Her Wish Is Fulfilled.....

...... after 4 long months.

My younger daughter, Lydia has been asking for a knitted cardigan for a long time but I just can't seem to find the time for it. In April, I gave in & asked her to decide on the yarn & pattern. She chose Bendigo Luxury 8 ply & the pattern was the Heather Hoodie.

The yarn arrived & I cast on but I was not happy with the construction of the pattern. So I decided to put the pattern aside & worked on my own design - a top down cardigan with cables & a hood. The hood is compulsory as Lydia loves wearing hoods.

Took me a while & several frogging, to settle on a cable pattern as it had to flow nicely from the raglan shaping. The cable pattern that I used is the same pattern that I had for my socks, Triple Braids. I love these cables.

Everything was going well & then I had to put it down as I worked on the retreat projects, pick it up again after the retreat in June & then had to put it down when I worked on my Bendigo trip projects. When I came back from Bendigo, I had to finish the cardigan or winter will be over & Lydia will not have the opportunity to wear it.

So at long last, it's done .......

The cardigan fitted Lydia perfectly & she loves the hood ....

I am glad that I finished this cardigan & fulfilled Lydia's wish.

Melbourne & Bendigo

We had been talking about this trip for the past 6 months & finally the day came. The 7 of us were so excited when we met at the airport at 5am for the flight to Melbourne.

We arrived in Melbourne around lunch time, checked into our hotel in the heart of the city & immediately went for a quick walk around the shop. We also went to Morris & Sons & knitted with the local knitting group ......

We woke up early next morning to take the 7am train to Bendigo. It was a lovely train ride as we sat & knitted ......

We were full of excitement when we reached the show grounds & started wandering around the sheds. I could not believe my eyes when I saw Bells walking in through the gates, then there was Random Knits & Knitabulous . I have been reading the blogs of these 3 lovely ladies & now I am seeing them all standing right in front of me !

We went through all the stalls & I was really good & did not go wild with my purchases. Unfortunately, during all the excitement, I forgot all about my camera & only took a couple of pictures ...

... the knitwear fashion show

...... and of course, the highlight of the show.

From the showground, we went to Bendigo Woollen Mills ....

... & I did not buy any yarn!

We had a lovely lunch in the town center & then took the train back to Melbourne. One of the ladies was anxious to start knitting with her newly acquired skein & we started winding ....

All of us had a great time at Bendigo & were pleased with all our purchases. These are mine .....

..... 2 skeins of lace weight cashmere & 1 skein of bamboo/bunny silk

...... 1 skein of lace weight silk & 1 skein of bamboo/merino

...... 3 different styles of shawl pins

..... a nostepinne which I have seen on the internet & have been curious about it's function. Now I have to learn how to use it.

..... and lastly, not knitting related - a magic wand for my daughter.

We did a lot of walking & shopping in Melbourne for the next 2 days & we went to another yarn shop - Clegs & they were having a 20% sale. No one can resist a sale, so we bought more yarn & I walked away with these .....

.... 1 ball of bamboo sock yarn & 2 balls of merino/alpaca/possum sock yarn.

I came home, tired but very satisfied with the trip & all my purchases & of course, a must have souvenir from Melbourne .....

Bendigo, Here I Come

1 more sleep & tomorrow afternoon, I will be in Melbourne with 6 other ladies from my knitting group. I hope I can get to sleep tonight.

As it will be colder in Melbourne & Bendigo, I decided to knit a jumper & this pattern has been on my list for a long time & now I have a reason to knit it. Plus I also have the yarn in my stash which will be great for this jumper. My only problem was that I have only 10 days to my departure. Well, I just have to give it a try & hope I will finish it in time.

I did it in 8 days ! Here's my Blue Owls ......

..... I am so please with it. I was afraid that it will not fit as the yarn is only 10 ply & my gauge was way off the recommended gauge. I had to re-work all the numbers & measurements too & only use the pattern as a guide. I was also worried about the shaping on the back as this is the 1st time I have done such a shaping. I usually shape my garments on the sides. But again, it worked & it looks great .....

...... and makes me look more shapely.

I use Cascade Heather which I bought at a sale a couple of years ago. I just wanted to try the yarn but have not use it as it was too thick for Perth's weather. It's the perfect yarn for this jumper & it's my favorite color.

I love the owls on the yokes & I use beads for the eyes. The beads are knitted in as I go, so I don't have to sew them in later. I have 25 owls across the yokes .....

Then I decided that I need mittens to keep my fingers warm, so I made these ....

It's a great easy pattern & so quick (as I don't have much time left) - don't need any increases for the thumb, just knit a tube with a hole for the thumb. I love the diagonal rib pattern as it produces a lovely textured look .....

I think I am all ready for Melbourne & Bendigo !

Cottage Garden Shawl

A couple of months ago, I designed this shawl for a friend & then some knitters requested that I write the pattern. I have never written a shawl pattern before although I did wrote a pattern for my Berry Triangle but there were no charts involved.

So I tried & it took me a while to get things right but I managed to write up the pattern & it's now for sale in ravelry. It's a good triangle shawl for a beginner and the pattern allows the flexiblity of increasing or decreasing the size of the shawl.

This is my 2nd test knit from the original & I have made it smaller & eliminated the leaves portion of the lace. To break the monotony of knitting stocking stitch, I did a k2tog, yo every few rows.

There are also a few more versions from my test knitters & they are all gorgeous. Thank you Gosia & Lisa for your efforts.

I also did a 2nd test knit for my Berry Triangle with a different yarn & it looks just as good.....

I am currently working on another shawl design & here's a peek at it.....

I am now working out the details with the 2nd shawl, then write out the pattern & have it test knitted, so this will take a while .....