12 shawls in 2012

I wasn't going to do 12 shawls in 2012 but somehow have found myself with 7 completed shawls already and another on the needles. I managed 13 last year. So I guess....I may as well.

Included in the 7 are:

The purple Isabelle I blogged about here.

A TGV made in super-soft silk/merino from American indie-dyer Fresh from the Cauldron. I think this is my favourite 'to wear' shawl I've ever made (or at least a very close second to my hitchhiker). The yarn was a special fundraiser for a writer friend who lost her home when a tree fell on it during Hurricane Irene. The pattern was a prize I won in the 11 shawls in 2011 end of year giveaway so this shawl is pretty special to me for those reasons. I also love how soft it is to wear, how it drapes just nicely, and is the perfect combination of shawl and scarf. It's a lovely mindless and fast knit that almost seems to knit itself.

My prize was actually the entire train lovers ebook by Susan Ashcroft-Hempsell aka stitchnerd and I have plans to make some of the other patterns too (when time permits of course). After joining the stitchnerd group on Ravelry I also signed up to test one of stitchnerd's new patterns - beautiful cobweb.

This was another seriously fast knit (4 days) with a super easy lace border. These shawls are a really nice wearable shape, and would be perfect for someone new to shawl knitting. There's nothing complicated about the garter body or the edging and the end result is so pretty! I gave this one to my auntie for her birthday and knit it from Tri'Coterie silver sock in the "Snow" colourway we did in November with the Game of Thrones yarns.

I made another birthday present, this time for Maylin who is the brains behind Tri'Coterie. After lots of 4ply I wanted to try a worsted weight shawl and I had some pretty pink Malabrigo I thought she might like (colour = hollyhock).

I've tended not to knit shawls with a lace body, simply because Im usually knitting while reading, watching TV, doing stuff with kids  and need a ratio of mostly brainless vs a little bit of concentrating, so this was a bit of a change for me. 5mm needles and this one flew off the needles too. Officially it is not enough yardage to count for 12 shawls in 2012 , but I might count in my own unofficial count. It's pretty small - more kerchief than shawl, but I hope it will useful for draping over shoulders while reading in bed. It's lovely and soft and I think the colour really made the lace pop.

And the last one for today's show and tell is a Haruni. She is stunning. Knit in totally luxurious camel/silk this was a dream to knit and it's hard to really convey how lovely and soft this shawl is. It's the type of shawl I want to wear with my very best black dress and go somewhere fancy fancy. In all probability this means she'll never get worn, destined for a lonely life of 'just for best' . Perhaps I could just take her out periodically, just to admire.

Close up of the border because...gasp...I did the loopy bits with a crochet hook!!

So yes 7 down (2 I can't show just yet) , and only 5 more to go, and a few months to do it :) I should be fine I think!

What's your favourite shawl pattern?

FO: Wrenna

A couple of years ago I came across a knitting book called "French Girl Knits" at my library. I fell in love with one particular pattern called Wrenna. But like so often happens here, the required yarn ( a super bulky yarn knit on super thick needles) wasn't something easy to source or find. I put it to the back of my very long list of 'one day I would like to make' list and moved on.

My LYS is actually a quilt shop - a delightful little cottage full of delicious fabrics and other pretty things (often feel thankful I don't sew as I could see myself spending a fortune otherwise!) - and she also stocks a few knitting yarns. With the colder weather encroaching she decided to include Big Wool in her next Rowan order...

And that was when I remembered Wrenna.

Three balls of Rowan Big Wool and three days of knitting and I finally got the Wrenna I had wanted for so long.

I really love how this turned out. The knitting is not hard, but on 12.75mm needles it's also not that easy either. A bit like knitting with broom handles! I love how the lace looks in the super bulky yarn though - worth the struggles to see how soft and lofty this knit up.

I've worn it a couple of times already. Once with my glam brooch over a summer dress, and again more casually over jeans. It's perfect for this time of year when the weather can't seem to make up its mind and layering pieces are ideal. I love how it can be both dressy and casual, and I will definitely be wearing it lots this winter.

The Bone People

Goodreads has a 'blog your review' feature, thought I'd give it a go :)

The Bone People by Keri Hulme

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A reread of one of my favourite books for a challenge in the book loving kiwis group. I was going to take it slow and savour but I ended up reading 400 pages of it today and that is 400 pages of densely packed small type. It's currently 6.30pm and I've only just emerged from my book haze to chuck some fish fingers in the oven for the kids. The Bone People once again cast it's spell and to struggle was futile.

It was interesting to reread this -I must have read this for the first time over a decade ago - and to clearly remember passages and descriptions. Interestingly there were also whole swathes that I had forgotten (or perhaps tried hard to erase from my memory). I didn't remember the extent of the brutality for instance.

The book remains a 5 star read for me,a haunting beautiful angst filled break your heart read. A memorable and unique blend of mythology, poetry, and fiction that remains in a class of it's own.



View all my reviews

Lacing your Isabelle shawl

There is an Isabelle KAL going on in the Tri'Coterie group at the moment and I promised the girls some better photos showing how I laced/ribboned my shawls, so here it is.

First up, the lovely Sarah took this great photo of her shawl blocking. It is really important you block this design HARD. The edging is stocking stitch and it curls under as you knit it - it really needs to be stretched out when you block it. Blocking wires are really a good investment. I bought might from a welding supplies shop for $2 (stainless steel 1-2mm TIG wires) so they also dont need to be expensive to do the job.

Step 1: Block you finished shawl

Step 2:
With your thin ribbon (about 7mm width) lace along the top edge. Go along in/out (like running stitch) till you get to the middle

Step 3:
Now you will be taking this ribbon down the middle panel. Use the column of small (single yo) holes sitting between the purl ridges.

At the corner (on the wrong side) you will need to twist it around a little bit

Step 4: Repeat the same in/out running stitch style lacing that you did along the top edge till you get to the bottom.

Step 5: At the corners of the shawl (where you started lacing) make a small bow around the knitting itself to secure this edge

Step 6: At the bottom of the shawl thread your ribbon end through to the right side. Later you will tie these in a bow with your thicker ribbon.

Step 7: Repeat for the other side of the shawl using another length of 7mm ribbon.

Step 8: With your thicker ribbon (about 15mm width) thread it through the larger (double yo) holes that run down the middle of the shawl. On the front side of the shawl criss cross it over, corset style. On the back it should look like running stitch again.

Step 9: When you get to the bottom run the ribbon through to the front side. You may have to loop it round the back of the last hole to do this.  Tie in a bow together with the ends of your thin ribbon. 

Step 10: Trim the ribbon to length desired and if you want to prevent fraying you can seal the ends with a naked flame.

PS.

In the photos I've used satin ribbon because it stands out better for the purposes of photographing but satin tends to slip and pull and the bows fall out - organza works much better at staying put. Velvet would work well too.

Beetroot Chocolate Cake

I borrowed a book from our Playcentre library called "Food for Funky Families - the playcentre kitchen book". Not sure we are a funky family but I've been feeling a bit blah with my usual baking, meals and lunchbox ideas so some new ideas were welcome. It's a great book with some yummy sounding recipes, including a selection of gluten free recipes and like any good Playcentre publication some recipes for play (finger paint, gloop and other messy fun stuff).

Tonight I tried "Gabrielle's Beetroot and Chocolate Chip Cake". I love love love the zucchini chocolate cake recipe I have so figured this would be similar in texture and a chocolate cake that has veges in it has to be healthy, right?

Happy to report this is YUM. Very moist with a rich chocolatey taste. The batter is burgundy but you can't really see the colour in the cooked cake (sadly), but you also can't tell there is beetroot in it at all which is good if you're at the hiding veges stage with the kids. I will definitely be making this again :)

Here's the recipe:

2C flour
1/2t salt
2t baking powder
1/4C cocoa

Mix dry ingreds and set aside.

2 eggs
1 C sugar
1/4C orange juice
2t grated orange rind (next time I'd put even more in I think)
1/2 C oil
1 C cooked, cooled and grated beetroot. (I didn't measure this, I just steamed 1 beetroot and grated it all, incl skin)

Beat eggs and sugar till fluffy then add other wet ingredients. Mixture is a pretty pink colour that had my kids very intrigued.

Mix wet and dry together until just mixed. Then add 200g choc chips and fold through.

Bake 180C for 45min. Yum!

52 Books in 52 Weeks...again.

I've challenged myself to read another 52 books this year. Like last year, I'll easily surpass this goal - so just quietly I'm really aiming for 100. Last year I got to a very close, but not quite, 96 so I think it's do-able. I'm currently at 40 odd and it's only April.

So far I've read quite a bit of Young Adult Literature. This has included some very popular (and possibly overhyped) books, and some excellent stand outs.

The best:

Feed by Mira Grant, Deadline by Mira Grant. Books 1 and 2 in the Newsflesh Trilogy. Although these are post-apocalyptic zombie books they are actually more about personal freedoms, the power of the media (particularly 'new' media like blogs) and politics. I was excited to read Feed after having wanted to read it for ages, but it was Deadline that really got under my skin. I am really on a bit of dystopia/zombie type kick this year with my reading and so far, nothing has come close to these two. Eagerly anticipating book 3's release in May!!




Divergent by Veronica Roth is a YA dystopian thriller in a similar vein to The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, though not as violent or harrowing. The pacing is excellent, the characters believable and a bit of a YA romance is done nicely and without the obligatory YA love triangle. The world building probably isn't quite as good as Collin's but it was thoroughly engrossing and I spent a wonderfully lazy day reading it in one go.

Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. Stiefvater is perhaps my favourite YA author and I have read all her novels, all of which I loved. Scorpio Races is no exception, in fact I think it might be my favourite. The atmosphere is somewhat darker and more dangerous than her other books -the water horses are a superb mix of terrifying and awesome, and Stiefvater really brings the legend to life with beautiful descriptions of their deadly appeal.

This is not really a plot driven book as 90% of the book is lead up to the actual races mentioned in the title. It's more about the characters - a coming of age type story, where the love story is something that grows organically from a reluctant friendship between an alooof horse trainer, Sean Kendrick, and a petulant girl in over her head (Kate/Puck Connelly). I listened to this as an audio book and it was superb.

Also worth a read:  

miss peregrine's home for peculiar children by ransom riggs. A quirky and quite different little book that utilises creepy authentic photos - perhaps one to read in print.

The girl who could silence the wind by Meg Medina. Poignant in it's simplicity. Set in South America this is sweet tale with an almost fable like atmosphere (no paranormal elements in case you were wondering about the title).

A small, free kiss in the dark by Glenda Millard.  A refreshing change in style and voice. This is an award winning book from an Australian author and was an easy 5 stars from me.

Give it a miss (aka don't believe the hype):

 The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan.
Matched by Allie Condie.
Across the Universe by Beth Revis.


All my book reviews are on GoodReads here. 

A purple Isabelle too

I knit a purple Isabelle as an extra testknit of my instructions before the pattern's release - I knit my red Isabelle mid 2011 so it was a good chance for me to revisit the document and catch any sneaky errors.



















I absolutely love the colour of this yarn - there's so much depth to it and it is the perfect purple in my opinion. I think the ribbon sets off the colour nicely and it has a bit more of a goth look to it than my red one I think. Pretty pretty pretty.



















Speaking of pretty here is the ad which is running on Ravelry at the moment. It was designed by a very super clever friend who does all of the Tri'Coterie banners and ads and also designed the logo.






The purple yarn is a new semi-solid from Tri'Coterie which is avaialable during March 2012 as part of a PIRATES! themed month. It's called "Black Pearl". There is a special offer on at the moment -if you purchase yarn+pattern this month you will also receive ribbon for you to complete your shawl. You can see Black Pearl on a variety of bases , as well as other piratey yarns (including gold/silver self-striping, a Jack Sparrow colourway and a pretty graduate called Buried Treasure) here at the Tri'Coterie group on Ravelry.