Hasty

Thanks for all your encouraging comments on my yarn problem, and especially for the suggestion of alternating the two batches. Thanks, HPNY! Believe it or not I wouldn't have thought of that myself.

The point of this post is to admit that I might have been too hasty in my criticism of Texere. Although the fact remains that they didn't give me the correct information at the time of ordering the new yarn, I should have contacted them with the problem first; that is, before denouncing them completely. They've admitted they did produce more than one batch but they have also asked me to send them a piece of the yarn I need, so they can see if they have a match. This means that either I'll get hold of the matching yarn and it will (might) be happy ever after, or I can at least mix the two, as you all suggest. The customer service at Texere is in fact very good and I suppose anyone can make a mistake.

At least this gives me the opportunity to do a bit more on the stole, though I still have about nine repeats to do.

I've forgotten about Eye-Candy Friday again. Oh dear.

Rumpelstiltskin
Okay. It doesn't take much, I know.....but I'm really mad and it's all (mostly) because of Texere Yarns and Willow. Fatal combination. You know how I've been slogging away at trying to finish Willow? And how it's been a wing and a prayer all the way, what with swapping yarns, needles etc. Well, I just got half way through the first sleevehead, only to find that the new cone of yarn is completely different in shade to the rest of the garment. I'd checked with Texere to see whether they could get the same dye batch as the others I'd used and they'd said they'd only produced one dye-batch of this yarn, so any yarn sent would match. Oh yeah, right. So I knitted about thirty rows in the new yarn in the dark last night and this morning...horrors. I don't know if you can see it in the photo. Aaaaargh. I suppose it is partly my fault as I should have ordered enough in the first place. Having said that, if Texere had just told me they didn't have the right dye batch at least I wouldn't have knitted all this and wouldn't now be having to rip back - possibly a whole sleeve - if they can't get the right yarn as a replacement. I HATE RIPPING BACK. So the options are: start this sleeve again and knit both in the same batch and have the sleeves not matching the body, but two sleeves not matching is better than just one; knit the sleeves in a plain, rust-coloured yarn; or carry on in the right yarn if they can get it.

I will let you know what happens (if I don't rip myself in two first, like Rumpelstiltskin in a rage, when he stomps himself through the floorboards at the end of the story).

Still Nothing to Show

It's not that I'm bored with the knitting at all. I have been knitting but just little bits here and there. I seem to have been picked up and swept along by the everyday current of life and I'm still hurtling along with it (but towards which end?) Time that would have been spent knitting (in between putting Charles to bed and eating dinner) has been spent exercising, and I'm reaping the benefits from that. I feel great. But my knitting..... Eunny says she doesn't often sit and give knitting her exquisite attention, more often knitting a row here and there whilst waiting, say, for water to boil or whatever. I'm right there with her, except that if I mostly did that I'd get a few rows done each day, rather than the whole, beautiful garments that seem to magically appear on Eunny's blog so often (isn't she talented!) What I'm saying is, in order to make progress I need to find more knitting time. If I ignored Charlie all day long and just threw his meals on the table and said "go play, Darling", I'd get loads done. But that's not fair. A neglected and bored toddler....shudder. I did have a chunk of about an hour the other day but when I went back to it later, I realised that for some inexplicable reason I'd stopped increasing and for the last twenty rows I'd been decreasing. So I had to rip back. Aaaaargh.

What do I have left to complete? I've knitted the back and two fronts and half a sleeve of Willow (the long cardigan). I tacked the back and front together a few nights ago (and forgot to take a photo). It seems to sort of fit, as far as I can tell. Now, this is very lucky when you realise my tension is so out. The garment is several centimetres wider than it should be, and several shorter. So how the sleeves are going to fit the body when they too turn out shorter and fatter, I don't know. I expect I'll squeeze them in somehow. Maybe this cardi will have puffy sleeves. Could be interesting.

Edwardian Stole I still have about eleven repeats and the top edging to do. I've got used to knitting this lace with the television on/people talking etc and no longer feel like screaming at anyone who so much as breathes in the same room when I'm trying to CONCENTRATE. It's Willow that's stopping progress on the shawl as I really want to finish it. The loopy yarn is pretty irritating, though I find the colours lovely, and I do find knitting garments a long and drawn-out process. I need a quick fix. Maybe some new sock yarn. Have you seen Piece of Beauty's new shop? Lovely.

BTW I know the above photo has absolutely nothing to do with knitting but it's symbolic of just how weird life can seem sometimes (this was taken last Thursday when we went to West Wittering and Brighton, though that wasn't one of the weird days and we had a great time). They look as though they've just been dropped out of a UFO, don't they?

Update


I haven't been posting much lately, I realise; once a week has been about it. The reason is I'm still working on the relatively larger items, like the Willow cardigan and of course, the Edwardian Lace Shawl (actually it's called Edwardian Lace Stole on the pattern).

Rows and rows of black KSH don't make for interesting photos, so I'm leaving it to your imagination, but I've now completed the top edging on the first half, which is a relief. The points along the sides are knitted as you do each row, at the edges. But the points along the top and bottom are knitted individually. I mean it's a relief because I was worried I might not understand how to do them, but it was easy and only took an hour or so. But the bit that took some fiddling about was picking up all the stitches along the provisional cast on and knitting the first rows of the second half and having the pattern match exactly with the first half. Easy, you say - just follow the pattern. Yeah, right. Somehow I kept ending up with one stitch too few after that first row. Not an error in the pattern. In the end I just increased one stitch at one end and carried on. I was so lucky the pattern matched up exactly after this debacle. I must have inadvertantly placed the missing stitch where it belonged. Anyway, I'm two repeats (out of fourteen) along on the second half. Shouldn't take too long to complete, though. I can do this lace whilst speaking now, and with noise in the background. Oh, and I must mention that apart from being one stitch astray that time, I haven't made any mistakes at all. My lifeline still languishes back at repeat number six (I'm on seventeen now). I hope I haven't spoken too soon. I am being very careful.

The yarn in the above pic is Cascade 220, The Heathers. I got it at the same time as the gold KSH and Debbie Bliss Tweed, but forgot to show it. I'm going to make Forecast with it. Better wait until I've finished Willow first, though. Oh, I cannot be bothered to knit Willow. So, so bored with it.

Eye Candy Friday and Idiosyncratic Socks


I chose this picture for ECF, not because it's particularly beautiful, but because it portrays a time of year I love in our garden. The buddleia has come back into flower. We've had two flourishes this year, which is such a treat as the scent is divine and can be detected from the top end of the garden. The apple trees are of course full of fruit at this time of year and I find them particularly pleasant to look at, and to smell.


Toddler socks are so fast to knit. Here are Charlie's. I would have liked to make them slightly longer in the leg, to line his wellies better but was afraid of running out of yarn. As it was, there wasn't much left over when I'd finished.


These socks have their own little special trademark; they look as though they've been knitted specially for an elf with very pointy feet. Towards the end of the toe I didn't stop putting in the knit rounds between the decrease ones. Of course, this made them long and pointy. Still, if a sock was too perfect you probably wouldn't believe I'd knitted it myself. (Speaking of perfect socks, just look at these - scroll down to post dated 29th August).

News on the Edwardian Lace Shawl next week.

If the Sock Fits

Remember those terribly bright socks I was knitting? Well, here they are - finished! As you may be aware, I do have ghastly trouble knitting a sock that fits. The last pair was so tight they were actually painful, but I persevered and wore them through the pain, and they now fit, although I practically have to shoehorn them on. Anyway, the point is, this latest pair fits like a glove, um, like a sock (should).


I just cast on 56 stitches on 2.5mm needles and knitted the whole thing in stocking stitch, instead of all those fancy-pants patterns I've been doing lately. I knitted an extra four rows of heel flap to give a little extra around the instep but I think these would have fitted anyway. They're quite stretchy.


I really like the Lana Grossa yarn I used and am even coming to terms with the colourway. The yarn itself knits into a very soft and light sock and is very easy to knit with. Perhaps you can tell how much I like these socks - I've added too many gratuitous sock photos. I'm also half way through a pair for Charles, using the leftovers (wellie socks). By the way, the one at the top isn't me in my nightie. It's a black net skirt I'd worn that day and it has a cream underskirt, which is showing through quite boldly, due to the flash. I took the photo in the dark, not being terribly organised.

The other thing is, I've started a new blog, The Fitter Princess and the Pea, owing much to how fat I am and how unfit I suddenly am. I'm hoping it will motivate me. Really, I'm just copying Dipping My Toes Back in the Water, who has done the same thing. That's a funny blog, by the way. Give it a visit if you can. And it's got great music on it, too.

Oh, and by the way, you might like to check out this shop I came across, Foreign Strand. It stocks some yarns I've heard mentioned but not seen available to buy in the UK.

Eye Candy Friday and Crawling Up that Hill



The above gladiola was rescued from the garden after the heavy rain snapped the stem. I find I enjoy them so much more on my kitchen windowsill, anyway. I didn't realise I liked gladioli so much.



Thank you all so much for your encouraging remarks about my paintings. I really do appreciate all the comments and I will certainly take it up again one day when I have a little more time to dedicate to it.

I haven't posted for a week because I just have not had the energy. That is very, very unlike me. I never feel lacking in energy but since having the most horrid earache two weeks ago I feel about ninety. Sore throat every day, and tender skin. I bloody hate it, as everything feels such an effort. I want to feel like I usually do. And it's not even flipping winter yet. I feel like I'll never be healthy again. I will stop whining now.....

The Debbie Bliss and KSH above were obtained by selling some Louisa Harding blue Kimono Angora and Kimono Ribbon on eBay. Thank heavens I got rid of that stuff. It might look and feel nice but it's evil. The angora leaves bits of fibre EVERYWHERE and makes my nose and eyes irritated and the ribbon is too bright and too hard and scratchy. Don't like it. I don't know what I'll do with the Debbie Bliss yet, but at a bit over £1 per ball, it doesn't matter too much. The KSH in "Swish" will be another lace shawl but don't know which yet.


I've knitted ten repeats of the Edwardian shawl so far, which isn't many, but there are times it irritates me silly and I reach for something else, usually a plain stocking stitch sock that I can knit mindlessly and without looking. At this rate the shawl will be finished just in time for the start of spring 2007. That's no good. I have to order some more KSH soon, for presents for my mum and my sister.

The cardigan I'm knitting in the Balmoral (texere) is called Willow and it's from the Louisa Harding Design Collection. So far I've completed the back and am two thirds of the way through the left front. Could this be the garment that fits me? If so it will be an almost miracle, due to the fact that the weight of the yarn is way off the pattern requirement and so is my tension. We'll see. I don't pick this WIP up very often as the loops in the yarn are "catchy" and I have to be in the mood. And I'm wondering how I'm even going to see these loopy stitches when it comes to picking up millions of them to knit the neck edging and the button bands. Lucky for me tasks usually turn out easier than I expect them to be. That's Willow, below. Take it from One Who Knows....it will be merely a shadow of that image. Hehe.



And finally, my haircut (sorry-photo was taken "Through a Glass, Darkly"). I will not fail to have my hair done by Ozzie at Sanrizz when I want. Even if it means taking drastic action to get the money (!). He listens, he's courteous and friendly and he's great at cutting hair. He's better than any other hairdresser I've tried (loads). My last hairdresser is now London Hairdresser of the Year but he never listened to a word I said. Titles sometimes just don't count (or the money they charge-over £100 in that case).

I hope I haven't posted too many photos for your computers. Please tell me if it's making things slow. I got carried away. Also, I must in future give some thought to the content of my posts and not just type a stream of thought.


BTW. I just looked at this photo again and it's even worse than I thought. I took it through an old Art Deco mirror the in-laws gave to us. It's really beautiful but it's in four square pieces with pale pink and green glass strips down each side. Where the square bits meet in the middle they've distorted the image and chopped the back of my head off. Haha. But it's worth the distortions. I love that mirror (and the in-laws).

ECF and Things Once (well, almost) Forgotten

I came across "Piece of Beauty" blog, the other day. In it was mentioned the Rowan Tree, or Mountain Ash. We have a large and beautiful Mountain Ash in our garden, and though I'd admired it through the seasons for at least six years, I had no idea that it's also know as a Rowan Tree. Of course, I've heard of the Rowan Tree, I just didn't realise it's another name for the Mountain Ash. Now, I thought I knew what a Rowan Tree looked like............One of the first houses I bought was situated alongside a canal and this canal was (of course) lined with various shrubs and trees. One day (one day of many, in those times) I was extremely bored and decided to give watercolour painting a go, and, as there were plenty of willing and patient subjects lined up along the towpath, I brought a random twig into the house and began (see below).

As I didn't do "art" at school (I did pottery and batik and drama and biology and theatre arts and sociology and Eng lit and pure and applied maths, but not painting) I was very pleased with the way it turned out and rushed out to buy a set of Winsor and Newton paints, set in a delightful metal paintbox, and painted every Sunday.


I wanted to move on to Other Things, like landscapes and interiors and catching the light a certain way - that kind of thing. But I really didn't know where to begin and, more to the point, I was too scared of not being Good Enough (Sarah......that's the self-defeat I mentioned). So I stopped. And I have regretted it ever since.



I'm irritated by my failure to pursue something I might have been good at and this is one thing in a list of activities that have gone the same way. I remember dragging a 10kg bag of clay home from a local art centre. I really did drag it. I only weighed about 7st at the time, if that! But when I got it home, I lacked motivation and inspiration and I think it's because I wanted to go straight in there and be fantastic and I knew that wasn't possible, so I couldn't be bothered.



What has this got to do with the Rowan Tree? See the second painting down? Someone once looked at it and said "oh, a Rowan Tree". So I always thought it really was a Rowan Tree, after all, why would I question it? And sixteen years later I find out that it wasn't a Rowan tree at all (the leaves were a glossy, deep green and not in clusters, as a Rowan's are), and it doesn't matter .....but what is interesting is that it brought to mind these paintings and a time gone by, and also a reminder that I can do more than I think I can. And that whatever I can paint or knit or cook or whatever, it's a gift, and something to be thankful for; not something to resent, just because someone else can do it better. There will always be others who can do it better and, these days, I can look at them as inspiration, and take pleasure from their achievements. I must have grown up a bit.

And my paintbox....I left it behind in 1999, when I left my evil partner in a hurry, before he came home and stopped me. He'd put my paintbox in a beautiful hand-carved closet he kept in a corner of the room, locked (I never knew what was in there).

I was planning to show you my WIPs and some yarn I acquired as a result of selling some. I will show those next week. I'm off to Mayfair to get my hair cut tomorrow, at Sanrizz, where I always used to go. My beautiful almost-mother-in-law-and-friend has insisted on paying. I think she's horrified that I've been cutting my own hair for a year and a half. I'm quite excited as I haven't been to London in ages and it's nice to visit every now and again.

BTW. You might have noticed that my surname is Keen on some of the paintings and Plumridge on others. That's because I used to be married.

Progress on Lace Shawl



Having ordered the Edwardian Lace Shawl pattern on a spur-of-the-moment whim (mostly due to my current love-affair with KSH), I then felt a little anxious that it would be beyond my knitting capabilities. I needn't have worried, as I soon found there were no borders to be knitted separately and then grafted on, or anything yuk like that. However, it did require a provisional cast on, which I'd been avoiding for ages, by ignoring any pattern that needed one. Again, I needn't have avoided these provisional cast ons, as there is nothing complicated about them at all (well, not the way I did it, anyway). So, having joined in my KSH, I got down to it. At row five I found there were more stitches left than there should be, at the end of the row. I checked and checked again, and just couldn't find where I'd made the error. Started unknitting it stitch by stitch, messed up, and frogged the lot. It's not that easy undoing lace knitted in black sticky KSH, I can tell you (although I'm quite good at it now). Started again, got to row five and found the same problem again. At this point I was suspicious that there was a problem with the pattern. Never mind, Heirloom Knitting told me what the row should read and I carried on. Then I did my maths for rows 7, 9 and 11 and found they were incorrect, too. Of course, H.K. gave me the correct instructions again and I carried on. Only to find that the corrected instructions for one of the rows was.......incorrect. Heirloom Knitting were very helpful and quite apologetic but it did make my first proper lace-knitting much trickier. I must add that Sharon at HK was very helpful with advice about picking up stitches from the provisional cast-on, as well. The company does offer support with knitting up their patterns.



Anyway, the pattern is very easy - I've come to realise that it's not knitting lace that's difficult - it's just making sure you don't mess up your rhythm half way through a row and miss out a YO or a K2tog or a Sl1 K2tog psso etc.etc. That's the only difficult bit - not going wrong! I'm counting every stitch after knitting every single row, as it's best to find any errors immediately. There have been hardly any and I've completed seven pattern repeats now.

After knitting fourteen repeats I have to pick up the stitches from the provisional cast on and start again for the other half of the shawl. I will practise that on some scrap yarn first, to make sure I'm picking up the correct loops. Imagine if it all went wrong at that stage. Shudder.........

I'm hoping this will be a nice big shawl. It should be about 72" by 19". I think mine might be even larger than that. We'll see. I'll let you know how it goes on.

Life is Sweet

They told you life is long
Be thankful when it's done
Don't ask for more
You should be grateful
But I tell you life is short
Be thankful because before you know

It will be over
Cause life is sweet
And life is also very short
Your life is sweet

Who do you believe?

Who will you listen to

Who will it be?

Eye Candy Friday......The above lyrics to Life is Sweet, by Natalie Merchant are eye candy to me. Very simple, but so true (and it doesn't do any harm to sometimes have a reminder). And the melody is beautiful.

Progress on the Edwardian Lace Shawl is coming soon (but don't expect miles of it).