Next Steps

In a fit of mad knitting yesterday I managed to complete the centre triangle on the Icelandic Lace Shawl. Now I’m picking up the lower edge stitches from the crochet cast-on to continue with the rest of the shawl. I wisely put a knot in the last end of the perle cotton that I used for the cast-on so I automatically knew which one to pull out. I also am using a smaller circular needle to pick up the stitches which just makes it easier. I’ll knit off the first row onto the regular sized circular to carry on from here.

For Cynthia who asked in the Comments yesterday, here’s the closeup of the Crosshatch Socks on me. They are too big for me but you get the idea what the stitch looks like stretched out some anyway.


In other news, I got my subscription copy of Knitter’s magazine yesterday. This is the only mag I subscribe to and that was because I wasn’t able to find it in the shops for awhile. Lately of course I’ve seen it everywhere, usually well before I get my copy in the mail. Only 3 more issues to go and then I’ll go back to purchasing it the way I do every other magazine. Do not get me onto the subject of cover prices and our Canadian dollar that has caught up and actually beat the US dollar for the first time in about 30 years! Suffice it to say I’m getting fed up about having to pay $2 more per issue. Anyone have any ideas who I should complain to? My magazine shop says to write the government but which level? Mine or theirs? Maybe the publishers? Aren’t the local shops losing on this too because they pay our stronger Canadian dollar for the higher prices on the publications? Can’t they demand some kind of discount to bring it more into line? Or do we Canadians just not have enough purchasing power at one-tenth the population of the US. Told you not to get me started!

So I’ve had a chance to read Knitter’s and this is a pretty good issue. Not nearly as good as Interweave Knits but there’s some cute items to knit. And crochet too: knitted squares that are edged and joined with crochet into mats and runners. (I likes me the combination!) There’s even a sweater that is knitted but looks like it could easily be translated into crochet (Etched Copper) if you prefer. There’s a cute beaded bag with knitted beads for the adventurous. The two guy sweaters are as usual a bit too colourful for most men. Doubt they’ll have the popularity of IK’s Cobblestone Pullover by Jarod Flood (Brooklyn Tweed) which seems to have taken everyone’s fancy. XRX has a big hit on their hands with Jane Sowerby’s spectacular book Victorian Lace Today and they take advantage. Jane has a simple ruffled-edged shawl done twice in different yarns and an accompanying article to get beginners started. It made me look twice at some kid mohair/silk yarn in my LYS yesterday. But I resisted even though this is probably the one thing I would most like to knit out of this issue. Plus I enjoyed the articles especially the one about the next generation taking over the family fibre businesses.

Finally today I thought I’d show you one of the stained glass windows they put in the house next door. This photo is from my bedroom window.


Yes, real soldered lead-came stained glass but with a layer of plain glass on the outside. The house is beginning to look quite Edwardian like some of its other neighbours in the ’hood. If you look close though you can see the modern lack of craftsmanship and the poor quality wood they’ve used. The tradeoff is the house is much better insulated and has plumbing and wiring up to code. Unlike our house which was built in the 1930’s and is quite the mish-mash of old and new, good and bad. We’ve been here nearly 29 years and have repaired and replaced things, some more than once! It’s never perfect of course.

Back to my shawl knitting…