Taking a liberty

It's been a very busy week, hence the delay in posting, infact over the last 3 days I've clocked up 31 hours so I'm really looking foward to a long weekend.  Partly of the long hours has included a trip to London which of course involved the need for some "vanilla" knitting for the train.  I don't know why I thought that a shawl pattern with lace and cable was suitable for this, as actually it required quite a lot of paying attention!  It is knitted on a circular needle

and there is no increasing or decreasing because it is shaped using short rows. 

You can just aabout see the pattern here, but it will need blocking.  This is how it is supposed to look

More info on the pattern in case you are interested on Ravelry.  Hopefully the completed item on my next blog.


In the lunch break in London (I was on a conference) I was determined to give myself a little treat and so I dashed down Oxford street to ....

Passing the most beautiful flowers

... and in less than 10 minutes left with

which contained 1 1/2 metres of fabric.  Not by usual style but it is beautiful and soft and will eventually turn into a blouse.

Last weekend I went to an Antique and Vintage Fair at Lowther Castle

... and came back with a lovely teaset, which included the basket

.. and a beautifully made vintage doily

I also bought some gorgeous plaid, at least 2 metres, enough for a jacket for £10 (I looked at some plaid on the internet recently and it was £40 a metre)!  Perhaps Rosie is sizing it up for herself!

Well all for now ... hope you are enjoying some sunshine where you are!

Wooly thoughts

It's been a pretty full week.  Two trips to the Dukes playhouse in Lancaster; to a play called Sabbat about the Pendle witches and to see the film of the NT production of Frankenstein which was excellent!

There was also a lot of puppy time - I'm pleased to report Tess is settling well and very impressively going in the garden (most of the time!).  Rosie is getting on very well with her and there are many manics bouts of chasing each other.

 

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I had been buying wool on ebay and a few other sources!  I think its time I confessed to what extent this has been!   

It doesn't look too bad does it?  Only thing is this is just the Baby Cashmero - which I'm using for my ripple blanket and also have been saving up for a Fair Isle jumper.   There is also wool for 3 jumpers and one jacket stashed, as well as for a couple of shawlettes!  Better get knitting then!  

I finished the Rowan jumper, quite pleased although I did struggle with so much moss stitch and changes in tension do show a lot. 

I've always been impressed when people say "I whipped up a .....", making it sound like the work of moments, but my next knitting project was just that.  I took about 4 hours to "whip up" this little shawl and as I was knitting it I thought I would never wear it, but I absolutely love it.  It's so soft and easy to wear and it took an afternoon.  Fantastic.



There has also been a bit of crochet.  I used some more of my cotton to make a cover for a hot chocolate tin!  The inspiration for this came from Lucy at attic24.typepad.com/weblog/crochet-tin-cover.html whose crochet is just gorgeous.    I have to say that I don't enjoy crocheting with this cotton and its tiny 2.5 crochet hook as much as I do the thicker yarn ... and indeed it took me quite a while to finish this.  Still got a lot of the cotton to use up though!

I probably should point out I've had an extra 2 days off work this week to play!  Hence quite a bit of lovely crafty time.  Shame there was little sun though.  Still the wild flowers at the moment are stunning and I'll finish with a couple more of the lovely meadow we walk through.