Sunday 20 May 2007

Swatching and luscious walnuts

I have been reading a lot about Claudia's Handpainted sock yarn, and finally gave in. The Woolly Workshop very kindly (and swiftly: fantastic service) sent me this:

Black Walnut

2 Skeins of Black Walnut. Luscious. I am hoping there's enough to make a very stylish and manly scarf. Interestingly, there's not nearly as much pink in the yarn as any image on the internet indicated, but it's very lovely and I don't mind at all.

I've been doing a little random swatching: seed stitch and eastern crossed stocking stitch in Regia Crazy Color:

swatching

Plain knitting on the knitting machine in Knitpick's Memories in Redwood Forest:

knitpicks memories swatch

I redid the bee stripe swatch and am much happier with this edge:
bee stripe slip edge bee stripe right side

One of the problems with our London flat is the lack of sunlight. We inhabit a north-facing flat which gets a 20 cm wide strip of sunlight for approximately 20 minutes in the early evening for a couple of weeks in spring. I am attempting to make the most of it by photographing anything even vaguely knitting-related.
paris plans
This is some Paris from Texere which I have plans for... must implement severe stash reduction before heading to Australia... so difficult.

One positive thing about returning to Australia is that I am unlikely to have too much trouble finding light to photograph by. Over there we also inhabit a north-facing flat, which, being in the other hemisphere, gets enough sunlight to bleach the spines of all our books, CDs and DVDs, despite the fact that we keep the blinds half-closed most of the time. Unfortunately I don't like the heat, but we may solve this by installing air-conditioning.

Knitting activities

I'm not sure where this originated, but the idea is that bold indicates you've done it, italics indicates you would like to do it, and normal means you haven't and have no intention of doing it.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with bananafiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with Bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/Doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffitti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental Knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Buttonholes
Knitting with Alpaca
Fair Isle Knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dying with plant colors
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies...)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items)on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone else's handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dying yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured Knitting
Kitchener Bind Off
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac
Knitting and Purling Backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed Toys
Baby items
Knitting with Cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with Linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mits/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/Bolero/Poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public

Thursday 10 May 2007

Treasury covetousness

I've been following the Walker Treasury Project, and each new addition makes me more and more covetous. I did look at buying them last time I was in the US, but... I really can't justify it.
I've been knitting a Clapotis and plain stocking stitch scarf since January. I already have Mary Thomas's books and quite a few others, plus unlimited access to the internet. What need do I really have for a stitch library?
Normally this wouldn't be an issue. I have an enormous number of books, and I buy them purely because I like to have them and they give me joy. But my partner and I have been toying with the idea of moving back to Australia, and have finally decided on a date - early January 2008. Given that I'm involved in a monster project at work which will be eating my sanity points right up until the end of the year, I'm not realistically going to use them before we move back home. Pretty much anything I buy now which will come home with us must have the shipping cost back to Australia factored in.

Maybe... I could order them to be sent to Australia as my first present to myself when we move home...

Tuesday 8 May 2007

Six weeks of nothing

I spent 3 of the last 6 weeks on the road, one week in Wales for holiday, then two weeks in Boston for work again. None of these weeks really gave me a lot of knitting time.
I did manage to go whale watching with the New England Aquarium and see lots of whales on the weekend in Boston (Minke, Fin-backed, Humpback and Northern Right (wow)), so that was a good non-knitting weekend. For once I decided not to spend a day staring at the walls of my hotel room and managed to get into Boston via hotel shuttle, commuter train and subway both weekend days. It's not easy to get anywhere from Waltham if you don't have a car...
I did manage to scuttle into
Windsor Button at some point intent on buying a 3.5 mm Clover bamboo circular (which I did) and I also picked up some Lion Brand Micro Spun in Ebony and Mango. I've been looking for something to knit EZ's garter surprise baby jacket with, and this seems like a pretty good choice: soft and machine washable and dryable. The pattern originator might shudder, but I'm not sure about the combination of wool and babies, and machine washable at least is a must.

bee stripe swatch

bee stripe swatch neat edge

bee stripe swatch messy edge


I'm not happy about the edges, particularly the side I'm changing the yarn on. I think I'll be ripping back this swatch and trying the method recommended on Nona Knits:
"On every row, knit into the back of the first stitch and then slip the last stitch purlwise with yarn in front. Tersely for your enjoyment. First stitch -> ktbl. Last stitch -> sl wyif."
Hopefully I can find some way to anchor the yarn I'm carrying as well. I hate messy edges.
While in the US I ordered a couple of books from Amazon: Fiona Cooper's
Rotary Spokes, a novel I read years ago and have always wanted a copy of, and Debbie New's Unexpected Knitting, which I've had my eye on for some time, and would cost me approximately double the price to buy in Britain.
Unexpected Knitting, not surprisingly, contains a lot of unexpected knitting. It is also unexpectedly practical in tone, and also unexpectedly large: we're talking a quarto hardback (in public-librarian terms). I do want to knit EZ's baby surprise jacket, but now I also want to knit the baby tam jacket. Stocking stitch in the round! In a cardigan! With no steeks! The coolness is deep, yes?*

Meanwhile, I have continued to struggle along with Clapotis. I am now up to 15 repeats. Yes, I know you're only supposed to do 13, but I'm knitting on 4 mm needles, not 5 mm, and with a yarn which is, on average, finer than suggested. I may be able to block the hell out of it, but I don't want to be too vicious, as parts of this thick-and-thin yarn are (I think) laceweight cotton. At 15 repeats it is only just over 5 feet long, and I like my scarves/wraps at least 6 feet.
The first ball did the increase rows plus 5 repeats, so I think I will try for 4 repeats and the decrease rows on the last ball (so I don't get my knickers in a knot about running out of yarn - can't stand anxious knitting). I'm nearly finished the second ball now.

Clapotis at 15 repeats

* If you are familiar with the game I-Ninja, this should be said in the same tone as "The blade is cold, yes?"