I’ve added some additional items on the UK/US translation page (crochet hooks and terms) as several people had requested these and I updated my 2007 Finished Objects page. Whilst I was doing this last I realised that I had neglected to blog about the final result of two of my projects and so here they are.

The completed and blocked Melon Pattern Shawl and Clapotis.

The Melon Pattern shawl was knit as a wedding gift and the giftee was really pleased with it so that’s good! Here it is in the garden before it was gifted –

and here are some close-ups

I really love how this turned out and I still have three skeins of this yarn left so I’m planning to knit a shawl for myself.

The Clapotis was knit with the yarn I dyed with Kool-Aid  here is the yarn skeined

wound into a ball

knit up into Clapotis

and blocked

with a close-up

I love the way this turned out and I’m so excited that I took a skein of undyed yarn and turned it into this!!!

technorati tags:koolaid, lace, knit, clapotis, shawl, stole, scarf

Blogged with Flock

First, more progress on the Mystery Stole – clue 2 was out last Friday and I knitted it up over the weekend

I do like the way this is turning out although I’m a little annoyed that though the materials list originally posted stated 1200 yards of yarn apparantly that was then amended to 800 which I didn’t know. So I could have used the cobweb mohair I first wanted to use after all….never mind, if it turns out well perhaps I’ll knit another….or I find another lace project for the mohair…

Here’s a close up of the motif in the centre of the point of the stole with the beads

Next up is Nigel the Nautiloid – he started out like this

then grew to this

and finally he looks like this

very silly I think you’ll agree? The pattern is from knitty.com, knit on 2.75mm Brittany Birch dpns using odds and ends of wool from one of the huge bags I inherited from my Grandma. He’s a possible for an amigurumi/stuffie swap I signed up for at swap-bot. There are several themes you have to work to and one which my partner said she liked was “Festival of the Sea” which he fits nicely.

I’m working on a crochet amigurumi mermaid as well so depending how that turns out I’ll choose which to send.

Finally, I just cast on another lace project, this is a scarf for my mum’s birthday. Pattern is from Victorian Lace Today, yarn is 2ply silk/cashmere from Posh Yarn in Kelpie, knit on 4.5mm bamboo Addi circular.

The scarf is knit with two end borders and a long middle section. This is the first border which you knit across so the points on the left will form the end of the scarf and the edge on the right will have stitches picked up to start knitting up the main section of the scarf.

My mum wears a lot of hand-painted silk and lacey scarves with jackets and tops so I think she’ll like this. Her birthday is the 25th July so I should get finished – she and my dad just started out on the Coast to Coast walk today and will finish on the 26th July. The walk is 190 miles across the North of England walking from St Bees Head on the West coast to Robin Hood’s Bay on the East. I should point out that my family are all hill walkers and we spent all our holidays as children walking in Yorkshire or Wales or the Lake District (and still a lot of holidays now!) Mum and Dad walk at least once a week locally and visit the Lake District a couple of times a year and have done several long distance walks – Hadrians Wall a  few years ago and the Cumbria Way with J and I about 4 years ago.

We’re going to meet them in Robin Hoods Bay on the 26th so we’re getting a weekend away then.

That’s about all I have time for right now – lots more things I should blog about so will post again very soon

technorati tags:amigurumi, nautiloid, lace, MS3, mystery, stole, kal, Knitalong, knitting, poshyarn

Blogged with Flock

I signed up for another Magic Yarn Ball swap on swap-bot and have been putting together some goodies for my partner, here they all are ready for wrapping

She is not a knitter and told me she would not be using whatever yarn I wound so just use “something cheap”. Now, as I don’t have anything “cheap” and as I didn’t like the idea of sending something that wouldn’t be used I decided to use ribbon. She is a crafter/scrapbooker and so I think she will use the ribbons, I tied them all together and then wound all the little goodies up like this

and finally wrapped the whole ball up in this gorgeous tea-towel

hope to post this off later this week…….it has a long way to travel and so even though the send date is not till the 15th July I wanted to get it done early.

Next parcel is the final reveal parcel for SP10, now my swap partner doesn’t know who I am yet but will do by the time she received the parcel so even if she sees this before it arrives she won’t know it’s for her and as soon as she does know it’s for her when she gets it then she’ll know who I am anyway……does that make any sense? Anway, basically, it doesn’t matter that I’m posting the details does it?

Here are the goodies

…she isn’t in England so I thought I’d send some English goodies – tea, sweeties, chocolates all from my country.

SP10 has been great fun – I’ve really enjoyed putting together parcels from my giftee and my gifter has been fabulous….which brings me to

Incoming Parcels

My SP10 gifter sent me a gift certificate for Angel Yarns for the last parcel and it’s taken me this long to decide what to spend it on but today my parcel arrived and it contained this –

“this” being Jaeger Extra Fine Merino Aran in Blue Haze, 13 balls of it actually. Angel Yarns had this on sale and I also had a credit from a previous order which, together with my VIP discount meant I had to pay very little to get them!

They are destined to become either Rogue,

Eris

both of these patterns are from www.girlfromauntie.com and I bought them ages ago

or A Cardigan for Arwen from Interweave Knits Winter 2006

I haven’t decided definitely which one it will be as yet….but thanks to my SP10 pal for giving me the means to buy the yarn for whichever one jumps from the needles….

My second incoming today was this

isn’t it beautiful? The gorgeous laceweight yarn I snagged from Posh Yarn this week – from the left 2 skeins of Eva 2ply laceweight 55% silk/45% cashmere in Houri, 3 skeins of Sophia 2ply laceweight pure cashmere in Cumulus and 2 skeins of Eva in Kelpie. The Kelpie was on sale as it is apparantly faulty, having some red on it but it is really hard to see and once knitted into something lacey will disappear completely.

I can’t wait to knit some wonderful, soft, lacey shawls and stoles with these….after my cobweb mohair shawl was such a success (the recipient thought it was wonderful which was the main thing!) I really want to try some more lace but with smooth yarns.

Finally – some actual knitting has been going on. You may remember by Kool Aid dyed yarn which I showed you some time ago? Well, I’ve now wound it into a ball -

and I finally decided what to do with it…thanks to all the suggestions, many of which were for scarves and shawls which is what I’ve gone with, here is –

Clapotis! I think the stocking stitch shows the colours off and I love the drop stitch. I’m making it narrower than set in the pattern (about half the width) and this should give me enough yarn to get a good length. I’m also thinking of adding buttons along one side to allow it to be turned into a shrug. More pictures as I progress.

The stitch markers were a pressie from my SP10 pal in my first parcel so that’s a nice full circle there…..

technorati tags:koolaid, sp10, swap, swapbot, knitty, knitting, poshyarn

Blogged with Flock

There are also only a few days to go on my wedding gift knitting. The couple in question are getting married in Italy on 16th June but will be flying out on Thursday 14th so I need to have the gifts finished on Tuesday night so I can give them on Wednesday…..hmmm

So, the shawl is finished

it’s had a soak

and is currently blocking in the spare room upstairs –

I’m really please with how it’s turned out and hope the recipient will love it too!

Details

Yarn – Cobweb Mohair from The Natural Dye Studio

Needles – 4.5mm aluminium circular and 4.5mm Birch dpns

Pattern – Melon Pattern shawl from Victorian Lace Today

Cast on: 25th May 2007

Cast off: late Wednesday 6th June 2007

As for the socks for the groom – one down one to go

These are South African flag socks adapted from the Gentlemans Winter Sock in Knitting Vintage Socks.

Yarn – Black & Red is 4ply Sock Yarn (80% Botany Wool 20% Acrylic) from Angel Yarns, Green & Yellow is Lornas Lace Shepherd Sock in Coral Green & Sunshine respectively and the Blue is Roway 4ply Botany in Royal Blue.

Needles – 2.5mm bamboo dpns

Cast on – 3rd June 2007

technorati tags:lace, shawl, socks

Blogged with Flock

On Saturday we finally got to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End. We went to the cinema in Maidenhead to “The Gallery” — this is a more expensive ticket which means you get a seat in the back two rows of the cinema, the seats are huge leather seats (which I can actually curl up in) with loads of leg room and a table for your drinks etc. Before the showing you go to a separate little bar area where you can have free popcorn, chocolates, nachos and soft drinks. You can buy alcoholic drinks and take these in to the cinema with you. We often buy a bottle of wine and take that in. Just before the film starts you get ushered in to your seats and taken right to them….it’s brilliant and we often pay the extra for big films that we really want to enjoy.

DJ is 6′4″ and so he appreciates the leg room, I love being able to curl up in a comfy seat. Also, the seats have more banking and so you get an uninterrupted view with no-ones heads in the way, with me being somewhat shorter than 6′4″ I appreciated that!!!!!

The film itself was great – I love Pirates and so was very excited. It was funny, exciting and had a bit of mushy romance too….I really enjoyed it. Yaaaarrrrrr!

Sunday was a very busy day – did some gardening then after lunch we went down to the park in Marlow on the banks of the Thames. We bought an ice cream and then settled down to watch the cricket –

They went in for tea after the visitors were all out for 121

so we went down to say hi to the swans

and then wandered home via the supermarket where we decided to buy the makings of a meze for tea as the weather was so lovely. When we got home we made a pitcher of Pimms and settled down on the decking to enjoy our meze –

Pitta, houmous, olives, mozarella & sundried tomato, falafel and cheese pies – delicious! We could almost imagine we were back in Turkey where we went on holiday last year.

I then decided to go on a nature hunt around my garden – I aim to have a wildlife haven but even by my standards the garden is a little overgrown at the moment. I wasn’t able to do much work out there last year and so things have got a bit out of hand. Still, here are a few highlights from the garden at the moment –

This rose is called “Anniversary” and was bought for our wedding anniversary by a friend a few years ago. I love it as it’s an old-fashoined rose with a lovely scent.

Yellow Flag Iris – I try to plant native plants only around my garden and in particular in my pond. Yellow flag iris can be seen anywhere there is water in Britain. They are also called Jacob’s Sword and are a sign of spring and often thought to be the source of the fleur-de-lys in heraldry. Apparantly the root is a cure for toothache! There are now loads of these in my pond and they are about the first thing to show some colour in the year. They are going over a little now but are still a big attraction for bees and dragonflies…..

….as is this – I’m not sure what the shrub is as it was here when we moved in, (possibly a Syringa of some sort?) but the bumble bees love it with it’s sprays of multi-petalled flowers. You can see the pollen sac on the back leg of this bumble bee. I love seeing the bees in the garden and have several bug and bee houses around the garden to give them places to hibernate, I try to be organic and encouraging bees and ladybirds ensures other bugs are kept down.

Cranesbill – this is he hardy geranium and spreads like mad all around my pond. Not strictly within my “native plants only” ideals but they were here and they cover the ground so whilst other things are being established I’ll let them stay.

This is a dog-rose (Rosa Canina) planted as part of a native hedgerow I am growing at the end of our garden. The hedge also includes hawthorn, field maple, guelder rose, spindle and honeysuckle. It as reached about 5′ this year from tiny bareroot “canes” planted about 18 months ago. This year I hope to trim or “lay” the hedge to thicken it up and provide a real habitat for birds and small animals.

Blackberry brambles – yes, I have brambles in the garden….probably a few more than I’d like but I do encourage one particular patch of them at the end where the native hedge is as they are the archetypal English hedgerow plant as far as I’m concerned. It also means I don’t have to go far to do my blackberrying in the autumn.

Victoria Plum – we have a large, ancient apple tree at one end of the garden and last year we planted a plum, a cherry and another apple tree close to it as the start of a small orchard. The land our house is built on was once an orchard, or so we’ve been told, and so our old apple could be one of the original trees from that orchard. The trees we’ve planted are only about 4′ tall at the moment but the plum at least is loaded with fruit.

Lupins are my favourite plant, they are just so “cottage gardeny” the flowers are these wonderful spikes in various colours and the leaves are like little hands. After it’s rained each leaf has a water drop caught at it’s centre. I’ve planted loads of these but so far this year these are the only flowers I can see.

Foxgloves – these self seed themselves everywhere in the garden and pop up in the most unlikely places in all sorts of colours. I’m trying to encourage them at the very end of the garden where I’m trying to establish a small “woodland” area – I’ve planted a silver birch, a rowan an alder, spindle and a few woodland plants so far. Hoping to get bluebells, snowdrops and anenomes down there too.

Simpson loves our garden as it provides lots of places to prowl and hunt, unfortunately he does this quite successfully and last night came in with a mouse! Luckily (or unluckily?) he always manages to capture his mice alive and so we have to get him to drop them and then try to catch and release them. The one he brought in last night managed to run straight into the utility/downstairs shower and is now hiding somewhere behind the washing machine…..

…that’s what he thinks of that!

Later on Sunday evening we had an online, transatlantic baby shower for our friend Lunesse and her hubby. We’ve known Lunesse for a long time but never actually met in person. We communicate via email and i-chat so we do actually speak “face to face” as it were via the wonders of webcams and the internet. Lunesse was feeling a bit down as nobody had organised a baby shower for her so we decided we’d throw one, after all if we lived nearby we would have been holding one for her so why let the small matter of 7,000 miles, an ocean and an 8 hour time difference stop us?

We posted off a big parcel of goodies and instructions not to open until they were online through the webcam. We organised for the party to take place at 9pm our time on Sunday and so we got ourselves settled with a glass of wine and some baby shower decorations up. We also sent decorations across to the US and so we had the same decorations both ends of the web link-up. We had a great time chatting to our wonderful friends and I think they liked the presents we sent…..they have about 10 weeks to go before the arrival of the baby and hopefully some day we will get to meet them all.

Incidentally, in order to check the distance between us for this post I typed their zip code in google maps and then requested directions to our postcode in England. I’ve no idea what I thought it would give me as directions but this is what I got. Drive out of their place in the west of the US, drive right across America to New York and then…

28. Turn right at Long Wharf

29 Swim across the Atlantic Ocean. Entering France

30 Slight right at E05

Can you believe it, someone actually programmed it to tell me to swim across the Atlantic!!! Made me giggle for quite some time! Interestingly to cross the Channel I’m not advised to swim (guess I’d be too tired after the Atlantic) instead they suggest the train through the Channel Tunnel.

Finally, knitting! Yes, I did manage to do some knitting as well

The Cobweb Shawl in Melon pattern is progressing –

The border is actually now much further on, I’ve complete one long side, the corner, one short side, the next corner and about a third of the second long side. I think this should be complete in the next day or two and then will have a severe blocking.

I also started the groom’s present for this wedding – I’m using this

to make these -

I should point out that my friends are South African and so these socks are in the colours of the South African flag – black, red, green, gold and blue (I know there’s also white in the flag but I’m not sure if I’ll use any white).

So there you have it – a June weekend in rural England!

Blogged with Flock

Not only that but I need to complete a pair of socks by then as well as it’s a wedding gift for the bride and the socks will be for the groom – and he has very big feet so they wont be quick socks!

This is the progress as of last night -45 repeats out of 62 needed. Once the body is complete there is then a knitted on border to do all round the edge – I’ve never done a knitted on border so that will be something new to add to my repertoire and much more fun than sewing on 5 metres of border as I have done with baby shawls in the past.

Close up of the Melon Pattern

This currently measures 11″ wide and 40″ long, when finished the shawl should be 17″ by 72″. If I’m 2/3 through the repeats I estimate 60″ (unstretched) when complete but there is then a border to add – I’m estimating an inch all round so this will need some serious blocking to get to the final measurements.

I’m toying with the idea of adding beads to the border as I knit, I have some silver ones and some pink ones to choose from. Would love to get everyone’s opinion on whether it needs beads. I’m thinking as it’s a wedding present and I’m hoping the recipient (who is getting married abroad) will be wearing it when dressed up for dinner on summer evenings that it needs a bit of “bling”???

On the other hand, at the moment it weighs nothing – it really is a cobweb – and adding beads may take that away (although they are tiny seed beads)….perhaps the weight of the beads in the border will help it drape????? Help!!!!

technorati tags:lace, knit, shawl, cobweb, mohair

Blogged with Flock

First there was this one :-

Column of Leaves in Baby Camel DK from www.poshyarns.co.uk

Then there was this one :-

Old Shale pattern in Patons Spirit

…and now, there’s this one as well : -

This is Branching Out from www.knitty.com in Rowan Summer Tweed. I’ve had these two skeins in my stash for about 2 years now since I knit myself a summer top from Rowan 31. I realised last week that a friend’s birthday was fast approaching so went digging in the stash for something suitable for a quick knit present and came across them again.

What could I do with them – suitable colour for the friend, Summer Tweed seemed a sensible yarn to be knitting for a birthday at the beginning of May as the weather warms up….I really wanted to knit this friend a lacy shawl or stole but knew I did not have the time for something in Kid Silk Haze or some other cobweb yarn so could I perhaps knit a lacey stole/scarf in Summer Tweed?

The answer is yes, I could and here it is blocking on my kitchen floor -

I modified the pattern slightly – as I have a thing about symmetry I knit the two sides of the scarf from cast on edge to middle identically and then grafted them together. This means the lace pattern runs in the opposite direction on each side of the scarf which means that when it’s being worn the pattern will look symmetrical on each end of the scarf as it is worn……is it just me that has a problem with one side of your scarf going down and the other going up???

I have to say that the purple is not just in my knitting, here is just a random selection of the colour purple in my home.

my vacuum cleaner -

my bedroom –

my slippers -

Anyway, the birthday is tomorrow so I hope the summer scarf is well received…..I’m off to dig out the purple cobweb mohair I have lying around somewhere…….

technorati tags:knitting, yarn, scarf, knit

It’s a HUGE scarf – 25cm or 10″ wide and 188cm or 74″ long, it’s also very tactile being knit in Patons Spirit a mohair/acrylic blend. This is definitely a scarf for cold weather.

The details –

Yarn: Patons Spirit in shade 4506 “Blackcurrant”

Needles : 6.5mm Addi circular

Pattern : Old Shale stitch pattern over 41 stitches, I’ve put the pattern here

Here’s a close up of the pattern,

Still not 100% certain about sending this for my ISE4 scarf but I’m pretty sure it suits my pal.

PRIZES

Many of you will know that I have been trying to raise £1,000 for Breakthrough Breast Cancer. I have been selling hand-knitted items, holding car-boot sales and I am taking part in the Moonwalk in a few weeks time.

My training for the Moonwalk is going well, mum and I walked 20 miles last Sunday in 5 1/2 hours which is pretty much on target for our hoped for completion time for the full distance of 7 1/2 hours.

But – watch this space for the chance of winning some brilliant yarn prizes. I am organising a raffle or lottery to raise money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer, I already have some wonderful prizes donated and am waiting on some more….keep checking back for a chance to win!! It’s going to be well worth it I promise.

technorati tags:moonwalk, prizes, ISE4, walkthewalk, breakthrough

Blogged with Flock

I really love this pattern and will probably knit it again, as for the yarn – it is absolutely gorgeous, probably the softest yarn I have ever knit with. It was a joy to knit and I wil DEFINITELY buy Camel yarn again.

Here’s a close up of the pattern

It needs blocking and the ends weaving in, once that’s done I will post a final picture for you.

Now for the WIP -

I know…it’s not knitting but it’s what we spent all weekend doing! So, the walls,ceiling and skirting boards have a lovely fresh coat of paint, the horrid yellow paint on the windowsill has been removed to reveal the lovely quarry tiles and the light switches and plug sockets have been replaced.

So from this -

to this –

and from this –

to this –

Now we need to get new carpet and we’re done. We even had time to paint the smaller room as well –

Now we just have a pile of junk to get rid of that was filling these rooms!

Blogged with Flock

- 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

Blogged with Flock