MmmmmMalibgro.....!

I do love this yarn. It's so buttery soft and knits up so easily. I do find it a little grabby though, and my cast on tail always seems to felt up before I've finished knitting with it. I hope that's not an indicator of how the garment will perform!

Anyway, another FO
(I was going to wait to post a whole bunch some other time but I'm on a roll now so might as well go with it).


This is Just Enough Ruffles. And the pattern name is very apt - there certainly are just enough ruffles in this! Although I seem to have flattened a few of them with blocking. The colour is "Damask Rose" and although it looks quite pink in the photo, it's not so in real life. I'm not sure I like the colour all that much now. It's more of a dirty pink. But it's so so soft I don't think I can let the colour affect me enjoying wearing it on chilly mornings when I'm catching the bus to work. It was a really fast knit - the ruffles took the longest, and even those seemed to go pretty fast. I'd like to knit this again for sure.

And a little WIP.


The actual crocheting part of this is done. I intend to sew it to something else to use as a cushion cover. So far I don't have anything to attach it to. I keep meaning to go to the Op Shop up the road and check out their clothing section for a suitable item, but I never seem to find the time. I must do so soon though because our couch is cushion-less, and it looks a little bare.

I used the Neat Ripple Pattern from Lucy of Attic24. So easy to understand and follow for a non-crocheter like me!

Bloom

I'm a bad blogger. I mean to blog more than I do, but I just can't seem to find the time for project photos lately. Take a look at my Rav page if you know me on there... lots of photo-less projects! I'm trying to get caught up now though. One good thing about blogging infrequently is that when I do get around to it at least I'll have a few projects to show off! I have about 6 WIPs at the moment, all in varying stages of finished-ness. Hopefully I'll be able to get my act together with posting them here.

But for now I've just got one FO.

This is Bloom by Tikki. You may recall I was a test knitter before the pattern was released. That was a medium size done in 8ply.

This little bundle of pink sweetness is a small size in BWM Luxury 4ply in "Baby Blossom". It's destined for a friend's own newborn bundle of pink sweetness. I love this colour and pattern together! The style and the lace pattern is so pretty and sweet and the colour is so pretty and sweet also. A perfect match!

In other crafty news we've been playing with Sculpey. Need a bit more practice but it's lots of fun. Hopefully I'll have some of that to show off sometime soon too.

IKEA.....

...addicted much?

and that's not even the half of it.

Cupcakes

Miss F recently turned 2.

I decided cupcakes were the way to go for her birthday cake this year. And buttercream icing was the perfect choice too! I've got a cool little syringe-type thing with different tips for icing, so I had plenty of fun playing with that.

But then I couldn't decide which topping to go with.

Sanding sugar?

Hearts?

Butterflies?

So I went with them all.

Vanilla cupcakes with vanilla buttercream. Yum!

I used a packet mix, so cheated a bit, but did make the buttercream icing from scratch.

Knitting in Public

I've been doing a lot of it lately. Well, maybe not a lot by some people's standards, but a lot by mine, considering I haven't ever really KIP at all before.

Public transport is my new method of getting to and from work, and despite a few hiccups with times and getting on wrong buses which involved having to beg a driver to let me off at an intersection and running back two stops when I was already late, things have been going ok. And with the trip being approximately 30 minutes each way it's at least an hour of knitting time per day! It seems to keep the other people on the bus from wanting to sit next to me too, so plenty of room for me! Maybe they are afraid of the pointy sticks?

I've seen some people looking at me strangely, and I caught someone watching me the other day. Mostly though, I'm in my own little world. And I was going great guns on my "bus knitting" until I discovered that I'd twisted my stitches back at the start, so now I have to start again :(

But I do have another FO. Olearia - the latest from Tikki.


I snapped this one up as soon as it was released. So far just the shrug version, but I'm itching to get a cardigan version on the needles soon. Very quick knit and nice and easy. I used Woolganics 8ply and didn't swatch. I'd say that I need to go up a needle size next time. I'm a pretty tight knitter though. Miss F seems very happy with it. She especially likes the buttons. So much so that I suspect she swallowed one of them before I got them all on the shrug! One is missing and can't be found. She had some in her mouth. I'm keeping a lookout!

Foliage Shawl

Sometime ago - before Christmas I think - I participated in a pattern- swap-Kris Kringle-kind-of-thing over on Ravelry. Everyone was assigned another person and the idea was to buy a pattern for that person from their wish list. I love this kind of swap! So easy, no stress, don't have to spend time making anything - just look at their list and buy something that you know they want. Easy! And patterns are relatively inexpensive too.

I was lucky enough to get the Foliage Shawl pattern from my swapper - Kris from Monsterknits.

I had the perfect yarn for it too. And here it is:


It's done in The Knittery Merino/Cashmere Sock yarn in "Passionfruit". Sadly The Knittery is no more. Thankfully I have a small stash of this yarn undyed though!

It was a pretty quick knit, although the border took most of the time and I will confess to putting it down for a while for a break before finally finishing it off. But it's done now and I love it. I've even worn it to work already and it is super warm on the chilly mornings we've been having here lately.

Photo isn't that great since it's not really easy to photograph a shawl alone, and the only helpers I have around right now are either sleeping or likely to run off with it and use it to scoop up dirt.

It's probably appropriate that the Foliage Shawl be photographed on a plant anyway.

So far so good

First week back at work has gone ok. Work itself isn't too stressful (yet!), it's the getting there and getting home that cause some dramas. We're still working it out, and after a minor kid-pickup disaster on Tuesday I'll be trying a new way of getting there next week. I so wish I didn't work in the city though. I know to some people that would be a huge drawcard, and once upon a time it was to me too, but now it's just a drawback. But I do (and right in the centre of it I might add) and I'll need to try out a few things to see which is going to work best now. Plan A has been a relative failure, so on to Plan B.

I know it's only been one week (and not even a whole week at that) but I suddenly feel like I've got far too much on my plate. And here I am blogging, to add to all of that! Until last week I was feeling a little bored, and now things seem to be moving so much faster. I'm certainly glad I didn't opt for more than 2.5 days. Joining the gym at the same time as returning to work probably hasn't helped either. Just another thing to fit into what already seems like too-short days.

The big event this week - if you can call it that, I wasn't all that excited about it - was another year of my life passing by. It happened without a great deal of fuss (or presents I might add :( ) but I did get woken by my boys with birthday cuddles and kisses. Having to go back to work on that day kind of took the focus away and I actually kind of forgot that it was even my birthday.

There's been no crafting of any kind at all this week. I've been far too tired in the evenings. Hopefully I'll adjust to that soon. I do have an FO to show off but it's a hard one to get good photos of and the weather has turned cold, wet and grey (which I don't mind!) so photo opportunities in good light are limited.

Back soon with something crafty I hope!