Farewell to Lyra

Apologies to those of you (and I expect there are few!) who are thinking 'Enough of they Lyra already!'. You'll be happy to hear that this post bids farewell to Lyra -- at least until I report back on my Mom's reaction!

Obsessive to the last, I woke up this morning, put Lyra in the sink to soak, took a shower, got dressed and then blocked it on my bed before leaving for work.

And here it is.

It's fair to say I love it as much as a finished object as I did while knitting it. I think my mom will love it. It turned out a little smaller than I had hoped, which means I'll have to rethink what table Mom will use it on - but I'm sure we'll come up with something.

It was knit on 2.5mm needles, using Helen's Lace (Lorna's Laces) Natural. I used just a smidge over one skein (one skein being 4 ounces, 1250). That skein ran out on the last row! So I was very happy that I had bought two. (phew) (I bought the yarn from http://www.modernknitting.co.uk/ who always provide incredibly helpful service -- as they did in getting me this yarn when there was none to be found in the UK.)

The pattern is from the June 1986 Anna magazine, available on eBay from time to time.

The Burda charting style is different from what I'm used to, but once I was familiar with it I really liked it. I expect trying to chart this (what is the non-Burda charting style called?) (ummm I'll call it 'Vogue style') - anyway - attempting to chart this Vogue style would make the pattern look even more complicated than it is because of the irregular increases and decreases.

A couple of people have asked 'what next?' - well nothing too taxing for a few days. I need to get serious about my Innocent Smoothie hat production, and I've got to cast on for a pair of socks or two.

When I've caught up with my friends, some reading and the laundry I've neglected over the past two weeks I'll be ready for for my next project -- for that I've got a couple of potential Nieblings in mind......

Pom Poms are Happy Things

Sure Mondays can be a drag. But even the bleakest, greyest Monday starts to look pretty good when you look at a bunch of pom poms.

The Caked Crusader has outdone herself on the pom pom production for Innocent Smoothie hats. So much so that I'm afraid I'll have to insist she make some more. I can't have some hats topped with this glory and others not.

(She's got to do something while those cakes are baking.)

I've sort of stalled on the hat making -- so I'll need to give them some attention this week.

Of course I've stalled because I've been obsessed with knitting the Lyra. It's moving along more quickly than I expected -- at the cost of actually doing anything else. Like laundry, shopping or sleep.

I'm becoming a convert to the German charting style - there are definite advantages, particularly when you have long stretches of plain knitting or a set of stitches to be repeated X times.

I'm also considering abandoning my beloved Addi Lace needles for KnitPick circulars. I used the KnitPicks for the early rounds and switched to the Addi's recently when the KnitPicks were too short. The smoothness of the KnitPicks and the super sharp points are sorely missed - particularly now that I'm attacking the mini cables in the flowers.

That's right. This Niebling guy has put cables in lace.

Cables. In lace.

Egads.

Worlds colliding. Anarchy.

I can only imagine what else he has up his Lyra sleeve.

The Orange Thing Complete

The orange thing was indeed orange and thing looking when I cast it off. It was a pleasant project and quite a sociable knit when I got into the feather and fan section. (Well, I thought it was sociable because I was able to carry on a conversation while knitting - I have no idea what the other side of the conversation thought!)

The pattern is a vintage doily brought back to life by Brooklyn Tweed's suggestion of knitting it in chunky yarn.

I used 5x 100 gm skeins of Posh Yarn Amelia DK. I knit the yarn double on 6mm needles to get a chunkier effect.

As I had a limited amount of yarn (and no hope of getting more) I did lots of yarn weighing as I went along to determine when I should cast off. Luckily I'd got a bit lazy and decided against another repeat when I was on the last 70gm of yarn. The edging/cast off row used 5 times as much yarn (55 gm) as the previous row (11 gm)!

I blocked it out to 48 inches diameter. If I were to make the pattern again I'd add another foot on to that at least.

Superhero to the Rescue!

As they are born to do, a superhero (the Caked Crusader) has stepped in to save my Innocent hats from being too dull for exotic smoothies. Taking time away from baking gorgeous cakes, this superhero has volunteered to make pompoms for the hats. Wahey!!!

Tapping my fingers impatiently (knitter style)....

So, I'm waiting for the yarn for the BKC (Lyra tablecloth) to arrive. Being an impatient sort I'm restless and can't seem to settle into anything knitting-wise.


I've wound some sock yarn....

....cast on for some socks....

...then decided I didn't like them.






I started making some hats for Innocent Smoothies.



For the benefit of non-UK readers I should explain that I don't normally knit for my refrigerated beverages. I'm knitting these as part of the Big Knit fundraising drive. These hats will be sent to Innocent who will start shipping the Smoothies with hats in late November. Participating retailers will donate 50p for each hat to Age Concern, specifically to support initiatives to help old age pensioners keep warm in the winter months.

I'm going to try to make 100.


I've pre-ordered Kaffe Fassett Knits Again from Amazon. (Along with some good ol' Canadian content - a documentary about Glenn Gould on DVD and a book about Terry Fox which is guaranteed to make me cry. All books about Terry do.)

I've cast on this BubbleGum sock yarn (from Cazza) and have started a modified Monkey pattern (substituting knit stitches for all purl stitches). So far so good.

But in my heart my knitting fingers are still tapping.....