Knitting and stashing (of a sort)

One of the universal truths of many hobbies is that one needs special stuff, oh I know in theory one can knit with any pair of pointy sticks and any yarn like material .... But the process is so much more enjoyable, the outcome more predictable and the result usually more satisfying if one has choice in tools and materials. My bookbinding is very much kitchen table stuff, oh I have a nipping press, and have made a wee clamping press - but the bulk of my tools and materials are those found around the house. Tambour bead embroidery is at the other end of the tool spectrum, starting with a special hooked needle in a special holder - and extending into frames that are able to tension larger pieces of fabric than your average embroidery hoop - not to mention the stands so one can work with both hands free. So far I have invested in several needles and holders, several frames, one set of supports, and a few different fabrics and threads. Those seemed the essentials, the things I needed to be able to tambour. Until now ... I worked with materials from my stash, like many I had a selection or is that accumulation of threads and other things that I had acquired over my life as I stitched and sewed, I also had a small selection of beads ... acquired when became interested in beads and knitting together.

Until now that is, recently I decided that while working with my existing stash was fine for developing skills in tambour beading it was rather limiting. Limiting in terms of the range I was learning to work with, limiting in terms of the colours I had on hand and what I could do with them. In short I realized that my yarn stash provided a resource on which to draw for inspiration and ingrediants and the beginnings of a project and I wanted a bead stash. There I've said it, I wanted another stash.
Enter a trip to Enterprise Beads to enhance my stash, who are based in Oamaru - an hour and a half drive north. Where they sell beads on strings. Strung beads, that is important for tambour work. Bear and I made a day of it, with little cub, elder cub had a D&D game to attend so escaped. Littlest cub scored a solid spruce top traveling uke - it was so cute, and sounded surpringly good for its thinness and size. Many of the beads in this box were not part of my stash before Saturday, and they are now. Beads that come in strings are often sold in hanks, and a hank can have around 4000 beads in it for the size bought. I bought several hanks ... more than I have fingers and thumbs. That means that I have over 40,000 beads at hand. That is a lot of beadwork practice. The only difficulty was coming to terms with the limiting factor of my purchasing dollar compared to the wide range of offerings in store. As a starting point I decided to get a few if my favorite grey/blue shades, some froggy greens, olives, golds and browns, and a few sparkly highlights, silver-white, orange, and dull gold. The hanks all fit into a remarkably small paper bag when bought - like a precious little secret, taking hardly any room in my handbag. I suspect I will go back. I may have also added some strung sequins, which come strung in worms each with 1000 sequins, I added 8 worms, so now have 8000 sequins to practice with .....some in gold, some in bronze, and and some silvery clear.

Surprisingly I have not broken into any of the hanks yet, just spent some time ordering my smallish stash and sorting the odds and ends (every stash has those) into a secondary storage box. Serendipitously my local Tambour guru gifted me a storage box of just the perfect size and function, so now I have two boxes filled with beads, or near filled ... There is room for moe. I have been working away on the pink lace edged cardigan - to the point where a sleeve begins.
And I have one more immediate project in mind, it involves converting these turned feet into embroidery frame supports.

These have been around for yonks, and every time we tidied up the shed, or the carport, or the replacement garage both Bear and I thought they were too good to throw away. Something twigged in Bears mind as I embroidered a few weeks ago and he asked why I didn't I use these to make an elegant frame support that would sit on the table. All I need now is some time in the garage with some steel pins, the grinder and the drill press ....
Spring has sprung, so the garden fills with weeds, there are outdoor chores to do ... And so I have no idea when I will get that time, but that is ok, I have a plan and one day there will be the opportunity.
Take care
Na Stella

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Transit and following orders

Here again, today's post is brought to you from windy Wellington, the Capital city of New Zealand. Work brings me here, for two days. A day of listening to people talk about how they see the future in the area I work, and a day of working with others to see if we can make a plan to do something ... thatwill benefit someone and the economy. This is the scary side of education, the side where the outside world wants to see that you are of use, that what you know and what you do is relevant and useful. Scary, but good, and I was so glad that today was preceded by a day of listening to those who have gone before talk about what works.

Wee cubs cardigan goes well, the original pattern had ribbing at the hem and cuffs, and lace around the front band. Little Cub asked if there could be lace at the hem and cuffs too, well she also asked for beads, but I don't have any to hand that feel right. I've switched to a needle size smaller and so far the lace looks good. I am planning for a wide, 10 cm hem, something with enough weight to fall nicely, both visually and physically.

Here is the body all laid out, I'm on the fence about the marl of the pinks, the evidence of yarn dying ... But then again I love the pink, and know little cub does as well. This project travels well at this stage, the lace is repeatable, easy to remember, and the project fits into a sock project bag.
I've left my larger body of work at home, the tambour work.Tambour work is just less portable ....

There has been some frogging, the lines of dark chocolate sequins have been removed ...pending a redo. I amuse myself in that I now go out of my way to fix things that could be done better. There were places where there were do Double sequins instead of singles, an easy rookie mistake when working blind under the fabric. After I frogged the chocolate sequins I realized a simpler fix was simply to cut and remove the doubled sequins ...oh well, this way I get more practice. I also had fun placing bugle beads, and playing with tension and spacing, and working with 3mm seqins. Oh boy, those were too small for me to work blind, and I ended up cheating and using my sight to ensure each sequins was separate before stitching. I guess like with knitting, and forming a stitch, at some point I will be able to do this work by feel, and that will only come through practice.
Home tonight, and back to my own pillow and family ....
Take care, na Stella

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Hello, my name is ...

I feel like I do need to reintroduce myself as I have been absent for so long. No real reason, just life being busy and messy and full, coupled with feeling I have nothing interesting, knit worthy or blog worthy to show. Recently my weekends have been snaffled by things and events out of my control - but through it all I have knit, and stitched and even added a bow to my arsenal of crafting.

First up knitting, I am still on the fence about what to cardigan to knit for moi, so cast on something in pink for little cub. I am knitting schools out by Katya Frankel in a very pretty pink Vintage Purls sock. The pattern is sized up to just below little cub, but as it is a fairly straightforward raglan for the body I am knitting to fit as I go. To avoid issues of colour shifts I am working two strands alternately. Body is about half done ... And so far so good.

I am still working on improving my skills with the tambour hook, and when I stitch the thread flows smoother and the stitches are less frustrating to form so practice is the key. I have since received the other two frames, and switched the work over to the ITA frame, a 'proper' slate frame. This time I tensioned the sides with pinned tape as I have seen done in photos. I liked the tambour trade from lacis but the slate frame is easier to set up square, and tends to hold the fabric tanker with no slip. There has been some stitching and redoing - but with tqmbour the chain stitch makes that so easy. Akin to frogging knitting, and almost as satisfying to see mistakes and 'could do betters' disolve before ones eyes. In keeping with the sampler notion I am now working vermacilli chain to fill in a circle, and then I plan to try keeping rows of bugle beads straight.

Lastly I spend a few days at a laser cutting course. That is my new craft bow - and I am excited to think of potential uses. Unfortunately there were problems with the laser cutters associated with the course, one wasn't working at all and the other wasn't working well. The thcnicla term was 'to much scatter'. End result is much of what I cut ended up toasted and charred around the edges. But as I learn best from making mistakes and working out solutions I feel like I learnd lots even if my results were not pretty. One of the important aspects was more fully mastering adobe illustrator as a design development tool. This is a program I teach but I teach its use for illustrating final finished designs - so it was interesting to approach a blank file and develope idea's in a totally digital space. Another was scale. Illustrator is a vector program which means simply that what is drawn is recorded mathematically so can be scaled easily without loosing form or proportion. The good news is the program hides the mathes fro. The user so they only worry about what it looks like. That is the programs strength - so at some point I had to realize the sock blockers and bag tags I were developing needed to be scaled. I had a vision getting it wrong and my bag tags being as large or larger than the suitcase they were affixed to. The sock bloker vision was equally bizzare - and all I could think was they might be good as shop displays if too large. With the whole toasted edges ... The end result was only my bag tags made the final cut - in scrap thick clear plastic.
I startd with the coffee cup (it was time for coffee and I am easily distracted), then I decided to develope paisley and argyle, - and on to using the magic of vector scale feature to shift and move and change the size and orientation. I failed on the blank tag, my argyle pattern was to intricate for the tag - and material so just before cutting I deleted it. I love the precision of the laser, one of the paisley shapes is made from teeny tiny hearts, the other from a edge like broidery anglaise. The long rectangle is my scale, I drew it to be 25cm - with the intention of seeing how large it was cut - it was 26cm ... So some room for fine tuning wher size matters,

And Yoyo came to see but left as soo. As she found no knitting was involved.
Take care, more soon, Stella.

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Tonight!

I think I will be nearly done tonight, last night I decided to finish the waste yarn button holes. It was night and not good phot conditions, but I can show you how they looked when done. This is the right side, after removing the waste yarn, I picked up the live and freed stitches and promptly cast them off, passing one over the other until only one stitch remained.

That left me with one live loop, I used a needle and a short length of yarn to secure that one stitch, weaving the ends in as invisibly as I could. If you look close you just might spot the slightly thicker rib where the end was woven in on the wrong side. I almost like the wrong side of the band more than the right side, the i-cord bind off seems an almost perfect match for the slipped stitch edge that sits just inside the picked up stitches.

So now all I have is two inches of cuff ... and sewing the buttons on and I can wear it, or block it, or both. Steam blocking will mean I can wear it sooner .... dont-cha think?

Take care, hope your projects are making similar progress.

Na Stella

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Edges and buttons!

I'm rather pleased, the grey cardigan, the one knit on teeny 2.75mm needles using sock yarn is almost done! Almost, there are button holes to finish and sleeve cuffs to work, but the end is in sight. Todays post is all about the little fiddle bits, starting with the buttons, and ending with the edges. I don't have progress photos, as much of this has been knit in the evenings, but I do have details. And yes 2.75mm isn't teeny for many knitters, but it is kind of smallish to me to be using for a cardigan.

Vintage blue buttons x 7

Here are the vintage buttons I settled on, I was thinking either classic shell, pale or dark, or even classic white shirt buttons ... but these ones caught me out with how well they seemed to echo the crochet lace detail. I wove all the ends in after trying the cardigan on, it fits and I love the neckline. For a while there I was wondering if my plans were weird and I would have a cold shouldered cardigan, you know one that leaves to much shoulder out on show and cold? I calculated the neck stitch count by draping a measuring tape around my neck, trying to allow for a wide rib band, and forgot that the weight of a garment can stretch the neck edge, hence my use of small needles and bind offs that will resist stretching.

Buttons with crochet lace

On the cardigan, the blue and white and gold seems just fine, not too sparkly. Just goes to show that not all that is planned is best, and sometimes things just seem right. I worked wide 1x1 rib edges right around the cardigan, using different sized needles.once it would have been important for me to use the same size needle so the rib matched exactly, now I realize the neck edge will stretch when worn so a smaller needle will help control the stretch. I cast off the front and neck edges using i-cord bind off, this time a two stitch variety, using a 2 mm needle across the neck and a 2.5 mm needle along the fronts. This should help the neck stay firm.

Mitred cause interesting effects

The mitered increases at the corners worked well, and produced some interesting effects that I had not considered would happen. Because the hem ribbing was already well established when I started working the final band in the round, the mitered corners created an interesting shape, unusual but not ugly. Right now nothing has been blocked, when it is I will be able to shape the corners a little more sharply.

Tubular rib cast off

I did consider working the i-cord bind off across the hem but thought it would provide a hard horizontal line, something that is hard to make successful at hip level in any design. Instead I worked tubular bind off ... Two set up rows then stitching my way across the entire hem grafting the Knits to the Purls. I tried to do this with all the stitches on one needle, but resorted to the easier method of separating the stitches out into two parallel needles.

Which leaves me finishing the sleeve ribbing .... And the finishing the afterthought button holes.

More on both of those next time, and a decision of the cuffs are cast off with I-cord or tubular fashion. I'm even wondering if this could become a late entry in the games which are not the Ravelry Olympics, although I have other wips that really need to see some closure, and I'm not sure if I've meet any qualification regulations. I guess this could be my spectator project. Elder cub is now into rowing, and is so interested in the rowing - new Zealand doing well is only increasing his interest.

Na Stella

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Button holes

Button holes, yes I have made a decision, buttons chosen, but not photographed - sorry, photos next time. I found some beautiful metal silver gilt white and soft blue vintage ones in my button collection. The positions have been determined, and the button holes commenced.

The method I went with was the one given in two of my favorite technique books, The big book of knitting, and Knitting school. Simply put the method involves marking the button hole with waste yarn, and once the garment is knit, removing the waste yarn, putting the released live stitches on needles and working a straight forward cast off. There are also options to oversee the buttonhole edge to further stabilize and reinforce it. The method also sounds like a bit of a fiddle on 2 mm needles. I liked the idea that the edge was the same top and bottom, and that the bind off would reduce stretching. I've only ever worked one and two row button holes before so this is a bit of a leap into the unknown but I trust those authors.

The corners are coming along nicely, metered increases every second round in single rib. I was a little worried about the width of the bands, but given the buttons are about 1.2 cm the band has to be 2.5cm, and the neck band will stretch and thin when worn. I am heading towards a 3 stitch icord bind off as the edge, worked on larger needles to make it soft, round squishy, and stretch enough. Either that or a sewn bind off but that would required many ends sewn in as I doubt I could bind off all around with one section of thread.

Corners

To guide me I used advice given to me way back when I was a undergraduate student, that women's button holes are on the right when worn, because women are always right. On that provocative feminist note I'd best leave and go back to my knitting, still round and round.

Na Stella

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Round and round,

The next few days will be about knitting around and around and around in single rib, whist I decide if there will be button holes or sewn on giant snaps, and what cast off I will use. I'm not even sure I know what buttons i will use, but I have a few options, vintage black Victorian glass, dark shell shirt buttons or something entirely new .... For now I am just knitting ribbing around and around on four long circulars like a weird variation on knitting on bendy dpns.

Knitting on four circulars

The second sleeve has been knit up to the point where the ribbing starts, and set aside. I have threaded a life line through the live stitches. I wanted to finish neck and front bands before finishing the sleeve, as I know that the neck band will 'lift' the shoulder, pull the neck in and so mean I will need a longer sleeve. When I worked the ribbing at the hem I set up two full rounds of tubular rib, ready for a cast off. Between then and now I decided I wanted to knit the front, neck and hem edges all in one piece, so I frogged the tubular set up back to single rib, and picked up the live stitches. I then picked up stitches on a slightly smaller needle right around the edge, the two front edges, and the neck. As well as using a smaller needle I picked up one in four stitches, my standard pick up ratio for stocking stitch.

Extension of hem ribbing,

I'm using not quite a smaller sized needle at the hem, a 2.5mm, as I really don't want this cardigan to be tight at the lower edge. The cardigan is knit on 2.75mm, which gives a nice firm gauge in sock yarn, I like my knits on the firm side, well cardigans and sweaters, shawls and scarves I like softer and loftier. I took extra care to make sure I picked up stitches along the same line on both left and right front ... The more i knit, the more i finish, the more I'm learning which bits to take care with and which bits don't need so much care. Picking up is One of the area that shows up as messy if I rush.

Pick up around neck edge

Around the neck and the front edges I used a 2mm needle, because I want those edges firmer and more stable. Using two different sizes of needle means that i will have to make sure i knit from ends of the needle the stitches i am working on. I picked up three in four stitches from the purl bumps of the long tail cast on and it looks like when I knit the neck rib the effect will be fairly seamless, almost like a provisional cast on. I plan to increase at each corner, two stitches, every second round. As for button holes .... I'm still thinking about those. I found an option in the big book of knitting and knitting school that looks promising but i'm not sure it works on a ribbing band as they show it worked on stocking stitch. Who knits stocking stitch bands?

Na Stella

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Look lace!

I've been crocheting lace, and I love it. I'm not really one to crochet much, I can, but there are other fibre crafts I prefer. Prefer for their look, their end result and maybe even the process - but I have been working some crochet lace and I like it. Imagine how much I will like it when it is blocked and sitting open and even more lace like?

First up is the sleeve, now it isn't finished, merely parked. I worked until I was mid way down my forearm and decided to park the live stitches until I worked out how long the ribbing was to be. I like the idea of a generous ribbing - but I don't want to run out of yarn.

Then I thought, if I am wanting to avoid running out of yarn I should work all the little unknown bits like the crochet lace around the neck. The original pattern was worked in pieces, and seamed, then the crochet stitched to the neck edge. My modification involves knitting the cardigan as a top down raglan, starting with a band of eyelets. I decided to pick up and crochet along the purl bumps under the eyelets, as I thought the crochet lace was a good match for the look of the eyelets. That was the plan, it was largely untested. Oh I had swatched the crochet on two different hook sizes, and picked up along the crochet edge and knit a band, and I had swatched the eyelet band ... but I had not combined them all in the same swatch. The plan worked out well, very well.

So well that the lace finished symmetrically at the centre front neck edges! I was impressed, even though it was more blind luck than planning, but impressed enough all the same. There are ends to weave in, and still a neck band to pick up and knit, at the same time as the band for the front edges. At this point I am thinking little grey or black buttons, on a band, but I am not sure. I want horizontal button holes but that means knitting a vertical band and I'd rather knit the band horizontally as one with the neck and hem edges ...... decisions, decisions. Suggestions, suggestions ?

For now I am back to the other sleeve, I have picked up and will be working away tonight decreasing away the small underarm gusset, another modification. Then it is down the sleeve, decreasing every 6th round until it is the same length and hopefully the same stitch count as the other sleeve. I have the 'right' stitch count now, and in theory after the same number of decreases I should have the same number of stitches .. but in practice there is always between one and three stitches over or missing. One of those universal truths of knitting - theory and practice are not the same thing.

take care
more soon - maybe even a sleeve. 

Here, again

Just before this past weekend, Bear asked me when I was home, I said Sunday. Then he asked when was I away again. The answer is late August, and it wasn't always this way. Not so long ago Bear was the one who tripped around the world and I was the one who stayed home. This past weekend was a quick trip up to Nelson, some nine plus hours drive, two days of the NZ Costume and Textiles Association Symposium, and then nine hours drive home. Luckily - the wonderful C from work did the driving so I could knit.

Before we went I did the usual knitters thing, where I dug out all my current projects and rejected all of them as not quite right for knitting whilst away. I cast on two new projects, after much time deliberating and selecting of patterns and yarn ... and then tossed them both aside and took the plain grey cardigan with me. I suspect that the process of selecting, planning, rejecting and then retreating to something known is one I share with many others. Todays post is late, and replaces the wednesday and Saturday posts that did not happen, one because I was searching for something to knit, and the other because I was away ... and have not yet mastered mixing blogger with an iPad.

 First up the finished hat, with tassels. Smallest cub requested pom-poms, but I felt like making tassels so convinced her to at least see what I had in mind. She can still have pom-poms if she likes, but she has to make them. The hat fits well, and the tassels are fun, the decreases worked out just fine.

 Each tassel was 20 wraps of yarn around a wee piece of card, with a twisted rope of yarn threaded through and then bound tightly. The twisted yarn rope was threaded to the inside of the hat and tied neatly.

 This was the project I thought I would knit on the way, Green socks, the pattern Pirate Danger by Jeannie Cartmel. Most of the projects on Ravelry that use this pattern are knit from a varigated yarn, but I succumbed when I saw Jeanniefanihi's version (here if you are a Rav user) with a plain yarn, the travelling stitches hint at a scull and crossbones, which appeals to the not-sugar-sweet side of my project nature.  The yarn is Vintage Purls sock, a colour way from the 2009 sock yarn club, Daphne for the sock of the same name, a very good sock pattern, and one I plan to knit soon .... but maybe in some thing darker.

 Whist the instep and leg are all in reverse stocking stitch, the sole is in stocking stitch. Quite a neat touch ... I can't wait for the gusset and heel to grow out of this. I happily worked the toe, and then started the pattern before deciding that a twisted traveling stitch pattern that was heavily charted might not be the best project for a road trip and conference ... where the lights were dimmed. So I promptly started a new Ravelry queue search and a stash dive before starting Icelandic Poppy shawl in a fingering Merino, Possum, silk blend on a cone. Fortunately I came to my senses rather quickly, around 6 rows in, realizing that fine yarn, pointy needles and charts were the reason I abandoned the Pirate Danger sock and were the same drawcards for Icelandic Poppy.

 The Thursday rive up was fine, long but fine, nine plus hours, and we arrived Friday to this welcome and a full day of talks and chats about all things costume and textile.

 On the drive up I finished the 1x1 rib on the plain grey cardigan, and even worked two complete rows of k1s1 to set up for a tubular hem bind off. I have the stitches threaded on self yarn so I can work this at my leisure. I decided the lace around the collar will be the feature and the 1x1 ribbing was a perfect extension of the plain stocking stitch fabric. I also decided that twisted rib was to much to attempt flat in a car at speed.

  Early on day one of the conference I set aside the hem and picked up for the sleeve. I had stitches on a holder and some cast on at the underarm to pick up. I had worked a wee gusset decreasing away the extra underarm stitches, as a form of dart or shaping, and did the same on the sleeve. Seemed appropriate to construct a vintage pattern-making feature, the underarm gusset at a symposium filled with people who not only know what such things are but are interested enough to write papers on them.

On the way back there were three of us, so I sat in the back - all the better to knit and knit. By home time I had this much sleeve done ....

This was the view much of the way, spectacular green, gold, and yellow tree  lined farmland and rolling hills, with a slight cloud cover. The speedo is in km ... and 93 is under the speed limit, just in cast you were wondering.

My backset companion was this lovely fragrant bunch of teeny mini daffodils and sweetly scented blossom in bud, heavenly. We were all surprised so see and smell these in what is only a few weeks past the shorted day, but this winter has been mild. The flowers were not mine, but I enjoyed them for nine and a bit hours.

And now I am back, all enthused for the next symposium and with ideas already of what I could present. I've already written a contact - please may we letter.
Aso enthused by the progress on the grey cardigan ... imagine that!

take care
na Stella

Two weeks on leave and what do I have to show

Not much, we upgraded the computer through several operating systems, and got a new mouse - equivilent (Magic Trackpad) which I am still coming to terms with. Bear is an amateur historian in his non-working life, and like everything Bear does ... his research is at a level that I would consider appropriate for some one who is an academic. He has taken to using Google Maps to track confirm or eliminate the existance of early 20th Century Basil Hooper Houses in Auckland. Quite handy really as we live about 1400km from Auckland, but apparently an upgrade was needed to let him take advantage of the new-ist and best-ist features. So what you say, well this week seemed to disappear in cyclic sessions of installing new system software, waiting for the TimeCapsule back up to complete, then for the newest updates to load, then back up, before moving up to the next version. All in all a lot of time spent wandering into the room with the computer and seeing it still had to restart, or that it estimated that the next step would take 2 hours and 14 minutes, knowing all the time it was just one stage of many that needed to be done. All in all I'm pleased but a little nervous, usually software and system upgrades cause some sort of dilema or difficulty so I am still kind of waiting for the fall out on this one. the complete irony of this is that we upgraded from Leopard to Snow Leopard, then to Lion, just in time for Mountain Lion to be released this month so its not over yet. (Small note - just hit my first snag - the flickr uploader I use needs to be upgraded to work with the new OS .... please excuse me whilst I do that now, it shouldn't be long). 

Second Sanquhar mitt starts

I have been knitting, and frogging, and despite the frogging things are growing. I've cast on for the second of the Sanquhar mitts, and managed a few rounds. Luckily I keep rather good scribbled records so I knew what yarn I had used for the cast on and what cast on I had used. Given that I started mitt one way back on the 25th of February, I'm rather glad I keep a workbook of my knitting.

Knit One Below hat, squared decreases

I've also made good progress on the Knit-One-Below-Hat, and happily report to being half way through the crown decreases. I'm not really following a pattern, so the decreases were a little bit unplanned. I determined my stitch count was easily dividable by four, so decided to decrease at four points. The first trial was decreasing three stitches into one, at each of four points. If you have ever worked knit-one-below, the flaw in that plan may be obvious, but it wasn't to me. I just couldn't work out a neat method of maintaining the appearance of the knit-one-below fabric where the decreases were. So after a good 12 rounds, I'm not always quick at noticing when things are not going well, I frogged and started again with a new plan. The new plan seems to be working, based loosely on Jarad Floods Turn a Square Hat, I'm working eight decreases, two paired around four points.  So far so good, I'm keeping the knit-one-below pattern intact as far as I can by working the knit-one-below as part of the decrease when needed.

Matched Pairs of decreases in Knit-one-below fabric, 

Side body of my great grey cardigan

My plain grey cardigan seems nearly ready to do something else, I've worked over 6 inches of the body and am thinking that any row now I should switch to ribbing. I'm thinking 1x1 twisted ribbing, because I like the look of that and the drape, I'm not sure if I will go down a needle size or not. Probably not as I don't like cardigans and jerseys that pull in at the hem, much preferring  a nice swing to the hem.

Decisions, decisions, I do understand why most knitters follow patterns, they can select what something will look like, and then select similar yarn, follow instructions. I sometimes think that hand knitting is one of the slow-food styles of designing, in that the process is slow compared to may other crafts, and so decisions can have repercussions that involve more work, and more risk of frogging. Its easy to take a risk with a technique that might result in a frog 12 rounds of a smallish hat, not so easy to plunge into the same risk for a much larger body of knitting like a cardigan knit in sock yarn.

Feel free to leave advice on what I should do with the Grey cardigan hem, remembering I will be adding the crotchet lace from the Clair Cardigan to the neck, and there will be sleeve cuffs to match the body hem eventually.

na Stella

Still avoiding the fix

Yes, I'm still dithering over the fix for the snagged lace. I know it is fixable. I know that fixing the pull means sitting and patiently tugging and easing the yarn back into its rightful place. I know that will take time, more than a few moments. I'm just not ready to sit and focus on that right now. What I have done is pick up the lace shawl and look at it, this I think is preparation for fixing the snag. And I managed to make a clearer image of the snag .... in all its loose yarn glory. There seems to be about 14cm of yarn to work back into the knit.

Meanwhile my classic grey cardigan grows, I have divided the yoke up into two sleeves and a body, and am now knitting the body. I have tried on the yoke and it all feels good so far. This past weekend was Queens Birthday Weekend, usually a cause for a long weekend. This year the Queen celebrates 60 years on the throne, as I type that I think that can't be right. Yet I have checked and it is, 60 years of being The Queen. There were all number of celebrations, and it seemed that the Queen's face was on the front of most printed magazines, featured daily on tv, and online. I've joined the online celebration with what seems to be the customary overuse of the Queens image, here a 26 year old Elizabeth R printed on the cover of next weeks NZ Listener peeps through the armhole of my knitting. She has the most amazing eyes doesn't she? I am sure I can see a hint of a smile in them.

The entire image shows her wearing what must have been deep  red lippy - not something I usually associate with the Queen. but there it is. As you can see I'm nearly at the end of the first skein of yarn in the cardigan. So  I either commit to a second skein .. or I set this project aside and complete one of the many other things that are still on the needles and in need of attention. I'm really not sure what the decision will be. Perhaps I'll even spin instead of making a decision. Things at work are quietly busy, there is a heap of marking to have done, fantastic news as M had her final for her PhD and once she has made a few minor changes has passed (there are balloons everywhere - and I mean everywhere in the office, dozens and dozens of them), and with no studdents there is a window of opportunity to write a few articles and work on some teaching prep. All that seems to be almost too much - perhaps I am beyond making decisions right now and I just want to wallow in part done projects and avoid making any decisions?

I'm probably just tired, weekends away do that to me, more so now than ever.
Take care, we had snow this morning, and it sort of lasted, traces still around the corners of the city and our lawn.  Bear drove carefully, and so did I, hope you do too.

na Stella