Cabled Beanie

The knitting project turnover rate has been pretty slow lately. I've mostly been working on a shawl which is now 0% complete, because I've ripped it back for the third time.

However, last week I finally purchased a set of interchangeable needles! So I'm gearing up to get some serious knitting done, and this is the first item finished:

Bed Socks

A while ago my mum was looking through Paton's 'Big Book of Small Projects 2' that I have, and she pointed out several things that she would like. She now has a pair of bed socks, just in time for the start of spring.



These are the first socks I've made, but I do know that the construction of these was very odd. The pattern was graded as intermediate, but I found the only challenge to be filling in the gaps in the instructions. For such a basic pattern book, which has 'how to' knit and crochet sections, the instructions left a lot of be assumed/guessed at.

Pattern Booklets

I discovered the magazine section at one of the local op shops, and it was quite a score for knitting and crochet patterns. Nothing was more recent than the mid '90s, and there were some booklets that were from the '40s/'50s. The majority of the booklets were from the '80s, so they were mostly good for a laugh and I didn't buy a lot.


The booklet above is pretty indicative of what I found, with the hideous '80s patterns and/or styling. I bought this one, and two others, because they had just one pattern that I really liked.


This crochet booklet was a surprise. After having a good laugh at the nipple peeking through there (look closely), I actually looked at the patterns and found that I like seven of the nine included. One dress in particular has gone straight to the top of my must-make queue. I haven't bought the yarn yet, but I'm hoping to have it ready for a wedding in October I'm attending.

Pot Plant Covers

I love to have lots of indoor plants, but nice indoor plant pots are really expensive. So I bought some 50c garden twine and crocheted a quick cover for the normal plastic pot that the plants come in. It looks like I'll get two and a half covers out of 50c worth of twine, compared to around $15 for an average sized pot.

Stupid dye lots!

I promptly started a Seascape Stole in Cleckheaton Studio Mohair 8 Ply after returning from the trip. I've stalled 3/4 of the way in though. I bought three balls of yarn, all different dye lots but perfectly matching. Then I decided that I needed another ball, and because of the different dye lots of the first three balls I didn't think twice about buying it from a different store. Yep, it doesn't match. I discovered that four days ago, and I'm still waiting for a chance to get back to the original store and get another ball. Frustrating!



In the meantime I whipped up a pair of hand warmers for wearing at the computer.

Lacey Scarves

I finished and blocked my Lace Ribbon Scarf on the weekend, and it's now sitting in a post pack waiting to be sent off to a friend in the States. I wanted to make something for my friend's husband as well, but I have no immediate access to yarn at the moment, and I want the scarf to get there so she can use it a bit before the weather warms up. (I know exactly what to make for the Mr, so he'll get his own package as soon as I can manage it)

I originally intended the scarf to be for me, but then realised it was perfect for my friend so I designated it hers, and bought some more Regia Silk to make another scarf for me. Given that there are thousands of options for making a lace scarf, I couldn't bring myself to make the same one again, so I chose this standard fern pattern because I'm lazy and the pattern is easy to memorize, but also because I think it's really pretty. The yarn is 'natur' because the colour range for Regia Silk is fairly ordinary, and I want to give dying a go. I'm thinking dark turquoise or purple.

I'm almost finished the second of three balls for the scarf, so I need to hurry up and procure some more yarn before I finish and have nothing else to knit.

Septopus!

It's mail out week for the Ravelry Australian Knitters Bag Lady Swap. The chances are pretty slim that my swappee will see this post, so I think it's safe to share a preview. I love this little octopus that I made. I know he's kinda lame, but he's just so cute and fun. Plus, he's actually only got seven legs because I was using the left over cotton from the bag and I ran out. He's a septopus!

Here's a horribly blurry pic of the package. I had thought that he didn't fit into the box, but when I was packing it up yesterday I tried folding the bag differently and just managed to squish the toy in too. So I was franticly weaving in the ends so I could include him and still get to the post office on time, and I didn't notice how blurry the pic was. I think he looks amusingly freaked out in the box there.

After all that, I got to the post office too late, so I'm heading there right now.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to everyone! As you can see to the right, the easter bunny (my flatmate) already visited our household, because she is going away for the weekend. Within seconds of taking this photo the eggs found themselves in my belly, and that was after I'd already eaten most of the chocolate bunny I bought for myself yesterday. (No, I didn't have chocolate for breakfast. I had muesli and banana for breakfast. The chocolate was my lunch). I'll be good and save the Lindt bunny for Sunday though.


Like 171 other people on Ravelry so far (plus the 1707 queues), I've already cast on the Lace Ribbon Scarf from the latest Knitty. It's supposed to be my aeroplane knitting for next week, but that's only if I can keep my grubby little hands off it. I've got several other projects that need finishing: I need to sew the lining for my Bag Swap bag, and hopefully knit two more small items for the package, ready for sending on Tuesday; and I want to get this Polo Top done before I leave in case I have to gift it to Fran, if it doesn't suit me.

Sharing the love with soft and squishy yarny goodness

I enjoy knitting for other people, and it's always nice when the recipient of a knitting item is genuinely excited by and appreciative of a gift. I'm a serial beanie and scarf maker, and most friends have at least one of each from me. I'm pretty easy to please, all I expect in return is a thank you, so the list of will not knit for people is quite short, though I must admit that a couple of names ended up on the list because they appreciated the knitted items more than me!


A friend of mine who lives in London has been feeling a bit down lately, so I knit her some cheery yellow wristwarmers in squishy alpaca and sent them off last week. She sent me an sms on Saturday saying "I just got your gift and it made me cry. Thank you so so much!", and posted about them today on her blog, saying that she's been wearing them every day. In a comment to that post, another friend mentioned "I wear the maroon and black scarf you made every day btw". The scarf she's referring to was made in 2001, and was actually what got me back knitting regularly!

It makes me feel all soft and squishy like a nice ball of alpaca.