Handmade Fashion Photoshoot

Myself and some of my knits are to be featured in a spread on 'Handmade Fashion' in Varsity Newspaper. It did mean hauling the yasteroid around Cambridge, which has grown considerably since I first documented its existence, and is now about the size of Malta. I almost took along my current project - a jumper knit in the round on circular needles - but I was worried that wouldn't look like knitting to most people, so rustled up a pointless garter strip to use as a prop. I'm rather pleased with the photos, taken by the talent Edward Quekett - this one features my Irtfa'a shawl, and Forecast cardigan. I can't wait to see them in print!

Irtfa'a Shawl (or 'Earning My Wings')

I went to the Botanics today to take some pictures (finally) of my humungoid Irtfa'a shawl, which has been nestled around my shoulders for much of this manic month.

Above I am spreading out the magical cloak of dreams. Its wingspan is so much bigger than mine; I think of the wandering albatross every time I wear it.

The gardens were in vibrant bloom, and virtually deserted - the perfect place for knittish swishing about.

It was rather tricky to show off its beautiful bigness on my tiny frame and, as always, the multi-dimensional brilliance of Lilith's yarn is difficult to capture.

I would recommend the pattern; I did get ever so slightly bored of the small feather section, but the finished effect is definitely worth the slog. This is the largest project I have ever completed, taking over half a mile of yarn! I feel like I have earned my knitterly wings.

That's shawl, folks.

Quoth the Raven

What to do when the last thing you knit was a large green shawl? Why, knit an even bigger green shawl, of course! Apologies for the rubbish photo - it's so hard to get unblocked lace to look like anything other than a worrying fungus. The photo also fails to give an indication of the scale of the thing: to do that, I would have had to photograph it alongside, say, France. It's HUGE. The pattern (another Anne Hanson creation) is called Irtfa'a, which apparently means 'raven's wing' in Arabic. This would be a raven of terrifying proportions, the sort that would block out the sun before conquering a city. Though perhaps a little frightening to look at, the raven would have very soft wings, as it made out of an Old Maiden Aunt Baby Alpaca/Silk/Cashmere blend, which I waxed lyrical about here.

When I show people my finished knits, a question that often comes up is 'How long did that take you?'. I normally find it quite a tricky one to answer ('Oh, I've been working on it for about a month, on and off, but really only a little bit in the evenings...'). This time, though, I can measure it by the audiobooks and podcasts I have listened to whilst knitting it: the total currently stands at about 30 hours, and I still have half the edging to go. As I said, it's quite a big green shawl.