After a stonking long time, I turn my hand to a birch -

I think I got a mental block about birch because SO MANY people were making it. And so many complaining.















I am in three kinds of love with this shawl. I am in easy-to-remember-pattern love; gets-smaller-as-you-knit love; and soft-like-an-evening-summer-breeze love.

I am only finding about 5 mins a day for knitting at the moment (and that is mostly while I cook morning porridge and while I ought to be sleeping) but I day dream about knitting it the rest of the day.

A feeling of lightness -

I am ripping the cable stole. It began life as a practice run for my mum's. After I started it I decided that it needed to be wider and 5 balls not 3. I only have 3 balls for mine, and it is as wide as it is.















Three balls makes a birch shawl though...

I want a green birch shawl. I may even cast it on when I finish demolishing the stole. After all, it doesn't count as a new project, does it?















I am proud of my hoya, it has a new leaf.

No time for love, Dr Jones -

No knitting, just working. But I was fed two amazing breakfasts this weekend.

Saturday was stewed rhubarb and fresh strawberries with yoghurt.















Today: fruit salad, baked rhubarb with orange zest, ricotta and pistachios, and pancakes.

And, during the lazy post-breakfast stroll up Sydney road this afternoon, I found something to train my Hoya on.















Happy is the girl with a well trained Hoya.

A new fun game -















Although, it occurs to me that this is only adding to the yarn that wants knitting up.

Comfort knitting -

A garter stitch scarf in hand spun alpaca from the Handspinners and Weavers Guild.















And another garter square baby blanket in some yarn I bought eons ago from Lincraft in the city. It is lovely and soft, but hasn't suited any of the scarf patterns I've tried it in, including this one.















I'm finding the repetition soothing. Even after two weeks holiday, I am still not myself.

You give a girl a camera and what's the first thing she does? -

Takes a picture of her feet.



















These were the first socks that I knit for myself. From memory they are lana grossa.

Actually the first picture I took when I got home was of the teeniest praying mantis I have ever seen. He was in the lemon grass and hopefully he will make it a permanent abode.















I hope I didn't scare the bejeezus out of him as I chased him around trying to get a shot that wasn't "leaf" or "smudge".