It's A Nice Day For A....

White wedding wrap:

This is a sample on the way to being a kind of capelet - I am copying a photo. I have knitted a little more on it since, trying different cable and rib combinations until I get the closest match. It's a fun process. When it's done, I will use the sample to wear at home on cooler evenings - I much prefer to do "useful" swatching and sampling as I personally dislike doing purposeless knitting (clearly a product knitter at heart!)

I'm using Sirdar Bonus Aran in a tweedy cream, because I had it lying around, but the final product will be in a plain ivory colour in something soft.

In other knitting news, I have progressed the One Night Coat (by Anna and Heidi Pickles), and have just split the arms from the body. I have finished the cuff of one sock, and am a clue behind on the London Shadows MKAL.

Two Vintage Jumpers

Readers, for months I have been slogging through obligation knitting. I am glad to be at the end of it, and am so ready to knit some projects just for me.

Here, however, are the finished objects:

Marion Foale's Classic Jumper in 4 ply Australian Merino (Empire from Morris and Sons):

And Marion Foale's Croquet in 4 ply Pima cotton from Morris and Sons:

I am thrilled with both, and they will be packaged up to make their journey to London on Monday.

Completing these feels great, and has given me great knitting mojo. We are about to be descended upon by overseas guests and they will be sleeping in my knitting room, so today I will be extracting three projects to sustain me over the coming weeks:

My current WIP, London Shadows, by Cindy Garland - part of a Mystery Shawl KAL so I can't post any pics. I am just about to start Clue 3, and am using stashed Katia Darling pure merino sock weight in colour  205 (purples, pinks, slate greys). The London theme sucked me in, as did the release date of the first clue being my birthday. The Katia's gothic colours are perfect. The shawl calls for optional beads but I didn't have any that worked in my bead stash, so might sew them along the edging as an afterthought (and hopefully that's not too much information!)

So that is the shawl on the needles, and I need, cast on so I can pick up and put down easily over the coming weeks, a shawl, a pair of socks, and a sweater.

For socks, I will just pull out some sock yarn from my stash and cast on my usual vanilla pattern, and they will work for commuting, travelling in the car and evenings in front of the TV.

For a sweater, I have my eye on the One Night Coat by Anna and Heidi Pickles. It is now a little unseasonal, but I need some instant gratification after two fine gauge sweaters, and it will be useful next winter. I'll be mixing two stash yarns, a heavy wool and a mohair, in yellow.

And I do have a bit more obligation knitting to do in due course - 3 Aran weight wedding wraps for a winter wedding early next year.