I love cables

Happy Post-Christmas everyone!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday.  I am loving my knitting right now, since the Lintilla is finally done and I can start on something else.

A few years ago I tried to get my Mom into knitting.  She gave it a try, but we live very far apart (you know, different countries) and I think she was a little lost and bored on her own.  Now that I'm staying with her she admitted she doesn't like knitting (I'll refrain from saying the word hate, but she might have) so she gave me all her knitting needles and left over yarn.  Hurray for me!  She had a ball of Patons Pure Wool that was pretty, so I have cast on the Hermione's Cable & Eyelet Hat.

I was just knitting along quite the thing and then I got to the first cable.  Man, I LOVE cables.  They are so.....joyful!  Can't wait to see how it goes.  I hope the colors don't hide the pattern.

Lastly, I got a new book for Christmas, Finish Free Knits by Kristen TenDyke.

There are so many patterns I can't wait to knit, but if the ads don't like and the bulky yarn is on sale this weekend, I'm going to start with this one, from page 125:

WIP, my life

Hi everyone.  I'm back for a wee bit of blogging.  We are all moved out of our house in Scotland, and everything is in storage.  Then we jumped a plane to my parents house in Arizona.  Oh how I love the sunshine and warmth.  It is very much like a Scottish summer here.  

It is official.....I got the job in Australia!  Now we wait, while the visas are processed and we can get moved.  No idea how long it will take, but I'm looking forward to having some time to relax, knit, read, play with my kids, and be warm.  I'd forgotten what it was like to be warm.  Or live in a house with heating that works.  Heating is not to be over-rated.

Just yesterday I pulled out my knitting project I've been working on, the Lintilla.  I'm in the decreases, and hopefully will finish this soon.  I did 22 repeats of the body before I started the decreases.  I also managed to knit two Christmas presents, so hopefully I can share those after the holidays.

For us it is warm here in Arizona, but not this warm....................  

These Scottish girls are braver (or crazier) than I am!  

Happy crafting everyone, and Happy Holidays!

It's not you, it's me

Something a bit annoying happened to me this past week.  I was forced to break up with my beloved Shellseeker.  I finished the body, and I think the pattern is pretty great.  Loads of knitting in the round, and yet, not boring.  Fabulous.  I was getting ready to start on the sleeves and then I thought I should try it on, just to see how it fit.  Well.  It didn't.

I guess I should clarify.  It fit too well.  I'm making this to be a sweatshirt to wear over a shirt and it fits like a well-fitted top.  Perhaps ok, except that it is pure wool, and about 3 inches too short.  On the up side, I like it a lot without the sleeves.  So it is giving me ideas.  For now, we are on the outs, and it is going into the time out pile.  I'm going to have to frog it and start over to get what I want.

In other news, I'm happy to report that the voting last week picked the Lintilla scarf/shawlette, which really, really pleased me.  It was the one I wanted to knit, which I figured out pretty quickly once I took the power away from myself.  I think it looks lovely so far, and after my recent failure, I'm hoping we continue to get along.

That's it for me this week.  

Happy Crafting!

Moving Right Along

I've been dividing my time between two projects this week, my Shellseeker, and my Stress Blanket. I've been making good progress on both.  

That flappy looking thing is the outside of the pocket.

Also this week I found myself a little bargain on Ebay.  I bought 350g of Sirdar 4 ply pure wool.  It is a variegated yarn in raspberry colors that is lovely.

I had initially purchased it to knit the Hitchhiker, but then I saw the Lintilla, and I couldn't decide. I've put up a little poll if you'd like to help me choose, and I promise I'll knit whichever gets the most votes.

Hitchhiker by Martina Behm

Lintilla by Martina Behm

Which should I knit?
	Hitchhiker
	Lintilla
pollcode.com free polls

Well I guess that's all I have for this week's WIP.

 Happy Crafting Everyone!! 

Quick, let me take a picture!

My blogging skills have been lacking lately, but I do have a FO to share this week.  I actually finished it several weeks ago, but then the kidlette ran off with it and I totally forgot to get a picture.  

Today is "wear spots" day at school, and the girls picked their own outfits. How chuffed was I to see them both select the shrugs I've made them? Good girls, through and through.  I was able to finally snap a few pictures.

I love the Cornwall Park Shrug pattern very much, and I give a big shout out to Kelly Brooker for writing it.  I used stash yarn for this, pretty sure it is acrylic, which I'm 100% OK with.  Easy to wash, long wearing, kid proof.  Enough chatter, here are more pictures:

Now I'm off to continue work on my Shellseeker.  See you next week!

The Seeker

And..............I'm back.  We had a very fun, very exhausting whirlwind getaway, but now we are back to "life as usual."  It was my intention, of course, to knit like a fiend while on the airplanes. However, all I managed to accomplish was this:

It is just a plain sock, in self-striping yarn, and I do so love the colours.  Of course, the minute I got home I cast on the Shellseeker I've been planning. It was calling to me.

I'm using Fisherman's wool, in Oak Tweed.  Pure wool, pure warmth.  

That's all I am working on just now.  I appear to have lost my mojo a fair bit, but I'm chalking that up to not feeling great, stress and the unknown future before me.  I hate waiting for news, yet that is exactly what I must do. Wait.  While I do that, I might as well knit.

Happy Crafting!

Rainbow Cotton Candy

Happy Friday everyone.  My week has just flown by, so fast that in fact I forgot to write my post for today until just now!  My Mom arrived this week, to watch the kids while hubby and I go on holiday next week for 8 days.  It is the first time we've ever gone anywhere just the two of us in 7 years.  We are on a reconnaissance mission, for the upcoming move. I'm a bit nervous to leave the kids for that long, but at least I know my Mom is brilliant, so all will be well.

I've finished two small and fast projects this week. I do so love instant gratification and stash busting. 

The first up is a garter stitch cowl.  I bought this yarn at my LYS in the clearance bin over a year ago. Oh how I love a reduced price on anything, and even though it was only one skein, I couldn't help myself. It is Colinette Point 5, Sweet Dreams.

I wanted something that would show up how lovely the wool is, and since it is super chunky this cowl was done in a matter of hours.  Then I popped some buttons on and away I went.  I didn't even need to make button holes, because of the toggles I used.

It was my intention to have the girls take a picture of me wearing it, but as the week really has gotten away from me, it didn't happen and I currently have bed head.  Hopefully I'll get there soon and post it later on.  It looks better on my than Polly!

The second project I made was a camera sock.  I made this to protect my camera in my handbag while we are on holiday.  I used some DK I had in my stash, and 4mm needles so it was really rather quick.  After I knit it up and popped my camera in, it occurred to me that I had no way to take a picture of it!!  I used the camera on my phone, which is old and doesn't do a great job.  But hey ho, you get the idea.

And that's it for me right now.  Take care, have a lovely weekend, and I'll see you all next week!