Oodles of Cables

It is officially spring here at Purls In the Pool. What a beautiful day it is outside; a clear blue sky and glorious sunshine. I thought it was time to put up a Spring picture in the blog header. This season's picture is of a scene in the Bay of Islands in New Zealand's North Island. I was looking back towards the town of Russell when I saw the tall ship and I just managed to capture her as she sped past with a bone in her teeth.

I must go down to the seas again,
to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship
and a star to steer her by,
And the wheel's kick and the wind's song
and the white sail's shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea's face
and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again,
for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call
that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day
with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume,
and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again
to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull's way and the whale's way
where the wind's like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn
from a laughing fellow rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream
when the long trick's over.

"Sea Fever", by John Masefield.

I'm knitting a warm scarf at the moment, which is a bit out of kilter with the seasons, but because of how long it takes me to knit things (on account of having to go to work mainly) this often happens to me. Last winter I was still knitting my Queen of the Waves shawl, which is why it is an unfinished item on my Finishalong list. The warm scarf is knitted in Sirdar Click Chunky with wool, which is a very nice soft yarn to knit with, and it uses the cable and bobble pattern I mentioned previously, which I was given on my textured knitting workshop. I'm really pleased with it so far, although it is taking more yarn than I expected so I think I will need to buy a couple more balls. It's the closest I have come so far to designing something myself, as it is a combination of the cable pattern I was given and Aknita's DD's Scarf.I have also finished my Cable Sweater. It is still qute cold in the mornings and evenings so I am wearing it quite a lot. I love it!

I have just purchased a copy of Wendy Barnard's Custom Knits. This is a lovely book which is very reasonably priced on Amazon at the moment. After reading through it I feel inspired to design some of my own knits. I felt the same after reading the Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, and yet have never gone on to produce any of my own designs, for some reason. Wendy suggests using existing, shop bought sweaters as a starting point for creating your own copies of them, which I think is a great idea. As I'm knitting several other things first it might be a few months before I start the first one, but I'm thinking about it now and the design process is beginning, I'm getting some ideas already. More of this in due course. Wendy is also the designer of a fabulous cardigan called Something Red. I gotta have one!