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| Anne's work on needles |
| Cable jumper for Mike Rowan wool/cotton in 'misty', a marled grey. My own design, much becabled. |
Finished projects 2002
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Guage this! Did I say 'slightly shrunk'? To begin with, the pattern and 3.25 needles gave me 17 stitches per 10cm; after the wash it was down to 23 stitches. The cast on top looks enormous... 25th October All washed up  
After the wash, the swatch has slightly shrunk and is far more even. Lies flat, too. The colour is like the pici below.Swatching the hemp 
The hemp yarn is a delight to work with - crisp and soft at the same time. I suspect it will show textured pattern beautifully. This is the first swatch, before washing, with beads. Apparently the yarn shrinks and softens slightly with a wash, so I shall post an after pici as well, and I'll try to show the pattern better in that one.Toria on a roll Adding to her ridiculously long, and by now slightly embarassing list of achievements this year, Toria has won her secondary school's governors' prize for achievement following her stunning GCSE results, and last night she was awarded the Sussex County Cricket Women's under 17s Player of the Year award. For those of you who follow the game, her season's figures showed 22 wickets over 8 matches at an average of 6 runs a wicket. Another enormous trophy to add to the groaning shelves, but she takes it all in her stride. Last night's awards ceremony was also particularly pleasing because the Academy Award (for the most outstanding player in the Sussex Academy this season) went to the only female member of the academy, Rosalie Birch. Granted, she did make it to both the full England test and one day international sides! 24th October Jimbo down under 
Son no. 2 is obviously settling in well!Go-Ports unveil import The weather looks too good to mention, doesn't it! 22nd October Cabling around Mike's cable sweater in Rowan wool/cotton.  You can't see much of the cabling yet, but it is a dream to knit.I *love* Rowan wool/cotton to work with. The bottom is garter stitch by request. I've found good buttons for Bathmat Anjuli, so will post a pici of it completely finished. I've started winding House of Hemp hemp yarn into balls. This stuff is hardwearing! I can't break it with my fingers, and I have really tough fingers!!! I had to get the scissors out. This does lend a whole new aura to it. May be good for kids' knits as well, as it appears to be pretty well indestructible. I also found some lovely beads (small) in the Brighton Bead Shop for the kingfisher colour (Gosh) and am mulling over a pattern for a long-sleeved top. And now I feel a glass of wine coming on. Red. Shiraz. Yum. 20th October Bathmat Triumph The bathmat is finished!  And this is me wearing it!As DH Mike said, my hair looks as if it is doing 100mph. I have cast on immediately for his grey Rowan wool/cotton cable sweater, but am having second thoughts as he also said that 'unfortunately Photopaint doesn't have an 'apply babe looks' button.' That was the point at which he nearly got a house plant in the face. He does love me, though! 17th October Intrepid Traveller Touchdown Jimbo has landed in Melbourne and has been scraped up by his kind host, Simon. It is the first time he has flown (how did he manage that? The others have flown lots...) and 20 hours of flight with two stopovers was probably a tall order for one's first solo. He might have got lost in either Vienna (very civilised - I wouldn't mind getting lost in Vienna sometime next year...) or Kuala Lumpur. Anyway, he caught all his connections and arrived in one piece. This is what the bathmat sleeves are looking like!!!  Now I'm less involved in shoving fledglings out of the nest, I'll show you what I bought at the Ali Pali last Thursday. Just to whet your appetites, it was Hemp I went for and Hemp I got... Spoils from the City  My main mission for going to the Knit and Stitch show was to find House of Hemp - and my hunch paid off: the hemp is unbelievably gorgeous! The colours are far better in reality than I can do them justice with photopaint, the lustre hardly shows here, and you have to feel it yourself for the wonderful crisp but soft effect. but here goes, anyway. There is enough of the coffee brown for a sleeveless top, of the dusty mauve for a long-sleeved affair, and of the kingfisher for a jacket.
Then I got some cotton with a twist and a little rayon to go in with it. Not sure what I'm going to do with it, I just liked the feel of them both.14th October A fledgling takes flight Our first to flee the nest is departing this am from Heathrow for Melbourne. He's joining Gorae-Portland Cricket Club in Portland as their overseas player for the season. Although he is actually totally together about it, the mayhem with visas, flights, finding a good club with accomodation and a job over there, etc, etc, has taken its toll on my knitting reportage. However: Anjuli the bathmat is almost finished, and I am going to try for a couple more inches on the sleeves tonight before we leave for Heathrow at 2am. We'll get back just in time for me to teach my pilates class tomorrow morning. My ladies will do the exercises and I will be encouraging and attempt to remain upright. (And not cry!) 7th October I'm going to have to come straight out with it: I'm bored. I'm bored with Anjuli the Bathmat. The sleeves are taking longer than I thought they would, and I am verily bored, bored, bored. However, I am ploughing on. The plan was to finish by the 9th, the day I venture up to Ali Pali, but it just won't get done. Sniff. The fruitcakes are still being devoured, and I have helped considerably in the task of diminishing them. The chill change in weather made it entirely necessary. 3rd October Oh dear, I have been neglecting the updates again. But I have been knitting! Only at a rate of a few rows a day, but enough to keep me sane. Major family things are happening around me, like offspring fleeing the nest and others starting college, plus DH's exhibition (he's an artist) so things have been, shall we say, busy. I have compensated by ignoring housework of the cleaning variety altogether and baked a rather large Mrs. Beeton (no 1, the rich one) fruitcake this afternoon. Made enough for two enormous fruities and a little one. They are baking away in the oven now. I shall have to guard them with life and limb because son no1 does not appreciate the fact that fruitcakes have to cool before being eaten. He eats most of the bread hot out of the oven and any other cake he can get his mitts on. Can't say I blame him, but fruitcake *has* to cool. Somebody tell him! Online normality store? I am always so impressed by the titles other bloggers give their updates, whereas I just date mine... so... I am going to give titles a whirl. And more picis. In the meantime I would like to know what is normality and where do you buy it? Are the normality shops all disappearing like the LYSs? Does anyone know of an online normality store? |
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| Reading now: The Reason of Things - A. C. Grayling. Absorbing... mmmmmm |
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Knitting now: The Seaton Collection, Jamie and Jessi Seaton Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous designs, all intarsia, mostly 4-ply (fingering). One in double-knit. Flowers, oriental, heraldic. Very English. US shoppers click here: The Seaton Collection |
