dolly dimple knits

Ch...ch...ch....ch.....changes

to quote David Bowie, "turn and face the strange" - which is pretty much what has been going recently Chez Dolly. Changes galore are afoot, all of them positive thankfully, so I've been really busy. And will continue to be really busy for the forseeable future so blogging may take a back seat for a while, but I'll try to update when I can. I'll let you know what the changes are once I've I've let some other people in my "real" life know :0)

I've been working away on 2 projects I'm aiming to write up as patterns for submission to The Inside Loop but one of them hit a hiccup which means it has been temporarily banished in a fit of pique to be resurrected when I can be more rational about it - and preferably not swear so much given the regular presence of my 5 year old at my elbow whilst I'm knitting ! The other is going well so fingers crossed they'll like it :0)

But of course because I want to submit them I can't show them to you, so instead you get to help me choose my spring/summer project. Raiding my stash I have some Debbie Bliss Cathay in what she calls Mint but which I think is more Duck Egg - it's somewhere between a blue and a green. But I have a dilemma. Which pattern ?

I really like this one

It's the Delicate Cardigan from DB's Coastlines book.

But then I saw that the lovely Polly was working on the very beautiful Sylph from the latest Interweave Knits.

Now I liked that as soon as I saw it which naturally sent me off to Ravelry to see what it looks like on real people and that's when I found this version ! (Sorry if you're not a member of Ravelry you won't be able to see this but basically, it's Sylph minus the ruffle)

I hear what Polly's saying about Ruffles being hot but I'm just not sure they're for me so I really liked the ruffle-less version !

So what do you think ? Delicate or Sylph (with or without ruffles) ? Bear in mind my ample bosom and generous curves and feel free to be honest !

Edited to Add :

And another thing ! While we're speaking of changes, go and read what my smart and sassy friend Glacia has to say about a certain global event being pushed by the media tonight. She's spot on :0)

Not so bad after all

Thank you one and all for the sympathy on the eye - the happy news is that it has cleared up really well. A couple of days rest with no contact lens wearing did wonders, along with bathing it and I'm back to normal.

But that's not the only happy news, I've also been receiving some fabulous gifts over the last week :0)

My UK Swap partner, Angie, did me proud. Just look at what arrived ...

A whole box full of goodness ! Beautiful olivey/bronzey/green 100% merino yarn - so soft - a skein of banana fibre yarn for my dyeing experiments (honestly, you would think this was silk if you saw it not banana), a perfectly sized for socks-on-the-go little bag, handmade stitchmarkers for bigger needles, a lovely sparkly pen for knitting notes, some green tea (which I've never tried), a hang round your neck yarn cutter 'cos I keep losing my scissors ! and yummy chocolates ..... what do you mean you don't see the chocolates ? I could have sworn they were there ........ at least for a minute ....

Thank you so much Angie - it's been a pleasure taking part in this swap :0)

And as if that wasn't enough, the fabulously chic Yvette presented me with the most beautiful handspun when we met up at the SECC last weekend.

Check this out

This is so me. That deep pink is just wonderful - how on earth did Yvette know ? ;0) But wait, what about this

More stunning handspun, that is right up my street but what's more, it's beaded. How cool is that ?

Eat your heart out Tilli Tomas !

A few of my favourite things

I'm channelling the spirit of Julie Andrews this morning in an attempt to lift my mood and shake off the utter pissed offness (if that's not a word, it should be !) I have right now. I have viral conjunctivitis in my right eye.

The clue there is viral. Which means that the GP smiles sympathetically as she tells you that the cream only really works on bacterial conjunctivitis and that whilst drops may make it more comfy, I basically have to keep it until it goes away. And this may take weeks. Oh joy.

I blooming well hope not, as right now it's so painful I'm wearing an improvised eye patch and dark glasses to offset the glare from the pc screen. Very attractive :0) There's no way I can drive so I'm off work - which just means that things will be piling up and everything I need to do will have to be done in an even shorter timescale than usual !

My Grandma would have said I needed a tonic but frankly unless it includes gin, I don't see the point. And as it's a leetle early in the day for hitting the booze, you and Julie and a few of my favourite things are my virtual G&T :0)

I've been thinking a lot about dyeing recently. Don't panic. The conjunctivitis isn't that bad - it's dyeing not dying. Altho' funnily enough when the local library couldn't find the book I'd ordered on natural dyeing they did offer me "Coping with Bereavement" as an alternative !

I recently discovered a wonderful, new-to-me, dyer on Etsy. SkeinQueen. Altho' I'm trying not to buy any more large amounts of yarn - given the ridiculous size of my stash and the beautiful things languishing unused - the odd skein of small project yarn may find its way here.

Isn't this beautiful ?

Cashmerino DK in Foxglove - 80% merino, 20% cashmere and on it's way to being the softest cosiest little socks. I may even finish these ones !

And what about this ?

4ply cashmere/silk - 55%silk, 45% cashmere. I've only got 200 yards of this so I've been plotting what it might become. I think if I can find another yarn that would work well with it I may have a go at Moonstitches stunning rhubarb scarf.

And yes, I know I don't crochet very much but I'm willing to try for this scarf :0)

As well as playing with beautiful new yarn, I have been knitting. I'm now on the sleeves of Manon but I've put her aside as I attempt to whizz through a little project of my very own. :0)

The Inside Loop are looking for submissions for their summer issue. Remember way back in January when I resolved to have a go at making real some of the designs in my head ? Well I'm having a go. Of course it may not work out - in fact it may not even make the deadline of 31st March - but I'm trying !

I'm not going to show you the design just yet, but I can tell you that I've finally found a cotton yarn I don't mind working with. Probably because it's a cotton and (whisper it) acrylic mix and is much softer and with more give than pure cottons. My only complaint would be that it's a wee bit splitty and I wish it came in stronger shades - I'm using the Chambray blue - but on the whole I'm pleased.

But right now, I have to say, it's just as well I can knit with my blooming eyes shut !

Busy, busy, busy.

I have a million things to do this weekend. House things, work things, personal things, crafty things - and that of course, is why I'm sitting here blogging and wasting time.

Somewhere deep inside me I have this guilt monster that tells me when I am doing stuff purely for enjoyment (like blogging or knitting or watching TV or reading) that I am wasting time. I can quieten it down by doing more than one thing at once which fools it into thinking I am multi-tasking and not wasting time but it's only ever temporary. So let's be quick before it wakes up !

I've made a decision - when I grow up I want to be Norah Gaughan. Her designs are so interesting and well thought out, I just completely aspire to be her. So much so that I'm knitting not one but two of her patterns at once AND (this is the really amazing bit to me !) with NO modifications. I can't remember the last time I just knitted a straight pattern without thinking "hmm, I can improve on this for me ". She's THAT good.

The Luce scarf

and Manon

I'm even knitting Luce in the recommended yarn which I had to order from the States because it just seemed so perfect for it. Berrocco have really upped their game recently. They used to seem big on novelty monstrosities but have started producing some really good, quality yarns with some beautiful shades - the Norah influence, maybe ? She works for them now. Sadly tho' there are no UK stockists that I could find, so you have to go overseas and pay that arm and leg for shipping.

Manon on the other hand, I decided to stash bust with some Jaeger Extra Fine Merino Aran And that's where it started to go wrong.

I LOVE the design. It is knitting up beautifully and quickly. It will even (hopefully) fit me as so far the measurements match the schematics exactly - but the colour ? What was I thinking ?? It's just so damn grey. Rainy day gray. The colour's even called Rain Fall for goodness sake.

Admittedly my choice was limited to .... er, one. It was the only aran lightweight that I had enough of in my stash to substitute but it's just a bit bleugh. What do you think ?

The lovely Emma has suggested I try dyeing it. When I was visiting a couple of weeks ago she had some stunning naturally dyed with woad yarn from here so I've been thinking about having a go. I've ordered a book and once I've read it up, I'll order some dyeing stuff from somewhere but what colour would work well ? Bearing in mind that the underlying garment is grey not white ?

I'm thinking maybe a blue (but I believe indigo is pretty difficult to work with ?) or deep plum but I'll probably need to experiment with a few swatches. I'm actually finding the thought of dyeing it quite exciting, if a bit scary as I will be hugely pissed off if I ruin all that work. But before I get there I need to finish it first. Ah, more time wasting ahead of me then :0)