Toasty Moasty

I finally took some half decent shots of my Toasts!
It's remarkably difficult to take photos of one's own hands and forearms, however, even with a timer release...



I love LOVE these and wear them almost every day.
Perfect to keep my arms warm as if I'm wearing a jumper when really I'm not.
They're becoming more and more pilled from constant use and adoration, but are no less snuggly, warm or soft because of that - and with a quick de-pilling they'll be as good as new ;)

Crofters Crown

The beginnings of my Crofters Cowl in luscious malabrigo worsted-ness glory



I LUFF that it begins as a wee crown :)

Cowlibrigo

My goodness what a neglectful blogger I have been...
My only excuse is that it's so very hard to get decent internet access up here - in the morning we're scrambling to get ready for work, at work it's flat out and at knock off time when everyone descends upon the camp en masse the internet gets so choked up it's unusable!

So since I now have an opportunity to at last give an update - I'll waste no more time in excuses and simply get on to the GOOD sutff- the KNITTING stuff ;)

No posts certainly hasn't meant no action - I've been tarrying away on a few knits including the fabulous malabrigo cowls ready for snowboarding in... 2 weeks! :D

I wound up the luscious buttery softness of the malabrigo - the Pearl Ten really is a unique mixture of brown, grey and even the slightest tinge of purple - like the opalescent glimmer of purple in a duck or raven's feathers.



This next shot is an appalling representation of colour - ignore the shade completely! I took this photo at sunset and the no-flash camera and sunset combined give a truly inaccurate shade!



It does give an idea of how the cowl has come together though. Fully completed and very well received, the checkers work really well and show quite distinctly. The checkers were in repeats of 12 stitches, and I think I cast on 96 . To get the most snuggly height of cowl combined with that width I used almost an ENTIRE SKEIN! Mental, I know o.O

On to my own lovely Mmmmalabrigo cowl now and I'm loving it so far - just look at that ORANGE!


I'm still a huge fan of the these cowl colours together:



Maybe I'll have enough left over to combine to two in a matching hat or beret...?

Knit the City

Three great 'Huzzah's of congratulations and exultations to the Knit the City crew for this fabulous "yarnstorming"

(Follow this link!)

Most magnificent :D

Would You Like To Try?

An avid listener of Stash & Burn, I was cruising through the podcast's Ravelry boards a little while ago and ended up looking at the 'Would You Like to Try' posts. My GOODNESS what a fantastic idea!!

The lovely Kathy (Curlyknits) agreed to post the samples I was interested in, despite my being overseas, and without delay they arrived!



The Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn was swiftly utlised for a Dream Swatch Headband which I have since finished but have yet to take a good FO photo of.

I very much enjoyed using the yarn with it's tight twist, lovely hand and amazing colours. No wonder it's so addictive to people who see it in person!

Similarly addictive and perhaps even more etched onto my desires for stash enhancement, is Manos del Uruguay...

Oh so heavenly delicious.. I managed to knit up a rectangular swatch that might just do as another stubby holder beer cosy - I would so very much like if it does as I'd then be able to have the gorgeous tones of this Manos around me every evening as I unwind from work!

I can feel a few purchases creeping up on me after this wonderful tasting experience...

If you've always wanted to try a particular yarn I highly recommend the Would You Like To Try board - I'll definitely be ferreting through my stash for oddbods to put up there on offer too!

Skoot and I have booked an extremely exciting trip... we're going to the snow!
We'll be heading over East to the snow ad are both SO excited! Those of you from snowy northern hemispehere climes might not fathom it, but Skoot has never been in snow. My snow experience comes from a winter spent in Switzerland, but I was 12 so my skiing and such was limited and, well.. rather clusy to be honest, but I don't think that changes with age!! So we can hardly contain ourselves - imagining all the adventures we'll have, the snowboarding, the snowman building, the crunching around through drifts of snow...

So in anticipation of the snowy weather I decided to knit up a cowl each for Shweetie and I. Quick smart I ordered some delicious Malabrgo from wonderful Yarn and Kisses and VOILA! Magic delivery of two fabulously soft and sumptuous skins in no time!!


Complete with a little note and goodie! Feel very spoilt :)

So we chose Pearl Ten for the Shweetie - a nice grey/brown kind of colour


and I could NOT go past the vibrant amazing Glazed Carrot - YUM!


I love LOVE this colour, I'm on such an orange binge at the moment!

In contrast to the weather they're intended for - the colours tone in very wil with this Pibara sunset I captured the other day, don't you think?

Thermis Wenchis!

I finished this cowl a little while ago back in May but had some reservations about it - basically it didn't turn out quite as I had hoped. It's still workable and lovely and I'm still posting it off to my lovely friend for whom it's intended - but it's that sort of uneasy mild disappointment you feel when you imagine how something will be and it doesn't turn out that way. There might not be anything wrong with what DOES result, but since it's different than you imagined, it's hard to accept it entirely.



Knit with yarn I bought a long while ago when I was a very new knitter - handspun from the Yarn Wench - I accidentally cast on with a twist when I had intended it to be Thermis (non ralvelry link), I stuck with the moebius style as it would add a different design interest. Unfortunately it turned out a little too large to work as a cowl exactly, more like a neckwarmer.

Luckily the good friend I'm sending it to is a dab hand at the sewing machine, so she might add some buttons or change it up somehow to better suit what she would like for it to be.



I'm posting this off with TumTum the hippo - I always seem to spoil the little ones more than their mums and dads - well, now there's finally something more than a dishcloth knit for Zo!

p.s. sorry for the terrible photos! So hard to get photos in good light at the moment with long hours and early sunsets!