Feather scarf

This blog is starting to resemble buses - nothing for ages then two turn up at once.

My latest FO is the Feather Scarf, knit in Artesano Alpaca Inca Cloud. This is a dream to knit with, it's so soft. It does shed a little though! The fabric opened up a lot on blocking, going from 44" to 52" long. I used a little less than two skeins, and the scarf was knit on 4mm needles.



Last night I cast on for a pair of Cranford Mitts. This is now a p/hop pattern so I will be sure to make a donation once I've finished them. Not much progress to show but I do love these colours - Mysteron (grey) and Smile in Yarn Yard Hug organic merino (something like a sport weight).

Yet another Clapotis and other FOs

Playing catch-up with FOs again, as I seem to end up posting pictures everywhere else and forget to blog them!



Another Clapotis, knitted in Mirasol Hacho shade "Northern Lights". This is a DK so I went down to 4.5mm needles, although 5mm would have worked just as well. There are two extra repeats in the straight section, and this is around 70" long by 21" wide. The Hacho is a great yarn to knit with, quite tightly plied, and pure wool to boot.

I also took part in this year's Woolly Wormhead Mystery KAL, as last year I just didn't have the time. There were two hat patterns to choose from, with a great deal if you bought both (the prices are still reduced until the 30th of November). I chose to knit hat A, as this was described as a slouchy hat with lace pattern. I even had the called-for yarn in stash, Stylecraft Pure Wool DK. This was bought several years ago and it was nice to have a good project to use it for.







I love the finished hat, and the crown shaping in particular is very pretty. I'd certainly make it again, probably in a more "squooshy" DK.

Tonight I'm planning to cast on for a pair of Cranford Mitts, using Yarn Yard Hug bought back when the pattern was first released. There is a glove KAL on the CTnY forum at the moment and this is a good excuse to finally make these! I'm also quite keen on mittens and "proper" gloves so hopefully will be trying a few patterns out in the near future.

Finally, I've created slideshows on Photobucket for my 2007 and 2008 FOs. My Flickr Pro subscription ran out at the end of October and I didn't see a reason to renew it, now that Ravelry has a number of options for uploading pictures. You can only view the latest 200 photos uploaded to Flickr, so in future I will be using a combination of PB and direct uploads.

Heather Hoodie Vest

Pattern: Heather Hoodie Vest, Knitscene Fall 2009
Yarn: Sirdar Denim Chunky, shade 509
Yardage: 5.08 skeins
Needles: 6mm straights and 6mm circs

Another garment that I am very pleased with indeed. The yarn is a wool/cotton/acrylic blend, handles very well, washes well and keeps its shape, and the cables really pop. It's also very cosy! The hood is of elven proportions and would certainly keep your head dry in a rain shower. The pattern is one I would knit again, maybe in a dark leaf green. The Mr thinks it looks like a top from the latest Robin Hood series and I'm inclined to agree.

Another recent finish was the Piper hat from Twist Collective:

Knit in Sublime Merino Silk Cashmere aran, a gorgeous yarn but a bit drapier than I think this needs. I made the slouchier version too and would knit this again using a wool yarn. The piping was done in Cascade 220.

I also turned the heel on my sock!

The decreases have also been completed and it just needs the main foot section completing next. I've also knit the right front section of Tender, my KSH cardigan, and am aiming to finish that before Christmas.

My current project is another Clapotis, using some Mirasol Hacho bought at the Black Sheep Craft Barn shop (a wondrous place to visit, there is a huge yarn pile amongst other things!). I'm going to the theatre in a couple of weeks' time and decided I'd like a more moody, autumnal scarf/wrap to wear. The photo doesn't do the colours justice, hopefully my next progress shot will be in better light.



The blog has also had a revamp, I hope you like the new look!

Holker Hall - photo blog

I am decidedly late in posting photos of our visit to Holker Hall on the first of October. We've been busy in the meantime with the ongoing decluttering of the house and garage. Lots of things have been re-homed, some things re-purposed (part cans of paint go to the tip where the Council collect and use them, for example), and unfortunately some stuff simply had to be chucked out. We still have work to do in the attic, but phase 1 saw 5 large bags of stuff collected by a charity today, in addition to the things mentioned above. At the moment the house is tidy again and there are no piles of stuff stacked up waiting to go elsewhere!

I'll update my knitting progress in a separate post, for now here are some photos I took during our visit. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and considering the date the gardens still looked quite summery. Click on any of the photos to see a larger version.



Formal gardens near the house, still a riot of colour.





Beautiful blues and purples.



"Architectural" seed heads.



This is at the gate from the garden onto the parkland, leading to the labyrinth - they have carved a compass point showing North into the centre.



My favourite photo of the day. Gorgeous lichens on one of the standing stones making up the labyrinth. It's a modern construction but looks lovely.



View from the labyrinth across the countryside.



And the view back to the house.



A short walk from the labyrinth is this wonderful slate sundial.



One of the many and varied benches, this one is entirely held together with dowels.



Ducks in the cascade fountain - as we approached they all rushed into the water with much noise and splashing!



As we stood watching the ducks and admiring the fountain, the sun scythed through the trees and we were treated to a rainbow in the spray.



The ducks later calmed down and some came out of the water to preen (one suspects they were angling to be fed!). I've tried to find out what species these are, to no avail, does anyone know?



Late summer colour in the sunken garden.




"Here shall ye see no enemy, but winter and rough weather"



House and gardens - we also toured the house itself and it was great to see the rooms so brightly sunlit. Unlike many "stately homes" this house is lived in and there is no attempt to stop the natural light.



Holker also hosts a Motor Museum, with a lot of material related to Donald Campbell. The photo above shows a replica of the Bluebird car, and below the K7 boat. The car in particular is huge!



I would recommend a visit to Holker, it has been some years since we last visited, and it has been much improved. As we were walking down to the gardens to begin our tour, we were overtaken by Lord Cavendish, who greeted us very cheerily, and took the time to have a quick chat with us and some other visitors. Not something you expect to happen, and I think shows how very "hands-on" the family are when it comes to running the business!

Basil

I finished this sweater a couple of weeks ago and forgot to blog it. The pattern is Basil from the Rowan Summer Tweed Collection by Kim Hargreaves, knit in Summer Tweed shade "Shark". The colours are not that good in the photo as it was taken in poor light - it's a darker grey base with flecks of blue-grey and black.

I love how this turned out, it's a wonderful fit and very soft and comfortable. I found the Summer Tweed fine to knit with, it didn't cause me any problems at all. The main mods to this sweater were (1) adding 4 extra rows after switching to the larger needles front and back, before the waist decreases, and (2) convering the shoulders to short row shoulder shaping. This is a method I will most definitely use in future, it significantly improves the look of the shoulders. A three-needle bind-off is used to seam the shoulders and again this gives a very neat finish.

I've just finished the last body piece for the Hoodie Vest, so my next job is joining the shoulders (three-needle bind-off again, but there's no shoulder shaping in this design) then blocking the body out to size. As well as knitting, I've been making chutney and marmalade! First off was Green Tomato Chutney (Delia Smith recipe), using our homegrown cherry tomatoes. We had to make sure we went out and picked all the greens off the plants just for this recipe, as they were all ripening up so well! Next was Mango Chutney, using a recipe by Marguerite Patten. We opted for the version without apples and hence using more mango. It turned out beautifully and tastes fabulous, although it's currently maturing for a month before we use any.

Last up was Grapefruit Marmalade (another Marguerite recipe), as I have great difficulty finding this in the shops, and tend to avoid oranges. We used pink grapefruit, and soaked the pith etc. for 24 hours before use. As it turned out this was a good thing to do, according to the collected wisdom on t'internet. I'd never made marmalade before (or mango chutney), so I was rather winging it on things like setting point - especially without a jam thermometer. Again it turned out really well, I was a bit worried it might never set but it has made a lovely thick marmalade. I have a partial jar in the fridge at the moment with the rest stored and it tastes wonderful. We have since invested in a proper preserving pan and thermometer, rather than the stock pot we've used this time. I will definitely be making my own marmalade and mango chutney again! I don't have any photos as my husband very helpfully put all the jars back into the boxes they originally came in, and they are sitting on top of the kitchen cupboards! They do need to mature though, especially the green tomato, that needs to be left for three months.

Purple

One of my favourite colours! First up is the completed Robin beret in RYC Cashsoft 4ply, shade Loganberry:





This only used 1.3 out of 2 full skeins, and I didn't add the contrast pompom. I knit this flat on straights as per the pattern, but it could easily be converted to a seamless pattern in the round. The RYC Cashsoft is beautifully soft, as per its name. A lovely beret for the winter and a great fit.

More purple, this time some yarn I hand-dyed for my swap partner in the current CT'n'Y Summer Secret Santa. It's a 100% merino laceweight, which I snagged as a bargainous cone.



I used Procion MX dyes bought as a kit. The first dye run gave some lovely shades, but there were paler patches that I wasn't happy with. The yarn was then overdyed with one shade of purple which gave a rich semi-solid. I'm very happy with the end result, as this was my first "proper" acid dye project and I wasn't expecting anything quite so good!

Not purple - this is my latest WIP, the Heather Hoodie Vest from the current Knitscene:



The yarn is Sirdar Denim Chunky in a cream/beige marl shade. It's the first time I've knit with it and I'm very pleased with how it knits up and handles.

My Basil sweater in Summer Tweed is complete, and waiting for me to finish seaming the sides! It's too hard to see under electric light, but I'm hoping to finish the sewing up tomorrow in daylight.

Finally, I had a lovely surprise last week, as Simply Knitting had reviewed my blog on theirs! This was most unexpected, my thanks to SK for their kind review!

Noro Striped Scarf & Shawl That Jazz

Pattern: Noro Striped Scarf by brooklyntweed
Yarn: Noro Kureyon shades 138, 159, 164 & unknown
Yardage: 4 skeins'-worth in total, 2 of 138, 1 of 159, part-skeins of 164 and unknown
Needles: 4.5mm

I've been wanting to make one of these manually-striped Noro scarves for a long time. I love how this turned out. I cast on 41 stitches for a 1x1 rib scarf approx. 7 inches wide.



Pattern: Shawl That Jazz by Samantha Roshak
Yarn: Mirasol Hacho shade Scarlet Pimpernel
Yardage: 8 skeins approx. 1096 yards
Needles: 5mm

Another cosy winter woolly! The shape of this is lovely, a gentle curve achieved by using short rows. I made the border around 3 inches deep, a little bigger than the size in the pattern. If I made this again I'd leave out the decrease row after picking up the border stitches, for a more ruffly effect.

My current projects include Basil from The Summer Tweed Collection, a sweater I've wanted to make for a while. This is the first time I've knit with Rowan's Summer Tweed, and I'm pleasantly surprised with how it handles. I was expecting something awkward but after the first row I find it great to knit with. The fabric is makes is rather nice too, a bit "scrunchy" but with a softness too. It will be interesting to see how it feels after washing. I'm also making the Robin beret from Amber: A Winter Gathering by Kim Hargreaves. The kit had been in stash for a wee while!

Finally, I would like to wish Felipe Massa all the best for his recuperation after the awful crash during Q2 at the Hungaroring. It was a very worrying time but thankfully he is now on the mend. Once again we can be very thankful for the safety improvements in F1 over the years, in this case the new helmets in particular. I'll keep the picture at top right on the blog until Felipe is back racing again.