Ben

This is the second such post on this blog. and yet it's far too soon

Today, my cousin died. He was 20 years of age and he had leukemia. He went through two rounds of treatments. After the second one they told him there was nothing more they could do. He could stay on meds and last another six months, or go off the meds and last six weeks.

He lasted 5 months.

I didn't see as much of him as I would have liked, though I saw him regularly when we were all little. At the family picnics at manly dam and clontarf, he used to rub sand in my hair, throw sand in my face, dunk me in the water, and generally treat me like a very young male treats a similarly aged female relative.

He grew up though, and he was a promising young man.

I'm sorry Ben. Really, really sorry.

Oh dear...

Well, I've been extremely quiet of late. I'd apologise, but in truth I have been rather busy.

In the past few months I've done something extremely out of character: I got an assignment in on time without stressing, panicking or otherwise losing my head. I even had a draft done in time to have a tutor look over it before handing it in!

I've been knitting, but also spending far too much time in ravelry than I really ought to, particularly when I have uni work to do. It's strange that a site dedicated to knitting and crocheting can actually sap the time you used to use for those activities! I suppose I've just been having problems keeping this going, when ravelry effective does what this blog was designed to do. I'm going to keep it though. Ravelry does not include a blog.

As far as knitting goes, besides adding things to my ravelry queue, I've been knitting socks. I currently have four socks on the needles and I've also knitted a mug cozy.



Interestingly, it does actually help keep my tea warm. I'm planning on knitting another one today or tomorrow. Can't hurt to have more than one!

I'm also taking part in a sock swap and for that I'm knitting this sock.


I really have to get to work on it, but I'm suffering from a slight case of anxiety with it. I've had to mod the pattern a bit for many more stitches and I'm not entirely sure it'll work. I suppose I just have to have faith


I'm also knitting along on mum's socks. There isn't a deadline on them really, seeing as they're made from a cashmere blend and she wont be able to wear them till next winter. I'm really enjoying that pattern though!



The other two socks I've posted about before. They're the cablenet and the summer daze socks. I've started the second summer daze sock, and I did a few rows of the cablenet last week. That's really all I have to say about those two!

The mystery stole is still on hiatus, though a row was worked on it yesterday.

First sock done

About ten minutes ago, I finished sock 1 of the Summer Daze pair and I'm very happy with it. It's the first time I've got the bind-off loose enough.

Anyway, here are some photos of it.

As it's nearly midnight here, I'll cast on for the second one tomorrow morning. I've learnt casting on late at night can cause some serious side-effects!


Enjoy

Pfaff for me!

I have a new toy! Today mum and I made a trip out to Artarmon and, after a fair amount of driving about, picked up this:


This being my new pfaff sewing machine:


I'm really looking forward to using this. I've always wanted to sew more, but I find my mother's machine intimidating. Hers is also a pfaff, but it's a tad newer than mine, by about 20 years.

I'm making going out tomorrow and buying some fabric to make a bag I think. Something easy and basic to introduce myself to the new toy.

Spinning and knitting

So I've not been too great on the blogging front of late, so I thought I'd through in a few recent photos to try and kick start myself. And failing a scintillating post, at least there are photos to look at!

I've been working away on my summer daze sock. I'm trying really hard to finish these so I can can continue work on the mystery stole. I've found that if I'm getting nowhere on a project I can knit an interim one and get my mojo back. The interim for the alpine lace was the shimmer shrug. The result? I got both finished!

Also, last Tuesday I had a quick spinning lesson at uni with Katy and for a short while, Mel. During this, I remembered how someone on the spindlers list had mentioned spinning on a stick, so I gave it a shot using the working needle for the above sock. I ended up with this:



And upon home I had to demonstrate for the boy and my mother, and I did this one:

It's very slow, but rather fun! Not a way I'd want to use to produce any usable amount of yarn though.

Also, the cat decided to take up residence on my table/desk:

Right on top of all my knitting things! Including my recent stash acquisitions and my knit picks binder. I'm not entirely sure if you can call that comfortable in any sense of the word!

Also, for those who already there or on the waiting list, I'm on ravelry! I'm really enjoying it and getting to understand what all the fuss is about. It's brilliant! For those who've never heard of it, ravelry is like myspace/facebook/multiply ect but designed for knitters and better. Much better! My username is Camee if you'd like to look me up

It's been a slow week...

It's been a slow week in the way of knitting around here. The uni/house/ect work has been getting in the way. With any luck I'll be getting more done around here during the coming week.

However, I have managed to turn the heel of the tofutsies sock. I found I had an issue with picking up the wraps on the short row heel, but only on the knit side. Either way, it's all fixed, and there's a great video to show where you're going wrong at knittinghelp.com.

The heel has now been fully turned, and an inch or so worked on the leg. I managed to leave my camera at a friend's place so I don't have a shot of the actual current sock, and yes, these are different needles to the other photo. My gauge was too tight so I had to go up a needle size. I'm really not liking the bluntness of these bamboos though, so I've ordered a set of the knitpicks. These needles do hold a special place though, they were my first ever pair of sock needles, purchased last year at the Stitches and Craft show.


And this is one of the brilliant stitch markers my sister gave me. I think they're great!



Also, I'm nearly on Ravelry!

• You signed up on July 9, 2007
• You are #9247 on the list.
• 265 people are ahead of you in line.
• 16582 people are behind you in line.
• 34% of the list has been invited so far

Friday, the day of knitting and yarn!

Well, tonight marks the second last clue for the mystery stole. And I'm still over a week behind. It's not much further along than the photo shows in the last post. It's hard to believe that it'll all be over soon. Till next year anyway.

My push to get the alpine lace done kind of gave me lace overload so I've been a bit slack. However, I still have been busy, though it doesn't really look like it. I've been going to uni and keeping up with my work, and even trying to get ahead. It's easier to keep up if you're a week in front!

I had been a bit antsy about the tofutsies club. Everyone else appeared to have their yarn but me! I was right too, an clerical gremlin upset the shop's address book so she accidentally sent my yarn to the wrong address. However, the yarn appeared on my doorstep this morning! Yay for fast postage!


I have to say, if I'd seen this yarn in the store, I'm not so sure I would have bought it, but I'm glad I've got it. I'm really enjoying knitting it up. See?


Well, not quite yet anyway. Turkish cast ons on dpns are not my friend, but they do indeed look good and are good practice. That's what I tell myself anyway!

To make today even better (any day that include the arrival of a ball of yarn is a good one) we were visited by our godmother. She also brought yarn!


That's 6oog of laceweight! It's going to the stash for the moment though. I'm trying to make myself finish something else before I start more.

I've also been knitting on the boy's sock. I'm on the last pattern repeat of the leg before I try and figure out what on earth I'm supposed to be doing for the heel. The pattern isn't the easiest to follow, but it'll be fun!

A week late, but it's an update!

Yeah, I've been slack. After I finished the alpine lace shawl I took a bit of a breather. I worked every now and then on various projects and started a new tatting project.

I very nearly started a new knitted lace project today too, as my triinu shawl pattern arrived! I'm very excited, but a tad daunted by the pattern, so I've delayed it till I've finished the mystery stole.

Speaking of which, clue five was released about 10 minutes ago, along with the theme. Every mystery stole has a theme, which is released about 6-7 weeks after the start. It turns out this one is themed Swan Lake, and now we knit a wing apparently. I'm a tad behind anyway, so I'll get a chance to see what the wing looks like before I knit it. Otherwise we have the choice to knit it symetrically. I have a feeling I'll be doing the wing though, I feel like doing something new! I did a quick steam block the stole before taking the photos, it's getting a tad long for me to be bothered pinning it out just for a photo.


I'm really impressed with how it opens out. It feels wonderful!

New, which brings me to the next segway, I'm expecting a new ball of tofutsies! The new balls have apparently been sent out. Mine has yet to arrive but I'm looking forward to it, I need another pair of socks.

I've done a bit more work on the boy's cablenet socks. I'm under instructions from the recipient to work on them only when I'm tired of the other projects on the needles.



The tatting project is the celtic bookmark. I'm enjoying it and learning a fair bit, such as how to hide the ends as you go.


Here's to a more productive week ahead!

Finished Object!

I now have another finished object! I have completed the Alpine Lace Scarf from Victorian Lace Today.

It measures 19" by 62" and was blocked on the spare bed in front of a heater. It's winter, and I wanted it done as soon as possible!



I'm going to miss this stole though. I mean, I still have it, but it has been my constant companion for months. I'd memorised the pattern so I could pull it out, work on it and shove it back in as required. It's suffered the most appalling abuse knitted lace has ever been subjected to: it's lived loose in my handbag and uni bag, been squashed by wallets, phones and laptops, gotten keys and ipods tangled in it, had tea spilt on it, nearly been dropped in the bath (don't ask...)



It has done something else though. I really enjoyed knitting it. While I haven't cast on anything new as yet, I am really looking forward to my next lace project after the mystery stole. I need to cast off one more project before I'm happy with casting on another.

I did order the triinu shawl pattern however, so that's next on the list. If you want to see a photo of that one, let me know. It's a rather expensive pattern, but it's beautiful and it's a challenge!

As for the other challenge, the mystery stole, I finished clue 3 last night.


Let's see if I can catch up! Onwards to clue 4!

(edit: taking a short lace break currently)

Radio Silence

Things have been rather quiet over here for the past week. There's been knitting on the mystery stole, and there's been knitting on other lace.

Remember this?


That's my Alpine Lace Scarf from Victorian Lace Today. I've been working on it for about 5 months.

Well, it now looks like this:
And of particular interest is this bit:

Yes, that would be the top border that's just been started. I have a bit of a problem, but soon discovered that while the pattern says 37 repeats, it does require an even number, so she either meant 37 repeats in addition to the repeat used to 'set the pattern' or the just meant 38 and put in 37.

I ended up with 36 repeats. I'm short, the loss of a couple of inches isn't an issue.


I'm working on this almost exclusively in order to get it finished, blocked and ready to wear by next Friday. I'm being taken out to the theatre on that night, so for the first time I'm going someplace in which this stole would be perfectly appropriate.

I plan on wearing it to uni and such, but it'd be nice to have it ready for Friday.

As for the mystery stole... It can wait till after I've pinned this out!

Clue 2

And I've caught up! I have finished clue 2 just in time for tomorrow. And a good thing too, it means I can spend tomorrow apologising to the magenta lace for neglecting it. I have a couple of other projects I want to start, but I have to get something off the needles first!



Not the best photo, you can't see the beads. I might do a detail shot after I finish the next clue.

Mystery stole catch up

I have caught up! I hope, anyway. This is the completed first clue, the clue for the week I was away without internet access or beads.



I finished about 1:30 this morning, but now I can relax and take this weeks clue at a nice steady pace.

Typically, I had problems putting my lifeline in this morning, ripped it out and decided I'd be fine without it, I'd made it this far without a mistake, right?

Wrong, first error in the first row of the new chart. Turned out to be nothing more sinister than a missed yarn over that was easily fixed. Bring on the lifelines!

The Week in Review

Well, we have returned from my sojourn in Kandos and I had a lovely time. We spent an awful lot of time just doing as we pleased, watching dvds, walking around, visiting the surrounding country towns and so on. We also took a fair few photos of the green. It's not been that green out in the central west for almost a decade, so photos were taken just in case the drought continued, and so:

I knitted, I watched Sean knit: (yes, he knitted that himself)


I started learning to walk on stilts!


Speaking of knitting, I finished the tofutsies!

I'm very pleased about it really, it means I wont still be working on them when the next ball arrives. It also frees me up for some of the other projects I really should finish, such as the magenta lace.

I have also joined the mystery stole knit-a-long. Basically, a wonderful woman known as Melanie writes a pattern for a lace stole, lace that's not worked in repeats or such like much other lace. She then releases the pattern in parts every Friday. You need a bit of faith as you have no idea how it'll turn out when you start, but going by her previous works, I'm thinking it'll be just gorgeous. I swatched for this while I was away, and managed to find internet access in Mudgee so I could obtain the first clue. However, while I had the yarn and needles with me, I couldn't start it. I had to wait till I got home to get the beads, which didn't show up till Thursday anyway.

I'm working with undyed laceweight merino from live2knit.com and gold-lined clear seed beads.
Last night I finished Chart A and I'm now working on the second half of Clue 1, so hopefully I'll be able to catch up by the end of the week. Here's a shot of where I left it last night:

The magenta silk still look similar to the last photo I put up, just a bit longer. If I wasn't working on anything else, it'd be finished next week, but hey. All in good time!

Random update

Not much is going on here at the moment. I had my final exam today so you should be seeing much more in the way of knitting coming from me over the next four weeks. Yay for knitting time! Also, from Friday I'll be away for a week. Heading out to Kandos for a holiday free from distractions. There will be much in the way of sleeping in, cooking, photo taking, stilt walking, juggling and unicycling alongside the knitting and spinning.

It was mentioned to me a while back that I had tatting in my intro, but no sign of it on the page. Well, here it is, proof I can tat:

It's a very basic edging. To be honest, for me tatting is like crochet: something I can do passably well, I'm just better at knitting and I enjoy it more.

And that blue sock? I'm now just beyond the cuff. Mainly because I frogged it three times. I made an error for the first, and the second two were turning out waaaaaaaaay too big. All fixed now and progress is being made

Socks

Yes, I'm knitting socks. Yes, you say. We know. No, I say, you don't. Because this is the first you're hearing of this particular pair.

The tofutsies haven't been finished yet, but they're currently living in my bag to be taken places when I'm out and about. This new pair will likely never have the privilege of living in my bag. They are attached to a 200g ball of yarn courtesy of the Bendigo Wool Mills.

I wasn't really expecting them to be that large, so I ordered two to make absolutely sure I wouldn't run out of yarn. Yes, it makes sense that a 200g ball is 4 times the size of a 50g ball, but it didn't sink in till the balls arrived.


I think I have plenty to make at least two pairs of socks... Even if one is a pair of man-socks. The man-socks are actually Cable Net socks, which are actually remarkably similar to the pair I started with this yarn, then ripped back because the cables tightened it up too much.

The pattern is rather fun, complex without being too demanding, and no cable needle required!

And I got this far before heading to bed:

............

Yes, I'm rather enjoying the camera, thank you for noticing!


edit: I've fixed the comments. You can now leave a comment if you're not a member of blogger.

What's that? Alive you say?

Well, I live, as does everyone else in this house. However, there is some truth to the saying, I knit, therefore, I am. And I have been. I have also picked up a digital camera that I'm very pleased with, a Lumix (aka Panasonic) TZ1. It has all sorts of nifty features. Please be tolerant of the photos while I learn how to use the thing to take good knitting photos. I did only pick it up yesterday.

Speaking of photos, here are a couple.



Here are the socks I've mentioned in previous posts. I'm working on finishing the foot of the second one in between cramming for my PSY237 final next week. I can't fail a sock, I can fail an exam.

I've been really enjoying this pattern though. It's an easy pattern to memorise, the yarn is lovely and soft and forgiving (I may or may not have frogged one or more repeats when I just started). And the colour! It's currently reminding me of a tiger that fell into vat of pink dye. I'm very much looking forward to finishing these socks, wearing them and starting on others. I've ordered some yarn to knit some socks for Sean, along with some undyed yarn that I'm probably going to dye when I visit Joy to pick up some laceweight she ordered for me.

As for the lace,

Here it is at the halfway point. It's on semi-hold till I've finished the tofutsies. I'm working a row here and there, but again, study is coming first.

I'll also post a photo of my gloves once I have them and my camera in the same place at the same time.

Home and Away

Well, life has been exciting for the past week, and I'm not talking about knitting for once. While I know this is my knitting blog, I feel like blogging about my life in general.

I've not been knitting much, even if I have finished a sock (well, almost, seeing as I have never done Kitchener before. Anyone got some advice?). I have done no more work on the pinwheel or the lace since my last post.

Last Friday, my sister got dashed off to Royal North Shore with stroke like symptoms. It turns out she's OK for now, but if she has another event like this, there will be issues. She just needs to keep her fluids up and be careful from here on in.

The weekend was wonderful, with camping and bush walking. I also discovered it is rather difficult to work a lace sock by the light of a campfire.

However, as for Monday. A day I had set aside for knitting and studying... I was the one dashed off to Hornsby hosp. Severe pains in lower left abdomen. Still no explanation. The pain still hasn't gone away, though it is no where near as severe. Hopefully I'll find out what's going on and how to fix it later. I did, however, manage to turn the heel of my sock while I was there. Come rain, hail or nasty tummy pain, I will knit!

As for lack of posts. I've also been without Internet for the past week. We're trying to upgrade, but Telstra, iinet and TPG are all taking their sweet time in sorting it out. With luck, I'll have internet back by tomorrow at the latest. Just now, I'm using the uni computers.


Oooh, the sock! The sock is from the South West Trading Company's tofutsies sock club. They have this nifty system where they release club only colours, to a limited club population, and you sign up to the club through a middleman (in my case, ecoyarns.com.au) and in return they send you a ball of yarn and a pattern every two months for the coming year.

I think it's brilliant! I love my socks! Well, sock for the moment. I'll be able to finished grafting the toe when I get home and cast on for the second one. I'm surprised they went so quickly. The first pair I knitted on these needles took forever! The colour of these ones is pink and charcoal grey. When knitted up, they remind me of a tiger that fell into a vat of pink dye.

Apologies for the rather rambly post. I'm tired and there's been alot going on.

Oh My! An update?

There isn't that much to report really, though I thought it was about time for a post. I haven't been doing much since finishing the gloves apart from more work on the lace. However, I am pleased to report that the lace has just crossed the halfway mark and is actually moving much faster after having memorised the pattern! Wooo!

Haven't been doing any spinning at all. I decided to knit up the laceweight alpaca into a adapted branching out scarf from knitty. After two repeats I have decided I don't like it though, so it's being frogged.

I also have a couple of photos of that pinwheel jacket that I've been talking about since the very beginning of this blog, but have never actually shown here. Here it is! You can see the start of one sleeve there on the right. The left is still on the stitch holder. It was quite interesting there for a while, as I started the sleeve before I started the trim, so for a fair while I was juggling a pile of knitting that had three balls of yarn and 9 needles attached.

Pinwheel Jacket

Edging detail

The edging is applied i-cord. One of those things I had never done, couldn't work out from looking at the pattern but suddenly made an amazing amount of sense when the time came. Very pleased with that.

Also, I'd like to say Hello to Mrs Chris. Because this is my blog and I can!

Hello! And hello to the girls too!

Rambling...

Well, I haven't been well, hence the lack of lace.

It's also been bloody cold of late so I decided to knit myself a pair of the fetching gloves from knitty.com. Or at least a variation of them. Mine have 6 repeats of the cable at the cuff, two at the knuckles and the thumbs are a tad longer. I knitted nineteen to the dozen to get them done by Friday night too, with the plan being to go see Pirates 3 with a group of friends and I didn't want to have cold hands.

And here they are done
Turned out I didn't need them. I came down the the flu on Friday afternoon and so didn't really get to go anywhere. I spent the night curled up feeling sick instead. I'm really quite irritated about that. I finished the gloves at 4:30 with an hour to spare before I had to leave. I've also done appallingly little work on the lace because I just cant concentrate. Instead I'm doing more work on the pinwheel jacket. I'm past halfway on the edging and then I have 1 2/3 sleeves to go. It's good, mindless knitting and it's getting me closer to finishing the pinwheel, something I'll be very happy about. I'll also be happy when the lace is done, but my lace mojo just isn't flowing.

It's amazing how things start to pile up. I have a huge pile of stuff, including the pinwheel jacket and the lace, I also have a few projects planned, like a hat I'm designing for a friend's baby, a jumper for me, and I have some sock yarn to arrive early next month because I signed up for the tofutsies yarn club over at ecoyarns.com.au. I'm looking forward to all this, I really like knitting socks. There's something extremely satisfying about wearing you knitted yourself, even if it's something small.

I just realised I haven't done nearly as much spinning as I would have liked by now. Dammit.

And there's uni work to do...

I think I'll go curl up on the lounge with my mindless knitting instead for the moment. At least until I feel better.

edit: photo added on 22 June. Yes, they're fuzzy. They were fished out of the boot of my car post-camping trip for the photo to be taken.

Alpaca yarn, lace and accounting

I have posted about the alpaca I'm spinning up before, and I now have 100 yards of laceweight yarn hanging to dry in my shower! I'm not sure what I'm doing with it as yet, but I have a feeling I can do whatever I like with it, having 300g of the lovely stuff! I'm thinking shawl, but I'm not sure about what style yet.

Also, the bit about this alpaca is it's the first fibre that I'm preparing myself. I got it as 300g of fleece shoved into a ziploc bag. I'm carding it and spinning it from the rolag, and washing it after spinning using woolwash. It's coming up very nicely, though I'd forgotten how long it takes to spin laceweight, but then, all the laceweight spinning I'd done up till now had been on a spindle. But I never got 100 yards of it off a spindle, I always got a tad distracted before then

No photos as yet forthcoming, but the other news is I might be obtaining a decent digital camera soonish!

I've also picked up the alpine lace again since I finished my uni assignment. i'm not quite halfway there yet though.

I have to confess, I enjoyed accounting. It was nice, and neat, and everything had it's place and it was relaxing. I'm liking the same qualities in my lace. Every stitch has it's place in relation to the ones that came before it, the stitches here will make up a rose leaf later, the placement of each stitch culminates in a piece of art

Thus endeth tonight's rambling

Finished Object!

I have finished a garment! The shrug mentioned in previous posts (pattern found here) is now adorning my shoulders and it's very nice indeed. The tencel yarn feels wonderful against the skin too.

As for the things I've learnt while knitting it, well there are a couple.

1. Don't knit late at night (i.e. after midnight) when stressed and very tired. That's how you get "lace pattern adaptations") Following advice, I continued on with the 'adaptation' and it looks just fine
2. Do not, under any circumstances, continue knitting past that "adaptation" on to your first ever attempt at raglan shaping that's also to be done while keeping the lace pattern correct (that's right, that really easy lace pattern you've already managed to foul up). That's how you develop your skill at fudging the edges! However, it did turn out just fine anyway
   

All that considered, I'm still very happy with it. I did use different sized needles to, if not match the gauge, at least make it fit better than it would have otherwise. Sleeves knitted on 5mm, body on 4.5mm and ribbing on 4mm. All hail the knitpicks options set!

Also, the panic mentioned here? Not required. I didn't need that extra ball of yarn from a different dyelot. It's now sitting around waiting for something to occur... Perhaps a mini-mobius scarf... The yarn is certainly soft enough

And here are some photos for your pleasure, courtesy of Nikki


All things considered, I'm going to call this one a win

Sleeves, lace and books

The lace has been put on hold for the next few days. I'm finishing the shrug, dammit! I'm currently halfway through the second sleeve and I'm trying to decide what size needles to use for the body, considering the yarn I'm using doesn't quite match that used in the pattern... Anyway, I'll have to make the decision at some point tomorrow probably!

The lace is at the same place it was in the previous post.

As for books, I got two new books and a pile of yarn in the mail on Monday morning. The books are the twisted sisters sock workbook and fitted knits. And now I have a pile of things to add to my to do list... Oh, how terrible!

I also got 760g of burnt orange 8 ply crepe. Not sure what I'm doing with it yet, but it was cheap and good yarn.

And now, off to do uni work.

Chart vs written patterns

I have noticed a few changes in my knitting of late, one of which was called into the spotlight last night.

In the previous post, I mentioned knitting the Shimmer shrug from knitty.com (of which I have started a sleeve and it feels wonderful in that tencel blend yarn!)

Until I started on the alpine lace, I could not work from a chart. Perhaps because I'd never tried. I'd also used combined knitting. Post-alpine lace, I knit english style as it makes following the pattern easier. I can now also read a chart. Rather well, I think.

Anyway, I went to start knitting the shrug, and so I read through the pattern and noticed there was no chart, only a written pattern for the lozenge lace. And I realised why written patterns make no sense to me anymore, and why they barely made sense when I first started lace and kept making mistakes.

We read this way --------->
<------------- and you knit that way (unless you're knittng left handed)

And that would be why I had to sit down last night and draw up a chart. I used a chart thingy made by Jacquie, in this to make my life easier

Day of Nothing

Today, I have done nothing. I have not spun, nor have I indulged in knitting. However, that does not mean I haven't done anything related to either activity, no!

Yesterday, I went shopping. I bought some yarn on sale. 4 balls of teal Zhivago. I had the idea to knit a shrug with it. I came home, searched knitty.com and came up with this. Perfect, the gauge matches my yarn and everything! With the exception of me being one ball down...

Today, I made a mad dash into the LYS and found they did indeed have some of the same colour, just not in the same dyelot. I decided to give it a go anyway. After taking this photo I can't tell the difference anyway. That may change after the knitting, but I'm not entirely sure it'll show enough that it will be noticable. I'll probably make a start on it tonight.



After coming home from the shops, I found a big brown paper parcel on the doorstep. It held this:
And this:

The top one is the natural grey tops I ordered from Wendy Dennis, and the bottom one is a bag of natural grey with silk. I'm looking forward to spinning these up! No project in mind for them as yet, but that may change.

And in case this post wasn't photo-heavy enough, here is a lovely shot of my cat, who has decided to comandeer the alpaca wrap I bought at this years easter show.

Bedsocks on request!

Someone requested a photo of the bedsocks and so, here they are! I knitted them on the spur of the moment, without regard to swatching or yardage checking... hence the orange ankle on the left foot. I think it's kinda cute, so I'm leaving it like that, even though I could put a new cuff on the right sock. Anyway, I knitted them a tad big and so they're really comfortable for wearing around the house. They knitted up in less than two days. It took me two days, but I did have uni on...



And while I'm here and posting photos, here are a few more, of more socks and lace in progress!

This is my new sock. Knitted in some kind of recycled yarn I picked up of ebay. No composition listed but it feels like it's mostly cotton. But it's coming along nicely. I'm not working on them exclusively, as I'm also working on this:

I'm on the 14th repeat of the double rose leaves, but I'm not yet halfway there. However, I have reached the point where I can knit without the chart! It only took 160 rows to do it...

Once again, sorry about the quality. If you like, I might get hold of a family members camera and fix it up.