Winner & Just Getting Started
Thank you so much for supporting the fabulous new book Journey, by Shannon Cook & Jane Richmond. What a stylish bunch you are - there were some great ideas on how you'd style the bits and pieces from the collection, you have me very inspired.
You'll be pleased to hear I've got a winner. Congratulations to alcbrooks! You've won an e-copy of the fabulous Journey collection! Sit tight - it shall be with you very soon ...
So, I've got more stuff to tell you.
It starts with a sore arm. Mine. Well, it started in my shoulder really and it's been bothering me since I left the UK. Countless rubbing, rolling, stretching and several visits to a person who knows about these sorts of ailments has still left me with rather a sore arm. During my most recent visit this morning it was suggested that I didn't knit for a week. A WHOLE WEEK. I know. Crazy.
I meekly suggested that I didn't think knitting was the problem, if it was anything it was using the computer and my blasted phone. But it was to no avail. I am forbidden from knitting for the rest of the week.
See the pretty thing I've started? I should really have cast on something from the fabulous book I just reviewed (and have no fear, I will soon) but a pretty skein of Misti Alpaca hand painted lace (100% Baby Alpaca) caught my eye first. I bought it, tossed aside the autumn socks I'm making for Mr Myrtle, my pretty indigo blue lacy socks for me and the dark Mulberry cardigan that I'm having a hard job seeing in the evenings and is feeling altogether too hot to work on right now - and cast on the very beautiful Radiance Shawl designed by Helen Stewart.
It's a fun, simple knit and the pattern is thoughtfully written. It's divided into three different formats depending on what takes your fancy. You can choose to follow it written out in full, or an abbreviated version and thirdly, for an easily distracted person like me, instructions numbered row by row.
Isn't the colour just so pretty? I'm loving that the colour is rich and yet the weight of the yarn is so light. It's working out well in warm, muggy weather.
Isn't the colour just so pretty? I'm loving that the colour is rich and yet the weight of the yarn is so light. It's working out well in warm, muggy weather.
I'm a page and a bit into the pattern and I still haven't reached the 10% mark. Even so, it seems to be growing quite quickly, although my last row was a whole row of "knit into the front and back" of almost every stitch. That nearly doubled my stitch count in one fell swoop, so I think it'll start to feel a little slower now, even without my enforced week's break from it.
Do you like my basket? I bought it at a fantastic Christmas craft market in Tamahere over the weekend. It's not a traditional Maori kete because it is made from seagrass rather than flax, but I like it nonetheless. It's a cool rounded shape and a good size for medium-sized knitting projects.
What will I do this week with no knitting? Well, I wasn't told not to sew. So, I guess I better do that ...