So at lunch time today, I was walking from the kitchen into the lounge room. Twinkie decided to run between my legs and beat me to it.

I kicked my little toe on the nice solid wall unit. And cracked the bone.
It hurt.
A lot.
But at least it isn’t broken.
Mind you, I just bought pretty new strappy shoes to wear to Ailsa’s birthday party tomorrow night. At least I can wear one of them, I guess.
Stupid Rabbit.
In knitting news, I got tired of working on the Top Secret project, so I cast on for the first of the Kim Hargreaves kits.

It’s the Flicker hat! Here’s a close up of the beaded bit.

I’m really enjoying the Rowan Wool Cotton. It’s a 50% Merino/50% Cotton blend, and it’s nice and squishy. I am a little worried that I’m going to run short on beads, because some of them were just too small to fit on the yarn, but we’ll see how we go.
Swanknitter has tagged me for another meme.
This is a reading one, and David and I got a really good laugh out of it.
“open the book youíre currently reading to page 161 and read the fifth sentence on the page, then think of 5 bloggers to tag.”
I’m currently reading “Dreams Made Flesh” by Anne Bishop. Despite the sound of the title, it’s not p*rn. But Page 161, sentence 5 is the start of a sex scene. It mentions part of male anatomy, and leather trousers, and.. oh, my.
Enough said!
I’m off to elevate my foot and knit. And maybe read a little!

Between finishing up all these costumes for Sunday’s photos, and working on the super secret project, I still don’t have much to blog about.
I do, however, have another FO to show you all.

David will have nice warm hands in New York.


Specs:
Yarn – Cascade 220, Turtle Heather (2452) from Yarns Online
Needles – 3.5mm dpns
Pattern – Basic Glove Pattern from Ann Budd’s Knitters Handy Book of Patterns
This is a pattern I’ve used a few times, it never lets me down!
The actual gloves close up

The secret project continues, and all I can show you is this.

All will be revealed in good time!
My friend Tammy tagged me for a meme. I won’t bore the anti-meme people, so if you want to read it, it’s after the jump.

Continue reading →

So finally, after a week of rain, the sun came out yesterday. I woke up, spotted the blue sky and immediately dumped the Hemlock Blanket into the bath.
And now it’s done.

I’m pretty happy with it, but not totally. Gauge shouldn’t really matter on a blanket, but I think I’d have been happier if I’d used a bigger needle. It hasn’t blocked out as nicely as I’d hoped it would.
I stretched it out as much as I could, but it needed to be stretched more to prevent the bubbling in the feather and fan sections. But the radial stitches between each feather and fan section are as tight as I could get them. I think a bigger needle would have made the blocking easier.
Apart from that issue, yes, I’m happy with it. The fancy cast off was a pain in the butt, but it’s pretty!

And I love the centre flower.

And it’s the perfect size for a lap rug.

Well, it will be when the weather cools down again. It only stayed there long enough for the picture to be taken!

It’s all a bit slow around here lately, with the sewing taking up all of my time. So lets do some odds and ends!
I have managed to work a bit on David’s gloves, usually while watching late night TV.

I started the second one yesterday, while having a tea party at Lara’s with Ailsa, and some other lovely knitters.
Ailsa was working on Jae‘s gorgeous Pretty as a Peacock shawl. She test knit the teal coloured one you can see at Jae’s site, in sportweight, and now she’s knitting one in Fuchsia zephyr lace weight, and it’s gorgeous. It’s definitely going on my to-do list. Not quite sure when it will reach the top! If you’re interested, Ailsa has started a knitalong here.
Speaking of adding things to the queue, who has seen the new Knitty patterns? I love Oblique. Love it. I want to order yarn and start it now. Now, now, now.
But I’ll behave, I have all those gorgeous Kim hargreaves designs to keep me busy.
And I really need to get back to the Shetland Shawl. And I have a top secret project that I need to get moving on. Or two!
Lets do a meme, it’s been a while. This is from the Southern Summer of Socks Knitalong. (I need to start more socks!)

1. Whatís your favorite sock yarn? (please note that the word ìyarnî is singular. Just pick one. I know itís hard.)
Just one? Louet Gems Fingering. I think.
2. Whatís your favorite type and brand of sock needle?
Crystal Palace bamboo, 6″ length, usually 2mm with fingering weight.
3. Do you knit your socks toe up, cuff down or sideways?
Cuff down. I started out doing them toe up, but I prefer cuff down. Even though I detest kitchener.
4. Do you knit both socks at once or just one at a time?
One at a time, thankyouverymuch.
5. Whatís your favorite toe and why?
Standard toe, with decreases at the sides. I like the way they fit.
6. Favorite heel?
Standard flap heel, eye of partridge.
7. Do you prefer plain or patterned socks?
Patterned! In plain yarn right now. Subject to change, of course.
8. Who do you knit the most socks for?
Me!
9. Do you darn your socks? If not, what do you do with them?
Only like the Yarn Harlot. I hold them over the bin and say “darn!”
10. Do you only wear handknit socks?
Probably 90% of the time. DH wears his always. Well, unless I’m behind on the laundry. I really should knit him some more.
Bonus Question: What pattern, if any, is your basic ìI-just-need-a-pair-of-socksî sock pattern based on? Do you keep it written down or memorized?
64 stitch, cuff down, stockinette stitch, eye of partridge heel. Memorised. Kinda. I’ve been known to wing it! And I always need to check how to do kitchener.

Friday night and Saturday night I sat, and I knit. We had the dance comp Saturday afternoon and Sunday, but I knit my little fingers to the bone for the rest of the weekend.
And progress was made! Nicole grew in a satisfying manner.

And I started David’s gloves, and made excellent progress on those, too.

The yarn is Cascade 220 Heathers, in Turtle Heather from Yarns Online, and I’m using Ann Budd’s “Knitters Handy book of Patterns”.
And I was really glad that these projects are moving along so well, because today I got mail!

David saw the boxes this afternoon, and said “Mmmm, cake!” No, dear. Better.
Knitting kits from Kim Hargreaves. Opening these boxes is like having Christmas morning!
Box number one.

Isn’t it pretty?!? And inside the first layer,

Two balls of Rowan Wool Cotton in Misty for the Flicker hat, and a little bag of beads. And sharing this box,

Six balls of Rowan 4ply Cotton for Buttercup, and the glass buttons. And beautiful patterns printed on lightweight card.
And in box number 2,

More beautiful wrapping, and ensconced within,

Eight balls of RYC 4ply Cashsoft for Evie.
Three gorgeous kits, because I’m greedy. (And there’s another on the way!)
So, I had all these wonderful plans. I was going to finish Nicole and the gloves, and dive into those gorgeous boxes.
But all the best laid plans go awry, don’t they?
It’s dress rehearsal week at the dance studio this week. All my sewing is done, I finished the last bits and pieces last week and was feeling very proud of myself.
This afternoon I got a call from a distraught mother. The woman doing her sewing has botched her costumes. All of them. Delivered them at the last minute, and they’re atrocious. How could I say no?
See Donna chained to the sewing machine again?
But here’s a warm fuzzy thought.

This is the warmest, softest, snuggliest part of Twinkie. It always makes me feel better.