I had a wonderful Christmas and have received positive feedback regarding most of my knits. I have not received any negative feedback, so I can carry on in blissful ignorance if my knits were loathed with a passion and stuffed down the back of a chest of drawers. I am pretty sure my SILs were very pleased with their knits as I got a text message at the crack of Christmas dawn thanking me for the shawl I made for Emma.....
....... and Juliana kindly wore her purple socks all Boxing Day. I think she was pleased with them because she was dropping very large hints about how I could make bed socks, couldn't I? A little birthday hint methinks... like I'd ever forget her birthday when it's the same day as mine.
This Christmas holiday, my journeying in cars was a lot more bearable than usual, as I decided to knit in the passenger seat. Normally a long drive leaves me feeling tired and in pain, but this time I not only felt tired and in pain, but I had shed loads of knitting to show for the time, which has to be an improvement. Looking at my knitting at least made me smile after getting out the car, which is quite a rare occurrence, even if it was a little feeble.
I have managed to get to the decrease rows on my Porom hat. It is looking so pretty, I really hope I don't ruin it now with all these complicated K3Tog TBLs and SSKs. I have had to undo the first row of decreases twice already, but I blame the Christmas TV for these mistakes. I stopped after the second go and decided to leave the hat until I was home and watching something less interesting. Again I give thanks for the life lines.
The Sumptuous Stripy Scarf is going great guns and I am sure it will be finished in next to no time.
The Fair Isle Bag is pretty much on its final push, with the bag bit all finished and the strap pretty much half done. I'm doing the strap in double moss stitch and it is looking good thus far. I think that this stitch is very similar in appearance to the double crochet bag bottom, which ties the bag nicely together.
As these three projects are getting to the wrapping up stage, I have been thinking about what to cast on next, and I have been very inspired by the new book I got for Christmas, "Knitting Never Felt Better" by Nicky Epstein. I am going to do some serious thinking about which of the oodles of techniques to opt for as there were so many in the book that I KNOW I am going to want to try around 50 different things. I was already bitten with the felting bug, and this book has completely ramped up my addiction levels. Felting is amazing and magical and I can't wait to get started. If you have ever been tempted to try felting but thought it was only useful for bags, this bag is chock full of serious inspiration. The other book I got was "The Vogue Ultimate Knitting Book" which I have only had time to flick through but it also looks fantastically useful and inspiring.
On the Christmas present front, I finally got the knitting needle case from my brother and SIL which I chose at the Harrogate show. It is made by Lantern Moon and is sooooo beautiful. I just sit on the sofa with it beside me whilst I knit, and stroke it periodically. I love this case so much as it is an item of beauty that also has a valuable function.
One important lesson I relearned this Christmas is that my Mum is allergic to wool. I had totally forgotten that she is allergic to lanolin, and where does lanolin come from...? Yes, that's right from WOOL!!! I can't believe I was this dumb. I am so grateful I decided not to make her the felted slippers I thought about. Phew.... lack of time saved me. I must now go on a hunt for some pretty yarn that my Mum can wear, so she can receive a knitted item in the future. Any suggestions?
No comments:
Post a Comment
I love hearing from you about my blog posts. Please let me know what you think.