Christmas Goodies

This gorgeous chunk of BFL came from Natalie of the The Yarn Yard and is called "Christmas 2007" autumn reds and oranges with a bit of mossy green thrown in.... not sure what it's going to be yet but for now I'm quite happy to pet it!!!

Next up is a selection of embroidery books including "Embellish & Stitch" by Maggie Grey and the late Val Campbell Harding. Two pamphet books by Jan Beaney & Jean Littlejohn, otherwise known as "Double Trouble" "Red" & "Embellish & Enrich". The final book as you can see is "Silk Shading" by Clare Hanham. I do like Silk shading and have had a few classes with tutors trained at the Royal School of Needlework and one of my promises to myself is to do more in 2008.... so thought this would help blow the cobwebs away...

From my friends Anita & Kath a pair of lacy socks and "Fan & Feather" scarf and a Knitty calendar

Two more fibres, this time from The Yarn Wench "Twilight" & "Whirlpool" colourways

and finally a reference book on spinning...

Just made it....

my last knitted gift for Christmas, which was finished last night in readiness for the recipient tomorrow :o)

I now 'officially' have nothing on the needles at this point in time.... but that will be remedied very shortly by casting on some Lornas Laces "Black Purl" Shepherd sock (which was part of last years Christmas present from DH) for me!!!! I have deicded the next 3 pairs of socks at least are for me!!!

I will also be casting on the Heartland Shawl by Evelyn Clark with my Buffalo yarn which was a birthday gift from my friend back in April.... It looks so soft and warm and think it will be a quick knit as the yarn is quite thick... but I want to re-type the charts before I start with more familiar symbols.

I had some lovely knitted/fibrey gifts yesterday including hand-dyed roving, a lovely lacey scarf and some lacey socks as well as Knitty calendar and 2 stitch markers. I'll take some photos in the next few days...

I hope you all had a lovely day yesterday and the festive season is still with you, I certainly did...

Happy Christmas

to you and yours...

These were the Christmas cards I made (DH helped with Antler bending) and sent out so for those of you who are 'internet friends' here's your card...

and here are DH's completed socks, no they weren't just finished just now, they got finished on Saturday and DF's pair has had the heel turned on the 2nd sock.... so they should be finished for Thursday... phew!!!



Again let me wish everyone a Happy Christmas

Proudly presenting...

... the Honeybee Stole by Knitspot

It was completed last Sunday (16th) after 5 weeks of knitting but it took until last night to block it, what with one thing another...

It's been a very enjoyable knit and one I would do again in the future most definitely. I would however not do the little 'nobbles' at the ends and perhaps just add 3 stitches either end and make a garter stitch edge.... The other thing I would do is change the pattern in the top & bottom edges; it seems very random to me and after the 'regularity' of the other patterns it was a little disappointing, but those are just my personal views....

My version is still knit on 3.75mm needles (Addi Lace) but I have used just over 2.5 hanks of Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in colourway "Tide Pool Heather". I wasn't struck by the yarn at first, well I didn't not like it but I didn't love it, as most of you regular readers will know I'm not a fluffy or hairy yarn sort of girl.... I felt like I was picking what I thought to be dog hairs off all the time, but after awhile I got used to it and realised they weren't dog hairs and by the time I'd finished I quite enjoyed using the yarn... but there does feel like there's more than 400m on a skein it goes a long, long, long way!!!!

I cast on the stitches for the petit version but knit the pattern repeats as for the large version, simply just to use the yarn up (think I have about 24g left) it has come out at 22" wide and 8' 9" in length...

Anyway here the photo's
Beehive

Bee Swarm

Bee & Honeycomb

The finished article

I'm very pleased with it and the colour is beautiful.... definitely recommend this as a 'nice' knit, despite having a deadline to knit to I had no problems what so ever picking it up each day and knitting the alloted repeats in fact most times I knitted more were time permitted hence finishing it a week ahead of schedule!!!

The only 'glitch' I had was with the bee pattern was without reading through the written pattern instructions to drop yarn overs from previous rows, I wouldn't have guessed that from the charts alone, hence it took me awhile to get the first couple of rows sorted.... if all else fails read the instructions!!!

On the other Christmas knitting front, I have less than a pair of socks to do, just from two pairs!!! DH's Trekking are about to have the heel turned on the 2nd sock and DF's Lana Grossa pair have just had the 2nd sock cast on.... but he's not back until Thursday the 27th so I have a little extra time!!! I will post photos of them when they are complete....

One down...

One and half pairs of socks to go....

I managed to complete another pair of socks yesterday and will cast DH's pair on sometime later today (another size 10)... the other sock already on the needles is progressingly nicely along the foot too.....

I'm also halfway through the pattern repeats of the Bee swarm section too. It really is a nice knit and despite having to get it finished for a deadline, I'm still enjoying picking it up and knitting it, it will definitely be done again in the future....

OK just to keep a few readers happy a photo (you know who you are).... These are Lana Grossa Fantasy 4834; nice pattern but not my favourite of colour combinations, but I didn't choose them, as they're for a friend to give to her father....

Update: the comments are now working again... I'd been 'playing'.....

I've managed to finish the Bee swarm section this afternoon, so just the last pattern and edging to go, but I didn't cast DH's socks on....

Nearly there...

I completed the 10 repeats of the beehive pattern on the 2nd half of the stole last night... so I think I can say I'm winning with SIL's Christmas present.

So before I get to the end I thought I'd ask if anyone has any tips for blocking it; firstly it's Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud and I've heard people say with Alpaca you should stretch it dry and spritz it, rather than soak, squeeze and stretch.... Secondly looking at the photos on the pattern do the blocking wires go through the 'nubs' at the edges to block or what other method has anyone found to block this?

On other knitting fronts I'm over 1/3 along the foot of the 2nd Lana Grossa Fantasy sock and have turned the heel on the first Lana Grossa Muliteffekt sock, after this I have another pair to start for DH for Christmas....

Sorry Fleegle & Soo no photos today... patience ;o)

Honeybee

Sorry it's taken a bit longer to get the photo up and that it's not brilliant but things are busy round here, and since I finished the 1st half on Monday I haven't managed to get near it to start the 2nd half and hopefully 3 weeks today this will being unwrapped!!! DH has already asked if we will be blocking this Christmas Eve....

Top to bottom it shows the 3 patterns.... Bee & Honeycomb, Bee Swarm & Beehive

This is using Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud "Tide Pool Heather" on 3.75mm circular. I am doing the smaller size as my SIL in only 5' but as I have 3 hanks of this and didn't really want any over I have actually done 10 repeats rather than 7 of the Beehive pattern; weighing the remaining yarn I probably could have got 12 repeats for each half out or done extra repeats in the other two patterns but I'm cutting it close as it is without stressing myself if I'll run out of yarn or not....

Anyway am going to go and try and knit some more on this.... I promise better and more detailed photos when it's finished....

A quick post

...just to say I've finished the first half of the Honeybee Stole... and I'll try and pop some photos up tomorrow... I'v enjoyed knitting this, so it has grown quite quickly but I'm aware of how little time I have left before Christmas to finish the 2nd half....

I've also nearly finished the first sock of the Lana Grossa Fantasy pattern so I have not been idle while I have not been blogging...


I did finish this pair of socks last week too...




These are Trekking 171

More Finished Objects :o)

Many thanks for all the kind comments about the stole.... I did enjoy knitting it which does help


Anyway here are a couple of finished items for you.... more socks for the gallery (along with lace I enjoy knitting socks). These are a Christmas gift for my friend Janet.


Kaffe Fassett's Landscape in "Caribbean"

Very nice colours and I quite like stripes that aren't always regular.... I could have lived without the Olive green and brown in there but who am I to criticize Kaffe Fassett's colour sense?????

The only thing I did find with these colours was that sometimes when I was knitting when I was a bit on the tired side I did find the colours a bit 'strong' on the eyes.... I have my eye on the "Fire" colourway for myself at some future date though.....

On the sock knitting front I am on with the 2nd sock of the Trekking pair in the Autumn colours and I am well on with the 1st sock of the Lana Grossa "Magico" pair, quite enjoying doing the pattern as I've never knit it before but not my colours; I'm not keen on greys and browns mixed together....

I finished the baby bolero on Sunday after picking up 333 stitches and knitting for 11 rows and sweating all the way if I had enough yarn...

I had two balls of Patons Fairytale 4ply in Sugar Spun (215m per 50g) and the pattern was for Sirdar Snuggly 4ply (226m per 50g). I was going to do something when Sarah was born back in February and I never quite got the enthusiasm to start but then realised that I had no more of this yarn so would have to make something quick if I was still going to use the yarn.

I found this sirdar pattern in a sale... 2 balls of 4ply for either 6 - 12 months or the 1 - 2 years size... yes you can guess which size I picked can't you? Being ever practical, yes the 1 - 2 years size!!!! so bearing in mind I had 32m less than stated I embarked....

It wasn't until after doing the back and both sleeves together that I realised I may not have enough yarn..... anyway I managed to get the back, 1 sleeve and 1 front out of the 1st ball with ohhh 1m left.... there was hope...

I finished the 2nd front, theoretically I should have enough yarn but when you pick up 333 stitches and every time you knit a row the ball seems to shrink dramatically I sweated a bit and thought well it's a picot edge, push come to shove I can always finish the last couple of rows & cast off in another caolour as you won't see it..... but I didn't need to phew!!!! in fact I think there's about 10m left, what was I worrying about? Isn't hindsight a wonderful thing???....

Anyway here it is...

On the lace knitting front I have done 3.5 repeats of the first pattern of the Honeybee stole... I'll post a photo in a day or too, apart form socks for Christmas that's my only knitting on the needles at the moment I'm being good ;o)

The VLT Sampler Stole

Well here as promised are the final photos of the VLT shawl. I can't quite believe it's finished if truth be known I don't think it has really sunk in yet.

This has been my biggest lace project to date and I've definitely had a love hate relationship with it at times. I know it's been on the needles since 6th April this year but it hasn't taken me all that time to knit. I had a few sessions on it between April and June and it was only then I knew if I was to complete it I would have to set a specific time aside for it so it became my Sunday & Monday knitting, aka my days off!

Once I got into this routine I quite enjoyed knitting the stole. I liked the fact there are 8 different patterns in it so it didn't get monotonous and it did give me my first introduction to Knitted Lace as opposed to Lace knitting. That first pattern repeat of 'D' was horrendous! After awhile I got used to patterning on the WRS and stopped panicing and just made sure I moved my lifeline up every few rows rather than after every pattern repat.

Details:
1550m (6 hanks & 2 skeins) of 1707 'Amarante' from Renaissance Dyeing
3.25mm Addi Lace circ

Finished size after blocking: 2' 9" x 7' 9"




The Close Up's:
Pattern B

Pattern C

Pattern D

Pattern E

Pattern F

Pattern G

Pattern H

Pattern I

Border & Edging

This is not for me but for my mum for Christmas, she chose the pattern and also the colour, she has seen bits of it when I was knitting but she hasn't seen it for awhile so she has no idea how it looks....


I quite liked the yarn once I got used to it. The service was excellent from them, when I ordered the two extra skeins a week last Sunday (from France) they arrived Tuesday. The only downside I have is that in every hank there was at least 1 knot, most hanks having 2 or 3 and in one hank I had 4 knots :o( I have to admit this has put me off using their yarn in the future which is a shame as you can see from their website they have a huge range of colours and the yarn is nice.....


Overall am quite satisfied with my achievement :o)

Not the VLT Shawl....

sorry Fleegle and Soo you will have to wait a little longer I'm hoping to block it later today and then I promise lots of photos.....

Anyway to keep you amused here are some photos of my other knitting just to prove I'm knitting.....

I managed to complete the back of the baby bolero jacket the other day and cast on for both sleeves, which I am about to start increasing for the arm... it's only a simple pattern with an eyelet edging but quite nice to do; a Sirdar pattern using Patons Fairytale 4ply in "Sugar Spun". The reason I am doing this pattern and not something more interesting is that **confession time** that I have had these 2 balls of yarn for ages, OK since March this year to knit my god-daughter something. I started something and pulled it back and I just couldn't muster enthusiasm to knit anything. Anyway she'll be 1 next February so I thought I'd better find something to use these 2 balls on before I need a 3rd ball as I can't get anymore of the same dyelot and most 1-2 year patterns already suggest 3 balls so I was a bit limited to choice, but I do quite like the pattern..... I mean I've knit several shawls including one for her Christening since she was born but I can't get excited over knitting baby stuff, now give me 145 stitches and a lace pattern and that's a different matter!!!!

Next up is the pitiful 5 rows of the Honeybee stole that is meant to be a Christmas present for my SIL.... This is in KP Alapaca Cloud "Tide Pool Heather" on 3.75mm Addi Lace circ. Hopefully there will be more on this soon.... I think I'm trying to finish other bits off to clear my head so I can focus better on this to get it finished for Christmas.... that's my story and I'm sticking to it!!!

On the sock front, steady progress as usual the KF Caribbean socks are progressing nicely and I am halfway through the heel, these will hopefully be finished in a few days....

The 2nd pair has the heel completed and on with the foot and a trip to Manchester later this morning with DH driving means some more knitting time down the motorway....

And finally the other thing that was on the needles but I couldn't show you was "Ene's Scarf" by Nancy Bush.; It was entitled "A Lacy Present" on my "On the Needles" section... Anyway as it was Anita's birthday on Thursday and she only received it yesterday I couldn't put of photos as I didn't want to spoil the surprise....

Here it is completed all 180g of Classic Merino (Fingering wt) in white from Yarn Treehouse worked on 4.5mm KP Options

Bathtime!!!

Sauna time!!!

Blocking!!!

Finshed! I didn't over block it, but even at that it came out 2m across the top and 1.2m down the spine.....

And a close up for Fleegle.....

In conclusion I liked the idea of casting on 375 stitches and working my way down. I enjoyed the edging OK it took me two hours to do the first row as I made an error casting on despite using markers every 50 stitches and double checking the stitch count I cast on 1 too many..... but I have to say I found the body pattern a little tedious to do after awhile... so I probably wouldn't do another of these....

Anyway the recipient was thrilled with the shawl and the colour suits her well so all in all a satisfactory knit :o)

Yipppeeeee

THE VLT STOLE IS FINISHED!!!!

Monday Morning...

lets start with appologies....

sorry I haven't bloged for a while but I haven't really had anything to show and I'm not one of these people able to create interesting discussions on a topic....

sorry to fleegle as it's a photo-less post again!!!!

Just because I haven't been blogging doesn't mean I haven't been knitting I promise.....

I have completed the 1st sock of the Kaffee Fassett Landscape Caribbean pair, I couldn't believe I'd knit the foot so quickly but when you mainly do size 9+ socks doing a size 4 is finished before you know.... I actually rather like the colour combinations although if I was being picky I'd not have bothered putting in the greens and browns, but hey I don't have KF's colour ability or experience so who am I to complain.....

I have also started an Autumnal pair in Trekking 171; this appears to be a random blend of autumnal colours I'm praying to god that it doesn't have any semblence of a pattern or I shall have to try and match it and as the 1st two pairs of socks for my friend have been fraught with problems I could do with a nice easy knit otherwise I'm going to become paranoid about knitting socks for this particular friend!!!!

I have finished the "lacey birthday" present, it has been knit, dyed & blocked (it was finished on Friday and dyed & blocked Saturday) but the recipient's birthday isn't until Thursday and I don't think she'll be getting the present until Saturday and as she reads my blog, you know the rest....

I have almost finished the edging on the VLT stole too ***gasp***, just a 1/4 of one long side and a short edge to go, but I have run out of yarn so I ordered a couple of 25m skeins yesterday so hopefully despatched today and should have it by the end of the week so you never know by this time next week, the VLT stole could all be over!!!!

Today I plan to cast on (it's my day off) a baby bolero cardigan in 4ply for my goddaughter as part of her Christmas present and to cast on for the Bee stole for my SIL's Christmas present, watch this space to see if she get's it for Christmas or next October for her birthday although I am quite looking forward to doing it as the "lacey surprise" and the VLT edging have been a bit tedious and what with doing a 3rd Swallowtail previously I think I'm in need of something different and a little challenging.....

Bumbling along....

sorry about the tacky title of the post but I couldn't resist...


The Bee socks are finally complete *said with a sigh of relief* they have been a nightmare. I've never had as much trouble matching the pattern up on a pair of socks as I did with these, it's a miracle they match at all...

But when you see a photo like this:

you pull the yarn until you see the change of colour cast on and away you knit......

The clue really should have been I didn't seem to be getting big blocks of colour more stripes of colour interspersed with little narrow stripes.... very nice I quite like it and prefer it to the photo advertising it....

The problem is those stripes of colour in my photo aren't made up of a long colour run with a short colour run in-between, so what looks like 3 bands of honey coloured yarn actually is made up of 11 shorter runs of colour with an inch or two of contrast :o( and you've guessed it I actually started the sock somewhere in one of these colour runs rather than right at the beginning of the colour sequence.....

When it came to the 2nd sock I thought I'd got the right place to start, but I had cut the yarn off far too soon, so I had to pull it back and cut a bit more yarn off... it looks like it matches but the cuff is about 2 rows shorter on the 2nd sock than the 1st but the nature of the pattern doesn't make it too noticeable, I hope!

I got to the end of the leg and had made a note were to start the heel shaping at the end of the 2nd white stripe... yeh right! which bit of white is the end of the 2nd stripe.... well I guessed and got halfway through the heel and realised I'd knit the leg too far, so the stripes on the 2nd foot wouldn't have matched the 1st sock, so I pulled it back and re-did the heel... 2nd time lucky as they say.....

By the time I got to the toe shaping I was getting a bit better at this, that and I had resigned myself to the fact I would probably be pulling it back to make it match the 1st sock.... but sigh of relief I did it first time....

So a note to anyone out there who is about to knit this pattern and would like matching socks; pull the yarn off to the start of either the honey, white, milk chocolate or dark chocolate long sequences (ignore the little runs of colour in between those colour sequences) before casting on, it will make your life a lot easier.

I thought messing with the Hundertwasser sock was a problem because of the mis-printed yarn, but it had nothing on this.... what will the next pair of socks bring I wonder???

Halfway there...

I will appologise now for the lack of photos in this post, so I'll keep it short & sweet.

I rounded the 2nd corner the other night on the VLT shawl so I can officially say I am over halfway :) I have a feeling I am going to be a little bit short of yarn, but I checked a few months ago and the supplier still had some of this dyelot available.... I may however, pull my swatch back yet if it's that close!

On the sock front I have nearly finished the 2nd Opal Rainforest 2 'Bee' sock and I have started on the Regia Kaffe Fassett Landscape 'Caribbean' sock which is looking nice; I much prefer the landscape to the mirage pattern just more interesting.....

I have started another lace project for a friend's birthday two weeks today.... so no pictures I'm afraid as I know she reads my blog, so tough Anita ;oP and no it's not another Swallowtail....

Turning a corner....

I finally rounded the first corner last night on the VLT stole!!!!!!!!!!! I did fudge the corner a little but I am pleasantly surprised how well it turned out. This is only my 2nd time of knitting a border onto a shawl on the 1st one had more instructions than the VLT book provides for these sort of things......

For future reference Fleegle has just posted an article on a easy method of grafting the edges of a knitted on border together, which if I hadn't started on the border already I would have been trying out....

Also completed yesterday was the Regia Kaffe Fassett 'Mirage' Storm socks...... I am pleased with the fabric and the colours are pleasant and 'safe' for a man you've never given socks to before; well I really couldn't give a Coats rep Opal, Trekking or Lana Grossa could I????

I wouldn't want to knit another 'Mirage' pattern they're a bit bland to knit I prefer something with a bit of a pattern going on even stripes, but just as well we're not all the same or life would be dull...

Eadaoine asked on previous post how many yards the Swallowtail had taken - approx 460 yds

Swallowtail finds its Wings

Here as promised are the photos of my larger Swallowtail.....

Details & Alterations:
Swallowtail by Evelyn A Clark -

Fall 2006 Interweave Knits

48g of Patons 100% wool 2 ply Baby Yarn (in process of being discontinued) kettle dyed by myself with Kemtex Easidye Acid dyes

3.75mm Addi Lace circular

An extra 5 repeats of the budding lace pattern

An extra 2 rows at the start of the Peaked Lace Edging (Rows 1 & 2 repeated)

Finished size: 61" by 29"

Christmas present for my Godmother (I couldn't get it finished for her birthday)

I have to say I'm very pleased with this shawl yet again, it never ceases to make me smile when I stand back from the blocking mats, just as well as this is the 3rd time I've knit it but the first I've deviated from the pattern.

I've read on various other blogs that people have made bigger Swallowtails by increasing the budding lace then 'fudged' the stitches when going into the Lily of the lace pattern.... I'm not one for fudging in advance if you follow....

I sat down with paper, pen & caluclator and worked out for that the Lily of the Valley border to fit onto the budding lace without fudging you need to do 5 extra repeats of the buddign lace. The pattern has 14, I did 19 and if you want it even bigger then you'd do 24, 29, 34 repeats etc.... I was chuft with myself!!!! what is it they say pride comes before a fall..... well it was more of a trip really!

I got all the way to the peaked lace edging, worked rows 1 & 2, got halfway along row 3 and I'm 2 stitces short, I checked my work over and over and over again, no I hadn't made a mistake... I put it to one side in disgust....

Monday morning I sat down checked again no I was right no knitting errors, so out came the pen, paper and caluclator and low and behold I calculated I was 2 stitches short for the first half so a total of 4 stitches would be needed to make the pattern 'fit' on row 3, Hmmmmmm....... after a bit of thought, do I rip back rows 1&2 and start the lace straight on top of the lily of the valley edging or do I add a further 4 stitches to row 1 (makes 8 increases on that first row) I finally decided that I would just repeat rows 1 & 2 to get the desired number of stitches... I think that worked well in the end, I've got a little broader transition band but I don't think it detracts at all....

Anyway would I do this pattern again... still definitely yes, perhaps not just immediately as this is my 3rd since May, however I may do a smaller one (9 budding lace repeats) as a neckscarf for mum for her Birthday....

Anyway here's a table of stitches if anyone wants to use my method of making a bigger or smaller Swallowtail.... Don't shout please if the maths are wrong...


Number of Budding Lace Repeats: 9 14 19 24 29 34
Number of stitches after Budding Lace: 135 195 255 315 375 435
Number of Stitches after Lily Border #1: 159 219 279 339 399 459
Number of Stitches after Lily Border #2: 179 239 299 359 419 479
Repeat Rows 1 & 2 twice in Peaked Lace Edging: Yes No Yes No Yes No
Number of Stitches before starting Row 3 of Peaked Lace pattern: 187 183 307 303 427 423
Number of stitches after Peaked Lace Edging: 203 259 323 379 443 499
Number of stitches to Cast Off: 253 323 403 473 553 623

As promised....

for Soo who wnated to know how the KF "Mirage" series comes out... this is the "Storm" colourway...

It's OK and will be suitable for the recipient however, I wouldn't like to knit another pair, they're a bit non-discript if that's the right description.

And below is what I have left out of 48g of Patons 2ply Baby Wool (100% wool) that I hand-dyed myself (there should have been 50g but by the time I'd hanked it, dyed it, re-hanked it etc etc.... I'd 48g left) so no chance of getting anymore.

I was so relieved when I finally cast off the 403 stitches and had this left at least I know for future reference what it takes to knit a larger Swallowtail. Anyway more tomorrow when hopefully I will have finished photos for you. I tried last night to get DH to help me block it but he wasn't for playing!!!!

Phew...

what a relief.... I've just finished the Swallowtail and I've about 5m of yarn to spare out of 48g!!!

I've been weighing in between pattern repeats and trying to guage if I had enough yarn, putting lifelines in at strategic points just in case I hadn't enough yarn and needed to rip back and making plans how I could finish the Swallowtail if I ran out of yarn on the cast off edge....

Anyway more details to follow with hopefully some photos of the completed larger Swallowtail by Wednesday....

A Quick update...

I thought seeing since it was over a week since I blogged I'd just give you a quick update....

Both socks in the previous post are now complete and the cuffs completed on their respective partners... I've had a hell of a job matching the second sock for the bee sock, not quite as straight forward as it looks and an error of judgement on Wednesday evening saw me cursing on Thursday morning, but more when I finish the socks......

The 2nd KF Mirage storm will hopefully progress up to the heel today. I have to say I'm not overly impressed with the 'mirage' series I much prefer the look of the 'landscape' series..... I'm not bored knitting them as usually I've got other people round me talking & chattering but I wouldn't like to do a 2nd pair..... I like the colours not the pattern....

On the Lace knitting front I am over halfway down the 1st long edge of the VLT shawl and doing 5 repeats a day which equates to about an hour is manageable and I have more or less memorised the 12 row pattern now. I'm sure as I get closer to the finish line I will do more repeats a day!!!!

The Swallowtail is now into the 2nd Lily of the Valley border so just another 8 rows before reaching the edging..... I calculated that the first 12 row border used 4/5g of yarn leaving me with 18g to complete the shawl. I know the shawl is still increasing but even if the 2nd border uses 6/7g of yarn I still have 11g left to do the edging (which doesn't increase on the last 6 rows) and the cast off, I'm sure I have enough yarn, don't I?

At least I know my maths caluculations were right that if you want the maths to fit with this pattern you need to -/+ 5 repeats of the budding lace pattern to make the stitches work without fudging for the following border patterns... I might even do a smaller Swallowtail (9 budding lace repeats) at some point so it's like a triangular neck scarf.... might be quite useful for using up the odd 20g of yarn leftover from other projects....

Progress...

of sorts...... as you've seen both pairs of socks are complete and I've started another two pairs.... one is the Kaffee Fassett Mirage in "Storm" and the other pair is Rainforest 2 "Bee"

I know they're not as exciting as other peoples socks with fancy patterns and yarns, but at the end of the day there's something elegant about a smoothly knitted sock and when I haven't felt like picking up my knitting recently my trusty socks have always been there so I haven't felt completely useless....

The one thing that I love about my socks is I can just grab the bag and run out the door at a moments notice, everything is in my little Go Knit pouch to provide me with entertainment should I need it.... Whilst exchanging emails with n of the The Yarn Yard this morning I realised just how travelled my socks are..... the Bee pair so far this week went to the hairdressers on Monday, MIL's on Wednesday, tomorrow they will go to the Hospital and on Sunday they will be going to Harrogate and back!!!!

If you read n's blog you will see she is talking about October being Breast Cancer Awareness month and that she's asking all her friends if they've checked their breasts and she asked who would we be asking, so I'm going to publically ask you all...

Have you checked your breasts today?

Back on the Lace knitting front here as promised is a photo of the current Swallowtail which if I stick to the pattern is at the end of the budding lace chart, but as I've not yet used a full 25g ball I'm going to risk doing 5 more pattern repeats to make a bigger shawl, that and I won't get it finished for tomorrow so it can be my Godmother's christmas present.... that's the only nice thing about people who have birthdays near Christmas, you can 'shuffle' their presents around should they not be finished in time for the first ocassion ;o) !!!!!

Just to prove I've actually started on the border of the VLT shawl, I will be happier when I've got a few more repeats done, then it might not feel so flimsy and awkward to work with.... I haven't managed to do 5 repeats a day as you can see, but I will try to stick to it in the future....