Central park hoodie 2!

Central park hoodie from Knitscene 2006
Wendy aran with wool
I like version 2 far more than my first attempt. I think I'm just not so in to tweed yarns..........

Cast on Crazy!!!!!

I seem to go through phases of either sticking with one project, or casting on madly for mulitple WIP's which will undoubtedly take me months to complete. At present, my mood matches the latter, and my WIP count has gone up in rapid succession *roll*, but I'm happy, so its all good:-)
After much deliberation, I cast on for the Karenina socks for which the kit was installment 1 of the socktopus club.

I think they are knitting up really nicely! I know a few people had sizing issues with these on 2.5mm, but as I have small fet I decided to go ahead with the recommended needle size, my tension is right on the st st areas, but I do think that these might need to be blocked before I can get them onto my feet.........
I also cast on for Thermal, prompted by a knitalong going on over on the crafty threads forum. This is so much nicer knitted up than I thought it was going to be. I had the impression that it was going to look a little bulky despite teh 4ply yarn, but its not at all, and I'm really pleased with my progress on this. I'm using some jaeger matchmaker merino 4ply from stash to make this, and rather than knit it in the round, I have decided to knit it on straights. This is purely because I can knit much faster on straights than I can on circs because of the way I hold my needles.

I cast on for This shawl from Yarnforward, but I suspect it will be a long term project. The yarn is supposed to be a 4ply, but in truth it seems a similar weight to much of the laceweight I have in stash. It's lovely and soft though, and I am enjoying knitting with it. I'm having a little bit of difficulty with the chart for the lace, not becasue I can't read the chart, but because its thewrong way on the page, and really hard to get the magazine to stay open to read it without totally ruining the spine iyswim.......


I did consider also casting on for another forest canopy shawl using some fine sari silk form my stash, but thought that was going perhaps a tad too far on the WIP front lol, maybe tomorrow;-)
I've got a central park hoodie otn too, but will post pictures of that once its nearer completion:-)

Little Monkeys!!

I've just finished making myself a pair of Monkey socks in some Cherry tree hill yarn from my stash. This pair knitted up so much quicker than the pair I made for the monkey swap last year!!! There is a definate advantage to having size 3 feet:-) I love this pattern though, and its great for busy yarns too!

I like to have a pair of socks otn most of the time, but can't decide which pair to make next. I've been wanting to make a pair of Jaywalkers for ages, a good couple of years, but had a pair of zebra ones in mind. I've got the zebra yarn, and they were going to be my next pair of socks, but that jojoland quartette that I got for my birthday would look great for this pattern too, so now I can't decide:-( Plus, I've yet to start the socktopus club sock pattern from december, so I could cast on for those????
The Lovely Piglottie sent me a voucher for Socktopus for my birthday, so I chose this lovely Duet sock yarn!

It's so pretty, I'll have to have a think of which pattern to use it for to show it off to its full potential though!!!
I bought myself the Jane Brocket book before christmas, and have been reading it over the past week. Its a great book, full of amazing photography, and loads of crafty inspiration. Having seen her cupcakes, I decided I'd make myself some, I mean, it can't be that hard to bake and ice some fairy cakes can it:-) Actually, the cakes turned out really nice, very tastey! DH had one warm form the oven, but I told him to wait for another as I was going to ice them!

They look pretty good yes???? One major problem I had though............. I didn't realise how WRONG icing could go!!! Seriously, its not that easy to make icing is it? It said in the book to make thick icing, like a paste, yep, I get that. Cue adding water to bowl....anyone see whats coming here? I put what I thought was a small amount of water in the bowl and then added icing sugar to it, little did I realise that my small amount of water was epic in terms of icing *roll*. So, half a packet of icing sugar later, and my icing was still runny:-( But not to be deterred, I slopped it onto the buns regardless, added the hundreds and thousands, and assured myself that it would set ok. Sadly it was not! The icing just soaked though the buns, they did taste fine though, and they all got eaten, but definately learnt a valuable lesson in the art of cake icing:-)
As we're now into February, a quick update on my stashalong......... I haven't bought ANY yarn!!! None whatsoever:-) Its been relatively easy too, I've just hunted through what I have and planned what I'll make next rather than looking at new yarns and searching for a project to use them on!!!! DH says I've received as much yarn as I would have bought...........obviously many of my purchases were hidden prior to his return form work LOL!!! I'll leave him happy in that thought!!

Birthday girl!!!!

Today is the first day of the last year of my twenties! I remember being a teenager when I longed to be "grown up", and now as my thirties are in sight, I almost wish I was fourteen again. I think that because I work with the elderly, I am very conscious of the trials and tribulations of old age, and how for may of us, its not something to look forward to. Luckily, I'm not old enough to worry seriously about getting old, but I do often consider at work, as people die, that one day, these people were like me, with hopes and dreams, aspirations, poeple they loved, and lives they touched........and wonder what my legacy would be:-(
ok, I'll stop being morbid now, and get onto the business of pressies!!!! I took part in a birthday exchange on the crafty threads forum, and recieved my gift fform Nevisknitter, and what gift!!!!

The jojoland is so soft, I'm planning to make a pair of jaywalkers with that:-) The pink/blue yarn is Shunklies which I think is handspun. I want to make a scarf or mini shawl with this so will have to keep an eye out for a suitable pattern.
My sister bought me a gift voucher last year for Janettes rare yarns, and I was expecting the same thing this year, as she knows I love to knit, but as she doesn't is never really sure what to buy for me. How wrong I was..........

She'd been to John Lewis and bought me three skeins of the gorgoeus Llama Miski yarn from Mirasol, and she bought the pattern book by Jane ellison to go with it! I have to admit to being seriously impressed that she managed to buy something so lovely!!! I also got some Lush goodies for the bath, and The Rose of Sebastopol, which looks really good! DH bought me a portable stereo so I can listen to music or the radio in any room in the house, so have been listening to radio 4 as I cook, and its great:-) I got some book vouchers and amazon vouchers too form cyber friends, so have been fillinf my basket on amazon this morning, happy days!!!!
I started the cph yesterday, and this will be my february sweater, I think I should get it finished no probs, and I have a weeks annual leave, so loads of time to knit:-) And LOST starts again tonight, does it get any better than this???!!!! Piccies of knitting content next time!