A new and relatively demanding job has kept me away from things, but I’m settling into a comfortable routine and am slowly beginning to get back on top of my commitments. I think it’s good to have one’s life shaken up a bit, but initially it’s a bit of a shock to the system. I’m enjoying the challenge (I don’t mean that in a PR-veneer type way, it’s actually rather fun!) but the weekends really can’t come too soon.

The typically unpredictable weather means that layering is essential, so I’m still plodding along on my Darcy and I’ve started a new cardigan from the same book (Kim Hargreaves’ Heartfelt) called Faith. I don’t think the photos in the book really did it justice - I wonder if it’s a little large for the model, actually - but once I’d seen naganasu’s beautiful version I knew I had to knit it.

I’m not the biggest fan of RYC Bamboo Soft, the recommended yarn. I mentioned my problems with it in an earlier post, and I wasn’t convinced it would hold up very well in a big, fairly heavy cardigan. The colours and price weren’t ideal, too, so I went for a soft cotton yarn in Garnstudio’s Safran. It’s very soft, the colours are to die for, and it’s not too expensive. It’s a dream to knit with: very smooth and not at all splitty. I chose the brightest turquoise they produce, and it’s so vibrant it practically glows. See for yourself:

To counter this eye-searing project, my Darcy jacket is quietly growing. The texture is delicious, and the gentle dove grey a pleasure to look at.

I promised photos of the mirror, and here they are! Please pretend that my hideous lilac walls are some other colour. (I do this all the time.) The mirror doesn’t match, but then nothing in my bedroom does… however, it’s easier to store it on the wall than anywhere else.

Recently I found out about Oxfam’s giant baby blanket campaign, and I’ve been knitting some squares to send off. You can read more about it here and here (Ravelry group here). It seems really worthwhile, and I hope they make their target of 250 000 squares. (I do not, admittedly, envy the task of the people sewing them together!)

I’m really looking forward to Kim Hargreaves’ new summer collection, “Nectar”. Looks like it’ll be released soon!

It’s amazing how some things can seem like a terrible chore until you discover a Motivating Factor. Today I had just such a perspective shift. My bedroom is in a terrible state, with books piled double and triple on the shelves (to say nothing of the floor), cupboards filled with rubbish and old junk from when I was younger, stuff that should be in the cupboards sitting out and gathering dust - I’m sure you get the idea. It is an unholy mess.

Yet despite my obsession with neatness, this mess is not the sort that’s easy to tidy up. Big decisions have to be made about what will go, and what will stay. Any attempt to sort through the junk (or indeed the books) ends up in a fit of nostalgia, either painful or reflective. It isn’t just rubbish, it’s sentimental rubbish, which makes it harder to deal with. There’s also a lot of it.

So, when I heard about some family furniture that was potentially up for grabs, and heard that a chaise longue was among the offerings… well, my heart went pit-a-pat, frankly! I love chaise longues, and I think I love the idea of them even more. In my mind, they should be covered in cushions and perhaps have an elegant shawl draped over the back, the perfect seat for a lady of refinement to sink into with a book. (Yes, I’m romanticising this to a ridiculous degree.) I was determined to have it. However, there’s a problem of space, and long story short, the furniture will need some serious rearrangement if it’s to fit. To do that, I need to tidy, big time.

‘My’ chaise longue doesn’t look much like this, but it’s nice, isn’t it?

The task doesn’t seem half so bad anymore, though. Not when there’s a chaise longue as a possible reward. (If it fits in the room/in the car/through the doorway…) My fingers are crossed. I’m going to work hard. It will fit.

I also have a new mirror, from the same source. It’s very ornate and really… well, let’s just say it has candlestick holders. It’s rather fabulous. I’ll try and take a picture soon.

Firstly, I’d like to collectively thank everyone who was so complimentary about my Cherry in the last post. It’s been lovely to read your comments, and to know that my spur-of-the-moment decision to accessorise turquoise with red wasn’t completely crazy. :)

Secondly, here are some dolls in the snow. (Yes, snow, in April, in London of all places!) This is obviously a justification for my ridiculously large box of knitted doll clothing. Some day I’ll have to get it all out and photograph it, although much of it is rubbish, and from the “early days” of my knitting (hard to believe that was only a year ago!).

I don’t think I’ll ever tire of snow. It’s rare here, and rarer to have it settle, and even rarer for it to be more than an inch thick, so in my view I’m allowed to behave like a five-year-old when I see it. When I woke up on Sunday morning to see the white blanketed view from my window, I showered in about two minutes flat, pulled on my big coat and some woollies, grabbed the camera, the dolls, and went out into the back garden to enjoy the freezing temperatures and the sheer joy of kneeling in snow (ha!) to try and get a good angle for my photos.

One of the aforementioned woollies was my new beret. When I finished Cherry, I had five balls of the RYC Cashcotton DK left over (having only used five for the cardigan). I hummed and hawed over these five balls, not really wanting to make another top, but not feeling the need for a scarf either. Solution: another hat. I didn’t need another hat, but I’m coming to realise that’s a completely irrelevant and pointless fact. I don’t need to drink tea, but woe betide the man or woman who tries to stop me! Anyway, this is what I ended up with:

Pattern: Lace Tam (from Lace Tam and Scarf pattern) by the Rainey Sisters (see “free patterns” section at the top of the sidebar, or find it on Ravelry here)
Yarn: Rowan RYC Cashcotton DK, colour #602 Pool, just over 1 ball
Size: One size fits all
Needles: 3.75mm, 3mm

I knit it flat on straight needles - I have very few double-pointed needles or circulars, so I decided to make do with what I had. This initially caused some confusion re. the seed rib, but I soon figured it out. I don’t think the seam is particularly obvious, either (at least, I hope not!). It’s a beautiful pattern, not too lacy, but just enough to be interesting. I did find that I had to sew a couple of rows of elastic inside the hem to make it really secure, but that’s due to a combination of the inelasticity of the cashcotton and the extremely windy weather we’ve been having here. (I hate having to walk around holding my hat on my head - I hate it even more when I’m doing that and trying to keep my skirt from blowing up!)

Over the past few days I’ve been churning out doll-sized hats, but I also have plans for ysolda’s gorgeous Rose Red beret pattern. I’ve bought it, but haven’t quite decided on the yarn. I’m also plodding along with the Darcy jacket from Kim Hargreaves’ Heartfelt. It’s going to be lovely, but knitting seed stitch in thick cotton yarn is really not my idea of fun. I’ve got a slightly sore elbow, too (too much computer and knitting, I suspect) so I haven’t worked on it much. At this rate, maybe I’ll finish before the autumn…

I’ve got quite a lot to catch up on, and more than a few draft blog posts to finish up and share, but I’ve had five hours sleep for the past two nights (the Formula 1 Grand Prix was in Malaysia this weekend), and I’m completely knackered. At the moment I think I’m running on caffeine, adrenaline, and chocolate. (Easter chocolate, of course; specifically Green & Blacks and Mini Eggs. Mmmm.) So, I’ll go for the easy option: another finished knit.

Pattern: Cherry by Anna Bell
Yarn: Rowan RYC Cashcotton DK, colour #602 Pool, 5 balls
Size: 34″, no modifications save for working 1×1 rib as half twisted rib
Needles: 4mm and 3 1/4mm

This is a lovely pattern. The fit is very nice, with the waistline hitting exactly where it needs to be on me. The instructions make perfect sense, are easy to follow and won’t lead you astray, although you might want a little experience in certain areas (e.g. knowing to place waist shaping a stitch or two in from the edge, what sort of decrease to use where, etc). In this way it’s very much like the Rowan patterns - they aren’t hard, but they don’t state the obvious at every stage.

I re-purposed this yarn from my ill-fated Erin, which I talked about in an earlier post. I came to the sudden realisation that an A-line cardigan was the worst possible shape for me, and the back of the cardigan was turning out to be very large anyway (I suspect I may have had gauge issues). I lost no time in ripping it out and looking for something else to make. The yarn itself is incredibly soft, with a light halo that’s probably the angora content at work (it’s a blend of 35% cotton, 25% nylon, 18% angora, 13% rayon and 9% cashmere). Wearing it is like being very gently hugged.

Because the shape is so good for me, I plan to make a few more of these cardigans with different stitch patterns, yarns, and sleeve length. Perhaps not immediately, though… I have some other things in my knitting queue, and only so much time!

Last weekend I was away visiting a friend in Cambridge, and to the right is the necklace that I serendipitously found there - it’s also pictured in the two photos above. I don’t normally go for big, bold kitschy jewellery, but I couldn’t pass up a two swallows pendant, could I? (Besides, it matches my belt.) I bought it at the Sunday arts & crafts market in the Market Square.

I hope everyone’s having a good Easter weekend! Now I’m going to go and demolish the rest of these Mini Eggs. Yum.