Sweet Hearts

These are my candy hearts, courtesy of the ACME Heart Maker. I've put them through Photoshop, and worked various tricks on them, just for fun. Cos life is, after all, meant to be occasionally silly!

Fictional Knitting

I've just finished reading the brilliant novel Death in Holy Orders by PD James, featuring the sublime Adam Dalgliesh. I thought I'd share this extract, which is one of the first 'knitting clues' I've ever read (and I read a lot...). It's from from Book 1, Chapter 13.

A bit of background first. Mrs. Munroe was found dead in her chair some few weeks earlier - the doctor certified a heart attack, but Dalgleish suspects she was murdered. With no body left to examine (she'd already been cremated) he must rely on small clues from her neighbours. Mrs Pilbeam, the cook and housekeeper, is helping him out :

Dalgliesh asked her : "I just wondered whether there was a manuscript, a letter or a document on the table."

"No, nothing on the table. There was one odd thing though. She couldn't have been knitting, not really."

"Why do you say that?"

"Well, she was knitting a winter pullover for Father Martin. He'd seen one in a shop in Ipswich and described it to her and she thought she'd knit it for Christmas. But it was a really complicated design, a kind of cable with a pattern in between, and she told me how difficult it was. She wouldn't be knitting it without the pattern open in front of her. I've seen her many a time and she always had to refer to the pattern. And she was wearing the wrong spectacles, the ones she puts on to watch television. She always wore the gold-rimmed ones for close work."

"And the pattern wasn't there?"

"No, only the needles and the wool in her lap. And she was holding the needle in a funny way. She didn't knit like I do, she told me it was the continental way. Very odd it looked. She used to hold the left needle kind of rigid and worked the other one round it. I thought at the time it was funny, seeing the knitting in her lap when she couldn't have been knitting."

... brilliant book.

Nooooooo!

*Someone* stepped on my knitting, more specifically my Tropical Paradise sock, and BROKE one of my 2mm bamboo DPNs!! And bent another one... CRAP and BUGGER!! I suppose I can finish the sock on 3 needles + 1 bent needle... but I'm NOT HAPPY JAN.

Lacy Bits

This is where my Alene Camisole is up to now - the bodice front and back have been done, and the last few stitches at the shoulders are on safety pins, with extra cotton wound into 'butterflies' and pinned to the straps, to stop them from tangling.

I've picked up 157 stitches along the lower edge - and didn't that take ages, boys and girls... over an hour to get an even distribution. The first section of lace was done on 4.5mm circulars, and now I'm onto the second section of lace which is the same pattern, but on 5.0mm circulars. In another few centimetres, I'll move onto 5.5mm circulars, to get the 'flare' shaping without mucking up the lace pattern. Hell, I can muck up a lace pattern all by myself, without needing to add in increases!

Not-So-Unfinished Cardigan

It's getting there! This is my 'Not-So-Shrunken Cardigan' from Knit & Tonic. I'm using 'reclaimed' Totem from an old jumper I made twenty-something years ago, and will be stretching it with navy 8ply. I decided to finish the sleeves before the body, as I'm running out of the aqua, and want to make sure both sleeves have the same colour pattern.

I actually finished the right sleeve last night, after working on it at our Stitch 'n Bitch yesterday (which was a great success - we had tons of people (well, about 15), and lots of fun :)

Tropical Paradise

This is my beautiful hand-dyed sock wool, which HappySpider helped me and Othlon make last weekend - isn't it gorgeous? I just can't believe how vivid the colours (they're food colouring).

I think HappySpider must be congratulated for actually parting with sock wool... this is part of her therapy ;)

These are also the first socks I'm making using my new 2mm bamboo DPNs (known as Luc)!

More Scribbling

Yes, it's MORE scribble lace! This one is a scarf for my mum, and done with blue thread and an aqua green mohair. It was knitted on 12mm circular needles, and the smoother mohair worked much better than the boucle from my first attempt.
The photos don't really show the colour well...

I gave it to Mum last night, and she loved it - she's in hospital with heart problems, so I'm hoping it helps keep her warm and comforted while they do nasty things to her today.

14th Feb They didn't find anything much the matter, and she's been discharged from hospital - still with chest pain, and a collection of bruises - but no heart or lung disease, which is a relief. At least she has a scarf ;)

All done and shiny

It's all done! I made the inner bag with some soft green satin from a weird camisole from Salvo's (about $3) and my trusty sewing machine, and hand-stitched in the lining and zipper. It fits my keys, mobile phone, and purse perfectly.

I may well add a leather shoulder strap, if I can find a nice one on an op-shop handbag...

Happy Needle Dance

Yay - they've arrived! So now I have 3.0mm bamboo Addi DPNs with green teddy bear huggers, and 3 pairs of caesin long DPNs - 4mm, 4.5mm, and 5mm. They're nice, actually - clear tortoiseshell sort of pattern, and with some flex. The caesin DPN packages look quite old, actually, so I suspect these are not hot sellers, but I like them ;)

Bad girl

I've been a bad bad girl, and probably should be standing in the corner... I have been lurking amongst The Wool Shack web site for some weeks now... and now I've really done it. Ordered Bamboo DPNs with cute gummy bear teddies, and, um, three pairs of caesin DPNs. Ooops. Damn, they don't accept returns on needles. Oh well. What a pity. And never mind ;)