Well, the Fair isle Hat.
Now you see it.

Now you don’t.

My gauge was off. Way off. Recommended gauge was 8sts/1″. When i finally thought to check it, it was 6sts/1″. So I bit the bullet and ripped it. This, by the way is my preferred method of frogging if possible.

I was knitting the body with a 3.25mm needle as recommended, so I used a 2.5mm needle to carefully pick up each stitch in the first stockinette row, then I ripped it out until I got back to the needle.
As I said, the recommended needle was a 3.25mm. I should have known better, I always have to go down a needle size, but I don’t have a 3mm, and I was impatient. After checking my gauge, I thought a 3mm would probably still be too big, but I don’t have a 2.75mm either. I measured my ribbing, and 2 plain stitches measured around a 1/4″, so I’m going to try the 2.5mm needle for the body. Big scientific theory here. Gauge swatch, my butt. 😉
Cross your fingers for me!

Look what finally arrived in the mail!

Shade 135 Jamieson & Smith 2 ply Jumper weight wool for my Fair Isle Sampler hat. So I did some more of the hat as soon as I got back from the Post Office.

The ribbing is done 🙂 I’m pretty pleased with it so far, and now I’m a bit nervous about starting the pattern.
I finished Em’s tam. It isn’t blocked yet, and it looks a bit puffy, so I won’t show a close up, but Em decided to wear it immediately.

With a poncho and too-short tracksuit pants. And yes, she went to the shop looking like this. I guess I should be pleased that she’s so eager to wear my knits, but please someone call the fashion police! 😉

Well, I’ve been busy, busy, busy. I’ll be glad when school goes back and I have some time again. 😉
Em danced yesterday and did pretty well. She got 3 nominations for the scholarship (most kids only had one), she didn’t place in the end, but she was dancing against a lot of kids, some up to 18 years old.
Still, she enjoyed herself, and that’s the main thing.
Knitting? Why, yes I have been. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say I’ve been starting.
I started my bolero.

What a nice picture of some rolled stocking stitch! Here’s a close up.

I love this yarn knitted up. It’s Jo Sharp Silkroad DK Tweed in Paper Rose. The pattern I’m using is for a mohair blend yarn, but with a similar gauge. The pattern is also done is double moss stitch, but I prefer stockinette. Nice, easy knit, but I felt like doing something different.
So I began my Fair Isle Sampler Hat.

This isn’t as hard as I thought it might be. Of course, it’s only the ribbing so far, but I just can’t get the hang of holding two yarns at once yet. Here’s a close up of what I’ve done.

I’m pretty happy with it. I’ve even kept the inside nice and tidy so far.

But now I’m up to the shade 135, which is back ordered with the Shetland Wool Brokers, so I can’t do anymore. 🙁
So I started Em’s tam.

She asked for this about a year ago, and I’ve had the yarn there, I just never got around to it until now. It’s coming along nicely, helped along by sitting in a school hall at the dance comp for 5 hours yesterday 🙂
I’m using Ann Budd’s “Knitters Handy Book of Patterns”, but I think theres an error. I ran a safety line, just in case. If you are doing the “wheel” decreases, it says to decrease 12 stitches every other row. Emily chose the swirl decreases, and it says to decrease 6 stitches every other row. That seems like too many rows to me, so I’m decreasing 6 stitches in every row. If it’s wrong, and it is supposed to be every other row, I’ll just rip back to the safety line.
We went out this morning to get my new mobile phone, which is a Motorola RAZR V3. It’s very funky looking.


I’m feeling old. I don’t think I’ll be able to get the hang of all the fancy things it does. Em is already saying “You can take pictures and video with it! You just push this, scroll to that, press that and do this” I know now how my mother felt when we tried to teach her to program the video. 😉
So that’s how the past few days have gone. Here’s Twinkie. When she decides that it’s dinner time, she hops into her hutch and peers at us beseechingly.

How do you resist that face?

I’ve been AWOL, I know. Sorry, but I had excuses, really I did! 🙂
Emily has been at a dance comp for the past two days, and apart from the fact that they take up hours and hours of time, they also tend to suck the life out of you, so that by the time you get home, you just want to sleep.
Tuesday morning we headed out, the comp was around 45 minutes drive from home. This is the fog we were driving through at 8.30am.

Like pea soup. And it was freezing out. Well, freezing by Sydney standards, anyway. Tuesday we were there from 8.30am until 4pm. Wednesday we were there from 2pm until around 8.30pm. Those plastic school chairs are not comfortable when you’re in them for hours! However, I got plenty of knitting done!


I started the sleeves, because you sometimes just need something small, because we’re up and down a lot, changing costumes and such. But I finished those, and got the cardi body up to the armholes.
And Emily did amazingly well.

She competed in 12 sections, and received 4 first places, 4 second places, 2 thirds, one Highly Commended and one merit. The adjudicator wrote many nice things on her reports, including “You are an extraordinary performer with great potential”, “You have great showmanship”, “You provided the audience with an entertaining piece” and with one dance, she won by 3.5 clear points and he said “Breathtaking”.
pretty good huh? I’m glad all that time and money hasn’t gone down the drain. 😉
In addition, the eisteddfod has a scholarship section on the final day, which can only be entered by selection by an adjudicator. There were two adjudicators, at different tmes, and both selected her to enter the scholarship. Way to go, Em!!
Yesterday we went to The Wool Inn at Penrith (Hi Anita!), where I got the Cleckheaton book I was after. Oh, and a few stray balls of yarn jumped in the bag, too 😉

Sorry for the crappy picture. Theres 2 extra balls of Jo Sharp DK tweed for the bolero (just in case), and a ball of Zara for a hat for Em, and a ball of Zarina, to play with.
And guess what else was there?

This is the first time I’ve seen it in person. I’ve seen it on blogs, and on Amazon and the like, and I wanted it, but I also wanted to see it. I loved it. I bought it. Now I’m having issues. i was going to do the bolero next, but now I’m torn. I want to knit the gloves in this book. Em wants me to knit her a tam. I haven’t cast on any socks for a while. Aaargh! Decisions, decisions. What a life 😉

Ta-da!

Baby lacy cardi set is done. couldn’t find any matching buttons for it, so I went with the pearl ones. I’m happy with it overall. The pattern is from Cleckheaton Little Babies Volume 2. The yarn is Cleckheaton Merino Bambino. Alas, the shade is discontinued.
So now I can wrap it up and mail it off to it’s intended recipient.
I’ve been steadily working on the STYK Pink toddler cardi.

Lovely pattern, lovely yarn.
However, my attention is beginning to stray. How unusual! 😉
Emma posted the other day about receiving a kit from the Kim Hargreaves collection. I should never have clicked the link. I love Glint.

Love it. However, my stash is full to bursting, and I don’t have a spare $100 laying around. So I got to thinking. I do have some lovely pink Jo Sharp Silkroad tweed DK. And I discovered this pattern from Cleckheaton.

Now, the silkroad isn’t Rowan Summer Tweed, but I think I’ll be happy with the end product. If I can get the pattern. I rang the local craft store today, and they don’t have it. 🙁
I’ll be out and about tomorrow, so I’ll look for it, I think. And then I’ll try to resist casting on until I finish the toddler cardi.
Twinkie says “What are you lookin’ at?”