Better Late than Never

Here are front and back views of the hoodie I made for Marianne out of the Debbie Bliss cotton-silk aran. I hope it looks better when she's wearing it... I still think that it might've been the wrong yarn to use but at least the silk content should prevent the colour from fading much.



The pattern is from Vogue Knitting Magazine (Fall 2005). I might try another one from the athletic section for my other sporty friend. After the socks, scarfs and slippers, of course.

Ally Pally Stash

My two days at the Alexandra Palace Knitting and Stitching Exhibition (October 15 & 16) were a great contrast to each other. On Saturday, I spent much of the day at the Relax and Knit tables and a little walking about. My only expenditures were a heinously over-priced lunch of chicken and rice and about thirty quid of yarn - one being a hank of Alchemy bamboo, the last one they had in that colour.

One Sunday, the floodgates opened and I ended up travelling home with about six carrier bags of loot. Here's some of it:
(Edit: the green-blue hank of boucle in the middle of the picture has since been transformed into the curly-whirly scarf seen here.)


These are two skeins of one of the softest, definitely the lightest natural yarns I've ever encountered. This is Touch Yarns' possum-wool yarn. 500m to the 100g. I've since sent one skein off to Knitting Mama in Saskatoon. Gotta share the joy.
I'm one of Touch Yarns biggest fans now. Above, is eight skeins of their 12-ply mohair-merino. On the left is three of their brushed variety and to the right is five of the boucle. Altogether, this set of chloro-octuplets is going to make one gorgeous blanket for Merwitch and Qball's wedding gift.

Thrumming Along...

Here are pictures of my first thrummed project - a pair of super-warm slippers for my coldest-blooded friend, the Merwitch. They somehow took longer and yet were quicker to do than I'd thought. Longer because the first pattern I picked turned out to be a rubbishy slipper. It looked more like an envelope with lacings than a slipper. Quicker because pulling the thrums and knitting them in is actually a pretty simple skill.


Still, all is not perfect. Thinking myself smarter than the second pattern, I reversed the cuff on my first slipper (closer one in the picture above) so that the knitted side would face out at the top of the fold. Forgetting to do that on the second slipper, I realized that the pattern meant for the purled side to face out so that the fold wouldn't try to roll. Well, now she'll be able to tell right from left...


Just a couple of wooly squashes... The orange is the (now discontinued) Debbie Bliss Tweed Aran that I picked up pretty cheap at Ally Pally. The idea is that it'll felt up nicely as the slippers are worn.

This is the second thrummed project I did. My flatmate asked for a thrummed ear-warmer headband (although not in so many words). The picture was taken before I finished it off by Kitchener stitching the two panels of ribbing together, sealing the thrums inside and effectively creating a yarn-based inner tube. The yarn is the blue Debbie Bliss Cotton Silk Aran that I used on the hoodie earlier. As if I hadn't learned it well enough before, this yarn has very poor elasticity for ribbing. Sarah will probably have to tie off a bit at the back with an elastic to get a good fit.