HOLIDAY MAGIC!

 

Good evening! What a really lovely week it's been here on the eastern side of the UK. We've had lots of warm, Spring sunshine, with temperatures bringing out the bare arms and legs!  I captured the sunsets at Whitlingham Lake, where we take Oscar for his early morning or evening walks. The sun sets over western end of the lake, so we aim to be at the eastern end just as it sinks. Beautiful!

Knitting has been a rather 'mixed bag' this week; some success mixed with indecision and impatience. First the success....

The Juno Fibre Arts yarn that I had originally chosen for my 'Spriteling' has become a pair of 'Lilac Pool Socks'. The pattern is 'Rib Fantastic' from one of my favourite books, 'Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn', by Carol J. Sulcoski. I've used the pattern before and it works beautifully with this kind of yarn. The colouring is working out really nicely. I'm not too keen on colour pooling. The pattern produces a stretchy, comfy fit.

I've also begun a little Spring jacket for Sophie, using the yarn that I'd started a cabled coat with for her, way back last Autumn. Needless to say, I lost the cabling mojo and when I finally pulled it from the bottom of my basket last week, I realised I no longer had enough yarn to finish it in the size now required. Babies grow way too quickly! So, I'm now making the 'Daisy Cardigan' from Debbie Bliss's book, 'Simply Baby'. 

I'm using the gorgeously soft 'Baby Cashmerino', in this very delicate pale lilac. The daisies are blanket stitched on, around the eylet holes. 

I've wound this cake of Wollmeise, ready for the long car journey up to Pickering on Friday. 

 I'm using it to make Anne Hanson's 'Cinder Block Socks'. I had already begun to knit this pattern, using the Juno Fibre Arts yarn shown above. Prior to that, the Juno yarn had been used to swatch for 'Spriteling'. Indecision, indecision, indecision!!!!!!! The lovely sock pattern was lost, as was the 'Spriteling' pattern. It's a hard lesson to learn, that sometimes you just HAVE to use a solid, or at least a semi-solid colour, to give the pattern it's full glory. I'll show you more of these later in the week.

Last, but not least, I have finally got going on 'Spriteling', the Soctopus mystery shawl KAL, for the runup to Knit Nation 2011! I had been very indecisive last week, when trying to select just the right yarn. I finally began knitting using the Old Maiden Aunt yarn that I showed you last time. It was way too hairy! It just didn't look right.

 Sooooooo, yesterday afternoon, I sat out in the sun and tried again. This time I used the yarn that I had first intended to use, but felt it might be a litttle too dark. It's a Malabrigo light sock yarn, in the colourway, Cote d'Azur. I am really happy with my final choice and felt that I'd made great progress. This afternoon I planned to repeat yesterday's success and hopefully make plenty of headway in completing the 58 rows released so far.

But......... oh no! ERROR spotted! I knew I should have added a lifeline! Can you see it?

Out it all came...... not once, but twice! It's okay though, I wasn't stressed, I wasn't bothered..... I'm on holiday, so it's all okay! 

Third time lucky and with a lifeline in place on every tenth row, I can now show you the progress so far, to Row 30.

It's been a well written and easy to follow pattern, so far. I'm no great lace knitter, so this one is quite an adventure for me! I'm loving it so far! The yarn's true colour is very much more as the colour in the top photo. The above shot was taken in full sunlight this afternoon, but it gives you a little taster.

Well, I think that's quite enough to keep me going for the next two weeks. I always like to have some new projects lined up for the holidays.

I'll leave you with a couple of shots of young Oscar, taken today as he played 'hide and seek' in the garden and investigating the first rhubarb harvest of the year, that Mr Snoops brought back from his allotment this afternoon. By the way, the rhubarb crumble has already been made and eaten.

Hoping to see you during the week sometime! Have a great week!