Sunshine and fun

Many apologies for being out of contact. The kids are suffering slightly from jetlag (7 hours of time difference), so I'm suffering from jetlag too. Also, we spent the last 4 days in a beach resort. We went to Redang Island, off the East Coast of Peninsula Malaysia. We had cheap babysitters (read grandparents!), so we managed to get 2 days of scuba diving. I've even got a bit of a tan. Woo hoo!!! Here's a shot of the beach.
However, I haven't made as much progress on my knitting as I would have liked. 2 hours at an airport, 13 hours of flying. You would have thought plenty of knitting time. Zilch - the kids needed lots of entertaining and space was an issue. I also spent lots of time on dive boats but couldn't do any knitting. I wasn't sure the salty seawater was good for the yarn.

The Orangina is at the ribbing stage. I have joined the 2 sides together and started the ribbing. For some strange reason, I've got an extra stitch. So I managed to lose it again. I'm getting excited about completing this.

I also started the Somewhat Cowl. (Orangina got too big to cart around!). I'm knitting this in Debbie Bliss Cathay in black. I've almost finished one ball of yarn. I really love this yarn. Very silky and soft. However, it is also a bit splitty, like the Linen Drape. Sorry the pictures aren't very clear, black yarn is so difficult to photograph!

Progress and photos

Finally, I remembered to take some photos in the hours of daylight today. Here it is, the front piece of Orangina, completed (I added about 1.5" to the length as it seemed a bit short for my liking) and 5" of the back piece. A bit more progress has been made since the photo was taken. FYI, I'm knitting this in Rowan Linen Drape shade 844 and I'm knitting it in the smallest size. I thought it was going to be big, but I'm glad I checked out the postings and comments on SKC . I think it should fit just fine. Fingers crossed. I might even finish it in time for my trip to KL!!!

Next up - the BoogaJ Kureyon bag which I knitted on holiday but only just managed to felt in the last few days. Firstly, tried the hand felting method. But that wasn't very successful. So, I bunged it into the washing machine, on the hottest setting for 15 minutes with an old cord bag and voila! Boy, does it shrink! I'm super pleased with the results! I'm going to gift it to one of my sisters when I go to KL.That's all for now. More progress soon.

More progress but no photo

There is sunshine here in London (unbelievable, I know - but it's still cold and windy!) but I keep forgetting to take any photos of progress. So I'll just have to prove it on another day. I have finished the front of my Orangina and have started the back. It's now measuring 4 inches. It could be twice as long but I kept messing up the lace. Not that the stitch pattern was difficult, I was just being "DUH!" Anyway, I've gone past that and progress is being made.

On other news, I'm getting really excited about a trip to KL in the next few days. My parents live in KL and I'm going home for family, food and sunshine. What knitting shall I take along with me? Hmm, choices!

Orangina progress

The sun is shining, spring is definitely round the corner. What better time to show off progress on Orangina - on an outdoor shoot, with sunshine and flowers in the background. The Rowan Linen Drape can be a bit slow going (the yarn is a bit splitty! Heaven forbid if you need to frog it!) However, it does have a nice feel all knitted up. One ball of yarn down, 5/6 more to go.
Other progress, the kids and I have been having fun with more Kool Aid dyeing. This is Lil man's colour choice (Berry Blue, Grape, Lemon Lime and Lemonade). Sorry, I haven't got too many in progress shots, I was desperately trying to stop them dipping their fingers into the solution and licking up spilt bits and sucking on the yarn!! Yuck! Also, if this stuff dyes yarn, I'm not sure I'm happy for them to ingest it! Although having said that, I grew up eating and drinking lots of things which are bad for me. Oh well. BTW, the yarn is Cascade 220 in white. I should have enought for a hat and maybe a narrow scarf for the Lil Man!