If a Swallowtail is a Sign of Spring....

....I want my money back!!

It's COLD in London. Cold and rainy. On Easter Sunday and Monday it SNOWED.

Ok - there was no accumulation, and they were the first flakes I've seen this winter - but still - SNOW! At Easter!

(To be honest, I'm struggling to maintain my outrage on the snow thing -- my sister sent this photo last week of the snow at my parents house in New Brunswick. It sort of puts a few flakes on Easter into perspective.)

Anyway -- back here in the UK I've taken advantage of the miserable weather to catch up on some DVD viewing of BBC adaptations** and knit a bit.

First I knit up this red Swallowtail Scarf (Interweave Knits Fall 2006) -- I love the colour. It's made with lambs wool dyed by Wild Fire Fibres (aka Vixx). The red is deep and absolutely gorgeous.










For some reason while knitting up this one I became curious about how the pattern would knit up in Kid Silk Haze....and so immediately after I cast off the red one I started this one. I always love Kid Silk Haze - but I'm not convinced about the colour. Perhaps it just needs the right outfit.

I confess that when I finished this one I really wanted to cast on for another one (I'm such a freak) but decided I really needed to get some socks going.


The first pair is Colinette sock yarn, using a slipped stitch rib pattern - inspired by HelloYarn's pattern (I just needed to tweak the number of stitches as her pattern uses a heavier yarn).

The second pair is from the book Favourite Socks, - Embossed Leaves. I've made some modifications - most of which were just the result of working on the socks without the pattern nearby and being too lazy to go find it - so just winging what I thought I should do. So I did a 2x2 rib instead of 1x1 twisted rib on the cuff, and I made the heel flap shorter and without garter stitch. I like the pattern and will definitely make them again.

This pair is Indigo Moon Vancouver Series fingering weight.





** Totally non-knitting related DVD roundup.
The lovely Babette Blanket (thanks so much for all your kind comments!) coupled with the rubbish weather has led to a lot of DVD watching lately.
Middlemarch - the 1994ish adaptation. This was very good, but dated already, in particular the music which did that loud dramatic thing when dramatic things were happening. Dorothea's earnest-ness got on my nerves sometimes, and Mary Garth was a right cow and a little too good for my taste.
Cranford - 2008. Lovely, comforting viewing.
Oliver Twist - 2007. I'm a Dickens fan and this definitely took liberties with the book which has led to some critical slating - but I thought it worked. Not my favourite adaptation, but it had some good moments.

Next set of DVD's to be attacked: 24 - Series 5!!! I'm an addict, but can't start watching a series unless I know I can devote serious viewing time to it because once I start, I can't stop. And I can't knit while I watch it. In fact, I can't do anything else. I just watch Jack get in and out of entirely unbelievable situtations, doing either of his two trademark emotions and loving it. (For reference his two emotions are: sincere and angry. There isn't actually much difference in the expression, but if he's yelling "drop your weapon, I said drop your weapon NOW" then he's angry. If he's speaking in a low voice, telling another character "trust me" then he's doing the sincere thing.)