(Edited 21.06.07 - now with photos)
Phew. Again, a sigh of relief. And a shriek of happiness. My ISE4 pal, ekittie has received her scarf and goodies.I don't have the pictures to show you what I sent as Mr CB has the camera (in case I haven't mentioned it like a million times this week)
Here's a list of what I included (I pinched the photos from ekittie's website - teeheehee):
1) Backyard Leaves scarf (wrapped in some fab tissue paper I bought locally but was made in America funnily enough!)
2) Felted kitty knitting pattern bought from CraftyAlien
3) Stitch markers incl kitty charm
4) Hemp, glass bead & findings
5) 100% wool for felted kitty toy
6) 100% cashmere sock yarn hand dyed on the Isle of Man
And that concludes the ISE4 for me. I've had a wonderful experience again this year. I've learned how to read a lace chart, and lots more besides. Can't wait for next one.
Have a nice summer ISE4 swappers!
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
ISE4 - My pal has her package!!!
Sunday, June 10, 2007
ISE4: Backyard Leaves is finito!
From this lumpy bumpy scarf to.....
.... this! Here is my completed Backyard Leaves Scarf for my ISE4 pal and I am very pleased with the result. It's very soft and light yet warm and snuggly.
I used the best part of three 50g balls of Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK, in Shade 857 (some folks have used Jaeger M'maker Merino Aran but I wanted a lighter scarf). The suggested needle size is 4mm but as I knit quite loose I went down to 3.75mm. Also, the pattern calls for 11 repeats but I completed a total of 14 repeats to achieve the desired length.
Check out this sexy little grafted number ...
I was really worried that I would end up with a bulky mass at the back of the neck where the two pieces are grafted together. But blocking the scarf made that easier. Once I had stitched the two pieces together, I blocked it again to smooth out the join. I think it looks pretty neat! [insert big cheesy stupid grin]
Grafting the two pieces together seems to be one of the main concerns people had who have knit this scarf. When I was looking for information about it, I was unable to find any photos or reference to how other people managed. So here's mine, in case anybody wants to see it!
Now to get the package in the post tomorrow and job done. I do hope my pal will like it.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
ISE4: Backyard Leaves Scarf update
I am sooo close to the finish line with this scarf I can almost taste it! Only 2 more repeats to do today, a quick wash & block, and then I'll be FREE. I'll post some piccies later when I get the camera recharged.
It's a lovely scarf and I will certainly be making another in the future, but I would be lying if I didn't say I found it challenging.
It's one those projects that I simply had to have the chart with me the whole time. Granted I memorised the abbreviations and could recognise where a YO was needed or whether to decrease with a K2tog or a SSK, but I never did get that 'intuitive' thing going on with the pattern, which some people who have made this scarf in the past seem to have had.
I totally admire those who are able to memorise multiple repeat patterns!!
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
Miscellany: Time flies
I am halfway through my backyard leaves scarf for the International Scarf Exchange and thankfully the pattern repeats are getting quicker now. What started out as a very challenging pattern has now evolved into a pattern that I just love. I hope I will be finished by the end of next week. I have all the goodies and treats ready for my pal. It's just a question of finishing the scarf. No biggie really! (she said confidently).
In other news, Mr CB's dad had a wonderful 60th birthday party a few weeks ago which was organised by his partner. Amazingly he didn't click what was going on. I shan't go into the details for now as there's just so much to talk about but needless to say a great time was had by all! And I was one of the last 3 standing at 3.30am on the Sunday morning, having drank many voddies & coke and danced the night away. Ah the good life.
Swiftly followed the Manx Youth Games on 11th May. Little Miss CB did really well and out of the 5 regions, the North (including Ramsey where we live), came 3rd in the footie. It was the first time she took part in the games and thoroughly enjoyed herself! Just like last year (and the year before that etc..) about 1,800 children aged 8-14 took part from all around the Island. Poor Mr CB spent the day resting in the car while I sat in the stands cheering on the little ankle biters with the other parents. 'He who never gets sick' unfortunately caught the dreaded lurgy from me and really wasn't feeling too well on the day! :(
This weekend saw me up on Friday evening making 70+ fairy cakes for a party celebrating 10 years of a local youth club project called The Shed. Mr CB helps out on the committee and I volunteered to help him by baking his share of the fare. I enjoy it and if I do say so myself, I make a rather nice set of buns! In return we got a nice chunk (I kid you not) of birthday cake and some delish chocolate cake. Yum yum yum!
Little Miss CB spent most of the Saturday at a birthday party for her friend. The 10 girls had a day session at the Venture Centre where they took part in archery, air rifle, absailing, obstacle course, and more. Thankfully it was dry and relatively warm. There's nothing worse than when she comes home from the Venture Centre when it HAS been raining - the clothes are usually filthy and the smell, well it's worse than wet dog. Nothing in this world can possibly smell as bad as wet forest, woods, moss, mud etc... Yeuck!!
I helped little Miss CB build a really cool den in the garden today. We bought some bamboo canes a few weeks ago at the garden centre for literally pennies, with a view to making a teepee or play tent. However, they made a rather excellent structure when the shorter lengths were strung together on either side with the longer poles running across the top as a 'roof'. In fact it was such a lovely evening I made a little picnic tea for her and her best friend. Nothing fancy but there's something nice about eating out in the garden when the weather is fine!
I still have a website to draft up for Mr CB and a few flyers to put together for one of the committees he is on so I guess I'll be a busy bee for a few more days to come!
And here we are. Four am on a Tuesday morning. My insomnia is still rampant - oh, didn't I mention this before? Yes I am, unfortunately, not getting much sleep these days. The pain has been really bad for months now and I rarely get more than a couple of hours in bed before I get disturbed when I try to turn over etc. Add to that Mr CB's comings and goings for work and it makes for a very poor and unhealthy sleeping situation. Hopefully it will sort itself out soon. I don't need any more medication but it's probably time to restock my cupboard with calmomile tea!
'Night night folks. :)
Monday, May 14, 2007
Sewing: Knitting Needle Roll for ISE Pal
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The fabric is recycled or left over from previous projects. Next time I wouln't mind getting my hands on some pretty fat quarters with my favourite colour combinations: turquoise/red/white or pink/brown/blue.
I'm really pleased with how it turned out, although the inside flap is bugging me. It's a little bulky. I'll leave it for now and come back to it in a week. I'll change it then if it's still bugging me.
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Enjoy!
PS I would be happy to make one in exchange for some feltable wool. If you're interested in doing a swap then let me know. I would love 400yds of feltable wool in exchange for one needle roll, but that's up for negotiation!!!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
ISE4: Package Arrived! YAY!!!
My ISE4 package arrived today. And boy what a package! I have been truly spoiled!Thank you Tammy from lavendarknits.blogspot.com
The scarf is absolutely perfect and it will get plenty of use. Even Little Miss CB likes it and that's saying something. The colours are just perfect and it drapes beautifully. I hope the photos show how pretty it really is. It was very difficult to capture its true beauty all by myself.
And check out the sock yarn! How much does that rock!!! I have definitely got to make ME a pair of socks now. Stuff the kid - she can make do with her opal yarn!
Basically, I love everything that Tammy has sent me. From the Stitch Markers to the Choccie-Wockey-Doodahs it was a lovely treat. Especially as I have been feeling like cr*p this past week with the dreaded 'lurgy!
Thanks Mommybird
Lots of love (and happy knitting!)
Saturday, May 05, 2007
ISE4 - Progress on Lace Scarf (not Backyard Leaves)
It would seem that I have had a major breakthrough with the lace yarn I purchased at the beginning of this exchange. I finally tried out all the lace patterns that I liked and found one that really suits the yarn. I was also having difficulty finding the right size needle - the scarf was either knitting up too dense or too loose so it took some time to get it right.The ball of yarn in the picture above is the nearest I can get to the true colours of the yarn.
I love the way the colours of the yarn rise and fall with the stitches. I was worried that the yarn colours would look ghastly as can happen with variegated yarns and lace, but the colour repeats are fairly short (every 6" I think), and as they're all different shades of blue it doesn't look too bad.
In the meantime, I've made good progress on my Backyard Leaves scarf and it's simply a question of sending my pal whichever scarf I finish first. Although, I'm leaning more towards the lacy scarf as she lives in a fairly 'tropical' climate.
In a strange turn of events it seems that working on Backyard Leaves has helped me get to grips with all the YOs and left/right leaning decreases on the Gypsy Rose scarf above. So much so, I am able to work on this lace scarf without referring to the pattern. I admit it's only a 2 line pattern (well that's a big thing for me) but at least I can now recognise when to do a YO and when to do the S2K1PSSO without following the pattern! I'm learning, I'm learning.
Saturday, April 28, 2007
ISE4 - progress on Backyard Leaves Scarf
I think the most difficult part of this chart is visualising which way the stitches will lie when knit. I've been trying to work it out in my head and I'm at the point where I can now recognise at least half of the stitch symbols. Maybe at this rate I'll be able to knit the scarf blindfolded by the time I get onto the 2nd half!!!
I am going to have to make time to make me one of these scarves for the winter. It's going to become one of my favourites, right up there with the 'Liesel' scarf.
Thursday, April 26, 2007
ISE4 - New yarn, new pattern
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I was going to write some intelligent post questioning why buying yarn is so darn easy yet choosing what it's meant to be is just sooooo difficult. And why with the best willpower I can deny my 10 yr old sweets and the like as I know they're bad for her, but I can't deny my urge to buy yarn to start yet another scarf for ISE!
Instead I'm just going to keep it short and sweet. I bought this lovely olive green Merino DK from Jannette's Rare Yarns on Ebay and I am going to attempt the Backyard Leaves scarf for my pal.
Backyard Leaves is one scarf I had thought to make right from the start. But then I saw the laceweight yarn, fell in love with it and got distracted! Perhaps my pal would like some of it to make some socks or something for herself???
And there you have it. Loads to say but there's knitting to be done with them there needles!
Tuesday, April 24, 2007
ISE4 Poll - Leftover Yarn?
Thanks!
Saturday, April 21, 2007
ISE4 - Decisions, decisions....
Things aren't exactly working out as I had planned. It's not my fault though!!! This yarn doesn't seem to like any of the patterns I've chosen so far. I mean, it's bad enough having a hormonal moody little 10 yr old to contend with every day, but to get attitude from my yarn was not something I expected!
I'm actually considering putting it on the naughty step in the hallway for a Time Out - "RIGHT NEXT TO WHERE THE SPIDERS LIVE", - I hope it heard me!
I've got to decide what to do next. In the meantime, here's a list of the scarves I've cast on (and frogged) so far:
Honestly. If any of my family and friends (none of whom are knitty nutters) see this, they'll think I'm bonkers. How can it be sooo difficult to find something it wants to be made into.
So, having spent the best part of the day (and night, yawn!) on the internet, trawling through blogland, studying opinions on working with variegated yarn, I found these two patterns which might just be the answers to my prayers: Candle Flame Scarf from Knit Picks and Gypsy Rose Scarf from Cherry Tree Hill.
I'm going to give the 'Candle Flame' a whirl and see how it goes. But after seeing the yarn knit up in Nora's Lace Leaf Scarf I'm beginning to doubt myself. I've got a few weeks to go so I haven't started to panic just yet. If neither of these two patterns work out though, I'm going to go with the Entrelac scarf.
Or maybe I should just dump the other two ideas and stick with the Engrelac scarf and.... Oh crap! My mind is buzzing. God I'd kill for a glass of wine. L@@k, it's driving me to drink!!! Help me!
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
ISE4 - Yarn has arrived
What's that you say? Where's the 100% merino yarn with bordeaux, olive and brown running through it? Good question. It turns out that the original yarn I wanted was not in stock when my order was being processed the other day. The vendor had not done a stock-take on her e-bay shop for a while etc......
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But fear not - it's all good. As you can imagine I was a teensy bit distressed when the vendor told me the yarn was out of stock. I mean, you know how much thought and effort goes into choosing yarn for a project. Even more so when it's for a stranger in an exchange. Harumph!
Anyway, I was extremely relieved that the shop had some alternatives to choose from and to make up for the inconvenience, she even threw in the pattern I ordered, for free! Excellent customer service!!
It's all good! So I am now the proud owner of 150g (1200yds) of scrummilicious laceweight yarn which is enough to make a long scarf as my pal desires, with (hopefully - shhh) enough yarn left over for me to play with.
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Yarn fever
Today I picked up the knitting needles for the first time since before Christmas!
Although I've crochet a few items, you could count them on one hand, I really haven't been motivated to do much. Yet suddenly I've sprung to life in the last couple of days. It must be the lovely sunshine!!
And I'm definitely developing a taste for yummy yarn. Twelve months ago it was all fun fur and novelty yarns when I returned to knitting. Now I'm drooling over yarns from places like 'Posh Yarns' (I'm sure there's a post somewhere in the archives where I scoff at those who use luxury yarns.)
What a naive fool I was!! I don't recognise myself. But I like this me. I only hope the high slowly tapers off to a sensible stable effervesence, rather than bottoming out like I did in the winter.
So, onwards and upwards as they say. I can't wait until my yarn for the ISE4 arrives. There's been a slight change in the colour and I'll update the blog once it gets here. But it's still a yummy yarn all the same.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
ISE 4 - Yarn bought!
I just bought this yarn from e-bay. Looking at the yarn from here it doesn't really look all that appealing - almost sludgy. But the photo doesn't do it justice!"It is a single-ply 100% merino wool, very finely spun to create a lace weight with subtle variations of colour. The yarn is of the highest quality. Because it has been handspun and dyed, there are some natural variations in the texture and colour. The colour is 'clova', a lovely mix of bordeau, olive and brown. It is very fine, very soft and silky to the touch."
Ok, that's the blurb from the e-bay shop out of the way. )I thought this yarn would lend itself to a simple pattern, so as not to distract from the colour variations. I chose this pattern - Morello - which is a simple wave stitch. The picture above is of a different colourway, one that I personally would have been happy with, but my pal prefers more earthy tones.
Friday, March 02, 2007
International Scarf Exchange 4
YAY.... it's International Scarf Exchange time. I've signed up for round 4. Have you?
Since completing ISE3, I've got my hands on a few new knitting books which I am hoping will help me with my yarn and pattern choices. This time round I will be more decisive in my choices and not faff about like the last exchange - I started at least 4 scarves!
I got my hands on a copy of 'Scarf Style' by Pam Allen and I must say I am quite pleased with this little purchase.
I am also feeling very inspired by the colours and textures used by Debbie Abrahams in her knitting. I received these two books for Christmas - ‘Blankets and Throws to Knit' and ‘More Blankets and Throws’.
Can't wait to get started. The closing date for signups is March 5th and the max number of participants is 200. Visit the blog for more information: http://internationalscarfexchange.blogspot.com/
