Silk and Cashmere to start 2007!

My postie must love the Christmas greenery placed by my mailbox. On Wednesday, he arrived at my door with a parcel from Jo of Celtic Memory Yarns of a beautiful deep oatmeal Silk and Cashmere to knit a Celtic Vest with and on Thursday, the pattern arrived. If you go to Jo's blog you can see a few samples she has knit with this wonderful yarn. If you were to look at in a heap with other yarns, you might pass it by; if you were to smell it wet, you would definitely pass it by; but if you took the time to touch it - you would love it as much as I do and covet it! Jo and I have been doing a bit of exchanging - some wool dyes and few Christmas decorating magazines headed to Ireland and back came some beautiful Silk and Cashmere. Now I know that silk and cashmere do not normally start with a capital letter, but anything as gorgeous as this yarn just deserves to be capitalized!

The pattern I am planning to knit - which you can also see on Jo's blog - is Cul de Sac by Elsebeth Lavold. It was in Knitters magazine Fall 2003. I ordered a back copy and also took out a one-year subscription. I first was sent the Winter issue, but after I sent an email, they quickly got the Fall issue in the post and told me to keep the Winter issue. I like what I see so far in this magazine, so I am happy that I now have a subscription.

Here is one of my current knitting projects. It is a sheer and opaque sweater from Sally Melville's Book 2 - Purl stitch. I am knitting it with a Louisa Harding Nautical Cotton. This yarn is plyed with a bit of a twist and a has a bit of sheen. The colour is a deep raspberry. You get the sheer bit by knitting one row with a 3.75mm needle and the next row with a 6.5 mm needle. When you knit the opaque portion (the area over the midriff and bust) you knit every row with a 3.75 mm needle. It is really a summer knit, but I am thinking with a nice camisole under it (the back and sleeves are sheer, as is the top part of the front) it could be worn for evening with black pants or skirt! I will go to the lingerie shop and try to see which colour camisole would suit the sweater.

I found that the same press that publishes Sally Melville books also publishes Knitters magazine. I like the symbols for the yarn to use that they show in all their patterns. You know the symbol of the ball with numbers one to six on the band and the yardage. I have some books that tell you to use a certain type of yarn, which from the size of needles is easily determined, but they will tell you "X" number of balls and you cannot find how many yards there were in these "X" balls. This book and magazine also tell you the yardage and I appreciate that, especially as I substitute quite often! Sorry for the picture quality. We did see have a peak of sun this morning, just enough to remind us that it still exists, but the photo was taken in artificial light and not showing its true raspberry goodness.


Yesterday I got this little card from my cousin. It is a little knitting bag with yarn and needles sticking out of it and it is made from fabric, a little knitted piece, little balls of yarn, wire handles and wire needles with beads - too cute. It is beautiful and she picked it up in the airport in Edmonton - they were storm-stayed there for many hours, so she had lots of time to poke about in the shops. Our DS and DIL are here from Oklahoma. On Sunday, they came through Denver, Colorado and it was green/brown! Yesterday Denver was closed due to a blizzard, but hoping to open the runways and get back on schedule last evening. Winter air travel is not for the faint of heart. Can you believe people who do not have knitting to pass the time in aeroplanes or airports? If they are not knitters, some do not even have a book - what is with that! If they have no book, knitting or magazine and the movie is not working - they are travellers with ADD+. I have had the bad luck to have a few of these travellers from hell - I really bury the nose in the book then or feign sleep. Maybe others think I am a bad traveller too! You get some funny looks when you knit on aeroplanes these days, as other travellers cannot bring on nail files, but there you are armed with a sharp needle! As a knitter I am not questioning the airlines!


This will probably be my last posting before Christmas, so I wish you and yours the happiest of holidays and hope there is some knitting goodness under the tree! There is under mine, as I bought the yarn and pattern I wanted and had the two dogs give it to me! At my age, if I want something from Santa, I get busy and take care of it myself.