Home again

We are back. We had a truly wonderful holiday, but it is good to be home again. Actually, we've been back since Sunday last, but I haven't managed to find the time to post.

It really was a lovely time. Living on a narrowboat is different from living in bricks and mortar. The impact on the environment is so much less..... 50 gallons of fuel lasts us most of a year. We get a lot of our power from a solar panel. You go to sleep when it gets dark, you wake when you've slept long enough. There are lights, of course, but as the daylight starts to fail we tend to light candles rather than flipping a switch. Water consumption is more considered. We have a good sized water tank - 250 gallons - and it is easy to fill it at a water point - but a tap is never left running. We bought a newspaper once. We listened to the radio occasionally, and we didn't even turn on the television.

It is so separate from 'normal' life. Even in a city centre, the waterway will always be a quiet ribbon of trees and water, within the city but distinct from it. In the countryside, you find yourself away from roads, in beautiful isolation. When you want to, you can stop, moor up, and stay as long as you choose. When you want to move on, you move at rather less than walking pace. There are locks, you see - sometimes a lot of them - and that slows you down well below the normal 4mph speed limit.

We arrived back suntanned and well rested

It wasn't the nicest of homecomings, actually, because when I opened the front door the very first thing I noticed - well, I could hardly fail to notice it - was a smell. A very, very bad smell indeed. I mean really unbelievably awful. It practically came out the front door to meet me..... It turned out that we'd had a power cut at some point over the last three weeks, the circuit breaker on the main board had tripped when the power came back on, as it has a habit of doing - and so there had been no power to the fridge freezer for a quite a while. The fridge, of course, was pretty much empty apart from a few things in jars - but the freezer had had a normal amount of food inside.

So we had to deal with that.

I still cannot get the smell out of the fridge, by the way. I've tried everything I can think of - wiping out with bicarb solution, leaving a cut lemon in there, leaving some bicarb in there in an open dish - and still it lingers. Currently I've got several fridge deodorisers in there. They seem to be helping a little bit, but it's an uphill battle. If anyone has any suggestions as to how I can deal with this, I'd really appreciate it!

Now, knitting.

I really wish I could show you what I've been doing, but my camera isn't working at the moment. We think the battery is dead, and we've ordered a new one, but until it arrives I am camera-less and blog pictures will have to wait.

I have finished three projects.

The Lenore socks are done. These were the second-to-last of the Blue Moon Sock Club mailings last year, and it has taken me a quite disgracefully long time to finish them. This is mainly because I haven't been working on them, of course. I like them, even though red/black is a colour that I would never have chosen myself. They fit well, and are comfortable to wear. I made the medium size, and changed nothing at all. Nice straightforward pattern, well written, and lovely yarn. I do like Blue Moon yarns....

Bark from Rowan 38 is done. This pattern is by Anna Tillman, and it is a chunky crochet shawl. Not my usual sort of thing at all, and I don't know quite why this project caught my attention the way it did - but I really enjoyed making it, and it well definitely be worn when the weather gets cool enough to warrant it. Although it is called a shawl, really this is more of a scarf, certainly in terms of wear. It is soft and thick, gorgeously textural, and wraps beautifully - to be fastened with a pin, I think. Very 'organic'.

I didn't need as much yarn as the pattern said, by the way. There are four colours of Chunky Print required. For two of the colours, you need just one ball, and for the other two colours the pattern says two balls- but I only needed to touch the second ball for one colour (the dark brown,Pit). The edging is in Big Wool Tuft, and the pattern says 3 balls - I used 2, which was fortunate as I had only been able to find two. So, leftover Chunky Print in the stash now. This will probably be a hat at some point, I expect.

The Lacy Raglan Top from All Seasons at the Mill is done, too. I used the last of the All Seasons Cotton in Slick, a dark marled grey, long discontinued, from stash. This is a nice straightforward knit, and makes a nice straightforward shortsleeved cotton top for me to wear to work. I made size L, and it is comfortable and looks fine.

Currently on the needles I have Dauphine, from Rowan 43. I haven't finished the first piece yet - currently I'm working on the back. The armhole shaping is done, and I'm heading up towards the neckline. This is pretty, and it's growing quite fast despite the fine yarn, mainly because of the stripes, I think. Very more-ish, if you know what I mean. Not entirely my usual colours - I cannot remember when I last knitted with anything like the pinky red in this - but the rest is mainly blues and greens, so not too far out of the comfort zone here.

Cookie, I'm afraid, hasn't been touched. I will get back to it soon.....

Also, I am trying very hard indeed not to cast on for Alloy, in black Bamboo Tape. This is calling my name right now.........

Ten

Here is my re-coloured Dodge, hanging on the fence in this morning's sunshine. It is the tenth sweater that I've finished this year.


I finished this yesterday evening - I was trying to get it done in time for me to wear it to work, but that was not to be..... it did take a while dealing with all those ends neatly. I am really rather pleased with it. It is comfortable to wear, it fits nicely, and I absolutely love the colours.


So, this is Dodge, from Rowan 43, worked in Rowan's Bamboo Tape which is rapidly becoming a firm favourite of mine. I made size L, and the only thing that I changed was the colouring. I had one ball of colour A left over - but only just. There were literally only a couple of yards left from the previous ball, so I wouldn't recommend that you get any less yarn than the pattern says.

A bit more about the colours, then. This top was inspired by my seeing another recoloured version whilst I was up at Holmfirth - one of the DC's from Oxford Street had made a really wonderful version, absolutely gorgeous and very dramatic - but not colours that I could easily wear.

The original has three strong colours - Ember, a rusty red; Gale, a strong dark blue; and Honey, which is indeed a golden honey colour - together with black and white. I've replaced the black and white with Storm (grey, the same colour I used for Mine) and Wafer, a deep cream. Rope (biscuity beige) replaces the dark blue; Wedgewood (a lovely pale turquoise) replaces Honey; and Wode (mid-blue, not quite as bright as it looks here) replaces the rusty red.


Here is the original colouring - quite a difference. I'm looking forward to wearing my version at work, and I'm wondering how many people will actually recognise it from the magazine.

This was, as you'll have noticed, a very quick knit indeed, one of the fastest things I've made in fact - just 6 days from start to finish. It never actually made it onto my list of things on the needles - I started it on Monday this week, and finished, as I said, yesterday evening - so, 6 days. This yarn is a joy to work with, it flows through the fingers so beautifully - and the fabric as it comes off the needles is just so lovely - the subtle sheen, the drape.... stunning. Combine this with stripes in colours that I love, and you end up with a real 'just one more row' situation - nearly impossible to put down!

What's next? - I haven't decided yet.

We are off on the boat again tomorrow - this time it will be for about three weeks, and we are hoping that the sun will continue to shine for us. We did get fairly thoroughly rained on last time, after all. This time we are heading up the Kennet & Avon in the other direction, and my husband thinks that we may get as far as Reading before we have to turn round and head back home again. One of the first things we will have to deal with is the famous Caen Locks - I may need a separate holiday to recover from that.

I shall be taking far too much knitting with me, of course.

Currently I have picked up the Lenore socks again, and I'm enjoying them. These are the fifth socks from the Blue Moon Sock Club last year (designed by Stephanie Pearl McPhee) and they've been on the needles a quite disgracefully long time. They'll be getting finished first. I shall also take the other socks left unworked from last year's Blue Moon Club - Cat Bordhi's Salish Sea Socks. I really want to make these. Cat's book about new sock architectures is just amazing, and these socks use one of the constructions from the book, the one that I think is going to be my favourite. And they've got a star toe (also my favourite!) worked toe up. Also, I love the colours - blues and greens. I have thoughts of a teaching session on alternative sock construction..... but first I need to knit these socks.

Other than that - short sleeved tops to wear to work, that is the order of the day. So, I am taking Scree, Dauphine, and also the Lacy Raglan Top from All Seasons at the Mill. The first two will be worked in the original colours, and the Lacy Raglan will be in yet more of the discontinued dark grey All Seasons Cotton. I told you I had a lot of this stuff, and I meant it - what can I say? - I like my neutrals, and grey in particular. This stuff has already been used for the Cobblestone Pullover, and the Garter Rib Pullover from Classic Knits for Real Women. (That is such a good book, by the way.) But this will be the last top I shall make in this colour, there won't be enough left over for a fourth one, and perhaps that's as well.

Cookie too, I haven't forgotten that.

And I'm taking Bark along as well, (Rowan 38) in case I feel like crochet for a change. I still haven't started this, and now that I begin to think about it, I am realising that although it isn't sensible in the slightest and I won't be actually wearing it any time soon, this is probably going to be next. This will be another quick project too, I think.

The only difficulty is that I am also thinking about Marble from Rowan 41. I do have the yarn for this already, it has been lurking in the stash since last summer. I am not actually (quite) mad enough to think that I need to take the yarn for five sweaters, a shawl, and two pairs of socks. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to take it anyway.

Well, maybe.

Back in three weeks!

Number nine

Here is my finished Cobblestone Pullover - the ninth sweater finished this year.


It may not look very inspiring here - I am not a good photographer, as I'm sure you've noticed - but this is probably the most flattering sweater I've made. This is rather unexpected as this pattern was designed for a man, and I definitely have curves. The garter panels at the side seem to pull it in, and although there is not even a hint of waist shaping in the pattern, it makes me look as if I've got considerably more of a waist that I actually do. This is good. The curved yoke and the neckline - it is all just about perfect. It works really, really well.

Anyway, I've been wearing it, and it has been getting compliments, ie where did you buy that gorgeous sweater? Heh. Very gratifying when that happens!

I made the second size, and I used 14 balls of Rowan All Season's Cotton in a long-discontinued shade of marled dark grey which I think was called Slick. I didn't change anything at all, and I am really pleased with the result. It is so comfortable, too. The sleeves are a little bit on the long side, which isn't a problem as I can fold up the garter stitch cuff if I want to, or not if it is chilly.

My husband has now requested one for himself. That one will have to wait a bit, though, because the next thing off my needles is definitely going to be the recoloured Dodge, which you can see here.


Pretty colours. And stripes. And just right for wearing to work, where the air conditioning is not working properly at the moment and it is, shall we say, a bit warm.

I am part way up the back, as you probably guessed. I do like this yarn. Bamboo Tape has had some less than amazing press, which is not what it deserves in my opinion. This is the second thing I've made in this yarn in the last few months, so you can see that I mean it, too.

And now I am going to go and knit some more. I am not mad enough to think that I can get this finished before Thursday lunchtime, but that doesn't mean that I'm not going to try.

So near....

Cobblestone is very nearly finished. But things keep happening that prevent me from knitting - you know how it goes.

For instance, on Friday I had plans for a pleasant evening finishing it off and starting something else - instead, whilst I was unpacking the supermarket shopping, I managed to drop a bag that had a bottle of Tamari in it. This meant that I then spent a quite disproportionate amount of time cleaning gluten-free soy sauce off what seemed like every surface in the kitchen. Not quite what I had planned. Saturday was a work day of course, and I did knit a little bit in the evening, but not much. And today has mostly been spent in the garden, which has been increasingly resembling a hayfield, only with extra-large thistles and buttercups.

This evening, however, I might actually get to sit down and knit. There is just the neckline left, really - and then that will be the ninth sweater finished this year.

And now, photos of grey knitting. Here are the short rows - specifically, the Japanese short rows which I used for the set of short rows near the neckline.


You can see them, yes - short rows in garter stitch are always going to be visible, after all - there is always going to be a garter ridge that stops. But there are no holes. Not even a hint of a gap. (By the way, the garter ridges that look crinkled are looking like that because that is just above a decrease round, nothing to do with the short rows.)

Anyway, I am a convert. Forget wraps, forget reverse yarnovers - well, maybe not for socks, maybe keep reverse yarnovers for socks - but other than that, Japanese short rows are the way to go. There is an excellent tutorial here - and yes, I used the pin trick, using my favourite stitch markers like little plastic safety pins.


The only thing that is different with short rows in the round is, of course, that on one set of short rows (pictured above) the turning gap is approached from the other side. Usually you meet the last stitch of the short row, then there is a gap, then the rest of the knitting. In this case it's the other way round. So I slip the last stitch before the gap purlwise, pull the pin and place the pin's loop on the left hand needle, slip that last stitch back onto the left hand needle, and work it together with the pin's loop. Works beautifully.

And when this pullover is finished, I shall start something else. I know I've got Cookie on the needles already, plus a few other things. But I really want to make this, it has pretty colours, and stripes, and it will be really useful to wear to work - and I think its going to be lovely.


This is Rowan's Bamboo Tape, and I am going to make Dodge with these colours. Here is Dodge, as it is shown in Rowan 43.....


The storm grey and the deep cream colour (Wafer) are going to replace the black and the white. The mid-blue (Wode) is going to replace the red, and the pale turquoise is going to replace the golden yellow. The beige (which looks pink here, but isn't IRL) is going to replace the dark blue. I think it is going to be lovely, and I cannot wait to cast on.

And I've got another idea, as well. There is a neat little short boxy cardigan called Brighton in Rowan Classic's Colour of Summer brochure. It is illustrated in RYC Cashcotton DK, and worked in three colours. But it would look lovely in a single colour, too, particularly in a yarn with some sheen to it, so that the garter stitch edgings stand out nicely. And I have some Silk Wool (Clay 305, a gorgeous soft silver grey) in the stash that's been waiting for the right project to come along. Good idea, yes?

Regarding boats, knitting, and sleep

I am back again.

Yes, we had a good time - although no, the sun didn't shine very much at all, and yes, we did get rained on rather thoroughly, particularly today. If I hadn't needed to get back for work tomorrow, I think we'd have stayed put at Bradford. Instead, we got soaked, waterproofs notwithstanding.

The first few days were just lovely. Warm sunshine, and I was wishing I had remembered to pack some sandals rather than just my boat shoes. We meandered down to Bath, which is such a beautiful city that it is actually quite hard to believe.


We had been intending to go down onto the Avon and go upstream - the river is navigable in that direction as far as the weir by Pulteney Bridge - and hopefully moor in sight of the bridge.


It is a truly spectacular view with that beautiful architecture - and no, that isn't us moored on the right, although it could have been - instead, we walked down here. At this point the boat was moored a few locks up, between Wash House Lock and Abbey View Lock - both of which are every bit as picturesque as they sound.

But the weather changed, as it always does. It became very wet indeed, and very windy as well, which is not ideal when you are trying to manoeuvre a 16 1/2 ton narrowboat. So we stayed put above Wash House Lock, and hoped it would brighten up, which it didn't seem inclined to do. Eventually we decided that the Avon could wait until another day, and headed back up the canal again during the brief intervals when it wasn't pouring with rain.

We spent a couple of days just above Bath Top Lock, with spectacular wet and windy views across the stone-built city - then we moved on to Bathampton - and so to Bradford-on-Avon. That's another really lovely place, very like Bath on a much smaller scale. And the canal is endlessly interesting- you never know what you'll come across around the next bend.


This boat looked almost organic, as if it had grown there. And yes, that is turf on the roof. Good insulation.


Look at it from the other direction...... amazing!

In Bradford we visited the Tithe Barn, which is something we've been meaning to do for a while. This is a huge medieval barn, something more than 50 metres long - you can see part of it here.


Inside, it is almost like a cathedral. Quiet, empty, beautiful, and incredibly atmospheric.


And then home today, in absolutely pouring rain.

What have I been doing? I think I have actually spent most of the last week asleep. Yes, really. I've been sleeping around 11 or 12 hours a night, every night, and having a 2 or 3 hour nap in the afternoon as well. I still don't think I'm caught up, but I'm certainly feeling a whole lot better than I was when we left.

However, I have done at least some knitting. The Cobblestone Pullover is nearly finished. When I picked this up, I was some inches away from the top of the first sleeve. Now, it is all in one piece, and I'm nearly at the third set of decreases in the garter stitch yoke, and it is going quite fast now that the stitch count is getting less.

And yes, I grafted the underarm stitches without a yarn needle. Just three dpns. I like this method a lot, I think it is actually easier to get a good tension this way.

I am less than pleased with the finish on the short rows in the yoke, by the way. I've heard that other people have had problems with them as well. The difficulty is not the wraps - this is garter stitch, and the wraps really are best left alone, they don't need to be hidden at all. The problem is quite simply that there is a tendency for a hole to form, on the purl side short row. Not the knit side - the knit side is absolutely fine. Just the purl side. I'll post some pictures tomorrow so that you can see what I mean. I think the finish is ok - I mean, there aren't any gaping holes - but it could definitely do with improvement. I'm thinking of using the Japanese short row technique for the second set of short rows, with no wraps at all - there are less stitches to deal with at that point so if I don't like the results then frogging won't be such a nuisance.

And now, I think I need to sleep some more......

In which I return, and then leave again

I am back. I am more tired than I can remember in my whole life - although I seem to recall having said that a number of times recently - and I have had an incredible time.

The journey to Holmfirth is a long one from this part of the country. We left very early to drive into Bristol, which takes about an hour, and I caught a train up to London. Very surprisingly - this was early on a Sunday morning - the train was very soon packed out. Then I went across London on the tube and had a long wait at King's Cross for the train to take me up north - this one was also packed out. I really wasn't expecting this at all. However I settled in with my iPod (hooray!) and my knitting, and the time passed quickly.

Then, at the other end, a drive through some really lovely countryside, and arrival at the Mill.


And there, in a lovely big airy room filled with light and colour - wooden floors, stone walls, tall windows, yarn and garments all around the walls - that is where I've spent the last two and a half days.

What did we do? A lot. My head is buzzing with ideas and information, all so useful and inspirational.

I met a lot of other DC's as well, of course, and I found myself looking at what everyone was wearing and trying to identify the pattern. Many, many ideas there, too. Things that particularly caught my eye were a recoloured Dodge and also a Lacy Raglan Pullover in progress (from All Seasons at the Mill, I can't find a picture right this minute) being worked in random stripes, and there will be more along those lines later, as I have some ideas of my own. I do like my neutrals, but right now I feel a call towards more colour - actually wearing it, I mean.

There were a lot of famous faces around, of course - famous to Rowan followers, that is. And everyone is just so nice!

The high point, naturally, was seeing what is coming for the new season. And on that point, I am not going to say a word, except that I was completely blown away, as we all were. You are going to like it, and that could possibly be the understatement of the year. Or maybe of the decade.

By the end of Tuesday, I was even more exhausted than when I arrived, which I wouldn't have believed was possible.

And now we are off on the narrowboat for a week, and I am going to try to wind down a bit. I am going to enjoy the fresh air, and hopefully the sun will shine. I am taking a stack of knitting, as I have far too much on the needles at the moment and I want to do some finishing off. Pia needs to be off the needles, as does the Cobblestone Pullover in All Season's Cotton.... and I may start Bark. I may even finish the Key West pullover - one of Martin Storey's patterns for Jaeger, in the long-discontinued Jaeger Celeste.

I will just show you the pullover which I finished seaming on Sunday morning, on the train.


So, this is the Grandad Top from Studio 5, worked in the colour illustrated in the pattern, Wool Cotton shade 900 Antique. I made the largest size, and it took 12 balls of yarn, exactly as the pattern says. I didn't change anything at all.


A really nice pattern, this. Easy to wear, comfortable, and flattering. There is a bit of rowing out visible there on the back, and I'm not proud of that - I was hurrying and obviously didn't take enough care. And it does need blocking properly. But overall, I'm very pleased with this.

I particularly love the neck detail. Also, those buttonholes were worked using Montse Stanley's buttonhole cast-on. This is the first opportunity that I've had to use it, since I discovered it - cunningly hidden away in her Knitter's Handbook, described as The Standard Buttonhole instead of The Best Buttonhole In The Whole World Ever. And yes, it is that good. I shall have to do a little how-to at some point.

Also, I have realised that I never did post a picture of the Kaffe Fassett Earth Stripe socks. So here they are.


My usual pattern, to fit my husband. He's pleased with them, which its what it's all about.

My knitting over the last few days has been Cookie, from Rowan Classic's Summer Delights book. I'm working this in the Silk Cotton for which the pattern is written, and I'm using shade 682, Fudge. Here it is looking very beige. At the moment I am approaching the armhole shaping on the back.


The fabric here is lovely. The whole garment is worked in 1x1 ribbing, and the Silk Cotton is just wonderful to work with. It has a subtle sheen to it, and the most gorgeous drape.

I'm looking forward to getting this one finished and wearing it. The only thing I am changing is that I am not planning buttons on this one, I shall just fasten it with a pin, I think.

And now, we are off. Back in a week!

Saturday

Well, nearly ready. I just have to pack.

And it is looking increasingly likely that the Grandad Top will be coming with me after all. Yesterday evening I did actually manage to get most of the second sleeve done. At the moment it is part way through the sleeve cap, and I'm sure I can finish that this evening. Then all I have to do is set the sleeve in - the first one is already in - and if I don't have time for the side seams and sleeve seams this evening then I can do those on the train with no problem at all. Today I found the perfect buttons, and I'll stitch those on this evening.

And then I will be able to wear it!

So, three Rowan handknits will be coming with me, and for three days (two of which involve a long train journey) that sounds entirely appropriate. The Grandad Top, the Garter Rib Pullover from Classic Knits for Real Women (what other sort of women are there, I wonder?) and lastly, Mine, despite that fact that it seems to have turned into winter again round here. Because there is a dinner on Sunday evening for which I need something nice to wear, and Mine will do nicely for that with some smart black trousers and a grey cashmere mix tshirt underneath.

So, tomorrow morning we are leaving unpleasantly early in order to drive into the centre of Bristol so that I can catch the train. With luck, I will be at Holmfirth after lunch tomorrow, and I'll be getting back rather late on Tuesday evening.

Really looking forward to this, now!