Top down raglan in Taiyo

I’m so happy with this.

The yarn is expensive, I guess, $25 per 100g ball, but I only needed 4 balls to make this. In fact originally I’d intended something much shorter, but once I had to break into the fourth ball, I couldn’t help myself, I had to use it up.

In fact, I did have enough left of the fourth ball, if I’d wanted, to make longer sleeves or to add something around the neck. The brilliant thing about this pattern is that because it’s top down you can make everything exactly the length you desire – or exactly the length your quantity of yarn permits. There is no panic the way there is with bottom up knitting where there is always that fear of Not Having Enough.

Pattern Stephanie Japel’s Top Down Raglan
Yarn Noro Taiyo. The suggested needle size is 4.5-5. I’m a loose knitter so I went for 4.5mm, but I was way out and had to start again with 5.
Modifications To suit gauge
Thoughts I love this, but am slightly worried about how robust the yarn will turn out to be. It is 70% silk/cotton with 15% wool and 15% nylon. But it was such a loose yarn, which broke a couple of times without any encouragement, that I wonder if the nylon is going to do its job. I wish there had been less ties in the yarn, a couple a ball, but worst is that at one point when joining yarn after a break they didn’t bother following the colour scheme and so way too much of one colour scheme came in a row which made that portion of the yarn unusable. Still, despite these criticisms, I have to say I would use it again. The colour schemes are lovely and finally Noro has come up with a yarn that is skin bearable for me. I can’t make myself buy a yarn on the assurance that it will become acceptable to the skin in the fullness of time. It’s now or never for me.

Purl’s Palace

On a trip to Daylesford on the weekend I went to Purl’s Palace for the first time.

May I confess to being a total sucker for colour-coordinated yarn? What could be more exquisitely beautiful?

Just how big an impact it makes on me can be deduced by the fact that it was the first time I’ve bought yarn for six months. So, look at this next picture, at the hole just above the bottom right. Lilac colour yarn and on top of that? Sorry, I should have a close-up. It’s a new Noro yarn called Taiyo, which has a strong component of cotton and silk with a little wool and nylon as well. It’s the first Noro yarn I’ve felt that doesn’t make my skin feel like I’m rubbing it with sandpaper.

Honestly, I tried so hard to ignore it. I bought two Louisa Harding books and walked right out of the shop. Only to come back the next day, bought 5 balls – 100g balls with about 200m to each – and one ball on hold just in case. I’m planning Stephanie Japel’s top down raglan…to which, as some of you will know, I am addicted.

I can’t say enough about the shop. The specialities are Noro, Rare Earth and Louisa Harding. The pattern books are lovely, none of those ones that make you cringe and wonder if you really should have taken up something as tacky as knitting. There is lots more in the shop for non-knitters, and a really interesting selection of workshops on during the year. Check out this year’s program for an idea of what’s available.

Purl Palace hasn’t the biggests selection of yarns available, but, then again, nor is there any chaff. It had been about 12 years since my last visit to Daylesford, but now I’ve been given a good reason for coming back earlier. It really was a highlight of my trip.

Cooking for men 101

I’m staying in the spare bedroom of a friend, Arvid, at the moment and he is expecting, my reputation apparently preceding me, not only to get good meals cooked for him, but to learn how to do it for himself.

‘I can’t cook’, he was pretty straightforward on the subject. And, indeed, when I first looked at his kitchen, I was in complete agreement. It turned me into a non-cook as well, just surveying the scene.

‘Where are your pots and pans?’ Arvid looks around. I look around. Eventually we find, perched on a tea towel

1 frying pan, approx. circumference of a fried egg
2 saucepans, about big enough to boil a couple of cups of milk

So. Point number one. Nobody can cook without decent equipment. Good pots and pans and good infrastructure to back them up. Of course Arvid can’t cook. It’s impossible right now. Tomorrow we go to a kitchen shop and get some supplies…then, maybe we can think about cooking.

Malcolm Turnbull fights the good fight.

I have never been so ashamed of politicians in Australia as right now when the leader of the Opposition, Malcolm Turnbull, is being defied by his party on the matter of climate change. Picture a 2-party democracy in which both parties are agreed that effective climate change is vital. We might have that, here in Australia, unlikely as it sounds, but for the irresponsible, ignorant Liberals who are using the issue for political effect. Shame, Tony and your cronies. Shame.

Cloud finished

If you love Rowan Summer Tweed, you really should check out The Kasbah Collection – far superior to their first dedicated Summer Tweed book.

Honestly, isn’t the back so cute? I’m thinking I’m just going to have to walk backwards all the time now so people see it.

Pattern Cloud by Martin Storey in The Kasbah Collection
Yarn Rowan Summer Tweed
Modifications Put edging all around the neck
Thoughts I knitted the extra-small, even though I’m bigger than that and I ended up with 2 balls not used, but it is still, well, certainly not small on me. Probably about perfect. Moral: ALWAYS knit summer tweed way too small. I attached the bow with press studs so I don’t have to wash and iron it when I wash the jumper. I’m not completely fond of this yet, but I think after I wash it, Cloud and I will become closer.