Fibre East

Last weekend we went on a little trip to the countryside. Or at least, that's what I told my husband we were doing. When we got to our destination however, we found (much to our surprise) that a knitting show was in full swing.

'Did you know about this?' my husband asked sceptically. I thought it best not to answer on the grounds that I might incriminate myself. The event was Fibre East and it turned out to be a lovely, lovely show.

We were all captivated by the sheep shearer:

We said 'hello' to the sheep many, many, times. This was much to the bemusement of onlookers (and possibly also, the sheep).

And of course there was yarn, glorious yarn, from the likes of the delightful Boo's Attic:

Roll on Fibre East 2012. My husband might just guess where we're going this time, but there's talk of a 'men's room' to entertain all those long-suffering partners. Here's hoping!

Marguerite loves Sophia

Introducing Marguerite, worked in a single skein of the delectable Sophia 2ply. So simple to knit and yet so effective.

I made a prototype of this shawl about a year ago and promptly forgot about it, until I heard whisperings on the Posh Yarn group about Sophia, aka the yarn of yarns. Made from 100% cashmere, it’s heavier than your average laceweight, with body and loftiness to it. I coveted this yarn. I wanted some for myself. I just had to try it.

I splashed out and bought a small skein, which weighs in at 55g (1.9oz) and 366m/400yds. But what to do with it? I remembered Marguerite and thought, for Sophia's sake, it was worth my while starting again from scratch.

It was a really windy day when we took the photos - I could barely get the shawl to stay still. My husband laughed at me from behind the camera (so what's new?). He said it looked like I would take off any minute. I replied that it wouldn't surprise me all that much if I did.

Since the shawl uses the daisy stitch pattern, this one is named for my newest niece, Daisy, who is herself named for my grandmother Marguerite.
 
Marguerite is available as a Ravelry pattern download.

Ingleside

I have finally, after months of toil, finished my beautiful, exquisite, Ingleside infinity scarf.

The scarf is named for the yarn - the delicious Miranda 4ply, in the colourway Ingleside. I was extremely excited to find a building of the same name in Cambridge, although I agree this isn't immediately apparent in the photos.

Knitting the scarf was rather like deciding to poke myself in the eye with a blunt stick. Indeed at times, I was tempted to do just that, my needles being so readily at hand and all.

You see, I was rather taken by the idea of a 'true' twisted rib scarf. By 'true' twisted rib I mean that all the knit stitches and all the purl stitches were worked through the back of the loop. This is time consuming (and as far as the purl stitches are concerned, a bit fiddly) but it creates a really really beautiful fabric. I'm so glad that I stuck it out, however tempted I might have been to just let this project languish in the UFO pile. 

The scarf can be looped double to make a warm cowl. Although the weather doesn't quite require that these days, I'll be glad of it come winter time.

All that's left to do now is enjoy!