Melon pattern shawl

This is the melon pattern shawl from Victorian Lace Today after 28 repeats, almost halfway through the centre panel. It's been an easy ride so far; the stitch pattern is deceptively simple to learn and uniform enough so that any mistake is discovered and easily remedied in the next row.

For a laceweight the sea silk seems to be on the thick side, and finding the right gauge proved a little tricky. The piece shown in my last post was knit on 4mm needles and was too loose, so I ripped it. This attempt is made using 3.5mm, and I'm much happier with how it looks now.

The problem of course, is that even in this fledgling state, the shawl seems too narrow [about 12" across - eek]. I really ought to increase the stitch count to make up for the adjustment in size, but I have absolutely no idea how far my two skeins will go, and if I've learned anything from the PotW [yep, still unblocked], it's that the border takes far more yarn than you'd imagine, and then some. So I'm playing it safe for now and following the instructions as specified.

I Knit London's meet this week at the Freemason's Arms was another busy affair, again with lots of new faces amongst the usual suspects. It was a fun evening, and even the pub's manager was keen for the group to come again. Having abandoned the Forest Canopy Shawl I've been knitting - and endlessly ripping - since May, I cast on again with fresh yarn, and carried on working on it the next evening at IKL's film night [Little Miss Sunshine - so, so nice]. I don't know why I have struggled so much with the FCP, the lace is the easiest I've come across and the cashmere is a dream to work with, but somehow I was making mistake after mistake after sodding mistake. This time round, I've moreorless managed to get to the same stage as before without too much trauma. Since it's for a friend, I just hope the good karma continues.

After the film and when everyone else had left, the boys and I sat on their fabulous Chesterfield, stuffed ourselves with cookies and crisps, and played around on Ravelry, and chatted about the first official UK Stitch 'n Bitch Day. It sounds like it's going to be huge fun, so if you're interested, keep checking the IKL blog for details.

IKL and stash enhancement

It was a particularly excellent evening at the BFI on Wednesday night. I had imagined we would be knitting in the cafe on the riverside, but in fact we were located in a rather classy bar area in the new annex between the NT and the BFI. We sat on the most fabulous sofas and armchairs, and it really was the perfect setting for knitting and chatting, except when they dimmed the lights, and then it was only perfect for chatting. Heh.

It's always good to catch up with the I Knit London boys and the usual suspects, plus this week there were a lot of new faces or recent additions to the group, all of them really friendly and I do hope they all come again. Gerard was knitting a sock with some yarn dyed by long-time IKLer Jon [check out his site to see more of his dyeing projects]. I myself had yet another disastrous night of ripping [a subject for a future post], but despite this frustration, the evening was an absolute blast, the only sour note was that I had left my purse at work, and had to rely completely on Gerard to refill my glass. For shame.

It's been a good week for the stash. First, on Tuesday, I received the first instalment of Sundara's 2007 Petals Collection, which I've been longing to see, and it did not disappoint. The package contained a 350 yard skein of soft, soft merino sock yarn in blue grape hyacinth, a pretty picture of said grape hyacinth and a sock pattern. My rubbish camera has spectactularly failed to capture the colourway, the skein is predominantly blue, but it has more purpley tints than is evident here. It's a lovely package, the only thing is that I don't really wear blue, so I guess I'll be knitting these socks for someone else!






Then, on Thursday a package from k1 yarnsarrived, this time containing two skeins of Handmaiden Sea Silk. I've been wanting to get my hands on this yarn for the longest time, and I am so glad I did. It is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous, although I admit, I'm not that keen on the moss colour. As soon you can see, I didn't wait for better light, and as soon as I'd finished photographing the skein, I wound it into a ball and cast on.

Gosh, I was in a bad mood this evening when I got home, so I grabbed a book and took myself out for dinner. A glass of wine later, and I was giggling away.

[Yes, I do realise I am the last person on the planet to read this book.]

Then, walking back home, I ran into my favourite neighbour. I don't know his name, but ginger and I are on very friendly terms, and he is always partial to a stroke and a fuss. [He did actually sit and pose photogenically for the camera, but I was too slow.]

A book and some cat-love, there really is no better remedy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GERARD!
If you've been reading the I Knit London blog, you'll know that both Gerard and Craig have been insanely busy over the past couple of months, so I hope today was celebrated appropriately! I've not been to an IKL group for weeks, so am really looking forward to the meet on Wednesday. It's a particularly interesting venue this week, the British Film Institute on the South Bank, in case you're in town and fancy it.

Thank you SO much for the good wishes about my impending auntydom, I was very touched, and for the baby pattern suggestions. They all look like excellent recommendations, and I know mum-to-be will love them.

So I've not blogged for a while, it's been an incredibly busy couple of weeks. On the few nights I have actually been at home, I've been too tired to do anything other than watch telly and catch up on the latest goings-on in blogland. Oh, and Ravelry.


I am completely hooked on Ravelry. Not because it makes organising and showcasing your WIPs and FOs easy [which it does], not because it provides the opportunity to be inspired by craftmanship and talent from all over the worldwide web [which it does], but because it is the BEST resource library. As one who likes to research the web for examples of a particular yarn or pattern, Ravelry is a complete godsend. Just today, I was thinking of a shawl I'm considering for a gift later in the year, I just typed it in to Ravelry, and page after page of WIPs and FOs were loaded for my review. Then I tapped in the yarn I wanted to use, again, pages of instances of the yarn in projects or in stash were there for me to see [it was a huge thrill for me to find my PotW in the pattern and Zephyr searches]. And that's just the tip of the iceberg - there is so much to see and do, it's a fabulous site, so if you're still waiting for your invitation [as of this weekend, there are 9,802 on the waiting list] be patient, it's worth it.

Speaking of the PotW, with the help of the Gilmore Girls season 1 I finished knitting the border last weekend, and today I got around to grafting the ends. There are still some ends to weave in, but I'll see to those after blocking, which I hope to do sometime this week. There, I've said it out loud, publicly committed myself to blocking the stole. See the projects in the sidebar? In addition to the PotW, four of them are finished, as in there is NO KNITTING left to be done, but they have all been sitting around for months waiting to be blocked. But today, I made ready two huge towels and the (as yet unused) dressing wires from Heirloom Knitting. No excuses left.

With the PotW finished, I was at a real loss today for something to knit. I had my next main project picked out some time ago, but am still undecided about the yarn. So today I worked on a sock, but it was all rather unsatisfying; I do like to have a big project to work on at home, particularly now to accompany me on Gilmore Girls season 2!

Dear me, this is a tedious post, isn't it? I'll stop now, just wanted to say hello and thanks again for the nice words. Knitters are the BEST people.