A little treat...

A little treat just came in the mail, and it's a little treat just for me. Something to brighten up the dreary days we're having at the moment and hopefully help me to tame the unruly pile of wips that sit next to my place on the sofa...

This is my new Sock-Perfect WIP bag, from Made By Loumms. I like to buy local and I like to buy handmade, but even without those caveats it would be hard to resist these bags.

The outside of the bag is a beautiful Japanese cotton print of sparrows and cherry blossom and the inside is lined with champagne-coloured satin, which feels rather decadent! Most of all I love the detailing on the bag - lovely big red buttons, contrast stitching around the top, and the inclusion of a 'moth banishment' lavender sachet in the same print fabric in the bag. It's such a pleasure to buy high quality handmade items that are a joy to use.

The service I received was excellent too; I ordered late on Tuesday night and the bag arrived first thing this morning (Thursday) by recorded delivery.

I think this kind of bag is ideal for colourwork projects as well as (or including!) socks - you can see in the picture that I've got two different strands of yarn feeding out between the buttons of the bag, helping to keep the yarn from twisting and tangling into a nasty mess. Plus I kind of wanted to prove that I am working on my Selbuvotter mitts!

Progress?

I could bemoan the fact that I haven't blogged for ages. Or I could just get on with it and post. I'll get on and post, shall I?

I have been knitting, I promise I have. But I don't seem to be producing anything. Ever get the feeling that you're plugging away at something and getting nowhere?

There have been froggings, mass froggings. Any project that wasn't making me happy has gone - the Teal Shawl, a purple shawl, a sage green shawl, the once-worn Shalom cardigan, a Twisted Flower sock, a colourwork mitten and the all-pieces-knitted-but-not-sewn-up Serrano cardigan. I've recovered just under a kilo of yarn, 4.3 km or 2.66 miles (not to mention several pairs of needles and countless stitch markers and safety pins):



In the spirit of a full-disclosure type of a post, I'm going to tell you what's left on my needles now, things that I do like working on:

Coriolis socks in The Yarn Yard Macushla for me
February Baby Sweater in Araucania Ranco, hopefully for a Christmas gift
The second NHM #7 Selbuvotter mitten in The Yarn Yarn Clan for me
A cardigan that is not sure what it wants to be yet
Baby Surprise Jacket in The Yarn Yard Bonny, recipient-less and in need of finishing only
Peaks Island Hood for myself, in Rowan Kid Classic

These projects will all get a blog post of their own at some point. But I can leave you with something I've finished. Christmas socks for someone I won't name in case they've found the blog. Basic socks, knitted in Regia Kaffe Fassett Landscapes "Earth". Lovely colours and a nice simple knit. Very satisfying.

Elijah

Another knit that has been finished for a while, so I won't say too much about him...

There are countless other Elijahs out there, but this one was a special gift for newborn Eleanor Alice. He's a big hit with her papa, and hopefully one day she will love him and play with him too.



Elijah was knitted in Sirdar Snuggly DK on 3.0 mm dpns.

Veyla

First, I'd really like to thank Nicola for the comment she made on my last post. Nicola, Blogger didn't slurp an email address for me to reply to you, but I wanted to let you know how much I appreciated what you wrote. It really touched me to hear from another person who knew Juliana.


I've got really behind blogging about what I've been knitting so I have a couple of finished items and projects in progress to show you.

To start with, here's Veyla, a pair of mitts by Ysolda that I knitted at the start of September.



I was drawn to the lovely vintagey cuff, especially the curved line of buttons fastening at the wrist.



The yarn is Isager Strik Tvinni Tweed in a lovely soft grey, a gift from Tricosa that I've been waiting for the right project to use. I wanted soothing gentle knitting and this pattern fitted the bill. I knitted on 3.25 mm needles and the mitts were a really quick knit, only taking a couple of days. I love the iridescent grey buttons too.



These mitts are perfect for me. They're much more delicate than a lot of fingerless mitt patterns I've come across which tend to be a bit chunky, and have been getting plenty of wear now the weather is turning colder. It's definitely Autumn!

Juliana

This post is in honour of Juliana who has sadly passed away. Some people may have known her in person. Others may have read her blog, Knittiana, or may know her as the founder of Ravelry's HeartAche group, supporting those whose lives are touched by organ transplantation.

I am deeply saddened to hear of Juliana's passing and wanted to share some thoughts from a message I sent this morning to another friend who knew her.

Although I only knew Juliana for a year or so before she left Edinburgh she really did touch my life. She was a fantastic knitter and really inspired me when I was just beginning. I sat next to her at the first City Knitty meeting I ever went to and she encouraged me that night, admired the cabled scarf I was making and fixed one of my mistakes.

Later, it was a beautiful dark red lace shawl that she had knitted which inspired me to first try knitting lace - she told me it was a lot easier than it looked and encouraged me to give it a go, and I am so pleased that I believed her and tried. And I think it was her who first told me about Elizabeth Zimmerman.

I’m also remembering a lovely dark red lacy cradigan she knitted whenever I think of her.

As you can see, knowing Juliana was a very formative experience for me.

But that is just the knitting. In life I always felt that she was an honest, good person and I had a lot of respect for her.

This has touched me deeply and I’m not quite sure what to do with myself. I’ve sent a message to all of my friends asking them to join the organ donor register and I have made a donation to the British Heart Foundation in her memory. But it all seems so small, particularly in the knowledge that she leaves her young son and husband.

I would like to encourage everyone who hasn't already to join the Organ Donor Register.

I will be spending this afternoon in manner of which I think Juliana would approve. I will be wrapping myself in a knitted shawl, drinking tea and working on my mittens in her memory. Juilana made beautiful mittens.

Out of synch... and a birthday!

How did I get so far behind with my blogging? I don't know where the time goes at the moment, I feel like I'm always on the run from one place to the next and never sit down for long enough to bash out a post. Well I have half an hour before I need to leave for work, so here goes!

I have been knitting. Or rather I've been casting on and not doing too much finishing. I've knit one and a bit Selbuvotter mittens in test knitting the new yarn from The Yarn Yard, Clan. Here's a look at the first (it's NHM#7), and I'm taking the second on holiday with me next week and hoping to come home with a pair.



I do love this mitten so much, I love the colours, the softness and the pattern. But now is not the time to gush - I will save that (and the new yarn review!) until I have a pair.

What else? Oh yes, I have two Ysolda patterns on the needles, an Elijah for a baby due in the next couple of weeks and a pair of Veyla mitts for myself. I'm really enjoying knitting both of these patterns, and Veyla especially is whipping by - I should have a finished pair by tomorrow evening.

I finished a pair of socks, Kai-Mei, in The Yarn Yard Bonny in a beautiful dark purply blue, which reminded me of looking down into an inkwell. A gorgeous colour, but impossible, for me at least, to photograph adequately. So in the absence of a photo I'll give you the Rav link to my project instead. These socks are ok, but tend to bag a bit round the ankles. I've been wearing them, but they aren't a favourite.

What else have I been up to? Oh yes, last week for my birthday I went to two Annie Modesitt knitting classes in Edinburgh - Cable Mania (cabling without a cable needle) and Combination Knitting. So much fun. I went with Natalie from The Yarn Yard too, and such a coincidence, it was also her and Annie's birthday on the same day as mine! Ysolda was there too and we all enjoyed cupcakes to celebrate (I baked the white ones and Ysolda the chocolate). I had a wonderful time, definitely the best way to spend a birthday!

Photo by Lucy: left to right, Annie, Ysolda, me and Natalie

Catching up

It feels like I've been away for ages - I've not been avoiding you, honest!

The laptop screen died on me and had to be sent away, a new part ordered and the thing repaired. I actually cried when I was given the repair quote, but luckily it was over the phone so I didn't embarrass myself too publicly. Oh, and the irony of trying to find a reputable computer repair company without access to the internet was not lost on me... The following day the car had to make an unexpected trip to the garage too, so I'm all out of fall-back money in addition to being totally traumatised by being without my two most essential possessions. Although the upside is that I'm thinking of having a destash to raise some money, which is probably long overdue as I have more fibre than I am ever realistically going to spin. Plus we might finally be able to gain access to the spare bedroom again, always a bonus.

Anyway, I have been knitting and, more shockingly, crocheting, so I have a few things to show. I'll start with another shawl I speed knit, this time for my Nana's 80th birthday present.



It's a Flower Basket Shawl by Evelyn Clark, knitted in The Yarn Yard Aurora (a 2 ply merino silk) in shades of lilac, that being her favourite colour. Much more lilac in real life than the silvery colour in the photograph. This was a quick knit and only took 5 days from start to blocking (a necessity - I was a little late in starting and excluded one repeat of the pattern which still made a decently sized shoulder shawl), but I don't think I'd rush to knit it again as I found it a crashing bore. There's just one pattern repeated endlessly, so while the shawl looks pretty enough there isn't much to keep the knitter entertained. I did enjoy knitting the edging though, it was pleasingly simple and looks elegant, not to mention whipped by at the speed of the wind in my slightly panicked can't-give-an-unfinished-shawl-as-a-birthday-present state.



It was well liked by the recipient who seemed really touched when she opened it, making all of the knitting stress more than worthwhile.