So I finished the knitting on the main body of Shimmer, and she’s been blocked, just awaiting seaming and bands now.

This seemed to go on forever, even though it hasn’t really been that long. I love the pattern, love the yarn, so I’m not sure why I’ve felt ambivalent towards it. The colour is more coral than I was expecting when I ordered it, so that might be it. The longer I look at it, the more orange and less pink it looks. And I’m definitely not an orange lover.
Anyway, I knew the end was approaching, so I’d been looking about for my next project, unable to make a decision. Then, on Friday afternoon, Emily came home and told me it was her friend R’s 18th birthday next Friday. And when Emily asked her what gift she’d like, she got all excited and asked if Em thought I’d knit her “one of those cool hats like the ones you have?!?”
How can I resist a request like that?

Ishbel it is!

So several months ago, I knit up Kim Hargreaves’ “Precious” from her first book, the “Heartfelt” collection. (Quite a few months ago – January!!)
It languished for a little while, because I wanted a wide black taffeta ribbon for the front, and haven’t been able to find one anywhere. So in the end I had to settle for a single sided satin ribbon. Nice, but not really what I was after.

But I’m happy with the cardi!
Specs:
Pattern:”Precious” by Kim Hargreaves from the “Heartfelt” book
Yarn: Rowan KidSilk Night in “Starry Night” (Black), bought from The Wool Inn in Penrith
Needles: Knitpicks Nickel fixed circs in 2.75mm and 3.00mm
Beads: 8/0 black seed beads

Mods: The cardi was supposed to have beads all over, but seeing as the KidSilk Night has the sparkly silver thread through it, I opted out of that, and just put the beads on the edgings. As you can see though, it was kind of a wasted effort, because you can hardly see the beads anyway. Silver probably would have been better, although it wouldn’t have been very subtle!

That was the only mod I made. I wish I hadn’t waited so long to sew that ribbon on though, because it’s too cold now to wear it, and it’s going to sit, unappreciated for months now. Although Monday (when we took the pictures) was a beautiful sunny day – the kind of days I’d like to have all winter!

In other news, we had a big knitting weekend last weekend! On Saturday I did a presentation on blocking at the June meeting of the Inner City group of the Knitter’s Guild of NSW. Scary! I think it went over okay in the end though. I was really nervous to start with, but it’s good to do that sort of thing among friends! If you’re interested, I’ve posted the printout of the tutorial over in the sidebar under “Blocking Instructions”->
(many thanks to the Yarn Harlot, who introduced me to string blocking way back when)
Earlier in the week though, I was preparing to block the shawl so I’d have pictures for the instructions. I put the shawl in to soak, then laid out the white fabric so I’d have some contrast in the background. When I came down the hall a bit later to drain off the shawl, I found someone checking out the preparations.

Caught! She knows very well she isn’t supposed to be in the bedrooms, let alone up on the bed. In fact, once she realised that she’d been caught, she moved faster than I’ve ever seen her move!

Hardly a project worth mentioning, but When Ailsa and I were at A Coffee and a Yarn in Newton the other week, I picked up a skein of Nundle Woollen Mills 20ply in Purple. You saw it in the last post.
To be honest, I felt like I was knitting rope on broomsticks. It’s huge. And 9mm needles are unwieldy. At any rate, I knit it up into a garter stitch scarf for Emily. It inly took a couple of days, and probably shouldn’t have even taken that long, except that I didn’t enjoy knitting it at all.
Easy peasy, no pattern, just cast on 12 sts, and knit. I did slip the first stitch of every row though, just for neatness sake. When the skein was almost done, I cast off, and used the leftovers to make a fringe.
Em likes it, and the fun really started with the photo shoot.
“Look like a model” I said.

Um, maybe not quite so much like a model.

Okay, how about wearing the scarf a little differently?

Something fun?

Oh, to be 17 again! (Not for the world!!) I have lots of finished things that haven’t seen the blog yet, I’ve been slack with pics, but hopefully lotd of them will be featured over the next few entries.

This is what I’ve been working on.

20ply on 9mm needles, and cobweb weight on 2.75mm needles. Despite what you may think, the cobweb is easier!

Oh what a lovely week has been had!
The prize has been won! Nathalie (KnittingNatty) won by leaving the 10,000th comment. 10,000 comments in just over 6 years. That’s a nice whack of commenting!
Last Saturday I went to lunch with my awesome friends Knitabulous and DrK before SnB to celebrate my birthday. We ate at Diggies, where the view is great and the food delightful, as always. There was beautiful pink birthday presents!

Yuumy yarn from Kylie and a bag in preparation for the big Bendigo trip next month from Ailsa! Afterwards we headed over to SnB, always a fun way to spend an aftenoon. (And where I once again failed to take the camera out of my bag)
Sunday night David and Em took me out to dinner where Emily ogled the waiters arms all night. Poor dude. But the meal was good! Monday was my birthday, where I was spoilt and fussed over, with gifts and messages and cakes and cards, including this awesomeness.

Sharon Miller’s Wedding Ring Shawl. Long term project, guys. More than 3500 yards of cobweb weight yarn. Check back in 10 years, when I might be halfway through it.
On Wednesday, Ailsa and I took a trip to Newtown. We visited the button shop, where I bought some buttons for Tempest. By the way, she’s seamed!

I actually wore it on Wednesday, despite the lack of buttons, which have still not been attached. While in Newtown, we popped in on the new yarn store, A Yarn and a Coffee. Great store! Not a huge range yet, but there’s some nice stuff, and it’s very comfy with the couch that Ailsa and I nabbed as soon as it was free, where we sat and drank coffee and knitted. Not long after we arrived, the lovely Jody arrived with her mother in law for a sit and a knit, which was a nice surprise!
And in all of that, there was even knitting going on!

Shimmer now has two fronts as well as a back.

And the Lace and Cable sock has progressed a little. If only all weeks were this good. (We won’t discuss the rain!)