WIP It, WIP It....

Well, dear reader, I had nearly finished the Father and Son socks and was all ready to start decisively knitting Ivy with the red Berlaine when I unaccountably got distracted. The weekend before last, I went to a meet up of members of the Crafty Threads and Yarns Forum. We had a lovely day, and a delicious lunch, all organised by Granny Smith. Here is everyone chatting and knitting away.

There was also yarn for sale, I'm sorry to say. Here's what I bought:

L to R: laceweight and hand dyed sock yarn from Bright Dyes, even more lovely laceweight from Yarnaddict Yarns, and a gorgeous Merino Tencel sock yarn from the Yarn Yard. The fibre at the front is the result of my first attempt at spinning with a drop spindle. It's pretty pants, isn't it? I enjoyed trying it though.
I wanted to get started on knitting some of this,and I even worked out what pattern I would use with the Yarn Yard Merino/ Tencel.
Then I remembered that it is nearly Christmas, and I ought to be knitting Catbert a scarf, which I actually promised her for her birthday (which was in May). So I cast on, and here it is - the Sivia Harding Diamond Fantasy scarf, in a skein of Lucy Neatby Celestial Merino Dream, shade Fiery Fuschia.

I'm really enjoying knitting it because the colours are so lovely. And I will so finish the socks. And knit Ivy. And knit my merino/tencel lace scarf. And....OK, I'm off to do some actual knitting now.

A Touch of Frost

This week, in the morning, the roof I can see from my kitchen window was covered in a thick rime of frost, as was my car. I recently acquired a new car, and I have sold the old one to DSoK the Intern. Well, when I say "sold" - he owes me the money for the car and his insurance, road fund, MoT and service. He's a student, you see. I should do a deal like this every day, I'd be rich in no time...
Anyway, the car I "sold" had a scraper for the ice and a car vacuum in the boot. It still does in fact. MY car, on the other hand, does not. I mentioned to DSoK that I would quite like to have these items back. He laughed, and said, "you need to chill, Mum". I tried to scrape the ice off today with my Tesco Clubcard, and it sort of worked, but the signature on the back is a bit blurry now. I think I'll need to buy a proper scraper. Maybe DSoK could get me one for Christmas!

I promised photos of my Ally Pally acquisitions, and here they are. Two gorgeous skeins of laceweight from Cherry Tree Hill - in shades Serengeti and Fall Foliage.




The red is a merino mohair mix boucle from Touch Yarns, and is the same kind of yarn I bought in Auckland earlier in the year, but in a different colour.


I think the Fall Foliage CTH would make a lovely Leaf Lace shawl - one day.
I'm focusing on finishing WIPs and knitting from stash at the moment. Thanks to a swimming gala I have one of the Father and Son Socks finished now, and the other is well over half way. The next project to be finished will be my Mystery Stole 3, I think - or Swan Lake as I now know it to be. Another project which is capturing my imagination at the moment is my crochet granny square cushion cover, because the colours are so nice.
And - a decision - I am going to knit another Ivy with the red Berlaine. I'm swatching now...

Still Knitting After All These Months

Despite many distractions over the last few months, I have been steadily knitting away at my Colinette waffle throw, which is now finished. You can see it in use on my sofa in the photo above. Here it is from the back:

This throw is from the Toast and Marmalade book, and I found it to be a straightforward knit which was good to carry around for knitting at events and in odd moments.

I have only got five or is it six WIPs at the moment, so I have gone straight on to Mr Knitbert's socks (which I started in March, in New Zealand) and we'll take it from there. Here's the two socks, I knitted them both on two circulars until I got to the heel flap and then it seemed simpler to knit one at a time.

It is now getting cold and dark in the mornings and evenings, and I am experiencing a desire to knit warm winter sweaters. I would like to start Poppy, which I have a bag of lovely Noro for, and I also have a strong desire to knit a Central Park Hoodie in my lovely red Donegal Tweed, and a Bergere de France cable sweater, in some lovely soft red Berlaine.

Then this weekend I visted Catbert and we went shopping together. I found a nice wrap top in a lovely apple green, but it was not as nice as the Ivy I knitted at the beginning of the year. I decided I would like to get some more Patons Diploma Gold in Thyme, and knit another one, but John Lewis did not have any in the right colour. Then I thought perhaps, in the spirit of stashbusting, I would knit another one in my red Berlaine. I formed a cunning plan to knit the BdF cable sweater in some very nice pale mauve possum merino yarn I purchased in New Zealand, instead. However, then I realised I still won't have a green wrap top, so maybe I will have to buy some Patons DG anyway. Oh well...

I went to the Knitting and Stitching show at Ally Pally a few weeks ago, and bought some gorgeous Cherry Tree Hill laceweight merino (only £18 per skein, how could I not?) and some Touch Yarns boucle in a delightful red colour. Photos of those next time. Oh yes, and I bought a kit from The African Fabric Shop to make a quilt (see sidebar for their website). Their fabrics are stunning, and as you can imagine I desperately need another addictive craft hobby.