Spinning Against The Tide

Ok the images seem to be uploading today (fingers crossed, what is all that about, is there a secret picture limit I can't find or is it gremlins?), so I'll just take a little time to catchy uppy a bit..... there I was finally blocking this Thursday evening....

I should really have done a before and after picture, maybe I'll remember when I block the front, but the diagonal cables mean the sides start out like a slanty parrallellagram, and obviously I can't start to put it together till the sides have been blocked and are reasonably straight, luckily the sleeves are just an ordinary rib pattern. This is knitted in Noro silk garden, the pattern is in an old copy of Vogue Knitting, Winter 98, I think.

Bit of my knitting history here, I first started to knit when I was about 6, we used to knit squares for Oxfam when we were Brownies, my mum would have done all the casting on and off at the time.

My second experience of knitting was in 1982, I was 12 and post punk the fashion was for knitted jumpers done on one large needle and one small needle, I chose a green and black mix yarn, I think it may have been a birthday present and proceeded to knit my first garment, probably with alot of help from my mum but I don't really remember!

I didn't really take knitting up again till I was about 23, living in Wales, I used to work in a sock factory, and I don't know why or how but I suddenly developed an interest in knitting and proceeded to purchase some aran yarn and a pattern from Littlewoods, and knitted my first jumper single handed. From then on there was no stopping me, I knitted alot of garments for my nephew and niece (now aged 9 and 11), I attended shows, I subscribed to Vogue Knitting, I knitted and knitted, but come 1998 I just put down my needles,and stopped, I think I felt like I couldn't knit any more until now...now I feel like I'll never put down my needles, and now my mission is to get other people knitting too.

So this pattern has been kicking around since then, and some(most) of these old Vogue patterns just don't date, I'd always liked it but in those days it was much harder to find suitable substitute yarns.

Anyway thats me all caught up for tonight, last night I went to my first circus club night and learnt to spin a plate on a stick, spin a diabolo, and walk on stilts, but that's another posting, I need to go and knit a couple of rows as I'll be demonstating my spinning at a local craft show all day tomorrow, Tara!