Knitting with red

Red is an auspicious colour for Chinese new year and I started the first knitting project of the year with this 'watermelon' yarn.

It is a Bendigo Woollen Mills 2 ply pure wool. I dyed with with acid milling dye in a microwave but it seemed to have a higher than normal twist so it did not absorb the dye very well nor very evenly. It had been sitting in my stash for a couple of years now, waiting for the right project to come along..... 

The unevenness of the this colour, and the stitch pattern with its triangular repeats reminds me of a wedge of watermelon.

It is an interesting structure as the combination of plain and purl stitches, form the pleats naturally. The pattern is from the Vav magasinet (Scandinavian weaving magazine) issue 4/10. It is a simple pattern to memorise. It will probably take me a while to knit as there is 200g of yarn and I will probably knit it out as a scarf. I wonder how long that will be?
The article also mentioned a book on Gotland knitting - Pleats (Gotlandsk sticksom - Plissestickning) but it is only in Swedish. I wonder if it has lots of pictures or diagrams. If someone has this, please let me know if you can follow it without understanding Swedish!
This structure also reminds me of this miura cowl from Olga's blog and I think that they follow the same theory.

PS: Just realised that there is only 100g of yarn so it may become a cowl instead of a scarf!

Rooftop Cowl

A photo of one of the rooftops at Nijo Castle in Kyoto. I originally took the photo as inspiration for a weave pattern. I can see it so clearly as a weave.

However, since being home, I started to knit the 'alexandria cowl'. It is a gift to a friend in Japan and hopefully she will get it in time for their cold winter. As I knitted, I kept seeing the image of the rooftop in my mind, especially in this colour.

I love the texture, the contrast of thick and thin creating these ridges.

I have knitted this before and had also given it away. I think I will end up knitting it a third time (and hopefully the last time, for myself).

In the meantime, this edition has been re-named the 'rooftop cowl'.

Kusha Kusha

I had bought the yarn from Avril and Colormart last year and have had this project queued in Ravelry. At last, I have resumed an interested in hand knitting and had started this scarf. The instructions are from Purl Bee and very easy to follow. The silk stainless steel yarn had no give, so it is not so easy to knit. I think it will take a while.

I have attempted to knit this on the knitting machine but the stitches are too even and loses the texture that I have seen of other people's images of the finished scarf.

I have also got the instruction of my mom's gathered stitch pattern! Both Deep End of the Loom and Kaz are interested:

I think that mom also varied the number of rows of stocking stitch to make it more interesting.

Talented people

My greenthumb friends (Anne and Michele) came to the rescue with my plants. They were near death just before Christmas and you can see the evidence on the brown leaves of the Bay tree. The whole plant had looked like that. Anne helped me (well she did the work while I watched) re-potted all three plants and gave them a new lease of life and they are thankful. There are 10 limes on the Kaffir lime tree ( the most I have ever seen, and lots of cumquats for marmalade this winter........

Kaffir Lime

Bay Tree 

Cumquat 

And my super knitter mother made this for me!

 

The yarn is soft and absolutely heavenly. She knitted it single strand and the stitch is similar to all these collapse weave and machine knit structures with which I have been experimenting. This is the hand knitted version!

Big red

Weaving has taken a back seat at the moment. Hand and machine knitting seem to have taken over.

When I was sick last year with that terrible flu and chest infection, I wanted a warm blanket on the couch. I wondered about knitting, weaving or crocheting one. I had always admired this, but also wondered about this. In the end, I found this yarn and love the colour.

I decided on knitting and found the pattern in the 'Opinionated Knitter'. I used 2 strands of the yarn and it was 3 stitches to the inch, with only 30 stitches on the needles at any one time.

I also like the simplicity of the shape and the construction of the whole thing. The mitre corners seemed easy, I followed the instructions but decided that I did not like to see the holes from the short rows. I did some more research and found that I can do wrap short rows and it would eliminate that 'hole' effect.

I also found out about the craft clinic at this yarn shop in town. I went and met Judith. She is a wonder and helped me with my un-knitting (she calls it tinking: knit spelt backwards) and showed me how to do these wrap short rows.

I have finished the knitting part now and will have to go back to see her for help to sew it all together. The pushy cat has taken a liking to it and has staked her claim. I think that is a pretty determined look!

Knitted up

Mum had knitted up the cashmere yarn we bought from Avril.


I just wish that it was possible to convey the softness and the drape through the computer.