Lemur Puppet Patterns and Stuff

Thanks so much for all the lovely comments on the Forest Path Stole. To quickly answer some of the questions:

I think the stole can be made narrower by removing one lace panel from each of the tiers. It would be pretty straightforward with some tweaking of the placement of the panels required (this makes more sense if you are looking at the pattern – honest!).

Making it shorter is very simple, just reduce the number of tiers – and the pattern gives options to do this.

And – errrrr - thanks for the kind offers to let me finish up the hibernating FPS’s out there – but I think I’ll pass for now!!

As often happens when I finish a big project I’m at a bit of a loss about what to tackle next. And my knitting this week reflects that.

The first thing I did was pull out the hibernating Melon Scarf and faff around with some border options. After two or three unsatisfactory attempts I remembered Gen saying before Christmas, “It looks great like it is – I don’t think it needs anything else.” And I looked at it, with non-knitter, non-Victorian Lace Today eyes and saw what she meant.

So I cast it off.

It is a very simple scarf, made just a little bit more special by the sheen of the SeaSilk. Here it is wrapped around a vase of tulips which are meant to imitate my head.

One skein of Handmaiden SeaSilk, pattern from Victorian Lace Today.

Then I turned into a hat machine. This was driven by two factors: a need to knit up some stash yarn, and the fact that the last hat I made which little

Mads claimed as hers does not in fact fit her. While
she’s wearing it, it slowly slides up her head until it is perched precariously on the top of he

r head. Apparently because I made it, she insisted on wearing it anyway. (How cute is she? She wins handknits for life!)

So I pulled out some wool left over from the great poncho
knit-athon of 2004(ish) and started knitting hats.

(The great poncho knit-athon began when I responded to a casual comment from Caroline that she loved a poncho she’d seen in Liberty. “I could make you one” I said. And then Susie, Gen and Mads (who was 5 and had no idea what a poncho was) chimed in with “Could I have one Sooby?” And thus began 2 months of poncho knitting. I didn’t even like ponchos.)

The purple hat and the grey hat with cables are from the Harlot’s ‘Unoriginal Hat’ pattern. The other three are even less original hats made up by me as I went along.

The linen coloured hat was meant to have cables all the way up the hat, but I got distracted and missed the second cable so rather than rip it out I decided to leave the one cable in and call it a design feature. I expect this is how all the great designers work.

While churning out hats I came across some Rowan Big Wool left over from the cardigan I made for Gen for Christmas. Keen to use up more stash I pulled out the Kim Hargreaves Heartfelt book and knit up Cherish for Gen.

However, when I handed it over to Caroline yesterday I got the distinct impression that it might never actually make it to Gen’s wardrobe as Caroline seemed quite taken with it.

The most random project of the week was a request from the Caked Crusader for a jumper for a very old, very worn, and very well loved lemur puppet named Merf. Apparently, Merf was a childhood favourite of the Caked Crusader and her brother and has now been handed down to the Caked Crusader’s nephew. He is showing his age and the Caked Crusader thought a new jumper might spruce him up a bit.

Designing for a lemur puppet took a bit of thought, mostly due to his sticky out arms and lack of a neck. A bit of fiddling around and I came up with the red jumper. Being an overachiever I immediately cast on for the black version. And as an inspired afterthought I crocheted a dapper scarf to be worn with either.

I’d offer to write up the lemur puppet pattern but I don’t expect there’s much demand.

The End of the Path

On Thursday I finished the last of the squillion of miles of seed stitch edging and cast off the Forest Path Stole. WooHoo!

The edging wasn't quite as evil as I feared it might be. It was mindless knitting and once I got going went reasonably quickly. There was a heart stopping moment after I cast off when (for the hundredth time) I muttered about the inelasticity of the cast on edge. I attempted (possibly with a bit too much determination) to stretch it to match the width of the rest of the stole and the yarn in the cast on edge ripped apart! Eeeeeeeeek.

A bit of emergency surgery later and all was well again. In fact, a bit better as the repaired edge had a little more stretch in it.

It doesn’t matter how many times I’ve blocked lace at this stage I lose my faith in the process. I look at the unblocked lace and think it’s disappointing and worry that blocking won’t be able to save it.









Ha! Wrong again!




I love the finished stole. It is huge, and oh so light and airy.





Pattern Details:

Forest Path Stole – available as a single pattern from http://www.sandrasingh.com/ or in The Best of Interweave Knits.

I used just a smidge over 6 ounces of Jaggerspun Zephyr Wool-Silk in Cinnabar on 3.25mm needles.

Unblocked the stole was an impressive 24 inches x 58 inches.
Blocked it is a staggering 34 inches x 84 inches!!!!

The stole can be shortened fairly easily by simply working fewer tiers of lace panels.

The pattern is really well written so if you are worried about tackling entrelac – don’t be. The directions for each step are clear and easy to follow.

The pattern suggests using stitch holders for all stitches but the live ones, but in the end (after trying a few methods) I found keeping all the stitches on a FLEXIBLE 24inch circular needle was the easiest. A flexible cable is key – I used a KnitPicks Harmony circular needle.

My only issue with the pattern is the cast on edge. The pattern suggests a knitted cast on – but that has never produced a very stretchy cast on for me. For some reason though I stuck with it – with disastrous results as you read above! If I were to knit the pattern again I’d find a different cast on.






The knitting did get repetitious – 3 lace panels over and over and over - but the final result is definitely worth perservering. The Lily of the Valley (the nupps panel) was my favourite, and for no reason that I ever understood the Birch Leaves panel was my least favourite. All three are easy enough to get your head around and before you know it you won’t need the charts at all.

The Long Slog Along the Forest Path

After the pure pleasure of the Swallowtail I got back to the Forest Path Stole. As I worked on the project it reminded me more and more of the stages I'd go through back in the day when I was training to run my first marathon. (I have since sadly stopped running and would probably keel over at an attempt to run for a bus -- but that's a whole other topic)....

Anyway - when you are training for a marathon the cornerstone of your weekly schedule is the long slow run, which is designed to get your mind and body ready to for the long hours on your feet a marathon will require. (And as I was never a particularly speedy runner -- I was going to be on my feet for a while.)


You start the long slow run feeling pretty motivated and the running feels easy (well, as easy as running feels) as you are starting at at your slowest running pace. And that's how I started on the FPS. Keen ready to tackle the entrelac lace. Confidently working my way through the 3 lace panels.

You plod along, tunes in the iPod making steady progress - and then you start to think, "I've been doing this a while - I must be over halfway now." And you check your crazily complicated running watch/distance monitor which tells you you've almost reached the 1/4 way point. Hmmmm.

This is when you start negotiating with yourself. "Go on, make it to the end and you can join the others in the pub for lunch." Unfortunately as you are on both sides of the negotiating table you reply, "of course you could just head straight to the pub now."

But you plod on. Or, in this case, I knit on. Because this is where I know that if I cast on another project I'll never ever ever come back to the Forest Path Stole.

The Forest Path Stole becomes a bit repetitious. And because of its size it seems to go on an on. And I have found myself once or twice pondering making a shorter version. But I know that I won't do that because I think the 'wow' of the stole comes not from the lace (which is pretty basic) but from the entrelac pattern and its scale of the thing. Completed as written it is a whopping 30 inches by 80 inches.


And on I knit. And, as with running, the closer I get to the end the more my enthusiasm returns. My pleasure at reaching the end keeps me going making the last few miles as fresh (almost) as the first.


It was with great joy this morning that I realised I'm about to begin the final of the 23 Forest Path tiers of lace panels. WooHoo! The finish line.




.....or almost.....


And like one of those cruel cruel runs where you think you are almost at the finish line only to discover that you calculated wrong.....I soon realised I've got a squillion miles of seed stitch edging to follow.


Sigh.

It's Been a Long Week.....

....the highlight of which was someone attempting to break into my house last night. I was home at the time, and they did a runner when they realised I was there so no harm to me or my house. But it was unnerving. Add to that a general aura of 'blah' and you will understand why this Wednesday evening finds me munching through a bag of wine gums wondering what's it all about anyway? And how is it that someone thinks they are entitled to damage your house to take your belongings?


I don't have an answers to those questions so instead I'll update you on my quest to reduce the Greenwich sock yarn mountain.

So far in 2008 I have managed to churn out these kiddie socks and a beanie. They are from MiddleEarth Yarns - Davy Jones colourway. Lovely yarn to knit with.

I've also completed 2 pairs of Opal 4 ply socks (Feeling I think). The intended recipients don't like 'matching stripes' so these should be acceptable. I went plain with the blue ones, and a roving rib on the rainbow socks (2 x 2 rib, moving 1 stitch every 6 rows).

However, all finished objects must be balanced with new projects and to keep the earth spinning on its axis the knitting gods today delivered a back issue (Fall 2006) of Interweave Knits magazine to me. I am so in love with my Ene's Scarf (I use it most days) that I decided I wanted to make another similar size/shape scarf and the popular Swallowtail Shawl from this issues was an obvious choice. The current plan is to make it up using some Handmaiden SeaSilk from my stash.


The Forest Path Stole was progressing well but has been stalled by the burned out light bulb in my favourite lamp by my favourite knitting chair. This bulb isn't readily available - so I won't get a replacement until the weekend. I can't seem to bring myself to knit the stole in any other chair. (I'm a freak.)

Well, I've made some serious headway through the packet of wine gums and am now feeling vaguely ill. I think a rubbish DVD is next on my 'wallowing in self pity' list.

Heading Down the Forest Path

One of the first (if not THE first) lace pattern to catch my eye last year was the Forest Path Stole. In fact, I'd say it was the start of my lace obsession. I came across the pattern on someone's blog (no idea who it was) and immediately decided to make it. I tracked the pattern down at http://www.sandrasingh.com/ and ordered a copy (the pattern is also now available in Best of Interweave Knits). While waiting for it to arrive I cast on the Sarcelle Stole, and then Hanami, and then.... well, you get the picture.

So here it is 9 months later and I have FINALLY cast on for the Forest Path Stole. I'm using Cinnabar Zephyr WoolSilkand 3.25mm needles.

The needles were my first mistake. Addi Lace needles don't come in 3.25mm (well, at least not anywhere I could find) so I started the stole on regular Addi's. Bad move. The circulars were 30 inches and the cord was crazy coiled. It drove me insane. Obviously the cord could be straightened, but the bigger problem was that the tips were dull. Dull. DULL. Rubbish for lace. And double rubbish for NUPPS. And the pattern has lots of nupps.

Cue much swearing.

A frantic search through the knitting needle bag and I found some 3.25 dpns - KnitPicks metal and KnitPicks harmony. Although the metal needles are lovely and pointy, I find them heavy and was worried they'd be tooooooo slippery. So the harmony needles were called into action.

They are perfect. They are grippy enough that I can leave them as stitch holders on sections I'm not working and pointy enough for nupps. Hurrah.

The pattern itself is clear and well written. The border is seed stitch and each of the panels is one of 3 lace patterns. They are all pretty straightforward and only the nupps are likely to cause much difficulty. Not that nupps are difficult - just that they take some getting used to. My tip is to knit the set up stiches for the nupps crazy loose. That and a pointy needle make the purl 5 together much easier.

I'm just starting the 4th tier of panels. I'm enjoying the knitting but I don't think this will be completed quickly. The entrelac design gives the knitting a sort of stop-start feeling as you move between panels. I never seem to build up much momentum and so I'm easily distracted from it.

In other knitting news I've decided I need to attack my sock stash over the next few months as I've got a silly amount of sock yarn. Happily, my mom asked for some socks today! Being my mom she thinks my socks are tooooooo nice to wear, but she wants some to show off with. How cute is she?