Been fishing and

nearly there. I didn't take the big blanket away - nor did I swatch for a new project, as I fossick'd around the stash drawers looking for inspiration I noticed my stocks of SR (Sock remnants) had grown of late and it must be time to knit more fish. I collected up a few ends balls of yarn, and my current sock and headed off with the family to Waimate to visit my dad. We had a great day at the Rodeo, it was warm but not to warm, and a cool breeze rather than a brisk wind. I did get into a fish knitting rhythm - and didn't even open the sock project bag, that one seems to be on the back burner for now.




So yes I have knit more fish, 18 in fact - to add to the 17 loose fish in the left over sock yarn drawer meaning I now have 35 fish to add to the blanket some time. I'm leaving generous tails on these fish - I think I was a little frugal on the last batch which made seaming using the cast-on and cast-off tail yarns tricky.

As some times happens when a knitter returns to knit something that has lain dormant for some time, I improved the pattern. I don't pretend the pattern is mine, and this may not be an improvement. I became aware of tesselated knitted fish on the web nearly 2 years ago - thru Knitters Review Forum (a pre-ravelry knitting site), and tracked a free on line pattern down to Knitting Arrows, but there are other variations out there. There is anther tessellating fish pattern out there, first published in Knitters Magazine, sadly now out of print, that has a little smile and an eye. I substituted the final set of decreases with a centered decrease so the tail remained straight, it always bothered me that the tail drooped a little to one side, my fish looked a tad sad. This time I took a little time to chart it out - silly I know but sometimes its nice to see how it works on paper. If you open the image - it will display at a printable or savable size. Let me know if there are any errors, its my first go at charting something, I used the free knitting fonts from Aire River, and they worked well. I wanted a centered double decrease - but had to make do with a left leaning one in the chart. But I did provide instructions in the key for a centered double decrease, so it should work fine.


On the way back we stoped in Oamaru, where Bear went off to hunt for books in Slighlty Foxed, a vintage bookseller, and I toddled off to peruse the yarn, fiber and beads at another two of the shops in the Historic District. Its at one end of town and has a nice set of Victorian themed shops, including The Oamaru Textile Exchange and a bead shop. In the textile exchange I found this, a pre-loved spindle, one of 3 on sale. This spun the nicest, and has a nice tapered shaft. It seems very similar to one I borrowed from N, and yes I'm still planning to make spindles on the new lathe. I need a few more pieces of equipment, a drill press (not essential but nice) and a grinder, very essential to sharpen and shape the tool steel blades.


Back home, I began again on the huge blanket, I'm well on the way to finishing, having started the last wheel of yarn last night,and only having 2 squares to go. Today is forecast to be a scorcher, 30+ degrees Celsius, unusual for Dunedin, where we seem to top out in the mid-20's. If this weather continues, I plan to knit today, seam tomorrow and block the day after - using the warm weather to dry it fast.

Now I'm off to fold washing, we both have been ignoring it, but no longer, I want to locate the settle in the library room, its under a huge pile of washing and the old computer ... but perhaps a cup of tea first?
take care
Stella