Wibbo's Words

Looks familiar

 

After my whinges about not all DK yarns being equal, I did more knitting. The base yarn is Jaeger Matchmaker DK in pale grey, hand painted with green, blue and burnt orange (a pretty disgusting combination in theory, but I wanted to use up dye leftovers - not bad in real life now it's knitted up, but the colours pool like the devil on the mittens). I added earflaps and i-cord ties to the hat and still had about 18g left out of the 100g that I painted.

 

Note to self: Find a new pattern to knit - it's beginning to feel like Groundhog Day round here...

Also in green

 

 

 

The same mitten pattern as before, but this time I found out that hard way that 50g balls of different brands of merino DK are not necessarily the same length. Not even roughly the same length.This base yarn was Debbie Bliss Rialto (ball band says 105m to 50g - I suppose I should have checked this before casting on) - the James C. Brett Pure Merino DK I used before weighs in at a stonking 124m to 50g. Both yarns take the dye beautifully, but that's 19m difference in length per ball plus the Brett merino feels thicker and more sproingy then the Rialto. And it's cheaper. So no contest there then...

Inauguration Day

Today must be a wonderful day to be an American.

 

I suspect there may be a little celebrating going on in the flat over the road later today...

Knitting to show...

 

Fingerless mittens and hat in hand dyed merino DK. The colours, a mix of chestnut, violet and turquoise, are much nicer and richer in real life - these photos look a bit blue. Have a look at some details!

 

 

 

The pattern's my own; base yarn is James C. Brett Pure Merino in white, a present from Liz.

Wet and windy

The weather, that is. I'm sneezin' and sniffin' and wondering when this damn cold will go away for good. It's been hanging around for weeks; a few days of feeling fine alternating with a couple of days of feeling lousy. Rinse and repeat...

 

Flossbag has the right idea. Bag a warm spot, curl up and ignore everything else in the whole wide world.

I'm going to have fun with this!

 

 

 

One of my Christmas presents from Liz - a swatch book of yarn samples dyed with the whole colour range of Jacquard Acid Dye. Each sample has been kettle dyed with the same strength of dye for accurate colour comparisons. I can feel my hands itching to mix up a dyebath or two...

Forest Fern Scarf

Knitted for Liz, Christmas 2008, using my own pattern and hand dyed 4ply merino.

 

 

 

Blocking was a bit tricky - the scarf was longer than the table and I had to balance the last blocking mat on the windowsill.

Warm hands

I received lots of lovely Christmas presents (from lots of lovely people) but I thought I'd show you these first.

 

Aren't they gorgeous? Knitted for me by Liz, they are lovely and warm and were tested out on a long walk by the sea this morning. I now appreciate why Scandiwegians and other folks living in cold climates have such a long and colourful history of mitten knitting!