Regular program resumes tomorrow

I've been laid low with a migraine today so here's a pretty picture or two for you to look at instead of my ramblings, and I'll be back tomorrow with something a little more interesting.

Herbivore

About a week ago I finished Stephen West's Herbivore pattern, which I really enjoyed. I've made two of his patterns now and have a couple more in mind to try in the future. It's so refreshing to find such young, male designers of knitwear. I think the clean lines and simple design is what appeals the most, a lot of people on Ravelry are saying how they like the architectural nature of his work and I'm inclined to agree. This pattern in particular is made up of some interesting angles which add to the shawls great versatility when it comes to how you wear it (I'm even wearing it now seeing as it's been such a cold, wet day here).

This was my first time using Malabrigo Sock yarn too and I must say it is VERY nice, luckily there are a few more skeins of it sitting in my stash and I dare say I'll be using them sooner rather than later. I wasn't sure how I'd go with the yardage, but in the end I could have made it an inch or two wider as I've ended up with a spare 15 grams.

I'm on a bit of a roll with some knitting monogamy at the moment so hopefully I'll have a finished cardigan to show you before the end of next week too. Yay!

Holding myself accountable.

Ok, well I wasn't sure if I would go ahead with this post, but I figure it may be the only way to get myself motivated enough to do something.

For months now I've felt the need to lose some weight, this staying at home with the toddler is not all that good for my health seeing as I snack, a lot. I have at least 15 kilos that I need to shed so that I feel better about myself again, and so that I can actually fit into my clothes comfortably.

Now I know it's not going to happen overnight, but I figure if I announce it here for people to see that I'll actually have to get started on doing something about it rather than just read the magazines! That way, by the end of Blogtoberfest, I can hopefully demonstrate some change in my habits and be well on the way to reaching my goal. The fact that I have a wedding to go to in November and family to visit at Christmas time should also be motivating factors.

So fingers crossed, starting tomorrow I will consciously make an effort to make a change for the better and will report back here at the end of the month as to my progress.

(Sorry about the reversed picture too, but that's the best I could get with my built in camera on the computer).

And so it begins...

We're off and running on the 31 day event of Blogtoberfest! I have a few ideas of what I'll be posting about here, needless to say you'll be finding out a lot about my knitting escapades as well as probably my photography, likes and dislikes. Hopefully my calendar will be filled and we'll have a fun ride together.

Here goes.....

What have I done...

Eeeek, I've signed up for Blogtoberfest! Check out TinnieGirl and Bellsknits for all the relevant information.

I hope I can manage to be interesting for the next 31 days!

Today...

Instead of using these

and dealing with this


I played with this


and this
because they make me happy!

It's a shawl thing...

Yes, I'm still here, just hadn't felt much like blogging lately, but have been keeping busy with other things. As you can see by this post I have been bitten by the shawl bug, like many other people it seems! After knitting Ishbel I started to find that there were so many other patterns out there that I wanted to try, so try I have.

There are many, many Miriam L. Felton designs that I have loved since setting eyes on them and I've got plans for making quite a few, but the first was Adamas (Ravelry link). I'm not sure why I chose this one as the first, but it just seemed to happen, and in a colour that I wouldn't normally choose for myself, a rich gold from the Collinette Jitterbug range. I'm really quite happy and proud of the result.


Two quick projects came next, Milkweed by Laura Chau and Hayworth Shawlette by Victoria Lynn. Although Milkweed is a really nice, simple, pattern in a lovely yarn (Handmaiden Casbah Sock) I'm not all that fussed by my finished shawl. It's nice, but.....I'm not sure. Maybe I should give it a couple of test runs before I make my final verdict. On the other hand my Hayworth has come out beautifully, in the same, soft yarn, it's a good size and a good solid design. I've been surprised to see on Ravelry that not many people have made this one yet, hopefully the virus will spread a little further to include it!

Now, I've started working on Stephen West's Boneyard Shawl and have at least six other projects in mind to start in the very near future. I've almost been inspired by Rose Red to start something really ambitious. She's started the month off with seven days of Wollmeise, go check out her blog to see it all in it's glory. I considered a Seven Shawls of September idea, which could morph into the Seven Shawls of Spring but I'll see how I go in the coming week and will let you know!