Bon voyage

Finally the time for holidays has come and we are off to La Belle France tomorrow. The girls are beside themselves with excitement and I'm not far behind. This is a picture of me singing an Aria of Happiness in honour of the occasion.

Er, ok, seriously tho'. I have shorter hair. This is from the latest Knitty, a pattern called Iced with which I instantment fell dans huge amour. Isn't it wonderful? Cool, casual, stylish, flattering and ideal holiday knitting. It's by the fabulous Carol Feller and I gotta say, she just keeps outdoing herself. Her patterns are wonderfully produced with great photography so I'm a bit of a fan.

It just so happens that I scored 6 skeins of Araucania Nature Cotton in a lovely cream colour at The Yarn Room 1st Birthday sale last weekend.

Soon as I realised that Iced was a perfect project for the yarn it became clear that I didn't have enough yarn with only 600 metres. I swooped down on the YR last night just before closing time and snatched up picked up the last 3 skeins available. If it wasn't for the fact that I did pay for my purchases it was more like a drive-by yarn mugging, since I had to divert at high speed from my commute. Talk about a Yarn Dash.

I haven't had time to swatch properly yet so I had to swoop down again this evening to get more needles, just to be sure that I have every possible needle size that I might need depending on gauge. Can't be too careful y'know.

Also in my suitcase is this book, Confererates in the Attic, by Tony Horwitz, a travelogue/series of essays about the American Civil War. Since I love love love history and especially social/human history, I'm really looking forward to this.


Plus I have Love of the World, a collection of essays by John McGahern. Just because there isn't enough John McGahern in the whole wide world.

AND Ghost Light by Joseoh O'Connor. As a writer he just gets better and better. Plus see above comment re human history. This is a fictionalised story of a woman who had a long affair with the (real) Irish playwright J.M. Synge, famous for his play The Playboy of the Western World which was part of an Irish Nationalist artistic revival in the early 1900s. It's a great play of human nature which I believe has stood the test of time.

There are in fact more books to bring, but who am I kidding? I'm not going to get that much solo time, not to mention the knitting that I'm so looking forward to. Which brings us back to where we came in.

So, this is by way of an au revoir for a while. Needles crossed that the knitting goes ok. Needles crossed (and fingers and toes) also for a smooth crossing to Cherbourg tomorrow. There was a big swell on the sea today and today's crossing was rough. I am a very very very very very bad sea traveller so I'm praying for Neptune's Mercy tomorrow.

Take care ya'll and happy knitting.
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I'm gutted

Absolutely gutted I tell you.

See this?

Pretty nice, eh?

That's not the gutted part.

I'm crushed because I've been thinking about a design for something very similar to this for weeks now. Weeks, I tell you. WEEKS!

My idea was more along the lines of something in a lighter Manos silk yarn, or maybe the wool blend weight...but seriously I'm really disappointed. I was waiting to get some other things off my list.

Thing is, if I pursued my idea now I'd really feel like I was copying the Riverbanks pattern in some way, or at the very least that it was no longer an original idea.

Bummer.

Still, I'd like to make mine anyway and see how it compares.

As I've said before, in similar circumstances. She who hesitates is lost!

All kudos to the designer of course. It's lovely.

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Wisp

Still on the post-JGG high and the red project theme, last weekend I also I cast on for Wisp, from Knitty.

This is a KAL with my friend J in Arkansas, who very kindly gifted me the yarn in a Ravelry swap. The yarn is Crystal Palace Kid Merino in Lacquer Red and it's just yummy. It seems to be softer to work with than Kidsilk I think, I haven't had any problems so far anyway.

Took me a while to figure out how to line up the yarnovers the way that the pattern indicates that they should be. In the 1st panel, they kinda wander about the place.

No worries, I'm pretty sure no-one will notice!

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Very 1st Tudura

Having admired this pattern for a long time, I decided it was time to try it out. (In DB Cash DK, somewhat less than 1 skein)

I really enjoyed knitting it, the pattern is a delight, very clear, simple and quick. No wonder there are 1095 of them on Ravelry. And very shortly there will be one more - 1096 and counting.

Here we are rehearsing the button placement. On the advice of the designer, I'm gonna line up the bottom of the button band with the lower edge of Tudura for maximum style and effect, (thanks Cheryl).

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A little bird...

Well, this was the most perfect project in knitting history. Seriously. It was PERFECT. (By which I mean the glory of the yarn and the style and simplicity of the pattern - not the knitting itself. Modesty forbids.)

Made for my beloved SIL as a Christmas gift. Cast on Dec 26th while waiting for the Christening Coat to finish blocking. (Ok. so the Christmas knitting schedule was under pressure), it travelled to France for the weekend, and was finished on 30th, felted, blocked and buttons added on 1st Jan.

It was gifted on Jan 2nd. and I’m, pleased to say that it was very well received. Like good cooking, it was really a case of getting good results from good ingredients - and then basking in the good responses.

That Artesano Aran is divine. Thru’ caution (or a fortuitius lack of nerve) I didn’t felt it agressively and it kept the wonderful drape of the pre-felted version. I really love the pattern too. I changed the loose flap to a double-button closure, partly inspired by the lovely buttons from This is knit.

Actually the drawstring-with-flap closure is not that practical for a working Mum who has to stuff things into her bag under her armpit with one hand while directing Smallies around traffic and carrying schoolbags, lunches, coats and assorted extras.

However, it turned out so lovely that I’m casting on for mine as soon as I meet StephaniesYarn this week.

Only problem is, what colour? I love this red, but can't really bring myself to knit the same thing twice. Green? Purple? We'll see.

Gusset detail.

Pre-felting

Edited To Add...Modifications:

- Knitted top down in case I ran out of yarn

- Knitted the flap and the bag in one piece

- Knitted the bag in the round

- Added buttons and loops to secure the flap closed

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New Knitty

Welcome to the Fall Knitty 08. In the dim and dark olden days before Ravelry and TIK, Knitty was the 1st online resource that helped me find other knitters and feed my hunger for modern knitting patterns.

For this reason, I've always had a soft spot for Knitty, even tho' it has been joined by many other great resources (which I believe it may have helped to inspire). Now that I think about it, it's not that I've knit many Knitty patterns, but it provided a lot of interest and inspiration at a crucial time.

Since I don't do socks, let's look at the patterns that I would knit, given sufficient time and resources.

This is the cover pattern: Twist and Shout. Definitely something that I would knit and wear - tho' I'm not sure about the collar.

Retrofit is a great guy pattern. For a really great guy.

And Versitility is really amazing (see note below*). Anyway (ignoring the bobbles) I like the construction, tho' I think it helps that the model here is a little person. I was shocked to see this pattern in fact, since I've been thinking about designing something like this for a while. That's frustrating, since I worry about not being original enough and have abandoned several design projects where there are other similar ones published. Still maybe it means I've tuned into the knitting zeitgeist or something.

Same goes for Abby, a lace cowl, tho' I think this is a generic enough shape to be able to design alternatives without plagiarism.

But this? OpArt baby blanket? I would never have thought of this. Great innit?

Or these...they're just cute.

Coming in top of the queue tho' is the Waves of Grain scarf/wrap. I've been looking for a lace and beaded scarf for some silk laceweight that I've been hoarding in my Hat Box for a long time.

Nice one.



*The rest of you in other nations probably don't have this problem, but anyone growing up in Ireland in the 70's who had to endure study the author and storyteller Peig Sayers can't even contemplate a certain type of shawl for fear of looking like this.



...or this....




...tho' I notice Peig is knitting in the 1st picture. So we've more in common than I thought, after all.


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Welcome Doddy Designer to Blogland

Now we can welcome the designer of Doddy, the talented Ms Carol, (a.k.a. Stolen Stitches) to Blogland.

Go check her out and say hi!

Have fun with the blog Carol. Welcome to the madness. I'm looking forward to seeing all the lovely knitting that comes off your needles.

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Tudura: Contrats to Cheryl

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Wow, the Winter Knitty is up. Already.

And it's great. Lots of interesting things here that I like. Mostly the accessories (given that I'm not exactly a waif). This and the previous Knitty issue had more that appealed to me than the earlier ones for a long time. No judgements, just sayin'.

I'm definitely making this for Little Mouse, this and this for myself and this for pretty much everybody else. There may be other neckwarmer things around, but nothing approaching Tudura for sheer dash and simplicity.

Congratulations Cheryl, it's genius. I can't wait to get started! Plus those are very chic and sassy pics.

Edited To Add: Congratulations also to Carol for Doddy in the same issue. Yay Irish Knitters!
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