Skully's almost there

The past week or so has been all about finishing off Skully. Plenty of ends to weave in from the intarsia, then the mattress stitch seaming. Finally it is seamed, washed, and now drying (I finished knitting on March 2nd and seaming on the 3rd):





As I found with the recent hat, Yorkshire Tweed softens up considerably with washing. The sweater is drying on one of the 2-tier drying racks from Lakeland, well worth the investment. It's such a wide sweater that the arms are resting on the lower mesh layer. I suspect it will take a wee while to dry though!

I've tried the sweater on and it does fit, so expect some form of modelled photos on the next update. My next sweater project is the Glampyre Simple Knitted Bodice:



The yarn is Jaeger Shetland Aran, 80% merino, 20% alpaca. I knitted a swatch last night and found I can get the gauge with the suggested needles. However the lace section is a different matter, the upper part of the swatch was worked on 3.5mm, then 3.25mm, needles, and still isn't near the suggested gauge. However, Rain has kindly pointed me towards the Craftster thread on this pattern and it is very useful. It appears that no-one is able to obtain this gauge in stockinette, unlikely really given this is an aran weight yarn. I'm just going to use the recommended needles and I think it will be fine. The pattern itself is already knitted at a slightly smaller gauge than normal for the yarn, which seems to be because the original yarn called for is liable to stretch.

The pretty dragonfly button in the photo is from the lovely Hazel at Knitz and Glitz, this was actually a runner-up prize in an informal quiz a few of us had. Thank you Hazel!

Thanks also go to T who obviously knows me far too well, and sent me this, isn't it great!



We've had some sad news today, our elderly gerbil Xander passed away last night, very peacefully. He was somewhat frail but very active right until the end. We buried him next to his brother Oz, who died in summer 2005. Sleep well Xander, we'll miss you.

Not to leave you on a sombre note, I've been tagged by Donna (fellow SKB KAL-er!) for a books meme:

1. Find the nearest book - OK, as I said to Donna when first tagged, the nearest book to me here at the PC is "Breeding and Caring For Chinchillas", which I'm NOT going to be sharing here! (I don't breed them BTW, it's just an older reference book I spotted cheap at a local pet shop). The nearest "proper" book is:

2. Name the book & the author - "The Hobbit" by JRR Tolkien (there is also a Blake's 7 fanzine, "Varia Lectio", but it doesn't have enough pages to participate).

3.Turn to page 123. - part way through chapter VII, "Queer Lodgings"

4. Go to the 5th sentence on the page & copy out the next three sentences onto your blog - "Come and have some more!" So they all went to breakfast with him. Beorn was most jolly for a change; indeed he seemed to be in a splendidly good humour and set them all laughing with his funny stories; nor did they have to wonder long where he had been or why he was so nice to them, for he told them himself.

5. Tag 3 more people. - I won't tag anyone as more than likely they will already have been tagged - if you want to do the meme consider yourself tagged!


I was also tagged a while ago for a meme about children's books, which I promptly forgot about, and can't now remember who tagged me! I think it was to do with books you remember from your childhood. The one set of books that I remember with great affection are those illustrated books by !Richard Scarry. The watermelon is legendary, in my mind at least.