Sunday 3 February 2008

My So-Called Scarf, Pesky Fines and Pet Acquisition

If I hadn't devoted so much time to that blooming addictive Ravelry tonight, My So-Called Scarf would've been finished and I'd have been able to wear it tomorrow. Well, here's a preview:



I love everything about this project - the yarn, the stitches, the unevenness of the edges and especially the wearability. It will be finished this week. I came across this YouTube clip tonight, which shows an alternative way to stitch the knit rows (which I didn't use, but may be useful to someone.)

Knitting has been an expensive business for me this week - and I don't mean the buying of yarn and books. Firstly, after enjoying a lovely Knit Night with the outcasts in Reading, I came back to find an impertinent parking ticket stuck to my windscreen - my own stupid fault. Then, having ordered two skeins of yarn from The Sweet Sheep in Canada, I got slapped with a customs charge of nearly £12! The blow was softened by the beauteousness of the yarn:
This is a merino/silk by Sunshine Yarns in Field of Flowers colourway. I'd ogled this yarn ever since I saw it on Kerrie's blog in the summer and finally, it's mine!

And also this Colinette Jitterbug:
I also splashed out on three knitting books:

Traditional Fair Isle Knitting
by Sheila McGregor - as recommended by knithappens. I'm desperate to get back to some fair isle or intarsia work - just haven't found the right pattern yet. I'm thinking maybe the Ivy League Vest from Interweave Knits.

Favorite Socks by Ann Budd and Anne Merrow - bit of a long story about this one. Suffice to say, there's a good few patterns in here I want to knit.

The Rowan Story Book of Little Knits - my quest to find the exact pattern to make Skein Princess the perfect cardigan has failed, but she like the look of a lacy cardigan in here with crocheted flowers, so I used my John Lewis vouchers from work to order the yarn for this online (new for them to sell yarn online and free delivery!)

If you happen to be a pattern designer, I'm sure there's a market out there for pretty cardigans for girls older than 4-5! Just a simple v-neck, maybe with a picot edging and lacy or fair-isle pattern at the bottom edge. It's not much to ask!

And now to Pet Acquisition. We have two cats and a fish. I should say, we had two cats and a fish. As of today, we have two cats and three fish. We somehow managed to acquire the former pets of a friend's teenage son who had them festering in his room (apparently - not my words) and boy, these are two ugly fish. This from a woman who freaks out in the shop that sells pet fish - ok, I have a bit of a fish phobia - if I see too many, I start gagging! I know, it's mortifying and stems from a school trip where the class got stuck on an island when the tide came in unexpectedly quick - me, Linda Patterson and the nun in charge decided to head back to the mainland across a sewage pipe to get help and as the water was getting deeper and deeper, a fish swam between my legs and I wasn't keen on that at all! I'll never forget the holes in Sister Moira's stockings and a flash of her pantaloons! (Bridget Jones's Big Pants had nothing on these.)

And we are on the look-out for a kitten (the height of madness with all this yarn in the house - I know I'll rue the day when I succumbed to the puppy-dog eyes of the littlest Skeins and said "OK, you can have a kitten.") They're kind of hard to find at this time of year - do you think they'll forget in time?!!!

Finally, there will be shop update this week which will include more Aran silk and more of the guest yarn from a couple of weeks ago as well as cashmere/silk in Lavish and Wisp plus much more.

4 comments:

justclaire said...

Looks like you've had a nice shopping spree there! Bummer about the parking ticket and the Customs charges though. I love your "My So Called Scarf". The colour is gorgeous. I've got a couple of skeins of Manos that I bought well over a year ago that are waiting to be knit up into one of those too.

mrs moon said...

love the Colinette jitterbug yarn!

alabama whirly said...

haha, you have made me laugh his morning so much - not about your expensive habit which is bad but about the fish, the nun and your phobia.

sigh, knitting is expensive but I have too say that I actually adore your so called scarf to bits and a bit more on top of that, in fact I covet it - check your handbag after knit night ; )

Anonymous said...

The scarf is looking good. I printed off the pattern the other day. And I love those yarns especially the Canadian one. Cusotms charges and parking fines are a pain though.