Sunday, November 26, 2006

It's been a l-o-n-g time since I last posted & I've knitted a number of things since & acquired more stash!

So, firstly, the waistcoat was finished sometime ago:

the buttons are made from occonut shell & are chunkier than I would have normally used, but I had to bear in mind that the garment is for a person with arithitic fingers.

I did knit & then sew on all the bands individually, my head just couldn't be bothered to work out the technicalities of picking up stitches & working out how to get a vertical rib effect happening the other way. So, I was true to the pattern & the sewing wasn't as awful as expected!

It looks a bit lumpy in the photo, but I think it'll ease itself flatter with wear - the pieces were all blasted with steam before sewing up & the finished article blasted again with steam, but it's a pretty heavy yarn & mistake ribbing isn't as flat as a standard 2x2 rib anyway. So that's my excuse!!!

Stash enhancements:
I went to Ally Pally for the knitting & stitching show for the first time! I was so glad I'd reserved a certain amount of money from previous commissions so that I had some spending money - otherwise the credit card would have been crying!

I could have bought an awful lot more than I did, the blown budget was in the back of mind as was the fact that I had to carry everything on a bus, across tube stations and onto the train at Paddington too!

I went with a friend from college, during the show we pretty much did our own thing apart from meeting for coffee, lunch etc. and we went around the exhibitions together - some work exhibited I loved - truly inspiring,

















other things I didn't like, just not my thing:













So, what blew the budget????
some books and yarn (of course!) : (Apologies for the lighting in some of the photos - I either remember to take photos when it's dark or when it's really sunny!)


From the left, going anti-clockwise:

Touchyarns boucle - I spotted this yarn almost as soon as I'd entered the show & adored it & this colourway - a mix of plums, navy & forest greens. Yummy! I bought enough to do the Pimlico Shrug from Tracey Ullman & Mel Clark's book (another show purchase that made for a great read on the train home).

Colinette's new sock yarn in Fire colourway (yeay! another yarn for me to indulge my Colinette passion in!) unfortunately it's not yet available in my favourite colourway (Dark Umber).

And finally Parisienne from Colinette in Sea Breeze colourway - my second favourite! I bought enough to make a cowl-necked jumper - probably to be knitted at a fairly loose gauge - the sort of see-through but warm sweater that requires a decent camisole beneath.

Of course that wasn't all, I also bought the Knit Cafe book - I loved the whole concept of a cafe & knitting - almost my idea of heaven - just needs a bookshop too! Again that made for lovely reading on the train home. Further stash enhancement was to be found at Habu textiles - a stall covered in baskets that held neat little bundles or long narrow cones of utter delight. Subtle shades and a stand that didn't shout, but one that drew me in deeper & deeper to hold & touch and wonder at the texture and subtleties of the huge variety of yarns there.

The cones are (L to R):
Bamboo/Copper - a fine copper wire wrapped around a bamboo core - this is almost pink in colour.

Merino/Stainless Steel - black merino wrapped around a fine stainless steel wire

Merino in grey.

In front of the cones are bundles of space-dyed fine mohair, 2 in purples/blues/greens and one in firey oranges and reds.
The white bundle is a paper yarn that resembles a kite tail (the ones I used to draw as a kid with the bows across it!) , which should prove to be quite interesting when knitted up.

The feathery yarn on the right was found on another stand (can't remember which - it was all a little overwhelming!) which I just had to have - it's dyed feathers spun into a silk core - not much on a skein (26m), but it should make an interesting scarf or at least an interesting edging to a scarf.

I managed to get into one of the workshops on the sunday with Ruth Lee - all about using short rows to create texture, a technique I've used a lot in socks & garments, but really nice to be inspired to use it differently and to also be given lots of different paper yarns to try. I also learnt to knit backwards - theoretically faster than turning the work all the time, but I need to get a bit more practise in before it is actually faster!