Back From The Land Down Under
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
It's been a while since I've last written... but in my defense, I've been traveling
(for work) and stuck out in a power station in whoop whoop land somewhere in Australia.
Work has been totally hectic in recent times but the end is near (I hope).
So where do I start?? Hmmmm... on the knitting front, I'm proud to say that amidst
all the madness, I've somewhat managed to "finish" my ripple shawl as well as my
Kiri one.
My Ripple Shawl
I did this in ZARA Merino, Extra Fine... a LOVELY yarn to work with! The original
plan was to do it in the main colour but half way through, I realised that I didn't
have enough material and as the store didn't have any more, I opted to use multiple
colours (yes, I frogged it). I think it looks better this way though. I still need
to block it as even though I added on two new balls, it still isn't long enough.
My Kiri Shawl
Oooohhh I can't believe that I've "finished" this one. As per my Ripple Shawl, I need to block it as well... hopefully this weekend seeing that the BF is going to be away. According to the gals, it should stretch out as I am a little worried about the size. It looks rather small. I did this in Katia Mississippi 3, a lovely yarn to work with and the yardage makes it economically appealing :o) . So, upon my return from the land down under, my mum, who has recently returned from a trip to the UK had a BIG, BIG surprise for me! You see, sometime in May, my parents saw my hodge podge blankie and for some strange reason, my dad decides that he wants it, for whatever reason I have no idea I think that it is rather warm for use in Malaysia. So, I tell them, "I don't have enough material to finish it". What does my mum do? Well, she was at a flea market in the UK and she bought me some yarn. Now, my mum can be rather eccentric and she never does things like normal people do, i.e. she is kind of extreme. So, with my blanket in mind, and hoping to please her hubby, she gets me a whole mountain of yarn... that is no exaggeration!
You can imagine my shock when I saw her purchase
The mountain sorted out
Would you believe that she got this ALL for a mere 2 POUNDS??!! That is equivalent to roughly RM14 which is what half a ball costs here! So bang goes my excuse for not having enough material to finish the blankie. That, coupled with what I have already collected from the gals and my purchases (see below) I have enough to make another 5 blankies!!
My original stash
So, I've decided to try to finish the blankie by my dad's birthday, in mid August. A little ambitious I think for my parents sleep on a super king sized bed... when they saw it last month, the blankie was a mere 11 x 11 squares which equates to 121 individual squares. My mum wants it at 15 x 15 which means a total of 300 squares. I'm not even half way there yet!! At the time of writing, I've been knitting away furiously, making 6" x 6" squares and now, my blankie looks something like this:
My hodge podge blankie, currently measuring 11 X 11 plus a bit
Here is a close up:
A close up incase anyone feels the need to donate squares... each square measures 6" x 6". The only requirement is that the bottom and top border is 6 rows of garter stitch and the sides are 5 stitches in garter. I am looking for any and all completed square donations as I now have more than enough yarn :o).
How I am going to finish this in time, I have absolutely no idea. Thank gawd, the gals offered to help out. Stitching / seaming the squares together takes heaps of time and Lyn of Knitties suggested I hold a seaming party at the end of July and they'll all come over and help me stitch it together. An EXCELLANT idea!! :O) :0) :o) Ooohhh I feel so lucky to have gal pals like they are!!
We had a meet up last Saturday... everyone was knitting lovely projects and I was knitting plain old squares *sigh*. Oh I so want to start another project as I am so SICK of knitting squares. I had to curb the urge to look that the wonderful patterns that were floating around during that meeting.
However, since the BF is headed off to NZ today, I couldn't help but ask him to get me enough material for a rug, a Fair Isle In The Round. I got the pattern out of my Donna Druchunas book. This is going to be a challenge for I've never done a "Fair Isle" project before and for some strange reason, this rug is knitted in the round. Hmmmm... Hopefully he'll be able to get me all the materials and tools that I need for this project. I thought that it would make a lovely addition to the apartment.
Fair Isle Rug In The Round
I have GOTS to start making something that I can wear...
