A KAL and a CAL

Well the KAS Cuddle is growing nicely, with chunky and DK held together on 8mm needles it kind of has to ;0)
I've even started knitting in my lunch break in the office - I've always been a bit funny about that, happy to knit in public I don't know, in the park, on the train etc but felt uncomfortable in the middle of those I do. Perhaps it's because in my new department we are all that little bit older, perhaps it's because I have discovered some of them are closet knitters too, perhaps it's this particular project but the other day when rain was forecast I thought 'what the heck', put my knitting in my bag, took a deep breath and pulled it out at my desk at lunch time (no rest room to escape to) and do you know what - no one batted an eyelid!

Not content with just doing a KAL (something I rarely do) I've decided to do a CAL as well, fortunately I could raid stash for most of it, and only bought the 4 balls on the top.

This is for the Bernat Mystery Afghan so look away now if you are doing it and don't want to know what Clue 1 looks like...mind you, it wasn't too hard to guess just from reading the pattern.

A Cuddle of many colours

I'm a bit late to the party (so nothing new there then!) but I have just cast on for the KASCuddle KAL and we are making these...

Sleep sacks for aids orphans and and abandoned babies of Africa.

My tardiness is not entirely my fault - the KAL called for 21oz of worsted weight in 100% wool, which is used double. Well at a quick reckoning that would be well out of my budget - but then I discovered (thanks to the Ravelry forum) that, as long as it's composition is labelled any other fibres are acceptable too. So I dived into my stash, and with a bit of (hopefully) clever yarn combining, I think I have come up with equivalent thickness in a reasonably high wool content, which should be nice and warm - it's just going to be rather multi-coloured, but I don't suppose the bubbies will mind.

Happy to help

As you have probably gathered by now I get a lot of pleasure from knitting for others, especially charity, and I don't believe I have shown my finished SANDS blanket, so here it is.


It may be a sad cause, but I loved every minute of the knitting, especially the knitted on border and will definitely be using this pattern again, maybe in other colours for baby shower gifts.

Now, I have finally got around to making something, small, quick and brightly coloured, which you may recall was my intention before I started the SANDS blanket!
I work for a very large company who are celebrating 70 years of being by having a Fete in aid of Kent Air Ambulance (our chosen charity for 2010), so when they asked for donations for the 'Made by Hand' stall I couldn't resist. I started by making some phone socks


Three at a time on two circs, using oddments of sock yarn - that certainly caused a few raised eyebrows when I got out my knitting at the Lacemakers group, but to be honest it was a lot easier than two-at-a-time socks - at least the yarns were different colours so there was less danger of carrying on without changing. I did get in a bit of a tangle though, until I mastered the art of turning in opposite directions at the end of each row!

Then it suddenly occured to me - they didn't have mobile phones in the 1940's (doh) still the lady organising the stall said she still wanted them as they were knitted and that was an old-fashioned skill (not sure if I should be pleased or offended!.
However I went on to crochet some Bookworms


Which only took a few minutes each, and came out rather cute, even if I do say so myself, though I will put that down to Michelle's lovely pattern rather than anything I did.

The Eternal Optimist

Or at what point do you frog?




I’ve been knitting this Moebius Scarf, from Simply Knitting, forever – or so it seems, and I am not enjoying it one little bit, in fact I am having one of those ‘whatever possessed me’ moments.

I really don’t like Rowan Milk Cotton – it makes my fingers feel dirty, it’s not soft and it smells funny. I hate doing moss stitch and the rows are endless. I’m not happy with the colour changes either, I like a nice clean change, not the loops from the stitch below interfering with the new row, and as for carrying the yarn you aren’t using up the side, well there isn’t a side so it looks horrible, added to which I can’t even imagine myself wearing this thing!



And yet I’m still plodding on in the vain hope that it will get better, that I will like it, that I will start to enjoy moss stitch (though heavens knows why I am even considering the possibility – I’ve hated it for the last 30 odd years, so what’s going to change now?) you see, I’m the eternal optimist (or downright stupid, perhaps) and so I knit on



And



On



And



On



until


Ah, that’s better :0)