Tag Archives: portuguese

summer of completed items

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Hello, pull up a chair, tell me – how have you been?  It’s been simply ages, and that is entirely my fault.  I apologise.

I can’t believe it’s July since we last spoke, so this is isnt’ going to be a mega long post – I’m going to break it into bits.  There’s what I’ve achieved crafting-wise, and details of my trip “Abroad” to Europe over the summer, and lots of other bits I’m sure I’m forgetting right now but will remember once I start talking to you.

So this post is going to be a quick(ish) summary of everything I’ve got done over the summer.  Which makes it sound like loads, but don’t get too excited – it really isn’t.

I started by finishing (at long last!) my Jan/August Sweater.  It was such a joy to finally get it off the needles, and everyone complements it when I wear it.  The excelana yarn was a joy to work with and if I ever get around to repeating a pattern this one will be very high on my list.  I’m also absolutely solid in my Portuguese technique now!  I don’t think for one minute that repeating the pattern would take me the 2 years that this one took me – maybe a couple of months as it is a quick knit and an easily memorised pattern.

Jan (August) Sweater

took a while but got there in the end…

I also finished my Herbie shawl (after 2 years), replete with beads, this week and it’s currently blocking on my front room floor.  I’m delighted with how this turned out – the shading, the beads, the size everything.  I love it, and am still manically in love with The unique sheep yarns as well.  Really looking forward to getting the wear out of this one as the nights turn cooler – it’s HUGE.

Herbie Shawl

The Herbie Shawl is also known (affectionately) as the Attention Deficit Shawl as every time I got bored of a pattern I changed it!

I finally gave up trying to get the ends to match on Love is a Prism – there is only so much ripping back I’m prepared to do, and though my scales told me I had more than 1/2 my yarn left at more than the 1/2 way point there still wasn’t enough to do the last three rows.  Gah.  However it’s lovely and heavy (just over 300gms) and the drape from the linen/bamboo blend is just stunning.  The colour is outstanding and I can well see me using this yarn again for summer tank tops – if it means another trip to France so be it. I haven’t blocked it, but it’s gorgeous as it is.

Love is a Prism - photo 1

I did a couple of samples for the texture and colourwork class – of which there will be more in another post – another one of those ‘learning experiences’ where for some reason on the day my brain went a bit dead, and the colour theory section of the course could have been done *much* better I believe so I’ll do my best to get some of it up on here.

Finally my hands flared up again, not as far as my wrists this time, and the doctor was great in getting me straight back on the drugs, so it’s all good 🙂

Simple Pleasures

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I know, I’m late.  Apologies.  This isn’t Friday, it’s Monday – but that just means less time until the next update right?

The past week has been a week of squeezing in simple pleasures.  Those little events that give a momentary frisson of great joy. 

First of all was picking up a project (my Honeymeade shawl), that has laid dormant for nearly 12 months and making a little bit of progress.  Only 4 repeats of one of the charts, but given each chart repeat takes just under 30 minutes, that’s not bad going.  During that process I rediscovered just how much I adore the yarn that finally agreed to be this wrapper (after 3 disasterous other, aborted, attempts) – the fyberspates 4ply is just gorgeous and the colouring is working up beautifully – I’ll try and take photos this week for you.  Making any progress at all on any project is a minor win after being so unable to do anything for so long – but for some reason this one felt like a particular achievement.  There’s still a long way to go on this project, but I just know that it’s going to stunning when it’s finished.

As you (probably) remember I had to frog the front of my Jan sweater completely to get the rib section the same length as the back.  Over the weekend I finally caught up with where I had got to previously, the small victory of finally working with virgin, non crinkley, yarn warming the little cockles of my heart (and signifying the section where I have to concentrate on the armhole shaping, but the end of the front is in sight!).  With a tail wind I might even have a back and a front of a sweater by the end of the week!  Then of course there is the sleeves and the making up to do, but that’s not the end of the world.

I love teaching, and there is little that is as exciting as a completely new course or workshop.  However, doing all the prep is not my favourite activity.  Finally completing all 26 swatches (yes, I have an entire alphabet of swatches) for the Crochet Shaping workshop in April was a moment for a little happy dance.  All the little samples are finished, labelled, blocked and pristine – ready for handling and pouring over by curious students.

Finally I felt like doing something I haven’t done in years, and the Hairpin Lace tunic in Crochet So Fine has been looking at me for about 2 years.  Along with the ribbon yarn that I got for free just as I got back into crafting seriously.  I had been waiting for an opportunity to use my Ed Jenkin’s hairpin loom (that I also picked up about 2 years ago), and picking up a skill that I haven’t touched for many years (and it coming back to smoothly and easily) gave a lovely glow of satisfaction to my Sunday evening.  Again photo’s to follow.  The loom is just gorgeous, and the art-silk ribbon so soft that it’s another project that you know from the outset is going to turn out better than you hoped.

Finally I saw a fabulous poster on Saturday that I wanted to share with you…

It will all be alright in the end.  If it’s not alright, it’s not the end!

Olympic Efforts

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While I got a few days of what currently constitutes ‘normal’ for my hands last week, this week they have been particularly difficult.  I’ve got a date for my scans though – next Tuesday evening, so I’m hoping something comes from those.

The Olympics got off to a very British start, being very eccentric, but Danny Boyle gets points for:
a) getting the Queen involved (she’s a good sport isn’t she?) and
b) the  pure *genius* that was the Olympic Flame Flower.

Ravthlete BadgeRavelry is having it’s own simultaneous competition, in which individuals challenge themselves in a variety of fun events.  For myself I leapt into the lead during the opening ceremony by entering the Frogging Trampoline and finally frogging my beaded cape which had been lying since March 2011 look at me accusingly.  I loved the pattern, but I’ve finally had to conceed that the yarn I was using didn’t want to be that project. I’ve already got my medal for that!

I’m also trying to finish my ‘Jan Sweater’ (as part of the WiP Wrestling, or I could put it in for the Sweater Triathalon though the yarn itself is about a week too young to qualify for the Syncronised stash busting as I bought it at KnitNation last year).

Jan sweater

A jumper for all seasons?

I’m thinking of renaming the project from ‘August Sweater’ to ‘Calendar sweater’ as I have now being working on it longer than a year!  This is the sweater I’m doing in the Portuguese method of knitting (which is great for my hands) and I’m really enjoy it.  I particuarly love the fact that every time I pick it up I am reminded of the meeting I gatecrashed to meet a fabulous group of people – including strikstrik who taught me the method, V (who has been mentioned previously) and *the* Stephen West!

I’m also trying to design, make, write up and publish a ‘shawl’ in the three weeks of the olympics.  It’s going to be more of a ‘receipe’ than a ‘stitch by stitich’ pattern.  The inspiration for this is the lack of relatively easy ‘confident beginner’ patterns that aren’t rafts of SC or DC.  I wanted something that had a bit of interest (visually and mentally), that was unisex and could be easily modified without being too hung up on the ‘precision’.  I’ll be entering this in the Shawl Sailing, Single Skien Sprint and possibly Balance Beads. I’m using a ball of Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball in fuchsienbeet that Needlemania (who I met for KnitNation 2011) sent me at Christmas.  I’ve made a reasonable start…

preview of shawl

sneak peak..

Gosh, I’ve just realised how involved KnitNation 2011 is in my choices – the yarn, the techniques, the people!

 

The State of the Nation

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As we roll up in bunting drenched vehicles ahead of the Diamond Jubilee this weekend, I can’t believe that it’s been nearly 4 weeks since my last post, and it’s been very busy!  I shall add a note to my diary to write a post at least once every two weeks 😉

I am still awaiting results of tests of the (spreading) pain in my hands – I’ve finally managed to get referred up the chain, but there is the usual 6-8 week wait now to see a consultant.Starry Starry Night Shawl

Crafting time therefore is still very limited, but I have achieved a couple of small successes.  I finished my version of Eva’s Shawl, Starry Starry Night, a beginner level shawl which I ‘pimped’ with beautiful Unique Sheep Eos yarn and some serendipitous beads.  I’m really pleased with the resulting gorgeousness.

The soft changes and multiple skeins of colour phase yarn worked really well in crochet (so many variegated yarns don’t work for crochet) and the whole is light and very warm.

I also managed to pick up and make a concerted effort on the front of my Jan sweater (by the adorable Susan Crawford, from Stitch in Time vol II) – I’ve been working on this since JUNE 2011 (gasp!) and had finished the back last August then ran into a variety of interesting excuses as to why I couldn’t start the front.  I finally Jan Sweatercast on the ribbing in November, and then, at the change point I suddenly couldn’t find the energy to find my 3.25mm needles (and crochet got in the way, and then I was teaching and, ya know, ‘stuff’) so I dug out the needles, and my Portuguese pin (sorry, I don’t think I mentioned I’m trying to do this entirely Portuguese style – add another skill to the box) and did another set of rows – now I’ve started the main body of the front hopefully I’ll get a bit further along on this one…

I finally managed to get Part 1 of my Crochet Chart reading tutorials up and on this site.  I promise not to take so long with the other parts!  I’d love to hear what you think – and of course there are the PDF’s as well.

This month (as in next month, June) I’m hosting a CAL (crochet-a-long) over on Ravelry for the beautiful Recuerdos de infancia – the yarn I wanted to use I don’t have enough yardage for (isn’t it always the way?) so I think I might be going down the laceweight path and stash diving (after all, it’s not like I’m short of yarn here, and I really can’t justify buying any more without making something from stash first).