Last Year's Knits

Has everyone packed away the Holidays? I did - I also packed away a few extra pounds, but I've decided not to focus on that...

After Christmas last year, by that I mean 2009, I thought it would be good fun to make a little something knitted for Christmas 2010 for a select few people on my Christmas list. There was a fair bit of knitting that went on all through last year that I never blogged about, but finally, all can be revealed.

There was only one item that seemed to be a bit of a dud, so we'll just casually get this out of the way first...



I made my boy Ian a hat. My mistake may have been the pattern, which I've made unsuccessfully for him previously, or it may have been the yarn, which appears "rainbow-y" in the original photo, but I think the red may have run during it's Eucalan bath, making the yellow into orange, and the blues a tad muddy. Suffice to say, no comment was made when opening the gift, and it sat unworn until I shoved it in a drawer the other day. I'm not taking it personally though, he did love the fish hat I made for him two years ago.

For my Mum, I made the Gretel Tam by Ysolda Teague.



This pattern is yet another keeper from Ysolda - I haven't tried one of hers yet that I haven't loved. This pattern has instructions for three sizes - slouchy, traditional and fitted - I made the fitted version. Mum loved her tam, definitely a success!

Way back in March was when I started the first gift, a Citron Shawlette, I wasn't sure who this was going to be for, but it ended up being perfect for my closest friend, Betsy. I love this shawl pattern (I've made it twice before, both times for myself. See here and here). This one was worked in Fiddlesticks Zephyr Wool-Silk (now discontinued) in colourway Marine blue. Betsy loved this shawlette - another success!

a note: it's only the Zephyr Merino/Silk by Fiddlesticks that's been discontinued, it's still being made by JaggerSpun and Fantastic Knitting.



For Elly, I made the Felicity Cowl (the pale blue in the following photo). This pattern is lovely, knit from edge to edge instead of bottom to top, the final challenge of this pattern is grafting in garter stitch, which I accomplished with a few moments of pausing to think about what I was doing. I knit this up in Sublime Yarns cashmere Merino Silk DK. Very nice, if I do say so. Swish!

Next to Elly's cowl is one for her boyfriend, Steve. This pattern is the Caera Cowl, a pattern I used liberally leading up to Christmas. Steve's was made in a deep indigo, almost purple-blue - very lovely.



Most of the other men on the list received a Caera Cowl too. Nigel got charcoal, my brother Ian got truffle brown, Dad's was classic cream and Betsy's son Cailin got a heathered blue. Apart from Nigel those other three fellows live out on the west coast where one rarely needs a neckwarmer, but this year they've actually had snow, and some very chilly temperatures, so I've heard the gifts are getting a bit of use. Hooray!



And for Jane and her family, I made Galileo Mittens by cosmicpluto knits. This project was, by far, the most labour intensive of all the knitting. According to my ravelry records, I started this project April 7th and didn't finish until September 19th. To be fair, I worked on other projects in between, but....whooosh... I think I can knit that pattern without looking now.



They were worked up in Knitpicks Gloss Merino/Silk, in the following colours: for Jane: Winter Night (a dark navy), for Jane's hubby, Hart: Jade (a heathered teal), for Jane's eldest, Thea: Kenai (a vivid teal), and for Jane's youngest, Aaron: Dusk (a heathered navy - a colour which has since been discontinued, but was very nice none-the-less). Most importantly, they all fit. Huzzah!

And that, as they say, is all she knit.

I'm back to knitting something for myself in this new year.



New on the needles is Blackbird by Kieran Foley. This is another one of his start-from-the-bottom-up shawls where you cast on some ridiculous number of stitches (527) and then add beads on that first row...

Wheeeee.....

What's That Name?

I've been working double-quick time lately, getting caught up on the oh-so-many lingering projects around the house. Along with the lovely red Citron Shawlette in the photo, I finished painting the bedroom ceilings and ripped out all the half-dead petunias in the front garden beds. We had a spell of cold weather in September that hastened in Autumn, killing off the annuals, and turning the leaves. It's turned warm again, so the trees are looking very bleak and spooky, but it's warm enough to go out jacket less and in short sleeves. Strange.

I've got a :::Friday Find::: for you today -



a vintage ceramic goldfish lamp in chartreuse. I bought this back in the spring, but it was without a shade and it took a fair while for me to find one that was acceptable. It should really be made of fibreglass to be authentic to the 1950's era - Elly has suggested a rice paper shade would be better than the one I chose, however, the proportions are not far from what it's original would have looked like, and the colour is good enough. I'll keep my eyes peeled for one that's even better. I've been skulking around Vintage in the Village in Osborne Village, hoping they'll bring in one that's just right. I'll post if I find a new one.

Work continues slowly but surely on the Lady Grey sew-a-long project.



I'm way behind where I should be, but I'm trying not to get too hung up on that - it really should be more about the journey and not the destination, as they say.

I would post photos of the process, but the fabric I purchased is black (beautiful black cashmere/wool blend) which doesn't photograph well at all, and the lining fabric is a hot magenta silk - also beautiful, also doesn't like being photographed. So, you're all just out of luck until the project is finished and I can do a photo-shoot outside.

New on the needles is a stripey scarf in Noro Kureyon Sock.



I love this pattern, dead simple, the perfect mindless knit and very effective with the colour changing stripes. It makes me very happy.

In adventures away from the craft room (*I very nearly wrote craft tomb*) I've had an ongoing issue through my adult life with my name. I'm not sure when it all started, but for a fairly long time I've had problems getting my name spelled correctly on official documents. My birth certificate and my social insurance card are both fine, but everything else has had an issue of one sort or another.

My name is Harriett Anne, and I go by my middle name (not so complicated, right?). Years ago, when I got my first driver's license, the woman that took down all my information told me that if I didn't go by my first name then it should be listed as H. Anne on the license - OK, fine, whatever - I was just happy to have finally passed my driver's exam.

Then when I applied for a passport I was told that I had to have the name on the passport match the name on my driver's license, despite having to show them my birth certificate as well - something to do with matching up to the photo-ID. I was tempted at the time to argue with them, but I was happy enough to be getting a passport, so I didn't.

Then there was the time when some ninny at the bank decided to change my name on my account to Anne Harriett because it was easier for them to find me in the computer (a wiser teller spotted it and fixed it).

The worst was when I was traveling home from Scotland on my H Anne passport, and I noticed that my airline ticket had me listed as Hanne, and I was about to try to get through security with that discrepancy. It turned out to not be that big a deal, but these are not the best of times to not have your ducks in a row.

So I've made more of an effort to correct things as they come up (like when I re-newed my passport), and to insist that both my full first and second names are listed on most things (though my cheques currently call me Harriett Amme), but this week I got my voter's slip in the mail:



*sigh*

Stumbling Over Roots and Branches

I recently stumbled over a tree branch. Family tree, that is. It's been very exciting. Jane and I have been working on the family tree for a few years now and though we've had fits and starts of information, it all pales in comparison to the treasure trove of photos and stories that arrived this week via another branch of the same tree (big thank yous to Gwen!). It's had the dual effect of opening discussions and ending speculation, and certainly given us all a big dose of history to digest. I'm going to leave it all at that, as I'm afraid you'd find it all very boring unless you were part of the family.

I've been thinking for some time that I should start a regular feature on the blog; something that would push me to post more regularly and also give my loyal readers (sounds grand doesn't it - but I can probably count them on one hand) a reason to seek out my blog each week. So starting today I'm going to feature:

:::Friday Finds:::

note: I might change the name down the road, I think I can do better than that.

Most people who know me, know that I'm always trolling through vintage shops and second-hand stores looking for objects that amuse me (or "objet qui m'amusent", hmm...sounding better already), so what better activity than displaying them on my blog? Oui?



Found recently, this fabulous package of sewing needles, probably from the fifties or sixties. Even better than the old graphics of the spat between two dogs and a cat, if you look out beyond the window, there's a tee pee and a half falling over tree - who thinks up this stuff? I can't see what this has to do with sewing.

The best part of the packaging is what's written at the top.



I can only assume that you could order them this way. When I saw them, of course I had to have them, as I'm a Harriett and my Mum is a Harriet, her Grandmother was a Harriett and her Grandmother's Grandmother was a Harriet (born 1828 - Dingley, Northhamptonshire). Of course, I had to have them, well worth the twenty-five cent asking price.

So there you go, my first "Friday Find". Let me know what you think of the new feature.

Also new this past week or so, I've decided to design my own knitting pattern.

I know, I know, that's a pretty big step.



It's going to be a pair of mittens, working title "Around Town", though that won't be the final title. I won't be showing too many details of the pattern, not until I've worked out all the bugs and have it thoroughly edited and ready to share. So there. I will say that it's stranded colourwork in fingering weight.



Also on the needles is Trinket by Kim Hargreaves, beautiful, and a thoroughly relaxing knit too.



And recently off the needles and blocked: Citron.



If anyone is looking for an easy project with fabulous results, this might be the one.



It could be worked in all different weights of yarn (I used lace-weight) and could be easily adapted to be much bigger if you desired. It would also look fantastic in all kinds of colours. Perfection.



Here's something else I like:

On and Off and On

That's the bag I've been using for my knitting lately, though last weeks motto should have been "Keep Calm Abandon Ship".

I had the worst series of attempts at projects. After finishing the Peak's Island Hood, which turned out perfectly, perfect and cosy...



I started work on the Liquid Silver Shawl by Rosemary Hill, which I'd been meaning to start for ages. Nigel got me the yarn for Christmas, I'd ordered the beads, the pattern was printed off and away I went. It wasn't too long before the dreaded "Rosemary Hill can't write a knitting pattern to save her life" issue rose it's ugly head. I've had a friend complain to me before about her patterns, how certain key pieces of information are simply omitted, but I insisted on believing that there was something faulty in how that knitter was reading the pattern (sorry Shelagh, I shouldn't have doubted) and that somehow I wouldn't have any trouble at all.

I was wrong.

I ripped out that pattern twice, the beaded border wasn't so difficult, though, why she fails to have a row 1 is beyond me - the pattern starts on row 2 and continues on to row 362. Why doesn't it just start on row 1 and continue to row 361? I've no idea...

I ended up ripping the border out once, on my second attempt I made it up into the body of the shawl, but quickly discovered that though the chart states that there is a 24 stitch repeat within each row (it's true, there is) Rosemary Hill has cleverly placed red line markers on the chart for 28 stitches. Urgh!

I tore it back a second time and decided not to bother at all, instead I'm going to make Trinket by Kim Hargreaves, it uses a similar yarn and beads. I'm very hopeful...

After all the unnecessary thinking (I'm just not up for it these days) of the Liquid Silver Shawl, I opted to knit the very easy Citron, from Knitty's winter edition. This entire wrap is just knit and purl (with increases and decreases) and was the ideal antidote to clear my head and feel accomplished. Sadly, I wasn't even a few inches into the pattern when I lost track of where I was and had to rip it all out and start over. I had been using a row counter, but it must have fallen to the floor and added 10 rows, because it didn't look right at all.

I started again and it's all fine now...



I'm working it in Estelle Super Alpaca Lace in charcoal, a gift from a friend at Christmas (Thank you Lori!). I love how it's working out, the pattern is very easy and the yarn gives the piece a very Victorian sort of air, I can see myself making a lot of these little shawl, in a variety of colours.

Also on the needles is a pair of Hat Heel Socks, another Knitty pattern, this one from Autumn of last year.



I'm not usually a fan of hand-knit socks, but these ones called to me. I think the unusual construction might just make them fit my feet. We shall see...



I'm using Twinkle Toes sock yarn by Dublin Dye Company, dyed by Elana, a friend of Elly's from Dublin. If I remember correctly, Elly gave it to me for Christmas in 2008, though it may have been for my birthday that year, I can't honestly remember. I like how the heel shows all the colours in the yarn, very bright and happy.

And that's the story of what's been off and on the needles lately.

I'm off now to bake some peanut butter cookies.