30.3.08

Chapter 2



In which we learn that chocolate makes you better, we fret about row count and old skool faces off against new skool.

\Delicacies from Caketown:
Hedgehog (mudcake core protected by cocoa-dusted ganache spikes:
best enjoyed via a process of deconstruction),
Brownie Tart (with a surprise nugget of pistachio nut in the filling, need
I say more?
"die" and "
happy" are two words that spring to mind)



It's a sign of how traumatised we were by another morning of househunting yesterday that the goat and I managed to eat almost our own body weight in dark chocolatey fat.
I can report with some confidence that it does, in fact, make you better.

Just in case you thought needle's edge was morphing into a "How much does Real Estate suck"? blog, think again

.

I
nspired by heideland's lovely creation - drawn to its comfortingly traditional cabling; a marriage of yarn and pattern if ever I saw one, its pleasingly generous proportions and its general handsomelyessness- I painstakingly charted up a pattern and flew into my version (left). But then something stopped me in my tracks.

Firstly I was displeased with my proportions -I really needed to fatten up my side travelling cables- but I also knew that the fiddlyness, the non-rhythmic nature of the stitches worked simply would not sustain my interest over the necessary kilometres of yarn.

So I switched tack and remembered Norah Gaughan's take on cables that I first spied here, and flew into that.


Tip: do not attempt even this cunningly simple design which requires concentration on only every 7th row when you are so very tired that you don't trust your row counter, or ability to reliably operate said row counter, resulting in a tweedy dog's breakfast pictured above right (trust me this is not Ms Gaughan's vision) on too-small needles.



\It's interesting how much more yarn the H+TC (right)
gobbles up to produce the same width and length
of scarfage.


There is a happy postscript: cabled scarf #2 is underway with rigorously correct row counting and larger needles, Goat is playing Satie's Trois Gnosiennes on the piano and I am a happy camper.

Speaking of pianos, this is one of my favourite photos at the moment.






8 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Where to start:

1. Never listen to me when I explain needle sizings.
2. Man that is c.h.o.c.o.l.a.t.e. Bet the sugar rush was good on that one.
3. Sydney real estate sucks. period.
4. That is serious wool gobbling.
5.Handsomelyessness could just about be my new favourite word.
6.The piano shot is great!

30 March 2008 at 10:12 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Viva Needle's Edge!

Firstly, I love these projects you have started. I am imagining a gigantic basket full of lovely fuzzy projects somewhere in your home right now. Somewhere high up on a shelf so the pups don't get tangled in it.

Your extraordinary use of ancient and amazing words and phrases like "handsomelyessness", "fiddlyness" and "a tweedy dog's breakfast" shows your commitment to creating a twisty and enthralling literary adventure here that attracts the only the most curious readers, as well as soft, yarny passersby.

Oh how I love this place.

I know you will find a new home soon - these things take time. And real estate sucks all over (seriously). But keep going! :) xo

31 March 2008 at 12:54 am  
Blogger Lucy said...

Real estate does, indeed, suck.

Chocolate does, indeed, make everything just a little better.

The photo is stunning and I just don't think the word scarfage gets out and about nearly enough. Have been wrapping my neck in scarfage all weekend in fact trying to think of the most apt description.

31 March 2008 at 5:33 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Chocolate - should be available on the PBS/medicare if you ask me.

Lovely lovely tweed though, even when being le petit déjeuner du chien.

31 March 2008 at 6:13 pm  
Blogger kgirlknits said...

ooh, am looking forward to seeing this scarf finished :)

real estate here, real estate there, real estate here and there, makes no difference, it sucks everywhere!

It's a shame that something as exciting as purchasing a HOME has all the joy sucked out of it by the process...

glad to hear you and goat managed to apply the appropriate medicinal remedy, however!

31 March 2008 at 6:57 pm  
Blogger Madge said...

Keep the faith, sister. Somewhere there's a home with your name on it.

I confess that I jumped into that chocolate photo and...tweed? huh? Focus! That's better. But...what was that about pistachio in the filling?....

1 April 2008 at 5:56 am  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Real estate sucks Royal. Unless you are a multi-millionaire. But, if you're a multi-millionaire, everyone hates you (I guarantee). So, the lesson here is everyone loves you, but real estate still sucks - everywhere.

Hang in there.

Send out a chocolate SOS.....

1 April 2008 at 9:40 am  
Blogger sooz said...

Perfectly reasonable to complain about real estate. Not just in Sydney either. We got my mother in law to find our house after writing an exhaustive and inhuman list of criteria. The ultimate dare to a shopaholic. I wish you fortitude. The tweed yarn is indeed delightful - reminiscent and yet utterly unlike pear tree.

2 April 2008 at 4:17 pm  

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