Thursday, May 24, 2012

The sun has got his hat on!

Everything in the garden has suddenly spurted upwards, including the weeds which is hardly surprising given the amount of rain we've had in the last few weeks.

Angelica Gigas living up to its name!

Granny's bonnets (not the crocheted ones)

The exquisite flowers of Quince 'Vranga'

Acid yellow spider

Friend and foe hiding together in the undergrowth - how come the toad hasn't eaten the slug?!!!

Of course now I'm complaining that it's too hot and our clay soil will soon be like concrete and impossible to dig.  We Brits do like to complain about the weather - at least it takes one's mind off the gloomy economic outlook!

Entrelac test
I decided to have a go at the Harlequin shawlette from Jean's book.  I've never tried entrelac knitting before and so it's interesting to try a new technique.  As I had some Rowan Summer Tweed lying around I grabbed that and some 4.5mm needles and started to play.

Concentrating hard on entrelac
As you can see, I had to concentrate quite hard to begin with!  However, once I'd got the basic concept into my head I relaxed into and found it very absorbing.

Purple and green Harlequin in progress
 From the test piece I knitted I worked out how many base triangles I needed and off I went using one of my favourite colour combinations - purple and green.  As it's going to be quite drapey it will have quite a different look from the one in the book plus I've got some ideas for embellishment.
Blocked grannies
Finally, here are the grannies all blocked and ready to be sewn together.  You can see what a difference blocking has made and thankfully they all fit together OK (phew!).

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