Cleaning Up and Colour Q

I won't be boring you with crochet blanketings today except to say UGH this is why one should not do a long series of tiny stripes of colour...

So many ends to run in, and so much scrap afterward. Thankfully, [my red-eared monster] Gwen's diet of choice is yarn scraps. The pile was bigger before she started eating them.

 

Moving on: I've been cleaning up my yarn stash while hunting for something the right colour for a friend's gift, which I am not knitting fast enough for Christmas because BLANKET!, and found this handspun yarn I made, probably from Twisted Fiber Art fleece, lo these many years ago.  

 

Like, I made it and washed it and never caked it, or even thought of a project for it! Must remedy that.

 

I especially admire this green and brown one but the blue and brown yarn looks like it kinda works with the aforementioned Christmas knit, right? Assuming I can come up with an idea that embraces the extreme wonkiness of the ever-changing weight because I was not a good spinner when I did this apparently.

Not sure this background shows it at its best...

Maybe it's too close without being right? Or if it only needs to be a coordinating piece... 

I'll have to think it over. While doing this!
 

bwa ha ha ha ha you knew I wasn't going to leave without a progress report, right? This blanket is 18.5 inches along now, which is about the halfway point. I'm still (hopefully) in a position to finish in time to curl up under it on Boxing Day. Even if I'm only curled up under it to do the edging, ahem.

Hope you have a lovely weekend lined up? I've been baking, here, so whatever else happens the house smells marvellous, and I have cute new festive tea mugs to drink out of, yum. 

See you next Saturday, and thanks again for dropping by!

 

 

No mint for me

I came to my senses and ditched the mint green from my misshapen disaster blanket, whew. Also I ripped back three rows to start with the smaller hook sooner, and it worked. The blanket is now on the straight and narrow with no noticeable difference in shell size. And it's longer now, woot!

 

It's a whole foot long, in fact.

That's two weeks' work you're looking at. 45 minutes to crochet one colour stripe, and 45 minutes to run in the ends on three stripes, not that I'm watching the clock (I'm totally watching the clock.) I am permitting myself three stripes a day because it turns out, more than three hours in an armchair crocheting is not great for my eyes or hands or overall energy.

Maybe if I was binge watching something cheerier than The X-Files while I work?

With the mint gone, I no longer have enough colour flexibility to follow Lucy's pattern (The Hydrangea Blanket), so I took these pix while taking stock of how I want to balance what's left before making a less flawed blanket for my sofa, because this one is now going to be a lap blanket for moi. Once I realized that, had I been paying attention to Lucy's pattern, I would have done two rows in each colour before changing, but had run in so many ends I couldn't rip back and redo, it was a done deal. 

But there is a second reason to shift this project's focus and plan for a second blanket. 

 

DIGRESSION ALERT:

There is a difference in some of these colours based on where the yarn was made, which impacts my stripes.

Stylecraft Special DK used to be produced in a mill in Turkey, where it was loosely spun and shiny. Now it's coming from a Yorkshire mill, where it's made matte and slightly tighter, so that it appears thinner. As far as I know, all the colours are the same from both mills, but that sheen - whoa. It is really noticeable in person. 

Even in the picture above it shows, I feel... that beige just to he left of the pink, in the lower right corner? That's the shiny one. The pink is matte. The yellow in the middle, and the navy blue to its left, and the repeat of the beige - all from Turkey.  

Both yarns are perfectly fine and I'm really enjoying them, but ugh. Mixed in one project? Not the blanket I dreamed of. 

For my money, the Yorkshire yarn is nicer, because it looks a lot like wool, even though it's not as soft as the shiny one, which also has a lot more (unwanted in acrylic) halo. But right now, Wool Warehouse doesn't have all the colours in stock as Yorkshire mill yarns. What they do have is a delightful ordering system where you can specify which dye lot you want in any particular colour. The lot numbers that begin with MY are made in Yorkshire. So I have reordered all the colours I can that *are* Yorkshire-milled, and that's what's going into the official big blanket.

END DIGRESSION 

The upshot of all this: I am going to be crocheting this blanket FOREVER. I'm only one-third of the way through! Here's the visual: whatever is a brown tabletop and not stripey blankie is territory I have yet to cover.

See what I mean? FOREVER.

On the upside, I've figured out how to crochet without hurting my bad arm. But it's a good thing I've also cast on a new knitting project because it could get really boring for you, watching a blanket grow five inches a week.

My current takeaway on crocheting a blanket is similar to that of sock knitting: it's ridiculous because it is so much easier and more practical, not to mention WAY cheaper, to buy ready made. But it's also brilliant because it is completely addictive and the end result is super dreamy. Even at its current size, this blanket is so squishy and nice, I know I'm not ever going to share it with anybody else!

Okay, I'm off to watch trains, as one does. Hope you have a wonderful weekend lined up and thank you for spending this part of it with me! See you next Saturday, when I will try very hard not to show more blankie pictures. 

Not even in neck roll form, ha!

 

 

 

 

Blanket statement

Hello again and welcome to my potential Hydrangea Blanket disaster! 

 

That's probably an overstatement. I mean, I do have a tiny blister starting on the finger the hook swivels over (will park some bandages by my working chair so I don't forget to put one on for cushioning). And the blanket *is* belling, despite my starting with a larger hook and moving on with a smaller. 

 

Mostly. I did swatch a million times, and I did know I needed to go down to a 3.5mm at about the second colour, but the 4 mm was just so comfortable, apart from the blister! I've done it now, and honestly I don't think the red shells look smaller than the others, do you?

 

So I'm carrying on and seeing a little difference already. Just... not in that picture in front of the window.

Plus I'm 5" into this thing, having dutifully run in all the ends every three colour changes, so it would be a heartbreak to rip back! 

 

In good news, the starting chain is so elastic owing to my having cast on twice as much as I needed, and working into every other loop, it's easy to smooth it out and make it flat. When I do the border later, working into all the loops might help stretch it for good. 

Before the smoothening:

After the smoothening: 

One other development is that when I had it all laid out last night on the dining room table, I measured the width, which is 57". The pattern specifies 47". I reduced the number of chains to achieve 47". So what the heck happened? I mean, I have a BLISTER. How on earth can I be that relaxed as to have my work sag out by 10"??

I can think of only two answers. 

1/ I'm on vacation because I got my manuscript done

2/ Crochet really is that restful.  

On the upside (if you don't count those two pleasant things) those AddiSwing hooks are so amazing, I haven't had a single issue with carpal tunnel like I did when I used a regular straight hook. Apart from the blister and the hazards of that much sitting, I could crochet forever.

Here are the next three colours coming up... 

And they are the last. After that, Lucy's pattern shakes up the order of operations so different colours get a chance to team up. These colours are my choices, not hers, so they won't be as fantastic, but it's so much fun to jump to the next! I'm hoping my minty green will look better in context with the next one coming, and in future colour combinations. It is in my drapes, so I'm having faith in it. 

Okay, gotta dash. Have a wonderful weekend my friends, and thanks so much for stopping by! See you next Saturday, hopefully with more blanket and not less, ha!

 

 

 

 

Brace yourself for colour

Guys, I did it - I finally took the plunge on gear for a colourful Attic 24-style blanket!

This only 12 of the 15 colours Lucy's Hydrangea blanket calls for, and also, almost none of them are the colours she chose.  I think Lucy's colour choices are key to her comforting, inspiring, cheery brand and I love them all, but I just can't blend that much pink and purple into my red/navy/cream-based decor, ya know?

I think I did a pretty amazing job because only three of the fifteen colours I chose were all wrong for the drapes I wanted to match. Working off small colour swatch images from my screen, that was a surprise! And when I went back to the Wool Warehouse site to find three replacement colours, I had no trouble. There are just that many available in Stylecraft Special DK. 

For closeups though, here are some proofs that the matches really are that matchy... even the gorgeous Pink Rhubarb, top right! I so hoped that one would, because I loved the look of it on screen and I really wanted to tuck in as many Lucy-adjacent choices as possible.

And the excess doesn't end there, because I didn't know what size crochet hook I'd need. Only that I wanted it to be an Addi Swing hook, because I'm taking a big enough risk crocheting a blanket after all that trouble I had with my arm over last year's sweater. So...

 

I got the recommended 4mm size, plus one larger and one smaller. 

Something I noticed about the three I got wrong (stacked on the left) is that they look right with my bedroom drapes, represented by this rumpled cushion:

So when I went back to the site to get the additional living room colours - bottle green, midnight (blue), and lincoln (a muted green) I threw in extra denim blue and parchment beige *and* a duck egg blue. But no more hooks! even though I think I might in future need a 5mm one. If it happens: excuse to go into a local yarn store, amiright?

The top left blue (north sea, I love that one so much) and bottom right (denim) are self-explanatory, but here's proof of the mistletoe green and parchment working for those stems on the bedroom fabric:

Ugh re my rumpled cushion. I guess SOMEbody was leaning on it writing furiously to finish a manuscript or something... anyway in the end, Pete and I agreed that the French navy blue I picked is just No for both rooms. It's really a royal blue, which makes me wonder the the official royal blue looks like. Anyway, it's not totally screamy with the drapes and cushions, but it's horrible with the more mallardy-blue sofa we have under the window, so I will think of something else to do with it. 

(and now I wish I had bought a ball of mallard blue... oh well, I can do it when I buy cream to do all the framing around that dream blanket!)

So, as you can see, I have been very busy this week! Finishing revisions to a manuscript that must be done by Sunday night, and choosing colours for a blanket I couldn't stop obsessing about, and visiting the Royal Winter Fair where I bought more alpaca yarn I will show you later, and being inspired by a friend's crocheted blanket with a very fine hook in wool... which you know I am gonna wanna try, if these two blankets don't knock me off my post.

But now I have to get back to that revision work. I am motivated, because I cannot even swatch for the blanket till it's done. Wish me luck...

And have a wonderful week. Thanks so much for dropping in, and I'll see you next Saturday!

 

 

 

Things I would like to make

I heard Eartha Kitt singing Santa Baby this week and that was it: I am officially ready for a winter break! Like an inadequately trained marathon runner stumbling the finish line, but ready all the same. First up, when I finish meeting deadlines for the year: caking some yarn.

Folks, this is all that remains of my stripey Vesper Sock, from Knitterly Things. Julia stopped shipping to Canada years ago and is still producing the most magnificent colourways anyway! 

Torture, but here we are.

The purple-beige-y one is a Madelinetosh Vintage DK from maaaaany years ago, which I plan to turn into a pair of Ferryboat Mitts from Churchmouse. I've linked to the entire Mitts page there because omigosh, since I bought the pattern it's been rewritten to suit so many different yarns.

Second: dedicated time to browse the Churchmouse Studio site. I did love when it was still a whole store with the very best stitch markers and other treats, but Churchmouse patterns have always been that perfect combo of Looks Amazing, Knits Easy, and Clear Instructions. *Highly* recommend.

 

I'm also kind of obsessing lately about making a throw blanket this winter. That would be a terrible mistake because of what happened last winter, when I obsessed about making an Icelandic sweater. The weight of it kinda broke a nerve in my right arm which is still not right, all these months later. And what I really want is to crochet one. The reason I didn't keep on with crochet after my mum finally got the basics through my head is that... working the hook was hard on my right arm. 

Still. BLANKIE!

The one I've settled on is, of course, on display at Attic 24, the best possible place to look at colour and Yorkshire gorgeousness. Specifically, the Hydrangea Blanket, as it seems to be the easiest stitch to get started with, and the least twisty on one's wrist. But I also love love love the classic Granny Stripe Blanket, and the Harmony Blanket.

All of these (the granny stripe is called The Original) can be purchased as kits through Lucy's page at Wool Warehouse in the UK, and that's my intention... but as much as I love her colour combinations, into which I know she puts a ton of work, the blanket I imagine will mimic all the colours in our living room drapes. 

Which are not precisely Lucy's preferred palette. So I might just make up my own colours and donate to her site separately, as a kit-adjacent purchase. After enjoying her site for so many years: least I can do!

One last thing before I drag myself back to the marathon that is me finishing the year with not one but two complete manuscripts of new work. I caught sight of something on a walk this week and realized, barely, that I had taken a picture of it on a previous walk. Same time of day, slightly different cloud level. This what a difference a week makes, in autumn:

Time flies, my friends, and it's up to us to use it well! In my case, by trying not to use it at all.

Have a great weekend, and I'll see you next Saturday!

 

 

 

 

 

How about that arm

I'm not talking about a pitching arm today, though everybody in Hugs territory here is all about baseball. Even the local skeletons crawling all over people's lawns and trees and houses are now sporting Blue Jays merch! and some witches, too. Sadly I am talking about my writing and knitting arm, which explains why I have no new textiles to share. Only stunning colourwork by Ma Nature, and more on her speediness in a moment.

I just loved taking that picture. It was last Sunday afternoon and I had been walking about an hour before I found it, under clear blue skies surrounded by some of the happiest people I'd seen in a while. In fact at the start of the foresty part of my walk I passed a woman who was just staring into the top of a tree. As I got close, she saw me and looked embarrassed, but I was smiling, so she smiled too and we couldn't help telling each other what a gorgeous day it was, and how thrilled we were to be outside in this beautiful place. 

In fact I've noticed a lot of public displays of joy the last few weeks, as unexpected as that might be these days. Just sheer delight in community and shared spaces. Last night Pete and I walked through peak Trick or Treat territory and found hundreds of people swarming a few square blocks were fully enjoying the night. Even last year when we did that walk, it was quiet. This round? The joy was infectious. I mean who isn't going to smile at a kid mincing along the sidewalk in an inflatable short-legged dinosaur suit, followed by a skeleton and a dad-sized raccoon?

If only my arm could get in on the act, instead of complaining about my putting up another NINETEEN THOUSAND WORDS in my current manuscript this week, over just three days, even though that really was a lot to ask. 

So I'm gonna take a break and show you a before and after pairing. Here is my favourite secret pathway last Sunday...

and here it is from two Sundays earlier...

Wow, right? 

Okay, I am packin' it in for this week. Lots more to do today and then a baseball game to cap it off. Hope your weekend is marvellous! and I'll see you next Saturday when I will, with luck, be revising a completed novel instead of putting new scenes into an unfinished one. In the meantime, I wish you joy and a really good arm.

 

Pausing midknit

Having set aside my socks for a priority item I am offering you today a breathless hello, and a cute autumnal jug:

This little beauty was waiting for me on the china table at my favourite twice-a-year rummage sale last weekend, and was my first choice of many! I went back later the same day and bought a pretty cake plate and seven china plates tipped with gold which almost matched it, and for which I had no use but a few ideas which proved fruitful. The cake plate now has a giftee lined up and the plates have already been used for birthday cake at another friend's house. 

I just love that rummage sale! I always find such treasures.

In the before and after, though, and especially the after, I have been writing both furiously and joyfully, trying to lock down the first draft of a novel I've been mulling for months and months. Historical suspense, kind of a departure for me, but so fun! And also, intense. I have been locked into the chair from which I am currently composing this Hug for about ten hours a day, barely drifting over to news sites or Netflix or even Instagram, and writing an average of 4,000 words before I crawl back to bed at night. That's quite fast for fiction writing in general, but to do that for days at a time is what I would consider a breakneck pace.

I am reminded of that old saw about a marathon runner talking to a top five finalist in the same race:

Runner A: How can you run a whole marathon in 2 hours?

Runner B: How can you run for 5 hours?

I mean, if I'm going to write this thing at last, I might as well get all of it out into a draft before I forget the little threads and bits of dialogue I keep coming up with overnight.

Pausing to show you another dish I found at the sale.

 

Isn't it gorgeous? It's for the same friend who's getting the cake plate, and I trust she'll find something perfect to do with both of them. As for me, I got that jug home and had no clue how to use it. It's too big for gravy and too small for milk or lemonade. Finally I realized it's perfect for filling with cooled leftover water from my kettle, freshly dechlorinated to please my houseplants. In practise it drips, but with a cloth held under the spout it's bearable, and I get to look at it a lot.  

So... that's it for me today, because I have two exciting scenes to write before supper! Naturally the weather outside is gorgeous - a perfect fall day - and I hate missing it. Despite the need to finish this manuscript I might sneak out for an hour or so, just because October is so fantastic and fleeting. 

Hope you're having a lovely weekend and I'll see you next week with a progress report! And maybe even some more sock and a decision about the heel flap, if I get through enough of my story to pick up the needles again.

 

 

One Stop Shopping

There's knitting coming up, but first: autumn splendour!

Or more specifically, one park, so many looks.

That's the hill we climb sometimes, if it hasn't been too rainy and there's too much traffic on the paved hill, to get up out of the ravine in the park we like into this...

 

I mean can you even? 

I took these pix in the early part of the week and then we went back toward the end of it to find this on a different path:

 

I feel so lucky to live near this incredible green space that has other colours too, and so many textures.

Speaking of colour and texture, I did in fact stop writing for a couple of hours to watch the last instalment of the second season of Karen Pirie (excellent) which meant I needed *some*thing to knit, and since I still can't decide about heel flaps, I did the colourwork on the second blue sock.

 

I even lined up my next project, which is not socks, even though I am writing on a very very tight deadline now with just four weeks to write and polish about 60,000 words that tell a story and aren't just slapped onto the screen. 

A new screen at that, since my computer died with almost no warning between both sets of foliage pix. 

Think I can do it and still post here all four Saturdays? I'm not sure, but I'll know by next Saturday and update you then. Meanwhile, I hope you have beautiful colours around you and have a lovely weekend!