In honour of a wee small

We spent this weekend visiting Lord and Lady Coventry, two members of our SCA household. The main purpose of the visit was to meet their recently-born sprog, Nemo[1]. He is utterly adorable despite having thrown up on me twice.

I'd made him a hat before he hatched, but I had a partially-worked piece of embroidery I designed back in March when Terry Pratchett passed away. As Nemo's parents are huge Pratchett fans, and as the quotation in question seemed remarkably apt for the start of a new life, I decided to add the relevant details and call it a birth sampler. I think it came out rather well, personally.



Worked over two on 14-ct Aida cloth in some mysterious hemp embroidery floss. I ended up using it as it came from the hank rather than splitting it into strands. It seemed in keeping with the heavy fabric and juvenile style. Anyway, the parents seem to like it. At least, they bought a frame for it within an hour of me presenting them with it...



[1]Not his actual name.

Those who can't knit go shopping

Or something like that, anyway! Instead of indulging in a morning of needlework, as I normally do on my Thursday mornings off, I decided to clean my flat. It needed doing, and there was a chance that I was going to bring a friend home with me later. So I tidied, washed dishes, and did not a single stitch of knitting. But there was a plan! Said friend had never been to my favourite shop and wanted some 2mm DPNs. I knew they had some in, and since she'd expressed a desire to meet for lunch, I suggested a shopping trip instead. So we met and went up to Kentish Town. 'Twas great. She ended up with a bunch of stuff, and I bought white sewing cotton, cream-coloured bias tape and some wooden buttons. And then we sat in a cafe and poured over the charts for one version of Eleanor of Toledo's Stockings, a very popular piece of historical reproduction knitting. She'd been confused by the written pattern, which seemed to omit some decreases needed to make the patterns match up around the leg. And I, obsessive that I am, just had to rechart the lozenge pattern on the cuff so that it was symmetrical. And we discussed the relative virtues of an assortment of double decreases. I'm fondest of the one showcased in Grumperina's Jaywalker Socks (remember those?), slip 2 together knitwise, knit 1, pass both slipped stitches over and off the needle. In fact, I'm so fond of it that I decided to replace the double decrease in the Swallowtail Shawl with it. It is just more nicely centred, in my opinion.

Anyway. The thread and the bias tape are for the chemise that I worked on on Saturday. I still can't believe that I ran out of white sewing thread. The buttons are for a project that hasn't even been cast on yet! Remember about a year ago when I finished knitting that blanket that had been in the works forever? Well, I still have more of the blue yarn left. So I decided that for her birthday this year, my best friend would be getting a matching pillow. I'm planning to just work a big sack of seed stitch on circular needles and graft one end closed when I finish. No seaming! Just miles of seed stitch. So now I've got some big wooden buttons to hold a flap closed once it's done. (I'm a fan of removable cushion covers. It prevents spillages.) Given that her birthday is less than a month away, I maybe should start working on it...

Odds and Ends

The interview yesterday went swimmingly. I am now sleeping like a log since it's finished. And because it went so well, I decided that I deserved a little shopping expedition. Of course that meant going to the needlework shop! I was very good and didn't buy any yarn (although a social event is going to take us perilously close to Loop tomorrow afternoon. I may succumb.). Instead, I bought Rowan Magazine, Issue 40. I've never been entirely sure about Rowan knitting magazines. Their yarn is great (this is the company that makes Kidsilk Haze, referred to by many knitters as 'Cracksilk'), but their patterns have always seems a little too runway model for my liking. Or so I thought. I was organizing my Ravelry queue the other day and discovered that my blog-hopping adventures had put no less than three Rowan patterns in my queue - and they were all from issue 40! So when I went up to buy garb-making thread and noticed that they were still selling this back issue, I took note. And then bought it yesterday.

Upon getting it home, I read through it cover-to-cover, as one does. Closer inspection has led me to the conclusion that while many of the patterns are not something I'd necessarily wear, almost all of them are things that will inspire my own designs. And the things that I had queued are great. A very good investment!

(As an aside, I'd always been put off by the cover price of the magazine. It's £10.50, which seems huge for a magazine. Until you realise that there are nearly 50 patterns in each issue. Most knitting books retail for between £10 and £20, and rarely have more than 20 patterns. In fact, they frequently only have 12-15.)

My library will be expanding even more in the next week. I received a very belated birthday gift certificate, part of which has been spent on knitting books. Hurrah for Amazon! There will soon be a copy of Knitting Without Tears and Son of Stitch n' Bitch cuddling up on my already overstuffed bookshelf. Book reviews will follow, of course!

There has also been knitting. I'd lost my mojo prior to the interview, mostly due to stress and exhaustion from not sleeping. But I've got it back with a vengeance! Last night while watching In Search of Medieval Britain I finished up the first mitt of the pair. And this morning I cast on the second to avoid Second Mitt Syndrome. I also put in half an hour's work on sewing the husband's tunic, so I'm feeling very virtuous.

The plan for the weekend is to completely make the second mitt and to make a good start on using the remnants on the mini-Who scarf. Other than that, I have no fixed plans. Apart from sleeping, of course!

I spoke too soon

That thing about my neckwarmer being done just in time for spring? I woke up the next day to find 2 inches of snow on the ground. Yes, London is having yet another cold snap. Today I wrapped up warm in my red hat and scarf. It's so nice being a knitter in winter!

I'm feeling very smug and productive, for I finally got around to handwashing my high-maintenence handknit socks. Of course, I'm not wearing any of them today, but they are clean and smelling deliciously of Victoria's Secret delicates wash. Mmmmmmm.

And speaking of socks, I spent my weekend knitting on Pom number 1! This pattern is a marvel of mathematical genius. I think I may be falling in love with the designer. She is brilliant. Normally ribbing goes up-and-down in columns. On this sock the ribbing bends in graceful curves that form patterns like fish scales (hence the name Pomatomus), and the increases and decreases make stunning patterns... I love, love, love this pattern! I've finished the first repeat and half of the second on the cuff, and I've decided to only do two repeats.They are 22 rows long, after all! I'm not going to do it for this pair of socks, but I'm seriously considering recharting the pattern so that each sock's curves can be a mirror-image of the other. But I'm not foolish enough to do that until I really understand how the curves work. And until I figure out what decrease is the reverse of a "knit 2 together through the back loop".

Today I'm not going to be working on my lovely Pom, sadly. Tonight is the night of knitting in the pub, and dark, very fine yarn in a poorly-lit pub is a surefire recipe for headaches and a stiff neck. So, tonight (and over lunch) I will be working on the green and yellow mitts. I've just about figured out what I want to do with the pattern, so hopefully they will be finished up quickly.

Furthermore

This morning was very exciting, for the super-secret-special project yarn arrived - and it is so far beyond amazing that I don't have words. I love it. I am thrilled with it. I want to pet it and snuggle it and put it in a bowl on my table so I can look at it every time I walk past. And the designing has begun! Admittedly on a scrap of paper, but still. It's all good.

I have just spent a good dose of time updating my Ravelry account. It's one of those sites that requires more time the more time you put into it. I just went through to add all of my Mission: Possible projects to my project queue, but while doing so found another dozen or so things that I just have to knit! Whoops!

One of these days I really need to get around to inventorying my knitting needle collection so that I know what I actually have. It's very vexing getting ready to start a project only to discover that you don't have the right needles. Especially when It's a circular needle. One of these days I should really get an interchangeable circular needle set.

Whoops!

I may have bought some yarn last night. However, I actually have a really good reason. There is a very special event happening next year in July, and I have been planning to design and knit a project for the person who's event it is. I had intended to ask Dee to custom-dye me some yarn, for I need something very particular for it. Imagine my shock when I looked last night to find EXACTLY the yarn I'd planned to ask for! Right weight, material, colour, amount, everything. So I bought it. Which means that I'm well ahead of myself to get this uber-project finished on time. Fingers crossed!

Other things I did this weekend included:
-utterly fail to work on the second mitt at all
-nearly finish the second Jaywalker (I'll finish it tonight at the Stitch'n'Bitch)
-dig through my knitting and sewing stash to find numerous things I had forgotten I had
-take photos and forget to post them (oops!)
-fish out the second Jitterbug sock and remember just how much I love the yarn
-begin the process of cutting out a chemise to wear to the next revel
-find a partially worked piece of embroidery to work on
-use up two partial balls of yarn! 123 balls left!

So, at lunchtime and tonight I shall be first finishing the Jaywalker and then working on the second Jitterbug sock. Convenient how I will then have a mindless purse-sock AND a set of free needles to start a new sock. And both pairs of socks are suitable colours for Project Spectrum!

I've had to rearrange my yarn storage to help reclaim the living room. I'm actually pretty happy with it. I've basically moved all of the big bags of stuff on top of the wardrobe in the living room, which means that it looks a lot better, and I no longer have the pressure of "Ack! Too much stuff!" sitting at my kniting corner. Well, I still have more stuff out than I'd like, but hopefully I'll get things finished and thus make space. I'm just about recovered enough that I can tolerate the weight of Victorian Lace Today on my abdomen, so hopefully I'll be able to get on and work on the half-hexagon shawl.

Stuffses, my precious

1 - the black scarf is finished, thus using up three balls of yarn and meeting my January quota of 2 projects. Woohoo!

2 - My mother, her green socks and a digital camera were all in the same place at the same time for the first time. Ergo photos.

3 - Why terrier puppies and sock yarn don't mix: