The Last 10 Days .....

.... I have been knitting quite a lot as it's the school holidays & I had more time at home. But I have not worked on any of my wips as I have been crazy over shawls after knitting Ishbel. I just love the shape of Ishbel & I wanted more !

So I knitted this ......

.... it's the La La's Simple Shawl but knitted in the shape of Ishbel. I use the stitch pattern & knitted it with Araucania Ranco Multy which has been sitting in my stash as I am not so keen on the colors. But my cousin wanted a garter stitch scarf for winter & she liked these colors. I decided that a scarf was too boring to knit, so I decided on a kerchief which will be nice around the neck.

It was a great knitting this kerchief as there was no chart to read - just a couple of garter st rows, then a couple of stocking st rows & then an eyelet row & just keep going until the right size. I did not use the whole ball of yarn & the kerchief measured 120cm x 50cm after blocking.

I got Lydia to take a model shot before this gorgeous kerchief was given away to my cousin who is wearing it everyday. She loves it!

I did not not have enough of shawl knitting & so cast on this .....

... it's the Milkweed Shawl in Handmaiden Casbah (Topaz) which Helen had in the store. Again, this was a great knit as I just love the garter stitch & the lace pattern is relatively easy. Plus the yarn is a joy to knit with.

The shape of this shawl is similar to Ishbel as there are edge increases on every row. The blocked size is 120cm x 56cm.

The only thing that bothers me about this shawl is the needle size. I use a 3.5mm as recommended by the pattern but the casbah is quite a thick yarn & a larger size needle (like 4mm or 4.5mm) will make a looser knit. I guess the smaller needle is used as only 1 skein of Casbah is used & if I increase the needle size, I will need more than 1 skein. Anyway, I am still very pleased with this shawl & love it.

I had it blocking on Friday & took it off on Saturday so that I can bring it to City Nits & give it to Helen .....

Doesn't it look great on her? I have to stop this shawl knitting & get back to my projects but I don't know how long I can resist this urge to cast on another shawl .....

Midsummer's Night Dream

I know that the title is not right as it's Midwinter now but I just can't help falling in love with this yarn - Socks That Rocks Silkie, colorway Midsummer's Night (forgot to take a picture of the yarn) - it's like a dream - soft, smooth & so comfortable against the skin !

I had this yarn in my stash for a while & have been wanting to knit with it. So I decided to wind it up & knit a pair of socks. I cast on & as I knit away, I kept feeling the yarn & the sock & started dreaming ..... it's really so soft & so good against the skin .... I put it on my neck & the feeling is great as I never like wool on my neck but this is really different. As I knitted my sock (I was increasing for the gusset), I realised that this yarn is not destined to be a pair of socks but it should be a scarf or a shawl. Then I knew that it had to be Ishbel which I have been dreaming of eversince I saw a knitted one IRL.

So my dream came true & in 3 days, I had this......

..... it was really a dream to knit Ishbel - it's a great pattern & I love the stocking stitch beginning leading to the lace. I knitted the small size as I wanted to wear it around my neck when I am out driving my daughter to school early in the mornings & I have been wearing it since ......

..... I just love this little shawl (120cm x 42cm) & it's my favorite color. Although it's a triangle shawl, the shape is different as the 2 ends of the triangle is much longer than normal as there are edge increases on both sides of the shawl - this is a great feature for a shawl that can be wound around the neck. I have to knit another one ...... and maybe I will stop knitting socks ?

Anglicare Knit In 2009

Another 12 months had passed & once again, I went to the Anglicare Knit In at the Government House. This is the 4th year that I have attended this event but this time I had to go alone as Lydia (daughter #2 who is the knitter) can't come as it's a school day. Last year's event was held during the winter school holidays & Lydia enjoyed attending the event. For the past 12 months, she had been knitting away & finished these ......

.... 6 strips for a blanket. She decided to do strips instead of squares as it's much faster but she still keeps the square pattern as she changes colors after every 60 rows. The stripes looked great & it's a pity that she can't hand them in personally.

Anyway, I managed to meet up with some knitting friends when I was there but the crowd was much smaller than last year. I guess the weather did not help as it was raining & cold. But still it was a good crowd ......

As usual, we were all well fed & entertained & this year, we even had belly dancers .....

It was great to see the squares being sewed up into blankets & they were hung all over the balconies .......

As I was leaving in the afternoon, I caught a glimpse of a finished blanket that a lady was holding up & recognised it as the stripes that Lydia had knitted. I managed to take a picture of the finished blanket so that I can show it to Lydia .....

Well, I will be back knitting squares next year & I hope it will be during the school holidays so that Lydia can attend. In fact, she has started knitting her strips for next year !