A Parcel -

From Scotland! I knew immediately what they were.














A neat little packet.














Little Elijahs














I immediately put them to work.














They gaze at me with their serious little faces while I stitch.














I have never bought stitch markers before. I have a few that I made or I use split rings. I am delighted with these, they are so lovely that it makes me glad that they are the first ones I've bought on account of it makes them specialer.

(they remind me a little of Babar, a childhood friend)

Seems I have a hankering for knits that look like sea creatures -

This is going to be for a dear friend who kept me sane while living in Beijing for 6 months. I will, I hope, see her this year for the first time in 7 (wow, I just had to count on my fingers to make sure) years.















It is good for knitting at work during meetings.

So Little, so Quick -

This pattern is kind of scaring me. I am following the directions, word for word (a change is as good as a holiday) and I am not feeling the trust that the pattern directions are going to give me what's in the picture.



















And I have finally got around to looking in my Crochet book, and found I do have the necessary stitch pattern to make Moonstitches' Rhubarb scarf. I fear only that the yarn will not have the same breathtaking effect.


















But still, the Sweet Georgia yarns are called Firefly and Angel, there must be some sort of cosmic ordering that will see these two yarns work well together.

At last! -

Thanks to the kindness of knitting friends, I now have a photo of the Indigo Ripples Skirt and an answer to the question, "Can I wear this skirt to school?".


















In other news, I finished my Cobblestone today. I wove in the ends before heading to Theoretic Gal's house. And then Grumpy Girl took a photo of it on her back lawn in the hope of getting it to turn out something like the colour it is, rather than the washed-out grey that I've been getting in my photos.


















It clings a bit, I hope washing will help it relax. I made GG stand up to take the photo, the one taken from sitting emphasised my stomach feature.

I have a hundred and one things else that I want to cast on. I shall take deep breaths and restrain myself.

Baby Knitting -

There are O! so many babies on the way at the moment. I am beginning to feel quite left out.

I have been feeling completely uninspired to approach any sort of knitting for the newborn, but I, just this day, made two decisions that have quite turned the knitting ennui on its head.

First, I am not going to knit for knitting friends who are having babies. I feel paralysed every time I think of it.

Second, I am not going to use one of the 'modern' popular baby patterns. I am delving into my (great great) grandmothers' stash of patterns.

Allow me to introduce the crew:

"Mitsy" the cover piece, a buttoned cardigan with a pattern through the body.


















"Peter Rabbit", a two colour cardigan, clearly a hit with the model.














"Delia", how could I go past a cardigan that has a name so similar to my own AND puffed sleeves?


















The slightly odd looking, but rather sweet, "Cross-over jacket".


















And finally, my favourite, if only for the name, "Pickles"


















I look at the babies in these booklets, one published when knitting pamphlets cost 2 shillings, and wonder about them. I have looked at them many times and to me they are (especially Pickles) immortal little babies.

Startitis -

I have no explanation, no apparent cure.

I've been planning to start this wrap for a while, but the yarn was quite happy sitting up in its mothballs. The pattern was quite happy sitting in its file of printed out patterns from the net. Maybe it was the mitred sock squares that got me over excited.














It is going to be fun to finish... The yarn is from a jumper that mum was knitting in the 80s. Fluff gets everywhere.














And, in case that wasn't enough. I have started a project with this yarn several times, I think this will suit it. And I think I know whom it will suit.

Ends -

I am debating whether to make this two blocks wider. I am in some serious denial about the ends.














The beauty of cross stitch is that you weave the ends in as you go. I have been wanting to do this one for a long time. I haven't finished the birds, but if I have to do all that bloody backstitch I may never finish them. I think they look fine as they are.

Toe-up, never again? -

Finally, I finish the dread toe-up socks. They look ridiculous when they are off the foot, and the choice to combine the two different colours was a bad one, but they feel sensational. The yarn is Regia Bamboo. The foot is 1067 and the ankle is 1062.

I know the idea is to keep knitting til you run out of yarn, but I was so anxious about these and so worried about increasing for the calves (mental block - couldn't seem to help it) that I just finished them off.


















I used the Zimmerman bind off, seemed to be the best choice.

And for some reason I feel inspired to knit socks. And I am in happy-drooling love with this yarn and the sock it is making. Thank you Bec.














It is nice to be knitting socks again. I will make one foray back into toe-up territory so that I can document how I do my 'chinese toe'. I will just have to decide on the yarn and the place.

A pleasant Saturday afternoon -

With presents! I went to a craft-a-noon with the girls and came home with presents.

A Koigu chevron scarf from sockmonster. The colours work really well together and it will be ideal for class, long enough to keep me warm, short enough to prevent accidents. This is the second time she has given it to me (isn't lovely how knitters understand these things?), and I have loved it both times.














There was another gift as well. Grumpygirl was showing me her yarn and I was waxing lyrical about how alive and really mossy the mossy was and she said 'Happy Birthday'. I almost died. I was going to leap over the couch and hug her, but I am still not sure how grumpygirl feels about hugging.














I tried lots of different backdrops to bring out how alive this skein of yarn looks, alas, I do not have mad photography skillz.

But I did recently buy this book.


















And it has just occurred to me that this pattern might make the yarn look like moss creeping over rocks. The pattern calls for 375 yards of something heavier and mossy is 350 yards. I am tempted to give it a go and see how far I get.


















Or I could just leave it on my lap and pat it.

I also came home with a burning desire to cast on new projects. Restraint, restraint, restraint.

Australian -

I had a go at the sample Australian citizenship test today and FAILED. I only got 50% correct.

Then a friend sent me to the sample Canadian citizenship test that I PASSED at 90%. I got the population of Nova Scotia and when they adopted the current flag wrong.

So I could successfully migrate to Canada, but, with no further study, could not become a citizen of my own country.

I know, I know, it is only a sample test.

I have enough trouble with the idea of failing tests as it is.