Frisian Frillies

Two more nights until our trip to Shetland. Well, actually one, because I'm picking Monique up at 3.30AM. Big yawn. That's early! It better be worth it! (kidding...) In preparation of Shetland, I've been knitting like the wind. I've finished a pair of fingerless gloves in alpaca and kidsilk, I'm working on a scarf in broomstick lace (fun!) and the first of 2 Suzy Q's in finished. But no pictures. Oh, no wait, yes, one picture. Not knitting-related though... That's me. With red hair. Very. Red. Hair. ;) This girl is going to paint an island red in a few days' time. Shetlanders, beware of the Dutchies!!!

The fun just doesn't end... With the help of a Drops pattern, different combinations of the yarn for my sweater and a few evenings of knitting, my head will be warm in Shetland... I cast on during election night, and the following evening, with (most of) the results in, progress was fast and furious...  It's great fun seeing a wee hat like this grow... The colour combinations really work for me. Especially the star! The puffins will have fun pooping on that! So, if you see this mop of hair, a shiny nose and massive grin under a hat running around, it's me! Some fingerless gloves are in the works... And also this... It almost feels like I'm knitting with guinea pig hair... Any idea what it will be??? 

And then it was done... There was some frantic action this last week... First, I stee-eeeeeeeked! It was actually not as scary as I thought. I just took my scissors and cut open the cleavage... And tadaa... After picking up a gazillion stitches along the neckline... Then it was time to finish this baby off... It's weird to knit a 'winter' sweater, when it's nearly 30C outside... The sweater likes lying about in the sun too... And then it's time for a soak and some more sun... Lots of waiting... more waiting... and more waiting... And then: the big reveal! TADAAAA! I have the cleavage to pull this off, apparently ;) And my hips don't look half bad either. Happy happy!!! I'm ready for Shetland, baby! Now, off to find another project... Thankfully, a little dragon baby was born in Austria... Guess what I'll be knitting...

I know, it's Thursday, but it has been a while since my latest Shetland update, and our fly-out date is getting nearer... so, a quick look at where the sweater now stands! Getting close!!! Last night, I finally attached the two sleeves, which knit up pretty quickly, and now I'm on the home straight. The sleeve just reaches past the elbow, just the way I like it. And the length of the body is just right! I had added a bit of length, because on the pictures I found it a bit short. And as I spend a lot of time sitting down, the last thing I want to do is keep having to pull down the sweater over my bum. And this is where some of the 'magic' is going to happen... The steek at the front, where the knitting has to be cut, folded back and then used as the basis for the neckline.  About the neckline, I realised a few days ago that I would not have enough pecan yarn to finish it. Even though you don't see many brown stitches in the ribbing, the yarn has to...

Knitting al fresco in Denmark.... Live @ Faaborg beach Cotton bag @ Faaborg camping Sherilyn @ Fins Hoved Sherilyn @ Koge Beach Sherilyn @ Kronborg (Elsinore) Sherilyn @ the S-train. To be continued...

Just in time for the Olympics to start, a blog about the final stage of the Tour de Fleece. I had a blast, it was a great stress reliever to get some spinning done in the evening after a hard and long day's work. So, without ado, my newly acquired knitting stash: I spun lots of naturals this year, which was great fun. It has resulted in enough yarn to knit a small Celtic or Shetland patterned blanket. Still thinking about how and what.  The other skeins are now just lying in my yarn basket, being pretty. The silk is 3/4 done. And it will remain that way for a few weeks. I've spent this afternoon (what was left of it after finishing my final project and the VAT returns) to pick projects for the Ravellenic Games aka Raveoly aka Spoldemort aka The Olympic Games. USOC, we have forgiven you (we knitters never hold a grudge for long), you apologized , but we will continue to enjoy making comments at how silly you guys behave . In a way that won't result in a Cease and D...

For these two stages (and the rest of the Tour, to be honest) I will be spinning silk... I started on the Challenge day. Not only a challenge because of doing something different than normal wool roving, but also challenging because it's extremely busy, and I usually don't get anywhere close to the spinning wheel until around 11 pm... So how does this work? First, you buy one or more stacks of hankies (if you're silly like me, about 4), you pell one off, pull it apart, pull pull and pull some more until you get the thread as thin as required, and then you start spinning. This time, my silk is thin, very thin... Definitely challenging and slow, but fun!