Monday, July 30, 2007

Sunday knitting


I have had this little bunny pattern for a while, it is a debbie bliss one from an old Noro book. The cotton was a very cheap 4ply that I bought in Belgium ( I wanted to try it out before I bought a ton of it. I wanted something easy to knit whilst I wait for the extras damask to arrive, this seemed like the obvious choice. I have seen bunnies with moss stitch ears and I think if I was making it again that is the stitch I would use.I am sending her to camp as a little surprise for Elenya. The weather seems to be holding out for them so I expect they are having a wonderful time.

Sunday, July 29, 2007

Clue three


Anyone who knows me well, will tell you I am not a morning person. The hours between midnight and 7 am are not my friends. If like, when the twins were babies I had to get up I did it with my eyes shut and kept it like that until I could go back to bed. But a funny thing has happened - I have woken up at 5am fours days this week (without benefit of yelling baby or alarm clock)and jumped out of bed in order to get a few more rows done on my Stole. I finished clue 3 at 6.30 this morning and am feeling quite chuffed with my newfound morning personality. The cats too are happy with this arrangement as it means they get breakfast early. The feline in the picture is my nineteen year old baby Tigger, he was purring wildly whilst I took the photo and is now sat on my shoulders purring even louder whilst I type.

Saturday, July 28, 2007

Be nice to your welly footed friend.

This morning we dropped our baby in a wood. Ok she isn't really a baby anymore, she is eleven and so excited to be doing her first guide camp. The sun has come out for the day though I imagine it they will all be quite muddy by the end of the week. I would have liked a photo of her with her kit but she has such a large amount of stuff that she couldn't even lift it!

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Clue two



There are have been lots of rumours circulating about what this stole might look like at the end. Some good, some bad and upsetting. The idea of swans appeals to me I hadn't seen it before I took this photo but I really can see little birds flying in formation and I am sure there is a Irish folk lore about swans. I guess I won't know for sure until the end. One thing I do know though, is that I have always done my yarn overs the wrong way. Much of my knitting abilities are self taught and this has never been a problem in the past but, then again I have never done anything lacey that was trying to create a picture rather than a pattern before. I was really struggling at the begining of clue two as the eyelet kept moving to the wrong side of the pattern. Anyway thanks to the internet I looked it up and resolved the problem.


The other quick project saffron looks like this. Unfortunately the damask that I bought online is not a good colour with the handknit cotton so I am going to have to try and choose another colour I am tempted to go for the cream coloured one just for ease. What I wouldn't give for a decent wool shop in the area. The lava colour damask that I bought is going to be turned into a peony also from rowan 41 for the mother in law ( good aren't I). I am hoping I might get the wool to make me one for my birthday.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

What a day!

It started off really well. I woke up at 5.30 so half an hour earlier than I needed to. So I managed to get a few more rows of clue 2 done. Then my mindee arrived half an hour late (I should have known then). I decided as my children were off for the day with DH and the inlaws, the mindee and me would go off to a play gym for the day. A good idea until the mindee trips me up- I broken my beautiful new britany needles and have severley twisted my ankle, I am in serious pain. I can't put any weight on it as soon as my family comes home I am off to casualty.

Friday, July 20, 2007

When the door bell went.

On wednesday my rowan exchange gift arrived from the wonderful knitter, Kira of Tasmania. Funnily enough the illusive Kira was my exchange partner last year and as she says we must be a good match. I am inclined to agree as I can safely say I love everything that she has ever sent me. I say illusive because last year I had no way of thanking her except on the Rowan site.This year I am glad to say I do have a return address.I was so moved by my beautiful gifts, they made me cry, such a wonderful present.
First things first the season she was knitting for was Summer and she made me this fantastic shawl.



I was kind of hoping I would get something like a shawl or a scarf but this is above my wildest dreams. It is 50/50 wool silk hand painted from the knittery and so soft! The weather is not great here it has to be said but I wore it with jeans around the supermarket on wednesday, and I am wearing it now as I type. But not only did she send me this, she also sent loads of other goodies.


Some beautiful handpainted sock yarn ( now I definetly need a book of sock patterns what with this yarn and the ladybird one), a pair of 4mm Tasmanian Oak knitting needles which is greatly appreciated for my growing collection of posh needles. Two large pieces of fudge , jaffa orange and irish cream - delicious. some salts to go with fish, applepaste to go with cheese and a wonderful fruit tea! The fruit tea is amazing it is loose so no horrid wax bag taste which is what you usually get with fruit teas and the longer it stews the sweeter it gets, ideal for summer as I think you could probably drink it cold with ice as well as hot.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

whooo hooo clue 1 is done!


Ok it has to be said everyone else starts clue 4 tomorrow but I knew that it would take me quite a while. Not to mention the complete do over at row 58 it had been going really well Ihad the right number of stitches and every thing but for some reason my yarn overs kept disapearing on the edge of the border. I though I would just pull back a few rows and that would be that but I ended up in a real tangle so the only thing to do was snap a chunk off and start again at row 1. This may be because I have threaded all of my beads even though we were told not to. It isn't really because I am a rebel just that I couldnt find my tiny crochet hook and I figured by the time I found it I would be in such a bad mood that knitting anything thing as delicate as this would be a complete no no!
I am still a little unsure about the colour it really isn't very exciting however it does look quite good against the carpet so may be it will grow on me.
I just finished the first clue today I would have complete yesterday but the door bell went at row 87 and that was so exciting, I couldn't do anymore.

Sunday, July 15, 2007

Yippee the postman came!


Well thursday morning arrived and so did my lovely yarn, JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool Silk in Pewter. It feels lovely, I was a little unsure of the colour when it arrived it really is very subtle but, I have decided it is the colour of cobwebs so just the colour for a spider! Although it arrived on Thursday I couldn't start until the following day as I had to finish this.


It is filled with lavender so smells fantastic. A birthday pressie for a friend. Happy Birthday J.
The MS3 is now under way I am at row 37, it is slow progress but it seems as soon as there is even a hint of a lace chart being looked at and everyone wants to talk to you. On friday evening I got it out and Husband wanted to show me stuff in the paper, kids wanted to tell me stories from school. So I put it away and started knitting some more of Saffron, I sat in silence for the rest of the evening typical!!

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Oh summer loving!



Here is me wearing a dandelion and a butterfly skirt and the sun came out for the piccy. I finished the cardigan last week and the two skirts I was making today. The skirt fabric I bought from Crista's Quilts on a whim a couple of months ago it is so bright and happy just the thing for summer days. I tried a couple of patterns before I settled on Butterick 4461. The sizing on the pattern is a little strange but the finished skirt is exactly what I was wanting.The Dandelion christened my lovely Britany needles that I bought a couple of months ago and I have to say they are fantastic!! I don't know about other knitters but I like to try knitting with my eyes shut (just incase I ever lose my sight I will still be able to knit) and you know you can knit whole rows with these lovely needles because they don't stick at all!! I have cast on Saffron from also from Rowan mag 41 and they are long enough to hold both front and back fantastic, sorts my urge for two at a time! I am knitting it in Carmen Rowan Handknit cotton which was also in my stash and will go with the other skirt I just made. Why may you ask am I casting on more stuff when I am making ms3. Well my lovely yarn seems to have been lost in the post. The woolly Workshop has sent me out another lot today so hopefully I will get something tomorrow and I can start clue 1 before clue 3 is released. If they don't arrive tomorrow it will be next week as we are expecting an other postal strike on Friday.

Friday, July 06, 2007

Bad,Bad,Wicked,Wicked!

I am supposed to be being good. But Yesterday when I was wandering around blogland I stubbled onto the Yarn Harlots blog and she had just written about Mystery Stole three and how she had been bamboozled into joining. I thought well it can't possibly harm to have a look. Anyway the upshot is I joined, bought more yarn from woolly workshop( I will show you this when it arrives) and bamboozled someone else into joining with me. It wouldn't be so bad but the Kal I started last August the butterfly is still at the frill stage. I also bought a shawl to make when I went to Harrogate in the autumn and I haven't even wound that into balls, so the chances of me blazing ahead with this and not starting other stuff is probably not great.It is in the form of 7 clues the second of which comes out today. If you want to join in this is the last day to sign up I hate working charts but clue one looks fairly straight forward so hopefully I will be good and get on with it.

Rowan Exchange Bag Pattern

The bag that I made was based on Amanda's Squatty on knitting daily but my eyes started to glaze over when I read the pattern so it became this made up pattern:- chunky wool from coldspring mill knitted double. It is equivelent to Rowan Polar in weight. on 10mm straights cast on 15 sts. garter stitch till you like the length. I think it was 60 rows pick up stitches on 7mm circ 30ish on the long sides 15 on the short. every other row k2tog at first corner ssk at second corner(so the decreases lean in on the shorter sides.) stop when you think it is big enough. Cast off. cast on 5st knit until long enough to go over your arm cast off. Cast on 5sts knit till will go over top of bag as closure add magnetic clasp and crocheted flower ( I am not very good at this so the two flowers are stitched together.)It is all very quick I finished it in less than a day.

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