WIP Wednesday: Making Stuff For Paris

Can it be Wednesday? Can I be sitting here with a spare five minutes and photographs? Could I be about to do a WIP Wednesday post?

Mum and I are going to Paris in three weeks (bear with me). We have our train tickets but we have not booked a hotel yet, it may be the George Cinq, it may be the Three Ducks, we will see how flush we are when we get to the point of booking. I have to tell you at this juncture that Partner doubts my and my mother’s joint capacity to economise on accommodation. If I have to hear again his tales about how he went to Paris when he was very poor (he was transcribing a manuscript) and had to stay in the red light district and only eat every other day, I may not be responsible for my actions.

Partner: And I had to stay just off the Rue St Denis! I was propositioned continually! And I could only eat every other day! You tell your mother that!
Me: Did you buy wine every night though?
Partner: Yes!

Anyway, in preparation for the trip, mum has been on an Epic Quest to find the perfect pair of shoes for Paris. They had to be comfortable, coruscatingly directional, and cause Parisiennes to stop dans la rue, throw up their hands and say, mais Madame, comme vous êtes plus chic que votre fille ou est-elle votre soeur. They had to also cost less than £40, preferably from Clinkards. Oh, the tension, you would not believe, every time the phone has rung we have jumped to answer it in case it was The Call. And, last night, the quest came to an end and my mother managed to purchase appropriate shoes UNDER BUDGET in Meadowhall, hooray, that will buy us both a Kir Royale. However, my quest continues. For, I am trying to finish the City Stole, block it, and take it with me.

Repeat after me, it will look better when it's blocked

I am starting to feel the City Stole will never be finished. I feel like the charts expand as I get close to the end. And now I have sat on my needle and broken it and must wait for a new one to arrive from Get Knitted, will it come in time, oh the tension. There is a lot of knitting in this thing and I think it may have been a little ambitious trying to do it on a deadline, but, apart from that, I absolutely love the pattern. I think it is one of my favourite things to have knitted ever, and I recommend it without hesitation to anyone wanting to start lace, because, it is very easy to read your knitting and correct things if they go wrong. I actually feel, serious face, that I have learned and improved as a knitter while knitting this, and it has made me very happy. Anyway it is on hold at the moment until my needle arrives so I will update you with progress and hopefully action shots of it on me in Paris.

Repeat after me, this one will definitely look better when it's blocked

While I wait, I have almost finished my Annis. Well, the laceweight was a bit of a learning curve, but once I had accepted I had got to use 5 million stitch markers, it was straightforward and it is now nearly finished. The nupps were fine, you just have to have a reasonably pointy needle and do your yarnovers quite loose. I am excited to block it and see what it looks like then.

It seems all wrong to me that you can get a luxury lace shawl for under £10 which is less than a not-luxury takeaway. I do not complain though

And the moment you’ve been waiting for, did Susie get beige in her Posh Yarn order, is she going to have to swap it/ dye it/ cry. No! I got a lovely dove grey semisolid with (subtle) purple bits and a very pretty blue, it does mean I’m going to have a bit of a blue theme going, but, I’m kind of into blue at the moment so I’m happy. I actually really like how this yarn feels and I’m looking forward to knitting it, but I am leaving it be for the moment until I have finished my City Stole.

Right, {cracks knuckles}. Off to cast off Annis. Off to fill my Victoria Sponge first, though (that isn’t a euphemism). You need lots of sugar when laceweight is involved. That’s what all the books say. Honestly. However, for lots of other works in progress, most of which are depressingly better than mine (I mean, I do try to be generous-spirited, but…), go and have a look at Tami’s blog. Thanks, Tami!