Black Opal

At last the hand dyed yarn has arrived! Under a week from the US - not bad! All excited, I opened the package to find this lovely wrapped parcel inside. What a really lovely way to present your yarns and it makes you feel a bit special.

Now to the close-ups! My photos look pretty similar to the ones on the etsy shop from yesterday - maybe a bit darker? Anyway, it is lovely and soft to the touch and the blending very subtle - which I like a lot.


I may have to rethink what to knit with this yarn though. I am now thinking Pecan Pie may be too busy for the subtlty of the yarn blending, hohum. I've been looking on Ravelry but nothing seems to fit as yet. Any beret pattern suggestions for a subtle variegated yarn?


I originally intended to buy merino but I liked the colours of this one more. Being superwash wool, at least it will be harder wearing and still have a soft-to-the-touch feel. Also as this is a fine DK/Sport thickness, the verity beret, even at the large size would, I feel, be a bit too small.


Until I make up my mind, at least I can enjoy the beauty of 'Black Opal'. Sometimes the hanks of yarn are lovelier than the knitted outcomes! It is weird how some dyed yarns just work knitted and some so don't! That's probably why I like subtle blends more - they can make a statement without having the shocking clashs of randomness. I know you can use two balls alternately to soften the effect but at £12-15 a pop, that can get expensive!

So, off I go to be selective with my lovely yarn......

Variegated yarns and Pecan Pie

Just wanted to show you my newest purchase from Craftywoman's Etsy shop - isn't this lovely yarn? I found her site through Ravelry and spent a happy lunchtime browsing her lovely hand dyed yarns. I'm thinking this could be a fortuitous substitute for my sister's new hat. As it is a variegated yarn, I'm going to have to consider the hat pattern very carefully as I want it to show up the randomness of the dye in the hat - so maybe not as complex a pattern as the rose red, with YO's and cables! Is it to be another final, final verity? I'm not sure.


I bought this on the 1st of May and am impatiently waiting for its arrival from the US! I think once I see the yarn in reality it will be easier to see how to best use it. I have saved a beret pattern by Nancy Merchant listed on Knitty.com's Fall 2007 called Pecan Pie which is free if you want a challenge and a lovely hat!

Pecan Pie beret by Nancy Merchant.

Look a the lovely use of the variegated yarn contrasting against the plain. Looks quite a firm hat though! After the last few warm days we've had here, maybe I should be thinking lighter weight knits!

Come on yarn! Again, I must find patience......and my sister will have a little bit longer to wait!

Roses are red and verity's are blue!

At last, at last, the beret's are finished! I've really enjoyed making them but I think I need a rest from hats! But I am really pleased with 'Rose Red'. This Ysolda pattern is even more fascinating than the Verity pattern and I enjoyed that immensely. I think using Cashmerino yarn might have helped the look and the overall feel.

I just love the cabling that goes all the way to the bottom. This did take quite a bit longer than the verity and I ended up getting distracted trying to watch television and having to take back sections. But, it's all a big learning curve!

After subtly (or not), trying to guage whether my friend would prefer the petrol verity for her birthday, I realised that the tactile aspect is so much more important than a lovely looking hat - she loved the pattern, she loved the colour, she loved the cookie button - but the feel was "not as nice as the cashmerino". A lady with excellent taste!
Now my quandry was - birthday in three days, beret to knit, soft yarn to find.... Ah Ha!! Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk! Okay, it's DK but knitting the large size should work???

Long story short - it did! Not as full as I would have liked and definitely a lot neater that even the magenta DK verity but still a lovely, soft, verity beret. I don't think I would use the alpaca again for this pattern but it would be nice on the rose red or another pattern with more structure to help it keep its form.
(sorry the pictures are so poor - only managed to finish near midnight and had to wrap then and there, so artifical light was all there was.)


I took a picture of the yarn before I knitted for my Ravelry stash so you can get a better idea of the final colour - a bit bluer without the yellow cast.


The only issue I have now is that I intended to use this yarn to knit a rose red for my sister to replace the purple verity with the tight headband. Oh, dear! Does that mean I will have to buy some soft, yummy yarn? I'm sure I've seen some gorgeous hand painted merino on Ravelry......

Creature comforts!

Just a quick update on my ripple blanket. As you can see, nothing much is happening - but I think it passes the snuggability test! I only have about maybe 20 rows to complete of this full king size throw but it seems to be more a matter of can I actually retrieve it to finish?

* starring the little black cat from next door....

UPDATE: my computer at home has bitten the dust , just up and went kapoot on me, dead as a doornail, so I'll try and get back to you as soon as possible. Fingers crossed it's fixable but not holding out much hope. I think the CPU has gone........

Verity beret - progress!

Well, we have some progress on the beret front. Unveiling the petrol-blue coloured verity - tried the large size for this one, but don't recommend it unless you really need to or you want the fullest, puffiest hat out there! Also the 100% wool yarn I used from my stash - no label - is a bit rough feeling and I'm not convinced it has that 'present quality' feel. And as this is intended for a present, I think I might have to wash or even felt it a little to get a better feel. If worst comes to worst, I have got some greeny/blue alpaca silk in reserve......


This was completed before I started the new rosered beret and since then I have realised all my verity berets aren't quite right. It primarily uses the YO technique for lacy increases and as I found out this week, I've not been doing that right. It still looks okay, but it's irritating now I know there's a mistake. But I think 3 verity berets are enough and I will have to live and learn, I think!

This is a milestone for me - the perfectionist. I am resisting the urge to rip them all back and start again. But think of all the other hats, projects I could be doing in that time! They look okay as they are and only other fellow knitters may notice.....


As for the purple verity, ripped back twice to increase the size.... no, it is still too small. My sister is being very diplomatic and is trying to stretch it through wear, but I really don't want to cut off the circulation to her head!! So, I'm thinking of another rosered - maybe in that soft alpaca silk? - and sending that to her so she can send me the purple verity back for a major rethink. A rethink being totally ripped back and knitted up in another yarn!

Japanese Textiles

I've been meaning to post about this book for ages. The textile artist Shihoko Fukumoto creates wonderful large wall and installation pieces that are visually stunning. In part of her artists statement she describes her work as trying to capture the path of the wind - the use of indigo dyeing and what appears to be a pleating technique repeated in units do create the overall visual effect of these paths of movement.

Complete panel of units suspended.... There is a definite sense of strength from the dark diagonal shifts, cutting through the flow and forcing the design to expand abruptly. But even this is a regular shift - you can imagine how this repeat pattern could expand across the wall.

Close-up detail of pleated fan shaped fabric panels... Each section looks quite big so the pleating must all be done by hand - no regularity of smockers here! They also seem to billow out a little at the bottom of the white section adding a three dimensional aspect of movement to the piece.

That is a lot of fans!

Not all Fukumoto's work is pleated though. She also produces expansive graduated, indigo dyed pieces that are painstakingly produced through the dyeing process and the manipulation of the fabric's surface.

To find out more about her work, please click the links to:

bellasartes

artcourt gallery

culturebase.net

and this New York gallery article.

If you are interested in the book, follow this link to the publisher Telnos. I'm not sure if they are the cheapest but you could check out Amazon too.

Enjoy....

Rose Red

This lovely hat designed and made by Ysolda is Rose Red, my knitting project of the moment. I am including the original picture as mine is nowhere near finished yet but it gives you an idea of the complexity and balance of this pattern. If you want to look at it in more detail or try knitting it you can buy it here. I would highly recommend this as an elegant, considered design that looks complex and gives you a feeling of achievement - and a damn good looking hat when you've finished. (People think you have awesome knitting skills!)

Anyway, this has also shown me just how rusty my hand knitting skills are! Using the knitting machine enables me to see structure and form more easily but I'm having to remember abbreviations in hand knit that I took for granted before. It's like you still understand the structure and what it should look like but the sequence with the needles isn't flowing quite as smoothly as it once did. So, these hat patterns by Ysolda are gently breaking me back into hand knitting.

I'm checking everything - YO for instance. I thought I knew this one at least but since I mucked up SSK and had to look online for a video, I began to question myself and decided to check how much of my knowledge was a bit faulty. So I discoverd that YO is done differently if you follow with a Knit stitch or a purl. Thank you Knitwitch for your online videos! Now my hats are looking more like the pictures!

Progress so far.....

See? Now we have perfect crisp YO's and in the next section we will have lovely SSK's! They will be beautiful! I also went out and treated myself to some Debbie Bliss yarn to knit this in - A darker red Cashmerino DK. It is so soft to the touch and makes you value your knitting that little bit more. If this one works out then I will use this or Ysolda's verity pattern for the next pressie on my list. I also got some Alpaca silk - again debbie Bliss - in a green/blue shade. Aaahh.... such lovely colours and so soft! So keep a look out in the next week for that one too. Maybe Ysolda will have written another hat pattern by then?!

I am also beginning to use Ravelry more now, so you can also check any progress there too if you are already a Ravelry member - registered as tootiefruitie!

Until then, happy knitting!

snow, snails and...... seeds!

We have flowers! Okay, we didn't actually plant them, but we can now appreciate the beauty that is the primrose. We did have to relocate a few of them as the snails were finding them very tasty indeed so hopefully they will all recover and have a chance to bloom.

Also we have our recovered daisies - well one of them. The unexpected snow caused the flowers to burn. This one is a lot happier now but the other is feeling a bit sorry for itself as it has lost all its flowers and the leaves look a bit wilted. It is trying to make a tentative comeback but it'll take a bit of time.

Now, the news you have all been waiting for........seeds!

Yes, the seeds have decided to push their heads out of the soil to see what is going on. They may be very proud of the fact they are the first to arrive but a little lonely as yet. The rest of the trays are still bare.

But they are a week behind so I must not get impatient.

Okay, I am impatient and I've been down to check them again and the tomatoes have now also decided to join in but not as prolifically. When they get to a size we can really see them I'll take a photo. Right now, it would be spot the tiny green dot!

Lastly, a little look at the little seed house - it does look like a little house doesn't it? Anyway, they are all nice and warm in there and since I bought it, the seeds have decided to sprout! More news as they grow....

Finally, I'll leave you with a pretty picture - the seeds can dream of the flowers they may one day become.....

Anyone know what this is officially called? - doesn't need to be latin!