Wibbo's Words

Opera in the kitchen and crochet

I love the free Nightly Met Opera Streams from their archives. Each opera streams for 23 hours and because of the time difference, I'm off to catch up with Wednesday's offering after I finish this blog post. It's Puccini's La Rondine starring Angela Gheorghiu and Roberto Alagna from January, 2009. Pic is from one of  last week's operas - Gounod's Romeo et Juliette - which had fabulous costumes.

There's been some crochet going on. This is my variation of Katya Novikova's Summer Memories shawl pattern. The body is worked in Wollmeise 100% Merino Superwash, colourway Ooohm, with stripes in Amazonas and Campari Piccolo. 

That's about all I have to report. Life goes on much the same day after day and I'm doing my best to stay cheerful and keep busy.  

 

Process or project?

I'm mainly a process knitter/crocheter. I enjoy the actual making of items rather than wanting the finished products. There are exceptions though. I knitted a Find Your Fade shawl (Ravelry link) for a friend's 50th birthday and hated the process (all those damn rows of garter stitch...) and swore never to make another one.

That is, until I tried the shawl on and realised I had to knit one for myself, this time in greens and purples.

Fast forward a couple of years and I've knitted another for myself.  Mad or what?

This one's mainly shades of light and dark blue with soft, yellowy browns. The yarn ends are all sewn in and the shawl needs blocking. But first, I have to clear the studio table. I may be some time...

Best of 2018, part two

My best nine posts on Instagram this year are mainly knitting. No surprise there then.

From left to right, top row: Outlander shawl knitted several years ago and finally blocked, new design Colifichet, new design Wrap of Ages. Middle row: garter stitch wrap using oddments of sock yarn held double, Outlander blocking, Wrap of Ages pattern shot. Bottom row: Frankensocks, no-knead wholemeal bread straight out of the oven, new design Random Precision, large size.

I'm @wibboswords on Instagram if you want to check me out...

Random Precision

My new design, released today, is called Random Precision and the pattern is available from my Ravelry Store. A quick preview:

Random Precision contains two patterns; a small cowl (green) knitted in sock yarn and a large cowl (purple) knitting in DK weight. As ever, both  patterns have been tech edited and test knitted. There's a £1.00 off promotion running from tomorrow, November 15, until November 21 using the Coupon Code FLOYD.

Spirality

Now available as a Ravelry download here. 20% discount until midnight GMT on May 14 using coupon code SPIRAL.

Happy knitting!

Let's do it again

I took more photos of Spirality earlier today; the light was better and I simplified the background. I'm happier with these shots!

The pattern should be up for sale in my Ravelry store tomorrow.

And here's another...

A new design, that is. It's been test-knitted and the pattern has just gone off for a final whizz over by my tech editor.

The design is called Spirality, a cosy ribbed cowl long enough to go twice round your neck. Knitted in DK weight yarn, the pattern is due for release in a week or so. I have two more new designs in the pipeline; the first is finished and photographed and the second is still at the knitting stage. I'd better go and get on with it...

Released today!

My latest design, Colifichet, is available to buy on Ravelry here. Get 20% off the pattern price by using the coupon code frippery from now until midnight GMT on March 20.

Almost ready to go...

Here's a sneak peek of Colifichet looking rather gorgeous...

The pattern will be for sale on Ravelry at the beginning of March.

Took all of January

to feel completely recovered from the bout of flu. The last week or so I've felt really, really tired and had no energy at all. February has marked a shift and I'm much more like myself and back to designing.

This design is Colifichet, a lacy wrap which is almost ready to launch on an unsuspecting world! I blocked it yesterday and it's almost dry and ready for photography. Once that's done, Colifichet will be for sale on Ravelry with my other designs. On the needles is another wrap design in a gorgeous shade of green:

Keep your hands warm with Hove, Actually!

I'm running a promotion in my Ravelry store from today until midnight GMT on November 20. Use the code HOVE to save £1.00 on my Hove, Actually pattern download.

Mysteria is live!

Mysteria, my new design, is now available to buy on Ravelry.

There's a 15% off promotion running from today, November 6, to November 13 using the coupon code Leppard.

Hello Mysteria!

My newest design, Mysteria, is almost ready for release. Here's a sneak peek:

More soon.....

Hove, Actually

I've just released a new knitting pattern for sale on Ravelry. Called Hove, Actually, it features three sizes of ribbed fingerless mittens. All sizes have been test knitted and the pattern has been tech edited. 

Still here....

Yes, I'm still here and there has been knitting. Lots of knitting.

A couple of Find Your Fade shawls (Rav link) - the first was planned and was a 50th birthday present. After complaining bitterly to myself about all that damned garter stitch, I  tried it on and liked it so much that I promptly knitted another one in different colours just for me. Lots of boring, boring, boring garter stitch but the way the colours blend together is so gorgeous that the pain is worthwhile! I used Malabrigo Sock which is beautifully squishy.

I'm working on two new patterns for sale on Ravelry. Both are rectangular shawls featuring multiple stitch patterns. The first design, Mysteria, is now at the tech edit/test knit stage and I hope to have styled photos to show soon. Go on, have a little teaser of a couple of Mysteria's stitch patterns....

I've finished the charts and written instructions for the second design, Colifichet, and knitted the model. More soon!

Now, let's see...

For most of this year I've been busy sorting, clearing, chucking, charity-shopping all kinds of stuff. I probably have still more stuff that I need but it's now down to a more manageable size. I don't collect things any more but do get attached to those I have, particularly to books. 

There has been knitting. And frogging. This blue number is one of my better efforts.

A beaded Summerleaf shawl for a friend's birthday - details on Ravelry.

I'm back to low carb eating and feel better/have more energy than earlier this year. Have a nice crustless quiche - this one is broccoli and smoked mackerel.

The builders have gone, the scaffolding is down and my balcony pots have new plants - a blue daisy (Felicia amelloides), a scented pelargonium (Concolour Lace) and a yellow-flowering plant (below) that had lost its label.

 

Can anyone identify it?

This and that

I'm still looking for my knitting mojo but I have started a new crochet blanket.

DK oddments and sock-yarn-used-double, 4mm hook; pattern is Gary's Ripple from 200 Ripple Stitch Patterns  which looks like it's out of print these days.

Planted up several containers on the balcony - sage, lemon thyme, flat leaf parsley and Morrocan mint. Since I took this photo, I've added clumps of Lobelia String of Pearls to the containers. The bay tree on the left is one of the few plants to survive last winter's waterlogging although the lower leaves are brown-edged due to wind and salt damage.

Flossie has been sitting in the sunshine, prowling around the flat and being a general nuisance. Nothing new there then...

Using up bits

I'm working my way through my stash of Koigu KPPPM and Colinette Jitterbug; it's mainly oddments with the odd single skein here and there. So far there have been several crochet blankets,

a hat and a pair of almost-finished-just-need-thumbs fingerless mittens

and there's still some yarn left. I'm convinced it's breeding...

In the same photo as the mittens are the start of Keiran Foley's Shetland Ruffles (rav link) in two colours of Malabrigo Sock (Dewberry and Solis) and a shawl for Steph in some of my hand dyed sock yarn. 

Now, what have I been up to?

A lot of crochet and knitting, mainly for presents so unbloggable at the moment. Projects on the needles include a Nuvem (Rav link) which is about half done; it's growing very slowly now with umpteen stitches to a round. I haven't counted the stitches because the enormous number would seriously put me off doing any more and I don't want it to lurk unfinished...

The weather has been fairly unspeakable until a couple of days ago when the big yellow thing in the sky appeared for more than a couple of minutes at a time and the wind changed to a gentle breeze. In spite of the lousy weather, my balcony pots are looking lovely - mainly pansies and violas in white, lilac, purple and yellow.

I've finally got rid of the pigeons - 30 quid's worth of bird spikes has done the trick and I can now enjoy sitting outside in peace without pigeon crap everywhere. My balcony does have a certain Alcatraz feel to it though...

Flossie's very happy and enjoying the outside world and the sun. Here she is, soaking up the last bit of yesterday's sunshine.

Not a lot going on...

...that's blogable. Knitting and crochet projects at the moment are mainly gifts of the birthday and wedding variety; funny how you come across lots of patterns you're keen on making for yourself when you're busy doing other stuff!

I finished knitting a new shawl before the gift-creating started.

The pattern's called Yggdrasil and it shows off the long colour changes of the yarn (Rico's Superba Poems sock yarn) nicely. I had about 5g left from a 100g ball of the Candy colourway.