Cats’ 87 Days

Cats’ Day is finished. It is not at all ghostly like Melanie’s Hyrna, it is very substantial indeed. It blocked out to nearly 6 feet square and I didn’t even stretch it viciously (it’s merino, what would be the point?).

Here’s a detail where you can see the pairs of cats in the center sleeping under fir trees, then in the border the cats grooming in groups of 4, the cats trapped in the mesh of the nets, then the cats in a group, and then all around the border a single cat in each triangle along the seaside. (A ‘cat’ is represented by the little flower motif.)

The mesh was my favorite part. I love this lace pattern.

Did I mention it was big?

I totally love it although I don’t really need it. I just wanted it. I have no idea yet when I will actually wear it. I just like looking at it.

It took me 87 days to knit it, I started January 31st and blocked it on Saturday. I used laceweight merino in the ‘Seaglass’ color by Lisa Souza, and size 5 needles. This yarn was stashed for a couple of years and I had always intended to knit this pattern with it.

The pattern was pretty easy knitting, with the exception of a couple of bumps in the road due to either pattern errors or just instructions that are open to interpretation. In order for the border to go on right-side-out, you have to sort of ignore her directions for picking up stitches all the way around the square, and use your common sense to get what you know you need. She throws you a loop at the top of the border chart, where suddenly both right side and wrong side rows are charted for a couple of rows, and if you get into a rhythm of thinking you know what you are doing then you will get caught by surprise there. And I think there are a couple of errors in the instructions for knitting the corners. I have sent them to Blackberry Ridge and they are looking into them, so it’s still not clear whether it was my mistake somehow or the instructions – but I had the same result on all 4 corners so I am figuring it is the pattern.

I have enough yarn left to make myself a scarf from Victorian Lace Today, all I need is more time…

Last weekend I finished a little Victorian Shoulderette out of handspun bluefaced leicester left over from an old project.

My yarn was a little fatter than the pattern calls for, so it came out just a little bigger, but I think it is an ideal size.

The pattern is by Sivia Harding and I got mine at Knitting Zone.

I’m continuing to work on the Cable Down pattern, I am to the waistline on the body.

This yarn (Colrain from WEBS, merino/tencel) is showing the cables beautifully and making a nice fabric. The photos wash out the color a little, it really is a lovely wine shade. By the time I finish this it will probably be too hot to try it on…