Where did my weekend go?

Friday’s FO post went AWOL, I am sorry. My Maia was more than ready to show off but Romi’s Maia was not – in short, there was nowhere to link to. The pattern page is now up on Ravelry and I’ll do the FO post this week instead.

Actually, that’s just a convenient truth to put in place of an inconvenient one. I forgot it was FO Friday by the time I had come home on the ferry with my shopping trolley full of food and beer. I put the shopping away, ate the tea that Mr L made for me, had a shower and then simply flopped. There were other FOs I could have written about, had I recalled my duties.

I spent a lot of time on my PC, working up a Sunday Stroll – which also failed to be posted due to the  extraordinary Sunday circumstance of getting Mr L away on the ferry.

In short, I am a total blog failure.

I am not even prepared for today’s Show and Tell post. I am in such a fury of actual knitting production that there seems little time to squeeze anything else in.

So, for today, you may feast your eyes on the RAK package that arrived yesterday. This is part of an arranged swap and what I in turn received for the parcel that I sent out last week. Mine came from a  lady by the name of Helen aka scratchnsniff or Pumpkinbelle

Pretty, pretty packages

Inside was a card and three pretty beribboned packages

Hand knitted cowl in Malabrigo Worsted

The parcel had to contain a handmade item and this is what Helen made for me, a lovely warm cowl. Malabrigo is a fabulous yarn to wrap about one’s neck…

Pin tin, chocolate marzipan, and stitch markers

The requirements of the swap also included a notion and other item to suit the recipients interests. I was well-stalked and received a pin tin for my collection of tidy tins, some stitch markers, and a double hit of edible goodness in a big bar of chocolate marzipan! I need to eat the marzipan before Mr L gets home, thenI shan’t have to share it…

Yarn! Malabrigo Lace and bits for my blankie

Of course, being a Ravelry swap, there had to be yarn included. Helen bought me a skein of Malabrigo Lace in Emerald – a far nicer shade than I captured with my camera here. The little skeins were thoughtfully included, for my sock yarn blanket (no, it isn’t forgotten about – and it will come out again, after 20th July.) Some of those skeins are Helen’s own dyeing.

and a knitterly card

There was a card, of course, a nice knitty one.

The Malabrigo looks better in that last photo, but still not a true shade.

I’m seeking pattern suggestions for the Malabrigo – it’s a laceweight handspun single in a 50g skein of 470 yards (430 metres) and the colour is more of a blue-ish green than the name might suggested. It has a lot of colour movement in it and is quite pale in places.

Malabrigo's colour chip for Emerald

Any ideas?

One pattern suggestion that keeps coming up is the Icicles Shawl – but I don’t have access to the pattern magazine that it was published in. Patterns suggested need to be available via t’interweb, please. As close to 470 yards as we can get, so as not to waste any.

I really would like to do this skein proper justice – but perhaps not until after 20th July…

There has been progress on the Colourmart knitting: the Juneberry Triangle is finished, washed, and blocking; the Cechetti has grown considerably in the last 48 hours and now requires the addition of sleeves; Jubilee has gained just 10 rows of one sleeve, but at least is on the move again; and Quill made slow progress on the ferry last week and now totals 25 rounds (of 136). The Link scarf is languishing for now, still a quarter done.

I need to shelve the Colourmat knitting  for a commission but I am stuck for needles at present and therefore using up all my spare time to nudge Cecchetti to completion. The KnitPro needles that I ordered on 14 June were finally dispatched but arrived here as the wrong needles entirely. Instead of KnitPro 40cm straights in 4mm, I received Addi 4mm circulars in 40 cm length. A replacement was arranged and they arrived yesterday – the correct needles, but bent. Further replacements are on their way. They did not arrive today, so Cechetti will gain a sleeve tonight. So long as the yarn holds out. I am eyeing up the remainder with a wary eye and my next task after posting this is to go and weigh my yarn. Surely I have misplaced a ball somewhere. Surely?

2 Comments

  1. June 29, 2010

    I’m doing a similar dare game with my little birds cardigan, only this time I know I’ve not lost a ball, I’m just struggling to get my head around the fact that the 2 and a half balls remaining will be enough… No one else on Rav has complained about running short, I have the number of balls stated on the pattern and my yarn choice has more yards per ball than the one in the pattern.
    I’m pretending it’s not happening and just plan on knitting on!

    • June 29, 2010

      Flying in the face of the Knitting Goddess…

      I substituted a slightly lighter yarn and I had 300g, or 1,540 yards – the pattern calls for 1,150. I actually have 122 gms left, about 40% of what I started with. It’s been so long since Imade a sweater that I have no clear picture of how much I need. The sleeves are elongated, but it’s not a raglan – so I think 40% should be enough. It doesn’t look like enough though! Luckily Colourmart still have those 17 cones left. I just need to decide whether to order one!

      I need to crack on with one sleeve and see how it goes…

Comments are closed.