Thursday, February 26, 2009

long not so lacy summer

in two days they tell me summer is over for another year, but i remain a sceptic. the australian climate has no respect for european calendar systems. i have known it to be damn hot at easter. we have had a minor reprieve with some rain and cloud but we are off to canberra this weekend for the flyball comp at the canberra royal (and to catch up with people and to see clever knitted things in the show), and i know it will be stinking and if there is hell on earth to me, its canberra in summer. at a flyball comp. but there will be compensations, im sure.

the point of this rant about summer is that its over, which means the 'long lacy summer' is over. i have been a bad KAL-er, as i always am, because life (and other knitting) seems to get in the way. i have made very little progress on the myrtle leaf shawl that bells and i started on australia day:

its a difficult knit in terms of concentration factor and i havent been up to it with the new job and working out timetables etc. and then there was lily. i did really itch to do some lace lately so i went back to victorian ruby which has a rest row, and a knit one at that. nice.

this yarn is jade sapphire cashmere and is the most beautiful thing i have ever held, i wish i could explain how soft it is.

but i did finish one lacy thing this long summer, and its a gift. it was went to be a christmas present for george, it was finished a couple of weeks ago and finally got blocked this week. it is just lovely:
it is not perfect, and my blocking leaves something to be desired, but this yarn (knittery slim socks in merlot) has lent itself quite well to the idea of being a scarf instead of socks. it has a lovely silky touch to it that works really well with the fantastic pattern that is the 'weldons wide and handsome border' from victorian lace today.

speaking of socks, my IK Spring arrived yesterday and i was flicking through some kind of nice patterns (probably nothing i will make) when i saw the most interesting thing in the magazine - an ad. not just any old ad tho, oh no, it was an ad for a book, a whole book of cookie a sock patterns.

it comes out in april. i am sooo there.

k xx

7 comments:

Michelle said...

Have a good time in Canberra on the weekend. I've heard it's going to be pretty warm. Cool nights though.

2paw said...

Nice scarf, it looks very fluttery and soft!!!

Rose Red said...

I think you've done really well on the lace - I've made some lacy stuff, but not with laceweight yarn!!

And CookieA book - I'm right there with you! I'm even thinking of doing an Amazon pre-order (if you want to go in with me...)(if you haven't already ordered it)

Bells said...

Hey Myrtle has grown! Excellent. So glad to see that.

The merlot one (can't rmember the name!) blocked so well. It's just beautiful. I shall include your work in my round up post!

amy said...

I don't buy it, that your summer ends in two days. I don't understand how Australia just ignores the actual solstice and declares the seasons to begin on the first of the month. We still have winter (on paper) until the 20th, and even then, we won't have a spring you could count on. But declaring spring to begin on March 1 would be just ludicrous!

(Do you know the reasoning behind it? I'm curious.)

Bishop Stone said...

great scarf. i love the deep colour and the pattern.

Georgie said...

I am still in awe of being the recipinet of the scarf, I *love* it! I just wish it wasnt so warm so I could wear it ;-) A billion thankyous (cuse we all know a million aint worth a spit these days!)