Wool-shedding sheep

Posted on May 26, 2022 by knitigatingcircumstances

I am in Johannesburg on a teaching trip, the first since the pandemic struck in early 2020. I am absolutely knackered, although I am enjoying teaching face-to-face again. I have been busy each day since before dawn until I crash into bed at night and despite so carefully planning and packing my knitting for this trip, I haven’t managed a single row. (Not even on the 13 hour flight! And yes, I know it’s an 11 hour flight, but we spent an hour on the tarmac each side, so I am calling it as I see it.)

In any case, I wanted to stop by and say hello, and I saw a very intriguing article today which I thought you might be interested in, so here I am for a drive-by post. The article is called “Shear desperation: low price of wool pushes farmers to opt for moulting sheep”. Here is an interesting quote, from farmer James Edwards:

“Wool is a man-made thing,” says Edwards. “Naturally, sheep don’t have big woolly fleeces, because there wouldn’t be anybody there to shear them. All forms of early, primitive or wild sheep either shed their wool or it falls out.
“We bred them to have massive fleeces because of the wool trade; that was great, because wool was a fibre that was incredibly popular. Fast forward to now, it’s simply not worth anything.”
From: Shear desperation: low price of wool pushes farmers to opt for moulting sheep | Farming | The Guardian

Not worth anything? How disturbing!

Let me know what you think. I will fly home on the weekend and hopefully life will settle down enough for me to pick up my knitting again.

Best from sunny Jo’burg!

Peak Wisteria

Posted on May 8, 2022 by knitigatingcircumstances

Two weeks ago we had peak bluebells here and I couldn’t resist putting up some bluebell photos. Since some of you went out of your way to say that I wasn’t boring you with flower shots, today I’m here to show you wisteria.

It is definitely peak wisteria this week. In fact, it must be peak spring, as everything has burst into a spectacular display of colour and fragrance.

These photos were taken today at Grey’s Court (the same place where I took the bluebell photos). The wisteria here is 130 years old and is simply breath-taking.

Grey’s Court have had a wisteria watch on social media and must have put out the word that today was the day – with the blossoms in full bloom and the skies clear and blue, the place was packed. However, we live nearby and can walk in, and as National Trust members we frequently walk the grounds here.

Here, Doug took a photo of me taking a photo of him:

It’s impossible to capture the full lushness of the experience, but you get the idea.

I love that you can walk under the wisteria.

The photo below doesn’t have wisteria, but it is a nice shot of me wearing my Treit tee, knitted from a Kate Davies pattern (and which I blogged here). So, if you are only here for the knitting, I am throwing up Trait to appease you. (I love this project to bits and am thinking of doing another; wouldn’t it look great in a wisteria-purple?)

I have both bluebells and wisteria blooming in my back garden, so I’m off to do some knitting while the sun is shining.

A beautiful solution to knitting needle storage

Posted on May 7, 2022 by knitigatingcircumstances

Last weekend was the Henley Arts Trail, a yearly event in which artists local to Henley-on-Thames open up their homes and studios for the weekend, and showcase (and hopefully sell) their work. It is great fun, both for the opportunity of being exposed to artists in a friendly way, and also for getting to see some wonderful spaces. Doug and I try to go every year. This year, we hit 13 locations and purchased pieces from 6 different artists.

At the very first stop we went to, I saw this restored chest and instantly knew it was the solution to my knitting needle storage problem:

First, let’s talk about the chest; isn’t it lovely? The artist, Sue Davies, specializes in “Painted furniture, Shabby Chic, Murals, and Painted Furniture Workshops”. Look at the stenciling on the side of the chest:

And here I am to give you an idea of the size:

I have written numerous times over the year on the problems of storage for all of the paraphernalia which we knitters tend to collect. (We won’t even touch on yarn storage here.) My most recent post on this topic was this one, written earlier this year, in which I included some photos of my large and messy collection of knitting needles. Like this one:

Consider that horrible mess, and then look at this beautiful chest; doesn’t it get the little grey cells activated?

Just look at my knitting needles now, displayed in the drawers of my beautiful new chest.

Let’s go through them, one at a time.

Drawer 1. This is for fixed circular needles and straight needles, sized US9/5.5mm and above.

Drawer 2. Here I have my fixed circular needles and straight needles, sized US8/5mm and below.

Drawer 3. This contains my Knit Pro Karbonz interchangeable needles and my micrometer (for accurately measuring needle width).

Below is a closeup of the set and the open micrometer box. (The needle set is complete, but not all are in the box right now).

Draw 4: This contains my Chia Goo interchangeable needles. These are my most used needles. I reach for these all of the time. I have many sets of the needles in most sizes, and multiple cables.

Below you can see the inside of the carrying pouch. Note that lots of these needles are currently on WIPs, so this isn’t the complete set.

Drawer 5. This contains all of my DPNs, short fixed circulars, cable needles, stitch holders, crochet hooks, and various doodads (to use a technical term).. The DPNs are only partially sorted, but at least they are now all in one space.

Included in there is a lovely soft knitting case, which also contains DPNs and doodads, and here you can see the inside:

Drawer 6: This drawer has no knitting needles but contains lots of extra stuff like buttons, ribbon, measuring tapes, stitch markers, pins, etc.

Isn’t it wonderful? Not only is it ORGANISED (sacre bleu!), but it’s beautiful! I know that I still have hidden stashes of needles all over the place, but now, when I find them, I have a sensible place to put them. (Doug wants to know if I will still be able to find a size 5 needle when I need one. Oh, ye of little faith!)

I hope you are enjoying something beautiful this weekend.

Project update

Posted on May 1, 2022 by knitigatingcircumstances

Upon finishing my “We do so hate to be bored” tee, I struggled to pick up another project. I had a few things on the needles, which have been in hibernation, but none of them was saying “Knit me! Knit me!” I really wanted to start a cardigan with the Road to China Light yarn which Doug gave me for Christmas (not last year but the year before), but I am annoyed at that project. I plan to write a post about that soon with the title “The case of the lost yarn swatches”; clever readers will be able to figure out the source of my annoyance.

In the meantime, I desultorily kept going with my Gresham Wrap. The reason I am not enthused about it has nothing to do with the wrap itself, which is fun and pretty, but rather with the fact that the cream-coloured portion in the middle goes on FOREVER and furthermore is basically knitted in ribbing (it has a textured stitch which is the equivalent of knitting every second row in 1×1 ribbing). I have decided it is the TV knitting project and so I am slowly making progress; unfortunately for it, I am not much interested in watching TV. Here is a nice photo of it curled up in its place on the couch, catching the morning sun:

When we returned from Wales, I found a giant pile of yarn on my doorstep:

I recently took part in Kate Davies newest club and she gives a 10% discount during the club for any purchases from her store. I waited until the very last minute to place an order, both so that I could see each new design before committing and also because I couldn’t make up my mind. I ended up ordering kits for three projects (none of them from the current club):

Gruggle:

Hirne:

Collar de Pilar:

All of this luscious yarn will certainly keep my needles busy all year. However, when I was deciding what to cast on next, my Linum yarn from The Uncommon Thread jumped out at me. The yarn is a blend of 50% baby alpaca, 25%linen, and 25% silk. I pre-ordered it last summer and by the time it arrived, summer was over so I put it aside.

I can’t even describe how beautiful this yarn feels, and once I had knitted a swatch, I knew I had to cast on immediately. It is so lovely and the feel of it is fantastic: light and airy, it weighs nothing and is so soft.

Today, I tried it on just to make sure the fit was right, and it is perfect! Here you can see the shoulder:

Doug took a photo of the back and said “Are these stitches supposed to be falling off the needle?”

Argh! I shifted the stitches onto a long needle before trying it on, and still managed to lose some stitches. Thankfully, I have a husband who actually notices things like that!

I am so into this one. Doug is now making noises in the background: “Why can’t you knit a tee shirt for me?” etc etc. I dare anyone to touch this swatch and not want one.

Doug is cooking dinner and by the yummy aromas emanating from the kitchen it is nearly done! Good knitting everyone!