Tuesday 25 March 2008

Happy Easter!

Hope everyone's had a lovely Easter break and managed to escape the dreaded lurgey that's going around... Me? Well, me and my Sudafed are best friends at the moment. I was off on annual leave last week and was smitten on Tuesday/Wednesday and spent the remainder of the week in bed, surrounded by boxes of tissues and a big po sorry-for-myself face;) However, there has been some progress on the knitting front...

The socks for DD1's boyfriend are now finished and all ready for his birthday. They have been washed and blocked since this picture was taken and look a lot neater (though no less bright!) now.

I had cast on the Textured Cardigan, by Sarah Hatton, from the Rowan Studio Issue 8. I'd been smitten by the style of this cardigan and had rushed out and bought Rowan Felted Tweed to cast on ... This was a sub though as Scottish Tweed was the recommended yarn for the pattern. The Felted Tweed is beautifully soft and I can't see it being scratchy on the skin. However, the love affair was short lived! Part of the beauty of this yarn, for me, is the little flecks of colour running through the yarn. Ms Anally-Retentive didn't feel that the reverse stocking stitch showed the flecks of colour to best advantage... so frogged the project:( I decided to cast on Bizet (Colinette Cadenza pattern) and I am much happier with this project. I've nearly completed the back and will hopefully have the back cast off before heading back to work on Thursday if lurgey has subsided a little more....
Progress on the back
Close-up of the border
Those wee flecks!

I've also been purchasing thanks to the wonderfully enabling Terri, fellow member on Crafty Yarns n Threads forum. Isn't this droolworthy - Kilcarra Aran yarn? The top picture is fairly close to the actual yarn colour. This is destined to become a Tangled Yoke cardigan if I hit the guage right! If not, I'm hot footing it out to buy more Felted Tweed (shhhhh don't tell MrB, who is the picture of restraint with my already bulging bags of yarn balancing precariously on top of our wardrobes).
Kilcarra Aran

Finally, I'm not the only person who has been dossing aimlessly around on the Blether's beds this week! Meet Marmalade! Obviously all puckered out on DD's bed after a hard night on the prowl:)

Life's hard, eh??

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Sunday 9 March 2008

Birthday boy footwear...

DD1's boyfriend has been hankering for a pair of socks for ages. With his birthday soon approaching, I decided to cast on the first pair of socks I've done since LAST March! I can't believe it's been so long! The yarn is from the newest Rainforest range - Rainforest 3, Veronica die Wilde.

I've used the basic sock pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks (Charlene Schurch) but with the following modifications:
  • changed the plain heel to k1, Slip1 (Is that the Eye of Partridge heel or am I making that name up??)
  • lost the garter stitch edging at the edge of the heel. I've yet to make a tidy job of that whilst picking up the stitches again:(
One done and the 2nd is cast on. Better get a crack on if he's to have a pair for his birthday!

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