Future projects

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...

Recent magazines

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. ;)

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... ;)

Lattice socks, perhaps?

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.

Limpets, cranberries, and more

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?

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

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. :)

Oceans and Seas

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

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


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

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


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

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

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


And is growing at quite a fast rate...


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

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


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

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

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


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

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


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

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


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

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

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

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

I've been intending to subscribe to...


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

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