Fairytale Knitalong

I've taken the next step in knitting obsession and joined a Knitalong with the Fairy and Folk Tale Group on Ravelry. Each season they pick a fairytale and them their KAL to match. The Autumn KAL revolves around the Scottish Ballad "Tam Lim". I'd never heard of it before but there are many variations (here's just one). I recommend you read it but here's my poor summary anyway.

Tam Lin extracts a tithe from all those who pass his well - be it a kirtle or a maidenhaid. One maid discovers his story - Tam Lin was a knight taken by the Faery Queen and destined to be their next sacrifice. She determines to rescue him and must hold onto him while the fairies change him into various animals before returning him to human form. She hides him under her green mantle, thereby breaking the hold the fairies have on him.

It's exciting to experience a new fairy tale, and I've always had a vague interest in the Celtic stories. The group have recommended some fiction variants so I'll be borrowing them from the library. The green kirtle and mantle are strong symbols in the story but I think I'll try a slightly less ambitious project - a green "Branching Out" scarf like GreenKri's one here.

Progress Bar

Feeling very proud of myself as I have managed to add a Ravelry Work in Progress bar. The instructions on the wiki were very straight forward. Bless xml Blogger layouts!

Circling the point

I planned my first foray into circular knitting to be legwarmers in a lovely wine boucle. Lots of preparation went into this - finding a pattern on Ravelry, purchasing some gorgeous Touche boucle at the Darling Harbour Craft Show, waiting ages for my knitpicks order to come in. Finally all the material was assembled. I watched the knittinghelp.com tutorial on knitting with two cable circulars a couple of times, assembled my beautiful new Knitpick harmony tips, and got started.

And got very tangled very quickly.

When I gave it some thought, I realised that learning a new knitting skill while using expensive mohair/marino boucle is a bad idea. The dark colour and loops made it very hard to see what I was doing, and I didn't really want to ruin my lovely wool by ripping it out several times. After all that planning, it was back to the drawing board.

So today I cast some good ol' Lincraft acrylic 8ply onto my harmony tips. The result won't be as classy as the boucle, but I won't shed too many tears if it goes wrong. It's much easier to see what I'm doing and where I'm up to in the rib stitch the new pattern starts with. Plus it was a humbling reminder that it's always good to learn a new skill with some basic, cheap yarn!

Nearly done with all the gifts

DSCF2324
Originally uploaded by jedi_enna

I'm looking forward to finishing all my gifts for others and starting a jumper, legwarmers or scarf for myself. Here's a photo of a friend's birthday present on my legs - I was tempted to keep them for myself! I also have some sewing to do - I have to adjust my new bellydancing costume in time for a performance in a few weeks. I'd much rather knit - I hate handsewing. :( By the time I get to my jumper it will probably be summer. Sigh.