Tuesday, April 17, 2007

It was hot in London – June. Tee-shirt weather. Irises and lilac and even roses were in bloom. Unnatural. We had a good time, saw a lot of art and family and some old friends, and are profoundly glad to be back. A few days’ R&R, and I hope we’ll be fit to go to Strathardle and start planting seeds.

The Calcutta Cup sweater fits fine and looks great. I think it has to be put down as a success. Only trouble is, given the thermal qualities of Fair Isle and the effects of climate change, he’ll never have a chance to wear it.

I made pretty good progress with the merino-cashmere-bison down bed socks (from Wild Geese Fibres), my current travel project. The finished object feels remarkably soft and cosy, but the experience of knitting isn’t quite the effect of knitting-with-chocolate that you might expect. The yarn twists back on itself; and is inclined to split, so you’ve got to watch
out.


I was far too tired to pick up the Princess last night, so I went on with the Little Boy Sweater, finishing the ribbing for the second sleeve. I think I have succeeded in starting the handpainted yarn at the right point, so that the two sleeves will be close to identical.


But today life-is-real-life-is-earnest must resume. No more cider until Sunday. And Princess-knitting.

Comment

Sue in CT, I had no idea that Gladys Amedro’s book “Shetland Knitting” is not to be had – but you seem to be right, alas. I thought we could get anything on Abebooks. It might be worth listing it with them, so that they can send you an email when a copy turns up. Would it be worth writing to the Shetland Times? It certainly deserves to stay in print.

6 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:35 AM

    The sweater is marvelous. Surely in the dead of winter in Scotland there will be an occasional chance to wear it.

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  2. Anonymous4:20 PM

    The Calcutta Cup sweater looks great on its recipient--bravo again!

    The Amedro book always causes quite a feeding frenzy when it comes up on eBay. sigh.

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  3. Anonymous8:41 PM

    Given the nor'easter we just had in April, I think there will be a chance to wear the Calcutta Cup sweater.

    Since college I've had two conflicting ambitions: to have so little stuff that I can travel easily, and to own everything I ever wanted... alas, I'm much too close to the second ambition.

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  4. I really think that the Calcutta Cup sweater is extraordinarily fine, and the colours work really well together. It even fits! You should be proud of yourself for making such a nice garment.

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  5. The sweater is great! And he's wearing it! A double win. (The teenage boy here is not so keen on hand knit sweaters.) It makes me yearn for a Fairisle myself. We've got your backlash on global warming on this side of the pond. He could wear the sweater here in June with the way things are going.

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  6. Anonymous3:29 PM

    He needs to move to New England. The weather hasn't been out of the 30's and 40's for over a week; nevermind the 6" of rain from the nor'easter we've been having. I guess Mother Nature is making up for the warm January we had.

    I will try writing to the Shetland Times about the Amedro book. I already have my name in at ABE but probably wouldn't be able to afford it even if became available. I have lucked out at library sales picking up some OOP books but find I need to be first in line to beat out the dealers.

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