princessdeia

Over the weekend, I sat down and re-thought my idea for Janice’s scarf, I decided to knit her the Lace Scarf from Debbie Bliss Pure Silk in some of the KnitWitches Silk I brought at KSS. My plan was for a washable, warm scarf, that could be worn everyday… so of course, I am knitting a skinny thin silk scarf – the complete opposite of my own spec. The lace pattern is really simple, so there is no problem of me meeting my deadline of next week, even though I am working on 3mm needles.

Actually, I am getting a little concerned about my knitting projects. Jason has even mentioned that I had far too many things on the needles (I spot 7 progess bars on my sidebar), the hoodie and gretel beret are nearly finished, I just need to weave in the ends or block them. But I am worried about my pomatomus sock, the first one was finished in August, in fact I remember knitting this whilst sitting outside I Knit one glorious summer evening – and I haven’t even thought about casting on it’s twin… is this my first real case of SSS.

Tags: Debbie Bliss, scarf, silk, WIP

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Yarn: Berroco Jasper in Blue Bahia.
Pattern: Le Slouch (pdf file).
Needles: 4.5mm.
Notes: I opted to knit this beret as stocking stitch rather than the seed stitch as the yarn was so stunning, I didn’t think it needed the pattern.

As the pattern says this hat is the perfect quick fix project to update your wardrobe, seeing all the berets in the stores at the moment, I knew I had to knit one. But the best thing about this hat it is great for wearing on bad hair days.

Tags: beret, Finished Project, Hats, Le Slouch

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Yes, I have yet another gift from a swap – it has become a little joke in our house – that nearly every day I get a package from some far off place. This one was from Irene in Denmark. This was a Trick or Treat Swap as part of the Whoduknit Group.

Irene sent me an array of Danish sweets (and some Haribo), Halloween candles, a Big Knit pattern book and some Adriafil Baba yarn in autumnal colours.

As I have received some amazing gifts through recent swaps (have I mentioned the softness of the Jasper yarn yet?). I am deciding to “Pay it Forward,” you may have seen this concept on other blogs, but I thought I would start a fresh version, so I can spread the love.

It’s based of the concept of the movie Pay it Forward where acts or deeds of kindness are done without expecting something in return, just passing it on, with hope that the recipients of the acts of kindness are passed on. So here’s how it works. I will make and send a handmade gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment to this post on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I do not know what that gift will be yet, and it won’t be sent this month, probably not next month, but it will be sent (within 6 months) and that’s a promise! What YOU have to do in return, then, is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog.

Tags: PIF, Swaps

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A few years ago I made my sister a simple scarf in KSH, she wore this scarf on her vacation with her friend Janice, the warmth of the scarf became the subject of numerous conversation on their cold city break. That Christmas, I made them both Fishtail Scarves in KSH. Now every year, I try and make a warm, practical scarf for Janice.

For a while now I knew I was going to make an Entrelac Scarf, and a little investigating and I found the right yarn Wendy Fusion. I have seen a few version of entrelac projects using this yarn in Raverly and discovered it was 50% wool and 50% acrylic (so was washable). I ordered the yarn online, my hope was for grey tones, and White Pepper seemed to fit the bill – even them name suggests a grey-ish colorway.

I guess that is the problem with buying yarn online, because when the yarn arrived there was no grey, a lot of bright blue, a bit of white and a pale blue colour, but I stuck with it and began to knit. I showed the scarf to my sister on Wednesday, to get her opinion and she concluded the colours where not very Janice, but that she loved it.

So now the scarf is going to become an early Christmas present for my sister and I have to rethink Janice present. Can I find the perfect yarn? Will I be able to finish the scarf by early November? Should I opt for a simple chunky scarf on big needles? So many questions.

Whilst trying to think for an answer, I decided to swatch the Jasper yarn, Andrea sent me, I am in love with this yarn, it is the softest yarn I have every knitted with, quickly I had frogged the swatch and cast on yet another new project just to work with this yarn.

Tags: beret, Hats, Le Slouch, scarf, WIP

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Before I went to South Africa, I stumbled across the Mystery Theme Swap – as haven’t wanted to sign up to Secret Pals this year, as I don’t have the time to commit to them, but I do miss putting together the gifts. This swap really appealed to me, you only had to commit for the month, sent out on package and the concept meant you could be really creative.

The notion is simple, you have one partner, you get given three themes and you have to put together a project kit based on the theme (better explanation is here).

My parcel from Farrah arrived today, she emailed me last week to tell me she had posted it and all weekend I was wondering which theme she choose. When I opened the parcel I found a blue box and guessed it was “Blue.â€?

The pattern she had picked for me was the Midwest Moonlight scarf from Scarf Style (the book was included), included was the needles, yarn (RYC Cashsoft DK), loads of knitting notions all in blue including a Chibi, stitch markers, and some DPN protectors. She also included some other fabulous knitting themed gifts, a blue yarn Christmas tree ornament, a blue notepad and some bookmarks.

Tags: Mystery Swap, Swaps

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The last few times I have seen Laura she has been wearing one of her fabulous shawl creations (really they are more like shawlettes or mini-shawls), I don’t think I would ever wear a big shawl, I guess to a wedding or maybe as a sarong on the beach, but the mini shawls are really wearable. So of course, I had to knit one. I had always liked the Flower Basket Shawl, and I even had the yarn some Knit Picks Shimmer, I brought in the spring. So whilst watching daytime TV today, I have been knitting.

Lolly asked on her blog today about what shoes you wear with your hand-knitted socks with? I have a growing collection of converse boots (I even wore converse at our wedding reception) and I am trying to make matching socks for all my boots, this is newest yarn I have brought to go with my (RED) converse.

This is the second post this week, with my shoes mentioned – I am getting a complex.

Tags: Knit Picks, shawl, Socks, Stash Enhancement, WIP

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Like most of the knitters in London, yesterday I headed up to Alexandra Palace for the Knitting & Stitching Show. Originally, I was meant to go on Thursday, but due to a heavy workload, I decided to go on Saturday, luckily Alice brought a ticket which she no longer needed, as she was now exhibiting, so I used her ticket. This helped me as well as I got to meet up with the girls – who had a list of stalls they wanted to visit.

1. Rooster Almerino Aran, 2. KnitWitches Pure Silk, 3. KnitWitches Pure Silk,
4. The Natural Dyed Studio – Alba, 5. KnitWitches Sock Yarn/4ply, 6. KnitWitches Sock Yarn/4ply

I managed to get some yarn for the swaps I am currently doing (not shown), and of course a lot of sock yarn – I also discovered a new store – KnitWitches, as well as selling some amazing, sock yarn they had some fabulous silk dyed in the most amazing colours. All I wanted to do after the show was go home a knit – but I decided to go to the pub and watch the rugby.

Tags: Hourglass, Meet Ups, Stash Enhancement, Sweaters

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As you may have noticed the postal workers have been in strike, but it looks like things are back to normal. This morning, I got this amazing package from andreainblue, it was part of the New Season Swap I organised on Ravelry, she has included all my favourite treats, M&M’s Twizzlers, Jelly Bellys and even some macadamia nuts.

One of the things I love about swaps in getting to try yarn that we can’t get in the UK, andreainblue included some Berroco Jasper – she mentioned it is a new yarn and that it would be perfect for making Le Slouch (a pattern that has been on my Ravelry list for ages).

I haven’t been doing much knitting recently, I have several projects on the go and I seem to have stalled on them all. I was so close to finishing Gretel before I left but couldn’t get the last few rows right – the cables were wrong when I followed the pattern, whilst I was away Ysolda posts an amended version of the pattern – so at least I can finish this piece.

I had finished one of my Baudelaire socks, and had started the second one – only now I have decided I want to make this socks longer – so I have ripped back the rib on the first sock and placed it back in the needles.

Tags: Le Slouch, Swaps

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You can’t help but notice my absence over the last few weeks, this was mainly due to me being in the Southern Hemisphere.

Last year, when my father was first taken ill, he made us make a few promises, one of them was no matter what Jason and I would get married on the 3rd March and the other was, that we would take his ashes to the Umgeni River in South Africa.

Traditionally, Hindus have their ashes scattered in the Ganges River, in Durban the crematorium can perform a ceremony where they use water imported from the Ganges before the ashes are scattered into the river.

My dad loved to travel, so rather than make this trip something more, we decided to do some travelling around South Africa. None of us had really seen South Africa – even though my mum and sister were born there (Mum only went to Cape Town last year), I had been over 10 years ago, so it was a real chance to travel.

We started off in Durban, then flew to Cape Town. This city has so much to offer, amazing both in the way of culture and scenery. Finally, we headed up north to Jo’burg, Sun City and we went on safari.

More photos.

Tags: Daily Life, South Africa, Travel

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