Work in Progress

Browsing though the many projects on Ravelry which feature cables I came across a jumper knitted in 2015 as a Rhinebeck sweater.  Rhinebeck is the big wool festival in the US and people wear their own most spectacular creations to it. This particular sweater had been knitted by copying a picture of a commercially produced sweater.

Now, I like a challenge and the picture of the original was there, so I thought that I would  give it a go.

I chose the yarn - Stylecraft Bellissima in Double Denim - because I liked the colour.  It has just a hint of denimyness about it in the variegation of tone. It cost less than twenty pounds.

Scanning the original picture threw up some mysteries as the ribbing is 2x2 but the cables are three stitch cables.  But that was easily solved.  I could have counted every row from the picture but decided to wing it and make it up as I went along.

The back and sleeves are in a simple pattern just involving a regular knit row instead of a purl, creating a ridged effect.  This matches the sides of the front.

Zooming in on the original picture revealed that the design was by Derek Lam, from 2013.  From his website it would have cost over six hundred pounds. I'm sure it was a lovely thing, as I hope my copy will be too.

Lone and level sands

After our week in Hawkshead, we moved on to our own cottage in Maryport.  It was ideal weather for walking and cycling.  This is the Solway coast with sand as far as the eye can see while the tide is out.  It comes in faster than a galloping horse, but we stay on the shingle banks and dunes.

I took a bag and collected up as much plastic debris as I could: tangles of fishing net, the sole of a very large shoe, two single gloves and endless small pieces of cord and twine - very little food packaging.

Cycling back down the cycle path we were struck by how many birds were displaying - like this yellow-hammer singing its heart out at the top of a bush.

The bottom end of Crummock water, one of the most photogenic places.

Layer upon layer of higher fells stacked up.

And this is our most recent nest-feathering: one of a pair of table lamps made by my husband from recycled oak.  They fit right in to our front room.

Three Lakes

From our cottage outside Hawkshead we were within easy reach of the central lakes.  One walk took us through bluebell woods to the Gothic pile which is Wray Castle on the shores of Windermere.  This was built by a Manchester cotton manufacturer, and what a monstrosity it is.

Ice-creams on the terrace made a great turning-point for our walk, however.

Another day we drove to Torver near Lake Coniston.  Here the walk took us past two very different tarns with views of the Langdales beyond.

On Coniston itself we were able to see the Gondola plying its trade.

On another day we drove over Kirkstone Pass from Ambleside to Glenridding.  We had been given a voucher for the Inn on the Lake so we enjoyed a civilised lunch for once and then took the steamer for a cruise around Ullswater.  It was quite a breezy day and the yachts were out.

 Back to Ambleside for tea where we saw the heron fishing for his supper.

Hawkshead, again.

A week in the old farmhouse just outside Hawkshead, with our friends.  We were blessed with the most beautiful weather, unlike March when we never saw the sun.  The property is set in extensive gardens running up against woodland, so we were surrounded by birdsong.  Each evening we were able to sit out on the terrace overlooking the valley and eat our evening meal.  We enjoyed it all the more for its rarity.

Bluebells were out in force in the woodlands and we did many low level walks to tarns and beside lakes.

On the Monday we drove through Sawrey to the ferry across Windermere, and on, via a garage where our car needed some attention, to Blackwell, the Arts and Crafts house.

 We had seen that the current exhibition is of furniture made by The Rusland Movement.  My husband has made a bit of furniture himself, so we were interested to be able to hear their designer explaining some of the processes involved.  

Some of their pieces are just the sort of thing one could find room for.

Their clients commission pieces to fit specific spaces.  I don't seem to have a picture of the cocktail cabinet, with slate shelves and quilted lime-green leather interior but if you had a spare eighteen thousand you could order one.

This settle was made specifically for the exhibition, for the white drawing room. The back is not one piece of wood, but twenty layers of sycamore veneer glued together and bent in a jig to form that lovely curve.  Such ingenuity.  

Red Letter Day

This is Red Letter Day by Fiona Ellis.  Curiously, there are only three projects up on Ravelry for this design, although it is relatively straightforward for quite a spectacular effect.

It begins like Geiger with some ribbing.  I shortened this by six inches because I am short and it would have been coat length.  There is only one chart for the cables and it is repeated up the back to a certain point and then only the simpler element used above the armholes.

Exactly the same cable is split across the fronts, adding to the impression of military style braiding.

I went for bronze buttons with a crest because brassy ones distracted from the cables themselves. The only technique I added was to use a two stitch I-cord bind-off on the front edges, which worked really well.  

This is a budget yarn, designed I think for toddlers, but I was drawn to the strong colour.  I'm now imagining it done in a pure wool, perhaps in a deep green, and worn with a tartan skirt with a suggestion of kilt about it.  If one went to events where that sort of thing could be worn, that is.

Tulip Time

Ready for a visit to Paycocke's House?  You enter by the cartway at the side.

Multicoloured tulips set alongside old entranceways.

The wisteria in full swing above the door to Reception.

Tubs of tulips against the backdrop of the garden.

And my most recent finished item.

This is a pattern called Red Letter Day, and I could see this being worn for a special event.  Complex closed loop cables run down the sleeves and the back, so that the whole effect has the air of a dress uniform ornamented with braids.  It was curiously straightforward to knit, and is a great fit.