On the last lap...again.

Hello peeps, I think that after some false starts I am finally on the last lap with Miller from Rowan's A Yorkshire Fable.

It's the one on the right of the picture there.

It hasn't been a particulary inspiring knit, being miles of stocking stitch in a very "rustic" yarn but I'm quite sure I'll get plenty of wear from it this winter once I've let it dry and got it all sewn together. I can't give you a blocking or progress shot, me being in Scotland, and the camera being in England, but I can give you this archive shot in the meantime.

It's a Kim Hargreaves design and I've been making it in mostly Harris Tweed and Knitwear Harris Wool, with the accents done in Rowan Scottish Tweed.

I'm off to blow on the pieces to see if they'll dry any quicker.

Do you know the best bit about the knitting on this being finished? I can take something different with me to the Stitching group on Tuesday if I can make it along :-)

Flower Basket Shawl

A picture (and a few links) speaks a thousand words...

Orkney Angora St. Magnus DK shade Dark Olive

K1 Yarns

Flower Basket Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark at Fibertrends

Get Knitted, scroll down

Kiri shawl in same yarn in bright pink

Jaeger Beads J3001006, scroll down

Falling in Love Lace Scarf

Thank you for your kind comments about the shopping bag and the lacy gloves.
My next FO is the Falling in Love Lace Scarf by Evelyn Clark at Fibertrends. I bought the pattern from Get Knitted
and thoroughly enjoyed making it. Although I occasionally hand to tink back a few stitches and the odd row, it was a lot easier to keep control of 41 stitches than the usual 250+ or 300 you usually have to tame when doing this designer's shawls. (Trust me on this one, I'm approaching the edging on a largish Flower Basket Shawl.)
The yarn is Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift in colour Cherry. Not all of the pictures show it, but Cherry is a good name, it's a nice rich pink and I was left with about one metre of the third ball after the picot edgings, so I was pleased my arithmetic worked out.

Bought the yarn in the Wool & Needlecraft Centre in Argyll Square, Oban, after checking in for the Mull ferry crossing.

Felt a bit funny doing a garter stitch-based lace, and I kept wondering why she'd gone for that, but the design pops out nicely plus it lies good and flat, it could be that.
You do a provisional cast-on at the centre then knit side one and go back and do the second side identically so that the hearts are falling downwards on each side.
This has been the nicest week of weather of the summer so far- must knit pure wool Shetland scarves more often. :-)

I forgot the freakin' rose!

In the first picture we have my version of the Falling in Love Lace scarf, done in Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift.

In the second, the publicity shot.

I must have subconsciously been copying the picture as it appears on the pattern.

Of course, I forgot the rose, which is okay as I may have been taking the imitation=flattery thing a bit far.

Simply Lovely Lace Gloves

Sound a big hit for myself in the title, don't I?

Just because these are actually the Simply Lovely Lace Socks from Interweave Knits Spring 2006.

They started off life last summer as the socks in question. I knitted the "legs" of both, they languished in a basket for months, and then were re-discovered this spring when I decided that I would convert them into fingerless gloves.

I always wear pink lacy gloves with jeans and walking boots, don't you? I was making the most of a brief dry spell to take outdoor pictures.

Don't ask me how I adapted the pattern it was "do this, fudge that, make it happen".

The pattern is very nice, but rather sloooow because you're always knitting into the back of each plain stitch, which is probably why they never made the final cut as socks for me.

Here they are on the "distressed" picnic table of our holiday cottage. I'll tell you , the table wasn't the only one distressed at the grotty cottage, but I digress.

They were made from a dusky pink colour of Opal Uni which I bought from Get Knitted last spring. I feel a bit like Fagin from Oliver when wearing them, but they're nice gloves nonetheless. x K

Gifts that R-O-C-K !

Ok, to bring you up to speed-
Last year I became friendly with an English Californian knitter called Carol through the Rowan International Home and Hearth exchange.

(She's the girl I made the denim table mats for.)

She's an avid reader of this blog and has got my tastes sussed down to a T.
On a recent trip back to the U.K. Carol sent me these beautiful presents-

Blue Moon Fiber Arts
Socks that Rock
Hand Dyed 100% Superwash Merino Lightweight
in Purple Rain.
Aren't the colours beautiful?
The yarn feels wonderful too.



Abuelita Mexican hot chocolate drink, which is yummy with its cinnamon kick.
There were six (now two!) blocks of chocolatey goodness, which you blend and melt in warm milk - it's rich but not heavy, very tasty.
This one is because of the Spanish connection. She knows I'm a Spanish teacher and likes to keep me up on how Hispanic culture is celebrated in her neck of the woods.

Now the teachery bit-
abuelo = grandfather
abuela = grandmother

If you put the suffix -ito (masculine) or -ita (feminine) onto a noun, it's a diminutive, implying smallness, endearment, affection. So, abuelita means granny or nana or dear old gran or such like, hence the lovely Mrs. Doubtfire lookalike on the packet. Hot choc just like gramma used to make. Yummy.

Thank you very much for your thoughtfulness and generosity, Carol xxx.

Waves

Ha ha, she still knits!
This is a blanket for my great nephew- or niece-to-be, maybe for when they are in their pram or buggy when the time comes.
To me it looks nice and wavy like a beach when the tide goes out. And I just happen to have an archive shot of that very phenomenon at Balcary Bay- be prepared, that's my motto. ;-)

I'm sure you can see it is made in the good old Feather and Fan stitch you'll get in any stitch library, but I have only done the eyelets on every second pattern repeat. I did start and end it with
eyelets in every section just to get the scalloped edges good and distinct.

When I first picked up the needles again in 2001(inspired by this book *) John Lewis did its own yarn under the name Jonelle which it uses for its own brand items.

The person or committee who decided to do away with that must have their head in their hands. Canning that range just on the brink of a boom in knitting and handicrafts.

Anyway, this blanket is made of 5 x 100g balls of lilac Jonelle Cotton Rich Easy-Care DK which is a cotton acrylic microfibre blend, very similar in feel and composition to Rowan's All Seasons Cotton although it's DK weight as opposed to Aran weight. Yarn snobs, before you give me pelters, remember that this for a little one and is to be chucked into the washing machine and tumble dryer.

Who says I never use up stash yarn? We were laughing one evening at the knitting meetup at the Tron Theatre that I found a receipt in the bag of yarn. April 2002!


It's 65cm across and 80cm in length so hopefully when junior arrives (s)he can be nice and cosy in the car seat or buggy.


Various views against rocks, sand and DH's beloved new rug.





*I tried to get a link to Rowan mag 29 on Rowan (as you do) , English yarns, Upcountry etc but it seems to be unavailable now. I did get a link to one available on ebay for about two and a half times the original price!

Action shots of Swallowtail shawl

All together now
"I believe I can fly...I believe I can touch the sky..."
These photos should enlarge when clicked.
Unfortunately, there's no feature for brushing your hair after the event on my photo editor.
BTW check out my shadow on Picture One.
Thank you for all your kind comments so far.
Happy Birthday dear Photographer!

Swallowtail Shawl

Here's my finished adapted version of Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark as featured in Interweave Knits.

Click picture to enlarge.

Mine is adapted in that it doesn't feature the Lily of the Valley section, because lovely as it is, it was too awkward in my chosen yarn. As well as that, this one has a good few more repeats than the original.I learned my lesson with the Shetland Triangle last year.

I really enjoyed knitting this. I used Rowan Damask in shade #46, Lava. I kind of stumbled into using this, I would never have considered using this for a shawl but I enjoyed making the headscarf so much, and got plenty of positive feedback, so I decided to go for it. I ended up using 5 balls of it and it will be a lovely summer wrap, or for posh occasions. You listening DH?

I was happy that when I unpinned it the peaks just edged back slightly, they didn't jump back, they obviously weren't too overstretched when blocking, they WANT to be pointy peaks.

Hope to take some outdoor action shots over the next couple of days.

Don't know if you can see the slight glossy sheen on the right side.

I cobbled together a way to get the edging to flow from the main "budding lace" pattern as I didn't use the "Lily of the Valley" section. Took a bit of sums but wasn't difficult, having knitted a few Evelyn Clark shawls before.

This is the "B" side, which looks quite pretty too IMHO.

Stepping backwards to move forwards

Okay, so the last post was all about how I had swatched this yarn and pattern into a lovely headscarf.
Then I was thinking wouldn't it actually be really nice as the real shawl, and a few other people were saying the same thing, so the cast-off has been undone and it's back on the needles!
My headscarf is now the set up for a large, but light, wrap.
This is the "budding lace" part of the Swallowtail Shawl, as if you didn't know. I will see how I feel when the shawl grows in size; I may or may not do the "lily of the valley lace" part.
I went into John Lewis to do the deed yesterday, and came away with three more balls of it, all in the correct dye lot, which was lucky, as the original ball was bought in the Gem Shop in Castle Douglas.



Something else has happened since my last post - I have got into the rhythm of the Flower Basket Shawl at last.
The penny has finally dropped about how to make those little baskets (sounds like a euphemism for a swear word, and I had been feeling it before I got into my groove) without constant poring over the pattern.
Don't get me wrong, I haven't ditched the pattern entirely, but I am not having to follow every stitch on it as I was initially. No wonder I was not feeling the love!
I have two more 200m balls of this olive Orkney Angora St. Magnus D.K. to go. The picture shows my progress on one ball.


This second picture shows a little bit of stitch detail.

I must be having a bit of an Evelyn Clark fest at the moment!

Sometimes you're just in a lacy mood. x K

Double experiment

Although my mate Midsummer Night's Knitter over at Twelfthknit has discovered the joys of swatching at the mature age of 21, I find it very difficult to discipline myself to do so.

However, wanting to experiment with a new yarn (Rowan Damask, shade 46, Lava) without investing in a whole project's worth, and wanting to try out the stitch pattern for the Swallowtail Shawl (Evelyn A. Clark of Fibertrends, Interweave Knits Fall 2006) has resulted in a lovely new summer headscarf for me. That's why it's a funny shape.

I really enjoyed this "lozenge" pattern (Swallowtail chart) because you can clearly see what you're meant to do next, and it is very instinctive, unlike the Flowerbasket Shawl I am grappling with at the moment. (Please don't regale me with tales about how easy you found FBS- I'll cry.)

If I had tons of this yarn I could be tempted to do the whole full size shawl in it, you know. Very pleasant to knit with and lovely effect.

Reservations-

#1 It is marketed as Rowan's new linen blend, but has only 22% linen in it.

#2 I did give the Lily of the Valley chart a try. (The one with the dreaded NUPPS k1 yo k1 yo k1 in one stitch then next row p5 together. Not that hard with "real" stitches, but very fiddly with raw y/o stitches. When I do the shawl for real I will use a fine cable needle to control the stitches and get some room for manoeuvre.) The main problem I encountered with that is that the yarn is a bit slubby and a bit thick/thin, which was awkward with the nupps.

I enjoyed my experiment, killed two birds with one stone, and learned a lot. x K

Angora Froth

Here's a close up of the Louisa Harding Kimono Angora scarf I knitted to the Rowan "Froth" pattern.
I posted a pic of this a few days ago but it was a very bland picture of it blocking and it kind of got buried in the excitement of my birthday and the debacle of the knitting group hiccup.
This is a much more true reflection of the colours.
It's dead yummy and fuzzy and certainly proved a hit at last Sunday's knitting get together.
Yes, people, this is my one and only finished object of 2007 so far!

Angora Froth

Updating Finished Objects

Hiya, have been quiet on here this week, due to amongst other things, lack of camera.

I have been plugging away though at updating the finished object side of my sister blog

http://kedkraftyfinishedobjects.blogspot.com

Feel free to check it out, and I am confident, again, that I be posting on here in the near future. x K

Recycling

Can you believe it is the 23rd of February and I am finally presenting you my first finished object of 2007?
I think my first one in 2006 was ten minutes after the bells or something.

Anyway, this is another version of the Frothy scarf I knitted in December. If you remember this pattern was part of a renewal gift from Rowan International a while back.

The yarn is Louisa Harding's Kimono Angora, like the Froth scarf I made and sent to Louisiana for Christmas. So I've recycled the pattern and revisited the yarn I used before. The only different is this time I have edged it in a a self colour which has been added to the range. Angora Pure shade#6

I bought these lovely yarns at Stitching Time, Hamilton.
BTW have you checked out Nan's blog yet? Nagged2k
(Nagged to knit) on the sidebar.

Nice and long at around 2m!! I enjoyed knitting this but of it was inevitably tedious doing the ruffle, but I made it and I'm pleased with it.

French for Dummies lesson #450

Okay, so we can't find the camera. It's not lost it's just "misplaced" in our home, but you all know what the Arc de Triomphe and Notre Dame cathedral look like anyway, don't you?
If you can't wait there's always Google Images in the meantime.


You don't really want to know about the beautiful sites we visited anyway, do you? You want to know if I BOUGHT STUFF, don't you? Well, yes I did buy stuff.


But firstly, I learned stuff too.
I learned that mache with a circumflex is lambs lettuce and the word for sea bass.
When my credit card wasn't cooperating in the chip and pin machine I learned to tell the assistant Il faut la passer a la piste with a grave on the a. (You'll have to swipe it.)
I was delighted to learn that France no longer has any unemployed people, hourah!!! ;-)
Only demandeurs d'emploi (job seekers)

And I learned that Alpaca is alpaga.

I bought four lovely skeins of it in le Bonmarche on the rue du Bac and rue de Babylone corner.
Plassard 100% Alpaga des Andes
4ply weight? Size 3mm needles anyway.
180m per 50g ball.
I feel some lace coming on!

I did also buy some other very unusual yarn which I haven't seen at home but it's earmarked for a gift, so I can't say too much yet.

You may also notice the scarf lengths in two colours of crushed velvet in the top picture. They were bought in the Droguerie concession within the same store. Must get the sewing machine out and rustle up a posh scarf for myself. I can see a beaded edging of some sort in my mind's eye.

In the Droguerie section I also bought a corsage making kit. It was so lovely to buy from helpful, knowledgeable staff.

Off to resume the search for the camera. I may be gone some time! x K

Dragged through the mire

I know I told you I wasn't looking forward to doing yards of rib on this little number, but I'm sure you'll agree that's no reason to start dragging it through the mud at the municipal dump!

I know this isn't the clearest picture ever, but if you get the idea that there's this knitting and it's caked in dirt then you're pretty much up to speed.

This is what happens when you unwittingly let your yarn and knitting get tangled around your legs as you step out of the car to help unload packing materials into a skip. The man was shouting at me "Haw hen" ("Excuse me, my dear") "yer trailin yer knittin".

Not pretty and is delaying the sewing up operation even further. (I have to join the raglans before I do the famous rib.)

I blame our new car. Well, it can't have been my fault, can it?

Vast plains of rib

Colours are for fun, not links.


I have completed the back of this jacket in Twilley's Freedom Spirit yarn.
I have whizzed through left front.
I have successfully reversed the shapings for right front.
I have survived two and a half long weeks of not just Sleeve Island, but its more remote and more desolate counterpart Raglan Sleeve Island.
And now I have to face the biggest challenge yet- the acres of tundra known as the Vast Plains of Rib. And I do mean vast. Pick up and knit 650 odd stitches and do short row shaping on 3mm. Sounds like a great laugh.
Don't hold your breath waiting for this one to be finished!