August 30, 2007
Tales of a quiet summer...
I have been back to Brittany, my roots and familly, since mid july, then shortly after that my sister arrived with kiddos. We spent a most wonderfull and quiet month together, and I proceeded with the quietness of the summer. So when friends ask me on the phone about news and what I've been doing lately, it seems quite difficult to list my activities, as these past weeks have been tremendously quiet...the usual routine of garden playing, berry-picking, beach and swims when the weather allows. Which hasn't been quite so often here this summer, by the way. To these familly related activities, there has been, I must say, quite a bit of knitting. So these past weeks (a month and half, no less) was more about knitting itself than telling.
The first item I finished here was started in Brussels, and it was a project for the rowan exchange 2007, and this year the theme was "seasons". My reciepient wanted something in the "spring" idea, and the colours she likes inspired me a bag with a flower motive. The flower festival in Japan, the hanami was at the base of the inspiration. A lot of little knitted stitches, some felting, embroidery and sewing, calculations and changes of program, and here it was :
I used 5 balls of Rowan scottish tweed 4-ply in the skye shade, 1 ball of discontinued Yorkshire tweed 4 ply Bristle shade (268), which is the dark brown and was used for the handles and the branches, white silk and silk thread for the embroidery. A little detail of the flowers here.
Once the main part of the bag was done (quite a lot of stockinette), it was quick and fun to finish. With a knitting machine it would be easier, but still I think it was a lot of fun to make, and I can see more of these bags in my future!
Now I am back to some destashing efforts : my moving has reminded of (so) *many* yarns waiting for me, so I will be trying to work them a bit up. Now I am knitting some Rowan All Seasons Cotton following the cardi pattern called "Waves" from the All Seasons Brochure edited a few years ago. I couldn't find it knitted up on other blogs until now. Here is the picture from the brochure :
I am knitting it in a darker shade than the one in the picture, and here is how it looks at the moment :
All Seasons is a true favorite of mine for the Brittany's summer, and the mid season. So easy to wear and care for!
Back and fronts are done, and there is only a bit of the last sleeve to go. I made a *huge* mistake in my measurements, ordered a zipper in the right colour, but the wrong length. Gee...I already feel the motivation for the finishing ;-p.
Anyway I'll have to wait a bit for the *other* zipper, so I'll be able to finish a pair socks started 2 weeks ago, they should be finished soon. They're from the Kaffe Fasset Regia collection, and the colors are great/ I haven't taken any pictures yet, but as they're almost finished, I'll wait to have them blocked, to better show off the colours. And I have to give up that this sock yarn collection were very damageable for my stash management...So to have an easier mind about it, I plan them for my xmas gifts knitting. With my knitting speed, I better start right now!