Blogus interuptus

I broked my computer. Which means no blogging at home. Things will be distinctly quieter here until the situation is rectified... and the rectification involves return shipping to England. Bah!

Never quite what was intended

It's been a productive knitting week. I started my party lace cowl, and I'm pretty happy with it so far.


But I went to knitting group on Thursday and realised that I'd forgotten my husband's socks, the nice simple knitting that's approprate to a room full of laughing women. I tried knitting the cowl and gave up after about 1/2 a row. I'd already made mistakes. So I tinked it back and sat looking at the wall of yarn (the best thing about a knitting group in a yarn shop- there's always something to inspire you). I found a ball of yarn and starting a pair of socks, as I thankfully had my circular needle case with me. Mind you, this means I've abandoned all else in favour of socks with aloe. This yarn (Austermann Step) is lovely to knit with.


And just as I was starting the socks, Clare showed up with a bag full of treats. Some lovely Wollmeise that needed a good home. I couldn't leave it homeless.


My only yarn purchase was supposed to be some Cashmerino to send to a friend (Heidi, I did get some!) , and still I managed to come away with two skeins of yarn for me...

Party Lace

Some might remember I started Lisa's Party Lace Scarf a while back .



I loved the yarn, and the pattern, but not the scarf. I just couldn't see myself wearing a light lacy scarf. So today I frogged it. and with the permission of the author, I'm turning the yarn into a party lace cowl. Watch this space :)

Wordle

Copy-cating Tea and Cakes (and reassuring her she's not the only one who apparently overuses the L word), here's a wordle of my blog:

Melody's Shawl

I was impressed by the construction of Melody's Shawl, and decided it would be a nice simple knit for my trip to Canada. I finished shortly after I returned home.

The main feature of this shawl is that it's knit in the round, and then stitches are dropped and cut to create a fringe. The cutting was done late one evening


And the result is pretty and pleasing, I was very happy with it.

The yarn is Fyberspates laceweight silk, really nice to knit with. It turned out big enough to use as a shawl with a dress, but light enough to bunch up and use as a scarf (which I've been doing since I completed it)



My ownly recommendation to others is to use something with more grip. Any time I catch a stitch in the silk, it creates a fairly significant mark. If the yarn was grippier, I think it would be harder to pull a stitch.

I've moved on now, and started some socks for my husband. This is his first pair... he realised when trying on my father's socks that maybe warm wool socks would be a good thing!


We are inching closer to daylight, but not quite there yet...

Oh, and I've been thinking about a blog contest. Stay tuned :)

Tea

I have knitting to share, but no daylight in which to photograph at home. But I do have something else to share. I bought some lovely loose teas at Britannia Teas when I was home at Christmas, along with a simple little strainer for my desk at work. After a chat with one of my co-workers about such things, he found House of Tea, and ordered us the cutest little tea strainers ever.

It has made my cup of tea (Rhubarb Cream) even more enjoyable. I might have to get another one for home :)

Holiday knitting

I highly recommend bringing boring plain stocking stitch for plane and holiday knitting. No thought, no effort, and it keeps me busy. And it's pretty much done, in just 3 weeks!