Knitting and a little snoozing...

I'd seen the one row lace scarf by Turvid and thought it looked great.  Although I couldn't quite believe the comments that it was so easy.  Can lace ever be easy?  I cast on with some squidgy drops merino extra fine, and surprise, surprise... it was easy!

The pattern calls for a one row repeat (hence the name) and once you have knitted a few rows it becomes super simple.  I managed to rattle through the ball in two days, and made the strip into a twisted cowl.  I am now ready for Autumn!

I also realised how difficult it was to take a picture of yourself wearing a cowl without a) looking like you have 4 chins or b) looking like you have really odd shaped breasts!  In other knitty news, at the weekend I went to the Knitting and Stitching Show at Ally Pally.  I was surprisingly restrained with buying goodies, although I did get some lovely self-striping Rico superba yarn which will make some very cute socks.

I also treated myself to a copy Pop knitting by Britt-Marie Christoffersson, which has some amazing knitting samples in it, that I can't wait to experiment with.  On the needles currently I have some rather silly, but very practical slipper socks.

My attempt to progress on these this morning, was halted by a rather sleepy Jeremy cozying on my lap.

Who wouldn't want to climb in to a fleece sleeping bag on an overcast October morning?  And I think we can all agree that this is good foot action!  Glasgow is home to some VERY exciting knitting events this week here, here & here.  Maybe you can catch one?

Knitting & Stitching & Prizes!

An overnight coach at the weekend took me to my folks house. From there yet another coach along with my mum and nan to the Knitting and Stitching show.
With a huge array of things to see and buy, I was relatively restrained with my purchases. A pair of extreme knitting needles (24mm x 700mm) from Rachel John. I'm not quite sure I'm up to 1000 strand knitting yet though!

I also brought a let's felt instruction guide from Piiku. Hopefully this will encourage me to find the time to get felting again. My mum and nan got some rather fancy yarn, from the aptly named Fancy Yarn specialists. Back on the coach again, and homeward bound. To my delight when I arrived home, there was a package from the lovely A Playful Day podcast, as I'd won the donation giveaway - whoo hoo!
Four balls of drops fabel, in beautiful blues.
Plus five shell bead stitch markers from A Little Bit Sheepish. These are very luxurious, they are very smooth to the touch, and one even is a lobster clasp for marking crochet.
Plus, some uber cute sheep stitch markers from The Lollipop Stop. Once again, I am truly spoilt. And I think my old stitch markers (plain plastic rings) will have to go into retirement!

The sensu-wool world!

On Monday morning I had a very pleasant surprise, I discovered that I'd won a giveaway from A Playful Day - a skein of Super Knits Bessie in Kate Bush.
The Playful Day podcast has been going for a few months, and I have become an regular listener. It has a great mix of yarn reviews, knitting news, greentrianglegirl's knitting progress, food & drink and general playful fun! Super Knits is a lovely yarn company based in the West Midlands. When it was first mentioned on A Playful Day I spent some time drooling over the website and admiring the colour names - she studied sculpture anyone? So I was super happy to win a skein of sock yarn. Gemma from Super Knits kindly got in touch to ask if I wanted it sent as a skein or wound in to a ball, and for all I love the look of a skein, I do get a bit tangled, so I asked for it as a ball. It arrived this morning & it is very pretty. 425 meters of 75% superwash blue faced Leicester & 25% nylon. And most importantly I can confirm it is super squishy!
Close up yarn porn picture next....
Now to get a few projects finished, so I can settle down and make myself some socks for when I go running up that hill!
I spent ages thinking of the Kate Bush pun that is the title of this post. If you can think of anything better please let me know...

Super Action Hero Fingerless Mittens!!!

I found an easy pattern for fingerless mittens on Ravelry which I knew I had to make. I used a ball of Stacy Charles Baci that I'd brought on holiday for a couple of dollars. I like the variegated colours in this yarn. The mittens only took a couple of hours from start to finish.

I have to admit I feel like a bit of an action hero with these - hence the POW!

Shisha work and Sari yarn

One of my latest ebay spends is the delightful book Embroidery techniques from East & West by Munni Srivastava. Embroidery is combined with quilting, and heavily flavoured by Indian influences. The colours are bold and the embroidery is rich in texture. This is certainly a great book to look through and feel inspired! From this book I decided to have a try at Shisha embroidery (mirror work). Not having tiny mirrors to hand did not deter me, I made some shiny circles from a drinks can (If you are trying this at home, mind your fingers!!!!!). I filled the background with some stitches commonly used in Indian work.

I must be having an Indian themed week, as yesterday my order arrived from fibrecrafts. One of the many things I ordered (they have an amazing selection) was a hank of recycled sari yarn. I am not quite sure what I am going to do with it, but at the moment I am happy admiring its beauty!