Sunshine & Storms

Robin Wood Tarot

Titch took a day off to drive us to Norwich for a day out, as Mini Diva wanted to go to the RAF Careers Centre - our closest one. It was no sacrifice at all as we used to live in Norwich years ago, and it's one of our favorite cities: the size of a city but with a village feel, full of unique non-chain shops too. 

While we were there, she also blew most of her birthday money on posh sports clothes, so she was happy; I found 2 posh yarn shops: Norfolk Yarn which stocked Tibetan Yak yarn, and The Crafty Ewe which does late night opening once a week ! Plus a Hobbycraft, all of which made me happy - but (making Titch happy) from a stall on the huge market bought only a crochet hook and cute buttons for this:

Sirdar Tiny Tots DK 1561

The rest of the weekend was spent in clearing out our shed in order to put a 2nd-hand chest freezer there ready for storing supplies for the cricket season which starts next week - I am amazed, if not gobsmacked, that Titch volunteered to do the snack kitchen again this year; quite frankly I am really not looking forward to it: after an autumn and winter of merely showing up to watch the kids play rugby at a semi-civilized 10am, being out of bed every Sunday at 6:30am for an 8am start from now until August has NO appeal whatsoever.

Which brings me to the reason for the 3 of Swords. In clearing the shed, we found a box that we both thought had been stored in the house. Unfortunately it and its contents have been ruined by damp and mold:

This is Mini Diva's baby 'coming home' outfit, her first pairs of baby shoes, first lock of hair .... you get the idea. Every single one of the congratulations cards was ruined too. The tears ran down my face like Niagara.

 

SAL Wednesday 31/15: The Circle

Housewives Tarot

Yep, this is me today, armed and dangerous. 

Well, maybe a bit later when I'm dressed and have had another cup of tea. 

The kids are down at Nanny's, and we all know and quail from what that indicates on the wheel of my life and year - something akin to the Great Migration of Africa, but which in this case is confined to the inside of the house, has never been shown on Animal Planet or NatGeoWild, and has no David Attenborough narration: it is the Great Mucking Out.

I am hoping for less dust, no poop, and no crocodiles

I should have started yesterday, but I'd treated myself to finishing a shawl - I had only 1 row and the bind off to go, and thought maybe an hour would see me done. However, I'd neglected to consider the bajillion stitches, of which every other one had to be beaded ... and of course, blocking took more time than I'd anticipated too. However, I WASHED. ALL. THE. THINGS. Pillows, mattress toppers, blankeys, cushions, random clothes left out in the savannah open to fester (there will be more behind the beds and in the nooks and crannies, I'm sure). They are clean, dry and folded, and the house smells beautifully of clean laundry.

What's this got to do with a WIP ? Well, housework is always a WIP, more's the pity. But I thought if I finished the shawl, then there'd be nothing on the needles tempting me away from my Mission. And since the only other thing I have going is my travel knitting, I can resist:

And speaking of cycles .... this Fitzroy cardigan

thanks to the Mad Unravelling Skillz of my MIL, has been turned into this:

It was always too short, and never fitted right around the neck - it would gradually fall back, meaning I spent a lot of time hitching it back to where it ought to have been. And the buttons were not the best choice. So, now it's gone from a FO to a WIP-in-Waiting. It is lovely soft Rico Aran Cotton, and I'll probably use it to make something for Destructo Boy ...

6KCBWDAY1: If You Were A Yarn

Tarot of Pagan Cats

It's here again ! Knitting & Crochet Blog Week, the 6th annual edition ... let's take up the challenge of blogging daily and see how far we get, shall we ?


DAY 1: If You Were Yarn

If you were a type or brand of yarn, which would you be ? Are you a classic pure wool ? Is there extra tension but a bit of bounce in you because of your high twist ? Would you be more like a high-maintenance, strictly hand-wash fluffy angora or a 'bring it on' acrylic, bravely heading into the world of possible baby-sick laundering disasters knowing that you will always come our bright and unharmed ?
Spend some time browsing yarns and getting to know their qualities, and decide which yarn you think best matches your personality.



I did this the other way round - what kind of person do I think I am, and what yarn is that ... Immediately we know that I am not qiviut. 

Although ...

muskox, from which qiviut is obtained

Hmm. 

OK.

I am ... bright, funny, brash, kind, lazy, short-tempered. I guess bright, funny and brash could be this yarn:

Patons Fab DK. What colorblind looks like.

Lazy yarn ... would be yarn that comes in balls, as opposed to hanks that need winding and balling, which is most commercial yarns - it's the indie and hand-dyed yarns that tend to come in hanks, and they are also generally more pricy; they also tend to be in smaller dyelots, so it can be difficult to buy more than a shawl or scarf quantity even if you could afford it.

I don't know that there is any yarn that is short-tempered or grumpy - only yarn that makes people feel that way: yarn with vegetable matter in it (looking at you, Noro), yarn with quality issues such as too many knots or breaks; yarn that is wrong for your project (technically not the yarn's fault, of course), yarn that is just too boring of a color that you wonder what demon possessed you when you bought it, and of course, scratchy yarn, ie. all the yarn ever used during my childhood.

So where does that leave us ? I need the color range of Stylecraft in the yarn varieties offered by Drops, I think, with some overlap. Between the two of them I can express most moods except the thunderstorms ...

If you put the tag KCBW6DAY1 into Google you will find many more posts for today's theme ...

Learn From My Fail No.1

Legacy of the Divine Tarot

So there I was, mojo-lessly and therefore aimlessly mooching around Ravelry, when - Lo ! I saw a reference to a shawl; clicking on the link reminded me that I had seen it before and liked it - so why it wasn't in my queue I don't know: 'Summer Flies Shawl'. That is flies as in 'time flies' not 'buzzbuzz flies', obviously. And - bonus ! - I have two, that is at least two, yarns that are just right for it in color, and I think in yardage.

Yes, Dear Reader, you may rejoice, as I did, that the mojo had come home to Mama after a mere week or so; clapping my hands and skipping in glee, I tra-la-la-ed as I set up my ballwinder.

Light of heart and mind, and warbling tunelessly, I selected the yarn, the lovely turquoise sock-yarn given to me by the even lovelier stephcuddles on her recent visit. Mini Diva inveigled me into letting her help (it was almost her bedtime) by winding the winder. So far, so good, right ?

                                                             Wrong.

I didn't swear. I didn't scream. I didn't shout. I didn't fulminate. I didn't gnash my teeth or wail at the shock of Mini Diva suddenly exhibiting signs of being related to Destructo Boy. I sent her to bed in a far more terrifying silence.

Four and three quarter hours later, I had this:

Actually, since it was after 1am by that time, it looked more like this:

So, learn from my fail: do not allow a 9 year old to cozen you into helping wind yarn when the TV is on, she is watching it as well as winding, she should be in bed, and you are not paying 100% attention to what she is doing.

Blog Hub Swap 2012: Day 3

The whimsical feel of this 2 of Wands from the unique Phantomwise Tarot reflects the contemplation and consideration that is due to the gift that was labelled 'Day 3' in my package from swap partner Denise.

I am sure that even the non-yarny amongst you will recognize what is in this package by its shape; and when I further inform you that it was most delightfully squishy ? What else could it be, but yarn.

The carefully written card tells me Denise thinks I'll love the color and slightly rustic quality. She was right. 

It is 4oz/350 yards of Farmhouse Silk Blend DK in 'Tangerine', which is 34% silk, 33% cotton, and 33% American lambswool: an unusual combination. It has a very textured feel, and seems thicker than most DKs - and on checking the needle size recommended on the label (US size 4-5) which is 3.5 - 3.75mm, I was quite surprised how small the needles were for the apparent yarn weight. The label gauge is 5-6 stitches per inch, which equates roughly to fingering/4 ply  and/or sport weight. Depending on the stitch pattern, I would have thought that this would give quite a dense, stiff fabric with this yarn. But anyway - no need to drag you down further into my musings on weight and gauge, as the real issue is:

What kind of pattern might suit this yarn ? You already have the technical information, and you can see the color. Recommendations, please ...

Denise has so far achieved a hat trick: check back tomorrow to see if her run of good luck accurate stalking continues ....

Satisfaction

Well, what a great day. Mini Diva had a fabulous school report, and so did Destructo Boy. I did laugh at the bit where the teacher said that Destructo Boy had a ''good awareness of space and safety'' - she wouldn't have said that had she seen him standing on the bay window roof, having climbed out of my bedroom window. So a trip to the cinema at the end of term has been promised as a reinforcement that effort and work bring rewards. DH will have to choose which arm to lose in order to pay for it.

Having received book vouchers at Christmas and (obviously, since it's now July) taken my sweet time deciding what to buy with them, I ordered Barbara Walker's 2nd Knitting Treasury from my local Waterstones. They had to order it, and told me it would be about 3 weeks. 4 weeks later I called for a progress report to be told their supplier didn't envisage having it from the USA for at least another month. I wasn't very happy with this, having already paid £35 to them for the book.

Amazon.com have it for $30 - I could have ordered it from them and had it well within 3 weeks. So strolling round the interwebs, I came across the marvellous people at iKnit, whose website said it was in stock, and that was confirmed by the lovely man I spoke to - and it was only £21.95. He popped it in the post that day, and I had it the next. Friendly, efficient service - we love it.




You'll notice that in the photo is some new laceweight 100% Bluefaced Leicester yarn in a vibrant color called 'Fire Festival'. Well, having saved so much money on my book, I now had some left over for yarn - a quick click to Abstract Cat's Folksy shop soon took care of that. I plan to knit this Candleflame Shawl with it = a perfect marriage of color and project.

And - as if that weren't enough - I heard from the lovely Annie, President of the Australian Tarot Guild that my Bereavement Spread was used successfully in a spread workshop they held at the weekend. My cup runneth over.

Bonanza

I don't want to bore you with details of the mad week of school appeal hearings, hospital appointments and dragging Ingrid the Volvo to the garage; instead let me tell you of the postal bonanza that arrived this week.

In this photo you can just make out the pails of base oils for making soap, delivered by courier. In front of them are two knitting books, Knitted Lace of Estonia and Victorian Lace Today, paid for with Amazon vouchers from doing online surveys about energy drinks, facial moisturizers and other necessities of modern life. Both books are full of the most delicious lace knitting patterns; the Estonian lace looks quite advanced, but I feel I might be able to manage the simpler patterns in the Victorian Lace book without having to expand my already extensive range of swear words.






This means that my next yarn purchase will be some form of laceweight yarn - quite likely from the efficient and friendly Laura at Abstract Cat (leapylees on Ravelry). Her yarns come in some fabulous colors, weights and fibres; the ball you can see in the photo is 100% merino superwash in the colorway 'Red Wine and Chocolate'; it is very, very soft and non-scritchy. How could you resist a yarn with that name ? And her customer service is fast and friendly.


By Fedex, their Belo had sent the WorldCupMad children some things to make them scream, holler, leap and jump with surprise and happiness:



They are now the proud owners of Honduras shirts, hats, scarves and bags. Now all they think they need is a vuvuzela. And no, that is in NO WAY a request ! As the noise is the most irritating I've heard in years.

I also managed to complete the Hammer Hoodie: a fast, easy knit from Bernat, and therefore a pattern I'll use again, once I've worked out how to make the garter stitch border not flip over the stockinette body ...

J'accuse

Something that has had an increasingly raised profile on my radar since my friend Mimi received an unsolicited cruel comment a while back on a beautifully crafted item she'd made, is a vicious creature known as a Yarn Snob . This is someone who sneers, despises and mocks someone who uses acrylic yarns rather than more natural - and usually far more expensive - options like wool, silk, quiviut etc., and they are a fairly common
occurrence in knitting forums.



What raised it to the point that I wanted to comment about it was reading the first day's posts from Knit & Crochet Week, which was all about how one had started either knitting or crocheting; it was interesting to me to see that the large majority of people had started knitting/crocheting using acrylic yarn, and usually the 'economy' brands.





The tone of most of these posts was a combination of apologetic and shame/embarrassment, along the lines of 'I didn't know any better', 'it was cheap and I didn't want to buy expensive because I was a beginner'. Most implied that as their knowledge and experience had increased, so their taste in yarn had improved.

Checking my projects on Ravelry, out of 44 WIPs/FOs, only 6 are natural yarns, ie. not acrylic, and I am shameless about that. (I am shameless about most things, true enough).There are several reasons one might knit with acrylic - cost, allergies, intended recipient, aftercare, availability, color, novelty. I knit mainly in acrylic because most of my knitting is done for babies and children - therefore, to be practical, it must be both hardwearing and machine-washable. I can't think of much that would be as inappropriate as giving a new mother a handwash, dry flat, shape while damp etc etc item of baby clothing. In fact, I demand the same ease of care from most of my own clothes; and so do most people I know. My MIL owns two Shetland wedding shawls, which are carefully wrapped in some wardrobe somewhere and never see the light of day, as they are 'too special' .Which is why I knitted her a lovely lacy scarf out of acrylic - such nice acrylic that she was surprised when I said she could machine wash it. I wanted her to wear it, not hide it.



And that's the thing. Maybe back in the day, acrylic was scratchy and unpleasant (a bit like the real wool I remember from my childhood) ; but today there is such a wide variety available, to suit all tastes and textures, that I can't believe people would write off the whole kit and caboodle as beneath them.

I am making forays into the realm of natural yarns, I admit it, but that is because my interest is lace knitting; acrylic can be knit into lace, but it doesn't block and has little drape, so the finer aspects are likely to be lost for an item like a shawl or stole. However, if the stitch pattern is carefully selected, it certainly works for smaller items such as children's cardigans and sweaters: I have the photos to prove it (see photo above and my Ravelry profile).

So, friends, the point of this post is: stand tall and proud - be not ashamed of thy acrylic, for it answers many of thy needs, and is soft and purty too.

Little Things

Today a package arrived. Nothing unusual in that, as it's DD's birthday on Saturday. I opened the package to find some gifts to me from my baby sister - fabulous ! So indescribably more interesting and rewarding than the new washing machine door hinge that arrived yesterday. There's nothing like a little unexpected something to lighten one's heart and lifeload.

So here they are, a sad indictment of my life and how well she knows me - except for the chocolate; I'm not a great chocolate lover - I know, shoot me now, letting the Sisterhood down, quietly surviving without all those cocoa-derived endorphins. The yarn she sent is actually for DD, and my baby sister knows exactly what to get for a Gok-loving girl; DD loves to go shopping with my sister, Auntie Fashion - they both adore bright pink, bling, and bargain-hunting. DD doesn't know yet that Auntie Fashion is coming over for her birthday ... yet another treat in store for the spoiled mini-Diva, to go with the MP3 player and the roller-skating party.



And here is what I found in the garden today:


And because I had time to waste ... I mean, spare, because I'm avoiding sewing the cot quilt binding, the cot quilt that Destructo Boy has just spilled juice over, pics of some Good Yarn that is in my stash; the JojoLand Melody is earmarked for a scarf for my oldest best friend - the pattern will be one of Branching Out, Strangling Vine, or Falling Leaf; the Black Cat hand-dyed superwash I had in mind for my MIL, to make a shawl, but I'm thinking this over as perhaps it is a little impractical for her - it's not like she ever sits still enough to wear one ...