Friday, May 20, 2016

No, still no yarn. I begin to be a teensy bit worried. But the website says they post Royal Mail second class.

Today’s teaser for the Hap Book is a design by Kate herself – “Moder Dy”. A pretty traditional hap, pretty wonderful. I can see it elbowing its way to the top of my queue as soon as available. Yesterday’s teaser hap from Carol Feller can be purchased right away, as an individual pattern; for this one, you have to wait for the book. I deduce that the contributors have retained their own copyrights from the beginning.

I spent some happy time yesterday clicking on links from Kate Davies’ post about the book, leading me soon to Ella Gordon and her blog post (May 8) about the exhibition of “Fair Isle Knitting Through the Decades” at the Whalsay Heritage Centre. It is enough to decide one to abandon one’s responsibilities forthwith and go to Whalsay next week. Kristie, what about it?

Ella has posted lots of good pictures. Some of the designs are extremely interesting. There is a vest on which the patterns appear to be diagonal – knit on the bias? The two fronts don’t seem to match all that well. The back, viewed in reverse through the v-neck, seems to have horizontal patterning. An interesting idea, less than perfectly worked out?

Quite a few – not a majority, but more than one might have expected – have patterns arranged vertically.

For actual knitting here in Edinburgh, on with the Neap Tide. No more unpicking of the Sous Sous – my little knitting scissors have been tidied away somewhere; I’m sure they’ll re-emerge soon. I should finish the long, long straight section of the Neap Tide shawl today, and begin the descent on the other side. On the way up, I knit almost all of the repeats with increases on every right-side row. But for two of them, the increases were only every fourth row, as specified in the pattern – I soon realised that if I went on like that, it would be a dreadfully long time before I achieved the desired width. And I didn’t grasp that, since I was also falling far short on row gauge, I might as well go on with the gentle increase.

So now my task is to find those two, so that I can balance them as I go downhill.


I am rather inclined at the moment to carry on with this shawl until I finish it, rather than trying to fit it into a scheme with other projects.

4 comments:

  1. That hap is very pretty, but very big. I can't see myself wrapped in that except on the couch. But perhaps I just don't have the panache to carry it off.

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  2. I would love to join you next week in Shetland, Jean. We could meet again in the airport in Edinburgh, and fly over together on that small plane. But it's your turn to drive the rental car. :-)

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  3. Anonymous11:04 PM

    Dear Jean,
    I am one of the many readers who start every day with a cup of coffee and your blog. Have been meaning to tell you how much your current header photo adds to that experience. Starting every morning by looking at Juliet's sweet face puts the best possible spin on the day to come.
    I agree with the reader who called her expression wise and amused. Even her little hands are expressive. Thanks so much for sharing her with us!
    Carol in Long Island

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  4. Okay, that's one of the prettier haps I've seen, and I applaud the color choices for enhancing the lace rather than distracting or disguising it (the Garden Bouquet Shawl from Downton Abbey Knits 2013 was a good example of both of those though I now see the color changing at the bottom might be a callback to haps that I hadn't considered at the time I still say the white was a very bad choice).
    But as a personal opinion, I'm not fond of color-changing in lace with anything more than the most basic patterns (and I'm not a big print or stripe or multicolored garment person either). I like the historical info, and they're interesting for that, but just don't "turn my crank" as something I must knit.
    But one of the things I love best about the bloggers I read (including you, of course!) is they have a knack for talking about things that I may go "eh" about, but still thoroughly enjoy their posts on the matter. And yes, you totally should play hooky! I'd join you if I wasn't a) trying not to cough up a lung from stomach acid, b) broke, and c) without a valid passport and with no real need other than occasional drooling to get one (ever. I've never needed one, I went to Canada, Mexico, and the Bahamas before 9/11 and as a minor)

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