Sunday, October 01, 2006

Scarves, scarves and more scarves!

It's been a very very worky week, very worky, and alas, needles and yarn and fiddling over yarn overs don't really fit in very well with a worky persona. I haven't been knitting; but I have been stashing, O yes.

- Man at the post office: Have you been clicking on the internet?

- Me (staggering under myriad packages of yarn): Erm...

- Man: Because we'll be seeing a lot more of you this winter if so!

Erm. Yes. I'm not photographing my stash quite yet, as some of it is a bit peculiar, some destined for presents, and in general, I am rather ashamed of my stash, if truth be told. A lot of random eBay purchases, few notions of what to do with them. The shame, the shame.

But! I do have something to be proud of, viz. a FO, if not my shiny flashed face:

Diagonal Rib Scarf







Pattern: Herringbone Diagonal Rib Scarf, by Li at Life's a Stitch

Yarn: Kilcarra of Donegal chunky tweed, 100% wool, colurway 2525, 200g

Needles: 7 mm Addi Turbos; the yarn label says to use 5 1/2s, but you need more drape in a scarf, right?

Pattern modifications: Three repeats of the herringbone rib rather than four, at this gauge.

Time sucked: A week, including ripping and reknitting time. Not too bad, no?

Verdict

This is a lovely pattern, and it knits up really really quickly! It's designed for a DK yarn, but I think it works perfectly with a chunky tweed: just fancy enough to give it structure, but plain enough to let the tweed flecks show through. The perfect scarf for a blustery walk down the South Wall into Dublin Bay, or for throwing over a chunky cardigan when you just can't be bothered wearing a coat.

Wo



O, that Rowan Tapestry. I went to Crown Jewels and found the perfect beads for it. (Crown Jewels used to be on Crown Alley, back in the day, making sense of a rather silly pun, but now it's on Castle Market the allusion is a little... lost). But is the fluffy soy silk mix happy? Is it hell. It is too good for this world, that yarn is: it just slid off my hefty Addi metal DPNs with a shudder, refusing to countenance such brutal equipment. Bamboo DPNs are on order, madame. Whatever makes you happy...

Not More Goddamned Yarn


Yes, yes, I know. I know. The herringbone scarf is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous. But as I said, it was a very worky week, and I found myself longing for a smart, light scarf, in an elegant pattern and a monochrome, luxury yarn, that would go with a suit and the Miu Miu coat that I picked up for half nothing in the charity shop. Yesterday, myself and my lovely lady friend and our friend Stellanova went on an intrepid expedition to Springwools, that vasty barn located far, far out in the badlands of Dublin West. We sat on the bus as a torrent buffetted us, and peered out in the rain onto such strange places as Cork Street, Dolphin's Barn, Crumlin and Drimnagh, none of which appeared particularly lovely in the sluicing storm.

Springwools is indeed an Aladdin's cave, but slightly bleak and windowless, with an astonishing selection but a utilitarian air about it. It abounds in yarns both novelty and luxury, and has a fantastic pattern selection, but I found myself yearning, I have to say, for the friendly company of Lisa and Jacqui of This is Knit while I browsed. But I did pick up some bargain basket odd balls (though Stella and my lady friend scored better deals, mumble grumble), and the yarn for the scarf: RYC Cashsoft DK, m'dear, nothing but the fanciest.

You may have noticed a certain... lilac quality in my knitting to date. And nothing wrong with lilac, but it was time for a departure, no? I rather like this pingy chilli (colour 512, Poppy), even if it won't go with anything I have...



The pattern is the fabulous Tiger Eye scarf from StitchinGirl. Though I think it looks a little more like owl eyes, like the creepy owls in the Owl Service by Alan Garner, for those of you who liked your childhood reading gothic. It's a great crisp urban lace, though, I hope, and far, far away from boho flowers and mad-old-lady purple.

5 comments:

Life's a Stitch said...

I LOVE your verdict.
Li

Life's a Stitch said...

One more comment - I heard on the news today that women with ponytails should avoid the trails at our local university due to divebombing owls! Seems they associate the ponytails with animals.
Li

la glitz said...

Eeek, Li! Thank you for giving me nightmares! I'll have to be careful to knit that matching hat for the scarf as quickly as possible. Save my hairs!

Cashmere Scarf said...

very lovely and beautiful....

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