The Great Summer Slow-down

Summer graced us with her presence this last week and what a welcome relief after all that rain! It was a great start to the school holidays. 
Friday night saw the Myrtle family tucked up in bed watching the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics. Wow! We loved it, the music, the drama, Mr Bean doing his thing and the Queen sky-diving with James Bond. It was a big thumbs up from the kids!
The week didn't end nearly so well. Very unfortunately, we were struck by a nasty tummy bug that has laid nearly all of us low for a few days... yuck and double yuck. Thank goodness it was now, not next week, because we're heading off on holiday and tummy bugs, the long drive to France and camping aren't the most glorious of mixes.

But, knitting and holidays most certainly are. Outdoor knitting in the sun is just delicious. Unsurprisingly, I'm in something of a dilemma about what to take. I'm keen to finish some of the many many projects on my needles but, at the same time, I've got some lovely new yarn and exciting projects lined up.... what to do? Take it all? Mr Myrtle might have something to say about space and time and such things....

While I decide what to do, I thought I'd show you some of the bits I bought at the very muddy but very wonderful Fibre East Festival we visited a few weekends back...

I'm thinking this might be perfect for an Audrey in Unst. It's Skein Queen's Enchant, in the Goldwasser colourway, an alpaca (70%), silk (20%), cashmere (10%) blend. Pure luxury.

These shades of silver and grey are The Knitting Goddess' hand dyed 4ply yarn, baby alpaca, silk and cashmere, same proportions as the yarn above... I didn't twig on the day, but obviously it was meant to be. It's the semi solid silver colourway. I'm thinking a 4ply Mama Vertebrae for this one.

And finally, more from The Knitting Goddess. Actually, I'm not sure what I was thinking. This is more laceweight yarn and I'm not having much luck with laceweight lately. My golden Wispi is at the point of being frogged. I know, I know - all that work. But, I woke up one morning recently and decided it wasn't working. I'm going to have to find something fabulous for the yarn and find new yarn for my Wispi. I'm thinking I'd like a tighter gauge, not so lacey...

Anyhow, back to the beautiful pinks. Hand dyed lace weight yarn in semi solid plum and, whaddayaknow? It's that same blend of baby alpaca, silk and cashmere again... I'm thinking maybe another Gudrun - Laar. Maybe.

There is more but with all the post-illness washing to get done I'm keeping this short. I bought some super soft Blue Faced Leicester to spin and the kids spent a fun hour or so in the Ashford Tent carding fleece. They managed to produce a fantastical fleece in blues purples and greens with golden thread running through it. It will be interesting to see how it spins up.

And finally, since we are off on holiday I won't be popping in for a while. Don't worry, my needles will keep clicking and hopefully I'll get my sewing machine dusted off again too. 

I'll be back in the autumn for more knitterly and sewing fun. 
See you then! X

Life in the fast lane

I am still here... my needles are still clicking (although my sewing machine has been very quiet for a while now...) it's just that life has taken a turn for the busier of late. It's the last week of the school year and there've been music recitals, drama performances, gym displays, sports days, school open evenings  - you name it, we've had it... and although I must have written about a dozen posts in my head, the photos just weren't getting taken, and what is a post without photos?

But, tomorrow is the last day. The shows are over, the teachers have their fudge, we have the left overs in the fridge and I've managed to take some snaps to show you what I've been up to.

Nothing is actually finished. Nothing. I can definitely confirm that start-itis does not lead to finish-itis. Instead, it just leads to a bunch of semi-finished stuff... I've got to graft the toe on Mr Myrtle's second sock and finish sewing the band and then the button onto my Everyday Cardy - not much really... my sweet pink scarf is taking a wee zzzzz for the moment. 

But there is more. Oh yes. It's all in this bag. I'm a little aghast that things have come to this brown paper bag. But hey, it was handy, it fits everything and it hangs nicely off the door handles and the backs of kitchen chairs. I'm sure it's deeply symbolic that I'm using a big paper bag instead of making myself cute new project bags, or even better - using some I might already have, but never mind, do you want to know what is in it?

Poking out of the top is some absolutely deliciously squooshy Quince and Co. Osprey wool. Oh my, it is sooooooo lovely to knit! It's dense, but so soft. I'm loving it. It doesn't look like much yet, but I'm whipping up Jared Flood's slouchy Rosebud hat. Shhhhhhhhh... it's a gift. I know that my recipient will be reading this, so she and I will both pretend she hasn't seen it ... Okay recipient?

And my dear Lanata - that's in there. She's coming along steadily, and very nicely. I've been joining my balls with the magic knot I discovered a wee while ago, since the yarn is 50% cotton, and I'm already thrilled that when this lovely knit is finished I'll have no ends to weave in. Yay!!!

And now you're thinking, what?! there's more? What is that bag??? Some kind of Tardus? You might be right. Because I also have nearly a whole cardigan in there too. It's the latest pattern of the lovely Kelly Brooker - Mama Vertebrae. I've been itching for some stockinette, something I can just knit without thinking about, so when I saw this, I jumped for it. It is going to be a fab cardigan too, really simple and super useful. I can see that I'm going to make a couple of these...

I'm knitting it in a DK weight (she gives instructions for four different yarn weights - amazing!). It's a Wendy 100% Merino in a greeny/blue colourway and it's lovely and soft. I'm undecided about the length at the moment so think I'll leave it on some scrap yarn while I get onto the sleeves and then decide later. I'd quite like this one to have full length sleeves and am veering towards a twisted rib cuff, hem and band.

I've got so much more to tell you - two weeks is a LONG time!!! We've been to Fibre East (in all it's muddy glory), I've got big plans for holiday knitting and, I've been winning stuff! But, I'll leave you here today and try my best to tell you all about that really soon... X

Wip, wip and wip some more

I wanted to show you a finished something. But, there's nothing. Instead, here's my pile of wips. The trouble with knitting five projects at once, especially when three of them are cardigans for me, is that nothing gets finished in a hurry!

I'll give you a run down of where I'm at. I'm sure you're dying to know...

You can see my Everyday Cardigan is nearly done. I bit the bullet and sewed in those jolly sleeves. Didn't take long, of course, the things you put off never do, do they? I am rather proud of my mattress stitching up the sleeves, it's super neat. But, the band is taking FOREVER! I have about 2" left to knit then more seaming to sew it on. Using stitch markers to hold it roughly in place is genius, that was inspired by my cousin Rach, she used them to hold the sleeves in place when she sewed them on. Remember we were doing a family kal? Well, I'm lagging way behind. Her cosy celery-coloured Everyday cardigan is long finished and keeping her toasty in wintery New Zealand. 

I'm one sock down and have turned the heel on the second one for Mr Myrtle. Now it's just left to knit the gusset and race down to the toes. This has been a great project to pick up whenever, wherever. I should probably have socks on the go all the time.

You can't tell that I'm ready to knit the second sleeve on my golden Wispi Cardigan, but I am. I've stalled because I have to get out the tape measure and measure it, and it never seems so be within arms reach when I sit down... 

The wee pink scarf is nearly half way done. I think I'm going to do a few more repeats of the pattern without increasing any more before I start decreasing down to the end because I seem to have more yarn than I thought and I might as well try to use it all.

Finally, my Lanata. It's super lovely to knit, but I have to concentrate or I yo, k2tog and ssk in all the wrong places! There's near on 200 stitches a row at the moment... I can see it will be a few rows here and there sort of knitting.

And, there you have it. Something WILL be finished soon. Probably those socks, hopefully that Everyday Cardigan and possibly my pink scarf.... in the meantime, oh gee, my fingers are itching for the next thing. Fortunately, I already know what that will be and I have some delicious cream Quince & Co. wool ready to roll... 

So much to knit!!!! So little time!!! Anyone else feeling it?