19 April 2009

Lovely weekend

It was another lovely weekend.

I've even got a bit of a sunburn from sitting in / walking through parks yesterday and today!

After I finished Paloma, I had a few days off, because I wasn't sure what to knit. By the way, it turns out that though I used the same size needles as the pattern called for, I used much thicker wool than prescribed; hence mine isn't quite as lacey, and the pattern stands out more strongly. So if you liked how mine turned out, apparently that's the trick.

Anyway, I wasn't sure what to make next. For some reason I was very drawn to a wintery-looking jumper, Vaila. But, I remembered lessons learned from other not-fitted-enough jumpers and instead, I settled on Bliss, which has a similar theme but is quite fitted and has short sleeves, so it's even season-appropriate.



I've started knitting it up in the wool I got from the Martha's Vineyard Fiber Farm, a csa that I had joined before leaving the states. Interestingly, you can really feel the lanolin on the wool. It's a bit sticky, and so moves with a bit of difficulty on my needles, and I have a feeling the wool might not be so soft without it. But so far the stitches look really nice.



Sorry for the crap photos.

Yesterday, I went up to London Fields and did some knitting in the sunshine with Larissa, before succumbing to fudge at Broadway market. In the pub on the park, people were having drinks and playing cards in the sunshine. Heavenly! (A few weeks ago, we learned how to play a French card game called belotte, and afterwards, when trying to explain an English game to the French bloke who'd taught us, he wanted to know the order of the cards (which was highest, etc), and we kept saying, "you know, normal." Of course, for him, belotte is normal. You know, where tens are highest when jacks aren't. Or something like that...)

And today, I went for a walk with my friend G, up to hampstead heath. The park is always lovely, but we today before we entered the park, our path took us down little winding streets and mews. Rawley Mews was lovely and looked more French countryside town than central London, as did the little alleyway that parallels Highgate Road for a little ways. Perfect little pockets that I had bypassed at least a half dozen times, ignorant of their existence.

So, yes, that's right. I have not done all the work I was meant to do over the weekend, which is due tomorrow morning. Since Rog left for New York on Friday, I thought I'd have oodles of time; as it turns out, time passes just as quickly when he's not here as it does when he is. Which is good, because it means he'll be home sooner.

ps do you think it's bad that my computer keeps shocking me? Somehow even though this machine is ancient (for a computer) I can't bear to get rid of it until it really, truly stops working. And it works just fine, if very slowly. It just shocks me sometimes.

5 comments:

Hoxton said...

That's a gorgeous pattern, looks great so far. Confess I've just downloaded it too! Promise to use different wool...!

The Big Burbs said...

J.,
The stitch definition on your jumper is turning up so nicely. Thanks for the pattern links, too.
The Bliss is certainly going to be adorable on you. Although Vaila is very pretty, I think the time spent knitting a fitted sweater is much more worthwhile since the fitted can go either dressy or casual, don't you think? If you'd want a non-fitted sweater/jumper, I suppose you could just wear one of the hubby's. ;)
I'm sure he'll be envious of your 'suntan' when he returns from NY.
Glad you've had such a lovely weekend!
Kath

At Home Mommy Knits said...

What a fantastic weekend!

Anonymous said...

Your weekend sounds lovely, and the sweater is looking great so far! I wonder if the yarn will get softer/less sticky after washing?

Anonymous said...

You're making great progress with Bliss! I wish I could get through 1x1 ribbing that quickly...