I was pleasantly surprised to open my email inbox the other day to discover I'd won a prize draw. And not just any prize draw, but a prize draw for VV Rouleaux, and ribbons and trimmings shop in Marylebone, W. London. I love to go in there and browse; they always have such beautiful things. I was entered into their prize draw when I signed up to their mailing list. And don't they look beautiful.
I almost don't want to spend them!In knitting news, I'm now on to the final border of my Print o the Waves shawl. I was really into knitting it earlier this month, but now I'm feeling a little fed up with it. The border is very repetitive. I don't have to finish it until November though, so I've got a while. I've also started knitting a pair of socks from the latest Rowan magazine (No.42). I've had to go down a needle size and add extra decreases because I felt they were much too baggy. I often find Rowan patterns come up big and that their wool is rather stretchy. But I do love their designs. Anyway, will post more pics at the weekend.
So I was quite happily knitting away on my shawl when this horrific mess occurred.
I naively thought that just hanging the hank over the back of a chair would be fine, but oh no. I have spent the last two days, yes, two whole days trying to unravel this mess. The bf was even sweet enough to offer to do some for me, but I think he would have made it even worse. And to add insult to injury, because the yarn is so fine, it's quite fragile, so keeps snapping. I now have several little balls which is annoying because that means I'm going to have knots in the shawl. Grrr. I think it's time I invested in a ball winder.
In better news, my mum came to visit last week and we made a trip to John Lewis (not that I need anymore yarn - my stash has grown at an astonishing rate over the past six months) to purchase the new Rowan magazine. No. 42 is better than I thought it would be. I wasn't too keen on the online preview pics I saw, but flicking through I've already seen quite a few designs I want to make. In fact, I've started a pair of grey stockings in Kid Classic. I've wanted a nice pair of grey stockings for ages so they'll be perfect for when it gets cold. Also, the pattern calls for bobbles (just little ones) which I haven't done before, always thinking them rather hideous, but these are little ones and in fact, rather cute. I'll take a pic tomorrow of my progress so far. I like to pick patterns which incorporate skills I haven't employed before. I'm a rather fearless knitter. I suppose that comes from being pretty much self-taught. (This is kind-of true. My mum showed me how to knit/purl/cast on/cast off when I was little, then I picked it up again when I was about 14/15 and taught myself how again.) The biggest skill I have yet to try is intarsia. I'd love to do a proper colourwork project. I have in mind these to start with, but I'd love to make a proper Fair Isle cardigan. Maybe next year.
I was very excited the other day to finally receive the yarn I ordered from HipKnits. It's taken a while, but I'm very happy now it's here. I'd forgotten exactly what was coming, so I quite surprised myself that all the colours were very sea like. Here they are:
This is pure silk. I got two skeins, each one about 100g. It's a lovely shimmery aqua blue/green with slight colour variations. I think the camera caught the colours quite well.
This is a gorgeously soft cashmere. It's a bit more green in real life than it is in this pictures, but like the silk, the colour does vary from quite a strong green through to a very pale mint. I've only got two small skeins (about 50g each I think), so not quite sure what I'll be doing with this. Other than rubbing it against my face, that is.
These lovely four skeins are undyed blue-faced leicester. I'm thinking of dyeing it myself. I want to experiment with using beetroot to dye wool. I remember doing it at primary school, and it gives such a lovely deep purple/pink colour. If this warm weather holds up, then I think I'll definately have a go.But enough of the yarn porn. The reason I bought all this was that I originally went to HipKnits for some laceweight cashmere in order to make a Print o the Waves shawl for my sister's 21st birthday in November. I asked for some undyed cashmere, but for some reason I got sent some in a very pale blue-green. I rather like it, so I decided not to send it back (and I really need to get started on it). Looking at other people's on the web, I'm so excited about this project. I've wanted to knit it for a while now, and I think it is going to be just beautiful when it's finished. I'm not sure whether I'm going to knit the centre panel in two halves or just do one. I'm not too confident about grafting it neatly because it's so fine, and I think I'd like it the waves just went one way. I'll see how I feel when I get nearer that point. Anyway, here's an in-progress pick. This is after about 6 repeats.
