Colour therapy...

Phew ... mid January already! Like many others in blogland have already said, I find much of January a flat, dismal driech month. Those endless days of steely grey, heavy skies ... the cold ... rain ... all seem to impact my mood a little and there's not much pleasure in reading about it here is there? However, there is one brighter, happier note always in this drab month too - DD1's birthday. Tomorrow my young lady turns 19 years old and has achieved much over the past year - she completed her A levels and gained a place at University, studying for a BA in Business Excellence; she passed her driving test and bought herself her first car; she's continued to work part-time and has recently announced her engagement. I thought that I'd managed to pass on my aversion to the marital status - but MsB is obviously less cynical in the romantic front than me;) Her presents are to be wrapped tonight and, one year, the poor lamb will receive gifts that are NOT wrapped in Christmas paper - but the tradition will continue for this year at least!

Whilst some folk have signed up to Project Spectrum to inject colour into these dreary months, I didn't feel able to commit to such a long term project. Instead, I have developed my own version of this colour/life enhancing strategy ... I've cast on another project! I'm knitting a short sleeved cardigan from a Noro pattern book I'd not come across before, Noro Designer Mini Knits by Jenny Wilson.


The pattern is really straightforward and is knitted in Noro Silk Garden. I've used a couple of other Noro yarns (Kureyon, Blossom and Iro) before and have found Silk Garden much softer on the fingers than others used in the past. The stitches are to be picked up around the neck and the seams sewn and that'll be my first big FO for 2008!



This colour filled inspiration came about in my LYS, Yarns N Yarns (Penarth, Cardiff). Having popped in there to buy a set of dpn's to cast on Jitterbug socks, I succumbed and bought the Noro yarn and pattern book. 2 pairs of bamboo straight pins also fell into the basket and THESE! I love these buttons and have no clue yet what project will eventually be knitted around them .... but till then I'm just going to enjoy looking at and loving them!


DD1 has 'encouraged' (read 'pestered', 'nagged' or 'cajoled') me to return to the dreaded Blue Mile project - the pseudonym for the Sirdar Sweater Dress pattern she wants finished. There has been progress on this front too and it's to be my 2nd FO for this year. The back and most of the front are completed...


I'm not sure where I went wrong with the girls .... they both love knitted boredom, or to subject me to those type of projects:( DD2, the Princess of Chavsville, never asks for any knitted items usually - but had requested that mum produce a white, garter stitch scarf. Here it is!

The yarn is a chenille-type baby yarn purchased from Hobbycraft, Newport and I used 3 out of the 4 purchased balls to get the length MissB desired. The same yarn was purchased in a baby pink shade to make a similar version for her elder sister ... and it'll be cast on the next time I need a knitting lobotomy:)