Aeoilan Shawl

With the sun shining this morning I took the opportunity to get outside and photograph the shawl.

It took a little while to find a good backdrop, until I found this wall. Wrapping it round a tree this time just wasn't cutting it.

I love the shadow of the branches against the shawl.

Half-way through, I realised the shawl was creating a delicate shadow onto the wall behind.

Here are some indoor shots, which show the true colour of the yarn.

It snowed here this week! Just in time for Christmas. I know this will look pretty pathetic for those of you who have proper snow, but it really is unusual to see snow in London.

As we walked home late on Thursday night, the snow was falling in large flakes and we expected to wake up to a winter wonderland, but there was only ice, so I don't have any good photos of our brief flurry.

Aeolian is Blocking

It's finished, and I'm happy with it:

When it's dry I'll take some better photo's. If I hadn't had some other projects to finish (which I can't show you yet), it would have been finished weeks ago, but here it is now.

It was difficult to block. The points of the "flowers"at the edge are not as pointy as they would have been had I used lace-weight yarn. I had decided to use DK for warmth and weight and knew the finished result would not look the same. I made the smallest version so it's more wearable and found Adriana's blocking photo's very helpful, though my points are nowhere near as good as hers. Don't look too closely at the blocking as it's not perfect!

And yes, it's blocking on the faithful Barbie blocking towel: don't ask why I own a towel like that; it has something to do with DH's Stag do (Bachelor party).

Take a look at the beauitiful cardigan, below. It's Gentle Rose from last month's Simply Knitting. I already have the yarn for it (Patons Pompero in Ruby 32) and will be starting it over Christmas when I have lots of free time when we go to my parents in Scotland for 10 days). I like the puffed sleeves and colour, and love an open cardigan.

We're also going to get some skiing in as there's enough snow and the slopes are open at Cairngorm.

I also quite like Ginger, below, but it's quite impractical. The jury's out on this one.

Meanwhile, having been scared by some threads on Ravelry about moths desecrating entire stashes, I have invested in some vacuum bags to prevent that problem. You can see yarn, FO's and toys sucked up in this one:

Christmas is in the air, and I'm loving it.

New Year, New Projects

Having been stuck at home due to a chest infection (the doctor signed me off work for 4 days), I've been able to get on with a lot of things. Here are the Noro Long Gloves from the Noro Designer Mini Knits Book:

They have a very pretty picot edge which isn't very clear from these photos. I'd use that motif for edging things in future, perhaps a blanket...

They look good fully stretched out or ruched at the wrist. A quick and easy knit, the only correction I made was to knit them completely in the round. I couldn't believe the pattern was written flat; imagine all that sewing up around each finger!

Next was a very sweet little bunny who doesn't have a recipient yet, but I'll save it for a friend. It's one of the Lovable Toys by Marion Edmonds from Last Minute Hand-Knitted Gifts. I'll make an elephant sometime as I have the yarn ready.

Last up is the hat I made my for my brother for Christmas using chunky wool. I hadn't been able to show a photo before as he immediately took it away with him when he went skiing. I'm just glad he liked it; I worry about overloading family members with my hobby!

I'm not quit sure what to start next, but I'm flirting with Curlicue as I'd like to try a lace project with a bit of substance (i.e., not using airy lace-weight wool). This uses cotton in sportweight which is appealing.

Another possibility is the Simple Yet Effective Shawl in bulky but I'd better finish the one I started in Noro Kureyon Sock first! It looks lovely but takes so long on the longer rows. I've finished one hank which the pattern calls for, but to make it substantial enough it really needs to be a lot bigger, so depending on my patience, I have another two hanks to use. Somehow I have a feeling this one's going to hibernate for a while!

White Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year (almost) from cold and frosty Scotland! No snow, but lots of frost that looks very like snow, has landed and covered everything in sight...

the rosehips...

and Angelica.

Luckily, there is respite from the cold - look, my Mum's LYS! It's fantastic; Three Bags of Wool is run by Sarah, and stocks loads of unusual yarns and patterns. Imagine, in the middle of the North East of Scotland, a little village called Aberlour has the best yarn store ever!

Here's a glimpse of what I purchased: two balls of the first Colinette, two balls of the second Noro Silk Garden Light (not to mention a great Noro pattern book) and several balls of the third Eskimo yarn (I hadn't heard of it, but it's really soft and felts really well). I also stocked up on some needle-felting needles and a sweet button in raspberry ripple.

Here are a couple of my Mum's scarves using the Colinette thick-and-thin; they look fantastic in moss stitch:

Below is a shawl (obviously unblocked) that I started over Christmas using Noro Sock; this isn't even a ball's worth so far and I'm planning on using two. The wool's scratchy, but according to Sarah it softens when washed - I've seen evidence.

I've already started working with the Noro Silk Garden that I bought - elbow-length gloves (the yarn has a really luxurious feel).

That's all for now folks but I'll be back soon.