Tilted Pink, etc.

I've finished the pink Tilted Blocks and I'm about to wrap it up so that I can post it tomorrow.


The colour isn't at all right in this photograph, but it's my last chance for a picture. The real colour is much more pink, and less violet.

Much more like this, except that the scarf isn't blurred.

I've also taken the opportunity to photograph all the New Scarves I've done, as most of them are leaving my hands tomorrow.




I have, you will not be surprised to learn, already cast on another Shag, in Lorna's Laces Lake Tahoe, although it occurred to me tonight that I might have miscounted and this one might be extra. We'll see.

NOTE: Owing to a fit of absent-mindedness, this post is a duplicate of the one at the Knitalong. If I delete it, I will also delete all the photographs in the Knitalong posting, so I'm leaving it here. Just pretend you haven't seen it. Thank you.

More Scarf News

I ripped the meandering lavender Scottish Tweed, and it's turning into a Tilted Blocks. You can see a close-up of it over at the Knitting New Scarves Knitalong. I do love this colour. I would never wear it myself - I'm so pale that I just can't wear pinks and mauves, except for a dark shocking pink. I have the sort of skin Billy Connolly was talking about when he said that Scots are actually blue and it takes us a week in the sun to turn white. So it's nice to have someone else to knit it for.

Those of you with long memories may remember some pearly grey Malabrigo that I got to make into an Elizabeth Zimmermann ribwarmer. Once I cast on, I started to wonder if I really wanted a large pale grey wodge of garter stitch over my upper half, so it's been on the back burner.

However I remembered it today when I was casting about for a soft yarn to use for the Meandering Stripes scarf. The variegations in the yarn will show off the short rows perfectly. I shall get it out of its hiding place, but I really mustn't cast on until I've finished these presents, because this one is for me.

For those of you who have been complaining about how much time you're spending on jigsaws, there's a new one in the sidebar. It took me ages.

I finished the Tilted Block Scarf. I love, love, love it and I'm going to make one for myself just as soon as Christmas is out of the way.

One of the nice things about making it long enough to wrap around is that the shape forms peaks around your throat.








Do you see anything you want to borrow, Lindsay?





I've been trying out things with the Rowan Natural Silk Aran for my allergic god-daughter. I tried Shag but the yarn is just too fine and the result looked muddled.

I tried a bit of feather-and-fan. You can't go wrong with feather-and-fan, I always say, and the swatch looks good, but then I thought, 'What is the point of buying a book called Knitting New Scarves and then knitting a very old scarf?'

So I tried Twisted. This is a simple idea, once you've wrestled with it, but tricky enough for you to feel really clever when you get the hang of it. I've done a bit of 'double knitting' before, using the method where you slip alternate stitches, but this method is a little faster, I think.

However, the silk and linen in this yarn make it a bit unforgiving and I decided I would get sore hands if I continued. I'll do this one later, with wool.





I had another look through the patterns and came across Aria, which is the lovely ruffly sea creature. It was one of the first scarves I wanted to do in this book, and I think it will suit the yarn very well. It will suit the long, skinny style too. I'll cast on and see if I can find a film to go with it.

New Noro

My friend finally managed to choose a shade of Noro Silk Garden. It's 226, and I collected it from the sorting office yesterday. I went out briefly on Saturday so they seized the opportunity to deliver a postcard saying they'd tried to deliver a parcel. Sometimes, I'd swear they're watching the house.As usual, it looks like some of the balls are from a different shade, let alone a different dye lot, but I'm sure it'll all work out in the end.

My friend hasn't sent the pattern yet, so I can't cast on, but that gives me time to finish this:

I had a stash hunt last night, to see if I had another ball of the yarn, and I thought I'd found one but it turned out to be the greeny blue shade of Yorkshire Tweed, while the original is the bluey green.

The flash has heightened the difference and in fact, they work very well together. I could have stopped and the scarf would have looked fine - well, better than fine, although I say it myself - but I really want to make this long and skinny, so I'm going with the colour change. And if I run out of this shade too soon, I found a ruffle scarf I knitted with it when I was addicted to ruffle scarves and I can rip that.

On closer examination, I think this might be the DK, not the aran weight.

Tilted Blocks and Parrots

I kept going with Tilted Blocks yesterday. It was so grey all day that it really wasn't worth taking photographs. I took this today.It's about 53 inches long now. The pattern says 60, but I would like to keep going beyond that if I can find another ball of this wool.

I could wash it and stretch it a bit by blocking, I suppose, but I wouldn't want to overdo that.

I wonder what on earth it was called; something like Spruce perhaps because that's what it makes me think of. I think it's discontinued.



I watched a wonderful film last night, called The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. That's exactly what it's about, too, parrots which have been accidentally or otherwise released from captivity and live in the trees on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. It's about some of the human beings as well, especially the man who feeds them, although as he points out they don't depend on him and would survive if he stopped feeding them, as he eventually does because he has to move away. He explains this after a passer-by remarks, 'They can't be wild if you've got names for them.' Some of the humans are stranger than the parrots.

It has some surprises, including a soundtrack which includes Jack Kerouac singing 'Ain't We Got Fun?', which for me was worth the price of admission (or rental) on its own. And it has the best ending I've seen on a film in a long time. I won't spoil it for you but I sat and watched it with a big smile on my face, and then ran it back and watched it again.


It's beautifully shot and the colours are as exciting as you might expect; you kind of want to knit an enormous felted bag after watching it.

Tilted Blocks Scarf

A friend had started on the Tilted Block Scarf from Knitting New Scarves and was having problems. We were due to meet today so I said to bring it with her and I would have a look at it. So that I wouldn't be speaking from a position of total ignorance, I cast on last night, intending to do a couple of blocks just to see if it worked the way I thought it did. I liked it so much I kept going, and when we met today she hadn't brought her scarf but I was able to show her mine. She said, 'I think mine's going the other way,' so I turned mine over and she said, 'Oh.' So I don't know if I was any help.

This is a Rowan Yorkshire Tweed. It isn't Chunky as it's meant to be; I think it's Aran, but I like the smaller scale. I can't remember the name, but it's a lovely forest-y green with dabs of blue and light olive.

The tiles are nearly four inches wide, and three inches high. One of my nieces loves anything dark green (well, almost anything) so this will be a Christmas present for her. More photos when it isn't dark.