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!