It's a mystery...oh it's a mystery...
No I haven't dropped back into the 80's and turned into Toyah! It's all about one of my latest knitting projects. Last year I joined up to the Debbie Abraham's Mystery Blanket club.  Debbie is a rather lovely lady, I've met her a couple of times, and she is also very talented when it comes to designing all things 'blankety'.

You do not know the colours used or the theme when you join, but the yarn you get is all Rowan yarns so good quality. Then each month, you wait to stalk the postie and when he does arrive with your monthly package, you snatch it off him like a giddy child and ooh and ahh when you open it and see the patterns for the 5 squares that you have to knit during that month. If you have no self control, you cast one on immediately, however, you can wait as you have all month to knit the 5 squares given. Last years blanket had a theme of Beneath the Sea as you can see from the pic to the right. The squares are sent out in such a manner that it isn't totally obvious what the blanket will look like until you are about halfway through, which really keeps the enthusiasm going.
Last years involved a lot of Intarsia which I'm not so brilliant with, a lot of textured cables, beadwork, sequins and slipped stitch striped patterns.
I wasn't overly keen to begin with but as it progressed and I could mattress stitch some of the squares together, I started to love it and it now sits proudly on the spare bed in the back bedroom who's door we keep open and I can peek at it every time I go upstairs!

So that's last year's done.....and yes, I have joined up to this year's too. It is totally different both in colour and yarns used. Last years was mainly Rowan Wool Cotton, Pure Wook DK and Luxury Cotton Silk. This year's is so far mainly Rowan Cotton Glace and a new to me yarn, Rowan Purelife Revive which I have to say I adore.
This year, the blanket is also very heavily beaded so I expect it to weigh a ton when finished. The good thing about this one tho, is that the colours will match very well with either my living room or my bedroom.
You can see a sneaky preview of the first 4 completed squares below.


Click on the pic to make it bigger.
Well folks, that's it for this week's update....I have to finish my B socks so that I can cast on my C socks as I am a few days behind schedule due to working extra hours at work last week...one sock done, one done halfway up the foot.
Have a great week everyone and as ever feel free to Rabbit On....

An Alphabet of a Different Kind....
Over on Ravelry, there is a forum for UK sock knitters, although none UK members are on there too. Someone came up with the ingenious idea of a Knit-A-Long whereby for every letter of the alphabet, you knit a pair of socks.
The way it works is that you pick a pattern that corresponds with a letter of the alphabet and you have a two week period to cast it on. The only finishing date is January 14th 2012!


So, I have decided to join it, in a moment of madness...madness as I have also decided that I am going to use the skein of sock yarn that I get each month and it might not necessarily be on a pair of socks if I don't think it will go with the pattern I've chosen for the relevant letter of the alphabet....madness because I also want to join in with the knit 11 shawls in 2011 challenge...and madness as I have already decided that I want to knit 5 cushions from Debbie Abrahams 25 Cushions to Knit book this year as well as knitting a couple of garments by Kim Hargreaves! 
Oh....and I am also knitting a mystery blanket and want to do some stitching.....


Here is my sock for A....Anastasia. 
They are knit using the Knitting Goddess Blue Faced Leicester in Winter Sun and I rather love them! 
They are knitted from the toe up and have a short row toe and heel. They are available as a download on Ravelry but if you aren't a member of Rav and would like to knit them anyway...they are also available here.
I am now knitting a pair of fingerless mitts with the leftovers as that's also something else I've challenged myself to do this year...knit up all my left overs where possible. 


Another finish for this month is a shawl I knit my MIL for her birthday. 
It is knit using my Jan 2011 sock club yarn from the Knitting Goddess and is a merino/bamboo mix which I adore....it could be my favourite sock yarn base actually. 

The pattern is Nancy and Judy and can be seen here.  


Well, that's it for another week...feel free to Rabbit On...

Out with the old.....
...and in with the new.....
Well hasn't it been a long time since I posted on here? 2010 kidnapped me and took me away from bloggerland...to be fair it was mainly Ravelry that took me away!
One other major thing that got in the way in 2010 was...Life....it seriously sucked me in on a number of occasions, spun me around and knocked me for six, but...I guess there is too much Doom and Gloom in this world already, so I will leave those episodes in the vault and concentrate on 2011.
I know that some of these things will follow me into 2011 with some gusto, but instead of allowing them to dictate what is going to happen this year, instead I'm just going to front them up and say 'Bring It On!'


So, as I said....Ravelry stole me away from Bloggerland and the whole world of Knitting and all things Yarny, seduced me even more than the year before and thus I didn't do a lot of stitching. Because of this, I forgot to update my blog with the things I had finished as without even using one single brain cell....I automatically uploaded them to Ravelry instead.


For those of you who are on this incredible site, you can see all my finishes here if you haven't already got me as a friend.


For those of you that are not on there, please find below a little collage of various finishes.







They include a lot of shawls as I took on the challenge of knitting 10 in 2010. The bottom 4 pictures are of the item I was most pleased with, a rather charming little jumper from the wonderful Stitch in Time Book
For once I think I found an item of clothing that suited me and it goes with various pieces from my wardrobe and will get a lot of use.


If anyone would like any info on the shawl patterns then please leave a comment and I will endeavour to give you the info you need.


Enough about knitting.....my first finish of this year sees me going back to cross stitching. It's a little piece that I've had started for years and for some stupid reason didn't finish. It's a chart from a freebie that I can't even remember where I found it. The picture isn't fab as it's in the downstairs loo and there is no natural light in there.

It's stitched on a little hand towel that has a piece of aida type fabric across the width. Of course it features bunnies....what else I hear you cry, and no I have not yet knitted a jumper with bunnies on but I guess there's time yet!
It was really nice to get back into a bit of stitching and there will be more on the horizon. I want to finally finish the Mirabilia Autumn Maiden of the Season that I have had on the go since 2009.
I would also like to get Mirabilia's Royal Holiday finished for Christmas 2011 as again, I have had this on the go for a while.
It might also be a good idea to finish the Teresa Wentzler Millennium design that is virtually done. Only a comet and part of an angel left.

So...that's a rather short(ish) update on me. I am sat in my lovely conservatory complete with underfloor heating, knitting on yet another shawl, whilst wearing a home made knitted tank top and knitted socks, catching up with the Electric Sheep podcast, wondering whether or not I will get any readers to this post or whether indeed I have just dropped of the Bloggerland radar due to being AWOL!


So, if you are out there and are reading, then I thank you for not forgetting me, and as usual wish you well and ask you to feel free to rabbit on....

Finally another finish....
Again folks it has been a while since I posted to my blog. I have been taken up with the knitting side of things and as I post to Ravelry all the time about my knitting WIPs and Happy Dances, I tend to forget to post them over here too.

Well, yesterday, my stitching mojo made a brief appearance and I picked up a Shepherd's Bush Needleroll that I had started sometime last year. It's the first time that I have made anything like this....I've just oohed and ahhed at other's people's prowess in this area of Stitcingdom. I am rather pleased with the finished result.

I have another kit in my stash, the Birdhouse Needleroll complete with Birdhouse charm! The Beehive one will live in our conservatory in a wicker basket and will be rather lonesome until I finish the other one!
I do have plans to make a few small items like these, biscornu, small pillows ect and will display them all in our conservatory.
Thanks for reading folks....feel free to Rabbit on....

Cross Stitch? What's that?...
It's been sooooooooooo long since I stitched anything let alone finish anything! I have been bitten well and truly by the knitting and yarn buying bug. Strange then that on Christmas Eve morning I got up and felt compelled to start the Country Cottage Needleworks Butterfly as shown to the left!
Well indeed I did start it and have finished it just now...
In other news....I have a house guest for five days. He is called Barney and looks like this......

He is my DH's niece's rabbit and we are bunny sitting whilst they are away for a few days. He is a cute little fellow and is settling in well. It's the first time a bunny has been in the house since the Queen of G died and to be honest, it's made me realise I don't want another on a permanent basis. Whilst Barney (or Rubble as I'm calling him!) is a sweetie, he does make me think of Bunny and I was a little sad to be honest and I knew then that Bunny cannot be replaced and that I wouldn't be comfortable being a permanent Petmum to another bunny just yet.
I will hopefully be updating this place a bit more in the future but no promises now!!!
Feel free to Rabbit On...

Yarn P0rn = Yarngasms...
I've had a lot lately....a lot!It's become an addiction but I just don't care! I love fondling yarn like I love playing with stitching threads and hand dyed fabric...I think it's all to do with colour...it soothes the mind I'm sure of it. So without further ado, I introduce you to my p0rn.

I bought the yarn from the following places...in order of how they appear in the slideshow...
Kaleidoscope Yarns I got the Colinette Jitterbug, the Berroco Sox and the Cascade Cotton Rich DK from here.
Black Sheep Wools Ltd I got the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran from here.
Create The Baa Tat Yarns are from here.
The Knitting Goddess My staple yarn supplier!
The Yarn YardThe purple Croft and the two Cream Sock Yarns.
The last photo is some Aran bought from a lcalish mill shop.
I am off to a Yarn Tasting event tonight at Baa Ram Ewe, so the s.e.x may continue...

Wake up and smell the coffee pot...
That what happened in Chez Scully yesterday morning. There we were, sleeping due to a late night, when the postie presses the doorbell. At first I set out a 'Squee' as I was thinking it could be some Yarn P0rn, but I could tell by how quiet DH was when he took receipt of the parcel from downstairs that it wasn't (he's trained to yell if it is!).
He brought up a large box which was very light and which also had on it the name of a very lovely couple we know. With a quizzical look on both our faces, I opened the box to reveal a cafetiere....the one you can see in the below pic.

SO what's so special I hear you all say...well this lovely couple ran a most fantabulous B&B in the Lake District...I am sure you've heard me mention it. The cafetiere was a star attraction for me at breakfast time (not distracting from the wonderful home baked bread and aga cooked rostis of course..) The was just 'something' about the 'whoosh' it made when you sank the plunger that was so satisfying. I was provided with the name of the company where it had been purchased but they didn't offer an online service and despite searching many a shop in various places, it always resulted in the same disappointment...nothing compared...
Now this lovely couple have sold their fantaulous B&B much to DH and I's chargrin, but hey, let's not be selfish...people have a right to move on in their lives..especially lovely people.
Now they have settled just outside the Lakes, they have sent DH and I one of their cafetieres...and I can tell you, that 'whoosh' is no less satisfying than I can remember...our morning coffee lives are complete...
So, thank you to the lovely couple, Lorraine and Rob I will think back to our times at Fair Rigg with fondness and will indeed enjoy many a perfect coffee break....

Pram Buddies and Chocolate Caramel Shortbred....

What more does a girl need in life?
Remember my Mint Choc Chip Ishbel Shawl? Well I had some yarn left over and I thought I'd make some little pram buddies for my friend's newborn daughter.
So, without further ado, introducing from left to right....The Sockyarn Buddies©

Pepper, Coco and Minty.
The patterns used can be found in Jean Greenhowe's Knitted Animals Leaflet.
Originally the patterns use DK yarn, but all I did was change the needle size to a sock yarn size and I adapted the patterns to be knit in the round. They are seriously cute in real life if I say so myself and I had trouble parting with them today when I gave them to baby Annabella!

Last Thursday saw me attend my first knit night at Baa Ram Ewe It's a bit of a way to travel but I really enjoyed myself and met some really nice people. I am going again tomorrow night which brings me onto the shortbred mentioned above...
I have recently found a wonderful blog, namely Attic24. Lucy takes some STUNNING photographs and her crochet and other craftwork is no less amazing either. I find her blog a real inspiration and generally a great 'cheerer upper!'.
Well....Lucy posted some pictures of some gorgeous shortbred that she had made and generously posted the recipe. Now hear this...I am no baker, can I tell you that, but I thought I'd have a go yesterday in order that I can take some to knit night.
This is the result...

All I can say is mmmmmmmmmmmmm and . They taste seriously good...and all who have tasted them so far have asked for seconds!!! The caramel is divine. They are laden with calories, but I don't care!!! Batch two are being made tomorrow so that I can feed my work colleagues on Friday night, so if you fancy having a go, head over to Lucy's blog, pull up a chair and have a and prepare to be inspired.

In other knitting news, I have started a pair of Zigzag Anklets from Knitted Socks from Hand Painted Yarn This is a great book and I have already knit a pair of socks from it and have many more I want to knit. I am using a Merino/Tencel blend yarn from The Knitting Goddess in a sock club colour called Snail Corner.

This yarn is so soft it's beautiful. They are knitting up really well and will be a lovely light sock to be worn on warmer days. It is part of the August KAL in the UK sock knitters group on Ravelry.
That's it for now folks...I have more to share but it will keep until another day. Till then, take care and as ever feel free to Rabbit On....

What's your Rainbow?...

Your rainbow is strongly shaded indigo and brown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What is says about you: You are a proud person. You appreciate the roughness of nature. Friends count on you for being honest and insightful. You feel closer to people when you understand their imperfections.

Find the colors of your rainbow at spacefem.com.

I found this quiz on I'd Rather be stitching and thought I'd have a go...I found it quite interesting.

I'll have a large scoop please...
I had a finish on the needles yesterday, my Mint Choc Chip Ishbel

This is how it looked prior to it being blocked!

This is how it looks in the two ways in which I will wear it. And yes a rare glimpse of me!!!!!
It was originally intended for mum, but when I saw the size of it, I think she will prefer the larger size so I will make one in a different colour for her and I will nab this one.
If I havn't mentioned before it is knit in Mint Choc Chip 4ply BFL by the Knitting Goddess and was a Ltd Edition yarn.
I posted a pic of my finish on Joy's Forum on Ravelry and to quote her she described the way that the yarn had knit up as

it’s like drizzles of chocolate sauce

As I said at the beginning of the post....I'll have a large scoop please...