I woke up this morning to a crisp and cold day. There was even a frost on the ground. The husband assured me that it was even more spectacular about 2 hours earlier, when I was still lazing in bed. It's hard to get out of bed once it starts getting cold. Who would willingly subject themselves to the cold when they could snuggly more deeply in their duvets?
When I finally managed to get myself going, after coffee and a bit of breakfast, I went out to the garden for the weekly photoshoot. (My neighbours have workmen working on their house at the moment and they were staring at me as I dragged out my chair and various pieces of knitting. ) They must have contacts in the building trade, as I can't seem to ever get any workmen to work a 7 hour day during the week day, let alone come in on the weekend.
Birch - NG
I've been knitting away on Birch -NG. It seems like this patterns needs a new name. It's a rework of the fern pattern, but it's not exactly birch either, so let's call it Birch - Next Generation, until I get a better name.
I've forgotten what a pain in the a*** it is to work with this yarn. It takes forever to finish 1 ball, and I'm not a slow knitter. Not fast like Wendy, but fast along the mortal scale ;-)
Less I start sounding like Tink, it was not fun when I had to unravel a few rows to fix a small problem. Yes, I am one of those lazy people that don't use lifelines.
This is where I got to with one ball of Kid Silk Haze. (I've just joined in the second ball and did a row in it. Blocked out, it would be approx. 36 inches wide, 22 inches deep. A nice kerchief size, don't you think? I'll try and remember to measure as I finish each ball, so that if you get a bad case of the 'I'm so bored, this will never get done', you can anticipate how much of a kerchief you'll end up with.
I've stretched this over the top of the chair so that you can see the pattern a bit better. It took me nearly 8 hours (7 hours, 47 minutes to be exact) to knit up ball 1, so I reckon maybe in 2 weeks time, I'll be done with the test knitting and be able to share the pattern with you.
Don't you just love this colour? It's called Jelly and while it may look like a flourescencing green, it reminds me of Granny Smith apples.... which is appropriate for an autumn project, don't you think?
hello polly
oh i love your new version of birch but i do not know if i can do it my self i suppose the begining is like flower basket shawl but after big question ???
congratulations about all your shawls i love it
excuse me about my english..i 'm french.. but i live near manchester.
see you monique
Count me among the chorus of knitters who love your "Birch-Redux." I've got a lot of kid silk haze waiting to be knit up....
Posted by: elisabeth at November 16, 2004 01:52 PMYour BNG is wonderful.
I like this green apple color
Nice if you share this pattern !
Your BNG is wonderful.
I like this green apple color
Nice if you share this pattern !
Looking good, Polly!
Posted by: Kathleen H at November 15, 2004 05:52 PMOh, Polly, I COVET this. Especially since Kay made off with my first Birch shawl and God knows when she'll ever let loose of it. I would love the pattern, whenever you can manage it.
Posted by: Ann at November 15, 2004 04:42 PMsound like moi??? comme moi??? I have no idea whatsoever you might be talking about :)
Dinking back mohair/mohair blend is no fun, I am still on the fence about birch ...
yours is pretty though! and it helps to see pretty, even if it still kinda scares me
Posted by: stinkerbell at November 15, 2004 01:51 PMBirch NG is looking beautiful Polly!
Regarding the new name as the fern is the national emblem of NZ perhaps a Maori girls name would suit.
I have a copy of "The Great Australian and New Zealand Book of Baby Names" if you would like me to email you some suggestions.
Posted by: Carol at November 15, 2004 07:31 AMHi Polly, the shawl is beautiful ! I love the green colour. Lookingf forward to see the FO comes out !
Posted by: Eva Shiu at November 15, 2004 02:36 AMIt looks great Polly. I've not even gotten around to knitting Birch yet! It must be shawl season over here!
Dawn :)
Posted by: dawn at November 14, 2004 10:50 PMI have three balls of KSH in Jelly that was supposed to turn into Karis for Lyssie, I think that BNG is much more the thing.
I think your BNG looks fabulous and would love to knit it when you have done with the pattern.
Posted by: Louise at November 14, 2004 10:38 PMI'm not really a "green" pereson either but the shawl itself is lovely and I'm also really looking forwArd to getting the pattern of BNG. Is it sort of like Charlotte's Web - begin with 7 stitches ...etc? A much m ore manageable system than "begin with 299 stitches"!
Posted by: Lesley at November 14, 2004 08:48 PMOh, it's so pretty! I can't wait for the pattern! I'm blending some grey/brown/silver alpaca with some kid mohair in preparation for spinning, and have been looking for a good shawl pattern for it- I think your triangular birch is perfect! :-)
Posted by: Sarah Elizabeth at November 14, 2004 05:29 PMPolly, BNG looks lovely! Once you're done, I might even be brave and try it... :) I think that when knitted up, Jelly reminds me of apples - although in the ball, it does look flourescent, lol!
Posted by: Holly at November 14, 2004 05:23 PMBNG is stunning.I have every intention of knitting it when you,very generously,share the pattern.I have just the yarn !
Posted by: Emma at November 14, 2004 05:19 PMBNG looks lovely. I'm so ashamed to see you working on a second Birch while my first one is languishing at the bottom of the knitting basket with only 5 rows completed (and I think there's an error in there). I can't wait to see your pattern.
Posted by: Jessica at November 14, 2004 04:56 PMLove the color, Polly. What a great good deed you are doing for the would-be Birch Knitters! xoxox Kay
Posted by: Kay at November 14, 2004 04:43 PMBirch next generation is quite interesting to me...
Posted by: Tokaya at November 14, 2004 02:38 PMI LOVE the colour of your Birch-reloaded :-))
But I adore greens in general. I find you are a stunnigly fast knitter!
Here in Germany is also cold....it has been snowing the whole week.
Yes, it was jolly cold this morning, I am the other side of the Thames to Polly! This looks a very interesting pattern - is this started with a few stitches and then increased, the opposite way to original Birch? The colour looks lovely in your garden with the sun on it, but don't think I would like to wear it.......
Posted by: Jill at November 14, 2004 01:03 PM