To be content with what one has is the greatest and truest of riches.

Ahhhhhhhh! That is a sigh of contentment. I have just finished a cup of tea and a homemade scone with lashings of clotted cream and jam and our elephant teapot is smiling contentedly with its little belly still warm from the tea. I don’t think that life gets much better than this but I’m always willing to be proved wrong.

Anyway, back to the knitting - I have been knitting lace. I was originally intending to knit using the orchid yarn I described in my last post but, due to a little over exhilaration on the part of my husband when he tried to help me wind it up, it is now sitting in a tangled heap waiting for me to gather enough patience together to undo it. This however did not deter me from starting the stole and I have begun to knit it in a raspberry coloured cobweb-weight yarn from Posh Yarns. This means it will be a bit lighter and slimmer than I originally intended, but I am actually really happy with how it is going so far. I think I will add a border but I’m waiting to see how much yarn I have left by the time I finish.

The pictures don't really show the lace pattern very well as it is so gloomy today that I can't get a picture at all without the flash.

I almost forgot to say - my husband has bought tickets for the Knitting and Stitching show in London on 14 October and they arrived earlier this week. I can’t wait to go! Plus the 14th is the day before my birthday AND our wedding anniversary so I am expecting to be treated to a few knitting presents! Anyway, if you are going perhaps I’ll bump into you. I will be the over-excited lady pulling along a slightly bored looking (but extremely handsome) husband.

Better late than never...

Matilda Jane is finished! In my last post I said I was very nearly finished and after that I was determined that my next post would have the finished article in it. I’m a stubborn so-and-so and this has meant that I haven’t been able to post for 12 days. I just hadn’t factored in the fact that I needed buttons and ribbon and that it would take ages to dry out when I was blocking it.

But finally here it is!



Pattern: Matilda Jane by Ysolda
Yarn: Rowan Wool Cotton in Inky and Gypsy
Needles: Denise interchangeable (this pattern really uses the interchangeable to their best, lots of different length circulars required.

I really enjoyed knitting this, the pattern is very well written and although it is mostly stocking stitch there is hardly a row without any shaping to keep you interested. If I knitted it again I would knit it on slightly smaller needles, as I think I would prefer the fabric to be a little bit stiffer.

Anyway that is that.

Next knit! I’m starting some new lace and I’m going to use the Posh Yarns wool I got in the first Lace club delivery. It is a beautiful deep purple shade called orchid and it is just so soft and beautiful that when I first got it in the post I just kept picking it up and staring at it. Since I last posted I have bought two books on knitting lace, Traditional Knitted Lace Shawls by Martha Waterman and Gossamer Webs by Galina Khmeleva and Carol Noble. I thoroughly recommend both of these books, they both follow a similar format: a history of the particular type of lace and then details of the techniques used and advice on how to design your own shawls. They both even have a short section on how to wear a shawl! So I have come up with a design that I am hoping to make for my Gran for Christmas if it turns out ok. I think the most difficult part will be estimating how long I can make the shawl with the amount of wool I have, especially if I add an edging to it.

I’m trying to think if I have any other news… but all I think I have left to tell you is that we have bought a carpet! Well it is exciting for us anyway. It is a not very practical shade of cream called buttermilk!

By the way thank you for all the advice after my last post. It really cheered me up, I had a horrible feeling that my annoyance at the fridges and motorbikes in the back garden was just me overreacting so it was good to see that even rational people like yourselves would be annoyed!