Goodies from across the ocean

My DH has recently returned from a trip *home*. It was a work trip primarily, but seeing as he was in the mother-country he decided to add on a few days to visit with his parents. He hasn't seen them in 5 years. So I took the opportunity to make some purchases that aren't that easy to make locally and have some stuff sent to my ILs for DH to bring home with him.

First up, some lovely Malabrigo from Little Knits.




I do have to say though, that I wasn't all gaga over this yarn like I thought I would be. The hype would have you believe it is the softest most luscious yarn ever, but in all honesty it doesn't feel any softer than any of the lovely yarns I've already used and been able to get locally. That's not to say that I don't like it, or I don't think it's soft. I certainly do love it! But I think maybe my expectations were not met based on the raves it gets on places like Ravelry. And I'm yet to knit with it so I still have to have that experience. I may change my tune after using it!

And I couldn't believe the good fortune of finding out that not only are Little Knits located in the same city as my ILs, but that they had some excellent sales on some of the very yarn I wanted to get my hands on! So how could I pass up the chance to get some Koigu sock yarn AND some Dream in Color Smooshy?!?!


I don't have pics of the DIC smooshy as one is already a WIP and the photo came out all blurry of the other skein and I can't be bothered re-photographing! Both were purple colourways though, and I think the second skein will actually become socks. The WIP is not socks.

That was pretty much the extent of my *gifts*. And I had to purchase them myself LOL I did get this mug and a t-shirt from NYC also. Here's some fusion for you - drinking English Breakfast Tea in a NYC mug in Australia lol

Long time no blog

Well, it feels like a long time, but the blog tells me it's only been a few weeks. I could say I haven't really had the time to blog, but I have had plenty of time to waste at the PC, so I really could have blogged while I was here. I'll blame it on the recent bad weather which meant taking nice photos of things was near impossible, so with no pictures I haven't been motivated to write anything.

The sun is out today though so I'll get off my butt and go take some pictures.

One interesting thing that has happened since my last post is that my big boy lost his very first tooth!

It had been wobbly for a while, but finally went completely sideways the night before at scouts, which was quite amusing. It was hanging by a thread the next morning, and my brave big boy just reached in and pulled it out himself! The one next to it is wobbly too, so I expect that will come out soon enough. I whipped him up a little drawstring bag to pop his tooth in, and The Tooth Fairy visited and everyone was happy.

In knitting news, I am working away on a few things and I do have some goodies to share, so I will do the picture thing this afternoon before school pickup post something of knitting interest.

Milo

Finally done! My first Milo.



I love, love, love this pattern. So simple, but so cute too! My only mods on this version was to do a picot cast off on both the sleeves and the bottom. I wanted it to look a little prettier for my pretty little girl :) I did the giant cable option also.

This one is done in Woolganic in the "Samsara" colour. It's lovely and looks just like butter. I can't say enough good stuff about this yarn.

I had actually finished this vest in the same yarn already, but I'd knit the 18month size with the owl cable option, and it was just a little too big, and looked a little stumpy since I made it shorter. So I ripped that out and started over and this is the final product. The yarn held up really well to being knitted and frogged and knitted again.

Very happy with it!

A shawl

I never thought I was really a shawl type of person. I don't accessorise much at all, tbh. But I've seen some really lovely shawls on Rav, and people wearing them in ways I would never have thought - one of my reservations about shawls is how on earth do you wear them without looking like Grandma??!! I also have had some Noro sitting in my stash since an impromptu visit to my LYS, which I have had no idea what to do with. Then I saw this. And so many pretty ones in Noro! So here is mine.

The colourway is #205. A pretty simple knit, and dropping the stitches was fun! I didn't find it too difficult to do given the grabby-ness of this yarn. Many people complained about this in their project notes on Rav. I liked this particular shawl pattern because it's definitely usable as a scarf too. The Noro feels lovely and soft in my hands, and suprisingly so against my neck too, but I do think it's not a yarn that I could wear too close to my skin for too long. I think it will be more of a shoulder wrap for me. Anyway, I love it. The pic is not so great as the light was bad, and I haven't blocked it yet, but I'm happy with it. There is a lot more dark pink in the colourway too, you just can't see it because I couldn't get it all in.

I had some apprehensions prior to using this yarn. I'd read a lot of negative stuff about it on Rav, and was starting to think I'd end up regretting my not-so-cheap-purchase of this stuff (6 balls in 3 different colourways!). But I have been pleasantly surprised. I only had one join in one of the balls, and the colour match-up, while not the same, wasn't completely different so I was able to just continue on without searching for a more suitable join. I also didn't experience any of the vegetable matter and dirt that seems to be the problem of so many on Rav. And I've rewound all 6 balls, so I'm not talking just about the 2 for this particular colourway.

So for me, this yarn and pattern combo gets a thumbs up! I really feel like making another one, but I should find something different to do with the two other colourways, right?