Teal Citron Shawl

My latest version of the Citron shawl - this time in teal blue and a slight change to the pattern.

 

This one is mine. Teal is my favourite colour in the world.

Tough Luck

Unfortunately, my hard drive is totally dead. So I won't be able to get any data off it, which is rather annoying as I have no backup of my e-mail or bookmarks. The bookmarks have been collected for months and months so I'll have to try and remember the important ones. I've also lost my collection of online knitting patterns and the ones I downloaded. The worst bit is that this means I cannot paint until I've got a new hard drive which hopefully should arrive today... and then I'll have to re-install the operating system... the software... get the settings sorted out. Sigh. Never mind.

My yarn dying experiment with the beautiful bamboo yarn was a big success yesterday. I managed to get a variety of shades of mermaid (jade) green/blue and it's drying as we speak. Once it's dry I'll take some pictures. This time I didn't forget to take some 'before' pictures.

I am not sure what I'll make with it yet. Part of me is thinking of a mermaid shawl in freeform - combining knitting and crochet to make something that is organic and has a lot of texture and flow. On the other hand the green/blue would be lovely as a top...

Any suggestions?

Computer Troubles

Not a good week for me... my hard drive is trashed, and although I still hold some very small hope that I might recover some of the data on it, the hope is slim.

The good news is that at least all my photographs and paintings are on the external hard drive and therefore safe, but the bad news is that it will take at least till Friday to get my computer back to working order.

Since all my imaging software etc was on the hard drive it will be a few days before I'll be able to post any photographs of current endeavours on here. :-(

So, instead of spending another day moping around I'll be dying some bamboo yarn today for my next project. I am also still working on my silk/linen top which was giving me trouble as I can't follow the pattern with my yarn being so different from the pattern. Never mind, it'll get there.

Fingers crossed everything will be back to normal soon.

Sweeny Todd Burgundy Lace Wrist Warmers

I know, I know, I just have a thing about wrist warmers. I don't like gloves very much because they make it so difficult to grasp/hold things, but in this particularly cold Winter something to keep your hands warm is needed.

The pattern for these came from the latest (February issue) Simply Knitting magazine.

However, I used a different yarn from those recommended and had to make a few changes. The picot edging is slightly different and they are longer than the original pattern. However, they'd look different even without my changes!

I've used a wonderful dark red rough silk that is pleasant to wear all year round and they'd be perfect to wear inside the house (typing, knitting etc) as well as outside.

I am currently making myself a scarf to match and there will be more of these in different colours soon.

Another Flapper Hat

... this one was a commission... so is already spoken for, too. However, if you're interested, let me know. This particular design was knitted in Debbie Bliss Cotton in teal but is available in different yarns and colours.


I've used a cabbage rose pattern with leaves from a Nicki Epstein book called Knitted Flowers that is widely available. I love her books because the instructions are simple and to the point.

Knitting Bag - Sari Silk

Here it finally is - my knitting bag!



I wanted something to put my knitting in whilst I wasn't working on it as I often work on more than one project at a time and needed somewhere to keep current projects safe.

It's a story and a half and took much longer than expected. I got the recycled sari silk from an online wool shop but only got two balls as I wasn't sure how I'd like it. It took forever for this first lot to arrive (2 weeks) due to holiday and supposedly to problems at the post office, and when I finally started I realised pretty soon that 2 balls of wool wouldn't be enough. I ordered more and it took another week and a half for that to arrive. Normally, I'd put a link to the wool shop here but I can't honestly recommend this shop. Although the wool is fine and pricing okay, the delivery times are just not up to scratch for the UK. It forever surprises me that some internet shops don't realise that their biggest disadvantage is that customers pay and then have to wait for their order to arrive. The quicker the order arrives the more likely is the customer to order again. Two to four days is reasonable, I believe, for the UK. A week and a half or even two weeks is not reasonable.

However now it's finally finished. Sari silk is fairly easy and fast to knit and I love the effect of the different colours. It's almost like an abstract landscape. However, it's also fairly heavy (the sari silk for this bag weighs 400g). I'd not use it for much apart from bags and possibly hats.

The bottom of the bag has been crocheted in the round. I then took up the stitches with a knitting needles to make up the body of the bag. Along the top is a row of button holes for the ribbon to go through. I used lace weight rough silk (double) to create the crochet lace around the button holes and along the opening rim of the bag. A pale blue silk ribbon and needlefelted flowers in pale blue and red finish the bag. It's quite large so will hold all my needles, crochet hooks, wool and bits of paper with patterns on it.

Below is a close-up of the felted flowers.



Here's the ribbon against the lace at the top and the knitted sari silk:



Here's the crocheted border at the top.


Below is a detail shot of the knitted sari silk. You can see all the different strands that make up the yarn. They are the loose ends of saris, collected in industrial mills and spun into yarn.