Belated Giveaway Blogiversary Day 2

Today is for the fabricas.

I know I loved all these when I bought them. Some were options for other people to choose from, and they chose differently. Some were for stages when we were definitely going to make a music or garden themed Something that didn't happen.

Can you use 4 of these? If 4 don't appeal, you can opt for fewer.
Fat quarters of each (except for the GARDEN piece J, which is full width by 1/4 metre). Fabric G is a US purchase, so it is a fat quarter yard. I find it funny how a country created by secession from Great Britain clings so adamantly to an imperial system of measurement. I find small things amusing.


My mosaic skills are underdeveloped. I tried to keep the scale the same for each picture, but I wonder if Picasa has Done Things. It is unfortunate, the scale doesn't show in each frame.
You can look at a bigger picture by clicketing, as usual. The tape measure shows cms.

I will draw this one on Monday November 16th.
Don't forget lace weight giveaway is here.

And because I am never confident with my spelling, I had to look up 'secession' just to make sure, and I find that in Ancient Rome, a secession was a temporary migration of plebeians to a place outside the city of Rome, to compel patricians to redress their grievances. I'm glad I know that now. And probably it wasn't the right word to describe the US historical action, but I like the sound of the word. So there.

whoopsa daisy duck

I forgot to take pictures of blog day 2 pressies when the sun was out, so tomorrow will have to be it instead. How inefficient is that!

So instead, here are 2 miniature bears from my collection. I didn't make them. I have never made a miniature bear. I am very unlikely ever to make a miniature bear. I am glad there are people out there who will make them for me.

These are the first and third bears I ever bought. Cedric was number 2 but he has gone on holiday in the room of shame and won't come out.


Alfredo is on the left and Blossom is on the right. They stand about 6.5cm tall, but mostly they sit at about 4.5cm squat.

Blossom was my first-bought. She teaches me that it is ok if you are unfortunate in your looks. You have worth just by being. As my first, I was amazed that people could sew bears this small with articulated joints, and I wasn't concerned about her lopsided face. This is a good thing. I knew her name was Blossom because it said so on her tag.

Cedric was number 2, but like I said, he is on holiday. He will come and visit you some other day. He just looked like a Cedric.

Alfredo was number 3. I think Alfredo is very fond of a venetian mardi gras, and likes to be ready all the time in case one breaks out.

After these 3 came to live with me, I decided it was a good thing to have a collection. 3 is enough to start a collection, I have been told. I thought if I named them alphabetically, boys and girls, then I would be allowed to buy at least 52 little bears. I haven't brought any new ones home recently, but in May I placed an order for 2 more. It seems their real mother is having time management problems. She says they will be born sometime this year. She just isn't sure when.

Daisy, Edgar, Florence, Gladstone, Holly, Ignatius, Jasmine, and Kingsley can't wait for their new sister and brother to come home. I wonder if they will look like a Lily and a Montgomery, or maybe a Lulu and a Marmaduke. We'll just have to wait and see.

blogiversary day 1

I think all versaries should have celebrations that last days. Otherwise it's hardly worth the bother, don't you think?

So today is part 1 of the Asset Redistribution Scheme (maybe I should rethink the name).

For the "woollies" out there, today your choice is from my basket of yubina lace weight. You can enter even if you don't consider yourself a woolly, but know someone who is.

Please choose
EITHER

100% cashmere, in pink, blue or green. 100g in your choice of colour, 1,000 yards total (I haven't measured it actually, but have taken the information from the website. Caveat optor.) #219, #300, #441 I think.

I used this for my cap shawl. It feels divine, and was a pleasure to work with. 160gms gave me a circle of squish that is about 1.7m in diameter.


OR

cashmere/silk blend - website says it is 45% cashmere, 50% silk, so your guess is as good as mine as to what else is in there. What would a versary be without surprises? I don't think it's likely to be 5% of anything you wouldn't want to work with, though. You're probably safe. I haven't used any of this blend myself, but how could you go wrong!

Oh how dull. I've just seen it listed on fleegle's yarn comparison chart as 45cashmere, 55silk. Just a typo on the website, then. More exciting to wonder if it's yak or mountain goat.

125g, 2,000 yards, in green, yellow or pink (#402, #103, #504 look closest to the mark)

The picture doesn't reproduce the colours very well. The green is a grey-green, more green than grey. The pink I'd described as watermelon, because that's the first thing that comes into my head. Pink with a touch of orange??


So how easy is that?
Cashmere in pink or blue or green
or cashsilk in green or yellow or pink.

In the absence of any labradors, I will select a winner by ye olde hat draw method, in a week(ish). Let's say Sunday November 15th. Posted anywhere in the whole wide blogosphere.

There will be 3 more chances for you to take stuff off my hands acquire wonderful new things, over the next week. Every 2 days, as long as I remember.

Be lucky.

oh and a warning. I do own cats. The cats own everything else. Your laceweight cannot be guaranteed of being free of cat fur. Not that they've slept on the stuff. Honestly. It's just that the fur seems to work its way into everything. Perhaps I should have 1 day of giveaway of something that has never entered my house, for the catophobes and catallergics out there.

O.P. shopping

I present my new stuff:

2 skeins sea silk by HandMaiden from ColourSong.
Because.
and 2 skeins (yes, indeedy, turns out 2 x 9000m each) of 120/2 silk from Gossamer Web.
I put a 1mm needle there for comparison of thicknesses, but the picture is so blurry it is no help, I fear. My apologies.

And in the interests of full disclosure, knowing full well Himself doesn't read the blog, purchases from September:

1 skein Gossamer Web Phoenix 2/52
60% merino 20% silk 20% cashmere
colour glacier
(This is what I did the Shetland lace test sample in.)


and
2 skeins Gossamer Web AK47 2/20
100% silk
colour black plum
This is what I am using for the first item on my agenda for the Long Lacy Summer. Note the spirit of optimism and high expectations w.r.t. multiplicity of outcomes.

knitting from the skein, with absolutely no problems


my favourite Rose (trellis) lace, for the triangular body (of yet another shawly thing), to which I shall add a wide border on 2 sides based on the rose garlands being developed over in the Rav Heirloom-knitting Shetland graph-along.

In addition let us recall

1 skein Gossamer Web Sheherezade 2/36
50% camel 30% cashmere 20% merino
colour scarletand
1 skein Gossamer Web Love Potion #3 2/36
35% merino 35% cashmere 30% silk
colour tealish


If an etsy enabler will go and provide a whole range of options for lace weights, one has no choice but to get 1 (at least) of each. Although, so far no Tribble, or Truffle, or Vorpal Bunny Ranch has been acquired. Options open.

And why are these purchases not a problem? I am pleased to report that with the input of only another $5million in grants from the Federal Government Daylight Saving Research Scheme (application outcome pending), I should be well on the way to developing those 36 hour days, previously discussed.

Thank you.

I have just noticed I am approaching a blogiversary. I think there may be an opportunity for some options distribution aka give away. Stay tuned.

Fortunately

I didn't have to knit all 160 rows of the test sample, as my 'bit' was just the swag. So it is done. I knitted it as charted as it was a test run, although if I had been making a final version, I would have changed a couple of stitches. These changes are now being addressed by the design group.


I think I will use larger needles than the 1.75mm when I get around to knitting An Actual Thing with this merino/cashmere/silk 2/52 nm thread, simply to get there faster.

As you can see here, it is quite fine, but the silk gives it such strength, I found working with it really easy.


This is really embarrassing, but I've only just realised in the last month that I don't need to pin out all my mini knits with whole packets of pins, as my s/steel dpns would make excellent blocking wires. How slow am I? Purely rhetorical question, that, thanks.
Well, except for the circular knits, of course!

Here we are again, then.

Well! That was 0blogtober. I was thinking it might be followed by Noblogvember, and maybe even Dittoblogcember. But when I looked at what I had achieved while not blogging, I started to reconsider.

Here is a picture of what I made this month:






Yup. Nothing. No knitting things finished/started/worked on. No sewing. Hardly any gardening or housework.

I did however succumb to the shoponlinebug. Again.
I managed to secure another 10 books, a few sets of needles, and a few skeins of stuff.
The stuff hasn't arrived yet. In 1 parcel there will either be 9,000 or 18,000 metres of 120/2 silk, but I know it is due to weigh in a bit over 300gms. I have 2 conflicting posts concerning the exact length, but really, am I going to be measuring it all out to find out? I don't think so. But all this fineness is not just for me. As soon as I work out how to portion it out, I know a goodly number of mini knitters who might just like to share.

As for the books, not much on the knitting front, but one book I am just over the moon about. I love me a book with glossy pictures. Up till now, the front-runner in the glossy sourcebook stakes has been Kaffe Fassett's Glorious Inspiration, published in 1991, with a young dark haired KF on the front cover, and 180 or so pages of colour sources of inspiration for his needlepoint. I expect it is long out of print.

Introducing the National Trust's Pattern Design. 250pp but smaller format, filled with details of decorative items from the UK National Trust's properties. It has one of those fabric effect covers that make it a delight just to hold.


Like an atom of stuff in a state of chaotic flux, my preference in decorating style flips rapidly between ultra modern minimalism and baroque sumptuousness. This book is satisfying my delight in the latter (with time to linger over early 20thcentury arts and crafts, a bit of 1950's and ancient inspiration thrown in, amongst others). We have textiles, plasterwork, mosaic, silverwork, inlaid timber and stone, drawings, stained glass, you name it.

Sometimes you can just be lucky, with a "That looks interesting." spur of the moment purchase. The National Trust website is out of stock, but of course I found mine on good old BookDepository.

So we are torn, between a desire to help keep the publishing industry alive in these difficult times, and a realisation that several trees may well have been cut down to provide the cardboard that each of the BD books comes wrapped in. I'll plant some more trees this week. Will that help?

I have not been absolutely idle during this month of no blogging. I have been observing a very interesting thing. A couple of weeks ago, someone posted on a Ravelry group site, a picture from the Shetland Museum of a gorgeous old shawl, with a question as to whether anyone recognised the motif that formed a garland effect. Within a couple of days, there were over 200 posts generated by this one image. 2 weeks later it must be getting over 800. The site is heirloom-knitting. Go look at page 1 of the "border patterns" thread, if you'd like to see it.

Taking part, it is almost like being part of an original group of knitters in the Shetlands, knitting together, sharing patterns, offering suggestions. But the pressure, people! To step up to the standards of some of the others who manage to knock out a 6 foot square lace shawl on little needles, in a couple of months (or so I have read).

The group is attempting to create the pattern for a shawl inspired by the one in the photo. The plan is to offer it in the public domain. Just like the real old days. I'm not planning on knitting the shawl, but very happy to be contributing just a little to the design discussion.

So that's where my month went. Reading squillions of posts, and swatching and planning. Here's a teeny portion of the 160 row, 100 stitch test sample I'm knitting. But I can only manage 10 rows an hour, so I hope no-one's holding their breath, waiting to see the whole thing. 1.75mm needles, GossamerWeb's Phoenix (2600m per 100g). Delightful stuff to use.

Still 100 rows to go. Can't stand around here, chatting all day. BYE.

Jules van Pursie

Donyales' (etsy) gorgeeoussssness has achieved a new incarnation.

A beautiful skein of "Ewe Give Me the Knits" special merino bamboo blend hand spun by D.

Ruby, garnet, emerald, sapphire, topaz, pink quartz, champagne diamond.
All in one jule box.


Ready for partying next weekend. Yay.



body: 37 stitches, 2 garter sts at each side for selvedge, 3 shell scallops across, 18 repeats of 4 row pattern.
gusset: garter stitch with short rows for shaping.
3.5mm bamboo straights/circular

squeee.

I've got a few grams left. Perhaps I need a coin purse or cc holder to go inside.

Notification of Alteration of Nomenclature

Stash Cupboard is now known as Options Portfolio.
And OP shopping has a new meaning for me.

Knitabulous' 2ply silk "Sugar Free" almost sure to become Aeolian (rav).


GossamerWeb's LovePotion#3 "Tealish" merino/cashmere/silk:
Options Open


GossamerWeb's Sheherezade "Scarlet" camel/cashmere/merino:
Options Open


Still to come GWeb AK47, GWeb Phoenix
Lacis fine silks for uber minis

I'm comfortable with that.
squeeeeeky happy options dance.

Syriasly, it's the last one.

Really.
I think I've done with this pattern now for a while.


Not so much fashion house
as dolls house.

Mettler embroidery cotton 60/2, 1mm HiyaHiya steel dpns
Since 1mm needles for 1/12 scale work would be the equivalent of 12mm in Real Life, I reduced the width of the bands to 4 stitches == ( k2tog, yo, k2) == instead of the (...k4) in the original, so that there would be enough bands in the approximately 4" wide finished piece.


Finished article seen here modelled on mannequin dressed by Younger Daughter at her first miniatures convention in 1999 in Adelaide when she was 14. I think. Unless it was in 2001 in Sydney. Aaaaaaaaagggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh. Brain dysfunction in progress. Cursed aging process.


I don't have any dollshouse dolls so am grateful for this accessory she has left for me.

BTW Does my bustle look big in this?

Life On Mars

I have to confess, I'm not usually awake by 5.30 in the morning (unless I'm still awake from the previous day, of course), so couldn't be sure this wasn't what always happened at daybreak on misty mornings.
My camera captured it as even redder, so I tried a bit of colour transformation. Surreal to the nth.

Meanwhile, from the knitting corner:
I can neither confirm nor deny that this scarf is for S, of whom it may or may not have been reported that he has been seen wearing K's scarves around the house.

More Malabrigo Lace. More Syrian stitch. With variation.
I thought the brown fichu I made with this stitch was so successful, I would use it on a straight scarf, but then I got a bit bored, so sent the V's back the other way, and added some diamonds in the middle, and tapered the ends. How can it be that it was more enjoyable to knit on ever increasing rows, with the same pattern, than Hundreds of rows all the same length?


And guess who has turned up!

Unst Scarf was found. In the place I swear I had looked every time I went hunting for her. Mind you, I was sure I was knitting on blue needles, not metals, so may have been put off track by that. But really. So as soon as the Vestal Sampler is finished, it's back to Unstdom. Unless I start something else. HAH! It may not be obvious in this picture, but there is an awful lot of loose tangly wool that has made its way off the ball. That might be what sends me elsewhere.