Beige on Beige

I was on a conference in Scarborough last week. Other than work, this obviously was a great opportunity for some stealth knitting. Here we have a shot of front of the BF's beige "Big Retro Sweater" (Sublime) on the beige carpet of my living room. Technically, the yarn ("Jaeger - Extra Fine Merino") is 'Biscuit' but as far as the BF is concerned, that's beige.

He may have a point.



Stealth knitting in the open - these are also for the BF for his birthday. (Further shades of beige). These are in "Rico" which is fantastic (and cheap) sock yarn. The BF thinks these are for my Granda's birthday - the perfect cover.



I astound myself sometimes, but then simple things and simple minds...

Ladybirds

The situation with the greenfly in the garden has spiralled out of control so I have had to engage in biological warfare. I bought a ladybird house and twenty-five ladybirds. It beats chemical warfare.

Here it is.



Yes, it is indeed a piece of wood with some holes drilled in it. However, when was I going to get around to doing it myself? Answer, in case you weren't sure: NEVER.



Here we have the ladybirds in action. The greenfly never saw them coming. Ha!!

They're amazing. They have swept across the rosebush from right to left and back again. Insect vacuums in action.

I also recovered from my attack of SSS at the weekend - here's the "Wendy - Happy" socks for the MIL. I hate knitting with this stuff, but she loves them so much.



Damn.

Swinging Times

The Swing Coat for Niece No 1 is knitting up quite quickly (aside from stealth knitting breaks).

Here's the back. I'm knitting the smallest size because the pattern seems to have four adult sizes and one child. I was in two minds about whether the smallest size would be too small but, as I was mulling this over, I realised that the next size would fit my Mam (and she's not that small). So I'm hoping I made the right decision.



The stocking stitch section's width is reduced by 25 stitches by the time it comes to the moss stitch panel. This starts to produce some 'pleats' which will contribute to the swing effect.



Just a shot of stitch definition.

Socked Off

The MIL's socks are on hiatus. This could also be known as Second Sock Syndrome. However, I have had enough of socks for now and am currently knitting this...



You may have recognised this yarn from a pre-Christmas attempt at "Sublime's Hearts and Cables" tank top. The yarn is stunning - "Sublime - DK Cashmerino Silk". It's gorgeous, it's soft, it's squishy, it has beautiful stitch definition and produces a lovely drape. What was there not to like?

The pattern... well, actually, no. There was nothing wrong with the pattern. I just decided that an Aran-effect top (even if it isn't DK) probably wasn't the way to go when I was feeling a bit chunky. (There's a copy of "What Not To Wear" in the office staff room, so even though I was planning to go with a V-Neck, a cable top could not be classed as 'My Greatest Decision, Ever').

Upshot - I frogged the work, which was a truly satisfying experience and have started knitting the "Swing Coat" (from the same pattern book) for Neice No 1. Yes, it's expensive yarn to chuck at a small child but I love the pattern; she will adore the the coat and the colour; and there are only so many pairs of lilac gloves I can make.

I suppose it could have been turned into a matching hat, scarf and gloves set... nah, what the hell.

One slight annoyance I have is that one of the patterns for small girls, in this book, is called 'Little Flirt'. It's a simple shrug for 5-7 year . I don't know if I am being particularly sensitive, easily offended, mucky minded but I don't like it - I think it's inappropriate. It seems to be symptomatic of the trend to sexualise young girls.

Before I go off on a rant, I shall stop there and leave you with a pic of nextdoor's cat doing her "Here's Johnny" impression.

Knitting Daily

I wasn't planning to post today - I'm hungover and all I am knitting at the moment is plain socks (plain as in bog-standard stocking stitch) even if they are rather funky colours. However, today's email from 'Knitting Daily' features a booklet of free baby knits.




It's rather good and these booties really grabbed me. I think they will be a fun knit.

FInished Blanket

I finished the blanket this weekend. Ta-dah!



I am debating whether to block it or not. Blocking may result in some nice neat squares but I rather like the 'wonkiness' of the slightly different sized squares pulling it out of shape. I realise that this sounds like a good excuse for not finishing the blanket properly, but I think it's rather a good one.

Further confessions...

While the yellow and blue hearts along the top of the alphabet column are indeed the colours of Kiev's football team (a little clue as to where this blanket is headed), they were sadly not part of a cunning plan. There wasn't enough room for another letter but I couldn't leave it blank.



Furthermore, the yellow and blue mix was not intended as Kiev's colours, I ran out of pink. However, in the scheme of happy accidents, this is certainly a good one.

In other news, I have knitted 2/3 of the back for one of the Christmas jumpers for the BF. "Jaeger Extra Fine Merino" is a beautiful yarn. I raved about this last year but the drape of the 'material' as the yarn knits up is gorgeous. It is a really satisfying knit.