Wednesday, August 29, 2007

speedy gonzales!


I am just whizzing along on Cromarty! Here is half a sleeve that I just started on Sunday. I love doing cable and knotwork! I usually find single colour knitting to be ridiculously tedious, but cables and knotwork make it go much faster.
The colour is a little off in this pic - must be the flash. It's actually a really dark, eggplant-ish purple.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Ah, knitting.

It's so Zen. Seriously, there were times on my trip where I thought I would go insane because I couldn't knit - on the train, the plane, sitting in a beautiful park in Paris...
I've been working on Cromarty and watching Pride & Prejudice all day. Colin Firth - sigh. For those of you who fell in love with his brooding Mr. Darcy, you are hereby commanded to track down a copy of North & South with the beautiful Richard Armitage, whose brooding knocked Colin Firth right out of my Freebie Five. That's saying something!
I may have to watch North & South now. Richard Armitage - droooooool. He broods very well as Sir Guy of Gisborne in the very cheesy new BBC Robin Hood series. And in black leather, no less. I had planned to stalk him when I was in London, but I never saw him. Apparently he was filming Robin Hood in Hungary, which was not on my itinerary. Oh well. Next time.
During knitting breaks (in order to avoid knitting injuries - I had one before; don't ask) I surfed knitting sites and found this cool one from Interweave Press. You have to register (free), and there are tons of great free pattern downloads. These sites are so dangerous - they distract ADD knitters from their projects and cause them to go bankrupt buying more expensive yarn for new ones. Is there a cheaper hobby I can take up?

Thursday, August 23, 2007

The return of me!





I have returned from 3 weeks in Europe! What an amazing vacation! It broke my heart to pass by all the yarn shops, but if I hadn't, I would have run out of money a lot quicker than I did (just ask my mum). There was one shop in Bayeux, France, that probably is still trying to get my nose prints off the window! I will, someday, do a knit-and-yarn based voyage to England.
So I was back in time for my lovely niece's christening - jetlagged, but there to stand up as godmother. And here are some pictures - the gown and ma petite souricette wearing it.
I'm now working on the 'Cromarty' sweater from Alice Starmore's Celtic Collection book. I'm doing it in dark purple New Zealand guernsey. (sorry, can't find a link for it) All the knotwork and cables are making it very thick - it's going to be a warm one! But the square neckline is so beautiful. Here's a link to a fellow knitter's blog showing her finished sweater.