In the Making...

Not my latest finished object but it’s taken me awhile to get around to blogging about it. I mentioned before that I was partaking in Ysolda ’s Follow Your Arrow knitalong this year. Project page here. I used Sparkleduck Solo which is a lovely yarn. A very vivid sea green colour and has lovely stitch definition. I managed to keep up with the KAL. I do like knitalongs, as each section is in a bitesize piece. I managed to complete the first 3 clues in an evening and the 4th and 5th in 2 evenings, so it didn’t take up too much of my knitting time. Each clue has an arrow theme. I did clues BABBB plus the extension chart and 4 repeats of Rows 3 & 4. I liked the choices I made with the clues, though I think after seeing all the other shawls, I prefer the smocking chevrons on clue 3 instead of the little arrows. The little arrows are still very cute, I just think the design would have more cohesion with the chevron. At the time, I’d just completed the Rendevouz Shawl , ...

There are some SPOILER photos here; so don't continue if you want the hat to be a surprise. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, I've taken part in the Woolly Wormhead Mystery KAL 2012 . This is the first time I've done this and I really enjoyed it. I normally steam through projects and I was kind of nice to be able to do a project in small portions; made me appreciate the experience more! Also, I'm not 100% sure I would have picked the hat had I seen it first. It's lovely but probably not something I would normally do. It's good to try different things. It took an awful lot of effort to finally choose some yarn; I kept finding that everything I wanted to do would just go into a 2nd ball to fit the size I wanted. I finally found a yarn that would work with just 1 ball which is Louisa Harding, Amitola which is quite an unusual yarn. It's sold as a DK but it has 250m/50g which is an immense amount of yardage for a DK. It's a single ply yarn with long stripes....

I seem to have been really busy this last week or two but not a lot to show for it. I've been sucked into the enthusiasm of the 2012 Woolly Wormhead KAL . I really enjoyed the Orchid Thief KAL. I've been very good recently and there has been an embargo on stash acquisition, which accidently came to an end yesterday when I bought this: I've a feeling one ball won't be enough as I've got rather a large head. There is 250m on the ball so I'm crossing fingers. There's plenty of knitting going on but nothing finished. Here's a sneak peak of my Rams and Yowes blanket: Hopefully it'll be finished shortly but I had a minor disaster with it last night. I'd sewn the border down to the inside and blindly did the whole thing without checking the tension of the sewing. When I'd finished I did my usual thing of pulling it into shape and proceeded to snap all the sewing that I'd done. I'd done it way too taut so I'm pa...

I got a little sidetracked recently. I've participated in my first KAL (knit-a-long). Ysolda Teague has recently self published Orchid Thief shawl - it was originally available in Brave New Knits. To celebrate this, a KAL has been organised.  I ummed and ahhed over doing it and suddenly remembered I had the perfect handspun for the project and it sort of tipped the balance. So off I trotted and bought the pattern and found my needles and wool. It transformed from this...... to this.... And finally to this..... I've included a few beads that I had in the edging and used a crochet cast off edge.