WIP: New design

This is a new design for a wrap and is likely to become pattern support for Dodoknitz!! who provided the yarn. I've not given it a final name as yet.

This is knit in Dodo Sock which has excellent yardage and lovely stitch definition. This particular colourway is a new one I think, designed for this pattern and will hopefully be available as a kit in the future

In other news I have been baking! Himself volunteers at a local primary school as a governor and their brand new PTA ran their first ever summer fair at the weekend. This being England it rained but that didn't seem to dampen any spirits. This was my contribution to the cake stall:

35 iced fairy cakes, a chocolate/vanilla marble cake, an iced lemon loaf cake and at the back a tray of butterscotch flapjacks (I recently discovered butterscotch chips at the supermarket).

Baking for school fairs is something I remember my mum doing when I was little and she ran the parish and school cake stalls. For her it was a more military operation involving bakers delivery pallettes and several trips in an estate car so this was very lightweight.

As Himself wasn't allowed to keep any of the cakes above he's very much hoping that he won the 'guess the weight of the fruit cake' competition so keep your fingers crossed.

FO: A Shawl Without a Name

This is my second sisterly shawl which currently lacks a name.

Yarn Yard Crannog, approx 540 yards or 100g of a 150g skein
4mm needles
4 stitch markers
Blocks to 69" wingspan x 23" neck to tip

Audrey Progress

I posted about my Audrey cardigan a little while ago and haven't really mentioned it since but I did make quite a bit of progress before I got distracted by my new design. This is the top of the left front in the Unst lace pattern which I rather like and is incredibly quick to do. Yet to do: the rest of the back and right front, sleeves, button bands and collar. Quite a lot really but since the weather has warmed up nicely I'm less in need of a cardigan

There has also been progress on my new shawl design. When I showed it in my earlier post I'd only done 2 repeats of the pattern (and was making slow work of it) but I've done some more and here it is with 5 repeats completed and then washed and blocked so I could guestimate size and get this out for testing;

I'm rather pleased with it so far although the photo is not brilliant.

And a final update - Personal Remarks and my Waterhouse Mitts are with a tech editor which for these will be the final stage before being released. No progress on my Tortile Beaded Hat but I promise there will be over the summer.

The next sister

It's nearly my sister M's birthday so in honour of the momentous occasion I have been meaning to make her something but have inevitably started too late to be finished on time. M is particularly knitworthy and it was her pregnancy that got me started in knitting about 4 years ago (I think that's right). She has been the recipient of lots of knitted things for her and Small over the past few years and if you lined them all up they would probably make quite an interesting timeline of my learning journey. Some of Small's items have also been passed on to the next smallest in the family so they are being used.

So here is M's shawl in progress - yet to be named as she will be doing the honours. This is a side to side lace shawl with a stocking stitch centre and a double lace border shaped with short rows. The yarn is Yarn Yard Crannog which is a lovely high twist merino in a supersaturated blue-purple. It's particularly fitting to be using Yarn Yard yarns as this shawl will be heading back up to Scotland when finished.

So this will be Shawl 2 in my developing Sisters collection. Personal Comments is being renamed to Personal Remarks (apparently more accurate) and is in testing at the moment.

Audrey in Progress (not Unst)

Audrey in Progress (not Unst), a photo by pmc_blonde on Flickr.

This is my latest WIP

Pattern: Audrey in Unst from Twist Collective
Yarn: Wendy Sorrento in Dove (from Modern Knitting)
Needles: 3.75mm, 3.5mm, 3.25mm
Size: 34.5"

Progress so far: 3.5" (26 rows) of twisted rib which is very slow going but a lovely effect

Raspberry Parade

So this is my latest FO - an adapted Fetherweight cardigan. I've been making this for ages and get getting bored with the sleeves

Yarn: 110g of Forsell Pure New Wool Superwash 3ply in Fuschia
Needles: 4mm
Mods: increased on the neckline for a slightly waterfall effect, long sleeves with deeper ribbed cuffs, a narrower collar, 3ply yarn not 2ply or 4ply...

It was a bit overcast and windy when I was taking the pictures. Every time I got it lined up the wind shifted or the sun went in.

So in other news I have started an 'Audrey in Unst' Cardigan in Wendy Sorrento (shade Dove) as a smart work cardigan for the summer.

And the raspberries in the garden are starting to ripen up nicely. We had our first tiny crop of plump dark red berries and our first home grown garlic. With homegrown fruit and Wimbledon starting is this the start of the British summer?

I've been making...Personal Remarks

So this is my latest shawl - Personal Comments

Knit in Wollmeise and Yarn Yard Clan, this turned out to be larger than I'd planned (no bad thing) at 56" x 26"

It's currently being tested by two lovely Ravellers (thank you Kerry and Heike) and then will be tech edited and released.

The name comes from my sister J who is one of the few people in my family who can wear red successfully. The Wollmeise yarn seemed like a very J colour so I thought this should have a J related name. When I was growing up my sisters were very influential and pretty much brought me up. One of the life lessons J taught me was that making personal comments about people was wrong and spiteful something that I try (and sometimes fail) to bear in mind in adult life. So this one is my J shawl and might, just might, be the first in a series of sisterly inspired shawls.

And some more pictures...