Just over a month ago I was spinning a beautiful braid of Wensleydale fibre from The Thylacine’s November fibre club, and I’m happy to say that I’ve finished. Being a longwool (and a Google image search will make the meaning of that term abundantly plain) it has a lovely sheen and a good deal of strength. It’s not as soft as a shorter fibre like merino, but it’s very hard-wearing. I haven’t the faintest idea what I’ll make with it, but am quite happy to admire the skeins for now.
Where I live it’s getting darker, colder and snowier—just the setting for curling up with a book and a hot drink. The brains behind the advertisements for Carte Noire (an instant coffee, two words which should never exist in the same sentence) think so too. They’ve got Dominic West, Greg Wise and Dan Stevens to sit and read book extracts of ten to fifteen minutes in length. If you can ignore the occasional soft-focus shots of coffee mugs and focus on a) the wonderful prose and b) the lovely men reading them, I think you’ll enjoy these little videos. I know I did. Here is the link; I recommend Dominic West’s reading of a certain infamous scene from Pride and Prejudice in particular.
It’s been months since I last showed you a finished knit (my change-ringing scarf was the last, back in February!), so it’s high time for a new one. I have, in fact, been knitting during these quiet months, but my knitting luck’s been quite out and I’ve ended up unravelling most of what I’ve made. It’s frustrating to have to do it, but it’s even worse to have useless clothing in one’s wardrobe. Over the past few days I’ve done a serious clear-out of said wardrobe, filling several bin-bags with the aforementioned useless clothing, which will go to charity shops, and will hopefully be useful to someone else. I now feel like I have a clean sartorial slate on which to build. I also have more space, which is even better.
But, all this industriousness aside, I promised a finished knit, so here is my version of Kelmscott.
Kelmscott by Carol Sunday
I used 5.5 balls of Cascade 220 in Silver Gray and 4.5mm needles.
My Ravelry project page
This is a perfect cardigan. I saw it in the Winter 2009 issue of Twist Collective and knew I had to make it as soon as possible. I knew I should consider the matter sanely, and did so for about five seconds before buying the pattern and moving swiftly on to yarn selection. The pattern calls for a light worsted weight angora/merino yarn, but it’s not available in the UK and I find angora too hot and ticklish. I swatched and settled for an old stalwart: Cascade 220, which I knew would make a warm, cosy garment that would also last.
I lengthened the body and sleeves to suit my longer torso, and added an extra button. I also worked a simple crocheted buttonband instead of the loops in the pattern as written (I tried them, but they gaped too much, and my covered buttons looked “blobular” according to a sibling). The lace on the collar and fronts involves patterning on both sides, which requires concentration, but since much of the rest is reverse stocking stitch, there was plenty of mindless knitting.
The result is everything I’d hoped for: warm and cosy but elegant and stylish. It’s great for the season, especially the chilly evenings we’ve been having, and I have no problem with outfit selection because I don’t really want to wear anything else! It’s a worthy addition to my newly minimised wardrobe.
It’s official: I love spinning. The great thing about using a spindle is that it’s so portable; it takes up hardly any space so it’s okay to stop right in the middle of something, shove it in a bag, and forget about it for a while. If I had a wheel… but let’s not go there. I once thought I would never spin, so I won’t be making any resolutions about not-owning-a-wheel lest I be proved completely wrong again.
The purple-grey merino (from The Thylacine, in the Kinvarra Estate colourway) above is half spun up, and I’ve been making little doll-sized jumpers with the resulting yarn (photos soon). I may use the other half for something for myself, but we’ll wait and see.
At the moment, I’m spinning another braid of fibre from the November instalment of The Thylacine’s fibre club. (My birthday was a few weeks ago and I decided it would make an ideal present, since the gift goes on for several months and there’s an element of surprise in the type of fibre and the colours.) It’s Wensleydale, which is a lustrous long-stapled wool with some similarities to mohair. The browns, oranges, golds and dull grey-blue remind me strongly of autumn leaves against autumn skies – or at least, the autumn skies here in England! I’m still not quite used to the early evenings and chilly weather, although they’re a knitter’s delight.
I hardly know what I’ll make with it eventually, but then that’s not really the point, is it?
Oops! My RSS feed was broken, and I don’t know for how long. It’s fixed now.
Other than that, if you have a few minutes to spare today I’d highly recommend watching the video of Alexander McQueen’s Spring 2010 Ready To Wear collection, entitled “Plato’s Atlantis” (and I love that this is meant to be “ready to wear”! Ha!). It’s beautiful, bizarre, weird, terrifying (in that I was scared for the models in those fantastic shoes) and wonderfully inspirational. There are cameras on robotic arms, too – what’s not to like?
I tend to keep a close eye on the world of the catwalk, and while there are many things to dislike about that world, there are some designers who make outfits that are more art than clothing. I hope we never lose that. McQueen is among my favourites, but I’d put Gareth Pugh, John Galliano and Christian Lacroix at the top of the list.
Summer is not my most productive time of year. I don’t know why this is, but ever since the weather’s been getting cooler I’ve been just itching to do and make. I won’t over-analyse it, but I’m glad that I’m feeling more enthusiastic.
Witness the results (both are works in progress, but both are well on the way towards completion!):
Aeolian shawlette, just pinned out to dry.
Some of my handspun being knitted into a doll-sized cardigan.
