What do you know, but Icarus is unpinned. The soaking did it a world of good. I mean, I did get sweaty fingers knitting it.
It's very light and frothy. Just the slightest of breezes seem to lift it
The pattern really comes alive.
See how elegant those feathery bits are?
Here's what the neck bit looks like. Someone recently wrote me, asking my why I did the cast on for Kiri as I did. With Kiri, you do a provisional cast-on, knit a garter strip, the pick up stitches and knit the cast on stitches so that 3 edges of the rectangle are on your needles. Miriam's Icarus doesn't do that. so you don't have a continus garter strip along the top of the shawl.
It's a matter of preference. There's nothing wrong with either technique, but the technique in Icarus balances it with a slightly narrower border. So if you want to do it this way, you should decrease the stitches in the border.
Here's another shot of the shawl with the hydrangea. I did put some bluing agent that I got from the garden center, but it was too late. The flowers went mauve. I guess next year, I'll have to feed it earlier.
Icarus is a fairly simple pattern to work (that doesn't mean that I didn't frequently make mistakes though). Definitely a good one for a newish lace knitter, although I would recommend using a heavier yarn. It's designed by Mariam Felton and can be found in Interweave Summer 2006.
I keep repeating those words. The heat will soon be over. Icarus will soon be done. I really feel sorry for all the LYS's. This summer has been awful. Even yarn mad me, have problems focusing on knitting when the evenings have been so relentless.
But.. the Rowanette Heath and Home exchange thingy must be done... so I ignored my sweaty fingers and the hairy yarn and just kept going, even it it was only 3-4 rows, I made sure that those rows were done.
The good news is, Icarus, nearly done. I cast off about 25% of the edging, but it is taking forever.
Finally, 2 days later, it came off the needles. It's all bumpy and the stitches very uneven
All the lacy bits are closed and bunchy.
After a soak and all pinned out, icarus is starting to look a wee bit more interesting.
but I think I had to repin a few bits and pieces to make sure that it's all even.
I'm going to go and unpin her tonight and see how she looks. The best bit about lace knitting is the blocking, the whole things transforms before your eyes one it's blocked.
One of my favourite outings has always been to the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum. It's set in the most glorious countryside. With the South Downs as a backdrop, even if there's nothing interesting to see, you can always enjoy the view. However, the Weald & Downland Museum is a very special place. Historical buildings from 13th to 19th century are dismantled, brought there and then reassembled in 'period' settings.
Today, it was the site of the Rare and Traditional Animal Breeds Show. Although this may sound like another wool purchasing experience like Maryland's Sheep show, it's not. Firstly, it's much, much smaller.
The show is in it's 21st year and although there are vendor stalls, it's not a shopping extravagaza like Maryland's . There was also a lot more happening with spinners and weavers, than there were for knitters. That's not to say that it wasn't enjoyable, because it really was, just in a different way. There's a lot to see and the animals were spectacular. I also learned a lot of how pigs are judged and why one pig gets first place over another, but more on that later.
If you subscribe to Interweave in the UK, you know these people.
No, I'm not going to take up spinning, but that's one fine wheel.
Self-sufficiency tent, you grow it, you spin it, you wear it.
More spinning...
Latch hook
Badger Society
Who would had thought that this existed?
Knitting
There was a tent for fleece, spun fibre and knitted articles for judging too. Pity that I couldn't get in and get some more photos, but I came by just as they closed up the entrance for judging.
Alpacas from Meon Valley Alpacas.
Sheep
This is the Boreray, the rarest breed in England. They originate from the island of Boreray from the west coast of Scotland from a small flock left when the inhabitants from St. Kilda were evacuated in 1930. A group of 6 were taken off the island in the early 1970's and although the number in England have risen, the largest population still remains a feral flock on the island.
Lined up for the judge. Baabaa black sheep have you any wool?
Pigs
Pigs are judged on the straightness of thir backs, nimbleness of their walk, smoothness of their under-carriage (for the piglets to feed) and size and colour.
This is one fine pig. The way a pig ought to look, pretty and pink. This girl rightly deserved her first place red ribbon. She's owned by the Marquess of Salsbury and will not be turned into a 'London Pork Pie'. She's a breeding sow.
This is a nother pig owned by the Marquess of Salsbury. This is a black pig and her pigmentation makes her an ideal animal for warmer climates. Yes, pigs do get sunburned. She's also a first prize winner.
I've never seen a spotted pig before, but isn't she just adorable?
Goats
Have you ever tried to line up 10 goats for judging? It's a lot harder than it looks, especially if they have horns.
Isn't this one just a cutie?
This guys looks all reafy to go out and meet the judge
You know that you want to take me home.
This guy has the most impressive horns. I tried so hard to get him to turn around for a photo. Hubby told me to toss him my camera case. I jokingly held it over the pen and accidentally dropped it in. Hubby had to fetch the case but the goat did turn around then.
It must be the heat, because my reaction to seeing this was to dash in and immediately buy myself a large iced tea... no sugar, extra ice, please. Then, I noticed all the cool toys. So I bought one of these for my nephew. Obviously, I should had read the instructions better. It grows 600% after 72 hours of soaking so dropping it into his nightly bath was not going to yield any noticeable results.
but, as a native NYer, trips to NYC are always nostalgic. Soho was not an area that I really ever got familiar with. I knew Greenwich Village, Chinatown, and Gramercy Park areas fairly well, but not Soho. not sure why.
I forgot to check the opening hours before coming. The last time that I arranged a meet-up here (over 3 years ago), it was the death of winter and I nearly froze my rear end off. (I had on a very warm sheepskin hat and coat on, but it did not cover the nether region). The shop was closed and I resorted to stamping up and down the block to maintain some level of circulation in my toes. It was entirely my fault as I got there way too early (in eager anticipation to see Kay and to meet Rowanette Olga, not realising that the shop would be closed (In those days the shop did close on Mondays).
These days, the shop don't open until noon! Which can be tortuous!
Of course, just down the street, is this little gem.
Of course, it doesn't open until noon either...
Look at all the goodies in the window
rows and rows and rows of fabric...
Did I even mention that I'm not a big fan of sewing....?
Lookie what I bought? Ain't it gorgeous? Who would had thunk that I would leave the yarn shop empty handed and the fabric shop with a clutch of the most pretty fabrics?
Yes, there were lots of goodies in Purl (the yarn shop). Maybe it was the heat after all because I suddenly wanted to buy fabric. I'm thinking to make this skirt. It doesn't look that difficult (famous last words) and I have enough fabric to lengthen it so that it would be knee length.
I might be bananas... but I blame Jackie for making me think about sewing and Kay for taking me to Purl Patchwork.
Purl Patchwork is a great shop and the fabrics are very reasonably priced. They even carry Liberty fabrics and Kaffe's quilting line. The fabrics I bought were priced at $9 a yd.
Lo and behold, an FO. The wiggly lace socks are done!
I'm always happy when there's an FO, even it it's not Icarus... and the wiggly lace bit makes this much more interesting than just another rib sock.
The knitting has really slowed down in the past 6 weeks. The weather has made it difficult to work with any hairy, woolly fibres. (I would like to point out that hot days is one of the hardest thing that I have had to get used to in Europe. In NYC, even the subways had AC, in cities like Paris and France, there are maybe 15-20 hot days a year and no AC... imagine shopping in an un air conditioned department store in the height of summer... does anyone want to try any of the clothes on even when it's 50% off... I didn' think so).
While, I have manage to do some knitting, I still haven't finished things like my Rowanette Exchange thingy. For what appears to be a very simple design to knit, I haven't been able to build up much rythm on this design.
Here are the feather-y bits. I keep teling myself that it will be gorgeous after blocking.. because right now, it's not gorgeous...not even pretty.
I'm making very slow progress on this shawl. With a rough calculation, I think I have about 16,000 more stitches to go. I often forget how long it takes to do a row once you get to over 350 stitches per row. This is my priority project.
Then there is daydream, which has turned into a bit of a nightmare. Converting a pattern from hem up to top down isn't that difficult, but the scallop-y hem was not so easy to achieve coming from the the top down.
After several goes, I just couldn't get it to scallop and I had a nasty ruching effect, so I decided to go with a knitted on lace border. I tried several of those, and thought this one was probably best.
because it echoed a bit the eyelet band that I did. It's different from the original daydream because I didn't have the daydream pattern with me at the time and I thought that this was how it was worked.
So just about 60 more pattern repeats and the border will be done... then there are the sleeves and the button bands, so I reckon July is going to be a VERY good months for FO's... well, it's going to be a very pink month anyway.
I have this alarming tendancy to go back and re-knit things that I really like. I haven't done this yet for adult garments but for children's stuff and accessories, familiar breeds comfort for me. How many times have I knit plain socks or a version of the Debbie Bliss Smock jackets? The reality is, if one parent likes it, another will likely too, and there is nothing wrong with knitting the same pattern a few times, because classic are just that, classic.
This is daydream from Rowan Babies. This time, I've decided to try and work the same pattern from the top down. Why? well, one advantage of knitting from the top down is that there is a lot less seams to sew. For a baby garment, Daydream sure had a lot of sewing to get it gift-ready.
I took a few basic ideas in converting the pattern. Totted up the total # of remaining stitches for the back, sleeves and fronts and added 8 to that (for the seams) and kind of increased in the same ratio as the decreases. Well, I haven't gotten to any tricky bits yet and I'm still kind of scratching my head about how to do the scallopy border on the bottom of the sweater. I think the scallopy bits really make the sweater so I might just knit and graft, or do another lacy border like feather and fan... For the moment, I'm just winging it because it's too hot to think about doing anything else.
The sales
The annual summer sales at Liberty has been D-I-R-E, that is, unless you have a love for Plaid, Big Wool, Chunky Print, Tuft or the R2 rubbish that Rowan is still trying to get rid of (The j-cloth one was still there and the lurex too). There wasn't any Jaeger yarns in the sale. The Yorkshire Tweed line has been discontinued, but Rowan seems to have run down their stock because the only stuff that Liberty had was a few bits of the Chunky stuff. It was really disappointing. There was some bright orange and aqua coloured Kid Classic as well.
I can imagine people travelling to London just for the yarn and being greeted with what was there. This could explain why there was a bit of fighting for the day-glow yellow 4 ply cotton and glacé. (Like... whoa! I came all the way and I am not going home without some yarn!) There was also a minor tussel for the orange sherbet kid classic. (Tussel ended with Liberty consultant Carol went and got another pack out.)
The sales at John Lewis was much better. Mostly Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora was to be had and well, I had some. There was some alpaca silk, bits of baby cashmerino, the same Rowan stuff, Louisa Harding Ribbons, Noro Transition and the patons DK. Paton's DK was a very good price, £1.60 for 100g, so I bought 2 balls for day dream in the hot pink.
No doubt, I'm going to have to come clean about some of my purchases... this is what I got from Liberty. 3 balls of Gedifra for hats. I also got a ball of Rowan Chunky Tweed, which has become a hat already. These were the remaining balls. Really. (I have a list of people that I normally shop for and unfrotunately, nothing was purchased for that list... !)
As for the John Lewis stuff, I'll show what I bought at another time, there is the June in/out inventory to compile and fortunately, John Lewis's sale started July 1.
I've also did a bit of stash organisation and have listed a few things (Phil Ruban, Steppe, Jaeger Celeste, Trinity, Cadiz, Rowan Polar) in the Liberation link. So let me know if you're interested in any of it.
Lots of things have been going on recently, some work related some not, which have really cut into my knitting time recently. It's hard going cold turkey. I mean, people, it's hard to not have that one or two hours to wind down and work on a project so that there's actually progress pictures. Has anyone ever tried knitting when England(1) is playing (Soccer/Football World Cup)? Far too nail-biting....!
But, alas matey, I have finished a hat. Yes, it's a very humble FO, but it's still an FO.
Here's the artistic shot. I love this bear. His head is just the perfect size... !
So, who else is knitting hats for BISS?
(1) I would really appreciate if someone could help me understand why so many Scottish people seem so steadfast against routing for England? I don't really get it, because if I was living in the US, and the US didn't qualify, I would happily cheer on Mexico or Canada or whomever is geographically closest. (Please don't beat me up for asking, because I'm genuinely curious... I know this can be an emotive subject, so if anyone leaves a mean or abusive comment to me or to anyone playing nicely, I will delete your comment... so play nice, ok?)