Wednesday, April 03, 2019


Another day of steadily-forward. I’ve finished the weaving-in-of-ends, for the Dathan hap, rather to my own surprise. There are about 90 stitches left to bind off. (And the blocking combs are probably contained in the package which will be re-delivered tomorrow morning.) The baby sweater has been divided for the underarms. That's a good idea, Mary Lou, about marking your place with a pin when you are knitting trackless swathes of stocking stitch, to prove to yourself that you are actually getting somewhere.

The garter stitch band at the bottom is rolling upwards with determination, despite the k1p1 row which is meant to stop it doing so. I hope blocking will cure it. I like Meg’s story, though, in the introduction to the “Box the Compass” sweater in her book “Knitting”.

She and EZ had the idea of rotating the four decrease lines in a raglan yoke sweater, so that they ran down the outside middle of the sleeves, and the middle of the front and back. EZ plunged in without further ado, and knit it. When she brought it to Meg to try on, the sleeves looked lovely, but the front and back decrease lines “stood out in sharp cone-shaped points”.

EZ said, “It’ll block out”. She wasn’t used to being wrong, but she was that time.

I’m toying with the idea of attempting Sharon Miller’s “Spring Shawl”. There are three more granddaughter-brides to come, if they all marry. I might just have the oomph to produce one more shawl, and there’s nothing more fun than lace. I could buy the yarn when I’m in Shetland next month. It’s a thought.

Non-knit

I continue to make steady progress with “Daniel Deronda” and I think I’ll probably finish. I’m about half-way through. But it’s no “Middlemarch”.

My seed order came this afternoon. I am going to try to grow potatoes in bags on the doorstep this year; and some salad – that’s easy; and snow peas, up the railings on one side; and some beetroot, in a pot. There’ll be flowers, too, collected in a Maytime raid on the garden centre. Soon it won’t be entirely easy to get in and out of the front door.

I’ve set the potatoes to chit, just as in the Good Old Days of my Strathardle vegetable garden.

4 comments:

  1. We planted our five rows f main crop potatoes the other day. I'm afraid that mice nibbled most of the first batch of first earlies we bought - something that we had never had happen before.
    I've finished "The Claverings." As soon as I saw the chapter heading about the Norwegian fishing trip it was obvious what would happen. I fear that it is not Trollope's best work.

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  2. Finished rereading "In this House of Brede." I first read it when I was a teenager and I'm sure my Pentecostal protestant mother thought I was going to convert. I was pretty taken with the idea for a short while, until I went on to the next thing. I enjoyed reading it again. I'm reading a little Christopher Morley now, nice light reading.

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  3. Anonymous1:07 PM

    The spring shawl would be a lovely choice for any granddaughter and an exquisite gift + heirloom...I wish I were that kniterly talented :)

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  4. I think the flipping hem will block out. It has on the ones I’ve made, although each time I worry about it. Do you think working them hem on fewer stitches (not many fewer) would alleviate that? I just looked at one I did in Koigu years ago and it is not flipping at all. We still have frost in the ground, this was a long winter. I can’t wait to wander outside and see what’s for dinner!

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