Well thank you for your lovely comments on the Yarn’s first problem page. If I can make you smile/guffaw/spew coffee uncontrollably through your nose all over the cat, then my work here is done. Would you like a tissue?
Meanwhile, back to the knitting. I was hoping to ta-da (yes that is a verb – as of right now: one of my friends works in new words at the Oxford English Dictionary, so I have unlimited power of neologisms via her) my Yarnstories hat and mitts today, but I haven’t quite finished the hat. Still, given the sub-arctic conditions in our house, the mitts have come in pretty – and you’ll pardon the pun – handy whilst I work on the hat.
Do you knit cables? It’s been a while since I cabled anything, and I’d forgotten how enjoyable it is to use that wonky little needle (the blue one in the picture above) to create a lay-by where some of your stitches idle whilst others overtake. That’s all cables are, really: laybys (Is that a word outside the UK?) and overtaking. Anyway, my stitches have almost raced and swerved their way to the very top of my hat: photos and yarn review to follow, pronto.
Wouldn’t it be fun to create a sort of random, anarchic cabled design where pairs of stitches speed, swerve, and overtake each other almost at random? Designs are forming in my twisted mind… I see monochrome patterns of cabled lawlessness, knotting their way across the left-hand side of a large knitted panel, whilst the right-hand side of the panel is plain stockinette. Damn, why are there not more knitting hours in the day? (And night?) One day soon, I will make this panel…
<At this point, there is a pause in this blog post. Feel free to go and grab yourself a biscuit.>
After several minutes of inactivity, pencil poised idle above my paper (yes, I draft all my posts on paper before typing them up, because keyboards and screens kill my creativity and bonkersness stone dead), I realized that I really couldn’t think of a good way to link in to the second half of this post. So instead, here’s a clumsy and abrupt change of subject. People, friends, it’s late January, and if you’re in the northern hemisphere, you’ll be in dire need of colour, I fear? For it’s a grey old world out there right now. (Southern hemisphere peeps, imagine it’s July.) So here is some of the colour that’s been brightening our days, here at the brewery. First, there are tulips from Selma at EclecticHomeAndLife. I love flippy-floppy-flappy tulips.
Making lists in the blank pages of my Dan Bennett diary:-
Sunset whilst visiting friends and their newborn in west Oxfordshire:-
And deep purple blueberries in fresh-baked muffins.
I hope that something in this post has made you smile. ‘Til next time, m’dears…
The good old way to write down a draft on a sheet of paper using a nice old fashioned pen or pencil….. THAT’S IT !!!! Phil,you just gave me the key solution to calm down my buzzing mind…. thank you soooooooooooooooo much!!!
Your posts are always lovely. You don’t need to change what you do. 🙂
Oh,you’re too kind!!! I’m always in a kind of rush and need to calm down sometimes indeed 🙂 Pen and paper sound perfect for.. 🙂
Oh my, the colour was always gorgeous for the mitts and hat, but in that top photograph it positively zings with colour. You are pushing me closer and closer to picking up my knitting needles again…
Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. Do it. DO IT!
Those are some lovely handwarmers 🙂 I don’t really think that they need blocking, but it’s your choice 🙂 I love the way you describe cables 🙂 I don’t bother with a cable needle these days (too many trips to knitsoc with just my cabled cardigan to work on, and no cable needle!)
I know, all the cool kids can cable without cable needles, but, well, I’m not cool. If I try to cable without a needle, I work the stitches far too loosely, because I’m scared of pulling the idle stitches out whilst I work the active ones. (Does that make sense? Do you have a solution? Please? I want to be one of the cool kids…)
How do you try cabling without a needle? I swap the stitches all over, and then knit them. That way they aren’t hanging around loose to be pulled out.
I know just what you mean about ideas and designs flooding the brain – the problem for me is I will start something, then get another brainstorm, start that, get another brainstorm, and so on. Sometimes I think I need to either clone myself, or just say damn it, and get a personal knitter – after all people have personal shoppers. Love the color – we have another major snow storm headed for the Great Lakes, and it’s going to be weeks before I see any green spiky things pushing up.
I think you should get a personal knitter. Remember all those Renaissance artists who employed junior artists to do the actual work on their paintings whilst they just floated about being generally fabulous? Well, that needs to be you. 🙂
Those cupcakes make me :-)!
There are still two left………..
Did you knit the fairisle skirt you’re wearing too? I like the colours in that.
Yes. Ages ago. And it’s been worn and worn almost to death. I keep meaning to do a post about it. But I’ll be doing another one with a different design soon, and I’ll post about that.
I bought tulips at the weekend and thought they’d go all floopy. But they haven’t. First tulips I’ve ever had in a vase that didn’t go floppy. Anyway – knitting cables. Yes I have and am also currently knitting cables. I hate those cable needles though; especially the type you are using; I prefer a straight cable needle if I have to use any. Unless I’m using extremely fine yarn or needing to hold more than 4 stitches on a cable needle (or in the layby) I prefer to do the cable without using a cable needle.
I’m so impressed by all the cool kids who can cable without a needle. Sadly, I can’t. Or daren’t. sigh.
It not only makes me smile, I start humming inside
Awww, thank you. I’m glad of that.
Love the purple colour and your diary and pen – gorgeous:-)
Thank you. And we need to talk jeans. Because I want to do something that you really really like.
Yep – send me an email or we can chat about it Tuesday?
Yeah no segue points there Ms Twisted but bonus points for making me think you were knitting yourself a pair of cable knickers to go with those mitts. Terrified of cable and thinking about straying from an already terrifying pattern to go all free style on cables derriere is madness, bordering on those French guys that base jump or climb up buildings with only their bare hands (and feet) and no safety harness. MADNESS I tells ya! It’s cold this morning. I am thinking that maybe Sidmouth has gone out in sympathy with her northern namesake. You just reminded me to pick some more blueberries Ms Twisted. Cheers for that. You enjoy making those free style cable knickers and don’t blame me if they ride up!
Yup, absolutely zero segue points. KNICKERS?! Yikes, I don’t think so. It may be cold (really cold) here, but…. just, no.
My thoughts may have been clouded by the episode of “Come dine with me” that I watched last night where one of the group had a pair of red jingly knickers with bells on for Christmas. I thought you might be knitting some cable “dacks” to keep your nether regions toasty warm. No? Ok… (but that won’t stop me thinking about them 😉 )
“Red jingle knickers” sounds so very very wrong. I daren’t enquire further.
No need to imagine it’s July. It’s cold enough for the fire here, as grey as winter and the rain that just started has destroyed my plans of gardening for the day. NOT a happy camper but your colours have cheered me up somewhat. 🙂 I’m on the hook instead of the sticks at the moment. Just learned (FINALLY) to crochet and, pun totally intended, completely hooked. 😀
Oh I do love those cabled gloves unblocked! Gorgeous color! And your skirt!!!! Wow. Ditto on the writing blog posts on p.a.p.e.r. And drawing on paper (as opposed to digitally, which I have done a good bit of and it just isn’t anywhere near as fun). I don’t guess we can knit with paper? Raffia is about as close as I have come to that.?
Such a great idea to draft posts on paper. I think I may have to give it a try!