time flies when you're having fun ...

Once again I have been peripatetic, helping post-op daughter, minding grandchildren, etc. Which has left me with little time for blogging and often little access to the internet. But all of which is great fun, so no complaints.

It has not prevented me knitting, however, which is just as well, since a dear friend has just given birth to a darling daughter (a first baby), for whom I produced this surprise jacket and heart-shaped hat, also courtesy of the great Elizabeth Zimmermann. This was the first time I tried the hat, so rather experimental, but it seems to have worked out well – although I’ll have to wait for the recipient, or rather her mama and papa, to give the final verdict. Best of all, it was knitted with STASH!!! Maybe that's why I felt I could buy some new knitting books, as a reward. Unfortunately, the cost of the books was way out of proportion with the value of the yarn, particularly since I had bought loads of it for 25p. per skein in a sale (Rowan's Lightweight DK, for those who need to know)!

And now to trees! I love old and gnarled trees, and captured a really fine specimen recently whilst visiting the wonderful gardens at Kew.

This one, with its wonderfully twisted branches is not bad either. Although now, a week later, I wouldn’t mind betting that they’re both covered in foliage. Suddenly spring has sprung, blossom and leaves everywhere, a wonderful time of year.

not just the Princess ...

Although the Princess is demanding most of my attention at the moment - as a Princess should, of course, sometimes I do other knitting. Lately I have completed another little scarf for my mother, with the remaining ball of yarn she acquired for the extravagant sum of 0.69 pence!

She required something not too long, nor wide. This blocked to 14 by 40 inches. I wanted it be fairly easy, with few joins, so I kind of adapted the Orenburg shawl idea, by starting with knitting the bottom border. I made up a very simple pattern and knit an appropriate number of points, including some to turn the corner:



Then I picked up the stitches I needed for the centre, keeping the border going at either side. For the centre I took the Fishtail Pattern (Kalasabakiri) from Nancy Bush's wonderful book, Knitted Lace of Estonia:



Finally I knitted the top border, knitting in one stitch from the centre with every second row, and grafted the two ends of the border, giving this as the result:



Now I wait for the final verdict from its recipient, my sternest critic, my mother! ;) (I confess the final corner is a little wonky, but I plead running out of yarn!)

BTW.: please don't think for one moment I put myself in the same class as either the Orenburg knitters, or Nancy Bush. But I sit at their feet and learn.

My cap shawl is blocking as I write - watch this space tomorrow.

Not much to report today, except that my mum is very pleased with her scarf, so has ordered another with the second ball, so now I am looking for another allover pattern, for variety.

My Princess is coming on quite well now, so I shall take pictures soon, when I feel there's enough to make it worthwhile showing it.

In the meantime, I persevere with The Tale of Genji. It does get easier as I go along, although it is still difficult, keeping track of all the characters. But I am enjoying it, in a strange way, when I can overcome my irritation at the place of women in that society. How much we women in western democracies have to be grateful, in spite of all their imperfections!

My special joy right now is the knowledge that in a week's time I shall see Ellie [second granddaughter, two and a half] and Finn [second grandson, 6 months]! :))))) [and their parents too, of course ;)]

another week's gone by ...

Whew! where does the time go? I guess it's true, it flies when you're having fun. And Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday were fun; exhausting, but fun. You may remember, I went off to look after granddaughter Ellie, suffering from chickenpox, so that mamma might return to work. Well, Ellie is delightful, even when ill. Now I know the last bit is bias on my part, but any undelightfulness was purely down to her feeling unwell or itchy - and I can relate to that, can't you? ;) So I did my best to counteract the unwellness, and we did stories, songs, play and little walks to feed the ducks. I trust and hope that chickenpox are not transferable to ducks, after all, they're not chickens, are they? And what about swans? On Wednesday there was a fine pair of swans, who left the ducks in no doubt who came first in the pecking order for stale bread. In fact they were so bold, I was a little worried about their pecking Ellie, who of course was fearless. But no harm done. And when the bread ran out, so did the swans, or rather, they sailed majestically and rather snootily on.

By Tuesday Ellie was well on the mend, and by Wednesday her spots had all scabbed, so I adjudged her no longer infectious and took her out out on the town. She was full of life and fun, "I'm no poser, but ..." viz.:

So today Ellie counts as my first beautiful thing!

My second is my knitting. I have finished the back of the Rowan Top:

I am really pleased with how this is looking. Half way up the front now, so am hoping to be wearing this very soon.

And my swatch for the Princess is finished too. The swatch was done in the same yarn I shall be using, i.e., gossamer CashSilk, although the colour here is white, and I shall be using viola. It knits up easily, at least on the bamboo needles, 2 mm, I am using, although it is quite slippy, so one does have to be careful. However, it blocks well, and shows up the patterns beautifully, and retains the benefit of both components, the warmth and softness of the cashmere AND the lustre of the silk:

This means that I can now start on the real thing. Because I want a square shawl, and because I can knit superfast on straight needles but not on circulars, I am changing its construction. However, I do not like sewing shawl pieces together, so I have devised a way of building it up, without using a circular needle OR sewing. I am going to start with enough points for one side, when. leaving the stitches on a pin, I shall knit that side up. Then I shall continue with the points for the second side, still attached to the first section. When I start to knit up the second side, I shall join it to the first side as I knit. The same thing for the third and fourth side, except that on the fourth side I shall be joining both sides, one to the third, and one to the first, grafting the edging. Finally, I shall knit in the centre using the same method as on the original shawl, because I also want the diagonal centre. Whew! Well, it's not as complicated as it sounds, so if you're not sure what's going on, watch this space!?!?;)

And my third beautiful thing? These wonderful books of Barbara Walker, which I arrived from Schoolhouse Press while I was away. Enough there to be going on with, that's for sure!! ;)

Off tomorrow to Westonbirt Arboretum for two days. Apparently the leaves are wonderful this year - probably because of the odd summer we have had, so you see there are compensations. It may not be New England, but it puts on a pretty good show. We intend to wander round soaking up its beauty, which will undoubtedly form part of my next post, together with pix. Have a fabulous w/e, especially the extra hour in bed tomorrow a.m. I guess that really does signal the end of whatever summer we have had, but that means we can start looking forward to the next one!! ;)

climbing slowly ...

I think I may have turned a corner! I find myself able - indeed wanting - to do more and more. The knitting is still my therapy of choice, but I have repotted plants, tidying the balcony of dead leaves and detritus, and galvanised myself sufficiently to go to the library and find some amusing books. Instead of feeling totally destroyed by the financial mayhem reported on the news, I find myself amused in a slightly cynical, world-weary sort of way. Gradually I am gaining confidence that my children have the strength to deal with the problems it may cause them. For me, a result!

The knitting too is a definite result. I am halfway up the back of the Rowan Tank Top:

Here in close-up:

And here is the Princess swatch. It's not blocked, because it's still on the needle. But I can report that I am loving the knitting of it, and can't wait to tackle the real thing!

Clearly Voltaire was right: il faut cultiver son jardin!

Moth - or as Inspecteur Clouseau would say: meurth ...

this summer in England has, apparently, been very good - or very bad, if you are a lace knitter - for meurth. :( seemingly the warmer weather, and especially the lack of cold winters to kill off the little blighters, has led to them breeding in ever greater numbers, needing ever more supplies of food - and guess where they find it? :/ this has reached such a pitch that even no less hallowed a source than The Times featured the problem this week. i actually already knew about this, because my youngest daughter (mother of ellie, and knitted textiles BA student at Central St Martin's) had a mega-infestation in her (also mega-, but she's got a better excuse that me ;) ) stash earlier this year. she spent a long time picking out the good stuff from the bad and deep-freezing it, whilst cleaning out all the horrible little blighters and their leavings. - heartbreaking ;(

anyway, as i have caught two of the wretched little things in the past two days, this has led to me waging a great campaign to have all our sweaters, suits, jackets, etc, and especially my precious stash, out to check, clean and put back (at great expense, according to Peter, as we had to buy cedar thingies, until i pointed out the comparative cost of replacing even one of his lovely handmade suits!). we are using lavender, cedar balls and hanging cedar blocks. anybody else out there had this problem and/or got a patent remedy? all the dreadful chemicals that were so effective have now seemingly been banned. and a good thing too, i dare say. in any case they were a) smelly, and b) dangerous.

my second daughter once (aged 5), annoyed because all the attention was being centred on my newish boyfriend's 21st birthday, went upstairs, found a mothball (not easy, because i had hidden them really well, i thought), and ate it. she came downstairs spitting wildly because it tasted awful. nonetheless, we felt it prudent to take her to the hospital, where she was fed ipecacuhana and kept in overnight, resulting in our spending the rest of the birthday in casualty - result (for her!) but not for us, because the gourmet dinner i had planned in celebration was ruined - not the wine, though. so we drowned our sorrow! ;)

on a happier note, my Sarah Don, The Art of Shetland Lace turned up today. i am saving it to read on the very long car journey to Ullswater tomorrow. we are off for a few days R&R. i must say, i am seriously impressed with Lacis, from whom i ordered it only last week, result - for me! ;)

susanna lewis - knitting lace

somewhere on someone's blog - but i can't remember where and who, due to being either pre-occupied with work, or suffering a senior moment, depending on how charitable is your point of view ;) - i read an appeal to write to the brooklyn museum to ask them to reprint the above book. so being a good girl i did as i was told, and wrote. well, to my surprise and delight, i got a very pleasant reply indicating that this was under serious consideration - thought you might like to know that, folks.

other than that, nothing to report except a) sampler still coming on, going round edges now; b) received Victorian Lace from the Attic and the new Rowan book; and c) flat to the boards with phd work. trying to get it finished before we have a short break in the Lake District starting Tuesday. Phew.

No new pix either, due to pressure of work (see above),so here is one of a grandchild :)

It's Ellie with her Nunky Jos, my No. 1 son, and I call it

Beach Bums!