What a week!

Monday, part of my KTS3 exchange, these yummy sock yarn arrived! Thank you Cathy, I can't wait to get started, my favourite soft soft pastels!

As soon as Lady Eleanor is off the needles, hopefully tonight, I plan to cast on this with a 4 ply cashmere from Colourmart. The pattern seems easy enough to take with me on vacation next week. Or, maybe I might start off a sock with the peachy yarn on the left as well? What of FPS? Well, it's on a hiatus till I get back from the hols!

Birthday's not till next week and I've already opened 2 presents! Thanks Regg and Annie for the goodies , especially the shrug. It is my very first knitted gift and much loved. Thank YOU!

Hiking FOs and Lady's progress

It's been a most productive morning today. I had promised YL to take her shopping for her Prom dress and not only did we find the dress, we also made it to the post office with 2 parcels.

The one to Cathy, my KTS3, is long long overdue as a result of nothing else but sheer procrastination on my part! The package had been wrapped for days waiting for the one to JS to be ready. Alas, these hiking socks, hat and Aran jumper(previous blog entry) took longer to air dry as it's been raining almost daily recently.

Yarn: Cleckheaton 100% DK wool (superwash)

Socks: 2.5 x 50gm x 104m

Hat: 3.5 x 50gm x 104m, double strand

Now that both packages are on their way, it's full steam ahead with Lady Eleanor. Here it is, 3 balls of Rowan Tapestry knitting. I've enjoyed watching the 'bricks' forming and the constant changing of colours makes it interesting. The shade and intensity of colours in each ball varies immensely but I'm fine with that as it adds to the beauty of the Lady.

FO and the Lady

Four months late but still in time for the Australian Winter - the Whole Clan Sweater from Knit Picks.

Pattern: Knitpicks:One for the whole clan sweater

Yarn: Knitpicks Swish Superwash, Colour: Coast Grey

Amount: 15 x 50 gm x 110 yd

Needles: 4.5 mm

Due to my new job portfolio I'm sitting at 2 different office locations. The air-conditioning in my old room is never above 18% C cos' its a floor below the hospital's operating theatres and yet a cotton shirt and lacey stoles suffice for the day but this other one is much much colder, so bad, I'm holding onto a hot mug all day! What a waste of energy with the central air-conditioning.

Looks like I'm not going to survive very well without taking drastic actions. So, here's Rowan Tapestry growing up very quickly into Lady Eleanor and perhaps some leftover cashmere from Kimono into a pair of lacey fingerless mittens?? When your fingers are too frozen for the keyboard, who cares about a few stares ?

Meet-up ladies, I'm leaving the blogging of the event to Mona since the pictures I took didn't turn out decent enough to do most of you justice! The lighting was all wrong.

A quick update

It's the weekend we make the one hour journey South to visit the In-Laws and we're usually back late Sunday evening which means I'm too lazy to switch on the PC except plonk down on the sofa to enjoy an 'after journey coffee' ... so, a quick update..

Guess what I found while diving into my stash for some bulky yarn to cast on a short cardi I've been eyeing for myself? The superwash Cleckheaton DK remnants I thought I had but couldn't figure why I've only got 2 balls left! Another 2 were stashed and hidden away in a box of sock yarn which I had forgotten about! Sigh!..I guess it's time for some stock taking and tidying up next week.

So, here's hiking socks 2 in Garter Rib knitted with 3.25mm DPNs.


Having read much about seams lending more 'bulk' and 'form definition' to a jumper, I'm still not convinced to give up 3 stitch bind-offs and knitting in the round. If not for them ,I'd never get that neat joining at the shoulders and sides plus actually look forward to sewing up the armholes. No dreading the seaming of sleeves and sides...gosh! that feels good.

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Wish you all a restful weekend and produtive week ahead!

My Secret Pal 10 : Looking forward to the goodies :)

My KTS3 - Cathy : Hope you'd like the yarn arriving from 'Simply Sock Yarn Co' and I've bought the teas ..package will be out by the week.

Slow progress

There's been slow progress on the knitting front since I got back from my trip South. I've been leaving the office later to cope with the new responsibilites which came with my recent move to a divisional position and that means knitting time is greatly reduced and easier projects needed to help me unwind. This Tweed jumper was casted on for 'comfort-knitting' with Rowan DK in burnt orange. It's mine and I'm not following any specific pattern since it's just plain stocking stitch and probably crew neck.

A little FO, hiking socks for son, unblocked. Meant to take pictures of DH modeling it, but the hairy legs got a little camera-shy! This was to be the first of 3, knitted with remanants and stash superwash wool until I realised more than 2 balls of 50g are required. Unless I get really creative with mixing some odd colours together, there's just going to be this pair for now. I may be able to whip up a woollie hat with 3 balls of the same yarn to match the socks though.
The 2nd sleeve of Clan sweater is finally on the way and here it is in a pic with some of my favourite tea pots. By the way, I've joined KnittersTeaSwap3 and am having fun preparing the parcel for my KTS pal Cathy.

My late father, a porcelain goods importer, gave me most of the Chinese pots in my collection and the most treasured is this little old man. They were samples given to foreign importers in the 1970s' and I believe some may not have been put into commerical production.

I brought back..

It was a 2-day seminar in Singapore and really there wasn't time for LYS hoping but look what I came home with! All the Clover assessories that I've been drooling over and 7 balls of Rowan Tapestry (I took all GD had in this shade!) of which I have absolutely no idea what to knit into. I just couldn't resist the colours and like I told Regg (thanks for everything) "I must have them else I won't be able to sleep tonight!"
All I was meant to bring back on this trip were these 12 packs Mona and I had previously ordered and since we could save some postage...

My cabin trolley bag sans clothes, shoes, toiletry bag and tons of seminar materials!

What wouldn't we do for yarn??! Since I had to check out of the hotel early morning, I parked the bag + some at the seminar hall, took everything on a coach ride to a site visit and then onward to the airport without baggage check-in. Guess what, the tour would have been difficult but it was a breeze!!! The yarn fairies came out as 2 very helpful chaps (seminar attendees) who carried, pushed and pulled everything during the site visit. Bless them!!

And so ends another yarny adventure.....

Thank You SP10

Isn't it just perfect? A Saturday morning lie-in and DH very obligingly drove off to the post office to bring this home.

So thoughtful of you to tissue wrap each item including the balls of Colorado Yarns. I'm glad they're worsted superwash and the Bouncle from handpaintedyarns.com is in one of my favourite shades. How did you know my old row-counter is falling apart? Yours came just in time for FPS!

Definitely will enjoy the chocolates, lavender soap and potpurri scents. Thanks again!!!

Have a good weekend everyone and to mothers; HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY tomorrow.

I really really have to..

Get on with the second leg and cast on for hiking-socks-2 to meet the June deadline for 3 pairs!
Finish the sleeves !Keep ourselves motivated (Regg & Mona) with a progress report. Just so that I don't blog the Forest Path Stole to death, there won't be another till Tier 8

Red Sahara

Pattern: Sahara from Stitch Diva, Size: XS

Yarn: 6 x 50 gm x (?) yds, 100% Acrylic by Peony (Japanese)

Needles: 3 mm & 3.5mm

Gauge: 26 sts to 4"

Modifications: Ribbing at base instead of Lace Pattern, Add 1 lace repeat at neckline

Progress report - Forest Path Stole - Tier 1

A yarn snob is impressed

This is going to be a super quick post because I can't wait to go back to this short sleeves Sahara and finish off the neckline.

I am enjoying this pattern and learning loads of new tricks from it and so, definitely a good buy. It begins with a provisional cast on at the back, no shoulder seams, then sleeves are picked up and knitted. A clever and really neat design.
Oh yes! and its knitted in Japanese acrylic that I reluctantly bought. The yarn snob that I am can't get over the fact that I'm actually very impressed with how the yarn knitted up, much softer than the past arylics I had worked with and good stitch definition. Yarn technology has progressed but my perceptions haven't, yet I am in the IT industry. (very embarrassing look..)

The cashmere laceweight arrived for Forest Path Stole and I am still having mixed feelings whether I really want to get into a 'killer project'? I'm so tempted to give this a miss and start on Sivia Harding's easier Gothic Leave Stole in a friendlier fingering yarn. (oops! Mona Regg will keep you girls posted)