Souvenirs from Michael's London trip

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

Candles flaming brightly

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. ;)

As Secret Pal 9 winds down...

... 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. :)

One of my favourite knitting accessories...

... 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. :)

Latest arrivals

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... ;)

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? ;)