Happy Easter!

FO: Clair Bennet

Pattern: Clair Bennet (rav. link) by Ariane Caron-Lacoste
Yarn: Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran Tweed- Colourway Jewel
Needle Size: 4.5mm/US 7
Notions: Two 1940's vintage buttons from The Button Bower
Alterations: 1) The cardigan body was knitted in one piece up to the underarms, then
each piece was finished separately.
2) I didn't need to pick up as many stitches on the button bands.
3) The sleeves were grafted onto the body rather than sewn on.

I originally made this cardigan because I really liked the long ribbed neck, which I thought would be great in winter, but once the cadigan was finished I found that it also looked good with the neck turned down which is perfect for the cool but not yet cold autumn weather.


I also love any pattern that incorporates large buttons!

In the Kitchen

I seem to mainly post about knitting, so I thought this week I would talk about another interest of mine, cooking. I really only became interested in cooking a few years ago, before that I found cooking to be such a chore, I'm not sure what changed my opinion but I think it had a lot to do with a) my love of gardening and realising the importance of eating seasonally and b) my discovery of travel cookbooks.


I love food with a lot of flavour and I love cooking with spices and fresh herbs, I will never forget going to visit the Egyptian Spice Bazaar in Istanbul, ahhhh the smell was just heavenly all those wonderful spices! However I have found a much smaller substitute, the Fiji market in Newtown (see He Needs Food blog for great photos and write up on the market and all things culinary), smaller yes, but they have a HUGE selection of spices, just about every spice under the sun! I assure you that's no exaggeration.

So this weekend I cooked sweet-sour lamb yahni with black-eyed peas and almonds, a recipe from Greg Maloufs cookbook Turquoise. The recipe called for sour cherries, which I couldn't find anywhere, so I substituted them for cranberries (frozen cranberries) which just looked so good I had to take a photo, and in the end worked really well as a sour cherry substitute.

On the menu tonight...mushroom risotto with a garden salad and dry white wine!

Still Life Sunday

Yesterday I picked the last rose out of the garden and put it in a cup on the kitchen window sill. I love seeing the light from the window pass through the petals.

FO Toast

Pattern: Toast by Leslie Friend
Needle Size: 4mm/US6
Yarn: Valley Yarn Northfield (DK, Colourway- Charcoal)

I have been knitting a lot of larger projects lately and needed something simple and quick, so I cast on for this project and within 2 days of relaxing in front of the TV at night, I have a pair of super soft arm warmers. I really love the yarn, its (as you probably already know) one of Webs house-brand yarns and is a mixture of silk, alpaca and merino. I'm so impressed with this yarn I have decided to use it to make the cardigan Manu (Ravelry link) which calls for a soft DK yarn.

Speaking of yarn, the skeins in the photo are my own hand-dyed yarn. I have always played around with yarn dying, but lately it's become a real interest so much so that I have amassed quite a number of skeins and am now exploring the possibility of selling on Etsy. It's either this or fill the house full of lovely insulating yarn! Anyhow I'll see how it goes.

FO: Coraline and Joukahainen

Pattern: Coraline by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Malabrigo Silky Merino (DK/8ply), Colourway Blackberry
Needle Size: 3.25mm/US3 & 3.5mm/US4
Alterations: The only alteration made was adding extra length to the sleeves and body (mainly because my gauge was out slightly...I didn't swatch!)

I really enjoyed this pattern for a few reasons, its nice and quick, relatively easy and I learnt a few new techniques, the provisional crochet cast on and the I-cord bind off. The knitted hem and the I-cord edgings around the sleeves and neck also give a nice finished look to the cardigan and is a nice change from the usual ribbed edges of cardigans/jumpers. The cardi fits perfectly and I love the shimmer of the silk and merino yarn, great colourway too (as is always the case with Malabrigo yarn). Its safe to say that with this cardigan now completed I'm looking forward to cooler autumn weather.

Now onto the next FO....

Last year my partner asked me if I would knit him a plain, no frills black jumper, which I of course jumped at the chance. So I found this pattern and decided to use Malabrigo worsted, which I ordered online from a store here in Australia. So I cast on around this time last year, knitted pretty much all of the jumper (its knit bottom up and all in one), up to the beginning of the neck decreases when I ran out of yarn only this time I couldn't find any black Malabrigo in Australia (I only needed one ball), so I had to order it from the USA. When it finally arrived I went to wind it, by hand (I didn't have a ball winder at this stage), only to find that the skein was in a massive tangle and the only way out of this mess was to cut the yarn and roll, cut the yarn and roll etc...so in the end I had about six small balls of this yarn. By this stage I just lost heart and the jumper was thrown, I mean placed nicely, in the cupboard until a month ago when Paul asked what had happened to his jumper. I reluctantly pulled the thing out of the cupboard entered it into the Ravelympics (good for motivation), and started knitting again, and after two nights worth of TV knitting I had finished it!

And after all that, here it is...

Pattern: Joukahainen by Kristel Nyberg (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted, Colourway Black
Needle Size: 5.5mm/US6

So after all the drama I'm happy with the FO, it fits well and is exactly what Paul asked for, a simple jumper, which unfortunately turned out to be far from simple to complete.

Ravelympics

The mass CO for the Ravelympics starts in a few hours from now, and even though I'm not CO anything new, its a good opportunity to finish a few projects. So here are my two competitors for the WIPS-Dancing event....

Pattern: Garden Gate Socks by Emily Johnson
This is about all I have managed to knit, even though I had great hopes of working on them during my holiday (yeah right!).

and...


Pattern: Joukahainen byKristel Nyberg

This project has been on the needles since this time last year. All I have to do is finish the neck and thats it! Not sure why I'm so averse to finishing this project but I have promised the recipient that I will have it done (otherwise he is going to be very cold this winter).

Let the games begin!