This is my finished Aeolian shawl being blocked on my mum’s spare room floor.  It’s even too big for the towel!!  It’s my first really successful blocking and I can see why people love blocking lace.  It really was like magic.

Close up of the points being blocked.

This is the OpArt blanket I’m knitting for a friend’s new baby.  At this point it was 33% complete and I’m about 66% done now. But I have to say that it is the MOST boring knitting in the world.  Each row is now about 500 stitches long and takes forever, at least when you need a really long lace row it has something to keep you interested. All this has is 4 increases per row, yawn.  It does look really cool though so it should be worth all the tedium at the end. 

As my knitting is so boring at the moment I’ve been making jewellery as well.  This is the dragonfly garden necklace I talked about in my last post. 

Detail of the dragonfly clasp and the beads.  Below is the grey bead necklace I made using beads from the knitting and stitching show.  I wanted it to look like it was a vintage necklace and I think it’s worked out quite well.

Detail of the ‘brooch’ -  it’s actually a button and not vintage at all.

Have you decorated for Christmas yet? I put my tree and decs up last night. I also went to the Christmas tree festival in St Thomas’ Church, Salisbury this morning so now I’m feeling well and truly Festive!!

Well, I had a really lovely week catsitting at Sparkleknits house, Coleman and I got on fabulously.  I did manage to hurt my back on Monday night just by rolling over in bed but it’s much better now and should be fine for my 2nd Yoga class next week.  Ironically I decided to do yoga to improve my posture and hopefully strengthen my back/neck/shoulder as I do hurt it much too often!

I did get some knitting done, the sleeves of the cardigan for mum are both knitted to the elbows now, but I didn’t knit that much due to Coleman trying to eat the yarn and my back.  I did do some sketching and some doodles of jewellery I wanted to make and I’ve made some good progress on my latest college project – a still life of pomegranates in acrylic on canvas. 

Thursday after work I went to a 15% sale in the local Bijoux Beads and bought some of these in silver and these to make a necklace inspired by a dragonfly clasp I got at the Knitting and Stitching show from www.nostaligia.co.uk.  I put the clasp at the front as a feature and I wanted the necklace to look like a flower garden that the dragonfly would be flying around.  So I was going for the purples/turquoises/teals/blues that are conveniently in fashion this winter.  They are also my favourite colours so for a change I was indulging myself. 

So last night I finished the grey pearl vintage necklace I’d started a month ago and then made the dragonfly garden one straight after.  They have both turned out well, and almost exactly how I imagined them.  I need to add a few more beads to the dragonfly garden and I’m going to make matching earrings this weekend.

Goodies I got at the knitting and stitching show in October at Ally Pally.
From L to R: bead necklace kit in peacock colours, grey glass pearls, summery pink beads, millifiori beads, teal glass beads, needle size gauge for Emily (she’s just moved her from the US so I thought it would help her convert needle sizes), 2 copies of Selvedge magazine (underneath), Zauberball sock yarn, vintage looking findings to go with grey beads, 3 rolls of ribbon and an addi turbo circular needle. 

This is a close up of the Zauberball sock yarn,  I couldn’t resist it.  I’ve cast on a toe so far in the orange stripe you can see at the top and it looks wonderful.  I took it to knitting group last week and asked everyone’s opinion on whether I should knit a plain stocking stitch sock  or if I should use a stitch pattern.  Most people went for plain so you get the benefit of the colours without a pattern interfering – so that is what I shall do.  But I’m restraining myself as I have 4 other projects I should be knitting.

I couldn’t believe how many beads stalls there were and how cheap the beads were.  The string of teal glass ones was only £1.50 and I think it’s 20 beads.  Brilliant!! I got a lovely cardigan in a really similar colour a couple of days later and they will work really well together. 

This week I’ve cast on the sleeves for mum’s cardigan on two circulars and am knitting them simultaneously which was quite difficult to get started but is now working really well. Both are 7 inches long so far. 

I’ve just started reading The End Of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas, I was reading it in bed last night with a cat on my chest, as I’m cat sitting for Sparkleknits this week!! I’ll let you know how I get on, with the book I mean – the cat and I get on like a house on fire.

* and by goodies I mean great crafting things not the 3 comedians from british television.

What do you think of my pumpkin carving? Sorry it’s a little blurred I had to take the photo without the flash so the candle light glowed through. I’ve only ever done faces before so it was fun to try something new. And this is the back….

We don’t really do much for halloween but I have worn orange/black striped socks and an orange top all day.
I have been knitting, my current works in progress are:
1) OpArt blanket for Tilly – 35% completed so far. Progress is pretty slow as it’s a very dull knit. The rows are getting really long and will only get longer……….
2) Cardigan for mum – my own pattern. I’m using the Elizabeth Zimmerman percentage sweater idea to knit it and so far it’s working. I need to knit the sleeves now so we’ll see how I get on with them.
3)I bought some Zauberwool sock yarn at the knitting and stitching show earlier in the month and last night I cast on and knit the toe of a sock just to see how the yarn knits up. I’m now trying to decide whether to knit a plain sock and let the yarn colouring speak for itself or if I need a stitch pattern of some sort to relieve the boredom. Will keep you posted.

I’m sorry I’ve been absent for weeks. I don’t really have an excuse except for Saturday 26 Sept because I spent almost ALL day knitting frantically for K’s wedding on 27th. You’ll be pleased to hear I finished the shrug at 10.30am on 27th (I had to leave the house at 11.40am!!). But I am NEVER EVER knitting to such a short deadline again. It took ALL of the fun out of knitting my shrug. Was awful.

Anyway, knitting and stitching show at Alexandra Palace, London tomorrow so I will blog something interesting after that, I promise.

In short,
1) Knitting group last Sunday was really good, 9 people now.
2) Tilly’s OpArt blanket is progressing slowly.
3) Work stinks!
4) I’ve made a clever brown necklace.
5) Shrug is finished.

There has been progress.  But nowhere near as much as I hoped for.  I knitted loads of the sleeve on the right last Saturday night and Sunday while firmly ensconced in front of the telly.  I watched a cheesy ballroom dancing film to get me in the mood for Strictly Come Dancing which started again last night.  There was no knitting at ALL from Monday-Wednesday, mainly because I was totally shattered after work.  Hopefully work will be less stressful going forward but I’m not holding my breath! 

Suddenly it was Thursday and almost the end of another week and I really started to panic.  Next week I’m busy most evenings so I’ve pretty much got to do the bulk of the knitting by the end of Monday night.  So frantic knitting ensued on Thursday and then last night during Strictly…  I’ve got the first sleeve to almost the shoulder and have cast on the second which is about 4 inches long at the moment.  More Strictly tonight should mean that I make good progress on sleeve 2 but it really is going to be a close run thing………

P.S. Brenda was on the plinth today, watch it here!

You should never ever set a 4 week deadline on knitting something. My shrug is starting to feel cursed.
First of all the yarn took a week to arrive due to postal strikes in the UK. I wanted to cast on at the bank holiday weekend (end of August) but had to wait until the end of the week after. The first evening I knitted a gauge swatch to decide what size needles to use. 3.5mm was my decision so that the pattern was defined enough but it would be light and lofty. Friday 4 Sept I cast on and knit about 12 rows. On Saturday I measured the width and it was about 2 inches wider than I wanted. Pants! I thought this was because I’d cast on with dpns and it had been difficult to knit tight enough across the changes in needles. Cast on again with two circular needles instead. Knit 8 or so rows. Late Saturday night I measured it again and it was still WAY too big. I still blamed this on knitting in the round. Sunday I cast on again but on straight needles and knitted 4 rows in garter stitch to make it nice and neat and tight, and then I joined for knitting in the round and knit a few repeats of the feather and fan pattern. Sunday afternoon I measured again and it was still TOO big. I put it aside in disgust and general stropiness [does that have two p's?] stroppiness. [possibly]. Anyway, I was quite annoyed to put it mildly. I had bought some red beads, so I made two necklaces instead and felt much better as they went completely to plan – no deadline you see!
On Monday I simply couldn’t be bothered – still grumpy.
On Tuesday I decided I didn’t want to knit in a smaller needle size and that I didn’t want to remove the 5 stitches I had between the f&f panels as I liked them, so the only solution was to knit 3 repeats of the panels not the 4 that I had originally planned. So I cast on 69 stitches instead of 92 on straight needles and knitted a couple of repeats of the pattern. It was working, it was a little narrower than I had intended but I could live with that.
Wednesday I picked it up again to continue and realised that I had a made a stupid mistake at about row 6 so I had to rip it all out and start again!!! Can you believe it!! I couldn’t. I cast on again and knit 12 or so rows before bed. That was the 5th time I had cast on. Took it to work on Thursday to knit with some friends at lunch and it finally started to go well. It’s Saturday now and I’m finally feeling that it’s safe and I won’t have to rip it out again. So now I really do have to knit like the wind as I need to wear it in 2 weeks.

This is the Panda Silk 4ply yarn that I’m going to knit my lace shrug.

Honeycomb vest is finished!!

This is the last time I will see my car as it’s gone off to be scrapped. I’ve had it 11 years and it’s going to be very weird not driving it anymore.

Sorry for being so quiet for pretty much the entire month, work has been extremely busy and stressful, also there have been builders at home replacing doors and replastering walls for two weeks.  I think they are the messiest and most disorganised workmen on the planet, and it’s just typical that I got stuck with them.  We now have a dip in the carpet in the hall (broken floorboard) that was fine before they started.  I think the landlord will have to replace all the communal carpets as they have done a horrendous job of protecting them from the dust, rubble and wet plaster.  I did manage to protect my knitting/yarn stash but there is dust on all my books even though I did put dust sheets over everything.  Each footstep sends up a little puff of dust as you walk around.  They were working all of last weekend, luckily it was sunny on Sunday as I had to go out!! I grabbed my knitting and did some enforced KIP. 

Right, enough complaining – there has been some good stuff too.  I have ordered some Panda Silk Solid 4ply yarn to knit the shrug I was imagining in my last post.  I know I was going to use my raspberry mohair but I need a shrug for a wedding at the end of September so I’m going to knit in the black bamboo/silk and if it works I will probably repeat it with the raspberry mohair.  I’m sticking to the feather and fan idea and will knit a few plain stitches between each pattern panel so I can do the shaping easily,  I did attempt to work decreases/increases into the F&F pattern but it went horribly wrong, it’s just too complicated and I’m working to a deadline.  Hopefully the yarn will arrive on Tuesday and I can get started!!

I have cast on the OpArt baby blanket from Knitty.com in white/lilac Patons Smoothie DK which is acrylic, but it doesn’t feel tacky at all.  I was being practical – a baby blanket is going to need a lot of washing and if it’s got silly complicated care instructions it will only be kept for ‘best’ which translates as never used in my book. So it’s acrylic. It’s going quite well so far, it is a little dull as it’s mostly just knitting with 4 increases per row but to be honest with work being so complicated I needed a very basic project to do.  I didn’t have any brain power left at the end of the day for anything more intricate.

Does anyone else wander around almost all day thinking about things they could make if they weren’t stuck at stupid work?? I do.  All of the time. 

On Sunday I watched the dvd of Twilight and was extremely taken with Alice Cullen’s wardrobe.  She wears a long sleeved lace knit black shrug in one scene and I have spent all week trying to figure out if I could knit one, in what colour and what yarn.  I’ve looked on ravelry and not really found a pattern so I’m now toying with the idea of designing it myself.  I’m thinking I could either do a provisional cast on at the back centre and then knit down one sleeve and then knit the 2nd OR knit two sleeves and graft them together at the back with kitchener stitch.  I’ve found out that the shrug from the movie is knit in  a v-shape lace stitch but I’ve got a yen for one with flared bell shape sleeves so I’m thinking that a feather and fan pattern would make a nice wavey edge and a lovely pattern.  I’m was considering black as it would be suitably gothic and would go with everything but then I thought I’d like it to be light and lofty and I have some raspberry coloured lace mohair so now I’m thinking about that.  I’ve considered that I should use a big ish needle size so that it’s not too tight and will use less yarn as I have only one skein of the raspberry.  And I haven’t written a word of this down until now!

I’m also thinking about attacking a white shirt that I got for a few quid in Asda.   It’s made of really cheap thin cotton so it isn’t as opaque as I’d like so I may add a ruffle or some lace detail around the neckline/buttons.