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Monday 21 October 2013

this and that

 
today it looks like autumn - rain or at least drizzle and grey, grey, grey.... but it doesn't feel like autumn, when I go outside! it's still very mild, nearly muggy out there. my strawberries think it must be spring - they started flowering again! same for some of the roses - they're producing flowers as well, while the rugosas are still full of hips. very odd, but I do like the sight of all the yellow and red on the leaves just now (we had a few sunny days and cold nights, which always makes the change of colours brighter!).
and I have a few more reds and greens to show:
 
 
this is the Argenteuil pattern that I changed a bit by using more stitches (my yarn was finer) and by adding a crochet border. the colours were different as well, of course, no green in the original, so mine isn't a sunset - more of a rose garden?:) but it's a blend of wool and silk, too. the green and the red tones in the middle were dyed with acid dyes on light grey yarn, the reds on the left were dyed on white. I plied this one with one thread of very fine silk, but you'd have to look very closely to see a difference in the knitting. I had to block it in two halves though - too long for my 10 foam jigsaw pieces. high time to get myself another one or two of those sets, but apparently they are out of fashion just now? I didn't see any on offer for quite some time, but I'll wait patiently until they're on sale again somewhere.
 
 even though the edges didn't roll very much, I thought the shawl looked unfinished without edging. I thought about knitting a lace edge, but none of the narrow patterns appealed to me - and I wasn't sure I'd have enough for a wider one! so I started digging around the crochet books and found an edge pattern I liked in this one. easy to do, not too frilly - and I still had some leftovers....
.
 ....which I used to make a cowl. in tunisian crochet, worked in the round - a technique we learned from the latest demo at our group meetings. it's simple really - but as with all things it helps if you check the fit before you finish the project:) I worked the cowl - and tried it on when I had just finished it. trying is the right word - because it didn't fit, too narrow to go over my head! so after a bout of ripping I started again - and this time remembered to try out the chain st base before going on! I nearly finished the green, but had some of the two red yarns left, so I added a bit of "normal" crochet along the edges.
in the detail you can see that the wrong side looks a bit like purled knitting. it's quite dense, but soft enough to wear around the neck.
not sure I'll keep it though - I don't wear stuff like that often, so both of them might end up in  the "gift" box...  
we had a bit of a problem here on saturday - which lead to me having to go halfway into town again to pick up a bike. on the way I passed this cow - which looked totally normal from further away. but when I came closer I saw her eye! I don't know what's wrong, but it looks like a big glass orb, terrible! I tried to find out something online, but so far without success. it looks painful to me, but the cow was very calm, and well fed, she didn't look sick at all otherwise. I wonder if maybe she was born with it?
 
I am using the rain today to get the ironing done - at least I hope I do, because the mountains are growing... out with the music, otherwise I'll bore myself to death:)
 

7 comments:

Delighted Hands said...

Love the cowl! It is good to be able to solve our own problems, isn't it! Enjoy your mild weather-happy ironing day!

Nina said...

The shawl is lovely, both the pattern and the soft colours! Rainy day here today as well. I'm not a cowl person either. They've always seemed awkward to wear for me, but other people wear them and look awesome. I haven't figured out that one yet :) No ironing but I'm doing laundry and hanging it inside.

Yvette said...

hoi Bertina, came here via blogloving.
your work is so beautiful, like indian summer
the cow's eye doesn't look good at all
don't you have something like animal rescue in Ireland?
here in the western of the Netherlands it's sunny and strange blooming things too

love

Woolly Bits said...

Cindy - thanks, but admittedly I wouldn't have had that problem, if I had thought before I started:)

Nina - I am not sure I'll keep it as a shawl. I thought I might add buttons along both edges - to use it as a shrug? but maybe I just make a cord that I could pull through the crochet holes, if I want a shrug - and if I want a shawl I could pull it out... and I agree, I don't think cowls like that suit me either!

yvette - thanks for commenting! and we do have nice autumn colours now, which doesn't happen every year (during some years it's simply too wet)! not sure that the ones in the shawl suit me terribly well, though:)
I think the farmer realized the problem with the cow - at least it's not in the field anymore, with the rest of the cattle.

Elke Schwarzer said...

Oh, das sieht ja wirklich gruselig aus bei der Kuh. Das sollte sich mal ein Tierarzt anschauen, vielleicht ist es ja auch inoperabel....
Das Bild mit dem der Steinmauer gefällt mir sehr.
VG
Elke

Leigh said...

Oh gosh, I feel so sorry for that cow! I'm guessing if it was suffering you'd be able to tell.

I love your color for the Argenteuil! And I love the idea of a cowl. I really need to make one this year.

Woolly Bits said...

Elke - inzwischen ist die kuh nicht mehr im feld, also geh ich davon aus, dass man nach ihr geschaut hat.
und steinmauern - haben wir hier reichlich:) besonders die alten, mit moos und flechten bewachsenen finde ich schoen, aber leider machen immer mehr leute hier ihre mauern weg:(

Leigh - yes, it looked really painful to me! but she was feeding very calmly and walked around normally, no shaking of the head etc. so maybe it looked worse than it was for her? I read online that it could have been a tumor behind the eye - but what do I know.

the cowl however is going to go into the gift basket - I don't like tighter rollnecks - and I'd prefer either a wider cowl or a scarf to wind or knot for myself. but I am sure I'll find somebody to give it to:)