Trinket

I finished Trinket the other day. It's glorious.

Worked in Elann Silken Kydd in the Pewter colourway, the yarn is luscious - and far more affordable than Rowan's equivalent, Kid Silk Haze.

I will, however, admit that Rowan's colours are, for the most part, much nicer.

The body of this scarf is knit on the bias with stripes of ruching.

Did you know that "ruche" is from the Old French word "rusche", meaning beehive? Neither did I, I just looked it up now...betcha didn't know this could be educational!...I've also learned how to use the "italics" feature on blogger - I'm really on fire today.



Each edge has two deep ruffles with a beaded cast-off. The pattern called for size 8/0 beads, but instead I've used silver-lined crystal beads in a size 6/0 (that's one size larger), giving the edges significant weight.

Glorious!

In my last post I added an ad for natural gas from Belgium, and my brother wanted to know if I trolled YouTube looking for clips with knitting. The answer is no, not at all, although when I find one I'm always keen to share. Last post I thought it would be funny to have a cheesy ad at the end to go along with my "sales pitch" for the Bog Boots. I couldn't find anything I liked by searching "cheesy ad", so I googled "award winning ads 2009" and the gas ad was the first one I found - and, Wow! That one was a keeper!

And today?

Well, I went looking through YouTube using the word "glorious", but didn't find anything that appealed.

However, some how I did come across the following, which more than makes up for any lack of cheesiness in the last clip.

Why Yes, I Do Knit!

Two weeks ago I started my new "Friday Finds" feature, partly to post more than just my knitting and partly to encourage myself to post more often. However, I'm quickly finding that I'm STILL only posting on Fridays and the knitting has been all but forgotten.

Well, today is the day to rectify that (at least the knitting part, not the posting on more than just Friday).

And so, firstly...

:::Friday Finds:::



A set of vintage Size 14 (that's 2mm nowadays) Superfine Knitting Pins by Thos. Harper and Sons - Redditch, England.

See, see? It's already knitting related!



Held in the original wooden needle case and found locally, the label says "Full Set" and there are 4 pins inside, though I'm not sure if 4 is a full set or not.



The pins are a bit tarnished, though not rusty. I've read that you can clean old metal with vegetable oil and very fine steel wool, which I plan to try. I'll let you know how that goes.

Progress continues on Trinket.



I think I'm about a third of the way through, though I haven't bothered to measure yet - it's clearly WAAAY too short, so, really, why bother?



The yarn is Elann Silken Kydd in the pewter colourway. It's beautiful and lightweight, with a hint of silky shimmer. Gorgeous!

I mentioned a wee while back that I was going to be designing my own knitting pattern, which I have!

Almost...

I made a lovely pair of mittens, all I have to do is write the pattern, and as soon as that's done I'll post it here on the blog and make it available.

I just have to write it all down...and learn how to make a fancy word document...with swish fonts...and maybe some colours...and a chart...and do a photo shoot...and cut and paste some of those photos..and then make it into a pdf file.

Is it any wonder I don't post more often than Friday?

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: