This is just a little note to say farewell for now.
Blogtoberfest has been fun and challenging and more than a little bit draining.
I need a break.
Thirty one photos below, to remind me that it's been a busy month with a significant amount of knitting, some travel and a whole lot of time with my lovely niece, Alice.
I'll be taking a fair amount of November off. At least two weeks, to work on some gifts and some behind the scenes blog stuff. But I'll be reading everyone else and hanging around the web. And of course, I'll be starting on my own project for A Long Lacy Summer. You'll be pleased to know I did eventually settle on the Icarus shawl and hope to cast on tomorrow.
So thanks for reading and being there. See you in a while.
I haven't bought a new book that wasn't a knitting or cook book in ages. I've been reading, but mainly borrowed books - most notably, Love in a Cold Climate by Nancy Mitford or the backlog of previously purchased books I've never managed to read.
But when I found myself with an hour to kill at Melbourne airport last month, I thought the time had come to dip back into new fiction and I am so glad I did. Juliet, Naked was just the right book for me at just the right moment.
I came late to Nick Hornby. I saw High Fidelity at the movies and became an instant convert. He's comedic, insightful, engaging and writes prolifically about one of my great loves, music. He's always captured that thing that is so hard to put into words, why we love music and what it's like to be music obsessed.
Here are a couple of good reviews that will tell you more than I'm going to. And a recent fantastic interview from the Sydney Morning Herald.
Essentially the book is about a couple, one half of which is utterly obsessed with a has been singer-songwriter from the 80s and what happens when that obsession causes an irreprable rift in the relationship, which was pretty clearly in its last days anyway.
I loved Nick Hornby's oh so accurate depiction of life online and most particularly, music geekery online. My first enthusiastic steps on the internet in the early 90s were driven by music. I found newgroups, fan sites and forums where people like me could obsess about the music we loved most. In the old days we had to join fan clubs with periodic newsletters, or hang out for the latest edition of Q or Rolling Stone. When the internet happened, suddenly we could connect with each other in close to real time and I loved it. And I still do.
After knitting, music sites are one of the other places you'll most likely find me. It's the best way to find out what's to be heard if you don't engage with the core of mainstream music, which I haven't for years, having long ago decided that most of the bland, meangingless stuff was no longer for me. There are exceptions of course but I've by and large left mainstream radio and music video shows long behind me.
I find when people get older and say they don't listen to music much anymore, it's because it seems that after they outgrew top 40 teenage music, they didn't know where to go next. There's a whole world out there of artists who are a lifetime away from mainstream trends and who are producing exciting, wonderful music and I add to my store of loved performers regularly. It keeps my music love alive. I cherish the long loved favourites but I adore getting to know the new artists, many of whom cite old favourites as heroes. The cycle of music goes on.
I think I was a music geek long before I knew there was such a thing. In my early 20s I would scour the liner notes of my favourite CDs, learning the names of contributing musicians. If I liked, for instance, someone who provided some cello on a song, I'd look up other albums they had contributed to and more often that not, I'd find another love.
But even earlier than that, I trace my obsession back to Abba and the way as a very small child I used to stare into the speaker grids on the little cassette player we had in the 70s to see if there were people actually inside singing to me. I'm pretty sure my mum would back up my memory that the only way to stop me being sick on car trips was to give me a cassette player, plugged into the car's cigarette lighter, and let me play Abba all the way there and all the way back. It probably drove them mad, but was better than dealing with a vomiting child.
Now in my late 30s, I'm not obsessive like I was in my 20s but then hopefully we are all not many things we used to be. I don't buy the magazines any more. I don't engage quite as intensely, but I still read and learn; I still like to know stuff.
For instance, just this afternoon I spent a bus trip home scouring set lists online from the recent Tori Amos tour so that I could make a compilation CD for my sister Fee and for Ailsa to help them catch up with the last few albums in readiness for the Australian shows. I love that stuff. I love seeing what albums are getting the most coverage. I love seeing how far back she's digging into her old material and which of the new songs are getting the most stage time, all the while imagining what Fee and Ailsa will think of those songs. I want to get the order right when I make the compilation CD. Isn't that what High Fidelity was? One long take on the virtue of mixed tapes?
So yes, Juliet, Naked felt like a book in some ways about my own experience. True, I don't live in a bleak northern English seaside town and nor do I shut out my husband with my obsession, but I am obsessive and I found his portrayal of the love of music quite evocative of some of my own experiences. And I laughed. A lot. Nick Hornby is a great, humorous writer and this book will stay with me for a long time. I hope there's a movie.
If you love Tori, here's a favourite of mine from the early 90s. Can you tell I'm getting excited about the tour? I'm so glad I have friends to go to the show with me (Sean is also coming). I'm so often alone in my love! Well except for the in the online world, where Toriphiles are legion.
For some time, my lovely husband has been hassling me for asking me for a little pouch he could keep his iphone earbuds in. I actually think he started asking before we got the iphones. But finally, I started one and tonight I sewed on the button.
It's just a simple little design I made up as I went along, although kudos to Alison of MachenMachen for a quick sketch one lunch time in a park in the city when I was wondering how I might proceed to the flap part.
The yarn is Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett. It's left over from socks I made earlier this year. I've knit it at quite a fine gauge, on 2.25/US1 needles, magic loop.
Sean's really happy with it. However, knowing it's a prototype, he was happy to offer design suggestions, mainly that it was probably a little bigger than it needed to be and I could probably take as much as a finger's width, or about ten stitches off. So I'll play around with it and make one for myself and write up what I did.
I need one fast because I'm sick to death of my earbuds rolling around in my handbag and getting caught up with pens and other stuff that floats around in my bag.
I hold this laceweight beauty in my hand like an apple. That's what it makes me think of as I focus the camera on it in the late afternoon. I am remembering a time, almost a year ago, when I bought it and paid a princely sum for it.
I think of a time, it was January this year, when I spent several weeks trying to find just the shawl for it. It was agony. I had bought this yarn, Lorna's Laces 'Helen's Lace' with the desire to make it my key project for my first summer of knitting lace. How could I not with that colour and a yarn bearing my name?
I learned from that three week debacle that placing too high expectations on a simple skein of yarn is actually a hinderance. Every shawl I tried seemed not right. Every decision turned out to be the wrong one. All because I had infused the strands with unrealistic meaning.
Yes. I paid a lot for it. Yes, it was going to be my first serious lace project (whatever that means). Yes, I had blogged about it being special and important.
I look back now and think, 'huh?' What was I on?
It's beautiful yarn. It's going to be delightful to knit it into something. I planned an Icarus shawl but tonight I find myself wondering all over again, is it the right shawl? Is there something better/different/nicer that I could make?
And I realise that a year on, I've learned nothing.
I found this jug, several years ago now, in a garage sale held by a neighbour.
He was an artist, our neighbour. We didn't really know him but he lived across the road in our old suburb. He was Eastern European, I think and the one time we went into his house, a lovingly restored old Canberra cottage, I was amazed. It was all light and colour, from the multitude of small colourful tiles in the kitchen, to splashes of stained glass windows casting rainbows onto the immaculate floorboards.
That's all I remember really. The light and the colour.
So when he held a garage sale one Saturday morning, I of course was desperate to dash across the road and join the masses. Miraculously, this jug became mine. I don't know how it was missed among the antiques and collectables he was off loading. When I asked him how he could sell so many beautiful things he said he was no longer interested in any of the objects he was selling, that he wanted to be rid of them.
I held up the weighty blue jug and he said, 'Ah, that. Yes, it's beautiful.'
'How much?' I asked.
Fifteen dollars was the price. As little as that? My face must have said it all. "Yes, he said. Just $15. A friend of mine made it. He is Danish, but lives in Australia. I hope you enjoy it."
And I always have. I love blue things. Blue glass. Blue bowls. Blue pottery. I have a small but lovely collection. And this was the piece that started it off. Now, it houses my needles, the straights I hardly ever use.
Frogging, or for the non-knitting readers, ripping out your work and ditching what seemed like a perfectly good idea at some point, is sometimes a vital act in every knitter's life.
We've all done it. If we say we haven't, we are lying. Some people do it more than others. Some people claim almost to never do it and we might even believe them, right RoseRed?
See these three balls of wound up wool?
These were rescued from a bag hanging on the back of my spare room door yesterday and unceremoniously ditched.
On the left, in Wensleydale 4ply, my third attempt at Ishbel.
The red is Drops Alpaca which was the sleeve of a Drops cardigan pattern. Have I mentioned how much I hate Drops patterns? No? They are so clumsily written up. I detested it.
Finally, Liza Souza sock yarn which had been a Crocus scarf (a crochet pattern). I began it well over a year ago and it wasn't like the pattern was awful. In fact I loved it, but it was almost completed and used barely a third of the skein. I didn't want to have 2/3 of a skein left when I could use the whole skein for something else. So Crocus went too.
And I feel so relieved. The weight of those projects was getting to me, mocking me and reminding me of failure to see something through, of yarn that was being held back.
Gone. And my stash room is, in the process of having tidied it up a bit, much better for it, too. Just as well, because I'm having a visitor next week and she'll need somewhere to sleep, won't you Dr K? Check out her post today - she's got another fun photo from the Myrtle shawl photo shoot.
When baby Alice comes to stay and I want to nurse her to sleep, I stumbled a while ago upon the perfect lullaby for her.
In the absence of anything much else to post today, I will share with you all the utterly beautiful song by English folk singer, Kate Rusby.
I've been following her since around 2000, having first heard her on a music program on Radio National. I've been enthralled by female voices forever. Can't ever get enough and Kate's voice is pure and magical all at once.
When I play the song Who Will Sing Me Lullabies, I cradle Alice in my arms and rock her and sing along quietly and sure enough, she nods off. I think she, like her mum and like me, responds well to music. Although her mum tells me that Alice often falls asleep to the Foo Fighters, so you know, she'll be diverse.
Anyway, I hope you enjoy Kate. If you ever watched the British comedy Jam and Jersusalem, she's that girl, the one who sings the theme song.
Today a bunch of friends joined Dr K in the glorious Southern Highlands for her birthday lunch. A little village called Burrawang, with a stone cottage for a pub. RoseRed has some lovely photos. So does Miss Fee.
While there, showering Kylie with birthday gifts and affection, we had a little fun doing a photo shoot for my finished Myrtle Leaf Shawl with Willow Border. We tried hard to emulate the photos from Victorian Lace Today because, well, why not. In a setting as green and English gardenesque as this, you sort of have to, I think.
If you know the book, these might make you smile.
So this is one of those projects that takes forever and pays off in the end by being every bit as delicate and beautiful and ultimately triumphant as you could hope a piece of knitted lace could be. I really don't think it gets better than the feeling I've got from having finished this. It's not just relief. I don't even feel in mourning for it being over. I just feel so pleased!
And getting to drape it around my shoulders and have a bit of fun playing with Dr K as photographer and George as stylist was just the icing on the cake.
Myrtle was started on the Australia Day weekend in late January and I did put her down for quite a long time while I got on with more practical knits, so really, I think she took seven months all up. It's the kind of project that I think, if I focused, could have been done in three months. I vow next time not to let a big piece of lace drag on because near the end, it does all become a bit of a burden as the desire to work on something new takes hold.
All black is not easy. I think I suffered a fair amount of eye strain as I tried to get through it. The pattern itself is not hard. It's a two sided pattern, which was my first time of doing such a thing, so with no rest rows, it's fairly intensive, but there's nothing overtly challenging once you settle in.
Knitting on the border was a bit of a challenge at first but once I was in the swing of it, it took about three weeks.
The yarn is JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/18 and it's just stunning. I'd use it again and again. In black. In any colour. It's the nicest laceweight yarn I've used.
Sure, she's not the kind of shawl I'm going to get to wear every day, but I have plenty of everyday shawls. This one's for special moments, like next month when I get all dressed up to see Tori Amos at the Opera House. That'll be just the right night.
If you were around last year, you might recall I engaged in a summer long feast of lace knitting. Let's not discuss the fact that the majority of my time was taken up with a certain black lace shawl that I only just finished. This is not the point. The point was it was my first summer of really giving myself over to trying my hand at real lace.
And lots of people joined in.
So I'm doing it again. A few people around the place are already talking about what they want to do which is pretty exciting. I may do a Ravelry group. I may not. At the time I called it a half-arsed knit along because I didn't do much formally for it. Just watched everyone else to see what they were doing and got through the summer heat with as much light, delicate knitting as possible,
The plan is, figure out what you want to knit, let me know in the comments that you're on board and come 1 November, we're off.
I'm most likely going to start with an Icarus shawl. Probably. I reserve the right to change my mind!
These photos are teasers of my Myrtle shawl. She's done. I spent today showing her off to anyone who even looked like they might be interested. I managed to block her last night before bed (with Sean's help!) and she went out today.
Tomorrow, I'm going to be in a particularly beautiful location so she'll get a full outing, with photos, then.
And yes, those of you who are heading into winter are most welcome to join in. The more the merrier! There are other lace knit alongs around, but this one's really easy. No rules. No guidelines. Just knit lace. Shawls, scarves, socks, garments. Whatever. It'll be fun. And of course, RoseRed and I are running Southern Summer of Socks again too, which is also fairly low key so I'll be combining both lace and socks a bit I think!
As requested by a few loyal Bellsknits readers, Sean will be writing this post.
I mean I will be. Me - the Knitting Widow, previously only known in the third person.
So what to say...
Bells does indeed knit, and collect stash, or at least it follows her home or arrives in the mail and then it gets knitted up like magic into amazing things; some she wears, some she gives away to others, or occasionally I get these magical items.
Existing in the third person means that the world that this is, is something that I only (usually) participate in as a voyeur. The posts are created around me. Like the knitting, it's a constant movement of fibre and light mixed by hand, bamboo, wood or steel into objects that then exist both here (online) and here in space, often leaving the house where they were created and making a return as an image of a smiling happy individual who has been gifted with said item. Or if under age of two just smiling anyway oblivious to the effort and joy in creation - although I suspect the love is felt for real.
Like all knitters and other crafters of the partnered demographic I suspect Bells has secret ways of making the stash look smaller than it is, I'm constantly amazed by the number of friends she is bringing wool home for, I suspect their partners feel the same way.
So the magic happens around me, I watch with various degrees of interest and hear about whatever challenges or excitements come along. In fact, Bells was never a numbers person but I, having passed all high school maths without any effort on my part, got lumbered with the adding and subtracting needing to be done in our life together. However, as her knitting has progressed, less has she asked me to do the maths, so there readers, you can claim knitting is educational, because another excuse to knit is something that I understand is important to you all.
Now I suspect I am more a text than a visual person, (despite my grammar foibles which may not make it through a good edit) so I shall give you a photo of where the magic happens. This is my view from my desk, behind the couch where Bells knits and blogs and reads and knits some more.
I also think that this blog is a good thing, as I believe she mentioned in a land long long ago, Bells used to try to write Serious Literature, a very noble pursuit, one that I did my best to encourage, but she always struggled, as I suspect even Booker and Pulitzer prize winners do. But they are the old world, and I am so very pleased that Bells has worked out that the new world, where you are come and share and participate and help each other, is a much better place to be. I suspect that one day there will be awards for great blogs and judging by all your responses this is at least one of those making a contribution to the quality end of the spectrum.
I'm not going to try to describe myself here, as the image you have is the one that Bells has already shared, and I think she does a great job, especially as she overlooks some of my flaws better than I would. I might try my hand at blogging one day, but I don't have the passion for things the way Bells does. Her passion is one of the many reasons I love her.
Perhaps what I can do is give away some of her secrets. Yes she is as wonderful and caring and doting as she seems. Yes, her knitting and writing and photography are hers alone, although very occasionally I get to assist with lighting the shot, something I did know a bit more about, but she seems to have worked it all out herself now.
Thanks for reading. It's been fun writing to you all.
I'm just going to say right up front that I'm getting tired. I'll admit that even a couple of easy days with my sister posting yesterday and a photo only post on Sunday hasn't really helped but I'm sticking this out.
For a dozen different reasons, I'm hanging on 'til the end. If you're even trying to keep up with my daily posts, along with a bunch of other bloggers out there all valiantly trying to see this Blogtoberfest through to the end, well done! You attention is appreciated because let's face it, we're all time poor and it's a big ask by anyone's standards.
So thanks for being so welcoming when my sister posted yesterday. I know she was totally nervous but you were all kind and she did a brilliant job. All her sentiments expressed on the nature of being sisters who are close are just as honestly felt by me. Sisters are marvellous and I have two of them (as well as a brother but this is about sisters!).
Sisters, when they're close to your heart are the greatest comfort in the world. We came from the same place. We can stand side by side in front of a mirror and see the bits that are the same, or at least similar. We can remember things from the dawn of our each other's lives that we will take with us to the ends of our lives. We can laugh and cry over those things and treasure them.
We can look back at the times when we weren't so close, when maybe there was competition, or misunderstanding and we can, if we're lucky, see how dangerously close we came to losing one of the best and most treasured life experiences a woman can have. A close relationship with a sister.
For me, the value of this kind of love and closeness is impossible to capture in words. But I hope my sisters know how I feel.
And now both of my sisters have little people in their lives who carry pieces of us inside them. What an amazing thing it is to look at those little people and see them grow. I count myself incredibly fortunate for that.
I will leave you with a show and tell of something I was given by another kind of sister, a good friend. Amy in Rhode Island. Long time readers will know Amy and I have been friends for quite a long time now and some of you no doubt know her as well. Recently Amy sent some gifts. Just because. That is kindness itself.
First, some sock yarn from Lobster Pot Yarns. Is this not the very colour of a spring sky? These are, as the names suggest, dyed in Lobster Pots all the way up in Cape Cod. Amazing.
This surely will not go on my feet. Or anyone's feet. I'm wearing this around my neck.
And finally, a delicate, precious bookmark adorned with seaglass from the Rhode Island coastline.
Amy thought carefully about these gifts and it shows. I was touched, so thank you Amy. I'll treasure them.
Having featured heavily on Bellsknits over the years (or at least my son has) it almost seems unnecessary to introduce myself – however, I’ll do it anyway. I am Bells' younger sister (only by 2yrs 9mths!) - Adele. I read Bellsknits, however I have next to no interest in knitting (much to the despair of Bells). That’s not to say I am “anti-knitter”!! Oh no – not at all. I admire those who throw themselves into the world of all things wool – I just choose not to partake in it.
Having said that – I will gladly accept any knitted good from Bells, be it for me or my lovely husband and son. Thankfully Bells has furnished us with many a knitted or crocheteditem, some grand like my son’s baby blanket or small like an ipod cosy.
So when thinking about a topic for my very first blog post I thought it should probably contain a knitted theme. So here goes...
In my line of the work I have the privilege of working in the area of dams (yes, dams – big bodies of water held back by a big wall of concrete, dirt etc.) My department frequently inspects dams and occasionally I get to tag along and “inspect” them. I try to look intelligent as I inspect them – lots of meaningful stares and head nodding – and the occasional chin rub in a knowing way.
Recently, we went to a place called Cabramurra. Cabramurra is the highest permanently inhabited town in Australia, located in the Kosciuszko National Park, NSW.
After much discussion in my office it was decided that the weather would be freezing and no doubt many layers of clothes would be needed as there was word of snow approaching. Fabulous, I thought!!! I could drag out my beautiful pink coat for one last time before the Spring weather turned to warm. And...I could wear my fetching blue knitted beanie made so lovingly my dear sister and which had looked terrible on me until I took the time to grow my hair.
So off we went, my work colleagues and I. As promised, it decided to snow on our first morning.
A friend and I had decided we would go swimming at 6am in the heated pool. Brrrr.... As we raced out of the pool room with only a towel around our waists the snow drifted down upon us and my trusty blue beanie kept me warm.
In Sydney on this particular day people woke up to the red sky and dust, which had to be seen to be believed. In the Snowy Mountains, I woke to snow and freezing temperatures. I wore my lovely blue beanie at every opportunity. I may not be interested in knitting – but I certainly see the point of a well-made knitted good.
The interesting thing is – Bells can’t even remember making it for me. She has no memory of it. I guess you can’t remember every piece you make – especially if you have a life-long love affair with knitting. But the lovely thing is – as a receiver of a blanket, scarf, a beanie, a cardigan, an ipod cosy and socks – I am in the lovely position of remembering who made them for me. Each time I look at my blanket (I know there is a technical name for it Bells – but I can’t remember it (She's talking about the Hemlock Ring Blanket!!), I think of the one who made it. Each time I put on my scarf or pull out my ipod from its cosy – I recall the face of the girl who gave it to me. Everytime my son puts on his knitted blue vest or looks at his insect book with a picture of a spider making its web – we think of Aunty Bells and we call the spider the “knitting spider”.
I love that Bells is never far from my mind and never far from a phone call, a text or an email. I love that I see reminders of her all around my home. She’s an important part of my life and her little gifts over the years remind me of that fact constantly.
Pink Ribbon Day is on October 26th, but as that's a Monday, my friend Polly held her Pink Ribbon/Breast Cancer awareness fundraiser today.
It's a beautiful day today - all Spring sunshine (and hayfever itchy noses!) and so I invited my sister Fee, Alice and Alice's older half sister for a drive out to the country to Polly's house where there were pink balloons adorning the trees down the long driveway and a house full of pink food and pink decorations.
Young Alice came appropriately dressed.
There was so much to explore!
Doesn't the countryside look so green?! We've had such a miraculously wet Spring. Let's hope the summer isn't so dry the landscape is turned into a tinder box.
So that's the first half of Saturday done. I've got loads on for the rest of the day so I thought I'd get today's post out in quick, quiet moment.
Today, I drew a winner for the Buttontreelane bag contest. So many entries! By the time I took out the double ups and the people who didn't wish to be in the running, we had 109 names in the metaphorical hat.
The hat was actually a table in a word document during a quiet moment at work today. So, here's the bag again, the Box for Socks, which was understandably popular. I bought from Michelle's Etsy store, by the same name. Buttontreelane.
A couple more answers from the QandA session from earlier this week.
Fractalchic - How many knitted items have you frogged for one reason or another?
Well, I couldn't say how many because for the most part, once frogged a project is forgotten. Sure I can remember that I tried about three different shawls from Victorian Lace Today before settling on Myrtle, or I tried to knit Ishbel several times earlier this year. But there are cardigans I've tried; socks I've abandoned; the list goes on.
Some people, like RoseRed, rarely abandon projects. I think that's because some people think very, very carefully about a project before casting on. Each one is thought through, considered carefully, researched and settled on after the certainty of it's being the right one is reached. I don't do that so much. Or rather, I do, but I still get it wrong. So I frog. Life's too short.
Nellie:What motivates you the most when embarking on a new project? Is it learning new techniques or the possibility of creating something unique and lovely?
It's never just one or the other. Like most of us, my head is turned easily by something new and attractive. It's not always about learning new skills though. Sometimes it's nice to just use skills I already have and concentrate on something beautiful. Other times, it's definitely about the skills. Like with the Myrtle shawl. A pattern that has no purl rows, no rest rows, with a knitted on border in fine silk? That was absolutely about trying something I'd never done.
Sometime this weekend, if we're lucky, there'll be another guest post - this time from Sean! I really hope he comes through with the goods soon because I'd very much like a break.
Also, tomorrow night I'm going to a party for Sara from work - her 21st. I'm pretty sure I'm going to post about that. I bet there'll be loads of material to capture!
That was fun, all those questions. Lots of laughs. I've had a nice time today contemplating the answers. I think there are too many to do at once so I'll start with just a few. More to come tomorrow when I'll also be drawing the winner of the Hippo bag contest!
Shelley: Myrtle is going to be beautiful. I've just ordered the book - is she worth doing? Yes. Absolutely. Victorian Lace Today is an incredible book. I'll be making lace projects from it for as long as I'm knitting. The Myrtle Leaf shawl, or stole really, is wonderful and I have loved knitting her, but she's gone on too long now and I'm getting itchy for something new.
EssiMay: Why do you have so many WIPs? 'Fess up, how many WIPs do you really have? Technically only four. This is a miracle.
Two shawls, one pair of socks and a cardigan. Miraculous. Things all got a bit out of hand recently and I was feeling decidedly overwhelmed. I recall telling RoseRed that when my WIPs list gets too big, I am at risk of waking in the night on a cold sweat. I may have been exaggerating about the cold sweat but I have been known to wake up feeling disturbed by a sense of having too much to do. I'm a mix of a process and product knitter - basically I need to finish something at regular intervals or I develop a nasty case of restless anxiety. I think this is because I spend so much time knitting, I really need to see results and by results I mean finished items that are worn are used.
Dr K: Can you knit my myrtle for me please? Ha ha ha ha. No. For those who don't know, Dr K and I started knitting the same pattern (Myrtle Leaf shawl) with the same yarn in late January this year. Dr K has let hers languish after a few too many restarts. Mine is almost finished. I love Dr K dearly, but not enough to knit this shawl twice.
Alwen:Are you doing small daily stints of Myrtle, like so many points per day?
No but I should be. Looking back over the 10 months I've spent on this, I really could have achieved so much more if I'd taken that approach! I will start now!
Pinry: What surprising thing made you smile this week? First, my desk buddy Sara (of the Branching Out scarf earlier this week) brought in jelly for us to share. She had purple jelly and blue jelly. I chose the blue. We sat our little round table in our work area this afternoon and had a lovely little feast of jelly. (That's jell-o for the Americans).
And secondly, this is hardly surprising but it made me smile. Alice came to lunch on a particularly brutally cold day this week, dressed like a bear.
That made me smile a lot.
Which leads nicely into the next question.
Shazmina Bendi:What does the lovely Alice's hair feel like? And how many hairstyles can you make with it?
Imagine the softest silk you have ever knit. Like that, only better. And I haven't tried styling it but I reckon her mum might be up for a bit of playing around with that idea. Leave it with me!
Moorecat: What was the first item you knitted for Sean, and how far into your relationship were you? When I posed this question to Sean this morning, he said the first thing I knitted for him was actually crocheted! I crocheted him a beanie, or three, around 2002-2003. By then we'd been together for three or four years. I think they are still his favourites. But as for knitting, I knitted him a scarf in 2005, black, in 1x1 ribbing and made something fuzzy called Souffle. He still wears it but next winter he'll get something more luxurious. I think it's time.
Anna: I'm on a mission to work out how to knit faster (I am unbelievably slow!). What are your tips???
Knit a lot. All the time. Any spare moment, and even those that aren't spare. You must knit constantly. I don't think I'm very fast but RoseRed does. I think people like the Yarn Harlot are fast. How fast? Watch the video! I think, in terms of just the mechanics of knitting, my mum is fast. I've tried to copy how she holds her yarn and needles and I can't do it. So what I lack in mechanical speed, I make up for with sheer bloody mindedness and obsession.
Barbara:what's the best part of knitting for you? This is actually a really big question. The best part? There are so many parts. The yarn. The projects. The skills. The friends I've made from it. The fun of blogging about it. But actually I think the best part of knitting for me is that it just makes me so happy. The whole package just brings so much joy and fulfillment that I can't imagine life without it now.
And one more for the day. I'll do more tomorrow (including finding out who won the Hippo bag contest! Entries can still be submitted!).
Jane - What would you recommend as the ideal knitting project for beginners who need to move from knitting scarves to proper garments? I'd say just go straight into garments. My first garment was a vest, a round necked vest. It required only a little knowledge of increasing and decreasing and was only in two pieces. But maybe pick something for a baby or a child, something small that means you get to try out new skills without the full on committment of an adult sized garment. That said, worse things can happen than trying out new skills on an adult piece that doesn't end up working out. What's to lose?
Today's post is blatantly stolen borrowed from a blogger who is relatively new to me. Pea Soup. She makes lovely shawls and takes lovely photos and getting to know her through her knitting and writing has been an altogether ideal blog reading experience.
Blogtoberfest is hard work. Fun, but hard work and I think lots of us find the middle section is when the cracks begin to show. On the whole though, I'm loving the act of writing every day and was reminded of one of the benefits of this exercise recently in a conversation with Lyn of Shades of Grey. Writing daily is good, for writers. Even just a little bit. It's what author Anthony Trollope advocated and he published 49 novels in his lifetime.
He famously wrote
"A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labors of a spasmodic Hercules."
How fittingly that could be applied to so many aspects of our lives! Exercise, household chores, reading....the list goes on.
So to the point of today's post. On her blog, Suse conducted a QandA session. She invited questions from readers so I will do the same. That will take care of today's post and tomorrow's. Ask away! Anything at all, knitting related or otherwise, within reason, obviously. I reserve the right to refuse to answer some questions!
I'll close with a photo of the Myrtle shawl. I'm still slogging through the border. Four weeks til I see Tori Amos at the Opera House and so four weeks, at most, til this lovely but now rather tedious shawl is done!
I thought that by now, we'd be nearing the end of Cardigan Weather. I think most of us did, but the environment being what it is these days, such things are no longer anywhere near as predictable. I stopped knitting cardigans a couple of months ago because I figured there weren't too many serious cardigan days left (at least not by the time I got another one completed) and so moved onto Other Things.
But check out this sky.
Does this look like cardigan weather is coming to an end? No. Not on your life. Our days are, for the most part, incredibly bleak at the moment. I could have kept knitting cardigans out of light wool. Should have. Oh well.
A couple of weeks ago I started a cotton cardigan. I figure at the rate we're going, I'll get considerable wear out of this if I can get it done in reasonable time.
It's called Golden Vintage and it's an 8ply/DK weight cotton pattern that doesn't appear to have been around very long.
It's an elegant, simple pattern with some mock cabling around the base, as you can see in the above photo. And the cotton is a definite stash busting item. It was a parting gift from Shazmina Bendi before she moved to London a couple of years ago.
It's Bendigo Woollen Mills 8ply cotton in a colour called Gum Leaf. How very Australian.
It's making for some very nice mindless knitting when I need a break from the Black Myrtle Leaf shawl which progresses still.
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I have a public service announcement to make. I recieved a message today from an old friend who now lives all the way over in Perth. She belongs to a band of knitters who are going to walk and knit for an excellent cause. I'll let Helen tell the story.
Members of the Western Australian Ravelry group are taking part in the Cancer Council WA’s Relay for Life on the weekend of 24/25 October at Joondalup Arena. We will be knitting as we walk to make blankets to be auctioned off at the event.
Part of our fundraising is a yarn raffle that is being conducted through the blog Casa Esmerelda, with fabulous yarn, fibre and knitting related prizes.
Details about the raffle and how to donate are at Casa Esmerelda.
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I reckon a band of knitters who plan to walk and knit for a cause are absolutely worth our time and money. I definitely want to see photos from that. If you're keen to help, pop over to the site and see what you can do. Hint: there's Wollmeise among the prizes!
I was using this tea cosy on the weekend and it struck me that it really deserved a blog post. It was given to me at the end of 2007 and there are readers here who will have never seen it.
Every time I use it, I'm struck by the wonder of it and marvel at the talent of the knitter who made it. Kgirl. I didn't know Kgirl before the swap that resulted in this tea cosy but we are now friends and that's when you know that a swap has gone better than normal, when you end up with a friend out of it.
The pattern is a vintage one - the Floral Knitted Tea Cosy from 1937. It's made from Heirloom Heatherwood and it's quite unspeakably beautiful. It's smooshy and richly coloured and so perfectly put together that I nearly always stop to admire it before slipping it over a tea pot.
And do you know how well this keeps my tea pot warm? It's amazing. If I'm making a big pot for myself and lingering over it, I love knowing that I'm not going to get half way and find my tea is tepid.
So thank you, Kylie. You gave me a gift I treasure every single time I use it.
Bells
ps a note about comments. I have turned on moderation for the foreseeable future. Please don't be concerned if you think your comment is not posting. It will show up in due course.
For some weeks now I've been working on a Top Secret Gift. I hinted at it a while ago when I said I'd discovered a new favourite yarn.
Today I was able to hand over, finally, the finished product to my very special friend and workmate, Sara (pronounced like Sarah, just minus the H), who turns 21 today.
Buying the yarn for this was a bit of a gamble. I love Malabrigo, but hadn't used their Silky Merino before. I knew the moment it arrived from Yarn and Kisses that it was amazing. The silk content, married with the light capturing colour (it's Tatami) was just glorious and I cast it on right away.
Two skeins and about four weeks later, I had a finished scarf. I finished it two days before I was due to give it to her and presented it at work yesterday. It's long! Sara is tall and it's longer than she is - she wears it looped around her neck and it still hangs down quite long!
You know, many people talk about Branching Out like it's the perfect scarf for the beginning lace knitter but I didn't find that. I tried it twice in 2006 and each time I gave up. I tried it in fine yarn and didn't get it. I'm not sure why now since it's actually pretty straight forward. In fact, so straight forward I got bored towards the end, and it was only knowing that Sara's birthday was looming that kept me going.
However, it's done now and I do believe it was most appreciated. She wrote down 'Malabrigo' to tell her mum and spent the day wearing it and stroking the kitteny softness of the beautiful Silky Merino.
I think it's time for a contest. Don't you? Let me show you what you can win.
Astute readers may well recognise it as a Box for Socks made by Canberra's own Buttontreelane. I have a bag from Buttontree lane that I use a lot. They're the perfect for on the move projects like socks, but are just as easily put to use as a storage place for notions.
To give you an idea of size, there are two 50g balls of cotton inside, puffing it up nicely.
If you would like to win this lovely hippo decorated sock box, leave a comment. That's all. Just say hello, share a thought, or not, and we'll see who the lucky winner is this time next week. I love a give away.
I'll leave you with a Friday photo of Alice. Because I can. It's one her mum sent to me a couple of weeks ago. Look at that face!
