Thank you all for saying such lovely things about Spring Blossoms. She’s still on the back of the couch, so I can look at her.
But today I have another finished project to show you. Although this one was over so quickly that it may not deserve the title “project”!

It’s the cashmere scarf kit that I purchased from Rabbit Tree Farm!
The true colour is closer to the picture of Em modelling, but it’s somewhere between the two. This is supposed to be a scarf, but it’s almost big enough to qualify for a shawl, I think.
The yarn is an 80% cashmere, 20% silk fingering weight blend, and it was lovely to work with. The pattern was relatively easy, and worked up super quickly.
The pattern called for US 10.5 needles, and I couldn’t figure out precisely what size that is. Some places say 6.5mm, some say 7mm. As I usually need to go down a size anyway, I used a 6mm. I had heaps of yarn left over, so I improvised an extra 2 rows, then added the crochet chain bind off, which isn’t part of the original pattern.
The pattern is a variation of the “Roman Stripe” from The second Barbara Walker treasury.
A quick knit was just what I needed. I started the scarf on Friday afternoon while Spring Blossoms was blocking, and finished it on Saturday night.
Not an awful lot of knitting has been accomplished since then, because it’s just been too hot.
I was invited to join the Bloomin’ Feet sock swap, and I received my swap partner information on the weekend. Most of today was spent figuring out what I want to do. I ransacked the sock stash and decided on some yummy Koigu. But I couldn’t find a pattern that did justice to the yarn. So I tossed the yarn aside and went back to square one. I finally decided on this yarn.

This is “Touch Yarns” from New Zealand. Apart from the fact that it’s pretty, I thought it would be nice to use something (reasonably) local that isn’t readily available to my pal. It’s 100% merino, so it has no nylon content, but most of my favourite sock yarns don’t have nylon – Fleece Artist, Koigu, Socks that Rock to name a few.
And I’ve decided on Sockbugs “Sheri’s Lace Socks” pattern to go with it. I hope it all works out nicely.
It’s really hard to knit for another knitter.
What if she doesn’t like the yarn? Or the colour? Or the pattern?
What if she weaves in her ends differently to me? Better than me?
What if she’s disappointed?
I have until May 1 to deliver them. So I think I’ll try to knit them quickly. Just in case I’m not happy with them and need to start over!

You know what my most favourite thing in the whole world is?
I love it when you have this

And you soak it for a while, then you do this

And in a couple of hours, it’s turned into this.

Spring Blossoms is done. And I love it.
I am so glad that I persisted with the extra repeats. The pattern called for Zephyr on 3.5mm needles, and 8 repeats. I used a finer yarn on smaller needles, but it still came out to the same finished size – 115cm, or 44″.
Specs:
Pattern: “Spring Blossoms Shawl” by Eugen K. Beugler, from Fiber Trends.
Yarn: Lane Borgosesia Cashwool. It’s a 100% merino yarn that feels so unbelievably soft. It was sent to me by Chloe in the Lace Swap last year, and it’s gorgeous to work with. I used 90g of a 100g hank. (1460yards per 100g)
Needles: 2.75mm
Changes: None, except that I worked 11 repeats instead of 8.
The yarn is superfine, and here’s a picture to show just how fine the shawl is now that it’s blocked.

And a close up of the stitch pattern.

I love it. I’m also very glad it’s done!
So, what’s next?
Well, I started something yesterday while the shawl was blocking that’s almost done, so there’ll be another finished project here next time.
And the Jo Sharp cardi is still on the needles, and so are the new blue socks.
I’ve signed up for La’s Faina Scarf-Along, which starts on February 14. I have bought two different lots of yarn for Faina’s scarf, some Jo Sharp Alpaca Silk Georgette in “Musk”, and some 80% Mohair, 20% Merino from Wagtail Yarns in purple. I’m not being very adventurous in my colour choices, am I? I have 3 weeks or so to decide which yarn to use. I’m not usually much of a knitalong person, so we’ll see how it goes.
I also purchased the “Fern Garden Stole” pattern from Alpacas with a Twist this week, so I think I’ll cast on for that as soon as the pattern arrives. I may also have bought the “Heere be Dragone” shawl from there, too, but I thnk that’s a long term project. (Like I need any more)
It’s Saturday, here’s a sky.

It’s already well over 30C outside, and it’s only going to get hotter. Tomorrow it’s predicted we’ll see 41C. We’re going to the movies. Or the shops. Or the Library. Somewhere with air conditioning, at any rate.
Oh, and see what I picked up at the supermarket this week?

Hot cross buns! In January! I bought them anyway.

The p-p-p-p socks have landed. Or they’re done, or something.

It’s hard to think, it’s a bit hot today. Like 35C. (95F)
But they’re done, and Em loves them. Mind you, she didn’t love them enough to keep them on, and I don’t blame her. She tried them on, I took a picture and she ripped them off as quickly as she could.
Specs:
Pattern: Pomatomus socks, from Knitty, designed by the very clever Cookie
Yarn: Knit Picks Sock Memories in the now defunct colourway “Easter”
I enjoyed the first sock, and it was done quickly, but the second sock not so much. No idea why, but I was over it halfway down the leg. The way the yarn patterned differently on the second sock may have something to do with it.
Spring Blossoms has 2 rows to go and then just a crochet chain cast off. So I don’t care how hot it is, I’m going to sit and finish it. Now.

Saturday sky on a Sunday morning.

Another lovely Sydney day, and only 28C.
We went out and bought some flowers. At this point, I should let you know that my gardening skills are right up there with my cooking skills.
So I’ll show you pictures now, while they’re still alive and healthy.

Miniature apricot roses.

Sweet William. Pretty, for now.
The purple blob is ongoing. However, it isn’t always convenient to work on a shawl that currently has 850ish stitches, so when I can’t work on that, I’m working the p-p-p-p socks.

I’m past the heel! And the gusset shaping! On the way down the foot! Then they’ll be done! I’m only allowing myself to work on these two projects, because otherwise they’ll both get tossed aside and never done.
And frankly, at this stage, I’ll be glad to see them both done.
As you are all probably will aware, I have a great love of laceweight yarns. Up until recently, there was little or no quality, affordable laceweight yarns in Australia. There is a much better selection here now, (especially of my beloved Zephyr, thank you Yarns Online!), but despite the fact that we couldn’t get much locally, I have still managed to build up a half decent stash of the stuff.
I was sitting, knitting on the purple blob on Friday night, and dreaming of new projects. So I started to mentally list the lace weight stash. Then I was a bit amazed at the amount I thought I had, so I got up and wrote it down.
I have 23,200 yards of laceweight yarns.
And that’s only counting the ones I can think of off the top of my head. I haven’t actually gone and checked it yet.
20 kilometres. That’s a lot of shawls waiting for me.
Twinkie fainted at the idea.

Or maybe she was just flopped out on the bathroom floor, staying cool.

We have been pretty lucky this year in terms of the weather, it’s been apretty mild summer. Certainly no ridiculous heatwaves like last New Years Day.
But today has been hot. And tomorrow is going to be hot. This is interrupting my plans to finish the Purple Blob.
I’m having visions of still working on this in 2008. Or 2009.

Of course, I’m kidding myself that it might be finished any time soon, no matter what the weather.
Up until last night I had convinced myself that I could finish it after this, the tenth, repeat. This is the same part of my brain that tells me that I can lose weight without exercise, and that one piece of chocloate, or one bar or one block, won’t hurt.
Then I had a good, hard look at it. Even accounting for the fact that it’s unblocked, it’s still very small. And I still have this much yarn left.

Nearly 35g. Out of 100g. So the only reason that I’d be stopping after this repeat is laziness. Pure laziness. And yes, thats something I’ve been known to be guilty of on occasion.
Sigh.
There will be an eleventh repeat. Only because I’ll kick myself when I’m done if I don’t do it. That means I still have 20 rounds to go. Boring blogging ahead!
Twinkie is starting to love us again.

That may be because of the liberal offerings of food!