In regal company

This is Osborne House, country home of Queen Victoria on the Isle of Wight. We had an enjoyable visit here. In one of the corridors is a large oil painting of Queenie and her daughters knitting striped comforters for the troops. She was clearly not averse to stash enhancement as there was a large wicker basket containing a mountain of wool. So you see we are in regal company! Sadly I was forbidden of photographing this painting and there was no postcard to buy. In another room was her spinning wheel - I am not a connoisseur of such things, but it seemed very small to me. However,as with many things, maybe size doesn't matter or maybe it was a small wheel for a small lady.

This was the view from our bedroom window on the Isle of Wight. A good trip involving many crab sandwiches and some knitting.

Having checked my fave online stores, I see that Woolly Workshop has the new Kaffe Fassett sock yarns from Regia. Will I buy some? What do you think?

Two days at home before tripping again to see my old Mum up North. She is 86 this week. If I live to be as old as her, I will have used up all my stash easily. Therefore more stash enhancement is in order - you see my logic?

Back soon!

Holiday projects

Off to the Isle of Wight shortly so some thought required as to holiday knitting. I'm taking the Canada tubular scarf and I've started a stole in the Haiku mentioned yesterday. This is a pretty straightforward design incorporating simple lace patterns from Barbara G. Walker's "Treasury of Knitting Patterns".

I love these books ; there are four and I regard the first two as essential to my knitting development as a lace knitter. However they also contain cable and other stitch patterns. Mrs Walker was an acquaintance of Elizabeth Zimmerman - do you need any other recommendation? The first two books have written instructions and the other two have charted ones ; you can get them from Amazon.

Off line for a while now - check back soon!

Unexpected stash enhancement!

To knitting group last night where Tracey and Jo were having a clearout and brought a bag of Alchemy yarns which they were selling at a bargain price. So I got some Haiku mohair / silk in blue green Lovely Good colourway ( I'm thinking shawl ); also some Pagoda silk boucle in burgundy / purple / lilac A Breath of Fire colourway ( I'm seeing a scarf ).

Haiku has a massive 325 yards per hank and is very fine - I'm rather attached to it as it was this yarn I used for my first published pattern.Alchemy yarns come from California and I met the owners at the Knitting and Stitching show at Ally Pally a couple of years ago - charming people who had arrived from the US with a suitcase full of yarns to sell. Sadly, they were not there last year - maybe they felt it was not worthwhile.

Their yarns are not cheap ( between £12 and £17 a hank at normal retail prices ). However the quality and colourways are great and I happen to think that my efforts are worth goood quality materials.

Shrugfest

This is front and back unblocked. 3 balls of Adriafil Quarzo mohair from my stash on 5.5mm needles. Basis of my shrug is Aran Weight Top Down Shrug by Michelle Ciccariello on Elann's free pattern page. This is a quick knit! What's next?

To school this morning for exam results - lots of happy students and not too many miserable ones.It makes me cross when the media complains that exams are getting easier. They're not easier, they're different than they were when I sat them 40 years ago. Students are under pressure from day one of sixth form and are focused on passing exams rather than getting an all round education.Off the soap box!

To knitting group tonight and I will take my scarves to work on.

Knitting and videos

This was what I watched this afternoon while knitting my shrug. If you like war films I can recommend it. It's set in Holland and the dialogue is Dutch so there are subtitles. However this does not detract from the action. I guarantee it will keep you guessing till the end.

There is progress on the shrug - I managed to knit both sleeves by bedtime yesterday.

Met Sue for coffeee this morning and we did some knitting. My current takeout knitting is a tubular scarf in striped sockwool. This is for number 2 son who is off to Canada this winter.This scarf will be majorly warm.I got this idea from "Not Just Socks" by Sandi Rosner, a slim volume but not bad for sockwool ideas.

A level results day tomorrow, so I am going into school to mop up tears of joy and sadness!

Funkarama!

My experiment with the Adriafil mohair shrug is progressing - it's knitting up quickly and I'm liking the result so far.

New to Simply Sock Yarns is Opal Hundertwasser Cotton ( sounds vaguely rude! ). Apparently said Hundertwasser was a German artist and good old Opal have translated some of his colour palettes into yarn. I already have some of the wool ones, but the cotton is a new development. Yet again I'm thinking scarf - will I buy some? Probably!

Which reminds me, speaking of Opal, I saw a cute little baby jacket, socks and mitts in the Tiger colourway. This was a sample on show at Get Knitted. I can see myself making that for some as yet unnamed infant. I have just made a Baby Surprise jacket in Opal DK weight Flamingo sock yarn - very funky!Sadly no picture of it as I was in a hurry to give it to my friend. If you don't know what a Baby Surprise is , check out Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitters Almanac or Opinionated Knitter. Follow the instructions and you will get a cute jacket made in one piece. They are addictive to knit and samples can be viewed on Zimmermania ( link left ). It's official - the woman was a genius!

New ideas

I've had some Adriafil mohair/ acrylic yarn in my stash for about a year now and have finally decided to experiment with it. Those of you who know me will know that my experiments are not an uncommon occurrence!

I chose one of my freebie patterns from elann. www.elann.com - they are a good source of free patterns. I've never used them for yarn so can't comment on this aspect of the site.

The pattern is for a shrug - of course I've used different yarn and needle size from that recommended and will probably change the design slightly as I go. however, I'm hopeful it will work and if it does I'll post a picture and further details.

Work is also continuing on the scarf mentioned in my last post and I'm liking the result.

There are updates left on online sites for free pattern which I 've used.

Tofutsies scarf

This is my first project from my Get Knitted stash purchased yesterday. I'm using a feather and fan border with a lace panel running up the scarf. It's made from Tofutsies sock yarn which is a wool, soysilk,cotton and chitin mix produced by South West Trading Company. Chitin is antibacterial and made from shrimp and crab shells. It's supposed to combat smelly feet but this will be worn round my neck! The yarn has a cottony feel and I like it.

Get Knitted

Friend Sue and I had a fab day out at Get Knitted shop yesterday ( see above ). It was worth the one and a half hour journey to get to Bristol. The staff were charming and there were supplies of tea,coffee, biscuits and sweets available aswell as the essential loo! We lunched in the open air at a convenient snack bar next door.

I can recommend a visit here - it's spacious and zoned according to yarn supplier. There's a designated sock yarn area and you can sit on the comfy sofas and consider your prospective purchases ( I did actually put something back on the shelves! ). We felt right at home and dragged ourselves away three hours later after caning the plastic. I bought lots of Fleece Artist yarn, some sock wool, Addi Turbo needles and the Autumn Rowan magazine - a good issue. I would have liked to see some more knitting books there.

Becky, who works at the shop, is a prospective designer with an interest in childrens' knitwear so I have emailed her my contact details for Knit Today mag. Hopefully she will get some designs published - she specialises in boys' stuff.

Now comes the fun of deciding which project to start first!

Orenburg yarn part deux

Can you get some idea of the thickness of the yarn from seeing it resting on my knee? It's very fine ( as opposed to my fat knee! )

To knitting group last evening. We meet at the Tower Arms, Richings Park, Iver on the first Tuesday of themonth and alternate Thursday evenings from 6.30 onwards. Next Thursday mtg is 16 August. Meetings used to be held at the now defunct Taj Crafts - all former group members and new members are welcome at the new venue.

Off to Get Knitted at Bristol tomorrow - next post Friday!

Orenburg is here!

Orenburg yarn is in the building and looking very scary! It's a beautiful medium purple and has 600+ yards to a 50gram hank. It's 80% kid mohair, 20% silk and I have to say, it feels quite harsh in the hank.

On the distributor's website the advice is given not to use a swift or ball winder but to drape the skein over your arm and wind off by hand.I guess the yarn must be temperamental and respond better to gentle handling - rather like myself! Pictures tomorrow.

Check out my favourite blogs in my listing - these will be added to as time permits.

Happy knitting!

Sock Yarn Shawl

One of my current projects is a triangular shawl in Schaefer Anne sock yarn. This yarn is 4 ply merino / mohair with added nylon. It is surprisingly soft and I'm liking the way it's turning out ( pictures posted when complete ). I chose a raspberry / green colourway which is quite subtle.

I've bought various colours from Woolly Workshop, Get Knitted and US site Simply Sock Yarn www.simplysockyarn.com/StoreFront.bok- the latter site offers excellent service; I have received yarn from them within 7 days from ordering.

Hoping that my Orenburg yarn will arrive tomorrow - am determined to finish my other shawl before starting the new yarn. Still undecided what stitch pattern to use - I'm hoping the yarn will speak to me! I may just have to sit with it for a while.

Orenburg Yarn

While browsing my favourite online yarn shops yesterday afternoon, I came across Orenburg lace weight yarn. You lace / shawl knitters out there may have heard of Orenburg Shawls which originate from Russia - they are beautiful - masterpieces of the lace knitters art.

Suffice to say I have ordered a skein of the yarn in purple - 500 + metres per skein. There are some lovely colours available although the traditional colour used seems to be white. My source is www.woollyworkshop.co.uk - this online store has some really great yarns which are not usually stocked in UK. The owner specialises in Cherry Tree Hill yarns but there are many others which I like also, Service is excellent and I recommend them.

If you want to know more about Orenburg shawls, there are a couple of books available from www.amazon.co.uk. I own one of them - Three Orenburg Shawls To Knit - The Gossamer Webs Design Collection by Galina Khmeleva published by Interweave Press www.interweave.com
There is a larger volume from the same publisher.

I'm looking forward to receiving my yarn and deciding what to make - sometimes more exciting than actually making it!

Weekend

Hooray! Received a nice cheque today for my wedding shawl pattern. This will pay for some more stash. I am hoping to visit Get Knitted in Bristol next week - will the cheque clear in time? I have bought a lot of yarn from this company;the service is excellent and delivery is prompt. They will enter into email correspondence and I recommend them highly. They have recently opened a retail shop which was visited by my knitting friend Maggie last week. She had no trouble parting with her money! Check out their websitewww.getknitted.com

Among various projects on the go is the MIA baby blanket from Patons Newborn Collection. I suspect a misprint in the border pattern and will contact them to check for corrections. Of course, it could be my mistake, but as I have made several similar items before , I doubt it.Has anyone out there attempted this pattern? Please let me know.

Day One

Day one of the Shawlrats blog!
I love to knit shawls and scarves for myself and others. I've had a couple of patterns published so far in Knit Today magazine, with more to come in the future.http://www.knit-today.co.uk/.
My published career began purely by chance, when I met the magazine editor through a mutual acquaintance. She saw one of my scarves and asked for the pattern - the rest is history. It's been a steep learning curve for me, but one which I'm enjoying. So far, I've had the scarf published and also a pattern for a wedding stole (see above).

I have just sent off a sampler scarf for future publication.
I love to knit lace - nothing too complex - my aim is to make my patterns accessible to the moderately skilled knitter. Having to write up instructions has made me realise the importance of attention to detail. I've become very critical of the way in which some patterns are written and how often mistakes can be found in them. As I go along in the blog, I'll highlight any I come across in published patterns. I also hope to direct you to some of my favourite blogs and websites.
I eat, breathe and sleep knitting and hope you do too!