Edge-to-Edge...

Remeber this from my last post?

Well it turned into this (rather quickly I may add)

and finally into this (after several hours of on/off sewing yesterday) - the front view shows the colours (your monitor permitting) in their true form

and as I'm not modelling it, to show the shape and style to it's best advantage... here's how the pattern booklet shows it

This was an enjoyable and relatively quick knit and the garter stitch shows the yarn off to its best advantage as does this particular pattern.... although there are some other nice patterns in the book too.... which is Patons 1263 - Shadow Tweed

I have to say I'm pleased with this chunky yarn, as most of you know I don't really do chunky but I ended up with the short straw; 4 new yarns for Patons this season, 3 DK's and one chunky of course I let my other 3 knitters choose which yarn they wanted to knit with first and I got left with this one... but I have to confess to being very pleased with both yarn, pattern and resulting garment

This was knit on 6.5mm and used 750g of yarn and is fairly lightweight as the yarn is a blend of 56% wool, 40% Acrylic & 4% Viscose.... it's a loosely spun single which is actually fairly strong to kinit with and doesn't just drift apart like some yarns of this type do.... The yarn is interesting as it's a bit like self striping sock yarn as the colours do repeat through the ball but only every 60g out of the 100g ball, so I think it would make for a really simple garter stitch scarf or a scarf with a simple textured pattern such as my My So Called Scarf

On other front's knitting/crocheting is progressing and I'm getting my head round that I'm going to knit a sweater without a pattern so have been reading up on EZ... I'm trying not to think too far past the armholes at the moment when things will become interesting/difficult or I may never get to the armholes.... I think too much at times!!!

I have to say thank you to Fleegle for saying "I love your blog" am touched that someone that writes as well as she does considers my humble blog worthy to put on her sidebar.....

Next time I shall enlighten you as to what the green square was in my last post...

Of things to come...

I thought I would be a bit mean and do a Brooklyn Tweed style taster shot of things to come (not that I'm in the same league of course!!!) of what I've been working on and the yarns I've been working with...

Item 1:

Item 2:

More at a later date ;o)

Hello, I'm Still here...

I know I haven't blogged for nearly a month... but TBH I haven't felt like it and I haven't really had a lot to show for it... my knitting mojo just seam to get up and go, perhaps it was post-Christmas burn out from knitting I don't know :o(

I have been knitting but just not seaming to produce anything....

Anyway since my last post the Alpine Scarf from VLT has at long last made some progress.... as of this morning, bottom border and 3 repeats of the centre motif....

and a close up, especially for Soo , without whom I would not be this far and the cone of silk would be on eBay for sale!!! yes it got really bad....

I 'faffed' about since the last post and eventually did one repeat of the bottom border but wasn't happy so ripped it off the needles and stared again..... a week last Sunday (24th) which I m now referring to as 'Grey Sunday' I got back to having done one repeat at 8.30am I had reached row 5 of the 2nd bottom panel repeat... something was wrong... I knew the SK2P should group together a particular set of stitches... it didn't!!! I studied and studied, couldn't see were I had gone wrong I tinked back a couple or rows everything was fine so in the end I ripped it back to the garter stitch border. Again I got to the 5th row and the stitches didn't line up so I pulled it back again... I was getting a tad distraught by now... I emailed Soo

My problem I should have mentioned when I did row 1 and 5 of the chart was that I always had 1 less stitch at the end rather than being able to do K2tog I had to K. This doesn't seem to throw the pattern out until you get to row 5 of the 2nd repeat were things just don't quite line up properly....

After exchanging emails with Soo and her offering me her phone number I re-read her last email and **ping** the light went on.... and no more K just K2tog :o) by this time its 4pm on Sunday so we rip back to the garter stitch yet again...

What had I been doing wrong???

This is so silly it's unbelievably silly and embarrassing.... the only thing I can liken it to is doing a crossword... you read the clue, you get the answer but it doesn't fit... you repeatedly read the clue your answer is definitely right the grid must be wrong... you leave the crossword go back to it re-read the clue get a different answer and hey presto it fits and not only that it fits with all the other clues that intersect that one!!!!

Yes I know I'm putting off telling you what I did wrong :o(

OK Rather than reading the chart all the way across from right to left I was just reading the pattern repeat for the top and bottom borders... as those of you with the book will know or can go check the chart for the diamond edging has bracketed sections saying top and bottom borders, left border and right border etc.... well I decided that I should only be doing the pattern repeat for the bottom and not reading the whole of the chart because that bit was bracketed right border!!!

OK I told you it was silly.... but it didn't end there.....

By the end of Sunday evening 9pm I had now managed to complete 1.5 repeats of the bottom border, yeahh back were I started at 8.30am 12 hours earlier....

Monday came and went nicely my friend Janet and our god-daughter came to visit... I decided that I could get the last 8 rows of the pattern in before tea and do another 16 rows after tea.... I got to the last few stitches of row 16 and I dropped a stitch and it ran all the way down to the lifeline 16 rows below - the air was blue- so I was now further behind at 6pm on Monday than at 9pm Sunday Agghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

all DH could say was "you should have put your lifeline in half way through the repeat" - isn't hindsight wonderful!!!!

I did not touch it again that evening.... I managed to complete the 2nd repeat in the following days and this Monday (3rd) I managed to finally complete the 3rd repeat and the transition rows. It was only Tuesday that I finally managed to start the centre panel motifs....

And after all that I still have my knitting mojo, but at the moment it's a case of needing to knit it for a gift for the 17th April, I'm not hating it but am not enjoying it, I think it will be a while before every time I look at it I don't think of those wasted 2 days...

So thank you Soo without your help I wouldn't have made it this far..... you deserved your present... :o)

Less stressful knitting and a learning curve has been the Patons (UK) Sorbet top a new pattern this summer for one of last years summer yarns (70% cotton & 30% Acrylic). Quite chunky for me to knit (6mm) and a tension of 15sts x 22 rows.

I had 3 balls of the burnt orange left so opted for the contrasting ribs which I like immensely, again with hindsight I would have made the bottom rib twice as deep..... I had to lift the neck line as it originally started 2 rows after the armhole shaping which would have seen me done for indecent exposure!!!

I also knitted the body and the sleeves as far as possible in the round... another first for me as you may guess I pulled my EZ books of the shelf and having being enjoying leafing through..... It fits lovely too... DH is out so no photo of me modeling :o)))

And last but by no means least my sock knitting which has probably kept me sane through the last month... both socks have partners halfway through.....

January Round Up

Sorry it's taken so long to getting round to posting but have been quite busy on the fibre front in one way or another....

Not in any order of priority just the way I loaded the photos into blogger we'll start with the spinning.....

This is "Twilight 2" Merino that I purchased from the The Yarn Wench before Christmas to add to my stash fibre; although I am determined not to let it get out of hand, famous last words!!!!

I decided I would join the SAL on Ravelry for January which was "Snowed in colours - Angora - Fulling" as you can see I only opted for the colour theme and thought it was quite apt, Icy blues and whites with a bit of black thrown in, now despite not being a fan of black I think it makes the singles look great. Here is 2/3 of the fibre spun up and I have just the remaining 1/3 to spin then I will ply and attempt my first 3ply yarn.....

Next up is part of the 2008 new years resolution, not so much as a resolution but a promise to myself that I will try and improve upon my crochet skills.... I have been able to crochet for a while give me a hook and yarn and I can practise virtually most stitches and get a sample, try and put that into anything other than a scarf and I loose it so I always say my problem is counting not crocheting as I usually end up with not enough or too many chains left at the end of a row.....

Anyway here are my attempts so far... these are worked in Patons Jet (gloves) and Patons Inca (hat) both from the book Patons Learn to Crochet

I started with the fingerless mitts (1 ball) and then moved onto the hat (2 balls) my crocheting in the round is still not brilliant again no problem with the stitches and the principle I struggle with completing the rounds and if I don't keep count I find it difficult were the start/finish is if that makes any sense?

Next a straight forward bag in treble crochet (or double crochet for my American readers) worked in Patons 100% Cotton DK. I have to say the cotton is a fantastic yarn to crochet with and very good value at £3.35 for 100g of either DK (210m) or 4ply (330m) weight. This pattern is originally from a kit introducing how to crochet... I just thought if people could see the bag made up it might tempt some one to have a go... I really enjoyed this

Next up is the scarf "Flurry" from the book Crochet Inspirations 1 using 2 strands of the Mohair blend "Misty" this takes 4 balls all in all, and as I couldn't make my mind up about the colour I went with 1 strand of "Sky" and 1 strand of "Thunder" so I've ended up with a heathery look which I rather like; again quite a straight forward pattern but looks more difficult than it is.

The nice thing about the Misty is that despite it's 70% Mohair (30% polyamide) it didn't irritate my nose when working with it, at all unlike Rowans Kidsilk Haze and if memory serves me right it's statistics makes it a suitable substitute for that yarn: 150m / 25g; tension 18-25 x 23-34 on 3.25 - 5.00mm or US 3 - 8 and at £2.75 per ball it's a heck of a lot cheaper!!!!

Sorry you're going to have turn your head side ways..... must make Soo & Fleegle work for their photos!!!!

Last on the crocheting front is the "Chevron Scarf" from the Learn to Crochet book above, but rather than use the Jet, I've used a smaller hook and yes you guessed it Patons yarn again, but the Washed Haze Aran, which is another good yarn although I normally prefer the DK weight....

With all the striping - 6 rows to the pattern repeat I am opting for the format taken by some lace knitters when doing knitted edgings and doing 6 rows a day otherwise I would go mad cutting the yarn at the end of every row and threading or crocheting in the ends

Now to the Lace Knitting.... I know I haven't said anything about this but I have been working on this since New Year for my friend Anita aka Dream Knitting who has a had a bad back for a few weeks, and was doing this for a friend who retires at the end of February; I didn't like to mention it on my blog until I had asked her permission to do so....

Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace in "Georgetown" and of course as everyone knows it's the PLT MS3 stole otherwise known as "Swan Lake". I must admit I've enjoyed doing this as I didn't know what to do after Christmas, so it filled a hole.....

With the above lace knitting complete I finally cast on my 'Heartland Shawl" in Buffalo yarn that was a birthday present from my friend Mike last April.... lovely to knit and is a heavy fingering weight yarn although the pattern says 110g of DK weight I have 186g so I will be doing more repeats than the pattern states as it says 4 repeats before starting the edging.... shown here is halfway through the 2nd repeat......

I spent 3/4 hours the other afternoon re-charting the chart that came with it as it wasn't easy to read and I knew I wouldn't be able to work comfortably with it as it was.... so those hours were well spent....

Last but not least I cast on the "Alpine Scarf" from VLT which needs to be finished for April. I'm using some French 4ply silk from Colourmart and adding in 2 extra repeats of the central motif to make it wider and I will just knit it as along as I can. I did a test sample August when the yarn arrived so I could 'play' with the yarn, so you can see were I'm going with this one, at this stage I'm halfway through the first bottom border repeat. Once I get the bottom border done I will set myself the task of 1 repeat per day.....

And lastly to say thank you to Fleegle for nominating me for the "You make my day award" I was going to nominate a few people this morning but so far everyone I thought of has already been nominated... so I for those of you who I read your blog on a regular basis, you make my day when you post......

I hope the round up of January's fibre escapades has been worth the wait and there's sufficient photos for Fleegle & Soo...

More Finished Objects :o)

Many thanks for all the kind comments about the stole.... I did enjoy knitting it which does help


Anyway here are a couple of finished items for you.... more socks for the gallery (along with lace I enjoy knitting socks). These are a Christmas gift for my friend Janet.


Kaffe Fassett's Landscape in "Caribbean"

Very nice colours and I quite like stripes that aren't always regular.... I could have lived without the Olive green and brown in there but who am I to criticize Kaffe Fassett's colour sense?????

The only thing I did find with these colours was that sometimes when I was knitting when I was a bit on the tired side I did find the colours a bit 'strong' on the eyes.... I have my eye on the "Fire" colourway for myself at some future date though.....

On the sock knitting front I am on with the 2nd sock of the Trekking pair in the Autumn colours and I am well on with the 1st sock of the Lana Grossa "Magico" pair, quite enjoying doing the pattern as I've never knit it before but not my colours; I'm not keen on greys and browns mixed together....

I finished the baby bolero on Sunday after picking up 333 stitches and knitting for 11 rows and sweating all the way if I had enough yarn...

I had two balls of Patons Fairytale 4ply in Sugar Spun (215m per 50g) and the pattern was for Sirdar Snuggly 4ply (226m per 50g). I was going to do something when Sarah was born back in February and I never quite got the enthusiasm to start but then realised that I had no more of this yarn so would have to make something quick if I was still going to use the yarn.

I found this sirdar pattern in a sale... 2 balls of 4ply for either 6 - 12 months or the 1 - 2 years size... yes you can guess which size I picked can't you? Being ever practical, yes the 1 - 2 years size!!!! so bearing in mind I had 32m less than stated I embarked....

It wasn't until after doing the back and both sleeves together that I realised I may not have enough yarn..... anyway I managed to get the back, 1 sleeve and 1 front out of the 1st ball with ohhh 1m left.... there was hope...

I finished the 2nd front, theoretically I should have enough yarn but when you pick up 333 stitches and every time you knit a row the ball seems to shrink dramatically I sweated a bit and thought well it's a picot edge, push come to shove I can always finish the last couple of rows & cast off in another caolour as you won't see it..... but I didn't need to phew!!!! in fact I think there's about 10m left, what was I worrying about? Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing???....

Anyway here it is...

On the lace knitting front I have done 3.5 repeats of the first pattern of the Honeybee stole... I'll post a photo in a day or too, apart form socks for Christmas that's my only knitting on the needles at the moment I'm being good ;o)

Swallowtail finds its Wings

Here as promised are the photos of my larger Swallowtail.....

Details & Alterations:
Swallowtail by Evelyn A Clark -

Fall 2006 Interweave Knits

48g of Patons 100% wool 2 ply Baby Yarn (in process of being discontinued) kettle dyed by myself with Kemtex Easidye Acid dyes

3.75mm Addi Lace circular

An extra 5 repeats of the budding lace pattern

An extra 2 rows at the start of the Peaked Lace Edging (Rows 1 & 2 repeated)

Finished size: 61" by 29"

Christmas present for my Godmother (I couldn't get it finished for her birthday)

I have to say I'm very pleased with this shawl yet again, it never ceases to make me smile when I stand back from the blocking mats, just as well as this is the 3rd time I've knit it but the first I've deviated from the pattern.

I've read on various other blogs that people have made bigger Swallowtails by increasing the budding lace then 'fudged' the stitches when going into the Lily of the lace pattern.... I'm not one for fudging in advance if you follow....

I sat down with paper, pen & caluclator and worked out for that the Lily of the Valley border to fit onto the budding lace without fudging you need to do 5 extra repeats of the buddign lace. The pattern has 14, I did 19 and if you want it even bigger then you'd do 24, 29, 34 repeats etc.... I was chuft with myself!!!! what is it they say pride comes before a fall..... well it was more of a trip really!

I got all the way to the peaked lace edging, worked rows 1 & 2, got halfway along row 3 and I'm 2 stitces short, I checked my work over and over and over again, no I hadn't made a mistake... I put it to one side in disgust....

Monday morning I sat down checked again no I was right no knitting errors, so out came the pen, paper and caluclator and low and behold I calculated I was 2 stitches short for the first half so a total of 4 stitches would be needed to make the pattern 'fit' on row 3, Hmmmmmm....... after a bit of thought, do I rip back rows 1&2 and start the lace straight on top of the lily of the valley edging or do I add a further 4 stitches to row 1 (makes 8 increases on that first row) I finally decided that I would just repeat rows 1 & 2 to get the desired number of stitches... I think that worked well in the end, I've got a little broader transition band but I don't think it detracts at all....

Anyway would I do this pattern again... still definitely yes, perhaps not just immediately as this is my 3rd since May, however I may do a smaller one (9 budding lace repeats) as a neckscarf for mum for her Birthday....

Anyway here's a table of stitches if anyone wants to use my method of making a bigger or smaller Swallowtail.... Don't shout please if the maths are wrong...


Number of Budding Lace Repeats: 9 14 19 24 29 34
Number of stitches after Budding Lace: 135 195 255 315 375 435
Number of Stitches after Lily Border #1: 159 219 279 339 399 459
Number of Stitches after Lily Border #2: 179 239 299 359 419 479
Repeat Rows 1 & 2 twice in Peaked Lace Edging: Yes No Yes No Yes No
Number of Stitches before starting Row 3 of Peaked Lace pattern: 187 183 307 303 427 423
Number of stitches after Peaked Lace Edging: 203 259 323 379 443 499
Number of stitches to Cast Off: 253 323 403 473 553 623

As promised....

for Soo who wnated to know how the KF "Mirage" series comes out... this is the "Storm" colourway...

It's OK and will be suitable for the recipient however, I wouldn't like to knit another pair, they're a bit non-discript if that's the right description.

And below is what I have left out of 48g of Patons 2ply Baby Wool (100% wool) that I hand-dyed myself (there should have been 50g but by the time I'd hanked it, dyed it, re-hanked it etc etc.... I'd 48g left) so no chance of getting anymore.

I was so relieved when I finally cast off the 403 stitches and had this left at least I know for future reference what it takes to knit a larger Swallowtail. Anyway more tomorrow when hopefully I will have finished photos for you. I tried last night to get DH to help me block it but he wasn't for playing!!!!

Update...

I know I haven't blogged for awhile, there's been nothing to say really....

I haven't started the border of the VLT shawl, both sets of socks are well on with the 2nd of each pair being nearly completed hopefully by the end of the weekend they will both be finished.... the orange ones especially as they will be given on Monday and off to Spain on Thursday!!!

That brings me to the VLT Scarf with Border No 20 as for it's progress see the photograph below..... I just can't bring myself to knit it so it's going to be ripped back and something more intersting knit instead..... lets face it when you start doing the ironing, the cleaning, sorting cupboards out rather than knit something, it's time to face up to the fact you're not really enjoying knitting it and at the end of the day whats the point of using your free time to knit something and not enjoy it????

So I'm pondering what to knit instead (this is for SIL for Christmas), has anyone any suggestions, I do have plenty of different weights of yarn in my stash. So far I'm toying with Leda's Dream by PLT, River Stole by Evelyn Clarke Honeybee Stole by Knitspot (Mmmmm I'd forgotten I'd purchased that pattern). Any other suggestions will be gratefully considered... I think I'm after a bit of a challenge but not too much that I get stressed by getting it finished in time for Christmas as there are some other knitting & crafty things I need to do for Christmas....

I have actually started a 3rd Swallowtail, which needs to be finished for the 5th of October as a birthday present for my Godmother, which it should be I've done about 9 repeats of the budding lace.... this pattern always amazes me how it can be so different depening upon the yarn used... I'm using some Patons (UK) 100% wool baby 2ply (sadly being discontinued along with it's 3ply sister) that I kettled dyed myself.....

and that's as they say all I really have to say for myself today, hopefully I will be back in a couple of days with some photographs and my mind made up about what to do for SIL.....