Endpapered

So I've finished my lovely warm mitts! Plenty of the silk garden left - might make something with which to hang my ipod round my neck. Or not!

Very pleased with the colours and shape. If your arms are not spindly, you might want larger needles or more stoitches - this fabric is relatively stiff, I think larger needles would be fine. 

A calorimetry - not for me, of course (not my colour!) In fact, the colour is a deeper, better, purpler pink than this, but oh well, not going to take another pic, that's for sure!

It's cold!

...so I'm knitting myself some fingerless mitts, quickly so I can wear them before it gets hot!

That's Noro Silk Garden sock, 2.25mm needles, vaguely using the Endpaper Mitts from See Eunny Knit! as a direction (faster tahn thinking this up myself!) I think I'll finish one today. 

The Oriental Lily dress for Alice comes on apace - arrested briefly just now as I await extra blue yarn from Barb, who is having a pretty rough time just now. No worries, plenty of time before A gets here.

I'm not yet quite sure of how I'll finish off the sleeves - the look we're going for here is that of a pinafore. I'm tending towards blue (to go with the waistband) in moss stitch (to go with the enck edging). We'll see.

Thought I'd throw up a quick daylight pic of my knitted gifts,    to show the lovely colours better:

And a last pic - this is the sheep window decoration made by (previously mentioned) Hecate-pec (her bro made a wonderful blue subject-of-conversation - is it a spider? a crab? what could it be?) But the sheep - well who does it remind you of?

 And in a more menacing view:

Rearrangement

I've just found my friend Lyn's new blog, and it has stimulated me to review and renew my blog sidebar - so the list of blogs I read and podcasts I listen to, while not exhaustive, is at least up-to-date. 

I've had a stimulating week or so, as my life goes - I received an exciting parcel on Friday, with beautiful arm-warmers (which seem to be known as gauntlets here - to me, those are gloves with large, wide arm parts, but whatever) knit just for ME and fitting perfectly, a champagne bottle cosy WITH A BOTTLE INSIDE IT! AndreaOD was the thoughtful sender of the parcel, part of the 3rd Aussie swap through Ravelry. She wrapped all the elements in green tissue paper, and also enclosed chocolate and wine glass charms. 

I need to get pics of the arm-warmers/gauntlets in the light of day, and actually on my arms - they kept me nice and warm all evening after our Christmas in July meal, for which I thank you, Andrea (the Champagne warmed me from the inside...).Sorry 'bout the dark pics, Andrea. It was night-time!

The Christmas in July went well - though the oven was a bit slow for the spuds (I've never come across a gas oven with centigrade, only gas marks. We're not convinced, whatever it says, that it ever reached 200*C, let alone 220!) Still, we enjoyed Turkey (Nigella's super-juicy one; I recommend the prior brining as it really didn't get dry, though I'm unconvinced that we'd have noticed the lack of allspice berries et al in the water), gingerbread stuffing, roast spuds and parsnips, red cabbage, bashed neeps, sprouts with chestnuts and pancetta, Cumberland sauce, lovely gravy... not sure what I've forgotten. I knocked up a few mince-pies (channelling Han, I think) and Kris brought delicious pumpkin pie. (Which C and I had for the next two breakfasts, and I have to admit, I had for lunch as well yesterday). Yum!

My knitting is zooming along at the mo - the Oriental Lily has up-sized pretty well, I hope, for a not-very-huge six-year-old (my currently-toothless niece A); the original is for a 2yo. I'm using some Fyberspates very brightly variegated superwash 4ply I bought as a huge 250g skein at Unravel in October 06, with a vague plan to make Hecate-pec a cardigan; however, she didn't seem too keen on the colours, so it has marinated in the stash (plus, her grandmother knitted her two cardigans so her need was small!)

Discussion with Shelley, my s-i-l and A's mum, suggested that I should go for a pinafore dress of some kind, as she misses the lovely one my Mum made her when she was littler. So I'm holding this 4ply together with some 'A+E' (=amethysts and emeralds, not casualty) superwash sock yarn from my good friend Barb of Lost Flock Fibers. Working beautifully so far. I'll take pics tomorrow (ish) in the light of day.

What I do have a couple of photos of is the new house. Here goes:

Back from Glasgow, Sydney Craft Show

So, we had an interesting 10 days or so seeing family etc, and checking out Glasgow (it's lovely). Would you have bet that this pic was right in the West End of the 3rd largest (depending how you count it) city in the UK?

Taken from the bridge over the Kelvin, looking away from the Botanical Gardens, and near the lovely, lovely K1 Yarns Knitting Boutique. Where I may have dropped a few quid - couldn't help it, Katharine was so very lovely, and she had so much wonderful stuff, so beautifully arranged! 

I managed to only buy one ball of Kureyon in a colourwayI haven't seen before (for the snoozing Lizard Ridge), and a cone of Habu Copper A-160 1/21, or undyed laceweight bamboo spirally wrapped in fine copper wire. That's the opposite of the Habu stainless steel and wool/silk yarns, where the metal is wrapped in the fibre, and it results in a fine shell-pink yarn, which Katharine and I posited might turn green with wear and moisture (verdigris). 

The cone:

And further detail:

I think I might hold it with the Alchemy Silken Straw in Spruce I bought from Prudence Mappstone's stall at the Sydney Craft Show and make a slightly sculptural Ice Queen.

I also bought 2 skeins of Jitterbug - it's the new put-up, more length for your 100g. I got Velvet Olive(more sprucey, if you ask me) and Ginger Cinnabar(deeper colour in the flesh).

The KGNSW stall went brilliantly, thanks largely to the work of Veronica! Here she is, pointing something out to Bex.

I had fun, much better than the Easter Show!

Stripey! And Canadian glories.

I haven't got round to blogging this tank-top I made for C to keep her warm in the Sydney air-con and winter. She wears it lots for work. And here is my favourite model -  

Look at those muscles!

Anyway, today I went to the post office to send a parcel to Canada, and to pick up a mysterious parcel I'd been left a note for - hey, Joline, we've almost crossed in the post - it was your parcel I was posting! (I've got another North American parcel in the pipeline, but incomplete, so not yet posted). 

What a parcel! packs of pringles (in my favourite flavour) Grizzly Bear Coffee can't wait!) and chocs, as well as Buffalo Gals yarn - a 2ply in 70% bison and 30% merino. I think it'll be WARM! Haven't quite decide what to do with it yet - but here it is, in all it's soft green glory.

And a delicious skein of Great Big Sea by Handmaiden Fine Yarns! So fine, I've already cast on, so no pics of the skein, just of the ball I've wound and the Ceriantharian I've cast on.

Up close and personal:

And the start of the cowl:

How lucky am I?

The Photo Mosaic Meme

My creation, originally uploaded by GinnyUK.

Just some fun here, and I quite like the resulting picture. If I could be arsed I'd reorganise the order of some of the pictures, but obviously, I can't!

Just over jetlag, will post properly any day now.

If you'd like to do this 'meme' yourself, here's how:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker.

1. What is your first name? Emily
2. What is your favorite food? Can't remember what I put!
3. What high school did you go to? CGS
4. What is your favorite color? Green (again, in this moment - could have been red/orange)
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Maggie Gyllenhaal, how thou art lovely!
6. Favorite drink? martini! (v dry, Hendricks, since you asked)
7. Dream vacation? Watergate Bay - that's that beautiful beach 3rd row left, it's in Cornwall
8. Favorite dessert? Cheese (I like lots of others, too).
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? eccentric
10. What do you love most in life? Clare
11. One word to describe you. procrastinator (could have added extraordinaire, but didn't).
12. Your Flickr name. Ginny

Don´t Let It All Unravel

I liked this - got it from Edinburgh's own http://chronicknittingsyndrome.blogspot.com/

Have a watch!

Mosaic fun

1. Silver Chunks, 2. IMG_1919, 3. IMG_1905, 4. Pi-Are-Squared Shawl 2, 5. Clare's socks, 6. Fiesta socks heel detail, 7. Kureyon socks, 8. Amy's Stubbyholder, 9. Pi-Are-Squared Shawl 4, 10. Twisted Float Shrug sleeve, 11. Fiesta socks dorsum detail, 12. Twisted Float Shrug back 2, 13. Silver Chunks, 14. Amy's stubby-holder, 15. Waterlover sock, 16. Fiesta socks

WIPs I'm aware of

I thought I'd post a bit about the things that are currently in progress (other than the Pi R Squared), and make some vague plans re: what I will be working on next!

1) The Twisted Float Shrug from Annie Modesitt (scroll down and you can download the pattern from her site). Here it is on Ravelry, and here are some pics of where I'm up to - 1.25 sleeves complete, and I think I need to do 3 more pattern repeats on the main rounds. Which doesn't sound too bad, except it keeps on getting bigger! I'm loving the colours of Debbie Bliss MAya that I'm using, it will of course end up subtle and understated as is my wont.

2) Silver Chunks - this is mainly based on Miss Twiss's Knit in Chunks version of a popular Pringle sweater from a year or so ago; however, I used different cables, different yarns, increased differently etc. I also used 3 needle sizes - 4mm with a single strand of Rowanspun Aran (in Hardy) for the yoke cable with which it starts; double-stranded yarn and 4.5mm for the neck portion, and double stranded with 5mm for the body. I used cables from the Silver Belle Debbie Bliss freebie pattern from the VK silver anniversary edition, but reworked them and changed them somewhat. Very pleased! And this is all but done - I need to remove the gorgeous big wooden button (courtesy of C's parents and a lovely shop in Leura, Blue Mountains) and re-sew it more tightly so it doesn't droop. Then, ta-da!

3) Noro Kureyon sock yarn socks - reworking of the toe-up purl-less Monkey's I've done before. But longer. And looser (using 2.75mm needles, unheard of for me - this is not a v elastic yarn). ! am 1.5 socks through - these are my carry-around knitting./div>

4) Honeybee Stole - from Anne Hanson of Knitspot. Using Fybrespates silk laceweight (which Jen doesn't seem to have any more, though she has the same caramel choc colourway in her Faerywool cobweb merino, which looks luscious). This is really on hold for the warmer months.

5) Secret of Chrysopolis - half way through this before I left home in January, and had to  leave it behind among other things as our cases were seriously overweight. Has just come out with C's ps, needs re-commencing. half way through, with luscious Malabrigo laceweight.

6) Water-lover socks for C - Kate Gilbert's Marina Piccola pattern. Lovely.Haven't finished first sock. Needs to be next carry-around sock. My own koolaid dyed opal sock yarn.

7) Fiesta socks from a pattern by Lucy Neatby. I am doing these in Opal Uni dark brown and a Cherry tree Hill poltuck. Lovely, mad, will probably wear them...

8)Ellie the Elephant, Ysolda's lovely pattern. Just one leg and two arms to go... Using mondiale bizzarre in greys and browns. I love him!

9) Mitred Rainbow  (Mags Kandis) has totally ground to a halt. So boring to do! I might adapt and do some garter stripes etc. as not sure I have Brenda's staying power.

10) Joe is a pattern from the House of Hemp in Cornwall. I WILL do it... 

And I have so many things part thought through etc. I do plan to get going now!

Pi are squared

E

Some time ago I became smitten by the idea of making this Elizabeth Zimmerman shawl. It's one recently republished in Vogue Knitting, hence I own the pattern. The idea is an extension of her pi shawl, and for me, much more appealing. You start off with some stitches for the back of the neck, and increase. The whole thing is done in garter stitch, so the increases are every x rows, where the stitch count is doubled in the descendants of the original stitches. Meanwhile, paired increases create the front cornered effect.

Enough - I'm using yarns from my good friend Barb of Lost flock fibers on Etsy. Her we've got claret, good dirt, and wood rose. Delicious! The pic is meant to show a little of the lace I've chosen for the 12 ridge (outermost wood rose) section and the 24 ridge (claret) section, but also how I plan to continue. Complete the current, 24 row section in claret, then go on to a different lace pattern in good dirt and then do a knitted on lace edging in the wood rose again. Think it'll work? I do! And then I'll do the blocking magic and have a light and colourful but not garish cover-up for all seasons!

More details:

ETA: OK, so the stitch pattern in the wood rose (12 ridge) bit is the versailles border, p 349 2nd Barbara Walker Treasury, except done in garter; the stitch pattern in the claret that has just got going is Scroll Lace, p 220 in the first treasury; the pattern you may/may not be able to see is the Janus one, 2nd book p310 and that's the one traveling down each side of the square edge of the shawl, if you see what I mean.

All changed to garter stitch.

If you haven't got the stitch dictionaries, they're great - I got mine from Schoolhouse Press, and they marked them educational books so I paid no duty! $108US just now...

This is what a feminist drinks like

Knitting. Yup, I've done a fair bit of that, too. Felix spoke recently about making something for her friend, and said things so well - but here goes me!

It was my lovely, lovely, much-missed friend Toots' birthday recently - and a special one, at that, though she's still not as old as me (no, I know, she'll never catch up). And like the last one, 10 years ago - here I am in Oz! I'm being altruistically pleased that she had a great party without me, though I'm not sure it really counts.

Anyway, suffice to say, T is someone who has always come through for me (her partner H has been pretty splendid, too, but isn't the subject of this post). Kept me going when I was depressed, is honest with me, wickedly gossipy with me, challenges me in my feminism etc etc. So I minded not being there. 

I kept finding things to add to her parcel - an art hankie by Third Drawer Down, an Australian beeswax candle, a CD from a strange local clubnight, a book about getting old wickedly, etc. But I needed to MAKE something to express how I feel about T, my bestest friend. What to make, what to make - ah, a stubbyholder! Typically Australian, and I could knit it...

Much planning, swatching (ie doing a little square and seeing if it could be red, felting, measuring etc) was done. Then I plotted an appropriate message, tried lots of fonts - and knitted. Started at the top of the writing, knitted down (green is Rowanspun 4ply, sadly discontinued, orange and yellow are Scottish Tweed 4ply, freebies from a Di Gilpin Workshop at 2007's Wonderwool) and then picked up again from the top and knitted an inner tube on smaller needles. Lastly, picked up both at the bottom and did a flat base.  did I say lastly - the felting took AGES because our washing machine died just then... and I did it by hand. Resulted in very smooth fingers and palms for a while, and certainly clean under my nails!

And a detail of a cocktail glass....

Why, hello! Yes, I am still alive.

Here I am knitting while C practiced poi after work on a sunny evening. Must be 6 weeks ago now! Today it is rainy and cool, and hard to imagine this chilled out picnic supper. Although we don't get the really late or really early evenings I amused to at home (summer vs winter) it is now getting dark much earlier then it was, and though warm in the sun, cold in the shade (or the rain!) Still way warmer than autumn at home, though!

Anyway, lots has happened since I last spoke - so I'll do several posts, I think. 

We had a trip to Tuncurry-Forster for C to have lessons (kitesurfing) with Xshore, who were great at the teaching and gear (though I don't think phone/email is their fave thing to do!) She had a great lesson in a wonderful lagoon on the Saturday (despite not much wind at all), but Sunday was rained off, sadly. Never mind, we drove back down to Sydney more slowly than we'd travelled up, and got to see the wonder that is The Entrance (no really, it's a place!) Sort of like Weston-super-Mare but better sand....

Anyway, here's the Kite C used - look at that big sky!

Since then we've had Tuesday and Wednesday, as they are known in the family - C's sis and her BF - t stay for a week, which was great fun - we did a course at the Seafood School (seafood barbecue, was great and delicious. We all learned lots); we had a party for C and T's birthdays; we went to the beach lots and swam, trip to Manly. All in all, great fun. 

Then a couple of weeks later, C's Ps came - stayed in a nearby (and v nice) B+B called Verona Guesthouse - L and P recommend it, great breakfasts, comfortable room, beautiful house. The trip to the Blue Mountains was wonderful - we shall definitely do that again (can't believe we haven't gone to stay with M+L yet, astounding!) The ferry out to Parramatta was good, too. It was lovely to see all these peeps from home.

I've had a haircut, quite a bit shorter now, and that's where I shall end for this post!

WWKIP day Sydney 14th June 2008

Details here. I shall be there!

part two really about module one

A few more pics to show Loraine (should she be watching) that I am really getting there with module one!

I've done the 3 samples of stocking stitch - in bamboo (grey), 'Australian wool' and a 50:50 acrylic nylon mix, which resists all attempts at blocking to prevent curl! I've dampened and pinned it - curled dreadfully - so I soaked and washed it, rinsed it, and pinned it out again carefully. Both times - completely dry by the end. Didn't want to steam block it because of that acrylic.

Curly as a curly thing in a curly world eating curly fries.

Pics (it's still pinne dout here, I was too depressed to take it after the pins came out:

And some ribbing samples. I'm hoping this really is the most boring element of the course... I know it is very Good for Me to do all this practice, actually pin myself down to exploring these differences, but it isn't very thrilling and takes a surprisingly long time.

I'm also looking for an aerial view to explore texture in one of the design elements of the course. Loraine kindly splits up the Expected Outcomes for the two strands of the Handknitting 7922 course - she's put lots fo work into the modules, and their are strands of design in each as well as strands of exploring fibres (wool this time - I've got that to do too) and technical knitting skills and finishing.

Module one seriously under way

So, finally I am really getting somewhere with module one of my City and Guilds course, from Loraine at WS Touchbase.

City and Guilds is a major organisation in the UK - here are a few relevant quotes: And a bit of history:

City & Guilds offers learners over 500 qualifications in 28 industry areas – so that they can learn skills that equip them to fulfil their career ambitions or enrich their leisure time.

F'rinstance:

100% of craft plumbers in the UK have a qualifications jointly awarded by us.

And a bit of history:

1878 - City & Guilds was established following a meeting of 17 of the City ofLondon’s livery companies, the traditional guardians of apprenticeships and work place training.  Its aim was to establish a national system of technical education. 

1887 - We hold the first international City & Guilds examination – in New South Wales, Australia

1900 - We are granted a Royal Charter of Incorporation which denoted City & Guilds acceptance as a recognised part of the constitution and national life of theUnited Kingdom. 

1907 - Imperial College founded – made up of City & Guilds College, Royal College of Science and Royal School of Mines

So you see, it's a major, internationally recognised organisation. (I'm putting some of this info here for Barb who's checking it out). Imperial College is now a (Science based) college of the university of London.

From the C&G, the course contains two parts - a common unit 'Design for craft', the same as you'd do if you were doing say, pottery, as I understand it. The expected outcomes are: 

1 research and select sources of inspiration and develop design ideas 

2 research and use contextual studies – contemporary, historical and cultural 

3 use a range of materials, mediums and techniques 

4 use a range of styles and sizes of presentation methods 

5 produce and present exploratory and finished design projects 

6 operate tools and equipment safely and effectively 

7 appreciate the application of general design development studies to the craft. 

The second unit is that specific to handknitting, and the expected outcomes are: I hope

1 apply innovative and complex design ideas to planning and making for the craft 

2 plan, prepare and manage the making of complex craft items to a design brief 

3 operate tools and equipment carefully, safely and effectively for complex techniques applicable 

to this craft 

4 make complex craft items to a high standard of craftsmanship, to a design brief 

5 appreciate the contextual influences relating to the craft at this level 

6 use effective presentation skills to display completed items.

I hope that's useful, Barb!

I'm going to post photos in a separate post, or else the fonts etc go haywire, turning into randomly enormous and tiny writing. hope it works this way!

Lace ribbon scarf for Torie

I've finished the scarf for Tor - from the Lace Ribbon Scarf, Knitty Spring 08 by Veronik Avery.

I did fewer repeats across, and sued some Hipknits laceweight silk I found very wiry, but a beautiful rich pink.

Blocking shots - sorry, I used similar coloured towels to minimise stains! (There was a bit of colour leakage in the wash, and I had pink fingers after blocking though not while knitting). So there's less contrast than might be ideal.

Birthday loveliness

Yep, it was over a week ago. I never said I was organised, or a prompt poster, but I am a grateful and happy recipient of various delights.

Fin made me a wonderful Pavlova (which I promptly pronounced incorrectly, he told me!) - My first, with passion-fruit. Delicious. No pics, we scoffed it rapidly! He also provided a rather beautiful handkerchief from India (one of his passions) properly hand-printed and everything (and apt as a I was having one of my snuffly allergy days). 

Bex dyed me some yarn - 'Emily the Car' colourway, which is funny if you realise that Kris thought I was car the first time Bex mentioned me. 

Some of the dark areas are greener than you can see here.

Sally and Lara gave me 1200m of this lovely two-ply/laceweight from Rubi and Lana

ass well as some beautiful knitty-themed fabric and a ?30s style needlework tin! 

Sandra, whose partner Mary-Helen was in NZ so not at my birthday Indian feast, introduced me to the ABC shop with a card for there - another place I keep on browsing now!

What a lucky jammer I am!

Messy - um Tues-ish-day

Sorry for blurry pic.

How I spent my Tuesday: making mess at the dining table - plunging into the C&G knitting course, module one. So far, a lots of talk, very little action, but today - ACTION! I'm going to enjoy this, Loraine.

Why, no, I haven't unpacked the shopping bags. Oh, you think that's a good idea to avoid tripping? Hmmm... I'll give it some thought.

I cooked rather lovely boiled chicken with veg and rice in one pot, made Nigella's Mum's saffron lemon sauce (a sort of hollandaise) and made lots of delicious banana bread. AND managed to scuffle round doing a quick tidy, hoovered under the bed (I promised this morning. Tried to take a pic of the dust levels there, but too dark), and washed up before Clare got back. She now phones from Central station (if she doesn't cycle) where she's about 25 minutes away; the perfect time for a procrastinator. A quick re-organise of stuff so that there are some clear spaces to eat and sit, and she feels happier coming in and the evening is happier too!

This is what JoVE talked about in her post yesterday (well, a bit of what she wrote) - negotiating shared household space and tidiness/mess. 

I'll include a pic of what Clare naturally just does with her potential mess when she gets in :

Amazing to me!

Consistency (in blogging as elsewhere) is clearly my middle name.

So - well, Sally and JoVE re the silly youtube thing - can't remember where I found it. Has the hallmarks of a web-wander from Kris's blog, land of the entertaining link, but I'm not sure. I wouldn't know how to find such things independently, honest!

Anyway - Felix, I really will post further mess tomorrow (when it is Tuesday). I am meant to be having a massive clear-up, including hoovering under the bed (Clare says it's vile; I protect myself by not looking). We'll see what delights I find for everyone. The whole tidy side/messy side is played out in our whole lives, works at the dinner table, on the sofa (where I nest with projects surrounding me. Where's the camera? I ask - on the sofa says the long-suffering C). 

I've decided not to feel guilty, c'est moi, and I am now officially middle-aged and unlikely to change such ingrained habits. Neither of my parents is very tidy, Mum perhaps worse in the creating-piles dept (or at least she was when she was stressed out working-woman). There was a famous occasion when Dad went spare (not uncommon for any of us in our household, we row, rather than stiff-upper-lipping like proper Brits should) over the massive piles of crappy post in the hall. Eventually he threw it down the garden path; whereat Mum stepped delicately over it and went to work. 

I must say I quite like her style! (Dad's wasn't bad, either; at least it wasn't passive-aggressive!)

Anyway: knitting. I have been. What is more, I have Swatched. Against my nature, but actually quite fun, I've been finding! Here is the evidence:

The pink is in progress (2/3rds done perhaps?) to be a Lace Ribbon Scarf a la Veronik Avery in Knitty, except I've used a laceweight and done fewer pattern repeats across. I plan a knitted on edging to fan out a bit at each end. This is for Torie, the beautiful Lil' Miss Chievous the Burly Babe, who's had a recent unfortunate incident involving a disc in her neck. She is now Officially Bionic, with a prosthetic disc, and plans to channel Isadora Duncan in the way of neckwear (though more safely, I trust). Hence: 

My other swatches are for Pinnacle Chevron Rib, seen in Molecular Knitting's scarf here and charted here by Angela Hahn of Knititude, where she has a plethora of patterns using interesting stitch patterns and -often - not wool (or at least compounds of wool and Other, suitable for the Souther Hemisphere knitter). Lutea Lace Shell and Wave skirt, both in recent Interweave Knits magazines are hers. I'm going to use some dark sheep yarn, from New Zealand for this - and plan on a plain jumper (or maybe cardigan) with shaping by changing needle size. My swatch includes 2 needles sizes here:

which doesn't quite do justice to the beauty of the yarn.

Then, i've been wittering on about doing Knit in Chunks by Miss Twiss as she says, a sort-of knock-off of the Pringle sweater that has influenced so many designers (even Lion Brand, I gather!) I'm actually going to do KIC but using cables from Silver Belle, Debbie Bliss's freebie contribution to the 25th anniversary issue of Vogue Knitting. I don't like that overall nearly as much, but I do enjoy the twisting cable. See the green swatch above (started at the bottom with 6mm needles, then 5mm, ended up with 4.5mm, so that's what I think I'll use, certainly for the cable around the bodice so that it doesn't stretch too much sideways). It perhaps looks plumper in the cable in the 5mm, so may use that for the vertical cables that have less pull on them.The yarn is Rownspun Aran tweed, discontinued and available for £3.50 a 100g skein from the wonderful Cucumberpatch in Stoke.

Have I already written about all this? I feel I may have...

Maria - how's the Socks that Rock? I have never met this yarn in person, but a massive (£1800AUD) order has been sent by Australia to BMFA, the dyers, so I hope to soon (no, didn't order). I have, however, ordered some yarn from my mate Barb of Lost Flock Fibers on Etsy - some called Good Dirt I couldn't resist! What a name!

My current knit-while-Clare-practises-Poi-at-the-foreshore, or knit-at-groups project is my bodged-together pattern socks here: 

I'm rather enjoying the spiralling effect. This is the Glacier Lake colourway in Down Home sock from Knitivity, which I'm finding a beautifully, intensely dyed great work-horse of a yarn.

I prefer to buy yarns like this from Ray and barb, knitters I've met online with small operations - STR seems a bit too popular for me! (Inverse snobbery? Discuss!)

Amusing to me, anyway!