Holiday Part II

Summer cherries. Brought home on Monday night by DH. Lovely.

The second week in Scotland was spent with my family in Speyside. Much knitting was done, amongst lots of other wonderful activities.

Our friend Sheena gave me her 1950's editions of Vogue and others that she had been given by her friend Jessie. They're so interesting and fun to browse through. Bed-jacket with sleeves that extend into gloves, anyone? Mohair "thorn" crown?

My Mum sent me home with the most beautiful Araucania skein hidden in my luggae. What a treat! I've never bought this before, but have always wanted to try it, and these colours are so tantilising. I feel a pair of miniature socks coming on...

I had already bought in Three Bags Wool (the best ever shop, and now in a larger, better shop space in Craigellachie). This is destined for a sweet little cardie from an edition of The Knitter.

I also bought some pure white merino for a cabled blanket from Simply Baby.

My Mum is making the most adorable sleepy suit in aqua and off-white alpaca - the softest ever!

We cooked a lot together while I was there, which I always love so much. This is a poached salmon for friends who came over, garnished with nasturtiums.

Followed by a strawberry and lemon tart, which looked like Strawberry Shortcake, and was deeelicious.

I didn't want to leave!

So what's OTN? This is a clue...

... I'll leave you to guess, but it's Artesano Alpaca in Aran, a lovely powder blue. Progress is going well, but not as quickly as I would have hoped, given the weight of the yarn.

Back soon with more knitting updates, I'm sure.

New Commission

Look at these beautiful cherries:

This week's news is that a relative of DH's, Laurence, (I'd call him a family friend; he's lovely) has asked me to make him a cardigan. I'm thrilled!

After hunting high and low, I think I've found the right pattern. He wants one exactly like that worn by Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady. I didn't know the film (though I know the play) so had to search for a photo.

This is the nearest cardigan pattern I could find. I hope Laurence likes it. Check out the cheesy photos of the early 90's models! I plan to make my version classier but I'm not doing a contemporary version; this is going to be a classic shape (like all the best things in life).

He would like a camel cardigan, so I have found the yarn below:

What do you think? Is it camel-ish enough? It's an 80% merino, 20% kid mohair mix and feels divine. It should knit up nicely. I've got the leather elbow patches and leather buttons and am ready to go.

I'll keep you posted on progress, but can't cast on yet as I have to finish the Rainbow Chain Carriage Blanket (I'm on the home stretch now, and loving those colour changes). I'm afraid I'm one of those boring knitters who tends to finish one project before moving on to another.

While I was buying the yarn I couldn't help but check out what else was in John Lewis (a place I'm not usually too fond of, but the Oxford Street store has a better selection of yarn than Peter Jones).

I cam away with some Noro Silk Garden...

Destined for the pattern below (apologies but I can't seem to rotate this image):

And some chunky tweed for a log cabin blanket that was actually on sale (I had the acqua already):