Scrumptious

Well, I had a fantastic (if busy) day at the annual Long Buckby Knit and Natter day. I was supposed to be teaching chain-free (aka foundation) crochet, but the tunisian lady, already advertised. couldn't come, so I ended up with that as well. When I got there, there were two massive tables pushed together, far more than I could reasonably shout across. I spent a very hectic morning teaching Tunisian, foundation and ordinary crochet, sometimes at the same time. People were still coming up to me at 12:30, by which time I was packing up. Methinks there's a great need for crochet classes in the Midlands. Maybe something I should think about, although I would only rate my own skills as intermediate. After lunch we had a fascinating talk by Iris Bishop. Although I had heard/seen some of it before, she always makes it inspiring. She seems to be going in for glitter and sparkles lately, should we worry?! :D

Accidentally (yeah, who am I kidding?) I managed to snatch ten minutes to buy 7 balls of James C Brett Marble DK in lilacs from the Uppingham's stand, and had planned to buy two balls of Zauberball sock yarn, but had used up most of my cash so had to put one ball back. I've already started using the Marble DK, I bought it specifically for the Karabee Design's "Rebecca" cardigan pattern that I bought at Dream Week. It's a cardigan made up of a long strip of fisherman's rib which is draped in a way I haven't quite figured out yet, with fringing (which I might leave off). It has a kind of shawl collar.

It took me three attempts to get the rib started correctly - it's not easy picking up dropped stitches in Fisherman's rib, and the drapey part has a pointed edge. I love the feel of the fisherman's rib though - I've never made a garment with it. It feels scrumptious and makes the yarn feel more airy/fluffier than it really is. It is knitted at T5/5 on the Brother KH260 - I would normally knit DK yarn at T4, but that's just my personal preference. Knitted the main body last night - himself has a cold and isn't feeling up the gym so it became a good excuse to duck into my knitting nest. Just got the sleeves to knit - they are fairly straightforward. I also started to get the dreaded static - this seems more of a problem in the winter, despite our heating not yet being on. Decided to follow my own advice for once and RTFM - and the manuals suggest a lot more places to oil than I've ever bothered with. Made heaps of difference! Waxing and spraying the yarn with water/silicon didn't seem to help that much. I have one of those Ballistol oil pens from Metropolitan and they are really easy to use.

When this is done I need to use up the rest of the blue Marble chunky - I have a plan, based on a Knitware pattern. We shall see!