Aran weight - really?

Take another look at the baby blanket on the cover - the one that many visitors to the blog have been admiring. Does it look like Aran weight to you?

No, I didn't think so! More like 5ply wool [or similar] but hey, who am I to argue? According to the book, it's medium weight - Worsted, Aran, Afghan; or that which we, in Australia, call 10ply! The sample is apparently knitted in Bernat Satin which the company describes as "the perfect luxury knitting worsted weight yarn, ideal for all knit and crochet projects" and a "glorious yarn with a clean defined stitch" - it's 100% acrylic so I was right about the wool or equivalent!

So, this is the one I'll be knitting first because my brother told me on Friday that they are expecting a girl and I have lots of variegated pink, Aran weight Fiddle De Dee cotton to knit! I just have to finish  the lemon Tilting Blocks blanket I started for my little niece [before I knew she was a she]. That blanket will go to DD instead because grandbubby didn't want to reveal his/her sex just now!!

Here's the first public photo of Granbubby the First! DD and SIL have more up on Facebook but I don't want to turn this into Grandma's Brag Book!!

Something old

First, an old topic - the Myrtle Leaf shawl:
I'm running for the finish line on the centre panel with 34 repeats [of 40] completed!

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And now for the Wedding Rhyme Game. I started this game so I'd better set some rules!

1. The object must be yarn related.


2. "old" is relative but I'm thinking anything older than DD who will be 23 in April. After all, life before DD seems like a long time ago, back in the "olden days"! In fact, the day after my 21st birthday one of my students said: "Mrs Too Hot To Knit, back in the olden days when you were a little girl..."; so obviously 21 is old!


3. "new" can be new to the owner, even if it's not brand-new!


4. "borrowed" is something that doesn't actually belong to me although it is now in my possession


5. "blue" - something that is mostly blue or nearly blue; heck, this is a game - if I say it's blue, it's blue! LOL

So, here we go:

Oldest pattern
This is the oldest pattern I own, in the sense that it is the beginning of my pattern collection. It's the first full garment I ever knitted [mum did the v-neck and sleeve openings and sewed it together but who's counting?] Mine was aqua blue with white stripes and I was very proud of it. I still had it when I started teaching several years later - I wonder what became of it? I probably became tired of it and gave it to charity.

But the vest pattern isn't the oldest pattern in my possession, I borrowed this one from my MIL when I was pregnant with DD and it was bought for one of her children [WM is the eldest] so it is at least 43 years old.




Oldest book
I remember borrowing Kaffe Fassett's "Glorious Colour" from the local library many years ago and being stunned by what I saw. Here was someone who bent the rules [he even knots his yarns!!] - a far cry from my experience of one colour jumpers [except the striped 'Dolly' jumper I had as a teenager in the early seventies]. I had to own this book! I was inspired and even designed and knitted my own gloriously coloured jumper [I'll save that for another post]. In terms of publishing, this is the oldest hardcover book in my collection but it is not the book I've owned the longest.
That honour goes to this book. I bought this about 28 years ago when SIL#1 was pregnant with the first grandchild in the family. I knitted a lemon cardigan but it may have been too girly - it had lace panels as I recall! I certainly never saw nephew #1 in that cardigan. I still use this book occasionally - I knitted a cardigan from it in 2007-2008. This view shows the back cover - I scanned the wrong page!

Have to go - it's nearly 1:30pm and I haven't even finished one repeat! More 'old' tomorrow!

Lincraft 'sale' today and Spotlight tomorrow

I visited Lincraft Penrith today - it's quite close to my physiotherapist's practice.

They had lots of yarn - lots of Lincraft yarn, that is! They also had a fair amount of Feathers, Ostrich and Powder Puff - all Patons novelty yarns; the brochure said "national yarn brands up to 70% off " but the weird thing was there were no price signs on anything except the Lincraft yarn! I don't really like working with novelty yarns so I left them where they were!!

There were a couple of large signs advertising that if a customer bought a minimum of $20 of any Lincraft yarns in one sale, they would give him/her a free baby knitting/crochet book valued at $6.99. So, what the heck? Lincraft acrylic DK is cheaper than the yarn at at Big W ($1.99 compared to $2.63) so I thought I'd try dyeing that. Eleven balls of that and voila! one free baby pattern book. I like the book - it has both knitting and crochet patterns for clothes, blankets and toys; if you happen to be in a Lincraft store, take a look; it would possibly be $7 well spent for the wide variety of patterns [if, of course, you don't already have dozens!]

As for sale; apart from the Patons novelty yarns [which were unmarked] - everything seemed pretty much the regular price. Even the bags from Wangaratta are always that price; and the Lincraft DK [acrylic] works out the same price per 100g! $5.00 for 250g of wool is good value but I couldn't find any packs that looked like they contained wool. $5.00 for 250g of baby nylon is also good but I don't like knitting with it and, since it's always that price, I can probably pick some up later if I really want some. Right now I have quite a bit [at least of pink and white] due the generosity of a fellow member of K4C!

So, if you live out this way, like knitting with novelty and/or synthetic yarns, there's a wide range to choose from; just don't come expecting a bargain, there doesn't seem to be any!

While I was in the area, I visited the markets for more Ozepol [dye for acrylic] - the vendor, Terry, of Starr Lace seemed quite impressed with my efforts [photos tomorrow I hope!]

PS Spotlight's new sale starts tomorrow: Thorobred 8ply 100g acrylic VIP price 99c [usually $1.99] - "up to 16 colours available": see you in Penrith Spottie at 9am!