Woolgathering

I was going to say that the Alhambra scarf is nominally 25% complete now but that I shall certainly be doing extra repeats as it’s going to be very short.

In fact the pattern says “Repeat these 18 rows 16 times more (or to desired length)” which means that I  have been ever-so-slightly under calculating, because I thought I was doing 18 pattern repeats, not 17. So, I actually have a nominal 26% done

On the other hand, the pattern also says “Piece should measure approximately 28 inches unstretched.” My 4.5 pattern repeats measure 9″ so it looks like the finished size will be 36″ or thereabouts. We may assume that this is generous enough, then. All the same, I’ll bet that I bottle it - and head towards 48.”

Hope Springs: “A sparklingly modern fish-out-of-water drama set against the stunning backdrop of gorgeous Scottish scenery, Hope Springs will be filmed on location in Wanlockhead in Dumfries and Galloway” http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/06_june/30/hope.shtml

I coulda been an extra, with a real live Who star…

We’ll be watching, if only to sigh over the gorgeous scenery. I love it here, but I do miss those hills (and the walking.) I mean, we’ll be watching it if it’s available on the iplayer. What if it’s not???

It has been a long evening but I do now have three of the part cones of cashmere wound into balls. Rather more breaks than I would have wished for occurred but rather surprisingly there were no major tangles or wastage.

The rest can wait until tomorrow. Though I shall have to bake, as I said I would host spinning again this week. At least I have a few eggs on hand this time.

The Alhambra scarf has reached the 20% stage.

I still love it. It really is beautiful.

It might progress faster if I wound the cone off, but I am reluctant to break my thread - in both senses.

The scarf seems to be igniting more challenging lace ambition in me. I am actually considering a wedding ring shawl. Madness! That’s like going straight from Kindergarten to your Doctorate. I am enjoying this project though, much more so than the Shetland lace patterns - they do tend to the boring after a few pattern repeats.

What I really would like to do is a Pi shawl of my own devising. There are two things holding me back - one is my natural antipathy towards circular needles and the other is my lack of a stitch dictionary. Both would seem to be “stoppers.”

How about this one, though? Pretty, yes? Or this? Yes, I think that’s the one.

I am definitely leaning towards a shawl with multiple stitch pattern rather than an all-over design. Low boredom threshold

My foot is throbbing just a little.

I am loving the Alhambra scarf. It’s painfully slow progress, and I really must get some better needles soon, but  is enjoyable - and at the pattern requirements, is now over 10% complete (2 of 19 pattern repeats done.) The colour is wonderful and the fabric is as light as a whisper.

I have been up to SpinningGill’s house this morning. I took my Brain and my Spin Off magazine and returned with an outline plan for the activity session we are doing, plus a borrowed ball winder (for my cashmere) and a borrowed Port-a-loom (sp?) Since then I have been mainly engaged in providing lunch for the worker, playing ball with (and getting bitten by) Nell, and visiting the British Wool Marketing Board web site and printing off reams of educational material.

I’ve sluiced my wound with plenty of cold water and now I intend to put my foot up to try and minimise bruising, and knit some more Alhambra while I am immobilised.

Oh - I should probably say that Nell did not mean to bite me. She just went to grab her ball as my foot went to kick it and she sank her fangs into my instep instead of into her football. It was just an error of timing - but one that hurts a bit. Bony bits always do - I don’t have many of them, but the animals always seem to select the less cushioned parts to gnaw on

Having knitted two swatches of the cashmere yesterday, I washed and blocked them last night. They bloom beautifully. I knitted both on 3.25mm - one with a single thread, the other with two. Oddly, the latter seems more than twice as thick as the former. I would happily make a jumper at that weight. The single seems a little flimsy and I would be tempted to go down a needle size, perhaps.

I swatched, as you can see, for a Morning Surf - wrap-sized was the plan, in multi shades. I hadn’t got as far as deciding whether or not to do a single of a double weight project.

The funny thing is, I found that having just completed a scarf in that stitch pattern, and then done two swatches, everything in me said that I had climbed that particular mountain. I began to look for a more challenging pattern, for  a full sized shawl.

So why then do I find myself doing this?

It’s an Alhambra “little nothing” scarf pattern from Knitspot. I think it will look fantastic in this colour.

I think impatience plays its part here. I’ll do a large project in multiple shades of this yarn, but I am eager, having swatched, to see something finished. So, a small project it is, for now. It may be small, by the way, but it’s not exactly nothing: an 18 row repeat of proper lace knitting i.e. lace pattern on both sides and no plain rows to rest on and speed things up.

I am staying with the 3.25mm needles, as the recommended size for this pattern. The scarf should be approximately weightless!

I have just half of the first repeat done. Am knitting off the (coneless) cone as I am too impatient to wait for the loan of a ball winder tomorrow. I had to cast on now. (Let’s hope that I don’t end up in an impossibly tangled mess.)

Childish, isn’t it?

But it’s the colour, you know? It’s beckoning me to show it off at a size - to find out how it looks…

Do you think this is a water project? I mean… is it a blue? or a green? There’s certainly blue in it. It looks more Water than Earth, to me at least. My camera saw it as a pure blue, oddly enough. I had to tweak the image to get it closer to the colour that my eyes see.

Ravelry: Sky and Water (Tell me why this project has this name, if you can. The best/closest answer might well take a share in my cashmere booty.)

It’s all I can do not to go back and snaffle another pack. It’s a good job all the best colour choices have gone!

I might ply some strands together. Or I might not. I think I should test knit a piece to see how far it blooms on washing.

I have white skeins of handspun wool

I have Dylon cold water dyes

I have vinegar

I am dying to be dyeing!

Can I find any useful comprehensible information regarding how to go about this project? No. And I really do not want to ruin my spinning efforts…

Clickety-click! Words are on the pics

As promised:

Done!

For certain values of done-ness, that is. It’s not really a scarf, it’s very short. But it is lovely. Photos over the weekend.

The solution came to me this morning in bed. I shall unpick it and re-knit it as a cowl. The ripples will run sideways - I can change needle sizes to get the shaping - and make a deep scrunchy collapsing cowl! It will work perfectly. All I need is some suitable circular needles.

I hate knitting on circs, but this time I see the potential. It will be wonderfully squishy, the colours will be “interesting” when knitted sideways (eek, will it work?), and I can keep the scrunchy texture that I love, with no need to block.

Brilliant!

Today is glorious. I am going to have an arm-resting day (it has been very sore since the Sports coverage day.) No knitting, no spinning, no (well, only some) pooterage. Which is awkward, given that I had a rush of blood to the head last night and initiated a number of contacts! But they can wait and today is for paper, glue, and ink - and coffee in the garden with the butterflies and my  fresh copy of cloth Paper Scissors.

Nell had her stitches out last night but is still not allowed to run riot in the garden or go on the beach for a couple of days. Poor Nell.

Today is my first day off the meds. I have weighed in, so that I can watch for unexplained weight loss (I wish!) and I get bloods done in 6 weeks’ time, to see how things are going. Wish me luck…

I think it  must be that - the realisation that it has been over a year on the Carbimazole, over a year since I withdrew and shut down and stopped communicating in general. I miss my pals. So I looked a few up. Now I am faced with the need to keep up with it all - and I am mildly panicking. It’s crazy. When did everything in my life stop making sense? I often have no idea just who I am anymore.

And, on that subject, I have been drafting my CV recently… and it was a shock to recall the person that I once was. So competent, so together, so professional and smart and able. I wonder where it was that my brain went to? I am become a pudding. Pah! Never mind my brain, I just want my competence back!

The scarf continues to delight me. I am about to begin on the second, smaller skein. It should be “finished” today - but will it be long enough? Anyway, it is a truly delicious looking thing. Copperpot has indicated that she can make up another batch for me, if I need it.

I am planning a second, fancier version of the Morning Surf Scarf, having succumbed to a Colormart bargain today. Go look at eBay…

Yesterday I was too nauseous to sample much of my cooking. I am currently on a coffee break and enjoying one of the lemon buns. Really delicious. I’ll be they were good when they were really fresh.

I have the urge for some healthy eating today, though. I have some of Sarah Brown’s Lentil Croquettes in preparation. I have washed brown rice to go with them, which I shall probably cook with mushrooms, lemon, onion, and parsley. Courgettes and a fresh tomato sauce will make up the meal. It’s a very scrummy combination. I’ll make a lettuce salad to go on the side, with R’s fresh home-grown lettuce from yesterday. Can’t wait!

Nell is allowed to run around off the lead from today. She seems mighty pleased about that. We need to get her stitches out now. I am hoping that won’t, mean a trip to Kirkwall.