Frogging Along

Thunder got his own back for the lack of attention while we were poorly by biting throught the Cherry Tree Laceweight yarn I was knitting my River wrap with. So now it has a join and has been abandoned in disgust. I was not impressed. Seeing as I have such a huge ball of it there should be no need for a join at all. And its not even at the end of a row either! He chewed it before I'd reached the end.....and I am not frogging lace! As I haven't really done that much of it anyway I may start again. I'll see how I feel about it in a few days. I wasn't mad at Thunder, just surprised as he's never bothered with actual yarn, it's always been my beloved Brittany's he liked to nibble on! And cardboard boxes of course hence the photo ;) We thought we'd give him his own box to eat to try and keep him away from yarn, needles and books. Some hope.....




Due to popular request I've given in and here are a couple of god awful pics of me wearing Deep. Deep itself looks lovely, even though I wouldn't have chosen those colours together - but as I had to try the vest top on anyway seemed a good idea to kill two birds with one stone. So to speak. I knew I looked rough having been ill, but lordy lord, now there is photographic evidence to prove it. The headless photo was too ghastly for words, though Deep does look very fetching!

Unfortunately once on the mend there was quite a bit of frogging to do on my 2nd lovely pink Lana Grossa sock. It had also suffered while we were ill and I found a couple of stupid mistakes. They probably wouldn't notice but because it is such a beautiful yarn and the first sock was perfect I just wasn't happy with it, so I frogged her till almost the beginning of the gusset decreasing! Will I ever learn not to knit anything with shaping when I'm poorly?

And the halterneck top I was knitting using Lana Grossa Multicot........well she is no more. Yep, totally frogged. The tension was perfect, gauge worked out wonderfully, colours gorgeous BUT the stupid pattern did not explain half of the shaping. I only realised about 10 rows before finishing! Stupid Rebecca pattern. I will be selling the mag on Ebay - they're totally overpriced and very very short on actual instructions. I always wondered how the pattern instructions were so tiny - its cos most of it you just have to guess yourself. Not impressed at all. I thought Rowan patterns were supposed to be hard to follow if you're not used to them, but this was just ridiculous. No matter how many times you read this Rebecca pattern, the info you need just isn't there. And no, there is no errata for the pattern. Hmpf!

I do however have another halterneck pattern from Garnstudio. Perhaps that one will actually work. I'm not particularly inclined to rework the yarn yet though, I'll move on and go back when the bad memory has dimmed......



However I did actually manage to do the finishing touches to Chardonnay and here she is. Isn't she pretty? The little strap will stop any fall out accidents and the flower is rather cute me thinks. And she's knitted in only 2 balls of Jaeger Trinity. Boy does that have great yardage. Pressing her before sewing up really evened her out - as I find it does with most yarns that contain cotton. I really can't get my head round wearing her, as she is totally a holiday top, only to be worn once suntanned. And I can't quite imagine that, seeing as spring has only just arrived.

An interesting thing happened though whilst knitting the now frogged Rebecca halterneck. It dawned on me that I did not like knitting garments in the round! Yes, it was quicker with no purl rows but I started to find it incredibly tedious and boring and it got to the point where I could only bear to knit 1 or 2 rounds. It felt like watching paint try......give me my Brittany's and straight knitting any day!

I ended up ordering the lovely Buttercup design from Kim Hargreaves last Thursday evening after showing it to my DH who agreed it was indeed lovely and that he would get it for my birthday. But its not arrived yet.....I know I can't have it yet anyway but I really want it to arrive. You know, just so I know its here and safe and waiting for me patiently ;) It should arrive next week, as I had a lovely email from Kim explaining there was an issue with the pattern and they were expecting it to come in Monday. So something to look forward to next week!

I'm beginning to feel like the only person in the world without the Rowan Holiday/Cotton Braid shade card. Kangaroo have been waiting for more stock for ages. If anyone knows anywhere that actually has them in stock, I'd love to know. At this rate it will be next season before I get one :(

We had some not so great news on our ever looming holiday. The direct flight to Langkawi has been changed and now we have to change planes at Kuala Lumpur. The really bad bit - there is currently a 5 hr 30 min wait till the connecting flight!!! Oh my god. We were not happy. It's only an hour on the connecting flight too. Crap isn't it?

We toyed with the idea of staying the night in Kuala Lumpur but decided having just an evening before travelling back to the airport with all our luggage the following day wouldn't be worth it, even of course if we were able to do that. It's all getting a bit close you see. We're hoping there are more flight changes which work better in our favour. Fingers crossed eh?