Percy & Me

Yes, that would be my Percy(Bysshe Shelley) shawl. I finished the set-up chart, repeated Chart A eight times and, for about a week, struggled with Chart B.

Chart B was my first double-sided lace chart (i.e. knitting lace on both the knit and the purl rows) and I found it inexplicably difficult to read my purl rows. Post-it notes did help me keep my place, but progress was very, very slow. With an ordinary lace project I can zip through eight or ten rows without problem. With this one I got through two rows and I had to stop because I lost concentration. In four days I knitted thirteen rows. So Percy is no more. Yes, dear reader, I frogged my shawl last night at 11am.

Do you ever start a book, discover it is dire and yet you finish it, come hell or high water? I am a fickle reader. I start a book and if it does not grab me in one way or another, I stop reading it. My life is too short for dull reads. I'm a lot more loyal and disciplined when it comes to knitting. I never have more than three projects on the go (and frequently fewer) and although I do suffer from Second Sleeve Syndrome, I finish my projects. I think a lot about what I'm knitting and spend much time considering patterns and yarn before I even start.

But Percy started getting on my nerves. It was not fun and I consider lace knitting to be my fun projects. I'll try the pattern again in a much heavier yarn while the Old Maiden Aunt yarn  is already ear-marked for another lace project.

(.. related: I've found some very delicious Swedish laceweight which I'll resist until I've knitted a huge part of my laceweight stash down..)

So, let us look at some new patterns. The new Drops patterns have been out for a wee while, but I have forgotten to mention them here. As always, the Garnstudio designs are a bit hit-and-miss but thanks to the sheer volume of designs, I always manage to find some real must-knits.

One of my favourites is this yoked pullover. It's classy and very wearable (which probably means it will languish in my Ravelry queue while less wearable and more flashy knits jump onto my needles). To wit, this tunic is far more likely to catch my knitting attention - maybe do it in gray? And what about adding long sleeves to this cool top? Also, a part of me is very, very taken with this crocheted skirt.. Moving swiftly along, I also really like this cardigan and am intrigued by the Twinkle-ness of another wearable cardigan. Or what about a cropped cardi? Finally, I know I'll never knit this and that it would look very unflattering on me, but this pullover just oozes "cosiness" and "snuggling up in front of a lit fireplace"..

On a Knitterly Note

Today's a very quiet day in Casa Bookish. I believe my parents are currently looking at marching penguins in Edinburgh Zoo (or possibly at shoppers on Glasgow's Buchanan Street - not that much difference, anyhow). I'm still in my jammies and have been working away on the body of my Pine cardigan. I might just reach the "put body on waste yarn" stage today. I'm almost excited. First, just a brief link. Sarah Palin quit her job as governor of Alaska earlier this month because she is not a quitter (and something about basketball and dead fish too). Vanity Fair out her resignation speech through the capable hands of their literary editor and their copy editor. The result is very colourful.

The Interweave Knits Fall 2009 Preview is up.  So far the consensus seems to be "it is not horrible". On preview, I like the Freyja pullover (although I don't get the spelling) and the Barcelona jacket (although I'm not sure about its fit on people with curves - it could end up looking very frumpy). The Trellis and Vine pullover is immensely wearable and, with longer sleeves, Rosamund's Cardigan is a must-knit (and I have the yarn already!). I would have liked to have seen a Eunny Jang pullover or cardigan - and maybe some fabulous lace shawl, but you can't get everything.  Now to wait for the Vogue preview..

At the moment, though, I'm really drawing my inspiration from North European and Scandinavian crafters: Petra O's blå sjal (blue shawl) with its lovely yellow edging, Sanne's Percy shawl pattern (rav) which is my next shawl project, Veera's fantastic and inspirational modern garden cardigan, Birgitte's strikingly blue Buttercup/Cornflower and Olesdatter's beautiful Rabarber (Rhubarb) cardigan. I think it is the way they approach colour and their chosen projects. Veera had An Idea and chose a colour which would support the idea rather than overshadow it; Petra used contrasting colours to showcase the contrasting lines of her shawl; and Birgitte went all out colourwise knowing that her chosen pattern could deal with a striking colour. Seriously inspirational stuff and they are making me think about how I can use colour in my forthcoming projects.

Where do you find inspiration for your projects? How do the work of other crafters make you reconsider how you approach your projects?

FO: Abigail

To be honest, I thought it would take me longer to knit this little cardigan and that I'd have plenty of work-in-progress pictures, but I started and finished this little cardigan within twenty-four hours. I think it is a new record. Abigail is my own pattern - straight from my head through my fingers and into a finished garnment. While I have a few things I want to change (the buttonband bugs me a bit, for instance), I'm happy with the way it turned out. I'm also very, very pleased that the cardigan used less than 150 yrds of DK weight yarn. Stash buster, anyone?

As previously mentioned, I used Patons Washed Haze DK which is a cotton-blend. I'm thinking that Garnstudio's Muskat would make a lovely substitute as would their Merino Extra Fine (I'm on a bit of a Garnstudio trip at the moment, so excuse me). I used 4mms bamboo needles and some wooden buttons I found in my stash.

And Abigail? Abbie lives in my building. She is one month old and very, very pretty. I hope her mother will like the cardigan - I have sized it so wee Abbie should get plenty of use out of it in the months to come. I'm now going to reknit the cardigan for another little girl (this time in Denmark).

And the Rest Will Follow

After having drop-spindled for a few weeks, I'm now happy enough with the results to try and spin yarn I might conceivably work into something worthwhile. I've chosen some merino fibre in one of my favourite colours and am simply trying to spin as thin a thread as I possibly can. Depending upon how much I get out of the fibre, I may or may not ply it. Hopefully I will get enough to make a lacy cowl or even a tiny lace shawl.

Oh the excitement!

I still am woefully oblivious to the proper techniques, of course, but I can feel I'm getting better at "feeling the fibre" as my fingers work it. I can't ever see my drop-spindling a sweater's worth of yarn, but it is very relaxing and quite fun. I even have my greedy eyes set upon some of this fibre and this once I get just that tiny bit better at my drop-spindling.

Then there is the actual knitting, lest we forget.

I've been surfing various Danish blogs and discovered that my Pine is apparently "en pine" (i.e. a pain). I had no idea.

I'm knitting from the Danish-languaged pattern which is said to be riddled with mistakes and nigh incomprehensible. So far it is making perfect sense to me, but I don't know if it is because I'm a) an intuitive knitter who tends to use patterns as springboards rather than line-by-line instructions or b) using my grandmother's brioche stitch method which I was taught at a young age or c) doing something very wrong and not realising it? At any rate, my Pine is progressing well and I'm enjoying myself. I may get back to the question of the pattern's difficulty/flaws after I've started the yoke.

But that is not Pine in the picture! It is a little baby cardigan I started last night in Patons Washed Haze DK.

The yarn is working up awfully well and I much prefer it to the Aran weight I used earlier in the year for another baby item. The DK is smooth and doesn't split unlike it's heavier sister product - the colour is also very pretty and (dare I say it) gender neutral. It is a top-down cardigan straight from the top of my head and I'm really enjoying the experience. I'm currently combing my vast collection of vintage buttons - I may have accidentally found more - for something suitable. And more pictures will follow.

In the Shadows of Trees

Mooncalf requested a picture of my Pine. As the picture reveals, the cardigan's green (which will shock and surprise many of my regular readers). I'm knitting it out of two threads of the same fingering-weight yarn which is an unusual experience for me.

First I thought I could cheat and use some lovely tweed worsted-weight yarn I have in my stash, but when I actually read through the entire pattern like a good girl, I realised that some parts are knitted using one thread. So two threads it is, although I suppose you could get away with using worsted-weight yarn and matching fingering weight. Something to consider if you are planning on knitting this.

The body consists of four "ridges" and I'm on my third already, so it is a relatively quick and easy knit. I'm still sliiiightly unsure whether or not I shall have enough yarn (i.e. I have just about what the pattern suggests but I've been told to be slightly wary of Helga Isager's yarn requirements), but I suppose I could always have the button-band be a contrasting colour?

As for where I was sitting this afternoon - well, the Glasgow Botanical Garden is a perennial favourite. It is a short walk away from my home, it's relatively quiet even on busy (i.e. sunny) days and I can go into the Kibble Palace (pictured) if it starts to rain.

After a long, stressful and utterly busy week, I took great joy in buying some sugary tea, getting my knitting out and just chill with my knitting for an hour or so before my Other Half came in to get me. I need more afternoons like this.

I also took some more photographs of my neighbourhood because I do love my West End and several of my Danish friends have requested a few photos of the place. Stay tuned.

Tonight, though, the concluding part of Torchwood Season Three (aka "Children of the Earth"). Scarily Torchwood S3 has been jumping the shark in reverse, so instead of going from good to bad, it has gone from being ludicrous in its first season to being absolutely compelling viewing. All I'll say is that this season had me at "Well, what else are the school league tables for..?"

Recent Acquisitions

My good friend, the old maiden aunt better known as Lilith, is away on holiday and yesterday I went down to West Kilbride to look after her workshop. What did I spend my time doing? Did I pet her handdyed yarns or fondle the abundant piles of spinning fibres?

Of course I did, but actually I spent most of my times winding yarn. You can see the result on the left hand side. My arm hurts ever so slightly today (Lilith needs to get an electric ball winder, I should get myself a ball winder or perhaps I should just stop buying so much laceweight and 3ply).

Here are some of my favourites:

This one just glows, doesn't it?

It was a birthday present from Therese, my creative, funny and amazing friend from Sweden. The yarn is 1-ply organic Gotland wool painted with organic dyes for the Färgkraft co-op. The wool has that rustic, rough handle which I love with all my heart and the colour .. well, my favourite colour  in the whole wide world happens to be moss green.

In other words, this is the most perfect yarn in the entire history of wool.

While I am tempted to cast on for yet another Laminaria, I think this wool doesn't need fancy Estonian stitches or super-complicated patterns. It has so much character that I think we are talking garter or stocking stitch here. Any suggestions are very welcome - right now I'm leaning towards a Faroese style shawl or something similar. You can take a girl out of Scandinavia but..

.. and then this beauty which was a thank-you gift from Lilith for my help. I got to choose any yarn I wanted in her shop which was an absolute treat. I ended up with a 50% suri alpaca/50 % merino laceweight (shock, horror) dyed in the Bracken colourway which forms part of Lilith's Homecoming collection.

I really like the subtlety of Lilith's dyeing. Lilith gets that colours need to work together in order for the knitted-up fabric to work - something many indie dyers forget. This colourway is green but also beige and a bit gray and a touch of light brown with juuust a hint of creamy yellow-green. I don't know how she does it, but it looks stunning and elegant. I might just use this yarn for a very special birthday that's coming up next year.. or another Laminaria for myself?

Finally, a little treat for myself.

West Kilbride promotes itself as Craftstown Scotland which means the high street is littered with interesting little workshops. Lilith's workshop is one; Lorna's Chookiebirdie studio is another.

Lorna' s work is handstitched and handfinished using vintage fabrics. She works a lot with tartan cloth, tweed and Scottish lambswool and does very embellishments with beads and buttons. The first time I encountered her work, I spent a long time drinking in her style and flair. I'm not a handstitcher, but I can definitely draw inspiration from the way she uses embellishments in her projects.

And then I commissioned this little needlecase from her. I love the owl and the moon - and the craftsmanship is astounding. I know a certain widely-read Scottish crafts blogger has been told by Lorna not to blog about her work until Ms Chookiebird comes back from holiday, but seeing as I'm a completely obscure bloggerista, I'm risking Lorna's wrath..