New Patterns

The Woolworth's round the corner from me is closed now. It's the same branch that I used to shuffle round after school in my school uniform (why do teenage girls think it's cool to shuffle?), while my friend stole bars of chocolate. We used to look at the records, as CDs were called then, and the sweets. Guess what she does now? That's right, she's a lawyer.

I went out last week thinking I would probably buy Knitting Goes Large, along with the new Rowan mag, but I came home with the mag and Amber instead. Amber is a collection of Kim Hargreaves patterns. As always, she has some real stunners.

Lindsay, the wise and wonderful Rowan lady in John Lewis, was wearing Bella. Hers is in Vert, I think, and this looks like Blue Velvet. Really cool, and I have it on good authority that can be knitted in four nights.
There's a very nice cardi called Charm.
I was also seized with enthusiasm for Whisper, which is in my beloved Kid Classic. The largest size is just a little bit small for me, so I'm tempted to try a few more stitches or slightly bigger needles - what could possibly go wrong?


As for Rowan 45, I'm not usually mad about the Spring issues of knitting mags, because I don't really do pastels or short sleeves - I'm very allergic to ultraviolet light so I've always tended to cover up - but I'm rather taken with this one. I won't put up a lot of pix because you can find better ones elsewhere, but I like this top, Sandsend, in the amazing shrinking fading Rowan Denim yarn. I made one of these sweaters a long time ago, one from Great Big Knits, and I liked it very much - the yarn has fabulous drape - but I have strongly held beliefs which prevent me knitting something large with the intention of ending up with something small (this is what stops me felting) and I haven't made any more. But this tempts me.


Don't you love this photo? It's everything I like about Rowan styling, and it's why their patterns don't date like others do, because they aren't ineradicably linked in your mind's eye with this year's accessories. Do you think she's just wearing very high platform shoes, or is she actually standing on a stool? Either way, kudos to her for keeping a straight face.

I'm getting on with the border on the White Pinwheel.

At first I was picking up a stitch for each row of the border, but that looked a bit skimpy and I did't think it was going to lie flat, so I ripped it - eeek - and am now picking up a stitch on every second row. I may need to buy another ball of yarn, especially if I'm going to make a hat too.


Thanks for pointing me in the direction of Carol O'Connell, Joan: I've started my first one. One of the reasons I have big hands is that most of the women in my father's family are six feet tall: one of my aunts calls me the The Wee One because I'm only five feet six. My growth must have been stunted at some point, most likely by staying up late. If you see a six-foot redhead in Belfast, she's probably a relation of mine, although I didn't get the red hair, alas.

Those of you who have been paying attention will know that one of my Top Five Films is The Right Stuff. You can understand my delight then, when I discovered that on top of Obama's outstanding political qualities, he's also a movie buff.



I came across this on John Naughton's blog; I wish someone was working on an upgrade of the UK software too.

Dear World:

We, the United States of America, a top quality supplier of the ideals of liberty and democracy, would like to apologize for our 2001-2008 interruption in service. The technical fault that led to this eight-year service outage has been located, and a decision was taken in early November to completely replace the software responsible. The new software became fully functional on January 20, 2009. Early tests of the newly installed program indicate that we are again operating correctly. We apologize for any inconvenience caused by the outage. We look forward to resuming full service and hope to continue improvements in the years to come. We thank you for your patience and understanding.

Sincerely,

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Mavis and Mags

Well, here's the first Mavis sleeve. I don't think the sleeve cap is right, but rather than rip it and do it again now, I'm going to do the other sleeve and see how the cap on that turns out: if they're the same then that's how they're meant to be, and if the second one's better I'll know what I'm trying to do with the first one. The schematics for this aren't very detailed and are driving me a bit bats; it would be helpful to know the length of the sleeve above the beginning of the decreases, but it isn't shown. I've started the second one.
I'm thinking about giving myself a day off from this because I'm in danger of hating it. I've told myself I can't do anything else until this is finished, but I think this might misfire and I might not knit anything at all, so I'm going to have a day or two off. I wish those vintage Boye needles would turn up and then I would know what I'm doing next.

I got the new Rowan mag (43) last week; I don't usually find much of interest in the Spring issues of knitting mags, as they tend to be lacy pastels, neither of which make my heart beat faster, but there are a few possibles. The Spook top is lovely (yes, I know it's lacy and pastel, but it's not very lacy and I wouldn't use a pastel shade) although I can't quite see that my rather dull life would offer any opportunity to wear it. The Purity shawl is absolutely delicious (ditto ditto). It looks like a stole in the photos, but from the pattern it seems to be a triangle; there isn't a schematic. I was going to recommend it to Jean as she's a Sharon Miller fan, but she has forsworn Kidsilk Haze forever, so she won't be interested. Unless she did it in a different yarn, of course. I like the ripped Earthly. Those of you who have been taking notes may remember that I knitted a distressed sweater last year so I probably won't do another one, but it's nice to see it.

I also got the new book of All Seasons Cotton patterns, All Seasons at the Mill. I like this yarn a lot, so I bought the book as a matter of principle rather than because it swept me off my feet. The patterns are fairly basic but could provide a starting off point; I think a selection of sort of seaside patterns would suit this yarn better; it's very soft on the skin, quite warm, and has very good stitch definition and I don't think these patterns particularly exploit those characteristics. I have quite a lot of All Seasons Cotton hidden in my wardrobe, so I think I'll do the Wrap Top, and maybe the Hooded Top, although I would shorten that as long tops make my legs look strangely short and stumpy. Although it doesn't say so anywhere, it looks as if this book was modelled by Rowan staff, which is a nice touch.

On a completely trivial note, I was very disappointed with the names in this book. Wrap Top? Hooded Top? Mans [sic] Jacket? Did somebody forget to make up catchy names for them? The mag was a bit dull in this regard too: Kaffe Stripes? Surely that name's been used before?

I bought a vintage pattern on eBay tonight; I don't intend to knit it but I couldn't resist. I'll show you when it arrives.