"Fuzzy" yarn duly acquired

Yes yes, this is supposed to be a stashbusting scarf - but the lack of fuzzy yarn did trouble me, and lo did I visit the LYS after work today. Sadly they don't stock Rowan there (the mention of which seemed to engender a slight look of horror from the woman in the shop!). What I did find was some King Cole "Luxury Mohair" in a kind of rainbow effect but with pink as the slightly more dominant colour. It's perfect for the boa and has replaced the multi-pinks yarn. It was 3.79 for a 50g ball (about 100m) so I got 2 to be on the safe side. Also picked up some cute little pink flower-shaped buttons for Ariadne. And some new point protectors, as my old (15 year old at least) ones contrived to fall off my circs if you looked at them the wrong way!

I did take a picture of progress but it came out rather blurred, so I'll try again tomorrow. Probably did almost a foot of the boa tonight. The yarns look really lovely together. I'm tempted to try a hat with the same mix afterwards.

As regards "book" yarn-holding as opposed to throwing, I'll keep you posted on progress. Acrylik, I thought I was truly the only knitter who could possibly work the yarn this way, interesting to hear you do exactly the same! I'm hoping it will make me a faster knitter eventually. It's probably also rather more ergonomic. I tend to suffer from a stiff neck on the right hand side after a lot of knitting, and since I'm right-handed I wondered if the two were connected, and the throwing was making it worse. I saw a physio about this last year, before I started knitting a lot, and it was due to poor posture at the computer. She gave me some useful basic stretches for my neck which I try to do quite often.

Hazel, thanks for the link, and how dare they be out of stock of the calendar! I love your new icon, that has to be Nellie from Noah and Nellie? Ah, to have a bizarre encyclopaedic knowledge of 1970s and 80s childrens programmes :-)

Rain, I think we may have to join the end of a very large queue for Mr Laurie :-D

Anyone else catch the new series of CSI tonight? And explain why they had so many ruddy ad breaks?! Still the opening shot of the team was tres cool. Interesting little arc developing with Grissom going after the suspected accomplice to poor Nick's temporary entombment. ("visit Knitty In Pink" for extremely potted CSI episode synopses!"). Also enjoyed "Ghost Towns" with the lovely Mr Derek.

If I don't catch up with everyone's blog tonight I apologise, I'm catching up with some emails and bits and bobs elsewhere too. We've been slightly topsy turvy with DH going off to work today and then a phone call tonight from his sister, saying their car had set on fire last night outside the house. No-one harmed, they think it is maybe one of a spate of car arson attacks unfortunately.

Off to take a peek at as many sites as I can now!

Stashbusting and happy dancing

Over the weekend the link to this pattern by Mary Lou was posted over on UKHK. Several people have made one recently and they look utterly fabulous. It's a steek boa - you knit up the pattern as a scarf then unravel each side up to a stitched seam where the ribbing section starts. You then cut the loops to make a lovely fringed effect.

I spent some significant amount of minutes at work today, mentally going through my stash to find yarns that would be suitable. The only one I fall down on somewhat is a fuzzy yarn. The only mohair I have is some Adriafil Baroque, lovely but the wrong colourway. Since I'd already decided this would be a stashbuster, I've got the following yarns out tonight which I think will work:

Thick yarn = Adriafil Graphic (red/pink/multi)
Fuzzy yarn = some multi-pinks hand dyed wool from the natural Dye Sudio (not fuzzy but pretty :-)
Shiny yarn = Jaeger Grace in bright pink (shiny 20% cotton yarn)
Plain yarn = Stylecraft 100% wool DK in deepish pink (originally intended for Wavy from Knitty but I'll find something just as nice for that)

I also got out some Colinette Graffiti which would work well as the thicker yarn, it's in deep/bright pinks, oranges and black. I think I'll stick with the Adriafil on this one though. Should be a nice companion project to Latifa, while I regroup my thoughts re hats!

Some happy dancing tonight too, as for a while I've been trying to get my head around the "book" way to hold the working yarn. Each issue of Simply Knitting also shows this in helpful photos, but the way I learned, was to throw the yarn and in doing so, take my grip off the right needle briefly. I've had several failed attempts to guide the yarn using my index finger, leaving me quite grumpy - I'm not that well coordinated at the best of times - but for some reason tonight I've managed multiple rows and am getting the hang of it! At first I ended up with very tight stitches on the needle, but now they are pretty much OK. Probably not a stellar event in the cosmic scheme of things but for a clumsy so-and-so like me it makes me very happy :-)

At this rate I'll have figured out crochet soon too LOL!

Hazel, sorry your cat keeps presenting you with mice (no doubt he/she thinks they are bringing you gifts!). I've had to shoo 2 different cats out of the garden in the past couple of days, as they were taking an unhealthy interest in the birds. We put seed and suet balls out for them and have a number of birdbaths. The cats don't really have a chance as the birds sit and leer and squawk at them. This morning there was a cat sitting on our garage roof, and a huge skein of geese flew over all honking away. You should have seen it craning up to look trying to work out if it could get to them!

The Fyberspates yarn is in the shade "Wild Foxglove", purples and greens mainly which looks very pretty. I think Get Knitted have a picture of a glove knitted up in this colourway. I was surfing and found the actual Fyberspates site, and blog. They will be having a sale in their shop this week apparently.

Rain, I am so in agreement re "House"! What an excellent show. I only discovered it just before Christmas so have missed almost all of season 1. Hugh Laurie is an absolute revelation in this. I do believe I am somewhat smitten.

Thank you dottyspots for your very kind offer to translate the DROPS patterns from Norwegian :-) I am sure there are a lot of knitters out there who would be very grateful! (I couldn't visit your blog unfortunately as I couldn't view your profile, if you see this can you send me the link?)

Hope to see some of you at Woolfest, I think we'll make it, hubby was OK with the idea (although pondering spending an extended time in "a huge wool shop" LOL!). He is actually very good at picking out colours!

On that note, I shall sign off for it is late, and I need sleep. My current book kept me reading for way too long last night!

Attack of the giant hat

Oh dear - I finished the current hat last night, tried it on (I'd tried it part way through as well, and it seemed OK), and found it was HUGE! Even DH found it went down over his eyes :-) If he turns the ribbed border up he can wear it though. Looks like he has got a hat quite by accident.

Can't quite work out what I did wrong, the gauge is OK when measured, I think I just miscalculated the number of stitches I'd need. It could also be something to do with the elasticity or otherwise of the acrylic (not at all elastic). I think I may switch to a wholly ribbed pattern when I try again. I'm going to leave it for a few days while I do some work on Latifa. When I'm knitting hats I tend to obsess over them and want to finish them, to the detriment of any other projects! Which has reminded me of the bag waiting to be sewn up and embroidered/duplicate stitched (nothing fancy). Argh.

Anyone else going to Woolfest this summer? We missed out last year due to it clashing with our annual holiday. This year we will most likely just be starting 2 weeks or so of annual leave with no set plans, so hopefully we will make it up to Cumbria. Not too far for us to travel either which is handy.

Thanks to everyone who commented on both the intarsia sweater and the chinchillas :-) Interestingly, those chinchilla owners who also have cats, tend to report that far from the cat terrorising the chins, it's the other way around! I've seen many accounts of chinchillas having a fantastic time chasing cats :-)

As I've been typing I've been watching the last moments of an eBay auction for some Fyberspates yarn. Happy to say I just won it, at an excellent price! Might be just the thing for Clapotis.

Looking forward to watching a bit of telly tonight whilst knitting. I've managed to catch some but not all of the live "Derek Acorah's Ghost Towns" on Friday and Saturday nights, tonight is the last one. They are in York which as you can imagine has a rich history, one of our favourite places to visit as it happens. There is also a new series of "Ghost Towns" starting on Tuesday night. Guess what this clashes with - the new series of CSI on Channel 5. Thank goodness for Living TV +1! I don't have many programmes I actually make time to watch but I don't want to miss either of these. We have also been enjoying "Life On Mars" on Monday nights, which is quite an affectionate tribute to "The Sweeney".

Also managed to catch the double episode of CSI directed by Quentin Tarantino last night, "Grave Danger". Gripping stuff, excellent to watch but there were moments where you were fully aware Tarantino had a hand in it :-) Not sure I'd want him doing CSI on a regular basis but interesting all the same :-)

A blast from the past

Around 15 years ago, give or take! This is the first sweater I ever made. It's in cotton yarn, unfortunately I chucked out the original pattern sheet a while ago and can't remember the brand. I seem to recall it was Danish. Check out the intarsia :-)



I did wear this quite a bit in the early 90s. You can see the lower ribbing is somewhat stretched - cotton isn't that elastic! I also got better at the intarsia as I went along, the lower blue section is a bit shaky. I still have a wee pile of plastic bobbins as good as new after all this time. The poor old white yarn is starting to go yellow in places, I guess as a factor of age. Still I couldn't throw this out :-)

After this one I made another less complex intarsia sweater in heathered wool-mix, in muted pinks/oranges with some gold and grey. I don't have that any more, as when I'd finished it was slightly too snug!

Since then I haven't knitted any kind of sweater, knitting petered out until the past year or so when I've "rediscovered" it. This brings me on to the "Enjoy The Process" KAL for the Winter Olympics. I was musing as to what to make earlier on. I printed out Clapotis, Mrs Beeton, and Cold-Weather Corset from Knitty. The latter bears quite a resemblance to Ariadne, the ruffled corset top in Colinette's Muse book. Suddenly I have my item - I'll be starting Ariadne :-) I already have both yarn and pattern (Lasso in shade Jamboree). Really looking forward to it. I also have added the CW-Corset to my future projects list (in fact all 3 are on there).

Cracking on apace with the current hat. I like the way Ann Budd's book gives you all the instructions for knitting in the round, then helpfully shows you how to knit it flat and seam, should you so wish. I'm knitting on circs as I love having no seams :-)

Finished and started

I managed to finish the second wristie last night, and wore them to work today (feeling better, thanks!), along with the hat. In fact the wristies spent the whole morning on my hands, I was loath to take them off! The hat also stood up well to the cold, had to scrape some ice off the car this morning so a bit of standing about outside. It's much nicer to wear than my shop-bought acrylic hat, which tends to grip your head like a vice (well, not quite, but it's quite snug and doesn't have a lot of give).

I cast on for another hat tonight, for a friend, this one in navy aran 100% acrylic. I'm using Ann Budd's hat instructions as a guideline.

Poor Latifa has been neglected this week but I intend to make some progress this weekend.

I got me some pretty javascript progress bars, courtesy of this site. I picked the colours stright off the Paint Shop Pro pre-defined palette and they seem to tone in nicely. I'm also wanting to tinker with this blog template. Had a scan through it earlier this week, and found that the titles on the sidebar were using a non-existent style. I copied the darned thing into Homesite and ran a search on it, I was convinced that Blogger wouldn't have something as obvious as that wrong! Looks like I was wrong! Being a bit of a web design person I want to end up with a more personalised template - I can do CSS up to a point, so watch this space, we may have some bizarre things happening with the layout :-)

Finished rib hat and one wrister

Finished the ribbed hat last night, after surviving my stitch/end of row marker falling off and my not noticing, on the 3rd or 4th decrease row! Managed to work out roughly where I was and I think I got away with it.



Pattern: Ribbed watch cap
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in black
Yardage: Almost 180m / 196 yards (2 x 50g balls)

The only change I made to the pattern was to add an extra 10 stitches, however rib is very forgiving and I probably didn't need to.

On the left is me inexpertly modeling the first wrister-warmer (the odd bulge in my sleeve is a tissue, see how professional a photographer I am ...). I made that this afternoon, after being off work feeling a bit lousy. It's from the Pattern-A-Day calendar, just worked in simple 1x1 rib. Very warm it is too (Hazel, I'd rather the weather warmed up so I didn't need to make wristies as a matter of emergency!). Hoping to finish the other one tonight so I can use them tomorrow.

For Lynne - best of luck for tomorrow!

This one is for Lynne who is facing a rent tribunal tomorrow (the 25th). I want to wish Lynne and Nathan all the best and hope it goes their way. If you have a moment, please hop on over to her blog and say hi.

From what I've been told, this is rather a case of sour grapes on the part of their ex-landlord - the same landlord who suddenly decided to pull the rug out from under them, and put the rental house on the market! (for a lot more than it's actually worth) Any surprise that they upped sticks, took the plunge and bought a house of their own?! Anyway, if you have a moment, please wish them good luck!

We had some good news here today too, DH is back on a contract after working at home for over a year! He was starting to go a little stir crazy being alone all day, with only the animals to keep him company (chinchillas aren't terribly talkative :-).

Ooh and Lynne, the mystery items arrived today so they will hopefully be in the post very soon *grin*

Enjoy the process

Thanks to Lynne for flagging up the Enjoy The Process knitalong, inspired by Eddie The Eagle (bless him!). This is aimed at those of us who would quite like to participate in an Olympic knitalong, but don't want the absolute deadline when we must have finished the item. That's me then! Deadlines are for the workplace, in my book. It is also about enjoying the process of creating a knitted item, indeed to enjoy and be grateful for being able to knit, for all we have really. I've joined up and have the "official" Eddie button at the right hand side :-) No idea what exactly I'll be knitting. I'll have to make a note of the dates too, as I was blissfully unaware of *any* impending Olympics until Stephanie started her challenge. I'm not really very sports-oriented ... but I do quite like watching the winter sports.

I'd also like to recommend the Drops Design free patterns site, all translated into English. There are stacks of patterns on there, and a number of reasonably-interesting hats for all you hat addicts :-)

I tried my rib hat on for the first time last night, it feels so different to my current hat (machineknit acrylic bought a few years ago and worn to death since). Good news is that it fits and feels lovely. Not too far off finishing it now. I could do with having the wristies already. It was a whole ONE degree Celsius this morning when I drove to work. Even with leather gloves on the cold seeped into my fingers and they were stiff and achy all day. I've done my cleaning and tidying penance for the day, after coming home a little earlier than usual (and in DAYLIGHT!), so it's cleaning the animals, tea, then knit-knit-knit. Must have an early night tonight too, I'm getting too long in the tooth to pull late nights/early mornings any more :-) When I remember I'll post pictures of the animals here - 2 chinchillas and a gerbil :-) (that's the big-eared rodent type of chinchilla, not the cats!).

1x1 rib hat progress

Here's the poor orphaned photo from the previous post!



Not very exciting to look at really, but I couldn't leave it out of the photo-shoot. It's slow going though, I find, using 12" circs and 1x1 ribbing. It makes a lovely soft warm fabric though. I'm determined to finish it and wear it! Next up are some hand/wrist-warmers in the same yarn. Both very practical and needed items for me as I can't set foot out of the house from October/November to at least March without a hat!

Does anyone else have terrible trouble with the validation graphics used in places like Blogger and YahooGroups? It took me three tries to join UKHK as each time I thought I had the correct letters and numbers, it returned me to the same page "try again". I can't read the blasted things! The letters are too skewed around. Thankfully the ones on Blogger seem to be mostly very legible (and yes I do wear glasses to use the computer!).

Pretties and lovelies

I have some piccies I took today, however before I post them Hazel asked:

- about "Knitting" magazine - it was the first UK knitting mag. I found, in summer 2004 on holiday in Cornwall. For some reason I can't find them on the shelves up here very often. I think it's OK and they have quite a lot of patterns. If you get both that and SK you notice some repetition. I'm happy to subscribe to both at the moment.

- the Knitting pattern a day calendar - I got mine from Calendar Club and they still have it in stock!

Firstly here's the Garnestudio Silketweed and Koigu KPPPM Merino (shade 121), and the beginning of "Latifa":



I managed to lose a stitch for a few rows after the change to green, now idea how. I knit into front and back of the end stitch to get back to the right number, but decided not to rip back. The ruffles will more than disguise it! Not too much progress as I had to wait a few days for the natural/beige yarn to arrive. I love the colours though, like ice cream.

Next is the Lasso yarn from Colinette. It's very soft and silky-feeling, and appears to take the dyes very well, very rich shades. I haven't wound any or knit with it yet but will definitely use bamboo needles :-)



The flash makes it look even more lurid than is actually is, the shade is Jamboree. This is intended for the ruffled bodice top from the Muse pattern book.

Here's the Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk aran:



Not such a good photo, but it shows the lovely sheen this yarn has. This is shade 12, Berry.

This leads me nicely to the two DB pattern books that arrived today from Lavender Yarns. Beautifully wrapped in lavender-coloured tissue and tied with a ribbon, with a sachet of lavender foot cream, lovely. Both books are for Alpaca Silk, the first for aran-weight and the second for DK. These seem like a great investment as there are lots of the patterns that I like and would make (not with Alpaca Silk itself though, pricey stuff! - although I'm toying with picking one of the DK designs to make with AS. Maybe the frill-edged cardigan or the simple wrapover).

Here's the sari silk from eBay:



Hm, Blogger doesn't seem to be letting me add anothe rphoto to this posting so I'll end this one here!

Colinette, pattern books and stash enrichment

Before I start can I say a huge thanks to everyone who has left comments on the slanted eyelet scarf below :-) Natural daylight really makes the colours glow. Noro yarn is amazing stuff. Keeping my fingers crossed that my sister likes it as much :-)

The latest issue of "Knitting" magazine carried a full-page advert, as always, for Colinette yarns. This was a new pattern book, two in fact, however when we all scurried over to the website, there was no sign of them. A couple of days later the site was updated, with the two new pattern books and a new yarn line.

"Femme Fatale" is a new book mainly (if not entirely) for Giotto, the cotton/viscose tape. In my stash I have enough Giotto in "Marble" for a sweater, as I was intending to make Maeve from the Akashya book. Having seen the new designs in this book I think they are a great improvement on previous patterns for Giotto. I actually rather like the mini-dress as it could be worn as a tunic-type top :-)

"Muse" is pattern support for the brand-new yarn, lasso. This is 100% nylon, but looks fabulous. It also has a great yardage per 100g. Again I really liked the designs in this book. I was intending to order the FF book alone, but somehow ended up with Muse ad 4 skeins of lasso. I have no idea how that happened (ahem). I picked the "Jamboree" colourway, one of the brightest, and 4 skeins is plenty to make a one of quite a few of the designs. I particularly like the bodice top with ruffles. Can't wait for the order to arrive to see if the yarn is as nice as it looks.

The yarn faerie must well and truly have me in its thrall at the moment, as I'm suddenly very driven to buy yarn and patterns. I have an order in with SKD for a wee pile of Karisma Superwash in black, intended for a vest/tank top or similar. I won a skein of sari silk yarn on ebay a couple of days ago, sold by another knitblogger as it happens. I already have one skein of a similar weight, and thought they might make some fancy armlets/wristies.

Thanks to Sharon for the pointer to Lavender, they have an online store but also sell on eBay. I picked up a couple of Debbie Bliss pattern books there.

Not content with all this I went to the LYS after work today (I had an excuse to go into town to pick up my prescription ...). It was lovely and quiet so I could actually look at things properly. It's a very small shop and could do with being 3 times the size. I spotted a ton of Noro (mostly Kureyon I think) on the top shelf, which I wouldn't have seen normally. Things are truly piled up floor to ceiling and it's like a yarn mountain :-) I was looking for some black aran-weight yarn and found some Stylecraft acrylic (again after a bit of a rummage). Then I saw the Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk, oh my. The colour was a gorgeous mulberry/deep red/purple, I need to post pictures as that really doesn't do it justice. I immediately thought of the handspun Lynne sent me, in blues and red/purples with a little glitter. I think they will work really well together. All I need now is an idea or a pattern that jumps out at me for them. I bought 2 balls of this BTW, at almost 5 pounds for 50g that one pricey yarn! (and there were 2 bags of 10 balls just sitting there, if only!). When the owner opened the sealed bag much oohing and aahing ensued at the wonderful feel of the yarn :-)

I joined the UK Handknitting Yahoo group this past week, and have found it lively and useful. Much admiration was expressed a few days ago for the Bergere De France advert in "Knitting" this month. It features a toddler wearing a beautiful coat and scarf, the coat in a rich green and the scarf in purple. I thought it was fabulous too, however I don't know anyone with a child that age that I could have the excuse to knit it for :-) What we need is an adult version because I for one would wear it, and I don't think I'm alone! (mad, maybe, but not alone LOL).

2005 gallery

I've archived off my 2005 Finished Objects list to this post, linked from the sidebar.

• Giotto Curly Whirlie scarf (Dec)


• Dr Who scarf (season 12) (Dec)


• Hufflepuff beanie (Nov)


• Hufflepuff PoA rib scarf (Nov)


• Wendy Shimmer scarf (Oct)


• Colinette Point 5 scarf (Oct)


• Colinette Point 5 hat (Sept)


• Gryffindor PS/CoA scarf (Sept)


• Crazy rainbow hat (August)


• Handspun bag (July)


• Ruffle bag 2 (July)


• Shimmer/stripe scarf (June)


• Ruffle bag 1 (June)

Eyelets and WIPs

The slanted eyelet scarf was completed last Sunday, and I washed and pinned it out to block on Monday evening. I was delighted with the way it turned out, the blocking opened up the pattern and the scarf is (as the original pattern states it should be!), soft and drapey.

Pattern: Slanted Eyelet scarf from Knitting-Pattern-A-Day 2006 calendar
Yarn: Noro Kureyon (shade 157) 100% wool
Yardage: approx. 270 yards, 125g (2.5 balls)
Finished size: approx. 6 inches wide by 65 inches long

I made the scarf rather longer than the original pattern called for, this is designed to be warm and practical for the British winter!

I used felted joins to add the new balls of yarn in and they worked very well. I've found I quite enjoy knitting lacy patterns! Although this is quite a simple one, a two row repeat, it's given me the incentive to try something more complex next time :-)



I now have 2 WIPs, the first being a 1x1 rib watch cap/hat in black Cashmerino. I started this with DH in mind, but he's decided he probably wouldn't use it much (true, he rarely wears a hat). Now it's mine :-)

The second is Latifa, the ruffled scarf from Knitty. I forgot to take a photo of the yarn earlier. Earlier on I found I had the wrong shade in one of the balls. It had been hard to tell as there are actually two shades in Silketweed called off-white. I hadn't realised I had the wrong one until I checked he shade number itself. SKD have been lovely and hopefully I'll have the more beige-y shade very soon!

I'm looking to make myself a vest-tank top in black. I really want to use a natural fibre yarn, as the difference in warmth and insulating properties is very noticeable in this cold weather! My idea was to have the tank top as an additional layer I could wear underneath a cardigan on very cold days. I tend to feel the cold and at work on Friday I got quite a chill, my hands were freezing! Thank goodness for the Cashmerino Hufflepuff scarf which I put back on, I've been wearing it a lot recently and every day this week.

Stash acquisition and other ramblings

I think I have been very restrained in my yarn-buying in recent weeks. A couple of weeks before Christmas, I had reason to visit the LYS to buy some buttons. I ended up with 6 lovely clear sparkly flower-shaped buttons (one for use on my aunt's bag), and 5 balls of Wendy Chic. Four are bronze and one is black with bronze sparklies. I entertained the notion of making some kind of shoulder-warmer/capelet before Christmas Day but didn't have the time.

I've also been eyeing the Latifa scarf at Knitty for, oh, months on end. I love the colours and the ruffles. The trouble was, I knew of nowhere to buy the Garnestudio yarn. Then I found Scandinavian Knitting Design, I can't remember where I found the link, but they sell the whole gamut of Garnestudio yarns. I wouldn't let myself buy anything before Christmas, but this week I finally caved and bought the 4 skeins required. Excellent customer service and very nice people!

Of course the pattern also calls for Koigu. Get Knitted are the only supplier I know of in the UK, and they don't have the shade specified. I'd seen adverts for Knit Happens so headed there and they have a wonderful range of Koigu (and plenty of other stuff). The price, even including airmail shipping, was around what I'd have paid in the UK - if I could get it in the first place! Now happily waiting for it to arrive. The Silketweed has already arrived and is lovely. I'll take a picture with the Koigu when it appears. I think I'll start the scarf after I'm done with the Noro one, and also work on the number of hats I have on my to-do list :-) I'm aiming for 2, maybe 3, WIPs at any one time, one large and one or two small. That way I won't get so frustrated at not having oodles of knitting time at my disposal (that's the theory, anyway ...)

I also wanted to recommend the book I'm reading, "The Ill-Made Mute" by Christina Dart-Thornton. It's the first part of the fantasy trilogy The Bitterbynde, which I received as part of a wedding + birthday present from Lynne. I'm half way through and am enjoying it very much, thanks Lynne!

Slanted eyelet scarf

The secret baggie is finally cast-off, pinned together and waiting for finishing! As I'd promised my sister a scarf for her birthday, I cast on the slanted eyelet scarf on Wednesday. Good progress has been made and it's currently arund 4 feet long. I've decided to join in another ball and add another foot or so.

The pattern is the January 4th entry on the Knitting Pattern A Day 2006 calendar, and was written by Sandi Rosner for Alchemy Yarns. I've used Noro Kureyon on 5.5mm needles.




This scarf marks two firsts for me - using yarnovers and K2tog to create eyelets, and felted joins. This yarn is very keen to felt, and I've found some sections are rather fluffed up as if they've spontaneously felted within the ball! I made the join at the central purple section, joining in deep purple which made a reasonable transition. There is almost a symmetrical effect in the colours at the moment. I'm hoping to finish this today and get it washed (very gently) and pinned out to block. With luck the pattern will open up and we'll see the eyelet effect in all its glory.

Dulaan scarf

Here's the completed Dulaan scarf:



Yarn: Chunky 100% acrylic
Dimensions: approx 60 inches long and 7 inches wide
Needles: 16" 5.5mm Addi circular needles

This is one very warm scarf :-) Next up for Dulaan knitting will be a few hats, probably in the same yarn to start with.

A hive of activity

Today we decided to sort out all of our CDs into alpha-order, and catalogue them as part of our household inventory spreadsheet. Having been burgled many years ago the one thing you *need* is a list of what you own (or owned). Insurance companies will do their best to find ways of not paying you the full amount owed. So, today we found we have just over 400 music CDs, collected over 10 or 12 years. I doubt we'd remember half if we didn't make a list! They are all nicely racked up in alpha order now, so we can actually find the one we want (another first). Tomorrow I'll take digital photos as further proof we do actually own them, and haven't made a list based on a huge amazon.co.uk wishlist!

Last night I almost finished the Dulaan scarf (knitting-in the New Year). Tonight I've cast off and am shortly off to add a short fringe. That only leaves the bag I need to finish then I can start a clean slate for 2006.

I opened up the Knitting Pattern A Day calendar (it being January 1st and all that), and found a great eyelet scarf pattern on Jan. 4th that I think I'll use for my sister's birthday present. I'll be using the Noro Kureyon that has been in my stash a wee while.

Other things I intend to make or do this year:
- the Knitty Wavy rib scarf (already have the yarn for this, bought months ago!)
- do my best to learn to crochet, having seen some nice-looking items that I'd like to make, and having been roundly defeated on holiday last July
- more curly-whirlies
- shoulder-warmer/capelet
- maybe a Quidditch sweater, as I already have the yellow yarn!
- a Gryffindor trapped-bar scarf (again, yarn already bought)
- a Hufflepuff PS/CoS scarf (you guessed, I have the yarn)
- maybe a book!Ravenclaw PS/CoS scarf (that's blue and bronze rather than blue and grey)

That's probably enough ideas for now!