April Showers

Well Sophie is finally complete which is good. She fits perfectly and in fact reminds me of a swimming cossie, thats how snug she is. Downside is that the colour is really too dark for me. The yarn was bought for a totally different project which didn't work out and the shade chosen by my husband. I ended up taking back the unused balls and Sophie seemed like the perfect project for the 4 remaining balls.

I will wear her but only once I have a tan and at home, rather than on holiday. Linen Print is rather heavy and not something I'd want to take away with me. So that is the end of my first and last time knitting with Linen Print. I find teeny summer tops and halternecks never quite work out as planned, especially compared to the jackets & cardigans I've made which I'm almost always absolutely delighted with. And compared with the amount of wear summer tops get anyway, it doesn't seem really worth the effort sometimes. This may explain why I haven't bought any yarn this year for summer! I think I'll stick to shrugs, boleros and cardi's as I always get so much more wear out of them.



So exactly why I've started on Flame, a vest from Rowan 31 in Linen Drape I'm not quite certain. Except that its in my stash and has to be used. Whats worse is that the pattern requires 5 balls and I only have 4. And I'd forgotten how long Linen Drape takes to knit up! It is a gorgeous yarn though and will make a pretty vest, if I have enough that is. I'll find out soon enough, as both the back and the front are the same. The pic shows 1 balls worth so we'll see. I've seen some on Ebay but not sure of the dye lot. Hopefully the seller will let me know. And if anyone has a ball of Seahorse Shade 854 Lot 23I2 they would part with, I'd be most interested ;)



Still on summer tops, I've started another Kitty halterneck top in Cotton Braid which is just so lovely to knit with. I know I've said it before, but it really is like knitting with cotton wool and knits up amazing quickly. I got 2 balls from the ever so generous Linda all the way from Australia, and managed to get 2 more of the same dye lot. Perfect! This Kitty is in Klimt colourway and is one of the very few knitted items that I will be taking away on holiday. I wore my one in Botticelli last year over my bikini several times and loved how soft it was. So this year I will have 2 with me. Of course I already have a pink Animal beach skirt that will look fab with it. So thank you very much Linda - I can't wait to wear it! Reminds me, better get on with finishing it then.....luckily the crochet edging on this one is really simple so won't take long, thank goodness!

A quick mention on Elspeth then. I've been ignoring her as I was a bit wary of doing the picot edge again.....and finding it wasn't working out right. I finally plucked up courage Wednesday to try her and as I thought, it took a few goes before I was finally happy with how it was looking and ended up using a 2.5mm crochet hook. Fingers crossed it still looks ok around the front shaping......I haven't got that far yet!!!

I'd understood that Family Circle Easy Knitting was no more and that it was replaced by Knit Simple. Well thats kind of true, the subscriptions for FCEK were indeed taken over by Knit Simple. However there's been a change of publisher all round and FCEK has now reappeared as FCEK & Crochet. I managed to order a copy from the US as its only available on newstands in the US. Lets hope its worth the price, as the postage was almost double the price of the mag!

But as I've sold some Jaeger Albany yarn on Ebay I thought I'd treat myself. Ebay can be funny at times. I'd tried selling 2 lots of Albany together with a pattern booklet, but had no takers. So I thought I'd split them up this time and only listed the yarn. And guess what, the same person buys both lots of yarn for more they were originally listed and now don't get the pattern book. So a lesson to learn, lumping stuff together doesn't always work so well!



Thunder says hello and wishes everyone a good Easter. As he's moulting the poor thing is rather fed up of his parents constantly attacking him with a brush. Aah!