Scott's Stripey Scarf

based loosely on the ever popular Noro Striped Scarf (rav'd by Jared Flood)

Scott picked the colours, he even paid for the Noro (and bought me some 'thanks for knitting for me', Silkroad Tweed - my fave!) and I covered the Araucania because i wanted to stripe with a solid (which turned out to be WAY semi-solid).

this scarf is 48 stitches wide, it's a 2x2 rib because well, it's sock yarn and it didn't need to be 1x1 to lie flat.

when i blocked, post luke warm bath in frizz free conditioned (heheh), i pulled it out slightly to give it a bit of extra width and relax the very squishy rib a bit.

blocking, in 4 parts

post blocking it has relaxed back into a fairly uniform fabric and looks nicer than it did pre-blocking.

I really like how this turned out, and after 2011 when I'm allowed to repeat patterns I'll knit up a stripey noro scarf for me!

for whatever reason this photo refuses to turn. Blogger,  i hate you

Creamy Baby Blanket

When I first moved to Melbourne way (ha!) back in 2008, I picked up knitting again. I hadn't done much other than the occasional baby blanket or garter stitch square blankets for charity and so increasing and decreasing were a bit scary looking and what the heck did yo and psso mean? But I thought, hey, new city, bloody freezing cold hands and feet and a bit of time up my sleeve, I should pick it up again! Needless to say I've come a bit of a distance since then (although I've still got miles to go! there's so much to learn!) and am loving knitting garments and more complicated stitch patterns and what have you. 

But, as a bit of a leftover from that period I have been storing a bag of various sized knitted white and cream squares. They have mocked me with their unfinishedness. This past weekend they came together, they are the beginnings of a baby blanket for the not-yet-born younger sibling of my darling goddaughter. This second baby is a much wished for and somewhat delayed baby, a few things have happened along the way to get to this full term pregnancy and so I wanted to make something a bit more substantial and put all my hopes into piecing this together.

this is what it looks like right now

blanket for baby Hyland

by the end of next week I would like it to have been quilted into it's finished form, I'll be shopping for some cream woodland animal themed flannelette for the back and some appropriately matchymatchy ribbon binding for the edge. This blanket will be big enough to be a playmat, and small enough to be tucked into a full sized cot as a quilt. I already have the wadding for the middle section and I'm hoping it'll all work out. 

How much do I wish my sewing machine was in Melbourne and not Perth, because hoooboy that is a lot of handsewing coming my way. Wish me luck!