La Tricoteuse Bretonne

Another one bites the dust

The story of broken needles continue...around row 3 into the second pattern, a point of the second bamboo circulars broke. I wasn't pulling, I promise! But it broke. At the joint level, where it must be weakest :

AAAaaaarrrgh! Quite distressed at first, I was lucky enough to have another 3,25mm circular in reserve, a metallic one, and the last *free* one. Now I better order some more, as this a needles size I like for finer projects. I used my Holz & Stein for the Hanne Falkenberg project, so I used this a lot, and had no problem with breaking at all. Maybe the bamboo isn't good for me, after all...

I got a bit knitting done after that incident, though :

The background shifted from dark to light, the roses from light green, to blue, and now I'm into the dark green. At a point it was very subtle, and I could barely see the difference, but somehow, I like the non-contrasted places as well.

When I can't be knitting on the fairisle, because it demands good light & lots of concentration, I need another little gratifying project, so I'm trying to get a hat from this v. colourful wool :

Shoeller and Stahl's limbo mix of shades reminds me of the colours we're used to associate to Reggae , as though a photoshop filter *blurr* had been used. These are not for me: yellow, orange, grass green, are too present in this yarn that I could wear them. But I have a very good friend who loves these colours, can wear them as well, and so this yarn was stashed with her in mind, a long time ago. Now I think it is time, as :

Xmas is arriving quickly,
I want to feel productive,
I needed space in that box, to place the newly arrived koigu.

On the spinning front, I have started to spin a wonderfull wool and nylon fiber, in sugar almonds colours. Here it is, predrafted and ready to spin :

The difficulties of a beginning

The stitches are back onto a circular needle, two even, as I recieved a second one, twin of the brocken one, on saturday. My advances are totally humbling : I'm now into the patterning, and yay! I got to the row number 19...Despite hours of tedious and applied knitting on the week end, this is all I got today :

The colors are so difficult to catch on the picture! The background is still in the darker green, but in the repeats of roses, the colour is shifting from the light green to the blue.I love that, but I'm also getting scared of the moment when I may have the mid green in the background and the roses. Hope it doesn't happen...

November's

Back to Brittany after a little tour in France and Belgium, I had the pleasure to spend the weekend at the *Fête de la Pomme* where there was a lot of tasting involved...apples, but also apple cakes, it was lovely, especially as I was one of those of got to taste them all!

Now the knitting advances status...good or bad.

I finished the cardi in Rowan's Scottish Tweed chunky, shade midnight :

The pattern, the Flared jacket, is from Rowan studio 8, and I didn't make any changes. It has rather loooong sleeves, and if it had been for me, I would have made them a bit shorter. But the recipient likes long sleeves, so everyone is happy! It's an easy, and I didn't have to rip often, or too much. Good sign!
The Rowan scottish tweed chunky is quite scratchy. To say the least. I hope it gets better with wear and washes. It seems to hold well, and the stitch definition is very nice. I used the 8 balls as stated, no more no less.

I also managed to knit a pair of socks, in an Opal yarn I had in the stash since a time long enough for me to not remeùber when I bought it :

That's already one gift for Xmas done. See : I am so confident in myself & my abilities, that I did knit that one, months in advance :-).

The purelife cotton cardi, which was at the step of the finishing, got partly ripped. The sleeves were much too tight! Aaargh, what a disapointing moment....

It has now landed in the "will be finished knitted later" basket...dangerous.

Now my main project is a Kauni jacket, a KAL with Polly. The yarn for this knit has been purchased at Ally Pally (it was on the top in the case), at the Scandinavian Knitting company.
I chose the shade EZ, a shade shifting very softly from green to turquoise, and am following the pattern given with the yarn, for the rose jacket figuring on the front cover of the little booklet.

Now this is the state of the affairs, last picture taken :

The completely new circular broke only after a few rows! I hope the rest of the project doesn't prove as catastrophic...