Look at my new Baby!

I have accepted Alice's challenge to flash my stash and, based on an idea one of the girls in my knitting group suggested, decided to put DD's travel cot to good use for this. Here it all is:This actually is quite frightening to see it all in one place at the same time and I can't believe that I had enough tp virtually fill the cot! Whilst I was filling it I kept remembering more places I had yarn stored (or more acurately hidden!). There are bits that have a designated future use which makes me feel a bit better about it and one thing that is likely to be an upcoming project (believe it when you see it - I have been saying this for months!) is the following lot of blues: These are destined to become a Perugia throw as in the ones Colinette make up kits for. It was originally going to be based on the pattern but then the actual pattern was printed in issue 2 of Knit Today which has advice from Colinette's very own helpfull Diane! Anyway there should be enough bits for it there - assorted mohairs, Colinette Giotto in Jay, Tagliatelle in Sea breeze, Mercury in Fresco and lots of other blue bits that were in the stash. All I really need to do is sit down and work out what colours and yarns I want where!

There was one good thing about getting all the stash out was thatI could put it away better and have now pretty much organised them by colour so there is a box of greens (as shown above)
and a larger box of pinks as a result of having a daughter I suppose (shown below).
There is a box of blues but as most blues are in the Perugia project bag all the eyelash and fluffy yarns that I got as a bargain in work have been piled in with these - what I'm going to do with them all I don't know but then maybe DD will love them when she's older! The rest of the stash has been put away based on the fact that I can get jumpers/ cardigans/ etc out of them or that they're nice yarns but I didn't photograph them I'm afraid.

Seeing it all like this makes you realise quite how much you have and how much there is still to be knitted up and yet I still yearn for more! Anyway maybe this weekends outing will slow that down ( I was going to say stop it but who am I kidding!) as I will be hopefully picking up my Christmas present from DH - a spinning wheel!!! More about that later. But for now I leave you with a challenge - Will you flash your stash Artis-anne; Alice and Frankie

FO's and assorted Goodies!

Firstly I'd like to introduce young Ella who is posing outside our village church - simply because the colours in the yarn reminded me of the red sandstone used in the building (and it was tidier than my garden and brighter than my house was at the time!). I finished it on Wednesday night about 11pm and impatiently blocked it heavily with the steam iron. Blocking was like magic - you started with a lumpy mass of knitting that looks more like a bunch of grapes than a shawl and then with a little stream and heat the mass grows and blossoms into what you see below! I am addicted with lace now - if only to see the magic of blocking each time! So very satisfying!

Don't the colours look so warming in this shot? Like smoldering embers and ideal for these autumn days!

Next we have not really a new FO but one that Emily has finally grown into! The pattern is from a Sirdar kids Denim book (can't remember which one as a friend has the book at the mo) and was knitted up in Sirdar Denim Chunky in a lovely girly raspberry ripple colour. I knitted it in the 1-2 year size and it was massive on her at 1 years. Now a few months on it is a little better but still big but doesn't she look cute in it? If I had my way she'd wear that all the time!

As you may have read with Artis-Anne we, along with my Mum-in-law (Hi Lil - when are you getting a blog?!) went to Colinette for a visit. This had been planned for months, before we knew there was an open day on the Saturday (frustrating as Saturday is my only work-day) and we were eagerly awaiting it! Mum and I were supposed to be not spending much at all but were no use to each other as the voice of reason and Lil really pushed the boat out with her shopping which did include some of the Tao silk and the Parisienne kid mohair... and my Christmas present!! Finally I have some, or I should say will have, some Tagliatelle for a jumper! I did buy some Point 5 for a friend and managed to grab some of Colinette's new sock yarn - Jitterbug in Sahara. I was tempted with their other new yarn (the name of which I've forgotten, begins with 'C'!) a lovely soft merino DK weight yarn and liked the patterns in the accompanying book but restrained myself as I couldn't afford that (Boo!).

So along with the sock yarn (that Emily is modeling above - she did it herself!) I bought ...

. . . . 3 cones of 4 ply. Right to left: a pinky plumy shade (possibly Summer Berries?); a blue cone that in the daylight seems to have every other colour possible including plums, yellow, orange, green and so on; and finally a green cone with lilac shades all to play with for lacey stuff. I've no idea of the yardage on the cones, just the weight but have decided to chance it with the pink and am already trying this out as a possible shawl (probably small!) and have co-ordinating beads to play with on small items such as Perdita. Also in the shopping bag was a copy of the Westcountry pattern book for future use! In the photo you'll also see the Twillies Freedom Spirit pattern book which I got the other day having seen pictures of projects from it in magazines and finally succuming to the lure of it! There are a few possible future projects in there and the yarn itself is really nice and there is already 1 ball of it hiding in the stash pile.

One final point - last Saturday in work to celebrate National Knitting Week (and promote knitting) we were allowed to knit in the shop and as a result I showed some colleagues a really simple shrug pattern that would not be beyond any of their skills. Now this week I discovered that most of the staff have been making this shrug or were about to!! I am well pleased with that and here is the pattern I gave them!

Tagged!

I too have been Tagged. So, Five ways Feminism has affected my life...

1. I have been brought up with encouragement to try new things regardless of its traditional gender orientation. I was taught how to sew, cook, clean and do DIY with no implication that these were womens or mens role in life.
2. I have worked in a male dominated occupation and was the only female in this role at my depo. I was accepted as being good at my job and 'one of the boys'. As a result of this job I was the main bread winner when my Husband and I bought our house and this was not resented by him.
3. I have had the freedom to raise a family and be a stay at home Mum and not have to conform to having to have a career. I can be a Mum without loosing my independance and freedom ( as much as possible with a 17 month old!)
4. Despite being a House Wife the cooking and cleaning is not just done by me. These tasks are shared by my DH who also does his share of raising our lovely daughter. This is not done under pressure but accepted as a normal way of living. As it is it falls to me to do the traditional male job of DIY as DH has no real idea of what to do!
5. Reading other peoples thought on this subject has made me realise just how far feminism has come and how much it has given us - a voice, independance and equality. If only every woman in the world could say that.

Anyway that's getting a bit deep and drifting into deeper waters than I intended. Normal knitting wittering will be resumed as soon as possible but first I should Tag others.... If you want to join in please do, leave a comment and let me know!

I will add this thought for you:

What kind of knitting needles are you?

You are "turbo" charged.Fast moving and classy, you get things done with power and grace. Your expensive tastes can be deceiving, since what you really value is quality and efficiency. As you're careening around those corners in life, finishing a dozen knitted objects each month, stop and smell the roses. Don't miss the beauty of process!
Take this quiz!








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Not really sure if this is me at all!

I will post again later with some FO's - I'm on the homeward stretch of Ella and will show her off as soon as possible!

Oh Yes...

As Cherry pointed out I have forgotted to mention why there is a deadline for Ella. I'm off to a Christening on the 22nd of October and really want Ella to complete my outfit so I really can look like a Yummy Mummy rather than a Slummy Mummy.
I know it really is down to a confidence thing and want to be able to look fabulous in my very own hand made shawl and have envious eyes made at Ella just to make me feel better about myself. And why not!
Anyway this is not getting Ella finished now is it? Back to knitting!

Ella update!

Am very nearly at the point of spliting into the 2 seperate points and so far am feeling confident about the progress. At least I can now watch TV as well as knit this!
Everything else is on hold until Ella is complete and blocked - I've my Knitting Night tonight and I'm sitting here thinking of it as one night less that I can knit Ella as I certainly can't natter whilst knitting this! Back to knitting more of 'Tank Girl' tonight I think even though I'm still not sure about the colour for me. But as someone suggested it can always be a present for someone!
Anyway am off to knit some more!

Oh help the Yarn Monster is loose!

Oh Dear as Emily would say! Oh dear, oh dear my bank balance is in for a bit of a battering.
Having been very good (well sort of good) and not buying lots of yarn lately (I'm not including the fleece I scavenged for a donation as it is not really a yarn yet and it was for charity!) I have just gone and bought some more. And we've a trip to the Colinette Millshop due on either the 18th or 19th of this month! More temptation!

It's not like I need it at all but the Yarn Monster within has said - Must have, must buy! And so I gave in to temptation.

Mum has not set a great example. You may hear tales of me leading her astray but she was first having bought some luscious merino worsted handspun (so nice she's hiding it from me - and no that doesn't mean it will be a Christmas pressie for me! Joking Mum!) and then raved on about the delights of real natural yarns making my red 'Marble' acrylic yarn seem less appealing.
Plus I am at the moment knitting with pure wool lace weight yarn which is superb and soft so I am not unaware of the lure of natural yarns.

So with all this floating round in my head when I saw a bargain pack of Sirdar Salsa (with Merino!!) in work it was of course snapped up. Plus I was kind enough to think of Mum and grab one for her - but I got choice of colours!

And then, having been reading a borrowed copy of 'A Gathering of Lace' by Meg Swansen, which is so lovely and a must have book even if just for looking at at marveling at the work involved in the shawls and items inside, I have been filled with a desire to do more lacework - shawls specifically. And when surfing through e-bay I found lace-weight 100% pure wool from the Ukraine (which sounds a fantastic place that I've wanted to go to for ages) I just had to buy it. And the good thing is it's not any of the colours I always go for it is . . . Violet! Hopefully that will be nice.

Don't you just love International mail? I do! I'm now expecting 2 globe-trotting parcels from the Ukraine as mentioned and Hong Kong as well (more bamboo needles!). I think parcels are exciting enough as it is but foreign ones have the different stamps which for me makes it more exciting!
Anyway I've rambled on long enough and Ella is calling me! 14 days until she needs to be complete and blocked! Better get a knit on!

Twice the wittering!

Well I've finally decided the time has come to create a specific blog about the mischief my little daughter gets up to and so "Educating Emily" was born!
Hopefully I'll be able to rope DH into running that with me so we can log all our little one's exploits!

p.s. As far as knitting goes I'm still slogging away with Ella - onto the 1st repeat of the 2nd section. Okay I thing for 3 days of haphazard knitting! I'll keep you posted though!

Look what came in the Post!

Crafty Drama Queen has been very busy and sent a prize to celebrate her 50th post on her blog - Thank you very much! Inside was a ball of Gladrags, some vintage buttons, a seaweed soap and a lovely hand-made pouch and stitch-marker - and all in various shades of Blue! Thank you for such a kind and generous gift! And she sent a lovely knitting notelet with the gift as well, wish I knew where she found those!

Now on to my knitting creations. My lovely little Emily has a thing about emptying the contents of my handbag all over the place. So I decided that she could do with her own little bag to play with. So this was created:

The handles are bangles and it's some DK weight yarn knitted with some Eyelash yarn that was in the stash pile. It's not really much of a stashbuster but it is really cute. It's just about big enough for a few of Emily's essentials - a dummy and a small toy person and that's that! And DH says that it's the cutest and best thing I've knitted so far, definitely his favorite! Not that he wants one for himself he adds!

I'd like to introduce you to my new model - Hattie. Rescued from the bin at work I think she must have been fighting because she has a broken nose but she sits patiently to model my hats. This latest one is knitted in Colinette 'Point 5' (I've no idea what colourway it is) and the pattern is from their 'Artyfacts' book.

I'm really quite pleased with it. It was a super quick knit on 12mm needles and took less than a day to knit up and it left me with exactly half a ball so I can make another one. Which is good as I think it may have ended up in my pile rather than the Christmas present pile!

Now on to the saga of the Giotto top. Since I last posted I've found another pattern that only needs 3 hanks to knit it up with. This is it:

It's from Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer '06 and is another really quick knit on 9mm needles and is in the exact same colourway as I have. I'm a bit worried though as so far it's looking really small and I've rather a lot of yarn left over with just the sleeves to knit up. I think I may frog it and knit it up in the next size after all the model in the photo doesn't have quite as much in front as I do!

I've also finally started Ella. I've had the yarn for ages now but I've been putting off starting it in case I made an enormous mess of my lovely yarn. But so far so good. I think I'm getting the hand of the pattern and it's growing well. I can definitely seen myself getting addicted to knitting this!