Storm Water Scarf - Two Weeks Later...

...and I have slowly progressed my way through 23 inches of this piece. It looks like I have barely made a dent in the skein. So I am probably only a 1/3rd of the way through?

I have not used Handmaiden Seasilk before and it is beautifully soft and light. Not to forget that the colour is glorious. People on the train keep commenting on how lovely it is.

I must say that I am finding it quite splitty to work with. (I guess that I need sharper lace needles?) Once split, it doesn't seem to go back into shape. I am hoping that this will resolve itself when I block it.

Can anyone let me know what their experience of this yarn is in terms of splitting / getting it back into shape?

The Storm Water (otherwise known as Midwest Moonlight) scarf pattern is very repetitive to work so I was not surprised to read elsewhere that others have struggled to keep up enough energy to complete their projects.

Actually, I am caught between wondering whether I am knitting something that will get lots of wear, as a discreet, regular lace pattern, or whether the overall effect leans perilously close to a rather staid granny look.

Hmm. I am focusing firmly on this being a little wispy something to dress up a work suit during the Spring.

Sharp, not staid, Sharp, not staid!

Now, you might not see much of this scarf (or hear a lot from me) during the course of February as I have my head down on a different project.



I promised to work on my Castle Couture Wrap in February - so I am.

I will keep you updated when I can and also, this project may still accompany me on some train rides when I am at points where I can only work on the wrap at home.

P.S. Hair Update: the hairdresser accepted that the colour at the front of my head was a lot more golden (ginger) than she'd expected.

So she has put toner on it. Actually she put on two. The ginger laughed off the first batch, so she used a second, darker toner over the top. She has told me to pop back into the salon in a few days to see how it's doing and she's offered me a free wash and blow dry.

It's hasn't done much good actually. It sort of looks like ginger that someone has painted, a thin layer of watery dark brown watercolour paint over - I now look like I took a cheap packet of supermarket brown dye to my head and its taken oddly: patchy black, red and sludge. How long with the toner last before the ginger blasts back through at full strength, I wonder? Sigh.

How to solve a bad hair problem...

...with a little help from good friends!

Namely Yogic Knitter and Robynn, who took pity on me yesterday and donated a knit to save my brain (and the eyesight of anyone else looking in my general direction).

Shh, it's a test knit (keep an eye on Robynn's Purlescence website). Now I have only taken this hat off in order to go to bed in the past 24 hours. So do you think that I can show up like this to all my work meetings this week, until I have got 'the light ginger bit' resolved by the salon?!

Luckily, I have recovered my sense of humour - the cut'll grow out. It may even look reasonable in about 6-8 months time. Which is roughly how long it will take me to be driven back through a hairdressers door by split ends and diabolical roots after this latest incident.

I just cannot deal with that little bright orange bit at the front. So I am going to have to tackle the salon tomorrow morning.

Here it is in daylight, glued to my head with hair mousse (which seems to have darkened it down a little), so that the 'half fringe' stays off my face.

Face to face feedback on my colour and cut so far this weekend has included:

'Hmm, it's not too bad.' Polite grown up friends.

'The colour's far too dark - it doesn't suit you.' Fashionable 15 year old daughter of a friend, looking up from tv programme, when asked by her mother what she thought.

'What's Gabrielle done to her hair?!' 12 year old boy, who spotted my blog over his mother's shoulder.

'Oh my god, why is your hair black and what is that orange skunk stripe at the front of your hair?!' Unprompted opinion of honest friend and neighbour. Which she followed with,

'How come's they've chopped half your hair away on one side at the front?! It's all lopsided!'

Well after her first comment, I took my scrunchie out and pulled the cut down around my face for her to see the cut and show her how I was told to style (wear) it over my face.

It took her about 5 minutes to control her laughter.

Mind you, as she is only just recovering from her own self inflicted, home root regrowth kit disaster (apparently, the top of her head went the colour of lemon curd last week, resulting in two trips to two different hair dressers to recover the situation at great cost), I can see why someone elses's hair hiccup may have made her day!

See? Here in London, hair disasters are just rife. A fact of life.

'No big deal at all', she says reaching for her hat (again).

Argghh - what is it with hairdressers?!

Despite my best efforts at communication, I've been scalped by a salon and put through a strange series of dye pots.

I must confess that I really do hate going to the hairdressers - I consider it worse (and far more traumatic) than going to the dentist.

Actually, I like my dentist, old enough to be my father, nose and ear hair and all - he's just one of the loveliest men on earth. Whereas hairdressers? They just ignore me and leave me beached on the desert island of bad cuts and hair colours that do not suit me...

...without any music, knitting or even a book to read.

What sort of makes it worse, is that when I got taken to a proper hairdressers as a child, it was such a treat - a real haircut. I still carry that feeling of excitement and hope with me to the hairdressers each time I go. It is just so cruel when it is dashed against the cruel snip of scissors and rattle of tin foil.

You know me by now right? I am not complicated. I'm casual about my hair - it is scraped back for everyday, then worn down and straightened for social occasions, usually containing a bit of lighter colour to stop the hair on my head resembling a cowpat, like so:



















Very simple - very straightforward. So WHY, especially with my input (gained from years of bitter experience) would a hairdresser go ahead and do this to me?

Black, dark auburn and a few stripes of a very light, vivid red.

I'm not sure whether the atrocity that now adorns my head is just BIG HAIR or bad hair. I guess that I need to put my head in a bucket and then see how (if) it calms down over the weekend?

What I do know is that I have been given a hairstyle that I will never be able to achieve on my own, even if I wanted to. Actually, that is lucky as I-do-not-want-to-look-like-this-again.

I know my own hair - it kinks and frizzes. So I know that it is going to do its very own bad hair thing all on its own, every day - from now until this thing on my head grows out.

The hairdresser used one of those big cylinder brushes. I have to confess that I gulped when I saw that come out (as I prefer my hair flat and straighened) but I thought (as I'd flinched at the colour when the towel came off) that I'd better see what 'her vision' of the overall effect was.

Truth be told, I may even wail a bit tonight. Then, if I cannot shift my woebegone, upset aspect by Monday, then I will have to call the salon and see if they can put the worst bit of it right for me.

The worst bit?

Well, that will be the very light, vivid reddish blonde blob, right at the front of my head - right against my scalp/hairline.

You cannot see it in the first photo because the hairdresser carefully blow dried the darker layer of hair over it.

In terms of the colour, I think that my comment when the towel came off was (in horror), "That bit at the front is very bright light red, isn't it?"

Apart from it just looking very strange, the regrowth is going to look absolutely foul within about 3 weeks?

Now apparently, I should sweep the 'half fringe' I have been given right across my face, particularly if I am going out glam and socialising?

Apparently this light ginger-blonde is supposed to 'show through' the darker over-fringe bit?

I am not convinced. I don't get to be glam and socialise much. Also, this evening, I twice almost walked into oncoming pedestrians and a road sign, walking across Waterloo Bridge because I could not see them through the glamourous half fringe (not kidding) plus...

...who the flippity flip, gives a floppedy, flying duck about blow drying a sodding overfringe at 6am? I defy you to do it - I defy you to care on a work day, let alone on a rare going out occurance.

Me: shower, wash hair, out shower, scrape back hair, apply scrunchie, dress and go.

Ok, this is my hair after I have used straighteners on it, to kill the big hair and see what the cut is really like.

Before you ask:

- yes, I did ask the lady not to give me any short layers. So why do I see short bits and a whole section of hair missing on one side?

I forecast in-home hair styling disaster.

- yes, I did tell the lady that my hair was far too long (down to my bra strap, as a colleague informed me today). In fact, I don't mind the new, overall shoulder length of it but...what the hell did she do to the front?

- yes, I did tell the lady that I wanted a half head of highlights. Yes, we discussed the fact that the colour on my head was not great, being 50% bleach and 50% tomato sauce stripes with a good 3" or so of roots and yes, I agreed that a semi permanent to tone down the sections of hair in between the foils might be a good idea to make the contrast between the bleach-3" roots look less obvious. The hairdesser described the colours that she was going to apply, as warmer. I thought that would be okay, thinking golds and light browns, as bleach is too stark on my hair. Um, so where did I sign up for black, dark auburn and bright, vivid, light red...?!

Am I alone here? Does anyone else struggle with making themselves understood to hairdressers?

They seem to ignore me (with a canny instinct of knowing that I am too embarassed to make a fuss before leaving the shop) or they think that they know better, what is better for me.

Despite the fact that I have lived with this particular head, and its diabolical hair disasters, for 37 years.

I just hope that my fella will still think me pretty on Valentines Day, despite looking like a hair model fashion victim....sigh.

Edited to add: what is considered a decent brand of hair straighteners in Canada?! My UK ones don't work as they require all 220 volts to operate (I have discovered).

Meanwhile, in London...

...I would like to acknowledge two awards, one from Knitter Bunny and the other from Quelle Erqsome:

- Nice Matters
- You Make My Day.

Thank you! I love it that people take the time to stop by my blog to see what I am up to. Mind you, occasionally, I do wonder whether I am interesting enough or my knitting is good enough. I ain't no Brooklyn Tweed or Ruby Wax.

I resisted having a blog at the start, believe it or not - I am now a convert as having a blog has encouraged me to start looking around more and made me take much closer note of my projects as they are in progress, documenting steps, errors and successes. I would never have thought about doing that in the past. It makes for a lovely record of work.

So anyway, enough of the navel gazing. I have grouped these two awards together as my list for each award would be the same!

I have left out the people who nominated me (else this blog post would abound with bunnies and moustaches) and instead, I have selected the other blogs and people I check on regularly, as they have influenced my knitting or enhanced my life one way or the other over the past year!

Please note that if you receive an award, you get to 'pay them forwards' on your own blog. Just make sure that you leave them a comment on the award recipient's blog so that they know. Be warned, you may get an award more than once (blahblahblah).

I've listed these blogs in alphabetical order:

1. Brooklyn Tweed: for being influential, for stunning knits and photography.
   
   
2. My Fashionable Life: for being influential and Anna's lovely writing style.
   
   
3. Posh Yarns Dee: for beautiful yarns, lifestyle and commentary.
   
   
4. Rabbitch: for being a laugh-out-loud funny and blunt fibre maven (I suspect her of being kind and supportive on the sly too)!
   
   
5. Robynn: for getting me started on all of this blog madness, for introducing me to lovely knitting supplies (Purlescence) and for encouraging me to stretch myself in everything knitterly.
   
   
6. Roobeedoo: for her many socks and personal fortitude in the face of adversity. I first came across R because she was another winner in a competition that I entered and is now, interestingly, one of the blogs that I check most regularly.
   
   
7. Team Knit: for being themselves and thereby allowing me to live vicariously and pretend that I am a lot younger and cooler by hanging out at their blog from time to time! They have a keen eye for fashion and a good knack for selecting the most happening knits to make.
   
   
8. Yarn Floozies: for being so kind and putting up with a jetlagged Londoner last October and taking her awkward butt along to some of Vancouver's best yarn haunts!
   
   
9. Yarn Harlot: for dry humour and her specific take on life! Oh c-o-m-e o-n, don't pretend that you don't read this blog!
   
   
10. Yogic Knitter: for being my key offline partner in knitting crime. She knits an awful lot faster than I do! In fact, if you could all get over to her blog and innudate her with ideas for really complicated patterns and knits for the yarns that she has in her stash, I would be very grateful - anything to slow her down! I reckon that she should be up for the Vintage Sock pattern challenge now that she has finished her Karenina, don't you? 34 knitted leaves, that'll sort her right out!
    

* * *

And now for something completely different...
(a little snippet from the Offline Life of O.R.K.)

SCENE
Who Ate all the Cakes?

[Somewhere in London, Tuesday 29th January 2008, 15:00 GMT]

Enter Stage Left:
An excited person who has just become an aunt. She offers around a box of very expensive, exquisite looking, petit four type cakes from Pauls. In this way we are all able to share in her family's celebration. We each select a cake.

Me:
One very small, perfect oval of chocolate sponge adorned with apricot shreds sits enticingly on a cheap, square, paper serviette in front of me. It promises two mouthfuls of intense sweetness - I am entranced by it.

To my left:
Someone selects a cake, a little mini pie item, overspilling with chopped nuts and dusted elegantly with icing sugar. He quietly and carefully scrutinises his petite yet volumptuous choice. I assume that he is relishing its consumption pretty much in the same way I am going to relish eating mine. There is a moment of silence.

Stage Left:
Excited person continues to offer cakes around in the background.

To my left:
Quietly, yet very clearly, someone announces to the air in front of him:

There should be a minimum size for these things, cakes I mean, don't you think?

Me:
I tear my eyes away from my treat. I glance around, hoping that the excited person has not overheard him. Luckily, she is oblivious. I decide to ignore him. I return my gaze to the perfectly formed, visibly dense delight that nestles on the serviette in front of me.

To my left:
Someone bites into his mini nutty pie. As suspected, it turns out to be a confection of pastry containing sweet minced nuts, including almonds. There is a small pause while he chews.

I hate marzipan. This isn't nice at all. I picked this one because I thought that it looked like a mini-mince pie.

[Another pause]

Well, I hope I get offered another, so I get the chance to eat one that I like.

Me:
Stunned, my head does a 360 degree swivel, checking on location of the newly created aunt. She's gone from the room. I relax. I decide to speak.

Excuse me someone, please might I make a suggestion?

To my left:
What?

Me:
Internal voice - learn to harness your inner voice. On the outside, if you do not like something someone has given you, say nothing, just be polite. Otherwise, you risk upsetting the person who made the generous gesture? You can't shove someone's generousity back in their face by stating that what they have given you is 'not nice'!

[I give someone my best attempt at a meaningful, knowledgeable look.]

You know what someone, when the excited person returns, if she has any cakes left to offer, I truly hope that there are only little pie ones left - it would serve you right!

To my left:
Actually, I'd probably take one - after all, cake is cake.

[pause]

Hey anyway, whatever happened to feedback is king? (or words to that effect)

Me:
Good grief, in that case remind me never to knit you anything - I'd be terrified to be on the receiving end of such honest feedback! I can picture it now, "What's this? What did you make me this for, what am I supposed to do with it?!"

Then I can imagine that you would tell me that it's okay, you'll just take it home and add it to your dog's basket!

To my left:
[concilliatory tone] I am sure that I wouldn't be that direct. I'd probably say, "Oh, you made this for me?"

Me:
What...? That old chestnut, "Thank you, that's nice...[dramatic pause]....what is it?!"

To my left:
Oh no, it would be, "Thank you, that's nice...[dramatic pause]...did your child make it?!"

Me:
Copious laughter!

After all, can anyone imagine saying this to another knitter or crafter of any kind?! I doubt that you would manage to exit the room without a dpn jutting out of your neck at a jaunty angle.

Postscript:
My cake was utterly delicious. If I haven't lost weight this week then I know I can blame:

- my little oval cake; and
- the two little round cakes adorned with poppy seeds, citrus shreds and inside, filled with gooey apricot that I managed to disappear as well.

Well, I had to. It was greed. It was a public service to protect the innocence of the cake provider while someone was out of the room. There were no little pies left but....

...I couldn't risk him eating another one. What if he hadn't liked them? What might he have said?! The whole situation could have got very messy. I ate all the cakes. I saved the day.

Truly Scrumptious Scarf

Truly, truly scrumptious!

The yarn is Fyberspates Scrumptious DK. 220 metres per 100g. 45% silk, 55% Blue Faced Leicester and is hand dyed in Wales by Jeni!

Without any exaggeration at all, this yarn is lovely to handle. I have no idea how it wears over time but after my recent Noro disappointment, it seems quite wonderful, as it:
- is lustruous
- is soft enough for me to wear happily against my skin (now that is saying something)
- is rich in colour, even in this muted colourway
- leaps off the needles, knit-o-matic style
- has lots of bounce once knitted.

I have seen photos of this yarn showing some colour pooling? I did not have this problem and I suspect that the two ball knit method would prevent this from happening on a larger garment?

Oddly, my camera cannot read this yarn colour at all well - it looks a lot more washed out in these photos than it does in real life.

To my human eye, the leaf colour in this photo was quite close to the yarn colour, just at its tip. Yet not in this photo!

I worked this scarf up in the same way I made the Noro scarf. It is not really a pattern but I have written it up below, just in case you are interested in making something like this for yourself.

Yarn
4 balls of itchy, prickly Noro Silk Garden*
or
2 skeins of glorious, soft Fyberspates Scrumptious DK

Needles
8mm

Dimensions
Width: approx 8-8.5 inches
Length: approx 60 inches

Destructions
Using yarn double, cast on 25 stitches.
Work 10 rows of garter stitch.
Row 11: knit
Row 12: purl
Row 13: purl
Row 14: knit

Repeat rows 11 - 14, until you think that you might start to run short of yarn to do the other end of the scarf. Stop.

Knit 10 rows of garter stitch.

Cast off (if you are British). Bind off (if you are not).

Weave in ends.

Wrap around neck and either:

• look cosy but itch horribly unless you have a cast iron neck (Noro)
  
• look cosy and smug (Fyberspates).

I am happy. All that is left to do is weave the ends in. I hope that my gift recipient likes it.

This scarf was a quick knit - I worked it up at I Knit (film night) last Friday evening and during coffee and meal breaks from sport admin over the weekend.

I'll see if I can secure any happy ending photos of my two recent scarf knits in simultaneous action at some point in February!



Personal Reflections on photos
Man, I mus' get me a tripod.
Damn, just how badly do I need to get my roots done?! (booked on Friday 18:30 GMT, phew!)

Good grief I look tired...!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
*Suggestion 1, if using Noro: wind all 4 balls into yarn cakes using a ball winder before you start work. in this way, you can see what colours you really have in your balls of yarn and where the colours occur - in this way, you can decide which balls you want to work together.

*Suggestion 2, if using Noro: if the colours at the end of Balls 1 and 2, do not match the colours at the start of balls 3 and four, then I recommend that you interleaf the yarns in a ball change over section of about 6-8 rows. Leave me a comment if you aren't sure what I mean and I'll try to find a moment to whip up a swatch to explain what I am getting at.

Garden in January

I was sitting at my desk this morning (glaring at my sports admin documents) when something out in the garden caught my eye. I went outside to investigate and I am really glad that I did. This is what caught my eye from the window:

I love this plant. For me, it is real reminder of the beauty that exists, even in the colder, grey months of the year. I stood there, admiring it, thinking this thought and feeling quite uplifted. Then I had a quick glance about my back yard, simply expecting to see the dead foliage that I still haven't managed to tidy up from the end of last autumn.

Instead, I noticed that my back yard seems to think that Spring is well and truly on its way. My hyacinths are starting to push their robust spikes up through the earth and in addition, both my narcissi and daffodils look well on their way towards blooming:

Then I spotted this little treasure, tucked away in a corner:

I am not sure but this seems a little early to me? That said, the Thames Valley is quite protected and it always seems to be 1-2 degrees warmer here in the London suburbs than it is in the surrounding countryside?

In a little girl sort of way, I have been feeling quite jealous of the people blgging about their snow filled winter. However, I cannot tell you how much better I felt for seeing this life and colour out in my garden.

Particularly on a weekend when all I feel I have done is stare grimly at documents on my computer. Hey-ho.

There is knitting...

...albeit, just a little background activity while I am plugging through my day job, trying to clear the decks of my sport admin (which I have had to prioritise over sorting out my Puss in Boots wrap template) and spending an evening sporting a drawn on moustache.

This scarf is just intended as a little time filler for something to do on the train. It is the Storm Water Scarf pattern that came with the yarn.

I have done quite a lot of big needle knitting lately, so it is good to get used to working with some 4mm needles before I need to pick up my 3.75mms for the wrap.

The wrap will be my next serious project. I have to accept that it will miss its deadline (12th February). However, I have my fingers crossed that it may still be alright if I manage to finish it by the end of February?

If not, then it is my own fault. However, it would still be good to complete it by then, so that I can get the pattern written up and over to Robynn. It is intended as a summer wrap, so if anyone would like to knit it - Spring would be a good time for the pattern to be available?

In the meantime, I guess that I should have picked something quick and brainless as a filler project, rather than something that requires me to count-count-count?!

However, the stitchmarkers that Dotty gave me for Christmas are helping immensely and as the yarn is beautiful, wonderfully soft Handmaiden Seasilk, I am quite happy to forgive the pattern for being a little bit fiddly.

Please enjoy your weekend: happy knitting!

Civil Moustachioed Disobedience

For some reason, it feels important to stand up and be counted when a decent human being is making a stand for the greater female good (sort of) - even though you know that this person already has very strong support and may not actually require your assistance!

Yet who on earth could pass up an opportunity to don an oversized hat, wig, shades, moustache and adopt a pseudonym?

Nope, not me:

Female Moustache Freedom Fighter
Lumpy Liverhead a.k.a Crusty Appletush
(lives her life in full technicolour)

West London is in - are you?!

I am equally happy for this blog post to stand as a very simple protest at the proposed, inappropriate behaviour of other human beings. Enough said. Lumpy Liverhead out.

Nasty Scratchy Noro - There May Be Hope?

Do you know, I have no clue when I last posted about this scarf?

I think that this happens when your days run into nights, run into days...?!

However, I did listen to the advice that I received about the use of hair conditioner on Ravelry.

Then, deciding that I was a bit too too chicken to leap in and go straight for the kill with the overnight bathing of this scarf in hair conditioner (my god was this yarn expensive and oh boy, am I scared of ruining it), I opted to use the test sample of Eucalan (did I spell that right?) which I received from the glory that is the lovely Alice over at Socktopus.

The yarn was duly dipped and the stench of dead, wet sheep was not encouraging. In fact, I have been living with that smell, since I last posted about this scarf (I am not sure, should the occasion ever arise) that I will ever be able to bottle feed a lamb ever again.

However, I have come home tonight and the all pervading stench of smelly, wet sheep has finally gone from the upstairs of my home - that alone, is a relief.

Oh-thank-goodness.

However, what is even better news is that the-scarf-is-amost-dry (I had no idea it would take this long). And do you know what? It feels softer somehow.

Oh-thank-goodness.

I am further bouyed up by my lovely fella who has seen the pictures of the scarf now and advised that he likes the colours.

Oh-thank-goodness.

It may not be a disaster, after all.

Oh-thank-goodness.

Phew.


Ps: I concur with the comments about this yarn's scratchiness and the prescence of plant life. In my view, the self striping aspects of this yarn might be cool and well liked but surely this is no real excuse to create yarn that feels like it has been spun out of doormat factory floor sweepings, complete with authentic bits of straw?!

You know what? Stuff it all...

...I have done a full day's work and I am shattered - frankly, I am on my chin strap.

So I am going to make like a normal person/knitter on a Monday night - I am going to have an evening away from my PC (this follows a day in the office and a weekend almost exclusively glued to the damned thing, trying to catch up).

I am going to retire to bed with some knitting.

I am not going to feel guilty about my stack of office work or my mountain of unresolved sport admin or the knitting I am so dreadfully behind on - these things will all loom large for me to panic about in the morning (pretty much in the way I have been panicking about them on a minor or major scale for many weeks).

Speak to the hand, people - speak to the hand, as this woman's face is just too tired to listen!