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Yarn cheers you up

I did another swatch of the tweed from La Droguerie plus Kidsilk Haze. On the left is the new swatch, using a darker blue KSH from my stash. On the right is the previous one using KSH in Trance. I don't know the name of the darker blue - I just hope it's still in production because I think it's the one. The tweedy bits show up much better and the background is more blended. I'm using 5 mm needles and getting about 4.5 stitches to the inch.

The mess in the house with things still not in their right places and builders still not quite finished (the last nagging little bits and pieces) was getting me down. I decided to collect all  my yarn in one place and sort it out as much as possible. It cheered me up no end!

Over the past five or six years I have accumulated lots of odd balls of different types of yarn that I thought I would like to try ('and can always make toys or children's clothes of,' I thought in my innocence). I even bought twos or fours to try to make the purchases more useful eventually. Well it was all weighing me down and now I've got a couple of largish bags of yarn to go to the charity shops.

The rest of my stash is still enormous. I have a complete drawer-full of sock yarn, not counting Koigu; laceweight for five or six shawls; yarn for about seven jerseys; plus little collections of favourites such as Kidsilk Haze, Koigu, Noro, Satakieli, Kauni. Then there's also an extensive collection of Shetland two-ply (filling five plastic tubs, though admittedly each one is quite small). I've kept quite a few odd balls as well, because you never know...

The blog spoke

The blog spoke, and I listened; it demanded and I capitulated.

'No more silly Miss Silver quotations,' it said. 'No more pathetic excuses about green tweed cardigans taking forever to knit and always looking the same in photos. Give me blogfodder!'

So here you are. I've had stashed away for some time Dream in Color's Classy in the Lucky Jade colourway. I've started making it into a top-down cardigan following Barbara Walker's excellent Knitting from the Top. Here is the top of one sleeve, showing the start of the raglan increases. The colour is rather washed out in the photo.

As you know, I visited La Droguerie in Lille last weekend. One of my purchases was some dark teal tweed wool. I was advised that it should be knitted along with another yarn because it is only a single and not very strong. It actually seems quite strong to me, but I'll need to knit it with something else because I won't have enough for a whole garment (450g). Adrienne, last night at Liberty's (and where was everybody?), suggested Kidsilk Haze as a carrier. I bought a ball in Trance (582) and while it is the right sort of blue it is a bit paler than I really wanted. Never mind, here's a swatch of the two together with the tweed behind. They aren't quite as blue as they look here. I'm using 4.5 mm needles and may even experiment with 5 mm (very unusual for me!). It does make a very cosy fabric.

A new stitch for Miss Silver

Miss Silver was inclined to see the hand of Providence in trifles. Her first contact with the Pilgrim Case occurred when she had just finished working out a new and elaborate stitch for the jumper which she intended for her niece Ethel's birthday. This she regarded as providential, for though she could, and did, knit her way serenely through all the complications which murder produces, she found it difficult to concentrate upon a really elaborate new pattern at the same time. Ethel Burkett's annual jumper provided sufficient mental exercise without being brought into competition with a criminal case.'

from Pilgrim's Rest by Patricia Wentworth (1948)

There's someone who has her priorities right!

I'm still plugging on with the green cardigan. Now I've finished the back and right front and have started the left front (important not to muddle them up because the cables twist in opposite directions).

Last weekend we were in France. We spent the first night in Lille and then went on to stay with friends who had hired a small chateau in Beauvais for a 50th birthday celebration. The chateau was very pretty but I forgot to take any photos there! A high point was the presence of a red squirrel in the garden. A real Nutkin moment for me!

However, I did take one relevant photo in Lille:

I had a lovely time in there! I bought a couple of pattern books (one in English, one in French) and the wool to make a baby's jumper with an intarsia hen on it and also some tweed yarn for me. The shop is so attractive and different from other yarn shops. There's a whole wall of buttons and beads in glass jars and another wall of hanks of yarn. When you've decided what you want an assistant weighs out your yarn and winds it up for you. It's a bit like buying sweeties in an old-fashioned shop. When more yarn is needed from the stock room a trap door opens in the floor and the assistant clambers down into the depths to get it. My French gave out pretty quickly but the assistant spoke fairly good English. I want to go back!

Her name was Silver, Maud Silver

Miss Cara persevered.
"Her name is Maud Silver. Louisa says she has solved many difficult cases besides being an extremely expert knitter."

Have you met Miss Silver yet? She is a detective in the mould of Miss Marple, but she's a continental knitter, whereas I always imagine Miss Marple as an English knitter. She appears in about thirty novels by Patricia Wentworth written in the 1930s to 60s. They go in and out of print but are usually easy to find in charity shops and jumble sales.

The quote above is from The Benevent Treasure, in which the mystery involves secret passages, hidden treasure, murder and true love (there's always a love story in Miss Silver novels).

In Spotlight Miss Silver indulges in some yarn tasting:

Miss Maud Silver was choosing wool for a set of infant's vests. After the Khaki and Air Force yarn she had knitted up during the war, to say nothing of useful grey stockings for her niece Ethel's three boys, it was a real pleasure to handle these soft blush-pink balls - all ready wound, and so much better than you could wind it yourself.... This pale pink wool was a most charming colour, and so soft and light. She paid for her purchase, and stood waiting for her change and the parcel.

As the case progresses, so does the knitting, until finally the case is solved and the knitting is complete:

The fire burned bright. The room was comfortable and warm. Miss Silver had finished the vest she had been knitting and had begun another. An inch of ribbing ruffled on the needles in a pale pink frill. She looked at Justin and Dorinda with a benignant smile. Nothing please her better than to see young people happy.

I have only just realised, on rereading a few of the novels for about the sixth time, that whereas Miss Silver is the only knitter there is quite often a character who embroiders. However, in contrast to dear Miss Silver, the embroiderers are always selfish, feckless or cold-hearted, if not downright evil. Knitting = useful, intelligent, creative, therapeutic. Embroidery = useless, stereotyped, uncreative, time-wasting! (Yow!)

I do recommend these novels if you like detective stories in the classic 'golden age' style (what I believe are called 'cozy' murder mysteries in the USA.)