If I have been quiet on the blogging front lately, it's because I have been Finishing. I do this a lot - there are always lots of things for me to finish! Currently being finished:
Intoxicating - only needs sewing up, and the neckline doing. I used stash to knit this colourful, mosaic summer sweater from the wonderful book "No Sheep for You". It is knit in a mixture of Rowan Hand Knit Cotton, and Debbie Bliss Cathay and Pure Silk. It was a great knit, with lots going on all the time, but not too much (except for one set of 7 rows which required me to do stranded fairisle, short rows and decreases all at the same time...I broke into a sweat!). The pattern writing is exemplary.
The Versailles Shawl - just 7 rows from the lace border, but as I now have over 200 stitches per row the going is slow. This is probably going to end up as a gift.
The Panelled Baby Blanket - just 1 more panel to do! (Can you spot a pattern here?)
And I must confess I CAST ON this week, in a desperate attempt for some light relief from all this finishing. I started the Snug handwarmers from Emma King's book Fun and Funky Knitting. These are intended to be a birthday present for my sister (who, living in Australia, is about to go into winter) although they are rather bright and sparkly for her - I am using some self-striping mohair in stash, with Jaeger Luxury Tweed in orange, and Louisa Harding Coquette in green (this yarn provides the sparkle).
I have just been cruising ravelry for ideas for the 10 skeins of Rownan Purelife British Breeds Blue Faced Leicester I recently bought; and made some progress, when I stumbled across a Knitty pattern in Habu stainless steel silk (called something like Tangled Seaweed) which I just fell in love with. Oh dear - I am supposed to be using up the stash!
