Oceans and Seas

Last Saturday's get-together at Rubi & Lana was one of the largest yet -- with Sally, Celia, Simone, Taryn, Kate, Lara and myself. It was a lot of fun catching up with all the projects everyone is working on, and I even proved to myself that I can work on a lace pattern in public without having to rip it all back afterwards.

After finally seeing a sample of the Hand Maiden 'Sea Silk' yarn in the 'Ocean' colourway in person, resistance was futile and Purl Yarns had my order not long afterwards. A day or so later, some stunning yarn arrived on my doorstep...


... beautifully presented with a green ribbon tied around it. Words cannot express how soft this yarn is to the touch, and how much I love this colourway. I have a feeling that it won't be too long before the 'Sea Silk' finds its way on to my needles... ;)

A few years ago, I bought the Fibertrends Baltic Sea Stole pattern...


... and was subsequently inspired by the version of this stole Kate Gilbert knit for her wedding using Rowan 'Kidsilk Haze' to put aside several skeins of 'Kidsilk Haze' in the 'Lord' shade, which is a deep, vibrant shade of blue.

The 'Kidsilk Haze' may still be maturing in my stash, but its close relative Madil 'Kid Seta', in a variegated colourway of rich watery blues and golds, called out loudly to me recently.

So loudly, that it has beaten the 'Kidsilk Haze' on to the needles...


And is growing at quite a fast rate...


It's actually grown a little more since I took the second photograph, as I've knit another 16 rows (half of a pattern repeat), and have now reached the end of the first skein. I just love the colours in this yarn, which are much more Pacific Ocean with the sun reflecting off the water than Baltic Sea to my mind -- appropriately enough, as I live in Sydney after all :) -- so I'm thinking of this stole as my 'Pacific Ocean Stole'. For those of you playing at home, this pattern is a more subtle demonstration of my mirror image knitting -- if you're interested, you'll need to look closely at the photo of the original stole and those of my works in progress.

I've been having some fun with selecting the best needles to use for this project too. I started knitting the stole on these...


... as I didn't own any 3.5mm straight needles, and the Tulip brand needles have sharper points and a cord which straightens out much better for me than the Clover circular needles I also have. Unfortunately though, sliding all the yarn overs from the cord to the needle was a slow process, and keeping all the stitches on the bamboo part of the needle, while possible, meant that I couldn't see how the pattern was developing or spot potential errors easily.

One of the lovely ladies at Rubi & Lana generously let me have a couple of 30cm long Japanese 3.6mm bamboo double pointed needles to trial when I was there on Saturday, but as I'd already knit half of the first pattern repeat by then I didn't want to risk a noticeable change in tension by switching over to them at that point, so testing out these needles will have to wait until I start my 'Kidsilk Haze' version of the stole after I finish this one.

So I bit the bullet and hopped on a bus into the city on Sunday afternoon, as I knew Tapestry Craft had the needles I wanted in stock...


... which I bought along with a few other non-standard sized straight needles in an attempt to avert similar problems in the future.

A couple of hanks of JJ's Montage Collection 10 ply yarn, hand painted by Jan Gilray in the (now discontinued?) 'Forest' colourway...


... may also have hitched a ride with me on the bus back home. I'm thinking this yarn has possibilities for making an interesting version of the 'Starburst Shawl' from Iris Schreier's 'Modular Knits' book.

My version of the 'Lost in Translation' scarf has also progressed...


... and I'm now almost finished the second skein, and have reached the halfway point, I think.

I had one of those small world moments this week, when I received a comment on my last posting from someone who actually saw Edith Eig knitting the 'Lost in Translation' scarf, and assures me that the pattern in the book is indeed correct as written. I'm still not entirely convinced that the scarf which appears in the film is the same as the one pictured in the book, but I'm really impressed that someone on the other side of the Pacific Ocean took the time to write to me about this. Thank you! :)

As for my scarf... I played around with the pattern a fair bit (Remember the 'I frog' button in my sidebar? ;) ) before I decided to go with a version with the pattern from the book plus the extra two rows at the end of the repeat I mentioned in my last posting as the variation which appears to work best with the much finer yarn I chose. While it may not be identical to the scarf in the book or in the film, I'm liking the way it's turning out, and the way it evokes the look of the scarf in the film to me -- which is why, I guess, I still think of it as my 'Lost in Translation' scarf. :)

I've also finished knitting my 'Celtic Waves Scarf' since my last posting, but it will need to be blocked before I take a photo of it in its finished state.

I've been intending to subscribe to...


... for quite a while, and I finally got around to actually taking out a subscription last week. And the really good news is that, despite my initial fears that I may have left it too late, it looks like my subscription was taken out just in time to receive Issue #4 as my first issue. Woohoo! :)

In a somewhat reckless move, I've also subscribed, sight unseen, to Yarn Forward, the upcoming quarterly intermediate to advanced level knitting magazine from the UK. What can I say, except that the advance subscription rate was too good to resist.