Nella maglieria Italiana (Knitting in Italian)

As you may remember, I knit a cashmere scarf for my friend Fabio's wife. He provided the yarn, I provided the labour. Part of the payment, was the joy of knitting with such a fine fibre, and the other was keeping the extra ball of yarn if it wasn't needed. Well, it wasn't so I told Fabio I was going to knit something for my mother with it.

Being the classy guy he is, he bought me another ball of this beautiful yarn in a colour I love, so I would knit something for myself. This was the result. It is probably the nicest thing I ever knit myself, and since it was given to me as a token of friendship, I am thrilled it has come out so well.


I finally finished the last ball of cashmere/silk yarn this week, and mailed the caplet to my mother. She loved it. This exchange of yarn and creativity has been a wonderful experience (although there were a couple of rough spots), and I can't thank Fabio enough for his thoughtfulness. In his native tongue:

La ringrazio molot.
Mia madre ama il suo maglia caplet.
La vostra generosita ha reso possibile.

All is good, inside and out....

As I may have mentioned before, my mother taught me how to knit. And as she has been knitting most of her life, she has a great deal of experience with her stitches. One of my very first fair isle knitting projects, she told me that the inside should look as good as the out. To accomplish this, the alternate yarn should be carried every 2 or 3 stitches at the most.

I know that in the knitting world, it is perfectly acceptable to carry the yarn every 4 or 5 stitches, but it never quite strikes me as being as clean and tidy as how mom does it. Have a look at this.....the first picture shows the inside on the left and the outside on the right. The second picture is the inside, the third is the outside.

Shy no more...

Well, I will always be the Shy Knitter, but thanks to Ravelry I am meeting lots of new people to kit with.

First though, the modified beaded wisp. I took this pic this morning in hopes of capturing the flash of light captured by these beads. This one isn't too bad, but it still doesn't reflect how pretty these little beads are. I am thrilled with how this is progressing, and have been showing it off as often as I can. The reaction is equal to how I feel about it. As yarn was a gift, I wanted to make something as classy as the person who gave it to me. I think I have succeeded!!

Through Ravelry, the West-End Woolies met up for the first time on Thursday at the Starbucks at Bloor and Runnymede. Eden was there too, and I think the concensus is that this will be a fun little group. After Tracey set up the cutest button for our snb on Ravelry, I unintentionally sent an invention to the Yarn Harlot to our group. Did I feel silly! Did I really think she would respond? Did I really think she would show up? (insert Wayne's World chant: We're not worthy....) Well, she did accept the invitation to our group on Ravelry (I am convinced it was that cute button that got her to accept), hopefully she can find some time to knit with us.

Finally, I dropped by the snb on Wednesday evening from the meetup.com group. I must honestly say, I was very intimidated to go. I knew one person, Jacquie who is always supportive and enthusiastic about me going, but you know how I am about well established knitting groups.....anyway, I went. It was about 40 knitters there and despite bad lighting, and moving 3 times to find a spot where I wasn't isolated, I did meet a charming group of women and chatted for quite sometime.

I think I am going to make these snb a weekly routine, with Thursday group one week (we are going for every other) and the Wednesday group on another. It has been great for me to get out on a regular basis again, as I really didn't appreciate how much I missed that after night school ended. This along with the monthly DKC meetings should give me plenty to keep me occupied with.

One good turn, deserves another....

Good health, and good friends are two things that you cannot take for granted. The scarf for Fabio's wife Joyce was delivered to him, and his appreciation of my efforts was quite evident. He still hasn't presented to his best beloved, but he assures me that she will be thrilled to receive it.

Yesterday, he presented me with a ball of Superior in the colourway that I liked best. He didn't need to do this (I was more than thrilled to have a second ball in silver to work with), and his thoughtful gesture literally brought me to tears. As Heather said to me last night, he is a classy guy.

I have decided to knit Wisp with it, and to use beads as inspired by KnitMongrel in Ravelry. There are some pattern issues, as the fishnet lace used in Wisp tends to expose many single strands (which are very weak in this yarn), but I think I have found a substitute lace that will suite this pattern well.

Thanks to current friends and new ones, I think this project will be a great success.