Hey guess what? It’s not a random blue square!

Saturday sky! It’s grey and it’s cold. Finally, something different. And look what happened yesterday.

Water fell from the sky. Trust me, it’s almost that much of an event in Sydney these days. As soon as it starts, front doors open everywhere, and all through the neighbourhood, people stand on their front porches, just looking out at this stuff called rain.
It made for a pretty sunset.

No reall knitting updates, each row on Spring Blossoms is taking around half an hour now, and each Icarus row takes around 20 minutes. Makes for little progress.
I’ve dabbled in many crafts, one of them being porcelain doll making. I was looking at my dolls the other day, and this little one that I’d forgotten about caught my eye.


Row counter included for scale. She’s around 6 and a half inches (16cm) tall. Her little dress is knit from Size 12 DMC Perle cotton on 1.25mm knitting needles.
To be honest, I don’t even really remember the details of knitting the dress, although it would have been around 10 years ago. I had to go look for the pattern today to find the details.
I made the same doll for my mum, too, in the same dress, although hers has knickers, and I got lazy, and my dolly remains naked under her dress (!).

Here’s some close up detail, my finger included for scale.

The pins mark an inch.

The gauge is 15sts per inch. And I knit it twice. And look, crochet edges! I do vaguely remember one of the ladies in my doll class helping me with the crochet.

The dress is badly in need of blocking, but I’m rather proud of it. I’m determined to knit the knickers now, although I can’t remember where I got the thread or the needles, so they probably won’t be a perfect match, but I think the poor little dear deserves some panties!

Okay, we’re overdue for some knitting updates, aren’t we?
The sock, now on Bamboo needles.

Coming along nicely. Yes, I do intend to share this pattern. Although, I have this slight concern that my pattern writing skills are less than desirable. And I do wish I’d picked beads with some contrast.
The black blob.

Otherwise known as Icarus.
I’m so glad to be done with Chart 1. I’ve eben finished Chart 2, and am 2 rows into chart 3. Only 28 rows to go.
The purple blob.

Otherwise known as Spring Blossoms. Also progressing nicely. I’ve done 5 repeats of the pattern. In Zephyr, on 3.5mm needles, the pattern called for 7 repeats. I’m using thinner yarn and smaller needles, so I’ll need to do a few more. I’ve only used 33g of yarn, from the 100g, so I think I can probably manage 9 repeats. We’ll see.
However, now I need to cast on something new. Usually I’m pretty good about not having too many WIP’s, but this is too hard to resist.

Catherine and I had a little mini swap. I sent her some nice Australian lace weight from Kaalund yarns, and some chocolate, and she sent me this 3.5mm knitpicks options needle and some cables. And some gorgeous Alpaca laceweight. Damn KnitPicks not sending internationally! But I don’t have anything going that needs a 3.5mm needle.
So I think I’d better start something new!

What cheeses me off.

Breaking one of my very expensive Rosewood DPNS.
Dammit.

A day late for Saturday sky again.

It was hot. 36C (96F) in October. So we finally caved and bought a portable airconditioner. But it had to settle for 24 hours after we bought it, and we didn’t get to use it anyway. It’s cooler today, of course. But if it’s 36C in October, I’m thinking I’ll need an airconditioner so that I can knit in December and January!
Look what has come back out to play again.

Icarus!
I made it to 4 and a half repeats of chart one, and made an executive decision to skip the last repeat. Partly becasue I’m fairly certain I would have run out of yarn, and mostly because I’d had enough of chart one.
So I’ve started chart two, but you can’t see much difference yet. I tried to get a close up of the new part, but black lace doesn’t photograph very well, especially with my crappy photographic skills.
Spring Blossoms has had a little bit of attention, but it’s back to school tomorrow, (can I get a Halleluljah?!?) and I’m sure I’ll get more done on that now.
As soon as I do something about the endless sewing of course. But lets not dwell on that.
Avoidance is a way of life for some of us.
Twinkie says

Rub my nose, you paltry human!

Here’s the finished Grape Hyacinth Scarf, finished.

I think this is a great pattern to use up a single ball of Silk Garden or Kureyon!
The finished measurements are 10cm x 99cm, or 4″ x 39.5″ if you prefer. It’s a tad short, but you don’t always need a super long scarf, do you?
Here’s how it looks on Em.

Of course, the colours I liked the best (the purples) ended up smack in the middle of the scarf, where it hides at the back of your neck. But it’s a scarf I’d definitely make again, probably in Silk Garden or Kureyon next time.
My Socktoberfest socks are coming along nicely. I’m pretty happy with the way it’s looking so far, although I should have picked beads with a little more contrast.

Lacy and beads too! If it comes out looking the way it does in my head, I’ll be a very happy knitter.
Rose Red posted a picture of her knitting books this morning, and it has inspired me to post pictures of my little knitting library.
I have a few knitting books, and I love every single one of them.


I’m reasonably certain that’s all of them, although there may be one or two that have been loaned out, and one or two more floating about the house. (Which still isn’t anywhere near as clean as it needs to be before Saturday)
It may be obvious, but I love my knitting books. The newest one is the first Barbara Walker treasury, which also happens to be my current favourite. It arrived on Monday, and I was so impressed I immediately ordered the second from Amazon. I hope it gets here soon, because as you can see, I can’t cope without it! 😉