Knitting news

I’m nearing the end of the Print o’the Waves stole and hope to be able to post the finished article at the beginning of next week. In the mean time I thought I’d share some of the knitterly things I’ve been enjoying this week with you…

The first on my list is the CraftLit pod cast which I’ve been enjoying so much. I’ve been downloading it and listening on my MP3 player on the way to work every day this week. It is labelled as a ‘podcast for knitters who love books’ and every week after an intelligent discussion on craft (usually knitting) you get to listen to a couple of chapters of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. There are currently 15 Episodes of the pod cast up on the blog and I’m on episode 10. I love Austen’s books and it is very relaxing to listen to this on a baking hot train out of London.

The second item on my list is new blogs. I have to admit that recently I’ve been pretty busy and haven’t been reading too many blogs (other than those on my blogroll which I try to never miss!) But the other day I had a bit of a wander around some of the rings I belong to and found this blog - visit if you have time because Malgosia has some stunning finished projects on her site.

Third thing is the new Rowan magazine is out! I was so excited this morning, the first few pages left me feeling a bit nonplussed but the two later collections Kindred Spirit and Legend had so many items I would like to make! The magazine isn’t up on the website yet so I can’t post pictures but I’ll try and remember to do a review once I’ve had a better look at it. I can’t wait to hear what everyone else thinks of it.


This picture is apparently a map of my website(you can try it out for yourselves here ).

Perseverance

Thank you for all the lovely comments on Butterfly. It cheered me up after an extremely busy day at work today. The House of Commons recess begins next week so all the Ministers are trying to get their parliamentary questions, submissions etc out of the way which means I’ve had a whole lot of briefing to do.

Anyway, the other day I was reading noblinknit’s blog and she was discussing the need to get past the block of being near the end of a project and worrying it won't turn out as well as planned. And I realised that is what I have with my Print o’the Waves stole . I am so near finishing but I’ve suddenly slowed down and started focussing on other things and it’s because I’m worried that all the hard work I’ve put in will end up worthless. As you can see from the picture, it’s not exactly looking stunning at the moment (more like a malformed cauliflower). But now I’ve decided to get on with it, so expect to see a finished stole soon! Besides I want to start something new…

If nothing ever changed there would be no butterflies…

I’ve finished my holiday project! It was Butterfly from Rowan 37. I finished the knitting on holiday but then couldn’t seem to find the time to finish it off. But now I have and I’m so pleased. It's such a nice top, pretty, floaty, delicate and frivolous. I loved knitting this for the following reasons:

1. It used kid silk haze and beads (always a good combination!)

2. It was incredibly quick to knit

3. It was easy enough to be done in the car etc but still involved enough complications to keep it fun
and best of all…



4. It only took just over one ball of KSH to knit. Honestly I’ve just weighed my second ball and there was 16g out of the 25g left. Plus I got the yarn free from Rowan last time I joined so it was even more of a bargain.
I would definitely knit this pattern again. In fact I probably will, probably in green or grey.







Note also the new skirt I bought in the Monsoon sale today! I had to queue for a very long time but it was half price…

A very quick post

I'm sorry but this has to be quick because I'm melting from the heat sitting at this computer and my resident G&T cocktail waiter is at his German lesson. Our flat is in the roof of the building and the sun seems to heat it up like an oven.

Anyway, what I had to post about was this! A lace club at Posh Yarn - and you get a free pattern with the lace every quarter. How brilliant is that? I have joined already. I now know why veteran knitters have such large stashes. Mine just keeps growing and growing and yet I can't stop buying more yarn. (I will now quietly point out the recent purchase of posh yarn in the photo above - laceweight cashmere in memories (partly won!) and cobweb weight cashmere/merino in robin's egg...I'm so ashamed of myself)

Wool shopping in Wales...

I’m back and I have so much to write about. Wales was beautiful, the weather stayed sunny for the entire week and the cottage we had booked was perfect. First things first - wool shopping in Wales! Monkey and I are two of those people who good things just happen to - it's true. We will take a wrong turning get completely lost but find something better in wherever we turn up than what we had originally planned to do. On Thursday we decided to go to Fishguard and what should we see when we walked out of the car park… a wool shop. I really wasn’t expecting to see one so I was pretty pleased. And I’m not talking abut any old wool shop, it was like the wool shop of my dreams! They stocked EVERYTHING, the lady behind the counter was lovely and you could seriously spend hours (and pounds) in there. There was a café in the shop too, which served great food in a beautiful, modern setting and the girl who served us talked knitting - what more could you ask for? If you live in Wales you should definitely give them a visit (and try the coffee and walnut cake!). It is called Jane’s and the address can be found here.

What did I buy? The wool for Matilda Jane! I bought black and a sort of burgundy colour in the end as I felt it would be nice and autumny and I could see me wearing it to work with a smart black skirt (pleated or pencil?) and a pair of very high heels…

I will post later about the knitting I did on holiday as this is already becoming a bit long and instead I will end this post with some pictures from my holiday. By the way I would definitely recommend the cottages too - ours was beautiful, modern, well kept, with stunning views.

Monkey enjoying the beach at Aberystwyth.

I'll always be my father's daughter. A holiday isn't a holiday without a ride on a steam train!

A little taste of what I knitted on holiday...