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

Candytuft Fairy

How sad is this?
Photographing and blogging this card just so my beloved can see it?

It is to the layout specified in Clare's Challenge of the Week over at docrafts.

Leapt through hoops to get this card together because my card-making stash is out of reach.
Had to be a bit more resourceful and use things like a fairy from some wrapping paper, beads and button from my knitting kit and I even stamped my own FAIRY paper.

x K

Reconciled

It didn't take long to become at peace with the fact I had to rip out a portion of Sea Ishbel.

I've now re-done more rows than I frogged, which is always a good stage, and I got a chance to weigh the skein when I got to the bit where the shawlette would have ended.

48g left
48g!
48g!


Ok, you get it, it would've meant "wasting" almost half a ball, and that isn't going to happen, so onwards I plough with the rather lovely, if I may say, Sea Ishbel.

I'm not in a very linky mood, but my ripping experience is nothing compared to the recent frog-fests of merinomills, tigerlilith and kariebookish, so no more will be said about my measly couple of dozen rows. x K

As Others See Us Exhibition

We thoroughly enjoyed a photography exhibition we saw in Kirkcudbright town hall last week.
It's part of the whole Year of Homecoming celebration here in Scotland and consists of portraits of important and/or famous contemporary Scots who have chosen and excerpt of Robert Burns' poetry and expressed what it means to them.

This link
should take you directly to the artists' page, giving some examples of the portraits and the tour dates. Click on any of the thumbnail portraits or any of the sitters' names to see more.

The photographers Ross Gillespie and Tricia Malley take some aspect of the chosen lines of the poem and portray it in the portrait. Definitely worth a look if it comes to venue near you. x K

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