But the above looks much like this:

Juding from what i've been able to find on the wide world of web its going to be a light blue probably most like the 2nd pic... which isnt too bad I dont think, but I will be much happier if it turns out to be darker. Guess i'll just have to wait and see!! Probably two whole weeks... sigh

I intially had the Picovoli pattern from MagKnits in mind - this very cool top that calls for 6 balls of the cathay yarn and will be perfect for summer:

AND THEEEEEN
I saw this on Flickr, the Fiery Bolero from Debbie Bliss Cathay Pattern book (it also featured in Interweave knits magazine Summer 2005 issue)

I love bolero's and shrugs and this one is just divine... strangley enough it seems that this also uses 6 balls of the Cathay yarn... guess its the sleeves that just eats it up.

So now of course i've placed a bid on the book that features this pattern (and from what I could tell some other nice ones too) cos thats on sale too.

**Edited the details of my stash below**

Okay this is freaky.... Over the weekend I thought "I'm gonna take some photo's of my stash and put them on my blog!"

I've never thought about doing that before because my stash.... compared to some other knitters.... is pretty small (but growing all the time!).

So last night I laid it all out on my bed, took some photo's and uploaded them to Flickr with the intention of blogging about it today at work.

And what should appear in my Inbox this morning? An e-mail from my swap hostess outlining the next contest... Flash Your Stash!!

Am I psychic or WHAT?!?!?



Top Row left to Right:
x1 purple/pink/red variegated & x1 Black Cheapo Acrylic Yarn - I think I planned to mix these together to make a Lacey caplet... but just never got around to it, and probably wont because its not great stuff. The only thing I've used it for so far is as lifelines and scrap yarn to hold stitches!

Moda Vera Burro x3 Black - I was going to make an anthropology caplet from the Crafster forums with the Romantica mixed in to give it some shine... then i was going to make the circular shrug (also from Crafster) then i started that baby blue sweater... which is very similar to the Burro yarn (its got that wispy shiny stuff in it) and now I'm too scared to use it for the fear that I'll hate it as much as I hate that blue stuff!!

Cats %100 mohair x4 light blue - I was gifted this in another swap, unfortunately its very scratchy when knitted up. I started to do a candle flame shawl with it and had to stop. I have no idea what I'm going to use this in. Its too scratchy to go anywhere near skin so it wont be a wearable item... can you felt mohair?? Probably not!

Moda Vera Romatica x2 black with sliver flecks - was going to mix in with the Burro, but this could possibly make an interesting bolero or One Skein Wonder from Glampyre. I have something similar that I bought from Supre that I wear out a bit.

Random leftovers of Paton's Feathers from when I first started knitting in purple, black & blue. This is the stuff that started my obsession. I was working at Big W at the time and you wouldn't believe the volume of this stuff that would come through my checkout. And people would come in with scarves made out of the stuff... and the colours you could get were so fantastic! Unfortunately its quite hard to knit, but I didn't know this cos I'd never used anything else. It wasn't until i branched out that i realised what hell I'd put myself through. My first "scarf" from this stuff was 60 sts wide... uh huh! I had no idea. Its really a shawl, and its got lots of holes in it that I doctored up afterwards by stitching together. I had no idea how to pick up stitches and whenever i dropped one I'd get so depressed!! HA HA

2nd Row:
My Fishtail scarf UFO with Morehouse Merino in Variegated green colours (Fern Colourway i think) there's about 400 yards on that ball still to go! I don't know that I'll ever finish it... I think it should probably be something else. Maybe a symmetrical Mystery Stole 3 - who knows, I'd have to have nothing else on my plate to get back to working with this... and I don't see that happening anytime soon!

Sean Sheep Flinders x2 in black - I have no freaking idea why I bought this stuff, its very similar to Patons Zhivago but not as nice. I made a Panta headband out of some of this and where it sits against my forehead gets itchy, so now i'm afraid to make anything from it that will be near my skin.

Lincraft winter warmth x1 red & x1 navy blue. I forget what kind of yarn that is but its very thin, i think it might be a blend of wool and mohair but its nothing like my other mohair this stuff is silky soft. I bought them to mix together to make a Panta headband for my Sister In law... but was rightfully questioned by my hubby about the colours, they're not her at all she wouldn't have liked it.

Cleckheaton Merino Spun %100 Merino wool x1 in a tealy colour and 1/4 leftover ball in purple. I think these were leftovers from a scarf project also for SIL. This wool is quite nice, very soft but I think it would get softer with multiple washes. I did have that Teal ball in mind for another Isabau Purse (previous attempt at this was with the vomit yarn!) which I think is better suited to it... if I ever get that far! Might try and incorporate the leftover purple colour into it as well.

Leftover 1/2 ball of Jo Sharp Soho %100 cotton in Burgundy. Not really sure what will happen to this, there's not quite enough of it left to do anything with.

My new %100 Mongolian cashmere from my swap Buddie! I think I will either use this for a pair of socks (but that seems like a bit of a waste of really soft yarn and I'm not sure how well it would hold up with all the wear socks get) or a scarf pattern in the magazine my Buddie gave me.... I'm leaning towards the scarf because at least then it would be nice and soft against my neck :):)

3rd Row:
my Merino wool x5 balls & 1 hank in pink & brown that I haven't wound up yet. I did a test swatch of this and then dyed it all brown. It worked pretty good, the pink bits went a light brown which I think looks marginally better. I'm considering abandoning this for the Something Red pattern and using it instead for the Curves Tank Top. I'm hoping that working in the round will produce a more stripey pattern rather than splotches. Then I can use the leftovers for things like a Calo or another pair of fetching or maybe another scarf.

I don't remember the kind of yarn the huge white ball is but it has flecks of iridescent material all through it which gives it a bit of a shine... i was going to make a shawl or something out of this for my wedding but I ended up with a dress that had capped sleeves with beads and dimontes on it which I could see catching on a shawl so I didn't bother with it. The weather was nice that day so I didn't need any warm coverage anyway. I have no idea what to use this for now, I once considered it for another Anthropology caplet but its another possible project that I dont think I'd ever get around to.

Sean Sheep Armyatage x2 in blue variegation. I think I initially bought this with the My So Called Scarf in mind, but the wool isn't great quality and it feel very scratchy and itchy in ball form... it might get softer with blocking or a wool wash.

Sean Sheep Ayers x4 & bit in Baby Blue. I've already used about 6 balls of that stuff to make the top down jumper that you see there. Which i HATE!! It leaves all of those fluffy bits everywhere and they sparkle a bit so they really stand out! It didn't look so bad as a swatch at the store but when i started to knit it up I really didn't like it, and it's actually a bit hard to knit, not that I cant see what I'm doing but that it really makes my hands hurt - which has never happened to me before. I don't see myself ever finishing it... EVER.

Last item next to the blue monstrosity is 4 hanks of %100 Egyptian cotton, which I thought was going to be silver, not half silver and half pale pink - Grrr! One of the downsides to buying off of Ebay! I bought it cos I was going to try and modify the Something Red pattern to accommodate the smaller Stitch Per Inch gage that it is. After I did a proper one with the pink & brown. That has since gone out the window given how well my modifications never work. So I'm thinking that it might work nicely for Glyampyres Oringana. see Knit & Tonic's version HERE

And what should be awating me when I got home from work today....?

A package from my secret swapper! YAAAAY

Thats my other cat Leroy - he was givin it a bit of a sniff while I was trying to take a photo :)

So the yarn is handdyed 100% Mongolian Cashmere... and OMG its so sooooooft! I think its the softest stuff i've ever felt! I was sitting on the couch rubbing it against my cheek... NO i Kid you NOT! ....... Hubby looked at me strange, until he touched it. Even he was impressed

The needles are yarn bee 5.5mm straights.... and swapp buddie, you'll be happy as punch to know that, no I dont have 5.5mm straights :)

Here is a closeup of the flower on the card.... how cool is that I think my swap buddie makes those herself! Very Pretty!
There are a couple of patterns in the Mag that i like, but these really stood out... not because i'd make them... but... oh well you'll see:

Seriously... WHY?!?!?

ThAnK YoU Swap BuDDie - You totally ROCK!!!

So last night i finished the 2nd side of my Balthazar Vest - the blue contraption two posts down - and was able to "try it on".

Okay so I didnt trust twinkle when they said that the designes were supposed to be a little bit tight fitting, so i added some stitches and tried to modify the pattern to accomodate a larger than stick figure gal.

I really should know by now not to do that, every time I do it ends up being wAAAAAy too big.

OMG if you could have seen it last night, I looked like a kid who'd gotten into mums bras and proceedes to strut around with it dangling loosley on the outside of thier clothing... suffice to say it wasnt good!

It was a bit of a pain in the butt to frog too, because the fiber is so loosley spun it has a tendancy to get stuck on the stiches around it as you pull it out. But because of the large gage whats taken me about two weeks of night time knitting only took me about an hr and a half to revert back into depressing little balls.

** now there's a sentence that would strike fear into the heart of any man!**

needless to say I will NOT give up, i'm going to look crap in this monstrosity eventually but dangnamit it WILL FIT!

So i'm going to follow the pattern properly now.... *hangs head in shame for not doing so in the first place*

35%

Well i think thats sorta okay... better than my buddie who only got 25%!! :):):)

And I guess if i'm gonna be wanted for something it would'nt be so bad if it was for the Indefatigable hugging of a weathly kitten.... wish my kitten was wealthy...

Oooookay, so I promised WIP pics... and I always keep my promises (no matter how long it actually takes me :)

These two are my second attempt at the something red sweater... unfortunatly i've only done about three or so inches so its a bit hard to tell what its going to end up like.




See... army Camo Brown and pink style!!

Gee its been a week already since I last posted.


Its so funny, I cant wait for the week to end but then before you know it you're right back where you started waiting for the weekend again. Then its your birthday.... then its Christmas... then its another year and you're like OMG this time last year you were finalising everything for the wedding and freaking out about having enough money to pay for it all.


Now that seems like a lifetime ago and we've only been married a year. I guess it doesn't help that we've actually been together for 9 years now and have been living as though we were married for 4 of those so its always felt this way, that hasn't changed.


Onto more knitting related issues, finished my circular lace shrug.... probably should have done more ribbing for the edging, its a little tight under the arms. Sorry don't have any photo's yet will try and get hubby to take some.


Having finished one project its straight into the next one, Something red sweater/cardigan in the pink and brown.

again no WIP photos cos I'm at work, but knitting straight from one ball makes it look like pink & brown camouflage - icky! So I'm attempting to knit from two balls like they say you should do with variegated yarn, haven't done enough of that version to see what it'll look like, so far i think it will be better because the colours will pool into larger pockets than with just one.... which will hopefully reduce the camo look!!

Will take photo's I promise :)