Ariadne’s Labyrinth

For several weeks I have been knitting a throw based on the central section of Frankie Brown’s 10-stitch blanket.  It is now finished and I am trying to decide whether to risk putting it in the washing machine on a wool wash.  I think I won’t – I will hand wash it this evening and dry it on towels.

I am happy with the finished throw.  I was not really sure what it would look like as I knitted a pile of squares in Noro Kureyon.  I joined all the squares together by using a couple of odd balls of black aran yarn to pick up stitches along the edges and then using the 3-needle cast off method. 

I did the same around the edge of the squares and joined on a narrow garter-stitch edge piece.  When I knitted the original 10-stitch blanket – I did not knit an edge piece and this means the edges are a bit floppy.  I may go back and add one.  I have some of the yarn left.

On Saturday – the latest edition of Knitting magazine arrived in the post.  In that there is a reference to a Drops Design pattern called Ariadne’s Labyrinth.  This is a very similar pattern.  As I said a few posts ago – I don’t think there is anything original.   So if you want to knit a similar throw – you could use the Drops Design pattern or just use the central sections of Frankie Brown’s pattern. 

I have also nearly finished the shawl I was knitting last week.  All I have got to do is cast off, sew in a couple of ends, and then block it.  If I am going to tackle the throw today – I won’t get onto that until the end of the week.

Orange and Lemon

This week I have been good and got back to knitting for other people.  I have made a start on the knitted fruit that Buzz from All the Fun of the Fair asked me to come up with.  So far I have done an orange and a lemon.

The knitted versions are actually slightly bigger than there real-life models.  It is amazing how much knitting stretches when it is stuffed.  I started knitting the fruit because it was a small project.  This week it has been too hot to have a shawl on my lap.

I have done a bit on the shawl I started a couple of weeks ago.  It is not that far off being finished but every row has more stitches and so it takes longer and longer to complete a row.  If the weather is a bit cooler – I might get it finished this weekend.

Knitting Shawls from Debbie Bliss Rialto Luxury Sock Yarn

A few weeks ago I started knitting another shawl using Debbie Bliss Rialto Luxury Sock yarn.  It is a lovely yarn and I am adding it to my list of all time favourites.    It is 75% wool and 25% polyamide.  It is very soft and lovely colours.  I understand that Debbie Bliss does not like knitting socks.  They do not appeal to me either.  I have dubbed this yarn – a sock yarn for those who don’t like knitting socks!

Last weekend – I picked up the shawl and intended to take it away with me for the weekend, but instead I have decided to unravel it!

This photo shows how much I have done.  The pattern is annoying me.  I have definitely followed the instructions correctly but the holes do not come out where I would like them to.  I could alter the pattern so it looks right but I think I will start from scratch and make up my own pattern.  I must stop being lazy.

When I received the latest issue of Knitting magazine (July 2017 Issue 169) – I was very pleased to see that it includes a design by Brian Smith which uses Debbie Bliss Rialto Luxury Sock yarn.  I bought the yarn that has been used – that is Shade 01 and Shade 07.

When I was looking at the different shades – I also fell in love with 2 others – so I bought them as well.  If I am happy with this Brian Smith design – I may knit a second one.

Anyway – so I took the new pattern and yarn away with me for the weekend – and this is what I have done so far.

I ought to be doing something else but I keep picking up the shawl and doing a few more rows.

An Original Design?

“Thrice the brinded cat hath mew’d” is the title of the book that I am reading.  It has nothing to do with knitting but I mention it because it is a quote from Macbeth.  The author has used this line from Shakespeare, and Shakespeare himself was inspired by other writers and story tellers.  This week I have been thinking about what makes an original design – and the answer is not an easy one.  In fact I am not sure that there is such a thing as a completely original design because although you might think it is new – you may have seen something like it somewhere without remembering.

It is easier to say what is not acceptable.  It is not acceptable to take a published pattern and claim it as your own.  There is a grey area though.  I have often intended to knit a published pattern – but I have decided that I want to use a different yarn, and then I decide to use much larger needles – and then I decide to do a different stitch – the finished item could end up nothing like the design that inspired it.  I am still working on my variation of the 10 stitch blanket.  It is almost finished and I will publish photos of it but I don’t think I will write down what I have done because I have really just used the central section of the 10 stitch blanket and repeated it 20 times.  I don’t think I can say it is my design although I have not consciously seen it before.

Yesterday I went to Oxford for the Knitting and Crochet Guild meeting.  I was supposed to be leading a session on Creative Knitting, but I know that most people are not very interested in that as a topic.  Also it is hard to be creative at 2.30 on a Saturday afternoon – ideas come at odd times.  I therefore decided to use the session to tackle a project that had been suggested to me.  This comes back to the question of “what is an original design?”.  Someone has produced a representation of a bookcase made from patchwork fabric and embroidery.  It was suggested that we could knit something similar to hang in local libraries.  The patchwork was a quilt but we decided to make some panels instead rather than one large item.

I have come up with one design by knitting individual strips representing  the spines of books.

Most of them are inspired by actual book spines (and therefore – of course - are not original!)  I have never consciously seen them knitted before so I hope the knitting pattern is original although the idea is not! 

I hope to finish off the panel I am doing in the next month or so.  I should say week or so, but I want to work on some other projects that I have started and not finished – such as the 10 stitch blanket variation and a shawl that I started as a portable project.  I am also fighting the urge to start knitting a lovely Brian Smith shawl that is the latest edition of Knitting magazine.