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Tuesday 5 February 2013

Getting on with things

I had a Yarn Harlot Moment this morning.  Not a knitting one this time but a 'yes I really did see it and no I didn't get my camera out in time' sort of moment.

Yesterday a Sparrow hawk landed in our garden.  Not unusual if you live in the country but we live in the middle of a town, our bird visitors are chiefly sparrows and blackbirds, a blue tit counts as exotic!  And there is was lording it over our tiny garden (devoid of any other bird for fear of becoming breakfast for the hawk).  But I didn't have my camera, so no David Attenborough moment either.

I think I am better sticking to photographing things that do not move - like my over sized sock yarn stash!


in (nearly) every shade, and  texture but all sock weight

Which brings me to last week's challenges.  Several people made suggestions via Twitter and Liz of Tattered Creations left a great idea in the blog comments.  She challenged me to make a calm restrained item of clothing and not to be seduced by the usual bright colours (then teach her how to do it) .  I had said a couple of weeks ago that although my style of dress tends to be in neutral colours, relying on a bright scarf or necklace for colour, I can't seem to stick to this palette when I buy yarn.  But perhaps this from my stash will work.  It's single strand cashmere.  This yarn (bought on e-bay to mend a friend's gillet)  is the sort yarn used in commercial knitwear production but I think if I ply it (2 or 3 strands) I shall have just the right weight for a small short sleeved pullover.  Now all I have to do is step away from the fancy stitch patterns

100% cashmere in black, charcoal  and soft grey

Then Amy, the editor of Knitty.com suggested I knit a big 'kick-ass shawl' like color affection  Or perhaps even adapt a pattern myself to use three different colours, like these perhaps...


Donegal by Countess Ablaze

Finally there is my self imposed challenge to knit up as much of the sock yarn, perhaps half in socks but the other half as other small items.  The fun bit will be that with just small amounts of yarn the projects have to be small and that means they will knit up quickly despite the yarn being fairly fine.  I am going to begin with the hat for Titchy Scrunch (a nick name given to him by one of his big cousins and less of a mouthful than The Little Model's Little Brother) in this

Self stripe sock yarn by Regis

I plan to make a hat with ear- flaps made double and entirely in one piece.  I'll blog the pattern next week but in case you are wondering how I will manage such a piece of knitting engineering I will just say 'sock toes' and 'Judy's magic cast on'

Watch this space!

xx

c

1 comment:

Liz Benson said...

I love the yarn you've chosen for a pullover, it looks very calm and restrained.

On the other hand, I also want to come and smoosh your sock yarn stash!