I have moved my blog over to Sbubble Trouble I hope you will join me there.
Making Lace Solid
November is almost at an end and it already feels like summer here in Auckland. Today we reached 26ºC which is what I consider a late January temperature. With the start of the warm weather my knitting always slows down. There is more time to spend outdoors and really who likes sitting around with extra layers lying across them, knitting hanging from the needles. I haven’t a lot to show you, the project which I started a few weeks back is no more then an inch and has been relegated to the hibernation pile along with my bias scarf which there is no need for at current temperature. I will attempt to do a few rows each night on the first but the later will be in the pile until near autumn I think.
What I do have to share is about the Solid lace workshop of Vintages Purls which I attends yesterday, along with mum. It was interesting to learn what types of lace patterns can work by taking out the holes. So often I see garment patterns which have lace but would be a lot more practical with those holes closed up. It was a bit to take in yesterday but I think I got it so this morning after mowing the lawn I sat outside on the new furniture, which I love, and gave it ago with the pine tree pattern from Mary Thomson’s book of knitting patterns.
The first repeat (bottom) I did with the holes so I could compare, I should have done this with the one I did yesterday at the workshop. Next I decided I wanted my stitches moving away from the decreases so the first yarn over was change to a right increase, the second to a left. For these I used the knit into the stitch below method. For the third repeat I reversed it so my increases were in the same direction as the decreases once again with knit into stitch below method. The last two repeats are done with yarn overs which are closed up on the purl round. I’m really not sure which is which on these so if anyone can tell me please do. I plan to do a bit more experimenting with closing the holes in lace but need to find a stitch guide with more lace patterns.
Oh and yesterday I also purchased a lace weight yarn to make another featherweight cardigan, I hope to get started on this pretty quickly as it is such a great garment to throw on over dresses in summer when it gets a bit chilly. I went with a redish colour way which I hope will complement a lot in my wardrobe. More on that next week maybe.
Garden Layout
We had a good planning session last night for the garden and have come up with the below planting layout. We are roughly going by the idea of square foot gardening as written in the book by Mel Bartholomew. It seems pretty simple and an effective way to plant things.
From left top to bottom right: Heritage tomato, Capsicum, Snow peas, Cucumber, Corn, Capsicum, Tomato, Basil, Tomato, Broccoli, Carrots, Broccoli, Empty, Empty, Spinach, Lettuce, Spinach, Lettuce, Carrots, Radish, Beetroot, Carrots, Empty, Chives, Parsley, Coriander, Spring Onions.
I’ll keep you up to date with how it progress, still have seeds to plant out but after spending an hour or so at the garden centre over two days then planting the seedlings today, in hot sun (I thought it was going to rain when I started but then the sun came out) I was bet, so the seeds might be an after work thing this week.
I have started some knitting today while enjoying the shade but there really isn’t much to share at this point. I will carry on with it over the week so I have something decent to share next weekend. Until then…
Shapeshifter
You know how I wanted some mindless stocking stitch to do, well I found some with the Shapeshifter pattern. I have worked on it as a bit of therapy when I have arrived home from “interesting” days at work. Well now it is all finished and TP kindly has modelled it for us all.
It was a piece of cake to knit, just what I needed. The pattern is one of those great ones that you can use any gauge and just adjust the numbers, which I love for stash busting. I have used the Vero which I still had in my stash, so I guess I could make this a stash crusade project. The buttons were one I replaced from a RTW cardigan which have been sitting in the button jar for a while now. Shame really that this will sit in the draw for a good 6 months before I get any wear out of it but once the cold winter winds arrive I’m sure I will wear it most nights on the way home as it provides warmth to all the areas I need.
Garden Labour
Labour weekend we did just that, Labour. We spent a good amount of it out in the garden getting it under control & moving our raised bed to a more appropriate location. When we first extended it we put it under the eaves of the unit right next to the patio, the theory being we could still garden when it was raining and close to the house to pick fresh veg for dinner. In reality the spot didn’t get enough sun due to the maple tree and it made it impossible to clean gutters. It has now been moved to where there was once a tangelo tree which gave in to the borer last summer. It was a bit of a mission to move it but we managed to get it done by the Sunday which left Monday to cut back the the flax which had got very out of control.
So having done so much outside I was in need of knitting time, but the bias scarf was just too hard to get into I wanted mindless stocking stitch so I cast on a Shapeshifter in Vero (which is so hard to get a good photo of). I won’t get to wear it for a while, but it is the best kind of project to sit down with when I get home after a busy day at work. I aim to do at least one pattern repeat each day so as to make myself have some relax time.
The Trouble with Sbubble 