First shop update of the year

I hope you all had a relaxing festive season and are ready and raring to meet whatever 2009 has in store for us all. We had a lovely Christmas in the SQ household - really relaxing with plenty of time to spend building jigsaws, eating way too much, going to the Panto and watching Christmas telly.

And Hogmanay was spent at our friends in the New Forest where they held a big party. Guests ranged from age 3 to 83 and most of the children were thrilled that they were allowed to stay up til midnight. The guests in their twenties indulged in Havana cigars and Veuve Clicquot champagne while us older ones sipped on the Cava and tried to remember what it was like to be that young and foolish enough to let off a rocket whilst still holding onto it! (I was never that foolish!)

As for knitting, I had a pretty frustrating couple of weeks. This is normally my biggest Christmas luxury - getting proper knitting time, but this year was one-stitch-forward-two-stitches-back. I did finish the Boy Gloves which are a perfect fit and don't come too far up his wrist because he doesn't like them catching in his watch strap:

They came ice-skating with us this morning and were perfect for keeping his hands warm.

I knitted a sleeve of the Debbie Bliss bolero on my new Knit Picks metal interchangeable needles and then realised I'd done the whole thing on 3.5mm instead of 4mm. It took about three evenings of knitting. Big sigh.

So I decided it was time for a new project. My sister's second baby is due in April, and she expressed a wish for a baby blanket, so I decided to make up my own pattern for this pram blanket.
It was inspired by Missoni-style knits and also I'm a closet Kaffe Fassett fan from the first time round and I know I won't get bored because of all the colour changes. I have started and restarted this several times, but I think this is the pattern I'm going to go with. I'm using a mixture of sock weight yarns in Skein Queen, Koigu, STR, Posh and Hipknits and it was my sister who gave me the cute Cath Kidston knitting project bag used to store it all.

And now, enough with the blether, and on with the sale. Everything in the shop will be reduced by 15% including this small amount of hand-dyed which I hope to load up by 5pm GMT when the sale starts.

Bronzed Dewberry in Elegance - 1 skein

Rajasthan in Elegance - 1 skein

Three Kings in Elegance - 1 skein

Chocolate Cherries in Plushness - 1 skein

Hyacinth in Plump Plushness - 1 skein

Figgy Pudding in Encore - 2 skeins

Mossy Oak in Blush - 1 skein

Midori in Wisp - 1 skein

Old Roses in Wisp - 1 skein

Faded Bunting - 2 skeins
(colour not as strong as intended - extra price reduction)

There's a couple of extra skeins I've not photographed on here - some Mellow and a guest yarn - to go on too and all the pre-dyed cashmere and bamboo is on offer too.