dolly dimple knits

Shave 'n' a haircut ?

The moment Al knew I'd truly lost it was when he found me, ever so delicately, shaving my knitting ..

but what's a girl to do when it goes kind of fuzzy and bobbly ?

The shavee is my mini Lizard Ridge. Remember, it started out to be a baby blanket but got blown off course, landed in the washing machine, felted, shaved and "Hey, look Ma ! - I'm a cushion !"

I completely love the short row wiggliness of Lizard Ridge. But even more, I found I loved the alien weirdness lunar landscape thing that goes on with all those little eggs that pop up. Strangely sculptural.

Trouble is when you block it, your lunar landscape goes as flat as a very flat thing from flatland. When you felt it tho' - the eggs are yours forever !

Plus it makes for a much sturdier cushion cover to withstand the beatings handed out by 3 kids and 2 cats (who btw are utterly convinced that every cushion in the house exists for the express purpose of making their 18 hour a day naptime more comfortable).

When not shaving my soft furnishings, I've found time to play with 2 of my other fabbo knitting Christmas gifts. See how well they play together ..

The gorgeous swift a gift from my father-in-law (who may just have had the teeny, tiniest hint from Al) and the yarn from the kind and generous Emma. It's a beautiful mix of pinks, purples and greens - each ranging from the very palest to the most furiously vibrant - and will make some spectacular socks ..... as soon as I find the right pattern.

I'm thinking of branching out on the sock front, having stuck largely to stocking stitch and rib, I'm now hankering for pattern. Especially this one. Tho' I think a self coloured yarn would show that to its best effect ?

Of course I may get waylaid by larger projects. A Cardigan for Arwen and Tubey are both nearly finished (photos next time !) and I've already begun stash raking for the next project. (See how good I'm being using my stash ?!)

In the spirit of Project Spectrum 2.0 I could go with the Jaeger in Rain Fall grey and embark upon my Dolman Updated (which I suspect might be a bit dull to knit but would get worn a lot).

Or I could go with the Spectrum blue theme and unleash some Rowan KSH in Heavenly and some Calmer in well, Calmer to whip up this little beauty.

I'm kind of leaning towards UltraFemme at the moment (see how lovely Becky's is ?) as it looks more fun. Plus having gamefully resisted buying Stitch'n Bitch Nation on the grounds that this was probably the only design I'd knit from it, I discovered I could get the pattern free anyway ! Serendipity or what ?

Of course, I may have to substitute the large bow for a buckle of some description. Something tells me my ample charms do not require a bow to set them off. Maybe something akin to fearing looking like an easter egg and it's weeks till easter yet .........

Hibernation

There's something about January that makes me withdraw. Happens every year. I just lose the inclination to do much, say much, or clearly, blog much. Sorry :0)

This week tho', maybe it's the terrible gales we've been having, but in a very Mary Poppinsish fashion it feels like changes are afoot. Unsettling. But good. I hope. I'll tell you more once I pin them down.

Despite the hibernation (or maybe because of it ?) knitting has taken place. I've completed the 2 fronts of "A Cardigan for Arwen" and these are serious fronts people !

(This is the true colour but to see the cable that runs all up and round the front this one's better)

You knit the entire front , sleeve and half hood for each side in once piece. So I've only got the simple rectangle to knit for the back that joins it all up - but of course because it's just a simple (but big !) rectangle of stocking stitch no motivation to do it :0) I might save it for my Meetup Knitting when I'm talking too much to cope with anything complicated.

I'm knitting my Arwen in Rowan Felted Tweed in Rage. The pattern recommends an aran weight but I knitted 2 aran weight hoodies last year so I wanted something a bit lighter that I could actually wear indoors ! The felted tweed knits to the same guage on the same size needles (for me anyway) but is a looser, drapier fabric.

The Rage was a Christmas present from Al but I'm going to save my knitting Christmas presents (which were fab and generous !) for another post as I haven't got round to taking pictures of them all yet. And speaking of Christmas, the gift knitting continues. NOT Christmas gift knitting I hasten to add. It's just I hardly did any of that so I've decided to do some birthday gift knitting instead.

Here are the beginnings ....

... on their way to becoming a Tubey of berries for a certain someone. I'm having to do a bit of resizing as she's smaller than the smallest size but I'm liking it so much I think I can see one for me on the cards :0)

I've decided Wendy's Knit from Your Stash project was a step too far for me (no willpower whatsoever !) but I'm going to do a modified version and knit 1 stash project for every new yarn that comes in - that way I might be able to stop my stash from completely taking over the house, as opposed to just taking over 2 rooms like it does at the moment. OOPS ! How did that happen ?

Hopefully, it will also mean that I'l have some wriggle room in storage space when we get to June. Excited ? Who me ?

Get Your Own! | More Flash Toys