Let’s talk about the Shetland Shawl. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?
It’s not been neglected, though.

See that? The centre square is finally approaching completion. Just 10 rows to go. Can I get a hip hooray!?!
Then I get to make another border. And another, and then another. But it’s coming along nicely.
I got mail today. I love mail days!
After dithering for ages, I finally succumbed and placed an order with The Loopy Ewe. Now I don’t know why I waited so long.
My first order was reasonably modest, just to test out the service.

But a nice one, nonetheless. 2 skeins of Louet Gems Merino Fingering weight in Eggplant. This is for the gorgeous Cookie A Twisted Flower sock pattern. To pad out the order a bit, I ordered some Stitch Keepers and a Loopy Ewe “Knit Notes for Socks” book.
This book is so cool. Inside there are pages where you can list details for your favourite sock yarns, your favourite sock patterns, details of your sock recipients, favourite yarn stores and blogs and podcasts. I love it!
And as if all that weren’t enough, there was a little bonus gift in the package.

A little set of needle inventory cards, and some yarn samples.
Is that awesome service or what? And in addition to all that, the postage rates were really good. That’s a big factor for me when I’m deciding whether to order from an international vendor. If you’re ordering from Australia, the website automatically charges you $US16 for shipping, but if the actual rate is less than that, Sheri only charges you actual shipping.
And on top of that, if your postage works out more expensive, they still only charge you $US16.
Bargain!! I’m seriously thinking about starting these socks, but I’m going to finish something else first.
Well, I’ll try!
It’s raining again. Twinkie is a little ticked at the weather lately. She’s not been able to go outside as much as she’d like. This morning she decided she was going out, bad weather or not.

She also decided that she wanted to relax and have a lie down outside. In the mud. That brown streak down her front?
Mud.

Okay, it’s time to get everything back to some kind of normal. Or at least, approaching normal. (Which is about as close as we get most times, anyway!)
Grandma’s funeral service was lovely, and all of you who said the service would help were right.
The knitting has suffered, but I promise that there has been some going on.
No Saturday sky this week (we spent it in a freezing school hall, watching children of various sizes dance about the stage), but here’s a Sunday sky instead.

More rain! Months ago, I swore that I’d never compain about the rain because we needed it so badly. I may go back on that promise if it keeps up like this.
This is also the excuse for any crappy pictures I’m about to show. There’s no decent light for pictures, I’m afraid.
The socks have been tossed on the UFO pile in a temper. BlueADT and I have decided to work on them together, toe-up, in a few weeks. Surely this time it’ll all go well.
Famous last words!
Emily has been dropping hints like anvils about wanting a new scarf for school, so I decided to start work on that when the socks went off track. I’d ordered some Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in Navy from Janette’s Rare Yarns, and was going to design something myself, but then I saw Elbac in Knitty, and decided it was too nice to stuff about with.

Navy blue cables on a dreary day… Not so good for pictures! One of 63 repeats done. Don’t hold your breath waiting for it guys! I love Cashmerino. And Em is pretty impressed with it, too. She just wants me to knit it more quickly.
The main thing I’ve been working on is the pink/purple baby cardi.

One back, two fronts.

Two blurry sleeves, up to the raglan shaping. I’d like to say I hope to finish it this week, but I’ve got another busy one coming up. And if I say I plan to finish it, it just won’t happen.
So I won’t say it. I might just hope it, quietly.
I was emailing Amanda earlier in the week, and Roxie was mentioned. As I was answering her email, I looked over at the doll, and the photo opportunity was too good to ignore.

She’s made herself right at home!

Thank you everybody for all the kind words and notes and messages about my Grandma, they have been all greatly appreciated.
I am a little surprised at quite how hard it has hit me. As I said, it wasn’t unexpected, her health had been failing for some time, and her memory had completely failed her, to the extent that it would upset her greatly that she couldn’t remember anything, and she wasn’t herself at all anymore.
Her funeral is tomorrow afternoon, and I’m hoping that the sunshine that is appearing today will hold out until then, although the weather lady is telling me it will rain. Again. Appropriate, but unwanted.
In other news, this is the knitting post I was preparing when the call came to go to the hospital on Saturday night.
The knitting has been suffering of late, mainly due to sewing. In particular, this.

This is Roxie.
She’s Em’s new dance partner. She has yet to grow hair, a face and some clothing, but she’s been keeping me kind of busy. She’s pretty much the same height as Emily, and we yet to find somewhere to store her in our tiny little house. She took me most of last week to make.
Late last week I also got my act together and finished the cream baby cardi.

I attached the white buttons, but included a little bit of yarn and the yellow buttons, in case baby’s mum likes them better.
And the pick baby cardi has been largely ignored. So much for a quick knit!


The back is done, the fronts begun.
Over the past couple of days, I’ve been knitting, and thinking of Grandma while I knit. I’ve been working on the Lupine Lace socks, but last night I hit a snag.

They look good, they fit well, I’m happy with them.
But I’m starting to think the yarn is cursed. I got up to this point last night, then decided I’d better weigh the remaining yarn. Yeah.
I’ve used 41g of a 100g ball. I’m going to run out of yarn. Dammit. (That’s mild compared to what I said last night).
I think it is going to be put aside in a temper tantrum.
I’m pretty sure that whatever I end up using it for will be toe-up. I may adapt this pattern, because I like it. Has anyone adapted Monkey for toe up yet? Yes, I’m lazy, we’ve been over this.
Let’s hope that the yarn is even better after being knit a fourth time.
I have also been working on the Shetland Shawl, but pictures later. I have only 35 rows left of the centre square. Woo Hoo! Then I need to knit three more borders, but lets not think of that today.
And speaking of exqusite, inspiring lace, have you seen missalicefaye‘s Wedding Ring Shawl? It’s gorgeous, no other words for it.
And I feel so much better that it took her seven months to knit. I wish I’d got a copy of the pattern, although after this one it may be some time before I tackle another one!

My grandmother taught me how to knit.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before. She was more of a crocheter than a knitter, though. I inherited my love of yarn from her, if not the method of working the yarn.
My most vivid memory of her teaching me was when I tried to teach myself to rib. I was pretty young, but in trying to change from knit to purl, I’d been passing the yarn over the needles instead of under, and I couldn’t figure out what I’d done wrong to double my stitch count and end up with a row of holes. Once a lace knitter, always a lace knitter, I guess.
I remember watching her pull needles out of her knitting and just rip out mistakes, then pop all the stitches back on the needle. I was amazed, sure that I’d never be able to do that.
And I remember watching her knit, the needles flying while mine moved painstakingly slowly. I also knew I’d never, ever be that fast.
Most of her knitting was done in cheap 8 ply (DK) acrylic. It’s no less valuable for that. Emily has a large white shawl that Grandma crocheted while I was pregnant. She also crocheted some lovely baby things for her, which I’ve since passed on to other babies.
Up until about 2 years ago, when her arthritic fingers and failing memory betrayed her, she was still crocheting lap rugs for the disabled, and anyone else who wanted one. She was proud when she told me that the centre liked hers best, because they were just the right size and they didn’t get caught in the wheels of the wheelchairs.
I can pull my needles out of my knitting and confidently frog it now, then put all the stitches back on the needle, and I can knit quickly, and I wish I’d never given away those baby things.
She passed away around midnight last night. It wasn’t unexpected, we were all with her, and it was peaceful. We were reminiscing around her bedside when she took her last breath. She’d been suffering with a chest infection, and it was hard to listen to her struggling for each breath.
She’d struggled for a great many things in her life, but she doesn’t have to any more.
Thank you, Grandma.

Finished object alert!
Actually, I finished this quite a while back, not long after I started it, and blogged about it here. Then it sat in the knitting basket for ages, just waiting to be blocked. Then it sat on the dining table, blocked, awaiting it’s debut.
Yes, I’m a slacker.

It’s the Jo Sharp Tweed Beret from Knit 3.
Specs: Pattern as above. Adapted to be knit in the round instead of knit flat and seamed.
Yarn: Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed in “Potpourri”, purchased from Ozeyarn. Great service!
I’m happy with it! I haven’t actually worn it outside of these photos yet, but I will.
And another FO!

A poxy picture, but I took about 50, and this one was the best. I may have exaggerated just a tiny bit.
My scarf is done, but I haven’t blocked it.
I’m a slacker, see above. I had the camera out, I’d just finished it, so I took the pictures.
This was made from the Rooster Almerino that I won from Yarn Magazine.
Specs:
Pattern: Made up on the fly. Cast on 20 sts, Knit 5 rows.
Next Row: Sl1, *YRN, P2tog, rep from * to last stitch, K1.
Rep that row until you’re nearly out of yarn, Knit 5 rows.
Yarn: 2 balls of Roster Almerino Aran in Strawberry Cream.
Needles: 6mm.
There is also another Finished Object, but I’m saving that for another post. And it’s not the baby cardi!
On the other hand, the sock.

I’d like to say that’s the start of the second sock, but it’s not.
It’s shrunk.
I got all the way to the heel flap, and a realisation came over me. The 2mm needles I was using were too small.
This is the second sock I started with this yarn, and the first ones just weren’t right. It took this long to realize that it wasn’t the pattern, it was the needles.
I always use 2mm needles for socks!
So I ripped it out and restarted on 2.5mm needles. Much better! And I’m pleased to announce that frogging The Knittery’s Merino Cashmere sock yarn has no ill effects on the yarn at all, in fact, it feels even softer the third time around!