Things Soo Likes

Baby it's Cold (and wet)(and super windy) Outside...

2012-01-03T14:06:00.000Z

Happy 2012! I hope the weather is better wherever you are than it is here. It is cold. And wet. And crazy crazy windy. I am going to make some tea, pull out some yarn, fire up Great Expectations (latest BBC adaptation) on the iPlayer and settle in for the day. I can't imagine anything would convince me to venture out...

I was a knitting fiend while in Canada - I left with a couple of completed presents (go me!) and completed a few more while there and overall everyone seemed pleased. I still owe my youngest niece a pair of socks (not a Christmas present - she's just never had any!) and hope to get to those this week.

Christmas knitting started with this red infinity scarf which Sarah made a special request for. It's a simply 1 x 1 rib, worked in 2 yarns (alternating 2 rows):- Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Chunky (colour 07) and Rowan Chunky Colourscape in Cherry.

Sarah liked it - but we all agreed that it seemed made for Fred (the cutest dog in the world).

My sister had hinted strongly for a sweater so when I arrived we began searching for patterns. She said she liked the one I made from my Dad last year and wanted one like that. So I searched in Ravelry and showed her a number of shawl collared cardigans, narrowed it down to one, bought some yarn (heathery green Patons Classic Wool) but somehow it didn't seem right.

The next day I woke up and realised I had missed the point - she didn't want a pattern LIKE the one I made for Dad - she wanted THAT pattern (Charcoal Rib Cardigan from Interweave Knits free Knitting for Men booklet). I asked her at breakfast (before I cast on) and sure enough - that's what she wanted.

I started on Monday 19th and finished in the very early hours of Christmas day so was able to wrap it up finished! Woo Hoo!

I made Dyl her annual mitts. She's graduated from high school and is now a freshman at Ottawa University. I made these Fiddlehead mitts in the University colours replacing the lower pattern on right mitt with '2012'. I used Rowan Baby Alpaca DK (in Lincoln and Cherry) which was insanely soft and will be very warm.

While I was there we somehow got talking about headbands and it turned out that Dyl really wanted one. I pulled out some of the leftover yarn and made this headband using a pattern from Interweave Knits Accessories magazine (found under the tree from Santa!). Since then I've been struck with the need to make one in the Fiddlehead pattern and Sarah has put in an order so there will be a few more in my near future!

I rounded out the knitted gifts with socks for two of my nieces (forgot to take photos).

I got some lovely gifts (including The Office Season 7 - can't wait!; Modern Family Season 2; Raising Hope...my not very subtle hints that I can't watch these shows here worked!) and was surprised and delighted to get a yarn bowl from my younger sister!

She confessed she didn't really know what it was but figured that I would.

That Time of Year Already.....

2011-12-12T22:47:00.004Z

Not much to post about (clearly) over the past few weeks - I had a wicked cold which stopped all knitting and then when I did recover my knitting mojo it was time to start Christmas knitting - so no photos as recipients may well be reading this!

Which brings me to early December - which regular readers will know is Gingerbread House time!

Amazingly - this year was the 20th anniversary of our Gingerbread House tradition. 20 years! Construction crew members have come and gone - but the core team remains the same. Me, by very best friend Caroline, her husband Pat, and as they came along her four children, gorgeous goddaughter Genevieve, scrumptuous Suzy, marvelous Mads and luscious little Louis. This year we were also joined by my good friends Shirlee and John.

In honour of the 20th anniversary, Gen and I devoted a pizza and gossip session to creating this banner. It's tricky to photograph but we were quite proud of the finished object and forced everyone to gush over it on the day.

The animated version of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' has been viewed every year, while munching on pizza and waiting for the roof to set - so the theme for this year's house just had to be 'Who-ville'.

For this one instead of baking a single house I cut out and baked the pieces for 9 little houses, in 3 styles. (I'd used the exact same template from a Good Housekeeping magazine from 1986 for the previous 19 houses.)(I'm nothing if not consistent.)

As I expect most of you know, "All the Who's down in Who-ville liked Christmas a lot. But the Grinch, who lived just north of Who-ville did not."

At this stage of our story the Who's are enjoying their favourite Christmas tradition - "...all the Who's down in Who-ville, the tall and the small would stand close together with Christmas bells ringing. They'd stand hand in hand and the Who's would start singing."

And if you look at the back you can see a Who-ville resident who overslept and is joining the singing a little late.

The Who's loved Christmast, but - the Grinch, who lived just north of Who-ville - did not. And he particularly hated the Who singing.

And look, there in his cave in the mountain just north of Who-ville -- the very green Grinch himself.

He's clearly begun his evil plotting and has put on his fake 'Santy Claus hat and a coat'. Sitting excitedly beside him is loyal dog Max - with the fake antlers attached to his head.

The giant tree and mountain were molded out of rice crispie square mixture. Messy - but fun - and a little tip I picked up last year from Cake Boss. (I think it was Cake Boss. It was a show where some guy made and decorated cakes.)

We had fun using the most colourful icing and sweets to decorate the houses. The little Who's are all pretty individual - a punk, a bow tie wearing middle aged Who, and a Who based on Madeline (one of my favourite children's books!) are among the little masterpieces.

As usual there was pizza and we watched the Grinch. There was lots of laughing and singing, some champagne and bags and bags and bags (and bags) of icing sugar.

I expect I won't be blogging again until after Christmas so however you spend it I hope the season brings you peace and joy.

I Just Needed Some Colour

2011-10-13T14:24:00.002+01:00

Progress on the Princess continues steadily along.

I'm now on the final chart of the wide border (hurrah!) but still have a long way to go before I can call the shawl done. Once the wide border is finished, I've got the triangle body to complete and then finally, another round of tedious edging.

I'm actually really enjoying knitting on the Princess at the moment but I went into a bit of a panic a few days ago as I considered the coming weeks (and weeks) of 'antique silver' (GREY) knitting I had ahead of me.

As most knitters would, I turned to Ravelry when the panic hit and catching up on some of the projects of a local knitting group I saw the PERFECT DVD watching colourful project the Lily Crochet Blanket. Before I knew it I had downloaded the pattern and was ordering mini skeins of yarn from the Knitting Goddess to get started.

This won't be enough yarn to complete the blanket (each skein is about 1/5 of a regular skein) - but should get me started.

(The Natural Dye Studio who have made the pattern available also has mini skeins perfect for this project - but they were sadly out of stock when my 'need it now' mood struck!)

The yarn dropped through the letterbox a few minutes ago and I'm itching to get the colour flowing, but I need to tidy up the glue and glitter and get ready for gorgeous god daughter Genevieve's weekly pizza and gossip session.

Maybe tomorrow.....

Milestones

2011-09-21T17:19:00.000+01:00

Thanks for all the blanket/afghan suggestions - keep them coming! I still haven't settled on one. I've started 2 so far and both have been abandoned as I haven't hit on the right yarn/pattern combo yet. I made a trip to the new John Lewis to buy some yarn at the newly opened Westfield Stratford mall on Monday - but was defeated by the other 700 million people who also decided to check it out that day. It was busier than the last Saturday before Christmas on Oxford St. Crazy.

In the meantime I continue to make slow and steady progress on the Princess. With projects like this I keep motivated by focusing on small milestones - goodness knows the end seems too far away to be achievable.

I've just finished row 110 - so I'm halfway through the 220 rows of the wide border charts. For the time being I ignore what's left to do after that!

What are the Chances???

2011-09-14T16:25:00.000+01:00

Most of the time when I make socks from self striping yarn I don't bother trying to get the second sock to be exactly the same as the first sock. I know how to, and I have on occasion bothered, but most of the people I make socks for have been convinced (bullied?) by me into preferring the more casual look of the 'fraternal' sock.

So imagine my surprise when I was a couple of inches into the second sock of this pair and realised it was coming out EXACTLY like the first.

Totally randomly.

I finished the first sock, cut off the yarn and cast on the second sock and through some little knitting miracle it started in EXACTLY the same place in the striping pattern.

My rusty stats skills say that the odds of randomly picking the same place in the pattern from the yarn is about 1 in 1039.

I only wish I was so lucky when it came to picking lottery numbers.

Now that I've accepted it's fall I need a good mindless-ish knitting project for DVD watching. (I've still got the final season of 24 to devour!)(And I'm way behind on The Office.)(And Downton Abbey is due to start again this week.....) Anyway - I'm drawn to the idea of another afghan. (Not that I need one - but they are satisfying knitting.)

Any interesting blanket/afghan/throw patterns to suggest??

...and the winners are...

2011-09-12T12:25:00.000+01:00

Well, Parkinson's Society is the big winner here - thank you to everyone for your support. The total of $934(!!!!) was way over what I had hoped to raise. (I raised my 'goal' on the Parkinson's site more than once as you generous knitters (and a few kind non-knitting friends) kept bumping the total up.)

The winners, drawn by me from a little bowl of names are:

3rd prize: Emily
2nd prize: Janiannie
1st prize: MariaSK

Congratulations!! I'll be in touch to get your address and will post the Posh Yarn loveliness to you as soon as possible.

Commiserations to those of you who weren't quite so lucky. I've got my earring production almost done and will be in touch with everyone else to get addresses for sending those out as well.

Counting and Recounting

2011-09-06T15:45:00.000+01:00

A HUGE thank you to everyone who has entered the Parkinson's Posh Yarn draw - your support means so much to all of us. If you haven't entered but would love to win piles of GORGEOUS Posh Yarn (or have no idea what I'm on about) you can read more about it here.

Last week I couldn't muster up much interest in knitting (apart from the little earrings). I knew in the back of my mind that what was stopping me was the mind numbing task of confirming that I had picked up exactly 865 stitches from the Princess edging onto the my needles and knitting the first row of the wide border pattern.

But in order to get knitting I had to count, so counting I did. Now, I don't know about other knitters but counting hundreds of stitches reduces me to jelly. Not because I struggle with the basic flow of numbers - it is just that I get a different answer each and every time I count.

Of course that's if I make it to the end without the phone ringing, the doorbell ringing or (more often) losing interest and allowing my mind to wander so that I manage to to forget where the heck I was. Stitch markers at regular intervals help - but even then I find myself with too many or too few stitches at the end and then have to recount all of the sections and ... well ... it's no fun.

But I did it. I counted (a few times). And counted again. And I eventually decided I had 865 stitches and I started knitting.

And knitting.

And knitting.

It was like I was making up for not knitting for so long, I couldn't stop!

I knit 27,680 stitches. (That's 32 rows, but it sounds better in stitches.) I am officially on a knitting spree.

If you squint a little when you look at this picture you can almost see how it will look with a bit of blocking.

And with the nasty counting over I think the Princess and I can finally start to become friends.

(I think I've FINALLY found an advantage to the inside out construction of this shawl - it's a little easier to photograph the pattern while it's on the needles!)

(And no, that doesn't make it worth it.)

Posh Yarn Prizes for Parkinsons!

2011-09-01T19:38:00.003+01:00

The regional branch of the Parkinsons society in my hometown has decided to hold this year's SuperWalk in my father's honour. This picture is my father with his brothers (most of them!) at a Parkinson's fundraising walk held at our family reunion last year.

Lots of family members will be taking part in the walk but I'm not able to make the trip to Canada to participate so I've registered as a 'virtual walker' and thought I'd hold a blog contest to raise some much needed money to fund research for improved Parkinsons treatments - and one day a cure.

The prizes are skeins and skeins of yummy Posh Yarn.

Regular visitors to the blog will know that Posh Yarn is a firm favourite of mine - the base yarn is always fabulous and the colours are beautiful. Over the past few years it has become harder and harder to buy as it has grown in popularity. You can see some of my Posh Yarn projects here, and here, and here and here - oh! and here and here and here and... well, you get the idea. I love the stuff!

But this cause is one very close to my heart, and raising money for this year's walk is very important to me...so...I've raided my yarn cupboard and I'm giving some of my beloved stash away... Not surprisingly, most of it is laceweight - but you can double it up if you like a heavier yarn.

The Prizes:

First prize:
2 x 100g skeins of DK silk yarn

3 x 50 g skeins of laceweight Eva 2ply (cashmere/silk - each skein about 400 yards)

1 x 100g skein of laceweight Cecilia 1 ply (cashmere/silk - about 1400 yards)

2 x 50g skeins of laceweight Eva 2ply (silk/cashmere - each skein about 400 yards)

Second prize:
2 x 55g skeins of laceweight Sophia 2ply (cashmere - each skein about 400 yards)

3 x 50g skeins of laceweight Eva 2ply (cashmere/silk each skein about 400 yards)

2 x 100g skeins of laceweight Lydia (cashmere, linen, silk each skein about 600 yards)

Third prize:
1 x 50g skein of laceweight Eva 2ply (cashmere,silk each skein about 400 yards)

2 x 50 g skeins of laceweight Eva 2 ply (cashmere/silk each skein about 400 yards)

1 x 100g skein of laceweight Cecilia 1 ply (cashmere/silk about 1400 yards)

How to Enter:
Simple!!

Just make a donation here to the Canadian Parkinson Society before September 12th at noon. (That's when I'll draw the winners' names.)

Everyone who donates will be entered into the draw for the yarn. You can send me an email (thingssoolikes at gmail dot com) or leave a comment after you've donated.

TO GET A BONUS ENTRY
Mention this fundraising effort on your blog and link to this page and you'll get a second entry into the contest. After you've added the link, you can email me (thingssoolikes at gmail dot com) or leave a comment.

EARRING BONUS
Anyone who donates $10 (or more!) Canadian (about £6) ($10 US) will get a FREE pair of the knitterly earrings I was making earlier this week as a thank you. You can select style (little ball of wool or knitting in progress) and colour (purple, green, blue, red (not shown), white, or pink (not shown)).

I know times are hard everywhere and I appreciate whatever you are able to give.

If you've got any questions you can email me on thingssoolikes at gmail dot com.

Good luck!!

Knitting - Sort of!

2011-08-30T09:58:00.000+01:00

The Princess is making snail-like progress. Whenever I think about knitting on it - something more important I need to do pops into my mind.

Like the dishes.

Or tidying the spare room.

This would annoy me less if it meant that my house was now a pristine shining show-home. But it isn't. It seems I get distracted by something else (usually paper, ink and glitter) before I actually do the dishes or tidying.

The Princess continues to defy all sensible construction traditions. Having picked up the 865ish stitches for the wide border I had a moment of optimism when I thought "oh - at least I have the rows getting shorter to look forward to".

Wrong.

The wide border begins with 865 stitches and 220 rows later it still has 865 stitches.

Insanity.

I half-heartedly started working on this sock in the hope it'll spark the knitting fires. So far, it's just resulted in a 3/4 finished sock.

In fact the most yarn action I've had this week was inspired by some earrings that my friend the Caked Crusader pointed out to me - with the question "How cute are these?" And I had to agree they are darn cute. (There are a LOT of really cute (and sometimes odd!) things there - the knitted knitting octopus is amazing and there's a pattern! The necklaces are sweet too.)

Realising that I had yarn (which at my current knitting rate was never going to be anything but yarn), and beads, I figured I could probably make a pair. So I did.

Not quite as tidy as the originals -- winding little balls of yarn neatly is way harder than I expected it to be.

Perhaps I should take it as a good sign that while making my second pair, the temptation of little needles and small balls of yarn meant I started making these:

So maybe the knitting drought is ending!

This is not London

2011-08-09T15:28:00.002+01:00

What is happening to my lovely city?

Over the past few days I read and watched the news with increasing sadness and disbelief as the senseless looting and violence has spread across the city. As I went to bed last night the vandals were moving closer to home as cars were burned in nearby Lewisham and shops vandalised in Woolwich.

Today when I went to buy some milk I was surprised to see my closest Tesco closed, and then spooked as it became clear that all the shops along the road were closed. I reached the local Co-op to find its windows smashed in - and heard the estate agent closing up his shop explain that the police advised all the shop owners to close up for the day as there was the possibility of something kicking off in central Greenwich.

At 2 in the afternoon.

I don't know what's going on and I don't know why it's happening. I watch the news and listen to the experts try to explain it but realise it will never make sense to me.

What I do know is - this isn't London. Whatever is happening will pass and the goodness that I see in London every day will win out.

I know that because of photos like this one. It was taken in Clapham this morning at an impromptu, Twitter inspired, London clean up flash mob. Thousands and thousands of people are signing up to similar clean up groups around the city.

That is my London.

(Apologies for the lack of knitting content. Not much to report in any event. I have finished the Princess edging and just into the wide border. Pics and details in next update.)

And Now for Something a Little Different!

2011-07-26T11:00:00.001+01:00

You may recall a few posts ago I mentioned that my younger sister Donna had made a special request for a Christmas gift last year. She's a bit of a golfer (in fact, everyone in the family is but me!) and wanted some hand knit golf club covers.

I could tell from the brief conversations we had on the topic that she did not want understated golf club covers - she wanted golf club covers that would get a bit of attention.

Naturally, I put off seriously thinking about the project until December. On my last shopping trip with my Mom we spent some time in the yarn aisle at Walmart and after a bit of waffling I decided that dog shaped covers would hit the spot - much to Ma's amusement. I can imagine her reaction to the finished objects.

I didn't start the covers until January when armed with a few skeins of Red Heart Super Saver and just my wits(!) I set out knitting. I had a few false starts with the shaping - but eventually had what I thought looked like a dog's head. My other sister and father were less convinced -- until I added the ears.

Donna was monitoring progress closely and then had another bright idea -- one of the covers should be modelled on her dog Sally. (Photo below - she doesn't always wear glasses.)

This was a real challenge - I am not a knitting portrait artist! I made a few attempts which were frogged before finally settling on using four strands of grey kid silk for the grey bits of Sally's fur. In a bit of serendipity I found a skein of the kid silk haze in a side pocket of my luggage left over from last year's Christmas knitting for Kail.

I was almost done - but didn't know what I was going to do for ears and the nose. Unfortunately craft supplies weren't readily available and the things I could find didn't do the job.

I was going to bring the covers back here to London for finishing - but Donna was concerned she'd never see them again (she knows me well) and took them home with her for the final touches.

The dogs made their debut on her recent golf trip to Cuba where I have no doubt they improved her golf game immeasurably!!

When the End isn't the End

2011-06-29T14:21:00.001+01:00

So following the great shrinking fiasco I returned to the Princess edging.

I knit a little each day.

Only a little each day because edging knitting at the beginning of a project is wrong and against the natural order of things. (That and the fact that I've recently become obsessed with paper and glue and all things inky and glittery. )

But I have been knitting when I manage to get the ink out of my fingers and yesterday I counted my edging points and I had made it to 62. WooHoo!

I took a look at the pattern to see where that put me in the 'how much longer will this have to go on' stakes.

And this is what I read:

Knit the edging for 85* points.

I glanced down to the * point and saw this:

* 2007 note: For a shorter edging you could make only 62 edging points....

62 points! I have 62 points. Clearly it is fate that I checked the pattern at this point.

The practical, let's get this edging done side of me is screaming (really, it's screaming) "WooHoo! you are done. Now you can do some real knitting. Let's go!"

But the masochistic, obsessive compulsive side of me is whispering "Well, you could do the 'easy' alternate edging. If you aren't up to the project as it was originally designed then you should stop now - don't push yourself."

Even as I write this I KNOW the practical side of me was right.

No one, not even the Princess' designer Sharon Miller herself would actually notice if I did 62 instead of 85 repeats.

But I probably don't need to tell you that I'm on repeat 68 now.....

It's hard work being a freak.

When You Can See the Ending from the Beginning

2011-06-13T10:13:00.000+01:00

You know when you watch a horror film and you spend the whole time thinking "Don't go in there!" "Why is she going in there?" and wondering how you are supposed to believe that any rational human being would make the decisions you are watching? And then, just when you think it's over -- the baddie springs back to life for one last horror?

Well, prepare to feel that way now.

Our opening scenes begin with our hapless knitter finishing up the Donkey Jacket and shoes she is making for a friend's soon to be born baby. The knitting has been pretty uneventful but took longer than expected - largely because the knitter failed to take into account that if you are knitting a jacket with a full lining it will take twice as long as a jacket without a lining. This alone should alert the viewer that the knitter we are dealing with is not on top of her game.

As the knitter finishes the last piece of the shoes the background music changes slightly and you feel the tension rise as she looks at the 3 random shapes in front of her and wonders how in heck they are going to come together to be a shoe???

You watch in fear as she turns the pieces this way and that and begins madly seaming. She tries a few permutations and then in frustration just sews the pieces together in what appears to be a random sort of way.

You watch from behind a cushion - but - it's ok.

They turned into shoes.

You relax as the music calms down and you watch the knitter prepare to block the jacket.

She drops it into a cool wool wash.

But as she turns away from the washing machine you see the first tell tale signs of red...dripping from the jacket onto the cream lining. Go back - you scream at the screen. But she doesn't. She's off to the shop to get something for dinner.

You know what's waiting for her when she returns. A jacket with a pink lining. You hope she holds her nerve. You hope she doesn't panic.

You hope wrong.

She panics. She wants a cream lining. Not this pink thing. And she's meeting the mom to be the next morning.

And now you watch in horror as she throws it back in the washer hoping that another gentle wash will take out the dye. Nooooooooooooooooooooooo. She's selected the wrong setting and she hasn't noticed! It's on a warm wash. A long warm wash.

But she's watching the Apprentice and hasn't noticed. When the Apprentice finishes she does think it's odd that the short gentle cycle hasn't finished - but turns to BBC2 to watch "You're Fired" and puts it out of her mind.

You meanwhile are watching the little jacket go round and round and get littler. And littler.

Cut to the final scene. Our knitter, clutching a small, shrunken, red and pink jacket.

The next day I gave the mom to be the slippers - which escaped the ravages of the washing machine - and a promise to knit something else when the baby is born. The little jacket is - well - little and might possibly fit a newborn - but as a double layer felted jacket it's way too warm for a baby in July!!!

Knitting as Comfort

2011-06-01T12:04:00.001+01:00

Thank you to everyone for the kind comments and messages of sympathy - each one is so appreciated.

As we sorted through my parents' house we came across many of the knitted gifts I've made for them over the years. Lyra was still in the tissue paper I originally wrapped it in. The only wear and tear was on the paper - worn from when my Mom would take it out to show it off to someone - before carefully wrapping it up again.

Lyra has come home with me and I am clearly my Mother's daughter as it's currently still in the same tissue paper. I'll be trying to find a home worthy of it over the coming weeks.

I've taken to wearing the Retro Rib socks I made for my Dad (which he did wear a lot!) - they are too big but they feel perfect to me.

My niece Sarah has the cardigan I made for Mom last year, and Dyl has the cardigan I made for Dad in January. I like knowing that the love I put into the projects is being passed on - and I hope the cardigans bring the girls some comfort.

Current knitting has been slow. I made a pair of socks which went to Dylann and discovered I need to get cracking on a few more if I want to have any chance of filling this year's sock requesst list.

I can't believe there was a time I was worried that I was knitting socks no one would want!

I picked the Princess back up a couple of weeks ago but progress is slow and a little uninspiring. I've decided that I'll do at least one edging repeat a day. That at least gets me to pick it up and I do find myself doing one or two more some days.

I don't know how many repeats I've done -- just that it's 'not enough'.

I figure at some point it'll become a real project and I'll work on it with a bit of enthusiasm. Until then - one edging repeat at a time.

I've just cast on a baby jacket for a friend who is due in June - it's fun to be making baby stuff.

It's a Debbie Bliss pattern from The Baby Knits Book called the Donkey Jacket - and I'm torn on whether or not I'll be making the ears. Ironic really as it was the ears that drew me to the pattern! I expect I'll change my mind a few hundred times before I finish it.

It's a lined jacket:- the inside made on 4.5 mm needles, the outside made to the same pattern on larger 5 mm needles. I've chosen a wintry red for the outside and am making it in 6 month size so it should fit the little one around Christmas.

And to finish it off there are a cute little pair of shoes to co-ordinate! Better get busy - just set a date to meet the expectant mom next Tuesday.

The Story of a Humble Man

2011-05-16T12:50:00.000+01:00

My father was a man of few words - but the love and respect he inspired in those who knew him spoke volumes. He never put himself first and he never complained, not even when Parkinsons began to slowly take away his independence.

As the oldest of 17 children, and the father of 5 his life was never quiet - and he liked it that way. He had a smile that melted my heart and he loved to laugh. In February this year my dad and I laughed so much we cried while watching a Jerry Seinfeld stand up dvd. We watched all the extras because we didn't want any joke to go unappreciated. It was one of my favourite nights of the visit.

The first couple of months after my Mom died I think Dad put all of his energy into being strong for us, and shortly after we left in March he started to fade. He was in a beautiful care home and had visitors every day but without my Mom he was lost and within 2 weeks he was admitted to the local hospital where he stayed until his death. I didn't make it home in time but my sisters were both there - and surrounded by his amazing brothers and sisters he was never alone.

My father suffered from Parkinson's for many years but he died of a broken heart. My parents had been married for almost 55 years, and as Parkinsons progressed she took the best care of him that anyone could.

As the priest said at his funeral - "I imagine that at the Pearly Gates today, Elsie has pushed St Peter aside and is saying "It's ok, I've got this one". She's standing there with her arms outstretched as Herman strides up the stairs to be with her again."

I miss them both so much, but it brings me comfort to know they are where they belong - together.

Well, That was Unexpected....

2011-04-27T14:44:00.000+01:00

London (and indeed the rest of the UK) are enjoying a very odd spring holiday season. First - we get 2 four day weekend IN A ROW. So office type workers were treated to an 11 day break for the low low one time only cost of 3 vacation days. Insane.

If that wasn't enough. (And it was.) We have had the most gorgeous weather for the last week. Sunny and a very warm 26 degrees. Heaven. It's cooled down slightly today but the sun is still shining so no complaints from me.

On the knitting front the 6 km of yarn for the Princess has arrived. It's called antique silver - grey to most of us - and has a lovely sheen. I dug out the needles and got ready to cast on, and then realised the Princess is built upside down (or inside out) (or something...).

In my experience (which isn't vast - but heh it's all I've got) - shawls like this are generally constructed like this:
1) knit the centre piece (triangle for triangle shawls, square for square shawls)
2) pick up stitches around the centre piece and knit the broad border and then
3) knit the mind numbing never ending narrow edging around the whole thing

Now the ONLY thing that keeps you going on the horror that is step 3 is the sight of the finish line.

So imagine my mood when I realised that the Princess is knit like this:
1) knit the mind numbing never ending edging
2) pick up stitches along the edging and knit the broad border
3) knit the centre triangle, joining it to the border by picking up stitches as you go along

This put me off for a day or two. I mean - really. What's all that about? That means starting with the worst bit. And to add insult to injury, when you finish that you can't even console yourself with "Oh well, at least that's the boring edging done" because it isn't. You still have to knit the final edging along the top of the triangle.

Finally though I picked up the yarn and needles again and cast on.

And then proceeded to make a mistake.

In every single row of the first repeat.

Every.
Single.
Row.

And worst when I finally got to the end of the first repeat, exhausted from the ordeal, I accidentally pulled the needle out of the stitches. Frogged the repeat and cursed the Princes. Loudly.

Taking a leaf out of Anne of Green Gable's philosophy - I awoke this morning and decided it was a new day with no mistakes in it and I was ready to try again.

So I cast on again - and here it is - the first of a gazillion edging repeats.

At this rate I expect to be done by June.

June 2099 that is.

The Princess Waits ... But Some Knitting Occurs

2011-04-18T15:45:00.000+01:00

So immediately following my last blog post I thought if I'm going to do this Princess thing I'd best start by buying the pattern so I placed an order and waited anxiously. Three days later the pattern dropped through the letterbox and I was ready to go!

Or so I thought.

I had planned on using some lovely Fleegle gossamer weight yarn I had in the stash. A gorgeous bluey-greeny peacock colour. 2600m of the stuff. A beautiful yarn and really, how can 2600m not be enough for anything?

When you've decided to take on the Princess that's when. Sharon recommends a staggering 5800m - 5.8 km - yarn.

Not having 5.8km of any single yarn in my stash I was back on to the Heirloom Knitting website and ordered up some 'Antique Silver' CashSilk. With luck it will arrive this week.

In the meantime I've knit up the lovely green laceweight merino I posted about last time.

I couldn't find a pattern that sang to me so I just cast on and played around a bit until I came up with this. I really like the little ruffle and have dubbed it - Just a Little Bit of Ruff.

It's a simple construction - starts with 11 stitches cast on. (6 for the main body of the shawl and 5 for the ruffle edge).

The first row is k1, yo, k2tog, k1, yo, k2tog, knit 5

The ruffle is formed using short rows.
At the beginning of wrong side rows (ie when starting at the ruffle edge)
- knit 2 stitches, wrap the next stitch and turn (to wrap a stitch and turn - simply slip it to the right hand needle, bring yarn to front then turn knitting)

- knit 2
- knit 2, knit next stitch picking up wrap, knit 2, wrap next stitch and turn (picking up the wrap is simply inserting the needle into the wrap and then through the stitch on the needle - easier when you are doing it!)
- knit 5
- knit 5, knit next stitch picking up wrap, yo, k2tog, knit to end of row.

I increased on the third and every second row after just before the fagotting until I had 25 stitches in the main body, then every 4th row until there were 35 stitches in the main body and the every 6th row until there were 45 stitches. Then I knit straight until I used 49 (of my 100) grams of yarn, and the reversed the process to the end.

I'd like to make a larger one in a heavier yarn - perhaps in a yarn with long colour changes - I like the idea of the striped ruffle.

Well, I've been THINKING about knitting....

2011-04-11T14:43:00.000+01:00

This weekend saw Londoners shedding their raincoats and frantically dusting off and firing up the barbecue as temperatures soared to the mid 20s. Greenwich Park was packed with family picnics and friendly games of football.

Now I don't want to rain on anyone's parade (or picnic) but this crazy (but welcome) summer weather in April isn't doing anything to get me into the knitting groove. But I won't wish the sunshine away - this is London and I know from experience that before long I'll be moaning about the grey skies and drizzle.

Although I haven't actually been knitting I have thought a little about knitting which is I guess the first step. I've also been admiring the great knitterly gifts I got from my family this year and maybe that's the second step!

I got some beautiful yarn, a set of Harmony Options 5 inch sock needles (which as I discussed in my last post have had quite a workout already!) and two gorgeous books.

The yarns are a lovely wool from Briggs and Little (a NB mill!!), a Merino/Mohair blend in gorgeous blues and pinks and black from Fleece Artist (Nova Scotia!), and a laceweight Ella Rae merino in my favourite greens.

I have my eye on the green laceweight at the moment - it's 420m so should be good for a small shawl/scarf. It'll probably another of the crescent shaped patterns that are popular at the moment - I just can't decide how lacey I want it to be.

I so enjoyed making the Great Canadian British American Aran Afghan that I am considering another similar project -- and there are some gorgeous squares in the Nicky Epstein book, and of course some amazing patterns in the Alice Starmore one. My younger sister hinted strongly (errr declared outright) that she wants a throw, and I fancy making one for my Dad so I think a throw or two are in my future.

But of course what I really want is a crazy lace project that will take months and have no real purpose in life other than to make me feel clever when I block it. I've got some lovely Fleegle yarn and I think it's time to tackle the Princess shawl.

And so we move into spring...

2011-04-04T19:30:00.000+01:00

I want to say thank you to everyone who emailed or commented kind messages and words of comfort. Blogger doesn't let me reply directly to all comments -- but please know that all of your thoughts and prayers all meant so much to me.

Here it is April 4th and London weather is warming up. That with the little bursts of sunshine we get convince us that summer is on its way.

I stayed in Canada until early March and while sorting through pictures with my family I found two that I thought I'd share with you. The first is one of my mom in the early stages of her Phentex Checkerboard Slipper jag.

And the second is a very happy me clutching a 'how to crochet' kit early one Christmas morning-- look at that smile - I was always in love with yarn!!

As many of you suggested it would be knitting has been a comfort and while I was in Canada I was seldom without needles and yarn in my hands.

My first project was a pair of mittens for the delightful Dylann -- another in the annual series with her high school's initials and the year knt into the palms. Dyl was frightened by my sister telling her in September last year that she had given me a 'great idea'** for Christmas gifts -- according to my Mom Dyl's reaction was 'But I like my mitts!!'

Luckily for her - I liked knitting the mitts as well so there was no need for her to be concerned. This pair (a Drops pattern) will be the final high school pair as next year she starts university -- I wonder what those colours will be?

I really wanted to make my Dad a cardigan so on our trip to Bathurst we found 'The Spinning Wheel' yarn shop (no website that I could find - but if you are in the area you'll find it in the phone book!). It is a lovely little shop with a really wide variety of yarns. The owners were really friendly and it became a regular stop in our trips to town after that!

I wanted the cardigan to be easy care so I opted for some Sirdar Denim yarn in a brown colour (which doesn't appear on the website so perhaps it has been discontinued - too bad it was a nice colour.). It's soft to touch and I really liked working with it. Finding the right pattern was pretty straightforward - a bit of searching and I settled on Charcoal Ribbed Cardigan -- available for free from Knitting Daily.

The cardigan flew off my needles. The body is knit flat in one piece to the sleeves, and the sleeves and shoulder caps are knit separately. The knitting was done within days - and I had seamed the main pieces together but when my dad tried it on we all agreed that the body was too short and it needed a couple more inches

This meant I got to impress no one but myself by fixing this problem without the need to unravel days worth of knitting!

What I did was snip the yarn in the row above the body ribbing and then very carefully pull the yarn through the stitches to separate the ribbing from the main body. As I did this I carefully placed the stitches from the main body onto a needle. Luckily, knitting doesn't unravel upward so this wasn't too stressful!

When I removed the cuff, and picked up all of the stitches I proceeded to knit the additional 2 inches of body downward, followed by the ribbing.

This sort of fix isn't always possible for complicated patterns (or maybe it is and requires more thinking power than I have!) but for simpling stocking or ribbing works quite well.

Now, only a quest for buttons kept it from 'finished' status. Trips to Zellers and Walmart were fruitless but I struck gold (or brown button) at an old sewing shop where the owner kindly went through EVERY button in stock to help me get the right ones.

The finished cardigan was well received - and my Dad showed it to everyone who dropped by. Naturally, he hasn't worn it - but I know he loves it!

The rest of the time was spent making socks.

Socks, socks and more socks.

Not all were photographed as some were claimed pretty much as soon as they came off the needles. I discovered that I could knit nothing but socks all year and STILL there would be feet in need!!!

Most of the socks were knit plain in self striping yarn. The red pair were Diagonal Rib Socks (another freebie from Knitting Daily) a pattern I expect I'll use again. Straightforward to knit but just a little more interesting than plain socks.

I think in the end I knit about 10 pair!

I haven't knit a thing since I got back to London but I can feel the urge to start a project building. I think a browse through my books and magazines for some inspiration is in order!

** My sister's 'great idea' will be revealed later...I don't have any photos of the finished objects yet!

2011-01-29T17:47:00.001Z

My trip home to Canada has been very different from what I expected and even now I find it hard to take it all in. My beautiful mother passed away unexpectedly 2 days after I arrived home.

She had been perfectly fine all day - her usual smiling happy self. We spent the day shopping and enjoying a lobster supper (a bit of a tradition to celebrate my birthday when I get home in December with some lobster). An aunt and uncle dropped by for a visit and then Mom and Dad went to bed at 10 - Mom very excited about watching the Survivor final. 20 minutes later my father called out to me and within 2 hours she was gone.

It's been a difficult time - but my family has been amazing. Not just my brothers and sisters, but my very large extended family who have helped us all in too many ways to mention.

My mother was the strongest woman I know. She was funny and generous and loving and (as anyone who ever played cards with her knows) very competitive.

She taught me to knit when I was very young. I still remember the excitement (really - I was excited) of getting those plastic needles and acrylic yarn and knitting those first stitches. I was enchanted and have knit pretty much constantly since.

Ma was definitely a 'jag' knitter. She found a pattern she liked and made LOTS of them. Her most prolific jag was about 30 years ago when we moved into this house and she made what seemed like thousands of paris of Phentex checkerboard slippers. We had drawers full of them and they were handed out like party favours when people dropped by.

She was the most knitworthy person in the world and I loved knitting for her. She oohed and aahed appreciatively and then wrapped them up carefully to admire every now and then as they were clearly too nice to be worn/used. No amount of coaxing from me or anyone else convinced her to risk it.

She was always showing off my work to people who dropped by - and although she had never actually seen this blog she was forever passing on the address to others. In short - she was my biggest fan.

We all miss her so much every day. Some days are harder than others but we comfort ourselves with the knowledge that she's always with us -- in the family and love that we share.

Greetings from Canada!!

2010-12-16T22:22:00.001Z

Phew! The last few months have been busy and have flown by in a blur.

Knitting - Christmas or otherwise - has been non- existent. I started a pink cashmere scarf for my mom - got about 3/4 of it done and then decided I hated it. Frogged.

Then I started a Cardigan for her. But I didn't like it either. Also frogged.

So, here I am, a day away from my parents' place and I haven't knitted a Christmas stitch!! Happily my excitement at being home and seeing my family totally and completely overshadows that.

Of course as it is Christmas it has to be Gingerbread House time.

Last Sunday the usual suspects gathered in my kitchen and fuelled by 4 kilos of icing sugar, the sleigh o' sweets and a bottle or two of champagne created our ski chalet themed house.

(I'm blogging this on an iPad by the way - so my formatting options are limited. Sorry about that.)

I loved our ski slope - sadly I was a bit rushed when I took the photos and these don't do I justice. Scrumptious Suzy made our skier.

She is a gifted artist with marzipan and also created this cello and trumpet which are part of the interior decor.

The owner of these instruments is a vain balding marzipan man - caught here admiring himself in the mirror. The bunk beds, fireplace and comfy chocolate wafer chair finish the inside room.

Little Louis** is now almost 9 and among his contributions this year are this slightly surreal looking snowman and this stack of sweets which was going to be an igloo until he ran out of them. While the rest of us tried up come up with alternatives Little Louis joined the ranks of DIY amateurs everywhere - he lost interest and moved on to something else.

** Little Louis has agreed that although he is no longer little I can call him that for as long as I like.

Suzy added the very cute Penguin to distract the viewer from the 'almost' igloo.

Caroline, Gorgeous Gen, and Marvellous Mads created these carollers.

And this mom and baby audience.

Pat was responsible for the ski slope structure - underneath the icing is an impressive scaffolding structure of wafers and marshmallows.

Of course we watched How the Grinch stole Christmas while the roof set munching on some pizza and feeling pretty festive. This year more than most I needed this ritual to kick start the season - I was letting work take over all my waking (and sleeping!) thoughts.

I hope you all enjoy the season whatever you are doing. I'll be back in January with some knitting - assuming I can remember how!!!

This isn't a Christmas Gift....It's a Scarf.

2010-09-28T18:18:00.000+01:00

First - thanks for all the kind comments on the Great Canadian British American Aran Afghan. It is every bit as cosy as I wanted it to be and it almost has me wishing for the cold weather! (Almost.)

Speaking of cold weather I'm really into scarves at the moment. I keep coming across interesting patterns and the yarn in my stash seems destined for scarf-dom.

But 'no!' I tell myself. I really should start on my Christmas knitting so that I don't repeat last year's 'wrapping up sweater pieces/yarn' experience. Nobody seemed to mind - but I'd like to be a wee bit more prepared this year.

I found a cardigan pattern that I think my mom will like. I've picked a yarn and colour. We are ready to go.

But instead I cast on for Semele (I stumbled across the pattern in the Posh Yarn group on Ravelry).

I used 150 gm (600 yards) of Posh Yarn 4 ply Eva - which is a gorgeous cashmere and silk blend. The colour seemed perfect for this pattern.

I modified the pattern by removing a row of leaves that the designer had along the straight edge - mostly because I wanted a narrower scarf.

It was a pleasurable project and seemed to work up pretty quickly.

I blocked it very lightly and it's a generous 6 ft by 1 ft (at the widest point).

I finished this one on the weekend and knew that now it was time to get serious about this Christmas stuff. My younger sister has made a request for herself (and a suggestion for my older sister and her daughter) so time to grab the needles and get going.

But somehow (and really I don't know how) I seem to have grabbed the wrong needles and yarn and cast on a pink cashmere scarf. It is buttery soft and the pattern uses short rows to make the whole thing a bit ruffley...and everyone needs a ruflley scarf. Don't they?

I'm deteremined though that when the pink scarf is finished it's on to Christmas knitting.

(We won't mention that about an hour ago I was starting to cast on for a blue one. I caught myself and put the needles down and walked away.

But I can feel it drawing me in.)

I'm Ready for Autumn!

2010-09-12T20:00:00.001+01:00

The Great Canadian British American Aran Afghan (with a few squares from other sources) is finished! Hurrah!

As Fleegle commented Aran blankets tend to be quite heavy - and this is no exception - it is definitely one for cold nights. 21 skeins of Rowan Pure Wool Aran add up to a substantial afgahn! It's about 4.5 ft x 5.5 ft, perfect for wrapping up on the sofa.

After finishing up the 'squares' (as I commented previously they weren't square and they weren't the same size!) - I wet blocked them - and hurrah - like magic suddenly I had 20 12 x 12 inch perfect-ish squares.

I used crochet to seam the blocks together into strips. I then joined the strips together.

The original pattern has a cable border but I wanted to include the accent colours in mine so I opted for a simple garter stitch.

The first obstacle with the border was finding a circular needle long enough to fit around the blanket. A 120cm KnitPro needle was just a that bit too short - making the knitting a bit uncomfortable. My second concern was running out of cream yarn.

Easily solved, I thought, that's what shops are for.

I was wrong.

What should have been a simple 1 to 1.5 hour shopping trip became a 6 hour epic journey as Transport for London, my local-ish yarn shop, and John Lewis conspired against me. It ended well though with a visit to Loop in Islington where I got what I needed (and a bit more!) I hadn't been to their new location and it's lovely.

The endurance test passed I knit the garter stitch border, 4 rows of cream, 2 rows each of the colours and 10 rows of cream to finish.

I love the afghan and I loved making the afghan. It is a really great project and I recommend it to anyone who wants to get into some cable work. Beginners shouldn't be frightened away - there are some simpler blocks to give you some confidence and if you take each block one stitch at a time you will be fine.

16 of the squares are from the Great American Aran Afghan booklet - and four I sourced from other places. I've compiled a list of the squares I used in the post below.

(Apologies for the picture above -- I tried to 'blur' out the messy bedside cabinets in Photoshop. It would have been faster, easier and made a better picture if I'd just moved the books and odds and ends!)

The Squares I Used in the Great Canadian British American Afghan

2010-09-12T16:51:00.003+01:00

The blanket was made up of the 20 squares below. I've listed them in the order I used them in the blanket (ie the first 4 make up the first row left to right).

Great American Aran Afghan - Suzanne Atkinson

I omitted the sun -- because I forgot to put it in and decided not to go back and redo it!

Great American Aran Afgan - Ginette Belanger (some Canadian content!)

This motif in this square came from The Knitter magazine's first issue. It's the centre of a pillow pattern.

Great American Aran Afghan - Jay Campbell - the only male designer in the book I think.

Another motif from The Knitter magazine's first issue pillow patterns.

Great American Aran Afgan - Hanna Burns

Great American Aran Afghan - Dagmara Berztiss - a square from a German designer

Great American Aran Afghan - Barbara McIntire

Great American Aran Afghan - Janet Martin - I really like this fish square!

Great American Aran Afghan - Ann McCauley - I was pleased to see Ann's square in here. She's a great designer I came across a couple of years ago - her books have timeless, classic patterns.

Great American Aran Afghan - Barbara Selesnick

I found this pattern on Ravelry - designed by Dorota Maria Kowalczyk as part of her 'Snowflake Collection'. I love the intricate cabling.

Great American Aran Afghan - Marian Tabler

Great American Aran Afghan - Susan Rainey - probably my favourite square! What's an aran afghan without an aran sweater?

Great American Aran Afghan - Ada Fenick - I made a small change to the cables along the side continuing the cables instead of breaking them at the centre.

Great American Aran Afghan - Carol Adams (more Canadian content!) - I love that this square is reversible - it's the only one in the book that is. Very cleverly designed.

Another square designed by Dorota Maria Kowalczyk as part of 'Snowflake Collection'.

Great American Aran Afghan -Georgia Vincent - a really pretty square and fun to knit.

Great American Aran Afghan - Dana Hart

Great American Aran Afghan - Julie H Levy - and the first square I made for the blanket!

You Make 16 Squares and Waddya Get?

2010-08-31T19:53:00.000+01:00

Another (few) days older and closer to done.....( about 80% of the Great Canadian British American Afghan complete to be exact-ish). (Hmmm....that doesn't quite fit the tune.)

I think I've mentioned before that one of the benefits of blogging is seeing evidence of progress on your projects during those dark middle days where the sunny excitement of a 'new project' is long gone, and the light at the end of the tunnel hasn't yet appeared.

That's certainly the case here. When I sat down to blog today I was feeling that I hadn't really accomplished much in the last week - but when I compared the photos to last weeks -- well it seems I'm zooming along!

As a few people have commented - this pattern has become a firm favourite in the knitting world. And I can see why.

First and foremost - the finished afghans that I've seen have all been pretty special. It's one of those projects that you really can see being used for years and years.

Second - the sampler nature of the afghan means you get to try lots of different stitch combinations and techniques. There are cables and seed stitch and moss stitch and popcorn and bobbles and twisted stitches and seed stitch and..... I've doen lots of cable and texture work over the years - but I've definitely picked up a few tips and tricks already.

Finally, just as a pattern starts to get a little dull - it's time to cast off and start a new very different block! Most are knit pretty much as you'd expect (ie cast on 60 ish stitches, knit 70ish rows in pattern) - but some are knit in the round (outside edge in) some are knit in strips and others are knit with a centre square and then have an outer border knit separately. (And one very special square has its own little sweater to wear -- but I'm saving that for the end!!)

I usually (sort of)(most of the time) get round to it...

2010-08-24T18:19:00.001+01:00

I think I've mentioned before how odd it is that some patterns you find and you immediately cast on, and others take a while to bubble up to the top of the knitting stack. Maia, a few weeks ago was an example of one of the 'see, pick yarn, cast on NOW' variety -- my current project is clearly an example of the other!

It's the Great American Afghan (or in my case the Great Canadian British American Afghan). I first saw the afghan over on the Rainey Sisters' blog -- in fact it was the very first time I stumbled on the blog that remains one of my favourites. I thought the afghan was gorgeous and decided to make one.

A mere 3 years later and I've finally started!

The afghan is made up of squares designed by readers of Knitters magazine as part of a contest a few years ago. Theoretically each square is 12 inch square - but as you can see from this picture a bit of blocking and coaxing will be required to get these blocks to the same size! Some research on Ravelry confirms that this is a common issue with the pattern so I've decided not to fret about it.

I'm using Rowan Pure Wool Aran (it's superwash) in 4 colours. Cream will be the dominant colour making up a little over half the squares and the border - while three shades of green will make up the rest.

I still waver with every square on whether I should have gone for a single colour or not - but for now I'm perservering with the different colours.

It's an enjoyable project - there is something very satisfying about knitting cables. Blocks that can be picked up for a few minutes when I have the time are also perfect for me at the moment as knitting time is scarce. (Work is currently very busy and will be for at least the next few weeks.)

So anyone out there who feels like they've been waiting forever for something to get knit by me - this project says there is hope! (yes Caked Crusader that includes you and the very long overdue Lemur puppet sweater)

I Almost Forgot

2010-08-06T13:35:00.001+01:00

I just realised I haven't posted the pictures of Gen's birthday gift - Arielle by Kim Hargreaves. Although - technically it ended up not being a birthday gift as I had a button crisis at the last minute followed by sleeve paralysis.

On the Saturday before her birthday brunch I was pretty close to being finished - just a bit more of the front, the neck edging, the cap sleeves and a bit of sewing - and I needed some buttons. (Oddly, as I write that now it seems clear that there was no way that was all going to get done before the brunch. Hind sight!)

The button issue had me waffling between a shorter trip to a local-ish yarn shop - where I couldn't be sure they'd have the right buttons but I'd have more knitting time - and a longer trip to John Lewis - where I knew they probably would have the right buttons but I'd lose valuable knitting time.

I managed to waste quite a bit of time debating the situation and eventually decided that the local-ish yarn shop was the way to go.

I was wrong.

Not only did they not have the right buttons - they didn't have any buttons.

So I hop on the tube and head up to John Lewis. I do indeed find the right buttons (I buy 2 styles so I can compare and contrast later), and I do indeed waste most of the day's knitting time.

Not to be beaten by buttons I return home and knit up a storm. I finish the front, and e neck edge and both sleeves in no time at all. I seam up the sides. I'm on a roll. But...

But the sleeves seem way too small for the armhole. Inches too small. I pull at them a bit but they still seem too small. I do a quick search and see many others have encountered the same problem when knitting this pattern.

I admit defeat and stuff the sweater into the knitting basket. In a fit of pique I ignored the sweater for a couple of weeks -- because clearly THAT will make the sleeves fit the armholes.

Finally, last weekend I pulled the sweater out and was considering re-knitting the sleeves adding in some extra rows when I decided that maybe - just maybe - if I steam blocked the garter rib they would fit. I gently stretched the sleeves holding the steam iron about an inch above the fabric and heh presto -- now they fit the armhole!

I like the finished sweater - and I think it will suit long and lean Gen very well - but I don't think it's a style that would suit shorter curvier frames.

I knit it in the recommended Rowan Fine Milk Cotton on 2.75mm needles.

Good news, bad news, good news, bad news...

2010-07-25T12:21:00.000+01:00

After the success of Maia I thought I'd try another shawl shape - a crescent. The Annis pattern from Knitty had caught my eye so I picked out some gorgeous yellow-y gold-y Posh Yarn Eva lace weight from the stash and cast on.

The good news - the shawl knits up very quickly. You cast on 360ish stitches, knit 15 long rows and then decrease around 100 stitches over 3 rows. You then finish up the shawl with a bit of zen short row knitting to give the crescent shape and heh presto you are done.

The bad news - well, even as I cast on (using a larger needle as recommended by the pattern) I was concerned that it wasn't going to be stretchy enough to give my nice points along the edge. And it definitely wasn't. It was difficult to get the points to be pointy during blocking. If I were to make another one I'd replace the cast on with the cast on used on Ene's Shawl or any of the shawls in Estonian Lace Knitting. (Basically, holding the yarn double you cast on with a knitted cast on.)

More good news - the crescent shape is great. Very wearable. Sits nicely on the shoulders, and can be worn a number of ways.

Final bad news - although the colour of the yarn is gorgeous and I like the shape- I'm not in love with the finished shawl. (I do like the pointy bits to be pointy and these just aren't.)

I may frog it and try another crescent shaped shawl with the same yarn (or maybe this pattern with a different cast on) .

Maia for Mairi

2010-07-09T15:17:00.001+01:00

Within almost minutes of the Wedding Ring Shawl being blocked I stumbled across a pattern that I just had to cast on. Maia - a shoulder shawl designed by the very talented Romi. Romi also makes gorgeous shawl pins -- a few of which you might have seen on this very blog.

The shoulderette (as Romi calls it) is a perfect size for wearing over sun dresses on cool summer evenings, covering the shoulders but not taking over the outfit.

Within seconds of discovering Maia (which I've since found out had only been released 2 days before) I found the perfect yarn - a beautiful moss green Handmaiden Sea Silk I bought a couple of years ago.

And as soon as I found the yarn, I knew that the shoulderette was destined for my friend Mairi. It's her style and definitely her colour.

The project worked up quite quickly, with only two niggles.

1. There was a teeny weeny voice in the back of my head saying "heh - you do know you have to finish Gen's sweater by next Wednesday right?" and "You aren't even finished the back yet."

2. I wasn't convinced I had enough yarn.

The teeny weeny voice never really went away, but I'm pretty good at ignoring it.

The yarn situation -- well when I cast off the last stitch I had 3 inches of yarn left. Just enough to weave in. Here's a pre-blocking picture and you can see the last little bit of yarn in the bottom right hand corner.

If that doesn't prove that this project, with this yarn was meant to be - I don't know what does.

I really like the finished piece. It drapes beautifully, thanks in part to the gorgeous Sea Silk but also due to the clever design and shape. It sits on the shoulders nicely and the length is perfect.

I knit this on 3.75mm needles, with EXACTLY 100gm of Handmaiden Sea Silk. I gave it to Mairi today and her reaction made it clear she agreed it was the perfect project, with the perfect yarn for her.

Now.....this weekend I better get back to Gen's birthday present or that teeny weeny voice is going to take over!

If...

2010-07-04T16:43:00.000+01:00

If you take one knitter with a set of 2mm needles and giver her just under 3 km of gossamer Cash Silk laceweight , add a few audio books (Brideshead Revisited, Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Great Expectations, Tale of Two Cities and Little Dorrit) and mix in a few World Cup football matches (apologies again to all England fans) you could get one of these.

The Wedding Ring Shawl (designed by Sharon Miller).

In it's pre-blocked state it was a sizeable 4 feet by 4 feet. Blocking took it to just under 6 feet square.

As I discovered when I blocked the Blob last year I'm too old to be faffing about blocking things on the floor. So a couple of months ago when I saw these square foam pieces on sale I picked some up - and they've transformed the process!

These squares are each 2ft by 2ft and about 3/4 inch thick. I put the foam pieces together on my dining table was able to block the shawl easily in record time.

As always the moment when I freed the shawl from the pins was a little magical. The shawl is light and delicate and I wish that I had the skill to capture that in a photograph.

Of course this is the Wedding Ring Shawl so 'the test' was necessary.

I ran into a hurdle here - I don't own a wedding ring and although my neigbbhours are lovely, I'm not convinced that my asking to borrow a wedding ring for an hour wouldn't step over the 'neighbourly' line.

Not being a great jewellery wearer myself I didn't have many alternatives to choose from - but eventually found a suitable substitute (well, it's a ring) and tentatively began to pull the end through the ring.

I pulled it through carefully and slowly. And hurrah! It worked!

The shawl lives up to its name. (Well, I guess more accurately it lives up to the name 'Cheap Fashion Ring Shawl' - but that's almost the same. A rose by any other name and all that....)

Progress..

2010-07-01T13:29:00.001+01:00

Look - it's becoming more photogenic with each edging repeat!

No time to say more - I've got 90 minutes free before Thursday pizza and gossip with the goddaughter -- need to get knitting!

It might be my fault....

2010-06-27T17:55:00.001+01:00

If you were in England this afternoon it is likely you were one of the millions who decided (or had it decided for them) to abandon the bbq, the stroll in the park or an afternoon of window shopping in favour of 90 stressful minutes watching England v Germany in the World Cup. Normally, I ignore all things football - but for some reason this World Cup has captured my imagination and I've watched more matches in the past 2 weeks than I had in my whole life previously.

We might as well not have bothered. England lost. And at 4 -1 we can't even blame it on the goal the ref robbed from Lampard.

But I fear they can blame me. You see England have never ever won an international match that I've watched.

Ever.

I think I might be cursed.

Or it could be that England were rubbish.

It'll be interesting to see which the papers go with tomorrow morning.

In happier developments check out the latest Wedding Ring Shawl photo.

Do you see that? Up at the top? The edging is breaking out! Hurrah!

This is the final stage of the shawl and it's now that I can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

But it's still a dim distant light - I've done 3 repeats which means there are another 137 to go!

Oh Look - Another (yawn) Wedding Ring Shawl Update

2010-06-19T14:45:00.000+01:00

The Wedding Ring Shawl continues to grow slowly but steadily.

I'm almost afraid that I'll tempt the knitting fates by saying this - but so far this has been an uneventful project. No snapping threads, no self destructing needles, no tipsy knitting sessions...just slow and steady progress.

I'm afraid that photos (well, interesting photos) are pretty much impossible at this stage. But here's one I attempted just to show I'm trying.

The work looks messy and the stitches are all bunched up on the needle -- it is only knitterly faith that keeps me believing that the end result will be worth it.

After 200,000 stitches I can confirm that this yarn - Heirloom Knitting's Gossamer Cash Silk is a pleasure to work with. It is gorgeously soft thanks to the cashmere but the silk gives it a lovely strength which means that although it is threadlike it doesn't feel too fragile.

Innocent Smoothie Hats
It is that time of year again -- Innocent is looking for little hats to adorn with their Smoothies. As always - for each Smoothie sold with a hat Innocent will make a donation to Age UK (new charity combining Age Concern and Help the Aged) which aims to provide services and support to the elderly. Innocent is still 'getting its hats in a row' - so no deadline has been set yet - but they have confirmed that the 2010 campaign is on - so get knitting!

WWKIP - Dickens Style

2010-06-12T13:47:00.001+01:00

The non-knitting readers among you will probably be surprised to hear that there is a World Wide Knit in Public Day. But there is.

And it is today. (Well, it is sort of today. Apparently it is any day between the 12th and 20th June. I don't understand it either. If Christmas manages to happen on a single day - I think WWKIP should be able to too.)

Here in London there are a few events organised - IKnit has arranged a treasure hunt of some sort, and Stitch London has a knitting pub crawl. So anyone braving the centre of London - beware the knitting revolution!

(Who am I kidding? The knitters won't get a look in -- today is also Naked Bike Ride day!! Thousands of naked cyclists will be zooming through the streets of London.

I can confirm it is an astonishing sight.

A couple of years ago I was shopping with gorgeous goddaughter Gen and her mom and when we left H&M on Oxford St were stopped in our tracks as thousands of naked cyclists pedalled past. Our only concern for young Gen (she was 13 at the time) was that it was an awfully young age to discover that the average naked male does not look like Daniel Craig emerging from the sea a James Bond film.)

Back to WWKIP day though - it reminded me of a passage in A Tale of Two Cities (regular readers will know my love of Dickens and fascination with Madame Defarge in particular) which I expect is one of the earliest (if not the earliest) examples of Knitting in Public in fiction.

Therefore, when Sunday came, the mender of roads was not enchanted (though he said he was) to find that madame was to accompany monsieur and himself to Versailles. It was additionally disconcerting to have madame knitting all the way there, in a public conveyance; it was additionally disconcerting yet, to have madame in the crowd in the afternoon, still with her knitting in her hands as the crowd waited to see the carriage of the King and Queen.

"You work hard, madame," said a man near her.

"Yes," answered Madame Defarge; "I have a good deal to do."

"What do you make, madame?"

"Many things."

"For instance -- "

"For instance," returned Madame Defarge, composedly, "shrouds."

It is good to know that even in Dickens time knitting in public caused some consternation among non-knitters (knitting in a public conyeance? in front of the king and queen?) and that even then the question 'what are you making' was inevitable.

Of course, my answer of 'socks' never has quite the same impact as 'shrouds'!

Ma Knows Best (but nobody tell her)

2010-06-08T18:23:00.003+01:00

I think I've mentioned before that my parents live in a house that the Internet forgot. No broadband, no dial up, not even occasional internet access by mobile phone. As a result my mother has never seen my blog - but she does get updates on it from my sisters. When I spoke to her just after I posted about deciding which sweater to make for gorgeous goddaughter Gen's birthday she asked if I had decided yet -- and then laughed and said "knowing you, you won't start it until the last minute anyway".

(It seems that my having to seam up her cardigan on Christmas day didn't go entirely unnoticed!)

Of course, my mom is right - I can be a terrible procrastinator -- and that little nudge encouraged me to cast on the sweater (I'd selected Arielle) sooner rather than later. I was stalled temporarily by a search for 2.25 mm needles. I have a gazillion (truly, a gazillion) sets of needles - but it seems that somehow 2.25 mm circular needles have never been acquired. I had 6 sets (different lengths) of 2 mm circular needles, 5 sets of 2.5 mm needles but the only 2.25mm needles I could find were some 5 inch double pointed needles. Hardly useful for a sweater.

After much cursing and muttering I took a look at the pattern (novel idea) and discovered that actually my short double pointed needles would be fine -- as the sweater starts with the lower edging which is knit on 23 stitches.

When the edging is done, you cast off all but one stitch and then pick up along the top of the edging to begin the back. (The body is knit on far more sensible 2.75mm needles -- which are easily found in the Soo needle stash.)

It's been a pleasant knit so far. I like the Rowan Fine Milk Cotton - it's quite soft and easy to knit with. (Milk cotton you ask? Apparently it contains milk proteins -- weird!)

I'm glad I've started early -- the small-ish needles and fine yarn means this is going to take a little longer than my original optimistic 'no time at all' estimate.

In other news the Wedding Ring Shawl is growing - but slowly. Each round is now so long that if I'm able to complete one in a session I'm pleased. I'm still enjoying it, but motivation can be tricky. It is in that middle distance stage -- too far from the beginning to be novel, and way too far from the end to see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Here it is - I've dubbed it the cloud.

Upstairs Downstairs

2010-05-31T11:37:00.000+01:00

Like any good (Edwardian) London home, there exists in my house a clear divide between Upstairs and Downstairs.

Downstairs is where I have my serious knittng projects. I sit in the comfy green chair in the corner and listen to the radio or an audiobook and knit away. (Just finished Tess of the D'Urbervilles - the sadness. Beautifully written - but oh the sadness.) Anyway - that's where most of my knitting gets done.

Upstairs is where the 'proper' tv is and I will sometimes have a smaller 'easier' project on the go up there - suitable for working on while watching a film. Now, if I've become obsessed with a series on DVD (Mad Men was the last one that hooked me) then a lot of upstairs knitting will happen - however - if like now it's only the occasional episode of Doctor Who or Glee then the upstairs project can take a long time!

This Summer Night Top took a long time (elapsed) to make - but it's actually a pretty quick project if you work on it for more than an hour a week!

I can see some great possibilities for modifications to this pattern - as I think the basic shape is quite versatile. For instance, I think it would look great in a silk yarn with a plain body and perhaps some beads along the yoke.

The body is a four row repeat - with one cable intensive row where pretty much every stitch is part of a cable. And for this it is definitely worth learning to cable without a cable needle -- as it speeds up the process (not least because it saves the inevitable "where is my cable needle, I just had it two seconds ago" faff).

I don't always find the no cable needle cabling a timesaver, and for occasional or large cables I generally still use a needle - but for these very frequent 3 stitch cables it made a big difference.

There are many good tutorials out there - Knitty has a good one, and here's a Youtube version. I use the method in the Youtube version - but the principles are the same - you rearrange the stitches on the needle (by slipping them off - eek) before you knit them. It can seem awkward (and scary when the stitches are off the needle!) but practise will take care of that. And in this project you'll get lots of practise!

The yoke of the top is knit separately, a simple 6 row lace pattern. To get the curve, two of the 6 rows are short rows (ie knit on only 13 stitches instead of 23).

I wasn't convinced that the square body pieces and the rounded yoke would join up in any way that made sense but somehow they did.

I used 4 mm needles and 6 skeins of Pima Tencel from Cascade Yarns (it was the recommended yarn, reasonably priced and has a great colour selection). It's a cotton and Tencel blend.

It's intended to be a birthday present for my best friend -- and amazingly that's not for another 3 weeks!

Downstairs knitting - where the wedding ring shawl work is happening - continues. As I expect it will for a loooooonnnnnnggggg time!

Knitting on....and on....

2010-05-23T13:36:00.000+01:00

The Wedding Ring Shawl is made up of three components -- the centre square, the wide border and finally the narrow edging.

The centre square (which I've just finished) (WooHoo!) is knit back and forth on 250ish stitches for 362 rows. By my reckoning that's about 90,000 stichest -- a third of the total shawl.

If I didn't have a lot of experience (and therefore faith) in the miraculous properties of blocking to turn this mess into something gorgeous when it's comopleted I think I'd have given up long before now.

But I haven't given up and now I get ready to face the wide border -- where knitting endurance is tested beyond all reason.

In preparation for the wide border I will pick up stitches along each of the other three sides of the centre square and begin to knit round the square. To keep the corners 'corner-like' I'll be increasing every second row at each of the corners.

That means the wide border rows begin with 980 stitches per row/round, and grows to almost 1300.

All of that to say that for the next little while - Wedding Ring Shawl updates are going to be even duller than they have been!!

Knit Misty for Me

2010-05-18T16:29:00.000+01:00

On Friday I stopped into John Lewis on the way home from work to buy something to store my shoes in and just happened (ha!) to wander into the yarn section. I love the John Lewis yarn section - there is something reassuring to me about a department store that still stocks yarn. Most stopped by the end of the 80's but John Lewis and Liberty are hanging in there.

Anyway - I caught sight of the latest Kim Hargreaves pattern collection - Misty - and after a few seconds flipping through the pages I knew it was another winner. I've made quite a few of Kim's patterns over the past couple of years as gifts - and each one has been really well received. She has a great eye for detail and her designs are fresh enough that my 15 year old goddaughter loves them, but have enough style that my (slightly older than 15 years old) sister likes them as well.

I picked up a few skeins for Rowan Fine Milk Cotton and will be making one or the other of these for gorgeous goddaughter Genevieve's 16th birthday in July. I'm leaning towards the first one.....

In Wedding Ring Shawl news I'm still knitting.
I still have a lot of knitting to do.
The end.

(I've just started the 5th repeat - so another 100ish rows and I'll be ready to start the wide border.)

Tea Cosies for the Family

2010-05-10T19:22:00.000+01:00

A few weeks ago I mentioned that Marie Curie is doing some fundraising on a Blooming Great Tea Party theme - which includes a competition to design a tea cosy and win some goodies from Cath Kidston (who is also on the judging panel). It turns out they also have a couple of very cute tea cosy patterns for sale -- so if you don't want to design your own (or even if you do) you can support the charity with these cuties....

Mom and Dad tea cosies! (Actually, I don't think the girl one is necessarily Mom - but it works for me.) I love them. The balding dad makes me laugh.

(Copyright for both pictures belongs to Marie Curie Cancer Care - used here with kind permission.)

How perfect for a family gathering. You can buy the pdf patterns at the Marie Curie shop - here's Mom and here's Dad.

I still haven't started my tea cosy because I've been very busy knitting away on the shawl that'll never end. My Mom is intrigued by the shawl and asks for progress reports each week -- I wish there was an interesting way to say 'still knitting'. She's very sceptical that it will fit through a wedding ring so now I've got the pressure to make sure I get that right as well!!

I'm about 15 rows short of the 3rd repeat - about halfway through the centre square.

When I did my sums last week I omitted 52 rows of the centre - so the 313,000 stitch total was understated by about 14,000. Oh well, what's a few thousand stitches between friends.

I'm really enjoying this project so far -- even the fact that it'll be months (and months) (and possibly months) before I'm done doesn't seem to dampen my enthusiasm. It took a while to get used to the teeny weeny yarn but now that I have, and now that the the pattern is familiar it's a pleasure to knit away while listening to Jeremy Irons read Brideshead Revisited. I think I could listen to Jeremy Irons read the dictionary -- such an amazing voice.

The Shawl of a Gazillion Stitches begins with a Single Repeat

2010-05-02T11:08:00.000+01:00

The war on moths continues. I haven't seen any of the flying devils since last week but I understand from my research that you can't let your guard down. About 90% of my stash was already in zip lock bags, this scare means now all of it is. Food has been banished from my little freezer - to make room for the yarn. Each bag is being frozen for 3 days - it'll take a while to get through all of it!

In more positive news I've finished the first repeat of the centre of the Wedding Ring Shawl.

I was quite chuffed until I did the foolish thing of calculating the total number of stitches in the shawl.

My rough math says it's over 313,000 stitches. So, my first repeat (16,926 stitches) is about 5% of the total shawl.

Phew.

I'm knitting the shawl with a cashmere silk blend gossamer yarn that is thread-like thin from Heirloom Knitting. It's gorgeously soft and my only (slight) quibble is that it is a bit splitty sometimes. I was amazed that yarn that thin could split - but it can!

Nobody Panic.

2010-04-23T16:58:00.000+01:00

Take a deep breath.

And remember they can't travel via the world wide web.

Perhaps you should sit down.

I've got MOTHS!!!!!

It doesn't look like they've found my stash. (But I'm freezing it all anyway.)(Well, in batches - my freezer isn't very big!)

I haven't found any clothes damage (yet) - but I'm washing and/or dry cleaning every single thing I own.

They have made good headway on the carpet -- hiding under a bunch of shoes I never wear. Luckily I've always hated the carpet - so I'm going to rip it all out and have some wood floors put in.

So no time for knitting. I've got wool to save!!!!!!!!

In Spring a Young (ish)(in her heart) Knitter's Thoughts Turn to...

2010-04-18T14:32:00.001+01:00

Tea Cosies!

My lack of focus continues so I've decided to just go with the flow for the time being! And the flow this week has me thinking about tea cosies.

Some of you will recall my last cosy knitting phase -- it led to these 4 beauties.

Recently someone from the Marie Curie Cancer Care fundraising group found my cosies and let me know about their latest fundraising event - 'Blooming Great Tea Party' and design a tea cosy competition!

Although I like the Tea Party idea (who doesn't love a tea party!)(scones - yumm) and have decided to hold a small but elegant party to raise a bit of money it's the tea cosy competition that has my attention this week. I've been swatching up a storm and drinking gallons of tea for inspiration - but so far all I've got to show for it are lots of swatches and an empty tea canister.

Luckily I've got until the end of August to complete my masterpiece as that is when the competition ends. (Entries will be displayed and raffled at the London Knitting and Stitching Show in October.)

In non-tea cosy news I've made a bit of progress on the socks and managed to not cast on any new ones! (Well, not that I recall.) In a slightly more surprising move I am pretty sure that I'm going to put the Queen Susan aside for now and cast on the Wedding Ring Shawl. I have no rational explanation for this but ever since the Wedding Ring Shawl pattern arrived it's been calling to me. And I'm a sucker for a knitting pattern that calls to me.

For my non-lace obsessed readers a Wedding Ring Shawl is a traditional shawl knit with very fine yarn which should be fine enough to be pulled through a wedding ring. This particular pattern will be approximately 5 ft - 6 ft square when it's done.

Of course given my current attention span you may pop by next week to discover I've taken up matchstick models.

Where's my Stick-to-it-ness Gone?

2010-04-09T15:28:00.001+01:00

Jessica gently pointed out that although the pictures of niece Dylann's socks were nice the first time....they start to smell just a little after the 5th trip!! (She was far kinder - but I know what she meant.)

And in the course of deciding what to blog about -- I discovered that my stick-to-it-ness has up and gone. I have lost the ability to focus. Let me take you through the evidence.

First, the Queen Susan - is exactly where it was the last time I blogged about it. I was going to pick it up but somewhere in my brain I seem to be hatching a plan to start the Wedding Ring Shawl (the pattern arrived in the post a few weeks ago). Clearly this is a silly thing to do right now so I just parked the idea...and the Queen Susan.

Knitting socks for Dyl reminded me of two things - first - that I like making socks - and second - that there is someone who really deserves some socks and has been waiting (probably without any hope) for a long time for them. With this in mind I picked up some Duet Sock Yarn and started knitting. (And yes - in my experience it does always make these lovely little stripes.)

I have pretty much completed this pair -- but here you can see the first signs of un-stick-to-it-ness - the ends aren't woven in.

Then I started these Embossed Leaves socks (from Favourite Socks)...

...and for some reason that I can't quite remember I became obsessed with buying a set of the shorter Knit Pro (Knit Picks) sock needles. This forced me out to IKnit where I bought the sock needle set and some more sock yarn - . (Because really, what I need is more sock yarn.)(Sigh.)

The Knit Pro needles are shorter than I was expecting when the obsession began -- in my head they were 5 inches -- but in real life they are four inches (feel free to make your own joke here about size). I haven't decided yet whether I like them or not.

On my way home from IKnit I started another pair of socks with the new yarn. I actually made it to the second sock, right down to the toe before I abandoned them ...

....because gorgeous goddaughter Genevieve pointed out that I had made no progress on the Summer Night Top for Caroline. So I picked that up, finished the front and cast on for the back and worked diligently on that for about 10 rows before I....

.... I cast on these socks (Colinette sock yarn).

Most worrying of all - I've come across this sock in progress -- and I have no recollection of when I cast it on. Is it possible to have sock knitting blackouts?

My goal now is to find my sock sitck-to-it-ness and finish these babies so I can get on to some serious lace knitting....

Tourist Socks

2010-03-22T17:44:00.007Z

The past 10 days my knitting had to be portable so that it could accompany me as I guided the delightful Dylann (my niece) and the angelic Alina (her friend) around the sights of London as they used March break to escape from the stresses of grade 12.

We began with the obligatory bus tour. I'm a fan of the bus tour - it gives the new London visitor a good overview of the sights and I always learn a new fact (or probably more accurately get reminded of an interesting fact that I learned last time but forgot). The tour also provides 2 hours of knitting time so I cast on a pair of socks using a gorgeous blue, green 'Duet' yarn from the Swell Yarn Shop. I love Duet Sock Yarn - the colours are gorgeous and it's great to work with. I finished a few inches before the tour ended.

In order to keep the neat little rows of colour and avoid pooling I replaced my usual heel flap with a short row heel -- a first for me! I think the heel flap will still be my 'go to' heel but it's nice to have another option in the repetoire.

I joined the kids for some shopping, visits to the galleries (I love the National Gallery and the Tate Modern amuses/baffles/annoys me!) and at performances of the Lion King and Les Mis. But as I've visited all of the big sights once (or twice!) I fell into a nice pattern of guiding them to attractions, finding the nearest Starbucks (not really selected for the coffee, more for the comfy chairs) and knitting away happily while they toured the Clink Prison, the Globe, the London Eye, Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, St Paul's, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Madame Tussaud's, and of course glorious Greenwich Park.

This meant that by the time I packed them back off to Canada Dyl was not only well acquainted with the sights and history of London she was also the proud owner of two new pairs of socks. (The second pair was a pair of ribbed socks in DK weight yarn - Opal yarn. (I think.))

In return I had a week of a lot of laughs, lots of my favourite card game (and winning! Ha!) and singing our favourite songs.

A pretty good deal I think!

It's all about perspective

2010-03-08T17:49:00.006Z

On Friday my friendly Amazon delivery man delivered my new television. I didn't particularly need a new television - my old one worked fine (although it isn't digital)(or HD) - but the mood just struck me and because Amazon Prime makes these things all too simple a day later my new 37" HD telly arrived. Too (foolish)(impatient)(both probably) to wait for help I risked my arms, back and the warranty by lugging the thing up two flights of stairs.

A few expletives and close calls later the tv was unpacked and set up. And suddenly, my old television, which seemed fine to me before looked TINY. Like some sort of handheld tv you'd carry with you on a coach trip and the new tv seems HUGE. Like a cinema screen.

And what does this have to do with knitting you are probably asking (to be honest I forgot myself) -- but it will all become clear (as soon as I remember).

When last we met I was ready to start the Queen Susan - the yarn was ordered and the pattern downloaded and printed (all 70 pages worth!).

The yarn arrived and it is gorgeous. But holy fine yarn batman! It's so thin!

For comparison here's a snap of some yarns I've used for projects over the past couple of years. There's the chunky yarn I used for Gen's caridigans, the aran weight yarn I used for my sister's Nantucket Jacket*, a dk weight, a sock weight, Jaggerspun Zephyr laceweight (a laceweight yarn I used for lots of my lace shawls) and the yarn I'm using for the Queen Susan.

Look how fine the Queen Susan yarn is -- it's no thicker than thread! Suddenly that laceweight Zephyr looks chunky.

But it is BEAUTIFUL yarn. Some of you may recall my whinging about the Shetland lace yarn I used for the Lerwick Shawl -- it was quite uneven and felt really fragile at some points. This yarn (designed and spun to the genius Fleegle's specifications and dyed by Artist's Palette) is evenly spun and doesn't make me feel it's a stitch away from snapping.

Working with a yarn this fine requires good pointy needles. I started the project with some standard Addi's but that was torture -- the pont wasn't nearly pointy enough. A trip to iKnit later and I was zooming along with a pair of Knit Pro (Knit Pick) circulars. (Zoom being a relative term.)

I haven't actually made much real progress - I did two repeats of the alternative centre before I decided that I wanted to make the original centre. So back to the starting line and not even a full repeat in this photo.

I've also been working on a pattern called Summer Night Top as a birthday present for Caroline. It's a pattern I fell in love with when I came across it - and I think it'll look great on her.

* Speaking of sweaters that look great on their recipients - here are some snaps of my sister in her Nantucket Jacket. I feel that my blog may be bringing my sister to her true calling as a model -- how fab does the Nantucket look on her??

Is Winter Over Yet??

2010-02-12T13:20:00.010Z

Apparently not.

It's cold, grey and miserable. Again. (Or is that still?)

Still, mustn't grumble and all that. The days are slowly (very slowly) getting longer and at some point surely the sun has got to put in an appearance and the temperature has got to start climbing. Or so I was led to believe in grade school geography lessons.

And of course the cold grey miserable weather does have an upside - it's the perfect excuse for DVD box sets and knitting. (I'm working through the first 5 seasons of Hustle.)(I love a good con.)(Well, in fiction.)(Where the con artists only select evil do-ers and unpleasant greedy creeps as marks.)(Clearly I'm against the general practise in the real world where criminals tend to be less principled.)

While learning the art of the con I finished off the Icarus shawl. (Last Sunday in fact -- but gave up waiting for a bit of sun so I could photograph it!)(See above lament.)

I knit it with 2.5 skeins of Posh Yarn Eva 2ply (about 1000 yards) on 4mm needles.

It's 72 inches across with a drop of 36 inches.

Although many people have complained that knitting the stockinette section was boring I actually found it great DVD knitting and it seemed to work up quite quickly.

Today I made a trip to the post office to pick up the yarn I ordered for the Queen Susan. It's gorgeous and I'm hoping to wind up a skein tonight and cast on over the weekend.

I Found It!

2010-02-04T14:03:00.003Z

I found my next project! I can't wait to cast on.

Hurrah!

I was making my way home from a (frankly) rubbish morning at work. Feeling pretty despondent I uncharacteristically stopped in a the newsagent to see if a trashy magazine might help me feel better. Unfortunately they all seemed to contain Jordan or her latest husband on the cover so I chalked it up to more proof of my rubbish day and turned to leave. (Apologies North American readers but I am not going to explain who Jordan is - you are better off not knowing).

As I was making my way towards the door I caught sight of the latest The Knitter magazine and decided to take a look -- even though I haven't been tempted to buy one in about a year.

I flipped through the pages - and there it was: The Queen Susan!

Beautiful shawl. Tick!

Interesting knitting. Tick!

Will fill many many many many months of knitting. Tick!

Named after me! Tick! (well, sort of - errr - not really, that bit is just a coincidence but it makes me happy)

Of course now I need to order the estimated 6000 (6000!) metres of laceweight. (For you non-knitters out there - most shawls I've made are 1000 metres, some like the Lerwick are over 2000 -- but I've never ever ever tackled something quite this big.)

The Queen Susan is a Shetland shawl pattern that a group of knitters on Ravelry -- co-ordinated by the ever so amazing Fleegle -- recreated from a 100 year old photo. They have published the pattern as a free pattern with a request that you donate to the Shetland Museum.

This little bit of serendipity is further proof that my inspiration was dry because of my blog reading negligence!! I am fairly confident that when I do begin my catch up - I'll find lots more about how the pattern came together on Fleegle's and other blogs.

Knitting just to be knitting.....

2010-01-30T11:10:00.011Z

(Gorgeous god-daughter Gen says thanks to everyone for their kind comments on her first knitting project! She has worn the hat to school where it is a hit.

And look - she's started on the mitts. I've convinced her that knitting in the round on dpn's is no harder than knitting on two needles and she's flying along.)

My own knitting so far this year hasn't been particularly exciting and I find myself working on projects just because I want to be knitting and not because the project itself particularly inspires me.

I started a Desert Rose shawl by Renee Leverington (aka Goddess Knits) as part of a knitalong on Ravelry. But after finishing the first chart I've come to the conclusion that I'd really prefer the pattern in a much finer yarn....so it has sort of stalled and sadly I think it will be relegated to the frog pond soon. The colour is perfect I think --- I just need to find it in a finer laceweight and then I'll start the pattern over again.

I also started an Icarus shawl in this gorgeous blue Posh Yarn Eva 2ply. Posh Yarn is lovely hand dyed yarn which has joined the ranks of limited supply but HUGE demand yarns - and rightly so. The colours are gorgeous and the base yarns are always high quality. I haven't been fast enough to snag some in the Sunday night scrum for ages but happily I do have a nice stash I scored just before its popularity went through the roof!

As with the Desert Rose I'm not convinced I've paired the right yarn to the pattern but despite these misgivings it continues to grow as the pattern is easy enough to work on mindlessly while watching Columbo re-runs. (Lately I've developed this really peculiar fondness for Columbo on Sunday afternoons.)

Knitting that I'm knitting just to be knitting is fine -- but I really want a project to inspire me. One that has me obsessively knitting far into the night and forgetting to get on with other (probably more important) things. And as I was wondering why that inspiration well seemed dry at the moment I realised it is probably because I'm so far behind on my blog reading. Ravelry and its pattern search are useful tools -- but my best source of inspiration over the past couple of years has been other blogs. So tomorrow is blog catch up and be inspired day!! In the meantime if you know of anything you think I might particularly like - let me know.

But before I can commence the great blog catch up of 2010 I need to do my taxes today. The deadline is midnight tomorrow so if I get them done today it will mark the first time in ages I've done them (sort of) early! Fingers crossed for a refund.

Look at What I Made!

2010-01-22T14:07:00.009Z

A knitter!!!

Some of you may recall that last year I gave gorgeous god-daughter Genevieve her first knitting lesson -- and she was a bit of a natural.

Hoping to encourage her I gave her some needles and a skein of Noro Silk Garden and helped her cast on for a hat. She completed a few rows of the knit 2 purl 2 pattern and I sent her home with instructions to complete 30 rows.... and then it went a bit quiet.

I didn't like to ask her too much about it as I didn't want her to feel obligated to knit. As much as I love knitting, I can appreciate why it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea.

Anyway - last night Gen

turned up for our usual pizza and

gossip evening and just as I popped in The Office (American version) DVD Gen announced she had something to show me and dashed off brought out AN ALMOST COMPLETED HAT!

How talented is she?! One knitting lesson and she goes off and produces 30 amazing rows with no help!

I taught her how to decrease and she finished off the final few rows in no time at all. I did the seam for her and there it was..... a hat!

She popped it on her head and her smile and squeals of delight told me she was hooked. Next week we cast on for matching fingerless mitts!

It might seem a bit early to declare anything 'the best of the year' yet -- but I'm pretty confident this little hat will be my favourite finished object of 2010.

Last of 2009

2010-01-10T16:17:00.004Z

Happy 2010! Hope it's off to a good start for all of you. I've been back in London for a week and Christmas seems like forever ago. But before I can move the blog out of the noughties I need to catch you up on my Christmas knitting.

Christmas sneaking up on me meant that I hadn't actually started any Christmas knitting before December which allowed me to be creative in my knitting planning/timetable. Due to comings and goings of the recipients I needed my Mom's first (for the 25th), my niece's for the 27th, my sister's for a day or two after that and goddaughter Gen's for when I returned.

My plan was clear, start with Mom's and get most (or all) of it done before I got to NB. While there I could knit up my niece's and my sister's gift and then work on Gen's on the way back. Easy peasy.

Pah.

Suffice to say that the knitting gods weren't working any miracles for me. In combination with changing schedules (my sister was now coming BEFORE Christmas) this meant my sister received a ball of wool and some buttons (with a note proclaiming them to be Magic Wool which if left with a friendly knitter woud become a Nantucket Jacket), my mom got a box with cardigan pieces and a promise that I'd seam them up soon. My niece and goddaughter fared better and both got completed gifts! WooHoo!

Ma's gift was the Katharine Hepburn cardigan (available as a free pattern from Knitting Daily) in Rowan 4ply Cashsoft (not Rowan pure wool as I mistakenly said last time!). I used smaller needles than called for -- 3.5mm for the body and about 10 skeins of Rowan 4ply Cashsoft for the middle size.

The pattern is clear and it's a pleasant knit. Simple 12 row repeat - relaxing with just enough going on to keep your interest. The yarn is gorgeoously soft and great to knit with. I seriously underestimated how long the cardigan would take to knit -- and had to resort to knitting it in front of my Mom to make any progress at all! (It was a desperate move - but proved that all knitting looks the same to non-knitters. I told her it was my sister's cardigan and she believed me!)

Mom seemed very happy with the gift which made it all worthwhile. (Apologies for the photo -- my fault for photographing it in a hurry just before I left!)

My sister's cardigan is the Nantucket Jacket from Interweave Knits (also in the Winter 2006 Interweave Knits magazine). Knit in Rowan Pure Wool Aran (just over 4 skeins) on 5 mm needles it was a quick knit. If I were to make it again I'd change the collar shaping. I haven't seen it on my sister yet so I can't declare it a success or failure - as I think the fit of this cardigan is key.

My niece Kali got a wrap which some of you will find familiar -- I made the same wrap last year for my goddaughter! It's based on the Aimee wrap in Kim Hargreaves Thrown Together collection. I realised today that the only photo I took of Kali's is this one - which shows off the label but doesn't do the wrap itself much justice.

It is 3 skeins of Kidsilk Haze knit double on 5.5mm needles. As a reminder here is a photo of Gen's so you can see what the wrap looks like unfolded!

The last knitted (oops crocheted) gift of 2009 was a Flourish scarf from Kim Hargreaves Heartfelt. It worked up quickly on a 9mm hook - especially as I didn't include the fiddly beads. I used 5 skeins of Kid Silk Haze (the pattern says 4) and it is the fluffiest thing ever. Perfect for a 15 year old in the coldest UK winter in 40 years I think!

Enough of 2009 -- I'm off to find some knitting projects for 2010. If I had learned any lessons from this Christmas of course I'd be starting on gifts for next year --- but I haven't!

That time of the year again....

2009-12-18T11:09:00.020Z

(Before I share this year's gingerbread house with you a quick update on the mom cardigan -- progress is slow! Yesterday in the airport lounge I triumphantly got to the last row of the back -- only to discover I'd missed 10 decreases in the underarm shaping. Aaaaarrrrgggghhh! I have given up on finishing it before I arrive and have accepted that I'm going to have to undertake stealth knitting at night when she's asleep in order to have it ready for the 25th.

Now back to the real reason for this post!)

It is that time of the year - when I drop my knitting needles and yarn for icing sugar and gingerbread. In preparation for the construction party gorgeous goddaughter Genevieve and I created a slide show of photos of all of the houses built since I began hosting the annual event in 1991. It was a great hit on the day as it played on the big screen in the corner of the room while we got on with this year's masterpiece. The children in particular loved seeing the houses built when they were younger -- and seemed amazed to discover that the tradition was much older than them!!

The order of events remained the same as in previous years. Lots of gingerbread, icing sugar and TONS of sweets mixed in with as much Christmas music* as we can find and a bit of champagne for the adults.

Every year I'm amazed at how creative everyone is. Check out the greenhouse devised by the marvellous Mads (9). (Standing beside it is one of the cutest snowmen ever -- created by the scrumptuous Suzy.) You can't tell from the photos but inside the greenhouse there are benches with lots of beautiful flowers.

Through the years the core team (me, best friend Caroline and her husband Pat)(and each of the minis as they arrived) has remained constant but different people have joined in over the years. Most gingerbread house virgins tend to sit silently by for the first 30 minutes or so and then gingerly pick up a sweet, find some icing no one else is using and heh presto suddenly we have a car...or a tree...or a llama.

I couldn't say that everything we make is immediately identifiable without some explanation -- but sometimes that is half the fun. And sometimes things aren't even identifiable with LOTS of explanation and those are often my favourites! (Also, the rules are that all mistakes can be eaten -- so they are also quite yummy!)

Children have their own logic -- Louis (7) for example made a great little igloo and then at the last minute added the snowballs all over it. Did I feel silly when Louis patiently explained that that is how the penguins store their snowballs for snowball fights.

And speaking of penquins how fantastic is this penguin Caroline created out of licorice allsorts?

Gorgeous goddaughter Genevieve created this amazing well -- marvellous Mads supplied the bucket.

Around the side of the house you find Pat' contribution this year -- a lovely river complete with a dock, a sailboat ....

...and the loch ness monster (created by my friend Shirl).

If that poor penquin sailor (another Caroline creation) didn't have enough to worry about with the loch ness monster ....

it seems he's about to be attacked by a shark!

And if that doesn't say Christmas I don't know what does!!

That's it for me for this year. I'm about to enter the no-internet land my parents inhabit but I'll be back in 2010 (eek 2010!) to fill you in how I got on with the Christmas knitting. Until then I hope you all have a lovely holiday season however you spend it!

It's Shogun all over again....

2009-12-11T15:30:00.006Z

Many years ago when I was in high school I had to do an oral book report for English class. This was with the lovely Mr Parks who was one of my very favourite teachers ever. Anyway. It was Thursday and the report was due the following Tuesday -- I think it was Easter weekend as I recall having the Friday and Monday off.

So on Thursday off I go to the library to pick a book. I expect we had more notice but I've always been a bit of a last minute sort of person. (Bit of shock for you all there with that revelation!) I wander up and down, picking up and dismissing books until I suddenly find the exact book I want to do for the book report. Shogun.

Shogun.

1136 pages.

I could have picked Of Mice and Men - 128 pages. Or any of the other of books with far few than 1136 pages. Because with 4 days to the due date that would have been sensible.

But I didn't. I chose Shogun. All 1136 pages. Because for some reason - when I make these sorts of decisions I seem to think I'm not limited by the laws of time.

4 days of reading reading and more reading. Reading late into the night. I expect I ate at some points. And probably slept. But mostly I remember reading. I finished on the way to school that Tuesday morning.

All that effort and Mr Parks decided to give everyone another week to finish their books.....

Why do I bore you with tales of my grade 11 book report? Because I've chosen the cardigan for my mom's Christmas present.

Did I select a short stockinette or garter stitch cardigan in aran or dk yarn?

No.

I've gone for Katherine Hepburn Jacket (free pattern from Knitting Daily) in 4 ply yarn. The long version. Naturally.

I finally made it to John Lewis yesterday to buy the yarn (and big up the staff in the yarn department at John Lewis - very helpful and very friendly)....anyway I made it to John Lewis and after much umming and ahhing between Rowan 4 ply tweed and Rowan pure wool 4 ply I pick the tweed, they find me right dye lots, I pay up and head home.

I count the number of knitting hours between now and when I arrive at my Mom and Dad's next Friday - panic a bit - and then cast on. I knit away. But I'm not happy. The yarn isn't working.

Maybe it'll improve after a few more rows....so I knit about 20 rows and I'm still not feeling the love.

I sleep on it (well, not literally on it - it remains downstairs in the knitting area and I go to bed).

When I look at it in the bright light of day I decide I was right - the yarn is wrong.

So I schlep back to Oxford St (can you see the valuable, limited knitting hours slipping away?) I go to Liberty (because I'm too embarassed to back to John Lewis after they worked so hard to get me the number of skeins I needed yesterday) and buy the Rowan pure wool 4 ply.

I cast on on the way home and immediately I'm happier. I knit a few rows and I know I was right to make the change. This is knitting up much better The cables look fab. I'm knitting faster and I'm happy.

Happy and deluded. Of course I still don't have enough hours left......and I've got a gingerbread house to construct on Sunday....and.....

...and somehow I don't think Mr Parks can give us an extension on Christmas!

In Which the Big Black Blob Blossoms Beautifully with Blocking

2009-12-04T15:52:00.016Z

The Lerwick Lace Shawl is finished -- and I'm very pleased!

It was knit with just over 6 25 gm skeins of Shetland 1 ply which caused me a bit (ok more than a bit!) of concern during the knitting (at points it was threadlike thin) but it blocked out beautifully. The shawl is one of the lightest and airiest bits of knitting I've ever produced.

(Photographing the shawl has been a challenge. These few images are the best I could do I'm afraid. Black lace and overcast rainy days are not a great camera combo!)

I used 2.75 mm needles - first Kollage square needles which I hated and which eventually snapped leaving a lot (a lot!) of live stitches dangling in the wind.

Apart from the trauma of the snapping needle it was a pretty straightforward project. The pattern (from Heirloom Knitting) is straightforward enough but as I think I mentioned before because Sharon Miller likes to provide so much background and so many options there is a slight frustration when you just want to knit!

There is one motif in the pattern (the second diamond insert in the wide border) that even after blocking I don't like - it just looks a bit messy. If I were to make the shawl again I'd replace it with something else.

I blocked the shawl on the floor of my guest room which is frankly a great reminder that I'm not really young enough to be crawling around the floor for an hour or two.....Every time I thought I was done I seemed to start all over again as I 'd decide to movethe pins out 'just one more inch'!

Now that the shawl is out of the way and I've accepted (almost) that it is December (to be honest that still freaks me out)(how can it be December already???) --it is time to get busy with a few gifts I've got planned for this year. The most important is a cardigan for my mom.

Any and all classic looking (but not dull) cardigan suggestions gratefully appreciated!!

The End of the Blob is Nigh!

2009-12-02T15:30:00.004Z

WooHoo!!

What do you mean it's almost December??????

2009-11-29T11:25:00.009Z

I'm sure just last week it was the middle of August -- somehow I'm supposed to believe that next week is December??????

I can only hope that none of you are quite as surprised by that newsflash as I am.

Knitting has taken a back seat this fall to work - which has been pretty busy. It started to slow down a couple of weeks ago and I bought Season 7 of 24 (I'm an addict) and prepared myself to settle in with some serious knitting on the blob. But things didn't go quite to plan as my sister emailed me with a last minute request for a couple of pairs of socks for a charity auction. So the blob was put on hold again and I made socks while Jack got busy saving the planet (again).

This week my sister confirmed the socks arrived safe and sound, providing a bit of time to drum up some interest before the auction which is next weekend. It is hard to predict how much they might make -- as we knitters know reactions to hand knit socks vary from "why bother? you can get 3 pairs of socks for a fiver at Walmart" to genuine appreciation for the time and materials and love of craft that goes into them. Who knows who'll be at this particular auction! I'll report back on how they do as soon as I hear.

In other knitting news the blob is now getting some long overdue attention and it is slowly breaking free as I work through the 1800 short rows that will create the edge.

I'm making good progress but I've just got to the stage where it seems like it will never end. Row after row after row. Giving me lots of time to worry about the yarn snapping when I get to blocking!

That's all for now. Off to make some lunch. My friend and I made a batch of perogies yesterday - and even though we had a massive supper of them last night I think I'll have to save a few that were destined for the freezer and cook them up for lunch!!!

The Blob Grows Slowly

2009-08-22T11:12:00.004+01:00

Now that the needle trauma is over there isn't much say about the Lerwick Lace Shawl.

It grows.

But slowly.

120 rows of 800 stitches take a while at the best of times. But when work is busy, and the weather is so nice that any free time you do have you want to spend outdoors -- well, those 120 rows of 800 stitches don't get much attention!

I mentioned previously that I was finding the yarn (1 ply cobweb Shetland wool) quite uneven, and in places worryingly thin. Land o' Lace reported that she had a similar experience with the yarn -- and it even snapped in a few blaces during blocking. Eeeeek!

Anyway - I bring this up again because getting yarn that won't disappoint you in a project of this size is pretty important. If you are going to knit a gazillion stitches you don't want to be let down by the yarn at the end.

That's why I was so pleased this morning that while avoiding work by reading blogs I discovered that the very talented Fleegle has opened an Etsy shop. Fleegle knits gorgeous lace and knows more about yarn in her little finger than I do in my whole body (or whatever that expression is that means she knows a heck of a lot more than most people).

She's selected some yarns that she particularly likes for lace work and has dyed them some gorgeous colours. Not surprisingly I found myself placing an order immediately.

With Fleegle doing the selecting I am confident the yarn will be perfect -- I can't wait for it to arrive!! Stuff is moving off the shelves pretty quickly (no surprise there!) but do check it out if you're in the market for yarn for a lace shawl.

Oh My shiny new Knit Pick (or Pro) Needle - How do I love thee?

2009-08-16T12:31:00.009+01:00

After last week's catastrophe with the Kollage square needle I was overjoyed when my shiny new Knit Pick (Knit Pro here in the UK) 2.75mm needle arrived yesterday morning. This morning I treated myself to a strong extra shot latte and sat down to tackle the recovery.

Things seem to have gone well and I think (hope) there won't be any noticeable goofs after the blocking does its stuff.

Working with the ever dependable Knit Pick needle this morning I realised just how much I didn't like the Kollage circular needle - even before it snapped. The stitches caught on the join on the Kollage needles and the weight of the work seemed to bend the cable at the join exacerbating the problem. In fact I think that is what caused the eventual break - the cable at the join got weaker with every row until it broke off entirely.

The tips of the needles were comfortable to work with and pointy enough for lace -- but I'm unlikely to try them again any time soon until I know whether my experience was a one off.

Jomama asked about lifelines in the comments. First I guess I should confess that I never use them - in fact, I had never heard of lifelines until about 2 years ago. However, my not using them isn't to say that I don't think they are a good idea -- just that I'm too set in my ways to start using them at this late stage in my knitting career.

Lifelines (as the name suggests) protect your work in the event of dropping some stitches or finding an error or having your needle snap. Basically a lifeline is a thread (dental floss is often recommended) that you run through all the stitches of a row - usually with a blunt tapestry needle. Then if you do face a catastrophe you simply rip back to the lifeline row and pick up the stitches from the lifeline. The frequency of lifelines depends on the complexity of the lace and the level of risk you are willing to take! Some people use a lifeline every repeat, or in the case of a very complicated shawl (with long rows!) every single row.

There are some good lifeline tutorials here and here and here is one with a great Knit Picks Options trick.

And look! It's that time of year again....I'm knitting little hats (16 so far) for Innocent Smoothies Big Knit campaign.

If you've got some spare yarn and a few minutes why not knit one or two yourself? Apart from keeping Smoothies cosy in Sainsbury fridges 35p from each hatted smoothie sold goes to Age Concern to help keep the elderly warm over the winter.

I was going to.....

2009-08-08T15:04:00.010+01:00

I was going to blog a couple of photos of my progress on the Lerwick Lace shawl.

You know, the usual stuff. Probably this photo of it all bunched up on the needles not looking like much of anything.

And then maybe this photo of the progress on the border.

It wasn't going to be an exciting update and I thought maybe I'd pep it up with some links to some inspiring knitting happening out there in blogland. (I am waaaaaaaaa-aaaaa-aaaay behind on my blog reading but made some progress this week.)

Well, that's what I was going to do.

UNTIL.

Until this morning while I was knitting one of the 800ish stitch rounds and suddenly I felt something snap.

"Oh no!" I thought. "The yarn has snapped."

But no. It wasn't the yarn. It was worse. Much worse.

It was my needle! Yep - my needle! The cable snapped off from the needle end and there hanging loose were lots of scary looking stitches.

Naturally while carefully picking up these stitches I managed to lose more stitches as the cable slipped through the work.

There was a lot of swearing.

A lot of very not knitterly, very not ladylike swearing.

I think I've picked up the stitches. And I think it's ok. But I've set it aside for now and will correct any that got away a little later.

When I've stopped swearing.

P.S. Lately a couple of queries have been left in comments - but blogger won't let me see the email addresses. So if you have left a question (or have one now) you can send me an email at thingssoolikes AT gmail DOT com. I promise not to swear in my reply!

P.P.S. For the curious knitters out there the needles were Kollage square(!) needles. I was going to do a little review of them as this is the first time I've used them for lace. I expect now it's probably best if I don't!

A Head Cosy....and some lace

2009-07-26T11:37:00.010+01:00

Continuing the theme of knitting that looks better with someone in it I present the Loopy Ewe Tea Cosy -- modelled by gorgeous goddaughter Gen. We were rearranging my kitchen/dining room furniture and somehow the cosy ended up on her head.

Despite the warm weather the pizza delivery guy didn't seem to find the cosy hat odd which does make you wonder what else has greeted him on his deliveries.

On the knitting front I've started a lace shawl - Lerwick Lace from Heirloom Knitting. The pattern is included in a booklet which provides background on the history of shetland lace knitters and designs - and guidance and tips on different approaches to knitting the shawl which is made up of 3 distinct components. Although I can appreciate the value of this information I confess that when I started the shawl I found myself muttering - 'just tell me what to do'!

I'm making the shawl with a black cobweb 1 ply shetland wool on 2.75 mm needles. The yarn is quite uneven. In a few places it becomes a worrying sewing thread thickness which makes me nervous about breaks - but so far so good.

The construction of the shawl that I'm using starts on the inside and works outward. I've just completed the centre which is knit back and forth on 149 stitches for 289 rows.

Next I'll pick 181 stitches on each side of the square and knit round and round (with a few increases) for 120ish rows. I expect that may take me some time.

When I've done that I'll knit on a narrow 20 stitch edging. That will take forever but will seem even longer - as edgings always do!

I did this little diagram to show how the knitting works. I'm not convinced it makes anything clearer but it took me 15 minutes in PowerPoint so I'm including it anyway.

Ooops? I've got lots of oops....

2009-07-12T14:14:00.014+01:00

On Ravelry recently someone started a thread called "Now show your oops" asking for knitters to post pictures of their mistakes. I considered replying but couldn't decide whether to post the 'destruction of the Babette' or the 'drunken improv knitting' or 'the crown prince denial' or.... And frankly, I didn't have to look to the past -- I could have just picked from the multiple oops'es from my most recent project.

I decided to knit a summer top (Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2003, pattern number 23 - imaginatively titled "sleeveless top") for gorgeous goddaughter Genevieve's 15th birthday. My first oops was the colour. In my continued attempt to use up my stash yarn I chose this green Rowan Calmer cotton/synthetic blend yarn that I bought in the sales last year. It really isn't a Genevieve colour.

No problem - I just decided to change who I was knitting it for, and suddenly Genevieve's birthday present was a late birthday gift for her mom.

I did swatch for this project but (and that 'but' is the clue to my next oops) but I decided that the slight difference in gauge over 25 stitches wasn't anything to worry about. Natually, you clever knitter readers are shaking your head now, because you know that the slight difference in gauge over 25 makes a big difference over 180 stitches.

And I knew that too - but I ignored it.

Until I had knit about 3 inches up the body and accepted that when a design is meant to be form fitting -- you can't fudge a little bit of gauge -- it was definitely going to be too big.

So off the needles it came. And I started again on smaller needles.

The final oops was just a case of being sloppy with the pattern. I was watching the Gilmore Girls (the Gilmore Girls! I hadn't seen an episode since 2002 when I left Canada to come back to England. But last week I entered the 21st century and have digital tv -- and there they were!)(Although I'm a bit lost as they are showing the final season --so I've missed A LOT. When did Rory's father come back? Why did Laurelei and Luke breakup? Where's Dean?) Anyway--I was catching up on the Gilmore Girls and suddenly noticed I had missed some YO, SSK action over about 10 rows.

I dropped the stitches and reworked them to get the YO and SSK's in the right place. If you're new at this sort of repair I can confirm it is easier than it looks. It often looks sloppy but that can be fixed by using a blunt darning needles to pull the excess yarn into the neighbouring stitches. After washing and blocking it looks fine!

The finished top looks ok - but I don't think it shows off well on a hanger. If I manage to get a picture of the top on Caroline I'll post it.

Speaking of things looking better with people in them here is a photo my sister sent me of herself (without her head) wearing her brand new Kim Hargreaves cardigan! Doesn't it look great?

I've just started a lace project -- which I think will take me the rest of the summer to finish at my current knitting levels. More details next post!

Waddya Mean 'Not Knitting'?

2009-06-21T18:42:00.008+01:00

I expect this post is sort of that 'tree falling in the forest' type of post -- we'll answer that age old question if a blogger suddenly blogs after a long and unexplained absence does anyone read?

When last I blogged I was on a bit of a strange scarf in summer thing. I had just completed the very colourful drop knit scarf (good news - there is now an errata on the Vogue site!). A couple of other scarf projects were waiting in the wings (until today) for blogdom and since then -- I haven't knit a stitch.

Not a stitch. None. Zero.

Crazy.

The new job and learning the vagaries of HMRC (taxes!) has kept me occupied I guess....but I'm keen to start something soon. It was my best friend's birthday today and I took her out on Thursday for some yummy cocktails (cocktail bar near London Bridge called The Old Scho ol Yard)(comfy sofas, nice staff and amazing drinks - heaven!) and dinner and she turned up wearing some skinny white jeans, a black t-shirt and the wrap I made for gorgeous goddaughter Genevieve at Christmas. (We won't depress ourselves too much by dwelling on a woman who can fit into her 15 year old daughter's clothes.) The point was that she looked fabulous and it inspired me to make something for Gen's birthday.

But I'm still in inspired rather than 'doing' mode so I'll finish up this post with a bit more about last month's scarf mania.

Around the time I finished the colourful scarf I also tackled Victorian Ruby from Victorian Lace Today in a pale peach linen yarn. I decided to take the lazy approach to blocking this scarf, I just washed it and then laid it out flat to dry - no wires, no pins. I shaped it so that the ends flare out which I quite like.

It's a useful summer scarf - the linen means it's light and mostly decorative.

I also tackled a wrap in the most luscious sea foam Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend yarn - a single 100 gr skein was enough for this project. I decided it was time to tackle a mobius wrap and discovered that like most things in knitting it's pretty straightforward.

There are a few methods out there (Google is your friend) here's what I did.

I cast on 130 stitches using backward loop method onto some very long and very flexible circular needles. To get the famous 'half twist' on the first row you don't knit into the stitches. Put a marker on your right needles and then you turn all the stitches upside down and knit into the little piece of yarn between the stitches. (This is muchharder to describe than do!)(Probably easier if you have knitting in front of you.) You knit all these 'between stitches' loops until you are back at the beginning -- and NOW you start to knit the stitches you cast on originally. When you are back at your marker you have completed your first round.

I alternated 5 rounds knitting, 5 rounds purling to get the wide bands of stocking and reverse stocking stitch. I just knit until I was almost out of yarn. I cast off and heh presto - there it was.

It's modelled here by gorgeous goddaughter Genevieve, worn fetchingly over her school shirt.

My final scarf project (and perhaps it was this one that caused my mini knitting hiatus) was an attempt to make my mother a pink Ene's Scarf from Scarf Style. My mom likes pink and I found some mystery pink yarn in my stash (unknown brand) and decided it was about the right amount for a scarf.

My mistake was choosing a scarf design that started at the long edge. Scarves that start at the long edge do not give you the option of deciding that the scarf is big enough if you run out of yarn. You can't just decide to do the border in another colour.

Nope - when you run out of yarn on a scarf that starts at the long edge the scarf just taunts you with the gaping hole in the centre of your scarf. It mocks you for deciding to make a scarf that starts at the long edge with a yarn with unknown yardage that you can't even identify a brand, colour or (ha!) a dye lot for.

You can almost hear the scarf laughing in this picture.

It sits on the needles still - waiting for some knitting miracle to deliver another skein of the mystery unbranded yarn. A knitter can dream.

In May A Knitter's Thoughts Turn to....

2009-05-10T11:01:00.019+01:00

...scarves?

I don't get it either. The sun is shining and temperatures are up -- but scarves it is.

The first is this super dooper colourful scarf knit with Noro Sock Yarn. The pattern, the imaginatively titled Drop Stitch Scarf, is in the summer 2009 Vogue Kniting (aka Designer Knitting) magazine.

It's a pattern I expect I wouldn't have noticed if it hadn't been pointed out to me by the very friendly shop assistant at iKnit when I bought the magazine. She suggested it would look fab knit in a yarn with long stripes of colour -- and I agreed.

It was a straightforward project to knit - although I think there were a few errors in the pattern. I just did what I thought made sense and ignored what I decided didn't. There isn't an errata posted yet - so if you decide to make it and want to know what changes I made just let me know.

The horiontal stripes of dropped stitches are made by wrapping the yarn round the needle 3 times for each stitch, and then in the next row knitting into one of the wraps and dropping the other two.

The long vertical strips of dropped stitches are made by dropping a stitch off the needle during the cast off. Of course all knitters know that if you drop a stitch accidentally it will unravel at an alarming speed - particularly if the knitting is complicated. I can confirm though that if you drop a stitch on purpose it will unravel only through brute force. It took over an hour to drop the 6 stitches from the cast off edge back to the cast on!

I used almost all of the skein of yarn - these few yards are my leftovers.

The finished scarf is 15 inches by 72 inches.

More scarf action in the next post!

Now that the lovely weather appears to be settling in I've returned to work. Well, part time work so I can't complain too much! I'm doing some consultancy in the City which I'm actually enjoying.

I've set myself up a little company and I'm currently in the throes of sorting out logos and business cards, registering with Revenue and Customs, and just figuring out what it means to be a limited company in the UK!

I think I'd like to continue as a consultant - it suits my skill set and personality EXCEPT I'm such a rubbish networker/sales person. I'm going to have to work on that.....

CUPCAKES!!
Unrelated to knitting or my attempts at a career change I would like to draw the attention of any readers in London (or surrounding area) to the first ever Iron Cupcake:London Competition! Hosted by the Caked Crusader (who else?) which is due to be held June 1st in central London.

You can attend as a competitor or just to gobble up the lovely cupcakes - either way I expect it's going to be a fab evening!!!

You can find more details on the Caked Crusader's blog or at the Iron Cupcake:London website.

Joy in the Morning

2009-05-04T09:51:00.006+01:00

I've called this post Joy in the Morning for a few reasons.

First, it is indeed morning as I compose this blog entry. (And heh -- given my recent posting activity - just posting should be a cause for joy!)

Second, it is a Bank Holiday here in London and it is NOT raining.

Finally, and most importantly (at least as far as this blog is concerned) I present Joy, a summer cardigan from Kim Hargreaves Nectar collection.

This cardigan was the latest project in my 'working through the stash' drive. I bought the yarn (Rowan Luxury Cotton DK - now discontinued) last summer at the Liberty sale and decided it was time to get it worked up into....something.

The usual aimless flicking through books and magazines followed until I stumbled across this pattern. I decided to make it for my younger sister (surprise!)(I'll find out now if she actually reads the blog or just looks at the pictures) which is of course always a bit of a knitting risk. But I figured I could probably find another pair of shoulders if she decides it isn't quite right for her.

I love Kim Hargreaves style details and the attention she gives to things like lining up the pattern in the sleeves with the body of the cardigan and the scalloped cast on edges.

The pattern is clear although the text for the 'Eyelet Ridge Pattern' could put beginning knitters off - it shouldn't. I think a chart would have been a lot clearer but for some reason they don't appear a lot in Hargreaves' books.

The pattern calls for Rowan Denim yarn - which shrinks (lengthwise) when washed so you may have to do some adjusting to the pattern if you are using something else. Miraculously (more joy!) I just knit and managed to get the right row and stitch gauge without any changes. (I still don't quite believe it myself.)

PS - Apart from being a convenient blog post title Joy in the Morning is a very funny book by PG Wodehouse. If you haven't read any of Wodehouse's Jeeves and Wooster stories do try one. I can't really pick one out over the others as to be honest the plots are all pretty similar -- but that is in no way a criticism. I've read them all more than once and expect to read them all again.

And if you are a fan of Hugh Laurie in House - but haven't experienced the delights of the British series of Jeeves and Wooster from the 90's check out this clip for a bit of House like you've never seen him before!

PPS - In the interest in Truth in Blogging I should confess it is now well past noon (got a bit distracted) and it is now raining. But there's no way I'm changing that title now.

The Story of a Shetland Tea Shawl

2009-03-25T10:15:00.020Z

Once upon a time there was a knitter who couldn't decide what to knit next.

She stared into her stash cupboard for inspiration.

And stared.

Occasionally she would pull out a bag of yarn and stare at it closely. Then she would sigh, put it back and then stare at the cupboard some more.

Eventually she decided this staring approach wasn't going to yield any results so she adopted a 'First in First Out' algorithm and set about finding the oldest yarn in her stash. That turned up this olive green laceweight yarn (Baruffa Cashwool from Lane Borgosesia).

Armed with 1400ish yards of olive green laceweight she turned to her knitting books and realised that despite having owned the book for over a year she had never made anything from A Gathering of Lace.

Flipping through the pages the knitter came across the Shetland Tea Shawl which was a pattern she had admired in the past and it just happened to need 1400ish yards of laceweight.

Hurrah. Pattern selected.

The knitter cast on and the green yarn was slowly turned into a green blob. And the green blob grew and grew. It grew until it was almost a shawl. But wasn't quite a shawl because a shawl needs edging.

In the case of this shawl 1150 rows of edging.

So the knitter began knitting the edge.

And slowly the knitter edged along...

...and along....

....and almost there...

And finally the knitter cast off and inspected her work.

And found a rather uninspiring mess of green noodles trying hard to be a shawl.

But the knitter didn't panic. She knew with a short bath, 115 pins and a few hours drying time these green noodles would become this.

A happy ending!

Shetland Tea Shawl from A Gathering of Lace
Baruffa Cashwool - 1460 yards (I used about 1200 of that)
3.25mm needles

Unblocked size - 29 inches (diameter)
Blocked size - 55 inches (diameter)

Crochet to While Away the Time

2009-03-19T10:04:00.009Z

This finished object is largely the result of me having no idea what the heck I wanted to make or why.

I've had this silk dk weight yarn for over a year and have been determined to use it in my next project. I tried a few things both knitted and crocheted before it sort of took on a life of its own and became this little capelet. I had fun experimenting with the different stitches and think I learned a fair bit about crochet design in the process.

The yarn is a dk silk from Colourmart and was to be honest difficult to crochet with at times. Having said that - it was worth the effort as the fabric (I used a 3.5mm crochet hook) drapes beautifully. I added glass beads to the bottom for a little bit of extra glamour.

I would make some small changes to the capelet if I were to make it again, but overall I'm pleased with the effect.

Crochet is great for experimenting. Because there aren't tons of live stitches waiting to cause you grief when you rip back it is much more forgiving when you are trying out ideas. You just drop the last hoop from the hook and rip back with abandon. No heartstopping moments as you try to pick up the stitches without losing one (or two) and watching them drop back 10 intricate rows of lace.

Of course every silver lining has a cloud - and in crochet it is that you can't easily repair a mistake in a previous row WITHOUT ripping back. And I can say from experience that hurts.

11 Years Waiting and 1 Day Sewing

For anyone interested I am happy to report that the replacement bobbincase did arrive. (How cool is the internet? I discover that I've lost the bobbincase to a 15 year old sewing machine do a quick google and 2 days later I've got a replacement. I'm beginning to think this www thing might not just be a fad.)

Anyway - the case arrived and after 11 years of procrastination my kitchen chairs have new (removable)(and therefore washable) seatcovers. Hurrah!

What Happens When I'm Not Knitting...

2009-03-13T16:32:00.021Z

When last we met I was projectless.

My friends - the projectless state has continued!

Now obviously I haven't stopped knitting altogether. In fact I've made lots of sock progress and I finished up these beauties today.

(All plain stockinette. The first pair Noro Sock Yarn, the second and third are Opal Sock Yarn, and the final pair is Regia 6ply.)

But in the absence of a major project and no inspiration for one to cast on, I found myself at a loose end the other day and decided to declutter the cupboard under the stairs. I managed to throw out a bin bag of rubbish (Christmas decorations that haven't been used since I moved into the house!) and came across some fabric that I bought 11 (11!) years ago to make covers for my kitchen chairs.

Under the fabric I found my sewing machine. This machine is about 18 years old and has moved with me across the ocean twice. So when I say "I found my sewing machine." I mean I found most of my sewing machine. The foot pedal and power cord were conspicuously missing.

But now that I'd found the fabric I realised how grubby my chairs were looking. (11 years they've been waiting for new covers! 11 years!) and so I started a serious search for the power cord and pedal to rectify the problem.

I found the sewing machine instruction manual. I found the thread I bought 11 years ago that matches the fabric. I found the little box of sewing machine accessories (including the little teeny screwdriver). And yesterday in a box on top of the bookcase in the guestroom I found the power and pedal! Wahey!

Even better in that same box (which contained a really odd assortment of stuff) I also found 3 pieces of bobbin lace I made years ago.

I had no idea where they had got to! They were crumpled and one has a little stain but they are otherwise ok.

My sister Kim in particular will be pleased to hear about this discovery as I have long promised to make this piece of lace edging into a frame for her. She reminds me of this annually and was not impressed when my last update was that I'd lost the lace!!

The square pieces are around 5 inches x 5 inches and were made with thread size linen on around 80 bobbins. Each of the pieces represents hours and hours of work. And a bit like the knitted lace I make these days - they were rarely made with a purpose in mind.

Finding these has got me thinking about breaking out the pillow and bobbins again.

Bobbin lacemaking is very meditative - and the sound of the bobbins gently clacking together as you make the fabric is very soothing.

And of course, I just love the challenge.

These pieces are all torchon lace and maybe I'm just imagining it - but I've always seen a strong link between torchon bobbin lace and Shetland knitted lace (or vice versa).

But what happened with the sewing I hear you asking????? (And I expect you are beginning to see why after 11 years I hadn't so much as cut the fabric.)

Well, today I measured the chairs. I cut the fabric. I plugged in the machine, threaded it with my lovely matching thread and went to wind my bobbin thread.

I opened the bottom and there it was - gone!

No bobbin case.

I've found a source for a replacement but the chair covers will have to be put off to another day. With any luck - not 11 years away!

Look Ma - No Seams!

2009-03-01T14:44:00.014Z

It hasn't always been an easy relationship -- this Noro Silk Garden and I. Certainly, it started out very well with a bargain price purchase of 14 skeins of the stuff. I don't often hit on good yarn sales so I was very pleased with the score.

I decided almost immediately that a small blanket was the thing. And that's when things started to get a bit rocky.

As I mentioned in January I had a few false starts and couldn't settle on a pattern. I wanted something simple that let the long stripes of colour provide the interest.

I tried some crochet, some knitting, some more crochet.......and some more knitting. And nothing was working for me.

And then one night, just before I fell asleep I had an idea that might work. Miraculously I remembered the idea when I woke up the next day.

Using some 5mm needles I cast on some (not too many) (20ish) stitches and knit in garter stitch for a long time which made pleasing chunks of colour. I slipped the first stitch on each row to give a nice edge for picking up stitches evenly. After a lot of rows and ending with a wrong side row (about 48 inches - 320 rows worth in my case) I cast off all but the last stitch.

Then I picked up a whole lot of stitches along the edge (159 for me - giving me 160 in total) to begin the next section. I knit some long rows in garter stitch which gave equally pleasing long stripy rows.

When I had enough of that I left the 160 stitches' live' on the needle and cast on 16 stitches using a knitted cast on at the end of the last row to begin the next section.

I then began the next stripe of the blanket by knitting those 16 stitches in garter stitch, ending the first and each alternate row by knitting the last stitch together with the next stitch from 'live 160'. You keep knitting these short rows, incorporating an additional 'live' stitch every second row until you have none left.

Cast off all but one stitch and begin the next section by picking up those stitches along the long edge again. Repeat until you have a blanket sized thing. This gives alternating sections of chunky blocks of colour and long stripy rows which make me smile and made me feel very clever.

I went for random section widths and was determined to have as little leftover yarn as possible. To that end I weighed the remaining yarn obsessively.

A Little Knitting Miracle
When I began the last section I was pretty confident that I didn't have enough yarn to finish it. I weighed the remaining yarn about every 40 rows and each time it was clear I was going to be just a wee bit short on the yarn.

And yet, somehow I was sort of surprised when I ran out of yarn with this much knitting left to go. Knitting faster and tighter (I confess I did both) did not overcome the yarn shortage.

I looked in every possible place in my house for a few grams of Noro Silk Garden that might have got separated from the rest of it during one of the earlier attempts. There was none in the stash cupboard, none in the stash basket, none in the drawers of the tv cabinet that occasionally become dumping grounds for works in progress, none behind the tv cabinet where the stuff that overflows the drawers sometimes ends up, none in the box in the guestroom of yarn that for some reason isn't with the rest of the stash....there was in short, NONE.

In order to provide a valuable lesson on the folly of pointless optimism to blogland I decided to take a picture of my almost but not quite finished blanket. And there, in the cabinet I keep the camera in -- where NO YARN EVER IS -- there was this very small ball of the very yarn I needed.

WooHoo! I have no explanation of how it got there or when or why, but I take my miracles where I find them and finished off the blanket. There are now about 5 yarns of the yarn left. Phew.

I like the blanket and I can confirm that Silk Garden softens beautifully with washing and use. Even though it was garter stitch I found that watching the beautiful colours develop in each of the sections kept my interest.

And I was very happy not to have any seams to deal with.

I'd like to make another version (when I next manage to score some cheap Noro Silk Garden!) with regular width sections. The only change I'd make to this blanket is the possible addition of a border. If I ever come across the perfect yarn for it I will probably add one - but for now I'm considering it finished.

And Now for Something Completely Different
(and rather unexpected)
I don't know how to say this - but I am currently PROJECTLESS.

Without project.

Nothing on the needles.

Madness I know - but there it is.

I really fancy tackling some crochet for a change but can't find a pattern that catches my interest. I have a beautiful cone of pistachio DK silk which I'd love to use and I have started a few and abandoned a few things with it -- but so far no joy. I may have to admit defeat for the time being and do a bit of stash browsing tomorrow.

A Parade of Dad Socks

2009-02-19T10:40:00.008Z

A parade of Dad socks is less colourful than most sock parades - but it is every bit as satisfying.

These are winging their way to my dad now and I hope they keep his toes toasty. Particularly because as far as I can tell it has snowed pretty much every day in New Brunswick since winter began (possibly before).

The grey socks are the Retro Rib socks from Favourite Socks. The yarn is a brand called St Ives which I've never used before. It knit up nicely and feels soft enough.

The blue socks are Regia yarn 4 ply, and a sort of faded denim blue colour in real life. They are a simplified variation of the Retro Rib.

The final pair are also Regia - but in this case the yarn is a 6ply (DK weight) self patterning one which is ideal for knitting up into a plain stockinette stitch pair of socks.

As I do with pretty much any knitted gift I finished the socks off with some custom labels before I sent them off.

I love these labels. They often get as many ooohs and ahhs as the knitting and I think they help make the socks look that little bit more special.

Labels are a great opportunity to pimp your knitting (I often use the back of the label to highlight the number of stitches, or the special qualities of the yarn or why I selected the pattern or...) and it's a great place to give some handy advice on care and washing.

I use postcard (4x6 inch) paper which works well folded over and tied to the socks with a thin ribbon. Rymans has A4 card paper that is perforated and separates into 3 postcards (they have a handy word template that helps with layout) and I use that, or if I only want a single label I use 6x4 inch photo paper/printing. I've also just seen some business card size paper that would be great for smaller labels.

6 Quirks of Soo

I was tagged by Sue to come up with 6 quirky but uninteresting facts about me. I have done this one once before -- but am pleased to report that my life is full of uninteresting things so an encore wasn't much of a stretch.

So here we go!

1) My name is Susan, and I have no problem at all with people shortening my name to 'Sue' when talking to or about me. But it makes me feel sort of ooky (for no reason that makes any sense) seeing my name written as 'Sue' (particularly when written with my last name). It's Susan (at work or on any document) or Soo (everywhere else).

Irrational and quirky. Does this count for 2?

2) I adopted Soo as the spelling of my shortened name when I was about 13 years old. Friends came up with it while writing epic poems about me which generally went something like this:
I have a friend named Soo
We went to the zoo
To watch cows go moo
Do yoo
Want to come too?

3) When I was in grade 3 I won 3rd prize (25 bucks! and a pen) in a short story competition at the Canadian National Exhibition. My short story was a feminist tale of a couple of boys who are shown up by a girl they tried to exclude from their tree house club.

4) I am annoyingly punctual. Even when I'm meeting someone who I KNOW will be late, I have to be there on time (generally a bit early)(just to be sure) in case they do turn up on time.

5) Conversely I have little patience for people who are habitually late. And I can get very cross when the start of a meeting or other event is held up while we wait for the people who couldn't be bothered to get there on time. (And it is always the same people.)

6) I like to knit. (I know I've shared this quirk with you before. But it's a biggie.)

I challenge you all to come up with 6 less interesting facts about yourself.

Myrtle Leaf Shawl

2009-02-11T09:13:00.007Z

The snow has all melted and London has reverted to mostly rainy weather. Today however is gorgeous. Cold but oh so sunny with a clear blue sky. I'm not really a hot weather person -- but I love a sunny day.

So immediately after today's update I'm off to walk through the park. Greenwich Park is stunning on a sunny day (on any day really) and being able to stroll around it while the rest of the world is studying or working always feels a bit decadent!

Although the park has many trees, none are Myrtle trees so I won't be able to confirm whether this Myrtle Leaf Shawl from Victorian Lace Today is an accurate representation or not.

I knit this on 3.75mm needles using just over 1.5 skeins of Jaggerspun Zephy WoolSilk in Ebony (between 900 and 1000 yards).

It's a pretty straightforward knit (although do check out the errata if you decide to make it - there are a couple of errors in the chart). The body of the shawl is a 12 row pattern repeat - where each row is a pattern row (so no purling back).

The edging is knitted on. It is an 8 row repeat and works up reasonably quickly.

This wasn't one of my favourite projects knitting-wise. It wasn't challenging and the knitting got a little dull towards the end (40 repeats of the leaf pattern!) The shawl pre-blocking was particularly uninspiring.

Having said that, it's been very popular with the non-knitters who've seen it. In fact, it's been more popular with non-knitters than many of the complicated shawls I've knit.

And I'm sure there's a little lesson in that somewhere.

Unblocked the shawl was 18" x 50" and it blocked to an impressive 21" x 76".

Snow Day in London!

2009-02-02T11:37:00.014Z

London awoke to lots of snow this morning.

As a Canadian I tend to dismiss most attempts at snow in London -- but even I will concede this is real snow. Apparently it's the most snow London's seen in 18 years.

I'm not sure if it's the fact that it's a Monday in February, or the general economic doom and gloom (possibly both) but Londoners have almost unanimously declared a snow day!!

London Transport has decided not to run any buses today. None. Zippo.

Most trains are running a cut back service and 3 of the Underground lines have shut.

I just returned from a walk to the park (stopping off at the grocery store on the way back) and there's a definite day off from school feeling out there. The park is full of sledging kids and snowmen and of course continual snowball fights. The grocery store was PACKED with people stocking up on snow day essentials like hot chocolate, crisps and candy.

I love it! (I will not love it when because there is no snow removal programme here the snow compacts and becomes ice and a simple walk to the shops becomes treacherous. I HATE walking on ice.)(But I'm trying not to worry about that yet.)

(And it's just started snowing heavily again!)

Of course you didn't come here for a weather report. You came here expecting to see knitted things and I aim not to disappoint so here is Miralda's Triangle. (Photographed yesterday before the snow began. What a difference 24 hours makes!)

It is from Knitted Lace of Estonia (yes, again). (What can I say, when I find something I like....)

The scarf was knit on 3.75mm needles using Posh Yarn Eva 2ply in a purpley lilacy colourway. Finished size is 58 " across the top with a 26 " drop.

Like Ene's Scarf (also by Nancy Bush) this one starts with casting on a billion (or 331) stitches and decreases evenly every second row until you're almost out of stitches!

Being an Estonian pattern it does have the obligatory nupps - but they are a bit more subtle in this scarf. It includes two stitch patterns I hadn't come across before: the gathered stitch and the 3 stitch cross.

The gathered stitch provides a nice accent row - here it's used before and after the large diamond motifs. It's a simple stitch - you knit 3 together but don't slip the stitches from the needle, then YO, and then knit the same 3 stitches together again - this time slipping the stitches off the left hand needle. This leaves you with 3 stitches on the right hand needle.

The 3 stitch cross is an interesting stitch and I'm keen to try it in a variegated yarn where I think it might be quite interesting.

The cross is worked over 2 rows. On the first row you slip the first stitch purlwise, knit the next tow stitches together and then pass the slipped stitch over (so 3 stitches become 2). On the return row you insert a YO between the two stitches (so the 2 stitches become 3 again).

Best Knitting of the Week

2009-01-30T11:37:00.004Z

Thanks so much to everyone for all of the great suggestions for man socks - I've got lots to choose from now and I'll definitely be working through them over the year.

Last night gorgeous goddaughter Genevieve came round for our usual evening of pizza, SingStar (Abba!!) and chat. She has a few times expressed an interest in learning to knit but I haven't really pushed it because - well - I thought she was just flattering me to ensure she stays high on the handknit list.

But she mentioned it again and I decided to call her bluff. So somewhere in between the pizza and Abba we pulled out some needles and some gorgeous leftover cashmere Posh Yarn (get her hooked on the good stuff early) and got her started.

And look at this knitting! She's a natural!

She did some garter stitch, some stockinette and then finished off the lesson tackling a couple of rows of ribbing.

I'm looking for an easy-ish first project for her which we'll start next week. Will she take knitting up seriously? Who knows. But it's a fun diversion for now and something for her to do when I force her to sit through Gone With the Wind.

What? No Nupps?

2009-01-26T14:50:00.005Z

A woman can not knit with nupps alone and it is time (well past time actually) for me to sort out some socks for my dad.

We sock knitters know that the world is made up of two kinds of people: people who think handknit socks are a warm and special treat; and those who would be just as happy with a pack of 5 pairs for £5 socks from Walmart. I tend to think that people fall into category 2 unless I get very strong evidence to the contrary - like an outright "please make me a pair of socks".

The problem with this approach is that some people just won't ask.

My poor father after a few days of watching me hand out socks to my sister and nieces, and listening to me promise socks to some aunts, forlornly picked up the pair of socks I had made for my sister (which she'd accidentally left behind) and said "maybe I could have these ones".

Bless him.

I told him he didn't have to settle for bright blue socks that were going to be way too small for him and I'd love to make a pair just for him.

With Christmas knitting and the Crown Prince out of the way I finally went to cast them on the other day.

I bit of panic ensued as I started searching through the 40 gazillion skeins of sock yarn I own for 2 skeins that weren't bright girly colours. It wasn't looking promising.

And then at last I spied 2 skeins of grey sock yarn -- bought when and why I have no idea -- hidden at the bottom of the cupboard. Perfect for dad socks.

Picking a pattern was even trickier. I didn't want to make plain grey socks as I thought that would be more than a bit dull. I browsed through my socks books (and I have a lot) and found very few (2 or 3) patterns that weren't 'too girly'.

I finally settled on the Retro Rib pattern in Favourite Socks which I hope will be masculine enough.

But this has me wondering.

Is there a great store of men's sock patterns out there somewhere I'm missing? I'd be grateful for any masculine pattern suggestions as I'd like to make him a few more pairs over the year and I think he (and I) might grow tired of the retro rib!

May I Present.....

2009-01-19T09:25:00.007Z

The Crown Prince of Greenwich - officially my first successfully finished project of 2009!

The pattern is the Crown Prince Square Shawl from Knitted Lace of Estonia (I do like this book). There is an error in one of the charts though so do check the errata on th e Interweave site if you are going to knit this one.

When I initially looked at the pattern I thought it might be a dull knit as there is so much repetition -- apart from the edging the pattern is just two motifs repeated over and over again.

How wrong I was. I loved this nupp laden knitting. It held my interest and I was never bored.

Not even when I had to rip back 20 rows in the main body.

It was the usual story. I spotted a mistake about 3 rows after making it but managed to convince myself it wasn't 'too noticeable' and 'could be fixed by blocking'.

10 rows later I wasn't quite as sure but thought - maybe blocking and some needle magic will fix it. 20 rows later I knew I was kidding myself.

I attempted to drop just the affected stitches and repair -- but as you can see from these photos that left some VERY loose stitches. Attempts to take up the slackness in surrounding stitches failed -- nupps are not so easily manipulated!!!

So, I bit the bullet and pulled the needles out and ripped back the full 20 rows.

Sigh.

I don't really mind frogging but I do wish I wouldn't delude myself for QUITE so long.

After that it was smooth sailing.

I knit the shawl with Jaggerspun Zephyr in a cream colour -- mostly because I had enough of that in the stash! I used two full skeins for the body of the shawl, and 30 gms of a third skein for the edging.

The pattern as designed as the edging cast on and knit separately in two pieces and then stitched to the body.

I really couldn't face the idea of that, so I wimped out and picked up stitches all around the body (in the same ratio that the pattern uses for attaching the edging to the body) and knit it in the 'modern' (as Nancy Bush calls it) way. I used a very simple 12 stitch repeat edging, not too dissimilar to the pattern edging but without the nupps -- because you can have too much of a good thing!

The shawl was knit on 3.75mm needles.

Unblocked size 35"x35".
Blocked size 53"x 53".