Several FO's

Presenting several finished objects! I've been knitting a fair bit the last few weeks and have finished several things. And 10 year old I. is turning into a very willing model.



First up is Ishbel. (Photo above is unblocked version) I have knitted lace in the past, although years ago. I've never found it particularly hard, it's just a matter of keeping an eye on your chart and more often than not, lace patterns are easy to memorise. This one escaped me though. I lost count of the number of times I had to unpick it - the pattern doesn't become obvious until you're several rows in and I had to refer back to the photos in Little Whimsical Knits several times to see if my pattern was turning out as it should be (more often than not, it wasn't). As it is, there is an error in it, but I found it at the very end and there was no way I was going to unpick it again. I had to make it a bit smaller than the pattern specified as I was running out of yarn, which means that it's ever so slightly too small for me - I wear it the way I. wears it in the photos but it keeps falling off! Despite all the drawbacks, I absolutely love this pattern, I knitted it in about 10 days and have yarn coming for a second one, and a request from I. for a third one (she pinches my one regularly as it is!). The yarn came from the Yarn Addict and I love the colour - several colours blue which remind me of grey clouds scudding across a blue sky. Perfect for Yorkshire where we were staying when I took these photos.


Secondly is a scarf that I. requested. We went to Sewing for Pleasure together back in March and as I now knit more than I sew, I enjoyed the knitting stands the best. We found a ball of yarn with bobbles at regular intervals and knitted up into a really soft, cushiony fabric. It wasn't the sort of thing I'd ever buy for myself but a 38 year old doesn't necessarily have the same taste as a 10 year old, and I knew she loved it. So I got her a ball for her birthday and promised to knit her a scarf with it. Casting on wasn't easy, knitting with it wasn't particularly easy either! I put it down several times in favour of more interesting projects but began to feel a bit guilty, and last weekend when we were in Yorkshire, I forced myself to get on with it and finished it there and then. And I'm glad I did when I saw how happy she is with it!


And last but not least, a baby hat for the new arrival of an ex-colleague. We keep in touch via email and recently she told me she was 36 weeks pregnant, taking me completely by surprise. I did want to send her a little something, and had seen the Cisco baby hat on Brooklyn Tweed's blog in two colours rather than multicoloured. I like the multicoloured look but there was no way I was going to find nice yarn in those colours, so I chose a purple and a lilac for the trim. The ears didn't turn out as bear ears, I had a bit of trouble with their instructions and think I've done something wrong somewhere, they're more like cats ears now... but I still like it and hope she does too!



I have several new projects lined up and Yorkshire obviously has several wool shops. I was quite restrained and only came back with 3 new balls of yarn, but could have bought a lot more!

I'll leave you with a photo of the stunning view we had from our cottage in Coverdale