Sissinghurst

I finished Sissinghurst a couple of weeks ago. I really enjoyed knitting this and I love the result. The yarn is Rowan pure wool 4ply in the colours depicted in the magazine, and I actually had at least one ball of each colour left over - that's a first for me with Rowan. Everything I've ever made from Rowan has always required me to go and buy extra, so this was a bonus.
The pattern looks more complicated than it is to work - slipped stitches on 2 of the 4 pattern rows give the illusion of fair isle but only one colour is used at a time; as the colour changes every 4th row there are masses of ends to weave in, but I did this at the end of each knitting session to keep things under some sort of control - I don't think I could've faced doing them all at the end. I made the smallest size - 32" - 34" - which turned out to be a good move as it blocked slightly larger than the expected finished measurements, so it fits quite well after all.
Currently knitting "Portree", another Rowan from their latest mag, and that's going well - I'll have piccies soon, along with Rick socks from Cookie A's "Sock Innovation". Both fit in with two personal goals for this year - to get better at colourwork and to better understand sock construction.

No photos today, just a quick update on what I'm knitting. I managed to block the Sissinghurst vest from Rowan's winter magazine last weekend, and have now done the neckband and 1 armband. The other armband is scheduled for this evenings knitting and hopefully I'll get time to sew it up too - I might even wear it tomorrow.
With Sissinghurst blocking, there was no knitting on the needles, so I started Portree, also from the latest Rowan magazine. I did the ribbing but had a bit of a false start. This is my first venture into stranded colourwork for a long time and you know when you've only done a few rows of the main pattern but you just know something's not right? Well, I had that moment and decided to rip back. I'd only done about 8 rows so it wasn't a disaster, but it was a good choice. I reworked the rows and now it's much better. I've put it to one side while I get Sissinghurst finished - if I don't get that sewn up soon it'll never get done, and it's too nice to languish in the unfinished objects bag.
I'll attempt to take photos of both projects soon.

First FO's of the decade

I finished 2 projects this week - quite an achievement for me.

First up, Pyroclastic socks from the latest Knitty. I used sock yarn from stash, obtained a couple of years ago when I joined the Yarn Yard sock club for a short time. The stitch pattern is relatively easy to memorise so the leg was no trouble at all to knit. On the first sock I got a bit confused with the movement of the stitch markers, so I had to frog when I realised I wasn't reducing the width of the pattern on the instep, but once I'd figured out exactly what I was doing, it flowed naturally. These socks have the EZ shaped sole which gives a lovely snug fit, and I changed the toe to star shaped which I find suits me better. If I'd change one thing, it'd be the choice of yarn - the stitch pattern has got a bit lost there. I think it'd be much better in a single colour, or a semi-solid. Other than that, I'm pleased with the result.

Next is the mini dress I started last summer with the intention of taking it on holiday. The pattern was in a supplement with Knitting magazine and the yarn is Bergere de France Coton 50. I had 8 balls of this languishing in the stash for about 6 years and I'm glad I finally broke it out. It's beautiful to knit with, very soft with good stitch definition, blocks well too. I made a couple of minor alterations - I cast on for the second size and decreased to the first size for a better fit, and also knit it a lot shorter than the pattern calls for, since the model was about 6 feet tall and the suggested size would probably have reached my ankles! Both have worked well and I'm really pleased with the result. I think it'll be good to wear on it's own or layered over a vest for spring/summer, but might also look nice over longer sleeves in colder weather.

A bit more Oz

We saw so many amazing things while we were in Australia that it'd be impossible to show photos of everything. Between us, Mr.Diviknitty and I took about 1500 pictures so I'll try to show some of our favourite places and also capture the great diversity of the place.
Still in Western Australia and travelling north is Ningaloo reef, not as large as the Great Barrier reef over on the east coast, but easily accessible from the beach at Coral Bay. A short ride out in a glass bottomed boat is all it takes, but if you look closely you can see the coral just a few metres out. This was a picture postcard bay of white sand and turquoise sea; we went snorkelling on the reef, working on the assumption that they didn't feed tourists to the sharks so it was safe to swim! I'd never been snorkelling before and I admit to being terrified at first - I couldn't get the hang of breathing through the snorkel at first, but what an experience once I'd mastered it! Such beautiful, colourful fish swimming all around us, and nothing with sharp teeth!

In contrast, this is Limestone Lookout - can you believe the vast nothingness beyond the horizon in every direction? And it was hot - a dry searing heat that you could feel sucking all the moisture out of you.

To finish, photos of two very different rivers - the Murchison looking how a river should look (except for the flies, which were many and very annoying!)and the dry bed of the Gascoyne. Not a drop of water in sight - that's us, only a few metres from the bank, so you can see how big it is - but can you imagine it actually fills up when there's rain in the tropics?!

Look what I found on the Christmas Tree!

My efforts at stash reduction have not gone well this year. Not only have I not used up that much yarn over the past twelve months, but I've been seduced by new stuff on visits to Wibbling Wools in Bury St Edmunds. However, that involves a bit of travelling for me which means I'm not tempted that often. Even so, the stash has increased ever so slightly.
The first photo here is of Cleckheaton 8ply that I bought home from a craft shop in Cowes on Phillip Island, Australia. Recommended needle size is 4mm so I guess it's equivalent to UK double knit. Well, I had to bring home at least one souvenir, didn't I?

The two skeins of Artesano Hummingbird were bought at the recently opened Ely Wool Shop. This is what happens when a lovely new LYS opens barely 3 miles from home! I could be mistaken but this doesn't bode well for stash reduction. Even worse when you learn that another LYS is due to open in Ely in the new year! That's seriously good news, though. Ely looks set to be the yarn capital of Cambridgeshire and I can't wait to have these little oases on my doorstep, especially after Bobb-ins closed this autumn. I don't know yet what I'll make with any of these new aquisitions; I'm content for them to sit and look pretty for the time being.

And this is the progress made so far on Sissinghurst, from the current Rowan book. The colours are lovely, the yarn (pure wool 4ply) knits up a treat and is beautifully soft, and the pattern is easy. The slip stitch pattern means that only one colour is used at a time but the effect is of stranded colour work. If I have a minor bugbear it's the hundreds of ends that have to be sewn in, but as long as I do them as I go along, it's not too tedious.

So all that remains is to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a happy knitterly New Year.

Monkey Mia

Our first stop on the coach tour was at an amazing place called Monky Mia. If you look at a map of Western Australia, follow the coast north of Perth and you'll come to a double peninsula; Monkey Mia is on the inner peninsula. The first photo was taken at sunrise.
It's a very special place where, during the 1960's a lady started feeding bottlenosed dolphins. A wildlife spectacular was born and now the dolphins come into the beach several times a day .

From the several hundred animals that inhabit the Indian ocean in this area, Monkey Mia has 30 or so regular beach visitors, only females and sometimes their young (males are too aggressive so are actively discouraged) with up to a dozen arriving for each feeding session.

You can see how close in they come. The sea is about knee depth and they'll come right up to you looking for food. The whole affair is closely regulated by rangers as dozens of people line the beach to catch a glimpse.

If you're lucky enough - and this was my lucky day - you get picked from the crowd to feed a dolphin a fish! Words cannot describe the experience but I would've come home a happy woman if I didn't see another thing in the whole of the holiday.

From Perth to Ningaloo - stage 1

The photos from our holiday in Australia will keep me in blog material for quite a while, so I'll just do a bit at a time and try not to bore you. We started off in Perth and this is a veiw of the city from Kings Park. A nice city and fairly laid back, easy to stroll

round; Kings Park is home to the botanical gardens - just look at those huge palm trees!

This is a red wattle bird. They seemed to be as common as our blackbirds but a whole lot cheekier. There were also yellow wattle birds which had (yes, you guessed it) yellow wattles! Many things out there are given names that exactly describe their appearance, and these were no exception!



After a couple of days in Perth recovering from the journey,

we went on a 5 day coach tour which took us some 600 miles north on one of the main highways. Roadhouses provide comfort breaks every so often and this beautiful parrot was spotted at the Cataby roadhouse. The further north you travel the emptier the road gets - you see another car or a road train every 5 minutes or so, a refreshing change from being stuck in traffic on the A10 into Cambridge every day! It also gets hotter, and this photo was taken at the Billabong roadhouse. Stepping out from the air-conditioned coach was like stepping into an oven. That red earth is so typical of how I'd imagined it, and it was so darned hot! Just 3 or 4 hours drive north of Perth and it was 40°C, and not even summer yet. That ice lolly that I'm holding was melting before I could eat it.

This is Port Denison, where we stopped for a picnic lunch. A quiet little seaside town but absolutely idyllic. It was the first of many beaches we saw where the sand was white and the ocean was crystal clear and turquoise blue. It reminded us of picture postcards you see and you think the colours have been enhanced in photoshop. Let me tell you, they haven't; it really does look that way.

This was the first day of an absolutely fabulous 5 days; we really were looking forward to this tour but it exceeded our expectations. We saw so many amazing things that I'll tell you about soon - Monkey Mia next time (where I fulfilled a life's ambition!).