Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Getting there...

So, I'm gradually ticking off the Christmas presents - the ruffled hat and mittens for SIL are now complete (and are lovely - I'm SOO going to have to make myself some too) and I'm working on some slippers for mum and Jultomten for the nieces. These little chaps will be sporting the beards I've mentioned before. They are Swedish-inspired Christmas gnomes, but these will not have seasonal colours, they will be in the girls' favourite colours (hopefully) and I've made all the pieces for the first one already. Photos to follow once I've decided which colour for the beards!!

I'm also working on projects for me too (call me selfish, but I do like to wear my own handmade items as there is little chance of me not liking it) so since my last post, I've completed a shawl in a self-striping yarn (Noro Kureyon, for those who like to know) which was very satisfying for two reasons: one - it used all but one yard of the yarn (I hate waste/leftovers) and two - I learned a new beaded bind off technique which was both stretchy and decorative. I have used beads in a knitted cardi before, but not added using a teeny tiny crochet hook or on the bind off - so I'm feeling a little pleased with trying something new, and with how the shawl turned out :o)

I've also dug out some yarn from the bowels of The Stash to get cracking on a cardi for me - its a bulky yarn so knitting up nice and fast (even by my standards) so I'm hopeful this one will not take too long... watch this space!

I think I may be obsessed with a new yarn brand that's become available recently - its called Punta and I just LOVE all their yarns. They come in all sorts of weights and the hand painted colours are just too scrumptious... I may have to avoid going to any of the LYSs until they have run out of it or the kids college fund will be in jeopardy!! On the yarn crawl we organised recently (since my last post) there were lots of OOOHs and AAAHs heard as well as me almost elbowing a fellow yarn crawler out of the way to get to fondle this new fibre... well - you'd have to have been there to see and feel it - the photo just won't do it justice - but you need to have some idea of why I love this yarn...

I am such a sucker for lovely colours and soft squooshy fibres (and sale bins!!), and quite often I don't even have a project in mind when I buy - very bad habit!! The yarn crawl was great fun and a chance to explore all the stores around the city, but I think The Stash monster needs to go into hibernation now while I get my head around what I can do with those latest acquisitions that do not have a specific destiny. Ravelry will help to seek out the patterns which will turn a few skeins of lovliness into something equally scrummy that I (or a worthy recipient) will enjoy for a long time to come. In the meantime, I will press on with the projects I do have on the needles... ho hum, lots of fun ;o)

Sanity Check: 6/10 (coming down with a cold c/o #1 son)
Stash +/-: not saying after yarn crawl but -12 skeins from current projects!!
Projects +/-: +4 (2 stash busters & 2 xmas) -2FO = +2

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