just another raveller

I can't say how much I'm enjoying this knit - it's perfect. I'm using up a motley crew of skeins of Dive Autunno bought on a deep, deep sale and improvising a pattern from Sharon Miller's new book on hap shawls - Shetland Hap Shawls ~ Then & Now I love the way it looks and feels. The colours aren't quite right here. It's less yellow in reality.... The first photo shows its contruction. I started by knitting the black triangle. I used one ball of Mission Falls 1824 wool, ending up with 72 stitches along the top. Leaving those stitches on the needle, I cast on 72 stitches down each of the other two sides of the triangle using my Dive Autunno, a gloriously soft and pliant wool, and knit two wings in Old Shell stitch, following a chart in Miller's book. When I ran out the the Autunno, I wet and blocked it having added some extra needles so that I could stretch it out properly. Phew! The centre back seams fit together nicely. Tucked in the loose ends and...

What fun! Spent yesterday at the Fingerlakes Fiber Festival in Hemlock New York, babysitting The Biggest Sock in the World. Here's where it all started: http://big-sock.blogspot.com/ This is a real crowd pleaser. People just loved knitting on it. We had knitters of all ages: a husband and wife team, mothers with children tennagers, new knitters - everyone. The goal is to get it into the Guinness Book of World Records. It has 11 sets of needles and 1500 stitches, well, maybe a few more since we had at it yesterday! Hopefully it will go all around the world and come back to its starting place in England. It has been in Rochester, NY and Atlanta, Georgia. While in the US we have been using a lot of Red Heart and Fun Fur type yarns to give the cuff a kind of festive look. Very soon we will mail it to Toronto, Canada. It will be interesting to see if others will try to incorporate a more controlled pattern to make their section stand out or whether they will continue as we have - just u...

I stopped to take a picture of the sign. It was a old yarn shop sign hung high on the side of a tidy white clapboard building deep in the countryside. I had noticed it several times in the past. I had my camera with me and stopped to take a snap. The sign was a bit worse for wear and I never imagined that the shop might still be operational. I spotted some colourful knitting draped over a hobby horse by the door and approached. I realized there was actually someone in the shop, moving toward the door. I totally missed the "OPEN" sign in the window. I'm sorry to say that I can't remember her name although we chatted for some time. She told me she was 93 and knits bags for a man in a neighbouring state who felts them for sale. I purchased a set of needles and several patterns from her including the sock book that I'll post about later. A blanket knitted by her sister was neatly folded over a rollaway bed. The yarn that was displayed on the shelves around the room wa...

The Cobweb Crepe hap is lying in a heap on the spare bed, waiting to be be blocked and have its ends tucked in. I've hauled out another old project - a top down raglan pullover of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in yes - greeny yellow. Sigh. I really like it though. It has three quarter length sleeves ending in Barbara Abbey's Herringbone Lace stitch. The hem is also done in that stitch. I've finished the body and am about to cast off the hem of the first sleeve. If I keep at it, I'll be finished this weekend and have the hap blocked too. We'll see. I'll be working in the garden tomorrow, digging a new flower bed. That may finish me off. I think that Ravelry is actually making me knit more. It makes me account for things. I've been dragging yarn and unfinished projects out of forgotten places and getting on with things. Also, I admit that the idea of an audience, real or imagined has an effect on me. So there.