The English Armchair Abroad

Weaving Wednesdays

Or any day for that matter.  But this is a wonderful huck lace shawl.  Made using a hand dyed mix of alpaca/cashmere/silk it has a way of floating on your shoulders so that you barely notice it.  Light and feathery but warm as well.  Perfect for spring and summer evenings.  It's in the shop so feel free to take a look.

This was taken in a hurry soon after it came off the loom.  I love the way the colours blend into each other and although I'm not a "pastel" person the silk gives them a lustre which is lovely.  

 

You can see in the detail below the windows from the huck design.  It was great fun watching these appear.  I'll do more of these as they really are luxurious and lovely.

The tailored blue jacket

In another life Max used to travel to Hong Kong and China on business and on the last occasion he bought me back some silk.  "I thought you could make a nice jacket on that sewing machine of yours.  It needs an outing."

Well, it needed an outing because, apart from the odd curtain and a bit of mending (only when urgent) I didn't sew.  I never had the patience for it and just didn't "get it".  

When I started my upholstery business that obviously had to change.  Cushions, piped and zipped, became a simple job that could be done in my sleep if necessary.  Lavender bags were made in a trice for the occasional Christmas Fair.  I changed a zip on my old jacket (not sure why as the jacket died soon after).  And so it went on.  My sewing machine, now 30 years old, became a useful object that I was able to enjoy, rather than something I was suspicious of.  But I still didn't dare to "run up a jacket" made from gorgeous Chinese silk.

Then things changed, rather suddenly.  A student in the autumn made me realise that if I could stitch a straight line and follow instructions designed to help beginners, then I could sew clothes.  In addition she offered to draw a pattern for me of my favourite jacket so that I could copy it.  Another friend was off to Thailand and offered to bring some silk.  I was inspired.

Before the pattern arrived though I rediscovered the original Chinese silk.  I found an old pattern for a tailored jacket and I set to.  This is the result.  It is fully lined and about an inch too big around the waist.  However, it is big enough across my shoulders which is always a problem for me.  It doesn't look great over jeans but heck, it is FANTASTIC!

For my second project (!) I am working on the re-drawn pattern.  I've chosen some rather fun fabric for the first one so that I can get it really perfect for the Thai silk.  We've been invited to two weddings in the early summer and I can't wait!

The frogging came from Crafts eshop and are beautifully made.  They arrived almost before I had finished paying for them - talk about good service.

The next jacket will be posted as soon as I have figured out a small problem around the arms.  Watch this space!

Etsy shop - L'Atelier du Grand Gennetay

Please take a look.  I've just reopened L'Atelier du Grand Gennetay;  you will find it here

If you see something you like do let me know.  In the meantime tell your friends and spread the word!

Blue scarf

Some years ago I was sent two skeins of lace weight wool, one burgundy red and the other pale blue, both of them a lovely merino/sillk mix from Black Cat Fibres.  With the burgundy I made a lace shawl called Heartland but it took me so long and was so frustrating tricky pattern) that I never used the pale blue.  I even considered gifting the yarn to someone more likely to use it.

Fortunately I didn't!  As you all know by now my weaving loom arrived and was set up a week ago and, of course, I immediately set to work.  The blue yarn seemed like a good idea and I warped up the loom faithfully following instructions from Ashford (which are very good by the way).  I chose a 2x2 twill and set to.  I seem to remember taking breaks for meals and to sleep occasionally but it has to be said that laceweight takes a long time to weave!

 

Today my scarf is finally finished and off the loom.  I made plenty of mistakes which you are welcome to notice and comment on but I'll leave you to find them.

My next project on the loom uses a thicker yarn and will involve shorter weaving times - backache is not something I want to live with for the rest of my life!

Down but not out

It was back to Precigne yesterday afternoon for my second match in the tennis tournament.  In the end I won but it took three sets as I lost the first set 1/6 and was beginning to think I ought to give up tennis for good.   I played better than I have for a while but definitely not at my best.   My opponent was a lovely girl, Lola, whose sister beat me a couple of years ago.  Lola at 15 definitely had the advantage of youth and ran to all those balls that were seemingly impossible to an old bag my age!

One of the really nice things about playing either of these two girls is that their mother comes with them and whilst she obviously supports her daughters she is generous enough to applaude points won by their opponents.  Whilst Lola was irritated yesterday she was a very good sport and I suspect it won't be long before I lose to her.  She has a high rating and some good shots.  

The thing that really annoyed me was that I didn't notice until half way through the second set that she was left handed.  It was bizarre, especially as normally that's the first thing I look for during the warm up;  but yesterday it totally passed me by!  Not that it made much difference as she had a very good back hand.  However, when she was at net it helped me a bit.  

So once again I will be making my way to Precigne this evening to play a girl I've never met and who is rated higher than me.  I am already pleased to have survived two rounds so as long as I play well this evening I will be happy with the outcome.  

What to do with unwanted yarn...

A while ago I bought some yarn which I later regretted.  The colour on the screen was a lovely blue, and it looked perfect for me.  When it arrived it was more mauve - not my colour at all.  But I had 11 balls of it and it wasn't cheap - it was Tapestry from Rowan and Rowan is NEVER cheap!

I put it to one side but was determined to use it up before succumbing to the temptations on sale at the Tricot Nordique weekend.  

After a bit of thought I decided to make a close fitting jumper with a deep collar.  And to do it on the Brother.  I just wanted it done and finished and couldn't be bothered with cables on something I probably wouldn't wear too often.  

The result was a pleasant surprise.  I had to finish all the ribbing by hand and one day I will re do the neck as there are not enough stitches to make it hang and fold properly.  But I do like it...even the colour!

 

Oh, and I bought lovely yarn at TN2011 of which more later when I've decided what to do with it!

Tricot Nordique 2011

I spent a wonderful weekend at St Gilles Croix de Vie, meeting up with friends old and new for a weekend of knitting - what else!  This was my third Tricot Nordique weekend and what enormous fun it was.  

On the first evening, after supper, we have a Defile Mode when each one of us presents something we've been working on during the year.  Although there is a tendency towards Aran, Fair Isle and Nordic knitting, there are many different styles.  

Two jackets in particular earnt enormous admiration.  The first was Batilou's Lyre which was a stunner.  She is one talented lady with both knitting needles and sewing machine and her work is always beautiful.  

The second was Evelyne's Da Capo which we all enjoyed so much that there will be a KAL (Knit-along) later in the year.  (I have already been on designer Hanne Falkenberg's site to choose the colours I will use.)

The organiser, Yvonne, introduced a lovely gift exchange last year and this year the gift was a bag.  It did not need to be big but it had to include two colours and a fastening.  This is the bag I made and which went to Yvonne:

I am not as practiced at colour work as some of the others so this was an ambitious project for me.  I was happy with the outcome though.  However, I decided to line it and the lining and the zip caused me endless headaches.  

 

And this is the bag I received from Maryse which is wonderful.  Big enough for my sock knitting when I am travelling to London on the train.

To make the exchange more of a surprise someone had made cotton bags and also put in lovely hand made stitch markers and stitch holders.  They are a talented lot the Tricot Nordique ladies.

There were also a number of workshops including a colour session with Yvonne who taught us how different colours worked (or not!) with other colours.  I really am determined to work on a fair isle vest one day so choosing a good colour combination will be important.

The second workshop I attended was given by Kokolat and was the technique of Double Knitting.  I actually managed to do this although to produce anything of quality will require a lot of practice.  Maybe - just maybe - I will try to knit a small bag with this technique but to knit a vest, as Kokolat intends to do, is quite beyond me!

As always I learnt a lot at TN2011 and once again it opened my eyes to new ideas and new techniques.  I've come back full of ideas.

I left on Sunday morning so that I would be back in time to watch the Roland Garros final.  Just my luck then that the power went off for an hour just before the end of the third set and didn't come back on again until the trophy had been presented!  Oh well, always next year!

Finished Objects

I have photos for you.  Enjoy:

 

Max looking thrilled to have a really REALLY thick sweater for his birthday on a warm day in March!

I think he likes it.  The design is mine - not that it was terribly complicated!  The wool - Rowan Felted Tweed Chunky - is the wool I bought for Max's Christmas present and which stretched outrageously.  I made this jumper on much smaller needles - and told him he couldn't wash it...ever!

 

 

Rosa by Lois Daykin, Rowan Magazine 40.  Made in Rowan Kidsilk Haze.  The wool was a gift from a friend of my son.  

Lace detail around the neck.  I love it.  

I was thrilled to be asked to make a Christening Shawl and in my enthusiasm I made a cot blanket as well.  

I made this ages ago with some left over cashsilk.  

Work, work, work

It's all go at the moment.  For the past week I've had a student here working on a Louis style armchair.  Idiot that I am I didn't take a photo (if you're reading this, please send me one to post on the blog!) but she did a great job and worked remarkably quickly.  

I am involved in a couple of knitting projects with other people which I can't really reveal but one has to be finished before I go to England in a couple of weeks.  And finally I have been asked to knit a baby's Christening Shawl - which also has to be ready when I go to England as the person concerned is in London and I want to take it with me.

I knew the shawl would take a while - they always do - so I just do a few more rows every time I have a spare moment.  The problem with lace is interruptions.  I become obsessed with counting - to six, to ten and, at the moment, to twenty - and not answering anyone or anything until I've reached the relevant number.  It's just too easy to lose your place.  Lifelines become a major feature too - I work on the basis that it just isn't worth having to rip out even two rows with over 300 stitches on the needles so I tend to put lifelines in after each knit row.  So far so good.  Only another goodness knows how many rows to go!  

The patterns I'm using are a mix mostly from shawls I've already made.  I want lots of flower features, water is already in there and as we are coming up to the beginning of the bee season I thought I'd try to fit some bees in.  I showed the work so far to my 17 year old son earlier today and explained the different motifs.  His reaction?  "You REALLY have to use your imagination to see that Mum!"  Oh well...I suspect the recipient will have enough imagination to deal with it.

I've also got a second chair to restraw - that's not the word is it but I'm looking for "rempaillage";  sort of rush seating but not quite.  Anyway, on my course I did one for a friend and she asked me to do a second one.  I felt uncomfortable asking for money (she offered) as, unlike caning, your first chairs are not likely to be top quality.  So I asked her husband to paint a picture of Max's dog.  He's a great artist and we already have a selection of his work.  He painted Titch and Tosca a few years back so one of Tipsy seems like a fair swap to me - he agreed so presumably he feels the same.

I will try and take plenty of photos of the restrawing process.  I've noticed that the way I was taught (here in France) is very different to the process in the English books I've seen.  I'm not going to do a better/worse thing (at least, not until I've actually put some of what I learnt into practice!) but certainly it is very different.  

It's so lovely to be nearing the end of winter.  February can be so awful and cold but there's always spring just around the corner to look forward to.  The bees are flying now on sunny days and I'm hopeful that most of the hives will be ok when I open them up in mid/late March.  I'll be regenerating Up The Garden Path as we do more work in the garden and the bees will be a large part of it so if you're interested take a look.

Rose Edged Shawl

 

I love this neck shawl which I made especially for my shop, Made in Morannes.  It was a lovely one to make although it took a surprising amount of time.  Mostly I think, because of the lace edging which is added on right at the end.  I was in a permanent state of suspense as I wasn't sure I'd have enough of the camel coloured yarn - when I finished I had just 120cms left!  The edging is one of my favourites - to look at that is;   it's very fiddly to make!  Hope you like it.

Yarn:  Holstgarn 100% wool bought from Laine & Tricot

On the shop front I appear to be getting "traffic" and, better still, buyers.  My son has been wonderful helping me which is just as well as I would never have got past the first page without him!