Gossamer Garden Stole, a few words

To say the least, I am so thrilled to find that so many fellow knitters faved the Gossamer Garden Stole! The pattern will go live on 1st September on PopKnits. Before that, I think I shall talk a little bit about my yarn choice.

As it is shown on my project page, the stole is knitted with both Rowan Scottish Tweed 4ply, and Rowan Harris Tweed 4ply.  For those of you who know this yarn, you know they are essentially the same yarn, and they have the same shade number, the same shade name.  That’s why only Scottish 4ply tweed is put as yarn used for the project on the pattern page. However, as you can imagine, yarns I have used are in two different dye lots, and have slightly different shades.  The colour differences are almost not shown from any photos I took.  I’d like to clarify that it is not my intention to use different dye lots, just that I couldn’t locate Harris Tweed anymore (for obvious reason!) when I run out of yarns, so I subbed with the Scottish Tweed.

And why Scottish Tweed? The simplest answer is, I love the shade! I’d claim the lavender my favourite purple of all time.  It may not be a conventional choice for lightweight stole/shawl, its fuzziness makes me consider the best match for this particular stole, reminds me of seeing spider web in a hazy day.  Indeed Rowan’s Kidsilk Haze will yield a similar image, yet, I’d like to work this stole on a more easygoing yarn, because I know I’d knit and reknit for numerous times, before I settled into this pattern.  In addition, I’d like to knit a stole with extra volume! Moneywise, KSH/KSN could be cheaper for this project than Scottish Tweed.

If you want a warm yet airy stole like me, go for any 4ply wool blend yarn that pleases you most. If you don’t like hazy outlook, and prefer a clean touch, go for Zephyr silk-wool or any laceweight/cobweight yarn you like. 🙂

Thank you for your kind words.

That’s it for now.

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More on Heartening, and FOs

I know I will thank myself for keeping knitting notes, the sole purpose of this blog–I shall keep this blog alive! here are notes of the week.

*Few notes on Heartening

Last week, I wonder if I should knit another “Heartening”, so I can show you the slightly different version with the heart jointed. What harm can be done for just one more vest? Or better, making “Heartening” as a puff-sleeved, collared top just like Number 22 from the latest Vogue Knitting? I do have Soft Tweed in Twig enough for a sleeved top! I cast on after I found myself couldn’t sleep one night.

Making “Heartening” is fun. But even though the whole process is lovely, it would become dull had I gone through the same procedure again. I eventually didn’t survive the waistline and had my mind changed: Twig is a lovely shade and it would suit my boyfriend perfectly! Why didn’t I just do that but play with the same pattern?

Indeed so. I stopped after the waist shaping. But since I was with the WIP, I may as well knit a semi-swatch to show you the different Row 18 of the heart shaped cable pattern. The one on the right is Row 18* and the one on the left is Row 18. This semi-swatch is unblocked, so it looks a bit ugly, but enough to show their differences (I put some notes directly onto this shot on my flickr, please click to link to my flickr if needed).

If you like Row 18* more and you knit from the chart, please also read the pattern instruction first! The chart is showing the effect seeing from the right side, however, you will need to knit Row 18 from the wrong side!

And two picture showing FO done months ago.

It seems I have the tendency to take photos after FOs are wore, and got felted? I post these pictures on my flickr first, but only manage to blog them here now. I am quite surprise to know people love the Highland Stockings! It’s absolutely gorgeous! It is quite a pity that Rowan didn’t provide a chart but with written instruction only. Moreover, Rowan put the skill level as most difficult one. Certainly reading the pattern is punishing to me so, as I put in another post, I charted them out when I decided to knit the stockings. I was convinced that had them put up charts the pattern would be popular.

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Squirrels!!

Seeing squirrels bumping around tress is a common scene in London, but not so easy to spot in my neighbourhood. Ours is more of a sea bird heaven, with birds of various species liven up dock sides. So you can probably imagine how exciting I was when I see a squirrel “walking” in our communal garden last Friday, when I was heading for the local bus stop. That was a beautiful day, and this little creature cheered me up!!

I feel so gloomy this week so far, so I decided some squirrels on a new blythe dress will cheer us up! Doing so will refresh my memory of seeing the first ever squirrel in our yard!

My memory told me that I’ve got a vintage pattern (circa 1920s) with cute squirrels on it but I can’t find it anywhere near me!!! Charting by myself? A fantastic idea indeed but gosh, I would spend the whole day just to play with it because it’s fun! Such an indulgence is of course not allowed this month! so I did a google search on the web and find the cutest squirrels pattern ever (the pattern is on the side bar)!

Here’s the dress, just off the needles:

KK is so pleased to be the first to wear it, but she thinks this dress is best for an autumn stroll, and even better if I could take a photo of her with our garden squirrel… How can this be possible in a rainy day, dear? The dress is reversible, but the day is, again, too dark, so I’ll take more photos when I blocked it and, at the same time, too see if we’ve got brighter days this week.

This is a sleeveless dress in oatmeal with 4 little chocolaty squirrels bouncing around. It is knitted with tweed and a little bit of merino. It is decorated with crocheted flounce fringe, using the same colour as squirrels. A vintge button serves as a closure.

This one is available for sale. We’ve got too many knitty items and my girls are all satisfied by just trying them. (they much prefer to have their photos on my flickr that draw compliments, saying how cute they are! :D) So I think we won’t have problem parting this one. I’ll update this entry with clearer shots but feel free to drop me a line via flickr before I do so.

oh, and there is another squirrel pattern that is no less cute (vintage cuteness)!

* * * * * * * * * *
edited: the new girl of my family has claimed this dress. I have to give it to her because she isn’t happy to be identified as “an old used plastic doll” during her trip and I have to cheer her up!)

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