Whenever I work on rectangular shawls and scarves, I suddenly remember why I like knitting triangular ones. The River shawl is about 25% complete, but as much I as work on it, it just feels interminable. I find myself stretching in every few minutes and measuring it every time I pick in up in hopes that I would be closer to finishing. The pattern states a finished width of 72 inches, so I've a way to go and with so much finishing done recently, it'll be a treat to be able to knit something that doesn't have a million ends to sew in.
But I do love this pattern and this shade of dusky pink. (Have you noticed how this pink seems to really complement the 'English Rose' complexions?)
Coming out to photograph this, what did I spy? Bold as brass... he was. No, it's not a dog, not a cat .... but an urban fox... in my garden... EEK!
In case you're wondering how he got in, he came over the same way that he left, clammered over a 6 foot fence. Nic had better check out those rabbit hatches ...
Poppy
I've amended my last posting on that orange poppy. Trust me, it's orange, I've seen it in real life ;-)
Inspired by Anna, something new and exciting translated into the Go With the Flow socks by Evelyn Clark.
I am amazed at how quickly these socks are working up. If Interweave promised to publish an Evelyn Clark pattern in every issue, I'm going to sign up now for a life long subscription.
.. and here's some proof that not all weeds are bad.
I added this to show you what this little poppy looks like when the flower is opened. In my opinion, very pretty, but Rowanette Jill is right, a bit of research in my Horticulture books does indicate that this is a Californian not Welsh orange Poppy
(Note, most of the green stuff around the poppy is weed.)
I've often moaned in the past about the challenge of photographing red, but let me tell you, photographing navy isn't a picnic either. Nic suggested that I try taking pictures on an orange background. I looked everywhere, but orange is not a prominent colour in the Chez ATU decor. Let's face it, I couldn't find anything orange.
Now back to enjoy my Pimms... and (hic) finish sewing up fruity. casting on something new, exciting and interesting. (Sorry Sarah, I try to be good, but, I'm just weak)
London is one of those cities where there is an abundance of green. Not just the parks in the center, but just about everywhere, even in suburbia. West London is one of the prettiest area.
How can you not love, walking down the Thames Towpath?
Half a mile frm Richmond and you feel like you're in the country.
Sunny days are so treasured because, there really aren't that many of them.
Ham House
Just off the towpath, about a mile and a bit from Richmond is Ham House, a National Trust site. After lunch at Chez Lindsay's we marched walked to Ham House and enjoyed the lovely gardens.
Aren't lazy Sundays, just great?
It's really been a drought at ATU for finishing things this year. I think most bloggers feel some pressure to knit and be able to write about what they've done. Some are even apologetic about not knitting fast enough or finishing things.
At ATU, there's never any stress like that. Blogging is a selfish activity, a way for me to chronicle my knitting successes and failures and to share some of my experiences (good and bad) about yarns, patterns and designs. So no doubt, you'll wonder why I suddenly feel some stress about finishing.
Well, my husband has pointed out that the number of nearly finished things littering the house are not only still littering the house, but growing in number. While I really want to finish them and wear them, I'm finding it a bit hard to motivate myself to sit down and sew. Nonetheless, on a wet rainy Saturday afternoon, that's precisely what's happening.
So, fruity will be finished very shortly. (see Jill, I am not totally undisciplined ;-).
I've been working primarily on Sitcom chic during this past week and I'm doing really well on it. I remember why I like aran weight knitting. If the focus was just on this one project, instead of finishing fruity, I would have finish this over the weekend.
I lengthened the sleeves to full length and modified the sleeves very slightly to make them fuller. Personally, I like working sleeves simultaneously. It feels slower starting but actually works out quicker and I don't end up with a sweater missing a sleeve. So I reworked the instructions to knit them flat. I've never worked an adult size jumper in one piece like this, and while I like having less to sew, it is very heavy and cumbersome to work on. The weight of the full garment is skewing my tension a bit. Rowan All Seasons Cotton is a great yarn and although photographing navy yarn isn't all that interesting, it a nice colour and I will really enjoy wearing this cardigan.
Taking advantage of the rain stopping, I slipped outside to take this photograph, in case you all thought that I was telling porkies about the sitcom chic progress. A perfect little break from mattress stitching... and opportunity to make a cup of tea.
My Rowan Edgy Exchange project has been cast on! Every year, I'm one of the 'Exchange Moms' responsible for running an exchange for Rowan members on the Rowan International Forum. It's great fun coming up with a theme, writing up the questionnaire and then doing the matching. As the exchange has gotten bigger, more moms have been roped in to help with the coordination. This year, there are 4 moms, coordinating with a view for the thingies to go out in the post in July. Emma, Sue and Stéphanie are all helping out with this year's exchange, which introduces a slightly more ambitious theme: edgings.
I've been so indecisive, verring from sock to glove to shawl and at the end, selected this fabulous shawl pattern from Evelyn Clark. Whenever a list of favourite designers get compiled, I always see Kim Hargreaves, Kaffe Fassett, the Starmores and Debbie Bliss. I would have to add Evelyn Clark, she's one of my favourite shawl and sock designer. The end result are lovely and not so difficult to execute.
The River Shaw patterns comes in a stole and scarf version. I've decided to go for the shawl and will probably change the edging a little bit to make it a bit different. The yarn is a lovely laceweight merino, angora blend with a tiny bit of polyamide for strength. It's really fine stuff... very soft but very thin. Although not difficult to work on, the pattern does require some concentration...and I have rip back a few times already, but I think that it's really pretty and I hope my victim recipient will like it
What is it about British springs? It's certainly been chilly...even when the sun's shining. It's perfect weather for a little Sitcom Chic.
My Sitcom Chic is powering along, in Rowan All Seasons Cotton. Although it's a bit hard to tell, the yarn is in midnight, a lovely dark navy blue. I'm hoping this will not only be a versatile cardigan, spanning many seasons, but also resistant to newspaper ink and coffee stains. (Why do those Starbucks people insist on filling the cup to the point that it is impossible to transport without spilling it all over yourself?)
Using estimations based on Lion Brand Cotton Ease, I reckon that I will need about 14 balls, which seems an awful lot, but no matter, I thought that I had 16 balls in stash, but turns out there are 18 balls, more than adequate for the cardigan and to rework the sleeves to full length. Nothing against 3/4 length sleeves, but full length are more versatile. (Why do I think that 14 balls is an awful lot? The body is knitted in one piece. I'm up to the armholes now and have only used 4 balls. I'm knitting to tension, so I reckon that if I kept the sleeves to 3/4, I would probably only need about 12 balls for the second size.)
and fruity ...? Not sewn... I couldn't help myself.. given the choice between knitting and sewing, I let my baser instincts loose. I am a really, really bad girl.
You didn't think that Fruity was going to end up like Saffron too, did you? No waayy! Here's the proof, all the pieces, ready for the big block. The finishing won't get done until over the weekend. Weekday knitting time is just to precious to spend sewing. I also find that sewing works best in daylight and I never seem to get home early enough to have a few solid hours of daylight.
I never bind off the neck stitches, prefering to knit them instead of pick them up. I also like leaving the shoulder stitches live for a three needle bind-off.
Although I had to rip often because of misplaced purls, those little purls make it so much easier to count the number of rows and to match the back and front up, precisely.
I think that I'm going to have to tack some grosgain ribbon onto this. It's looks like it's going to roll even with blocking.
So Alpaca Woman, Amelia, are you feeling fruity?
Working on 4 ply projects is no different from most relationships.
I fell in love with the pattern when I saw it on Dodie (one of the Rowan consultants at Liberty). She had changed saffron to forgo embroidering by substituting with beads. I wanted it, no, I M-U-S-T have it. Once, I got going, I was flying. No one, ever said it was going to be easy or fast. It involved beading and you beaded on the purl and knit rows. It was 4 ply cotton, worked on 3mm needles.
After a constant flurry of knitting, I was making good progress. One sleeve was done. Then, I thought, why not do the body in one pieces. More quick progress but suddenly the project stalled.
This particular project has been on the needles for over 2 years. Whilst I still like the yarn, the pattern, the beads and can wear the garment , the fact that I didn't figure out the side seams properly when knitting it in one piece bothers me. Obviously, me and purple yarn, don't seem to rub along too well. I'm just short a sleeve, so I might finish it just for the sake of finishing it, I haven't decided yet.
Yes, I still love it, but the side bothers me. I might mattress stitch it, to hide the lack of patterning better.
What made me unearth this 2 year old UFO? A little discussion with my husband on stashing this morning. I thought at least one or 2 of your partners would understand.
Quote from the husband ...
... it's not the stash that's worrying, it's the satellite stashes that end up hidden in all corners of the house, they grow and grow until it is pointed out (by me) and then they merge into the main stash... and I'm even going to talk about the unfinished projects that get stuffed into the bottom of the drawers and when you least expect it (like when you're looking for a missing sock or something), a knitting needle or a giant safety pin appears from nowhere and attacks you.
and if you have a free moment go say hi to Rowanette Yvonne, that latest Rowanette blogger to hit the net. Just be gentle, she's a great knitter, but just starting to come to gripes with all this new fangled technology.
Just fixed the link to Rowanette Yvonne. I must remember to test all my links. Thanks to Colleen and Nic for pointing out that bad link! I sometimes struggle with this new fangled stuff too ;-)
Sizing from Last post
It's interesting to note that many people felt the sizing was too limitied in Vintage Knits sizing and equally interesting to see that many of the smaller sizes were concerned about patterns getting too big to fit them. I think that it's important for pattern sizes to be available in a range of sizes. I don't have a gripe with Vintage Knits per se, I did buy the book and I will probably knit that camisole, if not now, in the future. My point was a practical one, the sizes are too small to fit the average sized woman in the UK. It's a shame because the patterns are so lovely, but not fitting the average woman, excludes a large percentage of knitters.
I always chose my size by the finished measurement, and I highly recommend that approach to getting the fit that you want. Knitting 'my' size will never make me look as good as the models in the book. Looking at the garment fit on the models in the books is also terribly misleading. Most samples are knitted in the smallest or second smallest sizes. The models tend to be very slim. The ease for my recommended size may not be the ease for the garment on the model. In fact, there can be a lot of pinning to make it fit. Knitting magazine pictures can be so unreliable.
Have a look at this and this. The sweaters in both these photos are much too big for the model, it's saggy around the arms and torso.
Most knitter go visit the blogs and look at how it really fits on real people, who haven't pinned or had it 'styled' to fit.
Back to Fruity
Fruity as a portable project is still motoring along. I am making progress, but much more slowly. I'm also making a lot more mistakes, messing up on the number of decreases/increases and ripping far more than with the sleeves or back. In case you're wondering, cash cotton does not like be man-handled.
I have noticed the angora sticking all over my black trousers. I have to fight my instinct to say pants because in the UK, pants = underpants and clearly I would not have a problem with angora on my underwear while knitting on the tube.
The frilly edge is rolling. It's VERY annoying. It had better block flat or else... I'm going to sew a bit of grosgrain ribbon to the reverse side. The one in the book doesn't have this problem and the sample garment in John Lewis in Oxford Circus also seems flat, so I wonder if I've done something wrong.
and to the garden
I did a little gardening, taking advantage of the sunshine during the May Day bank holiday. Surprisingly, some plants that do have weed-like features are still alive and well.
This little beauty saves itself from being uprooted by flowering early.
Believe it or not, I've been trying to not stash...but I am easily led astray. To try and not buy yarn when you're out with other knitters looking at yarn is akin to waving an ice cream cone on a hot day to a in front of a weak willed dieter.
So, I've got me some debbie Bliss cathay. Believe me, it's red not the orange that it appears in the photo. I love the way this yarn looks and feels. After pawing the display garments in John Lewis, I knew that I had to try some Cathay.
I'm thinking to substitute this for the the Filatura di Crosa Millefili Fine used in the Acorn Camisole from Interweave Summer 2005.
I originally thought about doing this which is in Cotton Glace.
The Cathay is recommended to be knitted at DK weight, so it's slightly heavier than the yarns here, but I think I might prefer knitting it slightly tigher. I'll have to swatch to be sure. The weight of the yarns (meters/grams) is fairly consistent eventhough there's some silk in the cathay. I wonder if silk is denser than cotton?
So in addition to being indecisive about the cardigans (Sitcom Chic is pulling ahead because I rarely knit patterns when they're issued,) I'm also indecisive about the camisoles. The acorn cardigan seems like a more interesting knit than the Sarah Dallas pattern and if I'm going to work on a stocking stitch sweater, I'm going to need something a bit more exciting.
Much as I love the Vintage Knits designs, I'm going to have to say that Sarah Dallas did a big disservice to herself by not sizing up the patterns to fit more people. The garments are sized up only to a 36 inch bust and with garments with little ease (most are around 2 inches), there's just a lot people that she's excluding. (Consider that the average British woman is a size 16, that's a 38-40 inch bust.) I know that vintage patterns come small (as the population was smaller then), but why go through the work of re-interpreting designs and not sizing more of them up to fit the population? I've heard the arguments about some designs won't work on larger people and that there needs to be re-designing for the larger figure (OK, fine there might be some truth in this, as larger sizes might need some short-row shaping or changes for draping), but when the largest size is only a 36, it just seems wrong.
May 1st is celebrated as the worker's day (or Labour day) in most of Europe. Thoughout France, people offer the Muguet de bois (Lily of the valley) as a symbol of happiness and good luck for the rest of the year. It was a tradition started from Charles IX, as May was the time that marriage bans were posted and stems muguets were used to decorate the entrance to the homes of the future brides.
In France, Anyone can sell muguet (or any other flowers) on May 1st without having to apply for a vendor's licence or declare their earnings. Interestingly enough, in 2000, Robert Hue of the Communist Party declared to a judge that the major revenues for the Communist was through sales on Muguet on May 1st.
This was one of my favourite memories from my Paris days. All the shops would be closed with the exception of restaurants, florists and the boulangeries. It was a time to relax and visit family and of course, to bring home a few stems of muguet.
So, don't forget to tip your concierge and pass on a stem or two of muguet to your friends.