Saturday, May 3, 2008

Progress Report

Today is report on progress day.

Life has been happening so I haven’t been doing too much lately but here’s what’s going on.

Collette Socks: Got this on my UK trip and I love the colors but I wasn’t sure how the yardage would work so I’ve done shortie socks. I’ll wait until I get the second one done and if I have leftover yardage, the plan is to then go back and work the tops up. Anyway, it’s just a basic sock.

Dalek Central: This is a pattern from a fellow Whovian – she did a great job on it, too, even though it was only like the second thing she’d ever knit. Pattern is fun and easy but, alas, due to ‘licensing’ is no longer available generally though I think there is a way to get it from one of the Dr. Who groups on Ravelry. It’s done except for the base and the stuffing and I think it’s so cute! I’m dead pleased with it. For the purl rows, since purling the entire round is awkward for me on double points, I started practicing with the Portuguese-style purling and it’s working great. I haven’t got my pin done but, since this is perle cotton and therefore not so heavy, I just used a coil-less pin on my left shoulder which worked great. It’s been great practice and it’s solved my dp purling challenges!

Saltire and Thistle Shawl: I finally got back to this on my trip home last week. In fact, I got carried away and knit the first half of the middle way, way, way too far (Danish sweater too far). I sat and ripped as my mother groaned just watching me. In fact, I’m still knitting off the overflow! Way too far. Anyway, it’s on track now and I really like the cross. If you’ve seen the entries from the ‘test’ version, the cross was one of the things I needed to improve. I just have a little bit more before I pick up for the thistle border. Of course, being lace, it doesn’t look like much yet but just you wait!

New Thistle Design “Balmoral” Dinner Cloth: I said I wasn’t going to start a new knitted lace doily but this dinner cloth totally drew me in. It’s from the “Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting” from Marianne Kinzel and it has been staring at me since I got it several weeks ago. I think I’m going to try to go whole hog on this and do the full dinner cloth but we’ll have to see how that goes. It’s one of those patterns that you can stop at different points.

And that’s it. A little bit of everything as usual! I think I’m going to try to get the socks finished this weekend because I have some other sock yarn that I want to get started with next and I think it will be with a little fancier pattern. I have a pattern I did a couple of years ago with some braided cables that I just got written up so I think I’ll use this new sapphire blue yarn to test that pattern with.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

On the road to geekdom...


I’m getting dangerously close to becoming a certified Dr. Who geek. I’ve been a fan since the 70s with Tom Baker’s Doctor and followed through with Peter Davison’s. There was a Dr. Who break but when it came back in 2004 with Christopher Eccleston, I was drawn right back in and it went from strength to strength once David Tennant came in.

Now all of that is enough for my friends to give me funny looks but it’s what I’m about to share with you that leads me into true geekdom.

On Ravelry a while back I found a pattern for a knitted Dalek (just one of the Doctor’s historical enemies – well you would dislike them, too, if they’d wiped out your planet and people). I printed it out for a friend of mine and couldn’t resist getting it started myself.

It’s been lots of fun and has been very easy to follow. I’ve just been thinking I may just have to do me a TARDIS and maybe even a Doctor as well.

I just got hold of the book called, “
Andean Folk Knits” by Marcia Lewandowski and I shall definitely be doing a couple of Andean bags. The one I’m particularly interested in starting is the Argentine Bolsita de Monedera.