My Birthday Present came!!!!

I posted a week or so ago that I had spent my birthday money from my friend and posted some little tantalizing photos of what it might be.... well it just came, it's beautiful, I will take photos later and post regardless to say it looks like a big Quality Street Toffee

Trellis Scarf

Here you are as promised photo's of the finished scarf... I would definitely do this one again it's very simple but very effective.......

Whilst blocking

Close up of pattern

My attempts at artistic photography!!!!

Draped pver the Ceanthus bush & Montana Clematis....

I have also started my Swallowtail from Fall 2006 of IK. I have dyed the yarn myself. While I like the colours I don't think it works well for lace, so when the shawl is finished I will over-dye it with pink to give different shades of pink.......

What have I bought now?

It was my birthday a few weeks ago and I was given some money by a friend. I wanted to buy something special that I could turn round and say when asked ".... bought me this for my birthday" plus I knew the money would just dwindle away in my account on the odd yarn here and there etc... and wouldn't have anything to show for the money so after days of uming and ahing I plunged yesterday.....

Here are some photos to keep you guessing what I bought......



The Trellis scarf is finished & blocked and am really pleased with but pictures tomorrow....

I also dyed the yarn for the Swallowtail and that is wound into a ball and ready to go, in fact I'm off to start that now....

Trellis Work...

Well I've not been idle over the last few days.... and I actually managed to get ahead...

I decided a few weeks back that I would knit a lace scarf for my friend Carol's birthday on the 7th May. I found the pattern and then found the yarn from my stash. I then worked out I needed to do 1 16 row repeat every day (pattern required 23 repeats + end patterns), if it was going to be finished in time for her birthday.... nothing like setting myself a target!

Some days I managed to get in front of myself by a couple of days but then didn't knit for a couple of days. Anyway I decided a concerted effort was needed and I duly finished this morning and here it is, two days ahead of schedule....

I will block it tomorrow and post the post-blocking photos on Sunday.....

It's a beautiful pattern, very simple, although two of the rows do have the sequence:

yo, K7tog, leave sts on LH needle, yo, K7tog, leave sts on LH
needle, yo, K7tog

to reduce 7 sts to 5, this did slow me down a bit at first, but after awhile they became a lot quicker to work.... and I have to say I didn't get bored with it....

Pattern: Interweave Spring 2006

Yarn: Bought from the Ukraine off Ebay (50% Wool & 50% Acrylic) - Pistachio

Next small lace project is Swallowtail from Interweave Fall 2006 for my friend Monica's birthday at the end of June.... I've dyed the yarn myself in colours I like to think of as "Lily Pond" (photos soon). The base yarn again is off ebay from Yarn Treehouse, however, I've doubled this yarn up to getthe right guage

I finally started the VLT shawl....

I promised myself at Easter that I would start my mums birthday shawl (her birthday was January) but I just couldn't bring myself to start then... so I waited knitted my Patons Jet cardigan and suddenly got the urge to knit lace again..... so I set the deadline of Easter (Good Friday to be precise) to have all WIP's with the exception of socks finished so I could start the shawl....

I did it... and I duly started in the afternoon of Good Friday it was a relief and such a pleasure.....

I am doing the Beginner Shawl (the one shown in pink on p56 in VLT, the yarn is 2ply crewel wool from Renaissance Dyeing in colour 1707 Amarante.... I did start off with a 3.25mm Knitpicks circ but then managed to get my hands on an Addi Lace circ, they are absolutley beautiful to use and give you so much control when using fine yarns.....

So this is how far the shawl is now (again I haven't had the urge recently to knit it but hopefully that is going to change this afternoon!!!

So far I am part way through the 2nd repeat of 3 repeats of pattern E.....

Pattern D was a killer I spent a day and a half on-and-off getting a couple of rows right... I'd decided because this was my first attempt at knitting a pattern on all rows that it was going to be 'hard' so I made it hard for myself worrying about it!!!! I was more worried about loosing stitches and not being able to get them back on the needles right I kept messing the pattern up... but that's me all over worry about what might happen rather than wait until it does happen....

Time for an update....

I hang my head in shame that it's nearly a whole month since I last updated my blog.... so for those of you who read my ramblings I appologise because I get frustrated when I read someone elses blog and it's not updated.

I have to admit I just haven't felt like blogging I've sat here fingers poised over the keyboard but just couldn't bring myself to do it... then I read Fiona's blog and how she found that blogging had helped her the other week so you could say she inspired me to put fingers to keyboard, thankyou Fiona.

Well the tank top is finished...... Mmmmm it looks nice, I like the colour (I'm not usually a pink girl) I like the neck & armhole edgings so overall I'm pleased with it, but just not on me. I shortened the length a little so it reaches the top of my jeans and my shirt will stick out below... I looked in the mirror and thought I was at the 'Hall of Mirrors' I felt 3 feet tall and 6 feet wide.... It did make me think it really is time to start that diet!!! so the top is resigned to the drawer for now until I loose some weight, then it will get a reprieve if it doesn't look right then it's going to the charity shop.....

Anyway here's a photo of the offending article....

However, on the plus side it did reduce my stash a little....

On a Mission????

I have been relatively busy these last few days with my knitting..... I was going to post a photo the other day on the progress of the tank (yawn.....) but as I didn't get the chance... I can now post one of the front completed Yeahhhhhhhh. As HelenM commented anything after lace seems well a bit boring & tedious really.....

Anyway the front is finished and I am relatively pleased with it... to me the neckline seems lower than on the photo, but as always I shall reserve judgment until finished..... I am now beginning to wonder how long it's going to take me to knit the neck and armhole bands. Mmmmmm.....

I've also finished a pair of socks too, with which I am well pleased.... I love this pattern and is the 3rd time I have knit it and there will definitely be a 4th & probably a 5th as DH has a ball in various shades of grey & black waiting and I am going to treat myself to the grey & pink version, hopefully.....

Anyway these are for a dear friend's father....

• Lana Grossa Meetings 7770


• 2.5mm Bamboo DPN's

Anyway I have saved the best definitely to last!!!!! A lovely customer/friend went to New Zealand and returned this week with this for me.....

The photo really doesn't do it justice at all... It's a hank (50g / 440m) of Touch Yarns 2ply Wool & Mohair Lace yarn it's so beautiful I just keeps looking at it and touching it.... I thought I was going to have a tough time deciding what to make with it but I decided I think it's destined to become Swallowtail Shawl

What do you think? Any other suggestions?

As I still have a week to Easter I am off to rumage through my stash to find a small project that I can complete in a week to get me to my Easter deadline...