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Potpourri
[Started 4th April]
After more than 10 years I managed to find some more RYC Natural
Silk Aran [73% Viscose / 15% Silk / 12% Linen; 50g=65m]. I
bought a pack at Ally Pally and found it was nothing like
enough to make anything sensible; lucky for me a fellow Raveller
had done the same thing (exactly the same thing - down
to the dye lot!) and was willing to let her pack go. So now
in truly retro mode I am making a slipover from Martin
Storey's RYC book Summer
Delights circa 2008.
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Zorzal
Shawl
[Started 28th March]
A collection of colours purchased at Unravel from The
Knitting Shed, and perfect for this wrap by Lisa Hannes,
which I have chosed to make in 3 colours rather than two:
A&P
Merino & Silk Single [70% Superwash Merino / 30% Silk;
100g=400 m] in Bark and Natural, and A&P
Merino & Kid Mohair Single 4 Ply [56% Superwash Merino
/ 44% Kid Mohair; 100g=400 m] in Fools's Gold.
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Time
Trades Wrap
[Started 24th February: :Completed
12th March]
I am firmly into wrap and shawl mode. In fact I first saw
this
pattern at Ally Pally last year as a beautiful sample
made up by Telling
Yarns. I would have bought it then but they had run out
of kits. Anyway - every cloud.... I have finally decided it's
perfect for a gradient set [Miss Babs 2-Ply toes in colour
Pleiades - 100% merino] given to me some time ago -
so I have purchased two more variegated skeins in Frisky
colour Iris Fleck [100% Merino Wool : 100g=365m], and
Mighty
Frisky in colour Nightfall [80% Merino / 20%
Nylon: 100g=365m] from Debonnaire,
which are high-twist yarns as similar as I could find to the
Miss Babs, albeit rather thinner.
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Frisky
Crescent Shawl
[Started 17th February: :Completed
27th March]
Smitten as I was by a shawl seen on the Debonnaire
stand at Unravel, I purchased the yarn and pattern on the
spot, and have started knitting immediately (after seeing
off the last of the bonus sock yarns - actually I also purchased
additional sock yarn at Unravel, but more of that another
time!).
The yarn is Frisky
in colours Charcoal Fleck and Jet [100% Merino
Wool : 100g=365m], and the pattern is the Frisky
Crescent Shawl.
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A
Very Jolly Colour... (socks again)
[Started 30th January: :Completed
7th February and 15th February]
Again, my sister-in-law's unwanted sock yarn - this one without
a ball band for identification. I am combining it with some
WYS
Signature 4 Ply,in Blue Raspberry 333, [75% Wool / 25%
Nylon: 100g=400m], that I used for my Peacock socks, and now
- as then - I am making 2 pairs of socks with it - using every
last inch - one pair for her and one for me.
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Mannish
Socks
[Started 16th January: :Completed
23rd January]
Well, they are grey(ish). The wool is again from my sister-in-law's
now unwanted sock wool stash balls - these will be for her
husband. This one is
Sport & Strumpfgarn from Altenburger Handarbeiten [60%
Wool/25% acrylic/15% Nylon: 100g=409 m] in a grey/mauve colour
mix,69.
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Girly
Socks
[Started 10th January: :Completed
29th January]
My sister-in-law went through a phase of thinking she wanted
to knit socks. Now I have been given the resulting stash balls
of wool and which I intend to give back to her in sock form.
This one is Drops
Fabel [75% Wool / 25% Nylon: 50g=205 m] in a very pretty
pink colour mix, 161 "Pink Dream". There
was a slight delay after Sock 1 (as I needed a fitting) during
which time I made the "Mannish Socks" above.
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Long
Hat
[Started 5th January: :Completed
14th January]
This hat is in Knitting from Fair Isle: 15 contemporary
designs inspired by tradition by Mati
Ventrillon, given to me for Christmas, and so inspirational
that the wool was ordered the same day! It's made in Jamieson's
Spindrift [100% Shetland wool; 25g=105m] in colours: Admiral,
Clyde Blue, Blue Danube, Natural White, Amber, and Rust.
It has turned out beautifully and knitted up very easily in
the round.
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Flamingo
[Started 8th August]
I was seduced by an email from Laughing Hens exhorting me
to buy the booklet Rico
Ricorumi It Must Be Love. It's full of cute crochet
sweet nothings based on the theme of "luuurve".
However the one that I love is the flamingo.
She's knitted in Rico
Ricorumi cotton yarn supplied in small reasonably priced
balls, making it practical to make these small items using
a number of different colours, [100% cotton; 25g=57m (62yds)].
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Weaving:
Overshot Scarf
[Started 9th November 2021]
Hoping to improve on my last effort in class, I am making
a scarf this time using laceweght merino and silk. The warp
is a space dyed yarn (merino I think - no label)I bought at
Ally Pally some years ago (very expensive, and intended for
a "peacock" shawl but on viewing the pattern I went
off the idea). The overshot weft is Fyberspates
Gleem Lace Sea Green colour 706 [55% Wool/45% Silk,
100g=800m (875yds) ].
The pattern and overshot instructions are taken from Next
Steps in Weaving, by Pattie Graver.
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Oddments
Blanket for (good causes)
[Started 2nd November]
I have started a background project to make another blanket
from acrylic oddments (I have many) using the Domino construction
technique. You'd think a dynamic random design would be easy
enough, but as usual, after the first few squares, making
a truly random whilst also pleasing combination gets more
and more difficult!
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Toria's
Aran
[Started 21st February 2021]
I've committed myself to a project for a friend. It has all
proved a little problematic obtaining good quality yarn at
a reasonable price - and finding a company with enough stock
of reasonable colour. Anyway I finally chose Debbie
Bliss Donegal Tweed, on special offer from Love Crafts,
in Oatmeal [100% Wool 50g=88m / 96yds] - which I have to say
as been a great disappointment in that it is clearly a DK
weight not an Aran - in fact, this is even apparent in the
gauge and yardage given in the specification. This now gives
me a problem as to which pattern to use - I may end up having
to devise a layout of my own superimposed on a commercial
set of instructions, but it's never going to have the heft
of an Aran jumper. My favourite pattern is always
this one of course - My First Aran, knitted in Patons
Capstan oiled wool.
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Hooked
Sheep
[Started 2nd January 2021]
This is a kit I bought from Hooked
By Design at Woolfest in 2017. I also bought a frame
kit to work the picture on - the latter I made up very quickly
- but I did not start hooking the picture! Since then I loaned
the frame to Alison who purchased and immediately started and
completed her choice of picture (herring
gulls) from Woolfest in 2018. Finally, now, I am getting
round to actually using the frame myself... My choice is "natural"
sheep. |
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Fleetwith
sweater and cowl
[Started 6th January 2020]
I thought of Lyn when I saw this pattern in Rowan's British
Made by Lisa Richardson as it is the "sort of thing
she really likes", and I considered buying
Valley Tweed even though it would be pretty costly, despite
the excellent yardage. However I have an ever-expanding collection
of some very good vintage fingering yarns, so I felt bound
to consider them. In the end, I chose a lovely cherry red
Hermit pure wool crepe 4ply (yardage unknown - also a problem)
which I think will suit the pattern.
Having completed back and front, it becomes clear that even
with adaptations, I will run out oof yarn. Thus there has
been a long hiatus and a great dilemma. I have bought some
Valley Tweed now in order to have another go - so - to frog
or no to frog?
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Weaving:
Woodland Scarf
[Started 30th July 2019]
This is "Blewit" - almost the colours that inspired
Janet Phillips as featured in her book Designing
Woven Fabrics. This time using a limited edition skein
from A Verb for Keeping Warm which I bought at SOAR in 2012
[100% wool; 100g=361m/395yds]. The weft is Erika Knight British
Wool ..... Blue Faced Leicester and Masham purchased at Fibre
East - too coarse and fluffy really but I went with the colour..
... I have wound a 2m warp - enough for a scarf length plus
fringe. The sett is 16 - doubling up in my 8 dent reed.
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Weaving:
Cotton Towels
[Started 23rd March 2019]
I was inspired to try this project by the newsletters from
Gist Yarn
and Fiber. I would have bought their cotton but the shipping
cost from the US meant I needed to be more cost-conscious
for a simple
rigid heddle project to do in the evenings. I settled
on a real budget option which was impossibly low cost and
astonishingly fast delivery despite shipping from Hobii
in Copenhagen.
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Little
Bottles Quilt
[Restarted 9th February 2019]
This is a patchwork quilt I started to make in about 2003
and in truth had done most of the hard work in appliqué.
I was undecided as to what technique to use for the striped
"curtains" - but have set off now with renewed vigour
and decisiveness.
The design is Little Bottles by Kaffe Fassett from
the fourth Westminster Quilting book (usually available from
eBay).
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Bella
Blouse
[Started 9th June 2011]
This is the Bella Blouse by Norah Gaughan from the Knitting
Daily Pattern Library. I am using a few balls of Rowan Damask
- a yarn I love but now discontinued - for the contrast and
I found an ecru cotton blend (Patons Washed Haze) which tones
with it quite well for the main shade. As my supply of Damask
is limited I am omitting the contrast band at the bottom of
the sweater.
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Two
[Started
22nd August 2010]
This is Two
- not another cardigan! But it is, like Puzzle, from
Queen
of Hearts - in fact, the cover design. The yarn is Patons
Misty
[25g; 150m], 70% mohair, 30% polyamide. It knits to a
double knitting tension of about 22sts to 4 inches, but I
am knitting it much looser on 6mm needles. I chose this yarn
also at Ally Pally in 2009; being a dress I thought it would
take for ever but it seems to be knitting up very quickly
so I have every expectation of finishing it soon...
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