Happy Birthday to me! :)

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! :)

Catching up, and a new toy!

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. ;)

Still negotiating the learning curve

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? ;)