Merry-Go-Round progress

Aren't those flowers opening out beautifully?
One week on and they still look gorgeous.

I've got some progress to show you on my Merry-Go-Round crochet lap blanket by Jane Protus.

Don't let the pictures fool you, it's still small at only 90cm across, but it has grown a bit since I last blogged about it.

Thanks to the encouragement from my stitch club friends kariebookish and ellielabelle I went ahead with using solid coloured wool around the Noro sock. I think it looks really effective with this Rowan Scottish Tweed 4-ply, although it is a fraction thicker than the average girth of the Noro sock. Could've done with 3-ply really but I was shopping the stash for the contrast yarn.

Unfortunately for the blanket I'm on to the third of four balls of the 4-ply tweed and am now only getting three rounds per ball at the moment.

As of the current round I have 496 trebles per round. Four hundred and ninety-six! Why do I do this to myself? If I had made this on a 10mm hook with bulky yarn as per pattern I could've finished up on the olive round in between the two dark rounds of the Noro i.e. ages ago and it still would've been bigger.

One of these days I'm going to cast on or hook up something which has 999 stitches on the first row and work DOWN to 3. Hee hee I'm saying that now, it would probably drive me nuts.

So here are some pictures from the step-stool and one picture on the step-stool.

Have a good weekend, especially any American readers. x K

Quarterly Progress or Pick of the Pops

Ok, pop-pickers, you can choose whether to hear this in your mind in Alan Freeman’s or Dale Winton's but here’s the quarterly update on the works-in-progress.

So, starting with an item which has fallen right out of the chart:

Rowan Cotton Braid Wrap (which I even forgot to tell you about last time).

Here are the non-movers:

Lacy Waves Top

Boatman Jumper

Brier Cardigan

Green and Lilac Bamboo top

Mohair Shawl with Eyelet Spines

Eva Jumper

And the climbers:

Baby Jumper

Fat Girasole

Here are the new entries:

Fountain Pen Shawl (20%)

Sea Ishbel (40%)

Crochet Lap Blanket (40%)

Here are the ones which have moved up to the top-spot:

Chocolate Strawberry Fondant Socks

Shaped Shoulder Shawl

Crochet Cushion Cover

Shetland Hap Shawl

And straight in at the top spot:

Funfair toe-up socks

Neapolitan MP3 cover

And finally archive number ones:

Fan Neckwarmer

Camo Loom Hat

Happy crafting. x K

Oldest Scot dies 108; the knitting community is the lesser for it

Here is an interesting "slice of life" story about Elizabeth Cockburn who passed away on Sunday, aged 108.

I enjoyed reading about her life on the croft, and the quote from her grandson,

"She carried on her hobbies and was still knitting away three weeks ago. I couldn't say what the quality of the knitting was like, but she kept it up to the end."

Quite cool having a grand-son who is 53!

Link to the BBC story Oldest Scot dies at 108

God Bless you, Elizabeth. x K

Edit: Since I published this five minutes ago they have changed the story! She is now "one of the oldest people in Scotland" rather than "the oldest".
Guess there must be other 108 year old Scots setting the BEEB right then! x K

Recycling Week

Recently Cartside tagged me to take part in Recyling Week.

I use real bags for shopping, I already recycle paper, cardboard, plastic, cans and glass and I have two compost bins so my contribution to Recycling Week is to take all the usable bits off greetings cards I have received.

Toppers, greetings, edging, wording, embellishments, they're all being recycled from hoarded cards and you can expect to see little bits and bobs of them on your hand-made birthday cards in the coming months.

This may seem like a "drop in the ocean" response to such a big issue but as I say we already recycle everything we can locally and anyway, I'd rather light a candle than complain about the darkness.

The big environmental issue we have to address in our home is REDUCE re-use recycle and this is the major challenge for us in the long-term.

Aspirations

I hereby declare that this summer my life is going to be about handicrafts, bouquets and posies, Cath Kidson table cloths and rosy cake stands and water jugs used as vases.

This is escapism at its finest but surely there's no harm in having little pockets of beauty in life? xxxxxxx K

Haven't knat a stitch!

I have to admit that I haven't knitted a stitch all week!
Have been doing some card crafting and some Facebooking though.
Off to Hobbycrafts now because my "card stock" is all a bit pastel at the mo.
Fancy some rainbow brights, and yes, some black.
Hope you're having a good week. x K

Knitting Freak!

I've been organising my photos and uploading a few to Facebook today and I've come across this photo of me walking into the "Secret Garden" at Threave Gardens a few times.

Every time I see it I think that the big blue patch of sky with the trees pointing towards vanishing point looks like a big blue triangular shawl sitting on a hedge!!!

I have a picture of my Shetland Triangle from three years ago affixed to show you what I mean. I am such a knitting freak, it's unreal. x K