We’ve been having ‘winter’ winds in Victoria BC these past few days. Unusual. Makes me understand what ‘tacking’ is all about – on a bike, not a boat!
A nice benefit to ‘winds out of season’ was sitting on the patio at Ogden Point where the birds assume we mortals will ignore the “Please don’t feed the birds” signs (and we do! we do!) and looking up and seeing:
Bird on wire haiku
An upsweep of wind
Lifts sparrow’s feathers into
Skirt and crinoline.
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‘BUBBLEWRAP’ SCARF (OR SHAWL OR BLANKET)
(for travel protection on the journey through life)
Inspired by an incident at the Knitting Cafe (which you can read about in tomorrow’s HOMEFREE blogcolumn) my mind marvelled at how a knitting pattern resembled that ingenious bubblewrap used in packing things and my fingers responded by starting a scarf.
A ball of soft Norwegian wool in the colour of the haze of emerging willow leaves in earliest spring has been sitting in a basket, much admired, but waiting, I would imagine, to ‘express’ as ‘something’. This scarf seems just right. It’s not yet many inches long – the amount of wool will determine the length. I started it in the sunroom with wind and birdsong and sunshine woven into the stitches. It may lengthen with the shadows in the garden this afternoon. It is too complicated to take to Storytelling this evening but will definitely go to the Knitting Cafe (Poundmaker Coffee Co on Haultain at Belmont here in Victoria) for the regular Friday afternoon Knit Together.
Nitty-gritty info: use as a guide, not a rule.
Gauge 6 sts on 6 rows = 2 1/4″ wide by 2″ long
On the ball of wool it says St 4 1/2 Slatstickning
20 m/27v = 10 cm
I’m using chunky wooden needles with no # on them, about
the size of my little finger if it didn’t have padding,
a bit bigger than needles I do have which are marked 000
BRAMBLE STITCH (Also called Trinity or Blackberry)
Cast on stitches divisible by 4 + 4 edge stitches
(I cast on 20 stitches and my scarf is 6 inches wide)
Row 1 (back side) K2 *(K1,P1,K1)in the next stitch to make
3 stitches. Put yarn in front of work. P3tog. Put yarn
in back of work* Repeat * to * ending K2
Row 2 Purl
Row 3 K2 *P3tog. (K1,P1,K1) into next stitch* Repeat * to *
ending K2
Row 4 Purl
The result is light and lacey but the ‘berries’ give the suggestion of protective ‘bubbles’ as in the bubblewrap. With finer wool and smaller needles the effect would be different. Experiment. Enjoy.