Autumn Leaves

Although we are still in the heart of summer my 22 Leaves Shawlette reminds me of autumn. The shawl is knitted in Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 4ply, colourway Red Earth.





This is a terrific pattern but you do have to keep your wits about you at the start of the pattern. There is also a larger 34 leaves option. I was tempted to knit the larger version as I had plenty of yarn to do so but I'm a bit pressed for time so I stuck to the smaller version.

One more for the gift pile.

Something Fishy

One more for the gift pile. This School at Play scarf is from the Sock Yarn One Skein Wonders book. Its a great book full of ideas for using up those sock yarns we all have stashed away.

I knitted this scarf in Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 4ply in Lake on 4mm needles. The scarf measures 25 x 153cm. Luxury is a really lovely yarn. It is so soft and feels great against the skin. I'm definitely going to make more shawls and scarves out of this yarn. I feel a trip to Bendigo coming on!

A quickie

I needed a bit of instant lace gratification and Nypon supplied it! This is a very quick knit. I knitted this shawlette in the course of three evenings. The shawl is knitted on 5mm needles with Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 5 ply in Ensign.






The shawl can also be knitted without the stocking stitch section. The pure lace version also allows you to increase the size. This shawl can be knitted in any yarn weight. A lovely versatile pattern and one more for the gift pile.

Indecision

I have been struggling to find projects to settle down too. I've been spending hours on Ravelry looking at all the lovely patterns and matching them to yarn in my stash. Part of my indecision is due to the fact that I am having eye surgery next month and thus I won't be able to knit anything too fine or intricate (so of course that is exactly what I am in the mood to knit!). Another influencing factor is that I need to get some gift knitting done to take on our travels in April and May. So what to knit?

Well it helped that Shur'tugal was the first pattern on the Super Special Six Pattern Sock Club 2011. So I could actually start and finish my first project for the year. And I made these from stash yarn.



In preparation for not being able to see too well soon I started the following two projects both of which are destined to be gifts. The first is the Lacy Baktus.



And the second is the Cerus Scarf. Both these patterns are very simple and knitted on relatively large needles.



I also managed to reach the half way mark with my never ending blanket and yet I remained restless. Then, last night, I cast on Nypon. Relief! Finally a little bit of lace to keep me happy.

Fresh start

I had considered doing a retrospective post but once I started adding my projects for 2010 together I decided not to. Should you be interested and you are on Ravelry then you can see my forty completed projects here. And no Mary, I didn't count socks and mitts separately and even if I did I couldn't match your massive achievement of 97 completed projects!

Instead I am going to focus on the year to come. What would I like to achieve in the knitting world this year? Well, first and foremost, I would like to complete my Summer Squares Blanket. This poor blanket was very badly neglected during most of 2010. Just before christmas I decided to mend my ways and had a spurt of activity. Over the past two weeks I have managed to complete 11 more squares. I am now only two short of the halfway mark. I have completed 26 of the 56 squares.



This project also ties in rather nicely with two new groups I have joined on Ravelry. The first is the Stash Down Under group. Yes, yes I intend knitting from stash this year. With a caveat or two! For example, yarn acquired while traveling falls into the souvenir category and has nothing to do with stash enhancement nor does gifted or swapped yarn count. (These are my rules and I will bend them as I please).

The other closely related group is the Super Special Six Pattern Sock Club 2011. The intention is to knit six patterns this year. The patterns have been preselected through a voting process. The good thing about this club is that the rules are there to be adapted to suit your own purposes. The first pattern, Shur’tugal, is already underway and here is my progress.



I also intend learning new techniques and this sock pattern has already taught me something new in terms of twisted stitches.

My knitting output will be seriously compromised in the first half of the year for a couple of reasons. Nevertheless I intend to make the best of the situation by choosing appropriate projects but more of that at a later date.

Happy Knitting to all in 2011!