Random Wednesday

While I was downloading the magenta flowers from my phone I found a whole stash of photos I had forgotten I'd taken. This was one I took way back last summer when all the tourists were down in Cornwall with their campers. Both campers were filling up with petrol/diesel - I love how you could probably fit two of the small camper into the big one the size of a bus!

So, random thoughts today:

Surprise of the week: Finding photos on my phone from my parents visit last October:-)

Most interesting blog this week: well, I have several for you today. Firstly, Posie Gets Cosy has a lovely visual entry on her local walks - always worth visiting.

Design from Material Obsession's new book

My main blog discovery this week is Material Obsession and The Last Piece. I found these sites through a link from Jane Brocket's mention of the book Material Obsession and discovered their quilting blog. Kathy now runs the Material Obsession blog and Sarah has started her own - The Last Piece. So you get twice the loveliness! They are full of ideas for quilts and visuals from the courses they run, the fabrics from their shop, workshops by well known artists - I love Sue Spargo's folk art quilts, yum.

Sue Spargo's design

All photos are from Material obsession's blog - go have a look for more quilting loveliness. It's really got me thinking about applique and decorating surfaces again. Maybe it's time to get my sewing machine out!

Reading: Lots of quilting books I got out of the library - all 7 of them!

Would still like to get done this week: Tidy, then organise my room to include the sewing machine - this could take a while....... Is there such a thing as a Mary Poppins room instead of a bag?! I could do with some invisible storage ready to call out of thin air whenever you need it!

Magenta in bloom

All of a sudden, a little sun and somehow, everything seems to be coming out in bloom. When I parked the car on my way to the library the other day, I couldn't help but notice this magnificent strong magenta coloured rhododendron. There were so many flower heads it was really quite stunning.

Unfortunately I only had the camera on my phone so the pictures aren't as crisp or as tonally balanced as I would have liked, being such a bright day, but they manage to capture enough of the colours and the grandness of this plant. I had forgotten how BIG these can grow if they have the room - me walking backwards into the car park to get more in the photo (no zoom - sigh).

But it doesn't stop there, it keeps on going....... I think I was at the other end of the car park by this stage :-) It was slightly bigger than I could fit in but truly an impressive glory in pink.

I wished I had worn my magenta ishbel beret and I would have blended right in! But being pink inspired after so much sock green, I'm now working on a matching magenta Ishbel scarf - the small version first in 4ply/fingering weight and then I'll work my way up to a larger matching teal 2ply/laceweight version. I've nearly finished the first stocking stitch section and I'll soon start the vine stitch section. Now I'm familiar with the pattern from the beret, I'm hoping this will flow easily straight away - well, here's hoping:-)

I think this will be a warm scarf/shawl but not too bulky for spring. Not much to photograph as yet but I'll keep you posted.

Finally, I'd like to wish my sister a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! and I hope you enjoy wearing your chic, stylish, terribly fashionable teal ishbel beret:-))) Enjoy!

Matching toes

So I'm just about to start the second sock, circulars ready, re-watched the video for Judy's magic cast on and I kept thinking, I was meant to do something before starting the sock. What was it? Oh yes!!!! I've got to match the stripes before I start so both socks are the same - kinda important that. I was quite lucky as the repeat is nearly half a socks length but I only had to wind off a small ball of yarn to get there. I was worried about taking too much off and having one sock shorter than the other :-)

(I know I could have taken the top of the first one back , but hey, it's nicer not to have to !)

So only a small edit of the patterned yarn and on with the sock. This second sock is being knitted wholly on two circulars and the join lines aren't as obvious as with the dpn's, which is goooood! Look! Matching toes:-)

I must say I'm a lot closer with matching the pattern than I thought for a first attempt but I still actually have a lot of the ball left and I'm nearly to the heel of the second sock. Is this normal? If you buy an 100gm ball of trekking - or any 100gm ball of sock yarn knitting on 2.5mm needles - how far does it actually go? If I bought two balls, they might make stripey knee highs!!

Talking of knee-high socks, Cosmicpluto has just released a pattern for both knee-high and over-the-knee socks, plain and stripey. Her raspberry and chocolate stripey socks are just lovely. They are definitely on my to-do list, after the lace wraps, the gloves, and the vivian cable hoodie - I haven't forgotten that and I'm actually looking forward to knitting with aran weight yarn after all this thin 2ply and sock yarn. How quick it will knit up - bliss!

But for now, it's finishing the green stripey sock so I can get the circulars for the 'happy' capricorn stripey gloves. If that yarn lasts as long as this one, I could maybe get socks and gloves out of it!! Okay, maybe pushing it a little but wait and see:-)

Green stripey sock - one down, one to go....

At last I have some progress for you on the green stripey socks. One is done and I just need to get into sock knitting mode to start the other one. The toe up worked really well using the magic loop and Judy's magic cast on so I'll be sticking to that from now on. I did notice on Yarn Harlot's sock summit site, Judy is doing a class on the magic heel which has no picking up of wrapped stitches. A super duper way of doing toe-up heels!!! Hopefully she will publish it soon and Cat Bordhi will make a new video and we can all be knitting perfect toes and heels from now on.

Just a simple 1x1 rib for the top of the sock but maybe I should have stopped on the larger green band as the blue/white edge looks a bit messy not being a more solid colour. We knit and learn:-)

I have spent some time today looking at lace wrap and shawl patterns and have added a few to my 'to-do' list! So far, I'm considering the Shadow Scarf, the woodland shawl, Print o' the wave stole (the link is down at the mo) and Jeanie, from knitty's winter 2007 , a lovely double cabled scarf with floats that looks very interesting. I'm going to practice a few samples before launching into something complex though so I will post as and when they are finished. If you have a lace pattern you could recommend, I would love to hear about it - the more the merrier!

Meanwhile, I have another sock to knit before I suffer from second sock syndrome!!

Magenta Ishbel Beret

At last the magenta Ishbel beret is finished and blocking. This one has really fought me all of the way, I'm telling you. And I was wondering why when the laceweight was such a pleasure to knit. But I think, after a few days taking back lots of botched up knitting, and trying to reknit that I've worked it out.

Everything was fine until I started to decrease. Then I moved down to dpn's as the stitch count got too small for the circular. It seems the YO at the end of the last dpn kept 'dropping' the last stitch and when I went around the lace row, the pattern was out by one stitch. After all the ripping back, I carefully started to re-knit the pattern keeping this in mind and damn if the same thing didn't happen again! Even when I was looking for it! This got to really frustrating levels of crapness by late evening but I persevered and eventually got it cast off. Whew.

So why was the green teal beret not such a pain? Because I used two circulars instead of 4 double pins and the stitches couldn't fall off. Lesson learned.

I made one modification to the band - a picot edge instead of the straight edge. If you want to try it, just substitute the purl row with *YO, K2tog* for the whole row and you get the picot edge when you fold the band over. I thought it would work well with a bold coloured beret. If its going to be in your face anyway then why not:-)

Now all the hassles are over, I am beginning to warm to it again. I do love the colour and the picot edge and although the lace looks more dense in 4ply, it is still a very elegant pattern indeed - despite my sabotage attempts!

Although this is pink - and I love pink - I still think I like the green version better. I never really got into lace shawls and scarves before as they seemed to be long term projects and very time consuming at that, but I can see the appeal of delicate 2 ply yarns stretching out into wonderful cobwebs of pattern that are so elegant and sophisticated in their design and finish. A lovely sheen of silk and maybe beads? Mmm. I can see some more lace in my future.....

Spinning mojo

Today, I thought I would have a change of pace and scene and get absorbed once again with spinning. I borrowed this book out the library - 'Creative Spinning' by Alison Daykin and Jane Deane to refresh my memory as it has been a very long while since I spun anything, good or bad! I felt a good bit better after reading the instructions as I remembered most of it but learned that there are two different methods of spinning depending on whether you card the fleece and make your own rolags or buy the combed roving. I've only ever carded from fleece so I learned 'Long draw spinning'. The other method from combed roving is 'Worsted spinning'. Now a lot more pennies fall into place from reading spinning blogs!

So not having spun from roving, I thought I would try this technique first. Bear in mind I have all that lovely, yummy roving I bought recently, so my decision is not unbiased :-) I thought I'd start with a tester before the good stuff. Mind you this is 100% merino so pretty nice to work with.

After a few starts, I got going and worked out the thickness of the roving I want. Having always drafted the fleece as I go, I kept wanting to thin this out rather than just let it be!! I can see how this would give you such an even thread if all the roving strips were the same. Mine were too thick for a single so I thinned them all but then it became tricky as some bits went a bit too thin. One thing I do remember from previous spinning attempts was I always got too much twist in the single so I went a bit easier with this in mind and what do you know - not enough!! Typical:-) But in a good way. Just finding my feet again and that's okay as I feel I'm making progress.

So, now, tell me what is wrong with this picture? A clue - the treadle pedal is on the floor - not attached to the wheel. Yup, the thick plastic connector just snapped - ping! Well, more like a thud!

I know I've had the wheel for a while and not used it that often and plastic does perish eventually, but still! Just in the middle of me finding my spinning groove! Sigh.

Luckily for me I found a shop online - Scottish Fibres - that sells parts for my Louet with 1st class delivery. So hopefully, if I can work out how to fit the part, we should be back in business in a few days.

Louet S10 spinning wheel

Well, looks like I'll have to face the Ishbel mess that needs fixing after all - but that's okay, I can handle it as I'm feeling good and I've got my spinning mojo back - even if it's only a mere blob on the bobbin!

Edible eye candy

Midweek eye candy for you today. Some lovely chocolate flowery shapes covered with sprinkles/hundreds and thousands. Look really good from both sides don't they? And very yummy looking. Shame to say the chocolate was a bit on the cheap/nasty side, but hey, its still chocolate and it didn't stop me eating them :-) But not all at once!

The knitting is going slowly this week - hence the eye candy! Notice I didn't say progressing. I feel like I've pretty much ballsed up all I knitted today so I'm a bit fed up with myself. Having noticed a mistake in the decreasing lace pattern of the magenta Ishbel, I dropped the offending stitch down 4 rows to fix the pattern and fix it I thought I did, very carefully to keep the YO's and PSSO's in order. But now it's done, I'm now noticing odd looking twists where there shouldn't be and unfortunately not just where I altered the mistake. So, my conclusion is it'll all have to be taken back and fixed - properly. But, I'm leaving that till tomorrow when I hope a fresh pair of eyes may see a fix or have the patience to rip it back - which I don't have just now ;-) I think I'm showing great restraint not throwing it across the room in a fit of justifiable peak.

So, maybe I'll go back to some good, old stockinette sock knitting. The green stripey sock is probably feeling neglected by now anyway. On the good side, don't these chocolates make good tiles to use for repeat patterns? They're beginning to look like an edible hexagonal quilt!!

Ishbel beret

At last I can show you what I have been beavering away knitting the last few days. The Ishbel beret is finished! It has been sitting there waiting for me to progress past the band for about a week and yesterday, I suddenly decided was the day to finish it. Okay, it took me more like two full days but don't you think it was worth it? Doesn't lace look good when its blocking?

This is knitted in 2ply/laceweight lambswool that I hand dyed a while back. I really did think this was going to be too thin for a beret but I was so wrong. The lightness of this is just lovely and so elegant being a finer gauge. When you are knitting the lace pattern, you can see generally where the design is going but you don't really get the full picture until it's finished. Then, wow. Suddenly this structure appears fully formed and looks amazing. Believe me, I tried to take photos of this at intervals of making to show you and none could capture the loveliness of the lace until it was stretched out.

Using such a dark yarn did make it difficult to see in artificial light and I did make a few mistakes trying to keep the pattern right at the beginning. But once you get a feel for each section it begins to flow a lot easier. Of course, knitting lace patterns when you are tired probably isn't recommended as you end up taking back what you knitted the next day! But I am pleased with my first lace project and there is still plenty of this yarn left to knit up the matching Ishbel scarf. For my sanity's sake maybe it'll be the short version ;-)

* Vital tv watching whilst knitting this lovely beret - 'The Duchess' and an episode of Poirot. I really enjoyed The Duchess though, lovely costumes sumptuous settings and a real feel of what society was really like in the late 1700's. Kiera Knightley played the Duchess of Devonshire very well and gave her a chance to show the depth of the character. Ralph Fiennes was a very convincing baddie! The link gives you clips, cast details and stills, worth a visit.