Mmmmmm Alpaca….So happy was I with my first Eki Riva scarf that I just had to buy more… I plan to make this and this. Many thanks to Wendy for maintaining her list of free lace patterns!
Actually I have already started on the brown one. Oh ,but this yarn is lovely. Never the less I think it will have to wait until the vest is done and I think I will probably rip it out and start again with more stitches.
At least I think I do. I guess I really should double check now that I am so far along…. We took a VERY scenic route to get Jesse to work yesterday, looking at (and mostly ruling out) houses for rent along the way. At least it provided lots of knitting time.
I made these at least a week ago, I filed them safely away and promptly forgot them. I found them again today while fetching out a couple of other sets to post far, far away…. It’s so nice to think that someone far away will be enjoying my markers one day soon! Making pretty things really does make me happy, just as well I can honestly say that something makes me happy after all the doom and gloom yesterday.
Yesterday I realised that I was kidding myself (yet again) and that I really wasn’t pregnant at all (yet again) AND we got turned down for a great house that we had applied for. Blech. But amidst the misery that has been this week there have been some happy knitting discoveries. On Tuesday, after hearing that my local newsagent gets the occasional copy of Interweave, I stopped in (without much hope given how the week was going) and lo and behold there was a copy of the Spring ‘05 Interweave! I snapped it up as I love the ballet wrap on the cover and the bear claw blankie (have I mentioned that I have a thing for blankets?). Following on from this unexpected success, yesterday I tried another nearby newsagent that I NEVER go into and found the Christmas ‘04 Marie Claire Idee. I was so excited I gasped out loud and got myself some very strange looks. I have to say that there isn’t that much in the Marie Claire that does it for me, but I bought if for the scarf pattern I feel in love with last year when Froggy first posted about it - back with the mag was actually seasonal.
Last week I asked a new friend (hello Alison) if she had any 4mm needles I could borrow and she did! As soon as she handed them to me I realised that I had the exact same pair at home, well I suspected I did anyway. I still borrowed her’s just in case, but as soon as I got home I reorganised my needles and sure enough, I DO own a 4mm circ. All that whining for nothing. It’s not my favourite brand of needle, but it’s fine.
So while I was still working on decorating Isabelle’s scarf at night I have been carting my Leftovers Vest around during the day and sorting out it’s little problems. Tuesday morning, while driving Jesse to work, or rather while going along for the ride as Jesse drove himself to work, I painstakingly threaded a 3mm needle through the stitches a row or two above the ribbing. Wednesday morning in the park with Isabelle I ripped out the 3 inches or so that I had knit at the wrong gauge.
4mm’s in hand I am about to see whether I can reknit this thing right this time.
Pattern: er, pattern? what pattern?
Yarn: Eki Riva “Natal” in colour 1837
Needles: 4.5mm Addi Turbos
Not only does Isabelle like the scarf, she agreed to have her photo taken wearing it! There were actually enough good shots that I had a choice, a choice! Sadly the best shot was lost when the camera unexpectedly ran out of batteries while trying to save it but this will do. Check out the egg on her head, she fell off the couch this morning. That’s right, she gives other mothers the horrors with the things I let her do in the playground and then gets her worst egg ever falling off the couch while watching David Attenborough!
The good news: Isabelle’s scarf is done and I like it! Even better news, so does she!
The bad news: It’s upside down.
Tonight I will remove that heart and reapply it the right way up. Stay tuned, I may even get a photo of Isbaelle wearing this one.
Not many of you seemed that keen on trading cotton yarn for the stitch markers, so I have ditched that idea. However, I am still producing way more markers than I need so if you were interested (or you are interested) and you see a set you like please let me know and we can sort something out. I would love to see my markers actually used and enjoyed (and an excuse to make more). I may get really organised and make a page to display all the markers currently looking for a home, we shall see.
This is my very first scarf. Isabelle has worn her poncho three times now, each for about 5 minutes. I think she does like it but it is just not cold enough here to wear it. It many never be cold enough in Sydney for a girl as super heated as Isabelle to wear it. We shall see. But while at Target the other day it became apparent that she would like a scarf.
I wanted to go see the winter stock at Champion Textiles in Newtown so off we went. The yarn is Natal by Eki Riva, it’s 75% baby Alpaca, 18% silk and 7% polyamide. It is SOOOOOOO soft and snuggly. And absolutely foul to knit with, splity and fiddly. I have never knit with yarn of varying thickness before and I have to say I don’t like it, not this one anyway. I am quite happy to make a scarf from it but would not want to have bought a sweater’s worth. What I am considering buying a lot of is Eki Riva Sport (it’s not sport weight btw, it knits up 14 stitches to 4 inches/10cms), it looks like it would be much nicer to knit with, is nearly as soft and snuggly and comes in the same lovely colours. It’s cheaper too.
Thank you all for your thoughts about Isabelle’s hair, it has turned out to be a bit of a non event really. Despite cutting of handfuls of hair not a single person has noticed without it being pointed out to them. She was very lucky to have snipped out under layers. Or is that I am very lucky she cut the under layers of her hair? I probably care more than she does. Though she does miss her scissors.
I have made some new stitch markers.
Last time I posted my stitch markers a few of you asked if I was planning to sell them. I don’t think I really want to produce enough markers to make a business of it, but I am clearly producing WAY more markers than I need myself. So I have been thinking about this question a bit. I have also been thinking about mitered squares, a lot. I want to make a blanket in shades of pinks and purples but the range of yarns available in Australia is limited, subsequently limiting the colours available too.
I am wondering how many of you would be interested in trading yarn for stitch markers? Some of the markers are more expensive to make than others, some are in larger or smaller sets so I haven’t worked out the details yet but I am thinking that roughly I would want one skein each of two different colours for a set. If I went ahead with this plan I would post a page with the markers currently available for trade, a “colour card” of the colour range I am thinking of and gauge guidelines. Would you be interested?
