on this drizzly, cloudy sunday, I love:

* brave early blossoms
* mindless shawl knitting
* the perfection of grey & yellow
* james bond
* a spam comment that said: “Tiptop. :)”
* script frenzy with scrivener
* the quiet campus
* & you?

Have you read?

1. St. David’s Day

Ev’rybody knows
That Baby’s got new clothes
But lately I see her ribbons and her bows
Have fallen from her curls

- from Just Like a Woman, by Bob Dylan

I love ribbons.

Organza ribbons that look like watercolours…

Velvet ribbons with the dark sheen and softness of night.

Satin ribbons like running water.

I love the whipping sound they make in the wind.

I love feeling like a Victorian child when I walk into a haberdashery shop & see all the rolls of ribbons lined up like sweets.

I’ve used ribbons in my designs before. For this cropped cover-up…

… for the Country Stockings I mentioned on Thursday…

& for the small & simple KniTwit Bracelet, which is nevertheless rather a nice opportunity to showcase a bit of pretty ribbon. I have a lot of small lengths of ribbon that I’ve snipped from clothes & tags, and keep in my oddments box. Do you do that too?

Recently, my love of ribbons reached new heights when I discovered Minty, from S/S 2010 issue of Knitty. Except for a few eyelets, you just knit around and around, which means that Minty takes all of a few hours to knit. I have had more comments on my Minty hats than any other hat I’ve knit. My boyfriend even stole asked for my first one (which was black & had icord). The second, pink one, you may have seen on Wednesday’s post, hanging out on my shelves.

The third is grey & I worked the “pepperminty” crown shaping, just for a change. :) I switch out the ribbons to better match my outfit. When I went to Istanbul for the weekend, I even put a couple in my pocket, so simple!

Ribbons are definitely my embellishment of choice. They can be hip or elegant, simple or sophisticated, and at a pinch, you can use them to wrap up parcels. :) Of course, ribbons are nothing without bows. Do you know how to tie the perfect bow? Or maybe you’d just prefer to knit one…

P.S. I hope you will excuse the delay in releasing the Bow Pouch pattern. This week has been such whirlwind of blogging, I thought it would be best to save it for next week.

Have you read?

1. If I Was Bored
2. Room for More
3. week ending

No one guessed my mystery project, and to be fair, it was a bit mean of me to expect you to. Here it is, modelled in all its rustic elegance by a MAN! Since I first dreamt it up, I thought this design would make a great gift for a gentleman, because it’s genuinely useful, hard-wearing, and cosy in a non-pink, non-fluffy way (though it could easily be made into both these things). I wanted it to be completely unfussy – no buttons, no drawstrings, just a simple fold-over top. There are a few short rows for the pocket to accommodate large hands, but otherwise the pattern is very straightforward.

And if you want further proof that men love this hottie, I got two commissions from builders while we were shooting these photos. I informed them that I actually sell patterns, so they’d have to learn to knit first. I can just see them at home, relaxing after a day’s work with a bit of knitting and a tipple. :)

The pattern will be released sometime next week, and I’ll see if I have time to throw in a little surprise. I’ll send everyone who commented on the last post a free copy, since it was so tricky.

Of course the other mystery that we’re all excited about is WoollyWormhead’s Mystery KAL. Here’s my progress. I don’t think it merits a spoiler warning yet. The yarn is Sirdar’s Country Style DK which isn’t ideal, but it was all I happened to have. Anyway, I like the colour and I’ve finished the first installment. Now I’m eagerly awaiting the second…

Penelope & the Suitors by John William Waterhouse

When I haven’t been very blatantly procrastinating, I’ve been a bit like Penelope (excepting the suitors, oh and the weaving), knitting by day and undoing it all by night. I’ve been pretty patient about it though, and I presumptuously attribute this to the fact that I am now no longer a “beginner”. Ripping out huge chunks of knitting, or knitting an enormous swatch just because you don’t feel like stopping – these are not actions that non-knitters or “persons who knit”, seem to understand. They stare at me in horror when I tell them it’s all got to go. All that lovely work! So I’ve taken to ripping alone and unseen, because I’m a little bored with explaining… “No really, it’s OK. It’ll save me work in the future. Besides, this is one of the best things about knitting!” I secretly suspect that Penelope loved the process of weaving as much as she loved Odysseus, or why would she hit on such a solution?

As to why my knitting wasn’t working out… It was really amazingly simple, when I stopped trying to do it the wrong way. Fortunately, Rowan Scottish Tweed is a hardy yarn that doesn’t mind a good deal of frogging and re-knitting. It’s also very rustic & well-suited to keeping warm in the country. I’m testing it right now. :)

I took some shots today and the pattern should be up soon. It will be a perfect present for gentlemen (or ladies) for whom you can’t easily find gifts. If you can guess what it is, you can get a free copy! ;)

November is a busy month. There’s National Novel Writing Month, for a start. Writing a 50,000 word novel in a month is a feat I’ve accomplished twice before. It’s utterly mad, and utterly fun; you must join if only to receive the pep talks from Chris Baty & other famous authors. And if you do, don’t forget to add me as your writing buddy! Also in November is the illustrious WoollyWormhead’s Mystery Beret. How exciting! I think these two challenges will complement each other perfectly, and help me forget about the increasing gloom of winter…

I’ve said goodbye to Wales for a few months. On my last day I had the perfect pleasure of the first ripe strawberry of the year, and a glass (or two) of rosé. Mmm…

Have you read?

1. Beeton Counterpane Shawl
2. Easy Shawl Borders
3. Knitting Vlog