Little Purl of the Orient

Tunic or long vest?

I'd wanted to talk about the new magazines I got from Olga on Friday and the lovely gifts she knitted for my girls. The Spring VK is great, in my opinion and I feel so inspired to cast on. I've been me in anticipation for a knitterly weekend to finish up some WIPs and maybe swatch some new projects since we'd be homebound with a passing typhoon anyway. The storm came as forecast but so did the flu. Bah.

So the weekend knitting plan remained a plan and the discussion about the new mags will have to follow later. Let me show you then the latest FO which is now far too warm to wear.

The pattern is from this Japanese book, which also contains the pattern for the orange crochet scarf that I made earlier.

The greyish blue Chamonix in stash knits to the exact gauge called for but I have just one colour. I had wanted to hunt for some more contrast colours to do the fairisle band but I just didn't have time to do that. So one colour it will be.

It was a relatively quick knit on Clover 15 (6.6mm) needles. When I reached the neckband, Olga suggested that I knit a textured pattern so I went to look at the Barbara Walker Treasuries and saw the Swag Stitch or the Scallop Stitch in Book 2 which I liked immediately.

So tunic or long vest, you decide. It'll go into the closet until next Fall, I guess, unless the weather went freakish again.

Paris, Paris

I can't remember if this was the 4th or 5th time I've been to Paris. The last time must have been at least 14 or 15 years ago. Each and every visit had been done on a shoestring but it didn't diminish the charm of Paris one bit.

When we first landed at the new-to-me wing of the Charles de Gaulle, it felt so foreign. As the RER progressed into the heart of the city, the nostaglia crept slowly back and in no time, all is familiar once again. I wonder if my husband felt the same, I guess the feeling must have been stronger for him as he had lived there for 4 years once upon a time.

This was the first visit for our two daughters, so the Effiel Tower was a must-go.

We went, too, to the George Pompidou Centre, which is one of my favourite places in Paris, and the nearby Brancusi Artelier.

I went on a 'pilgrimage' to La Droguerie at Rue du Jour but came out empty-handed. And it was the one and only yarn store that we had time for, thanks to its proximity to Les Halles.

Looking back, I'm so happy of my self-restraint but it didn't really felt like that. Strangely, I was contented just by soaking in the ambiance in the shop. I didn't have to own any of those beautiful, foreign hanks of yarn.

The foul weather had frustrated me a bit in the beginning as we were not able to bring the girls to most of the sights around Paris. Then I realised, monuments or no monuments, the girls were having fun, no matter what.

CY was thrilled every time she saw a Smart car on the streets and requested to have a photo snapped.

And both JY and CY were equally excited to be just visiting the neighbourhood boulangerie.

And me, I felt happy just being there, in Paris, in the rain and the cold with my loved ones right beside me. And I felt happy, too, to have my big Misty Garden scarf wrapped around my neck.

I used the feathers and fan stitch pattern called Misty Garden in Scarf Style but added a few more repeats to make it broader. The yarn is Chieti from Puppyarn which had been in stash for quite a few years and I was lucky to find one more last ball at Cheerwool in the same dye lot to make it just long enough. It took 4 balls of yarn at 215m each, and I used Clover 10 (5.1 mm) needles to knit it.

Love the colours of this scarf, they are just like those from one of Monet's Waterlilies. Next time, we'll have to pay a visit to the Orangerie like Anne has recommended in her blog.

And it snowed in Paris …

We arrived in Paris on the first day of Spring. And what a cold Spring it is. We nearly didn't make it as little CY came down with a fever before departure and the mood for a holiday so far away nearly vanished. After some struggle and with CY's condition having improved, we decided to leave as scheduled.

I have yet to sort out the photos although there are not too many of them as it was raining almost everyday while we were there, and it snowed on Easter Sunday evening. This photo sums up what we did the first 2 days there.

Nevertheless, we all had a great time, the girls saw, heard and learnt a lot, they didn't want to leave, and neither did we.

So, a knit-related Paris photo: Beanie (which was supposed to be a Beret) Gaufre at the Metro.

I saw mil looking at this hat longingly the other day, and then she told me she accidentally shrunk the Short-row Hat that I gave her earlier on in the washing machine. Oh well, so this hat will go to her too. No problem. I have another ball of Rowan Tapestry from Erin (oh Erin, where have you been?) which I'll keep to knit a hat for myself later.

After the series of knits-gone-bad, I've started another string of WIPs. I've decided to chuck the Big Wool for the moment and started with the thinner Jaeger Chamonix. This one is a tunic on big needles from this Japanese pattern book which I had wanted to finish and wear in Paris. We are now back but it is still missing armhole bands and sewing but I do hope to finish it by this weekend before the cold snap and the chance of wearing it disappear.