As one of the Extremities Exchange moms, I'm going to have to admit that I've fallen behind on my thingy. If one had to lead by example, I'm going to be sent to the back of the formation.
The panic has intensified as I see Curly Lis has received her goodies (and that is one fine pair of socks), Triple A Kristine is ready to sew and send hers off and Dolly Dimples Heather has
Before you all start asking why I'm behind, I'm going to respond as honestly as I can.
(1) Procrastination - it was hard to decide what to do and what yarn to do it with, so instead of making a lightning fast decision, I debated for days and in the end selected a yarn that I have never used before.
(2) Over optimistic - yes, I thought that I would have a hour or 2 to work on it... but there were the Liberty sales to attend and oh yes, work the thing that pays for the yarn. Of course, I could had compromise by making something smaller, using thicker yarn or using a pattern, instead of designing on the fly, but I'm stubborn, and didn't want the yarn to defeat me. Why did I decide to try a new yarn?
(3) a bit of the perfectionist - * tried new pattern, ripped it out, cursed like a sailor* repeat * to *.
So where am I?
It's about 30 inches long and I need to keep going until it's 72 inches long... armspan of a woman about my size. So if, I'm very good tonight (and a not too exciting movie on) I might get to the 50% mark.
Yarn Liberation
Most of the Liberty Loot has been designated for a new home. I've added an icon on the side menu and I'll let you know when I pick up some more stuff. If you click on the shopping bags, it'll take you to the offerings.
The sales are capricious, in that you never know what might be there, so it's always fun if you go without expectations. Those with expectations are doomed to be disappointed.
I do have some other things to list but it's raining again so I'll list them at the end of the week, after I've posted this lot off.
London is awashed with visitors from all corners of Britain... !
Twice a year Liberty has an outstanding sale. All the discounted Rowan and Jaeger Yarns come out, along with tapestry kits, and designer fabrics. There are great bargains to be found for the fit and hardy shopper, determined to fight the crowds. There's always a bit of envy for those that can't make it, especially when they hear of some of the fabulous bargains that were to be had. Rowan yarn at 50% off retail...
Of course, to get to the yarn, you'll have to fight off the likes of Rowanette Jill.
Yes, I know she looks harmless, but she does have pointy elbows, and I highly recommend that you back away and let her get to anything in pink, lilac and mauve.
So, this year, I'm going to work on dissapating the Liberty envy by sharing some of my purchases with the ATU readers. I'm going to post a few rules on my stash liberation.
1. If you like what I have listed, please let me know. I prefer payment by Paypal or UK cheque. Normally, I'll be OK with US cheques but my sister has broken her leg and it would be cruel for me to send her cheques and have her hobble to the post office and back. If you really, really want it and can't do paypal or UK cheque... let me know and we can try and work it out.
2. This yarn is to be shared with ATU readers and Rowanettes. Don't be greedy. I have to lug it home on the tube, so while you may want everything that I list, I will be selective and put names in a hat if I have to, if lots of people want the same thing. I will try and be fair.
3. I will put stuff out in the post as soon as I can. I try but sometimes I get very busy at work and just can't get away to queue at the post office. Let me if you require 1st, 2nd, surface or air mail so that I can work out the postage for you.
4. All the yarn is new and pristine. All sales are by the pack.
5. I really hope that you will knit something with the yarn or for yourself. Please don't dive into my stash so that you can flog it on eBay. I can do that myself and almost certainly make a small profit. That's not the point, as I really want to bring the Liberty sales to you.
So what did I bring back to share?
This is a lovely blue. I have 2 packs (20 balls) in the same dyelot. It normally retails for £3.25 a ball. To my friends, £15 a pack.
This is a lovely grey with blue tones. I have 1 ( 10 hanks) in the same dyelot. It normally retails for £5.25 a hank. To my friends, £20 for the pack.
This is a lovely green with a nice yellow tones.. not an in your face kind of yellow. I have 1 pack( 10 hanks) in the same dyelot. It normally retails for £5.25 a hank. To my friends, £20 for the pack.
I was terrible at sharing when I was a child, so I'm trying to make up for it now :-). I do have a few more things to share, but it'll be sometime later in the week. t's raining again and I'm sure that you'll appreciate that, that's not the ideal weather for a photoshoot. If you'll let me know if you're interested, I might be persuaded to go back to Liberty and pick up some more things to share.
After ripping out the lace edging, I went in search of yet another lacy pattern. This is a rather open lace and the yarn is so inelastic that I'm going to doubt any blocking is going to be required.
The good thing (yes there is a good thing) about the constant ripping and reknitting is that the hemp does get softer with wear and tear and it's starting to grow on me. I'm working a provisional cast on as I think that I'm going to cast off in a picot edging. I've found it difficult to get an even and loose enough cast on to work well as an eding so I'm not going to fight it.
I've learned this provisional cast on from the Fiber Trend patterns. You crochet a chain in waste yarn and pickup and knit off that. When you want to get rid of the waste yarn, just undo and pull. It's quick easy and a really neat solution.
Here's a close-up of the lace. I'm finding that with a 3.5 mm, I'm getting quite an open lacework. This is probably due to the dull of the Addi tips.
Now, Lousie, Tessa, Thos, read on if you want to know more about 'doing the pig'
Chinese weddings are shrouded in all sorts of rituals. Modern weddings tend to follow some but not all the traditions. It depends a lot on the family. My family being the traditional sort, did try to do as many of the traditional things as possible, even through my husband was not Chinese, did not speak Cantonese and was probably too jet-lagged to appreciate what was going on.
I was the first of my siblings to wed so, I really didn't know the routine and wasn't in position to warn him either. So it wasn't really a case of my family stringing him along in one sit-com scene after the other.
I'll write more about Chinese wedding traditions as my sister is getting married later this year and I'll need to put together some details for her non-Chinese friends.
Doing the *Pig*
Three days after the wedding, the bride and groom are expected to return to the bride's home. They come bearing gifts, a whole roasted suckling pig, delicacies like bird's nest soup and abalone and sweets. When a girl marries, she marries out of her family and becomes part of her husband's family, so this coming back in the olden days was an opportunity to say goodbye to her family.
It is considered good manners and generous for the bride's family to return part of the gifts to the groom's family. If the bride's family does not return a generous portion, it's like saying the groom's family was not generous in their gift. In the olden days, the gifts might include silk fabrics and livestock.
Included with the gifts apportioned to the groom's family, would be the pig's head and pig's rear. It's symbolic of a good beginning and end to the union.
Prior to cutting up the pig, incense is lit and the bride and groom take their bows to honour the bride's family.
'Doing the pig' was a complete shock to my husband (come to think of it, a shock to me too!). My family had bought the pig for him and after the bows, etc. imagine his surprise when they handed him the pig head and pig butt...
Years later, when dining with another couple (wife is Italian, husband is Chinese), my husband mentioned this incident and the wife started laughing uncontrollably. The 'pig ritual' was a surprise to her and her mother-in-law had brought the pig over and explained what needed to be done. Her mother thought that giving someone the pig head and pig butt was off putting, so she gave the groom's mom, the pork belly and the ham and couldn't understand why the groom's mom insisted on getting the pig head and pig butt.
Henceforth, any Chinese ritual whereby one party (the non Chinese partner) is clueless as to what is expected of them, has become known as 'doing the pig'.
I found this link via Siow Chin's site. He's a riot and it certainly gives me a little perspective from the *other side of the bed*. It's not knitting, but you all know, I'm always in a tangle.
I wondered if anyone explained the 'pig' thing to him when he got married.
I found this little recipe over at Elka Knits and had a go. It made me laugh, is that all it takes to make a Polly?
| How to make a Polly |
| Ingredients: 1 part competetiveness 1 part ambition 3 parts energy |
| Method: Blend at a low speed for 30 seconds. Add wisdom to taste! Do not overindulge! |
North America
Rowanette Carol - Bomber
Mason-Dixon Knitting Kay - Dolly
Karen - who needs a project for the denim that she'd scored off ebay
Lisa - Bomber, Colorado or Brooklyn
Kerrie's Place Kerrie - Thelma
La Tricoteuse Bretonne Stéphanie - Bomber
Get Knitted Sue - Bomber
Champagne Bohemia Anita - Picot, Thelma or Saffy
Rowanette Sissel- Voyage
Rowanette Marie-France- Polo
All Tangled Up Polly - Bomber
Elly - might join in with Dolly
Eva's Journal Eva - Bomber
HK Knitter Marjorie - Delta or Raspy<
Little Purl of the Orient Siow Chin - Delta
Linda - Louise (although would had much preferred knitting Thelma or Picot for herself)
Hemp Project
I frogged the Hemp edging and I'm about to start again. Some days, no matter what you do, things just don't work out.
The best thing about finishing a project is ... I get to start another one! So feast your eyes of this.
It's hemp yarn from The House of Hemp . It's in the 'ahhh' colourway, a purply blue. I'm still not entirely sold on hemp yarn. I know lots of people have extoiled it's virtue about it being soft and cool. I'll know better once I've finished and blocked it. Although it doesn't split, I find it a bit stringy when knitted up. It was also an absolute nightmare to wind up. The 300g hank just kept twisting and in the end I had to wind it into a ball by hand, stopping every few meters to undo the tangles. It took over 3 hours to do and I cursed like a sailor in a storm the whole time.
The colour, however is fabulous. Like cotton and linen, the yarn isn't elastic at all. The lace edging that you see is a modified version of the edging that Nancy Bush used for Madli’s Shawl in the Summer 2004 copy of Interweave. I just love this shawl, but think that a simpler pattern would work better with this yarn, so I tweaked the edging to get rid of the bobbles and to work with the number of stitches that I needed for the width that I wanted.
I really should had swatched on a smaller piece before launching into the shawl center. I've tried out about 6 different stitch pattern already and have rejected them due to scaling, fit to the yarn characteristics, stitch definition and difficulty. So hopefully, I'll have made a decision by the end of this weekend!
Going to make a button for the denim knit-along too. If only I wasn't feeling so indecisive today ...
Anyone care to join me and Eva for a denim-along? We both want to knit something from Rowan's Denim People, so instead of doing a bomber-along, why not make it a denim-along?
Just let Eva or me know, we were thinking to start in July... so that we can all turn blue together and hopefully have something ready to wear in autumn.
I just had to show this. The Peace shawl is done. It only took about 5 months to get to finish the edging. I'm going to have to thank Rowanette Tessa for giving me the push to get it done. Otherwise, it'll still be sitting in a plastic bag waiting for the other 24 repeats to be worked on.
I wish I could take the credit, but FiberTrend have really outstanding shawl patterns. Everything is available in chart and text format. I find that I much prefer charts when doing these types of patterns. It really helps me to keep track of the design and makes the pattern so much easier to remember.
It's now soaking away before the great big block. The edging really does look pretty, even if it's a bit non-descript in this photo.
1 hour later ...
I pinned it up and dragged it outside for a photoshoot. Yes, the neighbours do think that I'm nuts.
My Six Sox knit-along is going swimmingly. Sock #1 is complete.
and after a wash in tepid water with a bit of dish washing liquid, the sock feels wonderful. The wool is elastic and really fulled up. There, I was thinking that I couldn't get a bargain on eBay. Soon, I'll get into gear with sock #2. It's been ages since I finished a pair.
While debating on whether to cast on something new or to finish a WIP (yes the man raglan is still a WIP), I stumbled upon my peace shawl. I had put it aside since after finishing just over half the edging. These lace shawl edgings take ages to do. It fiddly, easy to drop stitches and worst of all if you make a mistake, when you get to the centre point of the shawl, you might find yourself a few stitched short (yipes!)
I have 24 edging repeats to go before I get to the i-cord edge. If I do 4 a day, it'll be done in a week. Yes, I still love the peace shawl and I'm full of hope that, I'll finish it within the next 10 days.
Afghans for Afghans
and if it's too hot to knit anything of a **proper** size, don't forget that the girls over at MDK are still collecting squares for the Afghans for Afghans projects. If you need any inspirations ...
Kay 's got a luscious stash of Rowan Cotton Braid to give away for this month's drawing. Cotton Braid knits ever so quickly, you can make yourself a gorgeous top in *NO TIME* at all.
R2
For you cynics out there, that thought R2 is yucky and not at all the kind of yarn that any sane person would knit with ... I present to you, Rowanette Jill. Rowanette Jill attended a half day workshop at John Lewis yesterday, to learn what one can do with R2 yarn, that is do, as in not KNIT.
Unfortunately, all did not proceed smoothly. The workshop was to be taught by designer Leah Sutton, and attended by several of the Rowan staff from Holmfirth. Unfortunately, the designer was late and the Rowan staff didn't show. Nonetheless, the Rowan consultants from John Lewis, did an admirable job holding the fort.
Of the 9 workshop participants, 7 could not knit. Rowanette Jill was not impressed with the garments on display either and I'm inclined to think that she was disappointed that Leah Sutton did not ask her for her opinion.
Nonetheless, Rowanette Jill managed to decorate the tee that she bought along with both paper and rag. (I'm told that the rag rosette was Leah's touch to hid a coffee stain on the tee-shirt).
The paper was threaded on large tapestry needled and sewn through the tee shirt. As you can see from this larger photo, it doesn't look bad at all. Very stylish and very Monsoon-like. Although I would personally ditch the rosette on the grounds that I won't want to walk around looking like I won first prize at the country fair, but then again, I don't have Jill's panache to carry it off.
So Thos, here's another use for the paper if you don't feel like knitting yourself a dish cloth. :-)
Clover Sock
Here's my progress on my clover leaf rib sock from the Six Sox Knitalong.
I'm using some cheapo yarn that I bought on ebay last year in a moment of madness. I missed out on some Cherry Tree Hill (pipped at the last possible moment) and feeling the strong need to buy something, anything, I bought this. Perhaps, I'm not giving it enough credit. It's not horrible to knit with, but it's oiled yarn, so while very nourishing for my hands (yes, this was noticed), it knits slowly. I'm hoping that after a wash in some Fairy Liquid, it'll be really soft and lovely, but as it's a bargain mystery yarns, I hold out little hope.
I leave you with my prize peony. After 5 long years of nurturing, it's finally rewarded me with 3 flowers. I should had threatened it with the compost bin years ago, afterall, with a small London garden, if it doesn't produce, it'll got to be at least good for something.
Cotton Candy is kaput.
What a lovely project and it shrunk the requisite 20% but was still too big for my nephew. Never mind, he'll grow into it. My mom, kindly sewed it up for me. Did I mention that I hate finishing? Thank goodness for moms :-) and my mom is a gem, eventhough she nags me (a lot), which reminds me that I ought to call her to let he know that I got back safely (oops, maybe I need a lot of nagging).
Of course, he gave me one of his 1000 watt smile, which made me immediately suspicious. Even at the tender age of 13 months, my nephew know that he's got a killer smile... and whenever he's been naughty, he always flashes it to get out of trouble.
He also realises that women cannot resist it. Whenever we go out, all the girls coo over him. He's really irresitible and not the least bit shy. He'll siddle up to just about anyone for a cuddle. But his dad is wise to his tricks and he's being lead away from his latest spot of trouble.
I hope everyone's had a lovely bank holiday/Memorial day weekend. I did, as I was fortunate to spent it with my family in NY and as a super-duper bonus, I got to see Kay and Amelia .
Now that I've had some sleep and enjoyed some coffee from Kay's local, Irving Farm Coffee Company, I feel much more human and ready to tackle that clover leaf sock . In case, you were wondering, JFK security control did open the coffee, but they were very careful to not spill too much of it.