Wednesday, October 15, 2008

where to now?

To be honest with you, I'm feeling rather saddened that I have completed those projects of Mum's already... I really enjoyed working on them. It made me feel so close to her, and really warmed my heart.

So now what???

Well, I decided to give her scarf pattern a go for myself... It's a little while since I have worked on a knitted project, and I have quite enjoyed the variety - after focusing so much on crochet lately.

I'm using a pure new wool, recycled from the jumper below. Which begs the question... can I still call it pure NEW wool if it is recycled??? Anyway, it's a fabulous shade of purple, and oh so soft!

original garment - purple jigsaw pure new wool

The scarf pattern calls for 4ply yarn and 3.5mm needles. I'm actually using 3.75mm, simply because that's what I have! After working for a couple of inches, I decided that the yarn was too lightweight. So I frogged and cast on again, this time using two strands held together.

I love the way it is working up now...

progress1
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10 comments:

  1. SamOctober 15, 2008 at 11:27 AM

    Purple is my favourite colour, so I'm drooling already.
    Glad you posted this. I often see fine knit wool jumpers in the charity shops, and assumed they were too fine for successful handknitting.
    Two strands at once - clever!
    I'm getting the idea...slowly, lol.

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  2. annemarieOctober 15, 2008 at 11:29 AM

    This is absolutely beautiful - you truly are amazing!!

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  3. KateOctober 15, 2008 at 3:06 PM

    Your mom's scarves are beautiful and yours looks like it will be too. What magazine was the pattern published in? It's very pretty.

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  4. AnonymousOctober 15, 2008 at 5:31 PM

    It's even nicer in person!!! Beautiful wool, I forgot to ask but will you be finishing it off with beads too? I took it as a givien but you never kno.

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  5. laughing purple goldfishOctober 15, 2008 at 8:10 PM

    sam - I love to experiment! (you've probably noticed that, lol...)
    if I wanted a bulkier yarn, I would just use two or three strands... or make my own colour blends by using different colours... you never know what will work until you try it :)

    annemarie - thank you

    craftykate - thank you... it's a lovely intricate looking pattern, but is really quite simple... it was printed in the Australian Better Homes and Gardens, May 2006... if you're interested, but unable to track it down, please email me directly, and I'll see what I can do to help

    jacqui - thanks... I'm loving the beaded look at the moment... so YES ABSOLUTELY

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  6. Cats-Rockin-CrochetOctober 16, 2008 at 12:21 AM

    Purple, I'd just like to share some thing with you. Just over 2 years ago my dear mother in law passed away. She had lived in the same house for over 50 years and because her husband had already passed, we were left with completely emptying the house. We began in her bedroom which took more than 4 days between 4 of us. We cried, we laughed, we wore some of her clothing or a piece of jewellry. We kept what we wanted and I took the rest to the slavation army, but not any salvation army, I drove it all up to Healsville to the shop where my mum works. I had a large delivery van I use for my shop and it took 2 trips to get it all to Healsville from Dandenong.
    I was the only knitter in the family so I got all of the yarn, needles, pattern books and unfinished projects. It was another year until I taught myself to read a crochet pattern and I was able to make crocheted items from her pattern books (I didn't bother knitting as you know I find this too slow).
    Shirley (my MIL) was always knitting or crocheting for the family or charity.
    She had 5 grandchildren, 2 of which already had children which she had knitted and crocheted for. Then we found out, her special grandson so to speak was having his first child.And guess what? In the unfinished items were some baby sets and a baby blanket. I finished these off and just waited for the safe arrival of the baby and I was able to present them with a gift from heaven, from their Little Nanny.
    I managed to keep other items, which I still pass out to this day and I still have more up my sleeve. She was such a grand lady and I'm sure she will be thrilled with this. Just like your Mum will be thrilled with what you are doing.

    Thinking of you Cat.

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  7. NaomiOctober 16, 2008 at 6:59 AM

    I love your blog. I was wondering how you turned that jumper into wool?

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  8. whatsonoxOctober 16, 2008 at 9:14 AM

    Just like Sam I'd always assumed you needed thicker wool to be able to reuse jumpers. I hadn't realised you could undo the fine knit machine knitted jumpers. I'd give it a go if I hadn't just moved to France where I have yet to find a charity/thrift/second hand clothes shop.

    The lacy pattern looks lovely and I like the bead trims.

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  9. becOctober 16, 2008 at 12:00 PM

    I love proscranating from my cleaning with your blog! That pattern is gorgeous, and I second everyone else's comments! Usually you can ring BHG and order a pattern or back issue, I'm doing that because of this post!

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  10. laughing purple goldfishOctober 16, 2008 at 8:33 PM

    cat - thank you so much for sharing that part of you life here... your 'gifts from heaven' sound beautiful... hugs

    naomi - it's not hard, just fiddly and time consuming :) you just need to unpick the seams and then unravel the garment... if you google you will find some online information, and keep checking back here... I'll be posting some photos of the process soon

    whatsonox - occasionally I have come across garments which are too fine, and the yarn simply breaks when I try to unravel it... so I just felt them instead :)

    bec - should I make my posts longer, so you can spend more time procrastinating??? actually... I should be doing chores here myself RIGHT NOW!

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