Woolgathering

My Vibrotis Clapotis proved to be just the job for our Christmas Day walk and picnic. I felt both bright and cheerful and cosy in the fresh wind - and it is a very comfortable item to wear. I fully intended to take a FO shot while I was out in the winter sunshine, but with three dogs on hand at lunch time, it kind of got forgotten about. So all I have by way of FO shots are boring indoor ones, taken on a much greyer day. Today is stormy and rather horrible, so I shan’t go out and redress the balance just yet.

Yesterday was very nice though, even if my photos don’t do it justice (a sorry tale of wind-induced tears in the eyes plus a natural level of incompetence with the camera)

The dogs had a fine time

There was much kelp on the beach

and many birds

and here are the FO’s

The Vibrotis FO pics have (mainly) been taken but are not yet uploaded. I’ll try to catch up with those later.

As I now have an embarrassment of Vibrant yarn, I am attempting a Koolhaas hat. The project is not on Ravelry yet as it is very much a matter of experimentation and the project may well not take off. I had three attempts at casting on, the first of which got as far as 4 pattern rows. The second attempt I gave up on half way through the rib. The third attempt is approaching the end of the ribbing and I am feeling rather more confident about its chances - though this does not equate to any real hope or expectation of completion because:

1. I have never got on with circular needles
2. No, really, I just cannot knit with circs - I fumble the needles, and it plays havoc with my tension
3. Silk does not seem to be a good choice for a hat, which needs to be elastic
4. and certainly not on circular needles, where I need the help of an elastic yarn
5. There are umpteen little cables to do, of three varieties, and all in the round
6. It’s a chart and not a proper written down pattern

So, there you have it, that is what will be stressing yours truly over the holidays - that, and the tatting, but at least it won’t be turkey-fretting that gets me down or the inability to purchase a decent sprout… or the queues at the supermarket checkout at 9am on Christmas Eve… I’m taking it easy - the Koolhaas way.

Do thread adventures belong here, alongside the yarn? I think that they must, for where else could I put them?

I have been building a resources page for tatting on the craft club’s wiki. (It’s open for all to view at the moment, if there is any interest.) It’s a work in progress that I will add to as I learn more.

I thought it appropriate to test some resources, so I set to last night and determined to teach myself tatting in advance of the group meeting on the 7th Jan.

I thought it was easy

I was going great guns after watching some YouTube videos to supplement the beginner’s tutorial that I  had found. I had a row of beautifully even stitches - and a slightly uneasy feeling…

Then I tried to form a ring, and the knots just wouldn’t budge when I pulled the shuttle thread in the manner suggested.

I roped Mr L in to help. We watched YouTube videos and Googled until 1:30 this morning… and finally we determined that the uneasy feeling I had, which was based on the diagrams in my first tutorial not looking like my tatting, was well founded. My knots were wrong. It’s all about the flip - and I just hadn’t been flipping.

Now I can see what is needed, I have to practise some more. I can get the odd flip, but haven’t yet achieved consistency. What I need is a coloured thread, but I only have white (suitable) thread in the house.

Tatting verdict = Harder Than It Look

I shall try again this afternoon, once I  have made my mince pies. I am not looking forward to those - I screwed up the pastry while rescuing the DIY master at work this morning. Mr L  is occupied in attempts to eliminate draughts in the old part of the house. We have green squirty stuff all over the walls and the carpet. It’s OK. I’m not house-proud.

My Hipknits stash has been replenished. Much to my surprise, Kerrie sent me a new skein of the Vibrant, and wished me better luck with it. It certainly looks and feels much different.

A very generous gesture on Kerrie’s part, as it was way past the time when I would have thought a replacement was reasonable.

Another woolly thumbs-up for excellent customer service. Knitty people are lovely, are they not?

Well, my stash busting efforts are bearing slow fruition. Three quarters of the Hipknits silk aran are now gone. Yes, ta-da - the Vibrotis is completed! No FO pics yet, as I want to finish unravelling all the dropped stitches and be able to show it off in all its glory.

I love it. I will wear it a lot. And I am so pleased to have it done in time for the Solstice, as my main aim in knitting this was to have something with which to light up the darkest days of Winter.

The weather is due to change by tomorrow but I’ll do FO’s if there is enough light. Tonight I will have to spend an age on those ladders. Needless to say, I  haven’t dyed my Cheviot yet and begin to doubt that I shall do it today at all.

Another on the plus side of today’s ledger: the tatting shuttles have arrived already. Maybe I will have a go over the holiday, in preparation for the craft club meeting.

Home again, home again… with only minor sock growth to show for three hours on the boat today. Social chatter very much got in the way and I think I have to admit that even a simple sock is too much for boat knitting. Perhaps I should find something just as portable, but far more mindless to knit. What, though?

A splendid journey out on a blue and crisp day, with brilliant sun and a flat calm sea (- the journey home got a whole lot more interesting, there was quite a swell running.) It was far colder in Kirkwall than at home and I had cause to be grateful that I was wearing My First Socks on top of my thick tights and inside my boots, and my Sea Fever scarf about my neck. The scarf was much admired in Kirkwall and several total strangers fondled it and enquired about the stitch pattern - it’s a real winner.

Imagine my joy today when I found a shop that has Shetland 2ply sold off the cone, by the 100gm. They also have pure wool aran on 1 kilo cones. I shall be back, I hear St Brigid calling

Today I bought dyes for dying raw fleece and some Cheviot handspun, and a Really Useful Box in which to keep a sock kit. The rest was boring stuff - fruit, salad, and veg…. pork and duckling… mincemeat and Christmas pud… cheese… sherry, port and sparkling wine. But it’s not for Christmas. We don’t do Christmas…  *sigh*

The shopping has been put away and now I think I shall put my feet up and finish my Vibrotis off. There should just be enough time to do that tonight, if I don’t get waylaid.

Tomorrow I want to dye my Cheviot handspun, ready to knit a Gretel hat (if I have sufficient yardage - I need to check)

Gretel at Ravelry

An entirely unexpected opportunity to go to Kirkwall today has seen me unearth my simple sock project, Thorfinn - established for just such an event.

I am all dressed up and ready to go and … resenting the time away from my Vibrotis, because I can see I am on the downward run with that now. Just 4 patten repeats to go in the body and I am into the decreases. I love it. Really love it. It looks fantastic.

Maybe I will complete the Clapotis tonight. No, I will be far too tired, I think!

I am taking my pocket camera with me. This will be my first opportunity to wander around town without pressure and I hope to find the place looking quaintly festive. I’ll check out the yarn shop, but am holding out little hope of finding temptation there, to be honest. I might get a long 2.5mm circ to try the toe-up socks with, though, as the kit needles I have have very stiff and springy cables and I didn’t like using them at all.

I’ll be home again in about nine hours…

Here’s my problem skein, after encountering the fourth break.

And some close-ups of the really gnarly bits [two, three] though a lot of it is in the little balls already wound. I don’t think there is much to be salvaged from this skein, sadly.

I’m just going to mail these pics in, to inform their quality control procedures. I think the time lapse is too great to expect anything to come of it.

About 25% done at present, maybe more - but I have used 25% of the the four skeins. As the fourth looks unusable, I may have to get this out of three, and that makes me 33% done

I need to email Kerrie to see if she can help me out.That means editing the photos of the skein, but I am a tad busy just now.

A phone call at lunchtime from Gill at The Woolly Workshop - I had asked if she would be getting more of the Manos del Uruguay yarn in, as I fancied a matching hat. It’s in and she set 2 skeins aside for me. So I thought I had better continue the search for a pattern to modify…

I sat at my PC and found that email service is returned to me. Hurrah! (See, it wasn’t my password - just like I told ‘em!) and at the top of my mail box, my copy of Knitting Daily, with the Koolhaas hat pattern featured… I am such a sucker!

Here endeth the search for a pattern to modify. I shall have a hat in matching colour, but not in pattern and  texture.

It’s a one skein hat and although the Manos del Uruguay is on the heavy side, there is a Ravelry user who has got a Koolhaas out of one skein. I think the hat is intended for something like DK, whereas the Manos is more like Aran, but it’s a close-ish thing, I reckon and can be handled with needle size - BUT the hat needs 164 yards and the Manos offers 138 yards of thicker yarn… AND I have a large head circumference (quiet in the back row, please!) So, it looks like an expensive hat. I can always get the extra length that I wanted for the scarf from the leftovers, though.

Anyway - it’s a woolly thumbs up to The Woolly Workshop for excellent service, I say.

The Sea Fever scarf was much admired last night at Craft Club, as were the colours in my Vibrotis. I had the piece up to the end of the increases, and planned to get a good section of the main body done last night. Of course I managed only a handful of rows, but did fit some more in this morning while waiting for my morning appointment to turn up. I have just about finished the first of four (three?) skeins. It is now time to return to the Green ‘n Growlly socks, I think - but first things first, I have about a week of backlogged mail to catch up on, and thoughts to put together for another new website I seem to have agreed to write.

I also need to source some tatting shuttles for our January meeting of the Craft Club. If any readers can point me to any good tatting resources on the web, I would be most grateful.

Koolhaas at Ravelry

Manos del Uruguay Yarns

The Woolly Workshop

Knitting Daily

Interweave Knits

Plumbum at Ravelry