Piece of Beauty
I finally found a copy of the summer edition of Interweave Knits in Borders on Thursday lunchtime, and glanced through it at my desk during the afternoon. I was quite disappointed with the patterns, the only thing that caught my eye was the Montego Bay scarf, which looked like a perfect holiday project.
The pattern called for Handmaiden Sea Silk, which I've been dying to try for ages (I'm a sucker for yarns made with unusual things, and this one has seaweed in it!) but Get Knitted only had about three colourways in stock, and I temporarily forgot that Kangaroo also stock it. But then I remembered that during my browsing last week I'd come across Piece of Beauty, who sell 150g skeins of sea silk, which from photos and yardage looks identical to the Handmaiden stuff. So at 3pm on Thursday afternoon I ordered a skein, with a plaintive plea that I'd like it by Saturday if at all possible, as I wanted to take it away with me when I go on Sunday. Imagine my amazement when I arrived home last night and found it waiting for me on the doormat - she must have dropped everything and taken it straight to the post!
On opening the jiffy bag I found this
Which unwrapped to show this, beautifully wrapped in two layers of coordinating tissue. This is probably the most accurate photo in terms of colour.
It is absolutely gorgeous, 70% silk and 30% sea cell, with a gorgeous sheen to it. The colours are beautiful - this is the Rose Pearl colourway.
Despite having drunk half a bottle of wine earlier in the evening, I couldn't resist winding and starting it straight away, and by this morning I had this (not sure what happened to the colours on this one!)
It's a very easy lace pattern - just k2tog followed by a yarn over on the knit rows, and plain purl on the alternate rows. The diagonal is caused by starting the pattern on the third stitch on one pattern row, and the fourth stitch on the next. It's called fishnet lace. The result is reminiscent of the clapotis pattern, with slanting rows joined by horizontals, but is much easier. The silk is a little slippy, but it's manageable. The pattern stated US 8/5.5mm needles, so a fished out a bamboo pair which came free with a magazine a while ago. My Susan Bates knitchecker gauged them at just over 5.5mm, it's a pity I didn't look at the US equivalents on there, as that gives a 5mm needle as being the same as a US8. So I'm using needles about a size and a half bigger than recommended, which is probably why it's coming out wider than the pattern states. But this isn't a bad thing, it'll be more of a stole than a scarf, and I like stoles. It's very drapy, so it'll be okay as a scarf as well.
I even like the back of the knitting, especially the waviness of it.
I'm taking it away with me, it'll be perfect for doing whilst sitting in the sun (if the sun shines, I don't have huge amounts of luck with holiday weather) so hopefully it'll be finished in a week or so.
The pattern called for Handmaiden Sea Silk, which I've been dying to try for ages (I'm a sucker for yarns made with unusual things, and this one has seaweed in it!) but Get Knitted only had about three colourways in stock, and I temporarily forgot that Kangaroo also stock it. But then I remembered that during my browsing last week I'd come across Piece of Beauty, who sell 150g skeins of sea silk, which from photos and yardage looks identical to the Handmaiden stuff. So at 3pm on Thursday afternoon I ordered a skein, with a plaintive plea that I'd like it by Saturday if at all possible, as I wanted to take it away with me when I go on Sunday. Imagine my amazement when I arrived home last night and found it waiting for me on the doormat - she must have dropped everything and taken it straight to the post!
On opening the jiffy bag I found this
Which unwrapped to show this, beautifully wrapped in two layers of coordinating tissue. This is probably the most accurate photo in terms of colour.
It is absolutely gorgeous, 70% silk and 30% sea cell, with a gorgeous sheen to it. The colours are beautiful - this is the Rose Pearl colourway.
Despite having drunk half a bottle of wine earlier in the evening, I couldn't resist winding and starting it straight away, and by this morning I had this (not sure what happened to the colours on this one!)
It's a very easy lace pattern - just k2tog followed by a yarn over on the knit rows, and plain purl on the alternate rows. The diagonal is caused by starting the pattern on the third stitch on one pattern row, and the fourth stitch on the next. It's called fishnet lace. The result is reminiscent of the clapotis pattern, with slanting rows joined by horizontals, but is much easier. The silk is a little slippy, but it's manageable. The pattern stated US 8/5.5mm needles, so a fished out a bamboo pair which came free with a magazine a while ago. My Susan Bates knitchecker gauged them at just over 5.5mm, it's a pity I didn't look at the US equivalents on there, as that gives a 5mm needle as being the same as a US8. So I'm using needles about a size and a half bigger than recommended, which is probably why it's coming out wider than the pattern states. But this isn't a bad thing, it'll be more of a stole than a scarf, and I like stoles. It's very drapy, so it'll be okay as a scarf as well.
I even like the back of the knitting, especially the waviness of it.
I'm taking it away with me, it'll be perfect for doing whilst sitting in the sun (if the sun shines, I don't have huge amounts of luck with holiday weather) so hopefully it'll be finished in a week or so.