Winter warmers

The weather here has turned blustery and wintry. Perfect weather for encouraging me to finish Loppem? Errr, sadly no. Once the pattern errors were sorted out via the Berroco errata page, Loppem just glided along. I've only to finish the edging around the sleeves and, voila, new winter warmer would be ready for the wearing.... However, the required 40cm 5mm cable needle continues with its stitch holder function on the one-armed February Lady sweater languishing in the corner. Hopefully, I'll get my act (and needles!) in gear over the weekend:o)

Loppem

So what does the avoidant finisher do in this situation? Of course, start another project! I've cast on a Forest Canopy shawl and if it turns out well, it'll be part of mum's Christmas present. The yarn completely lives up to its name - Fyberspates Scrumptious DK yarn in Moss colourway.

Fyberspates Scrumptious DK
Forest Canopy Shawl

The yarn has a 45% silk content and is so soft to the touch. It's a joy to work with. At the moment, it's looking more blobbish than like a canopy - but I'm sure blocking will work its magic. I've had to order a further skein of yarn as the one skein is not going to be enough. There's a plus though to the yarn shortage - Forest Canopy now comes as a cowl and I'm hopeful that there should be enough yarn to make one of those too.

ooOoo

Tending to one's self care can be a taxing business, can it not? This recent picture of Louise had us chuckling! Can you tell she enjoyed her grooming session courtesy of DD1? What a life, eh?

ET go home

MissBlethersTheElder was mooching about how cold she was feeling and requested a cardigan to keep her cosy. She sounds less and less the typical rebellious teenager with the"Bah! I feel NO cold and am wearing NO bloomin' vest, mum!". She asked for a February Lady Sweater and selected her own yarn. Now here's where we are sometimes at the mercy of our computer screens, isn't it? The yarn appeared a darkish blue online. I voiced some doubt at the time, given the subtle clue the shade was labelled 'Lavender'. MissBTE did not shift from her "blue" stance. Without further ado, please welcome Miss BTE's PURPLE cardigan;o)

February Lady Sweater - Part 2

Started 16/8/08 -Finished 5/9/08

Size: XXS

Needles: US 8 / 5.0 mm
Yarn: Cascade 220 Wool
Skeins: 4 skeins = 880.0 yards (804.7m)
Colorway: 8888 Lavender

ooOoo

On the non-knitting front, I've been back at work for a week now and have started the new extended work pattern. The plan is that I work an extra 45 minutes daily for 9 days, then have every 2nd Friday off. To date, it's felt ok and it's amazing just how much you can get done when the office is quiet:o)

The appointment with the Sleep Clinic took place this week. I was sent home with the test equipment and spent Wednesday evening trussed up like a turkey! Let me conjure the scene a little ... 3 seat belt type straps wrapped round my middle, interlinked with wires monitoring my chest and diaphragm ... a wire going from the central box (attached to my tummy), down my arm to the middle finger, monitoring the heart. When we switched the bedroom lights off, it became very apparent that the finger monitor glowed red in the dark, similar to a small torch. This produced ET "Go home" giggles for us! The ensemble was accessorised with a set of racy nostril monitors attractively draped around my ears and taped to my cheeks and neck. No wonder MrB said "Not tonight, Josephine";o) After this round of night terrors (well the vision of me wearing it was pretty terrible!), I'll feel somewhat cheated if the results are negative!!

It may be September, but...

... it's cold enough for February!

Or, to be more precise, a February Lady Sweater. Pamela Wynne designed this pattern which has taken the knitting world (or at least, Ravelry!) by storm. Pamela has very generously made the pattern available, free, at www.flintknits.com. It's an extremely clearly written pattern and can be modified to suit personal tastes very easily.

I finished off this one recently and have made notes of the modifications I made as I went along:

Started: 19/7/08

Finished: 15/8/08

Yarn: New Lanark Mills Donegal Silk Tweed Aran in Cobalt

Quantity: approximately 650g

Raglan increases:
I replaced the original m1's to yo's instead. This eliminated the need to work with stitch markers.

Garter stitch yoke:
Added an extra 11 rows of garter stitch after the increase row to accommodate my "hearty beauties"!

Button holes:
Added a 4th button hole to draw the yoke in more at the chest and to create more shape at the bust line.

Eyelet row:
Removed the eyelets and used kfb instead as didn't want the small row of eyelets above the gull stitch pattern.

Gull pattern:
Completed 20 patterns of the gull stitch (4 row pattern) for main part of the body.

A word of warning to those who have not yet tackled this pattern, it's addictive!! You may have to cast on more than one. Perhaps a subtle clue about future "finish off" pictures to come, you reckon?

ooOoo

On a personal front, some good news ... The reason behind my trip home and the pictures from the last entry was that the girls and I were visiting my mum whilst she was in hospital. After an admission of more than 5 weeks, mum is now home from hospital. It's great that she's back home, with an increased support package which should bring positive changes for both mum and dad.