Candle flame shawl: new improved edging and a rogue purl row

Warning: this post contains numerous near-identical photographs accompanied by highly pedantic commentary.

I was going to make a swatch to try out what I think is my preferred edging for my Candle Flame shawl. Instead I decided just to cast on the full number of stitches - that way, if nothing went wrong with it I could simply carry on.

The vertical edging now has 6 stitches of garter stitch followed by a 2-stitch eyelet pattern before going into the diamond lace pattern that will form a frame around the main, candle flame, lace pattern. I have slipped the first stitch on every row, as Rose Red suggested, and this has made for a much neater, firmer edge. I have also increased the number of garter stitch rows along the bottom edge to match - there are now 10 rows of garter stitch before the horizontal eyelet pattern.

I’m really pleased with how it’s looking now. This is how the bottom edge looked originally:

And this is how the side border looked:

The whole thing is looking neater, and much more like a deliberate edge, I think. However, I have ripped most of it out and started again. Why? Well, I don’t know if you can see it in the photo below (wish I could do those pointy arrow on photo thingies!) but, just above the bottom eyelet pattern and just below the bottom tip of the diamond pattern, there is one purl row. I thought it would frame the eyelets nicely. In fact, now I think it is just an annoyingly superfluous row of purl stitches.

Really, would anyone else notice? Maybe not, but I would know…

Published
on July 18, 2008
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Meet Posh Eva

There is a rather strange sort of Newtonian reaction going on chez Pea at the moment. I am at home, convalecsing after being ill; while I get better all the time, there seems to be a direct and opposite reaction taking place. With my bank balance.

Let me explain. Having finished my Eyelet Chemise at the weekend I found myself without a full sized project to work on. On Sunday I decided to cheer myself up by taking part in the frenzied button-clicking madness that is a Posh Yarn sale. I didn’t manage to get my first choice, which was an olive-y silk cashmere blend, but I did get this:

This rose pink loveliness is Eva 4-ply, 55% silk and 45% cashmere, and I got eight, yes EIGHT, skeins of her - enough to make a full sized cardigan.

The only thing stopping me casting on immediately is that there are not all that many cardigan patterns that I can find in 4-ply. I love Ysolda’s Liesl, which is for worsted or aran weight; I’m quite tempted to re-work that pattern for this yarn. I also adore Kim Hargreave’s Tender, which is knit to a more appropriate gauge, but I think one of the things that I love about it is its wispy, Kidsilk Haziness. Both of these are good, but I’m not sure either is quite right for my Eva.

This is truly special yarn; it’s going to be worth saving until the perfect pattern comes along.

Published
on July 17, 2008
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When is it too much information?

One of my close friends commented recently that she didn’t like reading my blog. She said that it made her feel uncomfortable, as she felt that I was revealing too many intimate details about myself and my family in a public place.

Her comment gave me pause for thought. My basic line is that I know that friends, family members and colleagues either do, or could, read what I write, and I am careful not to say here what I would be uncomfortable saying in front of any of them. I also don’t write about or show pictures of anyone other than myself without that person’s permission. But I am still fairly new to blogging, and I am aware that I am learning all the time about what is, and is not, appropriate.

There is an article about this issue in the NY Times; it’s a couple of months old now, and is quite long, but it does make interesting, and quite scary reading. You can find it here if you want to read it.

So I was wondering, if you blog, where do you draw your boundaries? Do you use real or made-up names for friends or family? Do you get permission from others if you are going to post photos of them or write about them? Do you stick just to the main theme of your blog, or do you go ‘off-topic’ and if you do, where do you draw the line about what to discuss. Politics? Religion? What’s off-limits for you?

And if you don’t write a blog yourself, but you read other peoples’, are there some that make you feel more uncomfortable than others? Do you ever feel that you are peeking where you probably shouldn’t?

I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts on this subject as it affects all of us who share aspects of our lives online.

Published
on July 16, 2008
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New project: A glasses purse

Thank you so much for all your comments about the edging on my candle flame shawl. I was going to spend some time today making a larger swatch using the edging that seemed the best (top left in yesterday’s post ) but I got distracted by a shiny thing that came through the post this morning.

My sister-in-law has asked me to make a glasses case for her birthday present. I thought this was a great idea - small, cute, fun to make, and a really nice gift. I found a place in London that stocks purse clasps, and ordered one a couple of days ago; that was what arrived today. I thought I’d use this pale blue yarn and funky fabric from my stash:

I’ve not been able to find a pattern for this, so I’m going to make one up. First of all I knitted a few stitch patterns from a couple of my vintage pattern books. This first one is called oyster stitch. I really like how pretty it is, but it’s a bit floppy for my purposes here:

This next one is really nice and sturdy; I got it from a 1950s coat pattern. However, I gave up on it after a few rows; it is a very non-stretchy fabric, and my hand started to feel sore just knitting this little swatch:

I then tried this slip-stitch mini pattern. It’s sturdy enough for a purse that will be thrown in a handbag, thick enough to protect glasses, and yet quick and easy to knit.

This is how the knitting backed by the lining fabric would look in the frame:

And here’s is how it would look from the outside. I’m looking forward to this, I think it will be fun to do!

Published
on July 15, 2008
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Candle flame shawl - experimenting with edgings

I’m working on a design for a shawl based on a candle flame lace pattern, with a diamond lace pattern edging. This is how far I got before deciding that I had to make some changes to it:

I wasn’t happy with the way the side edge looks:

Rose Red had a great technique she suggested of slipping the first stitch purlwise. That has improved the way the edge looks, but I decided to try out some alternative edge designs too. So I’ve swatched a few ideas:

The bottom section is the pattern as I originally wrote it, and the other four are variations on that theme:

The lighting isn’t great in these photos, so it’s a little hard to see the differences. The shot on the top left just has 4 more stitches in garter stitch added; top right has the vertical eyelet pattern removed; bottom left has 2 purl stitches added to each side of the vertical eyelets and bottom right has just 1 purl stitch bordering the vertical eyelets.

I think that the one I like best is the top left image; the extra garter stitches seem to add stability to the edge without adding more fussiness. What do you think?

Next I’ll try making a bigger sample and see if I still like it then, especially when I see it alongside the cast-on edge pattern.

Published
on July 14, 2008
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Chapter five …

… in which Anna has a Busy Day, and we learn what Will does in the afternoons.

(with apologies to A.A. Milne and Winnie the Pooh)

It was going to be one of Anna’s Busy Days. As soon as she woke up she felt important, as if everything depended upon her.

It was just the day for Organizing Something, or for Writing a Notice Signed Anna, or for Seeing What Everybody Else Thought About It. It was a Captainish sort of day, when everybody said, “Yes, Anna ” and “No, Anna,” and waited until she had told them. It was, after all, just the day for Doing Things.

She came out of her house and sniffed the warm summer morning as she wondered what she would do. She thought she would spend some time working out how she wanted the edging on her Candle Flame Shawl to look. She also had some Natural Dye Studio yarn that she had bought and tangled up at Woolfest that she wanted to detangle and neatly wind.

But there was a Strange and Bouncy animal there, the ever excitable labrador, Leoma. She was the sort of Leoma who was always in front when you were showing her the way anywhere, and was generally out of sight when at last you came to the place and said proudly “Here we are!” Anna’s first task of the day was to send Alex out on a Long Walk to Tire Leoma Out.

Anna then thought she would sort out what Steve was doing.

“After all,” said Anna to herself, “Steve depends on Me. He’s fond of Leoma, and so am I, but she hasn’t any Brain. Not to notice. And he respects Will, because you can’t help respecting anybody who can spell TUESDAY, even if he doesn’t spell it right; but spelling isn’t everything. There are days when spelling Tuesday simply doesn’t count. And Alex is too young and too bouncy to be of any help, so there’s really nobody but Me, when you come to look at it.”

“I’ll go and see if there’s anything he wants doing, and then I’ll make sure he does it. It’s just the day for doing things. My mum is coming for lunch. I’ll make sure that Steve cooks lunch for us all. He’s good with lunch and things like that.”

After organizing Alex to walk Leoma and Steve to cook lunch, she thought she ought to make sure that Will and her mum didn’t feel left out. She hurried importantly getting her tangled yarn and her new yarn winder together, and showed them what they had to do. “It’s a simple enough job, even for them,” she thought to herself. “It shouldn’t take them any more than six or seven hours, which will be a Good Thing, because they do both like to feel Useful”.

Will and Anna’s mum diligently set about their task. Within a mere seven hours they had transformed this:

into this:

All of this Busyness and Excitement was a little too much for Anna, however. After making sure that everybody else had Things to Do that would make them feel Important and Appreciated, there was nothing left for her to do for the rest of the day except this:

But what of the Candle Flame Shawl edging? Anna decided that it could wait until tomorrow…

Published
on July 13, 2008
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Finished object: Eyelet Chemise

Pattern: Eyelet Chemise, from Interweave Knits, Summer 2006

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Prima, 8 skeins.

Needles: 3.75mm

Modifications: I added two inches to the bottom lace section pattern and an extra half inch to the top eyelet section. I used smaller buttons and used the crochet edging as button holes.

What I learnt: How to insert short row bust darts. They worked really well to add length to the front; you can read how I did them here.

Comments: This is the best-fitting garment I have made, and I’m really thrilled about that. I love the plunging neckline, which is just high enough:

However, the one slight issue I have with this cardigan is the difference between something flattering, as distinct from fitting, a particular body type. I don’t have any empire-waist tops; mostly I chose things that accentuate my waist. I think I’ve discovered the reason for this: Steve took these photos, and he was very complimentary when he first saw me wearing this top. However, it was not the knitting to which his eye was drawn. And here’s the thing - I’m not sure that I want to get that kind of attention all the time!

Published
on July 12, 2008
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Popknits

Have you heard about the forthcoming magazine Popknits? It’s a new online knitting magazine devoted to vintage-inspired knitting; the first issue comes out in the autumn.

And guess what? I’ve got my first ever pattern being featured in it! Here are a couple of glimpses:

I’m very excited about this! Even more exciting for me is that I am going to do some writing for the magazine on aspects of interpreting and using vintage patterns. Squee!!

Published
on July 11, 2008
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