Nothing that I knit is working out at the moment. When I feel like this, I think maybe its time to stop knitting from patterns for a while. I'm terrible at following patterns, and I always adapt them - then things don't work out. At the moment the list of disasters is as follows:

Convertible Cardigan - keep missing things I'm supposed to do in the pattern. Don't want to do pockets as think it will be too bulky. Don't like the cable. Don't like the selvedge. Its going to be ripped!

Bridie - beautiful pattern but hubbie pointed out (correctly) last weekend that I never really wear those russet-y autumnal colours.

Also knitting a baby hat for yet another newborn in my circle of friends. Using a lovely yarn I won in a Simply Knitting competition - Regia Bamboo sock yarn. However, didn't use one of my usual patterns and the stitch count doesn't work out for this new-to-me pattern.

I used to think it was me (and often it most definately is), but also I've become much more cynical about patterns recently, through talking with other knitters. Sometimes, they're not well written. Sometimes they're wrong. Now I know why - designers are paid peanuts for patterns, and are usually under tight deadlines when producing them. But its annoying when you work on something, using expensive yarn, and it just won't work.

Tonight: a break from knitting and some reading for the (knitting) soul by Elizabeth Zimmerman I think!

Bridie

Here is beautiful Bridie, so far. I started all in one piece, before realising that there was no way (or at least no way that I could think of) to incorporate the increases whilst keeping the lattice pattern intact. So I have split at the first increase, and am working up the back.

Gift knitting, own knitting

Lately all I have been doing with this blog is photojournaling. But I've not had much to say, as lots of my knitting since Christmas has felt routine or for gifts. Until I was suddenly inspired this week to start not one, but TWO new projects, both from the inspiring book Knit Knit:
Twinkle's Convertible Cardigan in Rowan Ribbon Twist, having had a nightmare trying to get gauge on everything else I tried with this yarn I realised when flicking through the book I am spot on for this lovely cardigan.

and

Anna Bell's beautiful Bridie (assymetric cardigan), in stash yarn - RYC cashsoft in burgundy for the welts and bands and some stashed camel coloured sirdar snuggly for the main - not luxurious but soft. I have become obssessed with knitting this cardigan and even happily skipped choir practice last night, mostly because I was tired, but partly because curling up on the sofa with Bridie and Season 4 of the West Wing just seemed so much better than braving the biting east wind and a cold church.

Photos of both will follow.

I can justify beginning two new projects of course - I have finished a number of things that had been languishing (see the many photos below), and I have made significant progress on the City and Guilds module (only one and a half samples left to do! And one more design activity!). On my lunch break now, my fingers are twitching to do another round on Bridie.

Baby hat with earflaps

To be sent to baby Joshua, after washing and blocking. It will keep his ears cosy in the coming Adelaide winter. Yarn: Patons Fairytale dk Colour 4 Me. Pattern: A conglomeration of internet research on earflap hats for babies, with the addition of Leaf Lace pattern from a stitch treasury borrowed from my local library.

Glen hat

After my husband left his coat at an event in Newcastle (with hat and gloves in the pockets) I whipped up this Glen Hat from Martin Storey's Classic Tweed for him in Wensleydale Sheep Shop dk 100% wool. Despite our cold spring its too warm for him - so I've been happily wearing it in the garden and at the allotment.

Coquette tube top

A quick, experiemental knit from Steph Japel's Fitted Knits. Will I wear it?? Well, I wore it to a friend's house for dinner last weekend - when this picture was taken. Maybe. Pattern: Coquette Lace Tube Top. Yarn: White is Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran, black is sirdar bonus wool rich. Ribbon - from Woolworths. This was a stash project.

Carie Cropped Cardigan

A stash project using Gedifra Byzanz bought at a weak moment during a visit to Liberty's haberdashery department. Fun, but its wearability is a little limited. Pattern: Carie Cropped from Fitted Knits. Yarn: Gedifra Byzanz.