red update

first, thanks everyone for the lovely comments on the last post. i nearly didnt post anything about mothers day, its not like its a new thing, or something i dont think about every year, but this one felt a little different. not enough to make me post the note though. well not yet at least. the urge seems to have passed (some might say sanity has prevailed).

unfortunately, though, i cant give you a finished object update on the stripe study shawl. its getting very close. im nearly through the second skein of tart, so its getting big. its already bigger than what the pattern suggests. i think i have one more red stripe section to do then im onto the black border. it may not be done in time for the trip to melbourne this coming week however, depends how much more knitting i can stand tonight!

but its cold in melbourne, and i couldnt go there without something warm and fuzzy, and red, to wear around my neck. you might remember last year i made this gorgeous ravelry red clapotis in malabrigo silky wool.

i loved it and wore it lots. but when i pulled out my woollens bag last week in preparation for the cooler weather, it was nowhere to be found. i dont remember losing it, but i dont remember packing it away either. a tragedy! the clapotis pattern is one of my favourite pieces of neckwear, and i was devestated. i did have this earlier one, that i made maybe 3 years ago:

it’s in fibreworks alpaca/wool blend, i think, in the ‘desert sunset’ colourway. once, i did pink. and purple too. not anymore. i wore this to work on thursday and it drove me crazy with its pinkness. then i had a brain wave. did i not know someone with a bit of a thing for dying yarn? so we got together on friday and did a few experiments with different colours and decided the ‘fire red’ would overdye the best. the first dying turned it a very bright hot pink. ailsa left me some dyes and i had another go later in the afternoon, and i really let it have some heat in the microwave until the water ran pretty clear, and then i hung it out to dry:

perfect. in the shadows it looks dark and mottled:

in the sunlight its the most dazzling jewel red:

i love it. what a great way to reclaim an old object and make it new again. i wore it up to sydney to knitters guild on saturday, everyone commented on it as if it was new, except kris who said ‘oh clapotee! really? isnt that so 2004′. funny ukelele playing hipster chick. guild was lovely, as usual. ive been meaning to take some pictures of this amazing venue for ages but forgot my camera again. the phone camera did manage to catch rosered and zena, with crown st behind them

and wittyknitter talking about…copyright maybe?

rosered ran a workshop on ‘pattern grading’ while we ate an amazing morning tea from missfee and jp,

then we hit the street for lunch and much laughter (sorry random passer by)

and then there were baby cuddles when mr rosered and connor joined us. can you believe that connor turned one last week? where did that year ago? i bought him some presents which he liked ripping open – some MoMA pram-hanging texture boards, a maisie book with moving parts (which i dont expect to last long)

and these cute finger puppets.

(no i didnt make them. some poor peasant in guatemala did, although apparently they’re made from acrylic, as yarn snob mummy pointed out! she didnt mean it in a bad way, but it was funny that she noticed). i got to have a cuddle too, wearing my clappy:

a fantastic day all round. it will be a perfect weekend if i can get this shawl finished.

k xx

once a month, on a friday

i have developed a little routine. it involves using my flexi-day from work and getting on a train

finding the right seat,

knitting and listening to music (the temper trap‘s ‘conditions’ being my new favourite album)

for the nearly two hour trip north along the coast and the spectacular view across the pacific:

through the royal national park,

into sydneys southern suburbs

and towards the city.

from there, i head even further north to stay over at rosered’s place, where i play with the bay-bee

and do some cooking. this week i made char sui pork for dinner, while rosered did a heap of baking for morning tea at knitters guild on saturday.

i am very much enjoying the new guild venue over at surry hills library

its a beautiful big light and airy room,

and this week it was full of the usual great people showing off their latest amazing array of handknits (and strangely, some crochet!). i forgot to get pix of that sorry. then its out to crown street,

in search of sustenance with wonderful knitty friends

(organic eggs and ham at bird cow fish. yummo). this little trip may also have resulted in some accidental stash acquistion:

madeline tosh merino light in a gorgeous deep dark green called moorland. my phone camera does this colour no justice at all because im not usually into green but everyone agreed this one would suit me, and i couldnt really resist. i have 1200m here and im thinking of some kind of layering, swingy tee or tank.  my current thoughts are tending towards resizing sage remedy for 4ply, or something like elvira. thoughts or suggestions anyone?

then its home again via central underground (track work on the country lines again)

to crash in front of three football games last night, two rugby league finals and the rugby union test. i do so love september! speaking of which, spring really has arrived, with the wisteria bursting into flower suddenly

and the magnolia in all its glory.

i just want to finish on some amateur philosophising. the thing i like most about travelling up to guild meetings once a month is the people. ive talked before about the joys of knitters as friends, and of course, there are plenty of people who knit that i am not friends with, and that i dont need to befriend either. but this last couple of weeks, i have been reminded yet again of the power of the People Like Us. we are not perfect, and we have disagreements, and irritate each other. sometimes we even hurt each other, as humans are want to do, but i have been reminded yet again of how much these kinds of friendships are worth fighting for. how lucky we are to have each other.

k xx

(note: sorry about dodgy picture qualities, both digital cameras have no batteries at the moment, so these are all phone camera pix!)