I’m afraid I’ve had draft posts sitting here for a long time.  This is to show I do still think and knit and blog in addition to the many many many MANY other things that have happened in the last few weeks and will continue to happen for a few weeks more probably.  Nothing horrific.  All I can cope with, but I’m feeling bogged down so stick with me – you already have anyway, so thanks for that!  And hopefully there will be fewer typos too this time!

Just so you know, I have knit a bit.  Mainly charity stuff (one of the many things was me organising a blanket for Macmillan at work), but here is something to show you that is actually quite interesting (ish)…

What you think?  It is warm and cosy and soft as I had hoped.  But I’ve done a majorly shoddy job on the floats.  Partly the yarn, partly the way the pattern is designed (with many long floats), mainly me!  Lots of uneven stitches needed fixing in the blocking, but they were mostly fixed.  Mostly.  Available from here. Also the same person makes a FAB owl cowl. Arf! What could possibly be better than knitting up a rhyming garment?! I modified it by making it shorter than the 5 leaf repeats in the pattern, but that’s all – same number of stitches and all that jazz.

How’s about that then? Two posts in one month! :O And maybe I’ll use up that draft for a post related to drafting tomorrow… Oooh I’m full of cunning humour today!

Still here!

I promised myself this year that I would use more stash.  So far that has barely materialised.  I have curbed my yarn purchasing a lot (although I still make purchases every now and then, you know, for gifting ;D), but between the gift knitting and the sock club, my stash has barely had a dent made in it.  So I determined this weekend that, now my gift knitting is almost over, I am making the move to knit some stash.  Plus I had that knitting evening with Lisa to organise a portable simple project that can be knit while watching tv/drinking ;)  And also it is now Socktoberfest, and it would just be plain rude not to knit socks this month

So I picked this to knit Kai-Mei. 

Seriously, I’ve had this yarn forever.  One of my earliest socks was made in this kind of yarn – Hip Knits Cashmere.  It has been in storage so long, it smells fusty, and had to be aired by the open window the other night.  I really don’t know why I clung to this yarn so long without knitting it – the other cashmere yarn wore out fairly quickly (who doesn’t want to wear cashmere socks all the time?!), so it is clear this will too.  The colour is pretty, but nothing spectacular to make it worth saving so long.  So I picked it to make Kai- Mei knowing that I would want more of the sock pattern later, that it would be simple and easy, and largely brainless knitting, and that it really would be ok if it wears out within 6 months.  I promise!

But then I changed my mind, thanks to Roo   I was pondering and pondering, so I gave her a run through of my options, and she made the educated decision for me.  So I took this to work on

The yarn for this is not fusty, and is gorgeous to work with – knitshop.co.uk merino silk blend.  And the pattern?  I never thought I’d say this, but I’m knitting a cowl.  It is the Stem and Leaf Cowl (available on Etsy and listed on Ravelry).  I am nowhere near as adventurous as the designer, who used neon shades to knit this.  Being an Orla Kiely fan, I couldn’t resist.  For some reason it doesn’t have many fans on Ravelry (maybe the colour choices?), but a friend saw the potential and emailed me the Etsy link.  The yarn I have 4 different shades of, and plent of it all, so I’m thinking cowl, mitts and hat, and if enough left over, a scarf too.  Nothing too matchy matchy, just the same shades, the same softness, the same comfort for a cold winter.  I started it in August, and it still looks like a squooshy mess right now, but it is moving along and should be ready for when the really cold weather kicks in.  Which is about now.  The pattern calls for 5 repeats plus some ribbing, but I suspect mine will be 4 repeats max, otherwise it might be too deep.  I’m a little concerned about whether it will fit over my head too, but, much to DB’s confusion, I tried it from my chin to the top of my head and it fits that way, so fingers crossed.  I’m not sure if DB thought I might be making a balaclava though…

But it says a lot about my stash when thiss week we got more containers for the yarn and fibre.  Just making sure it stays safe and nice   And also a container for the handknit socks, seeing as they won’t fit in the drawer with my other things anymore.   And that I’m making more yarn because I’ve borrowed a spinning wheel…  Whoopsy!  More on that later ;D