Sunday, April 13, 2008

Sheep, Hand spun, Irish Wool, WIP, and a pattern, coming soon!

This IS a knitting blog, right? Sorry, I've been absent for a while. I've been really tired lately, which is all part of the joys of auto-immune. But I was also in a knitting funk for a while. But I am happy to say, the funk has lifted. Where to start?! I have to much to tell you all, including all about my trip to Ireland, the medium report, if people are interested in it, and some projects I have been, in fact, KNITTING!!



Ok, let's start with some WIP.

I have been working on a blanket for my best friend, Lara. AGES ago, she asked for a blanket, and she never asks for anything knit, and I've been trying to find a pattern and yarn I like. Here's what I've got-





I am knitting squares using 3 shades of Ella Rae's Shibu yarn. Mostly silk, and it knits up beautifully.




So here are the squares I've got so far. Eventually everything will be blocked and put together. Here is what I am thinking, in terms of putting it together- Can anyone spot a problem with this plan?

Black yarn in same weight. Pick up and knit 2 garter rows, on two squares, using 3 needle bind off to join. Repeat. Then do the same with rows. Then pick up and knit a garter band in black around the blanket.


We'll see how that goes.


Ireland was fantastic, and I'll be posting a re-cap of it in the next couple of days, but here are some highlights.





Don't you love the face? Click for a bigger pic. This was taken on the Ring of Dingle, near an ancient fort.


Now, one of the really interesting things about the trip was we were given a VW bus, which sat 9 people, as our rental. And I drove it! I actually had no problem driving on the left, that was surprisingly like second nature to me. But the actually size of the car was a bit of a beast.

Here is a photo I took on the Ring of Kerry, from the window, of some sheep in the road.





Ok, a couple of things to notice, besides the sheep I kept trying not to hit with the giant fucking bus. Can you see behind me how narrow the road was? This was actually a fairly wide portion of road for the area. And the speed limit was generally between 80-100 km and hour on them, the same as a four lane highway. Crazy.

Also, those mountains- I kept having "Whiskey in the Jar" in my head... you know... "As I was going over the far famed Kerry mountains... It's one of my favorites. Anyhoo.


I scored some free yarn! We visited Mucross House, which is part of Ireland's first national park. Here's a pic of the house, taken from the Jaunting Cart we went riding in




They do their own spinning and weaving there, and during the tour of the house, we came upon a woman doing a spinning demo. We got to chatting, and she gave me all of the wool she had been working on that day. Oh yeah. It's crazily thick and thin, smells of sheep, and I have to hold what I'm working on and let it spin around to straighten the yarn, but I'm enjoying it.
I'm just knitting a scarf on large needles with it, and I'm not sure yet what to do with the dark brown.




I also bought some yarn. I spend about $20 US per massive hank on three of these-



I think it'll be enough for a nice sweater, but it's measured in weight, not yardage.

Here's a pic with flash, it's a really nice tweed.





I managed to only buy this yarn, so I was fairly pleased with myself and my restraint. Though, to be fair, they only had three hanks in this color.


I haven't posted a photo of a sheep in about 5 minutes, so here you go-




I really loved Ireland. Did I mention how GREEN everything was?
I didn't do anything to alter the color in this photo!








Ok, Rupe, if you're reading this, STOP NOW!! Stop now and look after your birthday, ok? Please?

Now, my very dear friend, Rupert, has a major birthday approaching, and a long time ago I caught him "admiring" some yarn when I dragged him into a shop.




I decided to make him a scarf with the 3 hanks of "Highlander" I bought, and after several false starts, made up my own pattern, which I'll call Rupe.


Here was one false start- Persephone- man, this is one gorgeous pattern, but the Highlander is knit on 9's and it was just a little too wide, I thought I'd run out of yarn.



I frogged this, but will absolutely be knitting this pattern again, with an aran weight. Gorgeous, gorgeous pattern.

So here is the WIP of Rupe-





I'll be posting the pattern soon, if you think you'd be interested!


Also, coming soon...
More Photo's of Ireland, Including:
Hey, that's NOT a ghost!
Moose does her first shot.. and
But Wait! There's more Sheep!

11 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Glad to have you back!
Could you post a few more sheeppictures? LOVE them. I've knit the fingerless gloves accompanying Rupe, have a look at my projects page ;-)

2:28 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

What a fantastic trip! Ireland is one of the places on my list to visit someday. Love the pictures and the Rupe! Gorgeous. :)

2:57 PM  
Blogger Bertha said...

Yay, I am glad you're back! I can't wait to see more sheep pictures!

6:38 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your scarf pattern looks fabulous!
It sounds like you really had a great time in Ireland, that's great!
I'm sorry about the tiredness; I know all too well what it feels like. I hope the warmer days will bring you more energy, and you'll feel better soon.

7:48 PM  
Blogger Katie Collette said...

Good to hear from you! Great pictures and that scarf is beautiful!

8:18 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"I haven't posted a photo of a sheep in about 5 minutes, so here you go."

That's hysterical!

It's so nice to have you back and the Rupe pattern is gorgeous!

(But I wouldn't be able to stop reading so I hope he had more willpower!)

8:59 AM  
Blogger Tiffany said...

oh wow, Ireland is gorgeous! And yes, please post the pattern for that scarf and I want to hear more about the medium!

9:33 AM  
Blogger dancingnic said...

brilliant! you're back!
Ireland is the best place in the world.

I love the picture of the green! Wouldn't it be lovely if you could e mail it to people and they could print it and frame it and think of something lovely to do for you in return ... ;)

have been thinking of you. looking forward to more installments x

12:13 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ireland looked fantastic! So does your lovely WIPs.

5:00 PM  
Blogger Holly said...

Hi Annie. Glad to hear you've rediscovered your knitting mojo. Love the pictures of the sheep, and I can't wait to read more about your trip.

10:57 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Who knows where to download XRumer 5.0 Palladium?
Help, please. All recommend this program to effectively advertise on the Internet, this is the best program!

9:17 PM  

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