blades of Mochimochi's Grass has been knitted but is likewise waiting for sewing and stuffing.

I have finished some Christmas decorations from the Knitter's Almanac and they're all ready to go. Unfortunately they will have to wait a bit longer, and my main concern is keeping them safe without forgetting where I've put them. I suppose the thing to do would be mention here where I've put them, and then I could look it up.

I did unrip and knit up the neck of the Distressed Sweater for the third time and I am now Happy With It. I really must remember that I'm not as good at making alterations on the hoof as I think I am.

And I have started a hooded cardi from a Jo Sharp pattern, using All Seasons Cotton again, which has intricately shaped raglan sleeves. Since I've subbed the yarn, I hope to goodness the raglans match. I love raglan sleeves, always have. I have narrow shoulders and I find raglans much more forgiving than set-in sleeves.

But I should really do some finishing.