Hello there, my fine fibrous friends.
You know that saying about how even a stopped clock is right twice a day? Well due entirely to coincidental fortune, I’ve just published a pattern at what you’d probably agree is exactly the right time. How on earth did that happen, because it’s certainly not the result of meticulous planning and adherence to timetables. The Twisted clock is usually not so much stopped as chaotically unpredictable. Yet here on the cusp of autumn for us northern-hemi folk, just as one’s thoughts might realistically turn to woollier and fluffier clothing, I’ve designed some woollier and fluffier clothing. Here’s the Grapevine Scarf.
No your eyes are not deceiving you. You have seen this before. I released it in Rowan Felted Tweed DK last year. But it works well in Stylecraft Special too, and since this results in different gauge/dimensions, and uses different sized needles from its Rowan sibling, I thought I’d release this version separately, with almost all of the photos recreated in Stylecraft. Important note: if you bought the Rowan-based version (thank you lovely person!), do NOT buy this pattern! You’ll gain absolutely nothing new except an awareness that these two yarns knit to different gauges and look a bit different in photos… which you’re quite capable of figuring out on your own. But if you’re new to the Grapevine Scarf, and you fancy making it in Special DK, please step this way. If you click on this link, you can buy it on Ravelry for £3.99 or your local equivalent. The Rowan version is still available here, for the same price. Just please do NOT buy both. I didn’t really promote the Rowan version when I released it (stuff going on, wasn’t well at the time, mumble mumble…) so I’m giving both versions a little shout-out today.
Meanwhile the real grapevine that inspired the pattern (you have no idea how much time I spent staring at vine leaves and the curly tendrils the thing uses to grip) is laden with fruit. It’s been a marvellous year for grapes. I was going to take a photo of bunches of them sunlit against a blue sky, but the weather suddenly shifted today and it’s grey and mizzly drizzly. Here’s a non-beautiful photo. The fruit is sweet and delicious and will keep us in grape juice all winter long.
I love this time of the fruit- and veg-growing year, even though it’s been a crazy season with heat and droughts and even though some things haven’t done well. I’ve learned to hedge my bets growing-wise, so that whatever climatic lunacy gets hurled our way, something will flourish. As you can see, the grapes were happy as larry. Ditto the tomatoes, tromboncino squash, achocha, and leeks, amongst quite a few other things. If you want to sit down at our kitchen table to do something as unconventional as eat a meal, you’ll need to clear aside a dozen or so bowls of tomatoes awaiting their oven-roasted fate. Every week I process a load more and fill the freezer with bags of tomatoey yumminess ready for winter stews and soups. And that, my friend, is how to ensure that we’ll have a stonking big power cut this winter, ruining the lot. At which point you’ll find me in the kitchen, standing knee-deep in semi-defrosted tomato sauce and reviewing my life choices.
I’ve been running lots, too. Sometimes I run around housing estates in our nearby town. Sometimes I run a chunk of the ancient Ridgeway Trail which is often hilly and sometimes gravelly and always surprisingly hard work, but on the plus side you get to commune in your imagination with the zillions of folk who’ve passed this way over the path’s five-thousand-year existence, most of whom would demand WHY ARE YOU RUNNING WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE TO, OVER-PRIVILEGED WEIRDO FROM THE FUTURE? Also, WHAT IS THIS ‘GARMIN’ OF WHICH YOU CEASELESSLY AND RATHER TEDIOUSLY SPEAK? There are lots of old sites along the route to distract you from the fact that running hurts, such as Waylands Smithy, a five-thousand-five-hundred-year-old chambered tomb.
And last but nowhere near least, there’s been a goodish amount of knitting. I’m working on yet another pattern. But before I say any more, you should know that there are three stages of pattern design:-
- I’m so excited about this project that’s taking shape in my head. It’s going to be beautiful – my best design yet. Time to start crunching numbers for the pattern and working on knitting a sample garment. So much fun! Why don’t I quit the day job and do this all day!
- I ****ING HATE THIS! WHY DOES THIS STUPID YARN LACK EVEN BASIC RESPECT FOR THE LAWS OF PHYSICS???! I’ve re-knitted this damn thing seven times and it’s just not working. I hate yarn. I hate knitting. Maybe I’ll take up an easy-peasy hobby like bomb disposal instead. Also, gauge swatches (like toddlers and inkjet printers) can sense fear and will act up just when you most need them to behave.
- OK, reknitted sample number eight is looking MUCH better. It was worth the gazillion hours needed to iron out all those problems. I’m actually quite proud of it. Y’know, maybe I can do this.
Currently I’m immersed in stage two of the above process for my new pattern, so there isn’t any colourful yarnery to show you (although there is some very colourful language). So here’s another photo of the entrance to Waylands Smithy instead.
Until next time, my fibrous buddies. May your yarn never tangle and may you never get stuck in an early Neolithic chambered burial tomb because you were stupid enough to crawl inside whilst on a very long run and couldn’t get up again.
Oh, and here’s another link to where you can buy the pattern. Happy knitting!
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I know I said this the first time around but it really is a gorgeous pattern. Of course I absolutely promised myself that I’d finish at least one of my eight (nine?) WIPs before starting another project. But surely, one little grapevine wouldn’t hurt…
Good to see you, sadly I just started a sweater for this winter… but I’ll keep this scarf pattern in mind for my next project.
Thank you for your always inspiring post. It cheered me up no end to read it today. Not that I wish you frustration in your pattern creation, but it’s always good to hear how youcare getting on and the scarf pattern looks lovely – a potential Christmas present! Enjoy your week.
Thanks for your entertaining post! Your writing is always good for a dozen or so laughs, and quite a few chuckles too, and that’s always a good thing. You also have a way of bringing life into a bit better perspective.
The scarf looks lovely, the photos are beautiful (even the grapes on a dull day) and I look forward to your new project.
I’m glad to hear you are up and running again! The grape vines look beautiful. I know how satisfying it is to have the garden come to its fruition. I have been mowing the lawn owe so many times this summer and look forward to winding down here at last.
I have that grapevine scarf pattern and that is on my queue on ravelry. Too bad I have ADD apparently because I start so many projects at a time however, I do finish things. And by the way, did I miss your cardigan that you were working on.. I don’t know where to find it.
I hope you have a A great harvest season!
What a great surprise in my email this morning! A ray of sunshine and a chuckle. Thank you.
I love your creations with yarn. The pattern is stunning. Your stages of writing closely resemble my stages of creating. I dread the swatch. It never turns out. The instructions never tell me how to fix it. Then I have to adapt and use math and. . . . well. . . . Gage not important are my favorite patterns.
Your grapes are a masterpiece of their own. Mine never grow. I guess I’m going to have to adapt the irrigation system for them and my blueberry bushes. Again, more math and fiddling. Mother Nature now gives us droughts and monsoons, no nourishing rains.
My rural roads follow trails the Native Americans created as they traveled. Very few straight lines, meandering and curving. I love wandering. Picking flowers that naturalized after the house was abandoned. Watching the creek flow by, knowing it was a lifeline to people at one time, instead of a pleasant passtime. Not crawling into holes to explore.
I hope all is well in Twisted Towers and with its residents. You are missed. Hugs from across the pond.
I love this grapevine pattern!
And yes, climate change affects everyone, even here in the Sierra Nevada Mountains where it has made even rose growing challenging, much less ag crops.
Enjoy running over ground that’s been populated with so many other travelers! One wonders what future generations will do with the same path.
When your note arrives in my inbox box, I instantly smile. It is always good to hear from you even when you share your trials and tribulations- as well as trails! I have survived a few power outages in my time- when my activity becomes canning the frozen tomatoes over the gas stove in candle light! 🍅 Best wishes!
It is always such a treat to read your posts. Laughs and commiserations along the way.
But, you are always so energetic and keep juggling so many things – running, parenting, working, gardening, designing, knitting, math-ing. After reading this, I’m now exhausted just thinking about your day, and it is gloomy, gray and getting ready to rain, so I must go have a lie-down, maybe a full-blown nap.
Rainy or not, that was still a beautiful picture of the grapes. Glad that you got to go for a run and that you didn’t stay stuck in the tomb. Here’s to an easier go at the knitting!
Always so enjoy your posts. Congrats on the new pattern and best of luck with the current “problem child” one – you’ll wrangle it into submission I’m sure. Well done on the veggie growing and fingers crossed against a power cut – that would be horrendous!
Just yesterdayI was wondering if you and the Twisted family were okay and here you are.
The idea that one only buys patterns when about to cast on makes me laugh. One buys them when the urge strikes. That’s how I have a ream size stack of projects waiting patiently for their turn…which rarely arrives. Someone has to keep the pattern writers fed.
I hope all the medical problems. At Twisted Towers are sorted with excellent outcomes.
Thank you for a lovely post. I really needed the distraction today. Lots of love from Canada!!
There you are! So nice to hear from you again. Hope all is well with you and yours.
I had to laugh at your pattern creation angst. I go through the same thing — and the pattern isn’t even mine! — I kind of commandeer them. For instance, I’m working on Lucy’s latest at the moment, but I don’t really like square blankets, and I needed to make it bigger to fit the person’s simply enormous bed, and I decided to add some bobble rows, because who doesn’t like bobbles? Fifth time was finally the charm. One yarn pack turns into probably thtee by the tme I’m finished. I’m loving the way its turning out, but why can’t I just follow the pattern?
Your garden is enviable. All that hard work you put in is paying off! I’ve been hearing about drought problems on your side of the pond. Did you have to deal with any of that? I find it so hard to comprehend that rainy, lush, abundant-with-water, divinely green England suffers from drought — ever.
The grapes, and the arbor, are beautiful. So lovely. I imagine it is quite a nice place to be of a pleasant weekend afternoon.
You went IN the tomb?!? Shudder. You’re a far braver woman than I.
Sending blessings and goodwill your way from SoCal.