Finishing #2:

Another long-time WIP has moved into the FO category this week:

The Tendrils Purse:

When I knitted tendrils, I had part of a skein of yarn left over and I was loath to waste it so I adapted the pattern and knitted a short stretch of fabric for a purse. This was some time ago - the same week I finished Tendrils in fact. Since then it has languised in a bag waiting for some time and the attention of the sewing machine.


On Tuesday evening, when the machine was out for the French Market Bag, I remembered the Tendrils purse and resurrected her. I sewed a purse lining using some cream silk fabric unpicked from a worn-out shirt that the Resident Radiologist's parents had made for him 27 years ago in China. I then set a short zip into the top by hand (this was a new technique for me - I usually use the machine, but this was too small and fiddly).

Finally, I sewed the short sides of the knitted fabric to the zip and seamed the edges with mattress stitch.


I'm pretty pleased with the results and the purse looks great with the wrap.

Now all it needs is a loop of ribbon to go over my wrist, but that could take some time...

Fully-grown tendrils

I've actually been on a bit of a finishing spree lately, first Betty, now Tendrils and there are a few more small projects on the final lap as well.


Tendrils was a dream to knit, the yarn was beautiful to work with (if occasionally a bit splitty and variable with respect to shade).

Details:

Pattern: Tendrils by Sivia Harding in Knitty.
Yarn: HipKnits Silk Aran.
Needles: 5mm straights.
Beads: Rowan knit-in beads (2000 of!)

The finished wrap hasn't been blocked yet and I'm not sure it would benefit from a blocking anyway as it's so heavy it stretches itself out when worn. It's currently 65 inches long and about 18 inches wide and has a really cosy, heavy drape. The beading in the centre of the cable isn't too obvious but just catches the light a bit during movement, which is what i was hoping for.


I had a little bit of yarn left over so I have used it to knit a small purse to match the wrap. This isn't lined or had the zip put in yet so I'll post a photo once it's done.

I haven't yet decided whether to dye the wrap and bag to cover inconsistencies between dye-lots or just to learn to love the variability of hand-dyed silk.

Betty is Jinxed

Just as I get my knitting mojo back and resolve to get Betty off the needles, this happens...


...Nooooooooooo!

I'm taking Brittany Needles up on the 5 year guarantee they offer on their website. I suspect that they only meant it for US customers but you never know... In the mean time, Tendrils is extending again and starting to look really good.

Spot the problem

Oh yes - that's right, the skeins aren't the same colour. It wasn't at all obvious before knitting but there is a big difference between the dye shades in the different skeins. I'm using hand-dyed silk (from HipKnits) which doesn't have dyelots so maybe it shouldn't be too much of a surprise but I'm a bit miffed! The second skein also appears to have a significantly greater yardage than the first, I've already doubled the length since the first skein and there's a fair bit of yarn left to go.

My current plan is to check the three remaining skeins, find the darkest one and use that for the other end. If that creates a pleasing symmetry then I'll leave it at that, if not, then I'm considering dying the wrap with a similar shade of blue to even the blocks out.

The actual knitting is going well - the silk is lovely and soft (though very heavy) to work with and the beads aren't bugging me as much now as they were during the first skein. You can just see them hiding in the middle of the cable. NB the colour in the top photo is a much better representation that the second, but I couldn't get the detail with the flash on.

Tendrils has begun...

I spent some time on Friday evening stringing beads onto the HipKnits silk - not the simplest task in the world of knitting as the beads were a snug fit on the yarn and moving them along wore out the silk and it became a bit splitty. I've strung 500 onto the first skein just to make sure I've got enough so fingers crossed that there were no knots in the yarn that I didn't spot!

The pattern looked a bit daunting at first, but once I got into it, it wasn't too bad and was fairly easy to memorise. The silk has absolutely no 'give' so I'm being careful not to knit too tight. I've already had one incident when attempting to k2tog in a slightly tighter region when the yarn broke so I'm going fairly gingerly now.


I like longish wraps and I'm not entirely sure I've got enough yarn (though I have more yardage that the pattern asks for, I think the silk is behaving differently from the yarn in the pattern). I've decided to knit up the first skein and see what length I've got to - if I'm past 12 inches then I'll keep going, as five feet is an acceptable length for a wrap. If not then I think I'll rip it out and reknit it with one fewer pattern repeat in the width.

The fabric created is wonderfully soft and has a beautiful drape to it. The beads don't show too well at the moment but I think they should show better after blocking.


I'm going to allow myself to knit a ball-worth of this project every time I finish a piece of Betty. The fact that I have now cast on for this project means that Betty now has a left front. Here's a picture of the back and left front blocking. The sizing has come up pretty well and the bias seems to have been rectified.

Happy Sunny Day...

...It's another beautiful day here in Glasgow. The sun has been shining now for a week and it just makes me happy to be here.



This is the best bit of my daily walk to work - crossing the Forth and Clyde canal between locks 26 and 27. The canals in Scotland were all overhauled as part of a year 2000 project and ever since, they've been really well maintained and are great to walk along or lounge beside.

Here are a couple of photos of my pride and joy - my garden. This year I'm growing broad beans, lettuce, spinach, strawberries, spring onions and leaks in containers and tumbler tomatoes in a hanging basket. I've also got a rockery full of useful kitchen herbs. I've always loved growing my own food but this house has quite a small garden so I've had to be a bit inventive about how to get the most from it. Last year I grew potatoes in sacks against the back fence which was a huge sucess but as we're hoping to be moving house later in the summer, I didn't want to risk potatoes this year. I get very excited at this time of the year when everything starts growing quickly - the broad beans have grown about 4 inches in a week and the lilies have shot up about a foot in three weeks.


Finally we have a bit of yarn content. This is some Hipknits aran weight silk I found in the reduced bin here (the last few skeins of this colour in stock) which is destined for this pattern. Finally I feel like I've found my summer project and now I have to track down some 4/0 silver-lined seed beads so I can get started. I'm normally fairly monogamous in my knitting - I rarely have more than one major project on the needles at once but Betty is getting to me (though more progress has been made - I'm nearly at the arm-hole decreases on the back) and I need something to feed my desire for something a bit more glamourous! I think this pattern will hit the spot. I think I may even have enough yarn left over to crochet an evening bag to go with the stole.