My end of the bargain

Here's what I made for my swap buddy for the Veiled Knitters' Exchange.
I can show you this now, knowing it has been well-received.

When looking for something to knit it was very important to read the questionnaire to find out what my recipient, yarndoggie, would like rather than knitting something I wanted, so I tried my best to make pattern, colour and yarn choices which suited her needs.

I made this Fallen Leaf Scarflette which was designed to be worn as a neck scarf, although yarndoggie may choose to wear it as a Chapel Veil. The pattern's by Cotton and Cloud.

It's made from the discontinued Rowan DK Soft and not Kidsilk Haze, which is the yarn called for. I do have some KSH but yarndoggie did not want a yarn which would shed, so I thought the DK Soft would be nice to keep the slight fuzziness while addressing yarndoggie's concern.

I can really see one of these in the future for myself because I really enjoyed making it and the result was very satisfying. 'Twas a little tricky reading the pattern from my screen as I had no access to a printer, but it was very much a fun knit which presented very few problems.

Yarndoggie says she is a girly girl so I added some beautiful Old Maiden Aunt sock yarn in Fraoch to appeal to her love of all girly colours Linky and to let her see the talents of Scottish based independent dyer, my friend Old Maiden Aunt . Must get some of this beautiful colourway for me me me! I was silly and forgot to photograph the yarn before sending it, but hopefully these links will keep you going.

I also threw in a wee tartan dishtowel, just for fun. x K

The rest of the goodies!

Here are the rest of the goodies from my parcel from America.
You can see that Dawn picked up on my love of blue!
In the foreground there is some Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in shade Midnight, which is the same yarn my two hats were made of.
Then there's some Cascade Yarns Fixation, which has 98.3% (yes really) cotton and 1.7 % elastane to give it that stretch for ribs etc.
They are fab because they are not yarns I could get hold of all that easily here, but my favourite is some local yarn which wenchciara bought at the State Fair. It's 100% lightweight wool (4ply-ish?)
from Sandy's Sheep Shop in Walkerton Indiana. The colour is a heathery shade called Lake Blue and has 44o yds in the cake- I can see a shawlette in my future.

Veiled Knitters Exchange on Ravelry

First blog post in a month! This work thing fairly gets in the way of hobby-time, doesn't it?
Well, the first post back after my break is about a pleasant subject- an international exchange on the Veiled Knitters Group on Ravelry .

I'm not a veiled knitter as such, but I do have a penchant for head-scarves, kerchiefs and all sorts of head coverings so I fit in there.

Here are some pictures of parts of my generous gift from wenchciara in Indianapolis.
What I can't show you at the moment are the yarn goodies she sent ie. some Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece, Cascade Fixation and some beautiful artisan yarn from the State Fair. I forgot to bring them away with me to photograph. :-(

I can show you my two heid bunnets, worn as intended (as snoods) and as slouchy berets.
I love them! One is Lacy Starfish Snood by berrymama and the other is a simple hat with very nice tailored looking decreases on the crown.

I have posted my offering off to America (to a third party) and I hope it doesn't take too long to arrive so I can show you my handiwork. In the meantime here it is all wrapped up in Scottishy paper. x K

Old news

This scarf has been ready for a couple of weeks now.
It's a sideways scarf in Patons Australia Jet, a yarn I was not familiar with until I saw it in the bargain bucket in the Gem Shop in Castle Douglas.

It's a very pleasant yarn to knit with, and I'd be happy to use it again, but it's discontinued and I think I scored some of the last stock the Gem Shop had. It's a wool-alpaca blend, chunky weight, and splices really well, so I expect it would felt like a dream.

The colours blend nicely in my view. The "rosewood" (my name) shade in the solid colour is continued as a core thread virtually all the way through the variegated colour and the shade of the solid blue colour is speckled regularly through the variegated colour. Nice forethought in my opinion.

The intended recipient for this scarf doesn't care for it, so it has been set aside for the time being.

Just my luck!

On Ravelry I have been appointed as a guest moderator for the thread-

Is racism alive and kicking?

in the remnants forum via their Mod Attack scheme at the moment.

Couldn't I have been appointed to-

Are six-week old pandas cute?*
or
Is learning a foreign language worth it?*
or
Is lace knitting addictive?*

*Sadly these threads do not yet exist. Maybe that's why I haven't been appointed them.


Have any of you readers been asked to guest mod something on Ravelry? x K

Sometimes you have to believe your eyes....

A larger than the published large size of Ishbel.
This is what I managed to get out of my 300 yard skein.

Remember, this is a me-sized T-shirt.

Nice and wrinkly, but good for scale compared to the other photo.

....rather than the pattern.

Remember, this would have been one row away from completion.




Small sized Ishbel, what the pattern would recommend for my 300 yard ball of yarn. x K

A Photo Essay about a Lovely Large Ishbel

Ravelry link to Ishbel pattern
Link to designer Ysolda Teague's blog
Ravelry link to the page for this divine yarn
Link to Old Maiden Aunt online shop