Sunday 17 March 2013

Snow day - knit day

Last week on tuesday we had a lovely surprise

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a snow day! (there doesn't look like a lot of snow in this picture, but the sun came out in the afternoon and the sky was blue)

I used my day wisely to catch up on missed episodes of Call the Midwife, and also managed to finish my rowan colourspun cardigan!
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I am really happy to have a project done. It felt a little bit like they were piling up a bit!

And now some spring weather please?

Please?

Sunday 10 March 2013

Happy Mothers Day

For my mum this year I made mini simnel cakes from this lovely book.

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I am sad that I forgot the marzipan centre though. This taught me a good lesson to read all the instructions before getting carried away! But on the plus i found some lovely dried fruit called 'orchard mix' full of dried apricots and pears and prunes and sour cherries. i hope they are a lovely treat for my lovely mum.

Friday 8 March 2013

cardi-sock

As you might be able to tell, i am in full wedding mode at the moment and very much enjoying all the opportunities for beautiful projects! Although our wedding will be in June, i really can't ever leave the house without a cardi, especially if i am going to be out into the evening! And so i thought it an essential task to knit myself a woollen for this occassion.

It has been quite a marathon to find a pattern for this project - i think i spent longer on this than even finding my dress pattern! To begin with i saw some beautiful bolero type cardigans,  but I had to think of the dress and what would go best. and also they didn't really look all so warm (this is the good thing about looking for a pattern in february - you are a good judge of what will be snug) so i thought the best thing for style and practicality would be a neat fitting waist length cardigan that i could button up for warmth if needed.

So that narrowed it down a little, but then i decided  I wanted something lacy because that is the prettiest. I knitted so many samples from my knitting stitch book, and scoured the internet for all patterns. I think i was being very fussy!!


lingerie socks

Then i came across this pattern. For a sock (this one is called Lingerie and is by Maria Naslund, available on Ravelry) Such a pretty one!  This was the lace i was searching for! just not quite the right garment. Although i was worried i was making life very difficult for myself i decided to have a go at transplanting (right word?) the lace designs in the sock onto a cardigan pattern. It was quite tricky working out the number of stitches i needed but now i have got myself set up it is quite straightforward to use the charts in the sock pattern. I've had to do a couple of alterations to the pattern as the cardigan doesn't have the same shapings as the sock, but I am hopeful!

The wool i am using is quite a plain one. i had always thought i would want to really splurge and use a silk or cashmere, but when it came to it, i felt it would look sweeter to have something simple and a bit woolly and i got some lovely cream merino wool 4ply from blacksheep yarns (i recommend this supplier for some very good prices and some lovely wools)

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Here is a glimpse at the beginnings. i don't want to give too much away, but also i am very pleased with how it is going and not very good at being secretive. Rich has seen this much too so i don't need to worry about him stumbling across this picture. As it grows though i know i should try to be a bit more mysterious.

yours laced up (finally!),
emilia. xxx