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I have a FO to tell you about, but before I can do a tah dah! moment I need to take some pictures. All will be revealed shortly….
In the meantime, I have a work in progress – ‘Joy’ from Kim Hargreaves’ Nectar.
'Joy', image from Kim Hargreaves' website
I have been obsessed with this cardigan since I saw a woman wearing one at the I Knit Weekender last year. She was wearing it over a floral summer dress and she looked great. Naturally, I stalked her around the exhibition space to get a proper look at her knitwear.
I’m using the recommended yarn, Rowan Denim (in Ecru). It’s a nice yarn, but the lack of elasticity in the cotton is hard on my hands and arms. I can’t knit on this project for too long otherwise they ache. I’m working on the back and it’s smooth sailing so far. It’s knitting up quickly.
'Joy' in progress
I’m slightly concerned that Rowan Denim is designed to shrink:
…wash all the pieces together in the washing machine at a temperature of 60 – 70 degrees C so that shrinkage can take place. The pieces are then dried and can be sewn together. Kim Hargreaves’ website.
I have a horrible premonition of making the pieces, being delighted with the result, then putting them in the wash whereupon they emerge the size of doll’s clothes.
I have been indulging my geeky side this week. I am very excited by the Lego Harry Potter game. I have pre-ordered the DS version. I’m not a big gamer (in fact I’m useless) but the Lego games are fantastic. OH has Lego Star Wars for the DS – it’s faithful to the films and witty, as well as fun to play.
Also, I was over-excited by the release of the new Apple operating system, iOS4. I installed it on my iPod Touch last night, then happily re-arranged my apps into folders. Ah, the joy of organization! Here’s the first of the four screens on my iPod Touch before iOS4:
Here it is with iOS4 installed. You can see the apps are now in neat little folders all on one screen, apart from those in the top row which I use most frequently:
The only problem is, it encourages you to download more apps, as you can fit lots more onto one screen. This is me today:
I’m a bit late with my shawl for April. I got side-tracked by unwisely starting other projects – I’ve got about 7 things on the needles at the moment! Tsk, I need to focus and not be distracted so easily. Anyway, here’s my finished Swallowtail Shawl.
Swallowtail Shawl close up
It was made using one skein of Handmaiden Sea Silk in ‘Smoke’ on 4mm needles. I was worried there wouldn’t be enough yardage in the skein, but I ended up with a (very) small amount left over. The yarn feels luxurious, so soft and smooth. The colour is fabulous – like liquid mercury – and the yarn has an amazing sheen. However, I don’t know if I could bring myself to pay that much for a skein again.
Arty shot
The pattern was easy to follow and I made no mods. I was wary of the nupps (for the uninitiated, nupps are small bobbles characteristic of Estonian lace knitting made by k, yo, k, yo, k into one stitch on the RS, and then p5tog on the WS), but they turned out to be less scary than I anticipated. It would have helped if I’d had pointy lace needles, but these are usually nickel coated and I’m allergic to nickel, so I had to stick with my faithful KnitPro wooden circulars.
The finished shawl (wet) blocked to 54″ long by 27″ deep, which is a goodly size. I find small shawls a pain, I like to be wrapped in something approximating to a blanket. I am really pleased with the finished result, although it feels too ‘nice’ for every day wear, if you know what I mean.
The whole shawl
I must be one of the few knitters in the western world who had never listened to a knitting podcast. That situation was remedied this week, when I downloaded several episodes of Electric Sheep by Hoxton Handmade. I’ve been listening whilst knitting plain socks in my lunch breaks at work and I’m really enjoying them. I’m going to try the Knitmore Girls next. Are there any others people can recommend?
