So, today was the Big Day! I was at Nysta's at around 12:30 to unpack and spread out all my stuff on the table. Soon people began trickling in and finding their seats. I started with presenting the work I had brought along and talking some about how to rethink your knitting in terms of lace. It is so easy to "get stuck" in the shawl tradition you don't see the other (almost endless) possibilities there are for lace knitting. I hope I managed to get that across, at least. Here are some pictures of my students (eee, I'm a teacher!) busily knitting away.
I will post pictures of the projects I used in this workshop later on. I actually forgot to take pictures of them while in good daylight! But you can sort of see them scattered on the table in the pictures above.
Of course, I also bought some yarn: one skein of mauve hand-dyed yarn and one ball of mohair in a bright fuchsia colour. They will be knit together into a scarf.
Thank you to my very first students! I had a great time and forgot all about my nerves after a few minutes. I hope you enjoyed the workshop too.
Oh, me.
Yes, I confess (I confess!). I tend to start things and halfway through change my mind and frog it. It has happened again. Maybe I should start making swatches? Yes, what a good idea. Look, I made two swatches - but in a completely different yarn.
They are both from Barbara Walker's "A Treasury of Knitting Patterns". (I finally got the first book, after my botched first attempt. After a successful auction on Ebay in March the book got lost in the post somewhere. This time I was more lucky. The book arrived just 5 days after the auction ended. But let's not get into how I paid for it... Next time I will read the instructions more carefully.)
The first sample swatch is Diamond Mesh. But there was a typo in the instructions! My book is actually the first edition from 1968, so hopefully this error has been corrected. I will check with others who own a later edition. The second sample is the Shower Stitch, but I didn't bother to repeat it more than once, so the pattern isn't that obvious.
And so, the frog. Possibly it turned out to be a prince(ss?). Also from Barbara Walker's book, it's the Twin Leaf Lace. Yarn is yellow wool with white mohair.
I knit, therefore I am.
To prove that I'm not just full of er, fluff here's a picture of the new stripy top. Yarn is Tekla organic cotton from Huskroken. It is progressing very nicely indeed. Pattern is actually just an old top from Zara that I'm using as a size guide. The rest is improvisation. Even the stripes are unevenly distributed. As you can see I'm also planning to put in something brown. Not much, just a stripe to make it more interesting (or less bland).
Other stuff on my needles is harder to show, but I'm willing to give you another 
teaser. Makes me think of that Beatles song "Day Tripper", although I suspect that one has more sexual inuendo to it than my innocent yarn "exposures".
I started something I couldn't finish... (Morrissey)
Actually, I'm rather pleased with the latest experiments in my lace-knitting adventure. I'm even going to show you a whole picture of what I'm doing. But that's because there's not really that much to show.
[*Newsflash!* It's now official. If you go to Nysta's website and click Workshop I'm listed there with my workshop on the 17th September. Wohoo!]
First up is the puff diamond stitch from Barbara Walker's second book of knitting patterns. It is being knit in yellow lace weight wool (from Gunga Din) and white mohair (from Garnverket). Very intriguing and yet incredibly simple. I'm not entirely happy with the stitch count along the edges, but I hope that it will solve itself with a nice frill of some sort.
Second is my favourite from Nicky Epstein's Knitting on the Edge - the Angel WIngs Scalloped Edging. I'm knitting this on size 6mm needles with Colinette's Giotto (in Moss) and plain fingering weight cotton, so it's rather big. I thought the addition of the cotton yarn would counterbalance Giotto's tendency to "deform when worn".
Lastly, just a quick note to say I wish yesterday's events never happened, hence the title. But I'm also glad my cousin Katia who lives in London is alright, albeit somewhat shocked.
It never rains but it pours... This lovely weather we're having here in Sweden is so uplifting. Makes you want to sing and dance - like Gene?
More updates, but this time of the real secret sort. This is for a workshop I'm going to hold in the autumn. [Note to self: AAaaaargh! I'm holding a workshop at my LYS!!!] So I can't show you more than a few teasers.
First up is a bit of cable. Thanks to Marika for the Silky Wool I traded with you. Even though it was only one ball, it will be quite enough for what I have in mind. I think...
Next we have something in Manos del Uruguay's wool. And yes, Maria, you were right, one does get addicted to rosewood knitting needles. I love them! They don't aways agree with my choice of yarn, but who am I to complain if it has to be wool and mercerised cotton?
And what's this messy piece of cotton? I have nooo idea! Hah. All I can say is: Rowan 4 ply cotton, you are a dream come true.
And finally there is green and there is mohair. It can only be one thing! A tea cosy! Of course.
But now on to something more official, my socks in Lorna's Laces' Shepherd Socks yarn. Wonderfully soft wool/nylon that feels just like cotton. Fools anyone. I finished one sock today and immediately started the second one, so as not to get stuck in that fabled second-sock-syndrome.
I'm also working on a top in Araucania cotton, pattern is from Teva Durham's book. I like the yarn, it's soft and quite easy to work with. But it does tend to leave a residue of white fluff in my lap when knitting. Knitted from cuff to cuff and mine will be less stripy than the original. Just two colours: white and green.
