Any excuse

As soon as I bought the Magical Knitting book, I knew I just had to have a go, if only to work it all out. I am hopeless at interpreting directions until I get my hands on and do it. I had three balls of Lang Cleo in my stash from a trip to Zürich last Spring and armed with the larger 60" needles I bought in Boston, I cast on 160 stitches in the "mobius way" - actually a total of 320 stitches, but don't ask me to explain! I've knit the three balls up and am now casting off a picot edge - and it is taking forever.

The yarn consists of a fairly thick untwisted wool with a strand of pastel coloured loopy synthetic running through. The pale pink and lemon yellow loops remind me of liquorice allsorts - any excuse to open a packet, eh, Jordi?! 

A place for everything

In last weeks post about Canterbury and the Shakers, I made reference to their method of ensuring nothing got lost. Communal living meant that things would inevitably go astray and they managed this by marking everything with a letter (to denote the building) and up to two numbers (to denote the room and possibly the table/drawer/cupboard) where the item belonged. Every broom, flat iron, box, basket, chair, towel - not to mention clothes - was labelled in this way. At the time, I joked that I thought Mark must have lived in a Shaker community during a former life.

As I try to find homes for all the piles of "stuff" which are still around from our trip, I wonder if it would be any easier if everything here was marked in a similar way? But what pleasure to rediscover things which have remained hidden in the bottom of a suitcase for a couple of weeks, forgotten! 

a few bits and pieces

Canada was a great place to find bits and pieces like these pompom makers, since at more than 2 Canadian dollars to a pound, the prices are incredible. Good bead shop found too, so brought a few cubes and hexes back, probably to share with my friend and extraordinarily talented beader Fanny.

Book posts were from the Paper Source, which we knew from our Californian trips, but which we were delighted to find in Boston. I think - know - I have some other papery treasures from Toronto in some pile or other, which will come to light in the next few days. The Paper Place was rather similar in feel to the Paper Source, but with a more Japanese edge to it - and that's exactly the edge I love! 

And then....

A bit of felting. I've admired the Noni bags for ages and wanted to get a pattern, particularly for the fabulous felted flowers. Selected my bag pattern whilst at Webs and was checking inside to find out how much Cascade 220 yarn was required, only to find the bag pattern didn't include the instructions for the flowers. So, decided to just go for the felted rose pattern; though the camellia was great too, it will have to wait.

Since arriving home I have discovered that Get Knitted have the Cascade 220 yarn too and at £4.99 a skein, just a bit more than the $5.75 I paid for mine. Still, when I want more roses, I'll know where to shop. 

After the socks

At some point I will be bored with knitting socks, and then I can have a go at Ene, a lace scarf I have admired on so many blogs and which is in my Scarf Style book. That will be in the Schaefer Anne yarn here, in a blue/green hand dye. The Mountain Colors Mountain Goat yarn in the centre has a less certain purpose - perhaps a mobius scarf? And finally, the Sireno, another Great Adirondack Yarn company product is to become a Clapotis, because the knitted model in Webs store was just so silky and light, I knew I just had to make one myself. I shall be turning to Liz of Dreaming Spirals for advice before long, I'm sure.