Fly by night.

I've been busy with this at work. And failing to make much progress with my Plaza.
After one week I am 15 cm short of the shoulder shaping on the back.
No point in posting progress pic, cos the piece is not blocked, curls like crazy and bunched up on straights.


But I will leave you with a picture with the fabric this yarn makes - Cleakheaton Country Style 8 ply pills! That's ok cos I kind of like that weathered look but after knitting with cotton and merino for so long, I had forgotten what 100% pure wool does. Oh and the other difference with this knit is that I've made a conscious effort to wind the knit stitch anti clockwise on the needle instead of clockwise.






Check out Vanessa's One Skein Wonder.

I've decided I wanted one too so I looked around my stash for a suitable yarn and chanced upon my long abandoned Clapotis....

*sheepish grin*

I am sure you can guess what happened next.





For Hojo who left a nice comment - the Primula Pattern is from The Book of Modern Lace Knitting Book 1.

Primula proper

I've finished the semi circular Primula shawl. Well it's more of a capelet than a shawl cos it's too small to go round the front for me. It would be a nice lacy shawl for a little girl - so anyone out there has a little girl who would like this shawl?




Overall I am very pleased with the results since it was an experiment of sorts. I am going to add an i-cord tie at the front so it won't fall off the shoulders.

Things to do for the next one ( yes I think this is one pattern which I am keen to try again) :-

1. See where the leaves start?? I'm going to start there and knit a full circle to make a lacy poncho.
2. I am NOT going to do another crochet bind off - shudder!!!!
3. Alternatively I would start at a little higher than the leaves and work over back forth over the whole pattern - so that I would get a circular shawl with a slit in the middle.

I want to start this tomorrow BUT...
I have started Plaza from the RYC Classic Cafe for my sister and I really want to finish that in 4 weeks before she arives.

I know. I am a bad girl.

What happened to the Bracken Tweed Cardi? I can't seem to get started on it again so I decided a fresh start on a new project was required. As long as my sister gets one of the items she asked for on time :)

What's this?

The beginnings of a sock using the Magic Loop mathod with Opal Sock Yarn - yay! no more DPNS!!
Actually I've just ripped all out because I want to do this instead :-
Dublin Bay Socks

Look what my sister sent me from NZ ( according to my instructions, of course)

This is Infinity Soysilk lace weight yarn from South West Trading Co. All 1200 yds of it.
She also sent me 10 balls of Mexican Wave Aran Acrylic, and asked me if I can knit her a vest. Hmm... I think my sister and I need to have a talk about yarn snobbery.

And lastly, when did my son get to be such a poser!

Lost in Lace

I've caught the lace bug - very very bad addiction. Almost all my purchases nowadays are sockweight or laceweight yarn. Who can resist the lure of cobwebby, airy, lacy goodness ?

Remember the Fiddlesticks mohair Lacy Lattice Stole? Well I managed another pattern repeat last week and have another 9 to go before I get to the next pattern change. It's taking me so long cos I only pick it up when I have a very quiet evening with no interuptions. It's not a complicated pattern but I need to make myself relax when knitting with this yarn. Find myself taking very deep breathes before every row and fiddle my fingers to limber them up.
I might attempt another repeat tonight.




About a month ago, I finished a circular doily called Egelblad from Nurhanne's Yarn-Over site. Have a look at my unblocked version



This is done with Adriafil's baby wool 4 ply (fingering weight) and I think when stretched it would be about 16 inches in diameter. Cruise over to MJ's to look at her version done in crochet cotton #10.

I would have started another doily but for the fact that the casting on and the first few rows drives me nuts. I am not an expert in dpns and fiddling around with 8 -10 stitches on 4 needles is a freaking nightmare. It's ok once you've got to about 30-40 stitches on the needle then you can switch over to circulars using the magic loop method.

So to avoid that fiddly cast on, I decided to make a semi circular shawl - using half of a circular pattern. Using the Katia Mississippi print 3 in my stash and 4.5 mm circs and following the primula pattern from Modern book of Lace Knitting 1, I casted on for the Primula tablecloth.




This is what the original looks like
It's a horrible picture cos I can't get the shawl spread out on the circs, you get the general idea. I am about two thirds of the way through and the top edge measures about 28 inches. So I hoping for a 40- 42 inch shawl when it's finished.

I've since found some tips on making that first few rows a little more bearable-
1. MJ suggested not joing the circle until the second row ( or even 4th or 6th row) and closing the gap when weaving in the ends.
2. The Modern book of lace knitting suggested a crochet cast-on similar to one described in DeAnn's blog here.Sad to say it didn't work for me.
2.Knitter's review lace forum has also some suggestions on alternative cast on methods in this topic
3. One of the methods discussed were to use a provisional i- cord cast on - use another yarn to make an icord for about a couple of inches then switch to your working yarn leaving a tail and a lifeline on row 1. Once you're done with the piece or have enough stitches to be comfortable , you can undo the i-cord until you get to the working yarn, run the tail through your first row and do a drawstring bind of.. This sounds like a great method and I'm going to try this with my next project.

Oh and yes I remember I promised to show you my beaded stitch markers on a project so here are a couple




Thanks to those who left suggestions on what to do with the Very Berry yarn. If I'm still under the influence of this lace knitting bug by the time I get to it - I think I'm going to have another lacy shawl on my needles.

Currently Contemplating

500 yds of sock/fingering weight yarn
Colour : Very Berry from Over the Rainbow Yarns




What do you think I should do with this? It's just too pretty to be socks.
For now I am just happy to look at it.

I've actually had a productive weekend. Lyn and I met up on Saturday at Brenda's and she worked on a necklace for her mom while I knitted another little sleeve of the Japanese Lacy Top Pink Grapes Top (It's time to start naming my projects).

Then on Monday I worked another pattern repeat on my Fiddlesticks Lacy Lattice Stole. On tuesday I worked on a mesh canvas bag I started many moons ago. Yesterday I worked on a semi circualr shawl I am adapting from a circular lace doily pattern.

All of which I have yet to post progress pics.

See how I am subtly delaying going to back to work on my sister's Cardigan?

Speaking of which. I just received 3 more balls of Panda's Bracken Tweed from Bronwyn in Australia- She read about it on an earlier post and has some in her stash that she didn't what to do with. So she sent it along to me!!

Isn't the internet amazing?

Once upon a time in Malabrigo

I did swatch up a bit of the Malabrigo handspun Catalina yarn - It's soft and beautifully slubby although the colours are a little muted than what is on the screen.
When you have a slubby yarn like this, the best way to show of the yarn is a simple stokinette. I tries to garter and to rib but that only resulted in a bit of pooling mess.
This lot of Catalina is destined to be a scarf but add another 2 hanks and I could make a nice mesh tank to wear over t shirts or a bathing suit.

I was thinking of making this lacy poncho from Knitting pure and simple from the Novelty boutone



This is the only poncho I have seen that I like. Now if I can locate the pattern online, I'd be soooo happy.

A long post tonight

*warning: lots of pic so the page may take some godawful time to load*

I was going to post up my truckload of stash but got diverted by the arrival of my new sofa set. See I use to sit here to knit

It's Gregory'schair but it's so comfortable that I mostly sit on it to knit. Well it's either this, the floor or the foldable camp bed my husband usually lazes on.

Now I have a choice of knitting on this
or

or, if my husband doesn't bag it first, even on this

All seating arrangements courtesy of Ikea.

OK now all the excitement has died down here are my stash photoes for June -

Malabrigo Handpainted yarn from the top:- Laceweight wool Damask Rose (a whopping 850m worth), Catalina Bulky wool Cuarenta, and Novelty boutone pure wool Pocitos.


I couldn't wait for the Yarn Co-op Hand Painted yarn to go deal to go through - (apparently that's run into some hiccups and we're still in the dark whether there is green light for this) so I just had to get some skeins to try them out. Service was incredible, low international shipping rates and the yarn arrived within 6 days.
Must... get... some... more...

Next is Jaggersoun Zephyr in Teal.

Finally the last skeing of koigu to make my Charlotte's web - It's the skein on the far left

I'm playing with several different colourway choices now, it's not as easy as I thought. Especially since all the skeins have some green in them. I'll put up the choices when I have an opportunity to take some pictures in better light.

And now a pic of the finished front of the Psuedo Gansey

Take a closer look at the cables here

The photo was taken in natural light this morning - I took a pic with the flash and it totally washed out the detail. It should go for blocking tonight after a quick bath. This is the first knit I have done with proper row counting and surprise! the row gauge was spot on. I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

I am a little concerned about how springy the ribbing ( its a 5 x 3 rib) is and I'll probably stretch it out a bit during blocking. Don't want some unsightly bulges to appear at the tummy area. Or maybe I should just go on a diet.

Breezing by

I can't believe how fast the last 10 days have breezed by!

My team at work have been working hard last week to organise a 1000 pax screening for Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith and that took a toll on my sanity even though my roles was mainly supervisory. This is one of the thing I love about my job, getting to do fun things like organize ticket giveaways, costume line parties etc etc.

The movie? well I enjoyed mostly but I wish George Lucas has spend a little bit more money getting a proper scriptwriter rather than doing the script himself. It was mostly nonsensical and the only reason why Ep 3 was better than Ep 1 & 2 was because there wasn't much talking and more action. The husband couldn't help but cracked up at a "supposed" moving moment between Padme and Anakin, causing dirty looks from the audience around us.

Still, it didn't stop us from rediscovering our geekhood later when we watched Ep 4 & 6 on DVD. I am saving Empire Strikes Back for a nice quiet evening when I can savour every moment. It's still my favourite Star Wars movie and always will be.

Through the stress last week, I was knitting like a demon, trying to finish the front of Pseudo Gansey. Here's my progress as of Friday morning.

Take a closer look

I've since finished the front but I haven't had the time to take a photo which I will do tonight.

Meanwhile finally the last hank of Koigu needed to complete my Charlotte's Web Shawl has arrived, along with the pattern so I'll probably be starting that next.

Actually I had a truckload of stash arrive last week but I have to take them out to be photographed bit by bit so that the husband doesn't see it all at one go. And because I have had a truckload of stash arriving, I've put some stuff in the destashing site too. Need to make some room and weed out the stuff I don't think I'll ever use.

Stick around for more pictures tonight.

Candy Stripe

I had to make a long car journey last weekend to a remote town in the interior to attend my sister in law's the wedding banquet hosted by the groom's family. (In Malaysia, we sometimes have two banquets, one hosted by the bride's family and one hosted by the groom.)

I thought I'd take along a quick project for the journeys there and back. This is the first time I've attempted to knit in the car and I would have done ok if the road hadn't wound uphill for while and then down hill again before reaching our destination. Needless to say, the project did not get finished until last night.





As you can see I was trying to emulate the Handmaiden Shoulder wrap kit linked in my last post. I used an eyelash yarn (Kuka Fantasy) from Turkey together with 3 different colours of a local acrylic crochet yarn called Nona. It's knit lengthwise using a plain garter stitch with tapering ends. It's a fresh cutesy wrap for the girly girls.

For the next time - I'll use the same yarn for a small triangle scarf or another type of yarn for a similar pattern. Something like this yarn from Handpaintedyarn.com.

I caught Lyn doing some beadwork yesterday and join the bandwagon by making some simple stitch markers. For some reason I can't seem to get a good picture of them so I'll just leave a blurry one and post another one once they're on the needles in some project

Errata

After reading my previous posts again - I realise I sound a bit crazed.

What I meant to say was that as a teenager, I used to read anything I could get my hands on, even though I may not understand what I was reading. As such I used to have a brainful of useless facts which only makes sense years later.

Funnily enough as an adult, I read a lot of children's classic - I find I appreciate them more now as an adult then when I was a kid. I dive into Enid Blytons' St Clair and Malory Tower series whenever I can.


My drool of the day is this fantastic shoulder wrap kit from Handmaiden - it's a not a complicated pattern at all, I realise that the whole effect is probably due to the lovely yarn. But I love the simplicity of how it wraps round the model's shoulders.

And swing needles from Fleece Artist



What an ingenious idea!

emm... errr.. ahhh

So I have been tagged by Lyn from Knitties to do a book meme. I'll bite this time cos I do feel guilty about passing on the music meme. I'm quite bad on music - listening only to what's on radio and the occasional soundtrack ( like Lord of the Rings). At least I have a few things to say on books - doesn't anyone have a movie meme to tag me with??

Me and books, we have looong funny history - in my teens , I voraciously read everything I could touch. Mum was not pleased when she found out I had read my hip cool next door neighbour's Maquis de Sade books at 15. Next time I went over - all books deemed "unsuitable" were locked away - bummer! That's not to say I never read any children's books like Enid Blyton - but I seem to appreciate them more now that I am an adult.

When I went overseas to college, I discovered this fantastic place called the public library - I think I visited the library at least 3 times a week. There was also an arthouse cinema in the basement level so I managed to indulge both my passions at the same time.

Total number of books in your house ...
Let' s see ... there's about 6 boxes of books yet unpacked and more in my mum's house collected through my school and college days -so I guess well about 800 or more.
I gave away quite a few through Bookcrossing.com - in fact, visit my bookshelf there for some books I have available for RAOK or swap.
http://www.bookcrossing.com/mybookshelf/monast

The last book you bought was …
Just a couple of weeks ago at the Borders KL launch - Margaret Starbird "The Woman with the Alabaster Jar". It's my reference reading follow-up from Dan Brows " Da Vinci Code". While I thought the book wasn't that good - I did find the reference to Mary Magdalene intriguing.

The last book you read was …
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister - Gregory Maguire. I caught the film some years ago on Hallmark some sunday afternoon and was really glad when one of my bookcrossing friends offered to lend the book to me. A really dark novel based on the Cinderella story but told from the stepsister's point of view. I have his other book Wicked ( about the wicked witch of the West) waiting to be read too.

5 (or 6) Books You Often Read or That Mean A Lot to You

Tough choice - I have so many. I tend to follow authors and some of them are pretty obscure.

Lord of the Rings
I used to read this every year - until the movies came out and someone borrowed my books and never returned it. It was my first ever fantasy and I still find things to appreciate about it even now. Tolkien has this wry wit, especially concerning hobbits, that's really subtle and tends to get lost under all those battles.

Katherine Kerr - the Deverry Cycle - Book 4 - the Dragon Revenant
When I first read it, I was going through a tough breakup of a long distance realtionship. The hero and heroine in this book were parting ways as well, not because they didn't love each other enough but just because it was not meant to be.
I re-read the rest of the series pretty often too but this is by far my favourite book.

Judith Tarr -The Dagger and the Cross
The book is sticking in my mind because it's one of the first I read that deals with the Crusades - and I just watched Kingdom of Heaven on Tuesday ( for my review go here , forgive the shameless plug). Unfortunately - the book's in one of my boxes and I can't get to it for a re-read grr grr.

Marion Zimmer Bradley - Mist of Avalon
My favourite Arthurian book told from Morgaine le Fey's point of view. It's the first book to give me a differing view from the usual Morte Arthur, gallant and courtly jousting knights etc etc.

Susan Cooper - The Dark is Rising series - Book Two
It's a young adult series of 5 books which are now reprinted as one big volume - my favourite among them is Book Two

Are you seeing a trend here??
I don't know why - with the exception of Geroge Martin and Gregory Maguire- I seem to be reading more women authors and more historical fiction / fantasy- I can't get into the chick-lit books although I have read Bridget Jones and the Yaya sisterhood books.

Who are you going to pass this on to and why ...
no one and everyone - oh ok I'll pass it on to
Thuy - cos I noticed Even Cowgirls Get The Blues on her nightstand and I thought that was one of the weirdest books ever.
Vanessa - cos everyone needs a good book to fend the blues away.


Not much knitting to report cos last weekend was taken up by my sister-in-law's efficient military-like wedding. The ring pillow went well but I didn't have time to take a picture so I got to wait to get the official pics before I post up the finished product. I also had to sing a Mandarin song ( Lyn and Vanessa know all about my gripes about this) during the cake cutting and by all accounts, that went well too.

And now for your viewing pleasure - go here - it's freaking hilarious.

For your stashing pleasure - here's what I found when I was clicking a google ad
AmiAmi yarn - Japanese yarn! Internet Orders! in English!

Slaving over the weekend

no 'nitting,'nuff said





Have you seen Emy's ring pillow??

I never had one - the best man did the honours. Would anyone else like to share theirs?

I am so pumped up by this pillow I feel like making more. I have so much lace and jazquard and stuffing from my last Crazy quilting craze that I think I could make some for sale.

Stay tuned for the finished product.

A little bit of this and that

I am rich!!! I sold off some Cross stitch patterns on Ebay UK and made a cool US$40.00. What a dilemma - what shall I buy?? On my eBay watchlist I have handpainted Jaggerspun Zephyr, Lorna's laces sock yarn, Handpainted yarn from South America, Turkish Novelty yarn from Yarnart.
BUT what I really want is some Knitpicks Shimmer yarn - will someone help me buy some? She doesn't ship overseas.

I am in a major lace kick currently. I keep looking at lace weight yarn and lace patterns until I'm really dizzy.

I started a little bit of Kiri with some Cherry Tree Hill laceweight yarn I had (colourway Dusk) and was mucho dissapointed at how the colourway pooled - I guess I need either bigger needles (I used 3.5mm) or different pattern to get the best out of this indigo- purple-green colurway.






The good news is my Kid Silk Haze order arrived yesterday so I will probably start this again with the Nightly colourway and bigger needles.

Then I also casted on for this top

Forgive the funny reflection of the ceiling lights in my office.


I am using a fuschia Turkish cotton yarn from Yarn Art I got from ebay. A whopping 400 mt to a 100gm ball. The yarn is light and perfect for lacy tops BUT very splitty. Splits don't normally bother me but with a complicated pattern as this , the frogging is almost unbearable. But still I plug on and here's almost one little sleeve done.

For a close look at the detail, click here


BUT no more knitting for me for the next few days - I have a ring pillow to do for my sister-in-law's wedding. I've been postponing it for a while, it's hard to pick up an old hobby while one is still crazy about another one. But since the wedding is next weekend , I guess I better get a move on or I won't be able to show my face at the church.

Midnight Show

I was sorting out my stash yesterday and found some scarf yarn that I hadn't touched. Before I knew it I was sitting down and casting on for a two hour scarf, forget the housework and the tax returns I was going to do...

What's a two hour scarf? well you take the biggest needle you have and cast one about 100 or so - I used 10mm needles and casted on 120 - That's the length of your scarf. Then you knit one or two alternating rows with each yarn - using a combinations of 3 or 4 yarns for a fun effect. Leave about 8 inchs tail at each end for a fringe. Keep going until you have the thickness that you want.

And if you don't understand all that - please go here for the Berocco version - only you can substitute which whatever yarn that you have on had. I used a Schachenmeyr Salsa yarn for the fur element, Sirdar cotton chenille and Schachenmeyr Jupiter.

And after all that you get a scarf - presenting the Midnight Show




*Forgive the gratuitous advertising of our company logo but it's T shirt Friday and we HAVE to wear our company t shirt on Fridays.*
And a closer look

Why did I call it the Midnight Show ? well it was past midnight when I finished it - it wasn't really a 2 hour scarf - it was 3 hours - but then I was kind of caught up a little by West Wing Season 3 finale on DVD and American Idol on Cable.

Then I also thought it would be just the type of thing you'd wear to the freezing cinemas during a midnight show, especially if you're trying to avoid getting hickies from an over- amourous boyfriend. I used thinner yarn cause I wanted it to be wearable in tropical weather but the fun fur gives it just a little hint of being warm. The whole thing is incredibly soft though and a lot of fun -think I'll do a pink one next.

In the meantime - I casted on for I do" but ripped it cos I didn't think it was the right yarn. Lace in circulars is also the pits. I have a phobia of putting it down just in case I forget which row and where in the row I left off.

On a more happy note - here's my april stash of yarn ( more coming but we won't talk about that right now.)



That's Lorna's Laces in Motherlode and Hawaii and the ball on the bottom left is a Japanese carry along yarn called Flowery and Thready ( yeah they have some strange names for their yarn ). It's ruinously expensive but it's gorgeous and I am thinking of running it together with my Kid Silk Haze yarn for a shawl.

Catching up

Just a few things happening in my life at the moment.


Last Friday the KL Knitting Meet up group went met up at Jackie's place for a slap up gourmet dinner. Check out the pic on Vanessa's blog. we were all supposed to act natural, but when Laura clicked on the button, everyone looked up and smiled. I was still trying to act natural, instead I look liked the glutton! But seriously, the food was great and the company was even better.


Lyn from Knitties was admitted into hospital for an appendectomy on Friday itself so she missed our meet up. Do send her your well wishes. Thank goodness she has mountain of NEW yarn to cheer her up.


My secret pal sent me a great Easter package which arrived on Friday too. I couldn't take a pic cos I don't have the camera with me, but I received
1. two packs of candy
2. a peeps backpack clip
3. a bar of botanical soap and a bottle of Euclan(sp??)
4. an Easter chicky that peeped when you pressed ( my son thanks you for this, he absolutely loves it)
5. An easter Bunny filled with notions.
6. Hello Kitty! clips.


I'll try to take pic of all these goodies tonight - minus the candy - they're long gone (YUM!!!)


On the knitting front, I'm in a little bit of a rut at the moment. Since I finished the FBS, I've been casting on and abandoning swatching several projects with no clear objective in sight. I really have to start work on my sister's cardigan again but I'm unmotivated. I have a million scarves I want to Knit from Scarf Style but am discouraged by the fact that I would probably not be able to wear them.

Hopefully I'll feel better knitwise tonight as just settle into something that will hold my interest for more than a week.

Yarn-orexia

In my short yarn fast last month I seemed to have accumulated a very long list of stuff I really reallly want. I actually did break my yarn fast by making a totally impulsive Best Offer on eBay for a lot of Noro Silk Garden in the colourway #88. Oh and an order for some Malabrigo yarn from the yarn co-op group.


I thought I'd put up a pared down list of what I am looking for in the next few months.


If anyone would like to sell their copy of any of the magazines I covet below - please email me.

Phildar Ete 2004
Can't seem to find an english version.


Knitters Summer 2004
I'd love to do this Lily of the Valley shawl.


One skein of green based KPPPM and Charlotte's web shawl pattern
Do you know I have been trying to place an order for this but have been faced with shipping being ridiculously high at Patternworks, and colours out of stock at Threadbear and pattern out of stock at Kaledeiscope yarn.


The following yarns are listed in no particluar order, just what will probably be my next purchases -whenever I find a good deal on any.

Jaeger Siena ( any colour but white)
RYC Cashcotton DK in Quartz
Elann's Alpaca Silk or Baby Cashmere
Hand Painted yarn in Candy Colorway
KSH in Trance (as many balls as it takes)


And after that I just... might... go for another long yarn diet.

Spring is Here!

I just finished a very simple Spring scarf for a very secret recipient. I won't disclose who she is until she receives it but let's just say she has been a warm and generous knitting friend.

I call it the Spring Scarf because the Noro Silk Garden has every colour of spring imaginable in it - pink and blue and green and rose and lavenders and marigold.




It's a simple lace pattern I picked up from my chinese "600 knitting patterns" book and I am sure it has an english name.

The instructions are as follows:-

Cast on 17 stitches. The 1st 3 and the last 3 stitches are the border and can be done in seed or garter stitch.

Work 3 rows in seed or garter stitch

Row 1: work 3 stitches in seed or garter stitch, [ knit 2tog twice, yo,k,yo,k,yo,k,yo, ssk twice ] work last 3 stitches in seed or garter
Row 2: work the border for 3 stitches, purl until last 3 stitches, work border.

Keep going until you want to stop and knit the last 3 rows in seed or garter stitch
Cast Off.

I used 5mm needles with Noro Silk Garden -which is a worsted weight.


Enjoy!!

Finally - a yarn for Clapotis

I finally found a yarn suitable for Clapotis.

I blogged about this quite some time ago and though there are plenty of great yarn substitutes and dozens of beautiful Clapotis around the web, I never really found something that met my criteria.

until now




The yarn is for my favourite handpainted yarns from the ebay store Over The Rainbow - and is called Shmmer in the crocus colourway. It is a Rayon/silk mix and the worsted weight makes it go real fast. The drape in this thing is unbelievable.

I am making a smaller wrap - only 14 inches as opposed to the original 21 inches and this one is for me - nobody else but me.

My baby was 2 on Saturday. Wasn't it only yesterday when he looked like this



or like this



Now he's a gorgeous kid who looks like this




Sigh!

FBS Debut

Just a quick one before I rush off for Easter.




FBS Blocking




Wearing FBS in 35 degrees C.



Taking a closer look.




Happy Easter everyone!

FBS unblocked!

Take a look at my finished Flower Basket Shawl, half draped over my office chair



Done with 2 strands of laceweight merino from Lotusblossom (ebay) colourway - Lagoon
Click here for a closer look.


If I had not seen the other similarly unblocked FBS's in blogworld, I'd be crying in my cups right now. BUT I have faith in my blocking abilities. It's going for a nice warm "bath and block" tonight.

Oh by the way - started this on 11 March and finished on 20th March - one of my fastest project ever.

I have found my perfect Clapotis yarn. More pics later.

Celia, I drew your name out of the correct guesses for the Broadripple socks - I'm almost starting the toe - got distracted by the Flower Basket shawl. Please email me your address so I can send you a nice ball of Filatura Kid Mohair in Blue.

Another Clue??

I'll do the drawing on next Friday 18th March. Oh BTW you can guess more than once you know.

OHMIGOD

Look what I got from my Secret Pal !!!





From top to bottom:- Noro Daria for a necklace scarf; Noro Lily for socks ( oh no won't use this for socks! Will hoard this for something special!) and Bernat Boa - just for the fun of things!
You're the greatest !!!!


Lyn came over last Friday to do some winding and we took some pictures but it needs some touching up. We sat outside on the patio cos it was an extremely hot night. I must say that the ball winder is a great investment, what took me 2 -3 hours to wind now only takes about 10 minutes.

We gave our hands and waists a good work out cos we took turns in holding up the skeins and moving it back and forth in time with the ball winder - so hey! who says you don't get any exercise from knitting.


Click the thumbnails for a closer look at we were doing



Fired up by the gorgeous skein of handpainted merino lace from Lotus blossom that I wound up, I started the Flower Basket Shawl.
Lyn asked if I could figure out the casting on - and after frogging twice - I did! I originally cast on with a red viscose cotton from Garnstudio which I thought I might wear for my sister-in-law's wedding in April. But a visit to the tailor's the next day resulted in me choosing a blue- green dress. So the handpainted colourway names Lagoon won and I've been obsessed by this shawl every since. I'm at the 1st repeat of the upper Basket pattern - another 6 to go.




I've also been working on a mystery project - so mysterious that when I tried to upload the photo to photobucket - I hit a scheduled maintainence page. So I'll let you make guesses on what my mystery project is. Just to make it a little more fun, any right guesses will go into a draw for a ball of Filatura di Crosa Kid Mohair fine - the same as what I am using for the Lacy Lattice Stole. ( *oh Lyn you can't join in the fun cos you saw it already*) A clue? - well it's rippling.

Just send in your guesses through my email or in the comments here.

From the comments

Melanie was asking about the shawl/shrug pattern in one of the previous post. She didn't leave an email address so I'll answer here.

It's from Panda Yarns leaflet#108 4 designs in Bracken Tweed. Have googled the life out of it but I can't find any information on this yarn anywhere so I guess it's been discontinued.

The Panda yarn site is http://www.pandayarns.biz. Perhaps if you email them, Melanie they may be able to give you more information on where to get the leaflet.

Cheers

Fiddlesticks!!

I just have to share with you what I discovered during the weekend.

Filatura di Crosa Kid Mohair rocks!!
I got some from Emy a couple of months ago and decided to break it out this weekend to do a small swatch for my Fiddlesticks knit a long.

Yes I have sadly neglected my lace knitting after my pathetic attempt at Inky Dinky stole, so I decided to try again this time using the Lacy Lattice Stole.




Take a closer look



I feel like I am knitting with clouds, it's that soft and airy. Of course the downside is that it does fly about a lot if you're knitting under a fan so one has to get a good grip on the yarn. Occasionally I do feel bits of fluff itching around my nose and in my throat but it's not as bad as some other mohairs I have used.
The best part is that it's way cheaper that Rowan Kid Silk Haze so I think the next project with this yarn would be Polly's Kiri.


Stasher's Anonymous 5 step programme

I was just having a conversation with Laura about yarn obsessions.
I though I'd share the things I do to stop myself from buying yarn - especially in the last few weeks ( I have 20 days to Easter and counting!!!).


1. The worst place of temptation - EBAY! Whatever you do,don't visit it everday. If you have anything in your favourite searches, don't set it to send to your mailbox.

2. Ditto for your favourite online shop.

3. If you just can't resist something, click save it to your watch list instead and wait 24 hours before you do anything.

4. When surfing in an online shop - click the desired items and place them in the shopping cart. THEN CLOSE the window and do not go back to the site for at least 24 hours. Repeat everyday if necessary.

5. Don't drive anywhere near your LYS. If you must go in, drag along some knitting friends with you and watch them buy up the store. This just gives me a such a sick vicarious (sp??) buzz.


On suppressing impulse buys ( especial when Sales occur)

1. Repeat this mantra " There will always be another Sale"

2. Set a budget every month for Stash and do not deviate!! Don't make up for the fact that you spent less last month either.

3. Have a list of your most wanted and set what is the most you are willing to pay for each item. Update this list only every month.

4. Compare every yarn you are thinking of buying with this less and do not deviate. If you must buy something not on the list- take something out.

5. If you take something out of the list - put it back in only after 2 months. After that time you might find you don't want it as much. ( Or most probably ,you might find something else you like better).


And if all else fails -
DESTASH FIRST BEFORE YOU BUY YOUR NEXT LOT OF YARN.


Did I say there was 20 more days to EASTER??

Round Up

So here's the Butterfly in all its glory.

Noro Silk Garden

Colourway #137

I haven't a pic of me in it cos I can't seem to get one which looks passably decent. Lyn was supposed to come over last Sunday to take a few photoes but we were both tied up and did not meet in the end.


Anyways - I need to do some major fix up on this one. As you may have noticed - one side of the front is longer than the other. I don't how that could have happened unless it was during one of those marathon late night/early morning knitting sessions watching Deep Space 9 DVDs. I'm not sure how I am going to fix it yet, probably pick up stitches on the cast-on edge of shorter side and knit about 1 inch.


Secondly, it's huge!! I really over estimated my size this time. Probably over-reacting to the other time with the Shapely T when I under-estimated.


You know what I might just re-do the whole thing in maybe about oh... 3 years time or so - around the next time there is a recycling campaign. In the meantime - my Mum seemed to like it so she'll probably get more wear out of it than me.

I've finished one sleeve of the Zara project (which I'll refer to the Pseudo Gansey, because it reminds me of some other ganseys I've seen around the net, in particular Rachel's )


I'm doing this project in tandem with the Zara.







It's for my sister who sent over the wool last year with my Mum. She'll be coming over in July to pick it up, so I probably should get started on it. Check out this yarn - Panda Bracken Tweed - a mohair acrylic mix.

I just love the name "Bracken Tweed" - it's so descriptive. Everytime I say it "Brrracken Tweed" I just imagine the scottish highlands surrounded by heather, moss and tweed, wind in my hair and some handsome scottish laddie walking around in kilts.




"Brrrraaacken Tweeed"






Sorry! got distracted by the scottish laddie! I went to boarding school in Dunedin NZ so am a little partial to handsome scottish laddies.




My sis asked me to make the cardigan but I'm more intrigued by this pattern



I've asked her to get more of this yarn but she says it was discontinued. So if anyone of you knitters out there have some (about 5 balls) in your stash you'd like to get rid off... please let me know.