Wibbo's Words

Knitting and food

I think I've finally managed to get Wingspan out of my system after knitting another in Silk Garden in blues/greens/purples. The Silk Garden was out of stash and I started knitting this pattern with it; after my usual bout of Knitter's Denial (I knew I couldn't live with the way the eyelets were placed as the shawl got bigger), I frogged it. Hence another Wingspan...

After fiddling around with the Silk Moon Crescent Shawlette pattern and rewriting the last three eyelet rows, I had another go.

The yarn's another Noro one, Aya, which is a cotton/silk/wool mix that feels lovely and soft. I'll post pattern mods when I've blocked it and added it to my Ravelry projects.

OK, that's the knitting out of the way; on to food. I bought a pressure cooker a couple of weeks ago and I'm surprised how different it is from the scary Prestige Hi-Dome I used in the Seventies. This one's as whisper-quiet and efficient as you'd expect from a piece of kit made in Switzerland.

So far I've made stock and cooked batches of beans and chick peas for the freezer. I'm surprised how good pressure-cooked chick peas taste compared to tinned ones.

Finally, a loaf of wholemeal bread straight out of the oven. I haven't baked bread for, oh, about 20 years and I'd forgotten how easy it is. This loaf's a slightly weird shape along the sides because I baked it in a silicon loaf tin which stretched; next time I'll either make rolls or get hold of a metal tin. Hope the bread tastes as good as it smells!

April's favourite pattern

It's Wingspan, a free pattern on Ravelry, and it uses just one ball of sock yarn. I knitted this one in the Lory colourway of Jawoll Magic Degrade for a friend's birthday and I've nearly finished another for myself in the Mallard colourway of the same yarn. There's enough going on with the short row shaping to hold your interest in spite of all those rows of garter stitch...

Indecision

I want to knit a Color Affection (Ravelry link) so, as you do, I had a hunt through my stash but couldn't find three skeins of yarn that were the same weight and went well together. Out with the dyepot at that point; the centre skein is handpainted and the other two are kettle dyed. The base yarn is BFL Superwash Sock.

The colours do look good together in real life and I was all set to wind the skeins and cast on. Then it occured to me that three shades of grey would look even nicer and I dyed more skeins of the same base yarn.

Now I can't decide which combination I like best. Such is one of life's little trials...

 

Flossie, channeling Rhett Butler, thinks that frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.

Off the needles/hook

Makes me want to spit

 26 stitches still to cast off and this happens.

I do have more yarn but it needs winding....

Knitted gifts

Now that January has got into its stride, here's a look at gifts I made for Christmas.

Fingerless mittens for Liz in hand dyed high twist merino; my own design using a stitch pattern from a Japanese stitch dictionary.

Elise shawls for Kris and her mum in hand dyed BFL sock.

Long crochet scarf with fringe for Julie; my own design in Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino.

On the what's-on-the-needles-now front, not much. Huldran is progressing slowly (lovely, lovely Wollmeise) and there are a couple of pairs of plain vanilla socks on the go. I think I'd better go cast something else on! 

Amberwell

Nearly done

I'm nearly done with a batch of blocking; mainly gift knitting/crochet that needs to go in the mail but this is for me. It's the Amberwell Shawl (Rav link) knitted in Hand Maiden Sea Silk, colourway Ebony, that's been sitting in a heap since I cast it off in July. The colour doesn't look very exciting in the photo but it's lovely and subtle in real life.

It's now blocking *drumroll* and should be dry by tomorrow. More photos to follow.

Typical

Yesterday I ordered a pack of Knit Pro cable needles to replace the one in the missing box. This morning I lifted a couple of skeins of yarn out of the blue and white china washing bowl where skeins-that-need-winding live. No guesses needed as to what was under the yarn. Sod and his law at their finest ;o)

I've run out of ideas

I've lost/misplaced/can't find a tiny box of knitting stuff (cable needle, folding scissors, short crochet hook, stitch markers etc). It's one of those natty Socktopus boxes from ages ago and I know it's somewhere within these four walls. I haven't used the box lately and the loss is really bugging me! I've looked in all the usual places I keep my knitting things and rummaged in handbags/baskets/knitting bags and it remains stubbornly hidden. I've run out of ideas of places to look and I'm now beginning to wonder if I've lent it to someone and forgotten....

It's the end of the month

Well, here we are at the end of November and NaBloPoMo. A big pat on the back to myself for posting here every day, as well as on Archive and Hove Daily Photo.

November's been a fairly productive month at Wibbo Towers. I'm almost ready for the Craftaganza Craft Market, most of my Christmas shopping is done/ordered  and I have a couple of things on the needles for me.

I'll leave you with this Groucho Marx quote: "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies."

Staying at home

The weather's pretty rubbish today; not particularly cold but horribly windy. I can hear the wind whistling outside my windows and plants on the balcony are getting a serious battering. I don't mind cold weather, rain or even snow but I absolutely hate windy weather and you get an awful lot of it down here on the south coast. Grumble.

So I think it's a day at home for me today. I'm waiting for the next installment of Huldran due out later this afternoon and listening to this which is slightly disappointing and has the distinct whiff of a potboiler. 

Knitting in the sunshine

Looking through a box of old photographs for images to post on Archive, I found this elegant lady knitting in the sunshine. I love her hat and shoes.

Huldran, clue 1

So far, so good; I'm going to have to concentrate on those cables though and make sure I cross them in the right direction...

 

Time for me

This morning, I've cast off the very last of my gift knitting. Time to get something for me on the needles and I'm ready to wind a skein of the gorgeousness that's Wollmeise Merino Superwash in Wasabi.

I'm going to knit the first clue of Anna Dalvi's latest KAL, Huldran, a triangular shawl with lace and cable patterning. More soon!

When wool isn't really wool

Wovember's Hall of Shame. 

Ha!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures, and check out our Socially Awkward Penguin lolz!

Isn't it always the way?

After looking through the stash, I didn't have any yarn in the right weight/right colour to solve yesterday's denial problem. I have, er, quite a substantial stash but none of it would do so a quick trip down the road to my LYS, Cocoon, who had the perfect yarn.

Cast on yesterday and it's coming along nicely. Again, no pics until after Christmas!

In denial

I've been stuck in that slightly uncomfortable place known as Knitter's Denial. Cast on a new pattern yesterday and knitted 13 rows on 294 stitches before I went to bed; knitted another couple of rows with this morning's cuppa (Montagne Bleu, in case you were wondering); changed needles from wood to metal; knitted another row. Finally admitted to myself about 10 minutes ago that I don't like it. The pattern's lovely (can't link because it's gift knitting), the yarn's a really nice colour but yarn and pattern just don't work together.

The yarn's now frogged and rewound. Time for a rustle through the stash for something that will work better.....

Absolutely nothing

That's what I intend to do with the rest of the day*. Groceries have arrived (I seem to have over-estimated how much cupboard space I have) and have been (mostly) put away and that's about it.

*I'm not counting knitting, listening to Radio 5 Live or reading in the Absolutely nothing!