WIPeout 2009 - Wedgette and Wedget

And speaking of matching berets and scarves, here's a set I prepared earlier. I call them the Wedgette (scarf) and the Wedget (hat)

PATTERN:

• The scarf is a modification of Norah Gaughan's Wedge. I made three button holes at the end of the second last row to form a closure, and used the yarn overs of the lace wedges for the other buttonholes.

• The hat is my own design (the notes for which have disappeared), using the short rows of lace and a couple of rows of garter stitch to form the body of the beret, joined by a three needle cast off. The band is rolled garter stitch picked up from the bottom edge.
  
  

YARN: Recycled Patons Caressa. Spidey gave me a jumper she'd knitted with Caressa held double for reclaiming. Mum and I reclaimed it. The Wedgette scarf took about 60 grams, the Wedget hat took about 55g.
Tip - NEVER UNRAVEL CARESSA, PARTICULARLY TWO STRANDS KNITTED TOGETHER.

PROGRESS: Both were knitted in December 2008 and the Wedget was even blocked. Last night I sewed in the ends of the scarf, steam blocked it to 80cm in length and sewed timber buttons (Lisa Ho studio outlet purchased sometime in the late 1990s) on two sides of the scarf and to finish the top of the beret.

ISSUES: None - I love the set and look forward to wearing it. No idea why I didn't finish except that finishing off is really not my long suit, and finishing off in sweaty December was hardly a priority.

ACTION: Wear and write up hat pattern when the notes turn up.

WIPeout 2009 - Puppy Paw Scarf

PATTERN: Cats Paw Scarf from Crystal Palace Yarns

YARN: Anny Blatt Kid Mohair, a present from Jejune

PROGRESS: Knitting of this was finished and blogged on 4 January 2007. Tonight I sewed in the two ends and steam blocked it. Took about 15 minutes including photography.

ISSUES: I always intended a matching beret in this yarn and never found the perfect pattern. I did not then, and do not now, feel the love for knitting lace. I like the finished object, just don't enjoy the process. Perhaps that's why it languished in the knitting basket. It's such a soft, pretty yarn and was a thoughtful and welcome gift.

ACTION: Wear it tomorrow and continue search for the perfect matching beret pattern.

So 9 cowls and 3 berets in a fortnight - comfort knitting. Loving Patons Inca, right now. It's a big quick knit, without being too chunky, and has enough wool and alpaca in the blend for a good hand feel when knitting. It's a loosely plied yarn and others have commented on the splittiness of it, but with a blunter needle (using Denise Interchangeables ATM), not bad at all.

The cowl is Snuggle Cowl, by Elspeth Kursh AKA Wry Punster. The pattern isn't on the blog, though, only on Ravelry - sorry non Ravellers.

The beret pattern is my own - will write it up, eventually

Not blocked yet, but soon.

Carnival is Over

So it's back to work and it's been full-tilt since 2 Jan. This is going to be a challenging year work-wise.

It doesn't meant there's been no relaxation. Saturday before last we spent the evening enjoying a barbecue by Lake Burley Griffin, quaffing a bottle of bubbly and relaxing. There may have been knitting. Doesn't get a whole lot better.

There was a special family celebration last Saturday (alas, no knitting) and I anticipate some knitting at another special celebration this Saturday.

Happy New Year to you all - hope your 2009 is an adventure.

More scarves

Playing a little bit of catch up on the FOs. These scarves were finished months ago, but the photography never happened.

Scrap-busting side-to-side scarves for the gift basket - these will probably go to the nieces for their birthday in February.

Blue Monday - variety of yarns, some held in multiple strands over 120 stitches on 8mm needles with a self fringe.


Ruby Tuesday - variety of yarns, some held double or quadruple over 130 stitches on 8mm needles with a self fringe.

This scarf is a variation on the Prismatic Scarf by Huan-Hua Chye (Rav link). I managed to bugger up the pattern but loved the reverse side so much I just kept going. Maybe one day I'll do it again properly, but probably not. I used 8mm needles over 24 stitches and a full 300g of yarn.

One of the most gorgeous features of the pattern is the knitted on i-cord edge - so neat.

The yarn is Moda Vera Mandorla Printed (Rav link) - a wool/ack blend that is divinely squooshy and great to knit. Can't remember how I came by it, but I'm so glad I kept it.


It tones nicely with my blue beret from last winter and should be a bit of a boost next year when the late winter "I'm so sick of my black overcoat" blues set in.

Which, by degrees, slips round her neck

We saw Children of the Silk Road on the big screen the other night - a good story, an OK film.

Jonathon Rhys Myers was fine in Bend it Like Beckham, not so much in this film. He did have an interesting wardrobe. The whole second half of the very long film, he wore a double rib scarf knitted at quite a tight tension. I kept trying to work out if it looked more like Cleckheaton Country Silk or Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran Tweed which was a little distracting.

I'd rather like it to be the Silk Road Tweed. In fact I'd rather like to make one in the Silk Road Tweed - damn, nothing in boodle.

I canna say but ye strunt rarely, owre gauze and lace

Lace - still don't love it. I can do it, I comprehend it, people I love and admire go crazy for it, it's just - I don't feel it.

Lace does not fill me with the joy and satisfaction that a good Aran pattern does.

I am prepared for eviction from the blogdom.

This pattern is Liesel by Mary Joy Gumayagay . I call it the Red Tape scarf because it is a tape yarn the exact colour as the red tape I still find tying up files in some archival collections. The yarn, South West Trading Company Oasis Solid soy silk, was a charitable donation. It was knitted in response to a request for items for a breast cancer charity exhibition and sale but got side-tracked and didn't get it to my bespoke blocker quickly enough.

It's pretty and looks lovely on the freshly blossoming crab apple. I'll hang on to it for the next charitable request/raffle prize etc.

Your darkest terrors may be vain, Your brightest hopes may fail

Abby by Amy Singer from the latest Knitty in vintage Villawool Suriaplagas - 80% alpaca, 20% nylon - as soft and light and warm as down.

I winged it with this one. There's been trouble with cowls trying to strangle me before, as what little neck I have is well padded so I wanted the finished item to be shorter than the 16" of the pattern and greater in circumference. Having only one ball of yarn which was a bit thicker than the laceweight recommended, I chose a 4.5mm needle instead of a 4mm.

Checking for gauge didn't worry me. This was such a quickie it was as easy to knit it as to trouble with a tension square and there wasn't yarn enough to spare anyway.

I underestimated the thickness of the yarn and overestimated the thickness of my neck. The dratted thing swims and it hasn't even blocked it yet. And no, it can't be unravelled and reknitted because the brushed alpaca sticks like the proverbial to a blanket.

Ah well, can't win 'em all and it's still warm and softer than a baby's bum.

Top of the World

*sigh* Another lovely weekend over.

This one started early on Friday when the Old Flame and I headed to the mountains for a break before the ski season. The Jo Sharp scarf, last spotted at Parliament House, was finished in the car somewhere before Cooma.

Today we took it for a spin up to Charlotte Pass to see if Mt Kosciusko was ready for its closeup. It wasn't. Australia's highest point coyly kept the blankets over its head. The scarf happily filled in.

And down to Lake Jindabyne where it was so bright the scarf needed shades for the view over to East Jindabyne.

The other FO for the week were the Old Flame's birthday socks, beautifully modelled here by the recipient. Bit blurry but the colour's about right.

The pattern is Thuja knitted in vintage Patons Lambswool 80 (80% lambswool, 20% nylon). The yarn isn't as sproingy as I'd have liked and I wouldn't do a 1x1 rib again, but the seeded rib pattern is classy and the whole thing knitted up very quickly. The only change I made was to knit the rib on 3.75mm needles instead of 4mm and I reckon it would be better to knit the whole sock in 3.5mm as they are a bit loose in the top.

Who says you can't fight city hall?

A friend of mine is fond of saying "You might not be able to fight city hall, but sometimes you can shit on the step and run away."

When I was a little girl, maybe about 8 or 10 years old, Dad's idea of spending quality time with his eldest child was to take me to Question Time at Parliament House. I quite liked go but deeply resented the regulation at Old Parliament House that wouldn't let knitting in the public galleries. The reason given was that it annoyed the politicians and distracted them from debate. My opinion - my KIPing might have disturbed their kipping!

Today a fellow Raveler, librarian and vintage knitting pattern enthusiast took me on a private tour of some of the less public areas of new Parliament House and then into both chambers after a lunchtime pattern swap.

Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah - I win. I got picutres of my latest WIP (and yes, the use of that term in this context makes me giggle) in both galleries. Take that stupid regulations!

DW scarf in the House of Reprepresentatives

DW scarf in the Senate

Also got to go into the Budget lockup just hours before all the journos but didn't take a picture. Just imagine the scarf draped artfully over banks of computers in a large airless room.

The scarf is Jo Sharp's "Twisted Scarf" from Knit issue 2 in Jo Sharp Rare Comfort Kid Mohair (frugalled by TSS for $2, worth about $52.50) in a not quite smokey, not quite teal blue. Divine and all for me!

Friends shouldn't let friends knit hungover

so where were you lot at 5 this morning when I thought it would be a grand thing to finish the heel of my Trekking XXL sock?

This is the result of too much red wine last night and a decision to turn the heel after picking up the gusset stitches. Seriously stunted.

Serves me right, I thought I could sneak the sock in instead of knitting my Row a Day Challenge project.

M1K1 and TSS, both of whom should know better, set themselves the challenge of knitting at least one row a day on currently stalled projects. I thought it might be a way to get my arse into gear over my SIL's birthday scarf. Yep it was her birthday last month but they were away at the time and I had two other family birthdays that week and Mum was sick and Dad was sick and the dog ate my homework and I really hate knitting the track yarn (Moda Vera Salsa) even though it looks pretty.

Here it is, about 2/3 done. Probably should have it done for the Mother's Day lunch at her place tomorrow. *sigh*

Another one bites the dust

Another week, another member of my team leaves. *sigh*

This time it was one of my part-time contract staff who has been with us since before I started. I love J and will miss her very much; not just for her work.

So another leaving scarf. This time a Short Circuit in 8ply on 5mm needles to give it drape. This was a smooth and silky white wool from Mum's stash. I remember the trip to the Wangaratta Woollen Mills in the mid-80s when it was bought. Mum, Nanna and me on a yarn buying road trip. We stayed overnight in a motel in Albury (I love staying in motels!) and bought Dad a suit in an op-shop the day before we went to the woollen mills. He wore that suit to my brother's wedding a few years later.

Anyway, Spidey overdyed the yarn a while back and this colourway is "Wisteria" (I called it Hydrangea because she didn't tell me it was Wisteria, but if you want some, you need to ask for Wisteria).

I think the scarf turned out beautifully, and matches at least one of J's work outfits. I know, as a knitter herself, that she appreciates the love and intent that is the scarf.

Didn't manage to get a photo of her wearing it, but you get the general idea.

Auf Weidersehen, goodnight...

The shake up continues at work. Soon I will lose a wonderful colleague and friend. She's staying in the system but we won't be working together anymore. It is distressing for us all.

This is for her. It's Smariek's Asherton Scarf in Rooster Almerino Aran. I call it the Adieu Asherton.

The yarn was a prize from Yarn last year and ear-marked for Mum. My colleague wears scarves all the time and on her they look great. She loves pink, so it was a no-brainer when it came to something beautiful enough in stash for her.

As I had roughly half the yarn called for in the pattern, I made it narrower (only 2 pattern repeats) and undoubtedly it is shorter, but it's long enough. Close up of the fully reversible pattern.


The 50/50 alpaca merino blend is soooo soft and drapey. I'm very happy with how it turned out.

***********

Charity has been represented this week too. Another Time Thief Watch Cap makes it into the box for Stasia. This one was a real joint effort. Completed with the help of TSS and Georgie. Thank you both. :)

TTWC 2008.008. Recycled 12 ply.

Absolutely frilled!

Yesterday I took solace in instant gratification with gorgeous yarn. Behold the beauty of the Tudora. Knitted in a few hours with Lily Chin Park Avenue donated by the lovely and now blog-free Margie. The yarn was meant to be for charitable knitting, but I'm a weak woman and made this as a birthday present for a member of my ever-shrinking work team.

Park Avenue is very much like Patons Jet. Wool/Alpaca blend, perhaps slightly thinner than Jet. Anyway, I've chucked a couple of balls of Jet in the charity pile as a replacement.

While the Jet was out, I grabbed a couple of balls and cast on Norah Gaughan's Sunflower Tam from Knitting Nature. It's for a friend who will require some elegant headwear in the near future. Up to the pretty top bit now and it's so much fun!

The Curs-ed* Sleeve of Doom has struck again.

After yesterday morning's debacle it went into it's project bag in the corner to have a good long think about its behaviour.

It did and decided to disagree about being a quick and easy notch on the FO belt.

Took it out at lunch today and merrily knitted several rows in the wrong stitch pattern. Seriously, if there had been any lighter fluid handy, that jumper would, quite literally, be toast!

*thanks for the punctuation, 2Paw, couldn't remember how to do that. :)

And sometimes it's about maintaining equilibrium

In Knitter's Almanac, Elizabeth Zimmerman says something about knitting on through adversity. EZ knew a think or two.

When faced with the prospect of a whole afternoon at a dire extended family function at the end of a rough week, I treated myself to one of the pretties from stash.

Knitting the Pretties is one of my 2008 resolutions.

This is hand dyed, hand spun Wensleydale with little glass beads. The yarn was called Dew Drop Fancy by it's creator, that yarn maven, Helen Rippin. I bought it at our visit to Bundanoon in October. There was a scant 115g of this gorgeous Navajo plied yarn and I wasn't sure it would be enough for what I wanted but the Yarn Goddesses smiled and it was just enough for a short but spunky Short Circuit Scarf over 8 stitches on 6.5mm needles.

There was no blood shed at the family function, at least not by me. I was pleasant and composed at all times and I completed a project, so it was productive.

I also taught myself a new skill - knitting backwards. It's slower, of course, than knitting forwards, but the look of intense concentration on my face could be attributed by the person speaking to me as wrapt attention in them. I get bonus points for this.

The only downside - requests for two similar scarves. Both from really lovely and generous people, though - so that's ok.

It's all about the journey

Until very recently I'd never heard the terms "process" and "product" knitters, or thought much about the concepts.

Like all of us, I'm a little bit of both, but in the "process" end of the spectrum.

How do I know this? Unlike some people that I know and love, sewing up and blocking hold absolutely no delights for me.

Case in point. This Clapoteenie, knitted in a Happy Spider experimental dye job (go ask her, it's fascinating) has been finished for over a fortnight, but didn't get the 3 minute block it needed until just as I was racing out the door to meet Spidey. She's been very patient.

While the ironing board was up and the iron actually turned on, I blitzed the lace headbands knitted this week for my nieces. Part II of their birthday present for next month.

The pattern is Molly's Headband by Pam Allen from Interweave (free online) knitted in a 4ply instead of the light 8ply of the original. I wanted something smaller and finer that would use left overs. 11-12g of sock wool is what it used.

On the left, Happy Spider Sock Yarn in Kelp Forsest self-striping colourway. On the right, the left overs of the Stanbridge Sock. It's an easy and quick pattern and I'm still not loving the lace.

And the obligatory beanie was finished earlier in the week. Recycled 12 ply in a quite violent orange based red which works quite well with this example of my nephew's art. Poor little bugger had his appendix removed this week, so mock if you must but gently.

TTWC 2008.06

Star quality

A day's leave from work today to attend my nephew's Speech and Drama Class Concert.

Here he is - the one with his head on one side trying to work out why his aunt is photographing him through a beanie-in-progress.

He did a great job in the speech choir pieces and in the two-hander with his mate Adam. There's video footage, I won't bother posting it to You-tube - you can thank me later. ;p

Due to a communication error, Mum and I got to spend 3.5 hours at the school - that's 3" of a 4ply baby hat on 2.75mm needles. Some of the time I was taping performances, but most of it was knitting.

The whole primary school attended and the children were beautifully behaved - more so than the mother behind me who took several calls on her mobile during the hour and a half concert and chatted and drivelled while the children performed.

While we were over that way, popped into the Crafty Frog for leather thonging to finish the Christiane Collar - ta da!

Ditte Larsen's Christiane Collar from Yarn issue 7, Winter 2007. The yarn is a wool/ack blend reclaimed from an op-shop jumper. The colour is gorgeous and it has these little felty bits through it.

Finished off with leather thonging and boodle wooden beads.

Do not call 000

but I need some advice on cr***et.

A woman I work with also works at a group home for the handicapped. There's a guy there who has been cr****ting chains for years. He just likes doing it. He chains until the ball is used up and then he starts a new ball if there is one, or he uravels what he's done and starts again. He is 63 - there's a ship-load of chain.

He'd like to do something with the chains and my colleague wants to help but doesn't cr****t, or indeed knit. I've given her a big bag of yarn to help keep going but she needs ideas.

So far I've come up with

• find a bigger hook and use the chain as yarn for another chain (I have no idea if that would work),
  
• use the chain as you would French knitting and make rugs/placemats/trivets,
  
• use the chain to weave with by making a loom out of a picture frame or old tapestry frame. Again, I have no idea if that would work.

Ideas?

While you're thinking, here's some novelty yarn, stash-busting, side-to-side scarves.

*edited to explain that I include photos of novelty yarn scarves to show that I, too, can participate in maligned crafts activity - make as much fun as you like.