Work In Progress Wednesday Number 8

Good morning fine folk of the blogosphere...

Can you tell I'm in a good mood?! This post is Clapotis free *grins* The finished item was previewed last Friday, and will receive it's full glory this Friday, but for today, we're without Clapotis ;)

Which means I am back to working on my other projects at last. Actually, the cabled bag will also be appearing on Friday, as I finished that one last weekend! It was so bizarre working with aran(worsted) weight after all that time with sock yarn, everything happened much faster of course *laughs*

My Zauberball sock is coming along nicely, a little bit more of the foot to do before I start toe decreases:

Not sure why it's upside down, but it's amusing so I shall leave it that way ;) I'm still loving the yarn, even if it is hyper fuzzy. Not sure why there is such a large purple section, but I'm finally on a new colour again, which just makes it so much more fun *grins*

Green top has had many more rows added, and looks very much the same as before *sigh* I couldn't bear to post another picture  looking exactly the same as the last, so here's the actual amount of progress I've made...

You'd think it would make more impact on the overall look of the garment, wouldn't you?! Or perhaps I'm just not seeing it. Maybe I'll take a photo every hour or so, so that I can track progress and feel like I'm making some ;)

I've also started knitting the orange yarn I posted about yesterday. Even DK weight feels huge compared to everything else being 4 ply! 

This sunny thing will become the first block in a Moderne Blanket. It's a log cabin style, but the blocks are all different sizes. I'm thinking this will be a fairly long term project, being a blanket and all. On the other hand, it is all garter stitch, which is good! I don't usually like garter, but for some reason I'm loving it in this yarn. And the yarn is so soft and squishy, despite it's acrylicness, which is just perfect for a blanket. 

It's funny, after the slog of the Clapotis (ooops, wasn't supposed to mention it again today!) I was feeling a little burned out. But give me some orange acrylic and some garter stitch and I'm suddenly all happy again *laughs* 

Anyway, that's enough rambling from me today, but head on over to Tami's to see what everyone else has been working on this week :)

Yarnapalooza

Now, I know my intention was not to buy any more yarn for a while, so that I could use up some of my stash, creating more room in my storage system.

And that still stands (with the stated exception of Knit Nation). However, buying yarn is not the only way to acquire yarn *laughs*

Yesterday, a friend from work came in with 2 huge bags of assorted yarn that his lovely lady no longer uses.

Like I said, huge bags! Lots of different types  in there - quite a few mohair blends, lots of DK but also some chunky, some strange and interesting ones...

There are 2 balls (although they're more like tubes) of this Lion Brand acrylic. It's an American yarn as I understand it, and I've quite wanted to get my hands on some for a while, just because. Not sure how old it is, as the label looks pretty vintage ;)  As always, my camera refuses to acknowledge the existence of red, so it looks kinda orange here.

Talking of orange, I was quite excited to find this in the batch:

I think I may have previously mentioned that I like orange *giggles*

In the strange and interesting collection, there are these:

A boucle called Emu Florentine, and 3 sets of King Cole Exotique in different colours. Not entirely sure what one would do with any of these, definitely out of my usual style, but the Exotique is remarkably soft. Any suggestions most welcome!

This guy from work is a big fan of my knitting, and shows great excitement at what I make, especially when I made socks. In fact, I believe his response was "They look like actual socks" - which may have been offensive had it not been my exact reaction too ;)

Trying to fit it all into my stash drawers was a bit of a logistical challenge, I no longer have my WIP drawer as that has been taken over, but I did actually manage to get it all in! Now to find things to do with it *laughs*

H is for... Home

Before starting today's post, I just want to say thank you so much to everyone who stopped by on Friday and commented on my Clapotis! I've never had so many comments, and I can tell you they made my day *grins*

Anyway, before I get too gushy, on to "H"

H for me is for Home. My mum's house will always be home, because it's where I grew up and it's family and history and all those things. But, I obviously have my own home too

My home is a little flat, with 4 rooms including the bathroom. It's tiny, although it does have a garden, and it's the first place I've lived in alone (without housemates or anything).

I have mentioned briefly before about my living room decor. I love the steampunk aesthetic, but I don't want to live in something that looks like a film set, so I have incorporated little touches here and there. It's more battered antique than steampunk perhaps, but it's exactly what I want.

Like this bookend (although I think it is supposed to be a doorstop)

One of my favourite things in my living room is the antique typewriter. It's all battered and could do with a good clean, but I like the way it looks as it is:

I love this little selection of bits and pieces, the globe was from Spitalfield Market, and was exactly what I'd been looking for. The glass bottle actually contained real ale (bought for my brother entirely because I wanted the bottle!). The metal box is a candle and was the inspiration for my mirror paint job.  And the test tubes were discovered by my mum in a little shop in Rhodes while we were on holiday. You can also just see the cogs bookend on the shelf below (it's made of plastic and I keep wanting to make a proper one, but I'm no metalworker!).

You've seen the top of this next item quite frequently, as it is where I take most of my pictures. Partly because this is where the best light is, and partly because I really like having it as a backdrop to my pictures. It's a Victorian travelling trunk, owned by a lady named Cybil Bury (her name is still marked on the top), picked up from an antique place in Rye for a steal *grins*

This is my fabulous Victorian pine blanket box, that mum suggested would work as a coffee table when I spotted it but couldn't decide if I should buy it or not.

Close up of the little stack of books at the end, with some old opera glasses balanced on top. Again, mum's idea (she has really great ideas, as soon as I described what I was trying to do, she immediately suggested vintage books).

So, that's a very small snapshot of my home. I have more globes dotted around, as well as cushions with map fabric and leather covers, but they were too bathed in sunlight to get decent pictures *laughs* It seems that taking pictures when it is sunny is almost as challenging as when it isn't, as you can tell from the sunflares ;)

Finally Finished(ish) Friday

I finished my Clapotis *pauses for applause... ;)*

Unfortunately, you still only get a teaser shot, as it isn't blocked yet. But, the knitting is finished, and it will be blocked in time for the do on Sunday, so I'm happy! I will post more pictures once it is properly finished, but I couldn't not post about it today, could I? *laughs*

Pattern: Clapotis
Yarn: Mini Mochi in Jungle
Modifications: Followed the instructions to make it a stole rather than scarf
Difficulty: 2/5
Enjoyment: 2/5 (but that's due to the deadline rather than the pattern I think!)
Would I make again? Maybe, but not for some considerable time!


Now, I feel a little like I'm cheating as this isn't 100% finished, so I have also got something else to share...

It may look like a fuzzy alien egg (to me anyway), but actually it's a Smoothie Hat! For those who don't know, Innocent drinks do a "big knit", where they ask knitters to donate little hats for their smoothie bottles. For each bottle sold with a hat, they donate 25p to Age UK to help make winter warmer for older people who need a little help. I've always thought it was a cute idea, and this year I get to join in *smiles*

So, my first smoothie hat. I will be making plenty more, they're a nice quick project when you need some finished object gratification ;) As I don't have a smoothie bottle handy, I had to pose it on a ribena bottle, but at least the colours coordinate *laughs*

Pattern: Big Knit Pattern Guide
Yarn: Stylecraft Raffia
Modifications: Made it garter stitch, it looks cute in this yarn
Difficulty: 1/5
Enjoyment: 4/5 so quick and satisfying!
Would I make again? I'll definitely be making more


Friday is lots of fun in blogland, take a look at these cool link parties for more crafty goodness:


FO Friday at Tami's
Fiber Arts Friday at Wisdom Begins in Wonder

A Recipe and my Moment of Fame (or Infamy)

So, recently I noticed that Charlotte, from An Accidental Knitter, was interested in interviewing fellow bloggers, to find out what makes us all tick.

Of course, being the attention-seeker that I am, I jumped up to participate. You can read my interview over on her blog here. It's very interesting, even if I do say so myself *laughs*

To save overloading the blog world with me today, I won't ramble on here...

However I will post the recipe for my Balsamic and Lemon glazed chicken. I mentioned it on Monday, and there seemed to be some interest, so here it is. I think it was originally a Nigel Slater one, but I haven't used the written instructions in years!

And now you'll all see how simple it is and my cooking skills won't sound nearly as impressive *laughs*

Balsamic and Lemon Chicken


Chicken breasts 
Juice of a lemon (small lemon, use all the juice, large lemon only use half)
Balsamic vinegar (no quantity here really, I just use a glug!)
Knob of butter 
Very small splash of olive oil (not extra virgin)


Heat the olive oil in a frying pan until hot. Add the chicken and fry quickly on a fairly high heat until almost cooked.

Turn the heat up to full and pour over the lemon juice. It'll bubble and reduce very quickly. Once it settles down, add the balsamic. I just pour a fairly large glug, but if you like actual measurements a couple of tablespoons is probably right!

 Again, this will bubble a lot, and reduce into a sticky glaze. Add the knob of butter (not 100% necessary, but it gives the sauce/glaze a real shine to it and makes it extra tasty) I usually turn the chicken over in the black sauce a few times to get it nicely coated.

Serve with whatever you like - it goes really well with salad (but I tend to serve chips!)

See, really simple *grins* Very tasty though.

Work In Progress Wednesday Number 7

With any luck, today will be the last Wednesday with my Clapotis... Well, it had better be, as the deadline is this Sunday!

I'm finally on the decrease rows, so everything should be a little quicker from now on.

It's a little shorter than I had intended, but I'm ok with that.

So, hopefully this will be making an appearance on Friday, as a Finished Object *crosses fingers* Must knit like the wind!

For more WIPW posts, head over to Tami's.

(sorry for the blurry photos - I was in a bit of a rush this morning!)

Mollie Makes - Issue 2

I know I'm a bit behind on this, most people blogged about the first issue but I couldn't get hold of a copy. As I bought issue 2 yesterday, I thought I'd post my thoughts :)

Firstly, I love the fact that the magazine is a non-standard size, and that the pages (especially the cover) are matt paper rather than shiny... What can I say, I'm a sucker for interesting design ;) I also love that the free gift comes in a little paper pouch, instead of the more usual plastic wrap. It makes the whole thing feel a little more classy than a regular magazine.

Content wise, I like the fact that there is a range of stuff, with tutorials, ideas and spotlights on different shops/websites. I was a little disappointed that there weren't more tutorials, and that the focus was firmly on sewing and crochet. It would be nice to see some knitting content and there are plenty of little projects out there that could easily fit with the style of the magazine.

I'm pretty sure I'll have a go at the strawberry pin-cushions from the front cover, it looks like a fun pattern to use up some fabric scraps. I like that the article has a bit of information about the history of this type of pincushion, that was really interesting.

The article on where to shop in Bath was really cool, highlighting shops that I'd probably never find as a visitor to the city. Of course I now want to go to Bath to find them all! The millions of cool websites featured may also be problematic for my wallet *laughs*

Overall, I think I quite like it. I'll wait for the next couple of issues before I decide whether or not I want to subscribe, or buy regularly, but I do like the fact that it seems to combine a design magazine with a craft magazine.

G is for.... Gastronomy

I was really struggling to come up with a "G" word for this post... I hate gardening, I don't have a giraffe and I'm not called Graham... So, the subject is "gastronomy"

So, gastronomy...  I am an incredibly fussy eater but I love cooking (or maybe I love cooking because it means I know I'll like the food *laughs*). I have a small collection of cookbooks, perhaps a 10th of the selection my mum has, but I'm growing it ;)

One of my favourite recipe books, and one that really earns the "gastronomy" title is this one:

Heston Blumenthal's Fat Duck Cookbook. Despite being extremely fussy, I one day will go and have the tasting menu at The Fat Duck. The book is amazing, split into 3 parts, one about the history of the recipes, how they came about and developed, one about the science and the middle section actually contains all of the recipes.

It's so cool to be able to see what goes into making each dish. I mean, there's no way on this earth that I would ever attempt any of them at home - my lack of liquid nitrogen and petri dishes is really holding me back ;) - but it's great to read about them.

My cooking is a lot less fancy of course. I'm definitely a home cook. Last night I made a chicken and leek lasagne:

It's good, even if it doesn't look all that fancy *laughs*

Charlotte's back this week, so head on over to An Accidental Knitter to add your link to the list :)

Organisation

As I've posted before, my stash is now getting a little larger than expected *laughs*

I like having my stash, and I'm very happy with the new storage I have, it's a lot neater than just having the box. But I do seem to keep procuring more yarn and not using up what I have. I'd like to start knitting from my stash a little bit, if only because I bought the yarns in it for a reason! I like them and want to knit with them ;) So I will try and do so.

So, in a fit of organisation (unlike me, I know!) I have assigned projects to most of my stash on ravelry. I now have a nice queue of patterns to make, each allocated to a particular yarn in my stash. Now, I'm not going to say "the plan is..." because every time I say that, I immediately deviate from the plan! But at least I have an idea of what each yarn will end up being.

I have one caveat, I will be buying new yarn at Knit Nation, with no defined pattern plans *grins* There's just no point telling myself otherwise.

Before I can start on my new queue, I do need to finish my current WIPs. The Clapotis is top priority, as it has a deadline. But I still have an unfinished sock, my green cotton top, my mermaid scarf and my cabled bag. Having too many WIPs annoys me, so I don't want to cast anything else on until some of the others are cleared down.

I have decided, with a heavy heart, to frog the mermaid scarf *sad eyes* The mistake in it is confusing - I can't work out where I went wrong in order to fix it. I also don't really need a DK weight silk scarf right now, and would rather work on things that I do want to have.

The cabled bag shouldn't really take too long to finish, nor should the sock (although the jury is out on whether I will start the second sock right away or start on boyfriend's socks instead). The green top is taking forever, it's 4 ply and cotton, and I don't really enjoy knitting it. I haven't done anything on it for a while, so I will see how I get on next time I pick it up. If I still really don't enjoy the process, I will have to consider hibernating it or frogging it. As much as I want the product, life's too short to force myself to knit something I don't want to!

So, organisation of my plans for my stash and my plans for my WIPS complete... Just gotta get through the damn Clapotis now!

Photo Catch-up 2

To save cluttering up my blog with daily picture posts, I think I'll stick with my usual trick of posting a bunch of my photos at the same time, that was it's easy to skip past for people who aren't interested in my crappy photography skills *laughs*

So, I got as far as books, skipped high angle, which takes us to:

June 8: Sunset. It's been so rainy and cloudy lately that I was pleasantly surprised to actually have a sunset of which to take a picture on the appropriate day! I took a whole bunch of shots, and for some reason my favourite was this one from the car. If I was being arty about it, I'd say that I find the juxtaposition between the calm serenity of the sunset and the sense of movement to be unexpected and interesting ;)

June 9: Fresh Fruit. Yeah. So, this is about as close as I get to fresh fruit on a regular basis ;) I do like grapes though, I just didn't have any at the time. But look, 25% fruit juice... that counts right?!

June 10: Animal. I nearly took a picture of my muppet t-shirt with Animal playing the drums, but it was in the wash *sigh* As boyfriend and I don't have any pets, I staged this with a Pilchard cuddly toy I won out of the grabber machines at Lyme Regis; see it's like a real cat photo, only with a bright blue cat *grins*

June 11: Silhouette

June 12: Sun flare - yeah right, no sun to flare!

June 13: Reminds you of childhood. These are Snuggle Bunny. On the left you have Snuggle Bunny #1, a gift from my nanny on the day I was born *fond smile* Many years later my mum found an identical one, Snuggle Bunny #2 on the right there, and of course she had to buy it! One or other of the two has been on my bed from birth until only a few years ago, when they were retired to an airtight box due to the fear of disintegration caused by over-love.

I haven't done any more so far - the greyness of the outside world is sapping my inclination. I'll probably post more next time I have a batch. I quite like having to remind myself to take more pictures, so I'm definitely enjoying the challenge.

Work In Progress Wednesday Number 6

Well, this will probably be a fairly uninspiring WIPW post, as I'm still working exclusively on my Clapotis.

It's about twice as long as it was last week (I think), but the perspective of the pictures makes it look like no progress at all!

See, there is progress, last time I only had 3 drop stitch rows ;) Drop stitch rows that are fantastically difficult to photograph well at this stage...

I'm still loving the yarn, however if you look at the pic above, you will see a strange pale section... This was in the middle of one of the balls (so no blaming dyelots) and is a little bizarre. I've decided I can live with it, there are enough colour changes that I don't think it is too glaring, it seems to look more obvious in pictures than in real life.

One thing I'm not loving is working on one thing only. Especially as I have a deadline (10 days - aaaaargh!). It does take some of the fun out of it, which is not what I want. But if I want the item, then I have to make it, and if I want it in 10 days then I don't have time to play with anything else...

OK, I'm barely even convincing myself here!

Final shot, which was another attempt to demonstrate the dropped stitches.

For many more interesting WIPW posts, head on over here to Tami's.

Summertime Swap

I got home yesterday to find this intriguing parcel waiting for me:

Hmmm... As I hadn't ordered a teapot I was very curious *laughs* The label on top indicated that it had come from Germany, which gave me a bit of a clue. You see, I don't know anyone in Germany, but I had signed up to a Ravelry swap, with participants from across the world.

Open opening the package, my guess was proved correct!

You see, the parameters of the swap are:

• A skein of yarn
• Your favourite cake recipe
• A handmade item
• Various other goodies, on a Summertime theme.

My swap partner sent a fab parcel, with this amazing sock yarn. 

It's called DrachenWolle - check out the awesome dragon on the label (I didn't get it in shot, but the steam from the dragon's nostrils forms the shape of a sheep)!

The colours are so summery, they remind me of pansies... See:

So, very happy with the yarn choice, but that's not all that was in my package. I also had this lovely handmade market bag. It is actually bright red, but my camera doesn't pick that up properly. 

Plus, all these goodies:

Body gloss, lip balm, some sweet treats, a heart shaped stone, a necklace, a floating candle (in the shape of a flip flop!) and cute flip flop shaped stitch markers *grins* How cool. 

My swap sender was quick off the mark, deadline for posting out isn't for a good few weeks - I'd better get on with mailing mine out now!

I'm really loving the fun of shopping for a swap, and finding exciting parcels waiting for me at home, so I've signed up to another one *grins* 

F is For.... Fruity Fun!

This week is F, and as An Accidental Knitter has decided to take a short break from blogging, I have offered to host the ABC meme, so please fill in the Mr Linky below if you want to participate!

So, my F for today is Fruity Fun... Ok, it's a bit of a stretch, but I wanted to talk about my Saturday morning adventure in dyeing yarn with Kool Aid. It's fruity, and I had a lot of fun ;)

I've loved seeing other blogs with people dyeing their own yarn and I love playing with colour, so I thought it was about time I had a go. I ordered some Kool Aid sachets (is anyone else disturbed by the fact that this stuff is so colourful and acidic that you can use it as a dye - it's supposed to be a beverage!) and some undyed yarn and got playing:

It's 50% merino, 50% tencel, from ebay. I know that non-animal fibres aren't good to dye, so I wasn't sure quite how it would go, but it's a lovely silky feeling yarn so I figured I should give it a go anyway! I was planning to take pictures during the process, but I made so very much mess that I couldn't bring myself to share *laughs*

So, here it is, my first hand-dyed yarn, still in loop form...

I took a couple of close up shots, showing the different sections.

Orange and Strawberry:

Grape and Blue Lemonade:

Mixing all of the above, in less concentration, for a pastely section:

And here it is properly, as an actual skein *grins* I love how the blue and orange ended up next to each other at the end, it looks like a real person made it (ok, I know I'm a real person, but you know what I mean!)

It was so much fun, I felt like a kid doing "experiments" in the kitchen ;)

I had also ordered Lemon/Lime, which didn't fit in the colour scheme of the skein I was doing, so I overdyed a partial ball of Debbie Bliss Como that I had.

As you can see, the light green of the original really look up the colour, so I plan to make something stripy with the two now.

My house smelled so fantastically fruity after all of this, and I can't stop sniffing the yarn either. I want all of my yarn to smell this good ;)

So, that's me for this week, but check out the links below for other ABC posts...

Acceptance Speech

I was checking out my blogroll yesterday and discovered that I have been awarded the Stylish Blogger Award by Tink at Master Of A Thousand Things *grins*

I know that some people don't like these awards (and there are some disingenuous ones out there) but I was very excited to be linked, and have the opportunity to discover other blogs I may not have read.

In her post, Tink mentioned that she's been blogging since December, same as me, and has just reached her 100th post... I looked at my stats and realised that I've just passed the 100th post mark. How bizarre!

Part of the award is to share 7 facts about myself... 

1. I have the most terrible sweet tooth. Part of being a grown up is eating vegetables, I know, but I would happily live on cake, chocolate, rhubarb & custard sweets, penny chews... You get the idea ;) My favourite breakfast is actually chocolate cake ;)
2. I spent nearly 3 months travelling around Australia by myself (I was supposed to be meeting a friend, who came home a week before I flew out!) - I did things I never thought I'd do, like white water rafting, and came back so much more confident
3. I have a BSc in Psychology 
4. I read extremely fast - to the extent that my mum used to quiz me on the plot of books I'd just read because she couldn't believe I'd actually taken any of it in. 
5. I have an appalling memory when it comes to things I need to remember. If I don't write something down, I forget it.
6. I have a fantastic memory for random trivia - nothing that may ever be useful, but things I find interesting. 
7. I'm fascinated by Ancient Egypt. I've been to the pyramids, Valley of the Kings, the Cairo museum, the Red Sea, Abu Simbel... Mum and I had a hot air balloon ride at sunrise over the Nile, which is one of the most beautiful memories I have.

So, that's 7 facts about me. Now I'm supposed to nominate 7 other bloggers for this stylish award. The problem is that I have a massive blog roll, and there are so many blogs out there that I really enjoy, so whittling it down to a handful is tough. I really don't want to leave anyone out! Some of the blogs I'd pick are on Tink's list, which helps, but this is still only a small list of bloggers I'd consider stylish...

Happy Elastic
Peppermint Mocha Mama
{a 1/4 to}
Ohdessa Knits
The Wooly Adventures of a Knitting Kitty
Good Enough
Knottyville

So Many Patterns, So Little Time

I have been very remiss and completely forgot to post about this book:

I was lucky enough to win a giveaway on Yarn About Yarn, there were 3 books in the giveaway, I said I'd choose A Knitting Wrapsody, and lucky for me, the random number generator picked me to have it!

It's a really interesting book, with lots of wraps/scarves/stoles (unsurprisingly I guess, given the title *laughs*) One thing that's quite interesting, the author has drawn a lot of inspiration from crochet. I've seen crochet patterns that emulate knitting, but I've not really come across it the other way around.

My favourite pattern is the one on the cover, but there are a few that I may have to make...

Right now, I'm trying to knit from stash (as you may have noticed the growth in storage requirements *grins*), so I have been busily organising things on Ravelry. I have all of my yarn logged in there, and have been assigning each one to a pattern.

In spite of my ADOLS (Attention Deficit...Oooh, Look, Shiny), I'm hoping to work through at least a chunk of the patterns I've picked, using the yarn I already have. As much as I love acquiring new yarn, I seem to get it, be excited about knitting with it and spend a while planning what to make, get something new in the meantime, get very excited about what I can make with that... And the circle goes on ;)

Having yarns and patterns linked together means that I should (hopefully!) work my way through. The difficulty is that there are so many patterns, and I don't knit fast enough for my liking! Of course I already have plenty of WIPs on the go as well.

Of course, there are also loads of patterns that I want to make, that I don't yet have the yarn for *sigh* But I should avoid buying the yarn for those when I already have so many other projects I can complete without spending more money and overloading my entire house!

Work In Progress Wednesday Number 5

I only have one WIP to share this week. All others have been benched *laughs*

But, needs must. I've been invited to a party in a couple of weeks, and I decided that I need a wrap. I seem to have a little confidence boost when I wear something I've knitted myself :)

So, I have jumped on the bandwagon and am knitting a Clapotis. Nearly 18,000 people on Ravelry have already made this, and although I don't really like to follow trends, I like it and it fits the bill.

I did start off trying the Coin Lace Stole, a really pretty lace version, but after ripping it out 4 times having made silly mistakes, I realised that it wouldn't be something I could work on while tired. As I'm making this out of sock weight yarn, and want a decent sized wrap, I need to be able to work on it at any available time so that I have a hope of finishing it in time *laughs*

I've made it through 3 drop stitch rows, and it is quite exciting (if unnerving) to deliberately unravel my stitches!

The only small frustration is that this is very fuzzy, quite splitty yarn, which doesn't make the unravelling as easy as it could be. I am loving the yarn, Mini Mochi in the Jungle colourway, despite its many faults. Although it's a sock yarn, I can't imagine socks would hold up well - the first ball I used had many underspun patches (to the extent that it actually came apart in my hands at one point, even though I wasn't pulling tight). It is fuzzy and splitty, but it's also soft and the colours are lovely :) I think it'll make a really nice wrap.

Final shot, to show the millions of new stitch markers I had to make in order to start this:

Ok, so I could count the stitches instead of using so many markers (one every 6 or so stitches!), but I know I'll lose count, and I don't have time to obsessively recheck my work!

Second and third pictures are the most representative of the colour - the sun came out for the first photo and made everything a little more vibrant!

To see what other bloggers have been up to, hop over to Tami's...