are we there yet?

Really, what more is there that I can tell or show of this knitting project that I haven't before? I'm working on it - same story. Repeat 7 of the second side looks just like repeat 6 and just like repeat 5 and - same stitch pattern, over and over.

I had three days free last week (instead of my usual three-quarters of a day free) and I swore that I was going to knit a full 20-row repeat each day. Well, I managed to knit on only one of the days (ahem, knit on this, that is) but I did crank out an amazing 26 rows, more than one full repeat! So, I am currently seven repeats in, two and a half and an edging to go. Definitely before this project turns three in December!

travelling knitting

This is what I knit when we travel - whenever there's a reasonably long car ride, Tim takes the wheel and I put in some time on my Tibetan Clouds (un)Beaded Stole. Clearly, we haven't been travelling much because it's the first time that I have picked it up since December of last year.

Nonetheless, I am determined to get this finished this year. Three years really is the maximum length of time that I can tolerate a project being on the go. This one is only 27 months at the moment but I do know how long these things can drag out unless I really put some effort into it. I managed half a repeat today which means that I have three-and-a-half repeats to go, that I could foreseeably complete it in a week at half a repeat per day, that I ... just need to keep knitting.

routine search

That is, the search for routine.

Miss bear has turned five and started school, baby B has returned to toddler group and I now have four whole hours a week (count 'em) alone, to my self, solo.

And there is afternoon nap time all to myself as well, five days a week now. Until school pick-up time, which is right in the middle of nap time.

Routine: we'll get there eventually.

So far I've managed to catch up with a couple of old friends - my Alabama Chanin dress and Tibetan Clouds (un)Beaded Stole. I completed stitching on two more of the large dark blue spirals and finished the eighth repeat on the stole. I'll get there eventually.

knitter's prize

Blocking lace truly is the knitter's prize for all of that hard work. I needed a lift today so I did a quick steam and stretch block of the Tibetan Clouds (un)Beaded Stole. Aaaaah.

I also bought myself a book - Loop-d-loop Lace: more than 30 novel lace designs for knitters. More on that next time.

rinse and repeat

I'm still working away at my Tibetan Clouds (un)Beaded Stole. I just pick it up every now and then when I feel like some lace knitting. As I knit it I find myself scheming and calculating - 'Ok, I'm going to 10 repeats of E on either side of the central panel and I can knit half a repeat quite easily in a day so with fifteen and a half repeats to go, that would be a month's worth of knitting, assuming that I actually did knit half a repeat every day ...' And then I shrug my shoulders and try to just enjoy the knitting, I'll get there when I get there and I don't want to be compelled to knit half a repeat every day.

Now that I have parted way with the diamond mittens, I need to consider the other two projects that I have lingering from 2008 (yes '08 - ouch): the Baudelaire socks and the Faux Prussian Stole. I think that I'll address the socks first (one of them is practically done) and then there will be a serious lace knitting push for that stole.

I think that I've mentioned before that the lace repeat there is 81 stitches wide and 96 rows deep so I certainly won't be getting half a repeat done each day on that one. And again on that I have the dilemma of needing to execute k2tog or ssk over a marker (same issue that I had with the Knitted Veil) and the clumsiness of that is a real mental block for me. Perhaps I'll just use threads instead of stitch markers and then I'll be off and knitting ...

i dream of knitting

Truly, I do. Well, daydream at least. That's how I fall asleep - I snuggle down and think about what I'm knitting, what progress I've made, what my priorities are for tomorrow and what I would like to make. I'm always fast asleep before I get to the end of my knitting project wish list because it's, well, endless.

Here are a couple of things that I'm currently dreaming of:

Nine Lives - from one of my favourite knit designers, knit/lab. I've been considering the colour dilemma which basically went along the lines of 'which red?' and 'if I use a different yarn, should I try to get all four colours in the other yarn?' and 'or should I mix the Rowan Pure Wool 4 ply and the other yarn?' and 'or what other colours in the Pure Wool 4 ply could be India?' and ... are you asleep yet?

Anyway, looking at the colour cards for the Pure Wool 4 ply I was very taken by shade 450 Eau de Nil and set about procuring some of that. I chose a slightly darker pink, 449 Vintage and bought some Debbie Bliss Rialto 4 ply to substitute for the purple and the yellow.

Now I just hope that the silver beads that I bought won't be too heavy (in a visual sense). I'm waiting for some of the yarn to arrive so will have a better idea when I can see all the materials alongside each other. Oh and the India inspiration? Out the door. Oh well.

Whippoorwill - Another shawl. I should backtrack a moment (or a year) and say that this was one of my great knitting realisations of 2010 - the semi-circular shawl. It all started with Daybreak which, while not strictly a semi-circle was my first project that distorted that traditional triangular shape. And so much easier to wear. I'm not sure whether it is just now because I am on the look out for them, but there seems to have been many more semi-circular designs available recently. And I love this one.

When Tim saw me working on my Tibetan Clouds (un)Beaded Stole a few days ago, he queried 'another shawl?' and I do seem to have become a shawl knitter of late - ah, six completed in 2010. And he's right, in order to justify it, I do need to make them different, something that I don't already have. So for Whippoorwill I was having a think about just that - what is something that I don't already have?

And I decided on something pale, with a strong band of colour along the bottom. I knew I was looking for something that was just off-white, with maybe some flecks or a filament of colour through it. And at the yarn store what I came across was Filatura di Crosa Gioiello, with the added bonus of something else that I don't have - sparkle (um, so not me). Anyway, I was thinking that the texture and colour in this yarn would give enough interest and I could possibly stripe it with a plain off-white yarn to tone the sparkle (and texture) down.

And for the bands of colour - probably a blue. It would be great to find a sweater at the thrift store to recycle for this, to balance out the fact that I bought new yarn. Ooooh, or how about even black? I already have some that I bought at the thrift store ...

I'll sleep on it.

the solid mandala

I have finished the centre panel of the Tibetan Clouds Beaded Stole, albeit that mine is not beaded because I'm just not a shiny girl.

This has been such enjoyable knitting - knitting lace in the round is really soothing and this is a great pattern, just the right balance of rhythm and interest. It the first time that I have knit something lacy that has sections with increases and decreases on both sides and sections with increases and decreases only on every other side; and these sections are interspersed with each other, so a dozen rows of knitted lace (both sides) then a dozen or so of lace knitting (every other row) then more knitted lace.

Also the first time I believe that I have knit with Malabrigo yarn - this is Malabrigo Sock in the colourway Persia. About a third of the way through I was a bit concerned that the variegation would be too much but no, I'm still liking it.

* Patrick White is the only Australian to have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.

diversions

I am easily distracted. While I can sit and knit on something for literally hours on end, if I am not in the right state of mind then any other possible knitting project will grab me and sweep me away. Preferably a new project.

Ways of working fascinate me, particularly my own (forgive the egocentricity but it is my own that I have to deal with most often and get to observe most closely). I often feel as though I am getting nowhere with my projects because I have so many on the go at once. I do a little here, a little there and make no discernible progress, which is both disappointing and frustrating. These past few months I have made the knitted veil my priority and it is going really well. I have completed 71 of the 100 edge repeats and by my (somewhat arbitrary) calculations, I am about 90 per cent of the way there. This is thrilling and I am so excited that completion is in sight. Perhaps it is success nerves that have made me cast on two other lace projects over the past few days?

Admittedly, working on the veil edging is demanding. It's fine gauge, follow the chart, concentrated effort. I do need something else to knit in my down time and besides it's getting cold here and people need hats (more on that next time). But sometimes I just need to knit something different and sometimes there is a project that has grabbed my attention and I have chosen or even bought yarn* for it and really, I just can't wait. That's what this is - the Tibetan Clouds Beaded Stole by Sivia Harding, available for free (but I'm not going to use beads on mine). I have knit the first 17 rounds, you know, just to see what the yarn looks like knitted up, just to get a feel for it. And I think that I'm satisfied for now. It's back to the veil for 29 more repeats.

* Malabrigo Sock in colourway Persia - my first time using Malabrigo and it is lovely.

(The second project is the other arm of the In the Pink Stole.)