We interrupt this program...

...to give you an adorable shot of my 14 month old girl, trying to knit her own sweater.

Someone's been watching mummy.

Maybe I should knit less.

...Nah.

I'm a mum, what can I say?

Well, blogging with the bub asleep on my chest once more, after nearly an hour of cuddles and screaming (from both of us, naturally). The family has been downed, one by one, by a vicious virus that left us snorking and feverish, with the feeling our heads would float off if we didn't hold them so tightly. The only family member to escape unscathed was the Boy, who really, didn't get off too lightly, as he managed to break his arm. I didn't feel like it would be kind to point out that I had warned him not to run in the house, particularly in socks, on the hardwood, but let's be honest, by the time he was smiling again, I was thinking, 'that'll learn ya.'

As a consequence, the knitting, much less the completion and photographing, has been sporadic at best. I've popped out a few little things here and there, for instance my monkeys:

Love them. Wearing them to death, and dubious about the merits of merino in a sock.

I also used 5/6 of my balls of Patons Classic Wool to make a pleated sweater from Interweave Knits Summer 2014. Here it is, spotted in the wild with the Boy's striped Cascade scrap vest.

I have no better images to supply. Lest you believe I'm falsifying my inability to knit, let me point out that it was knit at an extremely loose guage, on 6 mm needles, with multiple errors. It worked up quickly, although I've since I had to reinforce the neckline with crochet to prevent sagging.  

I've been making concerted attempts at completing Celestarium, as I know who it would make a perfect birthday gift for, but as kids and seed beads don't mix, and my children seem to fuel on my frustration, not the usual sleep, I'm taking that one round at a time. 

I'll end this post with a gratuitous cute baby shot, which coincidentally contains the Girl wearing the shortened garter cardigan I made from a leftover ball of Mission Falls 1824 wool and a 60 Quick Baby Knits pattern. Oh, and a dress I made ages ago from the same. 

Tomorrow was further than expected.

Okay, so I said tomorrow. Then our application on a gorgeous, heritage listed miners cottage was approved and things got a bit nuts. So excited, we move tomorrow. Squee!

In Canada, I bought:
- 6 balls of a ruby coloured Patons Silk Bamboo, to make a drapey tee.
- 4 assorted colours of the same, because I fell in love with it.
- 6 balls of Patons Classic Wool Worstec, for a sweater dress of some sort
- 2 skeins of Cascade Eco+ in Straw for an Aidez, like all the cool kids are knitting
- 1 skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock lightweight in 'Gingerbread Dude', because I have wanted to try it forever.
- 1 skein of Garnstudio Drops alpaca silk lace, ditto
- 2 skeins of Wollmeise pure in a 'gemischt' (matching) WD grab bag
- 1 skein of 'Vincent and the Doctor' on superwash merino sock from Quaere, which is so, so pretty
- 4 skeins of brown Briggs and Little Heritage, because I'm Canadian
- 4 skeins in green heather of the same
- 1 skein of Custom Woolen Mills Mulespinner in a green heather as well
- 1 skein of River City Yarns Adam and Eve in 'mount tabor'

I'm sure I've left some out. In other words, enough yarn to fill a medium suitcase, and keep me knitting for some time. If you're ever in Stony Plain, Alberta,  do yourself a favour and stop at Pam's Wooly Shoppe. What a treasure trove of delights that place was! A huge stock of yarns from around the world, and spinning supplies too. I bought a braid of Fleece Artist BFL roving, as well as the Eco+ and Briggs and Little. A lovely little spindle, too. Such a gorgeous shop.

 In an effort to clear out my stash to make room, I made a twee coat for the littlest,  seen here:

 I used up some leftover Cascade 220 from hubby's scarf (and the incorrect colour I ordered) and some vintage buttons from Blackheath, 'cause I hear that's a thing. I've also knit the son a vest of Cascade 220 scraps, but I'll blog about that once the zipper is in.

In my usual style of making it up as I go along, I'm using some Newmerino from Shorn Fibers to make the father in law some ski socks for his birthday. This stuff feels like velvet, but I want more. Thankfully have a second skein to knit a surprise present for a wonderful lady. The stitch definition is phenomenal. Look.

So gorgeous. I am late to the bandwagon in knitting Monkey, but I finished the first sock while I was away and I'm halfway down the leg of the second. I love them. Obviously, I'm not the first. 

So much to do, as always. I'm only catching up now because the baby is asleep on my chest, and I can't move. I have a bladder of iron. Ta!

I'm not dead!

I've just been in Canada for three weeks. While I catch up enough to write an engaging post about it all, have a look at the haul:

(Top photo, left to right in a spiral: 4 skeins of brown Briggs and Little Heritage, 4 skeins of the same in grey heather...oh you know what? I'll tell you all of it later. It's late and I am tired. See how many you can guess until tomorrow. )

Wild ride.

I'm too tired to pen a clever, witty and engaging post at the moment. I'm taking the kids on a last minute trip to visit the family in Canada next week, and this has led to an insane amount of finishing. It seems not wanting to leave a pile of WIPs and UFOs scattered in my absence was the impetus I needed to get off of my ass and get completing. So instead, while I crank out the projects,  you get crappy, poorly focused photos (if any at all) and pithy descriptions until I am home (with the suitcase of wool I plan to bring home...) and drinking something alcoholic after handing both children to my husband, who will have had two weeks of blissful freedom. Punk.

First up, I completed my red tweed pullover. I even wore it, all day. Did I take a picture? Nope. It fits gorgeously, and even though it's a bit scratchy,  it's exactly what I wanted.

I sewed both kids some desperately needed new pj pants. The boy got yellow flannel, which was an awesome op shop find for $5 for around 3 meters, and the bub got a soft corduroy covered in deer. I am a crap...sewist? Sewer? Dressmaker?...I suck at sewing. But I have faith that if I keep doing it, one day I won't suck quite so much. These had French seams, at least.

With free demon child!

I finished the husband's birthday Doctor Who scarf, pared down to 9.5 feet from the original 22. Cascade 220 on 5.5mm needles.  Lovely. 

Made a mei tai to carry bub through airport. Broke all the needles that came with machine. Smartened up and bought proper denim needles. Sewed hood on backward. Decided I didn't care. 

Got these in the mail from FiberArtemis on Etsy. Rainbow is perendale, gradient is Romney. Spun perendale into nav-ply for socks, which I am halfway through. 

I've also done a cute little smocked dress for bub, which I need to photograph.

Not the world's most engaging post, but I'm still trying to finish two separate socks, half a bobbin of yarn, plus packing and you know, parenting. And maybe, you know, ordering yarn I can only get while I'm in Canada. Hehe. 

Inspiration

I've been finding it everywhere lately. Of course there's the usual places, like the gorgeous old pieces in my costume dramas (which Australia produces excellently), and the millions of knitted garments one passes just walking through Sydney on a busy day, but also in things like these tiles, spotted in the floor of the Queen Victoria Building:

In the bathroom,  of all places. 

Near an escalator.

The top one I see as an all over pattern on a 50's style stranded colourwork vest. The bottom would make a gorgeous yoke for a lopapeysa-style pullover. 

Even little things, like my own hair (yes, I realize how conceited that sounds, but I'm not shy), which looks like this in the sunlight,

It's a pretty nifty mix of blonde, brown, reddish gold and the greys I've had since I turned twenty-one. I want it in yarn form, and yes, occasionally, after a fibre binge, I wonder how it would go spun up. Thankfully, I like having it long, and I haven't reached that level of poverty or insanity quite yet.

When I'm not considering spinning my own hair, I'm continuing on sleeve one of the red Donegal tweed pullover, using a nifty 9" Hiya Hiya circular, and reknitting the heinous Dr Who scarf which was my first knitted item in much nicer wool and with the appropriate needle size. It's being done in Cascade 220,  on 5.5mm needles for added drape, and is coming up a treat,  despite the orange being just slightly off. The hubby likes it, good enough for me. 

The original and its replacement. Forgive the nighttime shot.

I've completed a few rows of the E charts on Celestarium, after printing the pattern, which made it MUCH easier to not constantly lose my place.  Of course, this necessitated a project bag, as I'm keen on organization. Having some fabric in the stash, I came up with a shape I would like, hoped, and started sewing. I made one smallish prototype which is perfect for socks, and a larger one just right for a sweater, or in this case, a shawl, with all the kinks ironed out. They both have a drawstring closure and a generous pocket inside, and are fully lined.

Lastly, and forgive the show and tell air, but I honestly forget what I've made without recording it somehow, I finished the handspun socks, which are really yummy and only took about 80 grams of 3 ply handspun. Seen here with baby foot, as she wanted in to the shot. 

Toasty toes, happy fingers.

I think I've mentioned before that I'm not super keen on sock knitting. Now, the real reason that was the case was because I found it intolerably fiddly. Whether I did them magic loop or double pointed needles, it involved a lot of scooching and manoeuvring that just drove me mad.

Enter the Hiya Hiya 9" circular needle, purchased here. This nifty little needle had me churn out these lovelies in just two days (my previous record was about 2 months from procrastination).

To be fair, I think the speed was a combination of the lovely new circ and the super nifty self-striping yarn I grabbed on my last visit to The House of Wool. It's from Heathermaid, who is on Etsy. I can't be bothered linking right now.

But that's not all! As soon as those babies were kitchenered shut (a change from my usual toe-up, two at a time method), I cast on for a new pair of socks using my handspun, as seen below.

I can't express how proud I am of that handspun. It's the first time I've spun consistently and thinly enough to make socks, and although I did this first skein as a test (it's a mere 30 grams), I am itching to spin for sock two. This yarn is two plies of worsted-spun blue faced leicester, and one ply of 50/50 merino/silk from Skein. The merino silk is a lot harder to draft evenly (for this beginner, anyhow), so that ply varies a little in thickness, but on the whole, it's pretty good. I'm loving the barber pole effect, which comes from getting bored of the plain white BFL (lovely fibre though it is) on bobbin 2 of 3.

Funny story about skeining up that there yarn. Lacking a niddy noddy, I tend to wind off around two chairs in the kitchen. Well, last night around 10 PM (that should be a warning right there), I had the brilliant idea to get a more uniform, easy to measure skein by winding off around three legs of an upturned chair. I wound the yarn, measured the length, found my yardage (74 metres), and went to remove the skein to be washed. Well. One should check that the chair legs are straight. This particular chair's legs widened at the base. Sigh. So after a goodly amount  of staring (and swearing), I rewound around my arm. Lesson learned.

Oh! I finished the Tardis sweater. The front bit is a little irritating, but overall, considering I designed the thing on a whim, I'm content. Besides, the boy LOVES it. I had to pry it from his sleeping form to weave the last end in.

As a happy fluke, there are 12 Tardis' on the yoke, and one iconic bow-tie. Accidental cleverness. The red sweater only needs and inch or two on the bottom edge, the cheviot cardi is sitting untouched, and I think there's a fine layer of dust on Celestarium. Naughty. Must make socks!

A fierce case of startitis.

I can't seem to settle on a project lately. I just want it all, now, which makes no sense, as working on five projects at once leads to more waiting, not less. Any how, I'm currently working on:

Simple raglan shaping with a garter stitch panel at the sides. Cast on 100 plus 2 stitches at every raglan point.

This little tweed pullover, from the Debbie Bliss Luxury Donegal tweed I mentioned a while back,

This cabled, steeked cardigan,  which I'm designing and noting as I go. It has a few cute details, and although I've ripped and restarted once already, I have high hopes for it. Mm, cheviot.

A pile of blanket pieces:

Washed and blocked.

And in addition to that which I photographed,  I finished weaving a short alpaca scarf, warped up for a massive shawl for the mother in law out of alpaca, merino and cashmere, finished the body and 3/4 of the sleeves for a bottom up, round yoke pullover with stranded Tardis' for the boy, and finished a few rows of charts d1 and d2 of Celestarium. 

How many projects do you keep on the go?

Winter is coming!

I'll be prepared this time, because I have this:

Bunny goodness!

My obsessive reading of every archived post of Mason Dixon knitting led to me making a keyhole scarf. I love the thing. I used a little under one 50 gram ball of Sublime Angora Merino, which is super duper soft. The stuff sticks to itself like velcro, so simple is certainly best, but the results are sooo lovely. I can certainly see the addictive nature of this pattern, which can be found here. Bow tie scarves for everyone! I think it would be a great use for those little balls of luxury yarns one buys in a weak moment. 

I finished up the little pants for the bub, and I think they look pretty awesome, although I seriously mucked up my jogless stripes technique. I'll stick to Techknitter's jogless stripes technique from now on. Here's a shot which has been artfully arrange to disguise said stripes:

These were made with leftover Cascade 220, in a lovely silver heather (I lost the ballband some time ago), and the stripes are some Heirloom merino magic, in a shade I'll have to guess because I'm too lazy to run upstairs and get the info from the ballband. It's a sweet rosy pink, and I have sufficient to make a little pullover or cardigan to match.

Speaking of cardigans, I have a need to make Baby Sophisticate, and I know just the baby to wear it. My husband's godmother's grandson (now that's a mouthful) is the most delightfully expressive little boy, and I think the combination of those expressions with that cardigan will make the most adorable little old man ever. I better get knitting before the kid grows any more!

Multi-tasking.

Well, I've been keeping busy. After a marathon night of mattress stitching a collar on (aarrrrgh), hubby got his flash new sweater. Sans pockets. Because I just couldn't face any more hand stitching.

Wanna be model.

It fits pretty well, although it grew massively downward during blocking. Thankfully this time that was a blessing, as my long-torsoed honey wanted it good and long. I like to live on the wild side and skip the swatch. Naughty. I'm not 100% satisfied with the button placement, but again, I just couldn't face any more sewing. The buttons themselves are gorgeous, wooden with little maple leaves. I nabbed them at Wool Addiction on a rare child-free excursion to Bowral. 

I've also begun a long-awaited blanket for the big boy. I've been promising the kid a blanket of his own since I finished baby's moderne log cabin (man, I love Mason Dixon Knitting), back in August. Not entirely sure why, as the kid overheats in a sheet and we don't exactly live in the great white north any longer (I'm Canadian, did I mention?), but a promise is a promise, so I dug out the wool I've been stockpiling, bought a supplementary bunch of Heirloom Merino Magic from Bubs 2 Grubs, and cast on for my first square. Except, I was watching a particularly gripping episode of Person of Interest, and I was knitting on the bias. I increased every row until I reached 6" on the legs of the triangle (53 stitches for me), then decreased every row, slipping the first stitch. What I got surprised me. 

Woops.

Increase every SECOND row. Second row. That's what I was aiming for. But hey, it's a "design feature", and I'm just gonna pretend that was my idea all along. I've got a small stack of diamonds now, and I think it might just work.

The baby nearly has another pair of pants: 

They're loosely based on Kanoko  pants, which I made for the bub when she was tiny. I couldn't be darned finding the pattern at the time, so I flew by the seat of my pants. I knitted the waistband by casting on loosely, knitting a few inches of ribbing back and forth, knitting the cast on stitches together with the live (after folding the ribbing down), and joining to work in the round. Leaves a nice tube for a drawstring without the need for more stitching. When I'm done knitting, I like my knits to be DONE. These pants have had an exciting life, as I started them on a solo train journey I took without realising Sydney was about to be hit by the worst rain storm in 30 years. My brother in law was kind enough to rescue me from the station, only to discover the road home was flooded and cars were backed up 5 km. During the hour it took to drive around the mess, I made some excellent progress! I've won the in-law lottery.

Better get dinner on the go.

Genius

So, I haven't any new knitting pictures, because the rain has been coming down for a week. You'll have to take my word that I'm nearly finished hubby's sweater, I've up to charts d1 and d2 on the stunning Celestarium, using Ozifarmer's Market silky lace, in a beautiful blue-to-pink gradient, and I designed and whipped out a little merino shrug for my shop. Or, at least,  that's how I'm telling it. I'm not mentioning that laziness turned the shrug I had intended to wear myself and worked tirelessly over in an attempt to wear it to the baptism into something to fit a small girl. Nope. I wouldn't do that. Nor would I design without a gauge swatch.  Nope.

What I would do, however, is have a long and emphatic conversation at my favourite yarn shop, regarding how I can't buy that stunning purple BFL, because I just don't like, and hence, wear, the colour purple. While wearing a purple t shirt. Which I appropriately noticed an hour later. Oh, the shame.

Gone, like the wind

I had a moment, earlier, when I was thinking something spectacularly amusing and intelligent, and I thought to myself, that, that is what you should be writing in that blog of yours, and then I dragged two tired kids to mass, ate a very late supper, had tiny fingers up my nose while giving an impromptu anatomy lesson...and forgot.  Just plum forgot, between the nose being pulled, and being screamed at (oh, bedtime), but I swear,  it would have been a glorious blog post.

But hey. I'm knitting a Link hat for a grown man, because I think he'll look great in it, and I just happened to have the exact shade of Cascade 220 on my shelf.

What is age, but a number?

Oh, blog readers. I can no longer claim to be young, hip, or cool. Okay, so perhaps I never have been able to, but any chance I ever had of claiming it has dissipated irrevocably. You see, my much cooler brother-in-law, who is in a two person cover band with his equally cool girlfriend, is playing a gig in a super cool bar in the awesomely cool City (you see where I am going here? Cool). My effortlessly cool other brother in law has gone down to watch said gig, and although I dithered, and considered, and even brushed my teeth...the lure of child-free, husband-free knitting was too strong. I am on the couch, periodically trying on a sleeve from the sweater I'm whipping up in the Skeinz Cheviot Aran I hand-dyed. I ended up overdying it with a blue/black mix, and it's lovely if I do say so myself.

Yea verily, I be not of the cool variety. But I am content. Mostly. Sorry, brothers in law.

Still alive, still knitting.

I've been busy, I swear. Firstly, I've been buying yarn. Heaps of it. Compulsively, it would seem, as I glance guiltily at my yarn shelf, which looks like this:

Forgive the crappy quality. I need a real camera. 

In my defense, my favourite shop  (which we only get to every few months) had an amazing sale and I was in need of a sweater quantity of red. That's it on top of my hand cards. I bought 10 balls of Debbie Bliss Luxury Aran Tweed, at a fantastic 30% off, for which I am still hunting for an appropriate pattern. May just have to write something up myself.

In the nearly two weeks I've been away,  I've completed (and worn many times) the cotton pullover I designed. I love the flattering fit, though I could have knit a little longer. Laziness won in the end. With it being a top down raglan,  it's easily adjusted.
My husband took the model-esque photos on the gorgeous south coast this past weekend. The shot below shows better detail on the mock-cable (it's really just knitting a few stitches out of order) detail on the front and sleeves.

I especially like that I paid about $20 for this shirt, as I scored the yarn at the Morris and Sons winter sale. It's Fibranatura Cottonwood, which is discontinued (I'm seeing I buy a lot of discontinued yarns...bad designer), in 41115. I used six of the ten balls I snapped up for $30, so I'll whip up something for the bub.

We were down on the South Coast this weekend for my nephew's baptism, and I wouldn't be a knitter if I hadn't whipped something up to wear for the ceremony! I attempted this pattern about ten times over the past year (I've been knitting for a year this week, whoo!), never managing to get past the halfway mark of chart B1 without frogging. I put the pattern in time out about nine months ago, but with a week to go until the baptism, I thought what the hey. So I dragged it out, grabbed the gorgeous August Bird flare fingering in "stonefall" I had been hoarding since November, and gave it one more go.

More artsy photography.

Success! I love this shawl. It's soft, warm, and airy, and looks equally beautiful worn as a kerchief or pinned around my shoulders for maximum effect. It's the "Petal Shawlette", from Sock Yarn One Skein Wonders. modified slightly to suit my needs. As I used my 4.5 mm needles (I didn't really read the pattern prior to starting, and was NOT going to frog this attempt, damn it), I cut the shawl off with four rows left of chart C, as it was plenty large.

Better get the kidlet to school...

On a non knitting note...

Does anyone else's kid go out of their way to be irritating before your first cup of coffee? I swear mine just sat down as I was trying to enjoy my breakfast (cake I made yesterday, so sue me), waved a clicking plastic "weapon" and screeched "NING NING NING NING NING". It's going to be a long day. Thank god for school.

(But not for the germs school brings.  The baby has watery eyes and a snotty snout.)

Success!

I forgot to mention, in the end I completed that pesky christening gown, as well as jotted down a quick pattern for it (which I'm unfortunately not releasing as the gown is available as a custom knit in my shop) and I have to say, I'm quite pleased with it! I used Bendigo Woolen Mills Luxury 8 Ply in "cream". Took just a little under 100 grams.

Free pattern! Ruffled Shawlette

As promised. Do let me know if you spot any errors!

Ruffled Shawlette

Materials: 50 grams (200 metres) each of Australian Alpaca Barn’s Panache 4 ply, in Taupe, Grape and Mulberry (I used every last scrap of the mulberry, you may wish to purchase a second ball of your edging colour to be safe). As gauge is not important for this project, feel free to sub in the 4 ply (fingering weight) yarn of your choice. Please bear in mind this may change the meterage required.

4.5 mm 100 cm circular needles

Stitch marker

Body:

C/O 5 stitches using main colour, placing marker between the second and third stitch. The third stitch will be the center stitch, or backbone of your shawl.

Row 1: Knit across, using the Elizabeth Zimmermann M1 (backwards loop cast on) to make one stitch after the marker, K1, M1 and knit across.

Row 2: Slip 1 stitch purlwise, YO, purl to last stitch, YO, P1

Row 3 (Contrast colour): Slip 1 stitch purlwise, YO, knit to marker, M1, K1, M1, knit to end of row.

Row 4: Slip 1 stitch purlwise, YO, purl across to last stitch, YO, P1.

Repeat rows 3 and four, changing colours every second row (IE: Knit one row, purl one row, switch colours) until shawl is desired size. End on a right side row (knit the last row).

Edging:

The edging is knitted on sideways and utilises short rows to emphasize the ruffles, so you begin by casting on 13 stitches on your left-hand needle.

Row 1: Knit across these 13 stitches

Row 2: P10, turn, K10

Row 3: P10, K3, knitting the last stitch together with 1 stitch from the main body of the shawl

Row 4: K3, P10

Row 5: K10, turn, P10

Row 6: Knit across, knitting the last stitch together with a stitch from the shawl body.

Repeat these rows across the length of your shawl, until there are no remaining stitches from the shawl body. Bind off.

To Block: Soak shawl in warm water with a mild wool wash (I use Eucalan, Soak, or Unicorn Fibre Wash) for a minimum of 30 minutes. Remove from the water, supporting the weight of the shawl, and gently squeeze out the water. Place on a towel, roll up, and squish the towel to remove any remaining water. Pin out on a mat, bed, or any flat surface you don’t mind getting a little damp. Stretch the backbone straight out until you reach desired dimensions and pin. As this shawl’s “wings” curve, I tend to pin with them curved just slightly above the shawl. Do not pin out ruffled edging, or you’ll lose the welts.

Let dry, unpin, and enjoy!

Fighting with inanimate objects

So I'm currently having my ass kicked, by a christening gown. I've frogged and reknit the stupidly simple, 10 round lace repeat that will make up the body of the skirt three times now, and every time I've managed to stuff something up. Attempt numero uno was thwarted by decidedly vague directions in my stitch dictionary (*cough* vogue *cough*). Seriously, "end last rep SKP, k1". Straightforward, right? Except that it doesn't follow the natural end of the last repeat, no. It's inserted, seemingly at random, in the last three stitches of the rep. Attempt numero dos ended in disaster while attempting to knit said lace repeat while watching a scientific program. DNA pairings and yo's do not mix. Attempt numero tres is currently in progress, one round at a time, while not speaking and muttering the instructions to myself. Here's hoping.

Now let's focus on what HAS gone right. I've knit up a fingerless mitt idea that's been stewing in my head for a few months now. Perhaps I did so to avoid The Gown. Anyhoo, I've been calling them the "fern gully gauntlets", and I suspect that will stay. I'm not 100% happy with them, simply because I have teeny tiny, turn a certain way and they disappear, wrists. So the beautiful eyelet detail at said wrist bulges out unexpectedly, rather than hugging elegantly. Still, they're lovely and warm, being made from Naturally NZ's Karamea, a gorgeous merino/alpaca/possum blend which sadly appears to be discontinued. No wonder I scored it for so cheap. I've worn them nonstop since I wove the ends in. Here they are, pre-blocking:

 So comfy, so not navy blue. Man, I need a nicer camera. They're actually a lovely mallard shade, greeny blue with a lot of depth from the grey possum fibres. Possum doesn't take dye, did you know that? Not unless it's been specially treated.

I look like I have no hair. Sigh.

I also decided to sew myself a dress. Without a pattern. Because I dive in headfirst like that. All in all, it went alright, although I initially cut out the waist for the circle skirt in a size roughly large enough to encircle Sydney, so I had to cut chunks out of the skirt and generally fudge it to get the thing to look like it's meant to.
I need to tack down the front so it doesn't gape when I sit, but I'm 90% satisfied. To close, here's my chicken bib! I am immensely amused.

PS: Haven't forgotten the free pattern, I'm just a bit run off my feet at the moment. 

PPS: Who am I kidding? I'm always run off my feet.

PPPS: I'd love to be off my feet.

C'est Finis!

The neverending shawl is...ended, I suppose you could say. After what seemed like months and months (actually, it was, for once I'm not exaggerating), all that gorgeous, yarn-consuming, slow ruffling is completed. The shawl is blocked, and has been worn on the school run a few times. On a side note, pretty sure the other mothers think I'm the weird knitting lady who wears A) shawls, in 2014 and B) shawls that don't match anything else she is wearing but which are obviously handknit. Plus, I tend to swathe the bub head to toe in handknits. Bet that doesn't help. Ah well, all publicity is good publicity, right? Who needs friends, anyhow?

So here she is, in all her breezy, sun-dappled glory.

I knit this lovely layering piece in the Australian Alpaca Barn's Panache 4-ply. The main body is stripes of "beige" and "grape" (creative, aren't they?), and the ruffling is "mulberry". As this knit to my own design, I plan to release a free pattern, stay tuned. 

Man oh man

Is there anything more frustrating than running out of yarn right at the end of a project? Actually,  I can think of something. Acting like a rebellious teenager last weekend has led to me hanging my head in shame. My husband warned, nay, implored me to apply sunscreen at the beach last weekend,  and I blithely gambolled along uncovered, lily white legs exposed to the searing Australian sun, which has left me like this:

I have to shower in odd positions or bathe with the legs in the air. Classy. It dents when I poke it, and Nurse Muminlaw suggests a doctor, as there used to be ankle bones there. 

To take my mind off it, I turned to the never ending shawl, hoping to clear up my project bag to make room for the sweater design project cast on this morning. No luck, as I am 3/4 of the way through the edging and down to a tiny smidge of yarn. But back to the project. Here's a teaser. 

Using up some cotton I bought in a wicked sale. Not generally a fan of cotton, unless it's like this: 

Baby of my making, sweater of my design.

It is beginning to grow on me though, particularly as I'm knitting in 30 degree heat with no aircon. What can I say? Australia is hard on knitters. 

Big boy starts school on Monday,  which is both thrilling and terrifying. I'll miss him so, but I'm sure between the bub and this, I'll be busy enough.

The shawl, socks (Araucania ranco) needing a wash and block, a crochet nappy soaker in Cascade 220, the cheviot yarn I dyed and wound for the hubby's sweater, and my cotton pullover design. Phew.