Presents Received and Requested.

It feels like I haven't posted a blog in ages. That is partly down to me having had the cold from hell, which is now thankfully on the wane. The other reason is that I haven't had much finished to share with the blog. I feel like I have been trundling along making progress in my larger more complicated projects, which is satisfying but not particularly interesting.

I was at college on Tuesday (box of tissues on the desk) and we were given a project which involved taking a plain beret pattern and tweaking it to add texture. This took several attempts and the finished article is not something I am particularly proud of. To be honest, I think this would have been easier if I had started from scratch and hadn't had to take into account another person's pattern because I don't think the shaping worked with the textured shapes I added. Anyway here is the resulting hat.



It looks better on the photo than in real life. I will probably donate it to the college display cabinet as I am unlikely to wear it.



It also really needs blocking. I will do that before Tuesday and maybe that will improve things.

I got my kitty swap this week after my OH went to the post office to pick up the parcel. LucyJ sent me a fab kitty called Lavendar knitted from her own handspun yarn. She spun it on a spindle and I am even more tempted to give this a go. Lottie from the Borders group has offered to lend me a spindle and show me how to use it. I am getting more and more tempted to take up her offer. Anyway here is the kitty, isn't it fab?



Not to mention all the goodies that were added to the box the kitty came in.



This was such a lovely parcel to open the other day, whilst feeling rubbish from my cold. Thanks LucyJ for a lovely swap. I am going to take this month off from my kitty swapping because basically, if I don't slow down, I am going to be buried under a mountain of kitties!

I went to my UFO group at Mary Clare yesterday with my friend. Neither of us actually worked on any UFOs but the intention was there. I also bought the yarn for my friend's birthday present. She has requested a felted bag to take out in the evenings, to go with a specific scarf. We chose the yarn and the handles and I bought them and hoped that the yarn would felt. I have just checked on Ravelry and found out it does felt, but it takes a lot of hard work. Ah well, at least it actually felts, and she did say she wanted it to be highly textured.



When we went to my friend's house after the group we matched it up with the scarf and the colours are perfect (phew). I only have a few weeks to get this project done, so you should see progress fairly soon.