It's Gone Forever ......

This (Mystic Light Shawl) has been sitting in the basket for a while & every time I tried to pick it up, I just can't bring myself to knit it again. I thought I will give myself more time but I just can't do it. It seems that this project has lost its appeal & I can't re-connect with it. This has never happen before & I can't really tell what's wrong.

So I made the final decision as I can't bear to see it lying in the basket - I frogged it ! It feel so terrible as I was pulling it out & winding it into a ball as I do love the pattern but I just can't continue knitting it, Maybe it's the yarn or the colors but I still don't know what it is ?????

Anyway, too late for regrets as the shawl is now 2 balls of yarn again !

On a happier note, I finished another pair of the Spiraluscious Mitts with the gorgeous yarn that I bought from Angeline at the retreat. It's a blend of seacell & merino & it's gorgeous to knit with. These mitts have been given to the Canteen Manager of the High School that I work in as a birthday present - she loves them & asks me to knit another pair for her daughter.

The colors (blue, grey with a little purple) is hard to photograph & that's all I have left of the yarn ....

.... I think I have enough for another pair but a smaller size. I also bought another skein of lace yarn from Angeline. It's silk & merino, so soft & shiny......

.... this is going into the stash first as I have not decided what I want to knit.

Free Pattern

Remember Foot Prints - the sock that I designed for our Annual Knitting Retreat. It's now available as a free pattern in ravelry.

Enjoy !

It Came And .... It Went !

I just can't believe how fast the weekend went & I guess it's because we had so much fun ........ at Knitting Inspirations Annual Knitting Retreat.

Can you imagine 27 knitters in one location for 2 whole days & nights ? It was magical as the air was filled with chatter, fibre, food, wine, chocolate .......

There were knitters everywhere & this year, we had a few spinners who were so amazing with their spinning wheels .......

And of course, we had food ! In fact, lots of food as we were fed every 2-3 hours - breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea & dinner. I think we spent quite a lot of time in the dining room ......

We even had brain food .....

..... but we did managed to get up & browse when the yarn market was opened ....

..... lots of gorgeous handpainted from a local dyer, Angeline who is so creative with her colors. And there were also Fleece Artist & Handmaiden.

As the theme of this year's retreat is lace, we had a "Dress Up In Lace" evening & it was awesome to see all the knitted lace .....

Cath ( who drove 5 hours with her friend, Pamela) won the prize for the Best Knitted Lace ....

It's the Swallowtail with beads .......

We also had a blocking party ........

We were all still in high spirits when we reluctantly packed up on Sunday morning. We left with happy memories of this great weekend & a little goodie bag ......

We will be back again next year for another knitty weekend !

I Love Yarn Testing !

It's great to be able to try different yarns & recently Helen handed me 2 skeins of yarn to try out before we purchase more. 1st is Handmaiden Mini Maiden & I decided to knit this .....

.... the Spiralusciuos Neckwarmer . This is an unblocked version as I don't have the time to do it yet but it looks good. The yarn is so soft & silky & it's just the right yarn for a neckwarmer - love it.

And there's the matching mitts ......

...... in the same yarn but I only knitted 1 mitt as I find the edging at the top of the mitt very time consuming. I had to do a provisional cast on to knit the main portion of the mitt & then unzip the cast on & do an invisible cast on for the edging. So I decided to do away with the edging & knitted another version of the mitt....

.... I use the same ribbed edging for both ends of the mitts & I think I like this version better. It's not only quicker to knit but it looks more practical for everyday wearing without all the frills. I knitted this in the 2nd yarn which is Handmaiden Casbah, a much sturdier yarn (with cashmere) than the Mini Maiden (with silk).

I love both the yarn & enjoyed knitting with them. It will be great if I could be yarn testing all the time !