Notice how I've moved away from my green phase - I stopped myself just before I bought the loveliest green cotton DK which of course I now wish I had anyway. There's 300g of Sirdar Nova Chunky for a project (definitely a cold weather one so look out later in the year!); 350g of Rowan Linen Drape for a summery top and 350g of Patons Laguna 100% cotton to become Green Gable which brings us back to the new project, again more on that later.
And with the designs in 'Sensational Knitted Socks' still whizzing through my mind I got some plain sock and 4ply yarns to be played with at some point soon in time for Autumn.
And then I found some old Rowan pattern books (numbers 30 and 33) and decided I should rehouse them and conveniently found a pattern there using Linen Drape and I had the right number of balls for it - I can't quite remember the name of it right now but it's from Rowan 33 and involves casting on far too many stitches for first glance! Oh and if you think I must have won the lottery to have bought all this little lot, think again. All these items were priced 50p each which is fantastic but it does come at a price with the closure of one of our LYS - a real little treasure trove of a shop with shelves full of long forgotten favorites.
Now there is a reason why I've started a new project and it's simply because I think I ought to knit something a little more light weight for summer time and I've put aside my dislike for cotton yarns as well as this Patons Laguna feels so lovely and soft and is not at all splitty which has always been my problem with cotton. So far so good - it's a really quick knit. The lace panel has a mistake in it - I can see it now in this photo but I can't really be bothered to rip it back as I've done a load more since this photo was taken and it's not too bad a mistake if you try not to see it. I've not been entirely bad - I did complete the back of the 'Lacey Waves' jumper before I started this one so at least when I come back to the jumper it won't be a case of trying to remember where I was up to!!
Of course you realise we won't have a nice summer now that I'm making the effort to knit for warm weather (and when I typed effort initially I mistyped it as 'error' - which is right?!).
I will leave you for now with a quote from Mary Thomas's Book of Knitting Patterns:
"There is no work in the world more ingenious than Knitting, and this is why it's appeal has lasted over so many centuries"
See we're all really ingenious!! And if you haven't seen it already I suggest you take a look at this little gem of a book from 1943 and her Knitting Book - so many ideas there we think of as 'modern' which have been around for generations.
Just look at that mucky water! Pooey bits were removed before bathing of course!
And then onto the line to drip dry! That by the way is only half of the fleece as it was a bit much to handle in one go. And to think that just last week that fleece was still on the sheep! It will need a good session with Mum's drum carder to make it easier to spin so it will be a while before this becomes something wearable - other than as a sheep costume!
I was feeling a bit bad about buying more yarn on the way home but thought no more about it. Emily has a new phrase that turned up after she'd spilt a drink and co-incidentally a police car went past with it's sirens on. "The Police will Get You" she said, which is cute and so I've been pointing out why the police will get you. So on the way home from buying wool, after passing a police car I told her the police will get you if you drive too fast but not to worry as Mummy was being good. 200 yards down the road the police were doing random checks on cars and guess who got pulled over? Talk about speaking too soon! Anyway, the Tax and so on were OK so I went on my way and my yarn purchase served to calm me down after this excitement!
Today the Welsh Police were also doing random checks, which I managed to drive past unchecked... but was followed by a police car. Emily was whinging about something so I told her I couldn't help as I was driving and the police were after Mummy. And yet again I was pulled over!! Arrgghh! My Dad, who was in the car with me, thought this was hilarious and told me, like the police man did, that I needed to get a new tax disc holder as mine had given up even trying to stick to the window.
I am NOT going for a third try like Mum suggested! In fact I shall try to avoid the police as much as possible from now on!! I should actually stay at home and try to finish some of this small mountain of FO's I've accumulated recently.
The purple bits are some slippers stared when we had that cold spell and only one need sewing up but I can't find the right yarn again to do that. There is Emily's BabyJay pre-cast-off along with some of Mum's left over hand spun sock yarn to knit some for Emily. And finally the green is my Jaeger Matchmaker DK which is set to become Norah Gaughans Lacy Waves Top from 'Lace Style' and can be seen if you scroll down a bit here. So far there's 14" of plain stocking stitch which is not inspiring me and feels as if it will take ages to knit up. All I can say is I can't wait to start the sleeves and neck insert which is where the brain will have to wake up!And as if I haven't got enough projects on the go already I got a copy of Sensational Knitted Socks (which I love) and have rummaged in the stash to find these two yarns which I fancy trying the cover sock with. Oh, yes and I've a lace stole screaming at me to knit it now. And more socks, possible a couple more stoles.... need I go on? I think I'm finished being good and not starting anything until I finish something - I will be here spinning and knitting away frantically at anything that catches my eye - and possibly all at once!!
Right, sorry for the waffle and mad ramblings am off to knit, spin and have a glass of wine, or two!!
