pink package!

my very first pink package from posh arrived yesterday!!!

but I didn't find it until this morning ... poor thing spent the night out on the verandah, probably feeling unwanted and unloved

I was at work all day and met jh for dinner so got home after dark; I'd asked jh whether this package had arrived and he said I'd received a flattish package from the UK ... but it wasn't pink (it was Ysolda's booklet, which is quite lovely and very welcome!)

I should have gone out to check the usual place where the parcel fairy leaves parcels but I just thought it would arrive the next day and went upstairs to knit ... so there it was when I left the house this morning! and here it is, finally photographed:

tosca

toscafull, originally uploaded by poshdee.

look what the posh yarn fairy got for me this morning! only 2 of these are mine:

Yarn Details:
Helena 4ply (sock weight) yarn, pure organic merino. Each skein is 360 yards per 100g.

Name:
Tosca

Colour Description:
Black, magenta, mulberry

Price per Skein:
£11.00

not enough knitting time!

I'm falling a bit behind in my schedule for palimpsest -- reached the halfway mark this morning instead of last night and am currently barely 1/3 through today's repeat ... and I need to go out soon to buy some protein for tonight's dinner -- probably snags from the supermarket, unless the butcher is really not busy

the chart keeper that jh made for me is helping (although not as effectively as Agnes' -- she's just speeding along with her projects!) but I need to figure out how to modify it so that I can use it while travelling on train/tram

meanwhile my queue just keeps getting longer, with my stash not far behind, and I think I will renege on my offer to knit Kim Hargreaves' Elizabeth for Clare -- maybe she'd like a nice lace scarf instead? or a Niobe in that Moda Vera Harmony that has too much brown in it for me?

and which of the exciting new yarns and patterns will I pick up when palimpsest is done (or even sooner)?

• irtfa'a, with Mel's alpaca-silk
• ishbel, with posh charlotte
• maplewing, with one of Kim's whispers
• boxleaf, with one of the Fleece Artist Cambyx
• tiger eye, with posh helena (if Agnes manages to get me a skein)

and there are so many other projects I could start, not to mention the wips I've been neglecting -- my excuse is that most are at or near the stage where I need to do some major structural adjustment, including both socks wips ... except Veronique, but I don't like the circ I'm using for the sleeve, and need to find/buy another, preferably sooner than when Morris and Sons opens in Collins St

and yesterday I ordered Cookie A's book as well as the Estonian Lace book with Miralda, and downloaded the Aeolian shawl pattern that has so many posh people so excited ...

knitting aids

Custom Knits arrived yesterday: most designs are a bit "young" but there are a few top-down set-in sleeve patterns I like -- Cameo, Slinky Ribs, Lettuce Coat ... Essential Tank is also a possibility, as well as Karma (top and/or skirt). But the most useful parts of the book are the sections on fit and modifying patterns.

Agnes mentioned in a forum post that she had received a knitting chart keeper, which would help her to knit faster (as fast as Nancy?) -- I had a look but Knitpicks doesn't ship outside the US, so I asked jh to make me one. Here is the first prototype:

It's an A4-sized metal sheet (from a would-be industrial shelf) glued to a piece of cardboard and slotted into a folded piece of cardboard. The magnets are cut from a council-recycling fridge magnet. Not (yet) portable but it does the job :-)

Then I found a forum thread about knitting faster, with a post from Aaron Lewis about knitting sheaths; a google search led to his blog, where he has videos of him using a knitting sheath. I'd read about these before, during my own gansey-knitting period, but I don't think they can be adapted to circs, which is mostly what I knit with now.

splendidfull

splendidfull, originally uploaded by poshdee.

AgnesTville, darling enabler extraordinaire, snaffled 1 skein of this for me in this morning's feeding frenzy (aka weekly Posh Yarn sale) -- it's Charlotte 2-ply Splendid and I plan to make Ysolda's Ishbel.

lace patterns

I think in future I will practise every lace pattern, using pale DK yarn and medium needles, long enough to understand it and to stop making mistakes -- only then will I cast on with the actual lace or fingering yarn.

With Palimpsest, it took almost 3 repeats, working steadily after restarting the piece, before I felt confident that I could "read" my knitting to remind myself of the next sub-pattern. Now, near the end of the 5th repeat, I even understand the sequence of the edging stitches :-)

I'm a little worried about the amount of yarn -- this first ball should do at least 7 repeats plus another 8 rows ... 23-24 g to do another 59 rows, i.e., 117 rows used 32-33 g -- so it looks like I've got plenty!

ETA Tue 24 Mar 2009: it was looking unlikely, as the ball of yarn dwindled, but I weighed it after 7 repeats and still had 9g -- the arithmetic said the next 8 rows should use less than 3g and, sure enough, I still have 7g left after doing the 8 rows.

yet more yarn

my cambyx from knitty noddy arrived a few minutes ago -- one skein of burgundy and two of victoria -- the two colourways are very similar -- victoria isn't even a less saturated version of burgundy ... if anything, the bronze hues are slightly deeper in victoria ... but the victoria insists on photographing much more blue than it is, while the burgundy's photo looks reasonable ... stranger still, victoria alongside burgundy photographs ok!?

these are intended for Anne Hanson's boxleaf shawl -- autumn leaves, if you will :-)