Wednesday Yarn Along

Joining in with Ginny...this week I spent a lot of time making up a jumper knitted by one of my lovely mummy friends, who I taught to knit "my very rown self," as Sausages would say. I actually enjoy making up, and like to think my seams are quite pretty, but in my first attempt at making up this jumper I made a silly mistake in reading the instructions, and had to rip out all the sleeve and side seams. This is a before picture:

It broke my heart to rip that out! It was done! But my silly mistake had made the arm holes too small, and nobody needs that, so out they came. My lovely friend fed me a lot of chocolate afterwards, and I'm just about over the trauma now. The moral of this tale? Don't read the pattern! Follow your brain! I have also finished knitting the leaves for Sausages' autumn decorations (as demanded. He knows what he wants knitted, that boy!), and they are awaiting forming into some sort of display. Maybe around our hall mirror?

This garish beast is the first thing I have knitted for 'Madge, even though I started it before we even imagined that we would be having a baby soon. It's really an exercise in using a basic chevron pattern, and uses a pack of rainbow yarn that came free with a magazine Husband bought for me when I was poorly at New Year. It's also full of mistakes, and one row of non-regulation red due to a miscalculation that saw the blanket abandoned in a project bag for a good month or so. In the end I decided that I had to get the project out of my system, and that 'Madge isn't really in a position to criticise, so a single row of the wrong red was endurable. Please forgive me if the colours have hurt your eyes!

Not knitting, but Sausages and I had a lovely day with our fellow woolly friends, making wet felt. Unfortunately it turns out Sausages still doesn't have the patience for wet felting, but his little friend (who is a year older) managed just fine and produced the best effort of us all! the above is what Sausages and I managed together, and will make a nice little coaster for my dresser. The slightly dodgy surface underneath it is my upturned sewing table, still awaiting repair by Husband before it can assume it's place in my overcrowded craft corner. We've been a bit busy lately!

Reading-wise I am half way through Eat Pray Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert. I am not enjoying it, and this is another case of my inability to walk away from a book before I have read the whole thing. This book seems to be a vanity exercise in navel-gazing, and not up my street at all. The end.

As you can see, quite a random week this week, but I had a very strong urge to finish the leaves and the blanket, and have soooo many new cast-ons lined up, so next week should be a lot more exciting on the knitting front! I have cast on the first of my Christmas knitting projects, which I will share with you next week, when hopefully I will have resolved the question of the final design. I know, I must decide these things before I cast on, but it's going to be a big project and I was aching to get it started!

Have you started your festive crafting yet? What are your personal rules about crafting gifts for others? Do you enjoy crafting with your children for Christmas and other celebrations? Let me know!

E