Finished Dotted Rays

I love this pattern! Knit, knit, knit, occasionally make a hole, do short rows to make wedges, and that wonderful chevron edge! So fun.

A very funny thing I made

There is a spinner called Studio Loo, who puts all sorts of bits and pieces in her yarn. I noticed a new batch of her stuff at Knitomatic, so dashed up there to see what I could see. So hard to choose, but finally I settled on my life in 1983... black yarn with a gold thread and Trivial Pursuit pieces attached! (I might have to go back for brighter colours and flowers, but for now this is enough.)

After wondering if I should make a hexagon, or giant lace, or a plain scarf, I found a cowl pattern called Through Thick and Thin, designed for yarn sort of like this. You change needle size now and again, and do some garter stitch and some stocking stitch. I didn't really follow the pattern, but I did use two sizes of needles and random knit and purl rows. Because the yarn is so bulky, I knit up 115 yards in a couple of sittings over about 12 hours!

I'll put it aside for the winter, and look forward to the confused glances I receive.

Three on Thursday

Finally I have three things to talk about on a Thursday, so I can do a Three on Thursday post! (As it turns out, these are three rather broad chapters: basketball, knitting and flowers.)

1. First, yeah, let's get this out of the way. Toronto has a basketball team which is doing very well this year. The Raptors have now won two games in a best-of-seven final series, and people are very, very excited. Not me, because I don't care about basketball, but everybody else, it seems, even the art gallery. (The Raptors' logo is a basketball/dino claw thing.)

2. Earlier this week I walked past the art gallery on my way to the Textile Museum, where I looked through the recycling... as one does. And I found this boxed set of patterns for quilting, appliqué, embroidery and a gazillion other things.

The person who works the front desk the evening before my morning shift goes through things that people donate for the big sale. She knows what sells and what doesn't, and she knows what is worth money and what isn't. This set was battered, probably incomplete, heavy, out of date... so I reluctantly put it back in the recycling, except for one wee booklet!

There are not patterns for garments, but there is a lace sampler, always lovely to look at, and some wonderful edges. If you knit them in big, fat wool instead of crochet cotton, they'd make a dandy scarf!

While sitting at the front desk, I like to have an easy knitting project to pick up and put down. Despite all the other half-done projects I have around the house, I took a ball of pink sock yarn and the pattern for Dotted Rays, a classic Stephen West masterpiece.

I have now almost finished that first ball of pink, and am adding in a purply sock yarn, left over from these. It's surprising how much kinda coordinating yarn one has if one looks. This is going to be great! 

I told you my sad story of losing my knitting on Day 1 of my England trip. I then went to John Lewis and bought some Rowan Denim, because one can never have too much of that. I have, as you know if you keep track of these things, several bits of Denim knitted up into a bunch of incomplete things. 

Well, I am now going to consolidate them into a blankie of some sort. I was working rather diligently on this until I started in on the pink. There is a family baby expected in the fall, so I will do my best to get this finished by then, but I can take a brief moment to knit a shawl!

3. Some pretty flowers for you. I just take pictures with my phone, which can sometimes handle close-ups and sometimes can't. 

My very own allium flower. They are such amazing big, purple puffballs. 

An iris. Who can resist trying to capture that elaborate inside bit? Pattern, texture and colour!

This peony was gigantic! 

Got to get back to my pink knitting now!