New Beginnings in New York

New beginning shawl was my chosen travelling project in New York. I cast on a day before the flight , knitted enough rows to establish edges and spine and all was packed neatly with my bamboo circulars in my hand luggage straight through Heathrow Security- no questions asked. The needles were clicking (well not really , remember bamboo ?) during take off and most of the flight. The project grew mainly in the small hours of the mornings when I could not sleep, in Starbucks coffee breaks and in Kansas where I was visiting little sis.

The pattern is part of the love collection by Boo knits. The pattern calls for worsted weight yarn but I don't like wearing large shawls, so knitted it with a the wonderfuly soft Orkney Angora 4 ply in light grey. The yarn was purchased in the summer when holidaying in the Jurassic coast . If you are ever in Bridport go and have a look at this yarn shop. It is a really little knitterly heaven .

The pattern is easy but still interesting. The feather and fan lace repeats grow and become  more pronounced towards the edges. There are wavy stripes of reverse knitting which I love.

I chose a simple garter edging but there is other lacy choice with beading.

Just lovely ! :) 

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Rhinebeck !

I'm back in UK , only just escaping hurricane Sandy. Our virgin flight from JFK airport on Sunday night took longer as the pilot manoeuvred the plane up north away from the storm . The next Monday morning about 14000 flights were cancelled so I consider myself very fortunate indeed. Well ,except that my suitcase and all the yarn inside it went missing. Yep, it is resting somewhere in a power cut JFK airport waiting for flights to resume..




Nothing could be different just a week or so before . We arrived to New York City on Saturday evening and immediately there and then I was in awe of the scenes and the sights .

This was the view from my hotel's room window. Can you see the Empire state building? amazing !

I could not ask for a lovelier weather- blue skies and a warm bright sun, all enhancing those beautiful fall colours along the way to Rhinbeck.

I was with a group of four ladies of which company I enjoyed immensely. They are all strong characters with a common interest-knitting and yarn.

I did not take much photos of the stalls inside- I was just too eager to absorb all those yarn fumes :)

Here we are somewhat tired but ever so happy- waiting for the shuttle bus to the train station.

 

Back to the hotel we emptied our bags, had a show and tell and argued who was the biggest spender..I think I got the 2nd price ;-)

 

I think my most prised purchase is those knitting needles, handmade glass with a lifetime repair guarantee - no questions asked. In my opinion they are the most beautiful needles I've ever seen. Sadly they are still in New york ..

 

The next few days in New york city were dedicted to visiting some beautiful yarn shops , but that part  is for another post. Good night ! :-)

Hazy Orkney in progress

One beautiful fair isle cardigan stood out from Rowan magazine 52 . I knew I had in stash most of the felted tweed colours so immediately cast on the back, finished the rib, knitted few more rows and then encountered a slight problem- Celadon ,a greenish colour was missing and was only found couple of months later on. I find it really irritating when a magazine comes out but the yarn is not available. Why to publish the magazine then?

I have also a huge stash of kidsilk haze so when appropriate I paired it with the felted tweed. The result fabric is richer and there is a bit of halo caused by the mohair.

This is how it looks in the mag. My mods so far- I lengthen the body to look more like the length on the model.

 Back is done and one front. I contemplated of doing some waist shaping but did not bother- I may live to regret this decision.

Gorgeous isn't it ?!!

Cinnamon !

My Cinnamon is done :). It is a top class knitting piece.

I thought I'll let the photos do the talking..

I'll be in Rhinbeck soon with four lovely knitting ladies. Then will do a serioius yarn crawl in New York. This is a dream come true and I'm soooo so excited :) can't wait !!

Same same done !

I managed to take some photos of my complete same same in a quick dry slot on this grey wet day.

I love it ! Its feels soft and luxurious even on bare skin.

I recommend knitting it whole hearted . The details of the sleeves and pleats are amazing .

The only major modification I did was adding short rows to the bottom to add more length to meet the fronts. I learnt it from knitting the third clue of  

Ravi.

The  John Lewis buttons are a touch of bling- made of  cut rectangular glass , goes well with the feel of those yarns..

Happy with my same same :)

 

Same same's sleeve

Same same just had a nice bubbly bath and is drying stretched on my dining table. It is rather cloudy and grey so I foresee quite a few family dinners on the smaller coffee table in my living room..
Meanwhile I thought to give you a glimpse of the sleeves.

Couple of pleats next to the faux seam  and a pretty icord to finish it off.
I used this youtube  demo to graft the cast on end of the icord with the live stitches of its end .

and here is the mousy yarn bowl brother of this shown in this post :)

Looove !

Cinnamon - not quite there yet..

Whilst same same is having a rest , I thought to try and finished a vest . I said try but run out of button band yarn and now awaiting a delivery from Germany.
For me , a woolly vest is one of the signs of Autumn - days are getting shorter , leaves are changing colour, chilled air is creeping and you feel the need to wrap some wool around you..
Cinnamon in my opinion is one of the most beautiful vests I've ever seen - a sophisticated product by Helga Isager. You can find the kit in the 2010 Amimono collection.
It will be difficult to capture that beauty without using the actual yarn from the Isager brand.

Four different yarns are used to create the body- slip stitch texture.

Some rows are knitted with a very thin 70% super kid mohair -30% seta-silk with a variegated colours - yellow- brown -dark blue , 4009.
Some rows are knitted with three yarns together-
* Isager 100% alpaca , lace weight (400m per 50 grams) in light grey colour 2105.
* Isager hojlandsgarn in thisle, which is a  pebble tweedy colour, made in Scotland, (280m per 50 grams).
* Isager hojlandsgarn in chiffon, which is a very light blue tweedy colour, made in Scotland, (280m per 50 grams).

The vest back and fronts are knitted together .
Here is a close up of the false seam;

three needle bind off for the shoulders;

A beautiful stand on collar ; 

knitting several short rows at the back neck-helps to keep the back fold.

So still in need to finish button and armholes bands- pending yarn delivery..

and here is an eye candy from a BHF charity shop ;
 This was an old ceramic side lamp which I converted to a cute Yarn Bowl. All electric wires were ripped away, yarn ball goes in and behaves and its thread is slipped through the gap around the owl..knitting is calmly carried on :)

Hoot Hoot !