While I was away ...

... I managed to complete loads of stuff.

Such as, the beautiful but damned near unwearable Naga socks. Those babies have almost no ease at all. Once on they fit really well, but getting them on and off is a menace.






Made Cookie A's wonderful Monkey. They fitted me pretty well, but a friend was about to go to a university whose team colours I'd made the socks in, so I gave them to her.






Also continued my love affair with all things Noro, making the Noro Silk Garden Striped Scarf that was so much in evidence on ravelry and the knitting blogosphere last winter. The yarn was a delight to work with and the resulting colour changes were mesmerising. I am looking longingly at Noro Silk Garden sock yarn but those will be such spectacular socks I don't know who to make them for, or if I'd ever get enough wear out of them myself.


Perhaps my happiest bit of knitting was turning a truly awful crocheted scarf on which I'd squandered some terrific wool I'd bought in Reykjavik during one of the two visits I've made (so far, intend to go back) to Iceland. It was too big, itchy and never got used. Big scarves look good on Tom Baker-era Dr Who, not me.




















I frogged it and made it into a very useful felted bag, which I lined with and made handles out of some left over silk grosgrain that I'd bought for a client during my dress-making days. I may shave the wool slightly as it's a bit too fuzzy and starting to pill due to much use.

The Scot in me thoroughly approves of not giving up on good yarn just because it was in a bad project. I'm now looking at a few other vile dreadful useless ill-conceived projects that can be considered a waste of good yarn.













The Möbius wrap that sucked up three skeins of wool/silk has already been frogged. Such lovely (and expensive) yarn - I can't waste it on something that won't get used and I don't love. Thinking of making a cowl in the Monkey stitch from Cookie A's sock.

Been away so long ...

So much knitting, working, living, that no blogging has happened for a while.

The Lizard Ridge blanket is gorgeous. I finally used 20 skeins of Noro Kureyon, mattress stitched the five resulting strips together and edged in very plain crochet using Cascade 220. A rinse in the washing machine on Delicate and it was ready to pin out on the spare bed.




The cat hopped up on to the damp wool before I had even finished blocking, tried to claw it and then settled down for a good, fur-bearing scratch. He had to be escorted from the room and the door closed over night while the blanket dried.




However, despite the feline terrorist's best efforts, the result of all those short rows is very pleasing and now draped over the back of the navy blue sofa in the front room.






Also finished the Starsky, despite using the wrong yarn for the project. The stuff I used (Bernat Bamboo in shade Linen) doesn't have much stitch definition and is currently shedding like a Golden Retriever in hot weather.



However, it's a pretty nice pattern and I've worn it quite a bit already. The yarn's texture has helped cover up the mistakes too, so much so that even my A-Type knitting personality was able to chill the hell out relax and refrain from frogging.

The self-patterning socks are ... finished. They do not excite me, but completion's always good. I have named them Very Vanilla Socks, since that's what they are - cuff-down, knit only, no shaping. Yawn.



The Path of Flowers stole may be the death of me. That Rowan Kidsilk Haze is undoubtedly lovely stuff to touch and to look at, and when it behaves it's good to work with. However the tiny, teeny little stringy bit in the middle gets lost in the fuzz around it, which clings to itself and disguises the fact that a stitch was dropped many, many rows back. Once such dropped stitch turned up below two, count 'em, two, lifelines. And that sucker's going to be BIG - here it is at about the half-way mark.