by Barbara G Walker, I have succeeded. It's quite hard to locate this book and not have to pay over the odds in the UK, but I have heard it is the book that designers seem to like the most for the detailed lace patterns that are included. I decided that I really wanted this book as the lace dictionaries I have are quite limited in scope, and seem to duplicate each other. I finally found this book at iKnit London for the princely sum of £21.99. While I was at the site I had a peek at the yarn. And I found Fyberspates Scrumptious Laceweight in a delicious colour called Midnight. I had to buy it, as you know how much I enjoyed knitting with this yarn, and I wanted my newly designed shawl to be knit in the nicest laceweight yarn I have yet knit with. As I was waiting for the book before planning the final section of the shawl, I thought there would be no harm in waiting for the yarn either!While I wait for my new yarn and book to arrive I have left the design to dance around in my subconscious. I think it has been seeping through as I have cast on another shawl! It's a very different shawl, thought, and it is one I've knit before. It is a Daybreak, by Stephen West. You may remember my previous attempt at this shawl. I love it so much, and it gets worn an awful lot. The yarn is slightly finer than a 4ply or fingering weight, so it is nice and light. It sits perfectly on my elbow crease and just provides the perfect amount of warmth on a Summer evening. As I love it so much I bought the yarn for another version, in different colours.
I wanted this shawl to be from a completely different colour group to the other one, so I can wear it with different outfits.
I've actually got quite a long way with it. I have knit the large size and got to the 5th border repeat, when I ran out of grey yarn. This happened with the last one, but not until the end of the 6th repeat. I think my gauge must have been looser. I have switched to the pink for the last repeats. I don't know if I'll do all 7 border repeats, I'll have to judge how it looks. At the moment it is a pile of pink and grey.
As well as cogitating on my shawl, I am reading my new book. Little Red in the City, by Ysolda Teague. I'm not an out and out Ysolda fan, but I do like her style. I wasn't going to buy the book as it only has 7 patterns, but when she posted exerts on her blog, I was sold. I love the artwork and the clear graphics and really like that if you buy the book you also get the book in a digital format. I am so glad that I bought this book, a beautiful piece of art, which stands alone, separate from the contents. The contents are wonderful though! I'll talk about it more in a future post.
In other news, I have purchased a proper grown up sized camera tripod. Taking the photo above was much easier than normal as I had no camera shake. I also took the current Weekly Photo Challenge 2011 photo with it. The subject was Surprise.
Nothing says suprise like a party blower! I have recently discovered Scenes on my camera - thanks CountryFile, I never thought I would get such helpful information while you discussed your annual calendar contest! I first used the Scenes setting last week, for the subject Nighttime.
I used the same "scene" which was Night Landscapes for both of the above photos. Last week's photo is what prompted me to buy the tripod. I took the Nighttime photo by leaning against the window, but it's hard to keep the camera steady while the aperture stays open for 8 seconds. The Surprise photo was much easier with a tripod.
With this new method of using my point and click camera, I'm learning how to manipulate it to give me the effect I am reaching for. Maybe one day I'll work out how to translate that to other cameras.
