Big blanky for me!

I bought this great yarn (Karabella Margrite, an 8ply/DK 80/20 merino/cashmere blend) when an Australian online yarn store closed down a few years ago - there were only 5 balls in the red, an awkward amount for a project - not enough for a garment but too much for most accessories - but I couldn't resist. Like all good knitters, I knew the yarn would tell me what it wanted to be eventually.

Then when I saw DrK's huge red Shetland Triangle (Ravlink), I knew that I had found the project for my yarn. Just not the time to cast on...

Until one day in December last year, I had the knitting blahs, so I decided it was time, time to start my own huge red Shetland Triangle.

Details

Pattern: Shetland Triangle Lace Shawl by Evelyn A Clark, from Wrap Style. A lovely, easy, beautiful pattern, which uses the fir cone lace stitch pattern which I love! Looks like a blobby mess pre-blocking...but apply water and a some Soak wool wash and magic happens.

The pre-blocked size was 144cm/57" across the wingspan, and 65cm/25.5" deep.

Post-blocking, I achieved a wingspan of 190cm/75" and depth of 98cm/38.5". Fabulous!

Yarn: Karabella Margrite, 4.5 x 50g balls. This yarn is expensive, but has amazing yardage (154yd/141m per 50g ball)! I ended up doing 13 repeats of the body pattern and tossed up whether to do another, but really didn't want to end up short of yarn, and I'm glad I made the right choice, I wouldn't have had enough for that extra repeat.

Sticks: 5.5mm KP Harmony Options

Time: 9 December 2009 - 9 April 2010. While the beginnings of the shawl went quickly, I thought it was never going to end - those final rows were quite long! But I got there in the end!

And I'm so glad I did, I love it! It will be my lovely winter blanky shawl. If only it would actually get cold here - we're in mid-Autumn and still having daytime temperatures of 25C or higher (that's 77F for my US friends). Not that I'm really complaining. But this weather is not so good for the knitwear!

SHOESday: itty bitty

Bells' post today (which you must check out if you haven't already!) gave me an idea. Even if I am no longer buying new shoes (much...) I have some other new shoes I can show off:

Are these not the coolest little boy shoes ever!! (For my American friends, Dunlop Volleys are Australian made tennis shoes - since 1939 - that are so daggy that they are cool again. Although not as cool as Converse All-Stars) (I'm not sure if there is a UK equivalent?)

These were a gift from my second baby shower (now I really really feel spoilt saying that - as if one shower wasn't enough, which it totally was!). Rather than bore you all with even more stuff, you can check out the rest of the loot here on flickr if you wish!

Although I will leave you with a picture of one other gift.

I don't know whether it's a good or bad thing that apparently this is an essential for new mothers!!!

I promise there will be actual knitting content coming up on this blog soon!

Some more goodgoodies

In addition to the gift spoilage reported last time, there was also a lot of Good Things to Eat - including these most excellent Teddy biscuits, made by the clever Bells:

And this most excellent Little Ted cake, made by the cake-maker extraordinaire, MissFee:

(I still have the head...I can't bring myself to eat Teddy head!)

I also wanted to show this gift, which was given to me by the ladies of my crochet meeting (part of the Knitters Guild). It was made by a member of the Guild, who I understand is quite elderly and whose eyesight is not what it used to be.

If I can still knit this well when I am older and more blind than I already am, I shall be a very happy knitter indeed. It really left me speechless, it is such a treasure!

A 2ply laceweight shetland style shawl which is almost big enough to cover the top of a queen size bed. It's just amazing! And with my favourite fircone lace in the centre.

Really, words can't do it justice. I am so very lucky.

So thoroughly spoiled I am!

Partners-in-crime DrK and Bells organised the best baby shower for me, last Sunday. All knitters, all at my house, lots of food and drink and knitting and fun. And presents, for me! Knitters really are the best people!

I don't have photos from the shower itself (yet), but have lots of loot to share and people to thank, so bear with me for a photo heavy post (and no linkys to blogs, sorry, it's taken forever for the photos to load as it is! But you'll all know who I'm talking about I reckon!).

For muslin and flannel wraps, facewashers, and cot blanket, George, Jody and Bells!

For cute clothes (the outfit on the left is actually a very chic brownish/grey, all the way from Paris!), Lyn, Sue and MadMad (who sent it from the US to arrive in time for the shower!):

And George! (note the teddy theme...)

For books (lovely books!), DrK and Barbara:

For the coolest toys ever, Natasha, Lee, Margarita and George (Natasha also gave me a bottle of Moet - hurrah for grown up presents too!! Can't wait to crack that open!):

For handmade blankies, Kristie, Ailsa and Zeph:

For the coolest artwork, Kris:

For the handknits (what knitterly baby shower would be complete without them!), Donna, Kristie, MadMad, ProbablyJane (visiting with Lyn all the way from the UK) and Ailsa.

And I saved the best for last!

Jody and MissFee managed to completely surprise me by secretly organising a group effort! This fab blanket was made up of squares contributed by Rachel, Jody, Donna, Kris, Sue, Ailsa, George, DrK, Al, Zeph, Natasha, Helen B, Ceri, Donni, Margarita, Lyn, MissFee, Bells, Jess, Karen, Barbara and Lee!! I just wish the picture did it justice - I shall have to take some more tomorrow in better light, so you can see the red ones in particular.

Completely blown away, I was (and still am!) And very very spoiled! Thank you everyone, so so much. xx

Cook from a Book challenge #5

Or, more correctly for this post, Cook from Cindy2Paw's Blog!

Today I made these:

Red Velvet Cupcakes!

I decided I was going to give these a go as soon as I saw them on Cindy's blog, and since I was having visitors with a bunch of kids today, the perfect opportunity arose! Or at least, I thought it was perfect but on reflection, making cupcakes with red food colouring and a cream cheese icing - for kids - was perhaps not as perfect as I originally thought...oh well, some of the kids loved them, some had to scrape the icing off and some weren't that keen.

But I managed to polish off 3 of them in quick(ish) succession.

They were delicious! Although I couldn't get the icing as thick as I think it probably should be (and I only made half as much as the recipe specified, which was still plenty). I would definitely make these again! Red cupcakes! Red! Chocolate! Cream Cheese icing! What's not to love! Thanks Cindy for the inspiration and the recipe!

Keeping Track - March 2010

I know long time readers will hardly believe this (I can hardly believe it myself!) - but I went a whole month (a WHOLE MONTH!) without buying any yarn. No new yarn for March! I think that's a first for me in the whole time I've been keeping track.

And, combined with a visit from my mum and me giving her some 8ply/DK yarn for her charity square knitting, I have done really well on the out's too!

In: no yarn! (no yarn at all!!)

Out: 16.5 x 50g balls

YTD: +10.5 x 50g balls (or on a monthly average, 3.5 x 50g balls a month! I can hardly believe it!)

Now because a post without photos is generally unexciting and uninspiring, I wanted to share with you a lovely package I received in the mail this week (not yarn, no sir!):

What could be in it?

Looky!

A gorgeous blanket for Teddy, and a Peter Rabbit with a bell inside (such a good size for little hands!) and two knitting magazines for me to read while sitting with my feet up! All courtesy of the lovely Linda - you can see a much better photo of the blanket on her blog. Thanks so much Linda, I love it all!!

Well, I am really Loving Myself Sick right now!

Yes, I'm pretty happy with myself today!

Why?

Because of this:

Yes! Babette is done! After just over a week solid of seaming, and a couple of days to crochet 3 rows around the entire edge, she is done! And I am Loving Myself Sick!

Details:

Pattern: Babette Blanket, by Kathy Merrick, from Interweave Crochet, Spring 2006 or from Interweave's web store. A modern take on the traditional granny square crochet blanket, this pattern is quite a hit with the crocheters. Done in 17 colours of 4ply/fingerweight yarn (Koigu, no less!), it really is lovely. Helped quite a bit by the fetching photography and beautiful girl "modelling" the blanket! But I must say, the use of so many different colours means just one thing: SO MANY ENDS! That put me off making this pattern for such a long time.

And then an inspired idea from a very smart blogger, combined with an amazing sale on Regia Kaffe Fassett yarns in the UK, meant the door opened for me to make this. Thanks so much Mooncalf and Kemps!

The pattern itself is made up of 2, 4, 6, 8, 10 and 12 row squares - if you use 17 colours, it tells you exactly which colours to use for which squares, but for me, using the self-striping KF yarn, in 3 colours, meant I just had to ensure I shared the colours around the differently sized squares.

Once the squares are done, the blanket is constructed in 10 strips, just like a log cabin quilt. I laid all the strips out on the bed and photographed each, then bagged the squares for that strip - it made it a lot easier to ensure that the different colours were spread around the blanket reasonably evenly! As I was seaming the strips, I felt just like a quilter hand-piecing a patchwork quilt (or at least, how I imagined one would feel). It was a joy watching each strip come together and the colour sing!

I blocked each strip once they were sewn together, then sat down to seam strip by strip.

Yarn: Regia Kaffe Fasset Design Line 4ply sock yarn, 3 x 4251 (Landscape Storm), 3 x 4253 (Landscape Fog) and 4 x 4261 (Landscape Caribbean) for the blanket, plus 0.4 x 4253 for the edging (1 row) and 1 x 50g ball of Jaeger Matchmaker Merino 4ply in col 650 for the other 2 rows of edging plus for seaming (yarn from stash). I thought a plain colour sandwiching one of the striped yarns would work nicely for the border. I also used it for seaming all the squares - I figured no yarn would match perfectly, so I picked the best one from stash.

I picked those 3 KF yarns because they all seemed to co-ordinate nicely - they had common colours in each, but also complementary colours. That KF, he really knows his colours! I just wish I could capture the depth and variation accurately in my photos - it looks so much better in real life!

Hook: 3.5mm bamboo hook for all squares and two rows of edging, 3mm bamboo hook for last edging row. I think my hooks might be a bit small, but I'm still happy with the drape of the squares.

Time: 20 December 2009 - 29 March 2010. Making all the squares was so enjoyable, and even seaming this project (SO MUCH SEAMING!) was something I actually enjoyed for a change!

Modifications: I added an extra strip along the bottom of the blanket - because of the hook size issue, I thought the blanket might be a bit small without it, as I plan on using it as a cot blanket for Teddy. And I'm really glad I did, because I would have been right! As it is, it is 1m (36") wide, and just over a metre long.

Now I (or more correctly, husby) just need to put the cot together so Teddy will have somewhere to sleep!

Desperate Measures

You know the saying "desperate times need desperate measures"? Well, I had one of those a few weeks ago.

Well, I probably wasn't really that desperate. But it did involve me taking the scissors to my knitting. And I wasn't doing a steek...

So I've been knitting these socks (RavLink) - just plain stocking stitch toe up socks in my Wendy Happy bamboo sock yarn. I thought I'd try a new tubular bind off method that I'd read in Wendy's Socks from the Toe Up book. I don't know if it was the instructions, or me (I'll hazard a guess it was me!!) but I stuffed it up royally. Far from being the nice stretchy bind off promised, mine was tight tight tight. Just no good at all. I was so cross - I reckon it took me at least an hour or more to work this method - which involved kitchenering (!!) ALL 64 stitches on the needle. GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

So into the naughty corner the sock went.

And then I finally pulled them out, and pulled out The Good Scissors.

And did this:

Ending up with this:

After about 20 minutes of painstaking frogging and putting the correct stitches back on the needle, I had this:

And then I did my regular sewn-bind off. And all was good with the world.

********************************

Speaking of making things better with the world, this Saturday (yep, tomorrow!) is Earth Hour. If you haven't signed up already, it's not too late. And turning off the tv, the computer, the lights and any other unnecessary electrical appliances, for an hour (or more if you like), and burning some candles, is a really nice way to spend an evening. I guess that means I'll have to cast on a nice easy garter stitch project...

Cook from a Book challenge #4

Yes, almost the end of March and this is only #4 ... I knew I should have made it a monthly challenge rather than weekly!! And I must confess, I only completed this one out of necessity - I couldn't find the recipe I wanted (an old favourite), so had to resort to the books!

Thank goodness for The Cook's Companion. Stephanie Alexander has come to my rescue yet again!

This is the quick apple cake:

I had a friend coming over for afternoon tea, and I do believe you can never go wrong with an apple recipe! But I couldn't find my apple tea cake recipe (from my Year 9 Home Science recipe book - I couldn't find the whole book, which makes me sad!!). I thought Stephanie would be my best bet and she didn't let me down. A really nice, easy to make cake, goes delightfully with a dollop of cream and a pot of tea.

(Sadly though, I had to throw out the leftovers yesterday, due to ants! Darn ants got into the cake! I shouldn't have left it out on the bench - although it was covered nice and tight with glad wrap - darn little ants! They should be made to wear steel capped boots so we can hear them getting into things!)

Long time in the making

I don't think I've shown this project since I first mentioned it last October. It was a project that really was a long time in the making - as I'd planned to make since I first got the pattern about 4 or 5 years ago, including buying the called for yarn for a fairly large amount of money from eBay and stashing it until the time came where I could actually make this project.

And for something so small, I still took my time in actually making it, but I am very happy with it, and very excited that I shall soon be able to put it on the little fella (6 weeks to go - OMG!!)

Details

Pattern: Classic Matinee Jacket by Erika Knight from her book Baby Bloom (or Knitting for Two as it is called in the US). A lovely old-fashioned (no, classic!) pattern, with option for a shawl collar or stand up collar. The sleeves are knit flat and the body is knit all in one piece, which is nice for minimising finishing - except that for some reason the moss stitch button band is knit separately (for the yoke portion only) and then seamed on. I think, despite my best efforts, I made one band slightly longer than the other, but really, I don't care a bit!

Yarn: Jaegar Cashmina, sadly discontinued. A most lush 80/20 blend of cashmere and extra fine merino. 4 x 25g balls in shade 043 (sky), a beautiful blue/grey.

Sticks: 3mm and 3.25mm KnitPicks Harmony Options - thank goodness we can buy the smaller tips here now, makes it so much easier when you only have to carry around the spare tips instead of a whole new set of needles.

Time: 9 October 2009 - 12 March 2010. I even have the buttons sewn on (yes! these are not stunt buttons!)

Modifications: None - except to do a 3 needle bind off for the shoulders, rather than cast off and seam - although if I were to make this again, I think I would also just continue to knit the moss stitch button band at the same time as the rest of the yoke, instead of doing it separately - even less finishing required then, and you know the band will be the correct length!

I love the simplicity of moss stitch with stocking stitch, the softness and the fullness of this pattern. A most satisfying and meaningful knit for me in so many ways.

Visitors from near and far

Usually when my mum comes to visit I'd consider it a visit from afar, since for her it is an 8 hour trip by bus and train. But I had the chance to meet a friend from much further afield last week, when Roxie and her husband Kyle came to Sydney, all the way from Oregon in the US! A 28 hour trip, Roxie told me!

I had a lovely lunch with them, along with Janette and her husband Marc, and Grandma Flea, last Friday. And received gifts too - I shall have fun picking out some recipes to try from this book!

A really lovely day, thanks Janette for organising!

And this week my mum is here - because she's quite sure we needed her help in getting things organised for Teddy's arrival. (And she's quite right!). For those wondering about her reaction to the shawl, here's how it played out:

I spread it along the foot of the bed in the spare bedroom - the bed has a plain red quilt cover on it, so the shawl didn't really stand out too much. She went in there to put her handbag down, and I was standing in the doorway behind her waiting for her to notice it and grinning like an idiot. Of course, she didn't see it straight away, but did see me grinning at her, and wanted to know why I was standing there grinning at her!! So then she figured something was up and looked all around the room and I thought she was never going to see it! But then she did, and her hand flew to her open mouth and she couldn't speak for a minute! Then just repeated "I can't believe it! I can't believe it! I can't believe it!". Kind of funny, since that's almost what I called the post about it too! (does that mean I'm turning into my mother? Ooooh scary!)

I almost can't believe it...

I almost can't believe this project is done! Done done done! No longer a WIP! No longer on the sticks! Over! Finished! Done!

And it only took me almost 3 years ... but I can't wait to see the look on mum's face when I finally give it to her this weekend! I think she's probably given up on it ever being done.

And I got a medal for it in the Ravelympics! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! It's amazing how you can get 25% of a shawl done in just 2 weeks if you really set your mind to it.

Details

Pattern: The very descriptively named Alpine Knit Scarf with Double Rose Leaf Centre Pattern and Diamond Border (!!) (otherwise known by me as the Alpine Lace Shawl!) by Jane Sowerby from Victorian Lace Today. I chose this pattern for a couple of reasons - it's a stole, so more wearable, the border is knitted at the same time as the centre, and it's just a lovely looking pattern. But on the downside, it's lace on both sides - which is one of the reasons it took me so long to do. Never underestimate the power of the purl rest row when choosing lace patterns!

The other thing to note with the pattern is that the centre pattern is an 8 row repeat, while the border is a 16 row repeat - so I did a cut and paste job on the charts - pasting two centre repeats in between the border repeat charts, which made it a lot easier to work from the charts.

Yarn: Filatura di Crosa Multicolour, in colour 3053, 6 x 50g balls. I chose this yarn with my mum, based on the colours really. But totally the wrong yarn for this pattern (or for lace really) - it's a 60% mohair/40% acrylic blend - which meant it didn't block out the same way as a 100% natural fibre yarn would have (I ended up adding a bit of length by adding 4 extra centre repeats). The pre-block measurements were 160cm/63" x 56cm/22", while after blocking it ended up 173cm/68" x 63cm/25".

And it was next to impossible to frog and even tinking was hard. Which means I fudged a bunch of mistakes in the shawl, moreso at the beginning though. Another contributing factor to the length of time to knit!

On the upside, mohair hides a lot of sins! And I reckon my ends will never come out, because the yarn is so sticky!

Sticks: KnitPicks Options 4.5mm 80cm circular. Another newbie to lace (at the time) mistake - needles too small for yarn. Or really, yarn to heavy for needles! The yarn is really an 8ply/DK weight, so I should have used at least 5mm or 5.5mm sticks - although this would have made the shawl tooooo wide. Anyway, have learnt my lesson about yarn choice from this project!

Time: April 2007 - 28 February 2010. Oh my!

What I learnt: As this was my first big lace project, I made a lot of mistakes - yarn choice, pattern choice, needle choice. But somehow it all came together in the end, and I really am pleased with this (not just that it's done either!).