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March 30, 2006
A note on Bridie
If you are thinking of making Bridie, it may be worth your time to experiment with different methods of increasing for the right front shaping. I went for the good old standby of M1 by picking up the 'bar' between stitches and making a stitch from that, but when you work that kind of increase on every row, the strain on the surrounding stitches starts to show, pulling the work in.
In the event it blocked out perfectly well, but if I was to make it again, I'd experiment with other methods, perhaps working into the front and back of the very first stitch of the row, or my other new favourite, working into the stitch below the next stitch, then working the next stitch on the needle.
edit to add: Jody rightly points out that a cable cast on will work well in this instance. Instead of increasing one stitch every row, you could instead use a cable cast on to add two stitches at the beginning of each right side row.
Posted by Anna at 08:42 AM | Comments (13)
March 27, 2006
Albtraum
It's like a nightmare, where I knit and knit and knit but nothing ever gets finished. Whatever I have done to offend the knitting sprites, they've made me sorry now.
Posted by Anna at 07:43 PM | Comments (12)
March 21, 2006
Buttons!
Isn’t it marvellous when you can scratch items off your ‘to do’ list without lifting a finger? I admit I’ve been shirking from making a crochet button cover tutorial for the Jess pattern – my usual tactic of procrastinating until the problem goes away.
So imagine my delight to find that Megan has put one together, securing a fond place in my heart forevermore. It’s available for us all to use (no more nearly matching buttons) on the CrochetMe site.
Posted by Anna at 02:56 PM | Comments (7)
March 19, 2006
Rosacea
Vivid patches. It must be the influence of Project Spectrum, but it’s making for dreadful pictures. If anyone's discovered the secret of photographing red, please, share the wisdom – it will make for a happier experience of future updates for us all. As well as the summer cardi in the last post, we also have on the needles:
Can you see the little butterflies? Peer closer... I promise they're really there. Lace swatch for a sock in a solid Koigu scarlet.
I have a terrible crush on Eunny’s work (have finished the edging of one short side of the Print o’ the Wave stole... and have you seen this? I almost wept). Homage in argyle. It’s growing into an everyday-type sweater, and in just a few rows I will need to make a decision about buttoning at the shoulder a la Jemima, but as I write this I’m leaning toward a v-neck.
Jaeger Extra Fine Merino is lovely stuff. It’s so round, like knitting with spaghetti. Or more goulish substitutes, in this vital red.
Oof do you ever feel overwhelmed by projects? I really must set aside some time for finishing. Tiggy, Medea, my Olmpic knitting, are both sitting, obediently knit-up, just awaiting a few final touches.
What a mediocre update. Stay tuned; surely I must be able to stump up something more interesting, in due course. The creative flow cannot always be strong, can it?
Posted by Anna at 09:57 PM | Comments (17)
March 16, 2006
Guess who's back?
The pattern for Claude is available once more.
Posted by Anna at 09:06 PM | Comments (7)
March 15, 2006
Next Thursday
If you're going to the Stitch and Craft show at Olympia next week, please come and say hello: on the 23rd you'll find me getting under Kerrie's feet on the Hipknits stand.
Posted by Anna at 08:13 AM | Comments (4)
March 13, 2006
Where were we? Ah yes...
Knitting.
My Sartorial Statement for Late Winter, started 26 Feb finished 28 Feb
Pattern: Kate Gilbert's Nancy Drew beret from IK Winter 2005
Yarn: Jaeger Matchmaker merino DK and Lana Grossa merino DK (black)
I only had black DK yarn to hand, and in two different brands no less, so this is somewhat larger and more poufy than the 'dorable little topper the designer envisioned. More like the 80s versions wisely eschewed by more diligent fashionistas. Those flecks, scratches and dirts are not actually on my face, nor on my camera lens - it's a very old mirror.
A Summer Cardi for Sue.
Tread Softly Socks
A new pair of Badcaul socks, with two leftovers balls of Karabella Margrite from that Bridie cardigan. My foot has a moment of disbelief when I try it on, that it should be seen fit for such softness.
Posted by Anna at 07:59 AM | Comments (26)
March 12, 2006
Jess update
There is an update to this pattern: I am this afternoon sending it out to everyone who bought it. If you don't receive your copy, please check the account of the email account which you use for Paypal. Failing that, contact me and I'll send it along. The error is in the armhole depth for the right front piece: it is correct as given on the left. Also, there is more instruction on the slipped-stitch edging which I hope makes things clearer.
Posted by Anna at 05:10 PM | Comments (2)
March 05, 2006
Long live the weeds and the wilderness
It was good to be in Scotland, in the snow, wind and wildness. Good to give a little bit of practical help: designing an order of service for the funeral, helping with the words of a non-religious ceremony, feeding the animals, walking the dog, preparing huge dinners for when the rest of the family arrived. I managed to read Remember Me by Christina Rossetti at the funeral without being overcome, but had been crying so – some may have thought I was reading a poem called “Rebebba Be”.
My aunt wears the shawl I made her for Christmas all the time – even to the funeral. And the greatest compliment possible: the hat I made for my darling uncle to comfort his poor head after his operation (it was knit and sent out too fast for pictures to make it onto the site), was worn by him not only in life, and at his marriage to my aunt just three months ago, but also in death for his cremation.
Of course I couldn’t handle the amount of thought required for working on a design of my own, for knitting while I was up there. So I took some of this grey cashmere, and Eunny’s Print o’ the Wave stole pattern. It was perfect, and while I was there I finished half of the main section – the stole will be even more precious for its associations. I found great comfort from working in a tradition, on a piece with history and relevance – a Shetland lace pattern while staying a (relative) stone’s throw from the Isles, a pattern of waves as I looked out on Little Loch Broom, in the same grey as the clouds that swept in over the mountains, blanketing and reblanketing everything with clean snow. Back in London, it smells of the woodsmoke from the fire with a temperamental chimney.
This is the other poem that was read at the funeral. I love it now and will forever. John is gone – but long live the wildnerness.
Inversnaid
This darksome burn, horseback brown,
His rollrock highroad roaring down,
In coop and in comb the fleece of his foam
Flutes and low to the lake falls home.
A windpuff-bonnet of fawn-froth
Turns and twindles over the broth
Of a pool so pitchblack, fell-frowning,
It rounds and rounds Despair to drowning.
Degged with dew, dappled with dew,
Are the groins of the braes that the brook treads through,
Wiry heathpacks, flitches of fern,
And the beadbonny ash that sits over the burn.
What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Posted by Anna at 08:10 PM | Comments (37)