What to do?

Ho hum. Knitting has not been going smoothly. Oh no, not one little bit. First of all I really didn't know what I wanted to knit. Nothing jumped out screaming from my stash which was a bit of a surprise really. So I went through my spreadsheet to see what stuff had been on my to do list for a while and narrowed it down to 3. Then had a little think and after a quick chat with DH, decided on Tempting II in Rowan Calmer in the now discontinued Chiffon shade 462 colorway, a lovely lilac. All was good till an inch or so into the project and boredom set in. Yep, the dreaded 'I hate circular knitting it bores me to tears' affliction had returned and I was not happy. Couldn't see me knitting for another 2 rows never mind 2 hours. So I put it aside till another day.

Back to the drawing board. Maybe rather than choosing from already planned projects I should just choose what I really wanted to knit, maybe that would do it. And I wanted another zipped jacket. The lovely Bomber in Rowan Denim has been patiently waiting in my stash for ahem, 2 years.....maybe it was now time to start this bigger project. I love denim yarn. Wonderful stuff. Only problem is the awful arm ache it brings. And so I started it on my lovely Brittany Birch 10" needles (I'm using Ecru so no colour transfer troubles!) and happily commented to my DH that the shorter length needles must be helping with arm ache as I hadn't had a twinge and I'd knitted a couple of inches by then. Oh oh. Should have kept quiet. Twenty minutes later I didn't get a little twinge, but real pain in my arms. Oh poop! So that got put down and was the end of any knitting that evening. My arm was still sore the next day.

So I had yet another think. Decided Tempting II would need to be frogged. It really needed smaller needles anyway so I didn't mind. Lovely though it is, I like jackets, cardi's and shrugs much better and really couldn't imagine it getting much wear at all so for me it defeated the object. The Bomber cardigan will be lovely, if it ever gets finished. Thats the only problem with denim, apart from the dreaded arm ache, you have to knit it longer than usual to allow for shrinkage....but I do love the design so maybe it will become my long-term WIP and I'll just knit a few rows here and there. We'll see.

I quite fancied knitting with wool after all this arm ache but seeing as we've finally got some beautiful hot summery weather in the UK it seems a shame to be knitting with wool and not with more summery stuff. So what to do?

Luckily the latest Lana Grossa Filati Handknitting No. 26 arrived last Weds from Rikes-Wollmaus in Germany. Excellent delivery as usual, I only ordered it on the previous Friday. And would you believe it, contained several summery tops I wanted to make. My favourite of course needed a yarn I didn't have but I though sod that, I'm making it in Calmer and thats that. It's only a tube with bra bits attached so easy to adjust stitch count. Funnily enough its knitted in the round but somehow I don't mind that so much with this design. Maybe using smaller needles helped. Somehow getting a nice tight gauge with circs holds my interest a bit more and boy is this project portable. And as it doesn't have arms it will be a much quicker knit and I definitely would wear this design. I love little vest tops. So finally, a hit!



I'm making it in Flamingo, another discontinued Rowan Calmer shade from my stash. Oddly enough it looks quite girly sickly pink in the ball but knitted up changes ever so slighly and is a really beautiful colour now, kinda pale rose. So finally, I'm happy and settled with my knitting....until the next project that is!

I know you love to see pics of me wearing my creations so here we go. Firstly, that halterneck top in Rowan 4 Ply Cotton that nearly killed me as it was knitted in once piece and I was using straight needles. Learnt that lesson the hard way, but the top does look lovely though definitely needs a tan to go with it.



Then we have the ever so pretty Elspeth on an evening out in Langkawi. Yes, that crochet edging looks fab after all that work and she fits really well.



And another pic in Langkawki of me wearing Kitty in Rowan Cotton Braid. Just check out that view!



Finally a pic of me in Deep knitted in Summer Tweed. Deep is ever so comfortable, easy to wear and looks great. What more can you ask?



And I couldn't leave this one out now could I? Not sure whats happened to my camera though - think it needs a bit of TLC. As does Thunder....he is one cool laid back bunny ;)



I'm working on the holiday pics, but as there are over 500 it might take a while.....