I’m about two-thirds of the way round the knitted border on Print O’ the Wave, and should have it finished in a week or two. But other projects are calling me. I realised while hill walking a few weeks ago that, while I have a trilby, a newsboy cap, and two knitted berets, I am severely lacking in sensible hats. So today I went to McAree’s in Stirling to buy some yarn to go with the leftover grey New Lanark wool from my Baby Cables and Big Ones too. As I am utterly incapable of using up leftovers I actually came away with two balls, having decided that the lovely soft Rowan didn’t go with the more textured New Lanark.
Look at the way the two colours go together! Isn’t it gorgeous? But what are they?
Rowan Tapestry and Rowan Pure Wool DK. I’ve admired Tapestry for ages, and this seemed like an ideal opportunity to play with it. I’m going to make Ysolda’s Cairn beanie and mitts. A couple of people on Ravelry have used Noro for the contrasting colour, and I like the way the colours change throughout the hat, so I’m hoping to get a similar, more subtle effect with the Tapestry. I might well go back for more Tapestry at some point and make some kind of neckwarmer to go with them.
While I was in town I also picked up a copy of Yarn Forward magazine. I had previous only bought issue 3, which I picked up only for the Miss Potter mittens pattern (as I’d been searching for the perfect pattern for a pair of handwarmers for Helen for ages, and this was The One). The pattern was poorly edited and had a large error (although the mitts turned out really well after some trial-and-error), and after that I steered clear of the magazine. I wasn’t too enamoured of any of the patterns I saw in subsequent issues.
I am, however, very impressed with the current issue. Check out these gorgeous patterns:
Clockwise from top right: Siena, Salzburg Twisted Stitch Socks, Magda and Morning Echo. I don’t know which one to knit first! And I still have Print O’ the Wave, Vivian, wedding corsages and (now) Cairn to finish! Plus I want to design a wee lace shrug to use my recycled Louisa Harding Grace.
There was also an article on Norwegian purling, which looks intriguing. I knit Continental, so I’m an ideal candidate to learn the Norwegian purl technique. Might have to give it a whirl!
I normally knit English, but for the push-me-pull-you socks I had to knit the inside sock Continental, and when I got to the ribbing I used the Norwegian purl stitch – as I couldn’t quite work out how to purl normally Continental-style it was just as easy to learn Norwegian from the off! There’s definitely an advantage in not having to keep moving the yarn from front to back, although I still think I prefer English knitting given the choice.
I was impressed with that issue too, and like you, I find the Norwegian purl intruiging. The yarn is lovely – can’t wait to see how the hat turns out!