This n that

Just started a new drawing. This is a kitty whose photo I found on Flickr!, a handsome cat in my opinion. Love those little white feet. I'll be doing the background, too, so this one may take me a while. I've just put a couple of hours into it so far, and most of that was transferring the drawing to my hard press watercolor paper. This paper just eats colored pencils, but it really gives the best result for me. I can do a lot of layers and it's very forgiving as far as lifting out color (erasing), etc.

What else is new. I got a one-day-a-week job at a yarn shop, Cultured Purls in Issaquah, WA, and it's been great so far. I get to see new yarns as they come in, and it's nice to be able to help people with their projects, whether it's picking up dropped stitches, making sense of a pattern, or helping to decide on yarn or a project. What's not to like! Here's the shop:


And being part time it doesn't cut into my knitting time too much. People have this image of what working in a yarn shop is like, and it usually involves lots of time to knit and drink tea--well, it's not like that! It's can be quite busy, and there is always something to do.

Anyway, as I forge ahead on Donegal, I have this lovely image from the Virtual Yarns website to inspire me. Looks like Alice Starmore has made it in yet another colorway.

Going along

I got a sudden burst of interest in my fair isle sweater again. It's Alice Starmore's Donegal, which I began oh so long ago. See what it's supposed to look like below. I like very much.


I put the sweater away, not wanting to face that it really won't get knitted that way! I observed no progress during the time it was in the cupboard. So I gotta work on it :o)

It's really a nice one in my opinion, although my colors are the Jamieson Shetland version instead of the original colors in Rowan Donegal Tweed, which I like slightly better. Mine is a bit more muted--manlier colors, I think.


Can you tell where I learned about splicing? It's really saved my bacon on this sweater because I'm changing colors every row or two. I'll have to go back and weave those ends in.

I just started the armhole steeks this evening, and that's an adventure in itself. Good thing I picked up a copy of Alice Starmore's Book of Fair Isle Knitting to keep me from getting too lost. The book is a reprint of the original published in the 80s, which went out of print and was selling for large sums on eBay. I'm glad they decided to reprint it. Although the patterns are 80s vintage, there's a wealth of information in it about fair isle history and designs.