To be content with what one has is the greatest and truest of riches.

Ahhhhhhhh! That is a sigh of contentment. I have just finished a cup of tea and a homemade scone with lashings of clotted cream and jam and our elephant teapot is smiling contentedly with its little belly still warm from the tea. I don’t think that life gets much better than this but I’m always willing to be proved wrong.

Anyway, back to the knitting - I have been knitting lace. I was originally intending to knit using the orchid yarn I described in my last post but, due to a little over exhilaration on the part of my husband when he tried to help me wind it up, it is now sitting in a tangled heap waiting for me to gather enough patience together to undo it. This however did not deter me from starting the stole and I have begun to knit it in a raspberry coloured cobweb-weight yarn from Posh Yarns. This means it will be a bit lighter and slimmer than I originally intended, but I am actually really happy with how it is going so far. I think I will add a border but I’m waiting to see how much yarn I have left by the time I finish.

The pictures don't really show the lace pattern very well as it is so gloomy today that I can't get a picture at all without the flash.

I almost forgot to say - my husband has bought tickets for the Knitting and Stitching show in London on 14 October and they arrived earlier this week. I can’t wait to go! Plus the 14th is the day before my birthday AND our wedding anniversary so I am expecting to be treated to a few knitting presents! Anyway, if you are going perhaps I’ll bump into you. I will be the over-excited lady pulling along a slightly bored looking (but extremely handsome) husband.

Better late than never...

Matilda Jane is finished! In my last post I said I was very nearly finished and after that I was determined that my next post would have the finished article in it. I’m a stubborn so-and-so and this has meant that I haven’t been able to post for 12 days. I just hadn’t factored in the fact that I needed buttons and ribbon and that it would take ages to dry out when I was blocking it.

But finally here it is!



Pattern: Matilda Jane by Ysolda
Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton in Inky and Gypsy
Needles: Denise interchangeable (this pattern really uses the interchangeable to their best, lots of different length circulars required.

I really enjoyed knitting this, the pattern is very well written and although it is mostly stocking stitch there is hardly a row without any shaping to keep you interested. If I knitted it again I would knit it on slightly smaller needles, as I think I would prefer the fabric to be a little bit stiffer.

Anyway that is that.

Next knit! I’m starting some new lace and I’m going to use the Posh Yarns wool I got in the first Lace club delivery. It is a beautiful deep purple shade called orchid and it is just so soft and beautiful that when I first got it in the post I just kept picking it up and staring at it. Since I last posted I have bought two books on knitting lace, Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls by Martha Waterman and Gossamer Webs by Galina Khmeleva and Carol Noble. I thoroughly recommend both of these books, they both follow a similar format: a history of the particular type of lace and then details of the techniques used and advice on how to design your own shawls. They both even have a short section on how to wear a shawl! So I have come up with a design that I am hoping to make for my Gran for Christmas if it turns out ok. I think the most difficult part will be estimating how long I can make the shawl with the amount of wool I have, especially if I add an edging to it.

I’m trying to think if I have any other news… but all I think I have left to tell you is that we have bought a carpet! Well it is exciting for us anyway. It is a not very practical shade of cream called buttermilk!

By the way thank you for all the advice after my last post. It really cheered me up, I had a horrible feeling that my annoyance at the fridges and motorbikes in the back garden was just me overreacting so it was good to see that even rational people like yourselves would be annoyed!

Guilt

Guilt is something that I am very good at. You know that stomach-turning, wake-you-up-in-the-middle-of-the night type of guilt? I’m not a bad person, I mean I haven’t got anything weighing too heavily on my mind but it is the small things that seem to haunt me. Like my new wool (pictured above)- did I really need it? Am I being too extravagant. Obviously the answer is ‘no’. Mainly because this is beautiful yarn (Rowan Kid Silk Haze - shade hurricane); it is for a present (I’m going to knit Cobweb from Rowan 40 for my brother’s girlfriend for Christmas); and Dreamcatcher made me do it (well effectively - I mean how you can show pictures of yarn like that on your blog and not expect people to give in to temptation?).


Matilda Jane is going well I’ve completed the body and just need to finish the trims and the sleeves - I’ve set myself the challenge to finish it this weekend (including the bank holiday) so hopefully I’ll be able to post a finished picture of it on Tuesday.

The title of this post came from the other guilt that is playing on my mind. Today I complained to my neighbours about the three fridges that have been sitting by the side of the house (it is converted into 5 flats) for the past 2 months. I feel terrible now, I’m not usually a complainer but our house is just so beautiful that these fridges and the accompanying huge pile of bin bags have been gnawing away at my sense of the aesthetic for a while. But the guilt now is awful, I actually didn’t properly complain just casually enquired whilst in the garden who the fridges might belong to… but I’m sure they saw through my feeble cover-up. Oh well, I’ll try not to stay awake all night worrying. I think I’ll take round a bottle of wine tomorrow…

Home

I’m sorry for the long delay between posts but I have been on holiday. We went down to stay at my parents in Devon for a week. I thought I would have access to the internet but in the end I didn’t hence the silence recently. Anyway, we had such a great time - it was so relaxing and I was very happy to be home. I get very homesick for Devon, green fields, beaches and quiet emptiness. But most of all I get homesick for my parents and it was lovely to spend some time with them. Monkey and I have decided not to leave it so long between visits next time.

Anyway knitting news, I wanted to knit something small and frivolous after finishing the lace stole so in the car on the way down to Devon I knitted the Hurry-Up Spring Armwarmers from Stitch and Bitch Nation. They were fun to knit and I think they look fine, however, my brother has made me promise never to wear these in public! I knit the arm warmers in Noro Silk Garden which I had lying dejectedly at the bottom of my stash.

The photo is taken in Trelissick Gardens in Cornwall, they are on the coast and combine beautiful gardens with breath taking views - I have put the water tower cottage down on my wish list of places to stay. It is actually in the National Trust garden!

While I was on holiday I also started knitting Matilda Jane by Ysolda . I’m really loving this pattern, it is very easy and the instructions are well written (plus aesthetically pleasing!) and as it is top down you can try it on for size as you knit. Ysolda is one talented girl and I always look forward to what she’ll be knitting next.

Anyway, I really want to catch up on all the blogs I’ve been missing while I was on holiday so I’d better go for now!

Okay, so you were all right…

Pattern: Print o’the Waves
Yarn: 100g Posh Yarn Cecila (50% cashmere 50% silk) in Ivory
Needles: 2mm (addi turbos - lovely)

I didn’t believe you but it is true the blocking process is miraculous. My Print o’the Waves stole is finished and I can’t describe to you how pleased I am with it. Last week I was very disheartened, I couldn’t see how what I had made could ever look good. I truly thought that I had wasted the last two months knitting this. But here it is and it is beautiful, I know that sounds conceited but I am just so surprised and pleased that I am letting myself be quite boastful about this!

The stole is feather-light and stirs in the breeze but the shaped edging still looks so crisp and sharp. I am very grateful to Eunny for providing this incredibly well written pattern on her website and I will definitely be knitting it again, although the next one I’m planning to make is lace weight rather than cobweb weight as my eyes need a rest from the 2mm needles.

Anyway, that is enough boasting from me, here is a last picture of the stole all packaged up and ready to send to Jo as an engagement present. By the way does anyone know what sort of care instructions I should give with this? I’ve only ever given knitted gifts to family before and I tend to end up washing those myself!