Tuesday 24 June 2014

An apology

The other day I went through spam comments to see if there were any real ones among them - I already knew I don't very often, but had no idea I was that bad at it! I found five kind comments, a couple of them several months old, which is really embarrassing. Barb, Rachelle, KnitNigel, Johanne and Marika: I'm sorry it took me so long to see and publish your comments. Thanks for writing!

I'm in the middle of two new projects. First, a baby blanket for a relative of mine, who recently gave birth to a boy. I had some balls of  Rowan milk cotton dk in my stash, a free gift (or was it a lottery prize? not that it really matters) from Tummelisa at a knitting event last year.



The bunny pattern is by Stacylynn Cottle on Ravelry. I've changed the shape of her blanket design, knitting it diagonally for two reasons. First, I don't feel like calculating how many stitches to cast on to get a size and shape that looks ok with the amount of yarn I have. (It has since been discontinued, so it would be difficult to get hold of more if needed.)  Starting in a corner and increasing until there is at least half the amount of yarn left like the easiest thing to do: then I can be certain there is enough to knit the second half using decreases instead. The shape might become a bit strange for a blanket (square-ish?) but then the baby isn't likely to mind. Second, I simply prefer knitting things when there is some shaping involved.

My other favourite work in progress is an attempt to recreate an 18th century sweater at Nordiska museet, not an exact copy of it (when it was new, that is - but isn't it in good shape considering how old it is?) but something that looks authentic enough. It's a surprise for a member of an 18th century group. She's a hard-working mother of four, so she isn't likely to have much time to read blogs and discover it here... And even if she does, I guess it will still be a surprise but in a different way.



I'm making each border of carnations slightly different on purpose. And occasional carnations different by accident! Normally, I correct mistakes I discover, but in this case some irregularities seem like a good thing.



6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Both those projects are delightful!

I get so many spam comments, and they are sometimes paragraphs and paragraphs in length, that I no longer have time to check through them all. Every few days I just bin the whole lot. Sad but what can you do?

Knitting the Camino said...

I'm amused to see my name in your apologies list. Thank you. I too have occasion to check out my spam list and find things that gmail treats as spam which it should not. The mystery of their algorithm. I am impressed with the work you are doing on the beautiful recreation of that red and black sweater. I hope to see it in full some day.

Knitting the Camino said...

Oh, and I see that my name appears as Knitting the Camino in my last post. I'm also Knitknigel. The camino knitting was over a couple of years ago, although my blog still exists, if one wanted to see it. Perhaps I could inspire someone to walk the Camino de Santiago and take their knitting with them.

Rachelle said...

That was wonderful to see the knitted eighteenth century jacket; I want to try making it too at some point to go with my eighteenth century garb.

Liisa said...

Wow! I usually don't like too cute baby stuff (I mean, the baby is cute enough, right?) but those bunnies are adorable! As usual your stranded work is amazing and I look forward to seeing the finished garment. Happy knitting!

Unknown said...

Of love the mods you made to my blanket pattern, it's gorgeous!