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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!

Katherine Hepburn cardigan

I have a couple of ends to sew in on T's fatigue and buttons to find. Then I need to wash and/or press it to finish it off.

On Friday night I couldn't see well enough to graft the ribbed back yoke sections together (yuck, that was a job and a half) so I started the Katherine Hepburn cardigan from Lace Style. I'm using Rowan Yorkshire Tweed 4-ply in 'Lustre'.

I decided to start with a sleeve to see if I like doing the stitch and also to check that the gauge is working. I seem to be OK on both counts. I'm really enjoying knitting it. It has the right amount of complexity and repetitiveness that makes it easy to dispense with the pattern but still enjoy the manoevres of yo's and cables. I'm cabling without a cable needle and it's really easy and quick.