I had a very traumatic experience this past Saturday. I’m sure any knitter who’s stopped by here can relate.

Imagine this: here I was, carrying merrily along on my Icarus Shawl. Knitting on autopilot. The dulcet tones of Chris Noth of Law and Order fame playing on the background were half tuned out by that grandiose gloaty voice in my head singing “You rawk. You are the knitting Lace Queen. This is so easy. You’re a star. Man, you kick knitting @$$. One day, everyone else will realise what you know to be true already: you rule the knitting world. Yarn Harlot??!? Who the hell is she anyway?”

And so on and so forth.

Until, that is, Little Ms Knitting Genius decided to stop and admire her creation, some 20 rows after the last time she had bothered to have a look at it. At first, all looked fabulous, as expected:

Until, all of a sudden, I spied with my little undeluded eye:

this.

(Now, I know that this photo does not point out the sheer horror of what I had done. I can’t explain why – the best I can think is that the vale of tears which ensued after seeing a HUGE GAPING HOLE CAUSED BY AN EYELET ROW IN THE WRONG $(#(*$&@(#*$&(# PLACE flowed over the camera lens. Suffice it to say that the little white blob in the lower left hand side of the photo is not supposed to be there.)

The little “you are Queen of the Knitting World voice” was almost immediately replaced by a huge booming thunderclap stating:

ENEMY THY NAME IS…

I mean, really. Look at Frogman himself, laughing at me in several iterations.

After screaming, effing and blinding for twenty minutes or so, I headed out to the balcony with the offending UFO in hand. The landscape looked like this:

…and the inevitable happened.

By this point I was clearly weakened by my little hissy fit, and so Icarus did not manage to clear the balcony (in retrospect, my vindication for having always been the last to be picked for softball in public school, I guess).

Luckily for Icarus, JJ the Wise soon came home from work. He immediately knew something was wrong as I was not parked in my usual position on the couch knitting. A walk on the estate (as he calls the 32 foot balcony, in his weird British Isles way) soon shed light.

He came back in, Icarus in hand, and said:

It didn’t quite sound like that, but you get the point.

After another 20 minutes or so, during which JJ explained to me the folly of blaming a puir wee Muppet for my screwups, reminded me that he had left this

out on the balcony for pitching practice the last time I had tried to sacrifice a recalcitrant UFO to the forest (“D’ye really think the raccoons can eat silk, hen?”) and exhorted me to take full responsibility for my mistake (“Look in the mirror, lassie, and see the world!”), I was finally able to stop whingeing and start thinking about solutions.

(And really, no one ever died ripping back a piece of knitting… did they?)

So I settled down to the task at hand. In penance for my bad behaviour, I’d like to share with you what I learned in the event that it might help others in future.

The Guide:

1. Make sure that you have all your frogging supplies gathered and close at hand before starting to rip.

These include:

(a) a knitting needle one or two sizes smaller than your working needle. In my sample, the needle to the right is the 3.0mm working needle. The needle to the left is the “pick-up” needle and is 2.5mm.

If you don’t happen to have a smaller knitting needle, find a small crochet hook. In fact, it’s helpful to have both at hand:

And if you don’t have a small crochet book, go out and buy one now. This cost … I don’t know … $3 or so and has been a UFOsaver too many times to count.

Oh, and don’t forget your stress release tools:
(Yes, that’s the soundtrack from Zorba the Greek in the background. I don’t have a turntable any more so can’t actually listen to it. It will be used in a future project though – stay tuned.)

2. Start to rip.

And yes, you will feel sad when you do this. (If you don’t, please drop me a line and tell me your secret.) There is little that looks more forlorn to me than all those vulnerable little stitches hanging open in the air.

Some pointers about ripping:

(a) Do it very, very slowly. This is because if the yarn sticks to itself at all, you will need to tug at it very gently and patiently every so often. Otherwise, you will end up having to rip out more rows than necessary when big huge eyelets start to appear below the row you are actually ripping, at the sticking points. Learn from my mistakes.

(and, by the way, can someone explain to me why silky smooth laceweight silk acts as though it has a fine coat of Krazyglue on it when you’re trying to rip it back?!?!)

(b) Save all of your stitch markers in a handy place. (I have not found “in between the chesterfield cushions” to be all that handy, really… but if it works for you, good – because that is usually where they end up. However, this position works better for me:

Aren’t they lovely? I like how the green ones match the knitting, actually. But I digress.)

(c) Make sure and stop every so often to wind the yarn that you have ripped. This is especially important with laceweight yarn, to avoid nasty fankles that lead to this:

“This”, by the way, is two balls of Handmaiden Lace Silk where once there was one. Sigh. (But on the upside, this finally motivated me to try the Russian Join technique for joining balls of yarn. Try it. It’s magic!)

(d) If you are ripping back lace, it is easier to pick up stitches on the right side of the work due to all those pesky little eyelets. Trust me on this one. This means that the last row you rip should be a wrong side row and that the yarn should end up at the end of a right side row. (Sorry if I’m belabouring the obvious. I’m probably stupider than you are.)

(e) Keep count of how many rows you are ripping back and, when you’ve finished, figure out what pattern row you are at. If it is lace or involves decreases or increases, it will be helpful to have a general sense of the pattern to avoid picking-up booboos.

3. Pick up your smaller needle and start picking up stitches, one by one – and SLOWLY.

Now, it will be helpful at this point if the work you have messed up is done in variegated yarn so that you can actually tell the difference between the yarn you are continuing to rip and the loose stitches. (Another reason to rejoice in the multicoloured world, in my opinion).

In this photo, the brown strand at the top is the yarn that I am pulling back, and the green loops are the loose stitches. If all goes well, this is the last row you will have to rip.

Pull gently on the strand of “working” yarn to release each stitch one by one if possible (if you’re dealing with YOs, however, note that two stitches will come loose at each decrease point) and pick up with your needle.

(The eagle eyes amongst you will note that I didn’t end up actually using the smaller needle after all. This is because I’m an idiot. But it was a good idea at the time, I thought.)

Oh – it’s a good idea to know where any yarnovers were in the original row, as these can be a bit tricky. This is where the crochet hook can come in handy – simply grab the little wee thread that will be sitting inside the hole, and put it onto the needle. It’s as easy as that!

Another reason for doing this S-L-O-W-L-Y: more often than you would like from time to time you will find that a stitch will unravel two down, especially if you are working with silk. This is easy to fix if you catch it right away… just grab the other end of your needle/other needle or your crochet hook, grab the offending strand and pull it through.

You will also save yourself some sanity if you don’t worry too much about how the stitch you’ve picked up sits or twists on the needle. Just get it on there. This is easy enough to figure out when you start knitting again, in my experience.

This is another photo further along. I’m feeling much happier by this point, although I don’t know if you can tell that or not.

And, 300 odd stitches later, success was mine!!

4. Doublecheck your reconstituted row to make sure there are still no loose stitches hanging.

You will be glad you took the time to do this, trust me. And it’s simple – just take a good hard look at your top row of knitting. Any stragglers or offenders should be obvious, like so:

See naughty little stitch no. 7 from the left!??!?! Bastard.

(Actually, I’m quite chuffed to report that I had no loose stitches hanging. I actually went back and did this one on purpose for the photo. Seriously. You see how I suffer for my art?!)

And this is how to go back and fix it.

(I confess, I was a tad stressed during this whole process. I’m sure you’ll note this from the state of my thumbnail.)

Oh – and you may find that your loose little bastard stitch is much further in than the one I recreated for you here. Fear not. All that you need to do in that event is secure it with a removable stitch marker or safety pin so that it doesn’t ravel down any further.

5. Start knitting your first new row.

You’re almost finished fixing your UFO now!! So, some tips to make sure your frogging experience finishes smoothly:

(a) Do this slowly. And count your stitches as you’re going along.

(b) Replace all your stitch markers at this point. This will help you ensure that your pattern is in order.

(c) Keep a look out for twisted stitches. It’s usually easy to tell when you’ve done this as your needle does not slide in as easily to the stitch as it usually would. If you find this, simply remove that stitch from the needle with your right hand needle, twist, and replace onto the left hand needle.

(d) Study the work as you’re going along to make sure everything looks OK and that there are no little pesky bastard loose stitches still hanging around.

And that’s it!! You’re back on track. Huzzah! Huzzah!

(er… sorry. I digress yet again. The “Beer” episode of Blackadder was on again yesterday. You know, the one where they all get plastered and carry on like fools and nearly all get executed by Queen Elizabeth I?!? A personal favourite.)

Back to our regularly scheduled programme now…

6. Go have a drink or a fatty snack, or even both. You’ve earned it!

And there you have it – a rather half-@$$ed guide to frogging success! I hope it’s somewhat helpful. No need to see red any longer, really…

(The art is by Maggie Barnes. Man, I wish I could paint!!! Sigh.)

As proof of the pudding, I offer you my latest photo of Icarus, approximately 45 rows after the frogging schmozzle:

I’m liking this knit more or less, although am getting rather bored with this pattern sequence. There’s either another 24 or another 46 rows to go, depending on how many pattern repeats I decide to go with.

And, stay tuned for a Brouhaha Design Feature. One hint… it involves this:

(And no, this is not a blurry photo of yarn – although, given the usual quality of photos on this blog, I certainly wouldn’t blame you for thinking so!)

Hey, that Kermit isn’t that evil looking after all:

Rather swish, eh?

My only remaining problem: I really feel like calling in sick and working on Icarus, but that would be a dangerous precedent to set, methinks. So, time to sign off and get out the door.

Happy Monday!

For those who were lucky enough not to go to high school in English Canada, and therefore were not forced to haven’t read “The Two Solitudes” by Hugh MacLennan, an explanation might be in order.

One reviewer, who obviously had a different view of this book than I, describes it as follows:

A landmark of nationalist fiction, Hugh MacLennan’s Two Solitudes is the story of two races within one nation, each with its own legend and ideas of what a nation should be. In his vivid portrayals of human drama in prewar Quebec, MacLennan focuses on two individuals whose love increases the prejudices that surround them until they discover that “love consists in this, that two solitudes protect, and touch and greet each other.”[emphasis added]

The bolded part of the book is the only part I actually liked. And only for a selfish reason – it describes very well the relationship between myself and JJ.

How else to explain our usual outings to the grocery store?
No, we are not having a party. These are provisions for the two of us. Life can be very difficult, not to mention expensive, when living in a bicultural household… and never is this more apparent than at the biweekly expedition to Loblaws.

This is because JJ and I cannot agree on many food choices, necessitating multiple purchases for ongoing household harmony.

Some examples (and I’ll let you guess who chose what):

Why anyone wouldn’t choose olive oil over yucky, weird tasting butter is beyond me. (Oh, sorry – I said I was going to let you figure it out. Should have known that wouldn’t work out…) Next…

Stinky smoked fish and canned meat, or yummy pasta? Hmm. The choice seems clear to me… but others would beg to differ. Sigh.

Even when we agree on a particular food choice (which typically comes from somewhere radically different from either Greece or Scotland, I should note), we can’t get it together on the appropriate heat level… (what the hell is the matter with hot food anyway, I ask you?!?!? Sheesh!)

…not to mention that we fight over who gets to scarf down most of the naan.

But, happily, we do share some food choices in common. These typically involve the slaughter of little baby yarn giving creatures that run around going “bah bah”:

(And one point for me… JJ actually likes some Greek food, whereas I like no Scottish food whatsoever. Heh heh).

Another variant on a theme: the humble lamb shank.

(is that JJ I hear in the background saying “Dinna ye photograph them bloody lemons next to mah lamb shank and tatties. And whar’s me whiskey, lassie??” It’s MORNING, JJ – do try to control yerself, would ye?!?)

Oh, and let’s not forget the craving for processed pork products in common:

Damn that evil, evil Loblaws, by the way. How dare they put bacon on for $1.99 a pound? I have a mind to send them the bill for the new clothes I will need after eating all this bacon. Note, however, that I picked the healthy salt-reduced bacon…

Not to mention the even healthier smokey bacon potato chips. (And on that topic, may Loblaws be double damned AND blasted for putting chips on sale. I just can’t control myself, obviously!!!)

This, by the way, signals another difference between me and JJ on food choices. The above photo represents my notion of vegetarian cuisine (after all, it’s not real bacon flavour in those chips… is it?!?)

If I had my way, the vegetable crisper in the apartment would look like this:

JJ: It’s called a VEGETABLE crrrrrispah for a reason, ye know.

KB: Oh… and who tiefed those butter patties from work and stuck them in with my champagne, barbecue sauce and bacon, then?!

JJ: Ah, shurrup and gi’us a whisky.

So now, it looks like this:

Triple damn, blast and condemn to almightly hell the dastardly Loblaws for selling vegetables! I think that JJ just wants to keep reminding me that I am no longer, in fact, a bachelor. Sigh.

Just as well, really – because if I were still a bachelor I’d be pining over this guy and wanting to invite him home to cook for me – and he’s married:

This is Michael Smith, a.k.a. Chef at Home and Chef at Large. He had an idea on his program yesterday which I had to try immediately: Smashed Potatoes.

The recipe is simple: take two leftover baked potatoes (or if you, like me, live with a Scot and never have leftover tatties as a result, put two potatoes in the over for 1 hour at 375 degrees F. Oh, and prick them all over with a fork first. I learned about this the hard way once).

Next, press down on them with a potato masher (or, if you don’t have one, the bottom of a plate will do). Mikey says to do this until they are approximately double their diametre.

Garnish as desired. Mine, on the left, has olive oil, parmesan and Montreal steak spice. JJ’s has (yawn) butter and salt. Oh, and I snuck some pepper on it too. Heh heh.

Then bake at 500 degrees fahrenheit for 20 minutes.

Delicious! Guaranteed to promote harmony even in the most recalcitrant British Isles vs. Mediterrania debate.

(But just tell me that the one on the left doesn’t look tastier… I dare you. Um… oops… forget I said that.)

This recipe has the Brouhaha Seal of Approval for sure. You can cook for me any time, Michael!

So, anyway, another grocery store trip without incident – and we’re both happy campers now, until the next sortie to Loblaws, anyway.

Happy Sunday!

Today was one of my favourite days of the month… Magazine Shop Day. Left to my own devices, I would spend as much on magazines as I spend on yarn… and this, as those who know me have gathered, is no small feat.

However, this month, I did attempt to exercise some restraint, given the continued reminder of last month’s pile, mocking me every evening from my living room table:

However, as usual my generosity knows no bounds… so rest assured that the other denizens of the Brouhaha household were regaled with treats.

Three guesses who this lot is for, and the first two don’t count:

Gotta love these British tabloids, with words like “yobs” featuring every week in the headlines! JJ is off tomorrow, lucky wee bugger. This should just about see him through until I make it home from work, don’t you think?

And never let it be said, by the way, that I am not a permissive spouse. One of these mags features… a centrefold!!!

And I foresee yet another mail order session by JJ in future…

(See? In case ye thought ah made it up… they actually dae speak like tha’!!)

So, JJ’s all set for hours of amusement and entertainment. Ah’m so guid tae him, no?

Now for the rest of our little family… I know that every time I buy Toronto Life, that increasingly irritating chronicle of gentrification and excess in the Big City, I say that I will never, ever, ever spend my hard-earned pinko dollars on it again. However, Daisy “Bling” Brouhaha made a demand for it last evening, and I just can’t say no to Daisy.

At any rate, this issue should be good for a rant or two next week. For example, as you might well imagine I have some thoughts on the “Baby Invasion”. None of them, shall we say, constructive.

But I digress. For the intellectual in the house, I also brought in the Walrus. Generous of me, considering how frustrated I get when I can’t even get one clue in the cryptic crossword…damn and blast Fraser Simpson!!!

But hark… what’s this???

The answers!!! Don’t you just love the internet? And Quack, genius that he is, hasn’t yet cracked my computer password. Heh heh.

But, despite the pile, I couldn’t leave myself out, of course. So, while Quack figures out what exactly is ailing the Nation’s Capital…

…I’ll be tee-heeing at my version for dummies.

Oh, and of course I couldn’t pass up the requisite knitting pattern mag:
Not sure quite why I continue to buy this, but if the past few issues are any indication, at least I won’t add to my project queue…

I also picked up a copy of one of the local weekly leftie-ish entertainment mags:

The photo makes me feel rather lazy. I don’t even own a bike, which makes me a bad, bad Torontonian. Since I moved to Toronto, I’ve had one bike which lasted approximately 3 months before it was stolen right out of the entranceway of the building I lived in then – an old Victorian house with three flats. It had a wooden stairwell with thick banisters and I had locked the bike to that. The thief sawed through the bannister and took the bike, expensive Krypton lock and all.

(Don’t feel too sorry for me, though. I managed to get Stan the landlord to waive a month’s rent in exchange. Stan was an old Polish guy who was going through some problems at the time, and I took shameless advantage. One day, I’ll post the sorry story of my tenancy at 12 Maynard… it’s quite funny, actually).

Anyway, why the hell should I feel lazy? I think I should actually feel quite intelligent… if I were to write the Commuter Cyclist’s Handbook it would have one sentence only:

Don’t cycle to work in Toronto, unless you enjoy taking your life in your hands.

And I wonder why Now Magazine never publishes my submissions!!!

Happy Friday to all…!

Last evening, while sitting on the patio (!!!!!) at the pub, JJ had occasion to ask me “What the hell are ye doin’ lassie?”

Nothing all that interesting, I suspect… I had three loonies in my hand and was just fascinated at how they represented the various ages of the Queen:

From left to right: 1987, 1994, 2007.

My, but hasn’t she aged a lot in 20 years! Either that, or she looked extraordinarily young at 60…

So, because this wasn’t quite obsessive enough, I had to haul out the UK change collection from our holidays in December (JJ casting his eyes heavenward and tsk-ing severely at this point).

Here are the UK equivalent portraits from the same year (top).

Very curious. She aged faster in the UK then here. Then again, she lives there and I guess we don’t see her all that often in comparison…. Also, I noted that Canada and the UK coinage had identical portraits of her until…

I think she looks friendlier in our loonie, no?

But before you say “Speaking of loonies…”, there is a method to my madness. If I weren’t obsessing about the Queen’s image on our coinage and comparative studies with the “mother country”, I would be scheming about how to get my hands on this:

“This” being a kit for a pattern by Miriam Felton called “Mountain something or other” (that’s my name for it… too lazy (or scared) to look it up again. It’s available through Renaissance Dyeing. Just look at the colourways when you click on that past link and see why I’m frightened to go there!!!!

Not that I’m short of laceweight yarn, by any means. Au contraire. This is what Mr. Postman brought today to the office…

Whisper Merino lace yarn, in the Tupelo Honey colourway (1900 yards!!!)….

… and in Moroccan Nights (1000 yards). This colour in particular is very hard to photograph: think “Deep dark shades of inky blue with rich shades of raspberry swirled here and there.”

The description comes from Kim at the Woollen Rabbit in New Hampshire, US, who created the yarns as part of a kit with these lovely patterns by Susan Pandorf: Magic Carpet…

(magic indeed!) and Arabian Days Moroccan Nights:

One is essentially a smaller version of the other, with some modifications. I couldn’t decide so of course went for both of them. The larger one calls for 5,000 (!!!) beads as well….And so this is how approximately 100 loonies got spent.

I’m so tapped out now that I have to raid the UK collection to buy my coffee this morning:

(The coin on the right is my favourite ever coin – a commemorative coin for the 350th anniversary of the Johnson’s dictionary. I know. I’m a nerd.)

But all is not in vain. One day, I will become a world famous knitter and start a political knitting party… I will then become World Prime Minister and have my face on the coins like so:

(and I would venture to say that my elegant Greek profile on the coins will not be interfered with by the head you see beneath my chin… the talking head who was muttering “what in the hell is that lassie up tae now?” as this photo was taken…)

But until that point we are stuck with:

Liz.

Happy Wednesday!

Irene Dunn.

I wish I could tell you that I had woken up this morning and lost completely my increasing servitude to the harsh taskmaster that is Lace… but no.

Last evening, after several misstarts on Project Purple, I decided to go back to the Icarus which was languishing sadly on my bookshelf:

This is being knitted in Handmaiden Lace Silk. Funnily enough, it is in the Rainforest colourway which I just finished working with – but doesn’t this look different from the Fleece Artist Rainforest in the April Showers?

Also, yesterday I purchased yet another lace pattern, the Scheherazade by Melanie Gibbons:

… and decided to order the book Heirloom Knitting by Sharon Miller. Sharon is responsible for such gorgeous patterns as these:

Man, I wish I could knit that!

Swoon.

In other news, was I ever surprised to read in the Toronto Star this morning that Bill Clinton is a huge hit in Canada – and making huge bucks accordingly:

WASHINGTON–Bill Clinton landed at Pearson International Airport one day in the autumn of 2005, and by the time he boarded his plane at the end of the day the former president’s excellent Canadian adventure had earned him $475,000.

In that one day in the GTA, he had earned double his annual salary as president of the United States…

In three days in mid-October 2005, he earned $900,000 for four speeches: one on Canada-U.S. relations in London, Ont.; two Toronto speeches – one to The Power Within and another to the International Centre for Business – and a speech to The Power Within in Calgary.

Similarly, the following winter, he earned $1.32 million in six days of Canadian speeches in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Regina and Vancouver.

This article also mentioned that he has made approximately $24 million billion squillion dollars in public speaking engagements since he left the White House. I don’t know about you, but at a certain dollar figure the amounts of money become so high that it is almost meaningless – you know, what’s the difference between $10 million and $100 million? that sort of thing.

Yeah right. And why can’t we find some Canadian role models anyway?!?

(Like who? Steve-o and Muldoon?!?

On second thought, forget I said that.)

But Bill Clinton, although he might be richer than God, is after all only a mere mortal. And I also read in the Star today that there might be scientific proof of the existence of God in the next while.

GENEVA – The father of a theoretical subatomic particle dubbed “the God particle” says he’s almost sure its existence will be confirmed in the next year. British physicist Peter Higgs first postulated the existence of the particle in the makeup of the atom more than 40 years ago…

Well, I’m ahead of him. I already have proof of the existence of God, as signalled to me while out for a walk the other day…

Here is God’s work in all its splendour!

Happy Tuesday!

Actually, although it’s April it wasn’t showering yesterday – which is a good thing, because look what I found when I went out for a walk!

Lo and behold, a lace shawl… here, of all places:

OK, OK… I know I can’t fool you all that easily – especially not any of my dozen or so faithful readers who are by now bored rigid by photos of this shawl in progress.

So – might as well get right down to the specs.

Introducing: April Showers, in all her finery!!!

Pattern: heavily modified from the wonderful Hanami pattern by Melanie Gibbons. The only method to my madness in messing around with this pattern was that I had just finished the Storm Water Scarf

… and was dying to knit the Hanami but couldn’t face any more basketweave for a while. One day I will knit the pattern as written though – I love it, especially the seeming randomness of the cherry blossoms/droplets.

Yarn: Fleece Artist Italian Silk, in the Rainforest colourway. I used the better part of two skeins (each skein has 115 g and 350 m).
Needles: Addi Lace – 3.5mm and 3.75 mm

Beads: clear seed beads from Arton in Toronto – approx. 650 (I lost count).

Size: 70″ at widest part, 26″ at deepest part

Date Started: 26 March 2008
Date Completed: 3 April 2008

Notes:

– I am very challenged mathematically and so it took some time for me to figure out how to go about this. I ended up changing gears somewhat halfway through as the yarn actually grew much faster than I had thought!

– For those who have the Hanami pattern and would like to try this at home:

(a) I strung on approximately 200 beads to start. I used these for the border only. All the other beads were put on as I went with a .75mm crochet hook. (There is a very useful tutorial on how to work with beads here).

(b) I then cast on 20 stitches (the 16 stitch repeat plus two at each end for a garter stitch border). I used the beaded cast-on as per the pattern.

Isn’t it pretty?!

(c) Throughout the project I did a beaded edging by inserting one of the beads I’d strung in between the two first stitches and the two last stitches on every right-side row.

(d) I started the pattern from the bottom/end (Chart G) and did 32 rows each of Charts G, F, E, D, and C in that order, then the first 4 rows of Chart B. That’s when I started to run low on yarn and had to pack it in.

(e) My initial plan was to increase by 4 stitches every two rows by making one stitch immediately before and each border sequence on each side:

RS: K1, place bead, K1, M1 … [pattern to last 3] … M1, K1, place bead, K1.

WS: K1, place bead, K1, M1P … [pattern to last 3] … M1P, K1, place bead, K1.

However, by the time I finished Chart E (again, going backwards) I realised the shawl was growing a bit too disproportionately horizontally. For the rest of the shawl, until the last 4 rows, I only used the increase sequence on the RS. In the last four rows for some reason unknown to me, I reverted to increasing two every row as above.

I’m not sure if this resulted in the little pointy ends or not – that was not planned, nor was the downward curve of the edges. But we’ll just call that a little design feature, shall we?

(f) At the same point that I stopped increasing every row, I switched to the 3.75mm needles. This was primarily a practical call as my 3.5mm needles have a far shorter cable. I suspect, however, that that resulted in part in the little pointy ends – the top part stretched more during blocking.

(g) I started placing beads again at Chart E (74 rows in) – I wanted to create an effect of raindrops hanging in the air. At first I placed them more or less at ramdom where there was space. Later in the pattern, when the spaces between the yarnovers grew larger, I placed one or two beads in each 16-row sequence on both RS and WS, depending on where the plain stockinette spaces were. Oh – thanks to Amy, by the way, for giving me the idea to use clear beads. I like the effect!

Well, that’s more than about enough design blather from me for now, I should think. Except to say that the shawl is apparently a hit with the Brouhaha household.

Hey, even my harshest critic seems delighted!

Thinking about getting back to some mosaic work has been haunting me of late. So, I was very happy when my friend G. brought me some photos of a piece I had made for her many years back:

I had forgotten how pretty it was! Now I want it back. The piece is approximately 20 inches in diametre. To the best of my recollection, it was made using an old tabletop I found in some garbage area or other.

Speaking of garbage, I just learned about the work of Rod Humby, who is a real genius when it comes to making mosaics out of found objects. For example, this piece uses old chair backs:

This one was made using blocks stacked one on top of the other:

And this?

Everything but the kitchen sink! Anyway, check out his website,
The Joy of Shards Mosaic Resource. If you don’t immediately rush out and buy some tile grout and cover a table or two in your place after that, there’s something wrong with you.

Having said that, I won’t be able to get back to any mosaic work today. Why not? Because I started work on Project Purple yesterday and am now obsessed. Sorry, no pics: I’m thinking about trying to get it published. It should be done in the next couple of days, everything being equal.

(What’s that? You thought I was going to start on the Pheonix Rising by Sivia Harding? Hah! Approximately 23 minutes after deciding that, I changed my mind and hauled out the Silken.)

Speaking of Sivia Harding, she has just published a new pattern for the River Rock scarf, which was previously only available in the No Sheep for You book. This was my version, made last year:

This year, Sivia has outdone herself, coming up with four variations on the theme and providing a great bead tutorial as well:

The pattern is available for sale on her website. And, not to blow my own horn of fabulousness, but I have a small connection with this version: Sivia asked me if I had any suggestions about the pattern before publishing it, and has very graciously given me a credit!!

Which makes me feel all shiny and happy…

Happy Sunday!

Well, I’m in a bit of a stushie this morning, as JJ calls it.

Why? I can’t decide which project to start on next. Should it be the Muir

using Kidsilk Night:

or Phoenix Rising with Claudia Handpaints’ custom colourway “Sivia’s Hot Brick Orange”?

You can appreciate, I’m sure, what a tough choice this is. My first instinct is to go with the Muir, simply because I keep meaning to knit it but never quite get around to it.

But as I look around the house, preparing to go find the Kidsilk Night (the stash, having grown to epic proportions, is now housed in several locations throughout the apartment), I keep seeing brick orange:

Is Carmen Miranda trying to tell me something?!?

And then I spot this other piece of mine:

Hmm. And what’s this on the Globe and Mail today on the photo page?

It’s rather spooky, actually – seems as though brick orange has evolved into the only colour, taking over the world. Is this a sign?

Hey, where is that little voice coming from telling me to listen up? JJ’s at work and I’m alone here, aren’t I?

Oh. Quack has just told me that I’m being extremely selfish in even dickering over this decision, given that Phoenix Rising would go so well with his beak.

Well, that settles it – Phoenix Rising it shall be.

But hold on a minute! What about Project Purple, my top-secret design project?!

Sigh. I really must stick to my decision for once, I think. And anyone, all those brick orange must have meant something. Besides, the Phoenix Rising project has beads too!

Er… but so does Project Purple.
And orange beads to boot!

I’m so confused… well, I think I should sign off now and make my final decision.

Well, Bad Kristina is clearly holding the reins these days. I went AGAIN to the LYS today and bought two skeins of this Zephyr laceweight:

It’s the Ruby colourway. I simply couldn’t resist.

And… I felt vindicated when I came back to the office and checked the Globe and Mail website only to find this photo:

Isn’t the colour similar? Me and a cowardly bullfighter… lots in common!

Oh, and despite hanging out with these reprobates last night:

…I managed to make some progress on my April Showers. No pic today because the camera is at the office. But she’s getting quite big!

And – I do have some self-control after all when it comes to yarn. When I was at the LYS today, they had JUST had a shipment of Handmaiden stuff… sitting there on the floor, winking at me through a huge clear plastic bag, even (I swear to this) calling my name.

They told me that it couldn’t be sold yet as there was no price list. I was sorely tempted to pay for what I was buying, take out my huge keychain, bop the salesperson over the head and run with the yarn… but I didn’t. That earns me some kind of knitters’ medal, no?

Um…

No. I guess not. I do feel, however, that I will deserve a medal if I don’t rush back there tomorrow before the next PayDay (15 April) to check out the new Handmaiden wares. I have spent my yarn budget for the first half of the month (and probably have at least 10 km of yarn in my apartment as a result – including probably 5 km of Handmaiden products) and don’t have a credit card… so this shouldn’t be so difficult.

In other news, I’m having a difficulty finishing off my April Showers shawl. Tonight I just figured out why. The Italian Silk is so luxurious and soft…

Hard to knit when you have an adult blankie that you’re knitting, eh? (and perhaps this is the secret attraction of knitting. To think I made fun of my little brother who carried a piece of his blankie into his twenties teens…

sigh.

(I did catch JJ sucking his thumb with my shawl in progress as well – but he won’t allow me to publish the pics. Oh well.)

Anyway, here is a photo of the shawl – I hope to finish it by Friday …

Stay tuned…and in the meantime run, don’t walk, to find some Fleece Artist Italian Silk!!