Little Boxes, Little Boxes, Little Boxes Everywhere

Little boxes, little boxes,
Little boxes, all the same.
There's a green red one and a pink green one
And a blue one and a yellow white one
And they're all made out of ticky-tacky Lamb's Pride
And they all look just the same.

or nearly.


Here are some of the felted boxes from recent endeavours. They were great fun to work on and came out really great.





Lamb's Pride Bulky.

Held double.

No trouble.




Aren't they lovely?

If you're wondering how many boxes I can make without having to change the pattern, the answer is 3.

The 4th box (in white) is according to spec, but the sides are in stocking stitch.



The results are a bit different, but the contrast with smooth side and the garter stitch base is pleasing.



There are more of these in my future.

I can tell.
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I Love Me Too

The other day I was transferring Little Mouse from the house to the car seat in the middle of her nap, and trying to keep her asleep and dozy.

'Mmmmmm Little Mouse', I murmered. 'Mmmmmmm I love you.'

'You lub me?' murmered Little Mouse back. (She's at the age when everything is repeated several times over.)

'Yes I do my little pet. I love you' ses I.

'You lub me?' murmered Little Mouse (again).

'Yes my girlie, I love you' ses me (again).

'S'ok Mummy' sighs Little Mouse.

'I lub me too.'


Quite

In felting news, the boxes are coming out great. Will post soon with pics.

A Waiting Game

Oh Boy am I having fun with this pattern! (Rav link)

I was inspired to try some by Pumpkinknits's collection of boxes (Rav link) which are truely objects of wonder.

I picked up some Lamb's Pride Bulky ('nother Rav link) from TIK in a variety of colours and got started. Even tho' the instructions were clear enough on the subject, i.e. that you need 3 skeins for the biggest box size, I was still very surprised to run out of yarn after only 1 side and the base. With the yarn held doubled, it took no time at all.

Not so bright really, eh?

So I started the smaller size with some fabulous red. In the unfelted form, it's wonderful. It's in the washer right now. I can't wait!



Tum de dum de dum...

Knitty Serendipity

Serendipity

–noun
1. an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident.
2. good fortune; luck:

I may have mentioned that I got some faboolous yarn from Stephanie recently to make a felted bag for a Christmas gift. The recipient requested that it be a pouch style, kinda medieval, like something Maid Marian would have kept her ivory comb and rosehip lippy in.

I WAS thinking of knitting a basic tube with eyelets at the top and a roundy base but was a little uninspired by this plan.

Along comes the Winter Knitty just this morning with this delightful bag in it.

Perfect! Now just have to calculate yardage and adjust measurements if necessary.

I may have said this before...

I love knitting!

-------------

Edited to add:

Yikes, pattern needs 380 yards and 1 skein Artesano Aran has only 144! I'm gonna need more!

STEPHANIEEE!!!!!

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Project Diving 2

More Project Diving at the weekend revealed this beauty.

It's a sleeveless top from Sirdar. Or at least so I believe. Stash diving has failed to produce the pattern tho' I know I have it somewhere.

The original pattern was entirely in plain stocking stitch, tho' it did have the eyelet ribbon row and the picot neck detail.

I really wanted to include some lace panels, and I think it works nicely with the leaf lace stitch below the eyelet row and the vertical eyelets to the shoulders above. (These may have been in the original pattern, can't remember.)

At the time I didn't know anything about waist shaping, or short-row bust shaping for the *ahem* assets, so it didn't actually look that great on.

I still liked it tho', and I immediately scored some variagated cotton in purple/cream for another one. I can always make some shaping adjustments if I ever get around to a 2nd version.

The colour is most accurate in this pic. It really is a beautiful green.

Wondering what else is hidden in the stash?

Stay tuned....


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Patchwork Baby Blanket

This is a patchwork style blanket I knitted for a craft fair, not in patches or strips,but in a single piece. Inspired by the intrepid Knitting Dad and his butterfly cardboard bobbins used in this project I ended up with 11 bobbins of separate yarn hanging from the project.

It was very challenging interesting to make, but it really wasn't worth wrangling all those yarns. Next time I'll make strips and seam 'em.

Basically I picked a variety of lace,texture and solid stitch patterns and just mixed 'em up.

On more than one occasion I had to drop all the stitches from a panel along the way and knit it all up again with crochet hooks, prayer and a lot of @&^*%$!! This did a lot to remove the fear of things going wrong in knitting. They're only loops and stitches after all.

Told ya it was a challenge!

Pottery

More pottery.



From Soller.

Majorca.

Lovely.

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Project Diving

Lately I've been trying to sort out the many many many bags, drawers and boxes (and saucepans, shoeboxes and baskets) that contain yarn, fabric, projects, WIPs and various craft abandoned items which will be really useful someday but not just now.

I can't deny that I have a hoarding disorder. I even collect materials for crafts that I don't actually do. I've the makin's of several lovely quilts, altho' my sewing machine hasn't been threaded since I hacked made some curtains when we moved into our house 15 years ago. FIFTEEN!!!

Hmmmm. Now that I think about it I'm starting to worry about the embroidery kits I got at the Knittin' 'n Stitchin' Show recently. I'm starting to see a pattern of unfounded project ambition here.

Anyhew...I've been trying to sort things out a bit and I came across this little beauty in amongst the stash. It's a pattern called Flore from this website.

I loved making it - tho' I didn't find it easy at all. It was pretty tricky, but a great challenge and very rewarding when it was finished. Kinda like the buzz you'd get working out a complex mathematical problem. If you liked that sort of thing. Come to think of it, it WAS a maths problem!

(I stress that the pattern was perfectly well written and clear, it just took some concentration and visualisation. No criticism of the pattern itself intended.)

It actually makes people gasp. Unlike many of my other handknits, I have trouble pursuading people that I made it. They probably think I'm delusional.

Now, I am delusional about many things;

- like that I can still get Little Monkey out to school within 5 minutes although she's only half dressed, can't find her shoes, hasn't finished her homework and she's currently chasing Little Mouse under the dining room table.

- like the true size of the clothing I should bring into the fittingroom

- like how much I need a particular yarn or project tho' I can hardly get into the yarn/junk/box room

- like I can meet my urgent knitting deadlines in November

But this?

This is real baby.

Sigh.

I love knitting.

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Just because...

...it looks like nothing's going on around here,


...sounds like nothing's going on around here,


...seems like nothing's going on around here,


...that doesn't mean that nothing's going on around here.

Just so you know.


Knitting has stalled on the Shepherd's Sock Secret Project due to a greater deadline of the Christening Coat. Photos to follow when I manage to get my laptop and the camera and the cables all in the same room at the same time.




Recently we went to Palma Mallorca for a long weekend. It's a great city. I love it. Lovely architecture, access to beaches, wonderful shop fronts, winding little streets, old pedestrian areas (er, the areas are old, not the pedestrians - tho' there are a few wise old ancients here and there around the place).

I love the Cathedral area, and the walk up to the train station, and the panoramic train to Soller in the north of the island, and Soller itself, which has all the great elements of Palma listed above (including old pedestrians) but on a smaller more accessible scale.

The panoramic train itself is reason enough to go. We took it on a wet day and stormy day, with thunder and lightening around us as we chugged throurgh the mountains. Great fun.




Little Monkey left her mark.

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Dis-Harmony

Recently Little Monkey has started this amusing dialogue on car trips.

'Are we there yet?'

[pause]

'Are we there yet?'

[pause]

'Are we there yet?'

[pause]

[longer pause]

'How 'bout now?'

[pause]

'How 'bout now?'

[pause]

[even longer pause]

'Now?'

[PEALS of laughter]

[repeat joke]

'Are we there yet?'

[sigh, and my head hits the steering wheel]

She saw it on some cartoon or other. You can imagine that it's endlessly hilarious to her. Slightly less so to me.

She especially likes to start it when we're only 2 minutes into the journey.

In any case, I mention it because of this:

'See anything wrong with this picture?'



'How 'bout now?'

'Now?'

Shocking innit?

I had been carrying them in my handbag for out-and-about-knitting and they must have got caught up in a keyring or something and snapped. Tragedy.

I have carefully preserved the tip for some reconstructive surgery involving wood glue and some sandpaper.

I am hopeful.

Bloody but unbowed.

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Jinxed

Well, I'm not usually spooked, but how would you interpret the following occurrences over the past few days:

- the power unit/transformer for my laptop started squeaking (seriously, it squeaked) over 2 days and suddenly died. Dead. Nada. Zilch.

- on the very same day the motherboard on my laptop had to be replaced due to a faulty network connection.

- squished my fingers in a window hinge. An accident, and yes, it was agony. This is the worst item to report. Knitters will understand.

- hit a pillar in my own driveway and severed a wing mirror entirely from it's moorings i.e. the car. Absolutely amputated. It's a good thing that a car isn't a living creature or it would have been a bloodbath. Good thing the hubby is a dab hand with an electric drill.

- got utterly lost on a visit to a familiar neighbourhood (in which I grew up). I blame the recent development of roads and the introduction of a one-way traffic system.

- the light bulb blew in Little Mouses's bedroom.

- the light bulb blew in my bedroom.

- the light bulb blew in the hall.

- lost my mobile phone temporarily (a minor event, it turned up within 3 hours).

- the base unit for my cordless phone appeared to fail. Turned out to be a wonky wire.

- ran out of petrol on a short local journey (rescued by a kind neighbour - THANK YOU!)

- burnt more than my usual amount of saucepans while chasing kids around the house.

- Little Monkey opened a set of paints on the car and exploded blue paint all over her good outfit and the car upholstery. A blue bloodbath.

- lost my mobile phone (again) - a major event as it didn't turn up for more than 36 hours.

- and just last night when I opened the dishwasher, a jet of hot water and dishwasher powder shot straight into my eye. Unbelievably painful.

This morning I was afraid to get out of bed in case a piano fell on my head.

If we meet up, I suggest that you sit at another table.

A jinx?

Dunno.

Temporary?

I hope so.

Spooky?

Definitely.

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Taking No Chances

Turns out that sponge painting with the kids and knitting an off-white sleeve are incompatible activities.

(Don't worry, no knitting was hurt or damaged on this occasion.)

I kept looking at my knitting longingly and moving it further and further from the centre of the paint storm and finally took it out of the room altogether and put it on a high shelf.

You really can't take any chances with 2 gleefully paint spattered and over-excited children. The Deadline Knitting schedule takes a serious blow.

But...unrealistic knitting optimism is a powerful force of it's own. I can still crank out a couple of elf hats an' boots by Thursday morning, right?

Right?

I said RIGHT?

Thank you. I thought so too.

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Palpitations

Oh my goodness.

I've just looked at the Twist Collective Winter 2008.

It's wonderful.

WON-derful I tell you.




I saw this and I thought I was going to have to lie down.

I'm so happy to be in love with so much knitting again. For a while there I was running out of steam.

I wonder if it's all the red things? A quick survey of all my devices, appliances, accessories etc demonstrates a dominance of all things red. I love 'em. (I only got a blue phone recently because I didn't know it came in red.)

And the illustrations in the Critter Comfort section are delightful.



Oh the swing.

Words fail me.

Until next time that is.

Go take a look and come back and tell me what you like.

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Winter Essentials

Oh fickle knitter!

Mere hours after changing my mind about Mathilde the Wonder Dress, I turned to a very happy alternative.

Meet Jeanne from Winter Essentials. Isn't she lovely?

Nice and casual yet classic. Much more my style.*

The Lovely Ladies of TIK graciously allowed me to swap my Cash DK** for this DB Luxury Tweed. Perfect! They've loads of lovely new colours in, so go check it out.




* Don't worry. Mathilde will still happen, she's just slipped little further down the queue!

** This nervous exchange of yarns does not indicate any fault with DB Cash DK. The author recognises that it is a lovely natural fiber which naturally will pill somewhat. This can be effectively countered by judicious shaving of the offending fuzz. I will be happy to return to this yarn in the future, especially if pilling is not reported in other projects. Thank you for your attention. Over and Out.

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Reality check

Hmmm.

Well, reality set in about a week after the Knitting & Stitching Show. Several knitters have warned me of the liklihood of the Cashmerino DK pilling on the Wonder Dress Mathilde (Rav link).

I know it's not the 'fault' of the yarn per sae. It's the merino element of the yarn coming to the surface. And I know that it's possible to 'shave' the knitting and restore it's glory. I get that.

But...

I just don't think I could bear it. It's going to be such an investment in time, knitting, yarn...(oh and yes, the knitting budget) for it not to be lovely.

Does that mean that I'm not going to knit it? Nay, nay, say it not.

So I'm looking for a substitute yarn. I'll be able to check out other projects over the next little while (thanks Ravelry!) and see what alternative options are.

The Ribbed Cape however is going to be a winner. I've no problem with some pilling here as it's an outdoor garment and somehow needs to be more robust and work harder than Mathilde.

A knitted dress is entitled to look dainty - (or as dainty as it can do when it's not on a stick insect).

In the meantime, there's frantic knitting on the Secret Project and the Christening Jacket.

All good.

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Knittin' & Stitchin

Well! The show was great people. Just. Great. I went on Friday with my Mum and the girls. There was lots an' lots of yarn related stands and lots an' lots of paper/cutting/cards/stamping/glitter stuff for Little Monkey.

Especially glitter. She was waaaayyyy happy I can tell you.

Foolishly I had thought that since Little Monkey is now old enough to be interested in the show that I would be able to look at knitting stuff. WRONG! She's interested alright, but not in yarn, and Little Mouse, apart from a conveniently times nap just didn't want to stay in the buggy - so I didn't get much peace to look at what I wanted.

I did get a few great things however for some Christmas gift felting projects from The Yarn Room (thanks Stephanie). More info in a later post.

And some embroidery sets as gifts and/or to make at a future date. When I have some spare time. Hah! (** sound of hollow laughter)

Anyhow, this was just my excuse to dash up to the show without children on Saturday morning. Boy was I glad. I got to talk to far more people at the fabulous TIK stand and also to get to the Debbie Bliss Seminar, which I really enjoyed.

Believe me, the irony of falling head over heels in love with not one but TWO of Debbie Bliss recent designs less than 1 hour after commenting that they were starting to look very same-y is not lost on me.

Knit Passion No 1.

Mathilde from Winter Essentials

What can I say? Anyone who was at the seminar can attest to the stunning beauty of this piece. The silkiness of the yarn, the sheer delight of the design and the beautiful flow and drape of the fabric. Words fail me.

So I tried it on. And OK, I'm somewhat more round-y that the model, but I still loved it, and it looked great on everyone there who tried it on. I ran downstairs and invested. They were out of the grey-sheeny colour in the pic so Lisa suggested Cashmerino DK 31, a sort of moody grey green. It's lovely an' all, but I'm having some doubts about the colour and may decide to wait until the silver grey is available or even No 32, a sort of dark maroon which is more my palatte.

It's not like I'll be able to cast on before 2009 in any case, so there's no rush.

Knit Passion No 2.

Ribbed Collar from Como




Now with this, I've no hesitation at all. It looked really great on everyone who tried it on and I've been litereally dreaming of it ever since.

Oh yes, I got it in red of course. What else.

So...to all my fellow knitters and crafters who went to the Ball Show, I hope you had a wonderful time and got something that will enchant you for many moons to come.

Ah, next year!!!
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Far far away

Greetings to you from far far away.

Bizarrely I´m in Buenos Aires for the weekend - for work of course.

It´s an amazing city. Very Spanish (of course, given it´s history). This is where we had dinner last night. On the Dock I mean, not on the ship. Or was it breakfast. 14 hour flight from Paris, and 4 hours behind Ireland timewize. The jet lag is peculiar.



I´m leaving tomorrow afternoon for home, arriving sometime on Tuesday afternoon. I expect my brain to be at least 10 hours behind the rest of me.

And I did bring knitting, but not a second spare for it. I´m waaaayyyy too tired to read a chart, or string beads. Never mind. It´ll be a well-travelled scarf at least.

Oh, and in case you´re wondering. It´s very humid - and lashing rain.

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TIK2 Opening Party

Congratulations to TIK for the great opening party on Friday. It was a blast to see the new shop and meet so many knitters.




I was also delighted to get some lovely beads (in The Crown Jewels, near the back entrance of the Powerscourt Centre) to go with this yarn for a surprise project, which shall remain unidentified for now on the off-chance that the recipient visits the blog in the next little while.






The beads are gorgeous. Many thanks to Aileen for the tip off and to my friend J who came and held my hand. AND to Jacqui of TIK who lent me her very own laceweight yarn to bring down to the shop to be sure that the beads would fit.

Now, there's top service from your LYS!


All the best guys.


We'll get a TIK on the moon one day.

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Christening Sunday Brunch Update

There has been great progress on the Christening Sunday Brunch jacket. I’m knitting it in the round (of course) on my lovely new harmonies (did you doubt it?).

I calculated the number of Berry Cluster Stitch repeats that would fit across the stitches. 234 stitches. TWO THREE FOUR. There’s a nice symmetry*. Anyway, it seemed to be absolutely HUGE, so I took out a repeat (207 stitches) and jumped right in.




This has been flying zipping zooming along the needles. Even through the Vast Plains of Stocking Stitch. Probably because I’m absolutely in love with it and snuggle up with it at every opportunity.


My heartfelt thanks go to Jellyknits [Ravelry link], for preventing me from knitting the eyelet row at the bodice BEFORE the decreasing row for the smock effect. Phew! That would have been a painful mistake.


As it was I had to frog 5 rows (that’s 1,028 stitches people) but it was worth it. Jellyknits also encouraged me to retain the Moss Stitch pattern for the upper part of the jacket. I thought that a double Moss Stitch would be more pronounced, but she pointed out that the single Moss Stitch was really appropriate on a little person.


Dead right there babe. Thanks! It’s especially effective with the pearly incandescence of the Prima yarn. Each stitch looks like an individual seed pearl. (I can see why they call this the Seed Stitch in other parts of the world.)



So we’re flying along. Have divided for the armholes already and sprinting towards the left front neckline.



Happy happy happy.

* I won’t tell you how long it took me to work out that the 23 stitch pattern fits 10 times into 234 stitches, with 4 left over. I even had to use a pencil to work that out. (But I won’t admit it.)

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Love Bunny

The start of another school season means lots of new stationary, pens, folders etc. I love stationary.

Little Monkey does too, with a vast and chaotic collection of notebooks, drawing pads, colouring sets, papers and folders*. Of course, it’s waaaayyyy more fun if you decorate your folders too, so out comes the glitter and pens.

This particular scene is based on her current favourite book. Dear Bunny: A Bunny Love Story. Normally we don't do schmaltz in our hourse, (sentiment yes, schmaltz no) but this is delightful.

Valentino and Valenteeny, (Tino and Teeny for short) live across the valley from each other but have never spoken because they are VERY VERY Very very very (very) shy. Anyhow, they write each other little notes and eventually meet and fall in love. I just love the way these bunnies are shown in profile with their ears straight up. They look like they’ve been electrocuted!

And can you see the little hearts coming out of their mouths? Sweet innit?



Oh yes. Knitting.



There's that too.



* I guess she didn’t lick that chaos off a stone either.


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Stingray

This was on my car this morning. A flaming creature landed from the skies above. Looks like Autumn has arrived.

It’s from a lovely Maple tree which we planted shortly after we moved here. After 10 years growth it’s a pure delight in all seasons. A spreading green canopy in summer and a glorious flaming torch in Autumn.



Doesn’t it look like some sort of flying creature? Like a flying mantis or Portuguese Man-O-War?

Got my leaflet for the Knitting & Stitching Show this week. I'm really looking forward to it. This year the organisers are claiming it will be the biggest and best ever, with more actual craft stalls and fewer people selling funny irons and boot polish.

Let's hope. Tho' I might wear me boots just in case.

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Joseph Cot Blanket

And there's more in the Joseph series from the NicKnits Knitting Mum & Dad Team.



I have described previously how over the years there was a Joseph Jumper knitted for everyone in the family. Right at the end of this line comes Little Mouse, the 9th grandchild, the last leaf on the family tree.



Here's the Joseph Cot Blanket. Knit by Dad and quilted by Mum. What a team.

Impressed?

I'll bet you are.


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Happy Birthday Dad!

Just a little message of birthday wishes and love to the bestest Dad in the whole wide world!

Happy Birthday Dadd-io Poppa Pops!

I love you.


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TIK2

Yay for This Is Knit 2!

Great news guys. Well done. I'm hardly ever in Dublin city centre, but still it's great news.

Can't wait to see it. I hope you don't mind, but every one of us will feel like we belong there - just a little bit.

That's kinda nice I think.

And how you manage that kind of customer feeling with a commercial business in this day-and-age I can't imagine.

Unless the business in question just happens to involve knitters and yarn of course.

And unless it's run by special people of course.

There's always that.

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New Knitty

Welcome to the Fall Knitty 08. In the dim and dark olden days before Ravelry and TIK, Knitty was the 1st online resource that helped me find other knitters and feed my hunger for modern knitting patterns.

For this reason, I've always had a soft spot for Knitty, even tho' it has been joined by many other great resources (which I believe it may have helped to inspire). Now that I think about it, it's not that I've knit many Knitty patterns, but it provided a lot of interest and inspiration at a crucial time.

Since I don't do socks, let's look at the patterns that I would knit, given sufficient time and resources.

This is the cover pattern: Twist and Shout. Definitely something that I would knit and wear - tho' I'm not sure about the collar.

Retrofit is a great guy pattern. For a really great guy.

And Versitility is really amazing (see note below*). Anyway (ignoring the bobbles) I like the construction, tho' I think it helps that the model here is a little person. I was shocked to see this pattern in fact, since I've been thinking about designing something like this for a while. That's frustrating, since I worry about not being original enough and have abandoned several design projects where there are other similar ones published. Still maybe it means I've tuned into the knitting zeitgeist or something.

Same goes for Abby, a lace cowl, tho' I think this is a generic enough shape to be able to design alternatives without plagiarism.

But this? OpArt baby blanket? I would never have thought of this. Great innit?

Or these...they're just cute.

Coming in top of the queue tho' is the Waves of Grain scarf/wrap. I've been looking for a lace and beaded scarf for some silk laceweight that I've been hoarding in my Hat Box for a long time.

Nice one.



*The rest of you in other nations probably don't have this problem, but anyone growing up in Ireland in the 70's who had to endure study the author and storyteller Peig Sayers can't even contemplate a certain type of shawl for fear of looking like this.



...or this....




...tho' I notice Peig is knitting in the 1st picture. So we've more in common than I thought, after all.


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Berry Cluster Stitch

Well, so far it's all about the swatchin' and I'm lovin' it. My, this yarn is delicious. Soft, pliant, lovely drape.

Funny, it feels like it has the qualities of cotton, but without the stiffness, the kinks or the 'rope-y-ness'. (Isn't my command of language a marvel?) I've heard that it does stretch or drag a bit after knitting, but hopefully this won't be a problem, as it will be lined in anticipation of an Alpine winter's day, and this should give it plenty of structure. Besides, the fullness of the jacket skirt should hide any stretch.

Anyway, here's the Berry Cluster Stitch mentioned previously.

Lovely innit? Happy sigh*.



You can see the experimentation with bobbly embellishment here. The blue/green Prima is lovely, and it will tie in nicely with the baby's light blue Ao Dai.



What you see here is actually a group of embroidered French Knots. They're ok, but a bit chunky. I'll experiment a bit to get a finer, more delicate version.



Of course these beads are nice too, but not so suitable for an infant garment.



Oh this is fun.




* I should point out that what I'm celebrating here is the yumminess of the yarn and the beauty of the stitch pattern, not my actual knitting per sae. I'm not going to deny tho' that I'm pretty pleased with that too!
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Livin' in Perfect Harmony!

Hey!

Just got my set of Harmony Knit Picks circular whatsits...from TIK, (specifically from the lovely J. Thanks!).




Gives a whole new meaning to the term 'k/nitpicking'.

No, really, I see a connection. Ha Ha.

All joking aside, these babies are SHARP!!!!

First of all tho', they're soooo purdy! Those marbelled colours, and the wood grain. Lovely.

Er...I know that's not the most practical response, but after all, we spend so many knitting hours transferring needles from hand to hand, sliding stitches up and down, going thru' the stitch rhythm, and most importantly easing stitches and needle tips in and out of cables and lace, that - just like with a violin, a flute, a plane or a saw - it really matters what the instrument/tool is like.

Is it sticky, halting, jagged or smooth as butter?

Is it plastic, metal, aluminum, wooden or smooth as butter?

Is it shiney, grainy, splintery or smooth as butter?

In other words, is it as smooth as butter?

Yes it is.

(I should point out that here in Ireland, in case it's differnet in your part of the world, butter is smooth, and er....buttery...and oh yes, yellow-ish and kinda salty! Yum.)

At first with the Knit Picks, I must admit, (in the interests of full disclosure), that while I was bedazzled by their good looks, I was freaked out worried about how sharp the needle tips are. Not that accuracy and ability are a handicap. After all, I'm the kind of knitter who wants their boyband to be able to actually play an instrument and hold a tune. And Boyzone, are they sharp and pointy. But I haven't knit much lace, so these seemed over the top for my purposes. And painful.

I even thought - argh!- that maybe I had been once again suckered by the bandwagon to buy into something that looked lovely but would be inappropriate to my needs or fail to deliver. I'll admit, if I see a bandwagon passing, any bandwagon, about the right height and speed I think about jumping abord.

However, I:

- assessed this issue calmly, soberly,

- allowed for a suitable passage of time so that my crush on appearances would have time to pass,

- cast a beady eye on the knitting budget

...and I came to the sensible, adult and mature conclusion that they were just too darn pretty to resist!

*cough*

So there I was, piercing the pad of my left index finger with every stitch and wondering if it was all a mistake.

*sigh*

However, it turns out, that the very 1st project that I try these babies out on, the Berry Cluster Stitch, has a VERY tricksey purl 2 together THROUGH THE BACK LOOP for which quite frankly a blunter set of tools would be useless.

So, not only are they good lookin', they pack a punch.

Yay, redemption.

And you can't ask for more than that.

Or you can. (A free trip to the great knitting shops of the world, dinner for all your knitting friends - online and local - with the Yarn Harlot, tutorials with your favourite designers and a lifetime of free yarn.)

But that's just silly...

Fish Felt Thing

What can I say about this? It was to be a potholder for my friend’s birthday. She gave me such great encouragement over the felted bag swatch shown earlier that I wanted to say thanks. With felt. Heartfelt thanks in fact.

She's a fabulous crafter and makes the most sublime rolled felt (i.e. wet felt) things. Just. Fabulous.

There's no joy compared to giving someone you love something you made yourself, that you know they will really appreciate. (And don't TALK to me about knitting for your children. Little Monkey would break your heart! Mind you, she's very considerate - perhaps with an eye to her disinheritance. 'Yes I like it Mummy, I just don't want to wear it!')

Knit for other knitters I say - or in this case, felt for other felters*.

Well, it IS a potholder, but it turned out a bit bigger than planned, and then I got a little carried away with the embellishments so now my friend says she’s not lettin’ her lasagne dish anywhere near it.

So let’s call it a Fish Felt Thing and leave it at that.

That yellow thing in the corner was going to be a a flower, but Little Monkey said it was obviously the sun.

She's probably right.

.

* Oops. Sounds vaguely obscene, sorry!