On Princes and Shawls

It's highly unlikely that I will see young Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge become King. That isn't a political observation, merely that I'm a couple of years older than his parents, and his father comes from a long-lived family (when they lay off the cigarettes, champagne and French cooking, at any rate).

The young Prince already has at least two shawls - a spectacular handspun and handknitted one from New Zealand, and the one he was wrapped in for his very first appearance. That wasn't handknitted, but framework knitted in Nottingham, by a company founded in 1912, using techniques that are far older. Another little piece of textile history.

International Knitting of Mystery

Because my life didn't involve enough challenges and deadlines, I decided it would be the perfect summer to join in a mystery knitalong (after all, what could possibly go wrong? Nobody's going to get ill, are they?)

So behold, Mysterious Knitting:

 The pattern is called Summer Storm (Ravelry link), and I've just started Clue 3 (after some frantic knitting yesterday to get to the end of Clue 2 - a poorly boy who wants to be held all day and all night does not leave much knitting time). I have absolutely no idea what's going to happen to the buttonband, which is still lacking two buttonholes. I do know there are going to be pockets (where the cream scrap yarn is now), and that the closure is asymmetrical.

I am using Yeoman Yarns DK Cotton in Sage (greener than it looks here), 3mm needles for the ribbing (including the buttonbands, hence the double pointed needles at the edges) and 3.5mm needles for the waffle stitch of the body, and the stitch definition when knitted this firmly is amazing:

It will scarcely need blocking.

The rest of this clue will complete the right hand side and the back, and have me joining the shoulders (I'll be doing a three needle cast off). On the 19th of July I find out how the whole thing is finished!

Chicken Pox, Part the Second

That beautiful baby boy you saw in the paddling pool? He's all covered in spots (his sister helpfully tells him "Nicky, you look like a ripe banana!", so he starts looking round for his narny and getting cross because mummy says it isn't actually banana time right now...). He's got quite a bad dose, it's taken all of the past 24 hours and quite a lot of Calpol to get his temperature down to 39 degrees C (that's 102 in old money).

It's taken me three evenings to finish one row of knitting. One quite lengthy row, but still...

A sunny afternoon

Some of the water even stayed inside the paddling pool. Meanwhile, I drank my coffee, and attached the ninth edging point to my Ronaes shawl, and blew some soap bubbles for them.

Never put things off until tomorrow

Because there may not be a tomorrow.

Last night I lost a very dear friend, stupidly young. If you are of a praying turn of mind, you could pray for her wife and their two very young children.

In the ten years I knew S, we met in person all of three times. It was one of those internet friendships that aren't really proper friendships, that don't count - and all over the world today there are people mourning S, as we realise that never again will we find one of her emails in our inbox, never again will we have the privilege of reading her words. She was always wise, always generous, always kind. She personified grace. She knew more about more things than anyone I've ever met, and all her knowledge was for sharing. My shelves are filled with the books she recommended, and propped up amongst the clutter are her postcards.

That which we give to others is not lost. The world is not a poorer place for her passing, it is richer because she lived. But we bloody miss her tonight.

Holding Post

Ok, three nights' work tidying up the blog, ready to start posting again, and now we're a Plague Ship (or, less dramatically, one down with chicken pox, one itchy and grumpy). Resolutions to post more on hold. Off to run another oatmeal bath.

One down

Hexagon, a photo by tatiacamilla on Flickr.

And a number between "some" and "many" to go.

Officially it's a quilt for Nicholas, born on Easter Sunday and so all of three months old. If he's lucky, he'll get it before he goes to university.

To keep it unified, I'm only using shwe shwe fabrics from here, and the vast majority will be plain blue. The plan, such as it is, is to keep making diamonds and sewing them into larger hexagons until I run out of fabric, then decide how bored I am and how big I want it to be. I may tessellate the hexagons with squares and triangles, I may not.

One hexagon takes an evening to sew (and a preceding evening tacking fabric onto papers, saying thank goodness for the invention of pre-cut papers). It's going to take a while.

Nicholas, by the way:

 He spends an awful lot of time smiling, and laughing, and cooing. It's strange and disconcerting having a happy baby.