Wow!

Look!

 Julia made me a cake, I suspect she was 'put up to it' by others who shall remain nameless, but she made me a cake. And not any cake, but a cake inspired by David Hockney's swimming pool art, all white and blue .... with dolls in jelly. Well there was jelly before the cake traveled home with me, a tsunami occurred, upon arrival at home the babies were found tumbled in a mass of blue jelly. Bear as an engineer pointed out that once one side of the pool had been munched - the collapse of the jelly water was inevitable. There is a back story, as would have to be with a cake like this. A few weeks/months ago the local knitters were discussing birthday cakes, and how as children we saw amazing decorated cakes in books .. I mentioned that as a child I had seen one formed like a pool with dolls swimming, and Julia remembered and recreated it. I'm happy to cut and pass slices to any who want any - and I apologize for the mess I made of the cake Julia crafted for me. 

Saturday night was the annual local Thursday night knitters gift swap - and I was gifted this amazing duo, a vintage toned crochet scarf and pencil case. I wish I could show you this in all its glory --- and as soon as Julia (yes the same one as crafted the cake  and so here is a link to her blog and much better photos). The colours in the scarf are all soft and tone with everything in my wardrobe ! The joins are amazing, Julia told me the details are all in the blog she links to on her blog, so I looked and I am further in awe that every sing side of every square was stitched to another that way.  I am one very lucky local knitter.

This was my humble offering for the swap, in amidst amazing illusion war of the words socks, and lace shawls and wraps and cabled tams, I managed a teeny little pencil case. Every year Ngaire organizes the swap, and every year we openly tease each other that all the gifts are actually for Ngaire. That way we can talk about gifts without really taking about who they are for. This year my gift was for Ngaire! Ngaire is amazingly artistic and loves all things grey, and draws like I imagine angels draw. When I saw Tom of Holland's Sanquhar pencil case - I knew I had to make it for my swap partner and fill it with things grey. I found this when I was searching out Sanquhar patterns, and now subscribe to Toms Blog, he has a great approach to visable mending that inspires me.

 The local fabric store had the perfect vintage inspired school print, with checkers that perfectly matched the folds in the pencil case.

And this is a new project, a Knit one Below inspired hat that I will introduce next post - because I want to go and admire cake and my lovely scarf, and amazing pencil case, besides my dad is here for the night so I really need to be a good host instead of tucked away with the computer, the internet and blogging.

na Stella

Finished, finished, started, and gone :-(

Yes, I've got two finished things and one new thing today, two new-old books, and sad news and I'm posting a day early. The week feels like it has spiraled off in its own direction and is pulling me along. I arrived back at work after 10 days leave to a full email in-box and the realisation I was booked on a course this Wednesday to Friday, 8:15 am to 5:30 pm. Out went the plans to write a paper, and polish another, instead I read the manual that comes with the course, yes a manual, a thick ring binder folder of questions to help me know myself and my abilities better. Apparently I will learn to juggle with borrowed balls - and not being one to ignore fate, I've trotted off and bought my own set of juggling balls. I'm trying to be a positive person, throw me a curve ball - I'll try and throw it back. Of course with knitting and spinning to distract me, I can cope with pretty much anything life throws at me, and I do need distracting at times.


But the blog is about my knitting, and today my finished knitting ... so first another hat, Odessa 2, for my little sister Paula. I've knit this in the same yarn as my Odessa hat, Sublime Yarns Cashmere Merino Silk DK, but this time in a khaki shade. Again this neat little pattern knit up fast, and easy. Her birthday is the first of August, but I'll probably deliver it this Saturday. Its winter and she can wear it early.


Second finished knitted object - a hooded BSJ. It was technically finished some days ago, but I didn't like the hood I had worked. Rather I liked the hood for which I had used the matching bonnet pattern from the Opinionated Knitter, but didn't like the shape at the back neck. The bonnet is knit from the cast on edge using the same shaping as the jacket, and finishes with a decreased panel and grafted seam at center back. But, and this is a problem, the decreasing makes the center back pull up. Thats fine and dandy for a bonnet, not so fine when a knitter wants to sew the bonnet to a BSJ to make a hood.




So I frogged the bonnet and reknit it with no decreasing at the neck edge and decreasing and short rows around the top of the center back seam. That worked much better and resulted in a neat key hole shape at the back of the hood. The back is not an exact match for the rest of the BSJ, but the side shaping of the hood is a perfect match, I was of course at this point running shy of lavender yarn, but had plenty of bone yarn. If the back of the bonnet was knit in the main lavender, the key hole shape would be far less obvious.









I do like the way the hood folds down, like a teeny tiny hoodie. The hood was stitched into place along the neckline, 3 times, yes I repeatedly sewed it in right side to wrong side ...will I never learn? It was dark, it was late, I should have gone to bed - you all know how that one goes don't you?









I finished the BSJ with a three stitch i-cord all around the edge, picking up the cast on around the hood and continuing the i-cord around the face edge. This photo was taken before the hood was attached, to create the button loop, I just worked i-cord unattached for 5 rows, then continued to attach the i-cord to the stitches as I cast off.













My new knitting project is a lace scarf, I decided my first real lace project could be steeped in tradition so cast on for a feather and fan scarf, 3 repeats wide in the Mohair/merino/alpaca/silk blend I spun. I've 312m, the pattern specifies 400m, and uses larger needles and finer yarn, I am knitting mine on 4mm needles. I hope I have enough to knit a long enough scarf to wear - as long as it crosses over under my coat I should be fine. Right now I don't know if I will knit this end to end, or if I will knit two ends into the middle and graft it together. Grafting it will give me symmetry, something important to other knitters, but I'm not sure in my first scarf it is important to me. We will see. I was impatient to start, so should have divided up the ball into two equal weights - but didn't, and that is harder to do once knitting starts. There has to be an saying to the effect that more haste causes delay - or is that the old 'less haste makes more speed'?.




I've acquired two new-old knitting lace books, Modern Lace Knitting books one and two. Both second hand and on trade me, both with copious pencil notes in the margins, so have come from a lace knitter who used them.

Finally, Odette died this morning, Odette my work colleague and friend and fellow researcher who made me think, and laugh and smile at the world. She was a very real and human person, a strong person with an incredible sense of herself and others. I will miss her terribly as I know her family and friends will.

Please excuse me while I go and knit and remember a good friend, one who loved textiles.

Stella

My fake seaman's scarf ...

Yup, thats right, a fake seaman's scarf, or my fake seaman's scarf. Which is what happens when you head off on a car trip with only a poorly researched/remembered idea of something to knit. Today I'll explain what I knit, and why it is a fake, and what a real one is like, I've scored a really good pair of books for work, and yes - my trip to Christchurch yielded some more fiber for my spinning stash, and possibly an opportunity of a 2 day spinning workshop. Plus its the last days to guess the use of my mystery knitting tool, all guesses before end of April go in a draw to win a skein of Vintage purls sock yarn (or her equally yummy lace yarn if that tickles your fancy), and if any one does guess correctly, well they automatically win a skein.

So, seamen's scarves, as detailed in Myrna Stahmans wonderful book, Shawls and scarves, are the same width from end to end, but appear narrower in the middle because of a 4x4 (or 3x3) center rib section. These scarves are traditionally knit for seagoing folk, and that makes sense. They fit closely to the neck and chest, and appear made to tuck in under a coat and so not fly around and catch in ships equipment. My scarf, has 1/3rd fewer stitches in the middle and a 2x2 ribbing section - so it looks like a seaman's scarf, but is not actually one as is traditionally knit in the 20th Century.

Last Thursday I headed off to Waimate and then on to Christchurch, and then back to home, making it all up a 10hour or more car trip. As a passenger that means lots of knitting time, a vistor in anothers house for 2 days adds even more knitting time. Salto needs more attention and chart ticking off than is easy in a car or another house, and I had just finished spinning this yarn, so was keen to make Bear a scarf. I had once picked up and looked at a book on Seamen's scarves and that seemed a good idea for this yarn. The two stitch patterns I had swatched before I left, Milano stitch and My-So-Called-Scarf didn't work out. Yes they are pretty, but they are pretty on the front not the back. In my muddled state I assumed all scarves needed reversible stitches, or at least my scarves needed reversible stitch patterns. See I was really muddled as both were published as scarf patterns, duh!

I knew it would be 4 days before I had computer access so - just before heading out the door I googled reversible stitch patterns for scarves and found and printed this. A variation on a garter rib. I reversed the workings and knit it as predominantly knit not purl and it looks good, completely reversible. Something I did not appreciate until KathyR loaned me her Stahman book on Friday (half way into the scarf), is that seamen's scarves do not need to be reversible.

Here is the scarf blocked, and smooth and fluffy and soft, I'm happy, given its still a fake. Fake seaman's but not a fake scarf, maybe mock is a better term? Yes, thats it, my mock seaman's scarf.


My happy find while I was away was in Ashburton at a second hand bookshop, a very tidy one, where I found these two treasures. Any one with a knowledge of garment pattern-making will recognise these two as classics. Natalie Bray knows(knew?) her stuff, and these have more interesting variations on hoods and sleeves and other things like collars and pockets than most contemporary books do. I've had these two on my wish list for quite while now, but balked at some of the on line dealers prices. I have always made do with work copies, but now I have my own.




And yes, I have some more sock yarn, Maya, in my stash. Isn't that just the prettiest icy cold blue you ever saw? Poppy, younger bear, was sitting next to me last week, as I knit Salto and wore my Pomatomus socks, and she sighed and said wistfully "How come you get all the pretty socks mum?", its true, Bear and Toby and my Dad get plain socks, ribbed socks, and so does she, whilst I get lace numbers - So this blue is destined for something lacy for my wee bear's back paws, because she noticed lacy socks and wants some. And that to a knitter is often reason enough.


and some dyed in the lock Lincoln, 2 bags full, 400g, in those impossible to resist purple, blue, blood red, olive green mixed together colours I love so much. And the luster is amazing - maybe for a seaman's scarf for me, in lace, perhaps even a real one this time ;-)
Lastly, while away I spotted an advert on a local pin board for a 2 day spinning workshop, so I've rung and put my name down. I'm waiting to see if there is room for me (the person on the phone didn't have the class list at hand), its at the end of July so plenty of time or organise my weekend.

So ... if you haven't guessed do, and keep knitting
Stella