Was that the entire summer?

What a lovely week last week - hot and sunny, I hope it isn't like last year and that is all we get! At the weekend I went to a spa with my friend Leo, we had a great time and the weather really was fabulous. I thought I would get lots of knitting done but we were really 'busy' getting treatments, chatting, eating delicious but healthy food and sitting in the outdoor spa pool.

I took along my Swallowtail shawl - it was moving really quickly but I appear to have stalled - I am almost at the nups but the budding lace seems to have refused to grow to the right number of stitches! The colour is an gorgeous one from Posh - I can't remember what it was called but it looks just like the blossom on the apple tree. In fact I tried to take a picture of the WiP in the tree but it was far to high and I did not want to take remove any branches to photograph, but the wisteria that holds up a rickety fence in the garden is in bloom and the colour is beautifully similar to the yarn as well.

I shouldn't take pictures of on going work as I am terrible at finishing things (especially if they are for me), however it did occur to me that if I put pressure on myself by blogging about something it might get done.

I am very guilty of jumping on the bandwagon and knitting the 'latest' thing. Apologies to Grumperina, I love the knitting new scarves book and when I saw this, I wanted to have a go. So here is the start of my linked rib scarf, it's Manos Del Uruguay silk blend 6461 bought from iknit - I went and checked out the new shop, it's lovely and has a bar, obviously I couldn't leave empty handed!

The plant is an Acer Palmatum, I love the colour of it. The whole garden looks lovely at the moment - it is going to be open to the public (!) in three weeks, through a local open garden scheme, it is a shame it is not slightly earlier as it is really a spring garden and looks it's best at the moment. Although it is quite good it isn't this weekend as there is scaffolding up and there appears to be a toilet in the driveway - Plumber Dad installed a new one some time ago and the old one hasn't gone to the tip yet despite all the nagging, maybe I should plant something in it just in case it doesn't get moved!

When Leo was here at the weekend I had to try and secretly measure her for the jumper I am making, I failed and just held it up to her but it does mean it can appear here. I love the pattern - Simply Marilyn from Interweave, but a bulky cable knit is not something all of us can wear! I have made the pattern smaller, advice from Ravelry users has help with this, I think it will stretch a little too. I finished the front in a day and am half way up the sleeves, it is a bit of a warm project to be knitting now so I'd like to finish soon.

I hope blocking evens out the bottom of the cable as it looks wibbly at the moment and not very nice.


I had been keeping these secret as they are a gift but the recipient saw them in the knitting basket and commented on them, asking who they were for - I couldn't manage to fib! It does mean I can blog about them too. Pomatomus in a really lovely colour way but I have been having second sock issues for so long that I can't remember what it is called and have misplaced the label, it might be Koigu though.

This shows the colours better. I love the pattern and it is quite simple to knit. I have seen a second sock on Ravely that is fraternal so maybe that will have to be made instead of a matching one. I grafted the toe oddly so it looks funny to me but I tried to undo it and it was a nightmare - I thought I'd just leave it.

Finished object! The very simple socks for a certain boy, the yarn was Kaffe Fassett in Landscape Caribbean since the this boy likes sailing. They are a bit large for me but I hope they fit him, I really enjoyed knitting them and the colours are gorgeous, I decided that I like knitting man socks so much I signed up for a guy sock club. They are larger, giving more scope for beautiful yarns and I love the unfussy nature of men's socks, the muted colours and small details make it a much more subtle knit. I have so many sock clubs at the moment I don't think I will get to the end of them but I just can't resist.

I had some trouble getting them to match at the heel - I frogged three times and in the end I cut the yarn and rejoined it to match up properly. It was the dark blue thin stripe where you pick up along the heel - it was accidental in the first sock but I thought it looked lovely and wanted the same on the other.

Taking pictures of your own feet is really difficult - especially if you end up with the picture making your calves look like they belong to a hefty rugby player or maybe a hippo or giving yourself cankles as in the picture above - horizontal stripes eek! I was a little un-nerved by the picture below, perspective is to blame I'm sure (or maybe it is the evil fat leg fairy who makes me eat chocolate and wear high calf building heels)

I'm have been looking for something gorgeous to knit with the amazing yarn from Lily, my secret pal. I have not found anything that screams - 'knit me with your precious camelspin!' so I am having a go at designing something myself.

I love designing things but my time is really limited so spending ages knitting and finding I am unhappy with the look and feel is really difficult. The pleasure in seeing something beautiful does outweigh this eventually though! I have been reading (actually just looking at the pictures as I don't read Japanese) the new Japanese stitch patterns books I bought from yesasia and want to start swatching soon. I also bought the same colour yarn in seasilk (periwinkle) as I would like to see if I can use both to give areas of different texture - not knitted together but more like intarsia - hmmm wonder what will happen!