Fair Isles

This has most definately been a time of trying new things. Whilst it's been snowing outside and slowing our lives down I sat awhile and tackled not only machine quilting, but jumped in and had a go at fairisle knitting. I've wanted to make something in a fairisle knit for such a long time now. I really really, really want to knit up a fairisle cardi with a patterned yoke. The only problem is I can't settle on the main colour. Sometimes I think apple green, then I move on to rose pink and from there to palest cream or slate grey. Until I can make my mind up the cardi will have to stay as a one day desire.

Now hats are a different matter altogether. They don't use up as much yarn or take as much time so I thought a hat would be a great place to start. It's also blinking stinking freezin' at the moment and as Little Bun lost her favourite tam with a bobble on top I thought she needed a new one.  I picked her favourite colour purple and matched it up with a grey and green before starting on a pattern I fancied from Mel Clark's Knitting Everyday Finery. 

I do enjoy knitting in the round so that made this pattern even better. I get bored quickly knitting up and down, row upon row, but somehow going round and round chasing the yarn tail is soothing to me.

Over the weekend a pattern has slowly emerged. My knitting doesn't have any noticeable holes in it so I must be winding it along ok in a fairisle kind of way. The first things I ever knitted were in intarsia (pictures if you're not a knitter) as I couldn't face knitting rows in the same colour. I knitted a wee pink cardi for Miss Rosey with white ducks and then an ambitious cardi with butterflies and flowers all over it. That's when I learnt that you really should hide knitting from two year olds. Mr Bun broke the news to me that Miss Rosey had found and unwound the nearly finished back of the cardi. I can only guess that seeing all those birds, butterflies and flowers melt away into bits of colourful yarn was very exciting to her. I wasn't as calm and understanding as this at the time mind you.

Now here I am again wrapping different threads, learning a new technique and loving it. Looking at this picture I'm probably pulling the thread along too tightly, but hey ho, I'm pleased and as long as it fits a head I'll be pleased.

I'm enjoying knitting this pattern so much already that I've bought some more to make another one. Why don't I ever just think about the thing I'm doing right now?

I made sure I found time for a few more rows either side of the yet another day off school entertainment. We had a snowball fight planned with kids in the village which seemed a grand way to kick off the week. When we got home there was a package with an Aussie postmark sticking out of our postbox. How very exciting is that to have belated birthday gifts arrive the same day you find out that same wonderful mate is making it back to this wee island this summertime. 

Oh how I've loved this slowed up time we've had ending with a gift before we headed back to the usual routines.