Scarf-o-matic

colourswap and minibreak

I received this fun orange and yellow package from Maria (no blog yet) as part of the Colourswap project spectrum. She lives in Bosnia, and handmade a pin cushion, a needle book and the card, plus sent me some other goodies as well, like a pair of socks and a cute Easter hanky. Thanks! Next month we are all swapping green, and my pal is someone I have met 'virtually' before: Justine.

Now, I am knitting, honest: taking forever on a pair of (unmatching) socks, plus my mad foray into Japanese knitting... but have not taken any photos yet. I am taking the socks with me on a journey, as off to the Highlands tomorrow until Sunday. The Other Knitter has a contract up there, so I am tagging along as I have ancestors to attend to. It turns out that if I go back 8 generations I am related to a farmer and holy man (and his family) in Lybster, Caithness, who was then buried in Ballachly. I shall have photos on my return, and... perhaps... a sock!

Japanese ISBN

Following a request from a blog reader, here is the ISBN and a photograph of all the projects in the Japanese knitting book I purchased recently: 'Very Very Kawaii Knit Goods', published by Ondori (ISBN 4-277-17149-4). However, I can't find it on-line!

The projects are really simple, but there are no charts! I am knitting project 10, and making it up slightly as I go along. Will keep you posted about my success or failure!

Easter mice

Eat my way through Easter, what with home made Hot Cross Buns (using Delia Smith's recipe),

a box of Kinder egg treats from my sister (thanks!), and this purchase from a new and wonderful chocolatier in Islington (London):

If ever in the area, do pop in to Paul A Young because a) the chocolate maker is irrepresibly enthusiastic about chocolate and generous with his samples, b) it all tastes gorgeous and c) he makes and sells little white chocolate mice! (don't look if you are squeamish):

My grandfather used to get us white sugar mice (they had string tails), and white chocolate mice when we were little, so I am rather particular to the little squeakers. And this one was very tasty and sophisticated, not too sweet and with a touch of vanilla.

Easter bunnies: project spectrum

My  mother sent me an Easter package (thank you!). I was going to wait till Sunday, but she mentioned in an email that some of the contents were to decorate an 'Easter Tree' (A Dutch custom), so I opened it today. Look, there are little wooden bunnies in the colours of project spectrum! I have a little plan for these wee bunnies, but in the meantime Happy Easter to you all!

Japanese pattern and orange breakfast

I think I have finally made a decision of what top to knit with the Hello Yarn and the Coldharbour Mill yarn. A while ago I bought a Japanese pattern book from Pinku (via Ebay), with the following pattern:

well, when I say pattern... the brief text is in Japanese, so I am interpreting the top from the photograph. Basically it is a tale of two halves, as you knit a front and back from the top down and sew up (leaving a long gap for arms from shoulder to waist). I swatched yesterday and calculated how many stitches to cast on and rows to knit, but it is anyone's guess if I can make it work!

Now, I was recently a bit scathing about yellow and orange, when I actually like the colours (but not generally on clothing or accessories). However, I love those colours in other forms, like food for example. This morning I had the tastiest bitter marmalade from Rainha Santa, it is gorgeous:

The pleasure of an Ozark Handspun scarf

On Sunday, after visiting the farmer's market in Islington, I popped into Loop. I wasn't expecting to find anything, but... dear blog reader, I did. I have been wanting to knit a little quick thing, and feel a sense of achievement which is lacking elsewhere in my life (article, I have almost broken the back of it, but it is a hard slog; and socks, love 'em, but not fast knits on my needles). And they are now stocking the fabulous Ozark Homespun, so I treated myself to one skein. The assistant said: 'please make sure you have enough to complete your project'. I thought, 'erm, what project?' followed by 'at £20 a skein, this is all I am using, so it had better be enough!'.  I chose the skein called 'Medley':

I Googled for a pattern and found one by Y2knit that only uses one skein of it here (in pdf format), grabbed some needles and voila, instant gratification. Never mind that the weather is getting warmer, I am a much happier knitter. Excuse my Summer attire under scarf, but also spent time this week-end removing the old lino tiles from the kitchen floor and getting very hot!