Knitting
Although I haven’t been blogging, I have been knitting. I finally finished my Maltese stole from Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby. I can’t tell you how happy I am to have this stole completed. I’ve been working on it entirely too long. I made it of Jaggerspun Zephyr in Lady Slipper Pink on #6 needles, and when I got it dressed, it was 108X30″. It’s a little larger than the one in the book. Anyway, it’s done.
This has been a hard stole to make. It’s not that the pattern was hard; it’s really quite simple to do. Everything else in my life has been hard, though, since I started it last June. The pattern in the magazine and the pattern in the book are different, so that caused me some concerns, and the book has some errors in it. In the instructions for the border, it tells you to use the chart for the body of the stole. Stupid mistake, but it might throw someone. More importantly, while I was making it, my mother died after a two year illness. Then there was all the business of straightening out and dividing up her estate. At the same time, my daughter has been under a real strain. Her husband has been suffering from kidney failure for six years, and he just last week got his transplant from his twin brother. It turned out that he and his brother were identical, as everyone thought, and now her husband doesn’t have to do all those anti-rejection drugs, etc. The whole thing has turned out wonderfully, but it was awful for a very long time. Seeing my daughter struggle heroically with all the uncertainty affected me more than you’d think. I think that’s reflected in the problems I had with this stole. So this stole has seen me through some trying times. It calmed my nerves many days, but there were times I wasn’t concentrating and created a lot of trouble for myself on it too. One of my friends told me I should call it my success stole simply because it is evidence that I made it through all that. I guess it is.
Since I’ve finished the Maltese, I’ve gone back to working on my Spirit of the Southwest shawl by Evelyn Clark from Fiber Trends. It has been a fun knit, and while I put it away for a while, I’m enjoying it now. I did put my new Knitpicks Options needles in it, and I’m enjoying that. The points are sharp without being silly about it. I really like the feel of the needles, and I love the cable not being curly! Unfortunately, I’m using the ruby Zephyr color, and that’s a color that’s almost the same color as the cable on the Options needles. (You might know I’d choose that color to try those needles on for the first time.) I have been pleasantly surprised to discover that the needle points aren’t too slick after all. I thought they might be a real problem for me. If I have to count stitches on the cable, I’ll have to put a white towel down in my lap to see them, I guess.
I did have one mishap with the Knitpicks Options needles. I managed to lose one of the little keys that you use to tighten the points onto the cables. I could not hold onto those the first day I got them, and I thought then that I’d manage to lose them sooner or later. Guess what? It’s sooner. Well, one down and one more to go. I cannot find it. I got my husband to look for it too, and we just couldn’t see it anywhere. They really need to put a piece of brightly colored plastic on the end of that little key just so people can find them if they do drop them. I may be down to using something else if I lose the one I still have.
I have also knitted some dishcloths. I did this one some time ago, but I hadn’t had time to put it up. This is a great project for practicing short rows in knitting. If you ever have a need for short rows, you’ll be glad you did this cloth.
This is called the Four Corners Dishcloth. You can get the pattern here. Variegated yarns look wonderful in this pattern.
I have also fiddled with some knitting from Domino Knitting by Vivian Høxbro. The knitting is easy and interesting, but I’m not sure I like doing it in kitchen cotton. The seams seem too bulky. I’m still working on it now and then.
I also finished my blue raglan sweater. Got the buttons on it at long last, and I actually wore it one day here. Unfortunately, our weather has turned warmer, and it was a little too warm to wear out that day. Since then, I haven’t had one single day when I could wear it.
Books I’m Reading
I finished Patrick O’Brian’s The Commodore, and I’m well into his The Yellow Admiral now. I notice that I’m slowing down on my reading as I get to the end of this series. I’ll really hate to find I’m on the last book. The story continues to interest and amaze me. I think my husband may be relieved to know that the series is ending. He is a bit tired of my questions like, “What’s a potto?” late in the evening. I did find it when I got a chance to get to my computer and look it up. What did we ever do without the internet?
In the afternoons when I’m knitting, I’ve been listening to Outlander on cds. I find it makes the knitting zip by, and I enjoy so much hearing that story again.