I seem to be going through something of a “Purple Patch”, I was uploading photos to flickr and when I looked at them all on the screen it was just a sea of purple! And then this morning I got this -

- my final “reveal” package from my Sockret Pal who turned out to be Ruth, and it’s an extravaganza of purple/blue/pink! Ruth was also my spoiler in another blog and that plus an accidental email she sent me a little while ago had tipped me off that she was probably my Sockret Pal, but that’s ok, I still got a surprise with what she was sending me and she’s really spoilt me this time by sending all this stuff

First, my handknit socks which are just perfect.

Child’s First Sock from Knitting Vintage Socks by Nancy Bush in Lorna’s Lace “Iris Garden”- anyone who reads my blog regularly will know Ive knit this pattern a couple of times but always for other people, now I have a pair for me and they are so comfy and soft

Next out of the box was this -

Ruth tells me these are from The Yarn Yard, yet another UK online yarn seller she has pointed me at (you’re doing nothing for my bank balance you know !!) They are both 4ply 75% wool 25% polyamide and don’t they look perfect together? Have to find something special to knit with these.

The third package was -

a pencil case - to use to keep my dpn’s, and crochet hooks (Ruth knows I’ve been learning to crochet) and inside a really useful notebook, some Brittany Birch 2.5mm dpns and (the best of all) some sew in labels that say “Handmade by Wendy”.

I’ve been wanting some of these for ever and actually saw some on Ruth’s blog and asked here where they came from!!! - she wouldn’t tell me

My gifted items are going to look so professional from now on.

The next packet out of the box was more (yes more!!) yarn

A ball of Tofutsies which I have been seeing cropping up on blogs and been intrigued by, can’t wait to try. The other ball is the remainder of the Lorna’s from the socks “in case of alterations” as Ruth put it - no alterations needed however…so this could become some more squares in my “memories” afghan I’m planning

The last package was ….

…this beautiful book. Ruth and I were in an afghan square swap a little while ago and I have been talking with her about crochet squares as I’ve been trying to learn so this will be great for practise and inspiration.

Aren’t I just the luckiest Swapper anywhere?

Adding to my purple day is my second try at a scarf for ISE4, the first just doesn’t seem right for my pal….can’t say exactly why but it’s just “not her”. So yesterday on our way home from Cornwall when we stopped at Trago Mills in Newton Abbot for decorating supplies (don’t ask me to explain Trago Mills, it’s a West Country thing!) I had a quick look in their arts & crafts department and found some Patons Spirit mohair blend in a purple self-striping colourway -

I took it along to my Knitting Group when we got back to Marlow last night and cast on with 6.5mm needles and just used a basic “old shale” stitch pattern so it isn’t just straight striped. I’m much happier with this. It’s coming out pretty big - 41 stitches and 6.5mm needles means it’s about 11″ wide and so far with a little bit of the first ball to go it’s about 18″ long. I have 4 balls in total so that would give a completed length of at least 72″. My partner says she likes long scarfs so hopefully that would be long enough!

Despite being wide and long, the mohair and the stitch pattern mean it’s very light and very soft - should be a lovely warm scarf I think.

I was asked about the Old Shale knitting stitch, it is in a really old book of traditional knitting stitches which I have and in that book is used in a shwal. Here’s the pattern for my scarf (such as it is!) knit in any yarn you like using the appropriate sized needles and casting on as many stitches as needed to get the width you want. I’ve given the directions for what I did using Patons Spirit which is a mohair/acrylic blend with a ball band tension of 13sts/17rows to 4″ on 6.5mm/UK 3/US 10.5 needles.

Cast on 40 sts (or any multiple of 6 plus 4 edge stitches).
Row 1: knit
Row 2: k2, p to last 2 sts, k2
Row 3: k2, (k2 tog) 3 times, *(yo k1) 6 times, (k2 tog) 6 times* repeat from * to * to the last 8 sts, (k2 tog) 3 times, k2
Row 4: knit (this gives a garter st ridge which just added a little bit of texture, if you prefer the alternative is to repeat Row 2 and keep the whole thing in st st)

These 4 rows form the pattern and are repeated until (1) the scarf is long enough (2) you run out of yarn or (3) you get bored - whichever comes first!

Finally this post, I promised pictures of the gifts I was given visiting our friends in Cornwall on Saturday. So here they are -

Lucy painted me a beautiful Springtime picture with chicks and eggs, as you can see it has pride of place on our kitchen notice board

She also made me a sequinned Easter Egg which is so pretty and is now hanging on my tealight tree

Lucy is not feeling very well at the moment as she developed Chicken Pox on Monday - right at the start of school holidays for Easter - Get Well Soon Lucy xxx

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007 at 1:47 pm and is filed under Knitting, WIP, Sockret Pal, Socks, Swaps, Family, Scarves. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.