Knitting Through the Looking Glass

Are we sensing a theme here at all?

2008-01-21T22:56:00.000+11:00

One of the presents I received for Christmas this year was this...

I don't know how Amanda did it, but she managed to find me a Luke's coffee cup, which would have to be the perfect gift for a 'Gilmore Girls' fan like myself.

It's probably not obvious from the photo, but this cup is huge! It easily holds 500 ml of coffee, and you definitely need to hold it with two hands.

But that wasn't all.

When I opened my brother's Christmas present to me, this is what I found...

Yes, it's an equally large tea cup.

Are we sensing a theme here at all?

I do love these over-sized cups though, as they remind me of my Dad -- when we were little, my Mum got tired of constantly refilling his tea cup after dinner, and solved the problem by finding a huge 'Father' tea cup for him, which was capable of holding a whole pot's worth of tea in one go.

The other Christmas present I just have to share with everyone is this one...

My whole family loves seeing the photos of Twinkie on Donna's blog, and reading about her adventures, so Michael couldn't resist a calendar which promises us a year of her super-cute relatives...

And just in case anyone is wondering what happened with the 'Henry' scarf I was knitting for my brother for Christmas...

Well, life got in the way once again, and I missed the deadline...

As you can see, it's almost done now (Finally!), and fortunately my brother has been very understanding about the delay. I've actually worked a few more rows since I took this photo, so the end truly is in sight at last.

Much as I love the look of this scarf, it's been a really slow project to knit, due to both the fine yarn and the denseness of the woven transverse herringbone stitch pattern. The yarn I'm using also has an annoying tendency to split, which has slowed things down even more. Despite all this, I will knit this pattern again as I really do love the way it looks.

Christmas gift knitting distractions

2007-12-17T19:17:00.000+11:00

Apologies for neglecting this blog lately, but I've been kept away by a series of migraines and some mishaps with my Christmas gift knitting that have basically meant I've had to spend just about every spare moment of late working on one special project in particular, which is Henry...

Henry is intended to be a Christmas present for my brother, David. As far as I can recall, I've never knit anything for my brother, but as soon as I saw this scarf pattern I knew I wanted to knit this for him. As I don't think his lifestyle allows a lot of time for handwashing knits, I'm knitting his scarf in Dalegarn 'Baby Ull', as it is a lovely, soft 100% wool yarn which is machine washable. I've chosen colour 0007 for him, which is a heathered grey shade, and, even though it is disturbingly similar to the colour pictured in the pattern, I'm really hoping that the colour will work well with his business attire as his work often takes him overseas to places like New York where the weather can be really cold.

Unfortunately, this is the scarf I've had the big setback with, as I recently had to unknit 19+ rows to correct a mistake I discovered late one night. 19 rows probably doesn't sound like a lot, but Henry is knit with a relatively fine yarn and is knit lengthwise, and as David is 6' 5" tall and 452 stitch rows just weren't long enough for me, I actually lengthened the rows further to 548 stitches, so this really was a major setback -- I'm guessing that some people might have been brave enough to drop the 10 or so stitches involved down the 19 rows to fix the problem, but the density of the 'Woven Transverse Herringbone' stitch pattern completely freaked me out and I just wasn't willing to take the risk that it would unravel all the way back down to the cast on edge in a flash. It took me around a week to fix the problem and get back to the point where I discovered the problem, so I'm guessing David won't be getting his scarf on Christmas Day now, but I've been giving it my best effort to get back on track.

The other project I have in progress which is intended to be a Christmas present is the 'Sideways Lace Scarf' designed by Knitabulous, which I've been knitting for my mother...

I'm using Handmaiden '2 Ply Silk Cashmere' in the 'Rose Garden' colourway, which I know my mother will just love. As the photograph shows, this is another scarf which is knit lengthwise, and I still need to knit the second half of the scarf and graft the two halves together in order to have it finished. Eek!

Anyway... Back to the knitting, and wish me luck with getting these two scarves finished in time as I'm really going to need it.

At last! A No Guilt Stash!

2007-10-31T16:50:00.000+11:00

Recently, Bells and Amy from Rhode Island were discussing the amount of guilt and shame that is commonly associated with yarn stashes, and hit upon the fabulous idea of the 'No Guilt Stash'...

And they've even come up with a cool manifesto to go with Amy's button...

No Guilt Stash Manifesto

I will neither defend nor apologize for my stash. My yarn brings me joy, and therefore brings others in my life joy.

Through my hands I do good in the world. I knit with love for friends, family, and strangers. Yarn is my medium.

I promise not to let my stash acquisition interfere with personal relationships or financial health; yet neither will I give in to pressure from significant others to reduce my stash.

I will not judge others' stash. I can admire it, be inspired by it, even covet certain skeins, but it is not my place to pass judgment on quantity or quality.

I recognize that stash management is personal. I fully intend to knit my beautiful yarns, but I refuse to be guilted into doing so on anyone's schedule other than my own.

I understand that it may take many years for a yarn to reveal its destiny, and that yarns that have been in my stash for a seemingly long time just haven't met their correct pattern. I won't feel guilty about this.

I also recognize that yarn can have many destinies. It can be a reminder of a special trip, a friend, a time in one's life. It can be comfort or inspiration. It doesn't always need to be knitted to fulfill its destiny. I accept that some yarns in my possession may never be knit by me.

I believe in the karmic properties of stash. I willingly share with other knitters, and I realize the stash, like love, will grow when it is shared.

So... If you're tired of being made to feel like you should be apologizing for your stash instead of just revelling in its possibilities, don't subscribe to the ubiquitous theme that your only goal should be to knit down your stash in the shortest time possible, and you like the concept of a 'No Guilt Stash', check out Bells' and Amy's entries here and here for details on how you too can become a party to the 'No Stash Guilt Manifesto'.

FWIW...

2007-10-07T14:42:00.000+10:00

At least I'm apparently way less dorky and awkward than I thought I was... ;)

Teaser

2007-10-04T00:59:00.000+10:00

After Michael sent me all of those photos, I sent him a wish list in reply. And a day or so later, I received another e-mail with a zipped file attached, which the text of the e-mail assured me contained a photo of everything he had bought for me.

When I unzipped the file, this is what I found...

Michael is adamant that everything is indeed there in the photo, including a lovely brown paper bag which I can use to store my knitting.

As apparently my original wish list wasn't quite long enough (I had no idea what the prices might be like there, so I kept my original list quite short), Michael asked if there was anything else I might like that I'd perhaps left off that first list.

So I sent him a message suggesting that I might like some of the silk yarn I'd spotted in one of the photos.

And the next day I received another e-mail with another zipped file attached, which turned out to contain this photo...

That's right... All of the additional purchases are shown in this photo, along with a lovely white plastic bag which can be used to store some more of my knitting.

I'm sure I've been terribly spoilt, but I'll have to wait until the morning -- Michael should be in the air right now -- to know exactly what is hiding inside those bags. The wish lists I sent him were total guess work of course, as it was difficult to know what any of the yarns might be like in real life, or even how accurate the colours might be. And for anyone who is interested, I've uploaded a few more photos that Michael took before he was shooed out of the yarn store -- they can be found on the end of the 'Tokyo yarn store' set. I'm just amazed that Michael was brave enough to venture into the foreign territory that is The Yarn Store, and incredibly grateful that he did it for me. :)

Tokyo yarn p*rn

2007-09-26T19:40:00.000+10:00

Michael is overseas in Tokyo at the moment, and today I received a series of ten e-mails from him which were just jam packed with photos of yarn and knitting needles which were taken at a store near where he is staying. It took over an hour and a half for the e-mails to download over my poor, overworked dial-up connection, but it was so worth it! :)

For the most part, I have absolutely no idea what I'm looking at, but everything is just so stunning and gorgeous, and in so many beautiful colours! Even though Michael only took photos of things he thought were likely to be Japanese, and not obviously European or Australian imports, there's 50+ photos all up and it really is total visual overload. :) I was about to upload the photos here to share, when, fortunately for everyone, I realized the complete and utter insanity doing that would be. So as a more practical alternative I've uploaded them to Flickr!, collected together as 'Tokyo yarn store' to make them a bit easier to find. I'd really love to have seen Michael taking all these photos though, as he says he took them 'ninja style'.

Now I just need to choose a favourite out of all of that yarn -- Can you feel my pain? ;) If anyone should happen to recognize something in the photos that they can recommend, do please let me know as I'm going to need all the help I can get to make this decision.

In the meantime, does anyone know anything about Japanese knitting needles? For instance, are the Japanese sizes of the Clover bamboo needles the store had available in abundance likely to be sized differently to the metric sized ones available here? Has anyone tried any of the other brands they have on their racks, as obviously I can't tell from the photos how smooth the needles or the joins of the circular needles might be. Even though I have no idea how practical they'd be, I'm definitely tempted to ask Michael to get me one of the 'KA' 22cm circular needles to have a play with as I've never even heard of circular needles that short before. :)

Just by the way... Is anyone else amused that my husband sent me yarn p*rn from Tokyo? ;)

Mystery Stole 3

2007-08-11T22:27:00.000+10:00

Although I haven't had a whole lot of success with the 'Mystery' knit alongs I've signed up for in the past -- the yarn I ordered for 'Mystery Stole 2' didn't even arrive until 3 months after the knit along ended -- when I received an e-mail letting me know that Mystery Stole 3 would be starting soon, I just had to sign up. This year's Mystery Stole has proved extremely popular. I signed up within two and a half hours of the notification going out, and even then I was the 180th person to join the Yahoo group. And by the time the group was closed to new members, there were over 6,700 people!

One really good thing about 'Mystery Stole 3' was that for once I already had at least three potentially suitable yarns in one of the colours Melanie (the designer of the Mystery Stoles) had recommended as matching the mystery theme just sitting there waiting in my yarn stash...

From left to right... two cones of ColourMart 2/36nm 55% cashmere/45% silk yarn in 'Black', an 8 oz hank of JaggerSpun 'Zephyr 2/18' in 'Ebony', and two cones of ColourMart 2/28nm 100% silk yarn in 'Black'.

And I found some Gutermann 9/0 beads at Rubi + Lana, which looked like they might work well on the black yarn...

From left to right... col. 9625 (a silvery coloured bead), col. 6785 (a darker coloured bead with an oil slick like appearance), and col. 9365 (a hematite-like bead).

As the silk yarn is the same one I've been using to knit my Candle Flame Shawl, I decided it might be nice to use one of the other two for this project.

My first test swatch was knit with two strands of the ColourMart cashmere and silk yarn held together...

I wasn't sure what size needle to use, so I tested out three different ones on this swatch, knitting one repeat of the test swatch lace pattern followed by some extra rows of stocking stitch, which I separated from each with some garter stitch rows -- from bottom to top... KnitPicks Classic 3.25mm circular needles, KnitPicks Interchangeable 3.5mm needles, and KnitPicks Interchangeable 3.75mm circular needles.

To help me make a final selection, I also trialled the beads. The beads on the left of the swatch are the silvery looking ones, which, while they looked quite solid on their own in the tube, surprised me by resembling teardrops against the strands of yarn. The beads in the centre are the 'oil slick' beads, and the ones on the right of the swatch are the hematite-like beads. The holes in the Gutermann 9/0 beads are quite small, so the only crochet hook I could find which would go through the centre of (most of) the beads was a Pony 0.60mm steel crochet hook

After I had washed and blocked the swatch, I decided that the finished fabric was going to be a bit too light weight and open for this project. While an option might have been to try knitting another swatch with three or even four strands of this yarn held together, I decided against doing this as I actually like the airy look of the fabric and would like to keep the yarn in reserve for a project where I can use it exactly like this.

So I knit a second test swatch with the JaggerSpun 'Zephyr 2/18' yarn...

As this is the exact same yarn that Melanie used for her sample stole, I just knit this swatch using KnitPicks Interchangeable 3.5mm circular needles, which was the size Melanie used for her sample. After washing and blocking, I decided I was happy with the knitted fabric of this swatch, and that I would go ahead and use this yarn and needle combination for my stole.

Which just left the decision as to what beads to use. I trialled the beads on the second swatch too. The silvery looking beads (the ones that actually look more like teardrops against the yarn) were worked at the side edges, the hematite-like beads are left of centre, and the 'oil slick' beads are right of centre. I definitely preferred the look of the hematite-like beads, which gave a sparkle to the fabric without a too blatantly beaded look, so col. 9365 it was.

And here is my progress on 'Mystery Stole 3' to date.

After finishing Clue 1...

After finishing Clue 2...

After finishing Clue 3...

And after finishing Clue 4...

(As the stole is quite long now, I've only photographed the Clue 4 section here.)

The beads I'm using are smaller than the ones originally specified in the pattern and therefore less likely to cause discomfort when the stole is worn, so, as I really like the subtle sparkle they've been adding to my stole, I decided to include beads in the centres of all of the cat's paw motifs...

(For anyone who is knitting 'Mystery Stole 3'... To centre the beads, I knit them in during the wrong side (purl) row following the middle pattern row of the motifs.)

I'm now starting Clue 5, which I will be modifying so that the 'wing' of the finished stole will go over my left shoulder -- as I'm a left-handed knitter, if I knit Clues 5 to 7 exactly as written the 'wing' of my stole will go over my right shoulder. Wish me luck! :)

Life with Lat

2007-08-11T16:14:00.000+10:00

What happens when you leave Katherine to her own devices, and she has a can of spray paint in her possession?

Well, this of course...

Now, doesn't everyone want a large spray painted outline of a keyblade on their front lawn?

And the best part of it? While I was taking the photograph, it suddenly occurred to me that she hasn't painted the other side of her keyblade yet...

I'm in!

2007-08-06T15:56:00.000+10:00

My invite to...

... landed in my inbox last night. Woohoo! :)

If you're looking for me there, my user name is quokka.

Antsy is right!

2007-08-04T18:47:00.000+10:00

So near, but yet so far...

At least the wait is finally almost over. :)

The package I sent my ISE4 pal

2007-07-10T12:21:00.000+10:00

The ISE4 pal I sent my 'Alpine Knit Scarf to was Tracy, who as it turns out is also a left handed knitter and has a blog called Lefties K2.

And here are the contents of the package I sent her...

In addition to the 'Alpine Knit Scarf' -- which I chose to knit for Tracy as she wanted a lacy scarf to wear during the summer months where she lives -- I included...

Two issues of 'Yarn' magazine -- the (then) current one, and a back issue I ordered from Purl Yarns as I thought Tracy would enjoy it.

A pack of Double Coat 'Tim Tams' -- these are an Australian taste treat that really need to be shared with the rest of the world.

A block of Lindt 'Crunchy Caramel' chocolate -- as Tracy has said on her blog that she likes milk chocolate with a bit of crunch to it.

And finally, two co-ordinated hanks of a really silky soft sari silk yarn, in colours I was sure Tracy would like.

The final package and scarf were very much appreciated by Tracy.

Mission accomplished! :)

Alpine Knit Scarf

2007-07-10T11:55:00.000+10:00

Way back in April, I posted an entry about my intention to knit an 'Alpine Knit Scarf' for my ISE4 pal. As it's just possible that some of you may have been wondering what happened to that scarf, I should probably fill you all in on the details.

Where to start...

At the beginning, I guess.

The original 'Alpine Knit Scarf' in the pattern was knit on 3.5mm needles using a much finer yarn than the one I had chosen, so my first thought was that I would probably need to use a slightly larger needle to knit my pal's scarf, so I cast on the required number of stitches on my 3.75mm KnitPicks Options needles as a starting point. After one repeat of the diamond pattern, two things became clear -- that on 3.75mm needles the scarf was going to have more in common with a throw rug than a scarf, and that the lace pattern was way too loosely knit and had no definition to speak of.

So I switched to the 3.5mm needles in my KnitPicks Options set -- which was the original needle size specified, after all.

This was a little better, but it was still way too wide and the lace was still lacking in definition. However, the good news was that I was now fairly certain that switching to 3.0mm needles would most probably give the lace pattern the correct definition. The bad news was that the KnitPicks Options set doesn't go down to needles that small.

I was keen to get started on the scarf, so while I waited for a 3.0mm KnitPicks Classic circular needle to arrive, I decided to go ahead and cast on using what I hope would be the next best thing...

The Boye NeedleMaster Interchangeable Needle System -- which were my needles of choice when I knit all of those hats and beanies for 'Just Enough Faith' late last year.

As the Boye NeedleMaster needles have fairly sharp points, I decided they would probably be the best ones to use while I was waiting for the KnitPicks needles of choice to arrive.

These needles are sized using only the US needle sizes, so I consulted my KnitPicks View Sizer for the US equivalent for 3.0mm needles...

... and discovered that the size I should be using was US2.

So I cast on again.

The pattern definition of the lace was much better this time, but as the scarf was still going to be wider that the original, I decided to substitute three repeats of the double rose leaf pattern in the centre panel instead of the original four, and cast on for the fourth time.

This was much better.

I was even liking the results enough to finally take a photograph of my progress...

While the points of the Boye NeedleMaster needles were working well for the lace pattern, I definitely wasn't enjoying the bumpy cable join, so I eagerly awaited the arrival of the KnitPicks Classic 3.0mm needles.

After my new KnitPicks Classic circular needles arrived, I was taking a photograph to show the difference between the cable connections...

... when I noticed that the KnitPicks Classic 3.0mm needle looked a bit thicker than the Boye NeedleMaster US2 needle I had been using. When I tested them both in the View Sizer, I discovered that this was indeed the case, as while the KnitPicks 3.0mm needle fit the hole quite snuggly, the Boye US2 needle went through with a fair amount of leeway. I soon discovered that US2 is one of those needle sizes which is interpreted differently by different manufacturers, and that the US2 size Boye uses for its NeedleMaster set is actually 2.75mm.

I've also since discovered that KnitPicks had brought out a second version of their View Sizer after I purchased mine, which actually has holes for both US2 sizes...

And as you can see, I've since purchased one of the new View Sizers in the hope of avoiding this type of problem in the future.

So...

What to do?

I really didn't want to keep knitting on the Boye NeedleMaster needles as the bump in the cable join was driving me crazy. And, if I was completely honest with myself, I was still firmly of the opinion that the 3.0mm needles really were the right size to use as the lace fabric was looking just that little bit too tight on what I had knit up to that point.

So I took one last photograph of my work in progress...

... and then started again.

This time things were much better.

The KnitPicks Classic needles were a joy to use, and before too long I had almost half of the centre panel repeats completed...

I kept knitting, and the scarf continued to grow...

... and eventually I had completed the specified number of repeats of the double rose leaf pattern for the centre panel...

... which in an ideal world would have meant that the end was in sight, but at this point I wasn't so sure. The yarn I'd chosen to use has a lot less stretch than the original yarn, and I really wasn't expecting the length to increase to anywhere near the same extent as the original with the final blocking. Adding to this my opinion that the original dimensions specified in the pattern were a little on the short side anyway, I decided to knit a few more repeats of the double rose leaf pattern.

I knit twenty extra repeats of the double rose leaf pattern as it eventually turned out before I was finally confident that the finished scarf would be long enough.

With the deadline for sending the scarf to its intended recipient approaching and the centre panel finally complete, I quickly finished the end of the scarf, and had it blocked to its final size.

As it turns out, if I'd stopped knitting the centre panel at the specified number of repeats, the finished scarf would have been fairly close to the measurements listed in the original pattern, as the yarn proved to have far more give to it when blocked than I had any right to expect. I'm glad that I did work all those extra repeats though, as the finished scarf measured around two metres in length, which for a scarf which will definitely double as a summer evening wrap is just about the perfect length in my opinion.

And here is the finished 'Alpine Knit Scarf', photographed relaxing on a bench in the Sydney sunshine...

And up close, to show some of the lace pattern detail a little better...

And finally, a close up look at the diamond patterned ends...

Project Details:

'Alpine Knit Scarf' - from Jane Sowerby's 'Victorian Lace Today'
Approximately 5 and 2/3 balls of ONline Linie 164 'Java' in shade #05
KnitPicks Classic 3.0mm circular needles
Cast on 103 stitches instead of the original 121, and worked three double rose leaf patterns across the centre panel instead of the original four
Total number of repeats of double rose leaf pattern in centre panel: 58

I am beyond happy at the way this scarf turned out, as the final drape of the lacy, knitted fabric in this yarn once it was blocked was incredible and by far exceeded all of the expectations I had when I first started the project. The scarf turned out so well that Michael still can't believe I gave this scarf away, but I knit it for someone who has had bad experiences with similar swaps in the past and I'm so glad I was able to send her something to help restore her faith in people.

And of course I can always knit another one for myself, as for once I've had the foresight to buy enough extra yarn to do just that -- I always knew giving this scarf away when the time came would be difficult.

As you can see...

... I've already cast on and worked the first diamond pattern repeat of the second scarf, mostly as an encouragement to myself to work on it from time to time between other projects.

Look what I received from my ISE4 pal!

2007-07-10T10:20:00.000+10:00

As you can see from the photograph...

...the box my ISE4 pal sent me arrived here safely.

As you can also see, I wasn't the first person to gaze upon its contents...

I was a bit nervous opening the box, but I crossed my fingers that the contents would still be intact.

The first thing I found inside was a couple of brochures, thoughtfully enclosed by the Australian Quarantine people...

And I soon spotted the reassuring message I was looking for...

Phew!

It wasn't long after that that I had everything out of the box.

There were some beautifully wrapped packages, all in co-ordinated paper and boxes...

... along with a card featuring a photo of a woman who wears even bigger knickers than I do. ;)

The scarf my pal knit for me was tucked away inside the cute little 'takeaway' box...

And here it is in all of its glory...

I can hardly believe that this is the first lace my pal has knit, as this more detailed photo shows just how beautifully knitted it is...

And she even knit it in two halves so the ends would match perfectly...

I was totally spoiled too by my pal's choice of yarn...

... which as you can see was Mountain Colors Hand-Painted Yarn 'Merino Ribbon', which is incredibly soft and just pure luxury. And the 'Marias Falls' colourway is absolutely perfect -- the colours in it are amazing, and just what I would have chosen for myself! The photos I took don't even come close to capturing just how fabulous they are in real life.

And what was in the other packages?

A pack of the extra dark chocolate 'Lindor' truffles -- which are definitely one of my favourite things -- along with a very special pack of tissues. That's right... I can now live the dream and wipe my nose on hundred dollar bills! :)

And the ISE4 pal who sent me this fabulous package? It was Debi, who has a blog called Knottykitty Knits. And despite the lateness of this posting, it actually arrived well before even the closing date for sending ISE4 packages.

Thank you, Debi! :)

Seven random things

2007-06-01T19:13:00.000+10:00

As Lara has tagged me for the 'Seven random things' meme which is currently doing the rounds, I might as well have a go...

1. I've travelled completely around the world twice -- once by sea and once by air.

2. I went to nine different schools while I was growing up, as my Dad was a submariner with the Royal Australian Navy and we moved around a lot.

3. One of those schools was an old style two room school, with a little room (which was actually the larger of the two), and a big room which you graduated to when the teachers thought you were ready.

4. I'm really easily distracted by things around me, and when I was at University I ended up working on my assignments in the section of the law library where copies of Australian parliamentary Hansard were shelved, as these were the only books in the library I felt no desire to pull off the shelves and read.

5. Despite the fact that I live in Sydney, I don't cope well with hot weather or high humidity.

6. I have a younger brother and sister.

7. I hate mint and the smell of mint with a passion.

As I can't think of anyone who hasn't already done this meme or a similar one in the past -- let alone the seven people required -- I won't be tagging anyone else here. Of course, if you read this and want to give it a go on your blog, be my guest. :)

The other thing which is currently making an appearance on a lot of knitting blogs is the "What's Your Personality Type?" quiz. No surprises with the outcome of this one...

You Are An INFP

The Idealist

You are creative with a great imagination, living in your own inner world.
Open minded and accepting, you strive for harmony in your important relationships.
It takes a long time for people to get to know you. You are hesitant to let people get close.
But once you care for someone, you do everything you can to help them grow and develop.

You would make an excellent writer, psychologist, or artist.

What's Your Personality Type?

... as I'm always an INFP on these personality tests.

Playing around with colours and yarns

2007-05-12T23:51:00.000+10:00

While I was reading some of my lace knitting books recently, I came across a comment from the author about the choice of yarns and colours to be used for knitting lace. According to the author, lace should be knit in either white or ecru mercerized or plain crochet cotton, an equivalent white or natural fine linen thread, or with 1 ply or fine 2 ply wool. Yarns with conspicuous colour, or a polished surface -- e.g. silk, or rayon -- are definitely to be avoided as they are not part of the lace making tradition.

I think I'm in trouble.

I've been breaking the rules.

None of the lace I've been knitting lately has been white, natural or ecru.

Some of it has been shiny in appearance, or even downright fuzzy.

I've even deliberately used yarn which is heavier than lace weight.

And as if that wasn't bad enough, very little of the yarn I have earmarked for future lace projects could be described as white, natural or ecru, and most of what I do have will be dyed before it is used.

I'm obviously a deviant and a rebel.

Oh, well. It's far too late to go back now.

So here is a list of some future transgressions I have in mind.

A few years ago now, I jumped on an already overcrowded bandwagon and knit a Charlotte's Web Shawl for myself. It was quite an interesting experience, mostly because I was unable to locate anywhere locally that stocks Koigu yarn, so all of the yarn had to be ordered from online stores. Ordering different colourways of hand-painted yarns based solely on small photographs on a computer screen with a view to having five of them co-ordinate with one another in some way is insanity of course, but that's never stopped me before. So I went ahead and did it. The shawl that resulted from this experiment -- after three attempts to get the yarn order right -- is lovingly referred to by my eldest daughter as my hippy shawl, and for anyone who is interested there are some photos of it here.

For various reasons, I've always wanted to have another go at this project, but, if anything, obtaining Koigu has become even more problematic since the Charlotte's Web craze died down -- certainly, there seems to be much less available online now in the darker, deeper, cooler tones of blue, green, purple and red, which are the colours I tend to lean towards.

Anyway... I received a few more hanks of Koigu 'Painter's Palette Premium Merino' yarn in the post last week, so I decided it was time to take my box of Koigu PPPM yarn outside so I could play around with different combinations of colourways in an environment where the light was better -- I'm sure my neighbours where amused by this, but at least they were able to continue to resist the urge to have me hauled away by the men in white coats -- at least for now.

I took some photographs of what I consider to be the better combinations -- and I've layed them all out in the order they would be used in the shawl, just in case it isn't obvious. Apologies for the colourways which have already been wound into balls ready for use, but turning them back into hanks just for the photographs was way too obsessive even for me. ;)

I think this one is my favourite...

... and perhaps not surprisingly it features purples and greens.

From left to right,

Colour P217 Lot 27
Colour P305 Lot 267
Colour P609 Lot 87
Colour P528 Lot 22
Colour P429 Lot 29
Colour P609 Lot 40

I included an additional colourway beyond the number specified in the pattern in this one because I've noticed that my original Charlotte's Web Shawl has a tendency to relax and lose some of its size quite soon after it is blocked, and I'd quite like to have one that is a little larger. Plus I just had to take advantage of the fact that I actually had six colourways in my possession that looked like they just might play nicely together.

And as I actually started out trying to put something together that features some red...

From left to right,

Colour P426 Lot 320
Colour P426 Lot 221
Colour P102 Lot 174
Colour P428 Lot 82
Colour P408 Lot 65

My camera has given this one a bit of a pink tinge that wasn't there in real life, but you'll just have to take my word that in reality it's redder than it probably looks in the photograph. Just for my own information... the blue hank was included because it seemed a little flat without it, and because I haven't been able to find any suitable deep, dark red colourways anywhere.

Just by way of comparison, here is a photograph of the colourways I used in my original Charlotte's Web Shawl...

From left to right,

Colour P426 Lot 221
Colour P417 Lot 3
Colour P428 Lot 82
Colour P405 Lot 108
Colour P217 Lot 27

One thing I did notice while I was playing with my Koigu yarn on the table outside was that several of the colourways are now a lot lighter than they were a few years ago, which was something I had already suspected from the difficulties I've been having finding the fully saturated colourways that used to a trademark of the Koigu dye artists a few years ago. Note in particular the two examples of colourway P609 in the first photograph, and of colourway P426 in the second. In both cases, the very much lighter version is the more recent offering. Just in case any of Koigu's dye artists ever accidentally stop by here, I know things move on but I'd really appreciate it if there could be a few more deeper, darker colourways in cooler toned colours put back in the range -- and if there could be a dark, moody Goth-inspired colourway with purples and blacks, my daughter would finally be able to have the socks of her dreams knit for her. Of course, it's also possible that these colourways are still available, but they're just not making it online where I can find them...

Anyway... That's enough of that, and it's time to move on.

When one of the local yarn stores was closing down, I bought some yarn at a very good price during their final sale...

It's nine skeins of Rare Yarns Rare Fire 'Jewel' yarn, which is a 14 ply 50% Australian alpaca, 30% mohair, 20% super fine merino yarn, which is actually made up of a mix of the four 'Cool Jewel' colours (Jade, Amethyst, Sapphire, and Topaz) from their 'Essentials' range.

So...

What have I decided to knit with this yarn?

Why, 'Claddach' from Alice Starmore's 'In the Hebrides', of course!

Having seen how this yarn looks when used to knit simple lace stitches in some of the 'Rare Yarns' patterns, I really do think this should be a match made in heaven, even though the yarn is a fair bit thicker than the 'Scottish Heather' specified in the pattern.

And having seen this description of the inspiration behind the design and the meaning of the name...

... I think the colourway is a really appropriate match too.

Note to myself... As the yarn label specifies 7.00mm needles, 8.00mm needles might be a good place to start as the lace fabric for the wrap will need to have a softer drape than normal. And as this yarn is chunkier than the original and will be worked on much larger needles, eliminating two of the 9 stitch repeats would probably be a good idea too.

As if this project isn't deviant enough, I'm still seriously thinking about knitting a Hap Shawl using the ColourMart lace weight smooth silk yarn.

As the pattern I would like to use is the 2 Ply Grey Shawl pattern from Heirloom Knitting...

... and it uses four co-ordinating colours, I've acquired two more shades in the 3/50nm smooth silk yarn...

... which I plan to knit with two strands held together, exactly as I've been doing with my 'Candle Flame Shawl'. From left to right, the colours are 'Pale Silver', 'Pale Steel', 'Pale Navy 2' and 'Dark Navy 2', and I can see these working together really well in this shawl. :) I know knitting it in silk is a really decadent idea -- particularly in view of the history behind Hap Shawls -- but I do think Sharon's beautiful pattern is more than worthy of this luxurious yarn, and that the silky softness and added sheen will make for quite a spectacular finished shawl.

One of my ultimate goals is to acquire the necessary skills to be eventually be able to knit Heirloom Knitting's Wedding Ring Shawl. I already have the pattern...

... and also have a few possible contenders for the yarn to knit it with sitting in my stash.

Predictably, none of them is white, as in the back of my mind I'm picturing something truly ethereal in nature -- whether this is a good idea or not, only time will tell.

As ColourMart's cobweb weight cashmere and silk yarn appears to be almost identical in appearance to one of the yarn samples included in the envelope with the pattern, these are my current front runners.

Perhaps one of these two...

'Grey' on the left, and 'Navy' on the right.

Or possibly one of these two...

'Ocean Blue' on the left, and 'Violet' on the right.

I realize I've posted these two photos in earlier entries on this blog, but I've included them here again just to have everything grouped together in the one place.

I keep changing my mind as to which of these colours to go with, but as I think it will still be a while before I'm worthy of attempting this pattern, I still have plenty of time to think about it before a final decision needs to be made. I'm actually a little curious as to whether other people have a tendency to lean towards projects which will help bring them a little closer to being able to knit a special project, as this is always in the back of my mind when I choose a new project to knit? I have quite a history of over-thinking things, and I'm suspicious that this could well be a more long term example of that.

As a companion to the Wedding Ring Shawl, I also have my eyes on the Princess Shawl as a future project, but that one has the added complication of the pattern not being currently available.

I've also bought some dyes, which I will be auditioning soon on some samples of the yarn I plan to use to knit my sister's Hanami Shawl...

There's a few more than I mentioned in my earlier posting, as several people have advised me that the cashmere and silk blend might turn out a little paler than I want it to be, so I bought a couple of darker shades as well to test out on the yarn -- they're all shades I'll use anyway, so none of them will go to waste.

The shades I chose are all from the Gaywool Bush Blends range, and I bought them from the Virginia Farm Woolworks, who had them on my doorstep in practically no time at all. :) Just in case the labels are hard to read in the photograph, the colours are 'Willow', 'Meadow', 'Cypress', 'Iceberg' and 'Sugargum'.

If anyone has any advice to offer as to how best to get a nice even result, please let me know as I'd like this shawl to turn out well for my sister. I'm also thinking I might buy myself something like a crock pot for my dyeing, so I can set things up in the laundry away from the kitchen -- Is this a good idea?

After a photograph of a Hyrna Herborgar shawl was posted on the ColourMart Forum recently, I just had to have this...

It's 'Three-Cornered & Long Shawls' by Sigridur Halldórsdóttir which apparently is a near-legendary Icelandic shawl book, and fortunately for me it's accompanied by a booklet with an English translation as my Icelandic language skills really aren't what they should be.

And while I was ordering it from the Schoolhouse Press website, this fell into my shopping cart too...

It's 'Stahman's Shawls and Scarves' by Myrna Stahman, which is a book I've been wanting for years.

And while I'm on the topic of books...

From some of the postings on the Heirloom Knitting Yahoo group, I recently learnt of the existence of a specialist Russian book (with an accompanying DVD) on Orenburg Lace. I eventually tracked down a review of 'The Orenburg Down Shawl' on the wabi sabi blog. I'm not sure I'm quite ready to enter the wonderful world of sourcing obscure knitting books from Russia yet, but if somewhere in the West is ever able to take this book on and add it to their catalogue, I'll be among the first in line to buy it.

And while I'm on the topic of Orenburg shawls... Sharon Miller now sells a Gossamer Mohair yarn, which appears to be the closest yarn to the best Orenburg yarn which is currently readily available.

Left-Handed Knitter?

2007-05-11T01:18:00.000+10:00

While I was browsing through some of my knitting books the other night, I stumbled upon this little gem...

... which I really have to take issue with, and couldn't let pass without comment.

As someone who doesn't knit 'the right handed way', it's my experience that there are very few patterns that need any alteration at all to the instructions as written, mostly due to the symmetrical nature of the human body, and just about any object you are likely to want to knit. For the most part, I just follow the instructions exactly as they are written, or read any charts provided as if I was going to knit it 'the right handed way', and everything works just fine -- after all, does it really matter if I start knitting each row at the left-hand edge instead of the right-hand edge, or that the piece I knit from the pattern instructions is the right front instead of the left front, as long as I'm aware of this and attach it to the correct side when I sew the item together, and remember to put any buttonholes on the appropriate side for the sex of the recipient? In general, the only time I bother with altering the pattern instructions in any way is if there is a motif in the design which really needs to be worked so it faces a specific direction -- an alphabetic character, for example. I actually quite like that some of the things I knit are mirror images of what everyone else is knitting as it gives them a bit more individuality, even though you'd have to be very familiar with the original pattern to appreciate that individuality -- I look on it as the knitter's equivalent of an in-joke. ;) In any case, I have serious doubts that there are patterns that will be impossible to knit, simply because you are knitting your rows in the opposite direction.

I also take issue with the idea that the problem for left-handers is all to do with controlling the yarn, and that simply choosing to work using the Continental method will solve that problem. My experience is that no matter whether you choose to knit using the English or the Continental method of holding the yarn, it will be the right hand that is actually doing most of the work if you knit 'the right handed way', which, when all is said and done, is why right-handers knit in that direction in the first place. It is only by switching things around so that you're working in the opposite direction that the left hand becomes the dominant working hand when knitting, which for me feels a lot less awkward and far more natural than knitting 'the right handed way', and was well worth the extra effort it has taken me to learn to knit that way.

The one thing I do agree with is that a knitter who does decide not to knit 'the right handed way' will inevitably have to face the fact that how to knit instruction books are almost invariably written and illustrated from the point of view of right-handed knitters -- 'Knitting Through the Looking Glass' is actually a bit of a dig at the large number of knitting instruction books where the only concession to left-handers is a note telling us to view the illustrations provided through a mirror -- and that most of the knitters they will meet will knit 'the right handed way', so any instructions received from these sources will need to be switched around. In my own case, I was lucky enough to have a left-handed aunt who helped me get started by showing me how to work the knit stitch when I was having difficulties learning how to knit 'the right handed way', which gave me both a starting point and an understanding of what would need to be switched around when learning something new from a right-hander or from instructions intended for a right-handed person. Thank you, Auntie Lois! :) Without your help I'm sure I would have given up on knitting long before I worked out that simply switching the direction around would make everything far less awkward for me.

The flame still burns

2007-04-06T20:54:00.000+10:00

This is the last of the catch up entries I've been working on posting to this blog this week, and I hope I've saved the best for last.

Over the last month I've been working on my 'Candle Flame Shawl' quite steadily, and while I haven't been able to post photos of my progress due to some uncooperative photo manipulation software, I did take a few work in progress shots so I'd be able to share them once the problem was solved.

And here they are at last! :)

This first one is of the shawl at around the halfway point, and is one I promised to post for the benefit of the ColourMart Yahoo Group members, as it shows the size that could be knit with just one cone of the 2/28nm lace weight smooth silk yarn...

At the stage shown in the photograph, 360 rows have been completed, and I'm fairly certain there would still be more than enough yarn left at this point to work a border along the top edge if a single cone was being used to knit the shawl. The cones were included in the photograph to give some idea of the size of the shawl, although it should be borne in mind that when the shawl is blocked I'm anticipating that it will expand in width and become a much less pointy triangular shape. I think I can confidently say that a reasonable sized finished version of this shawl could easily be knit using the quantity of yarn on just one 150g cone of this yarn. :)

But as I've always envisaged this shawl as being a more substantial size and not just one which will drape across my shoulders, I have continued on from this point and I have a few more progress shots to share.

This is my 'Candle Flame Shawl' after 440 rows...

And after 470 rows...

... which is the point I'm currently at.

And as most people still seem to be preferring what is nominally supposed to be the wrong side of the shawl...

For anyone who is interested, the rows are now 753 stitches long.

David recently mentioned my shawl on his 'Sticks & Strings' podcast (Woohoo! :) ), and provided some estimates as to how many stitches I have had to knit to reach the point I was at when he last saw it, along with an estimate of the number of stitches I'm likely to have knit by the time I finally complete the project. As I was curious to know what the actual figures might be, I've just sat down and calculated the number of stitches I've knit to reach this point, and have arrived at a figure of 176,674. I have to say that I'm very impressed that the figures David quoted -- which he calculated in just seconds, I should add -- were most definitely in the ballpark.

And the good news for me is that the finish line is finally in sight after working all 176,674 of those stitches -- well, more than that really, as I've made a fair few mistakes along the way ;) -- as the yarn remaining on the cones has decreased quite noticeably now...

Judging by the weight of yarn remaining on the cones, I've used around 80% of the yarn I originally had. There will be a bit of a delay in finishing this shawl though, as I really need to work on the scarf for my ISE 4 pal so I can get it finished in time for the deadline.

The up side of this delay is that it will give me a bit more time to think about what I want to do to finish the top edge of the shawl. I'm still not keen on the look of the original knitted on garter stitch edging, but I do realize that whatever I do decide to use will need to have enough stretch to it to allow the shawl to be blocked out to its final width. I think I'll ask again on the 'Candle Flame Shawl Knit-Along' Yahoo Group for information on what others have done to finish the top edges of theirs, as I received an interesting response last time I asked which I really need to follow up on.

As I've already let it slip that I've been making mistakes while knitting this shawl ;), I thought I should also reveal the mistake I've found myself making most often.

Surprisingly enough, it isn't knit stitches where purl stitches should be, or vice versa -- that would be much too easy to fix by simply dropping the stitches down to the error and then working the stitches back up with the correct orientation.

The mistake I've found myself making most often is this...

Just in case it isn't clear from the photograph, there's an extra loop that shouldn't be there waiting to be worked on the right needle, which is the result of one of the various forms of 'yarn over' having found its way on to the needle while I was knitting the previous row. Why this would have happened -- and a surprisingly large number of times too, I hasten to add :( -- I have absolutely no idea, as 'yarn overs' aren't even a feature of this particular pattern stitch.

And as far as mistakes go, I'm finding this one a really annoying one to deal with when I suddenly come across one, as it's the kind of thing that's just itching to form a hole in the fabric where there really shouldn't be one...

Due to the smooth nature of the fabric of this shawl, the best solution appears to be to 'tink' back to the point in the row below where the mistake was made and then re-knit the row without the 'yarn over' -- something which was bad enough early on when the rows were short, but is truly painful when there are more than 700 stitches in a row and Murphy's Law inevitably dictates that the mistake will have been made near the beginning of the row and so won't be discovered until towards the end of the following row. I've now learnt to look back over my work for these errant 'yarn overs' at regular intervals while knitting each row so I don't have too far to go back if I do find one, and not to work on this shawl when I'm tired or distracted.

Finally, I'd like to congratulate knitabulous for the Highly Commended awards she received for the two shawls she entered in the Sydney Royal Easter Show this year. Judging by the quality of work displayed on her blog, I'd say the awards were well deserved, and I cant wait to see her 'Shetland Sampler Stole' and 'Peacock Feathers Shawl' on display at the Show.

Julie also had a couple of her projects entered this year, but unfortunately they don't appear to have received awards in their categories. :( All I can say is that there must've been some pretty spectacular competition in those categories as Julie's entries were amazing.

International Scarf Exchange 4

2007-04-03T18:49:00.000+10:00

I've added a new button to my sidebar...

... as I've signed up for International Scarf Exchange 4.

A few of the Rubi + Lana group have taken part in the earlier incarnations of the International Scarf Exchange, and as it's always looked like fun I thought I would give it a go this time around. :)

Pals have already been allocated, and I've successfully made contact with both the person I will be knitting a scarf for and the person who will be knitting a scarf for me, so everything is going really well so far.

I've also paid a visit to Rubi + Lana, and now have several balls of yarn eagerly awaiting the opportunity to become a scarf for my pal...

As you can see from the label...

... it's ONline Linie 164 'Java', which is a 67% cotton and 33% rayon yarn. The colour I've chosen is shade #05, which is a deep, dark blue, and to my eye is a colour reminiscent of dark blue sapphires.

The regulars from our little knitting group will no doubt recognize the yarn as the same one Lara is using to knit her 'Melon Shawl'. **

So... What will I be making with this yarn?

I've decided to knit a version of this...

... which is the 'Alpine Knit Scarf' from Jane Sowerby's 'Victorian Lace Today'.

And here is another view of it...

From the information I was sent, my pal seems keen to have a lacy scarf to wear during the summer months, and I think this should fit the bill.

As the yarn I bought is nothing like the original yarn used in the pattern, I've also chosen a backup pattern -- surprisingly enough, not from 'Victorian Lace Today' -- just in case the yarn and pattern decide not to play nicely together.

Whatever happens though, I have a feeling this is going to be a scarf I'm going to have trouble letting go of when the time comes. ;)

From the look of some of the postings on the International Scarf Exchange blog, I'm already way behind as several people have already finished knitting their scarf. Eek!

Just one more posting to go now, and I should finally be up to date. ;)

** My profound apologies to Kate, by the way. I was completely mistaken about the particular 'tree wool' yarn Lara was using when you asked me about it at one of our recent get-togethers. Since I last saw you, I've read some of Lara's blog entries a little more closely than I must've originally, and have discovered that it was the ONline Linie 164 'Java' after all. :(

Souvenirs from Michael's London trip

2007-04-02T10:56:00.000+10:00

Michael returned from his trip to London and Cork on Friday night, and there were many presents hiding in his bag when he arrived home.

The main present he brought home for me was this fabulous shoulder bag from Harrods in the 'Knightsbridge Cats' print...

... which is just the perfect size and shape for carrying my latest knitting projects around with me. :) It's also going to be very practical, as the fabric is covered in PVC to help keep it clean.

And to add to my collection of plushies, I now have a Harrods Grenadier Guard Bear...

... to help keep all the others in line. It's made from the most unbelievably soft fur too.

And of course there were some of Harrods' famous food treats...

There's a selection of teas, some orange, lemon and grapefruit marmalade, some clotted cream shortbread, and some chocolate fudge. The shortbread and fudge are already disappearing fast.

While he was in London, Michael did what most visitors to London do and took in a West End show. Under normal circumstances, Michael really isn't the theatre and show type, but fortunately Monty Python came to the rescue here, in the form of Monty Python's Spamalot, which is described as "A new musical lovingly ripped off from the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail".

And of course he couldn't resist buying a souvenir of the evening from the very aptly named 'Ye Olde Rippe Offe Shoppe' in the foyer...

It's a fearsome Rabbit of Caerbannog hand puppet, complete with fangs just waiting to rip the head off any unsuspecting Knights of the Round Table who dare to approach to closely. ;)

And while this last thing has nothing whatsoever to do with Michael's trip, I'm going to post these links here because they don't really fit into any of the other entries I'm planning to write either.

Anyway... I thought it might be amusing to point people in the direction of Amanda's partner Greg's Wikipedia entry, which of course continues the tradition of not entirely accurate Wikipedia entries admirably by listing his place of birth as some town in Florida which none of us -- including Greg -- have ever heard of, and by getting one of his ring names wrong. But the truly amusing part -- other than the fact that someone I know actually has a Wikipedia entry ;) -- is that if you click on the link within the entry for Mark Hilton, it takes you to the Wikipedia entry for a Republican politician from North Carolina. And judging by the accompanying photograph, I'd say Greg must've been very embarrassed to have lost an AWF Australasian Championship title match to him. ;) Don't you just love random hot links? :D

Future projects

2007-04-02T10:11:00.000+10:00

First up, I recently bought four cones of ColourMart's 2/7nm DK weight cashmere yarn in the 'Bottle Jade' colour...

In real life, the colour is actually a bit darker than it appears in the photograph, but this was the closest my digital camera was able to get, as it always tries to lighten dark colours for reasons of its own -- maybe there's a setting somewhere I'm yet to discover that stops this from happening.

These four cones were acquired with knitting a variation of this in mind...

It's Miriam Felton's beautiful Woven Cable Wrap.

The 2/7nm DK weight cashmere yarn should be a perfect substitution for the original yarn, and is a much more affordable alternative. I now just have to decide whether to knit with it straight off the cone, or to wash it first so I have a better idea as to how the finished wrap will drape while I'm knitting it.

While I'm on the topic of washing coned yarn before knitting with it...

I recently purchased a couple of cones of ColourMart's 2/36nm 55% Cashmere 45% silk fine lace weight yarn in 'Teardrop'...

... with the intention of knitting Melanie's Hanami Shawl...

... for my sister, either for her birthday in July or for next Christmas. I sort of feel like I owe Debbie a hand-knitted cashmere and silk shawl. I gave her a woven cashmere and silk wrap which I found at one of the little boutiques at Birkenhead Point as a present last Christmas, but there was a miscommunication somewhere along the line, and my mother told her that it had been hand-knit by me. As my mother doesn't want me to tell my sister that she made a mistake, I think the best way to make things completely right is for me to just go ahead and knit a shawl for my sister so she really does have one of my hand-knitted shawls.

So where does the pre-washing come in?

Well... None of the available colours in the cashmere and silk yarn really screamed 'Debbie' to me, so I bought the colour closest to white to dye a more appropriate colour -- I'm currently leaning towards one of the 'Gaywool Bush Blends' dyes in either 'Iceberg' or 'Sugargum', as I think they'll suit the pattern well, look fabulous in the Cairn's sunshine, and, most importantly, will compliment Debbie's skin tone beautifully. I've been told that I will get a better end result if I dye the yarn before I knit it, so that's what I'm intending to do. I have to say, though, that I'm really not looking forward to loading several kilometres of this super-fine yarn on to my niddy noddy and subjecting it to the whole dyeing process. My fingers are crossed that I don't end up with a horrible tangled mess.

I've also gone ahead and renewed my Rowan International subscription for another year, although admittedly I did wait until after the reviews made it clear that Magazine Number 41 was a real winner...

... as the free gift this year really doesn't do anything for me.

Kim Hargreaves' 'Knitted Bag' from Rowan Book 30 is actually far more my style...

... than the 'Dolly Bag' is.

I wonder if the yarn from the free gift could be used to make a variation on this bag? I'm guessing that the fabric lining would help to counteract the tendency to grow that fabrics knit from cotton yarns often have and might keep the bag from stretching out of shape when it's in use, and the handles could always be reinforced by threading woven cotton tape through them. So maybe it's a possibility...

Recently, some of our little Rubi + Lana knitting group went along to a Knitters' Guild meeting in the Blue Mountains, where Kate is the convener. I took my 'Candle Flame Shawl' along to work on while I was there, and received quite a few positive comments about it from the members there. :)

Anita, from The Wool Inn in Penrith, was also there with lots of tempting wares for sale. When I found this on her table...

... I knew it would be coming home with me, as I've been searching everywhere for just this shade of red. It's Naturally 'Mist', and is a 1 ply yarn which is 80% super fine kid mohair and 20% nylon -- not quite Rowan 'Kid Silk Haze' or Madil 'Kid Seta', but this really was all about the colour. :) I've earmarked the yarn for a yet to be decided shawl from Jane Sowerby's 'Victorian Lace Today'.

Before the Knitters' Guild meeting, we stopped off in Katoomba, for lunch and to check out David's LYS, 'Katoomba Knitting & Needlecraft'. We all had a great time fondling the yarn there, and I came away with this...

Some Cleckheaton 'Studio mohair 8 ply' yarn. Yes, it's pink. But it's an icy pink, and I have a longstanding affinity for icy colours.

I also have an affinity for yarns which are almost liquid silver in appearance, and the yarn on the left...

... definitely qualifies. It's one of the new Italian 3/50nm lace weight 100% silk yarns available on the ColourMart website. The cones on the left are 'Pale Steel' and the ones on the right are 'Pale Navy 2', which despite the name is actually quite a dark shade. It wasn't until this yarn arrived though that I realized just how fabulous these two colours look together, so now I'm wondering if a truly decadent and luxurious take on the Hap Shawl might not be on the cards. ;)

And last but not least, there's a cone of 2/28nm lace weight cashmere yarn from ColourMart, the colour of which has the fetching name of 'GURLOD'...

Once again, the colours in this yarn are actually more vibrant in real life -- it's not entirely obvious in the photograph, but the yarn is actually made up of a bright purple and a loden green thread twisted together, which produces a look I think will go really well with the shawls in 'Victorian Lace Today' -- this book was definitely one of my better purchases as there's so much in it I want to knit. :)

Now I just need a few more hours in the day...

Gathering together some information for that New Zealand holiday

2007-04-02T09:32:00.000+10:00

Planning for my New Zealand trip really hasn't advanced much further, but thanks to Jussi, I discovered this...

... which should help ensure that when we do go I won't miss out on any fabulous little local yarn stores. It took a bit of searching, but I eventually stumbled upon the New Zealand Books Abroad website, which was actually willing to ship a copy of this book to Australia. Woohoo! :)

Michael has also suggested that it might be nice to co-ordinate our trip with one of the Great New Zealand Craft Shows dates. So basically I still haven't even narrowed down whether we will be going to the north or south island yet, as if we want to visit one of the craft shows the dates we are able to travel will be a big factor in the decision if we are going to do this.

Michael actually went along to one of their Christchurch shows many years ago, and was very impressed with what he saw, which is why he made the suggestion. He brought home this pair of beautiful, handpainted mugs from that show...

There was a card with the artist's details, but that appears to have been filed away somewhere safely, and neither of us can remember the artist's name now. The only clue I have is this...

The letters 'TW', which appear on the handles of both mugs. If anyone can enlighten me as to the identity of the artist I will gladly share it with everyone.

The many moods of colour #3032

2007-03-31T19:53:00.000+10:00

As there's been some amusement and a comment or two on the colour of the yarn I'm using to knit my Candle Flame Shawl from people who know just how much pink really isn't my favourite colour -- not to mention the joy with which my daughter Amanda likes to point, laugh, and remind me that "That's really pink!" every time she comes over to visit -- I thought I might have a go at providing an explanation of sorts.

When I originally bought the yarn, the colour was described as 'dark red with a fuschia tint', and while the accompanying photograph was really red...

... the Colourcheck entry for it indicated that it was probably a bit more crimson than the photo indicated, so I was prepared for an interesting colour when I placed my order. Having seen the colour in real life now, I actually think 'fuschia with a red tint' would be a more accurate description of the colour as I see it, but then again I'm also very aware that colour perception is much more subjective than a lot of people think.

What I can say is that it has proved to be a difficult colour to photograph consistently for my work in progress photos for this blog, as varying light levels on different days have really made a huge difference to the way the colour looks in digital photographs.

But at least I'm not alone in this. ;)

Here, from the ColourMart website, is a photograph of a cone of the same yarn which has been plied to make a DK yarn...

... and a photograph of a washed skein of the same yarn...

Despite their differing appearances, in my experience all of the above photographs are actually accurate representations of this particular shade depending on the light source used, as different fluorescent or incandescent light sources, and natural light levels all bring different aspects of the colour to the forefront.

So... While I'm really not a pink person in general, the colour of this yarn is a real chameleon, and while it's vividly pink when it's out in bright sunlight, under most lights the red tint is evident to greater or lesser extents. I don't think I've had any other reaction from people when I've been knitting my shawl out in public than "What a fabulous colour!", so I guess it must be one of those shades with almost universal appeal -- a fortuitous purchase indeed! :) I do have to say that my choice of a project for this yarn which will mostly be worn of an evening and therefore illuminated by candlelight, incandescent or fluorescent lighting was a deliberate one as those are the situations where I think the colour is at its very best.

And for anyone who has been wondering about the absence of new entries here for the past several weeks... I've been having a problem with my photo manipulation software, which, after several attempts to correct it by re-installing the software from scratch, eventually turned out to be caused by an errant tick in one of the boxes in a setting window which has now been removed. How it got there, and why it persisted even after several supposedly clean re-installations, I still don't know. Anyway... Expect some catch-up blogging to occur over the next day or so.

Candles flaming brightly

2007-02-24T03:37:00.000+11:00

Not long ago, I bought a couple of cones of 100% silk 2/28 lace weight yarn from ColourMart's new website. The price was particularly good at the time ($US12 per 150 g cone, including shipping anywhere in the world) as Richard was testing out the new website and was keen for people to test it out. The colour of the yarn turned out to be a bit less red and quite a bit more pink than I'd originally hoped it would be when it arrived on my doorstep -- one of the joys of buying yarn like this over the internet ;) -- but it was a really fabulous colour anyway, so I went searching for a project that would bring out its best.

And then Knitabulous, temptress that she is, posted about the 'Candle Flame Shawl' she has been working on using Debbie Bliss 'Pure Silk' and I was sold.

Now, Knitabulous can't be expected to take any of the blame for what follows, as it's really not everyone who would look at the work in progress photos of her lovely shawl, read about her safe, slow, languid knit which gets worked on when there is a need to meditate, and then immediately leap to the conclusion that a pattern originally designed to be knit with Lambs Pride Bulky yarn on US 10 knitting needles would be just perfect for some 2/28 lace weight silk yarn. That requires a very special way of thinking that most people would quite rightly refer to as madness.

So, out came the two cones of lace weight silk yarn, my 2 mm Addi circular needles, and the pattern for the aforementioned Candle Flame Shawl, and not too long afterwards I had produced this...

Just in case it's not obvious from the photos, I'm knitting with two threads of the yarn held together...

... which is producing just the right fabric density on the 2 mm needles.

And after a few more days work, my shawl looked like this...

... and I can definitely say that the cone spindles were one of my better knitting accessory purchases, as they are making it really easy to knit the yarn straight off the two separate cones.

To show some of the stitch detail better, here is a close up photo of the front of the shawl...

And of the back of the shawl...

Even though it isn't strictly speaking reversible, I think the reverse side of the candle flame stitch pattern used in this shawl is actually quite attractive too.

After quite a bit more work, my shawl had grown considerably.

Here is the front view...

And the back view...

It's entirely possible that this shawl is another one of the distractions which has kept me from posting to this blog over the past few weeks. ;)

At the point shown in the last two photographs, I estimated that I'd knit about 25% of the final shawl, and the rows were already 433 stitches long, which means there will probably be double that number of stitches on the needles by the time the shawl is finished. Eek!

I still have to decide upon the edging to use along the top edge of my shawl, as I really don't think the original 10 stitch garter stitch border is going to work well for this much lighter weight version of the shawl.

I've actually done a couple more pattern repeats over the past few days and there are now 467 little, tiny stitches sitting on my needles.

And I definitely need to wear my glasses when I'm working on this project. ;)

I'm really enjoying working with this yarn, and I'm so impressed with the way the knitted fabric is turning out -- it has a fabulous drape, and is as silky soft as lingerie fabric -- that I've gone ahead and bought some more of it for future projects. At $US16 for a 150 g cone with 2,300 yards of yarn on it, and with such stunning colours currently available, it really was impossible to resist. :)

And just in case anyone is wondering what has happened to my 'Swallowtail Shawl', it is now off the needles but is still waiting for me to clear enough space somewhere in the house so it can be blocked...

And yes, those black threads visible in the photograph are the life lines still in place -- I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to removing safety nets. ;)

For anyone who has been keeping track -- The last row before the shawl was cast off was 503 stitches long, and I had around 17 g of the 'Sea Silk' left by the time I finished. Unblocked, the shawl is approximately 74 cm long measured down the centre spine, and 152 cm wide measured across the whole top edge. I'm feeling quite confident now that it will block out quite nicely to the size I've been dreaming of.

I actually knit the final row and the cast off of my 'Swallowtail Shawl' after I had started work on the 'Candle Flame Shawl', and was surprised at how much like logs the 4 mm needles felt after the 2 mm needles, even though I'd only been working with them for a very short time at that stage.

There has also been some re-stocking at Purl Yarns, which prompted me to buy these...

Two hanks of Lorna's Laces 'Shepherd Sock' in the 'Lakeview' colourway, and two hanks in 'Blackberry', both of which I have been looking out for for a while now.

I also took the opportunity to order some balls of Kaalund 'Enchanté' in the 'Wisteria' colourway for myself when I placed the telephone order for Lois' yarn at Kaalund.

This is another of those colourways that my digital camera doesn't appear to be able to do full justice to, but I hope the photo gives at least some idea of what the yarn looks like in person.

While I was putting together Lois' final Secret Pal 9 package, I paid a visit to The Wool Inn at Penrith.

While I was there, I found some balls of Kaalund 'ClassicTwo' in the 'Tropical Berries' colourway, which I have earmarked to be used for knitting one of the shawls featured in Issue 2 of Yarn magazine. I was also shown some Mi Inca 100% Baby Alpaca yarn in a fabulous teal colour, which insisted on following me home down the motorway. And of course I had to buy a couple of the Colonial rosewood circular needles (a 4.5 mm and a 5 mm, both in the 24" length) to try out for myself too.

Just in case it isn't obvious already, I don't believe in the whole yarn diet thing which appears to be so popular at the moment. Call me crazy, but I'd actually like for there still to be some yarn stores around by this time next year. ;)

Valentine's Day

2007-02-23T22:11:00.000+11:00

Look what Michael gave me for Valentine's Day this year.

A pair of fabulous silver Cicada Wing earrings.

Even though the photo doesn't show it all that well, the beads are actually really sparkly -- I think Michael said they were made of ironstone? For anyone who is interested, I've included the little card with all the details about the artist that accompanied the earrings in the photograph too.

And yes, my blog postings really are lagging this far behind at the moment...

Presents from Singapore

2007-02-23T21:42:00.000+11:00

Michael and the girls went to Singapore for a holiday for nine days at the beginning of the month -- I didn't go with them as I don't handle high humidity levels at all well.

They did bring me back some souvenirs and presents though.

A plush dolphin and Singapore's Merlion mascot, and a fat cat that Amanda chose for me because she really liked the fish it's carrying under its arm. The black and white cat has a little solar cell which powers its tail and makes it wag whenever sunlight falls upon it. And the little pack contains three Lego 'Star Wars' magnets.

They also brought back these for me.

Some photos of the three of them together which they had taken on Sentosa Island in and around the giant Merlion, and the picture in the middle which features each of our Chinese zodiac animals -- the rat is me, by the way. :)

Michael is planning a trip for the two of us to New Zealand later this year, where the climate will be much more compatible with me not collapsing and dying. If anyone has any suggestions as to places we really must be sure to visit while we're there, please let me know. :)

As Secret Pal 9 winds down...

2007-02-19T02:48:00.000+11:00

... look what arrived in the mail, just for me.

I love the hand made stitch markers my pal made for me! :) There are five glass bead markers and five 'Family Guy' markers -- the 'Family Guy' ones are just the cutest little shrinky dinks. :) And to think I was originally worried about using the Stewie SP9 button in my sidebar... ;)

My Pal still hasn't revealed herself -- there has been a whisper that there may be one final package coming my way in the not too distant future, which is just amazing as I've already been totally spoiled by my Canadian pal. :) Apologies to my pal for the delay in posting this -- I've had a few problems and distractions.

And now it's time for me to reveal who I have been secretly sending packages to for the past few months.

The pal I've been sending to is Lois, who has a blog called appropriately enough Get It Knitted. And Lois certainly does Get It Knitted, as while the swap was in progress she completed, amongst other things, several beautiful lace shawls. As Lois lives in Singapore, I avoided heavy, chunky yarns and tried to choose lighter weight things which would suit the climate where she lives.

During Secret Pal 9, I sent Lois two packages.

This is the first...

... A hank of Handmaiden 'Sea Silk' in the 'Rose Garden' colourway, along with the 'Storm Water Scarf' pattern, a 4 mm Susanne's ebony circular knitting needle, Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's 'Knitting Rules' book, Issue 2 of Jo Sharp's 'Knit' magazine, Issue 4 of 'Yarn' magazine, a block of Villar's Chocolat Noir, and a postcard featuring some of the cute native animals we regularly see around our house of a night.

Amazingly, Lois has already turned this...

... into the 'Shetland Triangle' from 'Wrap Style' -- check out how beautifully the 'Sea Silk' knit up in Lois' hands here and here.

And this is the final package I sent Lois...

... Four balls of Kaalund 'Enchanté' silk yarn in the 'Pacific' colourway, a 3.75 mm Colonial rosewood circular knitting needle, Issue 5 of 'Yarn' magazine, a cute echidna plush toy, a block of Australian organic dark chocolate, and a postcard with an evening view over Sydney Harbour.

I was really happy to read on Lois' blog that she has secretly been dreaming of Kaalund yarn...

... which was especially fitting as this was exactly how I felt about the hand painted Virginia van Santen yarn my pal sent me. :) I chose the 'Pacific' colourway for Lois as I thought it would compliment things she has knit in the past and would look fabulous in the Singapore sunlight.

While I'm not planning to sign up for Secret Pal 10, I'm sure I will take part in more of these swaps in the future. :)

Marta

2007-02-18T23:50:00.000+11:00

I was sad to hear recently that Marta Cantos of Marta's Yarn had passed away on Thursday, 18th January, after battling cancer for some time.

A few months back, I posted about a couple of items I had knit with her stunning hand painted yarn, and I think now would be a good time to share some images and details of the yarn I have yet to knit.

Left rear: Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't even consider purchasing a yarn with a bright orange colour component, but the way all the colours in the large ball of slubby yarn work together caught my attention the moment I spotted it on the shelf in Marta's Elizabeth Street store. It was a large purchase for me -- the Elizabeth Street store wasn't selling partial balls at the time, so I had to take all 484 g -- but leaving it behind that day would have been unthinkable. I think this yarn will eventually be used to do some more of the arm knitting Marta took the time to teach me -- a version of the large wrap she had displayed in her East Malvern shop, and another scarf perhaps.

Right rear: A 256 g ball of a hand painted 8 ply wool in shades of dark, rich burgundy and black. This one was so unusual and stunning that it easily won out over the other colourways I considered.

Left front: A 247 g hank of hand painted 12 ply wool in aubergine, shades of blue and green, and some pale pink highlights.

Centre front: A 95 g ball of hand painted 8 ply wool in purple and blue shades. I would have liked more of this one, but this was all that was left on the day I visited the East Malvern store. Seeing how much I loved this yarn, Marta pulled a book from the shelf behind her and showed me a pattern that she reassured me I would easily be able to make with this quantity of yarn, and I was sold.

Right front: A 123 g hank of a chunky, hand spun silky yarn in a combination of dark teal and pewter colours.

Unfortunately, my photo doesn't even come close to conveying the variation and depth of colour in these yarns -- none more so than my much loved large ball of slubby yarn -- but it was the best I could do. Thank you, Marta, for sharing your talent with us all. :)

We miss you already.

Panda, panda, panda...

2007-01-23T12:31:00.000+11:00

... panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda...

So what do you give your daughter after you take her out to a restaurant to celebrate her 21st Birthday and end up food poisoning her?

... panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda...

A giant stack of TarePanda, of course!

I think she likes them... *huge grin*

... panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda, panda...

Secret Pal 9 packages!

2007-01-22T23:57:00.000+11:00

Look what arrived here in the post for me last week...

... all from my fabulous Secret Pal for Secret Pal 9! :)

Firstly, there is some hand-painted 100% merino yarn in a stunning colourway called 'Ionian Sea'...

This yarn is from Painted Yarns, which sadly has now had to close due to the health problems of the artist, Virginia van Santen -- I send her my best wishes and hope she recovers soon. Not only are Virginia's yarns stunning works of art which are painted on the very best quality yarns, but the way she uses them in her own projects is truly inspirational -- check out the entries in her blog if you haven't discovered them already. I swear my Secret Pal must be psychic as not only is it a colourway I really love, but I've been wanting some of Virginia's yarn for the longest time.

This yarn is amazingly soft and beautifully spun, and I have a 130g (260m) skein to play with, which according to the information that used to be on the website until yesterday is...

"A silky smooth 100% merino with a sheen. It is machine washable, and has an amazing flexibility. It will knit up on 2.5 mm needles as a sock yarn, and on 4.5 mm needles as a worsted weight yarn. Currently available in 130 gm-260 m (284 yds) skeins, and one is sufficient for a pair of socks."

Virginia also has some advice about working with painted yarns on her website, which I'm going to copy here for now -- I hope she won't mind me having done this -- as I'm afraid it might disappear like a lot of her site has today, and it's really great general advice for working with hand-painted yarns. There's a link back to the page on her website above for everyone to check out the original page.

"No two skeins of hand painted yarn turn out the same. Painted yarns can create a beautiful painterly effect on a garment that you can maximize if you do not follow the usual advice of alternating two skeins and working in imaginary stripes. I work with one skein, but I integrate the second skein before the first one is done, thus blurring the line between the two. When the first skein is down to a very small ball, and you can see that it is going to run out soon, start the second skein. Work several rows of each ball alternately until the old ball is finished. Then continue with the second ball. I have a sweater whose two sleeves are totally different, one of them concentrating the lighter colors, and the other concentrating the darker colors. I love it.

"When choosing a stitch pattern, choose anything but st st (stockinette stitch), which creates lines of colors, resulting in stripes not much different from standard variegated yarns. Do something that breaks up the lines. Even a simple seed stitch does magic with painted yarns. Try a chevron stitch or a slip stitch pattern. A lace stitch also works well, as the holes formed by the lace patten break up the straight lines of stocking stitch."

-- Virginia van Santen

As if this wasn't enough already, my Pal also sent me a huge hank of Grignasco 'MerinoSilk' in a fabulous dark purple/burgundy colour...

This yarn is going to make an amazingly soft shawl or wrap, and as it's a 100g (1400m) hank, I'm going to be able to knit something nice and big with it! :)

And then there's a little sheep finger puppet to play with...

Isn't he cute? :)

And finally, there's a beautiful card, handmade just for me by my Secret Pal...

Judging by all the fabulous little handmade things my Pal has sent me, I think she must be very skilled in a number of crafts. :)

And, believe it or not, that wasn't all. The following day, the other pack my Secret Pal had told me to expect arrived too! :)

This pack included a pattern for a super-cute Anime character bonnet...

... which actually has sizes that range from newborn to adult! :)

A bar of chocolate flavoured with chili...

Chocolate and chili? What is not to love about this combination? :) And 'Hot Chocolate' is just such a fun name for it too! If I hadn't been food poisoned at the restaurant we took my daughter to for her 21st, I'm sure this chocolate would already be long gone. ;)

And finally, there was another of my Pal's beautiful, handmade cards...

The little Japanese girls on these cards are just adorable. :)

One thing I've forgotten to mention until now about the packages that I've received from my Secret Pal was that each of them has had a really cute little drawing on the wrapping...

... so I can always tell straight away that a package is from my Secret Pal. :)

These two packages were so worth the wait! :)

I feel very spoiled! Thank you, Secret Pal! :)

And the really amazing thing is that my Pal has just let me know that there is another package on its way to me now. Oh, my! :)

(I think my smile muscles are all worn out. ;) )

Swallowtail Shawl -- much enlarged and almost complete

2007-01-16T03:25:00.000+11:00

Elly asked me a few weeks ago what I'd decided to do with my 'Swallowtail Shawl'. Well, at the time she asked the truth was that I still wasn't entirely sure what I was going to do, which is why I'd already started to put in lifelines at strategic points.

The good news is that things have progressed since then, and my Swallowtail Shawl is now almost complete. :)

So... What did I decide to do in order to turn the original scarf-sized shawl into the huge, wrap myself in 'Sea Silk' shawl I was sure was hiding inside the original pattern, just waiting to be set free?

Firstly... As I wanted a shawl which would appear to have a similar stitch density to that of the original shawl when it is blocked -- I definitely didn't want an ethereal, barely there version of it knit on huge needles -- I decided I would knit my shawl on 4.00 mm needles (I actually used my US 6 KnitPicks Options circular needles) and would work on it with the idea that the finished shawl would require around two hanks of the 'Sea Silk' yarn (a total of 200g and 800m), which is double the amount of yarn the original shawl required.

As I mentioned in my earlier posting, I did the calculations and discovered that if the 'Budding Lace' section of the shawl is made bigger by working multiples of 5 extra repeats of the 'Budding Lace 2' chart (30 rows), then the stitch count will still work perfectly for the start of the 'Lily of the Valley Border 1' chart. At that time, I had just finished 19 repeats of the 'Budding Lace 2' chart (5 more repeats than are required in the pattern), and had threaded a lifeline through the stitches at that point as it still didn't look to me like the finished shawl would be quite big enough and I wanted to see how another 5 repeats of the 'Budding Lace 2' chart would look. (255 stitches)

After I completed those 5 extra repeats (24 repeats of the 'Budding Lace 2' chart in total), I was a lot happier with the way things were looking for the finished shawl, so I threaded a second lifeline through at that point and moved on to the 'Lily of the Valley Border' at last. (315 stitches)

More decisions needed to be made at this point.

I decided that I would work 3 of the 'Lily of the Valley Border' 10 row blocks.

There were a few reasons for this decision. Despite the fact that my calculations showed that working 4 blocks would have made the stitch count exactly right for the start of the 'Peaked Edging' chart, I felt that 4 blocks would have made the 'Lily of the Valley Border' too wide for the rest of the shawl, and that it would also have resulted in the shawl using more than two hanks of 'Sea Silk'. Aside from that, aesthetically I thought 3 blocks would look good, and superstitiously I don't like building the number 4 unnecessarily into the things I knit. So 3 blocks of the 'Lily of the Valley Border' it was, and I left the problem of finding the extra 4 stitches I'd need to start work on the 'Peaked Edging' chart as something to be dealt with later.

Speaking of aesthetics... I realized at this point that the 'Lily of the Valley Border 1' chart would not provide as attractive a lead in at the centre spine of the shawl to the 'Peaked Edging' as the 'Lily of the Valley Border 2' chart did in the original shawl. So instead of just working Rows 3-12 of the 'Lily of the Valley Border 1' chart a second time after the completion of the 'Lily of the Valley Border 2' chart as I'd originally planned, I decided to do this instead...

Work Rows 1-2 of the 'Lily of the Valley Border 1' chart.

Work the 'Lily of the Valley Border 2' chart.

Work Rows 3-12 of the 'Lily of the Valley Border 1' chart.

Work the 'Lily of the Valley Border 2' chart a second time.

Despite its cobbled together appearance, I did do all the maths and had proved to myself that everything would still line up perfectly with the border worked this way before I started work on the 'Lily of the Valley Border'. :)

For what it's worth, I finally had to join in the second hank of yarn at the start of Row 2 of the 'Lily of the Valley Border 1' chart.

Apologies in advance for the next two photographs -- it turns out that not everything photographs well using my really weathered, just about to fall apart, 20+ years old, jarrah wood table as a background after all ;) -- if you click on the photos though, things should be a little clearer at least in the larger versions of the photographs.

And here is a close up of the centre edge of the shawl...

I think this photo is just good enough to be able to make out the first few nupps of the 'Lily of the Valley Border' -- my very first nupps! :) The black threads are the lifelines, by the way.

The next three photographs were taken using a couple of sheets of white cardboard I found lying around the house as a background. The shawl is a little cramped on them -- which is why I'd originally chosen to take the previous two photographs using my weathered, outdoor table as a background -- and none of the cables available for my KnitPicks 'Options' circular needles were long enough at this point to spread the shawl out to its full glory anyway, but at least the stitch patterns are showing up clearer here than they did in those previous two photographs.

At the time these three photographs were taken, I'd just started on the final repeat of the 'Lily of the Valley Border 2' chart...

Zooming in closer to reveal a bit more detail...

And closer still...

Once I had finished working the final block of the 'Lily of the Valley Border', I threaded a third lifeline through the stitches of the shawl as I knew I'd be doing quite a lot of experimentation on the next section. (379 stitches)

As I said earlier, I really needed to make a decision at this point as to where the extra 4 stitches I would need to work the 'Peaked Edging' chart would come from.

My original thought was that it might be possible to gain those additional 4 stitches by adding an extra 2 rows to the 'Peaked Edging' itself between the essentially pattern-free original Rows 1-2 of the chart and where the actual lace pattern starts in Row 3.

The first thing I tried was this...

... which basically just completes the second arch over the scallops of the edging, and seemed like it would be the least intrusive thing to try. The reality, though, was that it created very obvious triangles of knitted fabric above where the points of the scallops would eventually be, which were made all the more stark by the sloped stitches which bounded their lower edges.

In an attempt to break up the appearance of these triangles, I unravelled the shawl back to my lifeline and gave this a try...

While this did indeed break up the appearance of triangles, it also had the undesirable side effect of producing too solid a row of holes, which made a very obvious break between the 'Lily of the Valley Border' and the 'Peaked Edging', and in my opinion really disturbed the way the stitch patterns all work together in the shawl.

So... I unravelled the shawl back to my lifeline once again. As a final attempt, and to satisfy myself that I really had exhausted all the obvious possibilities here, I gave this a try...

Although this was probably the best of the three -- certainly, I worked more rows of the edging for this one than I did for the other two before I finally abandoned it -- I really didn't think it looked as good against the rest of the shawl as the original edging did.

So I unravelled my shawl back to the lifeline one last time, and finally gave up on this idea.

Even though I worked them on rows that were around 400 stitches long at the time, I don't regret for a moment spending the time trying out these three possibilities on my actual shawl rather than on a small swatch. Seeing them against the whole shawl really made it clear to me that even though there was nothing wrong with any of them as strategies for leading into the edging and getting the stitch count to the right number to work the remaining rows of the edging, they just weren't going to suit the finished shawl as well as the original edging on its own would.

(For anyone who is wondering... I didn't take any photographs of these three versions of the edging as basically I ripped them back to the lifeline as soon as it became clear to me that each of them wasn't going to give me an edging that would look the way I wanted it to -- the rows were around 400 stitches long by then, after all -- and I really didn't think photographs of the edgings at the points I abandoned them at would useful enough to be worth waiting around for the lighting conditions to be suitable to take them.)

So I finally arrived at the conclusion that the best course of action would be to work the 4 increases into the first row of the edging using the best strategy I could come up with to make them as invisible as possible.

It was reasonably obvious to me that I should spread the 4 increases out as evenly as possible over the row, so I decided to work 2 increases on each wing of the shawl, with the increases being worked so they occurred approximately one third and two thirds of the way along each of the wings.

I eventually decided that a 'Lifted Increase' worked to line up with and slope sympathetically with a decrease ridge in the 'Lily of the Valley Border' would stand the best chance of blending in with the rest of the shawl -- I was particularly concerned that many of the methods for increasing stitches would result in either an obvious hole or a stitch with a different appearance to those surrounding it, which would only be emphasized further by the stretching of the stitches which would occur once the shawl was blocked.

I was actually very pleased with how the increases turned out when I worked them this way, so I continued on with the remaining rows of the 'Peaked Edging' chart.

So here I am at last, with the 'Peaked Edging' chart completed and just the final few rows to work to finish off my shawl. (403 stitches) I currently have just 24g of my original two hanks of yarn left, so it looks like deciding not to work an extra 10 rows of the 'Lily of the Valley Border' was the right decision.

As my shawl is now too large to photographed in any meaningful way using the two sheets of white cardboard as a background, I've experimented this time with spreading a few light coloured towels over my jarrah wood table, which appears to have at least given me a background with enough contrast so some of the details of the shawl can be seen...

And here is a close-up photograph of the edging, to show the stitch details a little better...

For some unknown reason, the nupps I spent so much time working on aren't showing up in these photos anywhere near as well as they are in real life even with the shawl in its unblocked state. I have my fingers crossed that when I'm finally able to take a photograph of my completed and blocked 'Swallowtail Shawl', those nupps will practically leap off the screen. ;)

I haven't included a close up photograph of the increases I worked to make the stitch count correct for the 'Peaked Edging' chart in this posting as they're currently being obscured by the lifeline I ran through the shawl at the end of the 'Lily of the Valley Border', but I'll try to remember to take one when the shawl has been completed and blocked.

Victorian Lace Today

2007-01-13T00:10:00.000+11:00

Those of you with long memories may remember me mentioning in an earlier posting how much I was looking forward to the publication of Jane Sowerby's 'Victorian Lace Today'...

Well, the good news -- for me! :) -- is that I now have my very own copy of the book! And the even better news is that the book is every bit as good as the advertising hype made it out to be. :)

I really love this book, and as there are so many things in it I want to knit, I went ahead and signed up for this...

... even before the book had arrived from Amazon.com, after I finally gave in to temptation and ordered it.

So what will I choose to knit first from this book?

Well, the obvious choice for someone as arachnophobic as I am is one of the Spider's Web shawls...

... so I've gone ahead and bought enough of the wine coloured 'rubi + lana' 3-ply yarn to knit the full-sized hexagonal version -- and Lara has even given me the extra yarn she had left over from the Swallowtail Shawl she knit recently just in case I need it -- it's the skein of yarn at the bottom of the photograph, by the way. Thank you, Lara! :)

And this is what I'll be giving Lara in return when she gets back from Vietnam...

This is the yarn I had left over from knitting my mother's 'Flower Basket Shawl', and Lara will be doing me a huge favour by taking this yarn off my hands as the Barbie pink colour nearly drove me insane -- my backup plan if no-one else wanted it was going to be to dump it in the dye pot with some Landscapes 'Bloodwood' dye. ;)

Recent magazines

2007-01-12T14:31:00.000+11:00

I've been meaning to write this posting for a while now, but getting all the photos together in a viewable state has taken a little bit longer than expected.

I guess the sensible place to start would be with the magazines I currently subscribe to...

My long awaited copy of the first issue of Yarn Forward finally arrived here in mid December after I finally found the right place to e-mail about its non-arrival. If anyone else is still missing their subscription copy of the first issue, try contacting them here as apparently the contact e-mail address linked to on the subscription page of the website is broken. As for the magazine itself... I was actually quite impressed with the first issue, and I'm glad I took a chance and bought a subscription. According to the website, the second issue is due out any time now -- I have my fingers crossed that their teething problems with overseas subscriptions have been solved now, and this issue will arrive here in a more timely manner.

Next, there is my subscription to Yarn magazine. Not only is the content of this magazine always interesting, but it is a joy to have the magazine arrive in my letterbox exactly when it is supposed to be there -- they even contacted me just after my first subscription copy arrived to make sure it had arrived safely and that I was happy with the service. :) And for the few Sydney knitters who may not have seen it yet, the current issue even features one of the Witty knitter's clever designs.

And then there is my subscription to Interweave Knits... Given the amount of discussion there has been about the difficulties Australian subscribers have been having receiving their subscription copies of both the Winter 2006 issue and the previous Fall 2006 issue, I feel more than a little guilty that my copies of both of these issues arrived here more or less when they were expected. As you can see from the photograph above, my subscription was expiring with the Winter 2006 issue, and I can't help but wonder if this might explain why I seem to be just about the only Australian subscriber to have received these two issues without having had to complain first. As I went ahead and renewed my subscription for two years before all the problems with the Winter 2006 issue in particular became apparent, I'm now hoping that after all of the complaints Interweave have received from Australian subscribers they will have all the problems solved before the Spring 2007 is due to be mailed out.

While I'm on the topic of Interweave Knits... In addition to their regular quarterly issues, they put together a special 'Holiday Gifts' issue this year...

Even though the content for the most part consists of reprints from old issues of the magazine which I already have, I went ahead and bought this issue when it arrived at my local newsagent for the 'Twilight Lace Wrap' pattern...

... which I've been looking out for for quite a while now. This was definitely a much less painful way of acquiring the pattern than searching for an affordable copy of the original magazine on eBay would have been. ;)

One thing I did find at an affordable price on eBay though, was an old 'My Weekly' special issue, which I bought because it featured this Shetland stole pattern...

I'm thinking this might even be a good pattern for some of the cobweb or lace weight cashmere I've been buying from ColourMart, most of which I've bought in rich, dark colours which would work really well with this stole.

I also bought the November 2006 issue of Simply Knitting when it arrived at my local newsagent...

One of the highlights of this issue for me was this pattern for stripy toe socks...

OK... So I was a teenager in the '70s... ;)

For anyone else who has a sudden desire to possess this particular pattern, the November 2006 issue of 'Simply Knitting' is unfortunately no longer available from the local newsagents, but the pattern is included in the latest cut and paste issue of 'Creative Knitting' (Issue 18) if you're desperate.

The 2006 "Woman's Weekly Knitting & Stitching Special" also finally turned up at the local newsagents before Christmas...

Cute as some of Alan Dart's Hobby Bears in the 16 page bonus booklet are, it was his Dickensian Mice that really got my attention...

Aren't they just adorable?

I also love the 'Toy lamb' pattern which was included along with a matching baby jacket and blanket...

And finally, I found the Winter 2006 issues of Knitter's and knit.1 at my local Borders store...

The highlights for me in this issue of "Knitter's" are...

... Elsebeth Lavold's 'Blanket Coat', Kaffe Fassetts's 'Framed Diamonds', Judy Sumner's 'Dungaree Socks', and Brandon Mably's 'Highland Stripes'.

As for the 'Love' issue of 'knit.1', these are the two patterns which caught my eye...

... a truly deviant take on the heart pillow, and the 'Arrr! Baby Set', which I'm sure both of my daughters will love when they eventually have babies of their own.

Apologies to anyone who might have been hoping for a proper review of any of these magazines, but rating things from one to ten really isn't something I ever have any desire to do, which is no doubt one of the many reasons marketing people hate me so very, very much. ;)

Christmas!

2006-12-31T04:41:00.000+11:00

Just in case anyone was wondering...

... our Christmas tree was decorated in time for Christmas. :)

As it turns out though, we live in quite an interesting street where Christmas decorations are concerned. While our street was never in any danger of competing with the decoration level in Chauvel Street, which is not far from here and attracted bus loads of tourists after it featured in an article in a Sydney newspaper in the lead up to Christmas, there had been some Christmas lighting out there. But that all changed after Christmas Day. By the evening of Boxing Day, the only Christmas lighting in our street were the fairy lights in our trees -- Michael swears there were even suspicious patches of scorched earth out there where Santa may have been burnt in effigy. ;)

Anyway... The fairy lights in our trees will remain illuminated now until at least February -- January is a big month for celebrations here, as both our daughters have January birthdays, and there's Australia Day too at the end of the month.

On the day itself, I received some fabulous presents from my family. :) Among them were some really cute plush toys...

Amanda gave me some more Puffkins -- Quackster the duck, Spike the porcupine, Dinky the yellow dinosaur, Drake the red dinosaur, Pickles the green dinosaur, and Danny the purple dinosaur. Several of them even have the original darker coloured swing tag, so I dread to think what she had to pay for them. Amanda also gave me the giant Jiji cat, which is unbelievably soft and cuddly.

Katherine's present to me was the puppet replica of the Vampire Angel from the 'Smile Time' episode -- she knew she'd done good when I refused to put it down for the rest of the night. :)

I love the detailing which has gone into the Angel puppet replica. Especially the boots...

Aren't they just adorable? :)

And if anyone was worried, all photographs of the Angel puppet replica were taken in the shade and away from direct sunlight. ;)

Just in time for Christmas...

2006-12-23T23:22:00.000+11:00

... a very well-travelled package has arrived here from my Secret Pal for Secret Pal 9. According to one of the notes enclosed in the package, this is the package which was originally mailed to me in early November, eventually returned to my Pal because apparently my postcode wasn't recognized at some point in its travels as a valid Australian postcode (Huh???), and then re-mailed to me in the hope that it would reach me before Christmas -- which it has! :)

So what did my Pal choose for me? I was dying to know, so I rushed to unwrap my package.

Well...

When I opened the wrapping around the package, I initially found this...

A box of Canadian breakfast cereal. Yummy!

I quickly opened the box -- I hadn't had breakfast yet, after all ;) -- and found something even better than cereal hiding inside...

By the time I had this all out on the table, there had been so much shrieking with joy, I can tell you!

Firstly, there is one of the most amazingly cute 'Totoro' plush toys I've ever seen...

... which is now sitting in pride of place in my room in a location where I can always see it, hopefully keeping it safe from possible abductions by other unnamed people who live here who are also very aware of its cuteness. ;)

Then there is my very own sock monkey, and some ice blue bamboo yarn...

As you can see from the accompanying note...

... the sock monkey was made especially for me by my talented Secret Pal. I especially love the way the cherries are all so perfectly centred on the monkey's limbs, and the way the white areas of the original socks work so well to give my monkey loads of character. Thank you for making this for me! :)

And not only is the bamboo yarn every bit as soft as my Pal says in her note, but the ice blue shade she chose for me is definitely one of my favourite colours. I can hardly wait to finish some of my current projects now so I can have a play with this yarn and find out what it wants to be.

And my next surprise was...

... some knitting note cards of my very own. My Pal has obviously been reading my blog very closely to know how I had been searching for these everywhere without success. :)

And finally, here is the message my Pal wrote to me on the back of the Christmas card...

Thank you, Secret Pal! You've really spoiled me with this package, and I can hardly wait to see the surprises that await me in the other two packages you have sent me. :)

One of my favourite knitting accessories...

2006-12-18T01:38:00.000+11:00

... is my little fluorescent torch.

Michael first pointed out how useful it might be as a knitting accessory when he suggested that laying a tension square I had knit in a very textured yarn across the face of the torch might make it a lot easier for me to count the stitches and rows. He was right, of course, and what had been a frustrating task up until then was suddenly very easy.

It was invaluable too while I was duplicate stitching the cross motifs on to the 'Kashmir Hat'...

... as the knitted fabric was quite close in texture, and without the backlighting the torch gave me it was really slow going finding the correct place to insert the needle to give a really neat finished result without splitting the stitches in the base fabric.

Without the 'Kashmir Hat' draped across its face, my fluorescent torch looks like this...

... but any torch with a flat face and a reasonably even level of light will do the job.

The other reason this is one of my favourite knitting accessories is that I live in an area which is prone to power blackouts, so keeping it with my knitting means that I am able to work on my knitting under an even light while I wait for the power to be restored. :)

... And a little more like Christmas

2006-12-18T00:48:00.000+11:00

The Christmas wreath has made it on to the front door...

As you can see, Christmas decorations are never in any great rush to be put up at our house, and only appear when they are good and ready. :)

And the Christmas tree isn't far off being set up now. Honest...

Beanies, hats and caps for charity

2006-12-11T03:07:00.000+11:00

Kerry, my hostess for Secret Pal 9 recently challenged us to knit hats for charity, and asked us to post photographs of both work-in-progress and completed projects on our blogs.

Firstly, here are the work-in-progress photographs of my projects.

The 'Lacy Hat' from Jo Sharp's 'Knit 2' book...

... knit with Jo Sharp's 'Soho Summer DK Cotton' in 'Rockpool'. As you can probably see from the photograph, my lace panel is the mirror image of the original, so whoever this hat finally ends up with will definitely have something one-of-a-kind. ;)

The 'Kashmir Hat' from Jo Sharp's 'Knitting Emporium' book...

... knit with Jo Sharp's 'DK 8 Ply Pure Wool' in 'Aubergine' and 'Pistachio'. I hadn't knit anything with duplicate stitch motifs before, and I have to say that those cross motifs took at least as long to do as it took me to knit the hat itself.

The 'Piper Hat' from Jo Sharp's 'Contemporary Knitting 1' book...

... knit with Jo Sharp's 'DK 8 Ply Pure Wool' in 'Scarlet', which is one of the heathered colourways -- Michael really loved the colour of this yarn, which I'll have to remember next time I'm knitting something for him.

I'm not sure how obvious it is in my work-in-progress photograph, but the photograph of the finished hat in the book is slightly different to the hat I knit -- the band around the lower edge of the hat has the stocking stitch side out on mine, whereas the hat in the photographs in the book have bands with the reverse stocking stitch side out. The instructions in the pattern actually tell you to work the band the way I have done it, and as I liked the look of this better I decided not to change the pattern to make the hat look like the ones in the photographs.

However, I did change the pattern so I could knit the hat on circular needles instead of the straight needles the pattern originally called for, and I used a provisional cast on so that I could pick up the stitches and work the band as a knitted hem, instead of sewing it into place later -- which I did in the hope that the resulting line would have a bit more stretch to it, as obviously I don't know the person who will eventually be wearing this hat and I wanted it to be as comfortable as possible to wear. I hope it worked, as getting it right and purling all those stitches together with the correct stitch orientation was a lot harder and more time consuming than I'd thought it would be.

One thing I hadn't thought about when I decided to knit the hat in the round was what to do with the i-cord piping, which originally had the ends sewn into the seam at the back of the hat. I ended up solving the problem by grafting the four live stitches straight from the needle to the cast on end of the i-cord after most of the i-cord was sewn in place on the hat, which actually worked quite well.

The 'Old Bean Hat' from All Tangled Up...

... knit with Jo Sharp's 'Silkroad Aran' yarn in 'Serg'.

I made changes to this pattern too -- I knit it on 5 mm needles instead of the original 4.5 mm needles, and worked 10 cm of K2 P2 rib instead of the original 5 cm so that the ribbing could be folded back over itself for the brim, and the hat would still be long enough to keep the ears warm. I also increased the number of stitches to 90 at the point where I started knitting the stocking stitch section, as a result of which I then had to change the way the crown shaping was worked because of the extra stitches.

Mark Thrailkill's 'London Beanie'...

... knit with Jo Sharp 'Silkroad Aran' yarn in 'Venetian', with stripes in 'Opal' and 'Quartz'.

I actually used the pattern alterations which can be found here to knit a larger beanie, as the original seemed a little on the small side to me -- I knit the medium sized beanie, but with 13 rounds of K2 P1 rib instead of the 15 rounds in the modified pattern.

"Mark's Butch, Macho Roll-Brim Seaman's Watch Cap"...

... knit in Jo Sharp's 'Silkroad Ultra' in 'Neptune'.

I ended up knitting 54 rounds of K2 P2 rib instead of the 38 rounds specified in the pattern, as I wanted a cap with a reasonably deep turned up brim, and which would be long enough to keep the ears of the wearer warm. I also altered the crown shaping to be more like the shaping I knit for the modified 'London Beanie', only in K2 P2 rib instead of stocking stitch.

And here are the finished hats, beanies, and caps. I'm not sure why, but none of the colours in the photographs of the finished items are quite right -- the colours in the works in progress photographs are all much closer to the way they appear in real life.

The 'Lacy Hat'...

The 'Kashmir Hat'...

The 'Piper Hat'...

The 'Old Bean Hat'...

The 'London Beanie'...

And finally, 'Mark's Butch, Macho Roll-Brim Seaman's Watch Cap'...

Many thanks to my 'Reject Shop' glass head for agreeing to model all of the hats.

All of these hats, beanies, and caps will be delivered to 'Just Enough Faith' later this week. I'm really pleased with the way they've all turned out, and I hope their eventual recipients enjoy wearing them. :)

It's beginning to look a little like Christmas...

2006-12-06T03:39:00.000+11:00

Look what Michael risked life and limb over the weekend to put up for me.

Fairy lights! :)

Here is the view as you come down our street...

... and walking up our path...

... and, finally, from the front balcony...

This year's lights are way brighter than the ones we have had in previous years, but Michael assures me that this style of light should stand a much better chance of lasting the distance, and won't require the constant replacement of bulbs that last year's strings did.

I have my fingers crossed now that they survive until the New Year at least -- they're still all illuminated after three days which is already better than last year's lights managed, so I'm cautiously optimistic.

And, believe it or not, I've been doing some actual knitting too!

2006-11-14T17:24:00.000+11:00

In a previous posting, I mentioned that I'd have to find myself a new project for summer, as almost all of my current projects have significant mohair content and are impossible to work on when the weather is humid. Well, the lure of the Hand Maiden 'Sea Silk' combined with Evelyn Clark's 'Swallowtail Shawl' from the 'Interweave Knits' Fall 2006 issue has proved impossible to resist. How I wish I could say that this combination was all my idea, but there are already several completed Sea Silk 'Swallowtail Shawls' out there, and even the choice of the 'Ocean' colourway isn't original. Well, it just happens to be what I have here, and I'm going to go with it as I love the colourway.

So here it is after 9 repeats of the 'Budding Lace 2' chart...

While this may look like the point I was up to when I left the last get together at 'Rubi & Lana', it's actually 'Swallowtail Shawl' Mark II, as I decided the next day that I'd like to go up a needle size to US 6 (4.00 mm) needles, so I frogged what I'd knit up to that point.

And here it is after 13 repeats...

And after 19 repeats...

... which is the point I'm stalled at now. Before I proceed, I have to make a decision, and as you can probably see I've threaded a lifeline through the current row as I'm not sure I trust myself to make the right decision.

The original 'Swallowtail Shawl' is actually more of a scarf than a shawl...

... but what I want is a shawl you can really wrap yourself up in -- I'm knitting it in 'Sea Silk' after all, and I think that's something I'm really going to want to be wrapped in. ;)

I've done the calculations, and to enlarge the shawl and still keep all the patterns correct, you need to work 5 extra repeats of the 'Budding Lace 2' chart (19 repeats in total) and one extra repeat of rows 3 to 12 of the 'Lily of the Valley Border 1' chart after completing the 'Lily of the Valley Border 2' chart (3 'Lily of the Valley Border' repeats in total).

However, now that I've completed the 19 repeats of the 'Budding Lace 2' chart, I'm not entirely convinced that even with the extra rows of the 'Lily of the Valley Border' and the 'Peaked Edging', plus a really good blocking of course, that the shawl is going to attain the dimensions I'm dreaming of. I'm actually tempted to work a further 5 repeats of the 'Budding Lace 2' chart (24 repeats in total) along with an extra repeat of the 'Lily of the Valley Border 2' chart just before working the 'Peaked Edging' chart (4 'Lily of the Valley Border' repeats in total).

So... What do people think? Would I be crazy to do this? Am I under-estimating how much the shawl will increase in size once I work the extra edging rows and block it? Do I even have enough floor space to block the shawl properly once I finish knitting it if I make it this big? ;) The overall smallness of the original shawl really does have me worried though.

Before I move on to talking about the other project I've been working on, I should mention that this is the project I've decided to use to try out my new KnitPicks 'Options' needles. So far, I've been very impressed. I've only had the needles start to unscrew once, and that was because I really hadn't tightened them enough in the first place, and it hasn't happened again since I've made sure to really tightened them properly. The finish on the needle tips I have tried so far (US 5 and US 6) has been every bit as good, if not better, than the finish on my Addi Turbo circular needles, and the needles have had a really nice feel to them as I knit my 'Swallowtail Shawl' with them.

I chose this project to try them out as I'm using a yarn with little or no give to it, and it's a lace project. So far the sharper points of the KnitPicks needles are making this project a much more enjoyable knit than the 'Lace Modular Shawl' I knit a year ago using Artyarns 'Regal Silk' on Addi Turbo needles was. It's even a lot easier to unknit the centred double decreases when I make a mistake, thanks to the points of these needles. Sliding the stitches from the cable to the working area of the needle is also a lot easier than it was for similar sizes of Tulip bamboo circular needles -- which was the reason I was prompted recently to switch to using straight needles for my 'Pacific Ocean Stole', as moving the stitches from the cable to the needle was a major undertaking at the start of each row. As for the cables themselves -- I've tried a few of them out now as I've changed the cables to a longer one a couple of times now. Over all, they've been really nice -- they uncoil without even having to run them through hot water -- and the only problem I've had so far was that one of the cables had some residue on it which needed to be removed to enable the stitches to slide without snagging.

So far, I'd have to say that I'm really happy with this purchase. :) It's been so much better than my experience with the 'Denise Interchangeable Knitting Needles' has been to date.

Which leads me quite neatly to my 'Pacific Ocean Stole'...

... which as you can see has been progressing, albeit quite slowly -- I work on it when the weather permits. I've now completed the 10th pattern repeat, which I think will turn out to be somewhere around the halfway point.

Marta's Yarns

2006-11-14T16:36:00.000+11:00

I was saddened to hear recently that Marta has had to temporarily close the doors of her East Malvern shop due to illness. As a thank you to Marta for creating such beautiful hand-dyed yarns, and to wish her a speedy recovery, I'm posting photographs of a couple of scarves I made using some of the yarn I bought from Marta when I was down in Melbourne last year.

This first scarf is one of my favourites, and gets more use than any other scarf I own...

... and believe it or not the colours are even better in real life than they appear here. The scarf was made from a small ball of Marta's hand-dyed slubby yarn in a colourway that always makes me think of gum trees, and was knit using her arm knitting technique. The truly special thing, though, was that Marta herself took the time to demonstrate the technique for me as she wanted to be sure I understood it before I left the store, and when I told her that she'd have to go slowly as I knit left-handed and would have to reverse all her movements, she promptly swapped hands and demonstrated the technique left-handed -- just for me. Truly amazing! :)

A day or so later, I was in the Melbourne CBD on my way to the airport when I decided to pay a visit to the store Marta had in the city at the time. One of my purchases was a stunning hank of 8 ply yarn, which eventually became this scarf...

I love the way the colours subtly evolve along the length of the yarn, which is why I knit this scarf all in one piece and didn't attempt to knit two matched ends and graft them together at the midpoint of the scarf -- the important thing for me with this scarf was to showcase what I had loved most about the yarn in the hank when my eyes first fell upon it.

Get well soon, Marta! You're a very special lady, and we miss you. :)

Latest arrivals

2006-11-14T15:58:00.000+11:00

Just when I'd almost given up on ever receiving this...

... it finally lands on my doorstep. I'm not sure why USPS quotes 4 to 6 weeks for surface mail deliveries -- from what I've been able to discover, the 10 weeks this package took to reach me is actually fairly typical. Anyway, I finally have my cone spindles and the JaggerSpun Zephyr lace weight yarn I ordered back in mid July -- some of the Zephyr yarn was actually originally intended for the 'Mystery Stole 2' knit along, but of course that's long finished now. *sigh* The hanks are in the Marine Blue, Indigo and Ruby colours, and the cones are Peacock and Mahogany.

As KnitPicks continues to refuse to ship to Australia, I'd pretty much given up even hoping I'd ever be able to sample their wares. Then Julie kindly offered to place an order on our behalf during her recent trip to Hawaii -- and who knew that she would have to brave an earthquake in order to do this for us!

As a result, I'm now the proud owner of this...

... some KnitPicks 'Shadow' in the 'vineyard' colourway, along with the pattern for Miriam Felton's 'Adamas Shawl', which I have coveted for quite a while now.

But best of all, I finally have my very own KnitPicks 'Options' Needle Set...

As I wasn't sure if a similar opportunity would ever present itself again, I went ahead and fully optioned up my set with all the extra needle sizes and cable lengths, a needle tags set, and some extra storage pockets...

... and even added in the 'View Sizer'...

... which turned out to be an even more useful addition than I originally thought it would be as it features a magnifier to help you see the stitches more clearly when you're measuring tension squares. And of course I now have a needle sizer for US needle sizes, which I didn't previously have.

Thank you, Julie! :)

I've been using the KnitPicks 'Options' needles on the latest project I've started, but I'll write more about that later.

And finally, the Vogue Knitting Holiday 2006 issue made an appearance at my local Borders store...

... and promptly followed me home. I think I was seduced by the luscious, red braided scarf featured on the cover... ;)

More cuteness!

2006-11-14T11:47:00.000+11:00

I think this may just be one of the cutest things ever...

It's a remote controlled Cat Bus toy which Amanda discovered while she was in Japan, which she brought over with her the other day so we all could have a play with it. I love the unusual way it works too -- the remote control (the brown log shaped object with the green leaf button) projects light on to the floor, and the Cat Bus moves around by following the light spot as you move it around. Loads of fun! :)

And remember the Puffkins I wrote about here? Well, Amanda shares my love for them, and seeing them sitting in my basket on the table next to my desk inspired her to find out which Puffkins might still be available. Several of the Halloween Puffkins caught her eye and were soon topping her list of things she needed to live. ;)

Well, I was lucky enough to locate an online store that happened to still have available for sale the Halloween Puffkins she wanted most. Even more miraculously, they were happy to ship them to Australia! So Amanda is now the proud owner of these...

In the back row, from left to right, there is Brutus the gargoyle, Screech the ghost, Skully the skull, and Ding the bat. And in the front row, there is Smash the pumpkin, Shadow the black cat, and Spinner the spider.

They actually had two Shadows in stock, so I acquired one for myself too. Oddly enough, the two Shadows look very different from one another -- so different I actually had to check the swing tags before I was sure they really were both from the same series. And almost unbelievably, one has just the perfect look for Amanda, while the other was exactly right to join my own little Puffkin family. What are the odds? :)

Achille, I say Goodbye!

2006-11-10T17:11:00.000+11:00

I wonder if anyone who reads this blog would recognize the ship featured in this rather idealized artist's rendition of it from an on board postcard as the 'Achille Lauro'.

My family and I travelled from Australia to England on board the 'Achille Lauro' in early 1972 -- a trip that was quite an experience. And not always for the right reasons.

The itinerary for this trip was actually quite interesting, with some unusual ports of call along the way...

Sydney, Australia
A New Zealand port -- I can't remember which one at the moment
Punta Arenas, Chile -- which is on the Straits of Magellan and lays claim to being the world's southernmost city
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Tenerife, Canary Islands
Three? Mediterranean ports -- from memory, a couple of Italian ports and Malta
Lisbon, Portugal
England (Southampton, I think)

Apologies for my less than precise recollection here, but it was nearly 35 years ago, and I was only 11 years old at the time.

Anyway, as it turned out we were informed as soon as we were on board that there had been some changes to this itinerary. The Mediterranean ports -- which I'm fairly certain had been altered and no longer included Malta -- would now be visited after most of the passengers left the ship in England, and Lisbon would be replaced with Vigo, Spain. The person I felt most sorry for was the owner of the luggage I spotted stored in an area out on one of the decks which had a sticker showing the Maltese port as the final destination -- I've always wondered where that passenger ended up.

These changes were bad enough -- most passengers had to cable ahead to their destinations to hurriedly re-organize accommodation due to the changed arrival dates at the various ports of destination -- but the last straw came as the ship approached Rio de Janeiro.

There had been some very rough weather several times during the trip, but not once had the ship's stabilizers been used to help steady the ship and make things even slightly more bearable for the passengers -- apparently the ship's owners weren't prepared to pay for the extra fuel this would have used. However, as we approached Rio de Janeiro on relatively calm seas, the stabilizers were suddenly and noticeably deployed. The passengers soon discovered that the reason for this was that it had been decided to slow the ship down to ensure it wouldn't arrive in Rio until after the Carnival was over -- apparently docking fees would be lower then. As if this wasn't enough, it had also been decided that the ship would only dock in Rio overnight, and that passengers would not be allowed off the ship for sightseeing during the brief time we were going to be in port. Well, the passengers mutinied! At the end of it all, the stay in Rio was extended, and the passengers got their day of sightseeing in one of the most famous cities in the world, even if the city was more than a little subdued and hungover. ;) One of the passengers even had Flotta Lauro (the ship's owners) agree to take him on to the ports which had been moved to the end of the itinerary and then to pay his air fare back to London.

Which leads me finally to the point -- such as it is -- of this somewhat random and rambling posting...

Kerry, my hostess for Secret Pal 9, asked us to post a random, wacky fact about ourselves in our blog, and this is mine...

I nearly drowned in one of the swimming pools on the 'Achille Lauro'.

Remember what I said about the stabilizers not being used? What the brochures fail to tell you is that it doesn't take a lot of side to side rolling of a ship to generate enormous waves in the swimming pools on the upper decks. While I was in the pool (the one closest to the rear of the ship in the photo above, for anyone who is interested), a sudden tsunami-like wave knocked me under the surface, and the waves which followed continued to drag me under as I fought to find a way out of the pool. I was literally going down for the third time when the hands of a stranger appeared from nowhere, grasped my flailing arms, and lifted me from the pool.

While I was searching for information on the 'Achille Lauro' -- I was actually curious to find out if anyone else had written about the 1972 mutiny by the passengers -- I came across the words to the ship's theme song, which most notably used to blast out over the P.A. system while we were waiting for food to arrive in the dining room. Is there anything you can't find on the Internet? ;)

And here they are!

La nave blu
gira per il mondo
scivola sull'onda
come un Delfino fila e va

E'un sogno viaggiare
E'un piacere ritornare
sull' Achille
Re del mar!

La nave blu
dall ' Europa all Australia
per i mari ovunque va
Achille, I say Goodbye

which hopefully translates into English as...

The blue ship
travels around the world
cutting through the waves
Like a dolphin ready to go

It's a dream to travel
It's a pleasure to return
aboard the Achille Lauro
King of the sea

The blue ship
From Europa to Australia
In whatever sea you go
Achille, I say Goodbye

I think I may even have the 'La nave blu' single record they sold on the ship around here somewhere...

And for some reason, the final line of this song was all I could think about the day the 'Achille Lauro' finally sank. A long delayed closure perhaps?

Lattice socks, perhaps?

2006-10-18T05:22:00.000+10:00

Although it may not look like it from my recent entries, I have actually been trying to get some knitting done, but for various reasons haven't really made enough progress to justify any update photos. Just imagine things a bit longer than when you last saw them. ;) The 'Basic Black Shawl' is remaining on hold for now until the two cone spindles finally show up here, as these should improve the way the yarn feeds off the two cones of yarn.

The rather bizarre weather here in Sydney over the past week or so hasn't helped either, as 37°C temperatures and mohair really don't go together at all well -- take a quick look at my work in progress bars and spot the problem with my current projects. Despite not really wanting to start another project as I really love the way my current ones are all turning out and desperately want to see them finished, the desire to have something ready to work on on those hot, humid days will probably win out, and I'll wind the wool for either the Contessa Shawl or Melody's Shawl into balls some time over the next few days so I am prepared. Both of these shawls would be useful things to have to have around to use anyway, and ginger-nut having pointed out the version of Melody's Shawl which was recently completed by someone taking part in the International Scarf Exchange has done nothing to dissuade me from this plan. ;)

One of the things I have done over the past few weeks which I should make a note of here is my search for a stitch pattern to eventually use with this yarn from my sock yarn stash...

I really love the combination of colours in this yarn. It's a hand-painted Opal 4 ply sock yarn which I'm fairly certain I don't want to knit into a plain, stocking stitch sock, but obviously don't want to knit something too over-the-top patterned with either.

My first thought was back to a sock I remember seeing on a blog a year or two ago that had been knit in a stitch with a knit-lattice pattern overlayed over a stocking stitch background, which had the effect of both adding a bit of interest to the finished sock and breaking up the pools of colours which had previously been forming in socks knit from that particular hand-dyed yarn. I could have sworn that I'd bookmarked that blog and the relevant entry at the time, but either it doesn't exist any more or I wasn't quite as diligent with my bookmarking as I thought I'd been, as I haven't been able to locate it again anywhere. So, with the image of a stitch pattern in mind, I went searching through my Barbara Walker 'Treasuries' for something similar, and soon came across the 'Knit-Twist Lattice' pattern in her second 'Treasury'. The stitch pattern was for the most part easily adapted to knitting in the round, but I wasn't entirely sure what to do to deal with the jog which would occur at the point where the lattice finally crosses over at the end and start point of a round, so I had a play with a test swatch, and with a bit of slipping of stitches back and forth at the point where the jog would happen, I soon had a version of the stitch pattern which would work...

Apologies for the really 80s shade of purple of this yarn, but it was what I happened to have lying around here in about the right weight, and at least had the advantage of allowing the stitch pattern to be easily seen. I'm not entirely happy with the way the 'Left Twist' (well, 'Right Twist' for me really, as I've knit them mirror image as usual) stitches have turned out, but I've discovered that I'm not alone in having this happen with this version of the stitch pattern, and have since found an alternative method of working the 'Left Twist' described in one of the comments here which I plan to try out to see if it improves the end result at all. I actually have a feeling that the very splitty nature of the yarn I used for my test swatch may have contributed to the problem as I think it made the 'Left Twist' significantly more difficult to work, which may have distorted the stitches more than was strictly necessary.

One thing I have decided after knitting the test swatch though, is that a sock in this stitch pattern would work best knit from the toe up, as this would make it very easy to begin and end the stitch pattern at the points of the lattice and would therefore give a very neat, finished look to the final sock. Not having knit a sock from the toe up so far is also a good argument for using this method.

As a possible alternative to the 'Knit-Twist Lattice', I've also been considering HeartStrings' 'Rainy Day' socks...

... but a few people have pointed out that the predominantly dark colours in my yarn would most likely swamp this pattern.

Thinking on it some more, I have a feeling that this yarn...

... which is co-incidentally some more handpainted Opal 4 ply I have in my sock yarn stash, may well suit this pattern better anyway.

On the knitting magazine front, look what Michael found in Borders yesterday and brought home for me...

I didn't even know this issue had hit the news stands yet! :)

Our rainbow lorikeet has discovered a new trick of his own. One of his favourite toys is a ladder with multicoloured perspex rungs strung together on yellow nylon cord. He's always chewed on the cord, which was quite fuzzy as a result. Well, he finally bit through one of the cords recently, and I took pity on him and bought the last one of these ladders still available at the local pet shop for him. Just four days later, this is what his new ladder looked like...

And believe it or not, it's actually bitten through at exactly the same point as the original one!

So... Has he learnt his lesson now?

Not a chance! *sigh*

Even Tigger is at a loss as to what to do with him...

Katrina -- Yes, I am planning on using 4 balls of the GGH 'Soft Kid' for my version of the 'Lost In Translation' scarf, but then again I do like my scarves to be quite long. As a guide, at the end of the 2nd ball, my scarf measured 115 cm in length, and it is my current intention to cast off at around the 2 metre point.

Kate -- I haven't actually gotten around to watching 'Pom Poko' yet, even though it is sitting on my DVD shelf. I'll have to put that one on the top of the pile to watch next. :) Hmm... I wonder where my copy of 'Grave of the Fireflies' has wandered off to, as it's not with the other Studio Ghibli DVDs.

Surprise package!

2006-10-17T17:43:00.000+10:00

Look what arrived here in the mail yesterday...

It's a surprise package from my Secret Pal for Secret Pal 9!

There's a 'Family Guy' DVD -- which I can't wait to watch, and my Secret Pal will be happy to hear that I don't already have -- along with a super-cute Totoro bookmark, and a lovely card. :) Suddenly, I'm really glad that I chose the button I did for my sidebar... ;) And where do people find all these knitting-related greeting cards, BTW? ;)

I also received a lovely animated e-card from my pal today, along with the news that there is something else heading my way in the mail from overseas already. I can hardly believe how fabulous and organized my pal is! :) -- after all, Secret Pal 9 only started a couple of days ago.

I'm off to a somewhat slower start with the pal I'm sending to, but I'm hoping that the things I have in mind for her will be worth the wait once I get everything all together for her here.

Limpets, cranberries, and more

2006-10-13T19:31:00.000+10:00

Did I happen to mention a strong desire to knit Alice Starmore's 'Driftnet Wrap' Kit in 'Limpet'? Well, Stage 1 has been accomplished, and the kit has arrived here.

I really love the design of this wrap, as its ocean net appearance evokes memories of my Dad to me, and I've loved the deep, dark purples of the 'Limpet' colourway since I ordered some of it as a gift for a friend last year and saw just how beautiful the colour was when the sunlight played across it. Of course there's loads more hanks of the yarn in the kit than I've shown in the photograph.

I also received a package from Morehouse Farm this week...

... with some Merino Lace Yarn in 'Cranberry' to knit a 'Contessa Shawl', and some Variegated Merino Lace Yarn in 'Aquarius' to make "Melody's Shawl". I'm intrigued with the way "Melody's Shawl" is knit in the round and then cut open once the stitches for the fringe have been unravelled.

And here is some more ColourMart 50% cashmere / 50% silk cobweb weight yarn...

... this time in 'Ocean Blue' and 'Violet', which I had to buy because the colours were exactly what I've been searching for, and the price was just incredible. For some reason, these two colours were really difficult to photograph, and while I'm not entirely sure I've done them justice here, I have done my best.

And look what I found in plentiful supply amongst the other calendars in Borders this year...

At least I won't have to beg and plead with the person running the Calendar Club stand at the local shopping centre to get a copy of it in for me this year. :)

I've also acquired a few more magazines...

... the latest available issues of "Knitter's", 'Simply Knitting', and the US version of 'Creative Knitting'. Finding air freighted copies of 'Creative Knitting' in Borders was quite a surprise, but given the amount of petrol I burnt trying to locate a copy of the last issue due to the interesting way the local magazine distributors randomly scatter their wares around newsagents in this city, maybe the extra cost wasn't quite as expensive as it initially seemed.

The "Knitter's" Fall 2006 issue features a pattern for one of the most bizarre items of clothing I've seen in a long time...

And yes, it's exactly what it looks like. It's a batwing poncho. I've tried to envisage a situation where this garment would be the appropriate thing to wear, but quite frankly I've failed. It appears to combine all the worst aspects of the poncho and the batwing jumper, and while the heavy cabling suggests it is intended to be worn when it's chilly, I really don't understand why you'd then want the cold blasting in through those wide openings? Am I missing something here?

On the plus side though -- and I can't believe I'm saying this -- there is a huge advertorial on Jane Sowerby's upcoming book 'Victorian Lace Today'...

... in the same issue. While advertorials are something I normally avoid like the plague, I've been dying to find out more about this book since Jane Sowerby's 'Persimmon Lace' featured as a teaser in the previous issue. Well, I have to say that this book looks like it will not only have some beautiful patterns in it, but also has the potential to be quite a stunning book in its own right, as the lace looks to have all been rather tastefully photographed in the grounds of British stately homes. This is definitely a book I'll be looking forward to now.

Now if only my order with all the yummy JaggerSpun 'Zephyr' 2/18 Lace yarn and the two cone spindles would finally arrive here. Due to a misunderstanding on my part, and the best intentions of the lady who sent my order out, the order was sent via surface mail instead of airmail. It was supposed to take 4 - 6 weeks to arrive, but that was 9 weeks ago now. Is this delay excessive for a surface mail package sent via USPS, or am I just worrying unnecessarily? I strongly suspect that my package may be travelling here via an eccentric combination of tortoises and directionally impaired fish. :(

Finally, I have a question to ask...

I want to send some postcards to a friend who lives overseas and collects postcards, and one of the ideas I had for possible things to send her is some postcards featuring some of the 'Big' things ('Big Banana', 'Big Pineapple', 'Big Trout', 'Big Penguin', 'Big Merino', 'Big Golden Guitar' and so on) which are scattered around the country, as I think this would be a little out of the ordinary. As I'm not going to be able to travel to all of these places in the length of time I have in mind, would it be worth trying to contact the local tourist centres for as many of them as I can think of and try to arrange to buy some postcards from them and have them sent here, or would the locals all just think I'm way too odd to even contemplate talking to?

Cuteness!

2006-10-12T03:36:00.000+10:00

I've been asked about my anime plushies, so here are a few more photos.

I really love "Kiki's Delivery Service", and one of my favourite characters is Kiki's black cat, Jiji...

You can't see it in the photo, but there's a little pull cord at the back and Jiji bounces around on the table when the cord is pulled.

I also have some 'InuYasha' plushies. From left to right, there is Kagome, InuYasha, Miroku, and Shippo...

The next photo is a random grouping of characters...

... Pingu (OK, so this one is Swiss claymation rather than Japanese anime ;), but he is cute, and he talks when you squeeze his tummy), Asuka from 'Neon Genesis Evangelion', and Clefairy, my favourite Pokémon -- it's pink, round, and has a thing for moonstones, just like me! ;)

In addition to the anime plushies, I have a small collection of Puffkins. From left to right, there is Gus (the moose), Tasha (the white tiger), Grizwald (the brown bear), Zack (the zebra), Moosletoe (the Christmas moose), and Toby (the killer whale).

These were all gifts from Michael, as he used to bring us all back a few each time he went over to the USA for training -- the only place I've ever seen any of them here in Australia was a little collectables shop on the edge of the Brisbane CBD, which I think is really odd as they're way cuter than Beanie Babies (to be honest, I've never understood why people go crazy over Beanie Babies), and you could find those just about everywhere.

And my lovely Gund bear 'Cabearnet' insisted on getting in on the act and posing for a photo too...

Of course, this entry would not be complete without a photo of Katherine in her Cat Bus costume...

... which won the Saturday Cosplay Competition runner up prize for Best Female Costume at the Animania Festival held here in Sydney a few weekends back. There's a photo of her on stage in her costume here. While you can't see it in the photos, Katherine had even rigged up the eyes of the mice so they glowed with illuminating red lights just like they do on the Cat Bus in the film ('My Neighbor Totoro').

When Katherine originally bought the material to make this costume, I thought she was being a bit ambitious attempting something like this, but it was amazing just how quickly and how well it all came together once she started work on it. :)

Secret Pal 9 questionnaire

2006-10-05T18:17:00.000+10:00

1. What is/are your favourite yarn/s to knit with? What fibres do you absolutely *not* like?

I like natural fibres -- wool, silk, cashmere, alpaca, mohair, angora, cotton, linen, soy and bamboo, for example -- yarns which are soft and not scratchy, and preferably ones which don't shed too much as I often wear black, and my favourite place to knit is a velvet covered sofa. I knit with good quality (not necessarily expensive) yarns, as if I'm going to take the time to knit something I want it to look and feel its best. I avoid acrylics and other synthetics as much as possible as for the most part they don't breathe and make me overheat. I don't like boucle yarns, and I'm totally over the whole furry and feathery novelty yarn thing.

By way of explanation -- I chose this 'Secret Pal 9' button...

... for my sidebar because I think it's adorably cute and love the 'Family Guy' series, and not because I have Stewie with his ray gun and an anti-acrylic hit squad lurking in the wings. I'm going to assume that my Secret Pal will have a good sense of humour. :)

I haven't mentioned any specific brand names here as I really don't want to limit the choices of my pal, or rule out any fabulous, local yarns that might be available.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

My knitting needles, along with the few crochet hooks I have, are stored in cardboard PostPak tubes or boxes (depending on length), sorted by type, length and size and still in their original packaging where possible so it's easy to find matching needles in the correct size for a project. Sets that came in cases are carefully stored in those cases when not in use. Accessories like stitch markers and row counters are stored in small plastic containers. It may not be as pretty as the fabric rolls, cases and pouches a lot of knitters have, or as attractive as a jar or vase of knitting needles on my desk, but it works for me and I wouldn't have it any other way. :)

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

I first learnt to knit when I was 9 years old, so I've been knitting off and on for around 37 years now. There have been substantial periods of time when I haven't knit at all, but I've been knitting fairly consistently since May 2003 this time, and have learnt a lot over the past three and a half years.

My Nana originally tried to teach me to knit, but knitting right-handed just didn't work for me. Of course I didn't know that was what the problem was at the time, but fortunately one of my left-handed aunties showed me how she knit and things got a whole lot better after that. As far as I can recall, my auntie only ever showed me how to do the knit stitch, so I've had to teach myself how to do pretty much everything else, mostly by mentally flipping the instructions in books written for right-handers as there's very little out there beyond the absolute basics for us left-handers.

I'm quite a slow knitter (which I'm mostly resigned to now), but I would consider myself to have intermediate skills for the most part.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

I have an Amazon wish list here.

5. What's your favourite scent? (for candles, bath products, etc.)

As I'm allergic to pretty much all synthetic fragrances, this is probably an area best avoided. Tobacco smoke smells also make me feel ill.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favourite candy?

My weakness is dark chocolate, the darker the better. If it should happen to have chilli, spices, peppercorns, or espresso coffee blended with it too, all the better. :) I detest anything with mint though, in all of its various forms and guises.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

I don't spin, and I don't crochet as I don't like the look, feel or drape of the fabric it produces. I have tried a lot of different crafts over the years, but knitting is the one that I keep coming back to.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

I like late 60s / early 70s music, especially from the UK as that's where I spent a lot of my school years. Just as a guide, the CDs currently sitting out on my desk are albums recorded by Slade, Sarah McLachlan, Kate Bush, Jane Olivor, Wendy Matthews, Kate Ceberano, and Dar Williams, plus 'The Queen Symphony' CDs. I really can't stand rap, country, or religious music.

I can play MP3s on my PC.

9. What's your favourite colour(s)? Any colours you just can't stand?

I like rich, dark, saturated tones of blues, indigo, purples and greens, true reds without any trace of orange, ink navy, black, charcoal, silver, and pure white. I don't like yellow, orange, olive, brown, cream or beige -- anything which could be described as an autumnal or earth tone tends to make me look sallow. The only browns I like are dark, truffle browns -- the kind that could be worn with black accessories. I dislike neon and fluoro colours, and pastel shades of colours, but love icy tones. And I'm definitely not a pink girl.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

I've been married to Michael for over 21 years now, and we have two daughters -- Amanda (20) and Katherine (18). Michael and Katherine are allergic to most furry pets, so our choice of pets is a little limited. At the moment, we have a rainbow lorikeet, and Katherine has a budgie.

Due to Michael's and Katherine's allergies, anything exposed to pet hair would be a problem.

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

I wear scarves, and the occasional simple hat. I don't wear mittens, but I do wear fingerless gloves from time to time as they keep my hands warm without restricting the use of my fingers. I will never understand the supposed popularity of ponchos -- I strongly suspect they are a joke inflicted upon us by fashion designers.

12. What is/are your favourite item/s to knit?

I prefer knitting things with texture (cables, lace, etc.) to colour work (fairisle, jacquard, intarsia), and like my projects to have clean, simple lines, without fussy details like frills or lots of buttons. Silly as it probably sounds, I also like for the yarn and design to feel like they were always meant to be together, and not that one was imposed on the other.

13. What are you knitting right now?

I have quite a few things on the needles at the moment, which are listed under 'Currrently in progress' in my sidebar.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

Yes -- but nothing frilly or fragranced obviously. :)

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminium, plastic?

I have a bias towards circular needles as the items I knit tend to be large and/or heavy, but if an individual project will work better on straight needles I use them instead. I have straight needles made from casein, bamboo, birch and faux tortoise shell. I have circular needles made from bamboo, and quite a few Addi Turbo circulars. I'd love to try ebony and rosewood needles, but they're a bit too expensive and hard to come by around here. I don't like knitting with plastic needles (except for the 15 cm metal-reinforced Pony Pearl double pointed needles I often use for socks) or the old style grey metal needles which were popular when I first started knitting -- my Nana always said these were bad for your hands, and that the tortoise shell ones were the best ones to use. I prefer double pointed needles over 'Magic Loop' or two circular needles for knitting socks. I do have a set of 'Denise' interchangeable needles, but I still haven't found the right project for them.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?

I own two yarn winders (a small one and a large one), and an umbrella swift.

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

Hmm...I'm guessing it's about 25 years old now. It's a jumper which would be way too small for me now, but ripping it out and starting something else with the yarn after all this time would be just too painful. I actually remember the trouble I had finding the yarn for that jumper, the number of buses and trains I had to ride to get to the drapery shop that had some in stock, and rummaging around with the shop assistant in the upstairs loft area of the shop to find the actual yarn when I got there. I actually bought the same yarn in a different colour (a dark, denimy blue colour which I really would have preferred for myself over the paler blue one I ended up with) for my sister at the same time, as she wanted to knit the same jumper. I wonder if she ever finished hers...

18. What is your favourite holiday?

One that doesn't involve heat, humidity, sand, or bushfires. I guess that's Christmas out... ;)

19. Is there anything that you collect?

Yarn, knitting books, DVDs, CDs, Japanese anime plushies -- I'm a bit of a hoarder, which is quite a challenge in a house as small as this one. ;)

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

I currently have subscriptions to 'Yarn', 'Rowan International', 'Interweave Knits', and 'Yarn Forward' -- I've got my fingers crossed that this last one will be as good as the hype as I've somewhat recklessly taken out a subscription prior to the arrival of the first issue. I also generally read 'Creative Knitting', 'Simply Knitting', 'Knitters', 'Vogue Knitting', 'Knit Simple', 'InKnitters', 'Knitscene', 'Knit 1', 'Rebecca' (for ideas for my daughters), and the US 'Creative Knitting' (which is ridiculously difficult to obtain here *sigh*). Maybe I should have listed knitting magazines under things I collect... ;)

If my Secret Pal turns out to be from a country KnitPicks will ship to, I'd love to get my hands on some KnitPicks 'Options' interchangeable circular needles, which I can't order for myself as unfortunately they refuse to ship to Australia. The other thing on my wish list from their website is Miriam Felton's 'Adamas Shawl' pattern, and the KnitPicks 'Shadow' yarn to make it (in either 'Vineyard' or 'Jewels' perhaps?). Thanks, Julie! :) And apologies to my Secret Pal for this last minute change to my response to this question. Eek!

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?

Not really. I used to think I'd like to learn fairisle, but Katherine's 'Skull Vest' (which I haven't enjoyed knitting so far), plus a realization that, despite my admiration for the skill involved, I can't really see myself wearing most of the end results, have cured me of that. ;)

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

Yes, I do knit socks.

My foot measurements are:

Foot length - 25 cm
Ankle - 24 cm
Measurement around foot after instep and before toes - 22 cm

23. When is your birthday? (mm/dd)

June 27th

This is the first 'Secret Pal' swap I've taken part in, so I hope my answers to this questionnaire are OK. I've tried to make my answers reasonably detailed as I only started my knitting blog back in February this year, but I've also tried not to cross the line and look too picky. If I've failed in this, please let me know and I'll have another go at it.

The bits that didn't quite fit into the other four entries

2006-09-18T17:18:00.000+10:00

Look what Amanda brought us all back from Japan! It's a little plushy Totoro family, and there was one for each of us -- mine is the one on the right, and it came from the actual Studio Ghibli Museum shop too. I can hardly believe how adorable they all are. :)

In spite of the way things are probably looking from all the entries I've written today -- Nothing for over two and a half weeks, and then five entries all at once? Go figure! ;) -- I've actually been making some progress with my knitting, even if it's not quite as much as I would've liked.

My 'Pacific Ocean Stole' has grown quite a lot, and the second skein is disappearing at quite a reasonable rate...

That's more than six pattern repeats finished. We'll just ignore the fact that there are probably another fourteen repeats to go to make it the length I'd like it to be... ;)

A few months back, I posted about the lovely semi-solid dark blue hand-dyed Mollydale Mohair yarn Michael bought me at the Sydney Royal Easter Show. The scarf I've been knitting from it has been in my side bar for quite a while, but I realized the other day that I'd never actually written about it.

Maybe I've been overlooking it due to the problems I had getting it started. ;) For what should have been a simple moss stitch scarf, this project is my current record holder for the most times an individual project has been restarted before the knitted fabric finally looked right. If you didn't know better, you really could be forgiven for thinking I must have only started knitting last week, as only a real novice could have made so many errors of judgement. Maybe I was just having a really off day.

It really shouldn't have been this way, though, as there were similar moss stitch scarves available for sale on the Mollydale stall, and the two lovely ladies there assured me that they had all been knit on 10 mm needles, and that I would be able to reproduce the slightly tighter tension of the scarf I particularly liked (which had been knit by a particularly tight knitter apparently) by knitting mine on 9 mm needles. Well, the needle sizes quoted seemed a bit large to me, but I was prepared to believe that the Mollydale ladies knew their yarn better than I did -- mohair yarns can be quite deceptive, after all. Well, the 9 mm needles produced a fabric which was ludicrously lacy, and going down to 8 mm needles didn't help much either. My initial guess, before the ladies had corrected me, had been that the moss stitch scarves on the Mollydale stall had been knit with 6 mm needles, and the consensus of opinion around me the day I started knitting with the yarn was that the ladies on the Mollydale stall must have been tired by the time I spoke to them (it was very late in the day, and the second last day of the show after all), and they were probably quoting me the needle size for their bulky yarn. So I went with my original gut feeling and cast on using 6 mm needles, which amazingly enough produced a fabric quite similar to the ones I had seen in the scarves on the stall. As I still wanted a scarf more like the one I'd seen which had been knit a bit tighter, I went down to 5.5 mm needles, and finally to the 5.0 mm needles I'm now using. This wasn't the end though, as I still had to tweak the number of stitches to get the width of scarf I wanted, eventually settling on 37 stitches to get a width of 24 cm.

But this wasn't the end either, as when I finally had the tension right and the width right, another problem revealed itself. It soon became apparent that my scarf was going to look like I had taken Tigger...

... and given her an indigo bath. No kidding, it was most strongly resembling an indigo tiger's pelt. Eek!

So it was back to the start once again, this time alternating between the two skeins to break up the colour pools. Success at last, but sadly this is never going to be the take along project I had hoped it would be -- knitting it in public is pretty much out of the question as the yarn stains my fingers too badly for that to be a serious proposition. I'm now filling this gap with my 'Lost In Translation' scarf.

Some new magazines have also found their way to me.

The 'Yarn' magazine is the first issue of my brand new subscription, which arrived on schedule exactly as promised. Well done, once again, Barbara! The magazine is stunning. :) The latest issues of the US 'Creative Knitting' and UK 'Simply Knitting' magazines were an absolute nightmare to find, as none of my local newsagents were deemed worthy enough to carry them by the evil magazine distributors it seems. Even the large newsagents in major shopping centres hadn't received any copies, so I had to travel much further afield to find them. The jury is still out as to whether or not the effort was worth it, but I may be a bit more generously disposed towards them once I get over my annoyance at the trouble I had getting them.

I've also gone ahead and done something potentially reckless. Yes... In a moment of weakness, I signed up for Secret Pal 9. ;) This is the first time I've been brave enough to sign up for one of these, and hopefully I will be up to the challenge of coming up with the perfect gifts to send to my Secret Pal. When there are a few more buttons posted on the Secret Pal 9 blog, I'll add one to my sidebar.

I was also lucky enough to meet Meg at the last get-together at Rubi & Lana. Meg took advantage of the cooler weather that day to wear her green 'Lace Panel Sweater', which I can tell you looks even better in real life than it already does on her blog. :)

Phew! That's going to have to be all for now, and I think I may finally be all caught up on my blog entries. :)

Stash enhancement

2006-09-18T15:56:00.000+10:00

Look what landed on my doorstep last week...

It's three skeins of 'Trekking XXL' yarn in colourways 66, 76 and 71 -- there are definitely going to be some 'Trekking XXL' socks in my future. :) I originally set out to find some of the 'Trekking XXL' yarn in colourway # 68, but got distracted. ;) The quest for a skein in colourway # 68 will continue though...

The fourth skein (the one on the right in the photo) is an earlier 'Trekking XXL' purchase (colourway # 109), which in real life isn't as washed out looking as it appears in my photograph. At the moment I'm leaning towards turning this one into a pair of these...

... the Fiber Fish Mittens which Laurie designed. Aren't they just amazing? :)

I'm enjoying knitting my 'Pacific Ocean Stole' with the Madil 'Kid Seta' yarn so much, I bought some more of it from Rubi & Lana last time I was there, this time in a fabulous colourway with deep wine reds highlighted with some dark purples...

... which I think will make a stunning version of Nancy Bush's "Madli's Shawl", from the Summer 2004 issue of 'Interweave Knits'...

... which I wrote about wanting to knit in an earlier entry.

Some more ColourMart cashmere also found it's way to me last week...

Two cones of 4 ply cashmere in a couple of fabulous, saturated colours -- the deep blue one is called 'Bay', and the rich burgundy one is 'Victoria'. There's 1,150 yards on each cone so there should be plenty to knit a couple of lovely warm, soft shawls to cuddle up in.

These colours were actually quite a challenge to photograph. I think the photo above is quite close to showing the colours as they appear in real life in sunlight (at least on my computer screen), but the original photographs I took the other day had completely the wrong tone to them -- the 'Victoria' actually came out quite orange in tone for some reason.

I had a bit more luck with flash photography inside...

... but even this wasn't turning out quite right colourwise, and the flash made the yarn look a lot shinier than it really is. Maybe I'll get better at taking accurate photographs over time.

I thought I'd also share with you a photo of the cashmere and silk cobweb weight yarn I bought from ColourMart a while back...

That's 'Grey' on the left and 'Navy' on the right, and there's an incredible 5,000 yards on each cone. I'm sorely tempted to use the 'Grey' to knit a truly ethereal version of Sharon Miller's 'Wedding Ring Shawl', but that is still in the future for me, as I'm going to have to work down to knitting with super fine yarns like this.

Undervaluing your craft

2006-09-18T15:07:00.000+10:00

About a year ago, I bought a book on eBay, and when it arrived I found a little surprise waiting for me inside...

A clipping from a what I'm guessing is a Queensland newspaper from around 1985, if the location and date written by the original owner on the inside cover of the book are any guide.

I always knew that the going rates for knitters who were willing to knit for others had been low, but this just blew me away. Just by way of contrast, I'm fairly certain that at around the same time you could have earned around $9 per hour working in a department store as a shop assistant with little or no experience for basic award rates. And these charges aren't even an hourly rate, as I'm sure very few people could knit through a ball of yarn in an hour -- OK, I'll admit that I certainly can't -- let alone the 15 to 20 minutes you'd need to achieve to even start to make a reasonable income. Talk about undervaluing your craft, and the years it took to acquire your skills... :(

Hush, Hush...

2006-09-18T04:06:00.000+10:00

Project Details:

Koigu "Charlotte's Web Shawl"
Koigu Painter's Palette Premium Merino in P426, P417, P428, P405 and P217
Addi 5.0mm circular needle
Tulip 3.5mm bamboo crochet hook

This isn't a recent project, and is probably due for a re-blocking, but I thought I'd write about it here now as I've always been quite pleased with the way it turned out.

"Charlotte's Web" was quite a leap of faith for me, as Koigu PPPM isn't available here in Australia. I chose not to order one of the kits that were commonly available at the time, but instead ordered a selection of Koigu PPPM colourways from the Needles & Pins website in Canada, and crossed my fingers that I'd be able to put together the look I wanted from them when they finally arrived here, all the while contemplating the insanity of thinking I could choose colourways of a handpainted yarn this way and expect them to work together at all. Happily, the gamble paid off, as amongst my small selection were five which co-ordinated well. :)

I actually knit this shawl three times before I was finally happy with the ordering of the five colourways -- one of the lessons I learnt from knitting this project was that the ordering which looks best when the hanks of yarn are laid out on the table may not be the one which will look best in the finished shawl. I also graded the colourways through the fringe around the edge of the shawl in a similar order to the one used to knit the shawl itself.

For some reason, Amanda refers to this shawl as my 'hippy shawl'. ;)

And here is a close-up photo of the corner of my shawl...

... which I've included here as it really annoyed me that none of the multitude of photographs of "Charlotte's Web Shawls" I came across on the internet when I was trying to finish mine showed what people had done with the crochet edging at the corners of their shawls. The pattern was also somewhat vague on this point.

On mine, I played around with the chain length on the beginning and ending corners of the final edging row, and finally settled on 11 chain stitches as the length which gave me the best result. I also bypassed the problem a lot of people had with the cast off by omitting that step altogether and instead working the first row of the crochet edging directly into the live stitches of the final row of the shawl, which resulted in a neat edge which was relatively easy to stretch to size when the shawl was being blocked.

More Sea Silk-y Goodness?

2006-09-18T03:03:00.000+10:00

At least I'm hoping there will be some more in my future if I can find out the name of this 'Sea Silk' colourway...

I found the photo here on Hired Hands, but unfortunately Paula wasn't able to tell me the name of the colourway as it wasn't printed on the label. Anyway, I have my fingers crossed that I'll be able to find out what colourway this stunning combination of greens and purples is, and that Purl Yarns will be able to order some in for me. In the meantime, if anyone knows the name of this 'Sea Silk' colourway, please let me know.

Oh, and apologies to Donni for running off with all the Hand Maiden 'Sea Silk' in 'Ocean'. ;)

It's entirely possible that I may have a bit of a thing for purple and green combinations like this. I already have several skeins of this...

... sitting in my stash, dreaming of one day soon becoming a long garter stitch scarf similar to one 'Joan' wore in one of the episodes of 'Joan of Arcadia'. Of course, Joan's scarf was a completely different colour -- from memory, I think it was rosy shades of pink.

Oceans and Seas

2006-09-01T04:28:00.000+10:00

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.

My take on the 'Lost in Translation' Scarf -- 1

2006-08-18T16:58:00.000+10:00

When the film 'Lost in Translation' first hit cinema screens, there was a bit of fuss in the online knitting community about the scarf Scarlett Johansson's character Charlotte is knitting early on in the film. For those of you who missed it, here is a screen capture from the film of Charlotte trying on her scarf to check the length.

And here is another screen capture of it, relaxing on Charlotte's bed...

As you can appreciate, we never really get to see the detail of the scarf's stitch pattern -- it's not a film about knitting, after all ;) -- but the overall effect is very pretty, so there was some discussion on a few of the knitting forums as to how a similar scarf might be knit.

The original scarf was designed for the film by Edith Eig from La Knitterie Parisienne, and eventually appeared as one of the patterns in her book 'Mother of Purl'...

I've never been entirely convinced that the scarf pictured in the book and the accompanying pattern are actually the same as the scarf featured in the film, or that the yarn specified in the pattern is the same as the one Charlotte's scarf was knit with. In the text of the book, Edith Eig herself actually refers to the yarn she used as being a powder blue cashmere, which isn't Rowan 'Kid Classic' (70% lambswool, 26% kid mohair, 4% nylon) to my way of thinking, and the scarf in the film seems to have a bit of a fuzzy haze to it which the scarf pictured in the book lacks. Not to mention that knitting 'Kid Classic' on US 7 (4.5mm) needles would be unlikely to produce a light and airy fabric. Anyway... I checked the La Knitterie Parisienne website for corrections, but as there weren't any, I have to assume Edith Eig is happy that the the pattern as it appears in her book is the same as the one she used to knit the scarf for the film. And who am I to argue with that? ;)

So I put the project on the backburner while I considered what I might knit it in, and how I might alter the pattern to get closer to the look I wanted.

Until last Saturday, when I spotted some GGH 'Soft Kid' in a yummy red colour on the shelf at Rubi & Lana, that is.

I've played around with extending the pattern a bit, and what I've settled upon is this...

... which I don't really think is right either, but it does seem to suit the much lighter weight yarn I'm working with.

For those of you who are interested, I'm knitting it with 4.5mm Swallow 'Timbergrain' needles, and the alterations I made to the pattern were to increase the number of stitches per row to 36 and to include an extra two rows...

ROW 8: Knit across.
ROW 9: K1, purl across to last st, end with K1.

... at the end of the pattern repeat.

As there are still an odd number of rows in each pattern repeat, this does alternate what would normally be considered as the front and back of the scarf, but the pattern seems to work with the relatively fine kid mohair yarn, and does have the advantage that the finished scarf won't really have a right and wrong side. :)

I'll probably have another go at it some time in the future with some larger needles and some GGH 'Soft Kid' yarn used double, but for now I'm happy with the way my take on the scarf is turning out.

You're doing it wrong, dear.

2006-08-18T00:01:00.000+10:00

Just over twenty years ago, I was sitting on a bus and passing the time by knitting some baby clothes for my soon-to-be-born daughter. A fellow passenger, who was an older woman, was apparently so offended by the way I was knitting that she went out of her way to tell me "You're doing it wrong, dear." before she got off the bus.

As the title bar of this blog indicates, I am left-handed and I choose to knit left-handed too. For some reason, this bothers some people. A lot. I've tried knitting the way right-handed people do, and for me it just feels awkward and wrong -- knitting may well be a two-handed craft as some people claim when they are trying to convince others that everyone should knit as right-handed people do, but there is definitely a dominant working hand. In my case, I'm way better at reversing instructions and charts where necessary than I am at knitting from the left needle to the right needle as most people do. I accept this. My friends accept this. I had even allowed myself to believe that, twenty years on from that rather disconcerting encounter, these were more enlightened times, and that I would no longer be confronted by people like the older woman on that bus whenever I dare to knit in public.

Not so, as it turns out.

Last Saturday, I was knitting with some friends at our fortnightly get-together at Rubi & Lana when I once again heard those words. This time it was a European lady who spoke them, and she then went on to demonstrate how to hold the yarn and knit continental style -- I suspect she was thrown by the fact that I was holding the yarn in my left hand and just couldn't understand why I was throwing the yarn instead of picking. No amount of explaining that I am left-handed and knit around the other way to the way she knits, and would have to hold the yarn in my right hand to do what she was doing, made any difference whatsoever. She was adamant that I was doing it wrong -- to the obvious bemusement of everyone in the shop around me.

For the past few days, I've been trying to decide whether or not to write about this latest experience on my blog as I was afraid it would be perceived as a rant, but then I stumbled upon this button* today...

... which just summed everything up for me, and made me think just how easily a poorly thought out, condescending comment like "You're doing it wrong, dear." could put someone off knitting for life. In my own case, it was a very long time after my encounter with the woman on the bus before I was able to knit confidently in a public place again.

While I hate political correctness with a passion, there really are better ways of letting someone know that there are alternative ways of doing something which they might be interested in learning about than telling them that they are doing it wrong. Word choices really can make a difference to the way suggestions of alternative ways of doing things will be viewed by the intended recipient. The woman on the bus may well have had good intentions, but all she did was damage my confidence with her words. And the European woman would have received a much more favourable reception if she hadn't got my back up with her opening line -- I'm older now and more confident in why I knit the way I do. ;)

I love Annie Modesitt's philosophy that if you're getting the fabric you want, you are NOT knitting wrong. :) There is a certain irony in the fact that just before I was told I was doing it wrong on Saturday, the evenness of some of my knitting had been commented on. I am aware that knitting continental style is a more economical way of knitting, and therefore potentially faster as there is less movement involved in forming a stitch. However, I choose to hold the yarn and knit the way I do in part because I have joint problems and the way I knit keeps my wrist in a stable, neutral position -- after all, knitting faster doesn't get you very far if you have to stop all the time due to aching wrists.

I will most likely never be a fast knitter, but I'm happy knitting the way I do. I learn new things which continue to improve my knitting all the time -- both from the projects I knit and from other knitters -- and I like the work I'm producing now. At the end of the day, that really is all that matters. I will continue to knit in public and not be put off by the opinions voiced by a few, content in the knowledge that there is no "correct" way to knit, just what happens to works for you. :)

* Actually, the original button was an animated gif to promote Annie Modesitt's book Confessions of a Knitting Heretic, but I find animated gifs annoying so I've just used the image that is most relevant to me, while keeping the links to Annie's books intact of course -- I hope this is OK with Eklectika! who designed the original button, and with Annie.)

Little balls of fluff

2006-08-06T20:02:00.000+10:00

Just look what followed me home from Rubi & Lana the last time I was there...

It's RichMore 'Excellent Mohair (10 Count) Gradation' in colour # 116 , a sophisticated mix of blacks, silvery greys and truffle browns. These are fabulous little balls of fluff with long colour changes similar to what you see in the Noro range of yarns. Coincidentally, this is a Japanese yarn too, and, with 200m in each 20g ball, it just calls out to be knit into something fine and lacy.

I have to admit to having coveted this particular yarn for quite a while in a few of the colourways Paula has in stock, but when I finally spotted this one on the shelf it really was all over.

I knew straight away that I wanted to knit a lacy wrap with this yarn, but not a whole lot beyond that. So I decided to start out by searching for similar things which have been knit using this yarn, mostly in the hope of getting a feel for how the gradation might look in a finished wrap. There wasn't much out there, but I did stumble upon a real gem -- Cosmopolitan Purls' Blue Ridge Stole, which she is designing herself. Wow!

I briefly thought about using her stole as the inspiration to go ahead and design my own wrap, which in the image I have in my head would of course have to have a complementary lace edging knit on to each end of the main rectangle -- I even had a stitch pattern picked out to use for that main rectangle. I then came to my senses and realized that, as I've never actually worked a knit on edging like this before and have no idea how the stitch and row ratios work to make everything fit properly and look symmetrical, it might just be a good idea to use an actual pattern for my first attempt.

So I started leafing through some of my knitting magazines, and soon rediscovered Nancy Bush's "Madli's Shawl" in the Summer 2004 issue of 'Interweave Knits'...

This shawl doesn't actually have a knitted-on edging as such -- the edging at one end is worked from the cast on and leads straight into the main rectangle, and the edging at the other end is worked from a separate cast on and then grafted straight on to the opposite end of the main rectangle. While the original shawl was not knit in a mohair yarn, I have come across a really stunning version of it which was knit in Rowan 'Kidsilk Haze', which leads me to think it might work well in this yarn too.

But then again, there's also Jane Sowerby's 'Persimmon Lace' in the Summer 2006 issue of "Knitter's" magazine...

... which I think could look really interesting with the gradation of colour running up the centre panel and then in wider bands around the knitted-on edging. Just by the way -- Was any one else wondering what happened to the haze part of 'Kidsilk Haze' in the photographs of this shawl in the magazine?

Both shawls call for around 1000m of yarn, so hopefully I should have enough to enable me to make whichever one of these two shawls I decide on, with enough extra yarn to help keep the colour gradations reasonably straight when I start a new ball.

Decisions, decisions...

At the moment, I think I'm leaning more towards 'Persimmon Lace', both for its lighter look and the things I'll learn by knitting the edging around the main rectangle.

Zigzags and Waves

2006-08-02T20:18:00.000+10:00

So where did the last month go? I had so many good intentions, but sadly so few of them were actually realized. I've even had a posting in mind to write for this blog for the past two weeks. I hasten to add that this isn't it -- that one will have to wait now until the cold I currently have has run its course and I'm feeling better.

In line with everything else, I haven't made nearly as much progress on my knitting projects as I would have liked. One thing I did start and finish, though, was this...

It's a 'Zigzag Scarf' knit using a 200g hank of JJ's 'Kaleidoscope' 8 ply yarn in colour # 27. The pattern is from Iris Schreier's 'Modular Knits', and was very quick to knit. As I wanted mine wider that the 10cm width of the original, I increased the number of cast on stitches for each of the base triangles to 13 (from the original 9), and increased the needle size to 5.5mm to improve that drape of the fabric knit with the yarn I chose to use. My finished scarf is approximately 20cm wide and 160cm long.

I've also finally made a start on what I've named my 'Celtic Waves Scarf'...

... which I'm knitting with the beautiful Louisa Harding yarn Knitabulous sent me as the prize for winning her guessing competition earlier this year. My original plan was to knit the 'Kimono Ribbon' rows as garter ridges, but I forgot to do this for one of the ridges and decided I preferred the way the flatter ridges worked with both the stitch pattern and the yarns. So I ripped it back and started the current version of the scarf, and I'm much happier now with the way it looks. I'm knitting this scarf on 5.5mm Clover bamboo circular needles -- I chose the 5.5mm size as I thought it would work well for both the 'Kimono Angora' and the 'Kimono Ribbon'.

Recently, I spotted this...

... in the sidebar of Julie's blog. Given the number of times I typically start and re-start projects before I'm happy with them, I think I've well and truly earned the right to add one of these to my sidebar too. :)

At the last Saturday meeting at Rubi & Lana I went to, Sally was working on a project with some Kaalund yarn she bought from the Craft & Quilt Fair at Darling Harbour in June, and I promised I would post a photograph of the kit and yarn I bought from the Kaalund stand while I was there.

On the left of the photograph is a kit with a pattern and two balls of 'Expressions' (in 'Lavender' and 'Pacific', I think), which will be knit with the two yarns held together to make the 'Expressions Lacy Scarf' pattern which was included in the kit. On the right are two balls of 'Enchanté' in 'Lavender', which I intend to knit into a longer version of the 'Fine Lace Scarf'.

That's about it for now, but before I finish this posting, I'd like to thank everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday back in June. :)

Happy Birthday to me! :)

2006-06-27T23:15:00.000+10:00

While I was at the 'Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show' last year, I bought myself a Colinette 'Perugino Throw Kit' in the beautiful 'Stillwater' colourway from Sarah Durrant's stand. Sadly, the kit has been left languishing in my stash for the best part of a year, patiently awaiting its turn to fulfil its destiny.

Well, the long wait is finally over...

Isn't it going well! :) And I only have just over one pattern repeat to go before it is finished now. I was worried for a while that the 'Tagliatelli' yarn was going to run out just before the end as it was disappearing at a faster rate than the other yarns, but I'm pretty sure now that there will be enough to make the throw the length I want it to be. :)

I'm actually so happy with the way this throw is turning out that I went ahead and bought this from Sarah Durrant's Colinette stand at the recent 'Craft & Quilt Fair' at Darling Harbour...

Yes, it's a second Colinette 'Perugino Throw Kit', only this time in the 'Skylark' colourway as I thought two identical throws would be a bit boring ;), and both of these colourways will look fabulous with our dark blue lounge.

Working on the throw hasn't been all joy, though. Katherine was somewhat annoyed that my procrastination over how best to proceed with her 'Skull Vest' had left it unstarted despite the increasingly cold weather, and that another project had now been started ahead of it. And as usual she wasn't afraid to let me know exactly how she felt about the situation. So when the constant cry of "Where's my vest?" became too much, I headed back to Rubi & Lana's in search of a little additional yarn, mostly so I could continue swatching without running the risk of not having enough yarn left to actually knit the vest.

I quickly found the yarn on the shelf, but discovered that the yarn I was sold as an 8 ply has now been labelled as a 5 ply. In hindsight, I guess I shouldn't have been totally surprised by this, as I did have problems initially getting the yarn to knit to a standard 8 ply tension. Undaunted by this turn of events, I decided to check out the 'Rubi & Lana' yarn which has now been labelled as the 8 ply as I quite like the quality of the wool Paula chose for her brand, but unfortunately I wasn't able to get both black and white in that weight of yarn.

What to do? What to do?

As the patterns I'm adapting to get the type of vest that Katherine actually wants are from these two Jo Sharp books...

... the obvious thing to do to make things as easy as possible was just to switch to Jo Sharp DK Wool for the vest. It seemed like the easy option when the thought first entered my head. Rubi & Lana's -- where I was still standing at the time, after all -- stocks Jo Sharp DK Wool. Pretty much any LYS in Sydney stocks Jo Sharp DK Wool. How hard could it possibly be to get some black and some white Jo Sharp DK Wool at lunch time on a Saturday?

Harder than you might think!

Rubi & Lana's were out of stock of both the black and the white. *sigh*

So I rang the Turramurra Drapery. They had white Jo Sharp DK Wool, but none of the black. Plus they would be closing shortly.

OK... So I'll try the Hornsby Wool & Craft Nook, I thought. They had plenty of the black available, but were out of stock of the white. Not my day obviously. At least they weren't closing for several hours though.

My best hope of getting the yarn I desperately wanted was going to be to try to get to the Turramurra Drapery before closing time, and then to head on to Hornsby. So that's what I ended up doing.

And here is the end result of all my driving around...

Woohoo! :)

Actually, I may have panicked a bit when I was trying to decide how many skeins of each colour to buy. I suspect at the end of the day there may well be a 'Skull Hat' or two made with the leftover wool.

When I got the yarn home, I started re-knitting the swatches -- it's important to maintain the momentum with projects like this, after all, and after all that running around I was definitely motivated. The fabric of the plain black stocking stitch tension square turned out quite a bit firmer, and a much better weight for the vest I think...

This was the easy part. The real test, of course, would be the fairisle skull pattern swatch I've been avoiding tackling again since the original one turned out to not be all I'd hoped it would be. With much gritting of teeth, I dove in and started work on the new swatch.

Well, it's amazing what you can suddenly discover when you work on something after a bit of a break. I'd read in a few places that it is important to always strand the colours so that one of the colours is always the one stranded above the other colour, which I thought I'd been doing by always having the white yarn in front of the black yarn on the hand I use to hold the yarn. As it turns out, the way I make my stitches results in the strands reversing position on the purl rows if the yarn is held with the same colour in front all the time. So I'm now swapping the position of the yarns around on the hand I hold the yarn with at the end of each row, and the yarn is stranding correctly across the back of the knitting.

As I mentioned in an earlier entry, black and white really isn't the best colour choice for a first attempt at fairisle. I'm fairly certain that the stranding problem would have been much more obvious if I'd been working with almost any other colour combination. As it is, the black strands are more or less invisible against the predominantly black background, so it just wasn't immediately obvious that the strands were around the opposite way on the purl rows.

I'm also following the advice I was given by a few people and using both strands to work the edge stitches, which appears to have helped resolve the loose stitch problem I was having.

And here is the final swatch...

I think the most obvious improvement is that the small diamond pattern no longer has a strong resemblance to chicken foot prints ;) -- something that was definitely caused by the alternation of the positioning of the strands on the back. The skulls are also a better shape, and, even more surprisingly, the tension of the blocked swatch now appears to be correct, helped no doubt by the large amount of black in the design.

By the way, the little plastic gadget in the photos is a yarn guide, and has proved to be a sanity saver for me while I've been negotiating the rather steep learning curve of this project, as it keeps the two strands in their correct positions on the hand holding the yarn -- using the two handed method really was never going to be for me.

Time to finally move on to knitting the actual vest.

The vest I'm knitting for Katherine is based on the 'Devon' vest from Jo Sharp's 'Gathering' book, but will be a bit longer in the body and will have the armholes made deeper as Katherine intends to wear her vest over a blouse with very puffy short sleeves. The v-neck is being replaced with one similar to the one from the '1950s V-neck Sweater' in the new 'Knit' Issue 1 book, as Katherine wants a deeper V for the neckline of her vest.

As you can see, the back of the vest is progressing well so far...

Maybe too well, as the time to start work on the scary fairisle front of the vest is approaching way too fast.

As for the original yarn I bought... It looks like either Katherine or Amanda may eventually score themselves a 'Skull Scarf', as I think the drape of the fabric I was getting from the 'Rubi & Lana' wool will work well for a scarf. I doubt I'll be in too much of a rush to knit this though, as fairisle really isn't something I'm enjoying doing. Maybe the scarf will end up simply being striped at the end of the day... ;)

There is one other project I've started recently. It's the 'Basic Black Shawl' from Cheryl Oberle's 'Folk Shawl' book, although I'm substituting ink navy Colourmart lambswool and angora blend laceweight yarn used double for the original black wool.

I haven't knit very much of it so far, but hopefully the final shawl will look something like this...

Today is my birthday, and while I was taking the photos for this entry my two girls came home with a treat for me...

And here is my haul of presents...

I've really been spoiled this year, haven't I! :)

Earlier this month, I had big plans to be part of the WWKIP event at the Sidewalk Cafe near the Sydney Opera House. I actually started knitting my 'Perugino Throw' a few days before as I thought it would be an ideal project to keep me warm while I was knitting it if the weather was cold on the day. I even had everything packed and ready to go the night before -- almost unprecedented preparation for me, as I'm generally more of a throw things together at the last minute kind of person. As it turned out, this was as close as I got to participating in WWKIP Day this year...

... as unfortunately for me, I woke up with a migraine and ended up spending the day hiding from any source of light.

Next time for sure, though! :)

Presents!

2006-05-17T22:00:00.000+10:00

Recently, I won a competition run by Knitabulous, and on Monday I received something truly fabulous in the mail...

It's two skeins of Louisa Harding 'Kimono Angora' and a skein of Louisa Harding 'Kimono Ribbon' yarn in the same yummy colourway, all beautifully presented in a perfectly sized box with a red snowflake design on a white background. The accompanying card hasn't come out too clearly in the photo, but it actually has lots of detail which my camera failed to pick up, and co-ordinates beautifully with the yarn.

I really hope that the stunning range of colours in this yarn will show up well on everyone's screens, as they all work so well together. Unfortunately, the luxurious softness of the yarn simply won't photograph, so you'll just have to take my word for that. ;)

Thank you, Knitabulous!!! :)

As a scarf seems to be the obvious thing to make with the yarn -- that, and I really want to make it into something which will be in contact with my skin -- I decided to search the internet for inspiration. Those of you who've seen some of my comments on this blog and elsewhere probably won't be surprised by what follows. ;) As I really love searching for things like this, I'm going to share the results of my searches here.

First up, I found a scarf which was knit in the Railroad Knitting stitch pattern from Sarah Bradberry's website using the 'Kimono Angora', with strands of the 'Kimono Ribbon' woven through the tracks created by the dropped stitches. The end result is simple and stunning, and I really like it, but I just know I'd end up snagging the strands of ribbon yarn whenever I wore it.

Next, I came across a spiral scarf knit with just the 'Kimono Angora' using a pattern featuring short row shaping, and a ruffle scarf which used both yarns. However, as I knit Amanda Blair Brown's 'Ruffles' scarf from the 'Scarf Style' book in red Cleckheaton 'Angora Supreme' last winter, I decided to keep looking.

Then I discovered a scarf knit in 'Kimono Angora' using the Echarpe scarf pattern, but, believe it or not, I knit one of these last winter too, this time to showcase a hank of beautifully hand-dyed yarn I bought from Marta's Yarns, which it did admirably.

So I continued searching, and this time found a couple of Misty Garden scarves, knit from 'Kimono Angora' using Jo Sharp's 'Misty Garden' pattern from the 'Scarf Style' book. This still wasn't quite what I was after, but the rippling pattern of the 'Feather and Fan' stitch seemed to be heading in the right direction, so I started browsing through my copy of this...

... in search of an alternative lacey, rippling wave stitch pattern to use for my scarf. The strongest contenders at the moment are these four stitch patterns...

I'm leaning towards the 'Twisting Vines' pattern at the moment, but I'd love to hear what other people think would work best. Whichever stitch pattern I end up choosing, I'm thinking working the scarf as blocks of eight rows of 'Kimono Angora' separated by smaller blocks in the 'Kimono Ribbon' yarn of either two or four rows -- chosen at random, of course, to echo the random dyed yarn -- would work well. I may even toss a coin to decide how many rows to knit each time I change over to the 'Kimono Ribbon' yarn. ;)

Continuing the theme of 'presents'... Last Sunday was Mother's Day, and I was definitely spoilt by my family...

Michael had given me most of my Mother's Day presents in advance this year -- the fabulous new mobile I wrote about in the previous posting was actually one of them :) -- but, on the day itself, he also gave me the lovely red carnations and the Instant Lottery ticket which can just be seen hiding amongst the flowers. Plus he cooked dinner for us all, and brought some cheesecake home for dessert. :) Katherine gave me the cute 'Wallace & Gromit' soap dish, which I was surprised to find waiting for me on my chair when I went to check my e-mail. Amanda came over to see me, and gave me the Season 1 DVD set of 'Gilmore Girls' -- she even sat down and watched the first four episodes with me before she had to leave -- and three Lindt 'Petits Desserts' chocolate blocks to try -- Yum!

Catching up, and a new toy!

2006-05-11T00:47:00.000+10:00

So... Where have I been for the past month?

Well.. For the most part, I've been upgrading my PC to 'Windows XP', and re-installing everything from scratch. It hasn't exactly been upgrade hell, but it has been time consuming, and there's still work that needs to be done -- for example, my PC still can't find the printer on our home network, and the rest of the family still can't access any files in the folders I've tried to share with them over the network. I've also learnt that when you install 'Windows XP' from scratch, having a Zip drive installed is a bad thing, as it will totally mess up the order in which letters are allocated to disk drives. Eek! I also now have the new keyboard and mouse I've had since Christmas installed on my PC -- you should have seen the haste with which Michael disposed of the old ones once they were disconnected. ;)

As a consequence of all this activity, over the past month I haven't made a lot of progress on my current works in progress, but here is a quick run-down of what I've gotten done...

I finally bit the bullet and knit a test swatch for the fairisle side of Katherine's 'Skull Vest'. I've never knit fairisle before, so this has been a real learning experience.

I'm not entirely happy with how it turned out, as the stitches down one of the edges are on the loose side. Fortunately, the more experienced knitters at our get together at 'Rubi & Lana' last Saturday were able to suggest a few things that might improve the situation, which I will try out in my next test swatch -- Thanks, everyone! :) I am quite happy with the way the stranding and weaving on the reverse side turned out, however. All in all, not too bad for my first attempt! Especially as the black and white is not exactly the most forgiving combination.

And I've finally washed and blocked the tension square I knit for the plain side of the vest, which featured in an earlier posting in its straight off the needles, rolled up form...

I'm really happy with the way the 'Rubi & Lana' yarn is knitting up, and the softness and drape of the finished samples. :)

'Clapotis 2' is progressing well...

I've photographed the reverse stocking stitch side this time, as that is the intended right side after all. I'm well into the decreases for the end now, so hopefully it shouldn't be long now before it's wearable. Unlike my first 'Clapotis' -- which was knit with two strands of Lorna's Laces "Helen's Lace" -- this one does look like it's going to need a good blocking before I can wear it.

For the first time in a very long time, I went to the Sydney Royal Easter Show this year -- the last time I went, the Show was still at the old venue, and I think at least one of my girls was in a stroller.

I didn't take any photos, but I did get to see Donna's lovely shawl up close, along with other treats like the 'Knitted Roast Dinner' display which several other people have posted about in their blogs. I was actually quite surprised by the range of abilities of the entrants on display in the knitting categories, which went from intricate lace shawls to a small patchwork cover made from squares knit in random colourways of Patons 'Feathers'.

This is my haul -- well, most of it -- from the Show...

Michael bought me a black Akubra in the 'Snowy River' style. I chose one that didn't have the pimp feathers which seemed to feature on most of the others. Instead of wearing it, I had the salesman put it in the Akubra plastic bag shown in the photo -- just so I could tell everyone I'd bought the Akubra showbag. ;) This hat will be perfect for keeping the sun off the stupidly pale skin of my face on the walks I desperately need to start doing again, and will be a much more attractive proposition than my old floppy black hat.

The King Island cheeses I bought aren't there with everything else in the photo, as most of them have already been eaten -- yum! -- but you can see the King Island cooler bag I carried them home in.

Michael also bought me two hanks of Mollydale mohair in a lovely dark blue colourway. Here is a close-up photo of the yarn, which I hope shows some of the lovely variation in the blue a little better...

And now it's finally time to show off my new toy!

It's a Motorola V3X mobile 'phone. This is the first new mobile I've had since 2000, so I'm quite excited by all the new features this one has -- especially the camera and the possibility of using it to listen to knitting podcasts when I'm out and about once I install a higher capacity memory card.

knitabulous... Apologies for not featuring the prize you sent me for winning your competition in this posting, but as you can see from this photo...

Australia Post has failed to deliver so far. :(

Manda... Where are you in Sydney? If you're not too far away, there's several of us who meet at 'Rubi & Lana' in Gordon every second Saturday from 11:00am until 2:00pm -- the next meeting will be on May 20th. Even if you're not all that close to Gordon, the shop is worth the trip. If this does prove to be little out of the way for you, I may well be able to suggest something closer to you as I've been known to buy yarn at most of the yarn shops around Sydney -- and a few of the Melbourne yarn shops too, for that matter. ;)

Good news!

2006-04-07T00:20:00.000+10:00

It may have taken a bit longer than originally planned, but I've finally cast off my 'Lace Modular Shawl'...

Apologies for having photographed it with our awful pink carpet as the background, but it was the easiest place in my house to lay the whole shawl out.

By way of comparison, here is the cast on end of the shawl...

I'm quite pleased with the way this shawl is turning out, and have high hopes that the ends will be quite well matched once it is blocked out properly.

Now I just have to weave in the ends, and get up enough nerve to run the power steamer over it -- which is how Iris Schreier (the designer of the shawl) said she finished hers.

More good news... The yarn I ordered for my Mystery Shawl 3 finally arrived here on Tuesday. Woohoo! :)

It's JaggerSpun 'Zephyr' (50% fine merino wool & 50% tussah silk) lace weight yarn in the 'Blueberry' colour.

Unfortunately, the knit along is pretty much over now -- the final clue was posted on March 18 -- so I guess I really will be doing this one on my own now. ;)

I also received this on Tuesday...

... some GGH 'Soft Kid' yarn in shades 32 and 63, which came all the way from the UK. This yarn really is amazingly soft, and I can't wait to see how it knits up.

One of my Christmas presents from Michael was a lovely fountain, which has sadly been left languishing in its box for the past few months while it waited to be set up.

Well, we finally got around to it...

... and I can't believe how well it fits in where we decided to put it. The angled slope of the top edge is just perfect, and it looks like we had it custom made to fit the space. It really was just serendipity though -- Michael decided to buy it for me after I made a stray comment that the fountain was pretty as we went past it on one of the escalators at the local shopping centre. Now I only wish I'd got around to setting it up sooner, as the tinkling sound of the falling water just makes me feel so happy.

The other thing I've been putting off for a while now was admitting to myself that I really needed to see an optometrist to get my eyesight checked. Yes... reading the fine print has been becoming increasingly difficult, and even my knitting has been looking a little fuzzy lately. *sigh*

So, not surprisingly, I now have my first pair of glasses...

Want to see them modelled?

Well, I didn't say I'd be modelling them... ;) I'm not feeling especially photogenic at the moment, so this will just have to do for now.

The last thing I'm going to write about today is my secret project. Shh! It's secret because I wasn't supposed to start another project until after I finish knitting Katherine's 'Skull Vest', but after the marathon that knitting the 'Lace Modular Shawl' turned out to be -- mostly due to the long, excessively humid summer we've had here in Sydney this year -- I felt I needed to do something easy that I could finish quickly to recharge my batteries before grappling with what is essentially a fairisle design -- albeit with a distinctly Goth twist. ;) So the Lorna's Laces 'Lion & Lamb' yarn in the 'Tahoe' colourway which has been maturing in my stash for about a year now has at long last been given its chance to shine...

... as my second Clapotis.

Those of you familiar with this pattern will probably be able to notice already from the photo of my work in progress above that this will be another of those mirror image projects which helped me come up with the name for this blog. ;)

Recent arrivals

2006-03-23T16:14:00.000+11:00

I'm not intending to include a lot of photos of my stash acquisitions in this blog -- just take it as read that I have enough yarn -- and projects in mind to make with that yarn -- to keep me busy for many years. Being the relatively slow knitter that I am, really isn't helping with the backlog either.

Of course that doesn't stop me from responding to the siren call of beautiful yarn -- one of the most common things heard at our meetings at Rubi and Lana's is "Step away from the yarn!" after all... ;)

Sometimes though, something is just so good it just has to be blogged about...

These are some cones of cashmere yarn I bought recently from the ColourMart eBay store. Richard truly is one of the good guys on eBay, and nothing shows this more than the package which recently arrived on my doorstep. I had ordered a cone of lace weight cashmere yarn in a beautiful shade of blue, but was surprised to discover that my package contained the two cones shown on the left. It turns out that the item I ordered and another similar item had had their photos interchanged, so Richard -- generous and kind-hearted soul that he is -- had sent me a cone of each to ensure that I received the yarn I wanted. Naturally, I love them both! :) On the right are two cones of DK weight cashmere that Richard twisted in house from finer strands of yarn -- the colours are a bit washed out in the photo, but they are actually a soft blue, and an icy lilac colour -- which I plan to use to make either some fabulous super-soft bed socks or a couple of luxurious scarves. Or maybe one of each... :)

At the other extreme, unfortunately, is the UK online yarn store -- and thankfully that website is no longer with us -- which took (and kept!) money for yarn I later discovered she had already sold through her eBay store a few weeks before I even placed my order. I didn't give up on finding the yarn though, even though it had been discontinued. Here is the end result...

... five skeins of Rowan 'Kidsilk Haze' in 'Dreamboat', which I recently won in two separate auctions on eBay. And believe it or not, they are all from the same dyelot! :)

This isn't the only 'Kidsilk Haze' that has turned up on my doorstep recently either. I've also finally received my 'Rowan International' Free Gift...

... two skeins of Rowan 'Kidsilk Haze' in 'Trance', along with this year's ugly pattern. In common with a number of other Rowanettes, my yarn will be used to make this instead...

... Sharon Miller's 'River' from Rowan Book 38.

Donna wrote the other day that one of the projects she would like to start is Sivia Harding's 'Diamond Fantasy Shawl or Scarf', which reminded me that I've had the pattern for quite a while now, along with a handpainted hank of Twinkletoes sock yarn in the 'Midnight 11-8' colourway which I think will work well with the design...

Looking at the pattern and yarn again, and imagining how beautiful the scarf will be when it is finished, has made me move it back up the list of projects still waiting impatiently in the wings.

While I was outside on the balcony taking some of the photos for this posting, I had a little furry helper constantly trying to be part of of the action. Remembering that no knitting blog is complete without at least one cat photograph, I eventually gave in to the inevitable and allowed Tigger to strike a pose for my blog...

Tigger isn't actually our cat, but she does spend a lot of time on our balcony, and is pretty much in charge of our little street.

This is our real pet, by the way...

... a somewhat insane rainbow lorikeet who lives in our entrance hallway, and announces all visitors to our house better than any doorbell ever could. This was the best photo I could get of him as he doesn't do the whole posing for photos thing -- all of my other shots were just colourful, feathery blurs.

Mystery Shawl Along 3

2006-03-17T18:22:00.000+11:00

I followed Melissa's advice and contacted the person responsible for this knit along to ask her how to pay the $US3.00 fee for the pattern as I live in Australia, which unfortunately is not one of the countries her online store accepts payment from. Believe it or not, her response was that I should do exactly what Melissa did -- select one of the countries she does send things to, and then leave a comment to let her know that the country I live in is actually Australia. Worked like a charm! :)

I didn't take part in the first two of these knit alongs, but this third shawl looks like being a real winner -- yes, I peeked at the finished photo as I'm not really into the whole idea of spending time knitting something unless I'm sure I'm going to like the end result. Mind you, as the yarn I'd like to knit this with is not likely to even arrive here for another few weeks, the chances of me knitting this at the same time as anyone else taking part in the knit along are pretty slim at this stage. Anyway, I've gone ahead and put the 'Mystery Shawl Along 3' button in my sidebar -- just to remind me of my good intentions. ;)

There hasn't been a lot of knitting going on here since my last posting, but I have at last started on the final skein of yarn for the 'Lace Modular Shawl', so the end is finally in sight there. I won't bore you all with a photo of my progress as, to be honest, it wouldn't look different enough from the last one I posted to be worth the effort. I do have another posting in mind to write which will have photos though, but that will have to wait until after Michael gets home later tonight as he currently has another device connected to his PC where the cable for the digital camera normally goes, and I'm not going to risk damaging anything by fiddling around with things on my own.

Still negotiating the learning curve

2006-02-28T02:46:00.000+11:00

Firstly, thank you very much for the lovely comments my first entry received. :)

Since my last posting, I finally gave in and just went ahead and blocked the 'Flower Basket Shawl' I knit for my Mother for Christmas -- mostly because I was dying to see it in its non-crumpled form and discover how it had actually turned out.

Here it is, post-blocking, relaxing on my lounge...

I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. I hope my Mother likes it when I finally get to give it to her.

Just by the way... That furry blue and grey thing folded up on the arm of the lounge is the throw I knit from 49 skeins of Cleckheaton 'Silky Faux Fur' in a fit of insanity one summer.

Here is a close up of the shawl to show the pattern better...

Project Details:

'Flower Basket Shawl' - 'Fiber Trends' pattern S-2014
Almost 200g of Rubi & Lana 3 ply in a Barbie pink colour that nearly drove me crazy
Addi 3.5mm circular needles
Total number of times rows 25-34 repeated: 18

I've actually got a bit of a backlog of items I've knit for my Mother here. The Strawberry Pattern Scarf in Cleckheaton 'Studio Mohair' I knit for her birthday is still waiting to meet its intended recipient too...

The actual colour of the yarn is darker than it looks in the photo -- as you can see, I'm still working out how to use the digital camera too, and this was the closest I could get to the true colour.

I've made a bit more progress on the 'Lace Modular Shawl', and I'm now on the fourth skein of 'Regal Silk'...

I'm starting to think now about how best to finish the shawl. The designer apparently used a steamer like the one shown below to finish hers, but I'm a little concerned that the steam might over-heat the silk yarn and cause it to lose its beautiful lustre. Any advice?

When I do finish the shawl, the next project I'd like to start on is a bag based on 'Unbiased' from the Fall 2004 issue of 'Knitty', but knit -- hopefully in the round -- using the techniques I've learnt while working on the 'Lace Modular Shawl'. And here is the beautiful, silky soft Recycled Sari Silk yarn I'll be using for this project...

Once again, the colours are actually much deeper and more vibrant in real life than shown here.

Of course, what I'll ACTUALLY be knitting as my next project is the 'Skull Vest' I'm designing *cough* for Katherine, using Rubi & Lana 8 ply wool in black and white. Here is what I've knit of it so far...

Yes, it's a tension square. As you can see, it still needs to be washed and blocked before I can proceed on to the next step and test out fairisle skull pattern I've charted for it.

My take anywhere project used to be a scarf I've been knitting using the 'My So Called Scarf' pattern. At least it WAS my take anywhere project until I decided that I really wasn't all that keen on the way the colours were pooling...

That and the fact that it was becoming apparent that there was a fair bit of variation in the depth of colours between the three hanks of Debbie Bliss 'Maya' yarn I'm using -- as with most of the scarves I knit, I'm knitting mine wider and longer than the original version. So I unravelled it all and started again, this time working from all three hanks together, working one row from each and then changing to the next one in the cycle. The colours are now much better behaved, but unfortunately the need to keep the three large balls of yarn from tangling means it's nowhere near as portable as it once was.

So now it's the project which sits in the basket on the coffee table next to my PC, and gets worked on while I wait for things to happen.

And if you look closely at the basket, you may even spot the final ball of 'Regal Silk', patiently awaiting its turn to join its siblings in the 'Lace Modular Shawl'.

All this working with handpainted yarns has made me want to have a go at dyeing yarn myself.

So far, I've bought some 'Landscapes' and 'Gaywool' dyes, and have started winding some yarn into hanks on a niddy noddy in preparation for my first attempt at dyeing.

Now I just have to get up the nerve to finally give it a go... Eek! I'm thinking that I should perhaps rein in my ambitions just a bit at first, and for my first attempt at dyeing try over-dyeing the Barbie pink 3 ply wool I have left over from my Mother's 'Flower Basket Shawl' with Landscapes 'Bloodwood' dye and see how that goes.

I know this has been quite a marathon entry already, but before I finish up, I have to show off the extremely early Easter present Michael brought me home just after Valentine's Day.

He knows how much I love really dark chocolate, and was worried that by the time Easter actually came around he wouldn't be able to find it in the shops any more. He was even happier with his purchase after it scanned at the checkout as "Bunny & Balls". *grin*

If you're wondering about the plush legs standing on the table behind the box, wonder no more. They belong to the giant Lindt Reindeer Michael won in their Christmas competition.

Isn't it huge? Michael was actually quite disappointed that there doesn't appear to be a similar competition to win a giant plush Lindt bunny for Easter. ;)

OK... I think that's probably more than enough for tonight.

Now if only I knew how to get rid of the extra copies of photos I uploaded to Blogger earlier while I was trying to work out how to get them to display in this posting in the order I wanted... *sigh*

Did I mention I'm still on a learning curve here? ;)

Starting out...

2006-02-06T06:47:00.000+11:00

As this is my first ever post to a blog, I'm not expecting this will end up looking exactly the way I'd like it to, but I guess I'm just going to have to give it a try and see what happens.

Here (Hopefully!) is a photo of one of my works in progress...

This is the start of my Lace Modular Shawl, which I am knitting with Artyarns 'Regal Silk' yarn in colourway # 106. I've actually knit a bit more since this photo was taken.