The Battle of Haruni

Danvers is not a quitter, let's get that straight from the start. She's a steely, determined lady of indeterminate age with a fount of knitty knowledge thrumming quietly through her brain at all times. She sees a pattern she likes but wants to change the edging, the length, the sleeves, the neckline..........whatever, she will and does adapt the pattern to her liking. Basically, she beats knitting into submission (a little like Mr.Danvers but that is for the telling another day), and she always wins dear reader, she always wins.

Until now.

The tears of anger and bitterness have been flowing like the Orinoco river in full spate as Danvers battles Haruni, the shawl from the mouth of Hell. Let it be known that the pattern consists of 15 pages of instructions. Admittedly some of the pages contain images and a little bit of waffle from the designer but most of the 15 pages contain instructions. Both written and charted, blow by blow, stitch by stitch instructions. Is this really necessary this knitting doyen asks herself? Apparently the answer is yes.
Danvers has never known a pattern to be so confusing. Danvers follows the pattern by using stitch markers, counting, and repeating aloud (in her slightly squeaky voice) the very simple pattern repeat as she knits across the seemingly endless rows and still......and still she ends up being 2sts short at the end of Row 48.
Helpless cries of "How can this be?!?!  How can this be?!?!" echo through the dark dusty halls of Danvers House in the dead of night. Tis a chilling sound that would curdle the blood of even the stoutest of men. It also woke Mr.Whitby from his feline slumbers, as appearing bleary eyed and slightly angry to be disturbed, he poked his head around the door and telepathically enquired "WTF is going on in here dear lady?".
It was indeed a dark night.

Today dawns grey and damp as only a spring day in Britain can dawn and the Haruni shawl lies like a dead thing on the diningroom table awaiting the next clash of needles.........Danvers swears she hear a heartbeat emanating from the accursed thing and circles it warily as if it may attack at any moment.
The battle will re-commence today.
Pray for Danvers dear friends, this could be the end!

Blocking Mat. Hoorah!

Yeah verily tis a frabjous day in the Danvers household!
Whilst perusing the hypnotic eBay Mrs.Danvers came across interlocking foam tiles which are perfect for use when blocking garments and most importantly, shawls.They measure 24" sq. and come in an array of colours. Of course, she bought some. At only £1.75 each they are the biggest bargain this old bint has got her grasping claws on in years.
Here's the link to the eBay store and here's a piccy to feast your gorgeous orbs on.
Now Danvers is off to do some serious knitting. Naturally.

Lavalette becomes Flutterby

Shawl mania is still stalking the halls of  Danvers House and almost within a blink of an eye the Old Girl has knitted up this latest shawly confection. Worked from the Lavalette pattern (which can be found on that fount of knitty knowledge, Ravelry) with a mod of a lace edging and fewer section repeats than the original pattern recommended, the shawl resembles one of those beautiful butterflies that one often sees mercilessly pinned within a glass case, which is somewhat ironic as this shawl was mercilessly pinned out too. Such is life.

Knitted using a Regia Hand Dyed Effect sock yarn which when Mrs.Danvers attempted to actually knit socks with it she nearly turned blue with apoplexy as it was splitty and slippy. Thus it was consigned to the 'Cupboard of No Return' only to be recently re-discovered and hummed over until biting the perverbial bullet, Danvers picked up her extremely pointy needles and beat the yarny beast into submission. Needless to say Danvers won't be buying this yarn again despite the fact that it is without doubt beautifully dyed. A pig to knit with but a veritable feast for your eyes.

The New Stash

Yeah verily tis Spring. The Lord is in His Heaven and Danvers is in Stash Mode.

New yarns have been plopping through the postal orifice like moths flinging themselves onto a candle flame , adding new colours and textures to the Stash and giving old Danvers palpatations in her ample bosom. Flinging the household budget to the wind Danvers invested in some hand painted, one-of-a-kind luxury yarns with which to while away the summer months knitting under the garden pergola. In order to soothe those feelings of guilt for her yarnie excesses she also bought some sale yarns - these are the ones that Mr.Danvers shall see, the others will be secreted under Mrs.Danvers crinoline until the finances are somewhat more stable.

Oh what a tangled web we weave........

'All me own work' shawl

Danvers had a brainstorm and with her usual enthusiasm and brio for something new and interesting, has designed and knitted a shawl from her own noggin. She wanted something a little dark and 'Victorian Governess with the Hump' in appearance and came up with this.
It is still pinned to within an inch of its life on a yoga mat and bathtowel on the dining room table so it don't look its best but Danvers is looking forward to wearing this little confection when next she dons her lace fichu and black bombasine dress for the weekly promenade around her local Asda's (or Asbo's as the long suffering Mr.Danvers has affectionately nicknamed it).
Sadly Danvers' photographic skills are akin to her babysitting skills (lock them in the cupboard under the stairs until parents arrive and protest loudly that they were playing hide and seek) so the full beauty of the stitch patterns and yarn colours cannot be properly appreciated. But she wanted to brag immediately rather than wait for decent quality pics.

If Danvers can be bothered she will write the pattern up and using the wonders of modern technology will magically turn it into a PDF file for downloading here. For free. Gratis. You owe me nothing.
Danvers is a saint ain't she?

May Shawl completed

Yes. It is true.
I finished my May shawl in only 9 days...........do i hear angels sing? A fanfare at least.
I ran out of yarn so could not complete the final pattern repeat but it still blocked to 52" x 30" so i am pleased.  The yarn was frighteningly fine at points so i did not block it too aggressively just in case it all fell apart which would have killed old Danvers stone dead.
I am also in the throes of designing my own shawl.

long pause whilst Mr.Whitby kills a spider

I am back. Spider deaded. Mr Whitby a hero.
I am cobbling together all the elements of various shawls i like and stitching them all together in a Frankenstein Stylie in the hopes of constructing a beauty not a beast. I will post piccies as the creation progresses but for now have a Happy Weekend......despite that to all appearances there will indeed be a Conservative Government running the country. At least they will come up with a satisfactory solution to the oil pipeline leak by stuffing the hole with the unemployed, ill, aged and 'just a bit wobbly on their feet' of the these once Great Isles of ours.

10 shawls in 2010

Having been foolhardy enough to join the Ravelry KAL group for '10 Shawls in 2010' i am struggling along with the projects. Having completed 2 shawls is nothing short of miraculous for grumpy old Danvers and in a fit euphoria, she has started another.

 The one pictured is Simple Yarn-over Shawl, (pattern can be found for free on Ravelry) and measures a very wearable 45" x 20". I crocheted the egding as i am scared of knitting lace. Must do better with my next shawl which at the moment looks like this.......stunning don't you think?

Eventually it will look like this.......maybe....maybe not.

 

Here's the first shawl Danvers completed earlier this year. A much larger and impressive offering to the Great God Shawltius. The pattern is Pi-Shawl, also to be found on Ravelry and pretty simple to do if you don't mind a ridiculous amount of stitches on your needles. Danvers life flashed before her bloodshot orbs as she got to last few rounds but being a trooper she battled on and competed the shawl - swearing like a trooper - occasionally.