So I actually managed what I set out to do in my last blog post. Well, kind of.
The needle rolls are all sewn up, but I couldn’t find the linen tape, so I’ve ordered more, and have to await it’s arrival.
Sophie is finished.

I love all of Ysolda’s toys! They make such cute baby gifts – I don’t have to worry about whether they’ll fit, or the season, and everybody seems to love them.

Specs:
Pattern: Sophie by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Sublime Baby Cashmere Merino Silk
Needles: 2.75mm DPNS
Mods: None! Although I stitched the eyes instead of French Knots, because my french knots kept sinking into the head.
Like I said, I love these toys, they’re all great fun to knit, and she writes such great directions that are easy to follow. Except for one thing.

The ears are an almighty pain in the butt. Those first few rows are torture. But they work so well and look so great when they’re done, that it’s worthwhile!
I also worked on the Oblique sleeves!

Up to this point I was doing both sleeves at once, but I’ve run out of one of the balls of yarn, so I’ll finish them off one at a time – I’m starting to feel like there’s an end in sight now!

Today is gloomy, rainy and generally pretty blah. So I’m going to sew. Turning these…

Into needle rolls for the shop.

Then I might finish (another!) Sophie.

(As requested by Em for her *very* pregnant year advisor at school)
And maybe I’ll even work on the neglected Oblique sleeves.

Ironically, after declaring it too warm to wear Oblique now, this week has had some perfect days for it. And I probably could have had it done if I hadn’t ignored it!

Yes, I collect yarn. In fact, I seem to do a whole lot more collecting than knitting of yarn lately. But to reassure a few people (you know who you are!) my Wollmeise collection is not as large as rumoured.

(By request, the colours are –
Row 1, from top – Tutu Medium (100%), Tutu Light (Twin), 2 x Magnolie Light (100%), Magnolie Light (Twin), Dornroschen (Twin), 3 x Rosenrot (Twin), 1 x Vamp (Twin)
Row 2, from top – 3 x Fliederbusch (100%), Amethyst Light (Twin), Lila Lludmilla (100%), Ballerina (Twin), Turkis (Twin), Spina Di Pesce (Twin), 2 x Hortensie (Twin)
Row 3, from top – Ruby Thursday (Lace), Ballerina (Lace), Vergiflmeinnicht (Lace), Schwarz (Lace), Schwarz (100%), Lowenzahn (100%), and Pfefferminz Prinz (100%)
But it might be time to stop collecting until I actually knit some more of it. (and I don’t think anyone will be surprised by the colour representations!)

It’s been a pretty eventful week this week at Casa del Random. Not in a good way! When things around here go boom, they usually go *!*!*BOOM*!*!* And they did. All sorts of things happened, but I’m only going to mention the relevant ones here.
The most minor of these annoyances is my being computerless. I’m now reduced to my iPhone, and Emily’s laptop when she isn’t home. Being computerless, and lacking a knit mojo, my sewing mojo came back into my life with bells on. And it was dandy!
I got creative! There’s new things in the shop! I’ve had some ideas rattling around in my head for a little while, and this week they came to fruition. First up, DPN rolls.

I find it hard to keep my double points together. I do have a lovely DPN roll that a friend gave me a few years back, but I have too many needles for it. So I whipped up this little cutie. The top flap keeps the needles in place, and I can roll it up and toss it into my knitting bag without worrying about losing my needles.
I had a dig through the fabric stash, and right now in the shop you can find rolls in pink cupcakes and lilac baby deer!



And there’s something else, something I’m really excited about! But it’s not in the shop yet.


It’s an interchangeable needle set holder! There’s a nice roomy zippered pocket behind the needle tips, for your cables and assorted bits and pieces. I’m so pleased with it.
But it’s not in the shop yet for a very good reason. Whie I had the sewing mojo in a big way, my overlocker didn’t want to join the party. It’s off to be serviced.
So now I’m sans laptop and overlocker. I think the universe is trying to convince me to knit. So I did.

Oblique now has two fronts in addition to a back.
I’d rather be sewing! Once the overlocker is back, there’ll be more colours in the needle rolls in the shop, and some interchangeable holders, too. Unless the knit mojo returns.
Let’s hope this week is better.

So, has anyone seen my knitting mojo? Nope, me either.
That’s not to say that I’ve not been doing any knitting at all. I have, I just can’t seem to whip up any enthusiasm for it right now., so it’s going more slowly than usual.
Oblique has seen some action. I finished the back, and started the fronts.

I think this is what might be sapping my knitting enthusiasm. I don’t know why, though. I like the cardi, I like the colour. It might be because it’s such a heavy weight yarn. I’m not really a fan of working with heavy yarns, and it’s starting to get warmer here, so I doubt this will see any wear this year.
The logical thing would be to put it down and start something new, right? I’m afraid to do that. Generally, once I put something down, it never sees the light of day again. So I’m slogging away on it, slowly.
It’s not really portable, so I’ve also started a smaller project.

Pink socks! The pattern is the Akomeogi socks, and the yarn is Wendy “Happy” which the lovely DrK gave me for my birthday. I was going to knit plain ribbed socks with it, because the stripes don’t often work with a pattern, but then I saw this pattern, and knew it was meant to be!
In other news, the screen on my laptop died over the weekend. So it’s going off for repairs, and I’ll have less computer access than usual. Maybe I’ll get more knittiing done! (That may also have something to do with lack of access to “Plants vs Zombies” 😉