VALUABLE KNITTING TIME....

At last, got into the swing of Cold Mountain - it's amazing I had time after allowing Yahoo Avatars to suck away an hour of my valuable knitting time! I didn't get in from work till10 past 10p.m - very eventful shift it was too: two arguments/fights and a deliberate tit-for-tat flood in someone's room while they were banished for an hour to cool off (culprits caught on CCTV after having the face to stand in the back yard saying "I wonder what's causing that leak?") which resulted in water coming through the light fittings and the fire alarm refusing to shut off. The alarm engineer had to come out, he has switched off the noise and is going back tomorrow once it has dried out. The police had to come out because the two flood-starters were banished but one of them refused to leave the premises. But it was an okay evening, everyone else was fine and I have met some good people, some women who have lived long long lives despite being younger than me....

Anyway, this is my Cold Mountain scarf so far - note gorgeous variegated shades:


I received my new yarn from Wild Fire today, but am disappointed. I asked her if the yarn was as deep as shown in the photo,or darker, because the last lot i bought from her was deeper than it appeared in the photo and I was really happy with it. I assumed that it would be,and she even said she would overdye it again to make sure it was a relly deep plum.Butwhen it arrived it actually seemsto have lost the lovely rich plum colour and now seems slightly darker in tone but the shade itself seems light and it has lost its richness. In fact it looks greyish. It's no darker than the heathery shade of the Elvincraft yarn used for the scarf (above). This is the original shade, as shown in her Etsy shop...see what I mean?


I have found the book recommended by the designer of the Cold Mountain pattern it's called "Arctic Lace" Also found,"Knits from the North Sea"
I do love that sort of Shetland lace, almost - or actually - geometrical, and with diamonds and zigzags etc. And it has been really brilliant learning to knit it and realising I can do so easily. Favourite designer at the minute - and probably for a good while to come - is Kieran "KnitLab" Foley!