Three steps forward, two steps back.

I've picked up my Sea Ishbel in Old Maiden Aunt Bamboo Blend again.

I've been enjoying making it, getting into a good rhythm with the pattern and enjoying seeing the motifs progress, and the yarn is lustrous and a pleasure to work with.

I've been trying to ignore a nagging feeling that the small size is turning out too small to be practical for me and have soldiered on and done the transition and edging charts.

I just can't get away from it, it's awfy awfy wee, even taking potential blocking into account. I've shown it next to a KEDkrafty-sized T-shirt for scale. In pictures two and three it's meant to be one row away from completion.

So I've taken the tough decision to pull it back to the end of the main section and repeat sections B and A again, maybe even several times. The thing which has really been the deciding factor is- look how much yarn I've got left! The ball had 380 yards at the outset and the small-sized Ishbel apparently takes 330. I feel as if I'm left with far more than 50 yards. Feels more like 50g than 50 yds! Unfortunately my digital scale is in the flat, and I am not.

It's a slight pain, but I'll probably thank myself in the long run for having a more usable scarf and for making the most of the lovely yarn. I must have admitted this possibility on some level because, most unlike me, I put in a life-line after the last chart A.

Off to do some frogging and re-knitting. Good job I like knitting. x K

Well-Dressed Head Part Two

Here's a swatch-style headscarf of Gail aka Nightsongs shawl.
It's in Patons 4 ply cotton and I love it love it love it.
The leaf motif is gorgeous and those big massive double yarn over holes down the centre look cool.

Any issues with the pattern?
More issues than TIME magazine.

If I knew you in real life and you said you were going to try this shawl as your first lace project I would fling myself to the floor and hook my arms round your legs.
The instructions are confusing, the charts are laid out in an unusual way, the symbols mean different things from what they usually mean, there are typos and there is so much advice on the internet about how to interpret the pattern, some of it entirely conflicting.

If you know your way around a lace pattern, are prepared to suspend what you know while still knowing what you know, are good at "reading" your knitting and are not afraid to rip back from time to time, I'd say, go for it, you'll love it.

I love my beautiful black lace heid bunnet. x K

Off for a swim to England BRB

Or maybe to the island.
Or maybe to the buoy.
Anyway, be right back.


I make more of a wake than the QE2, hee hee.
x K

Well-Dressed Head Part One

Here's a headscarf I've made from King Cole Bamboo Cotton blend DK.

Ravelry link

The main part is knitted in stocking stitch from the wide end down, the five last stitches being left live.
Then the edging was added afterwards to the diagonal sides. It is the lovely edging from Brooklyn Tweed's Girasole. Thank-you Jared Flood.

I only have one ball of this yarn, bought from Drop in for a Yarn in Dumfries just to play with. I would very happily use this yarn again.
Considering it is made up of a dozen thin strands of the bamboo and cotton mix I didn't find it splitty, but I would say that it shows up inconsistencies in tension. If I was making a garment out of this I would also watch out for creasing- it basically stays the way you put it so if you lay it away nicely it comes out pristine and if you stuff it in a bag it comes out crumpled. Give it few pats and it starts to smooth out for you.

It's funny, I wouldn't walk the streets of Glasgow wearing headscarves, but being down here amid fields and cows and sheep and horses and llamas it seems fairly natural, even if you have absolutely no dealings whatsoever with the cows, sheep, horses and llamas! x K

Heavier weight Felted Tweed

I am very very very excited about the forthcoming Rowan Felted Tweed Aran and Felted Tweed Chunky yarns.

I am not even one tiny little bit excited about the designs to showcase them in Rowan 46.

Pluses Rowan 46: It arrived nice and early for this Rowan International Member.
Minuses Rowan 46: There is nothing in it I would knit.*

*except maybe a stole but I can't see it well enough to tell.

I was surprised to receive this copy of the Rowan mag because I don't remember renewing my subscription. It seems that one of us is mixed up about dates.

Of course the pictures are different...

... there are more daisies in these pictures than in the last!

And of course there are several more rounds of the blue and then the two rounds from the bit of the Noro sock wool I kept back, but the difference is barely noticeable.

We're up to 96cm diameter now, which although not big, will be ok for a lap blanket.
It is not blocked but I don't imagine that will make much difference.

So I got up to 35 trebles per segment, so 70 per side, thus 560 trebles on the last row.

I have treated myself by making a headscarf starting at 121 sts and working DOWN for once.

I am delighted this is finished, not least because I showed it to my mother-in-law who loved it, which is marvelous news because I was afraid she would find it too scratchy.

She had no idea that she was in the frame to receive it when she was enthusing about it, so she's definitely getting it now.
:-)

Think I'll give it a wee bath now. x K

Merry-Go-Round progress

Aren't those flowers opening out beautifully?
One week on and they still look gorgeous.

I've got some progress to show you on my Merry-Go-Round crochet lap blanket by Jane Protus.

Don't let the pictures fool you, it's still small at only 90cm across, but it has grown a bit since I last blogged about it.

Thanks to the encouragement from my stitch club friends kariebookish and ellielabelle I went ahead with using solid coloured wool around the Noro sock. I think it looks really effective with this Rowan Scottish Tweed 4-ply, although it is a fraction thicker than the average girth of the Noro sock. Could've done with 3-ply really but I was shopping the stash for the contrast yarn.

Unfortunately for the blanket I'm on to the third of four balls of the 4-ply tweed and am now only getting three rounds per ball at the moment.

As of the current round I have 496 trebles per round. Four hundred and ninety-six! Why do I do this to myself? If I had made this on a 10mm hook with bulky yarn as per pattern I could've finished up on the olive round in between the two dark rounds of the Noro i.e. ages ago and it still would've been bigger.

One of these days I'm going to cast on or hook up something which has 999 stitches on the first row and work DOWN to 3. Hee hee I'm saying that now, it would probably drive me nuts.

So here are some pictures from the step-stool and one picture on the step-stool.

Have a good weekend, especially any American readers. x K

Quarterly Progress or Pick of the Pops

Ok, pop-pickers, you can choose whether to hear this in your mind in Alan Freeman’s or Dale Winton's but here’s the quarterly update on the works-in-progress.

So, starting with an item which has fallen right out of the chart:

Rowan Cotton Braid Wrap (which I even forgot to tell you about last time).

Here are the non-movers:

Lacy Waves Top

Boatman Jumper

Brier Cardigan

Green and Lilac Bamboo top

Mohair Shawl with Eyelet Spines

Eva Jumper

And the climbers:

Baby Jumper

Fat Girasole

Here are the new entries:

Fountain Pen Shawl (20%)

Sea Ishbel (40%)

Crochet Lap Blanket (40%)

Here are the ones which have moved up to the top-spot:

Chocolate Strawberry Fondant Socks

Shaped Shoulder Shawl

Crochet Cushion Cover

Shetland Hap Shawl

And straight in at the top spot:

Funfair toe-up socks

Neapolitan MP3 cover

And finally archive number ones:

Fan Neckwarmer

Camo Loom Hat

Happy crafting. x K

Oldest Scot dies 108; the knitting community is the lesser for it

Here is an interesting "slice of life" story about Elizabeth Cockburn who passed away on Sunday, aged 108.

I enjoyed reading about her life on the croft, and the quote from her grandson,

"She carried on her hobbies and was still knitting away three weeks ago. I couldn't say what the quality of the knitting was like, but she kept it up to the end."

Quite cool having a grand-son who is 53!

Link to the BBC story Oldest Scot dies at 108

God Bless you, Elizabeth. x K

Edit: Since I published this five minutes ago they have changed the story! She is now "one of the oldest people in Scotland" rather than "the oldest".
Guess there must be other 108 year old Scots setting the BEEB right then! x K

Recycling Week

Recently Cartside tagged me to take part in Recyling Week.

I use real bags for shopping, I already recycle paper, cardboard, plastic, cans and glass and I have two compost bins so my contribution to Recycling Week is to take all the usable bits off greetings cards I have received.

Toppers, greetings, edging, wording, embellishments, they're all being recycled from hoarded cards and you can expect to see little bits and bobs of them on your hand-made birthday cards in the coming months.

This may seem like a "drop in the ocean" response to such a big issue but as I say we already recycle everything we can locally and anyway, I'd rather light a candle than complain about the darkness.

The big environmental issue we have to address in our home is REDUCE re-use recycle and this is the major challenge for us in the long-term.

Aspirations

I hereby declare that this summer my life is going to be about handicrafts, bouquets and posies, Cath Kidson table cloths and rosy cake stands and water jugs used as vases.

This is escapism at its finest but surely there's no harm in having little pockets of beauty in life? xxxxxxx K

Haven't knat a stitch!

I have to admit that I haven't knitted a stitch all week!
Have been doing some card crafting and some Facebooking though.
Off to Hobbycrafts now because my "card stock" is all a bit pastel at the mo.
Fancy some rainbow brights, and yes, some black.
Hope you're having a good week. x K

Knitting Freak!

I've been organising my photos and uploading a few to Facebook today and I've come across this photo of me walking into the "Secret Garden" at Threave Gardens a few times.

Every time I see it I think that the big blue patch of sky with the trees pointing towards vanishing point looks like a big blue triangular shawl sitting on a hedge!!!

I have a picture of my Shetland Triangle from three years ago affixed to show you what I mean. I am such a knitting freak, it's unreal. x K

Latest offering!

This is a birthday card for J's uncle Peter.
I used some bits from the Father's Day edition of Card Making and added "Birthday Wishes" and "Just for You" from another kit I had in the stash.

Oh, you didn't know I had a card-making stash?
Oh yes, and a quilting stash, and a dress-making stash and THE BIG ONE!

More card-making fun

Fun for me, not much fun for the recipient.

Unfortunately my mother-in-law fell and broke her hip about a fortnight ago while watering her plants.
She's out of hospital now and making a good recovery but I decided to make her a wee card so she knows we're thinking of her as she gradually gets back on her feet again.

Again the materials were from Making Cards.

All the best for a speedy recovery Pam aka
Bionic Woman! x K

WWKIP Day

Worldwide Knit in Public weekend is upon us again, and although I couldn't join my Glasgow friends at their knitters' picnic in Kelvingrove Park, I was able to join in from a distance at Designs Castle Douglas.

I did a few rows on the edging of Girasole. Not the most portable of items but my commuting "knitting" at the moment is actually a crochet project (Merry-Go-Round blanket by Mary Jane Protus) so Girasole it had to be.

And I had yummy Salade Nicoise (cedilla on the c) although it's meant to be black olives, not green, you Philistines!
x K

Card-making fun

Last night I spent a pleasant half-hour making a Father's Day card for J's dad.
It's nothing compared to the work of card-making expert
Patti who crafts the ingredients herself...
I got the bits and pieces from an issue of Making Cards but I still enjoyed it and think it looks quite effective.

Happy Father's Day when it comes, Miles. x K

Summer daze

Summer daze

What a beautiful day-out we had at Threave Gardens last Saturday. Scorching weather and beautiful scenes.
I was even in swimming in the Solway Firth! Was lovely and was very tempted to go in again the next day but the hot weather had brought out tons of jellyfish; spawn and fully fledged.
Have been busily knitting and crocheting this week- results soon to follow. x K

Beautiful summer's day, need woolly socks

What a gorgeous day to be at the seaside exploring rock pools and photographing socks!











Here are my finished toe-up socks made according to Silver's Sock Class using Fyberspates Echo Self-Striping sock yarn in shade Funfair.

Enjoyed making my first toe-ups and will definitely try the technique again, although I know I will have to improve my short-row heel because something weird and not-too-wonderful happened with my "wrap and turns".

They were a very quick knit but I know that's partly because I'd never done it before and was keen to press on to see what each new section would be like.

They seem awfully long in the foot when you look at them, but they are actually a very good fit. I'll be wearing them with the ribbed cuff turned down like in some of these pix.

What a beautiful summer's evening it is now turning out to be. x K