Frode

I couldn’t help myself. When I saw they were selling Sirdar Escape (colour 180 'Fury') for £2 a ball in the Agora, Bletchley, I had the ‘quickening’. The term is taken from the film ‘Highlander’ when another immortal’s energy is absorbed, but in my case I use it when I find a yarn I fall in love with. I find my energy is increased, my eyes grow larger, my pupils dilate and pulse increases and I become a little breathless, brimming with creativity and life!!! No thunderbolts and electrical surges though, which is good... my hair's frizzy enough. Had I just left the yarn in the bargain bin, I would have been haunted by it’s beauty and a still small voice saying 'buy me... buy me..' until I’d finally given in and make an extra trip back to the shop. The colours got me…. Beautiful, rich, changing… **swoon**. I like to knit using circular needles for large projects, so ordered 4.5mm this morning but couldn't wait to get started!

The pattern is taken from the book ‘Viking Patterns for Knitting’ by Elsebeth Lavold. I’m changing it slightly, adding an extra ‘St John’s Cross/Happiness symbol’ to make it longer, and exchanging the ribbing for erm, something else… tassels maybe or something crocheted, I haven’t quite decided. The sleeves with be a complementary purple, as the yarn is unpredictable in it's colour changes and I didn't want the sleeves to be too different. I'm changing the shape of the sleeves too, I'll do a flared design with knotwork in the Escape yarn. I'm going to use a piping by a knitting nancy (pic:) around the neckline too instead of the ribbing.

So that’s five unfinished projects going on at the moment! That’s my limit.

Knitting

So my first two blog entries contained stuff about winter blues and having a poorly colon… not wishing to sound like a moaning minnie, I’d better start uploading some nice creative stuff that’ll make you smile!

I’m an artist at heart, but having a little one means it’s not always practical to get messy paints out. Some of my artwork takes ages to dry, and it’s just way too tempting for him to sabotage! So, as a compromise I ventured into some serious knitting! Easy to put up out the way when little fingers are about! I also found it extremely relaxing to do whilst pregnant.

Here’s some I made earlier!

Tee hee, bless him! My youngest modelling a simple cardi design, using old yarn from my mother's stash (about 20 years old!):

Finished! Robin DK in brown, and the mixed colours are three yarns together; the DK, ladder yarn (gives a nice twinkle in the light) and Wendy's Frizzante. Extremely soft and tactile. Yum!

It's even lined! At last I can use it!

Not sure about this flower, it's a bit twee for me:

Handspun yarn from Lofty Lou's Yarn shop in Placerville CA, mixed with Paton's Baroque. Dragonfly was made from scratch; threaded beads and wings made from angelina heat-sealed between two sheets of acetate:

I wore this chunky knit to death, it went beyond bobbling, but it was only 3 years old. Bad experience of yarn:

I knitted this shawl with only one ball of ladder yarn… showed my bump off lovely!:

After doing a search on ‘celtic knotwork knitting patterns’ I came across this photo of an Alice Starmore design called ‘St. Brigid’and instantly fell in love. My heart rate increased, pupils dilated, knitting fingers itched and I started to drool. I wanted the pattern bad:

After some searching visiting sites and forums, it appeared the book was quite elusive, now out of print. I begged virtual yarns.com for a copy of just the one pattern, but was told ‘no’. Grr. Second hand copies of the book ‘Aran Knitting’ sell for around £180 no less! Stuff that, I thought. I rolled my sleeves up and was up for a challenge. I learnt, quite easily, how to cable for free online. And I plotted a chart myself. So ner. It’s not exact, but close enough!

Now, for my husband, the original pattern is too fussy, so I simplified the look by only doing one panel of the cabling. I figured that seeing this was my first try at a cabled pullover, I could be forgiven for not jumping in the deep end and doing all the plaits etc, in the original!

I'm knitting this using Patons Diploma Gold DK in Airforce Blue 6169, 4mm bamboo circular needles. Using circular needles means there's no weight to carry on them, it slides down and the work remains light. I often use circular for larger work.

I've nearly finished the frount now and will start sleeves soon. I have two other projects (childs chunky knit pullover and an arty mixed yarn poncho) on the go, so it'll take a while! I like to have 'easier/quicker' projects to break up a large timely project.

I do want to endeavour to make a similar one to the original at a later date for me. In a nice dark green, me thinks!