Pictures! At last! And haven't I been busy...

You can tell I'm putting off an essay, can't you?

My socks *singing*
I love them, I love them, I need more!
(damn my thirsty soul)

The Jo Sharp cotton bag.

It's supposed to have a wash-cloth and hand towel to match, but I was reluctant to spend all at once (ha ha), so they might come later. I think this would make a nice present-set, especially if you bought some matching soap-holders, etc. A little pricey, but.

This is the Jo Sharp cardi that I started. I am making good progress, no? Not that it's much more exciting than knitting a cushion right now, but the end product is much more worth it. Can you see the shiny-ness?

Yum. I love this wool. I love Bendigo Woolen Mills! Am planning another wool-haul, some for chrissie stuff (I know, I'm a trifle tardy) but mostly for my Arwen knit along. Very exciting. Anyway, to break up the monotony of cardigan-ness, I've been working on My sister's scarf - Voila!











And whenever the incessent un-tangling gets too much for me, I switch back to the cardi. Actually, the scarf is going quite well, I rolled it up and pinned it, because the length was tangling with the threads dangling from my needles. So now progress is much faster. It's not almost finished, but it is almost almost finished. And i also remembered I had those fingerless gloves for her, too. Christmas, here I come!

One scarf to despair over

Here is a variation on the purple scarf from the last post. It's DK Tweed, of course, in Beach and Brindle. Looks cool, huh? It was also supposed to be ready for my sister's August birthday, but it's so darned fiddly. It's the allowed colours for her school, so I thought I'd be all clever and tricky.

Since the scarf is 9 'blocks' of knit/purl alternation, (5 stitches wide, 12 rows high) I decided to do it in four seperate strips and whip it together when it was done.

Whenever I get to the 12th row, I have to go through a bizarre ritual of passing the other colour along the block as I knit so I can use it to start the next row. That's not very clear, but it's hard to explain. Anyway.

As you can see from the photo, I knitted the first two sections fairly quickly - they're only four accross, so it wasn't too tricky. However....



Here we see the trickiness that ensued when I had to add another ball of wool. Everytime I change the verticak block they get ridiculourly tangled, and it's driving me nuts! I pick it up every now and then, knit two blocjks, grit my teeth and knit another two, and then, very carefully not hurling it against the wall, put it away again.

If I ever get it done, I bought enough 'Beach' (the lighter colour) that I could do another one, just in that colour. Which would be nice. And easy.


If she's very, very lucky, my sister will get this for christmas, but it's not looking good.

Two scarves to gloat over

Here are two scarves that I finished this last winter. Both are Jo Sharpe patterns, from Knit Issue one.




The one on the Left used up most of the 3 balls of Alpaca Silk Georgette that the instructions demanded. The wool is delicious to work with, it's so smooth, although it probably would have been better with bamboo needles, the metal ones I used made for some slippy times. It's also delicious knit up, you just want to keep touching it. Definately luxurious.





I made it for my sister's birthday in August, and I whipped it up in about two weeks, probably about 20 hours of knitting. Does that sound like too much? I wasn't counting at the time. The scarf's quite short - as per instructions and also my sister's request - but the silk is so fine that it takes a lot.

Here's a pic from the magazine, with a closer view...



The purple scarf on the right in the first pic is done in Silkroad DK Tweed in Eden, and was for me. The pattern says 3 balls, but I still have one and a bit left over - nevermind, I can always use more wool!


The pic on the left is a closeup of Jo's version from the book, to show you the texture. It's yummy to wear, and the colour is all wintry and nice. That whole range has beautiful washed-out colours that are perfect for winter.