Clapotis and lace!

Here are some very belated photos - first, a close up of Clapotis which I forgot to photograph in full before posting to my friend for her 50th birthday. Aren't the colours gorgeous?

Second, the lace scarf which I designed [including inventing the edging] and made for a friend's 80th birthday.

Still here, still knitting, still tired!

More than a month since my last post! Thanks to those bloggers who contacted me to see if I was okay. Where have I been? Well, the redecorating continues but living in a constant state of mess is really getting to me!

Work has also kept me very busy - the more volunteers, the more preparation I have to do to keep them all busy!

But, all is not lost - I have been knitting. Clapotis is finished and blocked. I may even be able to convince WM to stand still long enough to take photos then I can post them here and post the real thing to its recipient.

I have also made two 'scrap' cardigans; one is completely finished, the other is at the finishing stage. Again, hopefully photos this afternoon.

As for socks, the less said the better. Apparently they don't feel comfortable because they are too big! So the finished pair and the almost finished pair need to be ripped out and started again! :-(

Sad to say, the socks will have to wait - so much for SSoS. I'm giving up knitting for a month! My shoulder isn't getting any better and I want to see if knitting aggravates it [or not knitting helps!].

What's a girl to do?

The knitting part of Clapotis is finished!

Once the end was in sight [at the decrease rows] I couldn't put it down! I knitted twelve rows, took a break, knitted twelve rows, until I had about 35 rows to go then, with the finish line in sight, the final spurt and I was over the line!

The forecast for today is 35C [95F] so it will be perfect for blocking - if I can find my board and pins! The re-decorating continues at a frantic pace - the floor goes down on Thursday and the carpet on Friday. Half the things we own [apart from big pieces of furniture and the computer!] are stacked in boxes in the garage. And only half that junk will make it back inside!!

I'm off to do my block! LOL

Clapotis went swimming in the frog pond!

I learnt the reality of knitting with handpainted yarns. Despite both hanks looking very similar, they knitted up very differently. The second hank was a little darker overall than the first but had many more light patches - Clapotis looked like I had knitted two different fabrics and joined them together in the middle. In other words, it had an obvious dark line across the middle and looked terrible. [Anyone who's ever knitted with two different dyelots would know what I mean!] So, at 11 o'clock last night and 80% completed, I frogged the lot! :-(

I'm now about halfway through section #2, knitting two rows from each ball as I should have done in the first place.

Ah well, we live and learn!

Clapotis progress

Clapotis and I have compromised! I can knit socks providing I knit a minimum of twenty rows on her every day!

I have knitted 119 stitches in the increase section [section 2] because I'm using 8ply [not the suggested 10ply]. I possibly should have done 131 stitches, but I'd rather get more length than width and I don't know how far my 840 metres will go.

I am now up to row 60 in section 3 - the straight section - and dropped five ladders. Because I'm using pure wool, it doesn't unravel as quickly as it would in a smoother yarn - I have to unravel each stitch beyond the first five or six so it is a slow process. This is her so far [pinned out for ease of photography]:


The yarn is very pretty and the colours land randomly so I am constantly surprised by the striping in one section and the colour pooling in another. Because the whole thing will have ladders running through it, I'm not too concerned about either.


The purple is a bit more 'royal' than that - it's so hard to get the colours right!

I assume she will block into a more rectangular shape. :-0

Southern Summer of Socks Ready? Set? No go??

The Southern Summer of Socks KAL started on Monday 1 October. How many pairs of socks do I have on the go?

None! That's right!! She who was sock obsessed just a month ago has no socks on the needles. Why?

Three distractions:

First, there was Rugz4Kidz. The rug arrived here last Thursday. In theory I have two weeks to knit 7cm and I was considering using acrylic [to lighten the overall weight] and doing a lace pattern. Because I was still undecided, I paid her little heed. On Monday, her cries for attention could not be ignored; and somehow I knitted a stranded colour pattern in wool! I got her finished more quickly than I expected and she's impatiently waiting to strut her stuff for the camera before heading off to Donni in Wollongong.

Once Rugz was finished, Clapotis started to whimper, then started in with those long heavy sighs, and I just had to cast on! Even if it was late at night and time for bed! She wasn't giving me any rest until I completed at least section #1. On Tuesday afternoon I finished section #2. But, at bedtime, she whispered: "Just a few rows of section #3, you know you want to see what happens when you drop those stitches! It's only eight rows!"

Despite the thickness of the yarn, the weight of the wrap and the unseasonably hot weather [it's never too hot to knit remember!!] - Clapotis keeps calling, she won't leave me alone! Maybe if I took her off the lounge and hid her... LOL
Anyway, I have a deadline to get it from Penrith to Newcastle by 15 October.

Yesterday, it was the lace wrap - "block me, block me" she screamed from the lounge. I succumbed - and she looks wonderful. She's ready for a second blocking but, since she's quiet, it can wait till tomorrow.

Block more than once, I hear you ask. I'm told by a knitting guru [at the Guild] that blocking several times will teach the knitting what shape it's supposed to be so that it won't reduce to its unblocked size when the recipient washes it!

I'm off now, to cast on those socks. Online Supersocke Cotton is calling to be turned into a pair of toe up socks with short row shaped heels - challenges #1 and #2! Bring it on!!!!

Be quiet, Clapotis, or I'll put you in a cupboard!

Clapotis

[edited 30 September to add photo]

Well, I've succumbed. I know I'm not the last person in the knitting world to cast on for Clapotis, but am I the last in blogland?

Anyway, I'm making 'that wrap' for a friend's 50th birthday present. Lion and Lamb was out of my budget for gifts, as was Merino et Soie. I settled on a beautiful handpainted 8ply NZ wool yarn from the Montage Collection, colourway 'Lavender'. I really liked another colourway called 'Copper' but it had a lot of orange in it, and orange is one of those colours you either love or hate, and I can't recall seeing my friend wear orange in the 27 years I've known her. The purple/blue/maroon combination of lavender is a lot safer - if she doesn't like it she can always give it back to me and I'll give her the money!

Here is one unballed 200g and one already balled - unfortunately it's not a centre pull ball! It's so difficult to take photos of purple! The red in this photo heads more towards purple than the red-brown shown in this photo.

I've joined a small Clapotis KAL [with Georgie, Tinkingbell and RoseRed] just for fun; it'll be good to share the experience with others.