Cheerful Needles

Bewilderment

2011-07-07T20:34:00.006Z

Right - I did finally buy smashingtrips.com - simply had to do it - at square one again...and trusting my intuition for a change :).

Sell your cleverness and purchase bewilderment.
Cleverness is mere opinion, bewilderment is intuition.

Crescent Moon

2011-05-30T09:24:00.009Z

I'm switching hobbies these days. What do you mean 'again' ?

Nothing major (although I'm still tempted to try dating once more :)).

This is it, the Japanese crescent moon:

Not bad for my first attempt at crochet.
I'll do a proper technical post on my other 'Japanese blog' - follow the link if you're in the mood for a new shawl or in the mood for trying crochet.
It's Bank holiday today and miserable weather - really hope for an improvement tomorrow - I want to go in the Dales again for a bit of fresh perspective.This is from a few weeks ago - around Ingleton. I could feel this tree and it made me sad.

It's when I know it's time to buy the plane tickets to go home and recharge.

Overexposed

2011-05-22T16:34:00.004Z

Interesting how I was searching a couple of things in Google today, and came across my own, very much neglected blog.

(OK, clarification : I was searching for Starmore's Tudor Roses - quite specialised search you'll say ... well :))

Nobody reads this blog anymore, anyway (...and for these sort of statements I'm known as the queen of sweeping statements...), apart from me, twice a year - I love revising my life, even if it's by accident, lol.
(This 'lol' stuff is a new term I've just learnt from some infamous dating site - don't ask :). I digress, however I'll come back to tell the story one day. )

The updates, in no particular order :
Emotionally I feel very much like an overexposed photo these days. Bright light and impossible to retrace back any details - can't remember how it happened or when. It just did and it feels quite nice actually.
Need to re-adjust my ISO levels I think, but for now I'll keep it going for a bit longer - never experienced this totally different dimension of human chemistry. It's probably just one-sided, however what a really interesting man... I'm totally struck.
I know it doesn't make sense but I know what I mean and that's the important bit, right?
Other updates? Not sure anything else would qualify worth mentioning by comparison.

Who should I vote for ?

2010-05-04T12:37:00.006Z

I could vote for the Labor Party - they have a good chance to carry on destroying the economy and making the pound weaker and weaker. As the work I do might involve getting paid in euros - all in all it might not be a bad thing.

Or I could vote the Lib/dems - the guy has a Spanish wife - he might understand that being a foreigner in this country is not easy. Good job Mrs. Duffy decided to go visit her English relatives established in Canada : she might get all enlightened about how different people flock in different countries.

Or I could vote BNP - it might be my only chance somebody will get me out of here.
Just joking. Sort of.

Oh, and I'm not voting Conservatives - they want to stop public spending - and I work for a public agency so I'm not going to cut my own branch, am I? How many other millions of people are doing the same kind of thinking?
Saying this in their manifesto was clearly not very clever.

Speaking about immigration, is manifesto an English word or did we flock it from somewhere?

Hiking season started - Walsden

2010-03-08T11:47:00.007Z

Nice weather yesterday, well at least sunny, so I thought we should get moving again. The car is in a right state (again) which only allows us to travel short distances around Halifax.
I had a look in my Walks in Caldardale booklet and picked the Reddyshore Scout and Allescholes farms walk, and this became the winner just based on the mileage (4 miles and the shortest of all). Too cold for long walks and we need to get back in gear first, after a winter of TV watching.
This walk is above Walsden and it ended up that the trail was way too close to the road, (at least according to my standards), in order to be fully enjoyable.
If I would have remembered to take the camera AND the memory card, I would have had some photographs.
The only thing I can do now is to steel some from the net.

Pylons all the way,

The Summit Railway Tunnel ventilation shafts,

...and obviously the main historical attraction of the walk, the Allescholes milestone which shows direct distances to Rochdale and Halifax and some other villages that I can't remember now.

It has been good as an exercise, but clearly I need to work more on selecting the trails in the future.

Charlie

2010-02-28T20:08:00.007Z

I've stopped my current knitting for Charlie's first sweater. He is not born yet but I need to mail the sweater to New Zealand so I could not afford to wait longer.

Charlie has English parents, so I thought I will add a Celtic Starmore element into his first sweater. Not that he will know it now, but maybe in a few decades from now, he will see it in pictures of him as a baby.

Apart from this, I am in a very bad shape - I have a new job which involves four hours of commuting in Barnsley,almost daily, on dirty and cold and late trains and buses. Plus some twenty minutes walking in the rain or wind or snow, at half past six in the morning, to the bus stop. Just great.

I can't read while traveling because of the constant noise, half of the people in the carriage shouting in their mobile phones in the same time, and can't knit either because it's too crowded to get my gear out.

So it's nothing but a frustrating waste of time.

I wanted to post today because tomorrow's post will be about our traditional First of March Day.

I am thinking what to do next: I need to finish this sweater first. It has been patiently waiting for a while and I'm almost there.

Then I will start a coat - jacket which I want to design myself. Because I need a jacket.
I have some dark blue purple merino Otto from Pavi Yarns and it looks very nice in the ball.

Then I need to get rich (or the US dollar to go down again :) and buy some more Beaverslide wool from the States.

Then I think of using some Jaeger extra fine merino DK for a 'Japanese' sort of pattern or for the Gedifra 509 which is in my queue for a while now - but I'm not sure yet which one will be.
That's the 2010 knitting plan. Apart from this, I have an impressive hiking plan, and an even more impressive website to build. My job is definitely in the way :). I need to meet that secret millionaire soon.

2010 January

2010-01-23T20:41:00.006Z

I've spent an hour today going through old posts and comments - somebody left a comment with a question on an old post, I was going to answer but I've got no idea which post was it. So, here we go.
I was hoping I can see all comments by date, but somehow blogger is incapable of this sort of advanced feature.
On a different note I think I want to keep this blog alive - the experience of revisiting was quite good. Trying to remember how the last half of 2009 went: lots of trips and hiking in the Dales and the Peak District, difficult summer back home and a very complicated end of the year.

I did some knitting, mainly to keep sane, this is my last FO - finished in December last year.

The pattern is called Demi and it's from Rowan Vintage. Very popular on Ravelry. I love the neckline style and the buttons - I am going to use it again for the next sweater.
I bought the yarn from Beaverslide Dry Goods, from Montana, the colour is Lake McDonald and to be honest I can't wait to order more.
Not because I could not find yarns in England but because the experience was so positive all around I don't feel like trying anything else: very soft texture, no change in size after washing and extremely warm. I hate being cold, and this sweater is the warmest thing I've ever had.
It took me through the so called winter.

This being the first post for 2010 - just hope we'll all have a good year.

Forteen ninty five

2009-05-17T16:32:00.004Z

Went out today to take a few photos of my newly finished sweater.

I can't understand this black margin in my resized photo - I will investigate later.

The place is called the Castle Hill and it's near Huddersfield. Nice countryside but grey clouds and very windy. The weather was like this all spring - on the other hand it has been a good test for my sweater which seams to be wind proof as well as warm.

I think I'm going to love it. And I want to get more Rowan Cocoon in the future - these have been mill ends bough cheap in Coldspring Mil ( 14.95 for a big bag 950 gr.) and the yarn is quite fuzzy and very loosely spun.

If I'd do this pattern again I would do the sleeves on less stitches - I could clearly see they were too large, just that somehow when I follow a pattern I tend to become dumb and not think anymore. I guess guidence comes with its limitations. And here is another photo from a nearby forest. Bluebells are out.

2009 And such a fresh start

2009-01-27T19:40:00.007Z

I can't believe I didn't post anything in December - I guess it's all down to bad weather and the associated 'no trips/no photos' combination. Unless you count Blackpool as going out.

The main news is that I've started a new job and I'm quite excited about it - I went back to programming after years of project management (read 'farting around' while waiting for my papers) but there are lots of new experimental things involved in it, new technologies, rfid, hexadecimals, bla, bla, bla, so it's kind of worth the effort. The effort of remembering elementary syntax I mean.

Knittingwise I'm happy now with my last stash burner project, which obviously had to undergo surgery at the end as all the others - yes, it is important to go down a needle size while doing the ribbing.

Repeat this till it sinks in. Doesn't look like I can ever remember it. Can you spot the 'deja vu' look in her eyes?

My own pattern - and I have plans to add some elements to it as I find it quite boring now that it's finished. Some bobbles or leaves or I don't know what. I will attempt a decent photo soon - if we ever see the sun again in Yorkshire.

The other thing I'm knitting/sneezing/knitting is the Cluster Berry sweater, which I strongly hope to finish till next week, to wear it at my first management meeting with the new company. I wrote 'knitting' as my hobby in my resume - I'll see how many of my new bosses will make the association.
The yarn was a bargain (can I ever resist) and it's all over the house now, a blue angora cloud which is just taking over everything.

Plans for 2009 . I think I'll be happy to be able to complete a sweater each 3 months : Demi is first on the list but I don't have the yarn for it yet, a Japanese pattern+yarn waiting and might be actually the next one, nice green stash aran yarn + my own pattern waiting, and St. Brigid maybe. And can we fit other things in between : Yes, we can.

Let's hope for a good year.

Obama President?

2008-11-03T10:45:00.003Z

The Americans are electing a new president and what an exciting chance they've got this time. One one hand they have Barack Obama which I really like for being intelligent and keeping genuine ( and what a rare quality this is in the ego land of politics), on the other hand Sarah Palin, the American chavette. What's it going to be ? Like John McCain just said - he can't understand how come Obama is not leading with 20% already.
We know what you mean John, we can't understand either.
Back to knitting. Finished the Japanese butterfly.

and I'm well into my next 'Normal and please keep me warm sweater'. Pictures soon.
I have a few other projects is mind - just bought some blue angora and some Cocoon yarn (bargains) from Coldspring Mill. I should visit more often.
Trying to catch up with life facts:
- we are decorating a few rooms in order to repair the floods damages. Chaos everywhere.
- I've got a new project at work which is very interesting but requires working at their place and not at home (9 to 5 and I hate it, but at least I don't have to contemplate the disaster at home)
- I've sent my daughter to University and her independence is scary, to say the least.

Yes - we had a good summer

2008-09-11T12:43:00.006Z

I had a choice in July to stay in England and spend my birthday at a party (party which had nothing to do with me), organised by my partner's ex wife, (which BTW is still 'on board' as she's our accountant), or to fly abroad and spend ten days in Mallorca(my daughter's suggestion). Guess which one I picked (and how fast).

The resort is a small port in the north part of the island, it's called Puerto Pollensa and amazingly it's still untouched by the mass tourism plague which covers most parts of Mallorca.

This is the the terrace of our hotel - everything in 50 metres: beach, port, small restaurants, all sorts of shops and boutiques, plus live music every evening.

I don't think we could have found anything better then this. Did I mention the sea was crystal clear?

I had my knitting with me - obviously didn't get very far - discovered that I can't knit while sun bathing or swimming. I didn't miss it though. I think more and more about moving in a sunnier country.

Knitting wise I'm into Japanese stuff again- it's almost finished and I love it.

I still have to finish the sleeves - both are ready till the armhole decreases - then I need to see if I can figure out some basic crochet stitches on my own. If not I'll have to rely on ravelry again.

I've blogged it extensively here:

http://www.knittingelegance.blogspot.com/

Japanese leaf top

2008-07-04T15:39:00.002Z

Managed to finish this top - it was a quick knit. I like the pattern and everything - just that I wish I would have done it a bit smaller.

Japanese patterns again

2008-05-30T18:32:00.008Z

Started another summer top while still waiting for the yarn for THE.MOST.BEAUTIFUL.PATTERN EVER. Anyone trying to guess what pattern am I talking about :) ?

More about this one on the Knitting Elegance KAL.
Oh, and some white strawberry fields.

Not much else happening yesterday, apart from the fact that I've sprained my ankle coming back from the dentist, plus that I had to go through the related three hours in the A&E.

Lets' not forget about finding at the dentist that I'll need thousands for an implant operation for my daughter. Plus having to pay £125 for a nice 10 minutes consultation=chat, about the future procedure.

Plus returning home from the hospital and finding the main computer I use for development totally dead.

I could definitely do with skipping these days entirely.

Sir Terry Wogan and the Eurovision contest

2008-05-28T14:17:00.004Z

I was listening to the radio this morning and it doesn't look to me as Sir Terry Wogan got over all this Eurovision thing.
Just want to say that I completely agree and emphasise with him, it's obvious we should definitely redraw from this ridiculous competition where we can't stand a chance mainly because nobody (well, apart from Ireland) loves us .
Furthermore, in order to promote our local music ( and be a bit more certain we have some good chances of actually winning the bloody thing ), we should start a totally new contest, with UK as the main competitor ( and if possible with more than one candidate ), plus some of the following other states : Australia, New Zealand, India, Canada, Papua New Guinea...and if that's not enough, let's just pick a few more from the list here.

Now, if we'll still find ourselves in difficulty to clearly win this one, maybe we should think twice about sending Andy morphed into Cico to sing a song I could not remember five minutes later. Just a thought.
(I'm not sure how to spell Cico - but somehow I can't be asked to look further into the matter).

Another important thing: we should change the voting rules obviously. The public can not be trusted therefore should not be allowed to vote. It is ridiculous how the diaspora altered all votes across Europe. (How do I know this?)

Anyway - it's not all lost. If you're in the Cabinet and reading this, I'd say urgently ask for the UK votes list, anyone smart enough should be able find out straight away the exact level of immigration in the UK.
Do not forget you might need divide the numbers by 2 though, as I voted both from the land line and my mobile and I guess everybody else did pretty much the same. Even so - I bet you anything you'll get a much better estimation than the governmental current one.

Oh, and by the way, Terry, the Russian skater is far from being 'an obscure sport figure :) '...you might need to do a bit more research here. Just saying.

Kinder Scout

2008-05-25T21:45:00.013Z

I've finished the Little Rivers but I'm not happy with the neckline so I'll have to think of changing it a bit. At some point. Then I'll post a photo.
In the meantime summer has arrived finally, so I'll be out of the house for a while.

Yesterday decided to take our first real trip of this year, on the Kinder Scout mountain, in the Peak District. I'm not sure if it can be considered mountain at 700 m ? Anyway. Sunny day but extremely windy.

Did a bit of research in google then decided to start in Hayfield, which is not very far from where we live anyway.

The standard walk through William Clough starts from the Bowden Bridge car park. A word of advice. Make sure you are in the right car park and not in the village car park, otherwise you will have to walk another two extra miles - like we did. And that was because I live with a native and British people never ask anyone for directions, as it's considered cheating.

The Bowden CarPark is quite famous, as it was the starting point of the Mass Tresspass in 1932 - when a large group of ramblers decided to force the law for the right to roam on Britain's mountains and moorlands.

Five of them have been arrested but in the end the result was that the law was changed, the land was opened to the public and Peak District became the first National Park in Britain. This is the plaque on the car park stone wall, in their honour.

Have you paid and displayed?

Right, the walk starts with an easy part towards the Kinder Reservoir.

...then another half an hour along the reservoir till the bottom of William Clough. At the wooden bridge, carry on left ( do not cross the bridge). The other road, crossing the bridge, goes up on Kinder Scout as well - it was our 'escape' route down.

From here, the real climbing starts soon and it's really a bit difficult but definitely rewarding, as the scenery only gets better and better.

Looking back towards the reservoir and cursing the vicious cold wind, which delays us to no end.

Just look at the erosion that is affecting these moors. The direct effect is the disappearing of the peat bogs - the peat bogs are storing ten times more carbon than a normal leaf forest and that's why the local authorities decided to run programs to restore it as much as possible.

At the crossroad on top, turn right and start climbing again.

And this will be the view looking down. No, we're not on the moon.

The first road to the left is the one which we just came from and the one across the hill in front is the famous Pennine Way. We'll carry on on the Pennine Way, up on the plateau.

The Seal Stone.

At this point we had a choice of going further or taking an escape route down. The wind won the fight and we took the path down.

And here is the Mermaid Pool and the Kinder Downfall which is quite spectacular when it rains and the river goes down in a waterfall. Some other time maybe.

Two hours later we got home safe (and just in time for the Eurovision contest ;)) but as it's easy to imagine, today we could hardly move from one sofa to another, and the walking around the house was only related to locate the bloody aspirins.

Happy Easter

2008-04-28T19:01:00.012Z

We've celebrated Easter yesterday - we are not like everybody else here in England, because we are Orthodox and we operate with a different calendar. It was enough to see what a beautiful day we had for Easter yesterday (as opposed to the catholic Easter day, four weeks ago), to simply know which calendar is God regarding as the true one :).

And this is how it goes in term of food. The main part is painting some boiled eggs in all sorts of colours. This tradition is lost in England so I've ordered my paint in Germany and a good friend of mine sent me the Mercedes of paints. Never had metallic eggs for Easter before but there is a start for everything, right?

You can imagine it took me one good hour at least plus cleaning the kitchen afterwards.
Next was the boeuf salad. This is a traditional dish in Romania and we like it a lot so I've agreed I'll do it.

You start with a mayonnaise. I definitely don't like the Tesco's one, and I don't like using the mixer simply because you lose the connection with the food. So if you want a really special mayonnaise, do it by hand.

It will take a while obviously, in order to sloooowwwly incorporate the oil.

Then you've got to cut the boiled vegetables and the chicken breast into billions of small cubes.

And voila, three hours later, here is the main one:

and the leftovers made a smaller one - with my mom's decoration pattern on top, which used to terrify us when we were kids.

The power of early conditioning.

At this point in time I got fed up with taking pictures, so next we'll go straight into the final phase of the deserts.

They are a special kind of tarts called 'pasca' - one is filled with a custard type of cream, the other with a 'chocolate style' cream.

The pastry was not high enough for the second one but one can only learn for the next time. Otherwise they've been absolutely DIVINE ( you can guess it's not much left today).

The main course, and this was the easiest part : lamb and potatoes.

My diet went completely down the drain. 5000 calories per day, yesterday and today.

And please don't ask anything about the knitting - I am still recovering after all this food...

A very special wine

2008-04-24T10:49:00.003Z

I'm almost there.

I need to assembly all parts together just to see how it fits - I have a feeling that the sleeves might be a bit short. I want to have it ready for our Easter on Sunday, so everything else is on a (very) slow burner.

Dreaming of a white Easter?

2008-03-25T15:24:00.009Z

That's what we unexpectedly got this year for Easter. (And no, we can't afford a new gate yet.)

Snow is rare in England and when it snows the natives become highly anxious about anything involving outdoors, all traffic is declared 'chaotic' and the few inches of snow will make the headlines in a big way alerting everyone to maximum vigilance.

It doesn't look to me like the English are in any way aware of other countries experiencing months and months of good snow every winter, and actually getting on with it without any associated fuss.

Anyway - I have to admit I didn't like it either - I kept moving plants pots in and out, hoping to protect the new buds and praying for the flowers in the garden.

And here's our Easter adventures.

Despite the cold wind, we kept on track with our Good Friday ritual which involves attending the Page Eggers festival in Heptonstall.

The Pace-Egg is based on the oldest play in the world, The Mummers Play.

The play is about Saint George's triumphs, and the whole play boasts his great champion status. Throughout the play three challengers try to defeat Saint George: Bold Slasher, Black Prince of Paradine and Hector, obviously with no success. It's the same script every year, it's just that it doesn't look we can get enough of it.

Easter Day was all indoors (don't forget I live with a native and therefore we don't drive in the snow) but some interested cooking took place.

It is breast de la gallina wrapped in bacon de il maiale and stuffed with farmhouse pate. Garlic, Mediterranean spices with fennel and chicken stock.

You can see I've entered a new cooking stage plus I'm doing Italian lessons from Francesca's new blog. I wish I could afford a proper cooker though :).

Yesterday was a bit sunny so I just decided to threaten everybody with a nervous breakdown. As a result I was finally taken out for a walk on the hills above Halifax.

Great crispy fresh air and needless to say the roads were cleared of snow and no traffic whatsoever.

And yes, we managed a bit of knitting as well...

A gate with a view

2008-03-13T12:24:00.005Z

This is our gate after the storm.

We forgot to lock it so it just banged all night long, till the pieces started to fall apart.

Even the bloody postman is now walking in and out through the hole.

There is something scary in this though. Few days ago I was thinking what a pity nobody can see our crocuses on the lawn - well, it looks like the Universe solved it for me.

I'd love to understand how this comunication with the Universe works and, if possible, before I play the next lottery ticket...

No knitting to report. I am only doing the Little Rivers and it's SLOW...

Noro again

2008-03-06T13:13:00.004Z

I bought this yarn on sale last year, and decided to make it into a quick knit.
It is Noro Silver Thaw - lovely, nice and soft and I only used a bit under 10 balls.

The pattern is all mine - I've applied my Universal Method of Designing a Simple Size M Sweater : if it's going to be knit on 4.5 mm needles and has no cables then it's 96 stitches to start with for the ribbing - increased to 106, a bit of raglan shaping later on, and voila:

Disclaimer : If you want to try this at home and it does not quite work, it's all your fault. You should have known better.

When this was almost finished (and supposed to be mine), my daughter decided it's cool enough for her to have it instead, but only if I was to agree to re-shape the neck line so it drops off one shoulder. Have teenagers? Familiar?
This was an easy task - all I had to do was to frog half of the damn thing but hey, who's counting, I've got a happy customer now. And I've been 'repaid'.
Look what she bought me for the Mother's Day - out of her own money from her first weekend job!

Little Rivers

2008-02-25T22:05:00.004Z

Little Rivers from Starmore's Stillwater. The pattern is splendid but it is quite challenging, with a lot of action on the WS as well.

The yarn is Jamieson's Soft Shetland from my stash. I bought it in late January, left it for a week to become stash, then started the sweater.
I found that people look at you with more respect when you say : 'ah, the yarn is from my stash...'
Now the thing which is totally puzzling me is why did they use the word 'Soft' to label this yarn? What's soft about this yarn? Anyone?
The result is very nice though - it's going to be one of those love-hate relationships with me and this yarn.
Knitting is very difficult (can't quite explain why) so I've imposed myself to only do 6 rows a day.
I could have easily skipped the gym subscription and just knit this sweater instead...10 minutes on the bicycle: 200 Kcals, 1 row with Little Rivers: one million Kcals.

Why charts after all?

2008-02-23T21:45:00.003Z

I just complained a few days ago that I can't knit using the chart description (instead of the chart itself).
A few nice ladies sent me some links so I can learn the meaning of k2tog, ssk and such.
Well I don't think I was clear enough. It's not that I don't know their meaning, is just that I refuse to knit following step, by step, by step, by step, [100 by step], [100 by step tbl], instructions.
All I need is a chart and maybe a legend to explain the symbols in case they are not the standard ones.

Now, before jumping into why are the charts important, let's first discuss the main types of charts.
Basically, I would say, there are two types of charts : great charts and rubbish charts.
A great chart will use symbols which are visually very near to the real knitted swatch. See the Japanese charts.
A rubbish chart will use symbols which visually look like anything else but the result itself. Best example, my last Sandra lace cardi chart, where the right slant and the left slant decrease symbols are far from being even symmetrical.

Next. Lets see why are charts good for us.

1. The chart is giving the visual context of our knitting. We see what we knit. We do not knit blindly. We can double check easily that we are on the right track.
Like exploring a new territory with a good map in your hand.

2. The chart helps us to figure out where we are. Imagine retrieving a project three years old, and God knows what row number is that on the needles. And no chart.

3. Charts help us to discover errors in the pattern and correct them on the spot. They make counting and visually aligning stitches easy.

4. Charts are universal. You can send a good chart in space and they'll figure it out in no time. Send the description and you'll lock them for ever. The best example is the k2tog instruction. Some people can knit 2 stitches together and get a nice right slant decrease. Others, like me, can do the same, and get a nice left slant decrease. We are called continental combined knitters. So k2tog does not help us at all...But a right slant decrease symbol in a chart would.

5. Now listen to this, because that's where it gets really important. Charts make you think. Charts make you creative. Charts will make it easy for you to change any element, to insert a new element if you fancy so, to modify the original. Can even teach you and make it easy for you to attempt to CREATE YOUR OWN PATTERN next time you attempt a new project. They teach you to be become a designer. Words don't. Words will make you a robot following rows of instructions.

I wonder why is it that some designers (or publishers?) do not publish the charts. It will definitely take less space. And it's quite obvious this is the way they created the pattern in the first place anyway.
Might be because it's financially more profitable to train an army of followers which are mechanically knitting word by word by word ...and thus will have no further knowledge nor creativity desire to break free from their published books ? Just a thought...

Hello Martha !

2008-02-18T17:50:00.003Z

Enjoyed both the pattern and the yarn.
I just went with the pattern requirements in term of everything - didn't even swatch, just went for the M size and it fits perfectly.
All I have to do now it's to wait for the summer...

Martha is finally off the needles

2008-02-11T21:07:00.001Z

This cardi was a quick knit, at least once I managed to translate an awfully written pattern into a decent chart.

People, get a grip ! Please publish chats, for idiots like me, which can't read words like ssk, ssdtk, k3tog, k2tbkugfddgbvszyhzb etc. Thank you.

Right, these are all the parts ready to be assembled.

My 'favourite' game.

And this is how it goes. I use to stick needles, stitch by stitch, along the edges just to make sure I have them align properly. What do you mean I'm a control freak? It looks great in the end.

Keep reading my blog in the next days and you might see the real thing blocked and eventually ready.

Weekend update. The weather changed completely and we had a beautiful sunny and warm weekend. Thanks God - I was beginning to go nuts spending the last at least five weekends indoors.

This is Saturday, we did a good walk in the Lyme Park.

Is this real spring or what?

A few funny naked trees.

The city in the distance, under that pink cloud is Manchester and the pink cloud is actually all the pollution we are breathing in and out every single day. I was realy grateful for a day out of pink clouds.

This road had a very special light somehow, and reminded me of the 'Road not taken' poem.

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference."

There will be always a time in out life when we need this poem at hand.

Snowing in England

2008-02-02T20:01:00.000Z

Every winter we get one day of snow. Just to be reminded how winter should look like. Obviously one can't get too much of a good thing. It's not British, you see.
So that's this winter snow.

Or to be more precise - this was this winter snow. It's evening and it's almost gone now.

Managed to take a picture with my Marvelous Mitts swatch.
The size is right but the pink is too sad so it might be replaced with a different colour.

Introducing La Digitessa

2008-01-30T14:09:00.000Z

"She is demanding. She certainly has a will of her own. She is elegance in person. She's exciting! She shall be knit toe-up on a circular needle. "

And that's how we first met, on flickr.

The Yarnissima La Digitessa.

I instantly knew that she is just perfect for my first toe-up sock.

Your 'first time' projects should be special, challenging and beautiful. Like your first time love affair. Don't make it dull and simple just because it's the first time - for God sake.

So I've ordered this kit, by mistake I'd say, you can download just the pattern if you want to keep it in budget - obviously I did not realise this at the time.

But to be honest I'm so glad I got the kit. Just have a look.

You get a beautiful skein of merino yarn, a booklet, two milka eggs, another small skein of yarn in a different colour for a swatch, in a small bag with a perfumed customised label, another small bag with coffee candies, a small plastified sheet with your leg pattern, a perfumed thank you note, pink wrapping paper with small stickers with Yarnissima socks images on them, small photos of other products - what else ?

Best parcel I EVER got ! Honestly.

Sex versus knitting

2008-01-23T17:31:00.000Z

Ravelry just displayed a new group : Recovering Sex Addicts through knitting.
First question which popped in my mind obviously was 'Who ( I was going to say 'who the f..k') has time for sex anymore?', and especially with all this Ravelry new world around.
No, sorry, to be completely honest the first question was 'someone please remind me what is this sex thing ?', but that's another topic all together.

Anyway - they only collected one member in two days. And there is no welcome message posted yet. You wonder what's the moderator busy with.

Somebody send me a man to make me a sex addict. I'm certainly ready to give up the knitting addiction :).

Exterminate !

2007-12-26T22:17:00.000Z

I've moved into weapons of mass destruction.

Just in case you're not familiar with the Dr. Who series - this is the famous Dalek.

The Doctor hasn't arrived yet ... if he's an NHS doctor it might take a while...

The Dalek was a present for my step son which is collecting EVERYTHING related to this Dr. Who thing.

By the way I was quite disappointed with the last episode. My partner had a different opinion. Maybe because he likes Kylie?

Liberty

2007-12-07T13:36:00.000Z

Last Saturday we went in London by car and came back home by rescue truck.

According to this guy in the photo above, we need a new radiator. What's 300£? Three kits from Virtual Yarns?

Apart from this 'great' event, the weekend was kind of all right-ish.
My main target in London was the Japanese Center which is located in the Piccadilly Circus area. Unfortunately I only needed 5 minutes to browse the whole lot of 5 knitting and crochet books, mostly dedicated to accessories. And hugely overpriced. Disappointing.

Then I decided to take a walk on Regent Street, in order to discover the Liberty Store. Forgot to say I was on a special yarn shops quest.

Well, in Liberty I was in for a treat.

The building itself, built in a very authentic Tudor style, is absolutely magnificent.

The rear part was built in 1924, from the timbers of two ships: HMS Impregnable and HMS Hindustan. The frontage at Great Marlborough is the same length as the Hindustan.

Here is HMS Impregnable before becoming Liberty:

More about the store from their website:

'The shop was engineered around three light wells that formed the main focus of the building. Arthur Liberty( the owner) wanted to create the feeling that you were walking around your own home when you came to his store, so each of these wells was surrounded by smaller rooms to create a homely feel. Many of the rooms had fireplaces and some still exist today. The wells created a wonderful environment in which to drape exotic rugs and quilts, whilst the smaller rooms allowed the display of smaller items.'

That's a picture inside the store, taken from the last floor.

The yarn department is the Rowan empire. Every single yarn,every single colour, every single book you could imagine.

At the back of the room, an old glass window ornament, 400 years old.

I didn't buy much (a few buttons and some soft 4ply for a swatch) but I spent hours in the store just browsing and walking around different rooms on all levels.

I usually hate big department stores. Takes me less then five minutes to get a headache from the bad energy surrounding these kind of places. What's different in Liberty I wonder. Maybe it's its past, or its history or the beautiful items on display ? Or is it the love and passion which was put into this store for centuries now? Or all these together. Liberty is a store with a heart. I will definitely visit again.

Back to knitting.

I am on a program of stash reduction so I'm doing this as a fast knit - my own pattern - if you want to called it a pattern. Really I should have put a bit more effort into designing something a bit more elaborate - anyway ...

I might just have it finished during the weekend. The weather is atrocious and this might help to keep me indoors.

Weekends and flu

2007-11-12T15:08:00.000Z

Two weekends to report and a case of bad flu in between. I feel much better now, but still very tired.
Needless to say I didn't achieve much - only finished the body parts for Martha. Sleeves are quite short - I should have them done hopefully by the end of this week.

This is the previous weekend - took an easy walk in Hardcastle Crags forest - as my flu had already started to kick in.

Hardcastle Crags is famous for the bluebells in the spring, but we went on a different quest all together.

This huge nest, which is built out of pine needles, belongs to the rare species of Northern hairy wood ants - and it's half of million of them living in one single nest. Did you think you live in a small apartment ? Think again.

I will skip the week report as I've got nothing to report apart from stuffing myself with tons of aspirins and paracetamols.

I felt better by Saturday, so we went out for a meal in Pack Horse Inn. Windy and cold and miserable weather. The small white house on top of the hill, in the middle of nowhere - that's the inn.

The meals are nice and reasonable priced. Best Yorkshire kidney pie.

And lamb ribs. On my wishing list for the next time.

I've got shelves

2007-11-02T16:49:00.000Z

It started like this: a few months ago I bought a Rebecca magazine and after a while could not find it anymore, no matter how hard I've tried looking for it.

So, last weekend, in a moment of deep frustration, went in Argos and bought two shelves units which are suppose to organise all the knitting related things that I kept for years on the sofas, under the sofas, in the bathrooms, in huge piles of papers hidden everywhere around the house etc.,etc.

This is 'trying to collect some of the items together in the hall' stage.

This is the 'DIY cursing stage'.

I have to be fair here and rate the Argos furniture and instructuctions way above IKEA's.

I've got the shelves ready now - I wish I wouldn't have deleted the image though. I'll do the upload again on Monday. And everything is on the shelves - obviously all I do all day long is admiring them.

Here, found the picture.

By the way, still did not find the magazine !

Oh, and I'm swatching:

More here: http://knittingelegance.blogspot.com/2007/11/swatching-in-vain.html

Marsden

2007-10-29T16:31:00.000Z

Marsden is a small village near us, and it is famous (at least in my agenda) for two things : the annual Jazz Festival and the high moorland surrounding the place.

In term of jazz, our pick for this year was Liane Carroll. We started the evening in our usual tradition, first stopping in a local pub famous for brewing their own local beer - then finally arriving in the Mechanics Hall for the concert itself. The concert was definitely a ten out of ten. I am not a big jazz fan but that was a beautiful live performance.

I heard the Local Council wants to stop this Festival due to whatever reasons. Just shows their level of competence and the level of understanding their own community traditions. Fingers crossed somebody will wake them up. Or vote them out.

One week later (last weekend - not yesterday, but the one before) , we've decided to go for a(nother) walk on the Marsden moors (surprise, surprise) along the three big reservoirs. Dedicated to a glorious autumn which definitely did not disappoint us.

Knitting wise I am only stashing all sorts. I feel lazy and can't decide on anything. Too many UFO's floating around. Bought some Silky Wool and some Noro Silver Thaw which was on sale.

I was close to start Lizzy then I've seen a few Lizzys on Ravelry and didn't like any of them.

Great thing this Ravelry.

I can easily see a few features I'd add or do them a bit differently - I guess I should try to write a nice intelligent feedback to them one of these days.

Spot the difference

2007-10-15T15:09:00.000Z

How more stupid can I get?

No, it's not one repeat shorter - just in case you were going to count them.

It's the wrong f...ing needle size !!!

I am trying hard to get over it - wanted so much to get this out of the way - I feel like throwing the whole thing in the box again - FOR EVER.

Martha is coming along

2007-10-11T14:58:00.001Z

The back is successfully finished with only 2 balls of yarn.

I've changed the pattern a bit, by inserting a 2-st cross on each side of the cable pattern. The rest is the same as the original. I will change the front parts as well - simply because I hate picking up stitches on edges - so we'll have different borders.

Anyway, I'm going to stop Martha for a while and try to sew the green cardi, which is floating around the house for a few months now.

Remember this?

And it needs buttons as well - I guess I'll have to take the train on Saturday and go in Leeds - I might find some nice ones in the market.

The past two weeks have been totally and absolutely hectic - I've been traveling non stop between several Universities for the Open Days. At least we managed to finalise a list of five - and now it's up to them to accept us or not. I would love to see my daughter going to Edinburgh - I was so much in love with the place - but it's only down to luck now I presume.

On top of all the traveling I've managed to pile some walking as well, on Sunday morning. I'm known to be restless.

This is the famous Stoodley Pike and the views from the tower, over the Calder valley, are really rewarding. I feel I've got full batteries again for a while.

Edinburgh and Martha

2007-10-01T11:57:00.001Z

This is Edinburgh Royale Mile street, on a sunny Sunday morning.

We decided to travel up north during the weekend, in order to attend the University Open Day. Hopefully, fingers crossed, we might have a student there next year. Can't believe I am now sending my child to the University.

Arrived there right on time on Saturday afternoon, and went straight through half day of lectures, presentations and tours around the campus.

We loved the University and most of all we loved the city: majestic, vibrant and cosmopolitan. Since Sunday I keep thinking about relocation :)...

Knittingwise, I'm still not able to get over the past failures - so I'm not touching those yarns for a while.

Started Martha instead.

A good, healthy, relaxing stockinette portion. I hope this will get me back on tracks.

Voila, this is Martha from Rowan Studio Book 2, and this is where I am now, after one good session of knitting in the car, ripping, and knitting again. The pattern required to start with 4 repeats not 3.

I wish I could be more oriented towards understanding English language.

The Yarn is Rowan Felted Tweed in Melody, very nice and soft, but do not trust the color in my picture as it's obviously totally wrong, due to my stupid camera.

More Japanese Stitch Dictionary Books

2007-09-24T08:57:00.000Z

Japanese Knitting And Crochet Patterns Books

I compiled this list for the Knitting Elegance KAL, and posted here by mistake. Then I thought I might as well leave it here as well - just in case somebody feels like becoming interested in Japanese knitting.

Knitting Patterns Book 250

Knitting Patterns 250 in YesAsia.com

Knitting Patterns Book 300

Knitting Patterns Book 300 in YesAsia

Knitting Patterns Book 300

Knitting Pattern Book 300 in YesAsia.com

Knitting Patterns Book 500

Knitting Patterns 500 in YesAsia.com

Knitting Patterns Book 1000

Knitting Patterns 1000 in YesAsia.com

Knitting Patterns Book 100 - Aran Patterns

Knitting Patterns 100 in YesAsia.com

Knitting Patterns Book 250

Knitting Patterns 250 in YesAsia.com

Crochet Patterns 300

Crochet Patterns 300 in YesAsia.com

Crochet Patterns 200

Not available in YesAsia.com

Weekend report

2007-09-19T15:20:00.000Z

No achievements to report on the knitting front.

My St. Brigid it's turning out to be too small - the yarn is lovely but this is not a pattern for a DK yarn - unless totally redesigned. So that's one going back in the ball. Actually it's not in the ball yet as I like to watch it every morning. And I strongly think of doing another repeat and framing it. We'll see.

Now the next disaster. The new sock I started on a Japanese stitch pattern is too small as well - this one really went back in the ball.

Were you going to suggest it might be me growing bigger? Heard it a lot these days. It's already answered in the FAQ list. The answer is NO.

So I just frozen any new ideas waiting for my luck to change and got an old UFO from the UFOs box - hopefully I'll try to finish it during the next weekend. The weather is turning colder so I might as well spend Saturday indoors. It's the green cardi - made out of cotton yarn, on 6mm needles, and it's all rows of bubbles. It is absolutely killing my hands !!! but the good news is that it's almost finished.

A bit of progress on the garden front, as you can see, WE've done the baskets, plus a few other tubs.

and since then, my gardening partner moved her headquarters on the fence, watching them.

The weekend report on trips - just enjoyed what probably were the last summer days. The itinerary was Saturday in Lincoln and then a great Sunday in Felixstowe.

The main reason to go south was to visit some relatives, but all together it turned out into a good trip.

First stop - Lincoln Cathedral

then a stop on a popular street in Lincoln.

Had a smashing English breakfast in the Tea Rooms on the right, just have a look at the cakes. Didn't help my diet at all.

Should I stop complaining my sweaters are going smaller?

and that's Felixstowe on a windy Sunday afternoon.
Fish and chips - and seagulls. And lots of people around pretending to sunbathe in the crispy wind.

My first pair of socks

2007-09-10T10:50:00.000Z

Anyone left on the this planet that never did socks? No? Well, I thought so.
Anyway - finally, here are mine. Aren't they gorgeous?

The truth is these socks were waiting for grafting for about three weeks now.
Somehow on Friday evening I had the sudden impulse to finish them. Went straight home, straight at the computer desk, googled for a grafting tutorial and did the grafting. It was really easy.
I never imagined it's such fun to knit socks - somehow I was never tempted to try. Maybe because in the back of my mind I was really intimidated by the whole folklore around the heel and toe shaping. Mind barriers are terrible things. I should stop reading knitting forums and just GET ON with the patterns.

Oh, yes. Another cycling weekend. We try to use every single nice day left - very soon there will be no outdoor activities till next spring.

A bit of gardening - more plants for the tubs.

And guess who's patiently waiting for the planting session?

Unfortunately, in the end, the rain started so the plants and the cat are still waiting.

St. Brigid

2007-09-04T15:26:00.000Z

I've got three major UFOs around the house. Two cardigans and a pair of socks only waiting for grafting.

So just take a guess - which one am I doing? That's correct: none.

I've started St. Brigid (from Starmore's Aran Knitting).

Just loved the pattern since I first saw it, early in the year bought the book (and got bankrupt) then kept the idea hidden in the back of my mind till this last weekend.

The yarn is Jaeger extra fine merino DK (no, of course it's not from the stash :). Just ebayed it, a few days ago.

Simply beautiful to work with - 10 out of 10. Maybe a bit too thin for this pattern but I'm sure it will look great in the end.

Saturday morning swatch.

our Saturday afternoon cycling intermezzo along the canal

and Sunday afternoon first repeat ready.

The main challenge was to figure out the Celtic knot - finally somebody from Knitting Review pointed me to the original book explanation and drawing ( page 92 - Infinite lines), which are very clear, and this definitely put me on the right track.
Thank you wonderful people at Knitters Review.
I wish I could subscribe to Life Review as well and get all my real life problems sorted in the same manner.

Romanian Vacation

2007-09-03T15:34:00.001Z

Nothing beats a good five weeks holiday in the sun, in the mountains, while living in your own house.

This is Poiana Brasov - main ski resort in Romania. The wide road winding down under the cable car is actually the most used ski slope in the winter : The Red Road.

And here are the Caraiman Mountains - 30 minutes drive from Brasov. These mountains make a fantastic climb - had no luck though to find somebody to go with (running out of friends interested in walking :), but I am becoming more and more obsessed to climb them at least once more in this lifetime.

Well, there is also the alternative to have a barbecue with friends, in less higher places.

Another very nice surprise while being home was going through my old wardrobes and boxes, and finding my 20 years old knits.

In those days, knitting meant a totally different thing then it does now. We had no yarn shops or written patterns. It was hunting for old wool sweaters in charity shops first, then recovering the yarn and wash it, then trying to replicate patterns based on magazines covers or any foreign patterns we could share.

The last step was the most interesting one: creating the charts.

At that time I was working as a computer engineer in the helicopter factory and we were using the huge digital plotter we had in the design department to draw the charts, mostly in the evenings, after the working hours. Knitting charts at the aviation standard :).

None of this excitement is left in our days. We buy ready made patterns and then go for the identical yarn in order to avoid a bit of math. Then the madness to get the gauge. And some of us would not even read a chart but knit after written words.

Where is this world going ?

Anyway - back to reality. I finished my second sock while being in Brasov. I'm just waiting to get inspired to decide to learn grafting. I am a bit intimidated by the idea but we are slowly getting there - I found a few links about it.

No, I am not cheating - that is the second one.

I've been infected

2007-07-16T11:24:00.000Z

It's the Sockbug (from Sockbug :) - and guess what, my first pair of socks is emerging right now !

Can't wait to finish this pair - I'm so excited how easy it was to figure out 'the sock technology'. For the next pair I think I'll move into creating my own design.

The only problem with knitting socks is that I spend A LOT OF TIME trying them on every other row. Just can't resist.

Obviously the black and white background is my cat - she is fascinated, as always, by any new thing WE are doing.

Yarn : Colinette Jitterbug (one skein)
Pattern: Rapid Rivers Socks - basic and easy to follow - I like this approach.
Modifications to the pattern : one repeat less for the leg - mostly due to yardage constrains.
Overall experience : priceless. For everything else there's Mastercard.

Japanese lace top finished

2007-07-11T12:28:00.000Z

I discovered a few Japanese knitting books on different blogs few months ago, and since than, my own Japanese collection of patterns is growing.

I started knitting this top in April I think, based on a chart from this great stitch dictionary:

250 Knitting Patterns, book which I can't recommend enough.

In the meantime I joined KnittinginJapan group and even started a KAL for these books - so for more details and photos you'll have to move on the Knitting Elegance KAL.

One more photo here, from a great weekend in London : the Tour de France started in England this year and it was just spectacular to watch. I was so impressed I might even decide to go on my bike again :).

GGH Bali - what to do with it...

2007-06-21T15:05:00.001Z

Just received 700 gr. of Bali in light green and lots of other balls in all sorts of different colors, and guess what, I have no idea what to do with it.

I did a small swatch for something I originally had in mind (long story), hear this now: I've even washed it,

but I'm still not keen at all about the look and feel of this yarn.

50% acrylic.

What did I expect?

Lovely colors though - any suggestions ?

WWKIP Day

2007-06-12T16:04:00.000Z

Last Saturday we decided to go on the same regular trip along the Rochdale canal (this time the bit between Rochdale and Todmorden) , basically because we've got no car at the moment, and getting anywhere around the canal by bus is easy enough.

Obviously got my knitting with me this time, in order to celebrate the Knitting in Public Day.

Right, that's how it started. A bit deserted, isn't is? Maybe this was the point where I realized it was the wrong choice of trip :).

And here is me, in the field, after one hour of walking - determined to knit a few rows for my new Japanese top (and still hoping for some public to turn up).

Well, it wasn't all so bad after all - in the end I had two ducks and their chicks watching it, a few sheep on the hill plus a fisherman nearby.
Really - it should be good enough for Yorkshire Knitting in Public Day.

Sandra Lace cardigan - finally finished

2007-05-17T12:01:00.000Z

Have you seen my new motto?
Less blogging is more knitting - so from now on I'll (try to) be short.

This is the finished thing and it's just perfect - my daughter worn it already and she looks to be very pleased with it. Now - to get my teenager excited about a knitted sweater, that's something :).

An image of the original pattern here, and it took approx. 4 balls of yarn.

I used the original Lang Mohair, it's basically identical with Kidsilk Haze.

I'm happy it's finished - another one out of the UFOs list.

Time to cast on :). Want to see what I'm up to next ?

Visit my new blog: Knitting Elegance - it's all about this new Japanese knitting craze.

Those patterns are just great and I blame it all on fleegle.

You can join now or you can join later :).
Resistance is futile.
You'll be assimilated.

(I read this on a blog - sorry can't remember where, to give the credit to the right person :)).

Sandra lace cardigan ready - well, almost...

2007-05-01T13:48:00.000Z

I went back to actually finish the blue wrap cardi, as my daughter is impatiently waiting for it. I had to take a break at some point, as I was begining to have enough of all this never ending knitting of small parts.

Finally all ten of them finished.

Now I am in THAT stage where I really sincerely and trully hope that Sandra Magazine will send me a message saying how impressed they are with my work on their pattern and that obviously it will be a pleasure for them to assembly the whole thing for me if I might require this...I am sure lots of people know what I mean.

It's never going to happen, is it? so I better look for my bloody needle now. Do not expect miracles though, I need good day light for all the edge stitches spotting, in all this mohair stuff.

A bit of update of the weekend adventures.

End of April is always the bluebells season in the crags around Hebden Bridge, the weather was great, so we decided to go for a walk in the woods.
To cut the story short: the day started with me being misleaded about where we're actually going (which always pisses me off in the end), got the wrong shoes (because I was sure we are doing a different (and much easier) trail), then walked through a river for about four miles and got totally wet in the first two minutes (I didn't have my proper walking boots on, did I?), got lost, refused to jump in a thirty meters high hole despite my partner reassuring me that it might be safe, arguments and shouting, got lost (mentioned this one before?), climbed for ever through mud and stones towards light, ended up on private land surrounded by wired fences, jumped the fences, seen a deer, had to face the owners, found out where we are, finally fully realised we are indeed lost, hurt my foot, long walk back to Heptonstall, happy ending up in a pub. Long live Timothy Taylor.

Yes, you can see a picture of the bluebells now.

Two days later now, I am looking at this image and can't stop thinking what a great day we had!

Alice Starmore Tudor Roses is here

2007-04-27T12:03:00.000Z

Two days ago I finally decided to buy a copy of this book - firstly because it is still available quite cheap from Jannette Rare Yarns (and nightmares of the stock disappearing were haunting me for a while now), and secondly because I wanted to start a new sweater and I think I want to go for a pattern similar to Catherine Parr.
And obviously because the dollar went down against the pound :) and I can afford it now that it's 'half price':).
I should not really joke about this as this is bad news for my friends abroad buying things from UK.
I got the book in the post yesterday morning - so this will make a 'next morning delivery service' - 5 stars for Jannette here. And what a beautiful book.

So now it's between the Baltic and the Catherine Parr patterns. O maybe a combination of them?
Would Catherine Parr have wanted to be associated with the Baltic Sea?

Anyway, I'm going to use some light blue DB merino aran, which I bought two years ago, and some dark blue cashmerino leftovers, both from my stash (points here!), just so I'll clear more room for more yarns.
Makes sense, I hope :).

Libbi cardigan

2007-04-22T18:29:00.000Z

This cardigan was love at first sight when I first saw it on the Helen McCabe's website. I like bubbles, so these patterns are definitely for me.
First I thought she is selling the kits - but no, it's not the case, it's the finished garments you get.

So I am approximating my own pattern, based on her pattern. I don't know if this is ethical or not - anyway I try to feel better about this by advertising her website here. Somebody might decide to get one of the ready made sweaters she is selling. They are beautiful.

My modifications : instead of four lines of bubbles I'll have three lines and I will have to imagine the cables and the repeats.

I had another attempt to start it, a few months ago, with Aurora 8 but I did not like it for some obscure reason so I've ordered some thick cotton from elann : Online Ravenna - green. I wanted some nice strong green.
This is the green on their website.

but it's not quite what you get. What you get is a much more psychedelic yellowish version of it, which looks a bit like this (can't capture the color right ).
Anyway - it's a very strong fresh green and here is where I am now. I've started it last Sunday. I have no idea if I'm going to ever wear this color - but I need to do it.

Obviously I did abandon everything else.

I am going to need more yarn probably; it is disappearing so fast on 6 mm needles and with all these bubbles. I never order enough, I've got 750 gr - WHAT WAS I THINKING ??? - but it will be a good occasion to get something else as well with the next delivery. The only problem is that the cheapest delivery from Canada in UK is taking 6 weeks.

It will not be cotton ever, I decided I do not like cotton - never used it before - but it is so demanding, especially the k3togs.

On a more optimistic tone : my climber is climbing and attempts to covered the old, long time unused antennas.

This is always great news when nature knows its ways to cover all the technical crap we're polluting the planet with. A big well done to the climber !

Snow during the weekend

2007-03-20T17:08:00.000Z

We had a bit of snow during the weekend and this is quite unusual for England. It doesn't snow very often here, therefore any amount of snow always triggers a big traffic panic. The best way to deal with this is to drive your kids to school yourself and see them arriving safe there. Do not rely on buses. I lived most of my life in a country with three months of proper snow per year and we just got on with it - no closed traffic or closed schools. England is a weird place :).
Anyway - the best part was that we had a chance to get out of the house in the morning and took some great photos over Halifax in the way back from school.

The snow is long gone today but it's still very cold.

This is what I've been doing during the weekend. I abandoned my lace cardi for the moment - I feel a bit stuck with all the bands etc. so I had to start something new for a change.

I bought this yarn quite cheap from ebay - it's Jaeger shetland aran. The colour is much darker than I wanted (and than in the image) and the yarn has a kind of white hairy fuzz which I hate. I spend more time pulling out those hairs then knitting.
Otherwise it is nice and soft and what a great stitch definition.

I just wanted to destash and I wanted a warm cardi for my cold and drafty office. Because the colour is so dark I wasn't bothered with a proper design so I am inventing my own pattern as I go. This is actually the second attempt.
The first one was this:

and I wasn't sure at all I liked it - it had too many different zig-zags...
I would still do it a bit different the third time :)) - I think I just discover it's not easy at all to be a designer.

Sandra lace cardigan

2007-02-20T15:28:00.001Z

This one is for my daughter - it's the first time she decided she wants a hand knitted outfit, or to be more specific, first time when she thought knitting might be cool.
You can imagine I rushed into ordering the yarn before she would change her mind, that's how pathetic I am :).

I've started it two weeks ago but I had so many problems with my wireless connection in my computer, I just had no chance to post earlier.

This is more or less the stage now - I am knitting the lace band and it looks like it will take for ever.
I am still puzzled about how it's going to look with all the bands attached - but this bridge would have to be crossed later on.
I used the original yarn: Lang Mohair Luxe, from Rikes Wollmaus, as I had no idea about any substitute. After I received it I realised Kid Silk Haze would have worked perfectly as well, but still I think I prefer the colours in Lang Mohair.
The pattern is from Sandra September 2006.

Bad news for knitting

2007-02-19T11:53:00.000Z

...good news for my body shape - I've just joined the gym next door.

I decided enough was enough with my weight going up every single year, so from now on, my morning free hour is going to be spent pedaling, lifting, sweating and cursing.
Less time for knitting though, BUT I strongly hope to compensate by knitting smaller garments.
NO, you can't knit while on the bike, I thought about it for a moment this morning, but it's definitely too complicated :).

My Japanese knitting books arrived

2007-02-16T16:40:00.000Z

My order with Amazon Japan arrived yesterday and it was such a nice surprise, first of all because the delivery was much faster than I thought it's going to be, just under two weeks, and secondly, all the books are totally brilliant.
You can see the entire list of books I've ordered by clicking this previous post on Japanese books.
I chose these books more or less randomly, based on all sorts of reviews and ISBN numbers I found googling the Internet.
First impresion is that the patterns are very original. Lots of lace patterns, cables, bobbles and combinations of all these I haven't seen before.

Here are two entrelac projects in the New Style of Heirloom kniting, see the way the decreases were planned just by kniting smaller and smaller squares.

Another book I simply love is the Knitting patterns Book 250, which is packed with great lace patterns.
Here is one of my favourite patterns:

What can you do with it? For example this great lace cardigan from Vogue Knitting Holiday 2006.

It is a small world after all :)...

Double FO - Alice Starmore Kinsale

2007-02-07T14:58:00.000Z

First I finished this sweater last November and here is a picture we took in Beaumaris, Wales, during a trip in searching for puffins. (We didn't see any, just in case you were wondering.)

And here is a close up:

In the meantime, I realised it's too short - you know the famous question: 'does my bum look big in this?'. Well, the answer was undoubtfully 'Yes'.
...So I took it apart and added another repeat to the body.
This is more or less what happend to all my FOs - it's called 're-design' :). I am said to be restless.

I don't have a recent picture of the new sweater but you can imagine it being just a bit longer.

Yarn : Aurora 8 - so nice and soft, I would use it again and again and again...if I could afford it more than once per year :).

Pattern : Fishermen's Sweaters - Alice Starmore, see the original here.
Beautiful book and still available quite cheap.

Japanese knitting books

2007-02-01T16:52:00.000Z

This is a list of Japanese knitting books I've recently ordered from Amazon Japan. I will have them delivered in about 4 weeks time hopefully. It was far cheaper then buying from ebay.
Unless you can speak the Japanese language, finding the knitting books on Amazon Japan website is not an easy task.
I started searching for the 'New style of Heirloom Knitting', which is somehow a famous book, as it has an entire knitalong built around it, then I just did a lot of browsing in the 'related items' section.

In order to place an order with Amazon Japan, you need a new account with them. None of the other Amazon accounts are valid.
PM me for instructions if you want to learn from my experience :).

Click on the images bellow as some of the books are browsable and you'll be able to see a few pages.

New Style of Heirloom Knitting - the famous Am Kamin sweater book

Guernsey and Aran Sweaters

Aran patterns

Knitting Patterns Book 250 - great patterns, do not miss it.

Fair Isle Knitting - just charts.

Fair Isle, Nordic and Lopi Sweaters

These are a few other knitting books which I might order sometime in the future.

300 Knitting Patterns

Knitting Accessories

Knitting Elegance - another great book - not to be missed.

Dalegarn Sweater ready

2007-01-15T16:50:00.000Z

In December last year, I finished another sweater for my partner. Just in time for Christmas, so it went as 'The Christmas Present'. Very convenient I would say :).
Unfortunately I had no time for any posts, as I was in a mad hurry to pack and leave the rainy England for a better winter location.

(That's my home town, but I'm not going to tell you where it is, as I totally hate to go home for holiday and find the whole place full of bloody tourists! :)).

Right, back to the sweater.
The photo was taken after my return, during the last weekend, and here is the happy owner, on top of the Yorkshire moors, modeling. I dragged him there, despite the strong and crispy wind, so the sweater colours can go well with the background colours :).

The original pattern is from Dalegarn 144 magazine, (see bellow the cover and the original pattern on the right).

I've only changed the middle bit of the sweater into a two-colours area, according to the customer requirements, and I think it looks at least as good as the original ( me being modest :).
This is a detailed image : on the RS the white bit is knitted and the brown one is purled. Obviosly it's the other way around on the WS - and this was really 'fun' :).

The yarn is Blueface Leicester Aran ( from my stash) and I am sure I'll never use it again, as it was full of garbage. Otherwise very nice and soft...the sheep should definitely be allowed to shoot the manufacturer :).

Currently on the needles

2006-10-04T15:18:00.000Z

This is the first post after returning from our Romanian vacation. It was great (as usual) spending time with family and friends.
It was equally nice to visit my home again and clean and dust and get the sun and some fresh air in.
And of course I had a chance to browse my old knitting magazines and bring a few old Rebecca numbers back here.
So my 'wish list' is rapidly growing.
Now this is the update on the projects currently on the needles.

Kinsale - Alice Starmore design from Fishermen Sweaters.

The yarn is Karabella Aurora 8 ( lovely yarn ), in a horrible electric colour which I simply hate. Why did I bought this colour? God knows.
I am obviosly cheating here, as the original pattern is calling for a much thinner yarn and smaller needles - but it's more and more often I get this feeling that life is much shorter than I thought is going to be - (and this feeling is entirely based on the number of sweaters I can knit per year :)).

Right, the second one is a no name sweater, from a Dale of Norway magazine.

The yarn is a nice brown shade of Bluefaced Leicester Aran - my Canon camera is not very accurate lately, don't know why.
The original pattern was all in white, I've decided to add another color to the fair isle bit, which is a nice oatmeal. The pic doesn't do justice to the colours.

Violet cardigan

2006-07-04T18:27:00.000Z

Right, I've decided to update this post and finish the story.
I was trying to duplicate this fabulous cardigan :

which, by the way can be seen here, http://www.helenmccabe.co.uk. She has great designs, I simply love them all.

And, of course, mine just did not look the same :(.

The yarn is back in the ball (Karabella Aurora 8 ), but I think I know what I'm doing wrong here. It's a cotton yarn not a wool yarn I need, in order to get the bubbles lines to look the same. And to get the same drape effect.
The idea is on hold and I am might be considering Rowan Calmer for this job, not sure yet.
End of story and end of frustration.

FO Flower Basket Shawl

2006-07-03T12:10:00.000Z

Quote of the Post:
"It's all about mind over matter, if you don't mind it doesn't matter !"

Last UFO finished last week.

For a few days afterwards I managed to stay 'clean' and got myself focused on all sorts of other tasks. First I finished ironing (the mountain of clothes I had piled up for weeks) and this was a great achievment. Did some washing and gardening, re-organized the stash - even did weekend walks :).
Just enjoying independence and pretending to be a normal person.
It didn't last long though.
Everything went downhill last night, when I could not resist anymore and started my Aurora 8 sweater.
But that's another story altogether :).

Now back to the FB shawl.
Loved the pattern, loved the yarn.
I've used Blue Sky Alpaca Silk in red brick (4 skeins), and 4.5 mm needles.

The photo is not very clear - but there was no way to convince my model to repeat the shouting session in the day light.
If you have teenagers you'll know precisely what I mean.

Intermezzo Jo Sharp sweater

2006-06-27T14:46:00.000Z

That's what I've been doing last weekend - re-shaping the neck line for the Jo Sharp aran sweater, by decreasing 1/4 of the total stitches. AGAIN !

Just to remaind you (and me) the whole story - this sweater went huge and lifeless after HAND washing and carefully blocking and I've already had to reknit the ribbing and to cut off a part of it.
The yarn is DB casmerino aran - and it's a final no-no on my list. Not even for shawls or afgans - simply because it's peeling like hell as well as relaxing way too much - don't even want to think about it any more...

FO - Lace Dream Shawl

2006-06-27T14:07:00.000Z

I finished this one a few weeks ago - just waited for the blocking wires to arrive.
I wasn't very impressed with the wires - too thick to be inserted right at the edge and difficult to handle... but using millions of pins instead would have been worst I guess.

Back to the shawl. It is designed by Eugen Beugler, very easy (and boring) pattern - drives you crazy after a while :)). (I know now how Penelope must have been felt doing the same thing over and over again)

Yarn: I've used 5 balls of Rowan Kidsilk Haze - in Pearl.
It is a great lace weight silk/mohair yarn - it was a real pleasure to knit with.

Stitch markers

2006-05-28T15:39:00.000Z

Basically I had enough of the improvised stitch markers I am using at the moment. I bought some thin rubber hair bands from Claire's last year and they are sort of ok-ish when knitting wool or cotton but it's a total nightmare using them when knitting mohair yarn as they get totally tangled.
After a lot of frustration I thought I deserve more, so I've started doing some googling in order to buy some proper ones.
The conclusion is there is no way I am going to pay 14 pounds for a set of four, when I need at least three sets for my doillies.
So what's left if not the old Back to DIY.
Research phase : I've asked Angel yarns forum and got all the advice I needed, thank you all.

Here is me, two hours later, in Leeds, in Corn Exchange getting the components.

Prior to this was the trip to Hobby Craft - there is where I bought the tools and the pins from.

And here is the result, this morning.

One single remark for who ever wants to try it: my sticth markers will be ok for thin needles, but the ring is too small for normal knitting (on 4-5 mm needles or bigger).
I've used 7 mm jump rings, 10 mm would have been much better.

And was it cheaper doing then buying them? No way! But it was definitely FUNNIER :) .

FO - Entrelac sweater

2006-05-25T12:16:00.000Z

This is my first entrelac achievement: Debbie Bliss Entrelac sweater.

It took me almost two months to finish it and I've really enjoyed it. Entrelac is fun and addictive.
Noro yarns are great, I've used Kureyon, which is quite thick - my hands and wrists were hurting for days after finishing the sweater.
It's all the turning in entrelac which makes it very difficult to handle.
Knowing this now, I would probably use Silk Garden for any next Noro project.
The picture is taken in Scotland in Stonehaven - during a two days kiosk installation session in Aberdeen - and I was really glad I had this sweater ready - I definitely did not expect 1 grade Celsius temperature in the middle of May.

Flower Basket Shawl

2006-05-11T11:41:00.000Z

Quote of The Post

"It is our choices Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities. "
- Albus Dumbledore

That's next on my list - Flower Basket shawl.

I think I finally found the right yarn for it : it's Blue Sky Alpaca Silk in brick red.

I've started the shawl a few weeks ago with Jamieson's Ultra and I didn't like the way it turn out - the yarn is too thin, so it went back on the ball.

I ordered the new alpaca from US, from kpixie.com and stronly hope I am not going to be disappointed by the color - buying online is tricky, specially with my laptop monitor.
And I've also received a color chart yesterday from Artesano Alpaca - so I know exactly what I'm buying next :) for a short sleeve blouse.
But I need a financial recovery first.
No, I'm not broken due to 4 skeins of silk Alpaca, it's because I've been greedy and ordered 900 grams of Aurora 8 violet as well, in the same order ... well, just could not resist. And to save on shipment, of course.

I start to wonder what's more addictive : the knitting itself or buying yarns...
Please feel free to vote on this thought :).

Joining Entrelac shoulders seamlessly

2006-05-08T15:56:00.000Z

Thanks God, finally finished both parts of my Noro entrelac sweater.
My hands and wrists are hurting - the parts are quite heavy and it's too much 'turning' in this entrelac technique. I need to learn to knit backwards.
Anyway, it's Joining Time !
All other problems I had seam to fade away as, at this stage, the pattern only says : join the parts together :).
I am not going to complain again about the pattern, as it definitely has a good part as well: it does force you into thinking a lot.
I've rejected the idea of closing triangles from the start, so I needed to come up with something else, more intelligent eventually.
And this something else needs to be a seamlessly method!

I started with a few hours of staring at both parts lying flat on the table, trying to fit them together in different ways. Finally enlightenment struck.

You want to find out the result, don't you?
Well, in this case send me an email to enroll in my knitting class or simply pay a fee for written instructions.

Sorry, just joking :).

Right, stay tuned. Here it is what I've noticed:

- If you end up both parts on the same side ( WS or RS ), you'll be able to get them together perfectly like this, the open stitches facing each other and the edges being parallel with each other. Well - it looks OK but actually it isn't: as the blocks are suppose to be oriented against each other and not parallel with each other!

- But, if you knit one more row for the front part, which was good anyway as it's going to push the back a bit down, then you get the blocks facing in the right direction: against each other.
Now, try to get the parts together again and you'll notice, (sh..t), they don't fit anymore!
Don't despair - what you can do to get them to interlace is to shift one of the parts slightly to the right or to the left - your choice. Just make sure you are shifting the other side symmetrically. I've decided to shift the front in a kind of inner position, the back part end triangles covering the edge of the front on both sides.
You will need to work an extra triangle at one of the edges - but this is easy to figure out.
See image.

So, now it's a case that the blocks are against each other, as in normal entrelac, and you have to join four live stitches with a block edge.
My method is quite simple and worked very well - it might be that there are other better ways.
What I did was to pick up four stitches from the edge of the block and get them alternatively on one single needle, together with the live stitches : one live stitch, one picked-up, one live stitch, one picked-up etc. You'll end up with 8 stitches and all you have to do is work them on the WS , 4 times (k2tog). The result is 4 stitches.
Just continue like this for each block. You might need to 'k2tog through the back' on some blocks - decide this by checking on the RS that the picked up stitches don't get twisted after k2tog.
Turn at the end of the row and cast-off all stitches. All this is happening on the WS, right?
Done,that's all.
You will end up with a kind of zig-zag seam on the WS, but it's just making the shoulders to look a bit higher.
I am really proud about the result - there is no way you can see any difference between the knitted rows and the joined ones.
...Sleeves next !

Shaping the neck in entrelac

2006-04-30T14:10:00.000Z

Quote of the Post

"Every fighter has one fight that makes or breaks him."
Elia Kazan

I run into a problem shaping the neck.
How do I continue from here ???

The problem is that the pattern does not say how to achive the same decrease ( as the one in the red circle) on the other side of neck. Should I say again how poorly decribed this pattern is?
I am just going to try to mirror the description for the left side.

Noro Entrelac sweater

2006-04-03T10:51:00.000Z

Quote of the Post:

"I hope you realize nobody likes smart women."
- My Partner

A few months ago I became quite keen on trying the Forest Path shawl.
I've seen so many shawls I like but they are just nice or very nice. This one has the X-Factor.
I did a bit of googling about it and some blogs say it's not a good idea to think you can learn entrelac on this project.
RIGHT. Next step was to start looking for another (easier) entrelac project.
Back to Google search again ( in images as usually) and voila: I got the perfect combination : entrelac and Noro.
I was having some fantasies about Noro yarns and colors for a while now.
So, to cut a long story short, this is why I am knitting thick wool sweaters in the spring AND in 2006 (which is suppose to be the Year of the Lace).

That's the pattern I chose - now, isn't it AG (Absolutely Gorgeous) ?

I am going with the same yarn and same colours as well.
I am tired of modifying patterns.
That's my stage after three days of doing nothing but knitting :).

A few thoughts about entrelac

Great technique and very, very easy to learn. After finishing one line of squares you'll not need the instructions again. A bit slower than traditional knitting, a lot of 'turning', but highly rewarding. And highly addictive as well.
I really can not see entrelac adding difficulty to any project.
You will make a swatch anyway and it will take you a maximum of 30 minutes doing 2 or 3 lines in order to get the idea.
Now be aware, there might a trap: the Entrelac how-to instructions.
The instructions in my book are weird. I did not get anywhere with them.
I found a few sources on the net, read them in parallel and finally got the point.
Soon I will write down my own tutorial :), so stay tuned.

Things I don't like about the pattern

No schematics, diagrams, etc. , I hate this.
Another thing: my gauge was correct, even so the (L) size I've chose is smaller then the (M) one from the book. So my advice would be : swatch, measure and decide for yourself.
And bear in mind the entrelac grows a lot after the plain knitted ribbing.

Noro yarns

Kureyon is 100% wool - quite thick, difficult to handle and uneven. A few times I had to take out parts which were very very thin in the overall context.
I've decided next time I will try a softer type - maybe Silk Garden.
The colours are great though. I simply love this yarn.
You will see the world differently after knitting these colours.
I went out this morning - had a look in the garden and really felt like I was knitting my pansies.

Lace Dream shawl

2006-03-23T13:37:00.001Z

Quote of the Post:

"Having children is like having a bowling alley installed in your brain." - Alan Bleasdale

Last Saturday I've started my first shawl - the pattern is from Shawls and Scarves : The Best of Knitter's Magazine.
It is called Lace Dream, designed by Eugen Beugler.
That's the first shot:

Very easy pattern - I can't see the need to be classed as 'intermediate' level, unless you attempt to use markers between repeats (which is more than advisable anyway). This was what got me into a bit of trouble.
The pattern does not say to move the markers one stitch forward in front of every repeat for the first 4 pattern rows of the chart - but you have to figure this out when realizing you've got an extra stitch left before starting every chart repeat segment.
That's why I prefer German magazines - no space for any confusion in patterns.
No offence :).
The yarn is Rowan KidSilk Haze: I love the yarn but I am not very keen on this particular colour - it's called 'Pearl' and in my opinion it lacks a little bit more brightness - it is too grey-beige ( kind of 'dirty' appearance). But at least it's neutral enough :).
Keep saying I will get colour charts before getting the yarn from the internet - it never happens though.
I am today at the point where I finished the first ball ( out of 4 ) - so I've got a quarter done - and I am already bored with it. I am measuring and measuring after each new line hoping it's going to grow faster - looks now like a sexual experience :).
Having sais this, somehow I guess I am not going to be into square shawls very soon...

Wash your swatch

2006-03-06T22:06:00.000Z

This should be added as a new rule in the 10 Principles of knitting.
(Of course ) I did not wash my swatch so I had to face a nasty surprise after washing the aran sweater: the marvelous (and highly overpriced) cashmerino aran looked like a drowned cat !
No life left in the cables PLUS that the sweater went longer.
I had to choices : to give it away - which I can't do from obvious emotional reasons - or to cut the bottom parts.
Right: Here is the sweater undertaking surgery :

It took me an entire weekend to knit the ribs again. Somehow I have the feeling I will have to repeat this in the future, after any few washes...
Very poor choice of yarn - this is a new 'never again' on my list with 'never again' things.

At least I had a nice winter weather as a 'background' for the sweater re-engineering.
This was the Friday (English) snow in Halifax:

My first Olympic gold medal for the 'Dahlie'

2006-03-02T13:53:00.001Z

I received an email this morning from 'Kat with a K', inviting me to pick up my Knitting Olympic Gold medal.
The best part of this is that I didn't even think I was in the competition at all - as I never got a confirmation to my 'joining' application :). How good is this?

Here it is:

Am I proud of it or what?

Niebling knitted lace, the Dahlie

2006-03-01T16:02:00.000Z

I managed to get over the first failure with the lace knitting and bought some proper cotton in order to have another go at it.
Valentine Day was the casting-on date (worked well as therapy against weird relationship).
The pattern is called 'Dahlie', it's from a German Burda magazine - E908 and it was designed by Herbert Niebling, according to a few Internet references.
It's absolutly great to work.
I've used DMC Cebelia 20 (light beige) and 2.5 mm needles.

This is the stage after a week: it's just an ugly mass of stitches. I can't say I had much enthusiasm in knitting it - if you've never done lace it's difficult to imagine how much different and nicer it's going to be after it is getting blocked.

Had a few problems with the blocking - mainly due to my own stupidity.
I draw the circle on a present wrapping paper and after placing the wet doily on it, the colors started to appear from the other side of the paper - so I needed to lift the doily FAST, removed the paper - but kept the needles in place.
This is the doily, with the cat assisting all the time - she even slept on the towel all night long.

Next morning 'beauty shot':

While doing the 'Dahlie' I found out about the Knitting Olympics, but it was too late for me to join.
I spent a lot to find the Great Britain team leader - had no luck though.
Obviously I had no choice but to start my own team :) , joined it and finished on time, a few hours before the Olympics closing ceremonies.
So I declare this as my Olympic project in my own Knitting Olympics competition :).

And now the conclusions:
A great pattern will produce a great doily.
A high quality yarn is essential - DMC Cebelia was a very good choice indeed.
And last but not the least : Don't even think of starting a lace pattern without joining a forum first :).
Many thanks to the Teddys ( my german friends from the Teddys forum ) and to the Knitter's Review forum.

Hunting for yarns around Halifax

2006-02-06T14:05:00.000Z

For Debbie Bliss I would go in John Lewis. They stock lots of colors and types. The store in Sheffield is pretty good.

For anything else than designer wool, I would go in Bradford : Texere Yarns Mill. Visiting the Mill is in itself a great experience - three huge floors packed with all sort of yarns. They stock alpaca, mohair, wool, cotton, basically anything you might imagine. And the people are very nice and helpful.

Texere Yarns Mill

Attica

Colinnete from Attica

I guess ColdSpring Mill is OK for bargains - Ioana found some nice colorful wool for a scarf and here is her progress.

2005 - Year of cable

2006-02-06T13:42:00.000Z

The story:
At some point last year David went visible annoyed that I am demanding too much of his time, so he suggested I should take up a hobby of my own : Why can't you do knitting for a change, he said :).
I highly appreciated his point of view - as obviously a man needs to have more space and time to keep the remote, the TV and the sofa hot.
So I thought - knitting would not be such a bad idea afterall.
I went through a phase of searching for yarns and designer magazines and this was quite exciting - I remembered my old good times in the knitting arena :).
Finally I found a nice pattern for me, unfortunately the most important part was crochet and I had to cancel the idea.
BUT, as it happens, we've seen a nice sweater pattern for men and I said to myself: let's reward him and make him a sweater. He got me into knitting again after all :).
Here is the original pattern, it's a Jo Sharp design - Book no. 2.

and here is the result, after 4 months. I made a few change to the original design, as I did not like the sleeves :)) .
It took aprox. 1 kg Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran.

My first doily experience

2006-02-06T13:04:00.000Z

...And how (and why) I failed.
Well, as a start, I chose the wrong yarn, the wrong needles and the wrong pattern :). Did I forget anything :) ?
The pattern is called 'Konigin' and it's from a German publication : Kunststricken. In German, Kunststricken means lace knitting.

Right, here is the beginning.
First I failed a few times to put 8 stiches on 4 needles - don't assume it's easy coz it ain't.
In all knitting magazines you will see nice diagrams depicting this stage - well nothing beats the real life.
Sitting at the table helps a lot, do not do it on the sofa and don't imagine you will watch TV in the same time.
This is my doily after 4 hours of struggle.

The cotton is Twilley's no. 5, with a 3 mm needle.
The yarn label asked for a 3.25 mm needle, so I thought it's going to be ok. Well, it wasn't !
After another 3 days, I started to have big doubts about my doily being 2D :).
Went on a forum and got the obvious advice : try to block it : and I did !

If you want it flat then look at the effect this has for the next sector - it ruffles.
Now about the pattern. Here is the original photo.

Can you see the red circle? That area is suppose to be 8 stiches of plain knit. And there is a dark line right in the middle : that's a shadow - the original does not lie flat either.

And here is a bit of the pattern.

It grows quite fast in row 23 to 35 : more than 8 stiches per round, as it would suppose to do, at least according to this article: http://tiajudy.com/omatips.htm.

My conclusions :

Analyze the pattern before starting. Go with the 'pattern recommended' thread/needle or equivalent. Do not assume any yarn would do with the 'yarn label recommended' needle size.

I would start again probably, with a size 30 or 40 cotton on a 3 mm needle, but I haven't got much enthusiasm left at the moment.

10 Principles of Knitting

2006-02-03T16:42:00.000Z

10 Principles of Knitting

1. It's all about the awesome yarn choices. Simple stitches & patterns create gorgeous pieces.

2. Strive to relax and have fun. Do not strive for perfection.

3. Be clever & daring. Take a risk!

4. Every mistake can be fixed.

5. Swatch, swatch, swatch.

6. Set goals, not deadlines.

7. Never stop learning.

8. Share the legacy, teach someone to knit.

9. Put your signature on each gift.

10. Knit with love.