Are we sensing a theme here at all?

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

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.

The package I sent my ISE4 pal

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

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!

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! :)

International Scarf Exchange 4

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. :(

Marta's Yarns

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. :)

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.