When life ain't pretty

Still knitting

Oh dear, another week has scooted by, lately the time thief has been visiting this household and stealing great chunks of time which means less time for the pleasurable activities of reading and writing blogs. I should not of course be sitting here now, I am in the midst of cooking the Sunday roast whilst assisting on an Egyptian jigsaw which will have to be completed before we eat or there will be no table to eat at and of course there is always the continuing cycle of laundry, the background to every day.

One of my few disciplines is that I must respond to comments on the current post before writing a new post but this week I just haven't managed to do that so I apologise here and now and write a blanket thank you for the lovely comments on the finished daisy smock and linen dress. I really do appreciate when people take the time to comment, it is one of the things that makes blogging so enjoyable and I am really sorry when I am unable to respond personally to each one.

And now to knitting, it seems there has been a lack of yarn on this blog of late and project monogamy has been slipping a little, I have a bad habit of putting things aside when I get to a difficult bit, (actually picking up stitches normally has putting things aside, not difficult but not much fun either) so it would seem there are a couple of things on the go at present.

The yarn pictured above is RYC Cashcotton 4ply, the first time I have used any RYC and my goodness what lovely stuff. Very strokable, so soft and pleasant to use, this really doesn't feel like cotton at all and is knitting up so quickly. I am making this, from Rowan Babies, the pattern calls for 4ply cotton and this stuff knits to a different gauge so I am making the size down but at the longer length, I think this will be OK, fingers crossed, pattern altering is not my thing at all, it's the maths you see... I have always loved this pattern but been put off by the crochet but I have decided to just jump in and give it a go encouraged by all the other people out there who are getting to grips with crochet.

This tangle is a little raglan cardigan for Tilly, the yarn is Debbie Bliss Merino DK, seems nice to use and the colour was Tilly's choice of course, it has begun to grate on me a little but that is more the fault of the pattern and knitter because normally I can't say no to a bit of bubblegum pink in my day. You see I am using a Sirdar pattern and apart from being irritated by the lay out of this, one of those patterns with about 5 different versions that keeps sending you back and forth all over the sheet of paper, the button band and collar are knitted separately! I won't make that mistake again, it would have been a simple matter to work the button band at the same time as I worked the front and if ribbing gauge was a problem I could have changed to moss stitch or something, the whole knitting it separately and sewing it on is a very tedious business indeed and makes a lot of work for a quick knit everyday cardigan.

I am eager to show you my silk shrug which was finished weeks ago and has already enjoyed several outings but I have a photo shoot planned and need the right conditions and the assistance of The Technical Advisor (yes, of course there are better things I could be doing with my day but they wouldn't be nearly so much fun!). Hopefully photos will appear soon.