I made these for a friend's house moving present earlier in the year.
Paterna tapestry wool; 5.50mm crochet hook; washed twice on a 60 degree wash so the fabric's really substantial. To give you an idea of size, the one on the left was 23cm high and 23cm in diameter. This sort of tapestry wool has three strands and is thicker than either Anchor or DMC.
This is how my Silkwood scarf looked yesterday morning; two pieces still on the needles and a few cms still to go on the second piece. By this morning, I'd finished knitting, grafted the pieces together and darned in the yarn ends. The yarn colours look a bit washed out in this pic, but my grafting looks pretty good!
Here's the whole thing. It's 170cm long and 22cm wide before blocking; I used one 100g skein of Silkwood merino DK and 120g of Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK in shade 856, knitted on 4mm Bryspun needles. Yarn colours are fairly true here.
And in glorious close-up, ready for blocking.....
George Best 1946-2005
One thing I hate about knitting and crochet is finishing off yarn ends. This crochet shawl has been hanging around since last winter waiting for the ends and border to be sorted and I got round to doing both last night. Hoo-bloody-ray! I know I should deal with the ends as I go and not leave them until last, but I seem to be absolutely incapable of doing this.
The shawl's made out of odds and ends of pure wool DK, mainly Jaeger Matchmaker and Extra Fine Merino, in shades of purple, blue and green. It's getting so chilly that I'll welcome this draped round my shoulders in the evening, although I do echo Stephanie in feeling that most people look dorky wearing shawls..... Better dorky than cold, say I!
...for bringing me lots of goodies this morning. Debbie New's Unexpected Knitting from P&M Woolcraft and three of Jill Vosburg's patterns.
I've had time for a quick flick through the book; amazing knitting! I blame Yvonne for the Jill Vosburg patterns though <G>. I'd just nipped over to read what she's been blogging about lately and came across the link... I only ordered the patterns on Wednesday so that's pretty fast airmail post from the USA!
The last package to arrive was a huge cone of silver lurex chainette from an eBay seller. It's about DK thickness, feels very soft and cost £7.50 including postage. I only need about 50g of the 500 or so on the cone, but at that price, I couldn't resist.
I'm about halfway through my Silkwood scarf and it's looking rather gorgeous. In another 12 rows or so, I'll need to decide whether to keep on knitting or to stop, knit the second half and graft both pieces together. This will make the ends of the scarf match, but am I completely anal wanting to do this? I worry about being too much of a perfectionist......
...well, Disgusted of Streatham really. I want to talk banks and banking here. Paying money into one's account at the bank is usually only irritating on two mundane levels; the length of the queue and the time you have to wait in said queue. Fairly straightforward, yes? Today I found a new and greater irritation in the local branch of HSBC - piped radio. Yes, folks, HSBC Live Radio is coming to a branch near you soon. You, too, can be bombarded with music you don't want to listen to punctuated with puerile adverts for HSBC's financial services. Be warned; it's the thin end of the wedge.......
On a more cheerful note, the weather's been so warm lately that my indoor plants are growing like mad and Vancouver Centennial is flowering again. The spider plant on my loo windowsill is reaching huge proportions in spite of being hacked back a couple of months ago. Time for another snip, I think.
No, that's not really a London Tube map on the left of the photo - it's a print of Simon Patterson's lithograph The Great Bear.
Just back from seeing China, The Three Emperors 1662-1795; a wonderful exhibition at the Royal Academy in London. Today was a Preview Day before the exhibition opens to the public tomorrow; there was far too much to look at and appreciate in one visit and I'm planning to go back soon for another look round. The embroidered robes
and the carved red lacquer pieces, especially this writing set
were breathtaking, not to mention painted scrolls, furniture and calligraphy. I'm off to make a cuppa now and sit down with it and the enormous (and enormously heavy) exhibition catalogue.....
The back-to-front baby blanket is going to be re-shot. Hopefully, it'll be the right way round this time...fingers crossed!
Flossie's hoping that she'll get the baby blanket to sleep on after it's been photographed. Look at that cunning expression in her eyes....
Horrible grey weather in London today.
Here's something more cheerful - a box of chunky yarn from Texere which arrived last week. It's a lovely yarn for either knitting or crochet; pure wool in a brilliant range of colours and good for felting. Texere's mail order is excellent. Earlier this year, Parcel Farce 'lost' a huge box of yarn I'd ordered and Texere replaced it without a quibble - that's what I call service!
Another colourful sight is this plant on my bathroom windowsill.
Called Vancouver Centennial, it's a stellar pelargonium I ordered at the Chelsea Flower Show earlier in the year. Apart from its salmon pink leaf markings, it has really bright red flowers over the summer.
I went into town on Tuesday to buy these,
travelling there and back on the 159 bus. Sad to say, this is the last surviving route of the London Routemaster bus. Until December 9, Routemasters will carry on servicing the route between Streatham Garage and Marble Arch, then on December 9, they'll all go out of service and be replaced with modern buses without conductors. During daytime in the tourist season, a few RM's will run on a couple of special 'tourist routes', but I'll be sad to lose them from the streets of London.
The yarn is Rowan Shetland, the purple shades are DK weight and the brown is chunky. By this morning, it's been crocheted up into three bags, all destined to be chucked into the washing machine and felted. Felting's fun; but I hate the way wool fibres attach themselves to the next few washer loads. Especially as I wear mostly black clothes.
Dedication inside 'The Game' by Laurie R. King: 'For the librarians everywhere, who spend their lives in battle against the forces of darkness.'