I've finally gotten all my orders from EBay now - its so exciting to get them in the post!
First up is the Lion Brand Cotton Ease:

I got 6 in the Violet colour and 6 in Stone.

This stuff is pretty cheap but it's a new and improved version of Cotton Ease and it seems pretty good, especially for the price. I plan to knit (finally!) a something red, which will hopefully be just right for those cool summer nights.

Onto the Debbie Bliss Cathay: I wasn't sure how this yarn was going to turn out colour wise.... The photo's just don't quite capture the loveliness of this yarn. Its very small ply not sure what that would translate into... maybe 4ply, its similar to something you'd use for baby clothes. But it has a sheen that gives it a sort of silvery blueness. From what I've been reading about Cathay it tends to split quite a bit while you're knitting... although the cotton/bamboo blend yarn that I'm using also takes the occasional stroll down splitzville lane.

Hopefully this will eventually turn itself into Picovoli - maybe if i just let it fester for long enough!

With the arrival of the Debbie Bliss Cathay Pattern Book, I scrapped working on Oringina (after frogging several times due to stuffing up the lace stitch... grrrrr) and started working on the Cathay Shrug, which is what the model is wearing on the cover:

In my black Bamboozle (the cotton/bamboo blend i mentioned previously that splits a little). What I didn't realise is that this particular shrug and the one that I found on Flickr called the Fiery Bolero are actually two different patterns (although they end up with a very similar end result), the Cathay Shrug is knit in pieces and seamed, while the Fiery Bolero is knit in one big flat piece and seamed under the arms. I kinda wish I'd known that before I bought the book... AND THEN - to add insult to injury I found a copy of the Cathay Shrug on the internet for Free!! GRRRRR oh well the other patterns in this book are not bad, but I'd probably have to have nothing else to do to cast on for any of them!

I just finished the back piece last night and am now working on one of the front pieces:

I hate how long it takes me to do things, I wish I could make a decent living from doing nothing.... sigh. I cant wait for Christmas because we get the week between Christmas & New Years off where I work, we're closed, and I'm thinking of taking the rest of the 1st week of Jan off as well.... fingers crossed!