No Saturday sky this week. It was grey. Cloudy. Raining.
Rain is such an unfamiliar sight around here that it’s been something of a novelty. At least all we got was rain. Other parts of NSW have been flooded, with several people losing their lives, and thousands of houses losing power and water.
My clothes dryer is running. I can’t tell you the last time I actually needed to run the dryer.
I have made a decision regarding the baby cardi.
I prefer the style of the yellow buttons, but the colour of the white. That makes it kinda difficult, doesn’t it? However, seeing as it’s not my baby that will be wearing the buttons, I’m going to put the white buttons on the cardi, (going with the majority here), but I’m also going to give the baby’s mum the yellow buttons, so that she can decide which ones to use.
I had hoped to have the cardi finished, blocked and buttoned today, but the weather isn’t cooperating.
So lets look at a new baby cardi!

This time, I’m going with a plain raglan cardi. The yarn is “Touch” 4 ply from New Zealand. I’d originally bought this yarn with the intention of knitting socks with it, but it wouln’t behave. I think it’s coming along nicely for a baby cardi.
This one is for a family friend’s baby girl. I swear that there is something in the water. There are a great many babies waiting to join us!
The Lupine Lace socks are growing slowly.

Socks are usually my fill in knitting, but these have been a little neglected of late, due to baby cardi’s and scarves, but I love the way the pattern is working with The Knittery’s Merino Cashmere sock yarn. The colourway is “Water Lilies” I was worried about the variegation, but it just looks mottled. I can see plenty of this yarn landing in my stash box!

Help me out, guys!!
I got buttons for the baby cardi. Two kinds. The first ones looked a little bit too yellow, so I got some white ones.
Now I can’t make up my mind.

(Click for big)
The yellow or the white?
And in close up.

I have a finished project!
Well, almost.

The baby cardi is done. All the knitting, anyway. It needs a blocking and some buttons. The pattern is from a Patons baby book, 1078. There’s a few cute patterns in there, and some of them, (including this one) go down to preemie sizes.
The best bit? Very, very little seaming. The body is worked in one piece to the armholes, then the fronts and backs are worked seperately, then seamed at the shoulders. I eliminated that step by doing a three needle bind off. The sleeves were picked up in the armhole, then knit down to the cuff. The pattern wanted it to be worked back and forth in seams, but I worked them in the round.
The only seaming was to sew the neckband down at the back neck, after I grafted the two ends closed.
This may become my new favourite baby cardi!
That said, the next project is another baby cardi for a recently born baby girl we know. Is there something in the water??
I have been working on a quick project.

It’s just a scarf in purse stitch (YO, P2tog), out of the yummy Rooster Almerino that I won from Yarn magazine. I’d mentioned to Monica that I wanted to make a scarf from it, and she suggested a nice one from Weekend Knitting. I started it, but it wasn’t behaving, so I decided to go with something much simpler. This is my new “in between” project. For homework time, waiting in the car time, dance practice time or talking to my mother on the phone time when I can’t work on the Shetland Shawl. It should only take a couple of days.
Kimberly sent me a lovely birthday gift, and included a packet of yoghurt bunny treats for Twinkie. We offered her one, and she was pretty keen.

Her reaction?

More!

MORE!!
There will have to be some strict rationing, I think.

Thank you everyone for the lovely birthday wishes!
We did enjoy our evening, especially dessert.

Chocolate Chip Paradise Pie. Divine. You can see I had to taste it before I took the picture. No patience.
It’s Saturday, and I’m actually showing todays sky on time.

Warmish and sunny. Twinkie and I had our morning ritual, where I sit on the back step and she plays nearby in the sun.

Or just basks.
We hung my new wall sconce this morning.

Yes, there’s a polar bear hanging onto my bed. You don’t have one?
Here’s a better picture of the sconce.

Isn’t it beautiful?
The knitting continues to plod along. The Shetland Shawl has grown a little.

You can see the colour change in the yarn pretty well in this picture.
I had always considered myself to be a pretty fast knitter. This shawl is starting to convince me otherwise. I began it at our knitting exhibition, seven weeks ago. I’m a little more than a quarter of the way along. That means that this could take me six months or more. If I’d known that at the start, I may never have started it.
Did I mention that I have no patience?
Of course, the longer it takes, the more frustrated I feel, and the more I want to cast on for something new. Something quick.
Speaking of quick, the baby cardi is coming along nicely.

It’s badly in need of a blocking.
The pattern is knit in one piece to the armholes, then seperated for fronts and backs. As I mentioned a few posts back, I used a three needle bind off on the shoulders rather than seaming, and I’ve grafted the neckband at the back, and sewn it down.
I don’t like the way the pattern for the sleeves is written, so I need to do some tweaking. The pattern says to pick up x number of stitches in the armhole, and knit down to the cuffs. I have no problem with that, but it actually says “Sew shoulder seams, then pick up stitches around armhole. Do not join in the round, work back and forth in rows”. What the?
Why on earth would you pick up stitches around the armhole in the round, then work back and forth in rows?
Not a chance, baby, I’m rewriting it to avoid seaming it.
And to finish, here’s another picture of Twink from this morning just becasue I liked it.

It’s my birthday!!
Today, no food has points. I’m gonna eat cake and icecream and all sorts of things I shouldn’t. And I’m going to enjoy every morsel!
My lovely family gave me some beautiful gifts. There’s another candle sconce that I’ll show you after I hang it, and a Pandora bracelet, which I’ve been wanting for ages.

Along with a bear charm from Sharon and a kitty (that looks like a rabbit to me), from the sneaky Donni.
My best friend for the last 22 (!) years, Megan, took me out for coffee this morning, which was lovely, and there were lots of other knitterly gifts, yummy bath things, chocolate and birthday wishes too, thank you everyone! 🙂
You all know just how to make a girl feel good.
My family are taking me out to dinner tonight, and I’m going to eat whatever I want, with no guilt whatsoever!